Page:A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country (1804).djvu/447

Rh The alliance was sought by several princes. The king of Portugal offered his hand; the king of France demanded her for his brother; and the king of Arragon for his son Ferdinand. The malcontents preferred the Arragonian prince, and Isabella prudently made the same choice. Articles were drawn up, and they were privately married by the archbishop of Toledo.

Henry was enraged at this alliance, which, he foresaw, would utterly ruin his authority, by furnishing his rebellious subjects with the support of a powerful neighbouring prince. He therefore disinherited his sister, and reestablished the right of his daughter. A furious civil war desolated the kingdom. The names of Joan and Isabella resounded from every quarter, and were every where the summons to arms. But peace was at length brought about, 1474. Henry was reconciled to his sister and to Ferdinand; though it does not appear that he ever renewed her right to the succession; for he affirmed, in his last moments, that he believed Joan to be his own daughter. The queen swore to the same effect; and Henry left a testamentary deed, transmitting the crown to this princess, who was proclaimed queen of Castile, at Placentia. But the superior fortune and arms of Ferdinand and Isabella prevailed, and the king of Portugal was obliged to abandon his niece and intended bride, after many ineffectual struggles and several years of war. Joan sunk into a convent, when she hoped to ascend a throne; and the death of Ferdinand's father, which happened about this time, added the kingdoms of Arragon and Sicily to those of Leon and Castile.

Ferdinand and Isabella were persons of great dence,