Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/292

268 268 ITALIAN WARS. PART purchased a reconciliation with Henry the Seventh '- — of England, and with Maximilian, the emperor elect ; and finally, by that of Barcelona, effected an amicable adjustment of his difficulties with Spain. ^^ rispecun""^ This treaty, which involved the restoration of Roussillon and Cerdagne, was of great importance to the crown of Aragon. These provinces, it will be remembered, had been originally mortgaged by Ferdinand's father. King John the Second, to Louis the Eleventh of France, for the sum of three hun- dred thousand crowns, in consideration of aid to be afforded by the latter monarch against the Catalan insurgents. Although the stipulated sum had never been paid by Aragon, yet a plausible pretext for requiring the restitution was afforded by Louis the Eleventh's incomplete performance of his engage- ments, as w^ell as by the ample reimbursement, which the French government had already derived from the revenues of these countries. *' This treaty douteux si cette moderation fut of Aragon ; and some state, that I'ouvraffe d'une connoissance ap- payment of the debt, for which the profondie de ses vrais int^rets, ou provinces were mortgaged, was sub- seulement de cette defiance qu'il sequently tendered to the French avoit des grands de son royaume, king. (See, among others, Sis- et qu'il n'osoit perdre de vue." mondi,RepubliqucsItaliennes,tom. Observations sur I'Histoire de xii. p. 93. — Roscoe, Life and Poii- France, QEuvres, (Paris, 1794-5,) tificato of Leo X., (London, lSii7,) liv. 6, chap. 4. vol. i. p. 147.) The first of these IC Flassan, Histoire de laDiplo- statements is a palpable error; and matie Francaise, (Paris, 1809,) I find no evidence of the last in any torn. i. pp. 254-259. — Dumont, Spanish authority, where, if true, Corps LJniversel Diplomatique du it would naturally have been no- Droit des Gens, (Amsterdam, ticed. I must, indeed, except Ber- 1726-31,) torn. iii. pp. 297 - 300. naldez, who says, that Ferdinand 17 See the narrative of these having repaid the money, borrowed transactions in tlie Fifth and Sixth by his father from Louis XL, to Chapters of Part L of this History. Charles VIIL, the latter monarch Most historians seem to take it returned it to Isabella, in consid- for granted, that Louis XL ad- eration of the great expenses in- vanced a sum of money to the king curred by the Moorish war. It is