Page:The Queens of England.djvu/292

 252 THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. test, they were gratified ; for Ferdinand authorized his ambas- sador not only to confirm the former treaty made with Henry the Seventh, for the marriage of his son Henry with Katharine, Princess of Wales, but to concede an additional condition, namely, that no part of her fortune, whether already paid or to be paid, should be restored in any case, and to ratify the agreement, formerly entered into between the Emperor Max- imilian and his daughter Margaret, Duchess of Savoy, for the marriage of Charles, Prince of Spain, and Mary of England, sister to Henry. Ferdinand of Arragon had evinced some dissatisfaction that the marriage had been so long postponed, and now, with his daughter Jane, as well as Katharine herself, renounced all future claim to the portion of Katharine, amounting to no less a sum than 200,000 crowns, which was granted absolutely to the King of England. That Katharine was now desirous for the marriage may be argued from the fact of her asserting, that her union with Prince Arthur had not been of a nature to oppose her wedding his brother — a statement she need not have made, had she wished to avoid the marriage with Henry. The ill-starred nuptials were solemnized on the 3d of June, 1509, at the Bishop of Salisbury's house, in Fleet Street, with great magnificence, and the coronation of the royal pair took place on the 24th of the same month. Nothing was spared to render this ceremony worthy of the occasion, and no incon- siderable portion of the vast sum of gold hoarded by Henry the Seventh was expended to do honor to it. Nor were the subjects of the youthful and pleasure-loving monarch slow to adopt his taste for display and splendor, as those disposed to consult Hall, Holinshed, and other historians, will find; for they were heedless of expense in their dresses for the occasion. Katharine was then in her twenty-second year (being five years senior to Henry, who was in his eighteenth), and was esteemed an attractive, if not a beautiful woman. The dignified formality peculiar to her countrywomen of that period somewhat deteri- orated from her charms, by giving her an aspect of gravity, which made her appear older than she reallv was ; nevertheless she was handsome enough to justify the affection with which Henry was said to regard her during the first years of their union. Independent of the strict observance of etiquette in which the Infantas of Spain were brought up, and which must more or less influence their demeanor and manners during life,