The horrors of internal strife were now felt in all their force; city after city was invested and taken by the confederate rebels, who showed little mercy to the partisans of the king and constable. In vain did Juan whisper peace; in vain did he appear to abide by the decision of his states, which he might summon for the purpose: as he did not at once and forever banish Don Alvaro from his presence, his entreaties and remonstrances were equally disregarded. In 1443 the rebels obtained possession of the king’s person and held him as a kind of prisoner in his own palace. Though their subsequent efforts were somewhat paralysed by the defection of Prince Henry, who even called on all good men to aid him in rescuing his father from a slavish dependence on them, they persevered not the less in their design. They took the field against both the prince and the father, who now contrived to escape and reach the camp of the former. But on this occasion the confederates were routed and dispersed in several successive actions, and their strong places recovered by the royal forces. Their estates were seized by the king, and they themselves forced to seek refuge in Aragon or Navarre. Subsequently, both the king of Navarre and his brother, the reckless Henry, collected troops, and invaded, the one Castile, the other Murcia; but without any other result than that of harassing the innocent peasantry, or wreaking vengeance on their personal enemies. Finally the victory of Olmedo, gained by Juan in person over the two brothers, the acquisition of a considerable number of prisoners, and the death of Henry (of Aragon) through a wound received in that battle, appeared to consolidate both the power of the king and the influence of the favourite. THE FALL OF ALVARO [Sidenote: [1445-1453 A.D.]] But royal attachments are seldom permanent, because they are seldom founded on merit; and because the minds of men, especially those of kings, are generally incapable of any lasting impression. Though the favour of Juan II had been protracted far beyond the limits of ordinary duration, it was not to prove an exception to the usual course of human experience. Soon after the battle of Olmedo, the partiality of the monarch began to be weakened. Years elapsed before Juan could put into execution his long-meditated design of destroying his constable. His attention, indeed, was long distracted by the irruptions into his territories of the Aragonese and Navarrese, in conjunction with the Castilian exiles; and by the partial revolts which from time to time agitated his kingdom (that of Toledo for instance, occasioned by an exaction, under the name of a loan, of a million maravedis, was not suppressed without much difficulty). It was not until the year 1453, that he seriously resolved to rid himself of this formidable minister.