Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/239

213 HE RESIGNS TO PHILIP. 213 his rights, by a diversion in his favor on the side chapter of Roussillon, as well as of Naples. '° '. The Catholic king felt sorely perplexed by these Ferdinand's '^ ^11 J perplexities. multiplied embarrassments. During the brief pe- riod of his regency, he had endeavoured to recom- mend himself to the people by a strict and impar- tial administration of the laws, and the mainte- nance of public order. The people, indeed, appre- ciated the value of a government, under which they had been protected from the oppressions of the aristocracy more effectually than at any former pe- riod. They had testified their good-will by the alacrity, with which they confirmed Isabella's testa- mentary dispositions, at Toro. But all this served only to sharpen the aversion of the nobles. Some of Ferdinand's counsellors would have persuaded him to carry measures with a higher hand. They urged him to reassume the title of King of Castile, which he had so long possessed as husband of the late queen ; ^^ and others even advised him to as- semble an armed force, which should overawe all opposition to his authority at home, and secure the country from invasion. He had facilities for this in the disbanded levies lately returned from Italy, as well as in a considerable body drawn from his na- tive dominions of Aragon, waiting his orders on the 16 Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., nand's pretensions to the regal au- epist. 290. — Buonaccorsi, Diario, thority and title, less as husband of p. 94. the late queen, than as the lawful 17 The vice-chancellor Alonso de guardian and administrator of his la Caballeria, prepared an elabo- daughter. See Zurita, Anales, rate argument in support of Ferdi- torn. vi. cap. 14.