Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/104

80 80 WAR OF GRANADA. PART The ceremony of the affiancing took place at Se- ^ ville, in the month of April, Don Fernando de Sil- Public fes-. . r 1 ' tivities. veu'a appearmg as the representative of the prince of Portugal ; and it was followed by a succession of splendid fetes and tourneys. Lists were en- closed, at some distance from the city on the shores of the Guadalquivir, and surrounded with galleries hung with silk and cloth of gold, and protected from the noontide heat by canopies or awnings, richly embroidered with the armorial bearings of the ancient houses of Castile. The spectacle was graced by all the rank and beauty of the court, with the infanta Isabella in the midst, attended by seventy noble ladies, and a hundred pages of the royal household. The cavaliers of Spain, young and old, thronged to the tournament, as eager to win laurels on the mimic theatre of war, in the presence of so brilliant an assemblage, as they had shown themselves in the sterner contests with the Moors. King Ferdinand, who broke several lances on the occasion, was among the most distinguished of the combatants for personal dexterity and horse- manship. The martial exercises of the day were relieved by the more effeminate recreations of danc- ing and music in the evening ; and every one seemed willing to welcome the season of hilarity, after the long-protracted fatigues of war.^ In the following autumn, the infanta was escort- 1 Carbajal, Anales, MS., afio cap. 127. — La Clede, Hist, de 1490. — Bernaldez, Reyes Catoli- Portugal, torn. iv. p. 19. — Faria cos, MS., cap. 95. — Zuiliga, An- y Sousa, Europa Portuguesa, torn, nales de Sevilla, pp. 404, 405. — ii. p. 452. Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, part. 3,