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pardon of her husband, Alvar de Guzman, then a refugee in Aragon.* At first she remained with Dona Maria, in the convent of Santa Clara, and for some time appeared insensible to the marks of favour lavished upon her by Don Pedro; but, vanquished at last, she voluntarily quitted the nunnery, and accepted apartments prepared for her by the king in the Torre del Oro, situate on the banks of the Guadalquivir. There she soon had an almost regal establishment, a kind of guard with knights, and esquires to defend her at her need; in a word, she became, to all appearance, the favourite mistress of the King of Castile. Ayala relates that Don Pedro, always a most munificent lover, had desired the Alguazil Mayor of Seville to obey, as his own, all commands given during his absence by Doña Aldonza, and transmitted by the cavalleros attached to her person; for, it seems, that the favourite was as invisible as an Oriental sultana. Maria de Padilla, however, still occupied the Alcazar, the royal palace in the same city; she, too, had her regal establishment, her court, and her guard of knights. Perhaps, in emulating the despotic rule of the Moorish princes Don Pedro had also imbibed their taste, for a plurality of mistresses whom he thus constituted rivals in pomp, and even in power. Whilst the old and new mistress, each in her strong castle, seemed to breathe defiance, the one against the other, the frequent absences of the king, whose love of the chase drew him from Seville, sometimes for several days together, afforded opportunities for bitter conflicts between these jealous women who then divided the court into two hostile camps.

*What must we think of the jealousy of Don Alvar, who sent his wife to ask a favour of a king passionately in love with her?

During one of these periods of absence, Juan de Hinestrosa came to Seville on his return from a mission into Portugal, bringing a promise from Alfonso IV. to co-operate with Don Pedro, and despatch a squadron to the expedition which was preparing against Aragon. The king, who was hunting in the neighbourhood of Carmona,* had just sent for Doña Aldonza. This mark of preference was immediately interpreted as the signal for the final disgrace of Maria de Padilla. Hinestrosa, her uncle, being considered as the head of her family, and hated by a great part of the court, the enemies of

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* 46 'Cresting an aromatic uncultivated tract," writes Mr. Ford, "the clean white town of Carmona rises on the eastern extremity of the ridge; it commands the plains both ways. The prefix, car, indicates this height.' The old coins found here are inscribed 'Carmo,' Florez, M. 1. 289. Cæsar fortified the city, which remained faithful to the Goths, until betrayed to the Moors by the traitor, Julian: San Fernando recovered it September 21, 1247, and gave it for arms, a star with an orle of lions and castles, and the device, Sicut Lucifer lucet in Aurorâ, sic in Boeticâ Carmona.' Don Pedro added largely to this castle, which he made, as regarded Seville, what Edward III. did of Windsor in reference to London. Here he kept his jewels, money, mistresses and children."

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Perhaps," says Mr. Borrow, "in the whole of Spain there is scarcely a finer Moorish monument of antiquity than the eastern side of this town of Carmona, which occupies the brow of a lofty hill, and frowns over an extensive vega, or plain, which extends for leagues, unplanted and uncultivated, producing nothing but brushwood and carasco. Here rise tall and dusky walls, with square towers at short distances, of so massive a structure that they would seem to bid defiance alike to the tooth of time and the hand of man."-Bible in Spain, p. 94.

the Padillas, trusting in the ascendant star of Aldonza Coronel, doubtless thought to anticipate the secret wishes of her royal lover, by aiming the first blow at the minister, the relative of the fallen mistress. The governor of the Torre del Oro, perhaps the accomplice or instrument of a court intrigue, and most probably at the instigation of Aldonza, shewed the Alguazil Mayor the king's seal, and ordered him to have Juan de Hinestrosa arrested. The order was at once executed, and on the same day Diego de Padilla was likewise thrown into prison. When we see these two men, lately so powerful, fall from their high estate to a dungeon, without one voice being raised in their defence, and observe the blind obedience with which the most extraordinary orders issued in the king's name were executed, we can judge how much the Padillas were hated, and also how absolute and formidable Don Pedro had become in that kingdom, where, two years back, he had found none but rebels. But, if Maria de Padilla could not prevent her lover's infidelity, it was soon discovered that she alone possessed his confidence, and that it was dangerous to provoke this indulgent queen. The king, when informed by her of the arrest of Juan de Hinestrosa and his nephew, was fired with indignation. hastened back to Maria de Padilla at Seville, and endeavoured to reassure her relatives by loading them with fresh honours. Doña Aldonza, who had been abruptly abandoned at Carmona, was soon obliged to go and hide her shame in the convent of Santa Clara, where, it is said, she spent the remainder of her life in penitence. It does not appear that the Alguazil mayor

He

felt the effect of the king's resentment.

His fault was

only an excess of obedience, and that is one which

tyrants can easily forgive.*

* Ayala, p. 234. However strange this may seem, I have not hesitated to relate it upon the authority of Ayala, who was perhaps a witness of this palace intrigue. He was most probably then at Seville, whence we shall soon see him set out with the king's fleet. It is remarkable that Zuñiga has preserved strict silence as to this occurrence, although he has not failed to mention the popular romances connected with Maria Coronel. See" Anales de Sevilla," year 1358.

CHAPTER XI.

DON PEDRO'S REVENGE.

1358.

I.

THE inextinguishable hatred which Don Pedro bore towards the Ricos Hombres who had taken part in the League, was now joined to a restless suspicion of all who surrounded him, a feeling perhaps too well justified by his melancholy experience of the faithlessness of his subjects. The treaty concluded at Pina between the King of Aragon and Don Enrique, more especially the clause which anticipated, and in some manner presumed, the treason of Don Fadrique, could not long have remained unknown to him. On the other hand, the recent defection of the Infante Don Fernando, that of Gomez Carrillo, the rebellion of Don Juan de la Cerda and Alvar de Guzman, seemed to him so many evidences of a vast conspiracy directed against his authority, and perhaps his life, by enemies whom neither his favours could attach, nor his severity intimidate. For a short period during the last campaign with Aragon, he had seen Don Fadrique, Don Tello, and the Infante Don Juan united under his banner. It was said that since then he had conceived

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