is wedded
pair, and that was when he had consented to recognize the legitimacy of
their children; so Fernando could now be considered, without any doubt,
as the rightful heir to Leon. Meanwhile, Alfonso III. of Castile,
Berenguela's father, had won new laurels at the great battle known as
the Navas de Tolosa, where the Moors had suffered a crushing defeat, and
Castile was more than ever the leading Spanish power. But soon after
Berenguela's arrival, her father went to his long rest, and the crown
descended to his oldest son, Enrico, who was but a boy of ten. Queen
Eleanor was first intrusted with the administration of affairs, but she
soon followed her husband, dying within a month after this power had
been conferred upon her, and the regency passed by common consent to the
prudent care of Berenguela, who was, according to Hume, "the fittest
ruler in all Spain, the most prudent princess in all Christendom." This
regency, however, was not a time of peace and quiet, for the death of
the old king had given opportunity for the turbulent Lords of Lara to
break forth again in open revolt, and after a year of ineffectual
resistance Berenguela was compelled, in the interests of domestic
harmony, to surrender the person of her young brother into the control
of Alvaro Nunez, the leader of the opposition, who at once began to rule
the kingdom with a heavy hand. What Berenguela's fate would have been
and what Castile's if this usurper had been allowed to remain for a long
time in power is a matter for conjecture, but Alvaro's dreams of success
were soon shattered. Through some whim of fate it happened that the
young king was accidentally killed one morning as he was at play in the
courtyard of the palace, and Berenguela, as the only lawful heir, became
the Queen of Castile in her own right. In this trying moment,
clear-headed as usual, she gave further proof of her astuteness. She
realized that her husband might in some way try to make political
capital out of the situation and might try to work in his own interests
rather than in those of their son. For the young Fernando, recognized as
heir to Leon, would now, as the prospective ruler of Castile, be heir
to a larger estate than that of his father, and Alfonso was not a man
big enough to rejoice in this fact, as Berenguela well knew.
Accordingly, she sent speedy messengers to Alfonso before the news of
the death of the young King Enrico had reached him, and asked that her
son might