The Open Ends of Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, Count of Gondomar

Facultad de Filosofía y Letras Grado en Estudios Ingleses The Open Ends of Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, Count of Gondomar Lidia Bulnes Vicente Tutora: Berta Cano Echevarría Departamento de Filología Inglesa Curso: 2023-2024 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1 Rationale ........................................................................................................................ 1 Methodology .................................................................................................................. 2 THE CONCEPT OF AN ENDING ................................................................................ 3 Open and closed endings ............................................................................................... 3 Closure effects in relation to structure ........................................................................... 4 Closure outside of fiction ............................................................................................... 4 THE MULTIFACETED NATURE OF THE COUNT OF GONDOMAR ............... 6 ENDS ................................................................................................................................ 8 The Count of Gondomar’s embassies and their conclusions ......................................... 8 First embassy ......................................................................................................... 8 Second embassy ................................................................................................... 12 The different fates of the Count of Gondomar in fictional works ............................... 15 Vox Populi by Thomas Scott ............................................................................... 15 Vox Coeli by John Reynolds ................................................................................ 19 The death of the Count of Gondomar .......................................................................... 24 CURRENT REMAINS OF DIEGO SARMIENTO DE ACUÑA ............................. 27 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................. 29 APPENDIX A / RELATED DOCUMENTS ............................................................... 30 The Count of Gondomar’s testament ........................................................................... 30 BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................... 32 ABSTRACT Diego Sarmiento de Acuña was one of the most relevant Spanish diplomats in the early 17th century, but despite his renowned career, he was afflicted by a recurrent succession of open ends throughout his life. The ambassador has left a trace that I intend to study in relation to the uncompleted nature of many aspects of his persona, as an ambassador, a courtier, and as a fictional character. To carry out this investigation, I will define the ideas of end and closure and apply the concepts to the ends that he experienced in life, his passing and the ends of his character in the following works of literature: Thomas Scott’s Vox Populi and John Reynolds’ Vox Coeli. I intend to explore the possible reasons behind the lack of closed ends in his life and the ways in which they have affected his image before and even after his death. KEYWORDS: Closure, Ambassador, Count, Ending, Valladolid, Gondomar RESUMEN Diego Sarmiento de Acuña fue uno de los diplomáticos españoles más relevantes de principios del siglo XVII, sin embargo, a pesar de su célebre carrera, se vio atormentado por una continua sucesión de finales abiertos a lo largo de su vida. El embajador dejó un rastro que pretendo estudiar con respecto al carácter incompleto de varios aspectos de su persona, como embajador, cortesano y personaje ficticio. Para llevar a cabo este trabajo, definiré las ideas de final y cierre y aplicaré los conceptos a los finales que vivió, a su fallecimiento y a los finales de su personaje en los panfletos Vox Populi de Thomas Scott y Vox Coeli de John Reynolds. El siguiente trabajo pretende explorar los posibles motivos detrás de la falta de finales cerrados en su vida y las maneras en las que le han afectado antes e incluso después de su muerte. PALABRAS CLAVE: Cierre, Embajador, Conde, Final, Valladolid, Gondomar 1 Universidad de Valladolid Lidia Bulnes Vicente INTRODUCTION RATIONALE The first Count of Gondomar, Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, occupied more than 6 charges throughout his life, defended Spain from British pirates and was a memorable representative of Spain as an ambassador in England in two different embassies. Despite having earned himself such an impressive reputation, he became infamous in Britain, a territory that was his working place for so many years; and notably forgotten in his mother country. This situation is very particular as his biography is very well documented and he participated in relevant moments of the history of both Spain and Britain. It is only recently that his presence in politics has started to be studied and his contributions to literature are being acknowledged, especially in Valladolid, where he created an impressive collection of books in the palace of Casa del Sol; and in Galicia, his birthplace where some people are currently requesting that his remains be taken back to. There are so many different aspects in the life of this diplomat that, at first they seem to bear no relation, but once observed from a certain point of view they create a chain that retrospectively shapes his career. The neglect that he has been subjected to is a direct consequence of this connection of events, that is, the numerous instances when closure has been withheld from the Count of Gondomar. From the charges he conducted in Spain, to his embassies, his depiction in literature, his death and even his burial, the Count was met with projects that were frustrated before their consecution despite his knowledge and potential in so many diverse areas. Some of the most relevant studies surrounding Diego Sarmiento de Acuña that I have taken in consideration and used as sources when producing this essay, as I believe them to be valuable literature, are La casa del sol del conde de Gondomar en Valladolid by Enrique Fernández de Córdoba Calleja (2004), Don Diego Sarmiento de Acua, conde de Gondomar (1567-1626) : erudito, mecenas y biblifilo by Carmen Manso Porto (1998) and El embajador y el Rey : el conde de Gondomar y Jacobo I de Inglaterra by Juan Durán Loriga (2006). However, these works and others that I came across while collecting information and resources focused mostly on the Count’s biography, his book collection 2 Universidad de Valladolid Lidia Bulnes Vicente or his work as an ambassador. What sets this academic paper apart from other works related to Diego Sarmiento de Acuña is the focal point of open ends and lack of closure in different aspects of his persona as well as in his representation in British literature during the 17th century. METHODOLOGY To carry out this project, I will first define what is referred to throughout this paper as ‘end’ and how it correlates to the idea of closure, both concepts that I will tackle with the help of two of the most influential works surrounding the topic, Eyal Segal’s Beginnings and Endings (2019) and Barbara Smith’s Poetic Closure (1968), from which the former derives some of the notions that he then addresses in his work. Afterwards, I will relate the contents of these essays to different facets and phases of Diego Sarmiento de Acuña’s life, which I will first introduce and delve into to the extent that is necessary in order to understand how it pertains to the purpose of this paper. Finally, I will refer to Thomas Scott’s Vox Populi (1620) and John Reynolds’ Vox Coeli (1624), the two literary works that I considered to be most representative of the Count’s perception in England during the 17th century, and I will relate the ends of the pamphlets to each other and to the almost identical demise that the character of the Count is subjected to in both stories. What I hope to achieve is a better understanding of what led to so many of Diego Sarmiento de Acuña’s expectations to meet an unconcluded fate, what aspects of these fates coincide or differ with or from each other and whether there might be a possibility of a future closed end for what remains of him now. By merging biographical facts, fiction and the present state of affairs I am attempting to approach the figure of the Count of Gondomar from a new and unexplored perspective. 3 Universidad de Valladolid Lidia Bulnes Vicente THE CONCEPT OF AN ENDING Before tackling the study of Gondomar’s ends, it is essential to understand what we are referring to when using the word “end”. In order to do this, I will mainly be referring to and making use of Eyal Segal’s (2019) essay Beginnings and endings and Barbara Smith’s (1968) Poetic Closure and applying their ideas, which focus mainly on the temporal sequences of texts (with the latter applying a special focus to the structure of poems) to the temporal sequences in the Count of Gondomar’s life. An end, whether it is of a text or of someone’s life, is the unavoidable fate of anything that has a beginning (Segal, 2019). It is possible to prevent or postpone an ending, but one cannot stop something from reaching the end of its existence. OPEN AND CLOSED ENDINGS As Smith (1968) puts it, there are elements whose existence is inevitably limited and elements whose existence is inevitably unlimited and we are incapable of altering this aspect. However, what can change the feeling one has towards an ending is its openness. As is generally known, an ending, especially in literature, can be closed or open depending on how much information is provided to the reader or how much information is kept hidden. The former is considered more traditional while the latter became more popular in modern literature. The consequence to each of these endings is a different degree in the sense of an ending, which is what Segal (2019, p. 1) referred to as “closure”. One would assume that the most satisfactory would be the closed ending, as all the gaps in the plots would be explained to the reader whereas in the open ending the reader might be disappointed and frustrated by the abruptness and the lack of closure. However, the openness of an ending in literature often provides a more extended experience to a story in which the plot does not stop at the end, instead the reader can continue the plot with their imagination, providing all kinds of different closed endings that they might come up with, which is much more experimental and interactive than a fixed and established closed ending. 10 Universidad de Valladolid Lidia Bulnes Vicente assumed that Sarmiento de Acuña’s priority was to be able to go back to his houses in Spain and that, if he satisfied the Spanish king’s request, he had more chances to secure himself a position in court. For these reasons, he wrote a letter to King James I asking for the arrest of Walter Raleigh, a request which was quickly fulfilled and he soon was granted his so desired return to Spain (Redworth, 2004). For all intents and purposes, the Count’s first ambassadorship was almost flawless, had it not been for Raleigh’s attacks on the Canary Islands and the Guyanas (Redworth, 2004). But Sarmiento de Acuña had more than enough reasons to feel proud of how the embassy ended and finally obtained a sense of conclusiveness. He had been invited to banquets by members of the English aristocracy such as Francis Bacon; he convinced King James I to release seventy Catholic priests that had been imprisoned; and he was even granted the release of Spanish artillery that had been apprehended by English pirates (Redworth, 2004). It is also possible that his physical departure from England itself gave him a sense of closure since, according to Smith (1968), “death, night, autumn, and farewells are terminal events, that references to them would presumably signify or suggest that something was ending” (pg.177). This way, he may have associated the termination of his stay in England with the end of his ambassadorship. However, his close association with both the English crown and aristocracy eventually brought him significant inconveniences once the relations between Spain and England began “deteriorating”, as Redworth (2004, p.8) put it. Due to his spectacular work as mediator, Gondomar was once again selected as ambassador. He attempted to prolong his stay in Spain by reasserting the worsening of his health and even using the death of his eldest son as an excuse in a letter to King James I despite the tragic event having taken place over a year earlier (Redworth, 2004). But his attempts were in vain and in 1620 he sailed back to London to resume his obligations as second-time ambassador. The way Redworth portrays the end of this episode in Sarmiento de Acuña’s career is as unsuccessful. In a sense, Gondomar befriended many personages in the English court including the King, the Prince and the favorite, the Duke of Buckingham, which could help him later on achieve his personal goals. But from a more general perspective, the embassy failed to put an end to Anglo-Spanish conflicts which was its main aim and accordingly caused an open end that could only be closed by another embassy. Putting his case side by side with Barbara Smith’s conclusion regarding closure, 11 Universidad de Valladolid Lidia Bulnes Vicente it is as if Gondomar’s life was a book and he a character in it, seeking for, as Smith (1968) put it, “absence/failure of continuation” or “stability” (p.34), but his wishes go against the writer’s, which are “to maintain our interest in his play, novel, or poem […] by providing constant sources of instability” (p.34). The beginning of Sarmiento de Acuña’s second embassy, as presented in the biographies I am employing, was the cause of his demise. In a surprisingly tight timeline, the events of his charge up till his death took place between 1620 and 1626. As Segal (2004) said, it is almost impossible to consider an ending without taking into account the events that preceded it. For that reason, the detailed analysis of what took place during these six years is paramount to understanding how the Count unconsciously produced the proposition that brought upon not only the extinction of his hopes of retirement or shift in profession, but also his death. I would consider two distinct events to be the main causes of his downfall: his proposition of the Spanish Match in his first embassy and the religious unrest throughout Europe spawned by the Thirty Years’ War. The Spanish Match was the marriage of the Infanta Maria, daughter of the Spanish king Phillip III, with Prince Charles, son of the British king James I. It was proposed by the Spaniards as “a sign of goodwill” (Redworth, 2003, p.10) in one of the first procedures to establish peace between the two European nations after the signing of the Treaty of London in August 1604. It was gladly received by King James I who had just been crowned king of England and Ireland and expected to be remembered as “rex pacificus, Peaceful King” (Redworth, 2003, p.7). However, Spain’s demanding conditions for the marriage raised qualms in the British king, so much so, that he considered marrying his heir to a French princess instead. His wavering position towards the match resulted in it being postponed until 1614, when he disastrously dissolved a Parliament without legislation or taxation. Redworth (2003) said in his extensively comprehensive book surrounding the match, The Prince and the Infanta, that “Gondomar saw his chance to insinuate that the House of Stuart’s political problems might be eased by a Spanish marriage” (p.15). At first, both the ambassador and the English king believed that the marriage was completely feasible and would bring a mutually beneficial alliance. However, some obstacles quickly emerged, particularly the condition for England to offer a “more tolerant approach […] towards Catholicism” in their population, that is to say, liberty of conscience (Redworth, 2003, pp.16-17). Gondomar had wrongly assumed that 12 Universidad de Valladolid Lidia Bulnes Vicente that requisite was more reasonable than Prince Charles’ conversion to Catholicism. Both were equally unacceptable for the English crown, thus King James I rejected the match and it was out of the question until the dissolution of another Parliament in 1622. SECOND EMBASSY Gondomar’s second embassy began in January of 1620, while the Spanish Catholic troops entered a territory in the Palatinate in August of the same year (Redworth, 2003). The reason why this last even created an extremely complicated second embassy for Gondomar is because princess Elizabeth, daughter of King James I, ruled over part of the Palatinate as a consequence of her marriage to Frederick V in 1613. Because of this, Spain’s intrusion into the territory put King James I into a conflict of interests: would he defend his family or would he prioritize peace with Spain? Confronted with the pressure of taking action instead of idling, the English king summoned a Parliament in 1621. This proved to be a mistake when its result was a further denouncing of the monarch’s alleged neglect towards his daughter in favor of Spain. Subsequently, the following year the Parliament was terminated and James I considered the Spanish Match once again as he is said to have believed it would maintain peace, which was a far from correct assumption. In 1622, Gondomar’s second embassy ended and he left England having agreed with Prince Charles that he would be allowed to “collect his bride” (Redworth, 2004, p.10) if he were to “mount Spain” (Redworth, 2003, p.54), that is, go to Madrid to meet with the newly crowned King Philip IV. As it turns out, the Spanish king had no say nor had he been informed of the Prince of Wales’ intent to visit Spain, instead it was all Gondomar’s strategy to guarantee that the Spanish Match took place and he be granted a higher status of nobility for his successful diplomacy. At first his plan seemed to work considering that Prince Charles did indeed arrive at the capital on March of 1623 and not only did King Philip IV excitedly welcome the British prince, but the ambassador was promptly promoted to councilor of state. However, this victory was shortly lived as the conditions for the marriage established by the Pope reached the Prince who asked to return to England to discuss the demands with his father in person, a request which was denied to him and suddenly he 13 Universidad de Valladolid Lidia Bulnes Vicente found himself “captive in a foreign land” (Redworth, 2003, p.111). From then on, England did everything that was on their hands to bring back their prince, but since they never managed to reach an agreement, prince Charles resolved to convincing his hosts that he agreed to all of their conditions up until the last day of his stay in Madrid (Redworth, 2003). The prince left the capital without his bride and revoked the marriage before even leaving the country. The end of the Spanish Match, Gondomar’s golden plan during his embassies, could not have been more catastrophic both for Spain and for him. Not only did it give rise to a declaration of war from England, but it also gave way to prince Charles’ marriage with the French princess, Henrietta María, facilitating the Anglo-French alliance that Spain had tried to prevent. Despite his efforts, the defeat of his matrimonial project also meant Sarmiento de Acuña’s defeat as an ambassador. Much to his dismay however, and despite his huge previous failure, the imminent Anglo-Spanish war called once again for his talents and he was proclaimed ambassador for the last time in 1624. By then his health condition was a real impediment and not just an excuse, but he only managed to postpone his charge for five months. Though he started the journey, he never reached London, instead his well-being was finally taken in consideration and he was allowed to return to Spain. On his way back, he was aware of the severity of his health and, after rushing to write his will in February of 1626, he soon passed away in a town in La Rioja, leaving his third embassy incomplete and almost all of his projects frustrated. Each time the Count of Gondomar was appointed ambassador he evaded the profession in every way he found possible, thus we can easily conclude that he profoundly rejected the position. It is documented that whenever he moved to London he would constantly be afflicted with nostalgia for his wife, his library and his homes (Redworth, 2003). And everything he did and proposed during his ambassadorships according to his biographers who base their claims on his frequent correspondence, was with the aim of being rewarded a high position at court back in Spain (Fernndez de Crdoba, 2004). How is it then that he got himself stuck on a loop of undesired embassies? In order to find a probable and logical solution to this inquiry, I will be making use of Smith’s (1968) similar questions surrounding poems, those being, “What keeps it going?” and “What stops it from going?”. Additionally, I will refer to Segal’s (2004) solution to those questions in the field of narrative, which I will then apply to Gondomar’s embassies. 14 Universidad de Valladolid Lidia Bulnes Vicente According to Segal (2004), regarding the former question, what prompts the continuation of a text is “narrative interest” aroused by “informational gaps” (p.15), that is, the lack of information at some level in the narrative and which the reader at some point expects will be filled in. Similarly, ambassadors are required to represent their country abroad to broach any possible lack of information in diplomacy that might engender conflict between states. And particularly in Gondomar’s case, the most significant gap was that of the Spanish Match that always seemed within reach, but he never managed to finalize. As for the second “corollary” (Smith, 1968, p.4) question, it demands the knowledge of the origin of closure, which Segal (2004) attributes to the end of narrative interest. This way, closure is the resolution of information gaps while openness is the prolonging of information gaps. If we apply this to the case of Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, the reason behind his reiterated appointment as ambassador would be his failure at solving some gaps in the communication and relationship between Spain and England. 15 Universidad de Valladolid Lidia Bulnes Vicente THE DIFFERENT FATES OF COUNT GONDOMAR IN FICTIONAL WORKS Both of the literary works that I will be addressing and analyzing for the purpose of this research were produced by English Protestant writers during the 17th century. A brief exploration of the historical context is essential for a proper understanding of how the figure of the Count of Gondomar is portrayed in these texts and the end of both the fictional stories as well as that of the character of the ambassador. Due to the clear religious differences between England and Spain in the 17th century, an anti-Spanish sentiment had spread and deeply rooted itself in the English Protestant community. For this reason, Diego Sarmiento de Acuña’s embassies, whose main objective was the marriage of their Protestant prince with a Spanish Catholic princess, was met with an extreme disdain towards his persona in this segment of population of England (Álvarez, 2009). It is because of this reputation that in both works the ambassador is portrayed as an evil Spanish man who has intruded the English monarchy to corrupt their king and spread Catholicism through Europe, thus his demise in both works is celebrated. VOX POPULI One of the most important and controversial literary texts that criticized Diego Sarmiento de Acuña and his reliability as an ambassador was Vox Populi or Newes from Spaine, Thomas Scott’s first political pamphlet published anonymously in 1620 (Álvarez, 2009). The title can be translated as “the voice of the people” and it is a reference to the discontent of the British population regarding the political situation at the time in their country. Thomas Scott belonged to a large group of English Protestant artists and writers that rose against Spain’s intrusion into their monarchy by producing politically and religiously motivated works of fiction (Álvarez, 2009). Despite the censorship that was put in place to defend the English king’s reputation, which affected Thomas Scott’s pamphlets among other similar works, Vox Populi still managed to gain a significant amount of public attention and is considered the start of the anti-Spanish propaganda in England in the early 17th century (Álvarez, 2009). The pamphlet depicts a fictional meeting of the Spanish Council of States upon the arrival of the Count of Gondomar from his first embassy in 1618. The narrative is structured as a dialogue with some interventions from an omniscient narrator. The 16 Universidad de Valladolid Lidia Bulnes Vicente political figures present in the council ask Gondomar questions regarding his success carrying out Spain’s plots to create a universal church and a universal empire under the guise of honest policies (Álvarez, 2009). The character of the Duke of Lerma, one of the attendants, begins the dialogue saying “Howe vnhappie are the people where you haue beene, first for theire soules (being heretikes) then for theire estates, where the name of a Favorite is so familiar” (p. 2). This first utterance already sets up expectations for a satisfactory ending considering the desired readership of the story. The main purpose of Thomas Scott’s pamphlet was to encourage the Protestant population of England to conduct their civic duties by warning their king about the disservice that Spain’s presence was doing to the security of their country. That is to say, the pamphlet was meant to be read by Protestants, which is why having Catholic characters in the story calling Protestants in England “heretikes” (Thomas Scott, 1620, p. 2) already sets these characters up to be dislikable and villainous. The character of Diego Sarmiento de Acuña in the pamphlet is especially important as the plot revolves around him. It is his return from England that prompts the reunion between Spanish political figures and most importantly he serves as a means to indirectly transmit Scott’s opinions. If the author were to make direct statements, he would risk being affected by King James I’s censorship or even get arrested. However, by making the character of the Count of Gondomar confess his success diminishing England’s strength, he justifies his anti-Spanish and anti-Catholic stance safely and presents the ambassador as the ultimate evil in the narrative. For this reason, it is likely that the character of the Count will be the most ill-fated by the end of the story, which in part provides a more than fulfilling closure for English readers. According to his biographies, Gondomar had intended to be a genuine ambassador, but in Scott’s work, as Leticia Álvarez (2009) said in her essay Opposing the Spanish Match: Thomas Scott’s Vox Populi, “Gondomar’s mission is described as a scheme devised by the Church of Rome to spread Catholicism on the continent” (p. 9). Furthermore, making the narrative take the shape of a conversation forces the character of the ambassador to blatantly admit in first person the alleged greed behind every decision he took during his embassy. It almost resembles a confession, which, considering the pseudo-realistic setting of the story, has a significant harmful effect on his reputation. 17 Universidad de Valladolid Lidia Bulnes Vicente The final events in the plot which I consider to be the end are carried out in a rather swift and abrupt manner that surprises both the characters and the reader. Although perhaps this last aspect is due to a modern reading of the story which lacks the experience of living in 17th century England when the matters tackled in the pamphlet were current and relevant. Regardless of this digression, the repetitive and static format of the plot where a character asks a question and Gondomar responds is in the final pages suddenly interrupted by an intrusion that puts an end to both the meeting and the story. On his final statement, the character of the Count of Gondomar boasts about how he took advantage of his position as ambassador to “buy all the manuscripts, & other auncient & rare authors out of the handes of the heretikes” (Thomas Scott, 1620, p.14), distorting the real ambassador’s interest in book collection; and is in the middle of proposing his next plan to create more internal differences in the English clergy to facilitate Spain’s intrusion when a secretary enters the room to deliver some letters to the attendants. The letters’ authors are not revealed to the reader. But we do know is that they were written by a group of people that are also involved in Spain’s and the Pope’s plans of creating a “Western Empire” as the letters begin by addressing the progress of their stratagems through England and Germany thanks to their espionage. However, this introduction is followed by the authors of the letter lamenting that their true intentions have been unveiled and that, consequently, they should cease their schemes, put an end to their consultation and regroup to decide how to proceed. The attendants to the council react to the message with surprise and desolation, but they immediately follow its instructions adjourning the meeting and leaving. That is the extent of what we are explicitly told of the after events to the council, but before the pamphlet concludes, Thomas Scott includes the following passage: In the meane tyme, Let not those be secure, whom it concernes to be rowsed up, knowing that this aspiring Nebuchadnezar wil not loose the glorie of his greatness, (who continueth still to magnifie himselfe in his great Babel) until it be spoken, thy kingdome is departed from thee (p.15) According to Álvarez (2009), the quote is the final segment of Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar II’s dream in The Book of Daniel and, in her words, “For anti-Catholic English writers, Nebuchadnezzar’s imperialistic ambitions and 18 Universidad de Valladolid Lidia Bulnes Vicente invasion of Jerusalem worked as a perfect parallel for the Spanish monarch’s intention to attain Universal Monarchy” (p.18). In short, the pamphlet ends with a reference that serves both as a morale and as a forecasting message. It is a last instance of encouragement for English Protestants to conduct their civic duties by fighting against the Spanish cause and it is a prediction of Spain’s failure on their plans to expand their monarchy and spread Catholicism through Europe. In the pamphlet, the character of the Count of Gondomar’s last words perfectly follow Segal’s (2019) principal ideas regarding endings in relation to what precedes them, that is, they can only be properly understood when knowing what the Count has said previously, while at the same time adding more meaning or nuance to those previous words or, as he says, “retrospectively shaping” them (p.1). Throughout the entirety of the pamphlet, the character of the ambassador is happy to oblige to the council attendants’ demands and questions, boasting about the work he has done to progress Spain’s stratagems in England without being discovered and his last speech is no different. His last segment serves to conclude the conversation by showing no development of his character as he is completely proud of deceiving the British court and their monarch. In such a way, if one were to only read the Count’s last utterance, they would miss his nondynamic nature and would not understand that he is completely static and only has one goal; but at the same time, the Count’s last chance to speak serves as a summary of everything that he has previously said and so closes off his discourse while serving as a reflection of the character on its own. The character of the ambassador’s last words would have been the perfect conclusion to the council of states, that is, his promise that, thanks to his diplomacy, Spain has a great opportunity of taking advantage of England’s internal conflict to advance their plans. It provides a positive prediction for the future of their complot and leaves an impeccable image of the character of the Count of Gondomar as Spain’s most reliable pawn in their game of conquest. As Torgovnick (1981) states in her book, Closure in the Novel, “An ending is the single place where an author most pressingly desires to make his points—whether those points are aesthetic, moral, social, political, epistemological, or even the determination not to make any point at all.” (pp. 160-168). The Count would have thus given himself a perfect closed ending if it had not been re-opened and 19 Universidad de Valladolid Lidia Bulnes Vicente subsequently overturned by the message in the letters, which completely discredits everything he had bragged about and crushes the promise he made at the end. It is the twist provided by these letters that brings us to the real ending of the story and the pamphlet, which is the end to Spain’s evil stratagems. This final ending is also closed, but it is the complete opposite of the one promised by the character of the ambassador as it puts an end to the character’s ambitions and his and all the other council attendants’ plans to spread the Catholic Empire. It terminates the character of Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, almost prophesizing the failure of the real one. This kind of alternated ending is nothing new and Segal (2019) addressed it in stating “that altering the ending can strongly influence the work as a whole even without taking the trouble of meticulously rethinking and rewriting that whole: a substantial effect achieved with relatively little effort” (p.11). He focused on endings that had to be altered by the author in order to please the audience, meanwhile the altered ending that we appreciate in Scott’s pamphlet is inside the plot and while it is expected by the readers, it is apparently unpredictable by the characters, especially that of the Count of Gondomar. Despite the text preceding the real ambassador’s death by six years, it surprisingly parallels the way the Count used his embassies to try to receive a position in the Spanish Court only for his embassies to be unsuccessful and follow him till his death. VOX COELI The popularity of Thomas Scott’s pamphlet gave way to a multitude of other similarly themed and inspired texts aimed at the defamation of Spain and its political representatives, particularly the Count of Gondomar. John Reynolds was one of the authors that took after Scott and produced an equally polarizing pamphlet in 1624, that is, Vox Coeli, or, Newes From Heaven. In parallel to Scott’s work, John Reynolds’ pamphlet is also presented as a fictional dialogue between political figures. However, the fictional aspect of this pamphlet is significantly more palpable than its predecessor as it depicts a consultation carried out in heaven between deceased members of British royalty now alive as spirits. The pamphlet possesses a second title that serves as a brief summary of the plot: 26 Universidad de Valladolid Lidia Bulnes Vicente eventually being placed in the Church of San Martín. According to J. M. Castroviejo and F. de P Fernández de Córdoba (1967): When the crypt was ruined his corpse, that was mummified and dressed with the garments of the time, lay abandoned, and as if he could not even rest after death, was relocated multiple times. In one of the locations, then adapted into a prison, the convicts of the last century desecrated it, using it as a form of macabre entertainment by sticking it through the bars of the prison to scare bystanders. Today his mummy rests well preserved in the church of San Martín of Valladolid. (p.213) During the 20th century, the debate about whether the Count’s body was being properly maintained in the church of San Martín was open until April of 1991, when the 17th Count of Gondomar, Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, along with the authorities of Galicia and Castilla y León arranged the transfer of the remains of Sarmiento de Acuña back to his crypt in the Church of Saint Benedict the Old, which had recently been restored (Fernández de Córdoba, 2004). Accordingly, the following month the last relocation to this day was carried out with the corresponding funeral ceremonies including a hearse, a chorus and a slow procession through the streets of Valladolid leading to his final location (Fernández de Córdoba, 2004). 27 Universidad de Valladolid Lidia Bulnes Vicente CURRENT REMAINS OF DIEGO SARMIENTO DE ACUÑA In recent years, the name of Diego Sarmiento de Acuña has mostly been forgotten and only resurfaced in small instances related to the location of his remains, the state of the buildings he possessed, and studies of the representation of his figure in literature produced in England. As for the first topic, currently, the body of the count still lays mummified in an underground vault in the Church of Saint Benedict the Old (San Benito el Viejo) in Valladolid. However, and despite this resolution satisfying the ambassador’s successors at first, it raised concerns when both the house and the adjacent church were acquired by the Minister of Education, Culture and Sports for the purpose of expanding the National Museum of Sculpture in 1999 (Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte, n. d.). There had been a previous failed attempt in 1982 through a forced expropriation with the pretense that the buildings required a restoration that would be carried out through its adaptation into a museum (Fernández de Córdoba, 2004). In the end, the government executed their original plan, much to the displeasure of the Count’s current descendants, the government of Galicia and some important figures in Valladolid who are knowledgeable about the Count’s historical importance. Most of their complaints derived from the fact that visits to the ambassador’s vault were disallowed in 2009, when the constructions for the expansion of the museum in the church began, and so neither the inhabitants of the city, family members or even possible visitors interested in the historical figure could access or even confirm whether the Count’s body was still in its crypt (Faro de Vigo, April 06). For instance, Gonzalo Fernández, current mayor of Gondomar in Galicia, claimed that “given the way he has been forgotten in the city where he is chief magistrate […] In Gondomar not only would he have a calm place to rest but he would also be received with the honors that he deserves” (Faro de Vigo, 2019, April 17). He believes that the place Diego Sarmiento de Acuña wanted to be buried in is no longer the Church of Saint Benedict the Old (Benito el Viejo) as it is now a museum where he went unrecognized for several years, buried and hidden under a carpet until they eventually placed a plaque next to it to recognize his burial space (Faro de Vigo, 2019, April 17). 28 Universidad de Valladolid Lidia Bulnes Vicente The present-day Count of Gondomar, Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba y Narváez, agrees with the mayor of the city and also believes that his antecessor should be moved to Galicia as the crypt in the church of Saint Benedict the Old is no longer the place that the Count once knew in life, now devoid of its original sanctity (Faro de Vigo, 2019, April 17). He adds that “the family had not been asked and so, if they had moved his crypt while conducting the constructions of the National Museum of Sculpture, they did so without their [the family’s] consent” (Faro de Vigo, 2019, April 17). Furthermore, and as previously mentioned, general disregard and carelessness toward the state of the crypt also arose in the city of Valladolid. For instance, Teófanes Egido, a renowned university professor from Valladolid states “The Count of Gondomar is without a doubt a very relevant figure for the history of Spain and has been condemned to oblivion, he was relocated to his resting place […] to dignify him, but now the opposite is happening” (Faro de Vigo, 2019, April 06). No matter how many times the corpse is moved, there will always be someone whose expectations on this matter are not met and will be disappointed with the conclusion. Smith (1968) defined ‘stability’ as “the expectation of nothing” and “a state […] desirable only at the end of a poem or piece of music” (p.35). But in the case of Gondomar, even at the end of his life, he is not granted stability or repose. All this seems to confirm the regretful reality that despite his great impact in Spain through his ambassadorship, his commendable book collection, his key role in maintaining peace between Spain and England beyond expectations, etc. he has been mostly forgotten, perhaps overshadowed by other noblemen and esteemed figures that passed through the city of Valladolid (Faro de Vigo, April 06), and infinitely cursed with lack of closure. 29 Universidad de Valladolid Lidia Bulnes Vicente CONCLUSION There are many documents and sources with different perspectives about Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, but most of them agree that he was a dedicated person in a multitude of areas. He was a bibliophile, he took pleasure in restoration of cities and buildings, he was particularly diligent in his diplomatic work both in Spain and England, yet despite his hard work he could never find success in his expectations and finds himself now in a limbo of misremembrance and lack of resolve. The expectations that he had set for himself clashed with the interests of others that were in a higher position of power, which resulted in the Count being forced to settle with open ends. This happened throughout his employment as Corregidor which, after years of climbing up the ladder, was taken from him and replaced with an ambassadorship. Then, after traveling back and forth between England and Spain, carrying out an admirable work of diplomacy in spite of his true ambitions, he was repeatedly met with failure, the ultimate one being the canceling of the Spanish Match, which led to an AngloSpanish war. During these embassies, his efforts were far from appreciated by English Protestants, particularly pamphleteers who depicted him as the source of adversities in their country and thus submitted him to unavoidable defeat in fiction, hoping for and retrospectively foreboding his losses. Ultimately, the embassies that he was unable to avoid fastened the worsening of his health and his passing too was devoid of closure. Almost four centuries after the death of the Spanish ambassador and after multiple relocations of his body since his burial, even now in this last phase of his existence post mortem, closure is out of his grasp. It is the last open end that could be closed if all sides were to set aside clashing interests and finally grant a final repose to the Count’s remains as he had originally stated. However, this issue is much more complex and, for now, at least there is a sense of closure provided by the recent resurgence and appreciation given to his figure and works that fill in the gaps of information in his memory. 30 Universidad de Valladolid Lidia Bulnes Vicente APPENDIX A / RELATED DOCUMENTS THE COUNT OF GONDOMAR’S TESTAMENT The following is a scanned page from Diego Sarmiento de Acuña’s original testament in which he clearly specifies the desired procedure that he expects his family to conduct with his body after he passes. I want to express my gratitude to the library of the Facultad de Filosofía y Letras of the University of Valladolid, where I have studied my university degree, for facilitating the book Testamento del Conde de Gondomar Don Diego Sarmiento de Acuña from which I obtained this excerpt. I will also include a translation of the transcription where it mentions the Church of Saint Benedict the Old, as it is the most pertinent for the purpose of my project. This transcription was graciously produced by the renowned Spanish historian Teófanes Eguido who is the author of the introduction of the book. 31 Universidad de Valladolid Lidia Bulnes Vicente “Se lleve luego a Valladolid, a la iglesia de Sant Benito el Viejo de la dicha ciudad, donde declaro ser mi voluntad enterrarme en la bóbeda que está debajo del altar mayor, en el primer arco como se entra bajando la escalera, en lo más bajo de él como está señalado de arco, que, aunque está fabricado, est vacío para esto” (Egido, 1991, 23) (Testamento, fol. 1.537v.) “[his body] Be later moved to Valladolid, to the church of Saint Benedict the Old of said city where I declare it is my will to be buried in the vault that is under the main altar, in the first arch as one enters descending the stairs, at the very bottom of it how it is signaled with an arch, which, although it is constructed, is empty for this purpose” 32 Universidad de Valladolid Lidia Bulnes Vicente BIBLIOGRAPHY: Álvarez Recio, L., (2009). 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