[coaster-devel] cour, long after

[Pfeil <ins...@hm...>]

S consolations as were available. News from Flanders of the scandalous
scenes between Philip and Juana in the summer of 1504 brought on an
illness from which she really never recovered, a kind of feverish
distress of mind and body in which her only alleviation was the
transaction of such business as was possible for her in the direction of
humanity and enlightenment. She still received men of intellect and
renown, especially travellers. But she knew that her end was near, and
as early as October she had made her will, in which her wishes as to the
succession and government of Castile were clearly laid down. There was
no mention of Columbus in this will, which afterwards greatly mortified
him; but it is possible that the poor Queen had by this time, even
against her wish, come to share the opinions of her advisers that the
rule of Columbus in the West Indies had not brought the most humane and
happy results possible to the people there. During October and November
her life thus beat itself away in a succession of duties faithfully
performed, tasks duly finished, preparations for the great change duly
made. She died, as she would have wished to die, surrounded by friends
who loved and admired her, and fortified by the last rites of the Church
for her journey into the unknown. Date, November 26, 1504, in the
fifty-fourth year of her age. Columbus had evidently received the news
from a public source, and felt mortified that Diego should not have
written him a special letter. Letter written by CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS to
DON DIEGO, his Son, December 3, 1504. "VERY DEAR SON,--I wrote you at
length day before yesterday and sent it by Francisco Pinelo, and with
this letter I send you a very full memorandum. I am very much astonished
not to receive a letter from you or from any one else, and this
astonishment is shared by all who know me. Every one here has letters,
and I, who have more r