Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/173

CHAPTER II. CONDITION OF ARAGON DURING THE MINORITY OF FERDI- NAND.— REIGN OF JOHN II., OF ARAGON. 1452—1472. John of Aragon. — Difficulties with his Son Carlos. — Birth of Fer- dinand. — Insurrection of Catalonia. — Death of Carlos. — His Character. — Tragical Story of Blanche. — Young Ferdinand be- sieged by the Catalans. — Treaty between France and Aragon. — Distress and Embarrassments of John. — Siege and Surrender of Barcelona. We must now transport the reader to Aragon, in chapter order to take a view of the extraordinary circum- — stances, which opened the way for Ferdinand's succession in that kingdom. The throne, which had become vacant by the death of Martin, in 1410, was awarded by the committee of judges to whom the nation had referred the great question of the succession, to Ferdinand, regent of Castile dur- ing the minority of his nephew, John the Second ; and thus the sceptre, after having for more than two centuries descended in the family of Barcelo- na, was transferred to the same bastard branch of Trastamara, that ruled over the Castilian monar- chy.^ Ferdinand the First was succeeded after a 1 The reader who may be curi- pedigree exhibiting the titles of ous in this matter will find the the several competitors to the