-was all that was now required to
make of the Spanish Peninsula one kingdom. This Isabella planned to
accomplish by the marriage of her oldest daughter, Isabella, with the
King of Portugal. Her son John, heir to the Spanish throne, had died
suddenly just after his marriage with the daughter of Maximilian,
Emperor of Germany.

This terrible blow was swiftly followed by another, the death of her
daughter Isabella, and also that of the infant which was expected to
unite the kingdoms of Portugal and Spain. The succession of Castile
and Aragon now passed to Joanna, her second daughter, who had married
Philip, Archduke of Austria and son of Maximilian, an unfortunate
child who seemed on the verge of madness.

Isabella's youngest daughter, Catherine, became the wife of Henry
VIII. of England. Happily the mother did not live to witness this
child's unhappiness; but her heart-breaking losses and domestic griefs
were greater than she could bear. The unbalanced condition of Joanna,
upon whom rested all her hopes, was undermining her health. The
results of the expedition of Columbus had exceeded the wildest dreams
of romance. Gold was pouring in from the West enough to pay for the
war with the Moors many times over, and for all wars to come. Spain,
from being the poorest, had suddenly become the richest country in
Europe; richest in wealth, in territory, and in the imperishable glory
of its discovery. But Isabella,--who had been the instrument in this
transformation,--who had built up a firm united kingdom and swept it
clean of heretics, Jews, and Moors,--was still a sad and disappointed
woman, thwarted in her dearest hopes; and on the 26th of November,
1504, she died leaving the fruits of her triumphs to a grandson six
years old.

This infant Charles was proclaimed King of Castile under the regency
of his ambitious father, the Archduke of Austria, and his insane
mother. The death of the Archduke and the incapacity of Joanna in a
few years gave to Ferdinand the control of the two kingdoms for which
he had contended and schemed, until his own death in 1516, when
the crowns of Castile and Aragon passed to his grandson, who was
proclaimed Charles I., King of Spain.

A plain, sedate youth of sixteen was called from his home in Flanders
to assume the crowns of Castile and Aragon. Silent, reserved, and
speaking the Spanish language very imperfectly, the impression
produced by the young King was very unpromising. No one suspected the