Philip died young, leaving a son, Charles,
and Joanna, an insane wife, to watch his grave through weary years of
woe. Upon the death of Ferdinand, in January, 1516, Charles, the
grandson of Maximilian, became undisputed heir to the whole monarchy of
Spain; then, perhaps, the grandest power in Europe, including Naples,
Sicily and Navarre. This magnificent inheritance, coming so directly
into the family, and into the line of succession, invested Maximilian
and the house of Austria with new dignity.
It was now an object of intense solicitude with Maximilian, to secure
the reversion of the crowns of Hungary and Bohemia, which were both upon
the brow of Ladislaus, to his own family. With this object in view, and
to render assurance doubly sure, he succeeded in negotiating a marriage
between two children of Ladislaus, a son and a daughter, and two of his
own grand-children. This was a far pleasanter mode of acquiring
territory and family aggrandizement than by the sword. In celebration of
the betrothals, Ladislaus and his brother Sigismond, King of Poland,
visited Vienna, where Ladislaus was so delighted with the magnificent
hospitality of his reception, that he even urged upon the emperor, who
was then a widower, fifty-eight years of age, that he should marry
another of his daughters, though she had but attained her thirteenth
year.
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