Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/266

122 122 TROUBLES IN CASTILE AND ARAGON. PART and arriere-ban of the contiguous French provinces, '■ and mustered an array of chivalry and feudal militia, amounting, according to the Spanish historians, to Gallant de- thirty thousand men. With these ample forces, his fence of Per-  ■"■ pignan. lieutenant-gcneral, the duke of Savoy, closely in- vested Perpignan ; and, as he was provided with a numerous train of battering artillery, instantly opened a heavy fire on the inhabitants. John, thus exposed to the double fire of the fortress and the besiegers, was in a very critical situation. Far from being disheartened, however, he was seen, armed cap-a-pie, on horseback from dawn till even- ing, rallying the spirits of his troops, and always present at the point of danger. He succeeded per- fectly in communicating his own enthusiasm to the soldiers. The French garrison were defeated in several sorties, and their governor taken prisoner ; while supplies were introduced into the city in the very face of the blockading army. '^ Ferdinand Fcrdinaud, on receivinir intelligence of his fa- raises the ' o o ""'*'■ ther's perilous situation, instantly resolved, by Isa- bella's advice, to march to his relief. Putting himself at the head of a body of Castilian horse, generously furnished him by the archbishop of To- ledo and his friends, he passed into Aragon, where he was speedily joined by the principal nobility of the kingdom, and an army amounting in all to thirteen hundred lances and seven thousand infan- 14 Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, — Zurita, Anales, torn. iv. fol. 195. MS., cap. 70. — Mariana, Hist, de — Anquctil, Ilistoire de Franco, Espana, torn. ii. p. 482. — L. Ma- (Paris, 1805,) torn. v. pp. 60, 61. rineo, Cosas Mcmorables, fol. 148.