If a baron, or the lord of any country, was a thrifty man, and saved anything out of his revenue by management and industry, they sent presently to borrow it, and the owners were forced to comply with their unreasonable demands. They also took away their breed of horses (of which in those parts there are several), and caused them to be managed and trained for them and their use; so that they had in horses, mares, and colts many thousands, which they sent up and down the kingdom to be kept for them, to the great detriment of the masters. Both father and son had ravished several women; they made no conscience of sacrilege, nor did they retain the least respect or obedience for the church. They sold their bishoprics, as that of Tarento, which the father sold for thirteen thousand ducats to a Jew for his son, who the Jew pretended was a Christian. He gave abbeys to falconers and others for their children, telling them, “You shall keep me so many hawks, and mew them, and keep me such a number of soldiers at your expense.” The son never kept Lent in his life, nor so much as pretended to do it; and for many years he never was at confession, nor ever received the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. In short, it is scarce possible that any prince could be guilty of greater villanies than they were. Some will have the young Ferrand to be the worst of the two; though at his death he grew humble and civil, but then indeed he was in distress. CH. XIV.—How King Alphonso fled into Castile, and did Penance.—1495.