[Earlier]
Alfonso IX already knew of the embassy his son had sent, and was awaiting them in his tent with the wisest and most important of his noblemen. The Castilians greeted him with due respect, and the Archbishop of Toledo, reasoning in a prudent but forceful way, illustrated the harm that this war would cause to the people, and the scandal it gave to Christianity. Since the King, listening with a serious face, did not answer, Don Rodrigo finished severely: “Know that you are very unreasonable in attacking your son, who was always obedient to you. And be certain that if you enter in battle, God will be on the side of the innocent one.”
It took great courage to talk like this, but in those days faith was very great, and the threat of losing it, though well-deserved, visibly affected Alfonso, who lowered his head. Then Don Rodrigo placed the King of Castile’s letter in his hands. A page brought a candle and with this light the monarch from León read the letter:
“Lord Father King of León, Don Alfonso, my Lord: What rage is this? Why do you wage war and harm me, when I do not deserve it? It seems that my well-being makes you sad. Rather, you should be very happy to have your son the King of Castile, for it is to your honor. There is not a ruler, Christian or Moor, that would dare come to me with a plan to do you harm. And what is the reason for this rage? You should remember, that it was you who attacked, and now we have two large opposing armies in the field and, normally, any king in such a position as yours should expect an all-out attack from us. But I cannot strike at you because you are my father and my lord. So, I am prepared to sit here and suffer with my troops until you come to your senses.”
No one breathed. Both the Castilians and Leóneses remained motionless with their eyes fixed on the King’s frowning, grim face. They anxiously followed the struggle that was taking place in the monarch’s soul; the struggle between resentment and ambition on one side and the blood’s voice and the respect for the Law of God on the other. Alfonso saw well that what we would call today “public opinion” was unanimously on the side of peace and favored King Don Ferdinand. Those moments of hesitation seemed like centuries. Finally, the King, lifting his eyes, looked at Don Rodrigo de Toledo and, still frowning, said with his disagreeable voice: “Archbishop, you will tell the King of Castile that the war is due to the fact that he has not paid the ten thousand maravedis that King Don Henry had promised me in exchange for Santibañez.”
Painting of Alfonso IX de León by José María Rodríguez de Losada.
“I assure you, Lord King, that this sum will be paid to you very quickly because I know well the King Don Ferdinand my lord. I am certain that if he has not yet done it, it is because he has had no knowledge of it.”
“If that is the case,” concluded the King of León, “there will be no difficulty on my part for peace; and I will name the archbishop of Santiago, along with the bishops of Zamora and Astorga, to negotiate it.”
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Sr. Maria del Carmen Fernández de Castro Cabeza, The Life of the Very Noble King of Castile and León, Saint Ferdinand III (New York: The Foundation for a Christian Civilization, Inc., 1987), 55-60.
Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 433
