Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/292

148 148 ACCESSION OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. PART I. He invades Castile. body of the people, the middle as well as the lower classes, were fully penetrated not only with a con- viction of the legality of Isabella's title, but with a deep attachment to her person; while, on the other hand, their proverbial hatred of Portugal would make them too impatient of interference from that quar- ter, to admit the prospect of permanent success. '^ These objections, sound as they were, were over- ruled by John's impetuosity, and the ambition or avarice of his father. War was accordingly resolved on ; and Alfonso, after a vaunting, and, as may be supposed, ineffectual summons to the Castilian sovereigns to resign their crown in favor of Joanna, prepared for the immediate invasion of the kingdom at the head of an army, amounting, according to the Portuguese historians, to five thousand six hun- dred horse and fourteen thousand foot. This force, though numerically not so formidable as might have been expected, comprised the flower of the Portu- guese chivalry, burning with the hope of reaping similar laurels to those won of old by their fathers on the plains of Aljubarrotta ; while its deficiency in numbers was to be amply compensated by re- cruits from the disaffected party in Castile, who 13 The ancient rivalry between the two nations was exasperated into the most deadly rancor, by the fatal defeat at Aljubarrotta, in 1235, in which fell the flower of the Cas- tilian nobility. Kiiifj John I. wore mourninp, it is said, to the day of his doMtli, in commemoration of this disaster. (Faria y Sousa, Europa Portuguesa, torn. ii. pp. 394-39fi. — La ClMe, Hist, de Portugal, tom. iii. pp. 357-359.) Pulgar, the secretary of Ferdinand and Isabella, addressed, by their order, a letter of remonstrance to the king of Portugal, in which he endeavours, by numerous argu- ments founded on expediency and justice, to dissuade him from his meditated enterprise. Pulgar, Letras, No. 7.