ld be much affected. The king
was not only attentive to the fate of his ally, and watchful lest the
general system of Europe should be affected by so important an event;
he also considered the similarity of his own situation with that of
Ferdinand, and regarded the issue of these transactions as a precedent
for himself. Joan, the daughter of Ferdinand by Isabella, was married to
the archduke Philip, and being, in right of her mother, heir of Castile,
seemed entitled to dispute with Ferdinand the present possession of that
kingdom. Henry knew that, notwithstanding his own pretensions by the
house of Lancaster, the greater part of the nation was convinced of
the superiority of his wife's title; and he dreaded lest the prince
of Wales, who was daily advancing towards manhood, might be tempted by
ambition to lay immediate claim to the crown. By his perpetual attention
to depress the partisans of the York family, he had more closely united
them into one party, and increased their desire of shaking off that
yoke under which they had so long labored, and of taking every advantage
which his oppressive government should give his enemies against him.
And as he possessed no independent force like Ferdinand, and governed
a kingdom more turbulent and unruly, which he himself by his narrow
politics had confirmed in factious prejudices, he apprehended that his
situation would prove in the issue still more precarious.

Nothing at first could turn out more contrary to the king's wishes than
the transactions in Spain. Ferdinand, as well as Henry, had become very
unpopular, and from a like cause, his former exactions and impositions;
and the states of Castile discovered an evident resolution of preferring
the title of Philip and Joan.

{1506.} In order, to take advantage of these favorable dispositions, the
archduke, now king of Castile, attended by his consort, embarked for
Spain during the winter season; but meeting with a violent tempest in
the Channel, was obliged to take shelter in the harbor of Weymouth. Sir
John Trenchard, a gentleman of authority in the county of Dorset,
hearing of a fleet upon the coast, had assembled some forces; and being
joined by Sir John Cary, who was also at the head of an armed body, he
came to that town. Finding that Philip, in order to relieve his sickness
and fatigue, was already come ashore, he invited him to his house; and
immediately despatched a messenger to inform the court of this important
incid