Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/439

411 HIS DEATH AND CHARACTER. 41 ] then sending them to him for his signature. But chapter Ximenes coolly ordered his secretary to tear the. " ' — paper in pieces, and make out a new one, which he signed, and sent out without the participation of his brethren. And this course he continued during the remainder of his administration.^^ The cardinal not only assumed the sole responsi- intimiuates •J t the nob'e bility of the most important public acts, but, in the execution of them, seldom condescended to calcu- late the obstacles or the odds arrayed against him. He was thus brought into collision, at the same time, with three of the most powerful grandees of Castile ; the dukes of Alva and Infantado, and the count of Urena. Don Pedro Giron, the son of the latter, with several other young noblemen, had maltreated and resisted the royal officers, while in the discharge of their duty. They then took refuge in the little town of Villafrata, which they fortified and prepared for a defence. The cardinal without hesitation mustered several thousand of the national militia, and, investing the place, set it on fire, and deliberately razed it to the ground. The refrac- tory nobles, struck with consternation, submitted. Their friends interceded for them in the most hum- ble manner ; and the cardinal, whose lofty spirit 14 Carbajal, Anales, MS., aiio bus, aut non legitime regnaturis. 1517, cap. 2. — Gomez, De Rebus Nauseam inducit magnanimis viris Gestis, fol. 189, 190. — Robles, hujus fratris, licet potentis et rei- Vida de Ximenez, cap. 18. — Peter publicae amatoris, gubernatio. Est Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 581. — quippe grandis animo, et ipse, ad Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS. aedificandum literatosque viros fo- " Ni properaveritis," says Mar- vendum natus magis quam ad im- tyr in a letter to Marliano, Prince perandum, bellicis colloquiis et ap- Charles's physician, " ruent omnia, paratibus gaudet." Opus Epist., Nescit Hispania parere non regi- epist. 573.