Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/131

107 SURRENDER OF THE CAPITAL. 107 and generous, a warm friend, and a kind master to chapter XV. his vassals. ^^ He was strict in his observance of the Catholic worship, punctilious in keeping all the church fes- tivals and in enforcing their observance through- out his domains ; and, in war, he was a most devout champion of the Virgin. He was ambitious of acquisitions, but lavish of expenditure, especial- ly in the embellishment and fortification of his towns and castles ; spending on Alcala de Guada- ira, Xerez, and Alanis, the enormous sum of seven- teen million maravedies. To the ladies he was courteous as became a true knight. At his death, the king and queen with the whole court went into mourning ; " for he was a much-loved cavalier," says the Curate, " and was esteemed, like the Cid, both by friend and foe ; and no Moor durst abide in that quarter of the field where his banner was displayed." His body, after lying in state for several days in his palace at Seville, with his trusty sword by his side, with which he had fought all his battles, was borne in solemn procession by night through the streets of the city, which was everywhere filled with the deepest lamentation ; and was finally de- posited in the great chapel of the Augustine church, in the tomb of his ancestors. Ten Moorish ban- ners, which he had taken in battle with the infidel, 25 Carbajal, Anales, MS., aiio ment of the Moorish war, the firm 1492. friend of the marquis of Cadiz, Don Henrique de Guzman, duke died the 28th of August, on the of Medina Sidonia, the ancient same day with the latter, enemy, and, since the commence-