[313] Tít. 68.
[314] Tít. 74, etc.
[315] Tít. 127, 128. Some of the details—the Constable’s composed countenance and manner, as he rode on his mule to the place of death, and the awful silence of the multitude that preceded his execution, with the universal sob that followed it—are admirably set forth, and show, I think, that the author witnessed what he so well describes.
[316] The mistake between the two Pulgars—one called Hernan Perez del Pulgar, and the other Fernando del Pulgar—seems to have been made while they were both alive. At least, I so infer from the following good-humored passage in a letter from the latter to his correspondent, Pedro de Toledo: “E pues quereis saber como me aveis de llamar, sabed, Señor, que me llaman Fernando, e me llamaban e llamaran Fernando, e si me dan el Maestrazgo de Santiago, tambien Fernando,” etc. (Letra XII., Madrid, 1775, 4to, p. 153.) For the mistakes made concerning them in more modern times, see Nic. Antonio, (Bib. Nova, Tom. I. p. 387,) who seems to be sadly confused about the whole matter.
[317] This dull old anonymous Chronicle is the “Crónica del Gran Capitan Gonzalo Fernandez de Córdoba y Aguilar, en la qual se contienen las dos Conquistas del Reino de Napoles,” etc., (Sevilla, 1580, fol.,)—which does not yet seem to be the first edition, because, in the licencia, it is said to be printed, “porque hay falta de ellas.” It contains some of the family documents that are found in Pulgar’s account of him, and was reprinted at least twice afterwards, viz., Sevilla, 1582, and Alcalá, 1584.
[318] Pulgar was permitted by his admiring sovereigns to have his burial-place where he knelt when he affixed the Ave Maria to the door of the mosque, and his descendants still preserve his tomb there with becoming reverence, and still occupy the most distinguished place in the choir of the cathedral, which was originally granted to him and to his heirs male in right line. (Alcántara, Historia de Granada, Granada, 1846, 8vo, Tom. IV., p. 102; and the curious documents collected by Martinez de la Rosa in his “Hernan Perez del Pulgar,” pp. 279-283, for which see next note.) The oldest play known to me on the subject of Hernan Perez del Pulgar’s achievement is “El Cerco de Santa Fe,” in the first volume of Lope de Vega’s “Comedias” (Valladolid, 1604, 4to). But the one commonly represented is by an unknown author, and founded on Lope’s. It is called “El Triunfo del Ave Maria,” and is said to be “de un Ingenio de este Corte,” dating probably from the reign of Philip IV. My copy of it is printed in 1793. Martinez de la Rosa speaks of seeing it, and of the strong impression it produced on his youthful imagination.
[319] This Life of the Great Captain, by Pulgar, was printed at Seville, by Cromberger, in 1527; but only one copy of this edition—the one in the possession of the Royal Spanish Academy—is now known to exist. A reprint was made from it at Madrid, entitled “Hernan Perez del Pulgar,” 1834, 8vo, edited by D. Fr. Martinez de la Rosa, with a pleasant Life of Pulgar and valuable notes, so that we now have this very curious little book in an agreeable form for reading,—thanks to the zeal and persevering literary curiosity of the distinguished Spanish statesman who discovered it.
[320] Ed. Fr. Martinez de la Rosa, pp. 155, 156.
[321] Ibid., pp. 159-162.
[322] Hernan Perez del Pulgar, el de las Hazañas, was born in 1451, and died in 1531.