Treaty of Ayton

Most Reverend Pedro López Ayala
Bishop of Islas Canarias
Church	Catholic Church
Diocese	Diocese of Islas Canarias
In office	1507-1513
Predecessor	Diego de Muros
Successor	Fernando Vázquez de Arce
Personal details
Died	31 January 1513 Canary Islands, Spain

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. He was the son of Pedro Lopez de Ayala, Commendator of Mora and Treze, and Doña Leonor de Ayala. His contemporary, the historian Polydore Virgil, who may have known him in England, remarks that he was clever, but no scholar.

In November 1493, 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. 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.

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