Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/290

146 146 ACCESSION OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. rRT estates, stretching from Toledo to Murcia, gave him '. . an extensive influence over the southern regions of New Castile. The duke of Arevalo possessed a similar interest in the frontier province of Estrema- dura. With these were combined the grand master of Calatrava and his brother, together with the young marquis of Cadiz, and, as it soon appeared, the archbishop of Toledo. This latter dignitary, whose heart had long swelled with secret jealousy at the rising fortunes of the cardinal Mendoza, could no longer brook the ascendency, which that prelate's consummate sagacity and insinuating ad- dress had given him over the counsels of his young sovereigns. After some awkward excuses, he ab- ruptly withdrew to his own estates ; nor could the most conciliatory advances on the part of the queen, nor the deprecatory letters of the old king of Aragon, soften his inflexible temper, or induce him to re-" sume his station at the court ; until it soon became apparent from his correspondence with Isabella's enemies, that he was busy in undermining the for- tunes of the very individual, whom he had so zeal- ously labored to elevate." Alfonso of Under the auspices of this coalition, propositions c^use"^''^"^ were made to Alfonso the Fifth, king of Portugal, to vindicate the title of his niece Joanna to the throne of Castile, and, by espousing her, to secure to him- ^1 Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, ledo. — The archbishop's jealousy MS., part. 2, cap. 91. — Garibay, of cardinal Mendoza is uniformly Compendio, lib. 18, cap. 3. — Ber- reported by the Spanish writers, naldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. as the true cause of his defection 10, 11. — Pulgar, Letras, (Madrid, from the queen. 1775,) let. 3, al Arzobispo de To-