so numerous were
they that half of Seville was clad in black. None, however, deplored his
death more deeply and sincerely than his friend and chosen companion Don
Alonso de Aguilar.

The funeral ceremonies were of the most solemn and sumptuous kind. The
body of the marques was arrayed in a costly shirt, a doublet of brocade,
a sayo or long robe of black velvet, a marlota or Moorish tunic of
brocade reaching to the feet, and scarlet stockings. His sword, superbly
gilt, was girded to his side, as he used to wear it when in the field.
Thus magnificently attired, the body was enclosed in a coffin which was
covered with black velvet and decorated with a cross of white damask. It
was then placed on a sumptuous bier in the centre of the great hall of
the palace. Here the duchess made great lamentation over the body of her
lord, in which she was joined by her train of damsels and attendants, as
well as by the pages and esquires and innumerable vassals.

In the close of the evening, just before the Ave Maria, the funeral
train issued from the palace. Ten banners were borne around the bier,
the particular trophies of the marques won from the Moors by his valor
in individual enterprises before King Ferdinand had commenced the war
of Granada. The procession was swelled by an immense train of bishops,
priests, and friars of different orders, together with the civil and
military authorities and all the chivalry of Seville, headed by the
count of Cifuentes, at that time intendente or commander of the city. It
moved slowly and solemnly through the streets, stopping occasionally and
chanting litanies and responses. Two hundred and forty waxen tapers
shed a light like the day about the bier. The balconies and windows
were crowded with ladies, who shed tears as the funeral train passed by,
while the women of the lower classes were loud in their lamentations,
as if bewailing the loss of a father or a brother. On approaching the
convent of St. Augustine the monks came forth with the cross and tapers
and eight censers and conducted the body into the church, where it lay
in state until all the vigils were performed by the different orders,
after which it was deposited in the family tomb of the Ponces in the
same church, and the ten banners were suspended over the sepulchre.*

* Cura de los Palacios, c.104.

The tomb of the valiant Roderigo Ponce de Leon, with his banners
mouldering above it, remained for ages an object of venerat