n and that with Scotland went hand in hand.

And on another side too the alliance with Spain was very useful to the
King of England. Ferdinand had married his elder daughter Juana to
Maximilian's son the Archduke Philip: Philip could not possibly uphold
the Yorkist interests so zealously as his father or his grandmother.
It was an event of importance that at Whitsuntide 1500 a meeting took
place between the English and the Austro-Burgundian Court in the
neighbourhood of Calais. Henry applied himself to win over those whom
he knew to be his enemies: but at the same time he wished it to be
remarked that the Archduke showed him the honour which belongs to a
lawful King. If there were still Yorkist partisans in England, who
placed their hopes in the house of Burgundy, they would find that they
had nothing more to hope from that quarter.

So the Spanish alliance served the prudent and circumspect politician,
to secure him from any hostile action on the side of Scotland and the
Netherlands. When Catharine in 1501 came to England for her marriage,
she was received with additional joy because it was felt that her near
connexion with the Burgundian house promised good relations with the
Netherlands.[78]

But never was a more eventful marriage concluded.

We do not know whether the Prince of Wales had really consummated it
when he died before he was yet sixteen. But the two fathers were so
well satisfied with an alliance which increased the security of the
one and gained the other great consideration in the world, that they
could not bring themselves to give up the family connexion, by which
it was so much strengthened. The thought occurred to Ferdinand--a very
unusual one in the rest of the European world, though not indeed in
Spain--of marrying the Infanta to Henry, brother of the deceased
prince, who was now recognised as Prince of Wales. With his condolence
for the loss he united a proposal for the new marriage. In England
from the beginning men did not hide from themselves that as regarded
the future succession, which ought not to be contested from any side,
the matter had its delicate points. The solution which Henry found
shows clearly enough the natural tactics of the old politician. He
obtained from the Roman Court a dispensation for the new marriage,
which expressly included the case of the first marriage having been
consummated. But it almost appears as though he did not fully trust
this authorisation. High as the