Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/298

154 154 ACCESSION OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. PART by his success. His Castiliau allies had experi- ■ - '' enced the greatest difficulty in enlisting their vas- sals in the Portuguese cause ; and, far from furnish- ing him with the contingents which he had expect- ed, found sufficient occupation in the defence of their own territories against the loyal partisans of Isabella. At the same time, numerous squadrons of light cavalry from Estremadura and Andalusia, penetrating into Portugal, carried the most terrible desolation over the whole extent of its unpro- tected borders. The Portuguese knights loudly murmured at being cooped up in Toro, while their own country was made the theatre of w ar ; and Alfonso saw himself under the necessity of detach- ing so considerable a portion of his army for the defence of his frontier, as entirely to cripple his future operations. So deeply, indeed, was he im- pressed, by these circumstances, with the difficulty of his enterprise, that, in a negotiation with the Castilian sovereigns at this time, he expressed a willingness to resign his claims to their crown in consideration of the cession of Galicia, together with the cities of Toro and Zamora, and a con- siderable sum of money. Ferdinand and his min- isters, it is reported, would have accepted the proposal ; but Isabella, although acquiescing in the stipulated money payment, would not consent to the dismemberment of a single inch of the Cas- tilian territory. In the mean time both the queen and her hus- band, undismayed by past reverses, were making every exertion for the reorganization of an army on