History of the Jews, Vol. 4 (of 6)Graetz, Heinrich
History
History of the Jews, Vol. 4 (of 6)
Graetz, Heinrich
Jews -- History
The feeble hand of a woman was the cause of his downfall. The beautiful
and sprightly Leonora de Guzman, who had so enthralled the king with
her charms that he was more faithful to her than to his wife, hated the
favorite Gonzalo Martinez, and succeeded in making the king believe
that he spoke ill of him. Alfonso desiring to learn the real truth of
the matter sent a command to Gonzalo to present himself before him
in Madrid; he, however, disobeyed the royal command. To be able to
defy the anger of the king, he stirred up the knights of the Order of
Alcantara and the citizens of the towns assigned to his government,
to rebel against his sovereign, entered into traitorous negotiations
with the king of Portugal and with the enemy of the Christians, the
king of Granada. Alfonso was forced to lead his nobles against him, and
besiege him in Valencia de Alcantara. In mad defiance, Gonzalo directed
arrows and missiles to be aimed at the king, which mortally wounded a
man in the vicinity of Alfonso. But some of the knights of the Order of
Alcantara forsook their Grand Master, and surrendered the stronghold to
the king. There remained nothing for Gonzalo except to yield. He was
condemned to death as a traitor, and was burnt at the stake (1336), and
thus ended the man who had sworn to annihilate the Jews. The Castilian
congregations thereupon celebrated a new festival of deliverance, in
the same month in which the evil plans of Haman against the Jews had
recoiled on his own head. Alfonso again received the Jews into his
favor, and raised Moses Abudiel to a high position at his court. From
this time till the day of his death, Alfonso XI acted justly towards
his Jewish subjects.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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