OF THE RECEPTION AT COURT OF THE COUNT DE CABRA AND THE ALCAYDE DE LOS
DONCELES.
In the midst of the bustle of warlike affairs the worthy chronicler Fray
Antonio Agapida pauses to note, with curious accuracy, the distinguished
reception given to the count de Cabra and his nephew, the alcayde de
los Donceles, at the stately and ceremonious court of the Castilian
sovereigns, in reward for the capture of the Moorish king Boabdil. The
court (he observes) was held at the time in the ancient Moorish palace
of the city of Cordova, and the ceremonials were arranged by that
venerable prelate Don Pedro Gonzales de Mendoza, bishop of Toledo and
grand cardinal of Spain.
It was on Wednesday, the 14th of October (continues the precise Antonio
Agapida), that the good count de Cabra, according to arrangement,
appeared at the gate of Cordova. Here he was met by the grand cardinal
and the duke of Villahermosa, illegitimate brother of the king, together
with many of the first grandees and prelates of the kingdom. By this
august train was he attended to the palace amidst strains of martial
music and the shouts of a prodigious multitude.
When the count arrived in the presence of the sovereigns, who were
seated in state on a dais or raised part of the hall of audience, they
both arose. The king advanced exactly five steps toward the count, who
knelt and kissed his royal hand; however, the king would not receive
him as a mere vassal, but embraced him with affectionate cordiality. The
queen also advanced two steps, and received the count with a countenance
full of sweetness and benignity: after he had kissed her hand the king
and queen returned to their thrones, and, cushions being brought, they
ordered the count de Cabra to be seated in their presence. This last
circumstance is written in large letters and followed by several notes
of admiration in the manuscript of the worthy Fray Antonio Agapida,
who considers the extraordinary privilege of sitting in presence of the
Catholic sovereigns an honor well worth fighting for.
The good count took his seat at a short distance from the king, and near
him was seated the duke of Najera, then the bishop of Palencia, then the
count of Aguilar, the count Luna, and Don Gutierre de Cardenas, senior
commander of Leon.
On the side of the queen were seated the grand cardinal of Spain, the
duke of Villahermosa, the count of Monte Rey, and the bishops of Jaen
and Cuenca, each in the order in which they are named. The infanta
Isabella was prevented by indisposition from attending the ceremony.
And now festive music resounded through the hall, and twenty ladies of
the queen’s retinue entered, magnificently attired; upon which twenty
youthful cavaliers, very gay and galliard in their array, stepped forth,
and, each seeking his fair partner, they commenced a stately dance. The
court in the mean time (observes Fray Antonio Agapida) looked on with
lofty and becoming gravity.
When the dance was concluded the king and queen rose to retire to
supper, and dismissed the count with many gracious expressions. He was
then attended by all the grandees present to the palace of the grand
cardinal, where they partook of a sumptuous banquet.
On the following Saturday the alcayde de los Donceles was received
likewise with great honors, but the ceremonies were so arranged as to be
a degree less in dignity than those shown to his uncle, the latter being
considered the principal actor in this great achievement. Thus the grand
cardinal and the duke of Villahermosa did not meet him at the gate
of the city, but received him in the palace and entertained him in
conversation until summoned to the sovereigns. # When the alcayde de los
Donceles entered the presence-chamber the king and queen rose from
their chairs, but without advancing. They greeted him graciously, and
commanded him to be seated next to the count de Cabra.
The infanta Isabella came forth to this reception, and took her seat
beside the queen. When the court were all seated the music again sounded
through the hall, and the twenty ladies came forth as on the preceding
occasion, richly attired, but in different raiment. They danced as
before, and the infanta Isabella, taking a young Portuguese damsel for a
partner, joined in the dance. When this was concluded the king and queen
dismissed the alcayde de los Donceles with great courtesy, and the court
broke up.
The worthy Fray Antonio Agapida here indulges in a long eulogy on the
scrupulous discrimination of the Castilian court in the distribution of
its honors and rewards, by which means every smile and gesture and word
of the sovereigns had its certain value and conveyed its equivalent of
joy to the heart of the subject--a matter well worthy the study (says
he) of all monarchs, who are too apt to distribute honors with a
heedless caprice that renders them of no avail.
On the following Sunday both the count de Cabra and the alcayde de los
Donceles were invited to sup with the sovereigns. The court that
evening was attended by the highest nobility, arrayed with that cost and
splendor for which the Spanish nobility of those days were renowned.
Before supper there was a stately and ceremonious dance, befitting the
dignity of so august a court. The king led forth the queen in grave and
graceful measure; the count de Cabra was honored with the hand of the
infanta Isabella; and the alcayde de los Donceles danced with a daughter
of the marques de Astorga.
The dance being concluded, the royal party repaired to the supper-table,
which was placed on an elevated part of the saloon. Here, in full view
of the court, the count de Cabra and the alcayde de los Donceles supped
at the same table with the king, the queen, and the infanta. The royal
family were served by the marques of Villena. The cup-bearer to the king
was his nephew, Fadrigue de Toledo, son to the duke of Alva. Don Alexis
de Estaniga had the honor of fulfilling that office for the queen,
and Tello de Aguilar for the infanta. Other cavaliers of rank and
distinction waited on the count and the alcayde de los Donceles. At one
o’clock the two distinguished guests were dismissed with many courteous
expressions by the sovereigns.
Such (says Fray Antonio Agapida) were the great honors paid at our
most exalted and ceremonious court to these renowned cavaliers, but the
gratitude of the sovereigns did not end here. A few days afterward they
bestowed upon them large revenues for life, and others to descend to
their heirs, with the privilege for them and their descendants to prefix
the title of Don to their names. They gave them, moreover, as armorial
bearings a Moor’s head crowned, with a golden chain round the neck, in
a sanguine field, and twenty-two banners round the margin of the
escutcheon. Their descendants, of the houses of Cabra and Cordova,
continue to bear these arms at the present day in memorial of the
victory of Lucena and the capture of Boabdil el Chico.*
* The account given by Fray Antonio Agapida of this ceremonial, so
characteristic of the old Spanish court, agrees in almost every
particular with an ancient manuscript made up from the chronicles of the
curate of los Palacios and other old Spanish writers.