In open violation of the edict, four Franciscan priests came to Kyoto in 1593 with a Spanish envoy. They were allowed to build houses and reside there on the express condition that they were not to preach or teach, either publicly or privately. Immediately violating their pledge, they began preaching openly in the streets, wearing the vestments of their order. They excited a great deal of discord among the Jesuit congregations and used most violent language. Hideyoshi was angered at this,--as he had good reason to be,--and caused nine preachers to be seized while they were building chapels in Osaka and Kyoto, and condemned to death. These, together with three Portuguese Jesuits, six Spanish {152} Franciscans, and seventeen native Christians, were crucified on bamboo crosses in Nagasaki, February 5, 1597. They were put to death, not as Christians, but as law-breakers and political conspirators. Hideyoshi was further confirmed in his opinion that these foreign priests had political designs by the remark of a Spanish sea-captain who showed him a map of the world, on which the vast dominions of the King of Spain were clearly marked, and who, in reply to the question as to how his master came by such wide territories, foolishly replied that he first sent priests to win over the people, then soldiers to coöperate with the native converts, and the conquest was easy. Hideyoshi's fears were not entirely ungrounded. The truth is that Catholic Christianity has always been, and was especially at that time, so intimately connected with the state that her emissaries could not keep from entangling themselves in politics. Hideyoshi died in 1597, and with the death of their persecutor the missionaries again took heart and began their work anew. The political successor of Hideyoshi was Iyeyasu--a man even greater, perhaps, than his predecessor. He was not permitted to assume direction of affairs without a fierce and bloody struggle. Around the capital 200,000 soldiers were gathered under ambitious rival leaders. Soon the camps were {153} divided into two factions, the northern soldiers under Iyeyasu, and the southern soldiers under their own daimios. Most of the Christians were naturally allied with the latter party. Believing Iyeyasu to be a usurper, the Christian generals arrayed themselves against him and went forth to meet him in the open field. On the field of Sekigahara a bloody battle was fought, and 10,000 men lost their lives. The Christians were beaten, and were dealt with after the custom of the time--their heads were stricken off. Iyeyasu, finding himself in undisputed possession of the reins of government, began at once the completion of the work of Hideyoshi, i.e., the creation of a strong central government and the subjugation of the several daimios. Henceforth the Christians had to deal with this central government instead of the petty local ones.