Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/177

MINORITY OF FERDINAND. 33 quoeii. In this revival of half-buried animosities, chapter fresh causes of disgust were multiplied, and mat- '- — lers soon came to the worst extremity. The queen, who had retired to Estella, was besieged there by the forces of the prince. The king, her husband, on receiving intelligence of this, instantly marched to her relief; and the father and son con- fronted each other at the head of their respective armies near the town of Aybar.'° The unnatural position, in which they thus found i« (leieated. themselves, seems to have sobered their minds, and to have opened the way to an accommodation, the terms of which were actually arranged, when the long-smothered rancor of the ancient factions of Navarre thus brought in martial array against each other, refusing all control, precipitated them into an engagement. The royal forces were inferior in number, but superior in discipline, to those of the prince, who, after a well-contested action, saw his 1452. own party entirely discomfited, and himself a pris- oner." Some months before this event, Queen Joan had been delivered of a son, afterwards so famous as Ferdinand the Catholic ; whose humble prospects, at the time of his birth, as a younger brother, af- forded a striking contrast with the splendid destiny 10 Zurita, Anales, torn. iii. fol. 11 Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, 278. — Lucio Marineo Siculo, Co- torn. ii. fol. 223. — Aleson, Ana- ronista de sus Magestades, Las Co- les de Navarra, torn. iv. pp. 501 sas Memorables de Espaiia, (Alca- -503. — L. Marineo, Cosas Mem- la de Henares, 1539,) fol. 104.— orables, fol. 105, Aleson, Anales de Navarra, torn, iv. pp. 494-498. VOL. 1. 5 Birth ofFer dinar.U.