Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/182

I. 38 REIGN OF JOHN II., OF ARAGON. PART summoned the Aragonese cortes at Fraga for the purpose of receiving their homage to himself; but he expressly refused their request touching a simi- lar ceremony to the prince of Viana ; and he openly rebuked the Catalans for presuming to address him as the successor to the crown. ^^ In this unnatural procedure it was easy to discern the influence of the queen. In addition to her original causes of aversion to Carlos, she regarded him with hatred as the insuperable obstacle to her own child Ferdinand's advancement. Even the affection of John seemed to be now wholly trans- ferred from the offspring of his first to that of his second marriage ; and, as the queen's influence over him was unbounded, she found it easy by artful suggestions to put a dark construction on every action of Carlos, and to close up every av- enue of returning affection within his bosom. Convinced at length of the hopeless alienation of his father, the prince of Viana turned his atten tion to other quarters, whence he might obtain sup port, and eagerly entered into a negotiation, which had been opened with him on the part of Henry the Fourth, of Castile, for a union with his sister the princess Isabella. This was coming in direct collision with the favorite scheme of his parents. The marriage of Isabella with the young Ferdi- nand, which indeed, from the parity of their ages, was a much more suitable connexion than that vi'ith 19 Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, iv. fol. 70-75. — Aleson, Anales ubi supia. — Zunta, Anales, torn, de Navarra, torn. iv. p. 556.