Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/324

298 AFRICAN EXPEDITION OF XIMENES. PART Spain, might be supposed to furnish abundant sub- '■ — ject and scope for his aspiring spirit. But his views, on the contrary, expanded with every step •of his elevation, and now fell little short of those of an independent monarch. His zeal glowed fiercer than ever for the propagation of the Catholic faith. Had he lived in the age of the crusades, he would indubitably have headed one of those expeditions himself; for the spirit of the soldier burned strong and bright under his monastic weeds. ^ Indeed, like Columbus, he had formed plans for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre, even at this late day.^ But his zeal found a better direction in a crusade against the neighbouring Moslems of Africa, who had re- taliated the wrongs of Granada by repeated de- scents on the southern coasts of the Peninsula, call- ing in vain for the interference of government. At the instigation and with the aid of Ximenes, an expedition had been fitted out soon after Isabella's 150 5. death, which resulted in the capture of Mazarquivir, .ept. .. ^^ important port, and formidable nest of pirates, on the Barbary coast, nearly opposite Carthagcna. 3 " Ego lamen diim universas if we may judge from the careful ejus actiones comparo," says Al- survey he had procured of the aro Gomez, " magis ad bcllica coast, as well as his plan of opera- excrcilia a natura eflictum esse ju- tions. The Portuguese monarch dico. Erat enim vir animi invicti praises in round terms liic edifying et sublimis, omniaque in melius as- zeal of the primate, but wisely con- screre conantis." De Rebus Ges- fined himself to his own crusades tis, fol. it5. in India, wiiich were likely to make 4 From a letter of King Eman- better returns, at least in this uel of Portugal, it appears that world, than those to Palcslinr. Ximenes had endeavoured to inter- The letter is still preserved in the est iiim, together with the kings archives of Alc-ala ; see a copy of Aragon and England, in a cru- in Quintanilla, Archetype, Apend. sade to the Holy Land. There no. 16. was much method in his madness,