The reduction of such strongholds was a necessary part of the conquest of Granada; but eight more years were to pass before the task was completed, and the capital, whose ramparts were a series of fortresses, was to surrender, subdued not so much by wild valour as by untiring patience. During these years the Castilian army lost much of its feudal character, a transformation to be completed later, on the battlefields of Italy under the supervision of Gonsalvo de Cordova. The levies of the principal nobles had been the backbone of the war against the Portuguese, and still supplied no mean contribution to the Christian forces in the kingdom of Granada. The military retainers of the Cardinal of Spain numbered some two thousand men, while, as we have already seen, a combination of the vassals of the Duke of Medina-Sidonia and Marquis of Cadiz was sufficient to make Muley Hacen raise the siege of Alhama. This same Duke, in addition to his land forces, was able, in 1487, to dispatch a private fleet and convoy of provisions to the royal camp at Malaga, then suffering from famine; but the wealth and power that could give these substantial proofs of loyalty were not without their drawbacks. The patriotic Duke, when touched in his vanity, did not hesitate to refuse Ferdinand’s commands as to the disposal of his troops, exclaiming touchily: “I have brought them to his service, but they shall go nowhere save under my command.” The sovereigns dealt with such aristocratic independence by their usual policy of creating a counter-balance. They had established a permanent troop of soldiers in Galicia, paid by their treasury, to enforce the sentences of the royal judges in that unruly province; while the natural sequence of their employment of the Santa Hermandad for the restoration of order was the dispatch of its well-armed bands to the seat of war. The royal forces were further recruited by numbers of the robbers and evildoers, who had created such havoc in Castile in the early years of the reign. It had been impossible to punish them all, as was shown in the case of Seville; and now a free pardon was offered to those who would take their share in the great crusade and turn their love of violence to patriotic use. Strict regulations prevented them from yielding to their old habits; for the work of pillage and plunder was kept within the bounds then considered legitimate, the women and the camp followers who preyed upon the troops were banished; and even gambling, a customary pastime of the soldiery and ever-fruitful source of quarrels, was suppressed. In addition to the troops already mentioned Ferdinand also possessed what might be called his own private army, amounting to three thousand men, personally pledged to his service. It consisted of vassals of the royal demesnes led by their _adelantados_; an escort of young nobles and knights and a royal guard of some five hundred _ginetes_, or light horse, with an equal number of heavily armed cavalry.