The young King regarded him with love and affection which the superstition of later time attributed to
witchcraft. As the King was under pressure by greedy and unscrupulous nobles — among whom his cousins, the sons of Ferdinand, commonly known as the
Infantes of Aragon, were perhaps the most dangerous — his reliance on a
favourite who had every motive to be loyal to him, is quite understandable. Luna was also a master of all the accomplishments the King admired: a fine horseman, skillful with a
lance and a writer of court verse. But beyond the purview of his peers, he was a master of intrigue and dissimulation. Until he lost the King's protection, Álvaro was the central figure of the Castilian history of the time. It was a period of constant conflict, characterised by shifting coalitions of nobles, namely the Infantes of Aragon
Henry and
John of Aragon, brothers of John II's wife
Maria, who, under the pretence of freeing the King from the undue influence of his favourite, were intent on making a puppet of him for their own ends. The part which Álvaro de Luna played has been diversely judged. The
Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition recounts that to
Juan de Mariana he appears as a mere self-seeking favourite. To others, he has seemed to be a loyal servant of the King who endeavoured to enforce the authority of the crown, which in Castile was the only alternative to
anarchy. He fought for his own ends, but his supremacy was perhaps better than the rule of lawless alliances of plundering nobles. In 1427, he was solemnly expelled by a coalition of the nobles, only to be recalled in the following year. In 1431, he endeavoured to employ the restless nobles in a campaign for the
reconquest of
Granada, the remaining territory of
Muslim Spain and then ruled by the sultan
Muhammed IX. Some successes were gained at the
Battle of La Higueruela, but in the end de Luna failed. A consistent policy was impossible with a rebellious aristocracy and a king of indolent character. In 1445, the faction of nobles allied with Álvaro's main enemies, the Infantes of Aragon, were defeated at the
First Battle of Olmedo. One of them, Infante Henry, Duke of Villena, brother of the Queen, died of his wounds. Luna, who had been Constable of Castile and Count of San Esteban de Gormaz since 1423, became Grand Master of the
Order of Santiago by election of the Knights. == Downfall ==