Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/189

MINORITY OF FERDINAND. 45 gaged, it must surely elevate his character in the ciiaptku estimation of an enlightened posterity. 1— The trasjedy did not terminate with the death of Trasirn o J slorv 111 Carlos. His sister Blanche, notwithstanding the ''""' inoffensive gentleness of her demeanor, had long been involved, by her adhesion to her unfortunate brother, in a similar proscription with him. The succession to Navarre having now devolved on her, she became tenfold an object of jealousy both to her father, the present possessor of that king- dom, and to her sister Eleanor, countess of Foix, to whom the reversion of it had been promised by John, on his own decease. The son of this lady, Gaston de Foix, had lately married a sister of Louis the Eleventh, of France ; and, in a treaty subse- quently contracted between that monarch and the king of Aragon, it was stipulated that Blanche should be delivered into the custody of the countess of Foix, as surety for the succession of the latter, and of her posterity, to the crown of Navarre. ^^ Conformably to this provision, John endeavoured to persuade the princess Blanche to accompany him into France, under the pretext of forming an alli- ance for her with Louis's brother, the duke of Berri. The unfortunate lady, comprehending too well her father's real purpose, besought him with the most piteous entreaties not to deliver her into the hands of her enemies ; but, closing his heart against all natural affection, he caused her to be 29 This treaty was signed at Olit p. 235. — Gaillard confounds it in Navarre, April 12th, 1462. — with the subsequent one made in Zurita, Anales, lib. 17, cap. 38, the month of May, near the town 1^ 39. — Gaillard, Rivalit6, tom. iii. of Salvatierra in Bearne.