CHAPTER XVII.
liant train of French and Neapolitan lords.[1] On
the borders, at Fontarabia, she was received by the
archbishop of Saragossa, Ferdinand's natural son,
with a numerous retinue, composed chiefly of Aragonese and Catalan nobility, and was conducted
with much solemnity to Duefias, where she was
joined by the king. In this place, where thirty
years before he had been united to Isabella, he now,
as if to embitter still further the recollections of the
past, led to the altar her young and beautiful successor. "
1506.
March 18.
It seemed hard," says Martyr, in his
quiet way, " that these nuptials should take place
so soon, and that too in Isabella's own kingdom of
Castile, where she had lived without peer, and
where her ashes are still held in as much veneration as she enjoyed while living."[2]
Philip joined by the nobles It was less than six weeks after this, that Philip and Joanna landed at Coruna. Ferdinand, who had expected them at some nearer northern port, prepared without loss of time to go forward and receive them. He sent on an express to arrange the place of meeting with Philip, and advanced himself as far as Leon. But Philip had no intention of such an interview at present. He had pur-
- ↑ Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 2, dial. 30. — Memoires de Bayard, chap. 26.
- ↑ Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 300. — Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 2, dial. 36. — Carbajal, Anales, MS., ailo 1506. — Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 203. "Some affirmed," says Zurita, "that Isabella, before appointing her husband to the regency, exacted an oath from him, that he would not marry a second time." (Anales, torn. V. lib. 5, cap. 84.) This improbable story, so inconsistent with the queen's character, has been transcribed with more or less qualification by succeeding historians from Mariana to Quintana. Robertson repeats it without any qualification at all. See History of Charles V., vol. ii. p. 6.
