On December 11,
1474, King Enrique IV died in Madrid. Within a few hours, he learned of the
death of her sister, Princess Elizabeth, dressed her house in mourning.
“He prevented for
the following Monday a funeral service for the late king in the cathedral church,
and that all the priests in parishes and convents offer sacrifices for the rest
of his soul. Everything was fulfilled with the solemnity that allowed the
narrowing of time”.
The city gathered in the atrium of the churches of San Miguel, then the place of its town hall, and ordered that “Dr. Sancho GarcÃa del Espinar, his lawyer with four councilors, Rodrigo de Peñalosa, Juan de Contreras, Juan de Samaniego and Luis MexÃa On behalf of the City, they would signify to His Highness the sentiment of the death of his brother and the contentment of such a happy succession for our city that it was ready and ready for whatever His Highness ordered ”.
The next day, Tuesday December 13, the day of Santa Lucia, everything was prepared for the proclamation of Isabel as Queen of Castile in the Plaza de San Miguel. She erected a scaffold covered with brocades. The nobles of this city went to the Alcazar to look for the still princess, with splendor and gala. The people divided into guilds and trades gathered in the square waiting for her to arrive.
Isabel left the Alcázar mounted on her horse “with a beautiful and real
presence, well-composed medium height, white and blond, eyes between green and
blue, cheerful and severe movement, all the actions of the face of beautiful
proportion, in speech and actions natural pleasure and majestic verve ”.
Isabel was then 23
years old. Under the canopy she was received in the atrium of the church of San
Miguel by the regidores Rodrigo de Peñalosa, Juan de Samaniego, Luis MexÃa,
Pedro Arias, Juan de Contreras, Fernando de Avendaño, Gonzalo del RÃo, Francisco
de Porras, Gonzalo López de Cuéllar , Pedro Hernández de Rosales and Juan del
RÃo (…). She left the queen the palfrey and, ascending with majesty to the
theater, she occupied a chair that on three tiers rose in the middle. On the
right side, Don Gutiérrez de Cárdenas stood with his rapier.
And a little while
later, when the kings of arms prevented silence, a faraute said aloud:
"Castilla, Castilla, for King Fernando and Queen Isabel" And raising
the royal standard, the instruments sounded, applauding our people already
rejoicing our city ”. After the proclamation of it, the queen prayed at the
main altar of the old cathedral where the hymn Te Deum laudamus was sung.
