hduke Philip,
inherited the crown of Castile from her mother in default of male
heirs, but her mental state excluded the possibility of her assuming
the functions of government. Already during her mother's lifetime, the
health of this unhappy princess, who has passed into history under the
title of Juana the Mad, gave rise to serious anxiety. Deserted by the
handsome and frivolous Philip at a time when she most required his
presence, she sank into a state of profound melancholy. She waited, in
vain, for the return of the husband whom her unreasoning jealousy and
amorous importunities had driven from her.

[Note 2: The Infante Don Juan died in October, 1497, shortly after
his early marriage with the Archduchess Margaret of Austria, and
without issue. Isabella, Queen of Portugal, died after giving birth to
a son, in whom the three crowns of Portugal, Castile, and Aragon would
have been united had the prince not expired in 1500, while still a
child. Dona Juana, second daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella and next
heir, had married, in 1496, the Archduke Philip of Austria, Duke of
Burgundy, and became the mother of Charles I. of Spain, commonly known
by his imperial title of Charles V.]

In conformity with the late Queen's wishes, Ferdinand hastened to
proclaim his daughter and Philip sovereigns of Castile, reserving to
himself the powers of regent. He was willing to gratify the archduke's
vanity by conceding him the royal title, while keeping the government
in his own hands, and had there been no one but his absent son-in-law
with whom to reckon, his policy would have stood a fair chance of
success. It was thwarted by the intrigues of a powerful faction
amongst the aristocracy, who deemed the opportunity a promising one
for recovering some of the privileges of which they had been shorn.

Ferdinand of Aragon had gained little hold on the affections of the
people of his wife's dominions, hence his position became one of
extreme difficulty. His opponents urged the archduke to hasten his
arrival in Spain and to assume the regency in the name of his invalid
wife. Rumours that Louis XII. had accorded his son-in-law permission
to traverse France at the head of a small army rendered the regency
insecure, and to forestall the complication of a possible alliance
between Philip and King Louis, Ferdinand, despite his advanced age and
the recent death of his wife, asked the hand of a French princess,
Germaine de Foix, in marriage, off