me and memory of the
grandees of the kingdom might not be lost, and that the hereditary
possessions and houses, and the generations of the sons of grandees
might be preserved."

It was Pedro Lopez de Ayala, son of the one-eyed lord of Fuensalida
created Count by Enrique the Fourth, that built the castle. He was a
great favourite with the king, and his constant companion,
notwithstanding his being afflicted with deafness--a bad defect in a
courtier, and which procured him also a surname. He succeeded his father
in his different dignities. His loyalty did not keep pace with his
obligations to Henry the Fourth; for, being first Alcalde of Toledo, he
made no effort to prevent that town from joining the party of the Prince
Alonzo, who pretended to his brother's crown; but he was recalled to his
allegiance by the devoted exertions of his wife.

This lady was Dona Maria de Silva, a daughter of Alonzo Tenorio de
Silva, Adelantado of Cazorla. On the breaking out of the rebellion of
Toledo, she agreed with her brother Pedro de Silva, Bishop of Badajos,
to send a joint letter to the king, in which they pressed him to come to
Toledo in disguise. Enrique the Fourth approved of the plan; and
arriving in the night, accompanied by a single attendant, was received
by the bishop at his residence in the convent of San Pedro Martir.
Notwithstanding the darkness, he had been recognised by a servant of
Marshal Payo de Ribera, a partisan of Prince Alonzo. This noble,
immediately on learning the king's arrival, joined with the Alcalde, who
had not been let into the secret by his wife, and called the citizens to
arms by sounding the great bell of the cathedral. A crowd was speedily
assembled at the king's lodging, who would have been immediately made
prisoner, but for his attendant Fernando de Ribadenegra, who succeeded,
single handed, in repulsing a party who had forced an entrance.

At this crisis the disloyal magistrate became alarmed, and sent his two
sons, Pedro de Ayala, and Alonzo de Silva, accompanied by Perafande
Ribera, son of the above-mentioned marshal, to entreat the king to quit
the town. Henry consented; and at midnight left the convent, accompanied
by the three youths. He had ridden sixteen leagues that day, and his
horses being exhausted with fatigue, he requested the two sons of Ayala
to lend him theirs. They did so, and accompanied him on foot as far as
the city gates, where he left them, and set off for Madrid.

In order