Note 104 — BOOK II JOAN THE MAD

It has already been mentioned on page 26 that, according to Galindez, a will of Henry IV. leaving the crown of Castile to the Beltraneja had come into Ferdinand’s possession on Isabel’s death. The authority for the statement that Ferdinand offered marriage to the Beltraneja at this juncture is principally Zurita, ‘Anales de Aragon,’ and it was adopted by Mariana and later historians. Mr. Prescott scornfully rejects the whole story, without, as it seems to me, any reason whatever for doing so, except that it tells against Ferdinand’s character. It is surely too late in the day to hope to save that.