can content the Ambition of a Man much more Elevated by Fortune than I am but it is not what I seek Madam and you can do more here for me than I can desire for the being the most happy of all men I know not continued he siighing if the respect I owe to your Majesty should permit me to pursue this discourse but I fancied that in abandoning my Life for you you would if you could render it happy He stopped here some moments without saying any thing during which the Queen was in great pain fearing that in the disorder she saw him he would make use of the necessity there was of him for the exacting something from her that might be contrary to her Glory Insomuch that she was two or three times upon the point of sending him back without hearing him any more When Don Geronimo taking Courage I know Madam pursued he that it is not for such a man as I to dare to make his Queen his confident and such a Queen as your Majesty but I can only address my self to you and the Passion I have for the Countess of Palomer being such that I can no longer conceal it I have hopes that it depending on you to render any one of the Court happy you will consider the interests of a man who is willing to sacrifice himself for the endeavouring to render you less unfortunate This Princess who did really tremble and changed Colour twice or thrice was ravished with joy that this sigh was not addressed to her so that she easily pardoned him the Liberty of his Confidence and not being able to hold from laughing at the fear she had she asked him if the Countess knew the sentiments he had for her upon which this Lover answering that respect had ever hindred him from declaring them to her although he had been more than Six Years passionately in Love she took upon her to acquaint her with them and to serve him as much as she could This so overjoyed the Amourous Don Geronimo that casting himself at her Feet he could not be thankfull enough for so much goodness The Queen made him rise and told him that he might repose in her the interests of his Heart and that he should think of her Letter Affair which this Lover promised her and went to labour that moment for the dispatching away secretly for Naples a Brigantine of Twelve Oars of a side Don Geronimo being retired and the Countess coming to the Queen was much surprized to find her laughing all alone she made known to her the joy she had to see her in so good a Humour and begged she would impart to her with the soonest the Subject of it that she might also laugh this Princess told her that she charged her self with a Commission to her which she knew not if she should come of with Honour but that it was so extraordinary that though it was upon a very serious matter she could not promise she should acquit her self of it in that Tone and that in a word if there happened any change in her misfortunes she should be obliged for it to her Charmes for the Love of which the passionate Don Geronimo was obliged to serve her The Countess blushed at the Queens Raillery remembring the boldness he had for to kiss her Hand which had then made her suspect something but she fell a laughing with the Princess and told her that she had well foreseen that she should pay all the charges of that Embassy that however she should never have beleived that the Folly of a man of that Birth who had been her Domestick could have mounted to have considered her upon that Foot and that now she saw that Fortune made People Blind The Queen took the Lovers part and the thing having been again turned into Raillery she told her the fear she had been in her self and begged of her at the same time she would manage the Spirit of this man till that her business was done which the Countess the more casily promised her for that she prepared to divert her self with the passion of this Minister as well as make use of it for the obtaining what they desired of him King Charles had at that time an Army before Catenzano under the Command of the Count d' Artois who beseiged it by Sea and Land Which King James of Arragon having learnt he departed from Sicily with a powerful Fleet for the releiveing that City with Five Hundred men at Armes and de Loria his Admiral but he found those of Charles with the Majorquins in so good order before the Port of Catenzano that he never durst attack them nor attempt the Succours on that side He fancied it would be more easie for him by Land Wherefore having disembarqued his Catalonians with de Loria they advanced towards the Army of the Count d' Artois who repulsed them as far as the Sea constraining them to get with all haste into their Galleys Which was the only time that that great Captain Roger de Loria was ever Conquered Charles the Second received the Letter of the Queen of Majorca his Daughter at the same time he did the news of this Victory and the one raising in him as much pitty as the other gave him joy he resolved to send expresly an Ambassador to the King of Majorca to make him his complaints He made choice for that Embassy of Count Hannibal d' Aveline as one who had not only the most Wit and Merit of any Lord of the Court but was most capable of performing his Commission and speaking with the requisite Tone to the King of Majorca Wherefore he bid him prepare himself with the soonest for this Voyage and gave order at the same time for the making ready Three Galleys for the carrying him with all his Train to the Isle of Majorca He wrote Three Letters one for this King the other for the Queen and the Third for Don Geronimo which Count Hannibal had orders to deliver him in particular and to testify to him how sensible the King was of the good Offices he rendred to the Queen his Daughter Hannibal was not so much Charmed with the Honour of this employ because that the King thereby distinguished him from so many other Lords in that Court as because it gave him the opportunity of rendring an important service to a Princess he had so passionately loved and these hopes renewing a flame in his Heart that neither absence nor any other reason had been yet able to extinguish he used all manner of cares diligence measures and precaution that his Deputation might succeed to the advantage and contentment of the Queen Her Beauty returned into his mind with more force than ever and more in Love than he had ever been with her Charmes all that he said and did since the King had given him this Commission was only for his fair Princess till his arrival at Majorca which was at six of the Clock in the
Morning with Three of the finest Galleys of Naples having brought with him a Hundred Young Gentlemen whom his merit as well as his magnificence and Liberality bound to his Person He landed with this fine Train which immediately drew all the People to see them disembarke and they were so astonished at the richness of the habits as well as the good meen of the cheif and of those of his Company that the report run immediately through the City that it was King Charles himself who came to see his Daughter This news being presently carryed to Belver came to the Ears of the King of Majorca who not knowing what to think of it sent incessantly Don Geronimo to inform himself of the truth The Queen who had heard the report as soon as the King had an unspeakable joy and having sent for the Countess of Palomer they went together into her Cabinet from whence they saw those Three Galleys For Belver is upon a rising ground which commands over all the City They were in such delight that their joy was heard by all the apartment They were however in great pain as well as the King to know who was come not doubting but that it was some one that the King of Naples had sent in Consequence of their Letter and they expected with great impatience as well as the King the return of Don Geronimo to give them certain News In the mean time they did not fail to Figure to themselves a Thousand things thereupon This Minister being arrived at the City in the time that Count Hannibal was just landed and having conducted him to the Town-Hall through such a crowd of People that they could hardly pass through the Streets he had after some Ceremonies of Civility a particular discourse with him The Count gave him the Letter that the King wrote to him which he opened and read the particular Testimonies that that Monarch gave him of his esteem and favour From thence passing to the Affair in hand Don Geronimo gave to the Count the necessary instructions upon the measures he was to take and the manner he was to conduct himself after which they both mounted into one of the Kings Litters to go to Belver whether Don Geronimo had already sent a Gentleman to give notice to the King of the arrival of this Ambassador This Prince received him with the most Curtezy and Honour that his Humour little proper for these publick Ceremonies could permit him The Interview was very rare that was made in this Reception where the King on one part dressed like a dull heavy Merchant accompanied with Ten or Twelve Lords of his Court who had no better meens nor were better apparelled than himself and on the other Count Hannibal who was the handsomest Youth of all Italy all sparkling with Gold and the Jewels he had about him with that great number of Gentlemen all extreamly well dressed with a Courtly Air which Charmed and at the same time astonished all those Majorquins They made a noise in entring the Place and especially the French who made the greatest number that one would have said they went to beseige this poor King Count Hannibal after having made his Conge in the Chamber of Audience where he expected him spoak to him with a Grace and an Eloquence that the Morose Soul of this Monarch was Charmed with the praises that he gave him and became good natur'd in favour of him and more mild he embraced him Two or Three times with marks of kindness he had never shown to any one so much power over the most obdurate Hearts has a Person whom Nature has took delight in accomplishing The first audience which was about Ten of the Clock in the Morning being passed in Compliments and Ceremonies there was a particular one about Eight a Clock in the Evening in which the Count declared to the King the Subject of his Embassy in delivering him the Letter that the King his Master wrote to him and by which he prayed him to consider that the Princess he had marryed was the Daughter of a Monarch not fit to be treated after the manner he did that those were not the conditions of their alliance That he very well know that he had promised him to have that regard for her that was due to Daughters of her Rank That she should live at Majorca as she had lived at Naples and that however the difference was so great that having deprived her upon her arriving at his Court of all the Domesticks he had himself given her he had learnt from good hands that she had hardly People capable of serving her and that she was kept shut up in her apartment as a Criminal of State or as if she were accused of some infamous crime that this belonged more to a slave than a Queen that he prayed him not as a King but as his Ally Friend and Father-in-Law that he would change his conduct and treat his Daughter after a manner that all the Earth might not reproach him with having so ill marryed a Princess who merited and who could have had a more happy Destiny than that of being his Wife The King of Majorca well saw that King Charles his Father-in-Law wrote to him as a Prince who had newly got a Famous Victory and who begun to have no more need of him He was of a more peaceable than Warlike Humour and not being willing to draw upon himself the enmity of so powerful a Monarch he endeavoured to excuse upon the custom of the Country the conduct he had thitherto held with the Queen but that since it did not please the King his Father-in Law he would to disabuse him of the false Relations that might have been made him regulate himself as he should judge most convenient And it was concluded that very moment with Count Hannibal that the Queen should enjoy a modest Liberty for to walk when she pleased within and without the Palace of Belver when she thought fit that of the Persons who should serve her she might choose Six over whom she should have an entire power and that in fine the People who would see her or who had Affairs with her might approach her without any difficulty All those Articles of Peace being thus concluded the King would out of an excess of Civility that the Count himself should carry the news of it to the Queen whom he had not yet seen and prayed him at the same time he would make his Peace with her Hannibal promised him what he desired and going to her apartment where she expected him with the Countess of Palomer he saluted her but with a joy and such motions of Love fear and respect that are difficult to be described and I beleive that it is all that a very passionate man can do to imagine them The discontent of that Princess had not at all lessened her Beauty on the contrary they had added a certain languishing which in the midst of so
the Glory of Charles as well as by Ambition for so fair a Conquest listened to the Proposition of Procula without seeming however to close with it till he first knew what the Pope's Sentiments were therein to whom this Physitian made two Journeys And in fine after several Paces and Sollicitations the Resolution being taken by Pietro d' Arragon Nicholaus the Third who then held the Pontificial See at Rome gave him the investiture of that Kingdom What was most strange in the success of an Affair of so great an Importance and at which Posterity will have ever reason to be astonished is that it was caried on with that Order and Secrecy for the space of Eighteen Months it was in Treaty that it could never come to the knowledge of any French Man Insomuch that in one and the same day at the first ringing of the Bell for Vespers generally all the Cities of that Kingdom took Arms and made a horrible Massacre of all the French without any exception And they were possessed to that Point with hatred or rather with fury against that Nation that they put to the Sword all the Women they found that they beleived to be with Child by any French Man This horrible Tragoedy happened in the Year 1281. about Eleven Years after the Entire Establishment of Charles the First in the two Kingdoms The Sicilians having thus cruelly freed themselves from the French and Pietro d' Arragon having taken possession of the Island Charles was forced to quit the vast designs he had on the East to think of having satisfaction for so cruel a Revolt He prepared a powerfull Army against Sicily and being come to beseige Messina he found the enterprize more difficult than he had beleived it Insomuch that he was obliged to raise the Siege and was repulsed as far as Calabria from whence he went to Rome to complain to the Pope of the Investiture he had given to Pietro of Arragon who in that time was Crowned at Palermo This Affair was agitated in full Assembly and the two Kings not agreeing it was resolved that it should be decided by the way of Armes between these two Princes and this Duell a thing very strange was even by the allowance of the Holy See Bourdeaux the Capital City of Gascony was chosen for the place of the Randevouz and the King of England for Judge Wherefore Charles came to the Place on the day assigned and waited the greatest part of the day for Peter of Arragon who kept himself so well concealed that no Body knew where he was only it had been heard said the day before that he was still so far from Bourdeaux that it was almost impossible he could arrive there on the Day of assignation Insomuch that Charles upon the going down of the Sun retired and departed at the same time from Bourdeaux Peter of Arragon who had run incessantly upon good Horses that he had caused to be placed upon the ways being arrived in cognito in the City kept himself concealed till Charles was gon and then he appeared in the Field of Battel in the presence of him who presided there being a Lord the King of England had sent in his place and complained of King Charles whose Impatient Haughtiness had not permitted him to attend his Arrival He walked in that manner upon the place till that he saw the Stars appear than he remounted his Horse and returned with the same swiftness that he came going as is reported Thirty Leagues that Night He retired into a place of safety thus deceiving King Charles but Martin the Fourth who was then Pope excommunicated him and conferred the Kingdom of Catalonia on Charles of Valois Second Son of Philip King of France In the time that King Charles went to Bourdeaux for this Duell Roger de Loria a Calabrian by Birth Admiral of King Peter of Arragon one of the most experienced as well as the bravest Captains that had e're been upon the Sea plyed all the Coast of Naples with Forty Five Galleys ruining all the Country as far as the City of Naples where he likewise came and shot an infinite number of Arrows reproaching the Neopolitans with Cowardice defying them to come fight him Which so strongly animated a Number of brave men there was in that City and especially the Young Nobility that could not endure so cruel an affront that Charles Prince of Salerno the only Son of Charles the Second took the Resolution of fighting him notwithstanding all the Opposition of the Legate and the Express Orders of the King his Father who had recommended to him to think only of well defending the City and not to come to blows with the Enemies This Prince I say pushed on with a desire of Glory as well as Indignation at so injurious a reproach went out with Thirty Galleys and some other Vessels of less Consequence and attacqued with more Valour than force Loria's Fleet who after a very sharp fight was at the length Conquerour took Nine Galleys and a great number of Young Lords amongst which was Charles Prince of Salerno who was kept with Nine of those he would choose and the rest were sent to Prison in Sicily of whom more than two Hundred were beheaded at Messina in revenge of the Death of Corradin Young Prince of Suevia whom King Charles whose Prisoner of War he was af-the cruel Sentence of Pope Clement the Fourteenth a Provential by Birth who wrote to him Vita Corradini mors Caroli mors Carradini vita Caroli this King I say put him into the Hands of Justice who condemned him to Death A Sentence however which not only every French Lord and Gentleman refused to Sign but whose Execution was fiercely opposed by the Count of Flanders Son-in-Law to King Charles saying that a Prince of that Blood was not to be put to Death after that manner But to give him his Liborty and to make him rather a Friend and an Ally by the means of a Marriage The Day after the defeat of the Prince of Salerno the King his Father returning from Gascony arrived at Gayeta with Sixty Galleys and Three great Ships with Soldiers and Horses and learnt the sad News of his Sons misfortune and that there was already a Revolt in the City of Naples all the People crying may Roger de Loria live and Charles dye At which this Prince fell into so great a Passion that being come near that City he would not Land at the Port but above the Church of the Carmelites where he descended with design to set on fire that ungratefull and rebellious City And was a long time in that cruel Resolution but at length conquered by the Tears of some good People and by the Prayers of the Legate he pardoned them after having caused a Hundred and Fifty of the most culpable to be hanged This punishment having both calmed and terrified the City all his cares were to raise a powerfull Army for to pass into Sicily which
was ready about Autumn and he came to Cotrona with a Hundred and Ten Galleys and some other Sails but seeing the Winter come on and wanting Victuals and Money for so great a Fleet he went to disarme at Brindiso with design to put to Sea again in the Spring and in the mean time to make Provision of all that should be necessary for the bringing to pass his Projects If Death had not made them vanish in a moment He dyed at Foggia a City in la Pouille oppressed with sadness and Malancholly after having lived Fifty Six Years and reigned Nineteen This Prince was tall of a ruddy Complexion had a great Nose and a fierce and Martial Air he was sharp and severe in punishment much more admirable for War than for Peace As to the rest very serious and of almost a Religious Life in what concerned Love He slept little spoak seldome doing more than he said He was liberall to brave men and firm in his Promises an Enemy of Trisles and useless Courtiers but a generous Protectour of Soldiers and Ambitious more than any Prince whatever resolute to have Money at any rate soever when he was to bring to pass any enterprize One of the things that have been most found fault with in this Prince and which has lest some stain in his Glory is the great License he gave to Soldiers in time of Peace to the great disadvantage of his Subjects but otherwise one of the most accomplished Princes of the Earth In that time Pope Martin had sent two Cardinals to Sicily for the endeavouring to make Peace with King Peter of Arragon and not being able to reduce him to accept the Conditions that they proposed they renewed the Excommunication there was against him and likewise Excommunicated all Sicily from whence they departed in that manner The Sicilians more Animated than ever to see themselves so ill Treated by the Pope in Consideration of the French having learnt the Death of King Charles run to the Prisons where the rest of those were who had been taken with the Prince of Salerno for to Massacre them But they found there so vigorous a Resistance that for the sparing of the Blood of theirs they were Obliged to set the Prison on Fire and caused the Death by this unmercifull Cruelty of the finest Youth that had been seen of a long time in Italy in sequel of which they caused the Judges of the Principal Cities of the Kingdom to Assemble for to make the Process of the Prince of Salerno who was in Prison with Nine of his Friends after the Example of King Charles the First who had caused Corradin to be thus judged and they all unanimously condemned him to be Beheaded as had happened to the unfortunate Prince of Suevia But Queen Constance a Princess whom Historians cannot enough commend being then in Sicily designed to save him and for to satisfy the People who demanded his Death she let them understand that in an Affair of so great Importance nothing could be Executed without the allowance of the King her Husband and thereupon she ordered that that Prince should be sent into Catalonia where King Peter of Arragon was to the end he might do as he should think convenient This was at length approved by the People and much Commanded in the World after the Action of Charles the First The Pope having learnt the Death of this King sent to Naples in Quality of Legate Gerard Cardinal of Parma and King Philip the Count de Artois his Son for to take care of the State with Mary Princess of Salerno in the Name of Charles then in Prison during that this King on the other side with the Count de Valois to whom the Pope had given the Investiture of Catalonia entred that Kingdom with two powerful Armies of which that by Sea was of a Hundred and Twenty Galleys They won Girona by assault where the King of Arragon who was there in Person to defend it received a Wound of which he dyed He left Anfus his Eldest Son King of Arragon and Don James the Second King of Sicily During that time Roger de Loria being departed from Sicily to come to the Succours of the King his Master learnt that a part of the Fleet of France was in the Port of Roses and that the other was gon to seek Victuals at Narbonne Whereupon he went and attacqued first that of Roses of which he burnt a part having taken or sunk the rest and made Prisoner Enguiran Admiral of France From thence turning towards that of Narbonne he surprized and defeated it with much less difficulty than the former which being understood by King Philip who was Sick at Perpignan it so grieved him that it caused his Death and almost at the same time that of Pope Martin the Fourth Insomuch that there dyed in the space of a Year three Kings and a Pope Things seemed to be some thing appeased in the midst of so many Deaths of that Consideration and the King of England who was come into Gascony endeavouring to make Peace between the two Young Kings James and Charles the Second then in Prison in Catalonia had almost concluded when it was interrupted by the Occasion I am going to relate The Cardinal Legat and the Count d' Artois Governours of the Kingdom of Naples judging the Conjuncture fair for the recovering of Sicily resolved with Fifty Galleys that they had obtained part from the Venetians and part elsewhere and some Militia that they had caused to come from Toscany with the French and the Country People to attempt this enterprize under the Command of Raynand Count of Aveline This Fleet put to Sea they Landed in that Kingdom they beseiged Catania they took it and the Count fortifying himself there sent his Fleet to Naples for to take in the Soldiers which had been left on Shoar there At the same time the Count of Montsort Vicar of Toscany accompanied with the Count de Boulogne and Philip Son of the Count of Flanders who were at Sienna departing from Maremma with a Fleet of Sixty Galleys of which Arrigin of Genoa was Admiral came towards Sicily to joyn with the Count de Aveline But de Loria who had newly won two Famous Victories having learnt at his coming from that of Narboune the descent that the Nepolitans had made into Sicily turned that way and came to the Succours of the Sicilians The First that he met with were those of the Count de Aveline who were going to Naples whom he chaced and finding them almost unprovided of Soldiers he immediately routed them and from thence going to meet that of the Count of Montfort which was coming from Toscany there was a furious fight in which being at length Conquerour he took the Count of Montfort Prisoner the Count of Boulogne and Prince Philip These two last ransomed themselves with a Sum of Money But the Count of Montfort having been detained Prisoner dyed some time aster in
Prison Aafter these two Victories Catania being beseiged by all the Army of Arragon without any hope of Succours was obliged to render upon Composition in the Articles of which it was permitted to the Count de Aveline to retire to Naples he and all those who had accompanied him The Treaty of Peace between these two Kings that Edward of England had begun having been interrupted upon this Subject he brought it again upon the Board and infine concluded it upon Conditions much less favourable for Charles than the former because things had extreamly Changed Face after the Victories that de Loria had won King Charles promised and obliged himself to procure that the Count of Valois should renounce all the pretentions that he might have upon Catalonia by vertue of the Investiture that Pope Martin the Fourth had given him of it and that he would Labour at his own Charges to make James King of Sicily be Crowned who gave him three Years to acquit himself of these two Articles for want of which Charles swore he would come again and put himself in Prison at the End of that Term in the same place where he was and for surety of his word he gave to King james Three of his Sons in Hostage who were Lewis since Bishop of Tholose Robert who succeeded his Father in the Kingdom of Naples and John Prince de la Morea who dyed very Young with whom King Charles their Father left Fifty of the Bravest Gentlemen he had then with him And Infine having moreover paid three Thousand Marks of Silver in Carolins he was delivered out of Prison in the Year 1288 where he had been detained Four Years He went immediately into France to acquit himself of his word and to procure of the Count de Valois that he should Renounce the Pretentions he had upon Catalonia But he could never obtain it and departing from that Court with a Number of Young Lords and some Squadrons which were under the Command of Emerick de Narbonne he came into Italy passed through Perugia where he saw Pope Nicholas the Fourth who had succeeded Martin the Fourth with whom having Treated of the renewing and Confirmation of his States This Pope whether out of Imprudence or Malice for the Opinions are Divers therein Intituled him King of both Sicilies in the Year 1289 After which he went to Naples where he was expected with the greatest Impatience by all his Subjects who had not ceased to make Vowes for his Liberty But what was Extraordinary and filled with joy and tenderness the Hearts of those who were there present was to see the King with a Train of Young Lords the most splendid and magnificent that had ever been beheld and on the other side the Queen his Consort who went Three Leagues out of the City to meet him accompanyed with Charles Martel his Eldest Son Philip Prince of Taranto his Fourth Son and with Four Princesses his Daughters Blanehe Eleonora Mary and Beatrix Clemence being marryed to the Count de Valois all of them perfect Beauties and who had after them a Train of Young Princes whom Glory and Love Arms and Gallantry diversely engaged in that Court It would be very dissicult to express the Joy that the King had at the sight of the Queen and his Children not being able to leave off Caressing them especially the Princess Mary for whom he had ever had a Particular tenderness and who was so increased in Beauty since his absence that he could not enough admire her The People of Naples received him with a joy and Acclamations that touched to very Tears and the rejoycings upon his happy return were such as if fortune had ever been on their side Those Young Princes were seen to strive to out doe one another by their Addresses and Magnificence in the Turnaments and all the other Feasts which were dayly made especially those who besides Honour were Spirited with an Interest of Heart Love Animating them to suprass all the others All these Princesses were infinitely pretty Yet as Palats are very different therein as in all other things Mary according to the most Common Opinion carried it from all the others and as soon as she approached her Sisters she seemed to Efface them The Elogies that the History of Italy give her surpass all that can be believed She had not only fine Eyes a Nose and a Mouth perfectly accomplished Teeth extreamly white a Shape a Gate an Air a Port a Majesty worthy of the most lovely Princess upon the Earth Her wit was likewise admirable in all kinds a Grace in all she did as well as in all she said that Charmed all People and an understanding so fruitfull in all sort of matters that she not only astonished but consounded the most intelligent So powerful Charmes hardly begun to appear than that they had Adorers and by the measure they increased the number of her Gallants augmented also Insomuch that of all her Sisters she was the best provided by Love as well as she had been by Nature There was reckoned amongst her votaries the Count of Boulogne and Prince Philip as those who made the greatest noise after whom followed Azzo Marquess d' Este Prince of Ferrara and Henry of Narbonne Son of Emmeric who endeavoured to attain to the magnisicence as well as Gallantry of the former but a fifth who sigh'd in secret for the Beauty of that Charming Princess and who was the Lord of the Court the most generally esteemed and the most welcome to the Ladies was the Young Hamibal Count d' Aveline Son of Raynand one of the Gallantest men and the best made of all Italy The Glory and Rank of his Rivals had not hindred him to declare his Heart was Young and ambitious and would not have yielded to the Chiefest Princes of the Earth but not seeing them more happy after their Declaration and fearing a like Destiny with so haughty a Princess he would manage her esteem which he possessed better the way he took than any of his Rivals His cares his assiduities and his Complacency which he had for her from the Morning to the Evening were what spoke and would have made her divine something of what passed in his mind if that Divine Princess from whose Penetration nothing escaped had not out of the goodness she had for him endeavoured to perswade her self the contrary that she might not have reason to Treat him like the others taking too much pleasure in all the little Devoires he rendred her not to be troubled to give them another interpretation than that of the usual Gallantry However his Rivals who were very powerful with the King whether by their Quality or by the Services they had rendred him and which they were still ready to render him pressed him very hard to declare himself in favour of some One and the report was his Inclination was most for Philip the Son of the Count of Handers which very much allarmed all the others and
especially Hannibal in whose Face was not only seen sadness but Death Painted from the time he heard talk of this Marriage But the News which arrived that King James of Arragon prepared to renew the War more hot than ever giving other thoughts and cares to King Charles than those of making Nuptials were a great ease to the despair of these unhappy Rivals This Prince having learnt that King Charles contrary to the Faith of the last Treaty had caused the Pope to give him the Investiture of the two Sicities animated with hatred and resentment resolved to be revenged and made incessantly Warlike Preparations to go and attack him in his own Country Charles the Second as vigilant as a generous Prince had not wanted foresight judging that his Enemy would not leave him long in Peace He had Soldiers enough but the losses that the Kingdom had had upon the Sea while that he was in Prison in the two last Rencounters there had been wherein Count Raynaud on the one side and the Count of Montfort on the other had been defeated had so weakened him in that part that all that the King had been able to do since the little time he was returned to Naples was to prepare a Fleet of Thirty Galleys with which he could not pretend to show himself against the Forces of the King of Arragon who had more than Fourscore Sail under the Conduct of the Famous Roger de Loria However the time pressed the News came that King James was arrived in Sicily that by his Cabals he had caused part of Calabria to revolt and that Catenzano had yeilded up to him in so pressing a necessity his allies finding themselves incommoded or at least discontented at the losses they had had in the two last Engagements not to be able to assist him so soon he knew not what Councell to take nor to whom to have recourse for the helping him to extinguish the Fire which was just lighted in his own Kingdom being more necessary for him to have forces by Sea to hinder the Succours of Sicily than an Army by Land in which he was strong enough when there appeared in the Port of Naples Six Galleys which brought an Ambassador that the King of Majorca sent to King Charles to demand of him the Princess Mary in Marriage in considedration of which he offered him Forty-Galleys and Six Hundred Men at Armes who were ready to set Sail at the first Order they should have This Ambassador was received with that Joy and Honour as so obliging offers merited and which came so conveniently as those did It is true that there was little Proportion between the Youth and the Qualities of that fair Princess and the Age and Humour of this King but the necessity of the time and the advantage of an Alliance with a Prince so powerfull at Sea and who becoming an Enemy by the refusal that should have been made him would not have sailed to have took the part of the Arragonians were reasons which prevailed over all the others and over the particular tenderness the King had for that Princess he proposed Blanche or Eleonora but the demand was express for Mary to the Exclusion of all the others Insomuch that in fine he was forced to resolve of this Sacrifice and the Affairs of the Kingdom obliging the King to press the Conclusion of this Marriage for the sooner having the Succours he expected it was almost as soon done as proposed The astonishment of all our Lovers was as great as cruel they had no sooner learnt the Subject of that Embassy than that they saw that Negotiation brought to an end The King endeavoured to satisfy the most Considerable as the Count of Boulogne Prince Philip the Marquess d' Este and Henry of Narbonne there being other fair Princesses enough in his Family for to repair that loss if that the Honour of his Allyance bound them to his Person For Hannibal's part he had nothing but grief from whose Succours he hoped to put quickly an end to his pains at the same time with his life But that which made him quite desperate was that the Princess who had more Confidence in him than in any other Lord of the Court imparted to him part of her troubles and the little satisfoction she expected in this Marriage complaining to him of the Cruelty of her Destiny with Termes so touching the Soul of the sad and passionate Hannibal that notwithstanding all the constraint he made upon himself he could not hinder sighing without daring to look upon her for fear his Eyes which he could not so well govern as his mouth should have acquainted her with a secret it was less time than ever she should know The Fatal Day arrived at length that she was to depart all the Court was to take leave of her except the Count Hannibal whom she caused to be sought for every where without being found He even knew not what was become of himself so much the greif of so Cruel a Separation had put him besides himself he too well knew the weakness of his Heart for to expose himself in the middle of all the Court to bear so cruel a moment as that of the departure of that Charming Princess that the most indifferent could not see without Tears He went out of the City attended only by his Gentleman of the Horse and from the Sea Shoar where he stayed he saw the Galleys of Majorcâ— depart with an immoveable Air and almost without Sentiment they carrying from him all that he had most dear in the World without being able to retire from that Contemplation so long as his sight could accompany them The City of Majorca which bears the Name of the Isleland is one of the prettyest Scituations in the Mediteranean Sea and the Castle of Belver Palace where the Kings resided and which is a Work oâ— the Antient Moors half a League from the City is one of the most lovely Place in the World But to what use is the agreableness of Places to a Young Princess if it be not joyned to that of Persons She was hardly arrived there than thaâ— the King her Husband would send back the few People that accompanyed her and this order was Executed notwithstanding all the Opposition she brought to it So strange a beginning could not fail of having sad Consequences She quickly found a great difference between that gloomy and desert Court and that of the King her Father where all smiled but seeing dayly some Change in the things that concerned her and that her Liberty diminished by the same degrees that her pains augmented she had many more Complaints to make This Conduct appeared to her by so much the more rude in that having been brought up in an Air of Grandeur and Liberty Honoured Served and if it may be said adored by all the Princes and Lords at the Court of King Charles her Father she saw none about her but Old Women who served her