The following amusing anecdote is from Zurita, and mentioned in A. R. Villa's _Life of Doña Juana la Loca_. Francisco de Rojas, who was chosen by Isabella to marry Margaret by proxy, was presented with a brocade garment by Antonio de Valle on his arrival in Flanders, and was told that he must see that he was tidy at the ceremony of betrothal, as according to the German custom he would have to undress as far as his doublet and hose. This he promised to do, but when he came to remove his coat, it was seen that his shirt protruded from his hose at the back. This carelessness caused him to be much teased by the courtiers, who with difficulty concealed their smiles at the time. By the end of the summer in 1496 a fleet, consisting of one hundred and thirty vessels, large and small, strongly manned and thoroughly equipped, was got ready for sea in the ports of Guipuzcoa and Biscay. The whole was placed under the command of Don Fadrique Enriquez, Admiral of Castile, who carried with him a splendid array of chivalry. A more gallant and beautiful Armada never before quitted the shores of Spain. The Infanta Joanna, attended by a numerous suite, embarked towards the end of August at the port of Laredo, on the eastern borders of Asturias, where she bade farewell to her mother, Queen Isabella, who travelled through Spain to take leave of her seventeen-year-old daughter. On August the 20th the queen wrote to Doctor de Puebla (Ferdinand's envoy in England) from Laredo to inform him that the fleet that was taking her daughter to Flanders, and bringing the Infanta Margaret to Spain, was to sail the next day. 'If they should enter an English port, she hopes that they will be treated in England as though they were the daughters of Henry VII. himself.'[7] The queen also addressed a letter to the King of England begging for the same favours. A navy of fifteen thousand armed men was needed to escort the bride to Flanders and bring back Prince John's betrothed to Spain. For two nights after the embarkation Isabella slept on the ship with her daughter, and when at last the fleet sailed on August 22nd, she turned her back on the sea, and rode with a heavy heart back to Burgos. [7] _Calendar of Spanish State Papers_, vol. i.