Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/172

28 28 REIGN OF JOHN II., OF CASTILE. P.^RT I. Death of John II. Birth of Isa- bella. melancholy presages of the future, the unhappy prince lamented to his faithful attendant Cibdareal. on his deathbed, that " he had not been born the son of a mechanic, instead of king of Castile." He died July 21st, 1454, after a reign of eight and forty years, if reign it may be called, which was more properly one protracted minority. John left one child by his first wife, Henry, who succeeded him on the throne ; and by his second wife two others, Alfonso, then an infant, and Isabella, afterwards queen of Castile, the subject of the present narra- tive. She had scarcely reached her fourth year at the time of her father's decease, having been born on the 22d of April, 1451, at Madrigal. The king recommended his younger children to the especial care and protection of their brother Henry, and assigned the town of Cuellar, with its territory and a considerable sum of money, for the maintenance of the Infanta Isabella." ^^ 43 Cronica de Juan II., p. 576. — Cibdareal, Centon Epistolario, epist. 105. There has been considerable dis- crepancy, even among cotempora- ry writers, both as to the place and the epoch of Isabella's birth, amounting, as regards the latter, to nearly two years. I have adopt- ed the conclusion of Seilor Clemen- cin, formed from a careful collation of the various authorities, in the sixth volume of the Memorias de la Real Academia de Historia, (Ma- drid, 1821,) Ilust. 1, pp. 56-60. Isaliellawas descended both on the father's and mother's side from the famous John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster. See Florez, Memorias de las Reynas Catholicas, (2d ed. Madrid, 1770,) tom. ii. pp. 743, 787.