FERDINAND'S GIFT 159 



extremely desirous that its high reputation should 

 be maintained. 



The value of the two horses sent over by- 

 Ferdinand is said to have been approximately 

 100,000 ducats. That would seem to be an im- 

 possible sum to have paid in a period when 

 money was worth many times more than it is 

 to-day ; but when we read that both horses were 

 richly caparisoned (regio ornatu) we may well 

 suppose that the sum named included also the 

 cost of trappings. 



Under the circumstances it is perhaps not 

 surprising that Ferdinand of Arragon — Ferdinand 

 the Catholic, as he was popularly called — should 

 have been deemed insane by a great body of his 

 subjects when it became known that he had sent 

 so extravagant a gift to King Henry, his son-in- 

 law. 



So prevalent, indeed, was this impression, that 

 reasons were at once put forward to account for 

 the alleged lack of intellect. Thus the incident 

 of his having been poisoned two years before by 

 his new queen, Germaine de Fois, was mentioned 

 amongst possible causes, the serious illness that 

 followed having proved almost fatal. 



Particulars of this attempt upon the life of 

 Ferdinand the Catholic are to be found in one 

 of the letters of Peter Martyr, though the writer 

 of the letter does not seem to think that any 

 insanity with which the king may have been 



