Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/196

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52

REIGN OF JOHN II., OF ARAGON.

PART I.

to that of the prince." Extraordinary doctrines these for the age in which they were promulged, affording a still more extraordinary contrast with those which have been since familiar in that unhappy country!^[1]

The government then enforced levies of all such as were above the age of fourteen, and, distrusting the sufficiency of its own resources, offered the sovereignty of the principality to Henry the Fourth, of Castile. The court of Aragon, however, had so successfully insinuated its influence into the council of this imbecile monarch, that he was not permitted to afford the Catalans any effectual support; and, as he abandoned their cause altogether before the expiration of the year,^[2] the crown was offered to Don Pedro, constable of Portugal, a descendant Successes of of the ancient house of Barcelona.

Successes of John. In the mean while, the old king of Aragon, attended by his 1464. Jan youthful son, had made himself master, with his characteristic activity, of considerable acquisitions in the revolted territory, successively reducing Le- rida,^[3] Cervera, Amposta,^[4] Tortosa, and the most

↑ Zurita, Anales, torn. iv. fol. 113-115.—Alonso de Palencia,Corónica, MS., pari. 2, cap. 1.
↑ In conformity with the famous verdict given by Louis XL at Bayonne, April 23d, 1463, previouslyto the interview between him and Henry IV. on the shores of the Bidassoa. See Part I. Chap. 3. of this History.
↑ This was the battle-groundof Julius Caesar in his wars with Pompey. See his ingenious milltary manoeuvre as simply narrated in his own Commentaries, (De Bello Civili, tom. i. p. 54.) and by Lucan, (Pharsalia, lib. 4.) with his usual swell of hyperbole.
↑ The cold was so intense at the siege of Amposta, that serpents of an enormous magnitude are reported by L. Marineo to have descended from the mountains, and taken refuge in the camp of the besiegers. Portentous and supernatural voices were frequently heard during the nights. Indeed the superstition of the soldiers appears to have been so lively as to have prepared them for seeing and hearing any thing.

[1] Zurita, Anales, torn. iv. fol. 113-115.—Alonso de Palencia,Corónica, MS., pari. 2, cap. 1.

[2] In conformity with the famous verdict given by Louis XL at Bayonne, April 23d, 1463, previouslyto the interview between him and Henry IV. on the shores of the Bidassoa. See Part I. Chap. 3. of this History.

[r40-3] This was the battle-groundof Julius Caesar in his wars with Pompey. See his ingenious milltary manoeuvre as simply narrated in his own Commentaries, (De Bello Civili, tom. i. p. 54.) and by Lucan, (Pharsalia, lib. 4.) with his usual swell of hyperbole.

[r41-4] The cold was so intense at the siege of Amposta, that serpents of an enormous magnitude are reported by L. Marineo to have descended from the mountains, and taken refuge in the camp of the besiegers. Portentous and supernatural voices were frequently heard during the nights. Indeed the superstition of the soldiers appears to have been so lively as to have prepared them for seeing and hearing any thing.

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