But the son of Frederick and
Eleanor, afterward the Emperor Maximilian I.,[27] married Mary of
Burgundy in 1477, which "gave a lift" to his race that enabled it to
increase in importance at a very rapid rate. Mary was in possession of
most of the immense dominions of her father, which he had intended to
convert into a kingdom, had he lived to complete his purpose. His
success would have had great effect on the after history of Europe, for
he would have reigned over the finest of countries, and his dominions
would have extended from the North Sea to Provence,--and over Provence
so powerful a sovereign would have had no difficulty in extending his
power,--which done, his dominions would have been touched by the
Mediterranean. Louis XI. of France got hold of some of Mary's
inheritance; but the greater part thereof she conveyed to Maximilian.
She died young, leaving a son and a daughter. The son was Philip the
Fair, who in 1496 married Juana, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella,
king of Aragon, and queen of Castille, and heiress of the Spanish
monarchy, which had come to great glory through the conquest of Granada,
and to wonderful influence through the discovery of the New
World,--events that took place in the same year, and but a short time
before the marriage of the Austrian archduke and the Peninsular
princess.
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