Note 83 — Chapter III
Reading edition
Ferdinand sent at once an envoy to remonstrate with Maximilian about his son’s pretensions, but it was soon seen that Maximilian and his son were entirely in accord. Maximilian had the effrontery to claim the crown of Portugal in right of his mother, Doña Leonor of Portugal, and the crown of Castile for Juana, in preference to any daughter that might be born to her eldest sister, Isabel of Portugal. Ferdinand’s enemy, the King of France, naturally supported these pretensions, which were really put forward at the time to thwart Ferdinand, whose plans in Italy were now seen to threaten the suzerainty of the empire over some of the Italian States.