CHAPTER XXIII. CONQUEST OF NAVARRE. 1512—1513. Sovereigns of Navarre. — Ferdinand demands a Passage. — Invasion and Conquest of Navarre. — Treaty of Orth^s. — Ferdinand settles his Conquests. — His Conduct examined. — Gross Abuse of the Victory. While the Spaniards were thus winning barren chapter laurels on the fields of Italy, King Ferdinand was ^ — '-^-^— •> ' o Sovereigns making a most important acquisition of territory °^ Navarre. nearer home. The reader has already been made acquainted with the manner in which the bloody sceptre of Navarre passed from the hands of Elean- 1479 or, Ferdinand's sister, after a reign of a few brief days, into those of her grandson Phoebus. A fatal destiny hung over the house of Foix ; and the latter prince lived to enjoy his crown only four years, when he was succeeded by his sister Cath- 14 8 3. arine. It was not to be supposed, that Ferdinand and Isabella, so attentive to enlarge their empire to the full extent of the geographical limits which nature seemed to have assigned it, would lose the oppor-
