ABSTRACT
In 1601, which would be remembered in the history of the Spanish monarchy of Philip III and Elizabethan England as the year when a small Spanish military contingent landed in Kinsale in support of a Catholic Irish uprising, master Jerónimo Nadal de Lisarte sent the Spanish king an astrological forecast warning him of a dreadful omen:
I have decided to reveal the dangers and mishaps that may befall you, one of which I fear is that of being taken prisoner by the Englishwoman [Elizabeth], but I trust in God you will be freed with the aid of he whose lineage extends back to Pepin the Short and will also reap much happiness, the description of which exceeds a work as brief as that I present to Your Majesty in the hope that it is received with indulgence. (Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid [BNM], Ms. 2346, fols. 31r-60r)
A marginal notation on the manuscript remarks that “this forecast was made regarding Philip III’s birth to show that the stars pointed toward a day when he would be taken prisoner” (Ms. 2346, f 31r).
