ROMANTIC STORY OF A FAMOUS FAMILY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 108, 25 April 1908, Page 4

ROMANTIC STORY OF A FAMOUS FAMILY.

Till; MOST .IKAI.OI S WOM.IN IT IK wom.i) has livKii si;k.v A PIiINCKSS WHO WAS SHUT IT l\ A .MADHOUSE. TDK AMA/IMI CAIiKKIi OF yL'ICE.\ OF CASTILE.

II over a Koyal child should have been l)Orn to a heirtagc of romance ami beauty, il was smelv the Prince-s •Inana. Her fiitlii'i- was tin- handsome and soldierly Ferdinand of Aragon, wliu.se wooing of lid- inother. the buio eyed, golden-haired Isabella of Castile--th e Uuren l'l-iuccs in all Europe—wa:. one of the most romantic in the history m love-making. Put neither beam') lior romantic adventure was the dower of their little daughter .Inana, who was (.■nulled at IJuneas. A strange child she was, ilelicale. dreamy, aiistractc.l, whose singual pet name, '-.My .Mother," was as much dm lo her uuchihllike temperament a., to ber likeness tf her grandmoilk'r. .loan. (Juecn of Aragou As a child she had a pas-ion for music, which exercised a sulillc a ill soothing sj-cU will her; and although she was brought up amid tin'- picadors of Courts, the stirring feat- of chivalry, and the clash 0 | arms. she remained a creature apart, dwelling in a world of her own. I'rinccss .Inana. without lici conseni even being asked, was betrothed at eighteen to the Archduke Philip, son of -Maxmiliaii 1., ruler o| the .Netherlands —one of those diplomatic alliances tii which the happiness of K„ Vi ,| Princesses is so often sacriliced. Never was there a greater contrasl betweu two people whose lives were to lie linked in the close bond of wedded life. .Inana was plain and pious, morbid and melancholy—a litter candidate for a nunnery than for a nuptial ceremony. Philip, on the other hand, was one of the handsomest men of his (lav— volatile, and amorous. His bonhomie, his hign spirits, his line, courtly manners, ami his good look- had woii I'm- him (he title of -Le I>1." lint he was sellish as well as sensual, and could be even more cruel than courtly, as ho abundantly proved in his relation's with Ms Ca-tilian wife. And thus it was that one day in late autumn -fuana, with weeping eyea and a fearful heart, set sail from Spain to distant Filanders to link her life with a man on whom she had never set eyes. Never probably has a bride started on a nuptial journey under such circuuis.tances of regal splendor: for he escort consisteil of 120 stately vessels, laden with gold and silver cloths, silks amijewels, and with all the costly effects of a Royal bride-a fleet wfciise sails filled the seas as they proudly fared forth from the little port of Laredo on When at last Flanders was reached and -luaiiit nerved herself to meet her unseen bridegroom", he was not there to meet her. 11,. had gone a-huiiling t. the Tyrol, and could not even semi a word of greeting to the maid who cameso far lo his arms! Was ever Princess placed in a pli-hl s '> hi liating? Weeks of miserable waiting passed before at last Philip eomlescendede (o leave his pleasure for his unwelcome bride. Put when he Miine-Mi strangely insistent can man lie! -he was all ardor and impatience, "lie must be married at once." on the very evening „f his arrival. Hurried i,, ' ri " 1 "' '» "'ere made, and within » few hours of meeting her straii"e lover •luina lieei his wife. Then followed week., of levelrv a round of riotous gaielv at llrussels. „t tourneys and gorgeous banquets and balls, pmielnaleil with State masses sung in the Cal.lie.lral Church, in which •'nana for a time forgot her home-sick-liess and threw melancholy to the winds. Her hus'oand's gaiety infected her spirits; his personal fascinations rapidly won her heart. Already jealousy possessed her. of (hat tierce, unreasoning' type which claims a monopoly of the beloved object and brooks mi rivalry when its object-yields no allegiance to hnivovor innocent—a jealousy fata, once woman, but finds its gratification in any fair face that may win its tickle homage.

Such a man was Philip, the most uo- ! torious -free-lover" in the whole of Europe, who found a thousand women more alluring than the one he bad made his wife. And the brief honevmoov had scarcely waned before his Oiiecn saw how frail an object it was on which she had staked her hapioess. If he even smiled on another woman her rage' was unlxiuiidi'd: she brooded hourly over the talcs of his many armors which came to her ears, and estranged Tutu by reproaches of disloyalty. -Many stange stories' are told of •luana's jealousy—how she would openly insult any lady to whom her husband paid the least attention, and how she would rush from the scene in a paroxysm of rage, and refuse for days to allow anyone to come near her. ' One evening when the Court was at lirussels the Princess chanced to enter a room in which Philip was amusing himself with some of his courtiers. Glancing round the gay and laughing crowd she saw her husband, who was unaware of her presence. Ilirting in a comer with a pretty woman, whose hair he was stroking with loverlike tenderness. In a moment .luana's jealousy burst into wild, fierce tlaine; she flew at her rival with the ferocity of a. tigress and poured on her a torrent of scathing insults. Then, with a sudden calmness, more awful than her rage, she summoned the Court coiffeur, and stood by while he cut oil', one by one, the locks which her falst husband had caressed. No hand was held out to stay the outrage; the onlookers were paralysed by the Princess's overwhelming Jury, while even Philip looked on awestruck and impotent. When, later, lie recovered his balance, he declared, in uncontrollable passion, that his wife was mad. None but a madwoman would or could commit such an outrage on all decency; and he gave orders that she should be shut up as a dangerous lunatic. In later years, Philip, anxious to escape from his wife's jealousies and exactions, had left Spain to re-visit Flan-

dels, and his wife, who loved him more intensely and passionate than ever, was eating her heart out with the Court al

.Medina del Oimp... Although it wan Ihe depth ol winter, she was consumed willi the wish lo join her husband. Opposiii„„ „nly strengthened her resolve; and veiling, moved by a mail ini-pill-c. she stole, hall ilress.il, out of I lie castle at .Ins*, aim made her wiiv steal Ihilv Inward- on ' Ihe <il y gates. Swift Iv -he -ped through the dark

.slrcoK shivcriiiv. in the clu'ill Mast, which -reined I" pierce her through and through, only In liml Ihe gate closed ami er 1,.,iiv,1. In imperious tones

-Ii- i amle.l lII.' purlers In <>|ien aiM lei her pass Thev refused; I'm- lliev r.-<o-nise,l Hie linval fugitive, ■mil iliij Tint ilntr In iiliey'ller nnlers. In v.iin the pnnr ileeninleil witinan ullernalelv r.-ip'il :imt skirnie.l, pehuleil and wepl. 'l'll.- jamlins were ,iil;llil!llll. Meanwhile nie-enyeiN hail heel, ,|ev p.lleheil In the i-a-l Ilil In the IlMinp i.l I'.lir-.i-. Illliler w11,.-.- .li.il-.- the I'rillee-s «M>. A i|en,e ermvil „f the

nil,. and curious .-"Heeled, and -nlilVr.wcie summoned |., keep 1 Ik-mi at a distance. 'l'llC entreaties (if tin- Bishop and the Court ollicials proved equally futile. duana refused to leave the pile, l<p wliicli slie citing, a half-clad, ' sliiverinj; limine, haggard iu the Hare ot the torch light. Thus she remained tliroueb the lone; dark, bitterly eohl niejil hours, and tlnou-di the next day and until fa.r into the second da v. when at la-l her mother, the Queen. who lia.l travelb-1 post-haste from Sno via. succeeded in leading lier child, now reduced t" the last staee of exhaustion, back to the castle. duana'- wedded lit".- was de-lined to he a- lirief a- it \va- iinhappv. for she hail 1.. <.ni.-.-n of (a-tilc liul four month- ami a i'i w days when her luil.an.l .au"ht a chill and died within a few .lay-, ill his hvelilv-eisht.ll veac. thiviii'j hi- lirief illm— the' Queen p-e----niaiiie.l. -till and lenile-s as a statue, l.v hi- l.eil-i.le. and when the end came -he had hi- bo.h removed (~ a Slate ehanihor and dr.-s-0.l in a han.l-onte In- nl mile lined with ermine o„ hi- head -he t.-n.lerlv placed a richlyjcwellcd ~,p. on Irs l,,va-l a cl'l.-s of

I hll-kills were dvawil. I l-'nr tin- no,nth. 1,.;- ,] | !,„,]-. ~.. I main- lay iu a valut a. I'.ui-.-o-. durii," which ti.li.-hi- di-cn .elite widow -,„.„( he,- d.tv- in a darkened m 0,,,. -|„.,- 1,,-,,| re-line ~n her hand-. 1-v 1i,,. d, -,| and her,".,- innocent „, „.,,..- -,,,,.„ in inid-w inter -lie made a fil,i ima-,- 1., fair.;,.- 1., view hi- hod-, and to remove it („ Tordesillas. si,.. 1,,,1 ,|„. ~,,,;., ol.eiied. nn-1 in the pi-sen,.,, of the horrified spectator- "i-Illly e-11-e..-ed aid croon.-d over the c0r,,.,. „f him who had been ill-- --on ~| he,- -mil." To he,-. Philip dead «.- all ..hi,-! '!' an even lierc-r i-ahm-v than Philip living. During the lon- journey from

llurgos, so fearful was she that hi, body would be stolen lrom her (hat slo lnui it guarded, day and night, bv armed men, with strict instructions tiial hoik. ol her own -ex should approach it, ;im| thereby defile it.

It was during this voyage Ihat her "isane jealousy .reached Us ciiliiiiuafiii." point. The body 0 f the King had been deposited, for the night in. a convent near the town of Torqucmada, and the sight of the min,, in its proximity rouscd the Oueon to a frenzy of jealousy. "She gave orders for its immediate removal and, trembling with emotion, she walked out of the convent, keeping ebise to the collin, which was deposited in the barren, wind-swept fields, where, "J - till" light of torclies. alternately extinguished and re-lit, she ordered the ollm to In- ie-opcned, ill order tu satisfy herself that he husband's bodv was still inside."

■ luaua spent the reinaiuiiig forty years ol her hie kepcing silent watch 'from ,1 palace window over the tomb of her escort, expecting to the hist day that in some miraculous manner the man who l'"d brought he,- the greatest happiness she had known, and also had proved her greatest curse, would bze restored to her arms.