Members of the Valladolid Court could see for themselves that while Luis de Leon's opponents--Dominicans, Jeromites, and the rest--were banded solidly against him, the Augustinians were by no means unanimous in his favour. That he was difficult to deal with personally the Court had opportunities of knowing. His unbending fidelity to principle and his impetuosity probably produced on the tribunal an impression of obstinacy combined with caprice. On May 6, 1573, a certain Dr. Ortiz de Funes was, as is recorded, nominated counsel to the prisoner;[127] there is no reason to suppose that Ortiz de Funes was in ability below the average level of the bar, but he was no match for his client, and though he may have given valuable advice on purely legal points, when these arose, it soon became plain that Luis de Leon was the brain of the defence and that he meant to conduct that defence in his own way. Ortiz de Funes became a nullity or, at least, a mere figure-head whose main duty consisted in signing papers which the prisoner had drawn up. A time came when, according to the practice of the Inquisition, it became necessary for Luis de Leon to nominate _patronos_, and in this matter Ortiz de Funes intervened somewhat more prominently than was usual with him. A _patrono_ has no exact counterpart in English ecclesiastical law; it was his business, within narrow limits, to defend the interests of the accused from the theological point of view. On June 26, 1574, Luis de Leon was brought into court, and was told that he was to choose two _patronos_ out of four men whose names were given him.[128] He was obviously taken aback at this proposal, and replying that, since he did not know any of the four, he was ignorant as to their qualifications, added that he had already requested the appointment of Sebastian Perez, professor of Theology at Párraces, as _patrono_. He renewed his request, adding that either Dr. Cáncer or the Dominican Hernando del Castillo could be appointed with Perez; but before any determination was taken, he begged leave to consult his legal adviser.[129] As might have been expected, Ortiz de Funes fell in with his client's view and two days later made a formal application to the Court that Perez be appointed _patrono_, with either Cáncer or Castillo to help him.[130] No appointment was made at the moment and, as it turned out, this was perhaps just as well; for by June 30 Luis de Leon had changed his mind, and appeared in court to ask that Castillo's name be removed from the list of acceptable _patronos_.[131] On July 14 Ortiz de Funes announced his client's intention of appealing to the Inquisitor-General against the decision forcing him to select _patronos_ from a list of persons unknown to him.[132] Neither Luis de Leon nor Ortiz de Funes seemed to have guessed that the Valladolid judges were acting on instructions from the Supreme Inquisition at Madrid.[133] For a moment the step taken by Ortiz de Funes and his