Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/505

359 ROUT IN THE AXARQUIA. 359 The grand master, falling in with the proposi- chapter tion, communicated it to the principal chiefs on the L_ borders ; among others, to Don Pedro Henriquez, adelantado of Andalusia, Don Juan de Silva, count of Cifuentes, Don Alonzo de Aguilar, and the mar- quis of Cadiz. These noblemen, collecting their retainers repaired to Antequera, where the ranks were quickly swelled by recruits from Cordova, Se- ville, Xerez, and other cities of Andalusia, whose chivalry always readily answered the summons to an expedition over the border. ^° In the mean while, however, the marquis of Ca- diz had received such intelligence from his own adalides, as led him to doubt the expediency of a march through intricate defiles, inhabited by a poor and hardy peasantry ; and he strongly advised to direct the expedition against the neighbouring town of Almojia. But in this he was overruled by the grand master and the other partners of his enter- prise ; many of whom, with the rash confidence of youth, were excited rather than intimidated by the prospect of danger. 20 Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., province or district in which he bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 36. — Lebri- presided, and in war was invested ja, Rerum Gestaruni Decades, ii. with supreme military command, lib. 2, cap. 2. His functions, however, as well as The title of adelantado implies the territories over which he ruled, in its etymology one preferred or have varied at different periods, placed before others. The office An adelantado seems to have beer is of great antiquity ; some have generally established over a borde. derived it from the reign of St. province, as Andalusia for exam- Ferdinand in the thirteenth centu- pie. Marina discusses the civil au- ry, but Mendoza proves its exist- thority of this officer, in his Teoria, ence at a far earlier period. The torn. ii. cap. 23. See also Salazar adelantado was possessed of very de Mendoza, Dignidades, lib. 2, extensive judicial authority in the cap. 15.