His exces- sive sever- 288 FERDINAND'S RETURN AND REGENCY. I'ART This was Don Pedro de Cordova, marquis of Priego, who, the reader may remember, when quite a boj, narrowly escaped the bloody fate of his father, Alonso de Aguilar, in the fatal slaughter of the Sierra Vermeja. This nobleman, in common with some other Andalusian lords, had taken um- brage at the little estimation and favor shown them, as they conceived, by Ferdinand, in comparison with the nobles of the north; and his temerity went so far, as not only to obstruct the proceed- ings of one of the royal officers, sent to Cordova to inquire into recent disturbances there, but to imprison him in the dungeons of his castle of Montilla. This outrage on the person of his own servant exasperated the king beyond all bounds. He re- solved at once to make such an example of the offender, as should strike terror into the disaffected nobles, and shield the royal authority from the repe- tition of similar indignities. As the marquis was one of the most potent and extensively allied gran- dees in the kingdom, Ferdinand made his prepara- tions on a formidable scale, ordering in addition to the regular troops, a levy of all between the ages of twenty and seventy throughout Andalusia. Priego's friends, alarmed at these signs of the gathering tempest, besought him to avert it, if pos- sible, by instant concession ; and his uncle, the Great Captain, urged this most emphatically, as the only way of escaping utter ruin. The rash young man, finding himself likely to receive no support in the unequal contest, accepted
