Don Pedro de Ayala also Pedro López Ayala (died 31 January 1513) was a 16th-century Spanish diplomat employed by Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile at the courts of James IV of Scotland and Henry VII of England. His mission to Scotland was concerned with the King's marriage and the international crisis caused by the pretender Perkin Warbeck. In his later career he supported Catherine of Aragon in England but was involved in a decade of rivalry with the resident Spanish ambassador in London. Ayala was a Papal prothonotary, Archdeacon of London, and Bishop of the Canary Islands.
Sources in English reveal little of Ayala's background; however, he was from the noble family of the Counts of Fuensalida in Toledo.Collado, Ángel Fernández, La Catedral de Toledo en el Siglo XVI, Toledo (1999), 65 He was the son of Pedro Lopez de Ayala, Commendator of Mora and Treze, and Doña Leonor de Ayala.José de Viera y Clavijo, Noticias de la Historia General de las islas de Canaria, (1783) p.73, citing Alonso López de Haro, Nobibiliario, (1622) vol.1, bk.3, cap.3, p.111-2 His contemporary, the historian Polydore Vergil, who may have known him in England, remarks that he was clever, but no scholar.Vergil, Polydore, Historia Anglia, Book 26 Chapter 37, see external links
Mission to Portugal In November 1493,Davenport & Paullin, European Treaties Bearing on the History of the United States and Its Dependencies, Carnegie Institute of Washington, (1917/ repr. 2004), 84 Don Pedro de Ayala and Don Garcí Lopez de Carbajal were sent in embassy to King John II of Portugal. Their mission concerned the line of demarcation between Spanish and Portuguese maritime exploration. 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.
King John II was displeased by the embassy and the news of Columbus's latest voyage. He is said to have shown the Spanish ambassadors the strength of his cavalry, as if to intimidate them, and later mocked Don Pedro for his limp, and Don Garcia for his frivolous character.Prescott, William Hickling, History of the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, Bentley, London (1842), pp. 163–164 note that Dr Puebla was also said to have a limp. A second negotiation by Portuguese commissioners in Spain in March 1494 was more successful and brought about a new settlement for the rivalry in exploration with the Treaty of Tordesillas.Davenport & Paullin (1917/ repr. 2004), 84.
Mission to Scotland
Spanish diplomacy before Don Pedro Before Pedro de Ayala arrived in Scotland, James IV had received several brief Spanish embassies. In 1489, Don Martin de Torre got a formal reception at Linlithgow Palace, including a play performed by Patrick Johnson's fellows. Martin's servants presented a sword and a dagger to James and he gave them gloves containing gold coins. Martin then departed to England with the Scottish Snawdoun Herald. He returned two years later in July 1491 bringing a troupe of Spanish dancers who performed on Edinburgh's Royal Mile outside the Lord Treasurer's house.Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 1 (1877), 117–118, 179, 393, Martin's lodging in Linlithgow, which cost £5, may have been the origin of the name 'The Spanish Ambassadors House' for a building there. Once again, Martin came to Scotland with a colleague Garcia de Herrara in September 1495.Calendar State Papers Spain, vol. 1 (1862), nos. 107, 132. Unfortunately, their confidential instructions concerning Ferdinand and Isabella's lukewarm position on a Spanish marriage for James IV arrived first, and James read them. Despite this poor start, they stayed through the winter, and attended Perkin Warbeck's wedding to Lady Catherine Gordon.MacDougall, Norman, James IV, Tuckwell (1997), 121–123 The Spanish ambassadors obtained a Latin copy of a love letter believed to be Perkin Warbeck's proposal to Lady Catherine Gordon.Calendar State Papers Spain, vol. 1 (1862), no.119 & fn.
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.Calendar State Papers Milan, vol. 1 (1912), no. 480. There was already a veteran ambassador in London, Dr Rodrigo Gonzalez (or Gundisalvi) de Puebla, who had worked on the Treaty of Woking in 1490.Foedera, vol. 12, 418. 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.Sometimes called the Treaty of Okying; Calendar State Papers Spain, vol. 1, (1862), nos. 53–55.
The Spanish resident This pattern of brief visits changed in June or July 1496, when James IV was flattered to entertain Don Pedro de Ayala as a resident Spanish ambassador at his court, and he paid some of Ayala's expenses.Gouldesbrough, P., 'Accounts of Duncan Forrester of Skipinch', Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, vol. 9, Edinburgh (1958), 81. James reserved a house in Edinburgh for the Spanish embassy, paying £40 for a year's rent and damages. The house stood at the head of Niddry's Wynd on the south side of the Royal Mile, known as 'the late Walter Bertrame's House,' now the site of South Bridge.Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1888), pp. lxi–lxii, 123–124; (the preface mistakes a year's rent for a week's rent, 'per annum vel eocirca'): Protocol Book of John Foular, vol. 1 part 1 (Scottish Record Society, 1940), nos. 101, 242.
Spain only had permanent resident ambassadors at Rome, Venice, in London, with Maximilian, and now in Scotland.Mattingly, Garret, Renaissance Diplomacy, Penguin (1964), 125. 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. Isabella had told her ambassador in London, Dr Puebla, that Ayala's job would be to keep James IV in suspense.Bergenroth, Gustav Adolf, ed., Calendar State Papers Spain, vol. 1 (1862), no. 150. 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. Because of the Auld Alliance between France and Scotland, a Scottish invasion might lead to England at war with France. Henry VII's response was to join the Holy League in October 1496.MacDougall, Norman, James IV (Tuckwell: East Linton, 1997), pp. 124–5, 133, 141. 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.MacDougall, Norman, James IV (Tuckwell, 1997), p. 122: Calendar State Papers Spain, vol. 1 (London, 1862), no. 130; the exact location and nature of James IV's regrettable action is unknown.
Don Pedro de Ayala employed his diplomatic skill to ingratiate himself with James IV and undermine Perkin Warbeck. While James was unlikely to be seduced by the remote prospect of a Spanish marriage, or uncertain of Perkin's true identity, modern historians such as David Dunlop debate whether he fully realised Perkin Warbeck as an asset in Anglo-Scottish diplomacy.Dunlop, David, 'The 'Masked Comedian': Perkin Warbeck's Adventures in Scotland and England from 1495 to 1497,' Scottish Historical Review, vol. 70, no. 90, (October 1991), pp. 97–128.
Invading Northumbria Twice Ayala went to the English border with the Scottish army, and crossed the Tweed into Northumbria with Warbeck on 21 September 1496 at Coldstream. Four of his Spanish servants were killed and three were injured in the fighting.Calendar State Papers Spain, vol. 1 (London, 1862), no. 211. James IV stayed a few days at Ellemford, and the invasion is known as the "Raid of Ellem". Miners were set to work to demolish Heaton Castle on 24 September.Thomas Dickson, Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1877), pp. 299–300 According to an English record, the Scots penetrated four miles into England with royal banner displayed, and destroyed 3 or 4 little towers or Bastle houses. They left on 25 September 1496 when an English army commanded by Lord Neville approached from Newcastle.Joseph Bain, Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland, 1357–1509, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1888), pp. 418–9 no. 35, (there dated as if '1497'): David Dunlop (1991), 108–9 & fn., quotes another version, and cites four more, noting mistaken date in Bain (1888). The Tweed fishermen with their coble boats helped bring the artillery back over the Tweed. Ayala and Perkin Warbeck headed back to Edinburgh on 21 September.Thomas Dickson, Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1877), p. 299.
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.Calendar State Papers Spain, vol. 1 (London, 1862), no. 170, 10 January 1497 When news of Perkin and James IV's invasion of September 1496 reached Milan, Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, wrote to his ambassador in Spain on 21 October 1497, to request the Spanish monarchs make peace between England and Scotland.Calendar State Papers Milan (London, 1912), no. 514.
Ayala and Richard Foxe negotiate at Jenyn Haugh By 28 March 1497, Ferdinand and Isabella were convinced that Perkin Warbeck's significance was waning and war between England and Scotland must be avoided. 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.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 1 (London, 1862), no. 175. The chronicler George Buchanan mentions Ayala's negotiation at Jedburgh with Richard Foxe, Bishop of Durham and keeper of Norham Castle representing Henry VII. John Lesley says this first discussion with Foxe was held at Melrose Abbey. A second instruction to Foxe mentions his previous meeting at "Jenyn Haugh".James Gairdner, Letters and papers illustrative of the reigns of Richard III and Henry VII, 1 (London, 1861), p. 104: E. G. Cody, Leslie's History of Scotland translated by Father Dalrymple, vol. 2 (Edinburgh: SHS, 1895), p. 114. James IV still refused to hand Perkin, his guest, to the English.James Aikman, History of Scotland by George Buchanan, vol. 2 (Glasgow, 1827), pp. 236–7 (Bk. 13 Cap. 17).