The mother and daughter first met at Irun on the banks of the Bidassoa, and thence proceeded to Bayonne, where the French court had taken up its quarters. The magnificence of the processions and _fêtes_ in that remote corner of France put to shame all modern attempts of a similar kind. Isabella entered Bayonne riding on a milk-white palfrey, whose trappings of velvet, silver, and pearls were estimated at 25,000 ducats.[359] Four of the principal citizens bore a canopy of crimson velvet over her head, as she rode from the gate to the cathedral through streets hung with arras; and as the day was drawing to a close, every house and church was illuminated, and each member of the _cortège_ bore a lighted torch. A _Te Deum_, “accompanied by excellent cornets,” was sung by choristers from the chapel-royal of the Louvre, Cardinals Guise and Strozzi officiating with a number of French and Spanish bishops. The weather was so intensely hot that six soldiers of the queen’s escort fell dead, the victims of sun-stroke.[360] Other casualties of a similar nature occurring in the small and crowded city, a proclamation was issued ordering that all the sick, aged, and infirm should seek shelter in certain villages specified, at a distance from Bayonne.[361] Some years later, when Walsingham referred to this meeting as the origin of a “general league” against the Protestants, Catherine affirmed that it “tended to no other end but to make good cheer.”[362] And so it would seem, for _fête_ followed _fête_ in rapid succession, the political business being transacted at odd moments, after those more serious occupations of the day were ended. One day there was a grand tilting-match, the prize being a valuable diamond given by Isabella. Charles IX. and his brother of Anjou headed one band of noble tilters, all arrayed in fancy costumes; another band was led by the Duke of Nemours, while the horsemen composing that following the Duke of Longueville were dressed in cloth of gold with wings of silver tissue, so as to imitate butterflies. On the evening of another day a masque was performed in a large hall constructed for the purpose. The scene represented a giant’s castle, where a number of beautiful maidens were imprisoned in an enchanted chamber. The entrance, defended by a revolving wheel and guarded by six frightful demons, was attacked by a troop of French and Spanish gentlemen headed by Charles IX., who, after several unsuccessful assaults, overcame every obstacle, killing the giant, routing the demons, and delivering the imprisoned damsels, whom he led as witnesses of his prowess to the feet of his sister Isabella.