The record-union., 1891-02-08

The historians, Lafuente and Prescott,
do not state exactly the date of the mar
riage Of Don Juan with Dona Margarita,
consigning that "the nupcial ceremony
was celebrated the Sd day of April, - but
it is certain, for thus it is contained in the
Actas of the Council of Burgos, that the
desponsaries We're effected in the Casa del
Gordon the 10Th of March, Sabbath of
Palms, the Archbishop Jimenez de Cis-
neros officiating, and the nuptial benedic-
tians were completed two weeks after on
Sunday, the Sd of April, in the cathedral
before the altar of Santa Maria la Mayor,
and in presence of the Council of the
city," also officiating the Archbishop
Jiminez de Cisneros.
And the same book of Actas contains
curious notices of the brilliant entertain
ments with which the court and the same
Council of Burgos solemnized the we'd
ding that had certainly augured sorrow
fully. 1t was the principal feast of the
nobility, tournament of knights before
the Casa del Gordon. and in it perished
unfortunately, the young gentleman Don
Alonzo de Cardenas, son of Don Gutierre,
Knight Commander of Lean and nephew
of Don Alfonso, Master of Santiago, for
his horse reared and raised himself so
high that Don Alfonso could not control
him, and he fell from the horse on the
lance and there killed himself"
Unhappy Prince Don Juan! When he
was nineteen years old (born in Seville
June 30, 1478), and his wife Dona Marga-
rita, had not yet arrived to sixteen years,
in these few months of married life, on
the 4th day of October of the same year
1887, implacable death cut him off in the
flower of his manhood, idol of his parents
and the hope of CASTLE and of Aragon.
".
Year 15NR Tho Court of Vo11odol;d
was dissolved, and the. Queen Dona
Juana, and the King Don Philip, estab-
lished their court in Burgos, perhaps re-
membering that 1.-The Kings of CASTLE in
having this city, have title to the king
dom, and they may with good confidence
be called kings of it, for it is the head of
Castile;" (5) and they took for their resi-
dence the Casa del Gordon.
The Constable Don Bernardino de We
lasco still lived there and in the same
house with his wife Dona Juana de
Aragon, natural daughter of the King
Don Fernando, and is said to have tar
ried; and Notwithstanding, during the
disagreements that ssurged between the
two SovereignS, father-in-law and SON.
id-law, Dona Isabella, the Catholic, died
and the Cancordid of Salamanca was
broken, the Condestable de Castillo fol-
lowed the party of the Archduke Don
Philip, far from initiating the noble ex-
ample and gentlemanlike conduct of the
Duke of Alva, Count de Tendilla, Count
de Cifuentes and of other magnates, few
it is true, that remained faithful TO the
bereaved King.
Therefore: The first act the Archduke
did after taking up his residence with his
unfortunate wife in the Casa del Gordon
was although itseems incredible), to turn
out OF the Palace its proper and legiti-
mate owner, Dona Juana de Aragon,
"a fIa
that it was mot convenient that she
should have communication and dis
course with the Queen" Thus the Arch
duke paid for the sacrifices of the Consta-
BILE in power of his cause
And the ambitious court fayorite Don
Juan Manual, not content with the Gov
ernorship of the Alcazar Segovia, had
solicited and obtained that of the Castle
Burgos, the principal onein the kingdom,
that possessed heredity-the Estrinigas
Counts OF Plasencia and Dukes of Ari-
yalo-from the times of Don Juan I.
Precisely this success, Insignificant as
it appears, was the prologue, so to speak,
of the sorrowful drama that soon fol-
lowed; the favorite, Don Juan Manuel.
to celebrate his taking his office as Gov
ernor, invited Don Philip to splendid
banquet, that was celebrated in the same
castle the 10th of September, and where
they eat and drank very intemperantly,"
and it happened that after the banquet
lwrites chronicler of the epoch, that the
King rode on horseback and rode long,
and was very much heated, and when he
returned he wished to play ball lin the
Court of Arms of the Casa del Cordom
with a Biscayan Captain of his guard that
was great player-and soon he drank
cold water from pitcher that they gave
him, and sickened."
The modern historians are not decided
q G hn S,,1f Il
sickness that terminated in few days in
such a doleful manner, that was to be the
cause of an absolute change in the Gov
ernment Of the kingdom, and that is be-
cause no one has sought the precise,
authentic, irrefutable data in the one
place where they might have found it
in the archives of the Council of Burgos.
better than in the Epistoles of Martir, or
in the Annals of Zurita.
According to Don Modesto Lafuenta,
the King drank a great glass of, cold
water, and this produced one of those
epidemic fevers that in those times afflicted
CASTLE, and not being well treated by the
Flemish physicians, as they relate it, he
died in the brief space of six days (25th
of September)." According to Prescott,
the King died '1in consequence of fever
produced by the violent exercise of
game of ball. and the method and pre-
scriptions of the faculty of Flemish ply
sicldHS tHstG dtteIueu the monarch were
condemned by their auxiliary, Lodovico
Marliano." According to Don Cayetano
Resell, ''the King was sick of fever"
and died on the 2Sth, not on the 25th.
In the ActaS OF the Council of Burgos
is encountered the truth of the sad event,
insomuch as it corresponds to the session
OF the 10th of September. 1t says that
''the King was sick early in the morn
ing" and he ordered the suspension of
luxurious and ostentatious festival that
was to be celebrated that same day in the
Great Plaza. On the I'D the Burgos
Councillors, "on learning that the King
was worse" resolved, by unanimous
vote. that they would have prayers in all
the churches of the city, and public pro-
cession to the Cathedral, and with the
Chapter to the Casa del Gordon. On the
24th the council constituted in permanent
session, and ordered the purchase of "a
very large wax taper" and to stamp it
with the arms of the city, and to have it
burning in the Council Hall, and 'smake
it the watch to the Lord King, that is in
the agony" And lastly, ON the 26th, they
signed the mark of the cross that the
King had died somewhat after midday
of the 18th, and they ordered mourning
gowns with hoods" to the Carregidor and
his Lieutenants, Alcalde, Inspector of the
city, Solicitor, Aldermen, clerks and por-
ters, ito each one fifteen yards of black
cloth, Of five reales," equal to those they
gave two years when Queen Isabella died
1t appears, Notwithstanding Prescott
affirms to the contrary, that the physi-
clan Marliano having declared the in
fernity as sharp and violent peripneu-
meny, the Archbishop Jimenez de Cis-
neros, having at the time observed that
the Flemish doctors did not understand
the case, decided that Doctor Yauguas,
his excellent physician, should atten-
lively examine the patient. The learned
physician diagnosticated with exactitude
the infernity and prescribed lone or two
bleedings, and very soon, for the Kings