further
reference. And then the saintly Queen concludes thus: "The one object of
this business is to bring the betrothal to a conclusion as soon as
possible in conformity with your instructions. For then all our anxiety
will cease and we shall be able to seek the aid of England against France,
for this is the most efficient aid we can have." Henry was not for the
moment to be frightened by fresh demands for his armed alliance against
France. The betrothal was to be forwarded first, and then the rest would
follow. Puebla, who was quite confident that he alone could carry on the
marriage negotiation successfully, was also urged by mingled flattery and
threats by his sovereign to do his utmost with that end.

Whilst this diplomatic haggling was going on in London for the disposal of
the widowed Katharine to the best advantage, a blow fell that for a moment
changed the aspect of affairs. Elizabeth of York, the wife of Henry VII.,
died on the 11th February 1503, in the Tower of London, a week after
giving birth to her seventh child. She had been a good and submissive wife
to the King, whose claim to the throne she had fortified by her own
greater right; and we are told that the bereaved husband was "heavy and
dolorous" with his loss when he retired to a solitary place to pass his
sorrow; but before many weeks were over he and his crony Puebla put their
crafty heads together, and agreed that the King might marry his widowed
daughter-in-law himself. The idea was cynically repulsive but it gives us
the measure of Henry's unscrupulousness. Puebla conveyed the hint to
Isabel and Ferdinand, who, to do them justice, appeared to be really
shocked at the suggestion. This time (April 1503) the Spanish sovereigns
spoke with more sincerity than before. They were, they told their
ambassador, tired of Henry's shiftiness, and of their daughter's equivocal
and undignified position in England, now that the Queen was dead and the
betrothal still hung fire. The Princess was really to come to Spain in a
fleet that should be sent for her, unless the marriage with the young
Prince of Wales was agreed to at once. As for a wife for King Henry there
was the widowed Queen of Naples, Ferdinand's niece, who lived in Valencia,
and he might have her with the blessing of the Spanish sovereigns.[9] The
suggestion was a tempting one to Henry, for the Queen of Naples was well
dowered, and the vigour of Isabel's refusal to listen to his marriage with
her daug