Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/126

100 100 INSANITY OF JOANNA. 11. PART bella, ever ready to sacrifice her own inclinations to the public weal, persuaded him to return to the scene of operations, where his presence at this junc- ture was so important. Forgetting her illness, she made the most unwearied efforts for assembling troops without delay to support her husband. The grand constable of Castile was commissioned to raise levies through every part of the kingdom, and the principal nobility flocked in with their retainers from the farthest provinces, all eager to obey the call of their beloved mistress. Thus strengthened, Ferdinand, whose head-quarters were established at Girona, saw himself in less than a month in pos- session of a force, which, including the supplies of Aragon, amounted to ten or twelve thousand horse, and three or four times that number of foot. He no longer delayed his march, and about the middle of October put his army in motion, proposing to effect a junction with the duke of Alva, then lying before Perpignan, at a few leagues' distance from Salsas.2^ Isabella, who was at Segovia, was made ac- quainted by regular expresses with every movement of the army. She no sooner learned its departure from Gerona than she was filled with disquietude 21 Gronzalo Ayora, Cartas, cap. Ayora, dated in the Spanish camp. 9. — Zurita, Anales, ubi supra. — This individual, equally eminent in Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., letters and arms, filled the dissimi- cap. 197, 198. — Carbajal, Anales, lar posts of captain of the royal MS., aiio 1503. — Sandoval, Hist, guard and historiographer of the del Emp. Carlos v., torn. i. p. 8. — crown. He served in the army at Col. de C6dulas, tom. i. no. 97. this time, and was present at all its The most authentic account of operations. Pref. ad Cartas, de the siege of Salsas is to be found Ayora ; and Nic. Antonio, Bibli* in the correspoadence of Gonzalo otheca Nova, tom. i. p. 551.