Across 'Empty Spain': Haste and seizures

Ignoring all warning, Prince Charles had ordered that up to ten leagues be traveled daily, that the group should never spend more than one night in the same place and that the Camino Real be abandoned in Dueñas to cut straight to the sea through the mountain pass of Reinosa. He got up first and went to bed first, and he advanced “at such a pace that there was no one to follow him.”

Such haste would be merely anecdotal, if it were not for the fact that due to it, seizures had to be resorted to more frequently than was usual on such occasions, because the animals were too exhausted to carry on with the journey and there was virtually no time left for provisioning otherwise.

Seizing the property of peasants and artisans

All the mules that could be found between Medina de Rioseco and Burgos were taken by force. It was of no use that the farmers tried to hide them, nor that most of them were already battered by their strained work in the fields; the prince's servants needed them to ride up the mountains and down the Valley of Cayón and Pie de Concha, where, until that day, "almost no coach had reached," according to alcalde Juan de Quiñones.

People probably knew that by royal privilege their houses and pantries had to be put at the disposal of the authorities, but perhaps not that the shops of artisans could be set upon, when, as in Segovia and Valladolid, wood, wax, or chamber pots were required to furnish the chambers of the prince and his entourage.

Provisioning the English vessels

Already in Santander, the surrounding villages were emptied out. Provisioning had to be made for the sea voyage of the English. On hearing that in the area “only snow was to be found," Philip IV ordered “that a great force be made so that it would be very abundant and plentiful” and the alcayds and bailiffs acted accordingly so that hundreds of sheep and chickens, dozens of hams and cheeses, and enough skins of wine, oil and vinegar were embarked.

Risking his life in a fierce storm, the English heir was embarked too, to depart for England on Sunday, 24 September 1623 and take, not the expected three to five days in good weather, but eleven, in making a rough sea crossing to Portsmouth.