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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 December 2023
King Pedro of Castile amassed a very great fortune in quite a different way, without altering the currency or inflicting special charges on his people. Consider the manner in which he operated, though we are describing matters outside our own country.
It happened that King Pedro was in the village of Morales, a league away from Toro, and that one day he was playing dice with a group of his knights. One of his keepers of the wardrobe stood nearby in charge of a number of small caskets containing silver and doblas, amounting in all to a sum of around 20,000 doblas. The king said that this sum was all he held in his treasury and that he did not possess any other money. On that very same evening, when the king was in his chamber, his chief treasurer, Don Samuel Leví, in the presence of everyone, addressed him as follows:
Sire, today it pleased you to announce to those who were here present that the amount held in your treasury was no more than 20,000 doblas and that you used it for gaming and for pleasurable pursuits. I concluded, Sire, that you said this to humiliate me as your chief treasurer and to imply that I do not look after your financial affairs properly. However, Sire, you are well aware that I have been your treasurer since the beginning of your reign till now, that is, for some seven years. In that time, your kingdom has always been subject to such an unceasing series of troubles as have led your rent collectors to dare to do things they ought not to have done. As a result, I have been unable to control the situation as peaceably as it required. Now, however, if you will grant me authority over two castles of my choosing, I shall in a very short time garner into them for you such a large sum as to enable you to say that you have amassed more than 20,000 doblas.
The king was greatly pleased at these words and gave his treasurer charge of the castles of Trujillo and Hita.
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