CHAPTER XXIII
Bassompierre’s audience of the new King, Philip IV—The Procession of the Crosses—An old flame—Good Friday at Madrid—Anxiety of the Queen’s ladies-in-waiting to see Bassompierre—His visit to them—He is commissioned by Louis XIII to present his condolences to Philip IV—He is informed that etiquette requires him to leave Madrid as though to return to France and then to make another formal entry—Revolution of the palace at Madrid: fall of the late King’s Ministers—The Count of Saldagna ordered by Philip IV to marry Doña Mariana de Cordoba, on pain of his severe displeasure—Bassompierre offers to facilitate the escape of Saldagna to France, but the latter’s courage fails him at the last moment—Negotiations over the Valtellina—Treaty of Madrid—Bassompierre’s pretended departure for France—He visits the Escurial, returns to Madrid and makes a second ceremonious entry—The audience of condolence—State entry of Philip IV into Madrid—Termination of Bassompierre’s embassy—He returns to France.
On Palm Sunday, April 4, Bassompierre had an audience of the new King at the Convent of San Geronimo.
“Twenty carriages were brought,” says he, “in which the Ambassador [Du Fargis] and I and the whole of our respective suites placed ourselves. We were conducted only by the Count of Barajas, because it was not a solemn audience, but a private one, at San Geronimo, to which the King had retired, and he was only admitting me as a favour in order to pay honour to the King [of France] his brother-in-law, and to show the promptitude with which he desired to conclude the affair upon which I had come. We all wore mourning according to the Spanish fashion, with the loba, the caperuza and capirote,[155] which I did for two reasons: first, because, since all the grandees present at the audience, and the King himself, were wearing it, I should have been uncovered, while they were not, which would not have been seemly on my part; secondly, because the sight of me wearing deep mourning for the death of their late King was very agreeable to the Spaniards, who would not have felt thus had I been dressed in our fashion. I made my obeisance to the King and offered him the pesame, which is the compliment of condolence upon the death of the King his father, after which we offered him the parabien, which is the compliment of felicitation upon his happy accession to the Crowns.[156] This we did also in the name of the King [of France], while awaiting the despatch by him of some prince or great noble expressly to pay this compliment. I then spoke to the King about our affairs, to all of which things he answered very pertinently; and, after having paid my respects to the prince,[157] who was with him, I retired.”
On the Wednesday in Holy Week, Bassompierre and Du Fargis witnessed the Procession of the Crosses from the balcony of a house in the Calle Mayor, which had been reserved for them:
“There were,” says Bassompierre, “more than five hundred penitents, who walked barefooted, drawing large crosses, like that of Our Lord, and, at intervals, were movable theatres, on which divers representations of the Passion were exhibited in a very lifelike manner.”
Bassompierre pronounces this spectacle “très belle”; nevertheless, he soon appears to have had enough of it, and on being joined by the Ambassador of Lucca and two Spanish nobles, he rose, protesting that he could not remain seated and leave three such distinguished persons standing—for there were only two chairs on the balcony—but would resign his seat to one of them, leave M. du Fargis to represent France, and go and beg of a party of ladies whom he perceived below the favour of occupying one of their footstools. This he did, and the ladies were most kind and did him the honour to allow him to sit at their feet, and, we fear, paid more attention to his Excellency than to the procession. Nor was this all; for Fortune willed it that he should discover amongst them a flame of the days of his youth, a certain Doña Aña de Sanasara, whom he had known twenty-five years before at Naples, and who was now the wife of the Secretary of the Council of Finance. “They recognised each other with joy,” and Doña Aña, who was very rich, sent her old admirer handsome presents and invited him to her house, where she entertained him most sumptuously.
On the following day—Maundy Thursday—Bassompierre witnessed another procession, that of the Penitents, “in which there were more than two thousand men who belaboured themselves with whips.” Afterwards he went to hear the Tenebræ at Nuestra Señora de Constantinopoli and spent the night in visiting different churches.
On Maundy Thursday and Good Friday Madrid was a city of mourning:
“The bells of the churches were silent; the carriages ceased to pass through the town; no one rode on horseback; no one carried a sword; no one was accompanied by his servants; and all the women were veiled.”