Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/497

ROUT IN THE AXARQUIA. 35 J On the 1st of July, while the court was at Cor- chapter dova, died Alfonso de Carillo, the factious arch- — - — bishop of Toledo, who contributed more than any archbishop* r ^ ./ of Toledo. Other to raise Isabella to the throne, and who, with the same arm, had wellnigh hurled her from it. He passed the close of his life in retirement and disgrace at his town of Alcala de Henares, where he devoted himself to science, especially to alchj- my ; in which illusory pursuit he is said to have squandered his princely revenues with such prodi- gality, as to leave them encumbered with a heavy debt. He was succeeded in the primacy by his ancient rival, Don Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, cardinal of Spain ; a prelate whose enlarged and sagacious views gained him deserved ascendency in the councils of his sovereigns.^ The importance of their domestic concerns did not prevent Ferdinand and Isabella from giving a vigilant attention to what was passing abroad. The conflicting relations growing out of the feudal sys- tem occupied most princes, till the close of the fifteenth century, too closely at home to allow them often to turn their eyes beyond the borders of their own territories. This system was, indeed, now rapidly melting away. But Louis the Eleventh may perhaps be regarded as the first monarch, who showed any thing like an extended interest in Eu- ropean politics. He informed himself of the inte- • rior proceedings of most of the neighbouring courts, 9 Salazar de Mendoza, Cron. — Aleson, Annales de Navarra, del Gran Cardenal, p. 181. — Pul- torn. v. p. 11, ed. 1766. — Peter gar, Claros Vaiones, tit. 20. — Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 158. •^'•arbajal, Anales, MS., ano 1483.