Marriage of King Fernando to the Princess Juana.—Famine at
Cordova.—Don Alvar Perez.
When Queen Berenguela beheld King Fernando returning in triumph from
the conquest of Cordova, her heart was lifted up with transport, for
there is nothing that more rejoices the heart of a mother than the
true glory of her son. The queen, however, as has been abundantly
shown, was a woman of great sagacity and forecast. She considered
that upwards of two years had elapsed since the death of the Queen
Beatrix, and that her son was living in widowhood. It is true he was
of quiet temperament, and seemed sufficiently occupied by the cares
of government and the wars for the faith; so that apparently he had
no thought of further matrimony; but the shrewd mother considered
likewise that he was in the prime and vigor of his days, renowned in
arms, noble and commanding in person, and gracious and captivating
in manners, and surrounded by the temptations of a court. True, he
was a saint in spirit, but after all in flesh he was a man, and
might be led away into those weaknesses very incident to, but highly
unbecoming of, the exalted state of princes. The good mother was
anxious, therefore, that he should enter again into the secure and
holy state of wedlock.
King Fernando, a mirror of obedience to his mother, readily concurred
with her views in the present instance, and left it to her judgment
and discretion to make a choice for him. The choice fell upon the
Princess Juana, daughter of the Count of Pothier, and a descendant
of Louis the Seventh of France. The marriage was negotiated by Queen
Berenguela with the Count of Pothier; and the conditions being
satisfactorily arranged, the princess was conducted in due state
to Burgos, where the nuptials were celebrated with great pomp and
ceremony.
The king, as well as his subjects, was highly satisfied with the
choice of the sage Berenguela, for the bride was young, beautiful,
and of stately form, and conducted herself with admirable suavity and
grace.
After the rejoicings were over, King Fernando departed with his
bride, and visited the principal cities and towns of Castile and
Leon; receiving the homage of his subjects, and administering justice
according to the primitive forms of those days, when sovereigns
attended personally to the petitions and complaints of their
subjects, and went about hearing causes and redressing grievances.
In the course of his progress, hearing while at Toledo of a severe
famine which prevailed at Cordova, he sent a large supply of money to
that city, and at the same time issued orders to various parts, to
transport thither as much grain as possible. The calamity, however,
went on increasing. The conquest of Cordova had drawn thither great
multitudes, expecting to thrive on the well-known fertility and
abundance of the country. But the Moors, in the agitation of the
time, had almost ceased to cultivate their fields; the troops helped
to consume the supplies on hand; there were few hands to labor and
an infinity of mouths to eat, and the cry of famine went on daily
growing more intense.
Upon this, Don Alvar Perez, who had command of the frontier, set off
to represent the case in person to the king; for one living word from
the mouth is more effective than a thousand dead words from the pen.
He found the king at Valladolid, deeply immersed in the religious
exercises of Holy Week, and much did it grieve this saintly monarch,
say his chroniclers, to be obliged even for a moment to quit the holy
quiet of the church for the worldly bustle of the palace, to lay by
the saint and enact the sovereign. Having heard the representations
of Don Alvar Perez, he forthwith gave him ample funds wherewith to
maintain his castles, his soldiers, and even the idlers who thronged
about the frontier, and who would be useful subjects when the times
should become settled. Satisfied, also, of the zeal and loyalty of
Alvar Perez, which had been so strikingly displayed in the present
instance, he appointed him adelantado of the whole frontier of
Andalusia—an office equivalent to that at present called viceroy.
Don Alvar hastened back to execute his mission and enter upon his
new office. He took his station at Martos, in its rock-built castle,
which was the key of all that frontier, whence he could carry relief
to any point of his command, and could make occasional incursions
into the territories. The following chapter will show the cares and
anxieties which awaited him in his new command.
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