king is determined to conquer Portugal, and add it to his crown, as appertaining to him in right of his queen. Take care not to muddle more by your claims what is troubled enough already; for you will be put to death if you persevere.'

'God forfend!' exclaimed the knight.

'You may judge yourself what may be expected,' continued they, if you prove the queen a bastard, which we, in this country, maintain to be false, and while we maintain that she was born in legal marriage by a dispensation in due form from the Pope.'

'What had I best do, then?' asked Lorenzo, somewhat aghast.

'The best way for you to act,' was the reply, 'is to set out instantly for your estate in Portugal, and leave the Lady Leonora with her daughter; we see no other means of safety for you.'

'On my troth,' exclaimed Lorenzo, 'I believe you advise me like real friends.'

Subsequent reflection did not belie the knight's impression as to the advice he had received. Indeed, it was much too prudent to be rejected under the circumstances. Within three days, he had made all preparations; and, having secretly packed up all his valuables, he left the city, rode towards Portugal, and reaching Lisbon in safety, presented himself to the grand master.

Sir,' said Lorenzo, 'I acknowledge you as king, and I come to serve you.'

'I rejoice to hear it,' replied the grand master, who speedily restored Lorenzo's estates, and appointed him governor of Lisbon, which the King of Castille was marching to attack.

'During the siege of Lisbon, which lasted upwards of a year,' says Froissart, 'there were, every week, two or more skirmishes, in which many were killed and wounded on both sides. The town was besieged as well by sea as by

land; and the besiegers had plenty of all things; for provisions came to them from different parts of Spain. The Spaniards made one course up to the very gates of Lisbon, when Lorenzo D'Acunha sallied forth out of the barriers with his pennant, having the arms of Acunha borne before him, accompanied by many gallant friends, and excellent deeds of arms were then done with lance and dart.

'Lorenzo D'Acunha was struck with a dart that passed through his plates, his coat of mail and jacket, though stuffed with silk, and his whole body, so that he was felled to the ground. The skirmish ceased on account of the dead knight; and thus was the Lady Leonora made a widow in one year of both her husbands.'

The siege of Lisbon was long; and the inhabitants beginning to despair, the grand master was advised to embark for England to crave assistance. Suddenly, however, a pestilence appeared in the camp of the besiegers, and the King of Castille, after losing twenty thousand of his men, was persuaded by his nobles to raise the siege and repair to Santarem. This retreat raised the courage of the Portuguese, and the grand master going to Coimbra, was there, on the 8th of April, 1385, crowned with much ceremony. This done, he returned to Lisbon as John, King of Portugal.

Leonora's prediction was verified; but doubtless she still cherished the hope of seeing her daughter Queen of Portugal. Indeed, the King of Castille, on hearing of the coronation of Coimbra, mustered an army of thirty thousand men (two thousand of whom were French knights), and marched for Lisbon with the idea of conquering. But the King of Portugal had also taken the field; and Leonora's delusions were dissipated by that great battle which was fought at the close of an autumn day near Ajubarota, and which, for centuries afterwards, the Portuguese annually celebrated as the proudest of their victories.

It was Saturday, the 14th of August, 1385; and the

King of Portugal, having heard of the approach of the Castillians, and drawn together his men, and marched out of Guimaraeus, entered the plains of Ajubarota with the resolution of leaving the field either as a conqueror or a corpse. His army was quite inferior in number to that of his adversary. Indeed, he had only six thousand men under his standard. But he had the sagacity to consult two English squires, Northbury and Hartsel, whose experience in war made their advice of value.

'Since we must have a battle,' said the Englishmen, 'and they are so superior in number, it is an unequal chance, and we can only conquer by taking advantage of the hedges and ditches.'

"You speak wisely,' replied the king, and it shall be as you recommend;' and at the suggestion of the English squires, the Portuguese fortified themselves near the monastery of Ajubarota, which was situated on a little eminence, surrounded by large trees, hedges, and bushes.

The King of Castille intended to march straight to Lisbon. But, after holding counsel with his captains, he perceived the danger of leaving an enemy, however inferior, in his rear, and resolved to give battle, with the idea of crushing the handful of men opposed to his host. About sunset, accordingly, the Portuguese and Castillians met in the shock of war. At first, the Portuguese rather had the worst of the encounter, and their vanguard began to give way. But the King of Portugal coming up, cheered them on by his voice and example; and in less than an hour, the Castillians were scattered in all directions. The banner of Castille was taken, and the King of Castille fled to Santarem; but when he learned the worst, he entered a barge and made for Seville, where the queen and her mother were waiting for the news of some victory likely to restore Portugal to them and them to Portugal. Fortune, however, was decidedly adverse. It was no longer the King of Portugal, but the King of Castille who

was in danger; for the conqueror of Ajubarota had returned to Lisbon in triumph, and sent ambassadors to invite over the English. With the memory of a recent and terrible defeat behind, and the prospect of having to contend with such an army as had made themselves so formidable at Cressy, at Poictiers, and at Navarretta, the King of Castille might well lose heart, and declare, as he did, with an oath, that 'he should never again taste joy.'

Matters did not turn out so disastrously as might have been anticipated. But the descendants of Leonora D'Acunha were not destined to sit either on the throne of Castille or that of Portugal. Beatrice, indeed, had two children, Michael and Mary, but both died in youth; and when, in 1390, John, King of Castille, was killed by a fall from his horse, it was Henry, his eldest son by Eleanor of Arragon, who ascended the throne from which Henry of Trastamare had dragged Peter the Cruel. But by that time, in all possibility, Leonora D'Acunha's interest in earthly affairs had ceased, and in the silence of the tomb she slept the sleep that knows no breaking.

208

Constance of Castille, Duchess of Lancaster.

A

T. the time when Peter the Cruel escaped from Seville, left his kingdom, and sought refuge at the court of the Black Prince at Bordeaux, his flight was shared by Constance and Isabel, two daughters whom he had by Maria de Padilla, so celebrated in the ancient ballads of Spain. Both of them were very young, one being twelve years of age and the other eleven; but they were sufficiently near the throne of Castille to make them, even at that age, objects of interest and curiosity to princes of ambition. It is true that the position of their mother had been equivocal, and that their legitimacy was not established to the satisfaction of the world. Nevertheless, their claims as Peter's daughters were sufficiently strong, under the circumstances, to tempt men of adventurous spirit to dream of a matrimonial speculation.

It was 1350, when Peter, then in his eighteenth year, succeeded his father, Alphonso, as King of Castille. At that time there was living in the house of his minister, Albuquerque, where she had been brought up, a damsel of remarkable beauty named Maria de Padilla. She was daughter of John, Lord of Villagera, one of those Spanish nobles of whom it was said, that if their power had been equal to their pride, all the world could not have withstood them.' The young king, then promising to be something better than the monster of cruelty he afterwards proved, was fascinated with the damsel's beauty, and she became his queen in all but the name. It does not, however, appear