Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/393

369 MONASTIC REFORMS. 369 In the unhappy feuds between Henry the Fourth chapter and liis younger brother Alfonso, the cardinal had. 1_ . remained faithful to the former. But on the death "e/"'^ of that monarch, he threw his whole weight, with that of his powerful family, into the scale of Isa- bella, whether influenced by a conviction of her superior claims, or her capacity for government. This was a most important acquisition to the royal cause ; and Mendoza's consummate talents for busi- ness, recommended by the most agreeable address, secured him the confidence of both Ferdinand and Isabella, who had long been disgusted with the rash and arrogant bearing of their old minister, Carillo. On the death of that turbulent prelate, Mendoza succeeded to the archiepiscopal see of Toledo. His new situation naturally led to still more intimate relations with the sovereigns, who uniformly defer- red to his experience, consulting him on all im- portant matters, not merely of a public, but of a private nature. In short, he gained such ascen- dency in the cabinet, during a long ministry of more than twenty years, that he was pleasantly called by the courtiers the " third king of Spain." ^ ■2 Alvaro Gomez says of him, tyr, noticing the cardinal's death, " Nam praeter clarissimum tum bestows the following- brief but natalium, tum fortunae, tum digni- comprehensive panegyric on him. tatis splendorem, quae in illo orna- " Periit Gonsalus Mendotiss, domus menta summa erant, incredibilem splendor et lucida fax ; periit quem animi sublimitatem cum pari mo- universa colebat Hispania, quem rum facilitate, elegantiaque con- exteri etiam principes veneraban- junxerat ; ut merito locum in re- tur, quem ordo cardineus coUegam publica summo proximum ad su- sibiessegloriabatur." OpusEpist., premum usque diem tenuerit." epist. 158. (De Rebus Gesiis, fol. 9.) Mar- VOL. FI. 47