The Entry of Ferdinand the Catholic

into Valladolid in 1509

The Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, combined spectacle and propaganda to legitimize a dynasty that some considered illegitimate. Among other types of spectacles, the Catholic Monarchs used the royal entry to combine legitimizing propaganda with the display of their power. After the death of Isabella in 1504, Ferdinand was marginalized from Castilian politics, for their daughter, Princess Juana, became queen of Castile. However, after the death of Juana's husband, Philip the Fair, and in light of Juana's deteriorating mental state, Ferdinand began to play an increasingly significant role in Castilian politics. His crushing of a revolt of the nobility in 1507 and his success in forming the League of Cambrai against Venice in 1508 considerably increased his prestige in Castile. Although technically only "administrator" of Castile, Ferdinand's triumphant entry into Valladolid in 1509 constituted a visible and dramatic recognition of his quasi-monarchical powers.

As a privilege of the ruling house and a dramatic ceremony in which the entire populace could participate, the royal entry was a site where subjects could dramatize their allegiance to the Crown and the Crown could dramatize its protection of the city in question. To the extent that the monarchs played the role of sovereigns, while the citizens of the city played the role of subjects, social roles coincided with paratheatrical roles in order to render more visible ideal social relations. As is the case of similar pageantry, the royal entry was not indifferent to social, political, and economic realities, for the town could use the spectacle to seek its sovereign's favor, to give advice, or even to offer discreet criticism.

Oleza observes that from the end of the fifteenth century on, the entry and the concomitant procession are conceived as "exaltaciones de un triunfo personal, de resonancias romanas e inspiración humanista." The triumphal arch, rather than the pageant wagon with its tableaux vivants, became the prime vehicle for the exhibition of royal power and magnificence. As Falomir Faus points out, Ferdinand the Catholic's Roman-style entry into Naples in 1506 provided the model for his similarly classically-inspired entries into Valencia, Seville, and Valladolid in the period 1507-1509. Nieto Soria sees the royal entry as above all an act of submission and an expression of loyalty. That submission, that is, the monarch's conquest of the city, could be literal, as in the case of Naples, or symbolic, as in the case of Valladolid. No longer is it the city that puts itself on display, with the king functioning primarily as a spectator, but rather it is the monarch himself who "exhibe su poder y su magnificencia sobre la ciudad, que asume disciplinadamente su condición de escenario." In so doing, the king not only triumphs over the city, but also imposes upon it an ideology and a way of understanding the significance of his reign.

Like other public spectacles, the royal entry is an ephemeral phenomenon that transforms but temporarily the urban landscape only to disappear. However, thanks to the printed accounts of such spectacles, we can get a fair idea of what they were like. The text titled Recebimiento que se fizo al rey Don Fernando en Valladolid, printed at Seville in 1509, describes the entry of Ferdinand the Catholic into Valladolid on January 30, 1509. The account's author, Luis de Soto, also designed the iconography of the entry and composed the texts inscribed on the triumphal arches as well as the words of the songs. Soto was a retainer in the household of Alonso Enríquez, bishop of Osma and illegitimate son of the Admiral of Castile, Fadrique Enríquez. The Enríquez family had a special relationship with Valladolid, since the city was their primary place of residence. More importantly, the Enríquez clan, besides being one of the foremost families in the realm, was a significant supporter of the Catholic Monarchs. In fact, the family was related by blood to King Ferdinand: the King's mother was Juana Enríquez; Ferdinand and the bishop's father were cousins. The family's support for Ferdinand and Isabella was apparent from the earliest years, for Fadrique Enríquez and his sons were present at their marriage ceremony and supported the monarchs during the war of succession that broke out when Isabella declared herself queen of Castile in 1474. Queen Germaine, Ferdinand's second wife, gave birth to Prince John in Valladolid in the very house of the Enríquez family. Such political and blood links help to explain why a retainer of bishop Alonso Enríquez was chosen to design Ferdinand's entry into Valladolid.

Normally, the royal entry was the privilege of kings and queens. In 1509 Ferdinand was neither king nor regent of Castile, for Isabella's testament had named her daughter Princess Juana as her successor to the Castilian throne. However, the Queen stipulated that were Juana incapable of governing, Ferdinand was to be administrator of the kingdom. At Isabella's death in 1504, Castile split into pro-Ferdinand and anti-Ferdinand factions. In fact, Ferdinand was not particularly popular, first because he was a foreigner, and second because of the new taxes he had imposed in order to finance the conquest of Naples in 1503. In April of 1506 the anti-Ferdinand faction contrived to have Juana's husband, Philip the Fair, brought from Flanders, with full knowledge that they could take advantage of his weakness as sovereign in order to further their own interests. Meanwhile, Ferdinand's popularity continued to decline in Castile, thanks to his marriage to a French princess. However, Philip's death in September of 1506 and Juana's growing mental instability led to a period of anarchy and paved the way for Ferdinand to intervene for the purpose of restoring order. In 1507 Ferdinand returned to Castile and succeeded in defeating the noble families that had rebelled against the central government. In 1508 he participated in the formation of the League of Cambrai against Venice, a diplomatic maneuver that increased his prestige in Castile. Thus, 1509 corresponded to a time in which Ferdinand's popularity in Castile was increasing, and even if he were merely the administrator of the kingdom, the royal entry was one indication that he was considered worthy of enjoying the privileges of a reigning monarch.

Ferdinand's entry began as a procession left the city to meet the King's entourage. The inhabitants of Valladolid went out to meet their sovereign in rigorous hierarchical order with the corregidor and aldermen in the lead, then the representatives of the university, followed by the prior and the cathedral chapter, the president of the royal chancery and its twelve judges, bishop Alonso Enríquez, and finally many knights. The lower classes followed: farmers who executed a sword dance, peasant girls who sang and danced, and young children who engaged in a mock battle. Valladolid was transformed as it took upon itself the signs--however ephemeral--of its sovereign. The children who performed the mock battle before Ferdinand had the royal arms painted on their weapons. Even the bulls that could be seen in the nearby fields bore the literal impression of the King's mark, for the animals were decked with trappings that displayed the royal arms as well as diadems inscribed with an "F" for Ferdinand.

The iconography of Ferdinand's entry is centered on the four triumphal arches erected in various parts of the city. The first arch depicted Fortune with Ferdinand standing atop her wheel and many defeated kings below. In the upper part of the arch an inscription read: "Si Fortuna más toviera, / más os diera" (184). When the royal procession arrived at this arch, Fortune took a golden mallet and drove a large nail into the wheel, thus stopping its motion. Meanwhile, Fortune recited the following verses in Ferdinand's honor:

No cure de boltear

la fuerça desta mi rueda,

para siempre a d'estar queda

sin que se pueda mudar;

y vós, rey esclarecido,

si tan bien no os he servido,

perdone vuestra grandeza,

que delante vuestra alteza,

mi poder es consumido (184).

Then, Fortune removed her crown and, kneeling in front of the King, recited another poem whose final lines recalled the inscription on the triumphal arch:

Alto rey de gran poder,

el más bien afortunado,

donde agora estáys sentado

havéys de permanecer,

y si en ser ay más que ser,

vós lo podéys alcançar,

que yo no tengo que dar,

si vós tenéys que querer (184).

Thereupon, six singers sang a villancico, whose refrain emphasized the divine favor enjoyed by Ferdinand:

Por mano de Dios atada

no tiene fuerça ninguna

de dar vuelta la fortuna (185).

The nail driven into the wheel of Fortune constitutes a visual demonstration of Ferdinand's mastery over her. Falomir Faus claims that Alfonso V of Aragon's 1443 entry into Naples is the model for this and other episodes of his nephew's 1509 entry into Valladolid. However, the contrast between the ways in which the two royal entries incorporate the figure of Fortune in instructive. In Naples, Fortune appeared seated atop a golden ball on a triumphal chariot, her hair long in the front, but the rest of her head bald. A child representing an angel attempted to seize the golden ball. However, in Valladolid the image is more plastic and related more explicitly to the monarch, for a representation of the King himself presides over the dramatic moment when Fortune drives the nail into her wheel to stop its movement, implying that Ferdinand will never fall from his present state of power and good fortune. Moreover, the claim in the villancico that the hand of God, acting through Fortune, has stayed the wheel lends an aura of divine election to Ferdinand's preeminent role in the government of Castile and anticipates the messianic status attributed to him in the next arch.

The second triumphal arch contained the Seven Virtues seated on thrones and an inscription above that read: "Más complidas que ninguno / todas siete quiso Dios / que las tuviéssedes vós" (185). Each Virtue recited a poem in praise of Ferdinand. Faith called him a "lion" and reminded the spectators of the epithet "Catholic Sovereign." She promised to protect Ferdinand even as he had always protected her. For Charity, Ferdinand is "remedio de las Españas" and God's protégé. Hope promises Ferdinand eternal bliss and exhorts him to conquer Jerusalem. Justice observes that "nos tenéys en concordia" and exhorts the King "que no torcéys mi valança / por pequeño ni mayor" (186). Temperance observes that Ferdinand's courage is greater than that of Julius Caesar or Hannibal. Prudence asserts that Fortune obeys him. Lastly, Fortitude praises the King for his service to God. The song that followed begged God to preserve Ferdinand and his queen, this being the first mention in the entry of Ferdinand's second wife, Germaine of Foix.

The Messianic atmosphere that surrounded the Catholic Sovereigns centered on the future conquest of Jerusalem and Ferdinand's role as the person destined to carry out that task. Despite the obvious propagandistic value of such assertions, it was not merely a question of empty words or Machiavellianism. In fact, on his deathbed Ferdinand at first refused to receive the Last Sacraments because a holy woman from Piedrahita had prophesied that the King would not die before conquering Jerusalem. Nonetheless, in light of Ferdinand's ambiguous position in Castile, the propagandistic value of a promised crusade against the infidels could only enhance his position. At a time of tension between pro-Ferdinand and anti-Ferdinand factions, as well as between Castilian and Aragonese subjects, the call for a crusade could serve to rally everyone around the monarch. The concept of unity was also underscored by the mention of "las Españas," the term which indicated the union of the crowns of Castile and Aragon, a political confederation that existed at the moment only as a propagandistic desideratum.

Winged fame appeared on the third triumphal arch, and below her there were figures from classical antiquity, the Old Testament, and Spanish history, including Julius Caesar, Constantine, Alexander the Great, David, Solomon, Fernán González, and the Cid. An inscription stressed Ferdinand's superiority over such exemplary figures: "Vós el tronco de la fama / y todos estos la rama" (188). Atop the arch was a fierce lion that held the arms of Valladolid between its paws. At the King's arrival, the lion tore apart the city's coat of arms, leaving only the royal arms. Fame stood up and recited a poem in which she proclaimed that, although it was her task to give life to the dead, Ferdinand's renown was such that it extinguished the flame of the fame of the heroes of the past. The villancico that followed expressed the city's joy at the King's presence and at the expectation that his queen would give birth there.

The lion that tore apart the city's coat of arms, but kept the royal arms intact is a rather transparent symbol of the desire for unity and the subordination of local interests to the general good. As has been already indicated, Germaine, Ferdinand's French queen, was not at all popular in Castile, and her pregnancy further complicated the question. Indeed, few people actually shared the official joy at Germaine's presence or her pregnancy. Should Germaine give birth to a male child, the already complex Castilian-Aragonese succession would become even further complicated. Nonetheless, the texts Soto composed for Ferdinand's entry reveal no anxiety over such future uncertainties. Another of the text's significant silences regards Queen Juana. It must be remembered that, despite her perceived incapacity to rule, Juana was officially still queen of Castile. Nonetheless, one of Soto's important textual strategies consists of avoiding any mention of that knotty problem, since Juana enjoyed the affection of many Castilians.

The fourth triumphal arch depicted Time's triumph over Fame and Fortune. The corresponding inscription read:

Mi costumbre es acabar,

Fama, Fortuna y su gloria,

sola vuestra alta memoria

para siempre ha de quedar (189).

Once again, the verbal text implies that Ferdinand is the exception to the rule: time will do away with everything, but Ferdinand's fame will endure.

Ferdinand's entry into Valladolid in 1509 effectively crystallizes a significant moment in the monarch's rise to power in Castile. In February of 1509, that is, barely a month after her father's triumphal entry into Valladolid, Ferdinand would have his daughter Juana confined in the palace of Tordesillas, a place she would leave only at her death in 1555. Later, in December of that very year, by the terms of the Treaty of Blois the Emperor Maximilian officially recognized Ferdinand as regent of Castile for as long as Juana should live and/or until the future Charles V should reach the age of twenty. From this time on and until his death in January of 1516, Ferdinand would have a free hand in Castilian politics. The iconography of the 1509 entry, by calling attention to the role of divine providence in determining Ferdinand's governorship and by attributing a messianic aura to his military projects, lent legitimacy to the monarch's rule in Castile. The very fact that Ferdinand was accorded a royal entry indicates that, despite being technically only the kingdom's administrator, he was, in fact, king in all but name.

Ronald E. Surtz

Princeton University

Notes