Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/329

305 CAMPAIGNS OF GONSALVO. 305 finances of Spain had been too freely drained in chapter the late Moorish war to authorize any extraordi- nary expenditure ; and Ferdinand designed to assist his kinsman rather with his name, than with any great accession of numbers. Preparations, how- ever, were going forward for raising additional levies, especially among the hardy peasantry of the Asturias and Galicia, on which the war of Granada had fallen less heavily than on the south. ^^ On the 26th of May, Gonsalvo de Cordova crossed Lands in •' ^ Calabria. over to Reggio in Calabria, where a plan of opera- tion was concerted between him and the Neapolitan monarch. Before opening the campaign, several strong places in the province, which owed allegi- ance to the Aragonese family, were placed in the hands of the Spanish general, as security for the reimbursement of expenses incurred by his govern- ment in the war. As Gonsalvo placed little reli- ance on his Calabrian or Sicilian recruits, he was obliged to detach a considerable part af his Spanish forces to garrison these places. ^^ 12 Zurita, Hist, del Rey Her- writers on both sides, in every nando, lib. 2, cap. 7, 24. — Quin- thing relating to numerical esti- tana, Espauoles Celebres, torn. i. mates. The difficulty is greatly p. 222. — Chronica del Gran Capi- increased by the extremely vague tan, ubi supra. application of the term lance, as Giovio, in his biography of Gon- we meet with it, including six, salvo, estimates these forces at 5000 four, three, or even a less number foot and 600 horse, which last in of followers, as the case might be. his History he raises to 700. I ^^ Mariana, Hist, de Espafia, have followed Zurita, as presenting torn. ii. lib. 26, cap. 10. — Zurita, the more probable statement, and as Hist del Rey Hernando, lib. 2, generally more accurate in all that cap. 7. relates to his own nation. It is a The occupation of these places hopeless task to attempt to rec- by Gonsalvo excited the pope's oncile the manifold inaccuracies, jealousy, as to the designs of contradictions, and discrepancies, the Spanish sovereigns. In conse- which perplex the narratives of the quence of his remonstrances, the VOL. II. 39