The initial violence erupted in Gozo and spilled into Malta by 1426. Control of the islands fell in the hands of the rebelling populations, while Monroy’s garrison and wife Lady Constance de Monroy were encircled in the Castrum Maris. The tension remained until 1427 when Alfonso V decided that the Universita could buy the fief if they could pay the fee that Monroy paid in 1421. The fee amounted to 30,000 Aragonese florins over 4 months, an effectively impossible task for both the poor population of the island and the relatively wealthy local nobility. By the end of 1427 they had not collected the money and had to bargain for a new deal. Viceroy Muntayans held onto the worth of 15,000 Aragonese florins in seized Maltese assets in Sicily. Meanwhile 400 uncias were given by Francesco Gatto and Marciano Falco, local noble men. The Universita were to pay 5000 florins within a month, while the remaining 10,000 florins were to be paid by October 1428.