Note 35 — Chapter XII · SOCIAL ORGANIZATION IN SPAIN, 1252-1479

The figure of Pedro López de Ayala (1332-1407) is typical of the nobility of the times, illustrating also the new tendency to win triumphs in court intrigues rather than in warlike pursuits. Despite the facility with which he changed from one side to another, he was able to procure a profit for himself (even out of his reverses) without scandal and under a pretence of serving the public good, being always on the border of immorality without falling openly and resolutely into it. Thus he was able to rise from untitled poverty to nobility and extraordinary wealth, and to the position of chancellor of Castile. He was also the most noted historian of his time.

A worthy successor of the preceding was Pedro Téllez Girón, grand master of Calatrava, whose achievements occupied the latter years of Juan II and most of the reign of Henry IV. As a favorite of the latter before he became king he was influential in causing the downfall of Álvaro de Luna, and profited by that event to secure honors and wealth for himself, so that in the reign of Henry IV he proved to be the most powerful of the Castilian lords. He was also one of the most turbulent and disloyal of the nobles, and knew how to procure a good price for his services in the civil wars of his time. He would have married Isabella, the successor of Henry IV, if he had lived, and in that event the history of Spain might have taken a different course.