CHAPTER VI.

GOVERNMENT OF ALBURQUERQUE-TREATY WITH ARAGON

REBELLION OF ALONSO CORONEL.

1352 TO 1353.

I.

THE session of Cortes was prolonged to the spring of the year 1352. About the end of March, the king quitted Valladolid in order to repair to the Portuguese frontier. His grandfather, Alfonso IV,* father of

* Alfonso IV. of Portugal, surnamed the Brave, passed his life in perpetual contests with his own family. Jealous of the favours his father Dom Dinis, bestowed upon his bastard brother Alfonso, when Infante of Portugal, openly revolted. On his accession to the throne, in 1325, his first act was to confiscate the possessions of his brother and to condemn him to exile. He married his daughter to Alfonso XI. of Castile; his son to Constanza, daughter of Don Juan Manuel, the Crichton of his age. Both marriages proved unhappy. His son, afterwards Pedro I. of Portugal, neglected his wife for the charms of Inez de Castro, whose cruel death has caused the name of Alfonso the Brave to be execrated throughout Europe. His daughter was even more unfortunate in her marriage than her brother; but Doña Maria was one of those characters who fail to inspire any other feeling than contempt. Had Alfonso IV. been less proud and vindictive, it would have been impossible for him to have had two such ambitious relatives as Don Juan Manuel and Alfonso the Magnificent, and remained at peace. Hence arose his constant wars

Queen Maria, had requested an interview with him. It took place at Ciudad Rodrigo with great demonstrations of affection on both sides. The King of Portugal having begged his grandson to pardon the Conde de Trastamara, then a refugee in his kingdom, Don Pedro at once consented, either because, surprised by the unforeseen request, he had not time to consult his mother or his minister, or that, flattered by a royal solicitation, he joyfully seized the opportunity of performing an independent act of authority. However this may be, and even presuming the amnesty accorded to Don Enrique to have been sincere, the latter did not think it prudent to appear before his brother. He returned to the Asturias with his factious disposition unchanged; for we very soon find him again assembling his men-at-arms, and labouring incessantly to form a party. Thanks to the mediation of the King of Portugal, he had just obtained the removal of the sequestration laid upon his property and that of his wife, Doña Juana de Villena.* He employed these

with Castile. His valour and personal bravery were unquestioned, and when laying aside his private wrongs, he consented to join Alfonso XI. in opposing the Moorish invaders, his presence in the Castilian camp was regarded as a favourable omen for the Christian cause. His latter days were embittered by the open rebellion of his son. He died in 1357.-T.

* See the preamble of a charter of Don Enrique, cited by Pellicer, "Informe de la casa de los Sarmientos de Villamayor." Don Enrique acknowledges that the king has pardoned him all his misdeeds, (todos los maleficios que ayamos fecho fastaqui), and that he has restored his own and his wife, Doña Juana's property." Gijon 16th of June, year of the Era 1390 (1352).— "Ayala," p. 76, Note of Llaguno.-N. B. The Castilians then dated

new resources in augmenting the number of his dependents and in endeavouring to found a separate sovereignty in the Asturias. Probably his dreams of ambition at that period went no farther.

Alburquerque, despising the petty intrigues of Don Enrique in the north, could not see, without uneasiness, the more formidable preparations made by some Ricos Hombres of Castile, partisans of the Lara faction. Since the tragical death of Garci Laso, Don Alonso Coronel had aspired to the leadership of the vanquished but still not destroyed party. We have seen this noble abandon Doña Leonor immediately after king Don Alfonso's death, and in reward of his prompt defection obtain a high place in the favour of Alburquerque. He had received with the banner and cauldron of a Rico Hombre, the vast lordship and strong castle of Aguilar, their acts from the era of Augustus Cæsar, that is, from the year of a general census, prescribed, it is said, by that emperor. It commences 38 years before the Christian era. The Aragonese, who, for a long time followed the same system of computation, had abandoned it at the time this history commences. "Many dissertations," says Dr. Southey, "have been written concerning the origin and etymology of the Era, from which the Spaniards used to date, till it was abolished in Aragon by Pedro IV., 1358, in Castile by Juan I., 1383, and in Portugal by Joam I., 1415. St. Isidore thinks it originated from the tribute imposed by Augustus, and that the word was literally Era-the brazen money. Brito says that this is confirmed by a manuscript of Eusebius at Alcobaça, in which these words are found: Hoc tempore edicto Augusti Cæsaris, æs in tributum et census dari jubetum, ex quod Era collecta est.' He means, I suppose, that this is inserted as a marginal note by the transcriber. Both the Toledan annals support this etymology by calling it Era del Arambre-Arambre meaning the same as Es." ["Sepulveda

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which had been acquired in the first instance by a confiscation made by command of the late king. Coronel, nevertheless, gave out that he had paid so dearly for these favours of the minister,* as to preclude all claim to gratitude on his part. Since he had become a Rico Hombre in name and in deed, he had embarked with greater zeal than ever in the cause of Don Juan Nuñez, and during Don Pedro's illness had shown imprudent eagerness in upholding the pretensions of the Lord of

'Sepulveda says it is a corruption: Annus era. A., and from this abbreviation of erat Augusti came era. Resende and Morales assert that Era was a well known word in this acceptation before the age of Augustus.

"Of these opinions,' says Bernardo de Brito, 'the reader may choose which he likes best for myself, I judge St. Isidore's to be very likely, Sepulveda's very ingenious, and Resende's very true-till some better shall be discovered.' But certain it is, that this date is peculiar to Spain.

"The mode of reducing the year of the Era to the year of Christ is, by subtracting 38. No doubt had been made of this computation till the Marques de Mondejar endeavoured to prove that the Era should be reckoned from the Incarnation instead of before the Nativity, and that another year ought to be subtracted. This opinion was supported by Gregorio Mayans y Siscar, who edited Mondejar's chronological works. The authority of two such men was not lightly to be rejected. Florez therefore entered into a full investigation of the subject, and has for ever established the accuracy of the old computation."-Note to Southey's Chronicle of

the Cid.

* Ayala, p. 66, and following. The Castle of Aguilar had belonged to Don Gonzalo Fernandez, and had afterwards become part of the royal domain. Ayala relates that Coronel had obtained it from Alburquerque by promising him in exchange the Castle of Burguillos, which in the end he refused to deliver to him.

Lara, not only in Andalucia but in Castile. The recovery of the king, and the death of Don Juan Nuñez, had, for a time, disconcerted his projects, and being already an object of suspicion to the new government, he thought it prudent to absent himself from the Cortes of Valladolid. He was now warned, by the murder of Garci Laso, of the fate the all-powerful minister reserved for his enemies, and resolving not to imitate the fool-hardy confidence of his brother-in-arms, prepared, beforehand, for a vigorous resistance. Whilst placing his castles in Castile and Andalucia in a state of defence, he sought to open a negociation with Don Enrique and Don Tello, who, being like himself, suspected by Don Juan de Alburquerque, seemed to him his natural allies. Not being very scrupulous in the choice of his protectors, he next endeavoured to treat with the Moorish king of Granada, and even solicited the assistance of the Arabs beyond seas. The castle of Aguilar, situated upon the Granadine frontier, presented great facilities for carrying on these negociations. He had shut himself up here with his son-in-law, Don Juan de la Cerda, a powerful Castilian noble, and both gathered around them the most faithful of their vassals. From this fortress they sought the friendship of all the malcontents of the realm, and endeavoured to rally around them the scattered remains of the Lara party.

Alburquerque was not ignorant of the jealousy and hatred his good fortune had excited, nor of the number and strength of his enemies. His natural boldness in this instance agreeing with the dictates of policy, inclined him first to direct his attention to the most formidable; he was moreover convinced that a terrible example would