VICTORY OF CERIGNOLA. 67 All these arguments were ineffectual ; the inflex- chapter . . . xn. ible prince, turning a deaf ear alike to the entreaties of his unhappy wife, and the remonstrances of the spainfor '^^•^ J ^ _ France. Aragonese cortes still in session, set out from Ma- drid, with the whole of his Flemish suite, in the month of December. He left Ferdinand and Isa- bella disgusted with the levity of his conduct, and the queen, in particular, filled with mournful solici- tude for the welfare of the daughter, with whom his destinies were united. ^° Before his departure for France, Philip, anxious to reestablish harmony between that country and Spain, offered his services to his father-in-law in negotiating with Louis the Twelfth, if possible, a settlement of the differences respecting Naples. Ferdinand showed some reluctance at intrusting so delicate a commission to an envoy, in whose dis- cretion he placed small reliance, which was not augmented by the known partiality which Philip entertained for the French monarch. " Before the archduke had crossed the frontier, however, he was overtaken by a Spanish ecclesiastic named Bernaldo Boyl, abbot of St. Miguel de Cuxa, who brought full powers to Philip from the king for concluding a treaty with France, accompanied at the same time with private instructions of the most strict and W Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., followers, that the Spaniards very ubi supra. — Zurita, Anales, torn, generally believed the latter were in V. lib. 5, cap. 10. — Gomez, De the pay of Louis XII. See Go- Rebus Gestis, fol. 44. — Carbajal, mez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 44. — Anales, MS., aHo 1502. Zurita, Anales, torn. v. lib. 5, cap. 11 Such manifest partiality for 23. — Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., the French court and manners was epist. 253. — Lanuza, Historias, shown by Philip and his Flemish cap. 16.
