John, of Austria, 1547-1578; Spain -- History -- Philip II, 1556-1598
They dressed the corpse in his war armour, and, as a sign of piety, in a
Franciscan's cloak; the hands were crossed over the breast, on which
rested his sword, whose handle was a cross. D. John arranged that the
corpse should be exposed all the morning before the army, on a litter
adorned with trophies and flags, and that in the afternoon they should
carry it and bury it in the convent of the Heronimites at Baza, which
was the place Quijada had himself chosen, until Doña Magdalena could
carry it elsewhere.[10] All the army were on the march with arquebuses
reversed, the lances, pikes and flags trailing, the drums muffled, the
clarions and pipes untuned. The oldest captains carried the litter
alternately, and behind them went D. John, riding a mule, covered to the
ground with mourning, he wearing a cloak with a hood which covered him
to the eyes, his standard of Generalissimo in front, not reversed like
the other flags, but carried high as usual; the Knight Commander
followed and all the leaders of the army, more or less wearing mourning,
according to what black cloth they could procure in that wretched place.
Footnote 10:
The remains of Luis Quijada were translated two years later with much
pomp to the church of S. Luis at Villagarcia by Doña Magdalena de
Ulloa, where she also now rests near the high altar. The figure of his
tomb no longer exists, but the inscription still does, which says that
he is buried under the altar and that he died "as he would have
wished, fighting against the infidel, 25 Feb., 1570" (note abridged by
Translator).
Doña Magdalena stayed on three days in the camp and then went to the
convent of Abrojo, where she intended retiring for a few weeks. She
travelled in a very comfortable mourning litter which D. John had
provided for her, and he accompanied her for two leagues beyond
Canilles, riding by the side of her litter. There they separated: she
sad as one having left behind all she loved; he sad too—as sad as one
can be at twenty-three.
CHAPTER XVIII
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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