King, Georgiana Goddard: A brief account of the military orders in Spain (New York: The Hispanic Society of America, 1921)

232
MILITARY ORDERS
The fall of
the Master
brought about his ruin at the close. And
because fortune is a jade, it was in the
matter of the King’s second marriage that
the tragic error entered into the play and
D. Alvaro fetched her into Castile that
should put him out thence.
The King was desirous to marry the
King of France’s daughter, Madame
Renee, being taken by report of her
beauty and affability; being married to
the Princess of Portugal, Dona Isabel, he
was wont to say that though he was mar-
ried the deed was the Constable’s, and from
that hour was remarked a notable falling
off in his love, notwithstanding that he
came to dote on his new Queen, and she
that owed all to the Constable contrived
his fall.
The fall of princes is no new thing in the
world, nor did Lydgate and Boccace
rehearse the most tragical histories. In
the thirty-two years that the Master ruled
the kingdom, he had served his King and
spared his enemies and now the ascendant
was overpassed. A strange series of acci-
dents fell upon him, street brawls threat-
HISPANIC NOTES