PART FIRST.
CHAPTER I.
STATE OF CASTILE AT THE BIRTH OF ISABELLA.—REIGN OF
JOHN II., OF CASTILE.
1406 — 1454.
Revolution of Trastamara.—Accession of John II.—Rise of Alvaro de Luna.—Jealousy of the Nobles.—Oppression of the Commons.—Its Consequences.—Early Literature of Castile.—Its Encouragement under John II.—Decline of Alvaro de Luna.—His Fall.—Death of John II.—Birth of Isabella.
CHAPTER
I
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The fierce civil feuds, which preceded the accession of the House of Trastamara in 1368, were as fatal to the nobility of Castile, as the wars of the Roses were to that of England. There was scarcely a family of note, which had not poured out its blood on the field or the scaffold. The influence of the aristocracy was, of course, much diminished with its numbers. The long wars with foreign powers, which a disputed succession entailed on the country, were almost equally prejudicial to the authority of the monarch, who was willing to buoy up his tottering title by the most liberal concession of privileges to the people. Thus the commons rose in proportion as the crown and the privileged orders
