_By Frances Elliot_ Old Court Life in France Old Court Life in Spain [Illustration: Entrance to the Mosque of the Alhambra.] [Illustration] OLD COURT LIFE IN SPAIN BY FRANCES ELLIOT AUTHOR OF “OLD COURT LIFE IN FRANCE,” ETC. [Illustration: colophon] _ILLUSTRATED_ VOLUME I. G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS NEW YORK AND LONDON The Knickerbocker Press The Knickerbocker Press, New York To MRS. HUMPHRY WARD TO WHOSE RESEARCHES I AM SO MUCH INDEBTED, THIS REVIVAL OF OLD SPANISH TIMES IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED PREFACE In no boastful spirit I gratefully acknowledge the flattering success of _Old Court Life in France_, written twenty years ago. It is precisely owing to the favour with which the public in England, America, and on the Continent still honour this work that I have endeavoured to reproduce on the same plan some pictures of early Spanish history comparatively little known to the general public. Nothing can possibly be more thrilling and more romantic. It is with the earlier and less known passages of old Court life I have dealt down to the reign of Ferdinand and Isabel, from which period the history of Spain loses its peculiar identity and becomes merged into that of Europe. If I have loved the courtly history I also love the country. A great part of this work was written in Spain, in the very places where the events occurred. May the reader share the same enthusiasm I felt in describing them! AUTHORITIES Dozy--Histories. Mrs. Humphry Ward in Smith’s Dictionary of Christian Biography on Gothic Ecclesiastical History. Biographie Universelle. Bradley--Story of the Nations. Lane Poole--The Moors. Romanceros, Ballads of the Cid, Ballads of Bernardo del Carpio. Lockhart--Spanish Ballads. Cid Campeador, by Prince Odescalchi. Storia de Don Pedro Abogado da los Tribunales Nacionales. Chronicles of King Alfonso El Sabio. Washington Irving’s Works. Murray’s Guide for Spain. Diary of an Idle Woman in Spain. Prescott’s History of Ferdinand and Isabel. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I.--INTRODUCTION 1 II.--DON RODERICH.--GATHERING OF THE CHIEFS.--TRIAL OF WITICA 39 III.--DON RODERICH’S PERFIDY 58