our hostility to friendship, as the battle of Selado, and the raising of the great siege of Sevilha, and many other battles in which the Portuguese added luster to their name in the service of the said kings, demand—and, in our own times, those fleets of ours which participated in the capture of Tunes, in the island of Dargel, or again in the taking of Pinhaõ,[1] and in many other public and private undertakings in which, with both money and arms, we greatly aided the kings of Castella. In spite of all this, his grace will not grant me a thing so reasonable and pleasing, both to God and to the kings our lords, and to the advantage of their army; but, on the contrary, so obstinately refuses to accept the offer of this fleet, and will not depart from our land, but steadily continues building fortifications and throwing up new breastworks, from which he attacked the fleet of the king our lord in this his port, and fired several shots at us from the fortress, as if we were Moors and pagans. And yet I did not allow him to be bombarded, in reply, from this galley "San Francisco," although I had cannon with which I could have caused him much anxiety; but rather retired, in accordance with my constant desire, past and present, for peace—as is seen in my reluctance to make war upon him or to be the cause of shedding Christian blood. Thus I have acted very differently from his grace, who had ambuscades laid at the fords, whither I sent my boat,
- ↑ Sevilla, one of the centers of Mahometan power in Spain, was besieged for more than two years (1246-48) by Fernando III of Castilla, who finally captured it. The expedition against Tunis here referred to was undertaken by Cárlos I of Spain (1535), to restore Muley Hassan, the Mahometan king of Tunis, to his throne, whence he had been driven by Barbarossa, King of Algiers; the usurper was expelled, after a brief siege.
