Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/324

300 300 ITALIAN WARS. II. PART the southern extremity of Calabria. He was sup- ported in this by the Spanish levies under the admiral Requesens, and Gonsalvo of Cordova, who reached Sicily in the month of May. As the latter of these commanders was destined to act a most conspicuous part in the Italian wars, it may not be amiss to give some account of his early life. Gonsalvo Gouzalo Femandcz de Cordova, or x^guilar, as de Cordova. b' he is sometimes styled from the territorial title assumed by his branch of the family, was born at Montilla, in 1453. His father died early, leaving two sons, Alonso de Aguilar, whose name occurs in some of the most brilliant passages of the war of Granada, and Gonsalvo, three years younger than his brother. During the troubled reigns of John the Second and Henry the Fourth, the city of Cor- dova was divided by the feuds of the rival families of Cabra and Aguilar ; and it is reported that the citizens of the latter faction, after the loss of their natural leader, Gonsalvo's father, used to testify their loyalty to his house by bearing the infant children along with them in their rencontres ; thus Gonsalvo may be said to have been literally nursed amid the din of battle.'^ His early Qu the breaking; out of the civil wars, the two life. O ' brothers attached themselves to the fortunes of Alfonso and Isabella. At their court, the young Gonsalvo soon attracted attention by the uncom- mon beauty of his person, his polished manners, ' Zuriia, Ilist. del Key Hcrnan- Magni Gonsalvi, lib. 1, pp. 204, do, lib. 2, cap. 7. — Giovio, Vita 205.