annonball struck Iñigo's legs. The left leg was only a flesh wound, the right leg, however, was a different story.
             The cannonball broke Iñigo's right leg. The French were impressed with Iñigo's display of courage and field dressed his wounds and carried him on a litter, ultimately, to Loyola his childhood home in early June. The broken bone of the right leg fused together overlapping poorly. Surgeons had to re-break his leg to correct the damage. Iñigo's right leg was considerably shorter than the left as well as having a significant protrusion just below his knee. Iñigo instructed his surgeons to operate again to remove the protrusion by sawing it off. The surgeons tried to dissuade him be saying that the pain would be unbearable as the new bone was thicker. It is important to remember that at this time there was no anaesthetic. The surgery was completed and surgeons hung a weight, pulling at his right foot, to try to lengthen his damaged leg. In his autobiography, his elder brother was to have said to be "shocked and said that he himself would not dare suffer such pain; but the !
             wounded man bore it with his wonted endurance".
             Iñigo would be immobile for quite some time. In fact, surgeons and family feared for his life as his condition worsened until June 28, the vigil of Saints Peter and Paul when his health rapidly improved. Iñigo credited his recovery to Saint Peter.
             During his time in the Spanish court, Iñigo read romance novels. He asked for some of these books of chivalry and gallantry to bide his time of convalescence. The castle at Loyola only had books on the life of Christ and the saints. Iñigo read them. He read them several times and began to enjoy them. He began to contemplate his own life in light of these writings and the novels of his time in the Spanish court.
             This time of reflection had a profound affect o...