“The English cannot bear the sight of the Spaniards: they would rather see the devil. They rob us, even in the towns, and on the road none of us dare to stray for a couple of miles for fear of being robbed. A body of Englishmen on one occasion plundered and beat no less than fifty Spaniards. The Councillors know all about it, but they shut their eyes. The number of thieves in the country is quite incredible. They go about sometimes twenty together. There is neither justice nor fear of God.... For us there is no justice at all. The King commands us to raise no questions, but whilst we are here to put up with everything and suffer all their spite without a word. So, of course, they treat us badly and despise us. When we have complained to Bribiesca (the magistrate) and to the ambassadors, they tell us that it is to his Majesty’s interest that we should overlook everything. This marriage will have been of small use if this Queen does not have a child, of which I am not at all sure. When we were in Castile they said that as soon as his Highness was King of England we should be masters of France. The opposite is the case, for the French are now stronger and more aggressive than ever in Flanders.... Kings in this country do not command more than if they were subjects. The real rulers are the Councillors, who are not only masters of the country but masters of the King as well. They are all lords, some enriched by the plunder of the monasteries, some by inheritance, but they are much more feared and reverenced than the Sovereign. They say now that they will not let his Highness go unless the Queen and they please, as this realm is quite big enough for a King without any others. Seeing what they are, I should not wonder if they do it, ... for they know how hard pressed we are in Flanders and are glad of it; ... they would not care a farthing if Flanders were lost, and his Majesty with it. The King and Queen enter London to-morrow, and I am sure we ought not to do so, seeing the way they are treating the Spaniards already there. Not only do they not provide lodgings for them, insulting them as if they were savages, but they rob them in the inns. As for the friars who came with his Majesty, they had better have stayed at home, for these English are so wicked and godless that they even maltreat friars, and these dare not leave their lodgings. Don Pedro de Cordova and his nephew, Don Antonio, are knights, and the people wanted to strip them of their habits the other day, making fun of them and asking them why they wore those crosses on their coats.”