latristereina:It had taken months of negotiating, and a few more adhesions to Isabella’s cause, but
latristereina:It had taken months of negotiating, and a few more adhesions to Isabella’s cause, but the following day she finally met her half-brother for the first time in almost five years. Isabella found Enrique overjoyed to see her as he once more proved his dislike of conflict. ‘After lunch he went to see her in a chamber where he ordered that she be served with the finest things that he has here, and there was great joy with the Lady. They spoke at length,’ reported the archbishop of Toledo in a letter to Juan the Great. ‘Another day he came to see her and they dined with great service and pleasure, and the lady Princess danced and he sang before her, and they enjoyed themselves long into the night, and there was impatience for the Prince to arrive; and the next day he took her around the city so that all could see her, taking her rein. This news is spreading joy across the whole kingdom.’ It was New Year’s Eve, 1473, and for the first time in seven years ordinary people learned that Castile’s royal family was at peace with itself. The following day Ferdinand, who was staying near by, was invited into the city, and was amazed by the reception. It was his first ever meeting with the king. There had been ‘good fellowship and understanding’, he boasted to the councils of Valencia and Barcelona. ‘Everyone was terribly pleased,’ wrote the archbishop. ‘The lord Prince danced in his [the king’s] presence, which caused such delight that it would take too long to explain.’ The early days of 1474 invited Castilians to imagine, once more, that their future was peace, not civil war.Isabella and her husband had received advice on how to deal with Enrique, starting with his taste buds. ‘When he is with his close advisers and with music, let him be and don’t attempt to do anything with him,’ read the instructions from one of her father-in-law’s allies, Vázquez de Acuña. ‘And when he comes out, they should have his food ready, almojábana cakes filled with soft cheese, butter and cheeses from Buitrago, buñuelo cakes (full of cream or cabello de ángel), pastries and similar foods, and with that they will have him as they want.’ Early in the new year the three of them rode through the streets of Segovia together before going to an Epiphany feast at the Cabrera household, where a Milanese merchant was impressed to find a woman, Beatriz de Bobadilla, in charge. The seating was carefully arranged by rank, with Enrique placed on a slightly higher platform than Isabella and Ferdinand. When the feast was over they went off to a separate room to listen to music. - Giles Tremlett, Isabella of Castile: Europe’s First Great Queen -- source link
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