Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/222

I. 78 CASTILE UNDER HENRY IV. PART and a crown upon its head. A manifesto was then read, exhibiting in glowing colors tJie tyrannical conduct of the king, and the consequent determina- tion to depose him ; and vindicating the proceeding by several precedents drawn from the history of the monarchy. The archbishop of Toledo, then ascend- ing the platform, tore the diadem from the head of the statue ; the marquis of Villena removed the sceptre, the count of Placencia the sword, the grand master of Alcantara and the counts of Bena- vente and Paredes the rest of the regal insignia ; when the image, thus despoiled of its honors, was rolled in the dust, amid the mingled groans and clamors of the spectators. The young prince Al- fonso, at that time only eleven years of age, was seated on the vacant throne, and the assembled grandees severally kissed his hand in token of their homage ; the trumpets announced the completion of the ceremony, and the populace greeted with joyful acclamations the accession of their new sove- reign. ^^ Such are the details of this extraordinary trans- action, as recorded by the two contemporary his- torians of the rival factions. The tidings were borne, with the usual celerity of evil news, to the remotest parts of the kingdom. The pulpit and the forum resounded with the debates of dispu- tants, who denied, or defended, the right of the subject to sit in judgment on the conduct of his 17 Alonso (le Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., part. 1, cap. 62. — Castillo, Cr6nica, cap. 08, G9, 74.