withdraws from court, RETIREMENT OF GON SALVO. 293 king's marriage with her, " when so illustrious an chapter example has been set me ! " Germaine, who cer- — — ■ tainly could not boast the magnanimity of her pre- decessor, was so stung with the retort, that she not only never forgave the constable, but extended her petty resentment to Gonsalvo, who saw the duke of Alva from this time installed in the honors he had before exclusively enjoyed, of immediate at- tendance on her royal person whenever she ap- peared in public.^^ However indifferent Gonsalvo may have been to consaivo •^ withdraw the little mortifications inflicted by female spleen, he could no longer endure his residence at a court, where he had lost all consideration with the sove- reign, and experienced nothing but duplicity and case ingratitude. He obtained leave, without diffi- culty, to withdraw to his own estates ; where, not long after, the king, as if to make some amends for the gross violation of his promises, granted him the royal city of Loja, not many leagues from Granada. It was given to him for life, and Ferdinand had the effrontery to propose as a condition of making the grant perpetual to his heirs, that Gonsalvo should relinquish his claim to the grand-mastership of St. Jago. But the latter haughtily answered, " He would not give up the right of complaining of the injustice done him, for the finest city in the king's dominions." ^^ From this time he remained on his estates in the 35 Giovio, Vita Magni Gonsalvi, pp. 284, 285. — Chronica del Gran pp. 282, 283. Capitan, lib. 3, cap. 6. — Pulgar, 36 Giovio, Vitas Illust. Virorum, Sumario, p. 208.
