Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/179

155 CHAPTER XVIII. ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF FERDINAND. — RETURN AND SECOND VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS. 1492 — 1493. Attempt on Ferdinand's Life. — Consternation and Loyalty of the Peo- ple. — Return of Columbus. — His Progress to Barcelona. — Inter- views with the Sovereigns. — Sensations caused by the Discovery. — Regulations of Trade. — Conversion of the Natives. — Famous Bulls of Alexander VI. — Jealousy of Portugal. — Second Voyage of Co- lumbus. — Treaty of TordesiUas. Towards the latter end of May, 1492, the Span- chapter ish sovereigns quitted Granada, between which and ^^"'' Santa Fe they had divided their time since the surrender of the Moorish metropolis. They were occupied during the two following months with the affairs of Castile. In August they visited Aragon, xhesove- proposing to establish their winter residence there Aragon. in order to provide for its internal administration, and conclude the negotiations for the final surren- der of Roussillon and Cerdagne by France, to which these provinces had been mortgaged by Ferdinand's father, John the Second ; proving ever since a fruitful source of diplomacy, which threat- ened more than once to terminate in open rupture. Ferdinand and Isabella arrived in Aragon on the 8th of August, accompanied by Prince John and the