Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/119

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
93
93

xm. INVASION OF SPAIN. 93 and the eccentric conduct of his daughter, the in- chapter fanta Joanna. We have already seen the extrava- gant fondness with which that princess, notwith- standing her occasional sallies of jealousj, doated on her young and handsome husband. ^° From the hour of his departure she had been plunged in the deepest dejection, sitting day and night with her eyes fixed on the ground, in uninterrupted silence, or broken only by occasional expressions of petulant discontent. She refused all consolation, thinking only of rejoining her absent lord, and " equally re- gardless," says Martyr, who was then at the court, "of herself, her future subjects, and her afflicted parents." " On the 10th of March, 1503, she was delivered of her second son, who received the baptismal name of Ferdinand, in compliment to his grandfather.^^ No change, however, took place in the mind of the unfortunate mother, who from this time was wholly occupied with the project of returning to Flanders. An invitation to that effect, which she received from her husband in the month of November, deter- mined her to undertake the journey, at all hazards, 10 Philip is known in history by of this circumstance to obtain from the title of " the Handsome," im- Isabella a permanent exemption plying that he was, at least, quite from taxes for his favorite city, as remarkable for his personal qual- which his princely patronage waB ities, as his mental. fast raising up to contest the palm 11 Opus Epist., epist. 253. — of literary precedence with Sala- Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. manca, the ancient " Athens of viii. pp. 235, 238. — Gomez, De Spain." The citizens of the place Rebus Gestis, fol. 44. long preserved, and still preserve, 12 Carbajal, Anales, MS., aiTo for aught I know, the cradle of the 1503. — Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, royal infant, in token of their grati- fol. 45, 46. tude. Robles, Vida de Ximenez, He was born at Alcala de He- p. 127. nares. Ximenes availed himself