NIVERSirr OF CA RIVERSIDE LIBRARr ^
 
 Dr. GEORGE M. COOPER 
 
 Bryn Athyn 
 pen nsylvania
 
 '>!

 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE REIGN OF 
 
 FERDINAND AND ISABELLA, 
 
 By WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT. 
 
 Quee surgere regna 
 CoDJugio tali! 
 
 Virgil, ^neid, iv. 47. 
 Crevere vires, famaque et imperi 
 Porrecta majestas ab Euro 
 Solis ad Occiduum cubile. 
 
 Horat. Carm., iv. 15. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 COMPLETE IN TWO VOLUMES.— VOL. L 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 A. L. BURT, PUBLISHER.
 
 TO 
 
 THE HONORABLE 
 
 WILLIAM PRESCOTT, L L. D. 
 
 THE GUIDE OF MY YOUTH, 
 
 MY BEST FRIEND IN RIPER YEARS, 
 
 THESE VOLUMES, 
 
 WITH THE WARMEST FEELINGS OF FILIAL AFFECTION, 
 
 ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED.
 
 PREFACE 
 
 TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 English writers have done more for the illustration O; 
 Spanish history, than for that of any other except their owa. 
 To say nothing of the recent general compendium, executes 
 for the "Cabinet Cyclopaedia," 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 guaranty for the excellence of their productions. 
 It is singular, that, with this attention to the modern history 
 of the Peninsula, 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 dis- 
 covered and colonized; the ancient empire of the Spanish 
 Arabs subverted; the dread tribunal of the Modern Inquisi- 
 tion established; the Jews, who contributed so sensibly tc 
 the wealth and civilization of the country, were banished; 
 and, in fine, such changes were introduced into the interior 
 administration 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 theii 
 importance. Besides the reigning sovereigns, Ferdinand 
 and Isabella, the latter certainly one of the most interesting 
 personages in history, we have, in political affairs^ that con- 
 summate statesman. Cardinal Ximenes, in military, the 
 "Great Captain," Gonsalvo de Cordova, and in maritime, the 
 most successful navigator of any age, Christopher Columbus; 
 whose entire biographies fall within the limits of this period.
 
 5 PREFACE. 
 
 Even such portions of it as have been incidentally touched 
 by English writers, as the ItaHan wars, for example, have 
 been drawn so exclusively from French and Italian sources, 
 that they may be said to be untrodden ground for the his- 
 torian 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 
 secretary, 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 navigators, by Navarrete; 
 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 auspices of which the existence of 
 his own favored 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 plenipo- 
 tentiary from the United States to the court of Madrid, Mr. 
 Arthur Middleton, secretary of the American legation, and, 
 above all, Mr. O. Rich, now American consul for the Balearic 
 
 * The only histories of this reign by continental writers, with which 1 
 am acquainted, are the " Histoire des Rois Catholiques Ferdinand et Is* 
 belle, par I'Abbe Mignot, Paris, 1766," and the " Geschichte der Regie- 
 rung Ferdinand des 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. 7 
 
 Islands, a gentleman, whose extensive bibliographical Icnow- 
 ledge, 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 assist- 
 ance, I flatter 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 manuscripts, 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 government, 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 Cam- 
 bridge, 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 favors 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 labors. 
 
 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 in- 
 terest in the story, to seek such collateral information, as 
 might brmg these events into a clearer view. 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 com- 
 parative value and credibility. Finall}-, I have endeavored 
 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. Su'"" ^ ^m, there can be no one
 
 S PREFACE 
 
 more sensible of my deficiencies, 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 
 on national or party feeling. I may have, been more open 
 to another fault; that of too strong a. bias in favor of my 
 principal actors; for characters, noble and interesting in 
 themselves, naturally beget a sort of partiality akin to friend- 
 ship, in the historian's mind, accustomed to the daily con- 
 templation 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 composing these volumes. 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 ob- 
 stacle 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 practicability 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 ac- 
 commodated to foreign sounds, and an antiquated, oftentimes 
 barbarous phraseology, when my progress became more 
 
 * "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 oj 
 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. 9 
 
 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 Providence, recovered 
 sufficient strength to allow me to use them, with tolerable 
 freedom, in the prosecution of my labors, and in the revision 
 of all previously written. I hope I shall not be misunder- 
 stood, as stating these circumstances to deprecate the severity 
 of criticism, since I am inclined to think the greater cir- 
 cumspection I have been compelled to use has left me, on 
 the whole, less exposed to inaccuracies, than I should have 
 been in the ordmary 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 satis- 
 faction. 
 
 I will only remark, in conclusion of this too prolix discus- 
 sion about myself, that while making my tortoise-like pro- 
 gress, I saw what I had fondly looked upon as my own 
 ground (having indeed 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 splendor, humbled by the loss of 
 empire abroad, and credit at home, is abandoned to all the 
 evils of anarchy. Yet, deplorable 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 deathlike 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
 
 so PkEFACE. 
 
 esta lished, is, indeed, fearful. Even the immediate conse- 
 quences 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 be but true to itself. 
 And that they will come, sooner or later, to the Spaniards, 
 surely no one can distrust who is at all conversant with their 
 earlier history, and has witnessed the examples it affords of 
 heroic virtue, devoted patriotism, and generous love of free- 
 dom 
 
 "Che I'antico valore 
 
 non e ancor morto." 
 
 Clouds and darkness have, indeed, settled thick around 
 the throne of the youthful Isabella; but not a deeper dark- 
 ness 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, civU 
 and religious liberty, 
 
 Nove tuber ^ iS37»
 
 PREFACE 
 
 TO THE THIRD EDITION. 
 
 Since the publication of the first edition of this work, ii 
 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 the Authof to correct 
 several verbal inaccuracies, and a few typographical errors, 
 which had been previously overlooked. While the second 
 edition was passing through the press, he 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 troub'es of the Peninsula, had not before 
 come to his knowledge. For these he is indebted to the 
 politeness of the Spanish Minister at Washington, Don Angel 
 Calderon de la Barca; a gentleman whose frank and liberal 
 manners, personal accomplishments, and independent con- 
 duct in public life, have secured for him deservedly high 
 consideration in this country, as well as his own. The works 
 alluded to, of which more particular notice is given in the 
 Notes, have not required, indeed, any alteration in the ori- 
 ginal text of the History; but they have supplied matter for 
 further reference and illustration, of which the Author has 
 gladly availed himself. With these emendations, it is hoped 
 that the present edition may be found more deserving of the 
 public favor, which has been so liberally accorded to the 
 preceding 
 
 September^ 1838.
 
 CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 VIEW OF THE CASTILIAN MONARCHY BEFORE THE FIFTEENTH 
 
 CENTURY. 
 
 Page 
 State of Spain at the Middle of the Fifteenth Century. Early History 
 and Constitution of Castile. The Visigoths. Invasion of the 
 Arabs. Its influence on the Condition of the Spaniards. Causes 
 of their slow Reconquest of the Country. Their ultimate Success 
 certain. Their Religious Enthusiasm. Influence of their Min- 
 strelsy. Their Charity to the Infidel. Their Chivalry. Early 
 Importance of the Castilian Towns. Their Privileges. Castilian 
 Cortes. Its great Powers. Its Boldness. Hermandades of Cas- 
 tile. Wealth of the Cities. Period of the highest Power of the 
 Commons. The Nobility. Their Privileges. Their great Wealth. 
 Their turbulent Spirit. The Cavalleros or Knights. The Clergy. 
 Influence of the Papal Court. Corruption of the Clergy. Their 
 rich Possessions. Limited Extent of the Royal Prerogative. 
 Poverty of the Crown. Its Causes. Anecdote of Henry III., of 
 Castile. Constitution at the Beginning of the Fifteenth Century. 
 Constitutional Writers on Castile. Notice of Marina and Sem- 
 pere 23-46 
 
 SECTION 11. 
 
 REVIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION OF ARAGON TO THE MIDDLE OF THE 
 FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 Rise of Aragon. Foreign Conquests. Code of Soprarbe. The Ricos 
 Hombres. Their Immunities. Their Turbulence. Privileges of 
 Union. Their Abrogation. The Legislature of Aragon. Its 
 Forms of Proceeding. Its Powers. The General Privilege. Ju- 
 dicial Functions of Cortes. Preponderance of the Commons. 
 The Justice of Aragon. His great Authority. Security against 
 its Abuse. Independent Execution of it. Valencia and Catalonia. 
 Rise and Opulence of Barcelona. Her free Institutions. Haughty 
 Spirit of the Catalans. Intellectual Culture. Poetical Academy 
 of Tortosa. Brief Glory of the Limousin. Constitutional Writers 
 ou Aragon. Notices of lilancas, Martel, and Capmany. . 47-^
 
 14 CONTENTS. 
 
 PART FIRST. 
 
 THE PERIOD, WHEN THE DIFFERENT KINGDOMS OF SPAIN 
 WERE FIRST UNITED UNDER ONE MONARCHY, AND A 
 THOROUGH REFORM WAS INTRODUCED INTO THEIR IN- 
 TERNAL ADMINISTRATION; OR THE PERIOD EXHIBITING 
 MOST FULLY THE DOMESTIC POLICY OF FERDINAND AND 
 ISABELLA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 STATE OF CASTILE AT THB BIRTH OF ISABELLA. — REIGN OF JOHN II., 
 OF CASTILE. 
 
 Page 
 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 Encourage- 
 ment under John II. Marquis of Villena. Marquis of Santillana. 
 John de Mena. His Influence. Baena's Cancionero. Castiiian 
 Literature under John II. Decline of Alvaro de Luna. His Fall. 
 His Death. Lamented by John. Death of John II. Birth of 
 Isabella. 71-84 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CONDITION OF ARAGON DURING THE MINORITY OF FERDINAND, — REIGN 
 OF JOHN II., OF ARAGON. 
 
 John of Aragon. Title of his Son Carlos to Navarre. He takes Arms 
 against his Father. Is defeated. Birth of Ferdinand. Carlos 
 retires to Naples. He passes into Sicily. John II. succeeds to 
 the Crown of Aragon. Ca'^los reconciled with his Father. Is 
 imprisoned. Insurrection of the Catalans. Carlos released. His 
 Death. His Character. Tragical Storj' of Blanche. Ferdinand 
 sworn Heir to the Crown. Besieged by the Catalans in Gerona. 
 Treaty between France and Aragon. General Revolt in Cata- 
 lonia. Successes of John. Crown of Catalonia offered to Rene 
 of Anjou. Distress and Embarrassments of John. Popularity 
 of the Duke of Lorraine. Death of the Queen of Aragon. Im- 
 provement in John's Affairs. Siege of Barcelona. It surren- 
 ders , 85-101 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 REIGN OF HENRY IV., OF CASTILE. — CIVIL WAR. — MARRIAGE OF FERDI- 
 NAND AND ISABELLA. 
 
 Popularity of Henry IV. He disappoints Expectations. His disso- 
 lute Habits. Oppression of the People. Debasement of the Coin. 
 Character of Pacheco, i.larquisof Villena. Character of the Arch-
 
 CONTENTS. 15 
 
 Page 
 bishop of Toledo. Interview between Henry IV. and Louis XI. 
 Disgrace of Villena and the Archbishop of Toledo. League of 
 the Nobles. Deposition of Henry at Avila. Division of Parties. 
 Intrigues of the Marquis of Villena. Henry disbands his Forces. 
 Proposition for the ^Iarriage of Isabella. Her early Education. 
 Projected Union with the Grand Master of Calatrava. His sudden 
 Death. Battle of Olraedo. Civil Anarchy. Death and Charac- 
 ter of Alfonso. His Reign a Usurpation. The Crown offered to 
 Isabella. She declines it. Treaty between Henry and the Con- 
 federates. Isabella acknowledged Heir to the Crown at Toros de 
 Guisando. vSuitors to Isabella. Ferdinand of Aragon. Support 
 of Joanna Beltraneja. Proposal of the King of Portugal rejected 
 by Isabella. She accepts Ferdinand. Articles of Marriage. Criti- 
 cal Situation of Isabella. Ferdinand enters Castile. Private In- 
 terview between Ferdinand and Isabella. Their Marrriage. No- 
 tice of the Quincuagenas of Oviedo. ..... 102-128 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FACTIONS IN CASTILE. — WAR BETWEEN FRANCE AND ARAGON. — DEATH 
 OF HENRY IV., OF CASTILE. 
 
 Factions in Castile. Ferdinand and Isabella. Civil Anarchy. Revolt 
 of Roussillon from Louis XL Gallant Defence of Perpignan. 
 Ferdinand raises the Siege. Treaty between France an Aragon. 
 Isabella's Party gains Strength. Interview between Henry IV. 
 and Isabella at Segovia. Second French Invasion of Roussillon. 
 Ferdinand's summary Execution of Justice. Siege and Reduc- 
 tion of Perpignan. Perfidy of Louis XL Illness of Henry IV., 
 of Castile. His Death. Influence of his Reign. Notice of 
 Alonso de Palencia. Notice of Enriquez de Castillo. . . 129-142 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ACCESSION OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. — WAR OF THE SUCCESSION.—^ 
 BATTLE OF TORO. 
 
 Title of Isabella. She is proclaimed Queen. Settlement of the Crown. 
 Partisans of Joanna. Alfonso of Portugal supports her Cause. 
 He invades Castile. He espouses Joanna. Castilian Army. Fer- 
 dinand marches against Alfonso. He challenges him to personal 
 Combat. Disorderly Retreat of the Castilians. Appropriation of 
 the Church Plate. Reorganization of the Army. King of Portu- 
 gal arrives before Zamora. Absurd Position. He suddenly de- 
 camps. Overtaken by Ferdinand. Battle of Toro. The Portu- 
 guese routed. Isabella's Thanksgiving for the Victory. Submis- 
 sion of the whole Kingdom. The King of Portugal visits France. 
 Returns to Portugal. Peace with France. Active Measures of 
 Isabella. Treaty of Peace with Portugal. Joanna takes the Veil. 
 Death of the King of Portugal. Death of the King of Ara- 
 gon 143-162
 
 l6 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI, 
 
 INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. 
 
 Pagt 
 Scheme of Reform for the Government of Castile. Administration of 
 Justice. Establishment of the Hermandad. Code of the Her- 
 mandad. Ineffectual Opposition of the Nobility. Tumult at 
 Segovia. Isabella's Presence of Mind. Isabella visits Seville. 
 Her splendid Reception there. Severe Execution of Justice. 
 Marquis of Cadiz and Duke of Medina Sidonia. Royal Progress 
 through Andalusia. Impartial Execution of the Laws. Reorgani- 
 zation of the Tribunals. King and Queen preside in Courts of 
 Justice. Reestablishment of Order. Reform of the Jurispru- 
 dence. Code of Ordenan9as Reales. Schemes for reducing the 
 Nobility. Revocation of the royal Grants. Legislative Enact- 
 ments. The Queen's spirited Conduct to the Nobility. Military 
 Orders of Castile. Order of St. Jago. Order of Calatrava. Order 
 of Alcantara. Grand-masterships annexed to the Crown. Their 
 Reformation. Usurpations of the Church. Resisted by Cortes. 
 Difference with the Pope. Restoration of Trade. Salutary En- 
 actments of Cortes. Prosperity of the Kingdom. Notice of Cle- 
 mencin 163-189 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MODERN INQUISITION. 
 
 Origin of the Ancient Inquisition. Its Introduction into Aragon. 
 Restrospective View of the Jews in Spain. Under the Arabs. 
 Under the Castilians. Persecution of the Jews. Their State at 
 the Accession of Isabella. Charges against them. Bigotry of 
 the Age. Its Influence on Isabella. Character of her Confessor 
 Torquemada. Papal Bull authorizing the Inquisition. Isabella 
 resorts to milder Measures. Enforces the Papal Bull. Inquisi- 
 tion at Seville. Proofs of Judaism. The sanguinary Proceedings 
 of the Inquisitors. Conduct of the Papal Court. Final Organi- 
 zation of the Inquisition. Forms of Trial. Torture. Injustice 
 of its Proceedings. Autos da Fe. Convictions under Torque- 
 mada. Perfidious Policy of Rome. Notice of Llorente's History 
 of the Inquisition 190-207 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 REVIEW OF THE POLITICAL AND INTELLECTUAL CONDITION OF THE 
 SPANISH ARABS PREVIOUS TO THE WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 Early Successes of Mahometanism. Conquest of Spain. Western 
 Caliphate. Form of Government. Character of the Sovereigns. 
 Military Establishment. Sumptuous public Works. Great Mosque 
 of Cordova. Revenues. Mineral Wealth of Spain. Husbandry 
 and Manufactures. Population. Character of Alhakem II. In- 
 tellectual Development. Dismemberment of the Cordovan Empire.
 
 CONTENTS. 17 
 
 Page 
 Kingdom of Granada. Agriculture and Commerce. Resources 
 of the Crown. Lu.xurious Character of the People. Moorish 
 Gallantry. Chivalry. Unsettled State of Granada. Causes of 
 her successful Resistance. Literature of the Spanish Arabs. Cir- 
 cumstances favorable to it. Provisions for Learning. The actual 
 Results. Averroes. Their Historical Merits. Useful Discove- 
 ries. The impulse given by them to Europe. Their elegant 
 Literature. Poetical Character. Influence on the Castilian. Cir- 
 cumstances prejudcial to their Reputation. Notices of Casiri, 
 Conde, and Cardonne. ....... 208-230 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 WAR OF GRANADA. — SURPRISE OF ZAHARA. — CAPTURE OF ALHAMA. 
 
 Zahara surprised by the Moors. Description of Alhama. The Mar- 
 quis of Cadiz. His Expedition against Alhama. Surprise of the 
 Fortress. Valor of the Citizens. Sally upon the Moors. Des- 
 perate Combat. Fall of Alhama. Consternation of the Moors. 
 The Moors besiege Alhama. Distress of the Garrison. The Duke 
 of Medina Sidonia. Marches to relieve Alhama. Raises the 
 Siege. Meeting of the two Armies. The Sovereigns at Cordova. 
 Alhama invested again by the Moors. Isabella's Firmness. Fer- 
 dinand raises the Siege. Vigorous Measures of the Queen. 231-243 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 WAR OF GRANADA. — UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT ON LOJA. — DEFEAT IN THE 
 
 AXARQUIA. 
 
 Siege of Loja. Castilian Forces. Encampment before Loja. Skir- 
 mish with the Enemy. Retreat of the Spaniards. Revolution in 
 Granada. Death of the Archbishop of Toledo. Affairs of Italy. 
 Of Navarre. Resources of the Crown. Justice of the Sovereigns. 
 Expedition to the Axarquia. The military Array. Progress of 
 the Army. Moorish Preparations. Skirmish among the Moun- 
 tains. Retreat of the Spaniards. Their disastrous Situation. 
 They resolve to force a Passage. Difficulties of the Ascent. 
 Dreadful Slaughter. Marquis of Cadiz escapes. Losses of the 
 Christians. .......... 244-260 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 WAR OF GRANADA. — GENERAL VIEW OF THE POLICY PURSUED IN THE 
 CONDUCT OF THIS WAR. 
 
 Abdallah marches against the Christians. Ill Omens. Marches on 
 Lucena. Battle of Lucena. Capture of Abdallah. Losses of
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 the Moors. Moorish Embassy to Cordova. Debates in the 
 Spanish Council. Treaty with Abdallah. Interview between 
 the two Kings. General Policy of the War. Incessant Hostili- 
 ties. Devastating Forays. Strength of the Moorish Fortresses. 
 Description of the Pieces. Of the Kinds of Ammunition. Roads 
 for the Artillery. Defences of the Moors. Terms to the Van- 
 quished. Supplies for the Army. Isabella's Care of the Troops. 
 Her Perseverance in the War. Policy toward the Nobles. Com- 
 position of the Army. Swiss Mercenaries. The English Lord 
 Scales. The Queen's Courtesy. Magnificence of the Nobles. 
 Their Gallantry. Isabella visits the Camp. Royal Costume. 
 Devout Demeanor of the Sovereigns. Ceremonies on the Occu- 
 pation of a City. Release of Christian Captives. Policy in 
 fomenting the Moorish Factions. Christian Conquests. Notice 
 of Fernando del Pulgar. Notice of Antonio de Lebrija. . 261-282 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF THE KINGDOM. — INQUISITION IN ARAGON. 
 
 Isabella enforces the Laws. Chastisement of certain Ecclesiastics. 
 Marriage of Catharine of Navarre. Liberation of Catalan Serfs. 
 Inquisition in Aragon. Remonstrances of Cortes. Conspiracy 
 formed. Assassination of Arbues. Cruel Persecutions. Inqui- 
 sition throughout Ferdinand's Dominions. .... 283-287 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 WAR OF GRANADA. — SURRENDER OF VELEZ MALAGA. — SIEGE AND CON- 
 QUEST OF MALAGA. 
 
 Position of Velez Malaga. Army before Velez. Defeat of El ZagaL 
 Narrow Escape of Ferdinand. Surrender of Velez. Description 
 of Malaga. Sharp Rencontre. Malaga invested by Sea and 
 Land. Brilliant Spectacle. Extensive Preparations. The Queen 
 visits the Camp. Summons of the Town. Danger of the Mar- 
 quis of Cadiz. Civil Feuds of the Moors. Attempt to assassi- 
 nate the Sovereigns. Distress and Resolution of the Beseiged. 
 Enthusiasm of the Christians. Discipline of the Army. General 
 Sally. Generosity of a Moorish Knight. Outworks carried. 
 Grievous Famine. Proposals for Surrender. Haughty Demeanor 
 of Ferdinand Malaga surrenders at Discretion. Purification of 
 the City. Entrance of the Sovereigns. Release of Christian Cap- 
 tives. Lament of the Malagans. Sentence passed on them. 
 Wary Device of Ferdinand. Cruel Policy of the Victors. Mea- 
 sures for repeopling Malaga. . , ... 288-304
 
 CONTENTS. 19 
 
 Page 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 WAR OF GRANADA. — CONQUEST OF BAZA. — SUBMISSION OF EL ZAGAL. 
 
 The Sovereigns visit Aragon. Inroads into Granada. Border War. 
 Embassy from Maximilian. Preparations for the Siege of Baza. 
 The King takes Command of the Army. Position and Strength 
 of Baza. Assault on the Garden. Despondency of the Spanish 
 Chiefs. Dispelled by Isabella. Gardens cleared of their Timber. 
 City closely invested. Mission from the Sultan of Egypt. Houses 
 erected for the Army. Its strict Discipline. Heavy Tempest. 
 Isabella's Energy. Her patriotic Sacrifices. Resolution of the 
 Besieged. Isabella visits the Camp. Suspension of Arms. Baza 
 surrenders. Conditions. Occupation of the City. Treaty of 
 Surrender with El Zagal. Painful March of the Spanish Army. 
 Interview between Ferdinand and EI Zagal. Occupation of El 
 Zagal's Domain. Equivalent assigned to him. Difficulties of 
 this Campaign. Isabella's Popularity and Influence. Notice of 
 Peter Martyr 305-323 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 WAR OF GRANADA. — SIEGE AND SURRENDER OF THE CITY OF GRANADA. 
 
 The Infanta Isabella. Public Festivities. Granada summoned in vain. 
 Knighthood of Don Juan. Ferdinand's Policy. Isabella deposes 
 the Judges of Chancery. Ferdinand musters his Forces. En- 
 camps in the Vega. Position of Granada. Moslem and Christian 
 Chivalry. The Queen surveys the City. Skirmish with the 
 Enemy. Conflagration of the Christian Camp. Erection of Sante 
 Fe. Negotiations for Surrender. Capitulaton of Granada. Com- 
 motions in Granada. Preparations for occupying the City. The 
 Cross raised on the Alhambra. Fate of Abdallah. Results of 
 the War of Granada. Its Moral Influence. Its Military Influ- 
 ence. Destiny of the Moors. Death and Character of the Mar- 
 quis of Cadiz. Notice of Bernaldez, Curate of Los Palacios. Irv- 
 ing's Chronicle of Granada. ...... 324-339 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 APPLICATION OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS AT THE SPANISH COURT. 
 
 Maritime Enterprises of the Portuguese. Early Spanish Discoveries. 
 Early History of Columbus. Belief of Land in the West. Colum- 
 bus applies to Portugal. To the Court of Castile. Referred to a 
 Council. His Application rejected. He prepares to leave Spain. 
 Interposition in his Behalf. Columbus at .Sante Fe. Negotia- 
 tions again broken off. The Queen's favorable Disposition.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 Final Arrangement with Columbus. He sails on his first Voyage. 
 Indifference to his Enterprise. Acknowledgments due to Isa- 
 bella 340-351 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 EXPULSION OF THE JEWS FROM SPAIN. 
 
 Excitement against the Jews. Fomented by the Clergy. Violent Con- 
 duct of Torquemada. Edict of Expulsion. Its severe Operation. 
 Constancy of the Jews. Routes of the Emigrants. Their Suf- 
 ferings in Africa. In other countries. Whole Number of Exiles. 
 Disastrous Results. True Motives of the Edict. Contemporary 
 Judgments. Mistaken Piety of the Queen. . . . 352-361 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF FERDINAND. — RETURN AND SECOND VOY- 
 AGE OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 The Sovereigns visit Aragon. Attempt on Ferdinand's Life. General 
 Consternation. Loyalty of the Peopie. Slow Recovery of the 
 King. Punishment of the Assassin. Return of Columbus. Dis- 
 cover)' of the West Indies. Joyous Reception of Columbus. His 
 Progress to Barcelona. Interview with the Sovereigns. Sensa- 
 tions caused by the Discovery. Board for Indian Affairs. Regu- 
 lations of Trade. Preparations for a Second Voyage. Conver- 
 sion of the Natives. New powers granted to Columbus. Appli- 
 cation to Rome. Famous Bulls of Alexander VI. Jealousy of the 
 Court of Lisbon. Wary Diplomacy. Second Voyage of Colum- 
 bus. Mission to Portugal. Disgust of John II. Treaty of Tor- 
 desillas. . . . , 362-376 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 CASTILIAN LITERATURE. — CULTIVATION OF THE COURT.^LASSICAL 
 LEARNING. — SCIENCE. 
 
 Ferdinand's Education neglected. Instruction of Isabella. Her Col- 
 lection of Books. Tuition of the Infantas. Of Prince John. The 
 Queen's Care for the Education of her Nobles. Labors of Martyr. 
 Of Lucio Marineo. Scholarship of the Nobles. Accomplished 
 Women. Classical Learning. Lebrija. Arias Barbosa. Merits 
 of the Spanish Scholars. Universities. Sacred Studies. Other 
 Sciences. Printing introduced. The Queen encourages it. Its 
 rapid Diffusion. Actual Progress of Science. . . . 377-389
 
 CONTENTS. 21 
 
 Page 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 CASTILIAN LITERATURE. — ROMANCES OF CHIVALRY. — LYRICAL POETRY. 
 — THE DRAMA. 
 
 This Reign an Epoch in Polite Letters. Romances of Chivalry. Their 
 pernicious Effects. Ballads or Romances. Early Cultivation in 
 Spain. Resemblance to the English. Moorish Minstrelsy. Its 
 Date and Origin. Its high Repute. Numerous Editions of the 
 Ballads. Lyric Poetry. Cancionero General. Its Literary Value. 
 Low State of Lyric Poetry. Coplas of Manrique. Rise of the 
 Spanish Drama. Tragicomedy of Celestina. Criticism on it. It 
 opened the Way to Dramatic Writing. Numerous Ed tions of it. 
 Juan de la Encina. His Dramatic Eclogues. Torres de Naharro. 
 His Comedies. .Similar in Spirit with the later Dramas. Not 
 acted in Spain. Low condition of the Stage. Tragic Drama. 
 Oliva's Classic Imitations. Not popular. National Spirit of the 
 Liter?«^ure -^f this Epoch. Moratin's Dramatic Criticism. . 390-407
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 ▼lEW OF THE CASTILIAN MONARCHY BEFORE THE 
 FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 Early History and Constitution of Castile. — Invasion of the Arabs. — Slow 
 Reconquest of the Country. — Religious Enthusiasm of the Spaniards. 
 — Influence of the Minstrelsy. — Their Chivalry. — Castilian Towns. — 
 Cortes. — Its Powers. — Its Boldness. — Wealth of the Cities. — The No- 
 bility. — Their Privileges and Wealth. — Knights. — Clergy. — Poverty of 
 the Crown. — Limited Extent of the Prerogative. 
 
 For 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 inhaoiued 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 cen- 
 tury, these various races were blended into one great nation, 
 under one common rule. Its territorial limits were widely 
 extended by discovery and conqfiest. Its domestic institu- 
 tions, 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, Navarre, and the Moorish kingdom 
 of Granada. The last, comprised within nearly the same 
 limits as the modern province of that name, was all th ' re- 
 mained to the Moslems of their once vast possessions in the
 
 J4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Peninsula. Its concentrated population gave it a degree of 
 strength altogether disproportioned to the extent of its ter- 
 ritory; and the profus:; magnificenco of its court, which 
 rivalled that of the ancient caliphs, ivas supported by the 
 labors of a sober, industrious poo-j.'ic, under whom agriculture 
 and se/eral of the mechanic arts had reached a degree of 
 excellence, probably unequall -xl in any other part of Europe 
 during he Middle Ages. 
 
 The little kingdom of Navarro, embosomed within the 
 Pyrenees, had often attracted t'le avarice of neighboring 
 and more powerful staL-s. But, since their selfish schemes 
 operated as a mutual check upon each other, Navarre still 
 continued to maintain her ixid^pendence, when all the smaller 
 states in the Peninsula had b^^n absorbed in the gradually 
 increasing dominion of Castile and Aragon. 
 
 This latter kingdom comprehended the province of that 
 name, together with Catalonii and Valencia. Under its 
 auspicious climate and free political institutions, its inhabi- 
 tants displayed an uncommon share of intellectual and moral 
 energy. Its long line of coast opened the way to a-! ex- 
 tensive and flourishing commerce; and its enterprising navy 
 indemnified the nation for the scantiness of its territory at 
 home, by the important foreign conquests cif Sa"dinia, Sicily, 
 Naples, and the Balearic Isles. 
 
 The remaining provinces of Leon, Biscay, th^ Asturias, 
 Galicia, Old and New Castile, Estramadura, Murcia, and 
 Andalusia, fell to the crown of Castile, which, thus extend- 
 ing 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 recognized at an early 
 period of her history. Aragon did homage to (>st'le for her 
 territory on the western bank of the Ebro, untl, th'i 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 mon- 
 archy, the capital of Castile became the capital oi 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
 
 CASTILE. 25 
 
 the two principal Christian states, Castile and Aragon, pre- 
 vious to the fifteenth century.* 
 
 The Visigoths who overran the Peninsula, in the fifth 
 century, brought with them the same liberal principles 0/ 
 government which distinguished their Teutonic brethren, 
 Their crown was declared elective by a formal legislative 
 act.' Laws were enacted in the great national councils, 
 composed of prelates and nobility, and not unfrequentlj 
 ratified in an assembly of the people. Their code of juris- 
 prudence, although abounding 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 north.* 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 gov- 
 ernment were slowly and gradually unfolded, their develop- 
 ment was much accelerated in 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 free enjoyment of their religious, 
 as well as of many of the civil privileges which they possessed 
 under the ancient monarchy." Under this liberal dispensa- 
 tion it cannot be doubted, that many 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;' 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 neighboring countries of France, Italy, and Britain, or 
 retreated behind those natural fortresses of the north, the 
 Asturian hills and the Pyrenees, whither the victorious Sa- 
 racen disdained to pursue them." 
 
 Here the broken remnant of the nation endeavored to 
 revive the forms, at least, of the ancient government. But 
 it may well be conceived, how imperfect these must have 
 Vol. I.— ».
 
 26 tNTRODUCTlON. 
 
 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, 
 inhospitable rocks. The noble, instead of the broad lands 
 and thronged halls of his ancestors, saw himself at best but 
 the chief of some wandering horde, seeking a doubtful sub- 
 sistence, 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 less worth than 
 individual prowess and efficiency, they rose in political con- 
 sequence. 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 the moral energies of the nation, which had been 
 corrupted in the long enjoyment of uninterrupted prosperity. 
 Indeed, so relaxed were the morals 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 habit& 
 was necessarily effected in a situation, where a scanty sub- 
 sistence 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 inde- 
 pendent 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 were 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, sweepmg over the face 
 ol the country, carried off in a single foray the hard-earned 
 pioduce of a summer's toil. It was not until they had reached 
 some natural boundary, as the river Douro, or the chain oi 
 the Guadarrama, that they were enabled, by constructing a
 
 GASTILE. 27 
 
 line of fortifications along these primitive bulwarks, 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 they viewed 
 the enemies of their faith; a circumstance that more than 
 once brought the nation to the verge of ruin. More Christian 
 blood was 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.'* 
 
 These circumstances so far palsied the arm of the Chris- 
 tians, 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,'^ notwithstanding this portion of the country 
 had been comparatively deserted by the Mahometans. But 
 it was 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 indul- 
 gence, 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 pur- 
 pose. Pent up in his barren mountains, he beheld the pleas- 
 ant 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 indulgences 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 encroachment; but the pecu- 
 liarity of his situation subjected him in an 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 lightnings to
 
 28 INTRODUCTION 
 
 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 
 iooked 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 coun- 
 try, 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 ardor in Spain, as on the plains of Palestine." 
 Hence the national character became exalted by a religious 
 fervor, which in later days, alas! settled into a fierce fana- 
 ticism. 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 
 somewhat 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 connection with their favorite hero, 
 must have operated powerfully on the moral sensibilities 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 refine- 
 ment, and had carried some branches of intellectual culture 
 to a height scarcely surpassed 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 com- 
 plexion, as they themselves rose in the scale of civilization. 
 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 honor to the
 
 CASTILE. 29 
 
 politest ages ot Europe." The Spanish Arabs were accom- 
 plished in all knightly exercises, and their natural fondness 
 for magnificence, which shed a lustre over the rugged fea- 
 tures 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.^" 
 
 The nature of this warfare between two nations, inhabi- 
 tants 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 favorable to the exhibition of the 
 characteristic virtues of chivalry. The contiguity of the 
 hostile parties afforded abundant opportunities for personal 
 rencounter and bold romantic enterprise. Each nation had 
 its regular military associations, who swore to devote their 
 lives to the service of God and their country, in perpetual 
 war against the infidel^' The Spanish knight became the 
 true hero of romance, wandering over his own land, 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 honor of his mistress, 
 and challenging general admiration by his uncommon personal 
 intrepidity.^^ 
 
 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 valor, became characteristic 
 traits of the Castilians previously to the sixteenth century, 
 when then 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. ^^ 
 
 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 developement 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
 
 30 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Strongly fortified, but that every citizen should be trained to 
 bear arms in their defence. An immense increase of conse- 
 quence was given to the burgesses, who thus constituted the 
 most effective part of the national militia. To this circum- 
 stance, 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." 
 These, although varying a good deal in their details, gen- 
 erally conceded to the citizens the right of electing their 
 own magistrates for the regulation of municipal affairs. 
 Judges were appointed by this body 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 pro- 
 vided in many of the charters, that no nobles should be per- 
 mitted to acquire real property within the limits of the com- 
 munity; 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 maintenance of the municipal functionaries, and for other 
 public expenses. A large extent of circumjacent country, 
 embracing frequently many towns and villages, was annexed 
 to each city with the right of jurisdiction over it. All arbi- 
 trary tallages were commuted for a certain fixed and mode- 
 rate 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 toward 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 privi- 
 leges of freemen." 
 
 It is true, that they were often convulsed by intestine 
 feuds; that the laws were often loosely administered by in-
 
 CASTILE. 31 
 
 competent judges; and that the exercise of so many impor- 
 tant 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 immuities 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 constitu- 
 tional rights. 
 
 The earliest instance on record of popular representation 
 in Castile occurred at Burgos, in 1169;" nearly a century 
 antecedent to the 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 
 difi^erent occasions, prevailed in Castile, than ever existed 
 in England;^* though, previously to the fifteenth century, 
 this does not seem to have proceeded from any design of 
 infringing on the liberties of the people. The nomination 
 of these was originally vested in the householders at large, 
 but was afterward confined to the municipalities; a most 
 mischievous alteration, which subjected their election even- 
 tually to the corrupt influence of the crown. '^^ They assem- 
 bled 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 his assent gave them the validity of laws. The Castilian 
 commons, by neglecting to make their money grants depends 
 on correspondent concessions 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 con- 
 sideration. Whatever may have 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, unfavorable to their liber- 
 ties. It deprived them of the sympathy and cooperation of
 
 32 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the great orders of the state, whose authority alone could 
 have enabled them to withstand the encroachments of arbi- 
 trary power, and who, in fact, did eventually desert them in 
 their utmost need." 
 
 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 v/as soon recognized as a fundamental prin- 
 ciple of the constitution, that no tax could be imposed with- 
 out its consent ;^^ and an express enactment to this effect 
 was suffered to remain on the statute book, after it had be- 
 come 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, often- 
 times more onerous to the subject than the tax itself. They 
 watched carefully 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 house- 
 hold.'" They kept a vigilant eye on the conduct of public 
 officers, as well as on the right administration 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, pre- 
 served 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 intrusted 
 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 wreck of 
 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 being confined to 
 ordinary subjects of legislation, seem, in some instances, to 
 have reached to the executive duties of the administration. 
 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 ot remedial statutes proves too
 
 CASTILE. 33 
 
 plainly how often the rights of the people were invaded by 
 the Yiolence of the privileged orders, or the more artful and 
 systematic usurpations 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 of 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 anom- 
 alous institution peculiar to Castile, which sought to secure 
 the public tranquillity by means scarcely compatible them- 
 selves with civil subordination. I refer to the celebrated 
 Hermandad, or Holy Brotherhood, as the association 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 regularly organized 
 police; it then consisted of a confederation of the principal 
 cities bound together by 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 principally directed. 
 Hence these associations, although the epithet may seem 
 somewhat overstrained, have received the appellation of 
 "cortes extraordinary." " 
 
 With these immunities, the cities of Castile attained a 
 degree of opulence and splendor unrivalled, unless in Italy, 
 during the middle ages. At a very early period, indeed, 
 their contact with the Arabs had familiarized them with a 
 better system of agriculture, and a dexterity in the mechanic 
 arts unknown in other parts of Christendom *' On the occu- 
 pation of a conquered town, we find it distributed into quar- 
 ters or districts, appropriated to the several crafts, whose 
 members were incorporated into guilds, under the regulation
 
 34 INTRODUCTION, 
 
 of magistrates and by-laws of their own appointment. In- 
 stead 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 solici- 
 tude, furnished them with an important staple, which, together 
 with the simpler manufactures, and the various products 
 of a prolific soil, formed the materials of a profitable com- 
 merce." 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 impo- 
 tence of repeated sumptuary enactments." Much of this 
 superfluous wealth, however, was expended on the construc- 
 tion of useful public works. Cities, from which the nobles 
 had once been so jealously excluded, came now to be their 
 favorite residence." But, while their sumptuous edifices and 
 splendid retinues dazzled the eyes of the peaceful burghers, 
 their turbulent spirit was preparing the way for those dismal 
 scenes of faction, which convulsed the little commonwealths 
 to their center curing 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 preroga- 
 tives of the crown. Every new revolution was followed by 
 new concessions on the part of the sovereign, and the popu- 
 lar authority continued 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 asso- 
 ciated 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 substitution of the sons of burgesses for an equal 
 number of those of the nobility, who were stipulated to be 
 delivered as hostages for the fulfilment of a treaty with Por- 
 tugal, in 1393." There will be occasion to notice, in the 
 first chapter of this History, some of the circumstances,
 
 CASTILE, 55 
 
 which, contributing to undermine the power of the commons, 
 prepared the way for the eventual subversion ot the consti- 
 tution. 
 
 The pecuHar situation of Castile, which had been so 
 favorable 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 patri- 
 mony 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 num- 
 ber of wliich was originally implied in the name of the coun- 
 try)," 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 unfavorable 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 othe*' 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." They could not be 
 imprisoned for debt; nor be subjected to torture, so repeat- 
 edly 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 them- 
 selves." They also claimed the privilege, when aggrieved, 
 of denaturalizing themselves, or, in other words, of publicly 
 renouncing their allegiance to their sovereign, and of enlist- 
 ing under the banners of his enemy. ^^ The number of pett)' 
 states, which swarmed over the Peninsula, afforded ample 
 opportunity for the exercise of this disorganizing 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 license of arraying themselves in armed confederacy 
 against the monarch, on any occasion of popular disgust, 
 and they solemnized the act by the most imposing ceremonials 
 of religion. ^^ Their rights of jurisdiction, derived to them, 
 it would seem, 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 monopolized all
 
 36 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the higher ofifices of state, as those of constable and admiral 
 of Castile, adelantados or governors of the provinces, cities, 
 etc." They secured to themselves the grand-masterships of 
 the military orders, which placed at their disposal an immense 
 amount of revenue and patronage. Finally, they entered 
 into the royal or privy council, and formed a constituent 
 portion of the national legislature. 
 
 These important prerogatives were of course favorable 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 favorite of John the Second, 
 could muster twenty thousand vassals."^ 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, "^ 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 their whole subsequent lives were 
 occupied either with war, or with those martial exercises 
 which reflect the image of it Looking back 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 
 license of rebellion, to remain a dead letter. Accordingly 
 we find them perpetually convulsing the kingdom with theil 
 ichemes of selfish aggrandizement. The petitions of the
 
 CASTILE. 3^ 
 
 commons are filled with remonstrances on their various 
 oppressions, and the evils resulting from their long, desolat- 
 ing feuds. So that, notwithstanding the liberal forms of 
 its constitution, there was probably no country in Europe, 
 during the Middle Ages, so sorely afflicted with the vices of 
 intestine anarchy, as Castile. These were still further 
 aggravated by the improvident donations of the monarch to 
 the aristocracy, in the vain hope of conciliating their attach- 
 ment, but which swelled their already overgrown power to 
 such a height, that, by the middle of the fifteenth century, 
 it not only overshadowed that of the throne, but threatened 
 to subvert the liberties of the state. 
 
 Their self-confidence, however, proved eventually their 
 ruin. They disdained a couperation with the lower orders 
 in defence of their privileges, 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 dex- 
 terous 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 dig- 
 nity, like that of the ricos hombres, would seem, as their name 
 imports, to have been originally founded on wealth),** and 
 the cavalier OS, or knights, enjoyed many of the immunities 
 of the higher class, especially that of exemption from taxa- 
 tion."* Knighthood appears to have been regarded with 
 especial favor 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.'" Spain was indeed the land of chivalry. The 
 respect for the sex, which had descended from the Visigoths," 
 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 senti- 
 ment, which was maintained by the various military orders, 
 who devoted themselves, .'n 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 extravagancies of the minstrel. An example 
 of this occurs in the fifteenth century, when a passage ol 
 arms was defended at Orbigo, not far from the shrine of
 
 38 INTRODUCTION, 
 
 Compostella, by a Castilian knight, named Sueno de Que. 
 nones, 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 warfare, in 
 which it was embarked, seemed to require the cooperation 
 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 imagination 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, so late as the sixteenth century.'* 
 
 But, while the native ecclesiastics obtained such complete 
 ascendency 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 sov- 
 ereign held the right of jurisdiction over all ecclesiastical 
 causes, of collating to benefices, or at least of confirming or 
 annulling the election of the chapters. The code of Alfonso 
 the Tenth, however, which borrowed its principles of juris- 
 prudence from the civil and canon law, completed a revolu- 
 tion already begun, and transferred these important pre- 
 rogatives in the pope, who now succeeded in establishing a 
 usurpation over ecclesiastical rights in Castile, similar to that 
 which had been before effected in other parts of Christendom. 
 Some of these abuses, as that of the nomination of foreigners 
 to benefices, were carried to such an impudent height, as 
 repeatedly provoked the indignant remonstrances of the
 
 CASTILE, 39 
 
 Cortes. The ecclesiastics, eager to indemnify themselves 
 for what they had sacrificed to Rome, were more than ever 
 t,olicitous to assert their independence of the royal juris- 
 diction. 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 independence thus estab- 
 lished 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 
 familiarly 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 insensibility may probably be referred to the 
 contagious example of their Mahometan neighbors; 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 be- 
 came the subject of frequent legislative enactments, in which 
 the concubines of the clergy are described as causing general 
 scandal by their lawless effrontery and ostentatious magnifi- 
 cence of apparel." 
 
 Notwithstanding this prevalent licentiousness of the 
 Spanish ecclesiastics, their influence became every day more 
 widely extended, while this ascendency, 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 appropriated 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 monaster^' f^f Hnelgas, which was situated within the
 
 40 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 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 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 subordinnate 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 of inferior 
 places.'" 
 
 These princely funds, when intrusted to pious prelates, 
 were magnificently 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 disorganizing schemes of faction. The moral perceptions 
 of the people, in the mean time, were confused by the visible 
 demeanor of a hierarchy, so repugnant to the natural concep- 
 tions 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 speculative 
 opinions, rather than their practical conduct. The ancient 
 Spaniards, notwithstanding their prevalent superstition, were 
 untinctured 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 of 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 intellectual 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 incip'^nt stages of it progress, rre topcis that fall within 
 the scope of the present history.
 
 CASTILE. 41 
 
 From 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 circumscribed 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 pos- 
 session of extensive power, or even to authorize their 
 assumption of that state, by which it is supported in the eyes 
 of the vulgar. When some more fortunate prince, by con- 
 quest 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 counte- 
 nanced by public opinion; for the different districts of the 
 country, in their habitual independence of each other, ac- 
 quired an exclusiveness of feeling, which made it difficult 
 for them ever cordially to coalesce; 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 Peninsular, after their consolidation 
 .nto 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 recognized by a cortes convoked for 
 the purpose; and, on the demise of his parent, the new sove- 
 reign again convened the estates to receive their oath of 
 allegiance, 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 
 government, 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 nobility 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 cognizance of the most important public trans- 
 actions, 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, owers
 
 44 INTRODUCTION, 
 
 were to be exercised in concurrence with the cortes;" and, 
 in the judicial department, 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 judica- 
 tures, 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, in- 
 deed, 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 
 concurred to prevent it. 
 
 The long minorities, with which Castile was afflicted per- 
 haps 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 
 sovereigns' subsequent life was often consumed in fruitless 
 attempts to repair the losses of his minority. He sometimes, 
 indeed, in the impotence of other resources, resorted to such 
 unhapy expedients as treachery and assassination.** A 
 plasant 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 money nor credit 
 to purchase it. The day's sport, however, fortunately fur- 
 nished the means of appeasing the royal appetite; and, while 
 this was in progress, the steward took occasion to contrast 
 the indigent condition of the king with that of his nobles, 
 who habitually indulged in the most expensive entertain- 
 ments, and were that very evening feasting with the arch- 
 bishop of Toledo. The prince, suppressing his indigna- 
 tion, determined, like the far-famed caliph, in the "Arabian 
 Nights," to inspect the affair in person, and, assuming a 
 disguise, introduced himself privately into the archbishop's 
 palace, where he witnessed with his own eyes the prodigal 
 magnificence of the banquet, teeming with costly wines and 
 the most luxurious viands.
 
 CASTILE. 43 
 
 The next day he caused a rumor 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, the king made his appearance 
 among them, bearing his naked sword in his hand, and, with 
 an aspect of unusual severity, seated himself on his throne 
 at the upper extremity of the apartment. 
 
 After 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 put the same question to the 
 duke of Benevente, and so on to the other courtiers in suc- 
 cession. None of them, however, having answered more 
 than five, "How is this," said the prince, "that you, who 
 are so old, should have known so few, while 1, 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 my patrimony, have scarcely 
 wherewithal to procure the necessaries of life." Then giv- 
 ing 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 relish' 
 ing 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 entrea- 
 ties, taking care, however, to detain their persons as security 
 for their engagements, until such time as the rents, royal 
 fortresses, and whatever effects had been filched from the 
 crown, were restored. The story, although repeated by the 
 gravest Castilian writers, wears, it must be ow-ned, a marvel- 
 lous 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,
 
 44 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 with heedless prodigality, squ?ndered the public resources 
 on their own personal pleasures and unworthy minions. 
 The disastrous reigns of John the Second and Henry the 
 Fourth, extending over the greater portion of the fifteenth 
 century, furnish pertinent examples of this. It was not un- 
 usual, indeed, for the cortes, interposing its paternal author- 
 ity, by passing an act for the partial resumption of grants 
 thus illegally made, in some degree to repair the broken 
 condition of the finances. Nor 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, or^ 
 whom he afterward conferred them, knew well by what a 
 precarious, illicit tenure he was to hold them. 
 
 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 inti- 
 mated, that the practical operation did not always corres- 
 pond with the theory of their respective functions in these 
 rude times; and that the powers of the executive, being sus- 
 ceptible of greater compactness and energy in their move- 
 ments, than could poss'bly 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 
 license 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 disas' 
 trous than those which it was intended to prevent. 
 
 It was apparent that, notwithstanding the magnitude of 
 the powers conceded to the nobility and the coramons, 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, 
 constituting the real strength of the nation, proceeded ex- 
 clusively from the cities, whose elections were much more 
 open to popular caprice and ministerial corruption, and 
 whose numerous local jealousies prevented them from acting
 
 CASTILE. 45 
 
 in cordial cooperation. 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 case 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 busi- 
 ness 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 preponderance 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 pur- 
 sued by Ferdinand and Isabella, will be seen in the course 
 of this History 
 
 Notwithstanding the general diligence of the Spanish historians, they have 
 done little toward the investigation of the constitutional antiquities of Cas 
 tile, until the present century. Dr. Geddes's meagre notice of the cortes 
 preceded probably, by a long interval, any native work upon that subject. 
 Robertson frequently complains of the total deficiency of authentic sources 
 of information respecting the laws and government of Castile ; a circum- 
 stance, that suggests to a candid mind an obvious explanation of several 
 errors, into which he has fallen. Capmany, in the preface to a work, com- 
 piled by order of the central junta in Seville, in 1809, on the ancient organ- 
 ization of the cortes in the different states of the Peninsula, remarks, that 
 " no autliority has appeared, down to the present day, to instruct us in re- 
 gard to the origin, constitution, and celebration of the Castilian cortes, on 
 all which topics there remains the most profound ignorance " The melan- 
 choly results to which such an investigation must necessarily lead, from the 
 contrast it suggests of existing institutions to the freer forms of antiquity, 
 might well have deterred the modern Spaniard from these inquiries ; which, 
 moreover, it can hardly be supposed, woBld have received the countenance 
 of government. Tlie brief interval, however, in the early part of the present 
 century, when the nation so ineffectually struggled to resume its ancient 
 liberties, gave birth to two productions, which have gone far to supply the 
 desiderata in this department. I allude to the valuable works of Alarina, 
 on the early legislation, and on the cortes, of Castile, to which repeated 
 reference has been made in this section. The latter, especially, presents 
 us with a full exposition of the appropriate functions assigned to the several 
 vlepartmento of government, and with the parliamentary liistory of Castile 
 deduced from original, unpublislied records. 
 
 It is unfortunate that his copious illustrations are arranged in so unskilful 
 a manner as to give a dry and repulsive air to the whole work. The orig- 
 inal documents, on which it is established, instead of being reserved for an 
 appendix, and their import only conveyed in the text, stare at the reader in 
 every page, arrayed in all the technicalities, periphrases, and repetitions in-
 
 46 INTRODUCTION, 
 
 cident to legal enactments. The course of the investigation is, moreover, 
 frequently interrupted by impertinent dissertations on the constitution of 
 1812, in wliich the author has fallen into abundance of crudities, which he 
 would have escaped, had he but witnessed the practical operation of those 
 liberal forms of government, which he so justly admires. The sanguine 
 temper of Marina has also betrayed him into the error of putting, too uni- 
 formly, a favorable construction on the proceedings of the commons, and 
 of frequently deriving a constitutional precedent from what can only be 
 regarded as an accidental and transient exertion of power in a season of 
 popular excitement. 
 
 The student of this department of Spanish history, may consult, in con- 
 junction with Marina, Sempere's little treatise, often quoted, on the History 
 of the Castilian Cortes. It is, indeed, too limited and desultory in its plan, 
 to afford any thing like a complete view of the subject. But, as a sensible 
 commentary, by one well skilled in the topics that he discusses, it is of un- 
 doubted value. Since the political principles and bias of the author were 
 of an opposite character to Marina's, they frequently lead him to opposite 
 conclusions in the investigation of the same facts. Making all allowance 
 for obvious prejudices, Sempere's work, therefore, may be of much use in 
 correcting the erroneous impressions made by the former writer, whose fabric 
 of liberty too often rests, as exemplified more than once in the preceding 
 pages, on in ideal basis. 
 
 But, with every deduction, Marina's publications must be considered an 
 important contribution to political science. They exhibit an able analysis 
 of a constitution, which becomes singularly interesting, from its having fur- 
 nished, together with that of the sister kingdom of Aragon, the earliest 
 example of representative government, as well as from the liberal principloi, 
 on which that government was long administered.
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 REVIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION OF ARAGON, TO THE MIDDLE 
 OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 Rise of Aragon. — Ricos Hombres. — Their Immunities. — Their Turbu- 
 lence. — 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. 
 
 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 continued after it had ben incor- 
 porated with the great mass of the Spanish monarchy. It 
 was not until the expiration of nearly five centuries after the 
 Saracen invasii n, 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 t e other states of the Peninsula, by dint of fierce, un- 
 unintermitted warfare with the infidel. 
 
 Even after this period, it would probably have filled but 
 an insignificant space in the map of history, and, instead of 
 assuming an independent station, have been compelled, like 
 Navarre, to accommodate itself to the potent monarchies by 
 which it was surrounded, had it not extended its empire by 
 a fortunate union with Catalonia in the twelth, and the con- 
 quest of 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, en- 
 abled 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 civilization 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, which in- 
 vigorates not only the physical, but the moral energies of
 
 48 INTRODUCTION, 
 
 man. The adventurous life of the mariner famiHarizes him 
 with dangers, and early accustoms him to independence. In- 
 tercourse with various climes opens new and more copious 
 sources of knowledge; an 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 im- 
 planted and brought to maturity. During the Middle Ages, 
 when the people of Europe generally maintained a toilsome 
 and infrequent intercourse with each other, those situate 1 on 
 the margin of this inland ocean found an easy mode of com- 
 munication across the high road of its waters. They mingled 
 in war too as in peace, and this long period is filled with 
 their international 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 conscious- 
 ness 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 circumstances. 
 
 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 augumented. 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 aggrandizement of their own dominions. 
 They paid particular attention to the navy, for the more per- 
 fect discipline of which a body of laws was prepared by Peter 
 the Fourth, in 1354, that was designed to render it invicible. 
 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 exceeding 
 his 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.*
 
 ARAGON. 49 
 
 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 13 19, inalienable and indi- 
 visible.'* Each of them, however, maintained a separate 
 constitution 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 affin- 
 ity to one another, we may 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 govern- 
 ment to a written constitution of about the middle of the 
 ninth century, fragments of which are still preserved in cer- 
 tain ancients documents and chronicles. On occurrence of 
 a vacancy in the throne, at this epoch, a monarch was elected 
 by the twelve principals 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 within very narrow limits the authority of 
 the sovereign, distributing the principal functions to a Jus- 
 ticiar or Justice, and these same peers, who, in case of a 
 violation of the compact by the monarch, were authorized to 
 withdraw their allegiance, and, in the bold language of the 
 ordinance, "to sbustitute 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 govern- 
 ment which Ulysses met with in Phaeacia; where King 
 Alcinous is surrounded by his "twelve illustrious peers or 
 archons," subordinate to himself, "who," says he, "rule 
 over the people, I myself being the thirteenth."' But 
 whether true or not, this venerable tradition must be ad- 
 mitted to have been well calculated to repress the arrogance 
 of the Aragonese monarchs, and to exalt the minds of their 
 subjects by the image of ancient liberty which it presented.^ 
 
 The great barons of Aragon were few in number. They 
 affected to derive their decsent from the twelve peers above 
 mentioned, and were styled ricos hombres de natirra, implying 
 by this epithet, that they were not indebted for their crea- 
 tion to the will of the sovereign. No estate could be legally 
 conferred by the crown, as an Jwiwr (the denomination of 
 fiefs in Aragon), on any but one of these high nobles. This, 
 Vol. I.— 3.
 
 5© /NTRODUCTION. 
 
 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.' No 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 ricos homhres, were very considerable. They filled the 
 highest posts in the state. They originally appomted judges 
 in their domains for the cognizance of certain civil causes, 
 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, al- 
 though their estates might be sequestrated, for debt. A 
 lower class of nobility styled infa/izones, equivalent to the 
 Castilian hidalgos, together with the caballeros, or knights, 
 were also possessed of important though inferior im- 
 munities." 
 
 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 stipula- 
 tion to this effect from James the First to his nobles, pre- 
 vious 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 four- 
 teenth century, manning a fleet of king's ships on his own 
 credit; another, of the ancient family of Luna, in the fif- 
 teenth 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 privi-
 
 ARAGON. 5V 
 
 lege, in addition, of commending their families and estates 
 to his protection, which he was obUged to accord, until they 
 were agani reconciled.^" The mischievous right of private 
 war was repeatedly recognized by statute. It was claimed 
 and exercised in its full extent, and occasionally with cir- 
 cumstances 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 them- 
 selves 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 pos- 
 sessed of singular capacity and vigor," 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 endeavored 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 wars 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 monopolized them, the 
 Aragonese barons regarded themselves rather as the rivals 
 of their sovereign, than as his inferiors. Intrenched within 
 the mountain fastnesses, which the rugged nature of the 
 country everywhere afforded, they easily bade defiance to 
 his authority. Their small number gave a compactness and 
 concert to their operations, which could not have been ob- 
 tained in a multitudinous body. Ferdinand 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 for- 
 mally 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 
 authorized to resort to arms on an infrinsrement of their
 
 ^2 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 /iberties." The /lermandad o{ Castile had never been coun. 
 tenanced 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 organized with difficulty, and, compared with the 
 union of Aragon, was cumbrous and languid in its opera- 
 tions. While these privileges continued 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 U?iion, 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 in- 
 trusted 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 was 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 insig- 
 nia of the confederates." 
 
 The power of the monarch was as nothing before this for- 
 midable array. 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, brought 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 
 himself 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 instru- 
 ment, that all evidence of its existence might perish with it.**
 
 ARAGOX 53 
 
 Instead of abusing his victon,-, as might have been antici- 
 pated from his character, Peter adopted a far more magnani- 
 mous pohcy. He confirmed the ancient privileges of the 
 realm, and made in addition other wise and salutai}- conces- 
 sions. From this period, therefore, is to be dated the pos- 
 session of constitutional liberty in Aragon (for surely the 
 reign of unbridled license, above described, is not deserv- 
 ing that name) ; 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 Jidsticia, 
 that great barrier interposed by the constitution between 
 despotism on the one hand and popular license 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 ex- 
 tend a beneficial and protecting sway over the land. And, 
 although the social history of Aragon, 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 clerg}-; and the commons. 
 The nobility of ever}' -denommation were entitled to a seat 
 in the legislature. The ricos hombres were allowed to appear 
 by proxy, and a similar privilege uas enjoyed by baronial 
 heiresses. The number of this body was ven.- limited, twelve 
 of them constituting a quorum.-* The arm of the eccle- 
 siastics embraced an ample delegation from the inferior as 
 well as higher clergy.^" It is afiirmed not to have been a 
 component of the national legislature until more than a cen- 
 tury and a half after the admission of the commons.^* In- 
 deed the influence of the church was much less sensible in 
 Aragon, than in the other kingdoms of the Peninsula. Not- 
 withstanding the humiliating concessions of certain of their 
 princes to the papal see, they were never recognized by the 
 nation, who uniformly asserted their independence of the 
 temporal supremacy of Rome; and who, as we shall see here- 
 after, resisted the introduction of the Inquisition, that last 
 stretch of ecclesiastical usurpation, even to blood." 
 
 The commons enjoyed higher consideration and civil privi- 
 leges than in Castile. For this they were perhaps somewhat
 
 54 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 indebted to the example of their Catalan neighbors, 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 epcoh 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.'* 
 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.'* 
 
 By a statute of 1307, the convocation of the states, which 
 had been annual, was declared biennial. The kings, how- 
 ever, paid little regard to this provision, rarely summoning 
 them except for some specific necessity." 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 
 ar/;/.f withdrew to their separate apartments.'® 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 deliberation 
 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 enough 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 
 business during the session. This anomalous privilege, 
 transcending 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 reoealed
 
 AkAGOJf. 55 
 
 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 extra- 
 ordinary, 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 provided for 
 the application of the revenue to its destined uses." It 
 determmed the succession to the crown; removed obnoxious 
 ministers; reformed the household, and domestic expendi- 
 ture, of the monarch; and exercised the power, in the most 
 unreserved manner, of withholding 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 develop- 
 ment of its parliamentary history; confining themselves too 
 exclusively to mere forms of procedure. The defect has 
 been 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 well denominated, of Ara- 
 gon. 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 con- 
 servation of their legal immunities to the municipal corpo- 
 rations and the different orders of nobility. In short, the 
 distinguishing 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, reluc- 
 tantly 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
 
 56 Introduction. 
 
 victory, had secured to the state the most important of het 
 foreign acquisitions. 
 
 The Aragonese, who rightly regard 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." " 
 
 The judicial functions of the cortes have not been suffi- 
 ciently 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 owu court was fully equal 
 to providing adequate relief in all these cases." But for 
 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 
 of bearing the burden himself, the state was bound to main- 
 tain his suit, and provide him with counsel at its own charge. 
 But the most important consequence, resulting from this 
 legislative investigation, was the remedial laws frequently 
 attendant on it. "And our ancestors," says Blancas, 
 "deemed it great wisdom patiently to endure contumely 
 and oppression for a season, rather than seek redress before 
 an inferior 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 Aragonese cortes maintained a steady control over 
 the operations of government, especially after the dissolu- 
 tion of the Union; and the weight of the commons was more 
 decisive in it, than in other similar assemblies of that period.
 
 ARAGON. 57 
 
 Its singular distribution into four estates was favorable to 
 this. The knights and hiJa/gos, 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 affinity. 
 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 something 
 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 has been said to represent, 
 more than any other, the liberties of the nation.'" In some 
 other particulars the Aragonese commons possessed an ad- 
 vantage over those of Castile, i. 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 appar- 
 ent diversity of interests, as existed in the neighboring mon- 
 archy. 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 summoned 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 kings of Aragon, notwith- 
 standing occasional excesses, seem never to have attempted 
 any systematic invasion on 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 prudenitly replied, "My 
 people are free, and not so submissive as the Castilians. 
 They respect me as their prince, and I hold them for good 
 vassals and comrades." ^^ 
 
 No part of the constitution of Aragon has excited more 
 interest, or more deservedly, than the office of the Justicta, 
 or Justice;" whose extraordinary functions were far from 
 being limited to judicial matters, although in these his 
 authority was supreme. The origin of this institution is 
 
 3*
 
 58 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 affirmed to have been coeval with that of the constitution 
 or frame of government itself." If it were so, his authority 
 maybe 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, administered by this, 
 its supreme interpreter. 
 
 His most important duties may be briefly enumerated. 
 He was authorized to pronounce on the validity of all royal 
 letters and ordinances. He possessed, as has been laid, 
 concurrent jurisdiction with the cortes over all suits against 
 the crown and its officers. Inferior judges were bound t« 
 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 with his head covered, 
 and sitting, while the monarch, kneeling before him bare- 
 headed, solemnly promised to maintain the liberties of the 
 kingdom. A ceremony eminently symbolical of that superi- 
 ority of law over prerogative, which was so constantly asserted 
 in Aragon.^* 
 
 It was the avowed purpose of the institution of the Justicia 
 to interpose 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 unde*
 
 ARAGON. ^ 59 
 
 niably of very high antiquity." This part of his duties is 
 particulalry insisted on by the most eminent judicial writers 
 of the nation. Whatever 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 open- 
 ly asserted, must have had a great tendency to enforce their 
 practical operation. Accordingly we find repeated examples, 
 in the history of Aragon, of successful interposition on the 
 part of the Justice for the protection of individuals persecuted 
 by the crown, and in defiance of every attempt at intimida- 
 tion."" The kings 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 in 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 eques- 
 trian 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 be selected from the ricos 
 hombres, since this class was exempted from corporal punish- 
 ment, while the Justice was made responsible to the cortes 
 for 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, after various 
 modifications by a commission of members elected from each 
 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 him." 
 
 The Aragonese writers are prodigal of their encomiums on 
 the preeminence 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 constant support of public opinion. Fortunately the 
 Justice of Aragon uniformly received such support, and was 
 thus enabled to carry the original design of the institution 
 into effect, to check the usurpations of the crown, as well as 
 to control the license of the nobility and the people. A* 
 series of learned and independent magistrates, by the weight
 
 6o INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of their own character, gave additional dignity to the office. 
 The people, familiarized with the benignant operation of the 
 law, referred to peaceable arbitration those great political 
 questions, which, in other countries at this period, must 
 have been settled by a sanguinary revolution." While, in the 
 rest of Europe, the law 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 "pro- 
 tected 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 Aragon." No institution, 
 however, corresponding in its functions with that of the 
 Justicia, seems to have been 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 exclusive privileges, 
 and their civil institutions wore a more democratical aspect 
 than those of any other of the confederated states; circum- 
 stances, which led to important results that fall within the 
 compass of our narrative. "^ 
 
 The city of Barcelona, v/hich originally gave its name to 
 the county of which it was the capital, was distinguished 
 from a very early period by ample municipal privileges.'" 
 After the union with Aragon in the twelfth century, the 
 monarchs of the latter kingdom extended toward 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 empo- 
 rium 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 con- 
 tinent." 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
 
 ARAGON, 6\ 
 
 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." Bar- 
 celona 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, among the moderns, of maritime 
 law now extant, digested from the usages of commercial 
 nations, and which formed the basis of the mercantile juris- 
 prudence of Europe during the Middle Ages." 
 
 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, ware-houses, exchange, 
 hospitals, and other constructions of general utility. Stran- 
 gers, who visited Spain in the fourteenth and fifteenth cen- 
 turies, expiate on the magnificence of this city, its commo- 
 dious 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 one hundred, and a body of regidores or 
 counsellors, as they were styled, varying at times from four 
 to six in number; the former intrusted with the legislative, 
 the latter with the executive functions of admimistration. A 
 large proportion of these bodies were selected from the mer- 
 chants, 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 com- 
 mercial treaties with foreign powers; superintended 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 encour- 
 agement of such commercial adventures as were too hazard- 
 ous or expensive for individual enterprise." 
 
 The counsellors, who presided over the municipality, were 
 complimented with certain honorary privileges, not even 
 accorded to the nobility.- They were addressed by the title 
 of magnificos; 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 courts were admitted on the footing, and
 
 63 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 received the honors, 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, organized into guilds or companies, 
 constitued so many independent associations, whose mem- 
 bers were eligible to the highest municipal officers. And 
 such was the importance attached to these officers, 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 organization of this little commonwealth, 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 in- 
 timate 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 similar freedom, assumed a 
 haughty independence of character beyond what existed 
 among the same class in other parts of Spain; and this, com- 
 bined with the martial daring fostered by a life of maritime 
 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 repub- 
 lican himself, was so struck with what he deemed the in- 
 subordination 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 license." " One example 
 among many, may be given, of the tenacity with which they 
 adhered to their most inconsiderable immunities. 
 
 Ferdinand the First, in 141 6, being desirous, in conse- 
 quence of the exhausted state of the finances on his coming 
 to the throne, to evade the payment of a certain tax or sub- 
 sidy customarily paid by the kings of Aragon to the city of 
 Barcelona, sent for the president of the council, John Fivel- 
 ler, to require the consent of that body to this measure. 
 The magistrate, having previously advised with his col- 
 leagues, determined to encounter any hazard, says Zurita, 
 raihcr than compromise the rights of the city. He reminded
 
 ARAGON. 63 
 
 the king of his coronation oath, expressed his regret tnat he 
 was wilhng 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. Ferdi- 
 nand, indignant at this language, ordered the patriot to 
 withdraw into another apartment, where he remained in 
 much uncertainty as to the consequences of his temerity. 
 But the king was dissuaded from violent measures, if he 
 ever contemplated them, by the representation of his court- 
 iers, 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 luith which he had treated 
 them in comparison with their preceding monarchs, and who 
 were already in arms to protect their magistrate. In con- 
 sequence 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.*^ 
 
 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." Notwithstanding the mortifications, 
 which they occasionally experienced from this quarter, there- 
 fore, they uniformly extended toward it the most liberal pro- 
 tection. 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, was published, 
 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." 
 
 Vhe brisk concussion given to the minds of the Catalans 
 in the busy career in which they were engaged, seems to 
 have been favorable to the developement 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 Barce- 
 lona, the Provenr;ale o) he .'••outh of France reached its 
 highest perfection; and, when the tempest of persecution in 
 the beginning of the thirteenth century fell on the lovely
 
 64 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 valleys of that unhappy country, its minstrels found a hospi- 
 table asylum in the court of the kings of Aragon; many 
 of whom not only protected, but cultivated the gay science 
 with considerablde 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 Ray- 
 nouard 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 commision 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 organized, in 1390 The kings 
 of Aragon endowed it with funds, and with a library valua- 
 ble for that day, presiding over its meetings in person, and 
 distributing the poetical premiums with their own hands. 
 During the troubles consequent 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 becoming 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 performances of the 
 candidates, " inscribed on parchment of Various colors, 
 richly enamelled with gold and silver, and beautifully illu- 
 ./linated," 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 archives; and 
 the fortunate troubadour, greeted with a magnificent prize, 
 was escorted to the royal palace amid a cortege minstrelsy 
 and chivalry; " thus manifesting to the world," says the 
 marquis, "the superiority which God and nature have as- 
 signed to genius over dullness." " 
 
 The influence of such an institution in awakening a poetic 
 spirit is at best very ouestionabie. Whatever effect an acad-
 
 ARAGON. 65 
 
 emy may have in stimulating the researches of science, the 
 inspirations of genius must come unbidden; 
 
 "Adflata est numine quando 
 Jam propiore dei." 
 
 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 Pro- 
 vencal 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 rojtiance dialects his particular 
 ttudy, to attempt a discriminating criticism of these compo- 
 litions, 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, they have (to borrow the words of 
 Andres) their Boccacio in Martorell; whose fiction of "Ti- 
 rante el Blanco" is honored 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 in- 
 vented 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 Proven- 
 gale, 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.
 
 66 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The influence of free institutions in Aragon is perceptible in the fami- 
 liarity displayed by its writers with public affairs, and in the freedom with 
 which they have discussed the organization, 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 most conspicuous of these historiographers was Jerome Blancas, several 
 of whose productions, as the " Coronaciones de los Reyes " " Modo de 
 Proceder en Cortes," and " Commentarii 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, and particularly of the 
 office of the Justicia, with their peculiar functions and privileges. 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 latinity. The first edition, being that which I have used, appeared in 
 1588, in folio at Saragossa, executed with much typographical beauty. The 
 work was afterward incorporated into Schottus's " Hispania Illustrata."-- 
 Blancas, after having held his office for ten years, died in his native city of 
 Saragossa, in 1590. 
 
 Jerome Martel, from whose little treatise, "Forma 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 de- 
 cease, was never admitted to the honors of the press, because, says his 
 biographer, Uztarroz, verdades 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 Capmany. His " Memorias Historicas de Barcelona" (5 
 torn. 4I0. Madrid, 1 779-1 792), may be thought somewhat too discursive and 
 circumstantial for this 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 facts relating to the commerce, manufactures, 
 general policy, and public prosperity, not only of Barcelona, but of Cata- 
 lonia. 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 labors at Madrid, iniSio, 
 at the age of fifty-^ix. 
 
 Notwithstanding the interesting character of the Aragonese constitution, 
 and the amplitude 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, have 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 " Histoiy of Spain and Portugal" 
 (Cabinet Cyclopredia), 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-
 
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 PART FIRST. 
 
 1 406- 1 49 2. 
 
 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 FER- 
 DINAND AND Isabella.
 
 PART FIRST. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 STATE OF CASTILE AT THE BIRTH OF ISABELLA — REIGN OF 
 JOHN II., OF CASTILE. 
 
 1406— 1454. 
 
 Revolutioa 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. 
 
 The fierce civil feuds which preceded the accession of the 
 House of Trastamara in 1368, were as fatal to the nobihty 
 of Castile, as the wars of the Roses were to that of England. 
 There was scarcely a family of 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 dis- 
 puted succession entailed on the country, were almost equally 
 prejudicial to the authority of the monarch, who was willing 
 to buoy up his tottering title by the most liberal concession 
 of privileges to the people. Thus the commons rose in pro- 
 portion 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 Catharine 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 mur- 
 derous civil contests. The .mcieat channels of commerce
 
 72 REIGN OF JOHN II., OF CASTILE. 
 
 were again opened; various new manufactures were intro- 
 duced, 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 a monarch, who respected the laws in his own person, 
 and administered them with vigor. All these fair hopes were 
 blasted by the premature death of Henry the Third, before 
 he had reached his twenty-eighth year. The 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 principal 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 indis- 
 position, 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 
 favorites. 
 
 The most conspicuous of these was Alvaro de Luna, grand 
 master of St. James, and constable of Castile. This remark- 
 able person, the illegitimate 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 amia- 
 ble 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 pro- 
 ficiency in music and poetry recommended him most effec- 
 tually to the favor 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 en- 
 abled him to master the motives of others, while his own 
 were masked by consummate dissimulation. He was as fear- 
 less in executing his ambitious schemes, as he was cautious in 
 devising them. He was indefatigable in his application 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 die*
 
 BIRTH OP ISABELLA. 73 
 
 tated and executed. He was only the 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 govern- 
 ment 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 magnifi- 
 cence of state corresponding with his elevated rank. The 
 most considerable grandees in Castile contended for the 
 honor of having their sons, after the fashion of the time, 
 educated in his family. When he rode abroad, he was ac- 
 companied by a numerous retinue of knights and nobles, 
 which left his sovereign's court comparatively deserted ; so that 
 royalt)'' might be said on all ocasions, whether of business or 
 pleasure, to be eclipsed by the superior splendors of its 
 satellite.^ The history of this man may remind the English 
 reader of that of Cardinal Wolsey, whom he somewhat re- 
 sembled in character, and still more in his extraordinary 
 fortunes. 
 
 It may easily be believed, that the haughty aristocracy of 
 Castile would ill brook this exaltation of an individual so 
 inferior to them in birth, and who withal did not wear his hon 
 ors with exemplary meekness. John's blind partiality for his 
 favorite is the key to all the troubles which agitated the 
 kingdom during the last thirty years of his reign. The dis- 
 gusted nobles organized 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 tha*: 
 of Castile, was proprietor of large estates in the latter coun- 
 try. The wretched monarch beheld even his own son 
 Henry, the heir to the crown, enlisted in the opposite fac- 
 tion, 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 
 withdraw a while from the court, he was soon recalled and 
 reinstated in all his former dignities. This melancholy in- 
 fatuation of the king is imputed by the writers of that age to 
 sorcery on the part of the favorite.^ But the only witchcraft 
 which he used, was the ascendency of a strong mind over a 
 weak one. 
 
 During this long-protracted anarchy, the people lost what' 
 ToL. I. — 4.
 
 74 REIGN OF JOHN 11., OF CASTILE. 
 
 ever 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 legis- 
 lative sanction. The municipal territories were alienated, and 
 lavished on the royal minions. The freedom of elections 
 was invaded, and delegates to cortes were frequently nomi- 
 nated by the crown; and, to complete the iniquitous scheme 
 of oppression, pragi/iaticas, 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 sbujects.^ 
 The commons mdeed, when assembled in cortes, stoutly re- 
 sisted the assumption of such unconstitutional powers by the 
 crown, and compelled the prince not only to revoke his pre- 
 tentions, but to accompany his revocation with the most 
 humiliating concessions.* They even ventured so far, dur- 
 ing this reign, as to regulate the expenses of the royal 
 household;' and their language to the throne on all these 
 occasions, though temperate and loyal, breathed a generous 
 spirit of patriotism, evincing a perfect consciousness of theii 
 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 cooperation 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 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 repre- 
 sentation. During the fourteenth century, the deputation 
 from this order had been uncommonly full. The king, how- 
 ever, 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 impoverished by
 
 BIRTH OF ISABELLA. 75 
 
 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 occa- 
 sional fluctuations, had exhibited during the perceding 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 in- 
 structions 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 priv- 
 ilege of a voice in cortes, as it was called, came at length to be 
 prized so highly by the favored cities, that when, in 1506, 
 some of those who were excluded solicited the restitution of 
 their ancient rights, their petition was opposed by the former 
 on impudent pretence, that "the right of deputation had been 
 reserved by ancient law and usuage 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 Introduc- 
 tion. But, although the cortes, thus reduced in numbers, 
 necessarily lost much of its weight, it still maintained 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 par- 
 tial a selection 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
 
 76 REIGN OF JOHN 11., OF CASTILE. 
 
 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 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, the time might come when 
 venality would prove stronger than principle, and the un- 
 worthy patriot be tempted to sacrifice his birthright for a 
 mess of pottage. Thus early was the fair dawn of freedom 
 overcast, which opened in Castile under more brilliant aus- 
 pices, 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 what 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 re- 
 markable performance of the middle ages. It was enriched, 
 moreover, with other elaborate compositions, 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 pur- 
 chased, in the more extended pieces, at the expense of such 
 a crude mass of grotesque and undigest'?d 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 untinc- 
 tured with liberal learning. While the nobles of the sister 
 kingdom of Aragon, assembled in their poetic courts, in 
 imitation of their Provengale neighbors, 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 01 John was perceptible in softening this ferocious 
 temper. He was himself sufficiently accomplished, for a
 
 BIRTH OF ISABELLA. 77 
 
 king; and, notwithstanding his aversion to business, mani- 
 fested, 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 occa- 
 sionally to correct those of his loving subjects.'^ Whatever 
 might be the value of his criticisms, that of his example 
 cannot be doubted. The courtiers, with the quick scent for 
 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 savafis, was Henry, 
 marquis of Villena, descended from the royal houses of Cas- 
 tile and Aragon,'°but more illustrious, as one of his country- 
 men has observed, by his talents 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 contemporaries,"" 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 ^neid into a modern 
 language."* He labored assiduously to introduce a more 
 cultivated taste among his countrymen, and his little treatise 
 on the gaya 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 him- 
 self 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 necro- 
 mancy. 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 com- 
 missoned his son's preceptor, Brother Lope de Barrientos, 
 afterwards bishop of Cuenga, 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
 
 78 REIGN OF JOHN II., OF CASTILE. 
 
 on this occurence to the poet John de Mena, remarks, that 
 "some would fain get the reputation 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 de- 
 funct marquis consoled by the consciousness, that his books 
 no longer rested on the shelves of the man who had con- 
 verted him into a conjuror." ^' John de Mena denounces 
 this auto da fe of science in a similar, but graver tone of sar- 
 casm, 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 exer- 
 cises of the age; and he assembled around him at the same 
 time men eminent for genius and science, whom he munifi- 
 cently recompensed, and encouraged by his example." His 
 own taste led him to poetry, of which he has left some elabo- 
 rate specimens. They are chiefly of a moraJ and preceptive 
 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 redo7i- 
 dillas, delivers his sentiments with a sweetness and grace 
 inimitable. To him is to be ascribed the glory, such as it 
 is, of having naturalized 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 suffi- 
 ciently 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 culti-
 
 BIRTH OF ISABELLA. 79 
 
 vation 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 honor and purity of motive, unimpeached 
 even by his enemies. The king, notwithstanding his devo- 
 tion 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 re- 
 paired to Rome, where in the study of those immortal mas- 
 ters, whose writings had but recently revealed the full capa- 
 cities 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 in- 
 troduced him to the patronage of the great, and above all to 
 the friendship of the marquis of Santillana." He was ad- 
 mitted 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 con- 
 tinued 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 a new aspect to Castilian poetry.^" His great 
 work was his "l.aberinto," the outlines of whose plan may 
 faintly remind us of that portion of the "Divina Commedia," 
 where Dante resigns himself to the guidance of Beatrice. 
 In like manner the Spanish poet, under the escort of a beau- 
 tifui personification of Providence, witnesses the apparition
 
 8o REIGN OF JOHN II., OF CASTILE. 
 
 of the most eminent individuals, whether of history or fable; 
 and, as they revolve on the wheel of destiny, they give occa- 
 sion 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 
 vigor, may be called truly Dautesque. Indeed the Castilian 
 Muse never before ventured on so bold a flight; and, not- 
 withstanding 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 indi- 
 cate 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 ancient troubadours into a 
 cancio/icro, "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 occur- 
 rence. 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 se- 
 lected 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 movement, and the enthusiasm kindled 
 for liberal studies. Thus we find the corporation of Sevilla 
 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 laureate have been more liberal- 
 ly 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 morf^ classical idiom. In the latter particular they sue-
 
 BIRTH OF ISABELLA. 8l 
 
 ceeded. They much improved the external forms of poetry, 
 and their compositions exhibit a high degree of Hterary finish, 
 compared with all that preceded them. But their happiest 
 sentiments are frequently involved in such a cloud of meta- 
 phor, as to become nearly unintelligible; while they invoke 
 the pagan deities with a shameless prodigality, that would 
 scandalize 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 
 "Finojosa" 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 
 composition were cultivated 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 perfect- 
 ing a classical prose style. 
 
 Enough has been said to give an idea of the state of mental 
 improvement 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 civili- 
 zation. 
 
 While a small portion of the higher orders of the nation 
 was thus endeavoring to forget the public calamities in the 
 tranquillizing pursuit of letters, and a much larger portion 
 in the indulgence of pleasure, '^ the popular aversion for the 
 m.inister Luna had been gradually infusing itself into the 
 royal bosom. His too obvious assumption of superiority, 
 even over the monarch vvho had raised him from the dust, 
 was probably the real though secret cause of this disgust. 
 But the habitual ascendency of the favorite 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 
 4*
 
 82 REIGN OF JOHN II., OF CASTILE. 
 
 France. But the constable, in the mean time, without even 
 the privity of his master, entered into negotiations for his 
 marriage with the princess Isabella, granddaughter of John 
 the First of Portugal; and the monarch, with an unprece- 
 dented degree of complaisance, acquiesced in an arrange- 
 ment professedly repugnant to his own inclinations." By 
 one of those dispensations 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 his 
 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 her husband, entered heartily into 
 the feelings of the latter, and indeed contrived to extinguish 
 whatever spark of latent affection for his ancient favorite 
 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 coun- 
 sellors, who, after a summary and informal investigation, 
 pronounced on him the sentence of death on a specification 
 of charges either general and indeterminate, or of the most 
 trivial import. "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 ela- 
 tion 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 in 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 not been a wit 
 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
 
 BIRTH OF ISABELLA. 83 
 
 prince "to reward the attachment of his servaius 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.*" 
 
 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 con- 
 temporaries; 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 
 favorite's death, which he was seen afterward to lament 
 even with tears. Indeed during the whole of the trial he 
 had exhibited the most pitiable agitation, having twice issued 
 and recalled his orders countermanding the constable's exe- 
 cution; and, had it not been for the superior constancy, or 
 vindictive temper of the queen, he would probably have 
 yielded to these impulses of returning affection." 
 
 So far from deriving a wholesome warning from experience, 
 John confided the entire direction of his kingdom to indi- 
 viduals not less interested, but possessed of far less enlarged 
 capacities, than the former minister. Penetrated with remarse 
 at the retrospect of his unprofitable life, and filled with mel- 
 ancholy 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, afterward 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
 
 $4 REIGN OF JOHN II., OF CASTILE. 
 
 on the 22d of April, 1451, at Madrigal. The king recom- 
 mended his younger children to the especial care and pro- 
 tection of their brother Henry, and assigned the town of 
 Cuellar, with its territory and a considerable sum of money, 
 (or the maintenance of the Infanta Isabella."
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CONDITION OF ARAGON DURING THE MINORITY OF FERDI- 
 NAND. REIGN OF JOHN II., OF ARAGON. 
 
 1452— 1472. 
 
 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. 
 
 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 Bar- 
 celona, was transferred to the same bastard branch of Tras- 
 tamara, that ruled over the Castihan monarchy.' 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 intel- 
 lectual culture, as well as the pliant temper of the people, 
 far more grateful to the monarch than the sturdy indepen- 
 dence of his own countrymen. 
 
 During his long absence, the government of his hereditary 
 domains devolved on his brother John, as his lieutenant- 
 general in Aragon.^ This prince had married Blanche, 
 widow of Martin, king of Sicily, and daughter of Charles 
 the Third, of Navarre. By her he had three children; Car- 
 los, prince of Viana;' Blanche, married to and afterward 
 repudiated by Henry the Fourth, of Castile;* and Eleanor, 
 who espoused a French noble, Gaston, count of Foix. 0/
 
 86 REIGN OF JOHN II., OF ARAGON. 
 
 the demise of the elder Blanche, the crown of Navarre right- 
 fully 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 defaulf. oi sons, 
 female, should inherit the kingdom to the exclusion of her 
 husband.^ This provision, which had been confirmed by 
 her father, Charles the Third, in his testament, was also 
 recognized 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." ' Whether this approbation was 
 withheld, or whether it was ever solicited, does not appear. 
 It seems probable, however, that Carlos, perceiving no dis- 
 position 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, as 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 Henriquez, 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 Navarre, 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, and who from the first seems 
 to have regarded the prince with the malevolent eye of a 
 step-mother. 
 
 Navarre 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 
 prinee of Viana was intimately connected 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 defi- 
 ance 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 interference in the domes- 
 tic concerns of that monarchy, by fanning the spark of discord
 
 MINORITY OP FERDINAND. 87 
 
 into a flame. The Ao;ramonts, on the other hand, induced 
 rather by hostihty to their poHtical adversaries than to the 
 prince of Viana, vehemently espoused the cause of the queen. 
 In this revival of half-buried animosities, fresh causes of 
 disgust were multiplied, 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 founcf them- 
 selves, seems to have sobered their minds, and to have 
 opened the way to an accommodation, the terms of which 
 were actually arranged, when the long-smothered rancor 
 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 well-contested action, saw his own party entirely 
 discomfited, and himself a prisoner." 
 
 Some months before this event, Queen Joan had been 
 delivered of a son, afterward 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 auspi- 
 cious event occurred in the little town of Sos, in Aragon, 
 on the loth of March, 1452; and, as it was nearly contempo- 
 rary with the capture of Constantinople, is regardea by 
 Garibay to have been providentially 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 until 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 conditicjns, 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, resoived to 
 seek an asylum at the court of his uncle Alfonso the Fifth,
 
 88 ilEtGN OF JOHN tl., OF ARAOON. 
 
 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 sympathy and favorable reception, 
 which he had anticipated from his uncle. Assured of protec- 
 tion from so high a quarter, Carlos might now reasonably 
 flatter 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 dis- 
 trusted the dark, ambiguous character of Ferdinand, Alfon- 
 so'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 father. He was received 
 with much kindness by the Sicilians, who, preserving a grate- 
 ful 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 endeavored to recall the happier 
 hours of youth in the pursuit of his favorite studies of philo- 
 sophy and history." 
 
 In the meanwhile, John, now king of Aragon and its de- 
 pendencies, alarmed by the reports of his son's popularity 
 in Sicily, became as solicitous for the security of his authority 
 there, as he had before been for it in Navarre. He accord- 
 ingly sought to soothe the mind of the prince by the fairest 
 professions, and to allure him back to Spain by the prospect 
 uf an effectual reconciliation. Carlos, believing what he
 
 MlNORiTY OF FERDINAND. 89 
 
 most earnestly wished, in opposition to the advice of his 
 Sicilian counsellors, embarked for Marjorca, and, after some 
 preliminary negotiations, crossed over to the coast of Barce- 
 lona. Postponing, for fear of giving offence to his father, 
 his entrance into that city, which, indignant at his persecu- 
 tion, had made the most brilliant preparations for his recep- 
 tion, he proceeded to Iguilada, 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 consummate dissimu- 
 lation." 
 
 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 tender him the cus- 
 tomary oath of allegiance. But nothing was further from 
 the monarch's intention. He indeed summoned the Aragon- 
 ese 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 Viana; and he openly re- 
 buked the Catalans for presuming to address him as the 
 successor to the crown." 
 
 In this unnatural procedure it was easy to discern the in- 
 fluence of the queen. In addition to her original causes of 
 aversion to Carlos, she regarded him with hatred as the in- 
 superable obstacle to her own child Ferdinand's advance- 
 ment. 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 quar- 
 ters, 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 princes Isabella. This was coming in direct colli- 
 sion with the favorite 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
 
 90 REIGN OF JOHN It., OP ARAGON. 
 
 obstacle. In conformity with this purpose, John invited the 
 prince of Viana to attend him at Lerida, where he was then 
 holding the cortes of Catalonia. The latter fondly, and in- 
 deed 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 ac- 
 knowledged 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 consternation 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 separated, sent an embassy to John, requesting 
 to know the nature of the crimes imputed to his son. The 
 permanent deputation of Aragon, and a delegation from the 
 council of Barcelona, waited on him for a similar purpose, 
 remonstrating at the same time against any violent and un- 
 constitutional proceeding. To all these John returned a 
 cold, evasive answer, darkly intimating a suspicion of con- 
 spiracy 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 govenor, after a fruitless attempt to escape, was seized 
 and imprisoned in Barcelona. Troops were 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 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 of Aragon; 
 while the mob, traversing the streets of Lerida, and finding 
 little resistance at the gate, burst into the palace and ran- 
 sacked 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 arriving so promptly 
 that John, with his wife, and the deputies of the Aragoness
 
 MINORITY OF FERDINAND. -9I 
 
 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 meantime, was secured in the inaccessible fortress of 
 Morella, situated in a mountainous district on the confines 
 of Valencia. John, on halting at Saragossa, endeavored to 
 assemble an Aagonese force capable of resisting the Catalan 
 rebels. But tne flame of insurrection had spread throughout 
 Aragon, Valencia, and Navarre, and was speedily communi- 
 cated to his transmarine possessions of Sardinia and Sicily. 
 The king of Castile supported Carlos at the same time by an 
 irruption into Navarre, and his partisans, the Beaumonts, 
 cooperated with these movements by descent on Aragon." 
 
 John, alarmed at the tempest which his precipitate conduct 
 had roused, at length saw the necessity of releasing his pri- 
 soner; and, as the queen had incurred general odium as the 
 chief instigator of his persecution, he affected to do this 
 in consequence of her interposition. As Carlos with his 
 mother-in-law traversed the country on their way to Barce- 
 lona, 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 presence would not be permitted in 
 the capital, deemed it prudent to remain at Villa Franca, 
 about twenty miles distant; while the prince, entering Bar- 
 celona, 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 their sovereign, were sufficiently humilia- 
 ting. They insisted not only on his public acknowledgment 
 of Carlos as his rightful heir and successor, with 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 extremity, that he not only accepted these un- 
 palatable conditions, but did it with affected cheerfulness. 
 
 Fortune seemed now weary of persecution, and Carlos, 
 happy in the attachment of a brave and powerful people, 
 appeared at length to have reached a haven of permanent 
 security. But at this crisis he fell ill of a fever, or, as some 
 historians insinuate, of a disorder occasioned by poison ad- 
 ministered during his imprisonment; a fact, which, although 
 unsupported by positive evidence, seems, notwithstanding 
 its atrocity, to be no wise improbable, considering the 
 character of the parties implicated. He expired on the 23d
 
 92 REIGN OF JOHN II., OF ARAGON. 
 
 of September, 1461, in the forty-first year of his age, be- 
 queathing his title to the crown of Navarre, 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 monent when he 
 seemed to have triumphed over the malice of his enemies, 
 died the prince of Viana, whose character, conspicuous for 
 many virtues, has become still more so for his misfortunes. 
 His first act of rebellion, if, such, considering his legitimate 
 pretensions to the crown, it can be called, wa.s severely re- 
 quited by his subsequent calamities; while the vindictive 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, who, as he wrote an account of these transactions 
 by the command of Ferdinand the Catholic, cannot be sus- 
 pected of any undue partiality in favor of the prince of 
 Viana. "Such," says he, "were his temperance and modera- 
 tion, such the excellence of his breeding, the purity of his 
 life, his liberality and munificence, and such the sweetness 
 of his demeanor, that no one thing seemed to be wanting in 
 him which belongs to a true and perfect prince."'^'' He is 
 describe by another contemporary, as "in person somewhat 
 above the middle stature, having a thin visage, with a serene 
 and inodest expression of countenance, and withal some- 
 what inclined to melancholy."" He was a considerable 
 proficient in music, painting, and several mechanic arts. 
 He frequently amused himself with poetical composition, 
 and was the intimate friend of some of the most eminent 
 bards of his time. But he was above all devoted to the 
 study 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 also a Chronicle of Navarre from the earliest period 
 to his own times, which, although suffered to remain in 
 manuscript, has been liberally used and cited by the Spanish 
 antiquaries, Garibay, Blancas, and others.^® His natural 
 taste and his habits fitted him much better for the quiet en- 
 joyment of letters, than for the tumultuous scenes in which 
 it was his misfortune to be involved, and in which he was 
 no match for enemies grown gray in the field and in the 
 intrigues of the cabinet. But, if his devotion to learning, so 
 jare in his own age, and so very rare among princes in any
 
 MINORITY OF FERDINAND, 93 
 
 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 gentle- 
 ness of her demeanor, had long been involved, by her adhe- 
 sion to her unfortunate brother, in a similar proscription 
 with him. The succession to Navarre 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 
 sister Eleanor, 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 stipulated that Blanche should be delivered into the 
 custody of the countess of Foix, as surety for the suc- 
 cession of the latter, and of her posterity, to the crown of 
 Navarre. ^^ 
 
 Conformably to this provision, John endeavored to per- 
 suade 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, compre- 
 hending 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 Navarre in favor 
 of her cousin and former husband, Henry the Fourth, of 
 Castile, who had uniformly supported the cause of her brother 
 Carlos. Henry, though debased by sensual indulgencce, 
 was naturally of a gentle disposition, and had never 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 ex-
 
 94 REIGN OF JOHN 11.^ OF ARAGON. 
 
 elusion of her intended assassins, the count and countess of 
 Foix/' 
 
 On the same day, the last of April, she was delivered over 
 to one of their emissaries, who conducted her to the castle 
 of Ortes in Bearne, where, after languishing in dreadful sus- 
 pense for nearly two years, she was poisoned by the com- 
 mand of her sister.'^ 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 weeks; 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. 
 
 Within a fortnight after the decease of Carlos, the cus- 
 tomary oaths of allegiance, so pertinaciously withheld from 
 that unfortunate prince, were tendered by the Aragonese 
 deputation, at Calatayud, 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 Cata- 
 lonia, in order to receive the more doubtful homage of that 
 province. The extremities of Catalonia at this time seemed 
 to be in perfect repose, but the capital was still agitated by 
 secret discontent. The ghost of Carlos was seen stalking 
 by night through the streets of Barcelona, bewailing in pite- 
 ous 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 received the devotional honors reserved for such 
 as have been duly canonized by the church." 
 
 The revolutionary spirit of the Barcelonians, kept alive by 
 the recollection of past injury, as well as by the apprehen- 
 sions of future vengeance, should John succeed in reestablish- 
 ing 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 fortified 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. '1 he 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,
 
 MINORITY OF FERDINAND. 95 
 
 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 discharge of stone bul- 
 lets on the little garrison.'^ The Catalans also succeeded 
 in running 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 resolu- 
 tion. Such were the stormy and disastrous scenes in which 
 the youthful Ferdinand commenced a career, whose subse- 
 quent prosperity was destined to be checkered by scarcely 
 a reverse of fortune. ^^ 
 
 In the mean while, John, having in vain attempted to 
 penetrate through Catalonia to the relief of his wife, effectci 
 this by the cooperation 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 con- 
 tinue 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 3d, 2ist, and 23d of May, 1462, it was stipulated, that 
 Louis should furnish his ally with seven hundred lances and 
 a proportionate number of arches 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 for which the counties of 
 Roussillon and Cerdagne were pledged by John, with the 
 cession of their revenue to the French king, until such time 
 as the original debt should be redeemed. In this transac- 
 tion 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
 
 96 REIGN OF JOHN II., OF ARAGOxV. 
 
 justice, that the aversion of the inhabitants to the dismem- 
 berment of their country from the Aragonese monarchy 
 would baffle every attempt on the part of the French to 
 occupy it permanently.^" 
 
 In pursuance of these arrangements, seven hundred French 
 lances with a considerable body of archers and artillery" 
 crossed the mountains, and, rapidly advancing on Gerona, 
 compelled the insurgent army to raise the siege, and to 
 decamp with such precipitation as to leave their cannon in 
 the hands of the royalists. The Catalans now threw aside 
 the thin veil, with which they had hitherto covered thc'ir 
 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 rea- 
 son, the doctrine of legitimacy in the broadest terms, and 
 insisting that the Aragonese monarchs, far from being ab- 
 solute, 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 promulged, 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, offered 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 per- 
 mitted 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 descendant of the ancient house of Barcelona. 
 In the mean while, the old king of Aragon, attended by his 
 youthful son, had made himself master, with his characteris- 
 tic activity, of considerable acquisitions in the revolted ter- 
 ritory, successively reducing Lerida," Tortosa, and the most 
 important places in the south of Catalonia. Many of these 
 places were strongly fortified, and most of them defended with 
 a resolution which cost the conquerer a prodigious sacrifice 
 of time and money. John, like Philip of Macedon, made 
 use of gold even more than arms, for the reduction of his 
 enemies; and, though he indulged in occasional acts of resent-
 
 MINORITY OF FERDINAND. 97 
 
 ment, 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 
 new subjects; and, as the operations of the war had been 
 conducted on his part in the most languid manner, the whole 
 of the principality seemed destined soon to relapse under 
 the dominion of its ancient master. At this juncture the 
 Portugese 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 ultimately the cause of 
 its protraction." 
 
 It appeared, however, to present a favorable opportunity 
 to John for opening a negotiation with the insurgents. But, 
 so resolute were they in maintaining their independence, that 
 the council of Barcelona condemned two of the principal 
 citizens, suspected of defection from the cause, to be pub- 
 licly executed; it refused moreover to admit an envoy from 
 the Aragonese cortes within the city, and caused the des- 
 patches, with which he was intrusted by that body, to be 
 torn in pieces before his face. 
 
 The Catalans then proceeded to elect Ren6 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. ^ 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 Calabria 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 adventures flocked to 
 the standard of a leader, whose ample inheritance of preten- 
 sions had made him familiar with war from his earliest boy- 
 hood; and he soon found himself at the head of eight 
 thousand effective troops. Louis the Eleventh, although 
 not directly aiding his enterprise with supplies of men or 
 money, was willing so far to countenance it, as to open a 
 passage for him through the mountain fastnesses of Rous- 
 sillon, then in his keeping, and thus enable him to descend 
 his whole army at once on the northern borders of Cata- 
 lonia.^^ 
 
 The king of Aragon could oppose no force capable of 
 Vol. I.— 5.
 
 98 REIGN OF JOHN II., OF ARAGON, 
 
 resisting this formidable army. His excliequer, always low, 
 was completely exhausted by the extraordinary efforts, 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 expe- 
 dient 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 justifi- 
 able pretences, to that which he had just experienced from 
 Don Carlos. To crown the whole of John's calamities, his 
 eyesight, which had been impaired by exposure and pro- 
 tracted 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. Ferdi- 
 nand's ardor, 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 
 ofiicers, 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 Ampurdan, northeast 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 him- 
 self, in their extravagance; while the ladies, it is said, pawned 
 their rings, necklaces, and other ornaments of their attire, 
 in order to defray the expenses of the war.*^ 
 
 King John, in the mean while, was draining the cup of
 
 MINORITY OF FERDINAND. 
 
 99 
 
 bitterness to the dregs. In the winter of 146S, his queen, 
 Joan Henriquez, fell a victim to a painful disorder, which 
 had been secretly corroding her constitution for a number of 
 years. In many respects, she was the most remarkable woman 
 of her time. She took active part in the politics of her hus- 
 band, 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 per- 
 secution of her step-son, Carlos, 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 surmount- 
 ing many of the difficulties in which she had involved him, 
 and her loss at this crisis seemed to leave him at once with- 
 out 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 cooperation 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 additional disburse- 
 ments. 
 
 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 
 monopolized 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 operations against the enemy with all his accustomed 
 energy." 
 
 Heaven, too, as if taking compassion on his accumulated 
 misfortunes, now removed the principal obstacle to his suc- 
 cess by the death of the Duke of Lorraine, who was sum- 
 moned from the theatre of his short-lived triumphs on the 
 i6th of December, 1469. The Barcelonians were thrown.
 
 loo REIGN OF JOHN II., OF ARAGON. 
 
 into the greatest consternation by iiis deatli, imputed, as 
 usual, though without apparent foundation, to poison; and 
 their respect for his memory was attested by the honors 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 sepul- 
 chre of the sovereigns of Catalonia.^" 
 
 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 17 14, when the combined forces of France and 
 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 his 
 usual alacrity in the reduction of such places in the eastern 
 quarter of Catalonia as had revolted to the enemy, while at 
 the 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 honorable 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 allegiance to their ancient sovereign within a 
 year, might have the liberty of removing with their effects 
 wherever they would. One provision may be thought some- 
 what 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 king, after the adjustment of the preliminaries, "de-
 
 MINORITY 0B~ FERDINAND. lOl 
 
 dining," says a contemporary, "the triumplial car which had 
 been prepared for him, made his entrance into the city by 
 the gate of St. Antony, mounted on a white charger; and, 
 as he 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 hall of the great palace, and on the 22d of 
 December, 1472, solemnly swore there to respect the consti- 
 tution and laws of Catalonia." 
 
 Thus ended this long, disastrous civil war, the fruit of 
 parental injustice and oppression, which had nearly cost the 
 king of Aragon the fairest portion of his dominions; which 
 devoted to disquietude and disappointment 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 estab- 
 lishing Ferdinand's succession over the whole of the domains 
 of his ancestors.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 REIGN OF HENRY IV., OF CASTILE. — CIVIL WAR. MARRIAGK 
 
 OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 
 
 1454— 1469. 
 
 Henry IV. disappoints Expectations. — Oppression of the People. — League 
 of the Nobles — Extraordinary Scene at Avila. — Early Education of 
 Isabella. — Death of her Brother Alfonso. — Intestine Anarchy. — The 
 Crown offered to Isabella. — She declines it. — Her Suitors. — She ac- 
 cepts 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 ancestors 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 dis- 
 gust 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 to refer this to inexperience, or the ebullition 
 of youthful spirit, and 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 familiarity, 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
 
 MARRIAGE OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. IO3 
 
 he indulged himself was favorably contrasted with the severe 
 parsimony of his father in his latter years, and gained him 
 the surname of "the Liberal." His treasurer having remon- 
 strated 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 them so." He suited 
 the action so well to the word, that, in a few years, there 
 was scarcely a viaravedi remaining in the royal coffers.^ 
 
 He maintained greater state than was usual with the mon- 
 archs of Castile, keeping in pay a body-guard of thirty-six 
 hundred lances, splendidly equipped, and officered by the 
 sons of the nobility. He proclaimed a crusade against the 
 Moors, a measure always popular in Castile; assuming the 
 pomegranate branch, the device of Granada, on the escutch- 
 eon, in token of his intention to extirpate the Moslems 
 from the Peninsula. He assembled the chivalry of the re- 
 mote povinces; 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 ap- 
 paratus; and these brilliant expeditions too often evaporated 
 in a mere border foray, or in an empty gasconade under the 
 walls of Granada. Orchards were cut down, harvests plun- 
 dered, villages burnt to the ground, and all the other modes 
 of annoyance peculiar to this barbarous warfare, put in prac- 
 tice 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 expeditions fell with 
 peculiar heaviness, from their neighborhood 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 years of Henry's reign, 
 he would have offered any thing, even his children, to
 
 104 CASTILE UNDER HENRY IV. 
 
 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 greater indisposition to business, than was mani- 
 fested by his father,* he possessed none of the cultivated 
 tastes, which were the redeeming qualities of the latter. 
 Having been addicted from his earliest youth to debauchery, 
 when he had lost the powers, he retained all the relish, for 
 the brutish pleasures of a voluptuary. He had repudiated 
 his wife, Blanche of Aragon, after a union of twelve years, on 
 grounds sufficiently ridiculous and humiliating.^ In 1455, 
 he espoused Joanna, a Portugese 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 was greeted by the 
 festivities and military pageants which belong to an age of 
 chivalry. The light and lively manners of the young queen, 
 however, which seemed to defy the formal etiquette of the 
 Castilian court, gave occasion to the grossest suspicions. The 
 tongue of scandal indicated Beltran de la Cueva, one of the 
 handsomest cavaliers in the kingdom, and then newly risen 
 in the royal graces, as the person to whom she most liberally 
 dispensed her favors. 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 delighted with his prowess, that 
 he commemorated the event by the erection of a monastery 
 dedicated to St. Jerome; a whimsical origin for a religious 
 institution. ° 
 
 The queen's levity might have sought some justification 
 in the unveiled licentiousness of her husband. One of the 
 maids of honor, whom she brought in her train, acquired an 
 ascendency over Henry, which he did not attempt to disguise; 
 and the palace, after the exhibition of the most disgraceful 
 scenes, became divided by factions of the hostile 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 scandalized 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.'
 
 MARRIAGE OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. I05 
 
 The stream of corruption soon finds its way from the higher 
 to the more humble walks of life. The middling classes, imi- 
 tating their superiors, indulged in an excess of luxury equally 
 demoralizing, and ruinous to their fortunes. The contagion 
 of example infected even the higher ecclessiastics; and we 
 find the archbishop of St. James 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 license. 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 nominat- 
 ing the commanders of such contingents of troops, as they 
 might contribute to the public defence. Their territories 
 were repeatedly alienated, 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 authorized 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 pay- 
 ment; and, as the creditors refused to accept it in the depre- 
 ciated currency, it became a fruitful source of litigation and 
 tumult, until the whole nation seemed on the verge of bank- 
 ruptcy. In this general license, the right of the strongest 
 was the only one which could make itself heard. The no- 
 bles, converting their castles into dens of robbers, plundered 
 the property of the traveller, which was afterwards sold pub- 
 licly 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 
 again received into favor, 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 
 
 5*
 
 lo6 CASTILE UNDER HENRY IV. 
 
 control of favorites, 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 personages exercised so important an influence 
 over the destinies of Henry, as to deserve more particular 
 notice. The former was of noble Portugese extraction, and 
 originally a page in the service of the constable Alvaro de 
 Luna, by whom he had been introduced into the household 
 of Piince Henry, during the lifetime of John the Second. 
 His polished and plausible address soon acquired him a 
 complete ascendency over the feeble mind of his master, 
 who was guided by 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 attain- 
 ment of his purposes by a crooked rather than by a direct 
 policy, even when the latter might equally well have an- 
 swered. He sustained reverses with imperturbable com- 
 posure; 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 revenge- 
 ful 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 Va- 
 lencia, 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 char- 
 acter. He was one of those turbulent prelates, not nnfre- 
 quent in a rude age, who seem intended by nature for the 
 camp rather than the church. He was fierce, haughty, in- 
 tractable; and he was supported in the execution of his am- 
 bitious 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 sacrifices 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 forraidable 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
 
 MARRIAGE OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 107 
 
 newly-ereated favorites, began secretly to stir up cabals and 
 confederacies among the nobles, until the occurrence of other 
 circumstances obviated the necessity, and indeed the possi- 
 bility, 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 opposition to their sovereign by seasonable supplies of 
 men and money. He had even made some considerable con- 
 quests 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 neighbors. 
 
 The conferences were conducted at Bayonne, and an in- 
 terview 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 the dominions of the respective 
 monarchs. The contrast exhibited by the two princes at 
 this interview, in their style of dress and equipage, was suffi- 
 ciently striking to deserve notice. Louis, who was even 
 worse attired than usual, according to Comines, wore a coat 
 of coarse wollen 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 Castlians, on the other hand, displayed uncommon 
 magnificence. The barge of the royal favorite, Beltran de 
 la Cueva, was resplendant with sails of cloth of gold, and 
 his apparel glittered with a profusion of costly jewels. Henry 
 was ecorted by his Moorish guard gorgeously equipped, and 
 the cavaliers of his train vied with each other in the sump- 
 tuous decorations of dress and equipage. The two nations 
 appear to have been mutually disgusted with the contrast ex- 
 hibited 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 neighbors; and 
 thus the seeds of a national aversion were inplanted, which, 
 under the influence of more inportant 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
 
 lo8 CASTILE UNDER HENRY IV. 
 
 years. The award of Louis dissatisfied all parties; a tolerable 
 proof of its impartiality. The Castilians, in particular, com- 
 plained that the marquis of Villena and the archbishop of 
 Toledo had compromised the honor of the nation, by allow- 
 ing their 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 
 pensionaries of Louis, a fact which does not appear improb- 
 able, considering the usual policy of this prince, who, as is 
 well known, maintained an espionage over the councils of 
 most of his neighbors. 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 organization 
 of one of those formidable confederacies, which had so often 
 shaken the monarchs of Castile upon their throne, and which, 
 although not authorized by positive law, as in Aragon, seem 
 to have derived somewhat of a constitutional 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 a 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 manifold 
 abuses, which pervaded every department of government, 
 which they freely imputed to the unwholesome influence exer- 
 cised by the favorite, Beltran de la Cueva, over the royal 
 counsels, 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 occasions, not 
 to reenter the service of their sovereign, or accept any favor 
 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
 
 MARRIAGE OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. I09 
 
 naturally averse to violent or even vigorous measures. He 
 replied to the bishop of Cuenga, his ancient preceptor, who 
 recomnaended 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 honor, 
 at a time like this, I shall live to see you the most degraded 
 monarch in Spain; when you will repent too late this unsea- 
 sonable pusillanimity," " 
 
 Henry, unmoved either by the entreaties or remonstrances 
 of his adherents, resorted to the milder method of negotia- 
 tion. He consented 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 
 recognized as the lawful heir to the crown, on condition of 
 his subsequent union with Joanna; and he agreed to nomi- 
 nate, in conjunction with his opponents, a commission of 
 five, who 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 
 authority, that the feeble monarch was easily persuaded to 
 disavow the 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, exhibiting 
 in glowing colors the tyrannical conduct of the king, and the 
 consequent determination to depose him; and vindicating 
 the proceeding by 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
 
 no CASTILE UNDER HENRY IV. 
 
 insignia; when the image, thus despoiled of its honors, was 
 rolled in the dust, amid the mingled groans and clamors 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 accla- 
 mations the accession of their new sovereign." 
 
 Such are the details of this extraordinary transaction, as 
 recorded by the two contemporary historians of the rival 
 factions. The tidings were borne, with 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 I 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 confede- 
 rates. However much they contemned the person of the 
 monarch, they were not prepared to see the royal authority 
 thus openly degraded. They indulged, too, some compas- 
 sion for a prince, whose political vices, at least, were imput- 
 able 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 Mendoza, 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 ansv/ered by a formidable array of numbers, that 
 must have greatly exceeded that of his rival, and which is 
 swelled by his biograph-er to seventy thousand foot and four-
 
 MARRIAGE OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA III 
 
 teen thousand horse; a much smaller force, under the direc- 
 tion 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 confeder- 
 ates, or rather the marquis of Villena, their representative 
 on these occasions. This nobleman, who had so zealously 
 cooperated with his party in conferring the title of king on 
 A.lfonso, had intended to reserve the authority to himself. 
 He probably found more difficulty in controlling the opera- 
 tions 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 had made his own services the more 
 necessary to the latter, to provide a safe retreat for him- 
 self, in case of the shipwreck of their fortunes. ^^ 
 
 In conformity with this dubious policy, he had, soon after 
 the occurrence at Avila, opened a secret correspondence with 
 his former master, and suggested to him the idea of terminat- 
 ing their differences by some amicable adjustment. In con- 
 sequence of these intimations, Henry consented to enter into 
 a negotiation with his 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 definite and permanent scheme of recon- 
 ciliation might be devised. Henry, in compliance with this 
 arrangement, instantly disbanded his levies; they retired over- 
 whelmed with indignation at the conduct of their sovereign, 
 who so readliy relinquished the only means of redress that 
 he possessed, and whom they now saw it would be unavailing 
 to assist, 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 con- 
 trived to defeat 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 mean while, the singular spectacle was exhibited of two 
 monarchs presiding over one nation, surrounded by their 
 respective courts, administering the laws, convoking cortes, 
 and in fine assuming the state and exercising all the func- 
 tions of sovereignty. It v/as apparent that this state of 
 things could not last long; and that the political ferment, 
 which now agitated the minds of men ^rom one extremity of
 
 112 CASTILE UNDER HENRY IV. 
 
 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 Villena, Don Pedro Giron, 
 grand master of the order of Calatrava, a nobleman of aspir- 
 ing views, and one of the most active partisans of his faction. 
 The archbishop of Toledo would naturally follow the fortunes 
 of his nephew, and thus the league, deprived of its principal 
 supports, must soon crumble to pieces. Instead of resenting 
 this proposal as an affront upon his honor, the abject mind 
 of Henry was content to purchase repose even by the most 
 humiliating sacrifice. He acceded to the conditions; appli- 
 cation 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 Are- 
 valo, where, in seclusion, 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 more effect- 
 ually to discourage the formation of any faction, 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 connexion of Isabella with the crown, as well as 
 her personal 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, 
 was promised by Henry to Alfonso, of Portugal. Isabella
 
 MARRIAGE OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. II3 
 
 was present with her brother at a personal interview with 
 that monarch in 1464, but neither threats nor entreaties 
 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, 
 that "the infantas of Castile could not be disposed of in 
 marriage, without the consent of the nobles of the realm." '* 
 
 When Isabella understood in what manner she was now 
 to be sacrificed to the selfish policy of her brother, in the 
 persecution of which, compulsory 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 outrage 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 un- 
 worthy 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 dishonor, 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," ex- 
 claimed the high-spirited lady, "neither will I;" then draw- 
 ing 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. No 
 sooner had the grand master rece'ived the bull of dispensation 
 from the pope, than, resigning his dignities in his military 
 order, he set about such sumptuous preparations for his wed- 
 ding, as were due to the rank of his intended bride. When 
 these were completed, he began his journey from his resi- 
 dence at Almagro to Madrid, where the nuptial ceremony 
 was to be performed, attended by a splendid retinue of friends 
 and followers. But, on the very first evening after his de- 
 parture, he was attacked by an acute disorder while at Villa- 
 rubia, a village not far from Ciudad Real, which terminated 
 his life in four days. He died, says Palencia, with impreca- 
 tions on his lips, because his life had not been spared some 
 few weeks longer." His death was attributed by many to
 
 114 CASTILE UNDER HENRY IV. 
 
 poison, administered to bim by some of the nobles, who were 
 envious of his good fortune. But, notwithstanding the sea- 
 sonableness of the event, and the famiharity of the crime in 
 that age, no shadow of imputation was ever cast on the pure 
 fame of Isabella.''* 
 
 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 between the parties. The passions, 
 which had been only smothered, now burst forth into open 
 hostility; and it was resolved to refer the decision of the ques- 
 tion to the issue of 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, scarce- 
 ly fourteen years of age, rode by his side, clad like him in 
 complete mail. Before the action commenced, the arch- 
 bishop sent a message to Beltran de 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 description of the dress he intended to 
 wear; a chivalrous defiance, which wellnigh 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 neighboring 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.^' 
 
 The battle was attended with no result, except that of in- 
 spiring appetites, which had tasted of blood, with a relish 
 for more unlicensed carnage. The most frightful anarchy
 
 MARRIAGE OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA, II5 
 
 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 confed- 
 erates. The independent barons plainly told him, that 
 "those, who advised the pope that he had a right to inter- 
 fere 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 armed 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 feuds, as those between the great houses of Guzman 
 and Ponce de Leon in Andalusia, being revived, carried new 
 division into the cities, whcse streets literally ran with blood." 
 In the country, the nobles and gentry, issuing from their 
 castles, captured the defenceless traveller, who was obliged 
 to redeem his liberty, by the payment of a heavier ransom 
 than was exacted even by the Mahometans. All communi- 
 cation on the high roads was suspended, and no man, says 
 a contemporary, dared move abroad beyond the walls of his 
 city, unless attended by an armed escort. The organization 
 of one of those popular confederacies, known under the name 
 of Herinandad^ 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 opposi- 
 tion, which the Hermandad sometimes encountered on these 
 occasions, served to aggravate the horrors of the scene. 
 Meanwhile, fearful omens, the usual accompaniments of such 
 troubled times, were witnessed; the heated imagination in- 
 terpreted the ordinary operations of nature as signs of celes- 
 tial 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 
 iace to affairs, and totally disconcerted the operations of the
 
 Il6 CASTILE UNDER HENRY IV. 
 
 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 Cardeiiosa, about two leagues from 
 Avila, which had so recently been the theatre of his glory. 
 His sudden death was imputed, in the usual suspicious tem- 
 per of that corrupt age, to poison, supposed to have been 
 conveyed to him in a trout, on which he dined the day pre- 
 ceding. Others attributed it to the plague, which had fol- 
 lowed in the train of evils, that desolated this unhappy coun- 
 try. 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 happier 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 indica- 
 tions 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 coun- 
 tenance such injustice!" And on being told that the city, in 
 that case, would probably transfer its allegiance to Henry, 
 he added, "Much as I love power, I am not willing to pur- 
 chase it at such a price." Noble sentiments, but not at all 
 palatable to the grandees of his party, who saw with alarm 
 that the young lion, when he had reached his strength, 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 monarchs 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 legi- 
 timate sanction from its subsequent recognition by the peo- 
 ple. But I do not find, that the deposition of Henry the 
 Fourth was ever confirmed by an act of cortes. He still con- 
 tinued to reign with the consent of a large portion, probably 
 the majority, of his subjects; and it is evident that proceed- 
 ings, 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.
 
 MARRIAGE OF FEREINA.VD AND ISABELLA. I17 
 
 The leaders of the confederates were thrown into conster- 
 nation by 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 commanding character 
 might counterbalance the disadvantages arising from the 
 unsuitableness of her sex for so perilous a situation, and jus- 
 tify her election in the eyes of the people. She had con- 
 tinued 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 license of a court, where the 
 love of pleasure scorned even the veil of hypocrisy. On the 
 death of her brother, she withdrew 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 sta- 
 tion 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 a right 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 
 disapprobation of their cause." She expressed herself de- 
 sirous of establishing a reconciliation between the parties, 
 and offered heartily to cooperate with her brother in the for- 
 mation of existing abuses. Neither the eloquence nor en- 
 treaties 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 un- 
 furled its standards in her name and proclaimed her sove- 
 reign of Castile, she still persisted in the same wise and tem- 
 perate 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 adjust- 
 ment of his differences. With these dispositions, a recon- 
 ciliation was effected between the parties on the following 
 conditions; namely, that a general amnesty should be grantet'
 
 Il8 CASTILE UNDER HENRY IV. 
 
 by the king for all past offences; that the queen, whose 
 dissloute conduct was admitted to be matter of notoriety, 
 should be divorced from her husband, and sent back to Por- 
 tugal; that Isabella should have the principality of the Astu- 
 rias (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 recognized heir to 
 the crowns of Castile and Leon; that a cortes should be con- 
 voked within forty days for the purpose of bestowing a legal 
 sanction on her title, as well as of reforming the 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 bril- 
 liant cortege of cavaliers and nobles, at a place called Toros 
 de Guisando, in New Castile.'" The monarch embraced his 
 sister with the tenderest marks of affection, and then proceed- 
 ed solemnly to recognize 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 prin- 
 cess in token of their homage. In due time the representa- 
 tives of the nation, convened in cortes at Ocana, unanimously 
 concurred in their approbation of these preliminary proceed- 
 ings, and thus Isabella was announced to the world as the 
 successor to the crowns of Castile and Leon." 
 
 It can hardly be believed, that Henry was sincere in sub- 
 scribing conditions 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 Villena, for the purpose of evading it; an ac- 
 cusation, which derives a plausible coloring from subsequent 
 events. 
 
 The new and legitimate basis, on which the pretensions of 
 Isabella to the throne now rested, drew the attention of neigh- 
 boring princes, who contended with each other for the honor 
 of her hand. Among these suitors, was a brother of Edward 
 the Fourth, of England, nat 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 hiy proposals, the duke would in all likelihood
 
 MARRIACxE OF FJERDINAND AND ISABELLA. Il0 
 
 have 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." 
 
 Another suitor was the duke of Guienne, the unfortunate 
 brother of Louis the Eleventh, and at that time the pre- 
 sumptive heir of the French monarchy. Although the ancient 
 intimacy, which subsisted between the royal families of France 
 and Castile, in some measure favored his pretensions, the 
 disadvantages resulting from such a union were too obvious 
 to escape attention. The two countries were too remote 
 from each other," and their inhabitants too dissimilar in 
 character and institutions, to permit the idea of their ever 
 cordially coalescing as one people under a common sovereign. 
 Should the duke of Guienne fail in the inheritance of the 
 crown, it was argued, he would be every way an unequal 
 match for the heiress of Castile; should he succeed to it, it 
 might be feared, that, in case of a union, the smaller king- 
 dom would be considered only as an appendage, and sacri- 
 ficed to the interests of the larger." 
 
 The person, on whom Isabella turned the most favorable 
 eye, was her kinsman Ferdinand of Aragon. The superior 
 advantages of a connection, 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 resemblance 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 valor, 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.
 
 iio cAStiLE Under henry iV. 
 
 A fraction of the royal party, with the family of Mendoza 
 at their head, had retired in disgust with the convention of 
 Toros 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 dis- 
 sensions, before the old were completely eradicated. With 
 this disaffected party the marquis of Villena, who, since his 
 reconciliation, had resumed his ancient ascendency 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 Ara- 
 gon; to the latter of which, as already noticed,** once be- 
 longed the ample domains of his own marquisate, which he 
 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 endeavored 
 to revive the obselete pretensions of Alfonso, king of Por- 
 tugal; and, the more effectually to secure the cooperation of 
 Henry, he connected with his scheme a proposition for mar- 
 rying his daughter Joanna with the son and heir of the Por- 
 tuguese monarch; and thus this unfortunate princess might 
 be enabled to assume at once a station suitable to her birth, 
 and at some future opportunity assert with success her claim 
 to the Castilian crown. In furtherance of this complicated 
 intrigue, Alfonso was invited to renew his addresses to 
 Isabella in a more public manner than he had hitherto 
 done; and a pompous embassy, with the archbishop of Lis- 
 bon at its head, appeared at Ocana, where Isabella was then 
 residing, bearing the proposals of their master. The princess 
 returned, as before, a decided though temperate refusal." 
 Henry, or rather the marquis of Villena, piqued at this oppo- 
 sition to his wishes, resolved to intimidate her into com- 
 pliance; 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 in execution by his 
 fear of the inhabitants of Ocana, who openly espoused the 
 cause of Isabella. Indeed, the common people of Castile 
 very generally supported her in her preference of the Ara- 
 gonese 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
 
 MARRIAGE OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 121 
 
 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, however, 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 To- 
 ledo, who had warmly entered into the interests of Aragon, 
 and who promised, should matters come to extremity, to 
 march in person to her relief at the head of a sufiticient force 
 to insure it. 
 
 Isabella, indignant at the oppressive treatment, which she 
 experienced from her brother, as well as at his notorious in- 
 fraction of almost every article in the treaty of Toros de 
 Guisando, felt herself released from her corresponding en- 
 gagements, 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 the Aragonese envoy 
 with a favorable 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 in effecting this favorite 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 
 despatched a confidential agent into Castile, with instructions 
 to gain over to his interests all who 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.*' 
 Vol. I.— 6.
 
 122 CASTILE UNDER HENRY IV. 
 
 Between parties thus favorably disposed, there was no un- 
 necessary delay. The marriage articles were signed, and 
 sworn to by Ferdinand at Cervera, on the yth of January. 
 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 property 
 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 eccle- 
 siastical benefices. All ordinances of a public nature were 
 to be subscribed equally by both. Ferdinand engaged, more- 
 over, to prosecute the war against the Moors ; to respect 
 King Henry; to suffer every noble to remain unmolested in 
 the possession 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 circumspection 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. 
 
 While these affairs were in progress, Isabella's situation 
 was becoming extremely critical. She had availed herself 
 of the absence of her brother and the marquis of Villena in 
 the south, whither they had gone for the purpose of suppress- 
 ing the still lingering spark of insurrection, to transfer her 
 residence from Ocana to Madrigal, where, under the protec- 
 tion 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 archbishop of Seville to march at once to Madrigal with
 
 MARRIAGE OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. I23 
 
 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 resentment, 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 domes- 
 tics, 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 sudden extinc- 
 tion of those hopes, which she had so long and so 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, col- 
 lected a body of horse, and reinforced 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 at- 
 tendants, she was borne off by her little army in a sort of 
 military triumph to the friendly city of Valladolid, where 
 she was welcomed by the citizens with a general burst of en- 
 thusiasm." 
 
 In the mean time Gutierre de Cardenas, one of the house- 
 hold of the princess," and Alfonso de Palencia, the faithful 
 chronicler of these events, were despatched into Aragon in 
 order to quicken Ferdinand's operations, during the auspi- 
 cious 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 Cell, on whose active cooperation they had relied 
 for the safe introduction of Ferdmand into Castile, had been 
 gained over to the interests of the marquis of Villena.^" 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 Ara- 
 gon 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 ex- 
 hausted treasury did not contain more than three hundred 
 enriques."'' In this exigency he was agitated by the most
 
 /24 CASTILE UNDER HENRY IV. 
 
 distressing doubts. As he could spare neither the funds nor 
 the force necessary for covering his son's entrance into Cas- 
 tile, 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 execu- 
 tion. Unable to extricate himself from this dilemma, he re- 
 ferred the whole matter to Ferdinand and his council. '^ 
 
 It was at length determined, that the prince should under- 
 take the journey, accompanied by half a dozen attendants 
 only, in the disguise of merchants, by the direct route from 
 Saragossa; while another party, in order to divert the atterr- 
 tion 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 cavalry for the purpose of intercepting their 
 progress; and the whole extent of the frontier, from Almazan 
 to Guadalajara, was defended by a line of fortified castles in 
 the hands of the family of Mendoza.^^ The greatest circum- 
 spection 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 his 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 expedition, they arrived, 
 late on the second night, at a little place called the Burgo, 
 or Borough, of Osma, which the count of Treviho, 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, glanc- 
 ing near Ferdinand's head, had wellnigh brought his roman- 
 tic enterprise to a tragical conclusion; when his voice was 
 recognized by his friends within, and, the trumpets proclaim- 
 ing his arrival, he was received with great joy and festivity 
 by the count and his followers. The remainder of his jour- 
 ney, which he commenced before dawn, was performed under 
 the convoy of a numerous and well-armed escort; and on 
 the 9th of October he reached Duehas 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."
 
 MARRIAGE OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 125 
 
 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 in- 
 volved 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 approbation of it, giving him at the same 
 time affectionate assurances of the most dutiful submission 
 both on the part of Ferdinand and of herself."' Arrange- 
 ments were then made for an interview between the royal 
 pair, in which some courtly parasites would fain have per- 
 suaded 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 even- 
 ing of the 15th of October, passed privately from Duehas, 
 accompanied only by four attendants, to the neighboring 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 con- 
 stant 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 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 insinuat- 
 ing. He secured 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 chest- 
 nut color, inclining to red; and her mild blue eye beamed 
 with intelligence and sensibility. She was exceedingly beau- 
 tiful; "the handsomest lady," says one of her household, 
 "whom I ever beheld, and the most gracious in her man- 
 ners."" The portrait, still existing of her in the royal 
 palace, is conspicuous for an open symmetry of features, in- 
 dicative of the natural serenity of temper, and that beautiful
 
 126 CASTILE UNDER HENRY IV. 
 
 harmony of intellectual and moral qualities, which most dis- 
 tinguished her. She was dignified in her demeanor, and 
 modest even to a degree of reserve. She spoke the Cas- 
 tilian language with more than usual elegance; and early 
 imbibed a relish for letters, in which she was superior to 
 Ferdinand, whose education 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 glo- 
 rious reign, are so smitten with her moral perfections, that 
 even in depicting her personal, they borrow somewhat of the 
 exaggerated coloring of romance. 
 
 The interview lasted more than two hours, when Ferdi- 
 nand retired to his quarters at Dueiias, 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 cir- 
 cumstances attending the commencement of a union destined 
 to open the way to the highest prosperity and grandeur of 
 the Spanish monrachy! 
 
 The marriage between Ferdinand and Isabella was pub- 
 licly celebrated, on the morning of the 19th of October, in 
 the palace of John de Vivero, the temporary residence of 
 the princess, and subsequently appropriated to the chancery 
 of Valladolid. The nuptials were solemnized 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 pro- 
 duced by the archbishop, relieving the parties from the im- 
 pediment incurred by their falling within the prohibited 
 degrees of consanguinity. The spurious document was 
 afterward 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 interests of Henry, and who knew 
 that Isabella would never consent to a union repugnant to 
 the canons of the established church, and one which involved 
 such heavy ecclesiastical censures. A genuine bull of dis- 
 pensation was obtained, some years later, from Sixtus the 
 Fourth; but Isabella, whose honest mind abhorred everything 
 like artifice, was filled with no little uneasiness and mortifica- 
 tion at the discovery of the imposition.'^''' The ensuing week 
 was consumed in the usual festivities of this joyous season; 
 at the expiration of which, the new-married pair attended
 
 MARRIAGE OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 127 
 
 publicly the celebration of mass, agreeably to the usage of 
 the time, in the collegiate church of Sante 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 assu- 
 rances 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 
 favorable disposition. Henry coldly replied, that "he must 
 advise with his ministers." " 
 
 Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdes, author of the '' Quincuagenas " 
 frequently cited in this History, was born at Madrid, in 1478. He was of 
 noble Asturian descent. Indeed, every peasant in the Asturias claims no- 
 bility 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 his 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 principal work, " Historia General de 
 las Indias," in fifty books. Las Casas denounces the book as a wholesale 
 fabrication, " as full of lies, almost, as pages" ((Euvres, trad, de Llorente, 
 torn. i. p. 382). But Las Casas entertained too hearty an aversion for the 
 man, whom he publicly accused of rapacity and cruelty, and was too decided- 
 ly 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 Quincuagenas. It is en- 
 titled "Las Quincuagenas de los generosos e ilustres e no menos famosos 
 Reyes, Priucipes, Duques, Marqueses y Condes et Caballeros, et Personas 
 notables de Espana, que escribio el Capitan Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo 
 y Valdez, Alcaide de sus Magestades de la Fortaleza de la Cibdad e Puerto 
 de Sancto Domingo de la Isla Espanola, Coronista de las Indias," etc. At 
 the close of the third volume is this record of the octogenarian author ; 
 " Acabe de escribir de mi mano este famoso tractado de la nobleza de 
 Espana, domingo 1° dia de Pascua de Pentecostes XXIII. de mayo de 1556 
 anos. Laus Deo. Y de mi edad 79 anos." This very curious work is in 
 the form of dialogues, in which the author is the chief interlocutor. It con- 
 tains a very full, and, indeed, prolix notice of the principal persons in Spain, 
 their lineage, revenues, and arms, with an inexhaustible fund of private 
 anecdote. The author, who was well acquainted with most of the individ- 
 uals of note in his time, amused himself, during his absence in the New 
 World, with keeping alive the images of home by this minute record of 
 early reminiscences. In this ma.ss of gossip, there is a good deal, indeed, 
 of very little value. It contains, however, much for the illustration of
 
 128 CASTILE UNDER HENRY IV. 
 
 domestic manners, and copious particulars, as I have intimated, rebpectinj^ 
 the characters and habits of eminent personages, which could have been 
 known only to one familiar with them. On all topics of descent and her- 
 aldry, he is uncommonly full; and one would think his services in this de- 
 partment alone, might have secured him, in a land where these are so much 
 respected, the honors of the press. His book, however, still remains in 
 manuscript, apparently little known, and less used, by Castilian scholars. 
 Besides the three folio volumes in the Royal Library at Madrid, from which 
 the transcript in my possession was obtained, Clemencin, whose commen- 
 dations of this work, as illustrative of Isabella's reign, are unqualified 
 (Mem de la Acad, de Hist., torn. vi. Ilust. lo), enumerates three others, 
 two in the king's private library, and one in that of the Academy.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FACTIONS IN CASTILE. — WAR BETWEEN FRANCE AND ARA- 
 GON. — DEATH OF HENRY IV., OF CASTILE. 
 
 1469 — 1474. 
 
 Factions in Castile. — Ferdinand and Isabella. — Gallant Defence of Per- 
 pignan against the French. — Ferdinand raises the Siege — Isabella's 
 Party gains Strength. — Interview between King Henry IV. and Isa- 
 bella. — The French invade Roussillon.— 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 his appointment to the com- 
 mand of the military order above mentioned, a dignity infe 
 rior only to the primacy in importance. It was 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, 
 o)"fering 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 
 oretensions at home.' 
 
 An interview took place between Henry the Fourth a'nd 
 tne French ambassadors in a little village in the vale of 
 Lozoya, in Oc*^ober^ ^47°. A proclamation was read, in 
 which Henry declared his sister to have forfeited whatever 
 claims she had derived from the treaty of Toros de Guisan- 
 do, 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 prac- 
 tised on such occasions, to the count of Boulogne, the repre- 
 sentative of the duke of Guienne.^ 
 6*
 
 130 TROUBLES IN CASTILE AND ARAGON. 
 
 This farce, in which many of the actors were the same per- 
 sons who performed the principal parts at the convention oi' 
 Toros de Guisando, had on the whole an unfavorable influence 
 on Isabella's cause. It exhibited her rival to the world as 
 one whose claims were to be supported by the whole authority 
 of the court of Castile, with the probable cooperation of 
 France. Many of the most considerable families in the 
 kingdom, as the Pachecos ^ the Mendozas in an meir exten- 
 sive ramifications,^ the Zuficigas, the Velacos,' 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 
 Duehas,' were so poor as to be scarcely capable of defraying 
 the ordinary charges 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 prin- 
 cipal reliance was on the archbishop of Toledo, whose ele- 
 vated station in the church 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 inri- 
 mate friends, and complained that neither she nor her hus- 
 band deferred sufficiently to his counsel. The princess 
 could not always conceal her disgust at these humors, ana 
 Ferdinand, on one occasion, plainly told him that "he was 
 not to be put in leading-strings, like so many of the sov.e- 
 reigns 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 Fer- 
 dinand, 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 cor- 
 rupt or frivolous pleasure, the administration of justice was 
 neglected, until crimes were committed with a frequency and
 
 DEATH OF HENRY IV. I3I 
 
 on a scale, which menaced the very foundations of society. 
 The nobles conducted their personal feuds with an array of 
 numbers which might compete with those of powerful prin- 
 ces. The duke of Infantado, the head of the house of 
 Mendoza/ could bring into the field, 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 particu- 
 lar the theatre of this savage warfare. The whole of that 
 extensive district was divided by the factions of the Guz- 
 mans and Ponces de Leon. The chiefs of these ancient 
 houses having recently died, the inheritance descended 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 Rodrigo Ponce de 
 Leon, so deservedly celebrated afterward in the wars of 
 Granada as the marquis of Cadiz. He was the illegitimate 
 and younger son of the count of Arcos, but was preferred 
 by his father to his other children in consequence of the ex- 
 traordinary qualities which he evinced at a very early period. 
 He served his apprenticeship to the art of war in the cam- 
 paigns against the Moors, displaying on several occasions an 
 uncommon degree of enterprise and personal heroism. On 
 succeeding to his paternal honors, his haughty spirit, impa- 
 tient 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 which they 
 brought on the fairest portion of the Peninsula. The hus- 
 bandman, stripped of his harvest and driven from his fields, 
 abandoned himself to idleness, or sought subsistence by 
 plunder. A scarcity ensued in the years 14)2 and 1473, i^i 
 which the prices of the most necessary commodities rose to 
 such an exobritant height, as to 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 unhappy country by an imbecile government 
 and a disputed succession, and which arc portrayed with
 
 133 TROUBLES IN CASTILE AND ARAGON. 
 
 lively fidelity in tlie 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 summoned into Aragon to the assistance 
 of his father. No sooner had Barcelona submitted to king 
 John, as mentioned in a preceding chapter,'^ than the in- 
 habitants of Roussillon and Cerdagne, which provinces, it 
 will be remembered, were placed in the custody of France, 
 as a guaranty for the king of Aragon's engagements, op- 
 pressed b}^ the grievous exactions of their new rulers, deter- 
 mined 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 favorable. 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 simul- 
 taneous insurrection took place throughout the provinces, 
 when such of the French, in the principal towns, as had not 
 the good fortune to escape into the citadels, were indis- 
 criminately massacred. Of all the country, Salces, Collioure, 
 and the castle of Perpignan alone remained in the 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 subjects, 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, assem- 
 bling 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 mean while, 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 v/as provided with a
 
 DEATH OF HENRY IV. I33 
 
 numerous train of battering artillery, instantly opened a 
 heavy fire on the inhabitants. John, thus exposed to the 
 double fire of the fortress and the besiegers, was in a very 
 critical situation. Far from being disheartened, however, he 
 was seen, armed cap-a-pie, on horseback from dawn till even- 
 ing, rallying the spirits of his troops, and always present at 
 the point of danger. He succeeded perfectly in communi- 
 cating his own enthusiasm to the soldiers. The French gar- 
 rison 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 Cas- 
 tilian 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 descend- 
 ed the Pyrenees, by the way of Manganara, in the face of a 
 driving tempest, which concealed 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 precipita- 
 tion as to leave most of the sick and wounded a prey to the 
 devouring element. John marched out, with colors flying 
 and music playing, at the head of his little band, to greet his 
 deliverers; and, after an affecting 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 monarchs, in which it was ar- 
 ranged that the king of Aragon should disburse 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 Cer- 
 dagne should be permanently ceded to the French crown.
 
 t$4 TROUBLES IN CASTILE AND ARAGON. 
 
 • The commanders of the fortified places rn the contested terr^ 
 tx)ry, 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.'" 
 
 There is little reason to believe that this singular compact 
 was subscribed in good faith by either party. John, notwith- 
 standing the temporary succor which he had received from 
 Louis at the commencement of his difficulties with the Cata- 
 lans, might justly complain of the infraction of his engage- 
 ments, at a subsequent period of the war; when he not only 
 withheld the stipulated aid, but indireclly gave every facility 
 in his power to the invasion of the duke of Lorraine. 
 Neither was the king of 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 reorganize 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 ex- 
 traordinary proceeding, were sufficient to deter any one from 
 a connection, which must involve the party in all the disasters 
 of a civil war.'* 
 
 Isabella's own character, moreover, contributed essentially 
 to strengthen her cause. Her sedate conduct, and the de- 
 corum maintained in her court, formed a strong contrast with 
 the frivolity and license which disgraced that of Henry and 
 his consort. Thinking men were led to conclude that the 
 sagacious administration of Isabella must eventually secure 
 to her the ascendency over her rival; while all, who sincerely 
 loved their country, could not but prognosticate for it, under 
 her 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.
 
 DEATH OF HENRY IV. I35 
 
 Amont); the persons whose opinions experienced a decided 
 revolution from these considerations, was Pedro Gonzalez de 
 Mendoza, archbishop of Seville and cardinal of Spain; a pre- 
 late, whose lofty station in the church was supported hy 
 talents of the highest order, and 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 affairs and discernment of character. With- 
 out deserting his former master, he privately entered into a 
 correspondence with Isabella; and a service, which Ferdi- 
 nand, on his return from Aragon, had an opportunity of ren- 
 dering the duke of Infantado, the head of the Mendozas,'* 
 secured the attachment of the other members of this power- 
 ful family.'" 
 
 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 cf 
 Segovia, whose impregnable citadel had been made the de- 
 pository of the royal treasure, was intrusted to Andreas 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, Beatriz 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 sus- 
 picions which she might entertain of his sincerity, despatched 
 his wife secretly by night, disguised in the garb of a peasant, 
 to Aranda, where Isabella then held her court. The latter 
 confirmed by the assurances of her friend, did not hesitate 
 to comply with the invitation, and, accompanied by the arch- 
 bishop of Toledo, proceeded to Segovia, where an interview 
 took place between her and Henry the Fourth, in which she 
 vindicated her past conduct, and endeavored to obtain her 
 brother's sanction to her union with Ferdinand. Henry, 
 who was naturally of a placable temper, received her com- 
 munication with complacency, and, in order to give public 
 demonstration of the good understanding now subsisting be- 
 tween him and his sister, condescended 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 oi fetes 
 and splendid entertainments, at which both parties assisted,
 
 136 TROUBLES IN CASTILE AND ARAGON. 
 
 seemed to announce an entire oblivion of all past animosi- 
 ties, and the nation welcomed with satisfaction these symp- 
 toms 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 sud- 
 denly seized after an entertainment given by Cabrera, in 
 infusing into his mind suspicions of an attempt at assassina- 
 tion. Henry was so far incensed or alarmed by the sugges- 
 tion, 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 friends. ^^ But, if the visit to Sego- 
 via failed in its destined purpose of a reconciliation with 
 Henry, it was attended with the important consequence 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 
 
 Not 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 principal 
 nobles, accompanied by a brilliant train of cavaliers and at- 
 tendants, had been deputed by John to the court of Louis 
 XL, 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 three years of age."^ The real object 
 of the mission was to effect some definite adjustment or com- 
 promise of the differences relating to the contested territories 
 of Roussillon and Cerdagne. The king of France, who, 
 notwithstanding his late convention with John, was making 
 active preparations for the forcible occupation of these pro- 
 vinces, 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 ambassa- 
 dors in the interim were entertained with balls, fetes, military 
 reviews, and whatever else might divert them from the real
 
 DEATH OP HENRY IV. I37 
 
 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 Roussil- 
 lon; and when the ambassadors, after a fruitless attempt at 
 negotiation, which evaporated in mutual crimination and re- 
 crimination, 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 ascer- 
 tain the safest route through a country intersected by hostile 
 armies; and all this, notwithstanding their repeated protes- 
 tations 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 
 Roussillon at the head of nine hundred French lancers and 
 ten thousand infantry, supported by a powerful train of ar- 
 tillery, while a fleet of Genoese transports, laden with sup- 
 plies, accompanied the army along the coast. Elna surren- 
 dered 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 much impoverished by the incessant 
 wars in which he had been engaged, that he was not only un- 
 able 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 ex- 
 pense of transporting his baggage. In this extremity, find- 
 ing himself disappointed in the cooperation, on which he 
 had reckoned, of his ancient allies the dukes of Burgundy 
 and Bittainy, 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 no- 
 ticing, as strongly characteristic of the lawless habits of the 
 age. A citizen of Saragossa, named Ximenes Gordo, of no- 
 ble family, but who had relinquished the privileges of his 
 rank in order to qualify himself for municipal office, had ac- 
 quired such ascendency 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
 
 138 TROUBLES IN CASTILE AND ARAGON, 
 
 making use of it not only for the perversion of justice, but 
 for the perpetration of tile most flagrant crimes. Although 
 these facts were notorious, yet such were his power and 
 popularity with the lower classes, that Ferdinand, despair- 
 ing of bringing him to justice in the ordinary way, deter- 
 mined 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 favor, 
 showing him such courtesy as might dissipate any distrust 
 he had conceived of him. Gordo, thus asssured, was invited 
 at one of those interviews to withdraw into a retired apart- 
 ment, where the prince wished to confer with him on busi- 
 ness of moment. On entering the chamber he was sur- 
 prised 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 of 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, 
 consigned 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 crimes in the ordinary course of jus- 
 tice. This extraordinary proceeding is highly characteristic 
 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 ap- 
 proached the nearest to a determinate constitution. It will 
 doubtless remind the reader of the similar proceeding im- 
 puted to Louis the Eleventh, in the admirable sketch given 
 us of that monarch in "Quentin Durward." " 
 
 The supplies furnished by the Aragonese cortes were in- 
 adequate to kmg John's necessities, and he was compelled, 
 while hovering with his little force on the confines of Rous- 
 sillon, to witness the gradual reduction of its capital, without 
 being able to strike a blow in its defence. The inhabitants, 
 indeed, who fought with a resolution worthy of ancient 
 Numantia or Saguntum, were reduced to the last extremity 
 of famine, supporting life by feeding on the most loathsome
 
 DEATH OF HENRY IV. I39 
 
 offal, on cats, dogs, the corpses of their enemies, and even 
 on such of their own dead as had fallen in battle! And when 
 at length an honorable capitulation was granted them on the 
 14th of March, 1475, ^^^^ 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 inhabi- 
 tant 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, in- 
 structing them to depart from their engagements, 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 execu- 
 tion. " " Such was the miserable medley of hypocrisy and 
 superstition, which characterized the politics of the European 
 courts in this corrupt age, and which dimmed the luster of 
 names, most conspicuous on the page of history. 
 
 The occupation of Roussillon was followed by a truce 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 nth 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 sup- 
 port, 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 suc- 
 cession had been so long and hotly debated.'" The testa-
 
 140 TROUBLES IN CASTILE AND ARAGON, 
 
 ments of the Castilian sovereigns, though never esteemed 
 positively binding, and occasionally, indeed, set aside, when 
 deemed unconstitutional or even inexpedient by the legisla- 
 ture,'" were always allowed to have great weight with the 
 nation. 
 
 With 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 gen- 
 erations had exhibited every gradation of character from the 
 bold and chivalrous enterprise of the 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. Ii. 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 con- 
 trary, is too often a mere tool in the hands of favorites, who, 
 finding themselves screened by the interposition of royal 
 authority from the consequences of measures for which they 
 should be justly responsible, 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 worth- 
 less 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 
 Palencia and Enriquez del Castillo, were eyewitnesses and conspicuous 
 actors in the scenes which they recorded, and connected with opposite fac- 
 tions. The former of these writers, Alonso de Palencia, was born, as 
 appears from his work, "De Synonymis," cited by Pellicer (Bibliotheca de
 
 DEATH OF HENRY IV. I4I 
 
 Traductores, p. 7), in 1423. Nic. Antonio has fallen into the error of 
 dating his birth nine years later. (Bibliotheca Vetus, torn. ii. p. 331). At 
 the age of seventeen, he became page to Alfonso of Carthagena, 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 
 afterward visited Italy, where he became acquainted with Cardinal Bes- 
 sarion, and through him with the learned Greek Trapezuntius, whose lec- 
 tures 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 negotia- 
 tions, particularly in arranging the marriage of the princess with Ferdinind, 
 for which purpose he made a secret journey into Aragon. On the accession 
 of Isabella, he was confirmed in the office of national chronicler, and 
 passed the remainder of his life in the composition of philological and his- 
 torical 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 (see Mendez, Typographia Espanola (Madrid, 
 1796), p. 190), 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 pro- 
 lixity 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 sometimes with the acerbity of party feel- 
 ing. He has been much commended by the best Spanish writers, such as 
 Zurita, Zuniga, Marina, Clemencin, for his veracity. The internal evi- 
 dence 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 care, as addressed to a 
 learned class of readers; and they are lauded by Nic. Antonio as an elegant 
 commentary, worthy to be assiduously studied by all who would acquaint 
 themselves with the history of their country. The art of printing has done 
 less perhaps for Spain than for any other country in Europe; and these 
 two valuable histories are still permitted to swell the rich treasure of man- 
 uscripts with which the libraries are overloaded. 
 
 Enriquez del Castillo, a native of Segovia, was the chaplain and his- 
 toriographer 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 com- 
 piled, 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
 
 142 TROUBLES IN CASTILE AND ARAGON. 
 
 hard with him, had it not been for his ecclesiastical profession. He subse- 
 quently escaped, but never recovered his manuscripts, which were probably 
 destroyed; and, in the Introduction to his Chronicle, he laments, that he 
 has been obliged to rewrite the first half of his master's reign. 
 
 Notwithstanding Castillo's familiarity with public affairs, his work is not 
 written in the business-like style of Palencia's. The sentiments exhibit a 
 moral sensibility scarcely to have 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 
 in a strain of considerable eloquence. The spirit of his work, notwithstand- 
 ing its abundant loyalty, may be also commended for its candor in relation 
 to the partisans of Isabella; which has led some critics to suppose that it 
 underwent a rifacinieiito after the accession of that princess to the throne. 
 
 Castilloo's Chronicle, more fortunate than that of his rival, has been 
 published in a handsome form under the care of Don Jose Mignel de 
 Flores, Secretary of the Spanish Academy of History, to whose learned 
 labors in this way Castilian literature is so much indebted.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ACCESSION OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. — WAR OF THE 
 SUCCESSION. BATTLE OF TORO. 
 
 1474— 1476. 
 
 Isabella proclaimed Queen. — Settlement of the Crown. — Alfonso of Portu- 
 gal supports Joanna. — Invades Castile. — Retreat of the Castilians. — 
 Appropriation of the Churcli Plate. — Reorganization 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. 
 
 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 licentiousness of the queen, 
 and some other collateral circumstances, was never estab- 
 lished by legal evidnece, or even made the subject of legal 
 inquiry, it cannot reasonably be adduced as affording in 
 itself a satisfactory basis for the pretensions of Isabella.' 
 
 These are to be derived from the will of the nation as ex- 
 pressed by its representatives in cortes. The power of this 
 body to interpret the laws regulating the succession, and to 
 determine the succession itself, in the most absolute manner, 
 is incontrovertible, having been established by repeated pre- 
 cedents from a very ancient period.'^ In the present in- 
 stance, the legislature, soon after the birth of Joanna, ten- 
 dered 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, not- 
 withstanding Henry twice convoked the states for the ex- 
 press purpose of renewing their allegiance to Joanna, they 
 refused to comply with the summons;^ and thus Isabella,
 
 144 ACCESSION OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 
 
 at the time of her brother's death, possessed a title to the 
 crown unimpaired, and derived from the sole authoritywhich 
 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 inhab- 
 itants of Segovia, where she then resided, her desire of 
 being proclaimed queen in that city, with the solemnities 
 usual on such occasions.^ Accordingly, on the following 
 morning, being the 13th of December, 1474, a numerous 
 assembly, consisting of the nobles, clergy, and public mag- 
 istrates 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 ofificer of her court 
 preceded her on horseback, 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 Doiia Isabella, 
 queen proprietor [reina proprietaria) 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 the same cortege, moved 
 slowly towards the cathedral church; where, after Te Deum 
 had been chanted, she prostrated herself before the principal 
 altar, and, returning thanks to the Almighty for the protec- 
 tion 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 favorable to Isabella's cause, comprehending 
 far the most populous and wealthy throughout the kingdom, 
 followed the example of Segovia, and raised the royal stand- 
 ard for their new sovereign. The principal grandees, as well
 
 WAR OF THE SUCCESSION. I45 
 
 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 proceed- 
 ings.' 
 
 On Ferdinand's arrival from Aragon, where he was staying 
 at the time of Henry's death, occupied with the war of 
 Roussillon, a disagreeable discussion took place in regard to 
 the respective authority to be enjoyed by the husband and 
 wife in the administration of the government. Ferdinand's 
 relatives, with the admiral Henriquez at their head, con- 
 tended that the crown of Castile, and of course the exclu- 
 sive sovereignty, was limited to him as the nearest male 
 representative of the house of Trastamara. Isabella's 
 friends, on the other hanjd, insisted that these rights dc- 
 voled solely on her, as the lawful heir and proprietor of 
 the kingdom. The affair was finally referred to the arbitra- 
 tion of the cardinal of Spain and the archbishop of Toledo, 
 who, after careful 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 Ara- 
 gon;^ that Isabella was consequently sole heir of these 
 dominions; and that whatever authority Ferdmand might 
 possess, could only be derived through her. A settlement 
 was then made on the basis of the original marriage con- 
 tract." All municipal appointments, and collation to eccle- 
 siastical 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 commanders 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 and let- 
 ters patent were to be subscribed with the signatures of both; 
 their imagoes 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 indivisi- 
 ble; that his will would be hers; and that the principle of 
 the exclusion of females from the succession, if now estab- 
 VOL. I.— 7.
 
 146 ACCESSION OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 
 
 lished, 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 Villena, 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 pos- 
 sessed a similar interest in the frontier province of Estrema- 
 dura. With these were combined the grand master of Cala- 
 trava and his brother, together with the young marquis of 
 Cadiz, and, as it soon appeared, the archbishop of Toledo. 
 This later dignitary, whose heart had long swelled with secret 
 jealousy at the rising fortunes of the cardinal Mendoza, 
 could no longer brook the ascendency, which that prelate's 
 consummate sagacity and insinuating address had given him 
 over the counsels of his young sovereigns. After some awk- 
 ward 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 correspond- 
 ence with Isabella's enemies, that he was busy in undermin- 
 ing the fortunes of the very individual, whom he had so zeal- 
 ously labored to elevate." 
 
 Under the auspices of this coalition, propositions were 
 made to Alfonso 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 inheri- 
 tance. 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, unsupported, as the latter must be, by 
 the cooperation of Aragon, whose arms already found suffi- 
 cient occupation with the French. 
 
 Alfonso, whose victories orer the Barbary Moors had given 
 him the cognomen of "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
 
 WAR OF THE SUCCESSION. 147 
 
 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 con- 
 quest 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 princi- 
 pally 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 prospect 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 vaunt- 
 ing, and, as may be supposed, ineffectual summons to the 
 Castilian sovereigns to resign their crown in favor of 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 for- 
 midable 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 com/iensated 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 negotia- 
 tions were entered into with the king of France, who was 
 invited to make a descent upon Biscay, by a promise, some- 
 what premature, of a cession of the conquered territory. 
 
 Early in May, the king of Portugal put his army in motion, 
 and, entering Castile by the way of Estremadura, held a 
 northerly course toward Placencia, where he was met by the 
 duke of Arevalo and the marquis of Villena, and by the latter 
 nobleman presented to the princes.; Joanna, his destined
 
 148 ACCESSION OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 
 
 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, 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 immedi- 
 ately commenced active operations with the aid of the marquis 
 of Cadiz, who it was understood was prepared to support him 
 in that quarter, it is difficult to say what might have been 
 the result. Ferdinand and Isabella were so wholly unpre- 
 pared 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 garrisoned towns as required to 
 be confirmed in their allegiance, performing long and pain- 
 ful journeys on horseback with surprising celerity, and en- 
 during fatigues, which, as she was at that time in delicate 
 health, wellnigh proved fatal to her constitution." 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 thou- 
 sand men-at-arms, eight thousand light horse, and thirty 
 thousand foot, an ill-disciplined militia, chiefly drawn from 
 the mountainous districts of the north, which manifested pe- 
 culiar devotion to his cause; his partisans in the south being
 
 WAR OF THE SUCCESSION. I49 
 
 preoccupied with suppressing domestic revolt, and with in- 
 cursions 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 de- 
 fence. While occupied with its reduction, Alfonso was in- 
 vited 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 impor- 
 tant to the king of Portugal from their vicinity to his domin- 
 ions, 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 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 im- 
 mediately drew up his army, before its walls, in order of bat- 
 tle. 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 dis- 
 pute arising respecting the guaranty 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 com- 
 munications were cut off, in consequence of the neighbor- 
 ing fortresses being in possession of the enemy, it soon 
 became straitened for provisions. It was accordingly de- 
 cided in a council of war to retreat without further delay. 
 No sooner was this determination known, than it excited 
 general dissatisfaction throughout the camp. The soldiers 
 loudly complained that the king was betrayed by his nobles; 
 and a party of over-loyal Biscayans, inflamed by the suspi- 
 cions 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 ex- 
 planations and remonstrances. The ensuing retreat was con
 
 150 ACCESSION OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 
 
 ducted 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 annihi- 
 lated 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 afterward 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 distaff, 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 revo- 
 lutionary 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 bow far it might be 
 shaken by such a blow occurring at this crisis."* For- 
 tunately, Alfonso was in no condition to profit by his suc- 
 cess. 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 expected, found sufficient occupation in the defence 
 of their own territories against the loyal partisans of Isa- 
 bella. At the same time, numerous squadrons of light 
 cavalry from Estremadura 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 the theatre of war; and Alfonso 
 saw himself under the necessity of detaching so consider- 
 able a portion of his army for the defence of his frontier, as 
 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 consideration 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 Isa- 
 bella, although acquiescing in the stipulated money payment, 
 would not consent to the dismemberment of a single inch 
 of the Castilian territory. 
 
 In the mean time both the queen and her husband, un-
 
 WAk OF THE SUCCESSION. ic;! 
 
 dismayed by past reverses, were making every exertion for 
 the reorganization of an army on a more efficient footing. 
 To accomplish this object, an additional supply of funds be- 
 came 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 favor 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. 
 She accordingly convened an assembly of the states, in the 
 month of August, 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 de- 
 vised for meeting the stipulated requisitions. It was pro- 
 posed to deliver into the royal treasury half the 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 maravedies. The clergy, who were 
 very generally attached to Isabella's interests, far from dis- 
 couraging this startling proposal, endeavored to vanquish the 
 queen's repugnance to it, by arguments and pertinent illus- 
 trations 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 bet- 
 ter 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 
 preparations, 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 diminished 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. 
 
 Early in December, Ferdinand passed from the siege of 
 Burgos, in Old Castile, to Zamora, whose inhabitants ex- 
 pressed a desire to return to their ancient allegiance; and,
 
 t^i ACCESSION OF FfiRDlNAND ANt» tSASELLA. 
 
 with the cooperation 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 determiend to relieve it at every hazard, and for this 
 purpose despatched a messenger 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 thou- 
 sand 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, pro- 
 claiming 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 
 Portugese 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 
 nothern extremity of the town, prevented him from relieving 
 it, either by throwing succors into it, or by annoying 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 ar- 
 tillery, to inflict much heavier injury on their opponents, 
 than they could possibly receive from them. Still Ferdi-
 
 WAR OF* THE SUCCESSION, I53 
 
 nand's men, exposed to the double fire of the fortress and the 
 besiegers, would willingly have come to an engagement with 
 the latter; but the river, swollen by winter torrents, was not 
 fordable, and the bridge, the only direct avenue to the city, 
 was enfiladed by the enemys' 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 cir- 
 cumstance, together with the tidings of the rapid advance 
 of additional forces to the support of Ferdinand, determined 
 Alfonso, contrary to all expectation, on an immediate re- 
 treat; and accordingly on the morning of the ist of March, 
 being little less than a fortnight from the time in which he 
 commenced this empty gasconade, the 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 ex- 
 tremity 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, 
 as the latter was defiling though 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 expe- 
 diency 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 por- 
 tion of the heavy-armed infantry in the rear. Notwithstand- 
 ing 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 
 
 7*
 
 154 ACCESSION OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 
 
 more than sufificient to counterbalance every pnysical disad. 
 vantage; and the question of battle was decided in the affir- 
 mative. 
 
 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 Portu- 
 gal led the centre, with the archbishop of Toledo on his 
 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 
 favor 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 Alba on his 
 left; while his right wing, distributed into six battles or divi- 
 sions, under their several commanders, was supported by a 
 detachment of men-at-arms from the provinces of Leon and 
 Galicia. 
 
 The action commenced in this quarter. The Castilians, 
 raising the war-cry of "St. James and St. Lazarus," ad- 
 vanced on the enemy's left under Prince John, but were 
 saluted with such a brisk and well-directed fire from his 
 arquebrsiers, that their ranks were disconcerted. The Por- 
 tuguese men-at-arms, charging them at the same time, aug- 
 mented their confusion, and compelled them to fall back 
 precipitately on the narrow pass in their rear, where, being 
 supported by some fresh detachments from the reserve, they 
 were with difficulty rallied by their officers, and again brought 
 into the field. In the mean while, 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 in- 
 fused new ardor into their soldiers, who fought as if conscious 
 that this struggle was to decide the fate of their masters. 
 The lances were shivered 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 wliole 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 bearer, Edward 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
 
 WAR OF THE SUCCESSIOK. I55 
 
 assailants. The armor of this knight was to be seen as late 
 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 fact recorded in Grecian story. 
 
 The old archbishop of Toledo, and the cardinal Mendoza, 
 who, like his reverend rival, had exchanged the crosier for 
 the corslet, were to be seen on that day in the thickest of 
 the 7nelee. The holy wars with the infidel perpetuated the 
 unbecoming spectacle of militant ecclesiastics among the 
 Spaniards, to a still later period, and long after it had disap- 
 peared from the rest of civilized Europe. 
 
 At length, after an obstinate struggle of more than three 
 hours, the valor 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 fiank, 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 endeavored 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 tid- 
 ings of the fatal victory to Zamora. 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 army from destruction. Several 
 Portuguese companies, under favor of this obscurity, con- 
 trived to elude their foes by shouting the Castilian battle-cry. 
 Prince John, retiring with a fragment of his broken squadrons 
 to a neighboring 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 I'oro. The king of Portugal, who was missing, was 
 supposed to have perished in the battle, until, by advices 
 received from him late on the following day, it was ascer- 
 tained that he had escaped without personal injury, and with 
 three or four attendants only, to the fortified castle of Castro 
 Nuno, some leagues distant from the field of action. Num- 
 bers of his troops, attempting to escape across the neighbor- 
 ing frontiers into their own country, were maimed or massa- 
 cred by the Spanish peasants, in retaliation of the excesses 
 wantonly committed by them in their invasion of Castile.
 
 156 ACCESSION OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 
 
 Ferdinand, shocked at this barbarity, 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 honorable, 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 midnight, 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 baggage were taken in 
 the engagement, and more than two thousand of the enemy 
 slain or made prisoners. Queen Isabella, on receiving tid- 
 ings of the event at Tordesillas, where she then was, ordered 
 a procession to the church of St. Paul in the suburbs, in which 
 she herself joined, walking barefoot with all humility, and 
 offered up a devout thanksgiving to the God of battles for 
 the victory with which he had crowned her arms.''^ 
 
 It was indeed a most auspicious victory, not so much from 
 the immediate loss inflicted on the enemy, as from its moral 
 influence on the Castilian nation. Such as had before vacil- 
 lated in their faith, who, in the expressive language of Ber- 
 naldez, "estaban aviva quien vence," — who were prepared 
 to take sides with the strongest, now openly proclaimed 
 their allegiance to Ferdinand and Isabella; while most of 
 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 demonstrations of the most loyal submis- 
 sion, and sought to make the best terms for themselves 
 which they could. Among these latter, the duke of Arevalo, 
 who indeed had made overtures to this effect some time 
 previous through the agency of his son, together with the 
 grand master of Calatrava, and the count of Uruefia, his 
 brother, experienced the lenity of government, and were 
 confirmed in the entire possession of their estates. The 
 two principal delinquents, the marquis of Villena 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, the desertion of their 
 vassals, and the sequestration of their revenues, were fain to 
 purchase a pardon at the price of the most humble con- 
 cessions, and the forfeiture of an ample portion of domain. 
 
 The castle of Zamora, expecting no further succors from 
 Portugal, speedily surrendered, and this event was soon fol-
 
 WAR OF THE SUCCESSION. 157 
 
 lowed 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." 
 
 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 Guipuscoa, from which 
 they had already twice been driven by the intrepid natives, 
 and whence they again retired with precipitation on receiv- 
 ing news of the king's approach." 
 
 Alfonso, finding his authority in Castile thus rapidly melt- 
 ing away before the rising influence of Ferdinand and Isa- 
 bella, withdrew with his virgin bride into Portugal, where he 
 formed the resolution of visiting France in person, and 
 soliciting succor 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 everywhere the honors due to his exalted rank, 
 and to the signal mark of confidence which he thus exhibited 
 toward the French king. The keys of the cities were de- 
 livered into his hands, the prisoners were released from their 
 dungeons, and his progress was attended by a general jubi- 
 lee. His brother monarch, however, excused himself from 
 aft'ording 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 dispensa- 
 tion for his marriage with Joanna 
 
 The defeat and death of the duke of Burgundy, whose camp, 
 before Nanci, 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 neaier the object of his 
 negotiations; and, after waiting a whole year a needy suppli- 
 cant 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. Overwhelmed with 
 shame at his own credulity, he felt himself unable to en- 
 counter the ridicule which awaited his return to Portugal, 
 and secretly withdrew, with two or three domestics only, to
 
 158 ACCESSION OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 
 
 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, 
 in some retired monastery;" and he concluded with request- 
 ing 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 in execution, and his 
 trusty followers succeeded, though with considerable diffi- 
 culty, 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 des- 
 perate an extremity as that of his projected pilgrimage, 
 provided a fleet of ships to transport him back to his own do- 
 minions, where, to complete the farce, he arrived just five days 
 after the ceremony of his son's coronation as king of Portu- 
 gal. Nor was it destined that the luckless monarch should 
 solace himself, as he had hoped, in the arms of his youthful 
 bride; since the pliant pontiff, Sixtus the Fourth, was ulti- 
 mately persuaded by the court 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 influenced 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 enter- 
 prise against Castile.^" 
 
 While these hostile movements were in progress, Ferdi- 
 nand, 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 pacification of 
 Navarre, which still continued to be rent with those san- 
 guinary feuds, that were bequeathed like a precious legacy 
 from one generation to another.^' In the autumn of the 
 same year a treaty of peace was definitely adjusted between 
 the plenipotentiaries of Castile and 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.'*
 
 WAR OF THE SUCCESSION. 159 
 
 Thus released from apprehension in this quarter, the sov- 
 ereigns were enabled to give their undivided attention to 
 the defence of the western borders. Isabella, accordingly, 
 early in the ensuing winter, passed into Estremadura 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 Por- 
 tugal, carried on from their private fortresses a most deso- 
 lating and predatory warfare over the circumjacent territory. 
 Private mansions and farmhouses 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 greatest facility. Her counsellors remonstrated against 
 this exposure of her person in the very heait of the dis- 
 affected country; but she replied that "it was not for her to 
 calculate perils or fatigues in her own cause, nor by an unsea- 
 sonable timidity to dishearten her friends, with whom she was 
 now resolved to remain until she had brought the war to a 
 conclusion." She then gave immediate orders for laying 
 siege at the same time to the fortified towns of Medellin, 
 Merida, and Deleytosa. 
 
 At this juncture the infanta Dona Beatriz of Portugal, 
 sister-in-law of king Alfonso, and maternal sunt 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 mediator of peace between the bellig- 
 erent 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 embarrassments 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 establish- 
 ing a cordial reconciliation, they resulted, after eight days' 
 discussion, 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 unpalatable to receive an immediate 
 assent; and it was not until the expiration of six months, 
 during which Isabella, fur from relaxing, persevered with
 
 l6o ACCESSION OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 
 
 increased energy in her original plan of operations, that the 
 treaty was formally ratified by the court of Lisbon." 
 
 It was stipulated in this compact, that Alfonso should re- 
 linquish the title and armorial bearings, which 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 si.x months, either to quit Portugal for ever, or to re- 
 main 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 Alfonso, son of the prince of Por- 
 tugal, 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 Estremadura, which, 
 from their local position, had necessarily been kept in con- 
 stant collision with the enemy. Its baneful effects were long 
 visible there, not only in the general devastation and distress 
 of the country, but in the moral disorganization, which the 
 licentious and predatory habits of soldiers necessarily intro- 
 duced among a simple peasantry. In a personal view, how- 
 ever, the war had terminated most triumphantly for Isabella, 
 whose wise and vigorous administration, seconded by her 
 husband's vigilance, had dispelled the storm, which threat- 
 ened 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 pro- 
 vision for her marriage with an infant still in the cradle, only 
 a flimsy veil intended to disguise the king of Portugal's de- 
 sertion 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 de- 
 termined 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, in the fol- 
 lowing 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 rev-
 
 WAR OF THE SUCCESSION. l6l 
 
 trend father, in a copious exhortation addressed to the youth- 
 ful 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 libertv, partaking more 
 of Heaven than of earth. No kinsman," continued the dis- 
 interested 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 continue to call her, — resolved to imitate her 
 example, and exchange his royal robes for the humble habit of 
 a Franciscan friar. He consequently made preparation 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 pos- 
 session 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 
 vigor, unimpaired to the last. His long life was consumed 
 in civil faction or foreign wars; and his restless spirit seemed 
 to take delight in these tumultuous scenes, as best fitted to 
 develop 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 accom- 
 plishment of his purposes, much more on negotiation than 
 on positive force. He may be said to have been one of the 
 first monarchs, who brought into vogue that refined science 
 of the cabinet, which was so 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, 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
 
 l62 ACCESSION OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 
 
 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 mon- 
 archy.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. 
 1475— 1482. 
 
 Schemes of Reform. — Holy Brotherhood. — Tumult at Segovia. — The 
 Queen's Presence of Mind. — Severe Execution of Justice. — Royal 
 Progress through Andalusia. — Reorganization of the Tribunals. — Cas- 
 tilian 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 adminis- 
 tration of Castile, since 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 those 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 ex- 
 clusively for the benefit of his people; who, endowed with 
 intellectual gifts corresponding with his station, in an age of 
 comparative barbarism, endeavors to impart to his land the 
 light of civilization 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 suffi- 
 cient wisdom to devise, and energy to execute, the most salu- 
 tary schemes of reform, and thus to infuse a new principle
 
 164 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. 
 
 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 princi- 
 pally 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 effi- 
 cient administration of justice. II. The codification of the 
 laws. III. The depression of the nobles. IV. The vindi- 
 cation of ecclesiastical rights belonging to the crown from 
 the usurpation of the papal see. V. The regulation of trade. 
 VI. The preeminence of royal authority. 
 
 I. The administration of justice. In the dismal anarchy, 
 which prevailed in Henry the Fourth's reign, the authority 
 of the monarch and of the royal judges had fallen into such 
 contempt, that the law was entirely without force. The 
 cities afforded no better protection than the open country. 
 Every man's hand seemed to be lifted against his neighbor. 
 Property was plundered; persons were violated; the most 
 holy sanctuaries profaned; and the numerous fortresses scat- 
 tered throughout the country, instead of sheltering the weak, 
 converted into dens of robbers.' Isabella saw no better 
 way of checking this unbounded license, than to direct 
 against it that popular engine, the Sa/ita Hermandad, or Holy 
 Brotherhood, which had more than once shaken the Cas- 
 tilian monarchs on their throne. 
 
 The project for the reorganization of this institution was 
 introduced into the cortes held, the year after Isabella's ac- 
 cession at Madrigal, in 1476. It was carried into effect by 
 the Junta of deputies from the different cities of the king- 
 dom, convened at Dueiias in the same year. The new insti- 
 tution differed essentially from the ancient hermandades, 
 since, instead of being partial in its extent, it was designed 
 to embrace the whole kingdom; and, instead of being di- 
 rected, as had often been the case, against the crown itself, 
 it was set in motion at the suggestion 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, 
 and in cities by such offenders as escaped into the coun- 
 try; house-breaking; rape; and resistance of justice. The 
 specification of these crimes shows their frequency; and the 
 reason for designating the open country, as the particular 
 
 J
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. 165 
 
 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 strong-holds or fort- 
 resses, with which it was plentifully studded. 
 
 An annual contribution of eighteen thousand maravedies 
 was assessed on every hundred vecinos or householders, for 
 the equipment and maintenance 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 quadrilleros or officers of the brotherhood, stationed on 
 the different points, took 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 jurisdiction of the hermandad; 
 and an appeal lay from them in specified cases to a supreme 
 council. A general junta, composed of deputies from the 
 cities throughout the kingdom, was annually convened for 
 the regulation of affairs, and their instructions were trans- 
 mitted to provincial juntas, who superintended the execution 
 of them. The laws, enacted at different times in these assem- 
 blies, were compiled into a code under the sanction of the 
 junta general at Tordelaguna, in 1485.^ The penalties for 
 theft, which are literally written in blood, 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 
 rigor, which nothing but the extreme necessity of the case 
 could justify. Capital executions were conducted by shoot- 
 ing 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 speed- 
 ily as possible, in order that his soul may pass the more 
 securely." ^ 
 
 Notwithstanding the popular constitution of the herman- 
 dad, and the obvious advantages attending its introduction 
 at this juncture, it experienced so decided an opposition 
 from the nobility, who discerned the check it was likely to 
 impose on their authority, that it required all the queen'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 intro- 
 duce it among his vassals. His example was gradually fol- 
 lowed by others of the same rank; and, when the city of
 
 l66 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. 
 
 Seville, and the great lords of Andalusia, had consented to 
 receive it, it speedily became established throughout the 
 kingdom. Thus a standing 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 counsels of the hermandad, constituted moreover a sort 
 of inferior cortes, relieving the exigencies of government, 
 as we shall see hereafter, on more than one occasion, by im- 
 portant 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; and the bless- 
 ings of personal security and social order, so U ng estranged 
 from the nation, were again restored to it. 
 
 The important benefits, resulting from the institution of 
 the hermandad, 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 ob- 
 tained, 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 for the administration of justice, 
 over whom the regular courts of criminal law possessed ap- 
 pellate 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 ex- 
 isted, with various modifications of form, down to the pres- 
 ent 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 personal address, and presence 
 of mind in danger, and by the influence which a conviction 
 of her integrity gave her over the minds of the 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 posses-
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. 167 
 
 sion of the outworks of the citadel, and to compel the deputy 
 of the alcayde, who was himself absent, to take shelter, to- 
 gether with the princess Isabella, then the only daughter of 
 the sovereigns, in the defences, where they were rigorously 
 blockaded. 
 
 The queen, on receiving tidings of the event at Tordesillas, 
 mounted her horse and proceeded with all possible de- 
 spatch 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 deputation 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 used to receive conditions from rebellious sub- 
 jects." 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 mean while, 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 people were making lo put 
 their menaces into execution, besought their mistress to 
 cause the gates to be secured more strongly, as the only 
 mode of defense 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 thown open for the ad- 
 mission of the people. She stationed herself at the further 
 extremity of the area, and, as the populace poured in, calmly 
 demanded the cause of the insurrection. "Tell me," said 
 she, "what are your grievances, 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 sov- 
 ereign, as well as by her cool and dignified demeanor, 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,
 
 l68 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. 
 
 pacified by these assurances, shouted "Long Hve the queen!" 
 and eagerly hastened to obey her mandates. 
 
 After thus turning aside the edge of popular fury, Isabella 
 proceeded with her retinue to the royal residence in the city, 
 attended by the fickle multitude, whom she again addressed 
 on arriving there, admonishing them to return to their voca- 
 tions, as this was no time for calm inquiry; and promising, 
 that, if they would send three or four of their number to her 
 on the morrow to report the extent of their grievances, she 
 would examine into the affair, and render justice to all parties. 
 The mob accordingly dispersed and the queen, after a can- 
 did examination, having ascertained the groundlessness or 
 gross exaggeration of the misdemeanors imputed to Cabrera, 
 and traced the source of the conspiracy to the jealousy of the 
 bishop of Segovia and his associates, reinstated the deposed 
 alcayde in the full possession of his dignities, which his en- 
 emies, either convinced of the altered dispositions of the 
 people, or believing that the favorable moment for resistance 
 had escaped, made no further attempts to disturb. Thus 
 by a happy presence of mind, an affair, 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 re- 
 solved to pay a visit to Estremadura 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 recep- 
 tion from the inhabitants of Seville, 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 prac- 
 tice of the Castilian sovereigns, of presiding in person ov«r
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. 169 
 
 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 criminal law, sat in their official capacity 
 every day in the week; and the queen herself received such 
 suits as were referred to her adjudication, saving the parties 
 the usual expense and procrastination of justice. 
 
 By the extraordinary despatch of the queen and her min- 
 isters, during the 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 law- 
 ful owners, and so many offenders were brought to condign 
 punishment, that no less than four thousand suspected per- 
 sons, it is computed, terrified by the prospect of speedy 
 retribution for their crimes, escaped into the neighboring 
 kingdoms of Portugal and Granada. The worthy burghers 
 of Seville, alarmed at this rapid depopulation of the 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 de- 
 linquents, 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 inef- 
 fectual, 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 
 houses, 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 testi' 
 Vol. I.— 8.
 
 170 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. 
 
 fied 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 convic- 
 tion that the Portuguese faction had nothing further to hope 
 in a kingdom, where Isabella reigned not only by the for- 
 tune of war, but by the affections of the people; and he now 
 eagerly proffered his allegiance to her, excusing his previ- 
 ous conduct as he best could. The queen was too well sat- 
 isfied 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 restitution of such 
 domains and fortresses as he had filched from the crown 
 and from the city of Seville, on condition of similar conces- 
 sions by his rival, the duke of Medina Sidonia. She next 
 attempted to establish a reconciliation between these belli- 
 gerent grandees; but, aware that, however pacific might be 
 their demonstrations for the present, there could be little 
 hope of permanently allaying the inherited feuds of a cen- 
 tury, whilst the neighborhood 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 coun- 
 try, 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 pur- 
 pose of reconnoitring the coast. In the course of this pro- 
 gress, they were splendidly entertained by the duke and 
 marquis at their patrimonial estates. They afterward pro- 
 ceeded to Cordova, where they adopted a sunilar policy with 
 that pursued at Seville, compelling the count de Cabra, con- 
 nected 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 the immense pos- 
 sessions, which they had usurped both from the municipality 
 and the crown.* 
 
 One example among others may be mentioned, of the rec- 
 titude and severe impartiality, with which Isabella adminis- 
 tered justice, that occurred in the case of a wealthy Galician 
 knight, named Alvaro Yahez de Lugo. This person, being 
 convicted of a capital offence, attended with the most aggra- 
 vating circumstances, sought to obtain a commutation of his 
 punishment, by the payment of forty thousand doblas of gold 
 
 J
 
 ADMINISTRATION OP CASTILE. I7I 
 
 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 suffered the law to take its 
 course, and, in order to place her conduct above every sus- 
 picion 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 reestablish the 
 supremacy of law in this reign, than the certainty of its exe- 
 cution, without respect to wealth or rank; for the insubordi- 
 nation, prevalent throughout Castile, was chiefly imputable 
 to persons of this description, who, if they failed to defeat 
 justice by force, were sure of domg so by the corruption of 
 its ministers." 
 
 Ferdinand and Isabella employed the same vigorous meas- 
 ures 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 strong-holds 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 justice, blessed God 
 for their deliverance, as it were, from a deplorable captiv 
 ity.'"" 
 
 While the sovereigns were thus personally occupied with 
 the suppression of domestic discord, and the establishment 
 of an efficient police, they were not inattentive to the higher 
 tribunals, to whose keeping, chiefly, were intrusted the per- 
 sonal rights and property of the subject. They reorganized 
 the royal or privy council, whose powers, although, as has 
 been noticed in the Introduction, principally of an admin- 
 istrative 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, recognized, but the transaction of busi- 
 ness was reserved for the counsellors specially appointed." 
 Much the larger proportion of these, by the new arrange- 
 ment, 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
 
 172 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. 
 
 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 transactions by the sover- 
 eigns, who paid great deference to its opinions, and very 
 frequently assisted at its deliberations.''' 
 
 No change was made in the high criminal court of alcaldes 
 de corte, except in its forms of proceeding. But the royal 
 audience, or chancery, the supreme and final court of appeal 
 in civil causes, was entirely remodelled. The place of its 
 sittings, before indeterminate, and consequently occasioning 
 much trouble and cost to the litigants, was fixed at Vallado- 
 lid. Laws were passed to protect the tribunal from the in- 
 terference of the crown, and the queen was careful to fill the 
 bench with magistrates, whose wisdom and integrity would 
 afford the best guaranty 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 
 &.S for regulating the tribunals. The judges were to ascertain 
 every week, either by personal inspection, or report, the con- 
 dition 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 mani- 
 festly unjust. Finally, commissioners were appointed to 
 inspect and make report of the proceedings of municipal and 
 other inferior courts throughout the kingdom." 
 
 The sovereigns testified their respect for the law by reviv- 
 mg the ancient, but obsolete practice of presiding personally 
 in the tribunals, at 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 Frida}'', dispensing justice to all 
 such, great and small, as came to denaand it. This was in- 
 deed 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
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. 173 
 
 business with a stripling of a secretary, than it was with the 
 queen and all her ministers." '^ 
 
 By the modifications then introduced, the basis was laid 
 of the judiciary system, such as it has been pepetuated to the 
 present age. The law acquired an authority, which, in the 
 language of a Spanish writer, "caused a decree, signed by 
 two or three judges, 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. "Whereas," says Pulgar, "the 
 kingdom was previously filled with banditti and malefactors 
 of every description, who committed the most diabolical ex- 
 cesses, 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 contumelious 
 or discourteous language. The knight and the squire, who had 
 before oppressed the laborer, 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. Codification of the laws. Whatever reforms might have 
 been introduced 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 Visigothic 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 contradic- 
 tory. The embarassment, 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 discrepances in their own law, governed themselves almost 
 exclusively by the Roman, so much less accomodated, 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 these 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
 
 174 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. 
 
 been resumed in the cortes of Toledo, in 1480, Dr. Alfonso Diaz 
 de Montalvo, whose professional science had been matured 
 under the re'gns of three 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 Ordenancas Rcales^ was published, or, as the privilege 
 expresses it, "written with types," excrito de letra de niolde, 
 at Huete, in the begining of 1485. It was one of the first 
 works, therefore, which received the honors of 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 addi- 
 tion of two subsidiary codes in the latter years of Isabella, the 
 "Ordenangas" of Montalvo continued to be the guide of the 
 tribunals down to the time of Philip the Second; and maybe 
 said to have suggested the idea, as indeed it was the basis 
 of the comprehensive compilation, "Nueva Recopilacion," 
 which has since formed the law of the Spanish monarchy." 
 
 III. Depression of the nobles. In the course of the pre- 
 ceding chapters, we 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 pro- 
 fuse 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 deso- 
 lated 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 supported by the hearty cooperation 
 of the nation. 
 
 The first measure, which may be said to have clearly devel-
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. I75 
 
 Oped their poUcy, was the organization 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 disci- 
 pline 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 depres- 
 sion 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 honorable 
 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 re- 
 ward."" The sovereigns, instead of confining themselves 
 to the grandees, frequently advanced persons of humble 
 origin, and especially those learned in the law, to the most 
 responsible stations, consulting them, and paying great defer- 
 ence to their opinions, on all matters of importance. The 
 nobles, finding that rank was no longer the sole, or indeed 
 the necessary avenue 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 reforma- 
 cion y remedio de las desordenes pasadas."" The first 
 object of its attention was the condition of the exchequer, 
 which Henry the Fourth had so exhausted by his reckless 
 prodigalitv, that the clear annual revenue amounted to no 
 more than thirty thousand ducats, a sum much inferior to 
 that enjoyed by many private individuals; so that, stripped 
 of its patrimony, it at last came to be said, he was ' 'king 
 only of the highways." Such had been the royal necessities, 
 that blank certificates of annuities assigned on the public 
 rents were hawked about the market, and sold at such a 
 depreciated rate, that the price of an annuity did not exceed
 
 176 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. 
 
 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 unconstitution- 
 ally 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 justifi- 
 cation, as far as the nation was concerned; since such aliena- 
 tion 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 ecclesi- 
 astics 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 abso- 
 lute 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 Men- 
 doza 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 exe- 
 cution of which were intrusted to Fernando de Talavera, the 
 queen's confessor, a man of austere probity, the gross amount 
 of thirty millions of maravedies, a sum equal to three fourths 
 of the whole revenue on Isabella's accession, was annually 
 saved to the crown. The retrenchment was conducted with 
 such strict impartiality, that the most confidential servants 
 of the queen, and the relatives of her husband, were among
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. I77 
 
 those who suffered the most severely." It is worthy of 
 remark that no diminution whatever was made of the stipends 
 settled on literary and charitable establishments. It may 
 also be added, that Isabella appropriated the first fruits of 
 this measure, by distributing the sum of twenty millions of 
 maravedies among the widows and orphans of those loyalists, 
 vvho had fallen in the War of the Succession.^® This resump- 
 tion of the grants may be considered as the basis of those 
 economical reforms, which, without oppression to the sub- 
 ject, augmented the public revenue more than twelve fold 
 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 escutch- 
 eons, from being attended by a mace-bearer and a body- 
 guard, from imitating the regal style of address in their writ- 
 ten correspondence, and other insignia of royalty which they 
 had arrogantly assumed. They were forbidden to erect new 
 fortresses, 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 princi- 
 pals and seconds, were subjected to the penalties of treason. 
 Isabella evinced her determination of enforcing this law on 
 the highest offenders, by imprisoning, soon after its enact- 
 ment, 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.^" 
 
 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 gran- 
 dees, 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 coun- 
 cil for the general direction of affairs of state, by whose ad- 
 vice 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 remon- 
 strance 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
 
 lyS ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. 
 
 are best entitled to preferment, and to make merit the stand- 
 ard of it. You may follow the court, or retire to your estates, 
 as you think best; but, so long as Heaven permits us to re- 
 tain 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 author- 
 ity 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 acknowledgments. '' 
 
 An example of the impartiality as well as spirit, with which 
 Isabella asserted the dignity of the crown, is worth record- 
 ing. During her husband's absence in Aragon in the spring 
 of 1481, a quarrel occurred, in the ante-chamber of the 
 palace at Valladolid, between two young noblemen, Ramiro 
 Nunez de Guzman, lord of Toral, and Frederic Henriquez, 
 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, and sorely 
 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, burn- 
 ing with indignation, she immediately mounted her horse, 
 though in the midst of a heavy storm of rain, and proceeded 
 alone toward the castle of Simancas, then in 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 her 
 guard, until she had gained the fortress. She instantly sum 
 moned 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 sur- 
 rer. ler the keys of the castle, and, after a fruitless search, 
 again returned to Valladolid. 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 under- 
 gone. "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 
 
 I
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTll.£. lyg 
 
 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 con- 
 cealment. The young man was accordingly conducted to 
 the palace by his uncle, the constable de Haro, who depre- 
 cated the queen's resentment by representing the age of his 
 nephew, scarcely amounting to twenty years. Isabella, how- 
 ever, 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 Val- 
 ladolid 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 vigor of 
 the administration, it could never have maintained itself 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 this 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 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 honor to every class of the commu- 
 nity. 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 cooperation 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 pre- 
 ponderance of the aristocracy. 
 
 It may be well to state here the policy pursued by Ferdi- 
 nand and Isabella in reference to the Military Orders of
 
 i8o 
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. 
 
 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 com- 
 pelled 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 Pales- 
 tine, or whether they go back to a remoter period, as is con- 
 tended by their chroniclers, or whether, in fine, as Conde 
 intimates, they were imitated from corresponding associa- 
 tions, known to have existed among the Spanish Arabs, '^ 
 there can be no doubt that the forms, under which they 
 were permanently organized, 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 em- 
 pire, 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 celebrity to 
 the obscure town of Compostella in Galicia, which con- 
 tained the sainted relics,^° that it became the resort of pil- 
 grims from every part of Christendom, 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 scat- 
 tered along the whole line of the route from France; but, as 
 they were exposed to perpetual annoyance from the preda- 
 tory incursions of the Arabs, a number of knights and gentle- 
 men associated themselves for their protection, with the monks 
 of St. Lojo, or Eloy, adopting the rule of St. Augustine, and 
 thus laid the foundation of the chivalric 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 1175, were distinguished by a white
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. l8l 
 
 mantle embroidered with a red cross, in fashion of a sword, 
 with the escalop shell 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 color 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 impor- 
 tance 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 Moslems, abandoned it, at the expiration of eight 
 years, as untenable. This occurred about the middle of the 
 twelfth century; and the Castilian monarch, Sancho the Be- 
 loved, as the last resort, offered it to whatever good knights 
 would undertake its defence. 
 
 The emprise was eagerly sought by a monk of a distant 
 convent in Navarre, who had once been a soldier, and whose 
 military ardor 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 cava- 
 liers 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 eccle- 
 siastics, sprung the military fraternity of Calatrava, which 
 received the confirmation of the pontiff, Alexander the Third, 
 in 1 164. The rules which it adopted were those of St. Bene- 
 dict, and its discipline was in the highest degree austere. 
 
 The cavaliers were sworn to perpetual celibracy, from 
 which they were not released till so late as the sixteenth cen- 
 tury. 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 wiih the sword girt on their side, in 
 token of readiness for action. In the earlier days of the insti- 
 tution, the spiritual, as well as the military brethren, were 
 allowed to make part of the martial array against the infidel
 
 l82 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. 
 
 until this was prohibited, as indecorous, by the Holy See. 
 From this order, branched off 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 Second, and eventually 
 rose to an importance little inferior to that of its rival.'' 
 
 The internal economy of these three fraternities was regu- 
 lated by the same general principles. The direction of affairs 
 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 gener;il 
 chapter of these military functionaries alone, or combined 
 with the coventual clergy, as in the order of Calatrava, which 
 seems to have recognized 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 earlier history of the Penin- 
 sula, 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 so liberally 
 on all monastic institutions, granted the military orders almost 
 unlimited rights over the conquests achieved by their own 
 valor. In the sixteenth century, we find the order of St. 
 James, which had shot up to a preeminence above the rest, 
 possessed of eighty-four commanderies, and two hundred 
 inferior benefices. This 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 mastership of St. James amounted, in the time 
 of Ferdinand and Isabella, to sixty thousand ducats, those
 
 AbMlNISTRATION OF CASTILIi. 183 
 
 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 convents. Their rich commanderies gradually became 
 objects of cupidity to men of the highest rank, and more 
 especially the grand-masterships, which, from their exten- 
 sive patronage, and the authority they conferred over an 
 organized 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 dignities 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 inter- 
 fere in the deliberations of the chapter. While the pope, to 
 whom a contested point was not unfrequently referred, 
 assumed at length the prerogative of granting the master- 
 ships in administration on a vacancy, and even that of nom- 
 ination 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 in the 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 Valladolid to 
 the town of Ucles, where a chapter of the order was deliber- 
 ating on the election of a new principal. The queen, pre- 
 senting herself before this body, represented with so much 
 energy the inconvenience of devolving powers of such mag- 
 nitude on any private individual, and its utter incompatibility 
 with public order, that she prevailed 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 wave this privilege in favor 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 ad-
 
 184 ADMiNiStRATiOM OF CASTILfi. 
 
 ministration 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 benefi- 
 ces with persons of acknowledged worth, exercising an im- 
 partiality, which could never be maintained by any private 
 individual, necessarily exposed to the influence of personal 
 interests and affections. By this harmonious distribution, 
 the honors, 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 Cas- 
 tile by a bull of Pope Adrian the Sixth; while their subordinate 
 dignities, having survived the object of their original creation, 
 the subjugation of the JMoors, 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 perpetually 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^
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTlLE. 185 
 
 frequently covering the Moorish frontier, became an impor- 
 tant line of national defense, obviously improper to be in- 
 trusted to the keeping of foreigners and absentees. Notwith- 
 standing 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 Tara^ona, and afterwards of Cuen(;a." 
 
 Sixtus the Fourth had conferred the latter benefice, on its 
 becoming vacant in 1482, on his nephew. Cardinal San Gior- 
 gio, a Genoese, in direct opposition to the wishes of the queen, 
 who would have bestowed it on her chaplain, Alfonso de Bur- 
 gos, in exchange for the bishopric of Cordova. An ambassa- 
 dor was accordingly despatched by the Castilian sovereigns to 
 Rome, to remonstrate on the papal appointment; but without 
 effect, as Sixtus replied, with a degree of presuiiption, which 
 might better have become his predecessors of the twelfth 
 century, that "he was head of the church, and, as such, pos- 
 sessed 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 in- 
 terests of religion." 
 
 The sovereigns, highly dissatisfied with this response, or- 
 dered their subjects, ecclesiastical, as well as lay, to quit the 
 papal dominions; an injunction, which the former, fearful of 
 the sequestration of their temporalities in Castile, obeyed 
 with as much promptness as the latter. At 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 dishonored 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 ecclesias- 
 tical 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 Centu- 
 rion, no sooner arrived in Castile, than he caused the sov- 
 ereigns to be informed of his presence there, and the pur- 
 pose 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 derog- 
 atory to the dignity of the crown. A safe-conduct was
 
 i86 
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILfi. 
 
 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 immunities he might claim as papal ambassa- 
 dor, and to submit to the jurisdiction of the sovereigns as 
 one of their own subjects, so that he might obtain an au- 
 dience. Cardinal Mendoza, whose influence in the cabinet 
 had gained him the title of "third king of Spain," apprehen- 
 sive 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 Rome. The result was the publication of a bull 
 by Sixtus the Fourth, in which his Holiness engaged to pro- 
 vide such natives to the higher dignities of the church in 
 Castile, as should be nominated by the monarchs of that king- 
 dom; and Alfonso de Burgos was accordingly translated to 
 the see of Cuen^a.'" Isabella, on whom the duties of eccle- 
 siastical preferment devolved, by the act of settlement, availed 
 herself of the rights, thus wrested from the grasp of Rome, 
 to exalt to the vacant sees persons of exemplary piety and 
 learning, holding light, in comparison with the faithful dis- 
 charge of this duty, every minor consideration of interest, 
 and even the solicitations of her husband, as we shall see 
 hereafter." And the chronicler of her reign dwells with com- 
 placency on those good old times, when churchmen were to 
 be found of such singular modesty, as to require to be urged 
 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 were sure 
 to be swept away, even before harvest time, in some ruthless 
 foray? The frequent famines and pestilences, which oc- 
 curred in the latter part of Henry's reign and the commence- 
 ment of his successor's, show too plainly the squalid con- 
 dition of the people, and their utter destitution of all usefu\ 
 arts. We are assured by the Curate of Los Palacios, that 
 tne plague broke out in the southern districts of the kingdom, 
 carrying off eight, or nine, or even fifteen thousand inhabitants
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. 187 
 
 from the various cities; while the prices of the ordinary 
 aUments of Hfe rose to a height, which put them above the 
 reach of the poorer 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 is computed that there were no less than one hun- 
 dred and fifty mints openly licensed by the crown, in addition 
 10 many others erected 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 de- 
 based coin, whose value depreciated more and more every 
 day; and the little trade, which 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 earli- 
 est attention of the cortes under the new monarchs. Acts 
 were passed fixing the standard and legal value of the differ- 
 ent denominations of coin. A new coinage was subsequently 
 made. Five royal mints were alone authorized, afterward 
 augmented to seven, and severe penalties denounced against 
 the fabrication of money elsewhere. The reform of the cur- 
 rency gradually infused new life into commerce, as the return 
 of the circulations, which have been interrupted for a while, 
 quickens the animal body. This was furthered by salutary 
 laws for the encouragement of domestic industry. Inter- 
 nal communication was facilitated by the construction of 
 roads and bridges. Absurd restrictions on change of resi- 
 dence, 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 pro- 
 tection of foreign trade; and the flourishing 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 Andalusia, 
 for the defence of Naples against the Turks. Some of their 
 regulations, indeed, as those prohibiting the exportation of 
 the precious metals, savor too strongly of the ignorance of 
 the true principles of commercial legislation, which has dis- 
 tinguished 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 honor and profit to the kingdom, by the facilities which 
 they afford for making men learned," are not only in ad- 
 vance of that age, but may sustain an advantageous compar- 
 ison with provisions on corresponding subjects in Spain at 
 the present time. Public credit was reestablished by the
 
 l88 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. 
 
 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." 
 
 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 labor of the husbandman; 
 and the cities were embellished with stately edifices, both 
 public and private, which attracted the gaze and commen- 
 dation 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 preeminence 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 demeanor, 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 savored 
 of worldly policy in Ferdinand, was, in his consort, founded 
 on the purest and most exalted principle. Under such a sov- 
 ereign, 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." By these and similar acts of affection- 
 ate solicitude, she endeared herself to the higher classes of 
 her subjects, while the patriotic tendency of her public con- 
 duct established her in the hearts of the people. She pos- 
 essed, in combination with the feminine qualities which beget 
 love, a masculine energy of character, which struck terror 
 into the guilty She enforced the execution of her own
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. iSg 
 
 plans, oftentimes at the risk of great personal danger, with 
 a resolution surpassing that of her husband. Both were 
 singularly temperate, indeed, frugal, in their dress, equip- 
 age, 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 magnifi- 
 cence, which dazzled the multitude, and is blazoned with 
 great solemnity in the garrulous chronicles of the day." 
 
 The tendencies of the present administration were un- 
 doubtedly 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 estab- 
 lish their own authority by fomenting the divisions of their 
 powerful vassals. On the contrary, she endeavored 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 
 surpemacy 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 glori- 
 ous career of discovery and 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 His- 
 tory, 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 docu- 
 ments, 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 transactions 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 frequently 
 distinguisheti his countrymen, combined the liberal and enlarged opinions^ 
 which would do honor to any country.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MODERN INQUISITION. 
 
 Origin of the Ancient Inquisition. — Retrospective View of the Jews in 
 Spain. — Their Wealth and Civilization. — Bigotry of the Age. — Its 
 influence on Isabella. — Her Confessor, Torquemada. — Bull author- 
 izing the Inquisition. — Tribunal at Seville. — Forms of Trial. — Tor- 
 ture. — 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 sanc- 
 tion one of the grossest abuses that ever disgraced human- 
 ity The present chapter will be devoted to the establish- 
 ment and early progress of the Modern Inquisition; an insti- 
 tution, 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 knowledge, we look with 
 disgust at the pretensions of any human being, however 
 exalted, to invade the sacred rights of conscience, inalien' 
 ably possessed by every man. We feel that the spiritual co'" 
 cerns of an individual may be safely left to himself, as mos. 
 interested in them, except so far as they can be affected by 
 argument or friendly monition; that the idea of compelling 
 belief -n 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 de- 
 serve the name of truisms, the world has been slow, verjr 
 
 i
 
 THE INQUISITION. I9I 
 
 slow in arriving at them, after many centuries of unspeak- 
 able 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 systematized plan of persecution, until the papal 
 authority had swollen to a considerable height. The popes, 
 who claimed the spiritual allegiance of all Christendom^ re- 
 garded 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 
 civilization 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, ad- 
 ditional provisions were framed by the council of Tarragona, 
 on the basis of those of 1233, which may properly be consid- 
 ered as the primitive instructions of the Holy Office in Spain." 
 
 This Ancient Inquisition, as it is termed, bore the same 
 odious peculiarities in its leading features as the Modern; 
 the same impenetrable secrecy 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 Inqui- 
 sition 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 unfor- 
 tunate Albigenses, who from the proximity and political rela- 
 tions of Aragon and Provence, had become numerous in the
 
 tgi THE INQUISITION. 
 
 former kingdom. The persecution appears, however, to have 
 been chiefly confined to this unfortunate sect, and there is no 
 evidence that the Holy Ofifice, notwithstanding papal briefs 
 to that effect, was fully organized 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 fagots 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.'' 
 
 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 unspairingly 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 in which they have been scatt-ered, 
 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 exceed- 
 ingly in the country, and were permitted to acquire consider- 
 able 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 remarks, 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 pro- 
 duced a similarity of tastes, to a certain extent, not unfavor- 
 able to such a coalition. At any rate, the early Spanish
 
 THE INQUISITION. I93 
 
 Arabs were characterized 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." The Jews, accordingly, under these favorable 
 auspices, not only accumulated wealth with their usual dili- 
 gence, but gradually rose to the highest civil dignities, and 
 made great advances in various departments of letters. The 
 schools of Cordova, Toledo, Barcelona, and Granada were 
 crowded with numerous disciples, who emulated the Arabians 
 in keeping alive the flame of learning, during the deep dark- 
 ness of the middle ages.' Whatever may be thought of their 
 success in speculative philosophy,' they cannot reasonably 
 be denied to have contributed largely to practical and ex- 
 perimental 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 impor- 
 tant contributions to the domestic pharmacopoeias." In the 
 practice of medicine, indeed, they became so expert, as in a 
 manner to monopolize that profession. They made great 
 proficiency in mathematics and particularly in astronomy; 
 while, in the cultivation of elegant letters, 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 de- 
 velopement in the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth 
 centuries, than it has reached in any other part of Christen- 
 dom." 
 
 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 civilization of the Span- 
 ish 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 apti- 
 tude; and, indeed, the correspondence which they main- 
 tained 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 politics 
 and commerce. We meet with Jewish scholars and states- 
 men attached to the courts gf Alfonso the Tenth, Alfonso 
 Vol. I.— 9.
 
 »94 THE INQUISITION. 
 
 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 Aragon 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 Cancionero.'^ 
 
 But 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 
 was, by that profuse ostentation of equipage and apparel, for 
 which this singular people, notwithstanding their avarice, 
 have usually shown a predilection." Stories were circulated 
 of their contempt for the Catholic worship, their desecration 
 of 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, toward the close of the 
 fourteenth 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 convenient 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 indis- 
 criminate massacre, without regard to sex or age." 
 
 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 ex- 
 cited 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.'* 
 
 The legislative enactments of this period, and still more 
 under John the Second, during the first half of the fifteenth 
 century, were uncommonly severe upon the Jews. While 
 they were prohibited from mingling freely with the Christians, 
 and from exercising the professions for which they were best 
 qualified," their residence was restricted within certain pre- 
 scribed limits of the cities which they inhabited; and they 
 were not only debarred from their usual luxury of ornament in
 
 THE INQUISITION, I95 
 
 dress, but were held up to public scorn, as it were, by some 
 peculiar badge or emblem embroidered on their garments.'^ 
 
 Such was the condition of the Spanish Jews at the acces- 
 sion of Ferdinand and Isabella. The netv Christians^ or 
 converts, as those who had renounced the faith of their 
 fathers were denominated, were occasionally preferred to 
 high ecclesiastical dignities, which they illustrated 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 mar- 
 riage, the decayed fortunes of the nobility, there was scarcely 
 a family of rank in the land, whose blood had not been con- 
 taminated at some period or other, by mixture with the mala 
 sangre, as it came afterward 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 per- 
 manently 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 super- 
 stitious 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 a 
 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.^" 
 
 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 persecu- 
 tion. "This accursed race," he says, speaking of the Israel- 
 ites, "were either unwilling to bring their children to be bap- 
 tized, 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; 
 ate meat in lent- and sent oil to replenish the lamps of their 
 synagogues; with many other abomiuablt: ceremonies o(
 
 196 
 
 THE INQUISITION. 
 
 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 labor or mechanical arts. They con- 
 sidered themselves in the hands of the Egyptians, whom it 
 was a merit to deceive and plunder. By their wicked con- 
 trivances 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 super- 
 stition, the secret envy, entertained by the Castilians, of the 
 superior skill and industry 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. 
 
 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 mon- 
 astery 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 per- 
 sons, after urging on the sovereigns the alarming extent to 
 which the Jewish leprosy prevailed 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 Niccolo Franco, the papal nuncio then resid- 
 ing at the court of Castile. Ferdinand listened with com- 
 placency 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 repug- 
 nant 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 coun- 
 tenanced in matters of faith, in that day, when the danger- 
 ous maxim, that the end justifies the means, was universally 
 received, and learned theologians seriously disputed whether 
 it were permitted to make peace with the infidel, and even 
 whether promises made to them were obligatory on Chris- 
 tians." 
 
 The policy of the Roman church, at that time, was not 
 only shown in its perversion pf some of the most obvious
 
 THE INQUISITION. I97 
 
 principles of morality, but in the discouragement of all free 
 inquiry 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 re- 
 proach 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. Notwith- 
 standing 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 re- 
 cording. 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 demeanor, complied with all humility, 
 and was afterward heard to say, "This is the confessor that 
 I wanted." " 
 
 Well had it been for the land, if the queen's conscience 
 had always been intrusted to the keeping of persons of such 
 exemplary piety as Talavera. Unfortunately, in her early 
 days, during the lifetime of her brother Henry, that charge 
 was committed to a Dominican monk, Thomas de Torque- 
 mada, a native of old Castile, subsequently raised to the rank 
 of Santa Cruz in Segovia, and condemned to infamous im- 
 mortality by the signal part which he performed in the tra- 
 gedy 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 in- 
 dulgence, by giving scope to those deadlier vices of the 
 heart, pride, bigotry, and intolerance, which are no less op-
 
 jpS 
 
 THE INQUISITION. 
 
 posed to virtue, and are far more extensively mischievous to 
 society. This personage had earnestly labored 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 coun- 
 teracted by her sound understanding and natural kindness of 
 heart. Torquemada urged her, or indeed, as is stated by 
 some, extorted a promise, that, "should she ever come tc 
 the throne, she would devote herself to the extirpation of 
 heresy, for the glory of God, and the exaltation of the Catho- 
 lic 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 mis- 
 guided zeal; an error so grave, that, like a vein in some 
 noble piece of statuary, it gives a sinister expression to her 
 otherwise unblemished character." It was not until the 
 queen had endured the repeated importunities of the clergy, 
 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 sovereigns, and expedited a bull bearing date November 
 ist, 1478, authorizing them to appoint two or three eccle- 
 siastics, inquisitors for the detection and suppression of 
 heresy throughout their dominions." 
 
 The queen, however, still averse to violent measures, sus- 
 pended the operation of the ordinance, until a more lenient 
 policy had been first tried. By her command, accordingly, 
 the archbishop of Seville, cardinal Mendoza, drew up a cate- 
 chism exhibiting the different points of the Catholic faith, 
 and instructed the clergy throughout his diocese to spare no 
 pains in illuminating the benighted Israelites, by means of 
 friendly exhortation and a candid exposition of the true 
 principles of Christianity.''* How far the spirit of these in- 
 junctions was complied with, amid the excitement then pre- 
 vailing, may be reasonably doubted. There could be little 
 doubt, however, that a report, made two years later, by a 
 commission of ecclesiastics with Alfonso de Ojeda at its head, 
 respecting the progress of the reformation, would be neces- 
 sarily unfavorable to the Jews." In consequence of this 
 report the papal provisions were enforced by the nomination,
 
 THE INQUISITION. I99 
 
 on the 17th of September, 1480, of two Dominican monks as 
 inquisitors, with two other ecclesiastics, the one as assessor, 
 and the other as procurator fiscal, with instructions to pro- 
 ceed at once to Seville, and enter on the duties of their office. 
 Orders were also issued to the authorities of the city to sup- 
 port the inquisitors by all the aid in their power. But the 
 new institution, which has since become the miserable boast 
 of the Castilians, proved so distasteful to them in its origin, 
 that they refused any cooperation with its ministers, and in- 
 deed opposed such delays and embarrassments, that, during 
 the first years, it can scarcely be said to have obtained a foot- 
 ing in any other places in Andalusia, than those belonging 
 to the crown.'" 
 
 On the 2d of January, 1481, the court commenced opera- 
 tions by the publication of an edict, followed by several 
 others, requiring all persons to aid in apprehending and ac- 
 cusing all such as they might know, or suspect to be guilty 
 of heresy, '' and holding out the illusory promise of absolu- 
 tion 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 subuibs.'^ 
 
 The presumptive proofs, by which the charge of Judaism 
 was established against the accused are so curious, that a few 
 of them may deserve notice. It was considered good evi- 
 dence 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 
 sat 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 most whim- 
 sically cruel, since, by a law of Henry the Second, he was 
 prohibited under severe penalties from giving them Chris- 
 tian names. He 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
 
 200 THE INQUISTTTON, 
 
 the ancient tribunal, proceeded with a despatch which shows 
 that they could have paid little deference even to this affec- 
 tation of legal for*Ti. On the sixth day of January, six con- 
 victs 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 ninety-eight individuals had been sacrificed 
 in the autos da fe of Seville. Besides these, the mouldering 
 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 Pala- 
 cios 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 filling judicial or high muni- 
 cipal stations. The sword of justice was observed, in par- 
 ticular, to strike at the wealthy, the least pardonable offend- 
 ers 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, con- 
 tinued 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 understood by the reader to signify any 
 thing like a pardon or amnesty, but only the commutation 
 of a capital sentence for inferior penalties, as fines, 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 of the Holy 
 Office to the sovereign pontiff.^' Sixtus the Fourth appears 
 for a moment to have been touched with something like
 
 THE INQUISITION. 201 
 
 compunction; for he rebuked the intemperate zeal of the 
 inquisitors, and even menaced them with deprivation. But 
 these feehngs, it would seem, were but transient; for, in 
 1483, we find the same pontiff quieting the scruples of Isa- 
 bella respecting the appropriation of the confiscated pro- 
 perty, and encouraging both sovereigns to proceed in the 
 great work of purification, by an audacious reference to the 
 example for 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 Otifice. This was the origin of 
 that terrible tribunal, the Spanish or Modern Inquisition, 
 familiar to m.ost 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 organization of its various courts, 
 which gradually swelled to thirteen during the present reign, 
 "I shall endeavor to exhibit the principles which regulated 
 •their proceedings, as deduced in part from the code digested 
 'mder Torquemada, and partly from the practice which 
 obtained during his spremacy.''^ 
 
 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 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, anony- 
 mous as well as signed, were admitted; it being only neces- 
 sary to specify the names of the witnesses, whose testimony 
 was taken down in writing by a secretary, and afterward read 
 to them, which, unless the inaccuracies were so gross as to 
 force themselves upon their attention, they seldom failed to 
 confirm." 
 
 The accused, in the mean time, whose mysterious disap- 
 pearance was perhaps the only public evidence of his arrest, 
 was conveyed to the secret chambers of the Inouisition, 
 where he was jealously excluded from intercourse with all, 
 save a priest of the Romish church and his jailer, both of
 
 «02 , THE INQUISITION. 
 
 whom might be regarded as the spies of the tribunal. In 
 this desolate condition, the unfortunate man, cut off from 
 external communication and all cheering sympathy or sup- 
 port, 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 favored 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 unfairness, no mention whatever was made of such 
 testimony, as had arisen in the course of the examination, 
 in his own favor. 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 infor- 
 mation than what had been granted to his client. To add 
 to the injustice of these proceedings, 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 connection 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 subjected 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 itSi 
 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 con- 
 fession 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." Should the rack, 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 
 utter incompetency to the ends it proposes, he was not unfre-
 
 THE INQUISITION. 203 
 
 quently convicted on the depositions of the witnesses. At 
 the conclusion of his mock trial, the prisoner was again re- 
 turned to his dungeon, where, without the blaze of a single 
 fagot 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 characterized throughout by the most flagrant 
 injustice and inhumanity to the accused. Instead of pre- 
 suming his innocence, until his guilt had been established, 
 it acted on exactly the opposite principle. Instead of afford- 
 ing 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 misapprehenison 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- 
 examination, which can best expose error or wilful collusion 
 in the evidence." Even the poor forms of justice, recognized 
 in this court, might be readily dispensed with; as its proceed- 
 ings were impenetrably shrouded from the public eye, by the 
 appalling oath of secresy imposed on all, whether function- 
 aries, witnesses, or prisoners, who entered within its pre- 
 cincts. The last, and not the least odious feature of the 
 whole, was the connection established between the condemna- 
 tion of the accused and the interests of his judges; since the 
 confiscations, which were the uniform penalties of heresy,** 
 were not permitted to flow into the royal exchequer, until 
 they had first discharged the expenses, whether in the shape 
 of salaries or otherwise, incident to the Holy Office." 
 
 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, some- 
 what profanely, to represent the terrors of the Day of Judg- 
 ment."^ The proudest grandees of the land, on this occasion, 
 putting 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 unfre- 
 quently 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
 
 204 THE INQUISITION. 
 
 heightened by the concourse of ecclesiastics in their sacer- 
 dotal robes, and the pompous ceremonial, which the church 
 of Rome knows so well how to display on fitting occasions; 
 and which was intended to consecrate, as it were, this bloody 
 sacrifice by the authority of a religion which has expressly 
 declared that it desires mercy and not sacrifice."^ 
 
 The most important actors in the scene were the unfor- 
 tunate convicts, who were now disgorged for the first time 
 from the dungeons of the tribunal. They were clad in coarse 
 woollen garments, styled son beiiitos, brought close round the 
 neck and descending like a frock, down to the knees."' These 
 were of a yellow color, 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 re- 
 conciled, 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 behind them names branded with in- 
 famy, and families involved in irretrievable ruin." 
 
 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 civilization was rapidly advancing over every part 
 of Europe. It is more remarkable, that it should have oc- 
 curred 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 ances- 
 tors, where was the charity, which led the old Castilian to 
 reverence valor 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 de- 
 fence of the persecuted sectaries of Provence? Where the 
 independent spirit, which prompted the Castilian nobles, 
 during the very latest 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 INQUISITION. 205 
 
 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 fas- 
 tening it upon them, had they not availed themselves of the 
 popular prejudices against the Jews." Providence, how- 
 ever, 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 Inquisi- 
 tion, which were lighted exclusively for the Jews, were des- 
 tined eventually to consume their oppressors. They were 
 still more deeply avenged in the moral influence of this tribu- 
 nal, 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 
 were 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 word forms 
 may be applied to the conduct of trials so summary, that the 
 tribunal of Toledo alone, under 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 qualificators, or interp- 
 reters of what constituted heresy, and whose ignorance led 
 them frequently to condemn as heterodox, propositions act- 
 ually 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 incar- 
 ceration. 
 
 The data for an accurate calculation of the number of vic- 
 tims sacrificed by the Inquisition during this reign are not 
 very satisfactorv. 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." In this enormous 
 sum of human misery is not included the multitude of orphans, 
 who, from the confiscation of their paternal inheritance, were 
 turned over to indigence and vice."^ Many of the reconciled 
 were afterward sentenced as relapsed; and the Curate of Los
 
 2o6 THE INQUISITION. 
 
 Palacios expresses the charitable wish, that "the whole ac- 
 cursed race of Jews, male and female, of twenty years of age 
 and upward, might be purified with fire and fagot!" ^^ 
 
 The vast apparatus of the Inquisition involved so heavy 
 an expenditure, that a very small sum, comparatively, found 
 its way into the exchequer, to counterbalance the great de- 
 triment resulting to the state from the sacrifice of the most 
 active and skilful part of its population. All temporal inter- 
 ests, however, were held light in comparison with the purga- 
 tion 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 Roman see, during all this time, conducting itself 
 with its usual duplicity, contrived to make a gainful traffic 
 by the sale of dispensations from the penalties incurred by 
 such as fell under the ban of the Inquisition, provided they 
 were rich enough to pay for them, and afterward revoking 
 them, at the instance of the Castilian court. Meanwhile, the 
 odium, excited by the unsparing rigor of Torquemada, raised 
 up so many accusations against him, that he was thrice com- 
 pelled 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 coad- 
 jutors, 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 in such constant apprehen- 
 sion 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 neutralizing poisons; while, 
 for the more complete protection of his person, he was 
 allowed an escort of fifty 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 in- 
 firmities, or rather vices, there is none productive of more 
 extensive mischief to society than fanaticism. The opposite 
 principle of atheism, which refuses to recognize the most 
 important sanctions to virtue, does not necessarily imply any 
 destitution of just 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
 
 THR INQUISITION. 207 
 
 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 de- 
 rived 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. Many a bloody page of history attests the fact, 
 that fanaticism, armed with power, is the sorest evil which 
 can befall 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 proceed- 
 ings 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 
 functionaries, as have at different times pretended to give its transactions to 
 the world, have confined themselves to an historical outline, with meagre 
 notices of such parts of its internal discipline as might be safely disclosed 
 to the public. 
 
 Llorente was secretary to the tribunal of iNIadrid from 1790 to 1792. 
 His official station consequently afforded him every facility for an acquaint- 
 ance with the most recondite affairs of the Inquisition; and, on its suppres- 
 sion at the close of 180S, he devoted several years to a careful investigation 
 of the registers 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 light of day. In the progress of his 
 work he has anatomized the most odious features of the institution with 
 unspairing severity; and his reflections 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 might be recast in a more popular form, especially by 
 means of a copious retrenchment. With all its subordinate defects, how- 
 ever, it is entitled to the credit of being the most, indeed the only, authen- 
 tic 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. It well deserves 
 to be studied, as the record of the most humiliating triumph which fana- 
 ticism has ever been able to obtain over human reason, and that too, dur- 
 ing the most civilized periods, and in the most civilized 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, evcji 
 in the present century
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 REVIEW OF THE POLITICAL AND INTELLECTUAL CONDITION 
 
 OF THE SPANISH ARABS PREVIOUS TO THE WAR 
 
 OF GRANADA. 
 
 Conquest of Spain by the Arabs. — Cordovan Empire. — High Civilization 
 and Prosperity. — Its Dismemberment. — Kingdom of Granada. — Luxu- 
 rious 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 
 Castihan 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 influ- 
 ence on that of their Christian neighbors, the present chap- 
 ter will be devoted to a consideration of their previous history 
 in the Peninsula, where they probably reached a higher 
 degree of civilization than in any other part of the world,' 
 
 It is not necessary to dwell upon the causes of the bril- 
 liant successes of Mahometanism at its outset, — the dexterity 
 with which, unlike all other religions, it was raised upon, 
 not against the principles and prejudices of preceding sects; 
 the military spirit and discipline, which it established among 
 all classes, so that the multifarious nations who embraced 
 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 abso- 
 lutely as the Roman pontiffs in their most despotic hour;^ 
 or lastly, the peculiar adaptation of the doctrines of Mahomet 
 to the character of the wild tribes among whom they were 
 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 SPANISH ARABS. 209 
 
 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 contemp- 
 orary 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 satis- 
 fied.^ The fatal battle, which terminated with the slaughter 
 of King Roderic 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." The 
 Goths appear never to have afterward 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 con- 
 querors, after making the requisite allowance for the evils 
 necessarily attending such an invasion,' may be considered 
 liberal. Such of the Christians, as chose, were permitted to 
 remain in the conquered territory in undisturbed possession 
 of their property. They were allowed to worship in their 
 own way; to be governed, within prescribed limits, by their 
 own laws; to fill 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 Christians were occasionally exposed to suffering 
 from the caprices of despotism, and, it may be added, of 
 popular fanaticism.' But, on the whole, their condition may 
 sustain an advantageous comparison with that of any Chris- 
 tian people under the Mussulman dominion of later times, 
 and affords a striking contrast with that of our Saxon ances- 
 tors after the Norman conquest, which suggests an obvious 
 parallel in many of its circumstances to the Saracen.'" 
 
 After the further progress of the Arabs in Europe had 
 been checked by the memorable defeat at Tours, their ener- 
 gies, no longer allowed to expand in the career of conquest, 
 recoiled on themselves, and speedily produced the dismem- 
 berment of their overgrown empire. Spain 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 independent princes, from the middle of the eighth 
 to the close of the eleventh century, a period which forms 
 the most honorable portion of her Arabian annals.
 
 2IO THE SPANISH ARABS. 
 
 The new government was modelled on the eastern cali- 
 phate. 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 
 depositary of all power, the fountain of honor, 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 capitm'as, or provinces, each 
 under the administration of a wali, or governor, with sub- 
 ordinate officers, to whom was intrusted a more immediate 
 jurisdiction over the principal cities. The immense author- 
 ity and pretensions of these petty satraps became a fruitful 
 source of rebellion in later times. The caliph adminstered 
 the government with the advice of his f?iexuar, or council 
 of state, composed of his principal cadis and hagibs, or sec- 
 retaries. The office of prime minister, or chief hagib, cor- 
 responded, in the nature and variety of its functions, with 
 that of a Turkish grand vizier. The caliph reserved to 
 himself the right of selecting his successor from among his 
 numerous progeny; and this adoption was immediately rati- 
 fied by an oath of allegiance to the heir apparent from the 
 principal officers of state." 
 
 The princes of the blood, instead of being condemned, 
 as in Turkey, to waste their youth in the seclusion of the 
 harem, were intrusted to the care of learned men, to be 
 instructed in the duties befitting 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 and elo- 
 quence. Their riper years exhibited such fruits as were to 
 be expected from their early education. The race of the 
 Omeyades 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 scholars. Their long 
 reigns, the first ten of which embrace a period of two cen- 
 turies and a half, 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 affec- 
 tions 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 
 
 J
 
 THE SPANISH ARABS. 211 
 
 in 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 suc- 
 cessor. This pleasing moral picture affords a strong con- 
 trast to the sanguinary scenes which so often attend the 
 transmission of the sceptre from one generation to another, 
 among the nations ot the east.''' 
 
 The Spanish caliphs supported a large military force, fre- 
 quently keeping two or three large armies in the field at the 
 same time. The flower of these forces was 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 Barbary pirates required them also to maintain a respec- 
 table navy, which was fitted out from the numerous dock- 
 yards, that lined the coast from Cadiz to Tarragona. 
 
 The munificence of the Omeyades was most ostentatiously 
 displayed in their public edifices, palaces, mosques, hos- 
 pitals, and in the construction of commodious quays, 
 fountains, bridges, and aqueducts, which, penetrating the 
 sides of the mountains, or sweeping on lofty arches across 
 the valleys, rivalled in their proportions the monuments of 
 ancient Rome. These works, 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 midst of a cultivated 
 plain washed by the waters of the Guadalquivir, made it 
 very early the favorite residence of the Arabs, who loved to 
 surround their houses, even in the cities, with groves and 
 refreshing fountains, so delightful to the imagination of a 
 wanderer of the desert." The public squares and private 
 court-yards sparkled with j'efs c/'eau, fed by copious streams 
 from the Sierra Morena, which, besides supplying nine hun- 
 dred public baths, were conducted into the interior of the 
 edifices, where they diffused a grateful coolness over the 
 sleeping-apartments of their luxurious inhabitants." 
 
 Without adverting to that magnificent freak of the caliphs, 
 the construction 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
 
 212 THE SPANISH ARABS. 
 
 glories have indeed long since departed. The rich bronze 
 which embossed its gates, the myriads of lamps which illu- 
 minated 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 varie- 
 gated marble still remain; and its general dimensions, not- 
 withstanding 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 beau- 
 ties 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 us 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 execu- 
 tion. 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 distinguishes the Asiatic 
 writers, entitles them perhaps to little confidence in their 
 numerical estimates. This immense wealth, however, is predi- 
 cated 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 correspond- 
 ing 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 enor- 
 mous exaction of one tenth of the produce of commerce, hus- 
 bandry, 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 con- 
 spicuous part of their income. '° 
 
 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
 
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 i
 
 THE SPANISH ARABS. 213 
 
 Romans afterward, regularly drew from her large masses of 
 the precious metals. Pliny, who resided some time in 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 pene- 
 trated into these arcana of wealth. Abundant traces of their 
 'abors are still to be met with aiong the barren ridge of moun- 
 cains 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 monuments which they 
 have everywhere left of their peculiar culture. The system 
 of irrigation, which has so long fertilized 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 
 haye 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 Constantinople, 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 century, that there were 
 at that time in it six hundred temples and two hundred 
 thousand dwelling-houses; many of these latter being, prob- 
 ably, mere huts or cabins, and occupied by separate families. 
 Without placing too much reliance on any numerical state- 
 ments, however, we may give due weight to the inference of 
 an intelligent writer, who remarks that their minute cultiva- 
 tion of the soil, the cheapness of their labor, their particluar 
 attention to the most nutritious esculents, many of then?
 
 214 THE SPANISH ARABS. 
 
 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 physcial resources, its mtellectual development will 
 form the subject of deepest interest to posterity. The most 
 flourishing periods of both not unfrequently 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 civilization 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. 
 He converted his place 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 left 
 many of the volumes which he read, enriched with his com- 
 mentaries. Above all, he was intent upon the acquisition of 
 an extensive library. He invited illustrious foreigners to 
 send him their works, and munificently 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, [n this way he amassed a magnificent collection, which 
 was distributed, according to the subjects, in various apart- 
 ments of his palace; and which, if we may credit the Arabian 
 historians, amounted to six hundred thousand volumes.*" 
 
 If all this be thought to savor too much of eastern hyperbole, 
 stih it cannot be doubted that an amazing number of writers 
 swarmed over the Peninsula at this period. Casiri's multi-
 
 THE SPANISH ARABS. il^ 
 
 farious 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 pub- 
 licly for the prizes, not merely in eloquence and poetry, but 
 in those 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 reputa- 
 tion 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 Sylvester 
 the 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 their boasted 
 literature, it cannot be denied, that the nation 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 successor, the empire 
 of the Omeyades was broken up into a hundred petty princi- 
 palities; and their magnificent 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 con- 
 stitution of government and religion. Almost every accession 
 to the throne was contested by numerous competitors of the
 
 itB THE SPANISH ARAfig. "^ 
 
 same family; and a succession of sovereigns, wearing oil 
 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 law- 
 less, predatory habits, which no discipline could effectually 
 control in an Arab, made them ever ready for revolt. The 
 Moslem states, thus reduced in size and crippled by faction, 
 were unable to resist the Christian forces, which were press- 
 ing 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 memor- 
 able day of Navas de Tolosa. But the fortunate issue of 
 that battle, in which, according to the lying letter of Alfonso 
 the Ninth, "one hundred and eighty-five thousand infidels 
 perished, and only five and twenty Spaniards," gave a perma- 
 nent ascendency to the Christian arms. The vigorous cam- 
 paigns 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 constantly contracting circle of 
 the Moorish dominion had shrunk into the narrow limits of 
 the province of Granada. Yet on this comparatively small 
 point of their 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 cir- 
 cuit of about one hundred and eighty leagues, all the physical 
 resources of a great empire. Its broad valleys were inter- 
 sected 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, with seven portals.''^ Its pop- 
 ulation according to a contemporary, at the beginning of the 
 fourteenth century, amounted to two hundred thousand 
 souls;^^ and various authors agree in attesting, that, at a later
 
 THE SPANISH ARABS. IIJ 
 
 period, it 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 dis- 
 tricts lately conquered by the Spaniards. On the summit of 
 one of the hills of the city was erected the royal fortress or pal- 
 ace of the Alhambra, which was capable of containing within 
 its circuit forty thousand men." The light and elegant archi- 
 tecture 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 porticoes 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 gar- 
 dens and agreeable ventilations of the air, and its fountains, 
 which still shed their coolness over its deserted courts, mani- 
 fest at once the taste, opulence, and Sybarite luxury of its 
 proprietors. The streets are represented to have been nar- 
 row, 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 enam- 
 elled vase, sparkling with hyacinths and emeralds." " Such 
 are the florid strains in which the Arabic writers fondly de- 
 scant 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 fertilized with human 
 blood. The Arabs exhausted on it all their powers of elab- 
 orate cultivation. They distributed the waters of the Xenil, 
 which flowed 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 suc- 
 cess; and the hemp of the north grew luxuriant under the 
 shadow of the vine and the olive. Silk furnished the prin- 
 cipal 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 manu- 
 facture 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 
 Vol. I. — 10.
 
 2l8 THE SPANISH ARABS. 
 
 as having mercantile establishments in Granada; and treaties 
 of commerce were entered into with this nation, as well as 
 with the crown 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 trust-worthiness," 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 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 thou- 
 sand ducats, was derived from similar, but, in some respects, 
 heavier impositions 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 agri- 
 cultural 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 dis- 
 tinguished 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 horse- 
 manship, 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 perpetaul 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 
 civilization to the level of their Saracen enemies; and, while 
 their increased consequence secured them from contempt, 
 with which they had formerly been regarded by the Mussul- 
 mans, 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 Span- 
 iards. 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 SPANISH ARABS. 219 
 
 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 con- 
 ference 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 war- 
 fare, that was necessarily kept up between the rival nations.^' 
 
 The Moorish and Christian knights were also in the habit 
 of exchanging visits at the courts of their respective masters. 
 The latter were wont to repair to Granada to settle their 
 affairs of honor, 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 courtesy 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 demeanor proper to the Arabian; and the latter 
 relaxed his habitual reserve, and above all, the jealousy and 
 gross sensuality which charcaterize 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 unre- 
 served an intercourse between the sexes to have existed 
 among the Spanish Arabs, as with any other people of Eu- 
 rope. The Moorish lady is represented there as an undistin- 
 guised spectator of the public festivals; while her knight, 
 bearing an embroidered mantle or scarf, or some other token 
 of her favor, contends openly in her presence for the prize 
 of valor, mingles with her in the graceful dance of the Zam- 
 bra, or sighs away his soul in moonlight serenades under her 
 balcony.'" 
 
 Other circumstances, especially the frescoes still extant 
 on the walls of the Alhambra, may be cited as corroborative 
 of the conclusions afforded by the ?-of>iances, implying a lati- 
 tude in the privileges accorded to the sex, similar to that in 
 Christian countries, and altogether alien from the genius of 
 Mahometanism." The chivalrous character ascribed to the 
 Spanish Moslems appears, moreover, in perfect conformity 
 to this. Thus some of their sovereigns, we are told, after 
 the fatigues of the tournament, were wont to recreate their 
 spirits with "elegant poetry, and florid discourses of amorous
 
 220 THE SPANISH ARABS. 
 
 and knightly history." The ten quaHties, enumerated as 
 essential to a true knight, were "piety, valor, courtesy, prow- 
 ess, 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 heriosm, which distinguished 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, de- 
 posing and even assassinating 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, for more than two cen- 
 turies, scarcely wore away any thing from its original limits. 
 
 Several circumstances may be pointed out as enabling 
 Granada to maintain this protracted resistance. Its concen- 
 trated population furnished such abundant supplies of sol- 
 diers, that its sovereigns could bring into the field an army 
 of a hundred thousand men." Many of these were drawn 
 from the regions of the 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 th»ir enemies for their skill with the cross-bow, to the 
 use of which they were trained from childhood.'* But their 
 strength lay chiefly in their cavalry. Their spacious vegas 
 afforded an ample field for the display of their matchless 
 horsemanship; while the face of the country, intersected by 
 jnountains and intricate defiles, gave a manifest advantage 
 
 fl
 
 THE SPANISH ARABS. 221 
 
 to the Arabian light-horse over the steel-clad cavalry of the 
 Christians, and was particularly suited to the wild guerrilla 
 warfare, in which the Moors so much excelled. During 
 the long hostilities of the country, almost every city had been 
 converted into a fortress. The number 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 be 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 nat- 
 ural term. 
 
 But after all, the strength of Granada, like that of Con- 
 stantinople, lay less in its own resources than in the weak- 
 ness of its enemies, who, distracted by the feuds of a turb- 
 ulent 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 con- 
 quest of Granada at the death of Henry the Fourth, than at 
 that of St. Ferdinand in the thirteenth century. Before 
 entering on the achievement of this conquest by Ferdinand 
 and Isabella, it may not be amiss to notice the probable in- 
 fluence exerted by the Spanish Arabs on European civiliza- 
 tion. 
 
 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 reli- 
 gion was eminently unfavorable to letters. The Koran, what- 
 ever be the merit of its literary execution, does not, we 
 believe, contain a single precept in favor of general science.^' 
 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 stigmatized 
 which preceded the advent of their apostle." But, after 
 the nation had reposed 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 preeminence 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 im- 
 ported along with him the fondness for luxury and letters, 
 that had begun to display itself in the capitals of the east.
 
 222 THE SPANISH ARABS. 
 
 His munificent spirit descended upon his successors; and, 
 on the breaking up of the empire, the various capitals, Se- 
 ville, 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 liter- 
 ary civilization, reached far into the fourteenth century, 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 con- 
 dition 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 intel- 
 lect than the sultry regions of Arabia and Africa. Its long 
 line of coast and convenient havens opened to an enlarged 
 commerce. Its numbers of rival states encouraged a gener- 
 ous emulation, like that which glowed in ancient Greece and 
 modern Italy; and was infinitely more favorable to the de- 
 velopment 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 Arabs some 
 of the more degrading superstitions incident to their religion, 
 and to impart to them nobler ideas of the independence and 
 moral dignity of man, than are to be found in the slaves of 
 eastern despotism. 
 
 Under these favorable circumstances, provisions for edu- 
 cation 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. No less than fifty of these colleges or schools 
 could be discerned scattered over the suburbs and populous 
 plains of Granada. Seventy public libraries are enumerated 
 in Spain by a contemporary, at the beginning of the four- 
 teenth century. 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 pursued, even through its minutest 
 subdivisions; while a biographical notice of blind men, emi- 
 nent for their scholarship in Spain, proves how far the general 
 avidity for knowledge triumphed over the most discouraging 
 obstacles of nature.^" 
 
 The Spanish Arabs emulated their countrymen of the east 
 in their devotion to natural and mathematical science. They 
 penetrat I into the remotest regions of Africa and Asia,
 
 THE SPANISH ARABS. 223 
 
 transmitting an exact account of their proceedings to the 
 national academies. They contributed to astronomical know- 
 ledge by the number and accuracy of their observations, and 
 by the improvement of instruments and the erection of observ- 
 atories, of which the noble tower of Seville is one of the 
 earliest examples. They furnished their full proportion in 
 the department 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 scho- 
 lars appear to have entered upon as various a field of philo- 
 sophical inquiry, as would be crowded into a modern ency- 
 clopaedia.'^ 
 
 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 distin- 
 guished by the most opposite characteristics, which some- 
 times, indeed, served to neutralize each other. An acute 
 and subtile perception was often clouded by mysticism and 
 abstraction. They combined a habit of classification and 
 generalization, with a marvellous fondness for detail; a viva- 
 cious fancy with a patience of application, that a German of 
 our day might envy; and, while in fiction they launched 
 boldly into originality, indeed extravagance, they were con- 
 tent in philosophy to tread servilely in the track of their 
 ancient masters. They derived their science from versions 
 of the Greek philosophers; 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 rarely ascended to general principles, or struck out new 
 and important truths; at least, this is certain in regard to 
 their metaphysical labors. 
 
 Hence Aristotle, who taught them to arrange what they 
 had already acquired, rather than to advance to new discov- 
 eries, became the god of their idolatry. They piled com- 
 mentary on commentary, and, in their blind admiration of 
 his system, may be almost said to have been more of Peri- 
 patetics 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 man- 
 kind for so many ages. V^et his various illustrations have 
 served, in the opinion of European critics, to darken rather
 
 224 
 
 THE SPANISH ARABS. 
 
 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 particu- 
 lar, are commended by Sprengel above their brethren for 
 their observations on the practice of medicine.'" But what- 
 ever 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 re- 
 searches 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 compo- 
 sition. 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 only under free and bene- 
 ficent institutions? Even could they have formed concep- 
 tions of these, how would they have dared to express them? 
 Hence their histories are too often mere barren chronolog- 
 ical details, or fulsome panegyrics on their princes, unenli- 
 vened 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 improve- 
 ment of mankind. Algebra, and the higher mathematics,] 
 were taught in their schools, and thence diffused over Europe. 
 The manufacture of paper, which, since the invention of] 
 printing, has contributed so essentially to the rapid circula- 
 tion of knowledge, was derived through them. Casiri has] 
 discovered several manuscripts on cotton paper in the Escu- 
 rial as early as 1009, and of linen paper of the date of 1106;" 
 the origin of which latter fabric Tiraboschi has ascribed toj 
 an Italian of Trevigi, in the middle of the fourteenth century. 
 Lastly, the application of gunpowder to military science,]
 
 THE SPANISH ARABS. 225 
 
 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 communicated 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 land-marks of for- 
 mer civilization, but bringing with it a fertilizing principle, 
 which, as the waters receded, gave new life and loveliness to 
 the landscape. The writings of the Saracens were trans- 
 lated 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 scien- 
 tific labors 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 discrimination to pronounce fairly 
 upon such works as are regulated by them. Nothing is 
 more common than to see the poetry of the east condemned 
 as tumid, over-refined, infected with meretricious ornament 
 and conceits, and, in short, as every way contravening the 
 principles of good taste. Few of the critics, who thus per- 
 emptorily condemn, are capable of reading a line of the 
 original. The merit of poetry, however, consists so much 
 in its literary execution, that a person, to pronounce upon 
 it, should be intimately acquainted with the whole import of 
 the idiom in which it is written. The style of poetry, in- 
 deed 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 impassioned, as with 
 the Arabians, whose ordinary language is made up of meta- 
 phor, that of the poet must be still more so. Hence the 
 tone of elegant literature varies so widely in different coun- 
 tries, even in those of Europe, which approach the nearest 
 to each other in their principles of taste, that it would be 
 found extremely difficult to effect a close translation of the 
 most admired specimens of eloquence from the language 
 
 lO*
 
 226 
 
 THE SPANISH ARABS. 
 
 of one nation Into that of any other. A page of Boccaccio 
 or Bembo, for instance, done into literal English, would 
 have an air of intolerable artifice and verbiage. The choic- 
 est morsels of Massillon, Bossuet, or the rhetorical Thomas, 
 would savor marvellously of 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 certainly not those of negligence. The Spanish 
 Arabs, in particular, were 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 com- 
 position. Academies, far more numerous than those of 
 Italy, to which they subsequently served for a model, invited 
 by their premiums frequent competitions in poetry and elo- 
 quence. 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 themselves 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.^' The temperate tone of Attic composition ap- 
 peared 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 colored with imagery, sparkling 
 with conceits and metaphors, and occasionally breathing a 
 deep tone of moral sensibility, as in some of the plaintive
 
 THE SPANISH ARABS. 227 
 
 effusions ascribed by Conde to the royal poets of Cordova. 
 The compositions 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 Provengale and 
 the Castilian. In the latter especially, so far from being 
 confined to the vocabulary, or to external forms of compo- 
 sition, it seems to have penetrated deep into its spirit, and 
 is plainly discernible in that affectation of stateliness and 
 oriental hyperbole, which characterizes 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 litera- 
 ture of Europe by those tales of fairy enchantment, so char- 
 acteristic of oriental genius, and in which it seems to have 
 revelled with uncontrolled delight. These tales, which fur- 
 nished the principal diversion of the East, were imported by 
 the Saracens into Spain; and we find the monarchs of Cor- 
 dova solacing their leisure hours with listening to their rawis, 
 or 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 the trouvere, and, at a later and 
 more polished period, called forth the imperishable creations 
 of the Italian muse." 
 
 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 transla- 
 tion; 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 merits! It is unfortu- 
 nate for them, moreover, that the Turks, the only nation, 
 which, from an identity of religion and government with th^
 
 528 
 
 THE SPANISH ARABS. 
 
 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 mon- 
 uments of antiquity, has so seldom been quickened into a 
 display of genius, or added so little of possitive 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 de- 
 grading political and religious institutions, which on the 
 Turks have produced the results naturally to have been ex- 
 pected; while the Arabians, on the other hand, exhibit the 
 extraordinary phenomenon of a nation, under all these embar- 
 rassments, 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 over his native desert as free, and almost 
 as uncivilized, as before the coming of his apostle. The lan- 
 guage, 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 birth- 
 place 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 popula- 
 tion 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 inter- 
 esting 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 ex- 
 istence 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
 
 THE SPANISH ARABS. 229 
 
 insensibility which can be imputed to nothing else but a spirit of religious 
 bigotry, have been content to derive their narratives exclusively from national 
 authorities. A fire, which occurred in the Escurial in 1671, having con- 
 sumed 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 numbsr of 1850, to be complied 
 by the learned Casiri; and the result was his celebrated work, " Bibliotheca 
 Arabico-Hispana Escurialensis," which appeared in the years 1760-70, an>^ 
 which would reflect credit from the splendor of its typographical execution 
 on any press of the 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 manu- 
 scripts in the Escurial, 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 history of this people. Still 
 their political history, so essential to a correct knowledge of the Spanish, 
 was comparatively neglected, until Seiior 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 Domina- 
 cion de los Arabes en Espaiia." 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 con- 
 fused 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 par- 
 ticulars 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 its author, embraces a circumstantial narrative of the great 
 Saracen invasion, of the subsequent condition of Spain under the viceroys, 
 and of the empire of the Omeyades; undoubtedly the most splendid por- 
 tion of Arabic annals, but the one, unluckily, which has been most co- 
 piously illustrated in the popular work compiled by Cardonne from the 
 oriental manuscripts in the Royal Library at Paris. But as this author has 
 followed the Spanish and the oriental authorities, indiscriminately, no part 
 of his book can be cited as a genuine Arabic version, except indeed the last 
 sixty pages, comprising the conquest of Granada, which Cardonne pro- 
 fesses in his Preface to have drawn exclusively 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 of the truth of this assertion, in the peculiar national and reli- 
 gious spirit which pervades the work, and in a certain florid gasconade of 
 style, common with the oriental writers. It is this fidelity that constitutes 
 the peculiar value of Conde's narrative. It is the first time that the Ara- 
 bians, 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 no very philosophical spirit, and contains, as might
 
 33° 
 
 THE SPANISH ARABS, 
 
 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. But, 
 with every deduction, it must be allowed to exhibit a sufficiently clear view 
 of the intricate conflicting relations of the petty principalities, which 
 swarmed over the Peninsula; and to furnish abundant evidence of a wide- 
 spread intellectual improvement amid all the horrors of anarchy and a fero- 
 cious despotism. The work has already been translated or rather para- 
 phrased into French. The necessity of an English version will doubtless 
 be in a great degree superseded by the History of the Spanish Arabs, pre- 
 paring for the Cabinet Cyclopaedia, by Mr. Southey, — a writer, with whom 
 few Castilian scholars will be willing to compete, even on their own ground; 
 and who is, happily, not exposed to the national or religious prejudices^ 
 which can interfere with his "'ndering perfect justice to his subject.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 WAR OF GRANADA. — SURPRISE OF ZAHARA. — CAPTURE OF 
 
 ALHAMA. 
 
 I481 — 1482. 
 
 Zahara surprised by the Moors. — Marquis of Cadiz. — His Expedition 
 against Alhama. — Valor 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 tran- 
 quillity to their dominions, and made the strength effective, 
 which had been acquired by their union under one govern- 
 ment, 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; ani 
 sentiments of gratitude combined with a naturally amiabls 
 disposition, had led him to foster as amicable relations with 
 the Christian princes, as the jealousy of two nations, that 
 might be considered the natural enemies of each other, would 
 permit; so that, notwithstanding an occasional border foray, 
 or the capture of a frontier fortress, such a correspond- 
 ence was maintained between the two kingdoms, that the 
 nobles of Castile frequently resorted to the court of Gra- 
 nada, where, forgetting their ancient feuds, they mingled with 
 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 stili cherished in secret the same
 
 232 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 feelings of animosity against the Christians. When, in 1476, 
 the Spanish sovereigns required as the condition of a renewal 
 of the truce, which he solicited, the payment of the a<nnual 
 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 of this Spar- 
 tan answer.' 
 
 At length, toward 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 sur- 
 prised on the night of the 26th of December, by the Moorish 
 monarch; who, scaling the walls under favor of a furious 
 tempest, which prevented his approach from being readily 
 heard, put to the sword such of the guard as offered resist- 
 ance, 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 vigilance was exerted to 
 deteot some vulnerable point of the enemy, on which retalia- 
 tion 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 prog- 
 nostics, it was said, afforded by the appearance of the 
 heavens, boded no good. More sure prognostics were af- 
 forded 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 retalia- 
 tion presented itself to the Spaniards. One Juan de Ortega, 
 a captain of escaladores, or scalers, 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 Rousillon, 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
 
 SURPRISE OF ALHAMA. ^33 
 
 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 ap- 
 parently 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 com- 
 mon to the people of the east, used to frequent this place, 
 with their court, to refresh themselves with its delicious 
 waters, so that Alhama became embellished with all the mag- 
 nificence of a royal residence. The place was still further 
 enriched by its being the depot of the public taxes on land, 
 which constituted a principal branch of the revenue, and by 
 its various manufactures of cloth, for which its inhabitants 
 were celebrated throughout the kingdom of Granada.^ 
 
 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 
 information which he had received to Don Rodrigo Ponce de 
 Leon, marquis of Cadiz, as the person best fitted by his capa- 
 city and courage for such an enterprise. This nobleman, 
 who had succeeded his 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 victory over the Moors, accompanied with a signal 
 display of personal prowess.* Later in life, he formed a con- 
 nection with the daughter of the marquis of Villena, the 
 factious minister of Henry the Fourth, through whose influ- 
 ence he was raised to the dignity of marquis of Cadiz. This 
 alliance attached him to the fortunes of Henry, in his disputes 
 with his brother Alfonso, and subsequently with Isabella, on 
 whose accession, of course, Don Rodrigo looked with no 
 friendly eye. He did not, however, engage in any overt act of
 
 234 
 
 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 resistance, but occupied himself with prosecuting an heredi- 
 tary 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 con- 
 ducted, 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 administra- 
 tion of Isabella repressed these disorders, and, after abridging 
 the overgrown power of the two nobles, effected an apparent 
 (it was only apparent) reconciliation between them. The 
 fiery spirit of the marquis of Cadiz, no longer allowed to 
 escape in domestic broil, urged him to seek distinction in 
 more honorable 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 in 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 Henriquez, adelantado of Andalusia, a relative of Fer- 
 dinand, and to the alcaydes of two or three neighboring 
 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 five hundred horse and 
 three thousand foot. His own town of Marchena was ap- 
 pointed as the place of rendezvous. The proposed route lay 
 by the way of Antequera, across the wild sierras of Alzerifa. 
 The mountain passes, sufficiently difficult at a season when 
 their numerous ravines were choked up by the winter tor- 
 rents, were rendered still more formidable by being tra- 
 versed 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 Alhama. Here the marquis first revealed the 
 real object of the expedition to his soldiers, who, little dream- 
 ing of any thing beyond a mere border inroad, were trans- 
 ported 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 John de Ortega for the purpose of scaling the 
 citadel, while the main body moved forward more leisurely
 
 SURPRISE OF ALHAMA. 235 
 
 under the marquis of Cadiz, in order to support them. The 
 night was dark and tempestuous, circumstances which favored 
 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, suc- 
 ceeded 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 the sword, after the short 
 and ineffectual resistance that could be opposed by men sud- 
 denly roused from slumber. The city in the mean time 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 flying, at the head of his army, and took posses- 
 sion of the fortress.* 
 
 After allowing the refreshment necessary to the exhausted 
 spirits of his soldiers, the marquis resolved to sally forth at 
 once upon the town, before its inhabitants could muster ii\ 
 sufficient force to oppose him. But the citizens of Alhama, 
 showing a resolution rather to have been expected from men 
 trained in a camp, than from peaceful burghers of a manu- 
 facturing 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 enfiladed it with their arque- 
 buses and crossbows, that the Spaniards, after an ineffectual 
 attempt to force a passage, were compelled to recoil upon 
 their defences, amid showers of bolts and balls which occa- 
 sioned the loss, among others, of two of their principal al- 
 caydes. 
 
 A council of war was then called, in which it was even 
 advised by some, that the fortress, after having been dis- 
 mantled, should be abandoned as incapable of defence against 
 the citizens on the one hand, and the succors which might be 
 expected speedily to arrive from Granada, on the other. But 
 this counsel was rejected with indignation by the marquis oi 
 Cadiz, whose fiery spirit rose with the occasion; indeed, it was 
 not very palatable to most of his followers, whose cupdity was 
 more than ever inflamed by the sight of the rich spoil, which, 
 after so many fatigues, now lay at their feet. It was accord- 
 ingly resolved to demolish part of the fortifications, which 
 looked toward 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
 
 236 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 the head of his men-at-arms, and shouting his war-cry of "St. 
 James and ihe Virgin," precipitated himself into the thickest 
 of the enemy. Others of the Spaniards, running along the 
 out-works contiguous to the buildings of the city, leaped into 
 the street, and joined their companions there, while others 
 again sallied from the gates, now opened for the second time.'' 
 The Moors, unshaken by the fury of this assault, received 
 the assailants 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 boil- 
 ing oil, pitch, and missies of every description. But the 
 weapons of the Moors glanced comparatively harmless from 
 the mailed armor 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 re- 
 sistance, 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, liberty, all that was most dear to them. The 
 contest hardly slackened till the close of day, while the ken- 
 nels literally ran with blood, and every avenue was choked 
 Up with the bodies of the slain. At length, however, Spanish 
 valor proved triumphant in every quarter, except where a 
 ■small and desperate remnant 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 closed 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 use of fire-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 Casti'ian writers 
 make no mention of this; and, as the appetites of the Span- 
 iards were not yet stimulated by that love of carnage, which 
 they afterward displayed in their American wars, and which 
 was repugnant to the chivalrous spirit with which their con- 
 tests with the Moslems were usually conducted, we may be 
 justified in regarding it as an invention of the enemy *
 
 SURPRISE OF ALHAMA. 237 
 
 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, fine silks and cloths, 
 curious and costly furniture, and all the various appurte- 
 nances of a thriving, luxurious city. In addition to which, 
 the magazines were found well stored with the more substan- 
 tial, and at the present juncture, more serviceable supplies 
 of grain, oil, and other provisions. Nearly a quarter of the 
 population is said to have perished in the various conflicts 
 of the day, and the remainder, according to the usage of the 
 time, became the prize of the victors. A considerable number 
 of Christian captives, who were found immured in the public 
 prisons, were restored to freedom, and swelled the general 
 jubilee with their grateful acclamiations. The contemporary 
 Castilian chroniclers record also, with no less satisfaction, 
 the detection of a Christian renegade, notorious for his depre- 
 dations on his countrymen, whose misdeeds the marquis of 
 Cadiz requited by causing him to be hung up over the battle- 
 ments of the castle, in the face of the whole city. Thus fell 
 the ancient city of Alhama, 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 Providence 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 cap- 
 ture of Zahara. The melancholy romance or ballad, with the 
 burden of Ay de mi Alhama "Woe is me, Alhama," com- 
 posed 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 gene- 
 ral satisfaction throughout Castile, and was especially grate- 
 ful 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
 
 238 
 
 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 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 chroni- 
 cler 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 over- 
 whelming force from Granada, and he determined at all 
 hazards to support them. He accordingly gave orders to 
 make instant preparation for departure; but, first, accom- 
 panied the queen, attended by a solemn procession of the 
 court and clergy, to the cathedral church 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. Toward 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 rein- 
 forcements 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 scandalized 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 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 ex- 
 pert 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 posturej 
 of defence. But the Moorish ranks were 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 unintermitted ' 
 vivacity, that the little garrison, scarcely allowed a momentj 
 for repose, was wellnigh exhausted wMth fatigue.'^ 
 
 At length, however, Abul Hacen, after the loss of more than] 
 two thousand of his bravest troops in these precipitated] 
 assaults, became convinced of the impracticability of forcingj
 
 SURPRISE OF ALHAMA. 239 
 
 a position, whose natural strength was so ably seconded by 
 the valor of its defenders, and he determined to reduce the 
 place by the more tardy but certain method of blockade. In 
 this he was favored 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 labor, succeeded 
 in diverting the stream so effectually, that the only commu- 
 nication with it, which remained open to the beseiged, was by 
 a subterraneous gallery or mine, that had probably been con- 
 trived with reference to some such 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, the chief 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 mar- 
 quis 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 re- 
 turned 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 privations of the meanest of his followers; 
 encouraging them to rely with undoubting confidence on the 
 sympathies whioli their cuuse 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,
 
 240 
 
 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 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 en- 
 terprise. Henrique de Guzman, duke of Medina Sidonia, 
 possessed a degree of power more considerable than any other 
 chieftain in the south. His 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 marquis of Cadiz, he had the gene- 
 rosity, 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 Ronda, in her 
 own castle of Arcos. He now showed a similar alacrity in 
 sacrificing all personal jealousy at the call of patriotism." 
 
 No sooner did he learn the perilous condition of his country- 
 men in Alhama, than he m.ustered the whole array of his house- 
 hold troops and retainers, which, when combined with those 
 of the marquis de Villena, 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 extremi- 
 ties to which the besieged were already reduced, and without 
 waiting for a reply pushed on with the utmost vigor for Al- 
 hama. 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 '*
 
 SURPRISE OF ALHAMA. 24I 
 
 The garrison of Alhama viewed with astonishment the 
 sudden departure of their enemies; but their wonder was 
 converted into joy, when they beheld the bright arms and 
 banners of their countrymen, gleaming along the declivities 
 of the mountains. They rushed out with tumultuous trans- 
 port to receive them, and pour forth their grateful acknowl- 
 edgements, 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. 
 
 Notwithstanding the kindly feelings excited between the 
 two armies, a dispute had wellnigh arisen respecting the 
 division of the spoil, in 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 expedi- 
 tion. After the necessary time devoted to repose and re- 
 freshment, 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 repre- 
 sented 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 toward 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, 
 Vol. I. — II.
 
 242 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 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 was experience of these 
 evils, which had led to its abandonment in former days, 
 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 might be regarded as the key of the 
 enemy's country. This was the first blow struck during the 
 war, and honor and policy alike forbade them to adopt a 
 measure, which could not fail to damp the ardor of the nation." 
 This opinion of the queen, thus decisively expressed, deter- 
 mined the question, and kindled a spark of her own enthu- 
 siasm in the breasts of the most desponding.'* 
 
 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 rumor 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 pre- 
 lates 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 Romish 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, and 
 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 niDtives of ambi- 
 tion, than of zeal for the exaltation of the true faith. After the 
 completion of these ceremonies, Ferdinand, having strength-
 
 SURPRISE UF ALHAMA. 243 
 
 ened the garrison with new recruits under the command of 
 Portoca;rrero, 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 merci- 
 less warfare, so repugnant to the more civilized 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 mean while was engaged in active measures 
 for prosecuting the war. She issued orders to the various 
 cities of Castile and Leon, as far as the borders of Biscay 
 and Guipuscoa, prescribing the reparthnientp, 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 Loja, by the ist 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 cooperation of 
 their African brethren in support of the Mahometan empire 
 in Spain, the queen caused a fleet to be manned under the 
 command of her two best admirals, with instructions to sweep 
 the Mediterranean as far as the Straits of Gibraltar, and thus 
 effectually cut off all cooainunication with the Barbary coast,"
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 WAR OF GRANADA. — UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT ON LOJA.— =• 
 DEFEAT IN THE AXARQUIA. 
 
 1482 — 1483. 
 
 Unsuccessful Attempt on Loja. — Revolution in Granada. — Expedition to 
 the Axarquia. — Military Array. — Moorish Preparations. — Bloody Con- 
 flict among the Mountains. — The Spaniards force a Passage. — The 
 Marquis of Cadiz escapes. 
 
 LojA stands not many leagues from A.lhama, on the banks 
 of the Xenil, which rolls its clear current through a valley 
 luxuriant with vineyards and olive-gardens; but the city is 
 deeply intrenched among hills of so rugged an aspect, that it 
 has been led not inappropriately to assume as the motto on 
 its arms, " A flower among thorns." Under the Moors, it 
 was defended by a strong fortress, while the Xenil, circum- 
 scribing it like a deep moat upon the south, formed an excel- 
 lent rampart 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 commanded by the 
 city. In addition to these advantages, the king 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 
 AH Atar.' 
 
 In the mean while, the efforts of the Spanish sovereigns to 
 procure supplies adequate to the undertaking against Loja, 
 had not been crowned with success. The cities and districts 
 of which the requisitions had been made, had discovered the 
 tardiness usual in such unwieldy bodies, and their interest, 
 moreover, was considerably impaired by their distance from the 
 theatre of action. Ferdinand on mustering his army, toward 
 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 hijr
 
 ROUT IN THE AXARQUIA. 245 
 
 enterprise. Some of his counsellors would have persuaded 
 him, from these considerations, to turn his arms against some 
 weaker and more assailable point than Loja. But Ferdinand 
 burned with a desire for distinction in the new war, and suf- 
 fered his ardor 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 unfavorable 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.^ 
 
 Ferdinand, crossing the Xenil at Ecija, arrived again on 
 its banks before Loja, on the ist of July. The army en- 
 camped among the hills, whose deep ravines obstructed com- 
 munication between its different quarters; while the level 
 plains below were intersected by numerous canals, equally 
 unfavorable to the manoeuvres of the men-at-arms. The 
 duke of Villa Hermosa, the king's brother, and captain- 
 general of the hermandad, an ofificer 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 Albo- 
 hacen, and to fortify it with such few pieces of ordnance as 
 they had, with the view of annoying the city. This commis- 
 sion was intrusted to the marquises of Cadiz and Villena, and 
 the grand master of Calatrava; 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 intrenchment could be fully com- 
 pleted, Ali Atar, discerning the importance of this command- 
 ing station, made a sortie from the town, for the purpose of 
 dislodging his enemies. The latter poured out from their 
 works to encounter him; but the Moslem general, scarcely 
 waiting to receive the shock, wheeled his squadrons round, 
 and began a precipitate retreat. The Spaniards eagerly pur- 
 sued; but, when they had been drawn to a sufficient distance 
 from the redoubt, a party of Moorish gi'ietes, 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 intf
 
 246 
 
 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 the deserted camp, plundered it of its contents, including the 
 lombards, or small pieces of artillery, with which it was gar- 
 nished. 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 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 supplies daily passing into that of his 
 enemy. Other inconveniences also pressed on him. His 
 men were so badly provided with the necessary utensils for 
 dressing their food, that they were obliged either to devour 
 it raw, or only half cooked. Most of them being new re- 
 cruits, unaccustomed to the privations of war, and many ex- 
 hausted 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 reinforcements as might put him in condition to 
 enforce a more rigorous blockade. 
 
 Orders were accordingly issued to the cavaliers occupying 
 the Heights of Albohacen to break up their camp, and join 
 themselves to the main body of the army. This was exe- 
 cuted 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
 
 ROUt IN THE AXARQUIA. 247 
 
 in considerable force to take possession of it. Ferdinand's 
 men, wlio 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 surprised 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 pos- 
 sible. In vain did Ferdinand, riding along their broken 
 files, endeavor 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 honor dearer than life, 
 he made such a determined stand against the Moorish ad- 
 vance, that the Ali Atar was compelled to pause in his career. 
 A furious struggle ensued betwixt this devoted little band 
 and the whole strength of the Moslem 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. Never did the Spanish chivalry 
 shed its blood more freely. The constable, count de Haro, 
 received three wounds in the face. The duke of Medina 
 Cell 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 Zuniga. 
 
 The Moors, finding it so difficult to make an impression on 
 this iron band of warriors, began at length to slacken their 
 efforts, and finally allowed Ferdinand to draw off the remnant
 
 248 
 
 WAR OF GRANADA, 
 
 of his forces without further opposition. The king continued 
 his retreat without halting, as far as the romantic site of the 
 Peiia de los Enamorados, about seven leagues distant from 
 Loja; and, abandoning all thoughts of offensive operations 
 for the present, soon after returned to Cordova. Muley 
 Abul Hacen arrived the following day with a powerful rein- 
 forcement from Granada, and swept the country as far as Rio 
 Frio. Had he come but a few hours sooner, there would have 
 been few Spaniards left to tell the tale of the rout of Loja." 
 
 The loss of the Christians must have been very consider- 
 able, including the greater part of the baggage and the artil- 
 lery. 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 disorder 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 hus- 
 band's government. The king, 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 popu- 
 lace, 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 
 Hacen.' 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 ad-
 
 ROUT IN THE AXARQUIA. 249 
 
 hered to him; while Granada, and by far the larger portion 
 of the kingdom proclaimed the authority of his elder son, 
 Abu Abdallah, or Boabdil, as he is 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, notwithstandmg the mutual hatred of each 
 other, they could only await 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.^ 
 
 No military operations worthy of notice occurred during 
 the remainder of the campaign, except occasional cavalgadas 
 or inroads, on both sides, which, after the usual unspairing 
 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 Christians 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 inflicted by these 
 terrible forays fell, eventually, most heavily on Granada, in 
 consequence of her scanty territory and insulated position, 
 which cut her off from all foreign resources. 
 
 Toward 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 recognized 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 ist of July, while the court was at Cordova, died 
 Alfonso de Carillo, the factious archbishop of Toledo, who 
 contributed m-ore than any other to raise Isabella to the 
 throne, and who, with the same arm, had wellnigh 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 an- 
 cient rival, Don Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, cardinal of 
 Spain; a prelate whose enlarged and sagacious views gained 
 him deserved ascendency in the councils of his sovereigns.*
 
 2SO 
 
 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 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 ovvn ter- 
 ritories. This system was, indeed, now rapildly melting away. 
 But Louis the Eleventh may perhaps be regarded as the first 
 monarch, who showed any thing like an extended interest 
 in European politics. He informed himself of the interior 
 proceedings of most of the neighboring courts, by means of 
 secret agents whom he pensioned there. Ferdinand obtained 
 a similar result by the more honorable expedient of resident 
 embassies, a practice, which he is said to have introduced,'" 
 and which, while it has greatly facilitated commercial inter- 
 course, has served to perpetuate friendly relations between 
 different countries, by accustoming them to settle their dif- 
 ferences 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 men- 
 aced 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 negotia- 
 tion between the belligerents, and in finally adjusting the 
 terms of a general pacification, signed December 12th, 1842. 
 The Spanish court, in consequence of its friendly mediation 
 on this occasion, received three several embassies with suita- 
 ble acknowledgments, on the part of the 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 in- 
 stance 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 reins of government during her son's minority.'" The 
 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
 
 ROUT IN THE AXARQUIA. 251 
 
 young king, Francis Phoebus, and Joanna Beltraneja, Isa- 
 bella's former competitor for the crown of Castile, notwith- 
 standing 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 employment to its present proprietors, as 
 should effectually prevent 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 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 Navarre. 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 Fer- 
 dinand and Isabella, for the marriage of this princess, then 
 thirteen years of age, with their infant son John, heir appar- 
 ent of their united monarchies." Such 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 age in the parties. Information being soon after 
 received that Louis the Eleventh was taking measures to 
 make himself master of the strong places in Navarre, 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 neighbor. The 
 death of the king 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 Granada. At a congress general of the depu- 
 ties of the hermandad, held at Pinto, at the commencement 
 of the present year, 1483, with the view 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
 
 252 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 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 lavishness 
 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, pe- 
 culiarly, at the present juncture. The maintenance of the 
 royal guard and of the vast national police of the hermandad, 
 the incessant military operations of the late campaign, to- 
 gether with the equipment of a navy^ not merely for war, but 
 for maritime discovery, where so many copious drains of 
 the exchequer." Under these circumstances, they obtained 
 from the pope a grant of one hundred thousand ducats, to be 
 raised out of the ecclesiastical revenues in Castile and Ara- 
 gon. A bull of crusade was also published by his Holiness, 
 containing 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 punctuality 
 with which it had redeemed its past engagements, to nego- 
 tiate considerable loans with 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 Constantina; 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 false 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 Anda- 
 lusia. 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, toward heretics and infidels." 
 
 While the court was detained in the north, tidings were
 
 ROUT IN THE AXARQUIA. 253 
 
 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. 
 AVhile 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 renegadoes, 
 were employed by the border chiefs to reconnoitre the ene- 
 my's country, or to guide them in their marauding expedi- 
 tions.'^ 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 Moor- 
 ish villages. After threading its defiles, it was proposed to 
 return by an open road that turned the southern extremity of 
 the sierra along the sea-shore. There was little to be appre- 
 hended, it was stated, from pursuit, since Malaga was almost 
 wholly unprovided with cavalry.'" 
 
 The grand master, falling in with the proposition, com- 
 municated it to the principal chiefs on the borders; among 
 others, to Don Pedro Henriquez, adelantado of Andalusia, 
 Don Juan de Silva, count of Cifuentes, Don Alonzo de 
 Aguilar, and the marquis of Cadiz. These nobleman, col- 
 lecting their retainers repaired to Antequera, where the ranks 
 were quickly swelled 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 mean while, however, the marquis of Cadiz had re- 
 ceived such intelligence from his own adalides^ as led him to 
 doubt the expediency of a march through intricate defiles, 
 inhabited by a poor and hardy peasantry; and he strongly 
 advised to direct the expedition against the neighboring 
 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
 
 254 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 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, con- 
 taining the flower of Andalusian knighthood, together with the 
 array of St. James, the most opulent and powerful of the 
 Spanish military orders. Never, 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 aginst them. The leaders took care not to en- 
 cumber 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, how- 
 ever, 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, stuffs, or jewels, which they 
 expected would be won by the good swords of their comrades, 
 as in Alhama.^' 
 
 After travelling with little intermission through the night, 
 the army entered the winding defiles of the Axarquia; where 
 their progress was necessarily so much impeded by the cha- 
 racter of the ground, that most of the inhabitants of the 
 villages, through which they passed, had opportunity to escape 
 with the greater part of their effects to the inaccessible fast- 
 nesses of the mountains. The Spaniards, after plundering 
 the deserted hamlets of whatever remained, as well as of the 
 few 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 columns of 
 smoke and fire, which rose above the hill-tops, announced ta 
 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, con- 
 trary 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 nameof 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 pas- 
 ses; while another division, consisting chiefly of arquebusiers
 
 ROUT IN THE AXARQUIA. 255 
 
 and archers, should turn the enemy's flank by gaining the 
 heights under which he was defiling. This last corps was 
 placed under the direction of Reduan Benegas, a chief of 
 Christian lineage, according to Bernaldez, and who may per- 
 haps 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 mean time went forward with a 
 buoyant and reckless confidence, and with very little subordi- 
 nation. The divisions occupying the advance and centre, 
 disappointed in their expectations of booty, had quitted the 
 line of march, and dispersed in small parties in search of plun- 
 der 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 re- 
 mained 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 the 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 con- 
 sequence, despatched a message to the marquis of Cadiz, 
 requesting his support. The latter, putting himself at the 
 head of such 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 suc- 
 ceeded 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 com- 
 bined squadrons pressed so hard on the Moslems, that they 
 were soon compelled to take refuge within the depths of their 
 own mountains. ^^ 
 
 In the mean while, the scattered troops of the advance, 
 alarmed by the 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 every-
 
 256 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 where in arms. The most that could now be hoped, was, 
 that they might be suffered to retire unmolested with such 
 plunder as they had 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 de- 
 termined them unhappily to prefer the 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 
 undiminished 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 thickets, and broken up by formidable 
 ravines or channels, cut deep into the soil by the mountain 
 torrents. The Moors were now seen mustering in consider- 
 able numbers along the heights, and, as they were expert 
 marksmen, 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 igno- 
 rance of the guides, was suddenly brought to a halt by arriving 
 in a deep glen or enclosure, whose rocky sides rose with such 
 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 de- 
 parted. 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 many spec- 
 tres. It seemed, says 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 occupied by the enemy, who poured down 
 mingled volleys of shot, stones, and arrows on the heads of 
 the Christians. The compact mass presented by the latter
 
 ROUT IN THE AXARQUIA. «57 
 
 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 around them on every quarter, 
 seems to have completely bewildered the Spaniards, even 
 their leaders. It was the misfortune of the expedition, that 
 there was but little concert between the several commanders, 
 or, at least, that there was no one so preeminent above the rest 
 as to assume authority at this awful moment. So far, it would 
 seem, from attempting escape, they continued in their peril- 
 ous position, uncertain what course to take, until midnight; 
 when at length, after having seen their best and bravest fol- 
 lowers 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 sham- 
 bles."" 
 
 The marquis of Cadiz, guided by a trusty adalid, and ac 
 companied by sixty or seventy lances, was 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 pain'^ul 
 narch, in which his good steed sunk under him oppres.'^ed 
 vith wounds and fatigue, in reaching a valley at some dis- 
 tance from the scene of action, where he determined to wait 
 the coming up of his friends, who he confidently expecced 
 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 difficult of afcent. 
 At every step the loosened earth gave way under the pressure 
 of the foot, and, the infantry endeavoring to support them- 
 selves 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 precipitated 
 down the sides of the numerous ravines. The Moors, all th?
 
 ^58 WAR OF GRANADA- 
 
 while, avoiding a close encounter, contented themselves with 
 discharging on the heads of their opponents an unintermitted 
 shower of missiles of every description." 
 
 It was not until the following morning, that the Castilians, 
 having surmounted the crest of the eminence, began the de- 
 scent into the opposite valley, which they had the mortifica- 
 tion to observe was commanded on every point by their vigi- 
 lant 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, marched 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 pre- 
 ceding 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 
 fatigue 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 three 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 Alhama or other distant places, after 
 wandering seven or eight days among the mountains, sus- 
 taining 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 Henriquez, and Don Alonso de Aguilar effec- 
 ted their escape by scaling so perilous a part of the sierra 
 that their pursuers cared not to follow. The count de Cifu- 
 entes 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, aginst whom he was defending him- 
 self with desperate courage, when their leader, Reduan
 
 ROUT IN THE AXARQUIA. 259 
 
 Benegas, struck with the inequahty 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 
 vill 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 follow- 
 ers, and, being supplied with a fresh horse, accomplished 
 his escape, after traversing the wildest passages of the Axar- 
 quia 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 day's actions, 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 historians, as usual, ap- 
 pear extremely loose; and the narrative of their en'imies is 
 too meagre in this portion of their annals, to allow any 
 opportunity 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 com- 
 manders 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 still wandering in the wilderness, 
 or were pining away existence in the dungeons of Malaga 
 Granada." 
 
 Some imputed the failure of the expedition to treachery 
 in the adalides, some to want of concert among the com- 
 manders. The worthy Curate of Los Palacios concludes his 
 narrative of the disaster in the following manner. "The 
 number of the Moors was small, who inflicted this grievous 
 defeat on the Christians. It was, indeed, clearly miraculous,
 
 S6c WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 and we ma_, discern in it the special interposition of Provi- 
 dence, justly offended with the greater part of those that en- 
 gaged in the expedition; who, instead of confessing, partaking 
 the sacrament, and making their testaments, as becomes good 
 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 GRANADA. — GENERAL VIEW OF THE POLICY PUR- 
 SUED IN THE CONDUCT OF THIS WAR. 
 
 1483— 1487, 
 
 Defeat and Capture of Abdallah. — Policy of the Sovereigns. — Large Trains 
 of Artillery. — Description of the Pieces. — Stupendous Roads. — Isa- 
 bella'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 Occupa- 
 tion 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 suc- 
 cessful champion of the Moslems. He saw the necessity of 
 some dazzling enterprize, if he would maintain an ascendency 
 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 achieve- 
 ment 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 battles, 
 whose military prowess had raised him from the common file 
 up to the highest post in the army; and whose plebian blood 
 had been permitted to mingle with that of royalty, by the 
 marriage of his daughter with the young king of 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
 
 262 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 fox, which crossed the path of the army, was seen to run 
 through the ranks, and, notwithstanding the showers of mis- 
 siles discharged at him, to make his escape unhurt. Abdal- 
 lah'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 obstinacy 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 Cor- 
 dova, alcayde de los donzeles, or captain of the royal pages, 
 who commanded in the town of Lucena, which he rightly 
 judged was to be the principal object of attack. He trans- 
 mitted the intelligence to his uncle the count of Cabra, a 
 nobleman 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 some- 
 what into decay; and, having caused such of the population 
 as were rendered helpless by age or infirmity to withdraw 
 into the interior defences of the place, he coolly waited the 
 approach of the enemy.'* 
 
 The Moorish army, after crossing the borders, began to 
 mark its career through the Christian territory with the usual 
 traces of devastation, and, sweeping across the environs of 
 Lucena, poured a marauding foray into the rich campina of 
 Cordova, as far as the walls of Aguilar; whence it returned, 
 glutted with spoil, to lay siege to Lucena about the 21st of 
 April. 
 
 The count of Cabra, in the mean while, 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 surprised the beleaguering army. As 
 he traversed the sierra, which covered the Moorish flank, his 
 numbers were partially concealed by the inequalities of the 
 ground; while the clash of arms and the shrill music, rever- 
 berating among the hills, exaggerated their zeal magnitude 
 in the apprehension of the enemy. At the same time the 
 alcayde de los donzeles supported his uncle's advance by a vig- 
 orous sally from the city. The Granadine infantry, anxious 
 only for the preservation of their valuable booty, scarcely 
 waited for the encounter, before they began a dastardly re- 
 treat, and left the battle to the cavalry. The latter, composed,
 
 MILITARY POLICY OF THE SOVEREIGNS. 263 
 
 as has been said, of the strength of the Moorish chivalry, 
 men accustomed in many a border foray to cross lances with 
 the best knights of Andalusia, kept their ground with their 
 wonted gallantry. The conflict, so well disputed, remained 
 doubtful for some time, until it was determined by the death 
 of the veteran chieftain Ali Atar "the best lance," as a Cas- 
 tilian writer has styled him, "of all Morisma, " who was 
 brought to the ground after receiving two wounds, and thus 
 escaped by an honorable 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 at- 
 tempting a passage across the stream, swollen by excessive 
 rains to a height much above its ordinary level. The confu- 
 sion now became universal, horse and foot mingling together; 
 each one, heedful only of life, 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 loyal 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 discov- 
 ered by a common soldier named Martin Hurtado, who, with- 
 out recognizing his person, instantly attacked him. The 
 prince defended himself with his scimtar, until Hurtado, 
 being joined by two of his count'-ymen, succeeded in making 
 him prisoner. The men, overjoyed at their prize (for Abdal- 
 lah 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, recognized 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 consolations which his state 
 would admit; and subsequently lodged him in his castle of 
 Baena, where he was entertained with the most delicate and 
 courtly hospitality.^ 
 
 Nearly the whole of the Moslem cavalry were cut up, or
 
 264 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 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. Nine, or indeed, according to some 
 accounts, two and twenty banners fell 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 coro- 
 net, 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 most populous streets; for the pride of many a 
 noble house was laid low on that day, and their king (a thing 
 unprecedented in the annals of the monarchy) was a prisoner 
 in the land of the Christians. "The hostile star of Islam," 
 exclaims an Arabic writer, "now scattered its malignant in- 
 fluences over Spain, and the downfall of the Mussulman 
 empire was decreed." 
 
 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 as did her 
 son Abdallah, must soon cease to be 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 could have the 
 authority to enforce. 
 
 King Ferdinand, who was at Vitoria 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 libera- 
 tion. A debate of some warmth occurred in the royal council 
 at Cordova, respecting the policy to be pursued; some con- 
 tending that the Moorish monarch was too valuable a prize 
 to be so readily relinquished, 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 move- 
 ment. Others, and especially the marquis of Cadiz, urged 
 his release, and even the support of his pretensions against 
 his competitor, the old king of Granada; insisting that the 
 Moorish empire would be more effectually shaken by internal 
 divisions, than by any pressure of its enemies from without. 
 The various arguments were submitted to the queen, who
 
 MILITARY POLICY OF THE SOVEREIGNS 265 
 
 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 hun- 
 dred Christian captives without ransom, to pay twelve 
 thousand doblas 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 sur- 
 render his own son, with the children of his principal nobility, 
 as sureties for his fulfilment of the treaty. Thus did the un- 
 happy prince barter away his honor and his country's freedom 
 for the possession of immediate, but most precarious sover- 
 eignty; 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 Castilian 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; but not while he is a prisoner in mine." The 
 Moorish prince entered 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. When Abdallah 
 entered the royal presence, he would have prostrated himself 
 on his knees; but Ferdinand, hastening to prevent him, em- 
 braced 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, notwith- 
 standing the veil of decorum studiously thrown over them, 
 Vol. I. — 12.
 
 266 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 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 con- 
 tempt 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. No siege or 
 single military achievement of great moment occurred until 
 nearly four years from this period, in 1487; although, in the 
 intervening time, a large number of fortresses and petty towns, 
 together with a very extensive tract of territory, were recov- 
 ered 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 con- 
 sisted of little else than cavalgadas, or 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 husbandmen. A more vigorous system of spo- 
 liation 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 exceedingly numerous 
 in a land watered by many 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 favored 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 Chris- 
 tian captives for provisions, until such ransom was interdicted 
 by the sovereigns, as tending to defeat their own measures.'*
 
 MILITARY POLICY OF THE SOVEREIGNS. 267 
 
 Still there was many a green and sheltered valley in Gra- 
 nada, which yielded its returns unmolested to the Moorish 
 husbandman; while his granaries were occasionally enriched 
 with the produce of border foray. The Moors too, although 
 naturally a luxurious people, were patient of suffering, and 
 capable of enduring great privation. Other measures, there- 
 fore, 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 de- 
 fended, 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 in- 
 sufficient 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 re- 
 duction 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 of this department, caused the most skilful 
 engineers and artisans to be invited into the kingdom from 
 France, Germany, and Italy. Forges were constructed in the 
 camp, and all the requisite materials prepared for the manu- 
 facture of cannon, balls, and powder. Large quantities of the 
 last were also imported from Sicily, Flanders, and Portugal. 
 Commissaries were established over the various departments, 
 with instructions to provide whatever might be necessary for 
 the operatives; and the whole was intrusted to the supervi- 
 sion of Don Francisco Ramirez, an hidalgo of Madrid, a 
 person of much experience, and extensive military science, 
 for that day. By these efforts, unremittingly pursued during 
 the whole of the war, Isabella assembled a train of artillery, 
 such as was probably not possessed at that time hy any 
 other European potentate." 
 
 Still the clumsy construction of the ordnance be|rayed the 
 infancy of the art. More than twenty pieces of artillery used 
 at the siege of Baza, during this war, are still to be seen ii;
 
 a68 WAR OF GRANADA, 
 
 that city, where they long served as cohimns in the public 
 market-place. The largest of the lombards, as the heavy 
 ordnance was called, are about twelve feet in length, consist- 
 ing of iron bars two inches in breadth, held together by bolts 
 and rings of the same metal. These were firmly attached to 
 th^ir carriages, incapable either of horizontal or vertical 
 movement. It was this clumsiness of construction, which 
 led Machiavelli, some thirty years after, to doubt the expe- 
 diency of bringing cannon into field engagements; and he 
 particularly recommends in his treatise on the Art of War, 
 that the enemy's fire should be evaded, by intervals in the 
 ranks being left open opposite to his cannon.'* 
 
 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 Baza, many 
 of which are fourteen inches in diameter, and weigh a hun- 
 dred and seventy-five pounds. Yet this bulk, enormous 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 very 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 hun- 
 dred and forty balls in the course of a day.'" Besides this 
 more usual kind of ammunition, the Spaniards threw from 
 their engines large globular masses, composed of certain in- 
 flammable ingredients mixed with gunpowder, "which, scat- 
 tering long crains of light," says an eyewitness, "in their 
 passage through the air, filled the beholders with dismay, and, 
 descending on the roofs of the edifices, frequently occasioned 
 extensive conflagration." 
 
 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 in- 
 trenched in the depths of some mountain labyrinth, whose 
 rugged passes were scarcely accessible to cavalry. An im- 
 mense body of pioneers, therefore, was constantly employed 
 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
 
 MILITARY POLICY OF THE SOVEREIGNS. 269 
 
 torrents and precipitous barrancor. Pulgar had the curiosity 
 to examine one of the causeways thus constructed, prepara- 
 tory to the siege of Cambil, v/hich, although six thousand 
 pioneers were constantly employed in the work, was attended 
 with such difificulty, 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 in- 
 dustry." 
 
 The Moorish garrisons, perched on their mountain fast- 
 nesses, 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 on which they chiefly relied 
 for annoying the enemy at a distance were the arquebus and 
 cross-bow, with the last of which they were unerring marks- 
 men, being trained to it from infancy. They adopted a cus- 
 tom, rarely met with in civilized nations of any age, of 
 poisoning their arrows; distilling for this purpose the juice 
 of aconite, or wolfsbane, which grew rife in the Sierra Ne- 
 vada, 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, how- 
 ever trivial in 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 sys- 
 tem! '^ 
 
 Ferdinand, who appeared at the head of his armies 
 throughout the whole of this war, pursued a sagacious policy 
 in reference to the beleaguered cities. He was ever ready 
 to meet the first overtures to surrender, in the most liberal 
 spirit; granting protection of person, and such property as 
 the besieged could transport with them, and assigning them 
 a residence, if ihey preferred it, in his own dominions. 
 Many, in consequence 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,
 
 27© WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 whose seeds were thus sown amid the ashes of the old one. 
 Those who preferred to remain in the conquered Moorish 
 territory, as CastiHan subjects, were permitted the free en- 
 joyment of personal rights and property, as well as of their 
 religion; and, such was the fidelity with which Ferdinand 
 redeemed his engagements during the war, by the punish- 
 ment of the least infraction of them by his own people, that 
 many, particularly of the Moorish peasantry, preferred abid- 
 ing in their early homes to removing to Granada, or other 
 places of the Moslem dominion. It was, perhaps, a coun- 
 terpart of the same policy, which led Ferdinand to chastise 
 any attempt at revolt, on the part of his new Moorish sub- 
 jects, the Mudejares, as they were called, with an unspairing 
 rigor, which merits the reproach of cruelty. Such was the 
 military execution inflicted on the rebellious town of Bene- 
 maquez, where he commanded one hundred and ten of the 
 principal inhabitants to be hung above the walls, and, after 
 consigning the rest of the population, men, women, and child- 
 ren, to slavery, caused the place to be razed to the ground. 
 The humane policy, usually pursued by Ferdinand, seems to 
 have had a more favorable effect on his enemies, who were 
 exasperated, rather than intimidated, by this ferocious act of 
 vengeance.^'' 
 
 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 thou- 
 sand foot, exclusive of foragers. On one occasion, the whole 
 number, including men for the artillery service and the fol- 
 lowers of the camp, is reckoned at eighty thousand. The 
 same number of beasts of burden were employed in transport- 
 ing the supplies required for this immense host, as well as 
 for provisioning the conquered cities standing in the midsi 
 of a desolated country. The queen, who took this depart- 
 ment under her special cognizance, moved along the frontier, 
 stationing 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 for 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 wel- 
 fare 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
 
 MILITARY POLICY OF THE SOVEREIGNS. 27 1 
 
 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 attend- 
 ants and medicines, at her own charge. This is considered 
 the earliest attempt at the formation of a regular camp hos- 
 pital, 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 reestablish the empire of the Cross over 
 the ancient domain of Christendom. On this point, she con- 
 centrated all the energies of her powerful mind, never suffer- 
 ing herself to be diverted by any subordinate interest from 
 this one great and glorious object. When the king, in 1484, 
 would have paused awhile 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 hus- 
 band 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, vvho, 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 proceed- 
 ing, addressed a letter to her husband, in which, after repre- 
 senting 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 col- 
 lected 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 expe- 
 rienced 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 suoport of the count of Benavente, refused, re- 
 plying to the messenger, "Tell your master, that I came here 
 to serve him at the head of my household troops, and they go 
 nowhere without me as their leader." The sovereigns man-
 
 272 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 aged this fiery spirit with the greatest address, and, instead 
 of curbing it, endeavored to direct it in the path of lionorable 
 emulation. The queen, who as their hereditary sovereign 
 received a more deferential homage from her Castilian sub- 
 jects than Ferdinand, frequently wrote to her nobles in the 
 camp, complimenting some on their achievements, and others 
 less fortunate on their intentions, thus cheering the hearts of 
 all, says the chronicler, and stimulating them to deeds of 
 heroism. On the most deserving she freely lavished those 
 honors which cost little to the sovereign, but are most grate- 
 ful to the subject. The marquis of Cadiz, who was preemi- 
 nent 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 honors 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 honors were followed by the more sub- 
 stantial gratuity of a hundred thousand maravedies 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 of 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 break- 
 ing 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 neigh- 
 bors. Such too was the well-appointed chivalry of the mili- 
 tary orders, and the organized 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 
 
 I
 
 MILITARY POLICY OF THE SOVEREIGNS. 273 
 
 the sovereigns and the great nobility. The king was attended 
 in battle by 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 An- 
 dalusia, 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 trasmarine dominions of Sicily. The sovereigns did not 
 disdain to swell their ranks with levies of a humbler descrip- 
 tion, 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 im- 
 moderately addicted at that day, was restrained by the 
 severest penalties. '^^ 
 
 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 ot 
 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 coun- 
 try 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 armor, except 
 in front; by which means they were less encumbered in fight. 
 They made a trade of war, letting themselves out as merce- 
 naries; but they espoused only a just quarrel, for they were 
 devout and loyal Christians, and above all abhorred rapine 
 as a great sin." " The Swiss had recently established their 
 military renown by the discomfiture of Charles the Bold, 
 when they first proved the superiority of infantry over the 
 best appointed chivalry of Europe. Their example no doubt 
 contributed to the formation of that invincible Spanish infan- 
 try, which, under the Great Captain and his successors, may 
 be said to have decided the fate of Europe for more than 
 half a century. 
 
 Among the foreigners was one from the distant isle of 
 Britain, the earl of Rivers, or conde de Escalas, as he is 
 called from his patronymic. Scales, by the Spanish writerSi 
 
 13*
 
 274 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 "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 their land with long-bow and battle-axe." This 
 nobleman particularly distinguished himself by his gallantry 
 in the second siege of Loja, in i486. Having asked leave 
 to fight after the manner of his country, says the Andalusian 
 chronicler, 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, he 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 under 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 satisfaction to the sove- 
 reigns.^' 
 
 The queen not long after, testified her sense of the earl's 
 services, by a magnificent largess, consisting among other 
 things, of twelve Andalusian horses, two couches with 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 his life, fighting for the duke of 
 Brittany.^* 
 
 The pomp with which the military movements were con- 
 ducted 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
 
 MILITARY POLICY OF THE SOVEREIGNS. 275 
 
 queen, who, as she rode through the ranks mounted on her 
 war-horse, and clad in complete mail, afforded no bad personi- 
 fication of the genius of chivalry. The potent and wealthy 
 barons exhibited in the camp all the magnificence of princes. 
 The pavilions decorated with various-colored pennons, and 
 emblazoned with the armorial bearings of their ancient 
 houses, shone with a splendor, which a Castilian writer likens 
 to that of the city of Seville.'" They always appeared sur- 
 rounded 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 cov- 
 ered." 
 
 Ferdinand and Isabella saw with regret this lavish ostenta- 
 tion, and privately remonstrated with some of the principal 
 grandees on its evil tendency, especially in seducing the 
 inferior and poorer nobility into expenditures beyond theii 
 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 mag- 
 nificence of his train. At the siege of Illora, i486, he ob- 
 tained permission to lead the storming party. As his follow- 
 ers pressed onward 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 hearts? Let us not, in God's name, be 
 laughed at as mere holyday soldiers!" His vassals, stung 
 by this rebuke, rallied, and, penetrating the breech, carried 
 the place by the fury of their assault.'^ 
 
 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 Palacios has expatiated with 
 elaborate minuteness on the circumstances of an interview 
 between Ferdinand and Isabella in the camp before Moclin, 
 in i486, where the queen's presence was solicited for the 
 purpose of devising a plan of future 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
 
 1^6 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 advanced corps, under the command of the marquis duke of 
 Cadiz, and, at the distance of a league and a half from Moc- 
 lin, by the duke del Infantado, with the principal nobility and 
 their vassals, splendidly accoutred. On the left of the road 
 was drawn 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 stand- 
 ards, 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 color, 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 brocade, and a so- 
 pravest 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 headdress of the 
 finest stuff. 
 
 Ferdinand was mounted on a noble war-horse of a bright 
 chestnut color. 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 com- 
 plete 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 hat, remained in her coif or headdress, with heT 
 face uncovered; Ferdinand, riding up, kissed her affection- 
 ately on the cheek, and then, according to the precise choni- 
 cler, bestowed a similar mark of tenderness on his daughter
 
 MILITARY POLICY OF THE SOVEREIGNS. 277 
 
 Isabella, after giving her his paternal benediction. The 
 royal party were then escorted to the camp, where suitable 
 accomodations had been provided for the queen and her fair 
 retinue. ^^ 
 
 It may readily be believed that the sovereigns did not ne- 
 glect, 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 Jaen, 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 procession and thanks- 
 giving, with her v/hole 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 of the Lord of 
 hosts. Intelligence of their triumphant progress in the war 
 was constantly transmitted to the pope, who returned his 
 benediction, accompanied by more substantial marks of favor, 
 in bulls of crusade, and taxes on ecclesiastical rents. '^ 
 
 The ceremonials observed on the occupation of a new con- 
 quest were such as to affect the heart no less than the imagi- 
 nation. "The royal alferez,'' says Marineo, "raised the 
 standard of the Cross, the sign of our salvation, on the summit 
 of the principal fortress; and all who beheld it prostrated 
 themselves on their knees in silent worship of the Almighty, 
 while the priests chanted the glorious anthem, Te Deum lau- 
 damus. The ensign or pennon of St. James, the chivalric 
 patron of Spain, was then unfolded, and all invoked his 
 blessed name. Lastly, was displayed the banner of the sove- 
 reigns, emblazoned with the royal arms; at which the whole 
 army shouted forth, as if with one voice, 'Castile, Castile!' 
 After 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 mas- 
 sive silver, and was a present from pope Sixtus the Fourth to 
 Ferdinand, in whose tent it was always carried throughout 
 these campaigns. An ample supply of bells, vases, missal?
 
 278 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 plate, and other sacred furniture, was also borne along witn 
 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 Ronda, in 1485, more than four hundred of these unfor- 
 tunate persons, several of them cavaliers of rank, some of 
 whom had been taken in the fatal expedition of the Axarquia, 
 were restored to the light of heaven. On being brought 
 before Ferdinand, they prostrated themselves on the ground, 
 bathing his feet with tears, while their wan and wasted fig- 
 ures, their dishevelled locks, their beards reaching down to 
 their girdles, and their limbs loaded with heavy manacles, 
 brought tears into the eye of every 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 con- 
 tinued to be revered by succeeding generations as the tro- 
 phies 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 humili- 
 ating 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 rene- 
 gade, and a vassal of the Christian king. As their old mon- 
 arch had become incompetent, from increasing age and blind- 
 ness, to the duties of his station in these 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 colors 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 signalized 
 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
 
 imLlTARY POLICY OF THE SOVEREIGNS. 279 
 
 observed that the o!d king Abul Hacen did not long survive 
 his brother's accession.'' The young king Abdallah sought 
 the protection of the Castihan sovereigns in Seville, who, 
 true to their policy, sent him back into his own dominions 
 with the means of making headway against his rival. The 
 alfakies and other considerate persons of Granada, scanda- 
 lized 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 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 fac- 
 tions 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 pro- 
 gress of the 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, and child- 
 ren, on occasion of a siege, were frequently despatched to 
 Granada. Such was the resolution, or rather ferocity of the 
 Moors, that Malaga closed its gates against the fugitives 
 from Alora, after its surrender, and even massacred some of 
 them» in cold blood. 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 
 convoys, surprising his foraging parties, and retaliating by 
 a devastating inroad on the borders." 
 
 No effectual and permanent resistance, however, could 
 be opposed to the tremendous 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 Gra- 
 nada, and Loja, after a second and desperate siege in the 
 spring of i486, Bernaldez enumerates more than seventy 
 subordinate places in the Val de Cartama, and thirteen others 
 after the fall of Marbella. Thus the Spaniards advanced 
 their line of conquest more than twenty leagues beyond the 
 western frontier of Granada. This extensive tract they 
 Strongly fortified and peopled, partly with Christian subjects,
 
 aSo WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 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 faci- 
 lities for a communication with the Barbary Moors, that the 
 vigilance of the Castilian cruisers could not entirely inter- 
 cept. On this point, therefore, it was determined to concen- 
 trate 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 Fer- 
 nando del Pulgar, and Antonio de Lebrija, or Nebrissensis, as he is called 
 from the Latin jVe/>rissa. 
 
 Few particulars have been preserved respecting the biography of the 
 former. He was probably a native of Pulgar, near Toledo. The Castilian 
 writers recognize certain provincialisms 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 1482, 
 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 confi- 
 dential 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 whatever 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 
 nobihty, and establish harmony between them." From this period Pulgar 
 remained near the royal person, accompanying the queen in her various 
 progresses though the kingdom, as well as in her military expeditions 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 contain- 
 ing 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 pre- 
 cision. His manner of narration, though proli.x, is perspicuous, and may 
 compare favorably with that of contemporary writers. His sentiments 
 may compare still more advantageously in point of liberality, with those of 
 the Castilian historians of a later age. 
 
 Pulgar left some other works, of which his commentary on the ancient 
 satire of " Mingo Revulgo," his " Letters," and his " Claros Varones," or
 
 MILITARY POLICY OF THE SOVEREIGNS. 281 
 
 sketches of illustrious men, have alone been published. The last coiv 
 tains notices of the most distinguished individuals of the court of Henry 
 IV., which, although too indiscriminately encomiastic, are valuable subsi- 
 diaries to an accurate acquaintance with the prominent actors of the period. 
 The last and most elegant edition of Pulgar'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 province 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 
 the liberal arts that were then taught in the flourishing 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 un- 
 precedented) in the university of Salamanca, and lectured at the same time 
 in these distinct departments. He was subsequently preferred by Cardinal 
 Ximenes to a professorship in his university of Alcala de Henares, where 
 his services were liberally requited, and where he enjoyed the entire confi- 
 dence of his distinguished patron, who consulted him on all matters affect- 
 ing the interests of the institution. Here he continued, delivering his lec- 
 tures and expounding the ancient classics 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, philological, historical, theological, etc. 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 for letters, which kindled a corre- 
 sponding flame in the bosoms of his disciples, among whom may be reck- 
 oned some of the brightest names in the literary annals of the period. His 
 instruction effected for classical literature in Spain, what the labors of the 
 great Italian scholars of the fifteeath century did for it in their country; and 
 he was rewarded with the substantial gratitude of his own age, and such 
 empty honors 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 Alcala. 
 
 The circumstances attending the composition of his Latin Chronicle, so 
 often quoted in this history, are very curious. Carbajal says, that he de- 
 livered Pulgar's Chronicle, after that writer's death, into Lebrija's hands 
 for the purpose of being translated into Latin. The latter proceeded in 
 his task, as far as the year i486. His history, however, can scarcely be 
 termed a translation, since, although it takes up the same thread of inci- 
 dent, it is diversified by many new ideas and particular facts. This un- 
 finished 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. This work appeared also as Lebrija's. Copies 
 however of Pulgar's Chronicle were preserved in several private libraries; 
 and two years later, 1567, his just claims were vindicated by an edition at 
 Saragossa, inscribed with his name as its author. 
 
 Lebrija's reputation has sustained some Injury from this transaction,
 
 28: WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 though most undeservedly. It seems probable, that he adopted Pulgar's 
 text as the basis of his own, intending to continue the 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 Lebrija'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, is one that adds, on 
 the whole, but little to the fame of Lebrija. It was at best but adding a 
 leaf to the laurel on his brow, and was certainly not worth a plagiarism. 
 
 4 
 
 4
 
 CHAPTER XIl. 
 
 INTERNAl, AFFAIRS OF THE KINGDOM. — INQUISITION IN 
 ARAGON. 
 
 1483— 1487. 
 
 Isabella enforces the Laws. — Punishment of Ecclesiastics. — Inquisition in 
 Aragon. — Remonstrances of the Cortes. — Conspiracy. — Assassination 
 of the Inquisitor Arbues. — Cruel Persecutions — Inquisition through- 
 out 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 administration of justice, the most difficult of 
 all duties in an imperfectly civilized state of society. The 
 queen found especial demand for this in the northen provin- 
 ces, 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 num- 
 ber of the fortresses, which were still garrisoned by the baro- 
 nial banditti, 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 per- 
 mitted to screen the offender. A remarkable instance of this 
 occurred at the city of Truxillo, in i486. 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 rose 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
 
 284 INTERNAL AFFAIRS. 
 
 Tioters, some of whom were capitally punished, while thft 
 rcclesiastics, 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 their will be occasion more particularly to notice, 
 to abridge the authority, which that body had exercised in 
 civil matters under preceding reigns." 
 
 Nothing of interest occurred in the foreign relations of the 
 kingdom, during the period embraced by the preceding 
 chapter; except perhaps the marriage of Catherine, the 
 young queen of Navarre, with Jean d'Albret, a French noble- 
 man, whose extensive hereditary domains, in the southwest 
 corner of France, lay adjacent to her kingdom. This con- 
 nection 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, as 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 were subjected to a feudal bond- 
 age, 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, Ferdi- 
 nand, after many fruitless attempts, at a mediation between 
 these unfortunate people and their arrogant masters, pre- 
 vailed on the latter, rather by force Of authority than argu- 
 ment, to relinquish the extraordinary seignorial rights, which 
 they had hitherto enjoyed, in consideration of a stipulated 
 annual payment from their vassals." 
 
 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,
 
 INQUISITION IN ARAGON. 285 
 
 but seems to have lost all its venom in the atmosphere of that 
 free country; scarcely assuming a jurisdiction beyond that 
 of an ordinary ecclesiastical court. No sooner, however, was 
 the institution organized 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 meet- 
 ing of a privy council convened by the king at Taragona, 
 during the session of the cortes in that place, in April, 1484; 
 and a royal order was issued, requiring all the constituted au- 
 thorities throughout the kingdom to support the new tribunal 
 in the exercise of its functions. A Dominican monk. Fray 
 Gaspard Juglar, and Pedro Arbues de Epila, a canon of the 
 metropolitan church, were appointed by the general, Tor. 
 quemada, 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.' 
 
 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 per- 
 sons 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 depu- 
 tation to the court of Rome, and another to Ferdinand, 
 representing the repugnance of the new tribunal to the lib- 
 erties of the nation, as well as to their settled opinions and 
 habits, and praying that its operation might be suspended for 
 the present, so far at least as regarded 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 mean while 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 1485. The discontented Ara- 
 gonese, 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 Chris- 
 tians, or persons of Jewish extraction, in the district. A sum 
 of ten thousand reals was subscribed to defray the necessary
 
 286 INTERNAL AFFAIRS. 
 
 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 the great altar of the cathedral, near mid- 
 night, 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 scene 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 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 occasioned by the indefatigable zeal, with which the 
 bloodhounds of the tribunal followed up the scent. In the 
 course of his 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 off 
 till after he had been hanged. It was thus that the Holy 
 Office interpreted its promises of grace." 
 
 Arbues received all the honors of a martyr. His ashes
 
 INQUISITION IN ARAGON. 287 
 
 were interred on the spot where he had been assassinated." 
 A superb mausoleum was erected over them, and, beneath his 
 effigy, a base-rehef 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 tht glory of adding a 
 new saint to the calendar, by the canonization of the martyr 
 under Pope Alexander the Seventh, in 1664 " 
 
 The failure of the attempt to shake off the tribunal, served 
 only, as usual in such cases, to establish it m^re firmly than 
 before. Efforts at resistance were subsequently, but inef- 
 fectually, made in other parts of Aragon, an*^ 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 satis- 
 faction of riveting the most galling yoke ever devised by 
 fanaticism, round the necks of a people, who till that period 
 had enjoyed probably the greatest degree of constitutional 
 freedom which the world had witnessed
 
 CHAPTER Xni. 
 
 WAR OF GRANADA. — SURRENDER OF VELEZ MALAGA — SIEGE 
 AND CONQUEST OF MALAGA. 
 
 1487. 
 
 Narrow Escape of Ferdinand before Velez. — Malaga invested by Sea and 
 Land. — I3rilliant Spectacle. — The Queen visits the Camp. — Attempt 
 to assassinate the Sovereigns. — Distress and Resolution of the T.e- 
 sieged. — Enthusiasm of the Christians. — Outworks carried by them. — 
 Proposals for Surrender. — Haughty Demeanor of Ferdinand. — Ma- 
 laga surrenders at Disc'retion. — Cruel Policy of the Victors. 
 
 Before commencing operations against Malaga, it was 
 thought expedient by the Spanish council of war to obtain 
 possession of Velez Malaga, situated about five leagues dis- 
 tant 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 
 interposed 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 
 ardor of the nation in the prosecution of the war. On the 
 7th of April, King 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 Ante- 
 quera, struck into a wild, hilly country, that stretches toward 
 Velez. The rivers were so much swollen by excessive rains,
 
 CONQUEST OF MALAGA. 289 
 
 and the passes so rough and difficult, that the army in part 
 of its march advanced only a league a day; and on one occa- 
 sion, when no suitable place occurred for encampment for 
 the space of five leagues, the m.en 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 labor 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 an effort to rslieve 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 am- 
 buscades 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, Baza, and some less con- 
 siderable places, still remained faithful.'^ 
 
 Ferdinand conducted the siege all the while with his usual 
 vigor, 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 armor 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 scab- 
 bard which hung from the saddle-bow. At this moment he 
 was assaultec'i by several Moors, and must have been either 
 Vol. I. — 13.
 
 290 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 slain or taken, but for the timely rescue of the marquis of 
 Cadiz, and a brave cavalier, Garcilasso de la Vega, who gal- 
 loping 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 effec- 
 tually with his head than his hand. But he answered, that 
 "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 impend- 
 ing 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, property, and religion. The capitu- 
 lation of this place, April 27th, 1487, was followed by that of 
 more than twenty places of inferior note lying between it and 
 Malaga, 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 
 countries washed by that inland sea, and with the remoter 
 regions of India. Owing to these advantages, the inhabi- 
 tants acquired unbounded opulence, which showed itself in 
 the embellishments of their city, whose light forms of archi- 
 tecture, mingling after the eastern fashion with odoriferous 
 gardens and fountains of sparkling water, presented an ap- 
 pearance 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, con- 
 nected by a covered way with a second fortress impregnable 
 from its position, denominated Gebalfaro, 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 toward the sea, showing an expanse of olive, orange, 
 and pomegranate gardens, intermingled with the rich vine- 
 yards that furnished the celebrated staple for its export. 
 
 Malaga was well prepared for a siege by supplies of artil- 
 lery and ammunition. Its ordinary garrison was reinforced
 
 CONQUEST OF MALAGA. 29I 
 
 by volunteers from the neighboring towns, and by a corps 
 of African mercenaries, Gomeres, as they were called, men 
 of ferocious temper, but of tried valor and military disci- 
 pline. The command of this important post had been intrusted 
 by El Zagal to a noble Moor, named Hamet Zeli, whose 
 renown in the present war had been established by his reso- 
 lute defence of Ronda.* 
 
 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 resistance. He instructed the 
 marquis of Cadiz, therefore, to open a negotiation with 
 Hamet Zeli, authorizing him to make the most liberal offers 
 to the alcayde himself, as well as his garrison, and the prin- 
 cipal citizens of the place, on condition of immediate surren- 
 der. The sturdy chief, however, rejected the proposal with 
 disdain, replying, that he had been commissioned by his 
 master to defend the place to the 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 Spartan temper, broke up his camp 
 before Velez, on the yth of May, and advanced with his 
 whole army as far as Bezmillana, a place on the sea-board 
 about two leagues distant from Malaga.' 
 
 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, the other facing the fortress of the Gebal- 
 faro, and forming part of the wild sierra which overshadowed 
 Malaga on the north. The enemy occupied both these im- 
 portant positions. A corps of Galicians were sent forward 
 to dislodge them from the eminence toward the sea. But it 
 failed in the assault, and, notwithstanding it was led up a 
 second time by the commander of Leon and the brave Gar- 
 cilasso de la Vega,' was again repulsed by the intrepid foe. 
 
 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 rein- 
 forced, 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 themselves on the ranks of the assail- 
 ants, making use only of their daggers, grappling closely 
 man to man, till both rolled promiscuously together down
 
 292 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 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 com- 
 pelled to witness the mortal conflict, and listen to the exult- 
 ing 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 seaside 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 
 neighboring fortress of Gebalfaro.^ 
 
 As it was evening before these advantages were obtained, 
 the army did not defile into the plains around Malaga, before 
 the following morning, when dispositions were made for its 
 encampment. The eminence on the sierra, so bravely con- 
 tested, was assigned as the post of greatest danger to the 
 marquis duke of Cadiz. It was protected by strong works 
 surmounted by 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 the blockade was completed by a fleet of armed 
 vessels, galleys and caravels, which rode in the harbor under 
 the command of the Catalan admiral, Requesens, and effect- 
 ually cut off all communication by water.'" 
 
 The old chronicler Bernaldez warms at the aspect of the 
 fair city of Malaga, thus encompassed by Christian legions, 
 whose deep lines, stretching far over hill and valley, reached 
 quite round from one arm of the sea to the other. In the 
 midst of this brilliant encampment was seen the royal pavi- 
 lion, proudly displaying the united banners of Castile and 
 Aragon, and forming so conspicuous a mark for the enemy's
 
 CONQUEST OF MALAGA. 293 
 
 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, on the land side of the city. The attack was 
 intrusted to the count of Cifuentes, the nobleman who had 
 been made prisoner in the affair of the Axarquia, and subse- 
 quently 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 ter- 
 rible 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 com- 
 munication 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 Ante- 
 quera, 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 gunpowder.'* 
 
 During the early part of the siege, the camp experienced 
 some temporary inconvenience from the occasional interrup- 
 tion of the supplies transported by water. Rumors of the 
 appearance of the plague in some of the adjacent villages 
 caused additional uneasiness; and deserters, who passed into 
 Malaga, reported these particulars with the usual exaggera- 
 tion, and encouraged the besieged to persevere, by the assur- 
 ance that Ferdinand could not much longer keep the field, 
 and that the queen had actually written to advise his break- 
 ing up the camp. Under these circumstances, Ferdinand
 
 294 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 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, on learning the 
 discomfiture of the Moorish army. Without hesitation, she 
 now set forward, accompanied by the cardinal of Spain and 
 other dignitaries of the church, together with the Infanta 
 Isabella, and a courtly train of ladies and cavaliers in attend- 
 ance 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 enthu- 
 siastic greetings of the soldiery. Hope now brightened every 
 countenance. A grace seemed to be shed over the rugged 
 features of war; and the young gallants thronged from all 
 quarters to the camp, eager to win the guerdon of valor from 
 the hands of those from whom it is most grateful to receive 
 it.'^ 
 
 Ferdinand, who had hitherto brought 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 chronicler, and the people were swelled with 
 vain hopes, so that their ears were closed against the pro- 
 posal; orders were even issued to punish with death any at- 
 tempt 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 lines, 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 Gebalfaro 
 succeeded in surprising the quarters of the marquis of Cadiz, 
 who, with his followers, was exhausted by fatigue and watch- 
 ing, during the two preceding nights. The Christians, be- 
 wildered with the sudden tumult which broke their slumber, 
 
 I
 
 CONQUEST OF MALAGA. 295 
 
 were thrown into the greatest confusion; and the marquis, who 
 rushed half armed from his tent, found no httle difficuky 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 Ma- 
 laga, 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 mis- 
 erable feuds. A body of cavalry, which El Zagal despatched 
 from Guadix to throw succors 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 Ferdi- 
 nand, 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 toward 
 himself. Ferdinand and Isabella requited this act of humilia- 
 tion by securing to Abdallah's subjects the right of culti- 
 vating their fields in quiet, and of trafficking with the Span- 
 iards 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 coun- 
 try.'" 
 
 More serious consequences had 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 
 nobleman, that he could make some important disclosures 
 to the sovereigns. He was accordingly conducted to the 
 royal tent; but, as Ferdina'nd was taking his siesta, in the 
 sultry hour of the day, the queen, moved by divine inspira- 
 tion, according to the Castilian historian, deferred the audi- 
 ence till her husband should awake, and commanded the 
 prisoner to be detained in the adjoining tent. This was oc- 
 cupied by Dona Beatriz de Bobadilla, marchioness of Moya, 
 Isabella's early friend, who happened to be at that time en- 
 gaged in discourse with a Potuguese nobleman, Don Alvaro, 
 son of the duke of Braganza."
 
 t^6 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 The Moor did not understand the Castihan language, and, 
 deceived by the rich attire and courtly bearing of these per- 
 sonages, he mistook them for the king and queen. While in 
 the act of refreshing himself with a glass of water, he sud- 
 denly 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 
 lightening 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. Before 
 he could repeat his blow, the Moorish Scaevola, with a fate 
 very different from that of his Roman prototype, was pierced 
 with a hundred wounds by the attendants, who rushed to the 
 spot, alarmed by the cries of the marchioness, and his man- 
 gled remains were soon after discharged from a catapult into 
 the city; a foolish bravado, which the besieged requited by 
 slaying a Galician gentleman, and sending his corpse 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 consternation throughout the army. Precau- 
 tions were taken for the future, by ordinances prohibiting 
 the introduction of any unknown person armed, or any Moor 
 whatever, into the royal quarters; and the body-guard was 
 augmented by the addition of two hundred hidalgos of Cas- 
 tile and Aragon, who, with their retainers, were to keep con- 
 stant watch over the persons of the sovereigns. 
 
 Meanwhile, the city of Malaga, whose natural population 
 was greatly swelled by the influx of its foreign auxiliaries, 
 began to be straitened for supplies, while its distress was aggra- 
 vated by the spectacle of abundance which reigned through- 
 out the Spanish camp. Still, however, the people, overawe'd 
 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 meantime, so far exhausted their ammunition, that 
 they were constrained to seek supplies from the most distant 
 parts of the kingdom, and from foreign countries. The arri- 
 val of two Flemish transports at this juncture, from the
 
 CONQUEST OF MALAGA. 297 
 
 emperor of Germany, whose interest had been roused in the 
 crusade, afforded a seasonable reinforcement of mihtary 
 stores and munitions. 
 
 The obstinate defence of Malaga had given the siege such 
 celebrity, that volunteers, eager to share in it, flocked 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 gal- 
 leys freighted with supplies, and a loan of twenty thousand 
 doblas of gold to the sovereigns for the expenses of the war. 
 Such was the deep interest in it excited throughout the na- 
 tion, 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 was maintained. Gaming 
 was restrained by ordinances interdicting the use of dice and 
 cards, of which the lower orders were passionately fond. 
 Blasphemy was severely punished. Prostitutes, the common 
 pest of a camp, were excluded; and so entire was the subor- 
 dination, that not a knife was drawn, and scarcely a brawl 
 occurred, says the historian, among t?:-e 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 exer- 
 cises of religion in their respective quarters with all the pomp 
 and splendor 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 sub- 
 mission 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 sur- 
 render. Large wooden towers on rollers were accordingly 
 constructed, and provided 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 
 13*
 
 298 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 operations was placed under the direction of Francisco 
 Ramirez, the celebrated engineer of Madrid. 
 
 But the Moors anticipated the completion of these formid- 
 able preparations by a brisk, well concerted attack on al? 
 points of the Spanish lines. They countermined the assail- 
 ants, and, encountering them in the subterranean passages, 
 drove them back, and demolished the frame-work of the 
 galleries. At the same time, a little squadron of armed ves- 
 sels, which had been riding in safety under the guns of the 
 city, pushed out and engaged the Spanish fleet.. Thus the 
 battle raged with fire 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 admira- 
 tion to this unconquerable spirit in an enemy, wasted by all 
 the extremities of famine and fatigue. "Who does not mar- 
 vel," he says, "at the bold heart of these infidels in battle, 
 their prompt obedience to their chiefs, their dexterity in the 
 wiles of war, their patience under privation, and undaunted 
 perseverance in their purposes?"" 
 
 A circumstance occurred in a sortie from the city, indica- 
 ting 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 woncierful in a hea- 
 then, and which might have reflected credit on a Christian 
 hidalgo." °^ 
 
 But no virtue nor valor could avail the unfortunate Mala- 
 gans 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 honors of knight- 
 hood from the hand of King Ferdinand.'''
 
 CONQUEST OF MALAGA. 299 
 
 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 garri- 
 son, and to demand a capitulation. Their magazines of 
 grain were emptied, and for some weeks they had been com- 
 pelled to devour the flesh of horses, dogs, cats, and even the 
 boiled hides of these animals, or, in default of other nutri- 
 ment, vine leaves dressed with oil, and leaves of the palm 
 tree, pounded fine, and baked into a sort of cake. In conse- 
 quence 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 overcrowded population. The suffer- 
 ings 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 Malagans should make the best terms they could 
 with their conqueror. 
 
 A deputation of the principal inhabitants, with an eminent 
 merchant named Ali Dordux at their head, was then de- 
 spatched to the Christian quarters, with the offer of the city 
 to capitulate, on the same liberal conditions 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 thejr con- 
 queror, should vouchsafe to them."" 
 
 Ferdinand's answer spread general consternation through- 
 out 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. They repre- 
 sented 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
 
 300 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 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 
 shall 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 em- 
 bassy 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. Yet hope will still linger; and, although 
 there were some frantic enough to urge the execution of 
 their desperate menaces, the greater number of the inhabi- 
 tants, 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 depreca- 
 ting 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, appeal- 
 ing to their magnanimity, concluded with submitting them- 
 selves, their families, and their fortunes to their disposal. 
 Twenty of the principal citizens were then delivered up as 
 hostages for the peaceable demeanor of the city until its 
 occupation by the Spaniards. "Thus," says the Curate of 
 Los Palacios, "did the Almighty harden the hearts of these 
 heathen, like to those of the Egyptians, in order that they 
 might receive the full wages of the manifold oppressions 
 which they had wrought on his people, from the days of King 
 Roderic 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 cita- 
 del. The troops were then posted on their respective sta- 
 cions along the fortifications, and the banners of Christian
 
 CONQUEST OF MALAGA. 3©! 
 
 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 acccu- 
 mulated 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 Incarnacion. 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." '^^ 
 
 On the eighteenth day of August, being somewhat more 
 than three months from the date of opening trenches, Ferdi- 
 nand 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 omi- 
 nous 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 rein- 
 stated 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 recognized 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 fetters 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 obstinately in his nbdlion^
 
 302 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 boldly answered, "Because I was commissioned to defend 
 the place to the last extremity; and, if I had been properly 
 supported, I would 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 man 
 sions with a guard set over them, while the cravings of appe- 
 tite 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 mul- 
 titude swarmed through the streets, filled with boding appre- 
 hensions 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 soiJ 
 on which they first drew breath, be suffered to cover them 
 in 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 thy 
 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 multitude. 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 dis- 
 tributed as presents at home and abroad. Thus, one hun- 
 dred 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 ysiir, says the Curate of Los
 
 CONQUEST OF MALAGA. 303 
 
 Palacios, into very good Christians. Fifty of the most beau- 
 tiful 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 the residue of both sexes were appor- 
 tioned 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 des- 
 perate by the prospect of a hopeless, interminable captivity^ 
 might destroy or secrete their jewels, plate, and other pre- 
 cious 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 ot 
 the period assigned. The ransom, thus stipulated, proved 
 more than the unhappy people could raise, either by them- 
 selves, 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 possession both of the persons 
 and property of his victims. 
 
 Malaga was computed to contain from eleven to fifteen 
 thousand inhabitants, exclusive of several thousand toreign 
 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 indignation. 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 ad- 
 mitted to leave a stain on her memory, which no coloring 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 them for the trust. Even in this very transaction, 
 she fell far short of the suggestions of some of her counsel- 
 lors, 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 wholesome
 
 ^04 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 warning to others! We are not told who the advisers of thii 
 precious measure were; but the whole experience of this 
 reign shows, that we shall scarcely wrong the clergy much hy 
 imputing it to them. That their arguments could warp s(r 
 enlightened a mind, as that of Isabella, from the natural prin- 
 ciples of justice and humanity, furnishes a remarkable proof 
 of the ascendency which the priesthood usurped over the most 
 gifted intellects, ajid 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." 
 
 The fate of Malaga may be said to have decided that of 
 Granada- The latter was now shut out from the most im- 
 portant ports along her coast; and she was environed on 
 every point of her territory by her warlike foe, so that she 
 could hardly hope more from subsequent efforts, however 
 strenuous and united, than topostpone the inevitable hour of 
 dissolution. The cruel treatment of Malaga was the prelude 
 to the long series of persecutions, 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 centuries, but 
 where it was now fast descending amid clouds and tempests 
 to the horizon. 
 
 The first care of the sovereigns was directed toward re- 
 peopling 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 induce- 
 ments, combined 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 consequence 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 con- 
 quests.
 
 . CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 WAR OF GRANADA. — CONQUEST OF BAZA — SUBMISSION OF 
 EL ZAGAL. 
 
 1487 — 1489. 
 
 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. 
 
 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 country had fallen during the long 
 absence of its sovereigns. To this end, the principal cities 
 and communities of Aragon had recently adopted the insti- 
 tution of the hermandad, organized on similar principles to 
 that of Castile. Ferdinand, on his arrival at Saragossa in the 
 month of November, gave his royal sanction to the associa- 
 tion, 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 into Valencia, where measures of like 
 efficiency were adopted for restoring the authority of the law, 
 which was exposed to such perpetual lapses in this turbulent 
 age, even in the best constituted governments, as 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 
 ^eing thought advisable to suffer the nation to breathe »
 
 3o6 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 while, after the exhausting efforts in which it had been unin- 
 termittingly 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 nor);herly 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 extri- 
 cating his troops with some difficulty and loss from this peril- 
 ous predicament, Ferdinand retreated on his own dominions 
 by the way of Huescar, where he disbanded his army, and 
 withdrew to offer up his devotions at the cross of Caravaca. 
 The campaign, though signalized by no brilliant achievement, 
 and indeed clouded with some sight 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 husbandmen; 
 while the garrisons of Almeria and Salobrena, and the bold 
 inhabitants of the valley of Purchena, poured a similar devas- 
 tating 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 Garcilasso 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 Isa- 
 bella 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, "so that every 
 one," says Pulgar, "was most careful to discharge his duty 
 faithfully, in order to escape the penalty, which was other- 
 wise sure to overtake him." ^ 
 
 While at Valladolid, the sovereigns received an embassy 
 from Maximilian, son of the emperor Frederic the Fourth, 
 of Germany, soliciting their cooperation in his designs 
 against France for the restitution of his late wife's rightful 
 inheritance, the duchy of Burgundy, and engaging in turn to 
 support them in their claims on RoussiUon and Cerdagne.
 
 SIEGE OF BAZA. 307 
 
 The Spanish monarchs had long entertained many causes of 
 discontent with the French court, both with regard to the 
 mortgaged territory of Roussillon, and the kingdom of Na- 
 varre; and they watched with jealous eye the daily increasing 
 authority of their formidable neighbor on their own frontier. 
 They had been induced in the preceding summer, to equip 
 an armament at Biscay and Guipuscoa, 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 toward 
 their master, were dismissed with costly presents, and re- 
 turned 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 pro- 
 posed in this campaign was the reduction of Baza, the capi- 
 tal of that division of the empire, which belonged to El Zagal. 
 Besides this important city, that monarch's dominions em- 
 braced the wealthy sea-port of Almeria, Guadix, and numer- 
 ous 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 carried the silk manufacture, were equally known 
 for their enterprise and courage in war, so that El Zagal's
 
 3o8 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 division comprehended the most potent and opulent portion 
 of the empire/ 
 
 In the spring of 1489, the Castilian cor^t passed to Jaen, 
 at which place the queen was to establish her residence, as 
 presenting the most favorable point of communication with 
 the invading army. Ferdinand advanced as far as Sotogor- 
 do, 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 foot, including persons of every 
 description; among whom was gathered, as usual, that chi- 
 valrous array of nobility and knighthood, who, with stately 
 and well-appointed retinues, 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 oc- 
 cupation 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 mus- 
 ket-balls and arrows on their heads. These however were 
 quickly dispersed by the advancing vanguard; and the Span- 
 iards, as they gained the summits of the hills, beheld the 
 lordly city of Baza, reposing in the shadows of the bold sierra 
 that stretches toward 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 Gua- 
 dalentin 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 surburbs, might 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 nu- 
 merous villas and pleasure-houses of the wealthy citizens, 
 now converted into garrisoned fortresses. The suburbs were 
 encompassed by 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, was 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 domin- 
 ions 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 prepara- 
 tion, the town was victualled with fifteen months' provisions, 
 
 I
 
 SIEGE OF BAZA. 309 
 
 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 inhabi- 
 tants abundant facilities of communication with the surround- 
 ing country. The assault was intrusted to the grand master 
 of St. James, supported by the principal cavaliers, and the 
 king in pei'son. 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 fcvorable to 
 the desultory and illusory tactics of the Moors. The Span- 
 ish cavalry was brought at once to a stand; the ground prov- 
 ing 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 lead- 
 ers. Ferdinand, who from a central position endeavored 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 encamp- 
 ment. To evacuate his position, however, in the face of the 
 enemy, was a delicate manoeuvre, and must necessarily ex- 
 pose him to severe loss. This he obviated, in a great mea- 
 sure, 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 to deliberate on the course next to be pursued
 
 310 
 
 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 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 twenty miles distant, on the other; while 
 the good faith of Granada could scarcely be expected to out- 
 live 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 rigor 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 mar- 
 quis of Cadiz gave in to this opinion; and Gutierre de Car- 
 denas, 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 toward the consummation of 
 their wishes. She reminded him, that the Moorish for- 
 tunes 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 favorable auspices as 
 now, when their arms had not been stained with a single im- 
 portant reverse. She concluded 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 had an instantaneous
 
 Siege of baza. 311 
 
 effect, silencing the scruples of the most timid, and confirm- 
 ing the confidence of the others. The soldiers, in particular, 
 who had received with dissatisfaction some intimation of 
 what was passing in the council, welcomed it with general 
 enthusiasm; and every heart seemed now intent on further- 
 ing the wishes of their heroic queen by prosecuting the siege 
 with the utmost vigor. 
 
 The army was accordingly distributed into two encamp- 
 ments; 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 garden or orchard 
 before mentioned, extending a league in length; so that, in 
 order to connect the works of the two camps, it became ne- 
 cessary 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 tala- 
 dores^ 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, prepara- 
 tions 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, con- 
 structed of the timber lately hewn, together with strong tow- 
 ers of mud or clay, arranged at regular intervals. In this 
 manner, the investment of the city was complete on the side 
 of the vega." 
 
 As means of communication still remained open, however, 
 by the opposite sierra, defences of similar strength, consist- 
 ing 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 cooperation with the 
 sallies of the besieged, to place the Christian army in great 
 peril. Some feeble demonstration of such a movement was
 
 312 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 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 Chris- 
 tians. Abdallah, in the mean while, lay inactive in Granada, 
 incurring the odium and contempt of his people, who stigma- 
 tized 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 uni- 
 formly extended by the sultan to the Christians in his domin- 
 ions. The communication concluded with menacing a retali- 
 ation of similar severities on these latter, unless the sovereigns 
 desisted from their hostilities toward Granada. 
 
 From the camp, the two ambassadors proceeded to Jaen, 
 where they were received by the queen with all the deference 
 due to their holy profession, which seemed to derive addi- 
 tional sanctity from the spot in which it was exercised. The 
 menacing import of the sultan's communication, however, 
 had no power to shake the purposes of Ferdinand and Isa- 
 bella, 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 Land, accompanied by sub- 
 stantial marks of the royal favor, 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 despatched 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."
 
 SIEGE OF BAZA. 313 
 
 In the mean while, the siege went forward with spirit; 
 skirmishes and single rencontres takmg place every day be- 
 tween the high-mettled cavaliers on both sides. These 
 chivalrous combats, however, were discouraged by Ferdi- 
 nand, 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 com- 
 munication. 
 
 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 tim- 
 ber 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 provi- 
 dence of the queen, not merely with the necessaries, but the 
 luxuries of life. Traders flocked 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 in- 
 stance, 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. "Who 
 would have believed," says he, "that the Galician, the fierce 
 Asturian, and the rude inhabitant of the Pyrenees, men 
 accustomed to deeds of atrocious violence, and to brawl and 
 battle on the lightest occasions at home, should mingle amica- 
 bly, not only with one another, but with the Toledans, La- 
 Manchans, and the wily and jealous Andalusian; all living 
 Vol. I. — Id.
 
 314 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 together in harmonious subordination to authority, Uke 
 members of one family, speaking one tongue, and nurtured 
 under a common discipline; so that the camp seemed Uke a 
 community modelled on the principles of Plato's republic!" 
 In another part of this letter, which was addressed to a Mila- 
 nese prelate, he panegyrizes the camp hospital of the queen, 
 then a novelty in war; which, he says, "is so profusely sup- 
 plied with medical attendants, apparatus, and whatever may 
 contribute to the restoration or solace of the sick, that it is 
 scarcely surpassed in these respects by the magnificent estab- 
 lishments of Milan." " 
 
 During the five months which the siege had now lasted, 
 the weather had proved uncommonly propitious to the Span- 
 iards, being for the most part of a bland and equal tempera- 
 ture, while the sultry heats of midsummer were mitigated by 
 cool and moderate showers. As the autumnal season ad 
 vanced, 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 befell them in the dilapidation of the roads, 
 which, broken up or worn into deep gullies by the force of the 
 waters, were rendered perfectly impassable. All communica- 
 tion was of course suspended with Jaen, and a temporary inter- 
 ruption 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 in- 
 terrupting 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 r,ew levies of troops, 
 to relieve or reinforce those now in the camp- and the alac- 
 rity with which all orders of men from every quarter of the
 
 SIEGE OF BAZA. 315 
 
 kingdom answered her summons is worthy of remark. But 
 her chief soHcitude 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 individuals and religious corporations, which were ob- 
 tained without much difficulty, from the general confidence in 
 her good faith. As the sum thus raised, although exceed- 
 ingly 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; 
 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 Va- 
 lencia, 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 cooperation 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 vigor 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 ap- 
 peared 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 exceed- 
 ingly fond, in order to defray the charges of the mercenaries. 
 
 The camp of the besiegers, in the meanwhile, was also great- 
 ly 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 favorable issue. 
 There seemed to be a virtue in her presence, which, on some 
 account or other, made it earnestly desired by all.
 
 3l6 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 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 in- 
 habitants of Baza, says Bernaldez, lined the battlements and 
 housetops, to gaze at the glittering cavalcade as it emerged 
 from the depths of the mountains, amidst flaunting banners 
 and strains of martial music, while the Spanish cavaliers 
 thronged forth in a body from the camp to receive their be- 
 loved 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 
 presence seemed at once to gladden and reanimate 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 be 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 surrender. 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, accompanied by the king and the cardinal 
 of Spain, together with a brilliant escort of the Spanish chi- 
 valry. On the same day, a conference was opened with the 
 enemy through the comemiador 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 ammunition. Still, he expressed such confi- 
 dence in the spirit of his people, that he undertook to make 
 good his defence some time longer, provided any reasonable 
 expectation of succor could be afforded; otherwise, it would 
 be a mere waste of life, and must deprive him of such van-
 
 SIEGE OF BAZA. 317 
 
 tage ground as he now possessed, for enforcing an honorable 
 capitulation. The Moslem prince acquiesced in the reason- 
 ableness of these representations. 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 ina- 
 bility to relieve him, authorized 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 
 toward 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 honors 
 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 Isa- 
 bella 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 triumphant ceremony; 
 while the standard of the Cross, floating from the ancient 
 battlements of the city, proclaimed the triumph of the Chris- 
 tian arms. The brave alcayde, Cidi Yahye, experienced a re- 
 ception 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 kins- 
 man El Zagal, at Guadix, for the purpose of urging his sub- 
 mission to the Christian sovereigns. In his interview with 
 that prince, he represented the fruitlessness of any attempt 
 to withstand the accumulated forces of the Spanish monar- 
 chies; 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
 
 3l8 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 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 meditation, replied with the resignation characteris- 
 tic of the Moslems, "What 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, Gua- 
 dix, and their dependencies, constituting the domain of El 
 Zagal, should be formally surrendered by that prince to Fer- 
 dinand 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 savage district of 
 the long sierra, which stretches toward Almeria; leading 
 through many a narrow pass, which a handful of resolute 
 Moors, says an eye-witness, 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, had it not been for the 
 marquis of Cadiz, whose tent was pitched on one of the lof- 
 tiest hills, and who caused beacon fires to be lighted around 
 it, in order to gride the stragglers back to their quarters. 
 
 At no great distance from Almeria, Ferdinand was met, 
 conformably to the previous arrangement, by El Zagal, es- 
 corted by a numerous body of Moslem cavaliers. Ferdinand 
 commanded his nobles to ride forward and receive the Moor- 
 ish prince. "His appearance," says Martyr, who was in the 
 royal retinue, "touched my soul with compassion; for, al- 
 though a lawless barbarian, he was a king, and had given 
 signal proofs of heroism." El Zagal, without waiting to re- 
 ceive the courtesies of the Spanish nobles, threw himself from 
 his horse, and advanced toward Ferdinand with the design of 
 kissing his hand; but the latter, rebuking his followers for 
 their "rusticity," in allowing such an act of humiliation in 
 
 I
 
 SIEGE OF BAZA, 319 
 
 the unfortunate monarch, prevailed on him to remount, and 
 then rode by his side toward Ahneria.'" 
 
 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 conditions 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 Mediterranean, is compared by Martyr 
 to the gardens of the Hesperides, the sovereigns established 
 a strong garrison there, under the commander 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 surren- 
 der of these principal 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 Gra- 
 nada 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 
 chief was placed in possession of the taha, or district, of 
 Andaraz, the vale of Alhaurin, and half the salt-pits of Ma- 
 leha, 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 unfortunate prince. He pined away amid the scenes of 
 his ancient empire; and, after experiencing some insubor- 
 dination on the part of his new vassals, he determined to re- 
 linguish his petty principality, and withdraw forever 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 remain- 
 der of his days in miserable indigence.^'* 
 
 The suspicious circumstances attending this prince's acces- 
 sion to the throne, throw a dark cloud over his fame, which 
 would otherwise seem, at least as far as his public life is con-
 
 320 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 cerned, to be unstained by any opprobrious act. He pos- 
 sessed 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 favor, served only to precipitate its 
 ruin. 
 
 The Spanish sovereigns, having accomplished the object 
 of the campaign, after stationing part of their forces on such 
 pomts as would secu/e the permanence of their conquests, 
 returned with the remainder to Jaen, 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, amount- 
 ing to not less than twenty thousand men, by far the larger 
 portion of whom are said to have fallen victims to diseases 
 incident to severe and long-continued hardships and expo- 
 sure.*''' 
 
 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 thousand men had kept the field, amid ail 
 the inclemencies of winter, for m.ore 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 honorable to 
 the courage, constancy, ana thorough discipline of the Span- 
 ish soldier, and to the patriotism and general resources of 
 the nation; but most of all to Isabella. She it was, who for- 
 tified 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 sacri- 
 fice, 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
 
 SIEGE OF BAZJl. 32I 
 
 of design on all its movements. This attachment was impu- 
 table 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 counsels, sharing their fatigues 
 and dangers, and displaying all the comprehensive intellec- 
 tual powers of the other sex, they looked up to her as to some 
 superior being, with feelings far more exalted than those of 
 mere loyalty. The chivalrous heart of the Spaniard did 
 homage 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 
 qouted in the present chapter, and who will constitute one of our best au- 
 thorities during the remainder of the history, was a native of Arona (not of 
 Anghiera, as commonly supposed), a place situated on the borders of Lake 
 Maggiore, in Italy. (Mazzuchelli, Scrittori d'ltalia (Brescia, 1753-63), 
 tom. ii. voce Anghiera.) 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 dis- 
 tinguished literary characters of that cultivated capital. In 1487, he was 
 persuaded by the Castilian ambassador, the count of Tendilla, to accom- 
 pany 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 mili- 
 tary 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 he 
 made in " exchanging the Muses for Mars." 
 
 At the close of 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, S?ragossa, Barcelona, Al- 
 cala de Henares, and other places; and it was thronged with the principal 
 young nobility from all parts of Spain, who, as he boasts in one of his let- 
 ters, drew their literary nourishment from him. " Suxerunt mea literalia 
 ubera Castella; principes fere omnes. " His important services were fully 
 estimated by the queen, and, after her death, by Ferdinand and Charles V., 
 and he was recompensed with high ecclesiastical preferment as well as 
 civil dignities. He died about the year 1525, at the age of seventy, and 
 his remains were interred beneath a monument in the cathedral church of 
 Granada, of which he was prior. 
 
 Among Martyr's principal works is a treatise "De Legatione Babylo- 
 nica," being an account of a visit to the sultan of Egypt, in 1 501, for the 
 purpose of deprecating the retaliation with which he had menaced the Chris- 
 tian residents in Palestine, for the injuries inflicted on the Spanish Mo«- 
 X6*
 
 322 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 lems. Peter Martyr conducted his negotiation with such address, that he 
 not only appeased the sultan's resentment, but obtained several important 
 immunities for his Christian subjects, in addition to those previously en- 
 joyed by them. 
 
 He also wrote an account of the discoveries of the new world, enthled 
 " De Rebus Oceanicis et Novo Orbe" (Colonire, 1574), a book largely 
 consulted and commended by subsequent historians. But the work of 
 principal value in our researches is his " Opus Epistolarum," being a col- 
 lection of his multifarious correspondence with the most considerable per- 
 sons of his time, whether in political or literary life. The letters are in 
 I>atin, and extend from the year 1488 to the time of his death. Although 
 not conspicuous for elegance of diction, they are most valuable to the his- 
 torian, 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 authorized by the judgment 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. (Anales, MS., prologo.) 
 Alvaro Gomez, another contemporary who survived Martyr, in the Life of 
 Ximenes, which he was selected to write by the University of Alcala, de- 
 clares, that " Martyr's Letters abundantly compensate by their fidelity for 
 the unpolished style in which they are written." (De Rebus Gestis, fol. 6.) 
 And John de Vergara, a name of the highest elebrity in the literary annals 
 of the period, expresses himself in the following emphatic terms. "I know 
 no record of the time more accurate and valuable. I myself have often wit- 
 nessed the promptness with which he put down things the moment they oc- 
 curred. I have sometimes seen him write one or two letters, while they wefe 
 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 expe- 
 rienced no interruption from his ordinary avocations." (See his letter to 
 Florian de Ocampo, apud Quintanilla y Mendoza, Archetypo de Virtudes, 
 Espejo de Prelados, el Venerable Padre y Siervo de Dios, F. Francisco 
 Ximenez de Cisneros (Palmero, 1653), Archivo, p. 4.) This account of 
 the precipitate manner in 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 labor of revision, would doubtless have corrected. But he seems to have 
 had little relish for this, even in his more elaborate works, composed with a 
 view to publication. (See his own honest confessions in his book " De 
 Rebus Oceanicis, dec. 8, cap. 8, 9.) After all, the errors, such as they are, 
 in his Epistles, may probably be chiefly charged on the publisher. The 
 first edition appeared at Alcala 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, in 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 predecessor. It will not be 
 difficult to detect several yet remaining. Such, for example, as a memor- 
 able letter on the lues vener'ea (No. 68.) obviously misplaced, even accord- 
 ing to its own date; and that numbered 168, in which two letters are evi-
 
 SIEGE OF BAZA. -^23 
 
 dently blended into one. But it is unnecessary to multiply examples.- -It 
 is very desirable that an edition of this valuable correspondence should be 
 published, under the care of some one qualified to illustrate it by his inti- 
 macy with the history of the period, as well as u correct the various inac- 
 curacies which have crept into it, whether through the carelessness of the 
 author or of his editors. 
 
 I have been led into this length of remark by some strictures which met 
 /ny eye in 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; (Introduction to the I 'terature 
 of Europe (London, 1837), vol. i., pp. 439-441;) a conclusion wnich I sus- 
 pect this acute and candid critic would i^^ve been slow to adopt, had he 
 perused the correspondence in connexion with the history of the times, or 
 weighed the unqualified testimon" ^orne by contemporaries tn its minute 
 accuracy.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 WAR OF GRANADA. — SIEGE AND SURRENDER OF THE CITY 
 OF GRANADA. 
 
 1490 — 1492. 
 
 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. 
 
 In 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 Portu- 
 guese 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 Ferdi- 
 nand and Isabella. No inferior consideration could have 
 reconciled the queen to a separation from this beloved daugh- 
 ter, her eldest child, whose gentle and uncommonly 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 fol- 
 lowed by a succession of splendid /rA'jr 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 in- 
 fanta lasbella in the midst, attended by seventy noble ladies, 
 and a hundred pages of the royal household. The cavaliers
 
 SURRENDER OF THE CAPITAL, 325 
 
 of Spain, young and old, thronged to the tournament, as 
 eager to win laurels on the mimic theatre of war, in the pre- 
 sence of so brilliant an assemblage, as they had shown them- 
 selves in the sterner contests with the Moors. King Ferdi- 
 nand, who broke several lances on the occasion, was among 
 the most distinguished of the combatants for personal dex- 
 terity 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 fa- 
 tigues 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 chroniclers dwell with much 
 complacency on these evidences of the stateliness and splen- 
 dor of the Castilian court. Unfortunately, these fair auspices 
 were destined to be clouded too 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 em- 
 bassy to the king of Granada, requiring a surrender of his 
 capital, conformably to his stipulations at Loja, which guaran- 
 teed this, on the capitulation of Baza, Almeria, and Guadix. 
 That time had now arrived; King Abdallah, however, ex- 
 cused 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 en- 
 gagements, he was prevented by the inhabitants of the city, 
 now swollen much beyond its natural population, who reso- 
 lutely insisted on its defence.^ 
 
 It is not probable that the Moorish king did any great vio- 
 lence to his feelings, in this evasion of a promise extorted 
 from him in captivity. At least, it would seem so from the hos- 
 tile 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 aggres-
 
 326 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 sion. 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 honor 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 honors of chivalry in like manner 
 on several of his young companions in arms." 
 
 In the following autumn, Ferdinand repeated his ravages 
 in the vega, and, at the same time appearing before the dis- 
 affected 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 where- 
 ever they would, provided they should prefer this to a judi- 
 cial 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 ancient city of Guadix 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 centuries 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 an- 
 cient homes, transported themselves, with such personal 
 effects as they could carry, to the city of Granada, or the 
 coast of Africa. The space thus opened by the fugitive popu- 
 lation was quickly filled 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 contemporary chroniclers. That the Moors were 
 guilty (though not so generally as pretended) of the alleged
 
 SURRENDER OF THE CAPITAL. 327 
 
 conspiracy, is not in itself improbable, and is corroborated 
 indeed by the Arabic statements. But the punishment was 
 altogether disproportionate to the offence. Justice might 
 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 afterward, may be considered as one of 
 the first links in the long chain of persecution, which termi- 
 nated in the expulsion of the Moriscoes. 
 
 During the following year, 1491, a circumstance occurred 
 illustrative of the policy of the present government in refer- 
 ence 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 Val- 
 divieso, 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 reve- 
 rence for religion, and respect for its ministers, refused to 
 compromise the national independence by recognizing in any 
 degree the usurpations of Rome. From this dignified atti- 
 tude, 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 army in the month of April, 1491, with the 
 purpose of sitting down before 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 been 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, while many 
 others, as the marquises of Cadiz, Villena, the counts of Ten- 
 dilla, Cabra, Urena, and Alonso de Aguilar, appeared in per- 
 son, 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 tne 
 fountain of Ojos de Huescar, in the vega, about two leagues
 
 328 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 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 remain- 
 der of the army, for the purpose of scouring the fruitful re- 
 gions of the Alpuxarras, which served as the granary of the 
 capital. This service was performed with such unsparing 
 rigor, 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 posi- 
 tion 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 toward the vega, facing the Christian 
 encampment, was encircled by walls and towers of massive 
 strength and solidity. The population, swelled to two hun- 
 dred 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 Chris- 
 tian 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 immensa;" 
 
 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 encoun- 
 ter. 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 their 
 prowess in the presence of the assembled beauty and chivalry 
 of their respective nations; for the Spanish camp was graced, 
 as usual, by the presence of queen Isabella and the infantas,
 
 SURRENDER OF THE CAPITAL. 329 
 
 with the courtly train of ladies, who had accompanied their 
 royal mistress from Alcala la Real The Spanish ballads glow 
 with picturesque details of these knightly tourneys, forming 
 the most attractive portion of this romantic minstrelsy, which, 
 celebrating the prowess of Moslem, as well as Christian war- 
 riors, 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 prepara- 
 tions, and personally inspected every part of the encamp- 
 ment. She appeared on the field superbly mounted, and 
 dressed in complete armor; and, as she visited the 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 view, in the little village of Zubia, 
 at no great distance from Granada. The king and queen 
 stationed themselves before a window, which commanded 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 capi- 
 tal, 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 ne- 
 cessary 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 lance," says Bernaldez, "that day, but 
 was dyed in the blood of the infidel." Two thousand of the
 
 330 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 enemy were slain and taken in the engagement, which lasted 
 only a short time; and the slaughter was stopped only by the 
 escape of the fugitives within the walls of the city." 
 
 About the middle of July, an accident occurred in the 
 camp, which had like to have been attended with fatal con- 
 sequences. The queen was lodged in a superb pavilion, be- 
 longing to the marquis of Cadiz, and always used by him in 
 the Moorish war. By the carelessness of one of her atten- 
 dants, 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 neighboring tents, made of light, combustible materials, 
 and the camp was menaced with general conflagration This 
 occurred at the dead of night, when all but the sentinels were 
 buried in sleep. The queen, and her children, whose apart- 
 ments 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 sup- 
 posed to be some night attack of the enemy. Ferdinand 
 snatching up his arms hastily, put himself at the head of his 
 troops; but, soon ascertaining the nature of the disaster, con- 
 tented himself with posting the marquis of Cadiz, with 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 in- 
 jury, 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 immediately put in execu'".ion. 
 The work was distributed in due proportions among the 
 troops of the several cities and of the great nobility; the sol- 
 dier was on a sudden converted into an artisan, and, instead 
 of war, the camp echoed with the sounds of peaceful labor. 
 
 In less than three months, this stupendous task was ac- 
 complished. The spot so recently occupied by light, flutter- 
 ing 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, inter- 
 secting each other at right angles in the centre, in the form
 
 DON GONZALO FERNANDEZ DE CORDOVA.
 
 SURRENDER OF THE CAPITAL. 3^1 
 
 of a cross, with stately portals at each of the four extremities. 
 Inscriptions on blocks of marble in the various quarters, re- 
 corded the respective shares of the several cities in the exe- 
 cution of the work. When it was completed, 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 en- 
 during patience of the Spaniards "the only city in Spain," 
 in the words of a Castilian writer, "that has never been con- 
 taminated by the Moslem heresy." " 
 
 The erection of Sante Fe by the Spaniards struck a greatef 
 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 from 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 themselves among the overgrown population of the 
 city, as it felt more and more the pressure of famine. In 
 this crisis, the unfortunate Abdallah and his principal coun- 
 sellors became convinced, that the place could not be main- 
 tained much longer; and at length, in the month of October, 
 propositions were made through the vizier Abul Cazim Ab- 
 delmalic, to open a negotiation for the surrender of the place. 
 The affair was to be conducted with the utmost caution; 
 since the people of Granada, notwithstanding their pre- 
 carious 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 capitulation 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 
 secrecy, 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
 
 332 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 of capitulation were definitively settled, and ratified by the 
 respective monarchs on the 25th of November, 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 th'eir 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 migrat- 
 ing when and where they would; 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 im- 
 posed than those customarily paid to their Arabian sovereigns, 
 and none whatever before the expiration of three years. King 
 Abdallah was to reign over a specified territory in the Al- 
 puxarras, for which he was to do homage to the Castilian 
 crown. The artillery and the fortifications were to be de- 
 livered into the hands of the Christians, and the city was to 
 be surrendered in sixty days from the date of the capitula- 
 tion. 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 pre- 
 cisely, 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 
 connection with the Christians. When the fact of the capi- 
 tulation became known, the agitation speedily mounted into 
 an open insurrection, which menaced the safety of the city, 
 as well as of Abdallah's 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 2d of 
 January, 1492, was accordingly fixed on for that purpose. 
 
 Every preparation was made by the Spaniards for perform- 
 ing 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 apparei. Or ^he morning 
 of the 2d, the whole Christian camp exhibited a scene of t^>* 
 most animating bustle. The grand cardinal Mendoza was sem
 
 SURRENDER OF THE CAPITAL. 333 
 
 forward at the head of a large detachment, comprehending his 
 household troops, and the veteran infantry grown grey in the 
 Moorish wars, to occupy the Alhambra 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 sur- 
 rounded by his courtiers, with their stately retinues, glitter- 
 ing in gorgeous panolpy, 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 Al- 
 hambra to his conqueror saying, "They are thine, O king, 
 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 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 order to spare the feelings 
 of the citizens as far as possible, entered by what 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 waved triumphantly from the red towers of the 
 Alhambra. 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 gran- 
 dees who surrounded Ferdinand then advanced toward the 
 queen, and kneeling down saluted her hand in token of hom-
 
 334 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 age to her as sovereign of Granada. The procession took 
 up its march toward the city, "the king and queen moving in 
 the midst," says an historian, "emblazoned with royal mag- 
 nificence; 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 mean while the Moorish king, traversing the route 
 of the Alpuxarras, reached a rocky eminence which com- 
 manded a last view of Granada. He checked his horse, and, 
 as his eye for the last time wandered over the scenes of bis 
 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 man!" 
 "Alas!" exclaimed the unhappy exile, "when were woes ever 
 equal to mine!" The scene of this event is still pointed out 
 to the traveller by the people of the district; arfd the rocky 
 height, from which the Moorish chief took his sad farewell 
 of the princely abodes of his youth, is commemorated by the 
 poetical title of £/ Ultimo Sospiro del Moro, ' ' The Last Sigh 
 of the Moor." 
 
 The sequel of Abdallah's history is soon told. Like his 
 uncle. El Zagal, he pined away in his barren domain of the Al- 
 puxarras, 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 ^or 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 ful- 
 filment consists that eternal justice, which regulates all human 
 affairs." The portal, through which King 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 des- 
 tiny of the last of the kings of Granada.^'- 
 
 The fall of Granada excited general sensation throughout 
 Chistendom, where it was received as counterbalancing, in a 
 manner, the loss of Constantinople, nearly half a century
 
 SURRENDER OF THE CAPITAL. ^;^^ 
 
 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, will not be devoid of interest for the 
 reader." 
 
 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, termi- 
 nated the Arabian empire in the Peninsula, after an existence 
 of seven hundred and forty-one years from the date of the 
 original conquest. The consequences of this closing war 
 were of the highest moment to Spain. The most obvious, 
 was the recovery of an extensive territory, hitherto held by 
 a people, whose difference of religion, language, and general 
 habits, made them not only incapable of assimilating with 
 their Christian neighbors, but almost their natural enemies; 
 while their focal position was a matter of just concern, as 
 interposed between the great divisions of the Spanish mon- 
 archy, and opening an obvious avenue to invasion from Africa. 
 By the new conquest, moreover, the Spaniards gained a large 
 extent of country, possessing the highest capacities for pro- 
 duction, 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; while its shores were lined 
 with commodious havens, that afforded every facility for com- 
 merce. 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 
 iiicans of her new acquisitions from a subordinate situation, 
 to the level of a first-rate European power. 
 
 The moral influence of the Moorish war, its influence on 
 the Spanish character, was highly important. The inhabi- 
 tants of the great divisions of the country, as in most coun- 
 tries 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,
 
 336 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 subjected all the various sections of the country to one com- 
 mon 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 nation- 
 ality 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 car- 
 ried 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 herself of all foreign resources for their im- 
 provement. 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 subject 
 to one common head, whose personal character enforced the 
 authority of station. Lastly, they were provided with all the 
 requisite munitions, through the providence 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 grad- 
 ually trained 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 Chistendom. 
 
 But, with all our sympathy with the conquerors, it is im- 
 possible, without a deep feeling of regret, to contemplate the 
 decay and final extinction of a race, who had made such high 
 advances in civilization as the Spanish Arabs; to see them 
 driven from the stately palaces reared by their own hazids, 
 wandering as exiles over the lands, which still blossomed 
 with the fruits of their industry, and wasting away under per- 
 secution, until their very name as a nation was blotted out 
 from the map of history/''' It must be admitted, however, that.
 
 SURRENDER OF THE CAPITAL. ^^"J 
 
 they had long since reached their utmost Hmit of advance- 
 ment as a people. The Hght shed over their history shines 
 from distant ages; for, during the later period of their exist- 
 ence, they appear to have reposed in a state of torpid, luxu- 
 rious 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 con- 
 dition, 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 Alhama, and witnessed every cam- 
 paign till the surrender of Granada. A circumstantial account 
 of his last moments is afforded by the pen of his worthy 
 countryman, 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 on by fatigue 
 and incessant exposure. He had reached the forty-ninth 
 year of his age, and, although twice married, left no legiti- 
 mate issue. In his person, he was of about the middle sta- 
 ture, of a compact, symmetrical frame, a fair complexion, 
 with light hair inclining to red. He was an excellent horse- 
 man, and well skilled indeed 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, he was frank and generous, a warm friend, 
 and a kind master to his vassals." 
 
 He was strict in his observance of the Catholic worship, 
 punctilious in keeping all the church festivals and in enforc- 
 ing their observance throughout his domains; and, in war, 
 he was a most devout champion of the V^irgin. He was 
 anibitious of acquisitions, but lavish of expenditure, especi- 
 ally in the embellishment and fortification of his towns and 
 castles; spending on Alcala de Guadaira, Xerez, and Alanis, 
 the enormous sum of seventeen million maravedies. To the 
 ladies he was 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 
 Vol. I.— 15.
 
 338 WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 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 
 had 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 
 along at his funeral, "and still wave over his sepulchre," 
 says Bernaldez, "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 
 valor, courtesy, unblemished honor, or any other attribute 
 of chivalry, shall be found in Spain. '^^ 
 
 One of the chief authorities on which the account of the Moorish war 
 rests, is Andres Bernaldez, Curate of Los Palacios. He was a native of 
 Fuente in Leon, and appears to have received his early education under 
 the care of his grandfather, a notary of that place, whose commendations 
 of a juvenile essay in historical writing led him later in life according to his 
 own account, to record the events of his time in the extended and regular 
 form of a chronicle. After admission to orders, he was made chaplain to 
 Deza, archbishop of Seville, and curate of Los Palacios, an Andalusian town 
 not far from Seville, where he discharged his ecclesiastical functions with 
 credit, from 1488 to 1513, at which time, as we find no later mention of 
 him, he probably closed his life with his labors. 
 
 Bernaldez had ample opportunities for accurate information relative to 
 the Moorish war, since he lived, as it were, in the theatre of action, and 
 was personally intimate with the most considerable men of Andalusia, es- 
 pecially the marquis of Cadiz, whom he has made the Achilles of his epic, 
 assigning him a much more important part in the principal transactions, 
 than is always warranted by other authorities. His Chronicle is just such 
 as might have been anticipated from a person of lively imagination, and 
 competent scholarship for the time, deeply dyed with the bigotry and super- 
 stition of the Spanish clergy in that century. There is no great discrimi- 
 nation apparent in the work of the worthy curate, who dwells with goggle- 
 eyed credulity on the most absurd marvels, and expends more pages on an 
 empty court show, than on the most important schemes of policy. But if 
 he is no philosopher, he has, perhaps for that very reason, succeeded in 
 making us completely master of the popular feelings and prejudices of the 
 time; while he gives a most vivid portraiture of the principal scenes and 
 actors in this stirring war, with all their chivalrous exploit, and rich the- 
 atrical accompaniment. His credulity and fanaticism, moreover, are well 
 compensated by a simplicity and loyalty of purpose, which secure much
 
 SURRENDER OF THE CAPITAL. 339 
 
 more credit to his narrative than attaches to those of more ambitious writ- 
 ers, whose judgment is perpetually swayed by personal or party interests. 
 The chronicle descends as late as 1513, although, as might be expected 
 from the author's character, it is entitled to much less confidence in the 
 discussion of events which fell without the scope of his personal observa- 
 tion. Notwithstanding its historical value is fully recognized by the Cas- 
 tilian critics, it has never been admitted to the press, but still remains, 
 ingulfed in the ocean of manuscripts, with which the Spanish libraries are 
 deluged,. 
 
 It is remarkable that the war of Granada, which is so admirably suited 
 in all its circumstances to poetical purposes, should not have been more 
 frequently commemorated by the epic muse. The only successful attempt 
 in this way, with which I am acquainted, is the "Conquisto di Clranata," 
 by the Florentine Girolamo Gratiani Modena, 1650. The author has taken 
 the license, independently of his machinery, of deviating very freely from 
 the historic track; among other tilings, introducing Columbus and the Great 
 Captain as principal actors in the drama, in which they played at most but 
 a very subordinate part. The poem, which swells into twenty-six cantos, 
 is in such repute with the Italian critics, that Quadrio does not hesitate to 
 rank it "among the best epical productions of the age." A translation of 
 this work has recently appeared at Nuremberg, from the pen of C. M. 
 Winterling, which is much commended by the German critics. 
 
 Mr. Irving's late publication, the "Chronicle of the Conquest of Gran- 
 ada," has superseded all further necessity for poetry, and unfortunately for 
 me, for history. He has fully availed himself of all the picturesque and 
 animating movements of this romantic era; and the reader, who will take 
 the trouble to compare his Chronicle with the present more prosaic and 
 literal narrative, will see how little he has been seduced from historic ac- 
 curacy by the poetical aspect of his subject. The fictitious and romantic 
 dress of his work has enabled him to make it the medium for reflecting 
 more vividly the floating opinions and chimerical fancies of the age, while 
 he has illuminated the picture with the dramatic brilliancy of coloring 
 denied to sober history.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 APPLICATION OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS AT THE 
 SPANISH COURT. 
 
 1492. 
 
 ^arfy Discoveries of the Potuguese. — Of the Spaniards. — Columbus. — His 
 Application at the Castilian Court. — Rejected. — Negotiations re- 
 sumed. — Favorable Disposition of the Queen. — Arrangement with 
 Columbus. — He sails on his first Voyage. — Indifference to the Enter- 
 prize. — Acknowledgments due to Isabella. 
 
 While Ferdinand and Isabella were at Santa Fe, the capitu- 
 lation was signed, that opened the way to an extent of em- 
 pire, compared with which their recent conquests, and indeed 
 all their present dominions, were insignificant. The extra- 
 ordinary 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 age, the glory of being designated as peculiarly that 
 of maritime discovery. This was eminently favored 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 dismember- 
 ment of the empire, it continued to be conducted principally 
 through the channel of the Italian ports, whence it was dif- 
 used over the remoter regions of Christendom. But these 
 countries, which had now risen from the rank of subordinate 
 provinces to that of separate, independent 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 especialy 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 
 unfavorably situated for commercial purposes with them-
 
 COLUMBUS S APPLICATION AT THE COURT. 34I 
 
 selves. 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 toward the opu- 
 lent 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." 
 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 i486, 
 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 appella- 
 tion of the Cape of Good Hope. 
 
 The Spaniards, in the mean while, 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 adven- 
 turers 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 Teneriffe.* 
 From the commencement of their reign, Ferdinand and Isa- 
 bella had shown an earnest solicitude for the encouragement 
 of commerce and nautical science, as is evinced by a variety 
 of regulations which, however imperfect, from the miscon- 
 ception of the true principles of trade in that day, are suffi- 
 ciently 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 tendinf
 
 342 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 to secure them a more equal protection of the laws, or open- 
 ing such social indulgences as might mitigate the hardships 
 of their condition. A misunderstanding gradually arose be- 
 tween the subjects of Castile and Portugal, in relation to 
 their respective rights of discover}- 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, ^^at 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 reser\-ed 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 Colum- 
 bus, endowed with capacity for stimulating them to this 
 heroic enterprise, and conducting it to a glorious issue.' 
 
 This extraordinar}- man was a native of Genoa, of humble 
 parentage, though perhaps honorable descent.* He was 
 instructed in his early youth at Pavia, where he acquired a 
 strong relish for the mathematical sciences, in which he sub- 
 sequently excelled. At the age of fourteen, he engaged in a 
 seafaring 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 con- 
 tinued to make voyages to the then known parts of the 
 world, and, when on shore, occupied himself with the con- 
 struction 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 nau- 
 tical 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 colors 
 in the narratives of Mandeville 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
 
 HIS APPLICATION AT THE COURT. 343 
 
 discredited by some of the most enlightened ancients,' had 
 become matter of common speculation at the close of the 
 fifteenth century; when maritime adventure was daily dis- 
 closing 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 cosmographical knDwledge it implies, for its allusion 
 to phenomena in physical science, not established till more 
 than a century later. The Devil, alluding to the vulgar 
 superstition respecting the Pillars of Hercules, thus addresses 
 his companion Rinaldo. 
 
 " 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; 
 So earth, by curious mystery divine 
 Well balanced, hangs amid the starry spheres. 
 At our Antipodes are cities, states, 
 And thronged empires, ne'er divined of yore. 
 But see, the Sun speeds on his western path 
 To glad the nations with expected light." *' 
 
 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 piactical conviction, that made him ready 
 to peril life and fortune on the result of the experiment. 
 He was fortified still further in his conclusions by a corre- 
 spondence 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 in- 
 volved in obscurity, Columbus submkted 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 mor-
 
 344 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 tifications, which so often obstruct the conceptions of genius, 
 too sublime for the age in which they are formed. After a 
 long and fruitless negotiation, and a dishonorable 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 pre- 
 paration 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. Co- 
 lumbus, 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 archi-episcopal see of Gra- 
 nada. He was a man of irreproachable morals, and of com- 
 prehensive benevolence for that day, as is shown in his sub- 
 sequent 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 every thing like innovation 
 or enterprise.'^ 
 
 With these timid and exclusive views, Talavera was so far 
 from comprehending 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 Columbus's 
 theory, referred him to a council selected by Talavera from the 
 most eminent scholars of the kindgom, chiefly ecclesiastics, 
 whose profession embodied most of the science of that day. 
 Such was the apathy exhibited by this learned conclave, and 
 so numerous the impediments suggested by dulness, preju- 
 dice, or skepticism, that years glided away before it came to a 
 decision. During this time, Columbus appears to have re-
 
 HIS APPLICATION AT THE COURT. 343 
 
 mained 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 evi- 
 dence of which is afforded in the disbursements repeatedly 
 made bythe 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 lodging and 
 other personal accomodations.'^ 
 
 At length, however, Columbus, wearied out by this painful 
 procrastination, pressed the court for a definite answer to his 
 propositions; when he was informed, that the council of Sala- 
 manca 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 en- 
 lightened 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 effected 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 Mendoza, a man whose enlarged capacity, and ac- 
 quaintance with affairs, raised him above many of the narrow 
 prejudices of his order, and Deza, archbishop of Seville, a 
 Dominican friar, whose commanding talents were afterward 
 unhappily perverted in the service of the Holy Office, over 
 which he presided as successor to Torquemada." The au- 
 thority of these individuals had undoubtedly great weight 
 with the sovereigns, who softened the verdict of the junto, 
 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 find 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 mitiga- 
 tion of their refusal, he seems to have considered it as per- 
 emptory and final. In great dejection of mind, therefore, but 
 without further delay, he quitted the court, and bent his way 
 to the south, with the apparently almost desperate intent of 
 seeking out some 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 
 Cell, successively, from the latter of whom he experienced 
 piuch kindness and hospitality; but neither of these nobles, 
 15*
 
 346 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 whose large estates lying along the sea-shore had often invited 
 them to maritime adventure, was disposed to assume one 
 which seemed too hazardous for the resources of the crown. 
 Without wasting time in further solicitation, Columbus pre- 
 pared with a heavy heart to bid adieu to Spain, 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 bim to postpone his 
 journey till another effort had been made to move the Spanish 
 court in his favor. For this purpose the worthy ecclesiastic 
 undertook an expedition in person to the newly erected city 
 of Santa Fe, where the sovereigns lay encamped before Gra- 
 nada. 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 emi- 
 nent 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 mar- 
 chioness of Moya, the personal friend of Isabella, all of whom 
 exercised considerable influence over her counsels. Their 
 representations, 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 favorable a change in the disposi- 
 tions 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 considerable 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 wit- 
 ness the surrender of Granada, when every heart, swelling 
 with exultation at the triumphant termination of the war, 
 was naturally disposed to enter with greater confidence on a 
 new career of adventure. At his interview with the king and 
 queen, he once more exhibited the arguments on which his 
 h}pothesis was founded. He then endeavored to stimulate
 
 HIS APPLICATION AT THE COURT, 347 
 
 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 splendors 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 fanati-> 
 cism 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 suggestion of the diffusion of 
 the gospel was well suited to affect Isabella, in whose heart 
 the principle of devotion was deeply seated, and who, in all 
 her undertakings, seems 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 relia^ion."' 
 
 Amidst all these propitious demonstrations toward Colum- 
 bus, an obstacle unexpectedly 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 deemed 
 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 Gra- 
 nada; who declared, that "such demands savored 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 con- 
 ferences 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 sur- 
 render one of the honorable 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 dura- 
 tion. Columbus's friends, and especially Louis de St. Angel,
 
 34^ CHRISTOPHBR COLUMBUS. 
 
 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 
 thev would be well deserved; that, if he failed, he required 
 nothing. He expatiated on his qualifications for the under- 
 taking, so signal as to insure in all probability the patronage 
 of some other monarch, who would reap the fruits of his dis- 
 coveries; 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 contemplated 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 readv to 
 pawn mv jewels to defray the expenses of it, if the funds in 
 the treasury shall be found inadequate." The treasury had 
 been reduced to the lowest ebb by the late war; but the re- 
 ceiver, St. Angel, advanced the sums required, from the 
 Aragonese revenues deposited in his hands. Aragon how- 
 ever was not considered as adventuring in the expedition, 
 the charges and emoluments of which were reserved exclu- 
 sively for Castile." 
 
 Columbus, who was overtaken by the royal messenger at a 
 few leagues' distance only from Granada, experienced the 
 most courteous reception on his return to Santa Fe, where a 
 definitive arrangement was concluded with the Spanish sover- 
 eigns, April 17th, 1492. By the terms of the capitulation, 
 Ferdinand and Isabella, as lords of the ocean-seas, consti- 
 tuted Christopher Columbus their admiral, viceroy, and gov- 
 ernor-general of all such islands and continents as he should 
 discover in the western ocean, with the privilege of nomina- 
 ting three candidates, for the selection of one by the crown, 
 for the government of each of these territories. He was to 
 be vested with exclusive right of jurisdiction over all com- 
 mercial 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, provi- 
 ded he should contribute one eighth part of the expense. By 
 a subsequent ordinance, the official dignities above numerated 
 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."
 
 HIS APPLICATION AT THE COURT. 349 
 
 No sooner were the arrangements completed, than Isabella 
 prepared with her characteristic promptness to forward the ex- 
 pedition 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 commu- 
 nity. With their assistance, Columbus was enabled to sur- 
 mount the disinclination, and indeed open opposition, mani- 
 fested by the Andalusian 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 ordi- 
 nance of the 30th of April, promising protection to all per- 
 sons, 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 f!eet was in- 
 structed to keep clear of the African coast, and other mari- 
 time possessions of Portugal. At length, all things being in 
 readiness, Columbus and his whole crew partook of the sacra- 
 ment, and confessed themselves, after the devout manner of 
 the ancient Spanish voyagers, when engaged in any impor- 
 tant enterprise; and on the morning of the 3d 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." 
 
 It is impossible to peruse the storv 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 en- 
 lightened 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
 
 35© CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, 
 
 the same sort of vague and skeptical curiosity as to its sue- 
 cessful 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 toward it, may be inferred from the infre- 
 quency 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 in- 
 structed him in the designs of Columbus, and whose inquisi- 
 tive 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 corre- 
 spondence 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 super- 
 stitious fancy had peopled with innumerable forms of horror. 
 
 It is true that Columbus experienced a most honorable 
 reception at the Castilian court; such as naturally flowed 
 from the benevolent spirit of Isabella, and her just apprecia- 
 tion 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
 
 HIS APPLICATION AT THE COURT. 35! 
 
 her faith to Columbus, she became his steady friend, shield- 
 ing him against the calumnies of his enemies, reposing in 
 him the most generous confidence, and serving him in the 
 most acceptable manner, by supplying ample resources for 
 the prosecution of his glorious discoveries." 
 
 It is now more than thirty years since the Spanish government intrusted 
 Don Martin Fernandez de Navarrete, one of the most eminent scholars 
 of the country, with the care of exploring the public archives, for the pur- 
 pose of collecting information relative to the voyages and discoveries of the 
 early Spanish navigators. In 1825 Sefior Navarrete gave to the world the 
 first fruits of his indefatigable researches, in two volumes, the commence- 
 ment of a series, comprehending letters, private journals, royal ordinances, 
 and other original documents, illustrative of the discovery of America. 
 These two volumes are devoted exclusively to the adventures and personal 
 history of Columbus, and must be regarded as the only authentic basis, on 
 which any notice of the great navigator can hereafter rest. Fortunately, 
 Mr. Irving's visit to Spain, at this period, enabled the world to derive the 
 full benefit of Seiior Navarrete's researches, by presenting their results in 
 connection with whatever had been before known of Columbus, in the lucid 
 and attractive form, which engages the interest of every reader. It would 
 seem highly proper, that the fortunes of the discoverer of America should 
 engage the pen of an inhabitant of her most favored and enlightened region; 
 and it is unnecessary to add, that the task has been executed in a manner 
 which must secure to the historian a share in the imperishable renown of 
 his subject. The adventures of Columbus, which form so splendid an 
 episode to the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, cannot properly come 
 within the scope of its historian, except so far as relates to his personal 
 intercourse with the government, or to their results on the fortunes of the 
 Spanish monarchy.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 EXPULSION OF THE JEWS FROM SPAIN. 
 
 1492. 
 
 Excitement against lue Jews. — Edict of Expulsion. — Dreadful Sufferings 
 of the Emigrants. — Whole number of Exiles. — Disastrous Results. — 
 True Motives of the Edict. — Contemporary Judgments. 
 
 While the Spanish sovereigns were detained before Granada, 
 they published 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 ac- 
 quainted in a preceding chapter with the prosperous condi- 
 tion of the Jews in the Peninsula, and the preeminent con- 
 sideration, which they attained there beyond any other part 
 of Christendom. The envy raised by their prosperity, com- 
 bined with the high religious excitement kindled in the long 
 war with the infidel, directed the terrible arm of the Inqui- 
 sition, as has been already stated, against this unfortunate 
 people; but the result showed the failure of the experiment, 
 since comparatively few conversions, and those frequently 
 of a suspicious character, were effected, while the great mass 
 still maintained a pertinacious attachment to ancient errors.' 
 Under these circumstances, the popular odium, inflamed 
 by the discontent 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 genera- 
 tion, with all the details of place and action. Christian child- 
 ren were said to be kidnapped, in order to be crucified in 
 derision of the Saviour; the host, it was rumored, 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. No rumor was too absurd for the easy credulity of
 
 EXPULSION OF THE JEWS. 353 
 
 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 scan- 
 dal was occasioned also by the intermarriages, which still 
 occasionally took place between Jews and Christians; the 
 latter condescending to repair their dilapidated fortunes by 
 these wealthy alliances, though at the expense of their 
 vaunted purity of blood." 
 
 These various offences- were urged against the Jews with 
 great pertinacity by their enemies, and the sovereigns were 
 importuned to adopt a more rigorous policy. The inquisi- 
 tors, in particular, to whom the work of conversion had been 
 specially intrusted, represented the incompetence of all leni- 
 ent 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 imme- 
 diate and total banishment of every unbaptized Israelite from 
 the land.^ 
 
 The Jews, who had obtained an intimation of these pro- 
 ceedings, resorted to their usual crafty policy for propitiating 
 the sovereigns. They commissioned one of their body to 
 tender a donative of thirty thousand ducats toward defraying 
 the expenses of the Moorish war. The negotiation however 
 was suddenly interrupted by the inquisitor general, Torque- 
 mada, 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 overawed 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 dis- 
 position 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
 
 354 EXPULSION OF THE JEWS. 
 
 enjoyed as the queen's confessor, during the tender 3^ears of 
 her youth, gave him an ascendency over her mind, which must 
 have been denied to a person of his savage, fanatical temper, 
 even with the advantages of this spiritual connection, had it 
 been formed at a riper period of her life. Without opposing 
 further resistance to the representations, so emphatically ex- 
 pressed, of the holy persons in whom she most confided, Isa- 
 bella, at length, silenced her own scruples, and consented 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 obsti- 
 nacy, 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 
 with 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 finally decrees, that all unbaptized Jews, of 
 whatever sex, age, or condition, should depart from the realm 
 by the end of July next ensuing; prohibiting them from re- 
 visiting it, on any pretext whatever, under penalty of death 
 and confiscation of property. It was, moreover, interdicted 
 to every subject, to harbor, succor, or minister to the neces- 
 sities of any Jew, after the expiration of the term limited for 
 his departure. The persons and property of the Jews, in the 
 meantime, 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 
 in gold no silver.^ 
 
 The doom of exile fell like a thunderbolt on the heads of the 
 Israelites. A large proportion of them had hitherto suc- 
 ceeded in yielding themselves from the searching e3-e of the 
 Inquisition, by an affectation of reverence for the forms of 
 Catholic worship, and a discreet forbearance of whatever 
 might oifend 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 time secure 
 them higher immunities. Many had risen to a degree of
 
 EXPULSION OF THE JEWS. 35t, 
 
 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 ennobled the .character, indeed, but rendered them 
 personally more sensible to physical annoyance, and less fitted 
 to encounter the perils and privations of their dreary pil- 
 grimage. Even the mass of the common people, possessed a 
 dexerity in various handicrafts, which afforded a comfortable 
 livelihood, raising them far above similar classes in most 
 other nations, who might readily be detached from the soil 
 on which they happened to be cast, with comparatively little 
 sacrifice of local interests.' These ties were now severed at 
 a blow. 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 thfeir 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 re- 
 quired in the present instance. It was impossible, moreover, 
 to negotiate a sale of their effects under existing circum- 
 stances, since the market was soon glutted with commodities; 
 and few would be found willing to give anything like an 
 equivalent for what, if not disposed of within the prescribed 
 term, the proprietors must relinquish at any rate. So de- 
 plorable, indeed, was the sacrifice of property, that a chroni- 
 cler of the day mentions, that he had seen a house exchanged 
 for an ass, and a vineyard for a suit of clothes! In Aragon, 
 matters were still worse. The government there discovered, 
 that the Jews were largely indebted to individuals and to 
 certain corporations. It accordingly caused their property 
 to be sequestrated for the benefit of their creditors, until their 
 debts should be liquidated. Strange indeed, that the balance 
 should be found against a people, who have been everywhere
 
 35^ EXPULSION OF THE JEWS. 
 
 conspicuous for their commercial sagacity and resources, and 
 who, as factors of the great nobihty and farmers of the rev- 
 enue, 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 heavily 
 on the hearts of the Israelites, the Spanish clergy were inde- 
 fatigable in the work of conversion. They lectured in the 
 synagogues and public squares, expounding the doctrines of 
 Christianity, and thundering forth both argument and invec- 
 tive against the Hebrew heresy. But their laudable endeavors 
 were in a great measure counteracted by the more authorita- 
 tive rhetoric of the Jewish Rabbins, who compared the perse- 
 cutions of their brethren, to those which their ancestors had 
 suffered 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 con- 
 tributions for the releif 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 stiff-necked obsti- 
 nacy," with' which the worthy Curate of Los Palacios, in the 
 charitable feeling of that day, has seen fit to stigmatize 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 promiscuously together, some 
 mounted on horses or mules, but far the greater part under- 
 taking their painful pilgrimage on foot. The sight of so much 
 misery touched even the Spaniards with pity, though none 
 might succor them; for the land inquisitor, Torquemada, en- 
 forced 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 according to some estimates to eighty thousand 
 souls, passed into Portugal; whose monarch, John the Sec- 
 ond, dispensed with his scruples of conscience so far, as to
 
 EXPULSION OF THE JEWS. 357 
 
 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 the waters open for their egress, ac- 
 cording 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 toward 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. Not- 
 withstanding the interdict, the Jews had contrived to secrete 
 small sums of money, sewed up in their garments or the lin- 
 ings 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, ming- 
 ling lust with avarice, abandoned themselves to still more 
 frightful excesses, violating the wives and daughters of the 
 unresisting Jews, or massacre! ng in cold blood such as offered 
 resistance. But without pursuing these loathsome details 
 further, it need only be added, that the miserable exiles en- 
 dured 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 baptized, 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 his- 
 torian, "the calamities of these poor blind creatures proved 
 in the end an excellent remedy, that God made use of to un- 
 seal 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 dis- 
 order, contracted by long confinement in small, crowded, and 
 ill-provided vessels. The disorder was so malignant, and
 
 358 EXPULSION OF THE JEWS. 
 
 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 Geno- 
 ese 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 fre- 
 quently experienced from the masters of the ships, which 
 transported them from Spain. Some were murdered to gra- 
 tify 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, how- 
 ever, to refit their vessels, and to recruit themselves for some 
 days from the fatigues of their voyage. One might have 
 taken them for spectres, so emaciated were they, so cadav- 
 erous in their aspect, and with eyes so sunken; they differed 
 in nothing from the dead, except in the power of motion, 
 which indeed they scarcely retained. Many fainted and ex- 
 pired on the mole, which being completely surrounded by the 
 sea, was the only quarter vouchsafed to the wretched emi- 
 grants. 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, where their descend- 
 ^its ccntinued 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 Ferdi- 
 nand and Isabella, is variously computed from one hundred 
 and sixty thousand to eight hundred thousand souls; a dis-
 
 EXPULSION OF THE JEWS. 359 
 
 crepancy sufficiently indicating the paucity of authentic data. 
 Most modern writers, with the usual predilection for startling 
 results, have assumed the latter estimate; and Llorente has 
 made it the basis of some important calculations, in his His- 
 tory 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, subse- 
 quently returned to Spain, where he was baptized by him. 
 This person, whom Bernaldez commends for his intelligence, 
 estimated the whole number of his unbaptized 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 Ber- 
 naldez. There is little reason for supposing, that the actual 
 amount would suffer diminution in the hands of either the 
 Jewish or Castilian authority; since 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 incalculably greater than that inferred by the mere num- 
 ber 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 effectu- 
 ally counteracted by the Inquisition, and other causes in the 
 following century, that the loss may be deemed irretrievable. 
 
 The expulsion of so numerous a class of subjects by an in- 
 dependent act of the sovereign, might well be regarded as an 
 enormous stretch of prerogative, altogether incompatible with 
 any thing like a free government. But to judge the matter 
 rightly, we must take into view the actual position of the 
 Jews at that time. Far fram forming an 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 humors 
 amd might be lopped off at any time, when the health of the 
 system demanded it. Far from being protected by the laws,
 
 360 EXPULSION OF THE JEWS. 
 
 the only aim of the laws, in reference to them, was to define 
 more precisely their civil incapacities, and to draw the line 
 of division moj e broadly between them and the Christians. 
 Even this humiliation by no means satisfied the national preju- 
 dices, as is evinced by the great number of tunmlts and mas- 
 sacres of which they were the victims. In these circumstan- 
 ces, it seemed to be no great assumption of authority, to pro- 
 nounce 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 of 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 trans- 
 port ourselves back to those times, to find it in perfect accord- 
 ance with their spirit, at least in Spain. It is indeed incredi- 
 ble, that persons possessing the political sagacity of Ferdinand 
 and Isabella could indulge a temporary cupidity, at the sac- 
 rifice of the most important and permanent interests, con- 
 verting their wealthiest districts into a wilderness, and dis- 
 peopling them of a class of citizens, who contributed beyond 
 all others, not only to the general resources, but the dircet 
 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 of it." 
 No imputation of this kind attaches to Castile. The clause 
 of the ordinance, which might imply such a design, by inter- 
 dicting 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.'** 
 
 We need look no further for the principle of action, in this 
 case, than the spirit of religious bigotry, which led to a simi- 
 lar expulsion of the Jews from England, France, and other 
 parts of Europe, as well as from Portugal, under circum- 
 stances of peculiar atrocity, a few years later. '^ Indeed, the 
 spirit of persecution did not expire with the fifteenth century,
 
 EXPULSION OF THE JEWS. 361 
 
 but extended far into the more luminous periods of the sev- 
 enteenth 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 opin- 
 ions of the most enlightened contemporaries, may be gathered 
 from the encomiums lavished on its authors from more than 
 one quarter. Spanish writers, without exception, 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." 
 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 so- 
 licitude to discharge her duty, at whatever cost of personal 
 inclination, greatly enforced the precepts o^ education. In 
 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. 
 
 Vol. I.— 16.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF FERDINAND. RETURN AND 
 
 SECOND VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 1492—1493- 
 
 Attempt on Ferdinand's Life. — Consternation and Loyalty of the People. 
 — Return of Columbus. — His Progress to Barcelona. — Interviews with 
 the Sovereigns. — Sensations caused by the Discovery. — Regulations 
 of Trade. — Conversion of the Natives. — Famous Bulls of Alexander 
 VL — Jealousy of Portugal. — Second Voyage of Columbus. — Treaty of 
 Tordesillas. 
 
 Toward the latter end of May, 1492, the Spanish sovereigns 
 quitted Granada, between which and Sante Fe they had di- 
 vided their time since the surrender of the Moorish metropo- 
 Hs. 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 Cer- 
 dagne by France, to which these provinces had been mort- 
 gaged 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 it- 
 self to jubilee, at the approach of its illustrious 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 resi- 
 dence 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
 
 SECOND VOYAGE. 363 
 
 justice, at least once a week, for the purpose of determining 
 the suits of the poorer classes especially, who could not afford 
 the more expensive forms of litigation. King Ferdinand, in 
 conformity with this usage, held a court in the house of depu- 
 tation, on the 7th of December, being the vigil of the concep- 
 tion of the Virgin. At noon, as he was preparing to quit the 
 palace, after the conclusion of business, he lingered in the 
 rear of his retinue, conversing with some of the officers of 
 the court. As the party was issuing from a little chapel con- 
 tiguous to the royal saloon, and just as the king was descend- 
 ing 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 pre- 
 serve us! treason, treason!" and his attendants, rushing on 
 the assassin, stabbed him in three places with their poinards, 
 and would have despatched 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 was done accordingly, 
 and Ferdinand, fainting with loss of blood, was carefully re- 
 moved to his apartments in the royal palace.^ 
 
 The report of the catastrophe spread like wild-fire through 
 the city. All classes were thrown into consternation by so 
 foul an act, which seemed to cast a stain on the honor and 
 good faith of the Catalans. Some suspected it to be the 
 work of a vindictive Moor, others of a disappointed courtier. 
 The queen, who had swooned on first receiving intelligence 
 of the event, suspected the ancient enmity of the Catalans, 
 who had shown such determined opposition to her husband 
 in his early youth. She gave instant orders to hold in readi- 
 ness one of the galleys lying in the port, in order to tran- 
 sport her children from the place, as she feared the con- 
 spiracy might be designed to embrace other victims.' 
 
 The populace, in the meanwhile, assembled in great num- 
 bers round the palace where the king lay. All feelings of 
 hostility had long since given way to devoted loyalty toward 
 a government, which had uniformly respected the liberties of 
 its subjects, and whose paternal sway had secured similar 
 blessings to Barcelona wtih the rest of the empire. They 
 thronged round the building crying out that the king was 
 slain, and demanding that his murderers should be delivered
 
 364 RETURN OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 up to them. Ferdinand, 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 dis- 
 perse, 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 be fractured, and a part of it was re- 
 moved by the surgeons. On the seventh 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 his medicines with her own hand. 
 At length, the unfavorable symptoms yielded; and his excel- 
 lent constitution enabled him so far to recover, that in less 
 than three weeks he was able to show 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, 
 which 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 vin- 
 dication of his conduct, that he was the rightful proprietor of 
 the crown, which he expected to obtain by Fedinand's death. 
 He declared himself willing, however, to give up his preten- 
 sions, on condition of being set at liberty. The king, con- 
 vinced of his alienation of mind, would have discharged him; 
 but the Catalans, indignant at the reproach which such a 
 crime seemed to attach to their own honor, and perhaps 
 distrusting the plea of insanity, thought it necessary to ex- 
 piate it by the blood of the offender, and condemned the 
 unhappy wretch to the dreadful doom of a traitor; the pre- 
 liminary barbarities of the sentence, however, were remitted, 
 at the intercession of the queen. ^ 
 
 In the spring of 1493, while the court was still at Barcelo- 
 na, letters were received from Christopher Columbus, an- 
 nouncing 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 
 
 A
 
 SECOND VOYAGE. 365 
 
 this intelligence, were proportioned to the skepticism, with 
 which his project had been originally viewed. The sover- 
 eigns 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 en- 
 terprise.* 
 
 The great navigator had succeeded, as is well known, after 
 a voyage the natural difficulties of which had been much aug- 
 mented by the distrust 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; so 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 honor- 
 able reception from the Portuguese monarch, John the Second, 
 who did ample justice to the great qualities of Columbus, 
 although he had failed to profit by them. ' After a brief delay, 
 the admiral resumed his voyage, and crossing the bar of 
 Saltes entered the harbor of Palos about noon on the 15th of 
 March, 1493, being exactly seven months and eleven days 
 since his departure from that port.* 
 
 Great was the agitation in the little community of Palos, 
 as they beheld the well-known vessel of the admiral reenter- 
 ing their harbor. Their desponding imaginations had long 
 since consigned him to a watery grave; for, in addition to 
 the preternatural 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 
 relatives 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 honor of the glorious event. The admiral was too
 
 366 RETURN OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 desirous of presenting himself before the sovereigns, to pro- 
 tract his stay long at Palos. He took with him on his journey 
 specimens of the multifarious products of the newly dis- 
 covered regions. He was accompanied by several of the 
 native islanders, arrayed in their simple barbaric costume, 
 and decorated, as he passed through the principal cities, with 
 collars, bracelets, and other ornaments of gold, rudely fash- 
 ioned; he exhibited also considerable quantities of the same 
 metal in dust, or in crude masses," numerous vegetable ex- 
 otics, possessed of aromatic or medicinal virtue, and several 
 kinds of quadrupeds unknown in Europe, and birds, v/hose 
 varieties of gaudy plumage gave a brilliant effect to the page- 
 ant. The admiral's progress through the country was every- 
 where 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, popu- 
 lous 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 Columbus reached Barcelona. The nobility and cava- 
 liers 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 unpre- 
 cedented marks of condescension to a person of Columbus's 
 rank, in the haughty and ceremonious court of Castile. 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, skepticism, 
 and contempt. He had achieved this, not by chance, but by 
 calculation, supported through the most adverse circum- 
 stances by consummate conduct. The honors 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 hu- 
 manity." 
 
 After a brief interval, the sovereigns requested from Colum- 
 bus a recital of his adventures His manner was sedate and 
 dignified, but warmed by the glow of natural enthusiasm.
 
 SECOND VOYAG'E. 367 
 
 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 produc- 
 tion, 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 uni- 
 form 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 sim- 
 plicity 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 coloring of their own fancies, as ambition, or ava- 
 rice, or devotional feeling predominated in their bosoms. 
 When Columbus ceased, the king and queen, together with 
 all present, prostrated themselves 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 com- 
 memoration of some glorious victory.'^ 
 
 The discoveries of Columbus excited a sensation, particu- 
 larly among men of science, in the most distant parts of Eu- 
 rope, strongly contrasting with the apathy which had preceded 
 them. They congratulated one another on being reserved 
 for an age, which had witnessed the consummation of so 
 grand an event. The learned Martyr, who, in his multifari- 
 ous correspondence, had not even deigned to notice the pre- 
 parations for the voyage of discovery, now lavished the most 
 unbounded panegyric on its results; which he contemplated 
 with the eye of a philosopher, having far less reference to 
 considerations of profit or policy, than to the prospect which 
 they unfolded of enlarging the boundaries of knowledge.'^ 
 Most of the scholars of the day, however, adopted the erro- 
 neous hypothesis of Columbus, who considered the lands he 
 had discovered, as bordering on the eastern shores of Asia, 
 and lying adiacent to the vast and opulent regions depicted 
 in such golden colors by Mandeville and the Poli. This 
 conjecture, which was conformable to 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
 
 368 RETURN OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 Indies, an appellation by which they are still recognized in 
 the titles of the Spanish crown.''' 
 
 Columbus, during his residence at Barcelona, continued to 
 receive from the Spanish sovereigns the most honorable dis- 
 tinctions 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 atten- 
 tions 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 esta- 
 blished for the direction of Indian affairs, consisting of a 
 superintendent and two subordinate functionaries. The first 
 of these officers was Juan de Fonseca, archdeacon 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 dc las ludias, 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 Por- 
 tuguese particularly, but which entered still more largely into 
 the colonial legislation of Spain under later princes. Tbe 
 new territories, far from being permitted free intercourse 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, with- 
 out license from the constituted authorities. It was impos- 
 sible to evade this, as a minute specification of the ships, 
 cargoes, crews, with the property appertaining to each indi- 
 vidual, was required to be taken at the office in Cadiz, and a 
 corresponding registration in a similar office established at 
 Hispaniola. A more sagacious spirit was manifested in the 
 ample provision made of whatever could contribute to the 
 support or permanent prosperity of the infant colony. Grain, 
 plants, the seeds of numerous vegetable products, which in 
 the genial climate of the Indies might be made valuable arti- 
 cles for domestic consumption or export, were liberally fur-
 
 SECOND VOYAGE. 369 
 
 nished. Commodities of every description for the supply 
 of the fleet were exempted from duty. The owners of all ves- 
 sels 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 
 both officers and men, if necessary, into the service. Arti- 
 sans of every sort, provided with the implements of their 
 various crafts, including a great number of miners for explor- 
 ing 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 baptized, 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 establish- 
 ment; the residue were sent to Seville, whence, after suitable 
 religious instruction, they were to be returned as missiona- 
 ries for the propagation of the faith among their own country- 
 men. Twelve Spanish ecclesiastics were also destined to 
 this service; among whom was the celebrated Las Casas, so 
 conspicuous afterward 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 ob- 
 ject of the expedition. He was particularly enjoined "to 
 abstain from all means of annoyance, and to treat them 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 exem- 
 plary 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 be- 
 nevolent and rational views of Isabella, in religious matters, 
 when not warped by any foreign influence." 
 
 Toward the last of May, Columbus quitted Barcelona for 
 the purpose of superintending and expediting the prepara- 
 i6*
 
 37° RETURN OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 tions for departure on his second voyage. He was accom- 
 panied to the gates of the city by all the nobility and cavaliers 
 of the court. Orders were issued to the different towns, to 
 provide him and his suite with lodgings free of expense. 
 His former commission was not only confirmed in its full 
 extent, but considerably enlarged. For the sake of despatch, 
 he was authorized to nominate to all offices, without applica- 
 tion to government; and ordinances and letters patent, bear- 
 ing the royal seal, were to be issued by him, subscribed by 
 himself or his deputy. He was intrusted, in fine, with such 
 unlimited jurisdiction, as showed, that, however tardy the 
 sovereigns may have been in granting him their confidence, 
 they were not disposed to stint 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 Rome, to confirm them in 
 the possession of their recent discoveries, and invest them 
 with similar extent of jurisdiction with that formerly confer- 
 red 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 favor of Christian potentates. Al- 
 though F"erdinand 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 care- 
 ful to represent their own discoveries as in no way interfering 
 with the rights formerly conceded by it to their neighbors. 
 They enlarged on their services in the propagation 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 Rome, for a title to territories already in their pos- 
 session, to be unnecessary, yet, as pious princes, and dutiful 
 children of the church, they were unwilling to proceed fur- 
 ther without the sanction of him, to whose keeping its highest 
 interests were intrusted.^" 
 
 The pontifical throne was at that time filled by Alexander 
 the Sixth; a man who, although degraded by unrestrained 
 indulgence of the mcst 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 gov- 
 ernment, and made no hesitation in granting what cost him
 
 SECOND VOYAGE. 37I 
 
 nothing, while it recognized the assumption of powers, which 
 had already begun to totter in the opinion of mankind. 
 
 On the 3d 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 sub- 
 version of the Mahometan empire in Spain, and willing to 
 afford still wider scope for the prosecution of their pious 
 labors, he, "out of his pure liberality, infallible knowledge, 
 and plenitude of apostolic power," confirmed them in the 
 possession of all lands discovered, or hereafter to be dis- 
 covered 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 which the pope, in order to obviate any misunder- 
 standing with the Portuguese, 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 de Verd 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 sover- 
 eigns 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 notwithstanding. 
 With the title derived from actual possession, thus fortified 
 by the highest ecclesiastical sanction, the Spaniards might 
 have promised themselves an uninterrupted career of discov- 
 ery, but for the jealousy of their rivals, the Portuguese." 
 
 The court of Lisbon viewed with secret disquietude the 
 increasing maritime enterprise of its neighbors. 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 
 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 enter- 
 prise was established, John the Second, a politic and arabi
 
 372 RETURN OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 tious 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 Cokimbus, at Lisbon, he suggested, 
 that the discoveries of the Spaniards might interfere with the 
 rights secured to the Portuguese by repeated papal sanctions 
 since the beginning of the present century, and guaranteed 
 by the treaty with Spain, in 1479. Columbus, without enter- 
 ing 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 in an entirely different 
 direction. Although John professed himself satisfied with 
 the explanation, he soon after despatched an ambassador 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 civili- 
 ties 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 intelli- 
 gence that King John was equipping a considerable arma- 
 ment 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 instructions to 
 make their acknowledgments to the king for his hospitable 
 reception of Columbus, accompanied with a request that he 
 would prohibit his subjects from interference with the dis- 
 coveries of the Spaniards in the west, in the same manner as 
 these latter had been excluded from the Portuguese posses- 
 sions 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 deport- 
 ment, he was, in that case, to assume a tone of remonstrance, 
 and to demand a full explanation from king John, of his de- 
 signs. 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
 
 SECOND VOYAGE. 373 
 
 meditated expedition, in the hope of adjusting the dispute by 
 negotiation, in which he excelled. In order to quiet the 
 apprehensions of the Spanish court, he engaged to fit out no 
 fleet from his dominions within sixty days; at the same time 
 he sent a fresh mission to Barcelona, with directions to pro- 
 pose 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 be- 
 fore 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 expe- 
 dition. 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 curi- 
 ous 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," 
 
 and which tradition and romance had alike invested with the 
 supernatural splendors of enchantment. Many others were 
 stimulated by the wild love of adventure, kindled in the long 
 Moorish war, but which, now excluded from that career, 
 sought other objects in the vast, untravelled reigons 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 riiese 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' burden each. With this gallant navy, Co- 
 lumbus, dropping down the Guadalquivir, took his departure 
 from the bay of Cadiz, on the 25th of September, 1493; pre- 
 senting a striking contrast to the melancholy plight, in whicl>
 
 3^4 RETURN OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 but the year previous, he saUied forth Hke some forlorn 
 knight-errant, on a desperate and chimerical enterprise.^' 
 
 No sooner had the fleet weighed anchor, than Ferdinand 
 and Isabella despatched an embassy in solemn state to ad- 
 vise 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 instruc- 
 tions, they represented to the Portuguese monarch the inad- 
 missibility of 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 oppo- 
 site 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 west- 
 ern 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 any common 
 empire. 
 
 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 endeavored, 
 it is said, to intimidate the Castilian 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 infirmity of Ayala, who was lame, and to the 
 light, frivolous character, of the other envoy.*' 
 
 These symptoms of discontent were duly notified to the 
 Spanish government; who commanded the superintendent, 
 Fonseca, to 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 authorize the expectation
 
 SECOND VOYAGE. 375 
 
 of a favorable award from any impartial umpire. He had 
 already failed in an application for redress to the court of 
 Rome, which answered him by reference 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 con- 
 vened at Tordesillas, and on the 7th of June, 1494, subscribed 
 articles of agreement, which were ratified, in the course of 
 the same year, by the respective powers. In this treaty, the 
 Spaniards were secured in the exclusive right of navigation 
 and discovery in the western ocean. At the urgent remon- 
 strance of the Portuguese, however, wl^ complained that the 
 papal line of demarcation cooped up their enterprises within 
 too narrow limits, they consented, that instead of one hun- 
 dred, it should be removed three hundred and seventy leagues 
 west of the Cape de Verd islands, beyond which all discov- 
 eries 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 determining the longitude; and 
 if any lands 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 impor- 
 tant consequences to the Portuguese, who derived from it 
 their pretensions to the noble empire of Brazil.^* 
 
 Thus this singular misunderstanding, which menaced an 
 open rupture at one time, was happily adjusted. Fortu- 
 nately, the accomplishment of the passage round the Cape of 
 Good Hope, which occurred soon afterward, led the Portu- 
 guese 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 opposite routes of circumnavigation, 
 were brought into collision on the other 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
 
 2^6 RETURN OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 Stretch of papal authority, so often ridiculed as chhucrica^ 
 and absurd, was in a measure justified by the event since it 
 did, in fact, determine the principles on which the vast ex- 
 tent of unappropriated empire in the eastern and western 
 hemispheres was ultimately divided between two petty states 
 of Europt. 
 
 i
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 CASTILIAN LITERATURE. CULTIVATION OF THE COURT. — 
 
 CLASSICAL LEARNING. — SCIENCE. 
 
 Early Education of Ferdinand. — Of Isabella. — Her Library. — Early Pro- 
 mise 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, how- 
 ever, and bidding adieu, for a season, to the shores of Spain, 
 it will be necessary, in order to complete the view of the inter- 
 nal 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 end 
 of all government, should never be altogether divorced from 
 any history. It is particularly deserving of note in the pre- 
 sent 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 license, 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 civilization seemed 
 in a fair way to be effaced from the land. 
 
 The first years of Ferdinand and Isabella's government
 
 378 CASTILIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 were too much clouded by civil dissensions, to afford a much 
 more cheering prospect. Ferdinand's early education, more- 
 over, 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 favorable auspices; at least 
 more favorable 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 Arevalo. 
 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 lan- 
 guages, 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 Pul- 
 gar^ 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 en- 
 grossing 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 
 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 de los Reyes at Toledo, at the time of its foundation, 
 1477, with a library consisting principally of manuscripts.* 
 The archives of Simancas contain catalogues of part of twQ
 
 CLASSICAL LEARNING. — SCIENCE. 379 
 
 i^parate collections, belonging to her, whose broken remains 
 have contributed to swell the magnificent library of the Es- 
 curial. Most of them are in manuscript; the richly colored 
 and highly decorated binding of these volumes (an art which 
 the Spaniards derived from the Arabs) show how highly they 
 were prized, and the worn and battered condition of some of 
 them prove that they were not kept merely for show.^ 
 
 The queen manifested the most earnest solicitude for the 
 instruction of her own children. Her daughters were en- 
 dowed 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 revi- 
 val of ancient learning, were employed in their tuition. This 
 was particularly intrusted to two brothers, Antonio and Ales- 
 sandro Geraldino, natives of that country. Both were con- 
 spicuous for their abilities and classical erudition, and the 
 latter, who survived his brother Antonio, was subsequently 
 raised to high ecclesiastical preferments." Under these mas- 
 ters, 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 manner that 
 might tend to the formation of the 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 they 
 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 coun- 
 cil of state, composed of suitable persons of more advanced 
 standing, whose province it was to deliberate on, and to dis- 
 cuss, topics connected with government and public policy. 
 Over this body the prince presided, and here he was initiated 
 into a practical acquaintance with the important duties, which 
 were 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 cavaliers and young nobility of the court, many 
 of whom afterward filled with credit the most considerable
 
 380 CASTILIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 posts in the state. The severer discipline of the prince was 
 relieved by attention to more light and elegant accomplish- 
 ments. He devoted many of his leisure hours to music, 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, his education was happily designed 
 to produce that combination of mental and moral excellence, 
 which should fit him for reigning over his subjects with be- 
 nevolence and wisdom. How well the scheme succeeded is 
 abundantly attested by the commendations of contemporary 
 writers, both at home and abroad, who enlarge on his fond- 
 ness for letters, and for the society of learned men, on his 
 various attainments, and more especially his Latin scholar- 
 ship, and above all on his disposition, so amiable, as to give 
 promise of the highest excellence in maturer life, — a promise 
 alas! most unfortunately for his own nation, destined never 
 to be realized.' 
 
 Next to her family, there was no object which the queen 
 had so much at heart, as the improvement of the young nobil- 
 ity. During the troubled reign of her predecessor, they had 
 abandoned themselves to frivolous pleasure, 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 exchanged 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 Mendoza, dated at Granada, April, 
 1492, he alludes to the promise of a liberal recompense from 
 the queen, if he would assist in reclaiming 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 he remarks, "Like their 
 ancestors, they hold the pursuit of letters in light estimation, 
 considering them an obstacle to success in the profession of 
 arms, which alone they esteem worthy of honor." He how- 
 ever expresses his confidence, that the generous nature of 
 the Spaniards will make it easy to infuse into them a more 
 liberal taste; and, in a subsequent letter, he enlarges 011 the
 
 CLASSICAL LEARNING. — SCIENCE. 381 
 
 "good effects likely to result from the literary ambition exhib- 
 ited by the heir apparent, on whom the eyes of the nation 
 were naturally turned." "^ 
 
 Martyr, in obedience to the royal summons, instantly re- 
 paired to court, and in the month of September following, 
 we have a letter dated from Saragossa, in which he thus speaks 
 of his success. "My house, all day long, swarms with noble 
 youths, who, reclaimed from ignoble pursuits to those of 
 letters, are now convinced that these, so 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 unattainable 
 without science. It has pleased our royal mistress, the pat- 
 tern of every exalted virtue, that her own near kinsman, the 
 duke of Guimaraens, as well as the young duke of Villaher- 
 mosa, the king's nephew, should remain under my roof dur- 
 ing 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 even- 
 ing to review them with these latter in their own quarters." '^ 
 
 Another Italian scholar, often cited as authority in the 
 preceding portion of this work, Lucio Marineo Siculo, cc 
 operated with Martyr in the introduction of a more liberal 
 scholarship among the Castilian 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 i486, 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 ardor 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 illustrious 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 Mariuec
 
 3^2 CASTILIAN LITERATURE, 
 
 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 labor 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 the king, taught in the univer- 
 sity of Salamanca. At the same place, Don Pedro Fernan- 
 dez de Velasco, son of the count of Haro, who subsequently 
 succeeded his father in the hereditary dignity of grand con- 
 stable of Castile, read lectures on Fliny and Ovid. Don Al- 
 fonso 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, ' ' No 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 the 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 illumination of the period. Among them, the 
 writers of that day lavish their panegyrics on the marchioness 
 of Monteagudo, and Dona Maria Pacheco, of the ancient 
 house of Mendoza, sisters of the historian, Don Diego Hur- 
 tado,'* and daughters of the accomplished count of Tendilla," 
 who, while ambassador at Rome, induced Martyr to visit 
 Spain, and who was grandson of the famous marquis of San- 
 tillana, and nephew of the grand cardinal." This illustrious 
 family, rendered yet more illustrious by its merits than its 
 birth, is worthy of specification, as affording altogether the 
 most remarkable combination of literary talent in the en- 
 lightened 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 Latina. Another 
 lady. Dona Lucia de Medrano, publicly lectured on the Latin 
 classics in the university of Salamanca. And another, Doiia 
 Francisca de Lebrija, daughter of the historian of that name,
 
 CLASSICAL LEARNING. — SCIENCE. 383 
 
 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 com- 
 mon 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. 1 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 en- 
 couraged 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. "^ 
 
 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 ardor and success. To 
 this country it was usual also for Spanish students to repair, 
 in order to complete their discipline in classical 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 lite- 
 rary pilgrimage to Italy, was Antonio de Lebrija, or Nebris- 
 sensis, 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, in 1473, to his 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 contin- 
 ued to enlighten by his oral instruction and publications. 
 The earliest of these was his Introdiiccioncs Latinos^ 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 sugges-
 
 384 CASTILIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 tion, in columns parallel with those of the original text; a form 
 which, since become common, was then a novelty." The pub- 
 lication of his Castilian grammar, '' Grammatica Castinufia," 
 followed in 1492; a treatise designed particularly for the in- 
 struction 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 criti- 
 cism. 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 essen- 
 tially 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. Barbosa 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 for- 
 mer, 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 unv/earied assidu- 
 ity and complete success of his academic labors have secured 
 to him a high reputation among the restorers of ancient learn- 
 ing, and especially that of reviving a livelier relish for the 
 study of the Greek, by conducting 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 Casti- 
 lian scholars of the close of the fifteenth, and the beginning 
 of the sixtenth 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, 
 lor such remains had been long scattered and lost amid the 
 centuries of exile and disatrous warfare consequent on the
 
 CLASSICAL LEARNING. SCIENCE. 385 
 
 Saracen invasion. But they were unwearied in their illus- 
 trations, both oral and written, of the ancient authors; and 
 their numerous commentaries, translations, dictionaries, 
 grammars, and various worlcs of criticism, many of which, 
 though now obsolete, 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 pro- 
 per level for contemplating the works of the great masters 
 of antiquity; and well entitled them to the high eulogium of 
 Erasmus, that "liberal studies were brought, in the course 
 of a few years, in Spain to so flourishing 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 king- 
 dom; 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 filled, 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 libe- 
 ral arts and virtues, alike renowned 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 thou- 
 sand 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 should- 
 ers of the students. Professorships in every department of 
 science then studied, as well as of polite letters, were esta- 
 blished at the university, the "new Athens, " as Martyr some- 
 where styles it. Before the close of Isabella's reign, however, 
 its glories were rivalled, if not eclipsed, by those of Alcala;" 
 which combined higher advantages for ecclesiastical with 
 civil education, and which, under the splendid patronage of 
 Cardinal Ximenes, executed the famous Polyglot version of 
 the Scriptures, the most stupendous literary enterprise of 
 that age." 
 
 Vol. I.— 17.
 
 586 CASTILIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 This active cultivation was not confined to the dead lan- 
 guages, but spread more or less over ever 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 
 knowledge, 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 cor- 
 recting this abuse, by raising only competent persons to 
 ecclesiastical dignities. The highest stations in the church 
 were reserved for those, who combined the highest intellect- 
 ual endowments with unblemished piety. Cardinal Mendoza, 
 whose acute and comprehensive mind entered with interest 
 into every scheme for the promotion of science, was arch- 
 bishop of Toledo; Talavera, whose hospitable mansion was 
 itself an academy for men of letters, and whose princely reve- 
 nues were liberally dispensed for their support, was raised to 
 the see of Granada; the Ximenes, whose splendid literary 
 projects will require more particular notice hereafter, suc- 
 ceeded Mendoza in the primacy of Spain. Under the pro- 
 tection of these enlightened patrons, theological studies were 
 pursued with ardor, the Scriptures copiously illustrated, and 
 sacred eloquence cultivated with success. 
 
 A similar impulse was felt in the other walks of science. 
 Jurisprudence assumed a new aspect, under the learned la- 
 bors of Montalvo."^ The mathematics formed a principal 
 branch of education, and were successfully applied to astro- 
 nomy and geography. Valuable treatises were produced on 
 medicine, and on the more familiar practical arts, as husband- 
 ry, for example. ^^ History, which since the time of Alfonso 
 the Tenth, had been held in higher honor and more widely cul- 
 tivated 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 deci- 
 phered, 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 enlight 
 cned purposes of Isabella, than the introduction of the an oi
 
 CLASSICAL LEARNING. — SCIENCE. 387 
 
 printing into Spain, at the commencement, indeed in the very 
 lirst year, of her reign. She saw, from the first moment, all 
 the advantages which it promised for diffusing and perpetu- 
 ating the discoveries of science. She encouraged its esta- 
 bhshment, 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 
 r.harge." 
 
 Among the earlier printers we frequently find the names 
 of Germans; a people, who to the original merits of the dis- 
 covery may justly add that of its propagation among every 
 nation of Europe. We meet with a.prag?ndtica, or royal or- 
 dinance, dated in 1477, exempting a German, named Theo- 
 doric, from taxation, on the ground of being "one of the 
 principal persons in the discovery and practice of the art of 
 printing 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 
 copyright, were granted to certain persons, in consideration 
 of their doing so at a reasonable rate." It seems to have 
 been usual for the printers to be also the publishers and ven- 
 ders of books. These exclusive privileges, however, do not 
 appear to have been carried to a mischievous extent. For- 
 eign 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 places, and especially by Barcelona.^" The first 
 work printed was a collection of songs, composed for a poeti- 
 cal contest in honor of the Virgin, for the most part in the Li- 
 mousin 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 Dominican, St. Vincent Ferrer." 
 Through the liberal patronage of the government, the art 
 was widely diffused; and, before the end of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury, presses were established and in active operation in the 
 principal cities of the united kingdom; in Toledo, Seville, 
 Ciudad Real, Granada, Valadolid, Burgos, Salamanca, Za- 
 mora, Saragossa, Valencia, Barcelona, Monte Rey, Lerida, 
 Murcia, Tolosa, Taragona, Alcald de Henares, and Madrid..
 
 388 CASTILIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 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 defec- 
 tive, or false, or apocryphal, or pregnant with vain and 
 superstitious novelties, it was therefore ordered that no book 
 should hereafter be printed without special license from the 
 king, or some person regularly commissioned by him for the 
 purpose." The names of the commissioners 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 imme- 
 diate agents employed in the examination were also drawn 
 from the Inquisition, who exercised this important trust, as 
 is well known, in a manner most fatal to the interests of let- 
 ters and humanity. Thus a provision, destined in its origin 
 for the advancement of science, by purifying it from the 
 crudities and corruptions which naturally infect it in a primi- 
 tive age, contributed more effectually to its discouragement, 
 than any other which could have been devised, by interdict- 
 ing the freedom of expression, so indispensable to freedom 
 of inquiry." 
 
 While endeavoring to do justice to the progress of civiliza- 
 tion in this reign, I should regret to present to the reader an 
 over-colored 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 century was 
 distinguished by a zeal for research and laborious acquisition, 
 especially in ancient literature, throughout Europe, which 
 showed itself in Italy in the beginning of the age, and in 
 Spain, and some other countries, toward the close. It was 
 natural that men should explore the long-buried treasures 
 descended from their ancestors, before venturing on any thing 
 of their own creation. Their efforts were eminently success- 
 ful; and, by opening an acquaintance with the immortal pro- 
 ductions 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 pernicious in physics, in short an ignorance 
 of the true principles of philosophy, often led the scholars of
 
 CLASSICAL LEARNING. — SCIENCE, 389 
 
 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 fei. 
 mentation, no period has surpassed, if it can be said to have 
 rivalled, the age ^^ Isabella.
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 CASTILIAN LITERATURE. — ROMANCES OF CHIVALRY. — LYRI- 
 CAL POETRY. THE DRAMA. 
 
 This Reign an Epoch in Polite Letters. — Romances of Chivalry. — Ballads 
 or Romauci-s. — Moorish Minstrelsy. — "Cancionero General." — Its Lit- 
 erary Value. — Rise of the Spanish Drama. — Criticism on "Celestina. " 
 — Encina. — Naharro. — Low Condition of the Stage. — National Spirit 
 of the Literature of this Epoch. 
 
 Ornamental 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 Proven^ale, which reached such high perfection 
 in Catalonia, and subsequently in Aragon, as noticed in an 
 introductory chapter,' expired with the union of this mon- 
 archy with Castile, and the dialect ceased to be applied to 
 literary purposes altogether, after the Castilian became the 
 language of the court in the united kingdoms. The poetry 
 of Castile, which throughout 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, los- 
 ing 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 mem- 
 orable in literary, as in civil history. 
 
 The most copious vein of fancy, in that day, was turned 
 in the direction of the prose romance of chivalry; now sel- 
 dom disturbed, even in its own country, except by the anti- 
 quary. The circumstances of the age naturally led to its 
 production. The romantic Moorish wars, teeming with ad- 
 venturous exploit and picturesque incident, carried on with 
 the natural enemies of the Christian knight, and opening 
 moreover all the legendary stores of oriental fable, — the stir- 
 ring adventures by sea as well as land, — above all, the dis- 
 covery of a world beyond the waters, whose unknown regions
 
 ROMANTIC FICTION AND POETRY. 39I 
 
 gave full scope to the play of the imagination, all contributed 
 to stimulate the appetite for the incredible chimeras, the 
 itiagnaiiimc menzogne, of chivalry. The publication of "Am- 
 adis de Gaula" gave a decided impulse to this popiJar feel- 
 ing. 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 in 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 work 
 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, re- 
 lieved 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, unrivalled in the creations of romance, 
 soon recommended it to popular favor and imitation. A con- 
 tinuation, bearing 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 
 15 10. A sixth, containing the adventures of his nephew, was 
 printed at Salamanca in the course of the last-mentioned 
 year; and thus the idle writers of the day continued to pro- 
 pagate dulness through a series of heavy tomes, amounting 
 in all to four 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 were 
 sent roving about the world at the same time, whose 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; who, 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 ex- 
 ceptions only, to the fatal funeral pile." 
 
 The romances of chivalry must have undoubtedly contri- 
 buted to nourish those exaggerated sentiments, which from a 
 very early period entered into the Spanish character. Their 
 evil influence, in a literary view, resulted less from their im- 
 probabilities of situation, which they possessed in common 
 with the inimitable Itidian epics, than from the false pictures
 
 392 CASTILIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 which they presented of human character, familiarizing 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 was so copiously cultivated through the 
 greater part of the sixteenth century, should not have as- 
 sumed 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 it to a high degree of literary merit. 
 Perhaps such a result might have been achieved, but for the 
 sublime parady of Cervantes, which cut short the whole race 
 of knights-errant, and by the fine irony, which if 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 balads, 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 en- 
 dowed with keen sensbilities, and placed in situations of ex- 
 citement 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 ab- 
 sorbed in the gross business habits of trade, and their litera- 
 ture received too high a direction from its master spirits, at 
 its very commencement, to allow any considerable deviation 
 in this track. The countries where it has most thriven, are 
 probably Great Britian 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 with 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,
 
 ROMANTIC FICTION AND POETRY. 393 
 
 rojnd 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, mora 
 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 Span- 
 ish ballad and the British. The latter affords more situa- 
 tions of pathos and deep tenderness, particularly those of 
 suffering, uncomplaining love, a favorite 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 genus, which enter 
 so largely into English minstrelsy. The former are in gen- 
 eral of a more sustained and chivalrous character, less gloomy, 
 and although fierce not so ferocious, nor so decidedly tragi- 
 cal in their aspect, as the latter. The ballads of the Cid, 
 however, have many points in common with the border poe- 
 try; the same free and cordial manner, the same love of mili- 
 tary exploit, relieved by a certain tone of generous gallantry, 
 and accompanied by a strong expression of national feeling. 
 
 The resemblance between the minstrelsy of the two coun- 
 tries 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 seem 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 east. 
 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. We are transported to the 
 gay seat of Moorish power, and witness the animating bustle, 
 its pomp and its revelry, prolonged to the last hour of its 
 existence. The bull-figlit of the Vivarrambla, the graceful 
 tilt of reeds, the amorous knights with their quaint siguifi* 
 17* ^
 
 394 CASTILIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 cant devices, the dark Zegris, or Gomeres, and the royal, 
 self-devoted Abencerrages, the Moorish maiden radiant at 
 the tourney, the moonhght serenade, the stolen interview, 
 where the lover givas vent to all the intoxication of passion 
 in the burning language of Arabian metaphor and hyper- 
 bole," — 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 tro- 
 chaic 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 ex- 
 pression; a circumstance which has recommended it as the 
 ordinary measure of dramatic dialogue. 
 
 Nothing can be more agreeable than the general effect ol 
 the Moorish ballads, which combine the elegance of a riper 
 period of literature, with the natural sweetness and simplicity, 
 savoring sometimes even of 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 
 imitation 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 coloring of the antique. It is 
 impossible, at this period, to ascertain the authors of these 
 venerable lyrics, nor can the exact time of their production 
 be now determined; although, as their subjects are chiefly 
 taken from the last days of tl. e Spanish Arabian empire, the 
 larger part of them was probably posterior, and, as they 
 were 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 pictu- 
 resque circumstances in the character and condition of the 
 conquered nation to invest them with poetic interest. 
 
 The Moorish romances fortunately appeared after the intro- 
 duction oi printing into the Peninsula, so that they were 
 secured a permanent existence, instead of perishing with the
 
 ROMANTIC FICTION AND POETRY. 395 
 
 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 ostentatious and learned productions. This fate 
 has befallen them in other countries than Spain. '^ But per- 
 sons of finer poetic feeh'ng, and more enlarged spirit of criti- 
 cism, have estimated them as a most essential and character- 
 istic 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 criti- 
 cism, insisting on its study, as essential to a correct apprecia- 
 tion and comprehension of the genius of the language." 
 
 The Castilian ballads were first printed in the "Cancionero 
 General" of Ferdnando del Castillo, in 15 11. They were 
 first incorporated into a separate work, by Sepulveda, under 
 the name of "Romances sacados de Historias Antiguas," 
 printed at Antwerp, in 155 1.'* Since that period, they have 
 passed into repeated editions, at home and abroad, especially 
 in Germany, where they have been illustrated by able critics." 
 Ignorance of their authors, and of the era of their produc- 
 tion, has prevented any attempt at exact chronological ar- 
 rangement; a circumstance rendered, moreover, nearly im- 
 possible, by the perpetual modification which the original 
 style of the more ancient ballads has experienced, in their 
 transition through successive generations; so that, with one 
 or two exceptions, no earlier date should probably be assigned 
 to the oldest of them, in their present form, than the fif- 
 teenth century.'^" Another system of classification has been 
 aodpted, of distributing them according to their subjects; and 
 independent collections also of the separate departments, as 
 ballads of the Cid, of the Twelve Peers, the Morisco ballads, 
 and 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 excel- 
 lent minstrelsy from the body of the people. Indeed Cas- 
 tilian poetry bore the same patrician stamp through the whole 
 of present reign, which had been impressed on it in its in- 
 fancy. Fortunately the new art of printing was employed 
 here, as in the case of the rvinances^ to arrest those fiigilive
 
 396 CASTILIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 sallies of imagination, which in other countries were permit- 
 ted, from want for this care, to pass into oblivion; and can- 
 ciofieros, or collections of lyrics, were published, embodying 
 the productions of this reign and that of John the Second, 
 thus bringing under one view the poetic culture of the fif- 
 teenth century. 
 
 The earliest cancionero printed was at Saragossa, in 1492. 
 It comprehended the works of Mena, Manrique, and six or 
 seven other bards of less note." A far more copious collec- 
 tion was made by Fernando de Castillo, and first published 
 at Valencia, in 15 1 1, undei" 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 circumstance 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 works 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 an- 
 ticipated from the devout, enthusiastic Spaniard. We meet 
 with anagrams on the Virgin, glosses on the creed and pater 
 noster, canciones 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 vari- 
 ety and beauty. Among the most agreeable effusions in this 
 way, may be noticed those of Diego Lopez de Haro, who, 
 to borrow the encomium of a contemporary, was "the mirror 
 of gallantry for the young cavaliers of the time." There 
 are few verses in the collection composed with more facilfty 
 and grace. ^* Among the more elaborate pieces, Diego de 
 San Pedro's "Desprecio de la Fortuna" maybe distinguised, 
 not so much for any poetic talent which it exhibits, as for its 
 mercurial and somewhat sarcastic tone of sentiment." The 
 similarity of subject may suggest a parallel between it and
 
 ROMANTIC FICTION AND POETRY. 397 
 
 the Italian poet Guidi's celebrated ode on Fortune; and the 
 different styles of execution may perhaps be taken, as indi- 
 cating pretty fairly the distinctive peculiarities of the Tuscan 
 and the old Spanish school of poetry. The Italian, introduc- 
 ing the fickle goddess, in person, on the scene, describes 
 her triumphant march over the ruins of empires and dynas- 
 ties, from the earliest time, in a flow of lofty dithyrambic 
 eloquence, adorned with all the brilliant coloring of a stimu- 
 lated 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. 
 
 This proneness to moralize the song is in truth a charac- 
 teristic of the old Spanish bard. He rarely abandons himself, 
 without reserve, to the frolic puerilities so common with the 
 sister Muse of Italy, 
 
 " Scritta cosi 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 sal- 
 lies 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 tumid 
 stateliness and overstrained energy of diction. 
 
 On the whole, one cannot survey the "Cancionero Gen- 
 eral" 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 fas- 
 cinating graces of Santillana. One cause of this tardy pro- 
 gress may have been, the direction to utility 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 lan- 
 guage, 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,
 
 398 CASTILIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 as it were, a new vocabulary, from the want of terms corres- 
 ponding with the original, in the old one."' It was not until 
 the close ot 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 adaptation to the 
 highest poetical uses. The intercourse with Italy, moreover, 
 by naturalizing 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 movements of the popular minstrelsy, were alto- 
 gether inadequate. 
 
 We must not dismiss the miscellaneous poetry of this period, 
 without some notice of the '"Coplas" of Don Jorge Man- 
 rique," 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 lower 
 world to the contemplation of that imperishable existence, 
 which Christianity has opened beyond the grave. A tend- 
 erness 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 sen- 
 timent is heightened by the simple turns and broken melody 
 of the old Castilian verse, of which perhaps this may be ac- 
 counted the most finished specimen; such would seem to be 
 the judgment of his own countrymen,^" whose glosses and 
 commentaries on it have swelled into a separate volume.'' 
 
 I shall close this survey with a brief notice of the drama, 
 whose foundations may be said to have been laid during this 
 reign. The sacred plays, or mysteries, so popular through- 
 out Europe in the middle ages, may be traced in Spain to an 
 ancient date. Their familiar performance in the churches, 
 by the clergy, is recognized in the middle of the thirteenth 
 century, by a law of Alfonso the Tenth, which, while it in- 
 terdicted certain profane mummeries that had come into 
 vogue, prescribed 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, mar- 
 quis of Villena, was performed at Saragossa, in the presence 
 of the CTurt.'^ In 1469, a dramatic eclogue by an anonymous 
 author, was exhibited in the palace of the court of Urena,
 
 ROMANTIC FICTION AND POETRY. 399 
 
 in the presence of Ferdinand, on his coming into Castile to 
 espouse the infanta Isabella." These pieces maybe regarded 
 as the earUest theatrical attempts, after the religious dramas 
 and popular pantomimes already noticed; but unfortunately 
 they have not come down to us. The next production de- 
 serving attention is, a "Dialogue between Love and an Old 
 Man," imputed to Rodrigo 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 vi- 
 vacity 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 tragicomedy of "Celestina," or "Calisto 
 and Melibea, " as it is frequently called. The first act, in- 
 deed, 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 evi- 
 dence afforded by the style, not many years later. The 
 second author was Fernando de Roxas, bachelor of law, as 
 he informs us, who composed this work as a sort of intellec- 
 tual relaxation, during one of his vacations. The time was 
 certainly not misspent. The continuation, however, is not 
 esteemed by the Castilian critics to have arisen 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 in- 
 troduced under the romantic name of Celestina. The piece, 
 although comic, or rather sentimental in its progress, termi- 
 nates in the most tragical catastrophe, in which all the prin- 
 cipal 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 which a veil of plausible hy- 
 pocrisy 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 com- 
 plexion is raised by the passion of the lovers, the timid, con- 
 fiding tenderness of the lady, and the sorrows of the broken- 
 hearted parent. The execution of the play reminds us on the
 
 400 CASTILIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 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 imbecility of various passages; its intermixture 
 of broad farce and deep tragedy; the unseasonable introduc- 
 tion of frigid metaphor and pedantic allusion in the midst of 
 the most passionate discourses; in the unveiled voluptuous- 
 ness of its coloring, occasionally too gross for any public 
 exhibition; but, above all, in the general strength and fidelity 
 of its portraiture. 
 
 The tragicomedy, as it is styled, of Celestina, was obvi- 
 ously never intended for representation, to which, not merely 
 the grossness of some of the details, but the length and ar- 
 rangement of the piece, are unsuitable. But, notwithstand- 
 ing this, and its approximation to the character of a romance, 
 it must be admitted to contain within itself the essential ele- 
 ments of dramatic composition; and, as such, is extolled by 
 the Spanish critics, as opening the theatrical career of Europe. 
 A sim.ilar claim has been maintained for nearly contempo- 
 raneous productions in other countries, and especially for 
 Politian's "Orfeo," which, there is little doubt, was publicly 
 acted before 1483. Notwithstanding its representation, how- 
 ever, 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 inore ancient exam- 
 ple than either, at least as far as the exterior forms are con- 
 cerned, may be probably found in the celebrated French 
 farce of Pierre Pathelin, printed as early as 1474, having 
 been repeatedly 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 regirding the "Celes- 
 tina" 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 edi- 
 tion published in Madrid, so recently as 1822, enumerates 
 thirty editions of it in Spain alone, in the course of the six- 
 teenth century. Impressions were multiplied in Italy, and 
 at the very time when it was interdicted at home on the score
 
 ROMANTIC FICTION AND POETRY. 40I 
 
 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 Encina, a contemporary of Ro.xas. He was born in 
 1469, and, after completing his education at Salamanca, 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 Eclogues, 
 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. While there, he continued 
 his literary labors. He embraced the ecclesiastical profes- 
 sion; and his skill in music recommended him to the office 
 of principal director of the pontifical chapel. He was sub- 
 sequently presented with the priory of Leon, and returned 
 to Spain, where he died in 1534.'" 
 
 Encina's works first appeared at Salamanca, in 1496, col- 
 lected into one volume, folio." Besides other poetry, they 
 comprehend a number of dramatic eclogues, sacred and pro- 
 fane; 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 little pre- 
 tence 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 interlocutors, 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 speak- 
 ers precludes any thing like literary elegance or finish, in 
 which respect they are doubtless 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 pas- 
 torals, they are entitled to little consideration as specimens
 
 402 CASTILIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 of dramatic art; and, in the vital spirit of dramatic composi- 
 tion, must be regarded as far inferior to the "Celestina." 
 The simpHcity of these productions, and the facility of their 
 exhibition, which required little theatrical decoration or cos- 
 tume, recommended them to popular imitation, which con- 
 tinued long after the regular forms of the drama were intro- 
 duced into Spain." 
 
 The credit of this introduction belongs to Bartholomeo 
 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 had been ascertained 
 of his personal history. He was born at Torre, in the pro- 
 vince 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 resi- 
 dence 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 every department, he 
 composed his "Propaladia," a work embracing a variety or 
 lyrical and dramatic poetry, first published at Rome, in 15 17. 
 Unfortunately, the caustic satire, levelled in some of the 
 higher pieces of this collection at the license of the pontifical 
 court, brought such obloquy on the head of the author as 
 compelled him to take refuge in Naples, where he remained 
 under the protection of the noble family of Colonna. No 
 further particulars are recorded of him except that he em- 
 braced the ecclesiastical profession; and the time and place 
 of his death are alike uncertain. In person he is said to have 
 been comely, with an amiable disposition, and sedate and 
 dignified demeanor." 
 
 His "Propaladia," first published at Rome, passed through 
 several editions subsequently in Spain, where it was alter- 
 nately prohibited, or permitted, according to the caprice of 
 the Holy Office. It contains, among other things, eight 
 comedies, written in the native redondillas; which continue 
 to be regarded as the suitable measure for the drama. They 
 afford the earliest example of the division mto jortmdas, or 
 days, and of the uitroito, 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 pro- 
 bably being selected with reference to the audiences before
 
 ROMANTIC FICTION AND POETRY. 403 
 
 whom they were acted. The diction is easy and correct, 
 without much affectation of refinement or rhetorical orna- 
 ment. The dialogue, especially in the lower parts, is sus- 
 tained with much comic vivacity; indeed Naharro seems to 
 have had a nicer perception 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, deep- 
 ened by the moral reflection so characteristic of the Span- 
 iards. 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. French, Spanish, Italian, 
 with a variety of barbarous /(^/6'/V, and mongrel Latin, are all 
 brought into play at the same time, and all comprehended, 
 apparently with equal facility, by each one of the dramatis 
 personcB. But it is difficult to conceive how such a jargon 
 could have been comprehended, far more relished, by an 
 Italian audience.^" 
 
 Naharro'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 honor, so conspicuous on the Spanish 
 theatre; and such, too, the moral confusion too often pro- 
 duced 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 publication, but at Naples, which, then form- 
 ing a part of the Spanish dominions, might more easily fur- 
 nish an audience capable of comprehending them." It is 
 remarkable, that notwithstanding their repeated editions in 
 Spain, they do not appear to have ever been performed there. 
 The cause of this, probably, was the low state of the histrio- 
 nic art, and the total deficiency in theatrical costume and
 
 404 CASTILIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 decoration; yet it was not easy to dispense with these in the 
 representation of pieces, which brought more than a score of 
 persons occasionally, and these crowned heads, at the same 
 time, upon the stage." 
 
 Some conception may be afforded of the lamentable pov- 
 erty 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 trapdoors, movable 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 employed than that demanded for the 
 exhibition of mysteries, or the pastoral dialogues which suc- 
 ceeded them. The Spaniards, notwithstanding their pre- 
 cocity, compared with most of the nations of Europe, in dra- 
 matic art, were unaccountably tardy in all its histrionic ac- 
 companiments. The public remained content with such poor 
 mummeries, as could be got up by stolling players and 
 mountebanks. There was no fixed theatre in Madrid until 
 the latter part of the sixteenth century; and that consisted 
 of a courtyard, with only a roof to shielter it, while the spec- 
 tators sat on benches ranged around, or at the windows of the 
 surrounding houses." 
 
 A similar impulse with that expcienced by comic writing, 
 was given to tragedy. The first that entered on this depart- 
 ment 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 in- 
 structed in moral philosophy and mathematics, and esta- 
 blished 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."
 
 ROMANTIC FICTION AND POETRY. 405 
 
 His various works were published by the learned Morales, 
 his nephew, some fifty years afer his death. A.mong 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 recognize the hand of the Grecian 
 artist, whose modest beauties are thrown into shade by the 
 ambitious ones of Lis imitator."* But with all this, Oliva's 
 tragedies must be admitted to be executed, on the whole, 
 with vigor; and the diction, notwithstanding the national 
 tendency to exaggeration above alluded to, may be generally 
 commended for decorum and an imposing dignity, quite 
 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, serv- 
 ing only as a relaxation for the man of letters; while the 
 voice of the people compelled all who courted it, to accom- 
 modate their inventions to those romantic forms, wliich were 
 subsequently developed 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 roma/ict's, or ballads; 
 that popular minstrelsy, which, commemorating the pictur- 
 esque and chivalrous incidents of the age, reflects most faith- 
 fully 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
 
 4o6 CASTILIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 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 pre- 
 sent 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 knowledge of it," to borrow 
 the words of a contemporary critic, "pass for an elegant ac- 
 complishment, even with the cavaliers and dames of culti- 
 vated Italy;" " and which finally gave full scope to the poetic 
 talent, that raised the literature of the country to such bril- 
 iant heights in the sixteenth century. 
 
 
 I have had occasion to advert more than once in the course of this 
 chapter, to the superficial acquaintance of the Spanish critics with the early 
 history of their own drama, authentic materials for which are so extremely 
 rare and difficult of access, as to preclude the expectation of anything like 
 a satisfactory' account of it out of the Peninsula. The nearest approach to 
 this within my knowledge, is made in an article in the eight number of the 
 American Quarterly Review, ascribed to Mr. Ticknor, late Professor of 
 Modern Literature in Harvard University. This gentleman, during a resi- 
 dence in the Peninsula, had every facility for replenishing his library with 
 the most curious and valuable works, both printed and manuscipt, in this 
 department; and his essay embodies in a brief compass the results of a 
 well-directed industry, which he has expanded in greater detail in his lectures 
 on Spanish literature, delivered before the classes of the University The 
 subject is discussed with his usual elegance and perspicuity of style; and 
 the foreign, and indeed Castlian scholar, m ly find much novel information 
 there, in the views presented of the early progress of the dramatic and the 
 histrionic art in the Peninsula. 
 
 Since the publication of this article, Moratin's treatise, so long and anx- 
 iously expected, "Origenes del Teatro Espanol," has made its appearance 
 under the auspices of the Royal Academy of History, which has enriched 
 the national literature with so many admirable editions of its ancient au- 
 thors. Moratin states in his Preface, that he was employed from his ear- 
 liest youth in collecting notices, both at home and abroad, of whatever 
 might illustrate the origin of the Spanish drama. The results have been 
 two volumes, containing in the First Part an historical discussion, with 
 ample explanatory notes, and a catalogue of dramatic pieces from the ear- 
 iest epoch down to the time of Lope de Vega, chronologically arranged, 
 and accompanied with critical analyses, and copious illustrative extracts 
 from pieces of the greatest merit. The Second Part is devoted to the pub- 
 lication of entire pieces of various authors, which from their extreme rarity, 
 or their existence only in manuscript, have had but little circulation. The 
 selections throughout are made with that careful discrirrination, which re- 
 sulted from poetic talent combined with extensive and thorough erudition. 
 The criticisms, although sometimes warped by the peculiar dramatic prin- 
 ciples of the author, are conducted in general with great fairness; and am- 

 
 ROMANTIC FICTION AND POETRY. 407 
 
 pie, bui. not extravagant, commendation is bestowed on productions, whose 
 merit, to be pioperly appreciated, must be weighed by one conversant with 
 the character and intellectual culture of the period. The work unfortu- 
 nately did not receive the last touches of its author, and undoubtedly somt- 
 thing may be found wanting to the full completion of his design. On the 
 whole, it must be considered as a rich repertory of old Castilian literature, 
 much of it of the most rare and recondite nature, directed to the illustration 
 of a department, that has hitherto been suffered to languish in the lowest 
 obscurity, but which is now so arranged that it may be contemplated, hs 
 i, were, under one aspect, and its real merits accurately determined.
 
 AUTHOR'S NOTES. 
 
 .INTRODUCTION. 
 
 * Aragon was formally released from 
 this homage in 1177, and Portugal in 1264. 
 (Marina, Historia General de Espana, 
 [Madrid, 1780.] lib. 11, cap. 14 ; lib. 13. cap. 
 20.) The king of Granada, Aben Alali- 
 mar, swore fealty to St. Ferdinand, in 
 1245, binding himself to the payment of 
 an annual rent, to serve under him with a 
 stipulated number of his knights in war, 
 and personally attend Cortes when swn- 
 moned ;— a whimsical stipulation this for 
 a Mahometan prince. Conde, Historia de 
 la Dominacion de los Arabes en EspaBa, 
 (Madrid, 1820, 1821,) tom. iii. cap. 30. 
 
 * Navarre was too inconsiderable, and 
 bore too near a resemblance in its govern- 
 ment to the other Peninsular kingdoms, 
 to require a separate notice ; for which, 
 indeed, the national writers afford but 
 very scanty materials. The Moorish em- 
 pire of Granada, so interesting in itself, 
 and so dissimilar, in all respects, to Chris- 
 tian Spain, merits particular attention. I 
 have deferred the consideration of it, 
 however, to that period of the history 
 which is occupied with its subversion. 
 See Part I., Chapter 8. 
 
 * See the Canons of the fifth Council of 
 Toledo. Florez, Espana Sagrada, (Mad- 
 rid, 1747-1776.) tom. vi. p. 168. 
 
 ■* Recesvinto, in order more effectually 
 to bring about the con.5olidation of his 
 Gothic and Roman subjects into one na- 
 tion, abrogated the law prohibiting their 
 intermarriage. The terras in wliich his 
 enactment is conceived, disclose a far 
 more enUghtened policy than that pur- 
 sued either by the Fi'anks or Lombards. 
 (See the Fuero Juzgo, [ed. de la Acad., 
 Madrid, 1815,] Ub. 3, tit. 1, ley 1.)— The 
 Visigothic code, Fuero Juzgo, (Forum 
 Judicum,) originally compiled in Latin, 
 was translated into Spanish under St. 
 Ferdinand ; a copy of which version was 
 first printed in 1600, at Madrid. (Los 
 Doctores Asso y Manuel. In.stitnciones 
 del Derecho Civil de Castilla, [Madrid, 
 1792,] pp. 6, 7.) A second edition, under 
 the supervision of the Royal Spaaish 
 
 Academy, was published in 1815. This 
 compilation, notwithstanding the appa- 
 rent rudeness and even ferocity of some 
 of its features, may be said to have 
 formed the basis of all the subsequent 
 legislation of Castile. It was, doubtless, 
 the exclusive contemplation of these feat- 
 m-es, which brought upon these laws the 
 sweeping condemnation of Montesquieu, 
 as "pu^riles, gaudies, idiotes,— frivoles 
 dans le fond et gigantesques dans lo 
 style." Esprit des Loix, liv. 28, chap. 1. 
 
 ^ Some of the local usages, afterwards 
 incorporated in the fueros, or charters, 
 of the Castihan communities, may prob- 
 ably be derived from the time of the Visi- 
 goths. The English reader may form a 
 good idea of the tenor of the legal insti- 
 tutions of this people and their immediate 
 descendants, from an article in the sixty- 
 first Number of the Edinburgh Eeview. 
 written with equal learning and vivacity. 
 
 ' The Christians, in all matters exclu- 
 sively relating to themselves, were gov- 
 erned by their own laws, (See the Fuero 
 Juzgo, lutrod. p. 40.) administered by 
 their own judges, subject only in capital 
 cases to an appeal to the Moorish tribu- 
 nals. Their chm-ches and monasteries 
 (rosoB inter spinas, says the historian) 
 were scattered over the principal towns, 
 Cordova retaining seven. Toledo six, etc. ; 
 and their clergy were allowed to display 
 the costume, and celebrate the pompous 
 ceremonial, as the Romish communion. 
 Florez. Espafla Sagrada, tom. x. trat. 33, 
 cap. 7.- Morales, Cor6nica General de 
 Espaiia, (Obras, Madrid, 1791-1793.) lib. 
 12, cap. 78. — Conde, Dominacion de lo6 
 Arabes, part. 1, cap. 15, 22. 
 
 ' Morales, Cor6nica, lib. 12, cap. 77.— 
 Yet the names of several nobles resident 
 among the Moors appear in the record of 
 those times. (See Salazar de Mendoza, 
 Monarqula de Espaiia, [Madrid, 1770,] 
 tom. i. p. 31, note.) If we could rely on a 
 singular fact, quoted by Zurita, we iiught 
 infer that a large proportion of tlio Gotlu 
 were content to reside among their S4r«.
 
 410 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 [sec. 1. 
 
 cen conquerors. The intermarriages 
 among tlie two nations had been so fre- 
 quent, that, in 1311, the ambassador of 
 James II., of Aragon, stated to his Hoh- 
 ness. Pope Clement V., that of 200,000 
 persons composing the population of 
 Granada, not more than 500 were of pure 
 Moorish descent! (Anales de la Corona 
 de Aragon, [Zaragoza, ICIO,] lib. .5. cap. 
 93.) As the object of the statement was 
 to obtain certain ecclesiastical aids from 
 the pontiff, in the prosecution of the 
 Moorish war, it appears very suspicious, 
 notwithstanding the emphasis laid on it 
 by the historian. 
 
 * Bleda, Cor6mca de los Moros de Es- 
 pafla, (Valencia, 1618,) p. 171.— This au- 
 thor states, that in his time there were 
 several families in Ireland, whose patron- 
 ymics bore testimonj- to their descent 
 from these Spanish exiles. That careful 
 antiquarian. Morales, considers the re- 
 gions of the Pyrenees lying betwixt Ara- 
 gon and Navarre, together with the As- 
 turias, Biscay. Guipuscoa, the northern 
 portion of Galicia and the Alpuxarras, 
 (the last retreat, too, of the jMoors, under 
 the Christian domination,) to have been 
 untouched by the Saracen invaders. (See 
 lib. 12, cap. 70. 
 
 ^ The lot of the Visigothic slave was 
 sufficiently hard. The oppressions, which 
 iiiia unhappy race endiired, were such as 
 to lead Mr. Southey, in his excellent In- 
 troduction to the " Chronicle of the Cid," 
 to impute to theu' cooperation, in part, 
 the easy conquest of the country by the 
 Arabs. But, although the laws, in rela- 
 tion to them, seem to be taken up with 
 determining their incapacities rather 
 thrji their privileges, it is probable that 
 they secured to them, on the whole, quite 
 as great a degree of civil consequence, as 
 was enjoyed by similar classes in the rest 
 of Europe. By the Fuero Juzgo, the 
 slave was allowed to acquire property for 
 himself, and with it to purchase his own 
 redemption. (Lib. 5, tit. 4, ley 16.) A 
 certain proportion of every man's slaves 
 were also requu-ed to bear arms, and to 
 accompany their master to the field. 
 (Lib. 9, tit. 2, ley 8.) But their relative 
 rank Is better ascertained by the amount 
 of composition (that accurate measure- 
 ment of civil rights with all the barbari- 
 ans of tlie north) prescribed for any per- 
 sonal violence infhcted on them. Thus, 
 by the Salic law, the life of a free Roman 
 was estimated at only one-fifth of that of 
 a Frank, (Lex Salica, tit. -13, sec. 1, 8;) 
 
 while, by the law of the Visigoths, the 
 life of a slave was valued at half of that 
 of a freeman, (lib. 6, tit. 4, ley 1.) In the 
 latter code, moreover, the master was 
 prohibited, under the severe penalties of 
 banishment and sequestration of proper 
 ty, from either maiming or murdering 
 his own slave, (lib. 6, tit. 5, leyes 12, 13;) 
 while, in other codes of the barbarians, 
 the penalty was confined to similar tres- 
 passes on the slaves of another; and, by 
 the Salic law, no higher mulct was im- 
 posed for killing, than for kidnapping a 
 slave. (Lex Salica, tit. 11, sec. 1,3.) The 
 legislation of the Visigoths, in those par- 
 ticulars, seems to have regarded this un- 
 happy race as not merely a distinct spe- 
 cies of property. It provided for their 
 personal security, instead of limiting it- 
 self to the indemnification of their mas- 
 ters. 
 
 "> Cor6nica General, part. 3, fol. 54. 
 
 ^^ According to Morales, (Cor6nica, lib 
 13, cap. 57,) this took place about 850. 
 
 *' Toledo was not reconquered until 
 1085 ; Lisbon, in 1147. 
 
 '^ The archbishops of Toledo, whose 
 revenues and retinues far exceeded those 
 of the other ecclesiastics, were particu- 
 larly conspicuous in these holy wars. 
 Marina, speaking of one of these bellig- 
 erent prelates, considers it worthy of eu- 
 comiimi, that "it is not easy to decide 
 whether he was most conspicuous for hia 
 good government in peace, or his conduct 
 and valor in war." Hist, de Espana, 
 tom. ii. p. 14. 
 
 '* The first occasion, on which the mili- 
 tary apostle condescended to reveal him- 
 self to the Leonese, was the memorable 
 day of Clavijo, A. D. 844, when 70,000 m- 
 fidels fell on the field. From that time, 
 the name of St. Jago, became the battle- 
 cry of the Spaniards. The truth of the 
 story is attested by a contemporary char- 
 ter of Ramiro I. to the church of the 
 saint, granting it an annual tribute of 
 corn and wine from the towns in his do- 
 minions, and a knight's portion of the 
 spoils of every victory over the Mussul- 
 mans. The privilegio del voto, as it is 
 called, is given at length by Florez in hia 
 Collection, (Espana Sagrada, tom. xix. p. 
 329, ) and is unhesitatingly cited by most 
 of the Spanish historians, as Garibay, 
 Mariana, Morales, and others. — More 
 sharp-sighted critics discover, in its ana- 
 chronisms, and other jjalpable blunders, 
 ample evidence of its forgery. (Monde 
 jar, Advertencias ii la Historia de Man
 
 BEC. I.] 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 411 
 
 na [Valencia, 1746,] no. 157, — Maadeu, 
 Historia Critica de Espaiia, y de la Cul- 
 tura Espaiiola, [Madrid, 17*3-1805,] toni. 
 xvi. supl. 18.) The Canons of Compos- 
 tella, however, seem to have found their 
 account in it, as the tribute of good cheer, 
 which it imposed, continued to be paid 
 by some of the Castilian towns, according 
 to Marina, in his day. Hist, de Espafla, 
 torn. i. p. 416. 
 
 *» French, Flemish, Italian, and Eng- 
 lish volunteers, led by men of distin- 
 guished rank, are recorded by the Span- 
 ish writers to have been present at the 
 sieges of Toledo, Lisbon, Algeziras, and 
 various others. More than sixty, or, as 
 some accounts state, a hundred thou- 
 sand, joined the army before the battle 
 of Navas de Tolosa ; a round exagera- 
 tion, which, however, implies the great 
 number of such auxiliaries. (Garibay, 
 Compendio Historial de las Chrfinicas de 
 EspaBa, [Barcelona, 1628,] Ub. 12, cap. 33.) 
 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 rehgion 
 could be much better served by them at 
 home." 
 
 *' See Heeren, Politics of Ancient 
 Greece, translated by Bancroft, chap. 7. 
 
 ^' The oldest manuscript extant of this 
 poem, (still preserved at Bivar, the hero's 
 birth-place,) bears the date of 1207, or at 
 latest 1307, for there is some obscurity in 
 the writing. Its learned editor, Sanchez, 
 has been lead by the peculiarities of its 
 orthography, metre, and idiom, to refer 
 Its composition to as early a date as 1153. 
 (Coleccion de Poesias Castellanas ante- 
 riores al Siglo XV. [Madrid, 1779-90,] torn. 
 i. p. 223.) Some of the late Spanish anti- 
 quaries have manifested a skepticism in 
 relation to the "Cid," truly alarming. 
 A volume was published at Madrid, in 
 1792, by Risco, under the title of " Cas- 
 tilla, o Historia de Rodrigo Diaz," etc., 
 which the worth}- father ushered into the 
 world with much solemnity, as a trans 
 cript of an original manuscript coeval 
 with the time of the "Cid," and fortu 
 nately discovered by him in an obscure 
 corner of some Leonese monastery. 
 ^PrOlogo.) Masdeu, in an analysis of this 
 precious document, has been lead to scru 
 tinize the grounds, on which the reputed 
 ftchievements of the "Cid" have rested 
 
 from time immemorial, and concludes 
 with the startling assertion, that "of 
 Rodrigo Diaz, el Campeador, we abso- 
 lutely know nothing, with any degree of 
 probability, not even his existence!" 
 (Hist. Critica, torn. xx. p. 370.) There are 
 probably few of his countrymen, that 
 will thus coolly acquiesce in the annihila- 
 tion of their favorite hero, whose exploits 
 have been the burden of chronicle, as 
 well as romance, from the twelfth century 
 down to the present day. They may find 
 a warrant for their fond credulity, in 
 the dispassionate judgment of one of the 
 greatest of modern historians, John 
 Muller, who, so far from doubting the ex- 
 istence of the Campeador, has succeeded, 
 in his own opinion at least, in clearing 
 from his history the " mists of fable and 
 extravagance," in which it has been 
 shrouded. See his Life of the Cid, ap- 
 pended to Escobar's " Romancero,"' edi- 
 ted by the learned and estimable Dr. Ju- 
 lius, of Berlin. FranWort, 1828. 
 
 '* A modern minstrel inveighs loudly 
 against this charity of his ancestors, who 
 devoted their "cantos de cigarra,"' to 
 the glorification of this " Moorish rabble," 
 instead of celebrating the prowess of the 
 Cid, Bernardo, and other worthies of theii- 
 own nation. His discourtesy, however, 
 is well rebuked by a more generous 
 brother of the craft. 
 
 " No e.s culpa si de los Moros 
 los valientes hechos cantan. 
 pues taiito mas resplandecen 
 iiuestras celebi-es hazanas ; 
 que el encarecer los hechos 
 del vencido en la batalla, 
 engrandece al vencedor, 
 auiique no hablen de el palabra.'' 
 
 Duian, Uoniancero de Roniancea 
 Moriscos, (Madrid. 182S,) p. 227. 
 '" When the empress queen of Alfonso 
 Vn. was besieged in the castle of Azeca, 
 in 1139, she reproached the Moslem cava- 
 liers for their want of courtesy and cour- 
 age ill 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 |)iilace; wlien the Moorish 
 chivalry, after paying thi/ir obeisance to 
 her in the most respectful iiuiiiner, in- 
 stantly raised the siege, and departed. 
 (Ferreras, Histoire G6n^»rale d'Espagne, 
 traduite par d'Hermilly, [Paris, 1742-51,] 
 toni. iii. p. 410. ) It was a frecpient occur- 
 rence to restore a noble cai)tive to liberty 
 without ransom, and even with costly 
 presents. Thus Alfonso XI. sent back to 
 their father two daughters of a Moorish
 
 412 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 [SEO. I. 
 
 prince, who formed part of the spoils of 
 the battle of Tarifa. (Marina, Hist, de 
 Espana, torn. ii. p. 33.) When this same 
 Castilian sovereign, after a career of al- 
 most uninterrupted victory over the Mos- 
 lems, died of the plague before Gibraltar, 
 In 1330, the knights of Granada put on 
 mourning for him, saying, that " he was 
 a noble prince, and one that knew how 
 to honor his enemies as well as his 
 friends." Conde, Dominacion de los 
 Arabes, tom. iii. p. 149. 
 
 ="> 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. (Ma- 
 rina, Hist, de Espafia, lib. 19, cap. 3.) It 
 was over this worthy compeer of Don 
 Quixote, that the epitaph was inscribed. 
 "Here Ues 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 snuff a candle 
 with his fingers." 
 
 "^ This singular fact, of the existence 
 of an Arabic military order, is recorded 
 by Conde. (Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 tom. i. p. 619, note. ) The brethren were 
 distinguished for the simplicity of their 
 attire, and their austere and frugal hab- 
 its. They were stationed on the Moorish 
 marches, and were bound by a vow of 
 perpetual war against the Christian Infi- 
 del. As their existence is traced as far 
 back as 1030, they may possibly have sug- 
 gested the organization of similar institu- 
 tions in Christendom, which they pre- 
 ceded by a century at least. The royal 
 historians of the Spanish military orders, 
 it is true, would carry that of St. Jago as 
 far back as the time of Ramiro I., in the 
 ninth century; (Caro de Torres, Historia 
 de las Ordenes Militares de Santiago, 
 Calatrava, y Alcantara, [Madrid, 1629,] 
 f ol. 2. — Rades y Andrada, Chronica de las 
 Tres Ordenes yCavallerlas, [Toledo, 1572.] 
 fol. 4.) but less prejudiced critics, as 
 Zurita and Marina, are content with dat- 
 ing it from the papal bull of Alexander 
 in., 1175. 
 
 ^'^ In one of the Paston letters, we find 
 the notice of a Spanish knight appearing 
 at the court of Henry VI., '• wyth a Ker- 
 cheff of Plesaunce iwrapped aboute hys 
 
 arme, thegwych Knight," says the wri- 
 ter, " wyl renne a cours wyth a sharpte 
 spere for his sou'eyn lady sake." (Fena, 
 Original Letters, [1787,] vol. i. p. 6.) The 
 practice of using sharp spears, instead of 
 the guarded and blunted weapons usual 
 in the tournament, seems to have been 
 affected by the chivalroiu' nobles of Cas- 
 tile; many of whom, says the Chronicle 
 of Juan li., lost their lives from this cir- 
 cumstance, in the splendid tourney given 
 in honor of the nuptials of Blanche of 
 Navarre and Henry, son of John H. 
 (Cr6nica de D. Juan H., [Valencia, 1779,] 
 p. 411.) Monstrelet records the adventures 
 of a Spanish cavalier, who " travelled all 
 the way to the court of Burgimdy to seek 
 honor and reverence" by his feats of 
 arms. His antagonist was the Lord of 
 Chargny; on the second day they fought 
 with battle-axes, and "the Castilian at. 
 tracted general admiration, by his un- 
 common daring in fighting with his visor 
 up." Chroniques, (Paris, 1595,) tom. SI, 
 p. 109. 
 
 '^ The Venetian ambassador, Navagi* 
 ro, speaking of the manners of the Ca» 
 tilian nobles, in (IJharles V.'s time, re 
 marks somewhat blimtly, that, " if then 
 power were equal to their pride, the 
 whole world would not be able to with- 
 stand them." Viaggio fatto in Spagna 
 et in Francia, (Vinegia, 1563,) fol. 10. 
 
 =* The most ancient of these regular 
 charters of incorporation, now extant, 
 was granted by Alfonso V., in 1020, to the 
 city of Leon and its territory. (Marina 
 rejects those of an earUer date, adduced 
 by Asso and Manuel and other writers. 
 En.sayo Hist6rico-CrItico, sobre la Anti- 
 gua Legislacion de Castilla, [Madrid, 
 1808,] pp. 80-82.) It preceded, by a long 
 interval, those granted to the burgesses 
 in other parts of Europe, with the excep- 
 tion, perhaps, of Italy ; where several of 
 the cities, as Milan, Pavia, and Pisa, seem 
 early in the eleventh century to have ex- 
 ercised some of the functions of indepen- 
 dent states. But the extent of municipal 
 immunities conceded to, or rather as- 
 sumed by, the Italian cities at this early 
 period, is very equivocal ; for their inde- 
 fatigable antiquarian confesses that 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. (See the 
 subject in detail, in Muratori, Dissertazi- 
 oni sopra le Antichita Italiane, [XapoU, 
 1759,] dis.sert. 45.) Acts of enfrau^kis©-
 
 SEO. I.] 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 413 
 
 tnent becaaie frequent in Spain during 
 the eleventh century ; several of which 
 are preserved, and exhibit, with sufficient 
 precision, tlie nature of the privileges ac- 
 corded to the inhabitants. — Robertson, 
 who wrote when the constitutional an- 
 tiquities of Castile had been but slightly 
 investigated, would seem to have little 
 authority, therefore, for deriving the es- 
 tablishment of conimiuiities froua Italy, 
 and still less for tracing their progress 
 through France and Germany to Spain. 
 See his History of the Reign of the Em- 
 peror Charles V., (London, 1V96,) vol. i. 
 pp. 29, 30. 
 
 " For this account of' the ancient 
 polity of the Castilian cities, the reader is 
 referred to Sempere, Histoire des Cortes 
 d'Espagne, (Bordeaux, 1815,) and Ma- 
 rina's valuable works, Ensayo Hist6rico- 
 C!i'Itico sobre la Antigua Legislacion de 
 Castilla, (Nos. 160-196,) and Teoria de las 
 Cortes, (Madrid, 1813, part. 2, cap. 21-23,) 
 where the meagre outline given above is 
 filled up with copious illustration. 
 
 '^ The independence of the Lombard 
 cities had been sacrificed, according to 
 the admission of their enthusiastic his- 
 torian, about the middle of the thirteenth 
 century. Sismondi Histoire jdes RSpub- 
 liques ItaUennes du Moyen-Age, (Paris, 
 1818,) ch. 20. 
 
 ^'' Or in 1160, according to the Cor6nica 
 General, (part. 4, fol. 344, 345,) where the 
 fact is mentioned. Marina refers this 
 celebration of Cortes to 1170, (Hist, de 
 Espaiia, lib. 11, cap. 2;) but Ferreras, 
 who often rectifies the chronological in- 
 accuracies of his predecessor, fixes it in 
 1169. (Hist. d'Espagne, torn. iii. p. 484.) 
 Neither of these authors notices the 
 presence of the commons in this assem- 
 bly ; although the phrase used by the 
 Chronicle, los cibdadanos, is perfectly 
 unequivocal. 
 
 =8 Cap many, Pr^cticay Estilo de Cele- 
 brar Cortes en Aragon, Catalufia, y Va- 
 lencia, (Madrid, 1821,) pp. 230, 231.— 
 Whether the convocation of the third es- 
 tate to the national councils proceeded 
 from politic calculation in the sovereign, 
 or was in a manner forced on him by the 
 growing power and importance of the 
 cities, it is now too late to inquire. It is 
 nearly as difficult to settle on what prin- 
 ciples the selection of cities to be repre- 
 sented depended. Marina asserts, that 
 every great town and community was en- 
 titled to a seat in the legislature, from the 
 time of receiving its uumicipal charter 
 
 from the sovereign, (Teoria, tom. i. p 
 138 ;) and Sempere agrees, that this right 
 became general, from the first, to all who 
 chose to avail themselves of it. (Histoire 
 des Cort&s, p. 50.) The right, probably, 
 was not much insisted on by the smaller 
 and poorer places, which, from the 
 charges it involved, felt it often, no doubt, 
 less of a boon than a burden. This, we 
 know, was the case in England. 
 
 ^' It was an evil of scarcely less mag- 
 nitude, that contested elections were set- 
 tled by the crovra. (Capmany, Pr4ctica 
 y Estilo, p. 231.) The latter of these prac- 
 tices, and, indeed, the former to a certain 
 extent, are to be met with in English 
 history. 
 
 '"' Marina leaves this point in some ob- 
 scurity. (Teoria, tom. i. cap. 28.) In- 
 deed, there seems to have been some ir- 
 regularity in the parliamentary usages 
 themselves. From minutes of a meeting 
 of Cortes at Toledo, in 1538, too soon for 
 any material innovation on the ancient 
 practice, we find the three estates sitting 
 in separate chambers, from the very com- 
 mencement to the close of the session. 
 See the accoimt drawn up by the Count 
 of Coruila, apud Capmany, PrActica y 
 EstOo, pp. 240 et seq. 
 
 ^^ This, however, sc contrary to the 
 analogy of other European governments, 
 is expressly contradicted by the declara- 
 tion of the nobles, at the Cortes of Toledo, 
 in 1538. "Oida esta respuesta se dijo, 
 que pues S. M. habia dicho que no eran 
 Cortes ni habia Brazos, no podian tratar 
 cosa alguna, qiie ellos sin procuradores, 
 y los procuradores sin ellos, no seria 
 vdlido la que hicieren.^'' Relacion del 
 Conde de Coruiia apud Capmany, Pr&c- 
 tica y Estilo, p. 24T. 
 
 =^ This omission of the privileged or- 
 ders was almost uniform under Charles 
 V. and his successors. But it would be 
 unfair to seek for constitutional prece- 
 dent in the usages of a government, 
 whose avowed policy was altogether sub- 
 versive of the constitution. 
 
 3^ Dmung the famous war of the Com- 
 unidades, under Charles V. For the pre- 
 ceding paragraph consult Marina, (Teo- 
 ria, part. 1, cap. 10, 20, 26, 29,) and Cap- 
 many. (Pr&ctica y Estilo, pp. 220-2.'>0.) 
 The municipalities of Castile seem to 
 have reposed but a very limited confi- 
 dence in their delegates, whom they 
 furnished with instructions, to which 
 they were bound to conform themselves
 
 414 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 [SKC. I. 
 
 literally. See Marina, Teoria, part. 1, 
 cap. 23. 
 
 "* The term " fundamental principle "' 
 is fully authorized by the existence of re- 
 peated enactments to this effect. Sem- 
 pere, who admits the "usage," objects 
 to the phrase " fundamental law," on the 
 groimd that these acts were specific, not 
 general, in their character. Histoiredes 
 Cortes, p. 254. 
 
 ^'^ " Los Reyes en nuestros Reynospi'o- 
 genitores establecieron por leyes, y orde- 
 nangas f echas en Cortes, que no se echas- 
 Ben, ni repartiessen ningunos pechos, 
 seriucios, pedidos, ni monedas, ni otros 
 tributes nueuos, especial, ni general- 
 mente en todos nuestros Reyuos, sin que 
 primeramente sean llamados A, Cortes los 
 procuradores de todas las Ciudades, y 
 villas de nuestros Reynos, y sean otorga- 
 dos por los dichos procuradores que & las 
 Cortes vinieren." (Recopilacion de las 
 Leyes, [Madrid, 1640,] torn. ii. fol. 134.) 
 This law, passed under Alfonso XL, was 
 confirmed by John II., Henry III., and 
 Charles V. 
 
 '^ 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 dimin- 
 ish the charges of his table, attu'e, etc., 
 and, bluntly, to ' ' bring his appetite with- 
 in a more reasonable compass;" to all 
 which he readily gave his assent. (Sem- 
 pere y Guarinos, Historia del Luxo, y de 
 las Leyes Suntuarias de Espaiia, [Madrid, 
 1788,] tom. i. pp. 91, 92.) The Enghsh 
 reader is reminded of a very different re- 
 sult, which attended a similar interposi- 
 tion of the commons in the time of Rich- 
 ard U., more than a century later. 
 
 " Marina claims also the right of the 
 Cortes to be consulted on questions of 
 war and peace, of which he adduces sev- 
 eral i^recedents. (Teoria, part. 2, cap. 19, 
 20. ) Their interference in what is so gen- 
 eraUy held the peculiar province of the 
 executive, was perhajjs encom-aged by 
 fhe sovereign, with the politic design of 
 relieving himself of the responsibility of 
 measm-es, whose success must depend 
 eventually on their support. Hallam 
 notices a similar policy of tlie crown, 
 under Edward III., in his view of the Eng- 
 hsh constitution during the middle ages. 
 View of the State of Europe during 
 the Bliddle Ages, (London, 1819,) vol. iii. 
 chap. 8. 
 
 ^ The recognition of the title of the 
 DbiT apparent, by a Cortes convoked for 
 
 that pmT)ose, has continued to be ob- 
 served in Castile down to the present 
 lime. Prdctica y Estilo, p. 229. 
 
 =' For the preceding notice of the 
 Cortes, see Marina, Teoria, part. 2, cap. 
 13, 19, 20, 21, 31, 35, 37, 38. ' 
 
 *° So at least they are styled by Ma- 
 rina. See his account of these institu- 
 tions; (Teoria, part. 2, cap. 89;) alsoSala- 
 zar de Mendoza, (Monarquia, lib. 3, cap. 
 15, 16,) andSempere, (Histoire des Cortes, 
 chap. 12, 13.) One hundred cities associa- 
 ted in the Hermandad of 1315. In that 
 of 1295, were thirty-four. The knights 
 and inferior nobility frequently made 
 part of the association. The articles of 
 confederation are given by Risco, in his 
 continuation of Florez. (Espafia Sagra- 
 da, [Madrid, 1775-1826,] tom. xxxvi. p. 
 162.) In one of these articles it is de- 
 clared, that, if any noble shall deprive a 
 member of tiie association of his proper- 
 ty, and refuse restitution, his house shall 
 be razed to the groimd. (Art. 4.) In 
 another, that if any one, by command of 
 the king, shall attempt to collect an im- 
 lawf ul tax, he shall be put to death on the 
 spot. Art. 9. 
 
 *i See Sempere Historia del Luxo, tom. 
 i. p. 97. — Masdeu, Hist. Critica, tom. xiii. 
 nos. 90, 91. — 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 pope was so richly incrusted 
 with the precious metals, says Masdeu, as 
 to receive the name of Spanoclista. The 
 f amUiar use of these metals as omamenta 
 of di-ess is attested by the ancient poem 
 of the "Cid." See, in particular, the 
 costume of the Campeador; w. 3099 et 
 seq. 
 
 *= Zuniga, Annales Eclesifisticos y Se- 
 culares de Seville, (Madrid, 1677,) pp. 74, 
 75.— Sempere, Historia del Luxo, tom. i. 
 p. 80. 
 
 *3 The historian of Seville describes 
 that city, about the middle of the fifteenth 
 centuiy, as possessing a flourishing com- 
 merce, and a degree of opulence unex- 
 ampled 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, etc., supplied a trade with 
 France, Flanders, Italy, and England. 
 (Zuniga Annales de Sevilla, p. 341. — See 
 also Sempere, Historia del Luxo, p. 81, 
 nota 2.) The ports of Biscay, which b«-
 
 .«IEC. I.] 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 416 
 
 longred to the Castilian crown, were the 
 marts of an extensive trade with the 
 north, during the thirteenth and four- 
 teenth centuries. This province entered 
 into repeated treaties of commerce with 
 Fi-ance and England ; and her factories 
 were established at Bruges, tlie great em- 
 porium of commercial intercourse during 
 this period between the north and south, 
 before those of any other people in Eu- 
 rope, except the Germans. (Diccionario 
 Geogrdflco-Hist6rico de Espana, per la 
 Real Academia de la Historia, [Madrid, 
 1802,] tom. i. p. 333.) The institution of 
 the mesta is referred, says Laborde, 
 (Itingraire Descriptif de I'Espagne, 
 [Paris, 1827-1830,] tom. iv. p. 47,) to the 
 middle of the fourteenth centuiy, when 
 the great plague, which devastated the 
 coimtry so r;orely, left large depopulated 
 tracts open to pasturage. This popular 
 opinion is erroneous, since it engaged the 
 ettention of government, and became the 
 subject of legislation as anciently as 1273, 
 under Alfonso the Wise. (See Asso y 
 Manuel, Instituciones, Introd. p. 56.) 
 Capmany, however, dates the great im- 
 provement in the breed of Spanish sheep 
 from the year 1394, when Catharine of 
 Lancaster brovight with her, as a 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. (Memorias Histfiricas sobre 
 la Marina, Comercio, y Artes de Barce- 
 lona, [Madrid, 1770-1792,] tom. iii. pp. 330, 
 337.) This acute writer, after a very care- 
 ful examination of the subject, differing 
 from thosse already quoted, considers the 
 raw material for manufacture, and the 
 natural productions of the soil, to have 
 constituted almost the only articles of ex- 
 port from Spain, until after the fifteenth 
 century. (Ibid., p. 338.) We will remark, 
 in conclusion of this desultory note, that 
 the term vieruws is derived, by Conde, 
 from vioedinos, signifying "wander- 
 ing ; " the name of an Arabian tribe, who 
 Khifted their place of residence with the 
 sea-son. (Hist, de los Arabes en Espaiia, 
 tom. i. p. 488, nota.) The derivation 
 might startle any but a professed ety- 
 mologist. 
 
 ** See the original acts, cited by Sem- 
 pere. (Historia del Luxo, passim.) The 
 archpriest of Hita indulges his vein free- 
 ly against the luxin\y, cupidity, and other 
 fashionable sins of his age. (See Sanchez, 
 Poesia* Castellanas, torn, iv.)— The influ- 
 
 ence of Mammon appears to have been 
 as supreme in the fourteenth century as 
 at any later period. 
 " Sea un onie nescio, et rudo labrador, 
 
 Los dineros le fasen fldalgo e sabidor, 
 
 Quanto mas algo tiene, taato es mas de valor, 
 
 El que no ha dineros, non es de si senor." 
 Vv. 465 et seq. 
 
 ^= Marina, Ensayo, nos. 199, 297.— Zu- 
 iiiga. Annates de SevLUa, p. 341. 
 
 *^ Marina, Teoria, part. 2, cap. 28.— 
 Marina, Hist, de Espafia, lib. 18, cap. 15. 
 —The admission of citizens into the king's 
 council, would have formed a most i:n- 
 portant epoch for the commons, had they 
 not .soon been replaced by jurisconsults, 
 whose studies and sentiments inclined 
 them less to the popular side than to that 
 of ijrerogative. 
 
 *^ Ibid., lib. 18, cap. 17. 
 
 ^' Cast ilia. See Salazar de Mendoza, 
 Mouarqula, tom. i. p. 108. — Livy mentions 
 the great nimiber of these towers in Spain 
 in his day. " Multas et locis altis positas 
 turres Hispania habet." (Lib. 22, cap, 19.) 
 — A castle was emblazoned on the escutch- 
 eon of Castile, as far back as the reign of 
 Urraca, in the beginning of the twelfth 
 century, according to Salazar de Men- 
 doza, (Monarquia tom. i. p. 142,) although 
 Garibay discerns no vistage of these arms 
 on any instrument of a much older date 
 than the beginning of the thirteenth cen- 
 tmy. Compendio, lib. 12, cap. 32. 
 ■'s " Hizo guerra a los Moros, 
 Ganando sus fortalezas 
 
 Y sus villas. 
 
 Y en las lides que vencio 
 Caballeros y caballos 
 
 Se perdi6ron, 
 
 Y en este oficlo gano 
 Las rentas y los vasallos 
 Que le di6ron." 
 
 Coplas de JIanrique, coplaSl. 
 
 ^^ Asso and Manuel derive the intro- 
 duction of fiefs into Castile, from Cata- 
 lonia. (Instituciones, p. 90.) The twentj-- 
 sixth title, part. 4, of Alfonso X.'s code, 
 (Siete Partidas,) treats exclusively of 
 them. (De los Feudos.) The laws 2, 4, 5, 
 are expressly devoted to a brief exposi- 
 tion of the nature of a flef , the ceremo- 
 nies of investiture, and the reciprocal obli- 
 gations of loi'd and vassal. Those of the 
 latliT CI insisted in ke(']>ing his lord's coun- 
 sel, maintaining his interest, and aiding 
 him in war. With all this, there are anom- 
 alies in this code, and still more in the 
 usages of tilt! country, not eas}- to ex[)lain 
 on the usual i)rinciples of the feudal re- 
 lation; a circumstance, which has \vi\ to
 
 416 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 [SEO. I. 
 
 much discrepancy of opinion on the sub- 
 ject, in pohtical writers, as a\t^i1 as to some 
 inconsistency. Semi^ere, wlio entertains 
 no doubt of the establishment of feudal 
 institutions in Castile, tells us, that "the 
 nobles, after the Conquest, succeeded in 
 obtaining an exemjition from military 
 service," — one of the most conspicuous 
 and essential of all the feudal relations. 
 Histoire des Cortes, pp. 30, 72, 219. 
 
 '* Asso y Manuel, Instituciones, p. 36. 
 ^Sempere, Histoire des Cortes, chap. 4. 
 — The incensed nobles quitted the Cortes 
 in disgust, and threatened to vindicate 
 their rights by arms, on one such occa- 
 sion, 1176. Marina, Hist, de Espaiia, torn. 
 i. p. 644. See also torn. ii. p. 176. 
 
 *' lidem auctores, ubi supra.— Prieto 
 y Sotelo, Historia del Derecho Real de 
 Espana. (Madrid, 1738,) Hb. 2, cap. 23; 
 lib. 3, cap. 8. 
 
 *» Siete Partidas, (ed. de la Real. Acad., 
 Madrid, 1807,) part. 4, tit. 25, ley 11. On 
 such occasions they sent him a formal 
 defiance by their king at arms. Marina, 
 Hist. deEspafia, torn. i. pp. 768, 912. 
 
 '* Ibid., torn. i. pp. 707, 713. 
 
 '' The forms of this solemnity may be 
 found in Marina, Hist, de Espaiia, torn. 
 i. p. 907. 
 
 »* Marina, Ensayo, p. 128. 
 
 " John I., in 1390, authorized appeals 
 from the seignorial tribunals to those of 
 the crown. Ibid., torn. ii. p. 179. 
 
 ** The nature of these dignities is ex- 
 plained in Salazar de Mendoza, Monar- 
 qula, torn. i. pp. 155, 166, 203. 
 
 " From the scarcity of these baronia, 
 residences, some fanciful etymologists 
 have derived the famUiar saying of " Cha- 
 teaux en Espagne." See Bourgoanne, 
 Travels in Spain, torn. ii. chap. 12. 
 
 '" Marina, Hist, de Espana, torn. i. p. 
 910. 
 
 *i Cr6nica de Don Alvaro de Luna, (ed. 
 de la Acad. Madrid, 1784,) App. p. 465. 
 
 " Guzman, Generaciones y Serablan- 
 zas, (Madrid, 1775,) cap. 84.— His annual 
 revenue is computed by Perez de Guz- 
 man, at 100,000 doblas of gold ; a sum 
 equivalent to 856,000 dollars at the present 
 day. 
 
 ** The former of these two sums is 
 equivalent to $438,875, or £91,474 sterling ; 
 and the latter to $,526,650, or £109,716, 
 nearly. I have been guided by a disser- 
 tation of Clemencin, in the sixth volume 
 of the Memorias de la Real Academia de 
 
 la Historia, (Madrid, 1821, pp. .507-566,) in 
 the reduction of sums in this History. 
 That treatise is very elaborate and ample, 
 and brings under view all the different 
 coins of Ferdinand and Isabella's time, 
 settling their specific value with great 
 accuracy. The calculation is attended 
 with considerable difficulty, owing to the 
 depreciation of the value of the precious 
 metals, and the repeated adulteration of 
 the real. In his tables, at the end, he ex- 
 hibits the commercial value of the differ- 
 ent denominations, ascertained by the 
 quantity of wheat (as sure a standard as 
 any), which they would buy at that day. 
 Taking the average of values, which 
 varied considerably in different years of 
 Ferdinand and Isabella, it appears that 
 the ducat, reduced to our own currency, 
 will be equal to about eight dollars and 
 seventy-seven cents, and the dobla to 
 eight dollars and fifty -six cents. 
 
 •'•' The ample revenues of the Spanish 
 grandee of the present time, instead of 
 being lavished on a band of military re- 
 tainers, as of yore, are sometimes dis- 
 pensed in the more peaceful hospitality 
 of supporting an almost equally formida- 
 ble host of needy relations and depend- 
 ents. According to Boiu-goanne (Travels 
 i-a Spain, vol. i. chap. 4,) no less than 
 3,000 of these gentry were maintained on 
 the estates of the duke of Arcos, who 
 died in 1780. 
 
 ^^ Mendoza records the circumstance 
 of the head of the family of Ponce de 
 Leon (a descendant of the celebrated mar- 
 quis of Cadiz), carrying his son, then 
 thirteen years old, with him into battle ; 
 "an ancient usage," he says, "in that 
 noble house." (Guerra de Granada, [Va- 
 lencia, 1776,] p. 318.) The only son of 
 Alfonso VI. was slain, fighting manfully 
 in the ranks, at the battle of Ucles, in 
 1109, when only eleven years of age. Ma- 
 rina, Hist, de Espaiia, tom. i. p. 565. 
 
 ^^ The northern provinces, the theatre 
 of this primitive indei^endence, have al- 
 ways been consecrated by this very cir- 
 cumstance, in the eyes of a Spaniard. 
 "The proudest lord," says Navagiero, 
 " feels it an honor to trace his pedigree to 
 this quarter." (Viaggio, fol. 44.) The 
 same feeling has continued, and the 
 meanest native of Biscay, or the Asturias, 
 at the present day, claims to be noble ; a 
 pretension, which often contrasts ridicu- 
 lously enough with the humble character 
 of his occupation, and has fui'nished 
 many a pleasant anecdote to travellers.
 
 SEC. I.] 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 117 
 
 •^ An elaborate dissertation, by the ad- 
 vocate Don Alouso Carillo, on the pre- 
 eminence and privileges of the Castilian 
 grandee, is appended to Salazar de Men- 
 doza's Orlgen de las Dignidades Seglares 
 de Castilla (Madrid, iry4.) The most 
 prized of the.'^e, ajjpears to be that of 
 keeping the head covered in the presence 
 of the sovereign ; " prerogativa tan ilus- 
 ti'e," says the writer, "que ella sola im- 
 primo el princii)al caracter de la Grande- 
 za. Y considerada por stis efectos admi- 
 rubles, ocupa dignamente el primero 
 lugar." (Discurso 3.; The sentimental 
 citizen Boiu-goanne, finds it necessary 
 to apologize to his repubhcan brethren, 
 for noticing these "important trifles." 
 Travels in Spain, vol. i. chap. 4. 
 
 *^ "Los llamaron fijosdalgo, que mu- 
 estra a tanto como fljos de bien." (Siete 
 Partidas, part. 2, tit. 21.) "For hidalgos 
 se entieuden los hombres escogidos de 
 biieiios litrjures e con algo." Asso y 
 Manuel, Instituciones, pp. 33, 34. 
 
 *• Recop. de las Leyes, lib. 6, tit. 1, 
 leyes 2, 9 ; tit. 2, leyes 3, 4, 10 ; tit. 14, 
 leyes 14, 19. — They were obliged to con- 
 ti'ibute to the repair of fortifications and 
 public works, although, as the statute ex- 
 presses it, "tengan privilegios para que 
 sean essentos de todos pechos. ' ' 
 
 '" The knight was to array himself in 
 light and cheerful vestments, and, in the 
 cities and public places, his person was 
 to be enveloped in a long and flowing 
 mantle, in order to impose greater rever- 
 ence on th'e 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 ardor into his soid, and pre- 
 serve him from the commission of im- 
 knightly actions. See Siete Partidas, 
 part. 2, tit. 21, which is taken up with de- 
 fining the obUgations of chivalry. 
 
 " See Fuero Juzgo, lib. 3, which is de- 
 voted almost exclusively to the sex. Mon- 
 tesquieu discerns in the jealous surveil- 
 lance, which the Visigoths maintained 
 over the honor of their women, so close 
 an analogy with oriental usages, as must 
 have greatly facilitated the conquest of 
 the country by the Arabians. Esprit des 
 Loix, liv. 14, chap. 14. 
 
 ^- Warton':; expression. Ree vol. i. p. 
 245, of the late learned edition of his His- 
 tory of English Poetry, (Loudon, 1824.) 
 
 '^ See the " Passo Honroso " append- 
 ed to tlae Cr6nica de Alvaro de Luna. 
 
 '* The present narrative will introduce 
 the reader to more than one belligerent 
 prelate, v.ho filled the very higliest post 
 in the Spanish, and, I may say, the Chris- 
 tian church, next the papacy. (,Sce 
 Alvaro Gomez, De Rebus Gestis a Fran- 
 cisco Ximenio Cisnerio, [Compluti, 15C9,] 
 f ol. 110 et seq.) Tlie practice, indeed, was 
 familiar in other countries, as well as 
 Spain, at this late period. In the bloody 
 battle of Ravenna, in 1.512, two cardinal 
 legates, one of them the future Leo X., 
 fought on opposite sides. Paolo Giovio, 
 Vita Leonis X., apud " Vitce Ulustrium 
 Vu-orum," (Basilise, 15T8,) fib. 2. 
 
 '^ The contest for supremacy, between 
 the Mozarabic ritual and the Roman, is 
 familiar to the reader, in the curious 
 narrative extracti'd by Robertson from 
 Marina, Hist, de Espana, lib. 9, cap. 18. 
 
 ^^ Siete Partidas, part. l,tit. 6. — Florez, 
 Espana Sagrada, torn. xx. p. 16. — The 
 Jesuit Marina apijears to grudge this ap- 
 propriation of the " sacred rev^aues of 
 the Church " to defray the expenses of 
 the holy war against the Saracen. (Hist, 
 de Espana, tom. i. p. 177.) See also the 
 Ensayo, (nos. 3;32-3(;4,) where Marina has 
 analyzed, and discussed the general im- 
 port of the first of the Partidas. 
 
 '' Marina, Ensayo, ubi supra, and nos. 
 220 et seq. 
 
 "' See the original acts quoted by Sem- 
 pere, in his Historia del Luxo, tom. i. pp. 
 106 et seq. 
 
 '^ Lucio Marineo Siculo, Cosas Slem- 
 orables de Espana, (Alcalfi, de Henares, 
 1539,) fol. IG. 
 
 *" Navagiero, Viaggio, fol. 9. — L. Ma- 
 rineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 12. — La- 
 borde reckons the revenues of this pre- 
 late, in his tables, at 12.000,000 reals, or 
 000,000 dollars. (Itinfiraire, tom. vi. p. 9.) 
 The estimate is grossly exaggerated for 
 the present day. The rents of this see, 
 like those of every other in the king- 
 dom, have been greviousl.y clipped in the 
 late political troubles They ai-e stated 
 by the intelligent author of "A Year in 
 Spain," on the authority of the clergy of 
 the diocese, at one-tliird of the above sum, 
 only; (p. 217, Boston ed. 1829;) an esti- 
 mate confirmed by Mr. Inglis, who com-
 
 118 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 [SBO. I. 
 
 putes them at £40,000. Spain in 1830, 
 vol. 1. ch. 11. 
 
 "' Modern travellers, who condemn 
 without reserve the corruption of the in- 
 ferior clergy, bear uniform testimony to 
 the exemplary piety and munificent 
 charities of the higher dignitaries of the 
 church. 
 
 •' Marina, Teoria, part. 2, cap. 2, 5, 6. 
 — A remarkable instance of this occurred 
 as late as the accession of Charles V. 
 
 " The earliest example of this perma- 
 nent committee of the commons, resid 
 ing at court, and entering into the king's 
 council, was in the minority of Ferdi- 
 nand IV., in 1295. The subject is involved 
 in some obscurity, which Marina has not 
 succeeded in dispelling. He considers 
 the deputation to have formed a neces- 
 sary and constituent part of the council, 
 from the time of its first appointment. 
 (Teoria, torn, ii, cap. 27, 28.) Sempere, on 
 the other hand, discerns no warrant for 
 this, after its introduction, till the time 
 of the Austrian dynasty. (Histoire des 
 Cortes, chap. 29.) Marina, who too often 
 mistakes anomaly for practice, is cer- 
 tainly not justified, even by his own show- 
 ing, in the sweeping conclusions to 
 which he arrives. But, if his prejudices 
 lead him to see more than has happened, 
 on the one hand, those of Sempere, on 
 on the other, make him sometimes high 
 gravel blind. 
 
 •* The important functions and history 
 of this body are investigated by Marina. 
 (Teoria, part. 2, cap. 27, 28, 29.) See also 
 Sempere, (Histoire des Cortt^s, cap. 10,) 
 and the Informe de Don Agustin Riol, 
 (apud Semanario Erudito, torn. iii. pp. 
 113 et seq.) where, however, its subse- 
 quent condition is chiefly considered. 
 
 •' Not so exclusively, however, by any 
 means, as Marina pretends. (Teoria, 
 part. 2, cap. 17, 18.) He borrows a perti- 
 nent illustration from the famous code of 
 Alfonso X., which was not received as 
 law of the land till it had been formally 
 published in Cortes, 1348, more than 
 seventy years after its original compila- 
 tion. In his zeal for popular rights, he 
 omits to notice, however, the power, so 
 frequently assumed by the sovereign, of 
 granting fueros, or municipal charters; 
 a right, indeed, which the great lords, 
 spiritual and temporal, exercised in com- 
 mon with him, subject to his sanction. 
 See a multitude of these seignorial codes, 
 enumerated by Asso and Manuel. (Insti- 
 
 tuciones, Introd., pp. 81 «t seq.) Thft 
 monarch claimed, moreover, though not, 
 by any means, so freely as in later 
 times, the privilege of issuing pragmdti- 
 cas, ordinances of an executive charac- 
 ter, or for the redress of grievances sub- 
 mitted to him by the national legislature. 
 Within certain hmits, this was undoubt- 
 edly a constitutional prerogative. But 
 the history of Castile, like tbat of most 
 other countries in Em-ope, shows how 
 easily it was abused in the hands of an 
 arbitrary prince. 
 
 ^'^ The civil and criminal business of 
 the kingdom was committed, in the last 
 resort, to the very ancient tribunal of 
 alcaldes de casa y corte, until, in 1-371, a 
 new one, entitled the royal audience or 
 chancery, was constituted under Henry 
 II., with supreme and ultimate jurisdic- 
 tion in civil causes. These, in the first 
 instance, however, might be brought be- 
 fore the alcaldes de la corte, which con- 
 tinued, and has since continued, the high 
 court in criminal matters. The audiencia, 
 or chancery, consisted at first of seven 
 judges, whose number varied a good deal 
 afterwards. They were appointed by 
 the crown, in the manner mentioned in 
 the text. Theii' salaries were such as to 
 secure their independence, as far as pos- 
 sible, of any undue influence; and this 
 was stUl further done by the supervision 
 of Cortes, whose acts show the deep solici- 
 tude with which it watched over the con- 
 cerns and conduct of this important 
 tribunal. For a notice of the original 
 organization and subsequent modifica- 
 tions of the Castilian courts, consult Mari- 
 na, (Teoria, part. 3, cap. 21-25.) Riol, 
 (Informe apud Semanario Erudito, torn, 
 iii. pp. 129 et seq.) and Sempere, (His- 
 toire des Cortes, chap. 15,) whose loose 
 and desultory remarks show perfect 
 familiarity with the subject, and pre- 
 suppose more than is likely to be found 
 in the reader. 
 
 »^ Siete Partidas, part. 2, tit. 26, leyes 
 5. 6, 7. — Mendoza notices this custom as 
 recently as Philip II. 's day. Guerra de 
 Granada, p. 170. 
 
 *' Marina, Hist, de Espafia, hb. 15, cap. 
 19, 20. 
 
 "^ Garibay, Compendio, torn. ii. p. 399. 
 — Marina, Hist, de Espafia, tom. ii. pp. 
 234, 235. — Pedro Lopez de Ayala, chancel- 
 lor of Castile and chronicler of the reigns 
 of four of its successive monarchs, termi- 
 nated his labors abruptly with the sixth
 
 BEO. n.] 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 419 
 
 year of Henry in., the subsequent period 
 of whose administration is singularly bar- 
 ren of authentic materials for history. 
 The editor of Ayala's Chronicle considers 
 the adventure, quoted in the text, as fic- 
 titious, and probably suggested by a 
 stratagem employed by Henry for the 
 seizure of the duke of Benevente, and by 
 his subsequent imprisonment at Burgos. 
 See Ayala, Cr6nica de Castilla, p. 355, 
 note, (ed. de la Acad., 1780.) 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 • Catalonia was united with Ai'agon by 
 the marriage of queen Petronilla with 
 Raymond Berengere, count of Barcelona, 
 in 1150. Valencia was conquered from 
 the Moors by James I., in 1238. 
 
 ' Capmany, Blem. de Barcelona, torn. 
 iii. pp. 45-47.— The Catalans were much 
 celebrated during the Middle Ages for 
 their skill with the crossbow ; for a more 
 perfect instruction in which, the muniei- 
 paUty of Barcelona estabUshed games 
 and gymnasiums. Ibid., tom. i. p. 113. 
 
 ' Sicily revolted to Peter III., in 1282.— 
 Sardinia was conquered by James II., in 
 1334, and the Balearic Isles by Peter TV., 
 in 1343-4. Zurita, Anales, tom. i. fol. 347: I 
 tom. ii. fol. 60.— Hermilly, Histoire du I 
 Royaunie de Majorque, (Maestricht, 1777,) I 
 pp. 227-268. ' 
 
 • Hence the title of duke of Athens, as- 
 sumed by the Spanish sovereigns. The 
 brilliant fortunes of Roger de Flor are re- 
 lated by count Moncada, (Expedicion de 
 los Catalanes y Aragoneses contra Turcos 
 y Griegos, Madrid, 1805.) in a style much 
 commended by Spanish critics for its ele- 
 gance. See Mondejar, Advertencias, p. 
 114. 
 
 ' It was confirmed by Alfonso III., in 
 1328. Zurita, Anales, tom. ii. fol. 90. 
 
 • See the fragments of the Fuero de 
 Soprarbe, cited by Blancas, Aragonensi- 
 um Rerum Commentarii, (Caesaraugus- 
 tae, 1588,) pp. 25-29.— The well-known oath 
 of the Aragonese to their sovereign on his 
 accession, " Nos que valemos tanto como 
 vos," etc., frequently quoted by histori- 
 ans, rests on the authority of Antonio 
 Perez, the unfortunate minister of Philip 
 n., who, however good a voucher for the 
 usages of his own time, has made a blun- 
 der 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. See Antonio Perez, Relacio- 
 nes, (Paris. 1598,) fol. 92. 
 
 ' AiuSen-a yaj nara Srj/aoi' ajijryejrtes 
 
 'Aj>;ol rjjaiVouo-i, r^ianaiSenaTOf S' 
 iyio avTos. 
 
 Odyss. 0. 390. 
 In like manner Alfonso HI. alludes to 
 "the ancient times in Aragon, when 
 there were as many kings as ricos horn- 
 bres." See Zurita, Anales, tom. i. fol. 
 316. 
 
 * The authenticity of the " Fuero de 
 Soprarbe" has been keenly debated by 
 the Aragonese and Navarrese WTiters. 
 Moret, in refutation of Blancas, who es- 
 pouses it, (See Commentarii, p. 289,) 
 states, that, after a diligent investigation 
 of the archives of that region, he finds no 
 mention of the laws, nor even of the 
 name, of Soprarbe, until the eleventh 
 century; a startling circumstance for the 
 antiquary. ( Investigaciones Historicas 
 de las Antiguedades del Reyno de Na- 
 varra, [Pamplona, 1766,] tom. vi. lib. 3, 
 cap. 11.) Indeed, the historians of Ara- 
 gon, admit, that the pubhc documents 
 previous to the fom-teenth century suf- 
 fered so much from various causes as to 
 leave comparatively few materials for 
 authentic narrative. (Blancas, Commen- 
 tarii, Pref. — Risco, Espaila Sagrada, tom. 
 XXX. Pr61ogo.) Blancas transcribed liis 
 extract of the laws of Soprarbe princi- 
 pally from Prince Charles of Viana's His- 
 tory, written in the fifteenth century. 
 See Commentarii, p. 25. 
 
 * Asso y Manuel, Instituciones, pp. 39, 
 40. — Blancas, Commentarii, pp. 3.i3, 334, 
 340. — Fueros y Observancias del Reyno 
 de Aragon, (Zaragoza, 1667,) tom. i. fol. 
 130. — The ricos hombres, thus created by 
 the monarch, were styled de mesnada, 
 signifying "of the household." It was 
 lawful for a rico hombre to bequeath his 
 honors to whichsoever of his legitimate 
 children he might prefer, and, in default 
 of issue, to his nearest of kin. He was 
 bound to distribute the bulk of his estates 
 in fiefs among his knights, so that a com- 
 plete system of sub-infeudation was es- 
 tabUshed. The knights, on restoring 
 their fiefs, might change their suzerain! 
 at pleasure. 
 
 '" Asso y Manuel, Instituciones. p, 41, 
 — Blancas, Commentarii, pp. 307, 322, 331. 
 
 " Fueros y Observancias, tom. i. fol. 
 130.— Martel, Forma de Celebrar Cor- 
 tes en Aragon, (Znragoza, 16)1,) p. 'J^",—
 
 420 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 [SEC. n. 
 
 Blanoas, Commentarii, pp. .306, 313-31V, 
 323, 3130.— Asso y Blanuel, Instituciones, 
 pp. 40-43. 
 
 »5 Zurita, Anales, torn. i. fol. 124. 
 
 *' Blancas, Commentarii, p. 334. 
 I ** See the partition of Saragossa by 
 Alfonso the Warrior. Zurita, Anales, 
 torn. i. fol. 43. 
 
 »s Marina, Hist, de Espana, torn. ii. p. 
 198.— Blancas, Commentarii, p. 218. 
 
 ^^ See a register of these at the begin- 
 ning of the sixteenth century, apud L. 
 Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 2.5. 
 
 '' Zurita, Anales, tom. ii. fol. 12T. — 
 Blancas, Commentarii, p. 324. — "Adha-.c 
 Ricis hominibus ipsis majorum more in- 
 stitutisque coucedebatur, ut sese possent, 
 dum ipsi vellent, a nostrorum Regum 
 jure et potestate, quasi nodum aliquem, 
 expedire; neque expedu-e solum, sed di- 
 misso 2^i'ii''^i 9"o potirentur, Honore, 
 bellum Ipsis inf erre ; Reges vero Rici ho- 
 minis sic expediti uxorem. Alios, famil- 
 iam, res, bona, et f ortunas omnes in suam 
 recipere fldem tenebantur. Neque ulia 
 erat eorum^ utilitatis facienda jactura." 
 
 18 Fueros y Observancias, tom. i. p. 84. 
 — Zurita, Anales, tom. i. fol. 3.50. 
 
 1^ Blancas somewhere boasts, that no 
 one of the kings of Aragon has been stig- 
 matized by a cognomen of infamy, as in 
 most of the other royal races of Europe. 
 Peter IV., " the Cerenionious," richly de- 
 served one. 
 
 -" Zm-ita, Anales, tom. i. fol. lOJJ. 
 
 =■1 Zurita. Anales, tom. i. fol. 198.— He 
 recommended this policy to his son-in- 
 law, the king of Castile. 
 
 -■ Sempere, Histoire des CortSs, p. 164. 
 
 -^ Zm-ita, Anales, lib. 4, cap. 96. — Abar- 
 ca dates this event In the j-ear preceding. 
 Reyes de Aragon, en Anales Hist6ricos, 
 (Madrid, 1683-1684,) tom. ii. fol. 8. 
 
 =* Blancas, Commentarii, pp. 192, 193.— 
 Zurita, Anales, tom. i. fol. 266 et alibi. 
 
 =- Zurita, Anales, tom. ii. fol. 12rM.30.— 
 Blancas, Commentarii, pp. 195-197. — 
 Hence he was styled " Peter of the Dag- 
 ger;" and a statue of him, bearing in 
 one hand this weapon, and in the other 
 the Privilege, stood in the Chamber of 
 Deputation at Saragossa in Philip II. "s 
 time. See Antonio Perez, Relaciones, 
 fol. 95. 
 
 "« See the statute, De Prohibita Unione, 
 etc. Fueros y Observancias, tom. i. fol. 
 ITS. — A copy of the original Privileges 
 yfaa detected by Blancas among the 
 
 manuscripts of the archbishop of r i^-i- 
 gossa; but he declined publisliing it 1 . ■• ; 
 deference to the prohibition of his anc- >■ 
 tors. Commentarii, p. 179. 
 
 2 ' " Hfec itaque domestica Regis vic- 
 toria, quae miserrimum universae Reipub- 
 licBB interitum videbatur esse allatura, 
 stabilem nobis constituit pacem, tranquil- 
 litatem, et otiiun. Inde enlm Magistra- 
 tus .lustitiae Aragonum in eam, quam 
 nunc colmius, am])litudinem dignitatis 
 devenit." Ibid., p. 197. 
 
 '^^ Martel, Forma de Celebrar Coi-tes, 
 cap. 8. — " Bragos del reino, porque abrii- 
 qaii , y tienen en si. ' ' — The Cortes consist- 
 ed only of three arms in Catalonia and 
 Valencia; both the greater and lesser no- 
 bility sitting in the same chamber. I'er- 
 guera, Cortes en Cataluiia, and Matheu y 
 Sanz, Constitucion de Valencia, apud 
 Capmany, PrActica y Estilo, pp. 65, 183, 
 184. 
 
 -^ Martel, Forma de Celebrar Cortes, 
 cap. 10, 17, 21, 46.— Blancas, Modo dePro- 
 ceder en Cortes de Aragon, (Zaragoza, 
 1641,) fol. 17, 18. 
 
 ^° Capmany, Prdctica y Estilo, p. 12. 
 
 '^ Blancas, Modo de Proceder, fol. 14. 
 —Zurita, indeed, gives repeated instan- 
 ces of their convocation in the thirteenth 
 and twelfth centuries, from a date al- 
 most 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. 
 
 3 2 One of the monarchs of Aragon, Al- 
 fonso the Warrior, according to Marina, 
 bequeathed all his dominions to the 
 Templars and Hospitallers. Another, 
 Peter II., agreed to hold his kingdom as 
 a flef of tlie see of Rome, and to pay it an 
 annual tribute. (Hist, de Espaiia, tom. i. 
 pp. 596, 664.) This so much disgusted the 
 people, that they compelled his success- 
 ors to make a public protest against the 
 claims of the church, before their cor- 
 onation.— See Blancas, Coronaciones da 
 los Serenisimos Reyes de Aragon, (Zara- 
 goza, 1641,) cap. 3. 
 
 3^ Blartel, Forma de Celebrar C'ortes, 
 cap. 22. — Asso y Manuel, Instituciones, 
 p. 44. 
 
 =* Zurita, Anales, tom. i. fol. 163, A. D. 
 12.50. 
 
 3^ Ibid., tom. i. fol. 51.— The earliest 
 appearance of popular representation in
 
 SEC. II.] 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 421 
 
 Ciitalonia is fixed by Ripoll at 1283, (apud 
 Capinauy, PrActica y Estilo, p. 135. What 
 can Capinaiiy mean by postponing the 
 introduction of the commons mto the 
 Cortes of Aragon to 1300? (See p. 36.) 
 Their presence and names are coumiemo- 
 rated by the exact Zurita, several times 
 before tlie close of the twelfth century. 
 
 " Prdctica y Estilo, pp. 14, 17, 18, 30.— 
 Martel, Forma de Celebrar Cortes, cap. 
 10. — Those who followed a mechanical oc- 
 cupation, includiiuj surgeons and apoihc- 
 caries, were excluded from a seat in 
 Cortes. (Cap. 17.) The faculty have 
 rarely been treated with so little cere- 
 mony. 
 
 " Martel, Forma de Celebrar Cortes, 
 cap. 7.— The Cortes appear to have been 
 more frequently convoked in the four- 
 teenth century, than in any other. Blan- 
 cas refers to no less than twenty-three 
 witliin that period, averaging nearly one 
 in four years. (Commentarii, Index, rote 
 Comitia.) In Catalonia and Valencia, the 
 Cortes was to be summoned every three 
 years. Berart, Discurso Breve sobre la 
 Celebracion de Cortes de Aragon, (1626,) 
 fol. 13. 
 
 ^' Capmany, Prfi,ctica y EstUo, p. 15.— 
 Blancas has preserved a specimen of an 
 address from the throne, in 1398, in which 
 the king, after selecting some moral apo- 
 thegm as a text, rambles for the space of 
 half an hour through Scripture history, 
 etc., and concludes with announcing the 
 object of his convening the Cortes to- 
 gether, in three lines. Commentarii, pp. 
 376-^80. 
 
 "» See the ceremonial detailed with 
 sufficient prohxity by Martel, (Forma de 
 Celebrar Cortes, cap. 52, 53,) and a curi- 
 ous illustration of it in Zurita, Anales, 
 tom. iv. fol. 313. 
 
 «" Capmany, Pr4ctica y Estilo, pp. 44 
 et seq. — Martel, Forma de Celebrar Cor- 
 tes, cap. 50, 60 et seq.— Fueros y Obser- 
 vancias, tom. i. fol. 229.— Blancas, Modo 
 de Proceder, fol. 2-4.— Zurita, Anales, 
 tom. iii. fol. 321. — Robertson, misinter- 
 preting a passage of Blancas, (Commen- 
 tarii, p. 375,) states, that a "session of 
 Cortes contitmed forty days." (History 
 of Charles V., vol. i. p. 140.) It usually 
 lasted months. 
 
 *' Fueros y Observancias, fol. 6. tit. 
 Privileg. Gen.— Blancas, Commentarii, p. 
 371.— Capmany, Pr&ctica y Estilo, p. 51.— 
 It was anciently the practice of the legis- 
 latm-e to grant supplies of troops, but 
 
 not of money. When Peter TV. request- 
 ed a pecuniary subsidy, the Oortcs iold 
 him, that " such thing 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."' Blancas, Modo 
 de Proceder, cap. 18. 
 
 *^ See examples of them in Zurita, 
 Anales, tom. i. fol. 51, 263: tom. ii. fol. 391, 
 394, 424.— Blancas, Modo de Proceder, foL 
 98, 106. 
 
 *^ " There was such a conformity of 
 sentiment among all parties," says Zu- 
 rita, " that the privileges of the nobility 
 were no better secured than those of the 
 conunons. For the Aragonese deemed 
 that the existence of the commonwealth 
 depended not so much on its strength, as 
 on its liberties." (Anales, lib. 4, cap. 38.) 
 In the confirmation of the privilege by 
 James the Second, in 1325, torture, then 
 generally recognized by the municipal 
 law of Europe, was expressly prohibited 
 in Aragon, " as unworthy of freemen." 
 See Zurita, Anales, lib. 6, cap. 61,— and 
 Fueros y Observancias, tom. i. fol. 9, 
 Declaratio Priv. Oeneralis. 
 
 ■••' The patriotism of Blancas warms as 
 he dwells on the illusory picture of an- 
 cient virtue, and contrasts it with the de- 
 generacy of his own day. " Et vero prisca 
 htBC tanta severitas, desertaque ilia et in- 
 culta vita, quando dies noctesque nostrl 
 armati concursabant, ac in bello et Mau- 
 rorum sanguine assidui versabantur; 
 verS quideni parsimonies, fortitudinis, 
 temperantiffi, casterarumque virtutum 
 omnium magistra f uit. In qua maleficia 
 ac scelera, quae nunc in otiosa hac nostrft 
 umbratili et delicata gignuntur, gigni 
 non solebant; quinimmo ita tunc sequali- 
 ter omnes onmi genere virtutum fioruere, 
 ut egregia ha^c laus videatur non homi- 
 num solum, veiimi illorum etiam tempo- 
 i-umfuisse." Commentarii, p. 340. 
 
 *^ It was more frequently referred, 
 both for the sake of expedition, and of 
 obtaining a more full investigation, to 
 commissioners nominated conjointly by 
 the Cortes and the party demandmg re- 
 dress. The nature of the greuges, or 
 grievances, which might be brought be- 
 fore tlic legislature, and the mode of pro- 
 ceeding in relation to them, are circum- 
 stantially detailed by the parliamentary 
 historians of Aragon. See Berart. Dis- 
 curso sobre la Celebracion do Cortes, cap. 
 7._C'apmany, Prdctiea y Estilo, pp. 37-J4. 
 —Blancas, Modo de I'roceder, cap 14,—
 
 4S2 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 [SEO. n. 
 
 and Martel, Forma de Celebrar Cortes, 
 cap. 54-59. 
 
 *^ Blancas, Modo de Proceder, cap. 14. 
 — Yet Peter IV., in his dispute with the 
 justice Fernandez de Castro, denied this. 
 Zurita, Anales, torn. ii. fol. 170. 
 
 ■" Blancas, Modo de Proceder, ubi 
 supra. 
 
 ** As for example the ciudadanos hon- 
 rados of Saragossa. (Capmany, Prfi,ctica 
 y Estilo, p. 14.) A ciududano honrado in 
 Catalonia, and I presume the same in 
 Aragon, was a landholder, who lived on 
 his rents without being engaged in com- 
 merce or trade of any kind, answering to 
 the ¥renc\i proprietaire. See Capmany, 
 Mem. de Barcelona, torn. ii. Apend. no. 30. 
 
 ■*' Blancas, Modo de Proceder, fol. 102. 
 
 '" Not, however, it must be allowed, 
 without a manly struggle in its defence, 
 and which, in the early part of Charles 
 V.'s reign, in 1525, wrenched a promise 
 from the crown, to ans\^er all petitions 
 definitively, before the rising of Cortes. 
 The law still remains on the statute-book, 
 (Eecop. de las Leyes, lib. 6, tit. 7, ley 8,) a 
 sad commentary on the faith of princes. 
 
 =' Pr^ctica y EstUo, p. 14. 
 
 '' " y nos teneraos & eUos como buenos 
 vassallos y companeros." — Zurita, Ana- 
 les, lib. 7, cap. 17. 
 
 '•^ The noun "justicia" was made 
 masculine for the accommodation of this 
 magistrate, who was styled " el justicia."' 
 Antonio Perez, Relaciones, fol. 91. 
 
 ^* Blancas, Commentarii, p. 20.- Zm-i- 
 ta, Anales, tom. i. fol. 9. 
 
 ^^ Molinus, apud Blancas, Commen- 
 tarii, pp. S43, 344.— Fueros y Observan- 
 cias, tom. i. fol. 21, 25. 
 
 ^^ Blancas, Commentarii, p. 536. — The 
 principal of these jurisdictions was the 
 royal audience in which the king himself 
 presided in person. Ibid., p. 355. 
 
 '' Fueros y Observancias, tom. i. fol. 
 23, 60 et seq., 155, lib. 3, tit. DeManifesta- 
 tiouibus Personarum.— Also fol. 137 et 
 se.q., tit. 7, De Firmis Juris.— Blancas, 
 Commentarii, pp. 350, 351.— Zurita. An- 
 ales, hb. 10, cap. 37.— The first of these 
 processes was styled fi;rma de derecho, 
 the last, manifestacion. The Spanish 
 writers are warm in their encomiums of 
 these two provisions. "Quibus duobus 
 prsesidiis," says Blancas, '• ita nostras 
 reipublicae status continetur, ut nulla 
 pars communium fortunarum tutela va- 
 cua relinquatur." Both this author and 
 
 Zurita have amplified the details respect- 
 ing them, which the reader may find ex- 
 tracted, and in part translated by Mr. 
 Hallam, Middle Ages, vol. ii. pp. 75-77, 
 notes. When comjilex litigation became 
 more frequent, the Justice was allowed 
 one, afterwards two, and at a still later 
 period, in 1528, five lieutenants, as they 
 were called, who aided him in the dis- 
 charge of his onerous duties. Martel, 
 Forma de Celebrar Cortes, Notas de Uz 
 tan-oz. pp, 92-96.— Blancas, Commentarii, 
 pp. 361-366. 
 
 ^« Ibid., pp. 343, 346, 347.— Idem. Cor- 
 onaciones, pp. 200, 202.— Antonio Perer, 
 Relaciones, fol. 92. Sempere cites the 
 opinion of an ancient canonist, Canellas, 
 bishop of Huesca, as conclusive against 
 the existence of the vast powers imputed 
 by later commentators to the Justicia. 
 (Historie des Cortes, chap. 19.) The 
 vague, rha]3S0dical tone of the extract 
 shows it to be altogether undeserving of 
 the empha'iis laid on it ; not to add, that 
 it was written more than a century be- 
 fore the period, when the Justicia pos- 
 sessed the influence or the legal author- 
 ity claimed for him by Aragonese -nTiters, 
 — by Blaucas, in particular, from whom 
 Sempere borrowed the passage at second 
 hand. 
 
 ^^ The law alluded to runs thus, " Ne 
 quid autena damni detrimentive leges aut 
 libertates nostras patiantur, judex qui- 
 dam medius adesto, ad quern a Rege pro- 
 vocare, si aliquera laeserit, injuriasque 
 arcere si quas forsan Reipub. intulerit, 
 jus fasque esto." Blancas, Commen- 
 tarii, p. 26. 
 
 *° Such instances may be found in Zu- 
 rita, Anales, tom. ii. fol. 385, 414. — Blan- 
 cas, Commentarii, pp. 199, 203-206, 214, 
 225. — "When Ximenes Cerdan, the inde- 
 pendent Justice of John I., removed cer- 
 tain 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 inhabi- 
 tants of Saragossa, says Abarca, came 
 out in a body to receive him on his return 
 to the city, and greeted him as the de- 
 fender of their ancient and natiu"al liber- 
 ties. (Reyes de Aragon, tom. i. fol. 155.) 
 So openly did the Aragonese support 
 their magistrate in the boldest exercise 
 of his authority. 
 
 ^'- This occiu-red once under Peter III., 
 and twice under Alfonso V. (Zurita, 
 Anales, tom. iii. fol. 255. — Blancas, Com
 
 BBO. n.] 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 423 
 
 mentarii, pp. 174, 489, 499.) The Justice 
 was appointed by the king. 
 
 •2 Fueros y Observancias, torn. i. fol. 
 5S. 
 
 " Ibid., torn. i. fol. 25. 
 
 ** Ibid, torn. i. lib. 3, tit. Forum Inqui- 
 sltionis Officii Just. Arag., and ^om. ii. 
 fol. 37-41. — Blaucas, Commentarii, pp. 
 391-399. The examination wcs conducted 
 in the first instance before a court of four 
 inquisitors, as they were termed; who, 
 after a patient hearing of both sides, re- 
 ported the result of theu- examination to 
 a council of seventeen, chosen liice them 
 from the Cortes, from whose decision 
 there was no appeal. No lawyer was ad- 
 mitted into this council, lest the law 
 might be distorted by verbal quibbles, 
 says Blancas. The council, however, was 
 allowed the advice of two of the profes- 
 sion. They voted by ballot, and the ma- 
 jority decided. Such, after various mod- 
 ifications, were the regulations ultimately 
 adopted in 1461, or rather 1467. Robert- 
 eon appears to have confounded the 
 council of seventeen with the court of in- 
 quisition. See his History of Charles V., 
 vol. i. note 31. 
 
 *" Probably no nation of the period 
 would have displayed a temperance simi- 
 lar to that exhibited by the Aragonese at 
 the beginning of the fifteenth centui-y, in 
 1412; when the people, having been split 
 into factions by a contested succession, 
 agreed to refer the dispute to a commit- 
 tee 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 
 guided the determination of a private 
 suit, delivered an opinion, which was re- 
 ceived as obligatory on the whole nation. 
 
 *® See Zm-ita, Anales, lib. 8, cap. 29, — 
 and the admirable sentiments cited by 
 Blancas from the parliamentary acts, in 
 1451. Commentarii, p. SoO. 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 than in most other feudal 
 countries. " Era tan absolute su dominio 
 (of their lords) que podian mater con 
 hambre, sed, y f rio fi, sus vasallos de ser- 
 vidumbre." (Asso y Manuel, Instituci- 
 ones, p. 40, — also Blancas, Commentarii, 
 p. 309.) These serfs extorted, in an Insur- 
 rection, the recognition of certtiin rights 
 from their masters, on condition of pay- 
 
 ing a specified tax; whence the name 
 villanos de pamda. 
 
 •' Although the legislatures of the dif- 
 ferent states of the crown of Aragoa 
 were never united in one body when con- 
 vened iji the same town, yet they were so 
 averse to all apj^earance of incorporation, 
 that the monarch frequently appointed 
 for the places of meeting three distinct 
 towns, within their respective territories 
 and contiguous, in order that he might 
 pass the more exiseditiously from one to 
 the other. See Blancas, Modo de Proce- 
 der, cap. 4. 
 
 ^* It is indeed true, that Peter in., at 
 the request of the Valencians, appointed 
 an Aragonese knight Justice of that king- 
 dom, in \2SS. (Zurita, Anales, tom. i. fol. 
 281.) But we find no further mention of 
 this officer, or of the office. Nor have I 
 met with any notice of it in the details of 
 the Valencian constitution, compiled by 
 Capmany from various writers. (Prdc- 
 tica y Estilo, pp. 161-208.) An anecdote 
 of Ximenes Cerdan, recorded by Blancas, 
 (Commentarii, p. 214,) may lead one to 
 infer, that the places in Valencia, which 
 received the laws of Aragon, acknowl- 
 edged the jurisdiction of its Justicia. 
 
 "" Capmany, Priictica y Estilo, pp. 63- 
 214.— Capmany has collected copious ma- 
 terials, from a variety of authors, for the 
 parliamentary history of Catalonia and 
 Valencia, formmg a striking contrast to 
 the scantiness of infiirmation he was able 
 to glean respecting Castile. The indif- 
 ference of the Spanish writers, till very 
 recently, to the constitutional antiquities 
 of the latter kingdom, so much more im- 
 jjortant than the other states of the Pe- 
 ninsula, is altogether inexplicable. 
 
 'o Corbera, Cataluila lllustrada, (Nd- 
 poles, 1678,) lib. 1, c. 17.— Petrusde Marca 
 cited a charter of liaymoud Berenger, 
 count of Barcelona, to the city, as ancient 
 as 1025, confirming its former privileges. 
 See Marca Hispanica, sive Limes Hispani- 
 cus, (Parisiis, 1688,) Apend. no. 198. 
 
 " Navarrete, Discurso Hist6rico, apud 
 Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., tom. v. pp. 81, 
 82, 112, 113.— Capmany, Mem. de Barce- 
 lona, tom. i. part. 1, cap. 1, pp. 4,8, 10, 11. 
 
 ''- Mem. de Barcelona, part. 1, cap. 2, 
 3.— Capmany has given a register of the 
 consuls and of the nunieroHS stations, at 
 which they were established throughout 
 Africa and Europe, in thefourte(>nth and 
 fifteenth centuries, (tom. ii. Apend. no, 
 23.) These officers during the Middle
 
 424 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 [bec. n. 
 
 Ages discharged much more important 
 duties tlian at the present day, if we ex- 
 cept those few residing with the Barbary 
 powers. They settled the disputes aris- 
 ing between their countrymen, in the 
 ports where they wei'e established ; they 
 protected the trade of their own nation 
 with these ports ; and were employed in 
 adjusting commercial relations, treaties, 
 etc. In short, they filled in some sort 
 the post of a modern embassador, or 
 resident minister, at a period when this 
 functionary was only employed on ex- 
 traordinary occasions. 
 
 '^ Macpherson, Annals of Commerce, 
 (London, 1825,) vol. i. p. 655.— The woolen 
 manufacture constituted the principal 
 staple of Barcelona, (Capmany, Mem. de 
 Barcelona, tom. i. p. 241.) The Enghsh 
 sovereigns encom-aged the Catalan trad- 
 ers by considerable immunities to fre- 
 quent their ports during the fourteenth 
 century. Macpherson, ubi supra, pp. 
 502, 551, 588. 
 
 '* Heeren, Essai sur I'lnfluence des 
 Croisades, traduit par Villers, (Paris, 
 1808,) p. 376.— Capmany, Mem. de Barce- 
 lona, tom. i. p. 213, also pp. 170-180.— 
 Capmany fixes the date of the publication 
 of the Consulado del Mar at the middle 
 of the thirteenth century, under James I. 
 He discusses and refutes the claims of 
 the Pisans to precedence in this codifica- 
 tion. See his Pi-eliminary Discourse to 
 the Costumbres Marltimas de Barcelona. 
 
 " Navagiero, Viaggio, fol. 3.— L. Ma- 
 rineo styles it "the most beautiful city 
 he had ever seen, or to speak more cor- 
 rectly, in the whole world." (Cosas 
 Memorables, fol. 18.) Alfonso V., in one 
 of his ordinances, in 1438, calls it " urbs 
 venerabilis in egregiis templis, tuta ut in 
 optimis, pulchra in caeteris aedificiis,'" 
 etc. Capmany, Blem. de Barcelona, tom. 
 ii. Apend. no. 13. 
 
 ^" Capmany, Mem. de Barcelona, 
 Apend. no. 24. — The senate or great 
 council, though styled the "one hun- 
 dred," seems to have fluctuated at dif- 
 ferent times between that number and 
 double its amount. 
 
 '^ Corbera, Cataluna lUustrada, p. 84. 
 — Capmany, Mem. de Barcelona, tom. ii. 
 Apend. no. 29. 
 
 '* Capmany, Mem. de Barcelona, tom. 
 i. part. 3, p. 40, tom. iii. part. 2, pp. 317, 
 318. 
 
 '» Capmany, Mem. de Barcelona, tom. 
 i. part. 2, p. 187, — tom. ii. Apend. 30.— 
 
 Capmany says principal nobleza ; yet it 
 may be presumed that much the larger 
 proportion of these noble candidates for 
 office was drawn from the inferior class 
 of the ijrivileged orders, the knights and 
 hidalgos. The great barons of Catalonia, 
 fortified with ext<?nsive immunities and 
 wealth, lived on their estates in the coun- 
 try, probably little relishing the level- 
 ling spirit of the burghers of Barcelonia. 
 
 *" Barcelonia revolted and was twice 
 besieged by the royal arms under John 
 II.; once under Philip IV., tvv-ice under 
 Cliarles II', and twice under Philip V. 
 This last time, 1713-14, in v.-hich it held 
 out against the combined forces of France 
 and Spain under Marshal Berwick, is one 
 of the most memorable events in the 
 eighteenth centuiy. An interesting ac- 
 count of the siege may be found in Coxe's 
 Memoirs of the Kings of Spain of the 
 House of Bourbon, (London, 1815,) vol. ii. 
 chap. 21.— The late monarch, Ferdinand 
 VII., also had occasion to feel, that the 
 independent spirit of the Catalans did 
 not become extinct with their ancient 
 constitution. 
 
 *' Viaggio, fol. 3. 
 
 *^ Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, torn. ii. 
 fol. 183.— Zurita, Anales, tom. iii. lib. 12, 
 cap. 59. — The king turned his back on the 
 magistrates, who came to pay their re- 
 spects to him, on learning his intention 
 of quitting the city. He seems, however, 
 to have had the magnanimity to forgive, 
 perhaps to admire, the independent con- 
 duct of Fiveller ; for at his death, which 
 occurred very soon after, we find this 
 citizen mentioned as one of his executors. 
 See Capmany, Mem. de Barcelona, tom. 
 ii. Apend. 29. 
 
 ^^ The taxes were assessed in the ratio 
 of one-sixth on Valencia, two-sLxths on 
 Aragon, and three-sixths on Catalonia. 
 See Martel, Forma de Celebrar Cortes, 
 cap. 71. 
 
 *■* See the items specified by Capmany, 
 Mem. de Barcelona, tom. i. pp. 231, 232. 
 
 »* Idem, tom. i. pp. 221, 234.— Capmany 
 states, that the statute of Alfonso V. pro- 
 hibited "aU foreign ships from taking 
 cargoes in the ports of his doim'nions." 
 (See also Colec. Dipl.. tom. ii. no. 187.) 
 The object of this law, Uke that of the 
 British Navigation Act, was the encour- 
 agement of the national marine. It de- 
 viated, far, however, frona the sagacious 
 policy of the latter, which imposed no re- 
 striction on the exportation of domestic
 
 CH. I.] 
 
 PART I. — REIGN OP JOHN II. 
 
 425 
 
 pi'odiice to foreign countries, except, in- 
 deed, its axvu colonies. 
 
 «^ Andres, Dell' Origine, de' Progressi, 
 e dello Stato Attiiale d" Ogni Letteratura, 
 (Venezia, 1783.) part. 1, cap. 11. — Lampil- 
 las, Saggio Storico-Apologetico della Let- 
 teratura Spagnuola, (Geneva, 1778,) part. 
 1, dis. C, sec. 7. — Andres conjectures, and 
 Lampillas decides, in favor of Catalonia. 
 Arcades aiiibo; and the latter critic, the 
 worst possible authority on all questions 
 of national preference. 
 
 " Valaznuez. Origenes de la Poesia 
 Castellana, (Malaga, 1797,) pp. 20-22.— 
 AJidres, Letteratura, part. 1, cap. 11. — 
 Alfonso II., Peter II., Peter III., James 
 I., Peter IV., have all left compositions in 
 the Limousin tongue behind them; the 
 three former in verse; the two latter in 
 prose, setting forth the history of their 
 own time. For a particular account of 
 their respective productions, see Latassa. 
 (Escritores Aragoneses, tom. i. p. 175-179. 
 185-189, S'.S, 224, 212-248; tom. ii. p. 26,) 
 also Lanuza, (Historias Eclesifeticas y 
 Seculares de Aragon, [Zaragoza, 1622,j 
 tom. i. p. 553.) The Chronicle of James 
 I. is particularly esteemed for its fidelity. 
 
 »8 Whether Jordi stole from Petrarch, 
 or Petrarch from Jordi, has been matter 
 of hot debate between the Spanish and 
 French litterateurs. Sanchez, after a 
 careful examination of the evidence, 
 candidly decides against his country- 
 man. (Poeslas Castellanas, tom. i. pp. 
 81-84.) A competent critic in the Retro- 
 spective Review, (No. 7, art. 2.) who en- 
 joyed the advantage over Sanchez of 
 perusing a MS. copy of Jordi's original 
 poem, makes out a very plau.sable argu- 
 ment in favor of the originality of the 
 Valencian poet. After all, as the amount 
 stolen, or, to speak more reverently, bor- 
 rowed, does not exceed half a dozen 
 lines, it is not of vital importance to the 
 reputation of either poet. 
 
 89 The abate Andres lamented fifty 
 years ago, that the worms and moths 
 should be allowed to revel among the 
 precious relics of ancient Castilian litera- 
 ture. (Letteratura, torn. ii. p. .306.) Have 
 their revels been disturbed yet? 
 
 »" May4ns y Siscdr, Origenes de la Len- 
 gua Espailola, (Madrid, 1737,) tom. ii. pp. 
 323, 324.— Crescimbeni, Istoria della Vol- 
 gar Poesia, (Venezia, 1731,) tom. ii. p. 170. 
 — Marina, Hist, de Espaila, tom. i. p. 183. 
 —Velazquez, Poesia Castellana, pp. 23, 34 . 
 
 " Mayans y Siscar, Origenes, tom. ii. 
 pp. 325-327. 
 
 «" Andres. Letteratura, tom. iv. pp. 85, 
 86.— Capmany, Mem. de Rarcelona, tom. 
 ii. Apend. no. 16.— There were thirty two 
 chairs, or professorships, founded and 
 maintained at the expense of the city; 
 six of theology; six of jui-isprudence; five 
 of medicine; six of philosophy; four of 
 grammar; one of rhetoric; one of sur- 
 gei-y; one of anatomy; one of Hebrew, 
 and another of Greek. It is singular, 
 that none should have existed for the 
 Latin, so much more currently studied at 
 that time, and of so much more practical 
 application always, than either of the 
 other ancient languages. 
 
 °^ The Valencian, "the sweetest and 
 most graceful of the Limousin dialects," 
 says Mayans y Siscar, Origenes, tom. L 
 p. 58. 
 
 "* NicoMs Antonio, Bibliotheca, His- 
 pana Vetus. (Matriti. 1788.) tom. ii. p. 146. 
 —Andres, Letteratura, tom. iv. p. 87. 
 
 95 (jervantes, Don Quixote, (ed. de Pel- 
 licer, Madrid, 1787,) tom. i. p. 62.— Men- 
 dez, Typographia Espanola, (Madrid, 
 1796,) pp. 72-75.— Andres, Letteratura, ubi 
 supra.— Pellicer seems to take Martorell's 
 word in good earnest, that his book is 
 only a version from the Castilian. The 
 names of some of the most noted trouba- 
 dours are collected by Valazquez, Poesia 
 Castellana, (pp. 20-24.— Capmany, Mem.de 
 Barcelona, tom. ii. Apend. no. 5.) Some 
 extracts and pertinent criticisms on their 
 productions may be found by the Eng- 
 lish reader in the Retrospect ire Review, 
 (No. 7, art. 2.) It is to be regretted that 
 the author has not redeemed his pledge 
 of continmng his notices to the Castilian 
 era of Spanish poetry. 
 
 PART I.— CHAPTER I. 
 
 ' Sempere y Guarinos, Historia del 
 Luxo, y de las Leyes Smituarias de Es- 
 pafia, (Madrid, 1788,) tom. i. p. 171. 
 
 - Cr6nica de Enrique III., edicion df ki 
 Academia, (Madrid, 1780,) passim.— Cr6- 
 nica de Juan U., (Valencia, 1779.) p. 6. 
 
 ^ Cronica de Alvaro de Luna, edicion 
 de la Academia, (Madrid, 1784,) tit 3, 5, 
 68, 74.— Guzman, Generaeiones y Sem- 
 blanzas, (Madrid, 1775, ) cap. 3.3. li-l.- Abar- 
 ca, Reyes de Aragon, en Anales HistOri- 
 cos, (Madrid. 1682.) tom. i. fol. 227. -Cr6- 
 nica de .luan II., passim. — He posses.sed 
 sixty towns and fortresses, and kept 
 three tliousaiiil lances constantly in pay, 
 Oviedo, Quiiicuagcnas, MS. 
 
 * Ouatman, Generaeiones, cap. 33. —
 
 '426 
 
 PART I. — REION OF JOHN II. 
 
 [CH. 1. 
 
 Cr6nica de Don Juan II., p. 491, et alibi. 
 His complaisance for the favorite, in- 
 deed, must he admitted, if we believe 
 Guzman, to have been of a most extraor- 
 dinary kind " E lo que con mayor mara- 
 villa se puede deeir 6 oir, que aun en los 
 autos naturales se di6 asl & la ordenanza 
 del condestable, que seyendo 41 mozo bien 
 complexionado, 6 teniendo & la reyna su 
 muger mozay herniosa, si el condestable 
 se lo contradixiese, no iria & dormir & su 
 camadella." TJlsi supra. 
 
 ^ Marina, Teoria de las Cortes, (Mad- 
 rid, 1813,) torn. i. cap. 20,— torn. ii. pp. 
 216, 390, 391,— torn. iii. part. 2, no. 4.— 
 Capmany, PrActica y Estilo de Celebrar 
 Cortes en Aragon, Cataluna y Valencia, 
 (Madrid, 1821,) pp. 234, 235.— Sempere, 
 Histoire des Cortes d'Espagne, (Bor- 
 deaux, 1815,) ch. 18, 24. 
 
 * Several of this prince's laws for re- 
 dressing the alleged grievances are in- 
 corporated in the great code of Philip II., 
 (Recopilacion de las Leyes, [Madrid 1640,] 
 lib. 6, tit. 7, leyes 5, 7, 2,) which declares, 
 in the most unequivocal language, the 
 right of the commons to be consulted on 
 all important matters. " Porque en los 
 hechos arduos de nuestros reynos es ne- 
 cessario consejo de nuestros subditos, y 
 naturales, especialmente de los procura- 
 dores de las nuestras ciudades, villas, y 
 lugares de los nuestros reynos." It was 
 much easier to extort good laws from 
 this monarch, than to enforce them. 
 
 ' Marina, Historia de EspaiSa, (Mad- 
 rid, 1780,) tom. ii. p. 299. 
 
 * Marina, Teoria, ubi supra. 
 
 « Capmany, Pr4ctica y Estilo, p. 228. — 
 Sempere, Hist, des Cortes, chap. 19. — 
 Marina, Teoria, part. 1, cap. 16.— In 1656, 
 the city of Palencia was content to repur- 
 chase its ancient right of representation 
 from the crown, at an expense of 80,000 
 ducats. 
 
 '° Capmany, Pr&ctica y Estdo, p. 230. 
 — Sempere, Histoire des Cortes d'Espag- 
 ne, chap. 19. 
 
 " Marina, Teoria, tom. 1. p. 161. 
 
 ' = See the ample collections of Sanchez, 
 " Poesias Castellanas anteriores al Siglo 
 XV. " 4 tom . Madrid , 1 779-1 790. 
 
 ^' Guzman, Generaciones, cap. 33. — 
 Gomez de Cibdareal, Centon Epistolario, 
 (Madrid, 1775,) epist. 20, 49.— Cibdareal 
 has given us a specimen of this royal 
 criticism, which Juan de Mena, the sub- 
 ject of it, was courtier enough to adopt. I 
 
 '* Velazquez, Orlgenes de la Poesia 
 Castellana, (M&laga, 1797,) p. 45. — San- 
 chez, Poesias Castellanas, tom. i. p. 10.— 
 '■ The Cancioneros Generales, in print 
 and in manuscript," says Sanchez, 
 ' 'show the great number of dukes, counts, 
 marquises, and other nobles, who culti- 
 vated this art." 
 
 ^^ He was the grandson, not, as San- 
 chez supposes (tom. i. p. 15), the son, of 
 Alonso de Villena, the first marquis as 
 well as constable created in Castile, de- 
 scended from James II. of Aragon. (See 
 Dormer, Enmiendas y Advertencias de 
 Zurita, [Zaragoza, 1683,] pp. 371-376. His 
 mother was an .illegitimate daughter of 
 Henry H., of Castile. Guzman, Genera- 
 ciones, cap. 28. — Salazar de Mendoza, 
 Monarquia de Es^jana, (Madrid, 1770,) 
 tom. i. pp. 203. 3:^9. 
 
 ^« Guzman, Generaciones, cap. 28. — 
 Juan de Mena introduces VUlena into his 
 " Laberinto," in an agreeable stanza, 
 which has something of the mannerism 
 of Dante: 
 
 " Aquel claro padre aquel dulce fuente 
 aquel que en el castolo monte resuena 
 es don Enrique Seiior de Villena 
 honiia de Espaua y del siglo piesente," etc. 
 Juan de Mena, Obras, (Alcald, 1566,) fol. 
 138. 
 
 •' The recent CastiUan translators of 
 Bouterwek's History of Spanish Litera- 
 ture have fallen into an error in imput- 
 ing the beautifid caiicion of the "Que- 
 rella de Amor " to Villena. It was com- 
 posed by the Marquis of Santillana. 
 (Bouterwek, Historia de laLiteratura Es- 
 panola, traducida por Cortina y Hugalde 
 y MoUinedo, [Madrid, 1829,] p. 196, and 
 Sanchez, Poesias Castellanas, tom. i. pp. 
 38, 143.) The mistake into which Nicolas 
 Antonio had also fallen in supposing 
 Villena's "Trabajos de Hercules," writ- 
 ten in verse, has been subsequently cor- 
 rected by his learned commentator Bayer. 
 See Nicolds Antonio, Bibliotheca Hispana 
 Vetus, (Matriti. 1788,) tom. ii. p. 222, nota. 
 
 '^ Velazquez, Origenes de la Poesia 
 Castellana, p. 45. — Bouterwek, Literatura 
 EspaSola, trad, de Cortina y Mollinedo, 
 nota S. 
 
 '" See an abstract of it in Mayans y 
 Siscar, Origines de la Lengua Espafiola, 
 (Madrid, 1737,) tom. ii. pp. 321 et seq. 
 
 '° Zurita, Anales de la Corona de Ara- 
 gon, (Zaragoza, 1669,) tom. iii. p. 227.^ 
 Guzman, Generaciones, cap. 28. 
 
 " Centon Epistolario, epist. 06. — The
 
 OH. I.] 
 
 PART I. — REIGN OF JOHN II. 
 
 427 
 
 bishop endeavored to transfer the blame 
 of the conflagration to tlie king. There 
 can be httle doubt, however, that the 
 good father infused the suspicions of 
 necromancy into his master's bosom. 
 "The angels," he says in one of his 
 works, "who guard Paradise, presented a 
 treatise on magic to one of the posterity 
 of Adam, from a copy of which Villena 
 derived his science." (See Juan de Mena, 
 Obras, fol. 1.39, glosa.) One would think 
 that such an orthodox source might have 
 justified Villena in the use of it. 
 
 " Comp. Juan de Mena, Obras, copl. 
 127, 128; and Nic. Antonio, Bibhotheca 
 Vetus, tom. ii. p. 220. 
 
 " Pulgar, Claros Varones de Castilla, 
 y Letras, (Madrid, 1755,) tit. 4.— Nic. An- 
 tonio, Bibliotheca Vetus, lib. 10, cap. 9.— 
 Quincuagenas de Gonzalo de Oviedo, 
 MS., batalla 1, quinc. 1, dial. 8. 
 
 '* Garcilasso de la Vega, Obras, ed. de 
 Herrera, (1580,) pp. 75, 76.— Sanchez, Poe- 
 sfas (Jastellanas, tom. i. p. 21.— Boscan, 
 Obras, (1543,) fol. 19.— It must be admit- 
 ted, however, that the attempt was pre- 
 mature, and that it required a riper stage 
 of the language to give a permanent 
 character to the innovation. 
 
 " See Sanchez, Poeslas Castellanas, 
 tom. i. pp. 1-119.— A copious catalogue of 
 the marquis de Santillana's writings is 
 given in the same volume, (pp. 33 et seq.) 
 Several of his poetical pieces are collect- 
 ed in the Cancionero General, (Anvers, 
 1573,) fol. 34 et seq. 
 
 *• Pulgar, Claros Varones, tit. 4.— 
 Salazar de Mendoza, Monarqula, tom. i. 
 p. 218.— Idem, Orlgen de las Dignidades 
 Seglares de Castilla y Leon, (Madrid, 
 1794,) p. 285.— Oviedo makes the marquis 
 much older, seventy-five years of age, 
 when he died. He left, besides daugh- 
 ters, six sons, who all became the found- 
 ers of noble and powerful houses. See 
 the whole genealogy, in Oviedo, Quin- 
 cuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 8. 
 
 *' "Flor de saber y cabellerla." El 
 Laberinto, copla 114. 
 
 '* Nic. Antonio, Bibliotheca Vetus, 
 tom. ii. pp. 205 et seq. 
 
 '* Cibdareal, Centon Epistolario, epist. 
 47, 49. 
 
 '" See Velazquez, Poesia Castellana, 
 p. 49. 
 
 " A collection of them is incorporated 
 in the Cancionero General, fol. 41 et seq. 
 
 »» Castro, Biblioteca Espafiola, (Mad- 
 
 rid, 1781,) tom. i. pp. 266, 267.— This in- 
 teresting document, the most primitive of 
 all the Spanish cuncioneros, notvvith- 
 standhig its local position in the library is 
 specified by Castro with great precision, 
 eluded the search of the industrious 
 translators of Bouterwek, who think it 
 may have disappeared during the French 
 invasion. Literatura Espafiola, trad, de 
 Cortina y Mollinedo, p. 205, nota Ilh. 
 
 ^^ See these collected in Castro, Biblio- 
 teca Espanola, tom. ii. p. 205 et seq. —The 
 veneration entertained for the poetic art 
 in that day may be conceived from 
 Baena's wliimsical prologue. " Poetry," 
 he says, " or the gay science, is a very 
 subtile and delightsome composition. It 
 demands in him, who would hope to ex- 
 cel in it, a curious invention, a sane judg- 
 ment, a various scholarship, familiarity 
 vi-ith courts and public affairs, high 
 birth and breeding, a temperate, cour- 
 teous, and liberal disposition, and, in fine, 
 honey, sugar, salt, freedom, and hilarity 
 in his discourse." p. 268. 
 
 =■* Castro, BibUoteca EspaHola, tom. i. 
 p. 273. 
 
 *° Perhaps the most conspicuous of 
 these historical compositions for mere 
 literary execution is the Chronicle of 
 Alvaro de Luna, to which I have had oc- 
 casion to refer, edited in 1784, by Flores, 
 the diligent secretary of the Royal Acad- 
 emy of History. He justly commends it 
 for the purity and harmony of its diction. 
 The loyalty of the chronicler seduces him 
 sometimes into a swell of panegyric, 
 which may be thought to savor too 
 strongly of the current defect of Castil- 
 iau prose; but it more frequently im- 
 parts to his narrative a generous glow of 
 sentiment, raising it far above tlie life- 
 less details of ordinary history, and oc- 
 casionally even to positive eloquence. 
 Nic. Antonio, in the tenth book of his 
 great repository, has assembled the hio- 
 gi-aphical and bibUographical notices of 
 the various Spanish authors of the fif- 
 teenth century, whose labors difTused a 
 glimmering of Ught over their own age, 
 which lias become faint in the superior 
 illumination of the succeeding. 
 
 =>« Sempere in his Historia del Luxe, 
 (tom. i. p. 177,) has published an extract 
 from an unprinted manuscript of the 
 celebrated marquis of Villena, entitled 
 Triunfo de las Doilaa. in which, advert- 
 ing to the pet its-mo it res of his time, he 
 recapitulates the fa><hionablo arts em-
 
 428 
 
 PART I.— REIGN OF JOHN U. 
 
 [CH. n. 
 
 ployed by them for the embellishment of 
 the person, with a degree of minuteness, 
 which might edify a modern dandy. 
 
 " Cr6nica de Juan 11., p. 499.— Faria y 
 Sousa, Europa Portuguesa, (1679,) tom. 
 ii. pp. 335, 372. 
 
 ^* Cr6nica de Alvaro de Luna, tit. 128. 
 — Cr6nica dQ Juan II., pp. 457, 4tJ0, 572. — 
 Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. fol. 
 227, 228.— Garibay, Compendio Historial 
 de las Chr6nicas de Espana, (Barcelona, 
 1628,) tom. ii. p. 493. 
 
 »* Cr6nica de Alvaro de Lima, tit. 128. 
 — ^What a conirast to all this is afforded 
 by the vivid portrait, sketched by Joan 
 de Mena, of the constable in the noon- 
 tide of his glory. 
 
 " E^te caualga sobre la f ortuna 
 7 doma su cuello con asperaj riendas 
 y aunque del teuga tan inuchas de prendas 
 ella non le osa tocar de ninguna," etc. 
 Laberinto, coplas 236 et seq. 
 
 *" Cibdareal, Ctenton Epistolario, ep. 
 103. — Cr6nica de Juan II. , p. 564.— Cr6nica 
 de Alvaro de Luna, tit. 128, and Apend. 
 p. 458. 
 
 *' Entitled "Doctrinal de Privados." 
 See the Cancionero General, fol. 37 et seq. j 
 ^In the following stanza, the constable 
 is made to morahze with good effect on 
 the instability of worldly grandeur : 
 " Que se hizo la moneda 
 
 que guaide para mis danos 
 
 tantos tiempos tantos anos 
 
 plata joyas oro y seda 
 
 y de todo no me queda 
 
 slno este cadahalso ; 
 
 mundo male mundo falso 
 
 no ay quien contigo pueda." 
 
 Manrique has the same sentiments in his 
 exquisite "Coplas." I give Longfellow's 
 version, as spirited as it is literal : 
 
 "Spain's haughty Constable,— the great 
 And gallant Master,— ci-uel fate 
 
 Stripped him of all. 
 Breathe not a whisper of his pride, 
 He on the gloomy scalfold died. 
 
 Ignoble fall ! 
 The countless treasures of his care, 
 Hamlets and villas green and fair, 
 
 His mighty power,— 
 What were they all but grief and shame, 
 Tears and a broken heart,— when came 
 The parting hour ! " 
 
 Stanza 21. 
 
 *' Cibdareal, Centon Epistolario, ep. 
 103. — Cr6nica de Alvaro de Lima, tit. 128. 
 
 ■*3 Cr6nica de Juan II., p. 576.— Cibda- 
 real, Centon Epistolario, epist. 105. There 
 has been considerable discrepancy, even 
 among contemporary writers, both as to 
 the place and the epoch of Isabella's 
 
 birth, amounting, as regards the latter, 
 to nearly two years. I have adopted the 
 conclusion of Seiior Clemenctn, formed 
 from a careful collation of the various 
 authorities, in the sixth volume of the 
 Memorias de la Real Academia de Ilisto- 
 ria, (Madrid, 1821,) Ilust. 1, pp. 56-60. Is- 
 abella was descended both on the father's 
 and mother's side from the famous John 
 of Gaimt, duke of Lancaster. See Florez, 
 Memorias de las Reynas Cath61icas, (2d 
 ed. Madrid, 1770,) tom. ii. pp. 743, 787. 
 
 PART I.— CHAPTER H. 
 
 ' The reader who may be curious in 
 this matter will find the pedigree exhibit- 
 ing the titles of the several competitors 
 to the crown given by Mr. Hallam. (State 
 of Europe dm-ing the Middle Ages, [2d 
 ed. London, 1819,] vol. ii. p. 60, note.) The 
 claims of Ferdinand were certainly not 
 derived from the usual laws of descent. 
 
 = The reader of Spanish history often 
 experiences embarrassment from tue 
 identity of names in the various princes 
 of the Peninsula. Thus the John, men- 
 tioned in the text, afterwards John U., 
 might be easily confounded with his 
 namesake and contemporary, John II., 
 of Castile. The genealogical table, at the 
 beginning of this History, will show their 
 relationship to each other. 
 
 ^ His grandfather, Charles IH., crea- 
 ted this title in favor of Carlos, appro- 
 priating it as the designation henceforth 
 of the hen- apparent.— Aleson, Anales del 
 Reyno de Navarra, contin. de Moret, 
 (Pamplona, 1766,) tom. iv. p. 398.— Sala- 
 zar de Mendoza, Monarqula, tom. ii. p. 
 331. 
 
 * See Part I. Chap. 3, Note 5, of this 
 History. 
 
 ^ This fact, vaguely and variously re- 
 ported by Spanish vrriters, is f uUy estab- 
 Ushed by Aleson, who cites the original 
 instrument, contained in the archives of 
 the counts of Lerin. Anales de Navarra, 
 tom. iv. pp. 354, 365. 
 
 * See the reference to the original 
 document in Aleson. (Tom. iv. pp. 365, 
 366.) This industrious writer has estab- 
 lished the title of Prince Carlos to Na- 
 varre, so frequently misunderstood or 
 misrepresented by the national histo- 
 rians, on an incontestable basis. 
 
 ' Ibid., tom. iv. p. 467. 
 
 ^ See Part I. Chap. 3, of this work. 
 
 * GaiUard errs in referring the origin 
 of these factions to this epoch. (HiS'
 
 CH. n.] 
 
 PAET I. — REIGN OF JOHN II. 
 
 429 
 
 toire de la Rivalit6 de France et de I'Es- 
 pagne, [Paris, 1801,] torn. iii. p. 227.) 
 Aleson quotes a proclamation of John in 
 relation to them in the Hfetime of Queen 
 Blanche. Annales de Navarra, torn. iv. 
 p. 494. 
 
 »" Zurita, Anales, tom. iii. fol. 278.— 
 Lucio Marineo Siculo, Coronista de sus 
 Magestades, Las Cosas Memorables de 
 Espaiia, (Alcala de Henares, 1539,) fol. 
 104. — Aleson, Anales de Navarra, tom. iv. 
 pp. 494-498. 
 
 11 Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. 
 fol. 223. — Aleson, Anales de Navarra, 
 tom. iv. pp. 501-503. — L. Marineo, Cosas 
 Memorables, fol. 105. 
 
 1- Compendio, tom. iii. p. 419.— L. Mari- 
 neo describes the heavens as uncommon- 
 ly serene at the moment of Ferdinand's 
 birth. " The sun, which had been ob- 
 scured with clouds during the whole day, 
 suddenly broke forth with unwonted 
 splendor. A crown was also beheld in 
 the sky, composed of various brilhant 
 colors 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." (Cosas Memorables, fol. 
 153.) Garibay postpones the nativity of 
 Ferdinand to the year 1453, and L. Mari- 
 neo, who ascertains with curious pre- 
 cision even the date of his conception, 
 fixes his birth in 14.50. (fol. 153.) But 
 Alonso de Palencia in his History, (Ver- 
 dadera Coronica de Don Enrique IV., 
 Rei de Castilla y Leon, y del Rei Don 
 Alonso su Hermano, MS.) and Andres 
 Bemaldez, Cura de Los Palacios, (His- 
 toria de los Reyes CatOUcos, MS., c. 8,) 
 both of them contemporaries, refer this 
 event to the period assigned in the text ; 
 and, as the same epoch is adopted by the 
 accurate Zurita, (Anales, tom. iv. fol. 9,) 
 I have given it the preference. 
 
 i» Zurita, Anales tom. iv. fol. 3^8.— 
 Aleson, Anales de Navarra, tom. iv. pp. 
 508-536.— L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, 
 fol. 105. 
 
 1* Giannone, Istoria Civile del Regno 
 di NapoH, (Milano, 1823,) lib. 20, c. 7.— 
 Ferreras, Histoire G6nerale d'Espagne, 
 trad, par D'Hermilly, (Paris, 1751,) tom. 
 vii. p. 60.— L'Histoire du Royaume de 
 Navarre, par Tun des Secretaires Inter- 
 prettes de sa Majesty, (Paris, 1596,) p. 468. 
 
 *' Compare the narrative of the Nea- 
 poUtan historians, Summonte, (Historia 
 della Cittd, e Regno di Napoli, [Napoli, 
 
 1675,] lib. 5, c. 2,) and Giannone, (Istoria 
 Civile, lib. 26, c. 7,— lib. 27. Introd.,) with 
 the opposite statements of L. Marineo, 
 Cosas Memorables, (fol. 106,) liimself a 
 contemporary, Aleson, (Anales de Navar- 
 ra, tom. iv. p. 546,) and other Spanish 
 writers. 
 
 i" Enriquez del Castillo, Cr6nica de En- 
 rique el Quarto, (Madrid, 1787,) cap. 43. 
 
 '' Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 97.— Nic. 
 Antonio, Bibhotheca Vetus, tom. ii. p. 
 282.— L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 
 106.— Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. 
 fol. 250. — Carlos bargained with Pope 
 Pius n. for a transfer of this library, par- 
 ticularly rich in the ancient classics, to 
 Spain, which was eventually defeated by 
 his death. Zurita, who visited the monas- 
 tery containing it nearly a century after 
 this period, found its inmates possessed 
 of many traditionary anecdotes respect- 
 ing the prince during his seclusion among- 
 them. 
 
 '^ Aleson, Anales de Navarra, tom. iv. 
 pp. 548-554.— Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, 
 tom. ii. fol. 251. — Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. 
 fol. 60-69. 
 
 •^ Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, ubi supra. 
 — Ziu-ita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 70-75. — Ale- 
 son, Anales de Narvarra, tom. iv. p. 556. 
 
 '" L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 
 108.— Zurita, Anales, lib. 17, cap. 8. — Ale- 
 son, Anales de Navarra, tom. iv. pp. 556, 
 557. — Castillo, Cr6nica, cap. 27. 
 
 '1 L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 
 108, 109. — Abarca, Rejes de Aragon, tom. 
 ii. fol. 252.— Zurita, Anales, lib. 17, cap. 
 45. — Aleson, Anales de Navarra, tom. ii. 
 p. 357. 
 
 ''^ Aleson, Anales de Navarra, tom. ii. 
 p. 358.— Zurita, Anales, lib. 17, cap. 6. — 
 Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. fol. 
 2.53. — L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 
 111. 
 
 ^^ Zurita, Anales, lib. 17, cap. 6.— L. 
 Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 111. 
 
 »* Castillo, Cronica, cap. 28.— Abarca, 
 Reyes de Aragon, fol. 253, 254.— L. Mari- 
 neo, Cosas Memorables, fol. Ill, 112. — 
 Aleson, Anales de Navarra, tom. iv. pp. 
 559, 560.— The inhabitants of Tarraca 
 closed their gates upon the queen, and 
 rung the bells on her approach, the sig- 
 nal of al.-irm on the appearance of an 
 enemy, or for the pursuit of a malefactor. 
 
 =^ Alonso de Palencia, Cr6nica, MS., 
 part. 2, cap. 51.— L. Marineo, Cosas Mem 
 orables, fol. 114.— Aleson, Anales do N»-
 
 430 
 
 PART I.- REIGiy OF JOHN II. 
 
 [CH. n. 
 
 varra, torn. iv. pp. 661 563,— Zurita. Ana- 
 les, cap. 19, 24. 
 
 "" L. Marineo, Cosas Meraorables, fol. 
 106.— "For quanto era la templanga y 
 mesura de aquel principe ; tan grande el 
 concierto y su crianga y costumbres, la 
 limpieza de .su vida, su liberalidad y mag- 
 nlflcencia, y finalmente sn dulce conver- 
 sacion, que ninguna cosa en el faltava de 
 aquellas que perteneseen a recta vivir; y 
 que arman el verdadero y perf ecto prin- 
 cipe y senor." 
 
 =' Gundisalvus Garsias, apud Nic An- 
 tonio, Bibliotheca Vetus, torn. ii. p. 281. 
 
 "^ Nic. Antonio, Bibliotheca Vetus, 
 torn. ii. pp. 281, 282.— Marina, Hist, de Es- 
 paiia, torn. ii. p. 434. 
 
 " This treaty was signed at Olit in Na- 
 varre, April 12th, 1462.— Zurita, Anales, 
 lib. 17, cap. 38, 39.— Gaillard, Rivalitg, 
 torn. iii. p. 235.— Gaillard confounds it 
 with the subsequent one made in the 
 month of May, near the town of Salva- 
 tierra in Bearne. 
 
 '" Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. vli 
 p. 110. 
 
 '' Hist, du Royaume de Navarre, p. 
 496.— Aleson, Anales de Navarra, tom. iv. 
 pp. 590-593.— Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, 
 tom. ii. fol. 258, 259.— Zurita, Anales, Ub. 
 17, cap. 38. 
 
 ^=' Lebrija, De Bello Navariensi, (Gran- 
 atas, 1545,) hb. 1, cap. 1, fol. 74.— Aleson, 
 Anales de Navarra, ubi supra.— Zurita! 
 Anales, lib. 17, cap. 38.— The Spanish his- 
 torians are not agreed as to the time or 
 even mode of Blanche's death. All con- 
 cur, however, in attributing it to assas- 
 sination, and most of them, with the 
 learned Antonio Lebrija, a contempo- 
 rary, (loc. cit.) in imputing it to poison. 
 The fact of her death, which Aleson, on 
 I know not what authority, refers to the 
 2d of December, 14G4, was not pubhcly 
 disclosed till some months after its occur- 
 rence, when disclosure became necessary 
 in consequence of the proposed interposi- 
 tion of the Navarrese Cortes. 
 
 " Alon.so de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., 
 part. 2, cap. 51.— Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. 
 fol. 98.— Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. 
 ii. fol. 250.— Aleson, Anales de Navarra. 
 tom. iv. pp. 503 et seq.— L. Blarineo, Co- 
 sas Bleraorables, fol. 114,— According to 
 Lanuza, who wrote nearly two centuries 
 after the death of Carlos, the flesh upon 
 his right arm, which had been amputa- 
 ted for the purpose of a more conven- 
 ient application to the diseased mem- 
 
 bers of the pilgrims who visited hii 
 shrine, remained in his day in a perfect- 
 ly sound and healthful state ! (Historias 
 Ecclesidsticas y Seculares de Aragon, 
 [Zaragoza, 1622,] tom. i. p. 553.) Aleson 
 wonders that any should doubt the truth 
 of miracles, attested by the monks of the 
 very monastery in which Carlos was in- 
 terred. 
 
 '* L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 
 116.— Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., 
 part. 2, cap. 51,— Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. 
 fol. 113. The Spaniards, deriving the 
 knowledge of artillery from the Arabs, 
 had become familiar with it before the 
 other nations of Christendom. The 
 afflrmatiou of Zurita, however, that 5,000 
 balls were fired from the battery of the 
 besiegers at Geroua in one day, is per- 
 fectly absurd. So little was the science 
 of gunnei-y advanced in other parts of 
 Europe at this period, and indeed later, 
 that it was usual for a fleld-piece not to 
 be discharged more than twice in the 
 course of an action, if we may credit 
 Machiavelli, who, indeed, recommends 
 dispensing with the use of artillery alto- 
 gether. Arte della Guerra, lib. 3. (Opere, 
 Genova, 1798.) 
 
 =' Alonso de Palencia. Cor6nica, MS., 
 part. 2, c. 51.— L. Marineo, Cosas Memo- 
 rabies, fol. 116.— Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. 
 fol. 113.— Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. 
 ii. fol. 259. 
 
 ^^ Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 111.— 
 Another 100,000 crowns were to be paid in 
 case further assistance should be required 
 from the French monarch after the re- 
 duction of Barcelona. This treaty has 
 been incorrectly reported by most of the 
 French and all the Spanish historians 
 whom I have consulted, save the accurate 
 Zurita. An abstract from the original 
 documents, compiled by the Abb6 Le- 
 grand, has been given by M. Petitot in his 
 recent edition of the Collection des M6- 
 moires relatifs k I'Histoire de France, 
 (Paris, 1836,) tom. xi. Introd. p. 245. 
 
 ^' A French lance, or man at arms, of 
 that day, according to L. Marineo, was 
 accompanied by two horsemen ; so that 
 the whole contingent of cavalry to be 
 furnished on this occasion amounted to 
 2,100. (Cosas Memorables, fol. 117.) Noth- 
 ing could be more indeterminate than 
 the complement of a lance in the Middle 
 Ages. It is not unusual to find it reck- 
 oned at Ave or six horsemen. 
 
 ' Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 118-11&
 
 CH. n.] 
 
 PART I.- REIGN OF JOHN II. 
 
 431 
 
 — Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., 
 part. 2, cap. 1. 
 
 " In conformity with the famous ver- 
 dict given by Louis XI. at Bayonne, April 
 231, 1463, previously to the interview be- 
 tween him and Henry IV. on the .shores 
 of the Bidassoa. See Part. I. Chap. 3. of 
 this History. 
 
 *" This was the battle-ground of Julius 
 Caesar in his wars with Pompey. See his 
 ingenious military manoeuvre as simply 
 narrated in his own Commentaries, (De 
 Bello Civili, torn. i. p. 54,) and by Lucan, 
 (Pharsaha, lib. 4,) with his usual swell of 
 hyperbole. 
 
 " The cold was so intense at the siege 
 of Amposta, that serpents of an enormous 
 magnitude are reported by L. Marineo to 
 have descended from the mountains, and 
 taken refuge in the camp of the besieg- 
 ers. Portentous and supernatural voices 
 were frequently heard diu-ing the nights. 
 Indeed the superstition of the soldiers ap- 
 pears to have been so lively as to have 
 prepared them for seeing and hearing 
 any thing. 
 
 " Faria y Sousa, Europa Portuguesa, 
 tom. ii. p. 390.— Alonso de Palencia, MS., 
 part. 3, cap. 60, 01.— Castillo, Cronica, pp. 
 43, 44, 46, 49, 50, 54.— Zmita, Anales, tom. 
 ii. fol. 110, 124, 127, 128, 130, 137, 147.— M. 
 La Clede states, that "Don Pedro no 
 sooner arrived in Catalonia, than he was 
 poisoned." (Histoire G6n6rale de Portu- 
 gal, [Paris. 1735,] tom. iii. p. 245.) It must 
 have been a very slow poison. He ar- 
 rived January 21st, 1404, and died June 
 29th, 1460. 
 
 *^ Sir Walter Scott, in his "Anne of 
 Geierstein," has brought into full relief 
 the ridiculou.s side of Rene's character. 
 The good king's fondness for poetry and 
 the arts, however, although showing it- 
 self occasionally in puerile eccentricities, 
 may compare advantageously with the 
 coarse appetites and mischievous activ- 
 ity of most of the contemporary princes. 
 After all, the best tribute to his worth 
 was the earnest attachment of his peo- 
 ple. His biography has been well and 
 dihgently compiled by the viscount of 
 Villeneuve Bargemont, (Histoire de Ren6 
 d'Anjou, Paris, 1825,) who has, however, 
 indulged in greater detail tlian was per- 
 haps to liave been desired by Ren6, or 
 his readers. 
 
 ** Comines says of him, "A tons alar- 
 mes c'estoit le premier homme armi'', et 
 lie toutes pieces, et son cheval tousjours 
 
 bard(5. H portoit un habUlement qu» 
 ces conducteurs portent en Italie, et sem- 
 bloit bien prince et chef de gueiTe ; et y 
 avoit d'ob^issance autant que monseig- 
 neur de Charolois, et luy obeissoit tout 
 Post de meilleur cceur, car d, la verite il 
 estoit digne d'estre honorg." PhUippe de 
 Comines, M6moires, apud Petitot ; (Paris, 
 1826,) liv. 1, chap. 11. 
 
 *^ Villeneuve Bargemont, Hist, de 
 Ren4, tom. ii. pp. 168, 169.- Histoire de 
 Louys XI., autrementdicte LaChronique 
 Scandaleuse, par un Greffler de IHostel 
 de Ville de Paris, (Paris, 1020,) p. 1 15.— 
 Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 150, ].>i.— 
 Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., jiart. 
 2, cap. 17. — Palencia swells the nmnbers 
 of the French in the service of the duke 
 of Lorraine to 20,000. 
 
 ■'" L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 
 139.— Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 148, 149, 
 158. — Aleson, Anales de Navarra, tom. iv. 
 pp. 611-013.— Duclos, Hist, de Louis X_, 
 (Amsterdam, 1746.> tom. u. p. 114.— Mem. 
 de Comines, Introd. p. 258, apud Petitot. 
 
 *' Villeneuve Bargemont, Hist, de Re- 
 n6, tom. ii. pp. 182, 183. L. Marineo, fol. 
 140.— Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 1.53-164, 
 — Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. u. rey. 
 29, cap. 7. 
 
 ** Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., 
 part. 2, cap. 88.— L. Marineo, Cosas Memo- 
 rabies, fol. 143. Aleson, Anales de Navar- 
 ra, tom. iv. p. 609.— The queen's death was 
 said to have been caused by a cancer. 
 According to Aleson aud some otner 
 Spanish writers, Joan was heard several 
 times, in her last illness, to exclaim, in 
 allusion, as was supposed, to her assassi- 
 nation of Carlos, "Alas! Ferdinand, how- 
 dear thou hast cost tliy mother : " I find 
 no notice of this improliable confession 
 in any contemporary author. 
 
 ** Marina, Hist, de Espana, tom. ii. pp. 
 459, 460.— L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, 
 fol. 141. — Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, 
 MS., cap. 88. 
 
 '^ Villeneuve Bargemont, Hist. deRen6, 
 tom. ii. pi>. 182, 333, 334.— L. Marineo, Co- 
 sas Memorables, fol. 142. — Alonso de Pa- 
 lencia, Coronica, part. 2, cap. 39.— Zurita, 
 Anales, tom. iv. fol. 178. — Accordhig to 
 M. de Villeneuve Bargemont, the prin- 
 cess Isabella's hand had been offered to 
 the duke of Lorraine, and tlie envoy des- 
 patched to notify liis acceptance of it, on 
 arriving at tlie court of Castile, received 
 from the lips of Henry TV. the first tid- 
 in;Ts of his master's death, (tom. ii. p.
 
 432 
 
 PART I. — CASTILE UNDER HENRY TV. 
 
 [CH. m. 
 
 184.) 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 mar- 
 riage recorded in Mem. de la Acad, de 
 Hist., torn. vi. Apend. no. 4. 
 
 *• Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., 
 part. 2, cap. 29, 4.5.— Zurita, Anales, torn. 
 iv. fol. ISO-ias.— Abarca, Reyes de Ara- 
 gon, rey. 29, cap. 29. 
 
 *^ L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 
 144, 147.— Zurita, Anales, torn. iv. fol. 187, 
 188. — Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., 
 part. 2, cap. 1. 
 
 PART I.— CHAPTER HI. 
 
 ' " Nil pudet assuetos sceptris : mitissima 
 sors est 
 Kegnorum sub rege novo." 
 
 Lucan. Pharsalia, lib. 8. 
 
 ' Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, 
 quinc. 1, dial. 8.— Rodericus Sanctius, His- 
 toria Hispanica, cap. 38, 39.— Pulgar, Cla- 
 res Varones, tit. 1. —Castillo, Cr6nica, i. 
 20.— Guzman, Generaciones, cap. 33.— Al- 
 though Henry's lavish expenditure, par- 
 ticularly on works of architecture, gained 
 him in early life the appellation of "the 
 Liberal," he is better known on the roll 
 of Castilian sovereigns by the less flatter- 
 ing title of "the Impotent." 
 
 ' Zufiiga, Anales Eclesidsticos y Secu- 
 lares de Sevilla, (Madrid, 1607,) p. 344.— 
 Castillo, Cr6nica, cap. 20.— Marina, Hist. 
 de Espana, tom. ii. pp. 415, 419.— Alonso 
 de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., part. 1, cap. 
 14 ot seq.— The surprise of Gibraltar, the 
 imhappy source of feud between the 
 families of Guzman and Ponce de Leon, 
 did not occur till a later period, 1462. 
 
 * Such was his apathy, says Marina, 
 that he would subscribe his name to 
 public ordinances, without taking the 
 trouble to acquaint himself with their 
 contents. Hist, de Espana, tom. ii. p. 42.3. 
 
 ^ Pulgar, Cr6nica de los Reyes CatoU- 
 cos, (Valencia, 1780,) cap. 2.— Alonso de 
 Palencia, Corunica, MS., part, 1, cap. 4.— 
 Aleson, Anales de Navarra, tom. iv. pp. 
 519, 520.— The marriage between Blanche 
 and Henry was publicly declared void by 
 the bishop of Segovia, confa-med by the 
 archbishop of Toledo, "por iinpotencia 
 respectiva, owing to some malign influ- 
 ence!" 
 
 * La Clfide, Hist, de Portugal, tom. iii. 
 pp. 325, 345.— Florez, Reynas Cath61icas, 
 tom. ii. pp. 763, 760.— Alonso de Palencia, 
 CorOnica, MS., part. 1, cap. 20, 21.— It 
 does not appear, however, whom Beltran 
 
 de la Cueva indicated as the lady of his 
 love on this occasion. (See Castillo, Cr^n- 
 ica, cap. 23, 21.) Two anecdotes may be 
 mentioned as characteristic of the gal- 
 lantry of the times. The archbishop of 
 Seville concluded a superb fete, given in 
 honor of the royal nuptials, by introduc- 
 ing on the table two vaces 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 commemo- 
 ration of so distinguished an honor, 
 never to dance \^^th any other woman. 
 
 ' Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., 
 cap. 42, 47. — Castillo, Cr6nica, cap. 23. 
 
 ^ Alonso de Palencia, Corfinica, MS., 
 cap. 35. — Sempere, Hist, del Luxo, tom. 
 i. p. 183.— Idem, Hist, des Cortos, ch. 19. 
 —Marina, Teoria, part. 1, cap. 20,— part. 
 2, pp. 390, 391.— Zufiiga, Anales de Se- 
 villa, pp. 346, 349.— The papal buUs of 
 crusade issued on these occasions, says 
 Palencia, contained among other indul- 
 gences 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 casu- 
 ists doubted the validity of such a bull. 
 But it was decided after due examma- 
 tion, that, as the holy father possessed 
 plenary power of absolution of all offen- 
 ces committed upon earth, and as purga- 
 tory is situated upon earth, it properly 
 fell within his jm-isdiction, (cap. 32.) 
 Bulls of crusade were sold at the rate of 
 200 maravedies each ; and it is computed 
 by the sanie historian, that no less thaa 
 4,000,000 maravedies were amassed by 
 this traffic in Castile, in the space of four 
 years 1 
 
 ^ Saez, Monedas de Enrique IV., (Mad- 
 rid, 1805,) pp. 2-5.— Alonso de Palencia, 
 Cor6nica, MS., cap. 30, 39.— CastUlo, Cr6n- 
 ica, cap. 19. 
 
 ^0 Pulgar, Claros Varones, tit. 6.— Cas- 
 tillo, Cronica, cap. 15. — Mendoza, Monar- 
 quia de Esi^aua, tom. i. p. 3;.'8. — The an- 
 cient marquisate or 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 re- 
 peated rebellious of Prince Henry; and 
 the title, together with a large proportion 
 of the domains originally attached to it,
 
 CH. mj 
 
 PARi- I. — CASTILE UNDER HENRY IV. 
 
 433 
 
 was conferred on Don Juan Paeheco, by 
 whom it was transmitted to his son, after- 
 wards raised to the rank of duke of Es- 
 calona, in the reign of Isabella. Salazar 
 de Mendoza, Dignidades de Castilla y 
 Leon, (Madrid, 17^,) hb. 3, cap. 12, 17. 
 
 '' Pulgar, Claros Varones, tit. 20. — Ber- 
 naldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., cap. 10, 11. 
 
 •"At least these are the important con- 
 sequences imputed to this interview by 
 the French writers. See Gaillard, Riva- 
 lit6, torn. iii. pp. 241-243. — Comines, M6- 
 moires, liv. 3, chap. 8. — Also Castillo, 
 Cr6nica, cap. 48, 49. — Zurita, Anales, lib. 
 17, cap. 50. 
 
 '* Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, torn. ii. 
 p. 122. — Zurita, Anales, lib. 17, cap. 56. — 
 Castillo, Cr6nica, cap. 51, 52, 58.— The 
 queen of Aragon, who was as skilful a 
 diplomatist as her husband, John I., as- 
 sailed the vanity of Villena, quite as much 
 as his interest. On one of his missions to 
 her court, she invited him to dme with 
 her tete-a-tete at her own table, while 
 during the repast they were served by 
 the ladies of the palace. Ibid., cap. 40. 
 
 •* See the memorial presented to the 
 king, cited at length in JIarina, Teoria, 
 torn. iii. Apend. no. 7. — Castillo, Cronica, 
 cap. 58, G4.— Zurita, Anales, lib. 17, cap. 
 56.— Lebrija, Hispanarum Rerum Ferdi- 
 nando Rege et Elisabe Regina Gestarum 
 Decades, (apud Granatam, 1545,) lib. 1, 
 cap. 1, 2. — Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, 
 MS., part. 1, cap. 6. — Bernaldez, Reyes 
 CatOUcos, MS., cap. 9. 
 
 •^ Castillo, Cronica, cap. 56. 
 
 •^ See copies from the original instru- 
 ments, which are still preserved in the 
 archives of the house of Villena, in Mari- 
 na, Teoria, torn. iii. part. 2, Ap. 6, 8.— Cas- 
 tillo, Cr6nica, cap. 66, 67. — Alonso de Pa- 
 lencia, Cor6nica, MS., part. 1, cap. 57. 
 
 •' Alonso de Palencia, Cordnica, MS., 
 part. 1, cap. 62.— Castillo, Cr6nica, cap. 
 68, 69, 74. 
 
 '^ Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., 
 part. 1, cap. 63, 70. — Castillo, Cr6nica, 
 cap. 75, 76. 
 
 '^ The celebrated marquis of Santilla- 
 na died in 1458, at the age of sixty. (San- 
 chez, Poeslas Castellanas, tom. i. p. 23.) 
 The title descended to his eldest son, 
 Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, who is repre- 
 sented by his contemporaries to liave 
 been worthy of his sire. Like him he was 
 imbued with a love of letters ; he was 
 conspicuous for his magnanimity and 
 ohivalrous honor, his moderation, con- 
 
 stancy, and uniform loyalty to his sove- 
 reign, virtues of rare worth in those ra- 
 pacious and turbulent times. (Pulgar, 
 Claros Varones, tit. 9.) Ferdinand and 
 Isabella created him duke del Infanta<lo. 
 This domain derives its name from its 
 having been once the patrimony of the 
 infantes of Castile. See Salazar de Men- 
 doza, Monarquia, tom. i. p. 219, — and 
 Dignidades de Castilla, lib. 3, cap. 17.— 
 0%-iedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 
 1, dial. 8. 
 
 '° Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., 
 part. 1, cap. 64.— Castillo, Cr6nica cap. 78. 
 
 = ■ Castillo, Cronica, cap. 80, 82. 
 
 =' Rades y Andrada. Chr6nica de Las 
 Tres Ordenes y Cavalleria*, (Toledo, 1572,) 
 fol. 76.— Castnio,Cr6nica, cap. 85.— Alonso 
 de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., part. 1, cap. 
 73. 
 
 =^ L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 
 154. — Florez, Reynas Cath61icas, tom. ii. 
 p. 789.— Castillo, Cr6nica, cap. 37. 
 
 "* Aleson, Anales de Navarra, tom. iv. 
 pp. 561, 562.— Zurita, Anales, lib. 16, cap. 
 46, lib. 17, cap. 3.— Castillo, Crdnica, cap. 
 31, 57.— Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, 
 MS., cap. 55. 
 
 2^ Decad. de Palencia, apud Mem. dela 
 Acad, de Hist., tom. vi. p. 65, nota. 
 
 28 Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., 
 cap. 73. — Marina, Hist, de Espafia, tom. 
 ii. p. 450. — Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. 
 p. 532. This lady, Dofia Beatriz Fernan- 
 dez de Bobadilla, the most intimate per- 
 sonal 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 wise, virtuous, 
 and vaUant." (Quincuagenas, MS., dial, 
 de Cabrera.) The last epithet, rather 
 singular for a female character, was not 
 unmerited. 
 
 " Palencia imputes his death to an at- 
 tack of the quinsy. Cor6nica, MS., cap. 
 73. 
 
 '^ Rades y Andrada, Las Tres Ordenes, 
 fol. 77. — Caro de Torres, Historia de las 
 Ordenes Militares de Santiago, Calatrava, 
 y Alcantara, (Madrid, 1629,) lib. 2, cap. 59. 
 —Castillo, Cr6nica, cap. 85.— Alonso de 
 Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., cap. 73.— Gail- 
 lard remarks on this event, "Chacun 
 crut sur cette mort ce qu"il voulut." And 
 again in a few pages after, speaking of 
 Isabella, he says, " On reniarqua que 
 tons ceu-x; qui pouvoienl faire obstacle k 
 la satisfaction ou il la fortune d'lsat^eUe^
 
 434 
 
 PART I. — CASTILE UNDER HENRY IV. 
 
 [CH. in. 
 
 mouroient toujours a, propos pour elle." 
 (Rivalit6, torn. iii. pp. 280, 286.) This in- 
 genious writer is fond of seasoning his 
 style with those piquant sarcasms, in 
 which oftentimes more is meant than 
 meets the ear, and which Voltaire ren- 
 dered fashionable in history. I doubt, 
 however, if, amid all the heats of contro- 
 versy and faction, there is a single Span- 
 ish writer of that age, or indeed of any 
 subsequent one, who has ventured to im- 
 pute to the contrivance of Isabella any 
 one of the fortunate coincidences, to 
 which the author alludes. 
 
 =* Lebrija, Rerum Gestarum Decades, 
 lib. 1, cap. 2. — Zurita, Anales, lib. 18, cap. 
 10. — Castillo, Cr6nica, cap. 93, 97. — Alon- 
 so de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., part. 1, 
 cap. 80. 
 
 »" Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., 
 cap. 82. 
 
 *^ ZuBiga, Anales de SeviUa, pp. 351, 
 352. — Carta del Levantamiento de Toledo, 
 apud Castillo, Cr6nica, p. 109. — The his- 
 torian of Seville has quoted an animated 
 apostrophe addressed to the citizens by 
 one of their number in this season of dis- 
 cord: 
 
 " Mezquina Sevllla en la sangre bafiada 
 de 1<^ tus fijos, i tus cavalleros, 
 que tado enemigo te tiene minguada," etc. 
 
 The poem concludes with a summons to 
 throw off the yoke of their oppressors: 
 
 " Despierta SeviUa e sacude el imperio, 
 que faze a tua nobles-tanto vituperio." 
 See Anales p. 359. 
 
 ^* "Quod in pace fors, seunatura, tunc 
 fatum et ira dei vocabatui';" says Taci- 
 tus, (Historiae, lib. 4, cap. 26,) adverting 
 to a similar state of excitement. 
 
 ■" Saez quotes a MS. letter of a con- 
 temporary, exhibiting a frightful picture 
 of these disorders. (Monedas de Enri- 
 que IV., p. 1, not.— Castillo, Crdnica, cap. 
 83, 87, et passim. — Blarina, Hist, de Es- 
 paBa, torn. ii. p. 451. — Marina, Teori'a, 
 torn. ii. p. 487. ^Alonso de Palencia, Cor6- 
 nlca, MS., part. 1, cap. 69.) The active 
 foi'ce kept on duty by the Hermandad 
 amounted to 3,000 horse. Ibid., cap. 89, 
 
 »* Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., 
 cap. 87, 92:— Castillo, Cr6nica, cap. 94.— 
 Garibay, Compendio, lib. 17, cap. 20. 
 
 ="' Marina, Teoria, part. 2, cap. 38. 
 
 -^ Lebrija, Rerum Gestarum Decad.. 
 lib. 1, cap. 3. — Alonso de Palencia, Coro, 
 nica, MS., part. 1, cap. 92.— Fiorez, Rey- 
 Xif^8 Cath61icas, torn. ii. p. 790, 
 
 ^' Lebrija, Rerum Gestarum Decad., 
 lib. 1, cap. 3. — Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, 
 tom. vii. p. 218. — Alonso de Palencia, Co- 
 r6nica, part. 1, cap. 92,— part. 2, cap. 5. 
 
 ^^ See a copy of the original compact 
 cited at length by Marina, Teoria, Apend. 
 no. 11. — Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, part. 1, 
 cap. 2. 
 
 '* So called from four bulls, sculptured 
 in stone, discovered there, vinth Latin in- 
 scriptions thereon, indicating it to have 
 been the site of one of Julius Caesar's vic- 
 tories during the civil war. (Estrada, 
 Pftblacion General de Espana, [Madrid, 
 1748,] tom. i. p. 306.)— Galindez de Carba- 
 jal, & contemporary, fixes the date of this 
 convention in August. Anales del Rey 
 Fernando el Cat61ico, MS., aiio 1468. 
 
 *° Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., 
 part. 2, cap. 4.— CastiUo, Cr6nica, cap. 
 118. — Marina, Hist, de Espafia, tom. ii. 
 pp. 461, 462.— Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, 
 part. 1, cap. 2. — Castillo affirms that Hen- 
 ry, incensed by his sister's refu-sal of the 
 king of Portugal, dissolved the Cortes at 
 Ocana, before it had taken the oath of 
 allegiance to her. (Cr6nica, cap. 127.) 
 This assertion, however, is counterbal- 
 anced by the opposite one of Pulgar, a 
 contemporary \^Tit«r, like himself. (Rey- 
 es Cat61icos, cap. 5.) And as Ferdinand 
 and Isabella, in a letter addressed, after 
 their marriage, to Henry IV., transcribed 
 also by Castillo, allude incidentally to 
 such a recognition as to a well-known 
 fact, the balance of testimony must be 
 admitted to be in favor of it. See Castillo, 
 Cr6nica, cap. 114. 
 
 *^ Isabella, who in a letter to Henry 
 IV., dated Oct. 12th, 1469, adverts to these 
 proposals of the English prince, as Being 
 under consideration at the time of the 
 convention of Toros de Guisando, does 
 not specify which of the brothers of Ed- 
 ward IV. was intended. (Castillo, Cr6- 
 nica, cap. 136.) Mr. Turner, in his History 
 of England dm-ing the Middle Ages, 
 (London. 1825,) quotes part of the address 
 dehvered by the Spanish envoy to Rich- 
 ard HI., in 1483, in which the orator 
 speaks of "the unkindness, which his 
 queen Isabella had conceived for Edward 
 IV., for his refusal of her, and his taking 
 instead to wife a widow of England." 
 (Vol. iii. p 274) The old chronicler Hall, 
 on the other hand, mentions, that it waa 
 currently reported, although he does not 
 appear to credit it, that the earl of War- 
 wiol{ had been dispatched into Spain ia 
 
 d
 
 CH. m.] 
 
 PART I.— CASTILE UNDER HENRY IV. 
 
 435 
 
 order to request the hand of the princes 
 Isabella for his master Edward IV., in 
 1463. (See his Chronicle of England, 
 [London, 1809,] pp. 263, 264.)— I find noth- 
 ing in the Spanish accounts of that pe- 
 riod, which tlu-ows any Ught on these ob- 
 vious contradictions. 
 
 *' The territories of France and Castile 
 touched, indeed, on one point (Guipus- 
 coa), but were separated along the whole 
 remaining line of frontier by the king- 
 doms of Aragon and Favarre. 
 
 *' Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, cap. 8. — Al- 
 onso de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS. , part. 2, 
 cap. 10. 
 
 ** Isabella, in order to acquaint herself 
 more intimately with the personal quali- 
 ties of her respective suitors, had pri- 
 vately dispatched her confidential chap- 
 lain, Alonso de Coca, to the coiu-ts of 
 France and of Aragon, and his report on 
 his return was altogether favorable to 
 F rdinand. The duke of Guienne he rep- 
 rt.inted as " a feeble, eflfeminate prince, 
 with hmbs so emaciated as to be almost 
 deformed, and with eyes so weak and 
 watery as to incapacitate him for the 
 ordinary exercises of chivalry. WhUe 
 Ferdinand, on the other hand, was pos- 
 sessed of a comely, symmetrical figure, a 
 graceful demeanor, and a spirit that was 
 up to anything;" 77iui dispuesto para 
 toda cosa que hacer quisiese. It is not 
 improbable that the queen of Aragon 
 condescended to practice some of those 
 agreeable arts on the worthy chaplain, 
 which made so sensible an impression on 
 the marquis of Villena. 
 
 *' Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., 
 part. 2, cap. 5. 
 
 *• See ante, note 10. 
 
 *' Faria y Sousa, Europa Portuguesa, 
 torn. ii. p. 391.— Castillo, CrOnica, cap. 
 121, 127. — Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, 
 MS., part. 2, cap. 7. — Lebrija, Renun Ges- 
 taruni Decad., lib. 1, cap. 7. 
 
 *■ Bemaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., cap. 
 7.— Alonso de Palencia, Cor6niGa, MS., 
 part. 2, cap. 7. 
 
 *" Pulgar, Claros Varones, tit. 2. 
 
 '" L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 
 154.— Zurita, Anales, torn. iv. fol. 162.— 
 Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., part. 
 2, cap. 7.— Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, cap. 9. 
 
 " Zurita, Anales, torn. iv. fol. 157, 163. 
 
 '^ See the copy of the original marriage 
 ContraQt, as it exists in the archives of 
 SUnaocas, extracted in torn. vj. of Me- 
 
 morias de la Acad, de Hist., .A.Dend. no. 1. 
 —Zurita, Anales, lib. 18, cap. 21.- Ferr©- 
 ras. Hist. d'Espagne, torn. vii. p. 236. 
 
 " Alonso de Palencia, Cor6niea, MS., 
 part. 2, cap. 12.--Ca.stillo, Cr6nica, cap. 
 128, 131, 136.— Zurita, Anales, torn. iv. fol. 
 162.— Beatrice de Bobadilla and Mencia 
 de la Torre, the two ladies most in her 
 confidence, had escaped to the neighbor- 
 ing town of Coca. 
 
 ^* Castillo, Cr6nica, cap. 136.— Alonso 
 de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., part. 2, cap. 
 12.— Carbajal, Anales, MS., aiio 69. 
 
 ^^ Thi.s cavalier, who was of an ancient 
 and honorable family in Castile, was in- 
 troduced to the princess's service by the 
 archbishop of Toledo. He is representea 
 by Gonzalo de Oviedo, as a man of much 
 sagacity and knowledge of the world, 
 qualities with which he united a steady 
 devotion to the interests of his mistress. 
 Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. l,quinc. 
 2, dial. 1. 
 
 ^^ Alonso de Palencia, CorOnica, MS., 
 cap. 14.— The bishop told Palencia, that 
 "if his own servants deserted him, he 
 would oppose the entrance of Ferdinand 
 into the kingdom." 
 
 ^' Zurita, Anales, lib. 18, cap. 26.— The 
 enrique was a gold coin, so denominated 
 from Henry II. 
 
 ^» Zurita, Anales, lib. 18, cap. 26.— 
 Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, torn. ii. p. 273. 
 
 ■*" Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., torn. vi. 
 p. 78, Bust. 2. 
 
 ^o Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., 
 part. 2, cap. 14.— Zurita, Anales, loc. cit. 
 
 «i This letter, dated October 12th, is 
 cited at length by Castillo, Cr6nica, cap. 
 136. 
 
 *^ Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., 
 part. 2, cap. 15. 
 
 "' Gutierre de Cardenas was the first 
 who pointed him out to the princess, ex- 
 claiming at the same time, " Ese es, ese 
 es," "This is he;" in commemoration of 
 which he was permitted to place on Ids 
 escutcheon the letters SS, whose pronun- 
 ciation in Spanish resembles that of the 
 exclamation, which ho had uttered. Ibid., 
 part. 2, cap. 15.- Oviedo, Quincuagenas, 
 MS., bat. 1, quinc. 2, dial. 1. 
 
 ** L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 
 182. — Garibay, Compendio, lib. IH, cap. 1. 
 — "Tan ainigo de los negocios," says 
 Marina, " que i)arecia con el trabujo des- 
 cansaba." Hist, de EsjiafSa, lib. 25. cup. 
 18,
 
 436 
 
 PART I.— DEATH OF HENRY TV. 
 
 [CH. rv. 
 
 " " En hermosura, puestas delante S. 
 A. todas las mugeres que yo he visto, nin- 
 guna vi tan graciosa, ni tanto de ver 
 como su persona, ni de tal manera e sanc- 
 tidad honestisima." Oviedo, Quincua- 
 genas, MS. 
 
 '• Bernaldez, Reyes CatClicos, MS., 
 cap. 201.— Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, 
 torn. ii. p. 363. — Garibay, Compendio, lib. 
 18, cap. 1. 
 
 •' Marina, Hist ao Espaiia, torn. ii. p. 
 465. 
 
 6» Carbajal, Anales, MS., afio 1469.— 
 Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., part. 
 2, cap. 10. — Zurita, Anales, lib. 18, cap. 26. 
 — See a copy of the ofificial record of the 
 marriage, Mem. de la Acad., torn. vi. 
 Apend. 4. See also the Ilust. 2. 
 
 ®' The intricacies of this affair, at once 
 the scandal and the stumbling-block of 
 the Spanish historians, have been un- 
 ravelled by SeRor Clemencin, with his 
 usual perspicuity. See Mem. de la Acad., 
 torn. vi. pp. 105-116, Ilust. 2. 
 
 '■" Alonso de Palencia, Coronica, MS., 
 part. 2, cap. 16. — A lively narrative of the 
 adventures of Prince Ferdinand, detailed 
 in this chapter, may be found in Cush- 
 ing's Reminiscences of Spain. (Boston, 
 1833,) vol. i. pp. 225-255. 
 
 " Castillo, Cr6nica, cap. 137. — Alonso 
 de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., part. 2, cap. 
 16. 
 
 PART I.— CHAPTER IV. 
 
 • Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., 
 part. 2, cap. 21. — Gaillard, Rivalit6, torn. 
 iii. p. 284. — Rades y Andrada, Las Tres 
 Ordenes, fol. 65.— Caro de Torres, Orde- 
 nes Militares, fol. 43. 
 
 " Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, 
 quinc. 1, dial. 23.— Castillo, Cr6nica, p. 
 298.— Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., 
 part. 2, cap. 24.— Henry, weU knowing 
 how little all this would avail without the 
 constitutional sanction of the Cortex, 
 twice issued his summons in 1470 for the 
 convocation of the deputies, to obtain a 
 recognition of the title of Joanna. But 
 without effect. In the letters of convoca- 
 tion issued for a third assembly of the 
 states, in 1471, this purpose was prudent- 
 ly omitted, and thus the claims of Joan- 
 na failed to receive the countenance of 
 the only body which could give them va- 
 lidity. See the copies of the oi-iginal 
 writs, addressed to the cities of Toledo 
 and Segovia, cited by Marina, Teorla, 
 torn. ii. pp. 87-89. 
 
 ' The grand master of St. James, and 
 his son, the marquis of Villena, after- 
 wards duke of Escalona. The rents of 
 the former nobleman, whose avarice was 
 as insatiable, as his influence over the 
 feeble mind of Henry IV. was unlimited, 
 exceeded those of any other grandee in 
 the kingdom. See I^ilgar, Claros Varo- 
 nes, tit. 6. 
 
 * The marquis of Santillana, first duke 
 of Inf antado, and his brothers, the counts 
 of Coruiia, and of Tendilla, and above all 
 Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, afterwards 
 cardinal of Spain, and archbishop of To- 
 ledo, who was indebted for the highest 
 dignities in the church less to his birth 
 than his abilities. See Claros Varones, 
 tit. 4, 9.— Salazar de Mendoza, Dignidades, 
 lib. 3, cap. 17. 
 
 ^ Alvaro de Zuiiiga, 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 Castile in 1473, and the office continued 
 to be hereditary in the family from that 
 period. Pulgar, Claros Varones, tit. 3. — 
 Salazar de Mendoza, Dignidades, lib. 3, 
 cap. 21. 
 
 " The Pimentels, counts of Benavente, 
 had estates which gave them 60,000 du- 
 cats a year; a very large income for that 
 period, and far exceeding that of any 
 other grandee of similar rank in the king- 
 dom. L. M'arineo, Cosas Memorables, 
 fol. 25. 
 
 ' Carbajal, Anales, MS., afio 70. 
 
 ' Zurita, Anales, torn. iv. fol. 170. — Al- 
 onso de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., cap. 45. 
 
 * This nobleman, Diego Hurtado, "muy 
 gentil cabaUero y gran senor," as Oviedo 
 calls him, was at this time only marquis 
 of Santillana, and was not raised to the 
 title of duke of Inf antado till the reign of 
 Lsabella, (Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, 
 quinc. 1, dial. 8.) To avoid confusion, 
 however, I have given him the title by 
 which he is usually recognized by Castil- 
 ian waiters. 
 
 1" Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., 
 cap. 3.— Salazar de Mendoza, Cr6nica de 
 el Gran Cardenal de Espana, Don Pedro 
 Gonzalez de Mendoza, (Toledo, 1625,) pp. 
 138, 150.— Zuiiiga, Anales de SeviUa, p. 
 362. 
 
 '1 Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61ico.s, MS., 
 cap. 4, 5, 7.— Zuiiiga, Anales de Sevilla, 
 pp. 363, 364.— Alonso de Palencia, Cor6- 
 nica, MS., part. 2 cap. 35, 38, 39, 43. ~-
 
 CH. IV.] 
 
 PART 1.— DEATH oF HENRY IV. 
 
 437 
 
 Saez Monedas de Enrique IV , pp. 1-5.— 
 Pulgar, ill an epistle addressed, in the 
 autumn of 1473, to the bishop of Coria. 
 adverts to several circiunstaiioes which 
 set in a strong light the anarchial state 
 of the kingdom and the total deficiency 
 of police. The celebrated satirical ec- 
 logue, also, entitled "Mingo Revulgo," 
 exposes, with coarse but cutting sar- 
 casm, the license of the court, the cor- 
 ruption of the clergy, and the prevalent 
 depravity of the people. In one of its 
 stanzas it boldly ventures to promise 
 another and a better sovereign to the 
 country. This performance, even more 
 interesting to the antiquarian than to the 
 historian, has been attributed by some to 
 Pulgar, (see Marina, Hist, de Espana, 
 torn. ii. p. 475,) and by others to Rodrigo 
 Cota, (see Nic. Antonio, Bibliotheca Ye- 
 tus, torn. ii. p. 264,) but without satisfac- 1 
 tory evidence in favor of either. Bouter- 
 wek is much mistaken in asserting it to 
 hav* been aimed at the government of 
 John II. The gloss of Pulgar, whose au- 
 thority as a contemporary must be con- 
 sidered decisive, plainly proves it to have 
 been directed against Henry IV . 
 " See Chap. II. 
 
 '^ Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., 
 cap. 5(5.— Marina, Hist, de Espana, torn, 
 ii. p. 481.— Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 
 191.— Barante, Histoire des Dues de Bour- 
 gogne, (Paris, 1825,) torn. ix. pp. 101-106. 
 »* Alonso de Palencia, Coronica, MS., 
 cap. 70.— Marina, Hist, de Espana, tom. 
 ii. p. 482.— L. Marineo, Cosas Memora- 
 bles, fol. 148.— Zurita, Anales, torn. iv. 
 fol. 195.— Anquetil, Histoire de France, 
 (Paris, 1805,) tom. v. pp. 60, 61. 
 
 1= Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 196.— 
 Barante, Hist, des Dues de Bourgogne, 
 tom. X. pp. 105, 106.— L. Marineo, Cosas 
 Memorables, fol. 149.— Alonso de Palen- 
 cia, CorOnica, MS., cap. 70, 71, 72. 
 
 "^ Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 200 — 
 Gaillard, Rivalit6, tom. iii. p. 266.— See 
 the articles of the treaty cited by Duclos, 
 Hist, de Louis XI., tom. ii. pp. 99, 101.— 
 Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., cap. 
 73. 
 
 " Louis XI. is supposed with much 
 probability to have assassinated this 
 brother. M. de Barante sums up liis ex- 
 amination of the evidence with this re- 
 mark: " Le roi Louis XI. ne fit peut-etre 
 pas mourir son frSre, mais personne ne 
 pens* qu"il en f ut incapable." Hist, des 
 Dues de Bourgogne, tom. ix. p. 4*3. 
 
 •* The two princes alluded to were the 
 duke of Segorbe, 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 off 
 his match. Alonso de Palencia, Coroni- 
 ca, MS., part. 2, cap. 62.— Faria y Sousa, 
 Europa Portuguesa, tom. ii. p. 392. 
 
 '® Oviedo assigns another reason for 
 this change; the disgust occasioned by 
 Henry IV. 's transferring the custody of 
 his daughter from the family of Mendoza 
 to the Pachecos. Quincuagenas, MS., 
 bat. 1, qiiinc. 1, dial. 8. 
 
 '" Salazar de Mendoza, Cr6n. del Gran 
 Cardenal, p. 133.— Alonso de Palencia, 
 CorOnica, MS. , part. 2, cap. 46, 92. —Cas- 
 tillo, CrOnica, cap. 163.— The influence of 
 these new allies, especially of the cardi- 
 nal, over Isabella's councils, was an ad- 
 ditional ground of umbrage to the arch- 
 bishop of Toledo, who, in a communica- 
 tion with the king of Aragon, declared 
 himself, though friendly to their cause, 
 to be released from all further obliga- 
 tions to serve it. See Zurita, Anales, 
 tom. iv. lib. 46, cap. 19. 
 
 '^ Carbajal, Anales, MS., anos 73, 74. — 
 Pulgar, Reyes CatOlicos, p. 27.— Castillo, 
 CrOnica, cap. -164. —Alonso de Palencia, 
 CorOnica, MS., part. 2, cap. 75.— Oviedo, 
 Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1. quinc. 1, dial. 
 23. 
 
 2^ Mendoza, CrOn. del Gran Cardenal, 
 pp. 141, 142.— Castillo, CrOnica, cap. 1()4. 
 — Oviedo has given a full account of this 
 cavalier, who was allied to an ancient 
 Catalan family, but who raised himself 
 to such preeminence by his own deserts, 
 says that writer, that he may well be 
 considered the founder of his house, 
 loo. cit. 
 
 =3 Carbajal, Anales, MS., afio 70.— This 
 was the eldest child of Ferdinand and 
 Isabella, horn Oct. 1st, 1470; afterwards 
 queen of Portugal. 
 
 "■^ Gaillard, Rivalit6, tom. iii. pp. 267v 
 276.— Duclos, Hi.st. de Louis XL, torn. ii. 
 pp. 113, 115.— Chronique Scandaleu.se, ed, 
 Petitot, tom. xiii. pp. 443, 444. 
 
 "' Alonso de Palencia, CorOnica, MS., 
 part. 2, cap. 83.— Ferreras, Hist. d'Kspag. 
 ne, torn. vii. p. 400.— Zurita. Anales. torn, 
 iv. lib. 19, cap. 12. 
 
 '" L. Marineo, Cosas Menii)rai)li-s. fol. 
 150. — Zurita, Anales, torn. iv. lib. 19, ca^
 
 438 
 
 PART I. -WAR OF THE SUCCESSION. 
 
 [CH. V. 
 
 13.— Chronique Scandaleuse, ed. Petitot, 
 torn. xiii. p. 450. — Alonso de Palencia, 
 Cor6nica, MS., part. 2, cap. 91. 
 
 '' See copies of the original letters, as 
 given by M. Barante, in his History of 
 the Dukes of Burgundy, in which the au- 
 thor has so happily seized the tone and 
 picturesque coloiing of the ancient chron- 
 icle; torn. X. pp. 289, 298. 
 
 ** Bernaldez, Reyes Catilicos, MS., 
 cap. 10. — Carbajal, Anales, MS., afio 74. 
 —Castillo, Cronica, cap. 148. 
 
 =3 This topic is involved in no little ob- 
 scurity, and has been reported with much 
 discrepancy as well as inaccuracy by the 
 modern Spanish historians. Among the 
 ancient, Castillo, the historiographer of 
 Henry IV., mentions certain "testament- 
 ary executors," without, however, notic- 
 ing in any more direct way the existence 
 of a will. (Cron. c. 168.) The Curate of 
 Los Palacios refers to a clause reported, 
 he says, to have existed in the testament 
 of Henry IV., in which he declares Joan- 
 na his daughter and heir; (Reyes Cat61i- 
 cos, MS., cap. 10.) Alonso de Palencia 
 states positively that there was no such 
 instrument, and that Henry, on being 
 asked who was to succeed him, referred 
 to his secretary Juan Gonzalez for a 
 knowledge of his intention. (Cron. c. 92.) 
 L. Marineo also states that the king, 
 "with his usual improvidence," left no 
 will. (Cosas Memorables, fol. 155.) Pid- 
 gar, another contemporary, expressly 
 declares that he executed no will, and 
 quotes the words dictated by him to his 
 secretary, in which he simply designates 
 two of the grandees as " executors of his 
 soul," (albaceas de sii anima,) and four 
 others in conjunction with them as the 
 guardians of his daughter Joanna. 
 (Reyes Cat. p. 31.) It seems not improba- 
 ble that the existence of this document 
 has been confounded with that of a testa- 
 ment, and that with reference to it, the 
 phrase above quoted of Castillo, as weU 
 as the passage of Bernaldez, is to be in- 
 terpreted. Carbajars wild story of the 
 existence of a will, of its secretion for 
 more than thirty years, and its final sup- 
 pression by Ferdinand, is too naked of 
 testimony to deserve the least weight 
 with the historian. (See his Anales, MS., 
 afio T4.) It should be remembered, how- 
 ever, that most of the above-mentioned 
 writers compiled their works after the 
 accession of Isabella, and tliat none, save 
 Castillo, were the partisans of her rival. 
 
 It should also be added that in the letters 
 addressed by the princess Joanna to the 
 different cities of the kingdom, on her as- 
 suming the title of queen of Castile, 
 (bearing date May, 1475,) it is expressly 
 stated that Henry IV., on his deathbed, 
 solemnly affirmed her to be his only 
 daughter and lawful heir. These letters 
 were drafted by John de Oviedo, (Juan 
 Gonzalez,) the confidential secretary of 
 Henry TV. See Zurita, Anales, torn, iv 
 fol. 23.5-239. 
 
 ^^ As was the case with the testaments 
 of Alfonso of Leon and Alfonso the Wise, 
 of the thirteenth century, and with that 
 of Peter the Cruel, in the fourteenth. 
 
 PART I.— CHAPTER V. 
 ' The popular belief of Joanna's ille- 
 gitijnacy was founded on the following 
 circvimstances. 1. King Henry's first 
 marriage with Blanche of Navarre was 
 dissolved, after it had subsisted twelve 
 years, on the publicly alleged ground of 
 "impotence in the parties." 2. The prin- 
 cess Joanna, the only child of h -s second 
 queen, Joanna of Portugal, wa. ' born 
 until the eighth year of her marr _ . and 
 long after she had become notorit ; for 
 her gallantries. 3. Although Henry kept 
 several mistresses, whom he maii.uained 
 in so ostentatious a manner as to excite 
 general scandal, he was never known to 
 have had issue by any one of them. — To 
 counterbalance 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 
 his own offsprmg, and that Beltran de la 
 Cueva, duke of Albuquerque, her reputed 
 father, instead of supporting her claims 
 to the crown on the demise of Henry, as 
 would have been natural had he been en- 
 titled to the honors of paternity, attached 
 himself to the adverse faction of Isabella. 
 Queen Joanna survived her husband 
 about six months only. Father Florez 
 (Reyuas Cath61icas, tom. ii. pp. 7(50-786,) 
 has made a flimsy attempt to whitewash 
 her character ; but, to say nothing of al- 
 most every contemporary historian, as 
 well as of the official documents of that 
 day (see Marina, Teoria, tom. iii. part. 2, 
 num. li,) the stain has been too deeply 
 fixed by the repeated testimony of Cas- 
 tillo, the loyal adherent of her own party, 
 to be thus easily effaced. It is said, how- 
 ever, that the queen died in the odor of 
 sanctity ; and Ferdinand and Isabella 
 caused her to be deposited in a rich mau-
 
 CH. v.] 
 
 Part i. — war of the succession. 
 
 43d 
 
 soleum, erected by the ambassador to the 
 court of the Great Tamerlane for himself, 
 but from which liis remains were some- 
 ■what unceremoniously ejected, in order 
 to make room for those of his royal mis- 
 tress. 
 
 ' See this subject discussed in extenso, 
 by Marina, Teorla, part. 2, cap. 1-10. — See, 
 also, lutrod. Sect. 1, of this History. 
 
 ' See Part I. Chap. 3. 
 
 ■• See Part I. Chap. 4, Note 2. 
 
 * Fortunately, this strong place, in 
 which the royal treasure was deposited, 
 was in the keeping of Andres de Cabrera, 
 the husband of Isabella's friend, Beatriz 
 de Bobadilla. His cooperation at this 
 juncture was so important, that Oviedo 
 does not hesitate to declare, " It lay with 
 him to make Isabella or her rival queen, 
 as he listed." Quincuageuas, MS., bat. 1, 
 quinc. 1, dial. 23. 
 
 • Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., cap. 
 10. — Carbajal, Anales, MS.,ailo7.5. — Alon- 
 so de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., part. 2, 
 cap. 93.— L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, 
 fol. 155.— Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 
 1, quinc. 2, dial. 3. 
 
 ' Marina, whose peculiar researches 
 and opportunities make him the best, is 
 my only authority for this convention of 
 the Cortes. (Teorla, torn. ii. pp. 63, 89. ) 
 The extracts he makes from the writ of 
 summons, however, seem to imply, that 
 the object was not the recognition of Fer- 
 dinand and Isabella, but of their daugh 
 ter, as successor to the crown. Among 
 the nobles, who openly testified their ad- 
 hesion to Isabella, were no less than four 
 of the six individuals, to whom the late 
 king had intrusted the guardianshij) of his 
 daughter Joanna ; viz., the grand cardi- 
 nal of Spain, the constable of Castile, the 
 duke of Infantado, and the comit of Ben- 
 avente. 
 
 8 A precedent for female 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 the Salic 
 law, under the Bourbon dynastj-, opposed 
 a new barrier, indeed ; but this has since 
 been swept away by the decree of the late 
 monarch, Ferdinand VII., and the para- 
 mount authority of the Cortes ; ami we 
 may hope, that the successful a.s.sertion 
 of her lawful rights by Isabella U. will 
 put this much vexed question at rest for 
 ever. 
 
 ^ See Part I. Chap. 3. —Ferdinand's 
 powers are not so narrowly limited, at 
 lea.st not so carefully defined, in this set- 
 tlement, as iu the marriage articles. In- 
 deed, the instrument i.-; much more con- 
 cise and general in its whole import. 
 
 ' ° Salazar de Mendoza, Cr6n. del Gran 
 Cardenal, lib. 1, cap. 40. — L. Marineo, Co- 
 sas Memorables, fol. 155, 156.— Zurita, An- 
 ales, torn. iv. fol. 222-224.— Pidgar, Reyes 
 Catolicos, pp. 3j, 36.— See the original in- 
 strument signed by Ferdinand and Isa- 
 bella, cited at length in Dormer's Discur- 
 sosVarios de Historia, (Zaragoza, IGSi.) 
 pp. 29.5-313.— It does not appear that the 
 settlement was ever confirmed by, or in- 
 deed presented to, the Cortes. JIarina 
 speaks of it, however, as emanating from 
 that body. (Teorla, tom. ii. pp. 03, &1.) 
 From Pulgar's statement, as well as /root 
 tlie ■instrumetit itself, it seems to have 
 been made under no other auspices or 
 sanction, than that of the great nobiUty 
 and cavahers. 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 de- 
 liberate acts of the legislatm-e. 
 
 " Alonso de Palencia, Cor6nica, MS., 
 part. 2, cap. 94. — Garibay, Compendio, 
 lib. 18, cap. 3.— Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61i- 
 cos, MS., cap. 10, 11.— Pulgar, Letras, 
 (Madrid, 1775,1 let. 3, al Arzobispo de To- 
 ledo. — The archbishop's jealousy of car- 
 dinal Mendoza is uniformly reported by 
 the Spanish writers, as the true cause of 
 his defection from the queen. 
 
 *^ Ruy de Pina, Chr6nica d'el Rey Al- 
 fonso v., cap. 173, apud CollecgaO de 
 Livros Infiditos de Historia Portugueza, 
 (Lisboa, 1790-93,) tom. i. 
 
 ' ^ The ancient rivalry between the two 
 nations was exasperateil into the most 
 deadly rancor, by the fatal defeat at Al- 
 jubarrotta, in 1235, in wiiich fell the flower 
 of the Caslilian nobility. King John 1. 
 wore mourning, it is said, to the day of 
 his death, in commemoration of this dis- 
 aster. (Faria y Sousa, Europa Portugue- 
 .sa, torn. ii. i)p. 394-396.— La C16de, Hist, 
 de Portugal, tom. iii. pp. 357-339.) Pul- 
 gar, the secretary' of Ferdinand and Isa- 
 bella, addressed, by their order, a letter 
 of remonstrance to the king of Portugal, 
 in which ho endeavors, by numerous or-
 
 440 
 
 Part 1.— War oi? THE succession. 
 
 [OH. V. 
 
 guments founded on expediency and jus- 
 tice, to dissuade liini from his meditated 
 enterprise. Pulgar, Letras, No. 7. 
 
 '* Ruy de Pina, Chronica d'el Rey Al- 
 fonso v., cap. 174-178. — Bernaldez, Reyes 
 Cat61icos, MS., cap. 10, 17, 18.— Bernaldez 
 states, that Alfonso, previously to his in- 
 vasion, caused largesses of plate and 
 money to be distributed among the Cas- 
 tilian nobles, whom he imagined to be 
 well affected towards him. Some of 
 them, the duke of Alva in particular, re- 
 ceived his presents and used theui in the 
 cause of Isabella.— Faria y Sousa, Europa 
 Portuguesa, tom. ii. pp. 396-398. —Zurita, 
 Anales, tom. iv. fol. 230-240.— La Clede, 
 Hist, de Portugal, tom. iii. pp. 360-362. — 
 Pulgar, Cr6nica, p. 51. — L. Marineo, Co- 
 sas Memorables, fol. 156.— Oviedo, Quin- 
 cuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 2, dial. 3. 
 
 '* The queen, who was, at that time, in 
 a state of pregnancy, brought on a mis- 
 carriage by her incessant personal ex- 
 posure. Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 234. 
 
 '^ Carbajal, Anales, MS., ano 75.— Pul- 
 gar, Reyes Cat61icos. pp. 45-55.— Ferre- 
 ras. Hist. d'Espagne, tom. vii. p. 411.— 
 Bernaldez, Reyes Cat6hcos, MS., cap. 23. 
 
 '' Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., 
 cap. 18.— Faria y Sousa, Europa Portu- 
 guesa, tom. ii. pp. 398-400.— Pulgar, Cro- 
 nica, pp. .55-60.— Ruy de Pina, Chr6u. d' 
 el Rey Alfonso V., cap. 179.— La Clede, 
 Hist, de Portugal, tom. iii. p. 366. — Zurita, 
 Anales, tom. iv. fol. 240-243. 
 
 18 "Pues no OS maravilleis de eso," 
 says Oviedo, in relation to these troubles, 
 " que no solo entre hermanos suele haber 
 esas dlferencias, mas entre padre 6 hijo 
 lo vimos ayer, como suelen decir. ' ' Quin- 
 cuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 2, dial. 3. 
 
 '* The royal coffers were found to con- 
 tain about 10,000 marks of silver. (Pul- 
 gar, Reyes Cat61. p. 54.) Isabella present- 
 ed Cabrera with a golden goblet from 
 her table, engaging that a similar pres- 
 ent should be regularly made to him and 
 his successors on the anniversary of his 
 surrender of Segovia. She subsequently 
 gave a more solid testimony of her grati- 
 tude, by raising him to the rank of mar- 
 quis of Moya, with the grant of an estate 
 suitable to his new dignity. — Oviedo, 
 Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, 
 dial. 23. 
 
 '» The indignation of Dr. Salazar de 
 Mendoza is roused by this misapplication 
 of the church's money, which he avers 
 "no necessity whatever could justify." 
 
 This worthy canon flourished in the 
 seventeenth century. (Cr6n. del Graa 
 Cardenal, p. 147. — Pulgar, Reyes Cat61. 
 pp. 00-62. — Faria y Soufa, Europa Portu- 
 guesa, tom. ii. p. 400.— Rades y Andrada, 
 Las TresOrdenes, part. 1, fol. 67.— Zurita, 
 Anales, tom. iv. fol. 243. — Bernaldez, 
 Reyes Cat61icos, MS., cap. 18, 20.) Zufii- 
 ga gives some additional particulars re- 
 specting the grant of the Cortes, wliich I 
 do not find verified by any contemporary 
 author. Annales de Sevilla. p. 372. 
 
 = ' Carbajal, Anales, MS., anos 75, 76.^ 
 Ruy de Pina, Chron. d' elRey Alfonso V., 
 cap. 187, 189.— Bernaldez, Reyes Cat6U- 
 cos, MS., cap. 20, 22.— Pulgar, Reyes Cat6- 
 licos, pp. 63-78. — L. Marineo, Cosas Me- 
 moi-ables, fol. 156.— Faria y Sousa, Euro- 
 pa Portuguesa, tom. ii. pp. 401, 404. — 
 Several of the contemporary Castilian 
 historians compute the Portuguese army 
 at double the amount given in the text. 
 
 =' Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, pp. 82-85. — 
 Zurita, Anales, torn. iv. fol. 252, 253. — 
 Faria y Sousa, Europa Portuguesa, tom. 
 ii. pp. 404, 405. — Bernaldez, Reyes Cato- 
 licos, MS., cap. 23. — Ruy de Pma. Chron. 
 d'el Rey Alfonso, V. cap. 190. 
 
 ==> Carbajal, Anales, MS., ano 76.— L. 
 Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 158. — 
 Pulgar. Reyes Catolicos, pp. 85-S9.— Faria 
 y Sousa, Europa Portuguesa, tom. ii. pp. 
 404, 405. — Bernaldez, Reyes Catohcos, 
 MS., cap. 23.— La C16de, Hist, de Portu- 
 gal, tom. iii. pp. 378-383. — Zurita Anales, 
 tom. iv. fol. 252-255. 
 
 '* Faria y Sousa, clakns the honors of 
 the victory for the Portuguese, because 
 Prince John kept the fleld till morning. 
 Even M. La Clede, with all his deference 
 to the Portuguese historian, cannot swal- 
 low this. Faria y Sousa, Europa Portu- 
 guesa, tom. ii. pp. 405-110. — Oviedo, Quin- 
 cuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 8. — 
 Salazar de Mendoza, Cr6n. del Gran 
 Cardenal, lib. 1, cap. 4G.— Pulgar, Reyes 
 Cat6Ucos, pp. 85-90.— L. Marineo, Cosas 
 Memorables, fol. 158.— Carbajal, Analea, 
 MS., aiio 76.— Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos. 
 MS., cap. 23.— Ruy de Pina, Chr6n. d' el 
 Rey Alfonso v., cap. 191.— Ferdinand, in 
 allusion to Prince John, v\Tote to liia 
 wife, that "if it had not been for the 
 chicken, the old cock would have been 
 taken." Garibay, Compendio, lib. 18, 
 cap. 8. 
 
 «• Pulgar, Rey OS Cat61icos, p. 90.— The 
 sovereigns, in compliance with a pre- 
 vious vow, caused a superb monastery, 
 
 i
 
 CH. v.] 
 
 iPART 1. — WAR OF THE SUCCESSION. 
 
 441 
 
 dedicated to St. Francis, to be erected in 
 Toledo, with tlie title of San Juan de los 
 Reyes, in commemoration of their vic- 
 tory over the Portuguese. This edifice 
 was still to be seen in Marina's time. 
 
 =" Rades y Andrada, Las Tres Ordenes, 
 torn. ii. fol. 79, 80.— Pulgar, Reyes Cat6- 
 licos, cap. 48-50, 55, GO. — Zurita, Anales, 
 lib. 19, cap. 46, 48, 54, 58.— Ferreras, Hist. 
 d'Espagne, torn. vii. pp. 47(>— 178, 517-519, 
 546. — Bernaldez, Reyes C'atfilicos, MS., 
 cap. 10. — Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., 
 bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 8, 
 
 " Gaillard, Rivalite, torn. iii. pp. 290- 
 292.— Carbajal, Anales, MS., ano 70. 
 
 «^ Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., 
 cap. 27. — Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, cap. 
 56, 57. — Gaillard, Rivalite, torn. iii. pp. 
 290-292.— Zurita, Anales, lib. 19, cap. 56, 
 lib. 20, cap. 10. — Ruy de Pina, ChrOn. d"el 
 Rey Alfonso V., cap. 194-202.— Far ia y 
 Sousa, Europa Portuguesa, tom. ii. pp. 
 412-415.— Comines, M6moires, Uv. 5, chap. 
 7. 
 
 ^' According to Faria y Sousa, John 
 was walking along the shores of the Ta- 
 gus, with the duke of Braganza, and the 
 cardinal, archbishop of Lisbon, when he 
 received the unexpected tidings of his 
 father's return to Portugal. On his in- 
 quiring of his attendants, how he 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 does not rebound on 
 me." Soon after, he left Portugal for 
 Rome, where he fixed his residence. The 
 duke lost his life on the scaffold for im- 
 puted treason, soon after John's acces- 
 sion.— Europa Portuguesa, tom. ii. p. 416. 
 
 '» Oomines, M^uioires, liv. 5, chap. 7.-- 
 Faria y Sousa, Europa Portuguesa, tom. 
 ii. p. IIG. — Zurita, Anales, lib. 20, cap. 25. 
 — Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., cap. 
 27. 
 
 '* This was the first meeting between 
 father and son since the elevation of the 
 latter to the Castilian throne. King John 
 would not allow Ferdidand to kiss his 
 hand; he chose to walk on his left; he at- 
 tended 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, he 
 was entitled to receive from him. This 
 
 he did on the ground that Ferdinand, as 
 king of Castile, repre.sented the elder 
 branch of Trastamara, while he repre- 
 sented only the younger. It will not be 
 easy to meet with an instance of more 
 punctilious etiquette, even in Spanish 
 history.— I*ulgar, Reyes Cat6Ucos, cap. 75. 
 
 ^^ Salazar de Mendoza, Cr6u. del Gran 
 Cardenal, p. 102.— Zurita, Anales, lib. 20, 
 cap. 25.— Carbajal. Anales, MS., afio 79. 
 
 =^ Ruy de Pina, Chr6n. d'el Rey Alfon- 
 so v., cap. 206.— L. Marineo, Cosas Me- 
 morables, fol. 166, 167. — Pulgar, Reyes 
 Catolicos, cap. 85, 89, 90.— Faria y Sousa, 
 Europa Portuguesa, tom. ii. pp. 420, 421. 
 -Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. vii. p. 
 538.— Carbajal, Anales, MS., afio 70.^ 
 Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos. MS., cap. 28 
 30, 37. 
 
 =* Born the preceding year, June 28th, 
 1478. Carbajal, Anales, MS., annocodem. 
 
 ^= L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 
 168.— Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, cap. 91. — 
 Faria y Sousa, Europa Portuguesa, tom. 
 ii. pp. 420, 421.— Ruy de Pina, Chron. d'el 
 Rey Alfonso V., cap. 206. 
 
 ="* Ruy de Pina, Chron. d'el Rey Alfonso 
 v., cap. 20. —Faria y Sousa, Europa Portu- 
 guesa, tom. ii. p. 421. — Pulgar, Reyes, Ca- 
 tolicos, cap. 92 — L. Marineo speaks of 
 the Seiiora nunj excelente, as an inmate 
 of the cloister at the period in which he 
 was writing, 1522. (fol. 168.) Notwith- 
 standing her "irrevocable vows," how- 
 ever, 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 pre- 
 judice of the Castilian sovereigns. She 
 may be said, consequently, to have form- 
 ed the pivot, on which turned, dm-ingher 
 whole life, the diplomatic relations be- 
 tween 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 Ferdinand and Isabella hoped 
 to detach the Portuguese crown from her 
 interests. Joanna affected a royal style 
 and magnificence, and subscribed her- 
 self " I the Queen," to the last. She died 
 in the palace at Lisbon, in 1.530, in the 
 60th year of her age, having survived 
 most of her ancient friends, suitors, and 
 competitors. — Joanna's hi.story, sub.se- 
 quent to her taking the veil, has been col- 
 lected, with his usual ])recision, by Seflor 
 Clemencin, Mem. de la Acad, da Hitit., 
 tom. vi., Uust. 19.
 
 442 
 
 PART I.- ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. 
 
 [CH. VI. 
 
 " Faria y Sousa, Europa Portuguesa, 
 torn. ii. p. 423.— Ruy de Pina, Chr6n. d'el 
 Rey Alfonso V., cap. 212. 
 
 »« Carbajal, Anales, MS., ano 70.— Ber- 
 naldez, Eeyes Cat61icos, MS., cap. 42. — 
 Marina, Hist, de Espafia, (ed. Valencia,) 
 torn. viii. p. 204, not.— Abarca, Reyes de 
 Aragon, torn. ii. fol. 295. 
 
 PART I.— CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1 Among other examples, Pulgar men- 
 tions that of the alcayde of Castro-Nufio, 
 Pedro de Mendana, who from the strong- 
 holds in his possession, committed such 
 grievous devastations throughout the 
 country, that the cities of Burgos, Avila, 
 Salamanca, Segovia, Valladolid, 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. 
 (Reyes Catulicos, part. 2, cap. 60.) — See 
 also extracts cited by Saez from manu- 
 script notices by contemporaries of Henry 
 IV. Monedas de Enrique IV. , pp. 1, 2. 
 
 ^ The Quaderno of the laws of the Her- 
 mandad has now become very rare. That 
 in ray possession was printed at Burgos, 
 in 1527. It has since been incorporated 
 ■with considerable extension into the Re- 
 copilacion of Phihp H. 
 
 ^ Quaderno de las Leyes Nuevas de la 
 Hermandad, (Burgos, 1527,) leyes 1, 2, 3, 
 4, 5, 6, 8, 16, 20, 36, 37.— Pulgar, Reyes Ca- 
 t61icos, part. 2, cap. 51.— L. Marmeo, Co- 
 sas Memorables, fol. 160, ed. 1539.— Mem. 
 de la Acad, de Hist., tom. vi., Ilust. 4. — 
 Carbajal, Anales, MS., ano 76.— Lebrija, 
 Rerum Gestarum Decades, fol. 36.— By 
 one of the laws, the inhabitants of such 
 seignorial towns as refused to pay the 
 contributions of the Hermandad were ex- 
 cluded from its benefits, as well as from 
 traffic with,and even the power of recover- 
 ing their debts from other natives of the 
 kingdom. Ley 33. 
 
 * RecopOacion de las Leyes, (Madrid, 
 1640,) lib. 8, tit. 13, ley 44.— Zuniga, 4.nna- 
 les de Sevilla, p. 379.— Pulgar, Reyes Ca- 
 t6Ucos, part. 2, cap. 51.— Mem. de la Acad. 
 de Hist., tom. vi., Ilust. 6.— Lebrija, Re- 
 rum Gestarum Decad., fol. 37, 38. — Las 
 Pragm&ticas del Reyno, (Sevilla, l.")20,) 
 fol. 85.— L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, 
 fol. 160. 
 
 • Carbajal, Anales, MS., ano 76.— Pul- 
 gar, Reyes Cat61icos, part. 2, cap. 59.— 
 Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, torn. viii. p. 
 
 477.— Lebrija, Rerum Gestarum Decad., 
 fol. 41, 42. — Gonzalo de Oviedo lavishes 
 many encomiums on Cabrera, for '"his 
 generous qualities, his singular prudence 
 in government, and his solicitude for his 
 vassals, whom he inspired with the deep- 
 est attachment." (Quincuagenas, MS., 
 bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 23.) The best pane- 
 gyric on his character, is the unshaken 
 confidence, which his royal mistress re- 
 posed in him, to the day of her death. 
 
 * Zuniga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 381. — 
 Pulgar, Reyes CatOhcos, part. 2, cap. 65, 
 70, 71.— Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., 
 cap. 29. — Carbajal, Anales, MS., ano 77. — 
 L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 162. ; 
 who says, no less than 8,000 guilty fled 
 from Seville and Cordova. 
 
 ' Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., cap. 
 29.— Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 283.— Zu- 
 fiiga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 382. — Lebrija, 
 Rerum Gestarum Decades, lib. 7. — L. Ma- 
 rineo, Cosas Memorables, ubi supra. Gari- 
 bay, Compendio, lib. 18, cap. 11. 
 
 • Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS. , cap. 
 30. — Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, part. 2, cap. 
 78. 
 
 » "Era muy inclinada," says Pulgar, 
 " &, facer justicia, tanto que le era impu- 
 tado seguir mas la via de rigor que de la 
 piedad ; y esto facia por remediar & la 
 gran corrupcion de crimines que fall6 en 
 el Reyno quando sudcediO en 61." Reyes 
 Cat61icos, p. 37. 
 
 10 Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, part. 2, cap. 
 97, 98.— L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, 
 fol. 162. 
 
 1 ' Ordenangas Reales de Castilla, (Bur- 
 gos, 1528,) lib. 2, tit. 3, ley. 31. This con- 
 stitutional, though, as it would seem, im- 
 potent right of the nobility, is noticed by 
 Sempere. (Hist, des Cortes, pp. 123, 129.) 
 It should not have escaped Marina. 
 
 1= Lib. 2, tit. 3, of the Ordenangas 
 Reales is devoted to the royal council. 
 The number of the members was limited 
 to one prelate, as president, three knights, 
 and eight or nine jurists. (Pr61ogo.) The 
 sessions were to be held every day, in the 
 palace. (Leyes 1, 2.) They were instruct- 
 ed to refer to the other tribunals all 
 matters not strictly coming within their 
 own jurisdiction. (Ley 4.) Their acts, in 
 all cases except those specially reserved, 
 were to have the force of law without the 
 royal signature, (Leyes 23, 24.) See also 
 Los Doctores Asso y Manuel, Institii- 
 ciones del Derecho Civil deCastilIa,( Mad- 
 rid, 1792,) Introd. p. Ill; and Santiago
 
 CH. VI.] 
 
 Part i. — administration of castile. 
 
 443 
 
 Agustin Riol, Informe, apud Semanario 
 Erudito, (Madrid, 1788,) torn. iii. p. 114, 
 who is mistaken in stating the number of 
 jurists in the council, at this time, at six- 
 teen; a change, whicli did not take place 
 till Philip II. "s reign. (Recop. de las 
 Leyes, lib. 2, tit. 4, ley. 1.) Marina denies 
 that the council could constitutionally 
 exercise any judicial authority, at least, 
 in suits between private parties, and 
 quotes a passage from Pulgar, showing 
 that its usurpations in this way were re- 
 strained by Ferdinand and Isabella. (Te- 
 orla, part. 2, cap. 29.) Powers of this na- 
 ture, however, to a considerable extent, 
 appear to have been conceded to it by 
 more than one statute under this reign. 
 See Recop. de las Leyes, (lib. 2, tit. 4, leyes 
 20, 22, and tit. 5, ley 12,) and the unquali- 
 fied testimony of Riol, Informe, apud 
 Semanario Erudito, ubi supra. 
 
 ' =■ Ordenan gas , Reales, lib. 2, tit. 4. —Ma- 
 rina, Teoria de las Cortes, part. 2, cap. 
 25. By one of the statutes, (ley 4,) 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 
 /epeated remonstrance of Cortes, who 
 traced the remissness and corruption, 
 too frequent of late in the court, to the 
 jircumstance that its decisions were not 
 liable to be reviewed during life. (Te- 
 oria, ubi supra.) The legislatm-e prob- 
 ably mistook the true cause of the evil. 
 Few will doubt, at any rate, that the 
 remedy proposed must have been fraught 
 with far greater. 
 
 **' Ordenangas Reales, lib. 2, tit. 1, 3, 4, 
 15, le, 17, 19; Ub. 3, tit. 2.— Recop. de las 
 Leyes, lib. 2, tit. 4, 5, 1(5.— Pulgar, Reyes 
 Catolicos, part. 2, cap. 94. 
 
 '° Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS. — By one 
 of the statutes of the Cortes of Toledo, in 
 I'tSO, the king was required to take his 
 seat in the council every Fi-iday. (Orde- 
 nangas Reales, lib. 2, tit. 3, ley 32.) It was 
 not so new f oi' the Castilians to have good 
 laws, as for their monarchs to observe 
 them. 
 
 '^ Sempere, Hist, des Cortes, p. 2ti3. 
 
 " Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, p. 167.— See 
 the strong language, also, of Peter Mar- 
 tyr, another contemporary witness of the 
 beneficial changes in the government. 
 Opus Epistolarum, (Amstelodami, 1670,) 
 ep. 3!. 
 
 >• Prieto y Sotelo, Historiadel Derecho 
 Real de Espafla, (Madrid, 1''38,) lib. 8, 
 
 cap. 10-21.— Marina has maae an elabor- 
 ate commentary on Alfonso's celebrated 
 code, in his Ensayo Hist6rico-Crltico 
 sobro la Antigua Legislacion de CastiUa, 
 (Madrid, 1S08,) pp. 269 et seq. The Eng- 
 lish reader wUl find a more succinct 
 analysis in Dr. Dunham's History of 
 Spain and Portugal, (London, 1832,) in 
 Lardner's Cyclopcedia, vol. iv. pp. 121- 
 150. The latter has given a more exact, 
 and, at the same time, extended view of 
 the early Castilian legislation, probably, 
 than is to be found, in the same com- 
 pass, in anj' of the Peninsular writers. 
 
 '^ Marma (in his Ensayo Hist6rico- 
 Crltico, p. 388. ) quotes a popular satire of 
 the fifteenth century, directed, with con- 
 siderable humor, agaiust these abuses, 
 which lead the writer in the last stanza to 
 envy even the summary style of Mahome- 
 tan justice: 
 " En tierra de Moros un solo alcade 
 Libra lo cevil e lo creininal, 
 E todo cl dia se esta de valde 
 Per la justicia andar inuy i(?ual; 
 AUi lion es Azo, nin es Decretal, 
 Nin es Iloberto, nin la Clementina, 
 Salvo dlscrecion e buena doctrina, 
 La qual muestra a todos vevir communal." 
 p. 389. 
 ''° Mendez enumerates no less than five 
 editions of this code, by 1500; a sufficient 
 evidence of its authority, and general re- 
 ception throughout Castile. Typographia 
 Espaiiola, pp. 203, 201, 270. 
 
 =1 Ordenanjas Reales, Pr61ogo.— Mem. 
 de la Acad, de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 9. — 
 Marina, Ensayo Hist6rico-Critico, pp. 390 
 et seq. — Mendez, Tj-pograj^liia Esijahola, 
 p. 201. — The authors of the three last- 
 mentioned works abundantly disprove 
 Asso y Manuel's insinuation, that Mon- 
 talvo's code was the fruit of his jirivate 
 study, without any commission for it, 
 and that it gradually usurped an author- 
 ity which it had not in its orighi. (Dis- 
 cur.so Preliminar al Ord. de Alcalii.) The 
 injustice of the last remark, indeed, is 
 apparent from the positive declaration of 
 Bernaldez. " Los Reyes mandaron teuer 
 en todas las ciudades, villas 6 lugares el 
 libro de Montalvo, 6 por cl determinar 
 todas Ian casus de jiisticia para cortar 
 los jjleitos." Reyes C'at61icos, MS., cap. 
 42. 
 
 " Ordenangas, Reales, lib. 7, tit. 2, ley 
 13. 
 
 -^ Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, 
 quinc. 1, dial. 41.— Seuipero notices this 
 feature of the royal policy. Hist. dM 
 Cortt^s, chap. 24.
 
 444 
 
 PART I. — ADMINISTRATION OF CASTf£,E. 
 
 [CH. VI. 
 
 '* Carbajal, Anales, MS., afio 80. 
 
 =' See the emphatic language, on this 
 and other grievances, of the Castihan 
 commons, in their memorial to the sover- 
 eigns, Apendice, No. 10, of Clemencin's 
 valuable comijilatlon. The commons had 
 pressed the measure, as one of the last 
 necessity to the crown, as early as the 
 Cortes of Madrigal, in 1476. The reader 
 will find the whole petition extracted by 
 jMarina, Teoria, torn. ii. cap. 5. 
 
 '® Salazar de Mendoza, Cron. del Gran 
 Cardenal, cap. 51. — Mem. de la Acad, de 
 Hist., torn. vi. Ilu.st. 5. — Pulgar, Reyes 
 CatoUcos, part. 2, cap. 93. — Ordenangas 
 Reales, lib. 6, tit. 4, ley 26 ;— incorporated 
 also into the Recopilacion of Philip XL, 
 lib. 5, tit. 10, cap. 17. See also leyes 3 
 and 15. 
 
 *' Admiral Enriquez, for instance, re- 
 signed ^0,000 maravedies 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 favorite of Henry IV., 
 Beltram de la Cueva, duke of Albu- 
 querque, who had uniformly supported 
 the royal cause, and whose retrenchment 
 amoimted to 1,400.000 maravedies of 
 yearly rent. See the scale of reduction 
 given at length by Senor Clemencin in 
 Mem. de la Acad., tom. vi. loc. cit. 
 
 '• "No monarch," said the high- 
 minded queen, " should consent to alien- 
 ate his demesnes ; since the loss of reve- 
 nue necessarily deprives him of the best 
 means of rewarding the attachment of 
 his friends, and of making himself feared 
 by his enemies." Pulgar, Reyes Catoli- 
 cos, part. 1, cap. 4. 
 
 •* Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, ubi supra. 
 —Mem. de la Acad, de Hit)*., tom. vi. loc. 
 cit. 
 
 ="> Ordenangas Reales, hb. 8, tit. 1, ley 
 ^; lib. 4, tit. 9, ley 11.— Pulgar, Reyes Ca. 
 tuUcos, part. 2, cap. 90, 101.— Recop. de las 
 Leyes, lib. 8, tit. 8, ley 10 et al.— These af- 
 fairs were conducted in the true spirit of 
 knight-errantry. Oviedo mentions one, 
 in which two young men of tlie noble 
 houses of Velasco and Ponce de Leon, 
 agreed to fight on horse-back, with sharp 
 spears {puntas de diainuHtes), in doublet 
 and hose, without defensive armor of any 
 kind. The place ajspointed for the com- 
 bat was a narrow bridge across the Xara- 
 ma, three leagues from Madrid. Quin- 
 cua^enas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 23. 
 
 =" Ferreras, Hist. dEspagne, tom. vii. 
 pp. 487, 488. 
 
 "• Carbajal, Anales, MS., afio 80.— Pul- 
 gar, Reyes Cat61icos, part. 2, cap. 100. 
 
 ^^ For example, at the great Cortes of 
 Toledo, in 1480, it does not appear that 
 any of the nobility were summoned, ex- 
 cept those in immediate attendance on 
 the coiu-t, until the measure for the re- 
 sumption of the grants, which so nearly 
 affected that body, was b»ought before 
 the legislature. 
 
 ^* Conde gives the following account 
 of these chivalric associations among tha 
 Spanish Arabs, which, as far as I know, 
 has hitherto escaped the notice of Euro- 
 pean historians. " The Moslem /coMferos 
 professed great austerity in their lives, 
 which they consecrated to perpetual war, 
 and bomid themselves by a solemn vow 
 to defend the frontier against the incur- 
 sions of the Christians. They were choice 
 cavaliers, possessed of consummate pa- 
 tience, and endui-ing 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 valor in Spain and in Palestine, 
 which rendered such essential services to 
 Christendom; for both the institutions 
 were established on similar principles." 
 Conde, Historia de la Dominacion de los 
 Arabes en Espafia, (Madrid, 1820, tom. i. 
 p. 619, not. 
 
 ^° See the details, given by Marina, of 
 the overgrown possessions of the Temp- 
 lars in Castile at the period of their ex- 
 tinction, in the beginning of the four- 
 teenth century. (Hist, de Espana, lib. 15, 
 cap. 10.) 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 them his whole dominions, — a 
 bequest, which it may well be believed 
 was set aside by his high-spirited sub» 
 jects. Zurita, Anales, lib. 1, cap. 52. 
 
 ^^ The apparition of certain preter- 
 natural lights in a forest, discovered to a 
 Galician peasant, in the beginning of the 
 ninth century, the spot, in which was de- 
 posited a marble sepiUchre containing the 
 ashes of St. James. The miracle is re- 
 ported with sufficient circumstantiality 
 by Florez, (Historia Compostellana, hb. 1, 
 cap. 2, apud Espana Sagrada, torn, xx.) 
 and Ambrosio de Morales, (Cor6nica, 
 General de Espaiia, [Obras, Madrid, 1791-
 
 en. VI.] 
 
 PART I. — ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. 
 
 445 
 
 3,] lib. 0, cap. 7.) who establishes, to his 
 own satisfaction, the advent of St. James 
 into Spain. Marina, with more skepti- 
 cism than his brethren, donbts the gen 
 uineness of the body, as well as 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, 80 firmly settled as it is." (Lib. 
 7, cap. 10.) The tutelar saint of Spa'in 
 continued to support his people by taking 
 part with the:n in battle against the infi- 
 del down to a very late period. Caro de 
 Torres mentions two engagements in 
 which he cheered on the squadrons of 
 Cortes and Pizarro, "with his sword 
 flashing lightning in the eyes of the In- 
 dians." Ordenes Jlilitares, fol. 5. 
 
 ^' Radesy Andrada, Las Tres Ordenes, 
 fol. 3-15.— Caro de Torres, Ordenes, Mill- 
 tares, fol. a-8. — Garibay, Compendio, 
 torn. ii. pp. 110-118. 
 
 === Rades y Andrada, Las Tres Ordenes, 
 part. 2, fol. 3-9, 49. — Caro de Torres, 
 Ordenes Militares, fol. 49, 50.— Garibay, 
 Compendio, tom. ii. pp. 100-104. 
 
 »9 Rades y Andrada, Las Tres Ordenes, 
 part. 3, fol. 1-G.— The knights of Alcan- 
 tara wore a white mantle, embroidered 
 with a green cross. 
 
 ■"• Rades y Andrada, Las Tres Ordenes, 
 part. 1, fol. 13-15, 43, 54, 61, 64, 66, 67; 
 part. 2, fol. 11, 51 ; part. 3, fol. 42, 49, 50.— 
 Caro de Torres, Ordenes Militares, pass- 
 im. — L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 
 83.— Garibay, Compendio, lib. 11, cap. 13. 
 — Zm'ita, Anales, tom. v. lib. 1, cap. 19.— 
 Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 
 2, dial. 1. 
 
 "" Caro de Torres, Ordenes Militares, 
 fol. 46, 74, 83.— Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, 
 part. 2, cap. 64.— Rades y Andrada, Las 
 Tres Ordenes, part. 1, fol. 09, 70; part. 2, 
 fol. 82, 83; part. 3, fol. 54. - Oviedo, 
 Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 2, dial. 
 1. — The sovereigns gave great offence to 
 the jealous grandees who were competi- 
 tors for the mastership of St. James, bj' 
 conferring that dignity on Alonso de 
 Cardenas, with their usual policy of 
 making merit rather than birth the 
 standard of preferment. 
 
 ■** Caro de Torres, Ordenes Militares, 
 fol. 84.— Riol has given a full account of 
 the constitution of this council, Informe, 
 apud Semanario Ei'udito, tom. iii. pp. 104 
 ct seq. 
 
 *' The reader will find a view of the 
 condition and general resources of the 
 
 military orders as existing in the pre.sent 
 century in Spain, in Laborde. Rineraire 
 Dcscriptif de rE.si)agne,i2d edition, Paris, 
 1827-30.) tom. v. pp. 102-117. 
 
 •*•* Most readers are acquainted with 
 the curious story, related by Robertson, 
 of the ordeal to whicli the Romish and 
 Muzarabic rituals were subjected, in the 
 reign of Alfonso VI., and the ascendency, 
 which the combination of king-craft and 
 priest-craft succeeded in securing to the 
 former in opposition to the will of the na- 
 tion. Cardinal Ximeiies afterwards es- 
 tablished a magnificent chapel in the 
 cathedral church of Toledo for the per- 
 formance of the Mu.zarabic services, 
 which have continued to be retained 
 there to the present time. P'16chier, His- 
 toire du Cardinal Ximin^s, (Pari.s, 1693,) 
 p. 142.— Bourgoanne, Travels in Spain, 
 Kng. trans., vol. iii. chap. 1. 
 
 ■*= Marina, Ensayo Historico-Critico, 
 nos. 322, 334, 311.— Riol, Informe, apud 
 Semanario Erudito, pp. 92 et seq. 
 
 ^^ Marina, Ensayo HLstorico-Cn'tico, 
 nos. 33.>-.337.— Ordenanyas Reales, 111). 1, 
 tit. 3, leyes 19, 20; lib. 2, tit. 7, ley 2; lib. 
 3, tit. 1, ley 6.— Riol, Informe, apud Se- 
 manario Erudito, loc. cit.— In the latter 
 part of Henry IV. "s reign, a papal bull 
 had been granted against the provision 
 of foreigners to benefices. Marina, Hist. 
 de Espaiia, tom. vii. p. 196, ed. Valencia. 
 
 •" Riol, in his account of this celebrat- 
 ed concordat, refers to tlie original in- 
 instrument, as existing in his time in the 
 archives of Sunancas, Semanario Erudi- 
 to, tom. iii. p. 95. 
 
 •■^ " Lo que es publico hoy en EspaHa 6 
 notorio," says Gonzalo de Oviedo, "nun- 
 ca los Reyes Cath61icos desearon ni pro- 
 curaron sino que pro\-ecr 6 preseutar 
 para las dignidades de la Iglesia hombres 
 capazes 6 idoneos para la buena admin- 
 istracion del servicio del culto divino, 6 & 
 la buena enseilanza 6 utilidad de los 
 Christianos sus vasallos; y entre todos 
 los varones de sus Rej-nos asi por largo 
 conoscimiento como jier larga 6 secreta 
 informacion acordaron encojer 6 elegir," 
 etc. Quincuagenas, MS., dial, de Tala- 
 vera. 
 
 ■*= Salazar de Mendoza, Crun. del Gran 
 Cardenal, lib. 1, cap. 52.— Idem, Digni- 
 dades de Castilla, p. 374.— Pulgar Reyes 
 Cat61icos, part. 2, caj). 104.— See also the 
 sinular independent conduct pui-siied by 
 Ferdinand, three years jjrevious, with 
 reference to the See of Tarayoua, relutod 
 by Zurita, Anales, t«ni. iv. fol. ao4.
 
 446 
 
 PART I. — THE INQUISITION. 
 
 [CH. Vlt. 
 
 ^" Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., 
 cap. 44.— See a letter from one of Henry's 
 subjects, cited by Saez, Blonedas de En- 
 rique IV., p. 3. — Also the coarse satire 
 (composed in Henry's reign) of Mingo 
 Revulgo, especially coplas 24-27. 
 
 ^' Pragmdticas del Reyuo, fol. 64.— 
 Ordenangas Reales, lib. 4, tit. 4, ley 32; 
 lib. 5, tit. 8, ley 2; lib. 6, tit. 9, ley 49; lib. 
 6, tit. 10, ley 13.— See also other whole- 
 some laws for the encom-agement of 
 commerce and general security of 2iroper- 
 ty, as that respecting contracts, (lib. 5, 
 tit. 8, ley 5,) — fraudulent tradesmen, (lib. 
 5, tit. 8, ley 5,) — purveyance, (lib. G, tit. 11, 
 ley 2 et al. — Recopilacion de las Leyes, 
 lib. 5, tit. 20, 21, 22; lib. 6, tit. 18, ley 1.— 
 Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, part. 2, cap. 99. 
 — Zm'ita, Anales, torn. iv. fol. 312. — Mem. 
 de la Acad, de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 11.)— 
 The revenue, it appears, in 1477, amount- 
 ed to 27,415,228 maravedies; and in the 
 year 1482, we find it increased to 150,C9.'3,- 
 388 maravedies. (Ibid., Ilusf. 5.)— A sur- 
 rey of the kingdom was made between 
 the years 1477 and 1479, for the pm-pose 
 of ascertaining the \alue 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 Senor Clemencin, it exhibits 
 guch a variety of important details re- 
 specting the resources and population of 
 the country, that it must materially con- 
 tribute towards an exact history of this 
 period. The compilation, which con.siscs 
 of twelve folio volumes in manuscript, is 
 deposited in the archives of Simancas. 
 
 ^= One of the statutes passed at Toledo 
 expressly provides for the erection of 
 spacious and handsome edifices (casus 
 grandes y biciifcchas) for the transaction 
 of municipal affairs, in all the principal 
 towns and cities in the kingdom. Orde- 
 nangas Reales, lib. 7, tit. 1, ley 1. — See 
 also L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, pass- 
 im, — et al. auct. 
 
 " "Cosa fue por cierto maravillosa," 
 •xclaims Pulgar, in his Glosa on the Min- 
 go Revulgo, " que lo que muchos hom- 
 bres, y grandes seriores no se acoi'daron 
 Ahacer en muchos aiios, solatmamiigcr, 
 con 3U trabajo, y gobernacion lo hizo en 
 pocotiempo." Copla21. 
 
 ^* The beautiful lines of Virgil, so often 
 niisappUed, 
 
 " Jam redit et Virgo; redeuiit Saturnia regna; 
 Jam ooTa projfenies," etc. 
 
 r>eems to admit here of a pertinent ajjpli- 
 cation. 
 
 "^ Cacro de las Doflas, apud Mem. de la 
 Acad, de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 21. — As one 
 examiile of the moral discipline intro- 
 duced by Isabella in her court, we may 
 cite the enactments against gaming, 
 which had been carried to great excess 
 under the preceding reigns. (See Orde- 
 nan?as Reales, lib. 2, tit. 14, ley 31 ; lib. 8, 
 tit. 10, ley 7.) L. Marineo, according to 
 whom, " hell is full of gamblers," highly 
 commends the sovereigns for their efforts 
 to discountenance this vice. Cosas Me- 
 morables, fol. 165. 
 
 ^^ See, for example, the splendid cere- 
 mony of Prince John's baptism, to which 
 the gossiping Curate of Los Palacios de- 
 votes the 32d and 33d chapters of his 
 Histoi-y. 
 
 PART I —CHAPTER VII. 
 
 '■ Mosheim, Ecclesiastical History, 
 translated by Maclaine, (Charlestown, 
 1810,) cent. 13, P. 2, chap. 5.— Sismondi, 
 Histoire des Fran5ais, (Paris, 1821.) tom. 
 vi. chap. 24-28 ; tom. vii. chap. 2, 3. — 
 Idem, De la Litt^rature du Midi de I'Eu- 
 rope, (Paris, 1813,) tom. i. chap. 6. — In the 
 former of these works JI. Sismondi has 
 described the physical ravages of the 
 crusades in southern France, with the 
 same spirit and eloquence, with which he 
 has exhibited their desolating moral in- 
 fluence in the latter. Some Catholic writ- 
 ers would fain excuse St. Dominic from 
 the imputation of having founded the In- 
 quisition. It is true he died some years 
 before the perfect organization of that 
 tribunal ; but, as he established the prin- 
 ciples on which, and the monkish militia, 
 by whom, it was administered, it is doing 
 hiin no injustice to regard him as its real 
 author. — The Sicilian Paramo, indeed, in 
 his heavy quarto, (De Origine et Progres- 
 su Officii Sanctaa luqui^ionis, Matriti, 
 1598,) traces it up to a much more remote 
 antiquity, which, to a Protestant ear at 
 least, savors not a little of blasphemy. 
 According to him, God was the first in- 
 quisitor, and his condemnation of Adam 
 and Eve furnished the model of the ju- 
 dicial forms observed in the trials of the 
 Holy Office. The setitence of Adam was 
 the type of the inquisitorial reconcilia- 
 tion; his subsequent raiment of the skins 
 of animals was the model of the san- 
 banito, and his expulsion from Paradise 
 the precedent for the confiscation of the 
 goods of heretics. This learned person-
 
 CH. VII.] 
 
 PART I. — THE INQUISITION. 
 
 447 
 
 a?e deduces a succession of inquisitors 
 tlirough the patriarchs, Moses, Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, and King David, down to John 
 the Baptist, and even our Saviour, in 
 whose precepts and conduct he finds 
 abundant authority for the tribunal : Pa- 
 ramo, De Origine Inquisitionis, lib. 1, tit. 
 1, 2, 3. 
 
 ' Sisniondi, Hist, des Frangais, torn. vii. 
 chap. 3. — Limborch, History of the Inqui- 
 sition, translated by Chandler, (London, 
 1731,) book 1, chap. 24.— Llorente, Histoire 
 Critique de Tlnquisition d'Kspagne, (Paris, 
 1818,) torn. i. p. 110.— Before this time we 
 find a constitution of Peter I. of Aragon 
 against heretics, prescribing in certain 
 cases the burning of heretics and the con- 
 fiscation of their estates, in 1107. Marca, 
 Marca Hispanica, sive Limes Hispauicus, 
 (Parisiis, 1688,) p. 1384. 
 
 * Nic. Antonio, Bibliotheca Vetus, torn, 
 ii. p. 18(5. — Llorente, Hist, de I'lnqiiisilion, 
 torn. i. pp. 110-124. — Puigblanch cites 
 some of the instructions from Eymerich's 
 work, whose authority in the coin'ts of 
 the Inquisition he compares to that of 
 Gratian's Decretals in other ecclesiastical 
 judicatures. One of these may suffice to 
 show the spirit of the whole. " When the 
 inquisitor has an opportunity, he shall 
 manage so as to introduce to the conver- 
 sation of the prisoner some one of his ac- 
 complices, 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 escaping punish- 
 ment, by deceiving the inquisitors. Hav- 
 ing thus gained his confidence, he shall 
 go into his cell some day after dinner, 
 and, keeping up the conversation till 
 night, shall remain with him under pre- 
 text of its being too late for him to return 
 home. He shall then virge 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, as well as a 
 notary, in order to certify what may be 
 said within." Puigblanch, Inquisition 
 Unmasked, translated by Walton, (Lon- 
 don, 1810,) vol. .. pp. 2.3S, 239. 
 
 * Marina, Hist, de Espafia, lib. 12, cap. 
 11 ; hb. 21, cap. 17.— Llorente, Hist, de 
 1' Inquisition, tom. i. chap. 3.— The nature 
 of the penance imposed on reconciled 
 heretics by the ancient In(juisition was 
 much more severe than that of later 
 times. Llorente cites an act of St. Domi- 
 nic respecting a person of this descrii)- 
 tion, oi^nied Ponce Roger. The penit<;nt 
 
 was commanded to be '^stripped ofhia 
 clothes and beaten tvith rods by a priest, 
 three Sundays in succession, from the 
 fjate of the city to the door of the church; 
 not to eat any kind of annual food during 
 his whole life ; to keep three Lents a 
 year, without even eating fish ; to abstain 
 from fish, oil, and wine three days in the 
 week during life, except in case of sick- 
 ness or excessive labor ; to wear a re- 
 ligious dress with a small cross embroid- 
 ered 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 the night, and to repeat the 
 pater nosier seven times in the day, ten 
 times in the evening, and twenty times at 
 midnight! " (Ibid., chap. 4.) If the said 
 Roger failed in any of the above requisi- 
 tions, he was to be burnt as a relapsed 
 heretic ! This was the encouragement 
 held out by St. Dominic to penitence. 
 
 ■^ Montesquieu, Esprit des Loix, liv. 28, 
 chap. 1. —See the canon of the 17th coun- 
 cil of Toledo, condemning the Israelitish 
 race to bondage, in Florez, Espana Sa- 
 grada, (Madrid, 1747-75,) tom. vi. p. 220.— 
 Fuero Juzgo (ed. de la Acad. [JIadrid, 
 1315,] lib. 12, tit. 2 and 3,) is composed of 
 the most inhuman ordinances against this 
 unfortunate people. 
 
 " The Koran grants protection f) the 
 Jews on payment of tribute. See the 
 Koran, translated by Sale, (London, 1825,) 
 chap. 9. 
 
 '' The first academy founded by the 
 learned Jews in Spain was that of Cordo- 
 va, A. D., 048. Castro, Biblioteca Espa" 
 ilola, tom. i. p. 2. — Basnage, History of 
 the Jews, translated by Taylor, (London, 
 1708,} book 7, chap. 5. 
 
 ^ In addition to their Talmudic lore and 
 Cabalistic niysteries, the Spanish Jews 
 were well read in the philosophy of Aris- 
 totle. They X)reten(led that the Stagirit43 
 was a convert to J udaism and had bor- 
 rowed his .science f r >m the writings of 
 Solomon. (Brucker, Historia Critica 
 Philosophia^, [Lip-sia?, 170(i,] tom. ii. p. 
 853.) M. Degerando, adopting similar 
 conclusions with Brucker, in regard to 
 the value of tlio ])hilos(>])hicaI specula- 
 tions of the Jews, j)asses the follciwing 
 severe sentence uj)on the intellectual, 
 and indeed moral character of the nali(.>n: 
 " Ce i)e;iide, par son caractcre, sis moe- 
 urs, ses in.stitution.'?, semblait etre doe. 
 tin6 il rester sUitionuairo. Un attjiche- 
 ment <jxgwssif & leurb ^-.-npres tradiUwus
 
 448 
 
 PART I. — THE INQUISITION. 
 
 [cH. vn. 
 
 dominait cliez les Juifs tons les penchans 
 de I'esprit : ils restaient presque stran- 
 gers aux progres de la civilisation, au 
 mouvement gSngral de la soci6t6 ; ils 
 6taien en quelqne sorte inoralement 
 isol6s, alors meme qu'ils comniuniquaient 
 avec tous les peuples, et pareouraient 
 toutes les contrSes. Aussi nous eherchons 
 en vain, dans ceux de leurs 6crits qui nous 
 sent connus, non seulement de vraies 
 dficouvertes, mais m^me des id6es rfielle- 
 ment originales." Histoire Compar6e 
 desSyst^mesde Philosophic, (Paris, 1822,) 
 torn. iv. p. 29D. 
 
 * Castro, Biblioteca Espanola, torn. i. 
 pp. 21, 33, et alibi.— Benjamin of Tudela's 
 celebrated Itinerary, having been trans- 
 lated into the various languages of Eu- 
 rope, passed into sixteen editions before 
 the middle of the last century. Ibid., 
 torn. i. pp. 79, 80. 
 
 1" The beautiful lament, which the 
 royal psalmist has put into the mouths of 
 his countrymen, when commanded t« 
 sing the songs of Sion 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, whicli may be 
 thought to savor more of the modern 
 troubador, than of the ancient Hebrew 
 minstrel. Castro has collected, under 
 Siglo XV., a few gleanings of such, as by 
 their incorporation into a Christian Can- 
 cionero, escaped the fury of the Inquisi- 
 tion. Biblioteca Espanola, torn. i. pp. 
 265-364. 
 
 " 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 
 fii-st volume of his Biblioteca E.spanola 
 contains an analysis accompanied with, 
 extracts from more than seven hundred 
 different works, with biographical sketch- 
 es of their authors ; the whole bearing 
 most honorable testimony to the talent 
 and various erudition of the Spanish 
 Jews. 
 
 '' Basnage, History of the Jews, book 
 7, chap. 5, 1.5, 16.— Castro, Biblioteca Es- 
 pailola, torn. i. pp. 116, 265, 267.— Marina, 
 Hist, de Espana, torn. i. p. 900; — torn. ii. 
 pp. 63, Wi, t.59.— Samuel Levi, treasurer 
 of Peter the Cruel, who was sacrificed to 
 the cupidity of his master, is reported by 
 Marina to have left behind him the in- 
 credible sum of 400, (X)0 ducats to swell 
 the royal coffers. Tom. ii. p. 88. 
 
 ' ^ Sir Walter Scott, with his usual dis- 
 cernment, has availed iiimself of these 
 opposite traits in his portraits of Kebecca 
 and Isaac in Ivanhoe, in which he seems 
 to have contrasted the lights and shad- 
 ows of the Jewish character. The hu- 
 miliating state of the Jews, however, ex- 
 hibited in this romance, affords no analo- 
 gy to their social condition in Spain ; as is 
 evinced not merely by their wealth, 
 which was also conspicuous in the Eng- 
 lish Jews, but by the high degree of 
 civilization, and even political conse- 
 quence, which, notwithstanding the oc- 
 casional ebullitions of popular prejudice, 
 they were permitted to reach there. 
 
 '* Calumnies of this kind 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 An- 
 cient Poetry." 
 
 1^ Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., 
 cap. 43. — Marina, Hist, de Espana, toni. 
 ii. pp. 186, 187.— In 1391, 5,000 Jews were 
 sacrificed to the popular fury, and ac- 
 cording to Marina, no less than 10,000 
 perished from the same cause in Navarre 
 about sixty years before. See torn. i. p. 
 912. 
 
 •^ According to Marina, the restoration 
 of sight to the blind, feet to the lame, 
 even life to the dead, were miracles of 
 ordinary occurrence with St. Vincent. 
 (Hist, de Espana, tom. ii. pp. 229, 230.) 
 The age of miracles had probably ceased 
 by Isabella's time, or the Inquisition 
 might have been spared. Nic. Antonio 
 in his notice of the life and labors of this 
 Dominican, (Bibliotheca Vetus, tom. ii. 
 pp. 205, 207,) states that he preached his 
 inspired sermons in his vernacular Va- 
 lencian dialect to audiences of French. 
 English, and Italians, indiscriminately, 
 who all understood him perfectly well; 
 "a circumstance," says Dr. McCrie, in 
 his valuable " History of the Progress 
 and Suppression of the Reformation in 
 Spain,"' (Edinburgh, 1829.) "which, if it 
 prove any thing, proves that the hearers 
 of St. Vincent possessed more miracu- 
 lous powers than himself, and that they 
 should have been canonized, rather than 
 the preacher." p. 87, note.
 
 CH. vn.] 
 
 PART I. — THE INQUISITIOX. 
 
 449 
 
 " They were intenlicted from the call- 
 ings of vintners, grocers, taveraers, es- 
 pecially of apothecaries, and of physi- 
 cians, and nurses. Ordenan5as Reales, 
 lib. 8, tit. 3, leyes 11, 15. 18. 
 
 ^^ No law was more frequently reiterat- 
 ed than that prohibiting the Jews from 
 acting as stewards of the nobiUty, or 
 farmers and collectors of the public rents. 
 The repetition of this law shows to what 
 extent that people had engrossed what 
 little was known of financial science in 
 that day. For the nuiltiplied enactments 
 in Castile against them, see Ordenangas 
 Reales, (lib. 8, tit. 3.) For the regulations 
 respecting the Jews in Aragon, many of 
 them oppri'ssive, particularly at the 
 commencement of the fifteenth century, 
 see Fueros y Observancias del Reyno de 
 Aragon, (Zaragoza, 1GC7,) torn. i. fol. G. — 
 Marca Hispanica, pp. 1416, 1433.— Zurita, 
 Anales, torn. iii. lib. 12, cap. 45. 
 
 '» Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., 
 cap. 43.— Llorente, Hist, de rinquisition, 
 pref. p. 36. — A manuscript entitled Tizon 
 de Espnna. (Brand of Spam,) tracing up 
 many a noble pedigree to a Jewish or 
 Mahometan root, obtained a circulation, 
 to the great scandal of the country, 
 which the efforts of the government, 
 combined with those of the Inquisition 
 have not been wliolly able to suppress. 
 Copies of it, however, are now rarely to 
 be met with. (Dol)lado, Letters from 
 Spain, [Loudon, 182i.j let. 2.) Clemencin 
 notices two works v.ith this title, one as 
 ancient as Ferdinand and Isabella's time, 
 and both written by bishops. Mem. de la 
 Acad, de Hist., torn. vi. p. 125. 
 
 '" Marina, Hist, de Espaila, tom. ii. p. 
 479. — Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, part. i*. 
 cap. 77. 
 
 = ' Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 43. 
 
 == Bernaldez, Reyes Cat6Ucos, ubi 
 supra. — Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, part. 2. 
 cap. 77. — Zuniga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 
 386.— Mem. de la Acad, de Hi.':t., tom. vi. 
 p. 4-1.— Llorente, tom. i. pp. 143, 145. 
 Some writers are inclined to view the 
 Spanish Inquisition, in its origin, as little 
 else than a political engine. Guizot re- 
 marks of the tribunal, in one of his lec- 
 tures, " Elle contenait en germe ce qu' 
 elle est devenue ; mais elle ne I'etait pas 
 en commengant: elle fiit d"abord plus 
 pohtique que religieusc, et destin^^e a 
 maintenir Tordre plutot (|u'4 di'fendre la 
 foi." (Cours d'lTistoire Moderne, [Paris, 
 1828-30,] tom. v. lee. 11.) This statement 
 
 is inaccurate in reference to Castile, 
 where the facts do not warrant us in im- 
 puting any other motive for its adoption 
 than religious zeal. The general charac- 
 ter of Ferdmand, as well as the circimi- 
 stances under which it was introduced 
 into Aragon, may justify the inference of 
 a more worldly policy in its establish- 
 ment there. 
 
 =^ Essai sur les Moeurs et TEsprit des 
 Nations, chap. 176. 
 
 '* Siguenza, Historia de la Orden de 
 San GerOnimo, apiid Mem. de la Aaid. de 
 Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 13. -This anecdote is 
 more characteristic of the oi-der than the 
 individual. Oviedo has given a brief no- 
 tice of this prelate, whose virtues raised 
 him froju the humblest condition to the 
 highest posts in the chm-ch, and gained 
 him, to quote that writer's words, the 
 appellation of " El sancto, 6 el buen 
 arzobispo en toda Espafia." Quuicuage- 
 nas, MS., dial, de Talavera. 
 
 -' Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 323. 
 
 ^<= The uniform tenderness with which 
 the most liberal Spanish writers of the 
 present comparatively enlightened age, 
 as Marina, Llorente, Clemencin, etc., re- 
 gard the memory of Isabella, affords an 
 honorable testimony to the misuspected 
 integrity of her motives. Even in rela- 
 tion to the Liquisition, her countrymen 
 would seem willing to draw a veil over 
 her eiTors, or to excuse her by charging 
 them on the age in which she lived. 
 
 "'' Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, part. 2, cap. 
 77. — Bernaldez, Reyes, Catolicos, MS., 
 cap. AZ. — Llorente, Hist, de I'lnquisition, 
 tom. i. pp. 143-145.— Much discrepancy 
 exists in the narratives of Pulgar, Ber- 
 naldez, and other contemporary writers, 
 in reference to the era of the establish- 
 ment of the modern Inquisition. I have 
 followed Llorente, whose chronological 
 accuracy, here and elsewhere, rests on 
 the most authentic documents. 
 
 «' Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., ubi 
 supra.— Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, part. 2, 
 cap. 77. — I find no contemporary author- 
 i(y for imputing to cardinal Mcndoza an 
 active agency in the cstablishmentof tlie 
 Inquisition, as is claimed for him by later 
 vi-riters, and especially his kinsman and 
 biograplier, the canon Salazar de Men- 
 doza. (Cr6n. del Oran Cardenal, lib. 1, 
 cap. 49.— Monarquia, tom. i. p. 3.'J6.) The 
 conduct of this enunent minister in thin 
 affai»* seems, on the contrary, to have 
 been eq'Jallj politic and humane. The
 
 450 
 
 PART I. — THE INQUISITION. 
 
 [CH. VII. 
 
 imputation of bigotry was not cast upon 
 it, until the age when bigotry was es- 
 teemed a virtue. 
 
 '° In the interim, a caustic publication 
 by a. Jew appeared, containing strictures 
 on the conduct of the administration, 
 and even on the Christian rehgion, which 
 was controverted at length by Talavera, 
 afterwards archbishop of Granada. The 
 scandal occasioned by this ill-timed pro- 
 duction undoubtedly contributed to ex- 
 acerbate the pojjular odium against the 
 Israelites. 
 
 =>» It is worthy of remark, that the 
 famous Cortes of Toledo, assembled but 
 a short time previous to the above-men- 
 tioned ordinances, and which enacted 
 several oppressive laws in relation to the 
 Jews, made no allusion whatever to the 
 proposed establishment of a tribunal, 
 which was to be armed with such terrific 
 powers. 
 
 '^ This ordinance, in which Llorente 
 discerns the first regular encroachment 
 of the new tribunal on the civil jurisdic- 
 tion, was aimed partly at the Andalusian 
 nobility, who afforded a shelter to the 
 Jewish fugitives. Llorente has fallen in- 
 to the error, more than once, of speak- 
 ing of the count of Arcos, and marquis of 
 Cadiz, as separate persons. The possess- 
 or of both titles was Rodrigo Ponce de 
 Leon, who inherited the former of them 
 from 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 had been usurped 
 from the crown. 
 
 ^' The historian of Seville quotes the 
 Latin inscription on the portal of the edi- 
 fice in which the sittings of the dread 
 tribunal were held. Its concluding apos- 
 trophe to the Deity is one that the perse- 
 cuted might join in, as heartily as their 
 oppressors. "Exurge Domine; judica 
 causamtuam; capite nobis vulpes." Zu- 
 fiiga, Annales de Se . ilia, p. 389. 
 
 = ^ Ordenangas Reales, lib. 8, tit. 3, ley 
 26. 
 
 ^* Llorente, Hi ,t. de I'lnquisition, torn, 
 i. pp. 153-159. 
 
 =" Bernaldez, Reyes Catdlicos, MS., 
 cap. 44.— Llorente, Hist, de I'lnquLsition, 
 torn. i. p. 160.— L. Marineo, Co.sas Me- 
 morables, fol. 164.— The language of Ber- 
 naldez as applied to the four statues of 
 the quemadero, " en que los quemavan,'' 
 is ao 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. Llo- 
 rente's subsequent examination has led 
 him to discard tlie first horrible suppo- 
 sition, which realized the fabled cruelty 
 of Phalaris.— This monument of fauati, 
 cism continued to disgrace Seville Mil 1810- 
 when it was removed in order to make 
 room for the construction of a battery 
 against the French. 
 
 ="« L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables. fol. 
 164.— Bernaldez, Reyes CatOhcos, MS., 
 cap. 44.— Marina, lilb. 24, cap. 17.— Llo- 
 rente, Hist, de rinquisition, ubi supra.— 
 L. Marineo diffuses the 2,000 capital ex- 
 ecutions over several years. He sums up 
 the various severities of the Holy Office 
 La the following gentle terms. "The 
 church, who is the mother of mercy and 
 the fountain of charity, content with the 
 imposition of penances, generously ac- 
 cords life to many who do not deserve it. 
 While those who persist obstinately in 
 their error.s, after being imprisoned on 
 the testimony of trustworthy witnesses, 
 she causes to be put to the torture, and 
 condemned to the flames; some mi^eia- 
 bly perish, bewaihng their errors, and in- 
 voking the name of Christ, while others 
 call upon that of Moses. Many aguin, 
 who sincerely repent, she, notwithstand- 
 ing the heinousr.ess of their transgress- 
 ions, merely sentences to perpetual ini- 
 prisonment!" Such were the tender 
 mercies of the Spanish Inquisition. 
 
 ''' Bernalilez states, tliat guards v.ere 
 posted at the gates of the city of Seville 
 in order to prevent the emigi-ation of ttie 
 Jewish inhabitants, which indeed was 
 forbidden r.nder pr.in of death. The tri- 
 bunal, however, ha 1 greater terrors for 
 them, and many succeeded in effecting 
 their escape. Reyes Cat61icos, MS., cap. 
 44. 
 
 ^» L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 
 164.— Zuniga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 396.— 
 Pulgar, Reyes C.U> licos, part. 2, cap. 77.— 
 Gari ay, Componi' o, torn, ii, lib. 18, cap. 
 17.— Paramo, De C: igine Inquisilionis, lib. 
 2, tit. 2, cap. 2. -Llorente, Hist, de i'lnqui- 
 sition, torn. i. pp. 163-173. 
 
 ^o Over these subordinate tribunals 
 Ferdinand erected a court of supervision, 
 with appelate jurisdiction, under the 
 name of Council of the Supreme, consist- 
 ing of the grand inquisitor, as president, 
 and three other ecclesiastics, two of them 
 doctors of law. The principal purpose of 
 this new creation was to secure the inter-
 
 CH. vn.] 
 
 PART I. — THE INQUISITION. 
 
 451 
 
 est of the crown in the confiscated prop- 
 erty, an I to guard against the eiicroacli- 
 ment oi the inquisition on secular juris- 
 diction. The expedient, however, wliolly 
 failed, because most of the questions 
 brought before this court were deter- 
 mined by the principles of the canon law, 
 of which the grand inquisitor was to be 
 BoIe interpreter, the otliers having only, 
 as it was termed, a " consultative voice." 
 Llorente, torn. i. pp. 173, 174.— Zurita, An- 
 *les, torn. iv. fol. 3'34. — Riol, Infornie, 
 apud Semanario Erudito, tom. iii. pp. 156 
 et seq. 
 
 ■*" Puigblanch, Inquisition Unmasked, 
 vol. i. chap. 4. — Llorente, Hist, de IDiqui- 
 sition, tom. i. chap. 6, art. 1 ; chap. 9, art. 
 1, 2. — The witnesses were questioned in 
 SHch 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 any thing which had been said or 
 done contrary to the Catholic faith, and 
 the interests of the tribunal." Their an- 
 swers often opened a new scent to the 
 judges, and thus, in the language of Mon- 
 tanus, " brought more fishes into the in- 
 quisitors' holy angle." See Montanus, 
 Discovery and Playne Declaration of sun- 
 dry subtill Practises of the Holy Inquisi- 
 tion of Spayne, Eng. trans. (London, 
 15G9,) fol. 14. 
 
 ** Limborch, Inquisition, book 4, chap. 
 20. — Montanus, Inquisition of Spayne, fol. 
 6-15. — Llorente, Hist, de 1' Inquisition, 
 tom. i. chap. 6, art. 1 ; chap. 9, art. 4-9. 
 Puigblanch, Inquisition Unmasked, vol. 
 J. chap. 4. 
 
 *^ Llorente, Hist, de Flnquisition, tom. 
 i. chap. 9, art. 7.— By a subsequent regu- 
 lation of Philip 11. , the repetition of tor- 
 ture in the same process was strictly pro- 
 hibited to the inquisitors. But they, 
 making use of a sophism worthy of the 
 arch-fiend himself, tried to evade this law, 
 by pretending after each new infliction of 
 iPimisliment, that they had only suspend- 
 |«J, and not terminated the toiture 1 
 
 ^^ Montanus, Inquisition of Spayne, fol. 
 24 et seq.— Limborch, Inquisition, vol. ii. 
 chap. 29.— Puigblanch, Inquisition Un- 
 masked, vol. i. chap. 4.— Llorente, Hist, 
 de rinquisition, ubi supra.— I shall spare 
 the reader the description of the various 
 naodes of torture, the rack, fli-e, and pul- 
 ley, practised by tlie incjuisitors, which 
 have been so often detailed in the doleful 
 narratives of such as have liad the fortune 
 
 ! to escape with life from the fangs of flie 
 tribmial. If we are to beheve Llorente, 
 these barbarities have not been decreed 
 for a long time. Yet some recent state- 
 ments are at variance with this assertion. 
 See, among others, the celebrated adven- 
 turer Van Ilalen's '• Narrative of his Im- 
 prisonment in the Dungeons of the Inqui- 
 sition at Madrid, and his Escape in 1817 
 -18." 
 
 "^ The prisoner had indeed the right of 
 challenging any witness on the ground of 
 personal enmity. (Llorente. Hist, de 
 requisition, tom. i. cliap. 9, art. li), i But 
 as he was kept m 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 of 
 challenge was wholly nugatory. 
 
 *^ Confiscation had long been decreed 
 as the punishment of convicted heretics 
 by the statutes of Castile. (Or(lenanf;as 
 Reales, lib. 8, tit. 4.) The avarice of the 
 present system, however, is exemplified 
 by the fact, that those, who confes.sed 
 and sought absolution within the brief 
 term of grace allowed by the inquisitora 
 from the publication of their edict, were 
 liable to arbicrary fines ; and those wlio 
 confessed after that period, escaped with 
 nothing short of confiscation. Llorente, 
 Hist, de rinquisition, tom. i. pp. 176, 177. 
 
 *8 Ibid., tom. i. p. 216.— Zui'ita. Anales, 
 tom. iv. fol. 3i4.— Salazar de Meniioza, 
 Monarquia, tom. i. fol. 337. — 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 tiie usual sympathies of 
 social life, and who, accustomed to the 
 tyranny of the confessional, aimed at es- 
 tablishing the same jurisdiction over 
 thoughts, which secular tribunals have 
 wisely confined to actions. Time, instead 
 of softening, gave increased harshness to 
 the featui-es of the new system. The 
 most humane provisions were constantly 
 evaded in practice ; and the toils foi- en- 
 snaring the victim were so ingeninnsly 
 multiplied, tliat few, very few, were per- 
 mitted to escape without some censure. 
 Not more than one person, says Llon-iife. 
 in one or perhaps two thousand processes, 
 previ()\is to the time of Philip III.. i-e- 
 ceived entire absolution. So that itc^imt* 
 to be proverbial that all who were r.ot 
 roasted, were at least ringed.
 
 '452 
 
 PAET I. — THE INQUISITION. 
 
 [CH. vir. 
 
 "Derant llnquisition, quand on vient k jub6, 
 Si I'on ne sort roti, I'on sort au moins flamb^." 
 *' Montanus, Inquisition of Spayne, fol. 
 46.— Puigblanch, Inquisition Unmasked, 
 Vol. i. chap. 4.— Every readei- of Tacitus 
 and Juvenal wUl remember how early the 
 Christians were condemned to endure the 
 penalty of fire. Perhaps the earliest in- 
 stance of burning to death for heresy in 
 modern times occiured under the reign 
 ef Robert of France, in the early part of 
 the eleventh century. (Sismondi, Hist, 
 des Frangais, torn. iv. chap. 4.) Paramo, 
 as usual, finds authority for inquisitorial 
 autos da fe, where one would least exj^ect 
 it, in the New Testament. Among other 
 examples, he quotes the remark of James 
 and John, who, when the village of Sa- 
 maria refused to admit Christ within its 
 walls, would have called down fire from 
 heaven to consume its inhabitants. " Lo, " 
 says Paramo, "fire, the punishment of 
 heretics ; for the Samaritans were the 
 heretics of those times." (De Origine In- 
 qmsitionis, hb. 1, tit. 3, cap. 5.) The 
 worthy father omits to add the impress- 
 ive rebuke of our Saviour to his over- 
 zealous disciples. "Ye know not what 
 manner of spii'it ye are of. The son of 
 man is not come to destroy men's lives, 
 but to save them." 
 
 48 Puigblanch, vol. i. chap. 4. — The in- 
 quisitors after the celebration of an auto 
 da fe at Guadaloupe, in 1485, wishing 
 probably to justify these bloody execu- 
 tions ui the eyes of tb.e people, who had 
 not yet become familiar with them, so- 
 licited 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 an- 
 swered by such a profusion of miracles, 
 that Dr. Francis Sanctius de la Fuente, 
 who acted as scribe on the occasion, be- 
 came out of breath, and, after recording 
 sixty, gave up hi despau", unable to keep 
 pace with their marvelous rapidity. Pa- 
 ramo, De Origine Inquisitions, Ub. 8, tit. 
 2, cap. 3. 
 
 *^ San benito, according to Llorente 
 (tom. i. p. 1:^7,) is a corruption of saco 
 bendito, being the name given to the 
 di'esses worn by penitents previously to 
 the thirteenth century. 
 
 ^° Llorente, Hist, de I'lnquisition, tom. 
 i. chap. 9, art. 10. — Puigblanch, Inquisi- 
 tion Unmasked, vol. i. chajj. 4. — Voltaire 
 remarks (Essai sur les Moeurs, chap. 140,) 
 that, "An Asiatic, arriving at Madrid on 
 the day of an auto da fe, would doubt 
 
 whether it were a festival, religious cele- 
 bration, sacrifice, or massacre; — it is all 
 of them. They reproach Montezuma 
 with sacrificing human captives to the 
 Gods. — What would he have said, had he 
 witnessed an auto da fe? " 
 
 ^^ The government, at least, cannot be 
 charged with remissness in promoting 
 this. I find two ordinances in the royal 
 collection of pragnidticas, dated in Sep- 
 tember, 1.501, (there must be some error 
 in the date of one of them,) inhibiting, 
 imder pain of confiscation of property, 
 such as had been reconciled, and their 
 children bj' the mother's side, and grand- 
 children by the father's, from holding 
 any office in the privy covmcil, courts of 
 justice, or in the mimicipalities, or any 
 other place of trust or honor. They were 
 also excluded from the vocations of 
 notaries, surgeons, and apothecaries. 
 (Pragm^ticas del Reyno, fol. 5, 6.) This 
 was visiting the sins of the fathers, to an 
 extent unparalleled in modern legisla- 
 tion. The sovereigns might find a prece- 
 dent in a law of Sylla, excluding the chil- 
 dren of the proscribed Romans from po- 
 litical honors; thus indignantly noticed 
 by Sallust. " Quin solus omnium, post 
 memoriam honiinum, suppUcia in post 
 futures composuit; quis prius injuria 
 quctm vita certa esset." Hist. Fragmen- 
 ta, lib. 1. 
 
 6 2 The Aragonese, as we shall see here- 
 after, made a manly, though ineffectual 
 resistance, from the first, to the intro- 
 duction of the Inquisition among them 
 by Ferdinand. In Castile, its enormous 
 abuses provoked the spirited interposi- 
 tion of the legislature at the commence- 
 ment of the following reign. But it was 
 then too late. 
 
 6^ 1485-G. (Llorente, Hist, de I'lnquisi- 
 tion, tom. i. p. 239.)— In Seville, with prob- 
 ably no greater apparatus, in 1485, Sl.OiK) 
 processes were disposed of. These were 
 the first fruits of the Jewish heresy, when 
 Torquemada, although an inquisitor, had 
 not the supreme control of the tribunal. 
 
 '^* Llorente afterwards reduces this es- 
 timate to 8,800 burnt, 9(5,504 otherwise 
 punished; the diocese of Cuenga being 
 comprehended in that of Murcia. (Tom. 
 iv. p. 252.) Zm-ita says, that, by 1520, thp 
 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 tri-
 
 CH. vm.] 
 
 PART r. THE SPANISH ARABS. 
 
 453 
 
 biinal, withiu the same term of time, to 
 100,000. Aiiales, torn. iv. fol. 324. 
 
 ^= By an article of the primitive in- 
 structions, the inquisitors were required 
 to set apart a small portion of the con- 
 fiscated estates for the education and 
 Christian nurture of minors, children of 
 the condemned. Llorente says, that, in 
 the immense number of processes, wliich 
 he had occasion to consult, he met \\ith 
 no instance of their attention to the fate 
 of these unfortunate orphans! Hist, de 
 rinquisition, tom. i. cha\ V. 
 
 '^^ Reyes Cat61icos, MS., cap. 44. — 
 Torquemada waged war upon free- 
 dom of thought, in every form. In 1490, 
 he caused several Hebrew bibles to be 
 publicly burnt, and some time after, 
 more than (i,(XX) volumes of Oriental 
 learning, on the imputation of Judaism, 
 sorcery, or heresy, at the autos de f e of 
 Salamanca, the very nursery of science. 
 (Llorente, Hist, de rinquisition, tom. i. 
 chap. 8, art. 5. ) 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 Vi'lena Fortunately for the 
 dawning literature of Spain, Isabella did 
 not, as was done by her successors, com- 
 mit the censorship of the press to the 
 judges of the Holy Oflflce, notwith.stand- 
 ing such occasional assumption of power 
 by the grand inquisitor. 
 
 ^^ Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, part. 2, 
 cap. 7".— L. Marineo, C'osas Memorables, 
 fol. 164.— The prodigious desolation of 
 the land may be inferred from the esti- 
 mates, although somewhat discordant, of 
 deserted houses in Andalusia. Garibay 
 (Compendio, Mb. 18, cap. IT,) puts these at 
 three, Pulgar (Reyes Catolicos, part. 2, 
 cap. 77.) at four, L. Marineo (Cosas Me- 
 m6rables, fol. 164,) as high as five thou- 
 sand. 
 
 ^* Llorente, Hist, de rinquisition, tom. 
 i. chap. 7, art. 8; chap. 8, art. 6. 
 
 '^ Nic. Antonio, Bibliotheca Vetus, 
 tom. ii. p. 340. — Llorente, Hist, de rinqui- 
 sition, tom. i. chap. 8, art. 6. 
 
 60 "Per la f6— il tutto lice." Genisa- 
 lemme Liberata, cant. 4, stanza 26. 
 
 PART I.— CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ^ See Introduction, Section 1, Note 2, 
 of this History. 
 
 - The Koran, in addition to the repeat- 
 ed assurances of Paradise to the martyr 
 who falls in battle, contains the regula- 
 
 tions of a precise military code. Jlilitary 
 ^;ervice in s .me shape or other is exacted 
 from ;. 1. Tlie terms to be prescribed to 
 the enemy and the vanquished, the di- 
 vision of tile spoil, the seasons of lawful 
 truce, the con;'.itions on which the com- 
 paratively small number of exempts are 
 permitted to remain at home, are ac- 
 curately defined. (Sale's Koran, chap. 2, 
 8, 9, et alibi.) When the algihed, or Ma- 
 hometan crusade, which, in its general 
 design and immunities, bore a close re- 
 semblance to the Christian, was preached 
 in the mosque, every true believer was 
 bound to rejjair 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 
 to repose in the shadow of banners and 
 on the field of battle. 
 
 ^ The successors, caliphs or vicars, as 
 they v.ere styled, of Mahomet, i-epresent- 
 ed both his spiritual and temporal au- 
 thority. Their office iuvolved almost 
 equaUy ecclesiastical and military func- 
 tions. It was their duty to lead the army 
 in battle, and on the isilgrimage to jMecca. 
 They were to preach a sermon, and offer 
 up public prayers in the mosques every 
 Friday. Many of their prerogatives re- 
 semble 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 com- 
 plimented them with the titles of "de- 
 fender of the faith," "column of relig- 
 ion," and the like. The proudest poten- 
 tate held the bi-idle of their nmles, and 
 paid his homage by touching their thres- 
 hold with his forehead. , The authoi-ily of 
 the caliphs was in this manner founded 
 on opinion no less than on power; and 
 their ordinances, however frivolous or 
 iniquitous in themselves, being enforced, 
 as it v.-ere, by a divine sanction, became 
 laws which it ^vas sacrilege to disobey. 
 See D'Herbelot, Biblioth^que Orientale, 
 (La Haye, 1777-9,) voce Khulifuh. 
 
 * The character of the Arabs, before 
 the introduction of Islam, like that of 
 most rude nations, is to be gathered 
 from their national songs and romances, 
 The poems suspended at Mecca, familiar 
 to us in the elegant version of Sir Wil- 
 liam Jones, and still more, the recent 
 translation of "Antar," a composition 
 indeed of the age cif Al Ra.scliid. but 
 wholly di'volcd ti)tlie j)rimitive Bedouins, 
 present us with a lively picture of their
 
 454 
 
 PART 1.— THE SPANISH ARABS. 
 
 [CH, vin. 
 
 peculiar habits, which, notwithstanding 
 the influence of a temporary civilization, 
 may be thought to bear great resem- 
 blance to those of their descendants at 
 the present day. 
 
 6 Startling as it may be, there is scarce- 
 ly a vestige of any of the particulars, 
 circumstantially narrated by the na- 
 tional historians (Mariana, Zurita, Abar- 
 ca, Moret, &c.) as the immediate causes 
 of the supervision of Spain, to be found 
 in the chronicles of the period. No inti- 
 mation 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 nearly two centuries after 
 the conquest; none earUer than this, of 
 the defection of archbishop Oppas, dur- 
 ing the fatal conflict near Xerez; and 
 none, of the tragical amours of Roderic 
 and the revenge of count Julian, befoi'e 
 the writers of the thirteenth century. 
 Nothing indeed can be more jejune than 
 the original narratives of the mvasion. 
 The continuation of the Chi-onicon del 
 Biclarense, and the Chronicon de Isidoro 
 Pacense or de Beja, wliich are contained 
 in the vohmiinous collection of Florez, 
 (EspaiSa Sagrada, torn. vi. and viii.) 
 afford the only histories contemporary 
 with the event. Conde is mistaken in 
 his assertion (Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 Pr61. p. vii.), that the work of Isidore de 
 Beja was the only narrative written dur- 
 ing that period. Spain had not the pen 
 of a Bede or an Eginhart to describe the 
 memorable catastrophe. But the few 
 and meagre touches of the contemporary 
 chroniclers have left ample scope for 
 conjectural history, which has been most 
 industriously improved. 
 
 The reports, according to Conde, (Do- 
 minacion de los Ai'abes, torn. i. p. 36,) 
 greedily circulated among the Saracens, 
 of the magnificence and general pros- 
 perity of the Gothic monarchy, may suf- 
 ficiently accomit for its invasion by an 
 enemy flushed with uninterrupted con- 
 quests, 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. See Cardonne, Histoire de 
 I'Afrique et de I'Espagne sous la Domi- 
 nation des Arabes, (Paris, 17G5,) tom. i. p. 
 37. 
 
 ' The laborious diUgence of Masdeu 
 may be thought to have settie^i tlie epoch, 
 
 about which so much learned dust has 
 been raised. The fourteenth volume of 
 his " Historia Critica de Espana y de la 
 Cultm-a Espanola (JIadrid, 1783-1805,) 
 contains an accm-ate table, by which the 
 minutest details of the Mahometan lunar 
 year are adjusted by those of the Chris- 
 tian era. The fall of Roderic on the 
 field of battle is attested by both the 
 domestic chi-oniclers of that period, as 
 weU as by the Saracens. (Incerti Auc- 
 toris Additio ad Joannem Biclarensem, 
 apud Florez, Espana Sagrada, tom. vi. p. 
 430.— Isidori Pacensis Episcopi Chroni- 
 con, apud Florez, Espana Sagrada, tom. 
 viii. p. 2'M.) The tales 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 Guadalete, 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 eyewit- 
 ness, whose meagre diction is quickened 
 on this occasion into something like sub- 
 hmity, " whatever curses were denounced 
 by the prophets of old against Jerusalem, 
 whatever fell upon ancient Babylon, 
 whatever miseries Rome inflicted upon 
 the glorious company of the martyrs, aU 
 these were visited upon the once hap- 
 py and prosperous, but now desolated 
 Spain." Pacensis Chronicon apud Flo- 
 rez, Espaiia Sagrada. tom. viii. p. 292. 
 
 * The frequency of this alliance may be 
 inferred from an extraordinary, though, 
 doubtless, extravagant statement cited 
 by Zurita. The ambassadors of James 
 II.. of Aragon, in 1311, represented to the 
 sovereign pontiff, Clement V., that, of 
 the 200.000 souls, which then composed 
 the population of Granada, there were 
 not more than 500 of pure Moorish de- 
 scent. Anales, tom. iv. fol. 314. 
 
 * The famous persecutions of Cordova 
 under the reigns of Abderrahman II. and 
 his son, which, to judge from the tone of 
 Castilian writers, might vie with those of 
 Nero and Diocletian, are admitted by 
 Morales (Obras, tom. x. p. 74,) to have 
 occasioned the destruction of only forty 
 individuals. Most of these unhappy 
 fanatics solicited the crown of martyr- 
 dom, by an open violation of the Mahom- 
 etan laws and usages. The details are
 
 CH. VIII.] 
 
 PART I.— THE SPANISH ARABS. 
 
 455 
 
 given by Florez, in the tentli volume of 
 his collection. 
 
 >• Bleda, Cor6nica de los Moros de Es- 
 pafia, (.Valencia, 1018,) lib. 2, cap. 10, 17.— 
 Cardomie, Hist. d'Airique et d'Espagne, 
 torn. i. pp. 83 et seq. 179.— Coude, Dumi- 
 naciou rie los Arabes, Pr61., p. vii. and 
 torn. i. pp. 29-54, 75, 87.— Morales, Obras, 
 torn. vi. pp. 407-417; torn. vii. pp. 202-204. 
 — Florez, Espafia Sagrada, torn. x. pp. 
 237-270.— Fuero Juzgo, Int. p. 40. 
 
 11 Oonde, Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 part. 2, cap. 1-iO. 
 
 12 Ibid, ubi supra.— Masdeu, Historia 
 Crltica, torn. xiii. pp. 178, 187. 
 
 IS The same taste is noticed at the pres- 
 ent day, by a traveller, whose pictm-es 
 glow with the warm colors of the east. 
 " Aussi des que vous approchez, en Europe 
 ou en Asie, d'une terre possedee par les 
 Musulmans, vous la reconnaissez de loin 
 au ri5he et sombre voile de verdure qui 
 flotte gracieusement sur elle:— desarlires 
 pour s'asseoir H leur ombre, des f ontaines 
 jaillissantes pour rever a, leur bruit, du 
 BUence et des mosquees aux lagers mina- 
 rets, s'elevant k chaque pas du sein d'une 
 terre pieuse." Lamartine, Voyage en 
 Orient, tome i. p. 172. 
 
 1* Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 tom. i. pp. 199, 265, 284, 385, 417, 446, 447, 
 et alibi.— Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et 
 d'Espagne, tom. i. pp. 227-230 et seq. 
 
 1^ Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 tom. i. pp. 211, 212, 226.— Swmburne, Trav- 
 els through Spain, (London. 1787,) let. 35. 
 — Xerif Aledris, conocido por El Nubi- 
 ense, Descripcion de Espafia, con Traduc- 
 ciou y Notas de Conde, (Madrid, 1799,) 
 pp. 161, 162.— Morales, Obras, tom. x. p. 
 61.— Chenier, Recherches Historiques sur 
 les Maures, et Histoire de TEmpii-e do 
 Maroc, (Paris, 1787,) tom. ii. p. 312. 
 
 1* Oonde, Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 tom. i. pp. 214, 228, 270, 611.— Masdeu, 
 Historia Crltica, tom. xiii. p. 118.— Car- 
 donne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, 
 tom. i. pp. 338-;343.— Casiri quotes from 
 an Arabic historian the conditions on 
 which Abderrahman I. proffered his al- 
 liance to the Christian princes of Spain, 
 viz. the annual tribute of 10,000 ounces 
 of gold, 10,000 pounds of silver, 10,000 
 horses, &c. &c. The absurdity of this 
 story, inconsiderately repeated by his- 
 torians, if any argument were necessary 
 to prove it, becomes sufficiently nianil'fsl 
 from the fact, that the instrument is 
 dated in the 142d year of the Hegira, be- 
 ing a little more than fifty vears after the 
 
 conquest. See Bibliotheca Arabico-His- 
 paua Escui-ialensis, (Matriti, 1760 ) tom 
 ii. p. 104. 
 
 1' Hist. Naturalis, lib. 33, cap. 4. 
 
 " Introduction a I'Histou^ Naturelle 
 de I'Espagne, traduite par Flavigny 
 (Paris, 1770,) p. 411. 
 
 i» See a sensible essay by the Abbe 
 Correa de Serra on the hu.sbandry of the 
 Spanish Arabs, contamed in tom. i. of 
 Ai-chives Litteraiies de I'Em-ope, (Paris, 
 18(.U.)— Masdeu, Historia Crltica, tom. xiii. 
 pp. 115, 117, 127, 131.— Conde, Dominacion 
 de los Arabes, tom. i. cap. 44. -Casiri, 
 Bibliotheca Eseurialensis, tom. i. p. 338. 
 
 An absurd story has been transcribed 
 from Cardonne, with little hesitation, by 
 almost every succeeding writer upon 
 this subject. According to him, (Hist. 
 d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. i. p. 338,) 
 "the banks of the Guadalquivir were 
 hnedwithno less than t»velve thousand 
 villages and hamlets." The length of 
 the river, not exceeding three hundred 
 miles, would scarcely afford room for the 
 same number of farm-houses. Conde's 
 version of the Arabic passage represents 
 twelve thousand hamlets, farms, and 
 castles, to have " been scattered over the 
 regions watered by the Guadalquivir"; 
 indicating by this indefinite statement 
 nothing more tiian the extreme popu- 
 lousness of the province of Andalusia. 
 
 2° Casiri, Bibliotheca Eseurialensis, 
 tom. ii. pp. 38, 202.— Conde, Dominacion 
 de los Arabes, part. 2, cap. 88. 
 
 ^1 Storia della Letteratura Italiana, 
 (Roma, 1782-97,) tom. iii. p. 231.— Turner, 
 History of the Anglo-Saxons, (London, 
 1820,) vol. iii. p. 137.- Andres, Dell' Ori- 
 gine, de' Progress! e dello Stato Attuale 
 d' Ogni Letteratura, (Venezia, 1783, ) part. 
 1, cap. 8, 9.— Casiri, Bibliotheca Eseuria- 
 lensis, tom. ii. p. 149. — Masdeu, Historia 
 Critica, tom. xiii. pp. 165, 171. — Conde, 
 Dominacion de los Arabes. part. 2, cap. 
 93. — Among the acconiiilished females of 
 this period, Valadata, the daughter of the 
 caliph Mahomet, is celebrated as having 
 frequentl.y carried away the palm of elo- 
 quence in her discussions with the most 
 learned acadeinii-i.ins. Others again, 
 with an intrei)idity (hat might shame tlie 
 degeneracy of a modern blue, i)lunged 
 boldly into the studies of philosoph.v, 
 history, and .iurisjiriKlence. 
 
 '-"- (;aril)M\. CiiMipeiidio, lib. 39, cap. 3. 
 
 -'■' Zurita, .\nales, lib. 20, cap. 42. 
 
 '^ L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, foL 
 109,
 
 456 
 
 PART I.— THE SPANISH ARABS. 
 
 [CH. vni. 
 
 =' Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 torn. ii. p. 147.— Casiri, Bibliotheca E.s- 
 curialensis, torn. ii. pp. 248 et seq. — Pe- 
 draza, Autiguedad y Excelencias de 
 Granada, (Madrid, 1608,) lib. 1,— Pedraza 
 has «oilected the various etymologies of 
 the term Granada, which some writers 
 have traced to the fact of the city having 
 been the .spot where the ^jo/ncfifranaic was 
 first introduced from Africa; others to 
 the large quantity of grain in which its 
 vega abounded; othei-s again to the re- 
 semblance which the city, divided into 
 two hills thickly sprinkled with houses, 
 bore to a half-opened pomegranate. 
 (Lib. 2, cap. 17.) The arms of the city, 
 which were in part composed of a pome- 
 granate, would seem to favor the deriva- 
 tion of its name from that of the fruit. 
 
 2» Pedraza, Antiguedad de Granada, 
 fol. 101.— Denina, Delle Rivoluzioni d'lta- 
 lia, (Venezia, 1816,) Capmany y Mont- 
 palau, Memorias Histuricas sobre la Ma- 
 rina, Comercio, y Artes de Barcelona, 
 (Madrid, 1779-92,) "torn. iii. p. 218; tom. iv. 
 pp. 67 et seq. — Conde, Dominacion de los 
 Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 26.— The ambassa- 
 dor of the emperor Frederic IH., on his 
 passage to the court of Lisbon in the mid- 
 dle of the fifteenth century, contrasts the 
 superior cultivation, as well as general 
 civilization, of Granada at this period 
 with that of the other countries of Eu- 
 rope through which he had travelled. 
 Sismondi, Histoire des R^publiques Ital- 
 iennes du Moyen-Age, (Paris, 1818,) tom. 
 tx. p. 405. 
 
 '^ Casiri, Bibliotheca Escurialensis, 
 tom. ii. pp. 250-258.— The fifth volume of 
 the royal Spanish Academy of History 
 contains an erudite essay by Conde on 
 Arabic money, principally with reference 
 to that coined in Spain ; pp. 225-315. 
 
 ^^ A specification of a royal donative 
 in that day may serve to show the mar- 
 tial spirit of the age. In one of these, 
 made by the king of Granada to the Cas- 
 tilian sovereign, we find twenty noble 
 steeds of the royal stud, reared on the 
 banks of the Xenil, with superb capari- 
 sons, 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. (Conde, Dominacion de los 
 Arabes, tom. iii. pp. 163, laS.) This latter 
 symbol of royalty appears to have been 
 deemed peculiarly approjiriate to the 
 kmgs of Leon. Ferreras informs us that 
 vhe ambassadors from France at the Cas- 
 
 tilian court, in 14.34, were received by John 
 II., with a full grown domesticated lion 
 crouching at his feet. (Hist. d'Espagne, 
 tom. vi. p. 401.) The sanie taste appears 
 still to exist in Turkey. Dr. Clarke, in 
 his visit t<) Constantinople, met with one 
 of these terrific pets, who used to follow 
 his master, Hassan Pacha, about like a 
 dog. 
 
 25 Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 tom. iii. cap. 28. — Henriquez del Castillo 
 (Cnjnica, cap. 13S,) 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 par- 
 ties, Don Alfonso de Aguilar, failing to 
 keep his engagement, the other rode 
 round the hsts in triumph, with his ad- 
 versary's portrait contemptuously fast- 
 ened to the tail of his horse. 
 
 2" It must be admitted, that these bal- 
 lads, as far as facts are concerned, are 
 too inexact to furnish other than a very 
 slippery 'fomidation for history. The most 
 beautiful portion perhaps of the Moor- 
 ish ballads, for example, is taken up with 
 the feuds of the Abencerrages 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, as far as I am aware, 
 by contemporary writers, foreign or do- 
 mestic, and would seem to owe its chief 
 celebrity to the apociyphal version of Gi- 
 nes Perez de Hyta, whose " Milesian 
 tales," according to the severe sentence 
 of Nic. Antonio, " are fit only to amuse 
 the lazy and the listless."' (Bibliotheca 
 Nova, tom. i. p. 536.) 
 
 But although the Spanish ballads are not 
 entitled to the credit of strict historical 
 documents, they may yet perhaps be re- 
 ceived in evidence of the prevailing char- 
 acter of the social relations of the age; a 
 remark indeed predicable of most works 
 of fiction, written by authors contempo- 
 rary with the events they describe, and 
 more especially so of that popular min- 
 stivlsy. which, emanating from a simple, 
 uncorruptert class, is less likely to swerve 
 from truth, than more ostentatious works 
 of art. The long cohabitation of the Sara- 
 cens with the Christians, (full evidence of 
 which is afforded by Capmany, (Mem. de 
 Barcelona, tom. iv. Apend. no. 11,) who 
 quotes a document from the pubUc ar- 
 chives of Catalonia, showing the great 
 number of Saracens residing in Aragon 
 even in the thirteenth and fourteenth cen- 
 turies, the most flourishing period of tt)9
 
 CH. VIII. J 
 
 PART I. — THE SPANISH ARABS. 
 
 457 
 
 Granadian empire.) had enabled many of 
 them confessedly to speak and write the 
 Spanish language with purity and ele- 
 gance. Some of the graceful little songs, 
 which are still chanted by the peasantry 
 of Spain in their dances, to the accompa- 
 niment of the Castanet, are refen-ed by a 
 competent critic (Conde, De la Poesia Ori- 
 ental, MS.) to an Arabian origin. There 
 can be Uttle hazard, therefore, in im- 
 puting much of this peculiar minstrelsy 
 to the Arabians themselves, the contem- 
 poraries, and perhaps the eyewitnesses of 
 the events they coleljrate. 
 
 3' Casiri (Bibliutlieea Escurialensis, 
 torn. ii. p. 259,) has transcribed a passage 
 from an Arabian author of the fourteenth 
 century, inveighing bitterly against the 
 luxury of the Moorish ladies, their gor- 
 geous apparej and habits of expense, 
 " amounting almost to insanity," in a tone 
 which may remind one of the similar 
 philippic by his contemporary Dante, 
 against his fair countrywomen of Flor- 
 ence.— Two ordinances of a king of Gra- 
 nada, cited by Conde in his History, pre- 
 scribe the separation of the women from 
 the men in the mosques; and prohibit 
 their attendance on certain festivals, with- 
 out the protection of theu' husbands or 
 some near relative.— Their femnies sa- 
 vant es, as we have seen, were in the habit 
 of conferring freely with men of letters, 
 and of assisting in person at the academ- 
 ical .vances.— And lastly, the frescoes al- 
 luded to in the text represent the presence 
 of females at the tournaments, and the 
 fortunate knight receiving the pahn of 
 victory from their hands. 
 
 '2 Conde. Dorainacion de los Arabes, 
 tom. i. p. 340; tom. iii. p. 119. 
 
 53 Casiri, on Arabian authority, com- 
 putes it at 200,000 men. BibUotheca Es- 
 curialensis, tom. i. p. 338. 
 
 ** Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, p. 350. 
 
 36 Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., tom. vi 
 p. 169.— These riiined fortifications still 
 thickly stud the border territories of 
 Granada; and many an Andalusian mill, 
 along the hanks of the Guadayra and 
 Guadalquivir, retains its battlemeiited 
 tower, which served for the defence of 
 its inmates against the forays of the 
 enemy. 
 
 s« D'Herbelot, (Bib Orientale, tom. i. 
 p. 630.1 among other authentic traditions 
 of Mahomet, quotes one as indicating his 
 encoin-agement of letters, viz. "That the 
 ink of the doctors and the Ijlood of the 
 martyrs are of equal price." M. CElsner 
 
 (Des Effets de la Religion de Moham- 
 med, Paris, 1810.) has cited several others 
 of the same liberal import. But sujh 
 traditions cannot be received in evidence 
 of the original doctrine of the projjliet. 
 They are rejected as apocryphal by the 
 Persians and the whole sect of the Shiites 
 and are entitled to little weight with u 
 European. 
 
 3' When the caUph Al Mamon en- 
 couraged, by his example as well as pat- 
 ronage, a more enhghtened policy, he 
 was accused by the more orthodox Mus- 
 sulmans of attempting to subvert the 
 principles of their religion. See Pococke, 
 Spec. Hist. Arabum, (Oxon. 1650,) p. 
 IGO. 
 
 3s Andres, Letteratura, part. 1, cap. 8, 
 10. — Casiri, BibUotheca Escm-ialensis, 
 tom. ii. pp. 71, 251, et passim. 
 
 3» Casiri mentions one of these universal 
 geniuses, who pubUshed no less than a 
 thousand and fifty treatises on the vari- 
 ous topics of Ethics, History, Law, Medi- 
 cine, &c. ! BibUotheca Escurialensis, 
 tom. ii. p. 107.— See also tom. i. p. 370; 
 tom. ii. p. 71 et alibi.— Zufiiga, Annales 
 de Sevilla, p. 23.— D'Herbelot, Bib. Ori- 
 entale, voce Tarikh. — Masdeu, Historia 
 Critica, tom. xiii. j)p. 203, 305.— Andres, 
 Letteratura, part. 1, cap. 8. 
 
 *" Consult the sensible, though perhaps 
 severe, remarks of Degerando on Arabian 
 science. (Hist, de la Philosophic, tom. 
 iv. cap. 24.) — The reader may also peruse 
 with advantage a disquisition on^ Arabian 
 metaphysics in Turner's History of Eng- 
 land, (vol. iv. pp. 405-449.— Brucker, Hist. 
 Philosophise, torn. iii. p. 105.)— Ludovicus 
 Vives seems to have been the author of 
 the imputation in the text. (Nic. An- 
 tonio, BibUotheca Vetus, tom. u. p. 394.) 
 Averroes translated some of the phi- 
 losophical works of Aristotle from the 
 Greek into Arabic; a Latin version of 
 which translation was afterwards made. 
 Tho\igh D'Herbelot is mistaken (Bib. Ori- 
 entale, art. Roschd.) m saying that Aver- 
 roes was the first who translated Aris- 
 totle into Arabic; as this had been done 
 two centuries before, at least, by Honain 
 and others in the ninth century, (see 
 Casiri, BibUotheca Escurialensis, tom. i. 
 p. 3(W.)and Rayle has shown that a Latin 
 version of tlie St^igirite wa.s used by the 
 Europeans before the alleged period. 
 See art. Aivrroes. 
 
 «> Sprengel, Histoire de la MMecine, 
 traduite par Jourdan, (Paris, 1815,) torn, 
 ii. pp. 263 et seq.
 
 458 
 
 PART I.— THE SPANISH ARABS. 
 
 [cH. vni. 
 
 42 Degerando, Hist, de la Philosophic', 
 torn. iv. ubi supra. 
 
 ••3 Bibliotheca Escurialensis, torn. ii. p. 
 9.— Andres, Lettei'atura, part. 1, cap. 10. 
 
 ** Letteratura Italiana, torn. v. p. 87. 
 
 ■"' The battle of Crecy furnishes the 
 earliest instance oi^ record of the use of 
 artillery by the European Christians; al- 
 though Du Cange, among several exam- 
 ples which he enumerates, has traced a 
 distinct notice of its existence as far 
 back as 133S. (GlossariuTU ad Scriptores 
 Mediae et Influia^ Latinitatis, (Paris, 1730,) 
 and Supplement, (Paris, 17tJB,) voce Bom- 
 barda.) Tlie history of the Spanish 
 Arabs carries it to a much earlier period. 
 It was employed by the Moorish king of 
 Granada at the siege of Baza, in 1312 and 
 1335. (Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 torn. iii. cap. 18.--Casiri, Bibliotheca Es- 
 curialensis, torn. ii. p 7.) It is distinctly 
 noticed in an Arabian treatise as ancient 
 as 1'249; and, finally, Casiri quotes a pas- 
 sage from a Spanish author at the close 
 of the eleventh centuiy, (whose MS., ac 
 cording 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. Casiri, BibUotheca Es 
 curialensis, tom. ii. p. 8.— Nic. Antonio, 
 Bibliotheca Vetus, tom. ii. p. 12. 
 
 *" Petrarch complains in one of his let 
 ters from the country, that " jurisconsults 
 wid divines, nay his o^m valet, had taken 
 to rhyming: and he was afraid the very 
 cattle might begin to low in verse; " apud 
 De Sade, Memoires pour La Vie de Pe 
 trarque, tom. iii. p. 243. 
 
 ■" Andres, Letteratura, part. 1, cap. 11. 
 — Yet this popular assertion is contradict 
 ed by Reinesius, who states, that both 
 Homer and Pindar were translated into 
 Arabic by the middle of tlie eighth centu- 
 ry. See Fabricius, Bibliotheca Grasca, 
 (Hamb. 1712-38,) tom. xii. p. 753. 
 
 *^ Sir WilUam Jones, Traiti? sur la Po^- 
 sie Orientale,sec. 2.— Sismondi says that 
 Sir W. Jones is mistaken in citing the 
 history of Timour by Ebn Arabschah, as 
 an Arabic epic. (Litterature du Midi, 
 tom. i. p. 57.) It is Sismondi who is mis- 
 taken, since the English critic states that 
 the Arabs have no heroic poem, and that 
 this poetical prose history is not ac- 
 counted such even by the Arabs them- 
 selves. 
 
 *' It would require much more learn- 
 ing than I am fortified with, to enter into 
 
 the merits of the question, which has 
 been caisfd respecting the probable in- 
 fluence of the Arabian on the literature 
 of Europe. A W. Schlegel, in a work of 
 little bulk, but much value, in refuting 
 with his usual vivacity, the extravagant 
 theorj' of Andres, has been led to conclu- 
 sions of an opposite nature, which may 
 be thought perhaps scarcely less extrava- 
 gant. (Observations sur la Langue et la 
 Litt«5ratm'e Provenyales, p. 64.) It must 
 indeed seem highly improbable, that the 
 Saracens, who, during the middle ages, 
 were so far superior in science and liter- 
 ary culture to the Europeans, could have 
 resided so long in immediate contact with 
 them, and in those very countries indeed 
 which gave birth to the most cultivated 
 poetry of that period, without exerting 
 some perceptible influence upon it. Be 
 this as it may, its influence on the Cas- 
 tUian cannot reasonably be disputed. 
 This has been briefly traced by Conde in 
 an " Essay on Oriental Poetry," Poesia- 
 Oriental, whose publication he antici 
 pates in the Preface to his '" History of the 
 Spanish Arabs,"' but which still remains 
 in manuscript. (The copy 1 have used is 
 in the hbrary of Mr. George Ticknor.) 
 He professes in this work to discern in 
 the earlier Castilian poetry, in the Cid, 
 the Alexander, in Berceo's, the arch 
 priest of Hita's, and others of similar an- 
 tiquity, most of the pecuUarities and va- 
 rieties of Arabian verse; the same ca- 
 dences and number of syllables, the same 
 intermixtm-e of assonances and conso- 
 nances, the double hemistich and pro- 
 longed repetition of the fuial rhyme. 
 From the same source he derives much 
 of the earlier riu-al minstrelsy of Spain, 
 as well as the measures of its romances 
 and seguidillas; and in the Preface to 
 his History, he has ventured on the bold 
 assertion, that the Castilian owes so much 
 of its vocabulary to the Arabic, that it 
 may be almost accounted a dialect of the 
 latter. Conde's criticisms, however, 
 must be quoted with reserve. His habit- 
 ual studies had given him such a keen 
 relish for oriental literature, that he was, 
 in a manner, denaturalized from his 
 own. 
 
 ^0 Byron's beautiful line may seem al- 
 most a version of Conde's Spanish text; 
 " sucesos de armas y de amores con muy 
 estranos lances y en elegante estilo." — 
 Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. i. p. 457. 
 
 *' Sismondi, in his Litterature du Midi 
 (tom. i. pp. 267 et seq.), and more fuUj
 
 CH. IX.] 
 
 PART I.— WAR OP GRANADA. 
 
 459 
 
 in his R^publlques Italiennes (torn. xvi. 
 pp. 448 et seq.), derives the jealousy of 
 the sex, the ideas of honor, and the 
 deadly spirit of revenge, which distin- 
 guished the southern nations of Europe 
 in the fifteenth and sixteenth cwituries, 
 from the Arabians. Whatever be tliouf^lit 
 of the jealousy of the sex, it might have 
 been supposed, that the principles of 
 honor and the spirit of revenge might, 
 without seeking further, find abundant 
 precedent in the feudal habits and insti- 
 tutions of our European ancestors. 
 
 '2 " Quas perversiones potius, quam 
 versiones merit6 dixeris." Bibliotheca 
 Escurialensis, torn. i. p. 266. 
 
 PART I.— CHAPTER IX. 
 
 J Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Es- 
 pagne, tom. iii. pp. 467-46i' — Conde, Domi- 
 nacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 33, Si. 
 
 * Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 
 51.— Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 tom. iii. cap. 34.— Pulgar, Reyes Cat6hcos, 
 p. 180.— L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, 
 fol. 171.— Marmol, Historia del Rebelion 
 y Castigo de los Moriscos, (Madrid, 1797,) 
 lib. 1, cap. 13. 
 
 Lebrija states, that the revenues of 
 Granada, at the commencement of this 
 war, amounted to a mUhon of gold duc- 
 ats, and that it kept in pay 7,000 horse- 
 men on its peace estabhsluuent, and 
 could send forth 21,000 warriors from it.s 
 gates. The last of these estimates would 
 not seem to be exaggerated. Rerum 
 Gestarum Decades, ii, hb. 1, cap. 1. 
 
 ' Estrada, Poblacion de Espafia, torn. 
 i. pp. 247, 348.— El Nubiense, Descripcion 
 de Espafia, p. 322, nota.— Pulgar, Reyes 
 Cat61icos, p. 181.— Marmol, Rebelion de 
 Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 12. 
 
 * Zuniga, Annales de Sevilla, pp. 349, 
 362. 
 
 This occurred in the fight of Madrofio, 
 when Don Rodrigo stooping to adjust 
 his buckler, which ' had been unlaced, 
 was suddenly surrounded by a party of 
 ifloors. He snatched a sling from one 
 of them, and made such brisk use of it, 
 that, after disabling several, he succeed- 
 ed in putting them to flight; for wliich 
 feat, says Zufiiga, the king complimented 
 him vnth the title of "the youthful 
 David." 
 
 Don Juan, count of Arcos, had no chil- 
 dren born in wedlock, but a numerous 
 progeny by his concubines. Among 
 these latter, was Dona Leonora Nuflez 
 
 de Pi-ado, the mother of Don Rodrigo. 
 The brilliant and attractive quahties of 
 this youth so far won the affections of 
 his father, that the latter obtained the 
 royal sanction (a circumstance not in- 
 frequent m an age, when the laws of 
 descent were very unsettled,) to bequeath 
 him his titles and estates, to the preju- 
 dice of moi-e legitimate heirs. 
 
 ^ Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap 
 52. — L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 
 171.— Pulgar computes rhe marquis's 
 army at 3,000 horse and 4,000 foot. 
 Reyes Cat61icos, p. 181.- Conde, Domina- 
 cion de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 34. 
 
 ° Lebrija, Rerum Gestanim Decades, 
 ii. hb. 1, cap. 2.— Carbajal. Anales, MS., 
 aiio 1482 —Bernaldez, Reyes Cai61icos, 
 MS., cap. 53.— Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 
 315.— Cardonne, Hist. d"Afrique et d'Es- 
 pagne, tom. iii. pp. 252, 253. 
 
 ' Bernaldez, Reyes Cat6hcos, MS., ubi 
 supra.— Conde, Dominacion de los Ara- 
 bes, cap. 34.— L. Mariueo, Cosas Memora- 
 bles, fol. 173. 
 
 8 Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 ubi sup.— Pulgar, Reyes Cat6hcos, pp. 
 183, 183.— Mariana, Hist, de Espaila, torn, 
 ii. pp. 545, 546. 
 
 " Bernaldez, Reyes CatoUcos, MS., cap. 
 52.— Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, ubi sup.— 
 Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, 
 tom. iii. p. 254. 
 
 10 " Passeava.se el Rey Moro 
 Por la ciudad de Granada, 
 Desde las puertas de Elvira 
 Hasta las de Bivarambla. 
 Ay de mi Albania I 
 
 " Cai'tas le fueron venidas 
 
 Que Albania era ganada. 
 
 Las cartiis echo en el fuego, 
 
 Y al mensagero matava. 
 
 Ay de uii Alhainal 
 
 " Honibres. nifios y nmgeres, 
 
 Lloran tan grande perdida. 
 
 Lloravaii todas las danias 
 
 Quautas en Granada avia. 
 
 Ay de mi Alhama ! 
 
 " Por las ralles y ventanas 
 Mucho lnl<i jtarecia; 
 Llora el Key como fembra, 
 Qu' es mucho lo que perdia. 
 Ay de mi Alhama! " 
 
 The romance, according to Hytn, (not 
 the best voucher for a fact.) cause<l such 
 general lamentation, that it was not al- 
 lowed to be sung by the floors after tlin 
 conquest. (Ouerras Civiles de d'ranndn, 
 tom. i. p. S.'iO.) Lord Byron, as tho
 
 460 
 
 PART I.— WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 [CH. X. 
 
 reader recollects, has done this ballad 
 into English. The version has the merit 
 of fldehty. It is not his fault if his Muse 
 appears to httle advantage in the plebe- 
 ian dress of the Moorish minstrel. 
 
 " L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 
 172. — Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 torn. iii. cap. 34.— Carbajal, Auales, MS., 
 afio 1482.— Mariana, Hist, de Espana, 
 tom. ii. pp. 545, 546. 
 
 '2 Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., 
 cap. 52. — Bernaldez swells the Moslem 
 army to 5,503 horse, and 80,000 foot, but 
 I have preferred the more moderate and 
 probable estimate of the Arabian authors. 
 Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. 
 iii. cap. 34.— Pulgar, Reyes Cat(51icos, loc. 
 cit. 
 
 '3 Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 18, 
 cap. 23.— Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, pp. 
 183, 184. 
 
 1* Bernaldez, Reyes Catfilicos, MS., 
 cap. 52. 
 
 '5 Zuriiga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 360.— 
 L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 24, 
 172.— Lebrija, Rerum Gestarum Decades, 
 lib. 1, cap. 3. 
 
 '« Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, pp. 183, 184. 
 Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., cap. 53. 
 — Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. vii. p. 
 572.— Zuriiga, Annales de Sevilla, pp. 392, 
 393.— Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Es- 
 pagne, tom. iii. p. 257. 
 
 >' Pulgar, Reyes Cat6hcos, pp 183-186. 
 — Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, 
 quinc. 1, dial. 28. 
 
 »8 Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., cap. 
 53, 54.— Pulgar states that Ferdinand took 
 the more southern route of Antequera, 
 where he received the tidings of the 
 Moorish king's retreat. The discrepancy 
 is of no great consequence; but as Ber 
 naldez, whom I have followed, lived in 
 Andalusia, the theatre of action, he may 
 be supposed to have had more accurate 
 means of information. Pulgar, Reyes 
 Catdlicos, pp. 187, 188. 
 
 " Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, 
 quinc. 1, dial. 28. —Bernaldez, Reyes Ca- 
 tfilicos, MS., cap. 54, 55.— Lebrija, Rerum 
 Gestarum Decades, lib. 1, cap. 6.— Conde, 
 Dominacion de los Arabes, cap. 34.— Sa- 
 lazar de Mendoza, Cr6n. del Gran Carde- 
 nal, pp. 180, 181.— Marmol, RebeUon de 
 Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 12. 
 
 During this second siege, a body of 
 Moorish knights to the number of forty, 
 succeeded in scaling the walls of the citv 
 in the night, and had neariy reached the 
 gates with the intention of throwing them 
 
 open to their countrymen, when they 
 were overpowered, after a desperate re- 
 sistance, by the Christians, who acquired 
 a rich booty, as many of them were per- 
 sons of rank. There is considerable vari- 
 ation in the authorities, m regard to the 
 date of Ferdinand's occupation of Alha- 
 ma. I have been guided, as before, by 
 Bernaldez. 
 2» Pulgar, Reyes Cat6Ucos, pp. 186, 189. 
 
 PART I.-CHAPTER X. 
 
 • Estrada, Poblacion de Espafia, tom. 
 ii. pp. 242, 243.— Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. 
 fol. 317.— Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et 
 d'Espagne, tom. iii. p. 261. 
 
 2 Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 
 58.— Mariana, Hist, de Espana, tom. ii. 
 pp. 249, 250.— Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique 
 et d'Espagne, tom. iii. pp. 259, 260. 
 
 3 L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 
 173.— Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, p. 187. — 
 Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 316, 317. 
 
 * Rades y Andrada, Las Tres Ordenes, 
 fol. 80, 81.— L. Marineo, Cosas Memora- 
 bles, fol. 173.— Lebrija, Rerum Gestarum 
 Decades, Ii. lib. 1, cap. 7.— Conde, Domi- 
 nacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. p. 214. — 
 Carbajal, Anales, MS., aiio 1482. 
 
 6 Pulgar, Reyes Cat6hcos, pp. 189-191.— 
 Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 58. 
 —Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. 
 iii. pp. 214-217.— Cardonne, Hist. d'Af- 
 rique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. pp. 260, 261. 
 
 ' Bernaldez, Reyes Catohcos, MS., cap. 
 58. — Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 tom. iii. pp. 214-217.— Pulgar, Reyes Ca- 
 tulicos ubi supra.— Lebrija, Rerum Gesta- 
 rum Decades, ii. lib. 1, cap. 7. — The Pena 
 de los Enamorados received its name 
 from a tragical incident in Moorish his- 
 tory. A Christian slave succeeded in in- 
 spiring the daughter of his master, a 
 wealthy Mussulman of Granada, with a 
 passion for himself. The two lovers, 
 after some time, fearful of the detection 
 of their intrigue, resolved to make their 
 escape into the Spanish territory. Be- 
 fore they could effect their purpose, how- 
 ever, 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 Antequera. The unfortimate fugi- 
 tives, who had scrambled to the sumndt 
 of the rocks, finding all further escape 
 impracticable, after tenderly embracing 
 each other, threw themselves headlong 
 from the dizzy heights, preferring this
 
 CH. X.] 
 
 PART I. — WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 401 
 
 dreadful death to falling into the hands 
 of their vindictive pursuers. The spot 
 consecrated as tlie scene of this tragic in- 
 cident has received the name of Rock of 
 the Lovers. The legend is prettily told 
 by Mariana, (Hist, de Espafia, toin. ii. pp. 
 253, 254,) who concludes with the pithy re- 
 flection, 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 appe- 
 tite." 
 
 ' Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 torn. iii. pp. 214-217.— Cardonne, Hist. 
 d'AErique et d'Espagne, torn. iii. pp. 2G2, 
 263.— Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 
 1, cap. 12.— Bemaldez states that great 
 umbrage was taken at the iiiHuence 
 which the king of Granada allowed a 
 person of Christian hneage, named Vene- 
 gas, to exercise over him. Pulgar hints 
 at the bloody massacre of the Abencer- 
 rages, which, without any better author- 
 ity that I know of, forms the burden of 
 many an ancient ballad, and has lost 
 nothing of its romantic coloring under 
 the hand of Gin^s Perez de Hyta. 
 
 8 Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Es- 
 pagne, ubi supra. — Conde, Dominacion de 
 los Arabes, ubi sup. 
 
 Boabdil was surnamed "el Chico," the 
 Little, by the Spanish writers, to distin- 
 guish him from an uncle of the same 
 name; and "el Zogoybi," the Unfortu- 
 nate, by the Moors, indicating that he 
 was the last of his race destined to wear 
 the diadem of Granada. The Arabs, with 
 great felicity, frequently select names 
 significant of some quality in the objects 
 they represent. Examples of this may 
 be readily found in the southern regions 
 of the Peninsula, where the Moors lin- 
 gered the longest. The etymology of 
 Gibraltar, Gebal Tarik, Mount of Tarik, 
 is well known. Thus, Algeziras comes 
 from an Arabic word which signifies an 
 island; Alpuxairas comes from a term 
 signifying herbage or pasturage; Arre- 
 cife from another, signifying canxeiiHiy 
 or high road, etc. The Arabic word vad 
 Stands for river. This without much vi- 
 olence has been changed into gvad. and 
 enters into the names of many of the 
 coulhem streams; for example, Guadal- 
 quivir, great river, Guadiana, narrow or 
 little river, Guadalete, &c. In the same 
 manner the term Medina, Arahici-. 
 "city," has been retained as a prefix to 
 the names of many of the Spanish towns, 
 »8 Medina Celi, Medina del Campo, &c. 
 
 See Conde's notes to El Nubiense, D«- 
 scripcion de Esi)aila. passim. 
 
 " Salazar de Jlendoza, Cron. del Gran 
 Cardenal, p. 181.— Pulgar, Claros Va- 
 rones, tit. 20.— Carbajal, Anales, MS., atto 
 1483.— Aleson, Annales de Navarra, torn, 
 v. p. 11, ed. ir()6.— Peter Martyr, Opus 
 Epist., epist. l.W. 
 
 ■» Fred. Marslaar, De Leg. 2, 11.— M. do 
 Wicquefort derives the word aviba^ga- 
 dewr (anciently in English emhassador\ 
 from the Spanish word ernhiar, "to 
 send." See Rights of Embassadors, 
 translated by Digby, (London, 1740,) book 
 1, chap. 1. 
 
 " Sismondi, R^publiques Italienne's, 
 tom. xi. cap. 88.— Pulgar, Reyes Cat<5Hcos, 
 pp. 195-198.— Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 
 218. 
 
 ^^ Aleson, Annales de Navarra, lib. .34, 
 cap. 1. — Histoire du Royaume de Na- 
 varre, p. 558. 
 
 Leonora's son, Gaston de Foix, prince 
 of Viana, was slain by an accidental 
 wound from a lance, at a tourney at I^is- 
 bon, in 14C9. By the princess Magde- 
 leine, his wife, sister of Louis XL, he 
 left two children, a son and daughter, 
 each of whom in turn succeeded to the 
 crown of Navarre. Francis Phoebus! as- 
 cended the throne on the demise of his 
 grandmother Leonora, in 1 179. He was 
 distinguished by his personal graces and 
 beauty, and especially by the golden 
 lustre of his hair from which, according 
 to Aleson, he derived liis cognomen of 
 Phoebus. As it was an ancestral name, 
 however, such an etymology may be 
 thought somewhat fanciful. 
 
 '3 Ferdinand and Isabella had at this 
 time four children; the infant Don .lolui, 
 four years and a half old, but who did 
 not live to come to the succe.ssion, and 
 the infantas Isabella, Joanna, and Maria; 
 the last, born at Cordova dui-ing the 
 summer of 1482. 
 
 '■' Aleson, Annales de Navarra, lib. 34, 
 cap. 2; lib. 3.''), cap. 1.— Histoire du Roy- 
 aume de Navarre, pp.578, 579.— LaCR-de. 
 Hist, de Portugal, tom. iii. pp. 43H-441.— 
 Pulgar, Heyes Cat(')licos, p. 199.-Mariana. 
 Hist, de Espafia, torn. ii. p. 551. 
 
 '•■i Lebri.ia, Rerum Gestaruni Decade*, 
 ii. lib. 2, cap. 1. 
 
 Besides the armada in the Meditenn- 
 nean, a fleet under Pedro de Vera wns 
 prosecuting a voyage of discovery and 
 conquest to the Canaries at this time. 
 
 >« Pidgnr, Reyes ('atc'>licos, p. 190.— 
 Mariana, t^ni. ii. p. .V)l. -Coleocion dn
 
 462 
 
 PART I.— WAR OF GSRANADA, 
 
 [CH. X. 
 
 C<5dulas y Otros Documentos, (Madrid, 
 1829,) torn. iii. no. 25. 
 
 For this important collection, a few 
 copies of which, only, were printed for 
 distribution, at the expense of the Span- 
 ish government, I am indebted to the po- 
 liteness of Don A. Calderon de la Barca. 
 
 " Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., 
 cap. 58.— Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, p. 202. 
 
 Juan de Corral imposed on the king of 
 Granada by means of certain credentials, 
 which he had obtained from the Spanish 
 sovereigns without any privity on their 
 pai't to his fraudulent intentions. The 
 story is told in a very blind manner by 
 Pulgar. 
 
 It may not be amiss to mention here a 
 doughty feat performed by another Cas- 
 tiMan envoy, of much higher rank, Don 
 Juan de Vera. This knight, while con- 
 versing with certain Moorish cavahers in 
 the Alhambra, was so much scandalized 
 by the freedom with which one of them 
 treated the immaculate conception, that 
 he gave the circumcised dog the lie, and 
 smote him a sharp blow on the head with 
 his sword. Ferdinand, says Bernaldez, 
 who tells the story, was much gratified 
 with the exploit, and recompensed the 
 good knight with many honors. 
 
 '8 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 dis- 
 pute has arisen respecting the authority 
 and functions of tliis officer. Some 
 writers regard him as an independent 
 leader, or commander; and the Diction- 
 ary of the Academy defines the term 
 adalid by these very words. The Siete 
 Partidas, however, explains at length the 
 pecuhar duties of this officer, conforma- 
 bly to the account I have given. (Ed. de 
 la Real Acad. (Madrid, 1807,) part 2, tit. 
 2, leyes 1-4.) Bernaldez, Pulgar, and the 
 other chroniclers of the Granadine war, 
 repeatedly notice him in this connexion. 
 When he 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, who aided him in the execution 
 of his peculiar office. — It was common 
 for the great chiefs, who lived on the 
 borders, to maintain in their pay a num- 
 ber of these adalides, to inform them of 
 the fitting time and place for making 
 a foray. The post, as may well be be- 
 lieved, was one of great trust and per- 
 sonal bayard. 
 
 "» Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, p. 203.— L. 
 Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 173.^ 
 Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 320. 
 
 2" Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1^ 
 quinc. 1, dial. 36.— Lebrija, Rerum Ges- 
 tarum Decades, ii. lib. 2, cap. 2. 
 
 The title of adelantado implies in its 
 etymology one preferred or placed be- 
 fore others. The office is of great an- 
 tiquity; some have derived it from the 
 reign of St. Ferdinand in the thirteenth 
 century, but Mendoza proves its existence 
 at a far earlier period. The adelantado 
 was possessed of very extensive judicial 
 authority in the province or district in 
 which he presided, and in war was in- 
 vested witn supreme military command. 
 His functions, however, as well as the 
 territories over which he ruled, have 
 varied at different periods. An adelan- 
 tado seems to have been generally es- 
 tabhshed over a border province, as 
 Andalusia for example. Marina discusses 
 the civil authority of this officer, in his 
 Teoiia, tom. ii. cap. 23. See also Salazar 
 de Blendoza, Dignidades, lib. 2, cap. 15. 
 
 2' Bernaldez, Reyes Cat6Ucos, MS., cap. 
 60. — Rades y Andrada, Las Tres Ordenes, 
 fol. 71.— Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 320. 
 — Zuriiga, Annales de Sevilla, fol. 395. — 
 Lebrija, Rerum Gestarum Decades, ii. 
 lib. 2, cap. 2.— Oviedo, Quincuagenas, 
 MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 36. 
 
 ^^ Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 tom. iii. p. 217.— Cardonne, Hist. d'Af- 
 rique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. pp. 264-267.— 
 Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., cap. 60. 
 
 23 Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 tom. iii. p. 217.— Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, 
 p. 204.— Rades y Andrada, Las Tres Or- 
 denes, fol. 71, 72. 
 
 ^* Mariana, Hist, de Espana, tom. ii. 
 pp. 552, 553.— Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, p. 
 205. — Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 321. 
 
 25 Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, p. 205.— 
 Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. p. 636. 
 
 28 Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., 
 cap. 60.— Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, ubi 
 supra.— Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et 
 d'Espagne, tom. iii. pp. 264-267. 
 
 27 Pulgar, Reyes Cat6Ucos, p. 206.— 
 Rades y Andrada, Las Tres Ordenes, fol. 
 71, 72. 
 
 28 Pulgar, Reyes Cat6hcos, loc. cit.— 
 Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 60. 
 
 29 Pulgar, Reyes Catdlicos, p. 206. 
 
 Mr. Irving, in his " Conquest of Gra- 
 nada," states that the scene of the great- 
 est slaughter in this rout is still known 
 to the inhabitants of the Axarquia by
 
 CH. XI.] 
 
 PART I. — WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 4G3 
 
 the name of La Cuesta de la Matanza, 
 or " The Hill of the Massacre." 
 
 ^o Oviedo, who devotes one of his dia- 
 logues to this nobleman, says of him, 
 " Fue una de las buenas laiizas de nues- 
 tra Espaiia en su tiempo ; y muy sabio y 
 prudente caballero. Hallose en grandes 
 cargos y negocios de paz y de guerra." 
 Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 
 36. 
 
 '' Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 torn. iii. p. 218.— Zurita, Anales, torn. iv. 
 fol. 321.— Carbajal, Anales, MS.,anol483. 
 — Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, ubi supra. — 
 Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 60. 
 — Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Es- 
 pagne, torn. iii. pp. 266, 267.— The count, 
 according to Oviedo, remained a long 
 whUe a prisoner in Granada, until he was 
 ransomed by the payment of several 
 thousand doblas of gold. Quincuage- 
 nas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial 36. 
 
 3^ Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., 
 cap. 60.— Marmol says that three brothers 
 and two nephews of the marquis, whose 
 names he gives, were all slain. Rebel- 
 ion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 12. 
 
 33 Zuiiiga, Annales de Sevilla, fol. 395. 
 —Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., ubi 
 supra. — Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, p. 206.— 
 Oviedo, Qumcuagenas. MS., bat. 1, quinc. 
 1, dial. 36.— Marmol, RebeUon de Bloris- 
 cos, lib. 1, cap. 12. 
 
 34 Reyes Cat61icos, MS., cap. 60. 
 Pulgar has devoted a large space to 
 
 the unfortunate expedition to the Axar- 
 quia. His intimacy with the principal 
 persons of the court, enabled him, no 
 doubt, to verify most of the particulars 
 which he records. The Curate of Los 
 Palacios, from the proximity of his resi- 
 dence to the theatre of action, may be 
 supposed also to have had ample means 
 for obtaining the requisite information. 
 Yet their several accounts, although not 
 strictly contradictory, it is not always 
 easy to reconcile with one another. The 
 narratives of complex military operations 
 are not likely to be simplified under the 
 hands of monkish bookmen. I have en- 
 deavored to make out a connected tissue 
 from a comparison of the Moslem with 
 the Ca-stilian authorities. But here the 
 meagreness of the Moslem annals com- 
 pels us to lament the premature death of 
 Conde. It can hardly be expected, in- 
 deed, that the Moors should have dwelt 
 with much amplification on this humili- 
 ating period. But there can be little 
 doubt, that far more copious memoriala 
 
 of theirs than any now published, exist 
 in the Spanish libraries; and it were 
 much to be wished that some oriental 
 scholar would supply Conde's deficiency, 
 by exploring these authentic records of 
 what may be deemed, as far a.s Christian 
 Spain is concerned, tlie most glorious 
 portion of her history. 
 
 PART I.— CHAPTER XI. 
 
 ' " Por esa puerte de Elvira 
 sale muy gran cabalgada: 
 cuAnto del hiilalyn mora, 
 cuAnto de la yegua baya. 
 
 " Cu&nta pluma y gentileza, 
 cuAnto capellar de grana, 
 cu&nto bayo borceguf, 
 cutoto I'aso que se esmalta, 
 
 " Cu&nto de espuela de oro, 
 cu&nta estribera de platal 
 Toda es gente valerosa, 
 y esperta para batalla. 
 
 "En medio de todos alios 
 va el rey Chico de Granada, 
 mirando las damas moras 
 de las torres del Alhambra. 
 
 "La reina mora su madre 
 de esta manera le habla: 
 ' A\k te guarde, mi hijo, 
 Mahoma vaya en tu guarda.' " 
 
 Hyta, Guerras de Granada, 
 torn. i. p. 232. 
 
 2 Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 tom. ui. cap. 36.— Cardonne, Hist. d'Af- 
 rique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. pp. 267- 
 271.— Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., 
 cap. 60.— Pedraza, Antiguedad de Gra- 
 nada, fol. 10.— Marmol, RebeUon de Moris- 
 cos, lib. 1, cap. 12. 
 
 3 Pulgar. Reyes Cat61icos, part. 3, cap. 
 20. 
 
 The donzeles, of which Diego de Cor- 
 dova was alcayde, or captain, were a 
 liody of young cavaliers, ciriginally 
 brought up as pages in the royal house- 
 hold, anil oi-ganized as a separate corjis 
 of the militia. Salazar de Mendoza, Dig- 
 nidades. p. 2.')0. -See also Morales, Obras, 
 torn. xiv. ]). SO. 
 
 * Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 tom. iii. cap. 36.— Abarca, Reyes de Ara- 
 gon, tom. ii. fol. 302.- Carbajal, Annies, 
 MS., a no 1183.— Bernaldez, Reyes Catoli- 
 cos. MS., cap. 01.— Pulgar. Crrtiiica. <iip. 
 20.- Manuol, Rebeliou de Moriscos, lib. U 
 can. 12.
 
 464 
 
 PART I. — WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 [CH. XI. 
 
 ' Garibay, Compendio, torn. ii. p, 637.— 
 Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, ubi supra.— Ber- 
 naldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 61.— 
 Conde, Doniinacion de los Arabes, torn, 
 iii. cap. 38.— Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique 
 et d'Espagne, torn. iii. pp. 271-274. 
 
 The various details, even to the site of 
 the battle, are told in the usual confused 
 ai.d contradictory manner by the garru- 
 lous chroniclers of the period. AU au- 
 thorities, however, both Christian and 
 Moorish, agree as to its general results. 
 
 ' Mendoza, Dignidades, p. .382.— Oviedo, 
 Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 4, dial. 
 9. 
 
 ' Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 torn. (iii. cap. 36.— Cardonne, Hist. d'Af- 
 rique 9t d'Espagne, pp. 2T1-274. 
 
 •* Pulgar, Reyes Catohcos, cap. 23. — 
 Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 
 12. 
 
 Charles V. does not seem to have par- 
 taken of his grandfather's delicacy in 
 regard to an interview with his royal 
 captive, or indeed to any part of his de- 
 portment towards him. 
 
 ' Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, ubi supra.— 
 Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, cap. 
 36. 
 
 10 Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, loc. cit.— 
 Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, cap. 
 36. 
 
 11 The term cavalgada seems to be 
 used indifferently by the ancient Spanish 
 writers to represent a marauding party, 
 the foray itself, or the booty taken in it. 
 
 1* Pulgar, Reyes Catohcos, cap. 22. — 
 Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., torn. vi. Hust. 
 6. 
 
 " Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, cap. 32, 41. 
 — Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. hb. 20, cap. 59. 
 — Lebrija, Rerum Gestarum Decades, ii. 
 lib. 3, cap. 5. 
 
 1^ Machiavelh, Arte dellaGuerra, lib. 3. 
 
 16 Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., tom. vi. 
 Ilust. 6. 
 
 According to Gibbon, the cannon used 
 by Mahomet in the siege of Constantino- 
 ple, about thirty years before tliis time, 
 threw stone balls, which weighed above 
 600 pounds. The measure of the bore 
 was twelve palms. Decline and Fall of 
 the Roman Empire, chap. 68. 
 
 i« Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., tom. vi. 
 Ilust. 6. 
 
 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 able to discharge 
 only forty shot in the course of a day. 
 We have witnessed an invention, in our 
 time, that of our ingenious countryman, 
 Jacob Perkins, by which a gun, with the 
 aid of that miracle-worker, st^am, is en- 
 abled to throw a thousand bullets in a 
 single minute. 
 
 " L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 
 174.— Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, cap. 44. 
 
 Some writers, as the Abbe Mignot, (His- 
 toire des Rois Cathohques Ferdinand et 
 Isabelle, (Paris, 1766,) tom. i. p. 273,) 
 have referred the invention of bombs to 
 the siege of Ronda. I find no authority 
 for this. Pul.gar's words are, " They 
 made many iron balls, large and small, 
 some of which they cast in a mould, hav- 
 ing reduced the iron to a state of fu- 
 sion, so that it would run like any other 
 metal." 
 
 18 Pulgar, Reyes Cat6ncos, cap. 51.— 
 Bernaldez, Reyes Catohcos, MS., cap. 82. 
 
 1^ Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, (Va- 
 lencia, 1776,) pp. 73, 74.— Zurita, Anales, 
 tom. iv. hb. 20, cap. 59. — Mem. de la Aca(} 
 de Hist., tom. vi. p. 168. 
 
 According to Mendoza, a decoction of 
 the quince furnished the most effectual 
 antidote kno^^^l against this poison. 
 
 2" Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. 
 fol. 304.— Lebrija, Rerum Gestarum De- 
 cades, ii. lib. 4, cap. 2. — Bernaldez, Reyes 
 Catolicos, MS., cap. 76.— Marmol, Rebel- 
 ion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 12. 
 
 Pulgar, who is by no means bigoted for 
 the age, seems to think the hberal terms 
 granted by Ferdinand to the enemies of 
 the faith stand in need of perpetual 
 apology. See Reyes Cat61icos, cap. 44 et 
 passim. 
 
 21 Bernaldez, Reyes Cat6hcos, MS., cap. 
 75. — Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, cap. 21, 33, 
 42. — Lebrija, Rerum Gestarum Decades, 
 ii. lib. 8, cap. 6.— Marmol, Rebelion de 
 Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 13. 
 
 22 Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., tom. vi. 
 Ilust. 6. 
 
 23 Lebrija, Rerum Gestarum Decades, 
 ii. lib. 3, cap. 6.— Pulgar, Reyes Cat6Ucos, 
 cap. 31. 
 
 ^'i After another daring achievement 
 the sovereigns granted him and his heirs 
 the royal suit worn by the monarchs of 
 Castile on Ladyday; a present, says 
 Abarca, not to be estimated by its cost. 
 Reyes de Aragon. tom. ii. fol. 303. 
 
 25 Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, ubi supra. 
 —Peter Martyr, Opus Epist. hb. 1, epist. 
 41.— Bernaldez, Reyes Cat6Ucos, MS,,
 
 CH. XI.] 
 
 PART I.— WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 46; 
 
 cap. 
 
 58. 
 
 1. — Ziirita, Anales, torn. iv. cap. 
 
 '" Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, cap. 31, 67, 
 69. — Lebrija, Rerum Gestariini Decades, 
 ii. lib. 2, cap. 10. 
 
 2' Reyes Cat61icos, cap. 31. 
 
 28 Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 1, 
 epist. 6^.— Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, 
 MS., cap. 78. 
 
 29 Guillaume de laligny, Histoire de 
 Charles VIII. , (Paris, 1617,) pp. 90-94. 
 
 30 Bernaklez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 
 75. — This city, even before the New 
 World had poured its treasures into its 
 lap, was conspicuous for its magnificence, 
 as the ancient proverb testifies. Zuiiiga, 
 Annates de Sevilla, p. 183. 
 
 31 Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, cap. 41. 
 
 32 Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, cap. 59.— 
 This nobleman, whose name was liiigo 
 Lopez de Mendoza, was son of the first 
 duke, Diego Hurtado, who supported Isa- 
 bella's claims to the crown. Oviedowas 
 present at the siege of lUora, and gives 
 a minute discription of his appearance 
 there. " He came," says that writer, 
 " attended by a numerous body of cav- 
 aUers and gentlemen, as befitted so great 
 a lord. He displayed all the luxm-ies 
 which belong to a time of peace ; and his 
 tables, which were carefully served, were 
 loaded with rich and curiously wrought 
 plate, of which he had a greater profusion 
 than any other grandee in the khigdom." 
 In another place he says, " The duke Inigo 
 was a perfect Alexander for his liberality, 
 in aU his actions princely, maintaining 
 unbounded hospitality among his numer- 
 ous vassals and dependents, and beloved 
 throughout Spain. His palaces were gar- 
 nished with the most costly tapestries, 
 jewels, and rich stuffs of gold and silver. 
 His chapel was filled with accomplished 
 singers and musicians; his falcons, 
 hounds, and his whole hunting establish- 
 ment, including a magnificent stud of 
 horses, not to be matched by any other 
 nobleman in the kingdom. Of the truth 
 of all which," concludes Oviedo, " I 
 myself have been an eyewitness, and 
 enough others can testify." See Oviedo, 
 CQuincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 
 8,) who has given the genealogy of the 
 MendozasandMendozinos, in all its end- 
 less ramifications. 
 
 s' Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., 
 cap. 80.— The lively author of " A Year 
 in Spain " describes among other suits of 
 armor still to be seen in the museum of 
 the armory at Madrid, those worn by 
 
 Ferdinand and his illustriciis consort, 
 " In one of the most conspicuous stations 
 is the suit of armour usually worn by 
 Ferdinand the Catholic. He seems 
 snugly seated upon his war-horse, with a 
 pair of red velvet breeches, after the 
 manner of the Jloors, with lifted lance 
 and closed visor. There are several suits 
 of Ferdinand and of his queen Isabella, 
 who was no stranger to the dangers of a 
 battle. By the comparative heights of 
 the armour, Lsabella would' seem to l)e 
 the bigger of the two, as she certainly 
 was the better." A Year in Spain, by a 
 young American, (Boston, 1839,) p. 116. 
 
 3« Cardinal Mendoza, in the campaign 
 of 1485, offered the queen to raise a body 
 of 3000 horse, and march at its head to 
 the relief of Alhama, and at the same 
 time to supply her with such sums of 
 money as might be necessai-y in the pres- 
 ent exigency. Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, 
 cap. 50. 
 
 35 In 1486, we find Ferdinand and Isa- 
 bella performmg a pilgrimage to the 
 shrine of St. James of Compostella. 
 Carbajal, Anales, MS., aiio 86. 
 
 3^ L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 
 173.— Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos. MS., 
 cap. 83, 87. 
 
 3' Pulgar, Reyes Cat<5Ucos, cap. 47.— 
 Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., cap. 75. 
 
 38 Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 tom. iii. cap. 37.— Cardonne, Hist. d'Af- 
 rique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. pp. 376, 381, 
 283.— Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. 
 fol. 304. 
 
 " El enjaeza el caballo 
 De las cabezas de fama," 
 
 says one of the old Moori.sh ballads. 
 A garland of Christian heads seems to 
 have been deemefl no unsuitable jiresent 
 from a Moslem knight to his lady love. 
 Thus one of the Zegries triumphantly 
 asks, 
 
 ";,Qiip Cristianos habeis muerto, 
 
 O escalado ipn' inuiallas ? 
 
 iO que califzas faiiKisas 
 
 Aveis i)resentailo a damas ? " 
 
 This sort of trophy was also borne by the 
 Christian cavaliers. Examples of this 
 may l)e fou«d even as late as the siege of 
 Granada. See, among otliei-s, the ballad 
 beginning 
 
 " A vista de loa dos Reyes." 
 30 The Araliic historian alludes to tlie 
 vulgar report of the old king's nsBnasiua- 
 tion by his brother, hut leaves iw in tho
 
 466 
 
 PART I.— INTERNAL AFFAIRS. 
 
 [CH. XII. 
 
 dark in regard to his own opinion of its 
 credibility. " Algunos dicen que le pro- 
 euro la muerte su hermano el Rey Za- 
 gal ; pero Dies lo sabe, que es el unico 
 eterno e iamutable."— Conde, Domina- 
 cion de los Arabes, torn. iii. cap. 38. 
 
 *" Conde, Domiiiacion de los Arabes, 
 torn. iii. cap. 38.— Cardonne, Hist. d'Af- 
 rique et d'Espagne, pp. 291, 292. — Maria- 
 na, Hist, de Espaiia, lib. 25, cap. 9.— 
 Marmol, Rebeliou de Moriscos, lib. l,cap. 
 12. 
 
 " Muy revuelta anda Granada 
 en annas y f uego p rdiendo, 
 y los ciudadanos de ella 
 duras muertes padeciendo ; 
 
 For tres reyes que hay esquivos, 
 cada uno preteudiendo 
 el mando, cetro y corona 
 de Granada y su gobierno," &c. 
 
 See this old romance, mixing up fact 
 and fiction, with more oi tue former than 
 usual, in Hyta, Guerras de Granada, torn, 
 i. p. 292. 
 
 ^' Among othe. achiev^ements, Zagal 
 surprised and beat thi count of Cabra in 
 a night attack upon Moclin, and wellnigh 
 retaliated on that nobleman his capture 
 of the Moorish ing Abdallah. Pulgar, 
 Reyes Catolicos, ap. 48. 
 
 *2 Bernaldc::. Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 
 75. — Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, cap. 48. — 
 Lebrija, Rerum Gestarum Decades, ii. 
 Ub. 3, cap. 5, 7 ; lib. 4, cap. 2, 3— Marmol, 
 RebeUon de Moriscos, Ub. 1, cap. 12. 
 
 PART I.— CHAPTER XH. 
 
 ' Lebrija, Rerum Gestarum Decades, 
 iii. Ub. 1, cap. 10.— Pulgar, Reyes Catoli- 
 cos, part. 3, cap. 27, 39, 67, et aUbi.— L. 
 Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 175.— 
 Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 348. 
 
 * Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, cap. 66. — A 
 pertinent example of this occurred, De- 
 cember, 1485, at Alcal&deHenares, where 
 the court was detained during the queen's 
 illness, who there gave birth to her 
 youngest child, Doiia Catalina, after- 
 wards so celebrated in English history as 
 Catharine of Aragon. A coUision 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 pre- 
 tensions of the church. The queen with 
 equal pertinacity asserted the supremacy 
 of the royal jurisdiction over everv other 
 in the kingdom, secular or ecclesiastical. 
 The affair was ultimately referred to 
 the arbitration of certain learned men. 
 
 named conjointly by the adverse parties. 
 It was not then determined, however, 
 and Pulgar has neglected to acquaint us 
 with the award. Reyes Cat61icos, cap. 
 53.— Carbajal, Anales, MS., aiio 1485. 
 
 ' Aleson, Annates de Navarra, tom. v. 
 lib. 35, cap. 2. 
 
 * Zm-ita, Anales, tom. iv. cap. 52, 67.— 
 Mariana, HLst. de Espaiia, Ub. 25, cap. 8. 
 ' Llorente, Hist, de I'lnquisition, torn. 
 i. chap. 6, art. 2.— Zurita, Anales, Ub. 20, 
 cap. 65. 
 
 At tliis cortes, convened at Taragona, 
 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 liber- 
 ties to be smnmoned to a place without 
 the Uinits of their principaUty. The 
 Valencians also protested, that their 
 attendance should not operate as a prec- 
 edent to their prejudice. It; was usual 
 to convene a central or general cortes at 
 Fraga, orMonzon, or some town, which 
 tlie Catalans, who were pecuUarly jeal- 
 ous of their privileges, claimed to be 
 within their territory. It was stiU more 
 usual, to hold separate cortes of the 
 three kingdoms simultaneously in such 
 contiguous places in each, as would per- 
 mit the royal presence in all during their 
 session. See Elancas, Modo de Proceder 
 en Cortes de Aragon, (Zaragoza, l&ll,) 
 cap. 4. 
 
 " By one of the articles in the Privile- 
 gium Generate, the Magna Charta of 
 Aragon, it is declared, " Que turmeut: 
 ni inquisicion; nosian en Aragon como 
 sian contra Fuero el qual dize que alguna 
 pesquisa no hauemos: et contra el nrivi- 
 legio general, el qual vieda que inquisi- 
 cion so sia feyta." (Fueros y Observan- 
 cias, fol. 11.) The tenor of this clause 
 (although the term inquisicion must not 
 be confounded with the name of the 
 modern institution) was sufficiently pre- 
 cise, one might have thought, to secure 
 the Aragonese from the fangs of this 
 terrible tribunal. 
 
 ' Llorente, Hist, de I'lnquisition, chap. 
 6. art. 2. 3. 
 
 " Llorente, ubi supra.— Paramo, De 
 Origine Inquisitionis, pp. 182, 183.— Fer- 
 reras. Hist. d'Espagne, tom. viu. pp. 37, 
 3S. 
 
 » Llorente, Hist, de I'lnquisition, tom. 
 i. chap. 6, art. 5.— Blancas, Aragonenjum 
 Rerun. Commentarii, (Coesaraugustae. 
 1.588,1 p. 266. Among those, who after m 
 tedious (mprisojpneiit were coadeituie**
 
 CH. XIII.] 
 
 PART I.— WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 4G7 
 
 to do penance in an auto da fe, was a 
 nephew of king Ferdinand, Don James 
 of Navarre. Mariana, willing to point 
 the tale with a suitable moral, informs 
 us, that, although none of the conspira- 
 tors were ever brought to trial, they all 
 perished miserably within a year, in 
 different ways, by the judgment of God. 
 (Hist, de Espana, tom. ii. p. 368.) Un- 
 fortunately for the effect of tliis moral, 
 Llorente, who consulted the original 
 processes, must be received as the better 
 authority of the two. 
 
 1" According to Paramo, when the 
 corpse of the inquisitor was brought to 
 the place where he had been assassi- 
 nated, the blood, which had been coag- 
 ulated on the pavement, smoked up 
 and boiled with most miraculous fervor I 
 De Origine Inquisitionis, p. SSii. 
 
 >i Paramo, De Origine Inquisitionis, p. 
 183. — Llorente, Hist, de Tlnquisition, 
 chap. 6, art. 4. France and Italy also, 
 according to Llorente, could each boast 
 a saint inquisitor. Their renowTi, how- 
 ever, has been eclipsed by the superior 
 splendors of their great master, St. Do- 
 minic; 
 —'Tils inconnus d'un si glorieux pfere." 
 
 PART I,-CHAPTER XHI. 
 
 ' Vedmar, Antiguedad y Grandezas de 
 laCiudad de Velez, (Granada, 1(J5^,) fol. 
 148.— Mariana, Hist, de Espana, torn. ii. 
 lib. 25. cap. 10.— Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, 
 part. ui. cap. 70.— Carbajal, Anales, MS., 
 afio 1487.— Bleda, Coronica, lib. 5, cap. 14. 
 
 2 Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Es- 
 pagne, tom. iii. pp. 292-a94.— Pulgar, 
 Reyes Catolicos, ubi supra.— Vedmar, 
 Antiguedad de Velez, fol. 151. 
 
 ' L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 
 175.— Vedmar, Antiguedad de Velez, fol. 
 150, 151.— Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, 
 lib. 1, cap. 14. 
 
 In commemoration of this event, the 
 city incorporated into its escutcheon the 
 figure of a king on horseback, in the act 
 of piercing a Moor with his javelin. Ved- 
 mar Antiguedad de Velez, fol. 12. 
 
 < Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 
 52.— Marmol, RebeUon de Moriscos, lib. 1, 
 cap. 14. 
 
 6 Conde doubts whether the name of Ma- 
 laga is derived from the Greek finkuKy, 
 signifying "agreeable," or the Arabic 
 m-alka. meaning "royal." Either ety- 
 mology is sufficiently pertinent. (See El 
 Nuhiense, DescripcioD de Espafia, p. ISfi, 
 
 not.) For notices of sovereigns who 
 swayed the sceptre of Malaga, see Casiri, 
 Bibliotheca Escurialensis, tom. ii pp 41 
 .56, 99, et alibi. 
 
 8 Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 tom. iii. p. 237.- Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, 
 cap. 74.— El Nubiense, Descripclon de Es- 
 pana, not., p. 144. 
 
 ' Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 
 82.— Vedmar, Antiguedad de Velez, fol. 
 134.— Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, cap. 'lA. 
 
 8 This cavalier, who took a consi^iouous 
 part both in the military and civil trans- 
 actions of this reign, was descended fri>iu 
 one of the most ancient and honorable 
 houses in Castile. Hyta, (Guerras Civiles 
 de Granada, torn. i. p. 399,) with more ef- 
 frontery than usual, has imputed to him 
 a chivalrous rencontre with a Saracen, 
 which is recorded of an ancestor, in the 
 ancient Chronicle of Alonso XI. 
 
 " Garcilaso de la Vega 
 desde alii se ha intitulado, 
 porque en la Vega heciera 
 campo con aquel pagano." 
 
 Oviedo, however, with good reason, dis- 
 trusts the etymology and the story, as he 
 traces both the cognomen and the pecul- 
 iar device of the family to a nmch older 
 date than the period assigned in the 
 Chronicle. Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, 
 quinc. 3, dial. 43. 
 
 8 Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, cap. 75.— Sa- 
 lazar de Mendoza, Cron. del Gran Car- 
 denal, lib. 1, cap. 64. 
 
 1" Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS. cap. 
 83.— Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, cap. 7e.— 
 Carbajal, Anales, MS., afio 1487. 
 
 " Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, ubi supra. 
 —Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., ubi 
 supra. 
 
 12 Pet«r Martyr, Opus Eplst., lib. 1, 
 epist. 03.— Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, cap. 
 7(j._Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, cap. 83. 
 —Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, 
 quinc. 1, dial. 36. 
 
 " Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, cap. 76. 
 
 '< Salazar de .Mendoza, Cron. del Gra» 
 Cardenal, lib. 1, cap. 64.— Zurita, Anales, 
 tom. iv. cap. 70.— Bernaldez, Reyes Catol- 
 icos, MS., cap. K3. 
 
 '5 Bleda, Corunica, lib. 5, cap. 15.— 
 Conde, Dominacion, tom. iv. pp. 2.37, 238. 
 — Bernahlcz. Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 
 as.- Pulgar, Reyes CatZ-licos, cap. 79. 
 
 '" Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icOK, nbi .supra. 
 
 Dui-iiig the siege, nmba.s.>«»dors arrivi-d 
 from an African pnleiitat4-. the king of 
 Tremecen, beaiing a niagnillcont pr«#i<eut
 
 468 
 
 PART I. — WAR OF GRANADA, 
 
 [CH. xm. 
 
 to the Castilian sovereigns, interceding 
 for the Malagans, and at the same time 
 asking protection for liis subjects from tlie 
 Spanish cruisers in the Mediterranean. 
 The sovereigns graciously complied with 
 the latter request, and complimented the 
 African monarch with a plate of gold, on 
 which the royal arms were curiously em- 
 bossed, says Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, 
 cap. 84. 
 
 " This nobleman, Don Alvaro de Por- 
 tugal, had fled his native comitry, and 
 sought an asylum in Castile from the vin- 
 dictive enmity of John II., who had put 
 to death the duke of Braganza, his elder 
 brother. He was kindly received by Isa- 
 bella, to whom he was nearly related, and 
 subsequently preferred to several impor- 
 tant offices of state. His son, the count 
 of Gelves, married a granddaughter of 
 Christopher Columbus. Oviedo, Quin- 
 cuagenas, MS. 
 
 '8 Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, 
 quinc. 1, dial. 23.— Peter Martyr, Opus 
 Epist., lib. 1, epist. 63.— Bernaldez, Reyes 
 Catolicos, MS., cap. 84.— Bleda, Cor6nica 
 de los Moros, Ub. 5, cap. 15.— L. Marineo, 
 Cosas, Memorables, fol. 175, 176. 
 
 " Pulgar, Reyes Cat6Iicos, cap. 87-89. 
 —Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61ieos, MS., cap. 
 S4. 
 
 2" Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., 
 cap. 87.— Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, cap. 
 71. 
 
 2' Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 tom. iii. pp. 237, 238.— Pulgar, Reyes 
 Catolicos, cap. 80.— Caro de Torres, Or- 
 denes Militares, fol. 82, 83. 
 
 22 Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, cap. 91.— 
 Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS , cap. 84. 
 
 The honest exclamation of the Curate 
 brings to mind the similar encomium of 
 the old Moorish ballad, 
 
 " Caballeros Granadlnos, 
 Aunque Moros, hijosdalgo." 
 
 Hyta; Guerras de Granada, tom. i. p. 
 257. 
 
 23 There is no older well-authenticated 
 account of the employment of gunpow- 
 der in mining in European warfare, so 
 far as I am aware, than this by Rami- 
 rez. Tiraboschi, indeed, refers, on the 
 authority of another writer, to a work in 
 the library of the Academy of Siena, 
 composed by one Francesco Giorgio, 
 architect of the duke of Urbino, about 
 1480, in which that person claims the 
 merit of the inventten. (Letteratura 
 Italiana, tom. vi. p. 870.) The whole 
 
 statement is obviously too loose to war- 
 rant any such conclusion. The ItaUau 
 historians notice the use of gunpowder 
 mines at the siege of the little tewn of 
 SerezaneUo in Tuscany, by the Genoese, 
 in 1487, precisely contemporaneous with 
 the siege of Malaga. (MachiaveUi, Isto- 
 rie Florentine, lib. 8.— Guicciardini, Isto- 
 ria d'ltalia, (Milano, 1803,) tom. iii. lib. 6.) 
 This singular coincidence, in nations hav- 
 ing then but Uttle 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 cele- 
 brated Spanish engineer, Pedro Navarro, 
 when serving under Gonsalvo of Cor- 
 dova, in his Italian campaigns at the be- 
 ginning of the sixteenth century. Guic- 
 ciardini, ubi supra. — Paolo Giovio, De 
 Vita Magni Gonsalvi, (Vitae lUustrium 
 Virorum, Basilise, 1578,) lib. 2.— AlesoD, 
 Annates de Navarra, tom. v. Ub. 35, cap. 
 12. 
 
 24 Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Es- 
 pagne, tom. iii. p. 296.— L. Marineo, Co- 
 sas Memorables, fol. 175.— Radesy Andra- 
 da. Las Tres Ordenes, fol. 54.— Pulgar, 
 Reyes Catohcos, cap. 92.— Bernaldez, 
 Reyes Catolicos, BIS., cap. 85. 
 
 25 Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, cap. 93.— 
 Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, 
 tom. iii. p. 296. 
 
 The Arabic historians state, that Mala- 
 ga was betrayed by All Dordux, who ad- 
 mitted the Spaniards into the castle, 
 while the citizens were debating on Fer- 
 dinand's terms. (See Conde, Domina- 
 cion de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 39.) The 
 letter of the inhabitants, quoted at length 
 by Pulgar, would seem to be a refutation 
 of tins. And yet there are good grounds 
 for suspecting false play on the part of 
 the ambassador Dordux, since the Cas- 
 tOian writers admit, that he was ex- 
 empted, with forty of his friends, from 
 the doom of slavery and forfeiture of 
 property, passed upon his fellow-citizens, 
 
 2« Bernaldez, Reyes Catdhcos, MS., 
 cap. 85. 
 
 2^ Carbajal, whose meagre annals have 
 scarcely any merit beyond that of a mere 
 chronological table, postpones 'the sur- 
 render till September. Anales, afio 1487. 
 — Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1. 
 cap. 14. 
 
 28 Bleda, Coronica, lib. 5, cap. 15. 
 
 As a counterpart to the above scene, 
 twelve Christian renegades, found in th©
 
 CH. XIV.] 
 
 PART I.— WAR OP GRANADA. 
 
 469 
 
 city, were transfixed with canes, aca- 
 navereados, a barbarous punishment 
 derived from the Moors, wbiicli was in- 
 flicted by horsemen at full gallop, who 
 discharged pointed reeds at the criminal, 
 until he expired under repeated wounds. 
 A number of relapsed Jews were at the 
 same time condemned to the flames. 
 " These," says father Abarca, " were the 
 fetes and illuminations most grateful to 
 the Catholic piety of our sovereigns"! 
 Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. rey 30, 
 cap. 3. 
 
 2s Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, ubi supra. 
 — Bernaldez, Reyes Cat6Ucos, MS., ubi 
 supra. — Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 
 62. 
 
 so Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., 
 cap. 87. — L. Blarineo, Cosas Memora- 
 bles, fol. 176.— Conde, Dominacion de los 
 Arabes, tom. ui. p. 238.— Cardonne, Hist. 
 d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. p. 2'J6. 
 — Carbajal, Anales, MS., afio 1487. 
 
 Not a word of comment escapes the 
 Castilian historians on this merciless 
 rigor of the conqueror towards the van- 
 quished. It is evident that Ferdinand 
 did no violence to the feelings of his 
 orthodox subjects. Tacendo clamant. 
 
 31 Bernaldez, Reyes Catulicos, MS., 
 cap. 87. — Bleda, Coronica, lib. .5, cap. 15. 
 
 About four hundred and fifty Moorish 
 Jews were ransomed by a wealthy Israel- 
 ite of Castile for 27,000 doblas of gold. 
 A. proof that the Jewish stock was one 
 which thrived amidst persecution. 
 
 It is scarcely possible that the circimi- 
 stantial Pulgar should have omitted to 
 notice so important a fact as the scheme 
 of the Moorish ransom, had it occun-ed. 
 It is still more improbable, that the hon- 
 est Curate of Los Palacios should have 
 fabricated it. Any one who attempts to 
 reconcile the discrepancies of contempo- 
 rary historians even, will have Lord 
 Orford's exclamation to his son Horace 
 brought to his mind ten times a day: 
 "Oh! read me not history, for that I 
 know to be false." 
 
 S2 Pulgar, Reyes Cat<51icos, cap. 94.— 
 Col. de C6d. tom. vi. no. 321. 
 
 PART I.— CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 » Zurita, Anales. tom. iv. fol. 351, 352, 
 3.56.— Mariana. Hist, de Espana, torn. ii. 
 lib. 25, cap. 12.— Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, 
 part. 3, cap. 95. 
 
 ' Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. viii. 
 p. 76.— Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, cap. 9<^ 
 — Zufiiga, Annalts de Sevilla, p 402.— 
 
 Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne 
 tom. iii. pp. 298, 299._Carbajal, Anales! 
 MS., aiio 1488. 
 
 3 Conde, Dominacion de los Arabei 
 torn. iii. pp. 239, ilO.-Pulgar. Reyei' 
 Catolicos, cap. 100, 101.— During the pre 
 cedmg year, while the court was at Mur 
 cia, we find one of the examples of 
 prompt and severe exercise of justice, 
 which sometimes occui- m this reign! 
 One of the royal collectors having been 
 resisted and personally maltreated by 
 the alcayde of Salvatierra, a place be- 
 longing to the crown, and by the alcalde 
 of a territorial court of tiie duke of Alva, 
 the queen caused one of the royal judges 
 privately to enter into the place, and 
 take cognizance of the affair. The latter, 
 after a brief investigation, commanded 
 the alcayde to be hung up over his for- 
 tress, and tlie alcalde to be delivered 
 over to the court of chancery at Valla- 
 dolid, who ordered his right hand to be 
 amputated, and banished him the realm. 
 This summary justice was perhaps nec- 
 essary in a community, that might be 
 said to be in transition from a state of 
 barbarism to that of civilization, and 
 had a salutary effect in proving to the 
 people, that no rank was elevated enough 
 to raise the offender above the law. 
 Pulgar. cap. 99. 
 
 •» laligny. Hist, de Charles VIII., pp 
 92, 94. — Sismondi, Hist, des Pranyais 
 torn. XV. p. 77.— Aleson, Annales de Na 
 varra, tom. v. p. 61.— Histoire du Roy 
 aunie de Navarre, pp. 578, 579.— Pulgar, 
 Reyes Catolicos, cap. 102. 
 
 In the first of these expeditions, more 
 than a thousand Spaniards were slain or 
 taken at the disastrous battle of St. Au- 
 bin, in 1488, being the same in which lord 
 Rivers, the Englisli noble, who made 
 such a gallant figure at the siege of Lc ja, 
 lost his life. In the spring of 1 IH!), the 
 levies .sent into France amounted to two 
 thou.sand in number. These efi'orta 
 abroad, simultaneous with the great 
 operations of the Moorish war, show the 
 resources as well as energy of the sover- 
 eigns. 
 
 * Pulgar, Reyes Cnt<51icos, ubi supra. 
 
 « Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 
 91.— Zurita, .Anales, torn. iv. fol. 354.— 
 Bleda, Coroiik-a, fol. TO7.- Abarca, Reyes 
 de Aragon, tom. ii. fol. 307. 
 
 Such was the scarcity of grain that 
 the jMices in 14K9. (|uot«il by BtTnulilez, 
 are double tliost' of the prc«.'e<hiii: year. 
 —Both Abarca and Zurita mention i\f
 
 470 
 
 PART 1.— WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 [CH. XIV. 
 
 report, that four fifths of the whole 
 population were swept away by the pes- 
 tilence of 1488. Zurita finds more diffi- 
 culty in swallowing this monstrous state- 
 ment than father Abarca, whose appe- 
 tite for the marvellous appears to have 
 been fully equal to that of most of his 
 calling in Spain. 
 
 ' Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 2, 
 epist. 70.— Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, cap. 
 104. 
 
 It may not be amiss to specify the 
 names of the most distinguished cava- 
 liers who usually attended the king in 
 these Moorish wars ; the heroic ancestors 
 of many a noble house still extant in 
 Spain. 
 
 Alonso de Cardenas, master of Saint 
 Jago. 
 
 Juan de Zufiiga, master of Alcantara. 
 
 Juan Garcia de Padilla, master of 
 Calatrava. 
 
 Rodrigo Ponce de Leon, marquis duke 
 of Cadiz. 
 
 Enrique de Guzman, duke of Medina 
 Sidonia. 
 
 Pedro Manrique, duke of Najera. 
 
 Juan Pacheco. duke of Escalona, mar- 
 quis of Villena. 
 
 Juan Pimentel, count of Benavente. 
 
 Fadrique de Toledo, son of the duke 
 of Alva. 
 
 Diego Fernandez de Cordova, count of 
 Cabra. 
 
 Gomez Alvarez de Figueroa, coimt of 
 Feria. 
 
 Alvaro Tellez Giron, count of UreSa. 
 
 Juan de Silva. count of Cifuentes. 
 
 Fadrique Enriquez, adelantado of An- 
 dalusia. 
 
 Alonso Fernandez de Cordova, lord of 
 Aguilar. 
 
 Gonsalvo de Cordova, brother of the 
 last, known afterwards as the Great 
 Captain. 
 
 Luis Porto-Carrero, lord of Pahna. 
 
 Gutierre de Cardenas, fli-st commander 
 of Leon. 
 
 Pedro Fernandez de Velaseo, count of 
 Haro, constable of Castile. 
 
 Beltran de la Cueva, duke of Albu- 
 querque. 
 
 Die|:o Fernandez de Cordova, alcayde 
 ot the royal pages, afterwards mar- 
 quis of Cbmaras. 
 
 Alvaro de Zuniga, duke of Bejar. 
 
 Ifii^o Lopez de Mendoza, count of Ten- 
 diUa, afterwards marquis of Monde- 
 jar. 
 
 Luis de Cerda, duke of Medina Cell. 
 
 I&igo Lopez de Mendoza, marquis of 
 Santillana, second duke of Inf antado. 
 
 Qarcilasso de la Vega, lord of Batras. 
 
 » Zurita, Anales, tom. iv, fol. 360.— 
 Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. 
 iii. p. SMI.— Peter Martyr, Opus Epist. , lib. 
 
 2, epist. 70. — Estrada, Poblacion de Es- 
 pana, tom. ii. fol. 339. — Marmol, Rebelion 
 de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 16. 
 
 • Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, cap. 106. 
 107.— Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 tom. iii. cap 40. — Peter Martyr, Opus 
 Epist., epist. 71.— Pulgar relates these 
 particulars with a perspicuity very 
 dilTerent from his entangled narrative of 
 some of the pi'eeeding operations in this 
 war. Both he and Martyr were present 
 during the whole siege of Baza. 
 
 1" Bernaldez, Reyes Catfthcos, MS., 
 cap. 92.— Cardonne. Hist. d'Afrique et 
 d'F.spagne, tom. iii. pp. 299, 300.— Bleda, 
 Cor6nica, p. 611.— Garibay, Compendio, 
 tom. u. p. 664. 
 
 Don Gutierre de Cardenas, who pos- 
 sessed 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 Ferdi- 
 nand. His discretion and general ability 
 enabled him to retain the influence which 
 he had early acquired, as is shown by a 
 popular distich of that time. 
 
 " Cardenas, y el Cardenal, y Chacon, y 
 
 Fray Blortero, 
 Traen la Corte al retortero." 
 
 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 he was induced by the 
 liberal largesses of John H., of Aragon, 
 to promote her marriage with his son 
 Ferdinand. The elder Chacon was treat- 
 ed by the sovereigns with the greatest 
 deference and respect, being usually 
 called by them " father." After his 
 death, they continued to manifest a simi- 
 lar regard towards Don Juan, his eldest 
 son, and heir of his ample honors and es- 
 tates. Salazar de Mendoza, Dignidades, 
 lib. 4, cap. 1.— Oviedo, Quincuagenas, 
 MS., bat. 1, quiDC. 2, dial. 1. 2. 
 
 " Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Bs- 
 pagne, tom. iii. p. 304,— Pulgar, Reyes 
 Catolicos, cap. 109.— Peter Martyr, Opus 
 Epist., lib. 2, epi.st. 73.— Bernaldez, Reyes 
 Catolicos, MS., cap. 92. 
 
 •2 Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 tom. iii. cap. 40. — Mariana, Hist, de Espa- 
 fia, tom. ii. lib. 25, cap. 12. — Pulgar, 
 Reyes Catolicos, cap. 111. 
 
 " Pulgar, Reyes Cat6Ucos, cap. 112.— 
 Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. viii. p, 
 86.
 
 CH. XV.] 
 
 PART I.— WAR OF GRANADA. 
 
 471 
 
 " Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS.— 
 Feter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 2, epist. 
 'jC, 80. — Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, cap. 113, 
 ;'.14, 117.— Garlbay, Compendio, torn. ii. p. 
 (167. — Bleda, Coronica, p. 64. 
 
 The plague, which fell heavily this year 
 ou some parts of Andalusia, does not ap- 
 pear to have attacked the camp, which 
 Bleda imputes to the healing mfluence of 
 the Spanish sovereigns, "whose good 
 faith, religion, and virtue, banished the 
 1 contagion from their army, where it 
 must otherwise have prevailed." Per- 
 sonal comforts and cleanliness of the 
 soldiers, though not quite so miraculous 
 a cause, may be considei'ed perhaps full 
 as efficacious. 
 
 1* Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., hb. 2, 
 epist. 73.— Pulgar, Reyes Cat6Mcos, cap. 
 116. 
 
 1' Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, cap. 118.— 
 Archivo de Simancas, in Mem. de la 
 Acad, de Hist., torn. vi. p. 311. 
 
 The city of Valencia loaned 35,000 flor- 
 ins on the crown and 20,000 on a collar 
 of rubies. They were not wholly re- 
 deemed till 149.5. Seiior Clemencin has 
 given a catalogue of the royal jewels, 
 (see Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., torn. vi. 
 Ilustracion 6,) which appear to have been 
 extremely rich and numerous, for a pe- 
 riod anterior to the discoveiy of those 
 countries, whose mines have since fur- 
 nished Europe with its bijouterie. Isa- 
 bella, however, set so little value on them, 
 that she divested herself of most oi them 
 in favor of her daughters. 
 
 " Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, 3IC., cap. 
 92.— Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, cap. 120, 
 121. — Ferreras, Hist d'Espagne, torn, 
 viii. p. 93.— Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 
 3, epist. 80. 
 
 >8 Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., hb. 3, 
 epist. 80.— Conde, Dominacion de los 
 Arabes, torn. iii. p. 242.— Carbajal, Ana- 
 les, MS., ano 1489.— Cardonne, Hist. 
 d'Afrique et d'Espagne, torn. iii. p. 305. 
 
 " Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, cap. 124.- 
 Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 
 16. 
 
 *" Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 torn. iii. cap. 40.— Bleda, Cori^nica, p, 612. 
 — Bernaldez, Reyes Cat6Iicos, MS., cap. 
 92.— Marmol, Rebehon de Moriscos, lib. 1, 
 cap. i6. 
 
 21 Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., Ub. 3, 
 epist. 81.— Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et 
 d'Espagne, tom. iii. p. 340.— Pulgar, Reyes 
 Cat61icos, loc. cit.— Conde, Dominacion 
 de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 40. 
 
 ''" El Nubiense, Descripcion de EspaHa, 
 p. 160, not.— Carbajal, Anales, MS., afio 
 1488.— Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Es- 
 pagne, tom. iii. p. 3(i4._Peter Martyr, 
 Opus Epist., lib. 3, epist. 81.— Conde, Do- 
 minacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. pp. ais, 
 246.— Bernaldez, Reyes Cat6hcos, MS., 
 cap. 93. 
 
 23 Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 360.— 
 Abarca, Reyes deAragoii. torn. ii. fol. 308. 
 
 24 The city of Seville alone maintained 
 600 horse and 8,000 foot under the count 
 of Cifuentes, for the space of eight 
 months durmg this siege. See Zufiiga, 
 Annates de Sevilla, p. 404. 
 
 PART I.— CHAPTER XV. 
 
 ' Carbajal, Anales, MS., aiio 1490.— Ber- 
 naldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 95. — 
 Zuiiiga, Annates de Sevilla, pp. 401, 405, 
 —Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, part. 3, cap, 
 127.— La Ctede, Hist, de Portugal, tom 
 iv. p. 19.— Faria y Sousa, Europa Por 
 tuguesa. tom. ii. p. 4.52. 
 
 2 Faria y Sousa, Europa Portugesa 
 tom. ii. p. 452-4.56.— Florez, Reynas Cath61 
 icas, p. 845.— Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos 
 cap. 129.— Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS 
 bat. 1, quinc. 2, dial. 3. 
 
 3 Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 tom. iii. cap. 41.— Bernaldez, Reyes Ca 
 tolicos, MS., cap. 90. 
 
 Neither the Arabic nor Castilian author- 
 ities impeach the justice of the sununons 
 made by the Spanish sovereigns. I do 
 not, however, find any other foundation 
 for the obhgation imputed to Abdallah 
 in them, than that monarch's agreement 
 during his captivity at Loja, in I486, to 
 surrender his capital in exchange for 
 Guadix, provided tlie latter should be 
 conquered within si.K months. Pulgar, 
 Reyes Catolicos, p. 275.— Garibay, Com 
 pendio, tom. iv. p. 418. 
 
 * L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol 
 170.— Pulgar, Reyes Cat61ieos, cap. 130, 
 —Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. cap. 85.— Car 
 donne. Hist. d'.(Vf rique et d'Espagne, tom 
 iii. p. 309. 
 
 ' Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, cap. 131, 132 
 —Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., cap 
 07.— Conde, Dominacion de los .\ra 
 bes. tom. iii. cap. 41.— Peter Martyr, Opus 
 Epist., lib. 3, epist. Kl.— Garibay, Com 
 pendio, tom. iv. p. 424.— Cardonne, Hist 
 d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. pp. 309, 
 310. 
 
 » Carbajal, Anales, MS., afto 1491. 
 
 ' Afci>nling to Zuiiiga, the qui-ta fur- 
 ■ifibed by Seville this season amounted
 
 472 
 
 Part 1.— war o& graxVaIja. 
 
 [CH, XV. 
 
 to 6,000 foot and 500 horse, who were re- 
 cruited by fresh reinforcements no less 
 than five times during the campaign. 
 Annales de Sevilla, p. 406.— See also Col. 
 de Cedulas, torn. iii. no. 3. 
 
 * Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes. 
 torn. iii. cap 42. — Bernaldez, Reyes Catui- 
 icos, MS., cap. 100.— Peter Martyr, Opus 
 Epist., Ub. 3, epist. 89.— Marmol, Rebelion 
 de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 18.— L. Marineo, 
 Cosas Memorables, fol. 177. 
 
 Martyr remarks, that the Genoese mer- 
 chants, " voyagers to every clime, declare 
 this to be the largest fortified city in the 
 world." Casiri has collected a body of 
 interesting particulars respecting the 
 wealth, population, and social habits of 
 Granada, from various Arabic authori- 
 ties. Bibliotheca Escurialensis, torn. ii. 
 pp. ^7-260. 
 
 The French work of Laborde, Voyage 
 Pittoresque, (Paris, 1807,) and the EngUsh 
 one of Mm'phy, Engravings of Arabian 
 Antiquities of Spain, (London, 1816,) do 
 ample justice in their finished designs to 
 the general topography and architectural 
 magnificence of Granada. 
 
 " On one occasion, a Christian knight 
 having discomfited with a handful of men 
 a much superior body of Jloslem chivalry. 
 King Abdallah testified liis admiration of 
 his prowess by sending him on the fol- 
 lowing day a magnificent present, togeth- 
 er with his own sword superbly mounted. 
 (Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., tom. vi. p. 178.) 
 The Moorish ballad beginning 
 
 " Al Rey Chico de Granada," 
 describes the panic occasioned in the city 
 by the Christian encampment on the 
 Xenil. 
 
 " Por ese fresco Genii 
 un campo viene marchando, 
 todo de lucida gente, 
 las armas van relumhrando. 
 
 " Las vanderas traen tendidas, 
 y un estandarte dorado; 
 el General de esta gente, 
 es el invicto Fernando. 
 Y tambien viene la Reyna, 
 Muger del Rey don Fernando, 
 la qual tiene tanto esfuerzo 
 que anima a qualquier soldado." 
 
 '• Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., cap. 
 101. 
 
 " Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 
 101.— Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 tom. iii. cap. 42.— Peter Martyr, Opus 
 Epist., lib. 4, epist. 90.— Pulgar, Reyes 
 Cat61ico?, cap. 133.— Ziuita, Anales, tom. 
 iv. cap. 88. 
 
 Isabella afterwards caused a Francis- 
 
 can monastery to be built in commemo- 
 ration of this event at Zubia, where, a& 
 cording to Mr. Irving, the house from 
 which she witnessed tlie action is to be 
 seen at the present day. See Conquest 
 of Granada, chap. 90, note. 
 
 '- Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., Ub. 4, 
 epist. 91.— Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, 
 MS., cap. 101.— Garibay, Compendio, tom. 
 ii. p. 673.— Bleda, Coronica, p. 619.— Mar- 
 mol, Rebehon de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 
 18. 
 
 '3 Estrada, Poblacion de EspaSa, tom. 
 ii. pp. 344, 348.— Peter Martyr, Opus 
 Epist., lib. 4, epist. 91.— Marmol, Rebel- 
 ion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 18. 
 
 Hyta. who embellishes his florid prose 
 with occasional extracts from the beauti- 
 ful ballad poetry of Spain, gives one 
 commemorating the erection of Santa 
 Fe. 
 
 " Cercada esta Santa Fe 
 con mucho lienzo encerado 
 al rededor muchas tiendas 
 de seda, oro, y brocado. 
 
 " Donde estan Duques, y Condes, 
 Senores de gran estado," &c. 
 
 Guerras de Granada, p. 515. 
 
 1* Pedraza, Antiguedad de Granada, 
 fol. 74. — Giovio, De Vita Gonsalvi, apud 
 Vitas lUust. Viroruni, pp. 211, 212. — Sal- 
 azar de Mendoza, Cron. del Gran Carde- 
 nal, p. 236.— Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique 
 et d'Espague, tom. Iii. pp. 316, 317.— 
 Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. 
 iii. cap. 42.— L. Marineo, Cosas Memo- 
 rabies, fol. 178.— Marmol, however, as- 
 signs the date in the text to a separate 
 capitulation respecting Abdallah, dating 
 that made in behalf of the city three 
 days later. (Rebehon de Moriscos, lib. 
 1, cap. 19.) This author has given the 
 articles of the treaty with greater fulness 
 and precision than any other Spanish 
 historian. 
 
 1* Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, Ub. 
 1, cap. 19. — Conde, Dominacion de los 
 Arabes, tom. ui. cap. 42. — Zurita, Anales, 
 tom. ii. cap. 90.— (3ardonne, Hist. d'Af- 
 rique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. pp. 317, 318. 
 — Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, 
 quinc. 1, dial. 28. 
 
 Martyr adds, that the principal Moor- 
 ish nobility were to remove from the 
 city. (Opus Epist., lib. 4, epist. 92.) 
 Pedi-aza, who has devoted a volume to 
 the history of Granada, does not seem 
 to think the capitulations worth specify- 
 ing. Most of the modern CastUians pass 
 very lightly over them. They furnisii
 
 CH. XV.] 
 
 PART I.— War OS' GRANADA. 
 
 473 
 
 too bitter a comment on the conduct of 
 subsequent Spanish niouarehs. Marniol 
 and the judicious Zurita agree in every 
 substantial particular witli Conde, and 
 this coincidence may be considered as 
 establishing the actual terms of the 
 treaty. 
 
 " Oviedo, whose narBative exhibits 
 many discrepancies with those of other 
 contemporaries, assigns this part to tlie 
 count of Tendilla, the first captain-gen- 
 eral of Granada. (Quincuagenas, MS., 
 bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 28.) But, as this 
 writer, though an eyewitness, was but 
 thirteen or fourteen years of age at the 
 time of the cajjture, and wrote some 
 sixty years later from his early recollec- 
 tions, his authority cannot be considered 
 of equal weight with that of persons, 
 who, like Martyr, described events as 
 they were passing before them. 
 
 1' Pedraza, Antigiiedad de Granada, 
 fol. 75.— Salazar de Mendoza, Cron. del 
 ftran Cardeual, p. 238.— Zurita, Anales, 
 tom. iv. cap. 90.— Peter Martyr, Opus 
 Epist., lib. 4, epist. 92.— Abarca. Reyes 
 de Aragon, tom. ii. fol. 309. — Blarmol, Re- 
 belion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 20. 
 
 ^^ Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, ubi 
 supra.— Conde, Dominacion de los Ara- 
 bes, tom. iii. cap. 43.— Pedraza, Antigue- 
 dad de Granada, fol. 70.- Bernaldez, 
 Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 102.— Zurita, 
 Anales, tom. iv. cap. 90.— Oviedo, Quin- 
 cuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 28. 
 
 '" Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., ubi 
 supra.— One is reminded of Tasso's de- 
 scription of the somewhat similar feel- 
 ings exhibited by the crusaders on their 
 entrance into Jerusalem. 
 
 " Ecco apparir Gerusalem si vede, 
 Ecco additar Gerusalem si scorge ; 
 Ecco da mille voci unitamente 
 Gerusalemme salutar si sente. 
 ***** 
 ■■' Al gran piacer che quella prima vista 
 Dolcemente spiro nell' altnii petto, 
 Alta contrizion successe, mista 
 Di timoro.so e riverente affetto. 
 Osano appena d' innalzar la vista 
 Ver la citta. ' ' 
 
 Gerusalemme Liberata, 
 Cant. iii. st. 3, 5. 
 
 20 Mariana, Hist, de Espana, tom. ii. p 
 697.— Pedraza, Antiguedad de Granada, 
 fol. 76.— Carbajal, Anales, MS., afio 1492. 
 —Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 tom. iii. cap. 43.— Bleda, Coronica, pp. 
 621, 622.— Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. cap. 90. 
 — Manuol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, 
 
 cap. 20— L. Marineo, and indeed most of 
 the Spanish authorities, represent the 
 sovereigns as having postponed their en- 
 trance into the city until the 5th or 6th of 
 January. A letter transcribed by Pe- 
 draza, addressed by the queen to the 
 prior of Guadalupe, one of her council, 
 dated from the city of Granada on the 
 2d of January, 1492, shows the inaccuracy 
 of this statement. See folio 76. 
 
 In Mr. Lockhart's picturesque version 
 of the Jloorish ballads, the reader may 
 find an animated description of the 
 triumphant entry of the Christian army 
 into Granada. 
 
 "There was crying in Granada when the 
 
 sun was going down, 
 Some calling on the Trinity, some calhng 
 
 on Mahoun; 
 Here passed away the Koran, there in 
 
 the cross was borne, 
 And here was heard the Christian bell, 
 
 and there the Moorish horn; 
 Te Dcuvi luudamus was up the Alcala 
 
 simg, 
 Down from the Alhambra"s minarets 
 
 were all the crescents flung: 
 The arms thereon of Aragon and Castile 
 
 thej' display; 
 One king comes in in triumph, one weep- 
 ing goes away." 
 
 "^^ Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, 
 tom. iii. cap. 90.— Cardonne, Hist. d'Af- 
 rique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. pp. 319, .320. 
 — Garihay, Compendio, tom. iv. lib. 40, 
 cap. 42. — Jlarmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, 
 lib. 1, cap. 20. 
 
 Mr. Irving, in his beautiful Spanish 
 Sketch book, "The Alhambra," devotes 
 a chapter to mementos of Boabdil, in 
 which he traces minutely the route of 
 the deposed monarch after quitting the 
 gates of his capital. The same author, 
 in tlie Appendix to his Chronicle of 
 Granada, concludes a notice of .Vbdallah's 
 fate with the following descrii)tii)n of lii.s 
 person. "' A portrait of Bi>abdil el Chico 
 is to be seen in the picture galk-ry of the 
 Generalife. He is represented with a 
 mild, handsome face, a fair complexion, 
 and yellow hair. His dress is of yellow 
 Itf-ocade, i-elieved with black velvet ; and 
 he has a black velvet cap, suniiounted 
 with a crown. In the armory of Ma- 
 drid are two suits of armour said to have 
 belonged to him, one of solid steel, wit* 
 very little ornament: the moriun closed, 
 from the proportiois of these suits of 
 armour, lie must have been of full stnturu 
 and vigorous form." 
 
 ^'' Seuarega, Commeutaril do iCebua
 
 474 
 
 PART I.— VVAH of GRANADA. 
 
 [CH. XV. 
 
 Genuensibus, apud Muratori, Rerum Ital- 
 icarum Scriptores, (Mediolani, 17:23-51,) 
 torn. xxiv. p. 531.— It formed the subject 
 of a theatrical representation before the 
 coiut at Naples, in the same year. This 
 drama, or Farsa, as it is called by its dis- 
 tinguished author, Sanna:^.aro, is an alle- 
 gorical medley, in wliich Faith, Joy, and 
 the false prophet Mahomet play the prin- 
 cipal parts. The difficulty of a precise 
 classification of this piece, has given rise 
 to warmer discussion among Italian crit- 
 ics, than the subject may be thought to 
 warrant. See Signorelli, Vicende della 
 Coltura nelle due Sicilie, (Napoli, 1810,) 
 torn. iii. pp. 543 et seq. 
 
 23 " Somewhat about this time, came 
 letters from Ferdinando and Isabella, 
 king and queen of Spain ; signifying the 
 final conquest of Granada from the Moors; 
 which action, in itself so worthy. King 
 Ferdinando, whose manner was, never to 
 lose ao.y virtue for the showing, had ex- 
 pressed and displayed in his letters, at 
 large, with all tlie particularities and re- 
 ligious punctos and ceremonies, that 
 were observed in the reception of that 
 city and kingdom ; showing amongst 
 other things, that the king would not by 
 any means in person enter the city until 
 he had first aloof seen the Cross set up 
 upon the greater tower of Granada, 
 whereby it became Christian ground. 
 That Ukewise, before he would enter, 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 virtuous 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 liad 
 seen a little army of martyrs, to the num- 
 ber of seven hundred and more Chris- 
 tians, that had lived in bonds and servi- 
 tude, as .slaves to tlie Moors, pass before 
 his eyes, singing a psgilm for their re- 
 demption; and that he had given tribute 
 unto God, by alms and relief extended to 
 them all, for his admission into tlie city. 
 These things were in the letters, with 
 many more ceremonies of a kind of holy 
 ostentation. 
 
 " The king, ever willing to put himself 
 into the consort or quire of all religious 
 actions, and naturally affecting much 
 the king cf Spain, as far as one king can 
 affect another, partly for his virtues, and 
 
 partly for a counterpoise to France; 
 upon the receipt of these letters, sent all 
 his nobles and prelates that were about 
 tlie court, together with the mayor and 
 aldermen of London, in great solemnity 
 to the chm-ch of Paul; there to hear a 
 declaration from the lord chancellor, now 
 cardinal. When they were assembled, 
 the cardinal, standing upon the upper- 
 most step, or half pace, before the quire, 
 and all the nobles, prelates, and govern- 
 ors 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 
 soug. For that, said he, these many years 
 the Christians have not gained new 
 ground or territory upon the infidels, nor 
 enlarged and set farther the bounds of the 
 Christian world. But this is now done 
 by the prowess and devotion of Ferdi- 
 nando and Isabella, kings of Spain; who 
 have, to their immortal honor, recovered 
 the great and rich kingdom of Granada, 
 and the populous and mighty city of the 
 same name from the Moors, having been 
 in 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 is not only vic- 
 torious but apostolical, in the gaining of 
 new provinces to the Christian faith. 
 And the rather for that this victory and 
 conquest is obtained without much ef- 
 fusion of blood. "Whereby it is to be 
 hoped, that there shall be gained not only 
 new territory, but infinite souls to the 
 Church of Christ, whom the Almighty, 
 as it seems, would have live to be con- 
 verted. Here withal he did relate some 
 of the most memorable particulars of the 
 war and victory. And, after his speech 
 ended, the whole assembly went solemn- 
 ly in procession, and Te Deura was sung." 
 Lord Bacon, History of the Reign of 
 King Henry VII., in his Works, (ed. Lon- 
 don, 1819,) vol. V. pp. 85, 86.— See also 
 Hall, Chronicle, p. 453. 
 
 ^24 The African descendants of the Span- 
 ish Moors, unable wholly to relinquish 
 the hope of restoration to the delicious 
 abodes of their ancestors, continued for 
 many generations, and perhaps still con- 
 tinue, to put up a petition to that effect 
 in their mosques every Friday. Pedraza 
 Antiguedad de Granada, fol. 7. 
 
 2s Carbajal. Anales, MS., aiio 1403. 
 
 Don Henrique de Guzman, duke of
 
 CH. XVI. J 
 
 PART I. — CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 475 
 
 Medina Sidonia, the ancient enemy, and. 
 since the commencement of the Moorish 
 war, the firm friend of tlie marquis of 
 Cadiz, died the 2Sth of August, on. the 
 same day witli tlie latter. 
 
 "« Zufiiga, Aunales de Sevilla, p. 411.— 
 Bemaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., cap. 104. 
 
 The marquis left three illegitimate 
 daughters by a noble Spanish lady, who 
 all formed high connexions. He was 
 succeeded in his titles and estates, by the 
 permission of Ferdinand and Isabella, by 
 Don Rodrigo Ponce de Leon, the son of 
 his eldest daughter, who had married 
 with one of her kinsmen. Cadiz was sub- 
 sequently annexed by the Spanish sover- 
 eigns to the crown, from which it had 
 been detached in Henry IV. 's time, and 
 considerable estates were given as an 
 equivalent, together with the title of 
 Duke of Arcos, to the family of Ponce 
 de Leon. 
 
 PART I.— CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 » Aragon, or rather Catalonia, main- 
 tained an extensive commerce with the 
 Levant, and the remote regions of the 
 east, during the middle ages, through the 
 flourishing port of Barcelona. See Cap- 
 many y Montpalau, Memorias Historicas 
 sobre la Marina, Comercio y Artes de 
 Barcelona, (Madrid, 1779-92,) passim. 
 
 ' A council of mathematicians in the 
 court of John II., of Portugal, first de- 
 vised the application of the ancient as- 
 trolabe to navigation, thus affording to 
 the mariner the essential advantages ap- 
 pertaining to the modern quadrant. The 
 discovery of the polarity of the needle, 
 which vulgar tradition assigned to the 
 Amalfite Flavio Gioja, and which Robert- 
 son has sanctioned without scruple, is 
 clearly proved to have occurred more 
 than a century earlier. Tiraboschi, who 
 investigates the matter with his usual eru- 
 dition, passing by the doubtful reference 
 of Guiot de Provins, whose age and per- 
 sonal identity even are contested, traces 
 the familiar use of the magnetic needle 
 as far back as the first half of the thir- 
 teenth century, by a pertinent passage 
 from Cardinal Vitri, who died 1244; and 
 sustains this by several similar refer- 
 ences to other authors of the same cent- 
 ury. Capmany finds no notice of its use 
 by the Castilian navigators earlier than 
 1403. It was not until considerably later 
 In the fifteenth century, that the Portu- 
 guese voyagers, trusting to its guidance, 
 ventured to quit the Mediterranean and 
 
 African coasts, and extend their naviga- 
 tion to Madeira and the Azores. See 
 Navarrete, Coleccion de los Viages y Des- 
 cubriiiiientos que hicieron por Mar los 
 Espaiioles, (Madrid, 1825-29.) tom. i. Int. 
 sec. 33.— Tiraboschi, LetteraturaltiiUana, 
 tom. iv. pp. 173, 174.— Capmany, Mem.de 
 Barcelona, tom. iii. part. 1, cap. 4.— Koch, 
 Tableau des Revolutions de I'Europe, 
 (Paris, 1814,) tom. i. pp. 358-300. 
 
 3 Four of the islands were conquered 
 on behalf of private adventurei-s chiefly 
 from Andalusia, before the accession of 
 Ferdinand and Isabella, and under their 
 reign were held as the property of a no- 
 ble Castilian family, named Peraza. The 
 sovereigns sent a considerable armament 
 frow Seville in 1480, which subdued the 
 great island of Canary on behalf of the 
 crown, and another in 1493, which ef- 
 fected the reduction of Palma and Tene- 
 riffe after a sturdy resistance from the 
 natives. Bernaldez postpones the last 
 conquest to 1495. Salazar de 5Iendoza, 
 Monarquia, tom. i. p. 347-349.— Pulgar, 
 Reyes Catolicos, pp. 130, 303.— Bernaldez, 
 Reyes Cat61icos, MS., cap. 64, 05, 06, 133. 
 —Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. i. 
 introd., sec. 28. 
 
 * Among the provisions of the sover- 
 eigns enacted previous to the present 
 date, may be noted those for regulating 
 the coin and weights; for opening a free 
 trade between Castile and Aragon; for 
 security to Genoese and Venetian trading 
 vessels; for safe conduct to marinei-s and 
 fishermen; for privileges to the .seamen 
 of Palos; for jjrohibiting the plunder of 
 vessels wrecked on the coast; and an oi-- 
 dinance of the very last year, requiring 
 foreigners to take their retiu-n cargoes In 
 the products of the country. See these 
 laws as extracted from the Ordenan^-as, 
 Heales and the various public archives, 
 in Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., tom. vi. 
 must. 11. 
 
 ^ Zufiiga. Annales de Sevilla. pp. 373, 374, 
 398.— Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. lib. 20. cap. 
 30, 34.— Navarret«, Coleccion de Viages, 
 tom. i. introd., sec. 21, 24.— Ferreras, 
 Hist. d'Espagne, torn. vii. p. 54ft. 
 
 " Spotorno, Memorials of Columbus, 
 (London. 18^:3,) p. 14.— Senarega, apud 
 Muratori, Heruiii Ital. Srript., torn. xxiv. 
 p. .ISo. -Antonio {iallo. !)«• Nivvigationo 
 Columbi, apud Muratori, Rerum Ital. 
 Script., tom. xxiii. p. 2tk.'. 
 
 It is very generally agreed that tlie 
 father of t'oluinbus exercised the craft 
 of a wool-carder, or weaver. The ndmi-
 
 476 
 
 PART 1.— CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 [CH. XVI. 
 
 ral's son, Ferdinand, after some specula- 
 tion on thie genealogy of his illustrious 
 parent, concludes with remarking, that, 
 after all, a noble descent would confer 
 less lustre on hiui than to have sprung 
 from such a fatlier; a philosophical sen- 
 timent, indicating pretty strongly that he 
 had no great ancesti-y to boast of. Fer- 
 dinand finds something extremely myste- 
 rious and typical in his father's name of 
 Columbus, signifying a dove, in token of 
 his being ordained to "carry the oUve- 
 branch and oil of baptism over the ocean, 
 like Noah's dove, to denote the peace and 
 union of the heathen people with the 
 church, after they had been shut up in 
 the ark of darkness and confusion." 
 Fernando Colon, Historia del Almirante, 
 cap. 1, 2, apud Barcia, Historiadores Pri- 
 mitivos de las Indias Occidentales, (Mad- 
 rid, 1749,) torn. i. 
 
 ' Bernaldez, Reyes Catdlicos, MS., cap. 
 131.— Muiioz, Historia del Nuevo-Mundo, 
 (Madrid, 1793,) lib. 2, sec. 13. 
 
 There are no sufficient data for deter- 
 mining the period of Columbus's birth. 
 The learned Muiioz places it in 1446. 
 (Hist, del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 2, sec. 12.) 
 Navarrete, who has weighed the various 
 authorities with caution, seems inclined 
 to remove it back eight or ten years fur- 
 ther, resting chiefly on a remark of Ber- 
 naldez, that he died m 1506, " in a good 
 old age, at the age of seventy, a little 
 more or less." (Cap. 131.) The expres- 
 sion is somewhat vague. In order to rec- 
 oncile the facts with tliis hypothesis, 
 Navarrete is compelled to reject, as a 
 chirographical blunder, a passage in a 
 letter of the admiral, placing his birth in 
 1456, and to distort another passage in 
 his book of " Prophecies," which, if liter- 
 ally taken, would seem to estabUsh his 
 birth near tlie time assigned by Muiioz. 
 Incidental allusions in some other author- 
 ities, speaking of Columbus's old age at 
 or near the time of his death, strongly 
 corroborate Navarrete's inference. (See 
 Coleccion de Viages, tom. i. Lntrod., sec. 
 54.) — Mr. Irving seems willing to rely ex- 
 clusively on the authority of Bernaldez. 
 
 * Antonio de Herrera, Historia General 
 de las Indias Occidentales, (Amberes, 
 1728,) tom. i. dec. l,Ub. 1. cap. 7.— Gomara, 
 Historia de las Indias, cap. 14, apud Bar- 
 cia, IKst. Primitivos, tom. ii.— Bernaldez, 
 Reyes Cat61ico3, MS., cap. 118.— Navar- 
 rete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. i. introd., 
 sec. 30. 
 
 Ferdinand Cohimbus enumerates three 
 
 grounds on which his father's conviction 
 of land in the west was founded. First, 
 natural reason,— or conclusions drawn 
 from science; secondly, authority of 
 writers, — amounting to little more than 
 vague speculations of the ancients ; third- 
 ly, testimony of sailors, comprehending, 
 in addition to popular rumors of land de- 
 scribed in western voyages, such relics 
 as appeared to have floated to the Euro- 
 pean shores from the other side of the 
 Atlantic. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 6-8. 
 
 * None of the intimations are so precise 
 as that contained in the well-known lines 
 of Seneca's Medea, 
 
 " Venient annis saecula," &c., 
 
 although, when regarded as a mere poet- 
 ical vagary, it has not the weight which 
 belongs to more serious suggestions, of 
 similar import, in the writings of Aris- 
 totle and Strabo. The various allusions 
 in the ancient classic writers to an undis- 
 covered world form the subject of an 
 elaborate essay in the Memorias da Acad. 
 Real das Sciencias deLisboa, (tom. v. pp. 
 101-112,) and are embodied, in much 
 greater detail, in the first section of Hum- 
 boldt's " Histoire de la Geographie du 
 Nouveau Continent"; a work in which 
 the author, with his usual acuteness, has 
 successfully applied the vast stores of 
 his erudition and experience to the illus- 
 tration of many interesting points con- 
 nected with the discovery of the New- 
 World, and the personal history of Co- 
 Imnbus. 
 
 "• It is probably the knowledge of this 
 which has led some writers to impute 
 part of his work to the learned Marsilio 
 Ficino, and others, with still less charity 
 and probability, to refer the authorship 
 of the whole to Politian Comp. Tasso, 
 Opere, (Venezia, 1735-42,) tom. x. p. 129, 
 —and Crescimbeni, Istoria della Volgar 
 Poesia, (Venezia, 1731,) tom. iii. pp. 273, 
 274. 
 
 " Pulci, Morgante Maggiore, canto 25, 
 St. 229, 230.— I have used blank verse, as 
 affording facility for a more literal ver- 
 sion than the corresponding ottava rima 
 of the original. This passage of Pul- 
 ci, which has not fallen under the no- 
 tice of Humboldt, or any other writer on 
 the same subject whom I have consulted, 
 affords, probably, the most circumstan- 
 tial prediction that is to be found of the 
 existence of a western world. Dante, 
 two centuries before, had intimated mora
 
 CH. XVI.] 
 
 PART I.— CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 477 
 
 vaguely his belief in an undiscovered 
 quarter of the globe. 
 
 "De' vostri sensi, ch' 6 del rimanente, 
 Non vogliate negar Tesperienza, 
 Diretro al sol, del nioudo senzagente." 
 Inferno, caut. 2G, v. 115. 
 
 I'' Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, torn. 
 ii., Col. Dipl., no. 1.— Mufioz, Hist, del 
 Nuevo-3Iuudo, lib. 2, sec. IT.— It is singu- 
 lar that Columbus, in his visit to Iceland, 
 in 1477, (see Fernando Colon, Hist, del Al- 
 mirante, cap. 4.) should have learned 
 nothing of the Scandinavian voyages to 
 the northern shores of America in the 
 tenth and following centuries; yet if he 
 was acquainted with them, it appears 
 equally sui'prising that he shoidd not 
 have adduced the fact in support of his 
 own hypothesis of the existence of land 
 in the west; and that he should have 
 taken a route so different from that of 
 his predecessors in the path of discovery. 
 It may be, however, as M. Humboldt has 
 well remarked, that the information he 
 obtained in Iceland was too vague to sug- 
 est the idea, that the lands thus discov- 
 ered by the Northmen had any connexion 
 with the Indies, of which he was in pur- 
 suit. In Columbus's day, indeed, so lit- 
 tle was understood of the true position of 
 these countries, that Greenland is laid 
 down on the maps in the European seas, 
 and as a peninsular prolongation of Scan- 
 dinavia. See Humboldt, Geographic du 
 Nouveau Continent, tom. ii. pp. 118, 125. 
 
 '3 Herrera, Indias Occidentales, tom. i. 
 dec. 1, lib. 1, cap. 7.— Mufioz, Hist, del 
 Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 2, sec. 19.— Gomara, 
 Hist, de las Indias, cap. 15.— Benzoni, 
 Novi Orbis Historia, lib. 1. cap. 6.— Fer- 
 nando Colon, Hist, del Almirante, cap. 10. 
 — Faria y Sousa, Europa Portuguesa, 
 tom. ii. part. 3, cap. 4. 
 
 '■• Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., dial, de 
 Talavera. 
 
 '* Salazar de Mendoza, Cr6n. del Gran 
 Cardenal, p. 214.— Herrera, Indias Occi- 
 dentales, tom. i. dec. 1. lib. 1, cap. 8.— 
 Fernando Colon, Hist, del Almirante, 
 cap. 11. 
 
 Mufioz postpones his advent to Spain 
 to 1485, on the supposition that he offered 
 kis services to Genoa immediately aftei- 
 this rupture with Portugal. Hist, del 
 Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 2, sec. 21. 
 
 18 Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, 
 lib. 1, cap. 8.— Zuniga, Annales de Se- 
 villa, p. 104.— Navarrete, Coleccion de 
 
 Viages, tom. i. sec. 60, 61, tom. ii., Col. 
 Dipl. nos. 2, 4. 
 
 " This prelate, Diego de Deza, was 
 born of poor, but respectable parents, at 
 Toro. He early entered the Dominican 
 order, where his learning an exemplary 
 life recommended him to the notice of 
 the sovereigns, who called him to court to 
 take charge of Prince John's education. 
 He was afterwards raised, through the 
 usual course of episcopal preferment, to 
 the metropolitan see of Se\ ille. His situ- 
 ation, as confessor of Ferdinand, gave 
 him great influence over that monarch, 
 with whom he appears to have main- 
 tained an intimate correspondence, to 
 the day of his death. Oviedo, Quincuage 
 nas, MS., dial, de Deza. 
 
 IS Fernando Colon, Hist, del Almi- 
 rante, cap. 11.— Salazar de Mendoza, 
 Cr6n. del Gran Cardenal. p. 215.— Mufioz, 
 Hist, del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 2, sec. 25, 29. 
 —Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. 
 i. introd., sec. 60. 
 
 " HeiTera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, 
 lib. 1, cap. 8.— Mufioz, Hist, del Nuevo- 
 Mundo, Ub. 2, sec. 27.— Spotorno, Memo- 
 rials of Columbus, pp. 31-33.— The la.st 
 dates the application to Genoa prior to 
 that to Portugal. 
 
 A letter from the duke of Medina Celi 
 to the cardinal of Spain, dated 19th 
 March, 1493, refers to Ids entertainmg 
 Columbus as his guest for two yeare. It 
 is very difficult to determine the date of 
 these two years. If HeiTera is correct in 
 the statement, that, after a five years' 
 residence at court, whose commence- 
 ment he had previously referred to 1484, 
 he carried his proposals to the duke of 
 Medina Celi, (see cap. 7, 8.) the two years 
 may have intervened between 1489-1491. 
 Navarrete places them between the de- 
 parture from Portugal, and the first appli- 
 cation to the court of Castile, in 14H6. 
 Some other writers, and among them 
 Mufioz and Irving, referring his ajjplica- 
 tion to Genoa to 14KJ, and his first a))penr- 
 ance in Spain subsequent to that date, 
 make no provision for the residence with 
 the duke of Medina Celi. Mr. Irving in- 
 deed is betrayed into a diroiiological in- 
 accuracy, in speaking of a seven yeai-s' 
 residence at the court in 1491, which lie 
 had previously noticed as having before 
 begun in 1 1«0. (Life of Columbus, (Lon- 
 don. 182K.)comp. vol. i. pp. KKt. 141.) In 
 fact, the discrepancies among the earli- 
 est authorities are such n.s to render 
 hopeless any attempt to settle willi pro-
 
 478 
 
 PART I.— EXPULSION OF THE JEWS. 
 
 [CH. XVII. 
 
 cision the chronology of Columbus's 
 movements previous to his first voyage, 
 
 2» Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, torn. viii. 
 pp. 139, 130.— Muiioz, Hist, del Nuevo- 
 Mundo, lib. 2, sec. 31.— Herrera, Indias 
 Occidentals, dec. 1, hb. 1, cap. 8.— Na- 
 varrete, Coleceion de Viages, torn, i., 
 introd., sec. 60. 
 
 21 Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, 
 lib. 1, cap. 8.— Primer Viage de Colon, 
 apud Navarrete, Coleceion de Viages, 
 torn. i. pp. 2, 117.— Fernando Colon, Hist, 
 del Almirante, cap. 13. 
 
 22 Munoz, Hist, del Neuvo-Mundo, lib. 
 2, sec. 28, 29. —Fernando Colon, Hist, del 
 Almirante, ubi supra. 
 
 23 Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, 
 lib. 1, cap. 8.— Munoz, Hist, del Nuevo- 
 Mundo, lib. 2, sec. 32, 33.— Fernando 
 Colon, Hist, del Almirante, cap. 14.— Go- 
 mara. Hist, de las Indias, cap. 15. 
 
 2< Navarrete, Coleceion de Viages, torn. 
 ii.. Col. Diplomat., nos. 5, 6.— Zuiliga, 
 Annales de Sevilla, p. 412.— Mariana, 
 Hist, de Espafia, tom. ii. p. 60.5. 
 
 26 Peter Martyr, De Rebus Oceanicis 
 et Novo Orbe, (Colonise, 1574,) dec. 1, lib. 
 1.— Navarrete, Coleceion de Viages, tom. 
 ii.. Col. Diplomat., nos. 7, 8, 9, 10, 12.— 
 Herrera, Inaias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 
 1, cap. 9.— Fernando Colon, Hist, del Al- 
 mirante, cap. 14.— Muiioz, Hist, del Nue- 
 vo-Mundo, lib. 2, sec. 33.— Benzoni, Novi 
 Orbis Hist., lib. l,cap. 6.— Gomara, Hist, 
 de las Indias, cap. 15. 
 
 The expression in the text vv-iii not 
 seem too strong, even admitting the pre- 
 vious discoveries of the Northmen, which 
 were made in so much higher latitudes. 
 Humboldt has well shown the probabil- 
 ity, a priori, of such discoveries, made 
 in a narrow part of the Atlantic, where 
 the Orcades, the Feroe Islands, Iceland, 
 und Greenland afforded the voyager so 
 many mtermediate stations, at moderate 
 distances from each other. (Geographie 
 du Nouveau Continent, tom. ii. pp. 183 et 
 seq.) The publication of the original 
 Scandinavian MSS., (of which imperfect 
 notices and selections, only, have hither- 
 to found theh' way into the world.) by 
 the Royal Society of Northern Antiqua- 
 ries, at Copenhagen, is a matter of the 
 deepest interest; and it is fortunate, that 
 it is to be conducted under auspices, 
 which must insure its execution in the 
 most faithful and able manner. It may 
 be doubted, however, whether the^declar- 
 ation of the Prospectus, that " it was 
 the knowledge of the Scandinavian voy- 
 
 ages, in all probability, which prompted 
 the expedition of Columbus," can ever be 
 established. His personal history fur- 
 nishes strong internal evidence to the 
 contrary. 
 
 2'* How strikingly are the forlorn con- 
 dition and indomitable energy of Co- 
 hunbus depicted in the following noble 
 verses of Chiabrera; 
 
 " Certo da cor, ch' alto destin non 
 
 scelse, 
 Son r imprese magnanime neglette; 
 Ma le beir alme alle bell' opre elette 
 Sanno gioir nelle fatiche eccelse; 
 N6 biasmo popolar, f rale catena, 
 Spirto d' onore, il suo cammin ref- 
 
 frena. 
 Cos! lunga stagion per modi indegni 
 Europa disprezz6 l' inclita speme, 
 Schernendo il vulgo, e seco i Regi in- 
 
 sieme, 
 Nudo nocchier, promettitor di Regni." 
 Rime, parte 1, canzone 12. 
 
 2'' Colmnbus, 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 in- 
 convenience and cost, her Highness ap- 
 proved it, on the contrary, and gave it 
 all the support in her power." See Carta 
 al Ama del Principe D. Juan, apud Na- 
 varrete, Coleceion de Viages, tom. i. p. 
 266. 
 
 PAET I.-CHAPTERXVn. 
 
 1 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 
 queen. (Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., tom. 
 vi. Ilust. 18.) 
 
 An incidental expression of Martyr's, 
 among many similar ones by contem- 
 poraries, affords the true key to the pop- 
 ular odium against the Jews. " Cum 
 namque viderent, Judaeorum tabido 
 commercio, qui hac hora sunt in His- 
 pania innumeri Christianis ditiores, 
 plurimorum animos corrumpi ac seduci," 
 etc. Opus Epist., 92. 
 
 2 Paramo, De Origine Inquisitionis, p. 
 164.— Llorente, Hist, de I'lnquisition, 
 tom. 1. cap. 7, sec. 3. — Peter Martyr, 
 Opus Epist., epist. 94.— Ferreras, Hist. 
 d'Espagne, tom. viii. p. 128,
 
 CH. XVII.] PART I.— EXPULSION OF THE JEWS. 
 
 ^ Paramo, De Origine Inquisitionis, p. 
 ■i63. 
 
 Salazar de Mendoza refers the sover- 
 eign's consent to the banishment of tlie 
 Jews, in a great measure, to the urgent 
 Remonstrances of tlie cardinal of Spain, 
 f he bigotry of the biographer makes liim 
 tlaim the credit of every fanatical act 
 for his illustrious hero. See Cron. del 
 tJran Cardenal, p. 250. 
 
 ^ Llorente, Hist, de I'lnquisition, torn. 
 L chap. 7, sect. 5. 
 
 Pulgar, in a letter to the cardinal of 
 Spain, animadverting with much sever- 
 ity on the tenor of certain municipal 
 ordinances against the Jews in Guipuscoa 
 and Toledo, in 1483, plainly intimates, 
 that they were not at all to the taste of 
 the queen. See Letras, (Amstelodami, 
 1670,) let. 31. 
 
 * Carbajal, Anales, MS., ano 149^.— 
 Recop. de las Leyes, lib. 8, tit. 3, ley 3.— 
 Pragm4ticas del Reyno, ed. 1.520, fol. 3. 
 
 8 The Curate of Los Palacios speaks of 
 several Israelites worth one or two mill- 
 ions of maravedies, and another even as 
 having amassed ten. He mentions one, in 
 particular, by the name of Abraham, as 
 renting the greater part of Castile ! It 
 will hardly do to take the good Ciu-ate's 
 statement a la lettre. See Reyes Cato- 
 licos, MS., cap. 112. 
 
 ' Bemaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, ubi supra. 
 
 * Bernaldez, Reyes Catulicos, MS., cap. 
 10.— Zurita, Anales, tom. v. fol. 9. 
 
 Capmany notices the number of syna- 
 gogues existing in Aragon, in 1428, as 
 amounting to nineteen. In Galicia at 
 the same time there were but three, and 
 In Catalonia but one. See Mem. de Bar- 
 celona, tom. iv. Apend. num. 11 
 
 " Bemaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., cap. 
 10. 113.— Ferreras, Hist d'Espagne, tom. 
 viii. p 131. 
 
 '"Zurita, Anales, tom. v. fol. 9. —Fer- 
 reras, Hist. d'Espagne. tom. viii. p 133. — 
 Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, ubi supra.— 
 La Clfede, Hist, de Portugal, tom. iv. p. 
 95.— Mariana, Hist, de Espaila, tom. ii. p. 
 602. 
 
 " Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, torn. viii. 
 p. 133.— Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., 
 cap. 113. 
 
 '2 Senarega, apud Muratori, Rei-um 
 Ital. Script., tom. xxiv. pp. .531, 5^32. 
 
 " See a sensible notice of Hebrew lit- 
 erature in Spain, in the Rptrospe(,'tive Re- 
 view, vol. iii. p. 209.— Mariana, Hist, de 
 Espana, tom. ii. lib. 20, cap. 1.— Zurita, 
 Anales, torn, v. fol. 9, 
 
 479 
 
 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 
 practitioner of medicine in Genoa- an- 
 other, as filling the posts of astronomer 
 and chronicler, under king Emanuel of 
 Portugal. Many of them published works 
 m various departments of science, which 
 were translated into the Spanish and 
 other European languages. Biblioteca 
 Espafiola, tom. i. pp. a59-372. 
 
 " From a curious document in the 
 Archives of Simaiicas, consisting of a 
 report made to the Spanish sovereigns 
 by their accountant general. Quintanilla. 
 in 1492, it would appear, that the popula- 
 tion of the kingdom of Castile, exclusive 
 of Granada, was then estimated at 1..500,- 
 000 vecinos, or householders. (See Mem. 
 de la Acad, de Hist., Apend. no. 12.) 
 This, allowing four and a half to a fam- 
 ily, would make the whole population 
 6.750,000. It appears from the statement 
 of Bernaldez, that the kingdom of Cas- 
 tile contained five sixths of the whole 
 amomit of Jews in the Spanish monarchy. 
 This proportion, if 800,000 be received as 
 the total, would amount in round num- 
 bers 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, consjiic- 
 uous moreover for wealth and intelli- 
 gence, could have been held so light in a 
 political aspect, as the Jews certaiiili" 
 were, or have tamely submitted for so 
 many years to the most wanton indigni- 
 ties without resistance; or finally, that 
 the Spanish government would have vent- 
 m-ed on so bold a meiisure as the banisli- 
 nient of so numerous and po\verful a 
 class, and that too with as few j)recau- 
 tions, apparently, as would be re(|iiired 
 for driving out of the country a roving 
 gang of gipsies. 
 
 '= Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos. MS., cap. 
 110. — Llorente, Hist, de I'lnquisition. torn 
 i. chap. 7, sect. 7.— Mariana, Hisi. de Es- 
 pafia, torn. ii. lib. 20.— Zurita, Anales, 
 tom. v. fol. 9. 
 
 " Bajazet. See Abarca, Reyes de .dra- 
 gon, tom. ii. p. 310.— Paramo, De Origiii« 
 Inquisitionis, p. 108. 
 
 " " In truth," father Abarca somewhat 
 innocently remarks. " King Frrdlnaitd 
 was a politic; Christian, making lln- in- 
 terests of churcli and stale nnitiiully sub- 
 servient to each other"! Rt-yes do Ara- 
 gon, tom. ii. foL 310.
 
 480 
 
 PART I. —RETURN OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 [CH. xvm. 
 
 's Once at Toledo, 1480, and at Murcia, 
 1488. See Recop. de las Leyes, lib. 6, tit. 
 18, ley 1. 
 
 '9 The Portuguese government caused 
 all children of foiu-teen years of age, or 
 under, to be taken from their parents 
 and retained in the country, as fit sub- 
 jects for a Christian education. The dis- 
 tress occasioned by this cruel provision 
 may be well imagined. Many of the un- 
 happy parents murdered their children 
 to defeat the ordinance; and many lUd 
 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 Imiit. (Europa Portuguesa, 
 torn. ii. p. 496.) 
 
 Mr. Tiu-ner has condensed, with his 
 usual industry, the most essential chron- 
 ological facts relative to modern Jewish 
 history, into a note contained in the 
 second volume of his History of England, 
 pp. 114-120. 
 
 '" They were also ejected from Vienna, 
 in 1669. The illiberal, and indeed most 
 cruel legislation of Frederic II., in refer- 
 ence to his Jewish subjects, transports 
 us back to the darkest periods of the 
 Visigothlc monarchy. The reader will 
 find a summary of these enactments in 
 the third volume of Milman's agreeable 
 History of the Jews. 
 
 ^> The accomplished and amiable Flor- 
 entine, Pico di Mirandola, in his treatise 
 on Judicial Astrology, remarks that, " the 
 sufferings of the Jews, in which the 
 glorij of divine justice delighted, were so 
 extreme as to fill us Christians with com- 
 miseration." The Genoese historian, 
 Senarega. indeed admits, that the meas- 
 ure savoured of some slight degree of 
 cruelti/. " Res heec primo conspectu 
 laudabilis visa est, quia decus nostras Re- 
 ligionis respiceret, sed ahquantulum in 
 se crudelitatis continere, si eos non bel- 
 luas, sed homines a Deo creates, con- 
 sideravimus." De Rebus Genuensibus, 
 apud Muratori, Rerum Ital. Script., tom. 
 xxiv.— lUescas, Hist. Pontif., apud Para- 
 mo, De Origine Inquisitionis, p. 167. 
 
 ^^ Llorente sums up his account of the 
 expulsion, by assigning the following 
 motives to the principal agents in the 
 business. " The measure,'' he says, " may 
 be referred to the fanaticism of Torque- 
 mada, to the avarice and superstition of 
 Ferdinand, to the false ideas and incon- 
 
 siderate zeal with which they had in- 
 spired Isabella, to whom history cannot 
 refuse the praise of great sweetness of 
 disposition, and an enlightened mind." 
 Hist, de ITnquisition, tom. i. oh. 7, sec. 10. 
 
 PART I.-CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 ' Zurita, Anales, tom. v. fol. 13.— Ovie- 
 do, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, 
 dial. 28. 
 
 2 Zurita, Anales, tom. v. fol. 15.— Ber 
 naldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 116.— 
 Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. pp. 678, 679. 
 — Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. fol. 
 315.— Carbajal, Anales, MS., afio 1493.— 
 Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 
 4, dial. 9. 
 
 3 Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 125. 
 — Bernaldez. Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 
 116.— Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, ubi su- 
 pra. 
 
 The great bell of VelUla, whose miracu- 
 lous tolling always annoimced some dis- 
 aster to the monarchy, was heard to 
 strike at the time of this assault on Fer- 
 dinand, being the fifth time since the sub- 
 version of tlie kingdom by the Moors. 
 The fourth was on the assassination of 
 the inquisitor Arbues. AU wliich is es- 
 tablished by a score of good orthodox 
 witnesses, as reported by Dr. Diego Dor- 
 mer, in his Discursos Varios, pp. 206, 207. 
 
 * L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 
 186.— Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 
 125. 127. 131.— Zurita, Anales, tom. v. fol. 
 16.— Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., loc. 
 cit. — Garibay, after harrowing the read- 
 er's feelings with half a column of in- 
 human cruelties inflicted on the miserable 
 man, concludes with the comfortable 
 assurance, " Pero ahogaronle primero 
 por clemencia y misericordia de la Rey- 
 na." (Compendio. tom. ii. lib. 19, can. 1.) 
 
 A letter written by Isabella to her con- 
 fessor, Fernando de Talavera, during her 
 husband's illness, shows the deep anxiety 
 of her own mind, as well as that of the 
 citizens of Barcelona, at his critical situa- 
 tion, furnishing abundant evidence, if it 
 were needed, of her tenderness of heart, 
 and the warmth of her conjugal attach- 
 ment. See Correspondencia Epistolar, 
 apud Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., tom. vi. 
 Ilust. 13. 
 
 ' Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, 
 lib. 2, cap. 3.— Munoz, Hist, del Nuevo- 
 Mundo, lib. 4, sect. 1.3, 14. 
 
 Columbus concludes a letter addressed, 
 on his arrival at Lisbon, to the treasure*
 
 CH. XVIII.] 
 
 PART I. — RETURN OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 481 
 
 Sanchez, in the following glo^^^^g terms; 
 " Let processions be made, festivals held, 
 temples be filled with branches and flow- 
 ers, for Christ rejoices on earth as in 
 Heaven, seeing the future redemption of 
 souls. Let us rejoice, also, for the tem- 
 poral benefit likely to result, not merely 
 to Spain, but to all Christendom." See 
 Primer Viage de Colon, apud Navarrete, 
 Coleccion de Viages, tom. i. 
 
 * Herrera, Indias Occidentales, tom. i. 
 dec. 1, lib. 2, cap. 2.— Primer Viage de 
 Colon, apud Navarrete, Coleccion de 
 Viages, tom. i.— Fernando Colon, Hist, 
 del Almirante, cap. 39. 
 
 The Portuguese historian, Faria y 
 Sousa, appears to be nettled at the pros- 
 perous issue of the voyage ; for he testily 
 remarks, that " the admiral entered Lis- 
 bon with a vainglorious exultation, m or- 
 der to make Portugal feel, by displaying 
 the tokens of his discovery, how much 
 she had erred in not acceding to his prop- 
 ositions." Europa Portuguesa, tom. ii. 
 pp. 462, 463. 
 
 ' My learned friend, Mr. John Picker 
 ing. has pointed out to me a passage in a 
 Portuguese author, giving some particu- 
 lars 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 eyewitness 
 of what he relates. " In tJie year 14"J3, 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 Cas- 
 tile, 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 entitlt'd admiral 
 of them. The king, being forthwith in- 
 formed 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 boundaries of his seigniory of 
 Guinea, — which might give rise to dis- 
 putes, — as because the said admiral, hav- 
 ing become somewhat haughty by his 
 situation, and in the relation of his ad- 
 ventures always exceeding the bounds of 
 truth, made this affair, as to gold, silver, 
 and riches, much greater than it was. 
 Especially did the kin^ accuse himself 
 of negligence, in having declined thi,s en- 
 terprise, when Columbus first came to ask 
 bis assistance, from want of credit and 
 
 confidence in it. And, notwithstanding 
 the king was importuned to kill liim on 
 the spot; since with his death the prose- 
 cution of the undertaking, as far as the 
 sovereigns of Castile were concerned, 
 would cease, from want of a suitable per- 
 son to take charge of it; and notwith- 
 standing tills might be done without sus- 
 picion of the king's being privy to it,— 
 for inasmucli as the admiral was over- 
 bearing and puffed up by his success, 
 they could easily bring it about, that his 
 own indiscretion should appear the oc- 
 casion of his death,— yet the king, as he 
 wa.s a prince greatly fearing God, not 
 only forbade this, but even showed the 
 admiral honor and much favor, and 
 therewith dismissed him." Ruyde Pina, 
 Chronica d'el Rei Dom Joao II., cap. 06, 
 apud Collecgao de Livros Ineditos de 
 Historia Portugueza, (Lisboa, 1790-93,) 
 tom. ii. 
 
 8 Fernando Colon, Hi.st. del Almirante, 
 cap. 40, 41.— Charlevoix, HLstoire de S. 
 Domingue, (Paris, 1730,) tom. i. pp. S4-90. 
 —Primer Viage de Colon, apud Navar- 
 rete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. i.— La 
 Clede, Hist, de Portugal, tom. iv. pp. 53- 
 58. 
 
 Columbus sailed from Spain on Friday, 
 discovered land on Friday, and reentered 
 the port of Palos on Friday. These 
 curious coincidences should have suf- 
 ficed, one might thmk, to dispel, espe- 
 cially with American mariners, the su- 
 perstitious dread, still so prevalent, of 
 commencing a voyage on that ominous 
 day. 
 
 " Primer Viage de Colon, Let. 2. 
 
 1" Mufioz, Hist, del Neuvo-Mundo, lil). 
 4, sec, 14.— Fernando Colon, Hist, del Al- 
 mirante, cap. 41. 
 
 Among other specimens, was a lump 
 of gold, of sufficient magnitude to be 
 fashioned into a vessel for containing tlio 
 host; " thus," says Salazar de Mendozu, 
 " converting the first fruits of the new 
 dominions to pious uses." Monarqufa, 
 pp. 3.51,. 352. 
 
 " Peter Martyr, Opus Epist,, epist, 1.S8, 
 134, 140.— Bernaldez, Reyes Catollcos, 
 MS,, cap. 118.— Ferreras. Hist. d'Espngnu, 
 torn. viii. pp. 141, 112.— Fernando I'lilon, 
 Hist, del Almirante, ubi .supra.— Zinligii, 
 Annales de Sevilla, p. 413.- Ooniam, 
 Hist, de las Indias, cap. 17.— Benzoni, 
 Novi Orbis Hist., lib. 1, cap. 8, ».— Gallo, 
 apiiil Muratori Rorum Ital. Script., torn. 
 xxiii. 1). 203. 
 
 '^ Herrera, Indias Ocoldent«l,, torn. 1.
 
 483 
 
 PART I. — RETURN OF COLUSIBUS. 
 
 [CH. xvm. 
 
 dec. 1, lib. 2, cap. 3.— Munoz, Hist, del 
 Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 4, sec. 15, 16, 17.— Fer- 
 nando Colon, Hist, del Almirante, ubi 
 supra. 
 
 i» In a letter, -written soon after the 
 •dmiral's return. Martyr announces the 
 discovery to his correspondent, cardinal 
 Sforza, in the following manner. " Mira 
 res ex eo ten-arum orbe, quern sol liora- 
 rum quatuor et viginti spatio circuit, ad 
 nostra usque tempora, quod miuime te 
 latet, trita cognitaque dimidia tantum 
 pars, ab Aurea utpote Chersoneso, ad 
 Gades nostras Hispanas, reliqua vero a 
 cosmographis pro incognita relicta est. 
 Et si quae mentio facta, ea tenuis et in- 
 certa. Nunc autem, o beatum f acinus! 
 meorura regum auspiciis, quod latuit 
 hactenus a rerum primordio, intelligi 
 ca3ptum est." In a subsequent epistle to 
 the learned Pomponio Leto, he breaks 
 out in a strain of warm and generous 
 sentiment. "Prse laetitia prosiliisse te, 
 vixque a lachrj'mis prse gaudio tempe- 
 rasse, quando Uteras adspexisti meas, 
 quibus de Antipodum Orbe lateuti hac- 
 tenus, te certiorem feci, mi suavissime 
 Pomponi, insinuasti. Ex tuis ipse Uteris 
 coUigo, quid senseris. Sensisti autem, 
 tantique rem fecisti, quanti virum summa 
 doctrina insignitum decuit. Quis nam- 
 que cibus subliraibus praestari potest in- 
 geniis isto suavior ? quod condimentum 
 gravius? a mefacio conjecturam. Beari 
 sentio spiritus meos, quando accitos allo- 
 quor prudentes aliquos ex his qui ab e^ 
 redeunt provincia. Imphcent animos 
 pecuniarum cumulis augendis miseri 
 avari, libidinibus obscceni; nostras nos 
 mentes, postquara Deo pleni aliquandiu 
 fuerimus, contemplando, hujuscemodi 
 rerum notitia demulceamas." Opus 
 Epist., epist. 124, 153. 
 
 '< Bsrnaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., cap. 
 118.— Oallo, apud Muratori, Rerum Ital. 
 Script., torn, xxiii. p. 203. — Gomara, Hist, 
 de las Indias, cap. 18. 
 
 Peter Martyr seems to have received 
 the popular Inference, respecting the 
 identity of the new discoveries with the 
 East Indies, with some distrust. " In- 
 sulas reperit plures; has esse, de quibus 
 fit apud cosmographos mentio extra 
 Oceanum Orientalem, adjacentes India? 
 arbitrautur. Nee inflcior ego penitus, 
 quamvis sphserse magniludo aliter sen- 
 tire videatur; neque enim desunt qui 
 parvo tractu a finibus Hispanis distare 
 littus Indicum, putent." Opus Epist., 
 epist. 185. 
 
 15 Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, 
 lib. 2, cap. 3. — Btnzoni, Novi Orbis Hist., 
 lib. 1, cap. 8.— Gomara, Hist, de las In- 
 dias, cap. 17.- Zuiiiga, Annales de Se- 
 villa, p. 413.— Fernando Colon, Hist, del 
 Almirante, ubi supra. 
 
 He was permitted to quarter the royal 
 arms with his own, which consisted of a 
 group of golden islands amid azui'e bil- 
 lows. To these were afterwards added 
 five anchors, with the celebrated motto, 
 well known as being carved on his sepul- 
 chre. (See Part II. Chap. 18.) He r^ 
 ceived besides, soon after his return, the 
 substantial gratuity of a thousand doblas 
 of gold, from the royal treasury, and the 
 premium of 10,000 maravedies, promised 
 to the person who first described land. 
 See Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, Col. 
 Diplom., nos. 20, 32, 38. 
 
 1' Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, torn, 
 ii. Col. Diplom., no. 45. — Munoz, Hist, del 
 Nuevo-Mundo, Kb. 4. sec. 21. 
 
 1' Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, 
 Col. Diplom., nos, 33, 35, 45. — Herrera, In- 
 dias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 2, cap. 4.— 
 Munoz, Hist del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 4, sec. 
 21. 
 
 " See the original instructions, apud 
 Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, Col. Di- 
 plom., no. 45.— Munoz, Hist, del Nuevo- 
 Mundo, lib. 4, sec. 22.— Zuiiiga, Annales 
 de Sevilla, p. 413. 
 
 L. Marineo eagerly claims the conver- 
 sion of the natives, as the prime object of 
 the expedition with the sovereigns, far 
 outweighing aU temporal considerations. 
 The passage is worth quoting, if only to 
 show what egregious blunders a contem- 
 porary may make in the relation of 
 events passing, as it were, imder his own 
 eyes. " The Catholic sovereigns having 
 subjugated the Canaries, and established 
 Christian worship there, sent Peter Colon, 
 with th irfi/-five ships, called caravels, and 
 a {/reat number of 7)ien to other much 
 larger islands abounding in mines of 
 gold, not so much, however, for the sake 
 of the gold, as for the salvation of the 
 poor heathen natives." Cosas Memor* 
 Dies, fol. 161. 
 
 ' " See copies of the original documen- -, 
 apud Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, 
 tom. ii., Col. Diplom., nos. 39. 41, 42, 43. 
 
 2 Herrera. Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, 
 lib. 2, cap. 4. -Mufioz, Hist, del Nuevo- 
 Mundo. lib. 4, sec. 18. 
 
 ^' A point south of the meridian is 
 something new in geometry ; yet so says 
 the bull of his Holiness. "Omnes insu-
 
 CH. XIX. j 
 
 PART I. — CASTILIAN LITERATURE, 
 
 483 
 
 las et terras fh-mas inventas et invenlen- 
 das, detectas et detegendas, versus Occi- 
 dentem et meridiem, fabricando et con- 
 stituendo unam lineam a Polo Aretico, 
 scilicet septentrione, ad Polmn Antarcti- 
 cum, scilicet meridiem." 
 
 ^^ See the origiaal papal grants, trans- 
 cribed by Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, 
 tom. ii., Col. Diplom., nos. 17, 18. Ap- 
 pendice al Col. Diplom., no. 11. 
 
 23 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 Ferdinand, in 
 recompense for the subjugation of tlie 
 Moors, and the expulsion of the Jews!" 
 Reyes de Aragon, fol. 310, 311. 
 
 '■» La Clfede, Hist, de Portugal, tom. iv. 
 pp. 53-58. 
 
 "' Faria y Sousa, Europa Portuguesa, 
 tom. ii. p. 463. — Herrera, Indias Occiden- 
 tales, loc. cit.— Munoz, Hist, del Nuevo- 
 Mundo, lib. 4, sec. ST, 28.— Mariana, 
 Hist, de Espafia, tom. ii. pp. 606, 607.— 
 La Clfede, Hist, de Portugal, tom. iv. pp. 
 53-58. 
 
 *' Zuiiiga, Armales de Sevilla, p. 413.— 
 Fernando Colon, Hist, del Almirante, 
 cap. 44. — Bernaldez, Reyes Catulicos, 
 MS., cap. 118.— Peter MartjT, De Rebus 
 Oceanicis, dec. 1, Ub. 1. — Benzoni, Novl 
 Orbis Historia, lib. 1, cap. 9.— Gomara, 
 Hist, de las Indias, cap. 20. 
 
 'i' La Clfede, Hist, de Portugal, tom. iv. 
 pp. 53-58.— Muiloz, Hist, del Nuevo Mun- 
 do, lib. 4, sec. 27, 28. 
 
 2' Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, Doc. 
 Diplom., no. 75.— Faria y Sousa, Europa 
 Portuguesa, ton;, ii. p. 463.— Herrera, In- 
 dias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 2, cap. 8, 10. 
 —Mariana, Hist, de Espana, tom. ii. pp. 
 606, 607.— La ClMe, Hist, de Portugal, 
 tom. iv. pp. 60-62, Zurita, Anales, tom. v. 
 fol. 31. 
 
 "' The contested territory was the 5Io- 
 lucca Islands, which each party claimed 
 tor itself, by virtue of the treaty of Tor- 
 desillas. After more than one congress. 
 in which all the cosmographical science 
 of the day was put in requisition, the af- 
 fair was terminated a VaminhJe by the 
 Spanish government's relinquishintr its 
 pretensions, in consideration of S.W.OOfl 
 ducats, paid by the court of Lisbon. See 
 La Cl^de, Hist, de Portusral, tom. iv. pp. 
 309, 401. 403. 480.— Mariana. Hist, de Es- 
 pana, torn. ii. pp. OO".'. 875.— Salaznr de 
 Mendoza, MonarquJa. tom. li. pp. SO.l. 
 »6. 
 
 PART I.— CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 > L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, foL 
 153. 
 
 ^ L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 
 154, 182. 
 
 = Carro de las Doiias, lib. 2, cap. 62 et 
 seq., apud Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., 
 tom. vi. Ilust, 21.— Pulgar, Letras, (Am- 
 stelodami. 1670,) let. 11.— L. Marineo, Co- 
 sas Memorables, fol. 182.— 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 and the Castilian indiffer- 
 ently, exhibiting occasionally a curious 
 patchwork in the alternate use of each in 
 the same epistle. See Correspondencia 
 Epistolar, apud Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., 
 tom. vi. Ilust. 13. 
 
 * Previous to the introduction of print- 
 ing, collections of books were necessarily 
 very small and thmly scattered, owing to 
 the extreme cost of manuscripts. The 
 learned Saez has collected some curious 
 particulai-s relative to this matter. The 
 most copious library which he could find 
 any accomit of, in the middle of the fif- 
 teenth century, was owned by the counts 
 of Benavente, and contained not more 
 than one hmidred and twenty volumes. 
 Many of these were duplicates; of Livy 
 alone there were eight copies. The ca- 
 thedral churches in Spain rented their 
 books every year by auction to the high- 
 est bidders, whence they derived a con- 
 siderable revenue. 
 
 It would appear from a copy of Gra- 
 tian's Canons, preserved in the Celestine 
 monastery in Paris, that the copyist was 
 engaged twenty -one months in transcrib- 
 ing that manuscript. At this rate, the 
 production of four thousand copies by 
 one hand would require nearly eight 
 thousand years, a work now easily per- 
 formed in less than four months. Such 
 was the tardiness in multiplying copies 
 before the invention of jirinting. Two 
 thousand volumes may be procured now 
 at a j)rice, which in those days would 
 hardly have sufficed to pun-ha.se fifty. 
 SeeTratado de Monedas de Enri<iue III., 
 apud Moratin. Ohras. ed. de la Acad., 
 (Madrid. 1H20.) tom. i. pp. !•!. !«. 
 
 » Navatriero. Viaggio fnllo in Spagna et 
 in Franoia. (Vineiria. l.V.3.) fol. '-J Mi-m. 
 de la Ai-ad. de Hist., torn. vi. Ilust. IT. 
 
 Till- largest collection comprised about 
 two hundred and one arli<-lcs. or distinct 
 works. Of these, about a third t» taken
 
 484 
 
 PART I. — CASTILIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 [CH. XIX. 
 
 up with theology, comprehending bibles, 
 psalters, missals, lives of saints, and 
 works of the fathers; one fifth, civil law 
 and the mmiicipal code of Spain; one 
 fourth, ancient classics, modern litera- 
 tm-e, and romances of chivalry; one 
 tenth, history; the residue is devoted to 
 ethics, medicine, grammar, astrology, 
 &c. The only Italian author, besides 
 Leonardo Bruno d'Arezzo, is Boccaccio. 
 The works of the latter writer consisted 
 of the "Fiammetta," the treatises " De 
 Casibus Illustriiun Virorum," and " De 
 Clark Mulieribus," and probably the 
 "Decameron"; the first in the Italian, 
 and the three last translated Into the 
 Spanish. It is singular, that neither of 
 Boccaccio's great contemporaries, Dante 
 and Petrarch, tiie former of whom had 
 been translated by Villena, and imitated 
 by Juan de Mena, half a century before, 
 should have found a place in the collec- 
 tion. 
 
 » Antonio, the eldest, died in 1488. Part 
 of his Latin poetical works, entitled, 
 "Sacred Bucolics," was printed in 1505, 
 at Salamanca. The younger brother, Al- 
 essandro, after bearing arms in the Portu- 
 guese war, was subsequently employed 
 in the instruction of the infantas, finally 
 embraced the ecclesiastical state, and 
 died bishop of St. Domingo, in 1525. Mem. 
 de la Acad, de Hist., torn. vi. Ilust. 16.— 
 Tu-aboschi, Letteratura Italiana, tom. vi. 
 part. 2, p. 285. 
 
 ' The learned Valencian, LuisVives, in 
 his treatise " De Christiana Femina," re- 
 marks, " ^tas noster quatuor illas Isa- 
 bellas reginae Alias, quas paullo ante 
 memoravi, eruditas vidit. Non sine laud- 
 ibus et admiratione refertur mihi passim 
 in hac terra Joannam, Philippi conjugem, 
 Caroli hujus matrem, extempore latinis 
 orationibus, quae de more apud novos 
 principes oppidatim habentur, latine re- 
 spondisse. Idem de regina sua, Joannse 
 sorore, Britanni praedicant; idem omnes 
 de duabus aliis, quae in Lusitania fato 
 concessere." (De Cluistiana Femina, 
 cap. 4, apud Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., 
 tom. vi. Ilust. 16.)— It appears, however, 
 that Isabella was not inattentive to the 
 more humble accomplishments, in the 
 education of her daughters. " Regina," 
 says the same author, "nere, suere, acu 
 pingere quatuor Alias suas doctas esse 
 voluit." Another contemporary, the au- 
 thor of the Carro de las Donas, (lib. 2, 
 cap. 62, apud Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., 
 Dust. 31.) says, " she educated her son and 
 
 daughters, giving them masters of life 
 and letters, and surrounding them wil.i 
 such persons as tended to make them 
 vessels of election, and Icings in Heaven." 
 
 Erasmus noticts the literary attain- 
 ments of the youngest daughter of the 
 sovereigns, the unfortunate Catharine of 
 Aragon, with unqualified admiration. In 
 one of his letters, he styles her " egregie 
 doctam " ; and in another he remarks, 
 "Regina non tantum in sexus miraculum 
 literata est; nee minus pietate suspicien 
 da, quara eruditione." Epistolae, (Lon- 
 dini, 1G42,) lib. 19, epist. 31; hb. 2, epist. 
 24. 
 
 8 Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., dial, de 
 Deza.— Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., tom. 
 vi. Ilust. 14. 
 
 ' Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., tom. vi. 
 Ilust. 14. 
 
 Juan de la Encina, in the dedication to 
 the prince, of his translation of Virgil's 
 Bucolics, pays the following compliment 
 to the enlightened and liberal taste of 
 Prince John. " Favoresceis tanto la sci- 
 encia andando acompanado de LUiitos e 
 tan doctisimos varones, que i. - menos 
 dejareis perdurable memoria de haber 
 alargado e estendido los limites e t^rmi- 
 nos de la scienciaque los del imperio." 
 The extraordinary promise of this young 
 prince, made his name known in distant 
 parts of Europe, and his untimely death, 
 which occurred in the twentieth year of 
 his age, was commemorated by an epi- 
 taph of the learned Grreek exUe, Constan- 
 tine Lascaris. 
 
 10 " Aficionados & la guerra," says 
 Oviedo, speaking of some young nobles 
 of his time, ^' por sji Espafiola y natural 
 inclinacion." Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, 
 quinc. 1, dial. 36. 
 
 1" For some account of this eminent 
 Italian scholar, see the postscript to Part 
 I. Chap. 14, of this History. 
 
 12 Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 102, 
 103. 
 
 Luclo Marineo, in a discourse addressed 
 to Charles V., thus notices the queen's 
 soUcitude for the instruction of her 
 young nobility. "Isabella praesertim 
 Regina magnanima, virtutum omnium 
 maxima cultrix. Quae quidem multis et 
 magnis occupata negotiis, ut aliis exem- 
 plum praeberet, a primis grammaticas 
 rudimentis studere ccEpit, et omnes suaa 
 domiis adolescentes utriusque sexus nobil- 
 ium liberos, praeceptoribus liberaliter et 
 honoriflce conductis erudiendos commen- 
 dabat." Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., tom.
 
 CH. XIX.] 
 
 PART I.—OASTILlAX LITERATURE. 
 
 485 
 
 vi. Apend. 10. — See alsoOviedo, Quincua- 
 genas, MS., bat., 1, quinc. 1, dial. 36. 
 
 '* Peter Martjr, Opus Epist., epist. 115. 
 
 '* A particular account of Marineo's 
 writings may be found in Nic. Antonio. 
 (Bibliothec a Nova, torn. ii. Apend. p. 30!».) 
 The most important of these, is his woi-k 
 "De Rebus Hispaniae Memorabilibus," 
 often cited, in the Castilian, in tliis His- 
 tory. It is a rich repository of details re- 
 specting the geography, statistics, and 
 manners of the Peninsula, with a copious 
 historical notice of events in Ferdinand 
 and Isabella's reign. The author's insa- 
 tiable curiosity, during a long residence 
 in the countiy, enabled him to collect 
 many facts, of a kind that do not fall 
 within the orduiary compass of history; 
 while his extensive learning, and his 
 familiarity with foreign models, peculiarly 
 qualified him for estimating the institu- 
 tions he describes. It must be confessed 
 he is sufficiently partial to the land of his 
 adoption. The edition, referred to in 
 tliis work, is in black letter, printed be- 
 fore, or soon after, the author's death 
 (the date of which is uncertain), in 1").30, 
 at AlcalS, de Henares, by Juan Broc-ar, 
 one of a family long celebrated m the 
 annals of Castilian printing. Marineo's 
 prologue concludes with the following 
 no'^e tribute to letters. " Porque todos 
 los otros bienes son subjectos a la f ortuna 
 y mudables y en poco tiempo mutian 
 muchos duenos passando de unos senores 
 en otros, mas los dones de letras y hys- 
 terias que se ofrescon para perpetuidad 
 de memoria y fama son immortales y 
 prorogan y guardan para siempre la 
 memoria assi de los que los reciben, 
 como de los que los ofrescen." 
 
 '^ Sepulveda, Democrites, apud Mem. 
 dela Acad, de Hist., tom. vi. Hust. IC— 
 Signorelli, Coltm-a nelle Sicilie, tom. iv. 
 p. 318. — Tlraboschi, Letteratura Italiana, 
 tom. vii. part. 3, lib. 3, cap. 4. — Coinp. 
 Lampillas, Saggio Storico-Apologetico de 
 la Letteratura Spagnuola, (Geneva, 1778,) 
 tom. ii. dis. 2, sect. .5.— The patriotic 
 Abate is greatly scandalized Iiy the de- 
 gree of influence, wliicli Tinibosclii and 
 other Italian critics ascribe to their own 
 language over the Castilian, especially 
 at this period. The seven ?olumes, in 
 which he has discharged his bile on the 
 heads of the offenders, afford valuable 
 materials for the historian of Simnish 
 literature. Tirahoschi must beadmitte<l 
 to have the better of his antagonist in 
 temper, if not in argument. 
 
 '« Among these we find copious trans- 
 lations from the ancient cla.ssics, aa 
 Caesar, Appian, Plutarch, Plautus, Sal- 
 lust, iEsop, Justin, BoUtliius, Apulius, 
 Herodian, affording strong evidence of 
 he activity of the Castilian scholars in 
 this department. Mem. de la Acad, de 
 Hist., tom. vi. pp. 406, 407.— Mendez, Ty- 
 pographia Espafiola, pp. 133, 139. 
 
 1' Salazar de Mendoza, Dignidades, 
 cap. 21. 
 
 Lucio Marineo Siculo, in his discourse 
 above alluded to, in which he exhibit.s 
 the condition o^ igtters under the reign 
 of Ferdinand v.ni. Isabella, enumerates 
 the names oi' ;':; nobility most conspicu- 
 ous for thji- scholarship. This valtialjle 
 document was to be found only in the 
 edition of Marineo's work, " De Rebus 
 Ilispaniaj Memorabilibus," printed at 
 Alcala, in l(i30, whence it has been trans- 
 ferred by Cleniencin to the sixth volume 
 of the Memoirs of the Royal Academy of 
 Histoi-y. 
 
 '8 His work " Guerra de Granada," 
 was first published at Madrid, in IGIO, 
 and " may be compared," .says Nic. 
 Antonio, ui a judgment which has been 
 ratified by the general consent of his 
 countrymen, " with the compositions of 
 Sallust, or any other ancient historian." 
 His poetry and his celebrated picdresco 
 novel "Lazarillode Tormes," have made 
 an epoch in the ornamental literature of 
 Spain. 
 
 ''■' Oviedo has devoted one of his dia- 
 logues to this nobleman, equally distin- 
 guished by his successes in arms, letters, 
 and love; the last of which, according to 
 that writer, he had not entirely resigned 
 at the age of seventy.— Quincuagenas, 
 MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial 28. 
 
 20 por an account of Santillana, see the 
 Fii-st Chapter of this History. Tlie car- 
 dinal, in early Hfe, is said to have traus- 
 lateil for his father the .Kncid, the Odys- 
 sey, (?»vid, Valerius .Ma.xinms. and Sal- 
 lust. (Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., torn, 
 vi. Hust. 10.) This Herculean feat would 
 put modern school-boys to shame, and 
 we may suppose that pai-fial versions 
 onlv of tht>se authors are int<'nded. 
 
 "' Mei<i. dela Acad.de Hist., tom. vi. 
 Hust ](•>.— Oviedo, Quincuagenas, M8., 
 dial 'efJrizio. 
 
 Senoi CI nv ncin has examined with 
 much care the intelle<-tiial culture of the 
 nation under ls,ibella. in the sixteenth 
 Ihislrarion of his work. He lias l<iiicll. 
 cd lightly on its poetical character, cm*'
 
 486 
 
 PART 1.— CASTILIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 [CH. XIX. 
 
 sidering, no doubt, that this had been 
 sufficiently developed by other critics. 
 His essay, however, is rich in informa- 
 tion in regard to the scholarship and 
 severer studies of the period. The 
 reader, who would pursue the inquiry 
 still further, may find abundant materi- 
 als in Nic. Antonio, Bibliotheca Vetus, 
 torn. ii. lib. 10, cap. 13 et seq.— Idem, 
 Bibliotheca Hispana Nova, (Matriti, 
 1783-8,)— tom. i. ii. passim. 
 
 2« See Part I. Chap. 8, of this History. 
 
 23 For a notice of this scholar, see the 
 postscript to Part I. Chap. 11, of this 
 History. 
 
 ''* Mendez, Typographia Espanola, pp. 
 871, 272. 
 
 In the second edition, published 1482, 
 the author states, that no work of the 
 time had a greater circulation, more 
 than a thousand copies of it, at a high 
 price, having been disposed of in the 
 preceding year. Ibid., p. 237. 
 
 *^ Nic. Antonio, Bibliotheca Nova, 
 tom. i. pp. 132-139.— Lam pillas, Lettera- 
 tura Spagnuola, tom. ii. dis. 2, sec. 3.— 
 Dialogo de las Lenguas, apud Mayans 
 y Siscar, Origenes, (Madrid, 1737,) tom. 
 ii. pp. 46, 47. 
 
 Lucio Marine© pays the following 
 elegant compUment to this learned 
 Spaniard, in his discourse before quoted. 
 " Amisit nuper Hispania maximum sui 
 cultorem in re litteraria, Antonium Ne- 
 brissensem, qui primus ex Italia in His- 
 paniam Musas adduxit, quibuscum bar- 
 bariem ex sua patria fugavit, et Hispa- 
 niam totam linguae Latinre lectionibus 
 illustravit." " Meruerat id," says Gomez 
 de Castro of Lebrija, "et multo raajora 
 hominis eruditio, cui Hispania debet, 
 quicquid habet bonarum literarum." 
 
 The acute author of the " Dialogo de 
 las Lenguas," while he renders ample 
 homage to Lebrija's Latin erudition, dis- 
 putes his critical acquaintance with his 
 own language, from his being a native 
 of Andalusia, where the Castilian was 
 not spoken with purity. " Hablaba y 
 eserivia como en el Andalucia y no como 
 en laCastilla." p. 93. See also pp. 9, 10, 
 46, 53. 
 
 2* Barbosa, Bibliotheca Lusitana, (Lis- 
 boa Occidental, 1741,) tom. i. pp. 76-78.— 
 Signorelli, Coltura nelle Sicilie, tom. iv. 
 pp. 315-321. — Mayans y Siscar, Origenes, 
 tom. i. p. 173.— Lampillas, Letteratura 
 Spagnuola, tom. ii. dis. 2, sect. 5.— Nic. 
 Antonio, Bibliotheca Nova, tom. 1. pp. 
 170, 171. 
 
 2' Among these are particularly de- 
 serving of attention the brothers Jolin 
 and Francis Vergara, professors at Al- 
 caic, the latter of whom was esteemed 
 one of the most accomplished scholars 
 of the age; Nuiiez de Guzman, of the 
 ancient house of that name, professor 
 for many years at Salamanca and AlcalA, 
 and the author of the Latin version in the 
 famous Polyglot of Cardinal Ximenes; 
 he left behind him numerous works, es- 
 pecially commentaries on the classics; 
 Olivario, whose curious erudition was 
 abundantly exhibited in his illustrations 
 of Cicero and other Latin authors ; and 
 lastly Vives, whose fame rather belongs 
 to Europe than his own country, who, 
 when only twenty-six years old, drew 
 from Erasmus the encomium, that 
 " there was scarcely any one of the age 
 whom he could venture to compare with 
 him in philosophy, eloquence, and liberal 
 learning."' But the most unequivocal 
 testimony to the deep and various schol- 
 arship of the period is afforded by that 
 stupendous literary work of Cardinal 
 Ximenes, the Polyglot Bible, whose ver- 
 sions in the Greek, Latin, and oriental 
 tongues were collated, with a single ex- 
 ception, by Spanish scholars. Erasmus, 
 Epistolse, hb. 19, epist. 101.— LampUlas, 
 Letteratura Spagnuola, tom. ii. pp. 382- 
 384, 495, 792-794; tom. ii. p. 208 et seq.— 
 Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 37. 
 
 28 Erasmus, Epistolse, p. 977. 
 
 29 " La muy esclarecida ciudad de 
 Salamanca, madre de las artes liljerales, 
 y todas virtudes, y an si de cavalleros 
 como de letrados varones, muy ilustre." 
 Cosas Memorables, fol. 11.— Chacon, Hist, 
 de la Universidad de Salamanca, apud 
 Semanario Erudito, tom. xviii. pp. 1-61. 
 
 30 •'Academia Complutensis," says 
 Erasmus of this university, "non aliunde 
 celebritatem nominis auspicataestquam 
 a compleetendo hnguas ac bonas literas. 
 Cujus praecipuum ornamentum est egre- 
 gius ille senex, planeque dignus qui mul- 
 tos vincat Nestoras, Antonius Nebrissen 
 sis." Epist. ad Ludovicum Vivem, 1521. 
 Epistolae, p. 755. 
 
 3" Cosas Merfiorables, ubi supra.— 
 Peter Martyi-, Opus Epist., epist. 57.— 
 Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, hb. 4.— Chacon, 
 Universidad de Salamanca, ubi supra. 
 
 It appears that the practice of scraping 
 with the feet as an expression of disap- 
 probation, familiar in our universities, is 
 of venerable antiquity ; for Martyr men- 
 tions, that he was saluted with it before
 
 CH. XX.] 
 
 PART I.— CASTILIAX LITERATURE. 
 
 487 
 
 finishing his discourse by one or two idle 
 youths, dissatisfied with its length. The 
 lecturer, however, seems to have given 
 general satisfaction, for he was escorted 
 back in triumph to his lodgings, to use 
 his own language, " like a victor in the 
 Olympic games," after the conclusion of 
 the exercise. 
 
 32 For some remarks on the labors of 
 this distinguished jm-isconsult, see Part 
 I. Chap. 6, and Part II. Chap. 26. of the 
 present work. 
 
 33 The most remarkable of these latter 
 is Herrera's treatise on Agriculture, 
 which, since its publication in Toledo, in 
 1520, has passed through a variety of 
 editions at home, and translations 
 abroad. Nic. Antonio, Bibhotheca Nova, 
 torn. i. p. 503. 
 
 '■" This collection, with the ill luck 
 which has too often befallen .such reposi 
 tories in Spain, was burnt in the war of 
 the Communities, in the time of Charles 
 V. Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., torn. vi. 
 Ilust. 16.— Morales, Obras, torn. vii. p. 18. 
 — Informe de Riol, who particularly no- 
 tices the solicitude of Ferchnand and 
 Isabella for preserving the public docu- 
 ments. 
 
 3* Mendez, Typographia Espahola, p. 
 51. 
 
 38 Archive de Murcia, apud Mem. de 
 la Acad, de Hist., tom. vi. p. 344. 
 
 3' Mendez, Typographia Espafiola, pp. 
 52, 332. 
 
 3* Ordenangas Reales, lib. 4, tit. 4, ley 
 22. — The preamble of this statute is ex- 
 pressed in the following enlightened 
 terras; " Considerando los Reyes de 
 gloriosa memoria quanto era provechoso 
 y honroso, que a estos sus reynos se 
 truxessen libros de otras partes para que 
 con ellos se hizie.ssen los hombres letra- 
 dos, quisieron y ordenaron, que de los 
 
 libros no se pagasse el alcavala 
 
 Lo qual parece que reduuda en prove- 
 cho universal de todos, y en ennobleci- 
 miento de nuestros Reynos." 
 
 39 Capmany, Mem. de Barcelona, tom. 
 i. part. 2, lib. 2, cap. C.— Mendez, Typo- 
 graphia Espafiola, pp. ii'>. il3. 
 
 Bouterwek intimates, that the art of 
 printing was first practised in Spain by 
 German printers at Seville, in the beciiu- 
 ning of the sixteenth century. (Bouter 
 wek, Geschichte der Poesie und Bi^rcd- 
 samkeit, (Giittingen, ISOl-l".) band ill. p. 
 98.)— He appears to have been misled by 
 a solitary example quoted from Mayans 
 J Siscar. The want of materials has 
 
 more than once led this eminent critic to 
 build sweeping conclusions on slender 
 premises. 
 
 ■"> The title of the book is " Cei-tamen 
 poetich en lohorde la Conce<^'io," Valen- 
 cia, 1471. 4to. The nama of the jirinter 
 is wanting. Mendez, Typographia Espa- 
 iiola, p. Titj. 
 
 <' Ibid., pp. 61-63. 
 
 *'^ Jlendez, Typographia Espafiola, pp. 
 .52, .5;^.— Pragmiticas del Reyno, fol. 13H, 
 139. 
 
 ♦3 Llorente, Hist, de rinquisition, tom. 
 i. chap. 13, art. 1. 
 
 '■.\dcmpto per inquisitiones,"' says 
 Tacitus of the gloomy times of Domi- 
 tian, "et loquendi audiendique com- 
 mercio."' (Vita Agricolae, sec. 2.) Beau- 
 marchais, in a merrier vein, indeed, 
 makes the same bitter reflections. " II 
 s'est ftabli dans Madrid un systOme de 
 libertt'' sur la vente des productions, qui 
 s't'tend meme a celles de la presse; et 
 que, pourvu que je ne parle en mes fcrits 
 ni de rautnrito. ni de culte, ni de la poli- 
 tique, ni de la morale, ni des gens en 
 place, ni des corps en credit, ni de TOptJ- 
 ra, ni des autres spectacles, ni deperson- 
 ne qui tienne a, quelque chose, je puis 
 tout iinprimer librement, sous Tinspec- 
 tion de deux ou trois censeurs." Ma- 
 riage de Figaro, acte 5, sc. 3. 
 
 PART I.— CHAPTER XX. 
 
 > Eichhorn, Geschichte der Kultur und 
 Litteratur der Xeueren Europa, (G(>ttin- 
 gen, ITiKJ-lHlI.i pp. 12i). KJO.-See also the 
 conclusion of the Introduction, Sec. 2, of 
 this History. 
 
 ■■' Nic. Antonio seems unwilling to re- 
 lin(|uish the pretensions of his own na- 
 tion to the authorship of tliis romance. 
 (See Bibhotheca Nova, tom. ii. p. SIM.) 
 Later critics, and among them l.ampil- 
 las. (Ensayo Historico-.-\p()lrigi-tic(i de la 
 Literatura Espafiola, (Madrid, 17S9. i torn. 
 v. p. 16K.) who resigns no more than lie is 
 compelled to do. are less dispo!*ed to con- 
 test the claims of the Portuguese. .Mr. 
 Southey has cited t.vo docunienls, one 
 historical, the other p<«'tical, whii-li si'«»iji 
 to i)lace itscomi)osition by LoU-ira in the 
 latter part of the fourtt-enth century l>e- 
 yond any reasonable doubt. (See .\nia- 
 (lis of (iaiil. pri'f. also Sarmiento, >!<•• 
 niorias pnra la Historia de la I'lX'sfu y 
 Poetas Espaholes, Obnis Poslhunias, 
 (Mmlrid, r.".'>.) lorn. I p. ZV.).) Bouterwek, 
 anil after him Sismondi, without adduo-
 
 488 
 
 PART 1.— CASTILIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 [CH. XX. 
 
 ing any authority, have fixed the era of 
 Lobeira's death at 13;i5. Dante, who died 
 but four years previous to that date, f ui-- 
 nishes a negative argument, at least, 
 against this, since in his notice of some of 
 the best books of chivalry then extant, he 
 makes no allusion to the " Amadis," the 
 best of all. Inferno, canto v. 
 
 3 The excellent old romance " Tirante 
 the White," Tirant lo Blanch, was print- 
 ed at Valencia in 14'JO. (See Mendez, 
 Typographia Espafiola, torn. i. pp. 7:i-75.) 
 If, as Cervantes asserts, the " Amadis " 
 was the first book of chivalry printed in 
 Spain, it must have been anterior to this 
 date. This is rendered probable by Mon- 
 talvo's prologue to his edition at Sar- 
 agossa, in 1521, still preserved in the roy- 
 al library at Madrid, where he alludes to 
 his former publication of it in the time of 
 Ferdinand and Isabella. (Cervantes, 
 Don Quixote, ed. Pelhcer, Discurso Pre- 
 lim.) 
 
 Mr. Dunlop, who has analyzed these 
 romances with a patience that more 
 will be disposed to commend than im- 
 itate, has been led into the error of sup- 
 posing that the first edition of the " Ama- 
 dis" was printed at Seville, in 1526, from 
 detached fragments appearing in the 
 time of Ferdinand and Isabella, and sub- 
 sequently by Montalvo, at Salamanca, in 
 1.547. See History of Prose Fiction, vol. 
 ii. chap. 10. 
 
 ■> The following is Montalvo's brief 
 prologue to the introduction of the first 
 book. " Aqvi comienga el pri'""\j libro 
 del esforgado ei virtuoso cauallero Ama- 
 dis ' i jo del rey Perion da Gaula: y dela 
 reyna EUsena: el qual fne coregido y 
 emendado por el homado y vi, ..>so cau- 
 allero Caivlordolles de Montalvo, regi 
 dor dela noble ailla de Medina dol campo : 
 5t corregiole utlos antiguos originales 
 jueestauan corrupto«. et compuestos en 
 antiguo estilo: por falta delos diferentes 
 ''scriptores. Quitando muchas palabras 
 ^uperfluas: et poniendo otras de mas poli- 
 do y elegante estilo: tocantes ala caual- 
 leria et actos della, animando los cora- 
 ■pones gentiles de manzebos belicosos que 
 con grandissirao affetto abrazan el arte 
 dela milicia corporal animando la im- 
 mortal memoria del arte de caualleria 
 no menos honestissimo que glorioso." 
 Amadis de Gaula, (Venecia. 15.33.) fol. 1. 
 
 * Nic. Antonio enumerates the editions 
 of thirteen of this doughty family of 
 knights-errant. (Bibliotheca Nova, tom. 
 U. pp. 394, 395.) He dismisses his notice 
 
 with the reflection, somewhat more 
 charitable than that of Don Quixote's 
 cm-ate, that " he had felt httle interest in 
 investigatmg these fables, yet was willing 
 to admit with others, that their reading 
 was not wholly useless." 
 
 Moratin has collected an appalling 
 catalogue of jJcirt of the books of chivali"y 
 published in Spain at the close of the 
 fifteenth and the following century. The 
 fa-st on the list is the C'arcel de Amor, 
 por Diego Hernandez de San Pedro, en 
 Burgos, aiio de 1496. Obras, tom. i. pp. 
 93-98. 
 
 * Cervantes, Don Quixote, tom. i. part. 
 1, cap. 6. 
 
 The curate's wrath is very emphatical- 
 ly expressed. " Pues vayan todos al 
 corral, dixo el Cura, que a trueco de 
 queniar a la reyna Pintiquiniestra, y al 
 pastor Darinel y a sus eglogas, y a las 
 endiabladas y revueltas razones de su 
 autor, quemara con ellos al padre que me 
 engendro si andubiera en figura de ca- 
 ballero andante." The author of the 
 " Dialogo de las Lenguas " chimes in 
 with the same tone of criticism. " Los 
 quales," he says, speaking of books of 
 chivalry. " de mas de ser mentirossissi- 
 mos, son tal mal compuestos, assi por 
 dezir las mentiras tan desvergongadas, 
 como por tener el estilo desbaragado, que 
 no ay buen estomago que lo puedaleer." 
 Apud Mayans y Siscar, Orlgenes, tom. 
 ii. p. 158. 
 
 ' The labors of Bowles, Eios, Arrieta, 
 Pellicer, and Navarrete, would seem to 
 have left little to desire in regard to the 
 illustration of Cervantes, But the com- 
 mentaries of Clemencin, published since 
 this chapter was written, in 1833, show 
 how much yet remained to be supplied. 
 They afford the most copious illustra- 
 tions, both literary and historical of his 
 author, and exhibit that nice taste in ver- 
 bal criticism which is not always joined 
 "ith such extensive erudition. Unfortu- 
 nately, the premature death of Clemencin 
 has left the work unfinished; but the 
 fragment completed, which reaches to 
 the close of the First Part, is of suffi- 
 cient value permanently to associate the 
 name of its author with that of the 
 greatest genius of his country. 
 
 '' The fabliaux cannot fairly be consid- 
 ered as an exception to this. These 
 graceful little performances, the work of 
 professed bards, who had nothing further 
 in view than the amusement of a listless 
 audience, have httle claim to be consid*
 
 CH. XX.] 
 
 PART I.— CASTILIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 4S9 
 
 ered as ttie expression of national feeling 
 or sentiment The poetry of the south 
 of Fi'ance, more impassioned and lyrical 
 in its character, wears the stamp, not 
 merely of patrician elegance, but refined 
 artifice, which must not be confounded 
 ■with the natural flow of popular min- 
 strelsy. 
 
 ' How far the achievements claimed 
 for the Campeador are strictly true, 
 is little to the purpose. It is enough that 
 they were received as true, throughout 
 the Peninsula, as far back as the twelfth, 
 or, at latest, the thirteenth century. 
 
 •" One exception, among others, readily 
 occurs in the pathetic old ballad of the 
 Conde jUarcos, whose wof ul catastrophe, 
 with the unresisting suffering of the 
 countess, suggests many points of coin- 
 cidence with the English minstrelsy. 
 The English reader will find a version of 
 it in the " Ancient Poetry and Romances 
 of Spain " from the pen of Mr. Bowring, 
 to whom the literary world is so largely 
 indebted for an acquaintance with the 
 popular minstrelsy of Europe. 
 
 1' 1 have already noticed the insuffi- 
 ciency of the romances to authentic his- 
 tory. Part. I. Chap. 8, Note 30. My con- 
 clusions there have been confirmed by 
 Mr. Irving, (whose researches have led 
 him in a similar direction,) in his " Al- 
 hambra," published nearly a year after 
 the above note was written. 
 
 The great source of the popular mis- 
 conceptions respecting the domestic his- 
 tory of Granada, is Gines Perez de Hy ta, 
 whose woi-k, under the title of " Historia 
 de los Vandos de los Zegries y Abencer- 
 rages, Cavalleros Moros de Granada, y 
 las Guerras Civiles que huvo en ella," 
 was published at Alealfi. in IfiOl. This ro- 
 mance, written in prose, embodied many 
 of the old Moorish ballads in it, whose 
 singular beauty, combined with the ro- 
 mantic and picturesque character of the 
 work itself, soon made it e.Ktremely pojj- 
 iilar, until at length it seems to have ac- 
 quired a degree of the historical credit 
 claimed for it by its author as a transla- 
 tion from an Arabian chronicle; a credit 
 which lias stood it in good stead with the 
 tribe of travel-mongers and rnroyiteur.s. 
 persons always of easy faith, who have 
 propagated its fables far and wide. 
 Their credulity, however, may he par- 
 doned in what was imposed on the per- 
 spicacity of so cautious an historian as 
 Miiller. Allgemcine Geschichte, (1H17,) 
 •jand ii. p. SM. 
 
 '■•• Thus, in one of their romances, we 
 have a Moorish lady " shedding droits of 
 liquid silver, and scattering her hair of 
 Arabian gold " over the corpse of her 
 murdered husband 1 
 
 " Sobre el cuerpo de Albencayde 
 Destila liquida plata. 
 Y convertidaen cabellos 
 Espareeel oro de Arabia." 
 
 Can any thing be more oriental than this 
 imagery? In another we have " an hour 
 of years of impatient hopes "' ; a passion- 
 ate sally, that can scarcely be outmatched 
 by Scriblerus. This taint of exaggeration, 
 however, so far from being jieculiar to 
 the popular minstrelsy, has found it,s way, 
 probably through this channel in jjart, 
 into most of the poetry of tlie Peninsula. 
 '3 The rcdondiUa may be considered 
 as the basis of Spanish versification. It 
 is of great antiquity, and compositions in 
 it are still extant, as old as the time of the 
 infante Don Manuel, at the close of the 
 thirteenth century. (See Cancionero 
 General, fol. aO~.) Theirc(/o(i(/(7/<t admits 
 of great variety ; but in the i-ontimces 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. (Rengifo, Arte Po- 
 t'tica Espanola, (Barcelona, 1727,) cap. 9, 
 44.) Critics have derived this delightful 
 measure from various sources. Samii- 
 ento traces it to the hexameter of the an- 
 cient Honians, which may be bisected in- 
 to something analogous to the redondil- 
 las. (Memorias, pp. 1U8-171.) Bout«rwek 
 thinks it may have been suggested by the 
 songs of the Roman soldiery. (Geschi- 
 chte der PiH'sie imd Beredsamkeit, band 
 iii. Einleitung, p. liO.)— Velazcpiez bor- 
 rows it from the rhyming hexameters 
 of the Spanish Latin jjoets. of which hw 
 gives specimens of the beginning of the 
 fourteenth century. (Poesfa Castellana, 
 pp. 77, 7H.) Later critics refer its deriva- 
 tion to the A-abic. Conde lias given a 
 translation of certain Spanish-Arabian 
 jjoeins, in the measure of tlie original, 
 from wliicli it is evident, that the hemi- 
 stich of an Arabian verse corresponds 
 perfectly with the redondilhi. (See his 
 Dominacion de los Arabes, pa.s.sim.) The 
 same a\ithor, in a treatise, which he 
 never jiublishi'd. on tlu'"i)oesIa orient- 
 a)," shows more pn-cisely the inlimat*' 
 nfllnity subsisting between the nii-trical 
 fonn of tlie Arabian and the old CaKtllinn 
 verse. The reader will find an nnwlysls
 
 490 
 
 PART I.— CASTILIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 [CH. XX 
 
 of his manuscript in Part. I. Chap. 8, 
 Note 49, of this History. 
 
 This theory is rendered the more plau- 
 sible, by the influence which the Arabic 
 has exercised on Castilian versification 
 in other respects, as in the prolonged 
 repetition of the rhyme, for example, 
 which is wholly borrowed from the Span- 
 ish Arabs; whose superior cultivation 
 naturally affected the unformed litera- 
 ture of their neighbours, and through no 
 channel more obviously than its popular 
 minstrelsy. 
 
 •■• The asonante is a rhyme made by 
 imiformity of the vowels, without refer- 
 ence to the consonants; the regular 
 rhyme, which obtains in other European 
 literatures, is distinguished in Spain by 
 the term consonante. Thus the four 
 following words, taken at random from a 
 Spanish ballad, are consecutive asoyian 
 tes; regozijo, pellico, luzido, amarillo. 
 In tills example, the two last syllables 
 have the assonance; although this is not 
 invariable, it sometimes falling on the 
 antepenultima and the final syllable. (See 
 Rengifo, Arte Po^tica Espaflola, pp. 214, 
 215, 218.) There is a wild, artless melody 
 in the asonante, and a graceful move- 
 ment coming somewhere, as it does, be 
 twixt regular rhyme and blank verse, 
 which would make its introduction very 
 desirable, but not very feasible, in our 
 own language. An attempt of the kind 
 has been made by a clever writer, in the 
 Retrospective Review. (Vol. iv. art. 2.) 
 If it has failed, it is from the impedi 
 ments presented by the language, which 
 has not nearly the same amount of vowel 
 terminations, nor of simple uniform 
 vowel sounds, as the Spanish ; the double 
 termination, however full of grace and 
 beauty in the CastiUan, assirmes, perhaps 
 from the effect of association, rather a 
 doggrel air In the English. 
 
 1* This may be still further inferred 
 from the tenor of a humorous, satii'ical 
 old romance, In which the writer im- 
 plores the justice of Apollo on the heads 
 of the swarm of traitor poets, who have 
 deserted the ancient themes of song, the 
 Clds, the Laras, the Gonzalez, to cele- 
 brate the (Janzuls and Abderrahmans 
 and the fantastical fables of the Moors. 
 
 "Tanta Zayda y Adalifa, 
 tanta Draguta y Daraxa, 
 tanto Azarque y tanto Adulce, 
 tanto (liazul, y Abenamar, 
 tanto alqulzer y marlota, 
 tanto almayzar, y almalafa, 
 
 tantas emprisas y plumas, 
 tantas cif ras y medallas, 
 tanta roperia Mora. 
 Y en vanderillas y adargas, 
 tanto mote, y tantas motas 
 muera yo sino me cansan." 
 ***** 
 
 " Los Alfonsos, los Henricos, 
 los Sanchos, y los de Lara, 
 que es dellos, y que es del Cid? 
 tanto olvido en glorias tantas? 
 ninguna pluma las buela, 
 ninguna Musa las canta? 
 Justicia, Apollo, justicia, 
 vengadores rayos lan^a 
 contra Poetas Moriscos." 
 
 Dr. Johnson's opinions are weU known, 
 In regard to this department of English 
 literature, which, by liis ridiculous paro 
 dies, he succeeded for a time in throwing 
 into the shade, or, in the language of his 
 admiring biographer, made " perfectly 
 contemptible." 
 
 Petrarch, with like pedantry, rested 
 his hopes of fame on his Latin epic, and 
 gave away his lyrics, as alms to ballad- 
 singers. Posterity, deciding on sin-er 
 principles of taste, has reversed both 
 these decisions. 
 
 "5 " Algunos qiueren que sean la car. 
 tilla de los Poetas; yo no lo siento assi; 
 antes blen los hallo capaces, no solo de 
 exprimu- y declarar qualquler concepto 
 con facil dulzura, pero de prosequlr toda 
 gi-ave accion de numeroso Poema. Y 
 soy tan de veras Espaiiol, que por ser en 
 nuestro idloma natural este genero, no 
 me puedo persuadir que no sea digno de 
 toda estimacion." (Coleccion de Obras 
 Sueltas, (Madrid, 1776-9,) tom. Iv. p. 176, 
 Pr61ogo.) In another place, he finely 
 styles them "Iliads without a Homer." 
 
 " See, among others, the encomiastic 
 and animated criticism of Fernandez and 
 Quintana. Fernandez, Poesias Escogi- 
 das, de Nuestros Cancioneros y Roman- 
 ceros Antiguos, (Madrid, 1796.) tom. xvi., 
 Prulogo.— Quintana, Poesias SelectasCas- 
 tellanas. In trod. art. 4. 
 
 '^ Nic. Antonio, Bibliotheca Nova, tom. 
 ii. p. 10.— The Spanish translators of 
 Bouterwek, have noticed the principal 
 " collections and earliest editions " of the 
 Romances. This original edition of Se- 
 pulveda has escaped their notice. See 
 Literatura Espaflola, pp. 217, 218. 
 
 •" See Grimm, Depping, Herder, &c. 
 This last poet has embraced a selection 
 of the Cid ballads, chronologically ar- 
 ranged, and translated with eminent sim- 
 plicity and spirit, if not with the scrupu- 
 lous fidelity usually aimed at by the (jej»
 
 CH. XX. 3 
 
 PART I.— CASTILIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 491 
 
 mans. SeehisSamintlicheWerke, (Wien, 
 1813,) band iii. 
 
 2» Sarmiento, Memorias, pp. ^42, 31.3.— 
 Moratin considers that none have come 
 down to us, in their original costume, of 
 an earlier date than John II. "s reign, the 
 fii-st half of the fifteenth century. ( Obra.^, 
 torn. i. p. 84.) The Spanish translat<irs 
 of Bouterwek transcribe a romance, re- 
 lating to the Cid, from the fathers Ber- 
 ganza and Merino, purporting to exliibit 
 the primitive, uncorrupted diction of the 
 thirteenth centui-y. Native critics are of 
 course the only ones competent to ques- 
 tions of this sort; but, to the less experi- 
 enced eye of a foreigner, the style of this 
 ballad would seem to resemble much less 
 that genuine specimen of the versifica- 
 tion of the preceding age, the poem of 
 the Cid, than the compositions of the 
 fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. 
 
 2' The principle of philosophical ar- 
 rangement, if it may so be called, is pur- 
 sued still further m the latest Spanish 
 publications of the romances, where the 
 Moorish minstrelsy is embodied in a sep- 
 arate volume, and distributed with refer- 
 ence to its topics. This system is the 
 more practicable with this class of bal- 
 lads, since it far exceeds in number any 
 other. See Duran, Romancero de Ro- 
 mances Moriscos. 
 
 The Romancero I have used is the an- 
 cient edition of Medina del Campo, 1003. 
 It is divided Into nine parts, though it is 
 not easy to see on what principle, since 
 the productions of most opposite date 
 and tenor are brought into juxtaposition. 
 The collection contains nearly a thousand 
 ballads, which, however, fall far short of 
 the entire number preserved, as may 
 easily be seen by reference to other com- 
 pilations. AVhen to this is added the 
 consideration of the large number which 
 insensibly glided into oblivion without 
 ever coming to the press, one may form 
 a notion of the immense mass of these 
 humble lyrics, which floated among the 
 common people of Spain; and we shall 
 be the less dispo.sed to wonder at the 
 proud and chivalrous bearing that marks 
 even the peasantry of a nation, which 
 seems to breathe the very air of romantic 
 song. 
 
 52 The title of this work was " Coplas 
 de Vita Ohristi, de la Cena con la Pasion, 
 y de la Veronica con la Resurreccion de 
 nuestro Redemtor. E las siete Angus- 
 tias e siete Gozos de nuestra Sefiora, 
 COD '>tras obras mucho provechosas." It 
 
 concludes with the following notice, " Fue 
 la pi-esente obra eniprentada en la insigne 
 Ciudail de Zaragoza de Ara^on por in- 
 dustria e expensas de Paulo Hurus de 
 Constancia aleman. A 27 dias de Novi- 
 embre, 1493." (Mendez, Typographia 
 Espafiola, pp. 1.34, 130.) It appears there 
 were two or three other cancioneros 
 compiled, non j of which, however, were 
 admitted to the honors of the press. (Bou- 
 terwek, Literatiira Espafiola, nota.) The 
 learned Castro, some fifty years since, 
 published an analysis with copious ex- 
 tracts from one of these made by Baena, 
 the Jewish physician of John II., a copy 
 of which existed in the royal library of 
 the Escurial. Bibliotheca Espafiola, tom. 
 i. p. 365 et seq. 
 
 -3 Cancionero General, passim. — Mora- 
 tin has given a list of the men of rank 
 who contributed to this miscellany; it 
 contains the names of the highest no- 
 liility of Spain. (Orig. del Teatro Espa- 
 fiol, Obras, tom. i. pp. 8.5, 86.) Castillo's 
 Cancionero passed through several edi- 
 tions, the latest of which appeared in 
 1573, See a catalogue, not entirely com- 
 plete, of the different Spanish Cancio- 
 neros in Bouterwek, Literatm-a Espafiola, 
 trad., p. 317. 
 
 ^■1 Cancionero' General, pp. 88-89.— Ovie- 
 do, Quincnagenas, MS. 
 
 *^ Cancionero General, pp. 158-161.— 
 Some meagre information of this person 
 is given by Nic. Antonio, whose bio- 
 grajihical notices may be often charged 
 with deficiency in chronological data; a 
 circumstance perhaps unavoidable from 
 the obscurity of their subjects. Biblio- 
 theca Vetus, tom. ii. lib. 10, cap. 6. 
 
 2« Thei'e are probably more direct puns 
 in Petrarch's Ij-rics alone, than in all the 
 Cancionero General. There is another 
 kind of uiai.iefie, however, to which the 
 Spanish poets were much addicted, being 
 the transposition of the word in every 
 variety of sense and combination; as, 
 for example, 
 
 " .\cordad vuestros olvidos 
 Y olvida vuestros acnerdos 
 Porqne tales desacuerdos 
 Acuerden vuestros sentidos," &c. 
 Cancionero Cieneral, fol. 238. 
 
 It was such subtilties as thcs<>, eiifn- 
 rnrlos rnzoncs. as Cervantes calls tliem, 
 that addled the brainv of poor Don Quix- 
 ote. Tom. i. cap. 1. 
 
 "' Velasquez, Poesfa Ca-stellana, p. 122. 
 —More than half a century lat«'r, the
 
 492 
 
 PART 1. — CASTILIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 [CH. 2X. 
 
 learned Ambrosio Morales complained 
 of the barrenness of the Castilian, which 
 he hnputed to the too exclusive adoption 
 of the Latin upon all subjects of dignity 
 and importance. Obras, torn. xiv. pp. 
 147, 148. 
 
 i*** L. Marineo, speaking of this accom- 
 plished nobleman, styles him "virum 
 satis illustrem. — Eum euim poetam et 
 philosophum natura forma vit ac peperit. " 
 He unfortunately fell in a skirmish, five 
 years after his father's death, in 1479. 
 Mariana, Hist, de Espana, torn. ii. p. 531. 
 
 29 An elaborate character of this Quix- 
 otic old cavalier may be found in Pul- 
 gar, Claros Varones, tit. 13. 
 
 "> " Don Jorge Manrique," says Lope 
 de Vega, " cuy£.s coplas CasteUanas ad- 
 miren los ingeuios estrangeros y merecen 
 estar escritas con letras de ore."' Obras 
 Sueltas, tom. xii. Prologo. 
 
 31 Coplas de Don Jorge Manrique, ed 
 Madrid, 1779.— Dialogo de las Lenguas, 
 apud Mayans y Siscar, Orfgenes, torn. ii. 
 p. 149. — Manrique's Coplas have also 
 been the subject of a separate publica- 
 tion in the United States. Professor 
 Longfellow's version, accompanying it, is 
 well calculated to give the EngUsh reader 
 a correct notion of the Castilian bard, 
 and, of course, a very exaggerated one 
 of the literary culture of the age. 
 
 32 After proscribing certain profane 
 mummeries, the law confines the clergy 
 to the representation of such subjects as 
 " the birth of our Saviour, in which is 
 shown how the angels appeared, announc- 
 ing his nativity; also his advent, and 
 the coming of the three Magi kings to 
 worship him ; and his resurrection, show- 
 ing his crucifixion and ascension on the 
 third day; and other such things leading 
 men to do well and live constant in the 
 faith." (Siete Partidas, tit. 6, ley 34.) 
 It is worth noting, that similar abuses 
 continued common among the ecclesias- 
 tics, down to Isabella's reign, as may be 
 inferred from a decree, very similar to 
 the law of the Partidas above cited, pub- 
 lished by the council of Aranda, in 1473. 
 (Apud Moratin, Obras. tom. i. p. 87.) 
 Moratin considers it certain, that the rep- 
 resentation of the mysteries existed in 
 Spain, as far back as the eleventh cent- 
 ury. The principal grounds for this 
 conjecture appear to be, the fact that 
 such notorious abuses had crept into 
 practice by the middle of the thirteenth 
 century, as to require the intervention of 
 the law. (Ibid. pp. 11, 13 ) The circum- 
 
 stance would seem compatible with a 
 much more recent origin. 
 
 33 Cervantes, Comedias y Entremeses, 
 (Madrid, 1749,) tom. i. prulogo de Nasar- 
 re.^Velazquez, Poesia CasteUana, p. 86.— 
 The fifth volume of the Memoirs of tha 
 Spanish Royal Academy of History, con- 
 tains a dissertation on the " national di- 
 versions," by Don Caspar Melchor de 
 Jovellanos, replete with curious erudi- 
 tion, and exhibiting the discriminatmg 
 taste to have been expected from its ac- 
 complished author. Among these anti- 
 quai'ian researches, the writer has in- 
 cluded a brief view of the first theatrical 
 attempts m Spain. See Mem. de la Acad, 
 de Hist., tom. v. Mem. 6. 
 
 S'' Moratin, Obras, tom. i. p. 115. — Na- 
 sarre (Cervantes, Comedias, prol.), Jovel- 
 lanos (Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., tom. v 
 Memor. 6.), Pellicer (Orlgen y Progreso 
 de la Comedia, (1804,) tom. i. p. 12.), and 
 others, refer the authorship of this little 
 piece, without hesitation, to Juan de la 
 Encina. although the year of its repre- 
 sentation corresponds precisely with 
 that of his birt'^. The prevalence of so 
 gross a blunder among the Spanish 
 scholars, shows how little the antiqui- 
 ties ot their tht-tre were studied before 
 the time of Moratin. 
 
 "•'' This little piece has been published 
 at length by Moratin, in the first volume 
 of his works. (See Origenes del Teatro 
 Espanol, Obras, tom. i. pp. 303—314.) 
 
 The celebrated marquis of Saatillana's 
 poetical dialogue, " Comedieta da Pon- 
 za," has no pretensions to rank as a dra- 
 matic composition. not\vithstanding its 
 title, which is indeed as little significant 
 of its real character, as the term " Com- 
 media" is of Dante's epic. It is a dis- 
 course on the vicissitudes of human life, 
 suggested by a sea-fight near Ponza, in 
 1435. It is conducted without any at- 
 tempt at dramatic action or character, 
 or, indeed, dramatic development of any 
 sort. The same remarks may be made 
 of the pohtical satire, " Mingo Revulgo," 
 which appeared in Henry IV.'s reign. 
 Dialogue was selected by these authors 
 as a more popular and spirited medium 
 than direct narrative for conveying their 
 sentiments. The " Comedieta da Pon- 
 za " has never appeared in print ; the 
 copy which I have used is a transcript 
 from the one in the royal library at Ma- 
 drid, anc" belongs to Mr. George Tickmor. 
 
 38 Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea, 
 (Alcalfi., 1586,) Introd.— Nothing is posi-
 
 CH. XX.] 
 
 PART 1.— CASTILIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 493 
 
 tively ascertained respecting the author- 
 ship of the first act of the Celestina. 
 Some impute it to Juan de Mena; others 
 with more probability to Rodrigo Cota el 
 Tio, of Toledo, a person who, although 
 literally nothing is kno^\Ti of him, has in 
 some way or other obtained the credit of 
 the authorship of some of the most pop- 
 ular effusions of the fifteenth century; 
 such, for example, as the Dialogue 
 above cited of " Love and an Old Man," 
 the Coplas of " Mingo Re vulgo, " and this 
 first act of the " Celestina." The princi- 
 pal foundation of these imputations 
 would appear to be the bare assertion of 
 an editor of the " Dialogue between Love 
 and an Old Man," which appeared at 
 Medina del Campo, in 1569, nearly a 
 centiu-y, probably, after C'ota's death; 
 another example of the obscui'ity which 
 involves the history of the early Spanish 
 drama. Many of the CastiUan critics de- 
 tect a flavor of antiquity in the first act 
 which should carry back its composition 
 as far as John n.'s reign. Moratin does 
 not discern this, however, and is inclined 
 to refer its production to a date not much 
 more distant, if any, than Isabella's time. 
 To the impractised eye of a foreigner, as 
 far as style is concerned, the whole work 
 might well seem the production of the 
 same period. Moratin, Obras, tom. i. pp. 
 88, 11.5, 116.— Didlogo de las Lenguas. 
 apud Mayans y Siscar, Origenes, pp. 165- 
 167.— Nic. Antonio, Bibliotheca Nova 
 tom. ii. p. 263. 
 
 3' Such is the high encomium of the 
 Abate Andres, (Letteratura, tom. v. 
 part. 3, lib. 1.)— Cervantes does not hesi- 
 tate to call it " libro divino " ; and the 
 acute author of the " Dialogo de las Len 
 guas " concludes a criticism upon it 
 with the remark, that "' there is no book 
 in the Castilian which surpasses it in 
 the propriety and elegance of its dic- 
 tion." (Don Quixote, ed. de Pellicer, tom. 
 i. p. 239.— Mayans y Siscar, tom. ii. p. 
 167.) 
 
 Its merits indeed seem in some degree 
 to have disarmed even the severity of 
 foreign critics ; and Signorelli, after 
 standing up stoutly in defence of the 
 precedence of the " Orfeo " as a dra- 
 matic composition, admits tlie " Celes- 
 tina " to be a "work, rich in various 
 beauties, and meriting imdoubted ap- 
 plause. In fact," he continues, " ttie vi- 
 vacity of the description of character, 
 and faithful portraiture of manners, 
 have made it immortal." Storia Critica 
 
 de' Teatri Antichi e Modemi, (Napoli, 
 1813,) tom. vi. pp. 146, 147. 
 
 '^ Boutervvek, Literatura Espafiola, 
 notas de traductores, p. 234. — Andres, 
 Letteratura, tom. v. pp. 170, 171.— Lam- 
 pUlas, Letteratura Spagnuola, tom. vi. 
 pp. 57-59. 
 
 3" Rojas, Viage Entretenido, (1614,) fol. 
 46. — Nic. Antonio, Bibliotheca Nova, tom, 
 i. p. 684.— Moratin, Obras, tom. i. pp. VM, 
 127.— PeUicer, Origen de la Gomedia, tom. 
 i. pp. 11, 12. 
 
 •"> They were published under the title, 
 " Cancionero de todas las Obras de Juan 
 de la Encina con otras aiiadidas." (Men- 
 dez, Typographia Espariola, p. 247.) 
 Subsequent impressions of his works, 
 more or less complete, appeared at Sala- 
 manca in 1509, and at Saragossa in 1512 
 and 1516.— Moratin, Obras, tom. i. p. 127, 
 nota. 
 
 <' The comedian Rojas, who flourished 
 in the beginning of the following century, 
 and whose " Viage Entretenido " is so 
 essential to the knowledge of the early 
 histrionic art in Spain, identifies the ap- 
 pearance of Enclna's Eclogues with the 
 dawn of the Castilian drama. His verseg 
 may be worth quoting. 
 
 " Que es en nuestra madre Espana, 
 porque en la dichosa era, 
 qiie aquellos gloriosos Reyes 
 dignos de memoria eterna 
 Don Fernando e Ysabel 
 (que ya con los santos reynan) 
 de eciiar de Espana acabavan 
 todos los Moriscos, que eran 
 De aquel Reyno de (iranada, 
 y entonces se dava en ella 
 principio a la Inquisicion, 
 se le dio a nuestra comedia. 
 Juan de la Encina el prlmero, 
 aquel insigne poeta, 
 que tanto bien empezo 
 de (juien tenemos tres eglogas 
 Que el misino represento 
 al Almirante y Duquessa 
 de Castilla. y de Infantado 
 que estas fueron Lis primeras 
 Y pai-ii niiis lionrasuya, 
 y lie la cimicdia nuestra, 
 en los dias que Colon 
 descubrio la gran riqueza 
 De Indias y nuevo mundo, 
 y el gran Capitan empieza 
 a sugetar aquel Reyno 
 de Napoles. y su tierra. 
 A descubrirse empozo 
 el uso de la comedia 
 porque todos se animassen 
 a emprender cosas tan buenas." 
 
 fol. 46, 47. 
 
 *^ Signorelli, correcting what he de- 
 nominates the " romance "of Lampillaa,
 
 494 
 
 PART I. — CASTILIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 [CH. XX. 
 
 consriders Encina to have composed only 
 cue pastoral diama. and that, on occa- 
 sion of Ferdinand's entrance into Cas- 
 tile. The critic should have been more 
 charitable, as he has made two blunders j 
 himself in correctmg one. Storia Cri- 
 tica de' Teatri, torn. iv. pp. 192, 193. j 
 
 <' Andres, confounding Torres de 
 Naharro the poet, with Naharro the i 
 comedian, who flourished about half j 
 a century later, is led into a ludicrous 
 train of errors in controverting Cervan- 
 tes, whose criticism on the actor is per- 
 petually misapplied by Andres to the 
 poet. Velasquez seems to have con- 
 founded them in Uke manner. Another 
 evidence of the extremely superficial ac- 
 quaintance of the Spanish critics with 
 theu- early drama. Comp. Cervantes, 
 Comedias y Entremeses, tom. i. pr61ogo. 
 —Andres, Letteratura, tom. v. p. 179.— 
 Velazquez, Poesia Castellaua, p. 88. 
 
 ** Nic. Antonio, Bibliotheca Nova, tom. 
 i. p. 203.— Cervantes, Comedias. tom. i. 
 pr61. de Nasarre.- Pellicer, Origen de la 
 Comedia, tom. ii. p. 17.- Moratin, Obras, 
 tom. i. p. 48. 
 
 «s Bartolome Torres de Naharro, Pro- 
 paladia, (Madrid, 1573.)— The deficiency 
 of the earher Spanish books, of which 
 Bouterwek repeatedly complains, has 
 led liim into an error respectmg the 
 "Propaladia," which he had never seen. 
 He states that Naharro was the first to ' 
 distribute the play into three jornadas ; 
 or acts, and takes Cervantes roundly to 
 task for assuming the original merit of j 
 this distribution to himself. In fact. Xa- ■ 
 harro did introduce the division into ^i-e 
 jornadas, and Cervaates assumes onlj- I 
 the credit of having been the first to re- 
 duce them to Three. Comp. Boutenvek, 
 Geschichte der Poesie und Beredsamkeit, 
 band iii. p. 285,— and Cervantes, Come- 
 dias. tom. i. pr61. 
 
 *' In the argrnient to the " Seraphina," 
 he thus prepares the audience for this 
 colloquial olla podrida. 
 
 " Mas haveis de estar alerta 
 por sentir los personages 
 que hablan quatro lenguages. 
 hasta acabar su I'ehyerta 
 no salen de cuenta cierta 
 por Latin a Italiano 
 Castellano y Valenciano 
 que ningimo desconcierta." 
 
 Propaladia, p. 50. 
 
 *' The following is an example of the 
 precious reasoning with which Floristan. 
 In the play above quoted, reconciles his 
 
 conscience to the murder of his wife Or- 
 fea, in order to gratify the jealousy of hia 
 mistress Seraphina. Floristan is ad- 
 dressing liimself to a priest. 
 
 " Y por mas dai^o escusar 
 no lo quiero hora hazer, 
 sino que es menester. 
 que yo mate luego a Orfea 
 do S'erafina lo vea 
 porque lo pueda creer. 
 Que yo bieu me mataria, 
 pues toda razon me incUna; 
 pero se de Serafina 
 que se desesperaria. 
 y Orfea, pues que haria? 
 quando mi muerte supiesse: 
 que creo que no pudiesse 
 sostener la vida un dia. 
 Pues hablando aca entra nos 
 a Orfea cabe la suerte; 
 porque con su sola muerte 
 se escusaran otras dos : 
 d? modo que padre vos 
 si llamar me la quereys, 
 a mi merced me hareys 
 y tambien servicio a Dios. 
 ***** 
 porque si yo la matare 
 morira christianamente; 
 yo morire penitente, 
 quaudo mi suerte Uegare." 
 
 Propaladia, fol. 68. 
 
 *^ SignorelU waxes exceedingly wroth 
 with Don Bias Nasarre for the assertion, 
 that Naharro first taught the Itahans to 
 write comedy, taxing him with down- 
 right mendacity; and he stoutly denies 
 the probability of Naharro's comedies 
 ever having been performed on the Ital- 
 ian boards. The critic seems to be in 
 the right, as far as regards the influence 
 of the Spanish dramatist; but he might 
 have been spared all doubts respecting 
 their representation in the counti-y. had 
 ne consulted the prologue of Naharro 
 himself, where he asserts the fact in the 
 most explicit manner. Comp. Propala- 
 dia, prol., and SignoreUi, Storia Critica 
 de' Teatri, tom. vi. pp. 171-179. -See also 
 Moratin, Orfgenes, Obras, tom. i. pp. 149, 
 150. 
 
 ^3 Propaladia ; see the comedies of 
 " Trofea " and " Tinelaria."— Jovellanos, 
 Memoria sobre las Diversiones PiibUcas, 
 apud Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., tom. v. 
 
 60 Cervantes. Comedias, tom. i. pr61. 
 
 51 Pellicer, Origen de la Comedia, tom. 
 ii. pp. .58-62.- See also American Quar- 
 terly Review, no. viii. art. 3. 
 
 62 Oliva, Obras, (Madrid, 1787.)— Vasco 
 Diaz Tanco, a native of Estremadura, 
 who flourished in the first half of the six-
 
 CH. XX.] 
 
 PART I.— CASTIU.VN LITERATURE. 
 
 4D5 
 
 teenth century, mentions in one of his 
 works three tragedies composed by him- 
 self on Scripture subjects. As there is 
 no evidence, however, of their having 
 been printed, or performed, or even read 
 in manuscript by any one, they liardly de- 
 serve to be included in the catalogue of 
 dramatic compositions. (Moratin, Obras, 
 torn. 1. pp. 150, 151. — Lampillas, Lettera- 
 tura Spagnuola, torn. v. dis. 1, sec. 5.) 
 This patriotic litterateur endeavors to 
 establish the production of Oliva's trag- 
 edies in the year 1515, in the hope of an- 
 tedating that of Trissino's " Sophonisba," 
 composed a yeai later, and thus secm-ing 
 to his nation the palm of precedence, in 
 time at least, though it should be only 
 for a few months, on the tragic theatre 
 of modern Europe. Letteratura Spag 
 nuola, ubi supra. 
 
 63 Nic. Antonio, BibUotheca Nova, tom. 
 i. p. 386.— OUva, Obras, pref. de Mo- 
 rales. 
 
 ** The following passage, for example, 
 in the " Venganza de Agamemnon," im- 
 itated from the Electra of Sophocles, 
 will hardly be charged on the Greek 
 dramatist. 
 
 "Habed, yo os ruego, de mi compas- 
 sion, ao querais atapar con vviestros con- 
 Mjots losi rospiraderos de las hornazas de 
 
 fuego, que dentro me atormentan." Set 
 Ohva, Obras, p. 185. 
 
 s» Compare the diction of these trage- 
 dies with that of the " Centon Epistola- 
 rio," for instance, esteemed one of the 
 best hterary compositions of John II. 's 
 reign, and see the advance made, not only 
 in orthography, but in the verbal arrange- 
 ment generally, and the whole complex- 
 ion of the style. 
 
 6« Notwithstanding some.Spanisli crit- 
 ics, as Cueva, for example, have vindi- 
 cated the romantic forms of the drama 
 on scientific princii)les, it is apiiarent that 
 the most successful writers in tills de- 
 partment have been constrained to adopt 
 them by public opinion, rather than their 
 own, which would have suggested a 
 nearer imitation of the classical models 
 of antiquity, so generally folh^wed Ijy the 
 Italians, and which natiu-ally recom- 
 mends itself to the scholar. See the ca- 
 non's discourse in Cervantes, Don Quix- 
 ote, ed. de Pellicer, tom. iii. pp. 207-220, 
 — and. more explicitly, Lope ile Vega, 
 Obras Sueltas, tom. iv. p. -JOti. 
 
 57 " Ya en Italia, assi entre Damas, 
 como cn*^''e Caballeros, se tiene por gen- 
 tileza y galania. sjiber hablar Ca.stellano." 
 Dialogo de las Leiiguas, apud Jluyans y 
 Siscar, Origenes, torn. "" X). 4.
 
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