Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/549

403 the sove- MILITARY POLICY OF THE SOVEREIGNS. 403 benediction. The royal party were then escorted chapter to the camp, where suitable accommodations had '- — been provided for the queen and her fair retinue. ^^ It may readily be believed that the sovereiirns Devout de- •I J o meanor of did not neglect, in a war like the present, an ap- peal to the religious principle so deeply seated in the Spanish character. All their public acts osten- tatiously proclaimed the pious nature of the work in which they were engaged. They were attend- ed in their expeditions by churchmen of the highest rank, who not only mingled in the councils of the camp, but, like the bold bishop of Jaen, or the grand cardinal Mendoza, buckled on harness over rochet and hood, and led their squadrons to the field. ^* The queen at Cordova celebrated the tidings of every new success over the infidel, by solemn procession and thanksgiving, with her whole household, as well as the nobility, foreign ambassa- dors, and municipal functionaries. In like manner, Ferdinand, on the return from his campaigns, was received at the gates of the city, and escorted in 33 Bemaldez, Reyes Catolicos, stranger to the dangers of a battle. MS., cap. 80. — The lively author By the comparative heights of the of " A Year in Spain " describes armour, Isabella would seem to be among other suits of armour still the bigger of the two, as she cer- to be seen in the museum of the tainly was the better." A Year armory at Madrid, those worn by in Spain, by a young American, Ferdinand and his illustrious con- (Boston, 1829,) p. 116. sort. "In one of the most con- 34 Cardinal Mendoza, in the cam- spicuous stations is the suit of paign of 1485, offered the queen to armour usually worn by Ferdinand raise a body of 3000 horse, and the Catholic. He seems snugly march at its head to the relief of seated upon his war-horse, with a Alhama, and at the same time to pair of red velvet breeches, after supply her with such sums of the manner of the Moors, with lift- money as might be necessary in ed lance and closed visor. There the present exigency. Pulgar, are several suits of Ferdinand and Reyes Catolicos, cap. 50. of his queen Isabella, who was no