agnificence which strikes the eye, would secure him
the devotion of his soldiers. During the ten years' war for the conquest
of Granada he completed his apprenticeship under his brother, the count
of Aguilar, the grand master of Santiago, and the count of Tendilla, of
whom he always spoke as his masters. It was a war of surprises and
defences of castles or towns, of skirmishes, and of ambuscades in the
defiles of the mountains. The military engineer and the "guerrillero"
were about equally employed. Gonzalo's most distinguished single feat
was the defence of the advanced post of Illora, but he commanded the
queen's escort when she wished to take a closer view of Granada, and he
beat back a sortie of the Moors under her eyes. When Granada
surrendered, he was one of the officers chosen to arrange the
capitulation, and on the peace he was rewarded by a grant of land.

So far he was only known as an able subordinate, but his capacity could
not be hidden from such an excellent judge of character as Isabella, to
whom as a woman he appealed by a chivalrous union of devotion and
respect. When, therefore, the Catholic sovereigns decided to support the
Aragonese house of Naples against Charles VIII. of France, Gonzalo was
chosen by the influence of the queen, and in preference to older men, to
command the Spanish expedition. It was in Italy that he won the title of
the Great Captain; Guicciardini says that it was given him by the
customary arrogance of the Spaniards, but it was certainly accepted as
just by all the soldiers of the time of whatever nationality. A detailed
account of his campaigns cannot be given here. He held the command in
Italy twice. In 1495 he was sent with a small force of little more than
five thousand men to aid Ferdinand of Naples to recover his kingdom, and
he returned home after achieving success, in 1498. After a brief
interval of service against the conquered Moors who had risen in revolt,
he returned to Italy in 1501. Ferdinand of Spain had entered into his
iniquitous compact with Louis XII. of France for the spoliation and
division of the kingdom of Naples. The Great Captain was chosen to
command the Spanish part of this robber coalition. As general and as
viceroy of Naples he remained in Italy till 1507. During his first
command he was mostly employed in Calabria in mountain warfare which
bore much resemblance to his former experience in Granada. There was,
however, a material difference in the enemy