son why the
said dispensation was necessary. [137]

29. On the following day the archbishop again declared the members of
the cabildo to be excommunicated, alleging that although the bishop
of Troya had absolved them, he had done so only ad reincidentiam,
for such time as the bishop should choose. In the said act he also
commanded that in the afternoon of the same day they should go to
the cathedral to receive absolution and dispensation; and on the next
day they must all go to the church of Santo Domingo, to make amends
to the friars for imagined injuries.

30. The function of the absolution and dispensation was celebrated with
the greatest publicity, and in a very marked, offensive, and injurious
manner. An enormous number of the lower class of people were called in,
from the neighboring villages--and especially from Binondoc, which is
a village in charge of the Dominicans; for that purpose, the sermons
which would occur that afternoon in some churches were suppressed,
so that all the people could go to see a performance that would so
exalt the Dominican fathers.

31. The prebends went to the church, ignorant of the measures taken
for exposing them to ignominy. They found two tribunals erected,
one at the church door, and the other inside, at the great altar; and
there was an enormous concourse of people. Of the religious orders,
the Dominicans were there in great numbers; from the colleges, only
the members of Santo Thomas [Tomistas]. The archbishop occupied his
judgment-seat at the door of the church, and at either side were
his beloved Juan Gonzalez and Aduna. He called the prebends and
made them kneel before him in order to be absolved, as if they were
heretics. He handled a ferule while the Miserere lasted, although
he did not, on account of the entreaties of those who were present,
strike the capitulars with it. Then he went inside the church,
and after performing other ceremonies, took his seat on the second
platform, where he made an address, in which he gave many and sharp
stabs to those who favored the cause of the cabildo; and after that
the performance came to an end, with much gossiping among the people,
who regarded these actions as revengeful.

32. The archbishop prepared a feast in order to regale the prebends,
quite contrary to his usual manner and harsh temper; the prebends
attended it unwillingly, seeing that they had been treated like boys,
and that this banquet was only a device to shut their