Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/280

136 TROUBLES IN CASTILE AND ARAGON. PART I. The testaments of the Castilian sovereigns, though never esteemed positively binding, and occasionally, indeed, set aside, when deemed unconstitutional or even inexpedient by the legislature, ^° were always allowed to have great weight with the nation. With Henry the Fourth terminated the male line of the house of Trastamara, who had kept possession of the throne for more than a century, and in the course of only four generations had ex- hibited every gradation of character from the bold and chivalrous enterprise of the first Henry of that name, down to the drivelling imbecility of the last. 30 As was the case with the tes- century, and with that of Peter the taments of Alfonso of Leon and Cruel, in the fourteenth. Alfonso the Wise, in the thirteenth Notice of Alonso <ie Palencia. The historian cannot complain of a want of authentic materials for the reign of Henry IV. Two of the chroniclers of that period, Alonso de Palencia and Enriquez del Castillo, were eyewitnesses and conspicuous actors in the scenes which they recorded, and connected with opposite factions. The former of these writers, Alon- so de Palencia, was born, as ap- pears from his work, " De Synon- ymis," cited by Pellicer, (Biblio- theca de Traductores, p. 7,) in 1423. Nic. Antonio has fallen into the error of dating his birth nine years later. (Bibliotheca Ae- tus,tom. ii. p. 3.31.) At the age of seventeen, he became pace to Al- fonso of Carthagcna, bishop of Burgos, and, in the family of that estimable prelate, acquired a taste for letters, which never deserted him during a busy political career. He afterwards visited Italy, where he became acquainted with Cardi- nal Bossarion, and through him with the learned George of Trebi- zond, whose lectures on philosophy and rhetoric he attended. On his return to his native country, he was raised to the dignity of royal his- toriographer by Alfonso, younger brother of Henry IV., and compet- itor with him for the crown. He attached himself to the fortunes of Isabella, after Alfonso's death, and was employed by the archbishop of Toledo in many delicate nego- tiations, particularly in arranging the marriage of the princess with Ferdinand, for which purpose he made a secret journey into Aragon. On the accession of Isabella, he was confirmed in the office of na- tional chronicler, and passed the remainder of his life in the compo- sition of j)hilological and histori- cal works and translations from the ancient classics. The time of his death is uncertain. He lived to a good old ago, however, since it ap- pears from iiis own statement, (see Mendez, Tvposraphia Espafiola, (Madrid, IT'K!,) p. 11)0,) that his vinsion of Josophus was not com- pleted till the year 1492. The moat popular of Palencia's