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and insists especially upon one which does him honour; namely, the redemption of a thousand Christian captives from the Moors.

Immediately after these bequests, which are evidently dictated by religious feeling, we find others which must have been prompted by very different motives. Four women, whose names he specifies, are to receive,—the first, 2000 Castilian doubloons, the others only 1000, on condition that they all take the vows. This last clause, in which we may trace a despotic feeling of jealousy, which would survive death itself, evidently relates to certain obscure mistresses; their names are not, however, cited in any chronicle, and but for this testament, they would be perfectly unknown. Mari Ortiz, sister of Juan de San Juan, appears to have been the favourite, since she had the legacy of 2000 doubloons. The others are Mari Alfon de Fermosilla, Juana Garcia de Sotomayor, and Urraca Alfon Carrillo. These names do not indicate an illustrious parentage,* and we may remark, that not one of them is preceded by the word Doña, which nevertheless was at this period granted by courtesy to women whose fathers or husbands did not bear the title of Don.

The king recommends his daughter and her successors to retain in their offices all his loyal servants, and he expressly mentions Diego de Padilla, his brother-inlaw; the Masters of Santiago and Alcantara; Juan Garci Gomez Carrillo,† the Prior of San Juan; Martin Lopez, his chamberlain; Martin Yanez, his treasurer ;

* Mari, instead of Maria; Alfon, instead of Aldonza.

+ See § XII-v.

Matheos Fernandez, chancellor of the privy seal; Ruy Gonzalez, his grand equerry; lastly, Zorzo, captain of the ballesteros of his guard, who had defeated an Aragonese squadron.

The question of the guardianship of his children was assuredly the most important that the king had to determine. It might have been expected that his choice would fall upon Diego de Padilla, the uncle of his daughters, who must have been more interested than any one else in the preservation of their rights. Nevertheless, the king appoints Garci Alvarez, the Master of Santiago, to these important functions; and, in his default, Garci Carrillo, Prior of San Juan, although that prelate was allied to a family professedly hostile to Don Pedro. Diego de Padilla, notwithstanding the constant favour he enjoyed with his master, had never possessed that master's confidence. Of this several proofs have already been given.*

I have thought it right to analyse this remarkable document; for my design is not merely to narrate the events occurring in Don Pedro's reign, but to study the character of a prince who has been so variously judged. His testament may perhaps be regarded as the expression of his most secret thoughts, and for that reason deserves to be examined with especial care. Every line reveals the despot, but has withal an air of greatness. Don Pedro did not think that his testament was sufficient to ensure the crown to his eldest daughter. He determined to have her rights confirmed by a still more "Cronica de Ayala,"

"Testamento del Rey Don Pedro." Edi. Llaguno, p. 558, and following.

solemn act, and therefore required the representatives of the nation to repeat the oath they had taken the preceding year to her brother, Don Alfonso. Contrary to custom, he convoked the Cortes beyond the Castilian frontiers, at Bubierca, an Aragonese town, of which he had just taken possession. By assembling the national council in the midst of a camp, upon a territory conquered by his arms, he perhaps wished to show that the limits of the kingdom were not fixed, and that, wherever he planted his banner, he was king. This is not the only innovation we find in this Cortes, whose acts are unhappily little known.

The Infanta Beatriz having been solemnly proclaimed heiress to the crown, the king anticipated and regulated, as he had done in his testament, the eventual rights of his two other daughters, in case their eldest sister should die without issue. I do not find that he made any mention of his natural son, who is named in his testament after the Infantas. Perhaps the king feared exacting too much from the obedience of his people. After having received the oath of the Cortes, he had an attested account of the sitting drawn up, to which all the deputies present affixed their signatures; a singular formality quite unusual in that age. Then, as if he had wished that the whole nation should become party to his acts of vengeance, he caused to be read in the midst of the assembly a list of those nobles who were banished the kingdom and declared guilty of high treason.* This roll of proscription was the

* Ayala, p. 366. Ayala has not mentioned the names of the nobles thus proscribed by Don Pedro; we are ignorant what were the motives for this concealment. It is certain that he was not I

VOL. II.

longest which had ever yet appeared. No protest was made against it; but the decree was not the less disapproved by all the nobility. It struck a blow at the privilege so dear to the Ricos Hombres, that of changing at their pleasure their country and suzerain. They saw that they were slaves, and that the sword was ever ready to fall upon him who should attempt to break his chains.

himself included in this list, although modern authors have advanced that opinion.

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THE success obtained by Don Pedro had stimulated the zeal of his allies. Gil Fernandez de Carvalho, Master of the Portuguese order of Santiago, brought him three hundred chosen men-at-arms. The Infante Luis de Navarre and the Captal de Buch rejoined his standard, with a numerous band, bringing intelligence of certain conquests already made in Aragon by the King of Navarre.* Lastly, Mohammed, King of Granada, sent the Castilian army a Mussulman captain, whom contemporary authors regard as a knight, and whom they call Don Farax, son of Reduan.† This last

* Amongst others that of Salvatierra, in the Partido de Cinco Villas, and diocese of Pamplona.-Yanguas, "Ant. de Nav.," t. III, p. 100.

The Moorish chroniclers call him Farag Reduan. Conde, p. 4, cap. 21. The King of Aragon, it is said, also courted the friendship of Mohammed, and requested him to make incursions into Andalucia. This the Moorish king, having but just despatched his six hundred genetours to serve Pedro IV's rival, naturally refused to do. The Aragonese monarch, determined to leave no

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