Felismena disguises herself as a man and goes to court to find Don Félix

Felismena’s journey to court turns separation into a deliberate pursuit: after Don Félix leaves without warning, she crosses the distance in male disguise and enters his service as Valerio, only to discover that she has become the confidential witness to his new love for Celia. The episode makes her devotion visible through action, while exposing the reputational danger and emotional cost of the access she wins.

Causes and Background

Before the separation, Don Félix and Felismena’s relationship had grown through an exchange of letters and a long courtship. Felismena’s cautious reply to his first advances warned him against using deceptive words and insisted that her honor could not be set aside; nevertheless, the exchange gave him confidence to continue. For nearly a year, their courtship unfolded through requests and replies, renewed tournaments, nighttime music, letters, and verses sent between them. Felismena eventually acknowledged her love, just as the relationship reached its height.

Don Félix’s father learned of the affair. Felismena understood that the report had been presented in a way that made the father fear his son might marry her. He sent Don Félix to the court of Princess Augusta Cesarina, publicly explaining that a young man of noble birth should not spend his youth at home, where idleness could teach him vice. Don Félix departed so sadly that, as Felismena recounts it, his distress prevented him from telling her he was leaving. Once she learned what had happened, the separation seemed to threaten not only their companionship but the possibility that absence and other women would erase her from his affections.

Disguise and the Journey

Felismena decided to go after him, taking the step she describes as unprecedented for a woman in her position: she put on men’s clothing and set out for court. A trusted friend, whom she calls the keeper of her secrets, bought the clothes she requested and a horse for the journey. Felismena understood that leaving home in this way put her reputation at risk; she nevertheless went, driven by the hope of seeing Don Félix again. The journey took twenty days.

On arriving, she lodged in a house as far as possible from public company. She did not dare ask her host where Don Félix could be found, lest she disclose why she had come, and feared that going to seek him directly might bring misfortune. Her disguise thus serves both as a means of gaining access and as a concealment that must be maintained. She arrives with a plan to approach the court, but no assurance that Don Félix will recognize her or that she can safely reveal herself.

At Court: Discovery and Opportunity

Near midnight, her host alerted her to music being performed in the street and suggested she open a window. From there Felismena recognized Fabio, Don Félix’s page, by his voice. Fabio announced that the lady was on a balcony above a garden, and the musicians began playing three cornetts and a sackbut before a singer joined them. The performance continued with other instruments and voices until near dawn. Felismena could not see Don Félix in the darkness. The music, however, made plain that he was courting someone else, and she returned to bed in tears.

At daybreak she went to the square before the palace, resolving to give the name Valerio if anyone asked who she was. She saw the richly dressed ladies and gentlemen gathered there and hoped that Don Félix’s courtship might take place within the public restraints of palace life. Instead, Fabio told her that his master’s beloved was Celia, whose colors Don Félix wore. Fabio added that Don Félix had once served a woman in his homeland and had been more favored by her than by Celia, but that absence could undo what a person believed secure. Felismena hid her reaction and gave Fabio a plausible account of herself: she was Valerio, from the Province of Vandalia, and had no current position.

Entering Don Félix’s Service

Fabio explained that Don Félix needed a page and offered Valerio a place, describing the food, clothing, and small allowance available to the household. Felismena accepted because serving Don Félix seemed the best way to remain near him. Fabio spoke to his master, who agreed that Valerio should come to his lodging that afternoon. Don Félix received the new page kindly, without recognizing the woman concealed by the disguise.

For several days Felismena watched messages being carried between Don Félix and others. This routine, which brought her close to him, also made her endure the visible traffic of his courtship while keeping her own identity secret. After about a month, Don Félix trusted Valerio enough to explain his love for Celia from its beginning. He said Celia had initially treated him well but had grown tired of favoring him after hearing of a previous love affair in his homeland. He admitted that the report was true, yet insisted that he now loved Celia deeply. Felismena, speaking as his servant, answered that he wronged the earlier beloved if he had not deserved to be forgotten. Her journey therefore places her in a painful double role: she has reached the man she sought, but must listen under an assumed name as he describes his devotion to another woman.