After the master had visited Doña Maria and his nieces the king’s daughters, he went down to the courtyard of the Alcazar, where he had left his mules, intending to seek his lodgings and bestow his companies. But when he reached the courtyard of the Alcazar he found that his beasts were gone, for the king’s porters had given orders for everyone to leave the courtyard, and they turned out all the beasts and closed the gates; for so they had been commanded, that there might not be many there. When the master could not find his mules he was at a loss whether he should return to the king or what he should do; and one of his knights, whose name was Suer Gutierrez de Navales, an Austrian, perceived that some mischief was afoot, for he saw a stir in the Alcazar, and he said to the master, “My lord, the postern of the courtyard stands open; go out and you shall not lack mules.” This he repeated many times, for he thought that if the master got outside the Alcazar he might perchance escape, and there they must needs slay many of his followers ere they could take him.
In the meanwhile there came to the master two knights who were brothers, and their names were Ferrand Sanchez de Tovar, and Juan Ferrandez de Tovar, and they knew nothing of this business. By the king’s orders they said to the master, “My lord, the king calls for you”; and the master turned back to go to the king, in dread, for he now suspected evil. As he passed the doors of the palace and of the different apartments the number of his followers grew less and less, for those who guarded the doors had ordered the porters not to let them pass.
When the master came to the place where the king was, none was allowed to enter save only the master Don Fadrique, and the master of Calatrava, Don Diego Garcia (who that day accompanied Don Fadrique, the master of Santiago, and knew nothing of all this), and two other knights. The king was in a hall called “del Fierro” with the door closed. And when the masters of Santiago and Calatrava came to the door of the hall where the king was, it was not opened to them, and they stood at the door. And Pedro Lopez de Padilla, the king’s ballestero mayor, was outside with the masters, and thereupon a wicket opened in the hall where the king was, and the king said to Pedro Lopez de Padilla:
“Pedro Lopez, seize the master;” and he replied, “Which of them?” and the king said, “The master of Santiago.” Then Pedro Lopez de Padilla laid hold of the master Don Fadrique, and said, “I arrest you,” and the master stood silent full of dread, and the king said to some ballesteros who stood by, “Ballesteros, kill the master of Santiago.”
But even so the ballesteros durst not do it. Then one of the king’s bedchamber, a man named Rui Gonzalez de Atienza who was in the secret, cried aloud to the ballesteros:
“Traitors! what are you about? Did you not hear the king command you to kill the master?”
Then the ballesteros, seeing that it was indeed the king’s order, raised their maces to strike the master Don Fadrique. When the master of Santiago saw this, he disengaged himself from the grasp of Pedro Lopez de Padilla, and jumped into the courtyard. He seized his sword but could not draw it, for it was slung round his neck under the tabard which he wore, and when he would have drawn it the hilt caught in the strap and he could not get it free. The ballesteros pursued him to wound him with their maces but they could not succeed, for he eluded them and fled from side to side, in the courtyard.
Then Nuño Ferrandez de Roa, who pursued him more closely than the rest, came up with him and dealt him a blow on the head with his mace, so that he fell to the ground, and thereupon all the other macemen came up and wounded him. As soon as the king saw the master lying on the ground, he went through the Alcazar thinking to find some of his followers and put them to death, and he found none; for some had not entered the palace when the master returned in answer to the king’s summons, because the doors were well guarded, and some had fled and concealed themselves. But the king found a squire named Sancho Ruiz de Villegas, who was surnamed Sancho Portin, and he was the master’s chief equerry. The king found him in the part of the palace called the Caracol, where Doña Maria de Padilla dwelt with the king’s daughters, where he had taken refuge when he heard the noise of the master’s murder. The king entered the room, and Sancho Ruiz had taken Doña Beatrice, the king’s daughter, in his arms, thinking to escape death through her. But when the king saw it, he caused his daughter Doña Beatrice to be torn from his arms, and stabbed him with the dagger which he wore in his belt.
The king returned to where the master lay, and found that he was not yet dead, and the king took a dagger from his belt and gave it to a groom of the chambers, to kill him with. When it was done the king sat down to eat in the place where the master lay dead, a hall called the Azulejos, which is in the Alcazar. Then the king sent for his cousin, the infante Don Juan, (of Aragon) and told him in secret that he was going from thence to Biscay at once, and that he should come with him, for it was his intention to put Don Tello to death and give Biscay to Don Juan. For the infante Don Juan was married to Doña Isabella, sister of the wife of Don Tello, and both were daughters of Don Juan Nuñez de Lara, lord of Biscay, and of Doña Maria his wife. And the infante kissed the king’s hands, thinking that he would act according to his word. That day, after the death of the master Don Fadrique, the king took the adelantadoship of the frontier from his cousin the infante Don Juan, saying that he would make him lord of Biscay, and bestowed it upon Enriquez, who was alguacil mayor of Seville; and he gave that office to Garci Gutierrez Tello, an honourable gentleman dwelling in Seville.
That same day on which the master of Santiago died the king sent orders to Cordova for Pero Cabrera, a gentleman who dwelt there, to be put to death, as well as a zurat whose name was Ferrando Alfonso de Gabete. And he sent to kill Don Lope Sanchez de Bendaña, chief commander of Castile, and they killed him in Villarejo, a place belonging to the order of Santiago, the property of the commander. In Salamanca they killed Alfonso Jufre Tenorio; and Alfonso Perez Fermosino in Toro. In the castle of Mora they slew Gonzalo Melendez de Toledo, who had been held a prisoner there. And the king ordered all these to be put to death, saying that they were concerned in the rebellion when some in the kingdom took up the causes of Queen Blanche, as has already been related. And although he had indeed pardoned them it appeared that his wrath against them was not dead.[h]