Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/243

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
217
217

PIE RESIGNS TO PHILIP. 217 the part of King Ferdinand, to conclude and exe- chapter XVII. cute the treaty. It was a2;reed, as the basis of the alliance, that treaty ^^■nh _'=' _ _ . France. the Catholic king should be married to Germaine, daughter of Jean de Foix, viscount of Narbonne, and of one of the sisters of Louis the Twelfth, and granddaughter to Leonora, queen of Navarre, — that guilty sister of King Ferdinand, whose fate is recorded in the earlier part of our History. The princess Germaine, it will be seen, therefore, was nearly related to both the contracting parties. She was at this time eighteen years of age, and very beautiful. ^^ She had been educated in the palace of her royal uncle, where she had imbibed the free and volatile manners of his gay, luxurious court. To this lady Louis the Twelfth consented to resign his claims on Naples, to be secured by way of dowry to her and her heirs, male or female, in perpetuity. In case of her decease without issue, the moiety of the kingdom recognised as his by the partition treaty with Spain was to revert to him. It was further agreed, that Ferdinand should reim- burse Louis the Twelfth for the expenses of the Neapolitan war, by the payment of one million gold ducats, in ten yearly instalments ; and lastly, that a 24 Aleson, Annales de Navarra, point perdu son embonpoint." (M6- tonn. V. lib. 35, cap. 7, sec. 4. — moires, chap. 19.) It would be Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 56. strange if she had at the age of — Salazar de Mendoza, Monarquia, eighteen. Varillas gets over the tom. i. p. 410. discrepancy of age between the " Laquelle," says Fleurange, parties very well, by making Fer- who had doubtless often seen the dinand's at this time only thirty- princess, " tloit bonne et fort belle seven years ! Hist, de Louis XII., princesse, du moins elle n'avoit tom. i. p. 457. VOL. III. 28