CHAP. XLIII.
THE KING OF FRANCE MAKES HIS PUBLIC ENTRY INTO TURIN, WHERE HE IS RECEIVED WITH GREAT HONOURS AND SOLEMNITY.
THE KING OF FRANCE MAKES HIS PUBLIC ENTRY INTO TURIN, WHERE HE IS RECEIVED WITH GREAT HONOURS AND SOLEMNITY.
Onthe 5th of September, as king Charles approached Turin, he was met by a procession of the clergy, accompanied by the noblesand inhabitants of that city, the university, and by the noble lady the princess of Piedmont, most magnificently dressed in cloth of gold frize, after an antique fashion, ornamented with large sapphires, diamonds, rubies, and other precious stones. She had on her head a heap of gold ornaments, intermixed with carbuncles, jacinths, and tufts of fine gold. On her neck she wore collars, with wide rockets, decorated with large oriental pearls, having also bracelets of the same. Thus richly dressed, she was mounted on a palfrey led by six lackeys, well equipped in cloth of gold, and attended by a company of damsels most elegantly dressed, and numbers of lords, knights, esquires and pages of honour.
In this manner did the king enter Turin, the streets of which were all decorated with cloths of gold or of silk; and in different places were stages erected, on which mysteries were represented from the Old and New Testaments, and upon historical subjects. The king was conducted to the castle, where he was received by the aforesaid lady of Piedmont, the duke her son, his uncle the lord of Bresse,and other great barons, to the melodious sounding of trumpets, clarions and other instruments. Every offer of service and support was made to the king in his expedition to Naples; and it must not be omitted, that public tables were laid out in all the principal streets, for the refreshment of every one that chose to sit down at them.
The ensuing day, the princess of Piedmont led her son into the king's apartment, where they dined joyously together; and after the repast the king took his leave of them and the other lords to sup and lie at Quiers[119], whither orders had been previously sent for his handsome reception, which was accordingly done: and he was so well pleased that he remained in Quiers three days amusing himself in feasting, and with the ladies.[120]
FOOTNOTES:[118]Villanne. Q. if not Villa-nova d'Asti? a town in Piedmont, about four leagues distant from Turin and from Asti.[119]Quiers,—five miles to the eastward of Turin.[120]It was an attachment to the beautiful daughter of a physician that detained Charles at Quiers, and made him repeat his visits.—See further particulars in the notice of a MS. history of Gohori, in the viith vol. of Notices des MS. in the National Library at Paris.
[118]Villanne. Q. if not Villa-nova d'Asti? a town in Piedmont, about four leagues distant from Turin and from Asti.
[118]Villanne. Q. if not Villa-nova d'Asti? a town in Piedmont, about four leagues distant from Turin and from Asti.
[119]Quiers,—five miles to the eastward of Turin.
[119]Quiers,—five miles to the eastward of Turin.
[120]It was an attachment to the beautiful daughter of a physician that detained Charles at Quiers, and made him repeat his visits.—See further particulars in the notice of a MS. history of Gohori, in the viith vol. of Notices des MS. in the National Library at Paris.
[120]It was an attachment to the beautiful daughter of a physician that detained Charles at Quiers, and made him repeat his visits.—See further particulars in the notice of a MS. history of Gohori, in the viith vol. of Notices des MS. in the National Library at Paris.