Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/299

273 RETIREMENT OF GONSALVO. 273 attributed to the vigorous counsels and conduct of chapter Ximenes/ who, together with the grand constable — '-^-^ — °, ° Ferdinand's and the duke of Alva, had received full powers ^^I'-o^J:'^' from Ferdinand to act in his name. Much is also to be ascribed to the politic conduct of the king. Far from an intemperate zeal to resume the sceptre of Castile, he had shown throughout a discreet for- bearance. He used the most courteous and conde- scending stjle, in his communications to the nobles and the municipalities, expressing his entire confi- dence in their patriotism, and their loyalty to the queen, his daughter. Through the archbishop, and other important agents, he had taken effectual measures to soften the opposition of the more con- siderable lords ; until, at length, not only such ac- commodating statesmen as Garcilasso de la Vega, but more sturdy opponents, as Villena, Benavente, and Bejar, were brought to give in their adhesion to their old master. Liberal promises, indeed, had been made by the emperor, in the name of his grandson Charles, who had already been made to assume the title of King of Castile. But the promises of the imperial braggart passed lightly with the more considerate Castilians, who knew ' Ximenes equipped and paid him of being " at heart much more ' out of his own funds a strong corps, of a king than a friar." (Anales, for the ostensible purpose of pro- torn. vi. lib. 7, cap. 29.) Gomez, tecting the queen's person, but on the contrary, traces every politi- quite as much to enforce order by cal act of his to the purest patriot- checking the turbulent spirit of the ism. (De Rebus Gestis, fol. 70, et grandees; a stretch of authority, alib.) In the mixed motives of ac- which this haughty body could ill tion, Ximenes might probably have brook. (Robles, Vida de Ximenez, been puzzled himself, to determine cap. 17. ) Zurita, indeed, who how much belonged to the one thinks the archbishop had a strong principle, and how much to the relish for sovereign power, accuses other. VOL. III. 35