vorite
with all her people, of both high and low degree, and all were glad to
see that the future seemed to smile upon her.

A worthy companion to the wise Berenguela is found in the person of
Maria de Molina, the wife of Sancho IV., called the Ferocious, King of
Castile. His reign, which had extended over a period of eleven years,
came to a close with his death in the year 1295, and in all that time
there had been nothing but discord and confusion, warfare and
assassination, as Sancho's claim to the throne had been disputed by
several pretenders, and they lost no occasion to harass him by plot and
revolution. It may well be imagined, then, that when he died, leaving
his throne to his son Fernando, a child of nine, the situation was most
perplexing for the queen-mother, who had been made regent, by the terms
of her husband's will, until Fernando should become of age. A further
matter which tended to complicate the situation was the fact that the
marriage between Sancho and Maria had never been sanctioned by the pope,
as the two were within the forbidden limits of consanguinity, and he had
refused to grant his special dispensation. With this doubt as to her
son's legitimacy, Maria was placed in a position which was doubly hard,
and if she had not been a woman of keen diplomacy and great wisdom, she
would never have been able to steer her ship of state in safety amid so
many threatening dangers. Her first care was to induce the pope to
grant, after much persuasion, the long-deferred dispensation which
legalized her marriage; and this matter settled, she was ready to enter
the conflict and endeavor to maintain her rights. The first to attempt
her overthrow was the Infante Juan, the young king's uncle, who made an
alliance with the Moorish king of Granada and assumed a threatening
attitude. Maria sent against him her greatest nobles, Haro, and the
Lords of Lara; but she had been deceived in the loyalty of these
followers, as they promptly deserted the regent's cause and, with all
their men, went over to the insurgents and helped to make more powerful
the coalition which was forming against the infant king. For a brief
moment Maria was in despair and felt almost ready to yield in the face
of the opposition, as the hostile combination now included Portugal,
Aragon, Navarre, France, and Granada, and it was their intent to
separate the kingdoms of Leon and Castile if possible and undo all that
Berenguela had labored so hard and