Old Court Life in Spain, vol. 2/2Elliot, Frances Minto Dickinson
History
Old Court Life in Spain, vol. 2/2
Elliot, Frances Minto Dickinson
Spain -- Court and courtiers
Upon which--always following out the idea of a knightly encounter in
which each side sets forth their right by the voice of a herald or
trumpeter--Enrique replies: “To the most puissant Edward, Prince of
Wales, Duke of Aquitaine and Guienne: that King Don Pedro has not, as he
pretends, and as the prince imagines, governed his kingdom well, but as
a tyrant and a traitor, verily giving orders to murder the Lady Blanche,
his lawful wife, and Doña Leonora d’Aragon, his aunt--also his cousins
of the royal blood--and Doña Bianca de Villena for her goods; that also
he killed his three brothers, Don Fadique, Juan, and Pedro, as well as
Martin Gil d’Albuquerque his minister, Don Juan d’Aragon and others; and
that neither did he respect the wives and daughters of divers nobles, or
the rights of the Pope and the Church,--_for which cause and others too
long to be detailed_, and having no _allegiance or followers_ in the
kingdom, his subjects, to deliver themselves from so dangerous a ruler,
have been pleased to name us his successor with universal acclamation.”
But this royal exchange of courtesies did not deter the Black Prince
from fighting desperately. A complete victory was gained at Navarrete.
Enrique lost all his train and equipage, the great Constable Du Guesclin
being the victim as he had foretold, and taken prisoner.
Prostrate on his knees, Don Pedro thanks the Black Prince, who modestly
replies as he raises and embraces him:
“Not to me, but to God, who has given us the victory, give praise.”
This happened on a Saturday. Next day Don Pedro formally requested the
Black Prince to allow him “to put to death all his rebellious soldiers,
so that they might raise no more disturbance in the kingdom against
him.”
“Never, by the blood of Christ!” cried the indignant Plantagenet,
horrified at his bloodthirsty ally; “I did not come into the kingdom of
Spain to act as your Grace’s headsman, but as your defender.” And from
that moment their cordial relations ceased, and the germs of that
coolness and suspicion were sown which so soon led to a formal breach
between them.
“You will find that the King of Castile is not worth the trouble you
have taken to reinstate him,” observed Du Guesclin to the Black Prince,
who, treated him, as his prisoner, with every kind of distinction and
soon after set him at liberty without ransom.
“I begin to think you are right,” was the prince’s answer, deeply moved
at Don Pedro’s cruelty.
Nor did he in this only show the cloven foot. The subsidies he had
promised for the troops were unpaid; all his engagements were broken. As
soon as he found himself once more safe in Seville and reinstated in his
rights, incessant expresses were sent to Burgos, where the prince
lodged, in the ancient monastery of Las Huelgas, outside the gates,
still remaining a most interesting monument of that chivalric time, and
to Valladolid where he moved later--but _no money_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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