Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/376

352 352 THE ROYAL FAMILY. PART II. Margaret of Austria. At length, the long-desh'ed intelligence came of the arrival of the Castilian fleet at its place of des- tination. It had been so grievously shattered, how- ever, by tempests, as to require being refitted in the ports of England. Several of the vessels were lost, and many of Joanna's attendants perished from the inclemency of the weather, and the nu- merous hardships to which they were exposed. The infanta, however, happily reached Flanders in safety, and, not long after, her nuptials with the archduke Philip were celebrated in the city of Lisle with all suitable pomp and solemnity. The fleet was detained until the ensuing winter, to transport the destined bride of the young prince of the Asturias to Spain. This lady, who had been affianced in her cradle to Charles the Eighth of France, had received her education in the court of Paris. On her intended husband's marriage with the heiress of Brittany, she had been returned to her native land under circumstances of indignity never to be forgiven by the house of Austria. She was now in the seventeenth year of her age, and had already given ample promise of those uncom- mon powers of mind, which distinguished her in riper years, and of which she has left abundant evidence in various written compositions.^^ 17 Peter Mart3T, Opus Epist., cpist. 174. — Garibay, Compendio, torn. ii. lib. 19, cap. 6. — Gaillard, Rivalit^, torn. iii. pp. 416, 423. — Sandoval, Historia del Emperador Carlos v., (Amberes, 1681,) torn. 1. p. 2. These, comprehending her verses, public addresses, and discourse on her own life, have been collected into a single volume, under the title of "La Couronne Margari- tique," Lyons, 1549, by the French writer Jean la Maire de Beiges, her faithful follower, but whose greatest glory it is, to have been the instructer of Clement Marot.