Its work was the more effective from the attitude adopted towards it by Ferdinand and Isabel. Had they sought only the aggrandizement of their own power, using the judges and officials merely as royal agents to gratify their personal dislikes, or to bring money into their coffers, they would have speedily disillusioned the nation. Tyranny that apes justice can never conceal for long its guiding principle of self-interest; but in the case of the Queen it soon became obvious that she entered into the spirit of righteous dealing as eagerly as the poorest and least protected of her subjects. It must not be inferred from this that the Castilian Princess had been endowed with a love of truth under any circumstances. Her life had been spent for the most part in an atmosphere of treachery, where he who was the least reliable or conscientious scored highest in the game of politics; and, when necessity forced her to play a hand as in the case of her marriage, she had proved herself capable of “bluffing” with the best. The threading of such intricate mazes was an ordinary statesman’s career, and Isabel had been born with an aptitude for statecraft. What was worth a great deal more to Spain was her aptitude for kingship. Throughout the troublous years, spent first at the Court of one brother and then wandering in rebellion with another, she had seen the Crown dragged through the mire. Instinct had taught her that its degradation was largely deserved. The sovereign who fails to keep the respect of his subjects has forfeited the claim even to respect himself; he has truly abdicated his rights. Isabel’s conscience might suffer no pangs for those she had deceived in the war of politics, but her whole soul revolted from a lowering of her ideal of sovereignty. “The king was the father of his people, the fountain of law and justice.” The pride that insisted on the recognition of this dignity insisted also on a king’s fulfilment of its conditions. Isabel had been the first to repudiate the notion that the Santa Hermandad should be suppressed directly the crisis of public unrest was ended, but she had no mind that it should earn an evil reputation for the Crown by unbridled tyranny. In 1483 she and Ferdinand held an enquiry into its past administration, and punished not only those who had defied its justice, but also judges convicted of favouritism and officials who had been guilty of excessive demands, or who had appropriated more than their share of the funds.