Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/85

RESOLUTION OF THE SPANIARDS. 59 ure, so different from his usual clemency, by an chapter unwillingness to encumber himself with a superflu- ^ — ous population in the besieged city.^^ But, in truth, such a proceeding, however offensive to hu- manity, was not at all repugnant to the haughty spirit of chivalry, which, reserving its courtesies exclusively for those of gentle blood and high de- gree, cared little for the inferior orders, whether soldier or peasant, whom it abandoned without re- morse to all the caprices and cruelties of military license. The capture of Ruvo was attended with impor- tant consequences to the Spaniards. Besides a valuable booty of clothes, jewels, and money, they brought back with them nearly a thousand horses, which furnished Gonsalvo with the means of aug- menting his cavalry, the small number of which had hitherto materially crippled his operations. He accordingly selected seven hundred of his best troops and mounted them on the French horses ; thus providing himself with a corps, burning with zeal to approve itself worthy of the distinguished honor conferred on it.^^ A few weeks after, the general received an im- Prepares to ' ~ leave Bar- portant accession of strength from the arrival of '^"'• two thousand German mercenaries, which Don Juan Manuel, the Spanish minister at the Austrian court, had been permitted to raise in the emperor's dominions. This event determined the Great Cap- 32 D'Auton, Hist, de Louys p. 270. — Zurito, Hist, del Rey Xn., ubi supra. — Giovio, Vitae Hernando, torn. i. lib. 5, cap. 14. niust. Virorum, p. 249. — Quinta- 33 Giovio, Vitas Illust.Virorum, na, Espafioles C^lebres, torn. ii. p. 249.