40 REIGN OF JOHN II., OF ARAGON. PART life, and reserving to himself the punishment of the '- offence. ^^ iiisnrrenion No sooncr was the result of their mission com- !•(■ the Cala- '""* municated, than the whole kingdom was thrown into a ferment. The high-spirited Catalans rose in arms, almost to a man. The royal governor, after a fruitless attempt to escape, was seized and imprisoned in Barcelona. Troops were levied, and placed under the command of experienced officers of the highest rank. The heated populace, out- stripping the tardy movement of military opera- tions, marched forward to Lerida in order to get possession of the royal person. The king, M^ho had seasonable notice of this, displayed his wonted presence of mind. He ordered supper to be pre- pared for him at the usual hour, but, on the approach of night, made his escape on horseback with one or two attendants only, on the road to Fraga, a town within the territory of Aragon ; while the mob, traversing the streets of Lerida, and finding little resistance at the gate, burst into the palace and ransacked every corner of it, pier- cing, in their fury, even the curtains and beds with their swords and lances. ^^ The Catalan army, ascertaining the route of the royal fugitive, marched directly on Fraga, and arriv- ed so promptly, that John, with his wife, and the 21 L. Marineo, Cosas Memora- 22 Aleson, Anales de Navarra, bles, fol. 108, 109. — Abarea, torn. ii. p. 358. — Zurita, Anales, Reyes de Aragon, torn. ii. fol. 25*2. lib. 17, cap. 6. — Abarea, Reyes do — Znrita, Anales, lib. 17, cap. 45. Aragon, torn. ii. fol. 253. — L. — Aleson, Anales de Navarra, Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. lorn. ii. p. 357. 111.
