The First Governess of the Netherlands, Margaret of Austria. Eleanor E. Tremayne

the 10th of July 1494 the Duke of Orleans crossed the Alps with the advance guard of the French army. Charles soon followed, and was received with great honour by Ludovico Sforza and the Duke of Ferrara. After crossing Italy in triumph, he arrived at Naples without having broken a single lance, and made a solemn entry into the town, whilst the King of Naples, abandoned by his subjects and betrayed by his generals, fled to Sicily.

      But in the midst of his triumphs Charles learned, through the historian Commines, his ambassador in Venice, of the perfidy of his allies and of the new league that was formed against him by Henry VII. of England, Ferdinand of Aragon, Maximilian (recently elected emperor after the death of his father), the Pope Alexander VI., the Republic of Venice, and the Duke of Milan. All these confederates combined in a common interest to drive the French out of Italy, and to attack France from different sides at the same time.

      'The ambitious schemes of Charles VIII. established a community of interests among the great European states, such as had never before existed, or at least been understood; and the intimate relations thus introduced naturally led to intermarriages between the principal powers, who until this period seemed to have been severed almost as far asunder as if oceans had rolled between them.... It was while Charles VIII. was wasting his time at Naples that the marriages were arranged between the royal houses of Spain and Austria, by which the weight of these great powers was thrown into the same scale, and the balance of Europe unsettled for the greater part of the following century.

      'The Treaty of Venice provided that Prince John, the heir of the Spanish monarchies, then in his eighteenth year, should be united with the Princess Margaret, daughter of the Emperor Maximilian, and that the Archduke Philip, his son and heir, and sovereign of the Low Countries in his mother's right, should marry Joanna, second daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella. No dowry was to be required with either princess.'[6]

      The conditions of this double marriage were drawn up by Francisco de Rojas, sent to Flanders by Ferdinand and Isabella for this purpose. The proposals were agreed to by both sides, and it was arranged that the fleet which brought Joanna of Castile to Flanders should carry Margaret of Austria to Spain.

      The following amusing anecdote is from Zurita, and mentioned in A. R. Villa's Life of Doña Juana la Loca. Francisco de Rojas, who was chosen by Isabella to marry Margaret by proxy, was presented with a brocade garment by Antonio de Valle on his arrival in Flanders, and was told that he must see that he was tidy at the ceremony of betrothal, as according to the German custom he would have to undress as far as his doublet and hose. This he promised to do, but when he came to remove his coat, it was seen that his shirt protruded from his hose at the back. This carelessness caused him to be much teased by the courtiers, who with difficulty concealed their smiles at the time.

      By the end of the summer in 1496 a fleet, consisting of one hundred and thirty vessels, large and small, strongly manned and thoroughly equipped, was got ready for sea in the ports of Guipuzcoa and Biscay. The whole was placed under the command of Don Fadrique Enriquez, Admiral of Castile, who carried with him a splendid array of chivalry. A more gallant and beautiful Armada never before quitted the shores of Spain. The Infanta Joanna, attended by a numerous suite, embarked towards the end of August at the port of Laredo, on the eastern borders of Asturias, where she bade farewell to her mother, Queen Isabella, who travelled through Spain to take leave of her seventeen-year-old daughter. On August the 20th the queen wrote to Doctor de Puebla (Ferdinand's envoy in England) from Laredo to inform him that the fleet that was taking her daughter to Flanders, and bringing the Infanta Margaret to Spain, was to sail the next day. 'If they should enter an English port, she hopes that they will be treated in England as though they were the daughters of Henry VII. himself.'[7] The queen also addressed a letter to the King of England begging for the same favours. A navy of fifteen thousand armed men was needed to escort the bride to Flanders and bring back Prince John's betrothed to Spain. For two nights after the embarkation Isabella slept on the ship with her daughter, and when at last the fleet sailed on August 22nd, she turned her back on the sea, and rode with a heavy heart back to Burgos.

      The weather soon after Joanna's departure became extremely tempestuous, and the poor princess had a terrible voyage; her fleet was driven into Portland, and one of the largest ships came into collision and foundered. But this was not the end of her troubles, for on the Flemish coast another great ship was wrecked, with most of her household, trousseau, and jewels. Several vessels were lost, and many of her attendants perished from the hardships they had to endure, amongst them the old Bishop of Jaen, who had accompanied her to give state and dignity to her suite. Eventually the whole fleet arrived at Ramua, sorely disabled and needing a long delay for refitting before it could return to Spain.[8] Soon after her arrival in Flanders her marriage with the Archduke Philip was celebrated with much pomp at Lille. At a tournament given in her honour at Brussels, three knights wearing her colours entered the lists and fought against three of Margaret's knights; the latter were dressed in white, and wore 'marguerites' embroidered as their badge. Philip neglected and ill-treated his wife's countrymen to the extent of allowing nine thousand of the men on the fleet at Antwerp to die from cold and privation, without trying to help them; his young wife's Spanish household were unpaid, and even the income settled upon her by Philip was withheld, on the pretext that Ferdinand had not fulfilled his part of the bargain agreed upon in the marriage settlements.

      The fleet was detained until the following winter to carry the destined bride of the young Prince of Asturias to Spain. Margaret was now in her eighteenth year, and already distinguished for those intellectual qualities which made her later one of the most remarkable women of her time. She must have been a lovely girl, tall and fair, with masses of waving golden hair, a brilliant complexion, soft brown eyes, and a rather long narrow face, with the full under-lip so peculiar to the house of Austria. It is no wonder that Prince John fell in love with her, or that his parents welcomed her with admiration. In the spring of 1497 Margaret left Flushing and started on her long journey to Spain. She had an even worse voyage than her sister-in-law. A fearful storm arose, and her vessel was nearly wrecked. When the tempest had somewhat subsided, she and her companions amused themselves with each writing her own epitaph. Margaret composed the following well-known distich, which she bound to her arm for identification, and jokingly said might be engraved on her tomb, in case her body should be washed ashore:—

      'Cy gist Margot la gentil' Damoiselle,

      Qu' ha deux marys et encor est pucelle.'

      Fortunately this witty epitaph was not needed. The fleet passed the English Channel in the beginning of February, and was compelled through stress of weather to take refuge in the harbour of Southampton. On February the 3rd Henry VII. wrote the following letter to the Princess Margaret:—

      Most illustrious and most excellent Princess, our dearest and most beloved cousin,—With all our heart we send to greet you, and to recommend ourself. We have received through the most renowned, most prudent, and most discreet ambassador of our most beloved cousins the King and Queen of Spain, at our Court, the letters of the admiral and ambassador of the said King and Queen, who accompany your Excellence. By them we are informed that your Highness, enjoying the best of health, has entered with your whole fleet and suite our harbour of Southampton. Our subjects of that neighbourhood had already communicated to us the arrival of your Highness. As soon as we heard of it, we sent our well-beloved and trustworthy vassals and servants, the seneschal of our palace, and Sir Charles Somerset, our captain and guardian of our body, and also a doctor utriusque juris, and keeper of our Privy Seal, to see, visit, and consult you in our name, and to tell you how agreeable and delightful to us was the arrival of your Excellence in our dominions, especially as it has pleased God to give you and your company (to whom we recommend ourself likewise) good health and cheerful spirits. Our servants are to place at your disposal our person, our realm, and all that is to be found in it. They are to provide you with whatever you wish, and serve and obey you as ourself. You will more fully learn our intentions from them and from the letters of the Spanish ambassador who resides at our Court.'

      The following is in the king's handwriting:—

      'Dearest and most beloved cousin,—Desirous the more to assure your Excellence that your visit to us and to our realm is so agreeable and delightful to us, that the arrival of our own daughter could not give