HISTORY OF KING HENRY VII.
did grind more than ever : so that it was a strange thing to see what golden showers poured down upon the king s treasury at once; the last pay ments of the marriage-money from Spain ; the subsidy; the benevolence; the recoinage; the redemption of the city s liberties; the casualties. And this is the more to be marvelled at, because the king had then no occasions at all of wars or troubles. He had now but one son and one daughter unbestowed. He was wise; he was of a high mind ; he needed not to make riches his glory; he did excel in so many things else; save that certainly avarice doth ever find in itself matter of ambition. Belike he thought to leave his son such a kingdom, and such a mass of treasure, as he might choose his greatness where he would. This year was also kept the sergeants feast, which was the second call in this king s days. About this time, Isabella, Queen of Castile, deceased ; a right noble lady, and an honour to her sex and times, and the corner-stone of the greatness of Spain that, hath followed. This accident the king took not for news at large, but thought it had a great relation to his own affairs, especially in two points: the one for example, the other for consequence. First, he conceived that the case of Ferdinando of Arragon, after the death of Queen Isabella, was his own case after the death of his own queen; and the case of Joan the heir unto Castile, was the case of his own son Prince Henry. For if both of the kings had their kingdoms in the right of their wives, they descended to the heirs, and did not accrue to the husbands. And although his own case had both steel and parchment, more than the other, that is to say, a conquest in the field, and an act of par liament, yet notwithstanding, that natural title of descent in blood did, in the imagination even of a wise man, breed a doubt that the other two were not safe nor sufficient. Wherefore he was wonderful diligent to inquire and observe what became of the King of Arragon, in holding and continuing the kingdom of Castile; and whether he did hold it in his own right; or as adminis trator to his daughter ; and whether he were like to hold it in fact, or to be put out by his son-in- law. Secondly, he did revolve in his mind, that the state of Christendom might by this late acci dent have a turn. For whereas, before time, himself, with the conjunction of Arragon and Castile, which then was one, and the amity of Maximilian and Philip his son the archduke, was far too strong a party for France ; he began to fear, that now the French king, (who had great interest in the affections of Philip, the young King of Castile, who was in ill terms with his father-in-law about the present govern ment of Castile ; and thirdly, Maximilian, Philip s father, who was ever variable, and VOL. I 48 upon whom the surest aim that could be taken was, that he would not be long as he had lie, - last before, would, all three, being potent princes, nter into some strait league and confederation amongst themselves: whereby though he should not been dangered, yet he should be left to the poor amity of Arragon. And whereas he had been heretofore a kind of arbiter of Europe, he should now go less, and be over-topped by so great a conjunction. He had also, as it seems, an inclination to marry, and bethought himself of some fit conditions abroad ; and amongst others he had heard of the beauty and virtuous behaviour of the young Queen of Naples, the widow of Ferdinando the younger, being then of matronal years of seven-and-twenty : by whose marriage he thought that the kingdom of Naples, having been a goal for a time between the King of Arragon and the French king, and being but newly settled, might in some part be deposited in his hands, who was so able to keep the stakes. Therefore he sent in embassage or message three confident persons, Francis Marsin, James Bray- brooke, and John Stile, upon two several inqui sitions rather than negotiations. The one touch ing the person and condition of the young Queen of Naples; the other touching all particulars of estate, that concerned the fortunes and intentions of Ferdinando. And because they may observe best, who themselves are observed least, he sent them under colourable pretexts: giving them letters of kindness and compliment from Catha rine the princess, to her aunt and niece, the old and young Queen of Naples, and delivering to them also a book of new articles of peace : which notwithstanding it had been delivered unto Doctor de Puebla, the lieger ambassador of Spain here in England, to be sent; yet for that the king had been long without hearing from Spain, he thought good those messengers, when they had been with the two queens, should likewise pass on to the court of Ferdinando, and take a copy of the book with them. The instructions touching the Queen of Naples were so curious and exquisite, being as articles whereby to direct a survey, or framing a particular of her person, for complexion, favour, feature, stature, health, age, customs, behaviour, conditions, and estate, as, if the king had been young, a man would have judged him to be amorous: but, being ancient, it ought to be inter preted, that sure he was very chaste, for that he meant to find all things in one woman, and so to settle his affections without ranging. But in this match he was soon cooled, when he heard from his ambassadors, that this young queen had had a goodly jointure in the realm of Naples, well answered during the time of her uncle Frederick, yea, and during the time of Lewis, the French king, in whose division- her revenue fell; but since the time that the kingdom was in Ferdi- nando s hands, all was assigned to the army and 2i2
