Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/467

SURPRISE OF ALHAMA. 321 achieved a victory over the Moors, accompanied chapter with a signal display of personal prowess. ^ Later __1_ in life, he formed a connexion with the daughter of the marquis of Villena, the factious minister of Henry the Fourth, through whose influence he was raised to the dignity of marquis of Cadiz. This alliance attached him to the fortunes of Henry, in his disputes with his brother Alfonso, and subsequently with Isabella, on whose accession, of course, Don Rodrigo looked with no friendly eye. He did not, however, engage in any overt act of resistance, but occupied himself with prose- cuting an hereditary feud, which he had revived with the duke of Medina Sidonia, the head of the Guzmans ; a family, which from ancient times had divided with his own the great interests of Andalusia. The pertinacity with which this feud was conducted, and the desolation which it carried not only into Seville, but into every quarter of the province, have been noticed in the preceding pages. The vigorous administration of Isabella repressed these disorders, and, after abridging the overgrown •* Zuiliga, Annales de Sevilla, no children born in wedlock, but a pp. 349, 362. numerous progeny by his concu- This occurred in the fight of Ma- bines. Among these latter, was droilo, when Don Rodrigo stooping Doiia Leonora Nunez de Prado, to adjust his buckler, which had the mother of Don Rodrigo. The been unlaced, was suddenly sur- brilliant and attractive qualities of rounded by a party of Moors. He this youth so far won the affections snatched a sling from one of them, of his father, that the latter obtain- and made such brisk use of it, that, ed the royal sanction (a circum- after disabling several, he succeed- stance not infrequent in an age, ed in putting them to flight ; for when the laws of descent were which feat, says Zufiiga, the king very unsettled,) to bequeath him complimented him with the title of his titles and estates, to the preju- " the youthful David." dice of more legitimate heirs. Don Juan, count of Arcos, had VOL. I. 41