318

THE GLORY OF CHRISTENDOM

THE NEMESIS OF POWER
319
had assiduously cultivated outside support before rebelling. Peter III of Aragon and King Dinis of Portugal
backed him, and so did the military orders.53 Alfonso X appealed to the Pope; but the Sicilian Vespers had just
happened, and Martin IV had no time for Castile's problems until the following year. In bitterness and
desperation St. Fernando's son turned to the ancient enemy, and made alliance with Abu Yusuf of Morocco.
When Abu Yusuf arrived in Spain with an army in August to support his new ally, Alfonso X pawned the crown
of Castile to him for funds to maintain an army in Andalusia and Murcia in the south, the only regions where he
still had support. Sancho's forces repelled him from C6rdoba in September, but the next month Spain shuddered
at the spectacle of Moors riding with the horsemen of the King of Castile up the old raiding track through the
Pass of the Overthrow of the Infidel Dogs to the high plains on which stood the ancient Christian capital of
Toledo. In November Alfonso X bitterly cursed his sons as "traitors to God and Us and Spain," and gave his
kingdom to the little de la Cerda princes, who had no real prospect of ever gaining control of it, and to the
ruling house of France if they should die without issue. 54
In August of the following year, 1283, Pope Martin finally spoke out to condemn the rebellion of Alfonso
X's sons against their father, but few paid attention. In November Alfonso issued his will, a stark and terrible
document in which he reiterated his solemn curse upon his sons, disinheriting them forever in favor of the de la
Cerda princes and the Kings of France." Twice a traitor, this once great king who has gone down in history with
the inappropriate nickname of "the Wise" was prepared to deliver his country either to the infidel or to the French
rather than to the rebel sons he had come to hate so much. On April 4 he died, and Sancho became king of
Castile. He was blessed with a loving and faithful wife, who as a widow became guardian and protector of
Castile, one of the great women in Spanish history: Maria de Molina. But Sancho IV "the Fierce" never escaped
the shadow of the betrayal and curse of his father. When he died of tuberculosis in 1295 at the age of only 36, he
said it was God's judgment on him for breaking the Fourth Commandment 56
Fifteen cardinals met in conclave April 1, 1285, four days after the death
O'Callaghan, Medieval Spain, pp. 376-377, 380; Hillgarth, Spanish Kingdoms, I, 310- Ballesteros y
Beretta,AlfonsoX pp. 949,966-970.
Ya
Lomax, Reconquest of Spain, p. 164; O'Callaghan, Medieval Spain, pp. 380-381; Hi11~arth, Spanish
Kingdoms, I, 310-311; Ballesteros y Beretta, Alfonso X, pp. 987-998. "'Mann, Popes in the Middle Ages, XVII, 299,
301; Ballesteros y Beretta, Alfonso X, pp. 1000-1007.
s6
0'Callaghan, Medieval Spain, p. 381; Hillgarth, Spanish Kingdoms, I, 312-315; Mercedes Gaibrois de
Ballesteros, Historia del reinado de Sancho IV de Castilla, (Madrid, 1922), II, 371-374. For Maria de Molina see
Mercedes Gaibrois de Ballesteros, Maria de Molina, tres veces reina (Madrid, 1936, 1967).
of Pope Martin IV. Within twenty-four hours they had unanimously elected a new Pope: Giacomo Savelli, a
Roman, 75 years old and severely crippled in both hands and feet, so that he was unable to walk or to raise his
hands at Mass without the aid of a "mechanical contrivance." He took the name of Honorius IV. S7 He meant well
and tried hard, but he was probably elected primarily because he was not expected to live long, and he did not.
The chief event of his two-year pontificate was the long-awaited French invasion of Aragon, which was fiercely
resisted. The city of Gerona held out three months; the valiant Peter III of Aragon suffered a mortal wound
fighting hand-to-hand in its defense. Within a week of its fall King Philip III, seriously ill, ordered his army
home. It met disaster in the Col de Panissars high in the Pyrenees; most of the French knights and foot soldiers
were killed or scattered. Philip III came down the fatal rock slopes a dying man. On October 5 he succumbed, and
his 1_7year-old son Philip IV was king of France. 58
Philip IV le bel (usually translated "the Fair") is, in the memorable phrase of Joseph Strayer, the greatest
American authority on his reign, "a hard man to get to know.""' Historians have argued for centuries over whether
he was his own man or little more than a puppet manipulated by powerful and ambitious advisors. One of his
enemies once compared him to an owl, "the handsomest of birds ... who can do nothing but stare at men." Strayer
is convinced that Philip IV held ultimate authority firmly in his hands, but carefully screened himself by a cold,
almost disdainful reserve." Of the few who may have felt that they knew Philip the Fair well, none have left us
any close-up personal glimpses of him. His motivations are almost wholly enigmatic. But his actions-and the
actions of the ministers whom he not only tolerated but vigorously supported-speak for him. Above all, they
suggest that nothing really mattered to Philip IV of France e_but_power. Defenders and critics alike often speak
of his piety. He did give the appearance of piety. But few and far between are any known actions of his that
reflect its substance. 2
 Following the death of Peter III of Aragon from his mortal wound suffered at the siege of Gerona, his elder
son Alfonso III inherited Aragon and

57 Mann, Popes in the Middle Ages, XVII, 358-360,364.

58
0'Callaghan, Medieval Spain, pp. 390-391; Hillgarth, Spanish Kingdoms, I, 258259- Runciman, Sicilian Vespers,
pp. 282-283, 286.
99
Joseph R. Strayer, The Reign of Philip the Fair (Princeton, 1980), p. 3. 6°Ibid
61
lbid., pp. 24, 32.
62
Strayer says that what he calls "the religion of monarchy ... made a deeper impression on him [Philip IV]
than Christianity," and that he "understood and practiced this religion rather better than he did Christianity."
(Reign of Philip the Fair, p. 13). This very perceptive judgment is marred only by the phrase "religion of
monarchy," which is no religion, just as monarchy per se, at least in Christendom, does not mean absolutism or
totalitarianism. But to Philip IV, quite evidently, it did.