CHAPTER XII. ITALIAN WARS.-NEGOTIATIONS WITH FRANCE. — VICTORY SURRENDER OF NAPLES. 1503. Birth of Charles V. - Philip and Joanna visit Spain. - Treaty of XII. BEFORE accompanying the Great Captain fur- CHAPTER ther in his warlike operations, it will be necessary to take a rapid glance at what was passing in the French and Spanish courts, where negotiations were in train for putting a stop to them altogether. The reader has been made acquainted in a preceding chapter with the marriage of the infanta Joanna, second daughter of the Catholic sovereigns, with the archduke Philip, son of the emperor Maximilian, and sovereign, in right of his mother, of the Low Countries. The first fruit of this marriage Birth of was the celebrated Charles the Fifth, born at Ghent, February 24th, 1500, whose birth was no sooner announced to Queen Isabella, than she predicted that to this infant would one day descend the rich inheritance of the Spanish monarchy.' The prema 1 Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1500.-Sandoval, Hist. del Emp. Carlos V., tom. i. p. 2. The queen expressed herself in the language of Scripture, "Sors cecidit super Mathiam," in allusion Charles V. PART II. Philip and ture death of the heir apparent, Prince Miguel, not long after, prepared the way for this event by devolving the succession on Joanna, Charles's mother. From that moment the sovereigns were pressing in their entreaties that the archduke and his wife would visit Spain, that they might receive the customary oaths of allegiance, and that the former might become acquainted with the character and institutions of his future subjects. The giddy young prince, however, thought too much of present pleasure to heed the call of ambition or duty, and suffered more than a year to glide away, before he complied with the summons of his royal parents. In the latter part of 1501, Philip and Joanna, attended by a numerous suite of Flemish courtiers, set out on their journey, proposing to take their way through France. They were entertained with profuse magnificence and hospitality at the French court, where the politic attentions of Louis the Twelfth, not only effaced the recollection of ancient injuries to the house of Burgundy, but left impressions of the most agreeable character on the mind of the young prince. After some weeks to the circumstance of Charles be- 2 Charles VIII., Louis's prede- daughter, to whom he had been affianced from her infancy. This twofold insult, which sunk deep into the heart of Maximilian, seems to have made no impression on the volatile spirits of his son. 3 Mariana, Hist. de España, lib. 27, cap. 11. St. Gelais describes the cordial reception of Philip and Joanna by the Court at Blois, where he was probably present himself. The historian shows his own opinion of the effect produced on their young minds by these flattering at XII. passed in a succession of splendid fêtes and amuse- CHAPTER ments at Blois, where the archduke confirmed the treaty of Trent recently made between his father, the emperor, and the French king, stipulating the marriage of Louis's eldest daughter, the princess Claude, with Philip's son Charles, the royal pair resumed their journey towards Spain, which they entered by the way of Fontarabia, January 29th, 1502.1 Magnificent preparations had been made for their reception. The grand constable of Castile, the duke of Naxara, and many other of the principal grandees waited on the borders to receive them. Brilliant fêtes and illuminations, and all the usual marks of public rejoicing, greeted their progress through the principal cities of the north; and a pragmática relaxing the simplicity, or rather severity, of the sumptuary laws of the period, so far as to allow the use of silks and various-colored apparel, shows the attention of the sovereigns to every circumstance, however trifling, which could affect the minds of the young princes agreeably, and diffuse an air of cheerfulness over the scene.5 tentions, by remarking, "Le roy leur monstra si très grand semblant d'amour, que par noblesse et honesteté de cœur il les obligeoit envers luy de leur en souvenir toute leur vie. Hist. de Louys XII., pp. 164, 165. In passing through Paris, Philip took his seat in the parliament as peer of France, and subsequently did homage to Louis XII., as his suzerain for his estates in Flanders; an acknowledgment of inferiority not at all palatable to the Spanish historians, who insist with 4 Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 5 Zurita, Anales, tom. v. lib. 4, PART II. Recognised by cortes. Ferdinand and Isabella, who were occupied with the affairs of Andalusia at this period, no sooner heard of the arrival of Philip and Joanna, than they hastened to the north. They reached Toledo towards the end of April, and in a few days, the queen, who paid the usual penalties of royalty, in seeing her children, one after another, removed far from her into distant lands, had the satisfaction of again folding her beloved daughter in her arms. On the 22d of the ensuing month, the archduke and his wife received the usual oaths of fealty from the cortes duly convoked for the purpose at Toledo. King Ferdinand, not long after, made a journey into Aragon, in which the queen's feeble health would not permit her to accompany him, in order to prepare the way for a similar recognition by the estates of that realm. We are not informed what arguments the sagacious monarch made use of to dispel the scruples formerly entertained by that independent body, on a similar application in behalf of his daughter, the late queen of Portugal. They cap. 55. Ferreras, Hist. d'Es- This extreme simplicity of attire, 6 The writ is dated at Llerena, March 8. It was extracted by Marina from the archives of Toledo. Teoría, tom. ii. p. 18. 7 It is remarkable that the Aragonese writers, generally so inquisi 7 tive on all points touching the constitutional history of their country, should have omitted to notice the grounds on which the cortes thought proper to reverse its former decision in the analogous case of the infanta Isabella. There seems to have been even less reason for departing from ancient usage in the present instance, since Joanna had a son, to whom the cortes might lawfully have tendered its oath of recognition; for a female, although excluded from the throne in her own person, was regarded as competent to transmit the title unimpaired to her male heirs. Blancas XII. were completely successful, however; and Philip CHAPTER and Joanna, having ascertained the favorable disposition of cortes, made their entrance in great state into the ancient city of Saragossa, in the month of October. On the 27th, having first made oath before the Justice, to observe the laws and liberties of the realm, Joanna as future queen proprietor, and Philip as her husband, were solemnly recognised by the four arms of Aragon as successors to the crown, in default of male issue of King Ferdinand. The circumstance is memorable, as affording the first example of the parliamentary recognition of a female heir apparent in Aragonese history.R content. Amidst all the honors so liberally lavished on Philip's disPhilip, his bosom secretly swelled with discontent, fomented still further by his followers, who pressed him to hasten his return to Flanders, where the free and social manners of the people were much more congenial to their tastes, than the reserve and state suggests no explanation of the affair, (Coronaciones, lib. 3, cap. 20, and Commentarii, pp. 274, 511,) and Zurita quietly dismisses it with the remark, that "there was some opposition raised, but the king had managed it so discreetly beforehand, that there was not the same difficulty as formerly." (Hist. del Rey Hernando, tom. i. lib. 5, cap. 5.) It is curious to see with what effrontery the prothonotary of the cortes, in the desire to varnish over the departure from constitutional precedent, declares, in the opening address," the princess Joanna, true and lawful heir to the crown, to whom, in default of male heirs, the usage and law of the land require the oath of allegiance." Coronaciones, ubi supra. año 8 Carbajal, Anales, MS., Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. Petronilla, the only female who ever sat, in her own right, on the throne of Aragon, never received the homage of cortes as heir apparent; the custom not having been established at that time, the middle of the twelfth century. (Zurita, Anales, tom. v. lib. 5, cap. 5.) Blancas has described the ceremony of Joanna's recognition with quite as much circumstantiality as the novelty of the case could warrant. Coronaciones, lib. 3, cap. 20. |