348 CONQUEST OF NAVARRE. II. PART tunity now presented of incorporating into it the hitherto independent kingdom of Navarre, bj the marriage of their own heir with its sovereign. All their efforts, however, were frustrated by the queen mother Magdaleine, sister of Louis the Eleventh, who, sacrificing the interests of the nation to her prejudices, evaded the proposed match, under vari- ous pretexts, and in the end effected a union be- tween her daughter and a French noble, Jean d'Albret, heir to considerable estates in the neigh- bourhood of Navarre. This was a most fatal error. The independence of Navarre had hitherto been maintained less through its own strength, than the weakness of its neighbours. But, now that the petty states around her had been absorbed into two great and powerful monarchies, it was not to be expected, that so feeble a barrier would be longer respected, or that it would not be swept away in the first collision of those formidable forces. But, although the independence of the kingdom must be lost, the princes of Navarre might yet maintain their station by a union with the reigning family of France or Spain. By the present connexion with a mere private individual they lost both the one and the other.' Distrust of Still the most friendly relations subsisted be- ^nnin. "^ tween the Catholic king and his niece during the lifetime of Isabella. The sovereigns assisted her in taking possession of her turbulent dominions, as well as in allaying the deadly feuds of the Bcau- 1 See Part I. Chapters 10, 12. Spain
