Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/538

392 veiaiice m the war. 592 . WAR OF GRANADA. PART the requisite attendants and medicines, at her own ' charge. This is considered the earliest attempt at the formation of a regular camp hospital, on record. ^^ Her perse- Isabclla mav be regarded as the soul of this war. vpi-nnnp in *^ " She engaged in it with the most exalted views, less to acquire territory, than to reestablish the em- pire of the Cross over the ancient domain of Chris- tendom. On this point, she concentrated all the energies of her powerful mind, never suffering her- self to be diverted by any subordinate interest from this one great and glorious object. When the king, in 1484, would have paused a while from the Gra- nadine war, in order to prosecute his claims to Roussillon against the French, on the demise of Louis the Eleventh, Isabella strongly objected to it ; but, finding her remonstrance ineffectual, she left her husband in Aragon, and repaired to Cordo- va, where she placed the cardinal of Spain at the head of the army, and prepared to open the cam- paign in the usual vigorous manner. Here, howev- er, she was soon joined by Ferdinand, who, on a cooler revision of the subject, deemed it prudent to postpone his projected enterprise. On another occasion, in the same year, when the nobles, fatigued with the service, had persuaded the king to retire earlier than usual, the queen, dissatisfied with the proceeding, addressed a letter to her husband, in which, after representing the disproportion of the results to the preparations, she 23 Mem. dc la Acad, de Hist., torn. vi. Ilust. 6,