NOTES TO THE THIRD BOOK OF THE COURTIER of Brussels. Having been betrothed to the Dauphin Charles (VIII) and then rejected by that prince in favour of Anne of Brittany, she married (i497) the Infant Juan of Castile, but soon lost both husband and child. In 1501 she married Duke Filiberto of Savoy, and after four years of happiness again became a widow. In 1507 she was entrusted by her father with the govern- ment of the Low Countries and the care of her nephew Charles (see note 462). She did much to further the progress of agriculture and commerce in her dominions, and besides showing a lofty spirit and no little political sagacity, she was a patroness of art and letters, and composed a great num- ber of poems in French, most of which are said to be lost. Her correspon- dence with her father has been published. Note 390, page 202. Maximilian I, Emperor of Germany, (born 1459; died 1519), was the son of the Emperor Frederick III of Hapsburg and Eleanora of Portugal. In 1477 he married Charles the Bold's daughter and heiress, Mary of Burgundy, who bore him five children and died in 1482. On the death of his father in 1493, he was elected Emperor, and soon afterwards married Bianca Maria, niece of Duke Ludovico Sforza of Milan. He was a member of the league that forced Charles VIII to retire from Italy (1495), of the League of Cambray against Venice (1508), and of the Holy League (1511) for the expul- sion of Louis XII from Italy. Although deriving little profit or honour from these and other foreign enterprises, he contrived by prudent marriages to add Bohemia and Hungary to his empire and to make Spain a possession of his family. He also effected many reforms in his government, and even founded several important institutions, such as a postal service and a permanent militia. From his youth he showed a taste for study, became a patron of scholars, poets and artists, and enriched the Universities of Vienna and Ingolstadt. Besides being an accomplished if not very successful soldier, he was the author of works on gardening, hunting and agriculture, as well as on military science. Note 391, page 202. Isabella the Catholic, (born 1451; died 1504), was the daughter and heiress of Juan II of Castile. Having been trained in retire- ment to habits of religious devotion, she married (1469) Ferdinand of Aragon, with whom she succeeded jointly to her father's crown in 1474, but was able to gain complete possession of her dominions only in 1479, the same year in which her husband succeeded his father as King of Aragon. Under her rule the Inquisition was established in Castile (1480), but she recoiled before its horrors and was reconciled to its continuance only by the direct assurance of Pope Si?tus IV. In 1481 began the long war, which (largely owing to her energy and perseverance) resulted in the expulsion of the Moors from Spain, and in which she is said to have organized the earliest military hospitals. The story of her noble patronage of Columbus is familiar. Her later years were clouded by the loss of two of her three children, including her only son, and by the unhappy conjugal life and mental disorder of her daughter, Juana, the mother of Charles V. Castiglione's praise of Isabella's lofty qualities is not a little justified by the facts of her life. In personal appearance, she is said 396
