Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/37

11 PARTITION OF NAPLES. H X. in defence of his rojal kinsman. The first of these chaptek measures, which would bring a restless and power- ful rival on the borders of his Sicilian dominions, was not to be thought of for a moment. The latter, which pledged him a second time to the sup- port of pretensions hostile to his own, was scarcely more palatable. A third expedient suggested itself; the partition of the kingdom, as hinted in the nego- tiations with Charles the Eighth, ^^ by which means the Spanish government, if it could not rescue the whole prize from the grasp of Louis, would at least divide it with him. Instructions were accordingly given to Gralla, the minister at the court of Paris, to sound the govern- ment on this head, bringing it forward as his own private suggestion. Care was taken at the same time to secure a party in the French councils to the interests of Ferdinand. ^^ The suggestions of the Spanish envoy received additional weight from the report of a considerable armament then equipping in the port of Malaga. Its ostensible purpose was to cooperate with the Venetians in the defence of their possessions in the Levant. Its main object, however, was to cover the coasts of Sicily in any event from the French, and to afford means for prompt action on any point where circumstances might require it. The fleet consisted of about sixty 12 See Part IT., Chapter 3, of this gaged to him in Italy. (Hist, del History. Rey Hernando, lib. 3, cap. 40.) 13 According to Zurita, Ferdi- Comines calls the same nobleman nand secured the services of Guil- "a good sort of a man, qui aisement laume de Poictiers, lord of Clferieux croit, et pour especial tels person- and governor of Paris, by the nages,^^ meaning King Ferdinand, promise of the city of Cotron, mort- Comines, M6moires, liv. 8, chap. 23.