DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.67375#0130
92
NAPLES AND ITS ENVIRONS.
insurmountable hindrance to a reform of these matters ;
these authorities regarded each other as rivals, which made
a better administration of affairs in which both were con-
cerned almost hopeless.
In the midst of such a condition one would scarcely look
for a luxurious and splendid court, and a merry life for
those who lived above the abject wretchedness of the
people, but could not have been ignorant of it. However,
since the days of Don Pedro de Toledo, the viceroys had
maintained a regal state, and in the beginning of the
seventeenth century the officers of the palace, the guard
of nobles, the various dignitaries in attendance, and the
immense corps of servants transformed the residence of a
subject into a royal dwelling in outward appearance. In
fact, the viceroys conducted themselves like absolute rulers.
The ceremonial observed when they assumed their office
is thus described : —
“ On their arrival they usually remained at one of the villas
belonging to the nobility at Posilipo or Chiara, till their prede-
cessor had evacuated the palace. Then they were conducted
in a richly decorated felucca to the harbor, where a wooden
pier, covered with red damask, and a canopy of various colors
stretched over it, was erected for them. The viceroy landed
amidst music and volleys of artillery; here the deputies of the
town received him, whilst the soldiers of the body-guard and
the sailors of the royal galleys, according to an old privilege,
plundered the pier and canopy, and fought skirmishes. His
Excellency and his suite were conveyed to the palace in magnifi-
cent carriages. On the following day a great cavalcade, joined
sometimes by two hundred nobles of the highest rank, went
first to the cathedral, at the gates of which the archbishop and
clergy received the representative of the monarch, the Te
Deum was chanted, and they proceeded through the town.
This was taking possession. It was performed with more or
less pomp, according to the character and taste of the
individual.”
NAPLES AND ITS ENVIRONS.
insurmountable hindrance to a reform of these matters ;
these authorities regarded each other as rivals, which made
a better administration of affairs in which both were con-
cerned almost hopeless.
In the midst of such a condition one would scarcely look
for a luxurious and splendid court, and a merry life for
those who lived above the abject wretchedness of the
people, but could not have been ignorant of it. However,
since the days of Don Pedro de Toledo, the viceroys had
maintained a regal state, and in the beginning of the
seventeenth century the officers of the palace, the guard
of nobles, the various dignitaries in attendance, and the
immense corps of servants transformed the residence of a
subject into a royal dwelling in outward appearance. In
fact, the viceroys conducted themselves like absolute rulers.
The ceremonial observed when they assumed their office
is thus described : —
“ On their arrival they usually remained at one of the villas
belonging to the nobility at Posilipo or Chiara, till their prede-
cessor had evacuated the palace. Then they were conducted
in a richly decorated felucca to the harbor, where a wooden
pier, covered with red damask, and a canopy of various colors
stretched over it, was erected for them. The viceroy landed
amidst music and volleys of artillery; here the deputies of the
town received him, whilst the soldiers of the body-guard and
the sailors of the royal galleys, according to an old privilege,
plundered the pier and canopy, and fought skirmishes. His
Excellency and his suite were conveyed to the palace in magnifi-
cent carriages. On the following day a great cavalcade, joined
sometimes by two hundred nobles of the highest rank, went
first to the cathedral, at the gates of which the archbishop and
clergy received the representative of the monarch, the Te
Deum was chanted, and they proceeded through the town.
This was taking possession. It was performed with more or
less pomp, according to the character and taste of the
individual.”