Pedro de Ayala
The issue now particularly concerned Ferdinand and Isabella as sponsors of Christopher Columbus, and the Spanish ambassadors offered to put the matter in the Pope's hands as arbitrator.
In 1489, Don Martin de Torre got a formal reception at Linlithgow Palace, including a play performed by Patrick Johnson's fellows.
He returned two years later in July 1491 bringing a troop of Spanish dancers who performed on Edinburgh's Royal Mile outside the Lord Treasurer's house.
[9] The Spanish ambassadors obtained a Latin copy of a love letter believed to be Perkin Warbeck's proposal to Lady Catherine Gordon.
[10] James sent Don Martin and Garcia back to Spain with two Scottish ambassadors, two fine hackney horses, five large swift dogs for hunting wild boar, and a goshawk said to be able to catch cranes and buzzards.
[12] This alliance between Spain and England was a ratification of the Treaty of Medina del Campo, to be sealed by the marriage of Catherine of Aragon to Arthur, Prince of Wales.
[16] Ayala's Scottish mission involved a diplomatic deception, as he was instructed to maintain the possibility that James might marry Catherine of Aragon, whilst knowing that she was more securely promised to Arthur, Prince of Wales.
[17] Primarily, his mission was to neutralise the threat to Spanish international goals posed by the pretender Perkin Warbeck, who claimed to be an English royal, the Duke of York, and seemed likely to draw Scotland into war with England.
This was prejudicial to Spain's alliance with England by the Treaty of Woking, especially when talks for a marriage between Catherine of Aragon and Prince Arthur were close to conclusion.
[18] James IV and Scotland became centre stage, and even an unfortunate gesture he made in the garden of Stirling Castle or Holyroodhouse in front of Don Martin and De Herrara was reported and significant to Ferdinand and Isabella.
[24] Somehow, Ferdinand and Isabella were later led to believe that Ayala was absent from Scotland during Perkin and James IV's invasion of Northumbria, and regretted that he had not been present to prevent it.
Dr Puebla, in London, was instructed to placate Henry VII who had heard that Ayala was credulous in believing the Scottish account of the situation.
[27] The chronicler George Buchanan mentions Ayala's negotiation at Jedburgh with Richard Foxe, Bishop of Durham and keeper of Norham Castle representing Henry VII.
Henry VII considered the offers made at Jenyn Haugh by the Earl of Angus and Lord Home as inadequate and asked the Bishop of Durham to press James IV to surrender Perkin before any further negotiations for peace commenced.
[30] John Lesley, writing in the 1570s, gave a useful summary of Ayala's activity and Spanish intent to this point, quoted as his 16th-century translator put it;"Quhen Ferdinand king of Hispane harde of sik trubles betwene thir twa kingis, quhom he lovet sa weil, he labouris quhat he can to sett thame at ane, and mak thame gude freindis.
Therefore he sent to Scotland an ambassador Pedro de Ayala, a notably pious man, cunning, prudent and wise, to persuade the Scottish king to peace and concord by all means possible, when in some part the Scottish king was well-inclined, and Ferdinand had good hope of his good will, Ferdinand wrote to Henry VII of England that he was shortly (soon) sending an ambassador to Scotland, for the conclusion of the peace.
[35] The historian Norman MacDougall suggests that after a stand-off of a few days, James IV made a truce during an interview with Sir William Tyler, Governor of Berwick, at Dunbar Castle on 20 August 1497.
[37] Don Pedro de Ayala helped negotiate the Treaty between England and Scotland signed at the church of Ayton on 30 September 1497, acting as the commissioner of the Scottish King.
Another englishmen present were Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey(later 2nd duke of Norfolk) and his two eldest sons, whom he knighted at Ayton castle on day of signing the treaty.
In its final form, the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella were appointed to arbitrate future disputes and unresolved issues such as redress for damages caused by the recent invasions.
[43] Pedro de Ayala left for England at the end of October 1497 with Andrew Forman and a present of black cloth and velvet from the King.
[50] James IV's confidence in Ayala remained so great that in 1500 he repeatedly asked him to return to Scotland to advise him on his proposed marriage to Margaret Tudor.
But Ferdinand and Isabella were pleased to hear that the pretender to the English throne, Perkin Warbeck, who had been sponsored by James IV, was captured and Pedro de Ayala had managed to negotiate peace between Scotland and England.
At the same time, Ayala's colleague, Dr Rodrigo Gonzalez de Puebla, resident ambassador in London, contracted the marriage between Catherine of Aragon and Prince Arthur.
[53] Puebla and Ayala were joined in London by the Knight-Commander Sanchez Londoño and the Sub-Prior of Santa Cruz, Fray Johannes de Matienzo, on 18 July 1498.
[54] The historian Garrett Mattingly, writing in 1940, pointed out that Ferdinand and Isabella were probably sceptical in response to what appears to have been Ayala's effort to tarnish Puebla's reputation.
Pedro de Ayala's briefing on Scotland to Ferdinand and Isabella of July 1498 is a major and much quoted source on James IV and his times.
[65] On 25 January 1502, the feast of the Conversion of St Paul, Ayala attended the marriage by proxy of James IV to Margaret Tudor at Richmond Palace.
[71] While Ayala was at Malines in August 1505, Puebla complained to Ferdinand that he and Doña Elvira Manuel had persuaded Catherine of Aragon to give away a valuable collar, brocade and silverwork.
In 1498, Londoño and the Sub-Prior wrote they had heard from Spanish merchants that Puebla had asked Henry VII to make him a bishop, and the King refused because he was a cripple.
