Note 391 — Chapter VII

One of the most odious of the acts that marked the restoration of Ferdinand VII. related to the war of the Comuneros, nearly three centuries before. After the execution of Juan de Padilla and the exile of his noble wife, in 1521, their house was razed to the ground, and an inscription reproachful to their memory placed on the spot where it had stood. This the Cortes removed, and erected in its stead a simple monument in honor of the martyrs. In 1823, Ferdinand ordered the simple monument of the Cortes to be destroyed, and replaced the old inscription! But, since that time, Martinez de la Rosa has erected a nobler monument to their memory in his “Viuda de Padilla.” See Henri Ternaux, Les Comuneros, Paris, 1834, 8vo, p. 208; an interesting work and a work of authority, relying, in part, on unpublished materials.