On entering the gates, the royal pair were welcomed by the municipality of the city, who supported a canopy of cloth of gold over the heads of the king and queen, emblazoned with their ciphers. A procession was formed, consisting of the principal magistrates, the members of the military orders, the officers of the Inquisition,--for Toledo was one of the principal stations of the secret tribunal,--and, lastly, the chief nobles of the court. In the cavalcade might be discerned the iron form of the duke of Alva, and his more courtly rival, Ruy Gomez de Silva, count of Melito,--the two nobles highest in the royal confidence. Triumphal arches, ornamented with quaint devices and emblematical figures from ancient mythology, were thrown across the streets, which were filled with shouting multitudes. Gay wreaths of flowers and flaunting streamers adorned the verandas and balconies, which were crowded with spectators of both sexes in their holiday attire, making a display of gaudy colors that reminds an old chronicler of the richly tinted tapestries and carpetings of Flanders.[473] In this royal state, the new-married pair moved along the streets towards the great cathedral; and after paying their devotions at its venerable shrine, they repaired to the _alcazar_,--the palace-fortress of Toledo. For some weeks, during which the sovereigns remained in the capital, there was a general jubilee.[474] All the national games of Spain were exhibited to the young queen; the bull-fight, the Moorish sport of the _cañas_, or tilt of reeds, and tournaments on horseback and on foot, in both of which Philip often showed himself armed _cap-à-pie_ in the lists, and did his _devoir_ in the presence of his fair bride, as became a loyal knight. Another show, which might have been better reserved for a less joyous occasion, was exhibited to Isabella. As the court and the cortes were drawn together in Toledo, the Holy Office took the occasion to celebrate an _auto da fé_, which, from the number of the victims and quality of the spectators, was the most imposing spectacle of the kind ever witnessed in that capital.