Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/248

1 04 CASTILE UNDER HENRY IV. I. I'ART the marquis was now convinced that he could onl}' hope to defeat them bj resorting to the coercive system, which he had before abandoned. He accordingly instructed the archbishop of Seville to march at once to Madrigal with a sufficient force to secure Isabella's person ; and letters were at the same time addressed by Henry to the citizens of that place, menacing them with his resentment, if they should presume to interpose in her behalf. The timid inhabitants disclosed the purport of the mandate to Isabella, and besought her to provide for her own safety. This was perhaps the most critical period in her life. Betrayed by her own domestics, deserted even by those friends of her own sex, who might have afforded her sympathy and counsel, but who fled affrighted from the scene of danger, and on the eve of falling into the snares of her enemies, she beheld the sudden extinction of those hopes, which she had so long and so fondly cherished. ^^ In this exigency, she contrived to convey a knowledge of her situation to Admiral Henriquez, and the archbishop of Toledo. The active prelate, on receiving the summons, collected a body of horse, and reinforced by the admiral's troops, ad- vanced with such expedition to Madrigal, that he succeeded in anticipating the arrival of the enemy. Isabella received her friends with unfeigned satis- 53 Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, Beatrice dc nobadilla and Menoia MS., part. 2, cap. 12. — Castillo, de la Torre, the two ladies most in Cronica, cap. 128, 131, 1.10. — licr conruience, had escaped to iho Zurila, Anales, torn. iv. Ibl. 162. — neighbouriiiK town of Coca.