sum demanded from the Cortes each year for the maintenance of this
brilliant establishment continued to increase in a most unreasonable
manner, the Cortes called a halt, Violante was obliged to change her
mode of life, and the number of her ladies in waiting was reduced by
half, while other unnecessary expenses were cut in proportion.

Chapter XVII

The Age of Isabella--Spanish Unity

In the first half of the fifteenth century in Spain there was one woman,
Isabella of Portugal, who deserves to be remembered for her many good
qualities and for the fact that she was the mother of the great Queen
Isabella. It was as the wife of John II. of Castile that the elder
Isabella was brought into the political life of the time and made to
play her part. This King John was one of the weakest and in some ways
the most inefficient of monarchs, for, in spite of his intelligence, his
good manners, and his open and substantial appreciation of the learned
men of his time, his political life was contemptible, as he was
completely under the control of the court favorite, Alvaro de Luna.
_Alvaro de Luna era el hombre mas politico, disimulado, y astuto de su
tiempo_ [Alvaro de Luna was the most politic, deceitful, and astute man
of his time], so says the Spanish historian Quintana; and as Burke puts
it, he had the strongest head and the bravest heart in all Castile.
There was no one to excel him in knightly sport, no one lived in greater
magnificence, and he was, in truth, "the glass of fashion, the mould of
form, the observed of all observers." To this perfect knight, the king
was a mere puppet who could be moved this way or that with perfect
impunity. So complete was the ascendency of Luna, that it is said on
good authority that the king hesitated to go to bed until he had
received his favorite's permission. When King John's first wife, Maria
of Portugal, died in 1445, it was his desire to marry a princess of the
royal house of France; but, for his own reasons, the Lord of Luna willed
otherwise, and the king, submissive, obeyed orders and espoused Isabella
of Portugal, a granddaughter of King John I. No sooner had this fiery
princess taken her place beside King John, after their marriage in 1450,
than she began to assert her independence in a way which caused great
scandal at the court and brought dismay to the heart of Alvaro de Luna.
Isabella opposed the plans of this masterful nobleman at every turn,
refused to accept his dic