Volume I Part 17 (2/2)

[19] The two princes alluded to were the duke of Segorbe, a cousin of Ferdinand, and the king of Portugal. The former, on his entrance into Castile, a.s.sumed such sovereign state, (giving his hand, for instance, to the grandees to kiss,) as disgusted these haughty n.o.bles, and was eventually the occasion of breaking off his match. Alonso de Palencia, Coronica, MS., part. 2, cap. 62.--Faria y Sousa, Europa Portuguesa, tom.

ii. p. 392.

[20] Oviedo a.s.signs another reason for this change; the disgust occasioned by Henry IV.'s transferring the custody of his daughter from the family of Mendoza to the Pachecos. Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 8.

[21] Salazar de Mendoza, Cron. del Gran Cardenal, p. 133.--Alonso de Palencia, Coronica, MS., part. 2, cap. 46, 92.--Castillo, Cronica, cap.

163.--The influence of these new allies, especially of the cardinal, over Isabella's councils, was an additional ground of umbrage to the archbishop of Toledo, who, in a communication with the king of Aragon, declared himself, though friendly to their cause, to be released from all further obligations to serve it. See Zurita, a.n.a.les, tom. iv. lib. 46, cap. 19.

[22] Carbajal, a.n.a.les, MS., anos 73, 74.--Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, p. 27.

--Castillo, Cronica, cap. 164.--Alonso de Palencia, Coronica, MS., part.

2, cap. 75.--Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 23.

[23] Mendoza, Cron. del Gran Cardenal, pp. 141, 142.--Castillo, Cronica, cap. 164.--Oviedo has given a full account of this cavalier, who was allied to an ancient Catalan family, but who raised himself to such pre- eminence by his own deserts, says that writer, that he may well be considered the founder of his house. Loc. cit.

[24] Carbajal, a.n.a.les, MS., ano 70.--This was the eldest child of Ferdinand and Isabella, born Oct. 1st, 1470; afterwards queen of Portugal.

[25] Gaillard, Rivalite, tom. iii. pp. 267-276.--Duclos, Hist. de Louis XI., tom. ii. pp. 113, 115.--Chronique Scandaleuse, ed. Pet.i.tot, tom.

xiii. pp. 443, 444.

[26] Alonso de Palencia, Coronica, MS., part. 2, cap. 83.--Ferreras, Hist.

d'Espagne, tom. vii. p. 400.--Zurita, a.n.a.les, tom. iv. lib. 19, cap. 12.

[27] L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 150.--Zurita, a.n.a.les, tom. iv.

lib. 19, cap. 13.--Chronique Scandaleuse, ed. Pet.i.tot, tom. xiii. p. 456.

--Alonso de Palencia, Coronica, MS., part. 2, cap. 91.

[28] Of the original letters, as given by M. Barante, in his History of the Dukes of Burgundy, in which the author has so happily seized the tone and picturesque coloring of the ancient chronicle; tom. x. pp. 289, 298.

[29] Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 10.--Carbajal, a.n.a.les, MS., ano 74.--Castillo, Cronica, cap. 148.

[30] This topic is involved in no little obscurity, and has been reported with much discrepancy as well as inaccuracy by the modern Spanish historians. Among the ancient, Castillo, the historiographer of Henry IV., mentions certain ”testamentary executors,” without, however, noticing in any more direct way the existence of a will. (Cron. c. 168.) The Curate of Los Palacios refers to a clause reported, he says, to have existed in the testament of Henry IV., in which he declares Joanna his daughter and heir; (Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 10.) Alonso de Palencia states positively that there was no such instrument, and that Henry, on being asked who was to succeed him, referred to his secretary Juan Gonzalez for a knowledge of his intention. (Cron. c. 92.) L. Marineo also states that the king, ”with his usual improvidence,” left no will. (Cosas Memorables, fol. 155.) Pulgar, another contemporary, expressly declares that he executed no will, and quotes the words dictated by him to his secretary, in which he simply designates two of the grandees as ”executors of his soul,” (_albuceas de su anima_,) and four others in conjunction with them as the guardians of his daughter Joanna. (Reyes Cat. p. 31.) It seems not improbable that the existence of this doc.u.ment has been confounded with that of a testament, and that with reference to it, the phrase above quoted of Castillo, as well as the pa.s.sage of Bernaldez, is to be interpreted.

Carbajal's wild story of the existence of a will, of its secretion for more than thirty years, and its final suppression by Ferdinand, is too naked of testimony to deserve the least weight with the historian. (See his a.n.a.les, MS., ano 74.) It should be remembered, however, that most of the above-mentioned writers compiled their works after the accession of Isabella, and that none, save Castillo, were the partisans of her rival.

It should also be added that in the letters addressed by the princess Joanna to the different cities of the kingdom, on her a.s.suming the t.i.tle of queen of Castile, (bearing date May, 1475,) it is expressly stated that Henry IV., on his deathbed, solemnly affirmed her to be his only daughter and lawful heir. These letters were drafted by John de Oviedo, (Juan Gonzalez,) the confidential secretary of Henry IV. See Zurita, a.n.a.les, tom. iv. fol. 235-239.

[31] As was the case with the testaments of Alfonso of Leon and Alfonso the Wise, in the thirteenth century, and with that of Peter the Cruel, in the fourteenth.

CHAPTER V.

ACCESSION OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA.--WAR OF THE SUCCESSION.--BATTLE OF TORO.

1474-1476.

Isabella proclaimed Queen.--Settlement of the Crown.--Alfonso of Portugal supports Joanna.--Invades Castile.--Retreat of the Castilians.-- Appropriation of the Church Plate.--Reorganization of the Army.--Battle of Toro.--Submission of the whole Kingdom.--Peace with France and Portugal.-- Joanna takes the Veil.--Death of John II., of Aragon.

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