We are told that when he died voices were heard from heaven in testimony of his sanctity while the tears and lamentations of all Spain proved how much he was valued and beloved on earth. His remains were conveyed, according to his request, to the monastery of St. Pedro de Arlanza by a procession of holy friars with solemn chant and dirge. In the church of that convent they still repose; and two paintings are to be seen in the convent,—one representing the count valiantly fighting with the Moors, the other conversing with St. Pelayo and St. Millan, as they appeared to him in vision before the battle of Hazinas. The cross which he used as his standard is still treasured up in the sacristy of the convent. It is of massive silver, two ells in length, with our Saviour sculptured upon it, and above the head, in Gothic letters, I. N. R. I. Below is Adam awaking from the grave, with the words of St. Paul, “Awake, thou who sleepest, and arise from the tomb, for Christ shall give thee life.” This holy cross still has the form at the lower end by which the standard-bearer rested it in the pommel of his saddle. “Inestimable,” adds Fray Antonio Agapida, “are the relics and remains of saints and sainted warriors.” In after times, when Fernando the Third, surnamed the Saint, went to the conquest of Seville, he took with him a bone of this thrice-blessed and utterly renowned cavalier, together with his sword and pennon, hoping through their efficacy to succeed in his enterprise,—nor was he disappointed; but what is marvelous to hear, but which we have on the authority of the good Bishop Sandoval, on the day on which King Fernando the Saint entered Seville in triumph, great blows were heard to resound within the sepulchre of the count at Arlanza, as if veritably his bones which remained behind exulted in the victory gained by those which had been carried to the wars. Thus were marvelously fulfilled the words of the holy psalm,—“Exaltabant ossa humilitata.”[72] Here ends the chronicle of the most valorous and renowned Don Fernan Gonzalez, Count of Castile. _Laus Deo._ [72] Sandoval, p. 334. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHRONICLE OF FERNANDO THE SAINT. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHRONICLE OF FERNANDO THE SAINT. CHAPTER I. The Parentage of Fernando.—Queen Berenguela.—The Laras.—Don Alvar conceals the Death of King Henry.—Mission of Queen Berenguela to Alfonso IX.—She renounces the Crown of Castile in favor of her son Fernando. Fernando III., surnamed the Saint, was the son of Alfonso III. King of Leon, and of Berenguela, a princess of Castile; but there were some particulars concerning his parentage which it is necessary clearly to state before entering upon his personal history.