Queens of old SpainHume, Martin A. S. (Martin Andrew Sharp)
Philosophy
Queens of old Spain
Hume, Martin A. S. (Martin Andrew Sharp)
Queens -- Spain; Spain -- History; Women -- Political activity
On the 7th May 1502, Joan and her husband entered the imperial city of
Toledo with all the ceremony that Castile could supply. At the door of
the great hall in the Alcazar, Isabel stood to receive her heirs. Both
knelt before her and tried to kiss her hand, but the Queen raised them,
and embracing her daughter, carried her off to her private chamber. Soon
afterwards the Archduchess and her husband took the oath as heirs of
Castile in the vast Gothic Cathedral; and the splendid festivities to
celebrate the event were hardly begun before another trouble came in the
announcement of the death of Arthur, Prince of Wales, husband of
Isabel’s youngest daughter, Katharine. The event immediately changed the
aspect of the game. The next heir of England was a boy of eleven, who
might be married to a French princess, and thus cause one other blow to
Ferdinand’s carefully arranged schemes. This made it more necessary than
ever that Joan and Philip should be brought into entire obedience to
Spanish views. War broke out between France and Spain at once, and
strenuous efforts were made by Ferdinand to expel from Spain the
councillors of Philip, who were known to be in the French interest.[91]
The Archduchess and her husband were then taken to Aragon, to receive
the homage of the Cortes there as heirs of Ferdinand, and then Philip,
in spite of all remonstrance, hurried back again to his own country.
Isabel gravely took her son-in-law to task when he announced his
intention to return to Flanders by land through France whilst Spain was
at war. It was, she said, his duty to recollect, moreover, that he was,
in right of his wife, heir to one of the greatest thrones in the world,
and should stay at least long enough in the country to know the people
and their language and customs. To her entreaties the Archduchess, now
far advanced in pregnancy, and unable to travel, added her prayers and
tears. But all in vain; Philip, against the respectful protest even of
the Cortes, would go, and insisted upon travelling through France, the
enemy of Spain.[92] So, almost in flight, Philip of Burgundy crossed the
frontiers of his father-in-law, leaving his wife Joan and their unborn
child in Castile, in December 1502.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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