King Alfonso of Leon ravages Castile.—Captivity of Don Alvar.—Death
of the Laras.
King Alfonso of Leon was exceedingly exasperated at the furtive
manner in which his son Fernando had left him, without informing
him of King Henry’s death. He considered, and perhaps with reason,
the transfer of the crown of Castile by Berenguela to her son, as a
manœuvre to evade any rights or claims which he, King Alfonso, might
have over her, notwithstanding their divorce; and he believed that
both mother and son had conspired to deceive and outwit him; and,
what was especially provoking, they had succeeded. It was natural
for King Alfonso to have become by this time exceedingly irritable
and sensitive; he had been repeatedly thwarted in his dearest
concerns; excommunicated out of two wives by the Pope, and now, as he
conceived, cajoled out of a kingdom.
In his wrath he flew to arms,—a prompt and customary recourse of
kings in those days when they had no will to consult but their own;
and notwithstanding the earnest expostulations and entreaties of
holy men, he entered Castile with an army, ravaging the legitimate
inheritance of his son, as if it had been the territory of an enemy.
He was seconded in his outrages by Count Alvar Nuñez de Lara and his
two bellicose brothers, who hoped still to retain power by rallying
under his standard.
There were at this time full two thousand cavaliers with the youthful
king, resolute men, well armed and well appointed, and they urged him
to lead them against the King of Leon. Queen Berenguela, however,
interposed and declared her son should never be guilty of the impiety
of taking up arms against his father. By her advice King Fernando
sent an embassy to his father, expostulating with him, and telling
him that he ought to be thankful to God that Castile was in the hands
of a son disposed at all times to honor and defend him, instead of a
stranger who might prove a dangerous foe.
King Alfonso, however, was not so to be appeased. By the ambassadors
he sent proposals to Queen Berenguela that they reënter into wedlock,
for which he would procure a dispensation from the Pope; they would
then be jointly sovereigns of both Castile and Leon, and the Prince
Fernando, their son, should inherit both crowns. But the virtuous
Berenguela recoiled from this proposal of a second nuptials. “God
forbid,” replied she, “that I should return to a sinful marriage; and
as to the crown of Castile, it now belongs to my son, to whom I have
given it with the sanction of God and the good men of this realm.”
King Alfonso was more enraged than ever by this reply, and, being
incited and aided by Count Alvar and his faction, he resumed his
ravages, laying waste the country and burning the villages. He would
have attacked Duenas, but found that place strongly garrisoned by
Diego Lopez de Haro and Ruy Diaz de los Cameros; he next marched upon
Burgos, but that place was equally well garrisoned by Lope Diez de
Faro and other stout Castilian cavaliers; so perceiving his son to
be more firmly seated upon the throne than he had imagined, and that
all his own menaces and ravages were unavailing, he returned deeply
chagrined to his kingdom.
King Fernando, in obedience to the dictates of his mother as well
as of his own heart, abstained from any acts of retaliation on his
father; but he turned his arms against Muñon and Lerma and Lara,
and other places which either belonged to, or held out for, Count
Alvar, and, having subdued them, proceeded to Burgos, the capital
of his kingdom, where he was received by the bishop and clergy with
great solemnity, and whither the nobles and chivalry from all parts
of Castile hastened to rally round his throne. The turbulent Count
Alvar Nuñez de Lara and his brothers retaining other fortresses too
strong to be easily taken, refused all allegiance, and made ravaging
excursions over the country. The prudent and provident Berenguela,
therefore, while at Burgos, seeing that the troubles and contentions
of the kingdom would cause great expense and prevent much revenue,
gathered together all her jewels of gold and silver and precious
stones, and all her plate and rich silks, and other precious things,
and caused them to be sold, and gave the money to her son to defray
the cost of these civil wars.
King Fernando and his mother departed shortly afterwards for
Palencia; on their way they had to pass by Herrera, which at that
time was the stronghold of Count Alvar. When the king came in sight,
Count Fernan Nuñez, with his battalions, was on the banks of the
river, but drew within the walls. As the king had to pass close by
with his retinue, he ordered his troops to be put in good order and
gave it in charge to Alonzo Tellez and Suer Tellez and Alvar Ruyz to
protect the flanks.
As the royal troops drew near, Count Alvar, leaving his people in
the town, sallied forth with a few cavaliers to regard the army as
it passed. Affecting great contempt for the youthful king and his
cavaliers, he stood drawn up on a rising ground with his attendants,
looking down upon the troops with scornful aspect, and rejecting all
advice to retire into the town.
As the king and his immediate escort came nigh, their attention was
attracted to this little body of proud warriors drawn up upon a bank
and regarding them so loftily; and Alonzo Tellez and Suer Tellez
looking more closely, recognized Don Alvar, and putting spurs to
their horses, dashed up the bank, followed by several cavaliers. Don
Alvar repented of his vain confidence too late, and seeing great
numbers urging toward him, turned his reins and retreated toward
the town. Still his stomach was too high for absolute flight, and
the others, who spurred after him at full speed, overtook him.
Throwing himself from his horse, he covered himself with his shield
and prepared for defense. Alonzo Tellez, however, called to his men
not to kill the count, but to take him prisoner. He was accordingly
captured, with several of his followers, and borne off to the king
and queen. The count had everything to apprehend from their vengeance
for his misdeeds. They used no personal harshness, however, but
demanded from him that he should surrender all the castles and strong
places held by the retainers and partisans of his brothers and
himself, that he should furnish one hundred horsemen to aid in their
recovery, and should remain a prisoner until those places were all in
the possession of the crown.
Captivity broke the haughty spirit of Don Alvar. He agreed to those
conditions, and until they should be fulfilled was consigned to
the charge of Gonsalvo Ruyz Giron, and confined in the castle of
Valladolid. The places were delivered up in the course of a few
months, and thus King Fernando became strongly possessed of his
kingdom.
Stripped of power, state, and possessions, Count Alvar and his
brothers, after an ineffectual attempt to rouse the King of Leon to
another campaign against his son, became savage and desperate, and
made predatory excursions, pillaging the country, until Count Alvar
fell mortally ill of hydropsy. Struck with remorse and melancholy, he
repaired to Toro and entered the chivalrous order of Santiago, that
he might gain the indulgences granted by the Pope to those who die in
that order, and hoping, says an ancient chronicler, to oblige God,
as it were, by that religious ceremony, to pardon his sins.[73] His
illness endured seven months, and he was reduced to such poverty that
at his death there was not money enough left by him to convey his
body to Ucles, where he had requested to be buried, nor to pay for
tapers for his funeral. When Queen Berenguela heard this, she ordered
that the funeral should be honorably performed at her own expense,
and sent a cloth of gold to cover the bier.[74]
[73] _Cronica Gotica_, por Don Alonzo Nuñez de Castro, p. 17.
[74] _Cronica General de España_, pt. 3, p. 370.
The brother of Count Alvar, Don Fernando, abandoned his country
in despair and went to Marocco, where he was well received by the
miramamolin, and had lands and revenues assigned to him. He became a
great favorite among the Moors, to whom he used to recount his deeds
in the civil wars of Castile. At length he fell dangerously ill,
and caused himself to be taken to a suburb inhabited by Christians.
There happened to be there at that time one Don Gonsalvo, a knight
of the order of the Hospital of St. John de Acre, and who had been
in the service of Pope Innocent III. Don Fernando, finding his end
approaching, entreated of the knight his religious habit, that he
might die in it. His request was granted, and thus Count Fernando
died in the habit of a Knight Hospitaliere of St. John de Acre, in
Elbora, a suburb of Marocco. His body was afterwards brought to
Spain, and interred in a town on the banks of the Pisuerga, in which
repose likewise the remains of his wife and children.
The Count Gonsalvo Nuñez de Lara, the third of these brothers, also
took refuge among the Moors. He was seized with violent disease in
the city of Baeza, where he died. His body was conveyed to Campos a
Zalmos, which appertained to the Friars of the Temple, where the holy
fraternity gave it the rites of sepulture with all due honor. Such
was the end of these three brothers of the once proud and powerful
house of Lara, whose disloyal deeds had harassed their country and
brought ruin upon themselves.
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