d the
Lords of Lara; but she had been deceived in the loyalty of these
followers, as they promptly deserted the regent's cause and, with all
their men, went over to the insurgents and helped to make more powerful
the coalition which was forming against the infant king. For a brief
moment Maria was in despair and felt almost ready to yield in the face
of the opposition, as the hostile combination now included Portugal,
Aragon, Navarre, France, and Granada, and it was their intent to
separate the kingdoms of Leon and Castile if possible and undo all that
Berenguela had labored so hard and with such success to accomplish.
Inasmuch as this was, above all else, a quarrel which concerned the
nobility, a contention which had its rise in the jealousy and mutual
distrust of several powerful houses, Maria, with a keen knowledge of the
situation, and with a sagacity which was rather surprising in a woman
untrained in politics or government, decided to win to her side the
great mass of the common people, with whom she had always lived in peace
and harmony. Her first act was to call a meeting of the Cortes in
Valladolid, which was the only city upon which she could depend in this
crisis. The Cortes speedily acknowledged Fernando IV. as king, and with
this encouragement Maria de Molina set bravely about her arduous task of
organization and defence. Few of the nobles rallied to her support, but
she soon won over the chartered towns by the liberal treatment she
accorded them in matters of taxation and by her protection of the
various civic brotherhoods which had been organized by the people that
they might defend themselves from the injustice of the nobility, which
was now showing itself in countless tyrannical and petty acts. She
labored early and late, conducted her government in a most businesslike
manner, convoked the Cortes in regular session every year, and by the
sheer force of her integrity and her moral strength she finally quelled
all internal disturbances and brought back the government to its former
strength and solidity. In the year 1300 Fernando was declared king in
his own right, at the age of fourteen, and then, for a short time, it
looked as if all that the regent had sought to accomplish might
suddenly be nullified. The king, inclined to be arrogant, and with his
head somewhat turned as the result of his sudden accession to power, was
prevailed upon to listen to evil counsellors, who tried in every way to
make him beli