THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
HISTORY OF THE REIGN
OK
FERDINAND AND ISABELLA
THE CATHOLIC, OF SPAIN
BY WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT
Qua: surgere regna
Conjugio tali ! VIRGIL, /Eneid, iv. 17
Crevre vires, famaque et imperl ?
1'orrecta majestas ab Euro
, ad Occiduum cubile. HORAT. Carm. iv. 15
IN ONE VOLUME
AUTHOR'S AUTHORIZED EDITION
LONDON
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS
BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL
PRESCOTT'S WORKS.
One-Volume Edition.
FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 55.
CONQUEST OF MEXICO. 53.
CONQUEST OF PERU. 55.
PHILIP THE SECOND. Vols. I. and II. in One
Vol., 5 s.
PHILIP THE SECOND. Vol. III., and ESSAYS,
in One Vol., 55.
CHARLES THE FIFTH. 53.
DP
to
THE HONOURABLE
WILLIAM PRESCOTT, LL.D.,
TUB GUIDE OF MY YOUTH,
I!? BEST FRIEND IN RIPER YEA1. ',
JCijts Volume,
WITH TUB WARMEST FEEI.ING9 OF FILIAL AFFEOTIOM,
IS RESPECTFULLY INSORIEKD.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
ENGLISH writers have done more for the illustration of Spanish
history than for that of any other, except their own. To say nothing
of the recent general compendium, executed for the " Cabinet Cyclo-
paedia," a work of singular acuteness and information, we have
particular narratives of the several reigns, in an unbroken series, from
the Emperor Charles the Fifth (the First of Spain) to Charles the
Third, at the close of the last century, by authors whose names are
a sufficient guarantee for the excellence of their productions. It is
singular, that, with this attention to the modern history of the Penin-
sula, there should be no particular account of the period which may
be considered as the proper basis of it, the reign of Ferdinand and
Isabella.
In this reign, the several States, into which the country had been
broken up for ages, were brought under a common rule ; the kingdom
of Naples was conquered ; America discovered and colonised ; the
ancient empire of the Spanish Arabs subverted ; the dread tribunal of
the Modern Inquisition established ; the Jews, who contributed so
sensibly to the wealth and civilisation of the country, were banished ;
and, in fine, such changes were introduced into the interior adminis-
tration of the monarchy, as have left a permanent impression on the
character and condition of the nation.
The actors in these events were every way suited to their impor-
tance. Besides the reigning sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella, the
latter, certainly, one of the most interesting personages in history,
we have, in political affairs, that consummate statesman, Cardinal
Ximenes ; in military, the " Great Captain," Gonsalvo de Cordova;
and in maritime, the most successful navigator of any age, Christo-
pher Columbus ; whose entire biographies fall within the limits of this
period. Even such portions of it as have been incidentally touched
by English writers, as the Italian wars^for example, have been drawn
VI PKEFACE TO THE FIEST EDITION'.
so exclusively from French and Italian sources, that they may oe said
to be untrodden ground for the historian of Spain.*
It must be admitted, however, that an account of this reign could
not have been undertaken at any preceding period with anything like
the advantages at present afforded, owing to the light which recent
researches of Spanish scholars, in the greater freedom of inquiry now
enjoyed, have shed on some of its most interesting and least familiar
features. The most important of the works to which I allude are,
the History of the Inquisition, from official documents, by its secre-
tary, Llorente; the analysis of the political institutions of the kingdom,
by such writers as Marina, Sempere, and Capmany ; the literal version,
now made for the first time, of the Spanish-Arab chronicles, by Conde ;
the collection of original and unpublished documents, illustrating the
history of Columbus and the early Castilian nau.jators, by Xavarrete ;
and lastly, the copious illustrations of Isabella's reign by Clemencin,
the late lamented secretary of the Royal Academy of History, forming
the sixth volume of its valuable Memoirs.
It was the knowledge of these facilities for doing justice to this
subject, as well as its intrinsic merits, which led me, ten years since,
to select it ; and surely no subject could be found more suitable for
the pen of an American, than a history of that reign, under the aus-
pices of which the existence of his own favoured quarter of the globe
was first revealed. As I was conscious that the value of the history
must depend mainly on that of its materials, I have spared neither
pains nor expense, from the first, in collecting the most authentic.
In accomplishing this, I must acknowledge the services of my friends,
Mr. Alexander H. Everett, then minister plenipotentiary from the
United States to the court of Madrid ; Mr. Arthur Middleton, secre-
tary of the American legation ; and, above all, Mr. O. Rich, now
American consul for the Balearic Islands, a gentleman whose extensive
bibliographical knowledge and unwearied researches during a long
residence in the Peninsula, have been liberally employed for the benefit
both of his own country and of England. With such assistance, I flatter
* The only histories of this reign by Continental writers, with which I am
acquainted, are the "Histoire des Rois Catholiques Ferdinand et Isabelle, per
I'AbbS Mignot, Paris, 1766," and the "Geschichte der Regierung Ferdinand dea
Katholischen, von Rupert Becker, Prag und Leipzig, 1790." Their authors have
employed the most accessible materials only in the compilation ; and, indeed,
they lay claim to no great research, which would seem to be precluded by the
extent of their works, in neither instance exceeding two volumes duodecimo. They
have the merit of exhibiting, in a simple perspicuous form, those events which,
lying on the surface, may be found more or less expanded in most general histories.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EPITIOX. Vll
myself that I have been enabled to secure whatever can materially
conduce to the illustration of the period in question, whether in the
form of chronicle, memoir, private correspondence, legal codes, or
official documents. Among these are various contemporary manu-
scripts, covering the whole ground of the narrative, none of which
have been printed, and some of them but little known to Spanish
scholars. In obtaining copies of these from the public libraries, I
must add, that I have found facilities under the present liberal govern-
ment which were denied me under the preceding. In addition to these
sources of information, I have availed myself, in the part of the work
occupied with literary criticism and history, of the library of my friend
Mr. George Ticknor, who, during a visit to Spain, some years since,
collected whatever was rare and valuable in the literature of the
Peninsula. I must further acknowledge my obligations to the library
of Harvard University, in Cambridge, from whose rich repository of
books relating to our own country I have derived material aid : and,
lastly, I must not omit to notice the favours of another kind, for
which I am indebted to my friend Mr. William H. Gardiner, whose
judicious counsels have been of essential benefit to me in the revision
of my labours.
In the plan of the work, I have not limited myself to a strict
chronological narrative of passing events ; but have occasionally
paused, at the expense, perhaps, of some interest in the story, to seek
such collateral information as might bring these events into a clearer
vfew. I have devoted a liberal portion of the work to the literary
progress of the nation, conceiving this quite as essential a part of its
history as civil and military details. I have occasionally introduced,
at the close of the chapters, a critical notice of the authorities used,
that the reader may form some estimate of their comparative value and
credibility. Finally, I have endeavoured to present him with such an
account of the state of affairs, both before the accession and at the
demise of the Catholic sovereigns, as might afford him the best points
of view for surveying the entire results of their reign.
How far I have succeeded in the execution of this plan must be
left to the reader's candid judgment. Many errors he may be able to
detect. Sure I am, there can be no one more sensible of my defi-
ciencies than myself ; although it was not till after practical experience
that I could fully estimate the difficulty of obtaining anything like a
faithful portraiture of a distant age, amidst the shifting hues and
perplexing cross-lights of historic testimony. From one class of
errors my subject necessarily exempts me, those founded ou national
Vlll PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
or party feeling. I may have been more open to another fault, that
of too strong a bias in favour of my principal actors; for characteis,
noble and interesting in themselves, naturally beget a sort of partiality,
akin to friendship, in the historian's mind, accustomed to the daily
contemplation of them. Whatever defects may be charged on the
work, I can at least assure myself, that it is an honest record of a
reign important in itself, new to the reader in an English dress, and
resting on a solid basis of authentic materials, such as probably
could not be met with out of Spain, nor in it without much
difficulty.
I hope I shall be acquitted of egotism, although I add a few words
respecting the peculiar embarrassments I have encountered in com-
posing this History. Soon after my arrangements were made, early
in 1826, for obtaining the necessary materials from Madrid, I was
deprived of the use of my eyes for all purposes of reading and writing,
and had no prospect of again recovering it. This was a serious
obstacle to the prosecution of a work requiring the perusal of a large
mass of authorities, in various languages, the contents of which were
to be carefully collated, and transferred to my own pages, verified by
minute reference.* Thus shut out from one sense, I was driven to
rely exclusively on another, and to make the ear do the work of the
eye. With the assistance of a reader, uninitiated, it may be added,
in any modern language but his own, I worked my way through
several venerable Castilian quartos, until I was satisfied of the prac-
ticability of the undertaking. I next procured the services of one
more competent to aid me in pursuing my historical inquiries. The
process was slow and irksome enough, doubtless, to both parties, at
least till my ear was accommodated to foreign sounds, and an anti-
quated, oftentimes barbarous phraseology, when my progress became
more sensible, and I was cheered with the prospect of success. It
certainly would have been a far more serious misfortune to be led thus
blindfold through the pleasant paths of literature ; but my track
stretched, for the most part, across dreary wastes, where no beauty
lurked to arrest the traveller's eye and charm his senses. After
persevering in this course for some years, my eyes, by the blessing of
* "To compile a history from various authors when they can only be consulted
by other eyes, is not easy, nor possible, but with more skilful and attentive help
than can be commonly obtained." (Johnson's Life of Milton.) This remark of the
great critic, which first engaged my attention in the midst of my embarrassments,
although discouraging at first, in the end stimulated the desire to overcome
them.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. IX
Providence, recovered sufficient strength to allow me to use them,
with tolerable freedom, in the prosecution of my labours, and in the
revision of all previously written. I hope I shall not be misunderstood,
as stating these circumstances to deprecate the severity of criticism,
since I am inclined to think the greater circumspection I have been
compelled to use has left me, on the whole, less exposed to inaccu-
racies than I should have been in the ordinary mode of composition.
But, as I reflect on the many sober hours I have passed in wading
through black-letter tomes, and through manuscripts whose doubtful
orthography and defiance of all punctuation were so many stumbling-
blocks to my amanuensis, it calls up a scene of whimsical distresses,
not usually encountered, on which the good-natured reader may,
perhaps, allow I have some right, now that I have got the better of
them, to dwell with satisfaction.
I will only remark, in conclusion of this too prolix discussion about
myself, that, while making my tortoise-like progess, I saw what I had
fondly looked upon as my own ground, (having lain unmolested by
any other invader for so many ages,) suddenly entered, and in part
occupied, by one of my countrymen. I allude to Mr. Irving's
" History of Columbus," and " Chronicle of Granada ; " the subjects
of which, although covering but a small part of my whole plan, form
certainly two of its most brilliant portions. Now, alas ! if not devoid
of interest, they are at least stripped of the charm of novelty : for
what eye has not been attracted to the spot on which the light of that
writer's genius has fallen ?
I cannot quit the subject which has so long occupied me, without
one glance at the present unhappy condition of Spain ; who, shorn of
her ancient splendour, humbled by the loss of empire abroad, and
credit at home, is abandoned to all the evils of anarchy. Yet deplor-
able as this condition is, it is not so bad as the lethargy in which she
has been sunk for ages. Better be hurried forward for a season on
the wings of the tempest, than stagnate in a death-like calm, fatal
alike to intellectual and moral progress. The crisis of a revolution,
when old things are passing away, and new ones are not yet esta-
blished, is, indeed, fearful. Even the immediate consequences of its
achievement are scarcely less so to a people who have yet to learn by
experiment the precise form of institutions best suited to their wants,
and to accommodate their character to these institutions. Such
results must come with time, however, if the nation but be true to itself.
And that they will come, sooner or later, to the Spaniards, surely no
on can distrust who is at all conversant with their earlier history,
X PREFACE TO THE FIIIST EDITION.
and has witnessed the examples it affords of heroic virtue, devoted
patriotism, and generous love of freedom.
" die 1'antico valore
non e ancor morto."
Clouds and darkness have, indeed, settled thick around the throne
of the youthful Isabella ; but not a deeper darkness than that which
covered the land in the first years of her illustrious namesake ; and
we may humbly trust, that the same Providence which guided her
reign to so prosperous a termination, may carry the nation safe
through its present perils, and secure to it the greatest of earthly
blessings, civil and religious liberty.
NOVEMBER, 1837.
PEEFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
SINCE the publication of the First Edition of this work it has
undergone a careful revision ; and this, aided by the communications
of several intelligent friends, who have taken an interest in its success,
has enabled me to correct several verbal inaccuracies, and a few
typographical errors, which had been previously overlooked. While
the Second Edition was passing through the press, I received, also,
copies of two valuable Spanish works having relation to the reign of
the Catholic sovereigns, but which, as they appeared during the recent
troubles of the Peninsula, had not before come to my knowledge. For
these I am indebted to the politeness of Don Angel Calderon de la
Barca, late Spanish Minister at Washington ; a gentleman whose
frank and liberal manners, personal accomplishments, and inde-
pendent conduct in public life, have secured for him deservedly high
consideration in the United States, as well as in his own country.
I must still further acknowledge my obligations to Don Pascual de
Gayangos, the learned author of the " Mahommedan Dynasties in
Spain," recently published in London, a work, which from its
thorough investigation of original sources, and its fine spirit of
criticism, must supply, what has been so long felt to be a desideratum
with the student, the means of forming a perfect acquaintance with
the Arabian portion of the Peninsular annals. There fell into the
bands of this gentleman, on the breaking up of the convents of
Saragossa, in 1835, a rich collection of original documents, compre-
hending, among other things, the autograph correspondence of
Ferdinand and Isabella, and of the principal persons of their court.
It formed, probably, part of the library of Geronimo Zurita, historio-
grapher of Aragon, under Philip II., who, by virtue of his office, was
intrusted with whatever documents would illustrate the history of the
country. This rare collection was left at his death to a monastery in
his native city. Although Zurita is one of the principal authorities
Xll PEEFACE 10 THE TIIIED EDITIOX.
for the present work, there are many details of interest in this corre-
spondence, which have passed unnoticed by him, even when forming
the basis of his conclusions. And I have gladly availed myself of the
liberality and great kindness of Senor de Gayangos, who has placed
these MSS. at my disposal, transcribing such as I have selected, for
the corroboration and further illustration of my work. The difficulties
attending this labour of love will be better appreciated when it is
understood that the original writing is in an antiquated character,
which few Spanish scholars of the present day could comprehend, and
often in cypher, which requires much patience and ingenuity to
explain. With these various emendations, it is hoped that the present
Edition may be found more deserving of that favour from the English
public, which has been so courteously accorded to the preceding.
MARCH, 1841.
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION.
SECTION L
VIEW OF THE CASTILIAN MONARCHY BEFORE THE FIFTEENTH CENTURT.
Early History and Constitution of Castile Invasion of the Arabs Slow Reconquest
of the Country Religious Enthusiasm of the Spaniards Influence of their Min-
strelsyTheir Chivalry Castilian Town Cortes Its Powers Its Boldness
Wealth of the Cities -The Nobility Their Privileges and Wealth Knights
Clergy Pov?rty of the Crown Limited Extent of the Prerogative . . 1
SECTION II.
REVIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION OF ARAGON TO THE MIDDLE OF THE FIFTEENTH
CENTURY.
Rise of Aragon Ricos Hombres Their Immunities Their Turbulence Privileges of
Union The Legislature Its Forms Its Powers General Privilege Judicial
Functions of Cortes The Justice His great Authority Rise and Opulence of
Barcelona Her free Institutions Intellectual Culture 2J
PART THE FIRST.
THE PERIOD WHEN THE DIFFERENT KINGDOMS OF SPAIN WERE FIRST UNITED UNDER
ONE MONARCHY, AND A THOROUGH REFORM WAS INTRODUCED INTO THEIR INTERNAL
ADMINISTRATION ; OR, THE PERIOD EXHIBITING MOST FULLY THE DOMESTIC POLICY
OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA.
CHAPTER L
STATE OF CASTILE AT THE BIRTH OF ISABELLA REIGN OF JOHN II. OF CAST1LK.
Revolution of Trastamara Accession of John II. Rise of Alvaro de Luna Jealousy
of the Nobles Oppression of the Commons Its consequences Early Literature
of Castile Its Encouragement under John II. Decline of Alvaro de Luna His
Fall Death of John II. Birth of Isabella 39
CHAPTER IL
CONDITION OF ARAGON DURING THE MINORITY OF FERDINAND REIGN OF JOHN II
OF ARAGON.
John of Aragon Difficulties with his son Carlos Birth of Ferdinand Insurrection
of Catalonia Death of Carlos His Character Tragical Story of Blanche Young
Ferdinand besieged by the Catalans Treaty between France and Aragon Distress
and Embarrassments of John Siege and Surrender of Barcelona . . . 48
CHAPTER III.
REIGN OF HENRY IV. OF CASTILE CIVIL WAR MARRIAGE OF FERDINAND AND
ISABELLA.
Henry IV. disappoints Expectations Oppression of the People League of the Noblea
Extraordinary Scene at Avila Early Education of Isabella Death of her Brother
XIV CONTEXT?.
Pag*
Alfonso Intestine Anarchy The Crown offered to Isabella She declines it
Her Suitors She accepts Ferdinand of Aragon Marriage Articles Critical
Situation of Isabella Ferdinand enters Castile Their Marriage . ... OS
CHAPTER IV.
FACTIONS IK CASTILE WAB BETWEEN FRANCE AND ARAGCN DEATH OF HENP.Y IT.
OF CASTILE.
Factions in Castile Ferdinand and Isabella Gallant defence of Perpigiian against
the French Ferdinand raises the siege Isabella's party gains strength Interview
between king Henry IV. and Isabella The French invade Roussillon Ferdinand's
summary justice Death of Henry IV. of Castile Influence of his reign . . 83
CHAPTER V.
ACCESSION OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA WAB OF THE SUCCESSION BATTLE
OF TORO.
Isabella proclaimed Queen Settlement of the Crown Alfonso of Portugal supports
Joanna Invades Castile Retreat of the Castilians Appropriation of the Church
Plate. Reorganisation of the Army Battle of Toro Submission of the whole
Kingdom. Peace with France and" Portugal Joanna takes the Veil Death of
John II. of Aragon 93
CHAPTER VI.
INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE.
Schemes of Reform Holy Brotherhood Tumult at Segovia The Queen's Presence of
mind Severe execution of Justice Royal Progress through Andalusia Reorgan-
isation of the Tribunals Castilian Jurisprudence Plans for reducing the Nobles
Revocation of Grants Military Orders of Castile Masterships annexed to the
Crown Ecclesiastical Usurpations resisted Restoration of Trade Prosperity of
the Kingdom 10
CHAPTER VII.
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MODERN INQUISITION.
Origin of the ancient Inquisition Retrospective view of the Jews in Spain Their
wealth and civilisation Bigotry of the age Its influence on Isabella Her con-
fessor, Torquemada Bull authorising the Inquisition Tribunal at Seville Forms
of trial Torture Autos da Fe Number of Convictions Perfidious policy of
Rome ISO
CHAPTER VIII.
RCYIXW Or THE POLITICAL AND INTELLECTUAL CONDITION OF THE SPANISH ARAM
PREVIOUS TO THE WAB OF GRANADA.
Conquest of Spain by the Arabs Cordovan Empire High Civilisation and Prosperity
Its dismemberment Kingdom of Granada Luxurious and chivalrous character
Literature of the Spanish Arabs Progress in Science Historical Merits Useful
Discoveries Poetry and Romance Influence on the Spaniards .... 148
CHAPTER IX.
WAR OF GRANADA SURPRISE OF ZARARA CAPTURE OF ALHAMA.
Zahara surprised by the Moors Marquis of Cadiz His expedition aeainst Alhama
Valour of the Citizens Desperate Struggle Fall of Alhama Consternation of
the Moors Vigorous measures of the Queen 167
CHAPTER X.
WAB OF GRANADA UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT ON LOJA DEFEAT IN THE AXARQUIA.
Unsuccessful attempt on Loja Revolution in Granada Expedition to the Axarquia
Military Array Moorish preparations Bloody Conflict among the Mountains
The Spunwrds force a passage The Marquis of Cadiz escapes 17T
CONTEXTS. XV
CHAPTER XI.
WAR OF GRANADA GENERAL VIEW OF THE POLICY PURSUED IN THE CONDUCT
OF THIS WAR.
Page
Defeat and Capture of Abdallah Policy of the Sovereigns Large Trains of Artillery
Description of the Pieces Stupendous Roads Isabella's care of the Troops
Her Perseverance Discipline of the Army Swiss Mercenaries English Lord
Scales Magnificence of the Nobles Isabella visits the Camp Ceremonies on the
Occupation of a City 194
CHAPTER XII.
INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF THE KINGDOM INQUISITION IN A P. A CON.
Isabella enforces the Laws Punishment of Ecclesiastics Inquisition in Aragon
Remonstrance of the Cortes Conspiracy Assassination of the Inquisitor Arbues
Cruel Persecutions Inquisition throughout Ferdinand's Dominions . . . 207
CHAPTER XIII.
WAE OF GRANADA SURRENDER OF VELEZ MALAGA 8IEOE AND CONQUEST OF
MALAUA.
Narrow escape of Ferdinand before Velez Malaga invested by Sea and Land
Brilliant Spectacle The Queen visits the Camp Attempt to assassinate the
Sovereigns Distress and Resolution of the Besieged Enthusiasm of the Christians
Outworks carried by them Proposals for Surrender Haughty Demeanour of
Ferdinand Malaga surrenders at Discretion Cruel Policy of the Victors . . 811
CHAPTER XIV.
WAR OF GRANADA CONQUEST OF BAZA SUBMISSION OF XL IAOAL.
The Sovereigns visit Aragon The King lays siege to Baza Its great Strength
Gardens cleared of their Timber The Queen raises the spirits of her Troops Her
patriotic Sacrifices Suspension of Arms Baza surrenders Treaty with Zagal
Difficulties of the Campaign Isabella's Popularity and Influence .... 224
CHAPTER XV.
WA OF ORANADA SIEGE AND SURRENDER OF THE CITT OF GRANADA.
The Infanta Isabella affianced to the Prince of Portugal Isabella deposes Judges at
Valladolid Encampment before Granada The Queen surveys the City Moslem
and Christian Chivalry Conflagration of the Christian Camp Erection of Santa
Fe Capitulation of Granada Results of the War Its Moral Influence Its Military
Influence Fate of the Moors Death and Character of the Marquis of Cadiz . . 380
CHAPTER XVI.
APPLICATION OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBT78 AT THB SPANISH COURT.
Early discoveries of the Portuguese Of the Spaniards Columbus His application at
the Castilian Court Rejected Negotiations resumed Favourable disposition of
the Queen Arrangement with Columbus He sails on his first Voyage Indiffer-
ence to the Enterprise Acknowledgments due to Isabella 251
CHAPTER XVII.
EXPULSION OF THE JEWS FROM SPAIN.
Excitement against the Jews Edict of Expulsion Dreadful Sufferings of the Emi-
grantsWhole number of Exiles Disastrous Results True Motives of the Edict
Contemporary Judgments 261
CHAPTER XVIII.
ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF FERDINAND RETURN AND SECOND VOTAGE OF
COLUMBUS.
At'empt on Ferdinand's life Consternation ana Loyalty of the People Return
of Columbus His Progress to Barcelona Interviews with the Sovereigns r
XVI CONTEXTS.
Pate
Sensations caused by the discovery Regulations of Trade Con version of the
Natives Famous Bulls of Alexander VI. Jealousy of Portugal Second Voyage
of Columbus Treaty of Tordesillaa 269
CHAPTER XIX.
CASTILIAN LITERATURE CULTIVATION OF THE COURT CLASSICAL LEARNING SCIENCE,
Early Education of Ferdinand Of Isabella Her Library Early Promise of Prince
John Scholarship of the Nobles Accomplished Women Classical Learning
Universities Printing introduced Encouraged by the Queen Actual progress of
Science 23*
CHAPTER XX.
CAST1L1AK LITERATURE ROMANCES OF CHIVALRY LYRICAL POETRY THE DRAMA.
This Reign an Epoch in Polite Letters Romances of Chivalry Ballads or Romances
Moorish Minstrelsy "Cancionero General" Its Literary Value Rise of the
Spanish Drama Criticism on "Celestina" Enema Naharro Low Condition of
the Stage National Spirit of the Literature of this Epoch ..... 200
PART THE SECOND.
THE PERIOD WHEN, THE INTERIOR ORGANISATION OF THE MONARCHY HAVING BEEN
COMPLETED, THE SPANISH NATION ENTERED ON ITS SCHEMES OF DISCOVERY AND
CONQUEST J OR THE PERIOD ILLUSTRATING MORE PARTICULARLY THE FOREIGN
POLICY OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA.
CHAPTER I.
ITALIA* WARS GENERAL VIEW OF EUROPE INVASION OF ITALY BV CHARLES Vm.
OF FRVNCE.
Europe at the close of the Fifteenth Century More intimate n lations between States
Italy the School of Politics Pretensions of Charles VIII. to Xap'.es Treaty of
Barcelona The French invade Naples Ferdinand's Diss:itisfa:tiou Tactics and
Arms of the different Nations Preparations of Spain Mission to Charles VI II.
Bold conduct of the Envoys The French enter Naples 303
CHAPTER IL
ITALIAK WARS RETREAT OF CHARLES VHI. CAMPAIGNS OF OONSALVO DE CORDOVA
FINAL EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH.
Impolitic conduct of Charles He plunders the Works of Art Gonsalvo de Cordova
His brilliant Qualities Raised to the Italian Command Battle of Serniiiara
Gonsalvo's Successes Decline of the French He receives the title of Givat
Captain Expulsion of the French from Italy 319
CHAPTER IIL
ITALIAN WARS GONSALVO SUCCOURS THE POPE TREATY WITH FRANC!
ORGANISATION OF THE SPANISH MILITIA.
Gonsalvo succours the Pope Storms Ostia Reception in Rome Peace with France
Ferdinand's Reputation advanced by his Conduct in the War Organisation of the
Militia 3^2
CHAPTER IV.
ALLIANCES OF TUB ROYAL FAMILY DEATH OF PRINCE JOHN AND PRINCESS
ISABELLA.
Royal Family of Castile Matrimonial Alliances tvith Portugal With Austria
" Marriage of John and Margaret Death of Prince John The Queen's Resignation
Independence of the Cortes of Aragon Death of the Princess Isabella Recog-
nition of her infant son Miguel 307
CONTENTS. xv u
CHAPTER V.
DEATH Of CARDINAL MENDOZA RISE OF XIMENES ECCLESIASTICAL REFORM.
Pp.se
Death of Mendoza His Early Life, and Character The Queen his Executor Origin
ofXimenes He enters the Franciscan Order His Ascetic Li fo Confessor to the
Queen Made Archbishop of Toledo Austerity of his Life Reform of the Monastic
Orders Insults oflered to the Queen She consents to the Reform . . . .346
CHAPTER VI.
XIMENTS IN ORANADA PERSECUTION, INSURRECTION, AND CONVERSION OF THE
MOORS.
Tranquil State of Granada Mild Policy of Talavera Clergy dissatisfied with it
Violent Measures of Ximenes His Fanaticism Its mischievous Effects Insur-
rection in Granada Tranquillity restored Baptism of the Inhabitants . . . 35J
CHAPTER VII.
RISINO IN THE ALPUXARRA8 DEATH OF ALONSO DE AOUILAR EDICT AGAINST
THE MOORS.
Riaing in the Alpuxarras Expedition to the Sierra Vermeja Alonso de Aguilar His
noble Character, and Death Bloody Rout of the Spaniards Final Submission to
Ferdinand Cruel Policy of the Victors Commemorative Ballads Edict against
the Moors Causes of Intolerance Last notice of the Moors uudcr the present
Reign , 367
CHAPTER VIII.
COLUMBUS PROSECUTION OF DISCOVERT HIS TREATMENT BY THE COURT.
Progress of Discovery Reaction of Public Feeling The Queen's Confidence in Colum-
bus He discovers Terra Firma Isabella sends back the Indian Slaves Com-
plaints against Columbus Superseded in the Government Vindication of the
Sovereigns H.s fourth and last Voyage 378
CHAPTER IX.
SPANISH COLONIAL POLICY.
Careful Provision for the Colonies Licence for Private Voyages Important Papal
Concessions The Queen's Zeal for Conversion Immediate Profits from, the Dis-
coveries Their Moral Consequences Their Geographical Extent . . . .391
CHAPTER X.
ITALIAN WARS PARTITION OF NAPLES GONSALVO OVERRUNS CALABRIA.
Louis XII. "s Designs on Italy Alarm of the Spanish Court Bold Conduct of its
Minister at Rome Celebrated Partition of Naples Gonsalvo sails against the
Turks Success and Cruelties of the French Gonsalvo invades Calabria He
punishes a Mutiny His munificent Spirit He captures Tarento Seizes the Duke
of Calabria 399
CHAFFER XI.
ITALIAN WARS RUPTURE WITH FRANCE OONSALVO BESIEGED IN BARLETTA.
Rupture between the French and Spaniards Gonsalvo retires to Barletta Chivalrous
Character of the War Tourney near Trani Duel between Bayard and Sotomavor
Distress of Barletta Constancy of the Spaniards Gonsalvo storms and takes
Ruvo Prepares to leave Barletta 418
CHAPTER XII.
ITALIAN WARS NEGOTIATIONS WITH FRANCE VICTORY OF CERIGNOLA SURRENDER
OF NAPLES.
Birth of Charles V. Philip and Joanna visit Spain Treaty of Lyons The Great
Captain refuses to comply with it Encamps before Cerignola Battle, and Rout of
the French Triumphant entry of Gonsalvo Into Naples 422
b
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XHI.
1TEGOTIATION3 WITH FRANCE UNSUCCESSFUL INVASION OF SPA rN TRUCE.
ft*
Ferdinand's Policy examined First Symptoms of Joanna's Insanity Isabella's Dis-
tress and Fortitude Efforts of France Siege of Salsas Isabella's Levies Ferdi-
nand's Successes Reflections on the Campaign .._,,.. 433
CHAPTER XIV.
ITALIAH WARS CONDITION OF ITALY FRENCH AND SPANISH ARMIES ON TH
GAKIGLIANO.
Melancholy State of Italy Great Preparations of Louis Gonsalvo repulsed before
Gaeta Armies on the Garisrliano Bloody Passage of the Bridge Anxious Expec-
tation of Italy Critical Situation of the Spaniards Gonsalvo's Resolution
Heroism of Paredes and Bayard ..... . . . . . 440
CHAPTER XV.
ITALIAN WARS BOUT OF THE GARIGLIANO TREATY WITH FRANCE GONSALYO'8
MILITARY CONDUCT.
Gonsalvo crosses the River Consternation of the French Action near Gaeta Hotly
contested The French defeated Gaeta surrenders Public Enthusiasm Treaty
with France Review of Gonsalvo's Military Conduct Results ol the Campaign . 458
CHAPTER XVL
ILLNESS AND DEATH OF ISABELLA HER CHARACTER,
Decline of the Queen's Health Alarm of the Nation Her Testament and Codicil
Her Resignation and Death Her Remains transported to Granada Isabella's
Person Her Manners Her Character Parallel with Queen Elizabeth . . . 463
CHAPTER XVII.
TERDDfAWD REGENT HIS SECOND MARRIAGE DISSENSIONS WITH PHILIP RESIG-
NATION OF THE REGENCY.
Ferdinand Regent Philip's Pretensions Ferdinand's Perplexities Impolitic treaty
with France The King's Second Marriage Landing of Philip and Joanna
Unpopularity of Ferdinand His Interview with his Son-in-law He resigns the
Regracy ............. ... 477
CHAPTER XVIII.
COLUMBUS HIS RETURN TO SPAIN HIS DEATH.
Return of Columbus from his Fourth Voyage His Illness Neglected by Ferdinand
His Death His Person and Character ......... 4SS
CHAPTER XIX.
REIGW AMD DEATH OF PHILIP I. PROCEEDINGS IN CASTILE FERDINAND TISITt
NAPLES.
Philip and Joanna Their reckless Administration Ferdinand distrusts Gonsalvo
He sails for Naples Philip's Death and Character The Provisional Government-
Joanna's Condition Ferdinand's Entry into Naples Discontent caused by hi*
Measures there .............. 42
CHAPTER XX.
FERDINAND'S RETURN AND AGENCY GONSALVO'S HONOURS AND RETIREMENT.
Joanna's mad Conduct She changes her Ministers Disorders in Castile Ferdinand's
Politic Behaviour He leaves Naples His Brilliant Reception by Louis XII.
Honours to Gonsalvo Ferdinand's return to Castile His excessive Severity
Neglect of the Great Captain His honourable Retirement ..... 500
COKTKM'S.
CHAPTER XXL
XIMFNES CONQUESTS nr AFRICA UNIVERSITY or ALCAIC POLYGLOT BIBL*.
Page
Enthusiasm of Xinienes His warlike Preparations He sends an Army to Africa
Storms Oran His triumphant Entry The King's Distrust of him He returns to
Spain Navarre's African Conquests Magnificent Endowments of Xiinenes
University of AlcaLi Complutensian Polyglot- .... t ... 511
CHAPTER XXII.
WABS AM) POLITICS OF ITALY.
League of Cambray Alarm of Ferdinand Holy League Battle of Ravenna Death of
Gaston de Foix Retreat of the French The Spaniards victorious .... 52*
CHAPTER XXIII.
CONQUEST OF NAVARRE.
Sovereigns of Navarre Ferdinand demands a Passage Invasion and Conquest of
Navarre Treaty of Orthes Ferdinand settles his Conquests His Conduct
examined Gross abuse of the Victory . 530
CHAPTER XXIV.
DEATH OF GONSALVO DE CORDOVA ILLNESS AND DEATH OT FERDINAND HIS
CHARACTER.
Oonsalvo ordered to Italy General Enthusiasm The King's Distrust Gonsalvo In
Retirement Decline of his ITealth His Death, and noble Character Ferdinand's
Illness It Increases He dies His Character A Contrast to Isabella The
Judgment of his Contemporaries . , 53f
CHAPTER XXV.
ADMINISTRATION, DEATH, AND CHARACTER OF CARDINAL XIMESES.
Xiinenes Governor of Castile Charles proclaimed King Ximenes' Domestic Policy
He intimidates the Nobles Public Discontents Charles lands in Spain His
Ingratitude to Ximenes The Cardinal's Illness and Death His extraordinary
Character 550
CHAPTER XXVI.
GENERAL REVIEW OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF FERDINAND AHD ISABELLA.
Policy of the Crown towards the Nobles the Clergy Consideration of the Commons
Advancement of Prerogative Legal Compilations The Legal Profession
Trade Manufactures Agriculture Restrictive Policy Revenues Progress of
Discovery Colonial Administration General Prosperity Increase of Population
Chivalrous Spirit The Period of National Glory . , ... M9
HISTOIIY OF THE REIGN
OT
FERDINAND AND ISABELLA.
INTRODUCTION.
SECTION I.
TTEW OF THK CASTILIAN MONARCHY BEFORE THE nFTEKTTTH CFNTtTRT.
Enr'y History and Constitution of Castile Invasion of the Arabs Slow Reconquest at
the Country Religious Enthusiasm of the Spaniards Influence of their Minstrelsy
Their Chivalry Castilian Town Cortes Its Powers Its Boldness Wealth of the
Cities The Nobility Their Privileges and Wealth Knights Clergy Poverty of
the Crown Limited Extent of the Prerogative.
several hundred years after the great Saracen invasion in the
beginning of the eighth century, Spain was broken up into a number of
small but independent states, divided in their interests, and often in
deadly hostility with one another. It was inhabited by races the most
dissimilar in their origin, religion, and government, the least important
of which has exerted a sensible influence on the character and institutions
of its present inhabitants. At the close of the fifteenth century these
various races were blended into one great nation, under one common
rule. Its territorial limits were widely extended by discovery and
conquest. Its domestic institutions, and even its literature, were
moulded into the form, which, to a considerable extent, they have
maintained to the present day. It is the object of the present narrative
to exhibit the period in which these momentous results were effected,
the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella.
By the middle of the fifteenth century, the number of states into
which the country had been divided was reduced to four : Castile,
Aragon, Xavarre, and the Moorish kingdom of Granada. The last, com-
prised within nearly the same limits as the modern province of that name,
was all that remained to the Moslems of their once vast possessions in
the Peninsula. Its concentrated population gave it a degree of strength
altogether disproportioned to the extent of its territory ; and the profuse
2 UTTRODITCTIOK.
magnificence of its court, which rivalled that of tke ancient caliphs, was
supported by the labours of a sober, industrious people, under whom
agriculture and several of the mechanic arts had reached a degree of
excellence probably unequalled in any other part of Europe during tho
middle ages.
The little kingdom of Navarre, embosomed within the Pyrenees, had
often attracted the avarice of neighbouring and more powerful states.
But since their selfish schemes operated as a mutual check upon each
other, Navarre still continued to maintain her independence when all the
1 smaller states in the Peninsula had been absorbed in the gradually
increasing dominion of Castile and Aragon.
This latter kingdom comprehended the province of that name, together
, with Catalonia and Valencia. UMer its auspicious climate and free
< political institutions, its inhabitants displayed an uncommon share of
intellectual and moral energy. Its long line of coast opened the way to
an extensive and flourishing commerce ; and its enterprising navy
indemnified the nation for the scantiness of its territory at home, by
the important foreign conquests of Sardinia, Sicily, Naples, and the
Balearic Isles.
The remaining provinces of Leon, Biscay, the Asturias, Galicia, Old
and New Castile, Estremadura, Murcia, and Andalusia, fell to the crown
of Castile, which, thus extending its sway over an unbroken line of
country from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean, seemed by the
magnitude of its territory, as well as by its antiquity (for it was there
that the old Gothic monarchy may be said to have first revived after the
great Saracen invasion), to be entitled to a preeminence over the other
states of the Peninsula. This claim, indeed, appears to have been
recognised at an early period of her history. Aragon did homage to
Castile for her territory en the western bank of the Ebro until the
twelfth century ; as did Navarre, Portugal, and, at a later period, the
Moorish kingdom of Granada.* And, when at length the various states
of Spain were consolidated into one monarchy, the capital of Castile
became the capital of the new empire, and her language the language of
the court and of literature.
It will facilitate our inquiry into the circumstances which immediately
led to these results, if we briefly glance at the prominent features in the
early history and constitution of the two principal Christian states,
Castile and Aragon, previous to the fifteenth century, f
The Visigoths, who overran the Peninsula in the fifth century, brought
with them the same liberal principles of government which distinguished
their Teutonic brethren. Their crown was declared elective by a formal
legislative act. Laws were enacted in the great national councils, com-
vosed of prelates and nobility, and not unfrequently ratified in an
Aragon was formally released from this homage in 1177, and Portugal in 1264. The
King of Granada, Aben Alahrnar, swore fealty to St. Ferdinand in 1245, binding himself to
Uie payment of an annual rent, to serve under him with a stipulated number of his
knights in war, and personally attend Carles tchen summoned, a whimsical stipulation this
for a Mahometan prince.
t Navarre \v;us too inconsiderable, and bore too near a resemblance in its government to
tin; other Peninsular kingdoms, to require a separate notice; for which, indeed, tho
national writers afford but very scanty materials. The Moorish empire of Granada, so
inti resting in itself, and MI dissimilar, in all respects, to Christian Spain, merits particular
attention. I liavu deferred the consideration of it, however, to that period of the Hiiitorw
TI\~"\I is occupied with its subversion. See Part I. chap. 8.
CASTILE. 3
assembly of the people. Their code of jurisprudence, although abound-
ing in frivolous detail, contained many admirable provisions for the
security of justice ; and, in the degree of civil liberty which it accorded
to the Roman inhabitants of the country, far transcended those of most
of the other barbarians of the Xorth.* In short, their simple polity
exhibited the germ of some of those institutions which, with other
nations, and under happier auspices, have formed the basis of a well-
regulated constitutional liberty.
But while in other countries the principles of a free government were
slowly and gradually unfolded, their development was much accelerated
iu Spain by an event, which, at the time, seemed to threaten their total
extinction, the great Saracen invasion at the beginning of the eighth
century. The religious, as well as the political institutions of the Arabs,
were too dissimilar to those of the conquered nation, to allow the former
to exercise any very sensible influence over the latter in these particulars.
In the spirit of toleration which distinguished the early followers of
Mahomet, they conceded to such of the Goths as were willing to continue
among them after the conquest, the freo enjoyment of their religious, as
well as many of the civil privileges which they possessed under the
ancient monarchy. t Under this liberal dispensation it cannot be doubted
that n^'iny preferred remaining in the pleasant regions of their ancestors,
to quitting them for a life of poverty and toil. These, however, appear
to have been chiefly of the lower order ;J and the men of higher rank,
or of more generous sentiments, who refused to accept a nominal and
precarious independence at the hands of their oppressors, escaped from
the overwhelming inundation into the neighbouring countries of France,
Italy, and Britain, or retreated behind those natural fortresses of the
north, the Asturian hills and the Pyrenees, whither the victorious
Saracen disdained to pursue them.
Here the broken remnant of the nation endeavoured to revive the
forms at least of the ancient government. But it may well be conceived
how imperfect these must have been under a calamity which, breaking
up all the artificial distinctions of society, seemed to resolve it at once
into its primitive equality. The monarch, once master of the whole
Peninsula, now beheld his empire contracted to a few barren in-
hospitable rocks. The noble, instead of the broad lands and thronged
* Recesvinto, in order more effectually to bring about the consolidation of his Gothic
and Roman subjects into one nation, abrogated the law prohibiting their intermarriage.
The terms iu which his enactment is conceived disclose a far more enlightened policy than
that pursued either by the Franks or Lombards. The Visigothic code, Fuero Juzgo,
originally compiled in Latin, was translated into Spanisli under St. Ferdinand ; a copy of
which version was first printed in ItiOO, at Madrid. A second edition, under the super-
vision of the Royal Spanish Academy, was published in 1815. This compilation, no:
apparent rudeness and even ferocity of some of its features, may be said to
ormed the baaia of all the subsequent legislation of Castile. It was, doubtless, the
exclusive contemplation of these features which brought upon these laws the SWL
condemnation of Montesquieu, as "pueriles, gauches, idiotes, frivoles dans le fond et
..ins le style." Esprit de.s Loix, liv. 'JS, chap. 1.
t The Christians, in all matters exclusively relating to themselves, were governed by
their own laws, administered by their own judges, subject only in capital cases to au
appeal to the Moorish tribunals. Their churches and monasteries were scattered over the
principal towns, Cordova retaining seven, Toledo six, &c. ; and their clergy were allowed
to display the costume, and celebrate the pompous ceremonial, of the Romish communion,
J Yet the names of several nobles resident among the Moors appear in the record of
those times. If we could rely on a singular fact, quoted by Zurita. we might infer that
targe proportion of the Goths were content to reside among their 8a - raeen conqueror*.
halls of his ancestors, saw himself at best but the chief of some
wandering horde, seeking a doubtful subsistence, like himself, by rapine.
The peasantry, indeed, may be said to have gained by the exchange ;
and in a situation in which all factitious distinctions were of les& worth
than individual prowess and efficiencv, they rose in political consequence.
Even slavery, a sore evil among the Visigoths, as indeed among all the
barbarians of German origin, though not effaced, lost many of its most
revolting features under the more generous legislation of later times.*
A sensible and salutary influence, at the same time, was exerted on
le moral energies of the nation, which had been corrupted in the long
enjoyment of uninterrupted prosperity. Indeed, so relaxed were che
moruis of the court, as well as of the clergy, and so enervated had all
classes become in the general diffusion of luxury, that some authors
have not scrupled to refer to these causes principally the perdition of
the Gothic monarchy. An entire reformation in these habits was
necessarily effected in a situation where a scanty subsistence could, only
be earned by a life of extreme temperance and toil, and where it was
often to be sought sword in hand, from an enemy far superior in
numbers. Whatever may have been the vices of the Spaniards, they
cannot have been those of effeminate sloth. Thus, a sober, hardy, and
independent race was gradually formed, prepared to assert their ancient
inheritance, and to lay the foundations of far more liberal and equitable
forms of government than wexe known to their ancestors.
At first their progress was slow and almost imperceptible. The
Saracens, indeed, reposing under the sunny skies of Andalusia, so
congenial with their own, seemed willing to relinquish the sterile
regions of the north to an enemy whom they despised. But, when the
Spaniards, quitting the shelter of their mountains, descended into the
open plains of Leon and Castile, they found themselves exposed to the
predatory incursions of the Arab cavalry, who, sweeping over the face of
the country, carried off in a single foray the hard-earned produce of a
summer's toil. It was not until they had reached some natural boundary,
as the river Douro, or the chain of the Guadarrama, that they were
enabled, by constructing a line of fortifications along these primitive
bul\\ arks, to secure their conquests, and oppose an effectual resistance to
the destructive inroads of their enemies.
Their own dissensions were another cause of their tardy progress.
The numerous petty states which rose from the ruins of the ancient
monarchy, seemed to regard each other with even a fiercer hatred than
that with which thry viewed the enemies of their faith ; a circumstance
that more than once brought the nation to the verge of ruin. More
Christian blood uas wasted in these national feuds, than in all their
encounters with the infidel. The soldiers of Fernan Goncalez, a chieftain
of the tenth century, complained that their master made them lead the
life of very devils, keeping them in the harness day and night, in wars,
not against the Saracens, but one another.
* Th lot of the Visigothic slave was sufficiently hard. The oppressions which thi
unhappy race endured were such as to lead Mr. Southey, in his excellent introduction to
the " Chronicle of the Cid," to impute to their co-operation, in part, the easy conquest of
the country by the Arab*. But, although the laws in relation to them, seem to he taken
up with determining their incapacities rather than their privileges, it is probable that
they secured to them, ou the whole, quite as great a degree of civil consequence as wa*
enjoyed by similar clusse tie rest of Europe.
CASTILE. 6
These circumstances so far palsied the arm of the Christians, that a
century and a half elapsed after the invasion before they had penetrated
to the Douro,* and nearly thrice that period before they had advanced
the line of conquest to the Tagus,t notwithstanding this portion of the
country had been comparatively deserted by the Mahometans. But it
M MS easy to foresee that a people living as they did, under circumstances
so well adapted to the development of both physical and moral energy,
must ultimately prevail over a nation oppressed by despotism, and the
effeminate indulgence to which it was naturally 'disposed by a sensual
religion and a voluptuous climate. In truth, the early Spaniard was
urged by every motive that can give efficacy to human purpose. Pent
up in his barren mountains, he beheld the pleasant valleys and fruitful
vineyards of his ancestors delivered over to the spoiler, the holy places
polluted by his abominable rites, and the Crescent glittering on the
domes which were once consecrated by the venerated symbol of his faith.
His cause became the cause of Heaven. The church published her bulls
of crusade, offering liberal indulgencies to those who served, and
Paradise to those who fell in battle against the infidel. The ancient
Castilian was remarkable for his independent resistance of papal en-
croachment; but the peculiarity of his situation subjected him in ax
uncommon degree to ecclesiastical influence at home. Priests mingled
in the council and the camp, and arrayed in their sacerdotal robes, not
unfrequently led the armies to* battle. + They interpreted the will of
Heaven as mysteriously revealed in dreams and visions. Miracles were
a familiar occurrence. The violated tombs of the saints sent forth
thunders and lightenings to consume the invaders ; and, when the
Christians fainted in the fight, the apparition of their patron, St. James,
mounted on a milk-white steed, and bearing aloft the banner of the
Cross, was seen hovering in the air to rally their broken squadrons, and
lead them on to victory. Thus the Spaniard looked upon himself as in
a peculiar manner the care of Providence. For him the laws of nature
were suspended. He was a soldier of the Cross, fighting not only for
his country but for Christendom. Indeed volunteers from the remotest
parts of Christendom eagerly thronged to serve under his banner ; and
the cause of religion was debated with the same ardour in Spain, as on
the plains of Palestine. || Hence the national character became exalted
by a religious fervour, which in later days, alas ! settled into a fierce
According to Morales, this took place about 850.
f Toledo -s-as not reconquered until 1085 ; Lisbon, in 1147.
J The Archbishops of Toledo, whose revenues and retinues far exceeded those of the other
ecclesiastics, were particularly conspicuous in these holy wars. Mariana, speaking of one
of these belligerent prelates, considers it.worchy of encomium, that "it is not easy to decide
whether he was most conspicuous for his good government in peace, or his conduct and
Talour in war."
The first occasion on which the military apostle condescended to reveal himself to the
Lcouese, was the memorable day of Clavijo, AD. 844, when 70,000 infidels fell on the field.
From that time the name of St. Jago became the battla-cry of the Spaniards.
|| French, Flemish, Italian, and English volunteers, led by men of distinguished rank,
are recorded by the Spanish writers to have been preseat at the sieges of Toledo, Lisbon.
Alfjcziras, and various others. More than sixty, or, as some accounts state, a hundred
thousand, joined the array before the battle of Navas de Tolosa ; a round exaggeration.
which, however, implies the great number of such auxiliaries. The crusades in Spain
were as rational enterprises as those in the East were vain and chimerical. Pope Pascal
II. acted like a man of sense, when he sent back certain Spanish adventurers who had
embarked in the wars of Palestine, telling them, that "the cause of religion could bfl
much better served b^ them at home."
8 TXTRODTTCTIOy.
fanaticism. Hence that solicitude for the purity of the faith, the
peculiar boast of the Spaniards, and that deep tinge of superstition for
which they have ever been distinguished above the other nations of
Europe.
The long wars with the Mahometans served to keep alive in their
bosoms the ardent glow of patriotism; and this was still further
heightened by the body of traditional minstrelsy, which commemorated
in these wars the heroic deeds of their ancestors. The influence of such
popular compositions on a simple people is undeniable. A sagacious
critic ventures to pronounce the poems of Homer the principal bond
which united the Grecian states. Such an opinion may be deemed some-
what extravagant. It cannot be doubted, however, that a poem like
that of the " Cid," which appeared as early as the twelfth century, by
calling up the most inspiring national recollections in connexion with
their favourite hero, must have operated powerfully on the moral sensi-
bilities of the people.
It is pleasing to observe, in the cordial spirit of these early effusions,
little of the ferocious bigotry which sullied the character of the nation in
after ages. The Mahometans of this period far excelled their enemies in
general refinement, and had carried some branches of intellectual culture
to a height scarcely surprassed by Europeans in later times. The
Christians, therefore, notwithstanding their political aversion to the
Saracens, conceded to them a degree of respect, which subsided into
feelings of a very different complexion as they themselves rose in the
scale of civilisation. This sentiment of respect tempered the ferocity of
a warfare, which, although sufficiently disastrous in its details, affords
examples of a generous courtesy that would do honour to the politest
ages of Europe.* The Spanish Arabs were accomplished in all knightly
exercises; and their natural fondness for magnificence, which shed a
lustre over the rugged features of chivalry, easily communicated itself to
the Christian cavaliers. In the intervals of peace, these latter frequented
the courts of the Moorish princes, and mingled with their adversaries in
the comparatively peaceful pleasures of the tourney, as in war they vied
with them in feats of Quixotic gallantry.t
The nature of this warfare between two nations, inhabitants of the
same country, yet so dissimilar in their religious and social institutions
as to be almost the natural enemies of each other, was extremely favour-
* When the empress queen of Alfonso VII. was besieged in the castle of Azeca, in 1139,
he reproached the Moslem cavaliers for their want of courtesy and courage in attacking a
fortress defended by a female They acknowledged the justice of the rebuke, and only
requested that she would condescend to show herself to them from her palace : when the
Moorish chivalry, after paying their obeisance to her in the most respectful manner,
instantly raised the siege and departed. It was a frequent occurrence to restore a noble
captive to liberty without ransom, and even with costly presents. Thus Alfonso XI. sent
back to their father two daughters of a Moorish prince, who formed part of the spoils of
the battle of Tarifa. When this same Castilian sovereign, after a career of almost un-
interrupted victory over the Moslems, died of the plague before Gibraltar in 1350, the
knights of Granada put on mourning for him, saying, that "he was a noble prince, and
one that knew how to honour his enemies as well as his friends."
t One of the most extraordinary achievements in this way, was that of the Grand
Master of Alcantara in 1394, who, after ineffectually challenging the King of Granada to
meet him in single combat, or with a force double that of his own, marched boldly up to
the gates of his capital, where he was assailed by such an overwhelming host, that he
with all his little band perished on the field. It was over this worthy compeer of Don
Quixote that the epitaph was inscribed, " Here lies one who never knew fear," which led
Charles V. to remark to one of his courtiers, that "the good knight could never have tried
to sauff a caudle with his fingers."
CASTIT/E. 7
able to the exhibition of the characteristic virtues of chivalry. The
contiguity of the hostile parties afforded abundant opportunities "for per-
sonal rencounter and bold romantic enterprise. Each nation had its
regular military associations, who swore to devote their lives to the ser-
vice of God and their country in perpetual war against the infidel.* The
Spanish knight became the true hero of romance, wandering over his own
laud, and even into the remotest climes, in quest of adventures ; and as
late as the fifteenth century, we find him in the courts of England and
Burgundy, doing battle in honour of his mistress, and challenging
general admiration by his uncommon personal intrepidity, f This
romantic spirit lingered in Castile long after the age of chivalry had
become extinct in other parts of Europe, continuing to nourish itself on
those illusions of fancy which were at length dispelled by the caustic
satire of Cervantes.
Thus patriotism, religious loyalty, and a proud sense of independence,
founded on the consciousness of owing their possessions to their personal
valour, became characteristic traits of the Castilians previously to the
sixteenth century, when the oppressive policy and fanaticism of the
Austrian dynasty contrived to throw into the shade these generous
virtues. Glimpses of them, however, might long be discerned in
the haughty bearing of the Castilian noble, and in that erect high-
minded peasantry, whom oppression has not yet been able wholly to
subdue. J
To the extraordinary position in which the nation was placed, may
also be referred the liberal forms of its political institutions, as well as a
more early development of them than took place in other countries of
Europe. From the exposure of the Castilian towns to the predatory
incursions of the Arabs, it became necessary not only that they
should be strongly fortified, but that every citizen should be trained to
bear arms in their defence. An immense increase of consequence was
given to the burgesses, who thus constituted the most effective part of the
national militia. To this circumstance, as well as to the policy of
inviting the settlement of frontier places by the grant of extraordinary
privileges to the inhabitants, is to be imputed the early date, as well as
liberal character, of the charters of community in Castile and Leon.$
This singular fact, of tha existence of an Arabic military order, is recorded by Conde.
Tiie brethren wore distinguished for the simplicity of their attire, aud their austere and
frugal habits. They \ve-e stationed on the Moorish marches, and were bound by a vow
of perpetual war against Ihe Christian infidel. As their existence is traced as far back as
1030, they may p.issiMy have suggested the organisation of similar institutions in
Christendom, which they preceded by a century at least.
t In one of the Paston letters, we find the notice of a Spanish knight appearing at the
court of Henry VI. "\vytha Kercheff of Pleasaunce iwrapped aboute hysarme, thegwych
Knight," says the writer, " wyl renne a cours wyth a sharpe spere for his sou'eyii lady
sake." The practice of using sharp spears, instead of the guarded and blunted weapons
usual in the tournament, seems to have been affected by the chivalrous nobles of Castile ;
many of whom, says the Chronicle of Juan II., lost their lives from this circumstance, in
the splendid tourney given in honour of the nuptials of Blanche of Navarre and Henry,
on of John II. Monstrelet records the adventures of a Spanish c ivulier, who " travelled
ail the way to the Court of Burgundy to seek honour and reverence " by his feats of
aims. His antagonist was the Lord of Chargny ; on the sec-end day they fought with
b:ittl3-axes. and "the Castilian attracted general admiration by his uncommon daring in
fighting with his visor up."
J The Venetian Ambassador, Navagiero, speaking of the manners of the Castilian nobles
In Charles V.'s time, remarks somewhat bluntly, that "if their power wer equal to
Iheir pride, the whole world would not be able to withstand them."
The most ancient of these i-egular charters of incorporation now extant, was granted
fcy \lfoasoV., in 10-20, 13 the city ot Leon and its territory. It preceded, by a long
These, although varying a good deal in their details, generally conceded
to the citizens the right of electing their own magistrates for the
regulation of municipal affairs. Judges were appointed by this hody for
the administration of civil and criminal law, subject to an appeal to the
royal tribunal. No person could be affected in life or property, except by
a decision of this municipal court ; and no cause, while pending before
it, could be evoked thence into the superior tribunal. In order to secure
the barriers of justice more effectually against the violence of power, so
often superior to law in an imperfect state of society, it was provided in
many of the charters that no nobles should be permitted to acquire real
property within the limits of the community ; that no fortress or palace
should be erected by them there ; that such as might reside within its
territory should be subject to its jurisdiction ; and that any violence
offered by them to its inhabitants might be forcibly resisted with
impunity. Ample and inalienable funds were provided for the main-
tenance of the municipal functionaries, and for other public expenses.
A large extent of circumjacent country, embracing frequently many
towns and villages, Avas annexed to each city, with the right of juris-
diction over it. All arbitrary tallages were commuted for a certain
fixed and moderate rent. An officer was appointed by the crown to
reside within each community, whose province it was to superintend the
collection of this tribute, to maintain public order, and to be associated
with the magistrates of each city in the command of the forces it was
bound to contribute towards the national defence. Thus, while the
inhabitants of the great towns in other parts of Europe were languishing
in feudal servitude, the members of the Castilian corporations, living
under the protection of their own laws and magistrates in time of peace,
and commanded by their own officers in war, were in full enjoyment of
all the essential rights and privileges of freemen.
It is true, that they were often convulsed by intestine feuds ; that the
laws were often loosely administered by incompetent judges ; and that the
exercise of so many important prerogatives of independent states inspired
them with feelings of independence, which led to mutual rivalry, and
sometimes to open collision. But with all this, long after similar
immunities in the free cities of other countries, as Italy for example,*
had been sacrificed to the violence of faction or the lust of power, those
of the Castilian cities not only remained unimpaired, but seemed to
acquire additional stability with age. This circumstance is chiefly
imputable to the constancy of the national legislature, which, until the
voice of liberty was stifled by a military despotism, was ever ready to
interpose its protecting arm in defence of constitutional rights.
The earliest instance on record of popular representation in Castile
occurred at Burgos, in 1169 ; nearly a century antecedent to the
interval, those granted to the burgesses in other parts of Europe, with the exception,
perhaps, of Italy ; where several of the cities, as Milan, Pavia, and Pisa, seem early in the
eleventh century to have exercised some of the functions of independent states. But the
extent of municipal immunities conceded to, or rather assumed by, the Italian cities at
this early peri, .d, is very equivocal ; for all, or nearly all their archives, previous to the
time of Frederic I. (the latter part of the twelfth century), had perished amid their
frequent civil convulsions. Acts of enfranchisement became frequent in Spain during
the eleventh century ; several of which are preserved, and exhibit, with sufficient pre-
cision, the nature of the privileges accorded to the inhabitants.
* The independence of the Lombard cities had been sacrificed, according to the admission
of their enthusiastic historian, Sismondi, about the middle of tie thirteenth century.
CASTILE. 9
celebrated Leicester parliament. Each city had but one vote, whatever
might be the number of its representatives. A much greater irregularity
in regard to the number of cities required to send deputies to cortes on.
different occasions, prevailed iu Castile, than ever existed in England ;
though, previously to the fifteenth century, this does not seem to have
proceeded from any design of in fringing on the liberties of the people.
The nomination of these was originally vested in the householders at
large, but was afterwards confined to the municipalities ; a most mis-
chuvous alteration, which subjected their election eventually to the
corrupt influence of the crown. They assembled in the same chamber
with the higher orders of the nobility and clergy ; but, on questions of
moment, retired to deliberate by themselves. After the transaction of
other business, their own petitions were presented to the sovereign, and
iiis assent gave them the validity of laws. The Castilian commons, by
neglecting to make their money grants depend on corresponding con-
cessions from the crown, relinquished that powerful check on its
operations so beneficially exerted in the British parliament, but in vain
contended for even there, till a much later period than that now under
consideration. Whatever may have been the right of the nobility and
clergy to attend in cortes, their sanction was not deemed essential to the
validity of legislative acts; for their presence was not even required in
many assemblies of the nation which occurred in the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries.* The extraordinary power thus committed to the
commons was, on the whole, unfavourable to their liberties. It deprived
them of the sympathy and co-operation of the great orders of the state,
whose authority alone could have enabled them to withstand the en-
croachments of arbitrary power, and who, in fact, did eventually desert
them in their utmost need.f
But notwithstanding these defects, the popular branch of the Castilian
cortes, very soon after its admission into that body, assumed functions
and exercised a degree of power on the whole superior to that enjoyed by
it in other European legislatures. It was soon recognised as a funda-
nieutal principle of the constitution, that no tax could be imposed
without its consent ; f and an express enactment to this effect was
suffered to remain on the statute book, after it had become a dead letter,
as if to remind the nation of the liberties it had lost. The commons
showed a wise solicitude in regard to the mode of collecting the public
revenue, oftentimes more onerous to the subject than the tax itself.
They watched carefullv over its appropriation to its destined uses. They
restrained a too prodigal expenditure, and ventured more than once to
regulate the economy of the royal household. || They kept a vigilant
* This omission of the privileged orders wa almost uniform under Charles V., aad hi
ucccssors. But it would be unfair to seek for constitutional precedent in the usages of a
government whose avowed policy was altogether subversive of the constitution.
t During the famous war of the Comunidadtt, under Charles V.
J The term, " fundamental principle " is fully authorised by the existence of repeated
enactments to this effect.
This law, passed under Alfonso XL, was confirmed by John II., Henry III., and
Churl:
In 1258, they presented a variety of petitions to the king, in relation to his own
personal expenditure, as well as that of his courtiers; requiring him to diminish the
charges of his table, attire, &c., and, bluntly, to "bring his appetite within a more
reasonable compass : " to all which he readily gave his assent. The English reader u
reminded of a very different result which attended a similar interposition of the common*
in the time of Richard II., more than a century later.
10
eye on the conduct of public officers, as well as on the right administra-
tion of justice, and commissions were appointed at their suggestion for
inquiring into its abuses. They entered into negotiation for alliances
with foreign powers, and, by determining the amount of supplies for the
maintenance of troops in time of war, preserved a salutary check over
military operations. The nomination of regencies was subject to their
approbation, and they defined the nature of the authority to be entrusted
to them. Their consent was esteemed indispensable to the validity of a
title to the crown ; and this prerogative, or at least the image of it, has
continued to survive the Avreckof their ancient liberties.* Finally, they
more than once set aside the testamentary provisions of the sovereigns
in regard to the succession.
"Without going further into detail, enough has been said to show the
high powers claimed by the commons previously to the fifteenth century,
which, instead of be" ig confined to ordinary subjects of legislation, seem,
in some instances, tj have reached to the executive duties of the admi-
nistration. It would, indeed, show but little acquaintance with the
social condition of the middle ages, to suppose that the practical exercise of
these powers always corresponded with their theory. We trace repeated
instances, it is true, in which they were claimed and successfully
exerted ; while, on the other hand, the multiplicity of remedial statutes
proves too plainly how often the rights of the people were invaded by the
violence of the privileged orders, or the more artful arid systematic usur-
pations of the crown. But, far from being intimidated by such acts, the
representatives in cortes were ever ready to stand forward as the intrepid
advocates of constitutional freedom ; and the unqualified boldness o^
their language on such occasions, and the consequent concessions of the
sovereign, are satisfactory evidence of the real extent of their power,
and show how cordially they must have been supported by public
opinion.
It would be improper to pass by without notice an anomalous institu-
tion peculiar to Castile, which sought to secure the public tranquillity
by means scarcely compatible themselves with civil subordination. 1
refer to the celebrated Hermandad, or Holy Brotherhood, as the associa-
.tion was sometimes called, a name familiar to most readers in the lively
fictions of Le Sage, though conveying there no very adequate idea of the
extraordinary functions which it assumed at the period under review.
Instead of a regular organised police, it then consisted of a confederation
of the principal cities bound together by a solemn league and covenant
for the defence of their liberties in seasons of civil anarchy. Its affairs
were conducted by deputies, who assembled at stated intervals for this
purpose, transacting their business under a common seal, enacting laws
which they were careful to transmit to the nobles and even the sovereign
himself, and enforcing their measures by an armed force. This wild
kind of justice, so characteristic of an unsettled state of society,
repeatedly received the legislative sanction ; and, however formidable
such a popular engine may have appeared to the eye of the monarch, he
was often led to countenance it by a sense of his own impotence, as well
as of the overweening power of the nobles, against whom it was prin-
cipally directed. Hence these associations, although the epithet may
* The recognition of the title of the heir apparent, by a cortes convoked for that purpo
has continued to be observed <u Ca&tile down to the present time.
CASTILE. li
seem somewhat overstrained, have received the appellation of "Cortes
extraordinary." *
With these immunities, the cities of Castile attained a degree of
opulence and splendour unrivalled, unless in Italy during the middle
ages. At a very early period, indeed, their contact with the Arabs had
familiarised them with a better system of agriculture, and a dexterity in
the mechanic arts unknown in other parts of Christendom. t On the
occupation of a conquered town, we find it distributed into quarters or
districts, appropriated to the several crafts, whose members were in-
corporated into guilds, under the regulation of magistrates and by-laws
of their own appointment. Instead of the unworthy disrepute into
which the more humble occupations have since fallen in Spain, they were
fostered by a liberal patronage, and their professors, in some instances,
elevated to the rank of knighthood. ' The excellent breed of sheep,
which early became the subject of legislative solicitude, furnished them
with an important staple ; which, together with the simpler manufac-
tures, and the various products of a prolific soil, formed the materials of
a proii table commerce. Augmentation of wealth brought with it the
usual appetite for expensive pleasures ; and the popular diffusion of
luxury in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries is attested by the
fashionable invective of the satirist, and by the impotence of repeated
sumptuary enactments. Much of this superfluous wealth, however, was
expended on the construction of useful public works. Cities from which
the nobles had once been so jealously excluded, came now to be their
favourite residence. But while their sumptuous edifices and splendid
retinues dazzled the eyes of the peaceful burghers, their turbulent spirit
* One hundred cities fissociated in the Hermandad of 1315. In that of 1295, were
thirty-four. The knights and inferior nobility frequently made part of the association.
In one of the articles of confederation it is declared, that if any noble shall deprive a
r of the association of his property, and refuse restitution, his house shall be mzed
to the ground. In another, that if anyone, by command of the kin *. shall attempt to collect
an unlawful tax, he shall be put to death on the spot.
t Gold and silver, curiously wrought into plate, were exported in considerable quantities
from Spain in the tenth and eleventh centuries. They were much used in the churches.
The tiara of the poi>e was so richly iucrusted with the precious metals, says Masdeu, is to
receive the name of Spanoclitta.
{ The historian of Seville describes that city, about the middle of the fifteenth century,
as possessing a flourishing commerce, and a degree of opulence unexampled since the
conquest. It was filled with an active population, employed in the various mechanic
arts. Its domestic fabrics, as well as natural products of oil, wine, wool, &c., supplied a
trade with France, Flanders, Italy, and England. The ports of Biscay, which belonged to
the Castilian crown, were the marts of an extensive trade with the North during the
thirteenth and fourteeut > centuries. This province entered into repeated treaties of
commerce with France and England ; and her factories were established at Bruges, the
great emporium of commercial intercourse during this period between the North and
South, before those of any other people in Europe except the Germans.
The institution of the mesta, is referred, says Laborde, to the middle of the fourteenth
century, when the great plague, which devastated the country so sorely, left large depopu-
lated tracts open to pasturage. This popular opinion is erroneous, since it engaged the
attention of government, and became the subject of legislation as anciently as 1'273, under
Alfonso the Wise. Capmuny, however, dates the great improvement in the breed of
Spanish sheep from the year 13!H, when Catherine of Lancaster brought with her, as :i
part of her dowry to the heir apparent of Castile, a flock of English merinos distinguished
at that time, above those of every other country, for the beauty and delicacy of their
fleece. This acute writer, after a very careful examination of the subject, differing from
those already quoted, considers the raw material for manufacture, and the natural produc-
tions of the soil, to have constituted almost the only articles of export from Spain, until
after the fifteenth century. The term merinos is derived, by C'onde, from moediitot,
signifying "wandering;" the name of an Arabian tribe, who shifted their place of
residence with the season.
12 INTRODUCTION.
was preparing the way for those dismal scenes of faction which convulsed
the little commonwealths to their centre during the latter half of the
fifteenth century.
The flourishing condition of the communities gave their representatives
a proportional increase of importance in the national assembly. The
liberties of the people seemed to take deeper root in the midst of those
political convulsions, so frequent in Castile, which unsettled the ancient
prerogatives of the crown. Every new revolution was followed by new
concessions on the part of the sovereign, and the popular authority con-
tinued to advance with a steady progress until the accession of Henry
the Third, of Trastamara, in 1393, when it may be said to have reached
its zenith. A disputed title and a disastrous war compelled the father
of this prince, John the First, to treat the commons with a deference
unknown to his predecessors. We find four of their number admitted
into his privy council, and six associated in the regency, to which he
confided the government of the kingdom during his son's minority.* A
remarkable fact, which occurred in this reign, showing the important
advances made by the commons in political estimation, was the substi-
tution of the sons of burgesses for an equal number of those of the
nobility, who were stipulated to be delivered as hostages for the fulfil-
ment of a treaty with Portugal in 1393. There will be occasion to
notice, in the first chapter of this History, some of the circumstances
which, contributing to undermine the power of the commons, prepared
the way for the eventual subversion of the constitution.
The peculiar situation of Castile, which had been so favourable to
popular rights, was eminently so to those of the aristocracy. The
nobles, embarked with their sovereign in the same common enterprise of
rescuing their ancient patrimony from its invaders, felt entitled to divide
with him the spoils of victory. Issuing forth at the head of their own
retainers, from their strongholds or castles, (the great number of which
was originally implied in the name of the country, ) f they were
continually enlarging the circuit of their territories, with no other
assistance than that of their own good swords. This independent mode
of effecting their conquests would appear unfavourable to the introduction
of the feudal system, which, although its existence in Castile is clearly
ascertained by positive law as well as usage, never prevailed to any thing
like the same extent as it did in the sister kingdom of Aragon, and other
parts of Europe.
The higher nobility, or ricos hombres, were exempted from general
taxation ; and the occasional attempt to infringe on this privilege in
seasons of great public emergency, was uniformly repelled by this jealous
body. J They could not be imprisoned for debt ; nor be subjected to
torture, so repeatedly sanctioned in other cases by the municipal law of
Castile. They had the right of deciding their private feuds by an appeal
to arms ; a right of which they liberally availed themselves. They
* The admission of citizens into the king's council would have fornied a most important
epoch for the commons, had they not soon been replaced by jurisconsults, whose studies
mnd sentiments inclined them less to the popular side than to that of prerogative.
f Cast'lla. I.ivy mentions the great number of these towers in Spain in his day,
" Multas et locis altis positas turres Hispania habet." A castle was emblazoned on the
escutcheon of Castile, as far back as the reign of Urraca, in the beginning of the twelfth
century, according to Salazar de Mendoza.
t The incensed nobles quitted the cortes in disgust, and threatened to vindicate their
rights by arms, on one such occasion, 1176.
CASTTT'E. 13
also claimed the privilege, when aggrieved, of denaturalising themselves,
or, in other words, of publicly renouncing their allegiance to their
sovereign, and of enlisting under the banners of his enemy.* The
number of petty stutrs. which swarmed over the Peninsula, afforded
ample opportunity for the exercise of this disorganising prerogative.
The Laras are particularly noticed by Mariana as having a " great relish
for rebellion," and the Castros as being much in the habit of going over
to the Moors. They assumed the licence of arraying themselves in
armed confederacy against the monarch on any oecasion of popular
disgust, and they solemnised the act by the most imposing ceremonials
of religion. Their rights of jurisdiction, derived to them, it would
si-cm, originally from royal grant, were in a great measure defeated by
the liberal charters of incorporation, which, in imitation of the sovereign,
they conceded to their vassals, as well as by the gradual encroachment
of the royal judicatures. In virtue of their birth they monopolised
all the hig 1 er offices of state, as those of constable and admiral of Castile,
adclunfadct. or governors of the provinces, cities, &c. They secured to
themselves the grand-masterships of the military orders, which placed at
their disposal an immense amount of revenue and of patronage. Finally,
they enteivu into the royal or privy council, and formed a constituent
portion o'. the national legislature.
These important prerogatives were of course favourable to the
accumulation of great wealth. Their estates were scattered over every
part of the kingdom, and, unlike the grandees of Spain at the present
day, they resided on them in person, maintaining the state of petty
sovereigns, and surrounded by a numerous retinue, who served the
purposes of a pageant in time of peace, and an efficient military force in
war. The demesnes of John, lord of Biscay, confiscated by Alfonso the
Eleventh to the use of the crown, in 1327, amounted to more than eighty
towns and castles. The "good constable" Davalos, in the time of
Henry the Third, could ride through his own estates all the way from
Seville to Compostella, almost the two extremities of the kingdom.
Alvaro de Luna, the powerful favourite of John the Second, could
muster twenty thousand vassals, f A contemporary, who gives a
catalogue of the annual rents of the principal Castilian nobility at the
close of the fifteenth or beginning of the following century, computes
several at fifty and sixty thousand ducats a year,J an immense income,
if we take into consideration the value of money in that age. The same
writer estimates their united revenues as equal to one-third of those in
the whole kingdom.
These ambitious nobles did not consume their fortunes or their
energies in a life of effeminate luxury. From their earliest boyhood,
they were accustomed to serve in the ranks against the infidel,|| and
* On such occasions they sent him a formal defiance by their king at arms.
t His annual revenue ia computed by Perez de Guzman at 100,000 dublas of gold; a sum
Iquivalent t" S~>ti,000 dollars at the present day.
{ The former of these two sums is equivalent to 91,4742., sterling; and the latter to
JOy.Tliii. nearly.
S The ample revenues of the Spanish grandee of the present time, instead of being
lavished on a band uf military retainers, as of yore, are sometimes dispensed in the more
peaceful hospitality of supporting au almost equally !': ^ of needy relation!
and dependents. According to Bourgoauue, no ] ess t 'hau 3000 of these gentry were main-
tained m the eitat.a of the Duke of Arcos, who died in ITbO.
II Meudoza records the circumstance of the head of the family of Ponce de Leon (
14 rNTBODTJCTIOX.
their whole subsequent lives were occupied either -with war or with thos
martial exercises which reflect the image of it. Looking hack with
pride to their ancient Gothic descent, and to those times when they had
stood forward as the peers, the electors of their sovereign, they could ill
brook the slightest indignity at his hand.* With these haughty feelings
and martial habits, and this enormous assumption of power, it may
readily be conceived that they would not suffer the anarchical provisions
of the constitution, which seemed to concede an almost unlimited licence
of rebellion, to remain a dead letter. Accordingly, we find them per-
petually convulsing the king." mi wife the^r schemes of selfish aggran-
disement. The petitions of the commons are filled with remonstrances
en their various oppressions, and the evils resulting from their long
desolating feuds. So that, notwithstanding the liberal forms of its
01 ustitution, there was probably no country in Europe, during the
titddle ages, so sorely afflicted with the vices of intestine anarchy as
O'Utile. These were still further aggravated by the improvident
donations of the monarch to the aristocracy in the vain hope of con-
<'i Anting their attachment, but which swelled their already overgrown
po.vor to such a height, that, by the middle of the fifteenth century, it
nl only overshadowed that of the throne, bat threatened to subvert the
Vil-i'tties of the state.
I'hair self-confidence, however, proved eventually their ruin. They
disdained a co-operation with the lower orders in defence of their privi-
leges, and relied too unhesitatingly on their power as a body to feel
jealous of their exclusion from the national legislature, where alone they
could have made an effectual stand against the usurpations of the crown.
The course of this work will bring under review the dexterous policy
by which the crown contrived to strip the aristocracy of its substantial
privileges, and prepared the way for the period when it should retain
possession only of a few barren, though ostentatious dignities.
The inferior orders of nobility, the hidalgos (whose dignity like that of
the ricos hombres, would seem, as their name imports, to have been
originally founded on wealth), and the cavalleros, or knights, enjoyed
many of the immunities of the higher class, especially that of exemption
from taxation.t Knighthood appears to have been regarded with especial
favour by the law of Castile. Its ample privileges and its duties are
defined with a precision, and in a spirit of romance, that might have
served for the court of King Arthur, t Spain was indeed the land of
descendant of the celebrated marquis of Cadiz,) carrying his son, then thirteen years old,
with him into battle ; "an ancient usage," he says, "in that noble house." The only sov
of Alfonso VI. was slain, fighting manfully in the ranks, at the battle of Ucles, in 1109,
when only eleven years of age. Mariana, Hist, de Espaila, torn. i. p. 565.
* The northern provinces, the theatre of this primitive independence, have always been
consecrated by this very circumstance, in the eyes of a Spaniard. " The proudest lord,"
ays Navagiero, "feels it an honour to trace his pedigree to this quarter." The same feel-
ing has continued, and the meanest native of Biscay, or the Asturias, at the present day,
claims to be noble ; a pretension which often contrasts ridiculously enough with the humble
character of his occupation, and has furnished many a pleasant anecdote to travellers.
t They were" obliged to contribute to the repair of fortifications and public works.
t The knight was to array himself in light and cheerful vestments, ?nd. in the cities
and public places, his person was to be enveloped in a long and flowing mantle, in order to
impose greater reverence on the people. His good steed was to be distinguished by the
beauty and richness of his caparisons. He was to live abstemiously, indulging himself in
none of the effeminate delights of couch or banquet. During his repast, his mind was to
be refreshed with the recital, from history, of deeds of ancient heroism ; and in the fight
he was commanded to invoke the name of his mistress, that it might infuse new ardour
into his soul, and preserve him from the commission of unknightly actions.
CASTILE. 13
chivalry. The respect for the sex, which had descended from the Visi-
goths, was mingled with the religious enthusiasm which had been
kindled in the long wars with the infidel. The apotheosis of chivalry,
in the person of their apostle and patron, St. James, contributed still
further to this exaltation of sentiment, which was maintained by the
various military orders who devoted themselves, in the bold language of
the age, to the service " of God and the ladies." So that the Spaniard
may be said to have put in action what, in other countries, passed for the
extravagances of the minstrel. An example of this occurs in the fifteenth
century, when a passage of arms was defended at Orbigo, not far from
the shrine of Compostella, by a Castilian knight named Suero de
(inhumes, and his nine companions, against all comers, in the presence '
of John the Second and his court. Its object was to release the knight
from the obligation, imposed on him by his mistress, of publicly wearing
an iron collar round his neck every Thursday. The jousts continued for
thirty days, and the doughty champions fought without shield or target
with weapons bearing points of Milan steel. Six hundred and twenty-
seven encounters took place, and one hundred and sixty -six lances were
broken, when the emprise was declared to be fairly achieved. The
whole affair is narrated with becoming gravity by an eye-witness, and
the reader may fancy himself perusing the adventures of a Launcelot or
an Amadis.
The influence of the ecclesiastics in Spain may be traced back to the
age of the Visigoths, when they controlled the affairs of the state in the
great national councils of Toledo. This influence was maintained by the
extraordinary position of the nation after the conquest. The holy war-
fare, in which it was embarked, seemed to require the co-operation of
the clergy, to propitiate Heaven in its behalf, to interpret its mysterious
omens, and to move all the machinery of miracles, by which the imagi-
nation is so powerfully affected in a rude and superstitious age. They
even condescended, in imitation of their patron saint to mingle in the
ranks, and with the crucifix in their hands, to lead the soldiers on to
battle. Examples of these militant prelates are to be found in Spain BO
late as the sixteenth century.*
But while the native ecclesiastics obtained such complete ascendancy
over the popular mind, the Roman See could boast of less influence in
Spain than in any other country in Europe. The Gothic liturgy was
alone received as canonical until the eleventh century ; and, until the
twelfth, the sovereign held the right of jurisdiction over all ecclesiastical
9, of collating to benefices, or at least of confirming or annulling the
election of the chapters. The code of Alfonso the Tenth, however, whioh
borrowed its principles of jurisprudence from the civil and canon law,
completed a revolution already begun, and transferred these importa t
prerogatives to the pope, who now succeeded in establishing a usurpation
over ecclesiastical rights in Castile, similar to that which had been before
eli'evU'd in other parts of Christendom. Some of these abuses, as that of
the nomination of foreigners to benefices, were carried to such an
ue.\i uiu papacy, me practice, inaeea. was laminar in otner countries, !V3 wen as optko,
at this late period. In the bloody battle of Ravenna, in 1512, two cardinal legates, one of
them the future Leo. X., fought ou opposite sides.
16
impudent height, as repeatedly provoked the indignant remonstrances of th
cortes. The ecclesiastics, eager to indemnify themselves for what they
had sacrificed to Rome, were more than ever solicitous to assert their
independence of the royal jurisdiction. They particularly insisted on
their immunity from taxation, and were even reluctant to divide with
the laity the necessary burdens of a war, which, from its sacred character
would seem to have imperative claims on them.
Notwithstanding the immediate dependence thus established on the
head of the church by the legislation of Alfonso the Tenth, the general
immunities secured by it to the ecclesiastics operated as a powerful
bounty on their increase ; and the mendicant orders in particular, that
spiritual militia of the popes, were multiplied over the country to an
alarming extent. Many of their members were not only incompetent to
the duties of their profession, being without the least tincture of liberal
culture, but fixed a deep stain on it by the careless laxity of their morals.
Open concubinage was familarly practised by the clergy, as well as laity,
of the period ; and, so far from being reprobated by the law of the land,
seems anciently to have been countenanced by it. This moral insensi-
bility may probably be referred to the contagious example of their
Mahometan neighbours ; but, from whatever source derived, the practice
was indulged to such a shameless extent, that, as the nation advanced in.
refinement, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, it became the sub-
ject of frequent legislative enactments, in which the concubines of the
clergy are described as causing general scandal by their lawless effrontery
and ostentatious magnificence of apparel.
Notwithstanding this prevalent licentiousness of the Spanish eccle-
siastics, their influence became every day more widely extended ; while
this ascendancy, for which they were particularly' indebted in that rude
age to their superior learning and capacity, was perpetuated by their
enormous acquisitions of wealth. Scarcely a town was reconquered from
the Moors, without a considerable portion of its territory being appro-
priated to the support of some ancient, or the foundation of some new,
religious establishment. These were the common reservoir into which
flowed the copious streams of private as well as royal bounty ; and, when
the consequences of these alienations in mortmain came to be visible in
the impoverishment of the public revenue, every attempt at legislative
interference was in a great measure defeated by the piety or superstition
of the age. The abbess of the monastery of Huelgas, which was situated
within the precincts of Burgos, and contained within its walls one
hundred and fifty nuns of the noblest families in Castile, exercised
jurisdiction over fourteen capital towns, and more than fifty smaller
places ; and she was accounted inferior to the queen only in dignity.
The archbishop of Toledo, by virtue of his office as primate of Spain and
grand chancellor of Castile, was esteemed, after the pope, the highest
ecclesiastical dignitary in Christendom. His revenues, at the close of
the fifteenth century, exceeded eighty thousand ducats ; while the gross
amount of those of the subordinate beneficiaries of his church rose to one
hundred and eighty thousand. He could muster a greater number of
vassals than any other subject in the kingdom, and held jurisdiction over
fifteen large and populous towns, besides a great number ot inferior places.*
Laborde reckons the revenues of this prelate, in his tables, at 12,000,000 reals. Th
CASTILE. 17
These princely funds, when intrusted to pious prelates, were muni-
ficently dispensed in useful public works, and especially in the foundation
of eleemosynary institutions, with which every great city in Castile was
liberally supplied. But, in the hands of worldly men, they were perverted
from these noble uses to the gratification of personal vanity, or the dis-
organising schemes of faction . The moral perceptions of the people, in
the meantime, were confused by the visible demeanour of a hierarchy
BO repugnant to the natural conceptions of religious duty. They learned
to attach an exclusive value to external rites, to the forms rather than
the spirit of Christianity ; estimating the piety of men by their specu-
lative opinions, rather than their practical conduct. The ancient
Spaniards, notwithstanding their prevalent superstition, were un-
tinctured with the fiercer religious bigotry of later times ; and the
uncharitable temper of their priests, occasionally disclosed in the heats
of religious war, was controlled by public opinion, which accorded a
high degree of respect to the intellectual as well as political superiority
jf the Arabs. But the time was now coming when these ancient barriers
were to be broken down ; when a difference of religious sentiment was
to dissolve all the ties of human brotherhood ; when uniformity of faith
was to be purchased by the sacrifice of any rights, even those of intel-
lectual freedom ; when, in fine, the Christian and the Mussulman, the
oppressor and the oppressed, were to be alike bowed down under the
strong arm of ecclesiastical tyranny. The means by which a revolution
so disastrous to Spain was effected, as well as the incipient stages of its
progress, are topics that fall within the scope of the present history.
r'rom the preceding survey of the constitutional privileges enjoyed by
the different orders of the Castilian monarchy previous to the fifteenth
century, it is evident that the royal authority must have been circum-
scribed within very narrow limits. The numerous states into which the
great Gothic empire was broken after the conquest were individually too
insignificant to confer on their respective sovereigns the possession of
extensive power, or even to authorise their assumption of that state by
which it is supported in the eyes of the vulgar. When some more
fortunate prince, by conquest or alliance, had enlarged the circle of his
dominions, and thus in some measure remedied the evil, it was sure to
recur upon his death, by the subdivision of his estates among his
children. This mischievous practice was even countenanced by public
opinion ; for the different districts of the country, in their habitual
independence of each other, acquired an exclusiveness of feeling which
made it difficult for them ever cordially to coalescfe ; and traces of this
early repugnance to each other are to be discerned in the mutual
jealousies and local peculiarities which still distinguish the different
sections of the Peninsula, after their consolidation into one monarchy for
more than three centuries.
The election to the crown, although no longer vested in the hands of
the national assembly, as with the Visigoths, was yet subject to its
approbation. The title of the heir apparent was formally recognised by
estimate is grossly exaggerated for the present day. The rents of this see, like those ot
every other in tne kingdom, have been grievously clipped in the late political troubles.
They are stated by the intelligent author of a " Year in Spain," on the authority of the
clergy of the diocese, at one-third of the above sum, only ; an estimate confirmed by
Mr. Inglis, who computes them at 40,000. Spain in 1.-, u.
a cortcs convoked for the purpose ; and, on the demise of nis parent, (he
new sovereign again convened the estates to receive their oath of alle-
giance, which they cautiously withheld until he had first sworn to
preserve inviolate the liberties of the constitution. Nor was this a
merely nominal privilege, as was evinced on more than one memorable
occasion.
We have seen, in our review of the popular branch of the govern-
ment, how closely its authority pressed even on the executive functions
of the administration. The monarch was still further controlled, in
this department, by his Royal or Privy Council, consisting of the chief
Vbility and great officers of state, to which, in later times, a deputation
of the commons was sometimes added. This body, together with the
king, had cognisance of the most important public transactions, whether
of a civil, military, or diplomatic nature. It was established by positive
enactment, that the prince, without its consent, had no right to alienate
the royal demesne, to confer pensions beyond a very limited amount, or
to nominate to vacant benefices. His legislative powers were to be
exercised in concurrence with the eortes ; and, in the judicial depart-
ment, his authority, during the latter part of the period under review,
seems to have been chiefly exercised in the selection of officers for the
higher judicatures, from a list of candidates presented to him on a
vacancy by their members concurrently with his privy council.
The scantiness of the king's revenue corresponded with that of his
constitutional authority. By an ancient law, indeed, of similar tenor
with one familiar to the Saracens, the sovereign was entitled to a fifth of
the spoils of victory. This, in the course of the long wars with the
Moslems, would have secured him more ample possessions than were
enjoyed by any prince in Christendom. But several circumstances con-
curred to prevent it.
The long minorities, with which Castile was afflicted perhaps more
than any country in Europe, frequently threw the government into the
hands of the principal nobility, who perverted to their own emoluments
the high powers intrusted to them. They usurped the possessions of the
crown, and invaded some of its most valuable privileges ; so that the
sovereign's subsequent life was often consumed in fruitless attempts to
repair the losses of his minority. He sometimes, indeed, in the impo-
tence of other resources, resorted to such unhappy expedients as treachery
and assassination. A pleasant tale is told by the (Spanish historians, of
the more innocent device of Henry the Third, for the recovery of the
estates extorted from the crown by the rapacious nobles during his
minority.
Returning home late one evening, fatigued and half famished, from a
hunting expedition, he was chagrined to find no refreshment prepared
for him, and still more so to learn from his steward that he had neither
mor.ey nor credit to purchase it. The day's sport, however, fortunately
furnished the means of appeasing the loyal appetite ; and, while thig
was in progress, the steward took occasion to contrast the indigent con-
dition of the king with that of his nobles, who habitually indulged in
the most expensive entertainments, and were that very evening feasting
with the archbishop of Toledo. The prince, suppressing his indignation,
determined, like the far-famed Caliph in the "Arabian Nights, M to
inspect the affair in person, and assuming a disguise, introduced himself
CASTILE. 19
privately into the archbishop's palace, where he witnessed with his o\vn
eyes the prodigal magnificence of the banquet, teeming with costly wines
and the most luxurious viands.
The next day he caused a rumour to be circulated through the court,
that he had fallen suddenly and dangerously ill. The courtiers, at these
tidings, thronged to the palace ; and, when they had all assembled, tht
king made hi- appearance among them, bearing his naked sword in his
hand, and, with an aspect of unusual severity, seated himself on hii
throne at the upper extremity of the apartment.
Alter an interval of silence in the astonished assembly, the monarch,
addressing himself to the primate, inquired of him, " How many
sovereigns he had known in Castile ? " The prelate answering four,
Henry | nit the same question to the Duke of Beneveute, and so on to
the other courtiers in succession. None of them, however, having
ai i stvered more than five, " How is this," said the prince, "that you,
who are so old should have known so few, while I, young as I am, have
beheld more than twenty ! Yes," continued he, raising his voice, to the
astonished multitude, " you are the real sovereigns of Castile, enjoying
all the rights and revenues of royalty, while I, stripped of mv patrimony,
have scarcely wherewithal to procure the necessaries of life." Then
giving a concerted signal his guards entered the apartment, followed
by the public executioner, bearing along with him the implements of
death. The dismayed nobles, not relishing the turn the jest appeared
likely to take, fell on their knees before the monarch, and besought his
forgiveness, promising, in requital, complete restitution of the fruits of
their rapacity. Henry ; content with having so cheaply gained his point,
allowed himself to soften at their entreaties, taking care, however, to
detain their persons as security for their engagements, until the rents,
royal fortresses, and whatever effects had been niched from the crown,
were ivstor. ,1. The story, although repeated by the gravest Castilian
writers, wears, it must be owned, a marvellous tinge of romance. But,
whether fact, or founded on it, it may serve to show the dilapidated
condition of the revenues at the beginning of the fourteenth century,
and its immediate causes.
Another circumstance, which contributed to impoverish the exchequer,
was the occasional political revolutions in Castile, in which the adhesion
of a faction was to be purchased only by the most ample concessions of
the crown. Such was the violent revolution which placed the house of
Trastamara on the throne, in the middle of the fourteenth century.
But perhaps, a more operative cause than all these of the alleged evil,
was the conduct of those imbecile princes, who, with heedless prodigality,
squandered the public resources on their own personal pleasures and
unworthy minions. The disastrous reigns of John the Second and
Henry the l-'ourth, extending over the givater portion of the fifteenth
century, furnish pertinent examples of this. It was not unusual, indeed,
for the fortes, interposing its paternal authority by passing an act for
the partial resumption of grants thus illegally made, in some degree to
repair the broken condition of the finances. .Xor was such a resumption
unfair to the actual proprietors. The promise to maintain the integrity
of the royal demesnes formed an essential part of the coronation oath of
every sovereign; and the subject on whom he afterwards conferred
Uieni, knew well by what a precarious illicit tenure lie was to hold them.
C2
From the view which has been presented of the Castilian constitution
at the beginning of the fifteenth century, it is apparent that the
sovereign was possessed of less power, and the people of greater than
in other European monarchies at that period. It must be owned,
however, as before intimated, that the practical operation did not always
correspond with the theory of their respective functions in these rude
times ; and that the powers of the executive, being susceptible of greater
compactness and energy in their movements than could possibly belong
to those of more complex bodies, were sufficiently strong, in the hands
of a resolute prince, to break down the comparatively feeble barriers of
the law. Neither were the relative privileges assigned to the different
orders of the state equitably adjusted. Those of the aristocracy were
indefinite and exorbitant. The licence of armed combinations too, so
freely assumed both by this order and the commons, although operating
as a safety-valve for the escape of the effervescing spirit of the age, was
itself obviously repugnant to all principles of civil obedience, and
exposed the state to evils scarcely less disastrous than those which it
was intended to prevent.
It was apparent that, notwithstanding the magnitude of the powers
conceded to the nobility and the commons, there were important defects,
which prevented them from resting on any sound and permanent basis.
The representation of the people in cortes, instead of partially emanating,
as in England, from an independent body of landed proprietors, con-
stituting the real strength of the nation, proceeded exclusively from the
cities, whose elections were much more open to popular caprice and
ministerial corruption, and whose numerous local jealousies prevented
them from acting in cordial co-operation. The nobles, notwithstanding
their occasional coalitions, were often arrayed in feuds against each
other. They relied, for the defence of their privileges, solely on their
physical strength ; and heartily disdained, in any emergency, to support
their own cause by identifying* it with that of the commons. Hence it
became obvious that the monarch, who, notwithstanding his limited
prerogative, assumed the anomalous privilege of transacting public
business with the advice of only one branch of the legislature, and of
occasionally dispensing altogether with the attendance of the other,
might, by throwing his own influence into the scale, give the prepon-
derance to whichever party he should prefer ; and, by thus dexterously
availing himself of their opposite forces, erect his own authority on the
ruins of the weaker. How far and how successfully this policy was
pursued by Ferdinand and Isabella, will be seen in the course of thi
History.
The brief interval, however, in the early part of the present century, when the nation
o ineffectually struggled to resume its ancient liberties, gave birth to two productions,
which have gone tar to supply the desiderata, in this department. I allude to the valuable
works of Marina, on the early legislation, and on the cortes of Castile. The latter
especially, presents us with a full exposition of the appropriate functions assigned to the
several de]>artmcut of government, and with the parliamentary history of Castile deduced
from original, unpublished records. The student of this department of Spanish history
may consult, in conjunction with Marina, Sempere's little treatise on the History of the
Castilian cortes. It is, indeed, too limited and desultory in its plan to afford anything lik
a complete view of the subject. But, as a sensible commentary, by one well skilled i
topics that he discusses, it a of undoubted value.
SECTIOX IT.
EKTirw or TWP oov'riTUTiow OF ARAGOX TO THE MIDDLE OF THE riFTEnrm CETTUY.
Rise of Aragon Ricos Hombres Their Immunities Their Turbulence Privileges at
Union The Legislature Its Forms Its Powers General Privilege Judicial
Functions of Cortes The Justice His great Authority Rise and Opulence of Bar-
celona Her free Institutions Intellectual Culture.
THE political institutions of Aragon, although bearing a general
resemblance to those of Castile, were sufficiently dissimilar to stamp a
peculiar physiognomy on the character of the nation, which still con-
tinued after it had been incorporated with the great mass of the Spanish
monarchy. It was not until the expiration of nearly five centuries after
the Saracen invasion, that the little district of Aragon, growing up
under the shelter of the Pyrenees, was expanded into the dimensions of
the province which now bears that name. During this period it was
painfully struggling into being, like the other states of the Peninsula,
by dint of fierce, unintermitted warfare with the infidel.
Even after this period, it would probably have filled but an insig-
nificant space in the map of history, and, instead of assuming an
independent station, have been compelled, like Xavarre, to accommodate
itself to the politics of the potent monarchies by which it was surrounded,
had it not extended its empire by a fortunate union with Catalonia in
the twelfth, and the conquest ot Valencia in the thirteenth century.*
These new territories were not only far more productive than its own,
but, by their long line of coast and commodious ports, enabled the
Aragonese, hitherto pent up within their barren mountains, to open a
communication with distant regions.
The ancient county of Barcelona had reached a higher degree of
civilisation than Aragon, and was distinguished by institutions quite as
liberal. The sea-board would seem to be the natural seat of liberty.
There is something in the very presence, in the atmosphere of the ocean,
Avhich invigorates not onlv the physical, but the moral energies of man.
The adventurous life of the mariner familiarises him with dangers, and
early accustoms him to independence. Intercourse with various climes
opens new and more copious sources of knowledge ; and increased
wealth brings with it an augmentation of power and consequence. It
was in the maritime cities scattered along the Mediterranean that the
seeds of liberty, both in ancient and modern times, were implanted and
brought to maturity. During the middle ages, when the people of
* Catalonia was united with Aragon by the marriage of queen Petronilla with Raymond
Berengere, count of Barcelona, in 1150. Valencia was conquered from the Moors by James I.,
in 1228.
22
Europe generally maintained a toilsome and infreqxient intercourse with
eacli other, those situated on the margin of this inland ocean found an
easy mode of communication across the high road of its waters. They
mingled in war too as in peace, and this long period is filled with their inter-
national contests, while the other free cities of Christendom were wasting
themselves in civil feuds and degrading domestic broils. In this wide and
various collision their moral powers were quickened by constant activity ;
and more enlarged views were formed, with a deeper consciousness of
their own strength, than could be obtained by those inhabitants of the
interior who were conversant only with a limited range of objects, and
subjected to the influence of the same dull, monotonous circum-
stances.
Among these maritime republics, those of Catalonia were eminently
conspicuous. By the incorporation of this country with the kingdom of
Aragon, therefore, the strength of the latter was greatly augmented.
The Aragonese princes, well aware of this, liberally fostered institutions
to which the country owed its prosperity, and skilfully availed themselves
of its resources for the aggrandisement of their own dominions. They
paid particular attention to the navy, for the more perfect discipline of
which a body of laws was prepared by Peter the Fourth, in 1354, that
was designed to render it invincible. No allusion whatever is made in
this stern code to the mode of surrendering to, or retreating from the
enemy. The commander, who declined attacking any force not exceed-
ing liis own by more than one vessel, was punished with death.* The
Catalan navy successfully disputed the empire of the Mediterranean with
the fleets of Pisa, and still more of Genoa. With its aid, the Aragonese
monarchs achieved the conquest successively of Sicily, Sardinia, and the
Balearic Isles, and annexed them to the empire.! It penetrated into the
farthest regions of the Levant ; and the expedition of -the Catalans into
Asia, which terminated with the more splendid than useful acquisition
of Athens, forms one of the most romantic passages in this stirring and
adventurous era 4
But while the princes of Aragon were thus enlarging the bounds of
their dominion abroad, there was probably not a sovereign in Europe
possessed of such limited authority at home. The three great states,
with their dependencies, which constituted the Aragonese monarchy,
had been declared by a statute of James the Second, in 1319, inalienable
and indivisible. Each of them, however, maintained a separate constitu-
tion of government, and was administered by distinct laws. As it would
be fruitless to investigate the peculiarities of their respective institutions,
which bear a very close affinity to one another, we mav confine ourselves
to those of Aragon, which exhibit a more perfect model than those either
of Catalonia or Valencia, and have been far more copiously illustrated
by her writers.
The national historians refer the origin of their government to a
Th Catalans were much celebrated during the middle agea for their skill with the
crow-bow; for a more perfect instruction in which, the municipality of Barcelona
established game* and gymnasiums.
t Sicily revolted to Peter III., in 1'2S2. Sardinia was conquered by James II., in 1324.
and the Balearic Isles by Peter IV., in 1343-*.
t Hence the title of Duke of Athens, assumed by the Spanish sovereign*. The
brilliant fortunes of Roger de Flor are related by Count Moncada in a style much
commended by Spanish critics for its elegance.
ARAGOX. 23
written constitution of about the middle of the ninth century, fragments
of which tire still preserved in certain ancient documents and chronicles.
On occurrence of a vacancy in the throne, at this epoch, a monarch was
elected by the twelve principal nobles, who prescribed a code of laws, to
the observance of which he was obliged to swear before assuming the
sceptre. The import of these laws was to circumscribe w r ithin very
narrow limits the authority of the sovereign, distributing the principal
functions to a Justicia, or Justice, and these same peers, who, in case of
a violation of the compact by the monarch, were authorised to withdraw
their allegiance, and, in the bold language of the ordinance, " to substi-
tute any other ruler in his stead, even a pagan, if they listed." * The
whole of this wears much of a fabulous aspect, and may remind the
reader of the government which Ulysses met with in Phteacia ; w r here
King Alcinous is surrounded by his " twelve illustrious peers, or
archons," subordinate to himselt, " who," says he, " rule over the
people, I myself being the thirteenth."! But, whether true or not,
this venerable tradition must be admitted to have been Avell calculated
to repress the arrogance of the Aragonese monarchs, and to exalt the
minds oi their subjects by the image of ancient liberty which it
presented.
The great barons of Ara?on were few in number. They affected to
derive their descent from the twelve peers above mentioned, and were
g'yled ricos hombres de natura, implying by this epithet that they were
not indebted for their creation to the will of the sovereign. No estate
could be legally conferred by the crown, as an honour (the denomination
of fiefs in Aragon), on any but one of these high nobles. This, however,
was in time evaded by the monarchs, who advanced certain of their own
retainers to a level with the ancient peers of the land ; a measure which
proved a fruitful source of disquietude. J Xo baron could be divested of
his fief, unless by public sentence of the Justice and the cortes. The
proprietor, however, was required, as usual, to attend the king in council,
and to perform military service, when summoned, during two months in
the year, at his own charge.
The privileges, both honorary and substantial, enjoyed by the ricot
hombres were very considerable. They filled the highest posts in the
state. They originally appointed judges in their domains for the
cognisance of certain civil caiises, and over a class of their vassals
exercised an unlimited criminal jurisdiction. They were excused from
taxation, except in specified cases; were exempted from all corporal and
capital punishment ; nor could they be imprisoned, although their
estates might be sequestrated for debt. A lower class of nobility, styled
* The well-known oath of the Aragonese to their sovereign on his accession, " Xos que
Talemos tanto como vos," &c. frequently quoted by historians, rests on the authority of
Antonio Perez, the unfortunate minister of Philip II., who however good a voucher for
the usages of his own time, has made a blunder in the very sentence preceding this, by
confounding the Privilege of Union with one of the laws of Soprarbe, which shows him to
be insufficient, especially as he is the only authority for this ancient ceremony.
t In like manner Alfonso III. alludes to "the "ancient times in Aragon, when there
were as many kings as ricos hombres."
t The ricos homhret, thus created by the monarch, were styled demtsnada, signifying "of
the household." It was lawful for a rico hmntrre to bequeath his honours to whichsoever of
his legitimate children he might prefer, and, in default of issue, to his nearest of kin. Ha
was bound to distribute the bulk of his estates in fiefs among his knights, so that a com-
plete system of sub-iufeudation was established. The knights, on restoring their fiefc,
u<fht chuijge their suzerains at pleasure.
24
infanzones, equivalent to the Castilian hidalgos, together with the
caballeros, or knights, were also possessed of important though inferior
immunities.
The king distributed among the great barons the territory reconquered
from the Moors, in proportions determined by the amount of their
respective services. We find a stipulation to this effect from James the
First to his nobles, previous to his invasion of Majorca. On a similar
principle they claimed nearly the whole of Valencia. On occupying a
city, it was usual to divide it into barrios, or districts, each of which
was granted by way of fief to some one of the ricos hombres, from which
he was to derive his revenue. What proportion of the conquered territory
was reserved for the royal demesne does not appear. We find one of
these nobles, Bernard de Cabrera, in the latter part of the fourteenth
century, manning a fleet of king's ships on his own credit ; another, of the
ancient family of Luna, in the fifteenth century, so wealthy that he could
travel through an almost unbroken line of his estates all the way from Castile
to France. With all this, their incomes in general, in this comparatively
poor country, were very inferior to those of the great Castilian lords.
The laws conceded certain powers to the aristocracy of a most dangerous
character. They were entitled, like the nobles of the sister kingdom, to
defy, and publicly renounce their allegiance to their sovereign, with the
whimsical privilege, in addition, of commending their families and
estates to his protection, which he was obliged to accord until they were
again reconciled. The mischievous right of private war was repeatedly
recognised by statute. It was claimed and exercised in its full extent,
and occasionally with circumstances of peculiar atrocity. An instance
is recorded by Zurita of a bloody feud between two of these nobles,
prosecuted with such inveteracy, that the parties bound themselves by
solemn oath never to desist from it during their lives, and to resist every
effort, even on the part of the crown itself, to effect a pacification
between them. This remnant of barbarism lingered longer in Aragon
than in any other country in Christendom.
The Aragonese sovereigns, who were many of them possessed of
singular capacity and vigour, made repeated efforts to reduce the
authority of their nobles within more temperate limits. Peter the
Second, by a bold stretch of prerogative, stripped them of their most
important rights of jurisdiction. James the Conqueror artfully
endeavoured to counterbalance their weight by that of the commons and
the ecclesiastics. But they were too formidable when united, and too
easily united to be successfully assailed. The Moorish w r ars terminated
in Aragon with the conquest of Valencia, or rather the invasion of
Murcia, by the middle of the thirteenth century. The tumultuous
spirits of 'the aristocracy, therefore, instead of finding a vent, as in
Castile, in these foreign expeditions, were turned within, and convulsed
their own country with perpetual revolution. Haughty from the
consciousness of their exclusive privileges, and of the limited number
who monoplised them, the Aragonese barons regarded themselves rather
QM the rivals of their sovereign than as his inferiors. Intrenched within
the mountain fastnesses, which the rugged nature of the country every-
where afforded, they easily bade defiance to his authority. Their
small number gave a compactness and concert to their operations,
which could not have been obtained in a multitudinous body. Ferdinand
A.EAGOX. 25
the Catholic well discriminated the relative position of the Aragonese
and Castilian nobility, by saying " it was as difficult to divide the one as
to unite the other."
These combinations became still more frequent after formally receiving
the approbation of King Alfonso the Third, who, in 1287, signed the two
celebrated ordinances, entitled the " Privileges of Union," by which his
subjects were authorised to resort to arms on an infringement of their
liberties. The hermandad of Castile had never been countenanced by
legislative sanction ; it was chiefly resorted to as a measure of police,
and was directed more frequently against the disorders of the nobility
than of the sovereign ; it was organised with difficulty, and, compared
with the union of Aragon, was cumbrous and languid in its operations.
While these privileges contimied in force, the nation was delivered over
to the most frightful anarchy. The least offensive movement on the
part of the monarch, the slightest encroachment on personal right or
privilege, was the signal for a general revolt. At the cry of Union,
that "last voice," says the enthusiastic historian, "of the expiring
republic, full of authority and majesty, and an open indication of the
insolence of kings," the nobles and the citizens eagerly rushed to arms.
The principal castles belonging to the former were pledged as security
for their fidelity, and intrusted to conservators, as they were styled,
whose duty it was to direct the operations and watch over the interests of
the Union. A common seal w r as prepared, bearing the device of armed
men kneeling before their king, intimating at once their loyalty and
their resolution, and a similar device was displayed on the standard and
the other military insignia of the confederates.
The power of the monarch was as nothing before this formidable
gtrray. The Union appointed a council to control all his movements ;
and in fact, during the whole period of its existence, the reigns of four
successive monarchs, it may be said to have dictated law to the land.
At length Peter the Fourth, a despot in heart, and naturally enough
impatient of this eclipse of regal prerogative, Drought the matter to an
issue, by defeating the army of the Union, at the memorable battle of
Epila, in 1348, "the last," says Zurita, "in which it was permitted
to the subject to take up arms against the sovereign for the cause of
liberty." Then convoking an assembly of the states at Saragossa, he
produced before them the instrument containing the two Privileges, and
cut it in pieces with his dagger. In doing this, having wounded him-
self in the hand, he suffered the blood to trickle upon the parchment,
exclaiming, that " a law, which had been the occasion of so much blood,
should be blotted out by the blood of a king." * All copies of it,
whether in the public archives or in the possession of private individuals,
were ordered, under a heavy penalty, to be destroyed. The statute passed
to that effect carefully omits the date of the detested instrument, that all
evidence of its existence might perish with it.
Instead of abusing his victory, as might have been anticipated from hia
character, Peter adopted a far more magnanimous policy. He confirmed
the ancient privileges of the realm, and made in addition other wise and
salutary concessions. From this period, therefore, is to be dated the
Hence he was styled " Peter of the Dagger ; " and a statue of him, bearing in one hand
this weapon, and in the other the Privilege, stood in the Chamber of Deputation at Sar-
gossa iii Phillip II. 's time.
26 IXTRODTJCTKm.
possession of constitutional liberty in Aragon ; (for surely the reign of
unbridled licence, above described, is not deserving that name ;j and
this not so much from the acquisition of new immunities, as from the
more perfect security afforded for the enjoyment of the old. The court
of the Justicia, that great barrier interposed by the constitution between
despotism on the one hand and popular licence on the other, was more
strongly protected, and causes hitherto decided by arms were referred
for adjudication to this tribunal. From this period, too, the cortes,
whose voice was scarcely heard amid the wild uproar of preceding times,
was allowed to extend a beneficial and protecting sway over the land.
And although the social history of Ara?on, like that of other countries
in this rude age, is too often stained with deeds of violence and personal
feuds, yet the state at large, under the steady operation of its laws,
probably enjoyed a more uninterrupted tranquillity than fell to the lot
of any other nation in Europe.
The Aragonese cortes was composed of four branches, or arms ; the
ricos hombres, or great barons ; the lesser nobles, comprehending the
knights ; the clergy ; and the commons. The nobility of every
denomination were entitled to a seat in the legislature. The ricos
hombres were allowed to appear by proxy, and a similar privilege was
enjoyed by baronial heiresses. The number of this body was very
limited, twelve of them constituting a quorum.
The arm of the ecclesiastics embraced an ample delegation from the
inferior as well as higher clergy. It is affirmed not to have been a
component of the national legislature until more than a century and a
half after the admission of the commons.* Indeed the influence of the
clnirch was much less sensible in Aragon than in the other kingdoms of
the Peninsula. Notwithstanding the humiliating concessions of certain
of their princes to the papal see, they were never recognised by the
nation, who uniformly asserted their independence of the temporal
supremacy of Rome; and who, as we shall see hereafter, resisted the
introduction of the Inquisition, that last stretch of ecclesiastical
usurpation, even to blood, f
The commons enjoyed higher consideration, and civil privileges than
in Castile. For this they were perhaps somewhat indebted to the
example of their Catalan neighbours, the influence of whose democratic
institutions naturally extended to other parts of the Aragonese monarchy.
The charters of certain cities accorded to the inhabitants privileges of
nobility, particularly that of immunity from taxation ; while the
magistrates of others were permitted to take their seats in the order of
hidalgos. From a very early period we find them employed in offices
of public trust, and on important missions. The epoch of their admission
into the national assembly is traced as far back as 1133, several years
earlier than the commencement of popular representation in Castile.
* Zurita, indeed, gives repeated instances of their con-rocation in tbe thirteenth and
twelfth centuries, from a date almost coeval with that of the commons ; yet Blancas, who
made this subject his particular study, who wrote posterior to Zurita, and occasionally
refers to him, postpones the era of their admission into the legislature to the beginning
of the fourteenth century.
+ One of the monarchs" of Arasron, Alfonso the Warrior, according to Mariana, bequeathed
all his dominions to the Templars and Hospitallers. Another, Peter II., agreed to hold
his kingdom as a fief of the see of Rome, and to pay it an annual tribute. This so much
disgusted the people, that they compelled his successors to make a public protest against
tbe claims of the church, before their coronation.
27
Each city had the right of sending two or more deputies selected
from persons eligible to its magistracy ; but with the privilege of
only one vote, whatever might be the number of its deputies. Any place
which had been once represented in cortes, might always claim to be so.*
]!y a statute of 1307, the convocation of the states, which had been
annual, was declared biennial. The kings, however, paid little regard
to this provision, rarely summoning them, except for some specific
necessity, t The great officers of the crown, whatever might be their
personal rank, were jealously excluded from their deliberations. The
session was opened by an address from the king in person, a point of
which they were very tenacious ; after which the different arms with-
drew to tlieir separate apartments. J The greatest scrupulousness was
manifested in maintaining the rights and dignity of the body ; and their
intercourse with one another, and with the king, was regulated by the
most precise forms of parliamentary etiquette. The subjects of delibera-
tion were referred to a committee from each order, who, after conferring
together, reported to their several departments. Every question, it
may be presumed, underwent a careful examination ; as the legislature,
we are told, was usually divided into two parties, "the one maintaining
the rights of the monarch, the other, those of the nation," corresponding
nearly enoiigh with those of our day. It was in the power of any member
to defeat the passage of a bill, by opposing to it his veto or dissent,
formally registered to that effect. He might even interpose his negative
on the proceedings of the house, and thus put a stop to the prosecution of
all further bxisiness during the session. This anomalous privilege, tran-
scending even that claimed in the Polish diet, must have been too invidious
in its exercise, and too pernicious in its consequences, to have been often
resorted to. This may be inferred from the fact that it was not formally
repealed until the reign of Philip the Second, in 1592. During the interval
of the sessions of the legislature, a deputation of eight was appointed, two
from each arm, to preside over public affairs, particularly in regard to
the revenue, and the security of justice ; with authority to convoke a
cortes extraordinary, whenever the exigency might demand it.
The cortes exercised the highest functions, whether of a deliberative,
legislative, or judicial nature. It had a right to be consulted on all
matters of importance, especially on those of peace and war. No law
was valid, no tax could be imposed, without its consent ; and it carefully
Srovided for the application of the revenue to its destined uses. It
etermined the succession to the crown ; removed obnoxious ministers ;
reformed the household and domestic expenditure of the monarch ; and
exercised the power, in the most unreserved manner, of withholding
* Those who followed a mechanical occupation, including mrgeon* and apothecaries, wore
excluded from a seat in cortes. The faculty have rarely been treated with so little
ceremony.
t The cortes appear to have been more frequently convoked in the fourteenth century
than in auy other. In Catalonia and Valencia the cortes was to be summoned every
three years.
J Blancas has preserved a specimen of an address from the throne, in 1398, in which the
king, after selecting some moral apophthegm as a text, rambles for the space of half an
hour through Scripture history, &c. and concludes with announcing the object of his
convening the cortes together in three lines.
It was anciently the practice of the legislature to grant supplies of troops, but not of
money. When Peter IV. requested a pecuniaiy subsidy, the cortes told him, tbaf'rach
things had not been usual ; that his Christian subjects were wont to serve him with their
persons, and it was only for Jews and Moors to serve him with money."
28 INTRODUCTION.
supplies, as well as of resisting what it regarded as an encroachment on
the liberties of the nation.
The excellent commentators on the constitution of Aragon have
bestowed comparatively little attention on the development of its parlia-
mentary history ; confining themselves too exclusively to mere forms of
procedure. The defect has heen greatly obviated by the copiousness of
their general historians. But the statute-book affords the most unequi-
vocal evidence of the fidelity with which the guardians of the realm
discharged the high trust reposed in them, in the numerous enactments
it exhibits, for the security both of person and property. Almost the
first page which meets the eye in this venerable record contains the
General Privilege, the Magna Charta, as it has been Avell denominated,
of Aragon. It was granted by Peter the Great to the cortes at Saragossa,
in 1283. It embraces a variety of provisions for the fair and open
administration of justice ; for ascertaining the legitimate powers intrusted
to the cortes ; for the security of property against exactions of the crown ;
and for the conservation of their legal immunities to the municipal
corporations and the different orders of nobility. In short, the dis-
tinguishing excellence of this instrument, like that of Magna Charta,
consists in the wise and equitable protection which it affords to all classes
of the community.* The General Privilege, instead of being wrested,
like King John's charter, from a pusillanimous prince, was conceded,
reluctantly enough it is true, in an assembly of the nation, by one of
the ablest monarchs who ever sat on the throne of Aragon, at a time
when his arms, crowned with repeated victory, had secured to the state
the most important of her foreign acquisitions.
The Aragonese, who rightly regarded the General Privilege as the
broadest basis of their liberties, repeatedly procured its confirmation by
succeeding sovereigns. " By so many and such various precautions,
says Blancas, " did our ancestors establish that freedom which their
posterity have enjoyed ; manifesting a wise solicitude that all orders of
men, even kings themselves, confined within their own sphere, should
discharge their legitimate functions without jostling or jarring with one
another : for in this harmony consists the temperance of our government.
Alas ! " he adds, " how much of all this has fallen into desuetude from
its antiquity, or been effaced by new customs." f
The judicial functions of the cortes have not been sufficiently noticed
by writers. They were extensive in their operation, and gave it the
name of the General Court. They were principally directed to protect
the subject from the oppressions of the crown and its officers ; over all
which cases it possessed original and ultimate jurisdiction. The suit
was conducted before the Justice, as president of the cortes in its judicial
capacity, who delivered an opinion conformable to the will of the
majority. The authority, indeed, of this magistrate in his own court
was fully equal to providing adequate relief in all these cases. But for
* "There was such conformity of sentiment among all parties," says Zurita, "that
the privileges of the nobility were no better secured than those of the commons. For the
Aragonesc deemed thai the existence of the commonwealth depended not so much on its
strength as on Its liberties." In the confirmation of the privilege by James the Second,
in 1325. torture, then generally recognised by the municipal law of Europe, was expressly
prohibited in Aragon, "as unworthy of freemen."
t The repeated confirmation of the General Privilege affords another point of analogy
with Magna Charta, which, together with the Charter of the Forest, received, according to
Lord Coke, the sanction of parliament thirty- two several times.
JLRAGOX. 29
several reasons this parliamentary tribunal was preferred. The process
was both more expeditious and less expensive to the suitor. Indeed, the
" most obscure inhabitant of the most obscure village in the kingdom,
although a foreigner," might demand redress of this body ; and, if he
was incapable ot bearing the burden himself, the state was bound to
maintain his suit, and provide him with counsel at its own charge. But
the most important consequence, resulting from this legislative investi-
gation, was the remedial laws frequently attendant on it. "And our
ancestors," says Blaneas, "deemed it great wisdom patiently to endure
contumely and oppression for a season, rather than seek redress before
an interior tribunal, since, by postponing their suit till the meeting of
cortes, they would not only obtain a remedy for their own grievance, but
one of a universal and permanent application."
The Aragouese cortes maintained a steady control over the operations
of government, especially after the dissolution of the Union ; and the
ireight of the commons was more decisive in it than in other similar
.iblies of that period. Its singular distribution into four estates was
favourable to this. The knights and hidalgos, an intermediate order
between the great nobility and the people, when detached from the
former, naturally lent additional support to the latter, with whom,
indeed, they had considerable affinitv. The representatives of certain
cities, as well as a certain class of citizens, were entitled to a seat in
this body ; so that it approached both in spirit and substance to some-
thing like a popular representation. Indeed, this arm of the cortes was
so uniformly vigilant in resisting any encroachment on the part of the
crown, that it ha> been said to represent, more than any other, the
liberties of the nation. In some other particulars the Aragonese com-
mons possessed an advantage over those of Castile. 1. By postponing
their money grants to the conclusion of the session, and regulating them
in some degree by the previous dispositions of the crown, they availed
themselves of an important lever relinquished by the Castilian cortes.*
2. The kingdom of Aragon proper was circumscribed within too narrow
limits to allow of such local jealousies and estrangements, growing out
of an apparent diversity of interests, as existed in the neighbouring
monarchy. Their representatives, therefore, were enabled to move with
a more hearty concert, and on a more consistent line of policy. 3. Lastly,
the acknowledged right to a seat in cortes, possessed by every city
which had once been represented there, and this equally whether sum-
moned or not, if we may credit Capmany, must have gone far to
preserve the popular branch from the melancholy state of dilapidation
to which it was reduced in Castile by the arts of despotic princes.
Indeed, the kin _ ."11, notwithstanding occasional excesses, seem
never to have attempted any systematic invasion of the constitutional
rights of their subjects. They well knew that the spirit of liberty was
too high among them to endure it. When the queen of Alfonso the
Fourth urged her husband, by quoting the example of her brother the
king of Castile, to punish certain refractory citizens of Valencia, he
prudently replied, " My people are free, and not so submissive as the
* Not. however, it must be allowed, without a manly struggle in its defence, and which
to the early part of Charles V.'s reign, in 10i5. wrenched a promise from the crown ui
answer all petitions definitely before the rising of the cortes. The law still remains -n tea
statute-book, a sad commentary on the faith of princes.
30 INTRODUCTION.
Castilians. They respect me as their prince, and I hold them for good
vassals and comrades."
KO part of the constitution of Aragon has excited more interest, or
more deservedly, than the office of the Justicia, or Justice ; whose
extraordinary functions were far from being limited to judicial matters,
although in these his authority was supreme. The origin of this insti-
tution is affirmed to have been coeval with that of the constitution or
frame of government itself. If it were so, his authority may be said,
in the language of Blancas, " to have slept in the scabbard" until the
dissolution of the Union ; when the control of a tumultuous aristocracy
was exchanged for the mild and uniform operation of the law, adminis-
tered by this, its supreme interpreter.
His most important duties may be briefly enumerated. He was
authorised to pronounce on the validity of all royal letters and ordi-
nances. He possessed, as has been said, concurrent jurisdiction with
the cortes over all suits against the crown and its officers. Inferior
judges were bound to consult him in all doubtful cases, and to abide by
his opinion, as of " equal authority," in the words of an ancient jurist,
" with the law itself." An appeal lay to his tribunal from those of
the territorial and royal judges. He could even evoke a cause, while
pending before them, into his own court, and secure the defendant from
molestation on his giving surety for his appearance. By another
process, he might remove a person under arrest from the place in which
he had been confined by order of an inferior court, to the public prison
appropriated to this purpose, there to abide his own examination of the
legality of his detention. These two provisions, by which the precipitate
and perhaps intemperate proceedings of subordinate judicatures were
subjected to the revision of a dignified and dispassionate tribunal, might
seem to afford sufficient security for personal liberty and property.
In addition to these official functions, the Justice of Aragon was
constituted a permanent counsellor of the sovereign, and, as such, was
required to accompany him wherever he might reside. He was to advise
the king on all constitutional questions of a doubtful complexion ; and
finally, on a new accession to the throne, it was his province to administer
the coronation oath ; this he performed witli his head covered, and
sitting, while the monarch, kneeling before him bare-headed, solemnly
promised to maintain the liberties of the kingdom ; a ceremony euiiuently
symbolical of that superiority of law over prerogative, which was so
constantly asserted in Aragon.
It was the avowed purpose of the institution of the Justicia to inter-
pose such an authority between the crown and the people as might
suffice for the entire protection of the latter. This is the express import
of one of the laws of Soprarbe, which, whatever be thought of their
authenticity, are undeniably of very high antiquity.* This part of his *
duties is particularly insisted on by the most eminent judicial writers of
the nation. "\Vhat ever estimate, therefore, may be formed of the real
extent of his powers, as compared with those of similar functionaries in
other states of Europe, there can be no doubt that this ostensible object
of their creation, thus openly asserted, must have had a great tendency
The law alluded to runs thus, " Ne quid autem darnni detrimeutive legea aut liber
tates nostrum patiautur, judex quidam medius adesto, ad quern a Rege provocare, si aliquoa
Leserit, iujuriasque arcere si quas fursati Keipub. iutulerit, jus fasque esto."
AKAUON. .51
to enforce their practical operation. Accoidingly we find repeated
examples, in the history of Aragon, of snceessfid interposition on the
part of the Justice for the protection of individuals persecuted by the
crown, and in defiance of every attempt at intimidation.* The kiugs of
Aragon, chafed by this opposition, procured the resignation or deposition,
on more than one occasion, of the obnoxious magistrate. But, as such
an exercise of prerogative must have been altogether subversive of an
independent discharge of the duties of this office, it was provided by a
statute of Alfonso the Fifth, in 1442, that the Justice should continue iu
office during life, removable only, on sufficient cause, by the king and
the cortes united.
Several provisions were enacted, in order to secure the nation more
effectually against the abuse of the high trust reposed in this officer. He
was to be taken from the equestrian order, which, as intermediate
between the high nobility and the people, was less likely to be influenced
by undue partiality to either. He could not bo selected from the ricos
hombres, since this class was exempted from corporal punishment, while
the Justice was made responsible to the cortes lor the faithful discharge
of his duties, under penalty of death. As this supervision of the
whole legislature was found unwieldy in practice, it was superseded,
ai'ter various modifications, by a commission of members elected from
each one of the four estates, empowered to sit every year in Saragossa,
with authority to investigate the charges preferred against the Justice,
and to pronounce sentence upon hini.f
The Aragonese writers are prodigal of their encomiums on the
pre-eminence and dignity of this functionary, whose office might seem,
indeed, but a doubtful expedient for balancing the authority of the
sovereign ; depending for its success less on any legal powers confided
to it, than on the efficient and steady support of public opinion.
Fortunately the Justice of Aragon received such support, and was thus
tfliabled to earn- the original design of the institution into effect, to
check the usurpations of the crown, as well as to control the licence of
the nobility and the ]>eople. A series of learned and independent
magistrates, by the weight of their own character, gave additional
dignitv to the office. The people, familiarised with the benignant
operation of the law, referred, to peaceful arbitration, those great political
iiiestions which in other countries at this period must have been settled
by a sanguinary revolution. $ While, in the rest of Europe, the law
* Whe^i Xirnenes Cerdan, the independent Justice of John I., removed certain citizens
from the prison in which they had been unlawfully confined by the king, in defiance
equally of that officer's importunities and menaces, the inhabitants of Saragossa, says
Abarca, came out in a body to receive him on his return to the city, and greeted him as the
defender of their ancient and natural liberties. So openly did the Aragouese support their
magistrate in the boldest exercise of his authority.
1 The examination was conducted in the first instance before a court of four iiiquisirors.
as they were termed ; who, after a patient hearing of both sides, reported the result at
their examination to a council of seventeen, chosen like them from the cortes, from wuoee
:i there was no appeal. Xo lawyer was admitted into this council, lest the LPT
might be distorted by verbal quibbles, says Blancas. The council, however, was allowed
' :\vo of the profession. They voted by ballot, and the majority decided.
} Probably no nation of the period would have displayed a temperance similar to that
exhibited by the Aragonese at the beginning of the fifteenth century, iu 1412 ; when the
I'Ci'i'le. having been split into factions by a contested succession, agreed to refer the dispute
to a committee of judges, elected equally from the three great provinces of the kingdom ;
who, after an examination, conducted with all the forms of law, and on the same equitable
principles as would have irui led the determination of a private suit, delivered an opinion,
which was recei-j-i as obligatory on the '.vhole nation.
32
seemed only the web to ensnare the weak, the Aragonese historians could
exult in the reflection, that the fearless administration of justice in their
land " protected the weak equally with the strong, the foreigner with
the native." "Well might their legislature assert, that the value of their
liberties more than counterbalanced "the poverty of the nation, and
the sterility of their soil."*
The governments of Valencia and Catalonia, which, as has been
already remarked, were administered independently of each other after
their consolidation into one monarchy, bore a very near resemblance to
that of Aragou.f No institution, however, corresponding in its functions
with that of the Justicia, seems to have obtained in either. Valencia,
which had derived a large portion of its primitive population, after the
conquest, from Aragon, preserved the most intimate relations with the
parent kingdom, and was constantly at its side during the tempestuous
season of the Union. The Catalans were peculiarly jealous of their exclu-
sive privileges, and their civil institutions wore a more democratical aspect
than those of any other of the confederated states ; circumstances which
led to important results that fall within the compass of our narrative.
The city of Barcelona, which originally gave its name to the county
of which it was the capital, was distinguished from a very early period
by ample munificent privileges. After the union with Aragon, in the
twelfth century, the monarchs of the latter kingdom extended towards
it the same liberal legislation ; so that, by the thirteenth, Barcelona had
reached a degree of commercial prosperity rivalling that of any of the
Italian republics. She divided with them the lucrative commerce with
Alexandria ; and her port, thronged with foreigners from every nation,
became a principal emporium in the Mediterranean for the spices, drugs,
perfumes, and other rich commodities of the east, whence they were
diffused over the interior of Spain and the European continent. Her
consuls, and her commercial factories, were established in every
considerable port in the Mediterranean and in the north of Europe.
The natural products of her soil, and her various domestic fabrics,
supplied her with abundant articles of export. Fine wool was
imported by her in considerable quantities from England in the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and returned there manufactured
into cloth ; an exchange of commodities the reverse of that existing
between the two nations at the present day. Barcelona claims the
merit of having established the first bank of exchange and deposit in
Europe, in 1401 ; it was devoted to the accommodation of foreigners as
well as of her own citizens. She claims the glory, too, of having
compiled the most ancient written code, amr.rg the moderns, of maritime
law now extant, digested from the usages of commercial nations, and
which formed the basis of the mercantile jurisprudence of Europe during
the middle ages.
* From this independent position must be excepted, indeed, the lower classes of the
peasantry, who seem to have been in a more abject state in Aragon thau in most other
feudal countries. These serfs extorted, in an insurrection, the recognition of certain
rights from their masters, on condition of paying a specific tax ; whence the name villanot
de parada.
t Although the legislatures of the different states of the crown of Aragon were never
united in one body when convened in the same town, yet they were so averse to all
appearance of incorporation, that the monarch frequently appointed for the places of
meeting three distinct towns, within their respective territories and contiguous, ifl order
uiat he might pass the more expeditiously from one to the other.
ARAGOX. 3.1
The wealth which flowed in upon Barcelona as the result of her
activity and enterprise, was evinced by her numerous public works,
her docks, arsenal, warehouses, exchange, hospitals, and other construc-
tions of general utility. Strangers, who visited Spain in the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries, expatiate on the magnificence of this city, its
commodious private edifices, the cleanliness of its streets and public
squares (a virtue by no means usual in that day), and on the amenity
of its gardens and cultivated environs.
But the peculiar glory of Barcelona was the freedom of her municipal
institutions. Her government consisted of a senate or council of ono
hundred, and a body of regidores or counsellors, as they were styled,
varying at times from four to six in number ; the former entrusted with
the legislative, the latter with the executive functions of administration.
A large proportion of these bodies were selected from the merchants,
tradesmen, and mechanics of the city. They were invested, not merely
with municipal authority, but with many of the rights of sovereignty.
They entered into commercial treaties with foreign powers ; superin-
tended the defence of the city in time of war ; provided for the
security of trade ; granted letters of reprisal against any nation who
might violate it; and raised and appropriated the public moneys
for the construction of useful works, or the encouragement of such
commercial adventures as were too hazardous or expensive for individual
enterprise.
The counsellors, who presided over the municipality, were compli-
mented with certain honorary privileges, not even accorded to the nobility.
They were addressed by the title of magnificoes ; were seated, with
their heads covered, in the presence of royalty ; were preceded by mace-
bearers, or lictors, in their progress through the country ; and deputies
from their body to the court were admitted on the footing, and received
the honours, of foreign ambassadors. These, it will be recollected,
were plebeians, merchants and mechanics. Trade never was esteemed
a degradation in Catalonia, as it came to be in Castile. The professors
of the different arts, as they were called, organised into guilds or
companies, constituted so many independent associations, whose members
were eligible to the highest municipal offices. And such was the
importance attached to these offices, that the nobility, in many instances,
resigning the privileges of their rank, a necessary preliminary, were
desirous of being enrolled among the candidates for them.* One
cannot but observe in the peculiar organisation of this little common-
wealth, and in the equality assumed by every class of its citizens, a
close analogy to the constitutions of the Italian republics ; which the
Catalans, having become familiar with in their intimate commercial
intercourse with Italy, may have adopted as the model of their own.
Under the influence of these democratic institutions, the burghers of
Barcelona, and indeed of Catalonia in general, which enjoyed more or
less of a siniilaa- freedom, assumed a haughty independence of character
beyond what existed among the same class in other parts of Spain ; and
this, combined with the martial daring fostered by a life of maritime
The great barons of Catalonia, fortified with extensive immunities and wealth, lived
on their estates in the country, probably little relishing the levelling spirit of the burgheH
of Barcelona.
94 INTRODUCTION.
adventure and warfare, made them impatient, not merely of oppression,
but of contradiction, on the part of their sovereigns, who have
experienced more frequent and more sturdy resistance from this quarter
of their dominions than from every other.* Navagiero, the Venetian
ambassador to Spain, early in the sixteenth century, although a
republican himself, was so struck with what he deemed the insubordi-
nation of the Barcelonians, that he asserts, " The inhabitants have so
many privileges, that the king scarcely retains any authority over
them: their liberty," he adds, "should rather go by the name of
licence." One example, among many, may be given of the tenacity
with which they adhered to their most inconsiderable immunities.
Ferdinand the First, in 1416, being desirous, in consequence of the
exhausted state of the finances on his coming to the throne, to evade
the payment of a certain tax or subsidy customarily paid by the
kings of Aragon to the city of Barcelona, sent for the president of the
council, John Fiveller, to require the consent of that body to this
measure. The magistrate, having previously advised with his colleagues,
determined to encounter any hazard, says Zurita, rather than compromise
the rights of the city. He reminded the king of his coronation oath,
expressed his regret that he was willing so soon to deviate from the
good usages of his predecessors, and plainly told him that he and his
comrades would never betray the liberties intrusted to them. Ferdinand,
indignant at this language, ordered the patriot to withdraw into another
apartment, where he remained in much uncertainty as to the conse-
quences of his temerity. But the king was dissuaded from violent
measures, if he ever contemplated them, by the representation of his
courtiers, who warned him not to reckon too much on the patience of
the people, who bore small affection to his person, from the little
familiarity with which he had treated them in comparison with their
preceding monarchs, and who were already in arms to protect their
magistrate. In consequence of these suggestions, Ferdinand deemed it
prudent to release the counsellor, and withdrew abruptly from the city
on the ensuing day, disgusted at the ill success of his enterprise.t
The Aragonese monarchs well understood the value of their Catalan
dominions, which sustained a proportion of the public burdens equal in
amount to that of both the other states of the kingdom. J Notwith-
standing the mortifications which they occasionally experienced from
this quarter, therefore, they uniformly extended towards it the most
liberal protection. A register of the various customs paid in the ports
of Catalonia, compiled in 1413, under the above-mentioned Ferdinand,
exhibits a discriminating legislation, extraordinary in an age when the
true principles of financial policy were so little understood. Under
James the First, in 1227, a navigation act, limited in its application,
* Barcelona revolted and was twice besieged by the royal arms under John II. ; once
under Philip IV., twice under Charles II., and twice under Philip V. This las>t siege,
1713-14, in which it held out against the combined forces of France and Spui.'i under
Marshal Berwick, is one of the most memorable events in the eighteenth century.
t The king turned his back on the magistrates who came to pay their respects to him,
on learning his intention of quitting the city. He seems, however, to have had the ii
nimity to forgive, perhaps to admire, the independent conduct of Fiveller ; for, at his
death, which occurred very soon after, we find this citizen mentioned as one af his
executors.
t The taxes were assessed in the ratio of one-sixth on Valencia, two-sixths on Aragon,
and three-sixths on Catalonia.
AttAGOX. 35
was published, and another under Alfonso the Fifth, in 1454, embracing
all the dominions of Aragon ; thus preceding by some centuries the
celebrated ordinance to which England owes so much of her commercial
grandeur.
The brisk concussion given to the minds of the Catalans in the busy
career in which they were engaged, seems to have been favourable to the
development of poetical talent, in the same manner as it was in Italy.
Catalonia may divide with Provence the glory of being the region where
the voice of song was first awakened in modern Europe. Whatever
may be the relative claims of the two countries to precedence in this
respect, it is certain that under the family of Barcelona, the Provenal
of the south of France reached its highest perfection ; and, when the
tempest of persecution in the beginning of the thirteenth century fell
on the lovely valleys of that unhappy country, its minstrels found a
hospitable asylum in the court of the kings of Aragon ; many of whom
not only protected, but cultivated the gay science with considerable
success.* Their names have descended to us, as well as those of less
illustrious troubadours, whom Petrarch and his contemporaries did not
disdain to imitate ; but their compositions, for the most part, lie still
buried in those cemeteries of the intellect so numerous in Spain, and call
loudly for the diligence of some Sainte Palaye or Raynouard to disinter
them.
The languishing condition of the poetic art, at the close of the
fourteenth century, induced John the First, who mingled somewhat of
the ridiculous even with his most respectable tastes, to depute a solemn
embassy to the king of France, requesting that a commission might be
detached from the Floral Academy of Toulouse, into Spain, to erect
there a similar institution. This was accordingly done, and the
consistory of Barcelona was organised in 1390. The kings of Aragon
endowed it with funds, and with a library valuable for that day,
presiding over its meetings in person, and distributing the poetical
premiums with their own hands. During the troubles copsequent on
the death of Martin, this establishment fell into decay, until it was
again revived, on the accession of Ferdinand the First, by the celebrated
Henry, marquis of Villena, who transplanted it to Tortosa.
The marquis, in his treatise on the gaya sciencia, details with becom-
ing gravity the pompous ceremonial observed in his academy on the
event of a public celebration. The topics of discussion were "the
praises of the Virgin, love, arms, and other good usages." The per-
formances of the candidates, " inscribed on parchment of various colours,
richly enamelled with gold and silver, and beautifully illuminated,"
were publicly recited, and then referred to a committee, who made
solemn oath to decide impartially and according to the rules of the art.
On the delivery of the verdict, a wreath of gold was deposited on the
victorious poem, which was registered in the academic arcliives ; and the
fortunate troubadour, greeted with a magnificent prize, was escorted to
the royal palace amid a cortege of minstrelsy and chivalry; "thua
manifesting to the world," says the marquis, "the superiority which
God and nature have assigned to genius over dulness."
* Peter ill., James I., Peter IV., have all left compositions in the Limousin tongue
behind them ; the three former ia verse ; the two latter in prose, setting forth the history
of tLeir own time.
D2
36
The influence of such an institution in awakening a poetic spirit is at
best very questionable. Whatever effect an academy may have in
stimulating the researches of science, the inspirations of genius must
come unbidden. ;
" Adflata est numine quando
Jam propiore deL"
The Catalans, indeed, seem to have been of this opinion ; for they
suffered the consistory of Tortosa to expire with its founder. Somewhat
later, in 1430, was established the university of Barcelona, placed under
,the direction of the municipality, and endowed by the city with ample
funds for instruction in the various departments of law, theology,
medicine, and the belles-lettres. This institution survived until the
commencement of the last century.*
During the first half of the fifteenth century, long after the genuine
race of the troubadours had passed away, the Provenal or Limousin
verse was carried to its highest excellence by the poets of Valencia. It
would be presumptuous for any one, who has not made the romance
dialects his particular studv, to attempt a discriminating criticism of
these compositions, so much of the merit of which necessarily consists
in the almost impalpable beauties of style and expression. The Spaniards
however applaud, in the verses of Ausias March, the same musical
combinations of sound, and the same tone of moral melancholy which
pervade the productions of Petrarch. In prose, too, thev have (to
borrow the words of Andres) their Boccacio in Martorell ; whose fiction
of " Tirante el Blanco " is honoured by the commendation of the curate
in Don Quixote, as " the best book in the world of the kind, since the
knights-errant in it eat, drink, sleep, and die quietly in their beds, like
other folk, and very unlike most heroes of romance." The productions
of these, and some other of their distinguished contemporaries, obtained
a general circulation very early by means of the recently invented art of
printing, and subsequently passed into repeated editions. But their
language has long since ceased to be the language of literature. On the
union of the two crowns of Castile and Aragon, the dialect of the former
became that of the court and of the Muses. The beautiful Pro-
venc.al, once more rich and melodious than any other idiom in the
Peninsula, was abandoned as a patois to the lower orders of the Catalans,
who, with the language, may boast that they also have inherited the
noble principles of freedom which distinguished their ancestors.
There were thirty-two chairs or professorships, founded and maintained at the
expense of the city ; six of theology ; six of j urispnidence ; five of medicine ; six of philo-
Bophy ; four of grammar ; one of rhetoric ; one of surgery ; one of anatomy ; one of
Hebrew, and another of Greek. It is singular that none should have existed for the L a in,
so much more currently studied at that time, and of so much more practical application
always than either of the other ancient languages.
The influence of free institutions in Aragon is perceptible in the familiarity displayed by
Its writers with public affairs, and in the freedom with which they have discussed the
organisation and general economy of its government. The creation of the office of national
chronicler, under Charles V., gave wider scope to the development of historic talent. Among
the nict conspicuous of these historiographers was Jerome Blaucas, several of whose
productions, as the " Coronaciones de los Reyes," '' Modo de Proceder en Cortes," and
"Ci'inniciitarii Rerum Aragonensium," especially the last, have been repeatedly quoted
In the preceding section. This work presents a view of the different orders of the state,
aud pa; ticuUiriy of the office of the Justicia, with their peculiar functions and privilegea.
GENEALOGY OF FERDIXAXD A2S T D ISABELLA.
37
The author, omitting the usual details of history, has devoted himself to the illustration
of the constitutional antiquities of his country, in the execution of which he has shown a
sagacity and erudition equally profound. His sentiments breathe a generous love of
freedom, which one would scarcely suppose to have existed, and still less to have been
promulgated, under Philip II. His style is distinguished by the purity and even elegance
of its Latir.ity. Blancas, after having held his office for ten years, died in his native city
of Saragossa, in 1590.
Jerome Martel, from whose little treatise " Formar de Celebrar Cortes," I have also
liberally cited, was appointed public historiographer in 1597. His continuation of Zurita's
Annals, which he left unpublished at his decease, was never admitted to the honours of
the press, because, says his biographer Uztarroz, verdaJes lastiman; a reason as creditable
to the author as disgraceful to the government.
A third writer, and the one chiefly relied on for the account of Catalonia, is Don Antonio
Capmauy. His "Memorias Historicas dc Barcelona," may be thought somewhat too
discursive and circumstantial for his subject ; but it is hardly right to quarrel with infor-
mation so rare and painfully collected ; the sin of exuberance at any rate is much less
frequent, and more easily corrected, than that of sterility. His work is a vast repertory
of tacts relating to the commerce, manufactures, general policy, and public prosperity, not
only of Barcelona, but of Catalonia. It is written with an independent and liberal spirit,
which may be regarded as affording the best commentary on the genius of the institutions
which he celebrates. Capmany closed his useful labours at Madrid in 1S10, at the age of
fifty-six.
Notwithstanding the interesting character of tlis Aragonese constitution, and the ampli-
tude of materials for its history, the subject has been hitherto neglected, as far as I am
aware, by continental writers. Robertson and Hallam, more especially the latter, havo
given such a view of its prominent features to the English reader, as must, I fear, deprive
the sketch which I have attempted, in a great degree, of novelty. To these names must
now be added that of the author of the " History of Spain and Portugal," (Cabinet Cyclo-
paedia,) whose work, published since the preceding pages were written, contains much
curious and learned disquisition on the early jurisprudence and municipal institutions of
both Castile and Aragon.
GENEALOGY OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA.
Henry II. of Trastamara ; d. 1379.
John I. of Castile; d. 1390 .^Leonora of Aragon.
Catherine of ^Henry III. of Castile ;
Lancaster. I d. 140t">.
^Johnll of ^Isabella of
Castile ; d.
1-154.
Portugal.
(2nd wife.)
Henry IV. of Caa- Alphonso ; ISABELLA
tile ; d. 1474. d. 1468. THE
CATHOLIC.
Ferdinand I. of Aragon :
d. 1416.
j r-Leonora of
I Albuquerque.
Caros ;
d. 1461.
Blanche. Leonora. FERDIKAHB
TUB
CATHOLIC*
PART THE FIEST.
14061492.
ras PERIOD wnra THE DIFFERENT KINGDOMS OF SPAIN WERE FIRST UNITED CTTDER mn.
MONARCHY, AND A THOROUGH REFORM WAS INTRODUCED INTO THEIK INTERNAL
ADMINISTRATION ; OR, THE PERIOD EXHIBITING MOST FULLY THE DOMESTIC POLIC1T
Or FERDINAND AND ISABELLA.
CHAPTEE I.
STATE Or CASTILE AT THE BIRTH OF ISABELLA REIGK OF JOHN n. OF CAST1LK.
14061454.
Revolution of Trastamara Accession of John II. Rise of Alvaro de Luna Jealousy ol
the Nobles Oppression of the Commons Its consequences Early Literature of
Castile I^s Encouragement under John II. Decline of Alvaro de Luna His Fall
Death of John II. Birth of Isabella.
THE fierce civil feuds, which preceded the accession of the House of
Trastamara in 1368, were as fatal to the nobility of Castile, as the wars
of the Roses were to that of England. There was scarcely a family oi
note which had not poured out its blood on the field or the scaffold. The
influence of the aristocracy was, of course, much diminished with its
numbers. The long wars with foreign powers, which a disputed succes-
sion entailed on the country, were almost equally prejudicial to the
authority of the monarch, wno was willing to buoy up his tottering title
by the most liberal concession of privileges to the people. Thus the
commons rose in proportion as the crown and the privileged orders
descended in the scale ; and, when the claims of the several competitors
for the throne were finally extinguished, and the tranquillity of the
kingdom was secured, by the union of Henry the Third with Catherine
of Lancaster, at the close of the fourteenth century, the third estate may
be said to have attained to the highest degree of political consequence
which it ever reached in Castile.
The healthful action of the body politic, during the long interval of
peace that followed this auspicious union, enabled it to repair the
strength which had been wasted in its murderous civil contests. The
ancient channels of commerce were again opened; various new manu-
factures were introduced, and carried to a considerable perfection ;
wealth, with its usual concomitants, elegance and comfort, flowed in
apace ; and the nation promised itself a long career of prosperity under
BIRTH OF ISABELLA, 39
a monarch who respected the laws in hLs own person, and administered
them with vigour. All these fair hopts Wen- blasted by the premature
death of Henry the Third, before he had reached his twenty-eighth year.
Tli-' crown devolved on his son John the Second, then a minor, whose
reign was one of the longest and the most disastrous in the Castilian
annals. As it was that, however, which gave birth to Isabella, the
illustrious subject of our narrative, it will be necessary to pass its prin-
cipal features under review, in order to obtain a correct idea of her
government.
The wise administration of the regency, during a long minority,
postponed the season of calamity ; and, when it at length arrived, it
was concealed for some time from the eyes of the vulgar by the pomp
and brilliant festivities which distinguished the court of the young
monarch. His indisposition, if not incapacity for business, however,
gradually became manifest ; and, while he resigned himself without
reserve to pleasures, which it must be confessed were not unfrequently
of a refined and intellectual character, he abandoned the government of
his kingdom, to the control of favourites.
The most conspicuous of these was Alvaro de Luna, grand master of
St. James, and Constable of Castile. . '_.as remarkable person, the ille-
gitimate descendant of a noble house in Aragon, was introduced very
early as a page into the royal household, where he soon distinguished
himself by his amiable manners and personal accomplishments. He
could ride, fence, dance, sing, if we may credit his loyal biographer,
better than any other cavalier in the court ; while his proficiency in
music and poetry recommended him most effectually to the favour of the
monarch, who professed to be a connoisseur in both. "With these showy
qualities, Alvaro de Luna united others of a more dangerous complexion.
His insinuating address easily conciliated confidence, and enabled him to
master the motives of others, while his own were masked by consummate
dissimulation. He was as fearless in executing his ambitious schemes as
he was cautious in devising them. He was indefatigable in his appli-
cation to business, so that John, whose aversion to it we have noticed,
willingly reposed on him the whole burden of government. The king, it
was said, only signed, while the constable dictated and executed. He
was the only channel of promotion to public office, whether secular or
ecclesiastical. As his cupidity was insatiable, he perverted the great
trust confided to him to the acquisition of the principal posts in the
government for himself or his kindred, and at his death is said to have
left a larger amount of treasure than was possessed by the whole nobility
of the kingdom. He affected a magnificence of state corresponding with
his elevated rank. The most considerable grandees in Castile contended
for the honour of having their sons, after the fashion of the time,
educated in his family. When he rode abroad, he was accompanied by
a numerous retinue of knights and nobles, which left his sovereign's
court comparatively deserted ; so that royalty might be said on all occa-
sions, whether of business or pleasure, to be eclipsed by the superior
splendours of its satellite. 4 The history of this man may remind the
English reader of that of Cardinal Wolsey, whom he somewhat resembled
in character, and still more in his extraordinary fortunes.
He possessed sixty towns and fortresses, and kept three thousand lancea constantly
40 REIGN OF JOHN II. OF CASTILE.
It may easily be believed, that the haughty aristocracy of Castile
would ill brook' this exaltation of an individual so inferior to then? iu
birth, and who withal did not wear his honours with exemplary meek-
ness. John's blind partiality for his favourite is the key to all the
troubles which agitated the kingdom during the last thirty years of his
reign. The disgusted nobles organised confederacies for the purpose of
deposing the minister. The whole nation took sides in this unhappy
struggle. The heats of civil discord were still further heightened by the
interference of the royal house of Aragon, which, descended from a
common stock with that of Castile, was proprietor of large estates in
the latter country. The wretched monarch beheld even his own sou
Henry, the heir to the crown, enlisted in the opposite faction, and saw
himself reduced to the extremity of shedding the blood of his subjects in.
the fatal battle of Olmedo. Still the address, or the good fortune, of the
constable enabled him to triumph over his enemies ; and, although he
was obliged occasionally to yield to the violence of the storm and with-
draw awhile from the court, he was soon recalled and reinstated in all
his former dignities. This melancholy infatuation of the king is imputed
by the writers of that age to sorcery on the part of the favourite. But
the only witchcraft which he used was the ascendancy of a strong mind
over a weak one.
During this long-protracted anarchy, the people lost whatever they
had gained in the two preceding reigns. By the advice of his minister,
who seems to have possessed a full measure of the insolence so usual
with persons suddenly advanced from low to elevated station, the king
not only abandoned the constitutional policy of his predecessors, in
regard to the commons, but entered on the most arbitrary and systematic
violation of their rights. Their deputies were excluded from the privy
council, or lost all influence in it. Attempts were made to impose taxes
without the legislative sanction. The municipal territories were alien-
ated, and lavished on the royal minions. The freedom of elections was
invaded, and delegates to cortes were frequently nominated by the
crown ; and, to complete the iniquitous scheme of oppression, pray-
maticas, or royal proclamations, were issued, containing provisions
repugnant to the acknowledged law of the land, and affirming in the
most unqualified terms the right of the sovereign to legislate for his
subjects. The commons indeed, when assembled in cortes, stoutly
resisted the assumption of such unconstitutional powers by the crown,
and compelled the prince not only to revoke his pretensions, but to
accompany his revocation with the most humiliating concessions.* They
even ventured so far, during this reign, as to regulate the exp?nses of
the royal household ; and their language to the throne on all thesn
occasions, though temperate and loyal, breathed a generous spirit of
patriotism, evincing a perfect consciousness of their own rights, and a
steady determination to maintain them.
Alas ! what could such resolution avail, in this season of misrule,
against the intrigues of a cunning and profligate minister, unsupported,
too, as the commons were, by any sympathy or co-operation on the part
of the higher orders of the state ! A scheme was devised for bringing
the popular branch of the legislature more effectually within the control
of the crown, by diminishing the number of its constituents. It has
1 It was much easier to extort (food laws from this monarch than to enforce them.
BIRTH OF ISABELLA. 41
been already remarked, in the Introduction, that a great irregularity
prevailed in' Castile as to the number of cities which, at different times,
exercised the right of representation. During the fourteenth century,
the deputation from this order had been uncommonly full. The king,
however, availing himself of this indeterminateness, caused writs to be
issued to a very small proportion of the towns which had usually enjoyed
the privilege. Some of those that were excluded, indignantly, though
ineffectually, remonstrated against this abuse. Others, previously
despoiled of their possessions by the rapacity of the crown, or impover-
ished by the disastrous feuds into which the country had been thrown,
acquiesced in the measure, from motives of economy. From the same
mistaken policy several cities, again, as Burgos, Toledo, and others,
petitioned the sovereign to defray the charges of their representatives
from the royal treasury ; a most ill-advised parsimony, which suggested
to the crown a plausible pretext for the new system of exclusion. In.
this manner the Castilian cortes, which, notwithstanding its occasional
fluctuations, had exhibited during the preceding century what might be
regarded as a representation of the whole commonwealth, was gradually
reduced, during the reigns of John the Second and his son Henry the
Fourth, to the deputations of some seventeen or eighteen cities. And to
this number, with slight variation, it has been restricted until the
occurrence of the recent revolutionary movements in that kingdom.*
The non-represented were required to transmit their instructions to
the deputies of the privileged cities. Thus Salamanca appeared in behalf
of five hundred towns and fourteen hundred villages ; and the populous
province of Galicia was represented by the little town of Zamora, which
is not even included within its geographical limits. The privilege of
a voice in cortes, as it was called, came at length to be prized so highly
by the favoured citiea, that when, in 1506, some of those which were
excluded solicited the restitution of their ancient rights, their petition
was opposed by the former, on the impudent pretence that " the right of
deputation had been reserved by ancient law and usage to only eighteen
cities of the realm." In this short-sighted and most unhappy policy,
we see the operation of those local jealousies and estrangements to which
we have alluded in the Introduction. But, although the cortes, thus
reduced in numbers, necessarily lost much of its weight, it still main-
tained a bold front against the usurpations of the crown. It does not
appear, indeed, that any attempt was made under John the Second, or
his successor, to corrupt its members, or to control the freedom of debate;
although such a proceeding is not improbable, as altogether conformable
to their ordinary policy, and as the natural result of their preliminary
measures. But, however true the deputies continued to themselves and
to those who sent them, it is evident that so limited and partial a selec-
tion no longer afforded a, representation of the interests of the whole
country. Their necessarily imperfect acquaintance with the principles
or even wishes of their widely scattered constituents, in an age when
knowledge was not circulated on the thousand wings of the press, as in
our day, must have left them oftentimes in painful uncertainty, and
deprived them of the cheering support of public opinion. The voice
* In 1636 the city of Palcncia was content to repurchase its ancient right of represent*
tion from the crown at an expense of 80.000 ducats.
42 EEIGX OP JOHX H. OF CASTILE.
of remonstrance, which derives such confidence from numbers, would
hardly now be raised in their deserted halls with the same frequency or
energy as before ; and however the representatives of that day might
maintain their integrity uncorrupted, yet, as every facility was afforded
to the undue influence of the crown, th'e time might come when venality
would prove stronger than principle, and the unworthy patriot be
tempted to sacrifice his birth-right for a mess of pottage. Thus early
was the fair dawn of freedom overcast, which opened in Castile under
more brilliant auspices, perhaps, than in any other country in Europe.
While the reign of John the Second is so deservedly odious in a
political view, in a literary it may be inscribed with wha't Giovio calls,
" the golden pen of history." It was an epoch in the Castilian,
corresponding with that of the reign of Francis the First in French
literature, distinguished not so much by any production of extraordinary
genius, as by the effort made for the introduction of an elegant culture,
by conducting it on more scientific principles than had been hitherto
known. The early literature of Castile could boast of the "Poem of
the Cid," in some respects the most remarkable performance of the
middle ages. It was enriched, moreover, with other elaborate com-
positions, displaying occasional glimpses of a buoyant fancy, or of
sensibility to external beauty ; to say nothing of those delightful
romantic ballads which seemed to spring up spontaneously in every
quarter of the country, like the natural wild flowers of the soil. But
the unaffected beauties of sentiment, which seem rather the result of
accident than design, were dearly purchased, in the more extended
pieces, at the expense of such a crude mass of grotesque and undigested
verse, as shows an entire ignorance of the principles of the art.
The profession of letters itself was held in little repute by the higher
orders of the nation, who were altogether untinctured with liberal
learning. While the nobles of the sister kingdom of Aragon, assembled
in their poetic courts, in imitation of their Proven9al neighbours, vied
with each other in lays of love and chivalry, those of Castile disdained
these effeminate pleasures as unworthy of the profession of arms, the
only one of any estimation in their eyes. The benignant influence of
John was perceptible in softening this ferocious temper. He was
himself sufficiently accomplished for a king; and, notwithstanding his
aversion to business, manifested, as has been noticed, a lively relish for
intellectual enjoyment. He was fond of books, wrote and spoke Latin
with facility, composed verses, and condescended occasionally to correct
those of hfs loving subjects. Whatever might be the value of his
criticisms, that of his example cannot be doubted. The courtiers, with
the quick scent of their own interest which distinguishes the tribe in
every country, soon turned their attention to the same polite studies ;
and thus Castilian poetry received, very early, the courtly stamp which
continued its prominent characteristic down to the age of its meridian
glory.
Among the most eminent of these noble savans, was Henry, marquis
of Villena, descended from the royal houses of Castile and Aragon,* but
more illustrious, as one of his countrymen has observed, by his talents
* He was the grandson of Alonso de Villena, the first marquis as well as constable
created in Castile, descended from James II. of Aragon. His mother was an illegitimate
daughter of Henry II. of Castile.
BIBTH OP ISABELLA. 43
and attainments, than by his birth. His whole life was consecrated to
letters, and especially to the study of natural science. I am not aware
that any specimen of his poetry, although much lauded by his contem-
poraries, has come down to us. He translated Dante's " Commedia,"
into prose, and is said to have given the first example of a version of
the ^Eneid into a modern language. He laboured assiduously to
introduce a more cultivated taste among his countrymen, and his little
treatise on the gayn sciencia, as the divine art was then called, in which
he gives an historical and critical view of the poetical Consistory of
Barcelona, is the first approximation, however faint, to an Art of Poetry
in the Castilian tongue. The exclusiveness with which he devoted
himself to science, and especially astronomy, to the utter neglect of his
temporal concerns, led the wits of that day to remark, that " he knew
much of heaven and nothing of earth." He paid the usual penalty of
such indifference to worldly weal, by seeing himself eventually stripped
of his lordly possessions, and reduced at the close of life to extreme
poverty. His secluded habits brought on him the appalling imputation,
of necromancy. A scene took place at his death, in 1434, which is
sufficiently characteristic of the age, and may possibly have suggested a
similar adventure to Cervantes. The king commissioned his son's
preceptor, Brother Lope de Barrientos, afterwards bishop of Cuena, to
examine the valuable library of the deceased ; and the worthy ecclesiastic
consigned more than a hundred volumes of it to the flames, as savouring
too strongly of the black art. The Bachelor Cibdareal, the confidential
physician of John the Second, in a lively letter on this occurrence to the
poet John de Mena, remarks, that " some would fain get the repute "Hon
of saints, by making others necromancers ;" and requests his friend " to
allow him to solicit, in his behalf, some of the surviving volumes from
the king, that in this way the soul of Brother Lope might be saved from
further sin, and the spirit of the defunct marquis consoled by the con-
sciousness that his books no longer rested on the shelves of the man who
had converted him into a conjurer." * John de Mena denounces this
auto dafe of science in a similar, but graver tone of sarcasm, in his
" Laberinto." These liberal sentiments in the Spanish writers of the
fifteenth century may put to shame the more bigoted criticism of the
seventeenth.
Another of the illustrious wits of this reign was Inigo Lopez de
Mendoza, marquis of Santillana, "the glory and delight of the Castilian
nobility," whose celebrity was such, that foreigners, it was said,
journeyed to Spain from distant parts of Europe to see him. Although
passionately devoted to letters, he did not, like his friend the marquis of
Villena, neglect his public or domestic duties for them. On the contrary,
he discharged the most important civil and military functions. He
made his house an academy, in which the young cavaliers of the court
might practise the martial exercises of the age ; and he assembled
around him at the same time men eminent for genius and science, whom
* The bishop endeavoured to transfer the blame of the conflagration to the king. There
can be little doubt, however, that the good father infused the suspicions of necromancy
into his master's bosoni. "The angels," he says, in one of his works, "who guarded
Paradise, presented a treatise on mngic to one of the posterity of Adam, from a copy of
trhich Villeua derived his science." Oue would think that such an orthodox source might
have justified Villena in the use of it
44 EEIGN OF JOHN H. OF CASTILE.
he munificently recompensed, and encouraged by his example. His
own taste led him to poetry, of -which he has left some elaborate
specimens. They are chiefly of a moral and perceptive character ; but,
although replete with noble sentiment, and finished in a style of literary
excellence far more correct than that of the preceding age, they are too
much infected with mythology and metaphorical affectations to suit the
palate of the present day. He possessed, however, the soul of a poet ;
and when he abandons himself to his native redondillas, delivers his
sentiments with a sweetness and grace inimitable. To him is to be
ascribed the glory, such as it is, of having naturalised the Italian sonnet
in Castile, which Boscan, many years later, claimed for himself with
no small degree of self-congratulation. His epistle on the primitive
history of Spanish verse, although containing notices sufficiently curious,
from the age and the source whence they proceed, has perhaps done
more service to letters by the valuable illustrations it has called forth
from its learned editor.
This great man, who found so much leisure for the cultivation of
letters amidst the busy strife of politics, closed his career at the age of
sixty, in 1458. Though a conspicuous actor in the revolutionary scenes
of the period, he maintained a character for honour and purity of motive,
unimpeached even by his enemies. The king, notwithstanding his
devotion to the faction of his son Henry, conferred on him the dignities
of count of Real de Manzanares and marquis of Santillana ; this being
the oldest creation of a marquis in Castile, with the exception of Villena.*
His eldest son was subsequently made duke of Infantado, by which
title his descendants have continued to be distinguished to the pre-
sent day.
But the most conspicuous for his poetical talents, of the brilliant
circle which graced the court of John the Second, was John de Mena, a
native of fair Cordova, " the flower of science and of chivalry," as he
fondly styles her. Although born in a middling condition of life, with
humble prospects, he was early smitten with a love of letters ; and,
after passing through the usual course of discipline at Salamanca, he
repaired to Rome, where in the study of those immortal masters, whose
writings had but recently revealed the full capacities of a modern idiom,
he imbibed principles of taste, which gave a direction to his own genius,
and in some degree to that of his countrymen. On his return to
Spain, his literary merit soon attracted general admiration, and intro-
duced him to the patronage of the great, and, above all, to the friendship
of the marquis of Santillana. He was admitted into the private circle
of the monarch, who, as his gossiping physician informs us, " used to
have Mena's verses lying on his table, as constantly as his prayer-book."
The poet repaid the debt of gratitude by administering a due quantity
of honeyed rhyme, for which the royal palate seems to have possessed a
more than ordinary relish. He continued faithful to his master amidst
all the fluctuations of faction, and survived him less than two years.
He died in 1456 ; and his friend, the marquis of Santillana, raised a
sumptuous monument over his remains, in commemoration of his virtues
and of their mutual affection.
John de Mena is affirmed by some of the national critics to have given
' He left, besides daughters, six sons, -who all became the founders of noble and
powerful houses.
BIETH OF ISABELLA. 45
a now aspect to Castilian poetry. His great work was his " Laberinto,"
the outlines of whose plan may faintly remind us of that portion of the
" Livina Commedia " where Dante resigns himself to the guidance of
Beatrice. In like manner, the Spanish poet, under the escort of a
beautiful personification of Providence, witnesses the apparition of the
most eminent individuals, whether of history or fable ; and, as they
revolve on the wheel of destiny, they give occasion to some animated
portraiture, and much dull, pedantic disquisition. In these delineations
we now and then meet with a touch of his pencil, which, from its
simplicity and vigour, may be called truly Dantesque. Indeed the
Castilian muse never before ventured on so bold a flight ; and, notwith-
standing the deformity of the general plan, the obsolete barbarisms of
the phraseology, its quaintness and pedantry ; notwithstanding the
cantering dactylic measure in which it is composed, and which to the
ear of a foreigner can scarcely be made tolerable ; the work abounds in
conceptions, nay, in whole episodes, of such mingled energy and beauty,
as indicate genius of the highest order. In some of his smaller pieces
his style assumes a graceful flexibility, too generally denied to his more
strained and elaborate efforts.
It will not be necessary to bring under review the minor luminaries of
this period. Alfonso de Baena, a converted Jew, secretary of John the
Second, compiled the fugitive pieces of more than fifty of these ancien
troubadours into a cancionero, " for the disport and divertisement of his
highness the king, when he should find himself too sorely oppressed with
cares of state," a case we may imagine of no rare occurrence. The
original manuscript of Baena, transcribed in beautiful characters of the
fifteenth century, lies, or did lie until very lately, unheeded in the
cemetery of the Escurial, with the dust of many a better worthy. The
extracts selected from it by Castro, although occasionally exhibiting
some fluent graces, with considerable variety of versification, convey, on
the whole, no very high idea of taste or poetic talent.*
Indeed, this epoch, as before remarked, was not so much distinguished
by uncommon displays of genius, as by its general intellectual move-
ment, and the enthusiasm kindled for liberal studies. Thus we find the
corporation of Seville granting a hundred doblas of gold as the guerdon
of a poet who had celebrated in some score of verses the glories of their
native city ; and appropriating the same sum as an annual premium for
a similar performance. It is not often that the productions of a poet
laureat have been more liberally recompensed even by royal bounty.
But the gifted spirits of that day mistook the road to immortality.
Disdaining the untutored simplicity of their predecessors, they sought
to rise above them by an ostentation of learning, as well as by a more
classical idiom. In the latter particular they succeeded. They much
improved the external forms of poetry, and their compositions exhibit a
high degree of literary finish, compared with all that preceded them.
But their happiest sentiments are frequently involved in such a cloud of
The veneration entertained for the poetic art in that day may be conceived from
Baena's whimsical prologue. "Poetry," he says, "or the gay science, is a very subtile
and delightsome composition. It demands in him who would hope to excel in it, a curioua
invention, a sane judgment, a various scholarship, familiarity with courts and public
afiairs, high birth and breeding, a temperate, courteous, and liberal disposition, and, in
flue, honey, sugar, salt, freedom, and hilarity in his discourse."
46 KEIGN OF JOHN II. OF CASTILE.
metaphor as to become nearly unintelligible, while they invoke the pagan
deities with a shameless prodigality that would scandalise even a French
lyric. This cheap display of school-boy erudition, however it may have
appalled their own age, has been a principal cause of their comparative
oblivion with posterity. How far superior is one touch of nature, as the
" Finojossa," or " Querella de Amor," for example, of the marquis of
Santillana, to all this farrago of metaphor and mythology !
The impulse given to Castilian poetry extended to other departments
of elegant literature. Epistolary and historical compositions were culti-
vated with considerable success. The latter, especially, might admit of
advantageous comparison with that of any other country in Europe at
the same period ; * and it is remarkable that after such early promise,
the modern Spaniards have not been more successful in perfecting a
classical prose style.
Enough has been said to give an idea of the state of mental improve
ment in Castile under John the Second. The Muses, who had found
a shelter in his court from the anarchy which reigned abroad, soon fled
from its polluted precincts under the reign of his successor Henry the
Fourth, whose sordid appetites were incapable of being elevated above
the objects of the senses. If we have dwelt somewhat long on a more
pleasing picture, it is because our road is now to lead us across a dreary
waste exhibiting scarcely a vestige of civilisation.
While a small portion of the higher orders of the nation was thus
endeavouring to forget the public calamities in the tranquillising pursuit
of letters, and a much larger portion in the indulgence of pleasure, f the
popular aversion for the minister Luna had been gradually infusing
itself into the royal bosom. His too obvious assumption of superiority,
even over the monarch who had raised him from the dust, was probably
the real though secret cause of this disgust. But the habitual ascendancy
of the favourite over his master prevented the latter from disclosing this
feeling until it was heightened by an occurrence which sets in a strong
light the imbecility of the one and the presumption of the other. John,
on the death of his wife, Maria of Aragon, had formed the design of
connecting himself with a daughter of the King of France. But the
constable in the meantime, without even the privity of his master,
entered into negotiations for his marriage with the princess Isabella, .
grand-daughter of John the First of Portugal : and the monarch, with
an unprecedented degree of complaisance, acquiesced in an arrangement
professedly repugnant to his own inclinations. By one of those dispen-
sations of Providence, however, which often confound the plans of the
wisest, as of the weakest, the column, which the minister had so artfully
raised for Ms support, served only to crush him.
The new queen, disgusted with his haughty bearing, and probably not
much gratified with the subordinate situation to which he had reduced
* Perhaps the most conspicuous of these historical compositions for mere literary
execution is the Chronicle of Alvaro de Luna. The loyalty of the chronicler seduces him
sometimes into a swell of panegyric, which may be thought to favour too strongly of the
current defect of Castilian prose; but it more frequently imj. arts to his nurr.-itive a generous
glow of sentiment, raising it f;ir above the lifeless details of ordinary history, and occasion-
ally even to positive eloquence.
t Sempere has published an extract from an uuprinted manuscript of the celebrated
marquis of Villeua, entitled Tnimfo de las Donas, in which, adverting to the pttits-maitres of
his time, he recapitulates the fashionable arts employed by them for the embellishment of
the person, with a degree of minuteness which might edify a modem dandy.
BIRTH OF ISABELLA. 47
her husband, entered heartily into the feelings of the latter, and indeed
contrived to extinguish whatever spark of latent affection for his ancient
favourite lurked within his breast. John, yet fearing the overgrown
power of the constable too much to encounter him openly, condescended
to adopt the dastardly policy of Tiberius on a similar occasion, by
caressing the man whom he designed to ruin ; and he eventually obtained
possession of his person, only by a violation of the royal safe-conduct.
The constable's trial was referred to a commission of jurists and privy
counsellors, who, after a summary and informal investigation, pro-
nounced on him the sentence of death, on a specification of charges
either general and indeterminate, or of the most triviaLimport. " If the
king," says Garibay, " had dispensed similar justice to all his nobles
who equally deserved it in those turbulent times, he would have had
but few to reign over."
The constable had supported his disgrace, from the first, with an
equanimity not to have been expected from his elation in prosperity ;
and he now received the tidings of his fate with a similar fortitude. As
he rode along the streets to the place of execution, clad : n the sable
livery of an ordinary criminal, and deserted by those who had been
reared by his bounty, the populace, who before called so loudly for his
disgrace, struck with this astonishing reverse of his brilliant fortunes,
were melted into tears. They called to mind the numerous instances of
his magnanimity. They reflected that the ambitious schemes of his
rivals had been not a whit less selfish, though less successful, than his
own ; and that, if his cupidity appeared insatiable, he had dispensed the
fruits of it in acts of princely munificence. He himself maintained a
serene and even cheerful- aspect. Meeting one of the domestics of Prince
Henry, he bade him request the prince " to reward the attachment of
his servants with a different guerdon from what his master had assigned
to him." As he ascended the scaffold, he surveyed the apparatus of
death with composure, and calmly submitted himself to the stroke of the
executioner, who, in the savage style of the executions of that day,
plunged his knife into the throat of his victim, and deliberately severed
his head from his body. A basin for the reception of alms to defray the
expenses of his interment, was placed at one extremity of the scaffold ;
and his mutilated remains, after having been exposed for several days
to the gaze of the populace, were removed by the brethren of a charitable
order to a place called the Hermitage of St. Andrew, appropriated as the
cemetery for malefactors. (1453.)
Such was the tragical end of Alvaro de Luna ; a man who, for more
than thirty years, controlled the counsels of the sovereign, or, to speak
more properly, was himself the sovereign of Castile. His fate furnishes
one of the most memorable lessons in history. It was not lost on his
contemporaries; and the marquis of Santillana has made use of it to
point the moral of perhaps the most pleasing of his didactic compositions
John did not long survive his favourite's death, which he was seen after-
wards to lament, even with tears. Indeed, during the whole of the triaJ
he had exhibited the most pitiable agitation, having twice issued and
recalled his orders countermanding the constable's execution ; and,
had it not been for the superior constancy or vindictive temper of thf*
queen, he would probably have yielded to these impulses of returning
affection.
48 REIGN OF JOHN II. OF CASTILE.
So far from deriving a wholesome warning from experience, John
confided the entire direction of his kingdom to individuals not less
interested, hut possessed of far less enlarged capacities, than the former
minister. Penetrated with remorse at the retrospect of his unprofitable
life, and filled with melancholy presages of the future, the unhappy
prince lamented to his faithful attendant Cibdareal, on his deathbed,
that " he had not been born the son of a mechanic, instead of king of
Castile." He died July 21st, 1454, after a reign of eight and forty
years, if reign it may be called, which was more properly one protracted
minority. John left one child by his first wife, Henry, who succeeded
him on the throne ; and by his second wife two others, Alfonso, then an
infant, and Isabella, afterwards queen of Castile, the subject of the
present narrative. She had scarcely reached her fourth year at the time
of her father's decease, having been born on the 22ud of April, 1451, at
Madrigal. The king recommended his younger children to the especial
care and protection of their brother Henry ; and assigned the town of
Cuellar, with its territory and a considerable sum of money, for the
maintenance of the infanta Isabella,*
CHAPTER II.
OOKDITIOH OT ARAGOW DURING THK MINORITY Of FERDINAND REIGlt OT JOHH II. OT
ARAGON.
14521472.
John of Aragon Difficulties with his son Carlos Birth of Ferdinand Insurrection of
Catalonia Death of Carlos His Character Tragical Story of Blanche Young Ferdi-
nand besieged by the Catalans Treaty between France and Aragou Distress and
Embarrassments of John Siege and Surrender of Barcelona.
WE must now transport the reader to Aragon, in order to take a view
of the extraordinary circumstances which opened the way for Ferdinand's
succession in that kingdom. The throne, which had become vacant by
the death of Martin, in 1410, was awarded by the committee of judges
to whom the nation had referred the great question of the succession, to
Ferdinand, regent of Castile, during the minority of his nephew, John
the Second; and thus the sceptre, after having for more than two
centuries descended in the family of Barcelona, was transferred to the
same bastard branch of Trastamara that ruled over the Castiliaa
monarchy, f Ferdinand the First was succeeded after a brief reign by
his son, Alfonso the Fifth, whose personal history belongs less to Aragon
than to Naples, which kingdom he acquired by his own prowess, and
where he established his residence, attracted, no doubt, by the superior
amenity of the climate and the higher intellectual culture, as well as the
.
mother's side from the famous John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster.
t The reader who may be curious in this matter will find the pedigree, exhibiting the
MINORITY OF FEfiDIXAND. 49
pliant temper of the people, far more grateful to the monarch than the
sturdy independence of his own countrymen.
During his long absence, the government of his hereditary domains
devolved on his brother John, as his lieutenant-general in Arugon. This
prince had married Blanche, widow of Martin, king of Sicily, and
daughter of Charles the Third, of Xavarre. By her he had three
children ; Carlos, prince of Yiana ; * Blanche, married to and afterwards
repudiated by Henry the Fourth, of Castile ; and Eleanor, who espoused
a French noble, Gaston, count of Foix. On the demise of the elder
Blanche, the crown of Xavarre rightfully belonged to her son, the
prince of Viana, conformably to a stipulation in her marriage contract,
that, on the event of her death, the eldest heir male, and, in default of
sons, female, should inherit the kingdom to the exclusion of her husband.
(1442.) This provision, which had been confirmed by her father, Charles
the Third, in his testament, was also recognised in her own, accompanied,
however, with a request that her son Carlos, then twenty-one years of
age, would, before assuming the sovereignty, solicit " the good-will and
approbation of his father." f Whether this approbation was withheld,
or whether it was ever solicited, does not appear. It seems probable,
however, that Carlos, perceiving no disposition in his father to relinquish
the rank and nominal title of king of Navarre, was willing he should
retain them, so long as he himself should be allowed to exercise the
actual rights of sovereignty ; which indeed he did, ao lieutenant-general
or governor of the kingdom, at the time of his mother's decease, and for
some years after.
In 1447, John of Aragon contracted a second alliance with Joan
Henriquez, of the blood-royal of Castile, and daughter of Don Frederic
Heuriquez, admiral of that kingdom; a woman considerably younger
than himself, of consummate address,, intrepid spirit, and unprincipled
ambition. Some years after this union, John sent his wife into Xavarre,
with authority to divide with his son Carlos the administration of the
government there. This encroachment on his rights, for such Carlos
reasonably deemed it, was not mitigated by the deportment of the young
queen, who displayed all the insolence of sudden elevation, ana who
from the first seems to have regarded the prince with the malevolent eye
of a stepmother.
Xavarre was at that time divided by two potent factions, styled, from
their ancient leaders, Beaumonts and Agramonts ; whose hostility,
originating in a personal feud, had continued long after its original
cause had become extinct. The prince of Yiana was intimately con-
nected with some of the principal partisans of the Beaumont faction,
who heightened by their suggestions the indignation to which his
naturally gentle temper had been roused by the usurpation of Joan, and
who even called on him to assume openly, and in defiance of his father,
the sovereignty which of right belonged to him. The emissaries of
Castile, too, eagerly seized this occasion of retaliating on John his
titles of the several competitors to the crown, given by Mr. H.illam. The claims o<
Ferdinand were certainly not derived from the usual laws of descent
* His gramlfat ill., ore ite 1 this title ill favour of Carlos, appropriating it ad
the designation henceforth of the heir apparent.
t That industrious writer, Aleson, has established the title of Prince Carlos to Navarrm,
:ontly raisv. uisr.'preseuted by the national historians, on an incon-
testable basis.
50 BEIGX OF JOHX n. OF CASTIIE.
interference in the domestic concerns of that monarchy, by fanning tae
spark of discord into a flame. The Agramonts, on the other hand,
induced rather by hostility to their political adversaries than to the
prince of Yiana, vehemently espoused the cause of the queen/ In this
revival of half-bnried animosities, fresh causes of disgust were luultiplied,
and matters soon came to the worst extremity. The queen, who had
retired to Estella, was besieged there by the forces of the prince. The
king, her husband, on receiving intelligence of this, instantly marched
to her relief ; and the father and son confronted each other at the head
' of their respective armies near the town of Aybar.
The unnatural position in which they thus found themselves seems to
have sobered their minds, and to have opened the way to an accom-
modation, the terms of which were actually arranged, when the long-
smothered rancour of the ancient factions of Navarre thus brought in
martial array against each other, refusing all control, precipitated them
into an engagement. The royal forces were inferior in number, but
superior in discipline, to those of the prince, who, after a \\ ell-contested
action, saw his own partv entirely discomfited, and himself a prisoner.
(1452.)
Some months before this event, Queen Joan had been delivered of a
son, afterwards so famous as Ferdinand the Catholic; whose humble
prospects, at the time of his birth, as a younger brother, afforded a
striking contrast with the splendid destiny which eventually awaited
him. This auspicious event occurred in the little town of Sos, in Aragon,
on the 10th of March, 1452 ; and as it was nearly contemporary with
the capture of Constantinople, is regarded by Garibay to have been
providentally assigned to this period, as affording, in a religious view,
an ample counterpoise to the loss of the capital of Christendom.*
The demonstrations of satisfaction, exhibited by John and his court
on this occasion, contrasted strangely with the stern severity with which
he continued to visit the offences of his elder offspring. It was not till
after many months of captivity that the king, in deference to public
opinion rather than the movements of his own heart, was induced to
release his son, on conditions, however, so illiberal (his indisputable
claim to Navarre not being even touched upon) as to afford no reasonable
basis of reconciliation. The young prince accordingly, on his return to
Navarre, became again involved in the factions which desolated that
unhappy kingdom, and, after an ineffectual struggle against his enemies,
resolved to seek an asylum at the court of his uncle Alfonso the Fifth,
of Naples, and to refer to him the final arbitration of his differences
with his father.
On his passage through France and the various courts of Italy, he
was received with the attentions due to his rank, and still more to his
personal character and misfortunes. Nor was he disappointed in the
* L. Marineo describes the heavens as uncommonly serene at the moment of Ferdinand's
birth. " The sun, which had been obscured with clouds during the whole day, suddenly
broke forth with unwonted splendour. A crown was also beheld in the sky, comp
various brilliant colours like those of a rainbow. All which appearances were interpreted
by the spectators as an omen, that the child then born would be the most illustrious
among men." Garibny postpones the nativity of Ferdinand to the year 14J3 ; arid L.
Muriueo, who ascertains with curious precision even the date of his conception, fixes his
birth in 1450. But Alonso de Palencia in his History, and Andre's Benialdez, Cura do loa
Palacios, both of them contemporaries, refer this event to the period assigned in the u-xt ;
and, as the same epoch ia adopted by the accurate Zurita, I have given it the preferuUd*.
MINORITY OF FEKDINAND. Ot
sympathy and favourable reception which he had anticipated from his
uncle. Assured of protection from so high a quarter, Carlos might now
reasonably ilatter himself with the restitution of his legitimate rights,
when these bright prospects were suddenly overcast by the death of
Alfonso, who expired at Naples of a fever in the month of May, 1458,
bequeathing his hereditary dominions of Spain, Sicily, and Sardinia to
his brother John, and his kingdom of Naples to his illegitimate son
Ferdinand.
The frank and courteous manners of Carlos had won so powerfully on
the affections of the Neapolitans, who distrusted the dark, ambiguous
character of Ferdinand, Alfonso's heir, that a large party eagerly pressed
the prince to assert his title to the vacant throne, assuring him of a
general support from the people. But Carlos, from motives of prudence
or magnanimity, declined engaging in this new contest, and passed over
to Sicily, whence he resolved to solicit a final reconciliation with his
fatter. He was received with much kindness by the Sicilians, who,
preserving a grateful recollection of the beneficent sway of his mother
Blanche, when queen of that island, readily transferred to the son their
ancient attachment to the parent. An assembly of the states voted a
liberal supply for his present exigencies ; and even urged him, if we are
to credit the Catalan ambassador at the court of Castile, to assume the
sovereignty of the island. Carlos, however, far from entertaining so
rash an ambition, seems to have been willing to seclude himself from
public observation. He passed the greater portion of his time at a
convent of Benedictine friars not far from Messina, where, in the society
of learned men, and with the facilities of an extensive library, he
endeavoured to recall the happier hours of youth in the pursuit of his
favourite studies of philosophy and history.*
In the meanwhile, John, now King of Aragon and its dependencies,
alarmed by the rcpoits of his sou's popularity in Sicily, became as
solicitous for the security of his authority there, as he had before been
for it in Navarre. He accordingly sought to soothe the mind of the
prince by the fairest professions, and to allure him back to Spain by the
prospect of an effectual reconciliation. Carlos, believing what he most
earnestly wished, in opposition to the advice of his Sicilian counsellors,
embarked for Majorca, and, after some preliminary negotiations, crossed
over to the coast of Barcelona. Postponing, for fear of giving offence to
his father, his entrance into that city, which, indignant at his perse-
cution, had made the most brilliant preparations for his reception, he
proceeded to Igualada, where an interview took place between him and
the king and queen, in which he conducted himself with unfeigned
humility and penitence, reciprocated on their part by the most consum-
mate dissimulation.
All parties now confided in the stability of a pacification so anxiously
desired, and effected with such apparent cordiality. It was expected
that John would hasten to acknowledge his son's title as heir apparent
to the crown of Aragon, and convene an assembly of the states to
* Carlos bargained with Pope Pius II. for a transfer of this library, particularly rich In
the ancient classics, to Spain, which was eventually defeated by his death. Zurita, who
visited the monastery continuing it, nearly a century after this period, found its inmates
~ed of many traditionary anecdotes respecting the prince during his seclusion
imuug them.
K 2
52 "REIGN OF JOHN II. OF CASTILE.
tender him tlie customary oath, of allegiance. But nothing was
further from the monarch's intention. He, indeed, summoned the
Aragonese cortes at Fraga, for the purpose of receiving their homage
to himself; but he expressly refused their request touching a similar
ceremony to the prince of Yiaua ; and he openly relwked the Catalans
for presuming to address him as the successor to the crown. (1460.)
In this unnatural procedure it was easy to discern the influence of the
queen. In addition to her original causes of aversion to Carlos, she
regarded him with hatred as the insuperable obstacle to her own child
Ferdinand's advancement. Even the affection of John seemed to be
now wholly transferred from the offspring of his first to that of his
second marriage ; and as the queen's influence over him was unbounded,
she found it easy by artful suggestions to put a dark construction on
every action of Carlos, and to close up every avenue of returning
affection within his bosom.
Convinced at length of the hopeless alienation of his father, the
prince of Viana turned his attention to other quarters, whence he might
obtain support, and eagerly entered into a negotiation which had been
opened with him on the part of Henry the Fourth, of Castile, for a union
with his sister, the Princess Isabella. This was coming in direct
collision with the favourite scheme of his parents. The marriage of
Isabella with the young Ferdinand, which, indeed, from the parity of
their ages, was a much more suitable connexion than that with Carlos,
had long been the darling object of their policy, and they resolved to
effect it in the face of every obstacle. In conformity with this purpose,
John invited the prince of Viaua to attend him at Lerida, where h
then holding the cortes of Catalonia. The latter fondly, and, indeed,
foolishly, after his manifold experience to the contrary, confiding in the
relenting disposition of his father, hastened to obey the summons, in
expectation of being publicly acknowledged as his heir in the assembly
of the states. After a brief interview, he was arrested, and his person
placed in strict confinement.
The intelligence of this perfidious procedure diffused general conster-
nation among all classes. They understood too well the artifices of the
queen and the vindictive temper of the king, not to feel the most serious
apprehensions, not only for the liberty, but for the life of their prisoner,
The cortes of Lerida, which, though dissolved on that very day, had not
yet separate'', sent an embassy to John, requesting to know the naturo
of the crimes imputed to his son. The permanent deputation of Arairon,
and a delegation from the council of Barcelona, waited on him for a
similar purpose, remonstrating at the same time against any violent and
unconstitutional proceeding. To all these John returned a cold, cva^ivo
answer, darkly intimating a suspicion of conspiracy by his son against
his life, and reserving to himself the punishment of the offence.
No sooner was the result of their mission communicated, than the
whole kingdom was thrown into a ferment. The high-spirited Catalans
rose in arms, almost to a man. The royal governor, after a fruitless
attempt to escape, was seized and imprisoned in Barcelona. Troops Avero
levied, and placed under the command of experienced officers of the
highest rank. The heated populace, outstripping the tardy movement
of military operations, marched forward to Lerida in order to get
possession of the royal person. The king, who had seasonable notice
MINORITY OF FERDINAND. 53
of this, displayed his wonted presence of mind. He ordered supper to
be prepared for him at the usual hour, but, on the approach of night,
made his escape on horseback with one or two attendants only, on the
road to Fraga, a town within the territory ot Aragon ; while the mob,
traversing the streets of Lerida, and finding little resistance at the gate,
burst into the palace, and ransacked every corner of it, piercing, in their
fury, even the curtains and beds with their swords and lances.
The Catalan army, ascertaining the route of the royal fugitive,
marched directly on Fraga, and arrived so promptly, that John, with
his wife, and the deputies of the Aragonese cortes assembled there, had
barely time to make their escape on the road to Saragossa, while the
insurgents poured into the city from the opposite quarter. The person
of Carlos, in the mean time, was secured in the inaccessible fortress of
ila, situated in a mountainous district on the conh'nes of Valencia.
John, on halting at Saragossa, endeavoured to assemble an Aragonese
force capable of resisting the Catalan rebels. But the flame of insur-
rection had spread throughout Aragou, Valencia, and Xavarre, and was
speedily communicated to his transmarine possessions of Sardinia and
Sicily. The King of Castile supported Carlos at the same time by an
irruption into Xavarre ; and his partisans, the Beaumonts, co-operated
with these movements by a descent on Aragon.
John, alarmed at the tempest which his precipitate conduct had
aroused, at length saw the necessity of releasing his prisoner; and as
the queen had incurred general odium as the chief instigator of his
'ution, he affected to do this in consequence of her interposition.
As Carlos with his mother-in-law traversed the country on their way to
r>aiveloiia, he was everywhere greeted, by the inhabitants of the villages
thronging out to meet him, with the most touching enthusiasm. The
queen, however, having been informed by the magistrates that her
:ice would not be permitted in the capital, deemed it prudent to
remain at Villa Franca, about twenty miles distant ; while the prince,
entering Barcelona, was welcomed with the triumphant acclamations
due to a conqueror returning from a campaign of victories.*
The conditions on which the Catalans proposed to resume their
allegiance to th"ir sovereign were sufficiently humiliating. They insisted
Rot only on his public acknowledgment of Carlos as his rightful heir and
successor, v. ith the office conferred on him for life, of lieutenant-general
of Catalonia, but on an obligation on his own part that he would never
enter the province without their express permission. Such was John's
( \tremity, that he not only accepted these unpalatable conditions, but
dM it with aftected cheerfulness.
Fortune seemed now weary of persecution, and Carlos, happy in the
atta< ': v.ent of a brave and powerful people, appeared at length to have
reaehel a haven of permanent security. But at this crisis he fell ill of
a fever, or, as some historians insinuate, of a disorder occasioned bv
poison administered during his imprisonment : a fact which, although
unsupported by positive evidence, seems, notwithstanding its atrocity, to
be nowise improbable, considering the character of the parties implicated
He expired on the 23rd of September, 1461, in the forty-first year of his
The inhabitants of Tarraca closed their gates upon the queen, and nrig the bells on
her approach, the signal of alarm on the appearance of ai. enemy, or fc-r tiio pursuit of a
malefactor.
64 REIGX OP JOHX n. OF CASTILE.
age, bequeathing Hs title to the Crown of Xavarre, in conformity with,
the original marriage contract of his parents, to his sister Blanche and
her posterity.
Thus in the prime of life, and at the moment when he seemed to
have triumphed over the malice of his enemies, died the Prince of
Tiana, whose character, conspicuous for many virtues, has become still
more so for his misfortunes. His first act of rebellion, if such, con-
sidering his legitimate pretensions to the crown, it can be called,
r.'as severely requited by his subsequent calamities ; while the vin-
iictive and persecuting temper of his parents excited a very general
commiseration in his behalf, and brought him more effectual support
than could have been derived from his own merits or the justice of his
cause.
The character of Don Carlos has been portrayed by Lucio Marineo,
)rho, as he wrote an account of these transactions by the command oj
Ferdinand the Catholic, cannot be suspected of any undue partiality ii
favour of the prince of Yiana. " Such," says he, "were his temperance
and moderation, such the excellence of his breeding, the purity of hi >
life, his liberality and munificence, and such the sweetness of his
demeanour, that no one thing seemed to be wanting in him which
belongs to a true and perfect prince." He is described by another
contemporary as "in person somewhat above the middle stature, havii.g
a thin visage, with a serene and modest expression of countenance, and
withal somewhat inclined to melancholy." He was a consideral le
proficient in music, painting, and several mechanic arts, He frequen". ly
amused himself with poetical composition, and was the intimate frit ad
of some of the most eminent bards of his time. But he was above all
devoted to the studv of philosophy and history. He made a version of
Aristotle's Ethics into the vernacular, which was first printed, nearly
fifty years after his death, at Saragossa, in 1509. He compiled als:> a
Chronicle of Xavarre from the earliest period to his own times, wh'.oli,
although suffered to remain in manuscript, has been liberally used and
cited by the Spanish antiquaries, Garibay, Blancas, and others. His
natural tastes and his habits fitted him much better for the quiet enjoy-
ment of letters than for the tumultuous scenes in which it was his
misfortune to be involved, and in which he was no match for en-
grown grey in the field and in the intrigues of the cabinet. But if his
devotion to learning, so rare in his own age, and so very rare among
princes in any age, was unpropitious to his success on the busy theatre
on which he was engaged, it must surely elevate his character in the
estimation of an enlightened posterity.
The tragedy did not terminate with the death of Carlos. His sister
Blanche, notwithstanding the inoffensive gentleness of her demeanour,
had long been involved, by her adhesion to her unfortunate brother, in,
a similar proscription with him. The succession to Xavarre having now
devolved on her, she became tenfold an object of jealousy both to her
father, the present possessor of that kingdom, and to her si>t<-r EL nnor,
countess of Foix, to whom the reversion of it had been promised by
John, on his own decease. The son of this lady, Gaston de Foix, had
lately married a sister of Louis the Eleventh of France ; and, in a treaty
subsequently contracted between that monarch and the king of Aragon,
it was stipiilated that Blanche should be delivered into the custody of
MINORITY OF FERDINAND. W
the countess of Foix, as s.irety for the succession of the latter, and of her
posterity, to the crown of Navarre.*
Conformably to this provision, John endeavoured to persuade the
princess Blanche to accompany him into France, under the pretext of
forming: an alliance for her with Louis's brother, the duke of Berri.
The unfortunate lady, comprehending too well her father's real purpose,
besought him with the most piteous entreaties not to deliver her into
the hands of her enemies : but, closing his heart against all natural
affection, he caused her to be torn from her residence at Olit, in the
heart of her own dominions, and forcibly transported across the mountains
into those of the count of Foix. On arriving at St. Jean Pied de Port,
a little town on the French side of the Pyrenees, being convinced that
she had nothing further to hope from human succour, she made a formal
renunciation of her right to Navam in favour of her cousin and former
husband, llenry the Fourth, of Castile, who had uniformly supported
tin- cause of her brother Carlos. Henry, though debased by sensual
indulgence, was naturally of a gentle disposition, and had ii3ver treated
her personally with unkindness. In a letter which she now addressed
to him, and which, says a Spanish historian, cannot be read after the
lapse of so many years, without affecting the most insensible heart, she
reminded him of the dawn of happiness which she had enjoyed under
his protection, of his early engagements to her, and of her subsequent
calamities ; and, anticipating the gloomy destiny which awaited her, she
settled on him her inheritance of Navarre, to the entire exclusion of her
intended assassins, the count and countess of Foix.
On the same day, the last of April (1462), she was delivered over to
one of their emissaries, who conducted her to the castle of Ortes in
Bearue, where, after languishing in dreadful suspense for nearly two
years, she was poisoned by command of her sister, t The retribution of
Providence not unfrequently overtakes the guilty even in this world.
The countess survived her father to reign in Navarre only three short
! : while the crown was ravished from her posterity for ever by that
very Ferdinand whose elevation had been the object to his parents of so
much solicitude and so many crimes.
"\Vithin a fortnight after the decease of Carlos (Oct. 6, 1461), the
cuMomary oaths of allegiance, so pertinaciously withheld from that
1111 1'ovtunate prince, were tendered by the Aragonese deputation, at
Calalayud, to his brother Ferdinand, then only ten years of age, as heir
apparent of the monarchy; after which he was conducted by his mother
into Catalonia, in order to receive the more doubtful homage of that
province. The extremities of Catalonia at this time seemed to be in
pevft ot, repose, but the capital was still agitated by secret discontent.
'I'lir ghost of Carlos was seen stalking by night through the streets of
]>avtv1ona, bewailing in piteous accents his untimely end, and invoking
vengeance on his unnatural murderers. The manifold miracles wrought
at his tomb soon gained him the reputation of a saint, and his image
* This treaty was signed at Olit in Navarre, April 12th, 1-462.
f The Spanish historians are not agreed as to the time or even the -mode of Blanche's
death. All concur, however, in attributing it to assassination, nnd most of them in
imputing it to poison. The fact of he 1 " death, which Aleson, on I know not what
authority, refers to the 2nd of December, H(!J, was not publicly disclosed till some months
after its occurrence, when disclosure became necessary in consequence of the proposed
Interposition of the Xavarr*se cortea.
56 EETGN OF JOHN H. OF AKAGON.
received the devotional honours reserved for such as have been duly
canonised by the church.*
The revolutionary spirit of the Barcelonians, kept alive by the
recollection of past injury, as well as by the apprehensions of future
vengeance, should John succeed in re-establishing his authority over
them, soon became so alarming, that the queen, whose consummate
address, however, had first accomplished the object of her visit, found it
advisable to withdraw from the capital ; and she sought refuge with her
son and such few adherents as still remained faithful to them, in the for-
tified city of Gerona, about fifty miles north of Barcelona.
Hither, however, she was speedily pursued by the Catalan militia,
embodied under the command of their ancient leader Roger, count of
Pallas, and eager to regain the prize which they had so inadvertently
lost. The city was quickly entered ; but the queen, with her handful
of followers, had retreated to a tower belonging to the principal church
in the place, which, as was very frequent in Spain, in those wild times,
was so strongly fortified as to be capable of maintaining a formidable
resistance. To oppose this, a wooden fortress of the same height was
constructed by the assailants, and planted with lombards and other
pieces of artillery then in use, which kept up an unintermitting dis-
charge of stone bullets on the little garrison, f The Catalans also
succeeded in runnisg a mine beneath the fortress, through which a
considerable body of troops penetrated into it, when, their premature
cries of exultation having discovered them to the besieged, they were
repulsed, after a desperate struggle, with great slaughter. The queen
displayed the most intrepid spirit in the midst of these alarming scenes ;
unappalled by the sense of her own danger and that of her child, and by
the dismal lamentations of the females by whom she was surrounded,
she visited every part of the works in person, cheering her defenders by
her presence and dauntless resolution. Such were the stormy and
disastrous scenes in which the youthful Ferdinand commenced a career,
whose subsequent prosperity was destined to be chequered by scarcely a
reverse of fortune.
In the meanwhile, John, having in vain attempted to penetrate
through Catalonia to the relief of his wife, effected this by the co-opera-
tion of his French ally, Louis the Eleventh. That monarch, with his
usual insidious policy, had covertly despatched an envoy to Barcelona
on the death of Carlos, assuring the Catalans of his protection, should
they still continue averse to a reconciliation with their own sovereign.
These offers were but coldly received ; and Louis found it more for his
interest to accept the propositions made to him by the king of Aragon
himself, which subsequently led to most important consequences. By
three several treaties, of the 3rd, 21st, and 23rd of May, 1462, it was
* According to Lanuza, who wrote nearly two centimes after the death of Carlos, the
flesh upon his right arm, which h:id been amputated for the purpose of a more convenient
application to the diseased members of the pilgrims who visited his shrine, remained in
his day in a perfectly sound and healthful state !
t The Spaniards, deriving the knowledge of artillery from the Arabs, had become
familiar with it before the other nations of Christendom. The affirmation of Zurita,
however, that .0000 balls were fired from the battery of the besiegers at Gerona in one day,
Is perfectly absurd. So little was the science of gunnery advanced in other parts of
Europe at this period, and indeed later, that it was usual for a field-piece not to be di-
charged more than twice in the course of an action, if we may credit Machiavelli, wh<^
Indeed, recommends dispensing with the use of artillery altogether.
MINORITY OF FEEDI.S-AKD. 57
Btipulated that Louis should furnish his ally with seven hundred lances
and a proportionate number of archers and artillery during: the war with
Barcelona, to be indemnified by the payment of two hundred thousand
gold crowns within one year after the reduction of that city ; as security
lor which, the counties of Rousillon and Cerdagne were pledged by-
John, with the cession of their revenues to the French king, Tintil such
time as the original debt should be redeemed. In this transaction both
monarchs manifested their usual policy : Louis believing that this
temporary mortgage would become a permanent alienation, from John's
inability "to discharge it: while the latter anticipated, as the event
showed, with more justice, that the aversion of the inhabitants to
the dismemberment of their country from the Aragonese monarchy
would baffle every attempt on the part of the French to occupy it per-
manently.*
In pursuance of these arrangements, seven hundred French lances,
with a considerable body of archers and artillery, f crossed the moun-
tains, and, rapidly advancing on Gerona, compelled the insurgent army
to raise the siige, and to decamp with such precipitation as to leave their
cannon in the hands of the rovalists. The Catalans now threw aside the
thin veil with which they had hitherto covered their proceedings. The
authorities of the principality, established in Barcelona, publicly
renounced their allegiance to King John and his son Ferdinand, and
proclaimed them enemies of the republic. Writings at the same time
were circulated, denouncing from Scriptural authority, as well as natural
reason, the doctrine of legitimacy in the broadest terms, and insisting
that the Aragonese monarchs, far from being absolute, might be lawfully
deposed for an infringement of the liberties of the nation. " The good
of the commonwealth,'' it was said, " must always be considered
paramount to that of the prince." Extraordinary doctrines these for
the age in which they were pronmlged, affording a still more extra-
ordinary contrast with those which have been since familiar in that
unhappy country !
The government then enforced levies of all such as were above the
age of fourteen ; and distrusting the sufficiency of its own resources,
ottered the sovereignty of the principality to Henry the Fourth, of
Castile. The court of Aragon, however, had so successfully insinuated
its influence into the council of this imbecile monarch, that he was
not permitted to afford the Catalans any effectual support ; and, as
he abandoned their cause altogether before the expiration of the
year, | the crown was offered to Don Pedro, constable of Portugal, a
: ulant of the ancient house of Barcelona. In the meanwhile, the
old king of Aragon, attended by his youthful son, had made himself
master, with his characteristic activity, of considerable acquisitions
in the revolted territory, successively reducing Lerida, Cervera,
* Another 100,000 crowns were to be paid in case further assistance should be required
from the French monarch after the reduction of Barcelona.
t A French lance, it may be stated, according to L. Marineo, was accompanied by two
horsemen : so that the whole contingent of cavalry to be furnished on this occasion
amounted to 2100. Nothing c< >ukl be more indeterminate than the complement of a lance
in the middle ages. It is not unusual to find it reckoned at five or six horsemen.
t In conformity with the famous verdict givea by Louis XI. at l!ayonue, April 23rd,
14 . previously to the interview between him and Henry IV. oa the shores of the
Bid..-
This was the battle-ground of Julius Crcsar in his wars with Pompey. See hi
58 EEIfiN OF JOHX II. OF ARA.GOy.
Amposta,* Tortosa, and the most important places in the south of Cata-
lonia (1464). Many of these places were strongly fortified, and most of
them defended -with a resolution which cost the conqueror a prodigious
sacrifice of time and money. John, like Philip of Macedon, made use of
Eold even more than arms, for the reduction of his enemies ; and, though
e indulged in occasional acts of resentment, his general treatment of
those who submitted was as liberal as it was politic. His competitor, Don
Pedro, had brought little foreign aid to the support of his enterprise ;
he had failed altogether in conciliating the attachment of his m-w
subjects ; and, as the operations of the war had been conducted
on his part in the most languid manner, the whole of the princi-
pality seemed destined soon to relapse under the dominion of its
ancient master. At this juncture the Portuguese prince fell ill of
a fever, of which he died on the 29th of June, 1466. This event,
which seemed likely to lead to a termination of the war, proved ulti-
mately the cause of its protraction.
It appeared, however, to present a favourable opportunity to John for
opening a negotiation with the insurgents. But, so resolute were they
in maintaining their independence, that the council of Barcelona con-
demned two of the principal citizens, suspected of defection from the
cause, to be publicly executed ; it refused, moreover, to admit an envoy
from the Aragonese cortes within the city, and caused the despatches
with which he was intrusted by that body to be torn in pieces before his
face.
The Catalans then proceeded to elect Rene le Bon, as he was styled, of
Anjou, to the vacant throne, brother of one of the original competitors
for the crown of Aragon on the demise of Martin ; whose cognomen of
" Good " is indicative of a sway far more salutary to his subjects than
the more coveted and imposing title of Great. f This titular sovereign
of half a dozen empires, in which he did not actually possess a rood of
land, was too far advanced in years to assume this perilous enterprise
himself ; and he accordingly intrusted it to his son John, duke of Cala-
bria and Lorraine, who, in his romantic expeditions in southern Italy,
had acquired a reputation for courtesy and knightly prowess inferior to
none other of his time. Crowds of adventurers fiocked to the standard
of a leader whose ample inheritance of pretensions had made him familiar
with war from his earliest boyhood ; and he soon found himself at the
head of eight thousand effective troops. Louis the Eleventh, although
not directly aiding Ms enterprise with supplies of men or money, wn-*
willing so far to countenance it as to open a passage for him through the
mountain fastnesses of Roussillon, then in his keeping, and thus enable
ingenious military manoeuvre as simply narrated in his own OosHUdutnrlafV -ind hy Lucan
(Pharsalia, lib. 4), with his usual swell of hypp.rh<il.
* The cold WAS so intense at the siege of Am?w)tn, ll,:.i. .T|,,.iii of OM rno v fi;c imcr-
nitude are reported by L. Marineo to have descended from l.hn i!tpontni)Ul '""! l-' i:i !l
refuge in the camp of the besiegers. Portentous and Riincmalu>-'i vniiT-i wove fiv.iuontly
heard during the nights. Indeed the superstition of the soldier? sMnxsvn to 'mvo lx-eii SO
lively as to have prepared them for seeing aud hearing any
\ Sir Walter Scott, in his "Anne of Geierstein." has brought into full relief the ridi-
culous side of Hone's character. The good king's fondos< for poetry n"H th? tn-n.
however, although showing itself occasionally in pnenlo eccentricities, iny conipivo
advantageously with the coarse appetites and mischievous activity of mopl. of the eon-
temporary princes. Aft*/ all, the best tribute to IMS wjrth was the earnest attachmen;
of hiti people.
OF FEEDI>'AXD. 59
him to descend with his whole army at once on the northern borders of
Catalonia. (1467.)*
The king of Aragon could oppose no force capable of resisting this
formidable army. Ilis exchequer, always low, was completely exhausted
by the extraordinary eftbrts which he had made in the late campaigns ;
and as the king of France, either disgusted with the long protraction of
the war, or from secret good-will to the enterprise of his feudal subject,
withheld from king John the stipulated subsidies, the latter monarch
found himself unable, with every expedient of loan and exaction, to raise
sufficient money to pay his troops, or to supply his magazines. In
addition to this' he was now involved in a dispute with the count and
countess of Foix, who, eager to anticipate the possession of Navarre,
which had been guaranteed to them on their father's decease, threatened
a similar rebellion, though on much less justifiable pretences to that
which he had just experienced from Don Carlos. To crown the whole of
John's calamities, his eye-sight, which had been impaired by exposure,
and protracted sufferings, during the winter siege of Amposta, now failed
him altogether.
In this extremity, his intrepid wife, putting herself at the head of
such forces as she could collect, passed by water to the eastern shores of
Catalonia, besieging Rosas in person , and checking the operations of the
enemy by the capture of several inferior places ; while prince Ferdinand,
effecting a junction with her before Gerona, compelled the duke of
Lorraine to abandon the siege of that important city. Ferdinand's
ardour, however, had nearly proved fatal to him ; as 'in an accidental
encounter with a more numerous party of the enemy, his jaded horse
would infallibly have betrayed him into their hands, had it not been for
the devotion of his officers, several of whom, throwing themselves
between him and his pursuers, enabled him to escape by the sacrifice of
their own liberty.
These ineffectual struggles could not turn the tide of fortune. The
duke of Lorraine succeeded in this and the two following campaigns in
making himself master of all the rich district of Ampurden, north-east
of Barcelona. In the capital itself, his truly princely qualities and his
popular address secured him the most unbounded influence. Such was
the enthusiasm for his person, that when he rode abroad the people
thronged around him, embracing his knees, the trappings of his steed,
and even the animal himself, in their extravagance ; while the ladies, it
id, pawned their rings, necklaces, and other ornaments of their
attire, in order to defray the expenses of the war.
King John, in the meanwhile, was draining the cup of bitterness to
the dregs. In the winter of 1468, his queen, Joan Henriquez, fell
victim to a painful disorder, which had been secretly corroding hor con-
stitution for a number of years. In many respects, she was the most
remarkable woman of her time. She took an active part in the politics
of her husband, and may be even said to have given them a direction.
She conducted several important diplomatic negotiations to a happy
issue, and, what was more uncommon in her sex, displayed considerable
capacity for military affairs. Her persecution of her step-son, Carlos,
* Tulcncia swells the numbers of the French in the service of the Duke of Lorraine to
80,000.
60 EEIGX OF JOHX H. OF AKAGOX.
has left a deep stain on her memory. It was the cause of all her
husband's subsequent misfortunes. Her invincible spirit, however, and
the resources of her genius supplied him with the best means of sur-
mounting many of the difficulties in which she had involved him. and
her loss at this crisis seemed to leave him at once without solace or
support.*
At this period he was further embarrassed, as will appear in the
ensuing chapter, by negotiations for Ferdinand's marriage, which was
to deprive him, in a great measure, of his son's co-operation in the
struggle with his subjects, and which, as he lamented, while he had
scarcely three hundred enriqties in his coffers, called on him for addi-
tional disbursements.
As the darkest hour, however, is commonly said to precede the
dawning, so light now seemed to break upon the affairs of John. A
physician in Lerida. of the Hebrew race, which monopolised at that time
almost all the medical science in Spain, persuaded the king to submit
to the then unusual operation of couching, and succeeded in restoring
sight to one of his eyes. As the Jew, after the fashion of the Arabs,
debased his real science with astrology, he refused to operate on the
other eye, since the planets, he said, wore a malignant aspect. But
John's rugged nature was insensible to the timorous superstitions of his
age, and he compelled the physician to repeat his experiment, which in
the end proved perfectly successful. Thus restored to his natural
faculties, the octogenarian chief, for such he might now almost be called,
regained his wonted elasticity, and prepared to resume offensive opera-
tions against the enemy with all his accustomed energy.
Heaven, too, as if taking compassion on his accumulated misfortune,
now removed the principal obstacle to his success by the death of the
duke of Lorraine, who was summoned from the theatre of his short-lived
triumphs on the 16th of December, 1469. The Barcelonians were thrown
into the greatest consternation by his death, imputed, as xisual, though
without apparent foundation, to poison ; and their respect for his memory
was attested by the honours, no less than royal, which they paid to his
remains. His body sumptuously attired, with his victorious sword by
his side, was paraded in solemn procession through the illuminated
streets of the city, and, after lying nine days in state, was deposited
amid the lamentations of the people in the sepulchre of the sovereigns of
Catalonia, f
As the father of the deceased prince was too old and his children too
young, to give effectual aid to their cause, the Catalans might be now
said to be again without a leader. But their spirit was unbroken, and
with the same resolution in which they refused submission more than
two centuries after, in 1714, when the combined forces of France and
The queen's death was said to have been caused by a cancer. According to Aleson
and some other Spanish writers, Joan was heard several times, in her last ill:
exclaim, in allusion, as was supposed, to her assassination of Carlos, " Alas '. Ferdinand,
how dear thou hast cost thy mother ! I find no notice of this improbable confession in
any contein: orary author.
t According to M. de Villeneuve Bargemont, the princess Isabella's hand had been
offered to the duke of Lorraine ; and the envoy despatched to notify his acceptance of it,
on arriving at the court of Castile, received from the lips of Henry IV. the first tidings of
his master's death. He must have learned too, with no less surprise, that Isabella had
already been married at that time more than a year ! See the date of the official marriage
recorded in Mem. de la Acad. de Hist
MINORITY OF FEEDIXA.XD. 61
Spain were at the gates of the capital, they rejected the conciliatory
advances made them anew by John. That monarch, however, having
succeeded by extraordinary efforts in assembling a competent force, was
proceeding with alacrity in the reduction of such places in the eastern
quarter of Catalonia as had revolted to the enemy, while at tho same
time he instituted a rigorous blockade of Barcelona by sea and land.
The fortifications were strong, and the king was unwilling to expose
so fair a city to the devastating horrors of a storm. The inhabitants
made one vigorous effort in a sally against the royal forces ; but the
civic militia were soon broken, and the loss of four thousand men,
killed and prisoners, admonished them of their inability to cope with the
veterans of Aragon.
At length reduced to the last extremity, they consented to enter into
negotiations, which were concluded by a treaty, equally honourable to
both parties. It was stipulated that Barcelona should retain all its
ancient privileges and rights of jurisdiction, and, with some exceptions,
its large territorial possessions. A general amnesty was to be granted for
offences. The foreign mercenaries were to be allowed to depart in
safety ; and such of the natives as should refuse to renew their alle-
giance to their ancient sovereign within a year, might have the liberty
of removing Avith their effects wherever they would. One provision
may be thought somewhat singular, after what had occurred ; it was
agreed that the king should cause the Barcelonians to be publicly pro-
claimed, throughout all his dominions, good, faithful, and loyal
subjects ; which was accordingly done !
The Icing, after the adjustment of the preliminaries, "declining,'*
says a contemporary, ' ' the triumphal car which had been prepared for
him, made his entrance into the city by the gate of St. Anthony,
mounted on a white charger ; and, as ne rode along the principal
streets, the sight of so many pallid countenances and emaciated figures,
bespeaking the extremity of famine, smote his heart with sorrow." He
then proceeded to the nail of the great palace, and on the 22nd of
December, 1472, solemnly swore there to respect the constitution and
laws of Catalonia.
Thus ended this long disastrous civil war, the fruit of parental injus-
tice and oppi-ession, which had nearly cost the king of Aragon the fairest
portion of his dominions ; which devoted to disquietude and disappoint-
ment more than ten years of life, at a period when repose is most
grateful : and which opened the way to foreign wars, that continued to
hang like a dark cloud over the evening of his days. It was attended,
however, with one important result ; that of establishing Ferdinand'*
accession over the whole of the domains of his ancestors.
CHAPTER III.
E3SOX OF HENBT IV. GT CASTILE CIVIL WAR MARRIAGE OF FERDINAND A'XT) ISABELLA
14541469.
Henry IV. disappoints Est'ectations Oppression of the People League of the Nobles >
Extraordinary Scene at Avila Early Education of Isabella Death of her Bror'uer
Alfonso Intestine Anarchy The Crown offered to Isabella She declines it Her
Suitors She accepts Ferdinand of Aragon Marriage Articles Critical Situation of
Isabella Ferdinand enters Castile. Their Marriage.
WHILE these stormy events were occurring in Aragon, the Infanta
Isabella, whose birth was mentioned at the close of the first chapter,
was passing her youth amidst scenes scarcely less tumultuous. At the
date of her birth, her prospect of succeeding to the throne of her ances-
tors was even more remote than Ferdinand's prospect of inheriting that
of his : and it is interesting to observe through what trials, and by what
a series of remarkable events, Providence was pleased to bring about
this result, and through it the union, so long deferred, of the great
Spanish monarchies.
The accession of her elder brother, Henry the Fourth, was welcomed
with an enthusiasm proportioned to the disgust which had been excited
by the long-protracted and imbecile reign of his predecessor. Some few,
indeed, who looked back to the time when he was arrayed in arms
against his father, distrusted the soundness either of his principles or of
his judgment. But far the larger portion of the nation was disposed t
refer this to inexperience, or the ebullition of youthful spirit, r.;.d
indulged the cheering anticipations which are usually entertained of a
new reign and a young monarch. Henry was distinguished by a
benign temper, and by a condescension, which might be called fami-
liarity, in his intercourse with his inferiors, virtues peculiarly engaging
in persons of his elevated station ; and as vices which wear the gloss of
youth, are not only pardoned, but are oftentimes popular with the
vulgar, the reckless extravagance in which he indulged himself v,\is
favourably contrasted with the severe parsimony of his father in his latter
yours, and gained him the surname of "the Liberal." His treasurer
Laving remonstrated with him on the prodigality of his expenditure, he
replied, " Kings, instead of hoarding treasure like private persons, are
bound to dispense it for the happiness of their subjects. We must give
to our enemies to make them friends, and to our friends to keep thorn
so." He suited the action so well to the word, that, in a few years, there
\vas scarcely a maravedi remaining in the royal coffors.*
He maintained greater state than was usual with the monarchs of
Castile, keeping in pay a body-guard of thirty-six hundred lances,
splendidly equipped, and officered by the sons of the nobility. He
Although Henry's lavish expenditure, particularly on works of architecture, gained
him in early life the appellation of "the Liberal," he is better known on the roll of Castiiian
ovcreigns by a less flattering title.
CA-TILE TTXDEB HEXBT IT. 63
proclaimed a crusade against the Moors, a measure always popular in
Castile ; assuming the pomegranate branch, the device of Granada, on
his escutcheon, in token of his intention to extirpate the Moslems from
the Peninsula. He assembled the chivalry of the remote provinces ;
and in the early part of his reign, scarce a year elapsed without one or
more incursions into the hostile territory with armies of thirty or forty
thousand men. The results did not correspond -with the magnificence of
the apparatus ; and these brilliant expeditious too often evaporated in a
mere border foray, or in an empty gasconade under the walls of Granada.
Orchards were cut down, harvests plundered, A - illages burnt to the
ground, and all the other modes of annoyance peculiar to this barbarous
warfare put in practice by the invading armies, as they swept over the
face of the country : individual feats of prowess, too, commemorated in
the romantic ballads of the time, were achieved ; but no victory was
gained, no important post acquired. The king in vain excused his
hasty retreats and abortive enterprises, by saying, " that he prized the
life of one of his soldiers more than those of a thousand Mussulmans."
His troops murmured at this timorous policy : and the people of the
south, on whom the charges of the expeditious fell with peculiar heavi-
ness, from their neighbourhood to the scene of operations, complained
that " the war was carried on against them, not against the infidel."
On one occasion an attempt was made to detain the king's person, and
thus prevent him from disbanding his forces. So soon had the royal
authority fallen into contempt ! The king of Granada himself, when
summoned to pay tribute after a series of these ineffectual operations,
replied, " that, in the first year of Henry's reign, he would have offered
any thing, even his children, to preserve peace to his dominions ; but
now he would give nothing." *
The contempt, to which the king exposed himself by his public
conduct, was still further heightened by his domestic. With even a
greater indisposition to business than was manifested by his father, t he
-sed none of the cultivated tastes which were the redeeming quali-
ties of the latter. Having been addicted from his earliest youth tft
debauchery, when he had lost the powers, he retained all the ivlish, for
the brutis'h pleasures of a voluptuary. He had repudiated his wife
Blanche of Aragou, after a union of twelve years, on grounds sufficiently
ridiculous and humiliating.^ In 1455, he espoused Joanna, a Por-
tuguese princess, sister of Alfonso the Fifth, the reigning monarch.
This lady, then in the bloom of youth, was possessed of personal graces
and a lively wit, which, say the historians, made her the delight of the
court of Portugal. She was accompanied by a brilliant train of maidens,
and her entrance into Castile v. { by the festivities and military
pageants which belong to an age of chivalry. The light and lively
manners of the youn<* queen, however, which seemed to defy the formal
etiquette of the Castilian court, gave occasion to the grossest suspicions.
The tongue of scandal indicated Belfzan de la Cueva, one of the haud=
* The surprise of Gibraltar, the unhappy source of feud between the families of Guzman
and Ponce de Leon, did not occur till a later period, 1-io..
t Such was his apathy, says Mariana, that he would subscribe his nams to public ordr
nances, without taking the trouble to acquaint himself with the'.
J The marriage between Blanche and Henry was puUicly declared Uhop
via, confirmed by the archbishop of Toledo, '* i>or impottitcia rerpectira, owiug to
K.'Uie malign influence ! "
64 MARRIAGE OF FEBDIXAND AND ISABELLA.
somest cavaliers in the kingdom, and then newly risen in the royal
graces, as the person to whom she most liberally dispensed her favours.
This knight defended a passage of arms, in presence of the court, near
Madrid, in which he maintained the superior beauty of his mistress
against all comers. The king was so much delighted with his prowess,
that he commemorated the event by the erection of a monastery dedi-
cated to St. Jerome ; a whimsical origin for a religious institution. *
The queen's levity might have sought some j ustitication in the unveiled
licentiousness of her husband. One of the maids of honour, whom she
brought in her train, acquired an ascendancy over Henry, which he did
not attempt to disguise ; and the palace, after the exhibition of the
most disgraceful scenes, became divided by the factions of the hostilr
fair ones. The archbishop of Seville did not blush to espouse the cause
of the paramour, who maintained a magnificence of state which rivalled
that of royalty itself. The public were still more scandalised by Henry's
sacrilegious intrusion of another of his mistresses into the post of abbess
of a convent in Toledo, after the expulsion of her predecessor, a lady of
noble rank and irreproachable character.
The stream of corruption soon finds its way from the higher to the
more humble walks of life. The middling classes, imitating their
superiors, indulged in an excess of luxury equally demoralising, and
ruinous to their fortunes. The contagion of example infected even the
higher ecclesiastics ; and we find the archbishop of St. Jame? hunted
from his see by the indignant populace, in consequence of an outrage
attempted on a youthful bride, as she was returning from church, after
the performance of the nuptial ceremony. The rights of the people
could be but little consulted, or cared for, in a court thus abandoned to
unbounded licence. Accordingly we find a repetition of most of the
unconstitutional and oppressive acts which occurred under John the
Second, of Castile ; attempts at arbitrary taxation, interference in the
freedom of elections, and in the right exercised by the cities of nomi-
nating the commanders of such contingents of troops as they might
contribute to the public defence. Their territories were repeatedly alien-
ated, and, as well as the immense sums raised by the sale of papal
indulgences for the prosecution of the Moorish war, were lavished on
the royal satellites.!
But perhaps the most crying evil of this period was the shameless
adulteration of the coin. Instead of five royal mints, which formerly
existed, there were now one hundred and fifty in the hands of authorised
* It does not appear, however, whom Beltran de la Cueva indicated as the lady of his
love on this occasion. Two anecdotes may be mentioned as characteristic of the gallantry
of the times. The archbishop of Seville concluded a superb fete, given in honour of the
royal nuptials, by introducing on the table two vases filled with rings garnished with
precious stones, to be distributed among his female guests. At a ball given on another
occasion, the young queen having condescended to dance with the French ambassador,
the latter made a solemn vow, in commemoration of so distinguished an honour, never to
dance with any other woman.
. \ The papal bulls of crusade issued on those occasions, says Palencia, contained, among
other indulgences, an exemption from the pains and penalties of purgatory, assuring to
the soul of the purchaser, after death, an immediate translation into a state of glory. Some
of the more orthodox casuists doubted the validity of such a bull. But it was decided,
after due examination, that, as the holy father possessed plenary power of absolution of
all offences committed upon earth, and as purgatory is situated upon earth, it properly fell
within ids jurisdiction. Bulls of crusade were sold at the rate of 200 maravedis each ; and
1*. is computed l.>y the same historian, that no less than 4,000,000 maravedis were amassed
by this trrffic in Castile in the space of four years 1
OF FEBDLN'AND AITD ISABELLA. 65
individuals, who debased the coin to such a deplorable extent, that the
most common, articles of life were enhanced in value three, four, and
even six fold. Those who owed debts eagerly anticipated the season of
payment ; and, as the creditors refused to accept it in the depreciated
currency, it became a fruitful source of litigation and tumult, xmtil the
whole nation seemed on the verge of bankruptcy. In this general
licence, the right of the strongest was the only one which could make
itself heard. The nobles, converting their castles into dens of robbers,
plundered the property of the traveller, which was afterwards sold
publicly in the cities. One of these robber chieftains, who held an
important command on the frontiers of Murcia, was in the habit of
carrying on an infamous traffic with the Moors by selling to them as
slaves the Christian prisoners of either sex, whom he had captured in his
marauding expeditions. When subdued by Henry, after a sturdy
resistance, he was asiaiu received into favour, and reinstated in his
possessions. The pusillanimous monarch knew neither when to pardon
nor when to punish.
But no part of Henry's conduct gave such umbrage to his nobles as
the facility with which he resigned himself to the control of favourites,
whom he had created as it were from nothing, and whom he advanced
over the heads of the ancient aristocracy of the land. Among those
especially disgusted by this proceeding, were Juan Pacheco, marquis of
Villena, and Alfonso Carillo, archbishop of Toledo. These two per-
sonages exercised so important an influence over the destinies of Henry,
as to deserve inoiv particular notice. The former was of noble Portu-
guese extraction, and originally a page in the service of the constable
Alvaro de Luna, by whom he had been introduced into the household
of Prince Henry, during the lifetime of John the Second. His polished
and plausible address soon acquired him a complete ascendancy over the
feeble mind of his master, who was guided bv his pernicious counsels in
his frequent dissensions with his father. His invention was ever busy
in' devising intrigues, which he recommended by his subtile, insinuating
eloquence ; and he seemed to prefer the attainment of his purposes by a
crooked rather than by a direct policy, even when the latter might
equally well have answered. He sustained reverses with imperturbable
composure : and, when his schemes were most successful, he was willing
to risk all for the excitement of a new revolution. Although naturally
humane, and without violent or revengeful passions, his restless spirit
was perpetually involving his country in all the disasters of civil war.
He was created marquis of Villena by John the Second ; and his ample
domains, lying on the confines of Toledo, Murcia, and Valencia, and
embracing an immense extent of populous and well-fortified territory,
made him the most powerful vassal in the kingdom. *
His uncle, the archbishop of Toledo, was of a sterner character. He
was one of those turbulent prelates, not unfrequent in a rude age, who
seem intended by nature for the camp rather than the church. He was
* The ancient marquisate of Villena, having been incorporated into the crown of
Castile, devolved to Prince Henry of Aragon, on his marriage with the daughter of
John II. It was subsequently confiscated by that monarch, in consequence of the repeated
rebellions of Prince Henry ; and the title, together with a largo proportion of the domains
originally attached to it, was conferred on Don Juan Pacheco, by whom it was transmitted
to his sou, afterwards raised to the rank of duke of Escaloua, iu'the rci^u of Isabella.
66 CASTILE TTNDES HENET IV.
fierce, haughty, intractable ; and he was supported in the execution of
his ambitious enterprises, no less by his undaunted resolution, than by
the extraordinary resources which he enjoyed as primate of Spain. He
was capable of warm attachments, and of making great personal sacri-
fices for his friends, from whom, in return, he exacted the most implicit
deference ; and, as he was both easily offended and implacable in his
resentments, he seems to have been almost equally formidable as a
friend and as an enemy.
These early adherents of Henry, little satisfied with seeing their own
consequence eclipsed by the rising glories of the newly created favourites,
began secretly to stir up cabals and confederacies among the nobles,
until the occurrence of other circumstances obviated the necessity, and
indeed the possibility, of further dissimulation. Henry had been
persuaded to take part in the internal dissensions which then agitated
the kingdom of Aragon, and had supported the Catalans in their opposi-
tion to their sovereign by seasonable supplies of men and money. He
had even made some considerable conquests for himself, when he was
induced by the advice of the marquis of Villena and the archbishop of
Toledo, to refer the arbitration of his differences with the king of Aragon
to Louis the Eleventh of France ; a monarch whose habitual policy
allowed him to refuse no opportunity of interference in the concerns of
his neighbours.
The conferences were conducted at Bayonne, and an interview was
subsequently agreed on between the kings of France and Castile, to be
held near that city, on the banks of the Bidassoa, which divides thp
dominions of the respective monarchs. The contrast exhibited by the
two princes at this interview, in their style of dress and equipage, was
sufficiently striking to deserve notice. Louis, who was even worse
attired than usual, according to Comines, wore a coat of coarse woollen
cloth, cut short, a fashion then deemed very unsuitable to persons of
rank, with a doublet of fustian, and a weather-beaten hat, surmounted
by a little leaden image of the Virgin. His imitative courtiers adopted
a similar costume. The Castilians, on the other hand, displayed
uncommon magnificence. The barge of the royal favourite, Beltran do
la Cueva, was resplendent with sails of cloth of gold, and his apparel
glittered with a profusion of costly jewels. Henry was escorted by his
Moorish guard, gorgeously equipped, and the cavaliers of his train vied
with each other in the sumptuous decorations of dress and equipage.
The two nations appear to have been mutually disgusted with the
contrast exhibited by their opposite affectations. The French sneered at
the ostentation of the Spaniards, and the latter, in their turn, derided
the sordid parsimony of their neighbours ; and thus the seeds of a
national aversion were implanted, which, under the influence of more
important circumstances, ripened into open hostility.*
The monarchs seem to have separated with as little esteem for each
other as did their respective courtiers ; and Comines profits by the
occasion to inculcate the inexpediency of such interviews between
princes, who have exchanged the careless jollity of youth for the cold
and calculating policy of riper years. The award of Louis dissatisfied
* At least these are the important crowwieuces imputed U> this interview by the French
writers.
MAKRIAGE OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 67
all parties ; a tolerable proof of its impartiality. The Castilians, ii
particular, complained that the marquis of Villena and the archbishop
of Toledo had compromised the honour of the nation, by allowing theii
sovereign to cross over to the French shore of the Bidassoa ; and its
interests, by the cession of the conquered territory to Aragon. They
loudly accused them of being pensioners of Lotus ; a fact which does not
appear improbable, considering the usual policy of this prince, who, as is
well known, maintained an espionage over the councils of most of
his neighbours. Henry was so far convinced of the truth of these
imputations, that he dismissed the obnoxious ministers from their
employments.*
The disgraced nobles instantly set about the organisation of one of
those formidable confederacies which had so often shaken the monarchs
of Castile upon their throne, and which, although not authorised by
positive law, as in Aragon, seem to have derived somewhat of a constitu-
tional sanction from ancient usage. Some of the members of this
coalition were doubtless influenced exclusively by personal jealousies ;
but many others entered into it from disgust at the imbecile and
arbitrary proceedings of the crown.
In 1462, the queen had been delivered of a daughter, who was named
like herself, Joanna, but who, from her reputed father, Beltran de la
Cueva, was better known in the progress of her unfortunate history by
the cognomen of Beltraneja. Henry, however, had required the usual
oath of allegiance to be tendered to her as presumptive heir to the crown.
The confederates assembled at Burgos, declared this oath of fealty a
compulsory act, and that many of them had privately protested against
it at the time, from, the conviction of the illegitimacy of Joanna. In
the bill of grievances, which they now presented to the monarch, they
required that he should deliver his brother Alfonso into their hands, to
be publicly acknowledged as his successor ; they enumerated the mani-
fold abuses which pervaded every department of government, which
they freely imputed to the unwholesome influence exercised by the
favourite, Beltran de la Cueva, over the royal councils, doubtless the
true key to much of their patriotic sensibility ; and they entered into a
covenant sanctioned by all the solemnities of religion usual on these occa-
sions, not to re-enter the service of their sovereign, or accept any favour
from him, until he had redressed their wrongs.
The king, who by an efficient policy might, perhaps, have crushed
these revolutionary movements in their birth, was naturally averse to
violent, or even vigorous measures. He replied to the bishop of Cuen9a,
his ancient preceptor, who recommended these measures, ' ' You priests,
who are not called to engage in the fight, are very liberal of the blood of
others." To which the prelate rejoined, with more warmth than
breeding, " Since you are not true to your own honour at a time like
this, I shall live to see you the most degraded monarch in Spain ; when
you will repent too late this unseasonable pusillanimity."
Henry, unmoved either by the entreaties or remonstrances of his
adherents, resorted to the milder method of negotiation. He consented
* The queen of Aragon, who was as skilful a diplomatist as her husband John I.,
assailed the vanity of Villena quite as much as his interest. On ono of his missions to her
court, she invited him to dine with her tete-d-tfte at her own table, while during the repast
tiey were served by the ladies of the palace.
r a
68 CASl'ILE UNDER HENRY iV.
to an interview with the confederates, in which he was induced, by the
plausible arguments of the marquis of Villena, to comply with most of
their demands. He delivered his brother Alfonso into their hands, to be
recognised as the lawful heir to the crown, on condition of his sub-
sequent union with Joanna ; and he agreed to nominate, in conjunction
with his opponents, a commission of five, Avho should deliberate on the
state of the kingdom, and provide an effectual reform of abuses. The
result of this deliberation, however, proved so prejudicial to the royal
aiithority, that the feeble monarch was easily persuaded to disavow tho
proceedings of the commissioners, on the ground of their secret collusion
with his enemies, and even to attempt the seizure of their persons. The
confederates, disgusted with this breach of faith, and in pursuance,
perhaps, of their original design, instantly decided on the execution of
that bold measure, which some writers denounce as a flagrant act of
rebellion, and others vindicate as a just and constitutional proceeding.
In an open plain, not far from the city of Avila, they caused a
scaffold to be erected, of sufficient elevation to be easily seen from the
surrounding country. A chair of state was placed on it, and in this
was seated an effigy of King Henry, clad in sable robes and adorned
with all the insignia of royalty, a sword at its side, a sceptre in its
hand, and a crown upon its head. A manifesto was then read, exhibit-
ing in glowing colours the tyrannical conduct of the king, and the
consequent determination to depose him ; and vindicating the proceeding
\)y several precedents drawn from the history of the monarchy. The
archbishop of Toledo, then ascending the platform, tore the diadem from
the head of the statue ; the marquis of Villena removed the sceptre, the
count of Placencia the sword, the grand master of Alcantara and the
counts of Benavente and Paredes the rest of the regal insignia; when.
the image thus despoiled of its honours, was rolled in the dust, amid
the mingled groans and clamours of the spectators. The young prince
Alfonso, at that time only eleven years of age, was seated on the vacant
throne, and the assembled grandees severally kissed his hand in token
of their homage ; the trumpets announced the completion of the
ceremony, and the populace greeted with joyful acclamations the acces-
sion of their new sovereign. (1465.)
Such are the details of this extraordinary transaction, as recorded by
the two contemporary historians of the rival factions. The tidings were
borne, Avith the usual celerity of evil news, to the remotest parts of
the kingdom. The pulpit and the forum resounded with the debates of
disputants, who denied, or defended, the right of the subject to sit in
judgment on the conduct of his sovereign. Every man was compelled
to choose his side in this strange division of the kingdom. Henry
received intelligence of the defection, successively, of the capital cities of
Burgos, Toledo, Cordova, Seville, together with a large part of the southern
provinces, where lay the estates of some of the most powerful partisans
of the opposite faction. The unfortunate monarch, thus deserted by his
subjects, abandoned himself to despair, and expressed the extremity of
his anguish in the strong language of Job: "Naked came 1 from my
mother's womb, and naked must I go down to the earth."
A large, probably the larger part of the nation, however, disapproved
of the tumultuous proceedings of the confederates. However much they
contemned the person of the monarch, they were not prepared to see the
MARRIAGE OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 69
royal authority thus openly degraded. They indulged, too, some com-
passion for a prince, whose political vices, at least, were imputable to
mental incapacity, and to evil counsellors, rather than to any natural
turpitude of heart. Among the nobles who adhered to him, the most
conspicuous were " the good count of Haro," and the powerful family
of Mencloza, the worthy scions of an illustrious stock. The estates of
the marquis of Santillana, the head of this house, lay chiefly in the
Asturias, and gave him a considerable influence in the northern pro-
vinces,* the majority of whose inhabitants remained constant in their
attachment to the royal cause.
When Henry's summons, therefore, was issued for the attendance of
all his loyal subjects capable of bearing arms, it was answered by a
formidable array of numbers, that must have greatly exceeded that of
his rival, and which is swelled by his biographer to seventy thousand
foot and fourteen thousand horse ; a much smaller force, under the
direction of an efficient leader, would doubtless have sufficed to
extinguish the rising spirit of revolt. But Henry's temper led him to
adopt a more conciliatory policy, and to try what could be effected by
negotiation, before resorting to arms. In the former, however, he was
no match for the confederates, or rather the marquis of Villena, their
representative on these occasions. This nobleman, who had so zealously
co-operated with his party in conferring the title of king on Alfonso,
had intended to reserve the authority to himself. He probably found
more difficulty in controlling the ope rations of the jealous and aspiring
aristocracy, with whom he was associated, than he had imagined ; and
he was willing to aid the opposite party in maintaining a sufficient
degree of strength, to form a counterpoise to that of the confederates,
and thus, while he made his own services the more necessary to the
latter, to provide a safe retreat for himself, in case of the shipwreck of
their fortunes.
- In conformity with this dubious policy, he had, soon after the occur-
rence at Avila, opened a secret correspondence with his former master,
and suggested to him the idea of terminating their differences by some
amicable adjustment. In consequence of these intimations, Henry con-
sented to enter into a negotiation with the confederates ; and it was
agreed that the forces on both sides should be disbanded, and that a
suspension of hostilities for six months should take place, during which
some definitive and permanent scheme of reconciliation might be devised.
Henry, in compliance with this arrangement, instantly disbanded his
levies; they retired overwhelmed with indignation at the conduct of
their sovereign, who so readily relinquished the only means of redress
that he possessed, and whom they now saw it would be unavailing 10
us^t, since he was so ready to desert himself.
It would be an unprofitable task to attempt to unravel all the fine-
spun intrigues, by which the marquis of Villena contrived to defeat
* The celebrated marquis of Santillana died in 1458, at the age of sixty. The title
descended to his eldest son, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, who is represented by his con-
temporaries to have been worthy of Ids sire. Like him he was imbued with a love of
letters; he was conspicuous for his magnanimity and chivalrous honour, his moderation,
constancy, and uniform loyalty to his soveieign virtues of rare worth in t!
and tuibulcut times. Ferdinand and Isabella created him duke del IntUntad... I i,is
domain derives its name from its baving been once the patrimony of t!>- mj'aniet ot
Castile.
70 CASTILE TJNDEB, HENRY IV.
every attempt at an ultimate accommodation between the parties, until he
was very generally execrated as the real source of the disturbances in
the kingdom. In the meanwhile, the singular spectacle was exhibited
of two monarchs presiding over one nation, surrounded by their respec-
tive courts, administering the laws, convoking cortes, and in fine
assuming the state and exercising all the functions of sovereignty. It
>vas apparent that this state of things could not last long, and that the
political ferment which now agitated the minds of men from one ex-
tremity of the kingdom to the other, and which occasionally displayed
itself in tumults and acts of violence, would soon burst forth with all
the horrors of a civil war.
At this juncture, a proposition was made to Henry for detaching
the powerful family of Pacheco from the interests of the confederates,
by the marriage of his sister Isabella with the brother of the marquis of
Tillena, Don Pedro Giron, grand master of the order of Calatrava, a
nobleman of aspiring views, and one of the most active partisans of his
faction. The archbishop of Toledo would naturally follow the fortunes
of his nepheAV ; and thus the league, deprived of its principal supports,
must soon crumble to pieces. Inatead of resenting this proposal as an
affront upon his honour, the abject mind of Henry was content to pur-
chase repose even by the most humiliating sacrifice. He acceded to the
conditions ; application was made to Rome for a dispensation from the
vows of celibacy imposed on the grand master as the companion of a
religious order ; and splendid preparations were instantly commenced
for the approaching nuptials.
Isabella was then in her sixteenth year. On her father's death, she
retired with her mother to the little town of Arevalo, where, in seclu-
sion, and far from the voice of flattery and falsehood, she had been
permitted to unfold the natural graces of mind and person, which might
have been blighted in the pestilent atmosphere of a court. Here, under
the maternal eye, she was carefully instructed in those lessons of
practical piety, and in the deep reverence for religion which distinguished
her maturer years. On the birth of the Princess Joanna, she was
removed, together with her brother Alfonso, by Henry to the royal
palace, in order the more effectually to discourage the formation of any
i'action adverse to the interests of his supposed daughter. In this
abode of pleasure, surrounded by all the seductions most dazzling to
youth, she did not forget the early lessons that she had imbibed ;
and the blameless purity of her conduct shone with additional lustre
amid the scenes of levity and licentiousness by which she was
surrounded.
The near connection of Isabella with the crown, as well as her per-
sonal character, invited the application of numerous suitors. Her hand
was first solicited for that very Ferdinand who was destined to be her
future husband, though not till after the intervention of many
inauspicious circumstances. She was next betrothed to his elder brother,
Carlos ; and some years after his decease, when thirteen years of age f
was promised by fienry to Alfonso of Portugal. Isabella was present
with her brother at a personal interview with that monarch in 1464, but
neither threats nor intreaties could induce her to accede to a union so
unsuitable from the disparity of their years ; and with her characteristic
discretion, even at this early age, she rested her refusal on the ground,
3IAREIAGK OF FEEDIXAND AND ISABELLA. 71
that " the infantas of Castile coxild not he disposed of in marriage with-
out the consent of the nohles of the realm."
When Isabella understood in what manner she was now to he sacrificed
to the selfish policy of her brother, in the prosecution of which com-
pulsory measures if necessary were to be employed, she was filled with
the liveliest emotions of grief and resentment. The master of Calatrava
was well known as a fierce and turbulent leader of faction, and his
private life was stained with most of the licentious vices of the age. He
was even accused of having invaded the privacy of the queen dowager,
Isabella's mother, by proposals of the most degrading nature ; an out-
rage which the king had either not the power, or the inclination, to
resent. With this person, then, so inferior to her in birth, and so much
more unworthy of her in every other point of view, Isabella was now to
be united. On receiving the intelligence, she confined herself to her
apartment, abstaining from all nourishment and sleep for a day and night,
says a contemporary writer, and imploring Heaven in the most piteous
manner to save her from this dishonour by her own death or that of her
enemy. As she was bewailing her hard fate to her faithful friend
Beatrix de Bobadilla, " God will not permit it," exclaimed the high-
spirited lady, "neither will I : " then drawing forth a dagger from her
bosom, which she kept there for the purpose, she solemnly vowed
to plunge it in the heart of the master of Calatrava as soon as he
appeared ! *
Happily her loyalty was not put to so severe a test. Xo sooner had
the grand master received the bull of dispensation from the pope, than,
resigning his dignities in his military order, he set about such sumptuous
preparations for his wedding as were due to the rank of his intended
bride. When these were completed, he began his journey from his
residence at Alniagro to Madrid, were the nuptial ceremony was to be
performed, attended by a splendid retinue of friends and followers.
But, on the very first evening after his departure, he was attacked by
an acute disorder while at Villarubia, a village not far from Ciudad
lieal, which terminated his life in four days. He died, says Palencia,
with imprecations on his lips, because his life had not been spared some
few weeks louger.f His death was attributed by many to poison,
administered to him by some of the nobles, who were envious of his
fortune. But, notwithstanding the seasonableness of the event,
and the familiarity of the crime in that age, no shadow of imputation
was ever cast on the pure fame of Isabella.:); (1466.)
The death of the grand master dissipated, at a blow, all the fine
schemes of the marquis of Villena, as well as every hope of reconciliation
* This lady, Dolia Beatriz Fernandez de Bobadilla, the most intimate personal friend of
Isabella, will appear often in the course of our narrative. Gonzalo de Oviedo, who knew
her well, describes her as ''illustrating her generous lineage by her conduct, which was
virtuous and valiant." The last epithet, rather singular for a female character, was
not unmerited. t Palencia imputes his death to an attack of the quinsy.
J Gaillard remarks on this event, "Chacun crnt sur cette mort ce qu'il voulut." And
again, in a few pages after, speaking of Isabella, he says, " On remarqua quo tous ceux qui
pouvoient faire obstacle ii la satisfaction on a la fortune d'Isabella, mouroient toujours ;i
propos pour elle." This ingenious writer is fond of seasoning his style with those piquant
sarcasms in which oftentimes more is meant than meets the ear, and which Voltairo
rendered fashionable in history. I doubt, however, if amid all the bests of controversy
and faction, there is a single Spanish writer of that age, or iijileed of any subsequent one,
who has ventured to impute to the contrivance of Isabella any one of the fortunate
oincidences to which the author alludes.
72 CASTILE try DEE HENRY iv.
between the parties. The passions which had been only smothered,
now burst forth into open hostility ; and it was resolved to rei'er the
decision of the question to the issue of a battle. The two armies met
on the plains of Olmedo, where, two and twenty years before, John, the
father of Henry, had been in like manner confronted by his insurgent
subjects. The royal army was considerably the larger; but the
deficiency of numbers in the other was amply supplied by the intrepid
spirit of its leaders. The archbishop of Toledo appeared at the head of
its squadrons, conspicuous by a rich scarlet mantle, embroidered with a
white cross, thrown over his armour. The young prince Alfonso,
scarcely fourteen years of age, rode by his side, clad like him in com-
plete mail. Before the action commenced, the archbishop sent a message
to Beltran do la Cueva, then raised to the title of duke of Albuquerque,
cautioning him not to venture in the field, as no less than forty cavaliers
had sworn his death. The gallant nobleman, who on this, as on some
other occasions, displayed a magnanimity which in some degree excused
the partiality of his master, returned by the envoy a particular descrip-
tion of the dress he intended to wear ; a chivalrous defiance which well
nigh cost him his life. Henry did not care to expose his person in the
engagement, and, on receiving erroneous intelligence of the discomfiture
of his party, retreated precipitately with some thirty or forty horsemen
to the shelter of a neighbouring village. The action lasted three hours,
until the combatants were separated by the shades of evening, without
either party having decidedly the advantage, although that of Henry
retained possession of the field of battle. The archbishop of Toledo and
prince Alfonso were the last to retire ; and the former was seen repeatedly
to rally his broken squadrons, notwithstanding his arm had been
pierced through with a lance early in the engagement. The king and
the prelate may be thought to have exchanged characters in this
tragedy. (1467.)
The battle was attended with no result, except that of inspiring
appetites, which had tasted of blood, with a relish for more unlicensed
carnage. The most frightful anarchy now prevailed throughout the
kingdom, dismembered by factions, which the extreme youth of one
monarch and the imbecility of the other made it impossible to control.
In vain did the papal legate, who had received a commission to that
effect from his master, interpose his mediation, and even fulminate
sentence of excommunication against the confederates. The independent
barons plainly told him, that "those who advised the pope that he had
a right to interfere in the temporal concerns of Castile deceived him ;
and that they had a perfect right to depose their monarch on sufficient
grounds, and should exercise it."
Every city, nay, almost every family, became now divided within
itself. In Seville and in Cordova, the inhabitants of one street carried
on open war against those in another. The churches, which were
fortified, and occupied with bodies of tinned men, were many of them
sacked and burnt to the ground. In Toledo no less than four thousand
dwellings were consumed in one general conflagration. The ancient
family lends, as those between the great houses of Guzman and Ponce
de Leon in Andalusia, being revived, carried new division into the
cities, whose streets literally ran with blood. In the country, the
nobles and gentry, issuing from their castles, captured the defenceless
HAHRIAGI5 OF FEKDINANn AND TSACELIA. 1H
traveller, who was obliged to redeem his liberty by the payment of a
heavier rahsom than was exacted even by the Mahometans. All com-
munication on the high roads was suspended, and no man, says a con-
temporary, dared move abroad beyond the walls of his city, unless
attended by an armed escort. The organisation of one of those popular
confederacies, known under the name of Hermandad, in 1465, which
continued in operation -during the remainder of this gloomy period,
brought some mitigation to these evils, by the fearlessness with which it
exercised its functions even against offenders of the highest rank, some
of whose castles were razed to the ground by its orders. But this
relief was only partial ; and the successful opposition which the Her-
mandad sometimes encountered on these occasions, served to aggravate;
the horrors of the scene. Meanwhile, fearful omens, the usual accom-
paniments of such troubled times, were witnessed ; the heated imagina-
tion interpreted the ordinary operations of nature as signs of celestial
wrath ; and the minds of men were filled with dismal bodings of some
inevitable evil, like that which overwhelmed the monarchy in the days
of their Gothic ancestors.
At this crisis, a circumstance occurred, which gave a new face to affairs,
and totally disconcerted the operations of the confederates. This was
the loss of their young leader, Alfonso, who was found dead in his bed,
on the 5th of July, 1468, at the village of Cardefiosa, about two leagues
from Avila, which had so recently been the theatre of his glory. His
sudden death was imputed in the usual suspicious temper of that corrupt
age, to poison, supposed to have been conveyed to him in a trout, on
which he dined the day preceding. Others attributed it to the plague r
which had followed in the train, of evils that desolated this unhappy
country. Thus, at the age of fifteen, and after a brief reign, if reign
it may be called, of three years, perished this young prince, who, under
hnppier auspices and in maturer life, might have ruled over his country
with a wisdom equal to that of any of its monarchs. Even in the
disadvantageous position in which he had been placed, he gave clear
indications of future excellence. A short time before his death, he was
heard to remark, on witnessing the oppressive acts of some of the nobles,
"I must endure this patiently until I am a little older." On another
occasion, being solicited, by the citizens of Toledo, to approve of some
act of extortion which they had committed, he replied, " God forbid I
should countenance such injustice ! " And on being told that the city r
in that case, would probably transfer its allegiance to Henry, he added,
"Much as I love power, I am not willing to purchase it at such a price."
Noble sentiments, but not at all palatable to the grandees of bis party
who saw with alarm that the young lion, when he had inched his
stn-ngth, would be likely to burst the bonds with which they had
enthralled him.
It is not easy to consider the reign of Alfonso in any other light than
that of a usurpation, although some Spanish writers, and among the rest
Marina, a competent critic when not blinded by prejudice, regard him
as a rightful sovereign, and as such to be enrolled among the monarchg
of Castile. Marina, indeed, admits the ceremony at Avila to have been
originally the work of a faction, and in itself informal and unconstitutional;
but he considers it to have received a legitimate sanction from its sub-
equent recognition by the people. But I do not find that the deposition
74 CASTILE trXDER HEXEY IV.
of Henry the Fourth, was ever confirmed hy an act of cortes. He still
continued to reign with the consent of a large portion, probably the
majority, of his subjects : and it is evident that proceedings so irregular
as those at Avila could have no pretence to constitutional validity,
without a very general expression of approbation on the part of the
nation.
The leaders of the confederates were thrown into consternation hy an
event which threatened to dissolve their league, and to leave them
exposed to the resentment of an offended sovereign. In this conjuncture,
they naturally turned their eyes on Isabella, whose dignified and com-
manding character might counterbalance the disadvantages arising from
the unsuitableness of her sex for so perilous a situation, and justify her
election in the eyes of the people. She had continued in the family of
Henry during the greater part of the civil war ; until the occupation of
Segovia by the insurgents, after the battle of Olmedo, enabled her to
seek the protection of her younger brother Alfonso, to which she was the
more inclined by her disgust with the licence of a court, where the love
of pleasure scorned even the veil of hypocrisy. On the death of her
brother, she withdreAV to a monastery at Avila, where she was visited by
the archbishop of Toledo, who, in behalf of the confederates, requested
her to occupy the station lately filled by Alfonso, and allow herself to be
proclaimed queen of Castile.
Isabella discerned too clearly, however, the path of duty, and probably
of interest. She unhesitatingly refused the seductive proffer, and
replied^ that, "while her brother Henry lived, none other had aright
to the crown ; that the country had been divided long enough under the
rule of two contending monarchs ; and that the death of Alfonso might
perhaps be interpreted into an indication from Heaven of its disappro-
bation of their cause." She expressed herself desirous of establishing a
reconciliation between the parties, and offered heartily to co-operate with
her brother in the reformation of existing abuses. Neither the eloquence
nor entreaties of the primate could move her from her purpose ; and
when a deputation from Seville announced to her that that city, in
common with the rest of Andalusia, had unfurled its standards in her
name and proclaimed her sovereign of Castile, she still persisted in the
same wise and temperate policy.
The confederates were not prepared for this magnanimous act from
one so young, and in opposition to the advice of her most venerated
counsellors. No alternative remained, however, but that of negotiating
an accommodation on the best terms possible with Henry, whose facility
of temper and love of repose naturally disposed him to an amicable
adjustment of his differences. With these dispositions, a reconciliation
was effected between the parties on the following conditions : namely,
that a general amnesty should be granted by the king for all past
offences ; that the queen, whose dissolute conduct was admitted to be
matter of notoriety, should be divorced from her husband, and sent back
to Portugal ; that Isabella should have the principality of the Asturias
(the usual demesne of the heir apparent to the crown) settled on her,
together with a specific provision suitable to her rank ; that she should
be immediately recognised heir to the crowns of Castile and Leon ; that
a cortes should be convoked within forty days, for the purpose of
Bestowing a legal sanction on her title, as well as of reforming the
MAKEIAGE OF FEEDIXA2TD AND ISABELLA. 75
various abuses of government ; and finally, that Isabella should not be
constrained to marry in opposition to her own wishes, nor should she do
so "without the consent of her brother.
In pursuance of these arrangements, an interview took place between
Henry and Isabella, each attended by a brilliant cortege of cava-
liers and nobles, at a place called Toros de Guisando, in new
Castile (Sept. 9, 1468).* The monarch embraced his sister with the
tenderest marks of affection, and then proceeded solemnly to recognise
her as his future and rightful heir. An oath of allegiance was repeated
by the attendant nobles, who concluded the ceremony by kissing the
hand of the princess in token of their homage. In due time the repre-
sentatives of the nation, convened in cortes at Ocafia, unanimously con-
curred in their approbation of these preliminary proceedings, and thus
Isabella was announced to the world as the lawful successor to the
crowns of Castile and Leon.
It can hardly be believed that Henry was sincere in subscribing con-
ditions so humiliating ; nor can his easy and lethargic temper account
for his so readily relinquishing the pretensions of the princess Joanna,
whom, notwithstanding the popular imputations on her birth, he seems
always to have cherished as his own offspring. He was accused, even
while actually signing the treaty, of a secret collusion with the marquis
of Yillena, for the purpose of evading it ; an accusation which derives a
plausible colouring from subsequent events.
The new. and legitimate basis on which the pretensions of Isabella to
the throne now rested, drew the attention of neighbouring princes, who
contended with each other for the honour of her hand. Among these
suitors was a brother of Edward the Fourth, of England, not improbably
Richard, duke of Gloucester, since Clarence was then engaged in his
intrigues with the earl of Warwick, which led a few months later to his
marriage with the daughter of that nobleman. Had she listened to his
proposals, the duke would in all likelihood liave exchanged his residence
in England for Castile, where his ambition, satisfied with the certain
reversion of a crown, might have been spared the commission of the
catalogue of crimes which blacken his memory, t
Another suitor was the duke of Guienne, the unfortunate brother of
Louis the Eleventh, and at that time the presumptive heir of the French
monarchy. Although the ancient intimacy which subsisted between
the royal families of France and Castile in some measure favoured his
pretensions, the disadvantages resulting from such a union were too
obvious to escape attention. The two countries were too remote from
each other, J and their inhabitants too dissimilar in character and insti<
tutions, to permit the idea of their ever cordially coalescing as one peoplv,
under a common sovereign. Should the duke of Guienne fail in the inheri-
tance of the crown, it was argued he would be every way an unequal
* So called from four bulls, sculptured in stone, discovered there, with Latin inscrip-
tions thereon, indicating it to have been the site of one of Julius Caesar's victories during
the civil war.
<clla, who in a letter to Henry IV., dated Oct. 12th, 14C9, adverts to these pro-
posals of the English prince, as being under consideration at the time of the convention
->. does not specify which of the brothers of Edward IV. was intended,
t The territories of Franco and Castile touched, indeed, on one point (Guipuscoa), but
'.I along the whole remaining line of frontier by the kingdoms of Aragoa and
Navarre.
76 CASTILE TJXDER HfcXKY iv.
match for the heiress of Castile ; should he succeed to it, it might be
feared, that, in case of a union, the smaller kingdom would be considered
only as an appendage, and sacrificed to the interests of the larger.
The person on whom Isabella turned the most favourable eye was her
kinsman Ferdinand of Aragon. The superior advantages of a connexion
which should be the means of uniting the people of Aragon and Castile
into one nation were indeed manifest. They were the descendants of
one common stock, speaking one language, and living under the influence
of similar institutions, which had moulded them into a common resem-
blance of character and manners. From their geographical position, too,
they seemed destined by nature to be one nation ; and, while separately
they were condemned to the rank of petty and subordinate states, they
might hope, when consolidated into one monarchy, to rise at once to the
first class of European powers. While arguments of this public nature
pressed on the mind of Isabella, she was not insensible to those which
most powerfully affect the female heart. Ferdinand was then in the
bloom of life, and distinguished for the comeliness of his person. In
the busy scenes in which he had been engaged from his boyhood, he had
displayed a chivalrous valour, combined with maturity of judgment far
above his years. Indeed, he was decidedly superior to his rivals in
personal merit and attractions.* But, while private inclinations thus
happily coincided with considerations of expediency for inclining her to
prefer the Aragonese match, a scheme was devised in another quarter for
the express purpose of defeating it.
A fraction of the royal party, with the family of Mendoza at their
head, had retired in disgust with the convention of Tores de Guisando, and
openly espoused the cause of the princess Joanna. They even instructed
her to institute an appeal before the tribunal of the supreme pontiff ; and
caused a placard, exhibiting a protest against the validity of the late
proceedings, to be nailed secretly in the night to the gate of Isabella's
mansion. Thus were sown the seeds of new dissensions, before the old
were completely eradicated. With this disaffected party the marquis of
Villena, who, since his reconciliation, had resumed his ancient ascen-
dancy over Henry, now associated himself. Nothing, in the opinion of
this nobleman, could be more repugnant to his interests than the
projected union between the houses of Castile and Aragon ; to the latter
of which, as already noticed, once belonged the ample domains of his
own marquisate, which lie imagined would be held by a very precarious
tenure should any of this family obtain a footing in Castile.
In the hope of counteracting this project, he endeavoured to revive
the obsolete pretensions of Alfonso, king of Portugal; and the more
effectually to secure the co-operation of Henry, he connected with his
scheme a proposition for marrying his daughter Joanna with the son and
* Isabella, in order to acquaint herself more intimately with the personal qualities of
her respective suitors, had privately despatched her confidential chaplain. A!
to the courts of France and of Aragon, and his report on his return was altogether favour-
able to Ferdinand. The duke of Guienne he represented as "a feeble, etruminatc prince,
with lirr.bs so emaciated as to bo almost deformed, and with rye* BO \\ivik and \v:i-
to incapacitate him for the ordinary exercises of chivalry. While Ferdinand, on tin
hand, was possessed of a comely, symmetrical figure, a graceful demeanour, and a spirit
that was up to any thing." It is not improbable that the imeen of Aragon' c-< iid^reiided
to practise some of those agreeable- arts on the worthy chaiii.-nn wiiu-ii matin .-.> ..y.isililo an
impression on the murauis of Villeua.
JU.DR1AGE OF FERDIXAXD AND 1SABKZIA. 77
lioir of the Portuguese monarch ; and thus this unfortunate princess
;iight be enabled to assume at once a station suitable to her birth, and
nt some future opportunity assert with success her claim to the Castilian
(.TOWII. In furtherance of this complicated intrigue, Alfonso Avas invited
new his addresses to Isabella in a more public manner than he had
hitherto done ; and a pompous embassy, with the archbishop of Lisbon
; hf-:id, appeared at Ocana, where Isabella was then residing,
hi-aring the proposals of their master. The princess returned, as before-,
ided, though temperate refusal. Henry, or rather the marquis of
Yillona, piqued at this opposition to his wishes, resolved to intimidate
her into compliance ; and menaced her with imprisonment in the royal
fortress at Madrid. Neither her tears nor entreaties would have availed
against this tyrannical proceeding; and the marquis was only deterred
from putting it into execution by his fear of the inhabitants of Ocaiia,
who openly espoused the cause of Isabella. Indeed, the common people
of Castile very generally supported her in her preference of the Aragonese
match. Boys paraded the streets, bearing banners emblazoned with the
arms of Aragon, and singing verses prophetic of the glories of the
auspicious union. They even assembled round the palace gates, and
insulted the ears of Henry and his minister by the repetition of satirical
stanzas, which contrasted Alfonso's years with the youthful graces of
Ferdinand. Notwithstanding this popular expression of opinion, how-
ever, the constancy of Isabella might at length have yielded to the
importunity of her persecutors, had she not been encouraged by her
friend, the archbishop of Toledo, who had warmly entered into the inte-
rests of Aragon, and who promised, should matters come to extremity,
to march in person to her relief at the head of a sufficient force to insure
it, (H69.)
Isabella, indignant at the oppressive treatment which she experienced
from her brother, as well as at his notorious infraction of almost every
article in the treaty of Toros de Guisando, felt herself released from her
corresponding engagements, and determined to conclude the negotiations
relative to her marriage without any further deference to his opinion.
Before taking any decisive step, however, she was desirous of obtaining
the concurrence of* the leading nobles of her party. This was effected
without difficulty, through the intervention of the archbishop of Toledo,
and of Don Frederic Henriquez, admiral of Castile, and the maternal
grandfather of Ferdinand ; a person of high consideration, both from his
rank and character, and connected by blood with the principal families
in the kingdom. Fortified by their approbation, Isabella dismissed tlv
Aragonese envoy with a favourable answer to his master's suit.
Her reply was received with almost as much satisfaction by the old
king of Aragon, John the Second, as by his son. This monarch, who
was one of the shrewdest princes of his time, had always been deeply
sensible of the importance of consolidating the scattered monarchies of
Spain under one head. He had solicited the hand of Isabella for his
son, when she possessed only a contingent reversion of the crown. But,
when her succession had been settled on a more secure basis, he lost no
time iu effecting this favourite object of his policy. With the consent
of the states he had transferred to his son the title of king of Sicily,
and associated him with himself in the government at home, in order to
give him greater consequence in the eyes of his mistress. He then
78 CASTILE THfDEB HE>*ET IT.
despatched a confidential agent into Castile, with instructions to gain
over to his interests all \vho exercised any influence on the mind of the
princess ; furnishing him for this purpose with cartes blanches, signed
by himself and Ferdinand, which he was empowered to fill at his
discretion.
Between parties thus favourahly disposed there was no unnecessary
delay. The marriage articles were signed, and sworn to hy Ferdinand
at Cervera, on the 7th of January, 1469. He promised 'faithfully to
respect the laws and usages of Castile ; to fix his residence in that
kingdom, and not to quit it without the consent of Isabella ; to alienate
no properly belonging to the crown ; to prefer no foreigners to municipal
offices, and indeed to make no appointments of a civil or military nature
without her consent and approbation ; and to resign to her exclusively
the right of nomination to ecclesiastical benefices. All ordinances of a
public nature were to be subscribed equally .by both. Ferdinand,
engaged, moreover, to prosecute the war against the Moors : to respect
King Henry ; to suffer every noble to remain unmolested in the posses-
sion of his dignities, and not to demand restitution of the domains
formerly owned by his father in Castile. The treaty concluded with a
specification of a magnificent dower to be settled on Isabella, far more
ample than that usually assigned to the queens of Aragon. The circum-
spection of the framers of this instrument is apparent from the various
provisions introduced into it solely to calm the apprehensions and to
conciliate the good- will of the party disaffected to the marriage ; while
the national partialities of the Castilians in general were gratified by the
jealous restrictions imposed on Ferdinand, and the relinquishment of all
the essential rights of sovereignty to his consort.
AVhile these aflairs were in progress, Isabella's situation was becoming
exceedingly critical. She had availed herself of the absence of her
brother and the marquis of Tillena in the south, whither they had gone for
the purpose of suppressing the still lingering spark of insurrection, to
transfer her residence from Ocafia to Madrigal, where, under the protection
of her mother, she intended to abide the issue of the pending negotiations
with Aragon. Far, however, from escaping the vigilant eye of the
marquis of Villena by this movement, she laid herself more open to it.
She found the bishop of Burgos, the nephew of the marquis, stationed at
Madrigal, who now served as an effectual spy upon her actions. Her
most confidential servants were corrupted, and conveyed intelligence of
her proceedings to her enemy. Alarmed at the actual progress made in
the negotiations for her marriage, the marquis was now convinced that
he could only hope to defeat them by resorting to the coercive system
which he had before abandoned. He accordingly instructed the arch-
bishop of Seville to march at once to Madrigal with a sufficient force to
secure Isabella's person ; and letters were at the same time addressed
by Henry to the citizens of that place, menacing them with his resent-
ment, if they should presume to interpose in her behalf. The timid
inhabitants disclosed the purport of the mandate to Isabella, and
besought her to provide for her own safety. This was perhaps the most
critical period in her life. Betrayed by her own domestics, deserted even
by those friends of her own sex who might have afforded her sympathy
and counsel, but who fled affrighted from the scene of danger, and
on the eve of falling into the snares of her enemies, she beheld the
MARRIAGE OF IXRDIXAXD AND ISABELLA. 79
sudden extinction of those hopes which she had so long and BO fondly
cherished.*
In this exigency, she contrived to convey a knowledge of her situation
to admiral Henriquez, and the archbishop of Toledo. The active
prelate, on receiving the summons, collected a body of horse, and, rein-
forced by the admiral's troops, advanced with such expedition to Madrigal,
that he succeeded in anticipating the arrival of the enemy. Isabella
received her friends with unfeigned satisfaction ; and, bidding adieu to
her dismayed guardian, the bishop of Burgos, and his attendants, she
was borne off by her little army in a sort of military triumph to the
friendly city of Yalladolid, where she was welcomed by the citizens
with a general burst of enthusiasm.
In the mean time, Gutierre de Cardenas, one of the household of tho
princess, t and Alonso de Palencia, the faithful chronicler of these events,
were despatched into Aragou in order to quicken Ferdinand's operations,
during the auspicious interval afforded by the absence of Henry in
Andalusia. On arriving at the frontier town of Osma, they were
dismayed to find that the bishop of that place, together with the duke
of Medina Celi, on whose active co-operation they had relied for the
safe introduction of Ferdinand into Castile, had been gained over to the
interests of the marquis of Yillcna. { The envoys, however, adroitly
concealing the real object of their mission, were permitted to pass
unmolested to Saragossa, where Ferdinand was then residing. They
could not have arrived at a more inopportune season. The old king of
Aragon was in the very heat of the war against the insurgent Catalans,
headed by the victorious John of Anjou. Although so sorely pressed,
his forces were on the eve of disbanding for want of the requisite funds
to maintain them. His exhausted treasury did not contain more than
three hundred enriques. In this exigency he was agitated by the most
distressing doubts. As he could spare neither the funds nor the force
necessary for covering his son's entrance into Castile, he must either
send him unprotected into a hostile country, already aware of his
intended enterprise and in arms to defeat it, or abandon the long-
cherished object of his policy, at the moment when his plans were ripe
for execution. Unable to extricate himself from this dilemma, he
referred the whole matter to Ferdinand and his council.
It was at length determined that the prince should undertake the
journey, accompanied by half a dozen attendants only, in the disguise of
merchants, l>y the direct route from Saragossa; while another party, in
order to divert the attention of the Castilians, should proceed in a
different direction, with all the ostentation of a public embassy from
the king of Aragon to Henry the Fourth. The distance was not great
which Ferdinand and his suite were to travel before reaching a place of
safety; but this intervening country was patrolled by squadrons of
* Beatrix de Bobadilla and Mcncia de la Torre, the two ladies most it her confidence,
had escaped to the neighbouring town of Coca.
t This cavalier, who was of an ancient and honourable family in Castile, was introduco-l
to the princess's service by the archbishop of Toledo. He is represented by Gonzalo de
Obicdo as a man of much sagacity and knowledge of the world, qualities with which h
united a steady devotion to the interests of his mistress.
{ The bishop told Palencia, that "if his own servants deserted him, he would optxie
the ou'.rauca of Ferdinand into the kingdom."
{ The enrique was a jjcld coin, so denominated from Henry IL
80 CASTILE TTXDER HEKKT IT.
cavalry for the purpose of intercepting their progress ; and the whole
extent of the frontier, from Almazan to Guadalajara, was defended hy a
line of fortified castles in the hands of the family of iXIendoza. The
greatest circumspection therefore was necessary. The party journeyed
chiefly in the night ; Ferdinand assumed the disguise of a servant, and,
when they halted on the road, took care of the mules, and served hia
companions at table. In this guise, with no other disaster except that
of leaving at an inn the purse which contained the funds for the expedi-
tion, they arrived late on the second night, at a little place called the
Burgo, or Borough, of Osma, which the count of Trevifio, one of the
partisans of Isabella, had occupied with a considerable body of men-at-
arms. On knocking at the gate, cold and faint with travelling, during
which the prince had allowed himself to take no repose, they were saluted
by a large stone discharged by a sentinel from the battlements, which,
glancing near Ferdinand's head, had well-nigh brought his romantic
enterprise to a tragical conclusion ; when his voice was recognised by his
friends within, and the trumpets proclaiming his arrival, he was received
with great joy and festivity by the count and his followers. The
remainder of his journey, which he commenced before dawn, was per-
formed under the convoy of a numerous and well-armed escort ; ana on
the 9th of October he reached Duenas in the kingdom of Leon, where
the Castilian nobles and cavaliers of his party eagerly thronged to
render him the homage due to his rank.
The intelligence of Ferdinand's arrival diffused universal joy in the
little court of Isabella at Valladolid. Her first step was to transmit a
letter to her brother Henry, in which she informed him of the presence
of the prince in his dominions, and of their intended marriage. She
excused the course she had taken, by the embarrassments in which she
had been involved by the malice of her enemies. She represented the
political advantages of the connection, and the sanction it had received
from the Castilian nobles ; and she concluded with soliciting his approba-
tion of it, giving him at the same time affectionate assurance of the
most dutiful submission both on the part of Ferdinand and of herself.
Arrangements were then made for an interview between the royal pair,
in which some courtly parasites would fain have persuaded their
mistress to require some act of homage from Ferdinand, in token of the
inferiority of the crown of Aragon to that of Castile : a proposition
which she rejected with her usual discretion.
Agreeably to these arrangements, Ferdinand, on the evening of the
loth of October, passed privately from Duenas, accompanied only by four
attendants, to the neighbouring city of Valladolid, where he was received
by the archbishop of Toledo, and conducted to the apartment of his
mistress.* Ferdinand was at this time in the eighteenth year of his age.
His complexion was fair, though somewhat bronzed by constant exposure
to the sun ; his eye quick and cheerful ; his forehead ample, and
approaching to baldness. His muscular and well-proportioned frame
was invigorated by the toils of war, and by the chivalrous exercises in
which he delighted. He was one of the best horsemen in his court, and
* Qutierre de Cardenas was the first who pointed him out to the princess, exclaiming at
*.he same time, ' ' Sue et, eft es ! " '' This is he ! " in commemoration of which he was per-
miuud to place on his escutcheon the letters S3, whose pronunciation iu Spanish resemble*
that of the exclamation which he uttered.
MAKKIAGE OF FERDLN'AXD AXD ISABELLA. 81
excelled in field sports of every kind. His voice was somewhat sharp,
but he possessed a fluent eloquence ; and when he had a point to carry,
his address was courteous and even insinuating. He seciuvd his health
by extreme temperance in his diet, and by such habits of activity, that
it was said he seemed to find repose in business. Isabella was a year
older than her lover. In stature she was somewhat above the middle
size. Her complexion was fair ; her hair of a bright chestnut colour,
inclining to red ; and her mild blue eye beamed with intelligence and
sensibility. She was exceedingly beautiful; "the handsomest lady,"
says one of her household, " whom I ever beheld, and the most gracious
in her manners." The portrait still existing of her in the royal palace,
is conspicuous for an open symmetry of features indicative of the natural
serenity of temper, and that beautiful harmony of intellectual and moral
qualities, which most distinguished her. She was dignified in her
anour, and modest even to a degree of reserve. She spoke the
Custilian language with more than usual elegance ; and early imbibed
a relish for letters, in which she was superior to Ferdinand, whose educa-
tion in this particular seems to have been neglected. It is not easy to
obtain a dispassionate portrait of Isabella. The Spaniards, who revert
to her glorious reign, are so smitten with her moral perfections, that,
even in depicting her personal, they borrow somewhat of the exaggerated
colouring of romance.
The interview lasted more than two hours, when Ferdinand retired
to his quarters at Diufias as privately as he came. The preliminaries
of the marriage, however, were first adjusted ; but so great was the
poverty of the parties, that it was found necessary to borrow money to
defray the expenses of the ceremony. Such were the humiliating
circumstances attending the commencement of a union destined to open
the way to the highest prosperity and grandeur of the Spanish monarchy !
The marriage between Ferdinand and Isabella was publicly celebrated,
on the morning of the 19th of October, 1469, in the palace of John de
Vivero, the temporary residence of the princess, and subsequently
appropriated to the chancery of Valladolid. The nuptials were
solemnised in the presence of Ferdinand's grandfather, the admiral of
Castile, of the archbishop of Toledo, and a multitude of persons of rank
as well as of inferior condition, amounting in all to no less than two
thousand. A papal bull of dispensation was produced by the archbishop,
relieving the parties from the impediment incurred by their falling
within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity. This spurious docu-
ment was afterwards discovered to have been devised by the old king
of Aragon, Ferdinand, and the archbishop, who were deterred from
applying to the court of Rome by the zeal with which it openly espoused
the interest of Henry, and who knew that Isabella would never consent
to a union repugnant to the canons of the established church, and ouw
which involved such heavy ecclesiastical censures. A genuine bull of
dispensation was obtained, some years later, from Sixtus the Fourth ;
but Isabella, whose honest mind abhorred every thing like artifice, was
filled with no little uneasiness and mortification at the discovery of the
imposition.* The ensuing week was consumed in the usual festivities of
The intricacies of this aflair, at once the scandal and the stumbling-block of the
Spanish hb'.-.riaus, have been unravelled by Seiior Clemcncin vrtfh hi; ucual perspicuity.
a
82 CASTILE UXDEE HEJTRY IT.
this joyous season ; at the expiration of which the new-married paii
attende'd publicly the celebration of mass, agreeably to the usage of the
time, in ths collegiate church of Santa Maria.
An embassy was despatched by Ferdinand and Isabella to Henry, to
acquaint him with their proceedings, and again request his approbation
of them. They repeated their assurances of loyal submission, and
accompanied the message with a copious extract from such of the articles
of marriage as, by their import, would be most likely to conciliate his
favourable disposition. Henry coldly replied, "that he must advise
with his ministers."
Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdgs, author of the " Quincuagenas " frequently
cited in this History, was born at Madrid, in 14 78. He was of noble Asturian descent.
Indeed, every peasant in the Asturias claims nobility as his birthright. At the age of
twelve he was introduced into the royal palace, as one of the pages of prince John. He
continued with the court several years, and was present, though a boy, in the closing
campaigns of the Moorish war. In 1514, according to bis own statement, he embarked for
the Indies, where, although he revisited his native country several times, he continued
during the remainder of his long life. The time of his death is uncertain.
Oviedo occupied several important posts under the government, and he was appointed
to one of a literary nature, for which he was well qualified by his long residence abroad ;
that of historiographer of the Indies. It was in this capacity that he produced his prin-
cipal work, " Historia General de las Indias,"in fifty books. Las Casas deuounc
book as a wholesale fabrication, "as full of lies, almost, as pages." But Las Casas enter-
tained too hearty an aversion for the man, whom he publicly accused of rapacir
cruelty, and was too decidedly opposed to his ideas on the government of the Indies, to
be a fair critic. Oviedo, though somewhat loose and rambling, possessed extensive stores
of information, by which those who have had occasion to follow in his track have liberally
profited.
The work with which we are concerned, is his " Las Quincuagenas de los generosos 6
ilustres 6 no menos famosos Reyes, Priucipes, Duques, Marqueses y Condes et Caballeros,
et Personas notables de Espaiia." This very curious work is in the form of dialogues, in
which thje author is the chief interlocutor. It contains a very full, and, indeed
notice of the principal persons in Spain, then- lineage, revenues, and arms, with an inex-
haustible fund of private anecdote. The author, who was well acquainted with most of
the individuals of note in his time, amused himself, during his absence in the Xew World,
with keeping alive the images of home by this minute record of early reminiscences. In
this mass of gossip, there is a good deal, indeed, of very little value. It contains, how-
ever, much for the illustration of domestic manners, and copious particulars, as I hava
intimated, respecting the characters and habits of eminent personages, which could have
been known only to one familiar with them. On all topics of descent and heraldry, he is
uncommonly full ; and one would think his services in this department alone might have
secured him, in a land where these are so much respected, the honours of the press. Hu
book, however, still remain* in manuscript, appatt-^uly tittle known, and less use--;, by
(jMtiliiitn scholars.
CHAPTEE IV.
FACTIOUS IK CASTILE WAR BETWEEN FRANCE AND ARAQON DEATH OF HRJRY IT.
07 CASTILE.
14691474.
Factions in Castile- -Ferdinand and Isabella Gallant defence of Pcrpignan ajninst the
. Ferdinand raises the siege Isabella's party gains sir . ;i_tii Interview
between king Henry IV. and Isabella The French iuvade Roussiilou Ferdinand's
summary justice Death of Henry IV. of Castile Influence of his reign.
THE marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella disconcerted the operations of
the marquis of Villena, or, as he should be styled, the grand master of
St. James, since he had resigned his marquisate to his elder son, on Ids
appointment to the command of the military order above mentioned, a
dignity inferior only to the primacy in importance. It \vas determined,
however, in the councils of Henry to oppose at once the pretensions of
the princess Joanna to those of Isabella; and an embassy was gladly
received from the king of France, offering to the former lady the hand
of his brother the duke of Guienne, the rejected suitor of Isabella. Louis
the Eleventh was willing to engage his relative in the unsettled politics of
a distant state, in order to relieve himself from his pretensions at home.
An interview took place between Henry the Fourth and the French
ambassadors in a little village in the vale of Lozoya, in October, 1470.
A proclamation was read, in which Henry declared his sister to have
forfeited whatever claims she had derived from the treaty of Toros de
Ouisando, by marrying contrary to his approbation. He then with his
queen swore to the legitimacy of the princess Joanna, and announced
her as his true and lawful successor. The attendant nobles took the
usual oaths of allegiance ; and the ceremony was concluded by affiancing
the princess, then in the ninth year of her age, with the formalities
ordinarily practised on such occasions, to the count of Boulogne, the
representative of the duke of Guienne.*
The farce, in which many of the actors were the same persons who
performed the principal parts at the convention of Toros de Guisando,
had on the whole an unfavourable influence on Isabella's cause. It
exhibited her rival to the world as one whose claims were to be sup-
ported by the whole authority of the court of Castile, with the probable
co-operation of France. Many of the most considerable families in the
kingdom, as the Pachecos, f the Mendozas in all their extensive
Henry, well knowing how little all this would avail without the constitutional
nanction of the cortes, twice issued his summons in 1470, for the convocation of the deputies,
.in a recognition of the title of Joanna. But without effect. In the letters of con-
vocation issued lor a third assembly of the states, in 1471, this purpose was prudently
omitted, and thus the claims of Joanna failed to receive the countenance of the only body
which could give them validity.
t The grand master of St. James, and his son, the marquis ofVillena, afterwards duka
of Esculoua. The rents of the former nobleman, whose avarice was as insatiable as bis
influence over the feeble mind oi' Ileiiry IV. was unlimited, exceeded those of any
- LOIL..
o 2
84 TROUBLES IX CASTILE AST) ARAG01C.
ramifications,* the Zuuigns, the Yelascos,f the Pimentels,} unmindful of
the homage so recently rendered to Isabella, now openly testified their
adhesion to her niece.
Ferdinand and his consort, who held their little court at Duenas,
were so poor as to be scarcely capable of defraying the ordinary charp .-
of their table. The northern provinces of Biscay and Guipuscoa had,
however, loudly declared against the French match; and the populous
province of Andalusia, with the house of Medina Sidonia at its head,
still maintained its loyalty to Isabella unshaken. But her principal
reliance was on the archbishop of Toledo, whose elevated station in. the
cnurch and ample revenues gave him perhaps less real influence than his
commanding and resolute character, which had enabled him to triumph
over every obstacle devised by his more crafty adversary, the grand
master of St. James. The prelate, however, with all his generous self-
devotion, was far from being a comfortable ally. He would willingly
have raised Isabella to the throne, but he would have her indebted for
her elevation exclusively to himself. He looked with a jealous eye on
her most intimate friends, and complained that neither she nor her
husband deferred sufficiently to his counsel. The princess could not
always conceal her disgust at these humours ; and Ferdinand, on one
occasion plainly told him that " he was not to be put in leading-strings,
like so many of the sovereigns of Castile." The old king of Aragon,
alarmed at the consequences of a rupture with so indispensable an ally,
wrote in the most earnest manner to his son, representing the necessity
of propitiating the offended prelate. But Ferdinand, although educated
in the school of dissimulation, had not yet acquired that self-command
which enabled him in after-life to sacrifice his passions, and sometimes,
indeed, his principles, to his interests.
The most frightful anarchy at this period prevailed throughout Castile.
While the court was abandoned to corrupt or frivolous pleasure, the
administration of justice was neglected, until crimes were committed with
a frequency and on a scale which menaced the very foundation of society.
The nobles conducted their personal feuds with an array of numbers
which might compete with those of powerful princes. The duke of
Infantado, the head of the house of Mendoza, could bring into the
tield at four and twenty hours' notice, one thousand lances and ten
thousand foot. The battles, far from assuming the character of those
waged by the Italian condottieri at this period, were of the most
sanguinary and destructive kind. Andalusia was in particular the
theatre of this savage warfare. The whole of that extensive district
was divided by the factions of the Guzmans and Ponces de Leon. The
* The marquis of Santillaut, first duke of Infantado, and his brothers, the counts of
' ruiia and of Tendilla, and above all Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, afterwards cardinal of
-;i,iLn and archbishop of Toledo, who was indebted for the highest dignities in the church
less to his birth than his abilities.
* Alvaro do Zuniga, count of Palencia, and created by Henry IV. duke of Arevalo.
Pedro Fernandez de Velasco, count of Haro, was raised to the post of constable of Castlie
in 1473, and the office continued to be hereditary hi the family from that period.
J The Pimentels, counts of Benavente, had estates which gave them 60,000 ducats a
year : a very large income for that period, and far exceeding that of any other grandee of
similar rank in the kingdom.
This nobleman, Diego Hurtado, was at this time only marquis of Santillana, and wa
not raised to the title of duke of Infautado till the reign of Isabella. To avoid confusion,
however, I nave givtu him the title by which he is usually recognised by Castilian wviten.
DEATH OF HEXET IT. 84
chiefs of these ancient houses having recently died, the inheritance de-
scended to young men, whose hot blood soon revived the feuds which had
been permitted to cool under the temperate sway of their fathers. One
of these fiery cavaliers was llodrigo Ponce de Leon, so deservedly
celebrated afterwards in the wars of Granada as the marquis of Cadiz.
He was an illegitimate and younger son of the count of Arcos, but was 1
preferred by his father to his other children in consequence of the extra-
ordinary qualities which he evinced at a very early period. He served
his apprenticeship to the art of war in the campaigns against the Moors,
displaying on several occasions an uncommon degree of enterprise and
personal heroism. On succeeding to his paternal honours, his haughty
spirit, impatient of a rival, led him to revive the old feud with the duke
of Medina Sidonia, the head of the Guzmans, who, though the most
powerful nobleman in Andalusia, was far his inferior in capacity and
military science.
On one occasion the duke of Medina Sidonia mustered an army of
twenty thousand men against his antagonist ; on another, no less than
fifteen hundred houses of the Ponce faction were burnt to the ground in
Seville. Such were the potent engines employed by these petty
sovereigns in their conflicts with one another, and such the havoc whicn
they brought on the fairest portion of the Peninsula. The husbandman,
stripped of his harvest and driven from his fields, abandoned himself to
idleness, or sought subsistence by plunder. A scarcity ensued in the
years 1472 and 1473, in which the prices of the most necessary com-
modities rose to such an exorbitant height as put them beyond the reach
of any but the affluent. But it would be wearisome to go into all the
loathsome details of wretchedness and crime brought on this unhappv
country by an imbecile government and a disputed succession, and which,
are portrayed with lively fidelity in the chronicles, the letters, and the
satires of the time.*
While Ferdinand's presence was more than ever necessary to support
the drooping spirits of his party in Castile, he was unexpectedly sum-
moned into Aragon to the assistance of his father. No sooner had
Barcelona submitted to king John, as mentioned in a preceeding chapter,
than the inhabitants of Roussillon and Cerdagne, which provinces it will
be remembered were placed in the custody of France as a guarantee for
the king of Aragon's engagements, oppressed by the grievous exactions
of their new rulers, determined to break the yoke, and to put themselves
again under the protection of their ancient master, provided they could
obtain his support. The opportunity was favourable. A large part of
the garrisons in the principal cities had been withdrawn by Louis the
Eleventh to cover the frontier on the side of Burgundy and Brittany.
John, therefore, gladly embraced the proposal ; and on a concerted day a
simultaneous insurrection took place throughout the provinces, when sucb
of the French in the principal towns as had not the good fortune to escapo
into the citadels, were indiscriminately massacred. Of all the country
Salces, Collioure, and the castle of Perpignan alone remained in the
* Pulgar adverts to several circumstances which set in a strong light the anarchical
tate of the kingdom and the total deficiency of police. The celebrated satirical eclogue,
lso, entitled " Mingo Revulgo," exposes, with coarse but cutting sarcasm, the license of
the court, the corruption of the clergy, and the prevalent depravity of the people. In on
of its sti-azas it boldly ventures to promise another and a better sovereign to the country.
86 TROUBLES rS CASTILE AXD AKAGOX.
hands of the French. John then threw himself into the last-named city
with a small body of forces, and instantly set about the construction of
works to protect the inhabitants against the fire of the French garrison in
the castle, as well as from, the army which might soon be expected to
besiege them from without.
Louis the Eleventh, deeply incensed at the defection of his new sub-
jects, ordered the most formidable preparations for the siege of their
capital. John's officers, alarmed at these preparations, besought him not
to expose his person at his advanced age to the perils of a siege and of
captivity. But the lion-hearted monarch saw the necessity of animating
the spirits of the besieged by his own presence ; and, assembling: the
inhabitants in one of the churches of the city, he exhorted them resolutely
to stand to their defence, and made a solemn oath to abide the issue with
them to the last.
Louis, in the meanwhile, had convoked the ban and arriere-ban of the
contiguous French provinces, and mustered an array of chivalry and
feudal militia, amounting, according to the Spanish historians, to thirty
thousand men. With these ample forces, his lieutenant-general, the
duke of Savoy, closely invested Perpignan; and, as he was provided
with a numerous train of battering artillery, instantly opened a heavy
fire on the inhabitants. John, thus exposed to the double fire of the
fortress and besiegers, was in a very critical situation. Far from being
disheartened, however, he was seen armed cap-a-pie, on horseback from
dawn till evening, rallying the spirits of his troops, and always present
at the point of danger. He succeeded perfectly in communicating his
own enthusiasm to the soldiers. The French garrison were defeated in
several sorties, and their governor taken prisoner ; while supplies were
introduced into the city in the very face of the blockading army.
Ferdinand, on receiving intelligence of his father's perilous situation,
instantly resolved, by Isabella's advice, to march to his relief. Putting
himself at the head of a body of Castilian horse, generously furnished
him by the archbishop of Toledo and his friends, he passed into Aragon,
where he was speedily joined by the principal nobility of the kingdom,
and an army amounting in all to thirteen hundred lances, and seven
thousand infantry. With this corps he rapidly descended the Pyrenees,
by the way of Mancanara, in the face of a driving tempest which con-
cealed him for some time from the view of the enemy. The latter,
during their protracted operations, for nearly three months, had sustained
a serious diminution of numbers in their repeated skirmishes with the
besieged, and still more from an epidemic which broke out in their camp.
They also began to suffer not a little from want of provisions. At this
crisis, the apparition of this new army, thus unexpectedly descending on
their rear, filled them with such consternation, that they raised the siege
at once, setting fire to their tents, and retreating with such precipitation
as to leave most of the sick and wounded a prey to the devouring element.
John marched out, with colours flying and music playing, at the head of
his little band, to greet his deliverers ; and after an afl'ecting interview
in the presence of the two armies, the father and son returned in triumph
into Perpignan.
The French army, reinforced by command of Louis, made a second
ineffectual attempt (their own writers call it only a feint) upon the city ;
and the campaign was finally concluded by a treaty between the two
DEATH OF HENEY IV. 87
monarch?, in which it was arranged that the king of Aragon should dis-
burse within the year the sum originally stipulated for the services
rendered him by Louis in his late war with his Catalan subjects ; and
that, in case of failure, the provinces of Roussillon and Cerdagne should
be permanently ceded to the French crown. The commanders of the
fortified places in the contested territory, selected by one monarch from
the nominations of the other, were excused during the interim from
obedience to the mandates of either, at least, so far as they might contra-
vene their reciprocal engagements. (Sept. 1473.)
There is little reason to believe that this singular compact was sub~
scribed in good faith by either party. John, notwithstanding the
temporary succour which he had received from Louis at the commence-
ment of his difficulties with the Catalans, might justly complain of the
infraction of his engagements, at a subsequent period of the war ; when
he not only withheld the stipulated aid, but indirectly gave every facility
in his power to the invasion of the duke of Lorraine. Neither was the
king ot Aragon in a situation, had he been disposed, to make the requisite
disbursements. Louis, on the other hand, as the event soon proved, had
no other object in view but to gain time to reorganise his army, and to
lull his adversary into security, while he took effectual measures for
recovering the prize which had so unexpectedly eluded him.
During these occurrences, Isabella's prospects were daily brightening
in Castile. The duke of Guienne, the destined spouse of her rival
Joanna, had died in France; but not until he had testified his contempt
of his engagements with the Castilian princess by openly soliciting the
hand of the heiress of Burgundy.* Subsequent negotiations for her
marriage with two other princes had entirely failed. The doubts which
hung over her birth, and which the public protestations of Henry and
his queen, far from dispelling, served only to augment, by the necessity
which they implied for such an extraordinary proceeding, were sufficient
to deter any one from a connection which must involve the party in all
the disasters of a civil war.f
Isabella's own character, moreover, contributed essentially to strengthen
her cause. Her sedate conduct, and the decorum maintained in her
court, formed a strong contrast with the frivolity and license which dis-
graced that of Henry and his consort. Thinking men were led to
conclude that the sagacious administration of Isabella must eventually
secure to her the ascendany over her rival ; while all who sincerely
loved their country could not but prognosticate for it, under h~r
beneficent sway, a degree of prosperity which it could never reach under
the rapacious and profligate ministers who directed the councils of
Henry, and most probably would continue to direct those of his
daughter.
Among the persons whose opinions experienced a decided revolution
from these considerations, was Pedro Gonzales de Mendoza, archbishop
of Seville and cardinal of Spain ; a prelate whose lofty station in the
* Louis XI. is supposed with much probability to have assassinated his brother. M. de
Bavautc sums up his examination of the evidence with this remark. " Le roi Louis XI.
lie fit peutdtre pas mourir son frerc, mais persorme no peusa qu'il en fut incapable."
t The two prmccs alluded to were the Duke of Segorbc, a cousin of Ferdinand, and the
king of Portugal. The former, on his entrance into Castile, assumed such sovereign state
(giving his hand, for instance, to the grandees to kiss), as disgusted these haughty nobles,
and was eventually the occasion of breaking ofl' his match.
88 TEOTTBLES IIT CASTILE ANT) ARAGON.
church was supported by talents of the highest order, asd whose restless
ambition led him, like many of the churchmen of the time, to take an
active interest in politics, for which he was admirably adapted by his
knowledge of aflairs and discernment of character. Without deserting
his former master, he privately entered into a correspondence with
Isabella ; and a service, which Ferdinand, on his return from Aragon,
had an opportunity of rendering the duke of Infantado, the head of the
Mendozas,* secured the attachment of the other members of this powerful
family ; f
A circumstance occurred at this time, which seemed to promise an
accommodation between the adverse factions, or at least between Henry
and his sister. The government of Segovia, whose impregnable citadel
had been made the depositary of the royal treasure, was intrusted to
Andres de Cabrera, an officer of the king's household. This cavalier,
influenced in part by personal pique to the grand master of St. James,
and still more perhaps by the importunities of his wife, Beatrice de
Bobadilla, the early friend and companion of Isabella, entered into a
correspondence with the princess, and sought to open the way for her
permanent reconciliation with her brother. He accordingly invited her
to Segovia, where Henry occasionally resided, and, to dispel any
suspicions which she might entertain of his sincerity, despatched his
wife secretly by night, disguised in the garb of a peasant, to Aranda,
where Isabella than held her court. The latter, confirmed by the
assurances of her friend, did not hesitate to comply with the invitation,
and accompanied by the archbishop of Toledo, proceeded to Segovia
where an interview took place between her and Henry the Fourth, in
which she vindicated her past conduct, and endeavoured to obtain her
brother's sanction to her union with Ferdinand. (Dec. 1473.) Henry,
who was naturally of a placable temper, received her communication
with complacency, and, in order to give public demonstration of the
good understanding now subsisting between him and his sister, conde-
scended to walk by her side, holding the bridle of her palfrey, as she
rode along the streets of the city. Ferdinand, on his return into Castile,
hastened to Segovia, where he was welcomed by the monarch with every
appearance of satisfaction. A succession of fetes and splendid entertain-
ments, at which both parties assisted, seemed to announce an entire
oblivion of all past animosities, and the nation welcomed with satisfaction
these symptoms of repose after the vexatious struggle by which it had
been so long agitated.
The repose, however, was of no great duration. The slavish mind of
Henry gradually relapsed under its ancient bondage ; and the grand
master of St. James succeeded, in consequence of an illness with which
the monarch was suddenly seized after an entertainment given by
Cabrera, in infusing into his mind suspicions of an attempt at assassi-
nation. Henry was so far incensed or alarmed by the suggestion, that
he concerted a scheme for privately seizing the person of his sister,
which was defeated by her own. prudence and the vigilance of her
* Oviedo assigns another reason for this change ; tho disgust occasioned by Henry IV.'m
transferring tho custody of his daughter from the family of Mendoza to the Pachecos.
f The influence of these new allies, especially of the cardinal, over Isabella's councils,
was <m additional ground of umbrage to the archbishop of Toledo, who, in a communication
with the king of Aragon, declared hi msc!f, th-~'i'.i fricud'y to their cause, to be released
from all further obligations to servo it.
DEATH OF HEXHY IV. 89
friends.* But, if the visit to Segovia failed in its destined purpose of a
reconciliation with Henry, it was attended with the important con-
sequence of securing to Isabella a faithful partisan in Cabrera, who,
from the control which his situation gave him over the royal coffers,
proved a most seasonable ally in her subsequent struggle with Joanna.
Xot long after this event, Ferdinand received another summons from
his father to attend him in Aragon, where the storm of war, which had
been for some time gathering in the distance, now burst with pitiless
fury. In the beginning of February, 1474, an embassy, consisting of
two of his principal nobles, accompanied by a brilliant train of cavaliers
and attendants, had been deputed by John to the court of Louis the
Eleventh, for the ostensible purpose of settling the preliminaries of the
marriage, previously agreed on between the dauphin and the infanta
Isabella, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, then little more than
thive years of age.f The real object of the mission was to effect some
definitive adjustment or compromise of the differences relating to the
contested territories of Roussillon and Cerdagne. The king of France,
'vho, notwithstanding his late convention with John, was making active
preparations for the forcible occupation of these provinces, determined
to gain time by amusing the ambassadors with a show of negotiation,
and interposing every obstacle which his ingenuity could devise to their
progress through his dominions. He succeeded so well in this latter
part of his scheme, that the embassy did not reach Paris until the close
of Lent. Louis, who seldom resided in his capital, took good care to be
absent at this season. The ambassadors in the interim were entertained
with balls, fetes, military reviews, and whatever else might divert them
from the real objects of their mission. All communication was cut off
with their own government, as their couriers were stopped and their
despatches intercepted, so that John knew as little of his envoys or their
proceedings as if they had been in Siberia or Japan. In the meantime,
formidable preparations were making in the south of France for a descent
on Roussillon ; and when the ambassadors, after a fruitless attempt at
negotiation, which evaporated in mutual crimination and recrimination,
set out on their return to Aragon, they were twice detained, at Lyons
and Montpelier, from an extreme solicitude, as the French government
expressed it, to ascertain the safest route through a country intersected
by hostile armies ; and all this, notwithstanding their repeated pro-
testations against this obliging disposition, which held them prisoners,
in opposition to their own will and the law of nations. The prince who
descended to such petty trickery passed for the wisest of his time.
In the meanwhile, the Seigneur du Lude had invaded Eoussillon at
the head of nine hundred French lances, and ten thousand infantry,
supported by a powerful train of artillery, while a fleet of Genoese
transports, laden with supplies, accompanied the army along the coast.
Eliia surrendered after a sturdy resistance ; the governor and some of
the principal prisoners were shamefully beheaded as traitors ; and the
French then proceeded to invest Perpignan. The king of Aragon was so
Oviedo has given a full account of this cavalier, who was allied to an ancient Catalan
feinily, but who raised himself to such pre-eminence br his uwu deserts, says that writer,
that he may well be considered the founder of his house.
t This was the eldest child of Ferdinand and Isabella, born Oct. 1st, H70; aftcrw.^rd*
quecu of Portugal.
90 TKOrBLES Ef CASTILE AXD ARAGON.
much impoverished by the incessant wars in which he had been engaged,
that he was not only unable to recruit his army, but was even obliged to
pawn the robe of costly fur which he wore to defend his person against
the inclemencies of the season, in order to defray the expense of
transporting his baggage. In this extremity, finding himself disappointed
in the co-operation, on which he had reckoned, of his ancient allies the
dukes of Burgundy and Brittany, he again summoned Ferdinand to his
assistance, who, after a brief interview with his father in Barcelona,
proceeded to Saragossa to solicit aid from the estates of Aragon.
An incident occurred on this visit of the prince worth noticing, as
strongly characteristic of the lawless habits of the age. A citizen of
^arairossa, named Ximenes Gordo, of noble family, but who had relin-
quished the privileges of his rank in order to qualify himself for municipal
office, had acquired such ascendancy over his townsmen as to engross
the most- considerable posts in the city for himself and his creatures.
This authority he abused in a shameless manner, making use of it not
only for the perversion of. justice, but for the perpetration of the most
Jluurant crimes. Although these facts were notorious, yet such were his
power and popularity with the lower classes, that Ferdinand, despairing
of bringing him to justice in the ordinary way, determined on a more
summary process. As Gordo occasionally visited the palace to pay his
respects to the prince, the latter affected to regard him with more than
usual favour, showing him such courtesy as might dissipate any distrust
he had conceived of him. Gordo, thus assured, was invited at one of
those interviews to withdraw into a retired apartment, where tbe prince
wished to confer with him on business of moment. On entering the
chamber he was surprised by the sight of the public executioner, the
hangman of the city, -whose presence, together with that of a priest,
and the apparatus of death with which the apartment was garnished,
revealed at once the dreadful nature of his destiny.
He was then charged with the manifold crimes with which he had
been guilty, and sentence of death was pronounced on him. In vain
did he appeal to Ferdinand, pleading the services which he had rendered
on more than one occasion to his father. Ferdinand assured him that
these should be gratefully remembered in the protection of his children ;
and then, bidding him unburden his conscience to his confessor, con-
signed him to the hand of the executioner. His body was exposed that
very day in the market-place of the city, to the dismay of his friends
and adherents, most of whom paid the penalty of their crime in the
ordinary course of justice. This extraordinary proceeding is highly
fharacteristic of the unsettled times in which it occurred ; when acts of
violence often superseded the regular operation of the law, even in those
countries whose forms of government approached the nearest to a deter-
minate constitution. It will doubtless remind the reader of the similar
proceeding imputed to Louis the Eleventh, in the admirable sketch given
us of that monarch in " Quentin Durward."
The supplies furnished by the Aragonese cortes were inadequate to
King John s necessities, and" he was compelled, while hovering with his
little force on the confines of lloussillon, to witness the gradual reduc-
tion of its capital, without being able to strike a blow in its defence.
The inhabitants, indeed, who fought with a resolution worthy of ancient
Vumantia or Saguntum, were reduced to the last extremity of famine,
DEATH OF HENET IT. 91
supporting life by feeding on the most loathsome offal, on cats, dogs, the
corpses of their enemes, and even on such of their own dead as had
fallen in battle ! And when at length an honourable capitulation waa
granted them on the 14th of March, 1475, the garrison, who evacuated
the city, reduced to the number of four hundred, were obliged to march
on foot to Barcelona, as they had consumed their horses during the
siege.
The terms of capitulation, which permitted every inhabitant to
evacuate, or reside unmolested in the city, at his option, were too liberal
to satisfy the vindictive temper of the king of France. He instantly
wrote to his generals, instructing them to depart from their engage-
ments, to keep the city so short of supplies as to compel an emigration
of its original inhabitants, and to confiscate for their own use the estates
of the principal nobility ; and, after delineating in detail the perfidious
policy which they were to pursue, he concluded with the assurance,
" that, by the blessing of God and our Lady, and Monsieur St. Martin,
he would be with them before the winter, in order to aid them in its
execution." Such was the miserable medley of hypocrisy and super-
stition which characterised the politics of the European courts in this
corrupt age, and which dimmed the lustre of names most conspicuous on
the page of history.
The occupation of Roussillon was followed by a trace of six months
between the belligerent parties. The regular course of the narrative
has been somewhat anticipated, in order to conclude that portion of it
relating to the war with France, before again reverting to the affairs of
Castile, where Henry the Fourth, pining under an incurable malady,
was gradually approaching the termination of his disastrous reign.
This event, which, from the momentous consequences it involved, was
contemplated with the deepest solicitude, not only by those who had an,
immediate and personal interest at stake, but by the whole nation, took
place on the night of the llth of December, 1474. It was precipitated
by the death of the grand master of St. James, on whom the feeble
mind of Henry had been long accustomed to rest for its support, and
who was cut off by an acute disorder but a few months previous, in the
full prime of his ambitious schemes. The king, notwithstanding the
lingering nature of his disease gave him ample time for preparation,
expired without a will, or even, as generally asserted, the designation of
a successor. This was the more remarkable, not only as being contrary
to established usage, but as occurring at a period when the succession
had been so long and hotly debated.* The testaments of the Castilian
sovereigns, though never esteemed positively binding, and occasionally,
indeed, set aside, f when deemed unconstitutional or even inexpedient
by the legislature, were always allowed to have great weight with the
nation.
AVith Henry the Fourth terminated the male line of the house of
Trastamara, who had kept possession of the throne for more than a
century, and in the course of only four generations had exhibited every
gradation of character, from the bold and chivalrous enterprise of the
This topic is involved in no little obscurity, and has been reported with much dis-
Irepancy as well as inaccuracy by the modem Spanish historians.
t As was the case with the testaments of Alfonso of Leon and Alfonso the Wise, in th*
thirteenth century, aiid with that of Peter the Cruel, in the fourteenth.
92 TEOTTBIES IN CASTILE AXD AEAGON.
first Henry of that name, down to the drivelling imbecility of
the last.
The character of Henry the Fourth has been sufficiently delineated
in that of his reign. He was not without certain amiable qualities, and
may be considered as a weak rather than a wicked prince. In persons,
however, intrusted with the degree of power exercised by sovereigns of
even the most limited monarchies of this period, a weak man may be
deemed more mischievous to the state over which he presides than a
wicked one. The latter, feeling himself responsible in the eyes of the
nation for his actions, is more likely to consult appearances, and, where
his own passions or interests are not immediately involved, to legislate
with reference to the general interests of his subjects. The former, on
the contrary, is too often a mere tool in the hands of favourites, who,
finding themselves screened by the interposition of royal authority from
the consequences of measures for which they should be justly respon-
sible, sacrifice without remorse the public weal to the advancement of
their private fortunes. Thus the state, made to minister to the voracious
appetites of many tyrants, suffers incalculably more than it would from
one. So fared it with Castile under Henry the Fourth ; dismembered by
faction, her revenues squandered on worthless parasites, the grossest
violations of justice unredressed, public faith become a jest, the treasury
bankrupt, the court a brothel, and private morals too loose and audacious
to seek even the veil of hypocrisy! Never had the fortunes of the
kingdom reached so low an ebb since the great Saracen invasion.
The historian cannot complain of a want of authentic materials for the reign of Henry
IV. Two of the chroniclers of that period, Alonso de Paleucia and Enriquez del Castillo,
were eye-witnesses and conspicuous actors in the scenes which they recorded, and con-
nected with opposite factions. The former of these writers, Alonso de Palencia, was born,
as appears from his work, "De Synonymis," cited by Pellicer, in 1423. Nic. Antonio has
alien into the error of dating his birth nine years later. At the age of seventeen, he
became page to Alfonso of Carthageua. Bishop of Burgos, and, in the family of that
estimable prelate, acquired a taste for letters, which never deserted him during a busy
political career. He afterwards visited Italy, where he became acquainted with Cardinal
Bcssarion, and through him with the learned Greek Trapezuntius, whose lectures on
philosophy and rhetoric he attended. On his return to his native country, he was raised
to the dignity of royal historiographer by Alfonso, younger brother of Henry IV., and
competitor with him for the crown. He attached himself to the fortunes of Isabella, after
Alfonso's death, and was employed by the Archbishop of Toledo in many delicate nego-
ciations, particularly in arranging the marriage of the princess with Ferdinand, for which
purpose he made a secret journey into Aragon. On the accession of Isabella, he was con-
firmed in the office of national chronicler, and passed the remainder of his life in the
composition of philological and historical works and translations from the ancient classics.
The time of his death is uncertain. He lived to a good old age, however, since it appears
from his own statement that his version of Josephus was not completed till the year 1492.
The most popular of Palencia's writings are his "Chronicle of Henry IV.," and his Latin
"" Decades, " continuing the reign of Isabella down to the capture of Baza, in 1489. His
historical style, far from scholastic pedantry, exhibits the business-like manner of a man
of the world. His Chronicle, which, being composed in the Castilian, was probably
intended for popular use, is conducted with little artifice, and indeed with a prolixity and
minuteness of detail arising no doubt from the deep interest which as an actor he took in
the scenes he describes. His sentiments are expressed with boldness, and sometime*
with the acerbity of party-feeling. He has been much commended by the best Spanish
writers, such as Zurita, Zuiliga, Marina, Clemenciu, for his veracity. The internal
evidence of this is sufficiently strong in his delineation of those scenes in which he was
personally engaged ; in his account of others, it will not be difficult to find examples of
negligence and inaccuracy. His Latin "Decades" were probably composed with more
eare, as addressed to a learned class of readers ; and they are lauded by Nic. Antonio
aa an elegant commentary, worthy to be assiduously studied by all who would acquaint
tbemtelvos with the history of their country. The art of printing has done less perhaps
for 8; aiu than for any other country in Europe ; and these two valuable histories are itili
WAR OF THE SUCCESSION. 93
permitted to swell the rich treasure of manuscripts with which her libraries are over-
loaded.
Euriquez del Castillo, a native of Segovia, was the chaplain and historiographer of King
Henry IV., and a member of his privy council. His situation not only made him
acquainted with the policy and intrigues of the court, but with the personal feelings of the
monarch, 'who reposed entire confidence in him, which Castillo repaid with uniform
loyalty. He appears very early to have commenced his Chronicle of Henry's reign. On*
the occupation of Segovia by the young Alfonso, after the battle of Olmedo, in 1467, the
chronicler, together with the portion of his history then compiled, was unfortunate enough
to fall into the enemy's hands. The author was soon summoned to the presence of
Alfonso and his counsellors, to hear and justify, as he could, certain passages of what they
termed his ''false and frivolous narrative." Castillo, hoping little from a defence before
such a prejudiced tribunal, resolutely kept his peace ; and it might have gone hard with
him, had it not been for his ecclesiastical profession. He subsequently escaped, but never
recovered his manuscripts, which were probably destroyed ; and, in the introduction to
Ms Chronicle, lie laments that he has been obliged to rewrite the first half of his master'*
rei<jn
Notwithstanding Castillo's familiarity with public affairs, his work is not written in the
business-like styta <>f Palencia's. The sentiments exhibit a moral sensibility scarcely to-
nave been expected, even from a minister of religion in the corrupt court of Henry IV. ;
and the. honest indignation of the writer, at the abuses which he witnessed, sometimes
breaks forth iii a strain of considerable eloquence. The spirit of his work, notwithstanding
its abundant loyalty, may be also commended for its candour in relation to the partisans
of Isabella ; which has led some critics to suppose that it underwent a r(facim*nto after
the accession of that princess to the throne.
Castillo's Chronicle, more fortunate than that of his rival, has been published in a hand-
some form under the care of Don Jose Miguel de Flores, Secretary of the Spanish
Academy of History, to whose learned labours in this way Castiliau literature is so much
indebted.
CHAPTEE V.
ACCESSION OF FKRDIKAND AND ISABELLA WAR OF THE SUCCESSION BATTLE OF TO3OV
14741476.
Iteorgamsauoii 01 mu .a-riii^ I.KIILIC: 01 4.010 OUOLUISSIOII ui une wuoie tvi.^
Peace with France and Portugal Joanna takes the Veil Death of John II. of Aragon.
MOST of the contemporary writers are content to derive Isabella's title to
the crown of Castile from the illegitimacy of her rival Joanna. But, as
this fact, whatever probability it may receive from the avowed licen-
tiousness of the queen, and some other collateral circumstances, was
never established by legal evidence, or even made the subject of legal
inquiry, it cannot reasonably be adduced as affording in itself a satisfac-
tory basis for the pretensions of Isabella.*
These are to be derived from the will of the nation as expressed by its
representatives in cortes. The power of this body to interpret the laws.
* The popular belief of Joanna's illegitimacy was founded on the following circumstances :
1. King Henry's first marriage wich Blanche of Navarre was dissolved, after it ha<i
subsisted twelve years, on the publicly alleged ground of "impotence in the parties." 2.
The Princess Joanna, the only child of his second queen, Joanna of Portugal, was not born
until the eighth year of her marriage, and long after she had become notorious for her
gallantries. 3. Although Henry kept several mistresses, whom he maintained in so
ostentatious a manner as to excite general scandal, he was never known to have had issue
by any one of them. To counter-balance the presumption afforded by these facts, it
should be stated, that Henry appears, to the day of his death, to have cherished the
princess Joanna as Ins own offspi-injr. and that Beltran de la Cueva, duke of Albuquerque,
tier reputed iut-hur, instead of supporting bi;r claia:s to the crown on tlia demise of Henry,
W ACCESSION OP FEBDINAJfD AKD ISABELLA.
regulating the succession, and to determine the succession itself, in the
most absolute manner, is incontrovertible, having been established by
repeated precedents from a very ancient period. In the present instance
the legislature, soon after the birth of Joanna, tendered the usual oaths
of allegiance to her as heir apparent to the monarchy. On a subsequent
occasion, however, the cortes, for reasons deemed sufficient by itself, and
under a conviction that its consent to the preceding measure had
been obtained through an undue influence on the part of the crown,
reversed its former acts, and did homage to Isabella as the only true and
lawful successor. In this disposition the legislature continued so
resolute, that, notwithstanding Henry twtee convoked the states for the
express purpose of renewing their allegiance to Joanna, they refused to
comply with the summons ; * and thus Isabella, at the time of her
brother's death, possessed a title to the crown unimpaired, and derived
from the sole authority which could give it a constitutional validity. It
may be added that the princess was so well aware of the real basis of her
pretensions, that in her several manifestoes, although she adverts to the
popular notion of her rival's illegitimacy, she rests the strength of her
cause on the sanction of the cortes.
On learning Henry's death, Isabella signified to the inhabitants of
Segovia, where she then resided, her desire of being proclaimed queen in
that city, with the solemnities usual on such occasions, j Accordingly,
on the following morning, being the 13th of December, 1474, a numerous
assembly, consisting of the nobles, clergy, and public magistrates in
their robes of office, waited on her at the alcazar or castle, and, receiving
her under a canopy of rich brocade, escorted her in solemn procession to
the principal square of the city, where a broad platform or scaffold had
been erected for the performance of the ceremony. Isabella, royally
attired, rode on a Spanish jennet, whose bridle was held by two of the
civic functionaries, while an officer of her court preceded her on horse-
back, bearing aloft a naked sword, the symbol of sovereignty. On
arriving at the square she alighted from her palfrey, and, ascending the
platform, seated herself on a throne which had been prepared for her. A
herald with a loud voice proclaimed " Castile, Castile for the king Don
Ferdinand and his consort Dona Isabella, queen proprietor (rcina pro-
prietarid] of these kingdoms! " The royal standards were then unfurled,
while the peal of bells and the discharge of ordnance from the castle
publicly announced the accession of the new sovereign. Isabella, after
receiving the homage of her subjects, and swearing to maintain inviolate
the liberties of the realm, descended from the platform, and attended by
as would have been natural had he been entitled to the honours of paternity, attached
himself to the adverse faction of Isabella.
Queen Joanna survived her husband about six months only. Father Florex lias made a
flimsy attempt to whitewash her character; but, to say nothing of almost every contempo-
rary historian, as well as of the official documents of that day, the stain has been too
deeply fixed by the repeated testimony of Castillo, the loyal adherent of her own party, to
be thus easily effaced.
It is said however, that the queen died in the odour of sanctity ; and Ferdinand and
Isabella caused her to be deposited in a rich m rected by the ambassador to the
court of the Great Tamerlane for himself, but from which his remains were somewhat
unceremoniously ejected, in order to make room for those of his royal mistress.
* Sec part I. chap. IV., i:
t Fortunately, this stron K ,i:*ce, in which the rcyal treasure was deposited, was in tha
keeping of Andres do Cabrera, the husband s friend, Beatrice de liobadflla.
His co-operation at this juncture was so important, that Oviedo does not hesitate to de
"It lay with him to make Isabella or her rival queen, as lie listed."
WAB OF THE SUCCESSION-. 95
the same corttye, moved slowly towards the cathedral church ; where,
after Te Deum had been chanted, she prostrated herself before the princi-
pal altar, and, returning thanks to the Almighty for the protection
hitherto vouchsafed her, implored him to enlighten her future counsels,
so that she might discharge the high trust reposed in her with equity
and wisdom. Such were the simple forms that attended the coronation
of the monarchs of Castile previously to the sixteenth century.
The cities favourable to Isabella's cause, comprehending far the most
populous and wealthy throughout the kingdom, followed the example of
Segovia, and raised the royal standard for their new sovereign. The
principal grandees, as well as most of the inferior nobility, soon presented
themselves from all quarters, in order to tender the customary oaths of
allegiance ; and an assembly of the estates, convened for the ensuing
month of February at Segovia, imparted, by a similar ceremony, a
constitutional sanction to these proceedings.*
On Ferdinand's arrival from Aragon, where he was staying at the
time of Henry's death, occupied with the war of lloussillon, a disagree-
able discussion took place in regard to the respective authority to be
enjoyed by the husband and wife in the administration of the govern-
ment. Ferdinand's relatives, with the admiral Henriquez at their
head, contended that the crown of Castile, and of course, the exclusive
sovereignty, was limited to him as the nearest male representative of the
house of Trastamara. Isabella's friends, on the other hand, insisted that
these rights devolved solely on her, as the lawful heir and proprietor of
the kingdom. The affair was finally referred to the arbitration of the
cardinal of Spain and the archbishop of Toledo, who, after carefu)
examination, established by undoubted precedent that the exclusion of
females from the succession did not obtain in Castile and Leon, as was
the case in Aragon ; f that Isabella was consequently sole heir of theso
dominions ; and that whatever authority Ferdinand might possess could
only be derived throiigh her. A settlement was then made on the basis
of the original marriage contract. J All municipal appointments, and
collation to ecclesiastical benefices, were to be made in the name of both
with the advice and consent of the queen. All fiscal nominations, and
issues from the treasury, were to be subject to her order. The com-
manders of the fortified places were to render homage to her alone.
Justice was to be administered by both conjointly, when residing in the
same place ; and by each independently, when separate. Proclamations
* Marina, whose peculiar researches and opportunities make him the best, is my only
authority for this convention of the cortes. The extracts he makes from the writ ol
however, seem to imply that the object was not the recognition of Fe:
Isabella, but of their daughter, as successor to the crown. Among- the nobles, who o
testified their adhesion to Isabella, were no less than four of the six individuals t"
the late king had intrusted tho guardianship of his daughter Joanna; viz., the
cardinal of Spain, the constable of Castile, the duke of Infautado, and the couiit of
Beiievente.
t A precedent for femile inheritance, in the latter kingdom, was subsequently furnished
by the undisputed succession and long reign of Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand and
Isabella, and mother of Charles V. The introduction of tho Salic law, under the 1;
dynasty, opposed a new barrier, indeed ; but this has been since swept away by the decree
of the late monarch, Ferdinand VII., and the paramount authority of the c<>
may hope that the successful assertion of her lawful rights by Isabella II. will put this
much vexed question at rest for ever.
J See part I. chap. 1IT. Ferdinand's powers are not so narrowly limited, at h-tst not so
earefuily defined, in this settlement as iu the marriage articles, "indeed, the instrument
is much moru concise and general in its whole import.
96 ACCESSION OF FEBDINAND AITD ISABELLA.
and letters patent were to be subscribed with the signatures of both;
their images were to be stamped on the public coin, and the united arms
of Castile and Aragon emblazoned on a common seal.*
Ferdinand, it is said, was so much dissatisfied with an arrangement
which vested the essential rights of sovereignty in his consort, that he
threatened to return to Aragon ; but Isabella reminded him, that this
distribution of power was rather nominal than real ; that their interests
were indivisible ; that his will would be hers ; and that the principle
of the exclusion of females from the succession, if now established, would
operate to the disqualification of their only child, who was a daughter.
By these and similar arguments the queen succeeded in soothing her
offended husband, without compromising the prerogatives of her
crown.
Although the principal body of the nobility, as has been stated,
supported Isabella's cause, there were a few families, and some of them
the most potent in Castile, who seemed determined to abide the fortunes
of her rival. Among these was the marquis of Yillcna, who, inferior to
his father in talent for intrigue, was of an intrepid spirit, and is com-
mended by one of the Spanish historians as " the best lance in the
kingdom. His immense estates, stretching from Toledo to Murcia,
gave him an extensive influence over the southern regions of New
Castile. The duke of Arevalo possessed a similar interest in the frontier
province of Estramadura. With these were combined the grand master
of Calatrava, and his brother, together with the young marquis of Cadiz,
and, as it soon appeared, the archbishop of Toledo. This latter dignitary,
whose heart had long swelled with secret jealousy at the rising fortune*
of the Cardinal Mendoza, could no longer brook the ascendancy which
that prelate's consummate sagacity and insinuating address had given
him over the councils of his young sovereigns. After some awkward
excuses, he abruptly withdrew to his own estates ; nor could the most
conciliatory advances on the part of the queen, nor the deprecatory
letters of the old king of Aragon, soften his inflexible temper, or induce
him to resume his station at the court ; until it soon became apparent,
from his correspondence with Isabella's enemies, that he was busy in
undermining the fortunes of the very individual whom he had so zealously
laboured to elevate.f
Under the auspices of this coalition, propositions were made to Alfouso
the Fifth, king of Portugal, to vindicate the title of his niece Joanna to
the throne of Castile, and by espousing her, to secure to himself the
same rich inheritance. An exaggerated estimate was, at the same time,
exhibited of the resources of the confederates, which, when combined with
those of Portugal, would readily enable them to crush the usurpers, un-
supported as the latter must be by the co-operation of Aragoii, whose
arms already found sufficient occupation with the French.
* It does not appear that the settlement was e^ver confirmed by, or indeed presented to,
the cortes. Marina speaks of it, however, as emanating from that body. From I'ulgar's
statement, as well as from the instrument itself, it seems to have been made under no othei
auspices or sanction than that of the great nobility and cavaliers. Marina's eagerness to
find a precedent for the interference of the popular branch, in all the great concerns of
government, has usually quickened, but sometimes clouded, his optics. In the present
instance he has undoubtedly confounded the irregular proceedings of the aristocracy
exclusively, with the deliberate acts of the legislature.
t The archbishop's jealousy of Cardinal Mundoza is uniformly reported by the Spw.ijb
Writers a3 the trae cause of his defection from the queen.
WAR OF THE SUCCESSIOy. 97
Alfonsc, whose victories over the Barbary Moors had given him the
cognomen f "the African," was precisely of a character to be dazzled
by the nature of this enterprise. The protection of an injured princess,
his near relative, was congenial with the spirit of chivalry ; while the
conquest of an opulent territory, adjacent to his own, would not only
satisfy his dreams of glory, but the more solid cravings of avarice. In
this disposition he was confirmed by his son, prince John, whose hot and
enterprising temper found a nobler scope for ambition in such a war,
than in the conquest of a horde of African savages.
Still there were a few among Alfonso's counsellors possessed of sufficient
coolness to discern the difficulties of the undertaking. They reminded
him, that the Castilian nobles on whom he principally relied were the
very persons who had formerly been most instrumental in defeating the
claims of Joanna, and securing the succession to her rival ; that
Ferdinand was connected by blood with the most powerful families of
Castile ; that the great body of the people, the middle, as well as the
lower classes, were fully penetrated, not only with a conviction of the
legality of Isabella's title, but with a deep attachment to her person;
while, on the other hand, their proverbial hatred of Portugal would make
them too impatient of interference from that quarter to admit the pros-
pect of permanent success.*
These objections, sound as they were, were overruled by John's
impetuosity, and the ambition or avarice of his father, war was
accordingly resolved on ; and Alfonso, after a vaunting, and, as may be
supposed, ineffectual summons to the Castilian sovereigns to resign their
crown in favour 01 Joanna, prepared for the immediate invasion of the
kingdom at the head of an army, amounting, according to the Portuguese
historians, to five thousand six hundred horse and fourteen thousand
foot. This force, though numerically not so formidable as might have
been expected, comprised the flower of the Portuguese chivalry, burning
with the hope of reaping similar laurels to those won of old by their
fathers on the plains of Aljubarrotta ; while its deficiency in numbers
was to be amply compensated by recruits from the disaffected party in
Castile, who would eagerly flock to its banners on its advance across the
borders. At the same time negotiations were entered into with the king
of France, who was invited to make a descent upon Biscay, by a promise
somewhat premature, of a cession of the conquered territory.
Early in May, (1475,) the king of Portugal put his army in motion,
and, entering Castile by the way ofEstrarnadura, held a northerly course
towards Placencia, where he was met by the duke of Arevalo and the
marquis of Villena, and by the latter nobleman presented to the
princess Joanna, his destined bride. On the 12th of the month he was
affianced with all becoming pomp to this lady, then scarcely thirteen
years of age ; and a messenger was despatched to the court of Rome,
to solicit a dispensation for their marriage, rendered necessary by the
consanguinity of the parties. The royal pair were then proclaimed,
* The ancient rivalry between the two nations was exasperated into the most deadly
rancour by the fatal defeat at Aljubarrotta, iu 1235, in which fell the flower of the Castiliau
nobility. King John I. wore mourning, it is said, to the day of his death, in commemora-
tion of this disaster. Pulgar, the secretary of Ferdinand and Isabella, addressed, by their
order, a letter of remonstrance to the King of Portugal, in which he endeavours by nume-
rous arguments founded on expediency and justice, to dissuade him from his meditated
enterprise.
H
98 ACCESSION OF FEUDIXJLN'D JLN'D ISABELLA.
with the usual solemnities, sovereigns of Castile ; and circulars were
transmitted to the different cities, setting forth Joanna's title and
requiring their allegiance.*
After some days given to festivity, the army resumed its march, still
in a northerly direction, upon Arevalo, where Alfonso determined to
await the arrival of the reinforcements which he expected from his
Castilian allies. Had he struck at once into the southern districts of
Castile, where most of those friendly to his cause were to be found, and
immediately commenced active operations with the aid of the m&rquis of
Cadiz, who, it was understood, was prepared to support him in that
quarter, it is difficult to say what might have heen the result. Ferdinand
and Isabella were so wholly unprepared at the time of Alfonso's invasion,
that it is said they could scarcely bring five hundred horse to oppose it.
By this opportune delay at Arevalo, they obtained space for preparation.
Both of them were indefatigable in their efforts. Isabella, we are told,
was frequently engaged through the whole night in dictating despatches
to her secretaries. She visited in person such of the garrison towns as
required to be confirmed in their allegiance, performing long and painful
journeys on horseback with surprising celerity, and enduring fatigues
which, as she was at that time in delicate health, wellnigh proved fatal
to her constitution, t On an excursion to Toledo, she determined to
make one effort more to regain the confidence of her ancient minister,
the archbishop. She accordingly sent an envoy to inform him of her
intention to wait on him in person at his residence in Alcala de Henares.
But as the surly prelate, far from being moved by this condescension,
returned for answer, that, " if the queen entered by one door, he would
go out at the other," she did not choose to compromise her dignity by
any further advances.
By Isabella's extraordinary exertions, as well as those of her husband,
the latter found himself, in the beginning of July, at the head of a force
amounting in all to four thousand men-at-arms, eight thousand light
horse, and thirty thousand foot an ill-disciplined militia, chieliy drawn
from the mountainous districts of the north, which manifested peculiar
devotion to his cause ; his partisans in the south being pre-occupied
with suppressing domestic revolt, and with incursions on the frontiers of
Portugal.
Meanwhile Alfonso, after an unprofitable detention of nearly two
months at Arevalo, marched on Toro, which, by a preconcerted agreement,
was delivered into his hands by the governor of the city, although
the fortress, under the conduct of a woman, continued to maintain a
gallant defence. While occupied with its redaction, Alfonso was
invited to receive the submission of the adjacent city and castle of
Zamora. The defection of these places, two of the most considerable in the
province of Leon, and peculiarly important to the king of Portugal from
their vicinity to his dominions, was severely felt by Ferdinand, who
determined to advance at once against his rival, and bring their quarrel
to the issue of a battle ; in this, acting in opposition to the more
* Beraaldez states, that Alfonso, previously to his invasion, caused largesses of plate
mud money to be distributed among the Castilian nobles, whom he imagined to be well
aflected towards him. Some of them, the duke of Alva in particular, received his prescnu
and used them in the cause of Isabella.
t The queen, who was at that time in a state of pregnancy, brought cs t r.iacarriage by
her incessant personal exposure.
WAR OF THE SUCCESSION. 99
cautious counsel of his father, who recommended the policy, usually
judged most prudent for an invaded country, of acting on the defensive,
instead of risking all on the chances of a single action.
Ferdinand arrived before Toro on the 19th of July, and immediately
drew up his army before its walls in order of battle. As the king of
Portugal, however, still kept within his defences, Ferdinand sent a
herald into his camp, to defy him to a fair field of fight with his whole
army, or, if he declined this, to invite him to decide their differences
by personal combat. Alfonso accepted the latter alternative ; but, a
dispute arising respecting the guarantee for the performance of the
engagements on either side, the whole affair evaporated, as usual, in an
empty vaunt of chivalry.
The Castilian army, from the haste with which it had been mustered,
was wholly deficient in battering artillery and in other means for
annoying a fortified city ; and, as its communications were cut off", in
consequence of the neighbouring fortresses being in possession of the
enemy, it soon became straitened for provisions. It was accordingly
decided in a council of war to retreat without further delay. No sooner
was this determination known, than it excited general dissatisfaction
throughout the earnp. The soldiers loudly complained that the king
was betrayed by his nobles ; and a party of over-loyal Biscayans,
infiained by the suspicious of a conspiracy against his person, actually
broke into the church where Ferdinand was conferring with his officers,
and bore him off in their arms from the midst of them to his own tent,
notwithstanding his reiterated explanations and remonstrances. The
ensuing retreat was conducted in so disorderly a manner by the mutinous
soldiery, that Alfonso, says a contemporary, had he but sallied with
two thousand horse, might have routed and perhaps annihilated the
whole army. Some of the troops were detached to reinforce the garrisons
of the loyal cities, but most of them dispersed again among their native
mountains. The citadel of Toro soon afterwards capitulated. The
archbishop of Toledo, considering these events as decisive of the
fortunes of the war, now openly joined the king of Portugal at the head
of five hundred lances, boasting, at the same time, that "he had raised
Isabella from the distalf, and would soon send her back to it again."
So disastrous an introduction to the campaign might indeed well fill
Isabella's bosom with anxiety. The revolutionary movements, which
had so long agitated Castile, had so far unsettled every man's political
principles, and the allegiance of even the most loyal hung so loosely
about them, that it was difficult to estimate how far it might be shaken
by such a blow occurring at this crisis. Fortunately, Alfonso was in no-
condition to profit by his success. His Castilian allies had experienced
the greatest difficulty in enlisting their vassals in the Portuguese cause ;
and, far from furnishing him with the contingents which he had ex-
pected, found sufficient occupation in the defence of their own territories
against the loyal partisans of Isabella. At the same time, numerous
squadrons of light cavalry from Estramadura and Andalusia, penetrating
into Portugal, carried the most terrible desolation over the whole extent
of its unprotected borders. The Portuguese knights loudly murmured
at being cooped up in Toro, while their own country was made tho
theatre of w i r ; and A It'onso saw himself under the necessity of detaching
<io considerable a portion of his army for the defence of his frontier, as
n 2
ACCESSION OF FEEDIXAXD A>'D ISABKLLA.
entirely to cripple his future operations. So deeply, indeed, was he
impressed, by these circumstances, with the difficulty of his enterprise,
that, in a negotiation with the Castilian sovereigns at this time, he
expressed a willingness to resign his claims to their crown, in con-
sideration of the cession of Galicia, together with the cities of Toro and
Zamora, and a considerable sum of money. Ferdinand and his ministers,
it is reported, would have accepted the proposal ; but Isabella, although
acquiescing in the stipulated money payment, would not consent to tiia
dismemberment of a single inch of the Castilian territory.
In the meantime both the queen and her husband, undismayed by
past reverses, were making every exertion for the re-organisation of au
army on a more efficient footing. To accomplish this object, an additional
supply of funds became necessary, since the treasure of king Henry,
delivered into their hands by Andres de Cabrera, at Segovia, had been
exhausted by the preceding operations.* The old king of Aragon
advised them to imitate their ancestor Henry the Second, of glorious
memory, by making liberal grants and alienations in favour of their
subjects, which they might, when more firmly seated on the throne,
resume at pleasure. Isabella, however, chose rather to trust to the
patriotism of her people, than have recourse to so unworthy a stratagem.
he accordingly convened an assembly of the states, in the month of
August, (1475,) at Medina del Campo. As the nation had been too far
impoverished under the late reign to admit of fresh exactions, a most
extraordinary expedient was devised for meeting the stipulated requi-
sitions. It was proposed to deliver into the royal treasury ha;:
amount of plate belonging to the churches throughout the kingdom, to
be redeemed in the term of three years, for the sum of thirty cuentos,
or millions, of maravedis. The clergy, who were very generally attached
to Isabella's interest, far from discouraging this startling proposal, en-
deavoured to vanquish the queen's repugnance to it, by arguments and
pertinent illustrations drawn from Scripture. This transaction certainly
exhibits a degree of disinterestedness, on the part of this body, most
unusual in that age and country, as well as a generous confidence in the
good faith of Isabella, of which she proved herself worthy by the
punctuality with which she redeemed it. \
Thus provided with the necessary funds, the sovereigns set about
enforcing new levies and bringing them under better discipline, as well
as providing for their equipment in a manner more suitable to the
exigencies of the service, than was done for the preceding army. The
remainder of the summer and the ensuing autumn were consumed in
these preparatioLs, as well as in placing their fortified towns in a proper
posture of defence, and in the reduction of such places as held out
against them. The king of Portugal, all this while, lay with his dimi-
nished forces in Toro, making a sally on one occasion only, for the relief
of his friends, which was frustrated by the sleepless vigilance of Isabella.
The royal coffers were found to contain about 10,000 marks of silver. Isabella
presented Cabrera with a golden goblet from her table, engaging that a similar ;
should be regularly made to him and his successors on the anniversary of his surrender of
church's money, which he avers "no necessity whatever could justiiy. This worthy
canon flourished in the 17th century.
OF THE SUCCESSION. [01
Early in December, Ferdinand passed from the siege of Burgos, in old
Castile, to Zamora, Avhose inhabitants expressed a desire to retnrn to
their ancient allegiance ; and, with the co-operation of the citizens,
supported by a large detachment from his main army, he prepared to
invest its citadel. As the possession of this post would effectually
intercept Alfonso's communications with his own country, he determined
to relieve it at every hazard ; and for this purpose despatched a messi .
into Portugal, requiring his son, prince John, to reinforce him with such
levies as he could speedily raise. All parties now looked forward with
eagerness to a general battle, as to a termination of the evils of this
long-protracted war.
The Portuguese prince, having with difficulty assembled a corps
amounting to two thousand lances and eight thousand infantry, took a
northerly circuit round Galicia, and effected a junction with his father
in Toro, on the 14th of February, 1476. Alfonso, thus reinforced,
transmitted a pompous circular to the pope, the king of France, his own
dominions, and those well affected to him in Castile, proclaiming his
immediate intention of taking the usurper, or of driving him from the
kingdom. On the night of the 17th, having first provided for the
security of the city, by leaving in it a powerful reserve, Alfonso drew
off the residue of his army, probably not much exceeding three thousand
five hundred horse and five thousand foot, well provided with artillery
and with arquebuses, which latter engine was still of so clumsy and
unwieldy construction as not to have entirely superseded the ancient
weapons of European warfare. The Portuguese army, traversing the
bridge of Toro, pursued their march along the southern side of the
Douro, and reached Zamora, distant only a few leagues, before the dawn.*
At break of day, the Castilians were surprised by the array of floating
banners, and martial panoply glittering in the sun from the opposite side
of the river, while the discharges of artillery still more unequivocally
announced the presence of the enemy. Ferdinand could scarcely believe
that the Portuguese monarch, whose avowed object had been the relief
of the castle of Zamora, should have selected a position so obviously
unsuitable for this purpose. The intervention of the river between him
and the fortress situated at the northern extremity of the town, pre-
vented him from relieving it, either by throwing succours into it, or by
a n IK iving the Castilian troops, who, intrenched in comparative security
within the walls and houses of the city, were enabled by means of
certain elevated positions, well garnished with artillery, to inflict much
heavier injury on their opponents than they could possibly receive from
them. Still Ferdinand's men, exposed to the double fire of the fortress
and the besiegers, would willingly have come to an engagement with the
hitter; but the river, swollen by winter torrents, was not fordable ; and
ridge, the only direct avenue to the city, was enfiladed by the
vueiuy's cannon, so as to render a sally in that direction altogether
impracticable. During this time Isabella's squadrons of light cavalry,
hovering on the skirts of the Portuguese camp, effectually cut off its
supplies, and soon. reduced it to great straits for subsistence. This
circumstance, together with the tidings of the rapid advance of
Several of the contemporary Castilian historians compute the Portuguese army *t
double the amount ipven in the text
102 A.CC::?SIOX OF FERDTNASD ANO ISABELLA.
additional forces to the support of Ferdinand, determined Alfonso,
contrary to all expectation, on an imn-i-Jiate retreat ; and accordingly
on the morning of the 1st of March, being little less than a fortnight
from the time in -which he commenc d this empty gasconade, tin
Portuguese army quitted its position before Zamora, with the same
silence and celerity with which it had occupied it.
Ferdinand's troops would instantly have pushed after the fugitives,
but the latter had demolished the southern extremity of the bridge
before their departure, so that although some few effected an immediate
passage in boats, the great body of the army was necessarily detained
until the repairs were completed, which occupied more than three hours.
With all the expedition they could use, therefore, and leaving their
artillery behind them, they did not succeed in coming up with the
enemy until nearly four o clock in the afternoon, ::s the latter was
defiling through a narrow pass formed by a crest of precipitous hills on
the one side, and the Douro on the other, at the distance of about five
miles from the city of Toro.
A council of war was then called to decide on the expediency of an
immediate assault. It was objected that the strong position of Toro
would effectually cover the retreat of the Portuguese in case of their
discomfiture ; that they would speedily be reinforced by fresh recruits
from that city, which would make them more than a match for
Ferdinand's army, exhausted by a toilsome march, as well as by its long
fast, which it had not broken since the morning ; and that the celerity
with which it had moved had compelled it, not only to abandon its
artillery, but to leave a considerable portion of the heavy-armed infantry
in the rear. Notwithstanding the weight of these objections, such were
the high spirit of the troops and their eagerness to come to action,
sharpened by the view of the quarry, which after a wearisome chase
seemed ready to fall into their hands, that they were thought more than
sufficient to counterbalance every physical disadvantage, and the question
of battle was decided in the affirmative.
As the Castilian army emerged from the defile into a wide and open
plain, they found that the enemy had halted and was already forming in
order of battle. The king of Portugal led the centre, with the archbishop
of Toledo on the right wing, its extremity resting on the Douro ; while
the left, comprehending the arquebusiers and the strength of the cavalry,
was placed under the command of his son, prince John. The numerical
force of the two armies, although in favour of the Portuguese, was nearly
equal, amounting probably in each to less than ten thousand men, about
one-third being cavalry. Ferdinand took his station in the centre,
opposite his rival, having the admiral and the duke of Alva on his left ;
while his right wing, distributed into six battles or divisions, under their
several commanders, was supported by a detachment of men-at-arms from
the provinces of Leon and Galicia.
Trie action commenced in this quarter. The Castilians, raising the
war-cry of " St. James and St. Lazarus," advanced on the enemy's left
under prince John, but were saluted with such a brisk and well-directed
fire from his arquebusiers, that their ranks were disconcerted. The
Portuguese men-at-arms charging them at the same time, augmented
their confusion, and compelled them to fall back precipitately on the
Harrow pass in their rear, where, being supported by some fresh detach-
WAR OF THE SUCCESSION* 1 D. r i
ments from the reserve, they were with difficulty rallied by their c.: '
and again brought into the field. In the meanwhile, Ferdinand closed
with the enemy's centre, and the action soon became general along the
whole line. The battle raged with redoubled fierceness in the quarter
where the presence of the two monarchs infused new ardour into their
soldiers, who fought as if conscious that this struggle was to decide the
fate of their masters. The lances were slavered at the first encounter,
and, as the ranks of the two armies mingled with each other, the men
fought hand to hand with their swords, with a fury sharpened by the
ancient rivalry of the two nations, making the whole a contest of physical
strength rather than skill.
The royal standard of Portugal was torn to shreds in the attempt to
seize it on the one side and to preserve it on the other ; while its gallant
r, Kdward de Almeyda, after losing first his right arm, and then his
left, in its defence, held' it firmly with his teeth until he was cut down
by the assailants. The armour of this knight was to be seL'ii as late as
Mariana's time in the cathedral church of Toledo, where it was preserved
as a trophy of this desperate act of heroism, which brings to mind a
similar feat recorded in Grecian story.
The old archbishop of Toledo and the cardinal Mendoza, who, like his
jvv,-ivnd rival, had exchanged the crosier for the corslet, were to be seen
on that day in the thickest of the meUc. The holy wars with the infidels
perpetuated the unbecoming spectacle of military ecclesiastics among the
Spaniards to a still later period, and long after it had disappeared from
the rest of civilised Europe.
At length, after an obstinate struggle of more than three hours, the
valour of the Castilian troops prevailed, and the Portuguese were seen to
give way in all directions. The duke of Alva, by succeeding in turning
their ila'uk, while they were thus vigorously pressed in front, completed
their disorder, and soon converted their retreat into a rout. Some,
.attempting to cross the Douro, were drowned : and many, who endea-
voured to effect an entrance into Toro, were entangled in the narrow
defile of the bridge, and fell by the sword of their pursuers, or miserably
perished in the river, which, bearing along their mutilated corpses,
brought tidings of the fatal victory to Xamora. Such were the heat and
fury of the pursuit, that the intervening night, rendered darker than
usual by a driving rain-storm, alone saved the scattered remains of the
arrnv from destruction. Several Portuguese companies, Tinder favour of
tins' obscurity, contrived to elude their foes by shouting the Castilian
battle -cry. Prince John, retiring with a fragment of his broken squad-
rons to "a neighbouring eminence, succeeded, by lighting fires and
sounding his trumpets, in rallying round him a number of fugitives ;
and, as the position he occupied was too strong to be readily forced, and
the Castilian troops were too weary and well satisfied with their victory
to attempt it, he retained possession of it till morning, when he made
good his retreat into Toro. The king of Portugal, who was missing, \vas
supposed to have perished in the battle, until, by advices received from
him late on the following day, it was ascertained that he had escaped
without personal injury, and with three or four attendants only, to the
fortified castle of Caatro-Nuflo, some leagues distant from the field of
action. Numbers of his troops, attempting to escape across the neigh-
bouring frontiers into their own country, were maimed or massacred by
1U1 ACCESSION OF FERDINAND AXD ISABELLA.
the Spanish peasants, in retaliation of the excesses -wantonly committed
by them in their invasion of Castile. Ferdinand, shocked at this bar-
barity, issued orders for the protection of their persons, and freely gave
safe-conducts to such as desired to return into Portugal. He even,
with a degree of humanity more honourable, as well as more rare, than
military success, distributed clothes and money to several prisoners
brought into Zamora in a state of utter destitution, and enabled them
to return in safety to their own country.*
The Castilian monarch remained on the field of battle till after mid-
night, when he returned to Zamora, being followed in the morning by
the cardinal of Spain and the admiral Henriquez, at the head of the
victorious legions. Eight standards, with the greater part of the bag-
gage, were taken in the engagement, and more than two thousand of
the enemy slain or made prisoners. Queen Isabella, on receiving tidings
of the event at Tordesillas, where she then was, ordered a procession to
the church of St. Paul in the siiburbs, in which she herself joined,
walking barefoot with all humility, and offered up a devout thanks-
giving to the God of battles for the victory with which he had crowned
her arms.t
It was indeed a most auspicious victory, not so much from the imme-
diate loss inflicted on the enemy, as from its moral influence on the
Castilian nation. Such as had before vacillated in their faith, who, in
the expressive language of Bernaldez, " estaban aviva quien vence,"
who were prepared to take sides with the strongest, now openly pro-
claimed their allegiance to Ferdinand and Isabella ; while most 01 those
who had been arrayed in arms, or had manifested by any other overt
act their hostility to the government, vied with each other in demon-
strations of the most loyal submission, and sought to make the best terms
for themselves which they could. Among the latter, the duke of Art-vale ,
who indeed had made overtures to this eflect some time previous tlirough
the agency of his son, together with the grand master of Calatrava, and
the count of Uruena, his brother, experienced the lenity of government,
and were continued in the entire possession of their estates. The two-
principal delinquents, the marquis of Tillena and the archbishop of
Toledo, made a show of resistance for some time longer; but, after
witnessing the demolition of their castles, the capture of their towns, th&
desertion of their vassals, and the sequestration of their revenues, were
fain to purchase a pardon at the price of the most humble concessions,
and the forfeiture of an ample portion of domain.
The castle of Zamora, expecting no further succours from Portugal,
speedily surrendered, and this event was soon followed by the reduction
of Madrid, Baeza, Toro, and other principal cities : so that in little more
than six months from the date of the battle, the whole kingdom, with
the exception of a few insignificant posts still garrisoned by the enemy,
had acknowledged the supremacy of Ferdinand and Isabella.
WAR OF THE SUCCL'SSIOX. 106
Soon after the victory of Toro, Ferdinand was enabled to concentrate a
force amounting to fifty thousand men, for the purpose of' repelling the
French from Guipuscua, from which they had already twice been driven
by the intrepid netives, and whence they again retired with precipitation
on receiving news of the king's approach.
Alfonso, finding his authority in Castile thus rapidly melting away
before the rising influence of Ferdinand and Isabella, withdrew with his
virgin bride into Portugal, where he formed the resolution of visiting-
France in person, and soliciting succour from his ancient ally, Louis the
Eleventh. In spite of every remonstrance, he put this extraordinary
scheme into execution. He reached France, with a retinue of two
hundred followers, in the month of September. He experienced every-
where the honours due to his exalted rank, and to the signal mark of
confidence which he thus exhibited towards the French king. The keys.
of the cities were delivered into his hands, the prisoners were released
from their dungeons, and his progress was attended by a general jubilee.
His brother monarch, however, excused himself from aflbrding more
substantial proofs of his regard, until he should have closed the war then
pending between him and Burgundy, and until Alfonso should have
fortified his title to the Castilian crown by obtaining from the pope a
dispensation for his marriage with Joanna.
The defeat and death of the duke of Burgundy, whose camp, before
Ifanci, Alfonso visited in the depth of winter, with the chimerical purpose
of effecting a reconciliation between him and Louis, removed the former
of these impediments ; as, in good time, the compliance of the pope did
the latter. But the king of Portugal found himself no nearer the object
of his negotiations ; and, after waiting a whole year a needy suppliant at
the court of Louis, he at length ascertained that his insidious host was
concerting an arrangement with his mortal foes, Ferdinand and Isabella.
Alfonso, whose character always had a spice of Quixotism in it, seems to
have completely lost his wits at this last reverse of fortune. Over-
whelmed with shame at his own credulity, he felt himself unable to
encounter the ridicule which awaited his return to Portugal, and secretly
withdrew, with two or three domestics only, to an obscure village in.
Normandy ; whence he transmitted an epistle to Prince John, his son,
declaring, "that, as all earthly vanities were dead within his bosom, he
resolved to lay up an imperishable crown by performing a pilgrimage
to the Holy Land, and devoting himself to the service of God ia some
retired monastery;" and he concluded with requesting his son "to
assume the sovereignty at once in the same manner as if he had heard of
his father's death."
Fortunately Alfonso's retreat was detected before he had time to put
his extravagant project into execution, and his trusty followers succeeded,
though with considerable difficulty, in diverting him from it ; while the
king of France, willing to be rid of his importunate guest, and unwilling
perhaps to incur the odium of having driven him to so desperate an
extremity as that of his projected pilgrimage, provided a fleet of ships to
transport him back to his own dominions, where, to complete the farce,
he arrived just five days after the ceremony of his son's coronation as
King of Portugal (Xuv! 15, 1478). Xor was' it destined that the luckless
monarch should solace himself, as he had hoped, in the arms of his
yout'iful bride; since the pliant pontiff', Sixius the Fourth, was ultimately
108 ACCESSION OP FEKDI^AND AtfD ISABELLA.
persuaded "by the ccrart of Castile to issue a new bull overruling
the dispensation formerly conceded, on the ground that it had been
obtained by a misrepresentation of facts.
Prince John, whether infiucnced by filial piety or prudence, resigned
the crown of Portugal to his father soon after his return ; * and the old
monarch was no sooner reinstated in his authority, than, burning with a
thirst for vengeance, which made him insensible to every remonstrance,
he again prepared to throw his country into combustion by reviving his
enterprise against Castile.
While these hostile movements were in progress, (1478,) Ferdinand,
leaving his consort in possession of a sufficient force for the protection of
the frontiers, made a journey into Biscay for the purpose of an interview
with his father, the king of Aragon, to concert measures for the pacifica-
tion of Navarre, which still continued to be rent with those sanguinary
feuds that were bequeathed like a precious legacy from one generation
to another, f In the autumn of the same year a treaty of ]>eace was
definitively adjusted between the plenipotentiaries of Castile ani( France,
at St. Jean de Luz, in which it was stipulated, as a principal article, that
Louis the Eleventh should disconnect himself from his alliance with
Portugal and give no further support to the pretensions of Joanna.
Thus released from apprehension in this quarter, the sovereigns were
enabled to give their undivided attention to the defence of the western
borders. Isabella, accordingly, early in the ensuing winter, passed into
Estramadura for the purpose of repelling the Portuguese, and still more
of suppressing the insurrectionary movements of certain of her own
subjects, who, encouraged by the vicinity of Portugal, carried on from
their private fortresses a most desolating and predatory warfare over
the circumjacent territory. Private mansions and farm-houses were
pillaged and burnt to the ground, the cattle and crops swept away in
their forays, the highways beset, so that all travelling was at an end,
all communication cut off, and a rich and populous district converted at
once into a desert. Isabella, supported by a body of regular troops and
a detachment of the Holy Brotherhood, took her station at Truxillo, as
a central position, whence she might operate on the various points with
the greatest facility. Her counsellors remonstrated against this exposure
of her person in the very heart of the disaffected country ; but she
replied that "it was not for her to calculate perils or fatigues in her own
cause, nor by an unseasonable timidity to dishearten her friends, with
whom she was now resolved to remain until she had brought the war to
* According to Faria y Sousa, John was walking along the shores of the Tagus, with
the Duke of Bragauza, and the cardinal archbishop of Lisbon, when he received the
unexpected tidings of his father's return to Portugal. On his inquiring of his attendants
how lie should receive him, "How but as your king and father?" was the reply;
at which John, knitting his brows together, skimmed a stone which he held in his
hand, with much violence across the water. The cardinal, observing this, whispered to
the duke of Braganza, " I will take good care that that stone docs not rebound on me."
Soon after, he left Portugal for Rome, where he fixed his residence. The duke lost hi
life on the scaffold for imputed treason, soon after John's accession.
t Tni was the first meeting between father and son since the elevation of the latter to
the Castiliau throne. King John would not allow Ferdinand to kiss his hand ; he chose
to walk on his left ; he attended him to his quarters, and, in short, during the whole
twenty days of their conference, manifested towards his son all the deference which, as a
parent, ho was entitled to receive from him. This he did on the ground that Ferdinand,
as kincr of Castile, represented the elder branch of Trastamara, while he represented only
the younger. It will not be easy to meet with an instance of more punctilious etiquette
ven in Spanish history.
WAE OF THE SUCCESSION. 107
a conclusion." She then gave immediate orders for Isyicg dege et the
same time to the fortified towns of Medellin, Merida, and Deleyto&a.
At this juncture the infanta Dona Beatriz of Portugal, sistei -in-law
of king Alfonso, and maternal aunt of Isabella, touched with grief at
the calamities in which she saw her country involved by the chimerical
ambition of her brother, offered herself as the meditator of peace
between the belligerent nations. Agreeably to her proposal, an interview
took place between her and queen Isabella at the frontier town of
Alcantara. As the conferences of the fair negotiators experienced none
of the embarrasments usually incident to such deliberations, growing
out of jealousy, distrust, and a mutual design to overreach, but were
conducted in perfect good faith, and a sincere desire, on both sides, of
( stnblishing a cordial reconciliation, they resulted, after eight days' dis-
cussion, in a treaty of peace, with which the Portuguese infanta
returned into her own country, in order to obtain the sanction of her
royal brother. The articles contained in it, however, were too un-
palatable to receive an immediate assent ; and it was not until the
expiration of six months, during which Isabella, far from relaxing,
persevered with increased energy in her original plan of operations, that
the treaty was formally ratified by the court of Lisbon. (Sept. 24, 1479.)
It was stipulated in this compact, that Alfonso should relinquish the
title and armorial bearings ^viiich he had assumed as king of Castile ;
that he should resign his claims to the hand of Joanna, and no longer
maintain her pretensions to the Castilian throne ; that that lady should
make the election within six months, either to quit Portugal for ever, or
to remain there on the condition of wedding Don John, the infant son of
Ferdinand and Isabella, so soon as he should attain a marriageable age,
or to retire into a convent, and take the veil ; that a general amnesty
should be granted to all such Castilians as had, supported Joanna's
cause ; and, finally, that the concord between the two nations should be
cemented by the union of Alonso, son of the prince of Portugal, with the
infanta Isabella, of Castile.
Thus terminated, after a duration of four years and a half, the "War
of the Succession. It had fallen with peculiar fury on the border
provinces of Leon and Estramadura, which, from their local position,
had necessarily been kept in constant collision with the enemy. Its
baneful effects were long visible there, not only in the general" devas-
tation and distress of the country, but in the moral disorganisation
which the licentious and predatory habits of soldiers necessarily intro-
duced among a simple peasantry. In a personal view, however, the war
had terminated most triumphantly for Isabella, whose wise and vigorous
administration, seconded by her "husband's vigilance, had dispelled the
storm which threatened to overwhelm her from abroad, and established
her in undisturbed possession of the throne of her ancestors.
Joanna's interests were alone compromised, or rather sacrificed by the
treaty. She readily discerned in the provision for her marriage with an
infant still in the cradle, only a flimsy veil intended to disguise the
king of Portugal's desertion of her cause. Disgusted with a world in
which she had hitherto experienced nothing but misfortune herself, and
been the innocent cause of so much to others, she determined to renounce
it for ever, and seek a shelter in the peaceful shades of the cloister.
She accordingly entered the convent of Santa Clara at Coimbra, where
108 ACCESSION OF FKR1U.VAM) AXD ISABELLA.
in the following year, she pronounced the irrevocable vows which
divorce the unhappy subject of them for ever from her species. Two
envoys from Castile, Ferdinand de Talavera, Isabella's confessor, and
Dr. Diaz de Madrigal, one of her council, assisted at this affecting
ceremony : and the reverend father, in a copious exhortation addressed
to the youthful novice, assured her " that she had chosen the better part
approved in the Evangelists ; that, as spouse of the church, her chastity
would be prolific of all spiritual delights ; her subjection, liberty, the
only true liberty, partaking more of Heaven than of earth. No
kinsman," continued the disinterested preacher, "no true friend or
faithful counsellor, would divert you from so holy a purpose." *
Not long after this event, king Alfonso, penetrated with grief at the
loss of his destined bride, the "excellent lady," as the Portuguese
continued to call her, resolved to imitate her example, and exchange
his royal robes for the humble habit of a Franciscan friar. He conse-
quently made preparations for resigning his crown anew, and retiring
to the monastery of Varatojo, on a bleak eminence near the Atlantic
ocean, when he suddenly fell ill, at Cintra, of a disorder which
terminated his existence on the 28th of August, 1481. Alfonso's fiery
character, in which all the elements of love, chivalry, and religion were
blended together, resembled that of some paladin of romance : as the
chimerical enterprises, in which he was perpetually engaged, seem
rather to belong to the age of knight-errantry than to the fifteenth
century.
In the beginning of the same year in which the pacification with
Portugal secured to the sovereigns the undisputed possession of Castile,
another crown devolved on Ferdinand by the death of his father, the
king of Aragon, who expired at Barcelona, on the 20th of January,
1479, in the eighty-third year of his age. Such was his admirable
constitution, that he retained not only his intellectual, but his bodily
vigour unimpaired to the last. His long life was consumed in civil
faction or foreign wars ; and his restless spirit seemed to tnlca delight in
these tumultuous scenes, as best fitted to develope its various energies.
He combined, however, with this intrepid and even ferocious temper,
an address in the management of affairs, which led him to rely, for the
accomplishment of his purposes, much more on negotiation than on
positive force. He may be said to have been one of the first monarch s
who brought into vogue that refined science of the cabinet, which was
BO profoundly studied by statesmen at the close of the fifteenth century,
and on which his own son Ferdinand furnished the most practical
commentary.
The crown of Navarre, which he, had so shamelessly usurped, devolved,
* L. Marineo speaks of the Seiiora muy excelente as an inmate of the cloister at the period
In xvhich he was writing, 1522. Notwithstanding her "irrevocable vows," however,
Joanna several times quitted the monastery, and maintained a royal state under the
protection of the Portuguese monarchs, who occasionally threatened to revive her dormant
claims to the prejudice of the Castilian sovereigns. She may be said, consequently, to
have formed the pivot on which turned, during her whole life, the diplomatic relations
oetween the courts of Castile and Portugal, and to have been a principal cause of those
frequent intermarriages between the royal families of the two countries, by which Ferdi-
nand and Isabella hoped to detach the Portuguese crown from her interests. Joanna
affected a royal style and magnificence, and subscribed herself, "I, the Queen," to the
last. She died in the palace at Lisbon, in 1530, in the 69th year of her age, buying survived
most of her ancient friends, suitors, and competitors. -Joanna's history, subsequent to her
taking the veil, has been collected, with his usual precision, by Sefior Clemeuciu.
ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. 109
on his decease, on his guilty daughter Leonora, countess of Foix, who,
as we have before noticed, survived to enjoy it only three short weeks.
Aragon, with its extensive dependencies, descended to Ferdinand. Thus
the two crowns of Aragon and Castile, after a separation of more than
four centuries, became indissolubly united, and the foundations were
laid of the magnificent empire which was destined to overshadow every
other European monarchy.
CHAPTER VI.
DTTERNAI. ADMINISTRATION OF CASTIL8,
14751482.
Schemes of Koform Holy Brotherhood Tumult at Segovia The Queen's Presence of
mind Severe execution of Justice Royal Progress through Andalusia Reorganisa-
tion of the Tribunals Castilian Jurisprudence Plans for reducing the Nobles
Revocation of Grants Military Orders of Castile Masterships annexed to the Crown
Ecclesiastical Usurpations resisted Restoration of Trade Prosperity of the
Kingdom.
I HAVE deferred to the present chapter a consideration of the
important changes introduced into the interior administration of Castile
after the accession of Isabella, in order to present a connected and
comprehensive view of them to the reader, without interrupting the
progress of the military narrative. The subject may afford an agreeable
relief to the dreary details of blood and battle with which we have been
so long occupied, and which were rapidly converting the garden of
Europe into a wilderness. Such details indeed seem to have the deepest
interest for contemporary writers ; but the eye of posterity, unclouded
.by personal interest or passion, turns with satisfaction from them to
tliosy cultivated arts which can make the wilderness to blossom as
the rose.
If there be any being on earth that may be permitted to remind us of
the Deity himself, it is the ruler of a mighty empire who employs the
high powers intrusted to him exclusively for the benefit of his people ;
who, endowed with intellectual gifts corresponding with his station, in
an age of comparative barbarism, endeavours to impart to his land the
light of civilisation which illumines his own bosom, and to create from
the elements of discord the beautiful fabric of social order. Such was
Isabella; and such the age in which she lived. And fortunate was it
for Spain that her sceptre, at this crisis, was swayed by a sovereign
possessed of sufficient wisdom to devise, and energy to execute, the most
salutary schemes of reform, and thus to infuse a new principle of vitality
into a government fast sinking into premature decrepitude.
The whole plan of reform introduced into the government by Ferdinand
and Isabella, or more properly by the latter, to whom the internal
administration of Castile was principally referred, was not fully unfolded
until the completion of her reign. But the most important modifications
were adopted previously to the war of Granada in 1482. These may be
embraced under the following heads. I. The efficient adnuaistr&tioa al
IIC) ADJIIIflSTHATrOX OP CASTILE.
jas'dce. II. Tha codification of the laws. III. The depression of tin
nobles. IV. The vindication of ecclesiastical rights belonging to the
crown from the usurpation, of the papal see. V. The regulation of
trad.3. VI. T is prs-eniinsnce of royal authority.
I. The administration of j ustiee. In the dismal anarchy which
prevailed in Hanry the Fourth's reign, the authority of the monarch
and of ths royal judges had fallan into such contempt that the law was
entirsly without force. The cities afforded no better protection than the
open country. Every man's hand seemed to be lifted against his
neighbour. Property was plundered ; persons were violated ; the most
holy sanctuaries profaned; and the numerous fortresses scattered
throughout tha country, instead of sheltering the weak, converted into
dsns of robbers.* Isabella saw no better way of checking this unbounded
licence, than to direct against it that popular engine, the Santa Her-
manJad, or Holy Brotherhood, which had more than once shaken the
CastiLian monarshs on their throne.
The project for the reorganisation of this institution was introduce,
into tha cortes held, the year after Isabella's accession, at Madrigal;
in 1476. It was carried into effect by the junta of deputies from the
different cities of the kingdom, convened at Duenas in the same year.
The nsw institution differed essentially from the ancient herman-
dades, since, instead of being partial in its extent, it was designed to
embrace the whole kingdom ; and instead of being directed, as had often
been ths case, against the crown itself, it was set in motion at the
8ag38tk>n of the latter, and limited in its operation to the maintenance
of public order. The crimes reserved for its jurisdiction were all
violence or theft committed on the highways or in the open country,
aud ia. cities by such offenders as escaped into the country ; house-
breaking ; rape ; and resistance of justice. The specification of these
rrimss shows their frequency ; and the reasons for designating the open
country as the particular theatre for the operations of the hermandad,
was the facility which criminals possessed there for eluding the pursuit
of justice, especially under shelter of the strongholds or fortresses with
which it was plentifully studded.
An annual contribution of eighteen thousand maravedis was assessed
on every hundred vecinos or householders, for the equipment and main-
tenance of a horseman, whose duty it was to arrest offenders, and enforce
the sentence of the law. On the flight of a criminal, the tocsins of the
villages through which he was supposed to have passed were sounded ;
and the quadriUen.* or officers of the brotherhood, stationed on the
(iiilVrent poisl.-, ivott up the pursuit with such promptness as left little
chance of escape. A court of two alcaldes was established in every town
containing thirty families, for the trial of all crimes within the jurisdic-
tion of the hcrmandad ; and an appeal lay from them in specified cases
to a supreme council. A general junta, composed of deputies from the
aties throughout the kingdom, was annually convened for the regulation
of affairs ; and their instructions were transmitted to provincial juntas,
* Among other examples, Pulgar mentions that of the alcayde of Castro-Nuiio, Pedro
de IMsii'lana, who, from the strongholds in his possession, committed such grievous
devastations throughout the country, that the cities of Burgos, Avila, Salamanca, Segovia,
Yallailolid, Medina, and others in that quarter, were fain to pay him a tribute, (black
mail,) to protect their territories from his rapacity. His successful example was imitated
by many other knightly freebooters of the period.
ADMIXISTEATKCS OF CASTILE. Ill
who superintended the execution of them. The laws, enacted at differ3nS
times in these assemblies, were compiled into a code under the saactioa
of the junta general at Tordelaguna, in 1485. The penalties for theft,
which are literally written in hlood, are specified in this code with
singular precision. The most petty larceny was punished with stripes,
the loss of a member, or of life itself ; and the law was administered
with an unsparing rigour, which nothing but the extreme necessity of
the case could justify. Capital executions were conducted by shooting'
the criminal with arrows. The enactment relating to this provides that
" the convict shall receive the sacrament like a Catholic Christian, and.
after that be executed as speedily as possible, in order that bis soul may
pass the more securely."
Notwithstanding the popular constitution of the hermandad, and the
obvious advantages attending its introduction at this juncture, it expe-
rienced so decided an opposition from the nobility, who discerned the
check it was likely to impose on their authority, that it required all the
quoen's address and perseverance to effect its general adoption.
The constable de Haro, however, a nobleman of great weight from his
personal character, and the most extensive landed proprietor in the
north, was at length prevailed on to introduce it among his vassals. His
example was gradually followed by others of the same rank ; and whea
the city of Seville, and the great lords of Andalusia, had consented to
receive it, it speedily became established throughout the kingdom. Thus
a >t: r.iding body of troops, two thousand in number, thoroughly equipped
and mounted, was placed at the disposal of the crown, to enforce the
law, and suppress domestic insurrection. The supreme junta, which
regulated the councils of the hermaudad, constituted moreover a sort of
inferior cortes, relieving the exigencies of government, as we shall see
hereafter, on more than one occasion, by important supplies of men and
money. By the activity of this new military police, the country was, in
the course of a few years, cleared of its swarms of banditti, as well as of
the robber chieftains, whose strength had enabled them to defy the law.
The ministers of justice found a sure protection in the independent
discharge of their duties ; aud the blessings of personal security and
social order, so long estranged from the nation, were again restored
to it.
The important benefits resulting from the institution of the her-
mandad, secured its confirmation by successive cortes, for the period of
twenty -two years, in spite of the repeated opposition of the aristocracy.
At length, in 1498, the objects for which it was established having been
completely obtained, it was deemed advisable to relieve the nation from
the heavy charges which its maintenance imposed. The great salaried
officers were dismissed ; a few subordinate functionaries were retained
i'or the administration of justice, over whom the regular courts of
criminal law possessed appellate jurisdiction ; and the magnificent
apparatus of the Santa Hermandad, stripped of all but the terrors of
its name, dwindled into an ordinary police, such as it has existed, with
various modifications of form, down to the present century.
Isabella was so intent on the prosecution of her schemes of reform,
that, even in the minuter details, she frequently superintended the
execution of them herself. For this she was admirably fitted by her
persoual address, and presence of mind 'in danger ; and by the inlluecce
112 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE.
\vhich a conviction of her integrity gave her over the minds of tha
people. A remarkable exemplification of this occurred, the year but one
after her coronation, at Segovia. The inhabitants, secretly instigated by
the bishop of that place, and some of the principal citizens, rose against
Cabrera, marquis of Moya, to whom the government of the city had been,
intrusted, and who had made himself generally unpopular by his strict
discipline. They even proceeded so far as to obtain possession of the
outworks of the citadel, and to compel the deputy of the alcayde, who
was hinisetf absent, to take shelter, together with the princess Isabella,
then the only daughter of the sovereigns, in the interior defences, where
they were rigorously blockaded.
The queen, on receiving tidings of the event at Tordesillas, mounted
her horse, and proceeded with all possible despatch towards Segovia,
attended by cardinal Mendoza, the count of Benavente, and a few others
of her court. At some distance from the city she was met by a deputa-
tion of the inhabitants, requesting her to leave behind the count of
Benavente and the marchioness of Moya (the former of whom as the
intimate friend, and the latter as the wife of the alcayde, were peculiarly
obnoxious to the citizens), or they could not answer for the consequences".
Isabella haughtily replied, that " she was queen of Castile ; that the city
was hers, moreover, by right of inheritance ; and that she was not usecl
to receive conditions from rebellious subjects." Then pressing forward
with her little retinue through one of the gates, which remained in the
hands of her friends, she effected her entrance into the citadel.
The populace, in the meanwhile, assembling in greater numbers than
before, continued to show the most hostile dispositions, calling out,
" Death to the alcayde ! Attack the castle ! " Isabella's attendants,
terrified at the tumult, and at the preparations which the peoplo were
making to put their menaces into execution, besought their mistress to
cause the gates to be secured more strongly, as the only mode of defence
against the infuriated mob. But, instead of listening to their counsel,
she bade them remain quietly in the apartment, and descended herself
into the court- yard, where she ordered the portals to be thrown open for
the admission of the people. She stationed herself at the further extre-
mity of the area, and, as the populace poured in, calmly demanded the
cause of the insurrection. " Tell me," said she, "what are your griev-
ances, and I will do all in my power to redress them ; for I am sure that
what is for your interest, must be also for mine, and for that of the
whole city." The insurgents, abashed by the unexpected presence of
their sovereign, as well as by her cool and dignified demeanour, replied,
that all they desired was the removal of Cabrera from the government
of the city. " He is deposed already," answered the queen, " and you
have my authority to turn out such of his officers as are still in the
castle, which I shall intrust to one of my own servants, on whom I can
rely." The people, pacified by these assurances, shouted " Long live the
queen ! " and eagerly hastened to obey her mandates.
After thus turning aside the edge of popular fury, Isabella proceeded
witli her retinue to the royal residence in the city, attended bv the fickle
multitude, whom she again addressed on arriving there, admonishing
them to return to their vocations, as this was no time for calm inquiry ;
and promising that, if they would send three or four of their numb
her on the morrow to report the extent of their grievances, she would
AiUUKISTKAXrOV OP CASTILE. 113
examine into tlie affair, and render justice to all parties. The mob
fi'joordiugly dispersed ; and the queen, after a candid examination,
having ascertained the groundlessness or gross exaggeration of the
misdemeanours imputed to Cabrera, and traced the source of the con-
spiracy to the jealousy of the bishop of Segovia and his associates,
reinstated the deposed alcayde in the full possession of his dignities,
which his enemies, either convinced of the altered dispositions of the
people, or believing that the favourable moment for resistance had
escaped, made no further attempts to disturb. Thus, by a happy pre-
sence of mind, an afiair, which threatened at its outset disastrous
consequences, was settled without bloodshed, or compromise of the
royal dignity.*
In the summer of the following year, 1477, Isabella resolved to pay a
visit to Estramadura and Andalusia, for the purpose of composing the
dissensions, and introducing a more efficient police, in these unhappy
provinces ; which from their proximity to the stormy frontier of Portugal,
as well as from the feuds between the great houses of Guzman and Ponce
de Leon, were plunged in. the most frightful anarchy. Cardinal Mendoza
and her other ministers remonstrated against this imprudent exposure
of her person, where it was so little likely to be respected. But she
replied, " It was true there were dangers and inconveniences to be
encountered ; but her fate was in God's hands, and she felt a confidence
that he would guide to a prosperous issue such designs as were righteous
in themselves and resolutely conducted."
Isabella experienced the most loyal and magnificent reception from
the inhabitants of Senile, "where she established her head-quarters.
The first days of her residence there were consumed in fetes, tourneys,
tilts of reeds, and other exercises of the Castilian chivalry. After this
she devoted her whole time to the great purpose of her visit, the refor-
mation of abuses. She held her court in the saloon of the alcazar, or
royal castle, where she revived the ancient practice of the Castilian
sovereigns, of presiding in person over the administration of justice.
Every Friday she took her seat in her chair of state, on an elevated
platform covered with cloth of gold, and surrounded by her council,
together with the subordinate functionaries, and the insignia of a court
of justice. The members of her privy council and of the high court of
oriniinal law sat in their official capacity every day in the week ; and
the queen herself received such suits as were referred to her adjudi-
cation, saving the parties the usual expense and procrastination of
justice.
By the extraordinary despatch of the queen and her ministers, during
ihe two months that she resided in the city, a vast number of civil and
criminal causes were disposed of, a large amount of plundered property
was restored to its lawful owners, and so many offenders were brought to
condign punishment, that no less than four tnousand suspected persons,
it is computed, terrified by the prospect of speedy retribution for their
crimes, escaped into the neighbouring kingdoms of Portugal and Granada.
The worthy burghers of Seville, alarmed at this rapid depopulation of the
* Gonzalo de Oviedo lavishes many encomiums on Cabrera for "his generous qualities,
his singular prudence in governineut, and his solicitude for his vassals, whom he inspired
with the deepe.st attachment." The best panegyric on his character is the unshakeu con-
fidence which his royal mistress reposed in him to the day of her death.
Z
114 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE.
city, sent a deputation to the queen, to deprecate her anger, and to
represent that faction had been so busy of late years in their unhappy
town, that there was scarcely a family to be found in it, some of whose
members were not more or less involved in the guilt. Isabella, who was
naturally of a benign disposition, considering that enough had probably
been done to strike a salutary terror into the remaining delinquents,
was willing to temper justice with mercy, and accordingly granted an
amnesty for all past offences, save heresy, on the condition, however, of
a general restitution of such property as had been unlawfully seized and
retained during the period of anarchy.*
But Isabella became convinced that all arrangements for establishing
permanent tranquillity in Seville would be ineffectual, so long as the
feud continued between the great families of Guzman and Ponce de Leon.
The duke of Medina Sidonia and the marquis of Cadiz, the heads of these
Aouses, had possessed themselves of the royal towns and fortresses, as
well as of those which, belonging to the city, were scattered over its
circumjacent territory, where, as has been previously stated, they carried
on war against each other like independent potentates. The former of
these grandees had been the loyal supporter of Isabella in the War of
the Succession. The marquis of Cadiz, on the other hand, connected
by marriage with the house of Pacheco, had cautiously withheld his
allegiance, although he had not testified his hostility by any overt act.
While the queen was hesitating as to the course she should pursue in
reference to the marquis, who still kept himself aloof in his fortified
castle of Xerez, he suddenly presented himself by night at her residence
in Seville, accompanied only by two or three attendants. He took this
step, doubtless, from the conviction that the Portuguese faction had
nothing further to hope in a kingdom where Isabella reigned not only by
the fortune of war, out by the affections of the people ; and he now
eagerly profferred his allegiance to her, excusing his previous conduct as
he best could. The queen was too well satisfied with the submission,
however tardy, of this formidable vassal, to call him to severe account
for past delinquencies. She exacted from him, however, the full resti-
tution of such domains and fortresses as he had niched from the crown
Mid from the city of Seville, on condition of similar concessions by his
rival, the duke ot Medina Sidonia. She next attempted to establish a
reconciliation between these belligerent grandees ; but aware that, how-
ever pacific might be their demonstrations for the present, there could
be little hope of permanently allaying the inherited feuds of a century,
whilst the neighbourhood of the parties to each other must necessarily
multiply fresh causes of disgust, she caused them to withdraw from
Seville to their estates in the country, and by this expedient succeeded
in extinguishing the flame of discord.
In the following year, 1478, Isabella accompanied her husband in a
tour through Andalusia, for the immediate purpose of reconnoitring the
coast. In the course of this progress, they were splendidly entertained
by the duke and marquis at their patrimonial estates. They afterwards
proceeded to Cordova, where they adopted a similar policy with that
pursued at Seville ; compelling the count de Cabra, connected with the
blood royal, and Alonso de Aguilar, lord of Montilla, whose factions had
long desolated this fair city, to withdraw into the country, and restore
L. Mariueo says, no less than 8,000 jfuilty fled from Seville and Cordoya.
OF CASTILE. 113
the immense possessions which they had usurped bota from the munici-
pality arid the crown.
One example among others may be mentioned, of the rectitude and
severe impartiality with which Isabella administered justice, that
occurred in the case of a wealthy Galician knight, named Alvaro Yanez
de Lugo. This person, being convicted of a capital offence, attended
~ith the most aggravating circumstances, sought to obtain a commuta-
tion of his punishment by the payment of forty thousand doblas of gold
to the queen, a sum exceeding, at that time, the annual rents of the
crown. Some of Isabella's counsellors would have persuaded her to
accept the donative, and appropriate it to the pious purposes of the
Moorish war. But, far from being blinded by their sophistry, she
sulllred the law to take its course, and, in order to place her conduct
above every suspicion of a mercenary motive, allowed his estates, which
might legally have been confiscated to the crown, to descend to his
natural heirs. Nothing contributed more to re-establish the supremacy
of law in this reign, than the certainty of its execution, without respect to
wealth or rank ; for the insubordination prevalent throughout Castile was
chiefly imputable to persons of this description, who, if they failed to defeat
justice by force, were sure of doing so by the corruption of its ministers.
Ferdinand and Isabella employed the same vigorous measures in the
other parts of their dominions, which had proved so successful in
Andalusia, for the extirpation of the hordes of banditti, and of the
robber-knights, who differed in no respect from the former but in their
superior power. In Galicia alone, fifty fortresses, the strongholds of
tyranny, were razed to the ground ; and fifteen hundred malefactors, it
was computed, were compelled to fly the kingdom. " The wretched
inhabitants of the mountains," says a writer of that age, " who had long
since despaired of j ustice, blessed God for their deliverance, as it were,
from a deplorable captivity."
While the sovereigns were thus personally occupied with the suppres-
sion of domestic discord, and the establishment of an efficient police,
they were not inattentive to the higher tribunals, to whose keeping,
chiefly, were entrusted the personal rights and property of the subject.
They re-organised the royal or privy council, whose powers, although,
as has been noticed in the Introduction, principally of an administrative
nature, had been gradually encroaching on those of the superior courts
of law. During the last century, this body had consisted of prelates,
knights, and lawyers, whose numbers and relative proportions had varied
in different times. The right of the great ecclesiastics and nobles to a
seat in it was, indeed, recognised, but the transaction of business was
reserved for the counsellors specially appointed. Much the larger pro-
portion of these, by the new arrangement, was made up of jurists, whose
professional education and experience eminently qualified them for the
station. The specific duties and interior management of the council
were prescribed with sufficient accuracy. Its authority, as a court of
justice, was carefully limited ; but, as it was charged with the principal
executive duties of government, it was consulted in all important trans-
actions by the sovereigns, who paid great deference to its opinions, and
very frequently assisted at its deliberations.*
* Th number of the members of the royal council was limited to one prelate as provident*
I 2
116 ADMUTISTRATIOy OF CASTILE.
Eo change was made in the high criminal couit of alcaldes de corte y
except in its forms of proceeding. But the royal audience, or clia:
the supreme and final court of appeal in civil causes, was entirely
remodelled. The place of its sittings, before indeterminate, and conse-
quently occasioning much trouble and cost to the litigants, was fixed at
Valladolid. Laws were passed to protect the tribunal from the inter-
ference of the crown, and the queen was careful to fill the bench with
magistrates whose wisdom and integrity would afford the best guarantee
for a faithful interpretation of the law.*
In. the cortes of Madrigal (1476), and still more in the celebrated one
of Toledo (1480), many excellent provisions were made for the equitable
administration of justice, as well as for regulating the tribunals. The
judges were to ascertain every week, either by personal inspection or
report, the condition of the prisons, the number of the prisoners, and the
nature of the offences for which they were confined. They were required
to bring them to a speedy trial, and afford every facility for their
defence. An attorney was provided at the public expense, under the
title of " advocate for the poor," whose duty it was to defend the suits
of such as were unable to maintain them at their own cost. Severe
penalties were enacted against venality in the judges, a gross evil under
the preceding reigns, as well as against such counsel as took exorbitant
fees, or even maintained actions that were manifestly unjust. Finally,
commissioners were appointed to inspect and make report of the pro-
ceedings of municipal and other inferior courts throughout the kingdom.
The sovereigns testified their respect for the law by reviving the
ancient but obsolete practice of presiding personally in the tribun:
least once a week. " I well remember," says one of their court, " to
have seen the queen, together with the Catholic king,- her husband,
sitting in judgment in the alcazar of Madrid, every Friday, dispensing
justice to all such, great and small, as came to demand it. This was
indeed the golden age of justice," continues the enthusiastic writer ;
'* and since our sainted mistress has been taken from us, it has been
more difficult, and far more costly, to transact business with a stripling
of a secretary, than it was with the queen and all her ministers."f
By the modifications then introduced, the basis was laid of the
judiciary system, such as it has been perpetuated to the present age.
The law acquired an authority which, in the language of a Spanish
three knights, and eight or nine jurists. The sessions were to be held every day in the
palace. They were instructed to refer to the other tribunals all matters not strictly coming
within their own j urisdic tioa. Their acts, in all cases except those specially reserved, were
to have the force of law without the royal signature.
Marina denies that the council could constitutionally exercise any judicial authority, at
least in suits between private parties ; and quotes a passage from Pulgnr, showing that its
usurpations in this way were restrained by Ferdinand and Isabella. Powers of this
nature, however, to a considerable extent, appear to hav been conceded to it by more
than one statute under this reign.
* By one of the statutes, the commission of the judges, which before extended to life,
or a long period, was abridged to one year. This important innovation was made at the
earnest and repeated remonstrance of cortes, who traced the rcmissness and corruption,
too frequeat of late in the court, to the circumstance that its decisions were not liable to
be reviewed during life. The legislature probably mistook the true cause of the evil.
Few will doubt, at ary rate, that the remedy proposed must have been fraught with far
tTr it.r.
By one of the statutes of the cortes of Toledo, in 14SO, the king vras required to tak
r.is seat in the council every Friday. It was not o new for the Castilians to have good
laws, a tat their monarchs to observe them.
ADIIIXISTKATIOX OF CASTILE. IT,
writer, " caused a decree, signed by two or three jiulgos, to be more
respected since that time, than an army before." But perhaps the
results of this improved administration cannot be better conveyed than
in the words of an eyewitness. " AVhereas," says Pulgar, " the'kingdom
was previously filled with banditti and malefactors of every description,
who committed the most diabolical excesses, in open contempt of law,
there was now such terror impressed on the hearts of all, that no one
dared to lift his arm against another, or even to assail him with con-
tumelious or discourteous language. The knight and the squire, who
had before oppressed the labourer, were intimidated by the fear of that
justice which was sure to be executed on them; the roads were swept of
the banditti ; the fortresses, the strong-holds of violence, were thrown
open ; and the whole nation, restored to tranquillity and order, sought
no other redress than that afforded by the operation of the law."
II. Coditication of the laws. Whatever reforms might have been intro-
duced into the Castilian judicatures, they would have been of little avail
without a corresponding improvement in the system of jurisprudence by
which their decisions were to be regulated. This was made up of the
Tisigothic code, as the basis ; the fueros of the Castilian princes, as far
back as the eleventh century; and the " Siete Partidas," the famous
compilation of Alfonso the Tenth, digested chiefly from maxims of the
civil law. The deficiencies of these ancient codes had been gradually
supplied by such an accumulation of statutes and ordinances, as rendered
the legislation of Castile in the highest degree complex, and often con-
tradictory. The embarrassment resulting from this occasioned, as may
be imagined, much tardiness, as well as uncertainty, in the decisions of
the courts, who, despairing of reconciling the discrepancies in their own
law, governed themselves almost exclusively by the Roman, so much less
accommodated, as it was, than their own, to the genius of the national
institutions, as well as to the principles of freedom.
The nation had long felt the pressure of fhese evils, and made attempts
to redress them in repeated cortes. But every effort proved unavailing
during the stormy or imbecile reigns of the princes of Trastamara. At
length, the subject having been resumed in the cortes of Toledo, in 1480,
Dr. Alfuuso Diaz de Montalvo, whose professional science had been
matured under the reigns of tbree successive sovereigns, was charged
with the commission of revising the laws of Castile, and of compiling a
code which should be of general application throughout the kingdom.
This laborious undertaking was accomplished in little more than four
years ; and his work, which subsequently bore the title of Ordenanpas
Juries, was published, or, as the privilege expresses it, " written with
types," excrito de letra de molde, at Huete, in the beginning of 1485.
It was one of the first works, therefore, which received the honours o'
the press in Spain ; and surely none could have been found, at that
period, more deserving of them. It went through repeated editions in
the course of that, and the commencement of the following century. It
was admitted as paramount authority throughout Castile ; and although
the many innovations, which were introduced in that age of reform,
required the additio of two subsidiary codes in the latter years of
Isabella, the " Ordenancas " of Montalvo continued to be the "guide of
the tribunals down to the time of Philip the Second ; and may be said to
have suggested the idea, aa indeed it was the basis, of the comprehensive
118 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE.
compilation " N"ueva Recopilacion," which has since formed the law ot
the Spanish monarchy.
III. Depression of the nobles. In the course of the preceding chapters,
Tfe have seen the extent of the privileges constitutionally enjoyed by the
aristocracy, as well as the enormous height to which they had swollen
under the profuse reigns of John the Second and Henry the Fourth
This was such, at the accession of Ferdinand and Isabella, as to disturb
the balance of the constitution, and to give serious cause of apprehension
both to the monarch and the people, They had introduced themselves
into every great post of profit or authority. They had ravished from the
crown the estates on which it depended for its maintenance as well as
dignity. They coined money in their own mints, like sovereign princes;
and they covered the country with their fortified castles, whence they
defied the law, and desolated the unhappy land with interminable feuds.
It was obviously necessary for the new sovereigns to proceed with the
greatest caution against this powerful and jealous body, and, above all,
to attempt no measure of importance, in which they would not be sup-
ported by the hearty co-operation of the nation.
The first measure, which may be said to have clearly developed their
policy, was the organisation of the hermandad, which, although ostensibly
directed against offenders of a more humble description, was made to
bear indirectly upon the nobility, whom it kept in awe by the number
and discipline of its forces, and the promptness with which it could
assemble them on the most remote points of the kingdom ; while its
rights of jurisdiction tended materially to abridge those of the seignorial
tribunals. It was accordingly resisted with the greatest pertinacity by
the aristocracy ; although, as we have seen, the resolution of the queen,
supported by the constancy of the commons, enabled her to triumph over
all opposition, until the great objects of the institution were accomplished.
Another measure, which insensibly operated to the depression of the
nobility, was making official preferment depend less exclusively on rank,
and much more on personal merit than before. " Since the hope of
guerdon," says one of the statutes enacted at Toledo, "is the spur to-
just and honourable actions, when men perceive that offices of trust are
not to descend by inheritance, but to be conferred on merit, they will
strive to excel in virtue, that they may attain its reward." The
sovereigns, instead of confining themselves to the grandees, frequently
advanced persons of humble origin, and especially those learned is. the
law, to the most responsible stations ; consulting them, and paying
great deference to their opinions, on all matters of importance. The
nobles, finding that rank was no longer the sole, or indeed the necessary
avemxe to promotion, sought to secure it by attention to more liberal
studies, in which they were greatly encouraged by Isabella, who
admitted their children into her palace, where they were reared under
her own eye.
But the boldest assaults on the power of the aristocracy were made
in the famous cortes of Toledo, in 1480, which Carbajal enthusiastically
styles " cosa divina para reformacion y remedio de las desordenea
pasadas." The first object of its attention was the condition of the
exchequer, which Henry the Fourth had so exhausted by his reckless
prodigality, that the clear annual revenue amounted to no more than
thirty thousand ducats, a sum much inferior to that enjoyed by many
ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. 119
private individuals ; so that, stripped of his patrimony, it at last came
to be said, he was "king only of the highways." Such had heen the
royal necessities, that blank certificates of annuities assigned on tie
public rents were hawked about the market, and sold at such a depre-
ciated rate, that the price of an annuity did not exceed the amount of
one year's income. The commons saw with alarm the weight of the
burdens which must devolve on them for the maintenance of the crown
thus impoverished in its resources ; and they resolved to meet the
difficulty by advising at once a resumption of the grants unconstitu-
tionally made during the latter half of Henry the Fourth's reign, and
the commencement of the present.* This measure, however violent and
repugnant to good faith it may appear at the present time, seems then
to have admitted of justification as far as the nation was concerned ;
since such alienation of the public revenue was in itself illegal, and
contrary to the coronation oath of the sovereign ; and those who accepted
his obligations, held them subject to the liability of their revocation
which had frequently occurred under the preceding reigns.
As the intended measure involved the interests of most of the
considerable proprietors in the kingdom, who had thriven on the
necessities of the crown, it was deemed proper to require the attendance
of the nobility and great ecclesiastics in cortes by a special summons,
which it seems had been previously omitted. Thus convened, the
legislature appears, with great unanimity, and much to the credit of
those most deeply affected by it, to have acquiesced in the proposed
resumption of the grants, as a measure of absolute necessity. The only
difficulty was to settle the principles on which the retrenchment might
be most equitably made with reference to creditors, whose claims rested
on a great variety of grounds. The plan suggested by cardinal Mendoza
seems to have been partially adopted. It was decided that all, whose
pensions had been conferred without any corresponding services on their
part, should forfeit them entirely ; that those who had purchased
annuities should return their certificates on a reimbursement of the
price paid for them ; and that the remaining creditors, who composed
the largest class, should retain such a proportion only of their pensions,
as might be judged commensurate with their services to the state.
By this important reduction, the final adjustment and execution ot
which were intrusted to Fernando de Talavera, the queen's confessor,
a man of austere probity, the gross amount of thirty millions of
maravedis, a sum equal to three-fourths of the whole revenue on.
Isabella's accession, was annually saved to the crown. The retrench-
ment was conducted with such strict impartiality, that the most
confidential servants of the queen, and the relatives of her husband,
were among those who suffered the most severely, f It is worthy of
remark, that no diminution whatever was made of the stipends settled
on literary and charitable establishments. It may be also added, that
* The commons had pressed the measure, as one of the last necessity to the crown, ai
early as the cortes of Madrigal, in 1476.
t Admiral Enriquez, for instance, resigned 240,000 maravedis of his annual income ;
the duke of Alva, 575,000 ; the duke of Medina Sidonia, 180,000. The loyal family of the
Mendozas were also great losers; but none forfeited so much as the overgrown favourite
of Henry IV., Beltran de la Cueva, duke of Albuquerque, who had uniformly supported
the royal cause, and whose retrenchment amounted to 1,400,000 maravedii of yearly
120 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE.
Isabella appropriated the first fruits of this measure, by distributing the
sum of twenty millions of maravedis among the widows and orphans of
those loyalists who had fallen in the War of the Succession.* This
resumption of the grants may be considered as the basis of those
economical reforms which, without oppression to the subject, augmented
the public revenue more than twelvefold during this auspicious reign.
Several other acts were passed by the same cortes, which had a more
exclusive bearing on the nobility. They were prohibited from quartering
the royal arms on their escutcheons, "from being attended by a mac--
bearer and a body-guard, from imitating the regal style of address in
their written correspondence, and other insignia of royalty which thvy
had arrogantly assumed. They were forbidden to erect new fortr
and we have already seen the activity of the queen in procuring the
demolition or restitution of the old. They were expressly restrained
from duels, an inveterate source of mischief; for engaging in which,
the parties, both principals and seconds, were subjected to the penalties
f treason. Isabella evinced her determination of enforcing this law
on the highest offenders, by imprisoning, soon after its enactment, the
counts of Luna and Valencia for exchanging a cartel of defiance, until
the point at issue should be settled by the regular course of justice, f
It is true the haughty nobility of Castile winced more than once at
finding themselves so tightly curbed by their new masters. On one
occasion a number of the principal grandees, with the duke of Infantado
at their head, addressed a letter of remonstrance to the king and queen,
requiring them to abolish the hermandad, as an institution burdensome
on the nation, deprecating the slight degree of confidence which their
highnesses reposed in their order, and requesting that four of their
number might be selected to form a council for the general direction
of affairs of state, by whose advice the king and queen should be
governed in all matters of importance, as in the time of Henry the
Fourth.
Ferdinand and Isabella received this unseasonable remonstrance with
great indignation, and returned an answer couched in the haughtiest
terms. "The hermandad," they said, "is an institution most salutary
to the nation, and is approved by it as such. It is our province to
determine who are best entitled to preferment, and to make merit the
standard of it. You may follow the court, or retire to your estates, as
you think best ; but, so long as Heaven permits us to retain the rank
with which we have been intrusted, we shall take care not to imitate
the example of Henry the Fourth, in becoming a tool in the hands of
our nobility." The discontented lords, who had carried so high a hand
under the preceding imbecile reign, feeling the weight of an authority
which rested on the affections of the people, were so disconcerted by the
rebuke, that they made no attempt to rally, but condescended to make
their peace separately as they could, by the most ample acknow-
ledgments.
* "No monarch," said the high-minded queen, "should consent to alienate his
demesnes ; since the loss of revenue necessarily deprives him of the best means of
rewarding the attachment of his friends, and of making him feared by his enemies."
t These affairs were conducted in the true spirit of knight-errantry. Oviedo mentions
one, in which two young men of the noble houses of Velasco and Ponce de Leon agreed
to fight on horseback, with sharp spears in doublet and hose, without defensive armour
of any kind. The place appointed for the combat was a narrow bridge across the Xarama,
three leagues from Madnu.
ADMi3fisiBA.iioir OF CASTILE. 121
An example of tlie impartiality as well as spirit with which Isabella
asserted the dignity of the cru\vu is worth recording. During her
husband's absence in Aragon, in the spring of 1481, a quarrel occurred in
tlie ante-chamber of the palace at Valladolid, between two young noble-
men, Ramiro Xunez de Guzman, lord of Toral, and Frederic Heuriquez,
son of the admiral of Castile, king Ferdinand's uncle. The queen, on
receiving intelligence of it, granted a safe-conduct to the lord of Toral,
as the weaker party, until the affair should be adjusted between them.
Don Frederic, however, disregarding this protection, caused his enemy
to be waylaid by three of his followers, armed with bludgeons, ani
soivly beaten one evening in the streets of Valladolid.
Isabella was no sooner informed of this outrage on one whom she had
taken under the royal protection, than burning with indignation, she
immediately mounted her horse, though in the midst of a heavy storm
of rain, and proceeded alone towards the castle of Simancas, then in the
possession of the admiral, the father of the offender, where she supposed
him to have taken refuge, travelling all the while with such rapidity,
that she was not overtaken by the officers of the guard until she had
gained the fortress. She instantly summoned the admiral to deliver up
his son to justice; and on his replying that "Don Frederic was not
there, and that he was ignorant where he was," she commanded him to
surrender the keys of the castle, and, after a fruitless search, again
returned to Yalladolid. The next day Isabella was confined to her bed
by an illness occasioned as much by chagrin as by the excessive fatigue
which she had undergone. " My body is lame, said she, "with the
blows given by Don Frederic in contempt of my safe-conduct."
The admiral, perceiving how deeply he and his family had incurred
the displeasure of the queen, took counsel with his friends, who were led
by their knowledge of Isabella's character to believe that he would have
more to hope from the surrender of his son than from further attempts
at concealment. The young man was accordingly conducted to the
palace, by his uncle, the constable de Haro, who deprecated the queen's
resentment by representing the age of his nephew, scarcely amounting to
twenty years. Isabella, however, thought proper to punish the youthful
delinquent, by ordering him to be publicly conducted as a prisoner, by
one of the alcaldes of her court, through the great square of Yalladolid
to the fortress of Arevalo, where he was detained in strict confinement,
all privilege of access being denied to him ; and when at length, moved
by the consideration of his consanguinity with the king, she consented
to his release, she banished him to Sicily, until he should receive the
royal permission to return to his own country.
Notwithstanding the strict impartiality as well as vigour of the
administration, it could never have maintained itsulf by its own
resources alone, in its offensive operations against the high-spirited
aristocracy of Castile. Its most direct approaches, however, were made,
as we have seen, under cover of the cortes. The sovereigns showed
great deference, especially in the early period of their reign, to the
popular branch of this body : and, so far from pursuing the odious policy
of preceding princes in diminishing the amount of represented cities,
they never failed to direct their writs to all those which, at their
accession, retained the right of representation, and subsequently enlarged
the number by the conquest of Granada ; while they exercised the
122 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE.
anomalous privilege, noticed in the Introduction to this history, of
omitting altogether, or issuing only a partial summons to, the nobility.*
By making merit the standard of preferment, they opened the path of
honour to every class of the community. They uniformly manifested
the greatest tenderness for the rights of the commons in reference to
taxation ; and, as their patriotic policy was obviously directed to secure
the personal rights and general prosperity of the people, it insured the
co-operation of an ally, whose weight, combined with that of the crown,
enabled them eventually to restore the equilibrium _which had been
disturbed by the undue preponderance of the aristocracy.
It may be well to state here the policy pursued by Ferdinand and
Isabella in reference to the Military Orders of Castile, since, although
not fully developed until a much later period, it was first conceived, and
indeed partly executed, in that now under discussion.
The uninterrupted warfare which the Spaniards were compelled to
maintain for the recovery of their native land from the infidel, nourished
in their bosoms a flame of enthusiasm similar to that kindled by the
crusades for the recovery of Palestine, partaking in an almost equal
degree of a religious and a military character. This similarity of
sentiment gave birth also to similar institutions of chivalry. Whether
the military orders of Castile were suggested by those of Palestine, or
whether they go back to a remoter period, as is contended by their
chroniclers, or whether, in fine, as Conde intimates, they were imitated
from corresponding associations known to have existed among the Spanish
Arabs, f there can be no doubt that the forms under which they were
permanently organised were derived, in the latter part of the twelfth
century, from the monastic orders established for the protection of the
Holy Land. The Hospitallers, and especially the Templars, obtained
more extensive acquisitions in Spain than in any, perhaps every, other
country in Christendom ; and it was partly from the ruins of their
empire that were constructed the magnificent fortunes of the Spanish
orders.^
The most eminent of these was the order of St. Jago, or St. James, of
Compostella. The miraculous revelation of the body of the Apostle,
after the lapse of eight centuries from the date of his interment, and his
frequent apparition in the ranks of the Christian armies in their
desperate struggles with the infidel, had given so wide a celehiity to the
obscure town of Compostella in Galicia, which contained the sainted
For example, at the great cortes of Toledo, in 14SO, it does not appear that any of
the nobility were summoned, except those in immediate attendance on the court, until
the measure for the resumption of the grants, which so nearly affected that body, was
brought before the legislature.
t G'jnde gives the following account of these chivalric associations among the Spanish
Arabs, which, as far as I know, has hitherto escaped the notice of European historians.
* The Moslem fronteros professed great austerity in their lives, which they consecrated to
perpetual war, and bound themselves by a solemn vow to defend the frontier against the
incursions of the Christians. They were choice cavaliers, possessed of consummate
patience, and enduring fatigue, and always prepared to die rather than desert their posts.
It appears highly probable that the Moorish fraternities suggested the idea of those
military orders so renowned for their valour in Spain and in Palestine, which rendered
such essential services to Christendom ; for both the institutions were established on
rimilar principles."
J The knights of the Temple and the Hospitallers seem to have acquired still greater
power in Aragon, where one of the monarchs was so infatuated as to bequeath then) his
whole dominions, a bequest, which it may well be believed was set aside by his high*
spirited subjects.
ADIIIXISTKATIOX OF CASTILE 123
relics,* that it became the resort of pilgrims from every part of
encloin during the middle ages ; and the escalop-shell, the device
of .St. James, was adopted as the universal badge of the palmer. Inns
for the refreshment and security of the pious itinerants were scattered
along the whole line of the route from France ; but, as they were exposed
to perpetual annoyance from the predatory incursions of the Arabs, a
number of knights and gentlemen associated themselves for their
protection, with the monks of St. Lojo or Eloy, adopting the rule of
St. Auirustine, and thus laid the foundation of the chivaLrie order of
St. James, about the middle of the twelfth century. The cavaliers of
the fraternity, which received its papal bull of approbation five years
later, in 11 To, were distinguished by a white mantle embroidered with a
red cross, in fashion of a sword, with the escalop-sbell below the guard,
in imitation of the device which glittered on the banner of their tutelar
saint when he condescended to take part in their engagements with the
Moors. The red colour denoted, according to an ancient commentator,
" that it was stained with the blood of the infidel." The rules of the
new order imposed on its members the usual obligations of obedience,
community of property, and of conjugal chastity, instead of celibacy.
They were, moreover, required to relieve the poor, defend the traveller,
and maintain perpetual war upon the Mussulman.
The institution of the Knights of Calatrava was somewhat more
romantic in its origin. That town, from its situation on the frontiers of
the Moorish territory of Andalusia, where it commanded the passes into
Castile, became of vital importance to the latter kingdom. Its defence
had accordingly been intrusted to the valiant order of the Templars,
who, unable to keep their ground against the pertinacious assaults of the
Moskms, abandoned it, at the expiration of eight years, as untenable.
This occurred about the middle of the twelfth century ; and the Castilian
monarch, Saucho the Beloved, as the last resort, offered it to whatever
good knights would undertake its defence.
' The empire was eagerly sought by a monk of a distant convent in
Navarre, who had once been a soldier, and whose military ardour seems
to have been exalted, instead of being extinguished, in the solitude of
the cloister. The monk, supported by his conventual brethren, and a
throng of cavaliers and more humble followers, who sought redemption
under the banner of the church, was enabled to make good his word.
From the confederation of these knights and ecclesiastics, sprung the
military fraternity of Calatrava, which received the confirmation of the
pontiff, Alexander the Third, in 1164. The rules which it adopted were
of St. Benedict, and its discipline was in the highest degree
austere.
The cavaliers were sworn to perpetual celibacy, from which they were
The apparition of certain preternatural lights in a forest, discovered to a Galician
peasant, in the beginning of the ninth century, the spot in which was deposited a marble
sepulchre containing the ashes of St. James. The miracle is reported with sufficient
circumstantiality by Florez, who establishes, to his own satisfaction, the advent of
St. James into Spain. Mariana, with more scepticism than his brethren, doubts the
genuineness of the body, as well us the visit of the Apostle, but like a good Jesuit
concludes, " It is not expedient to disturb with such disputes the devotion of the people,
o firmly settled as it is. The tutelar saint of Spain continued to support his people" by
taking part with them in battle against the infidel down to a very Lite period. Giro de
Torres mentions two engagements in which he cneered on the squadrons of Cortes and
Piiarro, " with his sword Hashing lightning in tie eyes of the Indians."
12i ADMIX ISTttATlOj OF CASTILE.
not released till so late as the sixteenth century. Their diet was of the
plainest kind. They were allowed meat only thrice a week, and then
only one dish. They were to maintain unbroken silence at the table, in
the chapel, and the dormitory ; and they were enjoined both to sleep and
to worship with the sword girt on their side, in token of readiness for
action. In the earliest days of the institution, the spiritual as well as
the military brethren were allowed to make part of the martial array
against the infidel, until this was prohibited as indecorous by the Holy
See. From this order branched oif that of Montesa in Valencia, which
was instituted at the commencement of the fourteenth century, and
continued dependent on the parent stock.
The third great order of religious chivalry in Castile was that of
Alcantara, which also received its confirmation from Pope Alexander the
Third, in 1177. It was long held in nominal subordination to the
knights of Calatrava, from which it was relieved by Julius the Secon d,
and eventually rose to an importance little inferior to that of its rival. *
The internal economy of these three fraternities was regulated by the
same general principles. The direction of aftairs was intrusted to a
council consisting of the grand master and a number of the commanders
(comendadores), among whom the extensive territories of the order were
distributed. This council, conjointly with the grand master, or the
latter exclusively, as in the fraternity of Calatrava, supplied the
vacancies. The master himself was elected by a general chapter of these
military functionaries alone, or combined with the conventual clergy,
as in the order of Calatrava, which seems to have recognised the
supremacy of the military over the spiritual division of the community
more unreservedly than that of St. James.
These institutions appear to have completely answered the objects of
their creation. In the early history of the Peninsula, we find the
Christian chivalry always ready to bear the brunt of battle against the
Moors. Set apart for this peculiar duty, their services in the sanctuary
only tended to prepare them for their sterner duties in the field of battle,
where the zeal of the Christian soldier may be supposed to have been
somewhat sharpened by the prospect of the rich temporal acquisitions
which the success of his arms was sure to secure to his fraternity ; for
the superstitious princes of those times, in addition to the wealth lavished
o liberally on all monastic institutions, granted the military orders
Almost unlimited rights over the conquests achieved by their own valour.
In the sixteenth century, we find the order of St. James, which had shot
up to a pre-eminence above the rest, possessed of eighty-four com-
manderies, and two hundred inferior benefices. The same order could
bring into the field, according to Garibay, four hundred belted knights,
and one thousand lances, which, with the usual complement of a lance
in that day, formed a very considerable force. The rents of the master-
ship of St. James amounted, in the time of Ferdinand and Isabella, to
sixty thousand ducats, those of Alcantara to forty-five thousand, and
those of Calatrava to forty thousand. There was scarcely a district of
the Peninsula which was not covered with their castles, towns, and
com ents. Their rich commanderies gradually became objects of cupidity
to D". en of the highest rank, and more especially the grand-masterships,
Fbe knijzhU of Alcantara wore ft white mantle, embroidered with a jpraa crotf.
ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. 125
which, from their extensive patronage, and the authority they conferred
over an organised militia pledged to implicit obedience, and knit together
by the strong tie of common interest, raised their possessors almost to the
level of royalty itself. Hence the elections to these important dignitiea
came to be a fruitful source of intrigue, and frequently of violent collision.
The monarchs, who had anciently reserved the right of testifying their
approbation of an election, by presenting the standard of the order to the
new dignitary, began personally to interfere in the deliberations of the
chapter. While the Pope, to whom a contested point was not unfre-
quently referred, assumed at length the prerogative of granting the
masterships in administration on a vacancy, and even that of nomination,
itself, which, if disputed, he enforced by his spiritual thunders.
Owing to these circumstances, there was probably no one cause, among
the many which occurred in Castile during the fifteenth century, more
prolific of intestine discord, than the election to these posts, far too
important to be intrusted to any subject, and the succession to which
was sure to be contested by a host of competitors. Isabella seems to
have settled in her mind the course of policy to be adopted in this
matter, at a very early period of her reign. On occasion of a vacancy ia
tlir grand-mastership of St. James, by the death of the incumbent, in
1476, she made a rapid journey on horseback, her usual mode of
travelling, from Yalladolid to the town of Ucles, where a chapter of the
order was deliberating on the election of a new principal. The queen,
prui-enting herself before this body, represented with so much energy the
inconvenience of devolving powers of such magnitude on any private
individual, and its titter incompatibility with public order, that she pre-
vailed on them, smarting, as they were, under the evils of a disputed
succession, to solicit the administration for the king, her husband. That
monarch, indeed, consented to waive this privilege in favour of Alonso
de Cardenas, one of the competitors for the office, and a loyal servant of
the crown ; but at his decease, in 1499, the sovereigns retained the
possession of the vacant mastership, conformably to a papal decree, which
granted them its administration for life, in the same manner as had been
done with that of Calatrava in 1487, and of Alcantara in 1494.*
The sovereigns were no sooner vested with the control of the military
orders, than they began with their characteristic promptness to reform
the various corruptions which had impaired their ancient discipline.
They erected a council for the general superintendence of affairs relating
to the orders, and invested it with extensive powers both of civil and
criminal jurisdiction. They supplied the vacant benefices with persons
of acknowledged worth, exercising an impartiality which could never be
maintained by any private individual, necessarily exposed to the influence
of personal interests and affections. By this harmonious distribution,
the honours which had before been held up to the highest bidder, or
made the subject of a furious canvass, became the incentive and sure
recompense of desert.
In the following reign, the grand-masterships of these fraternities were
annexed in perpetuity to the crown of Castile by a bull of Pope Adrian the
Sixth ; while their subordinate dignities, having survived the object of
126 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE.
their original creation, the subjugation of the Moors, degenerated into
the empty decorations, the stars and garters, of an order of nobility.
IV. Vindication of ecclesiastical rights belonging to the crown from
papal usurpation. In the earlier stages of the Castilian monarchy the
sovereigns appear to have held a supremacy in spiritual, very similar to
that exercised by them in temporal matters. It was comparatively late
that the nation submitted its neck to the papal yoke, so closely riveted
at a subsequent period ; and even the Romish ritual was not admitted
into its churches till long after it had been adopted in the rest of Europe. *
But, when the code of the Partidas was promulgated in the thirteenth
century, the maxims of the canon law came to be permanently established.
The ecclesiastical encroached on the lay tribunals. Appeals were per-
petually carried up to the Roman court ; and the Popes, pretending to
regulate the minutest details of church economy, not only disposed of
inferior benefices, but gradually converted the right of confirming
elections to the episcopal and higher ecclesiastical dignities, into that of
appointment.
These usurpations of the church had been repeatedly the subject of
grave remonstrance in cortes. Several remedial enactments had passed
that body during the present reign, especially in relation to the papal
provision of foreigners to benefices ; an evil of much greater magnitude
in Spain than in other countries of Europe, since the episcopal demesnes,
frequently covering the Moorish frontier, became an important line of
national defence, obviously improper to be intrusted to the keeping of
foreigners and absentees. Notwithstanding the efforts of cortes, no
effectual remedy was devised for this latter grievance, until it became
the subject of actual collision between the crown and the pontiff, in
reference to the see of Taragona, and afterwards of Cuen9a.f
Sixtus the Fourth had conferred the latter benefice, on its becoming
vacant in 1482, on his nephew, cardinal San Giorgio, a Genoese, iu
direct opposition to the wishes of the queen, who would have bestowed
.'t on her chaplain, Alfonso de Burgos, in exchange for the bishopric of
Cordova. An ambassador was accordingly despatched by the Castilian
sovereigns to Rome, to remonstrate on the papal appointment ; but with-
out effect, as Sixtus replied, with a degree of presumption which might
'better have become his predecessors of the twelfth century, that ' he
was head of the church, and, as such, possessed of unlimited power in
the distribution of benefices, and that he was not bound to consult the
inclination of any potentate on earth, any farther than might subserve
the interests of religion."
The sovereigns, highly dissatisfied with this response, ordered their
subjects, ecclesiastical as well as lay, to quit the papal dominions ; an
injunction which the former, fearful of the sequestration of their tem-
poralities in Castile, obeyed with as much promptness as the latter. At
* Most readers are acquainted with the curious story, related by Robertson, of the ordeal
to which the Romish and Muzarabic rituals were subjected in the reign of Alfonso VI.,
and the ascendancy which the combination of kingcraft and priestcraft succeeded in
securing to the former in opposition to the will of the nation. Cardinal Ximenes after-
wards established a magnificent chapel iu the cathedtal church of Toledo for the }>er-
formai.ce of the Muzarabic services, which hare continued to be retained there to th
present time.
t In the lattei part of Henry IV. 's reign, a papal bull had been granted against th
provision of foreigners to benefice*.
ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. 127
the same time, Ferdinand and Isabella proclaimed their intention of
inviting the princes of Christendom to unite with them in convoking a
general council for the reformation of the manifold abuses which dis-
honoured the church. No sound could have grated more unpleasantly
on the pontifical ear than the menace of a general council, particularly
at this period, when ecclesiastical corruptions had reached a height
which could but ill endure its scrutiny. The pope became convinced
that he had ventured too far, and that Henry the Fourth was no longer
monarch of Castile. He accordingly despatched a legate to Spain, fully
empowered to arrange the matter on an amicable basis.
The legate, who was a layman, by name Domingo Centurion, no
sooner arrived in Castile, than he caused the sovereigns to be informed
of his presence there, and the purpose of his mission ; but he received
orders instantly to quit the kingdom, without attempting so much as to
disclose the nature of his instructions, since they could not but be dero-
gatory to the dignity of the crown. A safe-conduct was granted for
himself and his suite ; but, at the same time, great surprise was expressed
that any one should venture to appear, as envoy from his Holiness, at
the court of Castile, after it had been treated by him. with such unmerited
indignity.
Far from resenting this ungracious reception, the legate affected the
deepest humility ; professing himself willing to waive whatever immu-
nities he might claim as papal ambassador, and to submit to the
jurisdiction of the sovereigns as one of their own subjects, so that he
might obtain an audience. Cardinal Mendoza, whose influence in the
cabinet had gained him the title of " third king of Spain," apprehensive
of the consequences of a protracted rupture with the church, interposed
in behalf of the envoy, whose conciliatory deportment at length so far
mitigated the resentment of the sovereigns, that they consented to open
negotiations with the court of Home. The result was the publication of
a I mil by Sixtus the Fourth,* in which his Holiness engaged to provide
such natives to the higher dignities of the church in Castile as should be
nominated by the monarchs of that kingdom ; and Alfonso de Burgos
was accordingly translated to the see of Cuena. Isabella, on whom, the
duties of ecclesiastical preferment devolved by the act of settlement,
availed herself of the rights, thus wrested from the grasp of Home, to
exalt to the vacant sees persons of exemplary piety and learning : hold-
ing light, in comparison with the faithful discharge of this duty, every
minor consideration of interest, and even the solicitations of her husband",
a> we shall see hereafter. And the chronicler of her reign dwells with
complacency on those good old times when churchmen were to be found
of such singular modesty as to require to be uiged to accept the dignities
to which their merits entitled them.
V. The regulation of trade. It will be readily conceived that trade,
agriculture, and every branch of industry must have languished under
the misrule of preceding reigns. For what purpose, indeed, strive to
accumulate wealth, when it would only serve to sharpen the appetite of
the spoiler ? For what purpose cultivate the earth when the fruits
*vere sure to be swept away, even before the harvest time, in some
* Riol, in his account of this celebrated concordat, refers to the original instrument Mi
exit tins; in his time in the archives ul Siiuanca.
128 ADMIiaSTKATION OF CASTILE.
ruthless foray P The frequent famines and pestilences which occurred in
the latter part of Henry's reign and the commencement of his successor's,
show too plainly the squalid condition of the people, and their utter
destitution of all useful arts. We are assured by the curate of Los
Palacios, that the plague broke out in. the southern districts of the
kingdom, carrying off eight, or nine, or even fifteen thousand inhabi-
tants from the various cities ; while the prices of the ordinary aliments
of life rose to a height which put them above the reach of the poorei
classes of the community. In addition to these physical evils a fatal
shock was given to commercial credit by the adulteration of the coin.
Under Henry the Fourth, it was computed that there were no less than
one hundred and fifty mints openly licensed by the crown, in addition
to many others erectea by individuals without any legal authority. The
abuse came to such a height, that people at length refused to receive in
payment of their debts the debased coin, whose value depreciated more
and more every day ; and the little trade that remained in Castile was
carried on by barter, as in the primitive stages of society.
The magnitude of the evil was such as to claim the earliest attention
of the cortes under the new monarchs. Acts were passed fixing the
standard and legal value of the different denominations of coin. A new
coinage was subsequently made. Five royal mints were alone authorised,
afterwards augmented to seven, and severe penalties denounced against
the fabrication of money elsewhere. The reform of the currency
gradually infused new life into commerce, as the return of the circula-
tions, which have been interrupted for a while, quickens the animal
body. This was furthered by salutary laws for the encouragement oi
domestic industry. Internal communication was facilitated by the
construction of roads and bridges. Absurd restrictions on change of
residence, as well as the onerous duties which had been imposed on
commercial intercourse between Castile and Aragon, were repealed.
Several judicious laws were enacted for the protection of foreign trade ;
and the nourishing condition of the mercantile marine may be inferred
from that of the military, which enabled the sovereigns to fit out an
'armament of seventy sail in 1482, from, the ports of Biscay and Anda-
lusia, for the defence of Naples against the Turks. Some of their
regulations, indeed, as those prohibiting the exportations of the precious
metals, savour too strongly of the ignorance of the true principles of
commercial legislation, which has distinguished the Spaniards to the
present day. But others, again, as that for relieving the importation of
foreign books from all duties, "because," says the statute, "they
bring both honour and profit to the kingdom, "by the facilities which
they afford for making men learned," are not only in advance of that
age, but may sustain an advantageous comparison with provisions on
corresponding subjects in Spain at the present time. Public credit was
re-established by the punctuality with which the government redeemed
the debt contracted during the Portuguese war ; and, notwithstanding
the repeal of various arbitrary imposts, which enriched the exchequer
under Henry the Fourth, such was the advance of the country under the
wise economy of the present reign, that the revenue was augmented
nearly six fold between the years 1477 and 1482.*
Xbe revenue it appears, in 1477, amounted to 27,415,228 maravedis ; and in the yrs.r
ADMIXISTEATION 07 CASTILE. 129
Thus released from the heavy burdens imposed on it, the spring of
enterprise recovered its former elasticity. The productive capital of the
country was made to flow through the various channels of domestic
industry. The hills and the valleys again rejoiced in the labour of the
husbandman ; and the cities were embellished with stately edifices,
both public and private, which attracted the gaze and commendation of
foreigners.* The writers of that day are unbounded in their plaudits
of Isabella, to whom they principally ascribe this auspicious revolution
in the condition of the country and its inhabitants, which seems almost
as magical as one of those transformations in romance wrought by the
hands of some benevolent fairy.
VI. The pre-eminence of the royal authority. This, which, as we
have seen, appears to have been the natural result of the policy of
Ferdinand and Isabella, was derived quite as much from the influence
of their private characters, as from their public measures. Their
acknowledged talents were supported by a dignified demeanour, which
formed a striking contrast with the meanness in mind and manners that
had distinguished their predecessor. They both exhibited a practical
wisdom in their own personal relations, which always commands respect,
and which, however it may have savoured of worldly policy in Ferdinand,
was, in his consort, founded on the purest and most exalted principle.
Under such a sovereign, the court, which had been little better than a
brothel under the preceding reign, became the nursery of virtue and
generous ambition. Isabella watched assiduously over the nurture of
the high-born damsels of her court, whom she received into the royal
palace, causing them to be educated under her own eye, and endowing
them with liberal portions on their marriage, f By these and similar
acts of affectionate solicitude, she endeared herself to the higher classes
of her subjects, while the patriotic tendency of her public conduct
established her in the hearts of the people. She possessed in combina-
tion with the feminine qualities which beget love, a masculine energy of
character, which struck terror into the guilty. She enforced the execu-
tion of her own plans, oftentimes even at great personal hazard, with a
resolution surpassing that of her husband. Both were singularly tem-
perate, indeed frugal in their dress, equipage, and general style of
living ; seeking to affect others less by external pomp than by the silent
though more potent influence of personal qualities. On all such occasions
as demanded it, however, they displayed a princely magnificence, which
dazzled the multitude, and is blazoned with great solemnity in the
garrulous chronicles of the day.
1482, we find it increased to 150,095,288 maravedis. A survey of the kingdom was made
between the years 1 177 and 147'.), for the purpose of ascertaining the value of the royal
rents, which formed the basis of the economical regulations adopted by the cortes of
Toledo. Although this survey was conducted on no uniform plan, yet, according to
Sorior Clemenciu, it exliibits such a variety of important details respecting the resources
and population of the country, that it must materially contribute towards an exact history
of this period. The compilation, which consists of twelve folio volumes in manuscript, is
deposited in the archives of Simaucas.
* One of the statutes passed at Toledo expressly provides for the erection of spacious
and handsome edifices for the transaction of municipal aflairs in all the principal towns
and cities in the kingdom.
t As one example of the moral discipline introduced by Isabella in her court, we may
cite the enactments against gaming, which had been carried to great excess under the
preceding reigns. L. Marineo, according to whom " hell is full of gamblers," highly
commends the sovereign* for theii efforts to discountenance this vice.
130 THE INQUISITION.
The tendencies of the present administration were undoubtedly to
strengthen the power of the crown. This was the point to which most
of the feudal governments of Europe at this epoch were tending. But
Isabella was far from being actuated by the selfish aim or unscrupulous
policy of many contemporary princes, who, like Louis the Eleventh,
sought to govern by the arts of dissimulation, and to establish their
own authority by fomenting the divisions of their powerful vassals. On
the contrary, she endeavoured to bind together the disjointed fragments
of the state, to assign to each of its great divisions its constitutional
limits, and, by depressing the aristocracy to its proper level and elevating
the commons, to consolidate the whole under the lawful supremacy of the
crown. At least, such was the tendency of her administration up to the
present period of our history. These laudable objects were gradually
achieved without fraud or violence, by a course of measures equally
laudable ; and the various orders of the monarchy, brought into harmo-
nious action with each other, were enabled to turn the forces, which
had before been wasted in civil conflict, to the glorious career of discovery
nd conquest which it was destined to run during the remainder of the
century.
The sixth volume of the Memoirs of the Royal Spanish Academy of History, published
in 1821, is devoted altogether to the reign of Isabella. It is distributed into Illustrations,
as they are termed, of the various branches of the administrative policy of the queen, of
her personal character, and of the condition of science under her government. These-
essays exhibit much curious research, being derived from unquestionable contemporary
documents, printed and manuscript, and from the public archives. They are compiled
with much discernment ; and as they throw light on some of the most recondite trans-
actions of this reign, are of inestimable service to the historian. The author of the volume
is the late lamented secretary of the Academy, Don Diego Clemencin ; one of the few who
survived the wreck of scholarship in Spain, and who, with the erudition which has fre-
quently distinguished his countrymen, combined the liberal and enlarged opinions which
would do honour to any country.
CHAPTEK VII.
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MODERN INQUISITIOH.
Origin of the ancient Inquisition Retrospective view of the Jews in Spain Their wealth
and civilisation Bigotry of the age Its influence on Isabella Her confessor, Torque-
mada Bull authorising the Inquisition Tribunal at Seville Forms of trial Torture
Autos da Fe Number of Convictions Perfidious policy of Rome.
IT is painful, after having dwelt so long on the important benefits
resulting to Castile from the comprehensive policy of Isabella, to be
compelled to turn to the darker side of the picture, and to exhibit her
as accommodating herself to the illiberal spirit of the age in which she
lived, so far as to sanction one of the grossest abuses that ever disgraced
humanity. The present chapter will be devoted to the establishment
and early progress of the Modern Inquisition ; an institution which has
probably contributed more than any other cause to depress the lofty
character of the ancient Spaniard, and which has thrown the gloom of
fanaticism over those lovely regions, which seem to be the natural abode
of festivity and pleasure.
In the present liberal state of knowl dge, we look with disgust at th
inr INQUISITION. 131
pretensions of any human bein^ r , however exalted, to invade the sacred
rights of conscience, inalienably possessed by every man. We feel that
the spiritual concerns of an individual may be safely left to himself, as
most interested in them, except so far as they can be affected by argu-
ment or friendly monition ; that the idea of compelling belief in particular
doctrines is a solecism, as absurd as wicked : and, so far from condemning
to the stake, or the gibbet, men who pertinaciously adhere to their
conscientious opinions in contempt of personal interests and in the face
of danger, we should rather feel disposed to imitate the spirit of antiquity
in raising altars and statues to their memory, as having displayed the
highest efforts of human virtue. But, although these truths are now so
obvious as rather to deserve the name of truisms, the world has been
slow, very slow, in arriving at them, after many centuries of unspeakable
oppression and misery.
Acts of intolerance are to be discerned from the earliest period in
which Christianity became the established religion of the Roman empire.
But they do not seem to have flowed from any systematised plan of
persecution, until the papal authority had swollen to a considerable
height. The popes, who claimed the spiritual allegiance of all Christen-
dom, regarded heresy as treason against themselves, and, as such,
deserving all the penalties which sovereigns have uniformly visited on
this in their eyes, unpardonable offence. The crusades, which, in the
early part of the thirteenth century, swept so fiercely over the southern
provinces of France, exterminating their inhabitants, and blasting the
fair buds of civilisation which had put forth after the long feudal
winter, opened the way to the Inquisition ; and it was on the ruins
of this once happy land that were first erected the bloody altars of that
tribunal.*
After various modifications, the province of detecting and punishing
heresy was exclusively committed to the hands of the Dominican friars ;
and in 1233, in the reign of St. Louis, and under the pontificate of
Gregory the Ninth, a code for the regulation of their proceedings was
finally digested. The tribunal, after having been successively adopted
in Italy and Germany, was introduced into Aragon, where, in 1242,
additional provisions were framed by the council of Tarragona, on the
basis of those of 1233, which may properly be considered as the primi-
tive instructions of the Holy Office in Spain, f
This Ancient Inquisition, as it is termed, bore the same odious
* Some Catholic writers would fain excuse St. Dominic from the imputation of having
founded the Inquisition. It is true he died some years before the perfect organisation of
that tribunal ; but, as lie established the principles on which, and the monkish militia by
whom, it was administered, it is doing him no injustice to regard him as its real author.
The Sicilian Paramo, indeed, in his heavy quarto, traces it up to a much more n
nnti< mity, which, U> a Protestant ear, at least, savours not a little of blasphemy. According
to him, God was tlio first inquisitor, and his condemnation of Adam and Eve furnished the
model of the judicial forms observed in the trials of the Holy Office. The sentence of
A. lam was the type of the inquisitorial reconciliation ; his subsequent raiment of the skins
of animals was thu model of the fan brnito ; and his expulsion from Paradise the precedent
for the confiscation ot the goods of heretics. This learned personage deduces a succ
of inquisitors through the patriarchs, Moses, Nebuchadnezzar, and king David, down to
John the Baptist, and even our Saviour, in whose precepts and conduct he finds abundant
;y for tiie tribunal!
.'re tliis time we find a constitution of Peter I., of Aragon against Heretics, pre-
ecriluiig in cert.ua cases the burning of heretics and the confiscation of their estate*,
la 1197.
E 2
132 THE
peculiarities in its leading features as the Modern ; the same impene-
trable secresy in its proceedings, the same insidious modes of accusation,
a similar use of torture, and similar penalties for the offender. A sort
of manual, drawn up by Eymerich, an Aragonese inquisitor of the
fourteenth century, for the instruction of the judges of the Holy Office,
prescribes all those ambiguous forms of interrogation, by which the
unwary and perhaps innocent victim might be circumvented.* The
principles on which the ancient Inquisition was established are no less
repugnant to justice than those which regulated the modern ; although
the former, it is true, was much less extensive in its operation. The
arm of persecution, however, fell with sufficient heaviness, especially
during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, on the unfortunate
Albigenses, who from the proximity and political relations of Aragon
and Provence, had become numerous in the former kingdom. The
persecution appears, however, to have been chiefly confined to this
unfortunate sect, and there is no evidence that the Holy Office, notwith-
standing papal briefs to that effect, was fully organised in Castile before
the reign of Isabella. This is perhaps imputable to the paucity of
heretics in that kingdom. It cannot, at any rate, be charged to any
lukewarmness in. its sovereigns ; since they, from the time of
St. Ferdinand, who heaped the faggots on the blazing pile with his
own hands, down to that of John the Second, Isabella's father, who
hunted the unhappy heretics of Biscay like so many wild beasts among
the mountains, had ever evinced a lively zeal for the orthodox faith, t
By the middle of the fifteenth century, the Albigensian heresy had
become nearly extirpated by the Inquisition of Aragon ; so that this
infernal engine might have been suffered to sleep undisturbed from
want of sufficient fuel to keep it in motion, when new and ample
materials were discovered in the unfortunate race of Israel, on whom
the sins of their fathers have been so unsparingly visited by every
nation in Christendom among whom they have sojourned almost to the
present century. As this remarkable people, who seem to have preserved
their unity of character unbroken amid the thousand fragments into
* PuigWanch cites some of the instructions from Eyroerich's work, whose authority in
the courts of the Inquisition he compares to that of Gratian's Decretals in other ecc'.e-
siastical judicatures. One of these may suffice to show the spirit of the whole : " '
the inquisitor has an opportunity, he shall manage so as to introduce to the conve:
of the prisoner some one of his accomplices, or any other converted heretic, who shall feign
that he still persists in his heresy, telling him that he had abjured for the sole purpose of
pretext of its being
hall then urge the prisoner to tell him all the particulars of his past life, having first told
him the whole of his own ; and in the mean time spies shall be kept in hearing at the door,
M well as a notary, in order to certify what may be said within."
T The nature of the penance imposed on reconciled heretics by the ancient Inquisition
was much more severe than that of later times. LJorente cites an act of St. Dominic
respecting a person of this description, named Ponce Roger. The penitent was com-
manded to be "ttripptd of hit clothet and btataiiritk rods by a priat, three Sundays in *uc-
tession, fi-om the gate of the city to the door of the church ; not to eat any kind of animal food
during his whole life , M keep three Lenta a year, without even eating fish ; to abstain
from fish, oil. and wine tnree days in the week, during life, except in case of sickness or
excessive labour ; to wear a religious dress with a small cross embroidered on each side of
the breast ; to attend mass every day if he had the means of doing so, and vespers on
Sundays and festivals ; to recite the service for the day and night, and to re[>eat the i-ai.tr
Hwrr seven times in the day, ten times in the evening, and tvxnty time* at midnight .' " If
?he said Roger failed in any of the above requisitions, he was to be burnt as a relapsed
Uwxtic ! This was the encouragement held out by St Dominic to penitence.
THE INQUISITION. 133
which they have been scattered, attained perhaps to greater consideration
in Spain than in any other part of Europe, and as the efforts of the
Inquisition were directed principally against them during the present
reign, it may be well to take a brief review of their preceding history in
the Peninsula.
Under the Visigothic empire the Jews multiplied exceedingly in
the country, and were permitted to acquire considerable power and
wealth. But no sooner had their Arian masters embraced the
orthodox faith, than they began to testify their zeal by pouring on
the Jews the most pitiless storm of persecution. One of their laws
alone condemned the whole race to slavery ; and Montesquieu re-
marks, without much exaggeration, that to the Gothic code may be
traced all the maxims of the modern, inquisition, the monks of the
fifteenth century only copying, in reference to the Israelites, the bishops
of the seventh.*
After the Saracenic invasion, which the Jews, perhaps with reason,
are accused of having facilitated, they resided in the conquered cities,
and were permitted to mingle with the Arabs on nearly equal terms.
Their common Oriental origin produced a similarity of tastes, to a
certain extent, not unfavourable to such a coalition. At any rate,
the early Spanish Arabs were characterised by a spirit of toleration
towards both Jews and Christians, "the people of the book," as they
were called, which has scarcely been found among later Moslems. t
The Jews, accordingly, under these favourable auspices, not only accu-
mulated wealth with their iisual diligence, but gradually rose to the
highest civil dignities, and made great advances in various depart-
ments of letters. The schools of Cordova, Toledo, Barcelona, and
Granada, were crowded with numerous disciples, who emulated the
Arabians in keeping alive the iiarne of learning during the deep darkness
of the middle ages.J Whatever may be thought of their success in
speculative philosophy, they cannot reasonably be denied to have
contributed largely to practical and experimental science. They were
diligent travellers in all parts of the known world, compiling itineraries
which have proved of extensive use in later times, and bringing home
hoards of foreign specimens and Oriental drugs, that furnished important
contributions to the domestic pharmacopoeias. || In the practice of
medicine, indeed, they became so expert, as in a manner to monopolise
that profession. They made great proficiency in mathematics, and
particularly in astronomy ; while, in the cultivation of elegant letters,
* See the cauon of the 17th council of Toledo, condemning the Israelitish race to
bondage. Fuero Juzgo is composed of the most inhuman ordinances against this unfor-
tunate people.
\ The Koran grants protection to the Jews on payment of tribute. Still there is ground
enough (though less among the Spanish Arabs than the other Moslems) for the following
mine piaiea ; car, en nit ae rengi
Montesqr.iL-u, I.ettrc-s IVrsanes, let. w.
t The f.rst ae.idemy founded by the learned Jews in Spain was that of Cordova, A.D. 948.
lu addition to their Talmudic lore and Cabalistic mysteries, the Spanish Jews were
134 THE INQUISITION.
they revived the ancient glories of the Hebrew muse.* This was
indeed the golden age of modern Jewish literature, which, under the
Spanish caliphs, experienced a protection so benign, although occasionally
chequered by the caprices of despotism, that it was enabled to attain
higher beauty and a more perfect development in the tenth, eleventh,
twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, than it has reached in any other part
of Christendom.!
The ancient Castilians of the same period, very different from their
Gothic ancestors, seem to have conceded to the Israelites somewhat of
the feelings of respect which were extorted from them by the superior
civilisation of the Spanish Arabs. We find eminent Jews residing in
the courts of the Christian princes, directing their studies, attending
them as physicians, or more frequently administering their finances.
For this last vocation they seem to have had a natural aptitude ; and,
indeed, the correspondence which they maintained with the different
countries of Europe by means of their own countrymen, who acted as
the brokers of almost every people among whom they were scattered
during the middle ages, afforded them peculiar facilities both in polities
and commerce. We meet with Jewish scholars and statesmen attached
to the courts of Alfonso the Tenth, Alfonso the Eleventh, Peter the
Cruel, Henry the Second, and other princes. Their astronomical science
recommended them in a special manner to Alfonso the Wise, who
employed them in the construction of his celebrated Tables. James the
First of Aragou condescended to receive instruction from them in ethics ;
and, in the fifteenth century, we notice John the Second of Castile,
employing a Jewish secretary in the compilation of a national
C'arv ionero.J
15 ut all this royal patronage proved incompetent to protect the Jews
when their flourishing fortunes had risen to a sufficient height to excite
popular envy, augmented, as it w r as, by that profuse ostentation of
equipage and apparel for which this singular people, notwithstanding
their avarice, have usually shown a predilection. Stories were cir-
culated of their contempt for the Catholic worship, their desecration of
* The beautiful lament which the royal psalmist has put into the mouths of his country-
men when commanded to sing the songs of Sinn in a strange land, cannot be applied to
the Spanish Jews, who, far from hanging their harps upon the willows, poured forth their
lays with a freedom and vivacity which may be thought to savour more of the modern
troubadour than of the ancient Hebrew minstrel. Castro has collected, under Si ; ;!o XV.,
a few gleanings of such as, by their incorporation into a Christian Cancionero, escaped the
fury of the Inquisition.
t Castro has done for the Hebrew what Casiri a few years before did for the Arabic
literature of Spain, by giving notices of such works as have survived the ravages of time
and superstition. The first volume of his Bibliotcca Espafiola contains an analysis accom-
panied with extracts from more than seven hundred different works, with biographical
sketches of their authors ; the whole bearing most honourable testimony to the talent and
various erudition of the Spanish Jews.
I Samuel Levi, treasurer of Peter the Cruel, who was sacrificed to the cupidity of his
, i s reported by Mariana to have left behind him the incredible sum of 400, 000 ducats
to swell the royal coffers.
Sir Walter Scott, with his usual discernment, has availed himself of those opposite
traits in his portraits of Rebecca and Isaac inlvaiihoe, in which lie seems to have. cn-
i the lights and shadows of the Jewish character. The humiliating state of tha
.lews, however, exhibited in this romance, affords no analogy to their social condition in
Spain : as is evinced not merely by their wealth, which was also conspicuous in the
Kn'.'iish Jews, but by the high degree of civilisation, and even political consequence,
wiiidi, notwithstanding the- occasional ebullitions of popular prejudice, they were pel*
'lilted to reach there.
THE IXQ.UISITIOX. 100
its most holy symbols, and of their crucifixion, or other sacrifice, of
Christian children at the celebration of their own passover.* With
these foolish calumnies, the more probable charge of usury and extortion
was industriously preferred against them ; till at length, towards the
close of the ftnirteenth century, the fanatical populace, stimulated in
many instances by the no less fanatical clergy, and perhaps encouraged
by the numerous class of debtors to the Jews, who found this a con-
venient mode of settling their accounts, made a fierce assault on this
unfortunate people in Castile and Aragon, breaking into their houses,
violating their most private sanctuaries, scattering their costly collections
and furniture, and consigning the wretched proprietors to indiscriminate
massacre, without regard to sex or age.t
In this crisis, the only remedy left to the Jews was a real or feigned
conversion to Christianity. St. Vincent Ferrier, a Dominican of Valencia,
performed such a quantity of miracles, in furtherance of this purpose, as
might have excited the envy of any saint in the Calendar ; and these,
aided by his eloquence, are said to have changed the hearts of no less
than thirty-five thousand of the race of Israel, which doubtless must be
reckoned the greatest miracle of all. J
The legislative enactments of this period, and still more under John
the Second, during the first half of the fifteenth century, were uncom-
monly severe upon the Jews. "NVhile tluy wiro prohibited from mingling
freely with the Christians, and from exercising the professions for which
they were best qualified, their residence was restricted within certain
prescribed limits of the cities which they inhabited ; and they were not
only debarred from their usual luxury of ornament in dress, but were
held up to public scorn, as it were, by some peculiar badge or emblem
embroidered on their garments. ||
Sueh was the condition of the Spanish Jews at the accession of
Ferdinand and Isabella. The new Christians, or converts, as those who
had renounced the faith of their fathers were denominated, were occa-
sionally preferred to high ecclesiastical dignities, which they illustrated
* Calumnies of this land were current all over Europe. The English reader will call to
mind the monkish fiction of the little Christian,
"Slain with cursed Jewes, as it is notable,"
singing most devoutly after his throat was cut from ear to ear, in Chaucer's Prioresse's
Tale. See another instance in the old Scottish ballad of the "Jew's Daughter," in Percy's
" Reliques of Ancient Poetry."
t In 13'.'!, 5.000 Ji ws were sacrificed to the popular fury, and, according to Mariana, no
less than 10,000 perished from the same cause in Navarre about sixty years before.
t According to Mariana, the restoration of sight to the blind, feet to the lame, even life
to the dead, were miracles of ordinary occurrence with St. Vincent. The age of miracles
had probably ceased by Isabella's time, or the Inquisition might have been spared. N'ic.
Antonio in his notice ot the life and labours of this Dominican, states that he preached his
inspired sermons in his vernacular Valcncian dialect to audiences of French, Englvsh, and
Italians indiscriminately, who all understood him jjerfcctly well; "a circumstance," says
l)r. McCrie, in his valuable "History of the Progress and Suppression of the Reformation
in Spain," "which if it prove anything', proves that the hearers of St. Vincent possessed
more miraculous powers than himself, and that they should have been canonised, rather
than the preacher."
They were interdicted from the tilings of vintners, grocers, taverners, especially of
apothecaries, and of physicans and nurses.
Xo law was more frequently reiterated than that prohibiting the Jews from acting as
towards of the nobility, or farmers and collectors of the public rents. The repttr.ion of
this law shows to what extent that peopl had engrossed what little was known of nuaucial
cier -" "\ that day.
r36 THE INQUISITION.
by their integrity and learning. They were intrusted with, municipal
offices in the various cities of Castile ; and, as their wealth furnished an
obvious resource for repairing, by way of marriage, the decayed fortunes
of the nobility, there was scarcely a family of rank in the land whose
blood had not beeen contaminated at some period or other by mixture
with the mala sangre, as it came afterwards to be termed, of the house
of Judah ; an ignominious stain, which no time has been deemed
sufficient wholly to purge away.*
Notwithstanding the show of prosperity enjoyed by the converted
Jews, their situation was far from secure. Their proselytism had been
too sudden to be generally sincere ; and, as the task of dissimulation
was too irksome to be permanently endured, they gradually became less
circumspect, and exhibited the scandalous spectacle of apostates returning
to wallow in the ancient mire of Judaism. The clergy, especially the
Dominicans, who seem to have inherited the quick scent for heresy
which distinguished their frantic founder, were not slow in sounding the
alarm ; and the superstitious populace, easily roused to acts of violence
in the name of religion, began to exhibit the most tumultuous move-
ments, and actually massacred the constable of Castile in an attempt
to suppress them at Jaen, the year preceding the accession of Isabella.
After this period, the complaints against the Jewish heresy became still
more clamorous, and the throne was repeatedly beset with petitions to
devise some effectual means for its extirpation (1478).
A chapter of the Chronicle of the curate of Los Palacios, who lived at
this time in Andalusia, where the Jews seem to have most abounded,
throws considerable light on the real as well as pretended motives of the
subsequent persecution. " This accursed race," he says, speaking of the
Israelites, " were either unwilling to bring their children to be baptised,
or, if they did, they washed away the stain on returning home. They
dressed their stews and other dishes with oil instead of lard ; abstained
from pork ; kept the passover ; eat meat in Lent ; and sent oil to re-
plenish the lamps of their synagogues ; with many other abominable
ceremonies of their religion. They entertained no respect for monastic
life, and frequently profaned the sanctity of religious houses by the
violation or seduction of their inmates. They were an exceedingly politic
and ambitious people, engrossing the most lucrative municipal offices ;
and preferred to gain their livelihood by traffic, in which they made
exorbitant gains, rather than by manual labour or mechanical arts. They
considered themselves in the hands of the Egyptians, whom it was a
merit to deceive and pilfer. By their wicked contrivances they amassed
great wealth, and thus were often able to ally themselves by marriage
with noble Christian families."
It is easy to discern, in this medley of credulity and superstition, the
secret envy entertained by the Castihans of the superior skill and in-
dustry of their Hebrew brethren, and of the superior riches which these
qualities secured to them ; and it is impossible not to suspect that the
zeal of the most orthodox was considerably sharpened by worldly
motives.
THE INQUISITION. 137
Be that as it may, the cry against the Jewish abominations now
became general. Among those most active in raising it were Alfonso de
Ojeda, a Dominican, prior of the monastery of St. Paul in Seville, and
Diego de Merlo, assistant of that city, who should not be defrauded of
the meed of glory to which they are justly entitled by their exertions for
the establishment of the modern Inquisition. These persons, after urging
on the sovereigns the alarming extent to which the Jewish leprosy pre-
vailed in Andalusia, loudly called for the introduction of the Holy Office,
as the only effectual means of healing it. In this they were vigorously
supported by Niccol6 Franco, the papal nuncio then residing at the
court of Castile. Ferdinand listened with complacency to a scheme
which promised an ample source of revenue in the confiscations it
involved. But it was not so easy to vanquish Isabella's aversion to
measures so repugnant to the natural benevolence and magnanimity of
her character. Her scruples, indeed, were rather founded on sentiment
than reason, the exercise of which was little countenanced in matters of
faith in that day, when the dangerous maxim, that the end justifies the
means, was universally received, and learned theologians seriously dis-
ptited whether it were permitted to make peace with the infidel, and even
whether promises made to them were obligatory on Christians.*
The policy of the Roman church, at that time, was not only shown in
its perversion of some of the most obvious principles of morality, but in
the discouragement of all free inqxiiry in its disciples, whom it instructed
to rely implicitly in matters of conscience on their spiritual advisers.
The artful institution of the tribunal of confession, established with
this view, brought, as it were, the whole Christian world at the feet of
the clergy, who, far from being always animated by the meek spirit of
the Gospel, almost justified the reproach of Voltaire, that confessors
have been the source of most of the violent measures pursued by princes
of the Catholic faith.
Isabella's serious temper, as well as early education, naturally disposed
her to religious influences. Notwithstanding the independence exhibited
by her in all secular affairs, in her own spiritual concerns she uniformly
testified the deepest humility, and deferred too implicitly to what she
deemed the superior sagacity, or sanctity, of her ghostly counsellors.
An instance of this humility may be worth recording. When Fray
Fernando de Talavera, afterwards archbishop of Granada, who had been
appointed confessor to the queen, attended her for the first time in that
capacity, he continued seated after she had knelt down to make her
confession, which drew from her the remark, "that it was usual for both
parties to kneel." "No," replied the priest, "this is God's tribunal ; I
act here as his minister, and it is fitting that I should keep my seat,
while your Highness kneels before me." Isabella, far from taking
umbrage at the ecclesiastic's arrogant demeanour, complied with all
* Some writers are inclined to view the Spanish Inquisition, in its origin, as little els
than a political engine. Guizot remarks of the tribunal, in one of his lectures, "Kile
contenait en germe ce <|u'elle est deveuue ; mais elle no 1'etait pas en coinmeucant : elle
fut d'abord plus politique que religieuse, et destiuee a mamtenir 1'ordre plutut qu*i
defendre la foi." This statement is inaccurate in reference to Castile, where the facts do
not warrant us in imputing any other motive for its adoption than religious zeal. Th
funeral character of Ferdinand, ae well as the circumstancLS under which it was intro-
uccd into Aragoii, may justify the inference of a more worldly policy in its establishment
there.
138 THE r
humility, and was afterwards heard to say, "This w the confessor that
I wanted."*
Well had it heen for the land, if the queen's conscience had always
been entrusted to the keeping of persons of such exemplary piety ag
Talavera. Unfortunately, in her early days, during the life-time of her
brother Henry, that charge was committed to a Dominican monk,
Thomas de Torquemada, a native of old Castile, subsequently raised to
the rank of prior of Santa Cruz in Segovia, and condemned to infamous
immortality by the signal part which he performed in the tragedy of the
Inquisition. This man, who concealed more pride under his monastic
weeds than might have furnished forth a convent of his order, was one
of that class with whom zeal passes for religion, and who testify their
zeal by a fiery persecution of those whose creed differs from their own ;
who compensate for their abstinence from sensual indulgence, by giving
scope to those deadlier vices of the heart, pride, bigotry, and intolerance,
which are no less opposed to virtue, and are far more extensively
mischievous to society. This personage had earnestly laboured to infuse
into Isabella's young mind, to which his situation as her confessor gave
him such ready access, the same spirit of fanaticism that glowed in his
own. Fortunately this was greatly counteracted by her sound under-
standing and natural kindness of heart. Torquemada urged her, or
indeed, as is stated by some, extorted a promise, that, " should she ever
come to the throne, she would devote herself to the extirpation of li-
fer the glory of God, and the exaltation of the Catholic faith." The
time was now arrived when this fatal promise was to be discharged.
It is due to Isabella's fame to state thus much in palliation of the
unfortunate error into which she was led by her misguided zeal ; an
rror so grave, that, like a vein in some noble piece of statuary, it gives
a. sinister expression to her otherwise unblemished character, f It was
not until the queen had endured the repeated importunities of the c \
particularly of those reverend persons in whom she most confided,
seconded by the arguments of Ferdinand, that she consented to solicit
from the pope a bull for the introduction of the Holy Office into Castile.
Sixtus the Fourth, who at that time filled the pontifical chair, easily
discerning the sources of wealth and influence which this measure opened
to the court of Rome, readily complied with the petition of the sove-
reigns, and expedited a bull bearing date November 1st, 1478, authoris-
ing them to appoint two or three ecclesiastics inquisitors for the detection
and suppression of heresy throughout their dominions. J
The queen, however, still averse to violent measures, suspended the
operation of the ordinance until a more lenient policy had been first
tried. By her command, accordingly, the archbishop of Seville, cardinal
* This anecdote is more characteristic of the order than the individual. Oviedo ha
ren a brief notice of this prelate, \vhoso virtues raised him from the humblest condition
th<> highest post in the church, and gained him, to quote that writer's words, the
PJH.-H it.OL. of " El sancto, 6 el buen arzobispo en toda K-
T The uniform tenderness with which the most liberal Spanish writers of the present
comparatively enlightened age, as Marina, Uorente, Ck-mcuciu, Ac., regard the memory
of Isabella, affords an honourable testimony to the unsuspected integrity of her motives.
Even in relation to the Inquisition, her countrymen would seem willing to draw a veil
over her errors, or to excuse her by charging them on the age in which she lived.
t Much discrepancy exists in the narratives of Pulgar, Bernaldez, and other contem-
porary writers, in reference to the era of the establishment of the modern Inquisition.
I have followed LJorentc. whose chronological accuracy, here and elsewhere, rests on tin
moot authentic documents.
139
Y.t ndoza, drew up a catechism exhibiting the different points of the
catholic faith, and instructed the clergy throughout his diocese to spare
no pains in illuminating the benighted Israelities, by means of friendly
exhortation and a candid exposition of the true principles of Christianity. *
How far the spirit of these injunctions was complied with, amid the
excitement then prevailing, may be reasonably doubted. There could
be little doubt, however, that a report, made two years later, by a com-
mission of ecclesiastics, with Alfonso de Ojeda at its head, respecting the
ivss of the reformation, would be necessarily unfavourable to the
J< \vs.f In consequence of this report, the papal provisions were enforced
1'V the nomination, on the 17th of September, 1480, of two Dominican
ri.mks as inquisitors, with two other ecclesiastics, the one as assessor,
he other as procurator fiscal, with instructions to proceed at once to
;- ville, and enter on the duties of their office. Orders were also issued
to the authorities of the city to support the inquisitors by all the aid in
power. But the new institution, which has since become the
ruble boast of the Castilians, proved so distasteful to them in its
origin, that they refused any co-operation with its ministers, and indeed
opposed such delays and embarrassments, that, during the first years, it
can scarcely be said to have obtained a footing in any other places in
Andalusia than those belonging to the crown. J
On the 2nd of January, 1481, the court commenced operations by the
publication of an edict, followed byseveral others, requiring all persons
to aid in apprehending and accusing all such as they might know or
suspect to be guilty of heresy, and holding out the illusory promise of
absolution to such as should confess their errors within a limited period.
As every mode of accusation, even anonymous, was invited, the number
of victims multiplied so fast that the tribunal found it convenient to
remove its sittings from the convent of St. Paul, within the city, to the
spacious fortress of Triana, in the suburbs. ||
The presumptive proofs Ly which the charge of Judaism was established
'against the accused ars to curious, that a few of them may deserve
* I find no contemporary authority for imputing to cardinal Mendoza an active agency
In the establishment of the Inquisition, as is claimed for him by later writers, and
esi>ecmlly his kinsman and biographer, the canon Salazar de Mendoza. The conduct of
this eminent minister in this affair seems, on the contrary, to have been equally politic
and humane. The imputation of bigotry was not cast upon it uutil the age when bigotry
was esteemed a virtue.
t In the interim, a caustic publication by a Jew appeared, containing strictures on the
conduct of the administration, and even on the Christian religion, wliich was contro-
verted at length by Talavera, afterwards archbishop of Granada. The scandal occasioned
I y this ill-timed production undoubtedly contributed to exacerbate the popular odium
ugamst the Israelites.
J It is worthy of remark, that the famous cortes of Toledo, 'assembled but a short
time previous to the above-mentioned ordinances, and which enacted several oppressive
l:i we in relation to the Jews, made no allusion whatever to the proposed establishment of
a tribunal which was to be armed with such territic powers.
This ordinance, in wliich Llorcnte discerns the first regular encroachment of tlio
new tribunal on the civil jurisdiction, was aimed partly at the Andalusian nobility, who
afforded a shelter to the Jewish fugitives. Lloreute has fallen into the error, more than
once, of speaking of the count of Arcos, and marquis of Cadiz, as separate persons. The
-<r of both titles was Rodrigo Ponce de Leon, who inherited the former of them
irom his father. The latter (which he afterwards made so illustrious in the Moorish wars)
was conferred on him by Henry IV., being derived from the city of that name, which
liad been usurped from the crown.
e historian of Seville quotes the Latin inscription on the portal of the edifice in
which the sittings of the dread tribunal were held. Its concluding apostn.phc- to the
- one that the persecuted m:;rht join in as heartily as their oppressors. " Exurgo^
Doiuine ; judica ca'isam tuiim ; capite nobi.s vulpes."
MO THE
notice. It was considered good evidence of the fact, if the prisoner wore
better clothes or cleaner linen on the Jewish sabbath than on other days
of the week ; if he had no fire in his house the preceding evening ; if he
at at table with Jews, or ate the meat of animals slaughtered by their
hands, or drank a certain beverage held in much estimation by them ; if
he washed a corpse in warm water, or when dying turned his "face to the
wall ; or finally, if he gave Hebrew names to his children ; a provision
iiiost whimsically cruel, since, by a law of Henry the Second, he was
S'ohibited under severe penalties from giving them Christian names.
e must have found it difficult to extricate himself from the horns of
this dilemma. Such are a few of the circumstances, some of them purely
accidental in their nature, others the result of early habit, which might
well have continued after a sincere conversion to Christianity, and all
of them trivial, on which capital accusations were to be alleged, and even
satisfactorily established.
The inquisitors, adopting the wily and tortuous policy of the ancient
tribunal, proceeded with a despatch which shows that they could have
paid little deference even to this affectation of legal form. On the
sixth day of January six convicts suffered at the stake. Seventeen
more were executed in March, and a still greater number in the month
following ; and by the 4th of November in the same year, no less than two
hundred and ninetv-eight individuals had been sacrificed in the atttos da
fe of Seville. Besiofes these, the moul4ering remains of many, who had been
tried and convicted after their death, were torn up from their graves with
a hyena-like ferocity which has disgraced no other court, Christian or
Pagan, and condemned to the common funeral pile. This was prepared
on a spacious stone scaffold, erected in the suburbs of the city, with
the statues of four prophets attached to the corners, to which the
unhappy sufferers were bound for the sacrifice, and which the worthy
curate of Los Palacios celebrates with much complacency as the spot
" where heretics were burnt, and ought to burn as long as any can be
found."*
Many of the convicts were persons estimable for learning and probity ;
and among these three clergymen are named, together with other
individuals rilling judicial or high municipal stations. The sword of
justice was observed, in particular, to strike at the wealthy, the least
pardonable offenders in times of proscription.
The plague which desolated Seville this year, sweeping off fifteen
thousand inhabitants, as if in token of the wrath of Heaven at these
enormities, did not palsy for a moment the arm of the Inquisition, which
adjourning to Aracena, continued as indefatigable as before. A similar
persecution went forward in other parts of the province of Andalusia ;
so that within the same year, 1481, the number of the sufferers was
computed at two thousand burnt alive, a still greater number in effigy,
and seventeen thousand reconciled ; a term which must not be under-
stood by the reader to signify anything like a pardon or amnesty, but
* The language of Bernaldez. as applied to the four statues of the qvtmadero, "rnipulo*
qriemavan," is so equivocal, that it has led to some doubts whether he meant to assert
that the persons to be burnt were enclosed in the statues, or fastened to them. Lloreute's
subsequent examination has led him to discard the first horrible supposition, which
realised the fabled cruelty of Phaluris. This monument of fanaticism continued to dis-
grace Seville till 1810, when it was removed in oitler to make room fcr the construction of
battery against the French.
THE INQUISITION. 141
onlv the commutation of a capital sentence for inferior penalties, ai
tines, civil incapacity, very generally total confiscation of property, and
not unfrequently imprisonment for life.*
The Jews were astounded by the bolt which had fallen so unexpectedly
upon them. Some succeeded in making their escape to Granada, others
to France, Germany, or Italy, where they appealed from the decisions
01 the Holy Office to the sovereign pontiff, t Sixtus the Fourth appears
for a moment to have been touched with something like compunction ;
for he rebuked the intemperate zeaLof the inquisitors, and even menaced
them with deprivation. But these feelings, it would seem, were but
transient ; for, in 1483, we find the same pontiff quieting the scruples
of Isabella respecting the appropriation of the confiscated propertv, and
encouraging both sovereigns to proceed in the great work of purification,
by an audacious reference to the example of Jesus Christ, who, says he,
consolidated his kingdom on earth by the destruction of idolatry ; and
he concludes with imputing their successes in the Moorish war, upon
which they had then entered, to their zeal for the faith, and promising
them the like in future. In the course of the same year he expedited
two briefs, appointing Thomas de Torquemada inquisitor-general of
Castile and Aragon, and clothing him with full powers to frame a new
constitution for the Holy Office. (Aug. 2, and Oct. 17, 1483.) This
was the origin of that terrible tribunal, the Spanish or modern
Inquisition, familiar to most readers whether of history or romance,
which for three centuries has extended its iron sway over the dominions
of Spain and Portugal.
"Without going into details respecting the organisation of its various
courts, which gradually swelled to thirteen during the present reign, I
shall endeavour to exhibit the principles which regulated their pro-
ceedings, as deduced in part from the code digested under Torquemada,
and partly from the practice which obtained during his supremacy.!
Edicts were ordered to be published annually, on the first two
Sundays in Lent, throughout the churches, enjoining it as a sacred duty
on all, 'who knew or suspected another to be guilty of heresy, to lodge
information against him before the Holy Office ; and the ministers of
* L. Marineo diffuses the 2,000 capital executions over several years. He sums up tho
various severities of the Holy Office in the following gentle terms. " The church, who is
the mother of mercy, and the fountain of charity, content with the imposition of penances,
penerously accords life to many who do not deserve it. Whilst those who persist obsti-
in their errors, after being imprisoned on the testimony of trustworthy witnesses,
;ses to be put to the torture, and condemned to the flames ; some miserably perish,
iiig their errors, and invoking the name of Christ, while others call upon that of
Moses. Many, again, who sincerely repent, she, notwithstanding the heinousness of their
transgressions, merely tenteneet to perpetual impritomnent ! " Such were the tender mercies
^panish Inquisition.
t Bernaldez states, that guards were posted at the gates of the city of Seville, in order
to prevent the emigration of the Jewish inhabitants, which indeed was forbidden under
pain of death. The tribunal, however, had greater terrors for them, and many succeeded
In effecting their escape.
} Over these subordinate tribunals Ferdinand erected a court of supervision, with
appellate jurisdiction, under the name of Council of the Supreme, consisting of the grand
or as president, and three other ecclesiastics, two of them doctors of law. Tha
priiicijKil purpose of this new creation was to secure the interest of the crown in the
confiscated property, and to guard against the encroachment of the Inquisition on secular
jurisdiction. The expedition however wholly failed, because most of the que>:ins
.1 before this o urt were determined by the principles of the canon law, of which
the grand inqmaitor v is to be sole interpreter, the others having only, as it was termed,
a ''consultative Toice."
142 THE
religion -were instructed to refuse absolution to such, as hesitated to
comply with this, although the suspected person might stand in the
relation of parent, child, husband, or wife. All accusations, anonymous,
as well as signed, were admitted ; it being only necessary to specify the
names of the witnesses, whose testimony was taken down in writing by
a secretary, and afterwards read to them, which, unless the inaccuracies
were so gross as to force themselves upon tluir attention, they seldom
failed to confirm.*
The accused, in the meantime, whose mysterious disappearance was
perhaps the only public evidence of his arrest, was conveyed to the secret
chambers of the Inquisition, where he was jealously excluded from
intercourse with all, save a priest of the Romish Church and his jailer,
both of whom might be regarded as the spies of the tribunal. In this
desolate condition, the unfortunate man, cut off from external communi-
cation ana ail cheering sympathy or support, was kept for some time in
ignorance even of the nature of the charges preferred against him ; and
at length, instead of the original process, was favoured only with
extracts from the depositions of the witnesses, so garbled as to conceal
every possible clue to their name and quality. With still greater unfair-
ness, no mention whatever was made of such testimony as had arisen, ia
the course of the examination, in his own favour. Counsel was indeed
allowed from a list presented by his judges. But this privilege availed
little, since the parties were not permitted to confer together, and the
advocate was furnished with no other sources of information than what
had been granted to his client. To add to the injustice of these proceed-
ings, every discrepancy in the statements of the witnesses was converted
into a separate charge against the prisoner, who thus, instead of one
crime, stood accused of several. This, taken in connexion with the
concealment of time, place, and circumstance in the accusations, created
such, embarrassment, that, unless the accused was possessed of unusual
acuteness and presence of mind, it was sure to involve him, in his
attempts to explain, in inextricable contradiction.
If the prisoner refused to confess his guilt, or, as was usual, was
suspected of evasion, or an attempt to conceal the truth, he was sub-
jected to the torture. This, which was administered in the deepest
vaults of the Inquisition, where the cries of the victim could fall on no
ear save that of his tormentors, is admitted by the secretary of the Holy
Office, who has furnished the most authentic report of its transactions,
not to have been exaggerated in any of the numerous narratives which
have dragged these subterranean horrors into light. If the intensity of
pain extorted a confession from the sufferer, he was expected, if he
survived, which did not always happen, to confirm it on the next day.
Should he refuse to do this, his mutilated members were condemned to a
repetition of the same sufferings, until his obstinacy (it should rather
have been termed his heroism) might be vanquished, -f Should the rack,
The witnesses were questioned in such general terms, that they were even kept in
ignorance of the particular matter respecting which they were expected to testify. Thus,
they were asked, "if they knew anything which had been said or done contrary to the
Catholic faith, and the interests of the tribunal" Their answers often opened a new
cent to the ju-lges, and thus, in the language of Montanus, " brought more fishes into
the inquisitors holy angle. "
t By a subsequent regulation of Philip II., the repetition of torture in the same process
rras sincUy prohibited to the iuouisirors. But they, making use of a sophism worthy
THE IXQT7ISITIOK. 143
however, prove ineffectual to force a confession of his guilt, he was so
far from being considered as having established his innocence, that, with
a barbarity unknown to any tribunal where the torture has been admitted,
and which of itself proves its litter incompetency to the ends it proposes,
he was not unfrequently convicted on the depositions of the witnesses.
At the conclusion of this mock trial, the prisoner was again returned
to his dungeon, where, without the blaze of a single faggot to dispel the
cold, or illuminate the darkness of the long winter night, he was left in.
unbroken silence to await the doom which was to consign him to an
ignominious death, or a life scarcely less ignominious.*
The proceedings of the tribunal, as I have stated them, were plainly
characterised throughout by the most flagrant injustice and inhumanity
to the accused. Instead of presuming his innocence until his guilt had
been established, it acted on exactly the opposite principle. Instead of
affording him the protection accorded by every other judicature, and
especially demanded in his forlorn situation, it used the most insidious
arts to circumvent and to crush him. He had no remedy against malice
or misapprehension on the part of his accusers, or the witnesses against
him, who might be his bitterest enemies ; since they were never revealed
to, nor confronted with, the prisoner, nor subjected to a cross-examina-
tion, which can best expose error or wilful collusion in the evidence, f
Even the poor forms of justice recognised in this court might be readily
dispensed with, as its proceedings were impenetrably shrouded from th'e
public eye by the appalling oath of secresy imposed on all, whether
functionaries, witnesses, or prisoners, who entered within its precincts.
The last, and not the least odious feature of the whole, was the con-
nexion established between the condemnation of the accused and the-
interests of his judges ; since the confiscations, which were the uniform
penalties of heresy, J were not permitted to How into the royal exchequer,
until they had first discharged the expenses, whether in the shape of
salaries or otherwise, incident to the Holy Office.
of the arch-fiend himself contrived to evade this law, by pretending, after each new
infliction of punishment, that they had only suspended, and not terminated, the
torture.
* I shall spare the reader the description of the various modes of torture, the rack,
fire, and pulley, practised by the inquisitors, which have been *o often detailed in the
doleful narratives of such as have had the fortune to escape with life from the fangs of
the tribunal. If we are to believe Llorente, these barbarities have not been decreed for
a long time. Yet some recent .-taternents are at variance with this assertion.
t The prisoner had indeed the right of challenging any witness on the ground of per-
sonal enmity. But as lie was kept in ignorance of the names of the witnesses employed
against him, and as even, if he conjectured right, the degree of enmity competent to set
aside testimony was to be determined by his judges, it is evident that his privilege o*
challenge was wholly nugatory.
t Confiscation had long been decreed as the punishment of convicted heretics by the
statutes of Castile. The avarice of the present system, however, is exemplified by the
fact, that those who confessed and sought absolution within the brief term of grace
allowed by the inquisitors from the publication of their edict, were liable to arbitrary
fines ; and those who confessed after that period, escaped with nothing short of con-
fiscation.
$ It is easy to discern, in every part of the odious scheme of the Inquisition, the
contrivance of the monks, a class of men cut off by their profession from the usual
sympathies of social life, and who, accustomed to the tyranny of the confessional, aimed
at establishing the same jurisdiction over thoughts which secular tribunals have wisely
confined to actions. Time, instead of softening, gave increased harshness to the feature*
of the new system. The most humane provisions were constantly evaded in practice ;
and the toils lor ensnaring the victim were so ingeniously multiplied, that few, very few,
were permitted to escape without some censure. Xot more than one person, s.iya
Llorente, in one or perhaps two thousand processes, previous to the time of Philip 111,
144 THE INQUISITION.
The last scene in this dismal tragedy was the act of faith (auto da fe),
the most imposing spectacle, probably, which has been witnessed since
the ancient Roman triumph, and which, as intimated by a Spanish
writer, was intended, somewhat profanely, to represent the terrors of
the Day of Judgment.* The proudest grandees of the land, on this
occasion, pxitting on the sable livery of familiars of the Holy Office, and
bearing aloft its banners, condescended to act as the escort of its
ministers ; while the ceremony was not unfrequently countenanced by
the royal presence. It should be stated, however, that neither of these
acts of condescension, or, more properly, humiliation, were witnessed
until a period posterior to the present reign. The effect was further
heightened by the concourse of ecclesiastics in their sacerdotal robes,
and the pompous ceremonial which the church of Rome knows so well
how to display on fitting occasions, and which was intended to conse-
crate, as it were, this bloody sacrifice by the authority of a religion
which has expressly declared that it desires mercy and not sacrifice. f
The most important actors in the scene were the unfortunate convicts,
who were now disgorged for the first time from the dungeons of the
tribunal. They were clad in coarse woollen garments, styled san-benitos,
brought close round the neck, and descending like a frock down to the
knees. J These were of a yellow colour, embroidered with a scarlet cross,
and well garnished with figures of devils and flames of fire, which,
typical of the heretic's destiny hereafter, served to make him more
odious in the eyes of the superstitious multitude. The greater part of
the sufferers were condemned to be reconciled, the manifold meanings of
which soft phrase have been already explained. Those who were to be
relaxed, as it was called, were delivered over, as impenitent heretics, to
the secular arm, in order to expiate their offence by the most painful of
deaths, with the consciousness still more painful, that they were to leave
received entire absolution. So that it came to be proverbial that all who were not roasted,
were at least singed.
" Devant 1'Inquisition, quand on vient a jub^,
Si Ton ne sort roti, 1'ou sort au moins flambd."
* Every reader of Tacitus and Juvenal will remember how early the Christians were
condemned to endure the penalty of fire. Per.iHjwi the earliest instance of burning to
death for heresy hi modem times occurred under the reign of Hobert of France, in the
early part of the eleventh century. Paramo, as usual, finds authority for inquisitorial
autos da fe, where one would least expect it, in the New Testament. Among other
examples, he quotes the remark of James and John, who, when the village of Samaria
refused to admit Christ within its walls, would have called down fire from heaven to
consume the inhabitants. "Ix>!"says Paramo, ''fire, the punishment of heretics, for
the Samaritans were the heretics of thosi; times." The worthy father omits to add the
impressive rebuke of our Saviour to his over-zealous disciples : " Ye know not what
manner of spirit ye are of. The Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to
save them."
t The inquisitors, after the celebration of an auto da fe at Guadaloupe in 14S5, wishing
Crobably to justify these bloody executions in the eyes of the people, who had not yet
ecome t'amiliar with them, solicited a sign from the Virgin (whose shrine in that place
is noted all over Spain) in testimony of her approbation of the Holy Office. Their
petition was answered by such a profusion of miracles, that Dr. Francis Sanctius de la
Fnente, who acted as scribe on the occasion, became out of breath, and after recording
sixty, gave up in despair, unable to keep pace with their marvellous rapidity.
t San benito, according to Llorente, is a corruption of saco berulito, being the name given
to the dresses worn by penitents previously to the thirteenth century.
Voltaire remarks that " An Asiatic, arriving at Madrid on the d:iy of an auto da fe,
would doubt whether it were a festival, religious celebration, sacrifice, or massacre ; it is
all of them. They reproacli Moutex.uni i with sai-rificing human captives to the gods.
What would he have said had he witnessed an auto da fe ? "
THE IXQUISITION. 145
behind them names branded with iui'umy, and families involved in
irre trie v able niiu.*
It is remarkable, that a scheme so monstrous as that of the Inquisition,
presenting the most effectual barrier, probably, that was ever opposed
to the progress of knowledge, should have been revived at the close of
the fifteenth century, when the light of civilisation was rapidly advancing
over every part of Europe. It is more remarkable, that it should have
occurred in Spain, at this time under a government which had displayed
great religious independence on more than one occasion, and which had
paid uniform regard to the rights of its subjects, and pursued a generous
policy in reference to their intellectual culture. Where, we are tempted
to ask, when we behold the persecution of an innocent industrious
people for the crime of adhesion to the faith of their ancestors, where
was the charity which led the old Castilian to reverence valour and
virtue in an infidel, though an enemy ? Where the chivalrous self-
devotion which led an Aragonese monarch, three centuries before, to
give away his life in defence of the persecuted sectaries of Provence ?
Where the independent spirit which prompted the Castilian nobles, during
the very last reign, to reject with scorn the purposed interference of the
pope himself in their concerns, that they were now reduced to bow their
necks to a few frantic priests, the members of an order which, in Spain
at least, was quite as conspicuous for ignorance as intolerance ? True
indeed the Castilians, and the Aragonese subsequently still more, gave
such evidence of their aversion to the institution, that it can hardly be
believed the clergy would have succeeded in fastening it upon them,
had they not availed themselves of the popular prejudices against the
Jcws.f Providence, however, permitted that the sufferings, thus heaped
on the heads of this unfortunate people, should be requited in full
measure to the nation that inflicted them. The fires of the Inquisition,
which were lighted exclusively for the Jews, were destined eventually
to consume their oppressors. They were still more deeply avenged in
the moral influence of this tribunal, which, eating like a pestilent
canker into the heart of the monarchy, at the very time when it was
exhibiting a most goodly promise, left it at length a bare and sapless
trunk.
Notwithstanding the persecutions under Torquemada wore confined
almost wholly to the Jews, his activity was such as to furnish abundant
precedent, in regard to forms of proceeding for his successors ; if, indeed,
the forms may be applied to the conduct of trials so summary, that the
* The government, at least, cannot be charged with remissness in promoting this. I
fiixl two ordinances in the royal collection of pragmd'icas, dated in September, liOl (tliera
must be some error in the date of one of them), inhibiting, under pain of confiscation of
property, such as had been reconciled, and their children by the mother's side, and gr.ud-
children by the father's, from holding any office in the privy council, courts of justice, or
iu the municipalities, or any other place of trust or honour. They were also excluded
from the vocations of notaries, suru'mns, and apothecaries. This was visiting the sius of
the "
poll
memoriam hominum, supplicia in post futuros "couiposuit ; quit prius i,<juria
eerta <..?."
t The Aragonese, as we shall see hereafter, made a manly though ineffectual resistance,
from the first, to the introduction of the Inquisition among them by Ferdinand. In
Castile, its enormous abuses provoked the spirited interposition of the legislature at the
commencement of the following rcufii. But it wag then tix> late.
Ii
146 THE INQTJISITIOX.
tribunal of Toledo alone, imder the superintendence of two inquisitors,
disposed of three thousand three hundred and twenty-seven processes in
little more than a year.* The number of convicts was greatly swelled
by the blunders of* the Dominican monks, who acted as qualificatois, or
interpreters of what constituted heresy, and whose ignorance led them
frequently to condemn, as heterodox, propositions actually derived from
the fathers of the church. The prisoners for life, alone, became so
numerous, that it was necessary to assign them their own houses as the
places of their incarceration.
The data for an accurate calculation of the number of victims sacri-
ficed by the Inquisition during this reign are not very satisfactory.
From such as exist, however, Llorente has been led to the most frightful
results. He computes that, during the eighteen years of Torquemada's
ministry, there were no less than 10,220 burnt, 6,860 condemned, and
burnt in effigy as absent or dead, and 97,321 reconciled by various other
penances ; affording an average of more than 6,000 convicted persons
annually.t In this enormous sum of human misery is not included the
multitxide of orphans, who, from the confiscation of their paternal in-
heritance, were turned over to indigence and vice.} Many of the reconciled
were afterwards sentenced as relapsed ; and the curate of Los Palacios
expresses the charitable wish, that "the whole accursed race of Jews,
male and female, of twenty years of age and upwards, might be purified
with fire and faggot ! "
The vast apparatus of the Inquisition involved so heavy an expen-
diture, that a very small sum, comparatively, found its way into the
exchequer, to counterbalance the great detriment resulting to the state
from the sacrifice of the most active and skilful part of its population.
All temporal interests, however, were held light in comparison with the
purgation of the land from heresy ; and such augmentations as the
revenue did receive, we are assured, were conscientiously devoted to
pious purposes, and the Moorish war !||
The Koman see, during all this time, conducting itself with its usual
duplicity, contrived to make a gainful traffic by the sale of dispensations
* In Seville, with probably no greater apparatus, in 1482, 21,000 processes were dis-
posed of. These were the first fruits of the Jewish heresy, when Torquemada, although
an inquisitor, had not the supreme control of the tribunal.
f Llorente afterwards reduces this estimate to 8,800 burnt, 96,504 otherwise punished;
the tiiocese of Cuenca being comprehended hi that of Murcia. Zurita says, that, by 1520,
the Inquisition of Seville had sentenced more than 4,000 persons to be burnt, and 30,000
to other punishments. Another author, whom he quotes, carries up the estimate of the
total condemned by this single tribunal, within the same term of time, to 100,000.
J By an article of the primitive instructions, the inquisitors were required to set apart
a small portion of the confiscated estates for the education and Christian nurture of minors,
children of the condemned. Llorente says, that, in the immense number of pv
which he had occasion to consult* he met with no instance ot their attention to the fato of
these unfortunate orphans !
Torquemada wared *?ar upon freedom of thought in every form. In 1 100 lie caused
several Hebrew bibles to be publicly burnt, and, some time after, more than O.OuO volumes
of Oriental learning, on the imputation of Judaism, sorcery, or heresy, at the autos da fe
of Salamanca, the very nursery of science. This may remind one of the similar sentence
passed by Lope de Barrientos, another Dominican, about fifty years before, upon the
books of the Marquis of Villcna. Fortunately for the dawning literature of Spain. Isabella
did not, as was done by her successors, commit the censorship of the press to the judges of
the Holy Office, notwithstanding such occasional assumption of power by the grand
inquisitor.
!! The prodigious desolation of the land may be inferred from the estimates, although
omewhat discordant, of deserted houses in Andalusia, tiaribay puts these at three,
Vulgar at four, L. Marineo as high as five thousand.
THE INQUISITION. 141
from the penalties incurred by such as fell under the ban of the In-
quisition, provided they were rich enough to pay for them, and
afterwards revoking them, at the instance of the Castilian court.
Meanwhile, the odium excited by the unsparing rigour of Torquemada
raised up so many accusations against him, that he was thrice compelled
to send an agent to Rome to defend his cause before the pontiff; until,
at length, Alexander the Sixth, in 1494, moved by these reiterated
complaints, appointed four coadjutors, out of a pretended regard to the
infirmities of his age, to share with him the burdens of his office.
This personage, who is entitled to so high a rank among those who
have been the authors of unmixed evil to their species, was permitted
to reach a very old age, and to die quietly in his bed. Yet he lived iii
such constant apprehension of assassination, that he is said to have
kept a reputed unicorn's horn always on his table, which was imagined
to have the power of detecting and neutralising poisons ; while, for the
more complete protection of his person, he was allowed an escort of
lit'ty horse and two hundred foot in his progresses through the kingdom.
This man's zeal was of such an extravagant character, that it may
almost shelter itself under the name of insanity. His history may be
thought to prove, that, of all human infirmities, or rather vices, there
is none productive of more extensive mischief to society than fanaticism.
The opposite principle of atheism, which refuses to recognise the most
important sanctions to virtue, does not necessarily imply any destitution
of j ust moral perceptions, that is, of a power of discriminating between
right and wrong, in its disciples. But fanaticism is so far subversive of
the most established principles of morality, that, under the dangerous
maxim, "For the advancement of the faith, all means are lawful,"
which Tasso has rightly, though perhaps undesignedly, derived from the
spirits of hell, it not only excuses, but enjoins the commission of the
most revolting crimes, as a sacred duty. The more repugnant, indeed,
such crimes may be to natural feeling, or public sentiment, the greater
their merit from the sacrifice which the commission of them involves.
Mauy a bloody page of history attests the fact, that fanaticism, armed
with power, is the sorest evil which can bofall a nation.
Don Juan Antonio Llorente is the only writer who has succeeded in completely lifting
the veil from the dread mysteries of the Inquisition. It is obvious how very few could be
competent to this task, since the proceedings of the Holy Office were shrouded in such.
impenetrable secrecy, that even the prisoners who were arraigned before it, as has been
already stated, were kept in ignorance of their own processes. Even such of its function-
aries as have at different times pretended to give its transactions to the world, have con-
;,no 1 themselves to an historical outline, with meagre notices of such parts of its internal
discipline as might bo safely disclosed to the public.
Llorente was secretary to the tribunal of Madrid from 1790 to 1702. His official station
ueutly afforded him every facility for an acquaintance with the most recondite
nfliiirs of the Inquisition ; and, on its suppression at the close of 1SOS, he devoted several
years to a careful investigation of the roisters of the tribunals both of the capital and
the provinces, as well as of such other original documents contained within their archives
as had not hitherto been opened to the : r ; - ess of his work he has
anatomised the most odious features of the institution with unsparing severity ; and his
renucrions are warmed with a generous and enlightened spirit, certainly not to have been,
expected in an ex-inquisitor. The arrangement of his immense mass of materials is
indeed somewhat faulty, and the work mi^'lit be re-cast in a more popularform, especially
by means of a copious retrenchment. With all its subordinate detects, however, it ia
entitled to the credit ot' being the most, indeed the only, authentic history of the Modern
Inquisition ; exhibiting its minutest forms of practice, and the insidious policy by which
they were directed, from the origin of the institution down to its temporary abolition.
L 2
148 THE SPANISH ARABS.
It well deserves to be studied, as the record of the most humiliating triumph which
fanaticism has ever been able to obtain over human reason, and that too during the most
civilised periods, and in the most civilised portion of the world. The persecutions
endured by the unfortunate author of the work, prove that the embers of this fanaticism
may be rekindled too easily, even in the present century.
CHAPTEE VIII.
MCVIZTW OF THE POLITICAL AND INTELLECTUAL CONDITION OF THE SPANISH ARA H8 FREVIOCS
TO THE WAR OF GBANADA.
Conquest of Spain by the Arabs Cordovan Empire High Civilisation and Prosperity
Its dismemberment Kingdom of Granada Luxurious and chivalrous character
Literature of the Spanish Arabs Progress in Science Historical Merits Useful
Discoveries Poetry and Romance Influence on the Spaniards.
WE have now arrived at the commencement of the famous war of
Granada, which terminated in the subversion of the Arabian empire in
Spain, after it had subsisted for nearly eight centuries, and with the
consequent restoration to the Castilian crown of the fairest portion of
its ancient domain. In order to a better understanding of the character
of the Spanish Arabs, or Moors, who exercised an important influence
on that of their Christian neighbours, the present chapter will be devoted
to a consideration of their previous history in the Peninsula, where they
probably reached a higher degree of civilisation than in t any other part
of the world.
It is not necessary to dwell upon the causes of the brilliant successes
of Mahometanism at its outset, the dexterity with which, unlike all
other religions, it was raised upon, not against, the principles and pre-
judices of preceding sects ; the military spirit and discipline which it
established among all classes, so that the multifarious nations who em-
braced it assumed the appearance of one vast well-ordered camp ; * the
union of ecclesiastical with civil authority intrusted to the caliphs,
which enabled them to control opinions as absolutely as the Roman
pontiffs, m their despotic hour ; f or/ lastly, the peculiar adaptation of
* The Koran, in addition to the repeated assurances of Paradise to the martyr who falls
in battle, contains the regulations of a precise military code. Military service in some
shape or other is exacted from all. The terms to bo prescribed to the enemy and the
vanquished, the division of the spoil, the seasons of lawful truce, the conditions on which
the comparatively small number of exempts are permitted to remain at home, are
accurately defined. When the algihtd, or Mahometan Crusade, which in its general
design and immunities bore a close resemblance to the Christian, was preached in the
mosque, every true believer was bound to repair to the standard of his chief. " The holy
war, says one of the early Saracen generals, "is the ladder of Paradise. The Apostle of
God styled himself the son of the sword. He loved the repose in the shadow of oamiers
and on the field of battle."
f The successors, caliphs or vicars, as they were styled, of Mahomet, represented both
his spiritual and temporal authority. Their office involved almost equally ecclesiastical
and military functions. It was their duty to lead the army in battle, and on the pilgrim-
age to Mecca. They were to preach a sermon, and offer up public prayers in the mosques
every Friday. Many of their prerogatives resemble those assumed anciently by the popes.
They conferred investitures on the Moslem princes by the symbol of a ring, a sword, or a
standard. They complimented them with the titles of "defender of the faith," "column
of religion," and the like. The proudest potentate held the bridle of their mules, and
paid his homage by touching their threshold with his forehead. The authority of the
caliphs was in this manner founded on opinion no less than on power ; and their ordinances
Lowever frivolous or iniquitous in themselves, being enforced, as it were, by a diviuo
sanction, became laws which it was sacrilege to disobey.
THE SPANISH AIIABS. i i9
the doctrines of Mahomet to the character of the wild tribes among
whom they \veiv preached.* It is sufficient to say, that these latter,
within a century after the coming of their apostle, having succeeded in
establishing their religion over vast regions in Asia, and on the northern
shores of Africa, arrived before the Straits of Gibraltar, which, though
a, temporary, were destined to prove an ineffectual bulwark for
Christendom.
The causes which have been currently assigned for the invasion and
conquest of Spain, even by the most credible modern historians, have
scarcely any foundation in contemporary records. The true causes are
to be found in the rich spoils offered by the Gothic monarchy, and in
the thirst of enterprise in the Saracens, which their long uninterrupted
career of victory seems to have sharpened rather than satisfied.! The
fatal battle which terminated with the slaughter of King lloderic and
the flower of his nobility, was fought in the summer of 711, on a plain
washed by the Guadalete near Xerez, about two leagues distant from
Cadiz. J The Goths appear never to have afterwards rallied under one
head, but their broken detachments made many a gallant stand in such
strong positions as were afforded throughout the kingdom ; so that
nearly three years elapsed before the final achievement of the conquest.
The policy of the conquerors, after making the requisite allowance for
the evils necessarily attending such an invasion, may be considered
* The character of the Arabs before the introduction of Islam, like that of most ruda
nations, is to be gathered from their national songij <tnd romances. The poems suspended
at Mecca, familiar to us in the elegant version of Sir William Jones, and still more the
recent translation of "An tar," a composition indeed of the age of Al Raschid, but wholly
devoted to the primitive Bedouins, present us with a lively picture of their peculiar habits,
which, notwithstanding the influence of a temporary civilisation, may be thought to
bear great resemblance to those of their descendants at the present day.
t Startling us it may be, there is scarcely a vestige of any of the particulars, circum-
stantially narrated by" the national historians as the immediate causes of the subversion of
to be found in the chronicles of the period. No intimation of the persecution, or
-of the treason, of the two sons of Witiza is to be met with in any Spanish writer, as far as
I know, until nearlv two centuries after the conquest; none earlier than this, of the
defection of Archbishop Oppas, during the fatal conflict near Xerez ; and none of the
tragical amours of Roderic and the revenge of Count Julian, before the writers of
the tin iry. Nothing indeed can be more jejune than the original narratives of
the mva-joii. Ti. continuation of the Chronicon del Biclarense, and the Chrouicon de
Isidore Pacense or de Beja, which are contained in the voluminous collection of Florez,
afford the only histories contemporary with the event. Coude is mistaken in his assertion
that the work of Isidore de Beja was the only narrative written during that period.
Spain had not the peu of a Bede or an Eginhart to describe the memorable catastrophe.
But the few and meagre touches of contemporary chroniclers have left ample scope for
conjectural history, which has been most industriously improved.
The reports, according to Conde, greedily circulated among the Saracens, of the magnifi-
cence and general prosperity of the Gothic monarchy, may sufficiently account for its
; in by an enemy flushed with uninterrupted conquests, and whose fanatical ambition
was well illustrated by one of their own generals, who, on reaching the western extremity
of Africa, plunged his horse into the Atlantic, and sighed for other shores on which to
plant the banners of Islam.
{ The laborious diligence of Masdeu may be thought to have settled the epoch, about
which so much learned dust has been raised. The fourteenth volume of his " Historia
Critica de Espaiia y de la Cultura Espafiola" contains an accurate table, by which the
minutest dates of the Mahometan lunar year are adjusted by those of the Christian era.
The fall of Roderic on the field of battle is attested by both the domestic chroniclers of that
period, as well as by the Saracens. The talcs of the ivory and marble chariot, of the gallant
steed Orelia, and magnificent vestments of Roderic discovered after the fight on the banks
of the Guadelete, of his probable escape and subsequent seclusion among the mountains of
Portugal, which have been thought worthy of Spanish history, have found a much more
appropriate place in their romantic national ballads, as well as in the more elaborate
productions of Scott and Southey.
| " Whatever curses," says an eyewitness, whose meagre diction U quickened on thia
150 THE SPANISH ABACS.
liberal. Such of the Christians as chose, were permitted to remain ia
the conquered territory in undisturbed possession of their property.
They were allowed to worship in their own way ; to be governed, withm
prescribed limits, by their own laws ; to nil certain civil offices, and
serve in the army ; their women were invited to intermarry with the
conquerors ; * and, in short, they were condemned to no other legal
badge of servitude than the payment of somewhat heavier imposts than
those exacted from their Mahometan brethren. It is true the Christiana
were occasionally exposed to suffering from the caprices of despotism,
and, it may be added, of popular fanaticism, f But, on the whole,
their condition may sustain an advantageous comparison with that of
any Christian people under the Mussulman dominion of later times, and
affords a striking contrast with that of our Saxon ancestors after the
Norman conquest, which suggests an obvious parallel in many of its
circumstances to the Saracens.
After the further progress of the Arabs in Europe had been checked
by the memorable defeat at Tours, their energies, no longer allowed to
expand in the career of conquest, recoiled on themselves, and speedily
produced the dismemberment of their overgrown empire. Si ain was the
first of the provinces which fell off. The family of Omeya, under whom
this revolution was effected, continued to occupy her throne as inde-
pendent princes from the middle of the eighth to the close of the
eleventh century, a period which forms the most honourable portion of
her Arabian annals.
The new government was modelled on the eastern caliphate. Freedom
shows itself under a variety of forms ; while despotism, at least in the
institutions founded on the Koran, seems to wear but one. The
sovereign was the depository of all power, the fountain of honour, the
sole arbiter of life and fortune. He styled himself " Commander of the
Faithful," and, like the Caliphs of the East, assumed an entire spiritual
as well as temporal supremacy. The country was distributed into six
capitaniaSf or provinces, each under the administration of a toali, or
governor, with subordinate officers, to whom was intrusted a more
immediate jurisdiction over the cities. The immense authority and
pretensions of these petty satraps became a fruitful source of rebellion in
later times. The caliph administered the government with the advice
of his mexticr, or council of state, composed of his principal cadis and
hayibs, or secretaries. The office of prime minister, or chief hagib,
corresponded, in the nature and variety of its functions, with that of a
Turkish grand vizier. The caliph reserved to himself the right of
occasion into something like sublimity, "whatever curses, were denounced by th
prophets of old against Jerusalem, whatever fell upon ancient Babylon, whatever mfserie*
Rome inflicted upon the glorious company of the martyrs, all these were visited upon th
Dnce happy and prosperous, but now desolated Spain."
* The frequency of this alliance may be interred from an extraordinary, though, doutt-
less, extravagant statement cited by Zurita The ambassadors ot James II. of Aragon, in
1311, represented to the sovereign pontiff, Clement V., that of the 200,000 sonls, which
then composed the population of Granada, there were not more than 500 of pure Moorish
descent.
t The famous persecutions of Cordova under the reigns of Abderrahman II. and his son,
which, to judge trom the tone of Castilian writers, might vie with those of Nero and
Diocletian, are admitted by M"i:.,cs t*> i.:ive IK i ,!>i..:icd the destruction of only forty indi-
viduals. Most of these unhappy fount; i!ie crown of martyrdom by an opea
D of the Mahometan laws and usages. The details are given by Florcz in" the tenth
volume of his collection.
THE SPANISH ASABS. 151
electing liis successor from among his numerous progeny; and this
adoption was immediately ratiiu d by an oath of alliance to the heir
apparent from the principal officers of state.
The princes of the blood, instead of being condemned, as in Turk< ;
waste their youth in the seclusion of the harem, were intrusted to the
care of learned men, to be instructed in the duties berittiug their station.
They were encouraged to visit the academies, which were particularly
celebrated in Cordova, where they mingled in disputation, and frequently
carried away the prizes of poetry aud eloquence. Their riper years
exhibited such fruits as were to be exvcot< d ironi their early education.
The race of the Onieyades need not shrink from a comparison with any
other dynasty of equal length in modern Europe. Many of them amused
their leisure with poetical composition, of which numerous examples are
preserved in Conde's History ; and some left elaborate works of learning,
which have maintained a permanent reputation with Arabian sch
Their long reigns, the first ten of which embrace a period of two centimes
aud a halt', their peaceful deaths, and unbroken line of succession in the
same family for so many years, show that their authority must have
been founded in the affections of their subjects. Indeed, they seem,
with one or two exceptions, to have ruled over them with a truly
patriarchal sway ; and, on the event of their deaths, the people, bathed
iu tears, are described as accompanying their relics to the tomb, where
the ceremony was concluded with a public eulogy on the virtues of the
deceased, by his son and successor. This pleasing moral picture affords
a strong contrast to the sanguinary scenes which so olten attend the
transmission, of the sceptre from one generation to another among the
nations of the East.
The Spanish caliphs supported a large military force,. frequently keep-
ing two or three armies iu the field at the same time. The flower ot
.is a body-guard, gradually raised to twelve thousand
-men, one third of them Christians, superbly equipped, and officered by
members of the royal family. Their feuds with the eastern caliphs and
the I'.arbary pirates required them also to maintain a respectable navy,
which was litted out from the numerous dock-yards that lined the coast
from Cadiz to Tarragona.
The munificence of the Omeyadcs was most ostentatiously displayed
in their public edifices, palaces, mosques, hospitals, and in the construc-
tion of commodious quays, fountains, bridges, and aqueducts, which,
penetrating the sides of the mountains, or sweeping on lofty arches a
the valleys, rivalled in their proportions the monuments of ancient
Home. These w.a-ks, which were scattered more or less over all the
provinces, contributed especially to the embellishment of Cordova, the
capital of the empire. The delightful situation of this city in the i
of a cultivated plain washed by the waters of the Guadalquivir, made if.
very early the favourite residence of the Arabs, who loved to sun
their houses, even in the cities, with groves and re freshing fountains, so
delightful to the imagination of a wanderer of tli. The public
squares and private court-yards sparkled with jets d'cati, fed by copious
streams Ironi the Sierra Mi'ivna, which, besides supplying nine hundred
public baths, were conducted into the interior of the edifices, wher>
difiiis d a grateful coolness over the sleeping apartments of th-.-ir
luxurious inhabitants.
1J2 THE SPANISH AE.AES.
Without adverting to that magnificent freak of the caliphs, the con-
struction of the palace of Azahra, of which not a vestige now remains,
we may form a sufficient notion of the taste and magnificence of this era
from the remains of the far-famed mosque, now the cathedral of
Cordova. This building, which still covers more ground than any other
church in Christendom, was esteemed the third in sanctity by the
Mahometan world, being inferior only to the Alaksa of Jerusalem and
the temple of Mecca. Most of its ancient glories have indeed long since
departed. The rich bronze which embossed its gates, the myriads of
lamps which illuminated its aisles, have disappeared ; and its interior
roof of odoriferous and curiously carved wood has been cut up into
guitars and snuff-boxes. But its thousand columns of variegated marble
still remain ; and its general dimensions, notwithstanding some loose
assertions to the contrary, seem to be much the same as they were in the
time of the Saracens. European critics, however, condemn its most
elaborate beauties as " heavy and barbarous." Its celebrated portals
are pronounced "diminutive, and in very bad taste." Its throng of
pillars gives it the air of "a park rather than a temple," and the whole
is made still more incongruous by the unequal length of their shafts,
being grotesquely compensated by a proportionate variation of size in
their bases and capitals, rudely fashioned after the Corinthian order.
But if all this gives a contemptible idea of the taste of the Saracens at this
period, which indeed, in architecture, seems to have been far inferior to
that of the later princes of Granada, we cannot but be astonished at the
adequacy of their resources to carry such magnificent designs into
execution. Their revenue, we are told in explanation, amounted to
eight millions of mitcales of gold, or nearly six millions sterling : a
sum fifteen-fold greater than that which William the Conqueror, in the
subsequent century, was able to extort from his subjects with all the
ingenuity of feudal exaction. The tone of exaggeration which dis-
tinguishes the Asiatic writers, entitles them, perhaps, to little confidence
in their numerical estimates. This immense wealth, however, is
predicated of other Mahometan princes of that age ; and their vast
superiority over the Christian states of the north, in arts and effective
industry, may well account for a corresponding superiority in their
resources.
The revenue of the Cordovan sovereigns was derived from the fifth of
the spoil taken in battle, an important item in an age of unintermitting
war and rapine ; from the enormous exaction of one-tenth of the produce
of commerce, husbandry, flocks, and mines ; from a capitation tax on
Jews and Christians ; and from certain tolls on the transportation of
goods. They engaged in commerce on their own account, and drew
from mines, which belonged to the crown, a conspicuous part of their
incomes.
Before the discovery of America, Spain was to the rest of Europe what
her colonies have since become, the great source of mineral wealth. The
Carthaginians, and the Romans afterwards, regularly drew from her
large masses of the precious metals. Pliny, who resided some time ia
the country, relates that three of her provinces were said to have
annually yielded the incredible quantity of sixty thousand pounds of
gold. The Arabs, with their usual activity, penetrated into these arcana
of wealth. Abundant traces of their labours are still to be met with
THE SPANISH AJ5AB9. Iii3
along the barren ridge of mountains that covers the north of Andalusia ;
and the diligent Bowles has enumerated no less than five thousand of
their excavations in the kingdom or district of Jaen.
But the best mine of the caliphs was in the industry and sobriety of
their subjects. The Arabian colonies have been properly classed among
the agricultural. Their acquaintance with the science of husbandry is
shown in their voluminous treatises on the subject, and in the monu-
ments which they have everywhere left of their peculiar culture. The
system of irrigation which has so long fertilised the south of Spain was
derived from them. They introduced into the Peninsula various tropical
plants and vegetables, whose cultivation has departed with them. Sugar,
which the modern Spaniards have been obliged to import from foreign
nations in large quantities annually for their domestic consumption, until
within the last half century that they have been supplied by their island
of Cuba, constituted one of the principal exports of the Spanish Arabs.
The silk manufacture was carried on by them extensively. The Nubian
geographer, in the beginning of the twelfth century, enumerates six
hundred villages in Jaen as engaged in it, at a time when it was known
to the Europeans only from their circuitous traffic with the Greek empire.
This, together with fine fabrics of cotton and woollen, formed the staple
of an active commerce with the Levant, and especially with Constanti-
nople, whence they were again diffused, by means of the caravans of the
North, over the comparatively barbarous countries of Christendom.
The population kept pace with this general prosperity of the country.
It would appear from a census instituted at Cordova, at the close of the
tenth centurv, that there were at that time in it six hundred temples and
two hundred thousand dwelling-houses : many of these latter being,
probably, mere huts or cabins, and occupied by separate families.
Without placing too much reliance on any numerical statements, how-
ever, we may give due weight to the inference of an intelligent writer,
..who remarks that their minute cultivation of the soil, the cheapness of
their labour, their particular attention to the most nutritious esculents,
many of tbem such as would be rejected by Europeans at this day, are
indicative of a crowded population, like that perhaps, which swarms over
Japan or China, where the same economy is necessarily resorted to for
the mere sustenance of life.
Whatever consequence a nation may derive, in its own age, from
physical resources, its intellectual development will form the subject of
deepest interest to posterity. The most fiourishing periods of both not
un frequently coincide. Thus the reigns of Abderrahman the Third,
Alhakem the Second, and the regency of Almanzor, embracing the latter
half of the tenth century, during which the Spanish Arabs reached their
highest political importance, may be regarded as the period of their
highest civilisation under the Omeyades ; although the impulse then
given carried them forward to still further advances in the turbulent
times which followed. This beneficent impulse is, above all, imputable
to Alhakem. He was one of those rare beings who have employed the
awful engine of despotism in promoting the happiness and intelligence of
his species. In his elegant tastes, appetite for knowledge, and munificent
patronage, he may be compared with the best of the Medici. He
assembled the eminent scholars of his time, both natives and foreigners,
at his court, where he employed them in the most confidential offices.
154 THE SPANISH ARABS.
He converted his palace into an academy, making it the familiar resort
of men of letters, at whose conferences he personally assisted in his
intervals of leisure from public duty. He selected the most suitable
persons for the composition of works on civil and natural history,
requiring the prefects of his provinces and cities to furnish, as far as
possible, the necessary intelligence. He was a diligent student, and K-i't
many of the volumes which he read enriched with his commentaries.
Above all, he was intent upon the acquisition of an extensive library.
He invited illustrious foreigners to send him their works, and muni-
ficently recompensed them. No donative was so grateful to him as a
book. He employed agents in Egypt, Syria, Irak, and Persia, for
collecting and transcribing the rarest manuscripts ; and his vessels
returned freighted with cargoes more precious than the spices of the
East. In this way he amassed a magnificent collection, which was
distributed, according to the subjects, in various apartments of his
palace ; and which, if we may credit the Arabian historians, amounted to
six hundred thousand volumes.*
If all this be thought to savour too much of eastern hyperbole, still it
cannot be doubted that an amazing number of writers swarmed over the
Peninsula at this period. Casiri's multifarious catalogue bears ample
testimony to the emulation with which not only men, but even women of
the highest rank, devoted themselves to letters ; the latter contending
publicly for the prizes, not merely in eloquence and poetry, but in
recondite studies which have usually been reserved for the other sex.
The prefects of the provinces, emulating their master, converted their
courts into academies, and dispensed premiums to poets and philosophers.
The stream of royal bounty awakened life in the remotest districts. But
its effects were especially visible in the capital. Eighty free schools
were opened in Cordova. The circle of letters and science was publicly
expounded by professors, whose reputation for wisdom attracted not only
the scholars of Christian Spain, but of France, Italy, Germany, and the
British Isles. For this period of brilliant illumination with the Saracens
corresponds precisely with that of the deepest barbarism of Europe ;
when a library of three or four hundred volumes was a magnificent
endowment for the richest monastery; when scarcely a " priest south of
the Thames," in the words of Alfred, " could translate Latin into his
mother tongue ; " when not a single philosopher, according to Tiraboschi,
was to be met with in Italy, save only the French Pope, Syl \vstr :
Second, who drew his knowledge from the schools of the Spanish Arabs,
and was esteemed a necromancer for his pains.
Such is the glowing picture presented to us of Arabian scholarship, in
the tenth and succeeding centuries, under a despotic government and a
sensual religion ; and, whatever judgment may be passed on the real
value of all their boasted literature, it cannot be denied that the nation
* This number will appear less startling if we consider that it was the ancient usage to
make a separate volume of each book into which a work was divided ; that only one side
of the leaf was usually written on, and that writing always covers much greater space
than printing.
t Among the accomplished women of this period, Valadata, the daughter of the caliph
Mahomet, is celebrated as having frequently carried away the palm of eloquence in lior
discussions with the most learned academicians. Others again, with an intrepidity tliai
night shame the degeneracy of a modern blue, plunged boldly into the studies of pliiiaaw
pay, history, and jurisprudence.
THE SPANISH AEAliS. 155
exhibited a wonderful activity of intellect, and an apparatus for learning
(if we are to admit their own statements) unrivalled in the best ages of
antiquity.
The Mahometan governments of that period rested on so unsound a
basis, that the season of their greatest prosperity was often followed by
precipitate decay. This had been the case with the eastern caliphate,
and was now so with the western. During the life of Alhakem's suc-
, the empire of the Omeyades was broken up into a hundred petty
principalities ; and their magnilicent capital of Cordova, dwindling into
a second-rate city, retained no other distinction than that of being the
Mecca of Spain. These little states soon became a prey to all the evils
arising out of a vicious constitution of government and religion. Almost
every accession to the throne was contested by numerous competitors of
the same family ; and a succession of sovereigns, wearing on their brows
but the semblance of a crown, came and departed, like the shadows of
Macbeth. The motley tribes of Asiatics, of whom the Spanish Arabian
population was composed, regarded each other with ill-disguised
jealousy. The lawless, predatory habits, which no discipline could
clled ually control in an Arab, made them ever ready for revolt. The
Moslem states, thus reduced in size and crippled by faction, were unable
t" r-ist the Christian forces which were pressing on them from the
North. By the middle of the ninth century, the Spaniards had reached
the Douro and the Ebro. By the close of the eleventh, they had
advanced their line of conquest, under the victorious banner of the Cid,
to the Tagus. The swarms of Africans who invaded the Peninsula,
during the two following centuries, gave substantial support to their
Mahometan brethren ; and the cause of Christian Spain trembled in the
balance for a moment on the memorable day of Navas deTolosa. (1212.)
But the fortunate issue of that battle, in which, according to the lying
letter of Alfonso the Ninth, " one hundred and eighty-hve thousand
iniidels perished, and only nve-and-twenty Spaniards," gave a permanent
ascendancy to the Christian arms. The vigorous campaigns of James the
First of Aragon, and of St. Ferdinand of Castile, gradually stripped
away the remaining territories of Valencia, Murcia, and Andalusia ; so
that by the middle of the thirteenth century, the const antlv contracting
circle of the Moorish dominion had shrunk into the narrow limits of the
province of Granada. Yet on this comparatively small point of the
ancient domain, the Saracens erected a new kingdom of sufficient strength
to resist, for more than two centuries, the united forces of the Spanish
monarchies.
The Moorish territory of Granada, contained, within a circuit of
about one hundred and eighty leagues, all the physical resources of a
great empire. Its broad valleys were intersected by mountains rich in
mineral wealth, whose hardy population supplied the state with
husbandmen and soldiers. Its pastures were fed by abundant fountains,
and its coasts studded with commodious ports, the principal marts in the
Mediterranean. In the midst, and crowning the whole as with a diadem,
rose the beautiful city of Granada. In the days of the Moors it was
encompassed by a wall, flanked by a thousand and thirty towers, \
seven portals. Its population, according to a contemporary, at the
beginning of the fourteenth century amounted to two hundred thousand
souls ; aul various authors aarce rn attesting, that, at a later ueriod, it
156 THE SPANISH ABAHS.
could send forth fifty thousand warriors from its gates. This statement
will not appear exaggerated, if we consider that the native population
of the city was greatly swelled by the influx of the ancient inhabitants
of the districts lately conquered by the Spaniards. On the summit of
one of the hills of the city was erected the royal fortress or palace of the
Alharnbra, which was capable of containing within its circuit forty
thousand men. The light and elegant architecture of this edifice, whose
magnificent ruins still form the most interesting monument in Spain, for
the contemplation of the traveller, shows the great advancement of the
art since the construction of the celebrated mosque of Cordova. Its
graceful porticos and colonnades, its domes and ceilings glowing with
tints which in that transparent atmosphere have lost nothing of their
original brilliancy, its airy halls so constructed as to admit the perfume
of surrounding gardens and agreeable ventilations of the air, and its
fountains which still shed their coolness over its deserted courts, manifest
at once the taste, opulence, and Sybarite luxury of its proprietors.
The streets are represented to have been narrow, many of the houses
lofty, with turrets of curiously-wrought larch or marble, and with
cornices of shining metal, ' ' that glittered like stars through the dark
foliage of the orange groves ;" and the whole is compared to " an
enamelled vase, sparkling with hyacinths, and emeralds." * Such are
the florid strains in which the Arabic writers fondly descant on the
glories of Granada.
At the foot of this fabric of the genii lay the cultivated vega, or plain,
so celebrated as the arena, for more than two centuries, of Moorish and
Christian chivalry, every inch of whose soil may be said to have been
fertilised with human blood. The Arabs exhausted on it all their powers
of elaborate cultivation. They distributed the waters of the Xenil,
which flowered through it, into a thousand channels for its more perfect
irrigation. A constant succession of fruits and crops was obtained
throughout the year. The products of the most opposite latitudes were
transplanted there with success : and the hemp of the North grew
luxuriant under the shadow of the vine and the olive. Silk furnished
the principal staple of a traffic that was carried on through the ports of
Almeria and Malaga. The Italian cities, then rising into opulence,
derived their principal skill in this elegant manufacture from the Spanish
Arabs. Florence, in particular, imported large quantities of the raw
material from them as late as the fifteenth century. The Genoese are
mentioned as having mercantile establishments in Granada ; and treaties
of commerce were entered into with this nation, as well as with the
erown of Aragon. Their ports swarmed with a motley contribution
from "Europe, Africa, and the Levant;" so that " Granada," in the
words of the historian, " became the common city of all nations." " The
reputation of the citizens for trustworthiness," says a Spanish writer,
" was such, that their bare word was more relied on than a written
contract is now among us ;" and he quotes the saying of a Catholic
* PcJmxa has collected the various etymologies of the term Granada, which some writers
have traced to the fact of the city having been the spot where the pomegranate was first
intr. "luced from Africa ; others to the large quantity of grain in which its vega abounded ;
others again to the resemblance which the city, divided into two hills thickly sprinkled
with houses, bore to a half opened pomegr.uiut'c. The arms of the city^ which were in part
composed of a pomegranate, would seem to favour the derivation of its name from that at
the fruit
l-KJi SPANISH AKAB3- 157
bishop, that " Moorish works and Spanish faith were all that were
necessary to make a good Christian."*
The revenue, which was computed at twelve hundred thousand
ducats, was derived from similar, but in some respects heavier imposi-
tions than those of the caliphs of Cordova. The crown, besides being
possessed of valuable plantations in the vega, imposed the onerous tax of
one-seventh on all the agricultural produce of the kingdom. The
precious metals were also obtained in considerable quantities, and the
royal mint was noted for the purity and elegance of its coin.
The sovereigns of Granada were for the most part distinguished by
liberal tastes. They freely dispensed their revenues in the protection of
letters, the construction of sumptuous public works, and above all, in
the display of a courtly pomp, unrivalled by any of the princes of that
period. Each day presented a succession of fetes and tourneys, in
which the knight seemed less ambitious of the hardy prowess of Christian
chivalry, than of displaying his inimitable horsemanship, and his
dexterity in the elegant pastimes peculiar to his nation. The people of
Granada, like those of ancient Rome, seem to have demanded a perpetual
spectacle. Life was with them one long carnival, and the season of
revelry was prolonged until the enemy was at the gate.
During the interval, which had elapsed since the decay of the
Omeyades, the Spaniards had been gradually rising in civilisation to the
level of their Saracen enemies ; and, Avhile their increased consequence
secured them from the contempt with which they had formerly been
regarded by the Mussulmans, the latter, in their turn, had not so far
sunk in the scale as to have become the objects of the bigoted aversion
which was, in after days, so heartily visited on them by the Spaniards.
At this period, therefore, the two nations viewed each other with more
liberality, probably, than at any previous or succeeding time. Their
respective monarchs conducted their mutual negotiations on a footing of
perfect equality. We find several examples of Arabian sovereigns
visiting in person the court of Castile. These civilities were reciprocated
by the Christian princes. As late as 1463, Henry the Fourth had a
personal interview with the king of Granada, in the dominions of the
latter. The two monarchs held their conference under a splendid
pavilion erected in the vega, before the gates of the city ; and, after an
exchange of presents, the Spanish sovereign was escorted to the frontiers
by a body of Moorish cavaliers. These acts of courtesy relieve in some
measure the ruder features of an almost uninterrupted warfare, that was
necessarily kept up between the rival nations.^
* The ambassador of the emperor Frederic III., on his passage to the court of Lisbon, in
the middle of the fifteenth century, contrasts the superior cultivation as well as general
civilisation of Granada at this period with that of the other countries of Europe through,
which he had travelled.
t A specification of a royal donative in that day may serve to show the martial spirit of
thf :i;,'e. In one of these, made by the king of Granada to the Castilian sovereign, we find
twenty noble steeds of the royal stud reared on the banks of the Xcnil, with superb
caparisons, and the same number of scimitars richly garnished with gold and jewels ; and
in another mixed up with perfumes and cloth of gold, we meet with a litter of tame lions.
This latter symbol of royalty appears to have been deemed jteculiarly appropriate to the
kings of Leon. Ferreras informs us that the ambassadors from France at the Castilian,
court in 1434 were received by John II. with a full-grown domesticated lion crouching at
his teet. The same taste appears still to exist in Turkey. Dr. Clarke, in his visit to
Constantinople, met with one of these terrific pets, who used to follow his master, liassan
Pacha, about l;5cc z dt-j;.
158 THE SrAXISII AKAB3.
The Moorish and Christian knights were also in the hat it of exchanging
visits at the courts of their respective masters. The Litter were wont to
repair to Granada to settle their affairs of honour by personal rencounter,
in the presence of its sovereign. The disaffected nobles of Castile, among
whom Mariana especially notices the Velas and the Castros, often sought
an asylum there, and served under the Moslem banner. With this
interchange of social cotirtesy between the two nations, it could not but
happen that each should contract somewhat of the peculiarities natural
to the other. The Spaniard acquired something of the gravity and mag-
nificence of demeanour proper to the Arabian ; and the latter relaxed his
habitual reserve, and, above all, the jealousy and gross sensuality which
characterise the nations of the East.*
Indeed, if we were to rely on the pictures presented to us in the
Spanish ballads or romances, we should admit as unreserved an inter-
course between the sexes to have existed among the Spanish Arabs, as
with any other people of Europe. The Moorish lady is represented there
as an undisguised spectator of the public festivals ; while her knight
bearing an embroidered mantle or scarf, or some other token of her
favour, contends openly in her presence for the prize of valour, mingles
with her in the graceful dance of the Zambra, or sighs away his soul in
moonlight serenades under her balcony, f
Other circumstances, especially the frescos still extant on the walls of
the Alhambra, may be cited as corroborative of the conclusions afforded
by the romances, implying a latitude in the privileges accorded to the
sex, similar to that in Christian countries, and altogether alien from the
genius of Mahometanism.J The chivalrous character ascribed to the
* Henriquez del Castillo gives an account of an intended duel between two Castilian
nobles, in the presence of the king of Granada, as late as 1470. One of the parties, Dou
Alfonso de Aguilar, failing to keep his engagement, the other rode round tiie lists in
triumph, with his adversary's portrait contemptuously fastened to the tail of his horse.
t It must be admitted, that these ballads, as far as facts are concerned, are too inexact
to furnish other than a very slippery foundation for history. The most beautiful portion,
perhaps of the Moorish ballads, for example, is taken up with the feuds of the Ab,-n-
cerrages, in the latter days of Granada. Yet this family, whose romantic story is still
repeated to the traveller amid the ruins of the Alhambra, is scarcely noticed, ;is tar a.-. I
am aware, by contemporary writers, foreign or domestic, and would seem to owe its
chief celebrity to the apocryphal version of Glue's Perez de Hyta, whose ' Milesian
according to the severe sentence of Nic. Antonio, "are fit only to amuse the lazy and the
listless."
But, although the Spanish ballads are not entitled to the credit of st:
<i Kuments, they may yet perhaps be received in evidence of the p.uvai't! uf tl>a
social relations of the age ; a remark indeed predicable of most, works of fiction written
by authors contemporary with the events they describe, and more especially so ot' that
popular minstrelsy, which, emanating from a simple, uucorrupted c! ; .ely to
swerve from truth than more ostentatious works of art. The long cohabitation ot the
ttaracens with the Christians (full evidence of which is afforded by Capmauy, who quotes
i document from the public archives of Catalonia, showing the great number of Saracens
residing in Aragon even in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the most flourishing
j>eriod of the Granadian empire), had enabled many of them confessedly to speak anc
write the Spanish language with purity and elegance. Some of the graceful little -
\vhicharestillchantedby the peasantry of Spain in their dances to the accompaniment
of the Castanet, are referred by a competent critic (C'oude, de la I'oe.-ia Oriental, MS.) to au
Arabian origin. There can bo little hazard, therefore, in imputing much of this peculiar
minstrelsy to the Arabians themselves, the contemporaries, and perhaps the eyewitnesses
of the events they celebrate.
I ( \isiri has transcribed a passage from an Arabian author of the fourteenth century,
iiug bitterly against the luxury of the Moorish ladies, their gorgeous apparel and
habits of expense, "amounting almost to insanity," in a tone which may remind one ot
tho similar philippic by his contemporary Dante, against his faircountry women of Florence.
Two ordinances of a king of Granada, cited by Conde in his History, prescribe tho
M{ u ration of the women from the men in the mosques, and prohibit their attendance OB
THE SPAXISII ARABS. 15&
Spanish Moslems appears, moreover, in perfect conformity to this.
Thus, some of their soveivi^ns wo are told, after the fatigues of the
tournament, were wout to recreate their spirits with "elegant poetry,
and florid discourses of amorous and knightly history." The ten
qualities, enumerated as essential to a true knight, were " piety, valour,
courtesy, prowess, the gifts of poetry and eloquence, and dexterity in the
management of the horse, the sword, lance, and bow."* The history of
the Spanish Arabs, especially in the latter wars of Granada, furnishes
repeated examples, not merely of the heroism which distinguishes the
European chivalry of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, but
occasionally of a polished courtesy that might have graced a Bayard or
a Sidney. This combination of oriental magnificence and knightly
prowess shed a ray of glory over the closing days of the Arabian empire
in Spain, and served to conceal, though it could not correct, the vices
which it possessed in common with all Mahometan institutions.
The government of Granada was not administered with the same
tranquillity as that of Cordova. Revolutions were perpetually occurring,
which may be traced sometimes to the tyranny of the prince, but more
frequently to the factions of the seraglio, the soldiery, or the licentious
populace of the capital. The latter, indeed, more volatile than the sands
of the deserts from which they originally sprung, were driven by every
gust of passion into the most frightful excesses, deposing and even
-mating their monarchs, violating their palaces, and scattering
abroad their beautiful collections and libraries ; while the kingdom,
unlike that of Cordova, was so contracted in its extent, that every
convulsion of the capital was felt to its farthest extremities. Still,
however, it held out, almost miraculously, against the Christian arms ;
and the storms that beat upon it incessantly, tor more than two centuries,
scarcely wore away anything from its original limits.
. era! circumstances may be pointed out as enabling Granada to
maintain this protracted resistance. Its concentrated population
furnished such abundant supplies of soldiers, that its sovereigns could
bring into the field an army of a hundred thousand men. Many of
these were drawn from the regions of Alpuxarras, whose rugged
inhabitants had not been corrupted by the soft effeminacy of the plains.
The ranks were occasionally recruited, moreover, from the warlike tribes
of Africa. The Moors of Granada are praised by their enemies for their
skill with the cross-bow, to the use of which they were trained from
childhood. But their strength lay chiefly in th'eir cavalry. Their
spacious vegas afforded an ample field for the display of their matchless
horsemanship ; while the face of the country intersected by mountains
and intricate defiles, gave a manifest advantage to the Arabian light-
iiorse over the steel-clad cavalry of the Christians, and was particularly
uited to the wild guerilla warfare in which the Moors so much excelled*
.Is, without the protection of their husbands or some near relative. Their
., as we have so.-n, were in the habit of conferring freely with men of letters,
and of assisting in person at 1 :iical ttuncts. And kistly, the frescos alluded to In
..os at the tournament*,', and the fortunate knight
,- the palm of victory :r,>m their hands.
* The reader may compare these essentials of ft good Moslem cavalier with those
enumerated ; - .it of a good a-id true (.' Jit of his own day : "I*
guatil chevalier a toutes < :tus que uii .: avoir: il fut lie, loyal,
auoureux, sage, secret, large, pieux, hardi, eutreprenont, et chevaleureux."
160 THE SPANISH AEA.E8.
During the long hostilities of the country, almost every city had been
converted into a fortress. The numher of these fortified places in the
territory of Granada was ten times as great as is now to be found
throughout the whole Peninsula.* Lastly, in addition to these means of
defence, may he mentioned their early acquaintance with gunpowder,
which, like the Greek fire of Constantinople, contributed, perhaps in
some degree to prolong their precarious existence beyond its natural
term.
But, after all, the strength of Granada, like that of Constantinople,
lay less in its own resources than in the weakness of its enemies, who,
distracted by the feuds of a turbulent aristocracy, especially during the
long minorities with which Castile was afflicted, perhaps more than
any other nation in Europe, seemed to be more remote from the
conquest of Granada at the death of Henry the Fourth than at that of
St. Ferdinand in the thirteenth century. Before entering'on the achieve-
ment of this conquest by Ferdinand and Isabella, it may not be amiss
to notice the probable influence exerted by the Spanish Arabs on
European civilisation.
Notwithstanding the high advances made by the Arabians in almost
every branch of learning, and the liberal import of certain sayings
ascribed to Mahomet, the spirit of his religion was eminently unfavour-
able to letters. The Koran, whatever be the merit of its literary
execution, does not, we believe, contain a single precept in favour of
general science. t Indeed, during the first century after its promulgation,
almost as little attention was bestowed upon this by the Saracens, as in
their " days of ignorance," as the period is stigmatised which preceded
the advent of their apostle. J But, after the nation had Deposed from
its tumultuous military career, the taste for elegant pleasures, which
naturally results from opulence and leisure, began to flow in upon it.
It entered upon this new field with all its characteristic enthusiasm,
and seemed ambitious of attaining the same pre-eminence in science that
it had already reached in arms.
It was at the commencement of this period of intellectual fermentation,
that the last of the Omeyades, escaping into Spain, established there the
kingdom of Cordova, and imported along with him the fondness for
luxury and letters that had begun to display itself in the capitals of the
East. His munificent spirit descended upon his successors ; and, on the
breaking up of the empire, the various capitals, Seville, Murcia, Malaga,
Granada, and others which rose upon its ruins, became the centres of so
many intellectual systems, that continued to emit a steady lustre through
the clouds and darkness of succeeding centuries. The period of this
* Those ruined fortifications still thickly stud the border territories of Grauada ; and
many an Andalusian mill, along the banks of the Guadayra and Guadalquivir, retains
its battlemented tower, which served for the defence of its inmates against the forays of
the enemy.
t D'Herbelot, among other authentic traditions of Mahomet, quotes one as indicating
his encouragement of letters, viz : " That the ink of the doctors and the blood of the
martyrs are of equal price." M. (Eisner has cited several others of the same liberal
import. But such traditions cannot be received in evidence of the original doctrine of
the prophet. They are rejected as apocryphal by the Persians and the whole sect of tho
Bhiites, and are entitled to little weight with a European.
* When the caliph Al Mamon encouraged, by his example as well as patronage, a more
enlightened policy, he was accused by the more orthodox Mussulmans of attempting to
ubvert the principles of their religion.
THE SPAX1SU AKAES. 161
literary civilisation readied far into the fourteenth centurj, and thus,
embracing an interval of six hundred years, may be said to have exceeded
in duration that of any other literature ancient or modern.
There were several auspicious circumstances in the condition of the
Spanish Arabs, which distinguished them from their Mahometan
brethren. The temperate climate of Spain was far more propitious to
robustness and elasticity of intellect than the sultry regions of Arabia
and Africa. Its long line of coast and convenient havens opened to it an
enlarged commerce. Its number of rival states encouraged a generous
emulation, like that which glowed in ancient Greece and modern Italy ;
and was infinitely more favourable to the development of the mental
powers than the far-extended and sluggish empires of Asia. Lastly, a
familiar intercourse with the Europeans served to mitigate in the Spanish
Ar.ibs some of the more degrading superstitions incident to their religion,
and to impart to them nobler ideas of the independence and moral dignitr
of man than are to be found in the slaves of eastern despotism.
Under these favourable circumstances, provisions for education were
liberally multiplied ; colleges, academies, and gymnasiums springing up
spontaneously, as it were, not merely in the principal cities, but in the
most obscure villages of the country. Xo less than fifty of these colleges
or schools could be discerned scattered over the suburbs and populous
plain of Granada. Every place of note seems to have furnished materials
for a literary history. The copious catalogues of writers, still extant in
the Escurial, show how extensively the cultivation of science was pur-
sued, even through its minutest subdivisions ; while a biographical
notice of blind men, eminent for their scholarship in Spain, proves how
f r the general avidity for knowledge triumphed orer the most dis-
couraging obstacles of nature.
The Spanish Arabs emulated their countrymen of the East in their
devotion to natural and mathematical science. They penetrated into the
remotest regions of Africa and Asia, transmitting an exact account of
their proceedings to the national academies. They contributed to astro-
nomical knowledge by the number and acciiracy of their observations,
and by the improvement of instruments and the erection of observatories,
of which the noble tower of Seville is one of the earliest examples. They
furnished their full proportion in the deportment of history, which,
according to an Arabian author cited by D'Herbelot, could boast of
thirteen hundred writers. The treatises on logic and metaphysics
amount to one-ninth of the surviving treasures of the Escurial ; and, to
conclude this summary of naked details, some of their scholars appeared
to have entered upon as various a field of philosophical inquiry as would
be crowded into a modern encyclopaedia.*
The results, it must be confessed, do not appear to have corresponded
with this magnificent apparatus and unrivalled activity of research. The
mind of the Arabians was distinguished by the most opposite charac-
teristics, which sometimes, indeed, served to neutralise each other. An
acute and subtile perception was often clouded by mysticism and abstrac-
tion. They combined a habit of classification and generalisation, with a
marvellous fondness for detail ; a vivacious fancy with a patience of
Caairi mentions one of these universal geniuses, who published no le.s than a thoo-
fMid and fifty treatises on the various topics of Ethics, History, Lw, Medicine. /;c.
102 THE spAiasH. AEABS.
application tha; a Gennan of our day might envy ; and, while in fiction
they launched boldly into originality, indeed extravagance, they were-
content in philosophy to tread servilely in the track of their ancient
masters. They derived their science from versions of the Greek philoso-
phers ; but as their previous discipline had not prepared them for its
reception, they were oppressed rather than stimulated by the weight of
the inheritance. They possessed an indefinite power of accumulation,
but they raroiy ascended to general principles, or struck out new and
important truths ; at least, this is certain in regard to their metaphysical
labours.
Hence Aristotle, who taught them to arrange what they had already
acquired, rather than to advance to new discoveries, became the god of
their idolatry. They piled commentary on commentary, and, in theii
blind admiration of his system, may be almost said to have been more oJ
Peripatetics than the Stagirite himself. The Cordovan Averroes was the
most eminent of his Arabian commentators, and undoubtedly contributed
more than any other individual to establish the authority of Aristotle
over the reason of mankind for so many ages. Yet his various illustra-
tions have served, in the opinion of European critics, to darken rather
than dissipate the ambiguities of his original, and have even led to the
confident assertion that he was wholly unacquainted with the Greek
language.
The Saracens gave an entirely new face to pharmacy and chemistry.
They introduced a great variety of salutary medicaments into Europe.
The Spanish Arabs, in particular, are commended by Sprengel above
their brethren for their observations on the practice of medicine. But
whatever real knowledge they possessed was corrupted by their inveterate
propensity for mystical and occult science. They too often exhausted
both health and fortune in fruitless researches after the elixir of life and
the philosopher's stone. Their medical prescriptions were regulated by
the aspect of the stars. Their physics were debased by magic, their
chemistry degenerated into alchemy, their astronomy into astrology.
In the fruitful field of history, their success was even more equivocal.
They seem to have been wholly destitute of the philosophical spirit which
gives life to this kind of composition. They were the disciples of fatalism
and the subjects of a despotic government. Man appeared to them only
in the contrasted aspects of slave and master. What could they know
of the finer moral relations, or of the higher energies of the soul, which
are developed under free and beneficient institutions ? Even could they
have formed conceptions of these, how would they have dared to express
them? Hence their histories are too often mere barren chronological
details, or fulsome panegyrics on their princes, unenlivened by a single
spark of philosophy or criticism.
Although the Spanish Arabs are not entitled to the credit of having
wrought any important revolution in intellectual or moral science, they
are commended by a severe critic, as exhibiting in their writings "the
germs of many theories which have been reproduced as discoveries in
later ages," and they silently perfected several of those useful arts which
have had a sensible influence on the happiness and improvement of man-
kind. Algebra, and the higher mathematics, were taught in their schools,
and theiioe diffused over Europe. The manufacture of paper, which,
since the invention of printing, has contributed so essentially to tbe
THE SPANISH AEABS. 103
rapid circulation of knowledge, was derived through them. M. Casiri
has discovered several manuscripts of cotton paper in the Escurial as
early as 1009, and of linen paper of the date of 1106; the origin of
which latter fabric Tiraboschi has ascribed to an Italian of Trevigi, in
the middle of the fourteenth century. Lastly, the application of gun-
powder to military science, which has wrought an equally important
revolution, though of a more doubtful complexion, in the condition of
society, was derived through the same channel.*
The influence of the Spanish Arabs, however, is discernible, not so
much in the amount of knowledge, as in the impulse which they com-
municated to the long dormant energies of Europe. Their invasion was
coeval with the commencement of that night of darkness which divides
the modern from the ancient world. The soil had been impoverished by
long assiduous cultivation. The Arabians came like a torrent sweeping
down and obliterating even the landmarks of former civilisation, but
bringing with it a fertilising principle, w r hich, as the waters receded,
gave new life and loveliness to the landscape. The writings of the
Saracens were translated and diffused throughout Europe. Their
schools were visited by disciples, who, roused from their lethargy,
caught somewhat of the generous enthusiasm of their masters ; and a
healthful action was given to the European intellect, which, however ill
directed at first, was thus prepared for the more judicious and successful
efforts of later times.
It is comparatively easy to determine the value of the scientific labours
of a people, for truth is the same in all languages; but the laws of
taste differ so widely in different nations, that it requires a nicer dis-
crimination to pronounce fairly upon such works as are regulated by
them. Nothing is more common than to see the poetry of the East con-
demned as tumid, over-refined, infected with meretricious ornaments
and conceits, and, in short, as every way contravening the principles of
good taste. Few of the critics, who thus peremptorily condemn, are
capable of reading a line of the original. The merit of poetry, how-
ever, consists so much in its literary execution, that a person, to pro-
nounce xipon it, should be intimately acquainted with the whole import
of the idiom in which it is written. The style of poetry, indeed of all
ornamental writing, whether prose or verse, in order to produce a proper
effect, must be raised, or relieved, as it were, upon the prevailing style
of social intercourse. Even where this is highly figurative and impas-
sioned, as with the Arabians, whose ordinary language is made up of
metaphor, that of the poet must be still more so. Hence the tone of
elegant literature varies so widely in different countries, even in those
of Europe, which approach the nearest to each other in their principles
of taste, that it would be found difficult, if not impossible, to effect a
translation of the most admired specimens of eloquence from the
* The battle of Crecy furnishes the earliest Instance on record of the use of artillery by
the European Christians ; although Du Gauge, among several examples which he enu-
merates, has traced a distinct notice of its existence as far back as 133S. The history of
the Spanish Arabs carries it to a much earlier period. It was employed by the Moorish
king of Granada at the siego of Baza, in 1.-J12, and 1325. It is distinctly noticed iu an
Arabian treatise as ancient as 1249 ; and finally Casiri quotes a passage from a Spanish
author at the close of the eleventh century (whose JIS. according to Nic. Antonio, though
familiar to scholars, lies still entombed in the dust of libraries), which describes the use
of artillery in a naval engagement of that period between the Moors of Tunis and of
Seville.
I
161 THE SPANISH ARABS.
language of one nation into that of any other. A page of Boccaccio <i
Bembo, for instance, done into literal English, would have an air of
intolerable artifice and verbiage. The choicest morsels of Massillon,
Bossuet, or the rhetorical Thomas, would savour marvellously
bombast; and how could we in any degree keep pace with the magnificent
march of the Castilian! Yet surely we are not to impugn the taste of
all these nations, who attach much more importance, and have paid (at
least this is true of the French and Italian) much greater attention to
the mere beauties of literary finish than English writers.
Whatever may be the sins of the Arabians on this head, they are cer-
tainly not those of negligence. The Spanish Arabs, in particular,
noted for the purity and elegance of their idiom ; insomuch that Casiri
affects to determine the locality of an author by the superior refinement
of his style. Their copious philological and rhetorical treatises, their
arts of poetry, grammars, and rhyming dictionaries, show to what an
excessive refinement they elaborated the art of composition. Academi s.
far more numerous than those of Italy, to which they subsequently
served for a model, invited by their premiums frequent competitions in
poetry and eloquence. To poetry, indeed, especially of the tender kind,
the Spanish Arabs seem to have been as indiscriminately addicted as the
Italians in the time of Petrarch ; and there was scarcely a doctor in
church or state, but at some time or other offered up his amorous incense
on the altar of the muse.*
With all this poetic feeling, however, the Arabs never availed them
f-clves of the treasures of Grecian eloquence which lay open before them.
Not a poet or orator of any eminence in that language seems to have
been translated by them.f The temperate tone of Attic composition
appeared tame to the fervid conceptions of the East. Neither did they
venture upon what in Europe are considered the higher walks of the art,
the drama and the epic. None of their writers in prose or verse show
much attention to the development or dissection of character. Their
inspiration exhaled in lyrical effusions, in elegies, epigrams, and idyls.
They sometimes, moreover, like the Italians, employed verse as the
vehicle of instruction in the grave and recondite sciences. The general
character of their poetry is bold, florid, impassioned, richly coloured
with imagery, sparkling with conceits and metaphors, and occasionally
breathing a deep tone of moral sensibility, as in some of the plaintive
effusions ascribed by Conde to the royal poets of Cordova. The com-
positions of the golden age of the Abassides, and of the preceding period,
do not seem to have been infected with the taint of exaggeration, so
offensive to a European, which distinguishes the later productions in the
decay of the empire.
Whatever be thought of the influence of the Arabic on European
literature in general, there can be no reasonable doubt that it has been
considerable on the Provencale and the Castiliau. In the latter,
especially, so far from being confined to the vocabulary, or to external
forms of composition, it seems to have penetrated deep into its spirit,
Petrarch complains in one of his letters from the country, that "jurisconsu.ts an-i
divines, nay, his owu valet, had taken to rhyming; and he was afraid the very cattle
might begin to low in verse."
t Yet tiiis popular assertion ia contradicted by Reinesius, who states, that botb Home*
ud riudar were translated into Arabic by the middle of the eighth century.
THE SPANISH AKAB8. 165
and is plainly discernible in that affectation of stateliness and oriental
hyperbole, which characterises Spanish writers even at the present day ;
in the subtilties and conceits with which the ancient Castilian verse is so
liberally bespangled; and in the relish for proverbs and prudential
maxims, which is so general that it may be considered national.*
A decided effect has been produced on the romantic literature of
Europe by those tales of fairy enchantment, so characteristic of oriental
peuius, and in which it seems to have revelled with uncontrolled delight.
These tales, which furnished the principal diversion of the East, were
imported by the Saracens into Spain ; and we find the monarchs of
Cordova solacing their leisure hours with listening to their rawis, cr
novelists, who sang to them
" Of ladye-love and war, romance, and knightly worth."
The same spirit, penetrating into France, stimulated the more sluggish
inventions of tlie trourere, and, at a later and more polished period,
called forth the imperishable creations of the Italian muse.t
It is unfortunate for the Arabians that their literature should be locked
up in a character and idiom so difficult of access to European scholars.
Their wild imaginative poetry, scarcely capable of transfusion into a
foreign tongue, is made known to us only through the medium of bald
prose translation ; while their scientific treatises have been done into
Latin with an inaccuracy which, to make use of a pun of Casiri's, merits
the name of perversions rather than versions of the originals. How
obviously inadequate, then, are our means of forming any just estimate
of their literary merits ! It is unfortunate for them, moreover, that the
Turks, the only nation which, from an identity of religion and govern-
ment with the Arabs, as well as from its political consequence, would
seem to represent them on the theatre of modern Europe, should be a
race so degraded ; one which, during the five centuries that it has been
in possession of the finest climate and monuments of antiquity, has so
seldom been quickened into a display of genius or added so little of posi-
tive value to the literary treasures descended from its ancient masters.
Yet this people, so sensual and sluggish, we are apt to confound in
imagination with the sprightly, intellectual Arab. Both, indeed, have
been subjected to the influence of the same degrading political and
religious institutions, which on the Turks have produced the results
naturally to have been expected ; while the Arabians, on the other hand,
exhibit the extraordinary phenomenon of a nation, under all these
embarrassments, rising to a high degree of elegance and intellectual
culture.
The empire which once embraced more than half of the ancient world,
has now shrunk within its original limits: and the Bedouin wanders
It would require much more learning than I am fortified with to enter into the merits
of the question which has been raised respecting the probable influence of the Arabian oa
the literature of Kurope. A. W. Schlegcl, in a work of little bulk, but much value, in
refuting with his usual vivacity the extravagant tt.eory of Andres has been led to con-
clusions of an opposite nature, which may be thought perhaps scarcely less extra vag-.int
t Sismoudi derives the jealousy of the sex, the ideas of honour, and the deadly suirit of
revenge, which distinguished the southern nations of Euro]>eiu the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries from the Arabians. Whatever be thought of the jealousy of the sex, it might
hnre been supposed that the p.-mciplcs of honour an<i the spirit of revenge might,
withont seeking farther, fnd abundant precedent in the feudal habits and institutuKis of
oar European ruiccaunw.
166 THE SPANISH ABABS.
over his native desert as free, and almost as uncivilised, as before the
coming of his apostle. The language, which -was once spoken along the
southern shores of the Mediterranean and the whole extent of the Indian
ocean, is broken up into a variety of discordant dialects. Darkness has
again settled over those regions of Africa which were illumined by the
light of learning. The elegant dialect of the Koran is studied as a dead
language, even in the birthplace of the prophet. Not a printing press
at this day is to be found throughout the whole Arabian Peninsula.
Even in Spain, in Christian Spain, alas ! the contrast is scarcely less
degrading. A death-like torpor has succeeded to her former intellectual
activity. Her cities are emptied of the population with which they
teemed" in the days of the Saracens. Her climate is as fair, but her fields
no longer bloom with the same rich and variegated husbandry. Her
most interesting monuments are those constructed by the Arabs; and
the traveller, as he wanders amid their desolate, but beautiful ruins,
ponders on the destinies of a people whose very existence seems now to
have been almost as fanciful as the magical creations in one of their own.
fairy tales.
Notwithstanding the history of the Arabs is so intimately connected with that of the
Spaniards, that it may be justly said to form the reverse side of it, and notwithstanding
the amplitude of authentic documents in the Arabic tongue to be found in the public
libraries, the Castilian writers, even the most eminent, until the latter half of the last
century, with an insensibility which can be imputed to nothing else but a spirit of reli-
gious bigotry, have been content to derive their narratives exclusively from national
authorities. A fire, which occurred in the Escurial in 1671, having consumed more than
three-quarters of the magnificent collection of eastern manuscripts which it contained,
the Spanish government, taking some shame to itself, as it would appear, for its past
supineness, caused a copious catalogue of the surviving volumes, to the number of 1S50,
to be compiled by the learned Casiri ; and the result was his celebrated work, "Biblio-
theca Arabico-Hispana Escurialensis," which appeared in the years 1760-70, and which
would reflect credit from the splendour of its typographical execution on any press of tha
present day. This work, although censured by some later orientalists as hasty and
superficial, must ever be highly valued as affording the only complete index to the rich
repertory of Arabian manuscripts in the Escunal, and for the ample evidence which it
exhibits of the science and mental culture of the Spanish Arabs. Several other native
scholars, among whom Andres and Masdeu may be particularly noticed, have made
extensive researches into the literary hjstory of this people. Still their political history,
so essential to a correct knowledge of the Spanish, was comparatively neglected, until
Sefior Conde, the late learned librarian of the Academy, who had given ample evidence of
his oriental learning in his version and illustrations of the Nubian Geographer, and a
Dissertation on Arabic Coins, published in the fifth volume of the Memoirs of the Royal
Academy of History, compiled his work entitled "Historia de la Dominacion de los
Arabes en Espafia." The first volume appeared in 1820 ; but unhappily the death of its
author, occurring in the autumn of the same year, prevented the completion of his design.
The two remaining volumes, however, were printed in the course of that and the following
year from his own manuscripts ; and, although their comparative meagreness and
confused chronology betray the want of the same paternal hand, they contain much
interesting information. The relation of the conquest of Granada, especially, with which
the work concludes, exhibits some important particulars in a totally different point of
view from that in which they had been presented by the principal Spanish historians.
The first volume, which may be considered as having received the last touches of it*
Vithor, embraces a circumstantial narrative of the great Saracen invasion, of the subse-
quent condition of Spain under the viceroys, and of the empire of the Omeyades:
undoubtedly the most splendid portion of the Arabian annals, but the one, unluckily,
which has been most ci -piously illustrated in the popular work compiled by Cardonua
from the oriental manuscripts "in the Royal Library at Paris. As this author, however,
has followed the Spanish and the latter authorities indiscriminately, no part of his book
Ciui be cited as a genuine Arabic version, except, indeed, the last sixty puges, com;
the conquest of Granada, which Cardoune processes in his preface to have drawn exclu-
sively from an Arabian manuscript. Conde, on the other hand, professes to have adhered
to his originals with such scrupulous fidelity, that " the European reader may feel that
he is perusing an Arabian author ; " and certainly very strong internal evidence "is afforded
I" the truth of this assertion, in the peculiar national aud religious spirit which pervades
8UEPRISE OF AXHAMA. 167
the wurfc, and In a certain florid gasconade of style common with the oriental writers
It is this fidelity that constitutes the peculiar value of ConJu's narrative. It is the first
time that the Arabians, at least those of Spain, the part of the nation which reached the
highest degree of refinement, have been allowed to speak for themselves. The history,
or rather tissue of histories, embodied in the translation, is certainly conceived in iio
very philosophical spirit, and contains, as might be expected from an Asiatic pen, little
for the edification of a European reader on subjects of policy and government. The
narrative is, moreover, encumbered with frivolous details and a barren muster-roll of
names and titles, which would better become a genealogical table than a history. Hut,
with every deduction, it must be allowed to exhibit a sufficiently clear view of th
intricate conflicting relations of the petty principalities which swarmed over the IJenin-
Bula ; and to furnish abundant evidence of a wide-spread intellectual improvement am W
all the horrors of anarchy and a ferocious despotism.
CHAPTER IX.
WAS OF ORANADA SURPRISE OF ZAHARA CAPTURE OT AI.1TAJJA.
14811482.
JBahara surprised by the Moors Marquis of Cadiz His expedition against Alhama
Valour of the Citizens Desperate Struggle Fall of Alhama Consternation of the
Moors Vigorous measures of the Queen.
No sooner had Ferdinand and Isabella restored internal tranquillity to
their dominions, and made the strength effective which had been acquired
by their union under one government, than they turned their eyes to
those fair regions of the Peninsula over which the Moslem crescent had
reigned triumphant for nearly eight centuries. Fortunately an act of
aggression on the part of the Moors furnished a pretext for entering on
their plan of conquest, at the moment when it was ripe for execution.
Aben Ismail, who had ruled in Granada during the latter part of John
the Second's reign, and the commencement of Henry the Fourth's, had
been partly indebted for his throne to the former monarch ; and senti-
ments of gratitude, combined with a naturally amiable disposition, had
L-d him to foster as amicable relations with the Christian princes, as the
jealousy of two nations, that might be considered the natural enemies of
t-ach other, would permit ; so that, notwithstanding an occasional border
foray, or the capture of a frontier fortress, such a correspondence was
maintained between the two kingdoms, that the nobles of Castile fre-
quently resorted to the court of Granada, where, forgetting their ancient
feuds, they mingled witli the Moorish cavaliers in the generous pastimes
of chivalry.
Muley Abul Hacen, who succeeded his father in 1466, was of a very
different temperament. His fiery character prompted him, when very
young, to violate the truce by an unprovoked inroad into Andalusia ;
and, although after his accession domestic troubles occupied him too
closely to allow leisure for foreign war, he still cherished in secret the
same feelings of animosity against the Christians. When, in 1476, tne
Spanish sovereigns required, as the condition of the renewal of the truce
which he solicited, the payment of the annual tribute imposed on his
predecessors, he proudly replied, that " the mints of Granada coined no
longer gold, but steel." His subsequent conduct did not belie the spirit
af this Spartan answer.
1G8 WAll OF GHANADA.
At length, towards the close of the year 1481, the storm which had
been so long gathering, burst upon Zahara, a small fortified town on the
frontier of Andalusia, crowning a lofty eminence, washed at its base by
the river Guadalete, which from its position seemed almost inaccessible.
The garrison, trusting to these natural defences, suffered itself to be
surprised, on the night of the 26th of December, by the Moorish monarch ;
who, scaling the walls under favour of a furious tempest, Avhich prevented
his approach from being readily heard, put to the sword such of the
guard as offered resistance, and swept away the whole population of the
place, men, women, and children, in slavery to Granada.
The intelligence of this disaster caused deep mortification to the
Spanish sovereigns, especially to Ferdinand, by whose grandfather
Zahara had been recovered from the Moors. Measures were accordingly
taken for strengthening the whole line of frontier, and the utmost vigi-
lance was exerted to detect some vulnerable point of the enemy, on which
retaliation might be successfully inflicted. Neither were the tidings of
their own successes welcomed with the joy that might have been expected
by the people of Granada. The prognostics, it was said, afforded by the
appearance of the heavens, boded no good. More sure prognostics were
afforded in the judgments of thinking men, who deprecated the temerity
of awakening the wrath of a vindictive and powerful enemy. " Woe is
me ! " exclaimed an ancient Alfaki, on quitting the hall of audience.
"The ruins of Zahara will fall on our own heads; the days of the
Moslem empire in Spain are now numbered ! " *
It was not long before the desired opportunity for retaliation presented
itself to the Spaniards. One Juan de Ortega, a captain of escaladors, or
sealers, so denominated from the peculiar service in which they were
employed in besieging cities, who had acquired some reputation under
John the Second in the wars of Roussillon, reported to Diego de Merlo,
assistant of Seville, that the fortress of Alhama, situated in the heart of
the Moorish territories, was so negligently guarded, that it might be
easily carried by an enemy who had skill enough to approach it. The
fortress, as well as the city of the same name, which it commanded, was
built, like many others in that turbulent period, along the crest of a
rocky eminence, encompassed by a river at its base, and, from its natural
advantages, might be deemed impregnable. This strength of position,
by rendering all other precautions apparently superfluous, lulled its
defenders into a security like that which had proved so fatal to Zahara.
Alhama, as this Arabic name implies, was famous for its baths, whose
annual rents are said to have amounted to five hundred thousand ducats.
The monarchs of Granada indulging the taste common to the people of
the East, used to frequent this place, with their court, to refresh them-
selves with its delicious waters, so that Alhama became embellished with
all the magnificence of a royal residence. The place was still further
enriched by its being the depot of the public taxes on land, which con-
stituted a principal branch of the revenue, and by its various manufac-
tures of cloth, for which its inhabitants were celebrated throughout the
kingdom of Granada.
* Lebrija states that the revenues of Granada, at the commencement of this war,
amounted to a million of gold ducats, and that it kept in pay 7000 horsemen ou its pc.-ica
establishment, and could send forth 21,000 warriors from its gates. T'ao last of tliuM
astimatea would not seem to be exaggerated.
BPKPKISE OF ALIIAMA. 1G9
Diego de Merlo, although struck with the advantages of this conquest,
was not insensible to the difficulties with which it would be attended ;
since Alhama was sheltered under the very wings of Granada, from
which it lay scarcely eight leagues distant, and could be reached only by
traversing the most populous portion of the Moorish territory, or by
surmounting a precipitous sierra, or chain of mountains, which screened
it on the north. Without delay, however, he communicated the infor-
mation which he had received to Don Rodrigo Ponce de Leon, marquis
of Cadiz, as the person best fitted by his capacity and courage for such
an enterprise. This nobleman, who had succeeded Ms father, the count
of Arcos, in 1469, as head of the great house of Ponce de Leon, was at
this period about thirty-nine years of age. Although a younger and
illegitimate son, he had been preferred to the succession in consequence
of the extraordinary promise which his early youth exhibited. When
scarcely seventeen years old, he achieved a victoiy over the Moors,,
accompanied with a signal display of personal prowess.* Later in life, he
formed a connexion with the daughter of the marquis of Yillena, the
factious minister of Henry the Fourth, through whose influence he was
raised to the dignity of marquis of Cadiz. This alliance attached him
to the fortunes of Henrv in his disputes with his brother Alfonso,
and subsequently with Isabella, on whose accession, of course, Don
liodrigo looked with no friendly eye. He did not, however, engage in
any overt act of resistance, but occupied himself with prosecuting an
hereditary feud, which he had revived with the duke of Medina Sidonia,
the head of the Guzmans ; a family which from ancient times had
divided with his own the great interests of Andalusia. The pertinacity
with which this feud was conducted, and the desolation which it carried
not only into Seville, but into every quarter of the province, have been
noticed in the preceding pages. The vigorous administration of Isabella
repressed these disorders, and, after abridging the overgrown power of
the two nobles, effected an apparent (it was only apparent) reconciliation
li 'tween them. The fiery spirit of the marqiiis of Cadiz, no longer
allowed to escape in domestic broil, urged him to seek distinction in more
honourable warfare ; and at this moment he lay in his castle at Arcos,
looking with a watchful eye over the borders, and waiting, like a lion ia
ambush, the moment when he could spring upon his victim.
Without hesitation, therefore, he assumed the enterprise proposed by
Diego de Merlo, imparting his purpose to Don Pedro Henrique! ailcifin-
tado of Andalusia, a relative of Ferdinand, and to the alcaydes of two or
three neighbouring fortresses. With the assistance of these friends he
assembled a force, which, including those who marched under the banner
of Seville, amounted to two thousand rive hundred horse, and three
thousand foot. His own town of Marchena was appointed as the placer
* This occurred in the fight of Madrono, when Don Rodrigo stooping to adjust hi
buckler, which had been unlaced, was suddenly surrounded by a party of Moors. He
snatfhed a sling from one of them, and made such brisk use of it, that, after disabling
several, he succeeded in putting them to flight; for which feat, says Zufijga, the kiug
complimented him with the f.tle of "the youthful David."
Don Juan, count of Arcos. had no children born in wedlock, but a numerous progeny
by his concubines. Among these latter was Dofia Leonora Xufie/. de Prado, the mother of
Don Rodrigo. The brilliant and attractive qualities of this youth so far won the aflectiou*
of his father, that the latter obtained the ruyai sanction (a circumstance not unfrequeut
in an age when the laws of descent were very unsettled) to bequeath him his titles and
witates, to the prejudice of more legitimate heir*.
*70 WAR Ol 1 GliAXJLDA.
of rendezvous. Tne proposed route lay by the way of Antequera, across
the wild sierras of Alzerifa. The mountaiu passes, sufficiently difficult
at a season when their numerous ravines were cL aked up by the winter
torrents, were rendered still more formidable by being traversed in the
darkness of night ; for the party, in order to conceal their movements,
lay by during the day. Leaving their baggage on the banks of the
Yeguas, that they might move forward with greater celerity, the whole
body at length arrived, after a rapid and most painful march, on the
third night from their departure, in a deep valley about half a league
from Albania. Here the marquis first revealed the real object of the
expedition to his soldiers, who, little dreaming of anything beyond a
mere border inroad, were transported with joy at the prospect" of the
rich booty so nearly within their grasp.
The next morning, being the 28th of February, a small party was
detached, about two hours before dawn, under the command of Jo'hn de
Ortega, for the purpose of scaling the citadel, while the main body
moved forward more leisurely under the marquis of Cadiz, in order to
support them. The night was dark and tempestuous, circumstances
which favoured their approach in the same manner as with the Moors at
Zahara. After ascending the rocky heights which were crowned by the
citadel, the ladders were silently placed against the walls, and Ortega,
followed by about thirty others, succeeded in gaining the battlements
unobserved. A sentinel, who was found sleeping on his post, they at
once despatched, and, proceeding cautiously forward, to the guard-room,
put the whole of the little garrison to th'e sword, after the short a:id
ineffectual resistance that could be opposed by men suddenly roused
from slumber. The city, in the meantime, was alarmed, but it was too
late ; the citadel was taken ; and the outer gates, which opened into the
country, being thrown open, the marquis of Cadiz entered with trumpet
sounding and banner Hying, at the head of his army, and took pos-
session of the fortress.
After allowing the refreshment necessary to the exhausted spirits of
liis soldiers, the marquis resolved to sally forth at once upon the town,
before its inhabitants could muster in sufficient force to oppose him.
But the citizens of Albania, showing a resolution rather to have been
expected from men trained in a camp than from the peaceful burghers of
a manufacturing town, had sprung to arms at the first alarm, and,
gathering in the narrow street on which the portal of the castle opened,
so completely commanded it with their arquebuses and crossbows, that
the Spaniards, after an ineffectual attempt to force a passage, were
compelled to recoil upon their defences, amid showers of bolts aud balls,
which occasioned the loss, among others, of two of their principal
alcaydes.
A council of war was then called, in which it was even advised by
some, that the fortress, after having been dismantled, should be aban-
doned as incapable of defence against the citizens on the one hand, and
the succours which might be expected speedily to arrive from Granada
on the other. But this counsel was rejected with indignation by the
marquis of Cadiz, whose fiery spirit rose with the occasion ; indeed, it
was not very palatable to most of his followers, whose cupidity was more
than ever inflamed by the sight of the rich spoil, which, after so many
fatigues, now lay at their feet. It was accordingly resolved to demolish
SURI-EISE OP ALTiAUA. 171
part of the fortifications winch looked towards the town, and at all
hazards, to force a passage into it. This resolution was at once put into
execution ; and the marquis throwing himself into the breach thus
made, at the head of his men-at-arms, and shouting his war-cry of
"St. James and the Virgin!" precipitated himself into the thickest
of the enemy. Others of the Spaniards, running along the outworks
contiguous to the huildings of the city, leaped into the street, and joined
their Companions there ; while others again sallied from the gates, now
opt.ned for the second time.
The Moors, unshaken by the fury of this assault, received the assail-
ants with brisk and well-directed volleys of shot and arrows ; while the
women and children, thronging the roofs and balconies of the houses,
discharged on their heads boiling oil, pitch, and missiles of every
description. But the weapons of the Moors glanced comparatively
harmless from the mailed armour of the Spaniards ; while their own
bodies, loosely arrayed in such habiliments as they could throw over
them in the confusion of the night, presented a fatal mark to their
enemies. Still they continued to maintain a stout resistance, checking
the progress of the Spaniards by barricades of timber hastily thrown
across the streets ; and, as their intrenchments were forced one after
another, they disputed every inch of ground with the desperation of
men who fought for life, fortune, libertv, all that was most dear to
them. The contest hardly slackened till the close of day, while the
kennels literally ran with blood, and every avenue was choked up with
the bodies of the shin. At length, however, Spanish valour proved
triumphant in every quarter, except where a small and desperate rem-
nant of the Moors, having gathered their wives and children around
them, retreated as a last resort into a large mosque near the walls of the
city, from which they kept up a galling fire on the close ranks of the
Christians. The latter, after enduring some loss, succeeded in sheltering
themselves so effectually under a roof or canopy constructed of their own
shields, in the manner practised in war previous to the exclusive nse of
lire-arms, that they were enabled to approach so near the mosque as to
set fire to its doors ; when its tenants, menaced with suffocation, made a
desperate sally, in which many perished, and the remainder surrendered
at discretion. The prisoners thus made were all massacred on. the spot,
without distinction of sex or age, according to the Saracen accounts.
But the Castilian writers make no mention of this ; and, as the appetites
of the Spaniards were not yet stimulated by that love of carnage which
they afterwards displayed in their American wars, and which was repug-
nant to the chivalrous spirit with which their contests with the Moslems
were usually conducted, we may be justified in regarding it as an inven-
tion of the enemy.
Alhama was now delivered up to the sack of the soldiery, and rich,
indeed, was the booty which fell into their hands, gold and silver
plate, pearls, jewels, line silks and cloths, curious and costly furniture,
and all the various appurtenances of a thriving, luxurious city. In
addition to which, the magazines were found well stored with the more
substantial, and, at the present juncture, more serviceable supplies of
grain, oil, and other provisions. Nearly a quarter of the population is
taiil to have perished in the various co-ifiicts of the day ; and the
remainder, according to the usage of the time, became the prize of the
172 WAR OF GRAXADA.
victors. A considerable number of Christian captives, \vho were found
immured in the public prisons, were restored to freedom, and swelled
the general jubilee with their grateful acclamations. The contemporary
Castilian chroniclers record also, with no less satisfaction, the detection
of a Christian renegade, notorious for his depredations on his country-
men, whose misdeeds the marquis of Cadiz requited, by causing him to
be hung up over the battlements of the castle, in the face of the whole
city. Thus fell the ancient city of Albania, the first conquest, and
achieved with a gallantry and daring unsurpassed by any other during
this memorable war.
The report of this disaster fell like the knell of their own doom on the
ears of the inhabitants of Granada. It seemed as if the hand of Provi-
dence itself must have been stretched forth to smite the stately city,
which, reposing as it were under the shadow of their own walls, and in
the bosom of a peaceful and populous country, was thus suddenly laid
low in blood and ashes. Men now read the fulfilment of the disastrous
omens and predictions which ushered in the capture of Zahara. The
melancholy romance, or ballad, with the burden of Ay de mi, Alhama .'
" Woe is me, Alhama!" composed probably by some one of the nation
not long after this event, shows how deep was the dejection which settled
on the spirits of the people. The old king, Abul Hacen, however, far
from resigning himself to useless lamentation, sought to retrieve his loss
by the most vigorous measures. A body of a thousand horse was sent
forward to reconnoitre the city, while he prepared to follow with as
powerful levies as he could enforce of the militia of Granada.
The intelligence of the conquest of Alhama diffused general satis-
faction throughout Castile, and was especially grateful to the sovereigns,
who welcomed it as an auspicious omen of the ultimate success of their
designs upon the Moors. They were attending mass in their royal
palace of Medina del Campo, when they received despatches from the
marquis of Cadiz, informing them of the issue of his enterprise. "During
all the while he sat at dinner," says a precise chronicler of the period,
" the prudent Ferdinand was revolving in his mind the course best to be
adopted." He reflected that the Castilians would soon be beleaguered
by an overwhelming force from Granada, and he determined at all
hazards to support them. He accordingly gave orders to make instant
preparation for departure ; but first accompanied the queen, attended by
a solemn procession of the court and clergy, to the cathedral chunh of
St. James, where Te Deum was chanted, and a humble thanksgiving
offered up to the Lord of hosts for the success with which he had crowned
their arms. Towards evening, the king set forward on his journey to
the south, escorted by such nobles and cavaliers as were in attendance
on his person, leaving the queen to follow more leisurely, after having
provided reinforcements and supplies requisite for the prosecution of
the war.
On the 5th of March, the king of Granada appeared before the walls
of Alhama, with an army which amounted to three thousand horse and
fifty thousand foot. The first object which encountered his eyes, was
the mangled remains of his unfortunate subjects, which the Christians,
who would have been scandalised by an attempt to give them the rites
of sepulture, had from dread of infection thrown over the walls, where
they now lay half-devoured by birds of prey and the ravenous dogs of
SUKPKISi: OF ALHAJIA. 173
the city. The Moslem troops, transported with horror and indignation
at this hideous spectacle, called loudly to be led to the attack. They
had marched from. Granada with so much precipitation, that they were
wholly unprovided with artillery, in the use of which they were expert
for that period ; and which was now the more necessary, as the Spaniards
had diligently employed the few days which intervened since their
occupation of the place, in repairing the breaches in the fortifications,
and in putting them in a posture of defence. But the Moorish ranks
w<. re filled with the flower of their chivalry ; and their immense
superiority of numbers enabled them to make their attacks simultaneously
on the most distant quarters of the town, with such unintermittt/d
vivacity, that the little garrison, scarcely allowed a moment for repose,
was well-nigh exhausted with fatigue.*
At length, however, Abul Hacen, after the loss of more than two
thousand of his bravest troops in these precipitate assaults, became
convinced of the impracticability of forcing a position whose natural
strength was so ably seconded by the valour of its defenders, and he
determined to reduce the place by the more tardy but certain method of
blockade. In this he was favoured by one or two circumstances. The
town, having but a single well within its walls, was almost wholly
indebted for its supplies of water to the river which flowed at its base.
The Moors, by dint of great labour, succeeded in diverting the stream
so effectually that the only communication with it, which remained open
to the besieged, was by a subterraneous gallery or mine, that had probably
been contrived with referenca to some sucn emergency by the original
inhabitants. The mouth of this passage was commanded in such a
manner by the Moorish archers, that no egress could be obtained without
a regular* skirmish, so that every drop of water might be said to be
purchased with the blood of Christians, who, ' ' if they had not possessed
the courage of Spaniards," says a Castilian writer, " would have been
reduced to the last extremity." In addition to this calamity, the
garrison began to be menaced with scarcity of provisions, owing to the
improvident waste of the soldiers, who supposed that the city, after
being plundered, was to be razed to the ground and abandoned.
At this crisis they received the unwelcome tidings of the failure of an
expedition destined for their relief by Alonso de Aguilar. This cavalier,
hief of an illustrious house, since rendered immortal by the renown
of his younger brother Gonsalvo de Cordova, had assembled a considerable
body of troops, on learning the capture of Alhama, for the purpose of
.supporting his friend and companion in arms, the marquis of Cadiz. On
reaching the shores of the Yeguas, he received, for the first time, advices
of the formidable host which lay between him and the city, rendering
hopeless any attempt to penetrate into the latter with his inadequate
force. Contenting himself, therefore, with recovering the baggage which
the marquis's army in its rapid march, as has been already noticed, had
left on the banks of the river, he returned to Antequera.
Under these depressing circumstances, the indomitable spirit of the
marquis of Cadiz seemed to infuse itself into the hearts of his soldiers.
He was ever in the front of danger, and shared the jrivations of the
Bernaldez swells the Moslem army to 5,500 horse, and 50,000 foot but I have preferred
Vhe more moderate and probable estimate of the Arabian authors.
174 WAR OP GKANADA.
meanest of his followers ; encouraging them to rely with undoubting
confidence on the sympathies which their cause must awaken in the
breasts of their countrymen. The event proved that he did not mis=
calculate. Soon after the occupation of Alhama, the marquis, foreseeing
the difficulties of his situation, had despatched missives, requesting the
support of the principal lords and cities of Andalusia. In this summons
he had omitted the duke of Medina Sidonia, as one who had good reason
to take umbrage at being excluded from a share in the original enter-
prise. Henrique de Guzman, duke of Medina Sidonia, possessed a degree
of power more considerable than any other chieftain in the south. Hia
yearly rents amounted to nearly sixty thousand ducats, and he could
bring into the field, it was said, from his own resources, an army little
inferior to what might be raised by a sovereign prince. He had suc-
ceeded to his inheritance in 1468, and had very early given his support
to the pretensions of Isabella. Notwithstanding his deadly feud with
the marqxiis of Cadiz, he had the generosity, on the breaking out of the
present war, to march to the relief of the marchioness when beleaguered,
during her husband's absence, by a party of Moors from Honda, in her
own castle of Arcos. He now showed a similar alacrity in sacrificing
all personal jealousy at the call of patriotism.
jS'o sooner did he learn the perilous condition of his countrymen in
Alhama, than he mustered the whole array of his household troops and
retainers, which, when combined with those of the marquis de Yillena,
of the count de Cabra, and those from Seville, in which city the family of
the Guzmans had long exercised a sort of hereditary influence, swelled to
the number of five thousand horse and forty thousand foot. The duke
of Medina Sidonia, putting himself at the head of this powerful body,
set forward without delay on his expedition.
When king Ferdinand in his progress to the south had reached the
little town of Adamuz, about five leagues from Cordova, he was informed
of the advance of the Andalusian chivalry, and instantly sent instructions
to the duke to delay his march, as he intended to come in person and
assume the command. But the latter, returning a respectful apology for
his disobedience, represented to his master the extremities to which the
besieged were already reduced, and without waiting for a reply pushed
on with the utmost vigour for Alhama. The Moorish monarch, alarmed
at the approach of so powerful a reinforcement, saw himself in danger of
being hemmed in between the garrison on the one side, and these new
enemies on the other. Without waiting their appearance on the crest of
the eminence which separated him from them, he hastily broke up his
encampment, on the 29th of March, after a siege of more than three
weeks, and retreated on his capital.
The garrison of Alhama viewed with astonisment the sudden departure
of their enemies ; but their wonder was converted into joy when they
oeheld the bright arms and banners of their countrymen gleaming along
the declivities of the mountains. They rushed out with tumultuous
transport to receive them, and pour forth their grateful acknowledgments,
while the two commanders, embracing each other in the presence of their
united armies, pledged themselves to a mutual oblivion of all past
grievances ; thus affording to the nation the best possible earnest of
future successes, in the voluntary extinction of a feud which had
desolated it for so many generations.
SURPEISE OF ALHAMA. 175
Notwithstanding the kindly feelings excited between the two armies,
a dispute had well nigh arisen respecting the division of the spoil, iu
which the duke's army claimed a share, as having contributed to secure
the conquest which their more fortunate countrymen had effected. But
these discontents were appeased, though -with some difficulty, by their
noble leader, who besought his men not to tarnish the laurels already
won, by mingling a sordid avarice with the generous motives which had
prompted them to the expedition. After the necessary time devoted to-
repose and refreshment, the combined armies proceeded to evacuate
Alhama ; and having left in garrison Don Diego Merlo, with a corps of
troops of the hermandad, returned into their own territories.
King Ferdinand, after receiving the reply of the Duke of Medina
Sidonia, had pressed forward his march by the way of Cordova, as far as
Lucena, with the intention of throwing himself at all hazards into
Alhama. He was not without much difficulty dissuaded from this by
his nobles, who represented the temerity of the enterprise, and its
incompetency to any good result, even should he succeed with the small
force of which he was master. On receiving intelligence that the siege
was raised, he returned to Cordova, where he was joined by the queen,
towards the latter part of April. Isabella had been employed in making
vigorous preparation for carrying on the war, by enforcing the requisite
supplies, and summoning the crown vassals, and the principal nobility
of the north, to hold themselves in readiness to join the royal standard
in Andalusia. After this, she proceeded by rapid stages to Cordova,
notwithstanding the state of pregnancy in which she was then far
advanced.
Here the sovereigns received the unwelcome information, that the
king of Granada, on the retreat of the Spaniards, had again sat down
before Alhama ; having brought with him artillery, from the want of
which he had suffered so much in the preceding siege. This news struck
a: damp into the hearts of the Castilians, many of whom recommended
the total evacuation of a place, "which," they said, "was so near the
capital that it must be perpetually exposed to sudden and dangerous
assaults ; while, from the difficulty of reaching it, it would cost the
Castilians an incalculable waste of blood and treasure in its defence. It
K - as experience of these evils which had led to its abandonment in former
iays, when it had been recovered by the Spanish arms from, the
Saracens."
Isabella was far from being shaken by these arguments. " Glory,"
she said, " was not to be won without danger. The present war was one
of peculiar difficulties and danger, and these had been well calculated
before entering upon it. The strong and central position of Alhama
made it of the last importance, since it iright be regarded as the key of
the enemy's country.- This was the first blow struck during the war,
and honour and policy alike forbade them to adopt a measure which
could not fail to damp the ardou r <>f th nation." The opinion of the
queen, thus decisively expressed, determined the question, and kindled
a spark of her own enthusiasm, in the breasts of the most desponding.*
* Pulgar states that Ferdinand took the oioro scsitnern route of Antequera, where Ire
received the tidings of the Moorish king's retreat. The discrepancy is of no great conse-
quence ; but as Bernaldez, whom I have t'< illiyivju, lived in Andalusia, the theatre of
sctiou, he may be supposed to have had more accurate means of information.
178 "WAR OF GEAJfADA.
It was settled that the king should march to the relief of the besieged,
taking with him the most ample supplies of forage and provisions at the
head of a force strong enough to compel the retreat of the Moorish
monarch. This was effected without delay ; and Abul Hacen once more
breaking up his camp on the rumour of Ferdinand's approach, the latter
took possession of the city without opposition, on the 14th of May. The
king was attended by a splendid train of his prelates and principal
nobility ; and he prepared, with their aid, to dedicate his new conquest
to the service of the cross, with all the formalities of the llomish church.
After the ceremony of purification, the three principal mosques of the
city were consecrated by the cardinal of Spain as temples of Christian
worship. Bells, crosses, a sumptuous service of plate, arid other sacred
utensils, were liberally furnished by the queen ; and the principal church,
of Santa Maria de la Encarnacion long exhibited a covering of the altar,
richly embroidered by her own hands. Isabella lost no opportunity of
manifesting that she had entered into the war, less from motives of
ambition, than of zeal for the exaltation of the true faith. After the
completion of these ceremonies, Ferdinand, having strengthened the
garrison with new recruits under the command of Portocarrero, lord of
Palma, and victualled it with three months' provisions, prepared for a
foray into the vega of Granada. This he executed in the true spirit of
that merciless warfare, so repugnant to the more civilised usage of
later times, not only by sweeping away the green, unripened crops, but
by cutting down the trees, and eradicating the vines ; and then, without
so much as having broken a lance in the expedition, returned in triumph
to Cordova.*
Isabella in the meanwhile was engaged in active measures for prose-
cuting the war. She issued orders to the various cities of Castile and
Leon, as far as the borders of Biscay and Guipuscoa, prescribing the
repartimiento, or subsidy of provisions, and the quota of troops, to be
furnished by each district respectively, together with an adequate supply
of ammunition and artillery. The whole were to be in readiness before
Lqja by the 1st of July ; when Ferdinand was to take the field in person
at the head of his chivalry, and besiege that strong post. As advices
were received, that the Moors of Granada were making efforts to obtain
the co-operation of their African brethren in support of the Mahometan
empire in Spain, the queen caused a fleet to be manned under the com-
mand of her two best admirals, with instructions to sweep the Mediter-
ranean as far as the Straits of Gibraltar, and thus effectually cut off all
communication with the Barbary coast.
CHAPTER X
ORANADA rXSrCCESSFCL ATTEMPT OX' LOJA DEFEAT Hf TH* AXARQCT*.
14821483.
0at:ec&3sful attempt on Loja Revolution in Granada Expedition to the Axarquia
Military Array Moorish preparations Bloody Conflict among the Mountains Th
Spaniards force a passage The Marquis of Cadiz escapes.
LOJA stands not many leagues from Albania, on the banks of the
Xenil, which rolls its clear current through a valley luxuriant with
ards and olive gardens ; but the city is deeply intrenched among
hills of so rugged an aspect, that it has been led not inappropriately to
a<sume as the motto on its arms, "A flower among thorns." Under the
}[< >ors, it was defended by a strong fortress, while the Xenil, circumscribing
it like a deep moat upon the south, formed an excellent protection against
the approaches of a besieging army ; since the river was fordable only in
one place, and traversed by a single bridge, which might be easily com-
manded by the city. In addition to these advantages, the kin of
Granada, taking warning from the fate of Alhama, had strengthened its
garrison with three thousand of his choicest troops, under the command
of a skilful and experienced warrior, named Ali Atar.
In the meanwhile, the efforts of the Spanish sovereigns to procure
supplies adequate to the undertaking against Loja, had not been crowned
witli success. The cities and districts, of which the requisitions had been
made, had discovered the tardiness usual in such unwieldy bodies ; and
th ir interest, moreover, was considerably impaired by their distance
from the theatre of action. Ferdinand, on mustering his army towards
the latter part of June, found that it did not exceed four thousand horse
and twelve thousand, or indeed, according to some accounts, eight
thousand foot; most of them raw militia, who, poorly provided with
military stores and artillery, formed a force obviously inadequate to the
magnitude of his enterprise. Some of his counsellors would have per-
suaded him, from these considerations, to turn his arms against some
weaker and mor^ assailable point than Loja. But Ferdinand burned
with a desire for distinction in the new war, and suffered his ardour for
once to get the better of his prudence. The distrust felt by the leaders
seems to have infected the lower ranks, who drew the most unfavourable
prognostics from the dejected mien of those who bore the royal standard
to the cathedral of Cordova, in order to receive the benediction of the
church before entering on the expedition.
VYrdinand, crossing the Xenil at Ecija, arrived again on its banks
before Loja, on the 1st of July. The army encamped among the hills,
whose deep ravines obstructed communication between its different
^uarttirs ; while the level plains below were intersected by numerous
canals, equally unfavourable to the manoeuvres of the men-at-arms. The
duke of Vil'a Hermosa, the king's brother, and captain-general of the
ITS WAS OF GEAXADA
hermandad, an officer of large experience, would have persuaded Ferdinand
to attempt, by throwing bridges across the river lower down the stream,
to approach the city on the other side. But his counsel was overruled
by the Castilian officers, to whom the location of the camp had been
intrusted, and who neglected, according to Zurita, to advise with the
Andalusian chiefs, although far better instructed than themselves in
Moorish warfare.
A large detachment of the army was ordered to occupy a lofty
eminence, at some distance, called the Heights of Albohacen, and to
fortify it with such few pieces of ordnance as they had, with the view of
annoying the city. This commission was intrusted to the marquises of
Cadi^ and Tillena, and the grand master of Calutrava ; which last
nobleman had brought to the field about four hundred horse and a large
body of infantry from the places belonging to his order in Andalusia.
Before the entrenchment could be fully completed, Ali Atar, discerning
the importance of this commanding station, made a sortie from the
town for the purpose of dislodging his enemies. The latter poured out
from their works to encounter him ; bnt the Moslem general, scarcely
waiting to receive the shock, wheeled his squadrons round, and began a
precipitate retreat. The Spaniards eagerly pursued ; but, when they
had been drawn to a sufficient distance from the redoubt, a party of
Moorish ginetes, or light cavalry, who had crossed the river unobserved
during the night and lain in ambush, after the wily fashion of Arabian
tactics, darted from their place of concealment, and galloping into the
deserted camp, plundered it of its contents, including the lombards, or
small pieces of artillery, with which it was garnished. The Castilians,
too late perceiving their error, halted from the pursuit, and returned
with as much speed as possible to the defence of their camp. Ali Atar,
turning also, hung close on their rear, so that, when the Christians
arrived at the summit of the hill, they found themselves hemmed in
between the two divisions of the Moorish army. A brisk action now
ensued and lasted nearly an hour ; when the advance of reinforcements
from the main body of the Spanish army, which had been delayed by
distance and impediments on the road, compelled the Moors to a prompt
but orderly retreat into their own city. The Christians sustained a
heavy loss, particularly in the death of Rodrigo Tellez Giron, grand
master of Calatrava. He was hit by two arrows, the last of which,
penetrating the joints of his harness beneath his sword-arm, as he was
in the act of raising it, inflicted on him a mortal wound, of which he
expired in a few hours, says an old chronicler, after having confessed,
and performed the last duties of a good and faithful Christian. Although
scarcely twenty-four years of age, this cavalier had given proofs of
such signal prowess, that he was esteemed one of the best knights
of Castile ; and his death threw a general gloom over the whole
army.
Ferdinand now became convinced of the unsuitableness of a position,
which neither admitted of easy communication between the different
quarters of his own camp, nor enabled him to intercept the suj
daily passing into that of his enemy. Other inconveniences also pr
upon him. His men were so badly provided with the necessary ut'
for dressing their food, that they were obliged either to devour it
or only half cooked. Most of them being new recruits, unaccu
BOUT IX THE AXABQrTA. 17d
Hie privations of war, and many exhausted by a -wearisome length of
march before joining the army, they began openly to murmur, and even
to desert in great numbers. Ferdinand therefore resolved to fall back as far
as Rio Frio, and await there patiently the arrival of such fresh reinforce-
ments as might put him in condition to enforce a more rigorous blockade.
Orders were accordingly issued to the cavali-Ts occupying the Heights
of Albohacen to break up their camp, and fall back on the main b<
the army. This was executed on the following morning before dawn,
being the 4th of July. No sooner did the Moors of Loja perceive their
enemy abandoning his strong position, than they sallied forth in con-
siderable force to take possession of it. Ferdinand's men, who had not
been advised of the proposed manoeuvre, no sooner beheld the Moorish
array brightening the crest of the mountain, and their own countrymen
rapidly descending, than they imagined that these latter had been sur-
prised in their intrenchments during the night, and were now flying
before the enemy. An alarm instantly spread through the whole camp.
Instead of standing to their defence, each one thought only of saving
himself by as speedy a flight as possible. In vain did Ferdinand, riding
along their broken tiles, endeavour to reanimate their spirits and restore
order. He might as easily have calmed the winds, as the disorder of a
panic-struck mob, unschooled by discipline or experience. All Atar's
practised eye speedily discerned the confusion which prevailed through
the Christian camp. Without delay, he rushed forth impetuously at the
head of his whole array from the gates of Loja, and converted into a real
danger what had before been only an imaginary one.
At this perilous moment, nothing but Ferdinand's coolness could have
saved the army from total destruction. Putting himself at the head of
the royal guard, and accompanied by a gallant band of cavaliers, who
held honour dearer than life, he made such a determined stand against
the Moorish advance, that AH Atar was compelled to pause in his career.
A furious struggle ensued betwixt this devoted Httle band and the
whole strength of the Modern army. Ferdinand was repeatedly exposed
to imminent peril. On one occasion he was indebted for his safety to
the marquis of Cadiz, who, charging at the head of about sixty lances,
broke the deep ranks of the Moorish column, and, compelling it to recoil,
succeeded in rescuing his sovereign. In this adventure he narrowly
escaped with his own life, his horse being shot under him at the very
moment when he had lost his lance in the body of a Moor. Xever did
the Spanish chivalry shed its blood more freely. The constable, count
de Haro, received three wounds in the face. The duke of Medina Celi
was unhorsed and brought to the ground, and saved with difficulty by ,
his own men ; and the count of Tendilla, whose encampment lay nearest
the city, received several severe blows, and would have fallen into the.
hands of the enemy, had it not been for the timely aid of his friend,
the young count of Zufiiga.
The Moors, finding it so difficult to make an impression on this iron
baud of warriors, began at length to slacken their efforts, and finally
allowed Ferdinand to draw off the remnant of his forces without further
opposition. The king continued his retreat without halting, a:;
as the romantic site of the Peiia de los Enamorados, about seven,
leagues distant from Loja ; and, abandoning all thoughts of offensive
operations tor : ;it, soon after returned to Cordon
180 \VAR OF GRANADA.
Abul Hacen arrived the following day with a powerful reinforce-
ment from Granada, and swept the country as far as Rio 1'rio. Had he
come but a few hours sooner, there "would have been few Spaniards left
to tell the tale of the route of Loja.*
The loss of the Christians must have been very considerable, including
the greater part of the baggage and the artillery. It occasioned deep
mortification to the queen ; but, though a severe, it proved a salutary
lesson. It showed the importance of more extensive preparations for a
war which must of necessity be a war of posts ; and it taught the nation
to entertain greater respect for an enemy, who, whatever might be his
natural strength, must become formidable when armed with the energy
of despair.
At this juncture, a division among the Moors themselves did more for
the Christians than any successes of their own. This division grew out
of the vicious system of polygamy, which sows the seeds of discord
among those whom nature and our own happier institutions unite most
closely. The old king of Granada had become so deeply enamoured of a
Greek slave, that the sultana Zoraya, jealous lest the offspring of her
rival should supplant her own in the succession, secretly contrived to-
stir up a spirit of discontent with her husband's government. The kin r
becoming acquainted with her intrigues, caused her to be imprisoned in.
the fortress of the Alhambra. But the sultana, binding together the-
scarfs and veils belonging to herself and attendants, succeeded, by
means of this perilous conveyance, in making her escape, together with
her children, from the upper apartments of the tower in which she was
lodged. She was received with joy by her own faction. The insurrection,
soon spread among the populace, who, yielding to the impulses of nature,
are readily roused by a tale of oppression ; and the number was still
further swelled by many of higher rank, who had various causes of
disgust with the oppressive government of Abul Hacenf. The strong;
fortress of the Alhambra, however, remained faithful to him. A
war now burst forth in the capital, which deluged its streets with the
blood of its citizens. At length the sultana triumphed ; Abul Hacen
was expelled from Granada, and sought a refuge in Malaga, which, with
Baza, Guadix, and some other places of importance, still adhered to
him ; while Granada, and by far the larger portion of the kingdom, pro-
claimed the authority of his elder son, Abu Abdallah, or Boabdil, as he
* The Pefia de lot Snamorados received its name from a tragical incident its Moorisfe
! io ol y. \ Christian slave succeeded in inspiring the daughter of his IP. tster, a wealthy
]..,.ssulman of Granada, with a passion for himself. The two lovers, after some time,
fearful of the detection of their intrigue, resolved to make their eecape into the Spanish
ten-Story. Before they could effect their purpose, however, they were hotly pursued by
the damsel's father at the head of a party of Moorish horsemen, and overtaken near a
precipice which rises between Archidona and Antequcra. The unfortunate fugitives, who
had scrambled to the summit of the rocks, finding all further escape impracticable, at'tcr
tenderly embracing each other, threw themselves headlong from the dizzy heights, pre-
ferring this dreadful death to falling into the hands of their vindictive pursuers. The sjKit
nonsecrated as the scene of this tragic incident has received the name of Rock of the
Lorerg. The legend is prettily told by Mariana, who concludes with the pithy reflection,
that "such constancy would have been truly admirable, had it been shown in defence of
the true faith, rather than in the gratification of lawless appetite."
t Bernaldez states that great uir-brage was taken at the influence which the ki:v_r of
Granada allowed a person of Christian lineage, named Yinegas. to exercise over him.
Pulgar hints at the bloxly massacre of the Abencerrages, which, without any better
authority that I know of, forms the burden of many an ancient ballad, and has l-?t
not hint' of its romantic colouring under the hand of Gini.% Perez de Ilyta.
ROUT IN THE AXABQUIA. 181
fa usually called by the Castilian writers. The Spanish sovereigns
viewed with no small interest these proceedings of the Moors, who were
thus wantonly fighting the battles of their enemies. All proffers of
assistance on their part, however, being warily rejected by both factions,
not withstanding the mutual hatred of each other, they could only awai*
with patience the termination of a struggle, which, whatever might be
its results in other respects, could not fail to open the way for the success
of their own arms.*
Xo military operations worthy of notice occurred during the remainder
of the campaign, except occasional cavalyadas or inroads on both sides,
which after the usual unsparing devastation, swept away whole herds of
cattle, and human beings, the wretched cultivators of the soil. The
quantity of booty frequently carried off on such occasions, amounting,
according to the testimony of both Christian and Moorish writers, to
twenty, thirty, and even fifty thousand head of cattle, shows the
fruitfulness and abundant pasturage in the southern regions of the
Peninsula. The loss afflicted by these terrible forays fell, eventually,
most heavily on Granada, in consequence of her scanty territory and
insulated position, which cut her oft' from all foreign resources.
Towards the latter end of October, the court passed from Cordova to
Madrid, with the intention of remaining there the ensuing winter.
Madrid, it may be observed, however, was so far from being recognised
as the capital of the monarchy at this time, that it was inferior to several
other cities in wealth and population, and was even less frequented than
some others, as Valladolid, for example, as a royal residence.
On the first of July, while the court was at Cordova, died Alfonso do
Carillo, the factious archbishop of Toledo, who contributed more than
auy other to raise Isabella to the throne, and who, with the same arm,
hud well nigh hurled her from it. He passed the close of his life in
retirement and disgrace at his town of Alcala de Henares, where he
devoted himself to science, especially to alchymy ; in which illusory
pursuit he is said to have squandered his princely revenues with such
prodigality as to leave them encumbered with a heavy debt. He was
succeeded in the primacy by his ancient rival Don Pedro Gonzalez de
Mendoza, cardinal of Spain ; a prelate whose enlarged and sagacious
views gained him deserved ascendancy in the councils of his sovereigns.
The importance of their domestic concerns did not prevent Ferdinand
and Isabella from giving a vigilant attention to what was passing abroad.
The conflicting relations growing out of the feudal system occupied most
princes, till the close of the fifteenth century, too closely at home to
allow them often to turn their eyes beyond the borders of their own
* ISoabdil was surnamed " el Chico," the Little, by the Spanish writers, to distinguish him
from uu uncle of the same name : and ''el Zogoybi," the Unfortunate, by the Moors, indi-
cating that he was the last of his race destined to wear the diadem of Granada. The
Aral's, with great felicity, frequently select names significant of some quality in the
objects they represent. Examples of tins may be readily found in the southern regions of
the Peninsula, where the Moors lingered the longest. The etymology of Gibraltar, Gebal
Tank, Mount of Tank, is well known. Thus, Algcziras conu-s iVcin an Arabic word which
signifies an island; Alpuxarros comes from a term signifying li-i-bage or pasturage;
Anxvife from another, signifying causeway or ),'ink ,./</, ( \;c. The Arabic word wad stands
lor river. This, without much violence, h:is boon changed into aund, and enters into the
names of man}' of the southern streams: for example, Guadali|Uiver, (>i\at )/( /, Guadiana,
narrow or little river, Guadelete, &c. In the siune maunei th-j term Medina, Arabict,
"city," has been retained as a prc3x to the names of many of the Spanish towns,
Medina Celi, Medina del Campo, &c.
182 WAE. Of GHAXADA.
territories. This system was, indeed, now rapidly melting away. But
Louis the Eleventh may perhaps be regarded as the first monarch who
showed anything like an extended interest in European politics. He
informed himself of the interior proceedings of most of the neighbouring
courts, by means of secret agents whom he pensioned there. Ferdinand
< obtained a similar result by the more honourable expedient of resident
embassies; a practice which he is said to have introduced,* and
which, while it has greatly facilitated commercial intercourse, has
served to perpetuate friendly relations between different countries, by
accustoming them to settle their differences by negotiation rather than
the sword.
The position of the Italian states at this period, whose petty feuds
seemed to blind them to the invasion which menaced them from the
Ottoman empire, was such as to excite a lively interest throughout
Christendom, and especially in Ferdinand, as sovereign of Sicily. He
succeeded, by means of his ambassadors at the papal court, in opening a
negotiation between the belligerents, and in finally adjusting the terms-
of a general pacification, signed December 12th, 1482. The Spanish
court, in consequence of its friendly mediation on this occasion, received
three several embassies with suitable acknowledgments, on the part of
pope Sixtus the Fourth, the college of cardinals, and the city of Rome ;
and certain marks of distinction were conferred by his Holiness on the
Castilian envoys, not enjoyed by those of any other potentate. This
event is worthy of notice as the first instance of Ferdinand's interference
in the politics of Italy, in which, at a later period, he was destined to
act so prominent a part.
The affairs of Navarre at this time were such as to engage still more
deeply the attention of the Spanish sovereigns. The crown of that
kingdom had devolved, on the death of Leonora, the guilty sister of
Ferdinand, on her grandchild, Francis Phoebus, whose mother Magdeleine
of France held the reigns of government during her son's minority.!
The near relationship of this princess to Louis the Eleventh gave that
monarch an absolute influence in the councils of Navarre. He made
use of this to bring about a marriage between the young king, Francis
Phoebus, and Joanna Beltraneja, Isabella's former competitor for the
crown of Castile, notwithstanding this princess had long since taken the
veil in the convent of Santa Clara at Coimbra. It is not easy to
unravel the tortuous politics of King Louis. The Spanish writers
impute to him the design of enabling Joanna by this alliance to establish
her pretensions to the Castilian throne, or at least to give such employ-
ment to its present proprietors as should effectually pi-event them from
disturbing him in the possession of Roussillon. However this may be,
his intrigues with Portugal were disclosed to Ferdinand by certain
nobles of that court, with whom he was in secret correspondence. The
* M. de Wicquefort derives the word anibossadeur (anciently in English embassador) from
the Spanish word embiar, " to send."
f Leonora's son, Gaston de Foix, prince of Viana, was slain by an accidental wound from
a lance, at a tourney at Lisbon, in 1469. By the princess Magdeleine, his wife, sister of
Louis XL, he left two children, a son and daughter, eacli of whom in turn succeeded to
the crown of Navarre. Francis Phcebus ascended the throne on the demise of his grand-
mother Leonora, in 1479. lie was distinguished by his personal graces and beauty, and
especially by the golden lustre of his hair, from which, according to Aleson. he derived hi
cognomen of Phcebus. As it was an ancestral name, however, such an etymplogy may b
thought somewhat fanciful.
EOtT IX THE A.XAEQTTIA. 183
Spanish sovereigns, in order to counteract this scheme, offered the hand
of their own daughter Joanna, afterwards mother of Charles the Fifth,
to the king of Xavarre. But all negotiations relative to this matter were
eventually defeated by the sudden death of this young prince, not
without strong suspicions of poison. He was succeeded on the throne
by his sister Catharine. Propositions were then made by Ferdinand and
] sabella for the marriage of this princess, then thirteen years of age,
with their infant son John, heir apparent of their united monarchies.*
iSuch an alliance, which would bring under one government nations
corresponding in origin, language, general habits, and local interests,
presented great and obvious advantages. It was however evaded by the
queen dowager, who still acted as regent, on the pretext of disparity of
au r e in the parties. Information being; soon after received that Louis
Eleventh was taking measures to make himself master of the strong
! in Xavarre, Isabella transferred her residence to the frontier town
of Logrono, prepared to resist by arms, if necessary, the occupation of
that country by her insidious and powerful neighbour. The death of the
of France, which occurred not long after, fortunately relieved the
sovereigns from apprehensions of any immediate annoyance on that
quarter.
Amid their manifold concerns, Ferdinand and Isabella kept their
thoughts anxiously bent on their great enterprise, the conquest of
> la. At a congress-general of the deputies of the hermandad,
hi id at Pinto at the commencement of the present year, 1483, with the
of reforming certain abuses in that institution, a liberal grant was
made of eight thousand men, and sixteen thousand beasts of burden, for
the purpose of conveying supplies to the garrison in Alhama. But the
sovereigns experienced great embarrassment from the want of funds.
There is probably no period in which the princes of Europe felt so sensibly
their own penury, as at the close of the fifteenth century ; when, the
demesnes of the crown having been very generally wasted by the lavish-
ness or imbecility of its proprietors, no substitute had as yet been found
in that searching and well-arranged system of taxation which prevails at
the present day. The Spanish sovereigns, notwithstanding the economy
which they had introduced into the finances, felt the pressure of these
embarrassments, peculiarly, at the present juncture. The maintenance
of the royal guard and of the vast national police of the hermandad, the
ant military operations of the late campaign, together with the
equipment of a navy, not merely for war, but for maritime discovery,
wore so many copious drains of the exchequer. f Under these circum-
stances, they obtained from the pope a grant of one hundred thousand
ducats, to be rais-jd out of the ecclesiastical revenues in Castile and
Aragon. A bull of crusade was also published by his Holiness, con-
taining numerous indulgences for such as should bear arms against the
infidel, as well as those who should prefer to commute their military
service for the payment of a sum of money. In addition to these
resources, the government was enabled on its own credit, justified by the
Ferdinand and Isabella had at this time four children ; the infant Don John, four year*
and a half old, but who did not live to come to the succession, and the iufautas Isabella,
Joanna, and Maria ; the last, born at Cordova during the summer of 14S2.
t Besides the armada in the Mediterranean, a fleet uuder Pedro de Veni was prosecuting
a voyage of discovery and conquest to the Canaries, which will be the subject of more
Darticula: notice hcv
184 WAB OF
punctuality with, which it had redeemed its past engagements, to
negotiate considerable loans with several wealthy individuals.
With these funds the sovereigns entered into extensive arrangements
for the ensuing campaign ; causing cannon, after the rude construction
of that age, to be fabricated at Huesca, and a large quantity of stone
balls, then principally used, to be manufactured in the Sierra de Con-
stantina ; while the magazines were carefully provided with ammunition
and military stores.
An event not unworthy of notice is recorded by Pulgar as happening
about this time. A common soldier, named John de Corral, contrived,
under fake pretences, to obtain from the king of Granada a number of
Christian captives, together with a large sum of money, with which he
escaped into Andalusia. The man was apprehended by the warden of
the frontier of Jaen ; and the transaction being reported to the sovereigns,
they compelled an entire restitution of the money, and consented to such
a ransom for the liberated Christians as the king of Granada should
demand. This act of justice, it should be remembered, occurred in an
age when the church itself stood ready to sanction any breach of faith,
however glaring, towards heretics and infidels.*
While the court was detained in the north, tidings were received of a
reverse sustained by the Spanish arms, which plunged the nation in
sorrow far deeper than that occasioned by the rout at Loja. Don Alonso
de Cardenas, grand master of St. James, an old and confidential servant
of the crown, had been intrusted with the defence of the frontier of
Ecija. While on this station, he was strongly urged to make a descent
on the environs of Malaga, by his adalides or scouts, men who, being
for the most part, Moorish deserters or renegadoes, were employed by
the border chiefs to reconnoitre the enemy's country, or to guide them in
their marauding expeditions, f The district around Malaga was famous
under the Saracens for its silk manufactures, of which it annually made
large exports to other parts of Europe. It was to be approached by
traversing a savage sierra, or chain of mountains, called the Axarquia,
whose margin occasionally afforded good pasturage, and was sprinkled
over with Moorish villages. After threading its denies, it was proposed
* Juan do Corral imposed on the king of Granada by msans of certain credentials, which
he had obtained from the Spanish sovereigns without any privity on their part of his
fraudulent intentions. The story is told in a very blind manner by Pulgar.
It may not bo amiss to mention here a doughty feat performed by another Castilian
envoy, of much higher rank, Don Juan de Vera. This knijrht, while conversing with
certain Moorish cavaliers in the Alhambra, was so much scandalised by the freedom with
which one of them treated the immaculate conception, that he gave the circumci:-
the lie, and smote him a sharp blow 011 the head with his sword. Ferdinand, says
Ucrnaldez, who tells the story, was much gratified with the exploit, and recompensed the
good knight with many honours.
\ The adalid was a guide, or scout, whose business it was to make himself acquainted
with the enemy's country, and to guide the invaders into it. Much dispute ha.-:
respecting the authority and functions of this officer. Some writers regard him ns. an
independent leader, or commander ; and the Dictionary of the Academy defines the term
ailaUd by these very words. The Sicte Partidas, however, explains at length the peculiar
duties of this officer, conformably to the account I have given. Bernaldez, Pulgar, auii the
other chroniclers of the Granadiue war, repeatedly notice him in this connexion. When
lie is spoken of as a captain, or leader as he sometimes is in these and other ancient records,
his authority, I suspect, is intended to be limited to the persons w ho aided him in the
execution of his peculiar office. It was common for the gre.it chiefs, whn lived on the
borders, to maintain in their pay a number of these a'.luli:lt*, to inform them o. tl.c fitting
time and place for making a foray. The post, as may well be beheved, wa.-.
trust and pers .i^al hazard.
ROUT IX THE AXAEQTJTA. 183
to return by an open road that turned the southern extremity of the
friirra along the sca-vhore. There was little to be apprehended, it wa-j
stated, from pursuit, since Malaga was almost wholly unprovided with
cavalry.
The grand master, falling in with the proposition, communicated it to
the principal chiefs on the borders ; among others, to Don Pedro
llenriquez, adelantado of Andalusia, Don Juan de Silva, count of
Cifuentes, Don Alouso de Aguilar, and the marquis of Cadiz. These
noblemen, collecting tluir retainers, repaired to Autcquera, where the
ranks were quickly swelhd by recruits from Cordova, Seville, Xerez,
and other cities of Andalusia, whose chivalry always readily answered
the summons to an expedition over the border.*
In the meanwhile, however, the marquis of Cadiz had received such
intelligence from his own udulidea as led him to doubt the expediency
of a march through intricate denies, inhabited by a poor and hardy
peasantry ; and he strongly advised to direct the expedition against the
neighbouring town of Almojia. But in this he was overruled by the
grand master and the other partners of his enterprise ; many of whom,
with the rash confidence of youth, were excited rather than intimidated
by the prospect of danger.
On Wednesday, the 19th of March, this gallant little army marched
forth from the gates of Antequera. The van was intrusted to the
adelantado Henriquez and Don Alonso de Aguilar. The centre divisions
were led by the marquis of Cadiz and the count of Cifuentes, and the
rear-guard by the grand master of St. James. The number of foot,
which is uncertain, appears to have been considerably less than that of
the horse, which amounted to about three thousand, contaiuiug the
liower of Andalusian knighthood, together with the array of St. James,
the most opulent and powerful of the Spanish military orders. Xever,
says an Aragonese historian, had there been seen in these times a more
splendid body of chivalry ; and such was their confidence, he adds, that
they deemed themselves invincible by any force which the Moslems
could bring again>t them. The leaders took care not to encumber the
movements of the army with artillery, camp equipage, or even much
forage and provisions, for which they trusted to the invaded territory.
A number of persons, however, followed in the train, who, influenced
by desire rather of gain than of glory, had come provided with money,
as well as commissions from their friends, for the purchase of rich spoil,
whether of slaves, st nil's, or jewels, which they expected would be won
by the good swords of their comrades, as in Alliama.
After travelling with little intermission through the night, the arnrv
entered the winding defiles of the Axarquia, where their progress was
necessarily so much impeded by the character of the ground, that most of
the inhabitants of the villages through which they passed had oppor-
tunity to escape with the greater part of their eft'ects to the inaccessible
* The title of addantndv implies in its etymology, cue preferred or placed before others.
The office is of great antiquity ; some have derived it from the reign of St. Ferdinand in
the thirteenth century, but Mendoza proves its existence at a far earlier period. Tho
udclantado was possessed of very extensive judicial authority in the province or district
in which he presided, and in war was invested with supreme military command. Hi*
us, however, as well as the territories over which lie ruled, have varied at different
An aUeiantado seems to have beeu generally established over a liorder province.
M Andalusia for example.
186 -WAK OF GXAXADA.
fastnesses of the mountains. The Spaniards, after plundering the deserted
hamlets of whatever remained, as well as of the lew stragglers, whether
men or cattle, found still lingering about them, set them on fire. In
this way they advanced, marking their line of march with the usual
devastation that accompanied these ferocious forays, until the column?
of smoke and fire which rose above the hill- tops announced to the people
of Malaga the near approach of an enemy.
The old king Muley Abul Hacen, who lay at this time in the city
with a numerous and well-appointed body of horse, contrary to the
reports of the adalides, would have rushed forth at once at their head,
had he not been dissuaded from it by his younger brother Abdallah,
who is better known in history by the name of El Zagal, or "the
Valiant;" an Arabic epithet, given him by his countrymen to distinguish
him from his nephew, the ruling king of Granada. To this prince Abul
Hacen intrusted the command of the corps of picked cavalry, with
instructions to penetrate at once into the lower level of the sierra, and
encounter the Christians entangled in its passes ; while another division,
consisting chiefly of arquebusiers and archers, should turn the enemy's
iiank by gaining the heights under which he was defiling. This last
corps he placed under the direction of Reduan Benegas, a chief of
Christian lineage, according to Bernaldez, and who mfly perhaps be
identified with the Reduan that, in the later Moorish ballads, seems to
be shadowed forth as the personification of love and heroism.
The Castilian army in the meantime went forward with a buoyant
and reckless confidence, and with very little subordination. The
divisions occupying the advance and centre, disappointed in their expec-
tations of booty, had qiiitted the line of march, and dispersed in small
parties in search of plunder over the adjacent country; and some of the
high-mettled young cavaliers had the audacity to ride up in defiance to
the very walls of Malaga. The grand master of St. James was the only
leader who kept his columns unbroken, and marched forward in order of
battle. Things were in this state, when the Moorish cavalry under El
Zagal, suddenly emerging from one of the mountain passes, appeared
before the astonished rear-guard of the Christians. The Moors spurred
on to the assault, but the well-disciplined chivalry of St. James remained
unshaken. In the fierce struggle which ensued, the Andalusians became
embarrassed by the narrowness of the ground on which they were
engaged, which afforded no scope for the manoeuvres of cavalry ; while
tli" .Moors, trained to the wild tactics of mountain warfare, went through
their usual evolutions, retreating and returning to the charge with a
celerity that sorely distressed their opponents, and at length threw them
into some disorder. The grand master in consequence despatched a
message to the marquis of Cadiz, requesting his support. The latter,
putting himself at the head of sucli of his scattered forces as he could
hastily muster, readily obeyed the summons. Discerning, on his
approach, the real source of the grand master's embarrassment, he
succeeded in changing the field of action by drawing off the Moors to an
open reach of the valley, which allowed free play to the movements of
the Andalusian horse, when the combined squadrons pressed so hard on
the Moslems, that they were soon compelled to take refuge within the
depths of their own mountains.
In the meanwhile the scattered troops of the advance, alarmed by the
!>' THE AXAEQT7IA. 187
report of the action, gradually assembled under their respective banners,
and fell back upon the rear. A council of war was then called. All
further progress seemed to be effectually intercepted. The country was
everywhere in arms. The most that could now be hoped was, that they
might be suffered to retire unmolested with such plunder as they ha'd
already acquired. Two routes lay open for this purpose. The one winding
along the sea-shore, wide and level, but circuitous, and swept through
the whole range of its narrow entrance by the fortress of Malaga. This
determined them unhappily to prefer tne other route, being that by
which they had penetrated the Axarquia, or rather a shorter cut, by
which the adalides undertook to conduct them through its mazes.
The little army commenced its retrograde movement with undimi-
nished spirit. But it was now embarrassed with the transportation of
its plunder, and by the increasing difficulties of the sierra, which, as
they ascended its "sides, was matted over with impenetrable thicket*,
and broken up by formidable ravines or channels, cut deep into the soil
by the mountain torrents. The Moors were now mustering in con-
siderable numbers along the heights, and, as they were expert marks-
men, being trained by early and assiduous practice, the shots from their
arquebuses and cross-bows frequently found some assailable point in
the harness of the Spanish men-at-arms. At length, the army, through
the treachery or ignorance of the guides, was suddenly brought to a halt
by arriving in a deep glen or enclosure, whose rocky sides rose with
euch boldness as to be scarcely practicable for infantry, much less for
horse. To add to their distresses, daylight, without which they could
scarcely hope to extricate themselves, was fast fading away.
In this extremity no other alternative seemed to remain than to
attempt to regain the route from which they had departed. As all other
considerations were now subordinate to those of personal safety, it was
agreed to abandon the spoil acquired at so much hazard, which greatly
retarded their movements. As they painfully retraced their steps, the
darkness of the night was partially dispelled by numerous fires which
blazed along the hill tops, and which showed the figures of their enemies
flitting to and fro like so manv spectres. It seemed, said Bernaldez, as
if ten thousand torches were glancing along the mountains. At length,
the whole body, faint with fatigue and hunger, reached the borders of
a little stream, which flowed through a valley, whose avenues, as well
as the rugged heights by which it was commanded, were already occu-
pied by the enemy, who poured down mingled volleys of shots, stones,
and arrows on the heads of the Christians. The compact mass presented
by the latter afforded a sure mark to the artillery of the Moors ; while
they, from their scattered position, as well as from the defences afforded
by the nature of the ground, were exposed to little annoyance in return.
In addition to lighter missiles, the Moors occasionally dislodged large
fragments of rock, which, rolling with tremendous violence down the
declivities of the hills, spread frightful desolation through the Christian,
ranks.
The dismay occasioned by these scenes, occurring amidst the darkness
of night, and heightened by the shrill war-cries of the Moors, which
rose round them on every quarter, seems to have completely bewildered
the Spaniards, even their leaders. It was the misfortune of the expe-
dition, that there was but little concert between the several commanders,
188 WAR OF GRAXADA.
or, at least, that there was no one so pre-eminent above the rest as to
assume authority at this awful moment. So far, it would seem, from
attempting escape, they continued in their perilous position, uncertain
what course to take, until midnight ; when at length, after having seen
their best and bravest followers fall thick around them, they determined
at all hazards to force a passage across the sierra in the face of the
enemy. "Better lose our lives," said the grand master of St. James,
addressing his men, " in cutting a way through the foe, than be butchered
without resistance, like cattle in the shambles."
The marquis of Cadiz, guided by a trusty adalid, and accompanied by
sixty or seventy lances, Avas fortunate enough to gain a circuitous route
less vigilantly guarded by the enemy, whose attention was drawn to the
movements of the main body of the Castilian army. By means of this
path, the marquis with his little band succeeded, after a painful march,
in which his good steed sunk under him oppressed with wounds and
fatigue, in reaching a valley at some distance from the scene of action,
where he determined to wait the coming up of his friends, Avho he con-
fidently expected would follow on his track.
But the grand master and his associates, missing this track in the
darkness of the night, or perhaps preferring another, breasted the sierra
in a part where it proved extremely difficult of ascent. At every step
the loosened earth gave way under the pressure of the foot ; and the
infantry, endeavouring to support themselves by clinging to the tails
and manes of the horses, the jaded animals, borne down with the weight,
rolled headlong, with their riders, on the ranks below, or were precipi-
tated down the sides of the numerous ravines. The Moors, all the while
avoiding a close encounter, contented themselves with, discharging on
the heads of their opponents an uninteruiitted shower of missiles of
very description.*
It was not until the following morning that the Castilians, having
surmounted the crest of the eminence, began the descent into the oppo-
site valley, which they had the mortification to observe was commanded
on every point by their vigilant adversary, who seemed now in their
eyes to possess the powers of ubiquity. As the light broke upon the
troops, it revealed the whole extent of their melancholy condition. How
different from the magnificent array, which, but two days previous,
inarched forth with such high and confident hopes from the gates of
Antequera ! their ranks thinned, their bright arms defaced and broken,
their banners rent in pieces, or lost, as had been that of St. James,
together with its gallant alferez, Diego Becerra, in the terrible passage
of the preceding night, their countenances aghast with terror, fatigue,
and famine ! Despair now was in every eye ; all subordination was at
an end. No one, says Pulgar, heeded any longer the call of the trumpet,
or the wave of the banner. Each sought only his own safety, without
regard to his comrade. Some threw away their arms ; hoping by this
means to facilitate their escape, while in fact it only left them more
defenceless against the shafts of their enemies. Some, oppressed with
iatigue and terror, fell down and died without so much as receiving a
wound. The panic was such, that, in more than one instance, two or
* Mr. Irving, in his "Conquest of Granada," states that the scene of the greatest
slaughter in this rout ia still known to the inhabitants of the Axarquia by the name of
Lu Viutta dc lu Matanza, or "The Hill of tlio Massacre."
ROUT m THE AXARQCIA. 189
threr Moorish soldiers were known to capture thrice their own number
of Spaniards. Some, losing their way, strayed back to Malaga, and
were made prisoners by females of the city, who overtook them in the
fields. Others escaped to Albania, or other distant places, after wandering
seven or eight days among the mountains, sustaining life on such wild
herbs and berries as they could find, and lying close during the day. A
greater number succeeded in reaching Antequera, and, among these,
most of the leaders of the expedition. The grand master of St. James,
the adelantado Henrique/, and Don Alonso de Aguiiar, effected their
escape by scaling so perilous a part of the sierra that their pursuers
cared not to follow. The count de Ciluentes, was less fortunate. That
nobleman's division was said to have suffered more severely than any
other. On the morning after the bloody passage of the mountain, he
found himself suddenly cut off from his followers, and surrounded by six
Moorish cavaliers, against whom he was defending himself with despe-
rate courage, when their leader, Reduan Benegas, struck with the
inequality of the combat, broke in, exclaiming " Hold ! this is unworthy
of good knights." The assailants sunk back abashed by the rebuke, and
left the count to their commander. A close encounter then took place
between the two chiefs ; but the strength of the Spaniard was no longer
equal to his spirit, and, after a brief resistance, he was forced to
surrender to his generous enemy.*
The marquis of Cadiz had better fortune. After waiting till dawn for
the coming up of his friends, he concluded that they had extricated
themselves by a different route. He resolved to provide for his own
safety and that of his followers ; and, being supplied with a fresh horse,
accomplished his escape, after traversing the wildest passages of the
Axarquia for the distance of four leagues, and got into Antequera with
but little interruption from the enemy. But although he secured his
personal safety, the misfortunes of the day fell heavily on his house ; for
two of his brothers were cut down by his side, and a third brother, with
a nephew, fell into the hands of the enemy.
The amount .of slain in the two days' action is admitted by the Spanish
writers to have exceeded eight hundred, with double that number of
prisoners. The Moorish force is said to have been small, and its loss
comparatively trifling. The numerical estimates of the Spanish his-
torians, as usual, appear extremely loose : and the narrative of their
enemies is too meagre in this portion of their annals to allow any oppor-
tunity of verification. There is no reason, however, to believe them in
any degree exaggerated.
The best blood of Andalusia was shed on this occasion. Among the
slain Bernaldez reckons two hundred and fifty, and Pulgar four hundred
persons of quality, with thirty commanders of the military fraternity of
St. James. There was scarcely a family in the south but had to mourn
the loss of some one of its members by death or captivity ; and the
distress was not a little aggravated by the uncertainty which hung over
the fate of the absent, as to whether they had fallen in the field, or were
Btill wandering in the wilderness, or were pining away existence in the
dungeons of Malaga and Granada.
* The count, according to Oviedo, remained a long while a prisoner in Granada, tmtil ho
was raasomed by the payment of sevenv thousand doblas of gold.
190 WAK OP GEAITADA.
Some imputed the failure of the expedition to treachery in tlia
adalides, some to want of concert among the commanders. The worthy
curate of Los Palacios concludes his narrative of the disaster in the
folio wing manner: " The number of the Moors was small who inflicted
this grievous defeat on the Christians. It was, indeed, clearly miracu-
lous, and we may discern in it the special interposition of Providence,
justly offended with the greater part of those that engaged in the
expedition ; who, instead of confessing, partaking the sacrament, and
making their testaments, as becomes gooa Christians, and men that are
to bear arms in defence of the Holy Catholic Faith, acknowledged that
they did not bring with them suitable dispositions, but, with little
regard to God's service, were influenced by covetousness and love of
ungodly gain."*
CHAPTER XI.
WAR OF GBA.NADA. GENERAL VIEW OF THE POLICY PURSUED IN THE CONDUCT OF THIS WAR.
14831487.
Defeat and Capture of Abdallah- Policy of the Sovereigns Large Trains of Artillery
Description ot the Pieces Stupendous Eoads Isabella's care of the Troops Her
Perseverance Discipline of the Army Swiss Mercenaries English Lord Scales
Magnificence of the Nobles Isabella visits the Camp Ceremonies on the Occupation
of a City.
THE young monarch Abu Abdallah, was probably the only person in
Granada who did not receive with unmingled satisfaction the tidings of
the rout in the Axarquia. He beheld with secret uneasiness the laurels
thus acquired by the old king his father, or rather by his ambitious
uncle El Zagal, whose name now resounded from every quarter as the
successful champion of the Moslems. He saw the necessity of some
dazzling enterprise, if he would maintain an ascendancy even over the
faction which had seated him on the throne. He accordingly projected
an excursion, which instead of terminating in a mere border foray,
should lead to the achievement of some permanent conquest.
He found no difficulty, while the spirits of his people were roused, in
raising a force of nine thousand foot, and seven hundred horse, the
flower of Granada's chivalry. He strengthened his army still further by
the presence of All Atar, the defender of Loja, the veteran of a hundred
* Pulgar has devoted a large space to the unfortunate expedition to the Axari |uia. His
intimacy with the principal persons of the court enabled him, no doubt, to verify most of
the particulars which he records. The curateof Los Palacios, from the proximity ufhis resi-
dence to the theatre of action, 'may be supposed also to have had ample means fur obtaining
the requisite information. Yet their several accounts, although not strictly contradictory,
it is not always easy to reconcile with one another. The narrative of complex military
operations are not likely to be simplified undor the hands of monkish bookmen. I have
endeavoured to make out a connected tissue from a comparison of the Moslem with tho
Castilian authorities. But here the mcagreness of tho Moslem annals compels us to lament
the premature death of Coude. It can hardly be expected, indeed, that the Moors should
have dwelt with much amplification on this humiliating period. But there can be littio
doubt, that far more copious memorials of theirs than any now published, exist in tho
Spanish libraries ; and it were much to be wished, that some oriental scholar would supply
Cbade's deficiency by exploring these authentic records of what may be deemed, as far a*
Christian Spain is concerned, the most glorious portion of har history.
MIL1TAET POLICY OF TIIE SOVEKEIG3S. 191
battles, whose military prowess had raised him from the common file up
to the highest post in the army ; arid whose plebeian blood had been per-
mitted to mingle with that of royalty by the marriage of his daughter
with the young king Abdallah.
With this gallant array, the Moorish monarch sallied forth from
Granada. As he led the way through the avenue which still bears the
name of the gate of Elvira, the point of his lance came in contact with
the arch, and was broken. This sinister omen was followed by another
more alarming. A fox, which crossed the path of the army, was seen to
run through the ranks, and, notwithstanding the showers of missiles
discharged at him, to make his escape unhurt. Abdallah's counsellors
would have persuaded him to abandon, or at least postpone, an enterprise
of such ill augury. But the king, less superstitious, or from, the obsti-
nacy with which feeble minds, when once resolved, frequently persist in
their projects, rejected their advice, and pressed forward on his march.
The advance of the party was not conducted so cautiously but that it
reached the ear of Don Diego Fernandez de Cordova, alcayde de los
doiizeles,* or captain of the royal pages, who commanded in the town of
Lucena, which he rightly j \idged was to be the principal object of attack.
He transmitted the intelligence to his uncle the count of Cabra, a noble-
man of the same name with himself, who was posted at his own town of
Baena, requesting his support. He used all diligence in repairing the
fortifications of the city, which, although extensive and originally
strong, had fallen somewhat into decay ; and, having caused such of the
population as were rendered helpless by age or iniirmity to withdraw
into the interior defences of the place, he coolly waited the approach of
the enemv.
The Moorish army, after crossing the borders, began to mark its
career through the Christian territory with the usual traces of devas-
tation, and sweeping across the environs of Lucena, poured a marauding
- foray into the rich campiiia of Cordova, as far as the walls of Aguiiar ;
whence it returned, glutted with spoil, to lay siege to Lucena about the
21st of April.
The count of Cabra, in the meanwhile, who had lost no time in
mustering his levies, set forward at the head of a small but well-
appointed force, consisting of both horse and foot, to the relief of his
nephew. He advanced with such celerity that he had well-nigh sur-
prised the beleaguering army. As he traversed the sierra, which covered
the Moorish llank, his numbers were partially concealed by the in-
equalities of the ground : while the clash of arms and the shrill music,
reverberating among the hills, exaggerated their real magnitude in the
apprehension of the enemy. At the same time the alcayde de los don-
~cles supported his uncle's advance by a vigorous sally from the city.
The Granadine infantry, anxious only for the preservation of their
valuable booty, scarcelv awaited for the encounter, before they began a
dastardly retreat, and left the battle to the cavalry. The latter, com-
posed, as has been said, of the strength of the Moorish cavalry, men
nceustomed in many a border foray to cross lances with the best knighta
of Andalusia, kept their ground with their wonted gallantry. The
* The don:ek*, of which Diego de Cordova was alcayde, or captain, were a body of
03 valicrs, originally brought up as pages in the royal household, and -rjai.ised as ft
icjvu ate :orps of the militia.
192 WAR OF GRANADA.
conflict, so well disputed, remained doubtful for some time, until it was
determined by the death of the veteran chieftain AH Atar, "the best
lance," as a CastiHan writer has styled him, "of all Morisma," who
was brought to the ground after receiving two wounds, and thus escaped
by an honourable death the melancholy spectacle of his country's
humiliation.
The enemy, disheartened by this loss, soon began to give ground.
But, though hard pressed by the Spaniards, they retreated in some
order, until they reached the borders of the Xenil, which were thronged
with the infantry, vainly attempting a passage across the stream, swollen
by excessive rains to a height much above its ordinary level. The confusion
now became universal, horse and foot mingling together ; each one, heedful
only of Hfe, no longer thought of his booty. Many attempting to swim the
stream, were borne down, steed and rider, promiscuously in its waters.
Many more, scarcely making show of resistance, were cut down on the
banks by the pitiless Spaniards. The young king Abdallah, who had been
conspicuous during that day in the hottest of the fight, mounted on a
milk-white charger richly caparisoned, saw fifty of his royal guard fall
around him. Finding his steed too much jaded to stem the current of
the river, he quietly dismounted and sought a shelter among the reedy
thickets that fringed its margin, until the storm of battle should have
passed over. In this lurking-place, however, he was discovered by a
common soldier named Martin Hurtado, who, without recognising his
person, instantly attacked him. The prince defended himself with his
scimitar, until llurtado, being joined by two of his countrymen, suc-
ceeded in making him prisoner. The men, overjoyed at their prize (for
Abdallah had revealed his rank, in order to secure his person from
violence,) conducted him to their general, the count of Cabra. The
latter received the royal captive with a generous courtesy, the best sign
of noble breeding ; and which, recognised as a feature of chivalry,
affords a pleasing contrast to the ferocious spirit of ancient warfare.
The good count administered to the unfortunate prince all the con-
solations which his state would admit ; and subsequently lodged him in
his castle of Baena, where he was entertained with the most deHcate and
courtly hospitality.
Nearly the whole of the Moslem cavalry were cut up, or captured, in
this fatal action. Many of them were persons of rank, commanding
high ransoms. The loss inflicted on the infantry was also severe,
including the whole of their dear-bought plunder. Xine, or indeed,
according to some accounts, two-and-twenty banners feU into the hands
of the Christians in this action ; in commemoration of which the Spanish
sovereigns granted to the count of Cabra, and his nephew, the alcayde
de los donzeles, the privilege of bearing the same number of banners on
their escutcheon, together with the head of a Moorish king, encircled
by a golden coronet, with a chain of the same metal around the neck.
Great was the consternation occasioned by the return of the Moorish
fugitives to Granada, and loud was the lament through its populous
streets ; for the pride of many a noble house was laid low on that day,
and their king (a thing unprecedented in the annuls of the monarchy)
was a prisoner in the land of the Christians. " The hostile star of Islam,"
exclaims an Arabian writer, "now scattered its malignant influence!
over Spain, and the downfall of ^e Mussulman empire was decreed/'
1IIIJTAET POLICY OF THE SOVEREIGNS. ll3
The sultana Zoraya, however, was not of a temper to waste time in
useless lamentation. She was aware that a captive king, who held his title
by so precarious a tenure os did her son Abdallah, must soon cease to he
a king even in name. She accordingly despatched a numerous embassy
to Cordova, with proffers of such a ransom for the prince's liberation as
a despot only could offer, and few despots only could have the authority
to enforce.
King Ferdinand, who was at Yitoria with the queen, when he received
tidings of the victory of Lucena, hastened to the south to determine on
the destination of his royal captive. "With some show of magnanimity,
he declined an interview with Abdallah, until he should have consented
to his liberation. A debate of some warmth occurred in the royal council
at Cordova respecting the policy to he pursued; some contending that
the Moorish monarch was too valuable a prize to be so readily relin-
quished, and that the enemy, broken by the loss of their natural leader,
would find it difficult to rally under one common head, or to concert any
effective movement. Others, and especially the marquis of Cadiz, urged
his release, and even the support of his pretensions against his com-
petitor, the old king of Granada ; insisting that the Moorish empire
would be more effectually shaken by internal divisions than hy any
pressure of its enemies from without. The various arguments were sub-
mitted to the queen, who still held her court in the north, and who
decided for the release of Abdallah, as a measure best reconciling sound
policy with generosity to the vanquished. *
The terms of the treaty, although sufficiently humiliating to the
Moslem prince, were not materially different from those proposed by the
sultana Zoraya. It was agreed that a truce of two years should be
extended to Abdallah, and to such places in Granada as acknowledged
his authority. In consideration of which, he stipulated to surrender
four hundred Christian captives without ransom, to pay twelve thousand
dohlas of gold annually to the Spanish sovereigns, and to permit a free
passage, as well as furnish supplies to their troops passing through his
territories, for the purpose of carrying on the war against that portion
of the kingdom which still adhered to his father. Abdallah moreover
bound himself to appear when summoned by Ferdinand, and to surrender
his own son, with the children of his principal nobility, as sureties for
his fulfilment of the treaty. Thus did the unhappy prince barter away
his honour and his country's freedom for the possession of immediate,
but most precarious sovereignty ; a sovereignty which could scarcely be
expected to survive the period when he could be useful to the master
whose breath had made him.
The terms of the treaty being thus definitively settled, an interview
was arranged to take place between the two monarchs at Cordova. The
f astilian courtiers would have persuaded their master to offer his hand
for Abdallah to salute, in token of his feudal supremacy ; but Ferdinand
replied, " "Were the king of Granada in his own dominions, I might do
this ; hut not while he is a prisoner in mine." The Moorish prince en-
tered Cordova with an escort of his own knights, and a splendid throng
of Spanish chivalry, who had marched out of the city to receive him.
* Charles V. docs not seem to have partaken of his grandfather's delicacy in regard to an
tatorview with hia royal captive, or indeed to any part of his deportment towards him.
194 WAR OF GBAXADA..
When Abdallah entered the royal presence, he would ha\e prostrated
himself on his knees ; but Ferdinand, hastening to prevent him, embraced
him with every demonstration of respect. An Arabic interpreter, who
acted as orator, then expatiated, in florid hyperbole, on the magnanimity
and princely qualities of the Spanish king, and the loyalty and good
faith of his" own master. But Ferdinand interrupted his eloquence with
the assurance that "his panegyric was superfluous, and that he had
perfect confidence that the sovereign of Granada would keep his faith as
became a true knight and a king." After ceremonies so humiliating to
the Moorish prince, notwithstanding the veil of decorum studiously
thrown over them, he set out with his attendants for his capital, escorted
by a body of Andalusian horse to the frontier, and loaded with costly
presents by the Spanish king, and the general contempt of his court.
Notwithstanding the importance of the results in the war of Granada,
a detail of the successive steps by which they were achieved would be
most tedious and trifling. Xo siege or single military achievement of
great moment occurred until nearly four years from this period, iu 1487 ;
although, in the intervening time, a large number of fortresses and pttty
towns, together with a very extensive tract of territory, were recovered
from the enemy. Without pursuing the chronological order of events,
it is probable that the end of history will be best attained by presenting
a concise view of the general policy pursued by the sovereigns in the
conduct of the war.
The Moorish wars under preceding monarchs had consisted of little
eke than cavaigadas,oT inroads into the enemy's territory,* which,
pouring like a torrent over the land, swept away whatever was upon the
surface, but left it in its essential resources wholly unimpaired. The
bounty of nature soon repaired the ravages of man, and the ensuing
harvest seemed to shoot up more abundantly from the soil, enriched by
the blood of the husbandman. A more vigorous system of spoliation
was now introduced. Instead of one campaign, the army took the field
in spring and autumn, intermitting its efforts only during the intolerable
heats of summer, so that the green crop had no time to ripen, ere it was
trodden down under the iron heel of war.
The apparatus for devastation was also on a much greater scale than
had ever before been witnessed. From the second year of the war, thirty
thousand foragers were reserved for this service, which they effected by
demolishing farm-houses, granaries, and mills (which last were exceed-
ingly numerous in a land watered by manv small streams), by eradicating
the vines, and laying waste the olive-gardens and plantations of oranges,
almonds, mulberries, and all the rich varieties that grew luxuriant in
this highly favoured region. This merciless devastation extended for
more than two leagues on either side of the line of march. At the same
time, the Mediterranean fleet cut off all supplies from the Barbary coast,
so that the whole kingdom might be said to be in a state of perpetual
blockade. Such and so general was the scarcity occasioned by this system,
that the Moors were glad to exchange their Christian captives for provi-
sions, until such ransom was interdicted by the sovereigns, as tending to
defeat their own measures.
The term caralpada seems to be used indifferently by the ancient Spanish writers t*
present a marauding party, the foray itsMf or the booty taken in i:.
MILITARY POLICY OF THE SOVEREIGNS. 1'Jj
Still there was many a green and sheltered valley in Granada, which
yielded its ivturns unmolested to the Moorish husbandman ; while big
granaries were occasionally enriched with the produce of a border foray.
The Moors, too, although naturally a luxurious people, were patient of
suffering, and capable of enduring great privation. Other measures,
therefore, of a still more formidable character, became necessary, in
conjunction with this rigorous system of blockade.
The Moorish towns were for the most part strongly defended, presenting
within the limits of Granada, as has been said, more than, ten times the
number of fortified places that are now scattered over the whole extent
of the Peninsula. They stood along the crest of some precipice, or bold
sierra, whose natural strength was augmented by the solid masonry with
which they were surrounded, and which, however insufficient to hold out
against modern, artillery, bade defiance to all the enginery of battering
warfare known previously to the fifteenth century. It was this strength
of fortification, combined with that of their local position, which frequently
enabled a slender garrison in these places to laugh to scorn all the efforts
of the proudest Castilian armies.
The Spanish sovereigns were convinced that they must look to their
artillery as the only effectual means for the reduction of these strong-
holds. In this they as well as the Moors were extremely deficient,
although Spain appears to have furnished earlier examples of its use
than any other country in Europe. Isabella, who seems to have had the
particular control ut' this department, caused the most skilful engineers
and artisans to u :;ivited into the kingdom from 1'rance, Germany, and
Italy. Forges wvre constructed in the camp, and all the requisite
materials prepared for the manufacture of cannon, balls, and powder.
Large quantities of the last were also imported from Sicilv, Flanders,
and Portugal. Commissaries were established over the various depart-
ments, with instructions to provide whatever might be necessary for the
operatives ; and the whole was entrusted to the supervision of Don
t rancisco Ramirez, an hidalgo of Madrid, a person of much experience,
and extensive military science, for the day. By these efforts, unremit-
tingly pursued during the whole of the war, Isabella assembled a train
of artillery such as was probably not possessed at that time by any other
European potentate.
Still the clumsy construction of the ordnance betrayed the infancy of
the art. More than twenty pieces of artillery used at the siege of Baza
dining this war are still to be seen in that city, where they long served
as columns in the public market-place. The largest of the lombards, as
the heavy ordnance was called, are about twelve feet in length, consisting
of iron bars two inches in breadth, held together by bolts and rings of
the same metal. These were firmly attached to their carriages, incapable
either of horizontal or vertical movement. It was this clumsiness of
construction which hd Maehiavelli, some thirty years after, to doubt the
expediency of bringing eannon into field engagements ; and he particularly
recommends, in his tr -atise on the Art of War, that the enemy's tire
should be evaded, by intervals in the ranks being left open opposite to
nis camion
The balls thrown from these engines were sometimes of iron, but more
usually of marble. Several hundred of the latter have been picked up in
the fields around Baj$a, many of which are fourteen inches in diameter,
196 ^AR Or GRAXADA.
and weigh a hundred and seventy-five pounds. Yet this hulk, enormou*
as it appears, shows a considerable advance in the art since the beginning
of the century, when the stone balls discharged, according to Zurita, at
the siege of Balaguer, weighed not less than five hundred and fifty pounds.
It was verv long before the exact proportions requisite for obtaining the
greatest effective force could be ascertained.*
The awkwardness with which their artillery was served corresponded
with the rudeness of its manufacture. It is noticed as a remarkable
circumstance by the chronicler, that two batteries, at the siege of Albahar,
discharged one hundred and forty balls in the course of a day.f Besides
this more usual kind of ammunition, the Spaniards threw from their
engines large globular masses, composed of certain inflammable ingre-
dients mixed with gunpowder, " which, scattering long trains of light,"
says an eye-witness, " in their passage through the air, tilled the beholders
with dismay, and, descending on the roofs of the edifices, frequently
occasioned extensive conflagration." J
The transportation of their bulky engines was not the least of the
difficulties which the Spaniards had to encounter in this war. The
Moorish fortresses were frequently intrenched in the depths of some
mountain labyrinth, whose rugged passes were scarcely accessible to
cavalry. An immense body of pioneers, therefore, was constantly em-
ployed in constructing roads for the artillery across these sierras, by
levelling the mountains, filling up the intervening valleys with rocks,
or with cork-trees and other timber, that grew prolific in the wilderness,
and throwing bridges across the torrents and precipitous barrancos.
Pulgar had the curiosity to examine one of the causeways thus constructed
preparatory to the siege of Cambil, which, although six thousand pioneers
were constantly employed in the work, was attended with such difficulty,
that it advanced only three leagues in twelve days. It required, says the
historian, the entire demolition of one of the most rugged parts of the
sierra, which no one could have believed practicable by human industry.
The Moorish garrisons, perched on their mountain fastnesses, which,
like the eyry of some bird of prey, seemed almost inaccessible to man,
beheld with astonishment the heavy trains of artillery emerging from the
passes where the foot of the hunter had scarcely been known to venture.
The walls which encompassed their cities, although lofty, were not of
sufficient thickness to withstand long the assaults of these formidable
engines. The Moors were deficient in heavy ordnance. The weapons
011 which they chiefly relied for annoying the enemy at a distance were
the arquebus and crossbow, with the last of which they were unerring
marksmen, being trained to it from infancy. They ad'opted a custom,
rarely met with in civilised nations of any age, of poisoning their arrows ;
* According to Gibbon, the cannon used by Mahomet in the siege of Constantinople,
about thirty years before this time, threw stono balls which weighed above GOO pound*
The measure of the bore was twelve palms Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch:ip. ''>
t We get a more precise notion of the awkwardness with which the artillery was served
in the infancy of the science, from a fact recorded in the chronicle of John II., that, at the
siege of Setenil, in 1407, five lombards were aH~ *" ^;o,,>,,. ,-,.IT- r,.f-r. =v.* ,-r, *v, ,.,.,!,<,
of a day. We have witnessed an invention ii
Jacob Perkins, by which a gun, with the aid
throw a thousand bullets iu a single minute.
: Some writers, as the Abbd Mignot, have referred the invention of bombs to the siegtj
of Ronda. I find no authority for this. Pulgar's words are, " They made many iron
balls, large and small, some of which they cast in a mould, having reduced the is. _;. to a
Rtafe of fusion so that it would run like any other metal."
MTLITAEY POLICY OP THE SOVEREIGNS. 197
distilling for this purpose the juice of aconite, or wolfsbane, which grew
rife in the Sierra Nevada, or Snowy Mountains, near Granada. A piece
of linen or cotton cloth, steeped in this decoction, was wrapped round the
point of the weapon, and the wound inflicted by it, however trivial its
appearance, was sure to be mortal. Indeed, a Spanish writer, not content
with this, imputes such malignity to the virus, that a drop of it, as he
asserts, mingling with the blood oozing from a wound, would ascend the
stream into the vein, and diffuse its fatal influence over the whole
system.*
Ferdinand, who appeared at the head of his armies throughout the
whole of this war, pursued a sagacious policy in reference to the belea-
guered cities. He was ever ready to meet the first overtures to surrender,
in the most liberal spirit : granting protection of persons, and such pro-
perty as the besieged could transport with them, and assigning them a
residence, if they preferred it, in his own dominions. Many, in conse-
quence of this, migrated to Seville and other cities of Andalusia, where
they were settled on estates which had been confiscated by the inquisitors ;
who looked forward, no doubt, with satisfaction to the time when they
should be permitted to thrust their sickle into the new crop of heresy,
whose seeds were thus sown amid the ashes of the old one. Those who
preferred to remain in the conquered Moorish territory as Castilian
subjects, were permitted the free enjoyment of personal rights and pro-
perty, as well as of their religion ; and such was the fidelity with which
Ferdinand redeemed his engagements during the war, by the punishment
of the least infraction of them by his own people, that many, particularly
of the Moorish peasantry, preferred abiding in their early homes to
removing to Granada, or other places of the Moslem dominion. It was,
perhaps, a counterpart of the same policy which led Ferdinand to chastise
any attempt at revolt, on the part of his new Moorish subjects, the
Mudcjares, as they were called, with an unsparing rigour which merits
the reproach of cruelty. Such was the military execution inflicted on the
rebellious town of Benemaquez, where he commanded one hundred and
ten of the principal inhabitants to be hung over the walls, and after
consigning the rest of the population, men, women, and children, to
slavery, caused the place to be razed to ( the ground. The humane policy
usually pursued by Ferdinand seems to have had a more favourable effect
on his enemies, who were exasperated rather than intimidated, by this
ferocious act of vengeance.t
The magnitude of the other preparations corresponded with those for
the ordnance department. The amount of forces assembled at Cordova
we find variously stated at ten or twelve thousand horse, and twenty
and even forty thousand foot, exclusive of foragers. On one occasion the
whole number, including men for the artillery service and the followers
of the camp, is reckoned at eighty thousand. The same number of beasts
of burden were employed in transporting the supplies required for this
immense host, as well as for provisioning the conquered cities standing
in the midst of a desolated country. The queen, who took this depart-
ment under her special cognisance, moved along the frontier, stationing
* Accoi ding to Mendoza, a decoction of the quince furnished the most effectual antidote
known ng;imst this jxrison.
f Pulpir. who is by no means bigoted for the age, seems to think the liberal terms
granted by Ferdinand to the enemies of the faith stand in need of perpetual apology.
195 "WA!: OF GEAXADA.
herself at points most contiguous to the scene of operations. There, by
means of posts regularly established, she received hourly intelligence of
the war. At the same time she transmitted the requisite munitions to
the troops, by means of convoys sufficiently strong to secure them against
the irruptions of the wily enemy.
Isabella, solicitous for everything that concerned the welfare of her
people, sometimes visited the camp in person, encouraging the soldiers
to endure the hardships of war, and relieving their necessities by liberal
donations of clothes and money. She caused also a number of large
tents, known as "the queen's hospitals," to be always reserved for the
sick and wounded, and furnished them with the requisite attendants and
medicine, at her own charge. This is considered the earliest attempt at
the formation of a regular camp hospital on record.
Isabella may be regarded as the soul of this war. She engaged in it
with the most exalted views, less to acquire territory, than to re- establish
the empire of the Cross over the ancient domain of Christendom. On
this point she concentrated all the energies of her powerful mind, never
suffering herself to be diverted by any subordinate interest from this one
great and glorious object. When the king, in 1484, would have paused
a while from the Granadine war in order to prosecute his claims to
Roussillon against the French on the demise of Louis the Eleventh,
Isabella strongly objected to it ; but, finding her remonstrance ineffectual,
she left her husband in Aragon, and repaired to Cordova, where she
placed the cardinal of Spain at the head of the army, and prepared to
open the campaign in the usual vigorous manner. Here, however, she
was soon joined by Ferdinand, who, on a cooler revision of the subject,
deemed it prudent to postpone his projected enterprise.
On another occasion, in the same year, when the nobles, fatigued with
the service, had persuaded the king to retire earlier than usual, the
queen, dissatisfied with the proceedings, addressed a letter to her
husband, in which, after representing the disproportion of the results
to the preparations, she besought him to keep the field as long as the
season should serve. "The grandees," says Lebrija, "mortified at
being surpassed in zeal for the holy war by a woman, eagerly collected
their forces, which had been partly disbanded, and returned across the
borders to renew hostilities."
A circumstance, which had frequently frustrated the most magnificent
military enterprises under former reigns, was the factions of these potent
vassals, who, independent of each other, and almost of the crown, could
rarely be brought to act in efficient concert for a length of time, and
broke up the camp on the slightest personal jealousy. Ferdinand
experienced something of this temper in the duke of Medina Celi, who,
when he had received orders to detach a corps of his troops to the
support of the count of Lenavcnte, refused ; replying to the messenger,
" Tell your master, that 1 came here to serve him at the head of my
household troops, and they go nowhere without me as their leader. 5 '
The sovereigns managed this fiery spirit with the greatest address, and,
instead of curbing it, endeavoured to direct it in the path of honourable
emulation. The queen, who, as their hereditary sovereign, received a
more deferential homage from her Castilian subjects than Ferdinand,
frequently wrote to her flobles in the camp, complimenting some on their
achievements, and others less fortunate on their intentions ; thus
MILITARY POLICY OF THE SOVEREIGNS. 199
cheering the hearts of all, says the chronicler, and stimulating- them tc
deeds of heroism. On the most deserving she freely lavished those
honours which cost little to the sovereign, but are most grateful to the
subject. The marquis of Cadiz, who was pre-eminent above every other
captain in this war for sagacity and conduct, was rewarded after his
brilliant surprise of Zahara, with the gift of that city, and the titles of
marquis of Zahara and duke of Cadiz. The warrior, however, was
unwilling to resign the ancient title under which he had won his laurels,
and ever after subscribed himself Marquis Duke of Cadiz.* Still more
emphatic honours were conferred on the count de Cabra, after the
capture of the king of Granada. "When he presented himself before the
sovereigns, who were at Vitoria, the clergy and cavaliers of the city
marched out to receive him, and he entered in solemn procession on the
right hand of the grand cardinal of Spain. As he advanced up the hall
of audience in the royal palace, the king and queen came forward to
welcome him, and then seated him by themselves at table, declaring that
" the conqueror of kings should sit with kings." These honours were
followed by the more substantial gratuity of a hundred thousand
maravedis annual rent ; "a fat donative," says an old chronicler, " for so
lean a treasury." The young alcayde de los donzeles experienced a
similar reception on the ensuing day. Such acts of royal condescension
were especially grateful to the nobility of a court, circumscribed beyond
every other in Europe by stately and ceremonious etiquette.
The duration of the war with Granada was such as to raise the militia
throughout the kingdom nearly to a level with regular troops. Many of
these levies, indeed, at the breaking out of the war, might pretend to this
character. Such were those furnished by the Andalusian cities, which
had been long accustomed to skirmishes with their Moslem neighbours.
Such, too, was the well-appointed chivalry of the military orders, and
the organised militia of the hermandad, which we find sometimes
supplying a body of ten thousand men for the service. To these may be
added the splendid throng of cavaliers and hidalgos who swelled the
retinues of the sovereigns and the great nobility. The king was attended
in battle bv a body-guard of a thousand knights, one half light, and the
other half heavy armed, all superbly equipped and mounted, and trained
to arms from childhood under the royal eye.
Although the burden of the war bore most heavily on Andalusia, from
its contiguity to the scene of action, yet recruits were drawn in abundance
from the most remote provinces, as Galicia, Biscay, and the Asturias,
from Aragon, and even the transmarine dominions of Sicily. The
sovereigns did not disdain to swell their ranks with levies of a humbler
description, by promising an entire amnesty to those malefactors who
had left the country in great numbers of late years to escape justice, on
condition of their serving in the Moorish war. Throughout this motley
host the strictest discipline and decorum were maintained. The
Spaniards have never been disposed to intemperance ; but the passion for
gaming, especially with dice, to which they seem to have been
immoderately addicted at that day, was restrained by the severest
penalties.
* After another daring achievement, the sovereigns granted him end his heirs the royal
euit worn by the monarchs of Castile on Lady-Day ; a present, says Aborca, not fo h
estimated by its cost.
200 WAH OF GRANADA.
The brilliant successes of the Spanish sovereigns diffused general
satisfaction throughout Christendom, and volunteers flocked to the camp
from France, England, and other parts of Europe, eager to participate in
the glorious triumphs of the Cross. Among these was a corps of Swiss
mercenaries, who are thus simply described by Pulgar. " There joined
the royal standard a body of men from Switzerland, a country in upper
Germany. These men were bold of heart, and fought on foot. As they
were resolved never to turn their backs upon the enemy, they wore no
defensive armour, except in front ; by which means they were lesa
encumbered in fight. They made a trade of war, letting themselves out
as mercenaries ; but they espoused only a just quarrel, lor they wera
devout and loyal Christians, and above all abhorred rapine as a great
sin." The Swiss had recentlv established their military renown by the
discomfiture of Charles the Bold, when they first proved the superiority of
infantry over the best appointed chivalrv of Europe. Their example, no-
doubt, contributed to the formation of that invincible Spanish infantry,
which under the Great Captain and his successors, may be said to have
decided the fate of Christendom for more than half a century.
Among the foreigners was one from the distant isle of Britain, the
Earl of Rivera, or coude de Escalas, as he is called from his patronymic,
Scales, by the Spanish writers. " There came from Britain," says Peter
Martyr, " a cavalier, young, wealthy, and high-born. He was allied to the
blood royal of England. He was attended by a beautiful train of household
troops, three hundred in number, armed after the fashion of theirland, with
long-bow and batt]e-axe." This nobleman particularly distinguished him-
self by his gallantry in the second siege of Loja, in I486. After having
asked leave to fight after the manner of his country, says the Andalusian
clironicler, he dismounted from his good steed, and putting himself at
the head of his followers, armed like himself en bianco, with their swords
at their thighs, and battle-axes in their hands, lie dealt such terrible
blows around him as filled even the hardy mountaineers of the north,
with astonishment. Unfortunately, just as the suburbs were carried, the
good knight, as he was mounting a scaling-ladder, received a blow from
a stone, which dashed out two of his teeth, and stretched him senseless,
on the ground. He was removed to his tent, where he lay some time
xmder medical treatment; and, when he had sufficiently recovered, he
received a visit from the king and queen, who complimented him on his
prowess, and testified their sympathy for his misfortune. " It is little
replied he, " to lose a few teeth in the service of Him who has given me
all. Our Lord," he added, " who reared this fabric, has only opened a
window, in order to discern the more readily what passes within." A
facetious response, says Peter Martyr, which gave uncommon satist'iictioa
to the sovereigns.
The queen, not long after, testified her sense of the earl's services by
a magnificent largess, consisting, among other things, of twelve Andalu-
sian horses, two couches witli richly wrought hangings and coverings of
cloth of gold, with a quantity of fine linen, and sumptuous pavilions for
himself and suite. The brave knight seems to have been satisfied with
this taste of the Moorish wars ; for he soon after returned to England,
and in 1488 passed over to France, where his hot spirit prompted him to
take part in the feudal factions of that country, in which he lost hia
lile, fighting for the duke of Brittany.
MILITABY POLICY OF THE SOVEREIGNS. 201
The pomp with which the military movements were conducted in these
campaigns, gave the scene rather the air of a court pageant than that of
the stern array of war. The war was one which, appealing both to
principles of religion and patriotism, was well calculated to inflame the
imaginations of the young Spanish cavaliers ; and they poured into the
field, eager to display themselves under the eye of their illustrious queen,
',vho, as she rode through the ranks mounted on her war-horse, and clad
in complete mail, afforded no bad personification of the genius of chivalry.
The potent and wealthy barons exhibited in the camp all the magnifi-
cence of princes. The pavilions decorated with various-coloured
pennons, and emblazoned with the armorial bearings of their ancient
no ises, shone with a splendour which a Castilian writer likens to that of
the city of Seville.* They always appeared surrounded by a throng of
pages in gorgeous liveries, and at night were preceded by a multitude of
torches, which shed a radiance like that of day. They vied with each
other in the costliness of their apparel, equipage, and plate, and in the
variety and delicacy of the dainties with which their tables were covered.
Ferdinand and Isabella saw with regret this lavish ostentation, and
privately remonstrated with some of the principal grandees on its evil
tendency, especially in seducing the inferior and poorer nobility into
expenditures beyond their means. This Sybarite indulgence, however,
does not seem to have impaired the martial spirit of the nobles. On all
occasions they contended with each other for the post of danger. The
duke del Infantado, the head of the powerful house of Mendoza, was
conspicuous above all for the magnificence of his train. At the siege of
lllora, 148G, he obtained permission to lead the storming party. As his
followers pressed onwards to the breach, they were received with such a
shower of missiles as made them falter for a moment. " What, my
men," cried he, "do you fail me at this hour ? Shall we be taunted
with bearing more finery on our backs than courage in our heart ? Let
us not, in God's name, be laughed at as mere holiday soldiers ! " His
Is, stung by this rebuke, rallied, and, penetrating the breach,
carried the place by the fury of their assault, f
Notwithstanding the remonstrances of the sovereigns against this
ostentation of luxury, they were not wanting in the display of royal
state and magnificence on all suitable occasions. The curate of Los
Pulacios lias expatiated with elaborate minuteness on the circumstances
of an interview between Ferdinand and Isabella in the camp before
This city, even before the New World had poured its treasures into its lap, wa
conspicuous for its magnificence, as the ancient proverb testifies
;it a lord. He displayed all the luxuries which belong to a time of peace; and hia
accou:)' rs and musicians ; his falcons, huuuds, and his whole hunting es>tab~
U*hn.ent, including a magnificent stud of horses, not to be matched by any other noble-
man ill the kingdom. Ol the truth of all which, "concludes Oviedo, "I myself have been
in;*u 111 uie Kinguoin. \ji Liie iruiu 01 ail wuicn, cuuiuuutm wiuuo, A mysuii uuvo ueuu
AII uyu- witness, and enough othen c;m testify." Oviedo has piven the genealogy t f the
Mcudozne and llendozinos, in all its endless ramification*
202 WAB OF GKASADA.
Moclin, in I486, when the queen's presence was solicited for the purpose
of devising a plan of futiire operations. A few of the particulars may
be transcribed, though at the hazard of appearing trivial to readers who
take little interest in such details.
On the borders of the Yeguas, the queen was met by an advanced
corps, under the command of the marquis duke of Cadiz, and, at the
distance of a league and a half from Moclin, by the duke del Infantado,
with the principal nobility and their vassals, splendidly accoutred. On
the left of the road was d'rawn up in battle array the militia of Seville ;
and the queen, making her obeisance to the banner of that illustrious
city, ordered it to pass to her right. The successive battalions saluted
the queen as she advanced, by lowering their standards ; and the joyous
multitude announced with tumultuous acclamations her approach to the
conquered city.
The queen was accompanied by her daughter, the infanta Isabella, and
a courtly train of damsels, mounted on mules richly caparisoned. The
queen herself rode a chestnut mule, seated on a saddle-chair embossed
with gold and silver. The housings were of a crimson colour ; and the
bridle was of satin, curiously wrought with letters of gold. The infanta
wore a skirt of fine velvet, over others of brocade ; a scarlet mantilla
of the Moorish fashion ; and a black hat trimmed with gold embroidery.
The king rode forward at the head of his nobles to receive her. He was
dressed in a crimson doublet, with chausses, or breeches, of yellow
satin. Over his shoulders was thrown a cassock or mantle of rich bro-
cade, and a sopravest of the same materials concealed his cuirass. By
his side, close girt, he wore a Moorish scimitar ; and beneath his bonnet
his hair was confined by a cap or head-dress of the finest stuff.
Ferdinand was mounted on a noble war-horse of a bright chestnut
colour. In the splendid train of chivalry which attended him, Bernaldez
dwells with much satisfaction on the* English lord Scales. He was
followed by a retinue of five pages arrayed in costly liveries. He was
sheathed in complete mail, over which was thrown a French surcoat of
dark silk brocade. A buckler was attached by golden clasps to his arm,
and on his head he wore a white French hat with plumes. The caparisons
of his steed were azure silk, lined with violet and sprinkled over with
stars of gold, and swept the ground as he managed his fiery courser
with an easy horsemanship that excited general admiration.
The king and queen, as they drew near, bowed thrice with formal
reverence to each other. The queen, at the same time raising her ha I,,
remained in her coif or head-dress, with her face uncovered ; Ferdinand,
riding up, kissed her affectionately on the cheek, and then, according to
the precise chronicler, bestowed a similar mark of tenderness on his
daughter Isabella, after giving her his paternal benediction. The royal
parly was then escorted to the camp, where suitable accommodations had
been provided for the queen and her fair retinue.*
* The lively author of "A Year in Spain " describes, among other suits of armour tni
to be seen in the museum of tho armoury at Madrid, those vroi-n by Ferdinand and lik
illustrious consort. " In one of the most conspicuous stations is the suit of armour usually
worn by Ferdinand the Catholic. He seoms snugly seated upon his war-horse, with a pal
f red velvet breeches, after the manner of the Moors, with lifted laucc and closed viso*
There are several suits of Ferdinand and of his queen Isabella, who was no stranger to th
dangers of a battle. By the comparative heights of the armour, Isabella would seem to b
tie bigger of the two. as she certainly was tho better.
3IILITAET IOLICY OF THE SOVEREIGNS. -0'6
It may rcaaily be believed, that the sovereigns did not neglect, in a
war like the present, an appeal to the religious principle so deeply seated
in the Spanish character. All their public acts ostentatiously proclaimed
the pious nature of the -work in -which they were engaged. They were
attended in their expeditions by churchmen of the highest rank, who
not only mingled in the councils of the camp, but like the bold bishop
of Jacu, or the grand cardinal Mendoza, buckled on harness over rochet
and hood, and led their squadrons to the field.* The queen at Cordova
celebrated the tidings of every new success over the infidel, by solemn
ssion and thanksgiving with her whole household, as well as the
nobility, foreign ambassadors, and municipal functionaries. In like
manner, Ferdinand, on the return from his campaigns, was received at
the gates of the city, and escorted in solemn pomp beneath a rich canopy
of state to the cathedral church, where he prostrated himself in grateful
adoration to the Lord of hosts. Intelligence of their triumphant pro-
gress in the war was constantly transmitted to the pope, who returned
his benediction, accompanied by more substantial marks of favour, in
bulls of crusade, and taxes' on ecclesiastical rents, f
The ceremonials observed on the occupation of a new conquest, were
such as to affect the heart no less than the imagination. ' ' The royal
fr'/tri-:," says Marineo, "raised the standard of the Cross, the sign of
our salvation, on the summit of the principal fortresses ; and all who
beheld it prostrated themselves on their knees in silent worship of the
Almighty, while the priests chaunted the glorious anthem, Te Deum
laudaimis. The ensign or pennon of St. James, the chivalric patron of
. was then unfolded, and all invoked his blessed name. Lastly,
was disjiLiyi-d the banner of the sovereigns, emblazoned with the royal
arms ; at which the whole army shouted forth, as if with one voice,
4 Castile, Castile '. ' Alter these solemnities, a bishop led the way to the
principal mosque, which, after the rites of purification, he consecrated to
the service of the true faith."
The standard of the Cross, above referred to, was of massive silver,
and was a present from pope Sixtus the Fourth to Ferdinand, in whose
it was always carried throughout these campaigns. An ample
supply of bells, vases, missals, plate, and other sacred furniture, was
also borne along with the camp, being provided by the queen for the
purified mosques.
The most touching part of the incidents usually occurring at the
surrender of a Moorish city, was the liberation of the Christian captives
immured in its dungeons. On the capture of Honda, in 1485, more
than four hundred of these unfortunate persons, several of them cavaliers
ot rank, some of whom had been taken in the fatal expedition of the
A.xarquia, were restored to the light of heaven. On being brought
before Ferdinand, they prostrated themselves on the ground, bathing his
: while their wan and wasted figures, their dishevelled
-. their beards reaching down to their girdles, and their limbs
loaded with heavy manacles, brought tears into the eye of every
* - . v I :za, in the campaign of 14S5, offered the queen to raise a body of 3000
.1 its head to the relief of Alhama, and at the same time to supply her
vi sums of money :is might be necessary in the present exigency.
t In 14 SO, we find Ferdinand and Isabella performing a pilgrimage to the shrine of St.
J allies of Compos tell*.
204 WAR OF GRANADA.
spectator. They were then commanded to present themselves before the
queen at Cordova, who liberally relieved their necessities, and, after the
celebration of public thanksgiving, caused them to be conveyed to their
own homes. The fetters of the liberated captives were suspended in
the churches, where they continued to be revered by succeeding genera-
tions as the trophies of Christian warfare.
Ever since the victory of Lucena, the sovereigns had made it a capital
point of their policy to foment the dissensions of their enemies. The
young king Abdallah, after his humiliating treaty with Ferdinand, lost
whatever consideration he had previously possessed. Although the
sultana Zoraya, by her personal address and the lavish distribution of
the royal treasures, contrived to maintain a faction for her son, the
better classes of his countrymen despised him as a renegade, and a
vassal of the Christian king. As their old monarch had become incom-
petent, from increasing age and blindness, to the duties of his station in
those perilous times, they turned their eyes on his brother Abdallah,
surnamed El Zagal, or " The Valiant," who had borne so conspicuous a
part in the rout of the Axarquia. The Castilians depict this chief in the
darkest colours of ambition and cruelty ; but the Moslem writers afford
no such intimation, and his advancement to the throne at that crisis
seems to be in some measure justified by his eminent talents as a military
leader.
On his way to Granada, he encountered and cut to pieces a body of
Calatrava knights from Alhama, and signalised his entrance into his
new capital by bearing along the bloody trophies of heads dangling from
his saddlebow, after the barbarous fashion long practised in these wars.*
It was observed that the old king Abul Hacen did not long survive his
brother's accession. f The young king Abdallah sought the protection of
the Castilian sovereigns in Seville, who, true to their policy, sent him
back into his dominions with the means of making headway against his
rival. The alfakies and other considerable persons of Granada,
scandalised at these fatal feuds, effected a reconciliation, on the basis of
a division of the kingdom between the parties. But wounds so deep
could not be so permanently healed. The site of the Moorish capital was
most propitious to the purposes of faction. It covered two swelling
eminences, divided from each other by the deep waters of the Darro.
The two factions possessed themselves respectively of these opposite
quarters. Abdallah was not ashamed to strengthen himself by the aid
of Christian mercenaries ; and a dreadful conflict was carried on for fifty
days and nights within the city, which swam with the blood that should
have been shed only in its defence.
Notwithstanding these auxiliary circumstances, the progress of tht
Christians was comparatively slow. Every cliff seemed to be crowned
with a fortress ; and every fortress was defended with the desperation of
men willing to bury themselves under its ruins. The old men, women,
ami children, on occasion of a siege, were frequently despatched to
Granada. Such was the resolution, or rather ferocity of the Moors, that
* A garland of Christian heads seems to have been deemed no unsuitable present from a
Mo&lciu knight to his lady love. This sort of trophy was also borne by the Christian
cavaliers. Examples of this may be found even as lato as the siege of Grauada.
t The Arabic historian alludes to the vulgar report of the old king's assassination by hia
brother, but leaves us in the dark in regard to his own opinion of its credibility.
MILITARY POLICY OF THE SOVF.REIGXS. 203
Malaga closed its gates against the fugitives from Alora, after its sur-
render, and even massacred some of them in cold Wood. The eagle eye
of El Zagal seemed to take in at a glance the whole extent of his little
territory, and to detect every vulnerable point in his antagonist, whom
he encountered where he least expected it ; cutting off his envoys, sur-
prising his foraging parties, and retaliating by a devastating inroad on
the borders.*
No effectual and permanent resistance, however, could be opposed to
the tremendoxis enginery of the Christians. Tower and town fell before
it. Besides the principal towns of Cartama, Coin, Setenil, Ronda,
Marbella, Illora, termed by the Moors "the right eye," Moclin, "the
shield" of Granada, and Loja, after a second and desperate siege in the
spring of 1486, Bernaldez enumerates more than seventy subordinate
S'aces in the Val de Cartama, and thirteen others after the fall of
arbella. Thus the Spaniards advanced their line of conquest more
than twenty leagnes beyond the western frontier of Granada. This
extensive tract they strongly fortified and peopled, partly with Christian
subjects and partly with Moorish, the original occupants of the soil,
who were secured in the possession of their ancient lands under their
own law.
Thus the strong posts which may be regarded as the exterior defences
of the city of Granada, were successively carried. A few positions alone
remained of sufficient strength to keep the enemy at bay. The most
considerable of these was Malaga, which from its maritime situation
afforded facilities for a communication with the Barbary Moors, that the
vigilance of the Castilian cruisers could not entirely intercept. On this
point, therefore, it was determined to concentrate all the strength of the
monarchy, by sea and land, in the ensuing campaign of 1487.
Two of the most important authorities for the war of Granada are Fernando del Pulgar
and Autonio de Lebrija, or Nebrissensis, as he is called from the Latin Xtbrissa.
Few particulars have been preserved respecting the biography of the former. He wa
probably a native of Pulgar, near Toledo. The Castilian writers recognise certain pro-
vincialisms in his style belonging to that district He was secretary to Henry IV., and
was charged with various confidential functions by him. He seems to have retained his
place on the accession of Isabella, by whom he was appointed national historiographer in
14S2, when, from certain remarks in his letters, it would appear he was already advanced
in years. This office, in the fifteenth century, comprehended in addition to the more
obvious duties of an historian, the intimate and confidential relations of a private secretary.
' It was the business of the chronicler," says Bernaldez, " to carry on foreign correspondence
in the service of his master, acquainting himself with wliatever was passing in other
courts and countries, and, by the discreet and conciliatory tenor of his epistles, to allay
such feuds as might arise between the king and his nobility, and establish harmony
between them." From this period Pulgar remained near the royal person, accompanying
the queen in her various progresses through the kingdom, as well as in her military expe-
ditions into the Moorish territory. He was consequently an eye-witness of many of the
warlike scenes which he describes, and from his situation at the court, had access to the
most ample and accredited sources of information. It is probable he did not survive
the capture of Granada, as his history falls somewhat short of that event. Pulgar's
Chronicle, in the portion containing a retrospective survey of events previous to 1482. may
be charged with gross inaccuracy ; but, in all the subsequent period, it may be received as
perfectly authentic, and has all the air of impartiality. Every circumstance relating to
the conduct of the war is developed with equal fulness and precision. His manner of
narration, though prolix, is perspicuous, and may compare favourably with that of
Among other achievements, Zagal surprised and beat the count of Cabra in a night
attack upon Moclin, and well-nigh retaliated on that nobleman his capture of the Moorish
king Abdallah.
2''6 WAR OF GllANADA.
contemporary writers. His sentiments may com pa' -j still more advantageously, ill poir*
of liberality, with those of the Castilian historians of a later age.
Pulgar lef c some other works, of which his commentary cm the ancient satire of " Min^n
Bevulgo," his " Letters," and his "Glares Varones," or sketches of illustrious men, h-jvo
alone been published. The last contains notices of the most distinguished individuals of
the court of Henry IV., which, although too indiscriminately encomiastic, are valuable
subsidiaries to an accurate acquaintance with the prominent actors of the period. The
last and most elegant edition of Pu'gar's Chronicle was published at Valencia in 1780, from
the press of Benito Montfort, in large folio.
Antonio de Lebrija was one of the most active and erudite scholars of this period. He
was born in the prui-iucc of Andalusia, in 1444. After the usual discipline at Salamanca,
he went at the age of nineteen to Italy, where he completed his education in the university
of Bologna. He returned to Spain ten years after, richly stored with classical learning and
t'.ie liberalarts that were then taught in the nourishing schools of Italy. He lost no time in
dispensing to his countrymen his various acquisitions. He was appointed to the two
chairs of grammar and poetry (a thing unprecedented) in the university of Salamanca,
and lectured at the same time in these distinct departments. He was subsequently pre-
ferred by Cardinal Ximcues to a professorship in his university of AlcaliS de Heiiares,
where his services were liberally requited, and where he enjoyed the entire confidence oil
nis distinguished patron, who consulted him on all matters affecting the interests of the
institution. Here he continued delivering his lectures and expounding the ancient c'
to crowded audiences, to the advanced age of seventy-eight, when he was carried off by
an attack of apoplexy.
Lebrija, besides his oral tuition, composed works on a great variety of subjects, philo-
logical, historical, theological, &c. His emendation of the sacred text was visited with
the censure of the Inquisition, a circumstance which will not operate to his prejudice with
posterity. Lebrija was far from being circumscribed by the narrow sentiments of his age.
He was warmed with a generous enthusiasm lor letters, which kindled a corresponding
flame in the bosoms of his disciples, among whom may be reckoned some of the brightest
names in the literary annals of the period. His instruction effected for classical literature
in Spain, what the labours of tlie great Italian scholars of the fifteenth century did for it
in their own country ; and he was rewarded with the substantial gratitude of his own age,
and such empty honours as could be rendered by posterity. For very many years, the
anniversary of his death was commemorated by public services, and a funeral panegyric,
in the university of AlcaH.
The circumstances attending the composition of his Latin Chronicle, so often quoted in
this history, are very curious. Carbajal says that he delivered Pulgar's Chronicle, after
that writer's death, into Lebrija's hands far the purpose of being translated into Latin.
The latter proceeded in his task as far as the year 1486. His history, however, can scarcely
be termed a translation ; since, although it takes up the same thread of incident, it is
diversified by many new and particular facts. This unfinished performance was found
among Lebrija's papers, after his decease, with a preface containing not a word of
acknowledgment to Pulgar. It was accordingly published for the first time, in 1545, (the
edition referred to in this history,) by his son Sancho, as an original production of his
father. Twenty years after, the first edition of Pulgar's original Chronicle was published
at Valladolid, from the copy which belonged to Lebrija. by his grandson Antonio.
work appeared also as Lebrija's. Copies, however, of Pulgar's Chronicle were preserved
in several private libraries; and two years later, 15C7, his just claims were vindicated by
an edition at Saragossa. inscribed with his name as its author.
Lubrija's reputation has sustained some injury from this transaction, though most
undeservedly. It seems probable that he adopted Pulgar's text as the basis of his own,
intending to continue tho narrative to a later period. His unfinished manuscript being
found among his papers after his death, without reference to any authority, was naturally
enough given to the world as entirely his production. It is more strange, that Pulgar's
own Chronicle, subsequently printed as Lcbrija's, should have contained no allusion to its
real author. The history, although composed as far as it goes with sufficient elaboration
and pomp of style, i< "lie that adds, on the w' "._. but little to the fame of I/ubrija. It
was at best but' addir.;; * luul tu the 'uural on ius bruw, and waa certainly not worth a
unao.
T, AFFAIRS OF THE KINGDOM. INQUISITIOIT IK
1483 US'.
Isabella enforces tho Laws Punishment of Ecclesiastics Inquisition in Aragon Remon-
stnmce of the Cortss Conspiracy Assassination of the Inquisitor Arbues Cruel
Persecutions Inquisition throughout Ferdinand's Dominions.
IN such intervals of leisure as occurred amid their military operations,
Ferdinand and Isabella were diligently occupied with the interior
government of the kingdom, and especially with the rigid adminis-
tration of justice, the most difficult of all duties in an imperfectly
civilised state of society. The queen found especial demand for this
in the northern provinces, whose rude inhabitants were little used to
subordination. She compelled the great nobles to lay aside their arms,
and refer their disputes to legal arbitration. She caused a number of
the fortresses which were still garrisoned by the baronial battditti, to be
razed to the ground ; and she enforced the utmost severity of the law
against such inferior criminals as violated the public peace.
Even ecclesiastical immunities, which proved so effectual a protection
in most countries at this period, were not permitted to screen the
offender. A remarkable instance of this occurred at the city of Truxillo,
in 1486. An inhabitant of that place had been committed to prison
for some offence by order of the civil magistrate. Certain priests,
relations of the offender, alleged that his religious profession exempted
him from all but ecclesiastical jurisdiction; and, as the authorities
refused to deliver him up, they inflamed the populace to such a degree
by their representations of the insult offered to the church, that they
*\)se in a body, and, forcing the prison, set at liberty not only the
malefactor in question, but all those confined there. The queen no
sooner heard of this outrage on the royal authority, than she sent a
detachment of her guard to Truxillo, which secured the persons of the
principal rioters, some of whom were capitally punished, while the
ecclesiastics, who had stirred up the sedition, were banished the realm.
Isabella, while by her example she inculcated the deepest reverence for
the sacred profession, uniformly resisted every attempt from that
quarter to encroach on the royal prerogative. The tendency of her
administration was decidedly, as there will be occasion more particularly
to notice, to abridge the authority which that body had exercised in
civil matters under preceding reigns.*
* A pertinent example of tliis occur-;:'., December, 1485, at Alcala 1 no llcnarcs. where the
court w.-is detained during the queen's illness, wno there gave birth to her youngest child.
Dona Ciitalina, afterwards so celebrated in English history as Catharine of Aragon. A
collision took place in this city between the royal judges and those of the archbishop of
Toledo, to whose diocese it belonged. The latter stoutly maintained the pretensions of tho
church. The queen with equal pertinacity asserted the supremacy of the royal jurisdic-
tion over every other in the kingdom, secular or ecclesiastical The affair was ulihuat.,'.;'
20S INTERNAL AFFAIRS.
Nothing of interest occurred in the foreign relations of the kingdoia.
during the period embraced by the preceding chapter, except, perhaps,
the marriage of Catharine, the young queen of Navarre, with Jean
d'Albret, a French nobleman, whose extensive hereditary domains in
the south-west corner of France lay adjacent to her kingdom (1484).
This connection was extremely distasteful to the Spanish sovereigns,
and indeed to many of the Navarrese, who were desirous of the alliance
with Castile. This was ultimately defeated by the queen mother, an
artful woman, who, being of the blood-royal of France, was naturally
disposed to a union with that kingdom. Ferdinand did not neglect to
maintain such an understanding with the malcontents of Navarre, aa
should enable him to counteract any undue advantage which the French
monarch might derive from the possession of this key as it were to the
Castilian territory.
In Aragon, two circumstances took place in the period under review,
deserving historical notice. The first relates to an order of the Catalan
peasantry, denominated vassals de remenza. These persons \vere
subjected to a feudal bondage, which had its origin in very remote ages,
but which had become in no degree mitigated, while the peasantry of
every other part of Europe had been gradually rising to the rank of
freemen. The grievous nature of the impositions had led to repeated
rebellions in preceding reigns. At length, Ferdinand, after many
fruitless attempts at a mediation between these unfortunate people and
their arrogant masters, prevailed on the latter, rather by force of
authority than argument, to relinquish the extraordinary seignorial
rights which they had enjoyed, in consideration of a stipulated annual
payment from their vassals. (1486.)
The other circumstance worthy of record, but not in like manner
creditable to the character of the sovereign, is the introduction of the
modern inquisition into Aragon. The ancient tribunal had existed there,
as has been stated in a previous chapter, since the middle of the
thirteenth century, but seems to have lost all its venom in the atmos-
phere of that free country ; scarcely assuming a jurisdiction beyond
that of an ordinary ecclesiastical court. No sooner, however, was the
institution organised on its new basis in Castile, than Ferdinand
resolved on its introduction, in a similar form, in his own dominions.
Measures were accordingly taken to that effect, in a meeting of a privy
council convened by the king at Tarac.ona, during the session of the
cortes in that place, in April 1484 ; and a royal order was issued
requiring all the constituted authorities throughout the kingdom to
support the new tribunal in the exercise of its functions. A Dominican
monk, Fray Gaspard Juglar, and Pedro Arbucs de Epila, a canon of the
metropolitan church, were appointed by the general, Torquemada,
inquisitors over the diocese of Saragossa ; and, in the month of
September following, the chief justiciary and the other great officers of
the realm took the prescribed oaths.*
referred to the arbitration of certain learned men, named conjointly by the adverse parties.
It was tot then determined, however, and Pulgar has neglected to acquaint U9 with tho
award.
* At this cortes, convened at Taracona, Ferdinand and Isabella experienced an instance
of the haughty spirit of their Catalan subjects, who refused to attend, alleging it to be a
violation of their liberties to be summoned to a place without the limits of their princi-
jvality. The Valencians also protested that their attendance should not operate aa
IXQUISIT10X OF ARAGOX. 209
The new institution, opposed to the ideas of independence common to
all the Aragonese, was particularly offensive to the higher orders,
many of whose members, including persons filling the most considerable
official stations, were of Jewish descent, and of course precisely the
class exposed to the scrutiny of the Inquisition. Without difficulty,
therefore, the cortes was persuaded in the following year to send a
deputation to the court of Home, and another to Ferdinand, representing
the repugnance of the new tribunal to the liberties of the nation, as
well as to their settled opinions and habits, and praying that ite
operation might be suspended for the present, so far at least as concerned
the confiscation of property, which it rightly regarded as the moving
power of the whole terrible machinery. Both the pope and the king,
as may be imagined, turned a deaf ear to these remonstrances. In
the meanwhile the Inquisition commenced operations, and autos da fe
were celebrated at Saragossa, with all their usual horrors, in the months
of May and June in 148o. The discontented Aragonese, despairing of
redress in any regular way, resolved to intimidate their oppressors by
some appalling act of violence. They formed a conspiracy for the
assassination of Arbues, the most odious of the inquisitors established
over the diocese of Saragossa. The conspiracy, set on foot by some of
the principal nobility, was entered into by most of the new Christians,
or persons of Jewish extraction, in the district. A sum of ten thousand
reals was subscribed to defray the necessary expenses for the execution
of their project. This was not easy however ; since Arbues, conscious of
the popular odium that he had incurred, protected his person by wearing
under his monastic robes a suit of mail, complete even to the helmet
beneath his hood. With similar vigilance he defended, also, every
avenue to his sleeping apartment.
At length, however, the conspirators found an opportunity of
surprising him while at his devotions. Arbues was on his knees before
tin- irivat altar of the cathedral, near midnight, when his enemies, who
had entered the church in two separate bodies, suddenly surrounded
him, and one of them wounded him in the arm with a dagger, while
another dealt him a fatal blow in the back of his neck. The priests,
who were preparing to celebrate matins in the choir of the church,
hastened to the spot ; but not before the assassins had effected their
escape. They transported the 'bleeding body of the inquisitor to his
apartment, where he survived only two days, blessing the Lord that he
had been permitted to seal so good a cause with his blood. The whole
K-ene will readily remind the English reader of the assassination of
Thomas a Becket.
The event did not correspond with the expectations of the conspirators.
Sectarian jealousy proved stronger than hatred of the Inquisition. The
populace, ignorant of the extent or ultimate object of the conspiracy,
were filled with vague apprehensions of an insurrection of the new
Christians, who had so often been the objects of outrage ; and they could
only be appeased by the archbishop of Saragossa, riding through the
precedent to their prejudice. It was usual to convene a central or geueral cortes at
Frapa, or Monzon, or some town which the Catalans, who were peculiarly jealous of their
privileges, claimed to be within their territory. It was still more usual to hold separate
cortes of the three kingdoms simultaneously, in such contiguous places in each at would
permit the royal presence in all during their session.
f
210 INTERNAL AFFAIKS.
streets, and proclaiming that no time should be lost in detecting and
punishing the assassins.
This promise was abundantly fulfilled ; and wide was the ruin occa -
sioned by the indefatigable zeal with which the bloodhounds of the
tribunal followed up the scent. In the course of this persecution, two
hundred individuals perished at the stake, and a still greater number
in the dungeons of the Inquisition ; and there was scarcely a noble
family in Aragon but witnessed one or more of its members condemned
to humiliating penance in the autos da fe. The immediate perpetrators
of the murder were all hanged, after suffering the amputation of their
right hands. One, who had appeared as evidence against the rest, under
assurance of pardon, had his sentence so far commuted, that his hand
was not cut oft' till after he had been hanged. It was thus that the
Holy Office interpreted its promises of grace.*
Arbues received all the honours of a martyr. His ashes were interred
on the spot where he had been assassinated, f A superb mausoleum was
erected over them, and, beneath his effigy, a bas-relief was sculptured
representing his tragical death, with an inscription containing a suitable
denunciation of the race of Israel. And at length, when the lapse of
nearly two centuries had supplied the requisite amount of miracles, the
Spanish Inquisition had the glory of adding a new saint to the calendar,
by the canonisation of the martyr under Pope Alexander the Seventh,
in 1664.1
The failure of the attempt to shake off the tribunal served only, a3
usual in such cases, to establish it more firmly than before. Efforts at
resistance were subsequently, but ineffectually, made in other parts of
Aragon, and in Valencia and Catalonia. It was not established in the
latter province till 1487, and some years later in Sicily, Sardinia, and
the Balearic Isles. Thus Ferdinand had the melancholy satisfaction of
riveting the most galling yoke ever devised by fanaticism round the
necks f a people, who till that period had enjoyed probably the
greatest degree of constitutional freedom which the world had witnessed.
* Among those who, after a tedious imprisonment, were condemned to do penance in an
auto da fe, was a nephew of king Ferdinand, Don James of Navarre.
t According to Paramo, when the corpse of the inquisitor was brought to the place
where he had been assassinated, the blood, which had been coagulated on the pavement,
smoked up and boiled with most miraculous fervomr !
; France and Italy, also, according to Llorente, could each boast a saint inquisitor.
Their renown, however, has been eclipsed by the superior splendours of their great masUft
St. Dominic ;
" Fils kicouuua d'un si gloricux uera."
CHAPTER XltL
WA OF GRANADA SURRENDER OF YELEZ MALAGA. SIEGE AND CONQUEST OF MALAGA.
1487.
Harrow escape of Ferdinand before Velez Malaga invested by Sea and Land Brilliant
Spectacle The Queen visits the Camp Attempt to assassinate the Sovereigns
Distress and Resolution of the Besieged Enthusiasm of the Christians Outworks
carried by them Proposals for Surrender Haughty Demeanour of Ferdinand-
Malaga surrenders at Discretion Cruel Policy of the Victors.
BEFORE commencing operations against Malaga, it was thought expe-
dient by the Spanish council of war to obtain possession of Velez
Malaga, situated about five leagues distant from the former. This
strong town stood along the southern extremity of a range of mountains
that extend to Granada. Its position afforded an easy communication
with that capital, and obvious means of annoyance to an enemy inter-
posed between itself and the adjacent city of Malaga. The reduction
of this place, therefore, became the first object of the campaign.
The forces assembled at Cordova, consisting of the levies of the
Andalusian cities principally, of the retainers of the great nobility, and
of the well-appointed chivalry which thronged from all quarters of the
kingdom, amounted on this occasion to twelve thousand horse and forty
thousand foot, a number which sufficiently attests the unslackened
ardour of the nation in the prosecution of the war. On the 7th of April
1487, Ferdinand, putting himself at the head of this formidable host,
quitted the fair city of Cordova amid the cheering acclamations of its
inhabitants, although these were somewhat damped by the ominous
occurrence of an earthquake, which demolished a part of the royal
residence, among other edifices, during the preceding night. The route,
after traversing the Yeguas and the old town of Antequera, struck into
a wild, hilly country that stretches towards Velez. The rivers were so
much swollen by excessive rains, and the passes so rough and difficult,
that the army in part of its march advanced only a league a day ; and
on one occasion, when no suitable place occurred for encampment for
the space of five leagues, the men fainted with exhaustion, and the
beasts dropped down dead in the harness. At length, on the 17th of
April, the Spanish army sat down before Velez Malaga, where in a few
days they were joined by the lighter pieces of their battering ordnance ;
the roads, notwithstanding the immense labour expended on them, being
found impracticable for the heavier.*
The Moors were aware of the importance of Velez to the security of
Malaga. The sensation excited in Granada, by the tidings of its danger,
was so strong, that the old chief, El Zagal, found it necessary to make
* In the general summons to Alava for the campaign of this year, wa find a particular
call on the cavalierot and /./aV;o., with the assurance to pay during the time of service,
and the menace of forfeiting their privileges as exempts trom taxation, in case of noil-
compliance.
p 2
212 WAR OF GRANADA.
an effort to relieve the beleaguered city, notwithstanding the critical
posture in which his absence would leave his affairs in the capital.
Dark clouds of the enemy were seen throughout the day mustering
along the heights, which by night were illumined with a hundred fires.
Ferdinand's utmost vigilance was required for the protection of his
camp against the ambuscades and nocturnal sallies of his wily foe. At
length, however, El Zagal, having been foiled in a well-concerted
attempt to surprise the Christian quarters by night, was driven across
the mountains by the marquis of Cadiz, and compelled to retreat on his
capital, completely baffled in his enterprise. There the tidings of his
disaster had preceded him. The fickle populace, with whom misfortune
passes for misconduct, unmindful of his former successes, now hastened
to transfer their allegiance to his rival, Abdallah, and closed the gates
against him ; and the unfortunate chief withdrew to Guadix, which,
with Almeria, liaza, and some less considerable places, still remained
faithful.
Ferdinand conducted the siege all the while with his usual A igour,.
and spared no exposure of his person to peril or fatigue. On one
occasion, seeing a party of Christians retreating in disorder before a
squadron of the enemy who had surprised them while fortifying an
eminence near the city, the king, who was at dinner in his tent, rushed
out with no other defensive armour than his cuirass, and, leaping on his
horse, charged briskly into the midst of the enemy, and succeeded in
rallying his own men. In the midst of the rencontre, however, when
he had discharged his lance, he found himself unable to extricate his
sword from the scabbard which hung from the saddle-bow. At this
moment he was assaulted by several Moors, and must have been either
slain or taken, but for the timely rescue of the marquis of Cadiz, and a
brave cavalier, Garcilasso de la Vega, who, galloping up to the spot
with their attendants, succeeded after a sharp skirmish in beating off
the enemy. Ferdinand's nobles remonstrated with him on this wanton
exposure of his person, representing that he could serve them more
effectually with his head than his hand. But he answered, that u he
could not stop to calculate chances when his subjects were perilling
their lives for his sake ; " a reply, says Pulgar, which endeared him to
the whole army.*
At length, the inhabitants of Velez, seeing the ruin impending from
the bombardment of the Christians, whose rigorous blockade both by
sea and land excluded all hopes of relief from without, consented to
capitulate on the usual conditions of security to persons, propertv, and
religion. The capitulation of this place, April 27th, 1487, was followed
by that of more than twenty places of inferior note lying between it and
ilalaga, so that the approaches to this latter city were now left open to
the victorious Spaniards.
This ancient city, which, under the Spanish Arabs in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries, formed the capital of an independent principality,
was second only to the metropolis itself, in the kingdom of Granada.
Its fruitful environs furnished abundant articles of export, while its
commodious port on the Mediterranean opened a traffic with the various
* In commemoration of this event, the city incorporated into its escutcheon the Cg-.ir*
tfa kin^ on horseback, in the act of piercing a Moor with his javelin.
CONQUEST OF MALAGA, 213
countries washed by that inland sea, and with the remoter regions of
India. Owing to these advantages, the inhabitants acquired unbounded
opulence, which showed itself in the embellishments of their city, whoso
light forms of architecture, mingling after the eastern fashion with
odoriferous gardens and fountains of sparkling water, presented an
appearance most refreshing to the senses in this sultry climate.*
The city was encompassed by fortifications of great strength, and in
perfect repair. It was commanded by a citadel, connected by a covered
way with a second fortress impregnable from its position, denominated
Gebalfaxo, which stood along^ the declivities of the bold sierra of the
Axarquia, whose defiles had proved so disastrous to the Christians.
The city lay between two spacious suburbs, the one on the land side
being also encircled by a formidable wall ; and the other declining
towards the sea, showing an expanse of olive, orange, and pomegranate
gardens, intermingled with the rich vineyards that furnished the
celebrated staple for its export.
Malaga was well prepared for a siege by supplies of artillery and
ammunition. Its ordinary garrison was reinforced by volunteers from
the neighbouring towns, and by a corps of African mercenaries, Gomeres,
as they were called, men of ferocious temper, but of tried valour and
military discipline. The command of this important post had been
intrusted by El /agal to a noble Moor, named Hamet Zeli, whose
MI in the present war had been established by his resolute defence
of Honda.
Ferdinand, while lying before Velez, received intelligence that many
of the wealthy burghers of Malaga were inclined to capitulate at once,
rather than hazard the demolition of their city by an obstinate resist-
ance. He instructed the marquis of Cadiz, therefore, to open a
iation with Hamet Zeli, authorising him to make the most liberal
otters to the alcayde himself, as well as his garrison, and the principal
citizens of the place, on condition of immediate surrender. The sturdy
. however, rejected the proposal with disdain, replying that he had
been commissioned by his master to defend the place to tne last extremity,
and that the Christian king could not offer a bribe large enough to make
him betray his trust. Ferdinand, finding little prospect of operating on
this .-\ :irta:i temper, broke up his camp before Velez, on the 7th of May.
-and advam-ed with his whole army as tar as Bezmillana, a place on the
sea-:-'H..rd about two leagues distant from Mai .
The line of march now lay through a valley commanded at the
extremity nearest the city by two eminences ; the one on the sea-coast,
ther facing the fortress of the Gebalfaro, and forming part of the
wild sierra which overshadowed Malaga on the north. The eiiemy
occupied both these important positions. A corps of Galicians were
sent forward to dislodge them from the eminence towards the sea. But
it tailed in the as?ault, and, notwithstanding it was led up a second time
by the eommander of Leon and the brave Garcilasso de la Vega, I was
again repulsed by the intrepid foe.
* Conde doubts whether the name of Malaga is derived from the Greek u*>.*xr., signi-
1 agreeable," or the Arabic nioUo, meaning "royal." Either etymology is sufficiently
jiertinent.
* This cavalier, who took a conspicuous part both in the military and civil transaction*
M~ this -cigii, waa descended from one of the most ancient and honourable houses in
Cs tile.
214 WAR OF GRANADA.
A similar fate attended the assault on the sierra, which was conducted
by the troops of the royal household. They were driven back on the
vanguard, which had halted in the valley under command of the grand
master of St. James, prepared to support the attack on either side.
Being reinforced, the Spaniards returned to the charge with the most
determined resolution. They were encountered by the enemy with
equal spirit. The latter throwing away their lances, precipitated them-
selves on the ranks of the assailants, making use only of their daggers,
grappling closely man to man, till both rolled promiscuously together
down the steep sides of the ravine. No mercy was asked or shown.
None thought of sparing or of spoiling ; for hatred, says the chronicler,
was stronger than avarice. The main body of the army, in the mean.
while, pent up in the valley, were compelled to witness the mortal
conflict, and listen to the exulting cries of the enemy, which, after the
Moorish custom, rose high and shrill above the din of battle, without
being able to advance a step in support of their companions, who were
again forced to give way before their impetuous adversaries, and fall
back on the vanguard under the grand master of St. James. Here,
however, they speedily rallied ; and, being reinforced, advanced to the
charge a third time, with such inflexible courage as bore down all
opposition, and compelled the enemy, exhausted, or rather overpowered
by superior numbers, to abandon his position. At the same time the
rising ground on the sea-side was carried by the Spaniards under the
commander of Leon and Garcilasso de la Vega, who, dividing their
forces, charged the Moors so briskly in front and rear, that they were
compelled to retreat on the neighbouring fortress of Gebalfaro.
As it Avas evening before these advantages were obtained, the army
did not defile into the plains around Malaga before the following morn-
ing, when dispositions were made for its encampment. The eminence
on the sierra, so bravely contested, was assigned as the post of greatest
danger to the marquis duke of Cadiz. It was protected by strong works
lined with artillery, and a corps of two thousand five hundred horse
and fourteen thousand foot was placed under the immediate command of
that nobleman. A line of defence was constructed along the declivity
from this redoubt to the sea- shore. Similar works, consisting of a deep
trench and palisades, or where the soil was too rocky to admit of them,,
of an embankment, or mound of earth, were formed in front of the-
encampment, which embraced the whole circuit of the city ; and t lie-
blockade was completed by a fleet of armed vessels, galleys and caravels,.
which rode in the harbour under the command of the Catalan admiral,.
Requesens, and effectually cut oft' all communication by water.
The old chronicler, Bernaldez, warms at the aspect of the fair city ot
Malaga, thus encompassed by Christian legions, whose deep lines,
stretching far over hill and valley, reached quite round from one arm oi
the sea to the other. In the midst of this brilliant encampment wa
seen the royal pavilion, proudly displaying the united banners of Castile
and Aragon, and forming so conspicuous a mark for the enemy's artillery,
that Ferdinand, after imminent hazard, was at length compelled to shift
his quarters. The Christians were not slow in erecting counter batteries ;
but the work was obliged to be carried on at night, in order to screen
them from the fire of the besieged.
The first operations of the Spaniards were directed against the suburb,
CONQUEST OF MALAGA. 215
on the land side of the city. The attack was entrusted to the count of
Cifuentes, the nohleman who had been made prisoner in the affair of the
Axarquia, and subsequently ransomed. The Spanish ordnance was
served with such effect, that a practicable breach was soon made in the
wall. The combatants now poured their murderous volleys on each other
through the opening, and at length met on the ruins of the breach.
After a desperate struggle, the Moors gave way. The Christians rushed
into the enclosure, at the same time effecting a lodgment on the rampart;
and although a part of it, undermined by the enemy, gave way with a
terrible crash, they still kept possession of the remainder, and at length
drove their antagonists, who sullenly retreated step by step, within the
fortifications of the city. The lines were then drawn close around the
place. Every avenue of communication was strictly guarded, and
every preparation was made for reducing the town by regular blockade.
In addition to the cannon brought round by water from Velez, the
heavier lombards, which from the difficulty of transportation had been
left during the late siege at Antequera, were now conducted across roads,
levelled for the purpose, to the camp. Supplies of marble bullets were
also brought from the ancient and depopulated city of Algezira, where
they had lain ever since its capture in the preceding century by Alfonso
the Eleventh. The camp was filled with operatives, employed in the
manufacture of balls and powder, which were stored in subterranean
magazines, and in the fabrication of those various kinds of battering
enginery which continued in use long after the introduction of gun-
powder.
During the early part of the siege, the camp experienced some
temporary inconvenience from the occasional interruption of the supplies
transported by water. Rumours of the appearance of the plague in
some of the adjacent villages caused additional uneasiness ; and deserters,
v.ho passed into Malaga, reported these particulars with the usual
exaggeration, and encouraged the besieged to persevere, by the assurance
that Ferdinand could not much longer keep the field, and that the queen
had actually written to advise his breaking up the camp. Under these
circumstances, Ferdinand saw at once the importance of the queen's
presence, in order to dispel the delusion of the enemy, and to give new
heart to his soldiers. He accordingly sent a message to Cordova, where
she was holding her court, requesting her appearance in the camp.
Isabella had proposed to join her husband before Velez, on receiving
tidings of El Zagal's march from Granada, and had actually enforced
levies of all persons capable of bearing arms, between twenty and
seventy years of age, throughout Andalusia, but subsequently disbanded
them, oil learning the discomfiture of the Moorish army. Without
hesitation, she now set forward, accompanied by the cardinal of Span
and other dignitaries of the church, together with the Infanta Isabella,
and a courtly train of ladies and cavaliers in attendance on her person.
She was received at a short distance from the camp by the marquis of
Cadiz and the grand master of St. James, and escorted to her quarters,
amidst the enthusiastic greetings of the soldiery. Hope now brightened
every countenance. A grace seemed to be shea over the rugged features
of war ; and the young gallants thronged from all quarters to the camp,
eager to win the guerdon of valour from tb* hands of those from whom
it is most grateful to receive it.
216 TVAR OF GRANADA.
Ferdinand, who had hitherto hrought into action only the lighter
pieces of ordnance, from a willingness to spare the noble edifices of the
city, now pointed his heaviest guns against its walls. Before opening
his fire, however, he again summoned the place, offering the usual liberal
terms in case of immediate compliance, and engaging otherwise, " with
the blessing of God, to make them all slaves." But the heart of the
alcayde was hardened like that of Pharaoh, says the Andalusian chro-
nicler, and the people were swelled with vain hopes, so that their eara
were closed against the proposal ; orders were even issued to punish with
death any attempt at a parley. On the contrary, they made answer by
a more lively cannonade than before, along the whole line of ramparts
and fortresses which overhung the city. Sallies were also made at almost
every hour of the day and night on every assailable point of the Christian
linos, so that the camp was kept in perpetual alarm. In one of the
nocturnal sallies, a body of two thousand men from the castle of Gebal-
faro succeeded in surprising the quarters of the marquis of Cadiz, who,
with his followers, was exhausted by fatigue and watching during the
two preceding nights.
The Christians, bewildered with the sudden tumult which broke their
slumber, were thrown into the greatest confusion ; and the marquis, who
rushed half armed from his tent, found no little difficulty in bringing
them to order, and beating off the assailants, after receiving a wound in
the arm from an arrow ; while he had a still narrower escape from the
ball of an arquebus, that penetrated his buckler and hit him below the
cuirass, but fortunately so much spent as to do him no injury.
The Moors were not unmindful of the importance of Malaga, or the
gallantry with which it was defended. They made several attempts to
relieve it, whose failure was less owing to the Christians than to treachery
and their own miserable feuds. A body of cavalry, which El Zagal
despatched from Guadix to throw succours into the beleaguered city, was
encountered and cut to pieces by a superior force of the young king
Abdallah, who consummated his baseness by sending an embassy to the
Christian camp, charged with a present of Arabian horses sumptuously
caparisoned to Ferdinand, and of costly silks and oriental perfumes to
the queen : at the same time complimenting them on their successes, and
soliciting the continuance of their friendly dispositions towards himself.
Ferdinand and Isabella requited this act of humiliation by securing to
Abdallah's subjects the right of cultivating their fields in quiet, and of
trafficking with the Spaniards in every commodity, save military stores.
At this paltry price did the dastard prince consent to stay his arm, at
the only moment when it could be used effectually for his country.*
More serious consequences were like to have resulted from an attempt
made by another party of Moors from Guadix to penetrate the Christian
lines. Part of them succeeded, and threw themselves into the besieged
city ; the remainder were cut in pieces. There was one, however, who,
making no show of resistance, was made prisoner without harm to his
person. Being brought before the marquis of Cadiz, he informed that
* During the siege, ambassadors arrived from an African potentate, the king of Tremecen,
bearing a magnificent present to the Castilian sovereigns, interceding for tho Malagans,
and at the same time asking protection for his subjects from the Spanish cruisers in the
Mediterranean. The sovereigns graciously complied with the latter request, and com-
plimented the African monarch with a plate of gold, on which the royal am* were
curiously embossed.
OF MALAGA. 217
nobltaian that he could make some important disclosures to the sovereigns.
He was accordingly conducted to the royal tent ; but as Ferdinand was
taking his siesta, in the sultry hour of the day, the queen, moved by
divine inspiration, according to the Castilian historian, deferred the
audience till her husband should awake, and commanded the prisoner to
be detained in the adjoining tent. This was occupied by Dona Beatrix
dc liobadilla, marchioness of Moya, Isul> 'la's early friend, who happened
at that time engaged in discourse with a Portuguese nobleman,
Mvaro, son of the duke of ISraganza.*
The Moor did not understand the Castilian language, and, deceived by
the rich attire and courtly bearing of these personages, he mistook them
for the king and queen. While in the act of refreshing himself with a
glass of water, he suddenly drew a dagger from beneath the broad folds
of his albornoz, or Moorish mantle, which he had been incautiously
suffered to retain, and, darting on the Portuguese prince, gave him a
deep wound on the head; and then, turning like lightning on the
marchioness, aimed a stroke at her, which fortunately glanced without
injury, the point of the weapon being turned by the heavy embroidery of
her robes, I5di>re he could repeat his blow, the Moorish Scarvola, with a
late very different from that of his lloman prototype, was pierced with a
hundred wounds by the attendants, who rushed to the spot, alarmed by
tli. cries of the mareliioness, and his mangled remains were soon after
discharged from a catapult into the city : a foolish bravado, which the
: ([uited by slaying a Galician gentleman, and sending his
C'>rpso astride upon a mule through the gates of the town into the
Christian camp.
This daring attempt on the lives of the king and queen spread general
mat ion. throughout the army. Precautions were taken for the
future, by ordinances prohibiting the introduction of any unknown
: i armed, or any Moor whatever, into the royal quarters ; and the
body-guard was augmented by the addition of two hundred hidalgos of
Castile and Aragon, who, with their retainers, were to keep constant
watch over the persons of the sovereigns.
Meanwhile, the city of Malaira, whose natural population was greatly
swelled by the inllux of its foreign auxiliaries, began to be straitened for
supplies, while its distress was aggravated by the spectacle of abundance
which reigned throughout the Spanish camp. Still, however, the people,
overawed by the soldiery, did not break out into murmurs, nor did they
relax in any degree the pertinacity of their resistance. Their drooping
spirits were cheered by the predictions of a fanatic, who promised that
they should eat the grain which they saw in the Christian camp : a
prediction which came to be verified, like most others that are verified at
all, in a very different sense from that intended or understood.
The incessant cannonade kept up by the besieging army, in the mean
time, so far exhausted their ammunition, that they were constrained to
seek supplies from the most distant parts of the kingdom and livm foreign
countries. The arrival of two Flemish transports at this juncture, from
* This nobleman, Don Alvaro de Portugal, had fled his native country, and sought an
asylum iu Castile from the vindictive enmity of John II., who had put to death the Juke
of Brnganz.i. his elder brother. He was kindly received by Isabella, to whom he waa
nearly related, and subsequently preferred to several important offices of state. Hi sen,
the count of Gelves, married a grand-daughter of Christopher Columbus.
218 WAB OF G BAN AD A.
the emperor of Germany, whose interest had been roused in the crusade,
afforded, a seasonable reinforcement of military stores and munitions.
The obstinate defence of Malaga had given the siege such celebrity,
that volunteers, eager to share in it, nocked from all parts of the
Peninsula to the royal standard. Among others, the duke of Medina
Sidonia, who had furnished his quota of troops at the opening of the
campaign, now arrived in person with a reinforcement, together with a
hundred galleys freighted with supplies, and a loan of twenty thousand
doblas of gold to the sovereigns for the axpenses of the war. Such
was the deep interest in it excited throughout the nation, and the
alacrity which every order of men exhibited in supporting its enormous
burdens.
The Castilian army, swelled by these daily augmentations, varied in
its amount, according to different estimates, from sixty to ninety thousand
men. Throughout this immense host the most perfect discipline wa?
maintained. Gaming was restrained by ordinances interdicting the ust
of dice and cards, of v/hich the lower orders were passionately fond.
Blasphemy was severely punished. Prostitutes, the common pest of a
camp, were excluded ; and so entire was the subordination, that not a
knife was drawn, and scarcely a brawl occurred, says the historian,
among the motley multitude. Besides the higher ecclesiastics who
attended the court, the camp was well supplied with holy men, priests,
friars, and the chaplains of the great nobility, who performed the
exercises of religion in their respective quarters with all the pomp and
splendour of the Roman Catholic worship ; exalting the imaginations of
the soldiers into the high devotional feeling which became those who
were fighting the battles of the Cross.
Hitherto, Ferdinand relying on the blockade, and yielding to the
queen's desire to spare the lives of her soldiers, had formed no regular
plan of assault upon the town. But as the season rolled on without the
least demonstration of submission on the part of the besieged, he resolved
to storm the works, which, if attended by no other consequences, might
at least serve to distress the enemy, and hasten the hour of surrender.
Large wooden towers on rollers were accordingly constructed, and pro-
vided with an apparatus of drawbridges and ladders, which, when
brought near to the ramparts, would open a descent into the city.
Galleries were also wrought, some for the purpose of penetrating into
the place, and others to sap the foundations of the walls. The whole of
these operations was placed under the direction of Francisco Ramirez,
the celebrated engineer of Madrid.
But the Moors anticipated the completion of these formidable prepa-
rations by a brisk, well- concerted attack on all points of the Spanish,
lines. They countermined the assailants, and, encountering them in the
subterraneous passages, drove them back, and demolished the frame-
work of the galleries. At the same time, a little squadron of armed
vessels, which had been riding in safety under the guns of the city,
pushed out and engaged the Spanish fieet. Thus the battle raged with
tire and sword, above and under ground, along the ramparts, the ocean
and the land at the same time. Even Pulgar cannot withhold his tribute
of admiration to this unconquerable spirit in an enemy, wasted by all the
extremities of famine and fatigue. " Who does not marvel," he says,
" at the bold heart of these infidels in battle, their promjpt obedience to
CONQUEST OF MALAGA. '219
their chiefs, their dexterity in the wiles of war, their patience uudei
privation, and undaunted perseverance in their purposes ?"
A circumstance occurred in a sortie from the city, indicating a trait of
character worth recording. A noble Moor, named Abrahen Zenete, fell
in with a number of Spanish children who had wandered from their
quarters. Without injuring them, he touched them gently with the
handle of his lance, saying, " Get ye gone, varlets, to your mothers."
On being rebuked by his comrades, who inquired why he had let them
escape so easily, he replied, " Because I saw no beard upon their chins."
" An example of magnanimity," says the curate of Los Palacios, " truly
wonderful in a heathen, and which might have reflected credit on a
Christian hidalgo."
But no virtue nor valour could avail the unfortunate Malagans against
the overwhelming force of their enemies, who, driving them back from
every point, compelled them, after a desperate struggle of six hours, to
shelter themselves within the defences of the town. The Christians
followed up their success. A mine was sprung near a tower, connected
by a bridge of four arches with the main works of the place. The Moors,
scattered and intimidated by the explosion retreated across the bridge ;
and the Spaniards, carrying the tower, whose guns completely enfiladed
it, obtained possession of this important pass into the beleaguered city.
For these and other signal services during the siege, Francisco Ramirez,
the master of the ordnance, received the honours of knighthood from the
hand of King Ferdinand. *
The citizens of Malaga, dismayed at beholding the enemy established
in their defences, and fainting under exhaustion from a siege which had
already lasted more than three months, now began to murmur at the
obstinacy of the garrison, and to demand a capitulation. Their maga-
zines of grain were emptied, and for some weeks they had been compelled
to devour the flesh of horses, dogs, cats, and even the boiled hides of
these animals, or, in default of other nutriment, vine leaves dressed with
oil, and leaves of the palm-tree, pounded fine, and baked into a sort of
cake. In consequence of this loathsome and unwholesome diet, diseases,
were engendered. Multitudes were seen dying about the streets. Many
deserted to the Spanish camp, eager to barter their liberty for bread ;
and the city exhibited all the extremes of squalid and disgusting
wretchedness, bred by pestilence and famine among an over-crowded
population. The sufferings of the citizens softened the stern heart of the
alcayde, Hamet Zeli, who at length yielded to their importunities, and,
withdrawing his forces into the Gebalfaro, consented that the Malagana
should make the best terms they could with their conqueror.
* There is no older well-authenticated account of the employment of gunpowder to
mining in European warfare, so far as I am aware, than this by Ramirez. Tiraboschi,
indeed, refers, on the authority of another writer, to a work in the library of the Academy
of Siena, composed by one Francisco Giorgio, architect to the duke of Urbino, about 148i>,
in which that person claims the merit of the invention. The whole statement is obviously
too loose to warrant any such conclusion. The Italian historians notice the use of gun-
powder mines at the siego of the little town of Serezauello in Tuscany, by the Genoese, in
1487, precisely contemporaneous with the siege of Malaga. This singular coincidence, in
nations having then but little intercourse, would seem to infer some common origin of
greater antiquity. However this may be, the writers of both nations are agreed in,
ascribing the first successful use of such mines on any extended scale to the celebrated
Spanish engineer, Pedro Navarro, when serving under Gonsalvo of Cordova, in his Italiaa
camjiajgns at the beginning of th sixteenth century.
320 WAE OF GEAXADA.
A deputation of the principal inhabitants, with an eminent merchant
named All Dordux at their head, was then despatched to the Christian
quarters, with the oft'er of the city to capitulate on the same liberal con-
ditions which had been uniformly granted by the Spaniards. The king
refused to admit the embassy into his presence, and haughtily answered
through the commander of Leon, ' ' that these terms had been twice
offered to the people of Malaga, and rejected ; that it was too late for
them to stipulate conditions, and nothing now remained but to abide by
those which he, as their conqueror, should vouchsafe to them."
Ferdinand's answer spread general consternation throughout Malaga.
The inhabitants saw too plainly that nothing was . to be hoped from an
appeal to sentiments of humanity. After a tumultuous debate, the
deputies were despatched a second time to the Christian camp, charged
with propositions in which concession was mingled with menace. Th v
represented that the severe response of King Ferdinand to the citizens
had rendered them desperate. That, however, they were willing to
resign to him their fortifications, their city, in short, their property of
every description, on his assurance of their personal security and freedom.
If he refused this, they would take their Christian captives, amounting
to five or six hundred, from the dungeons in which they lay, and hang
them like dogs over the battlements ; and then, placing their old men,
women, and children in the fortress, they would set fire to the town, and
cut a way for themselves through their enemies, or fall in the attempt.
" So," they continued, " if you gain a victory, it shall be such a one as
hall make the name of Malaga ring throughout the world, and to ages
yet unborn ! " Ferdinand, unmoved by these menaces, coolly replied,
that he saw no occasion to change his former determination ; but they
might rest assured, if they harmed a single hair of a Christian, he would
put every soul in the place, man, woman, and child, to the sword.
The anxious people, who thronged forth to meet the embassy on its
return to the city, were overwhelmed with the deepest gloom at its
ominous tidings. Their fate was now sealed. Every avenue to hope
seemed closed by the stern response of the victor, let hope will still
linger ; and, although there were some frantic enough to urge the
execution of their desperate menaces, the greater number of the
inhabitants, and among them those most considerable for wealth and
influence, preferred the chance of Ferdinand's clemency to certain,
irretrievable ruin.
For the last time, therefore, the deputies issued from the gates of the
city, charged with an epistle to the sovereigns from their unfortunate
countrymen ; in which, after deprecating their anger, and lamenting
their own blind obstinacy, they reminded their highnesses of the liberal
terms which their ancestors had granted to Cordova, Antequera, and
other cities, after a defence as pertinacious as their own. They
expatiated on the fame which the sovereigns had established by the
generous policy of their past conquests, and, appealing to their magna-
nimity, concluded with submitting themselves, their families, and
their fortunes, to their disposal. Twenty of the principal citizens were
then delivered up as hostages for the peaceable demeanour of the cit y
until its occupation by the Spaniards. " Thus," says the curate of Los
Palucios, "did the Almighty harden the hearts of these heathen, like
to those of the Egyptians, in order that they might receive the full
coxarEsi OF MALAGA. 221
wages of the manifold oppressions which they had -wrought on Ilia
people from the days of King Roderie to the present time ! " *
On the appointed day, the commander of Leon rode through the gates
of Malaga, at the head of his well-appointed chivalry, and took
possession of the alcazaba, or lower citadel. The troops were then
posted on their respective stations along the fortifications, and the
banners of Christian Spain triumphantly unfurled from the towers of the
city, where the crescent had been displayed for an uninterrupted period
of 'nearly eight centuries.
The first act was to purify the town from the numerous dead bodies,
and other offensive matter, which had accumulated during this long
siege, and lay festering in the streets, poisoning the atmosphere. The
principal mosque was next consecrated with due solemnity to the
service of Santa Maria de la Encarnacion. Crosses and bells, the
symbols of Christian worship, were distributed in profusion among the
sacred edifices; where, says the Catholic chronicler last quoted, "the
celestial music of their chimes, sounding at every hour of the day and
night, caused perpetual torment to the ears of the infidel."t
On the eighteenth day of August, being somewhat more than three
months from the dat- of opening trenches, Ferdinand and Isabella made
their entrance into the conquered city, attended by the court, the clergy,,
and the whole of their military array. The procession moved in solemn,
state up the principal streets, now deserted, and hushed in ominous
silence, to the new cathedral of St. Mary, where mass was performed ;
and, as the glorious anthem of the Te Deum rose for the first time-
within its ancient walls, the sovereigns, together with the whole army,
prostrated themselves in grateful adoration of the Lord of hosts, who
had thus reinstated them in the domains of their ancestors.
The most affecting incident was afforded by the multitude of Christian
captives, who were rescued from the Moorish dungeons. They were
brought before the sovereigns, with their limbs heavily manacled, their
beards descending to their waists, and their sallow visages emaciated by
captivity and famine. Every eye was suffused with tears at the
spectacle. Many recognised their ancient friends, of whose fate they
had long been ignorant. Some had lingered in captivity ten or fifteen
years ; and among them were several belonging to the best families in
Spain. On entering the presence, they would have testified their
gratitude by throwing themselves at the feet of the sovereigns; but the
latter, raising them up, and mingling their tears with those of the
liberated captives, caused their tetters to be removed, and, after
administering to their necessities, dismissed them with liberal presents.
The fortress of Gebalfaro surrendered on the day after the occupation
of Malaga by the Spaniards. The gallant Zegri chieftain, Hamet Zeli,
was loaded with chains ; and being asked why he had persisted so
* The Arabic historians state, that Malaga was betrayed by Ali Dordux, who admitted
the S] >aniards in to the castle while the citizens were debating on Ferdinand's terms. The
letter of the inhabitants, quoted at length by Pulgar, would seem to be a refutation ol
this. And yet there are giibd grounds lor suspecting false play ou the part of the ambas-
sador Dordux, since the Castiliau writers admit that he was exempted, with forty of hi
friends, from the doom of slavery and forfeiture of property passed upon his fellow-
utizens.
t The reader may remember Don Quixote's rebuke of Master Peter, the unlucky puppet-
man, for violating historical accur.icv by introducing boils into his Moorish pantomime.
Part 1 cao. 26.
222 WAR OF GRANADA.
obstinately in his rebellion, boldly answered, "Because I was cummis-
eioned to defend the place to the last extremity : and, if I had beea
properly supported, I vrould have died sooner than surrender now ! "
The doom of the vanquished was now to be pronounced. On entering
the city, orders had been issued to the Spanish soldiery, prohibiting
them under the severest penalties from molesting either the persons or
property of the inhabitants. These latter were directed to remain in
their respective mansions with a guard set over them, while the cravings
of appetite were supplied by a liberal distribution of food. At length,
the whole population of the city, comprehending every age and sex,
was commanded to repair to the great court-yard of the alcazaba, which
was overlooked on all sides by lofty ramparts, garrisoned by the
Spanish soldiery. To this place, the scene of many a Moorish triumph,
where the spoil of the border foray had been often displayed, and which
still might be emblazoned with the trophy of many a Christian banner,
the people of Malaga now directed their steps. As the multitude
swarmed through the streets, filled with boding apprehensions of their
fate, they wrung their hands, and, raising their eyes to heaven, uttered
the most piteous lamentations. " Oh Malaga," they cried, " renowned
and beautiful city, how are thy sons about to forsake thee ! Could not
thy soil, on which they first drew breath, be suffered to cover them it.
death ? "Where is now the strength of thy towers, where the beauty
of thy edifices ? The strength of thy walls, alas, could not avail thy
children, for they had sorely displeased their Creator. "What shall
become of thy old men and thv matrons, or of thy young maidens
delicately nurtured within thy halls, when they shall feel the iron yoke
of bondage ? Can thy barbarous conquerors without remorse thus tear
asunder the dearest ties of life ? " Such are the melancholy strains in
which the Castilian chronicler has given utterance to the sorrows of the
captive city.*
The dreadful doom of slavery was denounced on the assembled multi-
tude. One third was to be transported into Africa in exchange for an
equal number of Christian captives detained there ; and all, who had
relatives or friends in this predicament, were required to furnish a
specification of them. Another third was appropriated to reimburse the
state for the expenses of the war. The remainder were to be distributed
as presents at home and abroad. Thus, one hundred of the flower of the
African warriors were sent to the pope, who incorporated them into his
guard, and converted them all in the course of the year, says the curate
of Los Palacios, into very good Christians. Fifty of the most beautiful
Moorish girls were presented by Isabella to the queen of Naples, thirty
to the queen of Portugal, others to the ladies of her court ; and thn
residue of both sexes were portioned among the nobles, cavaliers, and
inferior members of the army, according to their respective rank and
services.
As it was apprehended that the Malagans, rendered desperate by the
prospect of a hopeless, interminable captivity, might destroy or secrete
A
were
inflic ,
he expired under repeated wounds.
rondemned to the names.
ounds. A number of relapsed Jews were at the same time
"These," says Father Abarca, "were the fettt and ilium*'
Catholic piety of our sovereigns ! "
. , ,
nations most grateful to the Catholic piety of our sovereigns !
COXQITEST OF MALAGA. 223
their jewels, plate, and other precious effects, in -which this wealthy
city abounded, rather than suffer them to fall into the hands of their
enemies, Ferdinand devised a politic expedient for preventing it. He
proclaimed, that he would receive a certain sum, if paid within nine
months, as the ransom of the whole population, and that their personal
effects should be admitted in part payment. This sum averaged about
thirty doblas a head, including in the estimate all those who might die
before the determination of the period assigned. The ransom, thus
stipulated, proved more than the unhappy people could raise, either by
themselves, or agents employed to solicit contributions among their
brethren of Granada and Africa ; at the same time it so far deluded
their hopes, that they gave in a full inventory of their effects to the
treasury. By this shrewd device, Ferdinand obtained complete posses-
sion both of the persons and property of his victims.*
Malaga was computed to contain from eleven to fifteen thousand
inhabitants, exclusive of several thousand foreign auxiliaries, within its
gates at the time of surrender. One cannot, at this day, read the
melancholy details of its story without feelings of horror and indigna-
tion. It is impossible to vindicate the dreadful sentence passed on this
unfortunate people for a display of heroism which should have excited
admiration in every generous bosom. It was obviously most repugnant
to Isabella's natural disposition, and must be admitted to leave a stain
on her memory which no colouring of history can conceal. It may find
some palliation, however, in the bigotry of the age, the more excusable
in a woman, whom education, general example, and natural distrust of
herself, accustomed to rely in matters of conscience on the spiritual
guides, whose piety and professional learning seemed to qualify ftiem
for the trust. Even in this very transaction she fell far short of the
suggestions of some of her counsellors, who urged her to put every
inhabitant without exception to the sword ; which, they affirmed, would
be a just requital of their obstinate rebellion, and would prove a whole-
some warning to others ! We are not told who the advisers of this
precious nit asure were ; but the whole experience of this reign shows
that we shall scarcely wrong the clergy much by imputing it to them.
That their arguments could warp so enlightened a mind as that of
Isabella from the natural principles of justice and humanity, furnishes
a remarkable proof of the ascendancy which the priesthood usurped
over the most gifted intellects, and of their gross abuse of it, before
the Reformation, by breaking the seals set on the sacred volume, opened
to mankind the uncorrupted channel of divine truth, f
The fate of Malaga may be said to have decided that of Granada. The
latter was now shut out from the most important ports along her coast ;
and she was environed on every point of her territory by her warlike foe,
Not a word of comment escapes the Castilian historians on this merciless rigour of thf
conqueror towards the vanquished. It is evident that Ferdinand did no violence to the
feelings of hia orthodox subjects. Taciido clamant.
t About four hundred and fifty Moorish Jews were ransomed by a wealthy Israelite of
Castile for iT.OOO doblas of gold. A proof that the Jewish stock was one which thrived
amidst persecution. It is scarcely possible that the circumstantial Pulgar should have
omitted to notice so important a fact as the scheme of the Moorish ransom, had it occurred.
It is still more improbable that the honest curate of Los Palacis should have fab:
it. Any one who attempts to reconcile the discrepancies of contemporary historians even,
will have Lord Orford's exclamation to his son Horace brought to his mind ten time* a
lay : " Oh ! read me not history, for that I know to be false.
224 "WAR OF GRANADA.
so tliat she could hardly hope more from subsequent eftorts, however
strenuous and united, than to postpone the inevitable hour of dissolution.
The cruel treatment of Malaga was the prelude to the long series of per-
secutions which awaited the wretched Moslems in the land of their
ancestors; in that land, over which the "star of Islamism," to borrow
their own metaphor, had shone in full brightness for nearly eight cen-
turies, but where it was now fast descending amid clouds and tempests
to the horizon.
The first care of the sovereigns was directed towards repeopling the
depopulated city with their own subjects. Houses and lands were freely
granted to such as would settle there. Numerous towns and villages,
with a wide circuit of territory, were placed under its civil jurisdiction,
and it was made the head of a diocese embracing most of the recent
conquests in the south and west of Granada. These inducements, com-
bined with the natural advantages of position and climate, soon caused
the tide of Christian population to flow into the deserted city ; but it
was very long before it again reached the degree of commercial conse-
quence to which it had been raised by the Moors.*
After these salutary arrangements, the Spanish sovereigns led back
their victorious legions in triumph to Cordova ; whence dispersing to their
various homes, they prepared, by a winter's repose, for new campaigns
and more brilliant conquests.
CHAPTEE XIV.
WAR OF GRANADA CONQUEST OF BAZA SUBMISSION OF ML BAGAL.
14871489.
The Sovereigns visit Aragon The King lays siege to Baza Its great Strength Gnrdem
cleared of their Timber The Queen raises the spirits of her Troops Her patriotic
Sacrifices Suspension of Arms Baza surrenders Treaty with Zagal Difficulties of
the Campaign Isabella's Popularity and Influence.
IN the autumn of 1487, Ferdinand and Isabella, accompanied by the
younger branches of the royal family, visited Aragon, to obtain the
recognition from the cortes of Prince John's succession, now in his tenth
year, as well as to repress the disorders into which the countrv hud
fallen during the long absence of its sovereigns. To this end", the
principal cities and communities of Aragon had reccntlv adopted the
institution of the hermandad, organised on similar principles to that of
Castile. Ferdinand on his arrival at Saragossa in the month of Novem-
ber, gave his royal sanction to the association, extending the term of its
duration to five years ; a measure extremely unpalatable to the great
feudal nobility, whose power, or rather abuse of power, was considerably
abridged by this popular military force.
The sovereigns, after accomplishing the objects of their visit, and
obtaining an appropriation from the cortes for the Moorish war, passed
* In July, 1501, we find a royal ordinance authorising an immunity from various taxes,
and other important privileges, to Malaga and its territory, for the further encouragement
of population in the conquered city.
8IEGE OF BAZA. 225
ato YViciii'ia, when measures of like efficiency were adorned for restoring
the authority of the law, which was exposed to such perpetual lapses
in this turbulent age, even in the best constituted governments, at
required for its protection the utmost vigilance on the part of those
intrusted with the supreme executive power. From Valencia the court
proceeded to Murcia, where Ferdinand, in the month of June, 1488,
assumed the command of an army amounting to less than twenty
thousand men, a small force compared with those usually levied on
these occasions ; it being thought advisable to suffer the nation to breathe
awhile, after the exhausting efforts in which it had been uninteruiittingly
engaged for so many years.
Ferdinand, crossing the eastern borders of Granada, at no great
distance from Vera, which speedily opened its gates, kept along the
southern slant of the coast as far as Almeria; whence, after experiencing
some rough treatment from a sortie of the garrison, he marched by a
northerly circuit on Baza, for the purpose of reconnoitring its position,
as his numbers were altogether inadequate to its siege. A division of
the army under the marquis duke of Cadiz suffered itself to be drawn
here into an ambuscade by the wily old monarch El Zagal, who lay in
Baza with a strong force. After extricating his troops with some
difficulty and loss from this perilous predicament, Ferdinand retreated
on his own dominions by way of Huescar, where he disbanded his army,
and withdrew to offer up his devotions at the cross of Caravaca. The
campaign, though signalised by no brilliant achievement, and indeed
clouded with some slight reverses, secured the surrender of a considerable
number of fortresses and towns of inferior note.
The Moorish chief, El Zagal, elated by his recent success, made
frequent forays into the Christian territories, sweeping off the flocks,
herds, and growing crops of the husbandman ; while the garrisons of
Almeria and Salobrena, and the bold inhabitants of the valley of
Purchena, poured a similar devastating warfare over the eastern borders
of Granada into Murcia. To meet this pressure, the Spanish sovereigns
reinforced the frontier with additional levies under Juan de Benavides
and Gurcilasso de la Vega ; while Christian knights, whose prowess is
attested in many a Moorish lay, flocked there from all quarters, as to the
theatre of war.
During the following winter, of 1488, Ferdinand and Isabella occupied
themselves with the interior government of Castile, and particularly the
administration of justice. A commission was specially appointed to
supervise the conduct of the corregidors and subordinate magistrates,
* l so that every one," says Pulgar, "was most careful to discharge his
duty faithfully, in order to escape the penalty which was otherwise sure
to overtake him." *
* During the preceding year, while the court was at Murcia. we find one of the examples cf
vuiu wj LK; iu iiuusitiuu iixiiu a BWMIO uv MU uunsui tu Luut ui uiviuguuuii, nuc HWU > UUMU^
effect in proving to the people that uo rank was elevated enough to raise the offeiidei
226 WAE OF GRANADA.
"WTiile at Yalladolid, the sovereigns received an embassy from
Maximilian, son of the emperor Frederic the Fourth, of Germany,
soliciting their co-operation in his designs against France for the
restitution of his late wife's rightful inheritance, the duchy of Bur-
gundy, and engaging in turn to support them in their claims on Rous-
sillon and Cerdagne. The Spanish monarchs had long entertained many
causes of discontent with the French court, both with regard to tha
mortgaged territory of Roussillon and the kingdom of Xavarre: and they
watched with jealous eye the daily increasing authority of their
formidable neignbour on their own frontier. They had been induced,
in the preceding summer, to equip an armament at Biscay and Gui-
puscoa, to support the duke of Brittany in his wars with the French
regent, the celebrated Anne de Beaujeu. This expedition, which proved
disastrous, was followed by another in the spring of the succeeding-
year.* But notwithstanding these occasional episodes to the great work
in which they were engaged, they had little leisure for extended
operations ; and, although they entered into the proposed treaty of
alliance with Maximilian, they do not seem to have contemplated any
movement of importance before the termination of the Moorish war.
The Flemish ambassadors, after being entertained for forty days in a
style suited to impress them with high ideas of the magnificence of
the Spanish court, and of its friendly disposition towards their
master, were dismissed with costly presents, and returned to their own
country.
These negotiations show the increasing intimacy growing up between
the European states, who, as they settled their domestic feuds, had
leisure to turn their eyes abroad, and enter into the more extended field
of international politics. The tenor of this treaty indicates also the
direction which affairs were to take when the great powers should be
brought into collision with each other on a common theatre of action.
All thoughts were now concentrated on the prosecution of the war
with Granada, which, it was determined, should be conducted on a more
enlarged scale than, it had yet been ; notwithstanding the fearful pest
which had desolated the country during the past year, and the extreme
scarcity of grain, owing to the inundations caused by excessive rains in
the fruitful provinces of the south. The great object proposed in this
campaign wao the reduction of Baza, the capital of that division of the
empire which belonged to El Zagal. Besides this important city, that
monarch's dominions embraced the wealthy seaport of Almeria, Guadix,
aud numerous other towns and villages of less consequence, together
with the mountain region of the Alpuxarras,' rich in mineral wealth ;
whose inhabitants, famous for the perfection to which they had carrie d
the silk manufacture, were equally known for their enterprise an d
courage in war, so that El Zagal' s division comprehended the most poten t
and opulent portion of the empire, f
* In the first of these expeditions, more than a thousand Spaniards were slain or taken
t the disastrous battle of St. Aubin, in 1488 ; being the same in which Lord Rivers, the
English noble who made such a gallant figure at the siege of Loja, lost his life. In the
spring of 1489, the levies sent into France amounted to two thousand in number. These
efiorts abroad, simultaneous with the great operations of the Moorish war, show the
resources as well as energy of the sovereigns.
t Such was the scarcity of grain, that the prices in 14S9, quoted by Bernaldez, aro
double those of the preceding year. Both Aburca aud Zurita mention the report, Uu;
SIEGE OF BAZA. 227
In the spring of 1489 the Castilian court passed to Jaen, at which
place the queen was to establish her residence, as presenting the most
favourable point of communication with the invading army. Ferdinand
advanced as far as Sotogordo, where, on the 27th of May, he put himself
at the head of a numerous force, amounting to about fifteen thousand
horse and eighty thousand i'oot, including persons of every description ;
among whom was gathered, as usual, that chivalrous array of nobility
and knighthood, who, with stately and well-appointed retinueu, were
accustomed to follow the royal standard in these crusades.*
The first point against which operations were directed was the strong
post of Cuxar, two leagues only from Baza, which surrendered after a
brief but desperate resistance. The occupation of this place, and some
adjacent fortresses, left the approaches open to El Zagal's capital. As
the Spanish army toiled up the heights of the mountain barrier which
towers above Baza on the west, their advance was menaced by clouds of
Moorish light troops, who poured down a tempest of musket-balls and
arrows on their heads. These, however, were quickly dispersed by the
advancing vanguard ; and the Spaniards, as they gained the summits of
the hills, beheld the lordly city of Baza, reposing in the shadows of the
bold sierra that stretches towards the coast, and lying in the bosom of a
fruitful valley, extending eight leagues in length, and three in breadth.
Through this valley flowed the waters of the Guadalentin and the
Guadalquiton, whose streams were conducted by a thousand canals over
the surface of the vega. In the midst of the plain, adjoining the
suburbs, ini^ht be descried the orchard or garden, as it was termed, of
Baza, a league in length, covered with a thick growth of wood, and with
four-fifths of the whole population were swept away by tho pestilence of 14SS. Zurita
finds more difficulty in swallowing this monstrous statement than Father Abarca, whoso
appetite for the marvellous appears to have boon fully equal to that of most of his calling
in Spain.
* It may uot bo amiss to specify the names of tho most distinguished cavaliers who
vitally attended the king in these Moorish wars ; the heroic ancestors of many a noble
house still extant in fpaiu.
ALONSO DE CARDENAS, master of Saint Ja^'o.
JUAN DE ZuSiOA, master of Alcantara.
JUAN GARCIA DE PADILLA, master of Calutrava.
RODRIGO PONCE DE LKON. marquis duke of Ca Hz.
ENRIQUE DE GUZMAN, duke of Medina Sidoniu.
PEDRO MANRIQUE, duke of Najera.
JUAN PACIIECO, duke of Escaloua, marquis of Villena.
JUAN PIMENTEI, count of Benaventc.
FADRIQUE DE TOLEDO, son of the duke of Alva.
DIEGO FERNANDEZ DK CORDOVA, count of Cabra,
GOMEZ ALVAREZ DE FIOUEROA, count of Feri:u
ALVABO TKLLEZ GIRON, count of Urefio.
JUAN DE SILVA, count of Cifucntes.
FADRIQUE ENRIQUEZ, adelantado of Andalusia.
ALONSO FERNANDEZ DE CORDOVA, lord of Aguilar.
GONSALVO DE CORDOVA, brother of the last, known afterwards aa the Great Captain.
Luis PORTO-CARRERO, lord of Palma.
GUTIERRE DE CARDENAS, first commander of Leon.
PEDRO FERNANDEZ DE VELASCO, count of Haro, constable of Castile.
BELTRAN HE LA CUEVA, duke of Albuquerque.
DIECO FERNANDEZ DE CORDOVA, alcayde of the royal pages, afterwards marquU of
Comaras.
ALVARO DE ZUNIOA, duko of Bejai.
Ijfioo Lori z DE MENDOZA, count of Tendilla, afterwards marquis of MondeJMT.
Luis DE CF.RDA, duke of Medina CelL
INIOO LOVEZ DE MENDOZA. marquis of Santillana, second duke of Infantado.
GARCIT.ASSO DE LA VEGA, lord of, iuuao.
ft
WAE OF GKAXADA.
numerous villas and pleasure-houses of the wealthy citizens, now
converted into garrison fortresses. The suburbs were encompassed oy a
low mud wall ; but the fortifications of the city were of uncommon
strength. The place, in addition to ten thousand troops of its own, waa
garrisoned by an equal number from Almeria ; picked men, under the
command of the Moorish prince Cidi Yahye, a relative of El Zagal, who
lay at this time in Guadix, prepared to cover his own dominions against
any hostile movement of his rival in Granada. These veterans were
commissioned to defend the place to the last extremity :' and, as due
time had been given for preparation, the town was victualled with
fifteen months' provisions, and even the crops growing in the vega had
been garnered before their prime, to save them from the hands of the
enemy.
The first operation, after the Christian army had encamped before the
walls of Baza, was to get possession of the garden, without which it
would be impossible to enforce a thorough blockade, since its labyrinth
of avenues afforded the inhabitants abundant facilities of communication
with the surrounding country. The assault was intrusted to the grand
master of St. James, supported by the principal cavaliers, and the king
in person. Their reception by the enemy was such as gave them a
foretaste of the perils and desperate daring they were to encounter in the
present siege. The broken surface of the ground, bewildered with
intricate passes, and thickly studded with trees and edifices, was
peculiarly favourable to the desultory and illusory tactics of the Moors.
The Spanish cavalry was brought at once to a stand ; the ground proving
impracticable for it, it was dismounted, and led to the charge by its
officers on foot. The men, however, were soon scattered far asunder
from their banners and their leaders. Ferdinand, who from a central
position endeavoured to overlook the field, with the design of supporting
the attack on the points most requiring it, soon lost sight of his columns
amid the precipitous ravines, and the dense masses of foliage which
everywhere intercepted the view. The combat was carried on, hand to
hand, in the utmost confusion. Still the Spaniards pressed forward,
and, after a desperate struggle for twelve hours, in which many of the
bravest on both sides fell, and the Moslem chief Reduan Zafarga had
four horses successively killed under him, the enemy were beaten back
behind the intrenchments that covered the suburbs, and the Spaniards,
hastily constructing a defence of palisades, pitched their tents on the
field of battle./
The following morning Ferdinand had the mortification to observe
that the ground was too much broken, and obstructed with wood, to
afford a suitable place for a general encampment. To evacuate his
position, however, in the face of the enemy, was a delicate manoauvre, and
must necessarily expose him to severe loss. This he obviated, in a
great measure, by a fortunate stratagem. He commanded the tents
nearest the town to be left standing, and thus succeeded in drawing
off the greater part of his forces before the enemy was aware of his
intention.
After regaining his former position, a council of war was summoned
* Pulgar relates these particulars with a perspicuity very different from his eutangled
narrative of some of the preceding operations iii this war. Both he and Marty/ wert
cut during the whole siege of Baza.
STEGE OF BAZA. 229
to deliberate on the course next to be pursued. The chiefs were filled
with despondency as they revolved the difficulties of their situation.
They almost despaired of enforcing the blockade of a place whose
peculiar situation gave it such advantages. Even could this be effected,
the camp would be exposed, they argued, to the assaults of a desperate
garrison on the one hand, and of the populous city of Guadix, hardly
twenly miles distant, on the other; while the good faith of Granada
could scarcely be expected to outlive a single reverse of fortune ; so that
instead of besieging, they might be more properly regarded as themselves
besieged. In addition to these evils, the winter frequently set in with
much rigour in this quarter ; and the torrents, descending from the
mountains, and mingling with the waters of the valley, might overwhelm
the camp with an inundation, which, if it did not sweep it away at
once, would expose it to the perils of famine, by cutting off all external
communication. Under these gloomy impressions, many of the council
urged Ferdinand to break up his position at once, and postpone all
operations on Baza until the reduction of the surrounding country should
make it comparatively easy. Even the marquis of Cadiz gave in to
this opinion ; and Gutierre de Cardenas, commander of Leon, a cavalier
deservedly high in the confidence of the king, was almost the only
person of consideration decidedly opposed to it.* In this perplexity,
Ferdinand, as usual in similar exigencies, resolved to take counsel of
the queen.
Isabella received her husband's despatches a few hours after they were
written, by means of the regular line of posts maintained between the
camp and her station at Jaen. She was filled with chagrin at their
import, from which she plainly saw that all her mighty preparations
were about to vanish into air. Without assuming the responsibility of
deciding the proposed question, however, she besought her husband not
to distrust the providence of God, which had conducted them through
so many perils towards the consummation of their wishes. She reminded
him that the Moorish fortunes were never at so low an ebb as at present,
and that their own operations could probably never be resumed on such
a formidable scale or under so favourable auspices as now, when their
arms had not been stained with a single important reverse. She con-
cluded with the assurance, that, if his soldiers would be true to their
duty, they might rely on her for the faithful discharge of hers, in
furnishing them with all the requisite supplies.
The exhilarating tone of this letter nad an instantaneous effect,
encing the scruples of the most timid and confirming the confidence
the others. The soldiers in particular who had received with dis-
tisfaction some intimation of what was passing in the council, welcomed
with general enthusiasm ; and every heart seemed now intent on
* Don Gutierre de Cardenas, who possessed so high a place in the confidence of the
sovereigns, occupied a station in the queen's household, as we have seen, at the time of
her marriage with Ferdinand. His discretion and general ability enabled him to retain
the influence which he had early acquired. Fray Mortero was Don Alonso de Burgos,
bishop of Palencia, confessor of the sovereigns. Don Juan Chacon was the son of
Gonsalvo, who had the care of Don Alfonso and the queen during her minority, when h
was induced by the liberal largesses of John II. of Aragon to promote her marriage with
his son Ferdinand. The elder Chacon was treated by the sovereigns with the greatest
deference and respect, being usually called by them " Father." After his death, they con-
tinued to manifest a sin> ili y regard fcwrai Don Juan, his eldest son, .and neir of hi
ample honours and
230 WAB OF GEAXADA.
furthering the wishes of their heroic queen hy prosecuting the siege with
the utmost vigour.
The army was accordingly distributed into two encampments ; one
under the marquis duke of Cadiz, supported by the artillery, the other
under King Ferdinand on the opposite side of the city. Between the
two lay the par den or orchard before mentioned, extending a league in
length ; so that, in order to connect the works of the two camps, it
became necessary to get possession of this contested ground, and to clear
it of the heavy timber with which it was covered.
This laborious operation was intrusted to the commander of Leon, and
the work was covered by a detachment of seven thousand troops, posted
in such a manner as to check the sallies of the garrison. Notwithstanding
four thousand taladores or pioneers, were employed in the task, the
forest was so dense, and the sorties from the city so annoying, that the
work of devastation did not advance more than ten paces a day, and was
not completed before the expiration of seven weeks. When the ancient
groves, so long the ornament and protection of the city, were levelled to
the ground, preparations were made for connecting the two camps by a
deep trench, through which the mountain waters were made to flow ;
while the borders were fortified with palisades, constructed of the timber
lately hewn, together with strong towers of mud or clay, arranged at
regular intervals. In this manner the investment of the city was com-
plete on the side of the vega.
As means of communication still remained open, however, by the
opposite sierra, defences of similar strength, consisting of two stone
walls separated by a deep trench, were made to run along the rocky
heights and ravines of the mountains until they touched the extremities
of the fortifications on the plain ; and thus Baza was encompassed by
an unbroken line of circumvallation.
In the progress of the laborious work, which occupied ten thousand
men, under the indefatigable commander of Leon, for the space of two
months, it would have been easy for the people of Guadix, or of Granada,
by co-operation with the sallies of the besieged, to place the Christian
army in great peril. Some feeble demonstration of such a movement
was made at Guadix, but it was easily disconcerted. Indeed, El Zagal
was kept in check by the fear of leaving his own territory open to his
rival, should he march against the Christians. Abdallah, in the mean
while, lay inactive in Granada, incurring the odium and contempt of his
people, who stigmatised him as a Christian in heart, and a pensioner of
the Spanish sovereigns. Their discontent gradually swelled into a
rebellion, which was suppressed by him with a severity that at length
induced a sullen acquiescence in a rule which, however inglorious, was
at least attended with temporary security.
While the camp lay before Baza, a singular mission was received from
the sultan of Egypt, who had been solicited by the Moors of Granada to
interpose in their behalf with the Spanish sovereigns. Two Franciscan
friars, members of a religious community in Palestine, were bearers of
despatches, which after remonstrating with the sovereigns on their per-
secution of the Moors, contrasted it with the protection uniformly
extended by the sultan to the Christians in his dominions. The communi-
cation concluded with menacing a retaliation of similar severities on thcsa
latter, unless the sovereigns desisted for their hostilities towards Granada.
SIEGE OF BAZA. 231
From the camp, the two ambassadors proceeded to Jaen, where they
were received by the queen with all the deference due to their holy pro-
fession, which seemed to derive additional sanctity from the spot in
which it was exercised. The menacing import of the sultan's com-
munication, however, had no power to shake the purposes of Ferdinand
and Isabella, who made answer, that they had uniformly observed the
same policy in regard to their Mahometan as to their Christian subjects ;
but that they could no longer submit to see their ancient and rightful
inheritance in the hands of strangers ; and that, if these latter would
consent to live under their rule as true and loyal subjects, they should
experience the same paternal indulgence which had been shown to their
brethren. With this answer the reverend emissaries returned to the
Holy Laud, accompanied by substantial marks of the royal favour, in a
yearly pension of one thousand ducats, which the queen settled in
perpetuity on their monastery, together with a richly embroidered veil,
the work of her own fair hands, to be suspended over the Holy Sepulchre.
The sovereigns subsequently dispatched the learned Peter Martyr as their
envoy to the Moslem court., in order to explain their proceedings more at
length, and avert any disastrous consequences from the Christian
residents.
In the meanwhile the siege went forward with spirit ; skirmishes anc 1
single rencontres taking place every day between the high-mettled cavaliers
on both sides. These chivalrous combats, however, were discouraged by
Ferdinand, who would have confined his operations to strict blockade,
and avoided the unnecessary effusion of blood ; especially as the
advantage was most commonly on the side of the enemy, from the
peculiar adaptation of their tactics to this desultory warfare. Although
some months had elapsed, the besieged rejected with scorn every summons
to surrender ; relying on their own resources, and still more on the
tempestuous season of autumn, now fast advancing, which, if it did not
break up the encampment at once, would at least, by demolishing the
roads, cut off all external communication.
In order to guard against these impending evils, Ferdinand caused
more than a thousand houses, or rather huts, to be erected, with walls
of earth or clay, and roofs made of timber and tiles ; while the common
soldiers constructed cabins by means of palisades loosely thatched with
the branches of trees. The whole work was accomplished in four days :
and the inhabitants of Baza beheld with amazement a city of solid
edifices, with all its streets and squares in regular order, springing as it
were by magic out of the ground, which had before been covered with
the light and airy pavilions of the camp. The new city was well
supplied, owing to the providence of the queen, not merely with the
necessaries but the luxuries of life. Traders nocked there as to a fair,
from Aragon, Valencia, Catalonia, and even Sicily, freighted with costly
merchandise, and with jewelry and other articles of luxury ; such as, in
the indignant lament of an old chronicler, " too often corrupt the souls
of the soldiery, and bring waste and dissipation into a camp."
That this was not the result, however, in the present instance, is
attested by more than one historian. Among others, Peter Martyr, the
Italian scholar before mentioned, who was present at this siege, dwells
with astonishment on the severe decorum and military discipline which
everywhere obtained among this motley congregation of soldiers " AN ho
232 WAR OF GKA>*ADA.
would have believed," says he, " that the Galician, the fierce Asturfan,
and the rude inhabitants of the Pyrenees, men accustomed to deeds of
atrocious violence, and to brawl and battle on the lightest occasion at
home, should mingle amicably, not only with one another but with the
Toledans, La-Manchans, and. the wily and jealous Andalusian ; all
living together in harmonious subordination to authority, like members
of one family, speaking one tongue, and nurtured under a common dis-
cipline ; so that the camp seemed like a community modelled on the
principles of Plato's republic ! " In another part of this letter, which
was addressed to a Milanese prelate, he panegyrises the camp hospital of
the queen, then a novelty in war: which, he says, "is so profusely
supplied with medical attendants, apparatus, and whatever may con-
tribute to the restoration or solace of the sick, that it is scarcely
surpassed in these respects by the magnificent establishments of Milan." *
During the five months which the siege had now lasted, the weather
had proved uncommonly propitious to the Spaniards, being for the most
part of a bland and equal temperature, while the sultry heats of mid-
summer were mitigated by cool and moderate showers. As the autumnal
season advanced, however, the clouds began to settle heavily around the
mountains ; and at length one of those storms, predicted by the people
of Baza, burst forth with incredible fury, pouring a volume of waters
down the rocky sides of the sierra, which, mingling with those of the
vega, inundated the camp of the besiegers, and swept away most of the
frail edifices constructed for the use of the common soldiery. A still
greater calamity befel them in the dilapidation of the roads, wliich,
broken up or worn into deep galleys by the force of the waters, were
rendered perfectly impassable. All communication was of course sus-
pended with Jaen, and a temporary interruption of the convoys filled
the camp with consternation. This disaster, however, was speedily
repaired by the queen, who with an energy always equal to the occasion,
caused six thousand pioneers to be at once employed in reconstructing
the roads ; the rivers were bridged over, causeways new-laid, and two
separate passes opened through the mountains, by which the convoys
might visit the camp, and return without interrupting each other. At
the same time, the queen bought up immense quantities of grain from
all parts of Andalusia, which she caused to be ground in her own mills ;
and when the roads, which extended more than seven leagues in length,
were completed, fourteen thousand mules might be seen daily traversing
the sierra, laden with supplies, which from that time forward were
poured abundantly, and with the most perfect regularity, into the camp.
Isabella's next care was to assemble new levies of troops, to relieve or
reinforce those now in the camp ; and the alacrity with which all orders
of men from every quarter of the kingdom answered her summons ia
worthy of remark. But her chief solicitude was to devise expedients
for meeting the enormous expenditures incurred by the protracted
operations of the year. For this purpose she had recourse to loans from
The plague, which fell heavily this year on some parts of Andalusia, does not appear
to have attacked the camp, which Bleda imputes to the healing influence of the Sj>;mi.s\i
sovereigns, "whose good faith, religion, and virtue banished the contagion from their
army, where it must otherwise have prevailed." Personal comfort and cleanliness of
the soldiers, though not quite BO miraculous a cause, may be considered perhaps 1'uU a*
SIEGE OF 'BAZA. 23S
individuals and religious corporations, which -were obtained without
much difficulty, from the general confidence in her good faith. As the
sum thus raised, although exceedingly large for that period, proved
inadequate to the expenses, further supplies were obtained from wealthy
individuals, whose loans were secured by mortgage of the royal demesne r
and, as a deficiency still remained in the treasury, the queen, as a last
resource, pawned the crown jewels and her own personal ornaments to
the merchants of Barcelona and Valencia, for such sums as they were
willing to advance on them.* Such were the efforts made by this high-
spirited woman for the furtherance of her patriotic enterprise. The
extraordinary results which she was enabled to effect, are less to be
ascribed to the authority of her station, than to that perfect confidence
in her wisdom and virtue with which she had inspired the whole nation,
and which secured their earnest co-operation in all her undertakings.
The empire which she thus exercised, indeed, was far more extended
than any station however exalted, or any authority however despotic,
can confer ; for it was over the hearts of her people.
Notwithstanding the vigour with which the siege was pressed, Baza
made no demonstration of submission. The garrison was, indeed, greatly
reduced in number ; the ammunition was nearly expended ; yet there
still remained abundant supplies of provisions in the town, and no signs
of despondency appeared among the people. Even the women of the
place, with a spirit emulating that of the dames of ancient Carthage,
freely gave up their jewels, bracelets, necklaces, and other personal
ornaments, of which the Moorish ladies were exceedingly fond, in order
to defray the charges of the mercenaries.
The camp of the besiegers, in the meanwhile, was also greatly wasted
both by sickness and the sword. Many, desponding under perils and
fatigues, which seemed to have no end, would even at this late hour
have abandoned the siege ; and they earnestly solicited the queen's-
appearance in the camp, in the hope that she would herself countenance
this measure, on witnessing their sufferings. Others, and by far the
larger part, anxiously desired the queen's visit, as likely to quicken the
operations of the siege, and bring it to a favourable issue. There seemed
to be a virtue in her presence, which, on some account or other, made it
earnestly desired by all.
Isabella yielded to the general wish, and on the 7th of November
arrived before the camp, attended by the infanta Isabella, the cardinal of
Spain, her friend the marchioness of Moya, and other ladies of the royal
household. The inhabitants of Baza, says Bernaldez, lined the battle-
ments and housetops to gaze at the glittering cavalcade as it emerged
from the depths of the mountains amidst Haunting banners and strain*
of martial music ; while the Spanish cavaliers thronged forth in a body
from the camp to receive their beloved mistress, and gave her the most
animated welcome. "She came," says Martyr, "surrounded by a
choir of nymphs, as if to celebrate the nuptials of her child ; and her
The city of Valencia lent 35,000 florins on the crown, and 20,000 on a collar of rubies^
They were not wholly redeemed till 1495. Seiior Clemencin has given a catalo^ie of tl o,
royal jewels, which appear to have been extremely rich and numerous, for a period ante-
rior to the discovery of those countries, \\U se mines have since furnished Euroi>e with it*
/ -it. Isabella so little value on them, that she divested herself of most
of them in favour ol her ..laughters.
234 WAS. OF GRANADA.
presence seemed at once to gladden and re-animate our spirits, drooping
under long vigils, dangers, and fatigue." Another writer, also present,
remarks, that, from the moment of her appearance, a change seemed to
come over the scene. No more of the cruel skirmishes which had before
occurred every day, no report of artillery, or clashing of arms, or any of
the rude sounds of war was to he heard, but all seemed disposed" to
reconciliation and peace.
The Moors probably interpreted Isabella's visit into an assurance that
the Christian army would never rise from before the place until its sur-
render. Whatever hopes they had once entertained of wearying out
the besiegers, were therefore now dispelled. Accordingly, a few days
after the queen's arrival, we find them proposing a parley for arranging
terms of capitulation.
On the third day after her arrival, Isabella reviewed her army,
stretched out in order of battle along the slope of the western hills ;
after which she proceeded to reconnoitre the beleaguered city, accom-
panied by the king and the cardinal of Spain, together with a brilliant
escort of the Spanish chivalry. On the same day a conference was
opened with the enemy through the comendador of Leon ; and an
armistice arranged, to continue until the old monarch, El Zagal, who
then lay at Guadix, could be informed of the real condition of the
besieged, and his instructions be received, determining the course to
be adopted.
The alcayde of Baza represented to his master the low state to which
the garrison was reduced by the loss of lives and the failure of ammuni-
tion. Still, he expressed such confidence in the spirit of his people,
that he undertook to make good his defence some time longer, provided
any reasonable expectation of succour could be afforded ; otherwise, it
would be a mere waste of life, and must deprive him of such vantage
ground as he now possessed, for enforcing an honourable capitulation.
The Moslem prince acquiesced in the reasonableness of these representa-
tions. He paid a just tribute to his brave kinsman Cidi Yahye's loyalty,
and the gallantry of his defence ; but, confessing at the same time, his
own inability to relieve him, authorised him to negotiate the best terms
of surrender which he could for himself and garrison.
A mutual desire of terminating the protracted hostilities infused a
spirit of moderation into both parties, which greatly facilitated the
adjustment of the articles. Ferdinand showed none of the arrogant
bearing which marked his conduct towards the unfortunate people of
Malaga, whether from a conviction of its impolicy, or, as is more
probable, because the city of Baza was itself in a condition to assume a
more imposing attitude. The principal stipulations of the treaty were,
that the foreign mercenaries employed in the defence of the place should
be allowed to march out with the honours of war ; that the city should
be delivered up to the Christians ; but that the natives might have the
choice of retiring with their personal effects where they listed, or of
occupying the suburbs, as subjects of the Castilian crown, liable only
to the same tribute which they paid to their Moslem rulers, and
secured in the enjoyment of their property, religion, laws, and usages.
On the fourth day of December, 1489, Ferdinand and Isabella took
possession of Baza, at the head of their legions, amid the ringing of bells,
the peals of artillery, and all the other usual accompaniments of this
SIEGE OF BAZA. 235
triumphant ceremony ; while the standard of the Cross, floating from
the ancient battlements of the city, proclaimed the triumph of the
Christian arms. The hrave alcayde, Cidi Yahye, experienced a recep-
tion from the sovereigns very different from that of the bold defender of
Malaga. He was loaded -with civilities and presents ; and these acts of
courtesy so won upon his heart, that he expressed a willingness to enter
into their service. "Isabella's compliments," says the Arabian historian
drily, "were repaid in more substantial coin."
Cidi Yahye was soon prevailed on to visit his royal kinsman El Zagal,
at GuadLx, for the purpose of urging his submission to the Christian
sovereigns. In his interview with that prince, he represented the fruit-
lossness of any attempt to withstand the accumulated forces of the
:-h monarchies ; that he would only see town after town pared away
from his territory, until no ground was left for him to stand on, and
make terms with the victor. He reminded him, that the baleful horoscope
of Abdallah had predicted the downfall of Granada, and that experience
had abundantly shown how vain it was to struggle against the tide of
destiny. The unfortunate monarch listened, says the Arabian annalist,
without so much as moving an eyelid ; and, after a long and deep medi-
tation, replied with the resignation characteristic of the Moslems,
" AVhat Allah wills, he brings to pass in his own way. Had he not
decreed the fall of Granada, this good sword might have saved it ; but his
will be done ! " It was then arranged that the principal cities of Almeria,
Guadix, and their dependencies, constituting the domain of El Zagal,
should be formally surrendered by that prince to Ferdinand and Isabella,
who should instantly proceed at the head of their army to take possession
of them.
On the seventh day of December, therefore, the Spanish sovereigns,
without allowing themselves or their jaded troops any time for repose,
marched out of the gates of Baza, King Ferdinand occupying the centre,
and the queen the rear of the army. Their route lay across the most
.re districts of the long sierra which stretches towards Almeria ;
leading through many a narrow pass, which a handful of resolute Moors,
. might have made good against the whole Christian
army, over mountains whose peaks were lost in clouds, and valleys whose
depths were never warmed by a sun. The winds were exceedingly bleak,
and the weather inclement ; so that men, as well as horses, exhausted
by the fatigues of previous service, were benumbed by the intense cold,
and many of them frozen to death. Many more, losing their way in the
intricacies of the sierra, would have experienced the same miserable fate f
had it not been for the marquis of Cadiz, whose tent was pitched on one
of the loftiest lulls, and who caused beacon fires to be lighted around it ;
in order to guide the stragglers back to their quarters.
At no great distance from Almeria, Ferdinand was met, conformably
to the previous arrangement, by El Zagal, escorted by a numerous body
of Moslem cavaliers. Ferdinand commanded his nobles to ride forward
and receive the Moorish prince. " His appearance," says Martyr, who
was in the roval retinue, " touched my soul with compassion ; for,
although a lawless barbarian, he was a king, and had given signal proofs
of heroism." El Zagal, without waiting to receive the courtesies of the
Spanish nobles, threw himself from his horse, and advanced towards
Ferdinand with the design of kissing his hand : but the latter, rebuking
236 WAK OF GRAXADA.
his followers for their "rusticity" in allowing such an act of humilia-
tion in the unfortunate monarch, prevailed on him to remount, and then
rode by his side towards Almeria.
This city was one of the most precious jewels in the diadem of
Granada. It had amassed great wealth by its extensive commerce with
Syria, Egypt, and Africa ; and its corsairs had for ages been the terror
of the Catalan and Pisan marine. It might have stood a siege as long
as that of Baza, but it was now surrendered without a blow, on condi-
tions similar to those granted to the former city. After allowing some
days for the refreshment of their wearied forces in this pleasant region,
which, sheltered from the bleak winds of the north by the sierra they
had lately traversed, and fanned by the gentle breezes of the Mediter-
ranean, is compared by Martyr to the gardens of the Hesperides, the
sovereigns established a strong garrison there, under the command of
Leon, and then, striking again into the recesses of the mountains,
marched on Guadix, which, after some opposition on the part of the
populace, threw open its gates to them. The surrender of these prin-
cipal cities was followed by that of all the subordinate dependencies
belonging to El Zagal's territory, comprehending a multitude of hamlets
scattered along the green sides of the mountain chain that stretched
from Granada to the coast. To all these places the same liberal
terms, in regard to personal rights and property, were secured, as to
Baza.
As an equivalent for these broad domains, the Moorish cliief was
placed in possession of the taha, or district, of Andaraz, the vale of
Alhaurin, and half the salt-pits of Maleha, together with a considerable
revenue in money. He was, moreover, to receive the title of king of
Andaraz, and to render homage for his estates to the crown of Castile.
This shadow of royalty could not long amuse the mind of the unfor-
tunate prince. He pined away amid the scenes of his ancient empire ;
and, after experiencing some insubordination on the part of his new
vassals, he determined to relinquish his petty principality, and with-
draw for ever from his native land. Having received a large sum of
money as an indemnification for the entire cession of his territorial rights
and possessions to the Castilian crown, he passed over to Africa, where,
it is reported, he was plundered of his property by the barbarians,
and condemned to starve out the remainder of his days in miserable
indigence.
The suspicious circumstances attending this prince's accession to the
throne throw a dark cloud over his fame, which would otherwise seem, at
least as far as his public life is concerned, to be unstained by any oppro-
brious act. He possessed such energy, talent, and military science as,
had he been fortunate enough to unite the Moorish nation under him by
an undisputed title, might have postponed the fall of Granada for many
years. As it was, these very talents, by dividing the state in his favour,
served only to precipitate its ruin.
The Spanish sovereigns having accomplished the object of the cam-
paign, after stationing part of their forces on such points as would secure
the permanence of their conquests, returned with the remainder to Jaon,
where they disbanded the army on the 4th of January, 1490. The
losses sustained by the troops during the whole period of their prolonged
service, greatly exceeded those of any former year, amounting to nat
SIEGE OF BAZA. 237
less than twenty thousand men, hy far the larger portion of whom are
said to have fallen victims to diseasef incident to severe and long-con-
tinued hardships and exposure.
Thus terminated the eighth year of the war of Granada ; a year more
glorious to the Christian arms, and more important in its results, than
any of the preceding. During this period, an army of eighty thousanqf
men had kept the field, amid all the inclemencies of winter, for more
than seven months ; an effort scarcely paralleled in these times, when
both the amount of levies, and period, of service, were on the limited
scale adapted to the exigencies of feudal warfare.* Supplies for this
immense host, notwithstanding the severe famine of the preceding year,
were punctually furnished, in spite of every embarrassment presented
by the want of navigable rivers, and the interposition of a precipitous
and pathless sierra.
The history of this campaign is, indeed, most honourable to the courage,
constancy, and thorough discipline of the Spanish soldier, and to the
patriotism and general resources of the nation ; but most of all to
Isabella. She it was who fortified the timid councils of the leaders after
the disasters of the garden, and encouraged them to persevere in the
siege. She procured all the supplies, constructed the roads, took charge
of the sick, and furnished, at no little personal sacrifice, the immense
sums demanded for carrying on the war ; and, when at last the hearts of
the soldiers were fainting under long-protracted sufferings, she appeared
among them, like some celestial visitant, to cheer their faltering spirits,
and inspire them with her own energy. The attachment to Isabella
seemed to be a pervading principle, which animated the whole nation by
one common impulse, impressing a unity of design on all its movements.
This attachment was imputed to her sex as well as character. The
sympathy and tender care with which she regarded her people, naturally
raised a reciprocal sentiment in their bosoms ; but, when they beheld her
directing their councils, sharing their fatigues and dangers, and display-
ing all the comprehensive intellectual powers of the other sex, they
looked up to her as to some superior being, with feelings far more exalte ll
<han those of mere loyalty. The chivalrous heart of the Spaniard did
nomage to her as to his tutelar saint ; and she held a control over her
people, such as no man could have acquired in any age, and probably
no woman, in an age and country less romantic.
Pietro Martire, or, as he is called in English, Peter Martyr, so often quoted in the
present chapter, and who will constitute one of our best authorities during the remainder
of the history, was a native of Arona (not of Anghiera, as commonly supposed), a place
eituated on the borders of Lake Maggiore, in Italy. He was of noble Milanese extraction.
In 1477, at twenty-two years of age, he was sent to complete his education at Rome, where
he continued ten years, and formed an intimacy with the most distinguished literary
characters of that cultivated capital. In 1487, he was persuaded by the Castilian ambas-
sador, the count of Tendilla, to accompany him to Spain, where he was received with
marked distinction by the queen, who would have at once engaged him in the tuition of
the young nobility of the court ; but Martyr having expressed a preference of a military
life, she, with her usual delicacy, declined to press him on the point. He was present, as
we have seen, at the siege of Baza, and continued with the army during the subsequent
campaigns of the Moorish war. Many passages of his correspondence, at this period, show
a whimsical mixture of self-complacency with a consciousness of the ludicrous figure which
fce made in "exchanging the Muses for Mars. "
* The city of Seville alone maintained 600 horse and 8000 foot, under the count tt
Clfueutes, for the space of eight month* during this siege.
238 WAB OF GRAKADA.
At the close ot the war he entered the ecclesiastical profession, for which he had been
originally destined, and was persuaded to resume his literary vocation. He opened his
school at Valladolid, Saragossa, Barcelona, Alcabi de Hetiares, and other places : and it
was thronged with the principal young nobility from all parts of Spain, who, as he boast-
in one of his letters, drew their literary nourishment from him. " Suxerunt mea litjr i...i
ubera Castellae priucipes fere omues." His important services were fully estimated by t::e
queen, and, after her death, by Ferdinand and Charles V., and he was recompense^ "with
high ecclesiastical preferment as well as civil dignities. He died about the year :
the age of seventy, and his remains were interred beneath a monument in the cathudnJ
church of Granada, of which he was prior.
Among Martyr's principal works is a treatise "De Legatione Babylonica," being in
account of a visit to the sultan of Egypt, in 1501, for the purpose of deprecating the
retaliation with which he had menaced the Christian residents in Palestine, for the
injuries inflicted on the Spanish Moslems. Peter Martyr conducted his negotiation
with such address, that he not onlyappeased the sultan's resentment, but obtained several
important immunities for his Christian subjects, in addition to those previously enjoyed
by them.
He also wrote an account of the discoveries of the New World, entitled " De Rebus
Oceanicis et Xovo Orbe " (Coloniae, 1574), a book largely consulted and commended by sub-
sequent historians. But the work of principal value in our researches is his "Opus
Epistolarum," being a collection of his multifarious correspondence with the most con-
siderable persons of his time, whether in political or literary life. The letters are in
Jjitin, and extend from the year 14S8 to the time of his death. Although not conspicuous
for elegance of diction, they are most valuable to the historian, from the fidelity and
general accuracy of the details, as well as for the intelligent criticism in which they abound
for all which uncommon facilities were afforded by the writer's intimacy with the leading
actors, and the most recondite sources of information of the period.
This high character is fully authorised by the judgments of those best qualified to
pronounce on their merits, Martyr's own contemporaries. Among these, Dr. Galindez
de Carbajal, a counsellor of King Ferdinand, and constantly employed in the highest
concerns of state, commends these epistles as "the work of a learned and upright man,
well calculated to throw light on the transactions of the period." Alvaro Gomez, another
contemporary who survived Martyr, in the life of Ximenes, which he was selected to writo
by the University of Alcala, declares, that "Martyr's letters abundantly compensate by
their fidelity for the unpolished style in which they are written." And John de Vergara,
a name of the highest celebrity in the literary annals of the period, expresses himself in
the following emphatic terms : "I know no record of the tune more accurate and valuable.
I myself have often witnessed the promptness with which he put down things the moment
they occurred. I have sometimes seen him write one or two letters while they were
setting the table ; for, as he did not pay much attention to style and mere finish of
expression, his composition required but little time, and experienced no interruption
from his ordinary avocations." This account of the precipitate manner hi which the
epistles were composed, may help to explain the cause of the occasional inconsistencies
and anachronisms that are to be found in them ; and which their author, had he been
more patient of the labour of revision, would doubtless have C9rrected. But he seems to
have had little relish for this, even in his more elaborate works, composed with a view to
publication. After all, the errors, such as they are, in his Epistles, may probably be
chiefly charged on the publisher. The first edition appeared at Alcaht de Henares in 1530,
about four years after the author's death. It has now become exceedingly rare. The
second and last, being the one used in the present history, came out in a more beautiful
form from the Elzevir press, Amsterdam, hi 1670, folio. Of this also but a small number
of copies were struck off". The learned editor takes much credit to himself for having
purified the work from many errors which had flowed from the heedlessness of his prede-
cessor. It will not be difficult to detect several yet remaining. Such, for example, as a
memorable letter on the i venerta (No. 68), obviously misplaced, even according to its
own date ; and that numbered 168, in %vhich two letters are evidently blended into one.
But it is unnecessary to multiply examples. It is very desirable that an edition of tms
valuable correspondence should be published, under the care of some one qualified to
illustrate it by his intimacy with the history of the period, as well as to correct the various
inaccuracies which have crept into it whether through the carelessncs of the author or of
his editors.
I have been led into this length of remark by some strictures which met my eye hi the
recent work of Mr. Hallam, who intimates his belief that the Epistles of Martyr, instead
of being written at their respective dates, were produced by him at some later period ; a
conclusion which I suspect this acute and candid critic would have been slow to adopt,
had he perused the correspondence hi connection with the history of the times, ot weighed
the unqualified testimony borne by contemporaries to its minute accuracy.
CHAPTER XV.
WAB Or GBASiDA E. :Q* AND SURRENDER OF THE CITT OF GRANADA.
14901492.
The Infanta Isabella affianced to the Prince of Portugal Isabella deposes Judges at
Valladolid Encampment before Granada The Queen surveys the City Moslem and
Christian Chivalry Conflagration of the Christian Camp Erection of Santa Fe
Capitulation of Granada Results of the War Its Moral Influence Its Military
Influence Fate of the Moors Death and Character of the Marquis of Cadiz.
Iif the spring of 1490 ambassadors arrived from Lisbon for the purpose
of carrying into effect the treaty of marriage which had been arranged
between Alonso, heir of the Portuguese monarchy, and Isabella, infanta
of Castile. An alliance with this kingdom, which from its contiguity
possessed such ready means of annoyance to Castile, and which had
shown such willingness to employ them in enforcing the pretensions of
Joanna Beltraneja, was an object of importance to Ferdinand and Isabella.
No inferior consideration could have reconciled the queen to a separation
from this beloved daughter, her eldest child, whose gentle and un-
commonly amiable disposition seems to have endeared her beyond their
other children to her parents.
The ceremony of the affiancing took place at Seville in the month of
April, Don Fernando de Silveira appearing as the representative of the-
prince of Portugal ; and it was followed by a succession of splendid fetes
and tourneys. Lists were enclosed, at some distance from the city on
the shores of the Guadalquivir, and surrounded with galleries hung with
silk and cloth of gold, and protected from the noontide heat by canopies
or awnings, richly embroidered with the armorial bearings of the ancient
houses of Castile. The spectacle was graced by all the rank and beauty
of the court, with the infanta Isabella in the midst, attended by seventy
noble ladies, and a hundred pages of the royal household. The cavaliers
of Spain, young and old, thronged to the tournament, as eager to win
laurels on the mimic theatre of war, in the presence of so brilliant an
assemblage, as they had shown themselves in the sterner contests with
the Moors. King Ferdinand, who broke several lances on the occasion,
was among the most distinguished of the combatants for personal
dexterity and horsemanship. The martial exercises of the day were
relieved by the more effeminate recreations of dancing and music in the
evening ; and every one seemed willing to welcome the season of hilarity,
after the long-protracted fatigues of war.
In the following autumn, the infanta was escorted into Portugal by
the cardinal of Spain, the grand master of St. James, and a numerous
and magnificent retinue. Her dowry exceeded that usually assigned to
the infantas of Castile, by five hundred marks of gold and a thousand of
silver : and her wardrobe was estimated at one hundred and twenty
thousand gold florins. The contemporary chronicles dwell with much
complacency on these evidences of the statcliness and splendour of tlia
240 WAB. OF GRANADA.
Castilian court. Unfortunately, these fair auspices were destined to be
louded t jo soon by the death of the prince, her husband.
No sooner had the campaign of the preceding year been brought to a
close, than Ferdinand and Isabella sent an embassy to the king of
Granada, requiring a surrender of his capital, conformably to his
stipulations at Loja, which guaranteed this, on the capitulation of Baza,
Almeria, and Guadix. That time had now arrived ; King Abdallah.
however, excused himself from obeying the summons of the Spanish
sovereigns, replying that he was no longer his own master, and that,
although he had all the inclination to keep his engagements, he was
prevented by the inhabitants of the city, now swollen much beyond its
natural population, who resolutely insisted on its defence.*
It is not probable that the Moorish king did any great violence to his
feelings in this evasion of a promise extorted from him in captivity.. At
least, it would seem so from the hostile movements which immediately
succeeded. The people of Granada resumed all at once their ancient
activity, foraying into the Christian territories, surprising Alhendin and
some other places of less importance, and stirring up the spirit of revolt
in Guadix and other conquered cities. Granada which had slept through
the heat of the struggle, seemed to revive at the very moment when
exertion became hopeless.
Ferdinand was not slow in retaliating these acts of aggression. In
the spring of 1490, he marched with a strong force into the cultivated
plain of Granada, sweeping off, as usual, the crops and cattle, and
rolling the tide of devastation up to the very walls of the city. In this
campaign he conferred the honour of knighthood on his son, Prince John,
then only twelve years of age, whom he had brought with him, after
the ancient usage of the Castilian nobles, of training up their children
from very tender years in the Moorish wars. The ceremony was
performed on the banks of the grand canal under the battlements almost
of the beleaguered city. The dukes of Cadiz and Medina Sidonia were
Prince John's sponsors ; and, after the completion of the ceremony, the
new knight conferred the honours of chivalry in like manner on several
of his young companions in arms.
In the following autumn, Ferdinand repeated his ravages in the vega,
^nd, at the same time appearing before the disaffected city of Guadix
with a force large enough to awe it into submission, proposed an.
immediate investigation of the conspiracy. He promised to inflict
summary justice on all who had been in any degree concerned in it ; at
the same time offering permission to the inhabitants, in the abundance
of his clemency, to depart with all their personal effects wherever they
would, provided they should prefer this to a judicial investigation of
their conduct. This politic proffer had its effect. There were few, if
any, of the citizens, who had not been either directly concerned in. the
conspiracy, or privy to it. With one accord, therefore, they preferred
exile to trusting to the tender mercies of their judges. In this way,
says the curate of Los Palacios, by the mystery of our Lord, was the
Neither the Arabic nor Castilian authorities impeach the justice of the summons made
by the Spanish sovereigns. I do not, however, find any other foundation for the obligation
imputed to Abdallah in them, than that monarch's agreement during his captivity at
lioja, in 1486, to surrender his capital in exchange for Guadix, provided the latter should
be conquered within six months.
SUEREJfDEB OF THE C AIM TAT*. '211
ancient city of Giiadix brought again within the Christian fold ; the
mosques converted into Christian temples, filled with the harmonies of
Catholic worship, and the pleasant places, which for nearly eight centuri. -s
had been trampled under the foot of the infidel, were once more restored
to the followers of the Cross.
A similar policy produced similar results in the cities of Almeria and
Baza, whose inhabitants, evacuating their ancient homes, transported
themselves, with such personal effects as they could carry, to the city of
(iranada, on the coast of Africa. The space thus opened by the fugitive
population was quickly lilled by the rushing tide of Spaniards.
It is impossible at this day to contemplate these events with the
triumphant swell of exultation with which they are recorded by con-
i-'v.iporary chroniclers. That the Moors were guilty (though not so
generally as pretended) of the alleged conspiracy, is not in itself
improbable, and is corroborated indeed by the Arabic statements. But
the punishment was altogether disproportionate to the offence. Justice
ini^ht surely have been satisfied by a selection of the authors and
principal agents of the meditated insurrection ; for no overt act appears
to have occurred. But avarice was too strong for justice ; and this act,
which is in perfect conformity to the policy systematically pursued by
the Spanish crown for more than a century afterwards, may be con-
sidered as one of the first links in the long chain of persecution which
terminated in the expulsion of the Moriscoes.
During the following year, 1491, a circumstance occurred illustrative
of the policy of the present government in reference to ecclesiastical
matters. The chancery of Valladolid having appealed to the pope in a
case coming within its own exclusive jurisdiction, the queen commanded
Alonso de Valdivieso, bishop of Leon, the president of the court, together
with all the auditors, to be removed from their respective offices, which
she delivered to a new board, having the bishop of Oviedo at its head.
This is one among many examples of the constancy with which Isabella,
notwithstanding her reverence for religion, and respect for its ministers,
refused to compromise the national independence by recognising in any
degree the usurpations of Rome. From this dignified attitude, so often
abandoned by her successors, she never swerved for a moment during the
course of her long reign.
The winter of 1490 was busily occupied with preparations for the
closing campaign against Granada. Ferdinand took command of the
jinny in the month of April, 1491, with the purpose of sitting down
b.'t'ore the Moorish capital, not to rise until its final surrender. The
troops which mustered in the Val de Velillos, are computed by most
historians at fifty thousand horse and foot, although Martyr, who served
as a volunteer, 'swells the number to eighty thousand. They were
drawn from the different cities, chiefly, as usual, from Andalusia, which
had b:vn stimulated to truly gigantic efforts throughout this protracted
war,* and from the nobility of every quarter, many of whom, wearied
out with the contest, contented themselves with sending their quotas,
242 WAR OF GRANADA.
while many others, as the marquises of Cadiz, Villcna, the counts of
Tendilla, Cabra, Urena, and Alonso de Aguilar, appeared in person,
eager, as they had borne the brunt of so many hard campaigns, to share
in the closing scene of triumph.
On the 26th of the month, the army encamped near the fountain of
Ojos de Huescar, in the vega, about two leagues distant from Granada.
Ferdinand's first movement was to detach a considerable force, under
the marquis of Villena, which he subsequently supported in person with
the remainder of the army, for the purpose of scouring the fruitful
regions of the Alpuxarras, which served as the granary of the capital.
This service was performed with such unsparing rigour, that no less
than twenty-four towns and hamlets in the mountains were ransacked
and razed to the ground. After this, Ferdinand returned loaded with
spoil to his former position on the banks of the Xenil, in full view of the
Moorish metropolis, which seemed to stand alone, like some sturdy oak,
the last of the forest, bidding defiance to the storm which had prostrated
all its brethren.
Notwithstanding the failure of all external resources, Granada was
still formidable from its local position and its defences. On the east it
was fenced in by a wild mountain barrier, the Sierra Nevada, whose
snow-clad summits diffused a grateful coolness over the city through the
sultry heats of summer. The side towards the vega, facing the Christian
encampment, was encircled by walls and towers of massive strength and
solidity. The population, swelled to two hundred thousand by the
immigration from the surrounding country, was likely, indeed, to be a
burden in a protracted siege ; but among them were twenty thousand,
the flower of the Moslem chivalry, who had escaped the edge of the
Christian sword. In front of the city, for an extent of nearly ten
leagues, lay unrolled the magnificent vega,
* Fresca y regalada vega,
Dulce recreacion de damas
Y de hombres gloria immeus*;*
whose prolific beauties could scarcely be exaggerated in the most florid
strains of the Arabian minstrel, and which still bloomed luxuriant,
notwithstanding the repeated ravages of the preceding season.*
The inhabitants of Granada were filled with indignation at the sight
of their enemy, thus encamped under the shadow, as it were, of their
battlements. They sallied forth in small bodies, or singly, challenging
the Spaniards to equal encounter. Numerous were the combats which
took place between the high-mettled cavaliers on both sides, who met
on ' the level arena, as on a tilting-ground, where they might display
Iheir prowess in the presence of the assembled beauty and chivalry of
their respective nations ; for the Spanish camp was graced, as usual, by'tlie
presence of Queen Isabella and the infantas, with the courtly train of
ladies who had accompanied their royal mistress from Alcala la Heal.
f lhe" Spanish ballads glow with picturesque details of these knightly
tourneys, forming the most attractive portion of this romantic minstrelsy,
* Martyr remarks, that the Genoese merchants, "voyagers to every clime, declare tli is
to be the largest I'ortilied city in the world." Casiri lias collected a body of interest: nj;
particulars rcspfctin^ the wealth, jiupulatiun, and social habits of Grniiada, from various
Arabic authorities.
OF THE CAPITAL. ?43
which, celebrating the prowess of Moslem as well as Hiristian \\arriors,
sheds a dying- glory round the last hours of Granada.*
The festivity which reigned throughout the camp on the arrival of
Isabella did not divert her attention from the stern business of war.
She superintended the military preparations, and personally inspected
every part of the encampment. She appeared on the field superbly
mounted, and dressed in complete armour ; and, as she visited (in-
different quarters and reviewed her troops, she administered words
of commendation or sympathy, suited to the condition of the soldier.
On one occasion, she expressed a desire to take a nearer survey of the
city. For this purpose a house was selected, affording the best point of
vie"w, in the little village of Zubia, at no great distance from Granadu.
The king and queen stationed themselves before a window, which com-
manded an unbroken prospect of the Alhambra, and the most beautiful
quarter of the town. In the meanwhile, a considerable force, under the
marquis duke of Cadiz, had been ordered, for the protection of the royal
persons, to take up a position between the village and the city of
Granada, with strict injunctions on no account to engage the enemy, as
Isabella was unwilling to stain the pleasures of the day with unnecessary
effusion of blood.
The people of Granada, however, were too impatient long to endure
the presence, and, as they deemed it, the bravado of their enemy. They
burst forth from the gates of the capital, dragging along with them
several pieces of ordnance, and commenced a brisk assault on the
Spanish lines. The latter sustained the shock with firmness, till the
marquis of Cadiz, seeing them thrown into some disorder, found it
necessary to assume the offensive, and, mustering his followers around
him, made one of those desperate charges which had so often broken the
enemy. The Moorish cavalry faltered ; but might have disputed the
ground, had it not been for the infantry, which, composed of the rabble
population of the city, was easily thrown into confusion, and hurried the
horse along with it. The rout now became general. The Spanish
cavaliers, whose blood was up, pursued to the very gates of Granada ;
" and not a knee," says Berualdez, " that day, but was dyed in the
blood of the infidel." Two thousand of the enemy were slain and taken
in the engagement, which lasted only a short time ; and the slaughter
VMS stopped only by the escape of the fugitives within the walls of the
oity.t
About the middle of July an accident occurred in the camp, which
had like to have been attended with fatal consequences. The queen was
lodged in a superb pavilion, belonging to the marquis of Cadiz, and
always used by him in the Moorish war. By the carelessness of one cf
her attendants^ a lamp was placed in such a situation that, during the
night, perhaps owing to a gust of wind, it set fire to the drapery or loose
hangings of the pavilion, which was instantly in a blaze. The flame
communicated with fearful rapidity to the neighbouring tents, made of
On one occasion, a Christian knight having- discomfited with a handful of men a much
up^nor body of Moslem chivalry, King Abdullah testified his admiration of his ]> r
by sending him on the following day a magnificent present, together with his owu sword
superbly mov.
t Isabella afterwards caused a Franciscan monastery to be built in commemoration of
(bia event at Zubia, where, according to Mr. Irving, -the house from which she witnessed
tiio actiou is to be e.-u at t'.ie }> rescue day.
* a
244 WAR OF GRAXADA.
light, combustible materials, and the camp was menaced vdtli general
conflagration. This occurred at the dead of night, when all but the
sentinels were buried in sleep. The queen, and her children, whose
apartments were near hers, were in great peril, and escaped with
difficulty, though fortunately without injury. The alarm soon spread.
The trumpets sounded to arms, for it was supposed to be some night
attack of the enemj . Ferdinand, snatching up his arms hastily, put
himself at the head of his troops ; but, soon ascertaining the nature of
the disaster, contented himself with posting the marquis of Cadiz, witii
a strong body of horse, over against the city, in order to repel any sally
from that quarter. None, however, was attempted ; and the fire was at
length extinguished without personal injury, though not without loss of
much valuable property, in jewels, plate, brocade, and other costly
decorations of the tents of the nobility.
In order to guard against a similar disaster, as well as to provide
comfortable winter quarters for the army, should the siege be so long
protracted as to require it, it was resolved to build a town of substantial
edifices on the place of the present encampment. The plan was immedi-
ately put in execution. The work Avas distributed in due proportions
among the troops of the several cities and of the great nobility ; the
soldier was on a sudden converted into an artisan, and, instead of war,
the camp echoed with the sounds of peaceful labour.
In less than three months this stupendous task was accomplished.
The spot so recently occupied by light, fluttering pavilions, was thickly
covered with solid structures of stone and mortar, comprehending,
besides dwelling-houses, stables for a thousand horses. The town was
thrown into a quadrangular form, traversed by two spacious avenues,
intersecting each other at right angles in the centre, in the form of a
cross, with stately portals at each of the four extremities. Inscriptions
on blocks of marble in the various quarters recorded the respective shares
of the several cities in the execution of the work. When it was com-
pleted, the whole army was desirous that the new city should bear the
name of their illustrious queen ; but Isabella modestly declined this
tribute, and bestowed on the place the title of Santa Fe, in token of the
unshaken trust manifested by her people, throughout this war in Divine
Providence. With this name it still stands as it was erected, in 1491, a
monument of the constancy and enduring patience of the Spaniards,
" the only city in Spain," in the words of a Castilian writer, " that has
never been contaminated by the Moslem heresy."
The erection of Santa Fe by the Spaniards struck a greater damp into
the people of Granada than the most successful military achievement
could have done. They beheld the enemy setting foot on their soil, with.
a resolution never more to resign it. They already began to suffer fro in
the rigorous blockade, which effectually excluded supplies from their
own territories, while all communication with Africa was jealously
intercepted. Symptoms of insubordination had begun to show them-
selves among the overgrown population of the city, as it felt more and
more the pressure of famine. In this crisis the unfortunate Abdullah
and his principal counsellors became convinced that the place could not
be maintained much longer; and at length, in the month of October,
propositions were made, through the vizier Abul Cazim Abdelmalic, to
open a negotiation for the surrender of the place. The afl'air was to be
STTEUEXDEK. OF THE CAPITAL. 215
conducted with the utmost caution ; since the people of Granada,
notwithstanding their precarious condition, and their disquietude, were
buoyed up by indefinite expectations of relief from Africa, or some
other quarter.
The Spanish sovereigns intrusted the negotiation to their secretary,
Fernando de Zafra, and to Gonsalvo de Cordova, the latter of whom was
selected for this delicate business, from his uncommon address and his
familiarity with the Moorish habits and language. Thus, the capitula-
tion of Granada was referred to the man who acquired in her long wars
the military science which enabled him, at a later period, to foil the
most distinguished generals of Europe.
The conferences were conducted by night, with the utmost secresy,
sometimes within the walls of Granada, and at others in the little hamlet
of Churriana, about a league distant from it. At length, after large
discussion on both sides, the terms of capitulation were definitively
settled, and ratified by the respective monarchs on the 25th of Novem-
ber, 1491.
The conditions were of similar, though somewhat more liberal import,
than those granted to Baza. The inhabitants of Granada were to retain
possession of their mosques, with the free exercise of their religion, with
all its peculiar rites and ceremonies ; they were to be judged by their
own laws, under their own cadis, or magistrates, subject to the general
control of the Castilian governor: they were to be unmolested in their
ancient usages, manners, language, and dress ; to be protected in the
full enjoyment of their property, with the right of disposing of it on
their own account, and of migrating when and where they Avould ; and
to be furnished with vessels for the conveyance of such as chose within
three years to pass into Africa. No heavier taxes were to be imposed
than those customarily paid to their Arabian sovereigns, and none what-
ever before the expiration of three years. King Abdallah was to reign
(v;.T a specified territory in the Alpuxarras, for which he was to do
homage to the Castilian crown. The artillery and the fortifications were
to be delivered into the hands of the Christians, and the city was to be
surrendered in rixty days from the date of the capitulation. Such were
the principal terms of the surrender of Granada, as authenticated by the
most accredited Castilian and Arabian authorities ; which I have stated
the more precisely, as affording the best data for estimating the extent
of Spanish perfidy in later times.*
The conferences could not be conducted so secretly but that some
report of them got air among the populace of the city, who now regarded
Abdallah with an evil eye for his connexion with the Christians. When
the fact of the capitulation became known, the agitation speedily mounted
into an open insurrection, which menaced the safety of the city, as well
as of Abdallah' a person. In this alarming state of things, it was thought
best by that monarch's counsellors to anticipate the appointed day of
surrender ; and the 2nd of January, 1492, was accordingly fixed on for
that purpose.
* Martyr adds, that the principal Moorish nobility were to remove from the city
Pedraza, who has devoted :i volume to the history of Granada, does not seem to thiak t)u
capituhit i< 'iis w. nth specifying-. Most of the modem Castilians pass very lightly over them.
They furnish too bitter ;v comment on the conduct of subsequent Spanish mouarchs.
Maniii'l and the judicious* Zurita agree in every substantial particular with Coude, and thu
ooiuck'eii-.e may be considered as establishing the actual terms of the treaiy.
24fi AVAll OF GKANABA.
Every preparation was made by the Spaniards for performing this last
act of the drama with suitable pomp and effect. The mourning which
the court had put on for the death of Prince Alonso of Portugal,
occasioned by a fall from his horse a few months after his marriage with
the infanta Isabella, was exchanged for gay and magnificent apparel,
On the morning of the 2nd, the whole Christian camp exhibited a scene
of the most animating bustle. The grand cardinal Mendoza was sent
forward at the head of a large detachment, comprehending his household
troops, and the veteran infantry, grown gray in the Moorish wars, to
occupy the Alhanibra preparatory to the entrance of the sovereigns.*
Ferdinand stationed himself at some distance in the rear, near an
Arabian mosque, since consecrated as the hermitage of St. Sebastian.
He was surrounded by his courtiers, with their stately retinues, glittering
in gorgeous panoply, and proudly displaying the armorial bearings of
their ancient houses. The queen halted still farther in the rear, at the
village of Armilla.
As the column under the grand cardinal advanced up the Hill of
Martyrs, over which a road had been constructed for the passage of the
artillery, he was met by the Moorish prince Abdallah, attended by fifty
cavaliers, who, descending the hill, rode up to the position occupied by
Ferdinand on the banks of the Xenil. As the Moor approached the
Spanish king, he would have thrown himself from his horse, and saluted
his hand in token of homage ; but Ferdinand hastily prevented him,
embracing him with every mark of sympathy and regard. Abdallah
then delivered up the keys of the Alhanibra to his conqueror, saying,
" They are thine, Dicing, since Allah so decrees it; use thy success with
clemency and moderation." Ferdinand would have uttered some words
of consolation to the unfortunate prince, but he moved forward with a
dejected air to the spot occupied by Isabella, and, after similar acts of
obeisance, passed on to join his family, who had preceded him with his
most valuable effects on the route to the Alpuxarras.
The sovereigns during this time waited with impatience the signal of
the occupation of the city by the cardinal's troops, which, winding
slowly along the outer circuit of the walls, as previously arranged, in
vrder to spare the feelings of the citizens as far as possible, entered by
vhat is now called the gate of Los Molinos. In a short time, the large
silver cross, borne by Ferdinand throughout the crusade, was seen
sparkling in the sun-beams, while the standards of Castile and St. Jago
.vaved triumphantly from the red towers of the Alhanibra. At this
glorious spectacle, the choir of the royal chapel broke forth into the
solemn anthem of the Te Deum ; and the whole army, penetrated with
deep emotion, prostrated themselves on their knees in adoration of the
Lord of hosts, who had at length granted the consummation of their
wishes, in this last and glorious triumph of the Cross. The grandees
who surrounded Ferdinand then advanced towards the queen, and,
kneeling down, saluted her hand in token of homage to her as sovereign
of Granada. The procession took up its march towards the city, ' ' the
* Oviedo, whose narrative exhibits many discrepancies with those of other contempo-
raries, assigns tliis part to the count of Tcndilla, the first captain-general of Granada. But
as this writer, though an eye-witness, was lint thirteen or fourteen years of age at the time
of the capture, and wrote some sixty years later from his early recollections, his authority
cannot be considered of equal weight with that of persons who, like Martyr, described
events us they were passing be fere them.
. ::XDEK OF TUT: CAPITAL 217
.1 moving in the midst," says an historian, " emblazoned
with royal magnificence ; and, as they were in the prime of life, and
had now achieved the completion of this glorious conquest, they seemed
to represent even more than their wonted majesty. Equal with each
other, they were raised far above the rest of the world. They appeared,
indeed, more than mortal, and as if sent by Heaven for the salvation
of Spain." *
In the meanwhile the Moorish king, traversing the route of the
Alpuxarras, reached a rocky eminence which commanded a last view of
Granada. He checked his horse, and, as his eye for the last time
wandered over the scenes of his departed greatness, his heart swelled,
and he burst into tears. " You do well," said his more masculine
mother, " to weep like a woman for what you could not defend like a
vi:i:i!" "Alas!" exclaimed the unhappy exile, "when were woes
t!v<-r equal to mine!" The scene of this event is still pointed out to
the traveller by the people of the district ; and the rocky height from
which the Moorish chief took his sad farewell of the princely abodes of
his vouth, is commemorated by the poetical title of El Ultimo Sospiro
del J/oro, " The last Sigh of the Moor."
The sequel of AbdaUah's history is soon told. Like his uncle, El
Zagal, he pined away in his barren domain of the Alpuxarras, under
the shadow, as it were, of his ancient palaces. In the following year
he passed over to Fez with his family, having commuted his petty
sovereignty for a considerable sum of money paid him by Ferdinand
and Isabella, and soon after fell in battle in the service of an African
prince, his kinsman. " Wretched man ! " exclaims a caustic chronicler
of his nation, "who could lose his life in another's cause, though he
did not dare to die in his own. Such," continues the Arabian, with
characteristic resignation, "was the immutable decree of destiny.
Blessed be Allah, who exalteth and debaseth the kings of the earth
according to his divine will, in whose fulfilment consists that eternal
justice which regulates all human affairs." The portal through which
Xing Abdallah for the last time issued from his capital was at his
request walled up, that none other might again pass through it. In this
condition it remains to this day, a memorial of the sad destiny of the last
of the kings of Granada, -f
* L. Marineo, and indeed most of the Spanish authorities, represent the sovereigns as
having postponed their entrance into the city until the 5th or 6th of January. In Mr
Lockhart's picturesque version of the Moorish ballads, the reader may find an aiiimatec
description of the triumphant entry of the Christian army into Granada.
" There was crying in Granada when the sun was going dowrn,
16 calling on the Trinity, some calling on Mahoun ;
Here passed away the Koran, there in the Cross was borne,
And here was heard the Christian boll, and there the Moorish horn ;
Te Deiim law/amitr was up the Aleala sung,
I>own from the Alhambra's minarets were all the crescents flung;
The arms thereon of Aragon and Castile they display ;
One king comes in iu triumph, one weeping goes away."
f Mr. Irving, in his beautiful Spanish Sketch-book, "The Alhambra," devotes a chapter
to mementos of Boabdil, in which ho traces minutely the route of the deposed monarch
.uitting the gates of his capital. The same author, in the Appendix to his Chrwaclo
ot (u-anada. concludes a notice of Abiallah's tUto, with the following description ofhii
. : "A portrait of Boabdil el Chico is to be seen in the picture gallery of the Gene-
ralife. He is represente I with a mild, handsome face, a fair complexion, and yellow hair
His dress is of yellow brocade, relieved with black velvet ; and he lias a black velret
?48 WAR OF GEANADA.
The fall of Granada excited general sensation throughout Cnristen-
i1<>m, where it was received as counterbalancing, in a manner, the loss
of Constantinople, nearly half a century before. At Rome the event
was commemorated by a solemn procession of the pope and cardinals to
St. Peter's, where high mass was celebrated, and the public rejoicing
continued for several days.* The intelligence was welcomed with no
less satisfaction in England, where Henry the Seventh was seated on
the throne. The circumstances attending it, as related by Lord Bacon,
v, ill not be devoid of interest for the reader.t
Thus ended the war of Granada, which is often compared by the
Castilian chroniclers to that of Troy in its duration, and which certainly
fully equalled the latter in variety of picturesque and romantic incidents,
and in circumstances of poetical interest. With the surrender of its
capital, terminated the Arabian empire in the Peninsula, after an
existence of seven hundred and forty-one years from the date of the
cap, surmounted with a crown. In the armoury of Madrid are two suits of armour said
to have belonged to him, one of solid steel, with very little ornament ; the morion closed.
From the proportions of these suits of armour, he must have been of full stature arid
vigorous form."
* It formed the subject of a theatrical representation before the court at Naples, in the
same year. This drama, or Parsa, as it is called by its distinguished author, Sannazaro,
is an allegorical medley, in which Faith, Joy, and the false prophet Mahomet play the
principal parts. The difficulty of a precise classification of this piece has given rise to
warmer discussion among Italian critics than the subject may be thought to warrant.
+ " Somewhat aboutthis time came letters from Ferdinando and Isabella, kingand qxieen
of Spain, signifying the final conquest of Granada from the Moors ; which action, in itself
so worthy, King Ferdinaudo, whose manner was never to lose any virtue for the showing,
had expressed and displayed in his letters at large, with all the particularities and religious
punctos and ceremonies that were observed in the reception of that city and kin
showing, amongst other things, that the king would not by any means in person outer the
city until he had first aloof seen the Cross set up upon the greater tower of Gi
whereby it became Christian ground. That likewise, before he would cuter, he did
homage to God above, pronouncing by an herald from the height of that tower, that he did
acknowledge to have recovered that kingdom by the help of God Almighty, and the
glorious Virgin, and the viituous apostle St. James, and the holy father Innocent VIII.,
together with the aids and services of his prelates, nobles, and commons. That yet he
stirred not from his camp till he had seen a little army of martyrs, to the number of seven
hundred and more Christians, that had lived in bonds and servitude as slaves to the
M<x>rs, pass before his eyes, singing a psalm for their redemption ; and thot he h:;<i
tribute unto God, by arms and relief extended to them all. for his admission into the city.
These things were in the letters, with many more ceremonies of a kind of holy ostont uiou.
The king, ever willing to put himself into the consort or quire of all religious actii :
naturally affect ing much the king of Spain, as far as one king can affect another, j artly tor
lii.s virtues, and partly for a counterpoise to France, upon the receipt of these letters, sent
U1 his nobles and prelates that were about the court, together with the mayor and alder-
men of London, in great solemnity to the church of Paul, there to hear a declaration
from the lord chancellor, now cardinal. When they were assembled, the cardinal, standing
upon the uppermost step or half-pace, before the quire, and all the nobles, pi-elan
governors of the city at the foot of the stairs, made a speech to them, letting them know
that they were assembled in that consecrated place to sing unto God a new song. For
that, said he, these many years the Christians had not gained new ground or U
>ipon the infidels, nor enlarged and set farther the bounds of the Christian world. L'uS
vhis is now done by the prowess and devotion of Ferdiuando and Isabella, kings of Spain ;
who have, to their immortal honour, recovered the great and rich kingdom of Granada,
and the populous and mighty city of the same name, from the Moors, having been iii
possession thereof by the space of seven hundred years, and more ; for which this
assembly and all Christians are to render laud and thanks to God, and to celebrate
this noble act of the king of Spain, who in this U not only victorious but apostolical, in the
gaining of new provinces to the Christian faith. And the rather for that this victory and
c< )! most is obtained without much effusion of blood. Whereby it is to be hoped that "there
shall Vie gained not only new territory, but infinite souls to the Church of Christ, whom
the Almighty, as it seems, would have live to be converted. Herewithal he did relate
ome of the most memorable particulars of the war and victory. And, after his speech
i. the whole assembly went solemnly in procession, and Te Dcum was suu/j." Lord
Bacon, History of the lleign oi King Ilem-y Vii. i- i.^ f .vo:ka.
SUEltLXDEli OF THE CAPITAL. 249
original conquest. The consequences of this closing war were of tho
highest moment to Spain. The most obvious was tiie recovery of an
extensive territory, hitherto held by a people whose difference of religion,
language, and general habits made them not only incapable of assimi-
lating with their Christian neighbours, but almost their natural enemies;
while their local position was a matter of just concern, as interposed
between the great divisions of the Spanish monarchy, and opening an
obvious avenue to invasion from Africa. By the new conquest, more-
over, the Spaniards gained a large extent of country, possessing the
highest capacities for production, in its natural fruitfulness of soil,
temperature of climate, and in the state of cultivation to which it had
been brought by its ancient occupants ; whilst its shores were lined with
commodious havens, that afforded every facility for commerce. The
scattered fragments of the ancient Visigothic empire were now again,
with the exception of the little state of Navarre, combined into one
great monarchy, as originally destined by nature ; and Christian Spain
gradually rose, by means of her new acquisitions, from a subordinate
situation to the level of a lirst-rate European power.
The moral influence of the Moorish war, its influence on the Spanish
character, was highly important. The inhabitants of the great divisions
of the country, as in most countries during the feudal ages, had been
brought too frequently into collision with each other to allow the
existence of a pervading national feeling. This was particularly the
case in Spain, where independent states insensibly grew out of the
detached fragments of territory recovered at different times from the
Moorish monarchy. The war of Granada subjected all the various
sections of the country to one common action, under the influence of
common motives of the most exciting" interest ; while it brought them
in conflict with a race, the extreme repugnance of whose institutions
and character to their own served greatly to nourish the nationality of
sentiment. In this way the spark of patriotism was kindled throughout
the whole nation, and the most distant provinces of the Peninsula were
knit, together by a bond of union which has remained indissoluble.
The consequences of these wars in a military aspect are also worthy of
notice. Up to this period, war had been carried on by irregular levies,
extremely limited in numerical amount and in period of service ; under
little subordination, except to their own immediate chiefs, and wholly
unprovided with the apparatus required for extended operations. The
.Spaniards were even lower than most of the European nations in military
science, as is apparent from the infinite pains of Isabella to avail her-
self of all foreign resources for their improvement. In the war of
Granada, masses of men were brought together, far greater than had
hitherto been known in modern warfare. They were kept in the field
not only through long campaigns, but far into the winter a thing
altogether unprecedented. They were made to act in concert, and the
numerous petty chiefs brought in complete subjection to one common,
head, whose personal character enforced the authority of station. Lastly,
they were supplied with all the requisite munitions, through the pro-
vidence of Isabella, who introduced into the service the most skilful
engineers from other countries, and kept in pay bodies of mercenaries
as the Swiss, for example, reputed the best disciplined troops of that
day. In this admirable school the Spanish soldier was gradually trained
250 WAK OF GKAXADA.
to patient endurance, fortitude, and thorough subordination ; and those
celebrated captains were formed, with that invincible infantry, which in
the beginning of the sixteenth century spread the military fame of their
country over all Christendom.
But with all our sympathy for the conquerors, it is impossible, with-
out a deep feeling of regret, to contemplate the decay and final extinc-
tion of a race who had made such high advances in civilisation as the
Spanish Arabs ; to see them driven from the stately palaces reared
by their own hands, wandering as exiles over the lands which still
blossomed with the fruits of their industry, and wasting away under
persecution, until their very name as a nation was blotted out from the
map of history.* It must be admitted, however, that they had long
since reached their utmost limit of advancement as a people. The light
shed over their history hines from distant ages ; for, during the later
Eeriod of their existence, they appear to have reposed in a state of torpid,
ixurious indulgence, which would seem to argue, that, when causes of
external excitement were withdrawn, the inherent vices of their social
institutions had incapacitated them for the further production of
excellence. In this impotent condition, it was wisely ordered that their
territory should be occupied by a people whose religion and more liberal
form of government, however frequently misunderstood or perverted,
qualified them for advancing still higher the interests of humanity.
It will not be amiss to terminate the narrative of the war of Granada
with some notice of the fate of Rodrigo Ponce de Leon, marquis duke of
Cadiz ; for he may be regarded in a peculiar manner as the hero of it,
having struck the first stroke by the surprise of Albania, and witnessed
every campaign till the surrender of Granada. A circumstantial
account of his last moments is afforded by the pen of his worthy
aountrvman, the Andalusian curate of Los Palacios. The gallant
marquis survived the close of the war only a short time, terminating his
days at his mansion in Seville, on the 28th of August, 1492, with a
disorder brought oii by fatigue and incessant exposure. He had reached
the forty-ninth year of his age, and, although twice married, left no
legitimate issue. In his person he was of about the middle stature, of
a compact, symmetrical frame, a fair complexion, with light hair
inclining to red. He was an excellent horseman, and well skilled in
most of the exercises of chivalry. He had the rare merit of combining
sagacity with intrepidity in action. Though somewhat impatient, and
slow to forgive, ne was frank and generous, a warm friend, and a kind
master to his vassals. f
He was strict in his observance of the Catholic worship, punctilious in
keeping all the church festivals, and in enforcing their observance
throughout his domains ; and, in war, he was a most devout champion
of the Virgin. He was ambitious of acquisitions, but lavish of expen-
diture, especially in the embellishment and fortification of his towns
and castles ; spending on Alcal& de Guadaira, Xerez, and Alanis, the
enormous sum of seventeen million maravedis. To the ladies he was
The African descendants of the Spanish Moors, unable wholly to relinquish the hope
of restoration to the delicious abodes of their ancestors, continued for mauy generations,
and perhaps still continue, to put upa petition to thatcflect in their mosques every Friday.
t Don Henrique de Guzman, duke of Medina Sidmiia, the ancient enemy, and. since
uinenccmcnt of the Moorish war, the firm friend of the marquis of Cadiz, died the
26th o. August, on the same day with the latter.
APPLICATION' AT THE COURT. 2^1
courteous, as became a true knight. At his death, the king and queen
with the whole court went into mourning ; ''for he was a much-loved
cavalier," says the curate, "and was esteemed, like the Cid, both by
friend and foe ; and no Moor durst abide in that quarter of the field
where his banner was displayed."
His body, after lying in state for several days in his palace at Seville,
with his trusty sword by his side, with which he fought all his battles,
was borne in solemn procession by night through the streets of the city,
which was everywhere filled with the deepest lamentation ; and was
finally deposited in the great chapel of the Augustine church, in the
tomb of his ancestors. Ten Moorish banners, which he had taken in
battle with the infidel before the war of Granada, were borne alonjr al
his funeral, "and still wave over his sepulchre," says I5ernaldez,
" keeping alive the memory of his exploits, as undying as his soul."
The banners have long since mouldered into dust ; the very tomb which
contained his ashes has been sacrilegiously demolished ; but the fame
of the hero will survive as long as any thing like respect for valour,
courtesy, unblemished honour, or any other attribute of chivalry, shall
be found in Spain.*
CHAPTER XVI.
APPLICATION OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS AT THE SPANISH COTTBT.
1492.
Early discoveries of the Portuguese Of the Spaniards Columbus His application at
the Castilian Court llejei'teil Negotiations resumed Favourable disposition of
the Queen -Arrangement with Columbus He sails on his first Voyage Indifference
to the Enterprise Acknowledgments due to Isabella.
WHILE Ferdinand and Isabella were at Santa Fe, the capitulation
was signed that opened the way to an extent of empire, compared with
which their recent conquests, and indeed all their present dominions,
were insignificant. The extraordinary intellectual activity of the
Europeans in the fifteenth century, after the torpor of ages, carried them
forward to high advancement in almost every department of science,
but especially nautical, whose surprising results have acquired for the
ase the glory of being designated as peculiarly that of maritime
discovery. This was eminently favoured by the political condition of
modern Europe. Under the Roman empire, the traffic with the East
naturally centred in Rome, the commercial capital of the West. .After
the dismemberment of the empire, it continued to be conducted principallv
through the channel of the Italian ports, whence it was diffused over the
remoter regions of Christendom. But these countries, which had now
* The marquis left three illegitimate daughters by a noble Spanish lady, who all formed 1
high connections. He was succeeded in his titles and estates, by the i>ermission of
Ferdinand and Isabella, by Don Rodrigo Ponce de Leon, the son of'lii.s eldest daughter,
who had married with one of her kinsmen Cadiz was subsequently annexed by the
Spanish sovereigns to the cruwn, from which it had been detached in Henry IV.'
time ; and considerable estates were given as an equivalent, together with the title of duk*
of Arcos. to the r'aiuilv of Ponce de Leon.
232 CHKISTOPHEE COLUMBUS.
risen from the rank of subordinate provinces to that of separate, ir de-
pendent states, viewed with jealousy this monopoly of the Italian cities,
by means of which these latter were rapidly advancing- beyond them in
power and opulence. This was especially the case with "Portugal and
Castile,* which, placed on the remote frontiers of the European continent,
were far removed from the great routes of Asiatic intercourse ; while
this disadvantage was not compensated by such an extent of territory as
secured consideration to some other of the European states, equally
unfavourably situated for commercial purposes with themselves. Thus
circumstanced, the two nations of Castile and Portugal were naturally
led to turn their eyes on the great ocean which washed their western
borders, and to seek in its hitherto unexplored recesses for new domains,
and, if possible, strike out some undiscovered track towards the opulent
regions of the East.
The spirit of maritime enterprise was fomented, and greatly facilitated
in its operation, by the invention of the astrolabe, and the important
discovery of the polarity of the magnet, whose first application to the
purposes of navigation on an extended scale may be referred to the
fifteenth century. f The Portuguese were the first to enter on the brilliant
path of nautical discovery, which they pursued under the infant Don
Henry with such activity, that, before the middle of the fifteenth
century, they had penetrated as far as Cape de Verd, doubling many a
fearful headland which had shut in the timid navigator of former days ;
until at length, in 1486, they descried the lofty promontory which
terminates Africa on the south, and which, hailed by King John the
Second, under whom it was discovered, as the harbinger of the long-
sought passage to the East, received the cheering appellation of the Cape
of Good Hope.
The Spaniards, in the meanwhile, did not languish in the career of
maritime enterprise. Certain adventurers from the northern provinces
of Biscay and Guipuscoa, in 1393, had made themselves masters of one
of the smallest of the group of islands, supposed to be the Fortunate
Isles of the ancients, since known as the Canaries. Other private
adventurers from Seville extended their conquests over these islands in
the beginning of the following century. These were completed in behalf
of the crown under Ferdinand and Isabella, who equipped several fleets
for their reduction, which at length terminated in 1495 with that of
Tenerift'e.f From the commencement of their reign, Ferdinand and
* Aragon, or rather Catalonia, maintained an extensive commerce with the Levant, and
the remote regions of the East, during the middle ages, through the flourishing po t of
Barcelona.
t A council of mathematicians in the court of John II. of Portugal first devised the
application of the ancient astrolabe to navigation, thus affording to tho mariner t' e
'essential advantages appertaining to the modem quadrant. The discovery of the polari ,'
of the needle, which vulgar tradition assigned to the Amalfite Flavio Gioja, and \vh;< i
Robertson has sanctioned without scruple, is clearly proved to have occurred more th.-.-i a
century earlier. Tiraboschi, who investigates the matter wilh his usual erudition, pass-Tig
by the doubtful reference of Guiot de Proving, whose nge and personal identity even a e
contested, traces the familiar use cf tho magnetic needle ?is far back as the first half <>f
the thirteenth century, by a pertinent passage from (.'ardinal Vitri. who died 1'_'44 ; and
sustains this by several similar references to other authors of the s-imo century. Capmany
finds no notice of its use by the Castilian navigators earlier than l-10:i. It was not until
considerably later in the fifteenth century, that the Portuguese voyagers, trusting to Ha
4fuidance, ventured to quit the Mediterranean and African coasts, aiid extend thuir nan-
gatii'ii t.< Madeira :unl the Azores.
t Foui o:' the islands were conquered on behalf of private adventurers, cniofly fix m
HIS APPLICAi/O^ AT THE COl-RT. 253
Isabella had shown an earnest solicitude for the encouragement of com-
merce and nautical science, as is evinced by a variety of regulations
Mhieh. however imperfect, from the misconception of the true principles
of trade in that day, are sufficiently indicative of the dispositions of the
government.* Under them, and indeed under their predecessors as far
back as Henry the Third, a considerable traffic had been carried on with
the western coast of Africa, from which gold dust and slaves were
imported into the city of Seville. The annalist of that city notices the
repeated interference of Isabella in behalf of these unfortunate beings,
by ordinances tending to secure them a more equal protection of the
laws, or opening such social indulgences as might mitigate the hardship*
of their condition. A misunderstanding gradually arose between the
subjects of Castile and Portugal, in relation to their respective rights of
discovery and commerce on the African coast, which promised a fruitful
source of collision between the two crowns ; but which was happily
adjusted by an article in the treaty of 1479, that terminated the war of
the succession. By this it was settled that the right of traffic and of
discovery on the western coast of Africa should be exclusively reserved
to the Portuguese, who in their turn should resign all claims on the
Canaries to the crown of Castile. The Spaniards, thus excluded from,
further progress to the south, seemed to have no other opening left for
naval adventure than the hitherto untravelled regions of the great
western ocean. Fortunately, at this juncture, an individual appeared
among them, in the person of Christopher Columbus, endowed with
capacity for stimulating them to this heroic enterprise, and conducting
it to a glorious issue.
This extraordinary man was a native of Genoa, of humble parentage,
though perhaps honourable descent.f He was instructed in his early
youth at Pavia, where he acquired a strong relish for the mathematical
sciences, in which he subsequently excelled. At the age of fourteen he
engaged in a sea-faring life, which he followed with little intermission
till 1470 ; when, probably little more than thirty years of age, he landed
in Portugal, the country to which adventurous spirits from all parts of
the world then resorted, as the great theatre of maritime enterprise.
After his arrival, he continued to make voyages to the then known parts
of the world, and, when on shore, occupied himself with the construction
Andalusia, before the accession of Ferdinand and IsaHeUa, and under their reign were held
as the property of a noble Castilian family, named Peraza, The sovereigns sent a con-
siderable armament from Seville in 1480, which subdued the great island of Canary oa
Viehalf of the crown, and another in 1493, which effected the reduction of Palma and
Teneriffe, after a sturdy resistance from the natives. Berualdez postpones the 'ist
( onquest to 1495.
* Among the provisions of the sovereigns, enacted previous to the present date, may b
j.'Ted those for regulating the coin and weights ; for opening a free tnde between
Castile and Aragon ; for security to Genoese and Venetian trading vessels ; 'or safe conduct
t > mariners an<l fishermen ; for privileges to the seamen of Palos ; for prohibiting the
plunder of voss<As wrecked on the coast; and an ordinance of the very 'ast year, requiring-
: rs to take their return cargoes in the products of the country.
t It is very generally agreed that the father of Columbus exercised the craft of a wool-
carder, or weaver. The admiral's son, Ferdinand, after some speculation on the genealogy
of his illustrious parent, concludes with remarking, that, after all, a noble descent woiud 1
confer less uistre on him than to have sprang from such a father. A philosophical senti-
ment, indicating pretty strongly that he had no great ancestry to boast of. Ferdinand
finds something extremely mysterious and typical in his father's name of Cotumbus, signi-
fying a dove, in token of his being ordained to " carry tho olive-branch and oil of baptism
cvei the ocean, like Xoah'sdove, t/j derotcthe peace and union of the heathen people with
U 8 'iurch, alter they had been shut up '.u the ark of darkness and coufusiou."
J54 CHRISTOPHER COLCilSUS.
and sale of charts and maps ; while his geographical researches were
considerably aided by the possession of papers belonging to an eminent
Portuguese navigator, a deceased relative of his wife. Thus stored with
all that nautical science in that day could supply, and fortified by large
practical experience, the reflecting mind of Columbus was naturally led
to speculate on the existence of some other land beyond the western
waters ; and he conceived the possibility of reaching the eastern shores
of Asia, whose provinces of Zipango and Cathay were emblazoned in such
gorgeous colours in the narratives of ilandevil'le and the Poli, by a more
direct and commodious route than that which traversed the eastern
continent.*
The existence of land beyond the Atlantic, which was not discredited
by soTne of the most enlightened ancients, had become matter of common
speculation at the close of the fifteenth century ; when maritime
adventure was daily disclosing the mysteries of the deep, and bringing
to light new regions, that had hitherto existed only in fancy. A proof
of this popular belief occurs in a curious passage of the "Morgante
Maggiore" of the Florentine poet Pulci, a man of letters, but not
distinguished for scientific attainments beyond his day. The passage
is remarkable, independently of the cosmographies! knowledge it implies,
for its allusion to phenomena in physical science, not established till
more than a century later. The Devil, alluding to the vulgar super-
stition respecting the Pillars of Hercules, thus addresses his companion
llinaldo :
" Know that this theory is false ; his bark
The daring mariner shall urge far o'er
The western wave, a smooth and level plain.
Albeit the earth is fashioned like a wheel.
Man was in ancient days of grosser mould,
And Hercules might blush to learn how far
Beyond the limits he had vainly set
The dullest sea-boat soon shall wing her way.
Men shall descry another hemisphere.
Since to one common centre all things tend
80 earth, by curious mystery divine
Well balanced, hangs amid the starry sphere!.
At our Antipodes are cities, states,
And thronged empires, ne'er divined of yore.
But see, the Sun speeds on its western path
To glad the nations with expected light." f
Columbus's hypothesis rested on much higher ground than mere
popular belief. What indeed was credulity with the vulgar, and
speculation with the learned, amounted in his mind to a settled practical
* Ferdinand Columbus enumerates three grounds on which his father's conviction at
land in tie West was founded. First, natural reason, or conclusions drawn from science;
secondly, authority of writers, amounting to little more than vague speculations of th
ancients ; thirdly, testimony of sailors, comprehending, in addition to popular rumours of
land described in western voyages, such relics as appeared to have floated to the European
bores from the other side of the Atlantic.
t Pulci, Morgante Maggiore, canto 25, st. 229, 230. I have used blank verse, as affording
facility for a more literal version than the corresponding ottai-arima of the origiiial. This
passage of Pulci, which has not fallen under the notice of Humboldt, or any other writer
on the same subject whom I have consulted, affords, probably, the most circumstantial
prediction that is to be found of the existence of a western world. Dante, two centuries
before, had intimated more vaguely his belief in an undiscovered quarter of the globe :
" De' vostri sensi, ch' e del rimaneute,
Non vogliate negar 1'esperienza,
Dietro &1 sol, del mondo senza gente."
Inferno, cant 20, v. 11*.
HIS APPLICATION AT THE COURT. 255
conviction, that made liim ready to peril life and fortune on the result of
the experiment. He was fortified still further in his conclusions by a
correspondence with the learned Italian Toscanelli, who furnished him
with a map of his own projection, in which the eastern coast of Asia
was delineated opposite to the western frontier of Europe.*
Filled with lofty anticipations of achieving a discovery which would
settle a question of such moment, so long involved in obscurity, Columbus
submitted the theory on which he had founded his belief in the existence
of a western route to King John the Second, of Portugal. Here he was
doomed to encounter for the first time the embarrassments and mortifica-
tions which so often obstruct the conceptions of genius, too siiblime for
the age in which they are formed. After a long and fruitless negotiation,
and a dishonourable attempt on the part of the Portuguese to avail
themselves clandestinely of his information, he quitted Lisbon in disgust,
determined to submit his proposals to the Spanish sovereigns, relying on
their reputed character for wisdom and enterprise.
The period of his arrival in Spain, being the latter part of 1484,
would seem to have been the most unpropitious possible to his design.
The nation was then in the heat of the Moorish war, and the sovereigns
were unintermittingly engaged, as we have seen, in prosecuting their
campaigns, or in active preparation for them. The large expenditure
incident to this exhausted all their resources ; and indeed the engrossing
character of this domestic conquest left them little leisure for indulging
in dreams of distant and doubtful discovery. Columbus, moreover, was
unfortunate in his first channel of communication with the court. He
was furnished by Fray Juan Perez de Marchena, guardian of the convent
of La Rabida in Andalusia, who had early taken a deep interest in his
plans, with an introduction to Fernando de Talavera, prior of Prado,
and confessor of the queen, a person high in the royal confidence, and
gradually raised through a succession of ecclesiastical dignities to the
archiepiscopal see of Granada. He was a man of irreproachable morals,
and of comprehensive benevolence for that day, as is shown in his
subsequent treatment of the unfortunate Moriscoes. He was also
learned ; although his learning was that of the cloister, deeply tinctured
with pedantry and superstition, and debased by such servile deference
even to the errors of antiquity, as at once led him to discountenance
everything like innovation or enterprise.
With these timid and exclusive views, Talavera was so far from com-
prehending the vast conceptions of Columbus, that he seems to have
regarded him as a mere visionary, and his hypothesis as involving
principles not altogether orthodox. Ferdinand and Isabella, desirous of
obtaining the opinion of the most competent judges on the merits of
Coiumbus's theory, referred him to a council selected by Talavera, from
uid us a peninsular prolongation of Scandinavia.
256 cnnisior-JiER
the most eminent scholars of the kingdom, chiefly ecclesiastics, wh>3&
profession embodied most of the science of that day. Such was the
apathy exhibited by this learned conclave, and so numerous the impedi-
ments suggested by dulness, prejudice, or scepticism, that years glided
away before it came to a decision. During this time, Columbus appears
to have remained in attendance on the court, bearing arms occasionally
in the campaigns, and experiencing from the sovereigns an unusual
degree of deference and personal attention ; an evidence of which is
afforded in the disbursements repeatedly made by the royal order for his
private expenses, and in the instructions issued to the municipalities of
the different towns in Andalusia, to supply him gratuitously with lodg-
ing and other personal accommodations.
At length, however, Columbus, wearied out by this painful procras-
tination, pressed the court for a definite answer to his propositions ; when
he was informed that the council of Salamanca pronounced his scheme to
be "vain, impracticable, and resting on grounds too weak to merit the
support of the government." Many in the council, however, were too
enlightened to acquiesce in this sentence of the majority. Some of the
most considerable persons of the court, indeed, moved by the cogency of
Columbus' s arguments, and affected by the elevation and grandeur of
his views, not only cordially embraced his scheme, but extended their
personal intimacy and friendship to him. Such, among others, were
the grand cardinal Mendo/a. a man whose enlarged capacity and
acquaintance Avith affairs raised him above many of the narrow pre-
judices of his order; and Deza, archbishop of Seville, a Dominican
friar, whose commanding talents were afterwards unhappily perverted
in the service of the Holy Office, over which he presided as successor to
Torquemada.* The authority of these individuals had undoubtedly
trreat weight with the sovereigns, who softened the verdict of the j unto
by an assurance to Columbus, that, "although they were too much
occupied at present to embark in his undertaking, yet, at the conclusion
of the war, they should iind both time and inclination to treat with
him." Such was the ineffectual result of Columbus's long and painful
solicitation; and, far from receiving the qualified assurance of the
sovereigns in mitigation of their refusal, he seems to have considered it
as peremptory and final. In great dejection of mind, therefore, but
without further delay, he quitted the court, and bent his way to the
fioitth, with the apparently almost desperate intent of seeking out -tfne
other patron to his undertaking.
Columbus had already visited his native city of Genoa, for the purpose
of interesting it in his scheme of discovery ; but the attempt proved
unsuccessful. He now made application, it would seem, to the dukes of
Medina Sidonia and Medina Celi successively, from the latter of whom
he experienced much kindness and hospitality ; but neither of these
nobles, whose large estates lying along the sea-shore had often invit-d
them to maritime adventure, was disposed to assume one which seemed
* This prelate, Diego de Deza, was born of poor but respectable parents, at Toro. He
early entered the Dominican order, where his learning and exemplary life recommended
him to the notice of the sovereigns, who called him to court to take charge of Princ* John '
education. He was afterwards raised, through the usual course of episcopal preferment,
to the metropolitan see of Seville. His situation, as confess. >r of Ferdinand, gave him
Teat influence over that monarch, with whom he appears to li:ive maintained au muiuiu/s
rospoudence to the day of his duitii.
1113 A1TLICATIOX AT THE COURT. 2-jl
too hazardous for the resources of the crown. Without wasting time in
further solicitation, Columbus prepared, with a heavy heart, to bid adieu
to Spain (1-191), and carry his proposals to the king of France, from
whom he had received a letter of encouragement while detained in
Andalusia.
His progress, however, was arrested at the convent of La Rabida,
which he visited previous to his departure, by his friend the guardian,
who prevailed on him to postpone his journey till another effort had
been made to move the Spanish court in his favour. For this purpose
the worthy ecclesiastic undertook an expedition in person to the newly-
erected city of Santa Fo, where the sovereigns lay encamped before
Granada. Juan Perez had formerly been confessor of Isabella, and was
held in great consideration by her for his excellent qualities. On
arriving at the camp, he was readily admitted to an audience, when he
pressed the suit of Columbus with all the earnestness and reasoning of
which he was capable. The friar's eloquence was supported by that of
several eminent persons whom Columbus during his long residence in the
country had interested in his project, and who viewed with sincere
regret the prospect of its abandonment. Among these individuals are
particularly mentioned Alonso de Quintanilla, comptroller-general of
Castile, Louis de St. Angel, a fiscal officer of the crown of Aragon,
and the marchioness of Moya, the personal friend of Isabella, all of
whom exercised considerable influence over her counsels. Their repre-
sentations, combined with the opportune season of the application,
occurring at the moment when the approaching termination of the
Moorish war allowed room for interest in other objects, wrought so
favourable a change in the dispositions of the sovereigns, that they
consented to resume the negotiation with Columbus. An invitation
was accordingly sent to him to repair to Santa Fe, and a con-
siderable sum provided for his suitable equipment, and his expenses
on the road.
- Columbus, who lost no time in availing himself of this welcome
intelligence, arrived at the camp in season to witness the surrender of
Granada, when every heart, swelling with exultation at the triumphant
termination of the war, -svas natxirally disposed to enter with greater
confidence on a new career of adventure. At his interview with the
king and queen, he once mure exhibited the arguments on which his
hypothesis was founded. He then endeavoured to stimulate the cupidity
of his audience, by picturing the realms of Mangi and Cathay, which
he confidently expected to reach by this western route, in all the
barbaric splendours which had been shed over them by the lively fancy
of Marco Polo and other travellers of the middle ages : and he concluded
with appealing to a higher principle, by holding out the prospect of
extending the empire of the Cross over nations of benighted heathen,
while he proposed to devote the profits of his enterprise to the recovery
of the Holy Sepulchre. This last ebullition, which might well have
passed for fanaticism in a later day, and given a visionary tinge to
his whole project, was not quite so preposterous in an age in which
the spirit of the crusades might be said still to linger, and the romance
of religion had not yet been dispelled by sober reason. The more
temperate u of the diffusion of the Gospel was well suited
to affect Isabella, in whose heart the principle of devotion was deeply
258 CHEISTOPHEB COLUMBUS.
seated, and who, in all her undertakings, se^ms to have been far
less sensible to the vulgar impulses of avarice or ambition, than to
any argument connected, however remotely, with the interests of
religion.
Amidst all these propitious demonstrations towards Columbus, an
obstacle unexpectedlv arose in the nature of his demands, which
stipulated for himself and heirs the title and authority of Admiral
and Viceroy over all lands discovered by him, with one-tenth of the
profits. This was deenn.d wholly inadmissible. Ferdinand, who had
looked with cold distrust on the expedition from the first, was
supported by the remonstrances of Talavera, the new archbishop of
Granada, who declared that "such demands savoured of the highest
degree of arrogance, and would be unbecoming in their Highnesses to
grant to a needy foreign adventurer." Columbus, however, steadily
resisted every attempt to induce him to modify his propositions. On
this ground the conferences were abruptly broken off, and he once
more turned his back upon the Spanish court, resolved rather to forego
his splendid anticipations of discovery at the very moment when the
career so long sought was thrown open to him, than surrender one of
the honourable distinctions due to his services. This last act, is,
perhaps, the most remarkable exhibition in his whole life, of that
proud, unyielding spirit which sustained him through so many years
of trial, and enabled him at length to achieve his great enterprise, in
the face of every obstacle which man and nature had opposed to it.
The misunderstanding was not suffered to be of long duration.
Columbus's friends, and especially Louis de St. Angel, remonstrated
with the queen on these proceedings in the most earnest manner. He
frankly told her that Columbus's demands, if high, were at least
contingent on success, when they would be well deserved ; that, if he
failed, he required nothing. He expatiated on his qualifications for
the undertaking, so signal as to ensure in all probability the patronage
of some other monarch, who would reap the fruits of his discoveries ;
and he ventured to remind the queen, that her present policy was not
in accordance with the magnanimous spirit which had hitherto made her
the ready patron of great and heroic enterprise. Far from being
displeased, Isabella was moved by his honest eloquence. She contem-
plated the proposals of Columbus in their true light ; and, refusing to
hearken any longer to the suggestions of cold and timid counsellors, she
gave way to the natural impulses of her own noble and generous heart :
" I will assume the undertaking," said she, " for my own crown of
Castile, and am ready to pawn my jewels to defray the expenses of it, if
the funds in the treasury shall be found inadequate." The treasur
had been reduced to the lowest ebb by the late war ; but the receiver
St. Angel, advanced the sums required, from the Aragonese revenue
deposited in his hands. Aragon, however, was not considered as
adventuring in the expedition, the charges and emoluments of which
were reserved exclusively for Castile.
Columbus, who was overtaken by the royal messenger at a few
leagues' distance only from Granada, experienced the most courteous
rot-option on his return to Santa Fe, where a definitive arrangement was
concluded with the Spanish sovereigns, April 17th, 1492. By the
terms of the capitulation, Ferdinand and Isabella, as lords of the ocean-
HIS APPLICATION AT THE COURT. 259
Bea-, coustitiitcd Christopher Columbus their admiral, viceroy, and
governor-general of all such islands and continents as lie should
discover in the -western ocean ; with the privilege of nominating
three candidates, for the selection of one by the crown, for the govern-
ment of each of these territories. He was to be vested with exclusive
right of jurisdiction over all commercial transactions within his
admiralty. He was to be entitled to one-tenth of all the products and
profits within the limits of his discoveries, and an additional eighth,
provided he should contribute one-eighth part of the expense. By a
subsequent ordinance, the official dignities above enumerated were
settled on him and his heirs for ever, with the privilege of prefixing the
title of Don to their names, which had not then degenerated into an
appellation of mere courtesy.
No sooner were the arrangements completed, than Isabella prepared
with her characteristic promptness to forward the expedition by the
most efficient measures. Orders were sent to Seville and the other
ports of Andalusia, to furnish stores and other articles requisite for
the voyage, free of duty, and at as low rates as possible. The fleet,
consisting of three vessels, was to sail from the little port of Palos, in
Andalusia, which had been condemned for some delinquency to maintain
two caravels for a twelvemonth for the public service. The third
vessel was furnished by the admiral, aided, as it would seem, in defraying
the charges, by his friend the guardian of La Rabida, and the Pinzons,
a family in Palos long distinguished for its enterprise among the
mariners of that active community. "\Vith their assistance, Columbus
was enabled to surmount the disinclination, and indeed open opposition,
manifested by the Audalusian mariners to his perilous voyage ; so that
in less than three months his little squadron was equipped for sea. A
sufficient evidence of the extreme unpopularity of the expedition is
afforded by a royal ordinance of the 30th of April, promising protection
to all persons who should embark in it from criminal prosecution of
whatever kind, until two months after their return. The armament
consisted of two caravels, or light vessels without decks, and a third of
larger burden. The total number of persons who embarked, amounted
to one hundred and twenty ; and the whole charges of the crown for the
expedition, did not exceed seventeen thousand florins. The fleet was
instructed to keep clear of the African coast, and other maritime
possessions of Portugal. At length, all things being in readiness
Columbus and his whole crew partook of the sacrament, and confessed
themselves, after the devout manner of the ancient Spanish voyagers,
when engaged in any important enterprise ; and on the morning of the
3rd of August, 1492, the intrepid navigator, bidding adieu to the Old
World, launched forth on that unfathomed waste of waters where no
sail had been ever spread before.*
* The expression in the text will not seem too strong, even admitting the previous dis-
coveries of the Northmen, which wore made in so much higher latitudes. Humboldt
h:is well shown the i>r inability. i'i jirinri, of such discoveries, made in a narrow part.
of the Atlantic, where the Oreades, the Feroe Islands. Iceland, and Greenland, aflbi-.l.id
the voyai/cr so many internvjdiate stations, at moderate distances from each other.
The publication of the original Scandinavian J1*S. (of which imperfect notices and
selections only have hitherto found their way into the world), by the Hoyal Society of
Northern Antiquaries at Copenhagen, is a matter of the deepest interest; and it is
fortunate that it is to be conduct .vhich must insure its execution in tho>
most faithful and able manner. It may be doubted, however, whether the declaration of
s
260 CHKISTOPHER COLT7MBTJS.
It is impossible to peruse the story of Columbus without assigning to
him almost exclusively the glory of his great discovery ; for, from the
first moment of its conception, to that of its final execution, he was
encountered by every species of mortification and embarrassment, with
scarcely a heart to cheer, or a hand to help him. Those more
enlightened persons, whom, during his long residence in Spain, he
succeeded in interesting in his expedition, looked to it probably as the
means of solving a dubious problem, with the same sort of vague
and sceptical curiosity as to its successful result with which we
contemplate, in our day, an attempt to arrive at the Northwest passage.
How feeble was the interest excited, even among those who from their
science and situation would seem to have their attention most naturally
drawn towards it, may be inferred from the infrequency of allusion to
it in the correspondence and other writings of that time, previous to
the actual discovery. Peter Martyr, one of the most accomplished
scholars of the period, whose residence at the Castilian court must have
fully instructed him in the designs of Columbus, and whose inquisitive
mind led him subsequently to take the deepest interest in the results of
his discoveries, does not, so far as I am aware, allude to him in any
part of his voluminous correspondence with the learned men of his time,
previous to the first expedition. The common people regarded, not
merely with apathy, but with terror, the prospect of a voyage that was
to take the mariner from the safe and pleasant seas which he was
accustomed to navigate, and send him roving on the boundless wilderness
of waters, which tradition and superstitious fancy had peopled with
innumerable forms of horror.
It is true that Columbus experienced a most honourable reception at
the Castilian court, such as naturally flowed from the benevolent spirit
of Isabella, and her just appreciation of his pure and elevated character.
But the queen was too little of a proficient in science, to be able to
estimate the merits of his hypothesis : and, as many of those on whose
judgment she leaned, deemed it chimerical, it is probable that she never
entertained a deep conviction of its truth ; at least, not enough to
warrant the liberal expenditure which she never refused to schemes of
real importance. This is certainly inferred by the paltry amount
actually expended on the armament, far inferior to that appropriated
to the equipment of two several fleets in the course of the late war for
a foreign expedition, as well as to that with which in the ensuing year
she followed up Columbus's discoveries.
But while, on a review of the circumstances, we are led more and
more to admire the constancy and unconquerable spirit which carried
Columbus victorious through all the difficulties of his undertaking, we
must remember, in justice to Isabella, that, although tardily, she did in
fact furnish the resources essential to its execution ; that she undertook
the enterprise when it had been explicitly declined by other powers, and
when probably none other of that age would have been found to
countenance it ; and that, after once plighting her faith to Columbus,
she became his steady friend, shielding him against the calumnies oi his
enemies, reposing in him the most generous confidence, and serving him
the Prospectus, that " it was the knowledge of the Scandinavian voyages, in all probability,
which prompted the expedition of Columbus," can ever be established. His personal
history furnishes strong internal evidence to the contrary.
EXPULSION OF THE JEWS. 261
in the most acceptable manner, by supplying ample resources for the
prosecution of his glorious discoveries.*
CHAPTER XVII.
UPCLSION OF THE JEWS FKOM SPAIN.
1492.
Excitement against the Jews Edict of Expulsion Dreadful Sufferings of the Emigrants
Whole number of Exiles Disastrous Results True Motives of the Edict Contempo-
rary Judgments.
WHILE the Spanish sovereigns were detained before Granada, they pub-
lished their memorable and most disastrous edict against the Jews ;
inscribing it, as it were, with the same pen which drew up the glorious
capitulation of Granada, and the treaty with Columbus. The reader has
been made acquainted in a preceding chapter with the prosperous condi-
tion of the Jews in the Peninsula, and the pre-eminent consideration
which they attained there beyond any other part of Christendom. The
envy raised by their prosperity, combined with the high religious excite-
ment kindled in the long war with the infidel, directed the terrible arm.
of the Inquisition, as has been already stated, against this unfortunate
people ; but the result showed the failure of the experiment, since com-
paratively few conversions, and those frequently of a suspicious character,
were effected, while the great mass still maintained a pertinacious attach-
ment to ancient errors, f
Under these circumstances, the popular odium, inflamed by the dis-
content of the clergy at the resistance which they encountered in the
work of proselytism, gradually grew stronger and stronger against the
unhappy Israelites. Old traditions, as old indeed as the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries, were revived and charged on the present generation,
with all the details of place and action. Christian children were said to
be kidnapped, in order to be crucified in derision of the Saviour ; the
hst, it was rumoured, was exposed to the grossest indignities; and
physicians and apothecaries, whose science was particularly cultivated by
the Jews in the middle ages, were accused of poisoning their Christian
patients. Xo rumour was too absurd for the easy credulity of the people.
The Israelites were charged with the more probable offence of attempting
to convert to their own faith the ancient Christians, as well as to reclaim
such of their own race as had recently embraced Christianity. A great
scandal was occasioned also by the intermarriages, wliich still occasionally
took place between Jews and Christians ; the latter condescending to
* Columhus, in a letter written on his third voyage, pays an honest, heartfelt tribute to
the effectual patronage which he experienced from the queen. " In the midst of the
general incredulity," says he, "the Almighty infused into the queen, my lady, the spirit
of intelligence and energy ; and, whilst every one else in his ignorance was expatiating
only on the inconvenience and cost, her highness approved it, on the contrary, and gave it
all the support in her power."
t It is a proof of the high consideration in which such Israelites as were willing to
embrace Christianity were held, that three of that number, Alvarez, Avila, and Pulgar,
Were private secretaries of the queeu.
262 EXPULSION OF THE JEWS.
repair their dilapidated fortunes by those wealthy alliances, though at
the expense of their vaunted purity of blood.
These various offences were urged against the Jews with great perti-
nacity by their enemies, and the sovereigns were importuned to adopt a
more rigorous policy. The inquisitors, in particular, to whom the work
of conversion had been specially intrusted, represented the incompetence
of all lenient measures to the end proposed. They asserted that the only
mode left for the extirpation of the Jewish heresy was to eradicate the
seed ; and they boldly demanded the immediate and total banishment of
every unbaptised Israelite from the land.
The Jews, who had obtained an intimation of these proceedings,
resorted to their usual crafty policy for propitiating the sovereigns.
They commissioned one of their body to tender a donative of thirty
thousand ducats towards defraying the expenses of the Moorish war.
The negotiation, however, was suddenly interrupted by the inquisitor-
general, Torquemada, who burst into the apartment of the palace, where
the sovereigns were giving audience to the Jewish deputy, and drawing
forth a crucifix from beneath his mantle, held it up, exclaiming, " Judas
Iscariot sold his master for thirty pieces of silver. Your Highnesses
would sell him anew for thirty thousand ; here he is, take him and
barter him away." So saying, the frantic priest threw the crucifix on
the table, and left the apartment. The sovereigns, instead of chastising
this presumption, or despising it as a mere freak of insanity, were over-
awed by it. Neither Ferdinand nor Isabella, had they been left to the
unbiassed dictates of their own reason, could have sanctioned for a
moment so impolitic a measure, which involved the loss of the most
industrious and skilful portion of their subjects. Its extreme injustice
and cruelty rendered it especially repugnant to the naturally humane
disposition of the Queen. But she had been early schooled to distrust
her own reason, and indeed the natural suggestions of humanity, in
cases of conscience. Among the reverend counsellors on whom she
most relied in these matters was the Dominican Torquemada. The
situation which this man enjoyed, as the queen's confessor during the
tender years of her youth, gave him an ascendancy over her mind, which
must have been denied to a person of his savage, fanatical temper, even
with the advantages of this spiritual connexion, had it been formed at a
riper period of her life. Without opposing further resistance to the
representations, so emphatically expressed, of the holy persons in whom
she most confided, Isabella at length silenced her own scruples, and con-
sented to the fatal measure of proscription.
The edict for the expulsion of the Jews was signed by the Spanish
sovereigns at Granada, March 30th, 1492. The preamble alleges, in
vindication of the measure, the danger of allowing further intercourse
between the Jews and their Christian subjects, in consequence of the
incorrigible obstinacy with which the former persisted in their attempts
to make converts of the latter to their own faith, and to instruct them in
their heretical rites, in open defiance of every legal prohibition and
penalty. When a college or corporation of any kind the instrument
goes on to state is convicted of any great or detestable crime, it is right
that it should be disfranchised, the less suffering with the greater, the
innocent witli the guilty. If this be the case in temporal concerns, it is
much more so in those which affect the eternal welfare of the soul. It
EXPULSION OF THE JEWS. 2&7
finally decrees, that all unbaptised Jews, of whatever sex, age, or condi*
tion, should depart from the realm by the end of July next ensuing ;
prohibiting them from revisiting it, on any pretext whatever, under
penalty of death and confiscation of property. It was, moreover, inter-
dicted to every subject, to harbour, succour, or minister to the necessities
of any Jew, after the expiration of the term limited for his departure.
The persons and property of the Jews, in the mean time, were taken
under the royal protection. They were allowed to dispose of their effects
of every kind on their own account, and to carry the proceeds along with
them, in bills of exchange, or merchandise not prohibited, but neither ID
gold nor silver.
The doom of exile fell like a thunderbolt on the heads of the Israelites.
A large proportion of them had hitherto succeeded in shielding them-
selves from the searching eye of the Inquisition by an affectation of
reverence for the forms of Catholic worship, and a discreet forbearance
of whatever might offend the prejudices of their Christian brethren.
They had even hoped that their steady loyalty, and a quiet and orderly
discharge of their social duties, would in due time secure them higher
immunities. Many had risen to a degree of opulence by means of the
thrift and dexterity peculiar to the race, which gave them a still deeper
interest in the land of their residence. Their families were reared in
all the elegant refinements of life ; and their wealth and education often
disposed them to turn their attention to liberal pursuits, which ennobld
the character indeed, but rendered them personally more sensible to
physical annoyance, and less fitted to encounter the perils and privations
of their dreary pilgrimage. Even the mass of the common people
possessed a dexterity in various handicrafts which afforded a comfortable
livelihood, raising them far above similar classes in most other nations,
sened to be
These ties
They were to go forth as exiles from the
land of their birth ; the land where all whom they ever loved had lived
or died ; the land, not so much of their adoption, as of inheritance ;
which had been the home of their ancestors for centuries, and with
whose prosperity and glory they were of course as intimately associated
as was any ancient Spaniard. They were to be cast out helpless and
defenceless, with a brand of infamy set on them, among nations who
had always held them in derision and hatred.
Those provisions of the edict which affected a show of kindness to the
Jews, were contrived so artfully as to be nearly nugatory. As they
were excluded from the use of gold and silver, the only medium for
representing their property was bills of exchange ; but commerce was
too limited and imperfect to allow of these being promptly obtained to
any very considerable, much less to the enormous amount required in
the present instance. It was impossible, moreover, to negotiate a sale
of their effects under existing circumstances, since the market was soon
glutted with commodities ; and few would be found willing to give any-
thing like an equivalent for what, if not disposed of within the prescribed
term, the proprietors must relinquish at any rate. So deplorable, indeed,
was the sacrifice of property, that a chronicler of the day mentions, that
he had SLVII a house- exchanged for an ass, and a vineyard for a suit of
clothes! In Arogon, matters were still worse. The government there
2G4 EXPULSION OF in:: JL-.VS.
discovered that the Jews \vere largely indebted to individuals, and to
certain corporations. It accordingly caused their property to be seques-
trated for the benefit of their creditors, until their debts should be
liquidated. Strange, indeed, that the balance should be found against
a people who had been everywhere conspicuous for their commercial
sagacity and resources, and who, as factors of the great nobility and
farmers of the revenue, enjoyed at least equal advantages in Spain with
those possessed in other countries for the accumulation of wealth.*
While the gloomy aspect of their fortunes pressed heavilv on the
hearts of the Israelites, the Spanish clergy were indefatigable in tho
ivork of conversion. They lectured in the synagogues and public
squares, expounding the doctrines of Christianity, and thundering forth
both argument ana invective against the Hebrew heresy. But their
laudable endeavours were in a great measure counteracted by the more
authoritative rhetoric of the Jewish Kabbins, who compared the perse-
cutions of their brethren to those which their ancestors had sull'ired
under Pharaoh. They encouraged them to persevere, representing that
the present afflictions were intended as a trial of their faith by the
Almighty, who designed in this way to guide them to the promised land,
by opening a path through the waters, as He had done to their fathers
of old. The more wealthy Israelites enforced their exhortations by
liberal contributions for the relief of their indigent brethren. Thus
strengthened, there were found but very few, when the day of departure
arrived, who were not prepared to abandon their country rather than,
their religion. This extraordinary act of self-devotion by a whole
people for conscience' sake may be thought, in the nineteenth century,
to merit other epithets than those of "perfidy, incredulity, and stitf-
necked obstinacy," with which the worthy curate of Los Palacios, in the
charitable feeling of that day, has seen tit to stigmatise it.
When the period of departure arrived, all the principal routes through
the country might be seen swarming with emigrants, old and young,
the sick and the helpless, men, women, and children, mingled pro-
miscuously together, some mounted on horses or nniles, but far the
greater part undertaking their painful pilgrimage on foot. The sight
of so much misery touched even the Spaniards with pity, though none
might succour them ; for the grand inquisitor, Torquemada, enforced
the ordinance to that effect, by denouncing heavy ecclesiastical censures
on all who should presume to violate it. The fugitives were distributed
along various routes, being determined in their destination by accidental
circumstances, much more than any knowledge of the respective countries
to which they were bound. Much the largest division, amounting ac-
cording to some estimates to eighty thousand souls, passed into Portugal ;
whose monarch, John the Second, dispensed with his scruples of con-
ecience so far as to give them a free passage through his dominions on
their way to Africa, in consideration of a tax of a cruzado a head. He
is even said to have silenced his scruples so far as to allow certain
ingenious artisans to establish themselves permanently in the kingdom.
A considerable number found their way to the ports of Santa Maria
and Cadiz, where, after lingering some time in the vain hope of seeing
* Capmany notices the number of synagogues existing in Aragon, in 1428, as
amounting to nineteen. ID Galicia, at the same time there were but three, and ia
Catalonia but or e.
EXPULSION OF THE JEWS. 265
the v.\ tere op.u for their egress, according to the promises of the Rabbins,
they embarked on board a Spanish fleet for the Barbary coast. Having
crossed over to Ercilla, a Christian settlement in Africa, whence they
proceeded by land towards Fez, where a considerable body of their
countrymen resided, they were assaulted on their route by the roving
tribes of the desert, in quest of plunder. Notwithstanding the interdict,
the Jews had contrived to secrete small sums of money, sewed up in,
their garments or the linings of their saddles. These did not escape the
avaricious eyes of their spoilers, who are even said to have ripped open
the bodies of their victims in search of gold, which they were supposed
to have swallowed. The lawless barbarians, mingling lust with avarice,
abandoned themselves to still more frightful excesses, violating the wives
and daughters of the unresisting Jews, or massacring in cold blood such
as offered resistance. But, without pursuing these loathsome details
further, it need only be added, that the miserable exiles endured such
extremity of famine, that they were glad to force a nourishment from
the grass which grew scantily among the sands of the desert, until at
length great numbers of them, wasted by disease, and broken in spirit,
retraced their steps to Ercilla, and consented to be baptised, in the hope
of being permitted to revisit their native land. The number, indeed,
was so considerable, that the priest who officiated was obliged to make
use of the mop, or hyssop, with which the Roman Catholic missionaries
were wont to scatter the holy drops, whose mystic virtue could cleanse
the soul in a moment from the foulest stains of infidelity. " Thus,"
says a Castilian historian, "the calamities of these poor blind creatures
proved in the end an excellent remedy, that God made use of to unseal
their eyes, which they now opened to the vain promises of the Rabbins
so that, renouncing their ancient heresies, they became faithful followers
of the Cross ! "
Many of the emigrants took the direction of Italy. Those who landed
at Naples brought with them an infectious disorder, contracted by long
confinement in small, crowded, and ill-provided vessels. The disorder
was so malignant, and spread with such frightful celerity, as to sweep
off more than twenty thousand inhabitants of the city in the course
of the year, whence it extended its devastation over the whole Italian
peninsula.
A graphic picture of these horrors is thus given by a Genoese historian,
an eye-witness of the scenes he describes. "No one," he says, "could
behold the sufferings of the Jewish exiles unmoved. A great many
perished of hunger, especially those of tender years. Mothers, with
scarcely strength to support themselves, carried their famished infants
in their arms, and died with them. Many fell victims to the cold, others
to intense thirst, while the unaccustomed distresses incident to a sea
voyage aggravated their maladies. I will not enlarge on the cruelty '
and the avarice which they frequently experienced from the masters of
the ships which transported them from Spain. Some were murdered to
gratify their cupidity, others forced to sell their children for the expenses
of the passage. They arrived in Genoa in crowds, but were not suffered
to tarry there long, by reason of the ancient law which interdicted the
Jewish traveller from a longer residence than three days. They were
allowed, however, to refit their vessels, and to recruit themselves for some
days from the fatigues of their voyage. One might have taken them for
266 EXPCLSIOX OF THE JEWS.
spectres, so emaciated were they, so cadaverous in their aspect, and -with,
eves so sunken : they differed in nothing from the dead, except in the
power of motion, which indeed they scarcely retained. Many fainted
and expired on the mole, which, being completely surrounded by the
sea, was the only quarter vouchsafed to the wretched emigrants. The
infection bred by such a swarm of dead and dying persons was not at
once perceived ; but, when the winter broke up, ulcers began to make
their appearance ; and the malady, which lurked for a long time in the
city, broke out into the plague in the following year."
Many of the exiles passed into Turkey, and to different parts of the
Levant, where their descendants continued to speak the Castilian
language far into the following century. Others found their way to
France, and even England. Part of their religious services is recited to
this day in Spanish, in one or more of the London synagogues ; and the
modern Jew still reverts with fond partiality to Spain, as the cherished
land of his fathers, illustrated by the most glorious recollections in their
eventful history.*
The whole number of Jews expelled from Spain by Ferdinand and
Isabella, is variously computed from one hundred and sixty thousand to
eight hundred thousand souls ; a discrepancy sufficiently indicating the
paucity of authentic data. Most modern writers, with the usual pre-
dilection for startling results, have assumed the latter estimate ; and
Llorente has made it the basis of some important calculations, in his
History of the Inquisition. A view of all the circumstances will lead
us without much hesitation to adopt the more moderate computation.!
This, moreover, is placed beyond reasonable doubt by the direct
testimony of the curate of Los Palacios. He reports, that a Jewish
Rabbin, one of the exiles, subsequently returned to Spain, where he
was baptised by him. This person, whom Bernaldez commends for his
intelligence, estimated the whole number of his unbaptised countrymen
in the dominions of Ferdinand and Isabella, at the publication of the
edict, at thirty-six thousand families. Another Jewish authority,
quoted by the curate, reckoned them at thirty-five thousand. This,
assuming an average of four and a half to a family, gives the sum
total of about one hundred and sixty thousand individuals, agreeably to
the computation of Bernaldez. There is little reason for supposing that
* Not a few of the learned exiles attained to eminence in those countries of Europe
where they transferred their residence. One is mentioned by Castro as a leading prac-
titioner of medicine in Genoa ; another, as filling the posts of astronomer and chronicler
under King Emanuel of Portugal. Many of them published works in various departments
of science, which were translated into the Sjianish and other European languages.
t From a curious document in the Archive* of Simancas, consisting of a report made to
the Spanish sovereigns by their accountant-general, Quintauilla, in 1492, it would appear
that the population of the kingdom of Castile, exclusive of Granada, was then estimated
at 1,600,000 vrcinoi, or householders. This, allowing four and a half to a family, would
make the whole population 6,750,000. It appears from the statement of Bernaldez, that
the kingdom of Castile contained five-sixths of the whole amount of Jews in the Spanish
monarchy. This proportion, if 800,000 be received as the total, would amount in round
numbers to 670,000, or ten per cent, of the whole population of the kingdom. Now it is
manifestly improbable that so large a portion of the whole nation, conspicuous moreover
iltli and intelligence, could have been held so light in a political aspect, as the Jews
certainly were, or have tamely submitted for so many years to the most wanton indig-
nities without resistance; or finally, that the Spanish government would have ventured
on so bold a measure as the banishment of so numerous and powerful a class, and that
too with as few precautions apparently as would bo required ibr driving out of the country
a rovii\g gang o: gipsies.
X OF THE JEWS. 267
the actual amount would suffer diminution in the hands of either the
Jewish or Castilian authority ; hinco the one might naturally be led to
exaggerate, in order to heighten sympathy with the calamities of his
nation, and the other, to magnify as far as possible the glorious triumphs
of the Cross.
The detriment incurred by the state, however, is not founded so much
on any numerical estimate, as on the subtraction of the mechanical skill,
intelligence, and general resources of an orderly, industrious population.
In this view, the mischief was incalculablv greater than that interred by
the mere number of the exiled ; and, although even this might have
been gradually repaired in a country allowed the free and healthful
development of its energies, yet in Spain this was so effectually coun-
teracted by the Inquisition, and ot'her causes in the following century,
that the loss may be deemed irretrievable.
The expulsion of so numerous a class of subjects by an independent
act of the sovereign might well be regarded as an enormous stretch of
prerogative, altogether incompatible with anything like a free govern-
ment. But, to judge the matter rightly, we must take into view the
ai-tual position of the Jews at that time. Far from forming a.n integral
part of the commonwealth, they were regarded as alien to it,- -as a mere
excrescence, which, so far from contributing to the healthful action of
the body politic, was nourished by its vicious humours, and might be
lopped off at any time when the health of the system demanded it. Far
from being protected by the laws, the only aim of the laws, in reference
them, was to define more precisely their civil incapacities, and to
<iraw the line of division more broadly between them and the Christians.
Even this humiliation by no mean.i satisfied the national prejudices, as
is evinced by the great number of tumults and massacres of which they
were the victims. In these circumstances, it seemed to be no great
uption of authority to pronounce sentence of exile against those
whom public opinion had so long proscribed as enemies to the state.
It was only carrying into effect that opinion, expressed as it had
been in a great variety of ways ; and, as far as the rights of the
nation were concerned, the banishment of a single Spaniard would
have been held a grosser violation of them, than that of the whole race
ut' Israelites.
It has been common with modern historians to detect a principal
motive for the expulsion of the Jews, in the avarice of the government.
It is only necessary, however, to transport ourselves back to those times,
to find it in perfect accordance with their spirit, at least in Spain. It is
indeed incredible that persons possessing the political sagacity of
] t rdinand and Isabella could indulge a temporary cupidity, at the
sacrifice of the most important and permanent interests, converting their
wealthiest districts into a wilderness, and dispeopling them of a class
: izeus who contributed beyond all others, not only to the general
resources, but the direct revenues of the crown ; a measure so manifestly
unsound, as to lead even a barbarian monarch of that day to exclaim,
"Do they call this Ferdinand a politic prince, who can thus impoverish
his own kingdom and enrich ours ! " It would seem, indeed, when the
measure had been determined on, that the Aragonese monarch was
willing, by his expedient of sequestration, to control its operation in
such a manner as to secure to his own subjects the full pecuniary benefit
268 EXPULSION OF THE JEWS.
of it.* No imputation of this kind attaches to Castile. The clause of
the ordinance which might imply such a design, by interdicting the
exportation of gold and silver, was only enforcing a law which had
been already twice enacted by cortes in the present reign, and which
was deemed of such moment, that the offence was made capital, f
We need look no further for the principle of action, in this case, than
the spirit of religious bigotry, which led to a similar expulsion of the
Jews from England, France, and other parts of Europe, as well as from
Portugal, under circumstances of peculiar atrocity, a few years later.!
Indeed, the spirit of persecution did not expire with the fifteenth
century, but extended far into the more luminous periods of the seven-
teenth" and eighteenth : and that, too, under a ruler of the enlarged
capacity of Frederic the Great, whose intolerance could not plead in
excuse the blindness of fanaticism. How far the banishment of
the Jews was conformable to the opinions of the most enlightened
contemporaries, may be gathered from the encomiums lavished on its
authors from more than one qxiarter. Spanish writers, without excep-
tion, celebrate it as a sublime sacrifice of all temporal interests to
religious principle. The best-instructed foreigners, in like manner,
however they may condemn the details of its execution, or commiserate
the sufferings of the Jews, commend the act, as evincing the most lively
and laudable zeal for the true faith.| t
It cannot be denied that Spain at this period surpassed most of the
nations of Christendom in religious enthusiasm, or, to speak more
correctly, in bigotry. This is doubtless imputable to the long war with
the Moslems, and its recent glorious issue, which swelled every heart
with exultation, disposing it to consummate the triumphs of the Cross
by purging the land from a heresy which, strange as it may seem, was
scarcely less detested than that of Mahomet. Both the sovereigns
partook largely of these feelings. "With regard to Isabella, moreover,
it must be borne constantly in mind, as has been repeatedly remarked
in the course of this History, that she had been used to surrender her
own judgment, in matters of conscience, to those spiritual guardians
who were supposed in that age to be its rightful depositaries, and the
only casuists who could safely determine the doubtful line of duty.
Isabella's pious disposition, and her trembling solicitude to discharge
"In truth," Father Abarca somewhat innocently remarks, "King Ferdinand was a
politic Christian, making the interests of church and state mutually subservient to each
other ! " f Once at Toledo, 1480, and at Murcia, 1488.
J The Portuguese government caused all children of fourteen years of age, or under, to
be taken from their parents and retained in the country, as fit subjects for a Christian
education. The distress occasioned by this cruel provision may be well imagined. Many
of the unhappy parents murdered their children to defeat the ordinance ; and many laid
violent hands on themselves. Faria y Sousa coolly remarks that " It was a great mistake
in King Emanuel to think of converting any Jew to Christianity, old enough to pronounce
the name of Moses ! " He fixes three years of age as the utmost limit.
They were also ejected from Vienna, in 1669. The illiberal, and indeed most cruel
legislation of Frederick II., in reference to his Jewish subjects, transports us back to the
darkest periods of the Visigothic monarchy. The reader will find a summary of theae
enactments in the third volume of MUman's agreeable History of the Jew-.
|| The accomplished and amiable Florentine, Pico di Mirandola, in his treatise on
Judicial Astrology, remarks that "the sufferings of the Jews, in which the glory of divine
jtiftice delighted, were so extreme as to fill us Christians with commiseration." The
Genoese historian, Senarega, indeed, admits that the measure savoured of some flight
degree of cruelty, "Res base prime conspectu laudabilis visa est, quia decus nostrse Reli-
gionis respiceret, sed hliquantulum in se crudelitatis contiuere, si eos nou bclluas, sed
homines a Deo crea^os, cou.tideravimua."
ATTEMPT ON FERDINAND'S LIFE. 26f
her duty, at whatever cost of personal inclination, greatly enforced tht
precepts of education. lu this way, her very virtues became the source
of her errors. Unfortunately, she lived in an age and station which
attached to these errors the most momentous consequences. * But we
gladly turn from these dark prospects to a brighter page of her history..
CHAPTER XVIII.
ATIEMFTH) ASSASSINATION OF FERDINAND RETURN AMD SECOND VOYAOB OF COLUMBUS.
14921493.
Attempt on Ferdinand's life Consternation and Loyalty of the People Return of Colum-
bus His Progress to Barcelona Interviews with the Sovereigns Sensations caused
by the discovery Regulations of Trade Conversion of the Natives Famous Bulls of
Alexander VI. Jealousy of Portugal Second Voyage of Columbus Treaty o'
Tordesillas.
TOWARDS the latter end of May, 1492, the Spanish sovereigns quitted
Granada, between which and Santa Fe they had divided their time since
the surrender of the Moorish metropolis. They were occupied during
the two following months with the affairs of Castile. In August they
visited Aragon, proposing to establish their winter residence there, in
order to provide for its internal administration, and conclude the
negotiations for the final surrender of Roussillon and Cerdagne by
France, to which these provinces had been mortgaged by Ferdinand's
father, John the Second : proving ever since a fruitful source of
diplomacy, which threatened more than once to terminate in open
rupture.
Ferdinand and Isabella arrived in Aragon on the 8th of August,
accompanied by Prince John and the infantas, and a brilliant train of
Castilian nobles. In their progress through the country they were
everywhere received with the most lively enthusiasm. The whole
nation seemed to abandon itself to jubilee at the approach of its illus-
trious sovereigns, whose heroic constancy had rescued Spain from the
detested empire of the Saracens. After devoting some months to the
internal police of the kingdom, the court transferred its residence to
Catalonia, whose capital it reached about the middle of October. During
its detention in this place, Ferdinand's career was well nigh brought to
an untimely close.
It was a good old custom of Catalonia, long since fallen into desuetude,
for the monarch to preside in the tribunals of justice, at least once a
week, for the purpose of determining the suits of the poorer classes
especially, who could not aftbrd the more expensive forms of litigation.
King Ferdinand, in conformity with this usage, held a court in the house
of deputation on the 7th of December, being the vigil of the Conception
of the Virgin. At noon, as he was preparing to quit the palace, after
* Llorente sums up his account of the expulsion by assigning the following motives to
the principal agents in thu business. "The measure," he says, "may be referred to the
fanaticism of I'or.|vu in.ula, to the avarice and superstition of Ferdinand, to the false ideas
and inconsiderate zeal with which they had inspired Isabella, to whmn history cannot
refuse the praise of great sweetness of disposition, and an enlightened mind."
270 ATTEMPT ON FERDINAND'S LIFE.
the conclusion of business, he lingered in the rear of his retinue, con-
versing with some of the officers of the court. As the party was issuing
from a little chapel contiguous to the royal saloon, and just as the king
was descending a flight of stairs, a ruffian darted from an obscure recess,
in which he had concealed himself early in the morning, and aimed a
blow with a short sword, or knife, at the back of Ferdinand's neck.
Fortunately, the edge of the weapon was turned by a gold chain or
collar, which he was in the habit of wearing. It inflicted, however, a
deep wound between the shoulders. Ferdinand instantly cried out,
" St. Mary preserve us! treason, treason ! " and his attendants, rushing
on the assassin, stabbed him in three places with their poniards, and
would have dispatched him on the spot, had not the king, with his usual
presence of mind, commanded them to desist, and take the man alive,
that they might ascertain the real authors of the conspiracy. This wag
done accordingly ; and Ferdinand, fainting with loss of blood, was care-
fully removed to his apartments in the royal palace.
The report of the catastrophe spread like wildfire through the city.
All classes were thrown into consternation by so foul an act, which
seemed to cast a stain on the honour and good faith of the Catalans.
Some suspected it to be the work of a vindictive Moor, others of a dis-
appointed courtier. The queen, who had swooned on first receiving
intelligence of the event, suspected the ancient enmity of the Catalans,
who had shown sxich determined opposition to her husband in his early
youth. She gave instant orders to hold in readiness one of the galleys
lying in the port, in order to transport her children from the place, as
she feared the conspiracy might be designed to embrace other victims.*
The populace, in the meanwhile, assembled in great numbers round
the palace where the king lay. All feelings of hostility had long since
given way to devoted loyalty towards a government which had uniformly
respected the liberties of its subjects, and whose paternal sway had
secured similar blessings to Barcelona with the rest of the empire. Tin y
thronged round the building, crying out that the king was slain, and
demanding that his murderers should be delivered up to them. Ferdi-
nand, exhausted as he was, would have presented himself at the window
of his apartment, but was prevented from making the effort by his
physicians. It was with great difficulty that the people were at length
satisfied that he was still living, and that they finally consented to
disperse, on the assurance that the assassin should be brought to
condign punishment.
The king's wound, which did not appear dangerous at first, gradually
exhibited more alarming symptoms. One of the bones was found to bo
fractured, and a part of it was removed by the surgeons. On the sevf ntli
day his situation was considered extremely critical. During this time
the queen was constantly by his side, watching with him day and night,
and administering all Ms medicines with her own hand. At length tin;
unfavourable symptoms yielded : and his excellent constitution enabled
him so far to recover, that in less than three weeks he was able to show
* The great bell of. Velilla, whose miraculous tolling always announced some disaster to
the monarchy, was heard to strike at the time of this assault on Ferdinand, being the filth
time since the subversion of the kingdom by the Moors. The fourth was on the a
tvitiou of the inquisitor Arbuus. All which is established by u score of good ortho'l .:;
.1, as reported, by Dr. Diego Dormer, in his Uiscursoa Varies.
OF COLUMBUS. 271
himself to the eyes of his anxious subjects, who gave themselves up to a
delirium of joy, offering thanksgivings and grateful oblations in the
churches; while many a pilgrimage, which had been vowed for his
restoration to health, was performed by the good people of Barcelona,
with naked feet, and even on their knees, among the wild sierras that
surround the city.
The author of the crime proved to be a peasant, about sixty years of
age, of that humble class, de remenza, as it was termed, wliich Ferdinand
had been so instrumental some few years since in releasing from the
baser and more grinding pains of servitude. The man appeared to be
insane ; alleging, in vindication of his conduct, that he was the rightful
proprietor of the crown, which he expected to obtain by Ferdinand's
death. He declared himself willing, however, to give up his pretensions,
on condition of being set at liberty. The king, convinced of his aliena-
tion of mind, would have discharged him ; but the Catalans, indignant
at the reproach which such a crime seemed to attach to their own honour,
and perhaps distrusting the plea of insanity, thought it necessary to
expiate it by the blood of the offender, and condemned the unhappy
wretch to the dreadful doom of a traitor ; the preliminary barbarities of
the sentence, however, were remitted at the intercession of the queen.*
In the spring of 1493, while the court was still at Barcelona, letters
were recived from Christopher Columbus, announcing his return to Spain,
and the successful achievement of his great enterprise, by the discovery
of land beyond the western ocean. The delight and astonishment raised
by this intelligence were proportioned to the scepticism with which his
project had been originally viewed. The sovereigns were now filled with
a natural impatience to ascertain the extent and other particulars of the
important discovery; and they transmitted instant instructions to the
admiral to repair to Barcelona, as soon as he should have made the pre-
liminary arrangements for the further prosecution of his enterprise.!
The great navigator had succeeded, as is well known, after a voyage,
the natural difficulties of which had been much augmented by the dis-
trust and mutinous spirit of his followers, in descrying land on Friday,
the 12th of October, 1492. After some months spent in exploring the
delightful regions, now for the first time thrown open to the eyes of a
European, he embarked in the month of January, 1493, for Spain. One
of his vessels had previously foundered, and another had deserted him ;
BO that he was left alone to retrace his course across the Atlantic. After
a most tempestuous voyage, he was compelled to take shelter in the
Tagus, sorely against his inclination.:]: He experienced, however, the
most honourable reception from the Portuguese monarch, John the
Second, who did ample justice to the great qualities of Columbus,
* A letter written by Isabella to her confessor, Fernando de Talavera, during her hus-
band's illnes^ shows the deep anxiety of her own mind, as well as that of the citizens of
Barcelona, at his critical situation, furnishing abundant evidence, it' it were needed, of her
tenderness of heart, and the warmth of her conjugal attachment.
\ Columbus concludes a letter, addressed on his arrival at Lisbon, to the treasure?
Sanches, in the following glowing terms : "Let processions be made, festivals held, temples
be filled with branches and flowers, for Christ rejoices on earth as in heaven, seeing the
future redemption of souls. Let us rejoice, also, for the temporal benefit likely to result,
not merely to Spain, but to all Christendom."
1 The Portuguese historian, Faria y Sousa, appears to be nettled at the prosperous issue
or the voyage ; for he testily remarks, that " the admiral entered Lisbon with a vain-
glorious exultation, in orde'r to make Portugal feel, by displaying the tokens of hi*
discovery, how much she had erred ir. not accecliug to his propositions."
272 BETUBN OF COLUiLBUS.
although he had failed to profit by them.* After a brief delay, tha
admiral resumed his voyage, and crossing the bar of Saltes entere'd the
harbour of Palos, about noon, on the loth of March 1493, being exactly
seven months and eleven days since his departure from that port.f
Great was the agitation in the little community of Palos as they
beheld the well-known vessel of the admiral re-entering their harbour.
Their desponding imaginations had long since consigned him to a watery
grave ; for, in addition to the preternaturax horrors which hung over the
voyage, they had experienced the most stormy and disastrous winter
within the recollection of the oldest mariners. Most of them had rela-
tives or friends on board. They thronged immediately to the shore, to
assure themselves with their own eyes of the truth of their return.
When they beheld their faces once more, and saw them accompanied by
the numerous evidences which they brought back of the success of the
expedition, they burst forth in acclamations of joy and gratulation.
They awaited the landing of Columbus, when the whole population of
the place accompanied him and his crew to the principal church, where
solemn thanksgivings were offered up for their return ; while every bell
in the village sent forth a JOYOUS peal in honour of the glorious event.
The admiral was too desirous of presenting himself before the sovereigns,
to protract his stay long at Palos. He took with him on his journey
specimens of the multifarious products of the newly-discovered regions.
He was accompanied by several of the native islanders, arrayed in their
simple barbaric costume, and decorated, as he passed through the prin-
cipal cities, with collars, bracelets, and other ornaments of gold, rudely
fashioned ; he exhibited also considerable quantities of the same metal
in dust, or in crude masses,! numerous vegetable exotics possessed of
aromatic or medicinal virtue, and several kinds of quadrupeds unknown
in Europe, and birds whose varieties of gaudy plumage gave a brilliant
* My learned friend, Mr. John Pickering, has pointed out to me a passage in a Por-
tuguese author, giving some particulars of Columbus's visit to Portugal. The passage,
which I have not seen noticed by any writer, is extremely interesting, coming, as it does,
from a person high in the royal confidence, and an eye-witness of what he relates : " lu
the year 1493, on the sixth day of March, arrived in Lisbon Christopher Columbus, an
Italian, who came from the discovery, made under the authority of the sovereigns of Castile,
of the islands of Cipango and Antilia ; from which countries he brought with him the first
specimens of the people, as well as of the gold and other things to be found there ; and he
was entitled admiral of them. The king, being forthwith informed of this, commanded
him into his presence ; and appeared to be annoyed and vexed, as well from the belief
that the said discovery was made within the seas and boundai'ies of his seigniory of
Guinea, which might give rise to disputes, as, because the said admiral, having become
somewhat haughty by his situation, and in the relation of his adventures always ex-
ceeding the bounds of truth, made this affair, as to gold, silver, and riches, much greater
than it was. Especially did the king accuse himself of negligence in having declined this
enterprise, when Columbus first came to ask his assistance, from want of credit and con-
fidence in it. And, notwithstanding the king was importuned to kill him on the spot ;
since with his death the prosecution of the undertaking, so far as the sovereigns of Castilo
were concerned, would cease, from want of a suitable person to take charge of it ; and
notwithstanding this might be done without suspicion of the king's being privy to it,
for, inasmuch as the admiral was overbearing and puffed up by his success, they might
easily bring it about that his own indiscretion should appear the occasion of his death,
yet the king, as he was a prince greatly fearing God, not only forbade this, but even showed
the admiral honour and much favour, and therewith dismissed him."
t Columbus sailed from Spain on Friday, discovered land on Friday, and re-entered the
port of Palos on Friday. These curious coincidences should have sufficed, one might
think, to dispel, especially with American mariners, the superstitious dread, still so
prevalent, of commencing a voyage on that ominous day.
} Among other specimens, was a lump of gold, of sufficient magnitude to be fashioned
Into a vessel for containing the host ; "thus," says Salazar de Meudoza, "converting the
first-f-uits of the new dominions to pious uses."
OF COLUMBUS. 273
<?ttect to the pageant. The admiral's progress through the country was
everywhere impeded by the multitudes thronging forth to gaze at the
extraordinary spectacle, and the more extraordinary man, who, in the
emphatic language of that time, which has now lost its force from its
familiarity, first revealed the existence of a " New World." As he
passed through the busy, populous city of Seville, every window, balcony,
and housetop, which could afford a glimpse of him, is described to have
been crowded with spectators. It was the middle of April before
Culumbus reached Barcelona. The nobility and cavaliers in attendance
on the court, together with the authorities of the city, came to the gates
to receive him, and escorted him to the royal presence. Ferdinand and
Isabella were seated, with their son, Prince John, under a superb canopy
of state, awaiting his arrival. On his approach they rose from their
seats, and, extending their hands to him to salute, caused him to be
seated before them. These were unprecedented marks of condescension
to a person of Columbus's rank, in the haughty and ceremonious court of
Cast ile. It was, indeed, the proudest moment in the life of Columbus.
He had fully established the truth of his long-contested theory, in the
face of argument, sophistry, sneer, scepticism, and contempt. He had
achieved this, not by chance, but by calciilation, supported through the
most adverse circumstances by consummate conduct. The honours paid
him, which had hitherto been reserved only for rank, or fortune, or
military success, purchased by the blood and tears of thousands, were,
in his case, a homage to intellectual power, successfully exerted in behalf
of the noblest interests of humanity.
After a brief interval, the sovereigns requested from Columbus a
recital of his adventures. His manner was sedate and dignified, but
warmed by the glow of natural enthusiasm. He enumerated the several
islands which he had visited, expatiated on the temperate character of
the climate, and the capacity of the soil for every variety of agricultural
production, appealing to the samples imported by him as evidence of
their natural fruitfulness. He dwelt more at large on the precious
metals to be found in these islands ; which he inferred, less from the
specimens actually obtained, than from the uniform testimony of the
natives to their abundance in the unexplored regions of the interior.
Lastly, he pointed out the wide scope afforded to Christian zeal in the
illumination of a race of men, whose minds, far from being wedded to
any system of idolatry, were prepared, by their extreme simplicity, for
the reception of pure and uncorrupted doctrine. The last consideration
touched Isabella's heart most sensibly ; and the whole audience kindled
with various emotions by the speaker's eloquence, filled up the perspective
with the gorgeous colouring of their own fancies, as ambition, or avarice,
or devotional feeling predominated in their bosoms. When Columbus
ceased, the king and queen, together with all present, prostrated them-
selves on their knees in grateful thanksgivings, while the solemn strains
of the Te Deum were poured forth by the choir of the royal chapel, as in
commemoration of some glorious victory.
The discoveries of Columbus excited a sensation, particularly among
men of science, in the most distant parts of Europe, strongly contrasting
with the apathy which had preceded them, 'ihey congratulated one
another on being reserved for an age which had witnessed the consum-
mation of so grand an event. The learned Martyr, who, in his multifarious
*
BElTBX OF COI.niBUS.
"orrespondence, had not even deigned '& notice the preparations
'or the voyage of discovery, now lavished the most unbounded panegyric
t>n its results ; which he contemplated with the eye of a philosi
having far less reference to considerations of profit or policy, than to
the prospect which they unfolded of enlarging the boundaries uf
knowledge. Most of the scholars of the day, however, adopted the
erroneous hypothesis of Columbus, who considered the lands he had
discovered as bordering on the eastern shores of Asia, and lying adjacent
to the vast and opulent regions depicted in such golden colours by
Mandeville and the Poli. This conjecture, which was conformable tb~
the admiral's opinions before undertaking the voyage, was corroborated
by the apparent similarity between various natural productions of these
islands and of the East. From, this misapprehension, the new dominions
soon came to be distinguished as the West Indies, an appellation by
which they are still recognised in the titles of the Spanish crown.
Columbus, during his residence at Barcelona, continued to receive
from the Spanish sovereigns the most honourable distinctions which royal
bounty could confer. When Ferdinand rode abroad, he was accompanied
by the admiral at his side. The courtiers, in emulation of their master,
made frequent entertainments, at which he was treated with the
punctilious deference paid to a noble of the highest class.* But the
attentions most grateful to his lofty spirit were the preparations of the
Spanish court for prosecuting his discoveries on a scale commensurate
with their importance. A board was established for the direction of
Indian affairs, consisting of a superintendent and two subordinate
functionaries. The first of these officers was Juan de Fonseca, arch-
deacon of Seville, an active, ambitious prelate, subsequently raised to
high episcopal preferment, whose shrewdness and capacity for business
enabled him to maintain the control of the Indian department during
the whole of the present reign. An office for the transaction of business
was instituted at Seville, and a custom-house placed under its direction
at Cadiz. This was the origin of the important establishment of the
Casa de la Contratacion de las Indias, or India House.
The commercial regulations adopted exhibit a narrow policy in some of
their features, for which a justification may be found in the spirit of the
age, and in the practice of the Portuguese particularly, but -\\
entered still more largely into the colonial legislation of Spain under
later princes. The new territories, far from being permitted free inter-
course with foreign nations, were opened only under strict limitations to
Spanish subjects, and were reserved as forming, in some sort, part of the
exclusive revenue of the crown. All persons of whatever description,
were interdicted, under the severest penalties from trading with or even
visiting the Indies, without licence from the constituted authorities. It
was impossible to evade this, as a minute specification of the ships,
cargoes, crews, with the property appertaining to each individual, was
required to be taken at the office in Cadiz, and a corresponding registra-
tion in a similar office established at Hispaniola. A more sagacious
* He was permitted to quarter the royal arms with his own, which consisted of a group
of golden islands amid azure billows. To these were afterwards added five anchors, with
the celebrated motto, well known as being carved on his sepulchre (See part II.
chap. XVIII.) He received besides, soon alter his return, the substantial gratuity of
thousand doblas of gold from the royal treasury, and the premium of 10,000 uiaravedi*,
promised to the person who first descried bind.
SECOND VOYAGE. 275
gpirit wat t in the ample provision made of whatever could
contribute ' -port or permanent prosperity of the infant colony.
Grain, plants, the .>eed of numerous vegetable products, which in the
genial climate of the Indies might be made valuable articles for domestic
consumption or export, were liberally furnished. Commodities of every
description for the supply of the fleet were exempted from duty. The
owners of all vessels throughout the ports of Andalusia were required by
an ordinance, somewhat arbitrary, to hold them in readiness for the
expedition. Still further authority was given to impress hoth officers and
men, if necessary, into the service. Artisans of every sort, provided
with the implements of their various crafts, including a great number of
miners for exploring the subterraneous treasures of the new regions,
were enrolled in the expedition ; in order to defray the heavy charges of
which, the government, in addition to the regular resources, had recourse
to a loan and to the sequestrated property of the exiled Jews.
Amid their own temporal concerns, the Spanish sovereigns did not
forget the spiritual interests of their new subjects. The Indians who
accompanied Columbus to Barcelona had been all of them baptised, being
offered up, in the language of a Castilian writer, as the first-fruits of the
Gentiles. King Ferdinand and his son, Prince John, stood as sponsors
to two of them, who were permitted to take their names. One of the
Indians remained attached to the prince's establishment ; the residue
were sent to Seville, whence, after suitable religious instruction, they
were to be returned as missionaries for the propagation of the faith
among their own countrymen. Twelve Spanish ecclesiastics were also
destined to this service ; among whom was the celebrated Las Casas, so
conspicuous afterwards for his benevolent exertions in behalf of the
unfortunate natives. The most explicit directions were given to the
admiral to use every effort for the illumination of the poor heathen,
which was set forth as the primary object of the expedition. He
particularly enjoined " to abstain from all means of annoyance, and to
treat tlu ;ni well and lovingly, maintaining a familiar intercourse with
them, rendering them all the kind offices in his power, distributing
presents of the merchandise and various commodities which their
Highnesses had caused to be embarked on board the fleet for that
purpose ; and, finally, to chastise in the most exemplary manner all who
should offer the natives the slightest molestation." Such were the
instructions emphatically urged on Columbus for the regulation of his
intercourse with the savages ; and their indulgent tenor sufficiently
attests the benevolent and rational views of Isabella in religious matters,
when not warped by any foreign influence.
Towards the last of May, Columbus quitted Barcelona for the purpose
of superintending and expediting the preparations for departure on hia
second voyage. He was accompanied to the gates of the city by all the
nobility and cavaliers of the court. Orders were issued to the different
towns to provide Mm and his suite with lodgings free of expense. His
former commission was not only confirmed in its full extent, but con-
siderably enlarged. For the sake of dispatch, he was authorise
nominate to all offices, without application to government ; and ordinances
and letters patent bearing the royal seal were to be issued by him,
subscribed by himself or his deputy. He was intrusted in fine, with
uch unlimited jurisdiction, as showed that however tardy the sovereigns
T 2
276 RETURX OF COLUMBUS.
may have been in granting him their confidence, they were not disposed
to stiut the measure of it when his deserts were once established.*
Soon after Columbus's return to Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella applied
to the court of Home to confirm them in the possession of their recent
discoveries, and invest them with similar extent of jurisdiction with
that formerly conferred on the kings of Portugal. It was an opinion, as
ancient perhaps as the crusades, that the pope, as vicar of Christ, had
competent authority to dispose of all countries inhabited by heathen
nations, in favour of Christian potentates. Although Ferdinand and
Isabella do not seem to have been fully satisfied of this right, yet they
were willing to acquiesce in its assumption in the present instance, from
the conviction that the papal sanction would most effectually exclude the
pretensions of all others and especially their Portuguese rivals. In their
application to the Holy See, they were careful to represent their own
discoveries as in no way interfering with the rights formerly conceded
by it to their neighbours. They enlarged on their services in the propa-
gation of the faith, which they affirmed to be a principal motive of their
present operations. They intimated, finally, that, although many
competent persons deemed their application to the court of Home, for a
title to territories already in their possession, to be unnecessary, yet as
pious princes, and dutiful children of the church, they were unwilling to
proceed further without the sanction of him to whose keeping its highest
interests were entrusted.
The pontifical throne was at that time filled by Alexander the Sixth ;
a man who, although degraded by unrestrained indulgence of the most
sordid appetites, was endowed by nature with singular acuteness as well
as energy of character. He lent a willing ear to the application of the
Spanish government, and made no hesitation in granting what cost him
nothing, while it recognised the assumption of powers which had already
begun to totter in the opinion of mankind.
On the 3rd of May, 1493, he published a bull, in which, taking into
consideration the eminent services of the Spanish monarchs in the cause
of the church, especially in the subversion of the Mahometan empire in
Spain, and willing to afford still wider scope for the prosecution of their
pious labours, he, "out of his pure liberality, infallible knowledge, and
}>lenitude of apostolic power," confirmed them in the possession of all
ands discovered, or hereafter to be discovered, by them in the western
ocean, comprehending the same extensive rights of jurisdiction with those
formerly conceded to the kings of Portugal.
This bull he supported by another, dated on the following day, in
* Considering the importance of Columbus's discoveries, and the distinguished reception
given to him at Barcelona, one might have expected to find some notice of him in tho
records of the city. An intelligent friend of mine, Mr. George Sumner, on a visit to that
capital, examined these records, as well as the archives of the crown of Arngon, in the
hope of meeting with some such account, but in vain. The dietaria, or "day book "of
Barcelona records the entrance of the Catholic sovereigns and the heir-apparent into the
city, on the fourteenth of November, 1492, in tl e following terms : "The king, queen, and
the prince entered to-day, the city, and took up their abode in the palace of the Bishop of
Urgil, in the Calle Aucha ." Then follows a description of the shows and rejoicings which
took place on the occasion. After this come two other entries : "1493, February 4. The
King, queen, and the prince went to Monserrat. " "Feb. 14. The king, queen, and the prince
returned to Barcelona." But not a word is given to the discoverer of a world ! And we
can only conjecture that the haughty Catalan felt no desire to communicate an uvccfc
u-hii-h reflected no glory on him, and the advantages of which wure jealously reserved for
his Castiliaii rivals.
SECOND VOYAGB. 271
which the pope, in order to obviate any misunderstanding with the Por-
tuguese, and acting no doubt on the suggestion of the .Spanish sovereigns,
defined with greater precision the intention of his original grant to the
latter, by bestowing on them all such lands as they should discover to
the west and south of an imaginary line, to be drawn from pole to pole,
at the distance of one hundred leagues to the west of the Azores and
Cape do Ycrd Islands. It seems to have escaped his Holiness, that the
Spaniards, by pursuing a western route, might in time reach the eastern
limits of countries previously granted to the Portuguese. At least this
would appear from the import of a third bull, issued September 25th of
the same year, which invested the sovereigns with plenary authority
over all countries discovered by them, whether in the East, or within the
boundaries of India, all previous concessions to the contrary notwith-
standing. With the title derived from actual possession thus fortified by
the highest ecclesiastical sanction, the Spaniards might have promised
themselves an uninterrupted career of discovery, but for the jealousy of
their rivals the Portuguese.
The court of Lisbon viewed with secret disquietude the increasing
maritime enterprise of its neighbours. While the Portuguese were
timidly creeping along the barren shores of Africa, the Spaniards had
boldly launched into the deep, and rescued unknown realms from its
embraces, which teemed in their fancies with treasures of inestimable
wealth. Their mortification was greatly enhanced by the reflection that
all this might have been achieved for themselves, had they but known
how to profit by the proposals of Columbus.* From the first moment in
which the success of the admiral's enterprise was established, John the
Second, a politic and ambitious prince, had sought some pretence to
check the career of discovery, or at least to share in the spoils of it.
In his interview with Columbus at Lisbon, he suggested that the dis-
coveries of the Spaniards might interfere with the rights secured to the
Portuguese by repeated papal sanction since the beginning of the present
century, and guaranteed by the treaty with Spain in 1479. Columbus,
without entering into the discussion, contented himself with declaring
that he had been instructed by his own government to steer clear of all
Portuguese settlements on the African coast, and that his course indeed
had led him iu an entirely different direction. Although John professed
himself satisfied with the explanation, he soon after despatched an am-
bassador to Barcelona, who, after dwelling on some irrelevant topics,
touched, as it were, incidentally on the real object of his mission, the
late voyage of discovery. He congratulated the Spanish sovereigns on
its success ; expatiated on the civilities shown by the court of Lisbon to
Columbus on his late arrival there ; and acknowledged the satisfaction
felt by his master at the orders given to the admiral to hold a western
course from the Canaries, expressing a hope that the same course would
be pursued in future, without interfering with the rights of Portugal by
deviation to the south. This was the first occasion on which the existence
of such claims had been intimated by the Portuguese.
In the meanwhile, Ferdinand and Isabella received intelligence that
* Padre Abarca considers "that the discovery of a new world, first offered to the kings
of Portugal and England, was reserved by Heaven for Spain, being forced in a manner on
Fedinaud, in recompense for the subjugation of the Moors, and the expulsion of the
Jew* ! "
2.8 EEIURX OF COLtniBTTU.
King John vas equipping a considerable armament, in order to anticipate
or defeat their discoveries in the west. They instantly sent one of their
household, Don Lope de Herrera, as ambassador to Lisbon, with instruc-
tions to make their acknowledgments to the king for his hospitable recep
tion of Columbus, accompanied with a request that he would prohibit his
subjects from interference with the discoveries of the Spaniards in the
West, in the same manner as these latter had been excluded from the
Portuguese possessions in Africa. The ambassador was furnished with
orders of a different import, provided he should find the reports correct
respecting the equipment and probable destination of a Portuguese
armada. Instead of a conciliatory deportment, he was, in that case, to
assume a tone of remonstrance, and to demand a full explanation from
King John of his designs. The cautious prince, who had received,
through his secret agents in Castile, intelligence of these latter instruc-
tions, managed matters so discreetly as to give no occasion for their
exercise. He abandoned, or at least postponed, his meditated expedition,
in the hope of adjusting the dispute by negotiation, in which he excelled.
In order to quiet the apprehensions f the Spanish court, he engaged to
lit out no fleet from his dominions within sixty days; at the same time
he sent a fresh mission to Barcelona, with directions to propose an amicable
adjustment of the conflicting claims of the two nations, by making the
parallel of the Canaries a line of partition between them ; the right of
discovery to the north being reserved to the Spaniards, and that to the
south to the Portuguese.
"While this game of diplomacy was going on, the Castilian court availed
itself of the interval afforded by its rival to expedite preparations for the
second voyage of discovery ; which, through the personal activity of the
admiral, and the facilities everywhere afforded him, were fully completed
before the close of September.- Instead of the reluctance, and indeed
avowed disgust, which had been manifested by all classes to his former
voyage, the only embarrassment now arose from the difficulty of selection
among the multitude of competitors who pressed to be enrolled in the
present expedition. The reports and sanguine speculations of the first
adventurers had inflamed the cupidity of many, which was still further
heightened by the exhibition of the rich and curious products which
Columbus had brought back with him, and by the popular belief that the
new discoveries formed part of that gorgeous East,
"whose caverns teem
With diamond flaming, and with seeds of gold,' 1
and which tradition and romance had alike invested with the supernatural
eylendours of enchantment. Many others were stimulated by the wild
love of adventure, kindled in the long Moorish war, lut which, now
excluded from that career, sought other objects in the vast, untravelled
regions of the New World. The complement of the fleet was originally
fixed at twelve hundred souls, which, through importunity or various
pretences of the applicants, was eventually swelled to fifteen hundred.
Among these were many who enlisted without compensation, including
several persons of rank, hidalgos, and members of the royal household.
The whole squadron amounted to seventeen vessels, three of them of one
hundred tons' burthen each. With this gallant navy, Columbus, dr<;;>-
ping down the Guadalquivir, took his departure from the bay of C.uiii:
OYAGE. 27U
on the 23th of September, 1493; presenting a striking contrast to the
melancholy plight in which, but the year previous, he sallied forth like
some forlorn knight-errant on a desperate and chimerical enterprise.
Xo sooner had the fleet weighed anchor, than Ferdinand and Isabella
dispatched an embassy in solemn state to advise the king of Portugal of
it. This embassy was composed of two persons of distinguished rank,
Don Pedro de Ayala, and Don Garci Lopez de Carbajal. Agreeably to
their instructions, they represented to the Portuguese monarch the in-
admissibilityof his propositions respecting the boundary line of navigation ;
they argued" that the grants of the Holy See, and the treaty with Spain
in 1479, had reference merely to the actual possessions of Portugal, and
the right of discovery by an eastern route along the coast of Africa to the
Indies ; that these rights had been invariably respected by Spain ; that
the late voyage of Columbus struck into a directly opposite track ; and
that the several bulls of Pope Alexander the Sixth, prescribing the line
of partition, not from east to west, but from the north to the south pole,
were intended to secure to the Spaniards the exclusive right of discovery
in the western ocean. The ambassadors concluded with offering, in the
name of their sovereigns, to refer the whole matter in dispute to the
arbitration of the court of Rome, or of anv common umpire.
King John was deeply chagrined at learning the departure of the
Spanish expedition. He saw that his rivals had been acting, while he
had been amused with negotiation. He at first threw out hints of an
immediate rupture ; and endeavoured, it is said, to intimidate the Cas-
tilian ambassadors, by bringing them accidentally, as it were, in presence
of a splendid array of cavalry, mounted and ready for immediate service.
He vented his spleen on the embassy, by declaring that " it was a mere
abortion, having neither head nor feet ; " alluding to the personal in-
firmity of Ayala, who was lame, and to the light, frivolous character of
the otlier envoy.
These symptoms of discontent were duly notified to the Spanish
government, who commanded the superintendent, Fonscca, 10 keep a
vigilant eye on the movements of the Portuguese, and, in case any hostile
armament should quit their ports, to be in readiness to act against it with
one double its force. King John, however, was too shrewd a prince to
be drawn into so impolitic a measure as war with a powerful adversary,
quite as likely to baffle him in the field as in the council. Neither did
he relish the 'suggestion of deciding the dispute by arbitration, since he
well knew that his claim rested on too unsound a basis to authorise the
expectation of a favourable award from any impartial umpire. He had
already failed in an application for redress to the court of Rome, which
answered him by ivt'rivnce to its bulls, recently published. In this
emergency, he came to the resolution at last, which should have been
first adopted, of deciding the matter by a fair and open conference. It
was not until the following year, however, that his discontent so far
subsided as to allow his acquiescence in this measure.
At length, commissioners named by the two crowns convened at Tor
dosillas, and, on the 7th of June, 1494, subscribed articles of agreement,
which were ratified in the course of the same year by the res]!.
powers. In this tivaty the Spaniards were secured, in the exclusive right
t>t' navigation and discovery in the western ocean. At the urgent ruin a-
strance of the Portuguese," however, who complained that the papal line
280 CASTILIAX LITEKATUTIE.
of demarcation cooped up their enterprises within too narrow limits, thej
consented that, instead of one hundred, it should be removed three hun-
dred and seventy leagues west of the Cape de Verd islands, beyond which
all discoveries should appertain to the Spanish nation. It was agreed
that one or two caravels should be provided by each nation, to meet at
the Grand Canary, and proceed due west the appointed distance, with a
number of scientific men on board, for the purpose of accurately deter-
mining the longitude ; and, if any land should fall under the meridian,
the direction of the line should be ascertained by the erection of beacons
at suitable distances. The proposed meeting never took place. But the
removal of the partition line was followed by important consequences to
the Portuguese, who derived from it their pretensions to the noble empire
ot Brazil.
Thus this singular misunderstanding, which menaced an open rupture
at one time, was happily adjusted. Fortunately, the accomplishment of
the passage round the Cape of Good Hope, which occurred soon after-
wards, led the Portuguese in an opposite direction to their Spanish rivals ,
their Brazilian possessions having too little attractions, at first, to turn
them from the splendid path of discovery thrown open in the East. It
was not many years, however, before the two nations, by pursuing oppo
site routes of circumnavigation, were brought into collision on the othe*
side of the globe ; a circumstance never contemplated, apparently, by the
treaty of Tordesillas. Their mutual pretensions were founded, however,
on the provisions of that treaty, which, as the reader is aware, was itself
only supplementary to the original bull of demarcation of Alexander the
Sixth.* Thus this bold stretch of papal authority, so often ridiculed as
chimerical and absurd, was in a measure justified by the event, since it
did, in fact, determine the principles on which the vast extent of unap-
propriated empire, in the eastern and western hemispheres, was ultimately
divided between two petty states of Europe
CHAPTER XIX.
CASTILIAK LITERATURE CULTIVATION OF THE COURT CLASSICAL LE A RNT1TO SCIENCE.
Early Education of Ferdinand Of Isabella Her Library Early Promise of Prince John
Scholarship of the Nobles Accomplished Women Classical Learning Universities
Printing introduced Encouraged by the Queen Actual progress of Science.
WE have now arrived at the period when the history of Spain becomes
incorporated with that of the other states of Europe. Before embarking
on the wide sea of European politics, however, and bidding adieu for a
season to the shores of Spain, it will be necessary, in order to complete
the view of the internal administration of Ferdinand and Isabella, to
show its operation on the intellectual culture of the nation. This, as it
constitutes, when taken in its broadest sense, a principal cud of all
government, should never be altogether divorced from any history. It
* The contested territory was the Molucca islands, which each party claimed for itself
by drtue of the treaty of Tordesillas. After more than one congress, in which all the
cosmographical science of the day was put in requisition, the affair was terminated
d I'amiable by the Spanish government's relinquishing its pretensions, in consideration of
850,000 dricats paid by the court of Lisbon.
CLASSICAL LEABNING. SCIENCE. 281
is particularly deserving of note in the present reign, which stimulated
the active development of the national energies in every department of
science, and which forms a leading epoch in the ornamental literature of
the country. The present and the following chapter will embrace the
mental progress of the kingdom, not merely down to the period at which
we have arrived, but through the whole of Isabella's reign, in order to
exhibit as far as possible its entire results, at a single glance, to the eye
of the reader.
We have beheld, in a preceding chapter, the auspicious literary
promise afforded by the reign of Isabella's father, John the Second, of
Castile. Under the anarchical sway of his son, Henry the Fourth, the
court, as we have seen, was abandoned to unbounded licence, and the
whole nation sunk into a mental torpor, from which it was roused only
by the tumults of civil war. In this deplorable state of things, the few
blossoms of literature, which had begun to open under the benign
influence of the preceding reign, were speedily trampled under foot, and
every vestige of civilisation seemed in a fair way to be effaced from
the land.
The first years of Ferdinand and Isabella's government were too much,
clouded by civil dissensions to afford a much more cheering prospect.
Ferdinand's early education, moreover, had been greatly neglected.
Before the age of ten, he was called to take part in the Catalan wars.
His boyhood was spent among soldiers, in camps instead of schools ; and
the wisdom which he so eminently displayed in later life was drawn far
more from his own resources than from books.
Isabella was reared under more favourable auspices ; at least more
favourable to mental culture. She was allowed to pass her youth in
retirement, and indeed oblivion, as far as the world was concerned, under
her mother's care, at ArevaK In this modest seclusion, free from the
engrossing vanities and vexations of court life, she had full leisure to
indulge the habits of study and reflection to which her temper naturally
disposed her. She was acquainted with several modern languages,
and both wrote and discoursed in her own with great precision and
elegance. No great expense or solicitude, however, appears to have
been lavished on her education. She was uninstructed in the Latin,
which in that day was of greater importance than at present ; since
it was not only the common medium of communication between learned
men, and the language in which the most familiar treatises were
often composed, but was frequently used by well-educated foreigners
at court, and especially employed in diplomatic intercourse and
negotiation.
Isabella resolved to repair the defects of education by devoting herself
to the acquisition of the Latin tongue, so soon as the distracting wars
with Portugal, which attended her accession, were terminated. We
have a letter from Pulgar, addressed to the queen soon after that event,
in which he inquires concerning her progress ; intimating his surprise
that she can find time for study amidst her multitude of engrossing
occupations, and expressing his confidence that she will acquire the
Latin with the same facility with which she had already mastered other
languages. The result justified his prediction ; for " in less than a
year," observes another contemporary, "her admirable genius enabled
her to obtain a good knowledge of the Latin language, so that she could
232 CASTILIAN 1ITEKATUKE.
understand without much difficulty whatever was written or spoken
in it," *
Isabella inherited the taste of her father, John the Second, for the
collecting of books. She endowed the convent of San Juan <ie los Ileycs
at Toledo, at the time of its foundation, 1477, with a library, consisting
principally of manuscripts.! The archives of Simaneas contain catalogues
of part of two separate collections, belonging to her, whose broken,
remains have contributed to swell the magnificent library of the
Esc-urial. Most of them are in manuscript ; the richly coloured and
highly decorated binding of these volumes (an art which the Spaniards
od from the Arabs} shows how highly they were prized, and the
worn and battered condition of some of them proves that they were not
kept merely for show.J
The queen manifested the most earnest solicitude for the instruction
of her own children. Her daughters were endowed by nature with
amiable dispositions, that seconded her maternal efforts. The most
competent masters, native and foreign, especially from Italy, then so
active in the revival of ancient learning, were employed in their tuition.
This was particularly intrusted to two brothers, Antonio and Alessandro
Geraldino, natives of that country. Both were conspicuous for their
abilities and classical erudition ; and the latter, who survived his
brother Antonio, was subsequently raised to high ecclesiastical prefer-
ments^ Under these masters the infantas made attainments rarely
permitted to the sex, and acquired such familiarity with the Latin
tongue especially, as excited lively admiration among those over whom
they were called to preside in riper years.
A still deeper anxiety was shown in the education of her only son,
Prince John, heir of the united Spanish monarchies. Every precaution
was taken to train him up in a maucer that might tend to the formation
of a character suited to his exalted station. He was placed in a class
consisting of ten youths, selected from the sons of the principal nobility.
Five of them were of his own age, and five of riper years ; and
were all brought to reside with him in the palace. By this means it
was hoped to combine the advantages of public with those of private
education ; which last, from its solitary character, necessarily excludes
the subject of it from the wholesome influence exerted by bringing the
powers into daily collision with antagonists of a similar age.
A mimic council was also formed on the model of a council of state,
composed of suitable persons of more advanced standing, whose province
* It is sufficient evidence of her familiarity with the Latin, that the letters addressed to
her by her confessor seem to have been written in that language aud the Cnstilian indiffer-
ently, exhibiting occasionally a curions patchwork in the alternate use of each in the same
t Previous to the introduction of printing, collections of books were necessarily very
small and thinly scattered, owing to the extreme cost of manuscripts. The leartu
has collected some curious particulars relative to this matter. The most copious library
which he could find any account of in the middle of the fifteenth century, was ow;
the counts of Benavente, and contained not more than one hundred and twenty volume*.
.Many of these were duplicates ; of Livy alone there were ei^'ht copies. The cathedral
churches in Spain rented their books every year by auction to the highest bidders, whence
.-rived a considerable revenue.
j'Thc largest collection comprised about two hundred and one articles, or distinct works.
-.into, the eldest, died in 14S8. The younger brother, Alessandro, after bearing
rms i ..>yed in the instruction of the in'
finally embraced tnc .u state and died bishop of St Tinm;iur. in .
CLASSICAL LEAHXIXG. SCIEXCK. 285
- to deliberate on, and to discuss, topics connected with government
ililio policy. Ovc-r this body the prince presided, and here he was
.'.(.-d into a* practical acquaintance with the important duties which
to devolve on him at a future period of life. The pages in
attendance on his person were also selected with great care from the
rs and young nobility of the court, many of whom afterwards
: tiled with credit the most considerable posts in the state. The severe*
discipline of the prince was relieved by attention to more light and
it accomplishments. He devoted many of his leisure hours to
. for which he had a fine natural taste, and in which he attained
sufficient proficiency to perform with skill on a variety of instruments.
In short, !.i< c duration was happily designed to produce that combination
of mental and moral excellence which should tit him for reigning over
his subjects with benevolence and wisdom. How well the scheme
succeeded is abundantly attested by the commendations of contemporary
is, both at home and abroad, who enlarge on his fondness for
laters, and for the society of learned men, on his various attainments,
and more especially his Latin scholarship, and, above all, on his dispo-
sition, so amiable, as to give promise of the highest excellence in
maturer life, a promise, alas ! most unfortunately for his own nation,
dt stined never to be realised.
^\xt to her family, there was no object which the queen had so much
at heart as the improvement of the voung nobility. 1 >uring the troubled
of her predecessor, they had abandoned themselves to frivolous
-lire, or to a sullen apathy, from which nothing was potent enough
to arouse them but the voice of war. She was obliged to relinquish her
plans of amelioration, during the all-engrossing struggle with Granada,
when it would have been esteemed a reproach for a Spanish knight to
have exe:;;n._vd the post of danger in the field for the effeminate pursuit
of letters. But no sooner was the war brought to a close, than Isabella
resumed her purpose. She requested the learned Peter Martyr, who
had come into Spain with the count of Tendilla a few years previous, to
repair to the court, and open a school there for the instruction of the
young nobility. In an epistle addressed by Martyr to Cardinal Xcudoza,
dated at Granada, April, 1492, he alludes to the promis*- oi a liberal
recompense from the queen, if he would assist in recbiuing the young
cavaliers of the court from the idle and unprofitable pursuits in which,
to her great mortification, they consumed their hours. The prejudices
to be encountered seem to have filled him with natural distrust of his
success ; for Le remarks, " Like their ancestors, they hold the pursuit of
letters in light estimation, considering them an obstacle to success in the
profession of anus, which alone they esteem worthy of honour." He
however expresses his confidence that the generous nature of thp
Spaniards will make it easy to infuse into them a more liberal taste ,
and, in a subsequent letter, he enlarges on " the good effects likely to
result from the lit vary ambition exhibited by the heir apparent, oil
whom the eyes of the nation were naturally turned."
Martyr, in obedience to the royal summons, instantly repaired to
court, and, in the month of September ibllowinir. we have a letter
dated from Snragossa, in which he thus speaks of his success. " My
housj, all day long, swarms with nob!' -.vho, reclaimed from
ignoble i\. .-, are now convinced that these, ao
284 CASTILIAX LITERATURE.
far from being a hindrance, are rather a help in the profession of
arms. I earnestly inculcate on them, that consummate excellence in
any department, whether of war or peace, is tmattainable without
science. It has pleased our royal mistress, the pattern of every exalted
virtue, that her own near kinsman, the duke of Guimaraens, as well
as the young duke of Yillahermosa, the king's nephew, should remain
under my roof during the whole day ; an example which has been
imitated by the principal cavaliers of the court, who, after attending
my lectures in company with their private tutors, retire at evening to
review them with these latter in their own qiiarters."
Another Italian scholar, often cited as authority in the preceding
portion of this work, Lucio Marineo Siculo, co-operated with Martyr in
the introduction of a more liberal scholarship among the Castiliap
nobles. He was born at Bedino in Sicily, and, after completing his
studies at Rome under the celebrated Pomponio Leto, opened a school
in his native island, where he continued to teach for five years. He
was then induced to visit Spain, in 1486, with the admiral Henriquez,
and soon took his place among the professors of Salamanca, where he
filled the chairs of poetry and grammar with great applause for twelve
years. He was subsequently transferred to the court, which he helped
to illumine by his exposition of the ancient classics, particularly the
Latin. Under the auspices of these and other eminent scholars, both
native and foreign, the young nobility of Castile shook off the indolence
in which they had so long rusted, and applied with generous ardour to
the cultivation of science ; so that in the language of a contemporary,
" while it was a most rare occurrence to meet with a person of illus-
trious birth, before the present reign, who had even studied Latin in
his youth, there were now to be seen numbers every day who sought
to shed the lustre of letters over the martial glory inherited from their
ancestors."
The extent of this generous emulation may be gathered from the
large correspondence both of Martyr and Marineo with their disciples,
including the most considerable persons of the Castilian court : it may
be still further inferred from the numerous dedications to these persons
of contemporary publications, attesting their munificent patronage of
literary enterprise ; and, still more unequivocally, from the zeal with
which many of the highest rank entered on such severe literary labour
as few, from the mere love of letters, are found willing to encounter.
Don Gutierre de Toledo, son of the duke of Alva, and a cousin of tho
king, taught in the university of Salamanca. At the same place, Don
Pedro Fernandez de Velasco, son of the count of Haro, who subsequently
succeeded his father in the hereditary dignity of grand constable of
Castile, read lectures on Pliny and Ovid. Don Alfonso de Manrique,
son of the count of Paredes, was professor of Greek in the university
of Alcala. All ages seemed to catch the generous enthusiasm ; and
the marquis of Denia, although turned of sixty, made amends for the
sins of his youth, by learning the elements of the Latin tongue at this
late period. In short, as Giovio remarks in his eulogium on Lebrija,
" Xo Spaniard was accounted noble who held science in indifference."
From a very early period, a courtly stamp was impressed on the poetic
literature of Spain. A similar character was now imparted to its
erudition and men of the most illustrious birth seemed eager to lead
CLASSICAL LEAEXIXG. SCILXC^. 285
fTie way in the difficult career of science, -which was thrown open to
the nation.
In this brilliant exhibition, those of the other sex must not be omitted
who contributed by their intellectual endowments to the general illumi-
nation of the period. Among them, the writers of that day lavish their
panegyrics on the marchioness of Monteagudo, and Dcfia Maria Pacheco,
of the" ancient house of M-^ndoza, sisters of the historian, Don Diego-
Hurtado,* and daughters of the accomplished count of Teudilla, who,
while ambassador at Rome, induced Martyr to Visit Spain, and who was
grandson of the famous marquis of Santillana, and nephew of the
grand cardinal. This illustrious familr, rendered yet more illustrious
by its merits than its birth is wortny of specification, as affording
aitn<rether the most remarkable combination of literary talent in the
enlightened court of Castile. The queen's instructor in the Latin
language was a lady named Dona Beatriz de Galindo, called, from her
peculiar attainments, la Latino. Another lady, Dona Lucia de Medrano,
publicly lectured on the Latin classics in the university of Salamanca.
And another, Dona Francisca de Lebrija, daughter of the historian of
that name, filled the chair of rhetoric with applause at Alcala. But
our limits will not allow a further enumeration of names, which should
never be permitted to sink into oblivion, were it only for the rare
scholarship, peculiarly rare in the female sex, which they displayed in
an age comparatively unenlightened. Female education in that day
embraced a wider compass of erudition, in reference to the ancient
languages, than is common at present ; a circumstance attributable,
probably, to the poverty of modern literature at that time, and the new
and general appetite excited by the revival of classical learning in Italy.
I am not aware, however, that it was usual for learned ladies, in any
other country than Spain, to take part in the public exercises of the
gymnasium, and deliver lectures from the chairs of the universities.
This peculiarity, which may be referred in part to the queen's influence,
who encouraged the love of study by her own example, as well as by
personal attendance on the academic examinations, may have been also
suggested by a similar usage, already noticed among the Spanish
Arabs, f
"While the study of the ancient tongues came thus into fashion with
persons of both sexes, and of the highest rank, it was widely and most
thoroughly cultivated by professed scholars. Men of letters, some of
whom have been already noticed, were invited into Spain from Italy,
the theatre at that time on which, from obvious local advantages,
classical discovery was pursued with greatest ardour and success. To
this country it was usual also for Spanish students to repair, in order
to complete their discipline in classk-al literature, especially the Greek,
as first taught on sound principles of criticism by the learned exiles from
Constantinople. The most remarkable of the Spanish scholars who
made this literary pilgrimage to Italy, was Antonio de Lebrija, or
Nebrisaensis, as he is more frequently called from his Latin name.
After ten years passed at Bologna and other seminaries of repute, with
particular attention to their interior discipline, he returned, iu H73,
* His poetry, and his celebrated picartsco norcl, " Lazarillo de Tonnes," have made an
;xx:li . - ain.
_ P:ivt I. Chap. VIII., of tuis History.
280 CASTILIAN LITERATL'HE.
to Ids native land, richly laden with the stores of various erudition.
He was invited to fill the Latin chair at Seville, whence he was
successively transferred to Salamanca, and Alcala, both of which places
he long continued to enlighten by his oral instruction and publications.
The earliest of these was his " Introduc.ciones Latinas," the third edition
of which was printed in 1485, being four years only from the date of
the first; a remarkable evidence of the growing taste for classical
learning. A translation in the vernacular, accompanied the last
edition, arranged, at the queen's suggestion, in columns parallel with
those of the original text ; a form which, since become common, -u as
then a novelty. The publication of his Castilian grammar, " Gram-
matica Castillana," followed in 1492 ; a treatise designed particularly
for the instruction of the ladies of the court. The other productions of
this indefatigable scholar embrace a large circle of topics, independently
of his various treatises on philology and criticism. Some were
translated into French and Italian, and their republication has been
continued to the last century. No man of his own, or of later times,
contributed more essentially than Lebrija to the introduction of a pure
and healthful erudition- into Spain. It is not too much to say, that
there was scarcely an eminent Spanish scholar in the beginning of the
sixteenth century, who had not formed himself on the instructions of
this master.
Another name worthy of commemoration is that of Arias Barbosa,
a learned Portuguese, who, after passing some years, like Lebrija, in
the schools of Italy, where he studied the ancient tongues under the
guidance of Politiano, was induced to establish his residence in Spain.
In 1489, we find him at Salamanca, where he continued for twenty,
or, according to some accounts, forty years, teaching in the departments
of Greek and rhetoric. At the close of that period he returned to
Portugal, where he superintended the education of some of the members
of the royal family, and survived to a good old age. Uarbosa was
esteemed inferior to Lebrija in extent of various erudition, but to have
surpassed him in an accurate knowledge of the Greek, and poetical
criticism. In the former, indeed, he seems to have obtained a greater
repute than any Spanish scholar of the time. He composed some
valuable works, especially on ancient prosody. The unwearied assiduity
and complete success of his academic labours have secured to him a
high reputation among the restorers of ancient learning, and especially
that of reviving a livelier relish for the study of the Greek, by con-
ducting it on principles of pure criticism, in the same manner as
Lebrija did with the Latin.
The scope of the present work precludes the possibility of a copious
enumeration of the pioneers of ancient learning, to whom Spain owes so
large a debt of gratitude.* The Castilian scholars of the close of the
CLASSICAL LEARNING. SCIENCE. 287
fifteenth, and the beginning of the sixteenth century, may take rank
with their illustrious contemporaries of Italy. They could not indeed
achieve such brilliant results in the discovery of the remains of antiquity,
i'.n- such remains had been long scattered and lost amid the centuries of
cvile and disastrous warfare consequent on the Saracen invasion. But
they were unwearied in their illustrations, both oral and written, of the
ancient authors ; and their numerous commentaries, translations, dic-
tionaries, grammars, and various works of criticism, many of which,
though now obselete, passed into repeated editions in their own day,
bear ample testimony to the generous zeal with which they conspired to
raise their contemporaries to a proper level for contemplating the works
of the great masters of antiquity ; and well entitled them to the high
eiilogium of Erasmus, that " liberal studies were brought, in the course
of a few years, in Spain, to so nourishing a condition, as might not only
excite the admiration, but serve as a model to the most cultivated
nations of Europe."
The Spanish universities were the theatre on which this classical
erudition was more especially displayed. Previous to Isabella's reign,
there were but few schools in the kingdom ; not one indeed of any note,
except in Salamanca ; and this did not escape the blight which fell on
every generous study. But, under the cheering patronage of the present
government they were soon tilled, and widely multiplied. Academies of
repute were to be found in Seville, Toledo, Salamanca, Granada, and
Alcala ; and learned teachers were drawn from abroad by the most
liberal emoluments. At the head of these establishments stood "the
illustrious city of Salamanca," as Marineo fondly terms it, " mother of
all liberal arts and virtues, alike renowed for noble cavaliers and learned
men." Such was its reputation that foreigners as well as natives were
attracted to its schools, and at one time, according to the authority of
the same professor, seven thousand students were assembled within its
walls. A letter of Peter Martyr, to his patron the count of Tendilla,
"gives a whimsical picture of the literary enthusiasm of this place. The
throng was so great to hear his introductory lecture on -one of the
Satires of Juvenal, that every avenue to the hall was blockaded, and
the professor was borne in on the shoulders of the students. Professor-
ships in every department of science then studied, as well as of polite
letters, were established at the university, the "new Athens," as Martyr
somewhere styles it. Before the close of Isabella's reign, however, its
glories were rivalled, if not eclipsed, by those of Alcala ; which com-
bined higher advantages for ecclesiastical with civil education, ai:d
which, under the splendid patronage of Cardinal Ximenes, exec
the famous Polyglot version of the Scriptures, the most stupendous
literary enterprise of that age.*
This active cultivation was not confined to the dead languages, but
and liberal learning." Bnt the most unequivocal testimony to the deep and v ,
rship of the period is afforded by that stupendous literary work of Car
Ximenes, the Polyglot Bible, whose versions in the Greek, Latin, and Oriental tongues
were collated, with a single exception, by Spanish scholars.
* It appears that tho practi -u of scraping with the fuet as an expression of disappro-
bation, iamiliar in our universities, is of venerable antiquity ; for Martyr mention-.
saluted with it before finishing his discourse by one or two idle youths,
with its length. The lecturer, however, seems to have given general satisfaction, for ha
irted back in triumph to his K> L r in..- ( to use his own language, " like a victor 13
'.he Olympic games," after the conclusion of the exercise.
CASTILIAN LITKIi.VTUHE.
spread more or less over every department of knowledge. Theological
science, in particular, received a large share of attention. It had always
formed a principal object of academic instruction, though suffered to
languish under the universal corruption of the preceding reign. It was
so common for the clergy to be ignorant of the most elementary know-
ledge, that the council of Aranda found it necessary to pass an
ordinance, the year before Isabella's accession, that no person should be
admitted to orders who was ignorant of Latin. The queen took the
most effectual means for correcting this abuse, by raising only com-
petent persons to ecclesiastical dignities. The highest stations in the
church were reserved for those who combined the highest intellectual
endowments with unblemished piety. Cardinal Mendoza, whose acute
and comprehensive mind entered with interest into every scheme for the
promotion of science, was archbishop of Toledo ; Talavera, whose
hospitable mansion was itself an academy for men of letters, and whose
princely revenues were liberally dispensed for their support, was raised
to the see of Granada ; and Ximenes, whose splendid literary projects
will require more particular notice hereafter, succeeded Mendoza in the
primacy of Spain. Under the protection of these enlightened patrons,
theological studies were pursued with ardour, the Scriptures copiously
illustrated, and sacred eloquence cultivated with success.
A similar impulse was felt in the other walks of science. Jurispru-
dence assumed a new aspect, under the learned labours of Montalvo.
The mathematics formed a principal branch of education, and were
successfully applied to astronomy and geography. Valuable treatises
were produced on medicine, and on the more familiar practical arts, as
husbandry, for example. History, which since the time of Alfonso the
Tenth, had been held in higher honour and more widely cultivated in
Castile than in any other European state, began to lay aside the garb of
chronicle, and to be studied on more scientific principles. Charters and
diplomas were consulted, manuscripts collated, coins and lapidary
inscriptions deciphered, and collections made of these materials, the true
basis of authentic history ; and an office of public archives, like that
now existing at Simancas, was established at Burgos, and placed under
the care of Alonso de Mota, as keeper, with a liberal salary.*
Nothing could have been more opportune for the enlightened purposes
of Isabella, than the introduction of the art of printing into Spain, at
the commencement, indeed in the very first year, of her reign. She saw,
from the first moment, all the advantages which it promised for diffusing
and perpetuating the discoveries of science. She encouraged its esta-
blishment by large privileges to those who exercised it, whether natives
or foreigners, and by causing many of the works composed by her subjects
to be printed at her own charge.
Among the earlier printers we frequently find the names of Germans ;
a people who, to the original merits of the discovery, may justly add
that of its propagation among every nation of Europe. "We meet with
a praymaticA, or royal ordinance, dated in 1477, exempting a German,
named Theodoric, from taxation, on the ground of being " one of the
principal persons in the discovery and practice of the art of printing
* This collection, with the ill luck which has too often befallen such repositories io
Spain, was burnt in the war of the Communities, in the time of Charles V.
CLASSICAL LEABNtX-G. SCIENCE. 289
books, which he had brought with him into Spain at great risk and
expense, with the design of ennobling the libraries of the kingdom."
Monopolies for printing and selling books for a limited period, answering
to the modern cop}'right, were granted to certain persons, in considera-
tion of their doing so at a reasonable rate. It seems to have been usual
for the printers to be also the publishers and vendors of books. These
exclusive privileges, however, do not appear to have been carried to a
mischievous extent. Foreign books, of every description, by a law of
1480, were allowed to be imported into the kingdom free of all duty
whatever; an enlightened provision, which might furnish a useful
hint to legislators of the nineteenth century.
The first press appears to have been erected at Valencia in 1474 ;
although the glory of precedence is stoutly contested by several p.
and especially by Barcelona. The first work printed was a collection of
songs, composed for a poetical contest in honour of the Virgin, for the
most part in the Limousin or Valencian dialect. In the following year
the first ancient classic, being the works of Sallust, was printed ; and in
1478 there appeared from the same press a translation of the Scriptures, in
the Limousin, by Father Boniface Ferrer, brother of the famous Domi-
nican, St. Vincent Ferrer. Through the liberal patronage of the govern-
ment, the art was widely diffused; and, before the end of the fifteenth
century, presses were established and in active operation in the principal
cities of the united kingdom ; in Toledo, Seville, Ciudad Real, Granada,
A'alladolid, Burgos, Salamanca, Zamora, Saragossa, Valencia, Barcelona,
Monte Rey, Lerida, Murcia, Tolosa, Tarragona, Alcali de Henares, and
Madrid.
It is painful to notice amidst the judicious provisions for the
encouragement of science, one so entirely repugnant to their spirit as
the establishment of the censorship. By an ordinance, dated at Toledo,
July 8th, 1502, it was decreed that, " as many of the books sold in the
kingdom were defective, or false, or apocryphal, or pregnant with vain
and superstitious novelties, it was therefore ordered that no book should
hereafter be printed without special licence from the king, or some person
r-irularly commissioned by him for the purpose." The names of the com-
missioners then follow, consisting mostly of ecclesiastics, archbishops
and bishops, with authority respectively over their several dioceses.
This authority was devolved in later times, under Charles the Fifth
and his successors, on the Council of the Supreme, over which the
inquisitor-general presided ex officio. The immediate agents employed
in the examination were also dra\vn from the Inquisition, who exercised
this important trust, as is well known, in a manner most fatal to the
interests of letters and humanity. Thus a provision, destined in its
origin for the advancement of science, by purifying it from the cruditiea
and corruptions which naturally infect it in a primitive age, contributed
more effectually to its discouragement thin iny other which could have
been devised, by interdicting the freedom of expression, so indispensable
to freedom of inquiry.
While endeavouring to do justice to the progress of civilisation in this
reign, I should regret to present to the reader an ever-coloured picture
of its results. Indeed, less emphasis should be laid on any actual
results than on the spirit of improvement which they imply in the
nation, and the liberal dispositions of the government. The fifteenth
290 CASTILIAN LITP.RATrRE.
century was distinguished by a zeal for research, and laborious acquisi-
tion, especially in ancient literature, throughout Europe, which showed
itself in Italy in the beginning of the age, and in Spain and some other
countries towards the close. It was natural that men shoiild explore
the long buried treasures descended from their ancestors before venturing
on anything of their own creation. Their efforts were eminently suc-
cessful ; and, by opening an acquaintance with the immortal productions
of ancient literature, they laid the best foundation for the cultivation of
the modern.
In the sciences, their success was more equivocal. A blind reverence
for authority ; a habit of speculation, instead of experiment, so perni-
cious in physics ; in short, an ignorance of the true principles of
philosophy, often led the scholars of that day in a wrong direction.
Even when they took a right one, their attainments, under all these
impediments, were necessarily so small as to be scarcely perceptible,
when viewed from the brilliant heights to which science has arrived in
our own age. Unfortunately for Spain, its subsequent advancement has
been so retarded, that a comparison of the fifteenth century with those
which succeeded it is by no means so humiliating to the former as in
some other countries of Europe ; and it is certain that, in general
intellectual fermentation, no period has surpassed, if it can be said to
have rivalled, the age of Isabella.
CHAPTEE XX.
CASTILIAH IJTEBATURK ROMANCES OF CHIVALRY LYRICAL POETRY THE DRAMA.
This Reign an Epoch in Polite Letters Romances of Chivalry Ballads or Romance.*
Moorish Minstrelsy "Cancionero General" Its Literary Value Rise of the Spanish.
Drama Criticism on "Celestina" Encina Naharro Low Condition of the Stage
National Spirit of the Literature of this Epoch.
OBHAMEXTAL or polite literature, which, emanating from the taste
and sensibility of a nation, readily exhibits its various fluctuations of
fashion and feeling, was stamped in Spain with the distinguishing
characteristics of this revolutionary age. The Provenale, which
peached such high perfection in Catalonia, and subsequently in Aragon,
as noticed in an introductory chapter,* expired with the union of thia
monarchy with Castile, and the dialect ceased to be applied to literary
purposes altogether, after the Castilian became the language of thf
court in the united kingdoms. The poetry of Castile, which throughou,
the present reign continued to breathe the same patriotic spirit, and to
exhibit the same national peculiarities that had distinguished it from
the time of the Cid, submitted soon after Ferdinand's death to the
influence of the more polished Tuscan, and henceforth, losing somewhat
of its distinctive physiognomy, assumed many of the prevalent features
of continental literature. Thus the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella
becomes an epoch as memorable in literary as in civil history.
The most copious vein of fancy, in that day, was turned in the direction
See the conclusion of the Introduction, gee. 2, of this History
iioir.vxTic ricTiox AXD roEiinr. 291
of the prose romance of chivalry ; now seldom disturbed, even in its
own country, except by the antiquary. The circumstances of the age
naturally led to its production. The romantic Moorish Avars, teeming
with adventurous exploit and picturesque incident, carried on with the
natural enemies of the Christian knight, and opening moreover all tne
legendary stores of oriental fable, the stirring adventures by sea as
well as land, above all, the discovery of a world beyond the waters,
whose unknown regions gave full scope to the play of the imagination,
all contributed to stimulate the appetite for the incredible chimeras, the
moijuanime menzogne, of chivalry. The publication of " Amadis de
Gaula " gave a decided impulse to this popular feeling. This romance,
which seems now well ascertained to be the production of a Portuguese
in the latter half of the fourteenth century, was first printed i:i a
Spanish version, probably not far from 1490. Its editor, Garci Ordonez
de Montalvo, states, in his prologue, that "he corrected it from the
ancient originals, pruning it of all superfluous phrases, and substituting
others of a more polished and elegant style." How far its character
was benefited by this Avork of purification may be doubted ; although
it is probable it did not suffer so much by such a process as it would have
done in a later and more cultivated period. The simple beauties of this
fine old romance, its bustling incidents, relieved by the delicate play of
oriental machinery, its general truth of portraiture, above all, the
knightly character of the hero, who graced the prowess of chivalry
with a courtesy, modesty, and fidelity unrivallea in the creations of
romance, soon recommended it to popular faA^our and imitation. A con-
tinuation, Waring the title of " Las Sergas de Esplandian," was given
to the world by Montalvo himself, and grafted on the original stock, as
the fifth book of the Amadis, before 1510. A sixth, containing the
adventures of his nephew, Avas printed at Salamanca in the course of the
last-mentioned year ; and thus the idle writers of the day continued to
propagate dulness through a series of heavy tomes, amounting in all to
lour and twenty books, until the much abused public would no longer
suffer the name of Amadis to cloak the manifold sins of his posterity.
Other knights-errant Avere sent roving about the world at the same time,
Avhose exploits would fill a library ; but fortunately they have been
permitted to pass into oblivion, from which a few of their names only
have been rescued by the caustic criticism of the curate in Don Quixote ;
Avho, it will be remembered, after declaring that the virtues of the parent
shall not avail his posterity, condemns them and their companions, with
one or two exceptions only, to the fatal funeral pile.
These romances of chivalry must have undoubtedly contributed t<v
nourish those exaggerated sentiments Avhich from a very early period
entered into the Spanish character. Their evil influence, in a literary
vicAV, resulted less from their improbabilities of situation, which they
possessed in common Avith the inimitable Italian epics, than from the
false pictures which they presented of human character, familiarising
the eye of the reader with such models as debauched the taste, and
rendered him incapable of relishing the chaste and sober productions of
art. It is remarkable that the chivalrous romance, which Avas so copiously
cultiA-ated through the greater part of the sixteenth century, should not
have assumed the poetic form, as in Italy, and indeed among our Norman
ancestors ; and that, in its prose dress, no name of note appears to raise
u 2
292 CASTILIAN LITERATURE.
it to a high degree of literary merit. Perhaps such a result might have
been achieved, but for the sublime parody of Cervantes, which cut short
the whole race of knights- err ant, and, by the fine irony which it threw
around the mock heroes of chivalry, extinguished them for ever.
The most popular poetry of this period, that springing from the body
of the people, and most intimately addressed to it, is the ballads, or
romances, as they are termed in Spain. These indeed were familiar to
the Peninsula as far back as the twelfth and thirteenth centuries ; but
in the present reign they received a fresh impulse from the war with
Granada, and composed under the name of the Moorish ballads, what
may perhaps be regarded without too high praise, as the most exquisite
popular minstrelsy of any age or country.
The humble narrative lyrics making up the mass of ballad poetry,
and forming the natural expression of a simple state of society, would
seem to be most abundant in nations endowed with keen sensibilities,
and placed in situations of excitement and powerful interest fitted to
develope them. The light and lively French have little to boast of in
this way. The Italians, with a deeper poetic feeling, were too early
absorbed in the gross business-habits of trade, and their literature
received too high a direction from its master spirits at its very com-
mencement, to allow any considerable deviation in this track. The
countries where it has most thriven are probably Great Britain and
Spain. The English and the Scotch, whose constitutionally pensive and
even melancholy temperament has been deepened by the sober complexion
of the climate, were led to the cultivation of this poetry still further by
the stirring scenes of feudal warfare in which they were engaged,
especially along the borders. The Spaniards, to similar sources of
excitement, added that of high religious feeling in their struggles Avith
the Saracens, which gave a somewhat loftier character to their effusions.
Fortunately for them, their early annals gave birth, in the Cid, to a hero
whose personal renown was identified with that of his country, round
whose name might be concentrated all the scattered lights of song, thus
enabling the nation to build up its poetry on the proudest historic
recollections. The feats of many other heroes, fabulous as well as real,
were permitted to swell the stream of traditionary verse ; and thus a
body of poetical annals, springing up as it were from the depths of the
people, was bequeathed from sire to son, contributing perhaps, more
powerfully than any real history could have done, to infuse a common,
principle of patriotism into the scattered members of the nation.
There is considerable resemblance between the early Spanish ballad
and the British. The latter affords more situations of pathos and deep
tenderness, particularly those of suffering, uncomplaining love, a
favourite theme with old English poets of every description. "We do
not find, either, in the ballads of the Peninsula, the wild, romantic
adventures of the roving outlaw, of the Robin Hood gemis, which enters
so largely into English minstrelsy. The former are in general of a more
sustained and chivalrous character, less gloomy, and although fierce not
so ferocious, nor so decidedly tragical in their aspect, as the latter. The
ballads of the Cid, however, have many points in common with the
border poetry ; the same free and cordial manner, the same love of
military exploit, relieved by a certain tone of generous gallantry, and
accompanied by a strong expression of national feeling.
BOMANTIC FICTION AND POETRY. 293
The resemblance between the minstrelsy of the two countries vanishes,
however, as we approach the Moorish ballads. The Moorish wars had
always afforded abundant themes of interest for the Castilian muse ; but
it was not till the fall of the capital that the very fountains of song were
broken up, and those beautiful ballads were produced, which seemed
like the echoes of departed glory lingering round the ruins of Granada.
Incompetent as these pieces may be as historical records, they are
doubtless sufficiently true to manners.* They present a most remarkable
combination, of not merely the exterior form, but the noble spirit of
European chivalry, with the gorgeousness and effeminate luxury of the
Ea*t. They are brief, seizing single situations of the highest 'poetic
interest, and striking the eye of the reader with a brilliancy of execution,
so artless in appearance withal as to seem rather the effect of accident
than study. \Ve are transported to the gay seat of Moorish power, and
witness the animating bustle, ite pomp and its revelry, prolonged to the
last hour of its existence. The bull-right of the Vivarranibla, the
graceful tilt of reeds, the amorous knights with their quaint significant
devices, the dark Zegrs, or Gomeres, and the royal, self-devoted
Abencerrages, the Moorish maiden radiant at the tourney, the moonlight
serenade, the stolen interview, where the lover gives vent to all the
intoxication of passion in the burning language of Arabian metaphor
and hyperbole, these and a thousand similar scenes, are brought before
the eye, by a succession of rapid and animated touches, like the lights
and shadows of a landscape. The light trochaic structure of the
redondilla,* as the Spanish ballad measure is called, rolling on its
graceful negligent asonante,\ whose continued repetition seems by its
monotonous melody to prolong the note of feeling originally struck, is
admirably suited by its flexibility to the most varied and opposite expres-
sion ; a circumstance which has recommended it as the ordinary measure
of dramatic dialogue.
Nothing can be more agreeable than the general effect of the Moorish
ballads, which combine the elegance of a riper period of literature, with
the natural sweetness and simplicity, savouring sometimes even of the
rudeness, of a primitive age. Their merits have raised them to a sort
of classical dignity in Spain, and have led to their cultivation by a
higher order of writers, and down to a far later period, than in any
other country in Europe. The most successful specimens of this imita-
tion may be assigned to the early part of the seventeenth century ; but
the age was too late to enable the artist, with all his skill, to seize the
true colouring of the antique. It is impossible, at this period, to
* I have already noticed the insufficiency of the romances to authenticate history. My
conclusions have been confirmed by Mr. Irving (whose researches have led him into a
similar direction), in his " Alhambra," published nearly a year after the above note was
written.
but in the romance it is most frequently found to consist of eight syllables ; the last
foot, and some or all of the preceding, as the case may be, being trochees.
} The atone ate is a rhyme made by uniformity of the vowels, without reference to the
consonants ; the regular rhyme, which obtains iu other European literatures, is distin-
guished in S]im by the term contrmante. Thus the four tollowiug words, taken at
random from a Spanish ballad, are consecutive asonai-tts ; r'gr>:-
In this example, the two e have the assonance ; although this is not mvuii
able, it somutluies failing on tlic tutepeuultima and the final syllable.
294 CASTILIAX UTEKATrEE.
ascertain the authors of these venerable lyrics, nor can the exact time of
their production be now determined ; although, as their subjects are
chieny taken from the last days of the Spanish Arabian empire, the
larger part of them was probably posterior, and, as they \vere printed in
collections at the beginning of the sixteenth century, could not have
been long posterior to the capture of Granada. How far they may be
referred to the conquered Moors, is uncertain. Many of these wrote
and spoke the Castilian with elegance, and there is nothing improbable
in the supposition that they should seek some solace under present evils
in the splendid visions of the past. The bulk of this poetry, however,
was in all probability the creation of the Spaniards themselves, naturally
attracted by the picturesque circumstances in the character and condi-
tion of the conquered nation to invest them with poetic inter
The Moorish romances fortunately appeared after the introduction of
printing into the Peninsula, so that they were secured a permanent
existence, instead of perishine: with the breath that made them, like so
many of their predecessors. This misfortune, which attaches to so much
of popular poetry in all nations, is not imputable to any insensibility in
the Spaniards to the excellence of their own. Men of more erudition
than taste may have held them light, in comparison with more osten-
tatious and learned productions. This fate has befallen them in other
countries than Spain. But persons of finer poetic feeling, and more
enlarged spirit of criticism, have estimated them as a most essential and
characteristic portion of Castilian literature. Such was the judgment
of the great Lope de Vega, who, after expatiating on the extraordinary
compass and sweetness of the romance, and its adaptation to the highest
subjects, commends it as worthy of all estimation for its peculiar
national character. The modern Spanish writers have adopted a similar
tone of criticism, insisting on its study as essential to a correct appre-
ciation and comprehension of the genius of the language.
The Castilian ballads were first printed in the " Cancionero General"
of Fernando del Castillo, in 1511. They were first incorporated into a
separate work, by Sepulveda, under the name of "Romances sacados de
Historias Antiguas," printed at Antwerp in 1551. Since that period,
they have passed into repeated editions at home and abroad, especially
in Germany, where they have been illustrated by able critics. Igno-
rance of their authors, and of the era of their production, has prevented
any attempt at exact chronological arrangement ; a circumstance ren-
dered, moreover, nearly impossible, by the perpetual modification which
the original style of the more ancient ballads has experienced in th> ir
transition through successive generations ; so that, with one or two
exceptions, no earlier date should probably be assigned to the ol>
them, in their present form, than the fifteenth century. Another >
of classification has been adopted, of distributing them accordi:
their subjects; and independent collections also of the separate depart-
ments, as ballad s of the Cid, of the twelve Peers, the Morisco ballad-
the like, have been repeatedly published both at home and abroad.
The higher, and educated classes of the nation, were not insensible to
the poetic spirit which drew forth such excellent minstrelsy from the
body of the people. Ind Han poetry bore the same patrician
stamp through the whole of the present reign, which had been irti} :
on it iu its infancy. Fortunately the new art of printing was employed
K03IJ-VTIC FICTION AUD POETET. 295
lure, as in the case of the romances, to arrest those fugitive sallies of
imagination, which in other countries were permitted, from want of this
care, to pass into oblivion ; and cancioneros, or collections of lyrics, were
published, embodying the productions of this reign and that o"f John the
Second, thus bringing under one view the poetic culture of the fifteenth
century.
The earliest cancionero printed was at Saragossa, in 1492. It com-
prehended the works of Mena, Manrique, and six or seven other bards of
note. A far more copious collection was made by Fernando del
Castillo, and first published at Valencia, in 1511, under the title of
" Cancionero General ;" since which period it has passed into repeated
editions. This compilation is certainly more creditable to Castillo's
industry than to his discrimination or power of arrangement. Indeed,
in this latter respect it is so defective, that it would almost seem to have
been put together fortuitously as the pieces came to hand. A large
portion of the authors appear to have been persons of rank ; a circum-
stance to which perhaps they were indebted, more than to any poetic
merit, for a place in the miscellany, which might have been decidedly
increased in value by being diminished in bulk.
The tcorks of devotion, with which the collection opens, are on the
whole the feeblest portion of it. We discern none of the inspiration and
lyric glow which were to have been anticipated from the devout,
enthusiastic Spaniard. We meet with anagrams on the Virgin, glosses
on the Creed and Pater noster, condones on original sin and the like
unpromising topics, all discussed in the most bald, prosaic manner with
abundance of Latin phrase, scriptural allusion, and common-place
precept, unenlivened by a single spark of true poetic fire, and presenting
altogether a farrago of the most fantastic pedantry.
The lighter, especially the amatory poems, are much more successfully
executed, and the primitive forms of the old Castilian versification are
developed with considerable variety and beauty. Among the -most
agreeable effusions in this way, may be noticed those of Diego Lopez de
llaro, who, to borrow the encomium of a contemporary, was " the
mirror of gallantry for the young cavaliers of the time.'' There are
- in the collection composed with more facility and grace.
Among the more elaborate pieces, Diego de San Pedro's "Desprecio de
la Fortuna" maybe distinguished, not so much for any poetic talent
which it exhibits, as fur its mercurial and somewhat sarcastic tone of
sentiment. The similarity of subject may suggest a parallel between it
and the Italian poet Guidi s celebrated ode on Fortune ; and the different
styles of execution may perhaps be taken as indicating pretty fairly the
distinctive peculiarities of the Tuscan and the old Spanish school of
poetry. The Italian, introducing the fickle goddess in person on the
scene, describes her triumphant march over the ruins of empires and
dynasties, from the earliest time, in a now of lofty dithyrambic eloquence,
adorned with all the brilliant colouring of a stimulated fancy and a
highly finished language. The Castilian, on the other hand, instead of
this splendid personification, deepens his verse into a moral tone, and,
dwelling on the vicissitudes and vanities of human life, points his
reflections with some caustic warning, often conveyed with enchanting
simplicity, but without the least approach to lyric exaltation, or indeed
the affectation of it.
296 CASTILIAN LITERATURE.
This paoneness to moralise the song is in truth a characteristic of
the old Spanish bard. He rarely abandons himself, without reserve, to
the frolic puerilities so common with the sister Muse of Italy.
" Scritta cosl come la penna getta,
Per fuggir 1' ozio, e non per cercar gloria."
It is true, he is occasionally betrayed by verbal subtilities and other
affectations of the age ; but even his liveliest sallies are apt to be
seasoned with a moral, or sharpened by a satiric sentiment. His
defects, indeed, are of the kind most opposed to those of the Italian poet,
showing themselves, especially in the more elaborate pieces, in a certain
Jumid stateliness and overstrained energy of diction.
On the whole, one cannot survey the "Cancionero General" without
some disappointment at the little progress of the poetic art since the
reign of John the Second, at the beginning of the century. The best
pieces in the collection are of that date ; and no rival subsequently arose
to compete with the masculine strength of Mena, or the delicacy and
fascinating graces of Santillana. One cause of this tardy progress may
have been the direction to \itility manifested in this active reign,
which led such as had leisure for intellectual pursuits to cultivate
science, rather than abandon themselves to the mere revels of the
imagination.
Another cause may be found in the rudeness of the language, whose
delicate finish is so essential to the purposes of the poet, but which was
so imperfect at this period, that Juan de la Encina, a popular writer of
the time, complained that he was obliged, in his version of Virgil's
Eclogues, to coin, as it were, a new vocabulary, from the want of terms
corresponding with the original, in the old one. It was not until the
close of the present reign, when the nation began to breathe awhile from
its tumultuous career, that the fruits of the patient cultivation which it
had 'been steadily, though silently experiencing, began to manifest
themselves in the improved condition of the language, and its adap-
tation to the highest poetical uses. The intercourse with Italy,
moreover, by naturalising new and more finished forms of versification,
afforded a scope for the nobler efforts of the poet, to which the old
Castilian measures, however well suited to the wild and artless move-
ments of the popiilar minstrelsy, were altogether inadequate.
We must not dismiss the miscellaneous poetry of this period, without
some notice of the " Coplas" of Don Jorge Manrique,* on the death of
his father, the count of Paredes, in 1474. The elegy is of considerable
length, and is sustained throughout in a tone of the highest moral
dignity ; while the poet leads us up from the transitory objects of this
Vower world to the contemplation of that imperishable existence which
Christianity has opened beyond the grave. A tenderness pervades the
piece, which, may remind us of the best manner of Petrarch ; while, with
the exception of a slight taint of pedantry, it is exempt from the
meretricious vices that belong to the poetry of the age. The effect of
the sentiment is heightened by the simple turns and broken melody of
the old Castilian verse, of which perhaps this may be accounted tlm
most finished specimen; such would seem to be the judgment of his own
* He unfortunately fell in a skirmish, five years after his father's death,
ROMANTIC FICTION AND POETRY. 297
countrymen, -whose glosses and commentaries on it have swelled into a
separate volume.
I shall close this fturvey with a "brief notice of the drama, whose
foundations may be said to have been laid during this reign. Tha
sacred plays, or mysteries, so popular throughout Europe in the middle
ages, may be traced in Spain to an ancient date. Their familiar
performance in the churches, by the clergy, is recognised in the middle
of the thirteenth century, by a law of Alfonso the Tenth, which, while it
interdicted certain profane mummeries that had come into vogue, pre-
scribed the legitimate topics for exhibition.*
The transition from these rude spectacles to more regular dramatic
efforts was very slow and gradual. In 1414, an allegorical comedy,
composed by the celebrated Henry, marquis of Villena, was performed
at Saragossa in the presence of the court. In 1469, a dramatic eclogue
by an anonymous author was exhibited in the palace of the count of
Urefia, in. the presence of Ferdinand, on his coming into Castile to-
espouse the infanta Isabella. These pieces may be regarded as the-
earliest theatrical attempts, after the religious dramas and popular
pantomimes already noticed ; but unfortunately they have not come
down to us. The next production deserving attention is a " Dialogue
between Love and an Old Man," imputed to Ilodrigo Cota, a poet of
whose history nothing seems to be known, and little conjectured, but
that he flourished during the reigns of John the Second and Henry the
Fourth. The dialogue is written with much vivacity and grace, and
with as much dramatic movement as is compatible with only two
interlocutors.
A much more memorable production is referred to the same author,
the tragi-comedy of " Celestina," or "Calisto and Melibea," as it is
frequently called. The first act, indeed, constituting nearly one-third
of the piece, is all that is ascribed to Cota. The remaining twenty,
which however should rather be denominated scenes, were continued by
another hand, some though, to judge from the internal evidence afforded
by the style, not many years later. The second author was Fernando-
de Koxas, bachelor of law, as he informs us, who composed ti is work a
a sort of intellectual relaxation during one of his vacations. The time
was certainly not mis-spent. The continuation, however, is not esteemed
by the C'astilian critics to have risen quite to the level of the original act.
The story turns on a love intrigue. A Spanish youth of rank is
enamoured of a lady, whose affections he gains with some difficulty, but
whom he finally seduces, through the arts of an accomplished courtesan,
whom the author has introduced under the romantic name of Celestina.. .
The piece, although comic, or rather sentimental in its progress,
terminates in the most tragical catastrophe, in which all the principal
actors are involved. The general texture of the plot is exceedingly
clumsy, yet it affords many situations of deep and varied interest in its
progress. The principal characters are delineated in the piece with
considerable skill. The part of Celestina, in particular, in wliich a veil
After proscribing certain profane mummeries, the law confines the clergy to the
ntation of such subjects ;is " the birth of our S:iviour, in wliich is shown how the
angels appeared, announcing his nativity ; : f the three
-'iip him ; and his ix-Mirivctimi. simwii: -'.-Msion
tiurd day ; and oil. . mid live constant iu U.
faith."
itfS CASTILLO*
of plausible hypocrisy is thrown over the deepest profligacy of conduct,
is managed with much address. The subordinate parts are brought into
brisk comic action, with natural dialogue, though sufficiently obscene ;
and an interest of a graver complexion is raised by the passion of the
lovers, the timid, confiding tenderness of the lady, and the sorrows of
the broken-hearted parent. The execution of the play reminds us on
the whole less of the Spanish than of the old English theatre, in many
of its defects, as well as beauties ; in the contrasted strength and im-
becility of various passages ; its intermixture of broad farce and deep
tragedy ; the unseasonable introduction of frigid metaphor and pedantic
allusion in the midst of the most passionate discourses ; in the unveiled
voluptuousness of its colouring, occasionally too gross for any public
exhibition ; but, above all, in the general strength and fidelity of its
portraiture.
The tragi-comedy, as it is styled, of Celestina, was obviously never
intended for representation ; to which, not merely the grossness of some
of the details, but the length and arrangement of the piece, are unsuitable.
But, notwithstanding this, and its approximation to the character of
romance, it must be admitted to contain within itself the essential
elements of dramatic composition; and, as such, is extolled by the
Spanish critics as openiug the theatrical career of Europe. A similar
claim has been maintained for nearly contemporaneous productions in
other countries, and especiallv for Politian's "Orfeo," which, there is
little doubt, was publicly acted before 1483. Notwithstanding its repre-
sentation, however, the " Orfeo," presenting a combination of the eclogue
and the ode, without any proper theatrical movement, or attempt at
development of character, cannot fairly come within the limits of
dramatic writing. A more ancient example than either, at least as far
as the exterior forms are concerned, may be probably found in the
celebrated French farce of Pierre Pathelin, printed as early as 1474,
having been repeatedlv played during the preceding century, and which,
with the requisite modifications, still keeps possession of the stage. The
pretensions of this piece, however, as a work of art, are comparatively
humble ; and it seems fair to admit, that in the higher and more
important elements of dramatic composition, and especially in the
delicate, and at the same time powerful delineation of character and
passion, the Spanish critics may be justified in regarding the "Celestina"
as having led the way in modern Europe.
Without deciding on its proper classification as a work of art, however,
its real merits are settled by its wide popularity, both at home and
abroad. It has been translated into most of the European languages ;
and the preface to the last edition published in Madrid, so recently as
1S22, enumerates thirty editions of it in Spain alone in the course of
the sixteenth century. Impressions were multiplied in Italy, and at the
very time when it was interdicted at home on the score of its immoral
tendency. A popularity thus extending through distant ages and
nations, shows how faithfully it is built on the principles of human
nature.
The drama assumed the pastoral form, in its early stages, in Spain, as
in Italy. The oldest specimens in this way, which have come down to
us, are the productions of Juan de la Eneina, a contemporary of Roxas.
lie was born in 1469, and, after completing his education at'Salamanca,
UOMANTIC FICTION AND POETEY. 299
was received into the family of the duke of Alva. He continued there
several years, employed in the composition of various poetical works ;
among others, a version of Virgil's Kclogues, which he so altered as to
accommodate them to the principal events in the reign of Ferdinand and
Isabella. He visited Italy in the beginning of the following century,
and was attracted by the munificent patronage of Leo the Tenth to fix
his residence at the papal court. AVliile there, he continued his literary
labours. He embraced the ecclesiastical profession; and his skill in
music recommended him to the office of principal director of the pontifical
chapel. He was subsequently presented with the priory of Leon, and
returned to Spain, where he died in 1534.
Enema's works first appeared at Salamanca, in 1496, collected into one
vohime, folio. Besides other poetry, they comprehend a number of
dramatic eclogues, sacred and profane : the former, suggested by topics
drawn from Scripture, .like the ancient mysteries; the latter chiefly
amatory. They were performed in the palace of his patron, the duke of
Alva, in the presence of Prince John, the duke of Infantado, and other
eminent persons of the court ; and the poet himself occasionally assisted
at the representation.
Encina's eclogues are simple compositions, with litttle pretence to
dramatic artifice. The story is too meagre to admit of much ingenuity
or contrivance, or to excite any depth of interest. There are few inter-
locutors, seldom more than three or four, although on one occasion rising
to as many as seven; "of course there is little scope for theatrical action.
The characters are of the humble class belonging to pastoral life, and
the dialogue, which is extremely appropriate, is conducted with facility ;
but the rustic condition of the speakers precludes anything like literary
elegance or finish, in which respect they are doxibtless surpassed by
some of his more ambitious compositions. There is a comic air imparted
to them, however, and a lively colloquial turn, which renders them very
agreeable. Still, whatever be their merits as pastorals, they are entitled
to little consideration as specimens of dramatic art ; and, in the vital
spirit of dramatic composition, must be regarded as far inferior to the
"Celestiua." The simplicity of these productions, and the facility of
their exhibition, which required little theatrical decoration or costume,
recommended them to popular imitation, which continued long after the
regular forms of the drama were introduced into Spain.
The credit of this introduction belongs to Bartholonieo Torres de
Naharro, often confounded by the Castilian writers themselves with a
player of the same name, who flourished half a century later. Few
particulars have been ascertained of his personal history. He was born
at Torre, in the province of Estremadura. In the early part of his life
he fell into the hands of the Algerines, and was finally released from
captivity by the exertions of certain benevolent Italians, who generously
paid his ransom. He then established his residence in Italy, at the
court of Leo the Tenth. Under the genial influence of that patronage,
which quickened so many of the seeds of genius to production in
department, he composed' his " Propaladia," a work embracing a variety
of lyrical and dramatic poetry, first published at Rome in 1517. Un-
fortunately, the caustic satire, levelled in some of the higher pieces of
this collection at the licence of the pontifical court, brought suchobliquy
on the head of the author as compelled him to take refuge in Xaples,
SOO CASTILIAX- LITZRATUEL
where he remained under the protection of the noble family of Colonna.
Ko further particulars are recorded of him, except that he embraced the
ecclesiastical profession ; and the time and place of his death are alike
uncertain. In person he is said to have been comely, \vith an amiable
disposition, and sedate and dignified demeanour.
His " Propaladia," first published at Rome, passed through several
editions subsequently in Spain, where it was alternately prohibited, or
permitted, according to the caprice of the Holv Office. It contains,
among other things, eight comedies, written in the native redondillas ;
which continued to be regarded as the suitable measure for the drama.
They afford the earliest example of the division into jornadas, or days,
and of the introito, or prologue, in which the author, after propitiating
the audience by suitable compliment, and witticisms not over delicate,
gives a view of the length and general scope of his play.
The scenes of Naharro's comedies, with a single exception, are laid in
Spain and Italy ; those in the latter country probably being selected with
reference to the audiences before whom they were acted. The diction is
easy and correct, without much affectation of refinement or rhetorical
ornament. The dialogue, especially in the lower parts, is sustained with
much comic vivacity ; indeed Naharro seems to have had a nicer per-
ception of character as it is found in lower life, than as it exists in the
higher ; and more than one of his plays are devoted exclusively to its
illustration. On some occasions, however, the author assumes a more
elevated tone, and his verse rises to a degree of poetic beauty, deepened
by the moral reflection so characteristic of the Spaniards.", At other
times, his pieces are disfigured by such a Babel -like confusion of tongues,
as makes it doubtful which may be the poet's vernacular. Trench,
Spanish, Italian, with a variety of barbarous patois, and mongrel Latin,
are all brought into play at the same time, and all comprehended,
apparently with equal facilitv, by each one of the dramatis personee.
But it is difficult to conceive now such a jargon could have been com-
prehended, far more relished, by an Italian audience.
Xaharro's comedies are not much to be commended for the intrigue,
which generally excites but a languid interest, and shows little power or
adroitness in the contrivance. With every defect, however, they must
be allowed to have given the first forms to Spanish comedy, and to
exhibit many of the features which continued to be characteristic of it
in a state of more perfect development under Lope de Vega and Calderon.
Such, for instance, is the amorous jealousy, and especially the point of
honour, so conspicuous on the Spanish theatre ; and such, too, the moral
confusion too often produced by blending the foulest crimes with zeal
for religion. These comedies, moreover, far from blind conformity with
the ancients, discovered much of the spirit of independence, and deviated
into many of the eccentricities which distinguish the national theatre in
later times ; and which the criticism of our own day has so successfully
explained and defended on philosophical principles.
Naharro's plays were represented, as appears from his prologue, in
Italy, probably not at Rome, which he quitted soon after their pub-
lication, but at Naples, which, then forming a part of the Spanish
dominions, might more easily furnish an audience capable of com-
prehending them. It is remarkable that, notwithstanding their repeated
editions in Spain, they do not appear to have ever been performed th'-re.
ROMANTIC FICTION A.ND POETE1". 301
The cause of this, j.robably, was the low state of the histrionic art, and
the total deficiency iu theatrical costume and decoration ; yet it -was not
ea<y to dispense with these in the representation of pieces, which brought
more than a score of persons occasionally, and these crowned heads, at
tin- same time, upon the stage.
Some conception may be afforded of the lamentable poverty of the
theatrical equipment, from the account given of its condition, half a
century later, by Cervantes. "The whole wardrobe of a manager of
the theatre at that time," says he, " was contained in a single sack, and
amounted only to four dresses of white fur trimmed with gilt leather,
four beards, four wigs, and four crooks, more or less. There were no
trap-doors, moveable clouds, or machinery of any kind. The stage
itself consisted only of four or six planks, placed across as many benches,
arranged in the form of a square, and elevated but four palms from the
ground. The only decoration of the theatre was an old coverlet, drawn
from side to side by cords, behind which the musicians sang some ancient
romance, without the guitar." In fact, no further apparatus was em-
ployed than that demanded for the exhibition of mysteries, or the pastoral
dialogues which succeeded them. The Spaniards, notwithstanding their
precocity, compared with most of the nations of Europe, in dramatic
art, were unaccountably tardy in all its histrionic accompaniments. The
public remained content with such poor nmmmeries as could be got up
by strolling players and mountebanks. There was no fixed theatre in
Madrid until the latter part of the sixteenth century ; and that con-
sisted of a courtyard, with only a roof to shelter it, while the spectators
sat on benches ranged around, or at the windows of the surrounding
houses.
A similar impulse with that experienced by comic writing, was given
to tragedy. The first that entered on this department were professed
scholars, who adopted the error of the Italian dramatists, in fashioning
their pieces servilely after the antique, instead of seizing the expression
of their own age. The most conspicuous attempts in this way were
made by Fernan Perez de Oliva. He was born at Cordova in 1494, and,
after many years passed in the various schools of Spain, France, and
Italy, returned to his native land, and became a lecturer in the university
of Salamanca. He instructed in moral philosophy and mathematics,
and established the highest reputation for his critical acquaintance with
the ancient languages and his own. He died young, at the age of
thirty-nine, deeply lamented for his moral, no less than for his intellectual
worth.
His various works were published by the learned Morales, his nephew,
some fifty years after his death. Among them are translations in prose
of the Electra of Sophocles, and the Hecuba of Euripides. They may
with more propriety be termed imitations, and those too of the freest
kind. Although they conform, in the general arrangement and progress
of the story, to their originals, yet characters, nay whole scenes and
dialogues, are occasionally omitted ; and, in those retained, it is not
always easy to recognise the hand of the Grecian artist, whose modest
beauties are thrown into shade by the ambitious ones of his imitator.
But, with all this, Oliva' s tragedies must be admitted to be executed, on
the whole, with vigour ; and the diction, notwithstanding the national
tendency to exaggeration above alluded to, may be generally commended
302 CASTILIAX LITEHATC11E.
for decorum, and an imposing dignity qnite worthy of the tragic drama ;
indeed, they may be selected as affording probably the best specimen of
the progress of prose composition during the present reign.
Oliva's reputation led to a similar imitation of the antique. But the
Spaniards were too national in all their tastes to sanction it. These
classical compositions did not obtain possession of the stage, but were
confined to the closet, serving only as a relaxation for the man of letters ;
while the voice of the people compelled all who courted it to accommodate
their inventions to those romantic forms which were subsequently devel-
oped in such variety of beauty by the great Spanish dramatists.
"We have now surveyed the different kinds of poetic culture familiar
to Spain under Ferdinand and Isabella. Their most conspicuous element
is the national spirit which pervades them, and the exclusive attachment
which they manifest to the primitive forms of versification peculiar to
the Peninsula. The most remarkable portion of this body of poetry may
doubtless be considered the Spanish romances, or ballads ; that popular
minstrelsy which, commemorating the picturesque and chivalrous inci-
dents of the age, reflects most faithfully the romantic genius of the
people who gave it utterance. The lyric efforts of the period were less
successful. There were few elaborate attempts in this field, indeed, by
men of decided genius. But the great obstacle may be found in the
imperfection of the language, and the deficiency of the more exact and
finished metrical forms, indispensable to high poetic execution.
The whole period, however, comprehending, as it does, the first decided
approaches to a regular drama, may be regarded as very important in a
literary aspect ; since it exhibits the indigenous peculiarities of Castilian
literature in all their freshness, and shows to what a degree of excellence
it could attain while untouched by any foreign influence. The present
reign may be regarded as the epoch which divides the ancient from the
modern school of Spanish poetry ; in which the language was slowly but
steadily undergoing the process of refinement, that " made the know-
ledge of it," to borrow the words of a contemporary critic, " pass for an
elegant accomplishment, even with the cavaliers and dames of cultivated
Italy ;" and which finally gave full scope to the poetic talent that raised
the literature of the coimtry to such brilliant heights in the sixteenth
oentoiy.
PART THE SECOND.
14931517.
THI PERIOD WHEN', THE INTERIOR ORGANISATION OF THE MONARCHY HAVING BEEN COM*
PLETED, THE SPANISH NATION ENTERED ON ITS SCHEMES OF DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST;
OE THE PERIOD ILLUSTRATING MORE PARTICULARLY THE FOREIGN POLICY OF FERDI-
NAND AND ISABELLA.
CHAPTER I.
ITALIA* WARS GENERAL VIEW O7 EUROPE INVASION OF ITALY BV tJHAKLES VIIL OF
FRANCE.
14931495.
Europe at the close of the Fifteenth Century More intimate relations between States
Italy the School of Politics Pretensions of Charles VIII. to Naples Treaty of Barce-
lona The French invade Naples Ferdinand's Dissatisfaction Tactics and Arms of
the diflereut Nations Preparations of Spain Mission to Charles VIII. Bold conduc*
of the Envoys The French enter Naples.
WE have now reached that memorable epoch, when the different
nations of Europe, surmounting: the barriers which had hitherto confined
them within their respective limits, brought their forces, as if by a
simultaneous impulse, against each other on a common theatre of action.
In the preceding part of tliis work we have seen in what manner Spain
was prepared for the contest, by the concentration of her various states
under one government, and by such internal reforms as enabled the
government to act with vigour. The genius of Ferdinand will appear
as predominant in what concerns the foreign relations of the country, as
was that of Isabella in its interior administration. So much so, indeed,
that the accurate and well-informed historian, who has most copiously
illustrated this portion of the national annals, does not even mention, in
his introductory notice, the name of Isabella, but refers the agency in
these events exclusively to her more ambitious consort. In this he is
abundantly justified, both by the prevailing character of the policy
pursued, widely differing from that which distinguished the queen's
measures, and by the circumstance that the foreign conquests, although
achieved by the united efforts of both crowns, were undertaken on behalf
of Ferdinand's own dominions of Aragon, to which in the end they
exclusively appertained.
The close of the fifteenth century presents, on the whole, the most
striking point of view in modern history ; one from which we may
30* ITALIAN WAES.
contemplate the consummation of an important revolution in the structure
of political society, and the first application of several inventions des-
tined to exercise the widest influence on human civilisation. The feudal
institutions, or rather the feudal principle, which operated even where
the institutions, strictly speaking, did not exist, after having wrought
its appointed uses, had gradually fallen into decay ; for it had not the
power of accommodating itself to the increased demands and improved
condition of society. However well suited to a barbarous age, it was
found that the distribution of power among the members of an inde-
pondent aristocracy was unfavourable to that degree of personal security
and tranquillity indispensable to great proficiency in the higher arts of
civilisation. It was equally repugnant to the principle of patriotism, so
essential to national independence, but which must have operated feebly
among a people whose sympathies, instead of being concentrated on the
state, were claimed by a hundred masters, as was the case in every
feudal community. The conviction of this reconciled the nation to the
transfer of authority into other hands ; not those of the people indeed, who
were too ignorant, and too long accustomed to a subordinate, dependent
situation to admit of it, but into the hands of the sovereign. It was
not until three centuries more had elapsed, that the condition of the
great mass of the people was to be so far improved as to qualify them for
asserting and maintaining the political consideration which of right
belongs to them.
In whatever degree public opinion and the progress of events might
favour the transition of power from the aristocracy to the monarch, it is
obvious that much would depend on his personal character ; since the
advantages of his station alone made him by no means a match for the
combined forces of his great nobility. The remarkable adaptation of
the characters of the principal sovereigns of Europe to this exigency, in
the latter half of the fifteenth century, would seem to have sometliing
providential in it. Henry the Seventh of England, Louis the Eleventh
of France, Ferdinand of Naples, John the Second of Aragon and his
son Ferdinand, and John the Second of Portugal, however differing in
other respects, were all distinguished by a sagacity which enabled them
to devise the most subtile and comprehensive schemes of policy, and
which was prolific in expedients for the circumvention of enemies too
potent to be encountered by open force.
Their operations, all directed towards the same point, were attended
with similar success, resulting in the exaltation of the royal prerogative
at the expense of the aristocracy, with more or less deference to the
rights of the people, as the case might be ; in France, for example, with
almost total indifference to them ; while in Spain they were regarded,
under the parental administration of Isabella, which tempered the less
Bcupulous policy of her husband, with tenderness and respect. In every
country, however, the nation at large, gained greatly by the revolution,
which came on insensibly, at least without any violent shock to the
fabric of society, and which, by securing internal tranquillity and the
ascendancy of law over brute force, gave ample scope for those intellectual
pursuits that withdraw mankind from sensual indulgence and too
exclusive devotion to the animal wants of our nature.
No sooner was the internal organisation of the different nations
of Europe placed on a secure basis, than they found leisure to direct
EXPEDITION OF CHARLES VIII. 305
their views, hitherto confined within their own limits, to a bolder
and more distant sphere of action. Their international communi-
cation was greatly facilitated hy several useful inventions coincident
with this period, or then first extensively applied. Such was the art of
printing, diffusing knowledge with the speed and universality of light ;
the establishment of posts, which, after its adoption by Louis the
Eleventh, came into frequent use in the beginning of trie sixteenth
century; and lastly, the compass, which, guiding the mariner unerringly
through the trackless wastes of the ocean, brought the remotest regions
into contact. With these increased facilities for intercommunication, the
different European states might be said to be brought into as intimate
relation with one another, as the different provinces of the same kingdom
wi re before. They now for the first time regarded each other as members
of one great community, in whose action they were all mutually con -
eerned. A greater anxiety was manifested to detect the springs of every
political movement of their neighbours. Missions became frequent ; and
accredited agents were stationed as a sort of honourable spies, at the
different courts. The science of diplomacy, on narrower grounds indeed
than it is now practised, began to be studied.* Schemes of aggression
and resistance, leading to political combinations the most complex and
extended, were gradually formed. "We are not to imagine, however, the
existence of any well-defined ideas of a balance of power at this early
period. The object of these combinations was some positive act of
aggression or resistance for purposes, of conquest or defence, not for the
maintenance of any abstract theory of political equilibrium. This was
the result of much deeper reflection, and of prolonged experience.
The management of the foreign relations of the nation at the close of
the fifteenth century, was resigned wholly to the sovereign. The people
took no further part or interest in the matter, than if it had concerned
only the disposition of his private property. His measures were, there-
fore, often characterised by a degree of temerity and precipitation that
could not have been permitted under the salutary checks afforded by
popular interposition. A strange insensibility, indeed, was shown to the
rights and interests of the nation. War was regarded as a game, in
which the sovereign parties engaged, not on behalf of their subjects, but
exclusively on their own. Like desperate gamblers, they contended for
the spoils or the honours of victory, with so much the more recklessness
as their own station was too elevated to be materially prejudiced by the
results. They contended with all the animosity of personal feeling ;
every device, however paltry, was resorted to, and no advantage was
deemed unwarrantable which could tend to secure the victory. The
most profligate maxims of state policy were openly avowed by men
of reputed honour and integrity. In short, the diplomacy of that day is
very generally characterised by a low cunning, subterfuge, and petty
trickery, which would leave an indelible stain on the transactions of
private individuals.
Italy was, doubtless, the great school where this political morality was
* The "Lecrazione," or official correspondence of Macliiavelli, while stationed at the
different Euroj>ean courts, may be regarded as the most complete manual of diplomacy as
It existed at the beginning of the sixteenth century. It afim-.ls ni'Tu copious and curious
information respecting the interior workings of the governments with whom he resided,
than i- i',:ir history : and it shows the variety and extent of duties
Ittached to the office of resident minister, from the first moment of its creation.
X
306 ITALIAN WAKS.
taught. That country was hroken up into a number of small states, too
nearly equal to allow the absolute supremacy of any one ; while, at the
same time, it demanded the most restless vigilance on the part of each to
maintain its independence against its neighbours. Hence such a com-
plexity of intrigues and combinations as the world had never before
witnessed. A subtile, refined policy was conformable to the genius of
the Italians. It was partly the result, moreover, of their higher culti-
vation, which naturally led them to trust the settlement of their disputes
to superior intellectual dexterity, rather than to brute force, like the
barbarians beyond the Alps. From these and other causes, maxims were
gradually established, so monstrous in their nature as to give the work,
which first embodied them in a regular system, the air of a satire rather
than a serious performance, while the name of its author has been
converted into a by -word of political knavery.*
At the period before us, the principal states of Italy were the repub-
lics of Venice and Florence, the duchy of Milan, the papal see, and the
kingdom of Naples. The others may be regarded merely as satellites,
revolving round some one or other of these superior powers, by whom
their respective movements were regulated and controlled. Venice may
be considered as the most formidable of the great powers, taking into
consideration her wealth, her powerful navy, her territory in the north,
and princely colonial domain. There was no government in that age
which attracted such general admiration, both from natives and foreign-
ers, who seemed to have looked upon it as affording the very best model
of political wisdom. Yet there was no country where the citizen enjoyed
less positive freedom ; none whose foreign relations were conducted with
more absolute selfishness, and with a more narrow, bargaining spirit,
savouring rather of a company of traders than of a great and powerful
state. But all this was compensated in the eyes of her contemporaries,
by the stability of her institutions, which still remained unshaken
amidst revolutions, which had convulsed or overturned every other
social fabric in Italy.
The government of Milan was at this time under the direction of
Ludovico Sforza, or Ludovico the Moor, as he is commonly called ; aii
epithet suggested by his complexion, but which he willingly retained, as
indicating the superior craftiness on which he valued himself. He held
the reins in the name of his nephew, then a minor, until a convenient
season should arrive for assuming them in his own. His cool, perfidious
character was stained with the worst vices of the most profligate class of
Italian statesmen of that period.
The central parts of Italy were occupied by the republic of Florence,
which had ever been the rallying point of the friends of freedom, too
often of faction ; but which had now resigned itself to the dominion of
the Medici, whose cultivated tastes and munificent patronage shed a
splendid illusion over their administration, which has blinded the eyes of
contemporaries, and even of posterity.
Machiavelli's political treatises, his "Principe" and "Discorsi sopra Tito Livio,"
which apixsared after his death, excited no scandal at the time of their publication,
c.-une into the world, indeed, from the pontifical press, under the privilege of the reigniujf
!>o|>e, Clement VII. It was not until thirty years later that they were placed on the
Inil'-x ; and this not from any exceptions taken at the immorality of their doctrine-, as
tJiiuiHiiii; has well proved, but tVom the imputations they contained on the cyort
cl Home.
EXPEDITION OF CHAKLES Till. 307
The papal chair was filled by Alexander the Sixth, a pontiff whose
licentiousness, avarice, and unblushing effrontery have been the theme
of unmingled reproach with Catholic as well as Protestant writers. His
preferment was effected by lavish bribery, and by his consummate
address, as well as energy of character. Although a native Spaniard,
his election was extremely unpalatable to Ferdinand and Isabella, who
deprecated the scandal it must bring upon the church, and who had little
to hope for themselves, in a political view, from the elevation of one of
their own subjects even, whose mercenary spirit placed him at the control
of the highest bidder.
The Neapolitan sceptre was swayed by Ferdinand the First, whose
father Alfonso the Fifth, the uncle of Ferdinand of Aragon, had obtained
the crown by the adoption of Joanna of Naples, or rather by his own good
sword. Alfonso settled his conquest on his illegitimate son Ferdinand, to
the prejudice of the rights of Aragon, by whose blood and treasure he had
achieved it. Ferdinand's character, the very opposite of his noble father's,
was dark, wily, and ferocious. His life was spent in conflict with his
great feudal nobility, many of whom supported the pretensions of the
Angevin family. But Ms superior craft enabled him to foil every attempt
of his enemies. In effecting this, indeed, he shrunk from no deed of
treachery or violence, however atrocious ; and in the end had the satis-
faction of establishing his authority, undisputed, on the fears of his
subjects. He was about seventy years of age at the period of which we
are treating, 1493. The heir apparent, Alfonso, was equally sanguinary in
his temper, though possessing less talent for dissimulation than his father.
Such was the character of the principal Italian courts at the close of
the fifteenth century. The politics of the country were necessarily
rcgulated by the temper and views of the leading powers. They were
essentially selfish and personal. The ancient republican forms had been
gradually effaced during this century, and more arbitrary ones intro-
duced. The name of freedom, indeed, was still inscribed on their
banners, but the spirit had disappeared. In almost every state, great or
small, some military adventurer, or crafty statesman, had succeeded in
raising his own authority on the liberties of his country ; and his sole
aim seemed to be to enlarge it still further, and to secure it against the
conspiracies and revolutions which the reminiscence of ancient indepen-
dence naturally called forth. Such was the case with Tuscany, Milan,
Naples, and the numerous subordinate states. In Rome, the pontiff
proposed no higher object than the concentration of wealth and public
honours in the hands of his own family. In short, the administration of
wi'i-y state seemed to be managed with exclusive reference to the per-
sonal interests of its chief. Venice was the only power of sufficient
strength and stability to engage in more extended schemes of policy, .
and even these were conducted, as has been already noticed, in the
narrow and calculating spirit of a trading corporation.
]>ut, while no spark of generous patriotism seemed to warm the bosoms
of the Italians ; while no sense of public good, or even menace of foreign
invasion, could bring them to act in concert with one another,* the
* A remarkable example of this occurred hi the middle of the 15th century, when the
inundation of the Turks, which seemed ready to burst upon them, after overwhelming the
Arabian and Qreek empires, had no power to still the voice of faction, or to conceutratg
the attention of the Italian states, even for a m'.ment.
x 2
308 ITALIAN WARS.
internal condition of the country was eminently prosperous. Italy had
far outstripped the rest of Europe in the various arts of civilised life ;
and she everywhere afforded the evidence of facilities developed by
unceasing intellectual action. The face of the country itself was like a
garden ; " cultivated through all its plains to the very tops of the
mountains ; teeming with population, with riches, and an unlimited
commerce ; illustrated by many munificent princes, by the splendour of
many noble and beautiful cities, and by the majesty of religion ; and
adorned with all those rare and precious gifts which render a name
glorious among the nations." Such are the glowing strains in which the
Tuscan historian celebrates the prosperity of his country, ere yet the
storm of war had descended on her beautiful valleys.
This scene of domestic tranquillity was destined to be changed by that
terrible invasion which the ambition of Lodovico Sforza brought upon his
country. He had already organised a coalition of the northern powers of
Italy, to defeat the interference of the king of Naples in behalf of his
grandson, the rightful duke of Milan, whom his uncle held in subjection
during a protracted minority, while he exercised all the real functions of
sovereignty in his name, l&ot feeling sufficiently secure from his Italian
confederacy, Sforza invited the king of France to revive the hereditary
claims of the house of Anjou to the crown of Naples, promising to aid
him in the enterprise with all his resources. In this way, this wily
politician proposed to divert the storm from his own head, by giving
Ferdinand sufficient occupation at home.
The throne of France was at that time filled by Charles the Eighth,
a monarch scarcely twenty-two years of age. Mis father, Louis the
Eleventh, had given him an education unbecoming not only a great
prince, but even a private gentleman. He would allow him to learn no
other Latin, says Brantome, than his favourite maxim, " Qui nescit
dissimulare, nescit regnare." Charles made some amends for this,
though with little judgment, in later life, when left to his own disposal.
His favourite studies were the exploits of celebrated conquerors, of
Caesar and Charlemagne particularly, which filled his young mind witli
vague and visionary ideas of glory. These dreams were still further
nourished by the tourneys and other chivalrous spectacles of the age, in
which he delighted, until he seems to have imagined himself some
doughty paladin of romance, destined to the achievement of a grand and
perilous enterprise. It affords some proof of this exalted state of his
imagination, that he gave his only son the name of Orlando, after the
celebrated hero of lloncesvalles.
With a mind thus excited by chimerical visions of military glory, he
lent a willing ear to the artful propositions of Sforza. In the extrava-
gance of vanity, fed by the adiilation of interested parasites, he affect. <l
to regard the enterprise against Naples as only opening the way to a
career of more splendid conquests, which were to terminate in the
capture of Constantinople, and the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre. He
even went so far as to purchase of Andrew Paleologus, the nephew
and heir of Constantine, the last of the Ca3sars, his title to the Greek
empire.
Nothing could be more unsound, according to the principles of the
present day, than Charles's claims to the crown of Naples. "Without
liscussing the original pretensions of the rival houses of Aragon and
EXPEDITION OF CIIAELES VIII. 305
Anjou, it is sufficient to state, that, at the time of Charles the Eighth's
invasion, the Neapolitan throne had been in the possession of the
Aragonese family more than half a century, under three successive
princes solemnly recognised by the people^ sanctioned by repeated
investitures of the papal suzerain, and admitted by all the states of
Europe. If all this did not give validity to their title, when was the
nation to expect repose ? Charles's claim, on the other hand, was derived
originally from a testamentary bequest of Rene, count of Provence,
operating to the exclusion of the son of his own daughter, the rightful
heir of the house of Anjou ; Naples being too notoriously a female fief to
afford any pretext for the action of the Salic low. The pretensions of
Ferdinand of Spain, as representative of the legitimate branch of Aragon,
were far more plausible.
Independently of the defects in Charles's titles, his position was such
as to make the projected expedition every way impolitic. A misunder-
standing had for some time subsisted between him and the Spanish
sovereigns, and he was at open war with Germany and England ; so that
it was only by large concessions that he could hope to secure their
acquiescence in an enterprise most precarious in its character, and where
even complete success could be of no permanent benefit to his kingdom.
" He did not understand," says Voltaire, " that a dozen villages adjacent
to one's territory, are of more value than a kingdom four hundred
leagues distant." By the treaties of Etaples and Senlis, he purchased a
n conciliation with Henry the Seventh of England, and with Maxi-
milian, the emperor elect : and finally, by that of Barcelona, effected an
amicable adjustment of his difficulties with Spain.
This treaty, which involved the restoration of Roussillon and Cerdagne,
was of great importance to the crown of Aragon. These provinces, it
will be remembered, had been originally mortgaged by Ferdinand's
father, King John the Second, to Louis the Eleventh of France, for the
sum of three hundred thousand crowns, in consideration of aid to be
afforded by the latter monarch against the Catalan insurgents. Although
the stipulated sum had never been paid by Aragon, yet a plausible
pretext for requiring the restitution was afforded by Louis the Eleventh's
incomplete performance of his engagements, as well as by the ample
reimbursement which the French government had already derived from
the revenues of these countries.* This treaty had long been a principal
object of Ferdinand's policy. He had not, indeed, confined himself to
negotiation, but had made active demonstrations more than once of
occupying the contested territory by force. Negotiation, however, was
more consonant to his habitual policy ; and, after the termination of the
Moorish war, he pressed it with the utmost vigour, repairing with the
.ueen to Barcelona, in order to watch over the deliberations of the
envoys of the two nations at Figueras.
The French historians accuse Ferdinand of bribing two ecclesiastics,
in high influence at their court, to make such a representation of the
affair as should alarm the conscience of the young monarch. These holy
men insisted on the restoration of Roussillon as an act of justice ; since
* See the narrative of these transactions in the Fifth and Sixth Chapters of Part I. of
this History. Most historians seem to take it for granted that Louis XI. advanced a sum
of money to the kiujr of Aragon ; and some state that the payment of the debt for which
the proviuJM were mortgaged was subscqueutly teuderud to the French king.
310 ITALIAN WABS.
the sums for which it had been mortgaged, though not repaid, had been
spent in the common cause of Christendom, the Moorish war. The
soul, they said, could never hope to escape from purgatory, until restitu-
tion was made of all property unlawfully held during life. His
royal father, Louis the Eleventh, was clearly in this predicament, as he
himself would hereafter be, unless the Spanish territories should be
relinquished ; a measure, moreover, the more obligatory on him, since it
was well known to be the dying request of his parent. These arguments
made a suitable impression on the young monarch, and a still deeper on
his sister, the duchess of Beaujeu, who exercised great influence over
him, and who believed her own soul in peril of eternal damnation by
deferring the act of restoration any longer. The effect of this cogent
reasoning was no doubt greatly enhanced by the reckless impatience
of Charles, who calculated no cost in the prosecution of his chimerical
enterprise. With these amicable dispositions an arrangement was at
length concluded, and received the signatures of the respective monarch*
on the same day, being signed by Charles at Tours, and by Ferdinand
and Isabella at Barcelona, Jan. 19th, 1493.
The principal articles of the treaty provided, that the contracting
parties should mutually aid each other against all enemies ; that they
should reciprocally prefer this alliance to that with any other, the
vicar of Christ excepted: that the Spanish sovereigns should enter
into no understanding with any power, the vicar of Christ excepted,
prejudical to the interests of France ; that their children should not be
disposed of in marriage to the kings of England or of the Romans, or to
any enemy of France, without the French king's consent. It was finally
stipulated that Roussillon and Cerdagne should be restored to Aragon ;
but that, as doubts might be entertained to which power the possession
of these countries rightfully appertained, arbitrators named by Ferdinand
and Isabella should be appointed, if requested by the French monarch,
with full power to decide the question, by whose judgment the contract-
ing parties mutually promised to abide. This last provision, obviously
too well guarded to jeopard the interests of the Spanish sovereigns, was
introduced to allay in some measure the discontents of the French, who
loudly inveighed against their cabinet, as sacrificing the interests of
the nation ; accusing, indeed, the cardinal D'Albi, the principal agent in
the negotiation, of being in the pay of Ferdinand.
The treaty excited equal surprise and satisfaction in Spain, where-
Roussillon was regarded as of the last importance, not merely from the
extent of its resources, but from its local position, which made it the key
of Catalonia. The nation, says Zurita, looked on its recovery as scarcely
less important than the conquest of Granada ; and they doubted some
sinister motive, or deeper policy than appeared in the conduct of thfc
French king. He was influenced, however, by no deeper policy than,
the cravings of a puerile ambition.
The preparations of Charles, in the meanwhile, excited general alarm
throughout Italy. Ferdinand, the old king of Naples, who in vain
endeavoured to arrest them by negotiation, had died in the beginning of
1494. He was succeeded by his son Alfonso, a prince of bolder but less
politic character, and equally odious, from the cruelty of his disposi-
tion, with his father. lie lost no time in putting his kingdom.
in a posture of defence ; but he wanted the best of all defences, the
EXPEMTIOX OF CIIAELKS Tin. 311
attachment of his subjects. His interests were supported by the
Florentine republic and the pope, whose family had intermarried with
the royal house of Naples. Venice stood aloof, secure in her remoteness,
unwilling to compromise her interests by too precipitate a declaration in
favour of either party.
The European powers regarded the expedition of Charles the Eighth
with somewhat different feelings ; most of them were not unwilling to
see so formidable a prince Avaste his resources in a remote and chimerical
expedition ; Ferdinand, however, contemplated with more anxiety an
evjiit, which might terminate in the subversion of the Neapolitan branch
of his house, and bring a powerful and active neighbour in contact with
his own dominions in Sicily. He lost no time in fortifying the faltering
courage of the pope by assurances of support. His ambassador, then
resident at the papal court, was Garcilasso de la Vega, father of the
illustrious poet of that name, and familiar to the reader by his exploits
in the Granadine war. This personage with rare political sagacity
combined an energy of purpose, which could not fail to infuse couruu'-
into the hearts of others. He urged the pope to rely on his master, the
king of Aragon, who, he assured him, would devote his whole resources,
if necessary, to the protection of his person, honour, and estate.
Alexander would gladly have had this promise under the hand of
Ferdinand ; but the latter did not think it expedient, considering his
delicate relations with France, to put himself so far in the power of the
wily pontiff.
In the meantime, Charles's preparations went forward with the languor
and vacillation resulting from divided councils and multiplied embarrass-
ments. "Nothing essential to the conduct of a war was at hand,"
i 'omines. The king was very young, weak in person, headstrong
in will, surrounded by few discreet counsellors, and wholly destitute of
the requisite funds. His own impatience, however, was stimulated by
that of the youthful chivalry of his court who burned for an opportunity
of distinction ; as well as by the representations of the Neapolitan exiles,
who hoped under his protection to re-establish themselves in their own
country. Several of these, weary with the delay already experienced,
made overtures to King Ferdinand, to undertake the enterprise on his
own behalf, and to assert his legitimate pretensions to the crown ot.
Naples, which, they assured him, a large party in the country was
ready to sustain. The sagacious monarch, however, knew how little
reliance was to be placed on the reports of exiles, whose imagina-
tions readily exaggerated the amount of disaffection in their own
country. But, although the season had not yet arrived for asserting
his own paramount claims, he was determined to tolerate those of no
other potentate.
Charles entertained so little suspicion of this, that, in the month of
June, he dispatched an envoy to the Spanish court, requiring Ferdinand's
fulfilment of the treaty of Barcelona, by aiding him with men and money,
and by throwing open his ports in Sicily for the French navy. "This
gracious proposition," says the Aragonese historian, " he accompanied
with information of his "proposed expedition against the Turks ; stating
incidentally, as a thing of no consequence, his intention to take Naples
by the way."
Ferdinand saw the time was arrived for coming to an explicit dcclara-
31? ITALIAN WAR8.
tion witli the French court. He appointed a special mission, in order
to do this in the least offensive manner possible. The person selected for
this delicate task was Aloiiso de Silva, brother of the count of Cifuentes,
and clavei-o of Calatrava, a cavalier possessed of the coolness and address
requisite for diplomatic success.
The ambassador, on arriving at the French court, found it at Vienne
in all the bustle of preparation for immediate departure. After seekirg
in vain a private audience from King Charles, he explained to him t\o
purport of his mission in the presence of his courtiers. He assured him
of the satisfaction which the king of Aragon had experienced at receiving
intelligence of his projected expedition against the infidel. Nothing gave
his master so great contentment as to see his brother monarchs employing
their arms, and expending their revenues, against the enemies of t'ae
Cross ; where even failure was greater gain than success in other wars.
He offered Ferdinand's assistance in the prosecution of such wars, even
though they should be directed against the Mahometans of Africa, over
whom the papal sanction had given Spain exclusive rights of conquest.
He besought the king not to employ his forces destined to so glorious a
purpose against any one of the princes of Europe, but to reflect how great
a scandal this must necessarily bring on the Christian cause ; above all,
he cautioned him against forming any designs on Naples, since that
kingdom was a fief of the church, in whose favour an exception was
expressly made by the treaty of Barcelona, which recognised her
alliance and protection as paramount to every other obligation. Silva's
discourse was responded to by the president of the parliament of Paris
in a formal Latin oration, asserting generally Charles's right to Naples,
and his resolution to enforce it previously to his crusade against the
infidel. As soon as it was concluded, the king rose, and abruptly quitted
the apartment.
Some days after, he interrogated the Spanish ambassador whether his
master would not, in case of a war with Portugal, feel warranted by the
terms of the late treaty in requiring the co-operation of France, and on
what plea the latter power could pretend to withhold it. To the first of
these propositions the ambassador answered in the affirmative, if it were
a defensive war ; but not, if an offensive one, of his own seeking : an
explanation by no means satisfactory to the French monarch. Indeed
he seems not to have been at all prepared for this interpretation of the
compact. He had relied on this, as securing without any doubt the non-
interference of Ferdinand, if not his actual co-operation in his designs
against Naples. The clause touching the rights of the church was too
frequent in public treaties to excite any particular attention ; and he
was astounded at the broad ground which it was now made to cover, and
which defeated the sole object proposed by the cession of Itoussillou.
He could not disguise his chagrin and indignation at what he deemed
the perfidy of the Spanish court. He refused all further intercourse
with Silva, and even stationed a sentinel at his gate, to prevent his com-
munication with his subjects; treating him as the envoy, not of an ally,
but of an open enemy.
The unexpected and menacing attitude, however, assumed by
Ferdinand, failed to arrest the operations of the French monarch, who,
having completed his preparations, left Vienne in the month of August
1494, and crossed the Alps at the her.d cf the most formidable host
EXPEDITION OF CHABLES Till. 313
which had scaled that mountain barrier since the irrupfion of tha
northern barbarians.*
It will be unnecessary to follow his movements in detail. It is suffi-
cient to remark, that his conduct throughout was equally defective in
principle and in sound policy. He alienated his allies by the most
signal acts of perfidy, seizing their fortresses for himself, and entering
their capitals with all the vaunt and insolent port of a conqueror. On
his approach to Rome, the pope and the cardinals took refuge in the
ca>tle of St. Angelo, and, .on the 31st of December 1494, Charles defiled
into the city at the head of his victorious chivalry ; if victorious they
could be called, when, as an Italian historian remarks, they had
scarcely broken a lance, or spread a tent, in the whole of their
progress.
The Italians were panic- struck at the aspect of troops so different
from their own, and so superior to them in organisation, science, and
military equipment ; and still more in a remorseless ferocity of temper,
which had rarely been witnessed in their own feuds. Warfare was con-
ducted on peculiar principles in Italy, adapted to the character and
circumstances of the people. The business of fighting, in her thriving
communities, instead of forming part of the regular profession of a
gentleman, as in other countries at this period, was intrusted to the
hands of a few soldiers of fortune, condottieri, as they were called, who
hired themselves out, with the forces under their command, consisting
exclusively of heavy-armed cavalry, to whatever state would pay them
best. These forces constituted the capital, as it were, of the military
chief, whose obvious interest it was to economise as far as possible all
unnecessary expenditure of his resources. Hence the science of defence
was almost exclusively studied. The object seemed to be, not so much
the annoyance of the enemy, as self-preservation. The common interests
of the condottieri being paramount to every obligation towards the state
which they served, they easily came to an understanding with one
another to spare their troops as much as possible ; until at length battles
were fought with little more personal hazard than would be incurred in
an ordinary tourney. The man-at-arms was riveted into plates of steel
of sufficient thickness to turn a musket-ball. The ease of the soldier
was so far consulted, that the artillery, in a siege, was not allowed to be
fired on either side from sun-set to sun-rise, for fear of disturbing hia
repose. Prisoners were made for the sake of their ransom, and but little
blood was spilled in an action. Machiavelli records two engagements, at
Anghiari and Castracaro, among the most noted of the time for their
important consequences. The one lasted four hours, and the other half a
day. The reader is hurried along through all the bustle of a well-
contested fight, in the course of which the field is won and lost several
times ; but when he comes to the close, and looks for the list of killed
and wounded, he finds to his surprise not a single man slain, in the first
of these actions ; and in the second, only one, who, having tumbled from
The French army consisted of 3,600 pens d'annes. 20,000 French infantry, and 8,000
Swiss, without including the regular camp followers. The splendour and novelty of their
appearance excited a deijree of admiration which disarmed in some measure the terror of
the Italians. Peter Martyr, whose distance from the theatre of action enabled him to
contemplate more calmly the operation of events, beheld with a prophetic eye tiie magui-
tude of the calamities impending over his country.
314 ITALIAN WAES.
his horse, and heing unable to rise, from the weight of his armour, was
suffocated in the mud ! Thus war became disarmed of its terrors.
Courage was no longer essential in a soldier ; and the Italian, made
effeminate, if not timid, was incapable of encountering the advanturous
daring and severe discipline of the northern warrior.
The astonishing success of the French was still more imputable to the
free use and admirable organisation of their infantry, whose strength
lay in the Swiss mercenaries. Machiavelli ascribes the misfortunes of
his nation chiefly to its exclusive reliance en cavalry. This servicf,
during the whole of the middle ages, was considered among the
European nations the most important ; the horse being styled by way of
eminence "the battle." The memorable conflict of Charles the Bold
with the Swiss mountaineers, however, in which the latter broke in
pieces the celebrated Burgundian ordonnance, constituting the finest
body of chivalry of the age, demonstrated the capacity of infantry ;
and the Italian wars, in which we are now engaged, at length fully re-
established its ancient superiority.
The Swiss were formed into battalions varying from three to eight
thousand men each. They wore little defensive armour, and their principal
weapon was the pike, eighteen feet long. Formed into these solid bat-
talions, which, bristling with spears all around, received the technical
appellation of the hedgehog, they presented an invulnerable front on
every quarter. In the level field, with free scope allowed for action,
they bore down all opposition, and received unshaken the most desperate
charges of the steel-clad cavalry on their terrible array of pikes. They
were too unwieldy, however, for rapid or complicated manoeuvres ; they
were easily disconcerted by an unforeseen impediment, or irregularity of
the ground; and the event proved, that c^e Spanish foot, armed wit \\
its short swords, and bucklers, by breaking 'n under the long pikes of
its enemy, could succeed in bringing him to close action, where his for-
midable weapon was of no avail. It was repeating the ancient lesson of
the Roman legion and the Macedonian phalanx.
In artillery, the French were at this time in advance of the Italians,
perhaps of every nation in Europe. The Italians, indeed, were so
exceedingly defective in this department, that their best field-pieces
consisted of small copper tubes, covered with wood and hides. They
were mounted on unwieldy carriages drawn by oxen, and followed by
cars or waggons loaded with stone balls. These guns were worked so
awkwardly, that the besieged, says Gruicciardini, had time between the
discharges to repair the mischief inflicted by them. From these circum-
stances, artillery was held in so little repute, that some of the most
competent Italian writers thought it might be dispensed with altogether
in field engagements.
The French, on the other hand, were provided with a beautiful train
of ordnance, consisting of bronze cannon about eight feet in length, and
many smaller pieces.* They were lightly mounted, drawn by horses,
and easily kept pace with the rapid movements of the army. Thev dis-
charged iron balls, and were served with admirable skill, intimidating
their enemies by the rapidity and accuracy of their fire, and easily
* Guiccumliui speaks of tlie name of " caunon," which the French gave to their pioce%
is a novelty at, that time iu Italy.
EXPEDITION OF CHAKI.ES Till. 315
demolishing their fortifications, which, before this invasion, were con-
structed \vith little strength or science.
The rapid successes of the French spread consternation among the
Italian states, who now for the first time seemed to feel the existence of
a common interest, and the necessity of efficient concert. Ferdinand was
active in promoting these dispositions, through his ministers, Garcilasso
de la Vega and Alonso de Silva, The latter had quitted the French
court on its entrance into Italy, and withdrawn to Genoa. From thia
point he opened a correspondence with Lodovico Sforza, who now began
to understand that he had brought a terrible engine into play, the move-
nuuts of which, however mischievous to himself, were beyond his
strength to control. Silva endeavoured to inflame still further his
jealousy of the French, who had already given him many serious causes
of disgust ; and, in order to detach him more effectually from Charles's
interests, encouraged him with the hopes of forming a matrimonial
alliance for his son with one of the infantas of Spain. At the same time
he used every effort to bring about a co-operation between the duke and
the republic of Venice, thus opening the way to the celebrated league
which was concluded in the following year.*
The Roman pontiff had lost no time, after the appearance of the French
army in Italy, in pressing the Spanish court to fulfil its engagements.
He endeavoured to propitiate the good-will of the sovereigns by several
important concessions. He granted to them and their successors the
tercins, or two-ninths of the tithes, throughout the dominions of Castile ;
an impost still forming part of the regular revenue of the crown, t He
caused bulls of crusade to be promulgated throughout Spain granting at
the same time a tenth of the ecclesiastical rents, with the understanding
that the proceeds should be devoted to the protection of the Holy See.
Towards the close of this year, 1494, or the beginning of the following,
he conferred the title of Catholic on the Spanish sovereigns, in considera-
tion, as is stated, of their eminent virtues, their zeal in defence of the
true faith and the apostolic see, their reformation of conventual discipline,
their subjugation of the Moors of Granada, and the purification of their
dominions from the Jewish heresy. This orthodox title, which still
continues to be the jewel most prized in the Spanish crown, has been
appropriated in a peculiar manner to Ferdinand and Isabella, who are
universally recognised in history as Los Reyes Cat6Ucos. J
Ferdinand was too sensible of the peril to which the occupation of
Naples by the French would expose his own interests, to require any
stimulant to action from the Roman pontiff. Xaval preparations had.
been going forward, during the summer, in the ports of Galicia and
* Alonso do Silva acquitted himself to the entire satisfaction of the sovereigns in his
difficult mission. He was subsequently sent on various others to the different It.ili:in
. and uniformly sustained his reputation for ability and prudence. He did not
live to be old.
t This branch of the revemie yields at the present day, according to Laborde, about
6, 000. (TO reals, or 1,500.000 francs.
; The pope, according to Comines, designed to compliment Ferdinand and Isabella fo
their conquest of Gran.id.-i, by transferring to them the title of Most Christian, hitherto
injoyed by the kings of France. He had even gone so tar as to address them thus in moru
than one of his briefs. This produced a remonstrance i'rom a number of the cardinals,
which led him to substitute the title of Most Catholic. The epithet of Catholic was in>t
new in the royal house of Castile, nor indeed of Aragon ; having been given t'.>
prince Alfonso I., about the middle of the eighth, and to Pedro II. of Aragon, at the be^in-
uicg of the thirteenth century
816 ITALIAN WJLRS.
Guipuscoa, A considerable armament was made ready for sea by the
latter part of December at Alieant, and placed under the command of
Galceran de Requesens, count of Trevento. The land forces were
intrusted to Gonsalvo de Cordova, better known in history as the Great
Captain. Instructions were at the same time sent to the viceroy of
Sicily, to provide for the security of that island, and to hold himself in
readiness to act in concert with the Spanish fleet.
Ferdinand, however, determined to send one more embassy to Charles
the Eighth, before coming to an open rupture with him. He selected for
this mission Juan de Albion and Antonio de Fonseca, brother of the
bishop of that name, whom we have already noticed as superintendent of
the Indian department. The two envoys reached Rome, January 28th,
1495, the same day on which Charles set out on his march for Xaples.
They followed the army, and on arriving at Yeletri, about twenty miles
irom the capital, were admitted to an audience by the monarch, who
received them in the presence of his oflicers. The ambassadors freely
enumerated the various causes of complaint entertained by their master
against the French king ; the insult offered to him in the person of his
minister, Alonso de Silva ; the contumelious treatment of the pope, and
forcible occupation of the fortresses and estates of the church, and,
finally, the enterprise against Xaples, the claims to which, as a papal
fief, could of right be determined in no other way than by the arbitra-
tion of the pontiff himself. Should King Charles consent to accept this
arbitration, they tendered the good offices of their master as mediator
between the parties ; should he decline it, however, the king of Spain
stood absolved from all further obligations of amity with him, by the
terms of the treaty of Barcelona, which expressly recognised his right
to interfere in defence of the church.
Charles, who could not dissemble his indignation during this discourse,
retorted with great acrimony, when it was concluded, on the conduct of
Ferdinand, which he stigmatised as perfidious ; accusing him, at the
same time, of a deliberate design to circumvent him, by introducing into
their treaty the clause respecting the pope. As to the expedition against
Xaples, he had now gone too far to recede ; and it would be soon enough
to canvas the question of right, when he had got possession of it. His
courtiers, at the same time, with the impetuosity of their nation,
heightened by the insolence of success, told the envoys that they knew
well enough how to defend their rights with their arms, and that King
Ferdinand would find the French chivalry enemies of quite another sort
from the holiday tilters of Granada.
These taunts led to mutual recrimination, until at length Fonseca,
though naturally a sedate person, was so far transported with anger,
that he exclaimed, " The issue then must be left to God, arms must
decide it ; " and producing the original treaty, bearing the signatures of
the two monarchs, he tore it in pieces before the eyes of Charles and his
court. At the same time he commanded two Spanish knights who
served in the French army to withdraw from it, under pain of incurring
the penalties of treason. The French cavaliers were so much incensed
by this audacious action, that they would have seized the envoys, and,
in all probability, offered violence to their persons, but for Charles's
interposition, who with more coolness caused them to be conducted from
his presence, and sent back under a safe escort to Rome. Such are the
EXPEDITION OF CHARLES VIII. 317
circumstances reported by the French and Italian writers of this remark-
able interview. They were not aware that the dramatic exhibition, aa
far as the ambassadors were concerned, was all previously concerted
before their departure from Spain.
Charles pressed forward on his march without further delay. Alfonzo
the Second, losing his confidence and martial courage, the only virtues
that he possessed, at the crisis when they were most demanded, had
precipitately abandoned his kingdom while the French were at Rome,
and taken refuge in Sicily, where he formally abdicated the crown in
fin our of his son, Ferdinand the Second. This prince, then twenty-five
years of age, whose amiable manners were rendered still more attractive
by contrast with the ferocious temper of his father, was possessed of
talent and energy competent to the present emergency, had he been
sustained by his subjects. But the latter, besides being struck with the
same panic which had paralysed the other people of Italy, had too little
interest in the government to be willing to hazard much in its defence.
A change of dynasty was only a change of masters, by which they had
little either to gain or to lose. Though favourably inclined to Ferdinand,
they refused to stand by him in his perilous extremity. They gave way
in every direction as the French advanced, rendering hopeless every
attempt of their spirited young monarch to rally them, till at length no
alternative was left, but to abandon his dominions to the enemy without
striking a blow in their defence. He withdrew to the neighbouring
island of Ischia, whence he soon after passed into Sicily, and occupied
himself there in collecting the fragments of his party, until the time
should arrive for more decisive action.
Charles the Eighth made his entrance into Naples at the head of his
legions, February 22nd, 1495, having traversed this whole extent of
hostile territory in less time than would be occupied by a fashionable
tourist of the present day. The object of his expedition was now
achieved. He seemed to have reached the consummation of his wishes ;
-and, although he assumed the titles of King of Sicily and of Jerusalem,
and affected the state and authority of Emperor, he took no measures
for prosecuting his chimerical enterprise further. He even neglected to
provide for the security of his present conquest ; and, without bestowing
a thought on the government of his new dominions, resigned himself to
the licentious and effeminate pleasures so congenial with the soft volup-
tuousness of the climate and his own character.
While Charles was thus wasting his time and resources in frivolous
amusements, a dark storm was gathering in the north. There was not
a state through which he had passed, however friendly to his cause,
which had not complaints to make of his insolence, his breach of faith,
his infringement of their rights, and his exorbitant exactions. His
impolitic treatment of Sforza had long since alienated that wily and
restless politician, and raised suspicions in his mind of Charles's designs
against his own duchy of Milan. The emperor elect, Maximilian, whom
the French king thought to have bound to his interests by the treaty of
Senlis, took umbrage at his assumption of the imperial title and dignity.
The Spanish ambassadors, GarcUasso de la Vega, and his brother,
Lorenzo Suarez, the latter of whom resided at Venice, were inde-
fatigable in stimulating the spirit of discontent. Suarez, in particular,
used every effort to secure the co-operation of Venice ; representing to
318 ITALIAN WAES.
the government, in the most urgent terms, the necessity of general
concert and instant action among the great powers of Italy, if they
would preserve their own liberties.
Venice, from its remote position, seemed to afford the best point for
coolly contemplating the general interests of Italy. Envoys of the
different European powers were assembled there, as if by common con-
sent, with the view of concerting some scheme of operation for their
mutual good. The conferences were conducted by night, and with such
secrecy as to elude for some time the vigilant eye of Comines, the
sagacious minister of Charles, then resident at the capital. The result
was the celebrated league of Venice. It was signed the last day of
March, 1495, on the part of Spain, Austria, Rome, Milan, and the
Venetian republic. The ostensible object of the treaty, which was to
last twenty-five years, was the preservation of the estates and rights of
the confederates, especially of the Roman see. A large force, amounting
in all to thirty-four thousand horse and twenty thousand foot, was to be
assessed in stipulated proportions on each of the contracting parties.
The secret articles of the treaty, however, went much further, providing
a formidable plan of offensive operations. It was agreed in these, that
King Ferdinand should employ the Spanish armament, now arrived in
Sicily, in re-establishing his kinsman on the throne of Naples ; that a
Venetian fleet, of forty galleys, should attack the French positions on
the Neapolitan coasts ; that the duke of Milan should expel the French
from Asti, and blockade the passes of the Alps, so as to intercept the
passage of further reinforcements ; and that the emperor and the king
of Spain should invade the French frontiers, and their expenses be
defrayed by subsidies from the allies. Such were the terms of this
treaty, which may be regarded as forming an era in modern political
history, since it exhibits the first example of those extensive combina-
tions among European princes, for mutual defence, which afterwards
became so frequent. It shared the fate of many other coalitions, where
the name and authority of the whole have been made subservient to the
interests of some one of the parties more powerful or more cunning than
the rest.
The intelligence of the new treaty diffused general joy throughout
Italy. In Venice, in particular, it was greeted -with fetes, illuminations,
and the most emphatic public rejoicing, in the very eyes of the French
minister, who was compelled to witness this unequivocal testimony of
the detestation in which his countrymen were held. The tidings fell
heavily on the ears of the French at Naples. It dispelled the dream of
idle dissipation in which they were dissolved. They felt little concern,
indeed, on the score of their Italian enemies, whom their easy victories
taught them to regard with the same insolent contempt that the paladins
of romance are made to feel for the unknightly rabble, myriads of whom
they could overturn with a single lance. But they felt serious alarm as
they beheld the storm of war gathering from other quarters, from Spain.
and Germany, in defiance of the treaties by which they had hoped to
secure them. Charles saw the necessity of instant action. Two courses
presented themselves ; either to strengthen himself in his new conquests,
and prepare to maintain them until lie could receive fresh reinforcements
from home, or to abandon them altogether and retreat across the Alps,
before the allies could muster in sufficient strength to oppose him. With
CAMPAIGNS OF GOXSALVO. 319
the indiscretion characteristic of his whole enterprise, he embraced a
middle course, and lost the advantages which would have resulted from
the exclusive adoption of either.
CHAPTEE II,
ITALIAN WABS RETREAT OF CHARLES VIII. CAMPAIGNS OF QONSAI.VO DB CORDOVA FIN'AI.
EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH.
14951496.
Impolitic conduct of Charles He plunders the Works of Art Gonsalvo de Cordova His
brilliant Qualities Raised to the Italian Command Battle of Seminara Gonsalvo's
Successes Decline of the French He receives the title of Great Captain Expulsion of
the French from Italy.
CHARLES THE EIGHTH might have found abundant occupation, during
his brief residence at Naples, in placing the kingdom in a proper posture
of defence, and in conciliating the good will of the inhabitants, without
which he could scarcely hope to maintain himself permanently in his
conquest. So far from this, however, he showed the utmost aversion to
business, wasting his hours, as has been already noticed, in the most
frivolous amusements. He treated the great feudal aristocracy of the
country with utter neglect ; rendering himself difficult of access, and
lavishing all dignities and emoluments with partial prodigality on his
French subjects. His followers disgusted the nation still further by
their insolence and unbridled licentiousness. The people naturally
called to mind the virtues of the exiled Ferdinand, whose temperate
rule they contrasted with the rash and rapacious conduct of their new
masters. The spirit of discontent spread more widely, as the French
were too thinly scattered to enforce subordination. A correspondence
was entered into with Ferdinand in Sicily, and in a short time several of
the most considerable cities of the kingdom openly avowed their alle-
giance to the house of Aragon.
In the meantime Charles and his nobles, satiated with a life of
inactivity and pleasure, and feeling that they had accomplished the
great object of the expedition, began to look with longing eyes towards
their own country. Their impatience was converted into anxiety on
receiving tidings of the coalition mustering in the north. Charles, how-
ever, took care to secure to himself some of the spoils of victory, in a
manner which we have seen practised on a much greater scale by his
countrymen in our day. He collected the various works of art with
which Naples was adorned, precious antiques, sculptured marble and
alabaster, gates of bronze curiously wrought, and such architectural
ornaments as were capable of transportation, and caused them to be
embarked on board his fleet for the south of France, " endeavouring,"
says the curate of Los Palacios, "to build up his own renown on the
ruins of the kings of Naples, of glorious memory." His vessels, how-
ever, did not reach their place of destination, but were captured by a
Biscayan and Genoese fleet off Pisa.
Charles had entirely failed in his application to Pope Alexander the
320 ITALIAN WARS.
Sixth for a recognition of his right to Naples by a formal act of investiture.
He determined, however, to go through the ceremony of a coronation ;
and, on the 12th of May, he made his public entrance into the city,
arrayed in splendid robes of scarlet and ermine, with the imperial diadem
on his head, a sceptre in one hand, and a globe, the symbol of universal
sovereignty, in the other ; while the adulatory populace saluted his royal
ear with the august title of Emperor. After the conclusion of this farce,
he made preparations for his instant departure from Xaples. On the
20th of May he set out on his homeward march, at the head of one half
of his army, amounting in all to not more than nine thousand fighting
men. The other half was left for the defence of his new conquest. This
arrangement was highly impolitic, since he neither took with him
enough to cover his retreat, nor left enough to secure the preservation
of Xaples.
It is not necessary to follow the French army in its retrograde move-
ment through Italy. It is enough to say, that this was not conducted
with sufficient dispatch to anticipate the junction of the allied forces,
who assembled to dispute its passage on the banks of the Taro, near
Fornovo. An action was there fought, in which King Charles, at the
head of his loyal chivalry, achieved such deeds of heroism as shed a
lustre over his ill-concerted enterprise, and which, if they did not gain,
him an undisputed victory, secured the fruits of it, by enabling him to
effect his retreat without further molestation. At Turin he entered into
negotiation with the calculating duke of Milan, which terminated in the
treaty of Vercelli, October 10th, 1495. By this treaty Charles obtained
no other advantage than that of detaching his cunning adversary from
the coalition. The Venetians, although refusing to accede to it, made
no opposition to any arrangement which would expedite the removal of
their formidable foe beyond the Alps. This was speedily accomplished ;
and Charles, yielding to his own impatience and that of his nobles,
recrossed that mountain rampart which nature has so ineffectually
provided for the security of Italy, and reached Grenoble with his army
on the 27th of the month. Once more restored to his own dominions,
the young monarch abandoned himself without reserve to the licentious
pleasures to which he was passionately addicted, forgetting alike his
dreams of ambition, and the brave companions in arms whom he had
deserted in Italy. Thus ended this memorable expedition, which, though
crowned with complete success, was attended with no other permanent
result to its authors than that of opening the way to those disastrous
wars which wasted the resources of their country for a great part of the
sixteenth century.
Charles the Eighth had left as his viceroy in Xaples Gilbert de
Bourbon, duke of Montpensier, a prince of the blood, and a brave and
loyal nobleman, but of slender military capacity, and so fond of his bed,
says Comines, that he seldom left it before noon. The command of the
forces in Calabria was intrusted to M. d'Aubigny, a Scottish cavalkr i>f
the house of Stuart, raised by Charles to the dignity of grand constable
of France. He was so much esteemed for hia noble and chivalrous
qualities, that he was styled by the annalists of that day, says Brantome,
" grand chevalier sans reproche." He had large experience in militant
matters, and was reputed one of the best officers in the French sc i
Besides these principal commanders, there were others of subordinate
CAMPAIGNS OF GOXSALVO. 321
rank stationed at the head of small detachments on different points of
the kingdom, and especially in the fortified cities along the coasts.
Scarcely had Charles the Eighth quitted Naples, when his rival,
Ferdinand, who had already completed his preparations in Sicily, made
a descent on the southern extremity of Calabria. He was supported in
this by the Spanish levies under the admiral llequesens, and Gonsalvo
of Cordova, who reached Sicily in the mouth of May. As the latter
of these commanders was dcsiincd to act a most conspicuous part in
the Italian wars, it may not be amiss to give some account of his
early life.
Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordova, or Aguilar, as he is sometimes styled
from the territorial title assumed by his branch of the family, was born
at Montilla, in 1403. His father died early, leaving two sons, Alonso
de Aguilar, whose name occurs in some of the most brilliant passages of
the Avar of Granada, and Gousalvo, three years younger than his brother.
During the troubled reigns of John the Second and Henry the Fourth,
the city of Cordova was divided by the fends of the rival families of
Cabra and Aguilar ; and it is reported that the citizens of the latter
faction, after the loss of their natural leader, Gonsalvo's father, used
to testify their loyalty to his house by bearing the infant children
along with them in their rencontres : thus Gonsalvo may be said to have
been literally nursed amid the din of battle.
On the breaking out of the civil wars, the two brothers attached
themselves to the fortunes of Alfonso and Isabella. At their court,
the young Gonsalvo soon attract -d attention by the uncommon beauty
of his person, his polished manners, and proficiency in all knightly
exercises. He indulged in a profuse magnificence in his apparel,
equipage, and general style of living : a circumstance which, accom-
panied with his brilliant qualities, gave him the title at the court of
d princijte Jc ls caralleros, the prince of cavaliers. This carelessness
of expense, indeed, called forth more than once the affectionate remon-
strance of his brother Alonso, who, as the elder son, had inherited the
mayorazyo, or family estate, and who provided liberally tor Gousalvo' a
support. He served during the Portuguese war under Alouso de
Cardenas, grand master of St. James, and wa- honoured with the public
commendations of his general for his signal display of valour at the
battle of Albuera : where, it is remarked, the young hero incurred an
unnecessary de-ive of personal hazard by the ostentatious splendour of
his armour. Of this commander, and of the count of Tendilla, Gousalvo
always spoke with the greatest deference, acknowledging that he had
learned the rudiments of war from them.
The Ion.: war of Granada, however, was the great school in which his
military discipline was perfected. He did not, it is true, occupy so
eminent a position in these campaigns as some other cliiefs of riper
years and more enlarged experience ; but on various occasions he dis-
played uncommon proofs both of address and valour. He particularly
distinguished himself at the capture of Tajara, Illora, and Monte Frio.
At the last place he headed the scaling party, and was the first to
mount the walls in the face of the enemy. He wellnigh closed his
career in a midnight skirmish before Granada, which occurred a short
time before the end of the war. In the heat of the struggle his horse
was slain ; and Gonsalvo, unable to extricate himself from the mora*
I
322 ITAXIAN WARS.
in which he was entangled, would have perished, but for a faithful
servant of the family, who mounted him on his own horse, briefly
commending to his master the care of his wife and children. Goztsalvo
escaped, but his brave follower paid for his loyalty with his life. At
the conclusion of the war, he was selected, together with Ferdinand's
secretary Zafra, in consequence of his plausible address, and his fami-
liarity with the Arabic, to conduct the negotiation with the Moorish
government. He was secretly introduced for this purpose by night into
Granada, and finally succeeded in arranging the terms of capitiu
with the unfortunate Abdallah, as has been already stated. In con-
sideration of his various services, the Spanish sovereigns granted him a
pension, and a large landed estate in the conquered territory.
After the war, Gonsalvo remained with the court, and his high
reputation and brilliant exterior made him one of the most distinguished
ornaments of the royal circle. His manners displayed all the romantic
gallantry characteristic of the age, of which the following, among other
instances, is recorded. The queen accompanied her daughter Joanna on
board the fleet which was to bear her to Flanders, the country of IUT
destined husband. After bidding adieu to the infanta, Isabella returned
in her boat to the shore ; but the waters were so swollen that it was
found difficult to make good a footing for her on the beach. As the
sailors were preparing to drag the bark higher up the strand, Gonsalvo,
who was present, and dressed, as the Castilian historians are careful to
inform us, in a rich suit of brocade and crimson velvet, unwilling that
the person of his royal mistress should be profaned by the touch of such
rude hands, waded into the water, and bore the queen in his arms to
the shore, amid the shouts and plaudits of the spectators. The inci-
dent may form a counterpart to the well-known anecdote of Sir Walter
Raleigh. fc
Isabella's long and intimate acquaintance with Gonsalvo enabled her
to form a correct estimate of his great talents. When the Italian
expedition was resolved on, she instantly fixed her eyes on him as the
most suitable person to conduct it. She knew that he possessed the
qualities essential to success in a new and difficult enterprise, courage,
constancy, singular prudence, dexterity in negotiation, and inexhaustible
fertility of resource. She accordingly recommended him, without
hesitation, to her husband, as the commander of the Italian army. He
approved her choice, although it seems to have caused no little surprise at
the court, which notwithstanding the favour in which Gonsalvo was held
by the sovereigns, was not prepared to see him advanced over the heads of
veterans of so much riper years and higher military renown than himself.
The event proved the sagacity of Isabella.
The part of the squadron destined to convey the new general to Sicily
was made ready for sea in the spring of 1495. After a tempestuous
voyage, he reacbed Messina on the 24th of May. He found that
Ferdinand of Naples had already begun operations in Calabria, where
he had occupied llcggio with the assistance of the admiral llequesens,
* Another example of his gallantry occurred during the Granadine war, when the fire
of Santa Fe had consumed the royal tent, with the greater part of the queen's apparel and
other valuable effects. Gonsalvo, on learning the disaster, at his castle of Illora, supplied
the queen so abundantly from the magnificent wardrobe of his wife, Doiia Maria
JIanrique, as led Isabella pleasantly to remark, that " the fire had done more execution in
bis quarters than iu her own,"
CAMPAIGNS OF GOXSALVO. 323
who reached Sicily with a part of the armament a short time previous to
Gonsalvo's arrival. The whole effective force of the Spaniards did not
exceed six hundred lances and fifteen hundred foot, besides those
employed in the Heet, amounting to about three thousand and live
hundred more. The finances of Spain had been too freely drained in
the late Moorish war to authorise any extraordinary expenditure ; and
Ferdinand designed to assist his kinsman rather with his name, than
with any great accession of numbers. Preparations, however, were
going forward for raising additional levies, especially among the hardy
peasantry of the Asturias and Galicia, on which the war of Granada
had fallen less heavily than on the south.
On the 26th of May, Gonsalvo de Cordova crossed over to Reggio in
Calabria, where a plan of operation was concerted between him and the
Neapolitan monarch. Before opening the campaign, several strong
places in the province, which owed allegiance to the Aragonese family,
were placed in the hands of the Spanish general, as security for the
reimbursement of expenses incurred by his government in the war. As
Gonsalvo placed little reliance on his Calabrian or Sicilian recruits, he
was obliged to detach a considerable part of his Spanish forces to garrison
these places.*
The presence of their monarch revived the dormant loyalty of his
Calabrian subjects. They thronged to his standard, till at length he
found himself at the head of six thousand men, chiefly composed of the
raw militia of the country. He marched at once with Gonsalvo on
St. Agatha, which opened its gates without resistance. He then directed
his course towards Seminara, a place of some strength, about eight
leagues from Reggio. On his way he cut in pieces a detachment of
French on its march to reinforce the garrison there. Seminara imitated
the example of St. Agatha, and, receiving the Neapolitan army without
opposition, unfurled the standard of Aragon on its walls. While this
was going forward, Antonio Grimaui, the Venetian admiral, scoured the
ra coasts of the kingdom with a fleet of four-and-twenty galleys,
and attacking the strong town of Monopoli, in the possession of the
French, put the greater part of the garrison to the sword.
D'Aubigny, who lay at this time with an inconsiderable body ot
French troops in the south of Calabria, saw the necessity of some
vigorous movement to check the further progress of the enemy. He
determined to concentrate his forces, scattered through the province,
and march against Ferdinand, in the hope of bringing him to a decisive
action. For this purpose, in addition to the garrisons dispersed among
the principal towns, he summoned to his aid the forces, consisting prin-
cipally of Swiss infantry, stationed in the Basilicate, under Precy, a
brave young cavalier, esteemed one of the best officers in the French
service. After the arrival of this reinforcement, aided by the levies
of the Angevin barons, D'Aubigny, whose effective strength now greatly
surpassed that of his adversary, directed his march towards Seminara.
* The occupation of these places by Gonsalvo excited the pope's jealousy as to the
designs of the Spanish sovereigns. In consequence of his remonstrances, the Castiliaa
envoy, Garcilasso de la Vega, was instructed to direct Gonsalvo, that, " in case any inferior
places had been since put into his hands, he should restore them ; if they were "ol
importance, however, he was first to confer with his own government." King Fardi-
nand, as Abarca assures his readers, " was unwilling to give cause of complaint to any one,
Mutau ht wtregreatly a gainer by it."
I 2
324 ITALIAN WARS.
Ferdinand, who had received no intimation of his adversary's junction
with Precy, and who considered him much inferior to himself in
numbers, no sooner heard of his approach, than he determined to march
out at once before he could reach Seminara, and give him battle.
Gonsalvo was of a different opinion. His own troops had too little
experience in war with the French and Swiss veterans to make him
Avilling to risk all on the chances of a single battle. The Spanish heavy-
armed cavalry, indeed, were a match for any in Europe, and were even
said to surpass every other in the beauty and excellence of their appoint-
ments, at a period when arms were finished to luxury. He had but a
handful of these, however ; by far the greatest part of his cavalry,
consisting of ginetes, or light-armed troops, .of inestimable service in the
wild guerilla warfare to which they had been accustomed in Granada,
but obviously incapable of coping with the iron gendarmerie of France.
He felt some distrust, too, in bringing his little corps of infantry without
further preparation, armed, as they were, only with short swords and
bucklers, and much reduced, as has been already stated, in number, to
encounter the formidable phalanx of Swiss pikes. As for the Calabriau
levies, he did not place the least reliance on them. At all events, lie
thought it prudent, before coming to action, to obtain more accurate
information than they now possessed of the actual strength of the
enemy.
In all this, however, he was overruled by .the impatience of Ferdinand
and his followers. The principal Spanish cavaliers, indeed, as well as
the Italian, among whom may be found names which afterwards rose to
high distinction in these wars, urged Gonsalvo to lay aside his scruples ;
representing the impolicy of showing any distrust of their own strength
at this crisis, and of baulking the ardour of their soldiers now hot for
action. The Spanish chief, though far from being convinced, yielded to
these earnest remonstrances, and King Ferdinand led out his little armv
without further delay against the enemy.
After traversing a chain of hills, stretching in an easterly direction
from Seminara, at the distance .of about three miles, he arrived before
a small stream, on the plains beyond which he discerned the French
army in rapid advance against him. He resolved to wait its approach ;
and, taking position on the slope of the hills towards the river, he drew
up his horse on the right wing, and his infantry on the left.
The French generals, D'Aubigny and Preey, putting themselves at
the head of their cavalry on the left, consisting of about four hundred
heavy-armed and twice as many light horse, da-lu.l into the water
without hesitati"ii. Their right was occupied by the bristling phalanx
of Swiss spearmen in close array ; behind these were the militia of the
country. The Spanish ginetes succeeded in throwing the French
gendarmerie into some disorder, before it could form after crossing the
stream ; but no sooner was this accomplished, than the Spaniards,
incapable of withstanding the charge of their enemy, suddenly wheeled
about and precipitately retreated, with the intention of again returning
on their assailants, after the fashion of the Moorish tactics. The Cala-
brian militia, not comprehending this manoeuvre, interpreted it into a
defeat. They thought the battle lost, and, seized with a panic, broke
their ranks, and tied to a man, before the Swiss infantry had time w
much as to lower its lances against them.
CAMPAIGNS OF GOXSALVO. 325
King Ferdinand in vain attempted to rally the dastardly fugitives.
The French cavalry was soon upon them, making frightful slaughter in
their ranks. The young monarch, whose splendid arms and towering
plumes made him a conspicuous mark in the field, was exposed to
imminent peril. He had broken his lance in the body of one of the fore-
most of the French cavaliers, when his horse fell under him, and as his
feet were entangled in th*e stirrups, he would inevitably have perished
ill the melte, but for the prompt assistance of a young nobleman, named
Juan de Altavilla, who mounted his master on his own horse, and
calmly waited the approach of the enemy, by whom he was immediately
slain. Instances of this affecting loyalty and self-devotion not unfre-
quently occur in these wars, throwing a melancholy grac3 over the
darker an/1 more ferocious features of the time.
Gonsalvo was seen in the thickest of the tight, long after the king's
escape, charging the enemy briskly at the head of his handful of
Spaniards, not in the hope of retrieving the day, but of covering the
flight of the panic-struck Neapolitans. At length he was borne along
by the rushing tide, and succeeded in bringing otf the greater part of his
cavalry safe to Semiuara. Had the French followed up the blow, the
greater part of the royal army, with probably King Ferdinand and
Gonsalvo at its head, would have fallen into their hands ; and thus not
only the fate of the campaign, but of Naples itself, would have been
permanently decided by this battle. Fortunately the French did not
understand so well how to use a victory as to gain it. They made no
attempt to pursue. This is imputed to the illness of their general,
D'Aubigny, occasioned by the extreme unhealthiness of the climate.
He was too feeble to sit long on his horse, and was removed into a litter
as soon as the action was decided. Whatever was the cause, the victors,
by this inaction, suffered the golden fruits of victory to escape them.
Ferdinand made his escape on the same day on board a vessel which
conveyed him back to Sicily ; and Gonsalvo, on the following morning
before break of day, effected his retreat across the mountains to Reggio,
at the head of four hundred Spanish lances. Thus terminated the tirst
battle of importance in which Gonsalvo of Cordova held a distinguished
command ; the only one which he lost during his long and fortunate
career. Its loss, however, attached no discredit to him, since it was
entered into in manifest opposition to his j udgment. On the contrary,
his conduct throughout this affair tended greatly to establish his repu-
tation, by showing him to be no less prudent in council than bold in
action.
King Ferdinand, far from being disheartened by this defeat, gained
new o from his experience of the favourable dispositions existing
towards him in Calabria. Relying on a similar feeling of loyalty in his
capital, he determined to hazard a bold stroke for its recovery ; and that
too, instantly, before his late discomfiture should have time to operate on
the spirits of his partisans. He accordingly embarked at Messina, with
a handful of troops only, on board the neet of the Spanish admiral,
Itequesens. It amounted in all to ei-rhty vessels, most of them of
inconsiderable size. With this armament, which, notwithstanding its
formidable show, carried little effective force for land operations, the
adventurous young monarch appeared off the harbour of Naples before
the end of Tune.
326 ITALIAN WAES.
Charles's viceroy, the duke of Montpensier, at that time garrisoned
Naples with six thousand French troops. On the appearance of the
Spanish navy, he marched out to prevent Ferdinand's landing, leaving a
few only of his soldiers to keep the city in awe. But he had scarcely
quitted it before the inhabitants, who had waited with impatience an
opportunity for throwing oft' the yoke, sounded the tocsin, and, rising to
arms through every part of the city, and massacring the feeble remains
of the garrison, shut the gates against him ; while Ferdinand, who had
succeeded in drawing off" the French commander in another direction, no
sooner presented himself before the walls, than he was received with
transports of joy by the enthusiastic people.
The French, however, though excluded from the city, by making a
circuit, effected an entrance into the fortresses which commanded it.
From these posts Montpensier sorely annoyed the town, making frequent
attacks on it, day and night, at the head of his gendarmerie, until they
were at length checked in every direction by barricades which the
citizens hastily constructed with wagons, casks of stones, bags of sand,
and whatever came most readily to hand. At the same time, the
windows, balconies, and house-tops were crowded with combatants, who
poured down such a deadly shower of missiles on the heads of the French
as finally compelled them to take shelter in their defences. Montpensier
was now closely besieged, till at length, reduced by famine, he was com-
pelled to capitulate. Before the term prescribed for his surrender had
arrived, however, he effected his escape at night by water, to Salerno, at
the head of twenty-five hundred men. The remaining garrison, with
the fortresses, submitted to the victorious Ferdinand the beginning of the
following year. And thus, by one of those sudden turns which belong
to the game of war, the exiled prince, whose fortunes a few weeks before
appeared perfectly desperate, was again established in the palace of his
ancestors.
Montpensier did not long remain in his new quarters. He saw the
necessity of immediate action, to counteract the alarming progress of the
enemy. He quitted Salerno before the end of winter, strengthening his
army by such reinforcements as he could collect from every quarter of
the country. With this body he directed his course towards Apulia,
with the intention of bringing Ferdinand, who had already established
his head-quarters there, to a decisive engagement. Ferdinand's force,
however, was so far inferior to that of his antagonist, as to compel him
to act on the defensive, until he had been reinforced by a considerable
body of troops from Venice. The two armies were then so eqxially
matched that neither cared to hazard all on the fate of a battle ; and the
campaign wasted away in languid operations, which led to no important
result.
In the meantime, Gonsalvo de Cordova was slowly fighting his way up
through southern Calabria. The character of the country, rough and
mountainous, like the Alpuxarras, and thickly sprinkled with fortified
places, enabled him to bring into play the tactics which he had learned in
the war of Granada. He made little use of heavy-armed troops, relying
on his ffinetes, and still more on his foot ; taking care, however, to avoid
any direct encounter with the dreaded Swiss battalions. He made
amends for paucity of numbers and want of real strength, by rapidity of
movement, and the wily tactics of Moorish warfare ; darting on "the
CAMPAIGNS OP GONSALYO. 327
enemy where least expected, surprising his strongholds at dead of i
entangling him in ambuscades, and desolating the country with those
terrible forays whose effects he had so often witnessed on the lair vegas
of Granada. He adopted the policy practised by his master, Ferdinand
the Catholic, in the Moorish war, lenient to the submissive foe, but
wreaking terrible vengeance on such as resiste J .
The French were sorely disconcerted by these irregular operations, so
unlike anything to which they were accustomed in European warfare.
They were further disheartened by the continued illness of D'Aubigny,
and by the growing disaffection of the Calabrians, who in the southern
provinces contiguous to Sicily were particularly well inclined to Spain.
Gousalvo, availing himself of these friendly dispositions, pushed
forward his successes, carrying one stronghold after another, until by
the end of the year he had overrun the whole of Lower Calabria. His
progress would have been still more rapid but for the serious embarrass-
ments which he experienced from want of supplies. He had received
some reinforcements from Sicily, but very few from Spain ; while the
boasted Galician levies, instead of fifteen hundred, had dwindled to
scarcely three hundred men, who arrived in the most miserable plight,
destitute of clothing and munitions of every kind. He was compelled
to weaken still further his inadequate force by garrisoning the conquered
places ; most of which, however, he was obliged to leave without any
defence at all. In addition to this, he was so destitute of the necessary
funds for the payment of his troops, that lie was detained nearly two
months at Xicastro, until February, 1496, when he received a remittance
from Spain. After this, he resiimed operations with such vigour, that
by the end of the following spring he had reduced all Upper Calabria,
with the exception of a small corner of the province, in which D'Aubigny
still maintained himself. At this crisis he was summoned from the
scene of his conquest to the support of the king of Naples, who lay
encamped before Atella, a town intrenched among the Apennines, on the
western borders of the Basilicate.
The campaign of the preceding winter had terminated without any
decisive results, the two armies of Montpensier and King Ferdinand
having continued in sight of each other without ever coming to action.
These protractsd operations were fatal to the French. Their few supplies
were intercepted by the peasantry of the country ; their Swiss and
German mercenaries mutinied and deserted for Avant of pay ; and the
^Neapolitans in their service went off in great numbers, disgusted with
the insolent and overbearing manners of their new allies. Charles the
Eighth, in the meanwhile, was wasting his hours and health in the usual
round of profligate pleasures. From the moment of recrossing the Alps,
he seemed to have shut out Italy from his thoughts. He was equally
insensible to the supplications of the few Italians at his court, and the
remonstrances of his French nobles ; many of whom, although opposed
to the lirst expedition, would willingly have undertaken a second to
support their brave comrades, whom the heedless young monarch now
abandoned to their fate.
At length Montpensier, finding no prospect of relief from home, and
straitened by the want of provisions, determined to draw oft' from the
neighbourhood of Benevento, where the two armies lay encamped, and
retreat to the fruitful province of Apulia, whose principal places were
328 ITALIAN 'WARS.
still garrisoned by the French. He broke Tip his camp secretly at dead
of night, and gained a day's march on his enemy, before the latter
began his pursuit. This Ferdinand pushed with such vigour, however,
that he overtook the retreating army at the town of Atella, and com-
pletely intercepted its further progress. This town, which, as already
noticed, is situated on the western skirts of the Busilicate, lies in a broad
valley encompassed by a lofty amphitheatre of hills, through which flows
a little river, tributary to the Ofauto, watering the town, and turning
several mills which supplied it with flour. At a few miles distance was
the strong place of Ripa Candida, garrisoned by the French, through
which Moiitpensier hoped to maintain his communications with the fertile
regions of the interior.
Ferdinand, desirous if possible to bring the war to a close by the
capture of the whole French army, prepared for a vigorous blockade.
He disposed his forces so as to intercept supplies, by commanding the
avenues to the town in every direction. He soon found, however, that
his army, though considerably stronger than his rival's, was incompetent
to this without further aid. He accordingly resolved to summon to his
support Gonsalvo de Cordova, the fame of whose exploits now resounded
through every part of the kingdom.
The Spanish general received Ferdinand's summons while encamped
with his army at Castrovallari, in the north of Upper Calabria. If he
complied with it, he saw himself in danger of losing all the fruits of his
long campaign of victories ; for his active enemy would not fail to profit
by his absence to repair his losses. If he refused obedience, however,
it might defeat the most favourable opportunity which had yet presented
itself for bringing the war to a close. He resolved, therefore, at once to
quit the field of his triumphs, and march to king Ferdinand's relief.
But, before his departure, he prepared to strike such a blow as should, if
possible, incapacitate his enemy for any eti'ectual movement during his
absence.
He received intelligence that a considerable number of Angevin lords,
mostly of the powerful house of San Severino, with their vassals and a
reinforcement of French troops, were assembled at the little town of
Laino, on the north- western borders of Upper Calabria ; where they lay,
awaiting a junction with D'Aubigny. Gonsalvo determined to surprise
this place, and capture the rich spoils which it contained, before his
departure. His road lay through a wild and mountainous country. The
passes were occupied by the Calabrian peasantry in the interest of the
Angevin party. The Spanish general, however, found no difficulty in
forcing a way through this undisciplined rabble, a large body of whom
he surrounded and cut to pieces as they lay in ambush ibr him in the
valley of Murano. Laino, whose base is washed by the waters of the
Lao, was defended by a strong castle built on the opposite side of the river,
and connected by a bridge witli the town. All approach to the place by
the high road was commanded by this fortress. Gonsalvo obviated this
difficulty, however, by a circuitous route across the mountains. He marched
all night, and fording the waters of the Lao about two miles above the
town, entered it with his little army before break of day, having previously
detached a small corps to take possession of the bridge. The inhabitants
startled from their slumbers by the unexpected appearance of the enemy
in their streets, hastily seized their arms and made for the castle on the
CAMPAIGNS OF GOXSALVO. 329
other side of the river. The pass, however, was occupied by the
Spaniards ; and the Neapolitans and French, hemmed in on every side,
began a desperate resistance, which terminated with the death of their
chief, America San Severiuo, and the capture of such of his followers as
did not fall in the melee. A rich booty fell into the hands of the victors.
The most glorious prize, however, was the Angevin barons, twenty in
number, whom Gousalvo after the aetion, sent prisoners to Naples.
This decisive blow, whose tidings spread like wildfire throughout the
country, settled the fate of Calabria. It struck terror into the hearts of
the French, and crippled them so far as to leave Gousalvo little cause for
anxiety during his proposed absence.
The Spanish general lost no time in pressing forward on his march
towards Atella. Before quitting Calabria he had received a reinforce-
ment of live hundred soldiers from Spain ; and his whole Spanish forces,
according to Giovio, amounted to one hundred men-at-arms, five hundred
light cavalry, and two thousand foot, picked men, and well schooled in
the hardy service of the late campaign. Although a great part of his
march lay through a hostile country, he encountered little opposition;
for the terror of his name, says the writer last quoted, had everywhere
gone before him. He arrived before Atella at the beginning of July.
The king of Naples was no sooner advised of his approach, than he
marched out of the camp, attended by the Venetian general, the marquis
of Mantua, and the papal legate, Ca>ar Borgia, to receive him. All
were t -am r to do honour to the man who had achieved such brilliant
exploits ; who, in less than a year, had made himself master of the larger
part of the kingdom of Naples, and that with the most limited resources,
in defiance of the bravest and best disciplined soldiery in Europe. It
was then, according to the Spanish writers, that he was by general
consent greeted with the title of the Gi^at Captain ; by which he is much
more familiarly known in Spanish, and it maybe added, in most histories
of the period, than by his own name.
Consalvo found the French sorely distressed by the blockade, which
was so strictly maintained as to allow few supplies from abroad to pass
into the town. His quick eye discovered at once, however, that, in
order to render it perfectly cl'ectual, it would be necessary to destroy
the mills in the vicinity, which supplied Atella with flour. He under-
took this, on the day of his arrival, at the head of his own corps, Mont-
pensier, aware of the importance of these mills, had stationed a strong
guard for their defence, consisting of a body of Gascon archers and the
Swiss pikemen. Although the Spaniards had never been brought into
direct collision with any large masses of this formidable infantrv, yet
occasional rencontres with small detachments, and increased familiarity
with its tactics, had stripped it of much of its terrors. Gonsalvo had
even, so far profited by the example of the Swiss, as to strengthen his
infantry by mingling the long pikes with the short swords and bucklers
of the Spaniards.
He made two divisions of his cavalry, posting his handful of heavy-
armed, with some of the light horse, so as to check any sally from the
town, while he destined the remainder to support the infantry in the
attack upon the enemy. Having made these arrangements, the Spanish
chieftain led on his men confidently to the charge. The Gascon archery,
however, seized with a panic, scarcely awaited his approach, but tied
330 ITALIAN WAHS.
snamefully, before they had time to discharge a second volley of arrows,
leaving the battle to the Swiss. These latter, exhausted by the sufferings
of the siege, and dispirited by long reverses, and by the presence of a
new and victorious foe, did not behave with their wonted intrepidity ;
but, after a feeble resistance, abandoned their position, and retreated
towards the city. Gonsalvo, having gained his object, did not care to
pursue the fugitives, but instantly set about demolishing the mills, every
vestige of which, in a few hours, was swept from the ground. Three
days after, he supported the Neapolitan troops in an assault on 1( i | >a
Candida, and carried that important post, by means of which Atelia
maintained a communication with the interior.
Thus cut off from all their resources, and no longer cheered by hopes
of succour from their own country, the French, after suffering the
severest privations, and being reduced to the most loathsome aliment for
subsistence, made overtures for a capitulation. The terms were soon
arranged with the king of Naples, who had no desire but to rid his
country of the invaders. It was agreed that, if the French commander
did not receive assistance in thirty days, he should evacute Atelia, and
cause every place holding under him in the kingdom of Naples, with all
its artillery, to be surrendered to king Ferdinand ; and that, on these
conditions, his soldiers should be furnished with vessels to transport them
back to France ; that the foreign mercenaries should be permitted to
return to their own homes ; and that a general amnesty should be
extended to such Neapolitans as returned to their allegiance in fifteen
days.
Such were the articles of capitulation signed on the 21st of July, 1496,
which Comines, who received the tidings at the court of France, does not
hesitate to denounce as a "most disgraceful treaty, without parallel,
save in that made by the Roman consuls at the Caudine Forks, which
was too dishonourable to be sanctioned by their countrymen." The
reproach is certainly unmerited, and comes with ill grace from a court
which was wasting in riotous indulgence the very resources indispensable
to the brave and loyal subjects who were endeavouring to maintain ita
honour in a foreign land.
Unfortunately Montpensier was unable to enforce the full performance
of his own treaty ; as many of the French refused to deliver up the places
intrusted to them, under the pretence that their authority was derived,
not from the viceroy, but from the king himself. During the discussion
of this point, the French troops were removed to Baia and Pozzuolo, and
the adjacent places on the coast. The unhealthine.ss of the situation,
together with that of the autumnal season, and an intemperate indul-
gence in fruits and wine, soon brought on an epidemic among the
soldiers, which swept them oft' in great numbers. The gallant Mont-
pensier was one of the first victims. He refused the earnest solicitations
of his brother-in-law, the marquis of Mantua, to quit his unfortunate
companions and retire to a place of safety in the interior. The shore
was literally strewed with the bodies of the dying and the dead. Of
the whole number of Frenchmen, amounting to not less than five
thousand, who marched out of Atelia, not more than five hundred ever
reached their native country. The Swiss and other mercenaries were
scarcely more fortunate. "They made their way back as they could
through Italy," says a writer of the period, "in the most deplorable
CAMPAIGNS OF GONSALVO. 331
state of destitution and suffering, the gaze of all, and a sad example of
the caprice of fortune." Such was the miserable fate of that brilliant and
formidable array, which scarcely two years before had poured down on
the fair fields of Italy in all the insolence of expected conquest. Well
would it be, if the name of every conqueror, whose successes, though
built on human misery, are so dazzling to the imagination, could be
made to point a moral for the instruction of his species, as effectually as
that of Charles the Eighth.
The young king of Naples did not liye long to enjoy his triumphs.
On his return from Atella, he contracted an inauspicious marriage with
his aunt, a lady nearly of his own age, to whom he had been long
attached. A careless and somewhat intemperate indulgence in pleasure,
succeeding the hardy life which he had been lately leading, brought on a
flux which carried him off in the twenty-eighth year of his age, and second
of his reign (Sept. 7th, 1496). He was the fifth monarch who, in the
brief compass of three years, had sat on the disastrous throne of Naples.
Ferdinand possessed many qualities suited to the turbulent times in
which he lived, lie was vigorous and prompt in action, and naturally
of a high and generous spirit. Still, however, he exhibited glimpses,
even in his last hours, of an obliquity, not to say ferocity of temper,
which characterised many of his line, and which led to ominous con-
jectures as to what would have been his future policy.* He was suc-
ceeded on the throne by his uncle Frederic, a prince of a gentle disposition,
endeared to the Neapolitans by repeated acts of benevolence, and by a mag-
nanimous regard for justice, of which the remarkable fluctuations of his
fortune had elicited more than one example. His amiable virtues, how-
ever, required a kindlier soil and season for their expansion ; and, as
the event proved, made him no match for the subtile and unscrupulous
politicians of the age.
His first act was a general amnesty to the disaffected Neapolitans, who
felt such confidence in his good faith, that they returned, with scarcely
an exception, to their allegiance. His next measure was to request the
aid of Gonsalvo de Cordova in suppressing the hostile movements made
by the French during his absence from Calabria. At the name of the
Great Captain, the Italians flocked from all quarters, to serve without
pay under a banner which was sure to lead them to victory. Tower
and town, as he advanced, went down before him ; and the French
general, D'Aubigny, soon saw himself reduced to the necessity of making
the best terms he could with his conqueror, and evacuating the province
altogether. The submission of Calabria was speedily followed by that
of the few remaining cities, in other quarters, still garrisoned by the
French ; comprehending the last rood of territory possessed by Charle*
the Eighth in the kingdom of Naples.
While stretched on his deathbed, Ferdinand, according to Bembo. caused the head of
the prisoner, the Bishop of Te.ino, to be brought to him, and laid at the foot of his couch,
that he might be assured with his own eyes of the execution oi the aeuteuo*.
CHAPTEE III.
WARS OON3ALVO SUCCOURS THE POPE TREATY WITH FRANCE ORGANISATION
THE SPANISH MILITIA.
1496-1498.
Qjnsalvo succours the Pope Storms Ostia Reception in Rome Peace with France
Ferdinand's Reputation advanced by his Conduct in the War Organisation of tha
Militia.
IT had been arranged by the treaty of Venice, that, while the allies
were carrying on the \var in Xaples, the emperor elect and the king of
Spain should make a diversion in their favour, by invading the French
frontiers. Ferdinand had performed his part of the engagement. Ever
since the beginning of the war, he had maintained a large force along
the borders from Fontarabia to Perpignau. In 1496, the regular army
kept in pay amounted to ten thousand horse and fifteen thousand foot";
which, together with the Sicilian armament, necessarily involved an
expenditure exceedingly heavy under the financial pressure occasioned
by the Moorish war. The command of the levies in Roussillon was
given to Don Enrique Enriquez de Guzman, who, far from acting on
the defensive, carried his men repeatedly over the border, sweeping off
fifteen or twenty thousand head of cattle, in a single foray, and ravaging
the country as far as Carcassona and Xarbonne. The French, who
had concentrated a considerable force in the south, retaliated by similar
inroads, in one of which they succeeded in surprising the fortified town
of Salsas. The works, however, were in so dilapidated a state, that
the place was scarcely tenable, and it was abandoned on the approach of
the Spanish army. A truce soon followed, which put an end to further
operations in that quarter.
The submission of Calabria seemed to leave no further occupation
for the arms of the Great Captain in Italy. Before quitting that
country, however, he engaged in an adventure, which, as narrated by
his biographers, forms a brilliant episode to his regular campaigns.
Ostia, the seaport of Home, was, among the places in the papal territory,
forcibly occupied by Charles the Eighth, and on his retreat had been
left to a French garrison under the command of a lUscayan adventurer
named Menaldo Guerri. The place was so situated as entirely to com-
mand the mouth of the Tiber, enabling the piratical horde who
garrisoned it almost wholly to destroy the commerce of Rome, and even
to reduce the city to great distress for want of provisions. The imbecile
government, incapable of defending itself, implored Gonsalvo's aid in
dislodging this nest of formidable freebooters. The Spanish general,
who was now at leisure, complied with the pontiff's solicitations, and
soon after presented himself before Ostia, with his little coips of troops,
amounting in all to three hundred horse and fifteen hundred foot.
G uerri, trusting to the strength of his defences, refused to surrender.
GOXSALVO StTCCOTJRS THE POPE. 2o3
Gonsalvo, after coolly preparing his batteries, opened a heavy cannonade
on the place, which at tlie end of h've days cllceted a practicable breach in
the walls. In the meantime, Garcilasso de le Vega, the Castiliau ambassador
at the papal court, who could not bear to remain inactive so near the field
where laurels were to be won, arrived at Gonsalvo' s support, with a
handful of Ills own countrymen resident in Home. This gallant little
band, scaling the walls on the opposite side to that assailed by Gonsalvo,
effected an entrance into the town, while the garrison was occupied with
maintaining the breach against the main body of the Spaniards. Thus
surprised, and hemmed in on both sides, Guerri and his associates made
no further resistance, but surrendered themselves prisoners of war ; and
Gonsalvo, with more clemency than was usually shown on such occasions,
stopped the carnage, and reserved his captives to grace his entry into
the capital.
This was made a few days after, with all the pomp of a llonuvi
triumph. The Spanish general entered by the gate of Ostia, at the head
of his martial squadrons in battle array, with colours Hying and music
playinjr, while the rear was brought up by the captive chief and his
confederate*, so long the terror, now the derision of the populace. The
balconies and windows were crowded with spectators, and the streets
lined with multitudes, who shouted forth the name of Gonsalvo de
Cordova, the " deliverer of Home ! " The procession took its way
through the principal streets of the city towards the Vatican, where
Alexander the Sixth awaited its approach, seated under a canopy of
state in the chief saloon of the palace, surrounded by his great eccle-
siastics and nobility. On Gunsalvo's entrance, the cardinals rose to
receive him. The Spanish general knelt down to receive the benedic-
tion of the pope, but the latter, raising him up, kissed him on the fore-
head, and complimented him with the golden rose, which the Holy
See was accustomed to dispense as the reward of its most devoted
champions.
In the conversation which ensued, Gonsalvo obtained the pardon of
Guerri and his associates, and an exemption from taxes for the oppressed
inhabitants of Ostia. In a subsequent part of the discourse, the
pope taking occasion most inopportunely to accuse the Spanish sovereigns
of unfavourable dispositions towards himself, Gonsalvo replied with
much warmth, enumerating the various good offices rendered by them
to the church ; and roundly taxing the pope with ingratitude, somewhat
bluntly advised him to reform his life and conversation, which brought
scandal on all Christendom. His Holiness testified no indignation at
this unsavoury rebuke of the Great Captain, though, as the historians
with some naicete inform us, he was greatly surprised to find the latter
so fluent in discourse, and so well instructed in matters foreign to hia
profession.
Gonsalvo experienced the most honourable reception from King
Frederic on his return to Naples. During his continuance there, he was
lodged and sumptuously entertained in one of the royal fortresses ; and
the grateful monarch requited his services with the title of Duke of
St. Angelo, and an estate, in Abruzzo, containing three thousand
vassals. He had before pressed these honours on the victor, who declined
accepting them till he had obtained the consent of his own sovereigns,
boon after, Gonsalvo, quitting Naples, revisited Sicily, where he adjusted
334 ITALIAN WARS.
certain differences which had arisen betwixt the viceroy and the inha-
bitants respecting the revenues of the island. Then embarking \\-ith
his whole force, he reached the shores of Spain in the month of August,
1498. His return to his native land was greeted with a general enthu-
siasm far more grateful to his patrotic heart than any homage or honours
conferred by foreign princes. Isabella welcomed him with pride and
satisfaction, as having fully vindicated her preference of him to his
more experienced rivals for the difficult post of Italy ; and Ferdinand
did not hesitate to declare, that the Calabrian campaigns reflected more
lustre on his crown, than the conquest of Granada.
The tntal expulsion of the French from Naples brought hostilities
between that nation and Spain to a close. The latter had gained her
point, and the former had little heart to resume so disastrous an enter-
prise. Before this event, indeed, overtures had been made by the
French court for a separate treaty with Spain. The latter, however, was
unwilling to enter into any compact without the participation of her
allies. After the total abandonment of the French enterprise, the
seemed to exist no further pretext for prolonging the war. The Spanish
government, moreover, had little cause for satisfaction with its con-
federates. The emperor had not co-operated in the descent on the
enemy's frontier, according to agreement ; nor had the allies ever
reimbursed Spain for the heavy charges incurred in fulfilling her part
of the engagements. The Venetians were taken up with securing to
themselves as much of the Neapolitan territory as they could, by way
of indemnification for their own expenses. The duke of Milan had
already made a separate treaty with King Charles, In short, every
member of the league, after the first alarm subsided, had shown itself
ready to sacrifice the common weal to its own private ends. With
these causes of disgust, the Spanish government consented to a truce
with France, to begin for itself on the 5th of March, and for the allies,
if they chose to be included in it, seven weeks later, and to continue till
the end of October, 1497. This truce was subsequently prolonged, and,
after the death of Charles the Eighth, terminated in a definitive treaty
of peace, signed at Marcoussi, August 5th, 1498.
Jn the discussions to which these arrangements gave rise, the project
is said to have been broached for the conquest and division of the king-
dom of Naples by the combined powers of France and Spain, which was
carried into effect some years later. According to Comines, the proposi-
tion originated with the Spanish court, although it saw fit, in a subse-
quent period of the negotiations, to disavow the fact. The Spanish
writers, on the other hand, impute the first suggestion of it to the
French, who, they say, went so far as to specify the details of the
partition subsequently adopted ; according to which the two Calabrias
were assigned to Spain. However this may be, there is little doubt
that Ferdinand had long since entertained the idea of asserting his
claim, at some time or other, to the crown of Naples. He, as well as his
father, and indeed the whole nation, had beheld with dissatisfaction the
transfer of what they deemed their rightful inheritance, purchased by
the blood and treasure of Aragon, to an illegitimate branch of the family.
The accession of Frederic, in particular, who came to the throne with the
support of the Angevin party, the old enemies of Aragon, had given
great umbrage to the Spanish monarch.
TREATY WITH FRANCE. 335
The Castilian envoy, Garcilasso de la Vega, agreeably to the instruc-
tions of his court, urged Alexander the Sixth to withhold the investiture
of the kingdom from Frederic, but unavailingly, as the pope's intends
were too closely connected by marriage with those of the royal family
of Naples. Under these circumst-.imvs, it was somewhat- doubtful what
course Gonsalvo should be directed to pursue in the present exigency.
That prudent commander, however, found the new monarch too strong
in the att'eetious of his people to be disturbed at present. All that now
remained for Ferdinand, therefore, was to rest contented with the
-sion of the strong posts pledged for the reimbursement of his
expenses in the war, and to make such use of the correspondence which
the late campaigns had opened to him in Calabria, that, when the time
arrived for action, he might act with eifect.
Ferdinand's conduct through the whole of the Italian war had greatly
enhanced his reputation throughout Europe for sagacity and prml
It afforded a most advantageous comparison with that of his rival,
' 'harles the Eighth, whose very rirst act had been the surrender of so
important a territory as lloussillon. The construction of the treaty
relating to this, indeed, laid the Spanish monarch open to the imputa-
tion of artifice. But this, at least, did no violence to the political maxims
of the age, and only made him regarded as the more shrewd and subtile
diplomatist ; while, on the other hand, lie appeared before the world in
the imposing attitude of the defender of the church, and of the rights of
his injured kinsman. His influence had been clearly discernible in.
every operation of moment, whether civil or military. He had been
most active, through his ambassadors at Genoa, Venice, and Home, ill
stirring up the great Italian confederacy, which eventually broke the
power of King Charles ; and his representations had tended, as much as
any other cause, to alarm the jealousy of Sforza, to fix the vacillating
]K)litics of Alexander, and to quicken the cautious and dilatory move-
ments of Venice. He had shown equal vigour in action; and contributed
mainly to the success of the war by his operations on the side of
lumssillon, and still more in Calabria. On the latter, indeed, he had
not lavished any extraordinary expenditure ; a circumstance partly
attributable to the state of his finances, severely taxed, as already
noticed, by the Granadine war, as well as by the operations in Roussillon,
but in part, also, to his habitual frugality, which, with a very different
spirit from that of his illustrious consort, always stinted the measure of
his supplies to the bare exigency of the occasion. Fortunately the
genius of the Great Captain was so fruitful in resources as to supply
overy deficiency ; enabling him to accomplish such brilliant results
as effectually concealed any poverty of preparation on the part of his
master.
The Italian wars were of signal importance to the Spanish nation.
Until that time, they had been cooped up within the narrow limits of
the Peninsula, uninstructed and taking little interest in the concerns of
the rest of Europe. A new world was now opened to them. They were
taught to measure their own strength by collision with other powers on
a common scene of action ; and, success inspiring them with greater
confidence, seemed to beckon them on towards the field where they were
destined to achieve still more splendid triumphs.
This war afforded them also a most useful lesson of tactics. The
836 ITALIAN WA.HS.
war of Granada had insensibly trained up a hardy militia, patient and
capable of every privation and fatigue, and brought under strict sub-
ordination. This was a great advance beyond the independent and
disorderly habits of the feudal service. A most valuable corps of light
troops had been formed, schooled in all the wild, irregular movements of
guerilla warfare. But the nation was still defective in that steady,
well-disciplined infantry, which, in the improved condition of military
science, seemed destined to decide the fate of battles in. Europe
thenceforward.
The Calabrian campaigns, which were suited in some degree to the
display of their own tactics, fortunately gave the Spaniards opportunity
for studying at leisure those of their adversaries. The lesson was not
lost. Before the end of the -war, important innovations were made
in the discipline and arms of the Spanish soldier. The Swiss pike, or
lance, which, as has been already noticed, Gonsalvo de Cordova had
mingled with the short sword of his own legions, now became the regular
weapon of one-third of the infantry. The division of the various corps
in the cavalry and infantry services was arranged on more scientific
principles, and the whole, in short, completely reorganised.
Before the end of the war, preparations were made for embodying a
national militia, which should take the place of the ancient hermandad.
Laws were passed regulating the equipment of every individual according
to his property. A man's arms were declared not liable for debt, even
to the crown ; and smiths and other artificers w r ere restricted, under
severe penalties, from working them up into other articles. In 1496, a
census was taken of all persons capable of bearing arms ; and by an ordi-
nance, dated at Valladolid, February 22nd, in the same year, it was
provided that one out of every twelve inhabitants, between twenty and
forty-five years of age, should be enlisted in the service of the state,
whether for foreign war, or the suppression of disorders at home. The
remaining eleven were liable to be called on in case of urgent necessity.
These recruits were to be paid during actual service, and excused from
taxes ; the only legal exempts were the clergy, hidalgos, and paupers.
A general review and inspection of arms were to take place every year,
in the months of March and September, when prizes were to be awarded
to those best accoutred, and most expert in the use of their weapons.
Such were the judicious regulations by which every citizen, without
being withdrawn from his regular occupation, was gradually trained uj
for the national defence ; and which, without the oppressive incumbranco
of a numerous standing army, placed the whole effective force of tho
country, prompt and fit for action, at the disposal of the goveviuueuU.
whenever the public good should call for it.
CHAPTER IT.
AIJ-IANCES Of THE ROYAL FAMILY DEATH OF PRINCE JOHJT AND PRINCESS T*ABKT,U.
Royal Family of Castile Matrimonial Alliances with Portugal With Austria Marriage
of John and Margaret Death of Prince John The Queen's Resignation Indepen-
dence of the Cortes of Aragon Death of the Princess Isabella Recognition of her
infant sou Miguel.
Tin: credit and authority which the Castilian sovereigns established by
the success of their arms, were greatly raised by the matrimonial con-
nexions which they formed for their children. This was too important a
spring of their policy to be passed over in silence. Their family consisted
of one son and four daughters, whom thev carefully educated in a manner
bentting their high rank ; and who repaid their solicitude by exemplary
iilial obedience, and the early manifestation of virtues rare even in a
private station.* They seem to have inherited many of the qualities
which distinguished their illustrious mother ; great decorum and dignity
of manners, combined with ardent sensibilities and unaffected piety,
which, at least, in the eldest and favourite daughter, Isabella, was
unhappily strongly tinctured with bigotry. Thev could not, indeed,
pretend to their mother's comprehensive mind and talent for business,
although there seems to have been no deficiency in these respects ; or, if
any, it was most effectually supplied by their excellent education.!
The marriage of the princess Isabella with Alonso, the heir of the
Portuguese crown, in 1490, has been already noticed. This had been
ly desired by her parents, not only for the possible contingency,
which it afforded, of bringing the various monarchies of the Peninsula
under one head, (a design, of which they never wholly lost sight,)
but from the wish to conciliate a formidable neighbour, who possessed
various means of annoyance, which he had shown no reluctance to exert.
The reigning monarch, John the Second, a bold and crafty prince, had
never 'orgotten his ancient quarrel with the Spanish sovereigns in sup-
port of their rival, Joanna Beltraneja, or Joanna the Nun, as she was
piu'nillv called in the Castilian court after she had taken the veil.
John, in open contempt of the treaty of Alcantara, and indeed of all
monastic rule, had not only removed his relative from the convent of
Santa Clara, but had permitted her to assume a royal state, and sul/-
scribe herself " I the Queen." This empty insult he accompanied -with
more serious efforts to form such a foreign alliance for the liberated
* The princess Dofia Isabel, the eldest daughter, was born at Duenas, October 1st, 147f .
Their second child and only son, Juan, prince of the Asturias, was not born until eight
years later, June :.o:h, MYS, at Seville. L>oua Juana, whom the queen used p'.ayfully to
call her " mother-in-law," sufgra, from her resemblance to King Ferdinand'* mother, was
born at Toledo, November 6th, 1479. Doua Maria was born at Cordova, hi 14S2 ; and
Dona Cataliua, the fifth and last child, at Alcala de Henares, December 5th, 14S5. The
daughters all lived to reign ; but their brilliant destinies were clouded with domestic
afflictions, from which royalty could afford no refuge.
t The only exception to these remarks was that afforded by the infanta Joanna, whose
unfortunate eccentricities, developed in later life, must be imputed indeed to bodily
Infirmity.
338 THE EOTAL FAMITJ.
princess as should secure her the support of some arm more powerful
than his own, and enable her to renew the struggle for her inheritance
with better chance of success.* These flagrant proceedings had provoked
the admonitions of the Roman see, and had formed the topic, as may be
believed, of repeated, though ineffectual remonstrance from the court of
Castile, t
It seemed probable that the union of the princess of the Asturias with
the heir of Portugal, as originally provided by the treaty of Alcantara,
would so far identify the interests of the respective parties as to remove
all further cause of disquietude. The new bride was received in Portugal
in a spirit which gave cordial assurance of these friendly relations for
the future ; and the court of Lisbon celebrated the auspicious nuptials
with the gorgeous magnificence for which, at this period of its successful
enterprise, it was distinguished above every other court in Christendom.
(Nov. 22, 1490.)
Alonso's death, a few months after this event, however, blighted the
fair hopes which had begun to open of a more friendly feeling between
the two countries. His unfortunate widow, unable to endure the scenes
of her short-lived happiness, soon withdrew into her own country to seek
such consolation as she could find in the bosom of her family. There.
abandoning herself to the melancholy regrets to which her serious and
pensive temper naturally disposed her, she devoted her hours to works of
piety and benevolence, resolved to enter no more into engagements which
had thrown so dark a cloud over the morning of her life.
On King John's death, in 1495, the crown of Portugal devolved on
Emanuel, that enlightened monarch, who had the glory in the very
commencement of his reign of solving the grand problem, which had so
long perplexed the world, of the existence of an undiscovered passage to
the East. This prince had conceived a passion for the yoiing and beauti-
ful Isabella during her brief residence in Lisbon ; and, soon after his
accession to the throne, he despatched an embassy to the Spanish court
inviting her to share it with him. But the princess, wedded to the
memory of her early love, declined the proposals, notwithstanding they
were strongly seconded by the wishes of her parents, who, however, were
unwilling to constrain their daughter's inclinations on so delicate a point,
trusting perhaps to the effects of time, and the perseverance of her royal
suitor.
In the meanwhile, the Catholic sovereigns were occupied with negotia-
tions for the settlement of the other members of their family. The am-
bitious schemes of Charles the Eighth established a community of interests
among the great European states, such as had never before existed, or,
at least, been understood ; and the intimate relations thus introduced
naturally led to intermarriages between the principal powers, who, until
this period, seem to have been severed almost as far asunder as if oceans
had rolled between them. The Spanish monarchs, in particular, had
rarely gone beyond the limits of the Peninsula for their family alliances.
The new confederacy into which Spain had entered now opened the way
* Nine different matches were proposed for Joanna in tha course of her life ; but they
all vanished into air, and "the excellent lady," as she was usually called by the Portu-
guese, died, as she had lived, in single blessedness, at thu ripe age of sixty-eight.
f Instructions relating to this matter, written with the queen's own hand, still esiil
ALLIANCES AND DEATHS, 335
to more remote connexions, which were destined to exercise a permanent
influence on the future politics of Europe. It was while Charles the
Eighth was wasting- his time at Naples, that the marriages wan arranged
between the royal houses of Spain and Austria, by which the weight of
these great powers was thrown into the same scale, and the balance of
Europe unsettled for the greater part of the following century.
The treaty provided that Prince John, the heir of the Spanish monarchies,
then in his eighteenth year, should be united with the princess Margaret,
daughter of the emperor Maximilian ; and that the archduke Philip, his
son and heir, and sovereign of the Low Countries in his mother's right,
should marry Joanna, second daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella. No
dowry was to be required with either princess.
In the course of the following year, arrangements were also concluded
for the marriage of the youngest daughter of the Castilian sovereigns
with a prince of the royal house of England, the first example of the
kind for more than a century.* Ferdinand had cultivated the good-will
of Henry the Seventh, in the hope of drawing him into the confederacy
against the French monarch ; and in this had not wholly failed, although
the wary king seems to have come into it rather as a silent partner, if we
may so say, than with the intention of affording any open or very active
co-operation.t The relations of amity between the two courts were still
further strengthened by the treaty of marriage above alluded to, finally
adjusted October 1st, 1-496, and ratified the following year, between Arthur
prince of Wales, and the infanta Dona Catalina, conspicuous in English his-
tory, equally for her misfortunes and her virtues, as Catharine of Aragon.J
The French viewed with no little jealousy the progress of these various
negotiations, which they zealously endeavoured to thwart by all the
artifices of diplomacy. But King Ferdinand had sufficient address to
secure in his interests persons of the highest credit at the courts of Henry
and Maximilian, who promptly acquainted him with the intrigues of the
French government, and effectually aided in counteracting them.
The English connection was necessarily deferred for some years, on
account of the youth of the parties, neither of whom exceeded eleven
years of age. No such impediment occurred in regard to the German
alliances ; and measures were taken at once for providing a suitable con-
veyance for the infanta Joanna into Flanders, which should bring back
the princess Margaret on its return. By the end of summer, in H96, a
* I believe there is no instance of such a union, save that of John of Gaunt , Duke of
Lancaster, with Dona Constanza, daughter of Peter the Cruel, in 1371, from whom Queen
Isabella was lineally descended on the father's side. The title of Prince of the A*turuu,
uppropriated to the heir apparent of Castile, was first created for the Infant Don Henry,
Aerwaxdi Henry III., on occasion of his marriage with John of Gaunt's daughter in 1388.
It was professedly in imitation of the English title of Priuce of Wales; and the Asturias
were selected, as that portion of the ancient Gothic monarchy which had never bowed
beneath the Saracen yoke.
t Ferdinand used his good offices to mediate a peace between Henry VII. and the king
of Scots ; and it is a proof of the respect entertained for him by both these mouarchs, tiiat
they agreed to refer their disputes t<> his arbitration.
J The marriage had been arranged between the Spanish and English courts as far back
as March 1480, when the elder of the parties had not yet reached the fifth year of her age
This was continued by another, more full and definite, in the following year, 1490. By
this treaty it was stipulated that Catharine's portion should lie 'JOn.uOO gold crowns, one-
half to be paid down at the date of her marriage, and the remainder in two equal pay-
ments in the course of the two years ensuing The prince of Wales was to settle on her
one-third of the revenues of the principality of Wales, the dukedom of Cornwall, and
arldom of Chester.
z 2
S40 TKE KOYAL FAMILY.
fleet consisting of one hundred and thirty vessels, large and small,
strongly manned and thoroughly equipped with all the means of defence
against the French cruisers, was got ready for sea in the ports of Gui-
puscoa and Biscay. The whole was placed under the direction of Don
Fadrique Enriquez, admiral of Castile, who carried with him a splendid
show of chivalry, chiefly drawn from the northern provinces of the king-
dom. A more gallant and beautiful armada never before quitted the
shores of Spain. The infanta Joanna, attended by a numerous suite,
arrived on board the fleet towards the end of August, at the port of
Loredo, on the eastern borders of the Asturias, where she took a last
farewell of the queen her mother, who had postponed the hour of separa-
tion as long as possible, by accompanying her daughter to the place of
embarkation.
The weather, soon after her departure, became extremely rough and
tempestuous ; and it was so long before any tidings of the squadron
reached the queen, that her affectionate heart was tilled with the most
distressing apprehensions. She sent for the oldest and most experienced
navigators in these boisterous northern seas, consulting them, says
Martyr, day and night on the probable causes of delay, the prevalent
courses of the winds at that season, and the various difficulties and
dangers of the voyage ; bitterly regretting that the troubles with France
prevented any other means of communication than the treacherous element
to which she had trusted her daughter. Her spirits were still further
depressed at this juncture by the death of her own mother, the dowager
Isabella, who, under the mental infirmity with which she had been visited
for many years, had always experienced the most devoted attention from
her daughter, who ministered to her necessities with her own hands, and
watched over her declining years with the most tender solicitude.
At length the long-desired intelligence came of the arrival of the
Castilian fleet at its place of destination. It had been so grievously
shattered, however, by tempests, as to require being refitted in the ports
of England. Several of the vessels were lost, and many of Joanna's
attendants perished from the inclemency of the weather, and the
numerous hardships to which they were exposed. The infanta, however,
happily reached Flanders in safety, and, not long after, her nuptials
with the archduke Philip were celebrated in the city of Lisle with all
suitable pomp and solemnity.
The fleet was detained until the ensuing winter, to transport the des-
tined bride of the young prince of the Asturias to Spain. This lady,
who had been affianced in her cradle to Charles the Eighth of France,
had received her education in the court of Paris. On her intended
husband's marriage with the heiress of Brittany, she had been returned
to her native land under circumstances of indignity never to be forgiven
by the house of Austria. She was now in the seventeenth year of her
age, and had already given ample promise of those uncommon powers of
mind which distinguished her in riper years, and of which she has
left abundant evidence in various written compositions.
On her passage to Spain, in mid-winter, the fleet encountered such
tremendous gales, that part of it was shipwrecked, and Margaret's
vessel had well nigh foundered. She retained, however, sufficient com-
posure, amidst the perils of her situation, to indite her own epitaph, in
the form of a pleasant distich, which Fontenclle has made the subject
ALLIANCES AND DEATHS. 341
of one of Ms amusing dialogues, where he affects to consider the fortitude
displayed by her at this awful moment as surpassing that of the philoso-
phic Adrian in his dying hour, or the vaunted heroism of Cato of Utica.
Fortunately, however, Margaret's epitaph was not needed ; she arrived
in safety at the port of Santauder in the Asturias early in March 1-197.
The young prince of the Asturias, accompanied by the king his father,
hastened towards the north to receive his royal mistress, whom they
met and escorted to Burgos, where she was received with the highest
marks of satisfaction by the queen and the whole court. Preparations
were instantly made for solemnising the nuptials of the royal pair, after
the expiration of Lent, in a style of magnificence such as had never
before been witnessed under the present reign. The marriage ceremony
took place on the 3rd of April, and was performed by the archbishop of
Toledo in the presence of the grandees and principal nobility of Castile,
the foreign ambassadors, and the delegates from Aragon. Among these
latter were the magistrates of the principal cities, clothed in their
municipal insignia and crimson robes of oftice, who seem to have had
quite as important parts assigned them by their democratic communities,
in this and all similar pageants, as any of the nobility or gentry. The
nuptials were followed by a brilliant succession of fetes, tourneys, tilts
of reeds, and other warlike spectacles, in which the matchless chivalry
of Spain poured into the lists to display their magnificence and prowess
in the presence of their future queen.* The chronicles of the day
remark on the striking contrast exhibited at these entertainments,
between the gay and lamiliar manners of Margaret and her Flemish
nobles, and the pomp and stately ceremonial of the Castilian court, to
which, indeed, the Austrian princess, nurtured as she had been in a
Parisian atmosphere, could never be wholly reconciled.
The marriage of the heir apparent could not have been celebrated at a
more auspicious period. It was in the midst of negotiations for a
general peace, when the nation might reasonably hope to taste the sweets
ui' repose, after so many uninterrupted years of war. Every bosom
swelled with exultation in contemplating the glorious destinies of their
country under the beneficent sway of a prince, the first heir of the
hitherto divided monarchies of Spain. Alas ! at the moment when
Ferdinand and Isabella, blessed in the affections of their people, and
surrounded by all the trophies of a glorious reign, seemed to have
reached the very zenith of human felicity, they were doomed to receive
one of those mournful lessons which admonish us that all earthly pros-
perity is but a dream.
Xot long after Prince John's marriage, the sovereigns had the satis-
faction to witness that of their daughter Isabella, who, notwithstanding her
repugnance to a second union, had yielded at length to the urgent
entreaties of her parents to receive the addresses of her Portuguese lover.
She required as the price of this, however, that Emanuel should first
banish the Jews from his dominions, where they had bribed a resting
place since their expulsion from Spain ; a circumstance to which the
superstitious princess imputed the misfortunes which had fallen of late
on the royal house of Portugal. Emanuel, whose own liberal mind
* That these were not mere holiday sports, was proved by the melancholy death
of Alouso de Cardeuas, sou of tho commeudador of Leon, who lost his life u.
tourney.
342 THE ROYAL FA5TILT.
revolted at this unjust and impolitic measure, was weak enough to allow
his passion to got the better of his principles, and passed sentence of exile
on every Israelite in his kingdom ; furnishing, perhaps, the only
example in which love has been made one of the thousand motives for
persecuting this unhappy race.
The marriage, ushered in under such ill-omened auspices, was cele-
brated at the frontier town of Valencia de Alcantara, in the presence of
the Catholic sovereigns, without pomp or parade of any kind. "While
they were detained there, an express arrived from Salamanca, bringing
tidings of the dangerous illness of their son, the Prince of the Asturias.
He had been seized with a fever in the midst of the public rejoicings to
which his arrival with his youthful bride in that city had given rise.
The symptoms speedily assumed an alarming character. The prince's
constitution, naturally delicate, though strengthened by a life of habitual
temperance, sunk Tinder ihe violence of the attack ; and when his father,
who posted with all possible expedition to Salamanca, arrived there, no
hopes were entertained of his recovery.
Ferdinand, however, endeavoured to cheer his son with hopes which
he did not feel himself ; but the young prince told him that it was too
late to be deceived ; that he was "prepared to part with a world which,
in its best estate, was filled with vanity and vexation ; and that all he
now desired was, that his parents might feel the same sincere resignation
to the divine will which he experienced himself. Ferdinand gathered
new fortitude from the example of his heroic son, whose presages were
unhappily too soon verified. He expired on the 4th of October, 1497,
in the twentieth year of his age, in the same spirit of Christian philosophy
which he had displayed during his whole illness.
Ferdinand, apprehensive of the effect which the abrupt intelligence of
this calamity might have on the queen, caused letters to be sent at brief
intervals, containing accounts of the gradual decline of the prince's
health, so as to prepare her for the inevitable stroke. Isabella, however,
who through aU her long career of prosperous fortune may be said to
have kept her heart in constant training for the dark hour of adversity,
received the fatal tidings in a spirit of meek and humble acquiescence,
testifying her resignation in the beautiful language of Scripture, " The
I/ord hath given, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be his name ! "
" Thus," says Martyr, who had the melancholy satisfaction of rendering
the last sad offices to his royal pupil, " was laid low the hope of all
Spain." " Never was there a death," says another chronicler, "which
occasioned such deep and general lamentation throughout the land."
All the unavailing honours which affection could devise were paid to his
memory. His funeral obsequies were celebrated with melancholy
splendour, and his lemains deposited in the noble Dominican monastery
of St. Thomas at Avila, which had been erected by his parents. The
court put on a new and deeper mourning than that hitherto used, as if
to testify their unwonted grief.* All offices, public and private, were
closed for forty days ; and sable-coloured banners were suspended from
the walls and portals of the cities. Such extraordinary tokens of public
sorrow bear strong testimony to the interest felt in the young prince,
Sackcloth was substituted for the white serge, which till this time had been used ta
iLe mourning dicaa.
ALLIANCES AND DEATHS. 343
Independently of his exalted station : similar, and perhaps mote unequi-
vocal evidence of his worth, is afforded by abundance of contemporary
notices, not merely in works designed for the public, but in private
correspondence. The learned Martyr, in particular, whose situation, as
Prince John's preceptor, afforded him the best opportunities of observa-
tion, is unbounded in commendations of his royal pupil, whose extraordi-
nary promise of intellectual and moral excellence had furnished him
with the happiest, alas! delusive auguries, for the future destiny of his
country.*
By the death of John without heirs, the succession devolved on his
eldest sister, the queen of Portugal, f Intelligence, however, was
received soon after that event, that the archduke Philip, with the
restless ambition which distinguished him in later life, had assumed for
himself and his wife Joanna the title of " princes of Castile." Ferdinand
and Isabella, disgusted with this proceeding, sent to request the
attendance of the king and queen of Portugal in Castile, in order to
secure a recognition of their rights by the national legislature. The
royal pair, accordingly, in obedience to the summons, quitted their
capital of Lisbon early in the spring of 1498. In their progress through
the country thev were magnificently entertained at the castles of the
great Castilian lords, and towards the close of April reached the ancient
city of Toledo, where the cortes had been convened to receive them.
After the usual oaths of recognition had been tendered , without opposi-
tion, by the different branches to the Portuguese princes, the court
adjourned to Saragossa, where the legislature of Aragon was assembled
for a similar purpose.
Some apprehensions were entertained, however, of the unfavourable
disposition of that body, since the succession of females was not
countenanced by the ancient usage of the country ; and the Aragonese,
as Martyr remarks in one of his Epistles, " were well known to be a
pertinacious race, who would leave no stone unturned in the maintenance
of their constitutional rights."
These apprehensions were fully realised ; for, no sooner was the object
of the present meeting laid before cortes in a speech from the throne,
with which parliamentary business in Aragou was always opened, than
decided opposition was manifested to a proceeding which it was declared
had no precedent in their history. The succession of the crown, it was
contended, had been limited by repeated testaments of their princes to
male heirs : and practice and public sentiment had so far coincided with
this, that the attempted violation of the rule by Peter the Fourth, in .
* It must be allowed to furnish no mean proof of the excellence of Prince John's heart,
that it was not corrupted by the liberal doses of flattery with which his worthy tutor
was in the habit of regaling him from time to time.
1 Hopes were entertained of a male heir at the time of John's death, as his widow was
left pregnant ; but these were frustrated by her being delivered of a still-born infant at
the end of a few months. Margaret did not continue long in Spain. She experienced the
most affectionate treatment from the king and queen, who made her an extremely liberal
provision. But her Flemish followers could not reconcile themselves to the reserve and
burdensome ceremonial of the Castilian court, so different from the free and jocund life
to which they had been accustomed at home ; and they prevailed on their mistress to
return to her native land in the course of the year 1499. She was subsequently married
f x> the Duke of Savoy, who died without issue in less than three years ; and Margaret
passed the remainder of her life in widov.ho.fi, being appointed by her father, the
emperor, to the government of the Xuthurkiuds, which she administered with ability.
She died in 1530.
'644 THE ROYAL FAMILT.
favour of his own daughters, had plunged the nation in a civil war. It
was further urged that by the will of the very last monarch, John the
Second, it was provided that the crown should descend to the male issue
of his son Ferdinand, and in default of such, to the male issue of
Ferdinand's daughters, to the entire exclusion of the females. At all
events, it was better to postpone the consideration of this matter until
the result of the queen of Portugal's pregnancy, then far advanced,
should he ascertained ; since, should it prove to be a son, all doubts of
constitutional validity would be removed.
In answer to these objections, it was stated, that no express law
existed in Aragon, excluding females from the succession ; that an
example had already occurred, as far back indeed as the twelfth century,
of a queen who held, the crown in her own right ; that the acknowL
power of females to transmit the right of succession necessarily inferred
that right existing in themselves ; that the present monarch had doubtless
as competent authority as his predecessors to regulate the law of
inheritance, and that his act, supported by the supreme authority of
cortes, might set aside any former disposition of the crown ; that this
interference was called for by the present opportunity of maintaining the
permanent union of Castile and Aragon, without which they must
otherwise return to their ancient divided state, and comparative
insignificance.*
These arguments, however cogent, were far from being conclusive
with the opposite party ; and the debate was protracted to such length,
that Isabella, impatient of an opposition to what the practice in her own
dominions had taught her to regard as the inalienable right of her
daughter, inconsiderately exclaimed, " It would be better to reduce the
country by arms at once, than endure this insolence of the cortes." To
which Antonio de Fonseca, the same cavalier who spoke his mind so
fearlesslv to king Charles the Eighth on his march to Naples, had the
independence to reply, ' ' That the Aragonese had only acted as good and
loyal subjects, who, as they were accustomed to mind their oaths,
considered well before they took them ; and that they must certainly
stand excused if they moved with caution in an affair which they found
so difficult to justify by precedent in their history." f This blunt
expostulation of the honest courtier, equally creditable to the sovereign
who could endure, and the subject who could make it, was received in
the frank spirit in which it was given, and probably opened Isabella's
eyes to her own precipitancy, as we find no further allusion to coercive
measures.
Before anything was determined, the discussion was suddenly brought
to a close by an unforeseen and most melancholy event, the death of
the queen of Portugal, the unfortunate subject of it, That princess had
* It is remarkable that the Aragone.se should so readily have acquiesced in the right of
females to convey a title to the crown which they could not enjoy themselves. This wa
precisely the principle on which Edward III. set up his claim to the throne of France, a
principle too repugnant to the commonest rules of inheritance to obtain any countenance.
The exclusion of females in Aragon could not pretend to be founded on any express law,
as in France ; but the practice, with the exception of a single example three centuries
old, was quite as uniform.
t It is a proof of the high esteem in which Isaballa held this independent statesman,
that we find his name mentioned in her testament among half a dozen others,
whom she particularly recommended to her successors for their meritorious and loyal
ALLIAXCES AND DEATHS. 345
possessed a feeble constitution from her birth, with a strong tendency to
pulmonary complaints. She had early felt a presentiment that she
should not survive the birth of her child ; this feeling strengthened as
she approached the period of her delivery ; and in less than one hour
after that event, which took place on the 23rd of August, 1498, she
expired in the arms of her afflicted parents.
This blow was almost too much for the unhappy mother, whose spirits
had not yet had time to rally since the death of her only son. She,
indeed, exhibited the outward marks of composure, testifying the entire
resignation of one who had learned to rest her hopes of happiness on a
better world. She schooled herself so far as to continue to take an
interest in all her public duties, and to watch over the common weal
with the same maternal solicitude as before ; but her health gradually
sunk under this accumulated load of sorrow, which, threw a deep shade
of melancholy over the evening of her life.
The infant, whose birth had cost so dear, proved a male, and received
the name of Miguel, in honour of the saint on whose day he first saw
the light. In order to dissipate, in some degree, the general gloom
occasioned by the late catastrophe, it was thought best to exhibit th&
young prince before the eyes of his future subjects ; and he was
accordingly borne in the arms of his nurse, in a magnificent litter,
through the streets of the city, escorted by the principal nobility.
Measures were then taken for obtaining the sanction of his legitimate
claims to the crown. Whatever doubts had been entertained of the
validity of the mother's title, there could be none whatever of tiie child's ;
since those who denied the right of females to inherit for themselves,
admitted their power of conveying such a right to male issue. As a
preliminary step to the public recognition of the prince, it was necessary
to name a guardian, who should be empowered to make the requisite
engagements, and to act in his behalf. The Justice of Aiagon, in his
official capacity, after due examination, appointed the grand-parents,
Ferdinand ana Isabella, to the office of guardians during his minority,
which would expire by law at the age of fourteen.
On Saturday, the 22nd of September, when the queen bad sufficiently
recovered from a severe illness, brought on by her late sufferings, the
four arms of the cortcs of Aragon assembled in the house of deputation
at ^unmuN-a; and Ferdinand and Isabella made oath as guardians of
the heir apparent before the Justice, not to exercise any jurisdiction
whatever in the name of the young prince during his minority; engaging,
moreover, as far as in their power, that, on his coming of age, he should
>\veur to ropvvt the laws and liberties of the realm, before entering on
any of the rights of sovereignty himself. The four estates then took the
oath of fealty to Prince Miguel, as lawful heir and successor to the crown
of Aragon : with the protestation that it should not be construed into a
precedent for exacting such an oath hereafter during the minority of the
heir apparent. With such watchful attention to constitutional i'orms of
procedure did the people of Aragon endeavour to secure their liberties ;
forms which continued to be observed in later times, long after those
liberties had been swept away.*
* The reverence of the Aragonese for their institutions is shown in their observance of
the most insignificant ceremonies. A remarkable instance of this occurred in the year
1481, at Saragossa, when the queen having been constituted lieutenant-genei-al of the
346 DEATH OP CARDINAL MEXDOZA.
In the month of January of the ensuing year, the young prince's
succession was duly conrirmed by the cortes of Castile, and, in the
following March, by that of Portugal. Thus, for once, the crowns of
the three monarchies of Castile, Aragon, and Portugal, were suspended
over one head. The Portuguese, retaining the bitterness of ancient
rivalry, looked with distrust at the prospect of a union ; fearing, with
some reason, that the importance of the lesser state would be wholly
merged in that of the greater. But the untimely death of the destined
heir of these honours, which took place before he had completed his
second year, removed the causes of jealousy, and defeated the only chance,
which had ever occurred, of bringing under the same rule three inde-
pendent nations, which, from their common origin, their geographical
position, and, above all, their resemblance in manners, sentiments,
and language, would seem to have originally been intended to form
but one.
CHAPTEE V.
DEATH OF CARDINAL MEXDOZA RISE OF XIMENES ECCLESIASTICAL REFORM.
IN the beginning of 1495, the sovereigns lost their old and faithful
minister, the grand cardinal of Spain, Don Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza.
He was the fourth son of the celebrated marquis of Santillana, and was
placed by his talents at the head of a family, every member of which
must be allowed to have exhibited a rare union of public and private
virtue. The cardinal reached the age of sixty-six, when his days were
terminated, after a long and painful illness, on the llth of January, at
his palace of Guadalaxara.
In the unhappy feuds between Henry the Fourth and his younger
brother Alfonso, the cardinal had remained faithful to the former ; but,
on the death of that monarch, he threw his whole weight, with that of
his powerful family, into the scale of Isabella, whether influenced by a
conviction of her superior claims, or her capacity for government. This
was a most important acquisition to the royal cause ; and Mendoza's
consummate talents for business, recommended by the most agreeable
address, secured him the confidence of both Ferdinand and Isabella,
who had long been disgusted with the rash and arrogant bearing of their
old minister, Carillo.
On the death of that turbulent prelate, Mendoza eucceeded to the
archiepiscopal see of Toledo. His new situation naturally led to still
more intimate relations with the sovereigns, who uniformly deferred to
his experience, consulting him on all important matters, not merely of a
public, but of a private nature. In short, he gained such ascendancy in
kingdom, and duly qualified to hold a cortes in the absence of the king her husband,
who, br the ancient laws of the land, was required to preside over it in person, it wa*
deetneH necessary to obtain a formal act of the legislature, for opening the door for her
HIS CDTABA.CTEB. 347
the cabinet, during a long ministry of more than twenty years, that he
was pleasantly called by the courtiers the "third king of Spain."
The minister did not abuse the confidence so generously reposed in
him. He called the attention of his royal mistress to objects most
deserving it. His views were naturally grand and lofty; and, if he
sometimes yielded to the fanatical impulse of the age, he never failed to
support her heartily in every generous enterprise for the advancement
of her people. When raised to the rank of primate of Spain, he indulged
his natural inclination for pomp and magnificence. He tilled his palace
with pages, selected from the noblest families in the kingdom, whom he
carefully educated. He maintained a numerous body of armed retainers,
which, far from being a mere empty pageant, formed a most effective
corps for public service on all requisite occasions. He dispensed the
immense revenues of his bishopric with the same munificent hand which
has so frequently distinguished the Spanish prelacy, encouraging learned
men, and endowing public institutions. The most remarkable of these
were the college of Santa Cruz at Yalladolid, and the hospital of the
same name for foundlings at Toledo, the erection of which, completed at
his sole charge, consumed more than ten years each.
The cardinal, in his younger days, was occasionally seduced by those
amorous propensities in which the Spanish clergy freely indulged, con-
taminated, perhaps, by the example of their Mahometan neighbours.
lie left several children by his amours with two ladies of rank, from
whom some of the best houses in the kingdom are descended. A cha-
racteristic anecdote is recorded of him in relation to this matter. An
ecclesiastic, who one day delivered a discourse in his presence, took
occasion to advert to the laxity of the age, in general terms indeed, but
bearing too pertinent an application to the cardinal to be mistaken. The
attendants of the latter boiled with indignation at the preacher's
freedom, whom they determined to chastise for his presumption. They
prudently, however, postponed this until they should see what effect the
discourse had on their master. The cardinal, far from betraving any
resentment, took no other notice of the preacher than to send him a dish
of choice game, which had been served up at his own table, where he
was entertaining a party of friends that day, accompanying it at the
same time, by way of sauce, with a substantial donative of gold doblas ;
an act of Christian charity not at all to the taste of his own servants.
It wrought its effects on the worthy divine, who at once saw the error of
his ways, and, the next time he mounted the pulpit, took care to frame
his discourse in such a manner as to counteract the former unfavourable
impressions, to the entire satisfaction, if not edification of his audience.
" Xow-a-days," says the honest biographer who reports the incident,
himself a lineal descendant of the cardinal, "the preacher would not
have escaped so easily. And with good reason ; for the Holy Gospel
should be discreetly preached, ' cum grano salis,' that is to say, with the
decorum and deference due to majesty and men of high estate."
AVheu Cardinal Mendoza's illness assumed an alarming aspect, the
coui-t removed t.u the neighbourhood of Guadalaxara, where he was con-
fined. The king and queen, especially the latter, with the affectionate
concern which she manifested for more than one of her faithful subjects,
used to visit him in person, testifying her sympathy for his sxifferings,
and benefiting by the lights of the sagacious mind which had so long
348 DEATH OF CAEDrs-AL 1TEXDOZA.
helped to guide her. She still further showed her regard for her old
minister by condescending to accept the office of his executor, which she
punctually discharged, superintending the disposition of his etiVets
according to his testament, and particularly the erection of the stately
hospital of Santa Cruz, before mentioned, not a stone of which was laid
before his death.*
In one of her interviews with the dying minister, the queen requested
his advice respecting the nomination of his slices. >r. 1 he cardinal, in
reply, earnestly cautioned her against raising any one of the principal
nobility to this dignity, almost too exalted for any subject, and which,
when combined with powerful family connexions, would enable u man
of factious disposition to defy the royal authority itself, as they had once
bitter experience in the case of Archbishop Carillo. On being pi
to name the individual whom he thought best qualified in every point ok
view for the office, he is said to have recommended Fray Fra
Xiincnez de Cisneros, a friar of the Franciscan order, and coulV-
the queen. As this extraordinary personage exercised a more important
control over the destinies of his country than any other subject during
the remainder of the present reign, it will be necessary to put the reader
in possession of his history, t
Xiiuenez de Cisneros, or Ximenes, as he is usually called, was born at
the little town of Tordelaguna, in the year 1436, of an ancient but
decayed family. He was early destined by his parents lor ti.e church,
and, after studying grammar at Alcala, was removed at fourteen to the
university of Salamanca. Here he went through the regular course of
instruction then pursued, devoting himself assiduously to the civil and
canon law, and at the end of six rears received the degree of bachelor in
each of them, a circumstance at tnat time of rare occurrence.
Three years after quitting the university, the young bachelor removed
by the advice of his parents to Rome, as affording a better field for
ecclesiastical preferment than he could lind at home. Here he seems
to have attracted some notice by the diligence with which he devoted
himself to his professional studies and employments. But still he was
far from reaping the golden fruits presaged by his kindred ; and at the
expiration of six years he was suddenly called to his native country by
the death of his father, who left his affairs in so embarrassed a condition
as to require his immediate presence.
Before his return, Ximenes obtained a papal bull, or expectatire, pre-
ferring him to the first benefice of a specified value which should
become vacant in the see of Toledo. Several years elapsed before such
a vacancy offered itself by the death of the archpriest of Uzeda (1473) ;
and Ximenes took possession of that living by virtue of the apostolic
grant.
* A foundling hospital does not seem to have come amiss iu Spiin. where, according to
Balatar, the wretched parents frequently destroyed their offspring by casting them into
wells and pits, or exposing them in desert places to die of famine. " The more compa*-
tiimaU," he observes. " laid them at the doors of churches, were they were too oilea
worried to death by dogs and other animals." The grand cardinal's nephew, who founded
a similar institution, is said to have furnished an asylum in the coarse of his life to no
leas than 13,000 of these littl* nenmi I
t The dying cardinal is said to nave recommended, among other things, that the queen
should repair any wrong done to Joanna Beltraneja, hy marrying her with the young
Prince of the Asturias ; whicn suggestion was so little to Isabella's taste tint she broke on
the conversation, saying, " the good man wandered and talked nonaeusc,"
MONASTIC REFORMS. 349
This assumption of the papal court to dispose of the church livings at
its own pleasure, had been long regarded by the Spaniards as a flagrant
imposition ; and Carillo, the archbishop of Toledo, in whose diocese the
vacancy occurred, was not likely tamely to submit to it. He had,
moreover, promised this very place to one of his own followers. He
determined, accordingly, to compel Ximenes to surrender his pretensions
in favour of the latter ; and, finding argument ineffectual, resorted to
force, confining him in the fortress of Uzeda, whence he was subsequently
removed to the strong tower of Santorcaz, then used as a prison for contu-
macious ecclesiastics. But Carillo understood little of the temper of
Ximenes, which was too inflexible to be broken by persecution. The
archbishop in time became convinced of this, and was persuaded to
release him, but not till after an imprisonment of more than six years.
Ximenes, thus restored to freedom, and placed in undisturbed posses-
sion of his benefice, was desirous of withdrawing from the jurisdiction
of his vindictive superior ; and not long after effected an exchange for
the chaplainship of Siguenza, 1480. In this new situation he devoted
himself with renewed ardour to his theological studies, occupying
himself diligently, moreover, with Hebrew and Chaldee, his know-
ledge of which proved of no little use in the concoction of his famous
Polyglot.
Mendoza was at that time bishop of Siguenza. It was impossible that
a man of his pi net ration should come in contact with a character like
that of Ximenes, without discerning its extraordinary qualities. It was
not long before he appointed him his vicar, with the administration of
his diocese ; in which situation he displayed such capacity for business,
that the count of Cifuentes, on falling into the hands of the Moors, after
the unfortunate afi'air of the Axarquia, confided to him the sole manage-
ment of his vast estates during his captivity.
But these secular concerns grew more and more distasteful to Ximenes,
whose naturally austere and contemplative disposition had been deepened,
probably, by the melancholy incidents of his life, into stern religious
enthusiasm. He determined, therefore, to break at once from the
shackles which bound him to the world, and seek an asylum in some
religious establishment, where he might devote himself unreservedly to
the sen-ice of Heaven. He selected for this purpose the Observantines
of tli e Franciscan order, the most rigid of the monastic societies. He
:ied his various employments and benefices, with annual rents to
the amount of two thousand ducats, and, in defiance of the arguments
and entreaties of his friends, entered on his noviciate in the convent of
I uan de los lieyes, at Toledo ; a superb pile then erecting by
the Spanish sovereigns, in pursuance of a vow made during the war of
Granada.*
He distinguished his noviciate by practising every ingenious variety
of mortification with which superstition has contrived to swell the
inevitable catalogue of human sullerings. He slept on the ground, or on
tin hard floor, with a billet of wood for his pillow. He wore haircloth
* This edifice, says Salazar de Mendoza, in rsspect to its sacristy, choir, cloisters, library,
Ac., was the most sumptuous and noted of its time. It was originally destined by th
Catholic sovereigns for the place of sepulture ; an honour afterwards reserved for Granada,
on ite recovery from r.he infidels. The great chapel was garnished with the fetters taken
from the dungeons of Malaga, in which the Moors confined their Christian captives.
850 RISE OF XIMEXE3.
next his skin ; and exercised himself with fasts, vigils, and stripes,
to a degree scarcely surpassed by the fanatical founder of his order.
At the end of the year he regularly professed, adopting then for the
first time the name of Francisco, in compliment to his patron saint,
instead of that of Gonzalo, by which he had been baptised.
No sooner had this taken place, than his reputation for sanctity,
which his late course of life had diffused far and wide, attracted
multitudes of all ages and conditions to his confessional ; and lie soon
found himself absorbed in the same vortex of worldly passions and
interests from which he had been so anxious to escape. At his solicita-
tion, therefore, he was permitted to transfer his abode to the convent of
Our Lady of CastaSar, so called from a deep forest of chestnuts in which
it was embosomed. In the midst of these dark mountain solitudes he
built with his own hands a little hermitage or cabin, of dimensions
barely sufficient to admit his entrance. Here he passed his days and
nights in prayer, and in meditations on the sacred volume ; sustaining
life, like the ancient anchorites, on the green herbs and running waters.
In this state of self-mortification, with a frame wasted by abstinence,
and a mind exalted by spiritual comtemplation, it is no wonder that he
should have indulged in ecstacies and visions, until he fancied himself
raised into communication with celestial intelligences. It is more
wonderful that his understanding was not permanently impaired by
these distempered fancies. This period of his life, however, seems to
have been always regarded by him with peculiar satisfaction ; for long
after, as his biographer assures us, when reposing in lordly palaces, and
surrounded by all the appliances of luxury, he looked back with fond
regret on the hours which glided so peacefully in the hermitage of
Castaiiar.
Fortunately, his superiors choosing to change his place of residence
according to custom, transferred him at the end of three years to the
convent of Salzeda. Here he practised, indeed, similar axisterities, but
it was not long before his high reputation raised him to the post of
guardian of the convent. This situation necessarily imposed on him the
management of the institution ; and thus the powers of his mind, so
long wasted in unprofitable reverie, were again called into exercise fur
the benefit of others. An event which occurred some years later, in
1492, opened to him a still wider sphere of action.
By the elevation of Talavera to the metropolitan see of Granada, the
office of queen's confessor became vacant. Cardinal Mendoza, who was
consulted on the choice of a successor, well knew the importance of
selecting a man of the highest integrity and talent ; since the queen's
tenderness of conscience led her to take counsel of her confessor, not
merely in regard to her own spiritual concerns, but all the great measures
of her administration, He at once fixed his eye on Ximenes, of whom
he had never lost sight, indeed, since his first acquaintance with him at
Siguenza. He was far from approving his adoption of the monastic life,
and had been heard to say that "parts so extraordinary would not long
be buried in the shades of a convent." He is said, also, to have predicted
that Ximenes would one day succeed him in the chair of Toledo ; a pre-
diction which its author contributed more than any other to verify.
He recommended Ximenes in such emphatic terms to the queen, as
raised a stronjj desire in her to see and converse with him herself. An
MONASTIC 11EFORMS. .'5.51
invitation was accordingly scut him from the cardinal to repair to the
court at Valladolid, without intimating the real purpose of it. Ximenes
obeyed the summons, and, after a short interview with his early patron,
was conducted, as if without any previous arrangement, to the queen's
apartment. On finding himself so unexpectedly in the royal presence,
he betrayed none of the agitation or embarrassment to have been
expected from the secluded inmate of a cloister ; but exhibited a natural
dignity of manners, with such discretion and fervent piety in his replies
to Isabella's various interrogatories, as confirmed the favourable pre-
possessions she had derived from the cardinal.
Not many days after, Ximenes was invited to take charge of the
queen's conscience (1492). Far from appearing elated by this mark of
royal favour, and the prospects of advancement which it opened, he
seemed to view it with disquietude, as likely to interrupt the peaceful
tenor of his religious duties ; and he accepted it only with the under-
standing that he should be allowed to conform in every respect to the
obligations of his order, and to remain in his own monastery when his
official functions did not require attendance at court.
Martyr, in more than one of his letters dated at this time, notices the
impression made on the courtiers by the remarkable appearance of the
new confessor, in whose wasted frame, and pallid care-worn countenance,
they seemed to behold one of the primitive anchorites from the deserts of
Syria or Egypt. The austerities and the blameless purity of Ximenes'
life had given him a reputation for sanctity throughout Spain ; and
Martyr indulges the regret, that a virtue, which had stood so many
trials, should be exposed to the worst of all, in the seductive blandish-
ments of a court. But Ximenes' heart had been steeled by too stern a
discipline to be moved by the fascinations of pleasure, however it might
be by those of ambition.
Two years after this event he was elected provincial of his order in
Castile, which placed him at the head of its numerous religious establish-
ments. In his frequent journeys for their inspection he travelled on
foot, supporting himself by begging alms, conformably to the rules of
his order. On his return he made a very unfavourable report to the
queen of the condition of the various institutions, most of which he
represented to have grievously relaxed in discipline and virtue. Con-
temporary accounts corroborate this unfavourable picture, and accuse
the religious communities of both sexes throughout Spain, at this period,
of wasting their hours, not merely in unprofitable sloth, but in luxury
and licentiousness. The Franciscans, in particular, had so far swerved
from the obligations of their institute, which interdicted the possession
of property of any description, that they owned large estates in town
and country, living in stately edifices, and in a style of prodigal expense-
not surpassed by any of the monastic orders. Those who indulged in
this latitude were called Conventuals, while the comparatively small
number who put the strictest construction on the rule of their founder
were denominated Obscrrantines, or Brethren of the Observance.
Ximenes, it will be remembered, was one of the latter.
The Spanish sovereigns had long witnessed with deep regret the
scandalous abuses which had crept into these ancient institutions, and
had employed commissioners for investigating and reforming them, but
UietfectuaJlj. Isabella now gladly availed herself of the assistance of
3^2 RISE OF XIMENE9.
her confessor in bringing them into a tetter state of discipline. In thft
course of the same year, 1494, she obtained a bull with full authority
for this purpose from Alexander the Sixth, the execution of which she
intrusted to Xinienes. The work of reform required all the energies of
his powerful mind, backed by the royal authority ; for, in addition to
the obvious difficulty of persuading men to resign the good things of this
world for a life of penance and mortification, there were other impedi-
ments, arising from the circumstance that the Conventuals had been
countenanced in their lax interpretation of the rules of their order by
many of their own superiors, and even the popes themselves. They
were besides sustained in their opposition by many of the great lords,
who were apprehensive that the rich chapels and masses, which they or
their ancestors had founded in the various monasteries, would be neglected
by the Observantines, whose scrupulous adherence to the vow of poverty
excluded them from what, in church as well as state, is too often found
the most cogent incentive to the performance of duty.
From these various causes, the work of reform went on slowly ; but
the untiring exertions of Ximenes gradually effected its adoption in many
establishments; and, where fair means could not prevail, he sometimes
resorted to force. The monks of one of the convents in Toledo, being
ejected from their dwelling, in consequence of their pertinacious resist-
ance, marched out in solemn procession, with the crucifix before them,
chaunting, at the same time, the psalm In exitu Israel in token of their
persecution. Isabella resorted to milder methods. She visited many of
the nunneries in person, taking her needle or distaff with her, and
endeavouring by her conversation and example to withdraw their inmates
from the low and frivolous pleasures to which they were addicted.
While the reformation was thus silently going forward, the vacancy in
the archbishopric of Toledo, already noticed, occurred by the death of
the grand cardinal (1495). Isabella deeply felt the responsibility of
providing a suitable person to this dignity, the most considerable not
merely in Spain, but probably in Christendom, after the papacy ; and
which, moreover, raised its possessor to eminent political rank, as high
chancellor of Castile.* The right of nomination to benefices was vested
in the queen by the original settlement of the crown. She had uniformly
discharged this trust with the most conscientious impartiality, conferring
the honours of the church on none but persons of approved piety and
learning. In the present instance, she was strongly solicited by Ferdi-
nand in favour of his natural son Alfonso, archbishop of Saragossa.
But this prelate, although not devoid of talent, had neither the age nor
experience, and still less the exemplary morals, demanded for this
important station ; and the queen mildly, but unhesitatingly, resisted
all entreaty and expostulation of her husband on his behalf, f
The post had always been filled by men of high family. The queen,
* Ferdinand and Isabella annexed the dignity of high chancellor in perpetuity to that
of archbishop of Toledo. It seems, however, at least in later times, to have been a mere
honorary title. The revenues of the archbishopric at the beginning of the sixteenth
century amounted to SO.OOii ducats.
t This prelate was at this time only twenty-four years of age. He had been raised to
the see of Saragossa when only six. This strange abuse of preferring infanta to the
highest dignities of the church seems to have prevailed in Castile as well as Arapon ; for
tin: tombs of live archdeacons might be seen in the church of Madre de Dios at Toledc,
in Salazar's time, whose united ages amounted only to thirty years.
MONASTIC KEFOKHS. 353
loth to depart from this usage, notwithstanding the dying admonition of
Mendoza, turned her eyes on various candidates before she determined in
favour of her own confessor, whose character presented so rare a com-
bination of talent and virtue as amply compensated any deiiciency of
birth.
As soon as the papal bull reached Castile, confirming the royal
nomination, Isabella summoned Ximenes to her presence, and delivering
to him the parcel, requested him to open it before her. The confessor,
who had no suspicion of their real purport, took the letters and devoutly
pressed them to his lips ; when his eye tailing on the superscription,
" To our venerable brother Francisco Ximenez de Cisneros, archbishop
elect of Toledo," he changed colour, and involuntarily dropped the packet
from his hands, exclaiming, " There is some mistake in this, it cannot be
intended for me ; " and abruptly quitted the apartment.
The queen, far from taking umbrage at this unceremonious proceeding,
waited awhile, until the lirst emotions of surprise should have subsided.
Finding that he did not return, however, she despatched two of the
grandees, who she thought would have the most influence with him, to
seek him out and persuade him to accept the office. The nobles instantly
repaired to his convent in Madrid, in which city the queen then kept her
court. They found, however, that he had already left the place. Having
ascertained his route, they mounted their horses, and following as fast
as possible, succeeded in overtaking him at three leagues' distance from
the city, as he was travelling on foot at a rapid rate, though in the noon-
tide heat, on his way to the Franciscan monastery at Ocana.
After a brief expostulation with Ximenes on his abrupt departure,
they prevailed on him to retrace his steps to Madrid ; but, upon his
arrival there, neither the arguments nor entreaties of his friends, backed
as they were by the avowed wishes of his sovereign, could overcome bis
scruples, or induce him to accept an office of which he professed himself
unworthy. "He had hoped," he said, "to pass the remainder of his
days in the quiet practice of his monastic duties ; and it was too late
now to call him into public life, and impose a charge of such heavy
responsibility on him, for which he had neither capacity nor inclination. '
In this resolution he pertinaciously persisted for more than six months,
until a second bull was obtained from the pope, commanding him no
longer to decline an appointment which the church had seen lit to
sanction. This left no further room for opposition; and Ximenea
acquiesced, though with evident reluctance, in his advancement to the
lirst dignity in the kingdom.
There seems to be no good ground for charging Ximenes with hypocrisy
in this singular display of humility. The tiolo episcopari, indeed, has
passed into a proverb ; but his refusal was too long and sturdily main-
tained to be reconciled with affectation or insincerity. He was, more-
over, at this time, in the sixtieth year of his age, when ambition, though
not extinguished, is usually chilled in the human heart. His habits had
been long accommodated to the ascetic duties of the cloister, and his
thoughts turned from the business of this world to that beyond the grave.
However gratifying the distinguished honour conferred on him might be
to his persons.1 feelings, he might naturally hesitate to exchange the
calm, sequestered way of life, to which he had voluntarily devoted hini-
elf, for the turmoil and vexations of the world.
A A.
354 K1SE OF XIMEXES.
But, although Ximenes showed no craving for power, it must be con-
fessed he was by no means diftident in the use of it. One of the very
first acts of his administration is too characteristic to be omitted. Th
government of Cazorla, the most considerable place in the gift of the
archbishop of Toledo, had been intrusted by the grand cardinal to his
younger brother, Don Pedro Hurtado de Mendoza. The friends of this
nobleman applied to Ximenes to confirm the appointment, reminding him
at the same time of his own obligations to the cardinal, and enforcing
their petition by the recommendation which they had obtained from the
queen. This was not the way to approach Ximenes, who was jealous of
any improper influence over his own judgment, and, above all, of the
too easy abuse of the royal favour. He was determined, in the outset,
effectually to discourage all such applications ; . and he declared that
" the sovereigns might send him back to the cloister again, but that no
personal considerations should ever operate with him in distributing the
honours of the church." The applicants, nettled at this response,
returned to the queen, complaining in the bitterest terms of the arrogance
and ingratitude of the new primate. Isabella, however, evinced no
symptoms of disapprobation, not altogether displeased, perhaps, with
the honest independence of her minister ; at any rate, she took no further
notice of the affair.
Some time after, the archbishop encountered Mendoza in one of the
avenues of the palace, and, as the latter was turning off to avoid the
meeting, he saluted him with the title of adelantado of Cazorla.
Mendoza stared with astonishment at the prelate, who repeated the
salutation, assuring him, " that, now he was at full liberty to consult
his own judgment, without the suspicion of any sinister influence, he
was happy to restore him to a station for which he had shown himself
well qualified." It is scarcely necessary to say, that Ximenes was not
importuned after this with solicitations for office. Indeed all personal
application he affected to regard as of itself sufficient ground for a
denial, since it indicated " the want either of merit or of humility in the
applicant."
After his elevation to the primacy, he retained the same simple and
austere manners as before, dispensing his large revenues in public and
private charities, but regulating his domestic expenditure witli the
severest economy, until he was admonished by the Holy See to adopt
a state more consonant with the dignity of his office, if he would not
disparage it in popular estimation. In obedience to this, he so far
changed his habits as to display the usual magnificence of his predecessors
in all that met the public eye, his general style of living, equipage,
and the number and pomp of his retainers ; but he relaxed nothing of
his own personal mortifications. He maintained the same abstemious
diet amidst all the luxuries of his table. Under his robes of silk or
costly furs he wore the coarse frock of St. Francis, which he used to
mend with his own hands. He used no linen about his person or bed ;
and he slept on a miserable pallet like that used by the monks of his
fraternity, and so contrived as to be concealed from observation under
the luxurious couch in which he affected to repose.*
* He commonly slept in his Franciscan habit. Of course, his toilet took no long time.
On one occasion, as he was travelling, and up as usual Ions before dawn, lie urged hia
muleteer to dress himself quickly, at which the latter irrevereutly exclaimed, "Cuorpo
MONASTIC REFORMS. 3dJ
As soon as Ximenes entered on the duties of his office, he bent all the
energies of his mind to the consummation of the schemes of reform which
his royal mi<tre-s, as well as himself, had so much at heart. His
attention was particularly directed to the clergy of his diocese, who had
widely departed from the rule of St. Augustine, by which they were
bound. His attempts at reform, however, excited such a lively dissatis-
faction in this reverend body, that they determined to send one of their
own number to Rome, to prefer their complaints against the archbishop at
the papal court.
The person selected for this delicate mission was a shrewd and
intelligent canon by the name of Albornoz. It <x>uld not be conducted
so privately as to escape the knowledge of Ximenes. He was no soon-.-r
acquainted with it, than he dispatched an officer to the coast, with orders
t i arrest the emissary. In case he had already embarked, the officer was
authorised to lit out a fast-sailing vessel, so as to reach Italy, if possible
before him. He was at the same time fortified with despatches from the
sovereigns to the Spanish minister, Garcilasso de la Vega, to be delivered
immediately on his arrival.
The affair turned out as had been foreseen. On arriving at the port,
the officer found the bird had flown. He followed, however, without
delay, and had the good fortune to reach Ostia several days before him.
He forwarded his instructions at once to the Spanish iniiiist r, who, in
pursuance of them, caused Albornoz to be arrested the moment he set
toot on shore, and sent him back as a prisoner of state to Spain ; where
a close confinement for two and twenty months admonished the worthy
canon of the inexpediency of thwarting the plans of Ximenes.
His attempts at innovation among the regular clergy of his own order,
were encountered with more serious opposition. The reform fell most
heavily on the Franciscans, who were interdicted by their rules from
holding property, whether as a community, or as individuals ; while the
members of other fraternities found some compensation for the surrender
of their private fortunes, in the consequent augmentation of those of their 1
fraternity. There was no one of the religious orders, therefore, in which
the archbishop experienced such a dogged resistance to his plans, as in
his own. More than a thousand friars, according to some accounts,
quitted the country, and passed over to Barbary, preferring rather to
live with the infidel than, conform, to the strict letter of the founder's
rules.
The difficulties of the reform were perhaps augmented by the mode i:i
which it was conducted. Isabella, indeed, used all gentleness au-l p -r-
Buasiou ; but Ximenes carried measures with a high and iuexorabl
hand. He was naturally of an austere and arbitrary temper ; and the
severe training which he had undergone made him less charitable for tliv
lapses of others, especially of those who, Like himself, had voluntarily
incurred the obligations of monastic rule. He was conscious of tho
rectitude of his intentions ; and, as he identified his own interests with
those of the church, he regarded all opposition to himself as an offence
against religion, warranting the most peremptory exertion of power.
The clamour raised against his proceedings became at length o
d* Dioe ! does your holiness think T have nothing more t: do, thnn to shake myself like
wet spaniel, aud tighten my cord a little?" Quintanilla, Archetype, ubi supra.
A A 2
556 EISE OF
alarming, that the general of the Franciscans, who resided at Rome,
determined to anticipate the regular period of his visit to Castile for
inspecting the'afl'airs of the order (1496). As he wa< himself a Conventual
his prejudices were, of course, all enlisted against the measures of relorm ;
and he came over fully resolved to compel Ximenes to abandon it alto-
gether, or to undermine, if possible, his credit and influence at court.
But this functionary had neither the talent nor temper requisite for BO
arduous an undertaking.
He had not been long in Castile before he was convinced that all his
own power, as head of the order, would be incompetent to protect it
against the bold innovations of his provincial, while supported by royal
authority. He demanded, therefore, an audience of the queen in which
he declared his sentiments with verv little reserve. He expressed his
astonishment that she should have selected an individual for the highest
dignity in the church, who was destitute of nearly every qualification,
even that of birth ; whose sanctity was a mere cloak to cover his
ambition ; whose morose and melancholy temper made him an enemy
not only of the elegancies, but the common courtesies of life ; and whose
rude manners were not compensated by any tincture of liberal learning.
He deplored the magnitude of the evil which his intemperate meu
had brought on the church, but which it was, perhaps, not yet too late
to rectify ; and he concluded by admonishing her, that if she valued her
own fame, or the interests of her soul, she would compel this man of
yesterday to abdicate the office for which he had proved himself so
incompetent, and return to his original obscurity !
The queen, who listened to this violent harangue with an indigna-
tion that prompted her more than 'once to order the speaker from her
presence, put a restraint on her feelings, and patiently waited to the end.
When he had finished, she calmly asked him, "If h"e was in his senses,
and knew whom he was thus addressing?" "Yes," replied the
enraged friar, " I am in my senses, and know very well whom I am
speaking to ; the Queen of Castile, a mere handful of dust like myself ! ; '
With these words he rushed out of the apartment, shutting the door
after him with furious violence.
Such impotent bursts of passion could, of course, have no power to
turn the queen from her purpose. The general, however, on his return to
Italy, had sufficient address to obtain authority from his Holiness to send
a commission of Conventuals to Castile, who should be associated with
Ximenes in the management of the reform. These individuals soon
found themselves mere ciphers ; and, highly offended at the little account
which the archbishop made of their authority, they preferred such com-
plaints of his proceedings to the pontifical court, that Alexander the
Sixth was induced, with the advice of the college of cardinals, to issue a
brief, November 9th, 1496, peremptorily inhibiting the sovereigns from
proceeding further in the affair until it had been regularly submitted for
examination to the head of the church.
Isabella, on receiving this unwelcome mandate, instantly sent it to
Ximenes. The spirit of the latter, however, rose in proportion to the
obstacles it had to encounter. He sought only to rally the queen's
courage, beseeching her not to faint in the good work now that it was so
far advanced, and assuring her that it was already attended with such
beneficent fruits as could not fail to secure the protection of heaven.
MONASTIC KEFORMS. cO7
Isabella, every act of whose administration may bo said to have had
reference, mure or less remote, to the interests of religion, was as little
likelv as himself to falter in a mutter which proposal these interests as
its direct and only object. She assured her minister that she would
support him in all that was practicable ; and she lost no time in present-
ing the affair through her agents, iu such a light t the court of Rome,
as might work a more favourable disposition in it. In this she succeeded
though not till after multiplied delays and embarrassments; and such
ample powers were conceded to Ximenes (1497), in conjunction with the
apostolic nuncio, as enabled him to consummate his grand scheme of
reform, in defiance of all the efforts of his enemies.
The reformation thus introduced extended to the religious institutions
of every order equally with his own. It was most searching in its
operation, reaching eventually to the moral conduct of the subjects of it,
no less than the mere points of monastic discipline. As regards the
latter it may be thought of doubtful benefit to have enforced the rigid
interpretation of a rule, founded on the melancholy principle that the
amount of happiness in the next world is to be regulated by that of self-
inflicted suffering in this. But it should be remembered, that, however
objectionable sucli a rule may be in itself, yet, where it is voluntarily
assumed as an imperative moral obligation, it cannot be disregarded
without throwing down the barrier to unbounded licence ; and that the
re-assertion of it, iinder these circumstances, must be a necessary pre-
liminary to any effectual reform of morals.
The beneficial changes wrought in this latt r particular, which Isabella
had far more at heart than any exterior forms of discipline, are the
theme of unqualified panegyric with her contemporaries. The Spanish
clergy, as I have before had occasion to remark, were early noted for
their dissolute way of life, which to a certain extent, seemed to be
countenanced by the, law itself. This laxity of morals was carried to a
most lamentable extent under the last reign, when all orders of eccle-
siastics, whether regular or secular, infected probably by the corrupt
example of the court, are represented (we may hope it is an exaggeration;
as wallowing in all the excesses of sloth and sensuality. So deplorable a
]>ollution of the very sanctuaries of religion could not fail to occasion
sincere regret to a pure and virtuous mind like Isabella's. The stain
had sunk too deep, however, to be readily pursred away. Her personal
example, indeed, and the scrupulous integritv with which she reserved
all eeclesiastieal preferment for persons of unblemished piety, contributed
greatly to bring about an amelioration in the morals of the secular
eleriry. But the secluded inmates of the cloister were less open to these
influences ; and the work of reform could only be accomplished there, by
bringing them back to a reverence for their own institutions, and by the
slow operation of public opinion.
Notwithstanding the queen's most earnest wishes, it may be doubted
whether this would have ever been achieved without the co-operation of
a man like Ximenes, whose character combined in itself all the essential
elements of a reformer. Happily, Isabella was permitted to see before
her death, if not the completion, at least t!i rumniencenient, of a decided
amendment in the morals of the religious orders ; an amendment which,
so far from being transitory in its character, calls forth the most emphatic
eulogium from a Castiliau writer far in the following century ; who,
358 XlilEXES.
while he laments their ancient laxity, boldly challenges comparison for
the religions communities of his own country, with those of any other,
in temperance, chastity, and exemplary purity of life and conversation.
The authority on whom the life of Cardinal Ximenes mainly rests, is Alv&ro Gomez d
Castro.
CHAPTER VI.
XIMENBS IK GRANADA PERSECTTION, INSURRECTION, AND CONVERSION OF THE MOCKS.
14991500.
Tranquil State of Granada Mild Policy of Talavera Clerpry dissatisfied with it Violent
Measures of Ximenes His Fanaticism Its mischievous Effects Insurrection in
Granada Tranquillity restored Baptism of the Inhabitants.
MOEAL energy, or constancy of purpose, seems to be less properly an
independent power of the mind, than a mode of action by which its
various powers operate with effect. But, however this may be, it enters
more largely, perhaps, than mere talent, as commonly understood, into
the formation of what is called character, and is often confounded by the
vulgar with talent of the highest order. In the ordinary concerns of
life, indeed, it is more serviceable than brilliant parts ; while, in the
more important, these latter are of little weight without it, evaporating
only in brief and barren flashes, which may dazzle the eye by their
splendour, but pass away and are forgotten.
The importance of moral energy is felt, not only where it would be
expected, in the concerns of active life, but in those more exclusively of
an intellectual character, in deliberate assemblies, for example, where
talent, as usually understood, might be supposed to assert an absolute
supremacy, but where it is invariably made to bend to the controlling
influence of this principle. No man destitute of it can be the leader of a
party ; while there are few leaders, probably, who do not number in their
ranks minds from which they would be compelled to shrink in a contest
for purely intellectual pre-eminence.
This energy of purpose presents itself in a yet more imposing form
when stimulated by some intense passion, as ambition, or the nobler
principle of patriotism or religion ; when the soul, spurning vulgar con-
siderations of interest, is ready to do and to dare all for conscience'
sake ; when, insensible alike to all that this world can give or take
away, it loosens itself from the gross ties which bind it to earth, and,
however humble its powers in every other point of view, attains a
grandeur and elevation, which genius alone, however gifted, can never
reach.
But it is when assoeiated ^ith exalted genius, and under the action of
the potent principles above mentioned, that this moral energy convoys an
image of power which approaches nearer than anything else on earth, to
that of a divine intelligence. It is, indeed, such agents that Providence
selects for the accomplishment of those great revolutions by which the
world is shaken to its foundations, new and more beautiful systems
created, and the human mind carried forward at a single stride in the
PEBSECTTIOXS IX GRANADA. 359
career of improvement, further than it had advanced for centuries. It
must, indeed, be confessed that this powerful agency is sometimes for
evil as well as for good. It is this same impulse which spurs guilty
Ambition along his bloody track, and which arms the hand of the patriot
sternly to resist him ; which glows with holy fervour in the bosom of
the martyr, and which lights up the fires of persecution by which he is
to win his crown of glory. The direction of the impulse, differing in the
same individual under different circumstances, can alone determine
whether he shall be the scourge or the benefactor of his species.
These reflections have been suggested by the character of the extra-
ordinary person brought forward in the preceding chapter, Ximenes de
Cisneros, and the new and less advantageous aspect in which he must
now appear to the reader. Inflexible constancy of purpose formed,
perhaps, the most prominent trait of his remarkable character. What
direction it might have received under other circumstances, it is
impossible to say. It would be no great stretch of fancy to imagine that
the unyielding spirit, which in its early days could voluntarily endure
years of imprisonment, rather than submit to an act of ecclesiastical
oppression, might under similar influences have been aroused, like
Luther's, to shake down the ancient pillars of Catholicism, instead of
lending all its strength to uphold them. The latter position, however,
would seem better assimilated to the constitution of his mind, whose
sombre enthusiasm naturally prepared him for the vague and mysterious
in the Romish faith, as his inflexible temper did for its bold and arro-
gant dogmas. At any rate, it was to this cause he devoted the whole
strength of his talents and commanding energies.
We have seen, in the preceding chapter, with what promptness he
entered on the reform of religious discipline as soon as he came into
office, and with what pertinacity he pursued it, in contempt of all
personal interest and popularity. We are now to see him with similar
/ral devoting himself to the extirpation of heresy ; with contempt not
merely of personal consequences, but also of the most obvious principles
of jrood faith and national .honour.
Nearly eight years had elapsed since the conquest of Granada, and the
subjugated kingdom continued to repose in peaceful security under the
shadow of the treaty, which guaranteed the unmolested enjoyment of
its ancient laws and religion. This unbroken continuance of public
tranquillity, especially difficult to be maintained among the jarring
elements of the capital, whose motley population of Moors, renegades,
and Christians, suggested perpetual points of collision, must be chiefly
referred to the discreet and temperate conduct of the two individuals
whom Isabella had charged with the civil and ecclesiastical government.
These were Mendoza count of Tendilla, and Talavera archbishop of
Granada.
The former, the brightest ornament of his illustrious house, has been
before made known to the reader by his various important services, both
military and diplomatic. Immediately after the conquest of Granada he
was made alcayde and captain-general of the kingdom ; a post for which
he was every way qualified by his prudence, firmness, enlightened
views, and long experience.
The latter personage, of more humble extraction, was Fray Fernando
de Talavera, a Hieronymite monk, who, having been twenty years prior
SCO
of the monastery of Santa Maria del Prado, near Valladolid, was made
confessor of Queen Isabella, and afterwards of the king. This situation
necessarily gave him considerable influence in all public measures. If
the keeping of the royal conscience could be safely intrusted to any one,
it might certainly be to this estimable prelate, equally distinguished for
his learning, amiable manners, and unblemished piety ; and if his
character was somewhat tainted with bigotry, it was in so mild a form,
so far tempered by the natural benevolence of his disposition, as to make
a favoxirable contrast to the dominant spirit of the time.*
After the conquest, he exchanged the bishopric of Avila for the archi-
episcopal see of Granada. Notwithstanding the wishes of the sovereigns,
he refused to accept any increase of emolument in this new and more
exalted station. His revenues, indeed, which amounted to two millions
of maravedis annually, were somewhat less than he before enjoyed. The
greater part of this sum he liberally expended on public improvements
and works of charity ; objects which, to their credit be it spoken, have
rarely failed to engage a large share of the attention and resources of
the higher Spanish clergy.
The subject which pressed most seriously on the mind of the good
archbishop was the conversion of the Moors, whose spiritual blindness he
regarded with feelings of tenderness and charity, very different from
those entertained by most of his reverend brethren. He proposed to
accomplish this by the most rational method possible. Though late in
life, he set about learning Arabic, that he might communicate with the
Moors in their own language, and commanded his clergy to do the same.
He caused an Arabic vocabulary, grammar, and catechism, to be com-
piled ; and a version, in the same tongue, to be made of the liturgy,
comprehending the selections from the Gospels ; and proposed to extend
this at some future time to the whole body of the Scriptures. Thus
unsealing the sacred oracles, which had been hitherto shut out from their
sight, he opened to them the only true sources of Christian knowledge ;
and, by endeavouring to effect their conversion through the medium of
their understandings, instead of seducing their imaginations with a vain
show of ostentatious ceremonies, proposed the only method by which
conversion could be sincere and permanent.
These wise and benevolent measures of the good prelate, recommended,
as they were, by the most exemplary purity of life, acquired him great
authority among the Moors, who, estimating the value of the doctrine by
its fruits, were well inclined to listen to it, and numbers were daily-
added to the church.
The progress of proselytism, however, was necessarily slow and painful
among a people reared from the cradle, not merely in antipathy to, but
abhorrence of, Christianity; who were severed from the Christian com-
munity by strong dissimilarity of language, habits, and institutions ; and
now indissolubly knit together by a common sense of national misfortune.
Many of the more zealous clergy and religious persons, conceiving,
indeed, this barrier altogether insurmountable, were desirous of seeing it
* Talavera's correspondence with the queen is not calculated to raise his reputation.
His letters are little else than homilies on the love of company, dancing, and the like
heinous offences. The whole savours more of the sharp twang of Puritanism than of
the Roman Catholic school. But bigotry is neutral ground, on which the uiost opposite
ecte may meet
FERSECUTIONS IN GRAXADA. 361
swept a- ay at once by the strong arm of power. Thev represented to the
sovereigns that it seemed like insensibility to the goodness of Providence,
which had delivered the infidels into their hands, to allow them any
longer to usurp the fair inheritance of the Christians, and that the whole
of the stiff-necked race of Mahomet might justly be required to submit
without exception to instant baptism, or to sell their estates and remove
to Africa. This, they maintained, could be scarcely regarded as an
infringement of the treaty, since the Moors would be so great gamers on
the score of their eternal salvation ; to say nothing of the indispensable-
ness of such a measure to the permanent tranquillity and security of the
kingdom.
But these considerations, "just and holy as they were," to borrow
the words of a devout Spaniard, failed to convince the sovereigns who
resolved to abide by their royal word, and to trust to the conciliatory
measures now in progress, and a longer and more intimate intercourse
witli the Christians, as the only legitimate means for accomplishing
their object. Accordingly, we find the various public ordinances as low
down as 1499, recognising this principle, by the respect which they show
for the most trivial usages of the Moors,* and by their sanctioning
no other stimulant to conversion than, the amelioration of their
condition. t
Among those in favour of more active measures was Ximenes, arch-
bishop of Toledo. Having followed the court to Granada in the autumn
of 1499, he took the occasion to communicate his views to Talavera, the
archbishop, requesting leave at the same time to participate with him in
his labour of love ; to which the latter, willing to strengthen himself by
so efficient an ally, modestly assented. Ferdinand and Isabella soon
after removed to Seville (Sov. 1499) ; but, before their departure,
enjoined on the prelates to observe the temperate policy hitherto
pursued, and to beware of giving any occasion for discontent to the
Moors.
No sooner had the sovereigns left the city, than Ximenes invited
some of the leading alfaquis, or Mussulman doctors, to a conference, in
which he expounded, with all the eloquence at his command, the true
foundations of the Christian faith, and the errors of their own ; and, that
his teaching might be the more palatable, enforced it by liberal presents,
consisting mostly of rich and costly articles of dress, of which the Moors
were at all times exceedingly fond. This policy he pursued for some
time, till the eii'ect became visible. Whether the preaching or presents
of the archbishop had most weight, does not appear. It is probable,
however, that the Moorish doctors found conversion a much more plea-
sant and profitable business than they had anticipated ; for they one
after another declared their conviction of their errors, and their wiiling-
to receive baptism. The example of these learned persons was soon
followed by great numbers of their illiterate disciples, insomuch that no
less than four thousand are said to have presented themselves in one day
* In the pragrmiitica dated Granada, October 30th, 1409, prohibiting silk apparel of
any dMOripttoB. .in exception was made in favour of the Moors, whoso robes were usually
of that material, among the wealthier classes
t Another law, October :.<lst. 14:'!). provided against the disinheritance of Moorish
children who had embraced Christianity, and secured, moreover, to the female convert*
ft portion of the property which had talien to the state on the cou<iuct of Granada.
362
for baptism ; and Xiraencs, unable to administer the rite to each indi-
vidually, was obliged to adopt the expedient familiar to the Christian
missionaries, of christening them en masse by aspersion ; scattering the
consecrated drops from a mop, or hyssop, as it was called, which he
twirled over the heads of the multitude.
So far all went on prosperously ; and the eloquence and largesses of
the archbishop, which latter he lavished so freely as to encumber his
revenues for several years to come, brought crowds of proselytes to the
Christian fold. There were some, indeed, among the Mahometans who
regarded these proceedings as repugnant, if not to the letter, at lea^t to
the spirit, of the original treaty of capitulation ; which seemed intended
to provide, not only against the employment of force, but of any undue
incentive to conversion. Several of the more sturdy, including some of
the principal citizens, exerted their efforts to stay the tide of defection,
which threatened soon to swallow up the whole population of the city.
But Ximenes, whose zeal had mounted up to fever heat in the excite-
ment of success, was not to be cooled bv any opposition, however
formidable ; and, if he had hitherto respected the letter of the treaty, he
now showed himself prepared to trample on letter and spirit indifferentlv,
when they crossed his designs.
Among those most active in the opposition was a noble Moor named
Zegri, well skilled in the learning of his countrymen, with whom he had
great consideration. Ximenes, having exhausted all his usual artillery
of arguments and presents on this obdurate infidel, had him taken into
custody by one of his officers named Leon, " a lion," savs a punning
historian, " by nature as well as by name," and commanded the latter
to take such measures with his prisoner as would clear the film from his
eyes. This faithful functionary executed his orders so effectually, that,
after a few days of fasting, fetters, and imprisonment, he was able to
present his charge to his employer, penitent to all outward appearance,
and with an humble mien strongly contrasting with his former proud and
lofty bearing. After the most respectful obeisance to the archbishop,
Zegri informed him, that " on the preceding night he had had a reve-
lation from Allah, who had condescended to show him the error of his
ways, and commanded him to receive instant baptism ; " at the same
time pointing to his gaoler, he "jocularly" remarked, " Your reverence
has onlv to turn this lion of yours loose among the people, and, my word
for it, there will not be a Mussulman left many days within the walls of
Granada."* "Thus," exclaims the devout Ferreras, " did Providence
avail itself of the darkness of the dungeon to pour on the benighted
minds of the infidel the light of the true faith '. "
The work of proselytisni now went on apace ; for terror was added to
the other stimulants. The zealous propagandist, in the meanwhile,
flushed with success, resolved not only to exterminate infidelity, but the
very characters in which its teachings were recorded. He accordingly
caused all the Arabic manuscripts which he could procure, to be
heaped together in a common pile in one of the great squares of the
city. The largest part were copies of the Koran, or works in some way
or other connected with theology ; with many others, however, on
Zegri assumed the baptismal name of the Great Captain, Gonzalo Hernandez, sv> JM
prowess he had experienced in a personal rencontre in the vejra of Granada.
rs G RAX ADA. 364
various scientific subjects. They were beautifully executed, for the most
part, as to their ehirography, and sumptuously bound and decorated ;
for, in all relating tu the mechanical finishing, the Spanish Arabs
excelled every people in Europe. But neither splendour of outward
garniture, nor intrinsic merit of composition, could atone for the taint of
heresy in the eye of the stern inquisitor ; he reserved for his university
of Alcali three hundred works, indeed, relating to medical science, in
which the Moors were as pre-eminent in that dav as the Europeans were
dt-tieient ; but all the rest, amounting to many thousands, he consigned
to indiscriminate conflagration.
This melancholy auto ihife, it will be recollected, was celebrated, not
by an unlettered barbarian, but by a cultivated prelate, who was at that
very time actively employing his large revenues in the publication of the
most stupendous literary work of the age, and in the endowment of the
most learned university in Spain. It took place, not in the darkness of
the middle ages, but in the dawn of the sixteenth century, and in the
niidt-t of an enlightened nation, deeply indebted for its own progress to
these very stores of Arabian wisdom. It forms a counterpart to the
imputed sacrilege of Omar,* eight centuries before, and shows that
bigotry is the same in every faith and every age.
The mischief oeeasioned by this act, far from being limited to the
immediate loss, continued to be felt still more severely in its conse-
quences. Such as could secreted the manuscripts in their possession till
an opportunity occumd for conveying them out of the country, and
many thousands in this way were privately shipped over to liarbary.
Thus Arabian literature became rare in the libraries of the very country
to which it was indigenous ; and Arabic scholarship, once so flourishing
in Spain, and that too in far less polished ages, gradually fell into decay
from want of aliment to sustain it. Such were the melancholy results
of this literary persecution ; more mischievous in one view, than even
that directed against life ; for the loss of an individual will scarcely be
-felt beyond his own generation, while the annihilation of a valuable
work, or, in other words, of mind itself embodied in a permanent form,
is a loss to all future time.
The high hand with which Ximenes now carried measures excited
serious alarm in many of the more discreet and temperate Castilians
in the city. They besought him to use greater forbearance, remon-
strating against his obvious violations of the treatv, as well as against
the expediency of forced conversions, which could not, in the nature
of things, be lasting. But the pertinacious prelate only replied,
that, "a tamer policy might, indeed, suit temporal matters, but not
those in wliich the interests of the soul were at stake ; that the unbe-
liever, if he could not be drawn, should be driven, into the way of
salvation ; and that it was no time to stay the hand, when the ruins of
iietanism were tottering to their foundations." lie accordingly
went on with unflinching resolution.
But the patience of the Moors themselves, which had held out so
marvellously under this sy>tein of oppression, began now to be exhausted.
Many signs of this might be discerned by much less acute optics thau
* Gibbon's argument, if it does not shake tie foundations of the whole story of th
Alexandrian conflagration, may at least raise a natural scepticism as to the pretended
amount aud value of the works destroyed.
364 XIMEXES.
those of the archbishop ; but his were blinded by the arrogance of success.
At length, in this intiamraable state of public feeling, an incident occurred
which led to a general explosion.
Three of Ximenes' servants were sent on some business to the Albay-
cin, a quarter inhabited exclusively by Moors, and encompassed by walls,
which separated it from the rest of the city. These men had made
themselves peculiarly odious to the people by their activity i;i their
master's service. A dispute having arisen between them and some
inhabitants of the quarter, came at last to blows, when two of the
servants were massacred on the spot, and their comrade escaped with
difficulty from the infuriated mob. The affair operated as a signal for
insurrection. The inhabitants of the district ran to arms, got possession
of the gates, barricaded the streets, and in a few hours the whole
Albayrin was in rebellion.
In the course of the following night, a large number of the enraged
populace made their way into the city to the quarters of Ximenes, with
the purpose of taking summary vengeance on his head for all his perse-
cutions. Fortunately, his palace was strong, and defended by numerous
resolute and well-armed attendants. The latter, at the approach of the
rioters, implored their master to make his escape, if possible, to the
fortress of the Alhambra, where the count of Tendilla was established.
But the intrepid prelate, who held life too cheap to be a coward,
exclaimed, " God forbid I should think of my own safety, when so many
of the faithful are perilling theirs ! No, I will stand to my post, and
wait there, if Heaven wills it, the crown of martyrdom." It must be
confessed he well deserved it.
The building, however, proved too strong for the utmost efforts of the
mob ; and at length, after some hours of awful suspense and agitation
to the beleagued inmates, the count of Tendilla arrived in person at the
head of his guards, and succeeded in dispersing the insurgents, and
driving them back to their own quarters. But no exertions could restore
order to the tumultuous populace, or induce them to listen to terms ;
and they even stoned the messenger charged with pacific proposals from
the count of Tendilla. They organised themselves under leaders, pro-
vided arms, and took every possible means for maintaining their defence.
It seemed as if, smitten with the recollections of ancient liberty, they
were resolved to recover it again at all hazards.
At length, after this disorderly state of things had lasted for several
days, Talavera, the archbishop of Granada, resolved to try the effect of
his personal influence, hitherto so great with the Moors, by visiting
himself the disaffected quarter. This noble purpose he put in execution,
in spite of the most earnest remonstrances of his friends. He was
attended only by his chaplain, bearing the crucifix before him, and a
few of his domestics, on foot and unarmed like himself. At the sight
of their venerable pastor, with his countenance b uniing with the sunic
serene and benign expression with which they were familiar when
listening to his exhortations from the pulpit, the passions of the multitude
were stilled. Every one seemed willing to abandon himself to tlu
tender recollections of the past ; and the simple people crowd" <! around
the good man, kneeling down and kissing the hem of his robe, as if to
implore his benediction. The count of Tendilla no sooner learned the
issue, than he followed into the Albaycin, attended by a huudt'ul of
PERSECUTIONS TS GRANADA. 365
soldiers. When he had reached the place where the mob was gathered,
he threw his bonnet into the midst of them, in token of his pacific
intentions. The action was received with acclamations : and the people,
whose feelings had now taken another direction, recalled by his presence
to the recollection of his uniformly mild and equitable rule, treated him
with similar respect to that shown the archbishop of Granada.
These two individuals took advantage of this favourable change of
feeling to expostulate with the Moors on the folly and desperation of
their conduct, which must, involve them in a struggle with such 4>ver-
whelmincr odds as that <>f the whole Spanish monarchy. They implored
them to lay down tin ir arms and return to their duty ; in which event
they pledged themselves, aj far as in their power, to allow no further
repetition of the grievances complained of, and to intercede for their
pardon with the sovereigns. The count testified his sincerity by leaving
Ids wife and two children as hostages in the heart of the Albaycin ; an
act which must bj admitted to imply unbounded confidence in tl.1
integrity of the Moors.* 'ihese various measures, backed, moreover, by
the counsels and authority of some of the chief alfaquis, had the effect
to restore tranquillity among the people, who, laying aside their hostile
preparations, returned once more to their regular employments.
The rumour of the insurrection, in the meanwhile, with the usual
. --eration, reached Seville, where the court was then residing. In
vespeet rumour did justice, by imputing the whole blame of the
affair to the intemperate zeal of Ximenes. That personage, with his
tisual promptness, had sent early notice of the affair to the queen by a
negro slave uncommonly fleet of foot. But the fellow had become
intoxicated by the way, and the court were several days without any
more authentic tidings than general report. The king, who always
regarded Ximenes' elevation to the primacy, to the prejudice, as the
reader may remember, of his own son, with dissatisfaction, could not
row restrain his indignation, but was heard to exclaim tauntingly to
tli- queen, "So, we are like to pay dear for your archbishop, whose
''islmess has lost us in a few hours what we have been years in
acquiring."
The queen, confounded at the tidings, and unable to comprehend the
silence of Ximenes, instantly wrote to him in the severest terms, de-
manding an explanation of the whole proceeding. The archbishop saw
his error in committing affairs of moment to such hands as those of his
sable messenger ; and the lesson stood him in good stead, according to
his moralising biographer, for the remainder of his life. He hastened
to repair bis fault by proceeding to Seville in person, and presenting
himself before the sovereigns. He detailed to them the history of all
the past transactions ; r< capitulated his manifold services, the arguments
and exhortations he had used, the large sums he had expended, and his
various expedients, in short, for effecting conversion, before resorting to
severity. He boldly assumed the responsibility of the whole proceeding,
acknowledging that he had purposely avoided communicating his plans
to the sovereigns for fear of opposition. If he had erred, he said, it
could be imputed to no other motive, at worst, than too great zeal for
* That such confidence was justified, may be inferred from a common saying of Arch-
oishop Talavera, " Tha*. Moorish works and Spanish faith were all that were wanting to
make a good Clmstiau." A bitter sarcasm this on his own country UK 11 1
366 XIMEXES.
the interests of religion ; but he concluded with assuring tnem, that the
present position of affairs was the best possible for their purposes,
since the late conduct of the Moors involved them in the guilt, and
consequently all the penalties of treason, and that it would be an
act of clemency to offer pardon on the alternatives of conversion
or exile !
The archbishop's discourse, if we are to credit his enthusiastic
biographer, not only dispelled the clouds of royal indignation, but drew
forth the most emphatic expressions of approbation. How far Ferdinand
and Isabella were moved to this by his iinal recommendation, or what,
in clerical language, may be called the "improvement of his discourse,"
does not appear. They did not at any rate adopt it in its literal extent.
In due time, how ever, commissioners were sent to Granada, fully autho-
rised to inquire into the late disturbances and punish their guilty
authors. In the course of the investigation, many, including some of
the principal citizens were imprisoned ou suspicion. The greater part
made their peace by embracing Christianity. Many others sold their
estates and migrated, to Barbary ; and the remainder of the population,
whether from fear of punishment or contagion of example, abjured their
ancient superstition and consented to receive baptism. The whole
number of converts was estimated at about fifty thousand, whose future
relapses promised an almost inexhaustible supply for the fiery labours
of the Inquisition. From this period the name of Moors, which had
gradually superseded the primitive one of Spanish Arabs, gave way to
the title of Moriseos, by which this unfortunate people continued to be
known through the remainder of their protracted existence in the
Peninsula.
The circumstances under which this important revolution in religion
was effected in the whole population of this great city will excite only
feelings of disgust at the present day, mingled, indeed, with compassion
for the unhappy beings who so heedlessly incurred the heavy liabilities
attached to their new faith. Every Spaniard, doubtless, anticipated the
political advantages likely to result from a measure which divested the
Moors of the peculiar immunities secured by the treaty of capitulation,
and subjected them at once to the law of the land. It is equally certain,
however, that they attached great value in a spiritual view to the mere
show of conversion, placing implicit confidence in the purifying influence
of the waters of baptism, to whomever and under whatever circumstances
administered. Even the philosophic Martyr, as little tinctured with
bigotry as any of the time, testifies his joy at the conversion, on the
ground that, although it might not penetrate beneath the crust of
infidelity, which had formed over the mind of the older, and, of course,
inveterate Mussulman, yet it would have full effect on his posterity,
subjected from the cradle to the searching operation of Christian
discipline.
With regard to Ximenes, the real author of the work, whatever doubts
were entertained of his discretion in the outset, they were completely
dispelled by the results. All concurred in admiring the invincible
energy of the man who, in the face of such mighty obstacles had so
speedily effected this momentous revolution in the faith of a people bred
from childhood in the deadliest hostility to Christianity ; and the good
archbishop Talavera was heard in the fulness of his heart to exclaim,
RISING IN THE ALPrXARTUS. 26j
that "Ximcnes had achieved greater triumphs than even Ferdinand and
Isabella ; since tliev had conquered only the soil, while he had gained
the souls of Granada."*
CHAPTER VII.
IU31NI1 IJf THE ALTCXAURAS DEATH OF ALONSO DE AGUILAB EDICT AGAINST TH.': M -CPJ.
15001502.
RiiiT'.cr in the Alpuxarras Expedition to the Sierra Vermeja Alonso de Agiiilar His
1 'irtraru-r. ;i!i'.l Death Bloody Rout of the Spaniards Final Submission l<>
Ferdinand Cruel Policy of the Victors Commemorative Ballads K< lice against the
Moors Causes of Intolerance Last notice of the Moors under the present Reign.
W n ILK affairs went forward so triumphantly in the capital of Granada,
they excited funeral discontent in other parts of that kingdom, especially
the wild regions of the Alpuxarras. This range of maritime Alps,
which stretches to the distance of seventeen leagues in a south-easterly
direction from the Moorish capital, sending out its sierras like so many
broad arms towards the Mediterranean, was thickly sprinkled with
Moorish villages, cresting the bald summits of the mountains, or
chequering the green slopes and valleys which lay between them. Its
simple inhabitants, locked up within the lonely recesses of their hills,
and accustomed to a lite of penury and toil, had escaped the corruptions,
as well as refinements, of civilisation. In ancient times they had
afforded a hardy militia for the princes of Granada ; and they now ex-
hibited an unshaken attachment to their ancient institutions and religion,
which had been somewhat eit'aced in the great cities by more intimate
intercourse with the Europeans.
These warlike mountaineers beheld with gathering resentment the
faithless conduct pursued towards their countrymen, which, they had
good reason to fear, would soon be extended to themselves ; and their
fiery passions were innamed to an ungovernable height by the public
apostacy of Granada. They at length resolved to anticipate any similar
attempt on themselves by a general insurrection. They according seized
on the fortresses and strong passes throughout the country, and began as
usual with forays into the lauds of the Christians.
* Talavera, as I have already noticed, had caused the offices, catechisms, and other
religious exercises to be translated into Arabic for the use of the converts ; proposing to
extend the translation at some future time to the great body of the Scriptures. Tliat time
had now arrived, but Ximenes vehemently remonstrated against the measure. " It would
be 'hrowing pearls before swme," said he, " to open the Scriptures to persons in their low
etatn of ignorance, who could not fail, as St. Paul says, to wrest them to their own destruc-
tion. The word of God should be wrapped in discreet mystery from the vulgar, who feel
little reverence for what is plain and obvious. It was tor this reason that our Saviour
himself clothed his doctrines in |>arables when he addressed the people. The Scriptures
should be confined to the three ancient languages, which God with mystic import permitted
to be inscribed over the head of his crucified Son ; and the vernacular should be reserved for
such devotional and moral treatises as holy men indite, in order to quicken the soul, and
turn it from the pursuit of worldly vanities to heavenly contemplation." The narrowest
opinion, as usual, prevailed, and Talavera abandoned his wise and benevolent purpose.
The sagacious arguments of the primate led his biographer, Gomez, to conclude that ho
had a prophetic knowledge of the coming heresy of Luther, which owed so much of its
success to the vernacular versions of the Scriptures ; in which probable opinion be u
faithfully echoed, as usual, by the good bishop of Nisiues.
868 EISIXG IX THE AlPUXAEEAS.
These bold acts excited much alarm in the capital, and the count of
Tendilla took vigorous measures for quenching the rebellion in its birth.
Gonsalvo de Cordova, his early pupil, but who might now well be his
master in the art of war, was at that time residing in Granada ; and
Tendilla availed himself of his assistance to enforce a hasty muster of
levies and march at once against the enemy.
His first movement was against Huejar, a fortified town situated is
one of the eastern ranges of the Alpuxarras, whose inhabitants had
taken the lead in the insurrection. The enterprise was attended with
more difficulty than was expected. " God's enemies," to borrow the
charitable epithet of the Castilian Chroniclers, had ploughed up the
lands in the neighbourhood ; and, as the light cavalry of the Spaniards
was working its way through the deep furrows, the Moors opened the
canals which intersected the fields, and in a moment the horses were
floundering up to their girths in the mire and water. Thus emban
in their progress, the Spaniards presented a fatal mark to the Moorish
missiles, which rained on them with pitiless fury ; and it was not without
great efforts and considerable loss that they gained a firm landing on
the opposite side. Undismaved, however, they then charged the enemy
with such vivacity as compelled him to give way and take refuge within
the defences of the town.
No impediment could now check the ardour of the assailants. They
threw themselves from their horses, and bringing forward the scaling-
ladders, planted them against the walls. Gonsalvo was the first to gain
the summit ; and as a powerful Moor endeavoured to thrust him from the
topmost round of the ladder, he grasped the battlements firmly with his
left hand, and dealt the infidel such a blow with the sword in his right
as brought him headlong to the ground. He then leapt into the place,
and was speedily followed by his troops. The enemy made a brief and
ineffectual resistance. The greater part were put to the sword ; the
remainder, including the women and children, were made slaves, and
the town was delivered up to pillage.
The severity of this military execution had not the effect of inti-
midating the insurgents ; and the revolt wore so serious an aspect, that
King Ferdinand found it necessarr to take the field in person, which he
did at the head of as complete and beautiful a body of Castilian chivalry
as ever graced the campaigns of Granada. Quitting Alhendin, the
place of rendezvous, in the latter end of February, 1500, he directed his
march on Lanjaron, one of the towns most active in the revolt, and
perched high among the inaccessible fastnesses of the sierra, south-east
of Granada.
The inhabitants, trusting to the natural strength of a situation which
had once baffled the arms of the bold Moorish chief El Zagal, took no
precautions to secure the passes. Ferdinand, relying on this, avoided
the more direct avenue to the place ; and, bringing his men by a circui-
tous route over dangffous ravines, and dark and dizzy precipices, where
the foot of the hunter had seldom ventured, succeeded at length, after
incredible toil and hazard, in reaching an elevated point, which entirely
commanded the Moorish fortress.
Great was the dismay of the insurgents at the apparition of the
Christian banners, streaming in triumph in the upper air from the very
pinnacles of the sierra. They stoutly persisted, however, in the refusal
DEATH OF ALOX90 DE AGUILAB. 369
to surrender. But their works were too feeble to stand the assault of
men. who had vanquished the more formidable obstacles of nature ; and,
after a short struggle, the place was carried by storm, and its wretched
inmati s experienced the same dreadful fate with those of Huejar (March
8th, 1500).
At nearly the same time, the count of Lerin took several other fortified
places in the Alpuxarras, in one of which he blew up a mosque tilled
with women and children. Hostilities were carried on with all the
ferocity of a civil, or rather servile war ; and the .Spaniards, repudiating
all the fedinus of courtesy and g< nerMiy, which they had once shown
to the same men when dealing with them as honourable enemies, now
regarded them only as rebellions vassals, or indeed slaves, whom the
public safety required to be not merely chastised, but exterminated.
These severities, added to the conviction of their own impotence, at
length broke the spirit of the Moors, who were reduced to the ni;>>t
humble concessions ; and the Catholic king, " unwilling:, out of his great
clemency," says Abarca, " to stain his sword with the blood of all these
wild beasts of the Alpuxarras," consented to terms which may be deemed
reasonable, at least in comparison with his previous policy. These were,
the surrender of their arms and fortresses, and the payment of the round
sum of fifty thousand ducats.
As soon as tranquillity was re-established, measures were taken for
securing it permanently, by introducing Christianity among the natives,
without which they never could remain well affected to their present
government. Holy men were, therefore, sent as missionaries, to
admonish them calmly and without violence, of their errors, and to
instruct them in the great truths of revelation. Various immunities
were also proposed, as an additional incentive to conversion, including
an entire exemption to the party from the payment of his share of the
heavy mulct lately imposed. The wisdom of these temperate measures
became every day more visible in the conversion, not merely of the
simple mountaineers, but of nearly all the population of the great cities
of Baza, Guadix, and Almeria, who consented before the end of the year
to abjure their ancient religion, and receive baptism.
This defection, however, caused great scandal among the more sturdy
of their countrymen, and a new insurrection broke out on the eastern
confines of the Alpuxarras (Dec. 1500), which was suppressed with
similar circumstances of stern severity, and a similar exaction of a heavy
sum of money; money, whose doubtful efficacy may be discerned",
sometimes in staying, but more frequently in stimulating the arm of
persecution.
But while the murmurs of rebellion died away in the east, they were
heard in thunders from the distant hills on the western borders of
Granada. This district, comprehending the Sierra Vermeja and Villa
Luenga, in the neighbourhood of Ronda, was peopled by a warlike
among whom was the African tribe of Gandules, whose blood boiled witli
the same tropical fervour as that which glowed in the veins of their
ancestors. They had early shown symptoms of discontent at the late
proceedings in the capital. The duchess of Arcos, widow of the great
marquis duke of Cadiz, whose estates lay in that quarter,* used her
* The great marquis of Cadiz -was third count of Arcos, from vMch his descendants t<x.Vi
their title ou the resumption of Cadiz by the crown after his dn
B B
870 RISING IN THE ALFTTXARRAS.
personal exertions to appease them ; and the government made the most
earnest assurances of its intention to respect whatever had been guaran-
teed by the treaty of capitulation. But they had learned to place little
trust in princes ; and the rapidly extending apostacy of their countrymen
exasperated them to such a degree, that they at length broke out in the
most atrocious acts of violence ; murdering the Christian missionaries,
and kidnapping, if report be true, many Spaniards of both sexes, whom
they sold as slaves in Africa. They were accused, with far more proba
hility, of entering into a secret correspondence with their brethren on
the opposite shore, in order to secure their support in the meditated
revolt.*
The government displayed its usual promptness and energy on this
occasion. Orders were issued to the principal chiefs and cities of Anda-
lusia to muster their forces with all possible dispatch, and concentrate
them on Ronda. The summons was obeyed with such alacrity, that in
the course of a very few weeks the streets of that busy city were thronged
with a shining array of warriors drawn from all the principal towns of
Andalusia. Seville sent three hundred horse and two thousand foot.
The principal leaders of the expedition were the count of Cifuentes, who,
as assistant of Seville, commanded the troops of that city ; the count of
Urefta ; and Alonso de Aguilar, elder brother of the Great, Captain, and
distinguished like him for the highest qualities of mind and person.
It was determined by the chiefs to strike at once into the heart of the
Sierra Venneja, or Red Sierra, as it was called from the colour of its
rocks, rising to the east of Ronda, and the principal theatre of insurrec-
tion. On the 18th of March, 1501, the little army encamped before
Monarda, on the skirts of a mountain, where the Moors were understood
to have assembled in considerable force. They had not been long in
these quarters before parties of the enemy were seen hovering along the
slopes of the mountain, from which the Christian camp was divided by a
narrow river, the Rio Verde, probably, which has gained such mournful
celebrity in Spanish song. Aguilar's troops, who occupied the van, were
so much roused by the sight of the enemy, that a small party, seizing a
banner, rushed across the stream without orders, in pursuit of them.
The odds, however, were so great, that they would have been severely
handled, had not Aguilar, while he bitterly condemned their temerity,
advanced promptly to their support with the remainder of his corps.
The count of Urefia followed with the central division, leaving the count
of Cifuentes with the troops of Seville to protect the camp.
* The complaints of the Spanish and African Moors to the Sultan of Egypt, or of
Babylon, as he was then usually styled, had drawn from that prince sharp remonstrances
to the Catholic sovereigns against their persecutions of the Moslems, accompanied by
menaces of strict retaliation on the Christians in his dominions. In order to avert such
calamitous consequences, Peter Martyr was sent as ambassador to Egypt. He left Granada
in August 1501, proceeded to Venice, and embarked there tor Alexandria, which place he
reached in December Though cautioned, on his arrival, that his mission, in the present
exasperated state of feeling at the court, might cost him his head, the dauntless envoy
Bailed up the Nile under a Mameluke guard to Grand Cairo. Far from experiencing any
outrage, however, he was courteously received by the Sultan ; although the ambassador
declined compromising the dignity of the court he represented, by paying the usual
humiliating mark of obeisance, in prostrating himself on the ground in the royal pre-
sence : an independent bearing highly satisfactory to the Castiluui historiiins. He had
three audiences, in which he succeeded so completely in effacing the unfavourable impres-
sions of the Moslem prince, that the latter uot only dismissed him with liberal presents,
but grunted, at his request, several important privileges to the Christian residents, and the
pilgrims to the Holy Laud, which lay within his dominions.
DEATH OF ALOXSO DE AGTTILAE. 371
The Moors fell back as the Christians advanced, and, retreating
nimbly from point to point, led them up the rugged steeps far into the
recesses of the mountains. At length they reached an open level,
encompassed on all sides by a natural rampart of rocks, where they had
Deposited their valuable effects, together with their wives and children.
The latter, at sight of the invaders, uttered dismal cries and fled into
the remoter depths of the sierra.
The Christians were too much attracted by the rich spoil before them
to think of following, and dispersed in every direction in quest of
plunder, with all the heedlessuess and insubordination of raw inex-
perienced levies. It was in vain that Alonso de Aguilar reminded them
that their wily enemy was still unconquered ; or that he endeavoured to
force them into the ranks again, and restore order. No one heeded his
call, or thought of anything beyond the present moment, and of securing
as much booty to himself as he could cany.
The Moors, in the the meanwhile, finding themselves no longer pur-
sued, were aware of the occupation of the Christians, whom they not
improbably had purposely decoyed into the snare. They resolved to
return to the scene of action, and surprise their incautious enemy.
Stealthily advancing, therefore, under the shadows of night, now falling
thick around, they poured through the rocky denies of the inclosure
upon the astonished Spaniards. An unlucky explosion, at this crisis, of
a cask of powder, into which a spark had accidentally fallen, threw a
broad glare over the scene, and revealed for a moment the situation of
the hostile parties ; the Spaniards in the utmost disorder, many of them
without arms, and staggering under the weight of their fatal booty;
while their enemies were seen gliding like so many demons of darkness
through every crevice and avenue of the inclosure, in the act of springing
on their devoted victims. This appalling spectacle, vanishing almost as
soon as seen, and followed by the hideous yells and war-cries of the
assailants, struck a panic into the hearts of the soldiers, who fled,
scarcely offering any resistance. The darkness of the night was as
favourable to the Moors, familiar with all the intricacies of the ground,
as it was fatal to the Christians, who, bewildered in the mazes of the
sierra, and losing their footing at every step, fell under the swords of
their pursuers, or went down the dark gulfs and precipices, which
yawned all around.
Amidst this dreadful confusion, the * count of Urefia succeeded in
earning a lower level of the sierra, where he halted and endeavoured to
rally his panic-struck followers. His noble comrade, Alonso de Aguilar,
still maintained his position on the heights above, refusing all entreaties
of his followers to attempt a retreat. " When," said he proudly, " was
the banner of Auuilar ever known to fly from the field?" His eldest
sou, the heir of his house and honours, Don Pedro de Cordova, a youth
of great promise, fought at his side. He had received a severe wound
on the head from a stone, and a javelin had pierced quite through his
leg. With one knee resting on the ground, however, he still made a
brave defence with his sword. The sight was too much for the father,
and he implored him to suffer himself to be removed from the field. " Let
not the hopes of our house be crushed at a single blow," said he ; " go,
my son, live as becomes a Christian knight, live, and cherish youi
desolate mother." 1 All his entreaties were fruitless, however ; and the
B B 2
372 EISIXO JS THE AiriJXARRAS.
gallant boy refused to leave his father's side, till he was forcibly borne
away by the attendants, who fortunately succeeded in bringing him in
safety to the station occupied by the count of Urcfia.*
Meantime the brave little band of cavaliers, who remained true to
Aguilar, had fallen, one after another ; and the chief, left almost alone,
retreated to a huge rock which rose in the middle of the plain, and,
placing his back against it, still made fight, though weakened by loss of
blcod, like a lion at bay against his enemies. In this situation he was
pressed so hard by a Moor of uncommon size and strength, that he was
compelled to turn and close with him in single combat. The strife was
long and desperate, till Don Alonso, whose corselet had become unlaced
in the previous struggle, having received a severe wound in the breast,
followed by another on the head, grappled closely with hi*s adversary,
and they came rolling on the ground together. The Moor remained
uppermost ; but the spirit of the Spanish cavalier had not sunk with his
strength, and he proudly exclaimed, as if to intimidate his enemy, " I
am Don Alonso de Aguilar;" to which the other rejoined, " And I am
the Feri de Ben Estepar," a well-known name of terror to the Christians.
The sound of this detested name roused all the vengeance of the dying
hero ; and, grasping his foe in mortal agony, he rallied his strength for
a final blow ; but it was too late, his hand failed, and he was soon
dispatched by the dagger of his more vigorous rival. (March 18, 1501.)
Thus fell Alonso Hernandez de Cordova, or Alonso de Aguilar, as he
is commonly called from the land where his family estates lay.f " He
was of the greatest authority among the grandees of his time," says
Father Abarca, " for his lineage, personal character, large domains, and
the high posts which he filled both in peace and war. More than forty
years of his life he served against the infidel, under the banner of his
house in boyhood, and as leader of that same banner in latter life, or as
viceroy of Andalusia and commander of the royal armies. He was the
filth lord of his warlike and pious house who had fallen fighting for their
country and religion against the accursed sect of Mahomet. And there
is good reason to believe," continues the same orthodox authority,
" that his soul has received the glorious reward of the Christian soldier ;
since he was armed on that very morning with the blessed sacraments of
confession and communion." J
The victorious Moors, all this time, were driving the unresisting
Spaniards, like so many terrified deer down the dark steeps of the sierra.
The count of Urefia, who had seen his son stretched by his side, and
received a severe wound himself, made the most desperate efforts to rally
.he fugitives, but was at length swept away by the torrent. Trusting
* The boy, who lived to man's estate, was .afterwards created marquis of Priego by the
Catholic sovereigns. Salnznr de Mendoza, Dignidades, lib. 2, cap. 1.".
+ St. Ferdinmid of Castile, in consideration of the services of this illustrious house at the
taking of Cordova, in 1'i'te. allowed it to bear as a cognomen the name of that city. This
Srauch, however, still continued to be distinguished by their territorial epithet of Aguilar;
ilthough Don Alonso's brother, the Great Captain, as we have seen, was more generally
|:]IO\MI by fhat of Cordova.
I The hero's body, left on the field of battle, was treated with decent respect by the
Moors, who restored it to Kinar Ferdinand ; and the sovereigns caused it to be interred
with all suitable pomp in the church of St. Hyjmlito at Cordova. Many years afterwards,
the marchioness of Priego, his descendant, had the tomb opened ; and, on examining the
mouldering remains, the iron bead of a lauce, received ill hiB last mortal struggle, was
louud buried in the bouea.
DEATH OF ALOXSO DE AGTTILA.E. 373
himself to a faithful adalid, who knew the passes, he succeeded with
much difficulty iu reaching the foot of the mountain, with such a small
remnant of his followers as could keep in his track. Fortunately, he
there found the count of Cifuentes, who had crossed the river with the
roar-guard, and encamped on a rising ground in the neighbourhood.
Under favour of this strong position, the latter commander and his brave
Sevillians, all fresh for action, were enabled to cover the shattered
remains of the Spaniards, and beat off the assaults of their enemies till
the break of morn, when they vanished like so many foul birds of night
into the recesses of the mountains.
The rising day, which dispersed their foes, now revealed to the
Christians the dreadful extent of their own losses. Few were to be
seen of all that proud array which had marched up the heights so
confidently under the banners of their ill-fated chiefs the preceding
evening. The bloody roll of slaughter, besides the common tile, was
graced witli the names of the best and bravest of the Christian knight-
hood. Among the number was Francisco Ramirez de Madrid, the dis-
tinguished engineer, who had contributed so essentially to the success
of the Granadine war.
The sad tidings of the defeat soon spread throughout the country,
occasioning a sensation such has had not been felt since the tragic affair
of the Axan[uia. Men could scarcely credit that so much mischief
could be inflicted by an outcast race, who, whatever terror they once
inspired, had long since been regarded with indifference or contempt.
Every Spaniard seemed to consider himself in some way or other involved
in the disgrace ; and the most spirited exertions were made on all sides
to retrieve it. By the beginning of April, King Ferdinand found him-
self at Uonda, at the head of a strong body of troops, which he determined
to lead in person, notwithstanding the rein >nstrances of his courtiers,
into the heart of the sierra, and take bloody vengeance on the rebels.
These latter, however, far from bjing encouraged, were appalled by
the extent of their own success ; and, as the note of warlike preparation
reached them in their fastnesses, they felt their temerity in thus bringing
the whole weight of the Castilian monarchy on their heads. They
accordingly abandoned all thoughts of further resistance, and lost no
time in sending deputies to the king's camp, to deprecate his auger, and
sue in the most submissive terms for pardon.
Ferdinand, though far from vindictive, was less open to pity than the
queen ; and in the present instance, he indulged in a full measure of the
indignation with which sovereigns, naturally identifying themselves
with the state, are wont to regard rebellion, by vL-wing it in tho
aggravated light of a personal offence. After some hesitation, however t
his prudence got the better of his passions, as he reflected that he was ia
a situation to dictate the terms of victory, without paying the usual
price for it. His past experience seems to have convinced him of the
hopelessness of infusing sentiments of loyalty in a Mussulman towards a
Christian prince ; for, while he granted a general amnesty to thosa
concerned in the insurrection, it was only on the alternative of baptism
or exile, engaging at the same time to provide conveyance for such as
chose to leave the country, on the payment of ten doblas of gold a head.
Th< ments were punctually fulfilled. The Moorish emigrants
were transported in public galleys fruui Estepona to the Barbary coast.
J74 BISTNG IX THE ALPUXAEEAS.
The number, however, was probably small, by far the greater part
being obliged, however reluctantly, from want of funds, to remain and
be baptised. "They would never have stayed," says Bleda, "if they
could have mustered the ten doblas of gold; a circumstance," continues
that charitable writer, "which shows with what levity they received
baptism, and for what paltry considerations they could be guilty of such
sacrilegious hypocrisy ! " *
But, although every spark of insurrection was thus effectually
extinguished, it was long, very long, before the Spanish nation could
recover from the blow, or forget the sad story of its disaster in the lied
Sierra. It became the theme, not only of chronicle, but of song ; the
note of sorrow was prolonged in many a plantive romance, and the
names of Aguilar and his unfortunate companions were embalmed in
that beautiful minstrelsy, scarcely less imperishable, and far more
touching, than the stately and elaborate records of history. The popular
feeling was displayed after another fashion in regard to the count of
Urefia and his followers, who were accused of deserting their posts in
the hour of peril ; and more than one ballad of the time reproachfully
demanded an account from him of the brave companions in arms whom
he had left in the sierra.
The imputation on this gallant nobleman appears wholly undeserved ;
for certainly he was not called on to throw away his own life and those
of his brave followers, in a cause perfectly desperate, for a chimerical
point of honour. And, so far from forfeiting the favour of his sovereigns
by his conduct on this occasion, he was maintained by them in the same
high stations which he before held, and which he continued to fill with
dignity to a good old age.f
It was about seventy years after this event, in 1570, that the duke of
Arcos, descended from the great ma-rquis of Cadiz, and from this same
count of Urefia, led an expedition into the Sierra Vermeja, in order to
suppress a similar insurrection of the Moriscos. Among the party were
many of the descendants and kinsmen of those who had fought under
Aguilar, It was the first time since, that these rude passes had been
trodden by Christian feet ; but the traditions of early childhood had
made every inch of ground familiar to the soldiers. Some way up the
eminence they recognised the point at which the count of Urefia had
made his stand ; and, further still, the fatal plain, belted round with its
dark rampart of rocks, where the strife had been hottest. Scattered
fragments of arms and harness still lay rusting on the ground, which was
covered with the bones of the warriors, that had lain for more than half
a century unburied and bleaching in the sun. Here was the spot on
which the brave son of Aguilar had fought so sturdily by his father's
side ; and there the huge rock, at whose foot the chieftain had fallen,
throwing its dark shadow over the remains of the noble dead, who lay
sleeping around. The strongly marked features of the ground called up
all the circumstances, which the soldiers had gathered from tradition ;
* The curate of Los Palacios disposes of the Moors rather summarily : "The Christiana
stripped them, gave them a free passage, and sent them to the devil ! "
t The Venetian ambassador, Navagiero, saw the count of Urefia at Ossuna in 1526. Ae
was enjoying a green old age, or, as the minister expresses it, " molto vecchio e gentil
corteggiano per6." " Diseases, " said the veteran good-humouredly, " sometimes visit me,
but seldom tarry long ; for my body is like a crazy old inn, where travellers find such poor
(are that they merely touch aiid go."
UKATH OF ALOXSO DE AGT7ILAK. 375
their hearts beat high as they recapitulated them one to another ; and
the tears, says the eloquent historian who tells the story, fell fast down
their iron cheeks, as they gazed on the sad relies, and offered up a
soldier's prayer for the heroic souls which once animated them.*
Tranquillity was now restored throughout the wide borders of Granada.
The banner of the Cross floated triumphantly over the whole extent of
its wild sierras, its broad valleys, and populous cities. E\vrv Moor, in
exterior at least, had become a Christian. Every mosque had been con-
verted into a Christian church. Still the country was not entirely
purified from the stain of Islamism, since many professing their ancient
faith were scattered over different parts of the kingdom of Castile, where
they had been long resident before the surrender of their capital. The
late events seemed to have no other effect than to harden them in error ;
and the Spanish government saw with alarm the pernicious influence of
their example and persuasion in shaking the infirm faith of the new
converts.
To obviate this, an ordinance was published, in the summer of 1501,
prohibiting all intercourse between these Moors and the orthodox kingdom
of Granada. At length, however, convinced that there was no other
way to save the precious seed from being choked by the thorns of
infidelity, than to eradicate them altogether, the sovereigns came to
the extraordinary resolution of offering them the alternative of baptism
or exile. They issued a praymdtica to that effect from Seville,
February 12th, 1502. After a preamble, duly setting forth the obliga-
tions of gratitude on the Castilians to drive God's enemies from the land
which He in his good time had delivered into their hands, and the numerous
backslid ings occasioned among the new converts by their intercourse
with their unbaptised brethren, the act goes on to state, in much the
same terms with the famous ordinance against the Jews, that all the
unbaptised Moors in the kingdoms of Castile and Leon, above fourteen
years of age if males, and twelve if females, must leave the country by
the end of April following ; that they might sell their property in the
meantime, and take the proceeds in anything save gold and silver and
merchandise regularly prohibited ; and, finally, that they might emigrate
to any foreign country, except the dominions of the Grand Turk, and
such parts of Africa as Spain was then at war with. Obedience to these
severe provisions was enforced by the penalties of death and confiscation
of property.
This stern edict, so closely modelled on that against the Jews, must
have been even more grievous in its application : for the Jews may be
said to have been denizens almost equally of every country ; while the
Moors excluded from a retreat among their countrymen on the African
shore, were sent into the lands of enemies or strangers. The former,
moreover, were far better qualified by their natural shrewdness and
commercial habits for disposing of their property advantageously, than
the simple inexperienced Moors, skilled in little else than husbandry or
* The M oorish insurrection of 1570 was attended with at least one good result, in calling
forth tliis historic masterpiece, the work of the accomplished Diego Hurtado de Mendo7.a,
accomplished alike as a statesman, warrior, and historian. His " Guerra de Granada,"
confined as it is to a barren fr.igment of Moorish history, displays such liberal senti-
ments (too liberal, indeed, to permit its publication till fong after its author's death),
profound reflection, and classic elegance of style, as well entitle him to the appellation of
the Spanish Salluat.
576 RISING rs* THE
rude mechanic arts. AVe have nowhere met with any estimate of the
number Avlio migrated on this occasion. The Castilian writers pass ovei
the whole affair in a very lew words ; not, indeed, as is too evident,
from any feelings of disapprobation, but from its insignificance in a
political view. Their silence implies a very inconsiderable amount of
emigrants ; a circumstance not to be wondered at, as there were vt-ry
few, probably, who would not sooner imitate their Grauadine brethren
in assuming the mask of Christianity, than encounter exile under all the
aggravated miseries with, which it was accompanied.
Castile might now boast, the first time for eight centuries, that every
outward stain, at least, of infidelity was purified from her bosom. But
how had this been accomplished? By the most detestable expedients
which sophistry could devise, and oppression execute ; and that, too,
under an enlightened government, proposing to be guided solely by a
conscientious regard for duty. To comprehend this more fully, it will
be necessary to take a brief view of public sentiment in matters oi' religion
at that time.
It is a singlar paradox, that Christianity, whose doctrines inculcate
unbounded charity, should have been made so often an engine of pc-rst-cu-
tion ; while Mahometanism, whose principles are those of avowed
intolerance, should have exhibited, at least till later times, a truly
philosophical spirit of toleration.* Even the first victorious disciples of
the prophet, glowing with all the fiery zeal of proselytism, were content
with the exaction of tribute from the vanquished ; at least, more
vindictive feelings were reserved only for idolaters, who did not, like the
Jews and Christians, acknowledge with themselves the unity of God.
With these latter denominations they had obvious sympathy, since it was
their creed which formed the basis of their own. In Spain, where the
fiery temperament of the Arab was gradually softened under the
influence of a temperate climate and higher mental culture, the toleration
of the Jews and Christians, as we have already had occasion to notice,
was so remarkable, that, within a few years alter the conquest, we find
them not only protected in the enjoyment of civil and religious freedom,
but mingling on terms almost of equality with their conquerors.
It is not necessary to inquire here how far the different policy of the
Christians was owing to the peculiar constitution of their hierarchy, which,
composed of a spiritual militia drawn from every country in Europe, was
jut off by its position from all human sympathies, and attached to no
interests but its own ; which availed itself of the superior sci nee and
reputed sanctity, that were supposed to have given it the key to the
dread mysteries of a future life, not to enlighten, but to enslave the
minds of a credulous world ; and which making its own tenets the only
standard of faith, its own rites and ceremonial the only evidence of virtue,
obliterated the great laws of morality, written by the divine hand on
every heart, and gradually built up a system of exclusiveness and
intolerance most repugnant to the mild and charitable religion of Jesus
Christ.
Before the close of the fifteenth century, several circumstances
operated to sharpen the edge of intolerance, especially against the
The tfiirit of toleration professed by the Moors, indeed, was imde a principal argument
ftgainst them iu the archbishop of Valencia's memorial to Philip III. The Mahom*tVM
would seem the better Christians of the two.
DiATH OF ALOXSO DB AGUILAK. 377
Arabs. The Turks, -whose political consideration of late years had made
tin-in the peculiar representative! and champions of Mahornetanism,
had shown a ferocity and cruelty in their treatment of the Christiana,
which brought general odium on all the professors of their faith, and on
loors, of course, though most undeservedly, in common with the
rest. The bold heterodox doctrines, also, which had occasionally broken
forth in different parts of Europe in the fifteenth century, like so many
faint streaks of light ushering in the glorious morn of the Reformation,
had roused the alarm of the champions of the church, and kindled on
more than one occasion the fires of persecution ; and, before the close of
the period, the Inquisition was introduced into Spain.
From that disastrous hour, religion wore a new aspect in this unhappy
country. The spirit of intolerance, no longer hooded in the darkness of
the cloister, now stalked abroad in all his terrors. Zeal was exalted
into fanaticism : and a rational spirit of proselytisui, into one of fiendish
persecution. It was not enough now, as formerly, to conform passively
to the doctrines of the church, but it was enjoined to make war on all
who refused them. The natural feeling of compunction in the discharge
of this sad duty was a crime ; and vi.e tear of sympathy, wrung out by
the sight of mortal agonies, was an offence to be expiated by humiliating
penance. The _htful maxims were deliberately engraited into
the code of morals. Any one, it was said, rnijrht conscientiously kill
an apostate wherever he could meet him. There was some doubt
whether a man might slay his own father, if a heretic or infidel ; but
none whatever as tolas right, in that event, to take awav tne life of
his son, or of his brother.* These maxims were not a dead letter, but of
most active operation, as the sad records of the dread tribunal too well
prove. The character of the nation underwent a melancholy change.
The milk of charity, nay, of human feelinir, was soured in
bosom. The liberality of the old Spanish cavalier gave way to the fiery
fanaticism of the monk. The taste for blood, once gratified, begat a
cannibal appetite in the people, who, cheered on by the frantic clergy,
d to vie with one another in the eagerness with which they ran
down the miserable game of the Inquisition.
It was at this very time, when the infernal monster, gorged, but not
sated with human sacrifice, was crying aloud for fresh victims, that
Granada surrendered to the Spaniards, under the solemn guarantee of
the full enjoyment of civil and religious liberty. The treaty of capitu-
lation granted too much, or too little too Tittle for an independent
state, too much for one whose existence Avas now merged in that of a
greater ; for it secured to the Moors privileges in some respects superior
to those of the Castiiians, and to the prejudice of the latter. Such, for
example, was the permission to trade with the Uarbary coast, and with
the various places in C'astile and Andalusia, without paying the duties
imposed on the Spaniards themselves ; and that article, a<:ai;i, by
which runaway Moorish slaves from other parts of the kingdom were
made free and incapable of being reclaimed by their masters, if they
could reach Granada. The former of these provisions struck at the
* The Moors and Jews, of course, stood no chance in this code; the reverend father
txyiresses an opinion, with which Bleda heartily coincides, that the government '.vould
be i>cru.vtly justified in t.ilring away tLe lite of every Moor in the kingdoic IVi liieir
378 Kisrse ix THE ALI>UXARBAS.
commercial profits of the Spaniards, the latter directly at then
property.
It is not too much to say, that such a treaty, depending for its
observance on the good faith and forbearance of the stronger party,
would not hold together a year in any country of Christendom, even at
the present day, before some Haw or pretext would be devised to evade
it. How much greater was the probability of this in the present case,
where the weaker party was viewed with all the accumulated odium of
lou'i- hereditary hostility, and religious rancour ?
The work of conversion, on which the Christians, no doubt, much
relied, was attended with greater difficulties than had been antic ;
by the conquerors. It was now found that, while the Moors retained
their present faith, they would be much better affected towards their
countrymen in Africa, than to the cation with which they were
incorporated. In short, Spain still had enemies in her bosom : and
reports were rife in every quarter of their secret intelligence with the
Barbary states, and of Christians kidnapped to be sold as slaves to
Algerine corsairs. Such tales, greedily circulated and swallowed, soon
begat general alarm ; and men are not apt to be over-scrupulous as tc
measures which they deem essential to their personal salVty.
The zealous attempt to bring about conversion by preaching and
expostulation was fair and commendable. The intervention of bribes
and promises, if it violated the spirit, did not, at least, the letter of the
treaty. The application of force to a few of the most refractory, who
by their blind obstinacy were excluding a whole nation from the
benefits of redemption, was to be defended on other grounds ; and these
were not wanting to cunning theologians, who considered that the
sanctity of the end justified extraordinary means, and that where the
eternal interests of the soul were at stake, the force of promises, and
the faith of treaties were equally nugatory.
But the chef-d'oeuvre of monkish casuistry was the argument imputed
to Ximenes for depriving the Moors of the benefits of the treaty, as a
legitimate consequence of the rebellion into which they had been driven
by his own malpractices. This proposition, however, far from outraging
trie feelings of the nation, well drilled by this time in the metaphysics
of the cloister, fell short of them, if we are to judge from recommenda-
tions of a still more questionable import, urged, though ineffectually,
on the sovereigns at this very time, from the highest quarter.
Such are the frightful results to which the fairest mind may be led,
when it introduces the refinements of logic into the discussions of duty ;
when, proposing to achieve some great good, whether in politics or
religion, it conceives that the importance of the object authorises a
departure from the plain principles of morality, which regulate the
ordinary affairs of life ; and when, blending these higher interests with
those of a personal nature, it becomes incapable of discriminating
between them, and is led insensibly to act from selfish motives, while it
fondly imagines itself obeying only the conscientious dictates of duty.*
A
moral
lusoj'hy.
of C' nscieiice, maice Slaves 01 ail me Jionscos, auu may [mi, meui iuio your own jpmeys or
mines, or sell them to strangers. And as to their children, they may bo all sold at good
TREATMENT OF COLUMBUS. 379
With these events may be said to terminate the history of the Moors,
or the Moriscos, as henceforth called, under the present reign. Eight
centuries had elapsed since their first occupation of the country ; during
which period they had exhibited all the various phases of civilisation,
from its dawn to its decline. Ten years had sufficed to overturn the
splendid remains of this powerful empire ; and ten more, for its nominal
conversion to Christianity. A long century of perseciition, of unmiti-
gated and unmerited suffering, was to follow before the whole was to be
consummated by the expulsion of this unhappy race from the Peninsula.
Their story, in this latter period, furnishes one of the most memorable
examples in history, of the impotence of persecution, even in support of
a good cause against a bad one. It is a lesson that cannot be too
deeply pondered through every succeeding age. The fires of the
Inquisition are indeed extinguished, prob.ilily to be lighted no more.
But where is the land which can boast that the spirit of intolerance,
which forms the very breath of persecution, is altogether extinct in its
bosom ?
CHAPTER VIII.
OULUMBU9 PROSECUTION OF DISCOVERY HIS TREATMENT BT THE COURT.
14911503.
Progress of Discovery Reaction of Public Feeling The Queen's Confidence in Colnmbn* i
lie discovers Terra Finn:i Isabella sends back the Indian Slaves Complaints against
Columbus Superseded in the Government Vindication of the Sovereigns His fourth
nd last Voyage.
THE reader will turn with satisfaction from the melancholy and mortify-
ing details of superstition to the generous efforts which the Spanish
government was making to enlarge the limits of science and dominion in
the west. " Amidst the storms and troubles of Italy, Spain was every
day stretching her wings over a wider sweep of empire, and extending
the glory of her name to the far Antipodes." Such is the swell oj
exultation with which the enthusiastic Italian, Martyr, notices the
brilliant progress of discovery under his illustrious countryman Columbus.
The Spanish sovereigns had never lost sight of the new domain, so
unexpectedly opened to them, as it were, from the depths of the ocean.
The first accounts transmitted by the great navigator and his companions,
on his second voyage, while their imaginations Avere warm with the beauty
and novelty of the scenes which met their eyes in the New World, served
to keep alive the tone of excitement which their unexpected successes
had kindled in the nation. The various specimens sent home in the
return ships, of the products of these unknown regions, continued the
agreeable belief that they formed part of the great Asiatic continent,
which had so long excited the cupidity of Europeans. The Spanish court,
sharing in the general enthusiasm, endeavoured to promote the spirit of
rates here in Spain, which will be so far from being a punishment, that it will be a mercy
to them, since by that means they will nil become Christians ; which they would never
have been, had they continued with their pareuta. By the holy execution of which piece of
Justice, o great mm of money will jlow into your Majesty't treartury*
380 PEOGEESS OF DISCOYEET.
discovery and colonisation, by forwarding the requisite supplies, and
complying promptly with the most minute suggestions of Columbus.
But, in less than two years from the commencement of his second
voyage, the face of things experienced a melancholy change. Accounts
were received at home of the most alarming discontent and disaffection
in the colony ; while the actual returns from these vaunted regions were
BO scanty as to bear no proportion to the expenses of the expedition.
This unfortunate result was in a great measure imputable to the mis-
conduct of the colonists themselves. Most of them were adventurers,
who had embarked with no other expectation than that of getting
together a fortune as speedily as possible in the golden Indies. They
were without subordination, patience, industry, or any of the regular
habits demanded for success in such an enterprise. As soon as they had
launched from their native shore, they seemed t feel themselves released
from the constraints of all law. They harboured jealousy and distrust
of the admiral as a foreigner. The cavaliers and hidalgos, of whom
there were too many in the expedition, contemned him as an upstart
whom it was derogatory to obey. From the first moment of their land-
ing in Hispaniola they indulged the most wanton licence in regard to
the unoffending natives, who, in the simplicity of their hearts, had
received the white men as messengers from Heaven. Their outrages,
however, soon provoked a general resistance, which led to such a war of
extermination, that in less than four years after the Spaniards had set
foot on the island, one third of its population, amounting, probably, to
several hundred thousands, were sacrificed ! Such were the melancholy
auspices under which the intercourse was opened between the civilised
white man and the simple natives of the Avestern world.
These excesses, and a total neglect of agriculture, for none would
condescend to turn up the earth for any other object than the gold they
could find in it, at length occasioned an alarming scarcity of provisions;
while the poor Indians neglected their usual husbandry, being willing to
starve themselves, so that they could starve out their oppressors.* In
order to avoid the famine which menaced his little colony, Columbus was
obliged to resort to coercive measures, shortening the allowance of food,
and compelling all to work, without distinction of rank. These un-
Ealatable regulations soon bred general discontent. The high mettled
idalgos, especially, complained loudly of the indignity of such mechanical
drudgery, while Father Boil and his brethren were equally outraged by
the diminution of their regular rations.
The Spanish sovereigns were now daily assailed with com plaints of the
mal-administration of Columbus, and of his impolitic and unjust severities
to both Spaniards and natives. They lent, however, an unwilling ear to
these vague accusations ; they fully appreciated the difficulties of his
situation ; and, although they sent out an agent to inquire into the
nature of the troubles which threatened the existence of the colony
(August, 1495), they were careful to select an individual who they
thought would be most grateful to the admiral ; and when the latter in
the following year, 1496, returned to Spain, they received him with the
most ample acknowledgments of regard. " Come to us," they said, in a
The Indians had some grounds for relying on the efficacy of starvation, if, as
siis gravely asserts, ''cue Spaniard consumed in a single day as much as would su
ee families ! '
Lai
ould suffice
three fa
TREATMENT OF COLUMBUS. 3S1
kind letter of oongrfttnlatum, addressed to him soon after his arrival,
"when you can do it without inconvenience to yourself, for you have
endured too many vexations already."
The admiral brought with him, as before, such samples of the pro-
ductions of the western hemisphere as would strike the public eye, and
keep alive the feeling of curiosity. On his journey through Anaalu&ia,
he passed some days under the hospitable roof of the good curate,
Bernaldez, who d \\ells with much satisfaction on the remarkable appear-
ance of the Indian chiefs, following in the admiral's train, gorgeously
decorated with golden collars and coronets, and various barlnuic orna-
ments. Among these lie particularly notices certain " belts and masks
of cotton and of wood with figures of the devil embroidered and carved
thiT'on, sometimes in his own proper likeness, and at others in that of
a fut < an owl. There is much reason," he infers, "to believe that he
appears to the islanders in this guise, and that they are all idolaters,
having Satan for their lord ! "
I5ut neither the attractions of the spectacle, nor the glowing represen-
tations of Columbus, who fancied he had discovered in the mines of
llisi aniola the golden quarries of Ophir, from which King Solomon had
enriched the temple of Jerusalem, could rekindle the dormant enthusiasm
dt' the nation. The novelty of the thing had passed. They heard a
dillerent tale, mou-over, from the other voyagers, whose wan and sallow
visages provoked the bitter jest, that they had returned with more gold
in their faces than in their pockets. In short, the scepticism of the
public seemed now quite in proportion to its former overweening con-
lidence ; and the returns were so mean -re, says Bernaldez, " that it was
very generally believed there was little or no gold in the island."
Isabella was far from participating in this unreasonable distrust. She
had espoused the theory of Columbus when others looked coldly or con-
temptuously on it.* She firmly relied on his repeated assurances that
the track oi discovery woxild lead to other and more important regions.
J3he formed a higher estimate, moreover, of the value of the new acqui-
sitions than any founded on the actual proceeds in gold and siKer ;
keeping ever in view, as her letters and instructions abundantly show,
the glorious purpose of introducing the blessings of Christian civilisation
among the heathen. She entertained a deep sense of the merits of
( 'olumbus, to whose serious and elevated character her own bore much
resemblance, although the enthusiasm which distinguished each was
naturally tempered in hers with somewhat more of benignity and
discretion.
But, although the queen was willing to give the most effectual support
to his great enterprise, the situation of the country was such as made
ilday iii its immediate prosecution unavoidable. Large expense was
ncet ssarily incurred for the actual maintenance of the colony ;f the
exchequer was liberally drained, moreover, by the Italian war, as well
as by the profuse magnificence with which the nuptials of the royal
family were now celebrating. It was, indeed, in the midst of the courtly
revelries attending the marriage of Prince John, that the admiral
* Columbus, in his letter to Prince John's nurse, dated 1500, makes ample acknowledge
orient of the protection of him.
t Tin- salarirs :il..no, annually disbursed by the crown to pel-sons resident in the colony,
amounted to six million maravedis.
382 PEOGEESS OP DISCOVEKI..
presented himself before the sovereign at Burgos, after his second voyage.
Such was the low condition of the treasury from these causes,* that
Isabella was obliged to defray the cost of an outfit to the colony at this
time, from funds originally destined for the marriage of her daughter
Isabella with the king oi' Portugal.
This unwelcome delay, however, was softened to Columbus by the
distinguished marks which he daily received of the royal favour ; and
various ordinances were passed, confirming and enlarging his great
powers and privileges in the most ample manner, to a greater extent,
indeed, than his modesty, or his prudence, would allow him to accept.*
The language in which these princely gratuities were conferred rendered
them duubly grateful to his noble heart, containing, as they did, the
most emphatic acknowledgments of his "many, good, loyal, distin-
guished, and continual services," and thus testifying the unabated con-
fidence of his sovereigns in his integrity and prudence.f
Among the impediments to the immediate completion of the arrange-
ments for the admiral's departure on his third voyage, may be also
noticed the hostility of Bishop Fonseca, who, at this period, had the
control of the Indian department ; a man of an irritable, and, as it would
seem, most unforgiving temper, who, from some causes of disgust which
he had conceived with Columbus previous to his second voyage, lost no
opportunity of annoying and thwarting him, for which his official station
unfortunately afforded him too many facilities.
From these various circumstances the admiral's fleet was not ready
before the beginning of 1498. Even then further embarrassment occurred
in manning it, as few were found willing to embark in a service which
had fallen into such general discredit. This led to the ruinous expedient
of substituting convicts, whose regular punishments were commuted into
transportation, for a limited period, to the Indies. No measure could
possibly have been devised more effectual for the ruin of the infant
settlement. The seeds of corruption, which had been so long festering
in the Old World, soon shot up into a plentiful harvest in the Xew ; and
Columbus, who suggested the measure, was the first to reap the fruits
of it.
At length, all being in readiness, the admiral embarked on board his
little squadron, consisting of six vessels, whose complement of men, not-
withstanding every exertion, was still deficient; and took his departure
from the port of St. Lucar, May 30th, 1498. He steered in a more
southerly direction than on his preceding voyages, and on the 1st of
August succeeded in reaching terra firma ; thus entitling himself to the
glory of being the first to set foot on the great southern continent, to
which he had before opened the way.
It is not necessary to pursue the track of the illustrious voyager, whose
career, forming the most brilliant episode to the history of the present
reign, has been so recently traced by a hand which few will care to follow.
It will suffice briefly to notice his personal relations with the Spanish
Such, for example, was the grant of an immense tract of land in Hispaniola, with the
title of count or duke, as the admiral might prefer.
t The instrument establishing the mayorazgo, or perpetual entail of Columbus's estates,
contains an injunction that "his heirs shall never use any other signature than that of
'the Admiral, 'el Almirnnte, whatever other titles and honours may belong to them." That
title indicated his peculiar achievements ; and it w;is an honest pride which led him by thi
imple cxj sdient to perpetuate the remembrance of them in his posterity.
TREATMENT OF COLTJ3IBUS. 383
government, and the principles on which the colonial administration was
conducted.
On his arrival at Hispaniola, Columbus found the affairs of the colony
in the most deplorable confusion. An insurrection had been raised by
the arts of a few factious individuals against his brother Bartholomew,
to whom he had entrusted the government during his absence. In this
desperate rebellion, all the interests of the community were neglected.
The mines, which were just beginning to yield a golden harvest, remained
un wrought. The unfortunate natives were subjected to the most in-
human oppression. There was no law but that of the strongest. Colum-
bus, on his arrival, in vain endeavoured to restore order. Tlit veiy
crews he brought with him, who had been unfortunately reprieved from
the gibbet in their own countiy, served to swell the mass of mutiny.
The admiral exhausted art, negotiation, entreaty, force, and succeeded
at length in patching up a specious reconciliation by such concessions as
essentially impaired his own authority. Among these was the grant of
large tracts of land to the rebels, with permission to the proprietor to
employ an allotted number of the natives in its cultivation. This was
the origin of the celebrate J system of repartimientos, which subsequently
led to the foulest abuses that ever disgraced humanity.
^Nearly a year elapsed a'.'ter the admiral's return to Hispaniola, before
he succeeded in allaying these intestine feuds. In the meanwhile
rumours were every day reaching Spain of the distractions of the colony,
accompanied with most injurious imputations on the conduct of Columbus
and his brother, who were loudly accused of oppressing both Spaniards
and Indians, and of sacrificing the public interests in the most unscrupu-
lous manner to their own. These complaints were rung in the very ears
of the sovereigns by numbers of the disaffected colonists, who had returned
to Spain, and who surrounded the king as he rode out on horseback,
clamouring loudly for the discharge of the arrears, of which they said
the admiral had defrauded them.*
There were not wanting even persons of high consideration at the
court, to give credence and circulation to these calumnies. The recent
discovery of the pearl fisheries of Paria, as well as of more prolific veins
of the precious metals in Hispaniola, and the prospect of an indefinite
extent of unexplored country, opened by the late voyage of Columbus,
made the vice-royalty of the New World a tempting bait for the avarice
and ambition of the most potent grandee. They artfully endeavoured,
therefore, to undermine the admiral's credit with the sovereigns, by
raiding in their minds suspicions of his integrity, founded not merely on
vague reports, but on letters received from the colony, charging him
with disloyalty, with appropriating to his own use the revenues of the
island, and" with the design of erecting an independent government for
himself.
Whatever weight these absurd charges may have had with Ferdinand,
they had no power to shake the queen's confidence in Columbus, or
lead her to suspect his loyalty for a moment. But the long-continued
* Ferdinand Columbus mentions that he and his brother, who were then pages to the
queen, could not stir out into the courtyard of tlie Alhambni without beinp followed by fifty of
these vagabonds, who insulted them in the grossest manner, " as the sous of the adventure!
who had led so many brave Spanish hidalgos to seek their graves in the land of vanity and
delusion which he had found out."
384 PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY.
distractions of the colony made her feel a natural distrust of his capacity
to govern it, whether from the jealousy entertained of him as a foreigner,
or from some inherent deficiency in his own character. These doubts
were mingled, it is true, with sterner feelings towards the admiral, on
the arrival, at this juncture, of several of the rebels, with the Indian
slaves assigned to them hy his orders.
It was the received opinion among good Catholics of that period, that
heathen and barbarous nations were placed by the circumstance of their
infidelity without the pale both of spiritual and civil rights. Their souls
were doomed to eternal perdition ; their bodies were the property of the
Christian nation who should occupy their soil.* Such, in brief, were the
profession and the practice of the most enlightened Europeans of the
fifteenth century ; and such the deplorable maxims which regulated the
intercourse of the Spanish and Portuguese navigators with the uncivilised
natives of the western world.f Columbus, agreeably to tbese views, had,
very soon after the occupation of Hispaniula, recommended a regular
exchange of slaves for the commodities required for the support of the
colony; representing, moreover, that in this way their conversion would
be more surely effected, an object, it must be admitted, which he seems
to have ever had most earnestly at heart.
Isabella, however, entertained views on this matter far more liberal
than those of her age. She had been deeply interested by the accounts
she had received from the admiral himself of the gentle, unoffending
character of the islanders ; and she revolted at the idea of consigning
them to the horrors of slavery, without even an effort for their conver-
sion. She hesitated, therefore, to sanction his proposal; and, when a
number of Indian captives were advertised to be sold in the markets of
Andalusia, she commanded the sale to be suspended till the opinion of a
council of theologians and doctors, learned in such matters, could be
obtained, as to its conscientious lawfulness. She yielded still further to
the benevolent impulses of her nature, causing holy men to be instructed
as far as possible in the Indian languages, and sent out as missionaries
for the conversion of the natives. Some of them, as Father Boil and his
brethren, seem indeed to have been more concerned for the welfare of
their own bodies, than for the souls of their benighted flock ; but others,
imbued with a better spirit, wrought in the good work with disinterested
zeal, and, if we may credit their accounts, with some efficacy.J
II 111 Lit
rights or mail, witn wimt 1:11111 prescnoea as me legiiimau) jirurcigauve 01 MIU pope.
Few Roman Catholics of the present day will be found sturdy enough to maintain this
lofty prerogative, however carefully limited. Still fewer in the sixteenth century would
have challenged it Indeed, it is but just to Las Casas to admit that the general scope of
his arguments, here and elsewhere, is very far in advance of his :\e.
f A. Spanish casuist founds the right of his nation to enslave the Indians, among
other things, on their smoking tobacco, and not trimming tluir beards, A l'Ex)>agnole. At
least, this is Montesquieu's interpretation of it. The doctors of the Inquisition could
hardly have found a better reus, ,n.
I ' Amo? a; other things that the holy fathers carried out," says "'"bios, "was a little
THEATiTENT OF COLTTJlBrS. 385
In tlio s:imc beneficent spirit, the royal letters and ordinances urged
over and over again the paramount obligation of the religious instruction
of the natives, and of observing the utmost gentleness and humanity in
all ell-alines with them. When therefore the queen learned the arrival
of two vessels from the Indies with three hundred slaves on board, which
the admiral had granted to the mutineers, she could not repress her
indignation, but impatiently asked, "By what authority does Columbus
venture thus to dispose of my subjects ? " (June 20, 1500.) She instantly
caused proclamation to be made in the southern provinces, that all who
had Indian slaves in their possession, granted by the admiral, should
forthwith provide for their return to their own country ; while the few
still held by the < rown were to be restored to freedom in like manner.*
At'u-r a long and visible reluctance, the queen acquiesced in sending
out a commissioner to investigate the affairs of the colony. The persoC
to this delieate trust was Don Francisco de Bobadilla, a poor
knight nf Calatrava. He was invested with supreme powers of civil and
criminal jurisdiction. He was to bring to trial and pass sentence on all
such as had conspired against the authority of Columbus. He was
authorised to take possession of the fortresses, vessels, public stores, and
property of every description ; to dispose of all offices ; and to command
whatever persons he might deem expedient for the tranquillity of the
island, without distinction of rank, to return to Spain, and present them-
selves before the sovereigns. Such, in brief, was the sum of the extra-
ordinary powers intrusted to Bobadilla. f
It is impossible now to determine what motives could have led to the
selection of so incompetent an agent for an office of such high responsi-
bility. He seems to have been a weak and arrogant man, swelled up
with' immeasurable insolence by the brief authority thus undeservedly
bestowed on him. From the very first, he regarded Columbus in the
liirht of a convicted criminal, on whom it was his business to execute the
sentence of the law. Accordingly, on his arrival at the island, after an.
: atious parade of his credentials, he commanded the admiral to appear
him, and, without affecting the forms of a legal inquiry, at once
I him to be manacled and thrown into prison (August 23, 1500).
Columbus submitted without the least show of resistance, displaying in
tin* sad reverse that magnanimity of soul which would have touched the
luart of a generous adversary. Bobadilla, however, discovered no such
sensibility ; and, after raking together all the foul or frivolous calumnies
which hatred or the hope of favour could extort, he caused the whole
loathsome mass of accusation to be sent back to Spain with the admiral,
whom he commanded to be kept strictly in irons during the passage ;
Id,'' says rYrdinand Columbus bitterly, "lest he might by any
chance swim back again to the island."
organ and several bslls, which greatly delighted the simple people, so that from one to
twoti. -..113 were baptised every day." < 'olumbus remark?, with
; hat " the Indians were so obedieat from their fear of the admiral, arid at tho
lesirous to oblige him, that they vvluntai-ily became Christians ! "
* Las Casas observes, that "so great was the queen's indignation at the admiral's mis-
oonduct in this particular, that nothing but the consideration of his great public services
saved him from in;
ii 21st, and May Cist, 14P9 ; tho
it, however, was delayed until July, 1000, in the hope, doubtless, of ol '
such :idir.Lrs from liispauiola us should obviate the necessity of a measure so prejudicial
taunL
c o
386 PROGRESS OP DISCOVERY.
Tius excess of malice served, as usual, however, to defeat itself. So
enormous an outrage shocked the minds of those most prejudiced
against Columbus. All seemed to feel it as a national dishonour, that
such indignities should be heaped on the man who, whatever might be
bis indiscretions, had done so much for Spain, and for the whole civilised
world; a man who, in the honest language of an old writer, "had he
lived in the days of ancient Greece or Home, would have had statues
raised, and temples and divine honours dedicated to him, as to a
divinity." *
None partook of the general indignation more strongly than Ferdinand
and Isabella, who, in addition to their personal feelings of disgust at
so gross an act, readily comprehended the whole weight of obloquy
which its perpetration must necessarily attach to them. They sent to*
Cadiz without an instant's delay, and commanded the admiral to be
released from his ignominious fetters. They wrote to him in the most
benignant terms, expressing their sincere regret for the unworthy usage
which he had experienced, and requesting him to appear before them aa
speedily as possible, at Granada, where the Court was then staying. At
the same time, they furnished him a thousand ducats for his expenses,.
*nd a handsome retinue to escort him on his journey.
Columbus, revived by these assurances of the kind dispositions of his
sovereigns, proceeded without delay to Granada, which he reached on
the 17th of December, 1500. Immediately on his arrival he obtained
an audience. The queen could not repress her tears at the sight of the
man whose illustrious services had met with such ungenerous requital,,
as it were, at her own hands. She endeavoured to cheer his wounded
spirit with the most earnest assurances of her sympathy and sorrow for
his misfortunes. Columbus, from the first moment of his disgrace, had
relied on the good faith and kindness of Isabella ; for as an ancient
Castilian writer remarks, " she had ever favoured him beyond the king
her husband, protecting his interests, and showing him especial kindness
and good-will." When he beheld the emotion of his royal mistress,
and listened to her consolatory language, it was too much for his loyal
and genrimis heart ; and, throwing himself on his knees, he gave vent
to his feeiings, and sobbed aloud. The sovereigns endeavoured to soothe
and tranquillize his mind, and, after testifying their deep sense of his
injuries, promised him that impartial justice should be done his enemies,
and that he should be reinstated in his emoluments and honours.
Much censure has attached to the Spanish government for its share
in this unfortunate transaction ; both in the appointment of so unsuit-
able an agent as Bobadilla, and the delegation of such broad and
indefinite powers. "With regard to the first, it is now too late, as has
already been remarked, to ascertain, on what grounds such a selection
could have been made. There is no evidence of his being indebted for
his promotion to intrigue or any undue influence. Indeed, according to
the testimony of one of his contemporaries, he was reputed "an extremely
honest and religious man ;" and the good bishop Las Casas expressly
declares, that " no imputation of dishonesty or avarice had ever rested
* Ferdinand Coltimbus tells us, that his father kept the fetters in which he was brought
noiao, hanging up in an apartment of his house, as a perpetual memorial of national
ingratitude, and, when he died, ordtred them to be buried ia the same grave vitii
him sett
TKEATMEXT OF COLUMBUS. 387
on his character." It was an error of judgment ; a grave one, indeed,
and must pass for as much as it is worth.
But in regard to the second charge, of delegating unwarrantable
powers, it should be remembered that the grievances of the colony were
represented as of a most pressing nature, demanding a prompt and
peremptory remedy ; that a more limited and partial authority, depen-
dent for its exercise on instructions from the government at home, might
be attended with ruinous delays ; that his authority must necessarily
bo paramount to that of Columbus, who was a party implicated ; and
that although unlimited jurisdiction was given over all offences com-
mitted against him, yet neither he nor his friends were to be molested
in any other way than by a temporary suspension from office, and a
return to their own country, where the merits of their case might be
submitted to the sovereigns themselves.
This view of the matter, indeed, is perfectly conformable to that of
Ferdinand Columbus, whose solicitude, so apparent in every page, for
his father's reputation, must have effectually counterbalanced any
repugnance he may have felt at impugning the conduct of his sovereigns.
"The only ground of complaint," he remarks, in summing up his
narrative of the transaction, "which I can bring against their Catholic
Highnesses, is the unfitness of the agent whom they employed, equally
malicious and ignorant. Had they sent out a suitable person, the
admiral would have been highly gratified ; since he had more than once
requested the appointment of some one with full powers of jurisdiction
in an althir where he felt some natural delicacy in moving, in conse-
quence of his own brother having been originally involved in it." And,
as to the vast magnitude of the powers intrusted to Bobadilla, he adds,
" It can scarcely be wondered at, considering the manifold complaints
against the admiral made to their Highnesses."
Although the king and queen determined without hesitation on the
complete restoration of the admiral's honours, they thought it better to
defer his re-appointment to the government of the colony until the
".t disturbances should be settled, and he might return there with
personal safety and advantage. In the meantime they resolved to send
out a competent individual, and to support him with such a force as
should overawe faction, and enable him to place the tranquillity of the
island on a permanent basis.
The person selected was Don ^Nicolas de Ovando, comendador of Lares,
of the military order of Alcantara. He was a man of acknowledged
prudence and sagacity, temperate in liis habits, and plausible and politic
in his address. It is sufficient evidence of his standing at court, that he
had been one of the ten youths selected to be educated in the palace as
companions for the prince of the Asturias. He was furnished with a
fleet of two-and-thirty sail, carrying twenty-five hundred persons, many
of them of the best families of the kingdom, with every variety of article
for the nourishment and permanent prosperity of the colony ; and the
general equipment was in a style of expense and magnificence sucli as
nad never before been lavished on any armada destined for the western
waters.
The new governor was instructed immediately on his arrival to send
Bobadilla home for trial. (Sept. 1501.) Under his lax administration,
abuses of every kind had multiplied to an alarming extent ; and the
c o 2
588 PBOGRESS OF DISCOVERT*
poor natives, in particular, were rapidly wasting away under the new
and most inhuman arrangement of the repartimientos, which he esta-
blished. Isabella now declared the Indians free ; and emphatically
enjoined on the authorities of Hispaniola to respect them as true and
faithful vassals of the crown. Ovando was especially to ascertain the
amount of losses sustained by Columbus and his brothers, to provide for
their full indemnification, and to secure the unmolested enjoyment in
future of all their lawful rights and pecuniary perquisites.
Fortified with the most ample instructions in regard to these and
other details of his administration, the governor embarked on board his
magnificent flotilla, and crossed the bar of St. Lucar, February loth,
1502. A furious tempest dispersed the fleet before it had been out a
week, and a report reached Spain that it had entirely perished. Iho
sovereigns, overwhelmed with sorrow at this fresh disaster, which
consigned so many of their best and bravest to a watery grave, shut
themselves up in their palace for several days. Fortunately, the report
proved ill-founded. The fleet rode out the storm in safety, one
vessel only having perished : and the remainder reached in due time the
place of destination.
The Spanish government has been roundly taxed with injustice and
ingratitude for its delay in restoring Columbus to the full possession of
his colonial authority ; and that too by writers generally distinguished
for candour and impartiality. No such animadversion, however, as far
as I am aware, is countenanced by contemporary historians ; and it
appears to be wholly undeserved. Independent of the obvious inexpe-
diency of returning him immediately to the theatre of disaffection,
before the embers of ancient animosity had had time to cool, there
were several features in his character which make it doubtful whether
he were the most competent person, in any event, for an emergency
demanding at once the greatest coolness, consummate address, and
acknowledged personal authority. His sublime enthusiasm, which
carried him victorious over every obstacle, involved him also in nume-
rous embarrassments, which men of more phlegmatic temperament
would have escaped. It led him to count too readily on a similar spirit
in others, and to be disappointed. It gave an exaggerated colouring to
his views and descriptions, that inevitably led to a reaction in the minds
of such as embarked their all on the splendid dreams of a fairy land,
which they were never to realise.* Hence a fruitful source of discon-
tent and disaffection in his followers. It led him, in his eagerness for
the achievement of his great enterprises, to be less scrupulous and politic
as to the means than a less ardent spirit would have been. His
pertinacious adherence to the scheme of Indian slavery, and his
in! politic regulation compelling the labour of the hidalgos, are pertinent
* The high devotional feeling of Columbus led him to trace out allusions iu Scripture to
the various circumstances and scenes ol' his adventurous life. Thus he believed his groat
rv announced in the Apocalypse, and in Isaiah ; he identified, as I have before
stated, the mines of Hispaniola with those which furnished Solomon with materials i"r his
; he failed that he had determined tho actual locality of thcganli,
the newly discovered rt_<rion of Paria. Hut his great a nee was his piv >jert nf n.
ciiisadc for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre. This he cherished from the first hour of
overy, pressing it. iu the most indent manner on the sovereigns, and making actual
provision for it in his testament. This was a tlii'ht, however, beyond the spirit e\cn of this
romantic age, nnd probably received as little serious attention from the queen, as from
:er moro cool and calculating husband.
OF COLUMUCS, 389
examples of this.* He was, moreover, a foreigner, without rarfk,
fortune, or powerful friends ; and his high and sudden elevation natu-
rally raised him up a thousand enemies among a proud, punctilious,
and intensely national people. Under these multiplied embarrassments,
resulting from peculiarities of character and situation, the sovereigns
might well be excused for not entrusting Columbus, at this delicate
crisis, with disentangling the meshes of intrigue and faction, in which
the affairs of the colony were so unhappily involved.
I trust these remarks will not be construed into an insensibility to
the merits and exalted services of Columbus. " A world," to bomcvr
the words, though not the application of the Greek historian " is his
monument." His virtues shine with too bright a lustre to be dimmed
l;y a few natural blemishes; but it becomes necessary to notice these,
to vindicate the Spanish government from the imputation of perfidy and
ingratitude, where it has been most freely urged, and apparent!}' with
the least foundation.
It is more difficult to excuse the paltry equipment with which the
admiral was suffered to undertake his fourth and last voyage. The
object proposed by this expedition was the discovery of a passage to the
great Indian Ocean, which he inferred sagaciously enough from his
premises, though, as it turned out, to the great inconvenience of the
commercial world, most erroneously, must open somewhere between
Cuba and the coast of Paria. Four caravels only were furnished for
the expedition, the largest of which did not exceed seventy tons'
burden ; a force forming a striking contrast to the magnificent
armada lately intrusted to Ovando, and altogether too insignificant to
be vindicated on the ground of the different objects proposed by the
two expeditions.
Columbus, oppressed with growing infirmities, and a consciousness,
perhaps, of the decline of popular favour, manifested unusual despon-
dency previously to his embarkation. He talked, even, of resigning
the task of further discovery to his brother Bartholomew. " I have
established," said he, " all that I have proposed, the existence of land
in the west. I have opened the gate, and others may enter at their
pleasure ; as indeed they do, arrogating to themselves the titLs ot'
discoverers, to which they can have little claim, following as they do in
my track." He little thought the ingratitude of mankind would
sanction the claims of these adventurers so far as to confer the name of
one of them on that world which his genius had revealed.
The great inclination, however, which the admiral had to serve the
Catholic sovereigns, and especially the most serene queen, says Ferdinand
Columbus, induced him to lay aside his scruples, and encounter the
perils and fatigues of another voyage. A few weeks before his departure,
he received a gracious letter from Ferdinand and Isabella, the last ever
addressed to him by his royal mistress, assuring him of their purpose to
maintain inviolate all their engagements with him, and to perpetuate the
* Another example was the injudicious punishment of delinquents fcy diminishing their
Tegular allowance of food, a measure so obnoxious as to call for the interference of the
sovereigns, who prohibited it altogether. Herrera, who must be admitted to have been
in no degree insensible to the merits of Columbus, closes his account of the various accu-
sations ur_'L<l against him and his brothers, with the remark, that, " with every allowance
for calumny, they must be confessed not to have governed the Castilians with the
moderation that they ought to have done."
390 PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY.
inheritance of his honours in his family.* Comforted and cheered by
these assurances, the veteran navigator, quitting the port of Cadiz
on the 9th of March, 1502, once more spread his sails for those golden
regions -which he had approached so near, but was destined never to
reach.
It will not be necessary to pursue his course further than to notice a
single occurrence of most extraordinary nature. The admiral had
received instructions not to touch at Hispauiola on his outward voyage.
The leaky condition of one of his ships, however, and the signs of an
approaching storm, induced him to seek a temporary refuge there ; at
the same time, he counselled Ovando to delay for a few days the
departure of the fleet, then riding in the harbour which was destined to
carry Bobadilla and the rebels with their ill-gotten treasures back to
Spain. The churlish governor, however, not only refused Columbus
admittance, but gave orders for the instant departure of the vessels.
The apprehensions of tho experienced mariner were fully justified by the
event. Scarcely had the Spanish fleet quitted its moorings, before one
of those tremendous hurricanes came on, which so often desolate these
tropical regions, sweeping down everything before it, and fell with such
violence on the little navy, that out of eighteen ships, of which it was
composed, not more than three or four escaped. The rest all foundered,
including those which contained Bobadilla, and the late enemies of
Columbus. Two hundred thousand castellanos of gold, half of which
belonged to the government, went to the bottom with them. The only
one of the fleet which made its way back to Spain was a crazy, weather-
beaten bark, which contained the admiral's property, amounting to four
thousand ounces of gold. To complete these curious coincidences,
Columbus with his little squadron rode out the storm in safety under
the lee of the island, where he had prudently taken shelter on being so
rudely repulsed from the port. This even-handed retribution of justice,
so uncommon in human affairs, led many to discern the immediate inter-
position of Providence. Others, in a less Christian temper, referred it all
to the necromancy of the admiral.
* Among other instances of the queen's personal regard for Columbus, may be noticed
her receiving his two sons, Diego and Fernando, as her own pages on the death of Prince
John, in whose service they had formerly been. By an ordinance of 1503, we find Diogo
Colon made contino of tho royal household, with &u annual salary of 50,000 maruvedjj.
CHAPTEE
SPANISH COLONIAL POLICT.
Careful Provision for the Colonies Licence for Private Voyages Important Papal Con-
cessions The Queen's Zeal for Conversion Immediate Profits from the Discoveries
Their Moral Consequences Their Geographical Extent.
A CONSIDERATION of the colonial policy pursued during Isabella's
lifetime has been hitherto deferred, to avoid breaking the narrative of
Columbus' s personal adventures. I shall now endeavour to present the
reader with a brief outline of it, as far as can be collected from imper-
fect and scanty materials ; for, hoAvever incomplete in itself, it becomes
important as containing the germ of the gigantic system developed in
later ; I
Ferdinand and Isabella manifested from the first an eager and
enlightened curiosity in reference to their new acquisitions, constantly
interrogating the admiral minutely as to their soil and climate, their
various vep -table and mineral products, and especially the character of
the uncivilised races who inhabited them. They paid the greatest
deference to his suggestions, as before remarked, and liberally supplied
the infant settlement with whatever could contribute to its nourishment
and permanent prosperity. Through their provident attention, in a very
few years after its discovery, the island of Hispaniola was in possession
of the most important domestic animals, as well as fruits and vegetables,
of the Old World, some of which have since continued to furnish the
staple of a far more lucrative commerce than was ever anticipated from
its ir<>Kl mines.*
Emigration to the new countries was encouraged by the liberal tenor
of the royal ordinances passed from time to time. The settlers in
Hispaniola were to have their passage free ; to be excused from taxes ; to
have the absolute property of such plantations on the island as they should
engage to cultivate for four years; and they were furnished with a
gratuitous supply of grain and stock for their farms. All exports and
imports were exempted from duty ; a striking contrast to the narrow
policy of later ages. Five hundred persons, including scientific men
and artisans of every description, were sent out and maintained at the
expense of government. To provide for the greater security and quiet of
the island, Ovando was authorised to gather the residents into towns,
which were endowed with the privileges appertaining to similar cor-
porations in the mother country ; and a number of married men, with
their families, were encouraged to establish themselves in them, with the
view of giving greater solidity and permanence to the settlement.
With these wise provisions were mingled others savouring too strongly
* Abundant evidence of this is furnished by the long enumeration of articles subjected
to tithes, contained in an ordinance dated October 5th, 1501, showing with what indis-
crinv'iate severity this heavy burden was imposed from the first on the most important
procJ'icts of hu*nan industry.
392 SPANISH COLONIAL POLICT.
of the illiberal spirit of the age. Such, were those prohibiting Jews,
Moors, or indeed any but Castilians, for whom the discovery was con-
sidered exclusively to have been made, from inhabiting, or even visiting,
the Xew World. The government kept a most jealous eye upon what
it regarded as its own peculiar perquisites, reserving to itself the exclu-
sive possession of all minerals, dyewoods, and precious stones that
should be discovered; and, although private persons were allowed to
search for gold, they were subjected to the exorbitant tax of two-thirds,
subsequently reduced to one-fifth, of all they should obtain, for the
crown.*
The measure which contributed more effectually than any other, at
this period, to the progress of discovery and colonisation, was ihe licence
granted, under certain regulations, in 1495, for voyages undertaken by
private individuals. Xo use was made of this permission until some
years later, in 1499. The spirit of enterprise had flagged, and the
nation had experienced something like disappointment on contrasting
the meagre results of their own discoveries with the dazzling siit
of the Portuguese, who had struck at once into the very heart of the
jewelled east. The reports of the admiral's third voyage, however, and
the beautiful specimens of pearls which he sent home from the coast of
Paria, revived the cupidity of the nation. Private adventurers now
proposed to avail themselves of the licence already granted, and to
iollow up the track of discovery on their own account. The govern-
ment, drained by its late heavy expenditures, and jealous of the spirit
of maritime adventure beginning to show itself in the other nations of
Europe, t willingly acquiesced in a measure, which, while it opened a
wide field of enterprise for its subjects, secured to itself all the sub-
stantial benefits of discovery without any of the burdens.
The ships fitted out under the general licence were required to reserve
one-tenth of their tonnage for the crown, as well as two-thirds of all
the gold, and ten per cent, of all other commodities which they should
procure. The government promoted these expeditions by a bounty on
all vessels of six hundred tons and upwards engaged in them.
With this encouragement, the more wealthy merchants of Seville,
Cadiz, and Palos, the old theatre of nautical enterprise, freighted aud
sent out little squadrons of three or four vessels each, which they
intrusted to the experienced mariners who had accompanied Columbus
in his first voyage, or since followed in his footsteps. They held in
general the same course pursued by the admiral on his last expedition,
exploring the coasts of the great southern continent. Some of the
adventurers returned with such rich freights of gold, pearls, and other
precious commodities, as well compensated the fatigues and perils of the
voyage ; but the greater number were obliged to content themselves with
the more enduring, but barren honours of discovery . J
* The exclusion of foreigners, at least all but " Catholic Christians," k> particularly
recommended by Columbus iu his first communication to the crown.
t Among the foreign adventurers were the two Cabots, who sailed in the service of th
English monarch, Henry VII., in 1497, and ran down the whole coast of North America,
from Newfoundland to within a few degrees of Florida ; thus encroaching, as it were, on
the very field of discovery preoccupied by the Spaniards.
{ Columbus seems to have taken exceptions at the licence for private voyap. s, as nrt
Infringement of his own prerog:i:ivcs. It is difficult, however, to ondonteM in wiiat
wny. There ia nothing in his original capitulations with the government having- n.:
SPANISH COLONIAL POLICY. 39.S
The active spirit of enterprise now awakened, and the more enlarged
commercial relations with the new colonies, required a more perfect
organisation of the department for Indian affairs, the earliest vestige*
of which have been already noticed in a preceding chapter.* By an
ordinance dated at Alcala, January 20th, 1503, it was provided that a
board should be established, consisting of three functionaries, with the
titles of treasurer, factor, and comptroller. Their permanent residence
was assigned in the old alcazar of Seville, where they were to meet
every day for the dispatch of business. The board was expected to
make itself thoroughly acquainted with whatever concerned the colonies,
and to afford the government all information that could be obtained
affecting their interests and commercial prosperity. It was empowered
to grant licences under the regular conditions, to provide for the equip-
ment of fleets, to determine their destination, and furnish them with
instructions on sailing. All merchandise for exportation was to be
deposited in the aleazar, where the return cargoes were to be received,
and contracts made for their sale. Similar authority was given to it
over the trade with the Barbary coast and the Canary Islands. Its
supervision was to extend in like manner over all vessels which might
take their departure from the port of Cadiz, as well as from Seville.
"With these powers were combined others of a purely judicial character,
authorising them to take cognisance of questions arising out of particular
voyages, and of the colonial trade in general. In this latter capacity
they were to be assisted by the advice of two jurists, maintained by a
regular salary from the government.
Such were the extensive powers entrusted to the famous Casa de Con-
trdfttcinn, or House of Trade, on this, its first definite organisation ; and,
although its authority was subsequently somewhat circumscribed by the
appellate jurisdiction of the Council of the Indies, it has always con-
tinued the great organ by which the commercial transactions with the
colonies have been conducted and controlled.
The Spanish government, while thus securing to itself the more easy
and exclusive management of the colonial trade, by confining it within
one narrow channel, discovered the most admirable foresight in providing
for its absolute supremacy in ecclesiastical affairs, where alone it could
ntest ed. By a bull of Alexander the Sixth, dated November 16th,
1501, the sovereigns were empowered to receive all the tithes in the
colonial dominions. Another bull of Pope Julius the Second, July 28th,
1508, granted them the right of collating to all benefices, of whatever
(k'HTiption, in the colonies, subject only to the approbation of the Holy
Bv these two concessions the Spanish crown was placed at once at
the head of the church in its transatlantic dominions, with the absolute
disposal of all its dignities and emoluments.
to the matter ; while, in the letters patent made out previously to hia second voyage, the
right of granting licences is expressly reserved to the crown, and to the superintendent,
.illy with the admiral. The only legal claim which he could make in all such
expeditions as were not conducted under him, was to one-eighth of the tonnage, and thi
was regularly provided for in the general licence. The "sovereigns, indeed, in consequence
cf his remonstrances, published an ordinance, June 2nd, 141*7, in which, after expressing
their unabated respect for all the rights and privileges of the admiral, they declare that
whatever shall be found in their previous licence repugnant to these shall be null and void.
The hypothetical form in which this is stated shows that the sovereigns, with an honest
desire" of keeping their engagements with Columbus, had not a very clear perception in
what manner they had been violated. I'art I. c'aap. 18, of this History.
394 SPANISH COLONIAL POLICY.
It has excited the admiration of more than one historian, that
Ferdinand and Isabella, with their reverence for the Catholic church,
should have had the courage to assume an attitude of such entire inde
pendence of its spiritual chief. But whoever has studied their reign,
will regard this measure as perfectly conformable to their habitual policy,
which never suffered a zeal for religion, or a blind deference to the
church, to compromise in any degree the independence of the crown. It
is much more astonishing that pontiffs could be found content to divest
themselves of such important prerogatives. It was deviating widely
from the subtle and tenacious spirit of their predecessors, and, as the
consequences came to be more fully disclosed, furnished ample subject of
regret to those who succeeded them.
Such is a brief summary of the principal regulations adopted by
Ferdinand and Isabella for the administration of the colonies. Many of
their peculiarities, including most of their defects, are to be referred to
the peculiar circumstances under which the discovery of the New AVorld
was effected. Unlike the settlements on the comparatively sterile shores
of North America, which were permitted to devise laws accommodated
to their necessities, and to gather strength in the habitual exercise of
political functions, the Spanish colonies were from the very first checked
and controlled by the over-legislation of the parent country. The
original project of discovery had been entered into with indefinite expec-
tations of gain. The verification of Columbus's theory of the existence
of land in the west, gave popular credit to his conjecture that that land
was the far-famed Indies. The specimens of gold and other precious
commodities found there served to maintain the delusion. The Spanish
government regarded the expedition as its own private adventure, to
whose benefits it had exclusive pretensions. Hence those jealous
regulations for securing to itself a monopoly of the most obvious sources
of profit, the dyewoods and the precious metals.
These impolitic provisions were relieved by others better suited to the
permanent interests of the colony. Such was the bounty offered in
various ways on the occupation and culture of land ; the erection of
municipalities ; the right of intercolonial traffic, and of exporting and
importing merchandise of every description free of duty. These and
similai laws show that the government, far from regarding the colonies
merely as a foreign acquisition to be sacrificed to the interests of the
mother country, as at a later period, was disposed to legislate for them
on more generous principles, as an integral portion of the monarchy.
Some of the measures, even of a less liberal tenor, may be excused , as
sufficiently accommodated to existing circumstances. No regulation, for
example, was found eventually more mischievous in its operation than
that which confined the colonial trade to the single port of Seville, instead
of permitting it to find a free vent in the thousand avenues naturally
opened in every part of the kingdom ; to say nothing of the grievous
monopolies and exactions, for which this concentration of a mighty
traffic on so small a point was found, in later times, to afford unbounded
facility. But the colonial trade was too limited in its extent, under
Ferdinand and Isabella, to involve such consequences. It was chiefiy
confined to a few wealthy seaports of Andalusia, from the vicinity of
which the first adventurers had sallied forth on their career of discovery.
It was no inconvenience to them to have a common port of entry, so
SPANISH COLONIAL POLICY. 395
sentral and accessible as Seville ; which, moreover, by this arrangement
became a great mart for European trade, thus affording a convenient
market to the country for effecting its commercial exchanges with every
quarter of Christendom. It was only when laws, adapted to the incipient
stages of commerce, were perpetuated to a period when that commerce had
swelled to such gigantic dimensions as to embrace every quarter of the
empire, that their gross impolicy became mani
It would not be giving a fair view of the great objects proposed by the
Spanish sovereigns in their schemes of discovery, to omit one which was
, paramount to all the rest, with the queen at least, the propagation of
Christianity among the heathen. The conversion and civilisation of this
simple people form, as has been already said, the burden of most of her
official communications from the earliest period.* She neglected no
means for the furtherance of this good work, through the agency of
missionaries exclusively devoted to it, who were to establish their
residence among the natives, and win them to the true faith by their
instructions, and the edifying example of their own lives. It was with
the design of ameliorating the condition of the natives, that she sanctioned
the introdiiction into the colonies of negro slaves born in Spain (1501).
This she did on the representation, that the physical constitution of the
African was much better fitted than that of the Indian to endure severe
toil under a tropical climate. To this false principle of economising
human suffering we are indebted for that foul stain on the New World,
which has grown deeper and darker with the lapse of years.
Isabella, however, was destined to have her benevolent designs in
n _ard to the natives defeated by her own subjects. The popular doctrine
of the abso^'te rights of the Christian over the heathen seemed to
warrant the exaction of labour from these unhappy beings to any degree,
which avarice on the one hand could demand, or human endurance con-
cede on the other. The device of the repartimientos systematised and
completed the whole scheme of oppression. The queen, it is true,
abolished them under Ovando's administration, and declared the Indians
" as free as her own subjects." But his representation, that the Indians,
when no longer compelled to work, withdrew from all intercourse with
the Christians, thus annihilating at once all hopes of tneir conversion,
subsequently induced her to consent that they should be required to labour
moderately and for a reasonable compensation. This was construed
with their usual latitude by the Spaniards. They soon revived the whole
.<y>tem of distribution on so terrific a scale, that a letter of Columbus,
written shortly after Isabella's death, represents more than six-sevenths
of the whole population of Hispaniola to have melted away under it ! +
The queen was too far removed to enforce the execution of her own
beneficent measures ; nor is it probable that she ever imagined the extent
of their violation, for there was no intrepid philanthropist in that day,
like Las Casas, to proclaim to the world the wrongs and sorrows of the
Indian. { A conviction, however, of the unworthy treatment of the
* Las Casas, amidst his unsparing condemnation of the guilty, does ample justice to th
pure :uid generous, though, alas ! unavailing efforts of the queen.
I The venerable bishop confirms this frightful picture of desolation in its full extent, in
.tis various memorials prepared for the council of the Indies.
) 1-is Cas;is made his first voyage to the Indies, it is true, in 1408, or at latest 1502 ; \\t
the7-e is no trace of his taking an active part in denouncing the oppressions of the Spaniards
earlier thau l.">10, when he combined his efforts with those of the Dominican missionaries
896 SPANISH COLONIAL POLICi".
natives seems to have pressed heavily on her heart ; for in a codicil to
her testament, dated a few days only before her death, she invokes the
kind offices of her successor in their behalf in snch strong and affectionate
language, as plainly indicates how intently her thoughts were occupied
with their condition down to the last hour of her existence.
The moral grand-cur of the maritime discoveries under this reign,
must not so far dazzle us as to lead to a very high estimate of their
immediate results in an economical view. Most of those articles which
have since formed the great staples of South American commerce, as
cocoa, indigo, cochineal, tobacco, &c., were either not known in Isabella's
time, or not cultivated for exportation. Small quantities of cotton had
been brought to Spain, but it was doubted whether the profit would com-
pensate the expense of raising it. The sugar-cane had been transplanted
into Hispaniola, and thrived luxuriantly in its genial soil : but it
required time to grow it to any considerable amount as an article of com-
merce : and this was still further delayed by the distractions as well as
avarice of the colony, which grasped at nothing less substantial than
gold itself. The only vegetable product extensively used in trade was
the brazil-wood, whose beautiful dye and application to various orna-
mental purposes made it, from the first, one of the most important
monopolies of the crown.
The accounts are too vague to afford any probable estimate of the
precious metals obtained from the new territories previous to Ovando's
mission. Before the discovery of the mines of Hayna it was certainly
very inconsiderable. The size of some of the specimens of ore found
there would suggest magnificent ideas of their opulence. One piece
of gold is reported by the contemporary historians to hive weighed
three thousand two hundred castellanos, and to have been so large that
the Spaniards served up a roasted pig on it, boasting that no potentate in
Europe could dine off so costly a dish. The admiral's own statement,
that the miners obtained from six gold castellanos to one hundred or
even two hundred and fifty in a day, allows a latitude too great to lead
to any definite conclusion. More tangible evidence of the riches of the
island is afforded by the fact, that two hundred thousand castellanos of
gold went down in the ships with Bobadilla. But this, it must be
remembered, was the fruit of gigantic efforts, continued under a
system of unexampled oppression, for more than two years. To this
testimony might be added that of the well-informed historian of Seville,
who infers, from several royal ordinances, that the influx of the pre-
cious metals had been such, before the close of the fifteenth century, as
to effect the value of the currency, and the regular prices of commodities.*
These large estimates, however, are scarcely reconcilable with the popular
discontent at the meagreness of the returns obtained from the New
"World, or with the assertion of Bernaldez, of the same date with
lately arrived in St. Domingo in the same good work. It was not until some years later,
1515, that he returned to Spain, and pleaded the cause of the injured natives before th
throne.
* The alteration was in the gold currency, which continued to rise in value till 1-107, whcr
it gradually sunk, in consequence of the importation from the mines of Hispaniola.
Clemencin has given its relative value as compared with silver, fur several different years ;
and the year he assigns for the commencement of its depreciation is precisely the same
with that indicated by Zurtiga. The value of silver was not materially aflocterl till th
"iiscovery of the gr^ut mines of Potosi aud Zacatccas.
SPANISH COLONIAL POLICT. 391
Zuf.iga's reference, that " so little gold had been brought home, as to
raise a general beli.-f that there was scarcely any in the island." This
is still further confirmed by the frequent representations of contemporary
writers, that the expenses of the colonies considerably exceeded the
profits ; and may account for the very limited scale on which the
Spanish government, at no time blind to its own interests, pursued its
schemes of discovery, as compared with its Portuguese neighbours, who
followed up theirs with a magnificent apparatus of fleets and armies,
that could have been supported only by the teeming treasures of the
Indies. 11
While the colonial commerce failed to produce immediately the
splendid returns which were expected, it was generally believed to have
introduced a physical evil into Europe, which, in the language of an
eminent writer, " more than counterbalanced all the benefits that resulted
from the discovery of the New World." I allude to the loathsome
disease which Heaven has sent as the severest scourge of licentious
intercourse between the sexes ; and which broke out with all the viru-
lence of an epidemic in almost every quarter of Europe, in a very short
time after the discovery of America. The coincidence of these two
events led to the popular belief of their connection with each other,
though it derived little support from any other circumstance. The
expedition of Charles the Eighth against Xaples, which brought the
Spaniards, soon after, in immediate contact with the various nations of
Christendom, suggested a plausible medium for the rapid communication
of the disorder ; uiid this theory of its origin and transmission gaining
credit with time, which made it more difficult to be refuted, has passed
with little examination from the mouth of one historian to another to
the present day.
The extremely brief interval which elapsed between the return
of Columbus and the simultaneous appearance of the disorder at
the most distant points of Europe, long since suggested a reasonable
distrust of the correctness of the hypothesis ; and an American, naturally
desirous of relieving his own country from so melancholy a reproach,
may feel satisfaction that the more searching and judicious criticism
of our own day has at length established beyond a doubt that the
disease, far from originating in the Xew World, was never known there
till introduced by Europeans.
Whatever be the amount of physical good or evil immediately
ing to Spain from her new discoveries, their moral consequences
were inestimable. The ancient limits of human thought and action
* The estimates in the text, it will be noticed, apply only to the period antecedent to
Ovando'a administration, in 1502. The operations under him were conducted on a far
r.vTr extensive and efficient plan. The system ol' r - being revived, the wholo
,1 force of the island, aided by the best mechanical apparatus, was employed iu
ng from the soil all its hidden stores of wealth. The success was such, that in
A-ithin two years after Isabella's death, the four foundries established in the island
i an annual amou:. to Ilerrera, ::.ccs of gold. It must be
;ed, however, that one-fifth only of the gross sum obtained from the mines was at
that time paid to the crown. It!.saj> those returns exceeded the expecta-
tions at the time of Ovan , nt, that the person then sent out as marker of the
gold v. one per cent, of all the gold assayed,
The perquisite, however, was ;'un..l i- .it the functionary was recalled,
and a new arrangement made \vitii ids suivvs-ur. When Xavagiero visited Seville,
the royal fifth of the gold which [assed through the mints amounted to about 100,000
ducats annually.
398 . SPANISH COLONIAL POLICY.
were overleaped ; the veil which had covered the secrets of the deep foi
so many centuries was removed ; another hemisphere was thrown open ;
and a boundless expansion promised to science, from the infinite varieties
in which nature was exhibited in these unexplored regions. The
success of the Spaniards kindled'a generous emulation in their Portuguese
rivals, who soon after accomplished their long-sought passage into the
Indian seas, and thus completed the great circle of maritime discovery.*
It would seem as if Providence had postponed this grand event until the
possession of America, with its stores of precious metals, might supply
such materials for a commerce with the East, as should bind together
the most distant quarters of the globe. The impression made on the
enlightened minds of that day is evinced by the tone of gratitude and
exultation in which they indulge at being permitted to witness the con-
summation of these glorious events, which their fathers had so long, but
in vain, desired to see.
The discoveries of Columbus occurred most opportunely for the Spanish
nation, at the moment when it was released from the tumultuous,
struggle in which it had been engaged for so many years with the
Moslems. The severe schooling of these wars had prepared it for
entering on a bolder theatre of action, whose stirring and romantic peril*
raised still higher the chivalrous spirit of the people. The operation of
this spirit was shown in the alacrity with which private adventinvi =.
embarked in expeditions to the Xew World, under cover of the general
license, during the last two years of this century. Their efforts, com-
bined with those of Columbus, extended the range of discovery from its
original limits, twenty-four degrees of north latitude, to probably more
than fifteen south, comprehending some of the most important territories
in the western hemisphere. Before the end of 1500, the principal groups
of the "West Indian islands had been visited, and the whole extent of
the southern continent coasted, from the Bav of Honduras to Cape St.
Augustine. One adventurous mariner, indeed, named Lepe, penetrated
several degrees south of this, to a point not reached by any other
voyager for ten or twelve years after. A great part of the kingdom of
Brazil was embraced in this extent, and two successive Castilian navi-
gators landed, and took formal possession of it for the crown of Castile,
previous to its reputed discovery by the Portuguese, Cabral ; t although
the claims to it were subsequently relinquished by the Spanish govern-
ment, conformablv to the famous line of demarcation established by the
treaty of Tordesillas. J
* This event occurred in 1497 ; Vasco de Gama doubling the Cape of Good Hope,
November 20th in that year, and reaching Calicut in the following May, 1408. La Clede,
Hist, de Portugal, torn. iii. pp. 104-109.
t Cabral's pretensions to the discovery of Brazil appear not to have been doubted until
recently. They are sanctioned both by Robertson and Raynal.
J The Portuguese court formed, probably, no very accurate idea of the geographical
position of Brazil. King Emanuel, in a letter to the Spanish sovereigns, acquu
them with Cabral's voyage, speaks of the newly discovered region as not only convc. :
but Mcettary, for the navigation to India. The oldest maps of this country, whether from
ignorance or design, bring it twenty-two degrees east of its proper longitude ; so t!.
Whole of the vast tract now comprehended under the name of Brazil, would fall <
Portuguese side of the partition line agreed on by the two governments, which, it will be
remembered, was removed to 370 leagues west of the Cape de Verd Islands. The Spanish
court made some show at first of resisting the pretensions of the Portuguese, byprepuktioiiS
for establishing a colony on the northern extremity of the Ura/iliau territory. It is n
to understand how it came finally to admit these pretensions. Any correct admeasure-
ment with the Castiliau league would only have included the fringe, as it were, of the
ITALIAX WAES. 39*
"\Vhile the colonial empire of Spain was thus every day enlarging, tho
man to whom it was all due was never permitted to know tlie extent or
the value of it. He died in the conviction in which he lived, that the
land he had reached was the long-sought Indies. But it was a country
far richer than the Indies ; and had he, on quitting Cuba, struck into a
westerly instead of a southerly direction, it would have carried him into
the very depths of the golden regions whose existence he had so long and
vainly predicted. As it was. he "only opened the gates," to use his
own language, for others more fortunate than himself; and before he
quitted Hispaniola for the last time, the young adventurer arrived there
who was destined by the conquest of Mexico to realise all the magnificent
visions, which had" been derided as only visions, in the lifetime of
Columbus.
CHAPTEE X.
ITALIAN WARS PARTITION OF KAPLES GONSALVO OYERBUNS CALABRIA.
14981502.
Louis XII. "s Designs on Italy Alarm of the Spanish Court Bold Conduct of it
Minister at Rome Celebrated Partition of Naples Gonsalvo sails against the Turks-
Success and Cruelties of the French Gousalvo invades Calabria He punishes
Mutiny His munificent Spirit He captures Tarento Seizes the Duke of Calabria.
DUKIXG the last four years of our narrative, in which the unsettled
state of the kingdom and the progress of foreign discovery appeared to
doniaud the whole attention of the sovereigns, a most important revo-
lution was going forward in the affairs of Italy. The death of Charles
the Eighth would seem, to have dissolved the relations recently arisen
between that country and the rest of Europe, and to have restored it to
its aueieiit independence. It might naturally have been expected that
1'rauee, under her new monarch, who had reached a mature age,
rendered still more mature by the lessons he had imbibed in the school of
adversitv, would feel the folly of reviving ambitious schemes, which had
cost so dear and ended so disastrously. Italy, too, it might have been
presumed, lacerated and still bleeding at every pore, would have learned
the fatal consequence of invoking foreign aid in her domestic quarrels,
and of throwing open the gates to a torrent, sure to sweep down friend
and foe indiscriminately in its progress. But experience, alas ! did not
bring wisdom, and passion triumphed as usual.
Louis the Twelfth, on ascending the throne, assumed the titles of
Duke of Milan and King of Naples, thus unequivocally announcing his
intention of asserting his claims, derived through the 'Visconti family,
to the former, and through the Angevin dynasty, to the latter state.
His aspiring temper was stimulated rather than satisfied by the martial
renown he had acquired in the Italian wars ; and he was urged on by the
north-eastern promontory of Brazil. The Portuguese league, allowing seventeen to
degree, may have been adopted, which would embrace nearly the whole territory
passed under the name of Brazil in the best ancient maps, extending from Para on tho
north, to the groat river oi Sun Pedro on the south. Mariana seems willing; to help tiu-
Portuguese, by running the partition line one nundred leagues farther west thaa thj
liimod themselves.
400 ITAXiAX WAKS.
great body of the French chivalry, who, disgusted with a life of inaction,
longed for a field where they might win new laurels, and indulge in the
joyous licence of military adventure.
Unhappily, the court of France found ready instruments for its pur-
pose in the profligate politicians of Italy. The Iloman pontiff, in par-
ticular, Alexander the Sixth, whose criminal ambition assumes something
respectable by contrast with the low vices in which he was habitually
steeped, "willingly lent himself to a monarch who could so effectually
serve his selfish schemes of building up the forttines of his family. The
ancient republic of Venice, departing from her usual sagacious policy,
and yielding to her hatred of Lodovico Sforza, and to the lust of
territorial acquisition, consented to unite her arms with those of France
against Milan, in consideration of a share (not the lion's share) of the
spoils of victory. Florence, and many other inferior powers, whether
from fear or weakness, or the short-sighted hope of assistance in their
petty international feuds, consented either to throw their weight into the
same scale, or to remain neutral.
Having thus secured himself from molestation in Italy, Louis the
Twelfth entered into negotiations with such other European powers as
were most likely to interfere with his designs. The Emperor Maximilian,
whose relations with Milan would most naturally have demanded his
interposition, was deeply entangled in a war with the Swiss. The
neutrality of Spain was secured by the treaty of Marcoussis, August
5th, 1498, which settled all the existing differences with that country.
And a treaty with Savoy in the following year guaranteed a free passage
through her mountain passes to the French army in Italy.
Having completed these arrangements, Louis lost no time in mustering
his forces, which, descending like a torrent on the fair plains of Lombardy,
effected the conquest of the entire duchy in little more than a fortnight ;
and, although the prize was snatched for a moment from his grasp, yet
French valour and Swiss perfidy soon restored it. The miserable Sforza,
the dupe of arts which he had so long practised, was transported into
France, where he lingered out the remainder of his days in doleful
captivity. He had first called the barbarians into Italy, and it was a
righteous retribution which made him their earliest victim.
By the conquest of Milan, France now took her place among the
Italian powers. A preponderating weight was thus thrown into the
scale, which disturbed the ancient political balance, and which, if the
projects on Xaples should be realised, would wholly annihilate it. These
consequences, to which the Italian states seemed strangely insensible,
bad long been foreseen by the sagacious eye of Ferdinand the Catholic,
who watched the movements of his powerful neighbour with the deepest
anxiety. He had endeavoured, before the invasion of Milan, to awaken
the different governments in Italf to a sense of their danger, and to stir
them up to some efficient combination against it.* Both he and the
* Martyr, in a letter Tvritten soon after Sforza's recovery of his capital, says that the
Spanish sovereigns "could not conceal their joy at the event, such was their jealousy of
fr'rance." The same sagacious writer, t'ue d^tauce of whose residence from Italy removed
aim from those political factions ami prejudices which clouded the optics of his country-
men, saw with deep regret their coalition with France, the fatal consequences of which he
predicted in a letter to a frie;: . -i-nier minister at the Spanish court.
"The king of France," says he, ''ane:- ne has dined with the duke of Milan, will coma
nd sup with you.'
r.UlTITIOX OF XAPLr-J. 401
queen had beheld with disquietude the increasing corruptions oi
the papal court, and that shameless cupidity and lust of power which
made it the convenient tool of the French monarch.
By their orders, Garcilasso de la Vega, tlu- Spanish ambassador, road
a letter from his sovereigns in the presence of his Holiness, commenting
on his scandalous immorality, his invasion of ecclesiastical rights ap-
pertaining to the Spanish crown, his schemes of seLish aggrandisement,
and especially his avowed purpose of transferring his sou Caesar Borgia
from a sacreo. to a secular dignity ; a circumstance that must necessarily
make him, from the manner in which it was to be conducted, the
instrument of Louis the Twelfth.*
This unsavoury rebuke, which probably lost nothing of its pungency
from the tone in which it was delivered, so incensed the pope, that he
attempted to seize the paper and tear it in pieces, giving vent at the
same time to the most indecent reproaches against the minister and hia
sovereigns. Garcilasso coolly waited till the storm had subsided, and
Jien replied undauntedly, " That he had uttered no more than became
a loval subject of Castile ; that he should never shrink from declaring
freely what his sovereigns commanded, or what he conceived to be for
the good of Christendom ; and, if his Holiness were displeased with it,
he could dismiss him from his court, where he was convinced, indeed, his
residence could be no longer useful." +
Ferdinand had no better fortune at Venice, where his negotiations were
conducted by Lorenzo Suarez de la Vega, an adroit diplomatist, brother
of Gareilasso. These negotiations were resumed after the occupation of
Milan by the French, when the minister availed himself of the jealousy-
occasioned by that event to excite a determined resistance to the
prop* 1 - -ion on Naples. But the republic was too sorely pressed
by the Turkish war, which Sforza, in the hope of creating a diversion
in his own favour, had brought on his country, to allow leisure for
other operations. Nor did the Spanish court succeed any better at this
with the Emperor Maximilian, whose magnificent pretensions were
ridiculously contrasted with his limited authority, and still more limited
revenues, so scanty, indeed, as to gain him the contemptuous epithet
among the Italians of pochi denari, or " the Moneyless." He had
conceived himself, indeed, greatly injured, both on the score of his
imperial rights and his connexion with Sforza, by the conquest of Milan ;
but, with the levity and cupidity essential to his character, he suffered
himself, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the Spanish court to be
bribed into a truce with king Louis, which ave the latter full scope for
his meditated enterprise on Naples.
s disembarrassed of the most formidable means of annoyance, the
* Louis XII , for the good offices of the pope in the affair of his divorce from the imfor-
- 1 of France, uncardinalled Cresar Borgia the duchy of Valence
.11 I) . io:it of -JO.OOOli.: usiderable force to support him in his
- against the princes of Romagna.
seems to have possessed little of the courtly and politic addrea
of :i diploma! nt audience which the pope gave him, together with a
-tile. I:;-- Hunt expostulation so much i nis Holiness,
d it would not oust him much to have him thrown into the Tiber.
The bold bearing of the Castiliau. however, appears to have had its effect; since we find
the p revoking an offensive eccUsiiftical provision he had made ki Spain.
' iu'gise the character of the Catholic sovereigns i;
full i
2 D
402 ITALIAN WAKS.
French monarch went briskly forward with his preparations, the object
of which he did not affect to conceal. Frederic, the unfortunate king of
Naples, saw himself with dismay now menaced with the loss of empire,
before he had time to taste the sweets of it. He knew not where to turn
for refuge, in his desolate condition, from the impending storm. His
treasury was drained, and his kingdom wasted by the late war. His
subjects, although attached to his person, were too familiar with revolu-
tions to stake their lives or fortunes on the cast. His countrymen, the
Italians, were in the interest of his enemy ; and his nearest neighbour,
the pope, had drawn from personal pique motives for the most deadly
hostilitv.* He had as little reliance on the king of Spain his natural
ally and kinsman, who, he well knew, had always regarded the crown
of Naples as his own rightful inheritance. He resolved, therefore, to
apply at once to the French monarch ; and he endeavoured to propitiate
him by the most humiliating concessions, the offer of an annual tribute
and the surrender into his hands of some of the principal fortresses in
the kingdom. Finding these advances coldly received, he invoked, in
the extremity of his distress, the aid of the Turkish sultan, Bajazet, the
terror of Christendom, requesting such supplies of troops as should enable
him to make head against their common foe. This desperate step
produced no other result than that of furnishing the enemies of the
unhappy prince with a plausible ground of accusation against him, of
which they did not fail to make good use.
The Spanish government, in the mean time, made the most vivid
remonstrances through its resident minister, or agents expressly accredited
for the purpose, against the proposed expedition of Louis the Twelfth.
It even went so far as to guarantee the faithful discharge of the tribute
proffered by the king of Naples. But the reckless ambition of the
French monarch, overleaping the barriers of prudence, and indeed of
common sense, disdained the fruits of conquest without the name.
Ferdinand now found himself apparently reduced to the alternative of
abandoning the prize at once to the French king, or of making battle
with MTH in defence of his royal kinsman. The first of these measures,
which would bring a restless and powerful rival on the borders of his
Sicilian dominions, was not to be thought of for a moment. The latter,
which pledged him a second time to the support of pretensions hostile to
his own, was scarcely more palatable. A third expedient suggested
itself; the partition of the kingdom, as hinted in the negotiations with
Charles the Eighth, by which means the Spanish government, if it could
not rescue the whole prize from the grasp of Louis, would at least divide
it with him.t
Instructions were accordingly given to Gralla, the minister at the
Alexander VI. had requested the hand of Carlotta, daughter of king Frederic, for his
son, Caar Borgia : but this was a sacrifice at which pride and parental affection alix:e
revolted. The slight was not to be forgiven by the implacable Borgias.
t Boe Part II. Chapter 3 of this History. Ferdinand, it seems, entertained the thought
of visiting Italy in person. This appears from a letter, or rather an elaborate memorial of
Garcilasso de la Vega, urging various considerations to dissuade his master from this step.
In the course of it he lays open the policy and relative strength of the Italian states, i.M
of whom, at least, he regards as in the interests of France. At the same time he advises
the king to carry the war across his own borders into the French territory, and thus, by
compelling Louis to withdraw his forces, in part, from Italy, cripple his operations in tli.it
country. The letter is full of the suggestions of a shrewd policy, but shows that the
writer knew much more of Italian politics than of what was then passing in the cabinet*
of Paris and Madrid.
PARTITION" OF NAPLES. 403
court of Paris, to sound the government on this head, bringing it forward
as his own private suggestion. Care was taken at tke same time to secure
a party in the French councils to the interests of Ferdinand.* The
suggestions of the Spanish envoy received additional weight from the
report of a considerable armament then equipping in the port of Malaga.
Its ostensible purpose was to co-operate with the Venetians in the defence
of their possessions in the Levant. Its main object however, was to
cover the coasts of Sicily in any event from the French, and to afford
means for prompt action on any point where circumstances might require
it. The fleet consisted of about sixty sail, large aud small, mid cam -.[
forces amounting to six hundred horse and four thousand loot, picked
men, many of them drawn from the hardy regions of the north, which
had been taxed least severely in the Moorish wars.
The command of the whole was intrusted to the Great Captain,
Gonsalvo of Cordova, who, since his return home, had fully sustained
the high reputation which his brilliant military talents had acquired for
him abroad. Numerous volunteers, comprehending the noblest of the
young chivalry of Spain pressed forward to serve under the banner
f this accomplished and popular chieftain. Among them may be
particularly noticed Diego de Mendoza, son of the grand cardinal, Pedro
de la Paz,f Gonzalo Pizarro, father of the celebrated adventurer of Peru,
and Diego de Paredes, whose personal prowess and feats of extravagant
daring furnished many an incredible legend for chronicle and romance.
"With this gallant armament the great captain weighed anchor in the
port of Malaga, in May 1500, designing to touch at Sicily before proceed-
ing against the Turks.
Meanwhile, the negotiations between France and Spain, respecting
Naples, were brought to a close, by a treaty for the equal partition of
that kingdom between the two powers, ratified at Granada, November
llth, 1500. This extraordinary document, after enlarging on the
unmixed evils flowing from war, and the obligation on all Christians to
preserve inviolate the blessed peace bequeathed them by the Saviour,
proceeds to state, that no other prince, save the kings of France and Aragon,
caii pretend to a title to the throne of Naples ; and as king Frederic, its
present occupant, has seen fit to endanger the safety of all Christendom,
by bringing on it its bitterest enemy the Turks, the contracting parties,
in order to rescue it from this imminent peril, and preserve inviolate the
bond of peace, agree to take possession of his kingdom and divide it
between them. It is then provided, that the northern portion, compre-
hending the Terra di Lavoro and Abruzzo, be assigned to France, with
the title of King of Naples and Jerusalem ; and the southern consisting
of Apulia and Calabria, with the title of Duke of those provinces, to
N'aiu. The dog ana, an important duty levied on the nocks of the
Capitanate, was to be collected by the officers of the Spanish government,
and divided equally with France. Lastly any inequality between the
respective territories was to be so adjusted, that the revenues to each of
* According to Zurita, Ferdinand secured the services of Guillaume de Poictiers, lord ot
CliMeux aud governor of Paris, by the promise of the city of Cotron, mortgaged to him in
Italy.
404 ITALIAX WAES.
the parties should be precisely equal. The treaty was to be kept
profoundly secret until preparations were completed for the simultaneous
occupation of the devoted territory by the combined powers.
Such were the terms of this celebrated compact, by which two
European potentates coolly carved out and divided between them the
entire dominions of a third, who had given no cause for umbrage, and
with whom they were both at that time in perfect peace and amity.
Similar instances of political robbery (to call it by the coarse name it
merits) have occurred in later times ; but never one founded on more
flimsy pretexts, or veiled under a more detestable mask of hypocrisy.
The principal odium of the transaction has attached to Ferdinand, as the
kinsman of the unfortunate king of Naples. His conduct, however,
admits of some palliatory considerations that cannot be claimed for
Louis.
The Aragonese nation always regarded the bequest of Ferdinand's
uncle, Alfonso the Fifth, in favour of his natural offspring, as an
unwarrantable and illegal act. The kingdom of Naples had been won
by their own good swords, and, as such, was the rightful inheritance of
their own princes. Nothing but the domestic troubles of his dominions
had prevented John the Second of Aragon, on the decease of his brother,
from asserting his claim by arms. His son, Ferdinand the Catholic, had
hitherto acquiesced in the usurpation of the bastard branch of his house
only from similar causes. On the accession of the present monarch, he
had made some demonstrations of vindicating his pretensions to Naples,
which, however, the intelligence he received from that kingdom induced
him to defer to a more convenient season.* But it was deferring, not
relinquishing his purpose. In the mean time, he carefully avoided
entering into such engagements as should compel him to a different
policy by connecting his own interests with those of Frederic ; and with
this view, no doubt, rejected the alliance, strongly solicited by the latter,
of the duke of Calabria, heir apparent to the Neapolitan crown, with his
third daughter, the Infanta Maria. Indeed, this disposition of Ferdinand
so far from being dissembled, was well understood by the court cf Naples,
as is acknowledged by its own historians.
It may be thought that the undisturbed succession of four princes to
the throne of Naples, each of whom had received the solemn recognition
of the people, might have healed any defects in their original title, how-
ever glaring. But it may be remarked, in extenuation of both the
French and Spanish claims, that the principles of monarchical succession
were but imperfectly settled in that day ; that oaths of allegiance were
tendered too lightly by the Neapolitans, to carry the same weight as in
other nations ; and that the prescriptive right derived from possesMnu,
necessarily indeterminate, was greatly weakened in this case by the
comparatively few years, not more than forty, during which the bastard
line of Aragon had occupied the throne, a period much shorter than
that, after which the house of York had in England, a few years before,
successfully contested the validity of the Lancastrian title. It should be
added, that Ferdinand's views appear to have perfectly corresponded with
those of the Spanish nation at large ; not one writer of the time, whom I
have met with, intimating the slightest doubt of his title to Naples,
whil< net a few insist on it with unnecessary emphasis. It is but i'uiy
See ?art II.. Chapter 3, of this History.
r.vuriTiox OF NAPLES. 405
to state, however, that foreigners, who contemplated the transaction
with a more impartial eye, condemned it as inflicting a deep stain on the
characters of both potentates. Indeed, something like an apprehension
of this, in tin- parties themselves, may be inferred from their solicitude
to deprecate public censure by masking their designs under a pretended
zeal for religion.
Before the conferences respecting the treaty were brought to a close,
the Spanish armada under Gonsalvo, after a detention of two months in
Sicily, where it was reinforced by two thousand recruits, who had been
serving as mercenaries in Italy, held its course for the Morea. (Sep-
tember 21st, 1500.) The Turkish squadron, lying before Napoli di
ilnmania, without waiting Gonsalvo's approach, raised the siege, and
retreated precipitately to Constantinople. The Spanish general, then
uniting his forces with the Venetians, stationed at Corfu, proceeded at
once against the fortified place of St. George, in Cephalonia, which the
Turks had lately wrested from the republic.*
The town stood high on a rock, in an impregnable position, and was
garrisoned by four hundred Turks, all veteran soldiers, prepared to die
in its defence. We have not room for the details of this siege, in
which both parties displayed unbounded courage and resources, and
which was protracted nearly two mouths under all the privations of
famine, and the inclemencies of a cold and stormy winter.
At length, weary with this fatal procrastination, Gonsalvo and the
Venetian admiral, Fesaro, resolved on a simultaneous attack on separate
<}uarters of the town. The ramparts had been already shaken by the
mining opt rations of Pedro Navarro, who, in the Italian wars, acquired
such terrible celebrity in this department, till then little understood.
The Venetian cannon,' larger and better served than that of the Spaniards,
had opened a practicable breach in. the works, which the besieged
repaired with such temporary defences as they could. The signal being
given at the appointed hour, the two armies made a desperate assault on
different quarters of the town, under cover of a murderous fire of artil-
lery. The Turks sustained the attack with dauntless resolution, stopping
xip'the breach with the bodies of their dead and dying comrades, and
pouring down volleys of shot, arrows, burning oil and sulphur, and
missiles of every kind, on the heads of the assailants. But the desperate
energy, as well'as the numbers of the latter, proved too strong for them.
Sime forced the breach, others scaled the ramparts; and, aftc'- a short
and deadly struggle within the walls, the brave garrison, fuur-fifths of
whom with their commander had fallen, were overpowered, and the
victorious banners of St. Jago and St. Mark were planted side by side
triumphantly on the towers.
The capture of this place, although accomplished at considerable loss,
and after a most gallant resistance, by a mere handful of men, was of
great service to the Venetian cause ; since it was the first check given
to the arms of Bajazet, who had filched one place after another from the
* Gonsalvo -was detained most unexpectedly in Messina, which he had reached July 19,
by various Bmbamwment& cnumcnited in his correspondence with the sovereigns. Tlio
difficulty of i lilies t'.r t!a- the moat prominent. The people
f't tbr 111 to the car,- I until it seemed as
if tlv y came from the devil himself. Ainoni: others, he indicates the coldness of the
victri-y. Part of these letters, as usual, is in eypher.
406 ITALIAN TVAKS.
republic, menacing its whole colonial territory- in the Levant. Th
promptness and efficiency of King Ferdinand's succour to the Venetians
gained him high reputation throughout Europe, and precisely of the
kind which he most coveted, that of being the zealous defender of the
faith ; while it formed a favourable contrast to the cold supineness of the
other powers of Christendom.
The capture of St. George restored to Venice the possession of
Cephalonia ; and the Great Captain, having accomplished this important
object, returned in the beginning of the following year, 1501, to Sicily*
Soon after his arrival there, an embassy waited on him, from the Vene-
tian senate, to express their grateful sense of his services, which they
testified by enrolling his name on the golden book as a nobleman o"f
Venice, and by a magnificent present of plate, curious silks and velvets,
and a stud of beautiful Turkish horses. Gonsalvo courteously accepted
the proffered honours, but distributed the whole of the costly largess,
with the exception of a few pieces of plate, among his friends and.
soldiers.
In the meanwhile, Louis the Twelfth having completed his prepara-
tions for the invasion of Naples, an army consisting of one thousand
lances and ten thousand Swiss and Gascon foot, crossed the Alps, and
directed its march towards the south (June 1st, 1501). At the same
time a powerful armament, under Philip de Raveustein, with six
thousand five hundred additional troops on board, quitted Genoa
for the Neapolitan capital. The command of the land forces was
given to the Sire d'Aubigny, the same brave and experienced officer
who had formerly coped with Gonsalvo in the campaigns of Calabria.
No sooner had d'Aubigny crossed the papal borders, than the French
and Spanish ambassadors announced to Alexander the Sixth and the
college of cardinals the existence of the treaty for the partition of the
kingdom between the sovereigns their masters, requesting his Holiness
to confirm it, and grant them the investiture of their respective shares.
In this very reasonable petition, his Holiness, well drilled in the part he
was to play, acquiesced without difficulty ; declaring himself moved
thereto solely by his consideration of the pious intentions of the parties,
and the unworthiness of King Frederic, whose treachery to the Christian
commonwealth had forfeited all right (if he ever possessed any) to the
crown of Naples.
From the moment that the French forces had descended into Lombardy,
the eyes of all Italy were turned with breathless expectation on Gonsalvo,
and his army in Sicily. The 'bustling preparations of the French monarch
had diffused the knowledge of his designs throughout Europe. Those of
the king of Spain, on the contrary, remained enveloped in profound
secrecy. Few doubted that Ferdinand would step forward to shield his
kinsman from the invasion which menaced him, and, it might be, his
own dominions in Sicily ; and they looked to the immediate junction of
Gonsalvo with King Frederic, in order that their combined strength
might overpower the enemy before he had gained a footing in the
kingdom. Great was their astonishment when the scales dropped from
their eyes, and they beheld the movements of Spain in perfect accordance
with those of France, and directed to crush their common victim between
them. They could scarcely credit, says Guieciardini, that Louis the
Twelfth could be so blind as to reject the proffered vassalage and
OF XAPLES. 407
substantial sovereignty of Naples, in order to share it with so artful and
dangerous a rival as Ferdinand.
The unfortunate Frederic, who had been advised for some time past
of the unfriendly disposition of the Spanish government,* saw no rei'ugu
from the dark tempest mustering against him on the opposite quart IT.-,
of his kingdom. He collected such troops as he could, however, in order
to make battle with the nearest enemy before he should cross the
threshold. On the 28th of June the French army resumed its march.
Before quitting Rome, a brawl arose between some French soldiers and
Spaniards resident in the capital ; each party asserting the paramount
right of its own sovereign to the crown of "Naples. From words they
soon came to blows, and many lives were lost before the fray could be
quelled ; a melancholy augury for the permanence of the concord so
unrighteously established between the two governments.
On the 8th of July, the French crossed the Neapolitan frontier.
Frederic, who had taken post at St. Germano, found himself so weak
that he was compelled to give way on its approach, and retreat on his
capital. The invaders went forward, occupying one place after another
with little resistance, till they came before Capua, where they received a
temporary check. During a parley for the surrender of that place, they
burst into the town, and giving free scope to their fiendish passions,
butchered seven thousand citizens in the streets, and perpetrated outrages
worse than death on their defenceless wives and daughters. It was on
this occasion that Alexander the Sixth's son, the infamous Ca:sar Borgia,
selected forty of the most beautiful from the principal ladies of the place,
and sent them back to Rome, to swell the complement of his seraglio.
The dreadful doom of Capua intimidated further resistance, but inspired
such detestation of the French throughout the country, as proved of
infinite prejudice to their cause in their subsequent struggle with the
Spaniards.
King Frederic, shocked at bringing such calamities on his subjects,
resigned his capital without a blow in its defence, and, retreating to the
isle of Ischia, soon after embraced the counsel of the French admiral
Ravenstein, to accept a safe-conduct into Franco, and throw himself on
the generosity of Louis. (Oct. 1501.) The latter received him cour-
teously, and assigned him the duchy of Anjou with an ample revenue for
his maintenance, which, to the credit of the French king, was continued
after he had lost all hope of recovering the crown of Xaples. With this
show of magnanimity, however, he kept a jealous eye on his royal
guest; under pretence of paying him the greatest respect, he placed
a guard over his person, and thus detained him in a sort of honourable
captivity to the day of his death, which occurred soon after, in 1504.
Frederic was the last of the illegitimate branch of Aragon who held
the Neapolitan sceptre ; a line of princes who, whatever might be their
characters in other respects, accorded that munificent patronage to
letters which sheds a ray of glory over the roughest and most turbulent
reign. It might have been expected that an amiable and accomplished
* In the month of April the king of Naples received letters from his envoys in Spain,
written by command of King Ferdinand, informing him that he had nothing to expect
from that monarch in case of an invasion of his territories by France. Frederic bitterly
complained of the late hour at which this intelligence was given, which effectually pre-
vented an accommodation he might otherwise have made with King Louia.
408 ITALIAN TTAES.
prince, like Frederic, would have done still more towards the moral
development of his people, by healing the animosities which had so long
festered in their hosoms. His gentle character, however, was ill suited
to the evil times on which he had fallen ; and it is not improbable that
he found greater contentment in the calm and cultivated retirement of
his latter years, sweetened by the sympathies of friendship which adver-
sity had proved,* than when placed on the dazzling heights which attract
the admiration and envy of mankind.
Early in March Gonsalvo of Cordova had received his first official
intelligence of the partition treaty, and of his own appointment to the
post of lieutenant-general of Calabria and Apulia. He felt natural regret
at being called to act against a prince whose character he esteemed, and
with whom he had once been placed in the most intimate and friendly
relations. In the true spirit of chivalry, he returned to Frederic, before
taking up arms against him, the duchy of St. Angel and the other large
domains with which that monarch had requited his services in the late
war, requesting at the same time to be released from his obligations of
homage and fealty. The generous monarch readily complied with the
latter part of his request, but insisted on his retaining the grant, which
he declared an inadequate compensation, after all, for the benefits the
Great Captain had once rendered him.
The levies assembled at Messina amounted to three hundred heavy-
armed, three hundred light horse, and three thousand eight hundred
infantry, together with a small body of Spanish veterans, which the
Castilian ambassador had collected in Italy. The number of the forces
was inconsiderable ; but they were in excellent condition, well disciplined,
and seasoned to all the toils and difficulties of war. On the 5th of July,
the Great Captain landed at Tropea, and commenced the conquest of
Calabria, ordering the fleet to keep along the coast, in order to furnish
whatever supplies he might need. The ground was familiar to him, and
his progress was facilitated by the old relations he had formed there, as
well as by the important posts which the Spanish government had
retained in its hands as an indemnification for the expenses of the late
war. Notwithstanding the opposition or coldness of the great Angevin
lords who resided in this quarter, the entire occupation of the two
Calabrias, with the exception of Tarento, was effected in less than a
month.
This city, remarkable in ancient times for its defence against Hannibal,
was of the last importance. King Frederic had sent thither his eldest
son, the Duke of Calabria, a youth about fourteen years of age. under
the care of Juan de Guevara, count of Potenza, with a strong body of
troops, considering it the place of greatest security in his dominions.
Independently of the strength of its works, it was rendered nearly
inaccessible by its natural position ; having no communication with tho
main land except by two bridges, at opposite quarters of the ' MI,, com
manded by strong towers, while its exposure to the sea made it easily
open to supplies from abroad.
* The reader will readily call to mind the Neapolitan poet Sannaznro, whose fidelity to
his royal master forms so beautiful a contrast with the conduct of Pontano, and indeed of
too many of his tribe, whose gratitude is of that sort that will oiily rise above zero in tho
sunshine of a court. His vuiic us IKK tk-al cflusii.ns aflord a noble testimony to the virtues
of his unfortunate sovereign, the more unsuspicious as many of them were produced ui
the days of his adversity.
TAIiTITIOW OF XAPLES. 409
Gonsalvo saw that the only method of reducing the place must be by
blockade. Disagreeable as the delay was, he prepared to lay regular
siege to it, ordering the fleet to sail round the southern point of Calabria,
and blockade the port of Tarento, while he threw up works on the land
side, which commanded the passes to the town, and cut off its com-
munications with the neighbouring country. The place, however, was
well victualled, and the garrison prepared to maintain it to the last.
Nothing tries more severely the patience and discipline of the soldier
than a life of sluggish inaction, unenlivened, as in the present instance,
by any of the rencontres, or feats of arms, which keep up military ex-
citement, and gratify the cupidity or ambition of the warrior. The
Spanish troops, cooped up within their entrenchments, and disgusted
with the languid monotony of their life, cast many a wistful glance to
the stirring scenes of war in the centre of Italy, where Caesar Borgia held
out magnificent promises of pay and plunder to all who embarked in his
adventurous enterprises. He courted the aid, in particular, of the
Spanish veterans, whose worth he well understood, for they had often
served under his banner, in his feuds with the Italian princes. In con-
sequence of these inducements, some of Gonsalvo's men were found to
desert every day ; while those who remained were becoming hourly more
discontented, from the large arrears due from the government ; for
Ferdinand, us already remarked, conducted his operations with a stinted
my, very different from the prompt and liberal expenditure of the
queen, always competent to its object.*
A trivial incident, at this time, swelled the popular discontent into
mutiny. The French fleet, after the capture of Naples, was ordered to
the Levant to assi.-t the Venetians against the Turks. llavenstcin,
ambitious of eclipsing the exploits of the Great Captain, turned his
arms against Mitilene, with the design of recovering it for the republic,
lie totally l'ail< d in the attack, and his licet was soon after scattered by
a tempest, and his own t- t ;i wrecked on the isle of Cerigo. He sub-
sequently found his way, with several of his principal officers, to the
shores of Calabria, where he landed in the most forlorn and desperate
plight. Goiisu'vo, touched with his misfortunes, no soonev learned his
neee.-sities, than he sent him abundant supplies of provisions, adding a
service of phite. and a variety of elegant apparel for himself and fol-
lowers ; consulting his o\vn munificent spirit in this, much more than
the limitrd state of his finances.
This excessive liberality was very inopportune. The soldiers loudly
oomplcined that their IM neral found treasures to squander on foreigners,
while his own troops were defrauded of their pay. The Biscayans, a
people of whom Goiisalvo used to say, " he had rather be a lion-keeper,
than undertake to govern them," took the lead in the tumult. It soon
swelled into open insurrection ; and the men, forming themselves into
regular companies, marched to the general's quarters and demanded
payment of their arrears. One fellow, more insolent than the rest,
levelled a pike at his breast with the most angry and menacing looks.
Gonsalvo, however, retaining his self-possession, gently put it aside,
Don Juan Manuel, the Spanish minister at Vienna, seems to have been fully sensible
of this trait of his master. He told the emperor Maximilian, who had requested the loan
of 300,000 ducats from Sixiin, that it was as much money as would suffice King Ferdinand
for the aoumiest, not merely of Italy, but Africa into the bargain.
410 ITALIA::
saying, with a good-natured smile, " Higher, you care-loss knave, lift
your lance higher, or you will run me through in your jesting." As he
was reiterating his assurances of the want of funds, and his confident
expectation of speedily obtaining them, a Biscayan captain called out,
" Send your daughter to the brothel, and that will soon put you in
funds ! " This was a favourite daughter named Elvira, whom Gonsalvo
loved so tenderly, that he would not part with her, even in his campaigns.
Although stung to the heart by this audacious taunt, he made no reply ;
but without changing a muscle of his countenance, continued, in the
same tone as before, to expostulate with the insurgents, who at length
were prevailed on to draw off, and disperse to their quarters. The next
morning, the appalling spectacle of the lifeless body of the Biscayan,
hanging by the neck from a window of the house in which he had been
quartered, admonished the army that there were limits to the general's
forbearance it was not prudent to overstep.
An unexpected event, which took place at this juncture, contributed
even more than this monitory lesson to restore subordination to the array.
This was the capture of a Genoese galleon with a valuable freight,
chiefly iron, bound to some Turkish port, as it was said, in the Levant ;
which Gonsalvo, moved no doubt by his zeal for the Christian cause,
ordered to be seized by the Spanish cruisers ; and the cargo to be dis-
posed of for the satisfaction of his troops. Giovio charitably excuse
this act of hostility against a friendly power with the remark, that
" when the Great Captain did anything contrary to law, he was wont to
say, ' A general must secure the victory at all hazards, right or wrong :
and, when he has done this, he can compensate those whom he has
injured with tenfold benefits.' "
The unexpected length of the siege of Tarento determined Gonsalvo,
at length, to adopt bolder measures for quickening its termination. The
city, whose insulated position has been noticed, was bounded on the
north by a lake, or rather arm of the sea, forming an excellent interior
harbour, about eighteen miles in circumference. The inhabitants,
trusting to the natural defences of this quarter, had omitted to protect
it l>y fortifications, and the houses rose abruptly from the margin of the
basin. Into this reservoir the Spanish commander resolved to transport
such of his vessels then riding in the outer bay, as from their size could
be conveyed across the narrow isthmus which divided it from the inner.
After incredible toil, twenty of the smallest craft were moved on huge
cars and rollers across the intervening land, and safely launched on the
bosom of the lake. The whole operation was performed amid the exciting
accompaniments of discharges of ordnance, strains of martial music,
and loud acclamations of the soldiery. The inhabitants of Tarento saw
with consternation the fleet so lately floating in the open ocean under
their impregnable walls, now quitting its native element, and moving,
as it were, by magic, across the land, to assault them on the quarter
where they were the least defended.*
The Neapolitan commander perceived it would be impossible to hold
out longer, without compromising the personal safety of the young
Gonsalvo took the hint for this, doubtless, from Hannibal's similar expedient. Cseaar
notices a similar manoeuvre executed by him in his wars in Spain. The vessels which ha
caused to be transported, however, across twenty miles of land, were much inferior In
Ue to those of Gonsalvo.
PARTITION 01 NAPLES. 411
prince under his care. He accordingly entered into negotiations for a
truce with the Great Captain, during which articles of capitulation were
arranged, guaranteeing to the duke of Calabria and his followers the
right of evacuating the place and going wherever they listed. Th
Spanish general, in order to give greater solemnity to those engagements,
bound himself to observe them by an oath on the sacrament.
On the 1st of March, 1502, the Spanish army took possession, accord-
ing to agreement, of the city of Tarento ; and the duke of Calabria
with his suite was permitted to leave it, in order to rejoin his father in
France. In the mean time, advices were received from Ferdinand the
Catholic, instructing Gonsalvo on no account to suffer the young prince
to escape from his hands, as he was a pledge of too great importance for
the Spanish government to relinquish. The general in consequence
sent after the duke, who had proceeded in company with the count ot
Potenza as far as Bitonto, on his way to the north, and commanded him
to be arrested and brought back to Tarento. Not long after, he caused
him to be conveyed on board one of the men-of-war in the harbour,
and, in contempt of his solemn engagements, sent a prisoner to Spain.
The national writers have made many awkward attempts to varnish
over this atrocious act of perfidy in their favourite hero. Zurita vindi-
cates it by a letter from the Neapolitan prince to Gonsalvo, requesting-
the latter to take this step, since he preferred a residence in Spain to one
in France, but could not with decency appear to act in opposition to his
father's wishes on the subject. If such a letter, however, were really
obtained from the prince, his tender years would entitle it to little
weight, and of course it would afford no substantial ground for justi-
fication. Another explanation is offered by Paolo Giovio, who states
that the Great Captain, undetermined what course to adopt, took the
opinion of certain learned jurists. This sage body decided " that
Gonsalvo was not bound by his oath, since it was repugnant to his para-
mount obligations to his master ; and that the latter was not bound by
it, since it was made without his privity ! " The man who trusts his
honour to the tampering of casuists, has parted with it already.*
The only palliation of the act must be sought in the prevalent laxity
and corruption of the period, which is rife with examples of the most
flagrant violation of both public and private faith. Had this been the
act of a Sforza indeed, or a Borgia, it could not reasonably have excited
surprise. But coming from one of a noble, magnanimous nature, like
Gonsalvo, exemplary in private life, and unstained with any of the
grosser vices of the age, it excited general astonishment and reprobation,
even among his contemporaries. It has left a reproach on his name,
which the historian may regret, but cannot wipe away.
* In G on salvo's correspondence is a letter to the sovereigns, written soon nfter the occu-
pation of Tarento, in which he mentions his efforts to secure the duke of Calabria iu the
ith confidence of his own ascendancy over the young man's
:md assures the so'. :lie latter will be content to continue with him till
.'.1 receive instructicns from Spain, how to dispose of him. At the same time the
-:u took care to maintain a turceillai.ee over the duke, by means of tha
itt.n'uiuts on hia person. We fuvi no allusion to any produces ander oath.
CHAPTER XI.
WABS. BCPTUBE WITH FRAKCE. GONSALVO BESIEGED nr BABIJRTA.
15021503.
Rupture between the French and Spaniards Gonsalvo retires to Barletta Chivalroui
Cliaracter of the War Tourney near Tram Duel between Bayard and Sotomayor
Distress of Barletta Constancy of the Spaniards Gonsalvo storms and takes Ruvo
Prepares to leave Barletta.
IT was hardly to be expected that the partition treaty between France
and Spain, made so manifestly in contempt of all good faith, would be
maintained any longer than suited the convenience of the respective
parties. The French monarch, indeed, seems to have prepared, from
the lirst, to dispense with it so soon as he had secured his own moiety of
the kingdom ; and sagacious men at the Spanish court inferred that
King Ferdinand would do as much, when he should be in a situation to
assert his claims with success.
It was altogether improbable, whatever might be the good faith of the
parties, that an arrangement could long subsist, which so rudely rent
asunder the members of this ancient monarchy ; or that a thousand
points of collision should not arise between rival hosts, lying as it were
on their arms within bowshot of each other, and in view of the rich spoil
which each regarded as its own. Such grounds for rupture did occur,
sooner probably than either party had foreseen, and certainly before the
king of Aragon was prepared to meet it.
The immediate cause was the extremely loose language of the partition
treaty, which assumed such a geographical division of the kingdom into
four provinces as did not correspond with any ancient division, and still
less with the modern, by which the number was multiplied to twelve.
The central portion, comprehending the Capitanate, the Basilicate, and
the Principality, became debatable ground between the parties, each of
whom insisted on these as forming an integral part of its own moiety.
The French had no ground whatever for contesting the possession of the
Capitanate, the first of these provinces, and by far the most important,
on account of the tolls paid by the numerous flocks which descended
every winter into its sheltered valleys from the snow-covered mountains
of Abruzzo.* There was more uncertainty to which of the parties the
two other provinces were meant to be assigned. It is scarcely possible
that language so loose, in a matter requiring mathematical precision,
should have been unintentional.
Before Gonsalvo de Cordova had completed the conquest of the
southern moiety of the kingdom, and while lying before Tarento, he
received intelligence of the occupation by the French, of several places,
* The provision of the partition treaty, that the Spaniards should collect the tolls paid
by the flocks on their descent from the French district of Abruzzo into the Capitanatc, is
conclusive evidence of the intention of the contracting parties to assign the latter to Spain.
EESOLUTIOX OF THE SPAXIAKDS. 413
both in the Capitanate and Basilicatc. He detached a body of troops
!'.T the protection of these countries, and, after the surrender of Tarcnto,
inarched towards the north to cover them with his whole army. As he
was not in a condition for immediate hostilities, however, he entered
into negotiations, which, if attended with no other advantage, would at
least ^ain him time.*
The pretensions of the two parties, as might have been expected, were
too irreconcilable to admit of compromise ; and a personal conference
between the respective commauders-in-chief (April 1st, Io02) led to no.
better arrangement, than that each should retain his present acquisitions
till explicit instructions could be received from their respective courts.
But neither of the two monarehs had further instructions to give;
and the Catholic king contented himself with admonishing his general
to postpone an open rupture as long as possible, that the government
might have time to provide more effectually for his support, and
strengthen itsdf by alliance with other European powers. But, how-
ever pacific may have been the disposition of the generals, they had no
power to control the passions of their soldiers, who, thus brought into
immediate contact, glared on each other with the ferocity of bloodhounds,
ready to slip the leash which held them in temporary check. Hostilities
soon broke out along the lines of the two armies, the blame of which
each nation charged on its opponent. There seems good ground, how-
ever, for imputing it to the French ; since they weiv altogether better
prepared for war than the Spaniards, and entered into it so heartily as
not only to assail places in the debatable ground, but in Apulia, which
had been unequivocally assigned to their rivals.
In the meanwhile, the Spanish court fruitlessly endeavoured to-
interest the other powers of Europe in its cause. The Emperor Maxi-
milian, although dissatisfied with the occupation of Milan by the French,
appeared wholly engrossed with the frivolous ambition of a Roman
coronation. The pontiff and his son, Cocsar Borgia, were closely bound
to King Louis by the assistance which he had rendered them in their
marauding enterprises against the neighbouring chiefs of Romagna.
The other Italian princes, although deeply incensed and disgusted by
this infamous alliance, stood too much in awe of the colossal power,.
which had planted its foot so firmly on their territory, to offer any
resistance. Venice alone, surveying from her distant watch-tower, to
borrow the words of Peter Martyr, the whole extent of the political
horizon, appeared to hesitate. The French ambassadors loudly called
on her to fulfil the terms of her late treaty with their master, and
support him in his approaching quarrel ; but that wily republic saw
with distrust the encroaching ambition of her powerful neighbour, and
secretly wished that a counterpoise might be found in the success of
Arairon. Martyr, who stopped at Venice on his return from Egypt,
appeared before the senate (October, 1,301), and employed all his elo-
quence in supporting his master's cause in opposition to the French
envoys ; but his pressing entreaties to the Spanish sovereigns to send
thither some competent person, as a resident minister, show his own
conviction of the critical position in which their affairs stood.
* Gons-ilvo, in hta account, of tnese transactions to the sovereigns, notices "the intem-
perate language aud betting H botE of the viceroy aud Alegre. This port of the letter to
in cyi her.
414 ITALIAN WAES.
The letters of the same intelligent individual, during his journev
through the Milanese,* are filled with the most gloomy forebodings of
the termination of a contest for which the Spaniards were so indifferently
provided ; while the whole north of Italy was alive with the bustling
preparations of the French, who loudly vaunted their intentions of
driving their enemy not merely out of Naples, but Sicily itself.
Louis the Twelfth superintended these preparations in person ; and,
to be near the theatre of operations, crossed the Alps, and took up his
quarters at Asti. (July, 1502.) At length, all being in readiness, he
brought things to an immediate issue, by commanding his general to
proclaim war at once against the Spaniards, unless they abandoned the
Capitanate in four-and-twenty hours.
The French forces in Naples amounted, according to their own state-
mentsj to one thousand men-at-arms, three thousand five hundred
French and Lombard, and three thousand Swiss infantry, in addition to
the Neapolitan levies raised by the Angevin lords throughout the
kingdom. The command was intrusted to the duke of Nemours, a brave
and chivalrous young nobleman of the ancient house of Armaguac, whose
family connexions more than talents had raised to the perilous post of
viceroy over the head of the veteran D'Aubigny. The latter would have
thrown up his commission in disgust, but for the remonstrances of his
sovereign, who prevailed on him to remain where his counsels were more*
than ever necessary to supply the inexperience of the young commander.
The jealousy and wilfulness of the latter, however, defeated these
intentions : and the misunderstanding of the chiefs, extending to their
followers, led to a fatal want of concert in their movements.
"With these officers were united some of the best and bravest of the
French chivalry ; among whom may be noticed Jacques de Chabannes,
more commonly known as the Sire de la Palice, a favourite of Louis tho
Twelfth, and well entitled to be so by his deserts ; Louis d'Ars ; Ives
d'Aldgre, brother of the Precy who gained so much renown in the wars
of Charles the Eighth ; and Pierre de Bayard, the knight " sans peur et
sans reproche," who was then entering on the honourable career in which
he seemed to realise all the imaginary perfections of chivalry.
Notwithstanding the small numbers of the French force, the Great
Captain was in no condition to cope with them. He had received no
reinforcement from home since he first landed in Calabria. His little
corps of veterans was destitute of proper clothing and equipments, and
the large arrears due to them made the tenure of their obedience
extremely precarious, f Since affairs began to assume their present
menacing aspect, he had been busily occupied with drawing together the
detachments posted in various parts of Calabria, and concentrating them
on the town of Atella in the Basilicate, where he had established his
own quarters. He had also opened a correspondence with the Barons oi
* The unconstrained and familiar tone of Us correspondence affords a. pleasing example
of the personal intimacy to which the sovereigns, so contrary to the usual stiffness of
Spanish etiquette, admitted men of learning and probity at their court, without distinc-
tion of rank. upus Epist. epist. 230.
t Martyr's epistles at this crisis are filled with expostulation, argument, and entreaties
to the sovereigns, begging them to rouse from their apathy, and take measures to seoure
the wavering affections of Venice, as well as to send more effectual aid to their Italian
troops. Ferdinand listened to the first of these suggestions; but showed a strange
Insensibility to the last.
EESOLTJTIOX OF THE SPANIARDS. 413
the Aragonese faction, who were most numerous as well as most powerful
in the northern section of the kingdom, which had been assigned to the
French. He was particularly fortunate in gaining over the two Colonnas,
whose authority, powerful connexions, and large military experience
proved of inestimable value to him.*
With all the resources he could command, however, Gonsalvo found
himself, as before noticed, unequal to the contest, though it was impos-
sible to defer it, after the peremptory summons of the French viceroy to
surrender the Capitanate. To this he unhesitatingly answered, that
" the Capitanate belonged of right to his own master ; and that, with
the blessing of God, he would make good its defence against the French
king, or any other who should invade it."
Notwithstanding the bold front put on his affairs, however, he did not
choose to abide the assault of the French in his present position. He
instantly drew off with the greater part of his force to Barletta, a fortified
seaport on the confines of Apulia, on the Adriatic, the situation of which
would enable him either to receive supplies from abroad, or to effect a
retreat, if necessary, on board the Spanish fleet, which still kept the
coast of Calabria. The remainder of his army he distributed in Bari,
Andria, Canosa, and other adjacent towns ; where he confidently hoped
to maintain himself till the arrival of reinforcements, which he solicited
in the most pressing manner from Spain and Sicily, should enable him
to take the field on more equal terms against his adversary.
The French officers, in the meantime, were divided in opinion as to
the best mode of conducting the war. Some were for besieging Bari,
held by the illustrious and unfortunate Isabella of Aragon ; others, in
a more chivalrous spirit, opposed the attack of a place defended by a
female, and advised an immediate assault on Barletta itself, whose old
and dilapidated works might easily be forced, if it did not at once
surrender. The duke of Nemours, deciding on a middle course, deter-
mined to invest the last-mentioned town ; and, cutting off all commu-
nication with the surrounding country, to reduce it by regular blockade,
This plan was unquestionably the least eligible of all, as it would allow
time lor the enthusiasm of the French, the furia Francese, as it
was called in Italy, which carried them victoriously over so many
obstacles, to evaporate, while it brought into play the stern resolve, the
calm, unflinching endurance, which distingxiished the Spanish soldier.
One of tke first operations of the French viceroy was the siege of
Canosa (July 2, 1502), a strongly fortified place west of Barletta,
garrisoned by six hundred picked men under the engineer, Pedro
iXnvarro. The defence of the place justified the reputation of this gallant
soldier. He beat off two successive assaults of the enemy, led on by
Bayard, La Palice, and the flower of their chivalry. He had prepared
to sustain a third, resolved to bury himself under the ruins of the t<.wn
rather than surrender. But Gonsalvo, unable to relieve it, commanded
him to make the best terms he could, saying, " the place was of far less
value, than the lives of the brave men who defended it." Xavarro
* Prospero Colonna, in particular, was distinguished not only for 1 -ience,
but his fondness for letters and the arts, of which he is commemorated by Tir.-iiiosi.-lii as a
munificent patron. Paolo Giovio has i is portrait among the efii^ics of illua-
tri ms men, who, it must be confessed, are more indebted in hia work tc the hand of tbt
hiitorian tliaa the artist.
416 ITALIAN WABS.
found no difficulty in obtaining an honourable capitulation ; and the
little garrison, dwindled to one-third of its original number, marched
out through the enemy's camp, with colours fly ing and music playing,
as if in derision of the powerful force it had so nobly kept at bay.*
After the capture of Canosa, D'Aubigny, whose misunderstanding
with Xemours still continued, was dispatched with a small force into
the south, to overrun the two Calabrias. The viceroy, in the meanwhile
having fruitlesslv attempted the reduction of several strong places held
by the Spaniards in the neighbourhood of Barletta, endeavoured to
straiten the garrison there by desolating the surrounding country, and
sweeping off the flocks and herds which grazed in its fertile pastures.
The Spaniards, however, did not remain idle within their defences,
but, sallying out in small detachments, occasionally retrieved the spoil
from the hands of the enemy, or annoyed him with desultory attacks,
ambuscades, and other irregular movements of guerilla warfare, in.
which the French were comparatively unpractised.
The war now began to assume many of the romantic features of that of
Granada. The knights on both sides, not content with the usual
military rencontres, defied one another to jousts and tourneys, eager to
establish their prowess in the noble exercises of chivalry. " One of the
most remarkable of their meetings took place between eleven Spanish
and as many French knights, in consequence of some disparaging
remarks of the latter on the cavalry of their enemies, which they
affirmed inferior to their own. The Venetians gave the parties a fair
field of combat in the neutral territory under their own walls of Trani.
A gallant array of well-armed knights of both nations guarded the lists,
and maintained the order of the fight. On the appointed day (Sept.
20, 1502,) the champions appeared in the field, armed at all points,
with horses richly caparisoned, and barbed or covered with steel panoply
like their masters. The roofs and battlements of Trani were covered
with spectators, while the lists were thronged with the French and
Spanish chivalry, each staking in some degree the national honour on
the issue of the contest. Among the Castilians were Diego de Paredes,
and Diego de Vera, while the good knight Bayard was most conspicuous
on the other side.
As the trumpets sounded the appointed signal, the hostile parties
rushed to the encounter. Three Spaniards were borne from their
saddles by the rudeness of the shock, and four of their antagonists'
horses slain. The fight, which began at ten in the morning, was not
to be protracted beyond sunset. Long before that hour all the French,
save two, one of them the chevalier Bayard, had been dismounted, and
their horses, at which the Spaniards had aimed more than at the riders,
disabled or slain. The Spaniards, seven of whom were still on horseback,
pressed hard on their adversaries, leaving little doubt of the fortune of
the day. The latter, however, intrenching themselves behind the
carcases of their dead horses, made good their defence against the
Spaniards, who in vain tried to spur their terrified steeds over the
Peter Martyr says, that the Spaniards marched through the enemy's camp, shouting
"Espaiia, Espuiia, viva Espaiia ! " (ubi supra.) Their gallantry in the defence nf ,
elicits a hearty eulogium from Jean D'Auton, the loyal historiographer of Louis XII. " J
Be veux done par ma Chronique inettre les biensfaicts de? n oubly, ri.i'tf c!;r
que pour vertueuse defence, doibuent auoir louauge honorable." Ilist. de Loujc ilL
chap. 11.
RESOLUTION OF THE SPAXIABDS. 417
barrier, In this way the fight was protracted till sunset ; and, as both
parties continued to keep possession of the field, the palm of victory was
adjudged to neither, while both were pronounced to have demeaned
themselves like good and valiant knights.
The tourney being ended, the combatants met in the centre of the
lists, and embraced each other in the true companionship of chivalry,
" making good cheer together," says an old chronicler, before they
separated. The Great Captain was not satislicd with the issue of tho
fight. "We have at least, said one of his champions, " disproved the
taunt of the Frenchmen, and shown ourselves as good horsemen as
they." " I sent you for better," coldly retorted Gonsalvo.
A more tragic termination befel a combat a Voutrance, between the
chevalier Bayard and a Spanish cavalier, named Alonso de Sotomayor,
who had accused the former of uncourteous treatment of him while his
prisoner. Bayard denied the charge, and defied the Spaniard to prove
it in single fight, on horse or on foot, as he best liked. Sotomayor,
aware of his antagonist's uncommon horsemanship, preferred the latter
alternative.
At the day and hour appointed (Feb. 2, 1503,) the two knights entered
the lists, armed with sword and dagger, and sheathed in complete
harness ; although with a degree of temerity unusual in these combats,
they wore their visors up. Both combatants knelt down in silent
prayer for a few moments, and then rising and crossing themselves,
advanced straight against each other; "the good knight Bayard," says
Brantome, "moving as light of step, as if he were going to lead some
fair lady down the dance."
The Spaniard was of a large and powerful frame, and endeavoured to
crush his enemy by weight of blows, or to close with him, and bring
him to the ground. The latter, naturally inferior in strength, was
rendered still weaker by a fever, from which he had not entirely
recovered. He was more light and agile than his adversary, however ;
and superior dexterity enabled him not only to parry his enemy's
strokes, but to deal him occasionally one of his own, while he sorely
distressed him by the rapidity of his movements. At length, as the
Spaniard was somewhat thrown off his balance by an ill-directed blow,
Bayard struck him so sharply on the gorget that it gave way, and the
Bword entered his throat. Furious with the agony of the wound,
Sotomayor collected all his strength for a last struggle, and, grasping
his antagonist in his arms, they both rolled in the dust together. Before
either could extricate himself, the quick-eyed Bayard, who had retained
Lis poniard in his left hand during the whole combat, while the
Spaniard's had remained in his belt, drove the steel with such convulsive
strength under his enemy's eve, that it pierced quite through the brain.
After the judges had awarded the honours of the day to Bayard, the
minstrels as usual began to pour forth triumphant strains in praise of
the victor ; but the good knight commanded them to desist, and, having
first prostrated himself on his knees in gratitude for his victorv, walked
slowly out of the lists, expressing a wish that the combat had had a
different termination, so that his honour had been saved.
In these jousts and tourneys, described with sufficient prolixity, but
in a truly heart-stirring tone, by the chroniclers of the day, we may
discern the last gleams of the light of chivalry which illumined the
418 ITALIAN WARS.
darkness of the middle ages ; and, although rough in comparison with
the pastimes of more polished times, they called forth such displays of
magnificence, courtesy, and knightly honour, as throw something like
the grace of civilisation over the ferocious features of the age.
"While the Spaniards, cooped up within the old town of Barletta,
sought to vary the monotony of their existence by these chivalrous
exercises, or an occasional foray into the neighbouring country, they
suffered greatly from the want of military stores, food, clothing, and the
most common necessaries of life. It seemed as if their master had
abandoned them to their fate on this forlorn outpost, without a struggle
in their behalf.* How different from the parental care with which
Isabella watched over the welfare of her soldiers in the long war of
Granada ! The queen appears to have taken no part in the management
of these wars, which, notwithstanding the number of her own immediate
subjects embarked in them, she probably regarded, from the first, as
appertaining to Aragon, as exclusively as the conquests in the New
World did to Castile. Indeed, whatever degree of interest she may have
felt in their success, the declining state of her health at this period
would not have allowed her to take any part in the conduct o* them.
Gonsalvo was not wanting to himself in this trying emergency, and
his noble spirit seemed to rise as all outward and visible resources
failed. He cheered his troops with promises of speedy relief ; talking
confidently of the supplies of grain he expected from Sicily, and the men.
and money he was to receive from Spain and Venice. He contiived
too, says Giovio, that a report should get abroad, that a ponderous coffer
lying in his apartment was filled with gold, which he could draw upon
in the last extremity. The old campaigners, indeed, according to the
same authority, shook their heads at these and other agreeable fictions of
their general, with a very sceptical air. They derived some confirma-
tion, however, from the arrival soon after of a Sicilian bark laden with
corn, and another from Venice with various serviceable stores aad
wearing apparel, which Gonsalvo bought on his own credit and that of
his principal officers, and distributed gratuitously among his destitute
joldiera.
At this time he received the unwelcome tidings that a small force
which had been sent from Spain to his assistance, under Don Manuel de
Benavides, and which had effected a jtmction with one much larger from
Sicily under Hugo de Cardona, was surprised by D'Aubigny near Terra-
nova, and totally defeated (Dec. 25th, 1502). This " disaster was
followed by the reduction of all Calabria, which the latter general at ,-
the head of his French and Scottish gendarmerie, rode over from one
extremity to the other without opposition.
The prospect now grew darker and darker around the little garrison of '
Barletta. The discomfiture of Benavides excluded hopes of relief in that
direction. The gradual occupation of most of the strong places in Apiilia
by the duke of JNemours cut off all communication with the neighbouring
country; and a French fleet cruising in the Adriatic rendered the
arrival of further stores and reinforcements extremely precarious.
Gonsalvo, however, maintained the same unruffled cheerfulness as
* According to Martyr, the besieged had been BO severely pressed by famine for som
tiiiio bet'uiv this, that Gonsalvo entertained crious thoughts of emburki'i.r the \vhoie of
his little gurridou on, board the fleet, aud abandoning the place to the cueiny.
BESOLtTIOX OF THE SPANIARDS. 419
before, and endeavoured to infuse it into the hear's of others. Ho
perfectly understood the character of his countrymen, knew all their
resources, and tried to rouse every latent principle of honour, loyalty,
pride, and national feeling; and such was the authority -which he
acquired over their minds, and so deep the affection which he inspired,
by the amenity of his manners and the generosity of his disposition, that
not a murmur or symptom of insubordination escaped them during the
whole of this long and painful siege. But neither the excellence of his
troops, nor the resources of his own genius, would have been sufficient
to extricate Gonsalvo from the difficulties of his situation without the
most flagrant errors on the part of his opponent. The Spanish general,
who understood the character of the French commander perfectly well,
lay patiently awaiting his opportunity, like a skilful fencer, ready to
make a decisive thrust at the first vulnerable point that should be
presented. Such an occasion at length offered itself early in the fol-
lowing year (Jan. 1503).
The French, no less weary than their adversaries of their long inac-
tion, sallied out from Canosa, where the viceroy had established his
head-quarters, and crossing the Ofanto, marched up directly under the
walls of Marietta, with the intention of drawing out the garrison from
the " old den," as they called it, and deciding the quarrel in a pitched
battle. The duke of Xemours, accordingly, having taken up his posi-
tion, sent a trumpet into the place, to defy the Great Captain to the
encounter ; but the latter returned for answer, that " he was accustomed
to choose his own place and time for fighting, and would thank the
French general to wait till his men found time to shoe their hordes, and
burnish up their arms." At length Xemours, after remaining some
days, and finding there was no chance of decoying his wily foe from his
defences, broke up his camp and retired, satisfied with the empty
honours of his gasconade.
^No sooner had he fairly turned his back, that Gonsalvo, whose soldiers
had been ivstrained with difficulty from sallying out on their insolent
foe, ordered the whole strength of his cavalry, under the command of
Diego de Mendoza, flanked by two corps of infantry, to issue forth and
pursue the French. Mendoza executed these orders so promptly, that
he brought up his horse, which was somewhat in advance of the foot, on
the rear-guard of the French, before it had got many miles from Barletta.
The latter instantly halted to receive the charge of the Spaniards, and,
alter a lively skirmish of no great duration, Mendoza retreated, followed
by the incautious enemy, who, in consequence of their irregular and
-ling march, were detached from the main body of their army. In
the meantime, the advancing columns of the Spanish infantry, which
had now come up with the retreating horse, unexpectedly closing on the
enemy's flanks, threw them into some disorder, wliich became complete
when the flying cavalry of the Spaniards, suddenly wheeling round in
the rapid style of the Moorish tactics, charged them boklly in front.
All was now confusion. Some made resistance, but most sought only to
escape ; a few effected it, but the greater part of those who did not fall
on the field were carried prisoners to Barletta, where Mendoza found the
Great Captain with his whole army djawu up under the walls in order
of battle, ready to support him in person, if r.ecvssary. The whole
affair passed, so expeditiously, that the viceroy, who, as has been said,
K 2
420 ITAilAN WABS.
conducted his retreat in a most disorderly manner, and, in fact, had
already dispersed several battalions of his infantry to the different towns
from which he had drawn them, knew nothing of the rencontre till his
men were securely lodged within the walls of Barletta.*
The arrival of a Venetian trader at this time, with a cargo of grain.
brought temporary relief to the pressing necessities of the garrison.f
This was followed by the welcome intelligence of the total discomfiture
of the French fleet under M. de Prejan by the Spanish admiral Lezcano,
in an action off Otranto, which consequently left the seas open for the
supplies daily expected from Sicily. Fortune seemed now in the giving
vein ; for in a few days a convoy of seven transports from that island,
laden with grain, meat, and other stores, came safe into Barletta, and
supplied abundant means for recruiting the health and spirits of its
famished inmates.
Thus restored, the Spaniards began to look forward with eager con-
fidence to the achievement of some new enterprise. The temerity of the
viceroy soon afforded an opportunity. The people of Castellaneta, a town
near Tarento, were driven by the insolent and licentious behaviour of
the French garrison to betray the place into the hands of the Spaniards.
The duke of Nemours, enraged at this defection, prepared to march at
once with his whole force and take signal vengeance on the devoted little
town ; and this, notwithstanding the remonstrances of his officers against
a step which must inevitably expose the unprotected garrisons in the
neighbourhood to the assault of their vigilant enemy in Barletta. The
event justified these apprehensions.
Xo sooner had Gronsalvo learned the departure of Nemours on a distant
expedition, than he resolved at once to make an attack on the town of
Ruvo, about twelve miles distant, and defended by the brave La Paliee,
with a corps of three hundred French lances and as many foot. With
his usual promptness, the Spanish general quitted the walls of Barletta
the same night on which he received the news (Feb. 22nd, 1503), taking
with him his whole effective force, amounting to about three thousand
infantry, and one thousand light and heavy armed horse. So few,
indeed, remained to guard the city, that he thought it prudent to take
some of the principal inhabitants as hostages to insure its fidelity in his
absence.
At break of day the little army arrived before Ruvo. Gonsalvo
immediately opened a lively cannonade on the old ramparts, which in
less than four hours effected a considerable breach. He then led his
men to the assault, taking charge himself of those who were to storm the
breach, while another division, armed with ladders for scaling the walls
was intrusted to the adventurous cavalier Diego de Paredes.
A dispute arose, soon after this affair, between a French officer and some Italian
gentlemen at Gonsalvo's table, in consequence of certain injurious reflections made by the
former on the bravery of the Italian nation. The quarrel was settled by a combat d
I'outrance between thirteen knights on each side, fought under the protection of the Great
Captain, who took a lively interest in the success of his allies. It terminated in the dis-
comfiture and capture of all the French. The tourney covers more pages hi the Italiau
historians than the longest battle, and is told with pride and a swell of exultation, which
show that this insult of the French cut more deeply than all the injuries inflicted by
them.
t This supply was owing to the avarice of the French general Alegre, who, having got
possession of a magazine of corn in Foggia, sold it to the Venetian merchant, instead of
reserving it, where it was most needed, for his own army.
KESOLTTTIOX OF THE SPANIARDS. 421
The assailants experienced more resolute resistance than they had anti-
cipated from the inconsiderable number of the garrison. La Palice,
throwing himself into the breach with his iron band of dismounted
gendarmes, drove back the Spaniards as often as they attempted to set foot
on the broken ramparts ; while the Gascon archery showered down
volleys of arrows thick as hail, from the battlements, on the exposed
persons of the assailants. The latter, however, soon rallied under the
eye of their general, and returned with fresh fury to the charge, until
the overwhelming tide of numbers bore down all opposition, and tiny
puured in through the breach and over the walls with irresistible fury.
The brave little garrison were driven before them; still, however,
occasionally making fight in the streets and houses. Their intrepid
young commander, La Talice, retreated facing the enemy, who pressed
thick and close upon him, till his further progress being arrested by a
wall, he placed his back against it, and kept them at bav, making a
wide circle around him with the deadly sweep of his battle-axe. 15ut
the odds were too much for him ; and at length, after repeated wounds,
having been brought to the ground by a deep cut in the head, he was
made prisoner ; not, however, before he had flung his sword far over the
heads of the assailants, disdaining, in the true spirit of a knight-
errant, to yield it to the rabble around him.*
All resistance was now at an end. The women of the place had fled
like so many frighted deer to one of the principal churches ; and
Gonsalvo with more humanity than was usual in these barbarous wars,
placed a guard over their persons, which effectually secured them from
the insults of the soldiery. After a short time spent in gathering up the
booty and securing his prisoners, the Spanish general, having achieved
the object of his expedition, set out on his homeward march, and arrived
without interruption at Barletta.
The Duke of Nemours had scarcely appeared before Castellaneta,
before he received tidings of the attack on Ruvo. He put himself
without losing a moment, at the head of his gendarmes, supported by
the Swiss pikemen, hoping to reach the beleaguered town in time to
raise the siege. Great was his astonishment, therefore, on arriving
before it, to find no trace of an enemy, except {he ensigns of Spain
unfurled from the deserted battlements. Mortified and dejected, he
made no further attempt to recover Castellaneta, but silently drew off to
hide his chagrin in the walls of Canosa.
Among the prisoners were several persons of distinguished rank.
Gonsalvo treated them with his usual courtesy, and especially La Palice,
whom he provided with his own surgeon and all the appliances for
rendering his situation as comfortable as possible. For the common file,
however, he showed no such sympathy ; but condemned them all to serve
in the Spanish admiral's galleys, where they continued to the close of the
campaign. An unfortunate misunderstanding had long subsisted
* The gallant behaviour of 1ft Palice, and indeed the whole siege of Ruvo, is told by
Jean D'Auton in a truly heart-stirring tone, quite worthy of the chivalrous pen of o'A
Froissart. There is an inexpressible charm imparted to the French memoirs and
chronicles of this ancient date, not only from the picturesque character of the dctiils, but
from a gentle tinge of romance shed over them, which calls to mind the doughty feats of
"prowest knights.
Both Payuim and the peers of Charlemagne."
422 ITALIAN WAttS.
between the French and the Spanish commanders respecting the ransom
and exchange of prisoners ; and Gonsalvo was probably led to this
eevere measure, so different from his usual clemency, by an unwilling-
ness to encumber himself with a superfluous population in the besieged
city. But, in truth, such a proceeding, however offensive to humanity,
was not at all repugnant to the haughty spirit of chivalry, which
reserving its courtesies exclusively for those of gentle blood and high
degree, cared little for the inferior orders, whether soldier or peasant,
whom it abandoned without remorse to all the caprices and cruelties of
military licence.
The capture of Ruvo was attended with important consequences to the
Spaniards. Besides a valuable booty of clothes, jewels, and money, they
brought back with them nearly a thousand horses, which furnished
(Gonsalvo with the means of augmenting his cavalry, the small number
of which had hitherto materially crippled his operations. He accordingly
selected seven hundred of his* best troops, and mounted them on the
French horses ; thus providing himself with a corps burning with
zeal to approve itself worthy of the distinguished honour conferred
on it.
A few weeks after, the general received an important accession of
strength from the arrival of two thousand German mercenaries, which
Don Juan Manuel, the Spanish Minister at the Austrian court, had been
permitted to raise in the emperor's dominions. This event determined
the Great Captain on a step which he had been some time meditating.
The new levies placed him in a condition for assuming the offensive.
His stock of provisions, moreover, already much reduced, would be
obviously insufficient long to maintain his increased numbers. He
resolved, therefore, to sally out of the old walls of Barletta, and, availing
himself of the high spirits in which the late successes had put his troops,
to bring the enemy at once to battle.
CHAPTEE XII.
ITALIAN WAB NEGOTIATIONS WITH FRANCE VICTORY OF CERWNOLA SUBRENDB
OF NAPLES.
1503.
Birth of Charles V. Philip ana Joanna visit Spain Treaty of Lyons The Great Captain
refusf-s to comply with it Encamps before Cerignola Battle, and Rout of the French
Triumphant entry of Gonsalvo into Naples.
BEFORE accompanying the Great Captain further in his warlike opera-
tions, it will be necessary to take a rapid glance at what was passing in
the French and Spanish courts, where negotiations were in train for
putting a stop to them altogether.
The reader has been made acquainted in a preceding chapter with the
marriage of the infanta Joanna, second daughter of the Catholic sove-
reigns, with the archduke Philip, son of the emperor Maximilian, and
sovereign, in right of his mother, of the Low Countries. The first fruit
of this marriage was the celebrated Charles the Fifth, born at Ghent,
YICTOEY OF CEBIGXOLA. 423
February 21th, 15uO, whose birth was no sooner announced to Queen
Isabella, than she predicted that to this infant would one day descend
the rich inheritance of the Spanish monarchy.* The premature death of
the heir apparent, Prince Miguel, not long after, prepared the way for
this event, by devolving the succession on Joanna, Charles's mother.
From that moment the sovereigns were pressing in their entreaties that
the archduke and his wife would visit Spain, that they might receive
the customary oaths of allegiance, and tnat the former might become
acquainted with the character and institutions of his future subjects.
The giddy young prince, however, thought too much of present pleasure
to ht-ed the call of ambition or duty, and suffered more than a year to
glide away before he complied with the summons of his royal parents.
In the latter part of 1501, Philip and Joanna, attended by a numerous
suite of Flemish courtiers, set out on their journey, proposing to take
their way through France. They were entertained with profuse magni-
ficence and hospitality at the French court, where the politic attentions
of Louis the Twelfth not only effaced the recollection of ancient injuries
to the house of Burgundy, f but left impressions of the most agreeable
haracter on the mind of the young prince. J After some weeks passed
in a succession of splendid fetes and amusements at Blois, where the
archduke confirmed the treaty of Trent recently made between his
father, the emperor, and the French king, stipulating the marriage of
Louis's eldest daughter, the princess Claude, with Philip's son Charles,
the royal pair resumed their journey towards Spain, which they entered
by the way of Fontarabia, January 29th, 1 502.
Magnificent preparations had been made for their reception. The
grand constable of Castile, the duke of Xaxara, and many other of the
principal grandees waited on the borders to receive them. Brilliant
fetes and illuminations, and all the usual marks of public rejoicing,
greeted their progress through the principal cities of the north ; and a
praymatica relaxing the simplicity, or rather severity, of the sumptuary
laws of the period, so far as to allow the use of silks and various coloured
apparel, shows the attention of the sovereigns to every circumstance,
however trifling, which could affect the minds of the young princes
agreeably, and diffuse an air of cheerfulness over the scene.
Ferdinand and Isabella, who were occupied with the affairs of Andalusia
* The queen expressed herself in the language of Scripture, " Sors cecidit super
Mathiam," in allusion to the circumstance of Charles being born on that saint's day ; a
day which, if we are to believe Garibay, was fortunate to him through the whole course of
his life.
t Charles VIII., Louis's predecessor, had contrived to secure the hand of Anne of
Bretague, notwithstanding she was already married by proxy to Philip's father, the
emperor Maximilian ; and this, too, in contempt of his own engagements to Margaret, the
emperor's daughter, to whom he had been affianced from her infancy. This twofold
insult, which sunk deep into the heart of Maximilian, seems to have made no impression
on the volatile spirits of his son.
* St. Gelais describes the cordial reception of Philip and Joanna by the court at Blois,
where he was probably present himself. In passing through Paris, Philip took his seat in
the parliament as peer of France, and subsequently did homage to Louis XII. as his
suzerain for his estates hi Flanders ; an acknowledgment of inferiority not at all palatable
to the Spanish historians, who insist with much satisfaction on the haughty refusal of his
wii'e. the archduchess, to take part in the ceremony.
This extreme simplicity of attire, in which Zurita discerns the " modesty of the
times," was enforced by laws, the policy of which, whatever be thought of their moral
import, may well be doubted in aii economical Tiew. I shall have occasion tc draw th
reader's attention to them hereafter.
424 ITALIAN WAUS.
at this period, no sooner heard of the arrival of Philip and Joanna,
than they hastened to the north. They reached Toledo towards the end
of April ; and in a few days, the queen, who paid the usual penalties of
royalty, in seeing her children, one after another, removed far from he*
into distant lands, had the satisfaction of again folding her beloved
daughter in her arms.
On the 22nd of the ensuing month, the archduke and his wife received
the usual oaths of fealty from the cortes duly convoked for the purpose,
at Toledo. King Ferdinand, not long after, made a journey into Aragon,
in which the queen's feeble health would not permit her to accompany
him, in order to prepare the way for a similar recognition by the estates
of that realm. We are not informed what arguments the sagacious
monarch made use of to dispel the scruples formerly entertained by that
independent body, on a similar application in behalf of his daughter, the
late queen of Portugal. They were completely successful, however ; and
Philip and Joanna, having ascertained the favourable disposition of
cortes, made their entrance in great state into the ancient city of Sara-
gossa, in the month of October. On the 27th, having first made oath
before the Justice, to observe the laws and liberties of the realm, Joanna
as future queen proprietor, and Philip as her husband, were solemnly
recognised by the four arms of Aragon as successors to the crown, in
default of male issue of King Ferdinand. The circumstance is memorable,
as affording the first example of the parliamentary recognition of a female
heir apparent in Aragonese history.*
Amidst all the honours so liberally lavished on Philip, his bosom
secretly swelled with discontent, fomented still further by his followers,
who pressed him to hasten his return to Flanders, where the free and
social manners of the people were much more congenial to their tastes
than the reserve and stately ceremonial of the Spanish court. The
young prince shared in these feelings, to which, indeed, the love of
pleasure, and an instinctive aversion to anything like serious occupation,
naturally disposed him. Ferdinand and Isabella saw with regret the
frivolous disposition of their son-in-law, who, in the indulgence of selfish
and effeminate ease, was willing to repose on others all the important
duties of government. They beheld with mortification his indifference
to Joanna, who could boast few personal attractions, and who cooled the
affections of her husband by alternations of excessive fondness and
irritable jealousy, for which last the levity of his conduct gave her too
much occasion.
Shortly after the ceremony at Saragossa, the archduke announced his
intention of an immediate return to the Netherlands, by the way of
France. The sovereigns, astonished at this abrupt determination, used
every argument to dissuade him from it. They represented the ill effect
it might occasion the princess Joanna, then too far advanced in a state
of pregnancy to accompany him. They pointed out the impropriety, as
well as danger, of committing himself to the hands of the French king,
with whom they were now at open war ; and they finally insisted on the
importance of Philip's remaining long enough in the kingdom to become
* Petronilla, the only female who ever sat, in her own right, on the throne of Aragon,
never received the liomnjre of cortes as heir apparent ; the custom uot having bocs
established at that time, the midulo of the twelfth century.
VICTORY OF CEEIGXOLA. 425
familiar with the usages, and establish himself in the affections, of the
people over whom he would one day be called to reign.
All these arguments were ineffectual ; the inflexible prince, turning a
deaf ear alike to the entreaties of his unhappy wife, and the remon-
strances of the Aragonese cortes still in session, set out from Madrid,
with the whole of his Flemish suite, in the month of December. He left
Ferdinand and Isabella disgusted with the levity of his conduct ; and the
queen, in particular, filled with mournful solicitude for the welfare cf the
daughter with whom his destinies were united.
Before his departure for France, Philip, anxious to re-establish
harmony between that country and Spain, offered his services to his
father-in-law in negotiating with Louis the Twelfth, if possible, a
settlement of the differences respecting Naples. Ferdinand showed some
reluctance at intrusting so delicate a commission to an envoy in whose
discretion he placed small reliance, which was not augmented by the
known partiality which Philip entertained for the French monarch.*
Before the archduke had crossed the frontier, however, he was overtaken
by a Spanish ecclesiastic named Bernaldo Boyl, abbot of St. Miguel de
Cuxa, who brought full powers to Philip from the king for concluding a
treaty with France, accompanied at the same time with private instruc-
tions of the most strict and limited natiire. He was enjoined, moreover,
to take no step without the advice of his reverend coadjutor, and to-
inform the Spanish court at once, if different propositions were submitted
from those contemplated bv his instructions.
Thus fortified, the archduke Philip made his appearance at the French
court in Lyons, where he was received by Louis with the same lively-
expressions of regard as before. With these amiable dispositions, the
negotiations were not long in resulting in a definitive treaty, arranged to.
the mutual satisfaction of the parties, though in violation of the private-
instructions of the archduke. In the progress of the discussions, Ferdi-
nand, according to the Spanish historians, received advices from hia
i nvoy, the abate Boyl, that Philip was transcending his commission ; in
consequence of which the king sent an express to France, urging his
son-in-law to adhere to the strict letter of his instructions. Before the
messenger reached Lyons, however, the treaty was executed. Such is
the Spanish account of this blind transaction, f
The treaty, which was signed at Lyons, (April 5th, 1503,) was arranged
on the basis of the marriage of Charles the infant son of Philip, and
Claude princess of France ; a marriage, which, settled by three several
treaties, was destined never to take place. The royal infants were
immediately to assume the titles of King and Queen of Naples, and
Duke and Duchess of Calabria. Until the consummation of the mar-
riage, the French division of the kingdom was to be placed under the
administration of some suitable person named by Louis the Twelfth, and
the Spanish under that of the archduke Philip, or some other deputy
appointed by Ferdinand. All places unlawfully seized by either party
Such manifest partiality for the French court and manners was shown by Philip and
his Flemish followers, that the Spaniards very generally believed the latter were in the
pay of Louis XII.
i Some of the French historians speak of two agents besides Philip employed in the
negotiations. Father Boyl Is the only one named by the Snnrish writer? as regularly
1 fi>r the purpose, although it is not. improbable ti.at Ijvui'.u, the residual
minister at Louis's court, took part in tue discussions.
426 ITALIAN WARS.
were to be restored; and lastly, it -was settled, -with regard to the
disputed province of the Capitanate, that the portion held by the French
should be governed by an agent of King Louis, and the Spanish by the
archduke Philip on behalf of Ferdinand.
Such in substance was the treaty of Lyons ; a treaty which, while it
seemed to consult the interests of Ferdinand, by securing the throne of
Xaples eventually to his posterity, was in fact far more accommodated to
those of Louis, b*y placing the immediate control of the Spanish moiety
under a prince over whom that monarch held entire influence. It is
impossible that so shrewd a statesman as Ferdinand could, from the mere
consideration of advantages so remote to himself, and dependent on so
precarious a contingency as the marriage of two infants then in their
cradles, have seriously contemplated an arrangement which surrendered
all the actual power into the hands of his rival ; and that too, at the
moment when his large armament, so long preparing for Calabria, had
reached that country, and when the Great Captain, on the other quarter,
had received such accessions of strength as enabled him to assume the
offensive, on at least equal terms with the enemy.
No misgivings on this head, however, appear to have entered the
minds of the signers of the treaty, which was celebrated by the court at
Lyons with every show of public rejoicing, and particularly with
tourneys and tilts of reeds, in imitation of the Spanish chivalry. At
the same time, the French king countermanded the embarkation of
fresh troops on board a fleet equipping at the port of Genoa for Xaples,
and sent orders to his generals in Italy to desist from further operations.
The archduke forwarded similar instructions to Gonsalvo, accompanied
with a copy of the powers entrusted to him by Ferdinand. That prudent
officer, however, whether in obedience to previous directions from the
king, as Spanish writers affirm, or on his own responsibility, from a very
natural sense of duty, refused to comply with the ambassador's orders ;
declaring, " he knew no authority but that of his own sovereigns, and
that he felt bound to prosecute the war with all his ability till he
received their commands to the contrary."
Indeed, the archduke's despatches arrived at the very time when the
Spanish general, having strengthened himself by a reinforcement from
the neighbouring garrison of Tarento under Pedro Xavarro, was prepared
to sally forth and try his fortune in battle with the enemy. "Without
further delav, he put his purpose into execution, and on Friday, the
28th of April, 1503, marched out with his whole army from the ancient
rails of Barletta ; a spot ever memorable in history as the scene of the
extraordinary sufferings and indomitable constancy of the Spanish
soldier.
The road lay across the field of Cannse, where, seventeen centuries
before, the pride of Rome had been humbled by the victorious arms of
Hannibal,* in a battle which, though fought with far greater numbers,
Neither Polybiua nor Livy, who give the most circumstantial narratives of the battle,
are precise enough to enable us to ascertain the exact spot in which it was fought.
Strabo, in his topographical notices of this part of Italy, briefly alludes to " the affair of
Cannae " without any description of the scene of action. Cluverius fixes the site of thd
ancient Canna: on the right bank of the Aufidus, the modem Oianto, between three arid
four miles below Canusium ; and notices the modern hamlet of nearly the same name,
Ouinc, where common tradition recognises the ruins of the ancient town. D'Auvilla
makes no difficulty hi identifying these two, having laid down the ancient town in hit
map* in the direct line, and about midway, between Barletta and Cerignola.
YICTOKT OF CEEIGKOLA. 427
was not so decisive in its consequences as that which the same scenes
were to witness in a few hours. The coincidence is certainly singular ;
and one might almost fancy that the actors in these fearful tragedies,
unwilling to deface the fair taunts of civilisation, had purposely sought
a more fitting theatre in this obscure and sequestered region.
The weather, although only at the latter end of April, was extremely
sultry ; the troops, notwithstanding Gonsalvo's orders on crossing the
river Ofaiito, the ancient Aufidus, had failed to supply themselves with
sufficient water for the march ; parched with heat and dust, they were
soon distressed by excessive thirst ; and as the burning rays of the noon-
tide sun beat fiercely on their heads, many of them, especially those
cased in heavy armour, sunk down on the road, fainting with exhaustion
and fatigue. Gonsalvo was seen in every quarter, administering to the
necessities of his men, and striving to reanimate their drooping spirits.
At length, to relieve them, he commanded that each trooper should take
one of the infantry on his crupper, setting the example himself by
mounting a German ensign behind him on his own horse.
In this way, the whole army arrived early in the afternoon before
Cerignola, a small town on an eminence about sixteen miles from
Barletta, where the nature of the ground afforded the Spanish general
a favourable position for his camp. The sloping sides of the hill were
covered with vineyards, and its base was protected by a ditch of con-
siderable depth. Gonsalvo saw at once the advantages of the ground.
His Kit. u were jaded by the march ; but there was no time to lose, as the
French, who, on his departure from Barletta, had been drawn up under
the walls of Canosa, were now rapidly advancing. All hands were put
in requisition, therefore, for widening the trench, in which they planted
sharp-pointed stakes ; while the earth which they excavated enabled
them to throw up a parapet of considerable height on the side next the
town. On this rampart he mounted his little train of artillery, consist-
ing of thirteen guns, and behind it drew up his forces in order of battle.*
Before these movements were completed in the Spanish camp, the
bright arms and banners of the French were seen glistening in the
distance amid the tall fennel and canebrakes with which the country
was thickly covered. As soon as they had come in view of the Spanish
encampment, they were brought to a halt, while a council of war was
called, to determine the expediency of giving battle that evening. The
duke of Nemours would have deferred it till the following morning, as
the day was already far spent, and allowed no time for reconnoitring the
position of his enemy. But Ives d'Alegre, Chandieu, the commander of
the Swiss, and some other officers, were for immediate action, represent-
ing the importance of not balking the impatience of the soldiers, who
were all hot for the assault. In the course of the debate, Alegre was so
much heated as to throw out some rash taunts on the courage of the
viceroy, which the latter would have avenged on the spot, had not his
arm been arrested by Louis d'Ars. He had the weakness, however, to
suffer them to change his cooler purpose, exclaiming, " We will fight
* Giovio says that he Lad heard Fabrizio Colon ja remark more than once, in allusion to
the intrciichmeuts at the base of the hill, " that the victory was owing, not to the skill of
:r,;i::;i icr. nor the valour of the troops, but to a" mound aud a ditch." This
- curing a position, which had fallen into dUuse, was revived after
this, .. !!. same author, and came iuto general practice among th* best captain*
f the ag. t bi supra.
428 ITALIAN WAES.
to-night, then ; perhaps those who vaunt the loudest will be found tc
trust more to their spurs than their swords ; " a prediction bitterly
justified by the event.
While this dispute was going on, Gonsalvo gained time for making the
necessary disposition of his troops. In the centre he placed his German
auxiliaries, armed with their long pikes, and on each wing the Spanish
infantry, under the command of Pedro Navarro, Diego de Paredes
Pizarro, and other illustrious captains. The defence of the artillery was
committed to the left wing. A considerable body of men-at-arms,
including those recently equipped from the spoils of Ruvo, was drawn
up within the intrenchments, in a quarter affording a convenient opening
for a sally, and placed under the orders of Mendoza and Fabrizio Colonna,
whose brother Prospero, and Pedro de la Paz, took charge of the light
cavalry, which was posted without the lines to annoy the advance of the
enemy, and act on any point as occasion might require. Having com-
pleted his preparations, the Spanish general coolly awaited the assault
of the French.
The duke of Nemours had marshalled his forces in a very different
order. He distributed them into three battles or divisions, stationing
his heavy horse, composing altogether, as Gonsalvo declared, "the finest
body of cavalry seen for many years in Italy," under the command of
Louis d'Ars, on the right. The second and centre division, formed some-
what in the rear of the right, was made up of the Swiss and Gascon
infantry, headed by the brave Chandieu ; and his left, consisting chiefly
of his light cavalry, and drawn up, like the last, somewhat in the rear
of the preceding, was intrusted to Alegre.
It was within half an hour of sunset when the duke de Nemours gave
orders for the attack, and, putting himself at the head of the gendarmerie
on the right, spurred at full gallop against the Spanish left. The hostile
armies were nearly equal, amounting to between six and seven thousand
men each. The French were superior in the number and condition of
their cavalry, rising to a third of their whole force ; while Gonsalvo's
strength lay chiefly in his infantry, which had acquired a lesson of
tactics under him that raised it to a level with the best in Europe.
As the French advanced, the guns on the Spanish left poured a lively
fire into their ranks, when a spark accidentally communicating with the
magazine of powder, the whole blew up with a tremendous explosion.
The Spaniards were filled with consternation ; but Gonsalvo, converting
the misfortune into a lucky omen, called out, "Courage, soldiers; these
are the beacon lights of victory ! We have no need 01 our guns at close
quarters."
In the mean time the French van under Nemours, advancing rapidly
under the dark clouds of smoke, which rolled heavily over the field, were
unexpectedly brought up by the deep trench, of whose existence they
were unapprised. Some of the horse were precipitated into it, and all
received a sudden check, until Nemours, finding it impossible to force
the works in this quarter, rode along their front in search of some
practicable passage. In doing this, he necessarily exposed his flank to
the fatal aim of the Spanish arquebusiers. A shot from one of them
took effect on the unfortunate young nobleman, and he fell mortally
wounded from his saddle.
At this junct;ire, the Swiss and Gascon infantry, briskly moving up
VICTOIIY OF CEEIGXOLA. 429
to second the attack of the now disordered horse, arrived before the
entrenchments. Undismayed by this formidable barrier, their com-
mander, Chaudieu, made the most desperate attempts to force a passage;
but the loose earth freshly turned up, afforded no hold to their feet, and
his men were compelled to recoil from the dense array of German pikes
which bristled over the summit of the breastwork. Chandieu, their
loader, made every effort to rally and bring them back to the charge;
but, in the act of doing this, was hit by a ball, which stretched him life-
less in the ditch ; his burnished arms, and the snow-white plumes above
his helmet, making him a conspicuous mark for the enemy.
All was now confusion. The Spanish arquebusiers, screened by their
defences, poured a galling fire into the dense masses of the enemy who
were mingled together indiscriminately, horse and foot, while, the
leaders being down, no one seemed capable of bringing them to order.
At this critical moment, Gonsalvo, whose eagle eye took in the whole
operations of the field, ordered a general charge along the line ; and the
Spaniards, leaping their entrenchments, descended with the fury of an
avalanche on their foes, whose wavering columns, completely broken by
the violence of the shock, were seized with a panic, and fled, scarcely
offering any resistance. Louis d'Ars, at the head of such of the men-
at-arms as could follow him, went oft' in one direction, and Ives d' Alegre,
with his light cavalry, which had hardly come into action, in another ;
thus fully verifying the ominous prediction of his commander. The
slaughter fell most heavily on the Swiss and Gascon foot, whom the
cavalry under Mendoza and Pedro de la Paz rode down and cut to pieces
without sparing, till the shades of evening shielded them at length from
their pitiless pursuers.
Prospero Colonna pushed on to the French encampment, where he found
thcijables in the duke's tent spread for his evening repast; of which the
Italian general and his followers did not fail to make good account. A
trilling incident that well illustrates the sudden reverses of war.
The Great Captain passed the night on the field of battle, which on
the following morning presented a ghastly spectacle of the dying and the
dead. More than three thousand French are computed by the best
accounts to have fallen. The loss of the Spaniards, covered as they
were by their defences, was inconsiderable.* All the enemy's artillery,
consisting of thirteen pieces, his baggage, and most of his colours, fell
into their hands. Never was there a more complete victory, achieved
too within the space of little more than an hour. The body of the
unfortunate Nemours, which was recognised by one of his pages from
the rings on the fingers, was found under a heap of slain, much dis-
figured. It appeared that he had received three several wounds,
disproving, if need were, by his honourable death, the injurious taunts
of Alegre. Gonsalvo was affected even to tears at beholding the
* Xo account, that I know of, places the French loss so low as 3000 ; Garibay raises it
to 4500, and the French marechal de Fleurange rates that of the Swiss alone at 6000 ;
& r.nmd exaggeration, not readily accounted for, as he had undoubted access to the best
menus of information. The Spaniards were too well screened to sustain much injury,
and no estimate makes it inure than a hundred killed, and some considerably less. Tha
odds arc indeed startling, but not impossible ; as the Spaniards were not much exposed
by personal collision with the enemy, until the latter were thrown into too much disorder
to think of anything but escape. The more than usual contusion and discrepancy
In the various statements of the particulars of this action may probably bo attributed
to the lateness of the hour, and consequently imi>erfect light, in which it was fought.
430 ITALIAX WABS.
mutilated remains of his young and gallant adversary, -who, whatever
judgment mav be formed of his capacity as a leader, was allowed tu have
all the qualities which belonged to a true knight. "With him perished
the last scion of the illustrious house of Armaguac. Gonsalvo ordered
his remains to he conveyed to Barletta, where they were laid in the
cemetery of the convent of St. Francis, with all the honours due to his
high station.
The Spanish commander lost no time in following up his blow, well
aware that it >is qiiite as difficult to improve a victory as to win one.
The French had rushed into battle with too much precipitation to a.uroe
on any plan of operation, or any point on which to rally in case of defeat.
They accordingly scattered in different directions, and Pedro de la Paz
was dispatched in pursuit of Louis d'Ars, who threw himself into
Venosa,* where he kept the enemy at bay for many months longer.
Paredes kept close on the scent of Alegre, who, finding the gates shut
against him, wherever he passed, at length took shelter in Gaeta, on the
extreme point of the Neapolitan territory. There he endeavoured to
rally the scattered relics of the field of Cerignola, and to establish a
strong position, from which the French, when strengthened by fresh
supplies from home, might recommence operations for the recovery of
the kingdom.
The day after the battle of Cerignola the Spaniards received tidings of
another victory, scarcely less important, gained over the French in
Calabria the preceding week.f The army sent out under Portocarrero
had reached that coast early in March ; but, soon after its arrival, its
gallant commander fell ill and died.J The dying general named Don
Fernando de Andrada as his successor ; and this officer, combining his
forces with those before in the country, under Cardona and Benavides,
encountered the French commander D'Aubigny in a pitched battlc^not
far from Seminara, on Friday the 21st of April. It was near the same
spot on which the latter had twice beaten the Spaniards. But the star
of France was on the wane ; and the gallant old officer had the mor-
tification to see his little corps of veterans completely routed after a sharp
engagement of less than an hour, while he himself was retrieved with
difficulty from the hands of the enemy by the valour of his Scottish
guard.
The Great Captain and his armv, highly elated with the news of this
fortunate event, which annihilated the French power in Calabria, began
their march on Naples ; Fabrizio Colonna having been first detached into
the Abruzzi to receive the submission of the people in that quarter. The
tidings of the victory had spread far and wide ; and. as Gonsalvo's army
advanced, they beheld the ensigns of Aragon floating from the battlement's
It was to this same city of Venusium that the rash, /and unfortunate Varro madt
nis retreat, some seventeen centuries before, from the bloody field of Canna;.
t Friday, says Gnicciardiui, alluding no doubt to Columbus's discoveries, as well as thes*
two victories, was observed to be a lucky day to the Spaniards; according to Gaillard, it
was regarded from this time by the French witli more superstitious drend thm
t The reader may perhaps recollect the distinguished part played in the Moorish war
by Luis Portocarrero, lord of Palma. He was of noble Italian origin, being descended
from the ancient Genoese house of Boccanegra. The Great Captain and he i
Bisters; and this connection probably recommended him, as much as his military talent^
to thu Calabriau ctminand, which it was highly important should be Intrusted to ouo
who woul i maintain a good understanding with the commaiider-iu-chief ; a thing not ea*;y
to secure among the haughty nobility of Castile.
VICTOBY OF CERIGNOLA. 431
the towns upon their route, while the inhahitnnts came forth to
greet the conqueror, eager to testify their devotion to the Spanish
cause. The army halted at Bcnevento; aud the general scut his
summons to the city of Naples, inviting it in the most courteous terms
to resume its ancient allegiance to the legitimate branch of Aragon. It
was hardly to be expected that the allegiance of a people, who had so lon<*
seen their country set up as a mere stake for political gamesters, should
sit very closely upon them, or that they should care to jx-ril their lived
on the transfer of a crown which had shifted on the heads of half a dozen
proprietors in as many successive years. * With the same ductile en-
thusiasm, therefore, with which they greeted the accession of Charles the
Eighth or Louis the Twelfth, they now welcomed the restoration of the
ancient dynasty of Aragon ; and deputies from the principal nobility and
citizens waited on the Great Captain at Acerra, where they tendered him
the keys of the city, and requested the confirmation of their rights and
privileges.
Gonsalvo, having promised this in the name of his royal master, on the
following morning, the 14th of May, 1503, made his entrance in great
state into the capital, leaving his armv without the walls. He was
escorted by the military of the city under a royal canopy borne by the
deputies. The streets were strewed with Howers, the edifices decorated
with appropriate emblems and devices, and wreathed with banners
emblazoned with the united arms of Aragon and Naples. As he passed
along, the city rung with the acclamations of countless multitudes who
thronged the streets ; while every windw and housetop was tilled with
spectators, eager to behold the man who, with scarcely any other
resources than those of his own genius, had so long defied, and at length
completely foiled, the power of France.
On the following day a deputation of the nobility and people waited
on the Great Captain at his quarters, and tendered him the usual oatha
of allegiance for his master, King Ferdinand, whose accession finally
closed the series of revolutions which had so long agitated this unhappy
country.
The city of Naples was commanded by two strong fortresses still held
by the French, which, being well victualled and supplied with ammu-
nition, showed no disposition to surrender. The Great Captain, de-
termined, therefore, to reserve a small corps for their reduction, while
he sent forward the main body of his army to besiege Gaeta. But the
Spanish infantry refused to march until the heavy arrears, suffered to
accumulate through the negligence of the government, were discharged ;
and Gonsalvo, afraid of awakening the mutinous spirit which he had
once found it so difficult to quell, was obliged to content himself with
sending forward his cavalry and German levies, and to permit the
infantry to take up its quarters in the capital, under strict orders to
respect the persons and property of the citizens.
He now lost no time in pressing the siege of the French fortresses,
whose impregnable situation might have derided the efforts of them, at
formidable enemy in the ancient state of military science. But the
* Since 1494, the sceptre of Naples :nto the hands of no less than seven
iiriacos, FLiMinaiul I., Alfonso II.. L II., Charles VIII. Frederic III., Louis Xll.,
fc\ nil: Kind the Catholic. No private estate in the kingdom in the same time ha I probably
changed masters half so often.
432 ITALIAN WAP.S.
reduction of these places was intrusted to Pedro Na % TO, the celebrated
engineer, whose improvements in the art of mining h ~e gained him the
popular reputation of being its inventor, and who disju^yed such unpre-
cedented skill on this occasion, as makes it a memorable epoch in tha
annals of war.*
Under his directions, the small tower of St. Vincenzo having been
first carried by a furious cannonade, a mine was run under the outer
defences of the great fortress called Castel isuovo. On the 21st of May,
the mine was sprung ; a passage was opened over the prostrate ramparts,
and the assailants, rushing in with Gonsalvo and Xavarro at their head,
before the garrison had time to secure the drawbridge, applied their
ladders to the walls of the castle, and succeeded in carrying the place by
escalade, after a desperate struggle, in which the greater part of the
French were slaughtered. An immense booty was found in the castle.
The Angevin party had made it a place, of deposit for their most valuable
effects, gold, jewels, plate, and other treasures, which, together with its
well-stored magazines of grain and ammunition, became the indis-
criminate spoil of the victors. As some of these, however, complained
of not getting their share of the plunder, Gonsalvo, giving full scope in
the exultation of the moment to military licence, called out gaily,
" Make amends for it, then, by what you can find in my quarters!"
The words were not uttered to deaf ears. The mob of soldiery rushed
to the splendid palace of the Angevin prince of Salerno, then occupied
hy the Great Captain, and in a moment its sumptuous furniture,
paintings, and other costly decorations, together with the contents of its
:generous cellar, were seized and appropriated without ceremony by the
invaders, who thus indemnified themselves at their general's expense for
the remissness of government.
After some weeks of protracted operations, the remaining fortress,
Castel d'Uovo, as it was called, opened its gates to Xavarro; and a
1'rench fleet, coming into the harbour, had the mortification to find
itself fired on from the walls of the place it was intended to relieve.
Before this event, Gonsalvo, having obtained funds from Spain for paying
off his men, quitted the capital and directed his march on Gaeta. The
important results of his victories were now fully disclosed. D'Aubigny,
with the wreck of the forces escaped from Seminara, had surrendered.
The two Abruzzi, the Capitanate, all the Basilicate, except Venosa, stiil
held by Louis d' Ars, and indeed every considerable place in the kingdom,
had tendered its submission, with the exception of Gaeta. Summoning,
therefore, to his aid Andrada, Navarro, and his other officers, the Great
Captain resolved to concentrate all his strength on this point, designing
to press the siege, and thus exterminate at a blow the feeble remains of
the French power in Italy. The enterprise was attended with more
difficulty than he had anticipated.
* The Italians, in their admiration of Pedro Navarre, caused medals to b struck, oa
which the invention of mines was ascribed to him. Although not actually the inventor,
tiis glory was scarcely less, since ho was the first who discovered the extensive and formid*
able uses to which they might be applied to the science of destruction
CHAPTEE
WITH FRAlfCB UNSUCCESSFUL UTVASIOW OF SFAIK TBBCt.
1503.
Ferdinand's Policy examined First Symptoms of Joanna's Insanity Isabella's Distress
I Fortitude Efforts of France Siege of Salsas Isabella's Levies Ferdinand's
Successes Reflections on the Campaign.
THE events noticed in the preceding chapter glided away as rapidly
n> the flitting phantoms of a dream. Scarcely had Louis the Twelfth
received the unwelcome intelligence of Gonsalvo de Cordova's refusal t ..>
obey the mandate of the archduke Philip, before he was astounded with
t lu- tidings of the victory of Cerignola, the march on Naples, and the
surrender of that capital, as well as of the greater part of the kingdom,
following one another in breathless succession. It seemed as if the very
means on which the French king had so confidently relied for calming
the tempest had been the signal for awakening all its fury, and bringing
it on his devoted head. Mortified and incensed at being made the dupe
of what he deemed a perfidious policy, he demanded an explanation of
the archduke, who was still in France. The latter, vehemently pro-
testing his own innocence, felt, or affected to feel, so sensibly the
ridiculous, and, as it appeared, dishonourable part played by him in the
transaction, that he was thrown into a severe illness, which confined him
to his bed for several days. Without delay, he wrote to the Spanish
court in terms of bitter expostulation, urging the immediate ratification
of the treaty made pursuant to its orders, and an indemnification to
France for its subsequent violation. Such is the account given by th<.
French historians.
The Spanish writers, on the other hand, say that, before the news of
Gonsalvo's successes reached Spain, King Ferdinand refused to confirm the
treaty sent him by his son-in-law, until it had undergone certain
material modifications. If the Spanish monarch hesitated to approve
the treaty in the doubtful posture of his affairs, he was little likely to
do so when he had the game entirely in his own hands.
He postponed an answer to Philip's application, -willing probably to
gain time for the Great Captain to strengthen himself firmly in his
t acquisitions. At length, after a considerable interval, he dis-
patehed an embassy to France announcing his final determination never
to ratify a treaty made in contempt of his orders, and so clearly detri-
mental to his interests. He endeavoured, however, to gain furttier time
by spinning out the negotiation, holding up for this purpose the prospect
of an ultimate accommodation, and suggesting the re-establishment of
his kinsman, the unfortunate Frederic, on the Neapolitan throne, as the
means of effecting it. The artifice, however. was tv> gross even for
: who peremptorily demanded of the ambassadors
. absolute ratification of the treaty, and, on their declaring
r
434 NEGOTIATIONS WITH FEANCE.
it was beyond their powers, ordered them at once to leave his court.
" I had rather," said he, "suffer the loss of a kingdom, which may
perhaps be retrieved, than the loss of honour, which never can." A
noble sentiment, but falling with no particular grace from the lips of
Louis the Twelfth.
The whole of this blind transaction is stated in so irreconcilable a
manner by the historians of the different nations, that it is extremely
difficult to draw anything- like a probable narrative out of them. The
Spanisn writers assert that the public commission of the archduke was
controlled by strict private instructions ; while the French on the other
hand, are either silent as to the latter, or represent them to have been as
broad and unlimited as his credentials. If this be true, the negotiation
must be admitted to exhibit, on the part of Ferdinand, as gross an
example of political jugglery and fasehood as ever disgraced the annals
of diplomacy.
liut it is altogether improbable, as I have before remarked, that a
m<*Larch so astute and habitually cautious should have intrusted imlimited
authority, in so delicate a business, to a person whose discretion, inde-
pendent of his known partiality for the French monarch, he held so
lightly. It is much more likely that he limited, as is often done, the
full powers committed to him in public, by private instructions of the
most explicit character ; and that the archduke was betrayed by his own
vanity, and perhaps ambition (for the treaty threw the immediate power
into his own hands), into arrangements unwarranted by the tenor of
these instructions.
If this were the case, the propriety of Ferdinand's conduct in refusing
the ratification depends on the question how far a sovereign is bound by
the acts of a plenipotentiary who departs from his private instructions.
Formerly, the question would seem to have been unsettled. Indeed,
some of the most respectable writers on public law in the beginning of
the seventeenth century maintain that such a departure would not justify
the prince in withholding his ratification ; deciding thus, no doubt, on
principles of natural equity, which appear to require that a principal
should be held responsible for the acts of an agent, coming within the
scope of his powers, though at variance with his secret orders, with
which the other contracting party can have no acquaintance or concern.
The inconvenience, however, arising from adopting a principle iu
political negotiations which must necessarily place the destinies of a
whole nation in the hands of a single individual, rash or incompetent it
may be, without the power of interference or supervision on the part of
a government, has led to a different conclusion in practice ; and it is now
generally admitted by European writers, not merely that the exchange
of ratifications is essential to the validity of a treaty, but that a govern-
ment is not bound to ratify the doings of a minister who has transcended
his private instructions.
But whatever be thought A Ferdinand's good faith in the early stages
of his business, there is no doubt that, at a later period, when his posi-
tion was changed by the success of his arms in Italy, he sought only I"
:imusi: the French court with a show of negotiation, in order, as we Jiavi:
already intimated, to paralyse its operations and gain time for securin;;-
his ci'iniue^t ;. The French writers inveigh loudly against this crafty
and tmichermis policy ; and Louis the Twelfth gave vent to his owa
INSANITY OF JOANNA. 435
indignation in no very measured terms. But, however we may now
yiL it, it was in perfect accordance with the trickish spirit of the
tige ; and the French king resigned all right of rebuking his antagonist
on thie neore, when he condescended to become a party with him to the
infamous partition treaty, and still more when he so grossly violated it.
He had voluntarily engaged with his Spanish rival in the game, and it
afforded no good ground of complaint that he was the least adroit of
the two.
While Ferdinand was thus triumphant in his schemes of foreign policy
and conquest, his domestic life was clouded with tiie deepest anxiety, in
cons, -(jin -nee of the declining health of the queen, and the eccentric conduct
of his daughter, the infanta Joanna. We have already seen the extra-
vagant fondness with which that princess, notwithstanding her occasional
rallies of jealousy, doated on her young and handsome husband.*
From the hour of his departure she had been plunged in the deepest
dejection, sitting day and night with her eyes fixed on the ground in
uninterrupted silence, or broken only by occasional expressions of petulant
discontent. tShe refused all consolation, thinking only of rejoining her
absent lord, and "equally regardless," says Martyr, who was then at
the court, "of herself, her future subjects, and her afflicted parents."
On the 10th of March, 1503, she was delivered of her second son, who
received the baptismal name of Ferdinand, in compliment to his grand-
father, t No change, however, took place in the mind of the unfortunate
mother, who from this time was wholly occupied with the project of
returning to Flanders. An invitation to that effect, which she received
from her husband in the mouth of November, determined her to under-
take the journey, at all hazards, notwithstanding the affectionate
remonstrances of the queen, who represented the impracticability of
traversing France, agitated, as it then was, with all the bustle of
warlike preparation, or of venturing by sea at this inclement and stormy
season.
One evening, while her mother was absent at Segovia, Joanna, whose
rt Mik-nce was at Medina del Campo, left her apartment in the castle, and
sallied out, though in dishabille, without announcing her purpose to any
of her attendants. They followed, however, and used every argument
and entreaty to prevail on her to return, at least for the night, but
without tltt i-t ; until the bishop of Burgos, who had charge of her
household, finding every other means ineffectual, was compelled to close
the castle gates, in order to prevent her departure.
The princess, thus thwarted in her purpose, gave way to the most
violent indignation. She menaced the attendants with her utmost
vengeance for their disobedience, and, taking her station on the barrier,
she obstinately refused to re-enter the castle, or even to put on any
additional clothing, but remained cold and shivering on the spot till the
following morning. The good bishop, sorely embarrassed by the dilemma
to which he found himself reduced, of offending the queen by complying
* Philip is known in history by the title of " the handsome," implying that he was, at
least, quite as remarkable for his personal qualities as his mental.
t He was born at Alcalii de Heuares. Ximeues availed himself of this circumstance to
obtain from Isabella a permanent exemption from taxes for his favourite city, which his
princely patronage was fast raising Of the palm of literary precedence with
balaiiiauoa, the ani.-ieiit " Athens i'f !S|>ain." The citizens of the place long preserved, and
BtUl preserve, for aught 1 know, the cradle of the royal infant, in token of their irratitude.
v a
436 INVASION OF SPAIN.
with the mad humour of the princess, or the latter still more by resisting
it, dispatched an express in all haste to Isabella, acquainting her with
the aft'air, and begging instructions how to proceed.
The queen, who was staying, as has been said, at Segovia, about forty
miles distant, alarmed at the intelligence, sent the king's cousin, the
admiral Henriquez, together with the archbishop of Toledo, at once to
Medina, and prepared to follow as fast as the feeble state of her health
would permit. The efforts of these eminent persons, however, were not
much more successful than those of the bishop. All they could obtain
from Joanna was, that she would retire to a miserable kitchen in the
neighbourhood during the night ; while she persisted in taking her
station on the barrier as soon as it was light, and continued there,
immovable as a statue, the whole day. In this deplorable state she wa&
found by the queen on her arrival ; and it was not without great
difficulty that the latter, with all the deference habitually paid her by
her daughter, succeeded in persuading her to return to her own apart-
ments in the castle. These were the first unequivocal symptoms of that
hereditary taint of insanity which had clouded the latter days of Isabella's
mother, and which, with a few brief intervals, was to shed a deeper
gloom over the long-protracted existence of her unfortunate daughter.
The conviction of this sad infirmity of the princess gave a shock to
the unhappy mother scarcely less than that which she had formerly been,
called to endure in the death of her children. The sorrows, over which
time had had so little power, were opened afresh by a calamity which
naturally filled her with the most gloomy forebodings for the fate of her
people, whose welfare was to be committed to such incompetent hands.
These domestic griefs were still further swelled at this time by the death
of two of her ancient friends and counsellors, Juan Chacon, adelantado
of Murica,* and Gutierre de Cardenas, grand commander of Leon.f
They had attached themselves to Isabella in the early part of her life,
when her fortunes were still under a cloud ; and they afterwards reaped
the requital of their services in such ample honours and emoluments as
ro^ai gratitude could bestow, and in the full enjoyment of her confidence,
to Miich their steady devotion to her interests well entitled them.
Lat neither the domestic troubles which pressed so heavily on Isabella's
heart, nor the rapidly declining state of her own health, had power to
blunt the energies of her mind or lessen the vigilance with which she
watched over the interests of her people. A remarkable proof of this
was given in the autumn of the present year, 1503, when the country
was menaced with an invasion from France.
The whole French nation had shared the indignation of Louis the
Twelfth at the mortifying result of his enterprise against Naples ; and it
* Mirror of virtue, as Oviedo styles this cavalier. He was always much regarded by
the sovereigns, and the lucrative post of conto.dor mayor, which lie filled for many years,
enabled him to acquire an immense estate, 50,000 ducats a year, without imputation on
his honesty.
t The name of this cavalier, as well as that of his cousin Alonso de Cardenas, grand
naster of St. James, have become familiar to us in the Gran.idine war. If Don Guitcrre
iu KUUKUUXU. " IJi e 01 uuy luipuiutiiue, a&ym wvieuu, was uuuv wiuiuub His
advice." He was raised to the important posts of comendador de Leon, and coutador
, which last, in the words of the same author, ''made its possessor a second king
I'ver the public treasury." Ue left large estates, and more than five thousand vassals.
His eldest son was created duke of Maqueda.
IXTASIOX OF SPAIN. 437
answered his call for supplies so promptly and liberally, that, in a few
months after the defeat of Cerignola, he was able to resume operations
on a more formidable scale than France had witnessed for centuries.
Three large armies were raised ; one to retrieve aflairs in Italy, a second
to penetrate into Spain, by the way of Fontarabia, and a third to cross
into Roussillon, and get possession of the strong post of Salsas, the key
of the mountain-passes in that quarter. Two fleets were also equipped
in the ports of Genoa and Marseilles, the latter of which was to support
the invasion of Roussillon by a descent on the coast of Catalonia. These
various corps were intende'd to act in concert, and thus, by one grand,
simultaneous movement, Spain was to be assailed oil three several points
of her territory. The results did not correspond with the magnificence
of the apparatus.
The army destined to march on Fontarabia was placed under the
command of Alan d'Albret, father of the king of Navarre, along the
frontiers of whose dominions its route necessarily lay. Ferdinand had
assured himself of the favourable dispositions of this prince, the situation
of whose kingdom, more than its strength, made his friendship important j
and the lord d'Albret, whether from a direct understanding with the
kSpimish monarch, or fearful of the consequences which might result to
his son from the hostility of the latter, detained the forces intrusted to
him so long among the bleak and barren fastnesses of the mountains that
at length, exhausted by fatigue and want of food, the army melted away
without even reaching the enemy's borders.*
The force directed against Roussillon was of a more formidable
character. It was commanded by the mar6chal de Rieux, a brave and
experienced officer, though much broken by age and bodily infirmities.
It amounted to more than twenty thousand men. Its strength, however,
lay chiefly in its numbers. It was, with the exception of a few thousand
lansquenets, under William de la Marck,t made up of the arriere-ban of
the kingdom, and the undisciplined militia from the great towns of
Languedoc. With this numerous array the French marshal entered
Roussillon without opposition, and sat down before Salsas on the 16th of
September, 1503.
The old castle of Salsas, which had been carried without much difficulty
by the French in the preceding war, had been put in a defensible
condition at the commencement of the present, under the superintendence
of Pedro Xavarro, although the repairs were not yet wholly completed.
Ferdinand, on the approach of the enemy, had thrown a thousand picked
men into the place, which was well victualled and provided for a siege ;
while a corps of six thousand was placed under his cousin, Don Frederic
de Toledo, duke of Alva, with orders to take up a position in the neigh-
bourhood, where he might watch the movements of the enemy and acnoy
him as far as possible by cutting off his supplies.
Ferdinand, in the mean while, lost no time in enforcing levies through-
The king of Navarre promised to oppose the passage of the French, if attempted,
through his dominions ; and, in order to obviate any distrust on the part of Ferdinand,
eut his daughter Margaret to reside at the court of Castile, as a pledge for his fidelity.
t Younger brother of Robert, third duke of Bouillon. The reader will not confound him
with his namesake, the famous "boar of Ardennes," more familiar to us now in the
pages of romance than history, who perished ignominiously some twenty years bctore
this }> Tiod, in 1434, not in tight, but by the hands of the common executioner at
Utrecht.
438 INVASION OF SPAIN.
out the kingdom, with which he might advance to the relief of the
beleaguered fortress. While thus occupied, he received such accounts of
the queen's indisposition as induced him to quit Aragon where he then
was, and hasten hy rapid journeys to Castile. The accounts were
probably exaggerated ; he found no cause for immediate alarm on his
arrival ; and Isabella, ever ready to sacrifice her own inclinations to the
public weal, persuaded him to return to the scene of operations, where his
presence at this juncture was so important. Forgetting her illness, she
made the most unwearied efforts for assembling troops without delay to
support her husband. The grand constable of Castile was commissioned
to raise levies through every part of the kingdom, and the principal
nobility flocked in with their retainers from the farthest provinces, all
eager to obey the call of their beloved mistress. Thus strengthened,
Ferdinand, whose head-quarters were established at Girona, saw himself
in less than a month in possession of a force which, including the supplies
of Aragon, amounted to ten or twelve thousand horse, and three or four
times that number of foot. He no longer delayed his march, and about
the middle of October put his army in motion, proposing to effect a
junction with the duke of Alva, then lying before Perpignan, at a few
leagues' distance from Salsas.
Isabella, w r ho was at Segovia, was made acquainted by regular expresses
with every movement of the army. She no sooner learned its departure
from Girona than she was rilled with disquietude at the prospect of a
speedy encounter with the enemy, whose defeat, whatever glory it might
reflect on her own arms, could be purchased only at the expense of
Christian blood. She wrote in earnest terms to her husband, requesting
him not to drive his enemies to despair by closing up their retreat to
their own land, but to leave vengeance to Him to whom alone it belonged.
She passed her days, together with her whole household, in fasting and
continual prayer ; and, in the fervour of her pious zeal, personally
visited the several religious houses of the city, distributing alms among-
their holy inmates, and imploring them humbly to supplicate the
Almighty to avert the impending calamity.*
The prayers of the devout queen and her court found favour with
Heaven. King Ferdinand reached Perpignan on the 19th of October ;
and on that same night the French marshal, finding himself unequal to
the rencontre with the combined forces of Spain, broke up his camp,,
and, setting fire to his tents, began his retreat towards the frontier,
having consumed nearly six weeks since first opening trenches. Fer-
dinand pressed close on his flying enemy, whose rear sustained some
annoyance from the Spanish ginetes in its passage through the defiles of
the sierras. The retreat, however, was conducted in too good order to
allow any material loss to be inflicted on the French, who succeeded at
length in sheltering themselves under the cannon of Narbonne, up to
which place they were pursued by their victorious foe. Several places
on the frontier, as Leocate, Palme, Sigean, Roquefort, and others were
abandoned to the Spaniards, who pillaged them of whatever was worth
* The loyal captain, Gonzalo Ayora, shows little of this Christian vein. He conclude*
one of his letters with praying, no doubt most sincerely, "that the Almighty would b*
pleased to infuse less benevolence into the hearts of the sovereigns, and incite them to
chastise and humble the proud French, and strip them of their ill gotten possessions.
which, however repugnant to their own godly inclinations, would tend greatly to replenish
their cotfcvs, as well as those of their faithful and loving subjects."
INVASION 0V SPAIN. 43S
carrying olF; without any violence, however, to the persons of the
inhabitants, whom, as a Christian population, if we are to believo
Martyr, Ferdinand refused even to make prisoners.
The Spanish monarch made no attempt to retain these acquisitions ;
but, having dismantled some of the towns which ottered most resistance,
returned loaded with the spoils of victory to his own dominions. " Had
he been as good a general as he was a statesman," says a Spanish
historian, "he might have penetrated to the centre of France."
Ferdinand, however, was too prudent to attempt conquests which could
only be maintained, if maintained at all, at an infinite expense of blood
and treasure. He had sufficiently vindicated his honour by meeting
his foe so promptly, and driving him triumphantly over the border ;
and he preferred, like a cautious prince, not to risk all he had gained
by attempting more, but to employ his present successes as a vantage
ground for entering on negotiation, in which at all times he placed more
reliance than on the sword.
In this, his good star still further favoured him. Thft armada,
equipped at so much cost by the French king at Marseilles, had no
sooner put to sea than it was assailed by furious tempests, and so far
crippled, that it was obliged to return to port without even effecting a
descent on the Spanish coast.
These accumulated disasters so disheartened Louis the Twelfth, that
he consented to enter into negotiations for a suspension of hostilities ;
and an armistice was finally arranged, through the mediation of his
pensioner Frederic, ex-king of Naples, between the hostile monarchs.
It extended only to their hereditary dominions ; Italy and the circum-
jacent seas being still left open as a common arena, on which the rival
parties might meet, and settle their respective titles by the sword. This
truce, first concluded for five months, was subsequently prolonged to
three years. It gave Ferdinand what he most needed, leisure, and
means to provide for the security of his Italian possessions, on which the
dark storm of war was soon to burst with tenfold fury.
The unfortunate Frederic, who had been drawn from his obscurity to
take part in these negotiations, died in the following year. It is
singular that the last act of his political life should have been to mediate
a peace between the dominions of two monarchs who had united to strip
him of his own.
The results of this campaign were as honourable to Spain as they
were disastrous and humiliating to Louis the Twelfth, who had seen his
arms baffled on every point, and all his mighty apparatus of fleets and
armies dissolved, as if by enchantment, in less time than it had been
preparing. The immediate success of Spain may no doubt be ascribed,
in a considerable degree, to the improved organisation and thorough
discipline introduced by the sovereigns into the national militia at the
close of the Moorish war, without which it would have been scarcely
possible to concentrate so promptly on a distant point such large masses
of men, all well equipped and trained for active service. So soon was
the nation called to feel the effect of these wise provisions.
Hut the results of the campaign are, after all, less worthy of notice as
indicating the resources of the country, than as evidence of a pervading
patriotic feeling, which could alone make these resources available.
Instead of the narrow local jealousies which had so long estranged the
440 ITALIAN WARS.
people of the separate provinces, and more especially those of the rival
states of Aragon and Castile, from one another, there had been gradually
raised up a common national sentiment, like that knitting together the
constituent parts of one great commonwealth. At the first alarm of
invasion on the frontier of Aragon, the whole extent of the sister
kingdom, from the green valleys of the Guadalquivir up to the rocky
fastnesses of the Asturias, responded to the call, as to that of a common
country, sending forth, as we have seen, its swarms of warriors to repel
the foe, and roll back the tide of war upon his own land. What a
contrast did all this present to the cold and parsimonious hand with
which the nation, thirty years before, dealt out its supplies to King
John the Second, Ferdinand's father, when he was left to cope single-
handed with the whole power of France in this very quarter of
Roussillon. Such was the consequence of the glorious union, which
brought together the petty and hitherto discordant tribes of the Penin-
sula under the same rule ; and, by creating common interest and an
harmonious principle of action, was silently preparing them for con-
stituting one great nation one and indivisible, as intended by nature.
CHAPTEE XIV.
ITALIAN WARS CONDITION OF ITALY FRENCH AND SPANISH ARMIES ON THE OARIGLIANO.
1503.
Melancholy State of Italy Great Preparations of Louis Gonsalvo repulsed before Gaeta
Armies on the Garigliano Bloody Passage of the Bridge Anxious Expectation of
Italy Critical Situation of the Spaniards Gonsalvo's Resolution Heroism of Paredes
and Bayard.
WE must now turn our eyes towards Italy, where the sounds of war,
which had lately died away, were again heard in wilder dissonance than
ever. Our attention, hitherto, has been too exclusively directed to
mere military manoeuvres to allow us to dwell much on the condition of
this unhappy land. The dreary progress of our story, over fields of
blood and battle, might naturally dispose the imagination to lay the
scene of action in some rude and savage age ; an age, at best, of feudal
heroism, when the energies of the soul could be roused only by the fierce
din of war.
Far otherwise, however ; the tents of the hostile armies were now
pitched in the bosom of the most lovely and cultivated regions of the
globe ; inhabited by a people who had carried the various arts of policy
and social life to a degree of excellence elsewhere unknown ; whose
natural resources had been augmented by all the appliances of ingenuity
and industry ; whose cities were crowded with magnificent and costly
works of public utility ; into whose ports every wind that blew waftea
the rich freights of distant climes ; whose thousand hills were covered
to their very tops with the golden labours of the husbandman ; and
whose intellectual development showed itself not only in a liberal
scholarship far outstripping that of their contemporaries, but in works
i>f imagination, and of elegant art more particularly, which rivalled the
A.BMIES 05 THE GAEIGLIAIfO. 441
best days of antiquity. The period before us, indeed, the commence-
ment of the sixteenth century, was that of their meridian splendour,
when Italian genius, breaking through the cloud which had temporarily
obscured its early dawn, shone out in full effulgence ; fof we are now
touching on the age of Machiavelli, Ariosto, and Michael Angelo, the
golden age of Leo the Tenth.
It is impossible, even at this distance of time, to contemplate without
feelings of sadness the fate of such a country, thus suddenly converted
into an arena for the bloody exhibitions of the gladiators of Europe ; to
behold her trodden under foot by the very nations on whom she had
freely poured the light of civilisation ; to see the fierce soldiery of
Europe, from the Danube to the Tagus, sweeping like an army of locusts
over her fields, defiling her pleasant places, and raising the shout of battle,
or of brutal triumph, under the shadow of those monuments of genius
which have been the delight and despair of succeeding ages. It was the
old story of the Goths and Vandals acted over again. Those more re-
fined arts of the cabinet on which the Italians were accustomed to rely,
much more than on the sword, in their disputes with one another, were
of no avail against these rude invaders, whose strong arm easily broke
through the subtle webs of policy which entangled the movements of
less formidable adversaries. It was the triumph of brute force over
civilisation, one of the most humiliating lessons by which Providence
has seen fit to rebuke the pride of human intellect.
The fate of Italy inculcates a most important lesson. With all this
outward show of prosperity, her political institutions had gradually lost
the vital principle which could alone give them stability or real value.
The forms of freedom, indeed, in most instances, had sunk under the usur-
pation of some aspiring chief. Everywhere patriotism was lost in the most
intense selfishness. Moral principle was at as low an ebb in private as in
public life. The hands, which shed their liberal patronage over genius
and learning, were too often red with blood. The courtly precincts,
which seemed the favourite haunt of the Muses, were too often the
Epicurean sty of brutish sensuality ; while the head of the Church
itself, whose station, exalted over that of every worldly potentate,
should have raised him at least above their grosser vices, was sunk
in the foulest corruptions that debase poor human nature. Was it
surprising then, that the tree, thus cankered at heart, with all
the goodly show of blossoms on its branches, should have fallen before
the blast, which now descended in such pitiless fury from the
mountains ?
Had there been an invigorating national feeling, any common prin-
ciple of coalition among the Italian states ; had they, in short, been true
to themselves, they possessed abundant resources in their wealth, talent,
and superior science, to have shielded their soil from violation. Unfor-
tunately, while the other European states had been augmenting their
strength incalculably by the consolidation of their scattered fragments
into one whole, those of Italy, in the absence of some great central
point round which to rally, hud grown more and more confirmed in their
original disunion. Thus, without concert in action, and destitute of the
vivifying impulse of patriotic sentiment, they were delivered up to be
the spoil and mockery of nations whom in their proud language they
still despised as barbarians ; an impressive example of the impotence of
442 ITALIAN WARS.
human genius, and of the instability of human institutions, however
excellent in themselves, when unsustained by public and private virtue.*
The great powers who had now entered the lists, created entirely new
interests in Italy, Avhich broke up the old political combinations. The
conquest of Milan enabled France to assume a decided control over the
affairs of the country. Her recent reverses in Naples, however, had
greatly loosened this authority ; although Florence a.nd other neigh-
bouring states which lay under her colossal shadow, still remained true
to her. Venice, with her usual crafty policy, kept aloof, maintaining a
position of neutrality between the belligerents, each of whom made the
most pressing efforts to secure so formidable an ally. She had, however,
long since entertained a deep distrust of her French neighbour ; and,
although she would enter into no public engagements, she gave the
Spanish minister every assurance of her friendly disposition towards his
government. \ She intimated this still more unequivocally by the
supplies she had allowed her citizens to carry into Barletta during the
late campaign, and by other indirect aid of a similar nature during the
present ; for all which she was one day to be called to a heavy reckoning
by her enemies.
The disposition of the papal court towards the French monarch was
still less favourable ; and it took no pains to conceal this after his
reverses in Naples. Soon after the defeat of Cerignola, it entered into
correspondence with Gonsalvo de Cordova ; and, although Alexander
the Sixth refused to break openly with France, and sign a treaty with
the Spanish sovereigns, he pledged himself to do so on the reduction of
Gaeta. In the mean time, he freely allowed the Great Captain to raise
such levies as he could in Rome, before the very eyes of the French
ambassador. So little had the immense concessions of Louis, including
those of principle and honour, availed to secure the fidelity of this
treacherous ally.
With the emperor Maximilian, notwithstanding repeated treaties, ho
was scarcely on better terms. That prince was connected with Spain by
the matrimonial alliances of his family, and no less averse to France
from personal feeling, which, with the majority of minds, operates more
powerfully than motives of state policy. He had, moreover, always
regarded the occupation of Milan by the latter as an infringement, in
some measure, of his imperial rights. The Spanish government, avail-
ing itself of these feelings, endeavoured through its minister, Don Juan
Manuel, to stimulate Maximilian to the invasion of Lombardy. As the
emperor however, demanded, as usual, a liberal subsidy for carrying on
the war, King Ferdinand, who was seldom incommoded by a superfluity
of funds, preferred reserving them for his own enterprises, to hazarding
them on the Quixotic schemes of his ally. But, although the negotia-
tions were attended with no result, the amicable dispositions of the
Austrian government were evinced by the permission given to its subjects
* The philosophic Machiavelli discerned the true causes of the calamities, in the cor-
ruptions of his country ; which he has exposed, with more than his usual boldness and
bitterness of sarcasm, in the seventh book of his " Arte della Querra."
t Lorenzo Suarez de la Vega filled the post of minister at the republic, during the whole
of the war. His long continuance in the office, at so critical a period, under so vigilant a
sovereign as Ferdiiiaud, is sufficient warrant for his ability. Peter Martyr, while he
admits his talents, makes some objection to his appointment, on the ground of his wan}
of scholarship.
ABMIES OJT THE GARIGLIAXO. 443
to serve under the banners of Gonsalvo, where indeed, as we have already
seen, they formed some of his best troops.
But while Louis the Twelfth drew so little assistance from abroad, the
heartiness with which the whole French people entered into his feelings
at this crisis made him nearly independent of it, and, in an incredibly
short space of time, placed him in a condition for resuming operations
on a far more formidable scale than before. The preceding failures in
Italy he attributed in a great degree to an overweening confidence in the
superiority of his own troops, and his neglect to support them with the
necessary reinforcements and supplies. He now provided against this,
by remitting large sums to Rome, and establishing ample magazines,
of grain and military stores there, under the directions of commissaries,
for the maintenance of the army. He equipped without loss of time
a largo armament at Genoa, under the marquis of Saluzzo, for the
relief of Gaeta, still blockaded by the Spaniards. He obtained a
small supply of men from his Italian allies, and subsidised a corps of
eight thousand Swiss, the strength of his infantry; while the remainder
of his army, comprehending a line body of cavalry, and the most com-
plete train of artillery, probably, in Europe, was drawn from his own.
dominions. Volunteers of the highest rank pressed forward to serve in
an expedition to which they confidently looked for the vindication of
tlir national honour. The command was intrusted to the marechal de
la Tremouille, esteemed the best general in France ; and the whole
amount of force, exclusive of that employed permanently in the fleet, is
variously computed from twenty to thirty thousand men.
In the month of July, the army was on its march across the broad
plains of Lombardy, but, on reaching Parma, the appointed place of
rendezvous for the Swiss and Italian mercenaries, was brought to a halt
by tidings of an unlooked-for event, the death of Pope Alexander the
Sixth, lie expired on the 18th of August 1503, at the age of seventy-
two, the victim, there is very little doubt, of poison he had prepared for
others ; thus closing an infamous life by a death equally infamous. He
was a man of undoubted talent, and uncommon energy of character.
But his powers were perverted to the worst purposes, and his gross vice*
were unredeemed, if we are to credit the report of his most respectable
contemporaries, by a single virtue. In him the papacy reached its
lowest degradation. His pontificate, however, was not without its use ;
since that Providence, which still educes good from evil, made the
scandal which it occasioned to the Christian world a principal spring of
the glorious Reformation.*
The death of this pontiff occasioned no particular disquietude at the
Spanish court, where his immoral life had been viewed with undisguised
reprobation, and made the- subject of more than one pressing remon-
strance, as we have already seen. His public course had been as littU
to its satisfaction ; since, although a Spaniard by birth, being a native-
of Valencia, he had placed himself almost wholly at the disposal of Louia
the Twelfth, in return for the countenance afforded by that monarch to
the iniquitous schemes of his son, Caesar Borgia.
The pope's death was attended with important consequences on. the
The little ceremony with which Alexander's remains were treated while vet scarcely
old, ia the best commentary on the general detestation in which he was UM. "
4W ITALIAN "WARS.
movements of the French. Louis' favourite minister, cardinal d'Amboise,
had long looked to this event as opening to him the succession to the
tiara. He now hastened to Italy, therefore, with his master's appro-
bation, proposing to enforce his pretensions by the presence of the
French army, placed as it would seem, with this view, at his disposal.
The army, accordingly, was ordered to advance towards Rome, and
halt within a few miles of its gates. The conclave of cardinals, then
convened to supply the vacancy in the pontificate, were filled with
indignation at this attempt to overawe their election ; and the citizens
beheld with anxiety the encampment of this formidable force under
their walls, anticipating some counteracting movement on the part of
the Great Captain, which might involve their capital, already in a state
of anarchy, in all the horrors of war. Gonsalvo, indeed, had sent
forward a detachment of between two and three thousand men, under
Mendoza and Fabrizio Colonna, who posted themselves in the neighbour-
hood of the city, where they could observe the movements of the enemy.
At length cardinal d'Amboise, yielding to public feeling, and the
representations of pretended friends, consented to 'the removal of the
French forces from the neighbourhood, and trusted for success to his
personal influence. He over-estimated its weight. It is foreign to our
purpose to detail the proceedings of the reverend body thus convened to
supply the chair of St. Peter. They are displayed at full length by the
Italian writers, and must be allowed, to form a most edifying chapter in
ecclesiastical history. It is enough to state, that, on the departure of
the French, the suffrages of the conclave fell on an Italian (Sept. 22),
who assumed the name of Pius the Third, and who justified the policy
of the choice by dying in less time than his best friends had anticipated,
within a mouth after his elevation.*
The new vacancy was at once supplied by the election of Julius the
Second (October 31), the belligerent pontiff who made his tiara a
helmet, and his crosier a sword. It is remarkable that, while his
fierce, inexorable temper left him with scarcely a personal friend, he
<5ame to the throne by the united suffrages of each of the rival factions
of France, Spain, and, above all, Venice, whose ruin in return, he made
the great business of his restless pontificate.
No sooner had the game, into which cardinal d'Amboise had entered
with such prospects of success, been snatched from his grasp by the
superior address of his Italian rivals, and the election of Pius the Third
been publicly announced, than the French army was permitted to resume its
march on Naples, after the loss an irreparable loss of more than a month.
A still greater misfortune had befallen it, in the meantime, in the illness
of Tremouille, its chief; which compelled him to resign the command
into the hands of the marquis of Mantua, an Italian nobleman, who held
the second station in the army. He was a man of some military
experience, having fought in the Venetian service, and led the allied
forces, with doubtful credit indeed, against Charles the Eighth at the
battle of Fornovo. His elevation was more acceptable to his own
oountrymen than to the French ; and in truth, however competent to
ordinary exigencies, he was altogether unequal to the present, in which
The election of Pius was extremely grateful to Queen Isabella, who caused Te Deucu
and thanksgivings to be celebrated in the churches for the appointment of "so worthy
pastor over the Christian fold."
ARMIES OX THE QARIGLIAXO. 445
he was compelled to measure his genius with that of the greatest captain
of the age.
The Spanish commander, in the meanwhile, was detained before the
strong post of Gaeta, into which Ives d'Alegre had thrown himself, as
already noticed, with the fugitives from the Held of Cerignola, where he
had been subsequently reinforced by four thousand additional troops,
under the marquis of Saluzzo. From these circumstances, as well a?
the great strength of the place, Gonsalvo experienced an opposition, to
which of late he had been wholly unaccustomed. His exposed situation
in the plains, under the guns of the citv, occasioned the loss of many
of his best men, and, among others, that of his friend Don Hugo de
Cardona, one of the late victors at Seminara, who was shot down at his
side while conversing with him. At length, after a desperate but
ineffectual attempt to extricate himself from his perilous position, by
forcing the neighbouring eminence of Mount Orlando, he was compelled,
to retire to a greater distance, and draw off his army to the adjacent
village of Castcllone, which may call up more agreeable associations in
the reader's mind as the site of the Villa Formiana of Cicero.* At this
place he was still occupied with the blockade of Gaeta, when he received
intelligence that the French had crossed the Tiber, and were in full
march against him.
While Gonsalvo lay before Gaeta, he had been intent on collecting
such reinforcements as he could from every quarter. The Neapolitan
division under Xavarro had already joined him, as well as the victorious
legions of Andrada from Calabria. His strength was further augmented
by the arrival of between two and three thousand troops, Spanish, Ger-
man and Italian, which the Castilian minister, Francisco de Roxas,
had levied in Rome ; and he was in daily hopes of a more important
>ion from the same quarter, through the good offices of the Venetian
ambassador. Lastly, he had obtained some additional recruits, and a
remittance of a considerable sum of money, in a fleet of Catalan ships
lately arrived from Spain. With all this, however, a heavy amount of
arrears remained due to his troops. In point of numbers, he was still
far inferior to the enemy ; no computation swelling them higher than
three thousand horse, two of them light cavalry, and nine thousand
loot. The strength of his army lay in his Spanish infantry, on whose
thorough discipline, steady nerve, and strong attachment to his person,
he felt he might confidently rely. In cavalry, and still more in artillery,
he was far below the French ; which, together with his great numerical
inferiority, made it impossible for him to keep the open country. His
only resource was to get possession of some pass or strong position which
lay in their route, where he might detain them till the arrival of further
reinforcements should enable him to face them on more equal terms.
The deep stream of the Garigliano presented such a line of defence as he
wanted, t
On the 6th of October, therefore, the Great Captain broke up his
* Cicero's country seat stood midway between Gaeta and Mola, the ancient Formtoe,
about two miles and a half from each. The remains of his mansion and of his mauso-
leum may still be discerned, on the borders of the old Appian Way, by the classical and
eredulous to- :
ilian writers do not state the sum total of the Spanish force, which is to
:-re<l only from the scattered estimates, careless and contradictory as usual, of th
various detachments which joined it.
416 ITALIAN AVAHS.
camp at Castellone, and, abandoning the whole region north of the
Garigliano to the enemy, struck into the interior of the country, and
took post at San Germano, a strong place on the other side of the river,
covered by the two fortresses of Monte Casino * and Rocca Secca. Into
this last he threw a body of determined men under Villalba, and waited
calmly the approach of the enemy.
It was not long before the columns of the latter were descried in full
march on Ponte Corvo, at a few miles' distance only on the opposite side
of the Garigliano. After a brief halt there, they traversed the bridge
before that place, and advanced confidently forward in the expectation
of encountering little resistance from a foe so much their inferior. In
this they were much mistaken ; the garrison of Rocca Secca, against
which they directed their arms, handled them so roughly, that, after ia
vain endeavouring to carry the place in two desperate assaults, the
marquis of Mantua resolved to abandon the attempt altogether, and,
recrossing the river, to seek a more practicable point for his purpose
lower down.
Keeping along the right bank, therefore, to the south-east of the
mountains of Fondi, he descended nearly to the mouth of the Garigliano,
the site, as commonly supposed, of the ancient Minturnse.f The place
was covered by a fortress called the Tower of the Garigliano, occupied
by a small Spanish garrison, who made some resistance, but surrendered
on being permitted to march out with the honours of war. On rejoining
their countrymen under Gonsalvo, the latter were so much incensed that
the garrison should have yielded on any terms, instead of dying on their
posts, that, falling on them with their pikes, they massacred them all to
a man. Gonsalvo did not think proper to punish this outrage, which,
however shocking to his own feelings, indicated a desperate tone of
resolution, which he felt he should have occasion to tax to the utmost in
the present exigency.
The ground now occupied by the armies was low and swampy, a
character which it possessed in ancient times ; the marshes on the
southern side being supposed to be the same in which Marius concealed
himself from his enemies during his proscription. J Its natural humidity
was greatly increased, at this time, by the excessive rains, which began
earlier, and with much more violence than usual. The French position
Avas neither so low, nor so wet, as that of the Spaniards. It had the
advantage, moreover, of being supported by a well -peopled and friendly
country in the rear, where lay the large towns of Fondi, Itri, and Gaeta;
while their neet, under the admiral Prejan, which rode at anchor in the
mouth of the Garigliano, might be of essential service in the passage of
the river.
In order to effect this, the marquis of Mantua prepared to throw a
bridge across, at a point not far from Trajetto. He succeeded in it,
notwithstanding the swollen and troubled condition of the waters, in a
The Spaniards carried Monte Casino by storm, and with sacrilegioiia violence plun-
dered the Benedictine monastery of all its costly plate. They were compelled, however,
to respect the bonus of the martyrs, and other saintly relics; a division of spoil probably
not entirely satisfactory to its reverend inmates.
t The remains of this city, which stood about four miles above the mouth of the Liris,
are still to be seen on the right of the road. In ancient times it was of sufficient magnitude
to cover both sides of the river.
J The marshes of Miuturnas lay between the city and the mouth of the Liris.
AB1IIES ON THE OARIGLIANO. 447
few days, under cover of the artillery, which he had planted on the
bank of the river, and which, from its greater elevation, entirely com-
manded the opposite shore.
The bridge was constructed of boats belonging to the fleet, strongly
secured together and covered with planks. The work being completed.
on the Gth of November, the army advanced upon the brid , supported
by such a lively cannonade from the batteries along the shoiv, us made
all resistance on the part of the Spaniards ineffectual. The impetuosity
with which the French rushed forward was such as to drive back the
advanced guard of their enemy, which, giving way in disorder, retreated
on the main body. Before the confusion could spread further, Gmisalvo
mounted d la gineta, in the manner of the light cavalry, rode through the
broken ranks, and, rallying the fugitives, quickly brought them to order.
Xavarro and Andrado at the same time led up the Spanish infantry, ;md
the whole column charging furiously against the French, compelled
them to falter, and at length to fall back on the bridge.
The struggle now became desperate ; officers and soldiers, horse and
foot, mingling together, and righting hand to hand, with all the ferocity
kindled by close personal combat. Some were trodden under the feet of
the cavalry, many more were forced from the bridge, and the waters of
the Garigliano were covered with men and horses borne down by the
current, and struggling in vain to gain the shore. It was a contest of
mere bodily strength and courage, in which skill and superior tactics
were of little avail. Among those who most distinguished themselves,
the name of the noble Italian, Fabrizio Colonna, is particularly men-
tioned. An heroic action is recorded, also, of a person of inferior rank,
a Spanish alfcrez, or standard-bearer, named Illescas. The right-hand
of this man was shot away by a cannon-ball. As a comrade was raising
xip the fallen colours, the gallant ensign resolutely grasped them,
exclaiming that "he had one hand still left." At the same time
mnming a scarf round the bleeding stump, he took his place in the
ranks as before. This brave deed did not go unrewarded, and a liberal
pension was settled on him at Gonsalvo's instance.
During the heat of the melee, the guns on the French shore had been
entirely silent, since they could not bo worked without doing as much
mischief to their own men as to the Spaniards, with whom they were
closely mingled. But as the French gradually recoiled from their
impetuous adversaries, fresh bodies of the latter rushing forward to
support their advance, necessarily exposed a considerable length of colu'mn
to the range of the French guns, which opened a galling rire on th
further extremity of the bridge. The Spaniards, notwithstanding
" they threw themselves into the face of the cannon," as the marquis of
Mantua exclaimed, "with as much unconcern as if their bodies had
been made of air, instead of flesh and blood," found themselves so
much distressed by this terrible fire, that they were compelled to fall
back ; and the van, thus left without support, at length retreated in
turn, abandoning the bridge to the enemy.
Tliis action was one of the severest which occurred in these wars.
Don Hugo cle Moncada, the veteran of many a riirht by land and s a,
told Paolo Giovio, that "lie had never felt himself in such invnineut
peril in any of his battles as in this." The French, notwi:'.
they ivma.iieol masters of the contested bridge, hud met with a resistance
448 ITAXIAM WABS.
which greatly discouraged them ; and, instead of attempting to push
their success further, retired the same evening to their quarters on the
ether side of the river. The tempestuous weather, which continued with
unabated fury, had now broken up the roads, and converted the soil into
a morass, nearly impracticable for the movements of horse, and quite so
for those of artillery, on which the French chiefly relied ; while it inter-
posed comparatively slight obstacles to the manoeuvres of infantry,
which constituted the strength of the Spaniards. From a consideration
of these circumstances, the French commander resolved not to resume
active operations till a change of weather, by restoring the roads, should
enable him to do so with advantage. Meanwhile he constructed a
redoubt on the Spanish extremity of the bridge, and threw a body of
troops into it, in order to command the pass, whenever he should be
disposed to use it.
While the hostile armies thus lay facing each other, the eyes of all
Italy were turned to them, in anxious expectation of a battle that should
finally decide the fate of Naples. Expresses were daily dispatched from
the French camp to Rome, whence the ministers of the different European
powers transmitted the tidings to their respective governments. Machia-
velli represented at that time the Florentine republic at the papal court,
and his correspondence teems with as many floating rumours and specu-
lations as a modern gazette. There were many French residents in the
city, with whom the minister was personally acquainted. He frequently
notices their opinions on the progress of the war, which they regarded
with the most sanguine confidence, as sure to result in the triumph of
their own arms, when once fairly brought into collision with the enemy.
The calmer and more penetrating eye of the Florentine discerns symptoms
in the condition of the two armies of quite a different tendency.*
It seemed now obvious that victory must declare for that party which
could best endure the hardships and privations of its present situation.
The local position of the Spaniards was far more unfavourable than that
of the enemy. The Great Captain soon after the affair of the bridge,
had drawn off his forces to a rising ground about a mile from the river,,
which was crowned by the Tittle hamlet of Cintura, and commanded the
route to Naples. In front of his camp he sunk a deep trench, which, in
the saturated soil, speedily filled with water.; and he garnished it at
each extremity with a strong redoubt. Thus securely entrenched, he
resolved patiently to await the movements of the enemy.
The situation of the army, in the meantime, was indeed deplorable.
Those who occupied the lower level were up to their knees in mud and
water ; for the excessive rains, and the inundation of the Grariglianu,
had converted the whole country into a mere quagmire, or rather stand-
ing pool. The only way in which the men could secure themselves was
by covering the earth as far as possible with boughs and bundles of
twigs ; and it was altogether uncertain how long even this expedient
would serve against the encroaching element. Those on the higher
grounds were scarcely in better plight. The driving storms of sleet
ARMIES 07T THE GAKIGLIAXO. 419
and ruin, which had continued for several weeks without intermission,
iound their way into every crevice of the flimsy tents and crazy hovels,
thatched only with branches of trees, which afforded a temporary shelter
to the troops. In addition to these evils, the soldiers were badly fed,
from the difficulty of finding resources in the waste and depopulated
regions in which they were quartered ; * and badly paid, from tiie negli-
gence, or perhaps poverty, of King Ferdinand, whose inadequate
remittances to his general exposed him, among many other embarrass-
ments, to the imminent hazard of disaffection among the s >ldierv,
(specially the foreign mercenaries, which nothing, indeed, but the most
delicate and judicious conduct on his part could have averted. f
In this difficult crisis, Gonsalvo do Cordova retained all his usual
equanimity, and even the cheerfulness so indispensable in a leader who
would infuse heart into his followers. He entered freely into the
distresses and personal feelings of his men, and, instead of assuming
any exemption from fatigue or suffering on the score of his rank, took
his turn in the humbiest tour of duty with the meanest of them,
mounting guard himself, it is said, on more than one occasion. Above
all, he displayed that indexible constancy which enables the strong
mind in the hour of darkness and peril to buoy up the sinking spirits
around it. A remarkable instance of this fixedness of purpose occurred
at this lime.
The forlorn condition of the army, and the indefinite prospect of its
continuance, raised a natural apprehension in many of the officers that,
if it did not provoke some open act of mutiny, it would in all probability
break down the spirits and constitution of the soldiers. Several of them,
t:n re fore, among the rest, Mendoza and the two Colonnas, waited on
the commander-in-chief, and after stating their fears without reserve,
besouirlu him to remove the camp to Capua, where the troops might find
healthy and commodious quarters, at lea.it until the severity of the
ii was mitigated; before which, they insisted there was no reason
to anticipate any movement on the part of tiie French. But Gonsalvo
felt ton deeply the importance of grappling with the enemy before they
should gain the open country, to be willing tc trust to any such precarious
Contingency. Besides, he distrusted the effect of such a retrograde
Movement on the spirits of his own troops. He had decided on his
course ui ier the most mature deliberation; and, having patiently heard
1'is officers to the end, replied in these few but memorable words : " It is
indi>pensable to the public service to maintain our present position ;
a:.d be assured, I would sooner march forward two stops, though it
should bring me to my grave, than fall back one, to gaia a hundred
years." The decided tone of the reply relieved him from further
importunity.
'J here is no act of Gonsalvo's life, which on the whole displays more
strikingly the strength of his character. When thus witnessing
his faithful followers drooping and dying around him, with the
* This barren tract of uninhabited country must have been of very limited extent ; fir
it lay in the Campania Felix, in the neighbourhood of the cultivated plains of Sussa, the
M :i,--k-;m mountains, and Falernian fields. names which call up associations that must
live while jrood [>oetry and good wine shall be held in honour.
t The Xeajioiitau conquests, it will be remembered, were undertaken exclusire'y for
the crowu of Aragon, the revenues of which were fiir more limited than tuoae of
Castile.
450 ITALIAN WAES.
consciousness that a word could relieve them from all their distresses, he
yet refrained from uttering it, in stern obedience t-o what he regarded as
the call of duty ; and this, too, on his own responsibility, in opposition
to the remonstrances of those on whose judgment he most relied.
Gonsalvo confided in the prudence, sobriety, and excellent constitution
of the Spaniards, for resisting the bad effects of the climate. He relied,
too, on their tried discipline, and their devotion to himself, for carrying
them through any sacrifice he should demand of them. His experience
at Barletta led him to anticipate results of a very opposite character
with the French troops. The event justified his conclusions in bott
respects.
The French, as already noticed, occupied higher and more healthy
ground, on the other side of the Garigliano, than their rivals. They
were fortunate enough also to find more effectual protection from the
weather in the remains of a spacious amphitheatre, and some other
edifices, which still covered the site of Minturnac. With all this,
however, they suffered more severely from the inclement season than,
their robust adversaries. Numbers daily sickened and died. They
were much straitened, moreover,, from want of provisions, through the
knavish peculations of the commissaries who had charge of the maga-
zines in Rome. Thus situated, the fiery spirits of the French soldiery,
eager for prompt and decisive action, and impatient of delay, gradually
sunk tinder the protracted miseries of a war where the elements were
the principal enemy, and where they saw themselves melting away like
slaves in a prison ship, without even the chance of winning an honourable
death on the field of battle.
The discontent occasioned by these circumstances was further swelled
by the imperfect success which had attended their efforts when allowed
to measure weapons with the enemy.
At length the latent mass of disaffection found an object on which to
vent itself, in the person of their commander-in-chief, the marquis of
Mantua, never popular with the French soldiers. They now loudly
taxed him with imbecility, accused him of a secret understanding
with the enemy, and loaded him with the opprobrious epithets with
which Transalpine insolence was accustomed to stigmatise the Italians.
In all this they were secretly supported by Ives d'Alegre, Sandricourt,
and other French officers, who had always regarded with dissatisfaction
the elevation of the Italian general ; till at length the latter, finding that
he had influence with neither officers nor soldiers, and unwilling to
retain command where he had lost authority, availed himself of a tem-
porary illness under which he was labouring, to throw up his commission,
and withdrew abruptly to his own estates.
He was succeeded by the marquis of Saluzzo, an Italian indeed by
birth, being a native of Piedmont, but who had long served under the
French banners, where he had been intrusted by Louis the Twelfth witli
very important commands. He was not deficient in energy of character
or military science ; but it required powers of a higher order than his to
bring the army under subordination, and renew its confidence under
present circumstances. The Italians, disgusted with the treatment of
their former chief, deserted in great numbers. The great body of the
French chivalry, impatient of their present unhealthy position, dispersed
among the adjacent cities of Fondi, Itri, and Gaeta, leaving the low
ARMIES ON THE GABIGLIAXO. 451
country around the Tower of the Garigliano to the care of the Swiss and
German infantry. Thus, while the whole Spanish army lay within a
milt- of the river, under the immediate eye of their commander, prepared
for instant service, the Frencn were scattered over a country more than
ten miles in extent, where, without regard to military discipline, they
sought to relieve the dreary monotony of a uarnp by all the relaxations
which such comfortable quarters could afford.
It nrzst nst be supposed that the repose of the two armies was never
broken by the sounds of war. More than one rencontre, on the contrary,
with various fortune, took place, and more than one display of personal
prowess by the knights of the two nations, as formerly at the siege of.
Barletta. The Spaniards made two unsuccessful efforts to burn the
enemy's bridge; but they succeeded, on the other hand, in carrying the
stroii.. <>f Kocca Gugliehna, garrisoned by the French. Among
the feats of individual heroism, the Castilian writers expatiate most
complacently on that of their favourite cavalier, liiego de 1'aredes ; who
descended alone on the bridge against a body of French knights, all
armed in proof, with a desperate hardihood worthy of Don Quixote ; and
would most probably have shared the usual fate of that renowned per-
mmagc on such occasions, had ho not been rescued by a sally of his own
countrymen. The French find a counterpart to this adventure in that
of the preux chevalier Bayard, who with his single arm maintained
the barriers of the bridge against two hundred Spaniards for an hour or
more.
Such feats, indeed, are more easily achieved with the pen than with
the sword. It would be injustice, however, to the honest chronicler of
the day to suppose that he did not himself fully
"Believe the magic wonders that he sung."
Every heart confessed the influence of a romantic age, the dying age,
indeed, of chivalry, but when, with superior refinement, it had lost
nothing of the enthusiasm and exaltation of its prime. A shadowy
twilight of romance enveloped every object. Every day gave birth to
such extravagances, not merely of sentiment, but of action, as made it
diflieult to discern the precise boundaries of fact and notion. The
chronicler might innocently encroach sometimes on the province of the
poet, and the poet occasionally draw the theme of his visions from the
pages of the chronicler. Such, in fact, was the case ; and the romantic
Muse of Italy, then coming forth in her glory, did little more than give
a brighter flush of colour to the chimeras of real life. The characters of
living heroes, a Bayard, a Paredes, and a La Palice, readily supplied her
with the elements of those ideal combinations in which she has so grace-
fully embodied the perfections of chivalry.
CHAPTER XV.
ITALIA* WARS ROUT OF THE OARIGLIANO TREATY WITH FRANCE GONSALVO's MILTTAA1
CONDUCT.
15031504.
Gensalvo crosses the River Consternation of the French Action near Gneta Hotly con-
tested The French defeated Gaeta surrenders Public Enthusiasm Treaty with
France Review of Gousalvo's Military Conduct Results of the Campaign.
SEVEN weeks had now elapsed since the two armies had lain in sight
of each other without any decided movement on either side. During this
time, the Great Captain had made repeated efforts to strengthen himself,
through the intervention of the Spanish ambassador, Francisco de Itojas,
by reinforcements from Rome. His negotiations were chiefly directed to
secure the alliance of the Orsini, a powerful family, long involved in a
bitter feud with the Colonnas, then in the Spanish service. A reconci-
liation between these noble houses was at length happily effected : and
Bartolomeo d'Alviano, at the head of the Orsini, agreed to enlist under
the Spanish commander with three thousand men. This arrangement
was finally brought about through the good offices of the Venetian
minister at Home, who even advanced a considerable sum of money
towards the payment of the new levies.
The appearance of this corps, with one of the most able and valiant of
the Italian captains at its head, revived the drooping spirits of the camp.
Soon after his arrival, Alviano strongly urged Gronsalvo to abandon his
original plan of operations, and avail himself of his augmented strength
to attack the enemy in his own quarters. The Spanish commander had
intended to confine himself wholly to the defensive, and, too unequal in
force to meet the French in the open field, as before noticed, had
intrenched himself in his present strong position, with the fixed purpose
of awaiting the enemy tlure. Circumstances had now greatly changed.
The original inequality was diminished by the arrival of the Italian
levies, and still further compensated by the present disorderly state of
the French army. He knew, moreover, that in the most perilous enter-
prises, the assailing party gathers an enthusiasm and an impetus in its
career which counterbalance large numerical odds ; while the party taken
by surprise is proportionably disconcerted, and prepared, as it were, for
defeat before a blow is struck. From these considerations, the cautious
general acquiesced in Alviano's project to cro s the Garigliano, by
establishing a bridge at a point opposite Suzio, a small place garrisoned
by the French, on the right bank, about four miles above their lu ad-
quarters. The time for the attack was fixed as soon as possible, aftei
the approaching Christmas, when the French, occupied with the festi-
vities of the season, might be thrown off their guard.
This day of general rejoicing to the Christian world at length
arrived. It brought little joy to the Spaniards, buried in the depths of
these dreary morasses, destitute of most of the necessaries of life, and
THE FREXCH DRIVEN FROM NAPLES. 453
with scarcely any other means of resisting the climate than those
afforded by their iron constitutions and invincible courage. They cele-
brated the day, however, with all the devotional feeling and the imposing
solemnities with which it is commemorated by the Roman Catholic
church ; and the exercises of religion, rendered more impressive by
their situation, served to exalt still higher the heroic constancy which
had sustained them under such unparalleled sufferings.
In the meanwhile, the materials tor the bridge were collected, and the
work went forward with such dispatch, that on the '28th of December all
was in readiness for carrying the plan of attack into execution. The
task of laying the bridge across the river was intrusted to Alviauo, who
had charge of the van. The central and main division of the army,
under Gonsalvo, was to cross at the same point : while Andrada, at the
head of the rear-guard, was to force a passage at the old bridge, lower
down the stream, opposite to the Tower of the Garigliano.
The night was dark and stormy. Alviano performed the duty intrusted
to him with such silence and celerity, that the work was completed
without attracting the enemy's notice. He then crossed over with the
vanguard, consisting chieiiy of cavalry, supported by Navarro, 1'aredes,
and 1'izarro , and, falling on. the sleeping garrison of Suzio, cut to pieces
all who offered resistance.
The report of the Spaniards having passed the river spread far and
wide, and soon reached the head-quarters of the marquis of Saluzzo,
near the Tower of the Garigliano. The French commander-in-chief,
who believed that the Spaniards were lying on the other side of the
river, as torpid as the snakes in their own marshes, was as much
astounded by the event as if a thunderbolt had burst over his head from
a cloudless sky. He lost no time, however, in rallying such of his
scattered forces as he could assemble, and in the mean while dispatched
Ives d'Aldgre with a body of horse to hold the enemy in check till he
could make good his own retreat on Gaeta. His first step was to demolish
the bridge near his own quarters, cutting the moorings of the boats,
and tinning them adrift down the river. He abandoned his tents and
baggage, together with nine of his heaviest cannon ; leaving even the
sick and wounded to the mercy of the enemy, rather than encumber
himself with anything that should retard his inarch. The remainder of
the artillery he sent forward in the van; the infantry followed next ; and
the rear, in which Saluzzo took his own station, was brought up by the
mon-at-arms, to cover the retreat.
Before Alegre could reach Suzio, the whole Spanish army had passed
the Garigliauo, and formed on the right bank. Unable to face such
superior numbers, he fell back with precipitation, and joined himself to
the main body of the French, now in full retreat on Gaeta.
Gousalvo, afraid the French might escape him, sent forward Prospero
Colonna, with a corps of light horse, to annoy and retard their march
until he could come up. Keeping the ri^'ht bank of the river with the
main body, he marched rapidly through the deserted camp of the enemy,
leaving little leisure for his men to glean the rich spoil which lay
tempting them on every side. It was not long before he came up with
the French, whose movements were greatly retarded by the difficulty of
dragging their guns over the ground, completely saturated with rain.
The retreat was conducted, however, in excellent order; they were
eminently favoured by the narrowness of the road, which, allowing bat
a comparatively small body of troops on either side' to come into action,
made success chiefly depend on the relative merits of these. The French
rear, as already stated, was made up of their men-at-arms, including
Bayard, Sandricourt, La Fayette, and others of their bravest chivalry ,
who armed at all points found no great difficulty in beating oft' the liirht
troops which formed the advance of the Spaniards. At every bridge,
stream, and narrow pass, which afforded a favourable position, the
French cavalry closed their ranks, and made a resolute stand to gain
time for the columns in advance.
In this way, alternately halting and retreating, with perpetual skir-
mishes, though without much loss on either side, they reached the bridge
before Mola di Gaeta. Here, some of the gun-carriages, breaking down
or being overturned, occasioned considerable delay and confusion. The
infantry, pressing on, became entangled with the artillery. The marquis
of Saluzzo endeavoured to avail himself of the strong position afforded
by the bridge to restore order. A desperate struggle ensued. The
French knights dashed boldly into the Spanish ranks, driving back for a
time the tide of pursuit. The chevalier Bayard, who was seen, as usual,
in the front of danger, had three horses killed under him ; and at length,
carried forward by his ardour into the thickest of the enemy, was
retrieved with difficulty from their hands by a desperate charge of his
friend Sandriconrt.
The Spaniards, shaken by the violence of the assault, seemed for a
moment to hesitate ; but Gonsalvo had now time to bring up his men-at-
arms, who sustained the faltering columns, and renewed the combat on
more equal terms. He himself was in the hottest of the melee ; and at
one time was exposed to imminent hazard by his horse's losing his
footing on the slippery soil, and coming with him to the ground. The
general fortunately experienced no injury, and, quickly recovering him-
self, continued to animate his followers by his voice and intrepid
bearing, as before.
The fight had now lasted two hours. The Spaniards, although still in
excellent heart, were faint with fatigue and want of food, having
travelled six leagues, without breaking their fast since the preceding
evening. It was, therefore, with no little anxiety that Gonsalvo \
for the coming up of his rear-giiard, left, as the reader will remember,
under Andrada at the lower bridge, to decide the fortune of the dav.
The welcome spectacle at length presented itself. The dark columns
of the Spaniards were seen, at first faint in the distance, by degrees
growing more and more distinct to the eye. Andrada had easily carried
the French redoubt on his side of the Garigliano ; but it was not without
difficulty and delay that he recovered the scattered boats which the
French had sent adrift down the stream, and finally succeeded in
re-establishing his communications with the opposite bank. Having
accomplished this, he rapidly advanced by a more direct road to the east
of that lately traversed by (ronsalvo along the sea-side, in pursuit of the
French. The latter beh'eld with dismay the arrival of a fresh bodv of
troops, who seemed to have dropped from the clouds on the fiekl of
battle. They scarcely waited for the shock before they broke and irave
way in all directions. The disabled carriages of the artillery, which
dogged up the avenues in the rear, increased the confusion among the
THE FREXCH DRXTEX FEOM NAPLES. 455
fugitives ; and the foot were trampled down without mercy under the
lie, Is of their own cavalry, in the eagerness of the latter to extricate
themselves from their perilous situation. The Spanish light horse
followed up their advantage with the alacrity of vengeance long delayed,
inflicting bloody retribution for all they had so long suffered in the
marshes of Sessa.
At no great distance from the bridge, the road takes two directions ;
the one towards Itri, the other to Gaeta. The bewildered fugitives here
separated, by far the greater part keeping the latter route. Gonsalvo
sent forward a body of horse under Xavarro and Pedro de la Paz, by a
short cut across the country, to intercept their flight. A large number
fell into his hands in consequence of this manoeuvre ; but the greater
] irt of those who escaped the sword succeeded in throwing themselves
into Gai-ta.
The Great Captain took up his quarters that night in the neighbouring
village of Castellone. His brave followers had great need of refresh-
ni3nt, having fasted and fought through the whole day, and that under
a driving storm of rain which had not ceased for a moment. Thus
terminated the battle, or rout, as it is commonly called, of the Garigliano,
the most important in its results of all Gonsalvo s victories, and furnishing
a suitable close to his brilliant military career. The loss of the French
is computed at from three to four thousand men left dead on the field,
together with all their baggage, colours, and splendid train of artillery.
The Spaniards must have suffered severely during the sharp conflict on
the bridge ; but no estimate of their loss is to be met with in any native
or foreign writer. It was observed that the 29th of December, on which
this battle was won, came on Friday, the same ominous day of the week
which had so often proved auspicious to the Spaniards under the present
reign.
The disparity of the forces actually engaged was probably not great,
since the extent of country over which the French were quartered
prevented many of them from coming up in time for action. Several
corps, who succeeded in reaching the field at the close of the fight, were
seized with such a panic as to throw down their arms without attempting
resistance. The admirable artillery, on which the French placed chief
reliance, was not only of no service, but of infinite mischief to them, as
we have seen. The brunt of the battle fell on their chivalry, which bore
itself throughout the day with the spirit and gallantry worthy of its
ancient renown ; never flinching, till the arrival of the Spanish rear-
guard, fresh in the Held, at so critical a juncture, turned the scale in
their adversaries' favour.
Early on the following morning, Gonsalvo made preparations for
storming the heights of mount Orlando, which overlooked the city of
Gaeta. Such was the despondency of its garrison, however, that this
strong position, which ba ie defiance a few months before to the most
desperate efforts of Spanish valour, was now surrendered without a
struggle. The same feeling of despondency had communicated itself to
the garrison of Gaeta ; and before Xavarro could bring the batteries of
mount Orlando to bear upon the city, a flag of truce arrived from the
marquis of Saluzzo with proposals for capitulation.
This was more than the Great Captain could have ventured to promise
himself. The French were in great force ; the fortiiications of the place
i~)G ITALIAN WARS.
in excellent repair ; it was well provided with artillery and ammunition,
and with provisions for ten days at least ; while their fleet, riding- in the
harbour, afforded the means of obtaining supplies from Leghorn, Genoa,
and other friendly ports. But the French had lost all heart ; they were
sorely wasted by disease ; their buoyant self-confidence was gone, and
their spirits broken by the series of revers s which had followed without
interruption from the first hour of the campaign to the last disastrous
arfair of the Garigliano. The very elements seemed to have leagued
against them. Further efforts they deemed a fruitless struggle against
destiny ; and they now looked with melancholy longing to their native
land, eager only to quit these ill-omened shores for ever.
The Great Captain made no difficulty in granting such terms as, while
they had a show of liberality, secured him the most important fruits of
victory. This suited his cautious temper far better than pressing &
desperate foe to extremity. He was, moreover, with all his successes,
in no condition to do so ; he was without funds, and, as usual, deeply in
arrears to his army ; while there was scarcely a ration of bread, says au
Italian historian, in his whole camp.
It was agreed by the terms of capitulation, January 1st, 1504, that
the French should evacuate Gaeta at once, and deliver it up to the
Spaniards, with its artillery, munitions, and military stores of evfvy
description. The prisoners on both sides, including those taken in tie
preceding campaign, an arrangement greatly to the advantage of t.ie
enemy, were to be restored ; and the army in Gaeta was to be allowed a
free passage, by land or sea, as they should prefer, to their own country.
From the moment hostilities were brought to a close, Gonsalvo
displayed such generous sympathy for his late enemies, and such
humanity in relieving them, as to reflect more honour on his character
than all his victories. He scrupulously enforced the faithful performance
of the treaty, and severely punished any violence offered to the French
by his own men. His benign and courteous demeanour towards the
vanquished, so remote from the images of terror with which he had
been hitherto associated in their minds, excited unqualified admiration ;
and they testified their sense of his amiable qualities by speaking of him
as the " gentil capitaine et gentil cavalier."
The news of the rout of the Garigliano and the surrender of Gaeta
diffused general gloom and consternation over France. There wa.s
scarce a family of rank, says a writer of that country, that had not some
one of its members involved in these sad disasters. The court went into
mourning. The king, mortified at the discomfiture of all his lofty
schemes by the foe whom he despised, shut himself up in his palact-,
refusing access to every one, until the agitation of his spirits threw him
into an illness which had well nigh proved fatal.
Meanwhile his exasperated feelings found an object on which to vent
themselves in the unfortunate garrison of Gaeta, who so pusillanimously
abandoned their post to return to their own country, lie commanded
them to winter in Italy, and not to recross the Alps without further
orders. He sentenced Sandricourt and Alegre to banishment for insub-
ordination to their commander-in-chief, the latter, for his conduct,
more particularly, before the battle of Cerignola ; and he hanged up the
commissaries of the armies, whose infamous peculations ha-i been *
principal cause of its ruin.
THE FRENCH DRIVEN FROM NAPLES. 457
But the impotent wrath of their monarch was not needed to fill the
bitter cup which the French soldiers were now draining to the dregs. A
large number of those who embarked for Genoa died of the maladies
contracted during their long bivouac in the marshes of Minturnae. The
rest recrossed the Alps into France, too desperate to he- d their master's
prohibition. Those who took their way by land suffered still more
severely from the Italian peasantry, who retaliated in full measure the
barbarities they had so long endured from the French. They were seen
wandering like spectres along the high roads and principal cities on the
route, pining with cold and famine ; and all the hospitals in Rome, as
well as th< heds, and every other place, however mean, afford-
ing shelter, were tilled with the wretched vagabonds, eager only to find
some obscure retreat to die in.
The chiefs of the expedition fared little better. Among others the
marquis of Saluzzo, soon after reaching Genoa, was carried off by a fever
caused by his distress of mind. Sandricourt, too haughty to endure dis-
grace, laid violent hands on himself. Alegre, more culpable, but more
courageous, survived to be reconciled to his sovereign, and to die a
soldier's death on the field of battle.
Such are the dismal colours in which the French historians depict the
last struggle made by their monarch for the recovery of Naples. Few
military expeditions have commenced under mnv brilliant and imposing
auspices ; few have been conducted in so ill-advised a manner through
their whole progress ; and none attended in their close with more indis-
criminate and overwhelming ruin.
On the 3rd of January, Io04, Gonsalvo made his entry into Gaeta ;
and the thunders of his ordnance, now for the first time heard from its
battlements, aiinounc'-d that this strong key to the dominions of Naples
had passed into the hands of Aragon. After a short delay for the refresh-
ment of his troops, he set out for the capital. But, amidst the general
jubilee which greeted his return, he was seized with a fever, brought on
by the incessant fatigue and high mental excitement in which he had
been kept for the last four months. The attack was severe, and the
event for some time doubtful. During this state of suspense the public
mind was in the deepest agitation. The popular manners of Gonsalvo
had won the hearts of the giddy people of Naples, who transferred their
affections, indeed, as readily as their allegiance, and prayers and vows
for his restoration were offered up in all the churches and monasteries of
the city. His excellent constitution at length got the better of his
disease. As soon as this favourable result was ascertained, the whole
population, rushing to the other extreme, abandoned itself to a delirium,
of joy ; and, when lie was sufficiently recovered to give them audience,
men of all ranks thronged to CastelNuovo to tender their congratulations,
and obtain a sight of the hero, who now returned to their capital, for the
third time, with the laurel of victory on his brow. Every tongue, says
his enthusiastic biographer, \\a> lu.fuent in his praise: some dwelling on
!;:> noble ]>ort, and the beauty of his countenance ; others on the elegance
and amenity of his manners ; and all dazzled by a spirit of munificence
which would have beeome royalty it-
The tide of panegyric \\as .swelled by more than one bard, who sought,
though, with indifferent - i rat ion from so glorious a
tbenie ; trusting doubtless, that his liberal hand would not stint the
458 ITALIAN WAES.
recompense to the precise measure of desert. Amid this general Inirst oi
adulation, the muse of Sannazaro, worth all his tribe, was alone silent ;
for the trophies of the conqueror were raised on the ruins of that royal
house under which the bard had been so long sheltered ; and this silence,
so rare in his tuneful brethren, must be admitted to reflect more credit
on his name than the best he ever sung.
The first business of Gonsalvo was to call together the different orders
of the state, and receive their oaths of allegiance to King Ferdinand. He
next occupied himself with the necessary arrangements for the re-organ-
isation of the government, and for reforming various abuses which had
crept into the administration of justice more particularly. In these
attempts to introduce order, he was not a little thwarted, however, by
the insubordination of his own soldiery. They loudly ciamoured for the
discharge of the arrears, still shamefully protracted, till, their discontents
swelling to open mutiny, they forcibly seized on two of the principal
places in the kingdom as security for the payment. Gonsalvo chastised
their insolence by disbanding several of the most refractory companies,
and sending them home for punishment. He endeavoured to relieve
them in part by raising contributions from the Neapolitans. But the
soldiers took the matter into their own hands, oppressing the unfortunate
people on whom they were quartered in a manner which rendered their
condition scarcely more tolerable than when exposed to the horrors of
actual war.* This was the introduction, according to Guicciardiui, of
those systematic military exactions in time of peace, which became so
common afterwards in Italy, adding an inconceivable amount to the long
catalogue of woes which afflicted that unhappy land.
Amidst his manifold duties, Gonsalvo did iiot forget the gallant officers
who had borne with him the burdens of the war ; and he requited their
services in a princely style, better suited to his feelings than his interests,
as subsequently appeared. Among them were Navarro, Mendoza,
Andrada, Benavides, Leyva, the Italians Alviano and the two Colonnas,
most of whom lived to display the lessons of tactics which they learned
under this great commander, on a still wider theatre of glory, in the
reign of Charles the Fifth. He made them grants of cities, fortresses,
and extensive lands, according to their various claims, to be held as fiefs
of the crown. All this Avas done with the previous sanction of his royal
master, Ferdinand the Catholic. They did some violence, however, to
his more economical spirit ; and he was heard somewhat peevishly to
exclaim, " It boots little for Gonsalvo de Cordova to have won a kingdom
for me, if he lavishes it all away before it comes into my hands." It
began to be perceived at court that the Great Captain was too powerful
for a subject.
Meanwhile, Louis the Twelfth was filled with serious apprehensions
for the fate of his possessions in the north of Italy. His former allies,
the emperor Maximilian and the republic of Venice, the latter more
especially, had shown many indications, not merely of coldness to him-
self, but of a secret understanding with his rival, the king of Spain.
The restless pope, Julius the Second, had schemes of his own, wholly
independent of France. The republics of Pisa and Genoa, the latter one
* The Italians began at this early period to feel the pressure of those woes, which a
century and a half Liter wrung out of Filieaja t ic beautiful lament, which has lot somo-
tiling oi its touching graces, even uudur tho ha: id of Lord Byron.
THE FEEXCH DKIYEJT FEOH XAPLES. 459
of her avowed dependencies, had entered into correspondence with the
Great Captain, and invited him to assume their protection ; while
several of the disaffected party in Milan had assured him of their active
support, in case he would march with a sufficient force to overturn the
existing government. Indeed, not only France, but Europe in general,
expected that the Spanish commander would avail himself of the present
crisis to push his victorious arms into upper Italy, revolutionise Tuscany
in his way, and, wresting Milan from the French, drive them, crippled
and disheartened by their late reverses, beyond the Alps.
But Gonsalvo had occupation enough on his hands in settling the dis-
ordered state of Naples. Kini; Ferdinand, his sovereign, notwithstanding
the ambition of universal conquest absurdly imputed to him by the French
writers, had no design to extend his acquisitions beyond what he could
permanently maintain. His treasury, never overflowing, was too deeply
drained by the late heavy demands on it, for him so soon to embark on
another perilous enterprise, that must arouse anew the swarms of enemies
who seemed willing to rest in quiet after their long and exhausting
struggle ; nor is there any reason to suppose he sincerely contemplated
such a movement for a moment.*
The apprehension of it, however, answered Ferdinand's purpose, by
preparing the French monarch to arrange his differences with his rival,
as the latter no\v earnestly desired, by negotiation. Indeed, two Spanish
ministers had resided during the greater part of the war at the French
court, with the view of improving the first opening that should occur for
accomplishing this object : and by their agency a treaty was concluded,
which guaranteed to Aragon the undisturbed possession of her conquests
during that period. The chief articles provided for the immediate ces-
sation of hostilities between the belligerents, and the complete re-esta-
blishment of their commercial relations and intercourse, with the excep-
tion of Naples, from which the French were to be excluded. The Spanish
crown was to have full power to reduce all refractory places in that
kingdom ; and the contracting parties solemnly pledged themselves, each
to render no assistance, secretly or openly, to the enemies of the other.
The treaty, which was to run from the 25th of February, 1504, was
signed by the French king and the Spanish plenipotentiaries at Lyons on
the 1 1th of that month, and ratified by Ferdinand and Isabella, at the
convent of Santa Maria de la Mejorada, the 31st of March following.
There was still a small spot in the heart of Naples, comprehending
Venosa and several adjoining towns, where Louis d'Ars and his brave
associates yet held out against the Spanish arms. Although cut off by
the operation of this treaty from the hope of further support from home,
the French knight disdained to surrender : but sallied out at the Lead of
liis little troop of gallant veterans, and thus, armed at all points, says
ErantOme, with lance in rest, took his way through Naples and the centre
of Italy. He marched in battle array, levying contributions for his sup-
port on the places through which he passed. In this manner he entered
France, and presented himself before the court at Blois. The king and
queen, delighted with his prowess, came forward to welcome him, and
made good cheer, says the old chronicler, for himself and his companions,
The campaign against Louis XII. had cost the Spanish crown 331 euentot or millions ol
maravedis. A moderate charge enoutrh for the conquest of a kingdom; and made null
tighter to the Spaniards by olio-tilth of the whole being drawn iroiu Naples iUelC
460 ITALIAN WABS.
whom they recompensed with liberal largesses, proffering at the same
time any boon to the brave knight which he should demand for himself.
The latter, in return, simply requested that his old comrade, Ives
d'Alegre, should be recalled from exile. This trait of magnanimity,
when contrasted with the general ferocity of the times, has something in.
it inexpressibly pleasing. It shows, like others recorded of the French
gentlemen of that period, that the age of chivalry the chivalry of
romance, indeed had not wholly passed away.
The pacification of Lyons sealed the fate of Xaples ; and, while it ter
minated the wars in that kingdom, closed the military career of Cfonsalvo
de Cordova. It is impossible to contemplate the magnitude of the results
achieved with such slender resources, and in the face of such overwhelm-
ing odds, without deep admiration for the genius of the man by whom
they were accomplished.
His success, it is true, is imputable in part to the signal errors of his
adversaries. The magnificent expedition of Charles the Eighth tailed to
produce any permanent impression, chiefly in consequence of the precipi-
tation with which it had been entered into, without sufficient concert
with the Italian states, who became a formidable enemy when united in
his rear. He did not even avail himself of his temporary acquisition of
^Naples to gather support from the attachment of his new subjects. Far
from incorporating with them, he was regarded as a foreigner and an
enemy, and, as such, expelled by the joint action of all Italy from its
bosom, as soon as it had recovered sufficient strength to rally.
Louis the Twelfth profited by the errors of his predecessor. His acqui-
sitions in the Milanese formed a basis for future operations ; and, by
negotiation ^nd otherwise, he secured the alliance and the interests of
the various Italian governments on his side. These preliminary arrange-
ments were followed by preparations every way commensurate with his
object. He failed in the first campaign, however, by intrusting the
command to incompetent hands, consulting birth rather than talent or
experience.
In the succeeding campaigns, his failure, though partly chargeable on
himself, was less so than on circumstances beyond his control. The first
of these was the long detention of the army before Rome by cardinal
d'Amboise, and its consequent exposure to the unexampled severity of
the ensuing winter. A second was the fraudulent conduct of the com-
missaries, implying, no doubt, some degree of negligence in the person
who appointed them ; and, lastly, the want of a suitable commander-in-
chief of the army. La Tremouille being ill, and D'Aubigny a prisoner
in the hands of the enemy, there appeared no one among the French
qualified to cope with the Spanish general. The marquis of Mantua,
independently of the disadvantage of being a foreigner, was too timid in
counsel, and dilatory in conduct, to be any way competent to this difficult
task.
If his enemies, however, committed great errors, it is altogether owing
to Gonsalvo that he was in a situation to take advantage of them.
Nothing could be more unpromising than his position on first entering
Calabria. Military operations had been conducted in Spain on principles
totallv different from those which prevaihd in the rest of Europe. This
was tlie case, especially in the late Moorish wars, where the uld tactics
and the character of the ground brought light cavalry chiefiy into use.
THT FBEXCH DEIVEX FROM XAPLES. 461
This, indeed, constituted his principal strength at this period ; fur his
infantry, though accustomed to irregular service, was indifferently armed
and disciplined. An important revolution, however, had occurred in
the other parts of Europe. The infantry had there regained the supe-
riority which it had maintained in the days of the Greeks and Romans.
The experiment had been made on more than one bloody field ; and it
was found that the solid columns of Swiss and German pikes not only
bore down all opposition in their onward march, but presented an
impregnable barrier, not to be shaken by the most desperate charges of
the best heavy-armed cavalry. It was against these dreaded battalions
that GonsaljO was called to measure for the first time the bold, but
rudely armed and comparatively raw, recruits from Galicia and the
lie lost his first battle, into which it should be remembered he wa<
precipitated against his will. He proceeded afterwards with the greatest
caution, gradually familiarising his men with the aspect and usages of
the enemy whom they held in such awe, before bringing them again to
a direct encounter. He put himself to school during this whole cam-
] ai-n, carefully acquainting himself with the tactics, discipline, and
novel arms of his adversaries, and borrowing just so much as he could
incorporate into the ancient system of the Spaniards, without discarding
the latter altogether. Thus, while he retained the short sword and
buckler of his countrymen, he fortified his battalions with a large
number of spearmen, after the German fashion. The arrangement is
highly commended by the sagacious Machiavelli, who considers it as
combining the advantages of both systems; since, while the long spear
served all the purposes of resistance, or even of attack on level ground,
the short swords and targets enabled their wearers, as already noticed,
to cut in under the dense array of hostile pikes, and bring the enemy to
close quarters, where his formidable weapon was of no avail.*
While Gonsalvo made this innovation in the arms and tactics, he paid
equal attention to the formation of a suitable character in his soldiery.
The circumstances in which he was placed at Barletta, and on the
Garigliano, imperatively demanded this. Without food, clothes, or pay,
without the chance even of retrieving his desperate condition by venturing
a blow at the enemy, the Spanish soldier was required to remain passive.
To do this he demanded patience, abstinence, strict subordination, and a
degree of resolution far higher than that required to combat obstacles,
however formidable in them>i-l\vs, where active exertion, which tasks
the utmost energies of the soldier, renews his spirits, and raises them to
a contempt of danger. It was calling on him, in short, to begin with
achieving that most difficult of all victories, the victory over himself.
All this the Spanish commander effected. He infused into his men a
portion of his own invincible energy. He inspired a love of his person,
which led them to emulate his example ; and a confidence in his genius
and resoun -es which supported them under all their privations by a firm
reliance on a fortunate issue. His manners were distinguished by a
Machiavelli considers the victory over D'Aubigny at Semhiara as imputable in a great
to the |>eculiar arms of the KMUliwdo, who, with their short swords and shields,
pliiliiiH in among the deep rinks ol the Swiss spearmen, brought them to clse combat,
win. re the firmer had the whole advantage. Another instance of the kind occurred at UM
memorable battle of Ravenna some years later. Ubi supra.
<62 ITALIAN WAB3.
graceful courtesy, less encumbered with etiquette than was usual \vilh
persons of his high rank in Castile. He knew well the proud and inde-
pendent feelings of the Spanish soldier ; and, far from annoying him by
unnecessary restraints, showed the most liberal indulgence at all dines.
But his kindness was tempered with severity, which displayed itself on
ouch occasions as required interposition, in a manner that rarely tailed to
repress everything like insubordination. The reader will readily recal
an example of this in the mutiny before Tarento ; and it was doubtless
by the assertion of similar power that he was so long able to keep ia
check his German mercenaries, distinguished above the troops of every
other nation by their habitual license and contempt of authority.
While Gonsalvo relied so freely on the hardy constitution aud patient
habits of the Spaniards, he trusted no less to the deficiency of these
qualities in the French, who, possessing little of the artificial character
formed under the stern training of later times, resembled their Gaulish
ancestors in the facility with which they were discouraged by unexpected
obstacles, and the difiiculty with which they could be brought to rally.
In this he did not miscalculate. The French infantry, drawn from the
militia of the country, hastily collected and soon to be disbanded, and
the independent nobility and gentry who composed the cavalry service,
were alike difficult to be brought within the strict curb of military rule.
The severe trials, which steeled the souls and gave sinewy strength to
the constitutions of the Spanish soldiers, impaired those of their enemies,
introduced divisions into their councils, and relaxed the whole tone of
discipline. Gonsalvo watched the operation of all this, and, coolly
waiting the moment when his weary and disheartened adversary should
be thrown off his guard, collected all his strength for a decisive blow, by
which to terminate the action. Such was the history of those memorable
campaigns which closed with the brilliant victories of Cerignola and the
Garigliano.
In a review of his military conduct, we must not overlook his politic
deportment towards the Italians, altogether the reverse of the careless
and insolent bearing of the French. He availed himself liberally of
their superior science, showing great deference, and confiding the most
important trusts, to their officers.* Far from the reserve usually shown
to foreigners, he appeared insensible to national distinctions, and ardently
embraced them as companions in arms, embarked in a common cause
with himself. In their tourney with the French before Barletta, to
which the whole nation attached such importance as a vindication of
national honour, they were entirely supported by Gonsalvo, who furnished
them with arms, secured a fair field of fight, and shared the triumph of
the victors as that of his own countrymen, paying those delicate atten-
tions, which cost far less indeed, but to an honourable mind are of
greater value, than more substantial benefits. He conciliated the good
will of the Italian states by various important services ; of the Venetians,
by his gallant defence of their possessions in the Levant ; of the people
of Rome, by delivering them from the pirates of Ostia ; while he suc-
ceeded, notwithstanding the excesses of his soldiery, in captivating the
Two of the most distinguished of these -were the Colonnas, Proepero and Fabrizio,
of whom frequent mention has been made in our narrative. The best commentary on the
military reputation of the latter, is the fact, that he is selected by Machiavelli as th*
principal interlocutor in his Dialogues on the Art of War.
ILLNESS AND DEATH OF ISABELLA. 463
giddy Neapolitans to such a degree, by his affable manners and splendid
style' 'it' lite, as sinned to efface from their minds every recollection ol
tb'o last and most popular of their monarchs, tlie unfortmxitc Frederic.
Tlie distance of < tonsah <>' s tbc-atre of operation* from liis own country,
apparently most discouraging, proved extremely favourable to his pur-
poses. Hie troops, cut oil' from rctivat by a wide sea and an impassable
mountain barrier, had no alternative but to conquer or to die. Their
lonir continuance in the field without di>banding gave them all the stern
inflexible qualities of a standing army ; and, as they served through so
many successive campaign! under the banner of the same leader, they
were drilled in a system of tactics far steadier and more uniform than,
could be acquired under a variety of commanders, however able. Under
these circumstances, which so well fitted them for receiving impressions,
the Spanish army was gradually moulded into the form determined by
the will of its caveat chief.
When we look at the amount of forces at the disposal of Gonsalvo, it
appears so paltry, especially compared with the gigantic apparatus of
later wars, that it may well suggest disparaging ideas of the whole
contest. To judge correctly, we must direct our eyes to the result.
"With this insignificant force we shall then see the kingdom of Naples
Conquered, and the best generals and armies of France annihilated ; an
important innovation effected in military science ; the art of mining, if
not invented, carried to xmprecedented perfection ; a thorough reform
introduced in the arms and discipline of the Spanish soldier ; and the
organisation completed of that valiant infantry, which is honestly
eulogised by a French writer as irresistible in attack, and impossible to
rout ; and which carried the banners of Spain victorious for more than a
century over the most distant parts of Europe.
CHAPTER XVI.
ILLNESS AND DEATH OT ISABELLA HER CHARACTER.
1501.
Decline of the Queen's Health Alarm of the Nation Her Testament and Codicil Har
Resignation and Death Her Remain* transported to Grauada Isabella's Person
Her Manners Her Character Parallel with Queen Elizabeth.
THE acquisition of an important kingdom in the heart of Europe, and
of the New World beyond the waters, which promised to pour into hei
lap all the fabled treasures of the Indies, was rapidly raising Spain to
the first rank of European powers. But, in this noontide of her success,
ehe was to experience a fatal shock -in the loss of that illustrious person-
age who had so long and so gloriously presided over her destinies. We
have had occasion to notice more than once the declining state of the
queen's health during the last few years. Her constitution had been
greatly impaired by incessant personal fatigue and exposure, and by the
Unremitting activity of her mind. It had suffered far more severely,
however, fiom a series of heavy domestic calamities, which had fallen on
her with little intermission since the death of her mother in 1496. The
464 ILLNESS AND LEATH OF ISABELLA,
next year, she followed to the grave the remains of her only son, the
heir and hope of the monarchy, just entering on his prime; and, in the
succeeding, was called on to render the same sad offices to the best
beloved of her daughters, the amiable queen of Portugal.
The severe illness occasioned by this last blow terminated in a dejec-
tion of spirits, from which she never entirely recovered. Her surviving
children were removed far from her into distant lands; with the occa-
sional exception, indeed, of Joanna, who caused a still deeper pang to
her mother's affectionate heart, by exhibiting infirmities which justified
the most melancholy presages for the future.
Far from abandoning herself to weak and useless repining, however,
Isabella sought consolation, where it was best to be found, in the exer-
cises of piety, and in the earnest discharge of the duties attached to her
exalted station. Accordingly, we find her attentive as ever to the
minutest interests of her subjects ; supporting her great minister
Ximenes in his schemes of reform, quickening the zeal for discovery in
the west, and, at the close of the year 1503, on the alarm of the French
invasion, rousing her dying energies to kindle a spirit of resistance in
her people. These strong mental exertions, however, only accelerated
the decay of her bodily strength, which was gradually sinking under
that sickness of the heart which admits of no cure, and scarcely of
consolation.
In the beginning of that very year she had declined so visibly, that
the cortes of Castile, much alarmed, petitioned her to provide for the
government of the kingdom after her decease, in case of the absence or
incapacity of Joanna. She seems to have rallied in some measure after
this ; but it was only to relapse into a state of greater debility, as her
spirits sunk under the conviction, which now forced itself on her, of her
daughter's settled insanity.
Early in the spring of the following year (1504), that unfortunate lady
embarked for Flanders, where, soon after her arrival, the inconstancy of
her husband, and her own ungovernable sensibilities, occasioned the
most scandalous scenes. Philip became openly enamoured of one of the
kidi s of her suite; and his injured wife, in a paroxysm of jealousy,
personal!} assaulted her fair rival in the palace, and caused the beautiful
locks which had excited the admiration of her fickle husband to be shorn
from her head. This outrage so affected Philip, that he vented his
indignation against Joanna in the coarsest and most unmanly terms, and
finally refused to have any further intercourse with h r.
The account of this disgraceful scene reached Castile in the month of
June. It occasioned the deepest chagrin and mortification to the un-
happy parents. Ferdinand soon after fell ill of a fever, and the queen
was seized with the same disorder, accompanied by more alarming
symptoms. Her illness was exasperated by anxiety for her husband,
and she refused to credit the favourable reports of his physicians while
he was detained from her presence. His vigorous constitution, however,
threw oft' the malady, while hers gradually failed under it. Her tender
heart was more keenly sensible than his to the unhappy condition of their
child, and to the gloomy prospects which awaited her beloved Castile.
Her faithful follower, Martyr, was with the court at this time in
Medina del Campo. In a letter to the count of Tendilla, dated October
7th, he states that the most serious apprehensions were entertained by
HEE CHARACTER 4C.J
the nhysichns for the queen's fate. " Her whole system," he says, " is
pervaded by a consuming fever. She loathes food of every kind, and
is tormented with incessant thin-t, while the disorder has all the appear-
ance of terminating in a dropsy."
In the meanwhile, Isabella lost nothing of her solicitude for the
welfare of her people, and tin- ngat concerns of government. While
reclining, as she was obliged to do great part of the day, on her couch,
she listened to the recital or reading of whatever occurred of interest, at
home or abroad. to distinguished foreigi . ially
such Italians as could acquaint her with particulars of the late war, and
above all in regard to Gonsalvo de Cordova, in whose fortune she had
always taken th" liveliest concern.* She received with pleasure, too,
such int'-lligc-nt travellers as her renown had attracted to the Castilian
court. She drew lortn their stores of various information, and dismissed
tin-in, says a writer of the age, penetrated with the de> -pest admiration
of that ma>culine strength of mind which sustained her so nobly under
the wi ight of a mortal malady. t
This malady was now rapidly gaining ground. On th? luth of
October we have another epi>tle of Martyr, of the following melancholy
tenor. " You a>k me respecting the state of the queen's health. \\ e
n-owful in the palace all day long, tremblingly waiting the hour
when religion and virtue shall quit the earth with her. Let us pray that
we may be permitted to follow hereafter where she is soon to go. She
so far transcends all human excellence that there is scarcely anything of
mortality about her. She can hardly be said to die, but to pass into a
nobler existence, which should rather excite our envy than our sorrow.
- the world lilled with her renown, and she goes to enjoy life
eternal with her God in heaven. I write this," he concludes, " between
hope and fear, while the breath is still fluttering within her."
The deepest gloom now overspread the nation. Even Isabella's long
illness had failed to prepare the minds of her faithful people for th
icy recalled several ominous circumstances which had
before escaped their attention. In the preceding spring, an earthquake,
accompanied by a tremendous hurricane, such as the oldest men did not
reineiiiber, had visited Andalusia, and especially Carmona, a place
belonging to the queen, and occasioned a frightful desolation there. Ihe
supcr>titiuus Spaniards now read in these portents the prophetic signs by
which Heaven announces some great calamity. Prayers were put up in.
. temple ; processions and pilgrimages made in every part of the
country for the recovery of their IK.- loved sovereign, but in vain.
n-lla, in the meantime, was deluded with no false hopes. She felt
too Burely the decay of her bodily strength, and she resolved to perform
what temporal duties yet remained for her, while her faculties were still
unclouded.
A short time before her death she received a visit from the distinguished officer,
Prospero Colouna. The Italian noble, on being presented to I' id, told him
th:it ''he had come to Castile to behold the woman, who, t,-, .111 her sick bed, ruled
the world."
t Among the foreigners introduced to the queen at this time, was .1 celebrated Venetian
trivclli-r, named Vianelli, who presented her with a croxs of pure t'"ld set with precious
stones, anvils which was a carbuncle of inestimable value. The liberal Italian met
itheran uncourtly rebuke from Ximenes, who told him. on leaving the presence,
thu "he had n-.ther have the money his diamonds coet, to spendi n the service of the
church, than all the gem* of the Indies."
H H
466 ILLXESS A^D DEATH OF ISABELLA.
On the 12th of October she executed that celebrated testament w hich
reflects so clearly the peculiar qualities of her mind and character. She
begins with prescribing the arrangements for her burial. She. orders
her remains to be transported to Granada, the Franciscan monastery of
Santa Isabella in the Alhambra, and there deposited in a low and humble
sepulchre, without other memorial than a plain inscription on it. " But,"
she continues, " should the king my lord prefer a sepulchre in some
other place, then my will is that my body be there transported, and laid
by his side ; that the union we have enjoyed in this world, and, through
the mercy of God, may hope again for our souls in heaven, may be reprc-
ented by our bodies in the earth." Then, desirous of correcting by her
example, in this last act of her life, the wasteful pomp of funeral
obsequies to which the Castilians were addicted, she commands that her
own should be performed in the plainest and most unostentatious manner,
and that the sum saved by this economy should be distributed in alma
among the poor.
She next provides for several charities, assigning, among others,
marriage portions for poor maidens, and a considerable sum for the
redemption of Christian captives in Barbary. She enjoins the punctual
discharge of all her personal debts within a year ; she retrenches super-
fluous offices in the royal household, and revokes all such grants, whether
in the forms of lands or annuities, as she conceives to have been made
without sufficient warrant. She inculcates on her successors the import-
ance of maintaining the integritv of the royal domains, and above all,
of never divesting themselves of their title to the important fortress of
Gibraltar.
After this she comes to the succession of the crown, which she settles
on the infanta Joanna as " queen proprietor," and the archduke Philip
as her husband. She gives them much good counsel respecting their
future administration ; enjoining them, as thev would secure the love and
obedience of their subjects, to conform in all respects to the laws and
usages of the realm, to appoint no foreigner to office, an error into
which Philip's connections, she saw, would be very likely to betray
them, and to make no laws or ordinances " which necessarily require
the consent of cortes," during their absence from the kingdom.
She recommends to them the same conjugal harmony which had
ever subsisted between her and her husband ; she beseeches them to
show the latter all the deference and filial affection " due to him beyond
every other parent, for his eminent virtues ; " and finally inculcates
on them the most tender regard for the liberties and welfare of their
subjects.
She next comes to the great question proposed by the cortes of 1503,
respecting the government of the realm in the absence or incapacity of
Joanna. She declares that, after mature deliberation, and with the
advice of many of the prelates and nobles of the kingdom, she appoints
king Ferdinand her husband to be the sole regent of Castile, in that
exigency, until the majoritv of her grandson Charles ; being led to this,
she adds, " by the consideration of the magnanimity and illustrious
qualities of the king my lord, as well as his large experience, and the
great profit which will redound to the state from his wise and beneficial
rule." She expresses her sincere conviction that his past conduct aftbrdg
a sufficient guarantee for his faithful administration, but, in compliance
HEE CHARACTER. 467
with established usage, requires the customary oath from him on entering
on the duties of the ottice.
She then makes a specific provision for her husband's personal main-
tenance, which, "although less than she could wish, and far less than
he deserves, considering the eminent services he had rendered the state,"
she settles at one half of all the net proceeds and profits accruing from
the newly discovered countries in the west ; together with ten million
maravedis annually, assigned on the alcavalaa of the grandmasterships of
the military orcL. rs.
After some additional regulations respecting the descent of the crown
on failure of Joanna's lineal heirs, she recommends in the kindest and
most emphatic terms to her successors the various members of her house-
hold, and her personal friends, among whom we find the names of the
marquis and marchioness of Moya, (Beatrice de Bobadilla, the companion
of her youth,) and Garcilasso de la Vega, the accomplished minister at
the papal court.
And, lastly, concluding in the same beautiful strain of conjugal
tenderness in which she began, she says, " I beseech the king my lord
that he will accept all my jewels, or such as he shall select, so that,
seeing them, he may be reminded of the singular love I always bore him
while living, and that I am now waiting fur him in a better world ; by
which remembrance he may be encouraged to live the more justly and
holily in this."
Six executors were named to the will. The two principal were the
king, and prinuite Ximenes, who had full powers to act in conjunction
with any one of the others.
1 have dwelt the more minutely on the details of Isabella's testament,
from the evidence it affords of her constancy in her dying hour to the
principles which had governed her through life ; of her expansive and
ious policy ; her prophetic insight into the evils to result from her
death, evils, alas ! which no forecast could avert ; her scrupulous
attention to all her personal obligations ; and that warm attachment to
her friends which coidd never falter while a pulse beat in her bosom.
After performing this duty, she daily grew weaker, the powers of her
mind seeming to brighten as those of her body declined. The concerns
of her government still occupied her thoughts ; and several public
measures, which she had postponed through urgency of other business,
or growing infirmities, pressed so heavily on her heart, that she made
them the subject of a codicil to her former will. It was executed
November 23rd, 1504, only three days before her death.
Three of the provisions contained in it are too remarkable to pass
unnoticed. The first concerns the codification of the laws. For this
purpose the queen appoints a commission to make a new digest of the
statutes VBJifragmdticM) the contradictory tenor of which still occasioned
much embarrassment in Castilian jurisprudence. This was a subject she
always had much at heart ; but no nearer approach had been made to it
than the valuable though insufficient work of Montalvo, in the early part
of her reign ; and, notwithstanding her precautions, none more effectual
was destined to take place till the reign of Philip the Second.
The second item had reference to the natives of the New "World.
Gross abuses had arisen there since the partial revival of the reparti-
mientos, although Las Casas says, " intelligence K this was carefully
I
408 ILLXESS AXD DEATH OF ISABELLA.
kept from the ears of the queen." Some vague apprehension of the
truth, however, appears to have forced itself on her ; and she enjoins
her successors, in the most earnest manner, to quicken the good work of
converting and civilising the poor Indians, to treat them with the greatest
gentleness, and redress any wrongs they may have suffered in their
persons or property.
Lastly, she expresses her doubts as to the legality of the revenue
drawn from the alcaralas, constituting the principal income of the crown.
She directs a commission to ascertain whether it were originally intended
to be perpetual, and if this were done with the free consent of the
people ; enjoining her heirs, in that event, to collect the tax so that it
should press least heavily on her subjects. Should it be found other-
wise, however, she directs that the legislature be summoned to devise
proper measures for supplying the wants of the crown, "measures
depending for their validity on the good pleasure of the subjects of the
realm."
Such were the dying words of this admirable woman, displaying the
same respect for th'e rights and liberties of the nation which she had
shown through life, and striving to secure the blessings of her benign
administration to the most distant and barbarous regions imder her sway.
These two documents were a precious legacy bequeathed to her people,
to guide them when the light of her personal example should be with-
drawn for ever.
The queen's signature to the codicil, which still exists among the
manuscripts of the royal library at Madrid, shows by its irregular and
scarcely legible characters, the feeble state to which she was then reduced.
She had now adjusted all her worldly concerns ; and she prepared to
devote herself, during the brief space which remained, to those of a
higher nature. It was but the last act of a life of preparation. She
had the misfortune, common to persons of her rank, to be separated in
her last moments from those whose filial tenderness might have done so
much to soften the bitterness of death. But she had the good fortune,
most rare, to have secured for this trying hour the solace of disinterested
friendship ; for she beheld around her the friends of her childhood,
formed and proved in the dark season of adversity.
As she saw them bathed in tears around her bed, she calmly said,
" Do not weep for me, nor waste your time in fruitless prayers for my
recovery, but pray rather for the salvation of my soul." On receiving
the extreme unction, she refused to have her feet exposed, as was usual
on that occasion ; a circumstance which, occurring at a time when there
can be no suspicion of affectation, is often noticed by Spanish writers as
a proof of that sensitive delicacy and decorum which distinguished her
through life. At length, having received the sacraments, and performed
all the offices of a sincere and devout Christian, she gently expired a little
before noon, on Wednesday, November 26th, 1504, in the fifty-fourth
year of her age, and thirtieth of her reign.
" My hand," says Peter Martyr, in a letter written on the same day to
the archbishop of Granada, " falls powerless by my side for very sorrow.
The world has lost its noblest ornament; a loss to be deplored not only
by Spain, which she has so long carried forward in the career of glory,
but by every nation in Christendom ; for she was the mirror of every
rirtue, the shield of the innocent, and an avenging sword to the wicked.
HER CHARACTER. 4ti!
I know none of her sex, in ancient or modern times, who in my
judgment is at ;ill worthy to be named with this incomparable woman."
No time was lost in making preparations for transporting the queen's
body, unembalmed, to Granada, in strict conformity to her orders. It
was escorted by a numerous cortege of cavaliers and ecclesiastics, among
whom was the faithful Martyr. The procession h -iran its mournful
march the day following her death, taking the route through Arevalo,
Toledo, and Jaen. Scarcely had it left Medina del Campo, when a
tremendous tempest set in, which continued with little interruption
during the whole journey. The roads were rendered nearly impassable ;
the bridges swept away, the small streams swollen to the size of the
Tamils, and the level country buried under a deluge of water. Neither
BUU nor stars were seen, during their whole progress. The horses and
mules were borne down by the torrents, and the riders in several
instances perished with them. " Never," exclaims Martyr, " did I
encounter such perils in the whole of my hazardous pilgrimage to
Egypt."
At length, on the 18th of December, the melancholy and way-worn
cavalcade reached the place of its destination ; and, amidst the wild strife
of the elements, the peaceful remains of Isabella were laid, with simple
solemnities, in the Franciscan monastery of the Alharnbra. Here, under
the shadow of those venerable Moslem towers, and in the heart of the
capital which her noble constancy had recovered for her country, they
continued to repose till after the death of Ferdinand, when they were
removed to be laid by his side, in the stately mausoleum of the cathedral
church of Granada.
I shall defer the review of Queen Isabella's administration until it can
be done in conjunction with that of Ferdinand ; and shall confine myself
at present to such considerations on the prominent traits of her character
us have been suggested by the preceding history of her life.
Her person, as mentioned in the early part of the narrative, was of the
middle height, and well proportioned. She had a clear, fresh complexion,
with light blue eyes and auburn hair, a style of beauty exceedingly
rare in Spain. Her features were regular, and universally allowed to bo
uncommonly handsome. The illusion which attaches to rank, more
especially when united with engaging manners, might lead us to su>pi ct
some exaggeration in the encomiums so liberally lavished on her. 15 ut
they would seem to be in a great measure justified by the portraits that
remain of her, which combine a faultless symmetry of features, wiih
singular sweetness and intelligence of expression.
Hir manners were most gracious and pleasing. They were mark* d
by natural dignity and modest reserve, tempered by an affability which
flowed from the kindliness of her disposition. She was the last peiWB
to be approached with undue familiarity ; yet the respect which she
imposed was mingled with the strongest feelings of devotion and lo >_>.
She showed great tact in accommodating herself to the peculiar situation
and character of those around her. She appeared in arms at the head of
her troops, and shrunk from none of the hardships of Avar. During
the reforms introduced intc. ',he religious houses, she visited the nun:
in person, taking her in die-work with her, and passing the day in the
society of the inmates. When travelling in Galicia, she attired" herself
in the costume of the country, borrowing for that purpose the jewels and
(70 ILLXESS AXD DEATH OF ISABELLA.
other ornaments of the ladies there, and returning them with liberal
additions. By this condescending and captivating deportment, as well as
by her higher qualities, she gained an ascendancy over her turbulent
subjects which no king of Spain could ever boast.
She spoke the Castilian with much elegance and correctness. She had
an easy fluency of discourse, which, though generally of a serious com-
plexion, was occasionally seasoned with agreeable sallies, some of which
have passed into proverbs. She was temperate even to abstemiousness
in her diet, seldom or never tasting wine ; and so frugal in her table,
that the daily expenses for herself and family did not exceed the
moderate sum of forty ducats. She was equally simple and economical
in her apparel. On all public occasions, indeed, she displayed a royal
magnificence ; but she had no relish for it in private, and she freely gave
away her clothes and jewels, as presents to her friends. Naturally of a
sedate, though cheerful, temper, she had little taste for the frivolous
amusements which make up so much of a court life ; and, if she
encouraged the presence of minstrels and musicians in her palace, it was
to wean her young nobility from the coarser and less intellectual pleasures
to which they were addicted.
Among her moral qualities, the most conspicuous, perhaps, was her
magnanimity. She betrayed nothing little or selfish, in thought or
action. Her schemes were vast, and executed in the same noble spirit in
which they were conceived. She never employed doubtful agents or
sinister measures, but the most direct and open policy. She scorned to
avail herself of advantages offered by the perfidy of others. Where she
had once given her confidence, she gave her hearty and steady support ;
and she was scrupulous to redeem any pledge she had made to those who
ventured in her cause, however unpopular. She sustained Ximenes in
all his obnoxious but salutary reforms. She seconded Columbus in the
prosecution of his arduous enterprise, and shielded him from the calumny
of his enemies. She did the same good service to her favourite, Gonsalvo
de Cordova ; and the day of her death was felt, and, as it proved, truly
felt by both, as the last of their good fortune. Artifice and duplicity
were so abhorrent to her character, and so averse from her domestic
policy, that when they appear in the foreign relations of Spain, it is
certainly not imputable to her. She was incapable of harbouring any
petty distrust or latent malice ; and, although stern in the execution and
exaction of public justice, she made the most generous allowance, and
even sometimes advances to those who had personally injured her.
But the principle which gave a peculiar colouring to every feature o
Isabella's mind was piety. It shone forth from the very depths of her
soul with a heavenly radiance, which illuminated her whole character.
Fortunately, her earliest years had been passed in the rugged school of
adversity, under the eye of a mother who implanted in her serioiis mind
such strong principles of religion as nothing in after life had power to
shake. At an early age, in the flower of youth and beauty, she was
introduced to her brother's court ; but its blandishments, so da2zling to
a young imagination, had no power over hers ; for she was surrounded
by a moral atmosphere of purity,
" Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt."
Such waa the decorum of her manners, that, though encompassed by
HER CHAEACTEE. 471
false friends and open enemies, not the slightest reproach was breathed
oil her fair name in this corrupt and calumnious court.
She gave a liberal portion of her time to private devotions, as well as
to the public exercises of religion. She expended large sums in useful
charities, especially in the erection of hospitals and churches, and the
more doubtful endowments of monasteries. Her piety was strikingly
exhibited in that unfeigned humility which, although the very essence of
our faith, is so rarely found; and most rarely iu those whose great
powers and exalted stations seem to raise them above the level of
ordinary mortals. A remarkable illustration of this is afforded in the
queen's correspondence with Talavera, in which her meek and docile
spirit is strikingly contrasted with the puritanical intolerance of her
-sor.* Yet Talavera, as we have seen, was sincere and benevolent
at heart. Unfortunately, the royal conscience was at times committed
to very different keeping ; and that humility, which, as we have
repeatedly had occasion to notice, made her defer so reverentially to her
ghostly advisers, led under the fanatic Torquemada, the confessor of her
early youth, to those deep blemishes on her administration, the establish-
ment of the Inquisition, and the exile of the Jews.
But although blemishes of the deepest dye on her administration, they
are certainly not to be regarded as such on her moral character. It will
be difficult to condemn her, indeed, without condemning the age ; for
vt-ry acts are not only excused, but extolled by her contemporaries,
as constituting her strongest claims to renown, and to the gratitude of
her country. t They proceeded from the principle, openly avowed by the
court of Rome, that xeal for the purity of the faith could atone for every
crime. This immoral maxim flowing from the head of the church, was
echoed in a thousand different forms by the subordinate clergy, and
greedily received by a superstitious people. It was not to be expected
that a solitary woman, filled with natural diffidence of her own capacity
on such subjects, should array herself against those venerated counsellors
whom she had been taught from her cradle to look to as the guides and
guardians of her conscience.
1! "\\vver mischievous the operations of the Inquisition may have been
in Spain, its establishment, in point of principle, was not worse than
many other measures which have passed with far less censure, though in
a much more advanced and civilised age.if Where, indeed, during the
* The archbishop's letters are little better than a homily on the sins of dancing, feasting,
.#, and the like, garnished with scriptural allusions, and conveyed in a tone of sour
rebuke that would have done credit to the most canting Roundhead in Oliver Cromwell's
The queen, far from taking exception at it, vindicates herself from the grave
imputations with a degree of earnestness and simplicity which may provoke a smile in the
reader. "I am aware," she concludes, "that custom cannot make an action, bad in itself,
pood ; but I wish your opinion whether, under all the circumstances, these can be consi-
dered bad : that, if so, they may be discontinued in future."
t Such encomiums become still more striking in writers of sound and expansive views
ke Zurita and Blaucas, who, although nourishing in a better instructed age, do not
scruple to pronounce the Inquisition " the greatest evidence of her prudence and piety;
whose uncommon utility, uot only Spain, but all Christendom, freely acknowledged ! "
J I borrow almost the words of Mr. Hallam, who, noticing the penal statutes against
Catholics under Elizabeth, says, " They established a persecution which tell not at all
hurt in principle of that for which the Inquisition became so odious." Even Lord Burleiprh.
commenting on the mode of examination adopted in certain cases by the High Comn n
Court, does not hesitate to say, the interrogatories were BO curiously penned, so full <f
branches and circumstance, as bethought the inquisitors ol Spain used not no many ques-
tions to comprehend and to trap their preys.
472 ILLXESS AXD DEATH OF ISABELLA.
sixteenth, and the greater part of the seventeenth century, was th
principle of persecution abandoned by the dominant party, \\hether
( 'atholic or Protestant ? And where that of toleration asserted, except
by the weaker ? It is true, to borrow Isabella's own expression, iu her
letter to Talavera, the prevalence of a bad custom cannot constitute its
apology. But it should serve much to mitigate our condemnation of the
queen, that she fell into no greater error, in the imperfect light in which
she lived, than was common to the greatest minds in a later and far
riper period.*
Isabella's actions, indeed, were habitually based on principle. "What-
ever errors of judgment be imputed to her, she most anxiously sought
in all situations to discern and discharge her duty. Faithful in the
dispensation of justice, no bribe was large enough to ward off the
execution of the law.f No motive, not even conjugal affection, could
induce her to make an unsuitable appointment to public offices. J No
reverence for the ministers of religion could lead her to wink at their
nsiseonduct ; nor could the deference she entertained for the head of the
church allow her to tolerate his encroachments on the rights of her crown.
She seemed to consider herself especially bound to preserve entire the
peculiar claims and privileges of Castile, after its union under the same
sovereign with Aragon. And although, " while her o\\n will was law,"
says Peti r Martyr, " she governed in such a manner that it might appear
the joint action of both Ferdinand and herself," yet she was careful never
to surrender into his hands one of those prerogatives which belonged to her
as queen proprietor of the kingdom.
Isabella's measures were characterised by that practical good sense,
without which the most brilliant parts npiy work more to the woe than
to the weal of mankind. Though engaged all her life in reforms, she
had none of the failings so common in reformers. Her plans, though
vast, were never visionary. The best proof of this is, that she lived to
see most of them realised.
She was quick to discern objects of real utility. She saw the
importance of the new discovery of printing, and liberally patronised it
from the fir^t moment it appeared. iShe had none of the exclusive local
prejudices too common with her countrymen. She drew talent from the
most remote quarters to her dominions by muniiicent rewards. She
imported foreign artisans for her manufactures; foreign engineers and
officers for the discipline of her army ; and foreign scholars to imbue her
martial subjects with more cultivated tastes. She consulted the useful
in all her subordinate regulations ; in her sumptuary laws, for instance,
Even Milton, iu his essay on the "Liberty of Unlicensed Printing," the moat splendid
argument, perhaps, the world had then witnessed in behalf of intellectual liberty, would
exclude Poj>ery from the benefits of toleration, as a religion which the public good required
at all events to be extirpated. Such were the crude views of the rights of conscience enter-
tained iu the latter half of the seventeenth century, by one of those gifted miuds, whose
rcttwdinaiy elevation enabled it to catch and reflect back the coming light of knowledge,
Jong before it had fallen on the rest of mankind.
t The most remarkable example of this, perhaps, occurred in the case of the wealthy
Galiciau knight, Yaiiez de Lugo, who endeavoured to purchase a pardon of the queen by
iho enormous bribe of 40,000 doblas of gold. The attempt failed, though warmly sup-
ported by some of the royal counsellors. The story is well vouched.
J The reu'ler may recollect a pertinent illustration of this, ou the occasion of Xirnenea'g
appointment to the primacy.
. among other instances, her exemplary cliastisement of the ecclesiastics of
luxillo
HER CHARACTER. 472
directed against the fashionable extravagances of dress, and the ruinous
ostentation so much affected by the Castilians in their weddings and
funerals. Lastly, she showed the same perspicacity in tlie Selection of
her agents ; well knowing that the best measures become bad in
incompetent hands.
But, although the skilful selection of her agents was an obvious cause
of Isabella' yet another, even more important, is to be found in
li.-r own -vigilance and untiring exertions. During the first busy and
bustling vears of her rei^n tln-c exertions were of incredible magnitude.
Shi- was almost always in tliesaddle, for she made all her journeys on horse-
back ; and she travelled with a rapidity which made her always present
on the spot where her presence was needed. She wa> lu-ver intimidated by
the weather, or the state of her own health; and this reckless exposure
undoubtedly contributed much to impair her excellent constitution.
Shu was equally indefatigable in her mental application. After
aiduous attention to business through the day, she was often known
to sit up all night, dictating dispatches to her secretaries. In the midst
of these overwhelming cares, she found time to supply the detects of
early education by learning Latin, so as to understand it without
ditticulty, whether written or spoken ; and, indeed, in the opinion of
a competent judge, to attain a critical accuracy in it. As she had little
turn for light amusements, she sought relief from graver cares by some
useful occupation appropriate to her sex ; and she left ample evidence of
her skill in this way, in the rich specimens of embroidery, wrought with
her own f-iir hands, with which she docorated the churches. She was
careful to instruct her daughters in these more humble departments of
domestic duty ; for she thought nothing too humble to learn which was useful.
With all her high q ualihoations, Isabella would have been still unequal
to the achievement of her grand designs without possessing a degree of
fortitude rare in either sex ; not the courage which implies contempt of
personal danger, though of this she had a larger share than falls to
most men ; * nor that which supports its possessor under the extremities
of bodily pain, though of this she gave ample evidence, since she
endured the greatest Buffering her sex is called to bear without a groan ;
but that moral courage which sustains the spirit in the dark hour of
adversity, and gathering light from within to dispel the darkness,
imparts its own cheering influence to all around. This was shown
remarkably in the stormy season which ushered in her accession, as well
as through the whole of the Moorish war. It was her voice that decided
never to abandon Albania. Her remonstrances compelled the king and
nobles to return to the tield, when they had quitted it, after an ineffectual
campaign. As dangers aud difficulties multiplied, she multiplied
resources to meet them ; and, when her soldiers lay drooping under the
evils of some protracted siege, she appeared in the midst, mounted ou
her war horse, with her delicate limbs cased in knightly mail ; and,
riding through their ranks, breathed new courage into their hearts by
her own intrepid bearing. To her personal efforts indeed, as well as
counsels, the success of this jrlorious war may be mainly imputed ; and
the unsuspicious testimony of the Venetian minister, bavagiero, a few
ji.ars later, shows that the nation so considered it. "Queen Isabel,"
Among many evidences of this, what other need be givec than her conduct at the
fkuous riot at Segovia
474 ILLXESS AXD DEATH OF ISABELLA.
says he, " by her singular genius, masculine strength of mind, and other
virtues most unusual in our own sex, as well as hers, was not merely of
great assistance in, but the chief cause of, the conquest of Granada. She
was, indeed, a most rare and virtuous lady ; one of whom the Spaniards
talk far more than of the king, sagacious as he was, and uncommon for
his time."
Happily these masculine qualities in Isabella did not extinguish the
softer ones which constitute the charm of her sex. Her heart overflowed
with affectionate sensibility to her family and friends. She watched
over the declining days of her aged mother, and ministered to her sad
infirmities with all the delicacy of filial tenderness.* We have seen
abundant proofs how fondly and faithfully she loved her husband to the
last,-| though this love was not always so faithfully requited. For her
children she lived more than for herself; and for them too she died, for
it was their loss and their afflictions which froze the current of her blood
before age had time to chill it. Her exalted state did not remove her
above the sympathies of friendship. J With her friends she forgot the
usual distinctions of rank, sharing in their joys, visiting and consoling
them in sorrow and sickness, and condescending in more than one
instance to assume the office of executrix on their decease. Her heart,
indeed, was filled with benevolence to all mankind. In the most fiery
heat of war, she was engaged in devising means for mitigating its
horrors. She is said to have been the first to introduce the benevolent
institution of camp hospitals ; and we have seen, more than once, her
lively solicitude to spare the effusion of blood even of her enemies. But
it is needless to multiply examples of this beautiful but familiar trait in
her character.
It is in these more amiable qualities of her sex, that Isabella's
superiority becomes most apparent over her illustrious namesake,
Elizabeth of England,|| whose history presents some features parallel to
her own. Both were disciplined in early life by the teachings of that
stern nurse of wisdom, adversity. Both were made to experience the
deepest humiliation at the hands of their nearest relative, who should
have cherished and protected them. Both succeeded in establishing
themselves on the throne after the most precarious vicissitudes. Each
conducted her kingdom, through a long and triumphant reign, to a
* We find one of the first articles in the marriage treaty with Ferdinand enjoining him
to cherish and treat her mother with all reverence, and to provide suitably for her royal
maintenance.
t Among other little tokens of mutual affection, it may be mentioned that not only the
public com, but their furniture, books, and other articles of personal property, were
istumi-ed with their initials, F. I., or emblazoned with their devices, his beiug a yoke,
and hers a sheaf of arrows. It was common, says Oviedo, for each party to take a device
whose initial corresponded with that of the name of the other ; as was the case here with
jupo and JUchaf.
{ The best beloved of her friends, probably, was the Marchioness of Moya, who, seldom
separated from her royal mistress through life, had the melancholy satisfaction of closing
her eyes in death. Oviedo, who saw them frequently together, says that the queen never
addressed this lady, even in later life, with any other than the endearing title of hija
marqutta, " daughter marchioness."
As was the case with Cardenas, the comendador mayor, and the grand cardinal
Mendoza, to whom, as we have already seen, she paid the kindest attentions during their
last illness. While in this way she indulged the natural dictates of her heart, she wai
eareful to render every outward mark of respect to the memory of those whose rank or
services entitled them to such consideration.
II Isabel, the name of the Catholic queen, is correctly rendered into English by that
BUsabetiv
HEE CHARACTEK. 474
height of glory which it had never before reached. Both lived to see the
vanity of all earthly grandeur, and to fall the victims of an inconsolable
melancholy ; and both left behind an illustrious name, unrivalled in the
subsequent annals of their country.
But, with these few circumstances of their history, the resemblance
ceases. Their characters afford scarcely a point of contact. Elizabeth,
inheriting a large share of the bold and bluff King Harry's tempera-
ment, was haughty, arrogant, coarse, and irascible ; while with these
fiercer qualities she mingL d deep dissimulation and strange irresolution.
Isabella, on the other hand, tempered the dignity of royal station with
the most bland and courteous manners. Once resolved, she was constant
in her purposes, and her conduct in public and private life was
characterised by candour and integrity. Both may be said to have
shown that magnanimity which is implied by the accomplishment of
great objects in the face ot great obstacles. But Elizabeth was desperately
selfish ; she was incapable of forgiving, not merely a real injury, but the
slightest affront to her vanity ; and she was merciless in exacting retri-
bution. Isabella, on the other hand, lived only for others, was ready at
all times to sacrifice self to considerations of public duty ; and, far from
personal resentments, showed the greatest condescension and kindness to
those who had most sensibly injured her ; while her benevolent heart
sought every means to mitigate the authorised severities of the law, even
towards the guilty.*
Both possessed rare fortitude. Isabella, indeed was placed in situa-
tions which demanded more frequent and higher displays of it than her
rival ; but no one will doubt a full measure of this quality in the
daughter of Henry the Eighth. Elizabeth was better educated, and
(v. ry way more highly accomplished than Isabella. But the latter knew
enough to maintain her station with dignity ; and she encouraged
learning by a munificent patronage. The masculine powers and pas-
sions of Elizabeth seemed to divorce her in a great measure from the
peculiar attributes of her sex, at least from those which constitute its
peculiar charm ; for she had abundance of its foibles, a coquetry and
love of admiration which age could not chill ; a levity, most careless, if
not criminal : and a fondness for dress and tawdry magnificence of orna-
ment which was ridiculous, or disgusting, according to the different
periods of life in which it was indulged. Isabella, on the other hand,
distinguished through life for decorum of manners, and purity beyond
the breath of calumny, was content with the legitimate aflection which
she could inspire within the range of her domestic circle. Far from a
frivolous affectation of ornament or dress, she was most simple in her
own attire, and seemed to set no value on her jewels, but as they could
serve the necessities of the state ;f when they could be no longer
useful in this way, she gave them away, as we have seen, to her
friends.
* She gave evidence of this in the commutation of the sentence she obtained for the
wretch who ttal.bi.-ii her husband, and whom her ferocious nobles would hnve put to
death without the opportunity of confession and absolution, that " his soul might perish
with his body!" (See her letter to Talavera). She showed this merciful temper, so rare
in that rough age, by dispensing altogether with the preliminary barbarities sometimes
prescribed by the law in capital executions.
t The reader will remember how effectually they answered this purpose in the Mooiisb
176 ILLNESS AXD DEATH OF ISABELLA.
Both wore uncommonly sagacious in the selection of their ministers ;
though Elizabeth was drawn into some errors in this particular by her
levity, as was Isabella by religious feeling. It was this, combined with
her excessive humility, which led to the only grave errors in the admi-
nistration of the latter. Her rival fell into no such errors; and she was
a stranger to the amiable qualities which led to them. Her conduct was
certainly not controlled by religious principle ; and, though the bulwark
of the Protestant faith, it might be difficult to say whether she were at
heart more a Protestant or a Catholic. She viewed religion in its con-
nexion with the state, in other words, with herself; and she took
measures for enforcing conformity to her own views, not a whit less des-
pctic, and scarcely less sanguinary, than those countenanced for conscience*
sake by her more bigoted rival.*
This feature of bigotry, which has thrown a shade over Isabella's
otherwise beautiful character, might lead to a disparagement of her
intellectual power compared with that of the English queen. To
estimate this aright, we must contemplate the results of their respective
reigns. Elizabeth found all the materials of prosperity at hand, and
availed herself of them most ably to build up a solid fabric of national
grandeur. Isabella created these materials. She saw the faculties of her
people looked up in a deathlike lethargy, and she breathed into them the
breath of lite for those great and heroic enterprises which terminated in
such glorious consequences to the monarchy. It is when viewed from
the depressed position of her early days, that the achievements of her
reign seem scarcely less than miraculous. The masculine genius of the
English queen stands out relieved beyond its natural dimensions by ita
separation from the softer qualities of her sex ; while her rival's, like
some vast but symmetrical edifice, loses in appearance somewhat of its
actual grandeur from the perfect harmony of its proportions.
The circumstances of their deaths, which were somewhat similar, dis-
played the great dissimilarity of their characters. Both pined amidst the
royal state, a prey to incurable despondency, rather than any marked
bodily distemper. In Elizabeth it sprung from wounded vanity, a sullen
conviction that she had out-lived the admiration on which she had so
long fed, and even the solaje of friendship, and the attachment of her
subjects. Nor did she seek consolation, where alone it was to be found,
in that sad hour. Isabella, on the other hand, sunk under a too acute
sensibility to the sufferings of others. But amidst the gloom which
gathered around her, she looked with the eye of faith to the brighter
prospects which unfolded of the future ; and, when she resigned her
last breath, it was amidst the tears and universal lamentations of her
people.
It is in this undying, unabated attachment of the nation, indeed, that
we see the most unequivocal testimony to the virtues of Isabella. In the
downward progress of things in Spain, some of the most ill-advised
measures of her administration have found favour, and been perpetuated,
while the more salutary have been forgotten. This may lead to a mis-
conception of her real merits. In order to estimate these, we must listen
Queen Elizabeth, indeed, in a declaration to her people, proclaims, " We know no*,,
nor aave any meaning to allow, that any of our subjects should bo molested, either
by examination or inquisition, in any matter of faith, as long as they shall profess tht
Christian faith."
FEKDIN AND BESIGNS TO PHILIP. * i I
to the voice of her contemporaries, the eye-witnesses of the condition in
which she found the state, and in which she left it. We shall then see
but one judgment formed of her, whether by foreigners or natives. The
French and Italian writers equally join in celebrating the triumphant
glories of her reign, and her magnanimity, wisdom, and purity of
character. Her own subjects extol her as "the most brilliant exemplar
of every virtue," and mourn over the day of her death as " the last of
the prosperity and happiness of their country ;" while those who had
nearer access to her person are unbounded in their admiration of those
amiable qualities, whose lull power is revealed only in the unrestrained
intimacies of domestic life. The judgment of posterity has ratilicd the
sentence of her own age. The most enlightened Spaniards of the
present day, by no means insensible to the errors of her government, but
more capable of appreciating its merits than those of a less instructed
age, bear honourable testimony to her deserts ; and, while they pass over
the bloated magnificence of succeeding monarchs, who arrest the popular
eye, dwell witli enthusiasm on Isabella's character, as the most truly
great in their line of princes.
CIIAPTEE XVII.
FERDINAND REGENT HIS SECOND HAERIAOE DISSENSIOH3 WITH PHILIP RESICKATIOK O?
THE REGENCY.
15041506.
Ferdinand Repent Philip's Pretensions Ferdinand's Perplexities Impolitic treaty -with
Tii, Kii '> Sri- nd Marriage Landing of Philip and Joanna Unpopularity
of Kurdinanil Ilia Interview with his Son-iu-law He resigns the Regency.
THE death of Isabella gives a new complexion to our history, a prin-
cipal object of which has been the illustration of her personal character
and public administration. The latter part of the narrative, it is true,
has been chiefly occupied with the foreign relations of Spain, in which
her interference has been less obvious than in the domestic. But still
we have been made conscious of her presence and parental supervision,
by the maintenance of order, and the general prosperity of the nation,
rfer death will make us more sensible of this influence, since it was the
signal for disorders which even the genius and authority of Ferdinand
were unable to suppress.
AVliile the queen's remains were yet scarcely cold, King Ferdinand
look the usual measures for announcing the succession. He resigned
the crown of Castile, which he had worn with so much glory for thirty
years. From a platform raised in the great square of Toledo, the
heralds proclaimed, with sound of trumpet, the accession of Philip and
Joanna to the Castilian throne, and the royal standard was unfurled by
the duke of Alva in honour of the illustrious pair. The king of Aragon
then publicly assumed the title of administrator or governor of Castile,
as provided by the queen's testament, and received the obeisance of such
of the nobles as were present, in his new capacity. These proceedings
478 THE EEGE>*cr OF FEBDIXASD.
took place on the evening of the same daj on which the queen
expired.
A circular letter was next addressed to the principal cities requiring
them, after the customary celebration of the obsequies of their late
sovereign, to raise the royal banners in the name of Joanna ; and writs
were immediately issued in her name, without mention of Philip's, for
the convocation of a cortes to ratify these proceedings.*
The assembly met at Toro, January llth, loOo. The queen's will,
or rather such clauses of it as related to the succession, were read
aloud, and received the entire approbation of the commons, who, together
with the grandees and prelates present, took the oaths of allegiance to
Joanna as queen and lady proprietor, and to Philip as her husband.
They then determined that the exigency contemplated in the testament,
of Joanna's incapacity, actually existed, t and proceeded to tender their
homage to King Ferdinand, as the lawful governor of the realm in her
name. The latter in turn made the customary oath to respect the laws
and liberties of the kingdom ; and the whole was terminated by an
embassy from the cortes, with a written account of its proceedings, to
their new sovereigns in Flanders.
All seemed now done that was demanded for giving a constitutional
sanction to Ferdinand's authority as regent. By the written law of the
land, the sovereign was empowered to nominate a regency, in case of the
minority or incapacity of the heir apparent. This had been done in the
present instance by Isabella, and at the earnest solicitation of the
cortes, made two years previously to her death. It had received the
cordial approbation of that body, which had undeniable authority to
control such testamentary provisions. Thus, from the first to the last
stage of the proceeding, the whole had gone on with a scrupulous
attention to constitutional forms. Yet the authority of the new regent
was far from being firmly seated: and it was the conviction of this
which had led him to accelerate measures.
Many of the nobles were extremely dissatisfied with the queen's
settlement of the regency, which had taken air before her death ; and
they had even gone so far as to send to Flanders before that event, and
invite Philip to assume the government himself as the natural guardian
of his wife. These discontented lords, if they did not refuse to join in
the public acts of acknowledgment to Ferdinand at Toro, at least were
not reserved in intimating their dissatisfaction. Among the most
prominent were the Marquis of Villena, who may be said to have
been nursed to faction from the cradle, and the Duke of Najara,
both potent nobles, whose broad domains had been grievously clipped
by the resumption of the crown lands, so scrupulously enforced by
the late government, and who looked forward to their speedy reco-
very under the careless rule of a young inexperienced prince like
Philip.*
But the most efficient of his partisans was Don Juan Manuel,
* Philip's name was omitted, as being a foreigner, until he should have taken the
eustomary oath to respect the laws of the realm, and especially to confer office on none
but native Castiliaus.
t The maternal tenderness and delicacy which had led Isabella to allude to her
daughter's infirmity only in very general terms, are well remarked by the cortes.
t Isabella in her will particularly enjoins on her successors never to alienate or to restore
the crown landa recovered from the marquisate of Villeua.
HE KESTGNS TO PHILIP. 479
Ferdinand's ambassador at the court of Maximilian. This nobleman,
descended from one of the most illustrious houses in Castile, -was a
:i of uncommon parts ; restless and intriguing, plausible in his
address, bold in his plans, but exceedingly cautious, and even cunning,
in the execution of them. He had formerly insinuated himself into
Philip's confidence during his visit to Spain, and, on receiving news
of the queen's death, hastened without delay to join him in the
^Netherlands.
Through his means, an extensive correspondence was soon opened
with the discontented Castilian lords ; and Philip was persuaded, not only
to assert his pretensions to undivided supremacy in Castile, but to send
a letter to his royal father-in-law, requiring him to resign the govern-
ment at once, and retire into Aragon. The demand was treated with
si line contempt by Ferdinand, who admonished him of his incompetency
to govern a nation like the Spaniards, whom he understood so little,
but urged him at the same time to present himself before them with hia
wife as soon as possible.
1 t rdinand's situation, however, was far from comfortable. Philip's,
or rather Manuel's, emissaries were busily stirring up the embers of
disaffection. They dwelt on the advantages to be gained from the free
and lavish disposition of Philip, which they contrasted with the parsi-
monious temper of the stern old Catalan, who had so long held them
under his yoke. Ferdinand, whose policy it had been to crush the
_rown power of the nobility, and who, as a foreigner, had none of
the natural claims to loyaltv enjoyed by his late queen, was extremely
odious to that jealous and haughty body. The number of Philip's
adherents increased in it everv day, and soon comprehended the most
considerable names in the kingdom.
The king, who watched these symptoms of disaffection with deep
anxietv, snid little, says Martyr, but coolly scrutinised the minds of those
around, him, dissembling as far as possible his own sentiments. He
received further and more unequivocal evidence, at this time, of the
alienation of his son-in-law. An Aragonese gentleman, named Conchillos,
whom he had placed near the person of his daughter, obtained a letter
from her, in which she approved in the fullest manner of her father's
retaining the administration of the kingdom. The letter was betrayed
to Philip ; the unfortunate secretary was siezed and thrown into a
dungeon, and Joanna was placed under a rigorous confinement, which
much aggravated her malady.
With this affront, the king received also the alarming intelligence
that the Emperor Maximilian and his son Philip were tampering with
the fidelity ot the Great Captain ; endeavouring to secure Naples in any
event to the archduke, who claimed it as the appurtenance of Castile, by
whose aimies its conquest, in fact, had been achieved. There were not
wanting persons of high standing at Ferdinand's court to infuse
suspicions, however unwarrantable, into the royal mind, of the loyalty
of iiis viceroy, a Castilian by birth, and who owed his elevation exclu-
sively to the queen.
The king was still further annoyed by reports of the intimate
relations subsisting between his old enemy, Louis the Twelfth, and
Philip, whose children were affianced to each other. The French,
monarch, : t was said, was prepared to support his ally in an invasion
480 THE REGENCY OF FEEDI*. *.
of Castile, for the recovery of his rights, by a diversion in his favour ca
the side of Iloussillon, as well as of Naples.
The Catholic king felt sorely perplexed hy these multiplied ein
harrassments. During the brief period of his regency, he had et>
ileavoured to recommend himself to the people by a strict and impartia.
administration of the laws, and the maintenance of public order. The
people, indeed, appreciated the value of a government under which they
had been protected from the oppressions of the aristocracy more
effectually than at any former period. They had testified their good
will by the alacrity with which they confirmed Isabella's testamentary
dispositions at Toro. But all this served only to sharpen the aversion
of the nobles. Some of Ferdinand's counsellors would have persuaded
him to carry measures with a higher hand. They urged him to
reassume the title of King of Castile, which he had so long possessed as
husband of the late queen ; * and others even advised him to assemble
an armed force which should overawe all opposition to Ids authority at
home, and secure the country from invasion. He had facilities for thin
in the disbanded levies lately returned from Italy, as well as in a con-
siderable body drawn from his native dominions of Aragon, waiting his
orders on the frontier. Such violent measures, however, were repug-
nant to his habitual policy, temperate and cautious. He shrunk from a
contest in which even success must bring unspeakable calamities on the
country ; and, if he ever seriously entertained such views, he abandoned
them, and employed his levies on another destination in Africa. His
situation, however, grew every hour more critical. Alarmed by rumours
of Louis's military preparations, for which liberal supplies were voted
by the states-general ; trembling for the fate of his Italian possessions ;
deserted and betrayed by the great nobility at home ; there seemed now
no alternative left for him but to maintain his ground by force, or to resign
at once, as required by Philip, and retire into Aragon. This latter
course appears never to have been contemplated by him. He resolved
at all hazards to keep the reins in his own grasp, influenced in part,
Srobably, by the consciousness of his rights, as well as by his sense of
uty, which forbade him to resign the trust he had voluntarily assumed
into such incompetent hands as those of Philip and his counsellors ; and
parti y, no doubt, by natural reluctance to relinquish the authority which
he had enjoyed for so many years. To keep it, he had recourse to an
expedient, such as neither friend nor foe could have anticipated.
He saw the only chance of maintaining his present position lay in
detaching France from the interests of Philip, and securing her to him-
self. The great obstacle to this was their conflicting claims on Xaples.
This he purposed to obviate by proposals of marriage to some member
of the royal family, in whose favour these claims, with the consent of
King Louis, might be resigned. He accordingly dispatched a con-
fidential envoy privately into France, with ample instructions for
arranging the preliminaries. This person was Juan de Enguera, a
Catalan monk of much repute for his learning, and a member of the
royal council.
"Louis the Twelfth, had viewed with much satisfaction the growing
* Tbe vicp-ehaneellor, Alonso de la Caballeria. prepared an elaborate argument in
Mipport of Ferdinand's pretensions to the regal authority and title, less as husband of tb
late queen, than as the lawful guardian and administrator of his daughter.
HE EESIGNS TO PUILIP. 481
misunderstanding betwixt Philip and his father-in-law, and had cunningly
used his iullueiu-e over the young prince to foment it. He felt the
deepest disquietude at the prospect of the enormous inheritance which
was to devolve on the former, comprehending Burgundy and Flanders,
Austria, and probably the Empire, together with the united crowns of
Spain and their rich dependencies. By the proposed marriage, a dis-
memberment might be made at least of the Spanish monarchy ; and the
kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, passing under different sceptres, might
serve, as they had formerly done, to neutralise each other. It was true,
this would involve a rupture with Philip, to whose son his own daughter
was promised in marriage. But this match, extremely distasteful to
his subjects, gradually became so to Louis, as every way prejudicial to
the interest of Franc .
Without much delay, therefore, preliminaries were arranged with the
Aragonese envoy ; anu immediately after, in the month of August 1505,
the count of Cifuentcs, and Thomas Malt'errit, regent of the royal
chancery, were publicly sent as plenipotentiaries on the part of King
Ferdinand, to conclude and execute the treaty.
It was agreed, as the basis of the alliance, that the Catholic king
should be married to Germaine, daughter of Jean de Foix, viscount of
Narbonne, and one of the sisters of Louis the Twelfth, and grand-
daughter to Leonora, queen of Navarre, that guilty sister of King
Ferdinand whose fate is recorded in the earlier part of our History. The
princess Gennaine, it will be seen, therefore, was nearly related to both
the contracting partii-s. She was at this time eighteen years of age, and
very beautiful. She had been educated in the palace of her royal uncle,
where she had imbibed the free and volatile manners of his gay, luxurious
court. To this lady Louis the Twelfth consented to resign his claims oil
Naples, to be secured by way of dowry to her and her heirs, male or
female in perpetuity. In case of her decease without issue, the moiety
of the kingdom recognised as his by the partition treaty with Spain was
to revert to him. It was further agreed, that lerdinand should
reimburse Louis the Twelfth for the expenses of the Neapolitan war, by
tlu- payment of one million gold ducats, in ten yearly instalments ; and
lastly that a complete amnesty should be granted by him to the lords of
tlie Annwinor French party in Naples, who should receive full restitu-
tion of their confiscated honours and estates. A mutual treaty of alliance
and commerce was to subsist henceforth between France and Spain : and
the two monarchs, holding one another, to quote the words of the instru-
ment, "as two souls in one and the same body," pledged themselves to
the maintenance and defence of their respective rights and kingdoms
against every other power whatever. This treaty was signed by the
French king at Blois, October 12th, 1.30.3, and ratified by Ferdinand the
Catholic at Segovia on the 16th of the same mouth.
Such were the disgraceful and most impolitic terms of this compact, by
which Ferdinand, in order to secure the brief possession of a barren
authority, and perhaps to gratify some unworthy feelings of revenge,
was content to barter away all those solid advantages, flowing from the
union of the Spanish monarchies, which had been the great and wise
object of his own and Isabella's policy; for, in the event of male issue,
and that he should have issue Mas by no means improbable, con-
sidering he was not yet lifty-four years of age, Aragon and ita
I z
482 THE KEGENCY OF FEEDIXAJTD.
dependencies must be totally severed from Castile. In the other alter-
native, the splendid Italian conquests, which after such cost of toil and
treasure, he had finally secured to himself, must be shared with his unsuc-
cessful competitor. In any event, he had pledged himself to such an in-
demnification of the Angevin faction in Naples as must create inextricable
embarrassment, and inflict great injury on his loyal partisans, into whose
hands their estates had already passed. And last, though not least, he
dishonoured by this unsuitable and precipitate alliance his late illustrious,
queen, the memory of whose transcendent excellence, if it had faded in
any degree from his own breast, was too deeply seated in those of her
subjects to allow them to look on the present union otherwise than as a
national indignity.
So, indeed, they did regard it ; although the people of Aragon, in
whom late events nad rekindled their ancient jealousy of Castile, viewed
the match with more complacency as likely to restore them to that
political importance, which had been somewhat impaired by the union
with their more powerful neighbour.
The European nations could not comprehend an arrangement so
irreconcilable with the usual sagacious policy of the Catholic king.
The petty Italian powers, who, since the introduction of France and
Spain into their political system, were controlled by them more or less
in all their movements, viewed this sinister conjunction as auspicious of
no good to their interests or independence. As for the archduke Philip,
he could scarcely credit the possibility of this desperate act, which
struck off at a blow so rich a portion of his inheritance. He soon
received confirmation, however, of its truth, by a prohibition from
Louis the Twelfth to attempt a passage through his dominions into
Spain, until he should come to some amicable understanding with his
father-in-law. *
Philip, or rather Manuel, who exercised unbounded influence over
his counsels, saw the necessity now of temporising. The correspondence
was resumed with Ferdinand, and an arrangement was at length con-
cluded between the parties, known as the concord of Salamanca,
November 24th, 1505. The substance of it was, that Castile should be
governed in the joint names of Ferdinand, Philip, and Joanna ; but that
the first should be entitled, as his share, to one half of the public
revenue. This treaty, executed in good faith by the Catholic king, was
only intended by Philip to lull the suspicions of the former until he
could effect a landing in the kingdom, where, he confidently believed,
nothing but his presence was wanting to insure success. He completed
the perfidious proceeding by sending an epistle, well garnished with soft
and honeyed phrase, to his royal father-in-law. These artifices had
their effect, and completely imposed, not only on Louis, but on the more
shrewd and suspicious Ferdinand.
On the 8th of January, 1506, Philip and Joanna embarked on board
He recgivad much more unequivocal intimation in a letter from Ferdinand, curious
as showing that the latter sensibly felt the nature and extent of the sacrifices he waa
making, "You," says he to Philip, "by lending yourself to be the easy dupe of France,
have driven me most reluctantly into a second marriage ; have stripped me of the fair
fruits of my Neapolitan conquests," &c. He concludes with this appeal to him: "Sit
atis, fili, pervagatum ; redi in te, si films, non hostis accesseris ; his non obstantibus,
mi filius, nmplexabere. Magna ot patomtu vis natune." Philip may have thought
his father-in-law's late conduct an indifferent commentary on the " pateruie vis naturae."
HE RESIGNS TO rillUV. -iSS
a splendid and numerous armada, and set sail from a port in Zealand.
A furious tempest scattered the fleet soon after leaving the harbour;
Philip's ship, which took fire in the storm, narrowly escaped Ibmi' It-ring ;
and it was not without great difficulty that they succeeded iu bringing
her, a miserable wreck, into the English port of Weymottth.* King
Henry the Seventh, on learning the misfortunes of Philip and liia
consort, was prompt to show every mark of respect and consideration for
the royal pair thus tlirown upon his island. They were escorted in
magnificent style to Windsor, and detained with dubious hospitality for
nearly three months. During this time, Henry the Sc-veiith availed
himself of the situation and inexperience of his young guest so far as
to extort from him two treaties, not altogether reconcileable, as far as
the latter was concerned, with sound policy or honour, f The respect
which the English monarch entertained for Ferdinand the Catholic, as
well as their family connexion, led him to ofter his services as a common
mediator between the father and son. He would have pe?suaded the
latter, says Lord Bacon, "to be ruled by the counsel of a prince so
prudent, so experienced, and so fortunate as king Ferdinand ;" to which
the archduke replied, "If his father-in-law would let him goveca
Castile, he should govern him."
At length Philip, having re-assembled his Flemish fleet at "Weymouth,
embarked with Joanna and his numerous suite of courtiers and military
retainers ; and reached Coruna, in the north-western corner of Galicia,
after a prosperous voyage, on the 28th of April.
A short time previous to this event, the count of Cifuentes having
passed into Francv for the purpose, the betrothed bride of King Ferdinand
quitted that country under his escort, attended by a brilliant train of
French and Neapolitan lords. On the borders, at Fontarabia, she was
received by the archbishop of Saragossa, Ferdinand's natural son, with
a numerous retinue, composed chiefly of Aragonese and Catalan nobility,
and was conducted with much solemnity to Duefias, where she was
joined by the king. In this place, where thirty-six years before he had
oeen united to Isabella, he now, as if to embitter still further the
recollections of the past, led to the altar her young and beautiful
successor (March 18th, 1506). " It seemed hard,'' says Martvr, in his
quiet wav, ' ' that these nuptials should take place so soon, and that too
in Isabella's own kingdom of Castile, where she had lived without peer,
and where her ashes are still held in as much veneration as she enjoyed
while living."
It was less than six weeks after this, that Philip and Joanna landed
at Cor.;na. Ferdinand, who had expected them at some nearer northern.
prepared without loss of time to go forward and receive them. He
in express to arrange the place of meeting with Philip, and
advanced himself as far as Leon. But Philip had no intention ot such
an interview at present. He had purposely landed in a remote corner
* Jonnna, according to Sandoval, displayed ranch composure in her alarming situation.
\Vhcn informed by Philip of their danger, she attired herself in her richest, dress, securing
a cnusidenible sum of money to her person, that her body, if found, might be recognised,
and receive the obsequies suited to her rank.
t Due was a commercial treaty with Flanders, so disastrous as to be known in that
country by the name of "maius iiibercursus ; " the other involved the surrender of to*
unfortunate duke of Suffolk.
iti
484 THi: EEGEXCT OF FERD13AM).
of the country, in order to gain time for his partisans to come fonv.ud
and declare themselves. Missives had heen despatched to the principal
nobles and cavaliers, and they were answered by great numbers of all
ranks, who pressed forward to welcome and pay court to the young
monarch. Among them were the names of some of the most considerable
Castilian families ; and several, as Yillena, and Xajara, were accom-
panied by large, well-appointed retinues of armed followers. The
archduke brought over with him a body of three thousand German
infantry, in complete order. He soon mustered an additional force of
six thousand native Spaniards, which, with the chivalry who thronged
to meet him, placed him in a condition to dictate terms to his father-in-
law ; and he now openly proclaimed that he had no intention of abiding
by the concord of Salamanca, and that he would never consent to an
arrangement prejudicing in any degree his, and his wife's, exclusive
possession of the crown of Castile.
It was in vain that Ferdinand endeavoured to gain Don Juan Manuel
to his interest by the most liberal offers. He could offer nothing to
compete with the absolute ascendancy which the favourite held over his
young sovereign. It was in vain that Martyr, and afterwards Ximenes,
were sent to the archduke, to settle the grounds of accommodation, or
at least the place of interview with the king. Philip listened to them
with courtesy, but would abate not a jot of his pretensions ; and Manuel
did not care to expose his royal master to the influence of Ferdinand's
superior address and sagacity in a personal interview.
Martyr gives a picture by no means unfavourable, of Philip at this
time. "He had an agreeable person, a generous disposition, free and
open manners, with a certain nobleness of soul, although spurred on
by a most craving ambition. But he was so ignorant of affairs, that ho
became the dupe of artful men, who preyed on him for their own
purposes.
Ferdinand at length finding that Philip, who had now left Corufia,
was advancing by a circuitous route into the interior on purpose to avoid
him, and that all access to his daughter was absolutely refused, could
no longer repress his indignation ; and he prepared a circular letter to
he sent to the different parts of the country, calling on it to rise and
aid him in rescuing the queen, their sovereign, from her present
shameful captivity. It does not appear that he sent it. He probably
found that the call 'would not be answered ; for the French match had
lost him even that degree of favour with which he had been regarded
by the commons : so the very expedient on which he relied for perpe-
tuating his authority in Castile, was the chief cause of his losing it
altogether.
He was doomed to experience still more mortifying indignities. By
the orders of the marquis of Astorga and the count of Benevente, he was
actually refused admittance into those cities ; while proclamation was
made by the same arrogant lords prohibiting any of their vassals from
aiding or harbouring his Aragonese followers. " A sad spectacle,
indeed," exclaims the loyal Martyr, " to behold a monarch, yesterday
almost omnipotent, thus wandering a vagabond in his own kingdom,
refused even the sight of his own child ! "
Of all the gay tribe of courtiers who fluttered around him in his
prosperity, the only Castilians of note who now remained true were the
HE RESIGNS TO PHILIP. 48 J
duke of Alva and the count of Cifuentcs ; for even his son-in-law, the
constable of Castile, had deserted him. There were some, however, at
a distance from the scene of operations, as the good Talavera, for
instance, and the count of Tendilla, who saw with much concern the
prospect of changing the steady and well-tried hand, which had held
the helm for more than thirty years, for the capricious guidance ot
Philip and his favourites.
An end was at length put to this scandalous exhibition ; and Manuel,
wli ther from increased confidence in his own resources, or the fear of
bringing public odium on himself, consented to trust his royal charge
to the peril of an interview.* The place selected was an open plain near
Puebla de Senabria, on the borders of Leon and Galicia (June 23rd).
Hut even then, the precautions taken were of a kind truly ludicrous,
considering the forlorn condition of king Ferdinand. The whole
military apparatus of the archduke was put in motion, as if he expected
to win the crown by battle. First came the well-appointed German
spearmen, all in lighting order ; then the shining squadrons of the noble
Castilian chivalry, and their armed retainers. Next followed the arch-
duke, seated on his war-horse and encompassed by his body-guard ;
while the rear was closed by the long files of archers and light cavalry
of the country.f
Ferdinand, on the other hand, came into the field attended by about
t\vo hundred nobles and gentlemen, chiefly Aragonese and Italians,
riding on mules, and simply attired in the short black cloak and bonnet
of the country, with no other weapon than the sword usually worn.
The king trusted, says Xurita, to the majesty of his presence, and the
reputation he had acquired by his long and able administration.
The Castilian nobles, brought into contact with Ferdinand, could not
well avoid paying their obeisance to him. He received them in his
usual gracious and aftable manner, making remarks, the good-humour
of which was occasionally seasoned with something of a more pungent
character. To the duke of Najara, who was noted for being a vain-
glorious person, and who came forward with a gallant retinue in all the
panoply of war, he exclaimed, "So duke, you are mindful as ever, I
see, of the duties of a great captain ! " Among others, was Garcilasso
de la Vega, Ferdinand's minister formerly at Rome. Like many of the
Castilian lords, he wore armour under his dress, the better to guard
against surprise. The king embracing him, felt the mail beneath, and,
tapping him familiarly on the shoulder, said, " I congratulate you,
( iareilasso : you have grown wonderfully lusty since we last met." The
desertion, however, of one who had received so many favours from him,
touched him more nearly than all the rest.
As Philip drew near, it was observed he wore an anxious, embarrassed
air, while his father-in-law maintained the same serene and cheerful
aspect as usual. After exchanging salutations, the two niouarchs
alighted, and entered a small hermitage in the neighbourhood, attended
There are several letters of Philip to the Catholic king, written soon after landing
fille< I with ux ] nvssions of respect, and affecting a great eagerness for the interview, which
he was so careful to defeat.
t The only pretext for all this pomp of war was the rumour that the king was levying
a considerable t'urce. and the duke of Alva mustering hia followers In I/jou ; rumours
willingly circulated, no doubt, if not a sheer duvu-e of the enemy.
486 THE BEGEXCY OF FEEDIXAXD.
only by Manuel and archbishop Ximenes. They had no sooner entered,
than the latter, addressing the favourite -with an air of authority it was
not easy to resist, told him " It was not meet to intrude on the private
concerns of their masters;" and, taking his arm, led him out of the
apartment, and coolly locked the door on him, saying, at the same time,
that "he would serve as porter." The conference led to no result.
Philip was well schooled in his part, and remained, says Martyr,
immovable as a rock. There was so little mutual confidence between
the parties, that the name of Joanna, whom Ferdinand desired so much
to see, was not even mentioned during the interview.
But, however reluctant Ferdinand might be to admit it, he was no
longer in a condition to stand upon terms; and, in addition to the
entire loss of influence in Castile, he received such alarming accounts
from Naples as made him determine on an immediate visit in person to
that kingdom. He resolved, therefore, to bow his head to the present
storm, in hopes that a brighter day was in reserve for him. He saw
the jealousy hourly springing up between the Flemish and Castilian
sourtiers ; and he probably anticipated such misrule as would afford an
opening, perhaps with the good will of the nation, for him to resume
the reins so unceremoniously snatched from his grasp.* At any rate,
should force be necessary, he would be better able to employ it effectively,
with the aid of his ally, the French king, after he had adjusted the
affairs of Naples.
Whatever considerations may have influenced the prudent monarch,
he authorised the archbishop of Toledo, who kept near the person of
the archduke, to consent to an accommodation on the very grounds pro-
posed by the latter. On the 27th of June he signed and solemnly swore
to an agreement, by which he surrendered the entire sovereignty of
Castile to Philip and Joanna, reserving to himself only the grand-
masterships of the military orders, and the revenues secured by Isal
testament.
On the following day he executed another instrument of most sin e
import, in which, after avowing in unequivocal terms his daug
incapacitv, he engages to assist Philip in preventing any interference iu
her behalf, and to maintain him, as far as in his power, in the sole
exclusive authority.
Before signing these papers, he privately made a protest, in the
presence of several witnesses, that what he was about to do was not of
his own free will, but from necessity, to extricate himself from his
perilous situation, and shield the country from the impending evils of a
civil war. He concluded with asserting that, so far from relinquishing
his claims to the regency, it was his design to enforce them, as well as to
rescue his daughter from her captivity, as soon as he was in a condition
to do so. Finally, he completed this chain of inconsistencies by ad I
ing a circular letter, dated July 1st, to the different parts of th
announcing his resignation of the government into the hands of Philip
* Lord Bacon remarks, in allusion to Philip's premature death, "There was an obser-
vation by the wisest of that court, that, if he had lived, his father would have
upon him in that sort, as he would have governed his councils and designs, it' not his
affections." The prediction must have been suggested by the general estimation of
their respective characters ; for the parties never met again after Ferdinand v.ithdrew
to Aragon.
HE EESIGN3 TO PHILIP. 487
and Joanna, and declaring the act one which, notwithstanding his own
right and. power to the contrary, he had previously determined on
executing so soon as his children should set foot in Spain.
It is not easy to reconcile this monstrous tissue of incongruity, and
dissimilation with any motives of necessity or expediency. Why
should he, so soon after preparing to raise the kingdom in his daugh-
ter's cause, thus publicly avow her imbecility, and deposit the Avhole
authority in the hands of Philip ? Was it to bring odium on the head
of the latter, by encouraging him to a measure which he knew must
disgust the Castilians? But Ferdinand by this very act shared the
responsibility with him. Was it in the expectation that uncontrolled
and undivided power, in the hands of one so rash and improvident,
would the more speedily work his ruin ? As to his clandestine protest,
its design was obviously to afford a plausible pretext at some future
time for re-asserting his claims to the government, on the ground that
his concessions had been the result of force. But then, why neutralise
the operation of this by the declaration, spontaneously made in his
manifesto to the people, that his abdication was not only a free, but
most deliberate and premeditated act ? He was led to this last avowal,
probably, by the desire of covering over the mortification of his defeat ;
a thin varnish, which could impose on nobody. The whole of the pro-
ceedings are of so ambiguous a character as to suggest the inevitable
inference that they flowed from habits of dissimulation too strong to be
controlled, even when there was no occasion for its exercise. We occa-
sionally meet with examples of a similar fondness for superfluous
manoeuvring in the humbler concerns of private life.
After these events, one more interview took place between King
Ferdinand and Philip (July 5th), in which the former prevailed on his
son-in-law to pay such attention to decorum, and exhibit such outward
marks of a cordial reconciliation, as, if they did not altogether impose
on the public, might at least throw a decent veil over the coining sepa-
ration. Even at this last meeting, however, such was the distrust and
apprehension entertained of him, that the unhappy father was not
permitted to see and embrace his daughter before his departure.
Throughout the whole of these trying scenes, says his biographer,
the king maintained that propriety and entire self- possession which
comported with the dignity of his station and character, and strikingly
contrasted with the conduct of his enemies. However much he may
have been touched with the desertion of a people who had enjoyed the
blessings of peace and security under his government for more than
thirty years, he manifested no outward sign of discontent. On the con-
trary, he took leave of the assembled grandees with many expressions
of regard, noticing kindly their past services to him, and studying to
leave such an impression as should efface the recollection of recent
differences. The circumspect monarch looked forward, no doubt, to the
day of his return. The event did not seem very improbable ; and there
were other sagacious persons besides himself, who read in the dark signs
of the times an abundant augury of some speedy revolution.
CHAPTEE XVIII.
OOUJMBU8 HI3 RETURN TO SPAIN HIS DEATtt.
15041506.
Return of Columbus from his Fourth Voyage His Illness Neglected by Ferdinand Hto
Death His Person and Character.
"WHILE the events were passing -which, occupy the heginning of the
preceding Chapter, Christopher Columbus returned from his fourth and
last voyage. It had been one unbroken series of disappointment and
disaster. After quitting Hispaniola, and being driven by storms nearly
to the island of Cuba, he traversed the gulf of Honduras, and coasted
along the margin of the golden region which had so long flitted before
his fancy. The natives invited him to strike into its western depths in
vain, and he pressed forward to the south, now solely occupied with the
grand object of discovering a passage into the Indian ocean. At length,
after having with great difficulty advanced somewhat beyond the point
of Nombre de Dios, he was compelled, by the fury of the elements and
the murmurs of his men, to abandon the enterprise and retrace his steps.
He was subsequently defeated in an attempt to establish a colony on
terra firma, by the ferocity of the natives ; was wrecked on the island
of Jamaica, where he was permitted to linger more than a year, through
the malice of Ovando, the new governor of St. Domingo ; and finally,
having re-embarked with his shattered crew in a vessel freighted at his
own expense, was driven by a succession of terrible tempests across the
ocean, until, on the 7th of November, 1504, he anchored in the little
port of St. Lucar, twelve leagues from Seville.*
In this quiet haven Columbus hoped to find the repose his broken
constitution and wounded spirit so much needed, and to obtain a speedy
restitution of his honours and emoluments from the hand of Isabella*
But here he was to experience his bitterest disappointment. At the
time of his arrival, the queen was on her death-bed ; and in a very few
days Columbus received the afflicting intelligence that his friend on
whose steady support he had so confidently relied was no more. It was
a heavy blow to his hopes, for " he had always experienced favour and
protection from her," says his son Ferdinand; "while the king had
not only been indifferent, but positively unfriendly to his interests."
We may readily credit that a man of the cold and prudent character of
the Spanish monarch would not be very likely to comprehend one so-
ardent and aspiiing as that of Columbus, nor to make allowance for his
extravagant sallies ; and if nothing has hitherto met our eye to warrant
the strong language of the son, yet we have seen that the king, from the
first, distrusted the admiral's projects, as having something unsound
vnd chimerical in them.
* Whatever cloud may be thrown over the early part of Columbus's career, there Is
abundant light oti every step ot Lis path after the commencement of his great enterprise.
BETURX OF COLTniBCS. 188
The affliction of the latter at the tidings of Isabella's death is strongly
depicted in a letter written immediately after to his son Diego. " It i*
our chief duty," he says, " to commend to God most affectionately and
devoutly the soul of our deceased lady the queen. Her life was always
Catholic and virtuous, and prompt to whatever could redound to His
holy service ; wherefore we may trust she now rests in glory, far from
all concern for this rough and weary world."
Columbus, at this time, was so much crippled by the gout, to which,
he had been long subject, that he was unable to undertake a journey to
Segovia, where the court was, during the winter. He lost no time,
however, in laying his situation before the king through his son Diego,
who was attached to the royal household. He urged his past services,
the original terms of the capitulation made with him, their infringement
in almost every particular, and his own necessitous condition. But
Ferdinand was too busily occupied with his own concerns, at this crisis,
to give much heed to those of Columbus, who repeatedly complains of
tin.- inattention shown to his application. At length, on the approach of
a milder season, the admiral, having obtained a dispensation iu his-
favour from the ordinance prohibiting the use of mules, was able by-
easy journeys to reach Segovia, and present himself before the monarch
(May, 1505).
JI was received with all the outward marks of courtesy and regard
bv Ferdinand, who assured him that "he fully estimated his important
Cervices, and, far from stinting his recompense to the precise terms
of the capitulation, intended to confer more ample favours on him in
lie."
These fair words, however, were not seconded by actions. The king,
probably had no serious thoughts of reinstating the admiral in his
p>\ eminent. His successor, Ovando, was high in the royal favour.
His rule, however objectionable as regards the Indians, was every way
acceptable to the Spanish colonists ; and even his oppression of the poor
natives was so far favourable to his cause, that it enabled him to pour
much larger sums into the royal coffers than had been gleaned by bis-
more humane predecessor.
The events of the last voyage, moreover, had probably not tended to
dispel any distrust which the king previously entertained of the
admiral's capacity for government. His men had been in a state of
perpetual insubordination ; while his letter to the sovereigns, written,
under distressing circumstances, indeed, from Jamaica, exhibited such a
deep colouring of despondency, and occasionally such wild and visionary
projects, as might almost suggest the suspicion of a temporary alienatiou
of mind.*
But, whatever reasons may have operated to postpone Columbus's
restoration to power, it was the grossest injustice to withhold from him
the revenues secured by the original contract with the crown. Accord-
ing to his own statement, he was so far from receiving his share of th&
remittances made by Ovaudo, that he was obliged to borrow money, and
This document exhibits a medley, hi which sober narrative and sound reasoning ar
strangely blended with crazy dreams, doleful lamentation, and wild schemes for th<*
r iy of Jmisalem, the conversion of the Gram! Khan, Are. Vagaries like these, which
come occasionally like clouds over his soul, to shut out the light of reason, cannot fail to
fill the mind of the reader, as they doubtless did those of the sovereigns at the time, witb
mingled sentiments of wonder had compassion.
430 BETCTRTir OF COLUJIBPt,.
bad actually incurred a heavy debt for bis necessary expenses. Tha
truth was, that, as the resources of the new countries began to develop
themselves more abundantly, Ferdinand felt greater reluctance to comply
with the letter of the original capitulation ; he now considered the com-
pensation as too vast, and altogether disproportioned to the services of any
subject ; and at length was so ungenerous as to propose that the admiral
should relinquish his claims in consideration of other estates and dignities
to be assigned him in Castile. It argued less knowledge of character than
the king usually showed, that he should have thought the man who had
broken off all negotiations on the threshold of a dubious enterprise, rather
than abate one tittle of his demands, would consent to such abatement
when the success of that enterprise was so gloriously established.
"What assistance Columbus actually received from the crown at this
time, or whether he received any, does not appear. He continued to
reside with the court, and accompanied it in its removal to Yalladolid.
He no doubt enjoyed the public consideration due to his high repute and
extraordinary achievements ; though by the monarch he might be re-
garded in the unwelcome light of a creditor, whose claims were too just
to be disavowed, and too large to be satisfied.
With spirits broken by this unthankful requital of his services, and
with a constitution impaired by a life of unmitigated hardship, Columbus's
health now rapidly sunk under the severe and reiterated attacks of his
disorder. On the arrival of Philip and Joanna, he addressed a letter to
them, through his brother Bartholomew, in which he lamented the
infirmities which prevented him from paying his respects in person, and
made a tender of his future services. The communication was graciously
received, but Columbus did not survive to behold the young sovereigns.
His mental vigour, however, was not impaired by the ravages of
disease, and, on the 19th of May, 1506, he executed a codicil, confirming
certain testamentary dispositions formerly made, with special reference
to the entail of his estates and dignities ; manifesting, in his latest act,
the same solicitude he had shown through life to perpetuate an honour-
able name. Having completed these arrangements with perfect com-
posure, he expired on the following day, being that of our Lord's
ascension (May 20, 1506), with little apparent suffering, and in the most
Christian spirit of resignation. His remains, first deposited in the con-
vent of St. Francis at Valladolid, were, six years later, removed to the
Carthusian monastery of Las Cuevas at Seville, where a costly monu-
ment was raised over them by King Ferdinand, with the memorable
inscription
" A Castilla y a Leon,
Nuovo mundo di<5 Colon ; "
4f the like of which," says his son Ferdinand, with as much truth as
simplicity, " was never recorded of any man in ancient or modern
times." From this spot his body was transported, in the year 1536, to
the island of St. Domingo, the proper theatre of his discoveries ; and, on
the cession of that island to the French, in 1795, was again removed to
Cuba, where his ashes now quietly repose in the cathedral church of its
capital.*
* On the left of the grand altar of this stately edifice is a bust of Columbus, placed in
a niche ia the wall ; and near it a silver urn, containing all that now remains of the illus-
trious voyagei
HIS DEATH. 491
There is considerable uncertainty as to Columbus's age, though it
eems probable that it was not far from seventy at the time of his death.
His person has been minutely described by his son. He was tall and
well-made, his head large, with an aquiline nose, small light-blue, or
grayish eyes, a fresh complexion and red hair, though incessant toil and
exposure had bronzed the former, and bleached the latter, before the age
of thirty. He had a majestic presence, with much dignity, and at the
same time affability of manner. He was fluent, even eloquent in dis-
course ; generally temperate in deportment, but sometimes mirried by a
too lively sensibility into a sally ot passion. He was abstemious in his
dii't, indulged little in amusements of any kind, and, in truth, seemed
too much absorbed by the great cause to which he had consecrated his
life, to allow scope for the lower pursuits and pleasures which engage
ordinary men. Indeed, his imagination, by feeding too exclusively on
this lofty theme, acquired an unnatural exaltation, which raised him too
much above the sober realities of existence, leading him to spurn at
difficulties which in the end proved insurmountable, and to colour the
future with those rainbow tints which too often melted into air.
Tiiis exalted state of the imagination was the result, in part, no doubt,
of the peculiar circumstances of his life ; for the glorious enterprise
which he had achieved almost justified the conviction of his acting under
the influence of some higher inspiration than mere human reason, and
led his devout mind to discern intimations respecting himself in the dark
and mysterious annunciations of sacred prophecy.
That the romantic colouring of his mind, however, was natural to
him, and not purely the growth of circumstances, is evident from the
chimerical speculations in which he seriously indulged before the accom-
plishment of his great discoveries. His scheme of a crusade for the
recovery of the Holy Sepulchre was most deliberately meditated, and
strenuously avowed from the very first date of his proposals to the
ish government. His enthusiastic communications on the subject
must have provoked a smile from a pontiff like Alexander the Sixth ;
and may suggest some apology for the tardiness with which his more
rational projects were accredited by the Castilian government. But
these visionary fancies never clouded his judgment in matters relating to
his great undertaking ; and it is curious to observe the prophetic accu-
racy with which he discerned, not only the existence but the eventual
resources of the western world : as is sufficiently evinced by his precau-
tions, to the very last, to secure the full fruits of them, unimpaired, to
his posterity.
Whatever were the defects of his mental constitution, the finger of the
historian will find it difficult to point to a single blemish in his moral
character. His correspondence breathes the sentiment of devoted loyalty
to hi :;s. His conduct habitually displayed the utmost solici-
tude for the interests of his followers. He expended almost his last
maravedi in restoring his unfortunate crew to their native land. His
dealings were regulated by the nicest principles of honour and justice.
His last communication to the sovereigns from the Indies remonstrates
Against the use of violent measures in order to extract gold from the
natives, as a thing equally scandalous and impolitic. The grand object
to which he dedicated himself seemed to expand his whole soul, and
raised it above the petty shifts and artifices bv which great ends ure
492 KEIGX AND DEATH OF PHILIP.
sometimes sought to be compassed. There are some men in whom rare
virtues have been closely allied, if not to positive vice, to degrading
weakness. Columbus's character presented no such humiliating incon-
gruity. Whether we contemplate it in its public or private relations, in
all its features it wears the same noble aspect. It was in perfect
harmony with the grandeur of his plans, and their results, more
stupendous than those which Heaven has permitted any other mortal
to achieve.*
CHAPTER XIX.
REIGK A1TD DEATH OF PHILIP I. PROCEEDINGS IN CASTILE FERDINAND VISITS HAPLM.
1506.
Philip and Joanna Their reckless Administration Ferdinand distrusts Gonsalvo Ha
sails for Naples Philip's Death and Character The Provisional Government
Joanna's Condition Ferdinand's Entry into Naples Discontent caused by his
Measures there.
FEBDIXAND had no sooner concluded the arrangement with
Philip, and withdrawn into his hereditary dominions, than the archduke
and his wife proceeded towards Valladolid to receive the homage of t he-
estates convened in that city. Joanna, oppressed with an habitual
melancholy, and clad in the sable habiliments better suited to a season of
mourning than rejoicing, refused the splendid ceremonial and festivities
with which the city was prepared to welcome her. Her dissipated husband,
Avho had long since ceased to treat her not merely with affection, but even
decency, would fain have persuaded the cortes to authorise the confine-
ment of his wife, as disordered in intellect, and to devolve on him the
whole charge of the government. In this he was supported by the
archbishop of Toledo, and some of the principal nobility. But the thing
was distasteful to the commons, who could not brook such an indignity
to their own " natural sovereign : " and they were so staunchly supported
by the admiral Enriquez, a grandee of the highest authority from his
connexion with the crown, that Philip was at length induced to abandon
his purpose, and to content himself with an act of recognition similar it
* Columbus left two sons, Fernando and Diego. The former, illegitimate, inherited
his father's genius, says a Castilian writer ; and the latter, his honours and estates.
Fernando, besides other works now lost, left a valuable memoir of his father, often cited
in this history. He was a person of rather uncommon literary attainments, and amassed
a library, in his extensive travels, of 20,000 volumes, perhaps the largest private collection
in Europe at that day. Diego did not succeed to his father's dignities till he had obtained
a judgment in his favour against the crown from the council of the Indies ; an act highly
honourable to that tribunal, and showing that the independence of the courts 01 justice, the
greatest bulwark of civil liberty, was well maintained under King Ferdinand. The young
admiral subsequently married a lady of the great Toledo family, niece of the duke of
Alva.. This alliance with one of the most ancient branches of the haughty aristocracy of
Castile proves the extraordinary consideration which Columbus must have attained during
his own lifetime. A new opposition was made by Charles V. to the succession of Diego's
on ; and the latter, discouraged by the prospect of this interminable litigation with the
crown, prudently consented to commute his claims, too vast and indefinite for any sub-
ject to enforce, for specific honours and revenues in Castile. The titles of duke ol Veragua
and marquis of Jamaica, derived from the places visited by the admiral in his last voyage,
still distinguish the family ; whose proudest title, above all that monarchs can confer, is, lo
l;ve descended from Columbus.
FEBBINAXD VISITS >*API.I -. 493
that made at Toro. No notice whatever was taken of the Catholic
king, or of his recent 'arrangement transferring the regency to Philip
(July 12, loOG). The usual oaths of allegiance were tendered to Joanna,
as ([tieen and ladv proprietor of the kingdom, and to Philip as her
husband, and finally to their eldest son, Prince Charles, as heir apparent
and lawful successor on the demise of his mother.*
llv the tenor of these acts the ruyal authority would seem to be
virtual] v vested in Joanna. From this moment, however, Philip
assumed the government into his own hands. The effects were soon
visible in the thorough revolution introduced into every department.
Old incumbents in office were ejected without ceremony, to make way
for new favourites. The Flemings, in particular, were placed in every
considerable post, and the principal fortresses of the kingdom intrusted
to their keeping. No length or degree of service was allowed to plead in
behalf of the ancient occupant. The marquis and marchioness of Moya,
the personal friends of the late queen, and who had been particularly
recommended by her to her daughter's favour, were forcibly expelled
from Segovia, whose strong citadel was given to Don Juan Manuel.
There were no limits to the estates and honours lavished on this crafty
minion.
The style of living at the court was on the most thoughtless scale of
wasteful expenditure. The public revenues, notwithstanding liberal
appropriations by the late cortes, were wholly unequal to it. To supply
the deficit, offices were sold to the highest bidder. The income drawn
from the silk manufactures of Granada, which had been appropriated to
defray King Ferdinand's pension, was assign*. d by Philip to one of the
royal treasurers. Fortunately, Ximenes obtained possession of the order,
and had the boldness to tear it in pieces. He then waited on the young
monarch, and remonstrated with him on the recklessness of measures
which must infalliblv ruin his credit with the people. Philip yielded in
this instance ; but, although he treated the archbishop with the greatest
outward deference, it is not easy to discern the habitual influence over
his counsels claimed for the prelate by his adulatory biographers.
All this could not fail to excite disgust and disquietude throughout
the nation. The most alarming symptoms of insubordination began to
appear in different parts of the kingdom. In Andalusia, in particular, a
011 federation of the nobles was organised, with the avowed purpose of
rescuing the queen from the duress in which it was said she was held by
her husband. At the same time the most tiimultuous scenes were
exhibited in Cordova, in consequence of the high hand with which the
Inquisition was carrying matters there. Members of many of the
principal families, including persons of both sexes, had been arrested on
the charge of her, sy. This sweeping proscription provoked an insurrec-
tion, countenanced by the marquis of Priego, in which the prisons were
broken open, and Lucero, an inquisitor who had made himself deservedly
odious by his cruelties, narrowly escaped falling into the hands of the
infuriated populace. f The grand inquisitor, Deza, archbishop of Seville,
* Joanna on this occasion was careful to inspect the powers of the deputies herself, to
nee they were all regularly ainnoiiiit .-..- ra madwoman !
t I backhanded pun, usually nick names
Tanebrero) resumed his inquisitorial -death. Among his sub>
rictims was the good archbishop Talavera, whose last days were embittered by his perse-
cution. His insane violence at length provoked again the interference of government
494 JtEIGN AND DEATH OF PHILIP.
the steady friend of Columbus, but whose name is unhappily registered
on some of the darkest pages of the tribunal, Was so intimidated as to
resign his office. The whole affair was referred to the royal council by
Philip, whose Flemish education had not predisposed him to any rever-
ence for the institution ; a circumstance which operated quite as much to
his prejudice with the more bigoted part of the nation, as his really
exceptionable acts.
The minds of the wise and good were filled with sadness as they
listened to the low murmurs of popular discontent, which seemed to be
gradually swelling into strength for some terrible convulsion ; and they
looked back with fond regret to the halcyon days which they had enjoyed
under the temperate rule of Ferdinand and Isabella.
The Catholic king, in the mean time, was pursuing his voyage to
Naples. He had been earnestly pressed by the Neapolitans to visit his
new dominions soon after the conquest. He now went ; less, however,
in compliance with that request, than to relieve his own mind by
assuring himself of the fidelity of his viceroy, Gonsalvo de Cordova.
5Chat illustrious man had not escaped the usual lot of humanity ; his
brilliant successes had brought on him a full measure of the envy which
seems to wait on merit like its shadow. Even men like Rojas, the
Castilian ambassador at Rome, and Prospero Colonna, the distinguished
Italian commander, condescended to employ their influence at court to
depreciate the Great Captain's services, and raise suspicions of his loyalty.
His courteous manners, bountiful largesses, and magnificent style of
living, were represented as politic arts to seduce the affections of the
soldiery and the people. His services were in the market for the highest
bidder. He had received the most splendid offers from the king of France
and the pope. He had carried on a correspondence with Maximilian and
Philip, who would purchase his adhesion, if possible, to the latter, at
any police ; and, if he had not hitherto committed himself by any overt
act, it seemed probable he was only waiting to be determined in hi*
future course by the result of King Ferdinand's struggle with his
son-in-law.*
These suggestions, in which some truth, as usual, was mingled with a
large infusion of error, gradually excited more and more uneasiness in
the breast of the cautious and naturally distrustful Ferdinand. He at
first endeavoured to abridge the powers of the Great Captain by recalling
half the troops in his service, notwithstanding the unsettled state of the
kingdom. He then took the decisive step of ordering his return to-
Castile, on pretence of employing him in affairs of great importance at
home. To allure him more effectually, he solemnly pledged himself, by
an oath, to transfer to him, on his landing in Spain, the grand master-
ship of St. Jago, with all its princely dependencies and emoluments, the
noblest gift in the possession of the crown. Finding all this ineffectual,
and that Gonsalvo still procrastinated his return on various pretexts, the
His case was referred to a special coinmisdion, with Ximenes at its head. Sentence was
pronounced against him. The prisons he had filled were emptied. His judgments were
reversed as founded on insufficient and frivolous grounds. But alas ! what was this to the
hundreds ho had consigned to the stake, and the thousands he had plunged in misery ?
He was in the end sentenced, not to be roasted alive, but to retire to his own benefice,
and confine himself to the duties of a Christian minister !
* Gonaalvo, in pno of his letters to the king, notices these imputations, so prejudicial to
nis honour. He implores his master to take no precipitate measures in consequence, and
concludes with the most vehement protestations of loyalty and devotion tc his service.
FEBDIXAXD VISITS NAPLES. 495
king's uneasiness increased to such a degree that he determined to press
bis own departure for Xaples, and bring back, if not too late, his too
powerful vassal.
On the 4th of September, 1 506, Ferdinand embarked at Barcelona, on
board a well-armed squadron of Catalan galleys ; taking with him his
young and beautiful bride, and a numerous train of Aragonese nobles.
On the 2-ith of the month, after a boisterous and tedious passage, he
reached the port of Genoa. Here, to his astonishment, he was joined by
the Great Captain, who, advised of the king's movements, had come from
Naples with a small fleet to meet him. This frank conduct of his general,
if it did not disarm Ferdinand of his suspicions, showed him the policy
of concealing them ; and he treated Gonsalvo with all the consideration,
and show of confidence which might impose, not merely on the public,,
but on the immediate subject of them.
The Italian writers of the time express their astonishment that the?
Spanish general should have so blindly trusted himself into the hand*
jf his suspicious master. But he, doubtless, felt strong in the conscious-
ness of his own integritv. There appears to have been no good reason
lor impeaching this. His most equivocal act -was his delay to obey the
royal summons ; but much weight is reasonably due to his own
t xplanation, that he was deterred by the distracted state of the country,
arising from the proposed transfer of property to the Angevin barons,
as well as from the precipitate disbanding of the army, which it required
all his authority to prevent from breaking into open mutiny.* To these
motives may be probably added the natural, though perhaps unconscious,
reluctance to relinquish the exalted station, little short of absolute sove-
reignty, which he had so long and so gloriously filled.
lie had, indeed, lorded it over his viceroyalty with most princely
sway ; but he had assumed no powers to which he was not entitled by
his services and peculiar situation. His public operations in Italy had
been uniformly conducted for the advantage of his country, and, until
the late final treaty with France, were mainly directed to the expulsion
of that power beyond the Alps. Since that event, he had busily occupied
himself with the internal affairs of Naples, for which he made many
excellent provisions, contriving by his consummate address to reconcile
the most conflicting interests and parties. Although the idol of the
army and of the people, there is not the slightest evidence of an attempt
to pervert his popularity to an unworthy purpose. There is no appear-
ance of his having been corrupted, or even dazzled, by the splendid
offers repeatedly made him by the different potentates of Europe. On
the contrary, the proud answer recorded of him, to Pope Julius the
.d, breathes a spirit of determined loyalty, perfectly irreconcilable
with anything sinister or selfish in his motives. The Italian writers of
the time, who affect to speak of these motives with some distrust, were
little accustomed to such examples of steady devotion ; f but the historian,
* There are several letters from Gonsalvo, in the year 1506, announcing his speedy
return, an 1 explaining the postponement of it by the unsettled state of the kingdom,
which, indeed, forms the burden of his correspondence at this time
t This way of damning a character by surmise, is very common with Italian writers of
this age, who uniformly resort to the very worst motive as the key of whatever is dubiou*
cr inexplicable in conduct. Not a sudden death, tor example, occurs, without at :
totpftto of poison from some hand or other. What a fcaiful commentary on the maraJs of
tfcelaud 1
ISMJ EEIGN AND DEATH OF PHIL!?.
\vho reviews all the circumstances, must admit that there was nothing U
justify such distrust, and that the only exceptionable acts in Gonsalvo'i
administration were performed, not to advance his own interests, but
those of his master, and in too strict obedience to his commands. King
[Ferdinand was the last person who had cause to complain of them.
After quitting Genoa, the royal squadron was driven by contrary
winds into the neighbouring harbour of Portofino, where Ferdinand
received intelligence which promised to change his destination altogether.
This was the death of his son-in-law, the young king of Castile.
This event, so unexpected and awfully sudden, was occasioned by a
fever, brought on by too violent exercise at a game of "ball, at an enter-
tainment made for Philip by his favourite, Manuel, in Burgos, where the
court was then held. Through the unskilfulncss of his physicians, as it
was said, who neglected to bleed him, the disorder rapidly gained
ground ; * and on the sixth day after his attack, being the 25th oi
September, 1506, he breathed his last.f He was but twenty-eight years
old; of which brief period he had enjoyed, or endured, the "golden
ares" of sovereignty but little more than two months, dating from his
recognition by the cortes. His body, after being embalmed, lay in state
for two days, decorated with the insignia, the mockery of royalty, as it
had proved to him, and was then deposited in the convent of Miranores,
near Burgos, to await its final removal to Granada, agreeably to his last
request.
Philip was of the middle height; he had a fair florid complexion,
regular features, long flowing locks, and a well-made, symmetrical
figure. Indeed, he was so esteemed for comeliness both of person and
countenance, that he is designated on the roll of Spanish sovereigns as
Felipe El Hermoso, or the Handsome. His mental endowments were
not so extraordinary. The father of Charles the Fifth possessed scarcely
a single quality in common with his remarkable son. He was rash and
impetuous in his temper, frank, and careless. He was born to great
expectations, and early accustomed to command, which seemed to fill
him with a crude, intemperate ambition, impatient alike of control and
counsel. He was not without generous, and even magnanimous
sentiments ; but he abandoned himself to the impulse of the moment,
whether for good or evil ; and, as he was naturally indolent and fond of
pleasure, he willingly reposed the burden of government on others, who,
as usual, thought more of their own interests than those of the public.
His early education exempted him from the bigotry characteristic of the
Spaniards ; and, had he lived, he might have done much to mitigate the
grievous abuses of the Inquisition. As it was, his premature death
deprived him of the opportunity of compensating, by this single good
act, the manifold mischiefs of his administration.
This event, too improbable to have formed any part of the calculations
of the most far-sighted politician, spread general consternation throughout
* Philip's disorder was lightly regarded at first by his Flemish physicians, whose practice
and predictions were alike condemned by their coadjutor l.udovieo Marliano, an Italian
doctor, highly commended by Martyr, as " inter philosophos ct iccdicos lucida lampas. "
He was at least the better prophet, on ihis occasion.
t Fortunately for Fen Inland's rcjuitat inn, I'liilip's death was attended by too unequivocal
circum.sianccs. and recorded i>/ ton many eyewitnesses, to admit the suggestion cfpoisoo.
it seems lie drank i'rc.uly of cold water while very hot. The lover he brought c a was an
epidemic, which at that time alllictcd Castile.
JTKDIXAND VISITS X.Vl'UiS. 497
the country. The old adherents of Ferdinand, with Xinienos at their
head, now looked forward with confidence to his re-establishment
in the regency. Many others, however, like Garcilasso de la V
\vhose loyalty to their old master had not been proof again>t the ;'
viewed this with some apprehension. Others, again, who had <>pcnlv
from the first linked their fortunes to those of his rival, as the di.
Najara, the marquis of \'illena, and, above all, Don Juan .Manuel, saw
in it their certain ruin, and turned their thoughts towards Maximilian,
or the king of Portugal, or any other monarch whose connexion with the
royal family might attbrd a plausible pretext for interference in tho
nmeut. On Philip's Flemish followers the tidings fell like a
thunderbolt; and in their bewilderment they seemed like so many
-hcd birds of prey, still hovering round the half-devoured carcass
from which they had been unceremoniously scared.
The weight of talent and popular consideration was undoubtedly on
the king's side. The most formidable of the opposition, Manuel, had
declined greatly in credit with the nation during the short, disastrous
period of his administration ; while the archbishop of Toledo, who might
be considered as the leader of Ferdinand's party, possessed talents,
energy, and reputed sanctity of character, which, combined with the
authority of his station, gave him unbounded influence over all cl:
of the Castilians. It was fortunate for the land, in this emergency, that
the primacy was in such able hands. It justified the wisdom of Isabella's
choice, made in opposition, it may be remembered, to the wishes of
Ferdinand, who was now to reap the greatest benefit from it.
That prelate, foreseeing the anarchy likely to arise on Philip's death,
assembled the nobility present at the court, in his own palace, the day
bi lore this event took place. It was there agreed to name a provisional
council, or regency, who should carry on the government, and provide
for the tranquillity of the kingdom. It consisted of seven members, with
the archbishop of Toledo at its head ; the duke of Infantado ; the grand
constable and the admiral of Castile, both connected with the royal
family; the duke of Xajara, a principal leader of the opposite faction;
and two Flemish lords. No mention was made of Manuel.
The nobles, in a subsequent convention on the 1st of October, ratified
these proceedings, and bound themselves not to carry on private war, or
attempt to possess themselves of the queen's person, and to employ all
their authority in supporting the provisional government, whose term
was limited to the end of December.
A meeting of cortes was wanting to give validity to their acts, as well
as to express the popular will in reference to a permanent settlement of
tin' government. There was some difference of opinion, even among the
king's friends, as to the expediency of summoning that body at this
: but the greatest impediment arose from the queen's refusal to
sign the writs.
This unhappy lady's condition had become truly deplorable. During
her husband's illness she had never left his bedside ; but neither then,
nor sinee his death, had been seen to shed a tear. She remained in a
state of stupid insensibility, sitting in a darkened apartment, her head
resting on her hand, and her lips closed, as mute and immovable as a
statue When applied to for issuing the ncce^ary summons for the
i, or to make appointments to office, or for any other pressing
K K
498 EEIGX AKD DEATH OV PHILIP.
business which required her signature, she replied, "My father will
attend to all this when he returns ; he is much more conversant with
business than I am ; I have no other duties now but to pray for the
soul of iny departed husband." The only orders she was known to sign
were for paying the salaries of her Flemish musicians ; for in her abject
state she found some consolation in music, of which she had been
passionately fond from childhood. The few remarks which she uttered
were discreet and sensible, forming a singular contrast with the general
extravagance of her actions. On the whole, however, her pertinacity in
refusing to sign anything was attended with as much good as evil, since
it prevented her name from being used, as it would undoubtedly have
often been, in the existing state of things, for pernicious and party
purposes.
Finding it impossible to obtain the queen's co-operation, the council
at length resolved to issue the writs of summons in their own name, as a
measure justified by necessity. The place of meeting was fixed at Burgos
in the ensuing month of November ; and great pains were taken that the
different cities should instruct their representatives in their views
respecting the ultimate disposition of the government.
Long before this, indeed immediately after Philip's death, letters had
been dispatched by Ximenes and his friends to the Catholic king,
acquainting him with the state of affairs, and urging his immediate
return to Castile. He received them at Portofino. He determined,
however, to continue his voyage, in which he had already advanced so
far, to Naples. The wary monarch perhaps thought that the Castilians,
whose attachment to his own person he might with some reason distrust,
would not be the less inclined to his rule after having tasted the bitter-
ness of anarchy. In his reply, therefore, after briefly expressing a decent
regret at the untimely death of his son-in-law, and his undoubting con-
fidence in the loyalty of the Castilians to their queen his daughter, he
prudently intimates that he retains nothing but kindly recollections of
his ancient subjects, and promises to use all possible dispatch in adjusting
the affairs of Naples, that he may again return to them.
After this, the king resumed his voyage, and having touched at several
places on the coast, in all which he was received with great enthusiasm,
arrived before the capital of his new dominions in the latter part of
October. All were anxious, says the great Tuscan historian of the time,
to behold the prince who had acquired a mighty reputation throughout
Europe for his victories both over Christian and infidel, and whose name
was everywhere revered for the wisdom and equity with which he had
ruled in his own kingdom. They looked to his coming, therefore, as an
event fraught with importance, not merely to Naples, but to all Italy,
where his personal presence and authority might do so much to heal
existing feuds, and establish permanent tranquillity. The Neapolitans,
in particular, were intoxicated with joy at his arrival. The most splen-
did preparations were made for his reception. A fleet of twenty vessels
of war came out to meet him and conduct him into port ; and, as he
touched the shores of his new dominions, the air was rent with acclama-
tions of the people, and with the thunders of artillery from the fortresses
which crowned the heights of the city, and from the gallant navy which
rode in her waters.
The faithful chronicler of Los Palacios, who generally officiates as tha
FERDINAND VISITS NAPLES. 499
master of ceremonies on these occasions, dilates with great complacency
on all the circumstances of the celebration, even to the minutest <l , -tails
of the costume- worn by the kini; and his nobility. According to him,
the ni'inarch \va< arrayed in a long flowing mantle of crim>
lined with satin of the same colour. On his hoad was a hi- .
l."unet, uarnishcd with a resplendent ruby, and a pearl of i : :
lie rode a noble white ch;i :rni>hed caparisons
<! iz/leil the eye with their splendour. liy his s-idc was iiis young <|.:
Q a milk -white palfrey, and wearing a si;irt. or uatjer-gortnent,
of rich brocade, and a 1'rench robe, simply fastened with clasps, or I
of line- wrought gold.
On the mole they were received by th" Great Captain, who, surround'. -1
by his guard of halberdiers, and his silken array of pages wearing
device, displayed all the pomp and maguiticence of his household. A
passing under a triumphal arch, where Ferdinand swore to respect thu
liberties and privileges of Naples, the royal pair moved forward under a
gorgeous canopy, borne by the members of the municipality-, whil
reins of their rieedfl were held by some of the principal nobles. After
them followed the other lords and cavaliers of the kingdom, with the
clergy, and ambassadors assembled from every part of Italy and Europe,
bearing congratulations and presents from their respective courts. As
the procession halted in the various quarters of the city, it was greeted
with joyous bursts of music from a brilliant assemblage of knights and
ladies, who did homage by kneeling down and saluting the hands of their
new sovereigns. At length, after defiling through the principal streets
and squares, it reached the great cathedral, where the day was devoutly
closed with solemn prayer and thanksgiving.
Ferdinand was too severe an economist of time to waste it willingly on
idle pomp and ceremonial. His heart swelled with satisfaction, however,
as he gazed on the magnificent capital thus laid at his feet, and pouring
forth the most lively expressions of a loyalty which of late he had been
led to distrust. With all his impatience, therefore, he was not disposed
to rebuke this spirit, by abridging the season of hilarity ; but, after
allowing sufficient scope for its indulgence, he devoted himself assiduously
to the great purposes of his visit.
He summoned a parliament-general of the kingdom, where, after his
own recognition, oaths of allegiance were tendered to his daughter
.loanna and her posterity, as his successors, without any allusion being
made to the rights of his wife. This was a clear evasion of the treaty
with France : but Ferdinand, though late, was too sensible of the folly of
that stipulation, which secured the reversion of his wife's dower to the
latter crown, to allow it to receive any sanction from the Neapolitans.
Another, and scarcely less disastrous provision of the treaty, he com-
plied with in better faith. This was the re-establishment of the Angevin
proprietors in their ancient estates ; the greater part of which, as air
noticed, had been parcelled out among his own followers, both Spaniards
and Italians. It was of course a work of extraordinary difficulty and
vexation. When any flaw or impediment could be raised in the Angevin
title, the transfer was evaded. When it could not, a grant of other land
or money was substituted, if possible. More frequently, however, tho
equivalent, which probably was not very scrupulously meted out. wia
obliged to be taken by the Aragonese proprietor. To accomplish this?,
K K a
500 PEIIDINAND'S KETURX AND BEGEXCY.
the king was compelled to draw largely on the royal patrimony in Xaples,
as well as to make liberal appropriations of land and rents in his native
dominions. As all this proved insufficient, he was driven to the expedient
of replenishing the exchequer by draughts on his new subjects.
The result, although effected without violence or disorder, was unsatis-
factory to all parties. The Angevins rarely received the full extent < if
their demands. The loyal partisans of Aragon saw the fruits of many a
hard-fought battle snatched from their grasp, to be givenback again to their
enemies.* Lastly, the wretched Neapolitans, instead of the favours aud
immunities incident to a new reign, found themselves burdened with
additional imposts, which, in the exhausted state of the country, were
perfectly intolerable. So soon were the fair expectations formed of Fer-
dinand's coming, like most other indefinite expectations, clouded over by
disappointment ; and such were some of the bitter fruits of the disgraceful
treaty with Louis the Twelfth.
CHAPTEE XX.
FERDINAND'S RETURN AKD AGENCY GONSALVO'S HONOURS AND RETIREMENT.
15061509.
Joanna's mad Conduct She changes her Ministers Disorders fn Castile Ferdinand's
Politic Behaviour He leaves Naples His Brilliant Keception by Louis XII.
Honours to Gonsalvo Ferdinand's return to Castile His excessive Severity Neglect
of the Great Captain Hia honourable Retirement.
WHILE Ferdinand was thus occupied in Naples, the representatives of
most of the cities summoned by the provisional government had assembled
in Burgos, (Nov. 1506). Before entering on business, they were desirous
to obtain the queen's sanction to their proceedings. A committee waited
on her for that purpose, but she obstinately refused to give them audience.
She still continued plunged in moody melancholy, exhibiting, however,
occasionally the wildest freaks of insanity. Towards the latter end of
December, she determined to leave Burgos, and remove her husband's
remains to their final resting-place in Granada. . She insisted on seeing
them herself, before her departure. The remonstrances of her counsellors,
and the holy men of the monastery of Miraflores, proved equally fruitless.
Opposition only roused her passions into frenzy, and they were obliged
to comply with her mad humours. The corpse was removed from the
vault ; the two coffins of lead and wood were opened, and such as chose
gazed on the mouldering relics, which, notwithstanding their having
been embalmed, exhibited scarcely a trace of humanity. The queen was
not satisfied till she touched them with her own hand ; which she did
without shedding a tear, or testifying the least emotion. The unfortunate
lady, indeed, was said never to have been seen to weep since she detected
her husband's intrigue with the Flemish courtesan.
The body was then placed on a magnificent car, or hearse, drawn by
* Such for example was the fate of the doughty little cavalier, Pedro de la Paz, th
pallant Lcyva, so celebrated in the subsequent wars of Charles V., the amliassmlnr Rojait,
the Quixotic Paredes and others. The last of these adventurers, according to Mariana,
endeavoured to repair his broken fortunes by driving the trade of a corsair in the Levant.
KETIliEJIEXT OF GOX5ALVO. 50*
four horses. It was accompanied by a long train of ecclesiastics and
nobles, who, together with the queen, left the city on the night of the
20th of December. She made her journeys by night, saying, that " a
widow, who had lost the sun of her own soul, should never expose her-
self to the light of day." When she halted, the body was deposited in
some church or monastery, where the funeral services were performed,
as if her husband had just died ; and a corps of armed men kept con-
stant guard, chiefly, as it would seem, with the view of preventing any
female from profaning the place by her presence : for Joanna still retained
Ihe same jealousy of her sex which she had unhappily so much cause to
feel during Philip's lifetime.
In a subsequent journey, when at a short distance from Torquemada,
she ordered the corpse to be carried into the court-yard of a convent,
occupied, as she supposed, by monks. She was filled with horror, how-
ever, on finding it a nunnery, and immediately commanded the body to
be removed into the open fields. Here she encamped with her whole
party at dead of night ; not, however, until she had caused the coffins
to be unsealed, that she might satisfy herself of the safety of her hus-
band's relics : although it was very difficult to keep the torches, during
the time, from being extinguished by the violence of the wind, and
leaving the company in total darkness.*
These mad pranks, savouring of absolute idiocy, were occasionally
chequered by other acts of more intelligence, but not less startling. She
had early shown a disgust to her father's old counsellors, and especially
to Ximenes, who, she thought, interfered too authoritatively in her
domestic concerns. Before leaving Burgos, however, she electrified her
husband's adherents by revoking all grants made by the crown since
Isabella's death. This, almost the only act she was ever known to sign,
was a scv.Tr blow to the courtly tribe of sycophants, on whom the
golden favours of the late reign had been so prodigally showered. At
the same time she reformed her privy council, by dismissing the present
members, and reinstating those appointed by her royal mother, sarcas-
tically telling one of the ejected counsellors, that "he might go and
complete his studies at Salamanca." The remark had a biting edge to it,
as the worthy jurist was reputed somewhat low in his scholarship.
These partial gleams of intelligence, directed in this peculiar way too,
led many to discern the secret influence of her father. She still, how-
ever, pertinaciously refused to sanction any measures of cortes for his
recall ; and, when pressed by that body on this and other matters, at an
audience which she granted before leaving Burgos, she plainly told
them "to return to their quarters, and not to meddle further in the
public business without her express commands." Xot long after this,
the legislature was prorogued by the roval council for four months.
The trim assigned for the provisional government expired in Decem-
ber, and was not renewed. Xo other regency was appointed by tho
* A foolish Carthusian monk filled Joanna with absurd hopes of her husband's returning
to life, which, he assured her, had happened, as he had read, to a certain prince, after ho
had been dead fourteen years. As Philip was disembowelled, he was hardly in a condition
for su nt. The queen, however, seems to have been caught with the
ill patience at the inventions of this " blactero cucullatus," as he calls
aim in his aLioiiiin:ililu Latin, as well as at the mad pranks of the queen, and the ridiculous
figure which he and the other grave personages of the court were compelled to make on
*b occasion. It is impossible to read his Jeremiads on the subject without ft smile.
602 FERDINAND'S BETUHN AND REGENCY.
nobles ; and the kingdom, without even the shadow of protection
afforded by its cortes, and with no other guide but its crazy sovereign,
was left to drift at random amidst the winds and waves of faction. This
was not slow in brewing in every quarter, with the aid especially of the
overgrown nobles, whose licence, on suck occasions as this, proved too
plainly that public tranquillity was not founded so much on the stability
of law as on the personal character of the reigning sovereign.*
The king's enemies in the meantime were pressing their correspondence
with the emperor Maximilian, and urging his immediate presence in
Spain. Others devised schemes for marrying the poor queen to the
young duke of Calabria, or some other prince whose years or incapacity
might enable them to act over again the farce of king Philip. To add
to the troubles occasioned by this mesh of intrigue and faction, the
country, which of late years had suffered from scarcity, was visited by
pestilence, that fell most heavily on the south. In Seville alone, Ber-
naldez reports the incredible number of thirty thousand persons to have
fallen victims to it.
But, although the storm was thus darkening from every quarter, there
was no general explosion to shake the state to its foundations as in the
time of Henry the Fourth. Orderly habits, if not principles, had been
gradually formed under the long reign of Isabella. The great mass of
the people had learned to respect the operation, and appreciate the
benefits of law ; and notwithstanding the menacing attitude, the bustle,
and transitory ebullitions of the rival factions, there seemed a manifest
reluctance to break up the established order of things, and, by deeds of
violence and bloodshed, to renew the days of ancient anarchy.
Much of this good result was undoubtedly to be attributed to the
vigorous counsels and conduct of Ximenes,t who, together with the
grand constable and the duke of Alva, had received full powers from
Ferdinand to act in his name. Much is also to be ascribed to the politic
conduct of the king. Far from an intemperate zeal to resume the
sceptre of Castile, he had shown throughout a discreet forbearance. He
used the most courteous and condescending style in his communications-
to the nobles and the municipalities, expressing his entire confidence in
their patriotism, and their loyalty to the queen his daughter. Through
the archbishop and other important agents, he had taken effectual
measures to soften the opposition of the more considerable lords ; \mtil,.
at length, not only such accommodating statesmen as Garcilasso de la
Vega, but more sturdy opponents, as Villena, Benavente, and Bejar,.
* The duke of Medina Sidonia, son of the nobleman who bore so honourable a part in
the Qranadine war, mustered a large force by land aud sea for the recovery of his ancient
patrimony of Gibraltar. Isabella's high spirited friend, the marchioness of Moya, put herself
at the head of a body of troops with better success, during her husband's illness, and re-
established herself in the strong fortress of Segovi.i, which Philip had transferred to-
Manuel. "No one lamented the circumstance," says Oviedo. The marchioness closed
her life not long after this, at about sixty years of age. Her husband, though much
older, survived her.
t Ximenes equipped and paid out of his own funds a strong corps, for the ostensible
purpose of protecting the queen's person, but quite as much to enforce order by checking
the turbulent spirit of the grandees ; a stretch of authority which this haughty body
could ill brook. Zurita, indeed, who thinks the archbishop had a strong relish for sovereign
power, accuses him of being "at heart much more of a king than a friar." Gomez, on the
contrary, tr.ices every political net nf his t.. the purest p:iti-i..tisni. In the mixed motive*
of action. Ximenes rnitcht probably have been puzzled himself to determine how much
belonged to the one principle, and how much to the other.
OF GONSALVO. 503
were brought to give in their adhesion to their old master. Lil- val
promises, iudecd, had been made by the emperor, in the name of his
'.-s, who had already been made to assume the title of
_ ul' Cu-tile. But the promises of the imperial braggart passed
lightly with the more considerate Castilians, who knew how far they
usually outstripped his performance, and who felt, on the other hand,
that their true interests were connected with those of a prince whose
superior talents and personal relations all concurred to recommend hi'in
t ' the seat which he had once so honourably occupied. The great mass
of the common people, too, notwithstanding the temporary alienation of
their feelings from the Catholic king by his recent marriage, were driven
by the evils they actually suffered, and the vague apprehensions of
greater, to participate in the same sentiments; so that, in less than eight
mouths from Philip's death, the whole nation may be said to have
r Turned to its allegiance to its ancient sovereign. The only consider-
able exceptions were Don Juan Manuel and the duke of Najara. The
furmer had gone too far to recede, and the latter possessed too chivalrous,
> stubborn, .a temper to do so.
At length, the Catholic monarch, having completed his arrangements
at Naples, and waited until the affairs of Castile were fully ripe lor his
return, set sail from his Italian capital, June 4th, 1507. He proposed
to touch at the Genoese port of Savona, where an interview had been
arranged between him and Louis the Twelfth. During his residence
in Naples, he had assiduously devoted himself to the affairs of the
kingdom. He had avoided entering into the local politics of Italy,
refusing all treatises and alliances proposed to him by its various states,
whether offensive or defensive. He had evaded the importunate
solicitations and remonstrances of Maximilian in regard to the Castilian
regency, and had declined, moreover, a personal conference proposed to
him by the emperor during his stay in Italy. After the great work of
ring the Angevins to their estates, he had thoroughly re-organised
the interior administration of the kingdom ; creating new offices, and
entirely new departments. He made large reforms, moreover, in the
courts of law. and prepared the way for the new system, demanded by
its relations as a dependency of the Spanish monarchy. Lastly, before
leaving the city, he acceded to the request of the inhabitants for the
-tablishment of their ancient university.
In all thes sagacious measures he had been ably assisted by his
: >y, Gonsalvo de Cordova. Ferdinand's deportment towards the
latt.Tnad been studied, as I have said, to efface every uncomfortable
impression from his mind. On his first arrival, indeed, the king had
condescended to listen to complaints, made by certain officers of the
exchequer of Gonsalvo's waste and misapplication of the public moneys.
The general simply asked leave to produce his own accounts in his
ooe. Th3 first item which he read aloud was, two hundred thousand
: hundred and thirty-six ducats, given in alms to the monasteries
and the poor, to secure their prayers for the success of the king's enter-
The second was seven hundred thousand four hundred and
ninety-four lucats to the spies employed in his service. Other charges,
equally preposterous, followed ; while some of the audience stared
incredulous, others laughed, and the king himself, ashamed of the paltry
part he was playing, dismissed the whole affair as a jest. The common
504 FERDINAND'S RETURN AND REGENCY".
saving of cirentas del Gran Capitan, at this day, attests at least the
popular i'aith in the anecdote.
From this moment, Ferdinand continued to show Gonsalvo unbounded
marks of confidence ; advising with him on all important matters, and
making him the only channel of royal favour. He again renewed, in
the most emphatic manner, his promise to resign the grandmastership of
St. Jago in his favour on their return to Spain, and made formal appli-
cation to the pope to confirm it. In addition to the princely honours
already conferred on the Great Captain, he granted him the noble duchy
of Sessa, by an instrument which, after a pompous recapitulation of his
stately titles and manifold services, declares that these latter were too
great for recompense. Unfortunately for both king and subject, this
was too true.*
Gonsalvo remained a day or two behind his royal master in Naples to
settle his private affairs. In addition to the heavy debts incurred by his
own generous style of living, he had assumed those of many of his old
companions in arms with whom the world had gone less prosperously
than with himself. The claims of his creditors, therefore, had swollen
to such an amount, that, in order to satisfy them fully, he was driven to
sacrifice part of the domains lately granted him. Having discharged all
the obligations of a man of honour, he prepared to quit the land over
which he had ruled with so much splendour and renown for nearly four
years. The Neapolitans in a body followed him to the vessel ; and
nobles, cavaliers, and even ladies of the highest rank, lingered on the
shore to bid him a last adieu. Not a dry eye, says the historian, was to
be seen. So completely had he dazzled their imaginations, und captivated
their hearts, by his brilliant and popular manners, his munificent
spirit, and the equity of his administration, qualities more useful, and
probably more rare in those turbulent times, than military talent. He
was succeeded in the office of grand constable of the kingdom by
Prospero Colonna, and in that of viceroy by the count cf llibagorza,
Ferdinand's nephew.
On the 28th of June, the royal fleet of Aragon entered the little port
of Savona, where the king 01 France had already been waiting fur it
several days. The French navy was ordered out to receive the Catholic
monarch ; and the vessels on either side, gaily decorated with the
national flags and ensigns, rivalled each other in the beauty and magni-
ficence of their equipments. King Ferdinand's galleys were spread with
rich carpets and awnings of yellow and scarlet, and every sailor in the
fleet exhibited the same gaudy- coloured livery of the royal house of
Aragon. Louis the Twelfth came to welcome his illustrious gi;
attended by a gallant train of his nobility and chivalry ; and, in order
to reciprocate, as far as possible, the confidence reposed in him by the
monarch with whom he had been so recently at deadly feud, immediately
went on board the vessel of the latter. Horses and mules richly
caparisoned awaited them at the landing. The French king mounting
The revenues from his various estates amounted to 40,000 ducats. Zurita speaks of
anoiuer instrument, a public manifesto of the Catholic kin,?, proclaiming to the world hi
sense of his general's exalted services and unimpeachable loyalty. This sat of testimony
seems to contain an implication not very flattering, and, on the whole, is so impr
that I cannot but think the A -toriau has confounded it witi the u r rant of
. bearing prueisuly the same 'late. February li.Hh, and c-'-nt-iininar also, though inci-
ier tally, and as a thing of course, the most amplo tribute to the Great Capttiu.
OF GOXSA.LVO. 503
his steed, gallantly placed the young queen of Aragon behind him.
His cavaliers did the Mme with the ladies of her suite, most of them
hwoni'-n, though attired, as an old chronicler of the nation,
rather peevishly complains, after the Spanish fashion ; and the whole
party, with the ladies en croupe, galloped off to the royal quarters in
tia.
iilithe and jocund were the revels which rung through the halls of
this fair city during the brief residence of its royal visitors. Abundance
"1 cheer had been provided by Louis's orders, writes an old
cavalier,* who was there to profit by it ; and the larders of Savona were
tilled with the choicest game, and its cellars well stored with the
delicious wines of Corsica, Languedoc, and Provence. Among the
followers of Louis were the marquis of Mantua, the brave La Palice,
the veteran D'Aubigny, and many others of renown who had so lately
measured swords with the Spaniards on the fields of Italy, and who now
vied with each other in rendering them these more grateful, and no less
honourable, offices of chivalry.
As the gallant D'Aubigny was confined to his apartment by the gout,
Ferdinand, who had always held his conduct and talents in high esteem,
complimented him by a visit in person. But no one excited such
and attention as Gonsalvo de Cordova, who was empha-
. th> hero of the day. At least, such is the testimony of
irdini, who will not be suspected of undue partiality. Many a
Frenchman there had had bitter experience of his military prowess.
Many others had grown familiar with his exploits in the exaggerated
i nl 1 their eountrvmen. They had been taught to regard him with
mingled feelings of fear and hatred, and could scarcely credit their
senses as they beheld the bugbear of their imaginations distinguished
above all others for ''the majesty of his presence, the polished
elegance of his discourse, and manners in which dignity was blended
with grace."
But none were so open in their admiration as King Louis. At his
request Gonsalvo was admitted to sup at the same table with the
Aragonese sovi-rei-jns and himself. During the repast he surveyed l>is
illustrious guest with the deepest interest, asking him various particulars
respecting those memorable campaigns which had proved so fatal to
France. To all these the Great Captain responded with becoming
gravity, says the chronicler; and the French monarch testified his
i'ctiou'at parting, by taking a massive chain of exquisite workman-
ship from his own neck, and throwing it round Gonsalvo s. Ihe
]ii>t..riaiis of the event appear to be entirely overwhelmed with the
magnitude of the honour conferred on the Great Captain, by thus
admitting him to the same table with three crowned heads; and
Guicciardini does not hesitate to pronounce it a more glorious epoch
in his life than even that of his triumphant entry into the capital of
Naples.
During this interview, the monarchs held repeated conferences, at
* For fighting, and feasting, and all the generous pastimes of chivalry, none of the old
French chroniclers of this time rivals D'Aut-n. Ho is the very Froissart of tl
eenturv. A part of liis work still remains in manuscript That which is printed retains
tho same t.>rm. 1 believe, in which it was given to the public by Godcfroy, in the beginning
of the 17th century: while many an interior chronicler and memoir-monger has oeen
published and re published, with all the lights of editorial erudition.
600 FERDIKAXD'S RETOIX A:\D XEGEXCY.
which none were present but the papal envoy, and Lou!..'.-; favourite
minister, D'Amboise. The subject of discussion can only be conjectured
by the subsequent proceedings, which makes it probable that it related
to Italy ; and that it was in this season of idle dalliance and festivity
that the two princes who held the destinies of that country in their
hands matured the famous league of Cambray, so disastrous to Venice,
and reflecting little credit on its projectors, either on the score of good
faith or sound policy. But to this we shall have occasion to return
hereafter.
At length, after enjoying for four days the splendid hospitality of
their royal entertainer, the king and queen of Aragon re-embarked, and
reached their own port of Valencia, after various detentions, on the 20th
of July 1507. Ferdinand, having rested a short time in his beautiful
capital, pressed forward to Castile, where his presence was eagerly
expected. On the borders he was met by the dukes of Albuquerque
and Medina Celi, his faithful follower the count of Cifuentes, and many
other nobles and cavaliers. He was soon after joined by deputies from
many of the principal cities in the kingdom, and, thus escorted, made
his entry into it by the way of Monteagudo, on the 21st of August.
How different from the forlorn and outcast condition in which he had
quitted the country a short year before ! He intimated the change in
his own circumstances by the greater state and show of authority which
he now assumed. The residue of the old Italian army, just arrived
under the celebrated Pedro Navarro, count of Oliveto,* preceded him
on the march ; and he was personally attended by his alcaldes,
alguazils, and kings-at-arms, with all the appropriate insignia of royal
supremacy.
At Tortoles he was met by the queen his daughter, accompanied by
Archbishop Ximenes. The interview between them had more of pain
than pleasure in it. The king was greatly shocked by Joanna's
appearance ; for her wild and haggard features, emaciated figure, and
the mean, squalid attire in which she was dressed, made it difficult to
recognise any trace of the daughter ' from whom he had been so long
separated. She discovered more sensibility on seeing him than she had
shown since her husband's death, and henceforth resigned herself to her
father's will with little opposition. She was soon after induced by him
to change her unsuitable residence for more commodious quarters at
TonlesiUas. Her husband's remains were laid in the monastery of Santa
Clara, adjoining the palace, from whose windows she could behold his
sepulchre. From this period, although she survived forty-seven years,
she never quitted the walls of her habitation ; and, although her name
appeared jointly with that of her son, Charles the Fifth, in all public
acts, she never afterwards could be induced to sign a paper, or take
part in any transactions of a public nature. She lingered out a half
century of dreary existence, as completely dead to the world as the
remains which slept in the monastery of Santa Clara beside her.f
From this time the Catholic king exercised an authority nearly as
* King Ferdinand had granted him the title and territory of Oliveto in the kingdom of
Naples, in recompense for his eminent services in the Italian war.
t Philip's remains wore afterwards rctnnvcd to the cathedral church of Granada ; whcro
i posited, together with those of his wife Joauuu, in a magnificent sep'ilchrj
erected by Charles V. near that of Ferdinand and Isabella.
RT1IUE1IXT OF GOXSALVO. 507
undisputed, and far less limited and defined than in the days of Isabella.
11 did he feel in his seat, indeed, that he omitted to obtain the con-
stitutional warrant of cortes. He had greatly desired this at the late
irregular meeting of that body ; but it broke up, as we have seen,
without effecting anything : and, indeed, the disaffection of Burgos, and
some other principal cities, at that time, must have made the success of
such an application very doubtful. But the general cordiality with
which Ferdinand was greeted, gave no ground for apprehending such a.
result at present.
Many, indeed, of his partisans objected to any intervention of the
legislature in this matter, as superfluous; alleging that he held the
regency as natural guardian of his daughter, nominated, moreover, by
the queen's will, and confirmed by the cortes at Toro. These rig-ts,
they argued, were not disturbed by his resignation, which was a c m-
pulsory act, and had never received any express legislative sancti n ;
and which, in any event, must be considered as intended only for
Philip's lifetime, and to be necessarily determined with that.
But, however plausible these views, the irregularity of Ferdinand's
proceedings tarnished an argument for disobedience on the part of dis-
contented nobles, who maintained that they knew no supreme authority
but that of their queen Joanna, till some other had been sanctioned by
the legislature. The whole affair was finally settled, with more attention
to constitutional forms, in the cortes held at Madrid, October 6th, 1510,
when the king took the regular oaths as administrator of the realm in
his. daughter's name, and as guardian of her son.*
F>. rdiuand's deportment, on Ms first return, was distinguished by a
most gracious clemency, evinced not so much, indeed, by any exc
remuneration of services, as by the politic oblivion of injuries. If he
ever alluded to these, it was in a sportive way, implying that there was
no rancour or ill-will at heart. " "Who would have thought," he
exclaimed, one day, to a courtier near him, ' ' that you could so easily
abandon your old master for one so young and inexperienced f " " TVho
would have thought," replied the other with equal bluntness, " that my
old master would have outlived my young one '' "
"With all this complaisance, however, the king did not neglect precau-
tions for placing his authority on a sure basis, and fencing it round so as
to screen it effectually from the insults to which it had been formerly
exposed. He retained in pay most of the old Italian levies, with the
ostensible purpose of an African expedition. He took good care that the
military orders should hold their troops in constant readiness, and that
the militia of the kingdom should be in condition for instant service.
He formed a body-guard to attend the royal person on all occasions. It
consisted at first of only two hundred men, armed and drilled after tin-
fashion of the Swiss ordonnance, and placed under the command of the
chronicler Ayora, an experienced martinet, who made some figure at
the defence of Balsas. This institution probably was iiunied: ..
by the garde-du-corps of Louis the Twelfth, at S;ivoii:i t
r on a more formidable scale, indeed had excited his
* y. " rdinand's subsequent convocation of
cortc- '.n of the nation. It w;is the result of
the ir . Louis XI 1., : : which wao
to aecu
508 FERDINAND'S HETTIEX AND BEGENCY.
admiration by the magnificence of its appointments and its thorough
discipline.
Notwithstanding the king's general popularity, there were still a few
considerable persons who regarded his resumption of authority with an
evil eye. Of these, Don Juan Manuel had fled the kingdom before his
approach, and taken refuge at the court of Maximilian, where the
counsellors of that monarch took good care that he should not acquire
the ascendancy he had obtained over Philip. The duke of Najara, how-
ever, still remained in Castile, shutting himself up in his fortresses, and
refusing all compromise or obedience. The king without hesitation
commanded Navarro to march against him with his whole force.
Najara was persuaded by his friends to tender his submission, without
waiting the encounter ; and he surrendered his strongholds to the king,
who, after detaining them some time in his keeping, delivered them over
to the duke's eldest son.
With another offender he dealt more sternly. This was Don Pedro de
ordova, marquis of Priego, who, the reader may remember, when quite
a boy, narrowly escaped the bloody fate of his father, Alonso de Aguiiar,
in the fatal slaughter of the Sierra Vermeja. This nobleman, in common
with some other Andalusian lords, had taken umbrage at the little
estimation and favour shown them, as they conceived, by Ferdinand, in
comparison with the nobles of the north ; and his temerity went so far as
not only to obstruct the proceedings of one of the royal officers sent to
Cordova to inquire into recent disturbances there, but to imprison him
in the dungeons of his castle of Montilla.
This outrage on the person of his own servant exasperated the kiug
beyond all bounds. He resolved at once to make such an example of
the offender as should strike terror into the disaffected nobles, and shield
the royal authority from the repetition of similar indignities. As the
marquis was one of the most potent and extensively allied grandees in.
the kingdom, Ferdinand made his preparations on a formidable scale ;
ordering, in addition to the regular troops, a levy of all between the
ages of twenty and seventy throughout Andalusia. Priego's friends,
alarmed at these signs of the gathering tempest, besought him to avert
it, if possible, by instant concession ; and his uncle, the Great Captain,
urged this most emphatically, as the only way of escaping utter ruin.
The rash young man, finding himself likely to receive no support in
the unequal contest, accepted the counsel, and hastened to Toledo to
throw himself at the king's feet. The indignant monarch, however,
would not admit him into his presence, but ordered him to deliver up
his fortresses, and to remove to the distance of five leagues from the
court. The Great Captain soon after sent the king an inventory of his
nephew's castles and estates, at the same time deprecating his wrath, in
consideration of the youth and inexperience of the offender.
Ferdinand, however, without heeding this, went on with his prepara-
tions, and, having completed them, advanced rapidly to the south
When arrived at Cordova, he ordered the imprisonment of the marquis
(Sept. 1508). A formal process was then instituted against him before
the royal council, on the charge of high treason. He made no defence,
but threw himself on the mercy of his sovereign. The court declared
tliat he had incurred the penalty of death, but that the king, in con-
sideration of his submission, was graciously pleased to commute this for
BETIRE1TEXT OF GOXSALVO. 509
a fine of twenty millions of maravedis, perpetual banishment from
Cordova and its district, and the delivery of his fortresses into the royal
keeping, with the entire demolition of the offending castle of Montilla.
This last, famous as the birth-place of the Great Captain, was one of the
strongest and most beautiful buildings in all Andalusia. Sentence of
death was at the same time pronounced against several cavaliers and other
inii rior persons concerned in the affair, and was immediately executed.
The Castilian aristocracy, alarmed and disgusted by the severity of a
sentence which struck down one of the most considerable of their order,
were open in their remonstrances to the king, beseeching him, if no other
consideration moved him in favour of the young nobleman, to grant
something to the distinguished services of his lather and his \incle.
The latter, as well as the grand constable, Velasco, who enjoyed the
highest consideration at court, were equally pressing in their solicita-
tions. Ferdinand, however, was inexorable ; and the sentence was
executed. The nobles chafed in vain ; although the constable expostu-
lated with the king in a tone which no subject in Europe but a Castilian
grandee would have ventured to assume. Gonsalvo coolly remarked,
" It was crime enough in Don Pedro to be related to me."
This illustrious man had had good reason to feel, before this, that his
credit at court was on the wane. On his return to Spain, he was
received with unbounded enthusiasm by the nation. He was detained
by illness a few days behind the court ; and his journey towards Burgos,
to rejoin it, on his recovery, was a triumphal procession the whole way.
The roads were thronged with multitudes so numerous, that accommoda-
tions could scarcely be found for them in the towns on the route ; for
they came from the remotest parts of the country, all eager to catch a
glimpse of the hero whose name and exploits, the theme of story and of
song, were familiar to the meanest peasant in Castile. In this way he
made his entry into Burgos, amid the cheering acclamations of the
people, and attended by a cortege of officers, who pompously displayed
on their own persons and the caparisons of their steeds the rich spoils of
Italian conquests. The old count of Urefia, his friend, who, with the
whole court, came out by Ferdinand's orders to receive him, exclaimed,
with a prophetic sigh, as he saw the splendid pageant come sweeping by,
" This gallant ship, I fear, will require deeper water to ride in than she
will rind in Castile ! "
Ferdinand showed his usual gracious manners in his reception of
Gonsalvo. It was not long, however, before the latter found that this
was all he was to expect. Xo allusion was made to the gmndmastership.
AY lu-n it was at length brought before the king, and he was reminded of
his promises, he contrived to defer their performance under various
pretexts ; until, at length, it became too apparent that it was his inten-
tion to evade them altogether.
While the Great Captain and his friends were filled with an indL
tion at this duplicity which they could ill suppress, a circumstanco
occurred to increase the coldness arising in Ferdinand's mind towards hi
injured subject. This was the proposed marriage (a marriage which,
from whatever cause, never took place,*) of Gonsalvo's daughter, Elvira,
* He had two -wives, DoCa Blanca de Herrera, and Dona Juana de Aragon, and at hi
lo in the church of Santa Clam dc y . j.tr Kivira
; '.iut of C-ibnt.
S10 FERDINAND'S RETTLRN AND REGENCT.
to his friend the Constable of Castile.* Ferdinand had designed to secure
her large inheritance to his own family, by nn alliance with his jnv
son, Juan de Aragon, son of the archbishop of Saragassa. His
displeasure, at finding himself crossed in this, was further sharpened by
the petulant spirit of his young queen. The constable, now a widu\ver,
had been formerly married to a natural daughter of Ferdinand. Queen.
Gennaine, adverting to his intended union with the lady Elvira, uncere-
moniously asked him, " If he did not feel it a degradation to accept the
hand of a subject after having wedded the daughter of a king ? " " How
can I feel it so," he replied, alluding to the king's marriage with her,
" when so illustrious an example has been set me ! " Germaine, who
certainly could not boast the magnanimity of her predecessor, was so
stung with the retort, that she not only never forgave the constable, but
extended her petty resentment to Gonsalvo, who saw the duke of Alva
from this time installed in the honours he had before exclusively enjoyed,
of immediate attendance on her royal person whenever she appeared in
public.
However indifferent Gonsalvo may have been to the little mortifica-
tions inflicted by female spleen, he could no longer endure his residence
at a court where he had lost all consideration with the sovereign, and
experienced nothing but duplicity and base ingratitude. He obtained
leave, without difficulty, to withdraw to his own estates; where, not L.ng
after, the king, as if to make some amends for the gross violation oi
promises, granted him the royal city of Loja, not many leagues Iruiu
Granada. It was given to him for life ; and Ferdinand had the
effrontery to propose, as a condition of making the grant perpetual to his
heirs, that Gonsalvo should relinquish his claim to the grandmastership
of St. Jago. But the latter haughtily answered, " He would not give
up the right of complaining of the injustice done him for the finest city
in the king's dominions."
From this time he remained on his estates in the south, chiefly at
Loja, with an occasional residence in Granada, where he enjoyed the
society of his old friend and military instructor, the count of Tendilla.
He found abundant occupation in schemes for improving the condition of
his tenantry, and of the neighbouring districts. He took great interest
in the fate of the unfortunate Moriscoes, numerous in this quarter, whom
he shielded as far as possible from the merciless grasp of the Inquisition,
while he supplied teachers and other enlightened means for converting
them, or confirming them in a pure faith. He displayed the same
magnificence and profuse hospitality in his living that he had always
done. His house was visited by such intelligent foreigners as came to
Spain, and by the most distinguished of his countrymen, especially the
younger nobility and cavaliers, who resorted to it as the best school of
nigh-bred and knightly courtesy. He showed a lively curiosity in all
that was going on abroad, keeping up his information by an extensive
* Bernardino de Velasco, grand constable of Castile, as he was called par excellence.
Buceccd .1 in 1492 to that dignity, which became hereditary in his family. He was third
count of Haro, and was created by the Catholic sovereigns, for his distinguished services,
duke of Frias. He had large estates, chiefly iu Old Castile ; with a yearly revenue,
according to L. Marineo, of GO.OOO ducats. He appears to have possessed many noble and
brilliant qualities, accompanied, however, with a haughtiness which made him feared
rather than loved. He died in February, 151'-', after a few hours' illness, as appears by a
letter of Peter Martyr.
AFBICAX EXPEDITION OF XI3IEXES. 511
correspondence with agents whom, he regularly employed for the purpose
in the principal European courts. When the league of Cambray was
adjusted, the king of France and the pope were desirous of giving him the
command of the allied armies ; but Ferdinand had injured him too
sensibly, to care to see him again at the head of a military force in Italy.
Jit- was as little desirous of employing him in public affairs at home, and
suffered the remainder of his days to pass away in distant seclusion ; a
seclusion, however, not unpleasingto himself, nor unprofitable to others.*
The world called it disgrace ; and the old count of Urefia exclaimed,
"The good ship is stranded at last, as I predicted !" "Not so," said
Gonsalvo, to whom the observation was reported, " she is still in excel-
lent trim, and waits only the rising of the tide to bear away as bravely
as ever."
CHAPTEE XXI.
xrirv- CONQUESTS nr AFRICA UNIVERSITY OF ALCALA POLYGLOT BIBLI.
15081510.
Enthusiasm of Ximciics His warlike Preparations He scuds an Army to Africa Storms
Oran His triumphant Entry The King's Distrust of him He returns to Spain
Nrivarro's African Conquests Magnificent Endowments of Ximeucs University of
-Complutensfem Polyglot.
THE high-handed measures of Ferdinand in regard to the marquis of
Priego and some other nobles excited general disgust among the jealous
cracy of Castile ; but they appear to have found more favour with
the commons, who were probably not unwilling to see that haughty body
humbled which had so often trampled on the rights of its inferiors. As
a matter of policy, however, even with the nobles, this course does not
to have been miscalculated ; since it showed that the king, whose
talents they had always respected, was now possessed of power to enforce
obedience, and was fully resolved to exert it.
Indeed, notwithstanding a few deviations, it must be allowed that
Ferdinand's conduct on his return was extremely lenient and liberal ;
more especially, considering the subjects of provocation he had sustained,
in the personal insults and desertion of those on whom he had heaped
so many favours. History affords few examples of similar moderation
on the restoration of a banished prince or party. In fact, a violent and
tyrannical course would not have been agreeable to his character, iu
which passion, however strong by nature, was habitually subjected to
reason. The present, as it would seem, excessive acts of severity, are
to be regarded, therefore, not as the sallies of personal resentment, but
as the dictates of a calculating policy, intended to strike terror into the
turbulent spirits whom fear only could hold in check.
To this energetic course he was stimulated, as was said, by the
counsels of Ximenes. This eminent prelate had now reached the hi
ecclesiastical honours short of the papacy. Soon after Ferdinand's
Tb Inscription on Guicciardini's monument might have been written on Gonsalvo'i
" Cttfus negotium, an ctium. sloriosius incertum."
512 AFRICAN EXPEDITION OF XIMENES.
restoration, he received a cardinal's hat from Pope Julius the Second ;*
and this was followed by his appointment to the office of inquisitor-
general of Castile, in the place of Deza, archbishop of Seville. The
important functions devolved on him by these offices, in conjunction with
the primacy of Spain, might be supposed to furnish abundant subject and
scope for his aspiring spirit. But his views, on the contrary, expanded
with every step of his elevation, and now fell little short of those of an
independent monarch. His zeal glowed fiercer than ever for the propa-
tion of the Catholic faith. Had he lived in the age of the crusades, he
would indubitably have headed one of those expeditions himself ; for the
spirit of the soldier burned strong and bright under his monastic weeds.
Indeed, like Columbus, he had formed plans for the recovery of the Holy
Sepulchre, even at this late day.f But his zeal found a better direction
in a crusade against the neighbouring Moslems of Africa, who had
retaliated the wrongs of Granada by repeated descents on the southern,
coasts of the Peninsula, calling in vain for the interference of the govern-
ment. At the instigation, and with the aid of Xinienes, an expedition
had been fitted out soon after Isabella's death, which resulted in the
capture of Mazarquivir, an important port, and formidable nest of
pirates, on the Barbary coast, nearly opposite Carthagena (Sept. 13,
1505). He now meditated a more difficult enterprise, the conquest of
Oran.
This place, situated about a league from the former, was one of the
most considerable of the Moslem possessions in the Mediterranean, being
a principal mart for the trade of the Levant. It contained about
twenty thousand inhabitants, was strongly fortified, and had acquired a
degree of opulence by its extensive commerce which enabled it to maintain
a swarm of cruisers that swept this inland sea, and made fearful depreda-
tions on its populous borders.
No sooner was Ferdinand quietly established again in the government,
than Ximenes urged him to undertake this new conquest. The king saw
its importance, but objected the want of funds. The cardinal, who was
prepared for this, replied, that " he was ready to lend whatever sums
were necessary, and to take sole charge of the expedition, leading it, if
the king pleased, in person." Ferdinand, who had no objection to this
mode of making acquisitions, more especially as it would open a
vent for the turbulent spirits of his subjects, readily acquiesced in the
proposition.
The enterpiise, however disproportionate it might seem to the
resources of a private individual, was not beyond those of the cardinal.
He had been carefully husbanding his revenues for some time past, with
a view to this object ; although he had occasionally broken in upon his
appropriations to redeem unfortunate Spaniards who had been swept into
slavery. He had obtained accurate surveys of the Barbary coasts from
an Italian engineer named Yianelli. He had advised, as to the best
* He obtained this dignity at the king's solicitation, during his visit to Naples,
f From a letter of King Emanuel of Portugal, it appears that Ximenes had endeavoured
to interest him, together with the kings of Aragon and England, in a crusade to the Hcly
Land. There was much method in his madness, if we may judge from the careful survey
lie had procured of the coast, as well as his plan of operations. The Portuguese monarch
- in round terms the edifying zeal of the primate, but wisely confined himself to
Jus own crusades in India, which were likely to make better returns, at least in this -world,
than those to Palestine.
TTXIVEBSITY OF ALCALA. 513
mo'V 'perations, with his friend Gonsalvo <le Corilova : to
whom, it' it had been the king's pleasure, he would gladly have intrusted
the conduct of the expedition. At his , that post was now
d to the celebrated engineer Count Pedro Xavarro.
No time was lost in completing the requisite preparations. Desides
the Italian veterans, levies were drawn from all quarters oi the countrv,
especially from the cardinal's own diocese. The chapter of Toledo
entered heartily into his views, furnishing liberal supplies, and offering to
accompany the expedition in person. An ample train of ordnance was
procured, with provisions and military stores lor the maintenance of au
army four months, lictbre the close of spring, in 1<309, all was in
readiness; and a fleet of ten u alleys and eighty smaller vessels rode i;i
the harbour of Carthageua, having on board a force am,mnting in all to
four thousand horse and ten thousand foot. Such were the resources,
activity, and energy displayed by a man whose life, until within a very
few years, had been spent in cloistered solitudes, and in the quiet
practices of religion ; and who now, oppressed with infirmities more than
usual, had passed the seventieth year of his age.
In accomplishing all this, the cardinal had experienced greater
obstacles than those arising from bodily infirmity or age. His plans had
been constantly discouraged and thwarted by the nobles, who derided
the idea of "a monk fighting the battles of Spain, while the Great
Captain was left to stay at home, and count his beads like a hermit."
The soldiers, especially those of Italy, as well as their commander
iS'avarro, trained under the banners of Gonsalvo, showed little inclina-
tion to serve under their spiritual leader. The king himself was cooled
by these various manifestations of discontent. But the storm which
prostrates the weaker spirit, serves only to root the stronger more firmly
in its purpose; and the genius of Ximenes, rising with the obstacles it
had to encounter, finally succeeded in triumphing over all, in reconciling
the king, disappointing the nobles, and restoring obedience and
discipline to the army.
On the 16th of May, 1509, the fleet weighed anchor, and on the fol-
lowing day reached the Africa port of Mazarquivir. Xo time was lost in
disembarking; for the fires on the hill tops showed that the country was
already in alarm. It was proposed to direct the main attack against a
lofty height, or ridge of land, rising between Mazarquivir and Oran, so
near the latter as entirely to command it. At th- same time, the fleet
was to drop down before the Moorish city, and by opening a brisk
cannonade, divert the attention of the inhabitants from the principal
point of assault.
As >.ion as the Spanish army had landed, and formed in order of
battle, .Xinienes mounted his mule, and rode along the ranks. He was
dresM d in his pontifical robes, with a belted sword at his side. A
I'raneisrun friar rode before him, bearing aloft the massive silver cross,
the arehiepiscopal standard of Toledo. Around him were other
brethren of the order, wearing their monastic frocks, with scimitars
han^iim- t'roin their girdles. As the ghostly cavalcade advanced, they
raised the triumphant hymn of J'fjrili'tt /<;//.<, until at length the cardinal
ascending a rising ground, imposed silence, and made a brief but
animated harangue to his soldiers. He reminded them of the wrongs
they had suffered from the Moslems, the devastation of their coasts, and
t u
614 AFIUCA.:N EXPEDITION or XIMEXES.
their, brethren dragged into merciless slavery. When he had sufficiently
roused their resentment against the enemies of their country and religion,
he stimulated their cupidity by dwelling on the golden spoil which
awaited them in the opulent city of Oran : and he concluded his discourse
by declaring that he had come to peril his own life in the good cause of
the Cross, and to lead them on to battle, as his predecessors had often
done before him.
The venerable aspect and heart- stirring eloquence of the primate
kindled a deep, reverential enthusiasm in the bosoms of his martial
audience, which showed itself by the profoundest silence. The officers,,
however, closed around him at the conclusion of the address, and
besought him not to expose his sacred person to the hazard of the fight ;
reminding him that his presence would probably do more harm than
good, by drawing off the attention of the men to his personal safety.
This last consideration moved the cardinal, who, though reluctantly,
consented to relinquish the command to Navarre ; and after uttering hia
parting benediction over the prostrate ranks, he withdrew to the
neighbouring fortress of Mazarquivir.
The day was now far spent, and dark clouds of the enemy were seen-
gathering along the tops of the sierra, which it was proposed first to-
attack. Navarro, seeing this post so strongly occupied, doubted whether
his men would be able to carry it before nightfall, if indeed at all,
without previous rest and refreshment, after the exhausting labours of
the day. He retxirned, therefore, to Mazarquivir, to take counsel of
Ximenes. The latter, whom he found at his devotions, besought him
" not to falter at this hour, but to go forward in God's name, since both
the blessed Saviour and the false prophet Mahomet conspired to deliver
the enemy into his hands." The soldier's scruples vanished before the-
intrepid bearing of the prelate, and, returning to the army, he gave
instant orders to advance.
Slowly and silently the Spanish troops began their ascent up the steep
sides of the sierra, under the friendly cover of a thick mist, which,
rolling heavily down the skirts of the hills, shielded them for a time
from the eye of the enemy. As soon as they emerged from it, however,
they were saluted with showers of balls, arrows, and other deadly
missiles, followed by the desperate charges of the Moors, who, rushing-
down, endeavoured to drive back the assailants. But they made no*
impression on the long pikes and deep ranks of the latter, which
remained unshaken as a rock. Still the numbers of the enemy, fully
equal to those of the Spaniards, and the advantages of their position,
enabled them to dispute the ground with fearful obstinacy. At length,
Navarro got a small battery of heavy guns to operate on the flank of
the Moors. The effect of this movement was soon visible. The exposed
sides of the Moslem column, finding no shelter from the deadly volleys,
were shaken and thrown into disorder. The confusion extended to the
leading files, which now,, pressed heavily by the iron array of spearmen
in the Christian van, began to give ground. Retreat was soon quickened
into a disorderly flight. The Spaniards pursued ; many of them,
especially the raw levies, breaking their ranks, and following up the
flying foe without the least regard to the commands or menaces of their
officers ; a circumstance which might have proved fatal, had the Moors
had strength or discipline to rally. As it was, the scattered numbers of
T7NIVESIir OF ALCALA. 51,"j
the Christians, magnifying to the eye their real force, served only to
increase the panic and accelerate the speed of the fugitives.
While this was going on, the fleet had anchored before the city, and
opened a very heavy cannonade, which was answeriil with equal spirit
froru sixty pieces of artillery which garnished the fortifications. The
troops on board, however, made good their landing, and soon joined
themselves to their victorious countrymen, descending from the sierra.
They then pushed forward in all haste towards Oran, proposing to carry
the place by escalade. They were poorly provided with ladders, but
the desperate energy of the moment overleaped every obstacle ; and
planting their long pikes against the walls, or thrustinir them into the
crevices of the stones, they clambered up with incredible dexterity,
although they were utterly unable to repeat the feat the next day in cold
blood. The first who gained the summit was Sousa, captain of tho
cardinal's guard, who, shouting forth "St. .Ta^o and Ximenes!"
unfurled his colours, emblazoned with the primate's arms on one side,
and the Cross on the other, and planted them on the battlements. Six
ther banners were soon seen streaming from the ramparts; and the
soldiers, leaping into the town, got possession of the gates, and threw
them open to their comrades. The whole army now rushed in, sweeping
. thing before it. Some few of the Moors endeavoured to make head
against the tide, but most fled into the houses and mosques for protection.
Resistance and flight were alike unavailing. No mercy was shown ; no
respect for age or sex ; and the soldiery abandoned themselves to all
the brutal licence and ferocity which se<?m to stain religious wars above
every other. It was in vain Xavarro called them off. They returned
like blood-hounds to the slaughter, and never slackened, till at last,
wearied with butchery, and gorged with the food and wine found in the
houses, they sunk down to sleep promiscuously in the streets and public
squares.
The sun, which on the preceding morning had shed its rays on Oran,
flourishing in all the pride of commercial opulence, and teeming with a
free and industrious population, next rose on a captive city, with its
ferocious conquerors stretched in slumber on the heaps of their slaughtered
victims. No less than four thousand Moors were said to have tallen in
the battle, and from five to eight thousand were made prisoners. The
loss of the Christians was inconsiderable. As soon as the Spanish com-
mander had taken the necessary measures for cleansing the place from its
foid and dismal impiirities, he sent to the cardinal, and invited him to
take possession of it. The latter embarked on board his galley, and, as
he coasted along the margin of the city, and saw its gay pavilions and
sparkling minarets reflected in the waters, his soul swelled with satis-
faction at the glorious acquisition he had made for Christian Spain. It
seemed incredible, that a town so strongly manned and fortified should
have been carried so easily.
As Ximenes landed and entered the gates, attended by his train of
monkish brethren, he was hailed with thundering acclamations by the
army as the true victor of Oran, in whose behalf Heaven had con-
ie-eended to repeat the stupendous miracle of Joshua, by stopping the
sun in his career. But the cardinal, humbly disclaiming all merits of
his own, was heard to repeat aloud the sublime language of the Psalmist,
" Non nobis, Domine, non nobis," whiie he gave his benedictions to th*
ftfcl
516 AFRICAN EXPEDITION OF XIMEXES.
Boldiery. He was then conducted to the alcazar, and the keys of the
fortress were put into his hand. The spoil of the captured city, amount-
ing, as was said, to half a million of gold ducats, the fruit of long suc-
cessive trade and piracy, was placed at his disposal for distribution.
But that which gave most joy to his heart was the liberation of three
hundred Christian captives, languishing in the dungeons of Oran. A
few hours after the surrender, the mezuar of Tremecen arrived with a
powerful reinforcement to its relief ; but instantly retreated on learning
the tidings. Fortunate, indeed, was it that the battle had not been
deferred till the succeeding day. This, which must be wholly ascribed
to Ximenes, was by most referred to direct inspiration. Quite as
probable an explanation may be found in the boldness and impetuous
enthusiasm of the cardinal's character.
The conquest of Oran opened unbounded scope to the ambition of
Ximenes, who saw in imagination the banner of the Cross floating
triumphant from the walls of every Moslem city on the Mediterranean.
He experienced, however, serious impediments to his further progress.
Navarro, accustomed to an independent command, chafed in his present
subordinate situation, especially under a spiritual leader, whose military
science he justly held in contempt. He was a rude unlettered soldier,
and bluntly spoke his mind to the primate. He told him, ' ' his com-
mission under him terminated with the capture of Oran ; that two
generals were too many in one army ; that the cardinal should rest
contented with the laurels he had already won, and, instead of playing
the king, go home to his flock, and leave fighting to those to whom the
trade belonged."
But what troubled the prelate more than this insolence of his general
was a letter which fell into his hands, addressed by the king to Count
^avarro, in which he requested him to be sure to find some pretence for
detaining the cardinal in Africa as long as his presence could be made
any way serviceable. Ximenes had good reason before to feel that the
royal favour to him flowed from selfishness, rather than from any
personal regard. The king had always wished the archbishopric of
Toledo for his favourite and natural son, Alfonso of Aragon. After his
return from Naples, he importuned Ximenes to resign his see, and
exchange it for that of Saragossa, held by Alfonso : till at length the
indignant prelate replied, " that he would never consent to barter away
the dignities of the church; that if his Highness pressed him any
further, he would indeed throw up the primacy, but it should be to bury
himself in the friar's cell from which the queen had originally called
him." Ferdinand, who, independently of the odium of such a proceed-
ing, could ill afford to part with so able a minister, knew his inflexible
temper too well ever to resume the subject.*
With some reason, therefore, for distrusting the goodwill of his
sovereign, Ximenes put the worst possible construction on the expressions
in his letter. He saw himself a mere tool in Ferdinand's hands, to be
used so long as occasion might serve, with the utmost indifference to his
own interests or convenience. These humiliating suspicions, together
with the aiTogant hearing of his general, disgusted him with the further
* " The worthy brother,"says Sandoval of the prelate, " thought his archbishopric wortk
more than the good graces of a covetous old monarch. "
rXIVEESITT OF ALCAL1. 517
prosecution of the expedition ; while he was confirmed in his purpose of
returning to Spurn, and found an obvious apology for it in the state of
his own health, too innrin to encounter with safety the wasting heats of
an African summer.
Before his departure, he summoned Xavarro and his officers ahout him,
and alter giving them much good counsel respecting the government and
defence of their new acquisitions, he placed at their disposal an ample
supply of funds and stores for the maintenance of the army several
months. He then embarked (May 22), not with the pompous array and
circumstance of a hero returning from his conquests, but with a l<-\v
domestics only, in an unarmed galley ; showing, as it were, by this
very act, the good ell'eets of his enterprise, in the security which it
brought to the before perilous navigation of these inland seas.
.Splendid preparations were made for his reception in Spain ; and he
was invited to visit the court at Valladolid, to receive the homage and
public testimonials due to his eminent services. But his ambition was
of too noble a kind to be dazzled by the false lights of an ephemeral
popularity. He had too much pride of character, indeed, to allow room
lor the indulgence of vanity. He declined these compliments, and
hastened without loss of time to his favourite city of Alcala. There,
too, the citizens, anxious to do him honour, turned out under arms to
receive him ; and made a breach in the walls, that he might make his
entry in a style worthy of a conqueror. But this, also, he declined ;
choosing to pass into the to\vu by the regular avenue, with no peculiar
circumstance attending his entrance, save only a small train of camels,
led by African slaves, and laden with gold and silver plate from the
mosques of Oraii, and a precious collection of Arabian manuscripts for
the library of his infant university of Alcala.
He showed similar modesty and simplicity in his deportment and
conversation. He made no allusion to the stirring scenes in which he
had been so gloriously engaged ; and, if others made any, turned the
discourse into some other channel, particularly to the condition of his
college, its discipline and literary progress, which, with the great
project for the publication of his famous Polyglot Bible, seemed now
almost wholly to absorb his attention.
His first care, however, was to visit the families in his diocese, and
minister consolation and relief, which he did in the most benevolent
manner, to those who were sult'ering from the loss of friends, whether by
death or absence, in the late campaign. Xor did he in his academical
retreat lose sight of the great object which had so deeply interested him,
of extending the empire of the Cross over Africa. From time to time he
remitted supplies for the maintenance of Oran ; and he lost no oppor-
tunity of stimulating Ferdinand to prosecute his conquests.
The Catholic king, however, felt too sensibly the importance of his
new possessions to require such admonition ; and Count Pedro Xavarro
was furnished with ample resources of every kind, and, above all, with
the veterans formed under the eye of Gonsalvo de Cordova. Thus
placed on an independent field of conquest, the Spanish general was not
slow in pushing his advantages. His first enterprise was against
Bugia (Jan. 13, 1510), whose king at the head of a powerful army, he
routed in two pitched battles, and got possession of his flourishing capital
(Jan. 31). Algiers, Tennis, Tiviin.ceii, and other cities on the Barbary
518 AF1UCAN EXPEDITION OF
coast submitted, one after another, to the Spanish arms. The in-
habitants were received as vassals of the Catholic king, engaging to pay
the taxes usuallv imposed by their Moslem princes, and to serve him ia
war, with the addition of the whimsical provision, so often found in the
old Granadine treaties, to attend him in cortes. They guaranteed,
moreover, the liberation of all Christian captives in their dominions ;
for which the Algerines, however, took care to indemnify themselves, by
extorting the full ransom from their Jewish residents. It was of little
moment to the wretched Israelite which party won the day, Christian or
Mussulman ; he was sure to be stripped in either case.
On the 26th of July, 1510, the ancient city of Tripoli, after a most
bloody and desperate defence, surrendered to the amis of the victorious
general, whose name had now become terrible along the whole northern
borders of Africa. In the following month, however, (Aug. 28,) he met
with a serious discomfiture in the island of Gelves, where four thousand
of his men were slain or made prisoners. This check in the brilliant
career of Count Navarre put a final stop to the progress of the Castilian
arms in Africa under Ferdinand.*
The results already obtained, however, were of great importance,
whether we consider the value of the acquisitions, being some of the
most opulent marts on the Barbary coast, or the security gained for
commerce, by sweeping the Mediterranean of the pestilent hordes of
marauders which had so long infested it. Most of the new conquests
escaped from the Spanish crown in later times, through the imbecility or
indolence of Ferdinand's successors. The conquests of Ximenes, how-
ever, were placed in so strong a posture of defence, as to resist every
attempt for their recovery by the enemy, and to remain permanently
incorporated with the Spanish empire.
This illustrioiis prelate, in the meanwhile, was busily occupied in his
retirement at Alcala de Henares, with watching over the interests and
rapid development of his infant university. This institution was too
important in itself, and exercised too large an influence over the intel-
lectual progress of the country, to pass unnoticed in a history of the
present reign.
As far back as 1497, Ximenes had conceived the idea of establishing a
university in the ancient town of Alcala, where the salubrity of the air,
and the sober, tranquil complexion of the scenery, on the beautiful
borders of the Henares, seemed well suited to academic study and
meditation. He even went so far as to obtain plans at this time for his
buildings from a celebrated architect. Other engagements, however,
postponed the commencement of the work till 1500, when the cardinal
* The reader may feel some curiosity respecting the fate of Count Pedro Navarre. He
oon after this weat to Italy, where he held a high command, and maintained his reputation
in the wars of cr.at country until he was taken by the French in the great battle of
Ravenna. Through the carelessness or coldnessof Ferdinand, he was \ erm'.fcted to languish
in captivity, till he took his revenge by enlisting in the service of the Fronoh monarch.
Before doing this, however, he resigned his Neapolitan estates, and formally ,^nouucL'l his
allegiance to the Catholic kinpr, of whom, being a Navarrese by birth, he was not a native
subject. He unfortunately fell into the hands of his own countrymen, in one of the sub-
sequent actions i'i Italy : aivl was imprisoned at Naples, in Cartel Nuovo, which he had
himself formerly gained" from the French. Here he soon after died ; if we are to believe
Brantume, being privately dispatched by command of Charles V. ; or, as other writers
Intimate, by his own hand. His remains, first dejKisited in an obscure corner of the church
of Santa Maria, were afterwards removed to the chapel of the great Gonsalvo, and a superb
uausoltum was erected over them by the prince of bessa, grandson of the hero.
OP ALCALA. 51S
himself laid the corner-stone of the principal college, with a solemn
ceremonial, and invocation of the blessing of II< aveii ou li:
Prom that hour, amidst all the engrossing cares of church and state, he
never lost sight of this great object. When at Alcala, he might be
frequently seen on the ground, with the rule in his hand, taking the
admeasurements of the buildings, and stimulating the industry of the
workmen by seasonable rewards.
The plans were too extensive, however, to admit of being speedily
accomplished. Besides the principal college of San Ildefonso, named iu
honour of the patron saint of Toledo, there were nine others, together
with an hospital for the reception of invalids at the university. These
edifices were built in the most substantial manner ; and such parts as
admitted of it, as the libraries, refectories, and chapels, were finished
with elegance and even splendour. The city of Alcala underwent many
important and expensive alterations, in order to render it more worthy of
being the seat of a great and flourishing university. The stagnant water
was carried oft' by drains, the streets were paved, old buildings removed,
and new and spacious avenues thrown open.*
At the expiration of eight years, the cardinal had the satisfaction of
seeing the whole of his vast design completed, and every apartment of
the spacious pile carefully furnished with all that was requisite for the
comfort and accommodation of the student. It was indeed a noble
enterprise, more particularly when viewed as the work of a private
individual. As such it raised the d"epest admiration in Francis the
First, when lie visited the spot a few years alter the cardinal's death.
''Your Ximenes," said he, "has executed more than I should have
dared to conceive ; he has done with liis single hand, what in France it
lias cost a line of kings to accomplish."
The erection of the buildings, however, did not terminate the labours
of the primate, who now assumed the task of digesting a scheme of
instruction and discipline for his infant seminary. In doing this, he
sought light wherever it was to be found ; and borrowed many useful
hints from the venerable university of Paris. His system was of the
most enlightened kind, being directed to call all the powers of the
student into action, and not to leave him a mere passive recipient iu the
hands of his teachers. Besides daily recitations and lectures, he was
required to take part in public examinations and discussions, so con-
ducted as to prove effectually his talent and acquisitions. In these
gladiatorial displays Ximenes took the deepest interest, arid often
encouraged the generous emulation of the scholar by attending in
person.
Two provisions may be noticed as characteristic of the man. One,
that the salary of a professor should be regulated by the number of his
disciples: another, that every professor should be re-eligible at the
expiration of every four years. It was impossible that any servant of
Ximenes should sleep on his post.
Liberal foundations were made for indigent students, especially in
divinity. Indeed theological studies or rather such a general course of
study as should properly enter into the education of a Christian minister,
The (rood people accused the cardinal of too great a passion for building; and punuincrly
said, " The church of Toledo had never had a bishop of greater edification, in every sen**
than Ximcno."
620 Ann CAN EXPEDITIOX OF
was the avowed object of the institution; for the Spanish clergy, up to
this period, as before noticed, were too often deficient in the most
common elements of learning. But, in this preparatory discipline the
comprehensive mind of Ximenes embraced nearly the whole circle of
sciences taught in other universities. Out of the forty-two chairs,
indeed, twelve only were dedicated to divinity and the canon law, while-
fourteen were appropriated to grammar, rhetoric, and the ancient
classics ; studies which, probably, found especial favour with the
cardinal, as furnishing the only keys to a correct criticism and interpre-
tation of the Scriptures.
Having completed his arrangements, the cardinal sought the most
competent agents for carrying his plans into execution ; and this
indifferently from abroad and at home. His mind was too lofty for
narrow local prejudices ; and the tree of knowledge, he knew, bore
fruit in every clime. He took especial care that the emolument should
be sufficient to tempt talent from obscurity, and from quarters, however
remote, where it was to be found. In this he was perfectly successful,
and we find the university catalogue at this time inscribed with the
names of the most distinguished scholars in their various departments,
many of whom we are enabled to appreciate by the enduring memorials
of erudition which they have bequeathed to us.
In July 1508, the cardinal received the welcome intelligence that his
academy was opened for the admission of pupils ; and in the following,
month the first lecture, being on Aristotle's Ethics, was publicly
delivered. Students soon flocked to the new university, attracted by
the reputation of its professors, its ample apparatus, its thorough system
of instruction, and, above all, its splendid patronage, and the high
character of its founder. We have no information of their number in
Ximenes' lifetime ; but it must have been very considerable, since no
less than seven thousand came out to receive Francis the First, on his-
visit to the university, within twenty years after it was opened.
Five years after this period, in 1513, King Ferdinand, in an excursion
made for the benefit of his declining health, paid a visit to Alcala.
Ever since his return from Oran, the cardinal, disgusted with publia
life, had remained with a few brief exceptions, in his own diocese,,
devoted solely to his personal and professional duties. It was with
proud satisfaction that he now received his sovereign, and exhibited to
him the noble testimony of the great objects to which his retirement had
been consecrated. The king, whose naturally inquisitive mind no illness
could damp, visited every part of the establishment, and attended the
examinations, and listened to the public disputations of the scholars-
with interest. With little learning of his own, he had been made too.
often sensible of his deficiences not to appreciate it in others. His acute
perception readily discerned the immense benefit to his kingdom, and the
glory conferred on his reign, by the labours of his ancient minister;:
and he did ample justice to them in the unqualified terms of his
commendation.
It was on this occasion that the rector of San Ildefonso, the head of
the university, came out to receive the king, preceded by his iisual train
of attendants, with their maces, or wands of office. The royal guard, at
this exhibition, called out to them to lay aside these insignia, as unbe-
coming any subject in the presence of his sovereign. "Xot so," ai
CNIVIOiSITY OF ALCALA. 521
Ferdinand, who Lad tlie good sense to perceive that majesty could not
be degraded by its homage to letters ; " not so ; this is the seat of the
^lu- <, ami those who are initiated in their mysteries have the best right
to reign here."
In the midst of his pressing duties, Ximenes found time for the
execution of another Avork, which would alone have been sufficient to
render his name immortal in the republic of letUrs. This was his.
famous Bible, or C'omplutensian Polyglot, as usually termed, from the
place where it was printed. It was on the plan, h'rst conceived by
Origen, of exhibiting in one view th- Scriptures in their various ancient
It was a work of surpassing difficulty, demanding an.
and critical acquaintance with the most ancient, and conse-
quently t:. i;ianu>crij)ts. The character and station of the
cardinal afforded him, it is true, uncommon facilities. The preciou*
collection of the Vatican was liberally thrown open to him, especially
under Leo the Tenth, whose muniticeut spirit delighted in the under-
taking. He obtained copies, in like manner, of whatever was of value
in the other libraries of Italy, and, indeed, of Europe generally ; and
Spain supplied him with editions of the Old Testament of great
antiquity, which had been treasured up by the banished Israelites*
some idea may be formed of the lavish expenditure in this way, from
the fact that four thousand gold crowns were paid for seven foreign
manuscripts, which, however, came too late to be of use in the
compilation.
The conduct of the work was intrusted to nine scholars, well skilled
in the ancient tongues, as most of them had evinced by works of critical
acutencss and erudition. After the labours of the day, these learned
were accustomed to meet, in order to settle the doubts and
difficulties which had arisen in the course of their researches, and, iu
short, to compare the results of their observations. Ximenes, who.
however, limited his attainments in general literature, was an excellent
biblical critic, frequently presided, and took a prominent part in these-
deliberations. " Lose no time, my friends,," he would say, " in the
prosecution of our glorious work; lest, in the casualties of life, you
should lose your patron, or I have to lament the loss of those whose ser-
vices are of more price in my eyes than wealth and worldly honours."*
The difficulties of the undertaking were sensibly increased by those
of the printing. The art was then in its infancy, and there were no
in Spain, if indeed in any part of Europe, in the oriental character.
Ximenes, however, careful to have the whole executed under his own
c \v, imported artists from Germany, and had types cast in the variou*
languages required, in his founderies at Alcala.
The work, when completed, occupied six volumes folio ;t the first four
devoted to the Old Testament, the lifth to the !New ; the last containing
* The scholars employed in the compilation were the venerable Lebrija, the learned
Nuiiiv. , i>t' wiinm the reader has had some account. Loju-z de Zuf.iga, a contro-
versialist of Erasmus, Bartholomeo de Castro, the famous Greek lemetrius Cretensis, and
J u:m de Vcrgara : all thi>n>u_->i linguists, especially in the Greek and Latin. To these
were joined Paulo i nso a physieian, and Alfonso /amora, converted Jews.,
and familiar with the oriental laiiiriia^cs. Zaruora has the merit of the philological com-
pilations relative to the Hebrew :i: :u the last volume.
t The work was originally put at the extremely low price of six ducats and a half a copy.
As only n.'wevef. were struck off, it has become exceedingly rare and valuable.
According to Brunei, it has been sold as hit'U as UU.
522 AFRICAN EXPEDITION OF XIMENES.
a Hebrew and Chaldiac vocabulary, with other elementary treatises of
singular labour and learning. It was not brought to an end till 1517,
fifteen years after its commencement, and a few months only before tha
death of its illustrious projector. Alvaro Gomez relates, that he had
often heard John Broccario, the son of the printer, say, that when the
last sheet was struck off, he, then a child, was dressed in his best attire,
and sent with a copy to the cardinal. The latter, as he took it, raised
his eyes to Heaven, and devoutly offered up his thanks for being
spared to the completion of this good work. Then turning to his
friends who were present, he said, tkat, " of all the acts which distin-
guished his administration, there was none, however arduous, better
entitled to their congratulation than this."*
This is not the place, if I were competent, to discuss the merits of this
great work, the reputation of which is familiar to every scholar^
Critics, indeed, have disputed the antiquity of the manuscripts used in
the compilation, as well as the correctness and value of the emendations.
Unfortunately, the destruction of the original manuscripts, in a manner
which forms one of the most whimsical anecdotes in literary history,
makes it impossible to settle the question satisfactorily, f Undoubtedlv,
many blemishes may be charged on it, necessarily incident to an a^e
when the science of criticism was imperfectly understood, and the
stock of materials much more limited, or at least, more difficult of
access, than at the present day. After every deduction, however, the
cardinal's Bible has the merit of being the first successful attempt at a
polyglot version of the Scriptures, and consequently, of facilitating,
even by its errors, the execution of more perfect and later works of the
kind. Nor can, we look at it in connexion with the age, and the
auspices under which it was accomplished, without regarding it as a
noble monument of piety, learning, and munificence, which entitles its
author to the gratitude of the whole Christian world.
Such were the gigantic projects which amused the leisure hours of
this great prelate. Though gigantic, they were neither beyond his
strength to execute, nor beyond the demands of his age and country.
They were not like those works which, forced into being by whim or
transitory impulse, perish with the breath that made them ; but, taking
deep root, were cherished and invigorated by the national sentiment, so
as to bear rich fruit for posterity. This was particularly the case with
the institution at Alcala. It soon became the subject of royal and
private benefaction. Its founder bequeathed it, at his death, a clear
it venue of fourteen thousand ducats. By the middle of the seventeenth
century, this had increased to forty-two thousand, and the colleges had
multiplied from ten to thirty-five.*
a me, o a roce-maer o e own, wo soon wore em up n te reguar way o
his vocation ! lie assign!! no reason ti.v doubting the truth of the story. The name of the
librarian, unfortunately, is not recorded. It would have been as imperishable as that of Omar.
t Ferdinand and Isabella concede 1 liberal grunts and immunities to Alcalii on more than
no occasion,
WARS AXD POLITICS OF ITALY. 523
The rising reputation of the new academy, which attracted students
from even' quarter of the Peninsula to its halls, threatened to eclipse
the glories of the ancient seminary at Salamanca, and occasioned bitter
jealousies between them. The 'rield of letters, however, was wkv
enough for both, especially as the one was more immediately devoteU
to theological preparation, to the entiiv exclusion of civil jurisprudence,
which formed a prominent branch of instruction at the other. In this
state of things, their rivalry, far from being productive of mischief,
might be regarded as salutary, by quickening literary ardour, too prone
to languish without the spur of competition. Side by side the sister
universities went forward, dividing the public patronage and estimation.
As long as the good era of letters lasted in Spain, the acadi my of
Ximenes, under the influence of its admirable discipline, maintained a
reputation inferior to none other in the Peninsula, and continued t >
forth its sons to occupy the most exalted posts in church ai d state,
and shed the light of genius and science over their own and future ages.
CHAPTER XXII.
WABS A.lfD POLITICS OP ITALT.
15081513.
League of Cambray Alarm of Ferdinand Holy League Battle of Ravenna Death o
Gaston de Foix Retreat of the French The Spaniards victorious.
THE domestic history of Spain, after Ferdinand's resumption of the
:.cy, contains few remarkable events. Its foreign relations were
more important. Those with Africa have been already noticed, and we
must now turn to Italy and Navarre.
The possession of Naples necessarily brought Ferdinand within the
sphere of Italian politics. He showed little disposition, however, to
avail himself of it for the further extension of his conquests. Gonsalvo.
indeed, during his administration, meditated various schemes for the over-
throw of the French power in Italy, but with a view rather to the pre-
servation than enlargement of his prest-nt acquisitions. After the treaty
with Louis the Twelfth, even tlusc di signs were abandoned; and the
Catholic monarch secmrd wholly occupied with the internal affairs of his
kingdom, and the establishment of his rising empire in Africa.
The craving appetite of Louis the Twelfth, on the other hand,
sharpened by the loss of Naples, sought to indemnify itself by more
ample acquisitions in the north. As far back as 1504, he had arranged
a plan with the emperor for the partition of the continental possessions of
Yi nice, introducing it into one of those abortive treaties at Blois for the
marriage of his daughter. The scheme is said to have been commu-
nicated to Ferdinand in the royal interview at Savona. No immediate
action followed ; and it seems probable that the latter monarch, with his
usual circumspection, reserved his decision until he should be more
clearlv satisfied of the advantages to himself.
At length the projected partition was definitely settled by the cele-
brated treaty of Cambray, December 10th, 1508, between Louis tht
624 WARS AND POLllICS OF ITALY.
Twelfth and the emperor Maximilian ; in which the pope, Icing Ferdi-
nand, and all princes who had any claims for spoliations by the Venetians,
were invited to take part. The share of the spoil assigned to th
Catholic monarch was the five Neapolitan cities, Trani, Brindisi, Gallipoli,
Pulignano, and Otranto, pledged to Venice for considerable sunn
advanced by her during the late war. The Spanish court, and, not long
after, Julius the Second, ratified the treaty, although it was in direct
contravention of the avowed purpose of the pontiff, to chase the bar-
barians from Italy. It was his bold policy, however, to make use of
them first for the aggrandisement of the church ; and then to trust to
his augmented strength and more favourable opportunities for eradicating
them altogether.
Never was there a project more destitute of principle or sound policy.
There was not one of the contracting parties who was not at that very
time in close alliance with the state, the dismemberment of which he
was plotting. As a matter of policy it went to break down the prin-
cipal barrier, on which each of these powers could rely for keeping in
check the overweening ambition of its neighbours, and maintaining the
balance of Italy. The alarm of Venice was quieted for a time by
assurance from the courts of France and Spain, that the league was
solely directed against the Turks, accompanied by the most hypocritical
professions of good-will, and amicable offers to the republic.
The preamble of the treaty declares, that it being the intention of the
allies to support the pope in a crusade against the infidel, they first
proposed to recover from Venice the territories of which she had de-
spoiled the church and other powers, to the manifest hindrance of these
pious designs. The more flagitious the meditated enterprise, the deeper
was the veil of hypocrisy thrown over it in this corrupt age. The true
reasons for the confederacy are to be found in a speech delivered at
the German Diet, some time after, by the French minister Helian.
" We," he remarks, after enumerating various enormities of the republic,
" we wear no fine purple ; feast from no sumptuous services of plate ;
have no coffers overflowing with gold. We are barbarians. Surely,"
he continues in another place, " if it is derogatory to princes to act the
part of merchants, it is unbecoming in merchants to assume the state of
princes." This then was the true key to the conspiracy against Venice ;.
envy of her superior wealth and magnificence, hatred engendered by her
too arrogant bearing, and lastly, the evil eye with which kings naturally
regard the movements of an active, aspiring republic.
To secure the co-operation of Florence, the kings of France and Spain.
agreed to withdraw their protection from Pisa for a stipulated sum of
money. There is nothing in the whole history of the merchant princea
of Venice so mercenary and base as this bartering away for gold the
independence for which this little republic had been so nobly contending
for more than fourteen years.
Early in April, 1509, Louis the Twelfth crossed the Alps at the head
of a force which bore down all opposition. City and castle fell before
him ; and his demeanour to the vanquished, over whom he had no right*
beyond the ordinary ones of war, was that of an incensed master taking
vengeance on his rebellious vassals. In revenge for his detention before
Peschicra, he hung the Venetian governor and his son from the battle-
Bients. This was an outrage on the laws of chivalry, which, however
WAK3 AND POLITICS OF ITALY. 52J
hard they bore on the peasant, respected those of high degree. Louis's
rank, and his heart it seems, unhappily raised Mm equally above
sympathy with either class.
On the 14th of May, 1509, -was fought the bloody battle of Agnadel,
which broke the power of Venice, and at once decided the fate of tho
war. Ferdinand had contributed nothing to these operations, except by
his diversion on the side of Naples, where he possessed himself without
difficulty of the cities allotted to his share. They were the cheapest,
and, if not the most valuable, were the most permanent acquisitions of
the war, being re-incorporated in the monarchy of Naples.
Then followed the memorable decree by which Venice released her
continental provinces from their allegiance, authorising them to provide
in any way they could for their safety : a measure which, whether
originating in panic or policy, was perfectly consonant with the latter.
The confederates, who had remained united during the chase, soon
quarrelled over the division of the spoil. Ancient jealousies revived.
The republic, with cool and consummate diplomacy, availed herself of
this state of feeling.
Pope Julius, who had gained all that he had proposed, and was satis-
fied with the humiliation of Venice, now felt all his former antipathies
and distrust of the French return in full force. The rising flame was
diligently fanned by the artful emissaries of the republic, who at length
< 'fleeted a reconciliation on her behalf with the haughty pontiff. The
latter, having taken this direction, went forward in it with his usual
impetuosity. He planned a new coalition for the expulsion of the
French, calling on the other allies to take part in it. Louis retaliated
by summoning a council to inquire into the pope's conduct, and by
inarching his troops into the territories of the church.
The advance of the French, who had now got possession of Bologna
(May 21, 1511), alarmed Ferdinand. He had secured the objects for
which he had entered into the war, and was loth to be diverted from
nterprises in which he was interested nearer home. "I know not,"
writes Peter Martyr, at this time, " on what the king will decide. He
is intent on following up his African conquests. He feels natural
reluctance at breaking with his French ally. But I do not well see how
he can avoid supporting the pope and the church, not only as the cause
of religion, but of freedom ; for if the French get possession of Rome, the
liberties of all Italy and of every state in Europe are in peril."
The Catholic king viewed it in this light, and scut repeated and
earnest remonstrances to Louis the Twelfth against his aggressions on
the church; beseeching him not to interrupt the peace of Christendom,
and his own pious purpose, more particularly, of spreading the banners
of the Cross over the infidel regions of Africa. The very sweet and
fraternal tone of these communications filled the king of "France, says
Guicciardini, with much distrust of his royal brother ; and he was heard
to say, in allusion to the great preparation! which the Spanish monarch
was making by sea and land, " I am. the Saracen against whom they are
directed."
To secure Ferdinand more to his interests, the pope granted him the
investiture, so long withheld, of Naples, on the same easy terms on
which it was formerly held by the Aragonese line. His Holiness further
released him from the obligation of his marriage treaty, by which tho
526 WAKS AND POLITICS OF ITALY.
moiety of Naples was to revert to the French crown in case of Germaiue'i
dying without issue. This dispensing power of the successors of St. Peter,
so convenient for princes in their good graces, is undoubtedly the severest
tax ever levied by superstition on human reason.*
On the 4th of October, loll, a treaty was concluded between Julius
the Second, Ferdinand, and Venice, with the avowed object of protecting
the church, in other words, driving the French out of Italy. From the
pious purpose to which it was devoted, it was called the Holy League.
The quota to be furnished by the king of Aragon was twelve hundred
heavy and one thousand light cavalry, ten thousand foot, and a squadron
cf eleven galleys, to act in concert with the Venetian fleet. The com-
bined forces were to be placed under the command of Hugh de Cardona,.
viceroy of Naples, a person of polished and engaging address, but with-
out the resolution or experience requisite to military success. The rough
old pope sarcastically nicknamed him " Lady Cardona." It was an
appointment that would certainly have never been made by Queen
Isabella. Indeed, the favour shown this nobleman on this and other
occasions was so much beyond his deserts, as to raise a suspicion in many
that he was more nearly allied by blood to Ferdinand tban was usually
imagined.
Early in 1512, France, by great exertions and without a single con-
federate out of Italy, save the false and fluctuating emperor, got an army
into the field superior to that of the allies in point of numbers, and still
more so in the character of its commander. This was Gaston de Foix,
duke de Nemours, and brother of the queen of Aragon. Though a boy
in years, for he was but twenty-two, he was ripe in understanding, and
possessed consummate military talents. He introduced a severer disci-
pline into his army, and an entirely new system of tactics. He looked
forward to his results with stern indifference to the means by which they
were to be effected. He disregarded the difficulties of the roads and the
inclemency of the season, which had hitherto put a check on military
operations. Through the midst of frightful morasses, or in the depth of
winter snows, he performed his marches with a celerity unknown in the
warfare of that age. In less than a fortnight after leaving Milan, he
relieved Bologna (February 5), then besieged by the allies, made a
countermarch on Brescia, defeated a detachment by the way, and the
whole Venetian army under its walls ; and, on the same day with the
last event, succeeded in carrying the place by storm. After a few
weeks' dissipation of the carnival, he again put himself in motion, and,
descending on Ravenna, succeeded in bringing the allied army to a
decisive action under its walls. Ferdinand, well understanding the
peculiar characters of the French and of the Spanish soldier, had
cautioned his general to adopt the Fabian policy of Gonsalvo, and avoid
a close encounter as long as possible.
This battle, fought with the greatest numbers, was also the most
murderous which had stained the fair soil of Italy for a century (April
The act of investiture was dated July 3rd, 1510. In the following August, the pontiff
/emitted the feudal service for the annual tribute of a white palfrey, ;u:a Uie aid of 300
iancea when the estates of the church should be invaded. The pope had hitherto refused
the investiture, except ou the mostexorbitant terms; which so much disgusted Ferdinand
that he passed by Ostia on his return from Naples, without condescending to mgct his
Holiness, who was waiting there for a personal interview with him.
WABS AND POLITICS OF ITALY. 527
11, 1512). No less tliaii eighteen or twenty thousand, according to
authentic accounts, fell in it, comprehending 'the best blood of Franco
and Italy. The viceroy Cardona went off so.newhat too early for his
reputation. But the Spanish infantry, under the count Pedro Navarro,
behaved in a style worthy of the school of Gonsalvo. During the early
part of the day, they lay on the ground, in a position which sheltered
them from the deadly artillery of Este, then the best mounted and b^st
s rved of any in Europe. VVhen at length, as the tide of battle wa.*
going against them, they were brought into the field, Navarro led them
at once against a deep column of landsknechts, who, armed with the-
long German pike, were bearing down all before them. The Spaniards
received the shock of this formidable weapon on the mailed panoply with
which their bodies were covered, and, dexterously gliding into the hostile
ranks, contrived with their short swords to do such execution on the-
enemy, unprotected except by corslets in front, and incapable of availing
themselves of their long weapon, that they were thrown into confu
and totally discomfited. It was repeating the experiment more than
once made during these wars, but never on so great a scale ; and it fully
established the superiority of the Spanish arms. *
The Italian infantry, which had fallen back before the landsknechts,
now rallied under cover of the Spanish charge ; until at length the
overwhelming clouds of French gendarmerie, headed by Ives d'AlOgre,
who lost his own life in the m4fe, compelled the allies to give ground.
The retreat of the Spaniards, however, was conducted with admirable
order, and they preserved their ranks unbroken as they repeatedly
turned to drive back the tide of pursuit. At this crisis, Gaston de Foix,
Hushed with success, was so exasperated by the sight of this valiant
corps going oft' in so cool and orderly a manner from the field, that he
made a desperate charge at the head of his chivalry, in hopes of breaking
it. Unfortunately, his wounded horse fell under him. It was in vain
his followers fulled out, " It is our viceroy, the brother of your queen ! "
The words had no charm for a Spanish ear, and he was dispatched with
a multitude of wounds. He received fourteen or fiftean in the face;
good proof, says the loyal scrviteur, "that the gentle prince had never
turned his hack."
There are i'e\v instances in history, if indeed there be any, of so brief,
and at the same time so brilliant a military career, as that of Gaston de
Foix ; and it well entitled him to the epithet his countrymen gave him
of the " thunderbolt of Italy." He had not merely given extraordinary
promise, but in the course of a very few months had" achieved such results
as uii^ht well make the greatest powers of the Peninsula tremble for their
possessions. His precocious military talents, the early age at which he
assumed the command of armies, as well as many peculiarities of his
discipline and tactics, suggest some resemblance to the beginning of
Napoleon's career.
Unhappily, his brilliant fame is sullied by a recklessness of human life^
the more odious in one too young to be steeled by familiarity with the
iron trade to Avhich he was devoted. It maybe fair, however, to churre
this on the age rather than on the individual, for surely never was there
MaehiaTelli does justice to the gallantry of this valiant corps, whose conduct on this
occasion furnishes him with a pertinent illustration, in estimating- the comparative va'ue frf
tho Spanish, or rather Roman arms, and the German.
623 TVAUS AXD POLITICS OF ITALY.
one characterised by greater brutality, and more unsparing ferocity iii its
wars.* So little had the progress of civilisation done for humanity. It
is not until a recent period that a more geaerous spirit has operated ;
that a fellow-creature has been understood not to forfeit his rights as a
man because he is an enemy ; that conventional laws have been esta-
blished, tending greatly to mitigate the evils of a condition which, with
every alleviation, is one of unspeakable misery ; and that those who hold
the destinies of nations in " their hands have been made to feel that there
is less true glory, and far less profit, to be derived from war than from
the wise prevention of it.
The defeat at Ravenna struck a panic into the confederates. The stout
heart of Julius the Second faltered, and it required all the assurances of
the Spanish and Venetian ministers to keep him staunch 'to his purpose.
King Ferdinand issued orders to the Great Captain to hold himself in
readiness for taking the command of forces to be instantly raised for
Naples. There could be no better proof of the royal consternation.
The victory of Ravenna, however, was more fatal to the French than
to their foes. The uninterrupted successes of a commander are so far
unfortunate, that they incline his followers, by the brilliant illusion they
throw around his name, to rely less on their own resources than on him
whom they have hitherto found invincible ; and thus subject their own
destiny to all the casualties whicli attach to the fortunes of a single indi-
vidual. The death of Gaston de Foix seemed to dissolve the only bond
which held the French together. The officers became divided, the sol-
diers disheartened, and, with the loss of their young hero, lost all interest
in the service. The allies, advised of this disorderly state of the army,
recovered confidence, and renewed their exertions. Through Ferdinand*!
influence over his son-in-law, Henry the Eighth of England, the latter
Lad been induced openly to join the League in the beginning of the pre-
sent year.f The Catholic king had the address, moreover, just before
the battle to detach, the emperor from France, by effecting a truce between
him and Venice. The French, now menaced and pressed on every side,
"began their retreat under the brave La Palice ; and to such an impotent
state were they reduced, that in less than three mouths after the fatal
victory, (June 28,) they were at the foot of the Alps, having abandoned
not only their recent, but all their conqxiests in the north of Italy.
The same results now took place as in the late war against Venice.
The confederates quarrelled over the division of the spoil. The republic,
with the largest claims, obtained the least concessions. She felt that she
was to be made to descend to an inferior rank in the scale of nations.
Ferdinand earnestly remonstrated with the pope, and subsequently, by
* One example may suffice, occurring in the war of the League, in 1510. When Vicenza
was taken by the Imperialists, a number of the inhabitants, amniounting to one, or,
according to some accounts, six thousand, took refuge in a neighbouring prottc with their
wives and children, comprehending many of the principal families of the place. A French
officer, detecting their retreat, caused a heap of fugots to be piled up at the mouth of th
cavern and set on fire. Out of the whole number of fugitives only one escaped with life ;
and the blackened and cor :muice of the bodies sh<r ,nly the cruel
agonies of suffocation. Bayard executed two of the authors of this diabolical act on the
f-\x>t. But the ' ' chevalier sans rcproche " was an exception to, rather than an example ot,
the prevalent spirit of the age.
t He had become a party to it as early as November 17, of the precedingyear ; he deferred
it* publication, however, until he had received the last instalment of a subsidy that
Louis XII. was to pay him for the maintenance ot peace. Even the chivalrous Harry th
Eighth oould not escape the trick isli spirit of the sg*.
WAES AND POLITICS OF ITALY. 529
menus of his Venetian minister, with Maximilian, on this mistaken
policy; but the indifference of the one, and the cupidity of the other,
closed against argument. The result was pivri-dy what the prudent
monarch foresaw. Venice was driven into the anus of lur perfidious
ancient ally; and on the 23rd of March, 1513, a definitive treaty waa
arranged with France for their mutual defence. Thus the most ellirimt
member was alienated from the confederacy ; all the recent advantages
of the allies were compromised ; new combinations were to be formed,
and new and interminable prospects of hostility opened.
Ferdinand, relieved from immediate apprehensions of the French, took
comparatively little interest in Italian polities. He was too much
occupied with settling his conquests in Navarre. The army, indeed,
under Cardona, still kept the field in the north of Italy. Tlie viceroy,
alter re-establishing the Medici in Florence, remained inactive. The
French, in the mean while, had again mustered in force, and crossing
the mountains, encountered the Swiss in a bloody battle at Novara,
(June 6, 1513,) where the former were entirely routed. Cardona, then
rousing from his lethargy, traversed the Milanese without opposition,
laying waste the ancient territories of Venice, burning the palaces and
pleasure-houses of its lordly inhabitants on the beautiful banks of the
i'renta, and approaching so near to the " Queen of the Adriatic" as to
throw a IVw impotent balls into the monastery of San Secondo.
The indignation of the Venetians and of Alviano, the same general
who had fought so gallantly under Gonsalvo at the Garigliano, hurried
them into an engagement with the allies near La Motta, (Oct. 7,) at two
miles' distance from Vicenza. Cardona, loaded with booty and entangled
among the mountain passes, was assailed under every disadvantage.
The German allies gave way before the impetuous charge of Alviano ;
but the Spanish infantry stood, its ground unshaken, and by extraordinary
discipline and valour succeeded in turning the fortunes of the day.
More than four thousand of the enemy were left on the field ; and a large
number of prisoners, including many of rank, with all the baggage and
artillery, fell into the hands of the victors.
Thus ended the campaign of 1513 ; the French driven again beyond
the mountains ; Venice cooped up within her sea-girt fastnesses, and
compelled to enrol her artisans and common labourers in her defence,
but still strong in resources, above all in the patriotism and unconquer-
able spirit of her people.
CHAPTEE XXIII.
CONQUEST OF KAVARHi
15121513.
Oorereigns of Navarre Ferdiuaiid demands a Passage Invasion and Conquest of Navarw
Treaty of Orthes Ferdinand settles his Conquests His Conduct examined Gross
abuse of the Victory.
WKTLE the Spaniards were thus winning barren laurels on the fields of
Italy, King Ferdinand was making a most important acquisition of
territory nearer home. The reader has already been made acquainted
with the manner in which the bloody sceptre of Navarre passed
from the dands of Eleanor, Ferdinand's sister, after a reign of a
few brief days, into those of her grandson Phojbus (1479). A fatal
destiny hung over the house of Foix ; and the latter prince lived
to enjoy his crown only four years, when he was succeeded by his
sister Catharine (1483).
It was not to be supposed that Ferdinand and Isabella, so attentive to
enlarge their empire to the full extent of the geographical limits which
nature seemed to have assigned it, would lose the opportunity now presented
of incorporating into it the hitherto independent kingdom of Navarre
by the marriage of their own heir with its sovereign. All tbeir efforts,
however, were frustrated by the queen-mother Magdaleine, sister of
Louis the Eleventh, who, sacrificing the interests of the nation to her
prejudices, evaded the proposed match under various pretexts, and in
the end effected a union between her daughter and a French noble,
Jean d'Albret, heir to considerable estates in the neighbourhood of
Navarre. This was a most fatal error. The independence of Xavarre
had hitherto been maintained less through its own strength than the
weakness of its neighbours. But, now that the petty states around her
had been absorbed into two great and powerful monarchies, it was not
to be expected that so feeble a barrier would be longer respected, or that
it would not be swept away in the first collision of those formidable
forces. But, although the independence of the kingdom must be lost,
the princes of Navarre might yet maintain their station by a union with,
the reigning family of France or Spain : by the present connexion with
a mere private individual they lost both the one and the other.
Still the most friendly relations subsisted between the Catholic kins:
and his niece during the lifetime of Isabella. The sovereigns assisted
her in taking possession of her turbulent dominions, as well as in allav-
ing the deadly feuds of the Beaumonts and Agramonts, with which
tiny were rent asunder. They supported her with her arms in resist-
ing her uncle Jean, viscount of Narbonne, who claimed the crown on
the groundless pretext of its beiug limited to male heirs. The alliaiice
with Spain was drawn still closer by the avowed purpose of Louis the
Iwilfth to su;; t ,ort his nephew, Ga^on de Foix, iu the claims of his
CONQUEST OF NAVARBE. 531
deceased father. The death of the voting hero, however, at Ravenna,
wholly changed the relations and feelings of the two countries. Navarre
had nothing immediately to fear from France. She felt distrust of
Sjiuin on more than one account, especially for the protection afforded
the lieaum.mtes- exiles, at the head of whom was the young count of
Lerin, Ferdinand's nephew.
France, too, standing alone, and at bay against the rest of Europe,
found the alliance of the little state of Navarre of importance to her ;
especially at the present juncture, when the project of an ox j "edition
against Guieime, by the combined armies of Spain and Kr.glaud,
naturally made Louis the Twelfth desirous to secure the good-will of a
prince, who might be said to wear the keys of the Pyiva >, as the
king of Sardinia did those of the Alps, at his girdle. With these
amicable dispositions, the king and queen of Navarre dispatched their
plenipotentiaries to Blois, early in May, soon after the battle of Ravenna,
with full powers to conclude a treaty of alliance and confederation with
the French government.
In the meantime, June 8th, an English squadron arrived at Passage
in Guipuscoa, having ten thousand men on board, under Thomas Grey,
marquis of Dorset, in order to co-operate with King Ferdinand's army
in the descent on Guienue. This latter force, consisting of two thousand
five hundred horse, light and heavy, six thousand foot and twenty
]>ieces of artillery, was placed under Don Fadrique de Toledo, the old
duke of Alva, grandfather of the general who wrote his name in indelible
characters of blood in the Netherlands, under Philip the Second. Before
making any movement, however, Ferdinand, who knew the equivocal
dispositions of the Navarrese sovereigns, determined to secure himself
from the annoyance which their strong position enabled them to give
him on whatever route he adopted. He accordingly sent to request a
free passage tlirough their dominions, with the demand, moreover, that
they shouid entrust six of their principal fortresses to such Navarrese as
he should name, as a guarantee for their neutrality during the expedi-
tion. He accompanied this modest proposal with the alternative, that
tl e sovereigns should become parties to the Holy League ; engaging, in
that case, to restore certain places in his possession which they claimed,
and pledging the whole strength of the confederacy to protect them
against any hostile attempts of France.
The situation of these unfortunate princes was in the highest degree
embarrassing. The neutrality they had so long and sedulously main-
tained was now to be abandoned ; and their choice, whichever party
they espoused, must compromise their possessions on one or other side of
the Pyrenees, in exchange for an ally, whose friendship had proved b}*
repeated experience, quite as disastrous as his enmity. In this dilemma
they sent ambassadors into Castile, to obtain some modification of the
terms, or, at least, to protract negotiations till some definitive arrangement
should be made with Louis the Twelfth.
On the 17th of July, their plenipotentiaries signed a treaty with that
monarch at Blois, by which France and Navarre mutually agreed to
defend each other, in case of attack, against all enemies whatever. By
another provision, obviously directed against Spain, it was stipulated
that neither nation should" allow a passage to the enemies of the other
through its dominions ; and, by a third, Navarre pledged herself to
1
532 COXQtTEST OF NAYAKBE.
declare war on the English, now assembled in Guipnscoa, and all these
co-operating with them.
Through a singular accident, Ferdinand was made acquainted with
the principal articles of this treaty before its signature.* His army hud
remained inactive in its quarters around Yittoria ever since the landing
of the English. He now saw the hopelessness of further negotiation,
and, determining to anticipate the stroke prepared for him, commanded
his general to invade without delay, and occupy Navarre.
The duke of Alva crossed the borders on the 21st of July, proclaiming
that no harm should be offered to those who voluntarily submitted.
On the 23rd, he arrived before Pamnelmia. King John, who, all the
while he had been thus dallying with the lion, had made no proYi.-iou
for defence, had already abandoned his capital, leaving it to make the
'best terms it could for itself. On the following day, the city, ha sing
first obtained assurance of respect for all its franchises and immunities,
surrendered; "a circumstance," devoutly exclaims King Ferdinand, "in
which we truly discern the hand of our blessed Lord, whose miraculous
interposition has been visible through all this enterprise, undertaken for
the weal of the church, and the extirpation of the accursed schism."
The royal exile, in the meanwhile, had retreated to Lumbier, where
he solicited the assistance of the duke of Longucville, then encamped on
the northern frontier, for the defence of Bayonne. The French com-
mander, however, stood too nmch in awe of the English, still lying in
Guipuscoa, to weaken himself by a detachment into Navarre ; and the
unfortunate monarch, unsupported either by his own subjects or his
new ally, was compelled to cross the mountains, and take refuge with
his family in France.
The duke of Alva lost no time in pressing his advantage ; opening the
way by a proclamation of the Catholic king, that it was intended only to
hold possession of the country, as security for the pacific disposition of
its sovereigns, until the end of his present expedition against Guienne.
From whatever cause, the Spanish general experienced so little
resistance, that in less than a fortnight he overran and subdued nearly
the whole of Upper Navarre. So short a time sufficed for the subversion
of a monarchy, which, in defiance of storm and stratagem, had main-
tained its independence unimpaired, with a few brief exceptions, for
seven centuries.
On reviewing these extraordinary events, we are led to distrust the
capacity and courage of a prince who could so readily abandon his
kingdom, without so much as firing a shot in its defence. John had
shown, however, on more than one occasion, that he was destitute of
neither. He was not, it must be confessed, of the temper best suited to
the fierce and stirring times on which he was cast. He was of an
amiable disposition, social and fond pf pleasure, and so little jealous oi
his royal dignity, that he mixed freely in the dances and other enter-
tainments of the humblest of his subjects. His greatest defect was the
facility with which he reposed the cares of state on favourites, not always
* A confidential secretary of King Jean of Navarre was murdered in his sleep 1
mtstn iii-ads of the proposed tivary with Fra-
-:of Pampelona. who was induced fiy the }i>
'y M.myr, in a i<-
trut'i is at tested, by the conformity of the proposed terms v.-ith those of tho actual t.
T OF NAVARRE. 033
the most deserving. His greatest merit was his love of letters. Unfor-
tunately, neither his merits nor defects were of a kind best adapted to
extricate him from his present perilous situation, or enable him to cope
with his wily and resolv.lc adversary. For this, however, more com-
manding talents might well have failed. The period had arrived, when,
in the regular progress of events, Navarre must yield up her independence
to the two great nations on her borders ; who attracted by the strength
of her natural position, and her political weakness, woula be sure, now
that their own domestic discords were healed, to claim each the moiety
which seemed naturally to fall within its own territorial limits. Par-
ticular events might accelerate or retard this result, but it was not in
the power of human genius to avert its linal consummation.
King Ferdinand, who descried the storm now gathering on the side of
France, ivs< 'hid to meet it promptly, and commanded his general to cross
the mountains and occupy the districts of Lower Navarre. In this he
expected the co-operatioii of the English; but he was disappointed.
The marquis of Dorset alleged, that the time consumed in the reduction
of Navarre made it too late for the expedition against Guienne, which
wn- now placed in a posture of defence. He loudly complained that his
master had been duped by the Catholic king, who had used his ally to
make conquests solely fur himself; and, in spite of every remonstrance,
here-embarked his whole force, without waiting for orders; " a pro-
ceeding," says Ferdinand, in one of his letters, " which touches me most
deeply, from the stain it leaves on the honour of the most serene king
my son-in-law, and the glory of the English nation, so distinguished in
times past for high and chivalrous emprise."
The duke of Alva, thus unsupported, was no match for the French
lunder Longueville, strengthened, moreover, hy the veteran corps
returned from Italy with the brave La Police. Indeed, he narrowly
d being hemmed in between the two armies, and only succeeded
in anticipating by a few hours the movements of La Police, so as to make
good his retreat through the pass of Itoneesvalles, and throw himself
into Pampelona. Hither he was speedily followed by the French general,
accompanied by Jean d'Albret. On the 27th of November, the besiegers
made a dt spcrate, though ineffectual, assault on the city, which was
ted with equal ill fortune on the two following days. The
beleaguering forces, in the meantime, were straitened for provisions ; and
at length, alter o siege of some weeks, on learning the arrival of fivsh
reinforcements under the duke of Najara, they broke up their encamp-
ment, and withdrew across the mountains ; and with them faded the last
ray of hope for the restoration of the unfortunate monarch of Navarre.
On the 1st of April in the following year, 1513, Ferdinand effected a
truce with Louis the Twelfth, embracing their respective territories west
of the Alps. It continued a year, and at its expiration was renewed for
a similar time. This arrangement, by which Louis sacrificed the interests
of his ally, the king of Navarre, gave Ferdinand ample time for settling
and fortifying his new conquests ; while it left the war open in a quarter
where, he well knew, others were more interested than himself to prose-
cute it with vigour. The treaty must be allowed to be more defensible
on the score of policy than of good faith. The allies loudly inveighed
'.... treachery of their confederate, who had so unscrupulously
saeiiliced the common interest, by relieving France from the powerful
534 CONQUEST OF NAVAREE.
diversion he was engaged to make on her western borders. It is no
justification of wrong, that similar wrongs have been committed by
others ; but those who commit them (and there was not one of the allies
who could escape the imputation amid the political profligacy of the
times) certainly forfeit the privilege to complain.*
Ferdinand availed himself of the interval of repose now secured to
settle his new conquest. He had transferred his residence, first to
Burgos, and afterwards to Legrono, that he might be near the theatre of
operations. He was indefatigable in raising reinforcements and supplies ;
and expressed his intention at one time, notwithstanding the declining
state of his health, to take the command in person. He showed hi*
usual sagacity in various regulations for improving the police, healing
the domestic feuds, as fatal to Navarre as the arms of its enemies,
and confirming and extending its municipal privileges and immunities,
so as to conciliate the affections of his new subjects.
On the 23rd of March, 1513, the estates of Xavarre took the iisual
oaths of allegiance to king Ferdinand. On the 15th of June, 1515, the
Catholic monarch, by a solemn act in cortes, held at Burgos, incorporated
his new conquests into the kingdom of Castile. The event excited some
surprise, considering his more intimate relations with Aragon ; but it
was to the arms of Castile that he was chiefly indebted for the con-
quest : and it was on her superior wealth and resources that he relied
for maintaining it. With this was combined the politic consideration,
that the Navarrese, naturally turbulent and factious, would be held
more easily in subordination when associated with Castile, than with
Aragon, where the spirit of independence was higher, and often
manifested itself in such bold assertion of popular rights as falls most
unwelcome on a royal ear. To all this must be added the despair of issue
by his present marriage, which had much abated his personal interest in
enlarging the extent of his patrimonial domains.
Foreign writers characterise the conquest of Navarre as a bold,
unblushing usurpation, rendered more odious by the mask of religious
hypocrisy. The national writers, on the other hand, have employed
tneir pens industriously to vindicate it ; some endeavouring to rake a
good claim for Castile out of its ancient union with Xavarre, almost as
ancient, indeed, as the Moorish conquest. Others resort to considera-
tions of expediency, relying on the mutual benefits of the connexion to
* On the 5th of April a treaty was concluded at Mechlin, in f.be names of Ferdinand, the
king of England, the emperor, and the pope. The Castiliau envoy, Don Luis Carroz, was
not present at Mechlin, but it was ratified and solemnly sworn to by him, on behalf of his
sovereign, in London, April 18th. By this treaty, Spain agreed to attack France iu
Guieuue, while the other powers were to co-operate" by a descent on other quart ere. Thi*
7 t ^
French historians, that is, the later ones, for I find no comment on it m contemporary
writers Ferdinand, when applied to by Henry VIII. to ratify the acts of Ms minist. r in.
the following summer, refused, on the ground that the latter had transcended his powers.
The Spanish writers are silent. His assertion derives some probability from the tenor ot
one of the articles, which provides that in case he refuses to confirm the treaty, it shall
still be binding between England and the emperor; language which, as it anticipates, may
teem to authorise such a contingency. Public treaties have, for obvious recoils, been
generally received as the surest basis for history. One might well doubt this who attempt*
to reconcile the multifarious discrepancies and contradictions in those of the perio-l
ander review. The science of diplomacy, as then practised, was a mere game of finesae
ind falsehood, in which the more solemn the protestations of the parties, the ;u..re ground
for distrusting their sincerity.
CONQUEST OF NAVAREE. 535
both kingdoms; arguments which prove little else than the weakness
of the cause.* All lay more or less stress on the celebrated bull of
Julius the Second, of February 18th, 1512, by which he excommunicated
the sovereigns of Navarre as heretics, schismatics, and enemies of the
church ; releasing their subjects from their allegiance, laying their
dominions under an interdict, and delivering them over to any who
should take, or had already taken, possession 01 them. Most, indeed,
are content to rest on this as the true basis and original ground of the
conquest. The total silence of the Catholic king respecting this document
before the invasion, and the omission of the national historians since
to produce it, have caused much scepticism as to its existence. And,
although its recent publication puts this beyond doubt, the instrument
contains, in my judgment, strong internal evidence for distrusting the
accuracy of the date affixed to it, which should have been posterior to
the invasion ; a circumstance materially affecting the argument, and
which makes the papal sentence not the original basis of the war, but
only a sanction subsequently obtained to cover its injustice, and
authorise retaining the fruits of it.
But, whatever authority such a sanction may have had in the
sixteenth century, it will find little respect in the present, at least
beyond the limits of the Pyrenees. The only way in which the
question can be fairly tried must be by those maxims of public law
universally recognised as settling the intercourse of civilised nations ; a
science, indeed, imperfectly developed at that time, but in its general
principles the same as now, founded, as these are, on the immutable
basis of morality and justice.
We must go back a step beyond the war, to the proximate cause of
it. This was Ferdinand's demand of a free passage for his troops
through Navarre. The demand was perfectly fair, and in ordinary cases
would doubtless have been granted by a neutral nation ; but that nation
must, after all, be the only judge of its propriety, and Navarre may
find a justification for her refusal on these grounds. First, that, in her
weak and defenceless state, it was attended with danger to herself.
Secondly, that as, by a previous and existing treaty with Spain, the
validity of which was recognised in her new one of July ITtli with
France, she had agreed to refuse the right of passage to the latter
nation, she consequently could not grant it to Spain without a violation
other neutrality. Thirdly, that the demand of a passage, however just
in itself, was coupled with another, the surrender of the fortresses,
which must compromise the independence of the kingdom.
But although, for these reasons, the sovereigns of Navarre were
warranted in refusing Ferdinand's request, they were not therefore
authorised to declare war against him, which they virtually did by
entering into a defensive alliance with his enemy Louis the Twelfth,
and by pledging themselves to make war on the English and their con-
federates ; an article pointedly directed at the Catholic king.
True, indeed, the treaty of Blois had not received the ratification of
* The honest canon Salazar de Mendoza (taking the hint from Lcbrija, indeed) finds
abundant warrant for Ferdinand's treatment :u the hard mtrtsure dealt by the
j-aelites of old to the people of Ephron. and to Sihon. kind of the Amorites. It might
eeni strange that a Christian should look for authority in the jiractices of the race he so
much abominates, instead of the inspired precepts of the Founder of his religion ! But, in
truth, your thorough-bred casuist is apt to be very little ot a Christian.
636 CONQUEST OF JTAVAERE.
the Xavarrese sovereigns; but it was executed by their plenipotentiaries
duly authorised, aud, considering the intimate intercourse between the
two nations, was undoubtedly made with their full knowledge and con-
currence. Under these circumstances, it was scarcely to be expected
that king Ferdinand, when an accident had put him in possession of the
result of these negotiations, should wait for a formal declaration of
hostilities, and thus deprive himself of the advantage of anticipating
the blow of his enemy.
The right of making war would seem to include that of disposing of
its fruits ; subject, however, to those principles of natural equity which
should regulate every action, whether of a public or private nature.
No principle can be clearer, for example, than that the penalty should be
proportioned to the offence. Now, that inflicted on the sovereigns of
Navarre, which went so i'ar as to dispossess them of their crown, and
annihilate the political existence of their kingdom, was such as nothing
but extraordinary aggressions on the part of the conquered nation, or
the self-preservation of the victors, could justify. As neither of these
contingencies existed in the present case, Ferdinand's conduct must be
regarded as a flagrant example of the abuse of the rights of conquest.
We have been but too familiar, indeed, with similar acts of political
injustice, and on a much larger scale, in the present civilized age ; but,
although the number and splendour of the precedents may blunt our
sensibility to the atrocity of the act, they can never constitute a legitimate
warrant for its perpetration.
While thus freely condemning Ferdinand's conduct in this transaction,
I cannot go along with those who, having inspected the subject less
minutely, are disposed to regard it as the result of a cool, premeditated
policy from the outset. The propositions originally made by him to
Navarre appear to have been conceived in perfect good faith. The re-
quisition of the fortresses, impudent as it may seeia, was nothing more
than had been before made in Isabella's time, when it had been granted,
and the security subsequently restored, as soon as the emergency had
passed away. The alternative proposed, of entering into the Holy
League, presented many points of view so favourable to Navarre, that
Ferdinand, ignorant as he then was of the precise footing on which she
stood with France, might have seen no improbability in her closing
with it. Had either alternative been embraced there would have been
no pretext for the invasion. Even when hostilities had been precipitated
by the impolitic conduct of Navarre, Ferdinand (to judge not from his
public manifestoes only, but from his private correspondence) would seem
to have at first contemplated holding the country only till the close of
his French expedition. But the facility of retaining these conque sts,
when once acquired, was too strong a temptation. It was easy to find
some plausible pretext to justify it, and obtain such a sanction from the
highest authority as should veil the injustice of the transaction from the
world, and from his own eyes. And that these were blinded is but
too true, if, as an Ara^uiu sc historian declares, he could remark on hi
death-bed, "that, independently of the conquest having been under-
taken at the instance of the sovereign pontiff for the extirpation of the
schism, he felt his conscience as easy in keeping it as iu keeping hia
crown of Aragon,"
CHAPTER XXIV.
DXATH OF OOVSALYO DK CORDOVA ILLNESS AND DEATH O FEKDIWAKD HIB CHA*JkCTra.
15131516.
Oonsalvo ordered to Italy General Enthusiasm The Kinsr's Distrust Gonsalvo in
Retirement Decline of his Health His Death, and noble Character Ferdinand's
Illness It increases He dies His Character A Contrast to Isabella The Judgment
of his Contemporaries.
NOTWITHSTANDING the good order which King Ferdinand maintained
in Castile by his energetic conduct, as well as by his policy of diverting
the effervescing spirits of the nation to foreign enterprise, he still ex-
perienced annoyance from various causes. Among these were Maximilian's
pretensions to the regency, as paternal grandfather of the heir apparent.
The emperor, indeed, had more than once threatened to assert his
preposterous claims to Castile in person ; and although this Quixotic
monarch, who had been tilting against windmills all his life, failed to
excite any powerful sensation, either by his threats or his promises, it
furnished" a plausible pretext for keeping alive a faction hostile to the
interests of the Catholic king.
In the winter of 1J09 an arrangement was made with the emperor,
through the mediation of Louis the Twelfth, by which be finally re-
linquished his pretensions to the regency of Castile, in consideration of
the aid of three hundred lances, and the transfer to him of the fifty
thousand ducats which Ferdinand was to receive from Pisa. Xo bribe
was too paltry for a prince whose means were as narrow as his pv
weiv va>t and chimerical. Even after this pacification, the Austrian
party contrived to disquiet the king, by maintaining the archduke
Charles's ; - to the government in the name of his unfortunate
mother : until at length, the Spanish monarch came to entertain not
merely distrust, but po>itive a\c-rsion for his grandson ; while the latter,
8 he advanced in y> ;irs, was taught to regard Ferdinand as one who
excluded him from his rightful inheritance by a most flagrant act of
usurpation.
Ferdinand's suspicious temper found other grounds for uneasiness,
where there was le warrant for it, in his jealousy of his illustrious
subject Gonsalvo de Cordova. This was particularly the case when
circumstances had disclosed the full extent of that general's popularity.
After the defeat of Ravenna, the pope and the other allies of Ferdinand
urged him in the most earnest manner to send the Great Captain into
Italy, as the only man capable of checking the French arms, and
restoring the fortunes of th- The king, trembling for the
immediate safety of his own dominions, gave a reluctant assent, and
ordered Gonsalvo to hold himself i: - to take command of an
armv to be instantly raised for Italy (May, 1512).
These tidings were received with" enthusiasm by the Castilians. Men
53S DEATH Or GOXSALVO.
of every rank pressed forward to serve under a chief whose service was
itself sufficient passport to fame. "It actually seemed," says Martyr,
"as if Spain were to be drained of all her noble and generous blood.
Nothing appeared impossible, cr even difficult, under such a leader.
Hardly a cavalier in the land but would have thought it a reproach to
remain behind. Truly marvellous," he adds, " is the authority which
he has acquired over all orders of men ! "
Such was the zeal with which men enlisted under his banner, that
great difficulty was found in completing the necessary levies for Navarre,
then menaced by the French. The king, alarmed at this, and relieved
from apprehensions of immediate danger to Naples by subsequent advices
from that country, sent orders greatly reducing the number of forces
to be raised. But this had little effect, since every man who had the
means preferred acting as a volunteer under the Great Captain, to any
other service however gainful ; and many a poor cavalier was there,
who expended his little all, or incurred a h'eavy debt, in order to appear
in the field in a style becoming the chivalry of Spain.
Ferdinand's former distrust of his general was now augmented tenfold
by this evidence of his unbounded popularity. He saw in imagination
much more danger to Naples from such a subject, than from any enemy,
however formidable. He had received intelligence, moreover, that the
French were in full retreat towards the north. He hesitated no longer,
but sent instructions to the Great Captain at Cordova, to disband his
levies, as the expedition would be postponed till after the present winter ;
at the same time inviting such as chose to enlist in the service of Xavarre
(August, 1512).
These tidings were received with indignant feelings by the whole
army. The officers refused, nearly to a man, to engage in the proposed
service. Gonsalvo, who understood the motives of this change in the
royal purpose, was deeply sensible to what he regarded as a personal
affront. He, however, enjoined on his troops implicit obedience to the-
king's commands. Before dismissing them, as he knew that many had
been drawn into expensive preparations far beyond their means, he
distributed largesses among them, amounting to the immense sum, if
we may credit his biographers, of one hundred thousand ducats. " Never
stint your hand," said he to his steward, who remonstrated on the
magnitude of the donative ; "there is no mode of enjoying one's property,
like giving it away." He then wrote a letter to the king, in which he
gave free vent to his indignation, bitterly complaining of the ungenerous
requital of his services, and asking leave to retire to his duchy of Terra-
nova in Naples, since he could be no longer useful in Spain. This request
was not calculated to lull Ferdinand's suspicions. He answered, how-
ever, ' ' in the soft and pleasant style which he knew so well how to
assume," says-Zurita; and after specifying his motives for relinquishing,
however reluctantly, the expedition, he recommended Gonsalvo's return.
to Loja, at least until some more definite arrangement could be made
respecting the affairs of Italy.
Thus condemned to his former seclusion, the Great Captain resumed
his late habits of life, freely opening his mansion to persons of merit,
interesting himself in plans for ameliorating the condition of his tenantry
and neighbours, and in this quiet way winning a more unques-
tionable title to human gratitude than when piling up the blood-stained
DKATII AXD CHAKACTER OF FERDIXAXD. 535*
trophies of Victor}-. Alas for humanity that it should have deemed
otherwise !
Another circumstance, which disquieted the Catholic king, was the
failure of issue by his present wife. The natural desire of offspring was
further stimulated by hatred of the house of Austria, which made him
eager to abridge the ample inheritance about to descend on his grandson
Charles. It must be confessed, that it reflects little credit, on his heart
or his understanding, that he should have been so ready to sacrifice to
personal resentment those noble plans for the consolidation of the
monarchy, which had so worthily occupied the attention both of himself
and of Isabella in his early life. His wishes had nearly been realised,
(iueeu Germaine was delivered of a son, March 3rd, 1509. Providence,
however, as if unwilling to defeat the glorious consummation of the
union of the Spanish kingdoms, so long desired and nearly achieved,
permitted the ini'ant to live only a few hours.
F rdinand repined at the blessing denied him, now more than ever.
In order to invigorate his constitution, he resorted to artificial means.
The medicines which he took had the opposite effect. At least from this-
time, the spring of 1513, he was afflicted with infirmities before unknown
to him. Instead of his habitual equanimity and cheerfulness, he became
impatient, irritable, and frequently a prey to morbid melancholy. He
lost all relish for business, and even for amusements, except field sports,
to whieh lie devoted the greater part of his time. The fever which
consumed him made him impatient of long residence in any one place,
and during these last years of his life, the court was in perpetual
migration. The unhappy monarch, alas! could not fly from disease, or
from himself.
In the summer of 1515, he was found one night by his attendants in a
stal' ol iiiM nsibility, from which it was difficult to rouse him. He
exhibited flashes of his former energy after this, however. On one
occasion he made a journey to Aragon, in order to preside at the deli-
berations of the cortes, ana enforce the grant of supplies, to which the
nobles, from selfish considerations, made resislance. The king failed,
indeed, to bend their intractable tempers, but he displayed on the
occasion all his wonted address and resolution.
On his return to Castile, which, perhaps from the greater refinement
and deference of the people, seems to have been always a more agreeable
residence to him than his own kingdom of Aragon, he received intelli-
gence very vexatious, in the irritable state of his mind. He learned
that the Great Captain wi.s preparing to embark for Flanders, with his
friend the count of Urefia, the marquis of Priego, his nephew, and his
future son-in-law, the coune of Cabra. Some surmised that Gonsalvo
designed to take command of the papal army in Italy; others, to join
himself with the archduke Charles, and introduce him, if possible, into
Castile. Ferdinand, clinging to power more tenaciously, as it was ready
to slip of itself from his grasp, had little doubt that the latter was his
purpose. He sent orders, therefore, to the south, to prevent the
meditated embarkation, and, if necessary, to seize Gonsalvo's person ;
but the latter was soon to embark on a voyage where no earthly arm
could arrest him.
In the autumn of 1515 he was attacked by a quartan fever. Its
approaches at first were mild. His constitution, naturally good, had
040 DIIATH OF GOXSALTO.
been invigorated by the severe training of a military life ; and he had
been so fortunate, that, notwithstanding the free exposure of his person
to danger, he had never received a wound. But, although little alarm
was occasioned at first by his illness, he found it impossible to throw it
off; and he removed to his residence in Granada, in hopes of deriving
benefit from its salubrious climate. Every effort to rally the declining
powers of nature proved unavailing ; and, on the 2nd of December, 1515,
he expired in his own palace at Granada, in the arms of his wife, and
his beloved daughter Elvira.
The death of this illustrious man diffused universal sorrow throughout
the nation. All envy and unworthy suspicion died witli him. The
king and the whole court went into mourning. Funeral services were
performed in his honour, in the royal chapel and all the principal
churches of the kingdom. Ferdinand addressed a letter of consolation to
his duchess, in which he lamented the death of one " who had rendered
him inestimable services, and to whom he had ever borne such sincere
affection " ! * His obsequies were celebrated with great magnificence in
the ancient Moorish capital, under the superintendence of the count of
Tendilla, the son and successor of Gonsalvo's old friend, the late governor
of Granada. f His remains, first deposited in the Franciscan monastery,
were afterwards removed, and laid beneath a sumptuous mausoleum, in
the church of San Geronimo ; and more than a hundred banners and
royal pennons, waving in melancholy pomp around the walls of the
chapel, proclaimed the glorious achievements of the warrior who slept
beneath. J His noble wife, Dona Maria Manrique, survived him but a
few days. His daughter Elvira inherited the princely titles and estates
of her father, which, by her marriage with her kinsman, the count of
Cabra, were perpetuated in the house of Cordova.
Gonsalvo, or, as he is called in Castilian, Gonzalo Hernandez de
"Cordova, was sixty-two years old at the time of his death. His counte-
nance and person aie represented to have been extremelv handsome ; his
manners, elegant and attractive, were stamped with tliat lofty dignity
which so often distinguishes his countrymen. " He still bears," >ays
Jtlartyr, speaking of him in the last years of his life, " the same majestic
port as when in the height of his former authority ; so that every one
who visits him acknowledges the influence of his noble presence as fully
as when, at the head of armies, he gave laws to Italy."
* I have before me a copy of an autograph letter of Ferdinand to his chaplain, Father
De Aponte, in which the king directs him to wait on the duchess and tender her the con-
eolations proper under her bereavement, with the assurance of the unalterable c< mtinuauc*
of the royal favour and protection. The sympathetic tone of the epistle, aud the delicaU
terms in which it is expressed, are honourable to the monarch.
t Peter Martyr notices the death of this estimable nobleman, full of years an- 1 of honours,
fa a letter dated July 18th, 1515. It is addressed to Tendilla's son, aii
olation flowing from the mild and philosophical spirit of its amiable author.
J On the top of the monument was seen the marble effigy of the Great Captain, armed
and kneeling. The banners and other military trophies, which continued to garnish the
walls of the chapel, according to Pedraza, as late n# 1000, had d:- .re the
eighteenth century ; at least we may infer so from Colmenar's silence respecting them ill
his account of the sepulchre.
Gonsalvo was created duke of Terra Nuova and Sessa, and marquis of Bitonto, all in
Italy, with estates of the value of 40,000 ducats rent. He was also grand constable of
Naples, and a nobleman of Venice. His princely honours were transmitted V.
Elvira to her son, Gonzalo Hernandez de Cordova, who tilled the posts, under Ch;t:
of governor of Milan and captain-general of Italy. Under Philip II. his descendants were
aiscd to a Spanish dukedom, with the title of dukes yf Uaeua.
EK.VTH AXD CITARACTKR OF FICUDIXAXD. 5-11
IT is splendid military s: . o gratifying to CastiHan pride, liave
jiado the name of Gonsalvo us familiar to his countrymen as that of the
id, which, floating down the stream of popular melody, has been
treasured up as a part of the national history. His shining qualities',
even more than his exploits, have been often made the theme of fiction ;
and fiction, as usual, has dealt with them in a fashion to leave only
confused and erroneous conceptions of both. More is known of the
Spanish hero, for instance, to foreign readers, from Florian's a-iveablo
novel, than from any authentic record of his actions. Yet Florian, by
dwelling only on the dazzling and popular traits of his hero, has
depicted him as tl. "U of romantic chivalry. This
i i inly was not his character, which miu-ht he said to have been formed
after a riper p -riod of civilisation than t; :ivalry. At L
' had none of tlie nonsense of that age, its faneiful vagaries, reckless
adventure, and wild romantic gallantry.* His characteristics were
prudence, cool liness of purpose, and intimate knowledge of
man. lie underwood, above all, the temper of his own countrymen. H&
inav be said, in some degree, to have formed their military character ;
their patience of > v< re training and hardship, their unflinching-
obedience, their inilexible spirit under reverses, and their decisive-
energy in the hour of action. It is certain that the Spanish soldier,
under his hands, assumed an entirely new aspect from that which he had
displayed in the romantic wars of the Peninsula.
Gonsalvo was untainted with the coarser vioes characteristic of the-
time. He discovered none of that griping avarice, too often the reproach,
of his countrymen in these wars. His hand and heart were liberal as
the day. He betrayed none of the cruelty and licentiousness which.
disgrace the a ire of chivalry. On all occasions he was prompt to protect
women from injury or insult. Although his distinguished manners and
rank gave him obvious advantages with the sex, he never abused
them ; and he has left a character, unimpeached by any historian,
of unblemished morality in his domestic relations. This was a rare-
virtue in the sixteenth century.
Gonsalvo's fame rests on his military prowess ; yet his character would
Beem, in many respects, better suited to the calm and cultivated walks
of civil life. His government of Naples exhibited much discretion and
sound policy ; and there, as afterwards in his retirement, his polite and
liberal manners secured, not merely the good-will, but the strong
attachment, of those around him. His early education, like that of most
of the noble cavaliers who came forward before the improvements intro-
duced under Isabella, was taken up with knightly exercises more than
intellectual accomplishments. He was never taught Latin, and had no
pretensions to scholarship ; but he honoured and nobly recompensed it in
others. His solid sense and liberal taste supplied all deficiencies in
himself, and led him to select friends and companions from among the
most enlightened and virtuous of the community.
On this fair character there remains one foul reproach. This is hi
breach of faith in two memorable instances ; first, to the young duke of
Oilabria, and afterwards to Cijesar Borgia, both of whom he betrayed
Gonsalvo assumed for his device a cross-bow, moved by a pulley, with the motto,
"Ingenium auperal vires." It was characteristic of a miud trusting more to policy titan
force aud during ..-..
542 DEATH OF GOXSALTO.
into the hands of King Ferdinand, their personal enemy, and in violation
of his most solemn pledges. True, it was in obedience to his master's
commands, and not to serve his own purposes ; and true also, this want
of faith was the besetting sin of the age. But history has no warrant
to tamper with right and wrong, or to brighten the character of its
favourites, by diminishing one shade of the abhorrence which attaches
to their vices. They should rather be held up in their true deformity,
as the more conspicuous from the very greatness with which they are
associated. It may be remarked, however, that the reiterated and
unsparing opprobrium with which foreign writers, who have been little
sensible to Gonsalvo's merits, have visited these offences, affords tolerable
evidence that they are the only ones of any magnitude that can be
charged on him.
As to the imputation of disloyalty, we have elsewhere had occasion to
notice its apparent groundlessness. It would be strange, indeed, if the
ungenerous treatment which he had experienced ever since his return
from Naples had not provoked feelings of indignation in his bosom.
Nor would it be surprising, under these circumstances, if he had been
led to regard the archduke Charles's pretensions to the regency, as he
came of age, with a favourable eye. There is no evidence, however, of
this, or of any act, unfriendly to Ferdinand's interests. His whole
public life, on the contrary, exhibited the truest loyalty ; and the only
stains that darken his fame were incurred by too unhesitating devotion
to the wishes of his master. He is not the tirst nor the last statesman
who has reaped the royal recompense of ingratitude, for serving his king
with greater zeal than he had served his Maker.
Ferdinand's health, in the meantime, had declined so sensibly, that it
was evident he could not long survive the object of his jealousy. His
disease had now settled into a dropsy, accompanied with a distressing
affection of the heart. He found difficulty in breathing, complained
that he was stifled in the crowded cities, and passed most of his time,
even after the weather became cold, in the fields and forests, occupied,
as far as his strength permitted, with the fatiguing pleasures of the
chace. As the winter advanced, he bent his steps towards the south.
He passed some time, in December, at a country seat of the duke of
Alva, near Placentia, where he hunted the stag. He then resumed his
journey to Andalusia, but fell so ill on the way, at the little village ol
Madrigalejo, near Truxillo, that it was found impossible to advance
further. (Jan. 1516.)
The king seemed desirous of closing his eyes to the danger of his
situation as long as possible. He would not confess, nor even admit Ins.
confessor into his chamber. He showed similar jealousy of his grand-
son's envoy, Adrian of Utrecht. This person, the preceptor of Charles,
and afterwards raised, through his means, to the papacy, had come into
Castile some weeks before, with the ostensible view of making some
permanent arrangement with Ferdinand in regard to the regency. The
real motive, as the powers which he brought with him subsequently
proved, was, that he might be on the spot when the kine: died, and
assume the reins of government. Ferdinand received the minister
with cold civility ; and an agreement was entered into, by which the
regency was guaranteed to the monarch, not only during Joanna's life,
but his own. Concessions to a dying; man cost nothing. Adrian, who
DKATH AXD CHAEACTEE OF FEEDINAXD. 513
was at Guadalupe at this time, no sooner heard of Ferdinand's illness,
than he hastened to Madrigalejo. The king, however, suspected the
motives of his visit. "He has come to see me die," said he; and,
refusing to admit him into his presence, ordered the mortified envoy
back again to Guadalupe.
At length the medical attendants ventured to inform the king of his
real situation, conjuring him, if he had any affairs of moment to settle,
to do it without delay. He listened to them with composure, and from
that moment seemed to recover all his customary fortitude and equa
nimity. After receiving the sacrament, and attending to his spiritua.
concerns, he called his attendants around his bed, to advise with then:
respecting the disposition of the government. Among those present, at
this time, were his faithful followers, the duke of Alva and the marquis
of Denia, his major-domo, with several bishops and members of his
council.
The king, it seems, had made several wills. By one, executed at
Burgos, in 1512, he had committed the government of Castile and
Aragon to the infante Ferdinand during his brother Charles's absence.
This young prince had been educated in Spain under the eye of his
grandfather, who entertained a strong affection for him. The counsellors
remonstrated in the plainest terms against this disposition of the regency.
Ferdinand, they said, was too young to take the helm into his own hands.
His appointment would be sure to create new factions in Castile ; it
would raise him up to be, in a manner, a rival of his brother, and kindle
ambitious desires in his bosom, which could not fail to end in his dis-
appointment, and perhaps destruction.
The king, who would never have made such a devise in his better
days, was more easily turned from his purpose now than he would
once have been. "To whom then," he asked, "shall I leave the
regency?" "To Ximenes, archbishop of Toledo," they replied.
Ferdinand turned away his face, apparently in displeasure ; but after a
few moments' silence rejoined, " It is well ; he is certainly a good man,
with honest intentions. He has no importunate friends or family to
provide for. He osves everything to Queen Isabella and myself; and,
as In- has always been true to the interests of our family, I believe he
will always remain so."
He, however, could not so readily abandon the idea of some splendid
establishment for his favourite grandson : and he proposed to settle on
him the grand-masterships of the military orders. But to this his
attendants again objected, on the same grounds as before : adding, that
this powerful patronage was too great for any subject, .aid imploring
him not to defeat the object which the late queen had so much at heart,
of incorporating it with the crown. " Ferdinand will be left very poor
then," exclaimed the king, with tears in his eyes. " He will have the >
^rood-will of his brother," replied one of his honest counsellors, " the
best legacy your Highness can leave him."
The testament, as finally arranged, settled the succession of Aragon
and Naples on his daughter Joanna and her heirs. The administration
of Castile during Charles's absence was intrusted to Ximenes ; and that
of Aragon to the king's natural son, the archbishop of Saragossa, whose
rood sense and popular manners made him acceptable to the people.
1e granted several places in the kingdom of Naples to the infante
644 DEATH OF GON SALVO.
Ferdinand, with an annual stipend of fifty thousand ducats, chargeable
on the public revenes. To his queen Germaine he left the yearly income
of thirty thousand gold florins stipulated by the marriage settlement,
with five thousand a year more during widowhood.* The will contained,
besides, several appropriations for pious and charitable purposes, but
nothing worthy of particular note. Notwithstanding the simplicity of
the various provisions of the testament, it was so long, from the formalities
and periphrases with which it was encumbered, that there was scarce
time to transcribe it in season for the royal signature. On the evening
of the 22ud of January 1516, he executed the instrument ; and a fe\v
hours later, between one and two of the morning of the 23rd, Ferdinand
breathed his last.t The scene of this event was a small house belonging
to the friars of Guadalupe. "In so wretched a tenement," exclaims
Martyr, in his usual moralising vein, "did this lord of so many lauds
close his eyes upon the world."
Ferdinand was nearly sixty-four years old, of which, forty-one had
elapsed since he first swayed the sceptre of Castile, and thirty-seven
since he held that of Aragon. A long reign; long enough, indeed, to
see most of those whom he had honoured and trusted of his subjects
gathered to the dust, and a succession of contemporary monarchs come
and disappear like shadows. J He died deeply lamented by his native
subjects, who entertained a partiality natural towards their own
hereditary sovereign. The event was regarded with very different
feelings by the Castilian nobles, who calculated their gains on the
transfer of the reins from such old and steady hands into those of a
young and inexperienced master. The commons, however, who had
felt the good effect of this curb on the nobility in their own per-
sonal security, held his memory in reverence as that of a national
benefactor.
Ferdinand's remains were interred, agreeably to his orders, in Granada.
A few of his most faithful adherents accompanied them; the greater
part being deterred by a prudent caution of giving umbrage to Charles.
The funeral train, however, was swelled by contributions from the
various towns through which it passed. At Cordova, especially, it is
worthy of note, that the marquis of Priego, who had slender obligations
to Ferdinand, came out with all his household to pay the last melancholy
honours to his remains. They were received with similar respect in
Granada, where the people, while they gazed on the sad spectacle, says
Zurita, were naturally affected, as they called to mind the pomp and
* Ferdinand's gay widow did not long enjoy this latter pension. Soon after his death,
he gave her hand to the marquis of Brandenburg ; and, he dying, she again married the
prince of Calabria, who had been detained in a sort of honourable captivity in Spain ever
since the dethronement of his father, King Frederic. It was the second sterile match,
says Guicciardini, which Charles V., for obvious politic reasons, provided for the rightful
heir of Naples.
t The queen was at AlcaK de Hcnares when she received tidings of her husband's
illness. She posted with all possible dispatch to Madrigalojo ; but, although she
reached it on the 20th, she was not admitted, says Gomez, notwithstanding her tears,
to a private interview with the king till the testament was executed, a few hours only
before his death.
{ Since Ferdinand ascended the throne, he had seen no less than four kings of England,
e many of France, and also of Naples, three of Portugal, two German emperors, and
naif a dozen popes. As to his own subjects, scarcely one of all those familiar to the
reader in the course of our history now survived, except, indeed, the Nestor of his time,
the octogenarian Ximcueo.
DEATH AND CHARACTER OF FERDINAND. 545
splendour of his triumphal entry on the first occupation of the Moorish
capital.
Jiy his dying injunctions, all unnecessary ostentation was interdicted
at his funeral. His body was laid by the side of Isabella's in the
monastery of the Alhambra; and the year following, when the royal
chapel of the metropolitan church was completed, they were both trans-
ported thither. A magnificent mausoleum of white marble was erected
over them by their grandson Charles the Fifth. It was executed in a
style worthy of the age. The sides were adorned with figures of angela
and saints, richly sculptured in bas-relief. On the top reposed the
effigies of the illustrious pair, whose titles and merits were commemorated
in the following brief, and not very felicitous inscription :
"MAHOMETIOfi SECTJB PROSTRATORES, ET 11&KET1CM PERVICACI.E EXTIXCTORES, FERNAK
DCS ARAGONUM, ET HELISABETA CASTELLJE, VIK ET UXOR UNANIMBJ, CATHOLICI
APPELLATI, MARMOREO CLAUDUNTUR HOC TUMULO."
King Ferdinand's personal appearance has been elsewhere noticed.
*' He was of the middle size," says a contemporary who knew him well.
" His complexion was fresh ; his eyes bright and animated ; his nose
and mouth small and finely formed, and his teeth white ; his forehead
lofty and serene ; with flowing hair of a bright chestnut colour. His
manners were courteous, and his countenance seldom clouded by any
thing like spleen or melancholy. He was grave in speech and action,
and had a marvellous dignity of presence. His whole demeanour, iu
fine, was truly that of a great king." For this flattering portrait
Ferdinand must have sat at an earlier and happier period of his life.
His education, owing to the troubled state of the times, had been
neglected in his boyhood, though he was early instructed in all the
generous pastimes and exercises of chivalry.* He was esteemed one of
the most perfect horsemen of his court. He led an active life, and the
only kind of reading he appeared to relish was history. It was natural
that so busy an actor on the great political theatre should have found
peculiar interest and instruction in this study.
He was naturally of an equable temper, and inclined to moderation in
all things. The only amusement for which he cared much was hunting,
especially falconry, and that he never carried to excess till his last years.f
He was indefatigable in application to business. He had no relish for
the pleasures of the table, and, like Isabella, was temperate even to
abstemiousness in his diet.l He was frugal in his domestic and personal
expenditure ; partly, no doubt, from a willingness to rebuke the opposite
spirit of wastefulness and ostentation in his nobles. He lost no good
opportunity of doing this. On one occasion, it is said, he turned to a
gallant of the court noted for his extravagance in dress, and, laying his
hand on his own doublet, exclaimed, " Excellent stun this ; it has lasted
me three pair of sleeves ! " This spirit of economy was carried so far as
to bring on him the reproach of parsimony. And parsimony, though
* "Ho tweed lightly," says Pulgar, "and with a dexterity not surpassed by any man
in the kingdom."
t Pulgar, iudood, notices his fondness for chess, tennis, and other games of skill ia
early lii'o.
i " Stop and dina with us," he was known to say to his i nclo, the grand admiral
Honriiincz. "TVC are to have a f<.wl ; . would hav
afforded small scope for the fct 1 '" i ot'a Vatol ur ;iu Udu.
M Jf
546 ERATH OF GOXSALTO.
not so pernicious on the whole as the opposite vice of prodigality, has
always found far less favour with the multitude, from the appearance of
disinterestedness which the latter carries with it. Prodigality in a king,
however, who draws not on his own resources, but on the public, forfeits
even this equivocal claim to applause. But, in truth, Ferdinand was
rather frugal than parsimonious. His income was moderate ; his enter-
prises numerous and vast. It was impossible that he could meet them
without husbanding his resources with the most careful economy.* No
one has accused him of attempting to enrich his exchequer by the venal
sale of office, like Louis the Twelfth, or by griping extortion, like another
royal contemporary, Henry the Seventh. He amassed no treasure, and
indeed died so poor, that he left scarcely enough in his coffers to defray
the charge of his funeral, f
Ferdinand was devout ; at least he was scrupulous in regard to the
exterior of religion. He was punctual in attendance on mass ; careful
to observe all the ordinances and ceremonies of his church; and left
many tokens of his piety, after the fashion of the time, in sumptuous
edifices and endowments for religious purposes. Although not a super-
stitious man for the age, he is certainly obnoxious to the reproach of
bigotry ; for he co-operated with Isabella in all her exceptionable
measures in Castile, and spared no effort to fasten the odious yoke of
the Inquisition on Aragon, and subsequently, though happily with less
success, on Naples. J
Ferdinand has incurred the more serious charge of hypocrisy. Hia
Catholic zeal was observed to be marvellously efficacious in furthering
his temporal interests. His most objectionable enterprises, even, were
covered with the veil of religion. In this, however, he did not materially
differ from the practice of the age. Some of the most scandalous wars
of that period were ostensibly at the bidding of the church, or in defence
of Christendom against the infidel. This ostentation of a religious
motive was indeed very usual with the Spanish and Portuguese. The
crusading spirit nourished by their struggle with the Moors, and subse-
quently by their African and American expeditions, gave such a religious
tone habitually to their feelings, as shed an illusion over their actions
and enterprises, frequently disguising their true character even from
themselves.
It will not be so easy to acquit Ferdinand of the reproach of perfidy
which foreign writers have so deeply branded on his name, and which.
* The revenues of his own kingdom of Aragon were very limited. His principal
foreign expeditions were undertaken solely on account of that crown ; and this, notwith-
standing the aid from Castile, may explain, and in some degree excuse, his very scan
remittances to his troops.
t The state of Ferdinand's coffers formed, indeed, a strong contrast to that of h
brother monarch's, Henry VII., "whose treasure of store," to borrow the words of Baco
" left at his death, under his own key and keeping, amounted unto the sum of eighteen
hundred thousand pounds sterling ; a huge mass of money, even for these times." Sir
Edward Coke swells this huge mass to " fifty and three hundred thousand pounds I "
J Ferdinand's conduct in regard to the Inquisition in Aragon displayed singular dupli-
city. In consequence of the remonstrance of cortes, in 1512, in which that high-spirited
body set forth the various usurpations of tho Holy Office, Ferdinand signed a compact,
abridging its jurisdiction. He repented of these concessions, however, and in the following
year obtained a dispensation from Rome from his engagements. This proceeding produced
such an alarming excitement in the kingdom, that the monarch found it expedient to
renounce the papal brief, and apply for another, confirming his former compact. One
may well doubt whether bigotry entered aa largely, as less pardonable motives of sUto
policy, into this miserable juggling.
DF.ATH AXD CHARACTER OF FERDINAKD. 547
those of his own nation have sought rather to palliate than to deny. It
is but fair to him, however, even here, to take a glance at tlie a ire*. He
came forward when government was in a state of transition 1'r.nu the
feudal forms to those which it has assumed in modern times : when the
superior strength of the great vassals was circumvented by the superior
policy of the reigning princes. It was the dawn of tlie triumph of
intellect over the brute force, which had hitherto controlled the move-
ments of nations, as of individuals. The same policv which these
monarchs had pursued in their own domestic relations they introduced
into those with foreign states, when, at the close of the fifteenth century
the barriers that had so long kept them asunder were broken down.
Italy was the first field on which the great powers were brought into
anything like a general collision. It was the country, too, in which this
crafty policy had been first studied, and reduced to a regular system.
A single extract from the political manual of that age may serve as a
key to the whole science, as then understood.* "A prudent prince,"
says Machiavclli, " will not, and ought not to observe his engagements
when it would operate to his disadvantage, and the causes no longer
exist which induced him to make them." Sufficient evidence of the
practical application of the maxim may be found in the manifold treaties
of the period, so contradictory, or, what is to the same purpose for our
present argument, so confirmatory of one another in their tenor, as
clearly to show the impotence of all engagements. There were no less
than four several treaties in the course of three years, solemnly stipu-
lating the marriage of the archduke Charles and Claude of France.
Louis the Twelfth violated his engagements, and the marriage after all
never took place.
(Mich was tlie school in which Ferdinand was to make trial of his skill
with his brother monarchs. He had an able instructor in his father,
John the S.vond, of Arapm, and the result showed that the lessons were
not lost on him. " He was vigilant, wary, and subtile," writes a French
contemporary, " and few histories make mention of his being out-witted
in the whole course of his life."t He played the game with more
adroitness than his opponents, and he won it. Success, as usual, brought
on him the reproaches of the losers. This is particularly true of the
French, whose master, Louis the Twelfth, was more d'irectly pitted
against him. Yet Ferdinand does not appear to be a whit more
I'lmoxious to the charge of unfairness than his opponent. If he deserted
his allies when it suited his convenience, he, at least, did not deliberately
plot their destruction, and betray them into the hands of their deadly
y, as his rival did with Venice, in the league of Cambray. The
partition of Naples, the most scandalous transaction of the period, he
(shared equally with Louis ; and if the latter has escaped the reproach of
the usurpation of Xavarrc, it was because the premature death of his
general deprived him of the pretext and means for achieving it. Yet
Louis the Twelfth, the " father of his people," has gone down to posterity
with a high and honourable reputation.
* Charles V. in particular testified his respect for Machiavelli, by having the " Pnncip**
^ranslated for his own use.
t " This prince." says Lord Herbert, who was not disposed to overrate the talents, any
more than the virtues of Ferdinand, "was thought the most active and politique of his
time. No man knew better how to serve his turn on everybody, or to make their ends
conduce to bos."
W N 2
548 DEATH OF GOSSALYO.
Ferdinand, unfortunately for his popularity, had nothing of the frank
and cordial temper, the genial expansion of the soul, which begets love.
He carried the same cautious and impenetrable frigidity into private life
that he showed in public. " No one, says a writer of the time, " could
read his thoughts by any change of his countenance." Calm and calcu-
lating, even in trifles, it was too obvious that everything had exclusive
reference to self. He seemed to estimate his friends only by the amount
of services they could render him. He was not always mindful of these
services. "Witness his ungenerous treatment of Columbus, the Great
Captain, Navarro, Ximenes, the men who shed the brightest lustre and
the most substantial benefits on his reign. Witness, also, the insensi-
bility to the virtues and long attachment of Isabella, whose memory he
could so soon dishonour by a union with one every way unworthy to be
her successor.
Ferdinand's connexion with Isabella, while it reflected infinite glory
on his reign, suggests a contrast most unfavourable to his character.
Hers was all magnanimitv, disinterestedness, and deep devotion to the
interests of her people. llis was the spirit of egotism. The circle of his
views might be more or less expanded, but self was the steady unchange-
able centre. Her heart beat with the generous sympathies of friendship,
and the purest constancy to the first, the only object of her love. We
have seen the measure of his sensibilities in other relations. They were
not more refined in this ; and he proved himself unworthy of the
admirable woman with whom his destinies were united, by indulging in
those vicious gallantries too generally sanctioned by the age. * Ferdinand,
in fine, a shrewd and politic prince, " surpassing," as a French writer,
not his friend, has remarked, " all the statesmen of his time in the
science of the cabinet," may be taken as the representative of the peculiar
genius of the age. While Isabella, discarding all the petty artifices of
state policv, and pursuing the noblest ends by the noblest means, stands
far above her age.
In his illustrious consort Ferdinand may be said to have lost his good
genius. From that time his fortunes were under a cloud. Xot that
victory sat less constantly on his banner ; but at home he had lost
" All that should accompany old age,
As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends."
His ill-advised marriage disgusted his Castilian subjects. He ruled
over them, indeed, but more in severity than in love. The beauty of
his young queen opened new sources of jealousy ; while the disparity of
their ages, and her fondness for frivolous pleasure, as little qualified her
to be his partner in prosperity as his solace in declining years. His
tenacity of power drew him into vulgar squabbles with those most nearly
* Ferdinand left four natural children, one son and three daughters. The former, Don
Alonso de Aragon, was born of the viscountess of Eboli, a Catalan lady. He was made
archbishop of Saragossa when only six years old. There was little of the religious pro-
fession, however, iu his life. He took an active part in the political and military move-
ments of the period, and seems to have been even less scrupulous in his gallantries than his
father. His manners in private life were attractive, and his public conduct discreet. His
father always regarded him with peculiar affection, and intrusted him with the regency of
Aragon, as we have seen, at his death. Ferdinand had three daughters, also, by three
different ladies, one of them a noble Portuguese. The eldest child was named Dcfia
Juan a, and married the grand constable of Castile. The others, each named Maria,
embraced the religious profession in a convent at Madrigal
DKATH AXD CHAKACTEE OF FEEDIXAA'D. 549
allied to him by blood, which settled into a mortal aversion. Finally,
bodily infirmity broke the energies of his mind, sour suspicions corroded
his heart, and he had the misfortune to live long after he had lost all
that could make life desirable.
us turn from this gloomy picture to the brighter season of the
morning and meridian of his life, when he sat with Isabella on the united
thr-'iics of Ca-tile and Aragon, strong in the love of his own subjects,
and in the fear and respect of his enemies. "We shall then find much in
his character to admire ; his impartial justice in the administration of
tlii 1 laws ; his watchful solicitude to shield the weak from the oppression
of the strong ; his wise economy, which achieved great results, without
burdening his people with opprcs.-ive taxes ; his sobriety and moderation :
the decorum and respect lor religion which he maintained among his
subjects; the industry lie promoted by wholesome laws and his own
example : his consummate sagacity, which crowned all his enterprises
with brilliant success, and made him the oracle of the princes of the age.
Machiavelli, indeed, the most deeply read of his time in human
character, imp raid's successes, in one of his letters, to
" cunning and good luck, rather than superior wisdom." He was,
indeed, fortunate ; and the " star of Austria," which rose as his
declined, shone not with a brighter or steadier lustre. But success
through a long seii> < <>f \\ ::r- sufficiently, of itself, attests good conduct,
" The winds and w;. (iil.'n.n, truly enough, "are always on
:de of tb^ most skilful mariner." The Florentine statesman has
Li d a riper and more deliberate judgment in the treatise, which he
intended as a mirror for the rulers of the time. "Nothing," says he,
" gains estimation for a prince like great enterprises. Our own age has
furnished a splendid example of this in Ferdinand of Aragon. We may
call him a new kimr. 'u a feeble one, he has made himself the
most renowned and glorious monarch of Christendom ; and, if we ponder
well his manifold achievements, we must acknowledge all of them very
great, and some truly extraordinary."
Other eminent foicLn. rs of the time join in this lofty strain of pane-
gyric. Tin Ca-ti!i:i:>. mindful of the general security and prosperity
they had enjoyed ui. seem willing to bury his frailties in
his grave. While his own hereditary subjects, exulting with patriotic
prid-- in the glory to which he had raised their petty state, and touched
with grateful recollections of his mild paternal government, deplore his
lo>s iu strains of national sorrow, as the last of the revered line, who
was to preside over the destinies of Aragon as a separate and independent
kinydouu
CHA.PTEE XXV.
, DEATH, AND CHABACTER OF CAKPINAL
1516, 1517.
Ximenes Governor of Castile diaries proclaimed King Ximenes' Domestic Policy Ha
intimidates the Nobles Public Discontents Charles lauds in Spain His Ingratitude
to Ximenes The Cardinal's Illness and Death His extraordinary Character.
THE personal history of Ferdinand the Catholic terminates, of course,
with the preceding chapter. In order to bring the history of his reign,
however, to a suitable close, it is necessary to continue the narrative
through the brief regency of Ximenes, to the period when the govern-
ment was delivered into the hands of Ferdinand's grandson and successor,
Charles the Fifth.
By the testament of the deceased monarch, as we have seen, Cardinal
Ximenez de Cisneros was appointed sole regent of Castile. He met with
opposition, however, from Adrian, the dean of Louvain, who produced
powers of similar purport from Prince Charles. Neither party could
boast a sufficient warrant for exercising this important trust ; the one
claiming it by the appointment of an individual who, acting merely as
regent himself, had certainly no right to name his successor ; while the
other had only the sanction of a prince, who, at the time of giving it,
had no jurisdiction whatever in Castile. The misunderstanding which
ensued was finally settled by an agreement of the parties to share the
authority in common, till further instructions should be received from
Charles.
It was not long before they arrived (Feb. 14th, 1516). They confirmed
the cardinal's authority in the fullest manner, while they spoke of Adrian
only as an ambassador. They intimated, however, the most entire confi-
dence in the latter ; and the two prelates continued, as before, to administer
the government jointly. Ximenes sacrificed nothing by this arrange-
ment ; for the tame and quiet temper of Adrian was too much overawed
by the bold genius of his partner to raise any opposition to his
measures.*
The first requisition of Prince Charles was one that taxed severely
the power and popularity of the new regent. This was to have himself
proclaimed king ; a measure extremely distasteful to the Castilians, who
regarded it not only as contrary to established usage, during the lifetime
of his mother, but as an indignity to her. It was in vain that Ximenes
a;td the council remonstrated on the impropriety and impolicy of the
measure.t Charles, fortified by his Flemish advisers, sturdily persisted
in his purpose. The cardinal, consequently, called a meeting of the
prelates and principal nobles of Madrid, to which he had transferred the
* Crabajal has given us Charles's epistle, which is subscnoed "El PrincM[X!." He did not
venture on the title of king in his corresixmdence with the Castilians, though hu affecteo
it abroad. The letter of the council is dated March 14th. 1518.
THE KEGENCT OF XIMEXES. 551
cat of government, and whose central position and other local advan-
tages made it, from this time forward, with little variation, the regular
capital of the kingdom.* The doctor Carbajal prepared a studied and
plausible argument in support of the measure. As it failed, however, to
produce conviction in his audience, Ximenes, chafed by the opposition,
and probably distrusting its real motives, peremptorily declared that
those who refused to acknowledge Charles as king, in tne present state
of things, would refuse to obey him when he was so. "I will have him
proclaimed in Madrid to-morrow," said he, " and I doubt not every
other city in the kingdom will follow the example." He was as good as
his word ; and the conduct of the capital was imitated, with little oppo-
sition, by all the other cities in Castile. Not so in Aragon, whose people
were too much attached to their institutions to consent to it, till Charles
first made oath in person to respect the laws and liberties of the realm.
The Castilian aristocracy, it may be believed, did not much relish the
new yoke imposed on them by their priestly regent. On one occasion, it
is said, they went in a body and demanded of Ximenes by what powers
ho held the government so absolutely. He referred them for answer to
Ferdinand's testament and Charles's letter. As they objected to these,
ke led them to a window of the apartment and showed them a park of
artillery below, exclaiming, at the same time, " There are my creden-
tials, then ! " The story is characteristic ; but, though often repeated,
must be admitted to stand on slender authority.}
One of the regent's first acts was the famous ordinance, encouraging
the burgesses, by liberal rewards, to enrol themselves into companies,
and submit to regular military training at stated seasons. The nobles
saw the operation of this measure too well not to use all their efforts to
counteract it. In this they succeeded for a time, as the cardinal, with
his usual boldness, had ventured on it without waiting for Charles's
sanction, and in opposition to most of the council. The resolute spirit of
the minister, however, eventually triumphed over all resistance ; and a
national corps was organised, competent, under proper guidance, to
protect the liberties of the people, but which, unfortunately, was
ultimately destined to be turned against them.
Armed with this strong physical force, the cardinal now projected the
boldest schemes of reform, especially in the finances, which had fallen
into some disorder in the latter days of Ferdinand. He made a strict
inquisition into the funds of the military orders, in which there had
beeu much waste and misappropriation ; he suppressed all superfluous
offices in the state ; retrenched excessive salaries, and cut short the
pensions granted by Ferdinand and Isabella, which he contended should
determine with their lives. Unfortunately, the state was not materially
benefited by these economical arrangements^ since the greater part of
what was thus saved was drawn off to supply the waste and cupidity of
the Flemish court, who dealt with Spain with all the merciless rapacity
that could be shown to a conquered province.
The foreign administration of the regent displayed the same courage
* It became permanently so in the following reign of Philip II.
t According to Robles, the cardinal, after this bravado, twirled his coitlelier's belt about
his fingers, saying, ''he w.in-.ed nothing better thau to tamu the pride of the Castilian
nobles with ! " But Ximenes was neither a fool nor a madiuuu, although his over zealous
biographers make him sometimes one and sometimes the other.
552 THE REGEXCY OF XIMENES,
and vigour. Arsenals were established in the southern maritime towns,
and a numerous fleet was equipped in the Mediterranean against the
Barbary corsairs. A large force was sent into Xavarre, which defeated
an invading army of French (March 25, 1516) ; and the cardinal followed
up the blow by demolishing the principal fortresses of the kingdom ; a
precautionary measure, to which, in all probability, Spain owes the
permanent preservation of her conquest.
The regent's eye penetrated to the farthest limits of the monarchy.
He sent a commission to Hispaniola, to inquire into, and ameliorate, the
condition of the natives. At the same time he earnestly opposed (though
without success, being overruled in this by the Flemisn counsellors), the
introduction of negro slaves into the colonies, which, he predicted, from
the character of the race, must ultimately result in a servile war. It is
needless to remark how well the event has verified the prediction.
It is with less satisfaction that we must contemplate his policy in
regard to the Inquisition. As head of that tribunal, he enforced its
authority and pretensions to the utmost. He extended a branch of it to
Oran, and also to the Canaries, and tbe Xew World. In 1512, the new
Christians had offered Ferdinand a large sum of money to carry on the
Navarrese war, if he would cause the trials before the tribunal to be
conducted in the same manner as in other courts, where the accuser and
the evidence were confronted openly with the defendants. To this
reasonable petition Ximenes objected, on the wretched plea, that, in
that event, none would be found willing to undertake the odious business
of informer. He backed his remonstrance with such a liberal donative
from his own funds as supplied the king's immediate exigency, and
effectually closed his heart against the petitioners. The application was
renewed in 1516 by the unfortunate Israelites, who offered a liberal
supply in like manner to Charles, on similar terms : but the proposal, tx>
which his Flemish counsellors, who may be excused at least from th&
reproach of bigotry, would have inclined the young monarch, was finally
rejected through the interposition of Ximenes.
The high-handed measures of the minister (1517), while they disgusted
the aristocracy, gave great umbrage to the dean of Louvain, who saw
himself reduced to a mere cipher in the administration. In consequence
of his representation, a second, and afterwards, a third minister was sent
to Castile, with authority to divide the government with the cardinal.
But all this was of little avail. On one occasion, the co-regents ventured
to rebuke their haughty partner, and assert their own dignity by sub-
scribing their names first to the despatches, and then sending them to
him for his signature. But Ximenes coolly ordered his secretary to tear
the paper in pieces, and make out a new one, which he signed, and sent
out without the participation of his brethren. And this course he
continued during the remainder of his administration.
The cardinal not only assumed the sole responsibility of the most
important public acts, but, in the execution of them, seldom conde-
scended to calculate the obstacles or the odds arrayed against him. He
was thus brought into collision, at the same time, with three of th&
most powerful grandees of Castile ; the dukes of Alva and Infantado, and
the count of Urtfia. Don Pedro Giron, the son of the latter, with several
other young noblemen, had maltreated and resisted the royal officers
while in the discharge of their duty. They then took refuge in the little
HIS DEATH AND CHARACTER. 553
town of Villafrata, which they fortified and prepared for a defence. The
cardinal, without hesitation, mustered several thousand of the national
militia, and, investing the place, set it on tire, and deliberately razed it
to the, ground. The refractory nobles, struck with consternation,
submitted. Their friends interceded for them in the most humble
manner ; and the cardinal, whose lofty spirit disdained to trample on
a fallen foe, showed his usual clemency by soliciting their pardon from
the king.
But neither the talents nor authority of Xiroenes, it was evident, could
much longer maintain subordination among the people, exasperated by
the shameless extortions of the Flemings, and the little interest shown
for them by their new sovereign. The most considerable offices in
church and state were put up to sale ; and the kingdom was drained of
its funds by the large remittances continually made on one pretext or
another to Flanders. All this brought odium, undeserved, indeed, on
the cardinal's government ; for there is abundant evidence that both he
and the council remonstrated in the boldest manner on these enormities r
while they endeavoured to inspire nobler sentiments in Charles's bosom,
by recalling the wise and patriotic administration of his grandparents.*
The people, in the meanwhile, outraged by these excesses, and despairing
of redress from a higher quarter, loudly clamoured for a convocation of
cortes, that tin y might take the matter into their own hands. The
cardinal evaded this as long as possible. He was never a friend to
popular assemblies, much less in the present inflamed state of public
feeling, and in the absence of the sovereign. He was more anxious for
hi- return than any other individual, probably, in the kingdom. Braved
by the aristocracy at home, thwarted in every favourite measure by the
Flemings abroad, with an injured indignant people to control, and
oppressed, moreover, by infirmities and years ; even his stern inflexible
spirit could scarcely sustain him under a burden too grievous, in these-
circumstances, for any subject.
At length the young monarch, having made all preliminary arrange-
ments, prepared, though still in opposition to the wishes of his courtiers,,
to embark for his Spanish dominions. Previously to this, on the 13th of
August, 1516, the French and Spanish plenipotentiaries signed a treaty
of peace at Noyon. The principal article stipulated the marriage of
Charles to the daughter of Francis the First, who was to cede, as her
dowry, the French claims on Naples. The marriage, indeed, never took
place. But the treaty itself may be considered as finally adjusting the
hostile relations which had subsisted during so many years of Ferdi-
nand's reign, with the rival monarchy of France, and as closing the long
series of wars which had grown out of the league of Cambray.
On the 17th of September, 1517, Charles landed at Villaviciosa, in the
Asturias. Ximcnes at this time lay ill at the Franciscan monastery of
Agaflen, near Aranda, on the Douro. The good tidings of the royal
landing operated like a cordial on his spirits, and he instantly dispatched
letters to the young monarch, filled with wholesome counsel as to the
conduct he should pursue in order to conciliate the affections of the
people. He received at the same time messages from the king, couched
-
* Charles might have found an antidote to the poison of his Flemish sycophants in thr
".Ul'ul counsels ut his Castili.au iniuisturs.
554 THE BEGENCY OF XttlEXES.
in the most gracious terms, and expressing the liveliest interest in Hi
restoration to health.
The Flemings in Charles's suite, however, looked with great appre-
hension to his meeting with the cardinal. They had been content that
the latter should rule the state when his arm was needed to curb the
Castilian aristocracy ; but they dreaded the ascendancy of his powerful
mind over their young sovereign, when brought into personal contact
with him. They retarded this event by keeping Charles in the north as
long as possible. In the mean time they endeavoured to alienate his
regards from the minister by exaggerated reports of his arbitrary conduct
and temper, rendered more morose by the peevishness of age. Charles
showed a facility to be directed by those around him in early years,
"which gave little augury of the greatness to which he afterwards rose.
By the persuasions of his evil counsellors, he addressed that memorable
letter to Ximenes, which is unmatched, even in court annals, for cool and
base ingratitude. He thanked the regent for all his past services ; named
a place for a personal interview with him, where he might obtain the
benefit of his counsels for his own conduct and the government of the
kingdom ; after which he would be allowed to retire to his diocese, and
seek from Heaven that reward which Heaven alone could adequately
bestow.
Such was the tenor of this cold-blooded epistle, which, in the language
of more than one writer, killed the cardinal. This, however, is stating
the matter too strongly. The spirit of Ximenes was of too stern a stuff
to be so easily extinguished by the breath of royal displeasure. He was,
indeed, deeply moved by the desertion of the sovereign whom he had
served so faithfully ; and the excitement which it occasioned brought on
a return of his fever, according to Carbajal, in full force. But anxiety
and disease had already done their work upon his once hardy consti-
tution; and this ungrateful act could only serve to wean him more
effectually from a world that he was soon to part with.
In order to be near the king, he had previously transferred his
residence to Iloa. He now turned his thoughts to his approaching end.
Death may be supposed to have but little terrors for the statesman who
in his last moments could aver "that he had never intentionally
wronged any man ; but had rendered to every one his due, without
being swayed, as far as he was conscious, by fear or affection." Yet
Cardinal Richelieu, on his death-bed, declared the same !
As a last attempt, he began a letter to the king. His fingers refused,
however, to perform their office, and after tracing a few lines, he gave
it up. The purport of these seems to have been, to recommend his
university at Alcala to the royal protection. He now became wholly
occupied with his devotions, and manifested such contrition for his
errors, and such humble confidence in the divine mercy, as deeply
affected all present. In this tranquil frame of mind, and in the perfect
possession of his powers, he breathed his last, November 8th, 1517, in
the eighty-first year'of his age, and the twenty-second since his elevation
to the primacy. The last words that he uttered were those of the
Psalmist, which he used frequently to repeat in health, " In te, Domine,
speravi," "In thee, Lord, have I trusted."
His body, arrayed in his pontifical robes, was seated in a chair of
-.tate, and multitudes of all degrees thronged into the apartment to kiss
MIS DEATH AXD CHAKACTER. 553
the hands and feet. It was afterwards transp, irted to Alcala, and laid
in the chapel of the noble college of San Ildetbnso, erected by himself.
His obsequies were celebrated with great pomp, contrary to his own
orders, by all the religious and literary fraternities of the city; and his
virtues commemorated in a funeral discourse by a doctor of the
university, who, considering the death of the good a fitting occasion
to lash the vices of the Hying, made the most caustic allusion to the
Flemish favourites of Charles, and their pestilent influence on the
country.
Such was the end of this remarkable man ; the most remarkable, in
many respects, of his time. His character was of that stern and lofty
c-a>t which seems to rise above the ordinary wants and weaknesses of
humanity. His genius, of the severest order, like Dante's or Michael
lo's in the regions of fancy, impresses us with ideas of power that
exritc admiration akin to terror. His enterprises, as we have -
wi-re of the boldest character ; his execution of them equally bold. He
disdained to woo fortune by any of those soft and pliant arts which are
often the most effectual. He pursued his ends by the most direct means.
In this way he frequently multiplied difficulties ; but difficulties seemed
to have a charm for him, by the opportunities they afforded of displaying
nergies of his soul.
"NVith these qualities he combined a versatility of talent usually
found only in softer and more flexible characters. Though bred in the
cloister, he distinguished himself both in the cabinet and the camp.
For the latter indeed, so repugnant to his regular profession, he had a
natural genius, according to the testimony of his biographer ; and he
evinced nis relish for it by declaring, that " the smell of gunpowder
was more grateful to him than the sweetest perfume of Arabia ! * In
every situation, however, he exhibited the stamp of his peculiar calling ;
and the stern lineaments of the monk were never wholly concealed
under the mask of the statesman or the visor of the warrior. He had a
full measure of the religious bigotry which belonged to the age, ; and
he had melancholy scope for displaying it, as chief of that dread
tribunal over which he presided during the last ten years of his life.f
He carried the arbitrary ideas of his profession into political life.
His regency was conducted on the principles of a military despotism.
It was his maxim, that, "a prince must rely mainly on his army for
securing the respect and obedience of his subjects." It is true he had
to deal with a martial and factious nobility, and the end which he
proposed was to curb their licentiousness, and enforce the equitable
administration of justice ; but in accomplishing this, he showed little
<l to the constitution, or to private rights. His first act, the
proclaiming of Charles king, was in open contempt of the usages and
rights of the nation. He evaded the urgent demands of the Castilians
convocation of cortes ; for it was his opinion, " that freedom of
speech, especially in regard to their own grievances, made the people
* " And who can doubt," exclaims Gonzalo de Oviedo, "that powder against the iufidel
U incense to the Lord."
t l>uriiijr this period, Ximcnes "permit la condamnation," to use the n.ild language o<
Llorente, of more than 2500 individuals to the stake, and nearly 50,000 to other punish-
ments I In order to do justice to what is really good in the character of this age, one must
absolutely o'i>se his eyes against th.it odious fanaticism which enters more or less into all.
and into the best, unfortunately, most largely.
556 THE BEGEXCY OF XIMEXES.
insolent and irreverent to their rulers." The people, of course, had no
voice in the measures which involved their most important interests.
His -whole policy, indeed, was to exalt the royal prerogative, at the
expense of the inferior orders of the state : and his regency, short as it
was, and highly beneficial to the country in many respects, must be
considered as opening the way to that career of despotism which the
Austrian family followed up with such hard-hearted constancy.
But, while we condemn the politics, we cannot but respect the
principles of the man. However erroneous his conduct in our eyes, ho
was guided by his sense of duty. It was this, and the conviction of it
in the minds of others, which constituted the secret of his great power.
It made him reckless of difficulties, and fearless of all personal conse-
quences. The consciousness of the integrity of his purposes rendered
him, indeed, too unscrupulous as to the means of attaining them. He
held his own life cheap in comparison with the great reforms that he had at
heart. Was it surprising that he should hold as lightly the convenience
and interests of others when they thwarted their execution ?
His views were raised far above considerations of self. As a statesman,
he identified himself with the state : as a churchman, with the interests
of his religion. He severely punished every offence against these. He
as freely forgave every personal injury. He had many remarkable
opportunities of showing this. His administration provoked numerous
lampoons and libels. He despised them as the miserable solace of spleeu
and discontent, and never persecuted their authors. In this he formed
an honourable contrast to Cardinal Richelieu, whose character and
condition suggest many points of resemblance with his own.
His disinterestedness was further shown by his mode of dispensing
his large revenues. It was among the poor, and on great public objects.
He built up no family. He had brothers and nephews ; but he contented
himself with making their condition comfortable, without diverting to
their benefit the great trusts confided to him for the public. The
greater part of the funds which he left at his death was settled on the
university of Alcala.
He had, however, none of that pride which would make him ashamed
of his poor and humble relatives. He had, indeed, a confidence in liis
own powers approaching to arrogance, which led him to undervalue
the abilities of others, and to look on them as his instruments rather
than his equals ; but he had none of the vulgar pride founded on wealth
or station. He frequently alluded to his lowly condition in early life
with great humility, thanking Heaven, with tears in his eves, for its
extraordinary goodness to him. He not only remembered*, but did
many acts of kindness to his early friends, of which more than one
touching anecdote is related. Such traits of sensibility, gleaming
through the natural austerity and sternness of a disposition like his,
like light breaking through a dark cloud, affect us the more sensibly by
contrast.
He was irreproachable in his morals, and conformed literally to all
the rigid exactions of his severe order in the court as faithfully as in
the cloister. He was sober, abstemious, chaste. In the latter
particular, he was careful that no suspicion of the licence which so often
soiled the clergy of the period should attach to him. On one occasion,
\v hile on a journey, lie was invited to cass the night at the house of the
HIS DEATH AXD CHABACTEB. 6J7
duchess of Maqucila, being informed that she was absent. The duchess
was at home, Lowerer, and entered the apartment before he retired to
ivst. "You have deceived me, lady," said Xiiuenes, rising in anger ;
" if you have any business with me, you will find me to-morrow at the
confessional." So saying, lie abruptly left the palace.
lie carried his austerities and mortification so far as to endanger his
health. There is a curious brief extant of Pope Leo the Tenth, dated
the last year of the cardinal's life, enjoining him to abate his severe
penance, to eat meat and eggs on the ordinary fasts, to take off his
l-'rauciscan frock, and sleep in linen, and on a bed. He would never
consent, however, to divest himself of his monastic weeds. " Even,
laymen," said he, alluding to the custom of the liouian Catholics, "put
these on when they are dying ; and shall I, who have worn them all my
life, take them off at that time."
Another anecdote is told in relation to his dress. Over his coarse
woollen froek he wore the costly apparel suited to his rank. An im-
pertinent Franciscan preacher took occasion one day, before him, to
launch out against the luxuries of the time, especially in dress, obviously
alluding to the cardinal, who was attired in a superb suit of ermine,
which had been presented to him. He heard the sermon patiently to
the end, and after the services were concluded, took the preacher into
the sacristy, and, having commended the general tenor of his discourse,
showed under his furs and tine linen, the coarse frock of his order, next
un. Some accounts add, that the friar, on the other hand, wore
fine linen under his monkish frock. After the cardinal's death, a little
box was found in his apartment, containing the implements with which
he used to mend the rents of his threadbare garment with his own.
hinds.
With so much to do, it may well be believed that Ximenes was
avaricious of time. He seldom slept more than four, or, at most, four
hours and a halt. He was shaved in the night, hearing, at the same
time, some edifying reading. He followed the same practice at his
meals, or varied it with listening to the arguments of some of his
theological brethren, generally on some subtile question of school di-
vinitv. This was his only recreation. He had as little taste as time
for lighter and more elegant amusements. He spoke briefly, and
always to the point. He was no friend of idle ceremonies and useless
visits, though his situation exposed him more or less to both. He
.frequently had a volume lying open on the table before him ; and \\ hen
his visitor stayed too long, or took up his time with light and frivolous
conversation, he intimated his dissatisfaction by resuming his reading.
The cardinal's book must have been as fatal to a reputation as Fontenelle'a
ear-trumpet.
I will close this sketch of Ximenes de Cisneros with a brief outline of
his person. His complexion was sallow ; his countenance sharp and
emaciated ; his nose aquiline ; his upper lip projected far over the lower.
Jlis i -yes were small, deep set in his head, dark, vivid, and penetrating.
His forehead ample, aud, what was remarkable, without a wrinkle,
though the expression of his features was somewhat severe.* His voice
* Ximenes' head was examined some forty yean after his interment, and the skull WM
found to be without sutures.
5o3 TOT: REGEXCY OF XIMEXES.
was clear, but not agreeable. His enunciation measured and precise.
His demeanour was grave, his carriage firm and erect ; he was tall in
stature, and his whole presence commanding. His constitution, natu-
rally robust, was imputed by his severe austerities and severer cares ;
and, in the latter years of his life, was so delicate as to be extremely
sensible to the vicissitudes and ir? clemency of the weather.
I have noticed the resemblance which Ximenes bore to the great
French minister, Cardinal Richelieu. It was, after all, however, more
in the circumstances of situation, than in their characters ; though the
most prominent traits of these were not dissimilar.* Both, though bred
ecclesiastics, reached the highest honours of the state, and, indeed, may
be said to have directed the destinies of their countries. f Richelieu's
authority, however, was more absolute than that of Ximenes, for he was
screened by the shadow of royalty ; while the latter was exposed, by his
insulated and unsheltered position, to the full blaze of envy, and, of
course, opposition. Both were ambitious of military glory and showed
capacity for attaining it. Both achieved their great results by that rare
union of high mental endowments and great efficiency in action, which
is always irresistible.
The moral basis of their characters was entirely different. The French
cardinal's was selfishness, pure and unmitigated. His religion, politics,
his principles in short, in every sense were subservient to this. Offences
against the state he could forgive ; those against himself he pursued witli
implacable rancour. His authority was literally cemented with blood.
His immense powers and patronage were perverted to the aggrandise-
ment of his family. Though bold to temerity in his plans, he betrayed
more than once a want of true courage in their execution. Though
violent and impetuous, he could stoop to be a dissembler. Though
arrogant in the extreme, he courted the soft incense of flattery. In his
manners he had the advantage over the Spanish prelate. He could be a
courtier in courts, and had a more refined and cultivated taste. In one
respect he had the advantage over Ximenes in morals. He was not, like
him, a bigot He had not the religious basis in his composition, which
is the foundation of bigotry. Their deaths were typical of their
characters. Richelieu died, as he had lived, so deeply execrated, that
the enraged populace would scarcely allow his remains to be laid quietly
in the grave. Ximenes, on the contrary, was buried amid the tears and
lamentations of the people ; his memory was honoured even by his
enemies, and his name is reverenced by his countrymen, to this day, as
that of a Saint.
* A little treatise has been devoted to this very subject, entitled "Parallfele du Card,
Ximene's et du Card. Richelieu, par Mons. 1'Abbe" Richard ; a Trevoux, 1705." 222 pp. 12mo.
The author, with a candour rare indeed where national vanity is interested, strikes the
balance without hesitation in favour of the foreigner Ximenes.
t At the time of his death, the chief offices that Ximenes filled were those of archbishop
of Toledo, and consequently primate of Spain, grand chancellor of Castile, cardinal of tiia
Bouian church, inquisitor-general of Castile, and regent.
CHAPTER XXVI.
OERERAL REVIEW OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF FERDINAND MTD ISAEELLA.
Policy of the Crown towards the Nobles the Clergy Consideration of the Commons-
Advancement of Prerogative Legal Compilations The Legal Profession Tr
Manufactures Agriculture Restrictive Policy Revenues Progress of Discovery
Colonial Administration General Prosperity Increase of Population Chivalrous
Spirit The Period of National Glory.
~\VE have now traversed that important period of history, compre-
hending the latter part of the fifteenth and the beginning of the six-
teenth century ; a period when the convulsions which shook to the
ground the ancient pclitical fabrics of Europe roused the minds of its
inhabitants from the lethargy in which they had been buried for ages.
Spain, as we have seen, felt the general impulse. Under the glorious
rule of Ferdinand and Isabella, we have beheld her emerging from chaos
into a new existence; unfolding, under the influence of institutions
adapted to her genius, energies of which she was before unconscious ;
enlarging her resources from all the springs of domestic industry and
commercial enterprise ; and insensibly losing the ferocious habits of a
feudal age, in the refinements of an intellectual and moral culture.
In the fulness of time, when her divided powers had been concentrated
under one head, and the system of internal economy completed, we have
seen her descend into the arena with the other nations of Europe, and in
a very few years achieve the most important acquisitions of territory,
both in that quarter and in Africa ; and finally crowning the whole by
the discovery and occupation of a boundless empire beyond the waters.
In the progress of the action, we may have been too much occupied with
its details to attend sufficiently to the principles which regulated them ;
but, now that we have reached the close, we may be permitted to cast a
parting glance over the field that we have traversed, and briefly survey
the principal steps by which the Spanish sovereigns, under Divine
Providence, led their nation up to such a height of prosperity and
glory.
1 i nlinand and Isabella, on their accession, saw at once that the chief
source of the distractions of the country lay in the overgrown powers
and factious spirit of the nobility. Their first efforts, therefore, were
directed to abate these as far as possible. A similar movement was-
going forward in the other European monarchies; but in none was it
crowned with so speedy and complete success as in Castile, by means of
th"M. bold and decisive measures which have been detailed in an early
chapter of this work. The same policy was steadily pursued during the
remainder of their reign ; less indeed by open assault than by indirect
means.
Among these, one of the most effectual was the omission to summon
the privileged orders to cortes, in several of the most important sessions
of that body. This, so far from being a new stretch of prerogative, was
AGO FEEDIXAKB AXD ISABEIL-i.
only an exercise of the anomalous powers already familiar to the crown,
as elsewhere noticed. Xor does it seem to have been viewed as a
.grievance by the other party, who regarded these meetings with the
more indifference, since their aristocratic immunities exempted them
from the taxation which was generally the prominent object of them.
But, from whatever cause proceeding, by this impolitic acquiescence
they surrendered, undoubtedly, the most valuable of their rights, one
which has enabled the British aristocracy to maintain its political con-
sideration Unimpaired, while that of the Castilian has faded away into
an empty pageant.
Another practice steadily pursued by the sovereigns, was to raise men
of humble station to offices of the highest trust ; not, however, like their
contemporary, Louis the Eleventh, because their station was humble, in
order to mortify the higher orders, but because they courted merit where-
ever it was to be found ; a policy much and deservedly commended by
the sagacious observers of the time. The history of Spain does not pro-
bably afford another example of a person of the lowly condition of
Ximenes attaining, not merely the highest offices in the kingdom, but
eventually its uncontrolled supremacy. The multiplication of legal
tribunals, and other civil offices, afforded the sovereigns ample scope for
pursuing this policy, in the demand created for professional science. The
nobles, intrusted hitherto with the chief direction of affairs, now saw it
pass into the hands of persons who had other qualifications than martial
prowess or hereditary rank. Such as courted distinction were com-
pelled to seek it by the regular avenues of academic discipline. How
extensively the spirit operated, and with what brilliant success, we have
already seen.
But, whatever the aristocracy may have gained in refinement of
character, it resigned aauch of its prescriptive power when it condescended
to enter the arena on terms of equal competition with its inferiors for the
prizes of talent and scholarship.
Ferdinand pursued a similar course in his own dominions of Aragon,
where he uniformly supported the commons, or may more properly be
said to have been supported by them, in the attempt to circumscribe the
authority of the great feudatories. Although he accomplished this to a
considerable extent, their power was too firmly intrenched behind positive
institutions to be affected like that of the Castilian aristocracy, whose
rights had been swelled beyond their legitimate limits by every species
of usurpation.
With all the privileges retrieved from this order, it still possessed a
disproportionate weight in the political balance. The great lords still
claimed some of the most considerable posts, both civil and military.
Their revenues were immense, and their broad lands covered unbroken
leagues of extent in every quarter of the kingdom. The queen, who
reared many of their children in the royal palace, under her own eve,
endeavoured to draw her potent vassals to the court ; but many, still
cherishing the ancient spirit of independence, preferred to live in feudal
grandeur, surrounded by their retainers in their strong castles, and wait
there, in grim repose, the hour when they might sally forth, and re-;i
by arms their despoiled authority. Such a season occurred on Isabella's
death. The warlike nobles eagerly seized it ; but the wily and resolute
Ferdinand, and afterwards the iron hand of Ximenes, kept them in
FliVJLW OF THEIR ADiirXI-SIU.VTIOX. i>(\\
check and prepared the way for the despotism of diaries the Fifth,
round whom the haughty aristocracy of Castile, shorn of substantial
po\\vr, were content to revolve as the satellites of a court, reflecting only
tli>' borrowed splendours t if royalty.
The queen's government was equally vigilant in resisting ecclesiastical
encroachment. It may appear otherwise to one who casts a sup, rh'cial
plance at her reign, and beholds her surrounded always by a troop of
{Jiostly advisers, and avowing religion as the great end of her principal
operations at home and abroad. It is certain, however, that, while in all
i,. r ai-ts she confessed the influence of religion, she took more effectual
j:ieans than any of her predecessors to circumscribe the temporal powers
cf the clergy.* The volume of her pragm&ticas is filled with laws de-
d to limit their jurisdiction, and restrain their encroachments on
the secular authorities.! Towards the Roman See she maintained, as
we have often had occasion to notice, the same independent attitude. Jiy
the celebrated concordat made with Sixtus the Fourth, in 1482, the
Sope conceded to the sovereigns the right of nominating to the higher
iirnities of the church. The Holy See, however, still assumed the
collation to inferior benefices, which were too often lavished on non-
residents, and otherwise unsuitable persons. The queen sometimes
extorted a papal indulgence, granting the right of presentation for a
limited time ; on which occasions she showed such alacrity, that she is
known to have disposed, in a single day, of more than twenty prebends
and inferior dignities. At other times, when the nomination made by
his Holiness, as not unfrequently happened, was distasteful to her, she
would take care to defeat it, by forbidding the bull to be published until
laid before the privy council ; at the same time sequestrating the
revenues of the vacant benefice till her own requisitions were complied
with.
She was equally solicitous in watching over the morals of the clergy,
inculcating on the higher prelates to hold frequent pastoral communi-
cation with their suffragans, and to report to her such as were delinquent.
I'y these vigilant measures she succeeded in restoring the ancient dis-
cipline of the church, and weeding out the sensuality and indolence
which had so long defiled it ; while she had the inexpressible satisfaction
to see the principal places, long before her death, occupied by prelates
whose learning and religious principle gave the best assurance of the
* Lucio Marmeo has collected many particulars respecting the great wealth of the
clergy in his time. There were four metropolitan sees in Castile.
Toledo, income .... 80,000 ducats.
St. .1. uues 24,000
i!Ie , 20.000
Granada , 10,000
Ti.ire were twenty-nine bishoprics, whose aggregate revenues, very unequally apportioned,
union; is church livings in Aragon were much fewer and leaner
than in Castile. The Vein-tun N.iv.i^'iero speuks of the metropolitan church of Toledo as
"the- 1 'iidom;" its canons lived in stately palaces, and its revenues,
with thos'.- <>t' the uv ''quailed those of the whole city ot'Toledu. lie notices also
; lie churches of Seville, Gu.idalr. ;
t From one of these ordinances it appears the clergy were not backward in remon-
Btnti kt they deemed an inuingvment of their rights. The queen, however.
while ~t their usuriKitkms, interfered more than once, with her usiul
:-o. on their application, to shield them from the encroachments of the civil
tribunals.
O O
62 FERBIXAND 4^. j ISABELLA.
stability of the reformation. Few of tho Castilian monarchs have been
brought more frequently into collision, or pursued a bolder policy, with
the court of Rome. Still fewer have extorted from it such important
graces and concessions ; a circumstance which can only be imputed, says
a Castilian writer, " to singular good fortune and consummate prudence ; "
to that deep conviction of the queen's integrity, we may also add, which
disarmed resistance, even in her enemies.*
The condition of the commons under this reign was probably, on the
whole, more prosperous than in any other period of the Spanish history.
New avenues to wealth and honours were opened to them, and persons
and property were alike protected under the fearless and impartial
administration of the law. " Such was the justice dispensed to every
one under this auspicious reign," exclaims Marineo, "that nobles and
cavaliers, citizens and labourers, rich and poor, masters and servants,
all equally partook of it." We find no complaints of arbitrary imprison-
ment, and no attempts, so frequent both in earlier and later times, at
illegal taxation. In this particular, indeed, Isabella manifested the
greatest tenderness for her people. By her commutation of the
capricious tax of the alcarala for a determinate one, and still more by
transferring its collection from the revenue officers to the citizens them-
selves, she greatly relieved her subjects.
Finally, notwithstanding the perpetual call for troops for the military
operations in which the government was constantly engaged, and not-
withstanding the example of neighbouring countries, there was no
attempt to establish that iron bulwark of despotism, a standing army ;
at least, none nearer than that of the voluntary levies of the hermandad,
raised and paid by the people. The queen never admitted the arbitrary
maxims of Ximenes in regard to the foundation of government. Hers
was essentially one of opinion, not force. Had it rested on any other
than the broad basis of public opinion, it could not have withstood a day
the violent shocks to which it was early exposed, nor have achieved the
important revolution that it finally did, both in the domestic and foreign
concerns of the country.
The condition of the kingdom, on Isabella's accession, necessarily gave
the commons unwonted consideration. In the tottering state of her
affairs, she was obliged to rest on their strong arm for support. It did
not fail her. Three sessions of the legislature, or rather the popular
branch of it, were held during the two first years of her reign. It was
in these early assemblies that the commons bore an active part in con-
cocting the wholesome system of laws which restored vitality and vigour
to the exhausted republic.
After this good work was achieved, the sessions of that body became
* Since the publication of the earlier edition of this work, I have met with an instance
of Ferdinand's spirit in the assertion of his ecclesiastical rights quite e.)U.-d to any dis-
played by his illustrious consort, and too remarkable to be passed over in silence. 1
011 occasion of an infringement of what he deemed the immunities of his crown at
Naples. It Declined in liOS ; and in a letter dated from Burgos, May 2'Jnd of that year,
he reproves, in no measured terms, his Viceroy, the count of llivargoza, for allow!
publication of the papal bull, which had been the cant* of offence, lie asks why
not cause the apostolical envoy curso apostolico to be seized and handed mi tl"
. rs him in recall the mission which had been dispatched to Rome, and declares that
if the offensive bull is not at once revoked, he will withdraw the obedience o( the .-.
;ile and Aragon from the Holy See ! It is curious to see how the common taturs t a
Jatcr date endeavour to reconcile this bold bearing of the catholic king with UU loyalty aj
true son of the church.
BEVIEW OF TIlKIIl ADMINISTKATIOX. 563
more rare. There was loss occasion for them, indeed, during the
existence of the hermandad, whii-h was of iN-lf an ample repre-
sentation of the Castilian commons, and which by enforcing obedience
to the law at home, and by liberal supplies for foreign war, superseded,
in a great degree, the call for more regular meetings of cortes. The
habitual economy, too, not to say tniirainy, vriueh regulal d the public
as well as private expenditure of the -. enabled them, ;>'':.! this
period, with occasional exceptions, to dispense with other aid than that
drawn from the regular revenues of the crown.
There is every ground for believing that the political franchises of the
people, as then understood, were uniformly respected. The number of
cities summoned to cortes, which had so often varied according to the
caprice of princes, never fell short of that prescribed by 1 . On
the contrary, an addition was made by the conquest of Granada; and,
in a cortes held soon after the queen's death, we tind a most mrro'.\
impolitic remonstrance of the legislature itself auairjst the alleged unau-
thorised extension of the privilege of representation.
In one remarkable particular, which may be thought to form a
material exception to the last observations, the conduct of the crown
deserves to be noticed. This was the promulgation of pray maticas, or
royal ordinances, and that to a greater extent, probably, than under any
other reign, before or since. This important prerogative was claimed and
ised, more or less freely, by most European sovereigns in ancient
times. Nothing could be more natural than that the prince should
;i.-Mimc such authority, or that the people, blind to the ultimate
consequences, and impatient of long or frequent sessions of the legislature,
should acquiesce in the temperate use of it. As far as these ordinances
were of an executive character, or designed as supplementary to
parliamentary enactments, or in obedience to previous suggestions of
, they appear to lie open to no constitutional objections in Castile.
But it was not likely that limits, somewhat loosely denned, would be
very nicelv observed ; and under preceding reigns tnis branch of prero-
gative had been most intolerably abused.
A laru r <- proportion of these laws are of an economical character,
:adc and manufactures, and to secure fairness in
fo'.iiinereial dealing.* .Many are directed against the growing spirit of
luxury, and many more occupied with the organisation of the public
tribunals. Whatever be thought of their wisdom in some cases, it will
not be easy to detect any attempt to innovate on the settled principles of
criminal jurisprudence, or on those regulating the transfer of property.
When lh be discussed, th - were careful to call in
dot' the legislature; an example which found little favour with
their . It is good evidence of the public confidence in the
government, and the generally beneficial scope of these laws, that
although of such unprecedented frequency, they should have escaped
parliamentary animadversion, But, however patriotic the intentions of
the Catholic sovereigns, and however safe, or even salutary, the power
intrusted to such hands, it was a fatal precedent, and under the
* Indeed, it is worthy of remark, as evincing the progress of civilisation under this
iiat most of the criminal legislation is to be referred to its commencement, while
period chiefly concern the new relations which grow out ot an
lucn. ic industry.
o 2
664 FEKDIXAXD AND ISABELLA.
Austrian dynasty became the most effectual lever for overturning th*
liberties of the nation.
The preceding remarks on the policy observed towards the commons
in this reign must be further understood as applying with far loss
qualification to the queen than to her husband. The latter, owing-
perhaps to the lessons which he had derived from his own subjects of
Aragon, "who never abated one jot of their constitutional rights,"
says Martyr, "at the command of a king," and whose meetings
generally brought fewer supplies to the royal coffers than grievance'*
to redress, seems to have had little relish for popular assemblies. He
convened them as rarely as possible in Aragon, and when he did, omitted
no effort to influence their deliberations. He anticipated, perhaps,
similar difficulties in Castile, after his second marriage had lost him the
affections of the people. At any rate, he evaded calling them together
on more than one occasion imperiously demanded by the constitution ;
and, when he did so, he invaded their privileges, and announced
principles of government which formed a discreditable, and, it must be
admitted, rare exception to the usual tenor of his administration.
Indeed, the most honourable testimony is borne to its general equity and
patriotism by a cortes convened soon after the queen's death, when the
tribute, as far as she was concerned, still more unequivocally, must have
been sincere. A similar testimony is afforded by the panegyrics and the
practice of the more liberal Castilian writers, who freely resort to this
reign as the great fountain of constitutional precedent.
The commons gained political consideration, no doubt, by the depres-
sion of the nobles ; but their chief gain lay in the inestimable blessings
of domestic tranquillity, and the security of private rights. The crown
absorbed the power, in whatever form, retrieved from the privileged
orders ; the pensions and large domains, the numerous fortified places,
the rights of seignorial jurisdiction, the command of the military orders,
and the like. Other circumstances conspired to raise the regal authority
still higher ; as, for example, the international relations then opened with
the rest of Europe, which, whether friendly or hostile, were conducted
by the monarch alone, who, u.nless to obtain supplies, rarely condescended
to seek the intervention of the other estates ; the concentration of the
dismembered provinces of the Peninsula under one government; the
immense acquisitions abroad, whether from discovery or conquest,
regarded in that day as the property of the crown, rather than of the
nation ; and finally, the consideration flowing from the personal
character, and long successful rule, of the Catholic sovereigns. Such
were the manifold causes which, without the imputation of a criminal
ambition, or indifference to the rights of their subjects, in Ferdinand and
Isabella, all combined to swell 'the prerogative to an unprecedented
height under their reign.
This, indeed, was the direction in which all the governments of
Europe, at this period, were tending. The people, wisely preferring a
single master to a multitude, sustained the crown in its efforts to recover
from the aristocracy the enormous powers it so grossly abused. This
was the revolution of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The power
thus deposited in a single hand was found in time equally incompatible
with the great ends of civil government ; while it gradually accumulated
to an extent which threatened to crush the monarchy by its own weight.
EETIEW OF TIIEIB ADMINISTRATION. 56.1
But the institutions derived from a Teutonic origin hav been found to
possess a conservative principle, unknown to the fragile despotisms of
the East. The seeds of liberty, though dormant, lay deep in the heart
of the nation, waiting only the good time to germinate. That time has
at length arrived. Larger experience, and a wider moral culture, have
taught men not only the extent of their political rights, but the best way
to secure them ; and it is the reassertion of these by the great body of
the people which now constitutes the revolution going forward in most of
the old communities of Europe. The progress of liberal principles must
be controlled, of course, by the peculiar circumstances and character of
the nation; but their ultimate triumph, in every quarter, none can
reasonably distrust. May it not be abused.
The prosperity of the country under Ferdinand and Isabella, its
growing trade and new internal relations, demanded new regulations
which, as before noticed, were attempted to be supplied by the
praijmdticas. This was adding, however, to the embarrassments of a juris-
prudence already far too cumbrous. The Castilian lawyer might despair
of a critical acquaintance "with the voluminous mass of legislation,
which in the form of municipal charters, Roman codes, parliamentary
statutes, and royal ordinances, were received as authority in the courts.
The manifold evils resulting from this unsettled and conflicting
jurisprudence had led the legislature repeatedly to urge its digest
into a more simple and uniform system. Some approach was made
towards this in the code of the "Ordenan9as Reales," compiled in
the early part of the queen's reign. The great body of Pruyrndticat,
subsequently issued, were also collected into a separate volume by
her command, and printed the year before her death. These two
codes may therefore be regarded as embracing the ordinary legislation
of her reign.
In 1505, the celebrated little code, called " Leyes de Toro," from the
place where the cortes was held, received the sanction of that body.
Its laws, eighty-four in number, and designed as supplementary to those
already existing, are chiefly occupied with the rights of inheritance
and marriage. It is here that the ominous term "mayorazgo" may
be said to have been naturalised in Castilian jurisprudence. The
peculiar feature of these laws, aggravated in no slight degree by
the glosses of the civilians, is the facility which they give to entails ;
a i'atal facility, which, chiming in with the pride and indolence
natural to the Spanish character, ranks them among the most efficient
agents of the decay of husbandry and the general impoverishment of
the country.
Besides these codes, there were the " Leyes de la Hermandad," the
" Quaderno de Alcavalas," with others of less note for the regulation of
trade, made in this reign. But still the great scheme of a uniform
digest of the municipal law of Castile, although it occupied the most
distinguished jurisconsults of the time, was unattained at the queen's
death. How deeply it engaged her mind in that hour is evinced by the
clause in her codicil, in which she bequeaths the consummation of the
work, as an imperative duty, to her successors. It was not completed
till the reign of Philip the Second ; and the large proportion of Ferdinand
and Isabella's laws admitted into that famous compilation, shows the
prospective character of their legislation, and the uncommon discernment
566 FERDINAND A*D ISABELLA.
with which it was accommodated to the peculiar genius and wants of tha
nation.
The immense increase of empire, and the corresponding development
of the national resources, not only demanded new laws, but a thorough
reorganisation of every department of the administration. Laws may be
received as indicating the disposition of the ruler, whether for good or
for evil ; but it is in the conduct of the tribunals that we are to read the
true character of his government. It was the upright and vigilant
administration of these which constituted the best claim of Ferdinand
and Isabella to the gratitude of their country. To facilitate the dispatch
of business, it was distributed among a number of bureaus or councils ;
at the head of which stood the "royal council," whose authority and
functions I have already noticed, fn. order to leave this body more
leisure for its executive duties, a new audience, or chancery, as it was
called, was established at Valladolid in 1480, whose judges were drawn
from the members of the king's council. A. similar tribunal was insti-
tuted, after the Moorish conquests, in the southern division of the
monarchy ; and both had supreme jurisdiction over all civil causes,
which were carried up to them from the inferior audiences throughout
the kingdom.
The ' ' council of the supreme " was placed over the Inquisition with
a special view to the interests of the crown ; an end, however, which it
very imperfectly answered, as appears from its frequent collision with
the royal and secular jurisdictions. The "council of the orders" had
charge, as the name imports, of the great military fraternities. The
" council of Aragon" was intrusted with the general administration of
that kingdom and its dependencies, including Xaples ; and had besides
extensive jurisdiction as a court of appeal. Lastly, the " council of the
Indies" was instituted by Ferdinand, in loll, lor the control of the
American department. Its powers, comprehensive as they were in its-
origin, were so much enlarged under Charles the Fifth and his succes-
sors, that it became the depository of all law, the fountain of all
nominations, both ecclesiastical and temporal, and the supreme tribunal,
where all questions, whether of government or trade in the colonies, were
finally adjudicated.
Such were the forms which the government assumed tinder the hand*
of Ferdinand and Isabella. The great concerns of the empire were
brought under the control of a few departments, which looked to the
crown as their common head. The chief stations were occupied by
lawyers, who were alone competent to the duties; and the precir;
the court swarmed with a loyal militia, who, as they owed their elevation
to its patronage, were not likely to interpret the law to the disparagement
of prerogative.
The greater portion of the laws of this reign are directed in some form
or other, as might be expected, to commerce and domestic industry.
Their very large number, however, implies a extraordinary expansion ol
the national energy and resources, as well as a most earnest disposition.
in the government to foster them. The wisdom of these effort;-, at all
times, is not equally certain. I will briefly enumerate a few of the most
characteristic and important provisions.
By a pragmatic of 1500, all persons, whether natives or foreigners,
Were prohibited from shipping goods in foreign bottoms, from a port
KEVTT.W OP TIIKIR ADMIXISTKV-IOX. 567
where a Spanish ship could be obtained. Another prohibited the sale of
.iiers. Another offered a large premium on all vessels of
a certain tonnage and upwards ; and others held out protection and
various immunities to seamen. The drift of the first of these laws, like
that of the famous Fnglish navigation act, so many years later, \\
the preamble sets forth, to exclude foreigners from the carrying ti
and the others were equally designed to build up a marine, for the defence
as well as commerce of the country. In this the sovereigns were favoured
by their important colonial acquisitions, the distance of which, moreover,
made it expedient to employ vessels of greater burden than those hitherto
used. The language of subsequent laws, as well as various circumstances
within our knowledge, attest the success of these provisions. The number
of vessels in the merchant service of Spain, at the beginning of the six-
teenth century, amounted to a thousand, according to Campomanes. AVe
may infer the flourishing condition of their commercial marine from their
military, as shown in the armaments sent at different times against the
Turks, or the I'arbary corsairs.* The convoy which accompanied the
infanta Joanna to Flanders, in 1406, consisted of one hundred and thirty
Is, great and small, having a force of more than twenty thousand men
on board ; a formidable equipment, inferior only to that of the far-famed
" Invincible Armada." f
A pragmatic was pa-si d in 1491, at the petition of the inhabitants of
the northern provinces, requiring Knglish and other foreign traders to
take their returns iu the fruits or merchandise of the country, and not in
gold or silver. This law seems to have been designed less to benefit the
manufacturer, than to preserve, the precious metals in the country. It
was the same in purport with other laws prohibiting the exportation of
these metals, whether in coin or bullion. They were not new in Spain,
nor indeed peculiar to her. They proceeded on the principle that gold
and silver, independently of their value as a commercial medium, con-
stituted, in a peculiar sense, the wealth of a country. This error, common,
as I have said, to other European nations, was eminently fatal to Spain,
since the produce of its native mines before the discovery of America,
and of those in that quarter afterwards, formed its great staple. As
such, these metals should have enjoyed every facilitv for transportation
to other countries, where their higher value would afford a corresponding
profit to the exporter.
sumptuary laws of Ferdinand and Isabella are open, for the most
part, to the same objections with those just noticed. Such laws, prompted
in a great degree, no doubt, by the declam'ations of the clergy against the
pomp and vanities of the world, were familiar, in early times, to most
European states. There was ample scope for them in Spain, where the
example, of their Moslem neighbours had done much to infect all classes
with a fondness for sumptuous apparel, and a showy magnificence of living.
Ferdinand and Isabella fell nothing short of tne most zealous of their
predecessors in their efforts to restrain this improvident luxury. They
did, however, what few princes on the like occasions have done, enforced
The fleet fitted out against the Turks, in 14S2, consisted of seventy sail ; and that
under Gonsalvr. in 1500, of sixty, large and small.
t Cura des los falacios, indeed . ie complement of this fleet at 25,000 men ; a
round number, which must certainly include persons of every description. The Invincible
Armada consisted, according to Dunham, of about 130 vessels, larpe and small, 20,000
ioldiers, and 8000 seamen. The estimate falls below that of most writers.
568 FERDINAND AND ISABELLA,,
the precept by their own example. Some idea of their haHtual economy,
or rather frugality, may be formed from a remonstrance presented by the
commons to Charles the Fifth, soon after his accession, which represents
his daily household expenses as amounting to one hundred and lifty
thousand maravedis ; while those of the Catholic sovereigns were rarely
fifteen thousand, or one-tenth of that sum.
They passed several salutary laws for restraining the ambitious expen-
diture at weddings and funerals ; as usual, most affected by those who
could least afford it. In 1494, they issued a pragmatic, prohibiting the
importation or manufacture of brocades, or of gold or silver embroidery,
and also plating with these metals. The avowed object was to check the
growth of luxury and the waste of the precious metals.
These provisions had the usual fate of laws of this kind. They gave
an artificial and still higher value to the prohibited article. Some evaded
them. Others indemnified themselves for the privation, by some other
and scarcely less expensive variety of luxury. Such, for example, were
the costly silks which came into more general use after the conquest of
Granada. But here the government, on remonstrance of the cortes,
again interposed its prohibition, restricting the privilege of wearing them
to certain specified classes. Nothing, obviously, could be more impolitic
than these various provisions directed against manufactures, which,
under proper encouragement, or indeed without any, from the peculiar
advantages afforded by the country, might have formed an important
branch of industry, whether for the supply of foreign markets, or for
home consumption.
Notwithstanding these ordinances, we find one, in 1500, at the petition
of the silk-growers in Granada, against the introduction of silk thread
from the kingdom of Naples ; thus encouraging the production of the raw
material, while thev interdicted the uses to which it could be applied.
Such are the inconsistencies into which a government is betrayed by an
over-zealous and impertinent spirit of legislation !
The chief exports of the country in this reign, were the fruits and
natural products of the soil, the minerals, of which a great variety was
deposited in its bosom, and the simpler manufactures, as sugar, dressed
skins, oil, wine, steel, &c. The breed of Spanish horses, celebrated in
ancient times, had been greatly improved by the cross with the Arabian.
It had, however, of late years, fallen into neglect; until the government,
by a number of judicious laws, succeeded in restoring it to such repute,
that this noble animal became an extensive article of foreign trade.
But the chief staple of the sountry was wool ; \vhich, since the intro-
duction of English sheep at the close of the fourteenth century, had
reached a degree of fineness and beauty that enabled it, under the present
reign, to compete with any other in Europe.
To what extent the finer manufactures were carried, or made au
article of export, is uncertain. The vagueness of statistical information
in these early times has given rise to much crude speculation and to
extravagant estimates of their resources, which have been met by a
corresponding scepticism in later and more scrutinising critics. Cap-
many, the most acute of these, has advanced the opinion, that the
coarser cloths only were manufactured in Castile, and those exclusively
for home consumption. The royal ordinances, however, imply, in the
character and minuteness of their regulations, a very considerable
REVIEW OF THEIK ADMIXISTIUTIOX. 5G9
proficiency in many of the mechanic arts. Similar testimony is borne by
intelligent foreigners, visiting or raiding in tlie country at the beginning
of the sixteenth century; who notice the fine cloths and manut;i
of arms in Segovia, the silks and velvets of Granada and Valencia, the
woollen and silk fabrics of Toledo, which gave employment to 1< n
thousand artisans, the curiously wrought plate of Valladolid, and the tine
cutlery and glass manufactures of Barcelona, rivalling those of Venice.
The recurrence of seasons of scarcity and the fluctuation of prices,
might suggest a reasonable distrust of the excellence of the husbandry
under thi> reign. The turbulent condition of the country may account
for this pretty fairly during the early part of it. Indeed, a neglect of
sericulture, to the extent implied by these circumstances, is wholly
irreconcilable with the general tenor of Ferdinand and Isabella's legis-
lation, which evidently relies on this as the main spring of national
prosperity. It is equally repugnant, morever, to the reports of foreigners,
who could best compare the state of the country with that of others at
tin' same period. They extol the fruitfuluess of a soil which yielded the
products of the most opposite climes ; the hills clothed with vineyards
and plantations of fruit trees, much more abundant, it would seem, in
the northern regions than at the present day: the valleys and delicious
vegas, glowing with the ripe exuberance of southern vegetation ; exten-
sive districts, now smitten with the curse of barrenness, where the
traveller scarce discerns the vcsti-e of a road or of a human habitation,
but which "then teemed with all that was requisite to the sustenance of
the populous cities in their neighbourhood.
The inhabitant of modern Spain or Italy, who wanders amid the ruins
of their stately cities, their grass-grown streets, their palaces and temples
crumbling into dust, their musMve bridges choking up the streams they
once proudly traversed, the very streams themselves, which bore
navies on their bosoms, shrunk into too shallow a channel for the meanest
craft to navigate, the modern Spaniard who surveys these vestiges of
a giant race, the tokens of his nation's present degeneracy, must turn.
for relief to the prouder and earlier period of her history, when only
such great works could have been achieved ; and it is no wonder that
he should be led, in his enthusiasm, to invest it with a romantic and
jvrated colouring. Such a period in Spain cannot be looked for in
the last, still less in the seventeenth century, for the nation had then
reached the lowest ebb of its fortunes ; * nor in the close of the sixteenth,
for the desponding language of cortes shows that the work of decay
and depopulation had then already begun. It can only be found in the
first halt of that century, in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, and
that of their successor Charles the Fifth ; in which last, the state, under
the strong impulse it had received, was carried onward in the career
of prosperity, in spite of the ignorance and mismanagement of those who
guided it.
There is no country which has been guilty of such wild experiments,
or has showed on the whole, such profound ignorance of the true prin-
ciples of economical science, as Spain under the sceptre of the family of
* A point which most writers would probably agree in fixing at 1700, the year of
Charles II. 's death, the last and most iinlxv -tria'.i dynasty. The population
of the kingdom, at this time, had dwindled to !'.. -le, who seems to
have better foundation for this census than for most of those iu his table.
670 FTRDIXAXD AND
Austria. And, as it is not always easy to discriminate between their
acts and those of Ferdinand and Isabella, under whom the gerins of
much of the subsequent legislation may be said to have been planted,
this circumstance has brought undeserved discredit on the government
of the latter. Undeserved, because laws, mischievous in their eventual
operation, were not always so at the time for which they were originally
devised : not to add, that what was intrinsically bad, has been aggra-
vated tenfold under the blind legislation of their successors. It is also
true, that many of the most exceptionable laws sanctioned by their
names are to be charged on their predecessors, who had ingrafted their
principles into the system long before ; and many others are to be vin-
dicated by the general practice of other nations, which authorised
retaliation on the score of self-defence.
Nothing is easier than to parade abstract theorems, true in the
abstract, in political economy ; nothing harder than to reduce them to
practice. That .in individual will understand his own interests better
than the government can, or, what is the same thing, that trade, if let
alone, will find its way into the channels on the whole most advan-
tageous to the community, few will deny. But what is true of all together
is not true of any one singly: and no one nation can safely act on these
principles, if others do not. In point of fact, no nation has acted on.
them since the formation of the present political communities of Europe.
All that a new state, or a new government in an old one, can now pro-
pose to itself is, not to sacrifice its interests to a speculative abstraction,
but to accommodate its institutions to the great political system of which
it is a member. On these principles, and on the higher obligation of pro-
viding the means of national independence in its most extended sense,
much that was bad in the economical policy of Spain, at the period
under review, may be vindicated.
It would be unfair to direct our view to the restrictive measures of
Ferdinand and Isabella, without noticing also the liberal tenor of their
legislation in regard to a great variety of objects. Such, for example,
are the laws encouraging foreigners to settle in the country ; those for
facilitating communication by internal improvements, roads, bridges,
canals, on a scale of unprecedented magnitude ; for a similar attention
to the wants of navigation, by constructing moles, quays, lighthouses
along the coast, and deepening and extending the harbours, " to accom-
modate," as the acts set forth, "the great increase of trade;" for
embellishing and adding in various ways to the accommodations
of the cities ; for relieving the subject from onerous tolls and
oppressive monopolies ; for establishing a uniform currency and standard
of weights and measures throughout the kingdom, objects of im-
vearied solicitude through this whole reign ; for maintaining a police,
which, from the most disorderly and dangerous, raised Spain, in
the language of Martyr, to be the safest country in Christendom ;
for such equal justice as secured to every man the fruits of his own
industry, indiicing him to embark his capital in useful enterprises;
and, finally, for enforcing fidelity to contracts, of which the sove-
reigns gave such a glorious example in their own administration as
effectually restored that public credit which is the true basis of public
prosperity.
"\Vhile these important reforms were going on in the interior of the
BEVIEW OF THEIR ADMINISTRATION. 571
monarchy, it experienced a greater change in its external condition hy
the immense augmentation of its territory. The most important of its
foreign acquisitions were those nearest home, Granada and Navarre ; at
they were the ones most capable, from their position, of being
brought under control, and thoroughly and permanently identified with
Ihr Spanish monarchy. Granada, as we have seen, was placed under
the sceptre of Castile, governed by the same laws, and r< presented in
its cortes ; being, in the strictest sense, part and parcel of the kingdom.
Navarre was also united to the same crown ; but its constitution, which
bore considerable analogy to that of Aragon, remained substantially tho
same as before. The government, indeed, was administered by a viceroy ;
but Ferdinand made as few changes as possible, permitting it to retain
its o\vu legislature, its ancient courts of law, and its laws themselves. So
the forms, if not the spirit of independence, continued to survive its union
with the victorious state.
The other possessions of Spain were scattered over the various quarters
of Europe, Africa, and America. Naples was the conquest of Aragon ;
or, at least, made on behalf of that crown. The queen appears to have/
taken no part in the conduct of that war, whether distrusting its equity
or its expediency, in the belief that a distant possesssion in the heart
of Europe would probably cost more to maintain than it was worth.
In fact, Spain is the only nation, in modern times, which has been able
to keep its hold on such possessions for any very considerable period ; a
circumstairce implying more wisdom in her policy than is commonly
led to her. The fate of the acquisitions alluded to forms no-
exreption to the remark; and Naples, like Sicily, continued permanently
ingrafted on the kingdom of Aragon.
A fundamental change in the institutions of Naples became requisite
to accommodate them to its new relations. Its great offices of state and
its legal tribunals were reorganised. Its jurisprudence, which, under
the Angevin race, and even the first Aragonese, had been adapted to-
French usages, was now modelled on the Spanish. The various inno-
vations were conducted by the Catholic king with his usual prudence;
and the reform in the legislation is commended by a learned and im-
partial Italian civilian, as breathing a spirit of modern! i"n and wisdom.
He conceded many privileges to the people, and to the e.-.pital espe.-ially,
wltos.' venerable university he resuscitated from the decayed state into
which it had fallen, making liberal appropriations from the troasurv for
its endowment. The support of a mercenary army, and the burdens
incident to the war, pressed heavily on the people during the first years- /
of his reign. But the Neapolitans, who, as already noticed, had 'been
transferred too often from one victor to another to be keenly sensible to
tlu loss of political independence, were gradually reconciled to his
administration, and testified their sense of its beneficent character by
celebrating the anniversary of his death, for more than two ccif-
turies, with public solemnities, as a day of mourning throughout the
kingdom.
But far the most important of the distant acquisitions of Spain were
those secured to her by the genius of Columbus and the enlightened
patronage of Isabella. Imagination had ample range in the boundless
perspective of these unknown regions; but the results actually realised
trom the discoveries, during the queen's life, were comparatively
572 KERDI>*A>*D AXD ISABELLA.
insignificant. In a mere financial view, they had been a considerable
eharge on the crown. This was, indeed, partly owing to the humanity of
Isabella, who interfered as we have seen, to prevent the compulsory
exaction of Indian labour. This was subsequently, and immediately
after her death indeed, carried to such an extent, that nearly half a
million of ounces of gold were yearly drawn from the mines of Hispaniola
alone. The pearl fisheries, and the culture of the sugar-cane, introduced
from the Canaries, yielded large returns under the same inhuman
system.
Ferdinand, who enjoyed by the queen's testament, half the amount of
the Indian revenues, was now fully awakened to their importance. It
would be unjust, however, to suppose his views limited to immediate
pecuniary profits ; for the measures he pursued were, in many respects,
well contrived to promote the nobler ends of discovery and colonisation.
He invited the persons most eminent for nautical science and enterprise,
as Pinzon, Solis, Vespucci, to his court where they constituted a sort of
board of navigation, constructing charts, and tracing out new routes for
projected voyages. The conduct of this department was intrusted to the
last-mentioned navigator, who had the glory, the greatest which accident
and caprice ever granted to man, of giving his name to the new
hemisphere.
Fleets were now fitted out on a more extended scale, which might vie,
indeed, with the splendid equipments of the Portuguese, whose brilliant
successes in the East excited the envy of their Castilian rivals. The
king occasionally took a share in the voyage independently of the interest
which of right belonged to the crown.
The government, however, realised less from these expensive enter-
prises than individuals ; many of whom, enriched by their official
stations, or by accidentally falling in with some hoard of treasure among
the savages, returned home to excite the envy and cupidity of their
countrymen.* But the spirit of adventure was too high among the
Castilians to require such incentive, especially when excluded from its
usual field in Africa and Europe. A striking proof of the facility with
which the romantic cavaliers of that day could be directed to this new
career of danger on the ocean, was given at the time of the last-meditated
expedition into Italy under the Great Captain. A squadron of fifteen
vessels, bound for the New World, was then riding in the Guadalquivir.
Its complement was limited to one thousand two hundred men ; but on
Ferdinand's countermanding Gonsalvo's enterprise, more than three
thousand volunteers, many of them of noble family, equipped with
unusual magnificence for the Italian service, hastened to Seville,
and pressed to be admitted into the Indian armada. Seville itself
was in a manner depopulated by the general fever of emigration,
so that it actually seemed, says a contemporary, to be tenanted only
by women.
In this universal excitement, the progress of discovery was pushed
forward with a success, inferior, indeed, to what might have been effected
* Bemardin de Santa Clara, treasurer of Hispaniola, amassed, during a few years'
esidence there, 06,000 ounces of gold. This same n&uveau riche used to serve gold dust,
says Herrera, instead of salt, at his entertainments. Many believed, according to the same
author, that gold was o abundant, as to be dragged up in nets from the beds oi the
rivers J
REVIEW OF THEIR ADMINISTRATION. 573
In the present state of nautical skill and science, but extraordinary fo?
tlu- times. The winding depths of the Gulf of Mexico were penetrated,
as well as the borders of the rich but ruined isthmus which connects the
American continents. In 1512, Florida was discovered by a romanti<;
old knight, Ponce de Leon, who, instead of the magical fountain of health
found his grave there.* Solis, another navigator, who had charge of
an expedition, projected by Ferdinand, to reach the South Sea by the-
circumnavigation of the continent, ran down the coast as far as the gn at
llio de la Plata, where he also was cut off by the savages. In 1513,
< Nunez de Balboa penetrated, with a handful of men, across the
\\- part of the Isthmus of Darien ; and from the summit of the
' 'ordillcras, the first of Europeans was greeted with the long-promised
vision of the southern ocean.
The intelligence of this event excited a sensation in Spain inferior only
to that cans- d by the discovery of America. The great object which had
BO lonir occupied the imagination of the nautical men of Europe, and
formed the purpose of Col urn bus's last voyage, the discovery of a com-
munication with these far western waters, was accomplished. The
famous spice islands from which the Portuguese had drawn sin h count-
less sums of wealth, were scattered over this sea ; and the Custilians,
after a journey of a few leagues, might launch their barks on its quiet
bosom, and reach, and perhaps claim, the coveted possessions of their
rivals, as falling west of the papal line of demarcation. Such were the-
dreams, and such the actual progress of discovery, at the close of
Ferdinand's reign.
Our admiration of the dauntless heroism displayed by the early Spanish
navigators in their extraordinary career is much qualified by a consider-
ation of the cruelties with which it was tarnished; too great to be either
palliated or passed over in silence by the historian. As long as Isabella
lived, the Indians found an efficient friend and protector ; but " her
death," says the venerable Las Casas, " was the signal for their destruc-
tion." Immediately on that event, the system of repartimientos,
originally authorised, as we have seen, by Columbus, who seems to-
have had no doubt, from the first, of the crown's absolute right of
property over the natives, was carried to its full extent in the colonies.
Every Spaniard, however humble, had his proportion of slaves ; and
men, many of them not only incapable of estimating the awful responsi-
bility of the situation, but without the least touch of humanity in their
natures, were individually intrusted with the unlimited disposal of the
lives and destinies of their fellow-creatures. They abused this trust in
the grossest manner ; tasking the unfortunate Indian far beyond his
strength, inflicting the most refined punishments on the indolent, and
hunting down those who resisted or escaped, like so many beasts of
chase, with ferocious bloodhounds. Every step of the white man's
progress in the Xe\v World may be said to have been on the corpse of a
native. Faith is staggered by the recital of the number of victims im-
molated in these fair regions within a very few years after the discovery ;
and the heart sickens at the loathsome details of barbarities recorded by
* Almost all the Spanish expeditions in the New World, whether on the northern or
southern continent, have a tin^e of romance beyond what is found in those of other
Euro]" One of the most striking and least familiar of them is that of Ferdinand
U-fateddiMVWerof the Mississippi, whose bones bleach bc:iu:ith its waters.
674 FEBDIXASD AXJO ISABELLA.
one, who, if his sympathies have led him sometimes to overcolonr, can
never be suspected of wilfully misstating facts of which he was au eye--
witness. A selfish indifference to the rights of the original occupants of
the soil is a sin which lies at the door of most of the primitive European
settlers, whether papist or puritan, of the yew World. I'ut it is light in
comparison with the fearful amount of crimes to be charged on the early
Spanish colonists ; crimes that have, perhaps, in this world, brought
down the retribution of Heaven, which has seen n't to turn this fountain
of inexhaustible wealth and prosperity to the- nation into the waters of
bitterness.
It may seem strange that no relief was afforded by the government to
these oppressed subjects. But Ferdinand, if we may credit Las Casas,
was never permitted to know the extent of the injuries done to them.
He was surrounded by men in the management of the Indian department,
whose interest it was to keep him in ignorance. * The remonstrances of
some zealous missionaries led him in 1501, to refer the subject of the
repartimientos to a council of jurists and theologians, f This body
yielded to the representations of the advocates of the system, that
it Avas indispensable for maintaining the colonies, since the European
was altogether unequal to labour in this tropical climate ; and that
it, moreover, afforded the only chance for the conversion of the
Indian, who, unless compelled, could never be brought in cor.tact with
the white man.J
On these grounds, Ferdinand openly assumed for himself and his
ministers the responsibility of maintaining this vicious institution : and
subsequently issued an ordinance to that effect, accompanied, however,
by a variety of humane and equitable regulations for restraining its
abuse. The license was embraced in its full extent ; the regulations
were openly disregarded. Several years after, in 1515, Las Casas,
moved by the spectacle of human suffering, returned to Spain, and
pleaded the cause of the injured native in tones which made the dying
monarch tremble on his throne. It was too late, however, for the king
to execute the remedial measures he contemplated. The efficient inter-
ference of Ximenes, who sent a commission for the purpose to Hispa-
iiiola, was attended with no permanent results; and the indefuti.
* One resident at the court, says the bishop of Chi.ipa, was proprietor of 800, and another
of 1100 Indians. We learn their names from Herrera. The first was Bishop Fonseea, ths
latter the cornmeudador Couchillos, both prominent men in the Indian department. The
last named person was the same individual sent by Ferdinand to his daughter iu
Flanders, and imprisoned there by the archduke Philip. After that prince's death, he
experienced signal favours from the Catholic king, and amassed great wealth as secretary
oi' the Indian board. Oviedo has devoted one of his dialogues to him.
t The Dominican and other missionaries, to their credit be it told, laboured with
unwearied zeal and courage for the conversion of the natives, and the vindication of their
natural rights. Yet these were the men who lighted the fires of the Inquisition in their
own land. To uch opposite results may the same principle lead, under different circum-
tances !
{ Las Casas concludes an elaborate memorial, prepared for the government in 154". on
the best means of arresting the destruction of the aborigines, with two pr..;>. .sit i, am.
1. That the Spaniards would still continue to settle in America, though slavery were
abolished, from the superior advantages for acquiring riches it offered over the Old
World. 2. That, if they would not, this would not justify slavery, since ''G<*d forbi Is us to
tio ei'U that good may come of it." Rare maxim from a Spanish churchman of the sixteenth
century ! The whole argument, which comprehends the sum of what has been sincu
said more diffusely in defence of abolition, is singularly acute and c.-gent. In its a!
principles it is unanswerable ; while it exposes and denounces the misconduct of hio
countrymen, with a freedom which shows the good bishop knew no other fear than
that of his Maker.
BEVIEW OP THEIR ADVIXISTIUTION. 575
"proteecor of the Indians," was left to sue for redress at the court of
f'harles, and to furni itary example there, of a
;etrated with the true spirit of Cliristian philanthropy.*
I have elsewhere examined the policy pursued liy tin- Catholic sove-
- iu tin- government of th"ir colonies. The supply of precious
nu-tals yielded hy them eventually, proved far greater than had ever
entered in' -ption of the most sanguine of the early discoverers.
Their prolific soil and Denial climate, inoi cover, ati'ordid an intmi'o
variety of vnet.ihlc products, whieh mi.u r ht have furnished an unlimited.
Commerce with the mother country. Under a judicious piotcetion, their
population and productions, steadily increasing, would have enlarged to
an incalculable extent the general s of the empire. Such,
ind'-cd, might have heeu the result of a v, .islation.
J'.ut the true principles i>f colonial j)olic\- were sadly misunderstood
in tl. : century. The discovery of a world was estimated, like
that of a rich mine, by the value of its returns in gold and silver.
Much <>f 1-aln-lla's legislation, it is true, is of that comprehensive
character which shows that she looked to higher and far nobler objects.
15ut with much that is gond there was mingled, as iu most of her
institutions, one germ of evil, of little moment at the time indeed, but
which, under the vicious culture of her successors, shot up to^ a height
that overshadowed and blighted all the rest. This was the spirit of
iction and monopoly, aggravated by the subsequent laws of Ferdi-
nand, and carried to an extent under the Austrian dynasty that paralysed
colonial trade.
I'nder their most ingeniously perverse system of laws, the interests
of both the parent country and the colonies were sacrificed. The latter,
condemned to look for supplies to an incompetent source, were miserably
dwarfed in their growth ; while the former contrived to convert the
nutriment which she extorted from the colonies into a fatal poison.
The streams f wealth which flowed in from the- silver <[uarr;
/acatecas and l\>tosi were jealousy locked up within the limits of tho
Mila. The great problem proposed by the Spanish legislation of
the s:.\t' enth century, was the reduction of prices in the kingdom to the
same level as in other European nations. Every law that was p:i
however, tended, by its restrictive character, to augment the evil. The
. hich, permitted a free vent, would have I'.-rtilised the
:i through which it poured, now buried the land under a d-
which blighted every green and living thing. Agriculture, coinn.
manufactures, every branch of national industry and improvement
languished and fell to decay ; and the nation, like the Phrygian monarch
whi> turned all that he touched to gold, <;ursed by the \ery consum-
mation of its wi>h' s, was poor in the mid.t of it-
From this sad picture let as turn to that presented by the period of
our History, when, the clouds and darkness having passed away, a new
morn > break upon the nation. Under the firm but temperate
* In the remarkable discusskm between the doctor Sepnlveda and Las GUMIS, before
comin i by Charles V.. in ]. '.')(), the Conner vin<lic;itc<I the jx.-r.scciition <( the
;. the cuiKluct of the laraelitea towards their 1 ira. But the
- i Fenelon replit'l, that "the behavioxir of the Jews was no ] >> Chris-
i>f Jlosea was a law of rijfour. but that of Jesus Christ one :
mercy, peace, goodwill, and charity." r ise Spaniard first jxT-ecuted the Jews, an: thuu
them a* an authority for persecutiuc all other in9dcl.
576 FERDINAND AND ISABELLA.
sway of Ferdinand and Isabella, the great changes we have noticed
were effected without convulsion in the state. On the contrary, the
elements of the social system, which before jarred so discordantly, were
brought into harmonious action. The restless spirit of the nobles was
turned from civil faction to the honourable career of public service,
whether in arms or letters. The people at large, assured of the security
of private rights, were occupied with the different branches of productive
labour. Trade, as is abundantly shown by the legislation of the period,
had not yet fallen into the discredit which attached to it in later times.*
The precious metals, instead of flowing in so abundantly as to palsy the
arm of industry, served only to stimulate it.
The foreign intercourse of the country was every day more widely
extended. Her agents and consuls were to be found in all the principal
ports of the Maditerranean and the Baltic. The Spanish mariner,
instead of creeping along the beaten track of inland navigation, now
etruck boldly across the great western ocean. The new discovers h;i<i.
converted the land trade with India into a sea trade ; and the nations of
the Peninsula, who had hitherto lain remote from the great highways
of commerce, now became the factors and carriers of Europe.
The nourishing condition of the nation was seen in the wealth and
population of its cities, the revenues of which, augmented in all to a
surprising extent, had increased in some, forty and even fifty fold
beyond what they were at the commencement of the reign: the am-ient
and lordly Toledo ; Burgos, with its bustling, industrious traders ;
Valladolid*, sending forth its thirty thousand warriors from its gates,
where the Avhole population now scarcely reaches two-thirds of that
number ; Cordova, in the south, and the magnificent Granada, natu-
ralising in Europe the arts and luxuries of the East ; Saragossa, "the
abundant," as she was called from her fruitful territory ; Valencia,
" the beautiful ;" Barcelona, rivalling in independence and maritime
enterprise the proudest of the Italian republics ; Medina del Campo,
whose fairs were already the great mart for the commercial exchanges
of the Peninsula ; and Seville, the golden gate of the Indies, whose
quays began to be thronged with merchants from the most distant
countries of Europe.
The resources of the inhabitants were displayed in the palaces and
public edifices, fountains, aqueducts, gardens, and other works of utility
and ornament. This lavish expenditure was directed by an impr .-.ved
taste. Architecture was studied on purer principles than before, ami.
with the sister arts of design, showed the influence of the new connexion
with Italy in the first gleams of that excellence which shed such lustre
over the Spanish school at the close of the century.* A still more
It is only necessary to notice the contemptuous language of Philip II. 's laws, whbh
designate the most useful mechanic arts, as those of blacksmiths, sh
dressers, and the like, as "oflcios viles y baxos." A whimsical distinction prevails in
Castile, in reference to the more humble occupations. A man of gentle blood m:-
coachman, lacquey, scullion, or any other menial, without disparaging his nobility, which
is said to sleep in the meanwhile. But he fixes on it an indelible stain if he excrci-
mechanical vocation. "Hence," says Capmany, "I have often seen a village in this
province, in which the vagabonds, smugglers, and hangmen even, were natives, while the
farrier, shoemaker, &c., was a foreigner.
t The most eminent sculptors were for the most part foreigners ; as Miguel Flortn-i'i.
Pedro Torregiano, Felipe de Borgofia, chiefly from Italy, where the art. \v
rapidly to perfection in the school of Michael Angelo. The most successful an-hii
fcchievomeut was the cathedral of Gruiiada, by Diego de Siloe.
REVIEW OJ? THEIh ADMINISTRATION. 577
decided impulse was given to letters. More printing-presses were
probably at work in Spain in the infancy of the art, than at the present
day. Ancient seminaries were remodelled ; new ones were created.
Barcelona, Salamanca, and Alcala, whose cloistered solitudes are now
the grave rather than the nursery of science, then swarmed with
thousands of disciples, who, under the generous patronage of the
government, found letters the surest path to preferment. Even the
lighter branches of literature felt the revolutionary spirit of the times,
and, after yielding the last fruits of the ancient system, displayed new
and more beautiful varieties, under the influence ot Italian culture.
With this moral development of the nation, the public revenues, the
sure index, when unforced, of public prosperity, went on augmenting
with astonishing rapidity. In 1474, the year of Isabella's accession,
the ordinary rents of the Castilian crown amounted to 885,000 reals ; in
1477, to 2,390,078 ; in 1482, after the resumption of the royal grants,
to 12,711,591 ; and, finally, in 1504, when the acquisition of Granada
and the domestic tranquillity of the kingdom had encouraged the free
expansion of all its resources, to 26,283,334 ; or thirty times the amount
received at her accession. All this, it will be remembered, was derived
from the customary established taxes, without the imposition of a single
new one. Indeed, the improvements in the mode of collection tended
materially to lighten the burdens on the people.
The accounts of the population at this early period are, for the most
part, vague and unsatisfactory. Spain, in particular, has been the
subject of the most absurd, though, as it seems, not incredible estimates,
sufficiently evincing the paucity of authentic data. Fortunately, how-
ever, we labour under no such embarrassment as regards Castile in
Isabella's reign. By an official report to the crown on the organisation
of the militia, in 1492, it appears that the population of the kingdom
amounted to 1,500,000 vecinos or householders; or, allowing four and
a half to a family (a moderate estimate), to 6,750,000 souls. This
census, it will be observed, was limited to the provinces immediately
composing the crown of Castile, to the exclusion of Granada, Navarre,
and the Aragonese dominions. It was taken, moreover, before the
nation had time to recruit from the long and exhausting struggle of the
Moorish war, and twenty-five years before the close of the reign, when
the population, under circumstances peculiarly favourable, must have
swelled to a much larger amount. Thus circumscribed, however, it was
probably considerably in advance of that of England at the same period.
How have the destinies of the two countries since been reversed !
The territorial limits of the monarchy, in the meantime, went on
expanding beyond example ; Castile and Leon, brought under the same
sceptre with Aragon and its foreign dependencies, Sicily and Sardinia ;
with the kingdoms of Granada, Navarre, and Naples ; with the Canaries,
Oran, and the other settlements in Africa ; and with the islands and
vast continents of America. To these broad domains, the comprehensive
schemes of the sovereigns would have added Portugal ; and their arrange-
ments for this, although defeated for the present, opened the way to its
eventual completion under Philip the Second.*
* Philip II. claimed the Portuguese crown in rignt of his mother and hia wife, both
descended from Maria, third daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, who, as the reader may
remember, married King EuianueL
P
578 FEBDIXAXD AXD ISABELLA.
The petty states, which had before swarmed over the Peninsula,
neutralising each other's operations, and preventing any effective move-
ment abroad, were now amalgamated into one whole. Sectional
jealousies and antipathies, indeed, were too sturdily rooted to be wholly
extinguished ; but they gradually subsided under the influence of a com-
mon, government and community of interests. A more enlarged senti-
ment was infused into the people, who, in their foreign relations at least,
assumed the attitude of one great nation. The names of Castilian and
Aragonese were merged in the comprehensive one of Spaniard ; and
Spain, with an empire which stretched over three quarters of the globe T
and which almost realised the proud boast that the sun. never set within
her borders, now rose, not to the first class only, but to the first place,
in the scale of European powers.
The extraordinary circumstances of the country tendered naturally to
nourish the lofty, romantic qualities, and the somewhat exaggerated
tone of sentiment, which always pervaded the national character. The
age of chivalry had not faded away in Spain as in most other lands. It
was fostered in time ot peace by the tourneys, jousts, and other warlike
pageants which graced the court of Isabella. It gleamed out, as we
have seen, in the Italian campaigns under Gonsalvo de Cordova, and
shone forth in all its splendours in the war of Granada. " This was a
right gentle war," says Navagiero, in a passage too pertinent to be
omitted, " in which, as fire-arms were comparatively little used, each
knight had the opportunity of showing his personal prowess ; and rare
was it that a day passed without some feat of arms and valorous exploit.
The nobility and chivalry of the land all thronged there to gather
renown. Queen Isabella, who attended with her whole court, breathed
courage into every heart. There was scarce a cavalier who was not
enamoured of some one or other of her ladies, the witness of his achieve-
ments, and who, as she presented him his weapons, or some token of her
favour, admonished him to bear himself like a true knight, and show the
strength of his passion by his valiant deeds.* What knight so craven
then," exclaims the chivalrous Venetian, "that he would not have been
more than a match for the stoutest adversary ; or who would not sooner
have lost his life a thousand times, than return dishonoured to the lady
of his love ! In truth," he concludes, " this conquest may be said to
have been achieved by love, rather than by arms."t
The Spaniard was a knight-errant, in its literal sense, roving over
seas on which no bark had ever ventured, among islands and continents
where no civilised man had ever trodden, and which fancy peopled with
* Oviedo notices the existence of a lady-love, even with cavaliers who had passed their
prime, as a thing of quite as imperative necessity in his day, as it was afterwards regarded
by the gallant knight of La Mancha.
f Andrea Navagiero, whose itinerary has been of such frequent reference in these pages,
was a noble Venetian, born in 1483. He became very early distinguished, in his cultivated
capital, for his scholarship, poetical talents, and eloquence, of which he lias left specimens,
especially in Latin verse, in the highest repute to this day with his countrymen. He was
not, however, exclusively devoted to letters, but was employed in several foreign missions
by the republic. It was on his visit to Spain, as minister to Charles V., soon after that
monarch's accession, that he wrote his Travels ; and he filled the same office at the court
of Francis I., when he died, at the premature age of forty-six, in 1529. His death was
universally lamented by the good and the learned of his time, and is commemorated by
his friend. Cardinal Bembo, in two sonnets, breathing all the sensibility of that tender and
elegant poet. Navagiero becomes connected witli Castilian literature by the circum-
stance of Boscan's referring to bis suggestion the innovation he so successfully made in
the form* of the national verw.
TIKVir.W OF THElll ATXMIXISTRATTOX. 57&
all tlie marvels and drear enchantments of romance ; courting danger in
every form, combating everywhere, and everywhere victorious. Tin:
very odds presented by the defenceless natives among whom he was cast,
"a thousand of whom," to quote the words of Columbus, "were not
equal to three Spaniards," was in itself typical of his profession ; and
the brilliant destinies to which the meanest adventurer was often called,
now carving out with his good sword some " El Dorado," more splendid
than fancy had dreamed of, and now overturning some old barbaric
dynasty, were full as extraordinary as the wildest chimeras which
Ariusto ever sang, or Cervantes satirised.
His countrymen who remained at home, feeding greedily on the
reports of his adventures, lived almost equally in an atmosphere of
romance. A spirit of chivalrous enthusiasm penetrated the very depths
of the nation, swelling the humblest individual with lofty aspirations,
and a proud consciousness of the dignity of his nature. " The princely
disposition of the Spaniards," says a foreigner of the time, " delighteth
me much, as well as the gentle nurture, and noble conversation, not
merely of those of high degree, but of the citizen, peasant, and common,
labourer." What wonder that such sentiments should be found incom-
patible with sober, methodical habits of business, or that the nation
indulging them should be seduced from the humble paths of domestic
industry to a brilliant and bolder career of adventure. Such conse-
quences became too apparent in the following reign.
In noticing the circumstances that conspired to form the national
character, it would be unpardonable to omit the establishment of the
Inquisition, which contributed so largely to counterbalance the benefits
resulting from Isabella's government ; an institution which has done
more than any other to stay the proud march of human reason ; which,
by imposing uniformity of creed, has proved the fruitful parent of
hypocrisy and superstition ; which has soured the sweet charities of
human life, and settling like a foul mist on the goodly promise of the
land, closed up the fair buds of science and civilisation ere they were fully
opened. Alas ! that such a blight should have fallen on so gallant and
generous a people ! That it should have been brought on it too by one
of such unblemished patriotism and purity of motive as Isabella! How
must her virtuous spirit, if it be permitted the departed good to look
down on the scene of their earthly labours, mourn over the misery and
moral degradation entailed on her country by this one act ; So true is
it, that the measures of this great queen have had a permanent influence,
whether for good or for evil, on the destinies of her country.
The immediate injury inflicted on the nation by the spirit of bigotry
in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, although greatly exaggerated,*
The late secretary of the Inquisition has made an elaborate computation of the number
of its victims. According to him, 13,000 were publicly burned by the several tribunals of
Castile and Aragon, and 191,413 suffered other punishments, between 14S1, the date of the
commencement of the modern institution, and 1518. Llorente appears to have come to
these appalling results by a very plausible process of calculation, and without any design
to exagger-.ite. Nevertheless, his data are exceedingly imperfect : and he has himself, on a
revision, considerably reduced, in his fourth volume, the original estimates in the first. I
find good grounds for reducing them still further. 1. He quotes Mariana for the fact that
2000 suffered martyrdom at Seville in 1481, and makes this the basis of his calculations for
the other tribunals of the kingdom. Marineo, a contemporary, on the other hand, states
that, "in the course of a ftv> ytan they burned nearly 2000 heretics;" thus not only
diffusing this amount over a greater period of time, but embracing all the tribunals then
existing in the country. 2. Broaldez states that five-sixths of the Jews resided in tha
kingdom of Castile.
OfO FERl)I\AJN'i> AND ISABELLA.
was doubtless serious enough. Under the otherwise beneficent operation
of their government, however, the healthful and expansive energies of
the state were sufficient to heal up these and deeper wounds, and still
carry it onward in the career of prosperity. With this impulse, indeed,
the nation continued to advance higher and higher, in spite of the system
of almost unmingled evil pursued in the following reigns. The glories
of this later period, of the age of Charles the Fifth, as it is called, must
find their true source in the measures of his illustrious predecessors. It
was in their court that Boscan, Grarcilasso, Mendoza, and the other
master-spirits were trained, who moulded Castilian literature into the
new and more classical forms of later times. It was under Gonsalvo de
Cordova, that Leyva, Pescara, and those great captains with their
invincible legions were formed, who enabled Charles the Fifth to dictate
laws to Europe for half a century. And it was Columbus who not oiily
led the way, but animated the Spanish navigator with the spirit of
discovery. Scarcely was Ferdinand's reign brought to a close, before
Magellan completed, (1520,) what that monarch had projected, the
circumnavigation of the southern continent ; the victorious banners of
Cortes had already (1518) penetrated into the golden realms of Monte-
zuma ; and Pizarro, a very few years later, (1524,) following up the
lead of Balboa, embarked on the enterprise which ended in the downfall
of the splendid dynasty of the Incas.
Thus it is, that the seed sown under a good system continues to yield
fruit in a bad one. The season of the most brilliant results, however, is
not always that of the greatest national prosperity. The splendours of
foreign conquest in the boasted reign of Charles the Fifth were dearly
purchased by the decline of industry at home, and the loss of liberty.
The patriot will see little to cheer "him in this "golden age" of the
national history, whose outward show of glory will seem to his penetrating
eye only the hectic brilliancy of decay. He will turn to an earlier
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of mad ambition, and in the latter has sunk into a state of paralytic
torpor, he will fix his eye on the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, as the
most glorious epoch in the annals of his country.
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