Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/462

434 434 FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. PART II. tlieir broad lands covered unbroken leagues of ex- tent in every quarter of the kingdom. '^ The queen, who reared many of their children in the royal palace, under her own eye, endeavoured to draw her potent vassals to the court ; ^" but many, still cherishing the ancient spirit of independence, pre- ferred to live in feudal grandeur, surrounded by of archbishop of Toledo. The office of admiral became hereditary, after Henry III., in the noble fami- ly of Enriquez, and that of consta- ble in the house of Velasco. Al- though of great authority and im- portance in their origin, and, in- deed, in the time of the Catholic sovereigns, these posts gradually, after becoming hereditary, declined into mere titular dignities. Salazar de Mendoza, Dignidades, lib. 2, cap. 8, 10; lib. 3, cap. 21. — L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 24. 11 The duke of Infantado, head of the ancient house of Mendoza, whose estates lay in Castile, and, indeed, in most of the provinces of the kingdom, is described by Nava- giero as living in great magnifi- cence. He maintained a body guard of 200 foot, besides men-at- arms ; and could muster more than 30,000 vassals. (Viaggio, fol. 6, 33.) Oviedo makes the same state- ment. (Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 8.) Lucio Ma- rineo, among other things in his curious y«rro«-o, has given an esti- mate of the rents, " poco mas 6 menos," of the great nobility of Castile and Aragon, whose whole amount he computes at one-third of those of the whole kingdom. I will select a few of the names fa- miliar to us in the present narra- tive. Enriquez, admiral of Castile, 50,000 ducats income, equal to ^^'1.10,000. Velasco, constable of Castile, GO.GOO ducats income, 'estates in Old Cas- tile. Toledo, duke of Alva, 60,000 ducats in- come, estates in Castile and Navarre. Mendoza, duke of Infantado, 50,000 ducats income, estates in Castile and other provinces. Guzman, duke of Medina Sidonia, 55,000 ducats income, estates in An- dalusia. Cerda, duke of Medina Celi, 30,000 ducats income, estates in Castile and Andalusia. Ponce de Leon, duke of Arcos, 25,000 ducats income, estates in Andalusia. Pacheco, duke of Escalona (marquis of Villena), G0,000 ducats income, es- tates in Castile. Cordova, duke of Sessa, C0,000 ducats income, estates in Naples and Anda- lusia. AguiJar, marquis of Priego, 40,000 ducats income, estates in Andalusia and Estremadura. Mendoza, count of Tendilla, 15,000 ducats income, estates in Castile. Pimentel, count of Benavente, C0,000 ducats income, estates in Castile. Giron, count of Urena, 20,000 ducats income, estates in Andalusia. Silva, count of Cifuentes, 10,000 ducats income, estates in Andalusia. (Cosas Memorables, fol. 24, 25.) The estimate is confirmed, with some slight discrepances, by Nava- giero, Viaggio, fol. 18, 33, et alibi. See also Salazar de Mendoza, Dig- nidades, discurso 2. '- "En casa de aquellos Prln- cipes estaban las hijas de los prin- cipales seriores 6 cavalleros por damasde lalleyna e de las Infantas sus hijas, y en la corte andaban todos los mayorazgos y hijos de grandes 6 los mas heredadosde sus reynos." Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 4, dial. 44