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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of the Reign of Ferdinand
+and Isabella The Catholic, Vol. 2, by William H. Prescott
+#3 in our series by William H. Prescott
+
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+Title: The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella The Catholic, V2
+
+Author: William H. Prescott
+
+Release Date: November, 2004 [EBook #6967]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on February 18, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: Latin-1
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FERDINAND AND ISABELLA, VOL. 2 ***
+
+
+
+
+This eBook was produced by: Anne Soulard, Tiffany Vergon,
+Charles Aldarondo and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+HISTORY OF THE REIGN OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA, THE CATHOLIC.
+
+BY
+WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT.
+
+IN THREE VOLUMES.
+VOL. II.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS OF VOLUME II.
+
+
+PART FIRST. [CONTINUED.]
+
+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
+  INQUISITION THROUGHOUT FERDINAND'S DOMINIONS
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+  WAR OF GRANADA.--SURRENDER OF VELEZ MALAGA.--SIEGE AND CONQUEST
+    OF MALAGA.
+  POSITION OF VELEZ MALAGA
+  ARMY BEFORE VELEZ
+  DEFEAT OF EL ZAGAL
+  NARROW ESCAPE OF FERDINAND
+  SURRENDER OF VELEZ
+  DESCRIPTION OF MALAGA
+  SHARP RECONTRE
+  MALAGA INVESTED BY SEA AND LAND
+  BRILLIANT SPECTACLE
+  EXTENSIVE PREPARATIONS
+  THE QUEEN VISITS THE CAMP
+  SUMMONS OF THE TOWN
+  DANGER OF THE MARQUIS OF CADIZ
+  CIVIL FEUDS OF THE MOORS
+  ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE THE SOVEREIGNS
+  DISTRESS AND RESOLUTION OF THE BESIEGED
+  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 CAPTIVES
+  LAMENT OF THE MALAGANS
+  SENTENCE PASSED ON THEM
+  WARY DEVICE OF FERDINAND
+  CRUEL POLICY OF THE VICTORS
+  MEASURES FOR REPEOPLING MALAGA
+
+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 FOB 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 EL ZAGAL
+  OCCUPATION OF EL ZAGAL'S DOMAIN
+  EQUIVALENT ASSIGNED TO HIM
+  DIFFICULTIES OF THIS CAMPAIGN
+  ISABELLA'S POPULARITY AND INFLUENCE
+  NOTICE OF PETER MARTYR
+
+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
+  ENCAMPS 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 SANTA FE
+  NEGOTIATIONS FOR SURRENDER
+  CAPITULATION OF GRANADA
+  COMMOTIONS 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 INFLUENCE
+  DESTINY OF THE MOORS
+  DEATH AND CHARACTER OF THE MARQUIS OF CADIZ
+  NOTICE OF BERNALDEZ, CURATE OF LOS PALACIOS
+  IRVING'S CHRONICLE OF GRANADA
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+  APPLICATION OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS AT THE SPANISH COURT.
+  MARITIME ENTERPRISE OF THE PORTUGUESE
+  EARLY SPANISH DISCOVERIES
+  EARLY HISTORY OF COLUMBUS
+  BELIEF OF LAND IN THE WEST
+  COLUMBUS 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 SANTA FE
+  NEGOTIATIONS AGAIN BROKEN OFF
+  THE QUEEN'S FAVORABLE DISPOSITION
+  FINAL ARRANGEMENT WITH COLUMBUS
+  HE SAILS ON HIS FIRST VOYAGE
+  INDIFFERENCE TO HIS ENTERPRISE
+  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS DUE TO ISABELLA
+  NOTICE OF NAVARRETE
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+  EXPULSION OF THE JEWS FROM SPAIN.
+  EXCITEMENT AGAINST THE JEWS
+  FOMENTED BY THE CLERGY
+  VIOLENT CONDUCT OF TORQUEMADA
+  EDICT OF EXPULSION
+  ITS SEVERE OPERATION
+  CONSTANCY OF THE JEWS
+  ROUTES OF THE EMIGRANTS
+  THEIR SUFFERINGS IN AFRICA
+  IN OTHER COUNTRIES
+  WHOLE NUMBER OF EXILES
+  DISASTROUS RESULTS
+  TRUE MOTIVES OF THE EDICT
+  CONTEMPORARY JUDGMENTS
+  MISTAKEN PIETY OF THE QUEEN
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+  ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF FERDINAND.--RETURN AND SECOND VOYAGE OF
+    COLUMBUS.
+  THE SOVEREIGNS VISIT ARAGON
+  ATTEMPT ON FERDINAND'S LIFE
+  GENERAL CONSTERNATION
+  LOYALTY OF THE PEOPLE
+  SLOW RECOVERY OF THE KING
+  PUNISHMENT OF THE ASSASSIN
+  RETURN OF COLUMBUS
+  DISCOVERY OF THE WEST INDIES
+  JOYOUS RECEPTION OF COLUMBUS
+  HIS PROGRESS TO BARCELONA
+  INTERVIEW WITH THE SOVEREIGNS
+  SENSATIONS CAUSED BY THE DISCOVERY
+  BOARD FOR INDIAN AFFAIRS
+  REGULATIONS OF TRADE
+  PREPARATIONS FOR A SECOND VOYAGE
+  CONVERSION OF THE NATIVES
+  NEW POWERS GRANTED TO COLUMBUS
+  APPLICATION TO ROME
+  FAMOUS BULLS OF ALEXANDER VI
+  JEALOUSY OF THE COURT OF LISBON
+  WARY DIPLOMACY
+  SECOND VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS
+  MISSION TO PORTUGAL
+  DISGUST OF JOHN II
+  TREATY OF TORDESILLAS
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+  CASTILIAN LITERATURE.--CULTIVATION OF THE COURT.--CLASSICAL LEARNING.--
+    SCIENCE.
+  FERDINAND'S EDUCATION NEGLECTED
+  INSTRUCTION OF ISABELLA
+  HER COLLECTION 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
+
+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 EDITIONS 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 LITERATURE OF THIS EPOCH
+  MORATIN'S DRAMATIC CRITICISM
+
+PART SECOND.
+
+THE PERIOD WHEN, THE INTERIOR ORGANIZATION OF THE MONARCHY HAVING BEEN
+COMPLETED, THE SPANISH NATION ENTERED ON ITS SCHEMES OF DISCOVERY AND
+CONQUEST; OR THE PERIOD ILLUSTRATING MORE PARTICULARLY THE FOREIGN POLICY
+OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA.
+
+CHAPTER I.
+  ITALIAN WARS.--GENERAL VIEW OF EUROPE.--INVASION OF ITALY BY CHARLES
+    VIII., OF FRANCE.
+  FOREIGN POLITICS DIRECTED BY FERDINAND
+  EUROPE AT THE CLOSE OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
+  CHARACTER OF THE REIGNING SOVEREIGNS
+  IMPROVED POLITICAL AND MORAL CONDITION
+  MORE INTIMATE RELATIONS BETWEEN STATES
+  FOREIGN RELATIONS CONDUCTED BY THE SOVEREIGN
+  ITALY THE SCHOOL OF POLITICS
+  HER MOST POWERFUL STATES
+  CHARACTER OF ITALIAN POLITICS
+  INTERNAL PROSPERITY
+  INTRIGUES OF SFORZA
+  CHARLES VIII., OF FRANCE
+  HIS PRETENSIONS TO NAPLES
+  NEGOTIATIONS RESPECTING ROUSSILLON
+  CHARLES'S COUNSELLORS IN THE PAY OP FERDINAND
+  TREATY OF BARCELONA
+  ITS IMPORTANCE TO SPAIN
+  ALARM AT THE FRENCH INVASION, IN ITALY
+  IN EUROPE, ESPECIALLY SPAIN
+  PREPARATIONS OF CHARLES
+  AN ENVOY SENT TO THE FRENCH COURT
+  ANNOUNCES FERDINAND'S VIEWS
+  CHARLES'S DISSATISFACTION
+  THE FRENCH CROSS THE ALPS
+  ITALIAN TACTICS
+  THE SWISS INFANTRY
+  FRENCH ARTILLERY
+  SFORZA JEALOUS OF THE FRENCH
+  THE POPE CONFERS THE TITLE OF CATHOLIC
+  NAVAL PREPARATIONS IN SPAIN
+  SECOND MISSION TO CHARLES VIII
+  BOLD CONDUCT OF THE ENVOYS
+  THE KING OF NAPLES FLIES TO SICILY
+  THE FRENCH ENTER NAPLES
+  GENERAL HOSTILITY TO THEM
+  LEAGUE OF VENICE
+  ZURITA'S LIFE AND WRITINGS
+
+CHAPTER II.
+  ITALIAN WARS.--RETREAT OF CHARLES VIII.--CAMPAIGNS OF GONSALVO DE
+    CORDOVA.--FINAL EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH.
+  CONDUCT OF CHARLES
+  PLUNDERS THE WORKS OF ART
+  RETREAT OF THE FRENCH  GONSALVO DE CORDOVA
+  HIS EARLY LIFE
+  HIS BRILLIANT QUALITIES
+  RAISED TO THE ITALIAN COMMAND
+  ARRIVES IN ITALY
+  LANDS IN CALABRIA
+  MARCHES ON SEMINARA
+  GONSALVO'S PRUDENCE
+  BATTLE OF SEMINARA
+  DEFEAT OF THE NEAPOLITANS
+  GONSALVO RETREATS TO REGGIO
+  FERDINAND RECOVERS HIS CAPITAL
+  GONSALVO IN CALABRIA
+  HIS SUCCESSES
+  DECLINE OF THE FRENCH
+  BESIEGED IN ATELLA
+  GONSALVO SURPRISES LAINO
+  ARRIVES BEFORE ATELLA
+  RECEIVES THE TITLE OF GREAT CAPTAIN
+  BEATS A DETACHMENT OF SWISS
+  CAPITULATION OF MONTPENSIER
+  MISERABLE STATE OF THE FRENCH
+  DEATH OF FERDINAND OF NAPLES
+  ACCESSION OF FREDERIC II
+  TOTAL EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH
+  REMARKS ON GUICCIARDINI AND GIOVIO
+  SISMONDI
+
+CHAPTER III.
+  ITALIAN WARS.--GONSALVO SUCCORS THE POPE.--TREATY WITH FRANCE.--
+    ORGANIZATION OF THE SPANISH MILITIA.
+  WAR ON THE SIDE OF ROUSSILLON
+  THE POPE ASKS THE AID OF GONSALVO
+  STORMING AND CAPTURE OF OSTIA
+  GONSALVO ENTERS ROME
+  HIS RECEPTION BY THE POPE
+  RETURNS TO SPAIN
+  PEACE WITH FRANCE
+  FERDINAND'S VIEWS RESPECTING NAPLES
+  HIS FAME ACQUIRED BY THE WAR
+  INFLUENCE OF THE WAR ON SPAIN
+  ORGANIZATION OF THE MILITIA
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+  ALLIANCES OF THE ROYAL FAMILY.--DEATH OF PRINCE JOHN AND PRINCESS
+    ISABELLA.
+  ROYAL FAMILY OF CASTILE
+  JOANNA BELTRANEJA
+  MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS ISABELLA
+  DEATH OF HER HUSBAND
+  ALLIANCES WITH THE HOUSE OF AUSTRIA
+  AND THAT OF ENGLAND
+  JOANNA EMBARKS
+  THE QUEEN'S ANXIETY
+  MARGARET OF AUSTRIA
+  RETURNS IN THE FLEET
+  MARRIAGE OF JOHN AND MARGARET
+  SECOND MARRIAGE OF PRINCESS ISABELLA
+  SUDDEN ILLNESS OF PRINCE JOHN
+  HIS DEATH
+  HIS AMIABLE CHARACTER
+  THE KING AND QUEEN OF PORTUGAL VISIT SPAIN
+  OBJECTIONS TO THEIR RECOGNITION
+  ISABELLA DISPLEASED
+  HER DAUGHTER'S DEATH
+  ITS EFFECTS ON ISABELLA
+  PRINCE MIGUEL'S RECOGNITION
+
+CHAPTER V.
+  DEATH OF CARDINAL MENDOZA.--RISE OF XIMENES.--ECCLESIASTICAL REFORM.
+  DEATH OF MENDOZA
+  HIS EARLY LIFE
+  AND CHARACTER
+  HIS AMOURS
+  THE QUEEN HIS EXECUTOR
+  BIRTH OF XIMENES
+  HE VISITS ROME
+  HIS RETURN AND IMPRISONMENT
+  ESTABLISHED AT SIGUENZA
+  ENTERS THE FRANCISCAN ORDER
+  HIS SEVERE PENANCE
+  HIS ASCETIC LIFE
+  HE IS MADE GUARDIAN OF SALZEDA
+  INTRODUCED TO THE QUEEN
+  MADE HER CONFESSOR
+  ELECTED PROVINCIAL
+  CORRUPTION OF THE MONASTERIES
+  ATTEMPTS AT REFORM
+  SEE OF TOLEDO VACANT
+  OFFERED TO XIMENES
+  HE RELUCTANTLY ACCEPTS
+  CHARACTERISTIC ANECDOTES OF XIMENES
+  HIS AUSTERE LIFE
+  REFORM IN HIS DIOCESE
+  EXAMPLE OF HIS SEVERITY
+  REFORM OF THE MONASTIC ORDERS
+  GREAT EXCITEMENT CAUSED BY IT
+  VISIT OF THE FRANCISCAN GENERAL
+  INSULTS THE QUEEN
+  THE POPE'S INTERFERENCE
+  CONSENTS TO THE REFORM
+  ITS OPERATION AND EFFECTS
+  ALVARO GOMEZ, AND BIOGRAPHERS OF XIMENES
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+  XIMENES IN GRANADA.--PERSECUTION, INSURRECTION, AND CONVERSION OF THE
+    MOORS.
+  INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
+  XIMENES, HIS CONSTANCY OF PURPOSE
+  TRANQUIL STATE OF GRANADA
+  TENDILLA
+  TALAVERA
+  ARCHBISHOP OF GRANADA
+  HIS MILD POLICY
+  THE CLERGY DISSATISFIED WITH IT
+  TEMPERATE SWAY OF THE SOVEREIGNS
+  XIMENES IN GRANADA
+  HIS VIOLENT MEASURES
+  DESTROYS ARABIC BOOKS
+  MISCHIEVOUS EFFECTS
+  REVOLT OF THE ALBAYCIN
+  XIMENES BESIEGED IN HIS PALACE
+  THE INSURGENTS APPEASED BY TALAVERA
+  DISPLEASURE OF THE SOVEREIGNS
+  XIMENES HASTENS TO COURT
+  CONVERSION OP GRANADA
+  APPLAUDED BY THE SPANIARDS
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+  RISING IN THE ALPUXARRAS.--DEATH OF ALONSO DE AGUILAR.--EDICT AGAINST
+    THE MOORS.
+  THE ALPUXARRAS
+  RISING OF THE MOORS
+  HUEJA SACKED
+  FERDINAND MARCHES INTO THE MOUNTAINS
+  CARRIES LANJARON
+  PUNISHMENT OF THE REBELS
+  REVOLT OF THE SIERRA VERMEJA
+  RENDEZVOUS AT RONDA
+  EXPEDITION INTO THE SIERRA
+  THE MOORS RETREAT UP THE MOUNTAINS
+  RETURN ON THE SPANIARDS
+  ALONSO DE AGUILAR
+  HIS GALLANTRY AND DEATH
+  HIS NOBLE CHARACTER
+  BLOODY ROUT OF THE SPANIARDS
+  DISMAY OF THE NATION
+  THE REBELS SUBMIT TO FERDINAND
+  BANISHMENT OR CONVERSION
+  COMMEMORATIVE BALLADS
+  MELANCHOLY REMINISCENCES
+  EDICT AGAINST THE MOORS OF CASTILE
+  CHRISTIANITY AND MAHOMETANISM
+  CAUSES OF INTOLERANCE
+  AGGRAVATED IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
+  EFFECTS OF THE INQUISITION
+  DEFECTS OF THE TREATY OF GRANADA
+  EVASION OF IT BY THE CHRISTIANS
+  PRIESTLY CASUISTRY
+  LAST NOTICE OF THE MOORS IN THE PRESENT REIGN
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+  COLUMBUS.--PROSECUTION OF DISCOVERY.--HIS TREATMENT BY THE COURT.
+  PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY
+  MISCONDUCT OF THE COLONISTS
+  COMPLAINTS AGAINST COLUMBUS
+  HIS SECOND RETURN
+  THE QUEEN'S CONFIDENCE IN HIM UNSHAKEN
+  HONORS CONFERRED ON HIM
+  HIS THIRD VOYAGE
+  DISCOVERS TERRA FIRMA
+  MUTINY IN THE COLONY
+  LOUD COMPLAINTS AGAINST COLUMBUS
+  BIGOTED VIEWS IN REGARD TO THE HEATHEN
+  MORE LIBERAL SENTIMENTS OF ISABELLA
+  SHE SENDS BACK THE INDIAN SLAVES
+  AUTHORITY TO BOBADILLA
+  OUTRAGE ON COLUMBUS
+  DEEP REGRET OF THE SOVEREIGNS
+  RECEPTION OF COLUMBUS
+  VINDICATION OF THE SOVEREIGNS
+  COMMISSION TO OVANDO
+  GROUNDLESS IMPUTATIONS ON THE GOVERNMENT
+  THE ADMIRAL'S DESPONDENCY
+  HIS FOURTH AND LAST VOYAGE
+  REMARKABLE FATE OF HIS ENEMIES
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+  SPANISH COLONIAL POLICY.
+  CAREFUL PROVISION FOR THE COLONIES
+  LIBERAL GRANTS
+  LICENSE FOR PRIVATE VOYAGES
+  THEIR SUCCESS
+  INDIAN DEPARTMENT
+  CASA DE CONTRATACION
+  IMPORTANT PAPAL CONCESSIONS
+  SPIRIT OF THE COLONIAL LEGISLATION
+  THE QUEEN'S ZEAL FOB CONVERTING THE NATIVES
+  UNHAPPILY DEFEATED
+  IMMEDIATE PROFITS FROM THE DISCOVERIES
+  ORIGIN OF THE VENEREAL DISEASE
+  MORAL CONSEQUENCES OP THE DISCOVERIES
+  THEIR GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT
+  HISTORIANS OF THE NEW WORLD
+  PETER MARTYR
+  HERRERA AND MUÑOZ
+
+
+
+
+PART FIRST. [CONTINUED.]
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+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 throughout
+Ferdinand's Dominions.
+
+
+In such intervals of leisure as occurred amid their military operations,
+Ferdinand and Isabella were diligently occupied with the interior
+government of the kingdom, and especially with the rigid 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 northern
+provinces, whose rude inhabitants were little used to subordination. She
+compelled the great nobles to lay aside their arms, and refer their
+disputes to legal arbitration. She caused a number of the fortresses,
+which were still garrisoned by the baronial 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. [1]
+
+Even ecclesiastical immunities, which proved so effectual a protection in
+most countries at this period, were not permitted to screen the offender.
+A remarkable instance of this occurred at the city of Truxillo, in 1486.
+An inhabitant of that place had been committed to prison for some offence
+by order of the civil magistrate. Certain priests, relations of the
+offender, alleged that his religious profession exempted him from all but
+ecclesiastical jurisdiction; and, as the authorities refused to deliver
+him up, they inflamed the populace to such a degree, by their
+representations of the insult offered to the church, that they 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 rioters, some of whom
+were capitally punished, while the ecclesiastics, who had stirred up the
+sedition, were banished the realm. Isabella, while by her example she
+inculcated the deepest reverence for the sacred profession, uniformly
+resisted every attempt from that quarter to encroach on the royal
+prerogative. The tendency of her administration was decidedly, as there
+will be occasion more particularly to notice, to abridge the authority
+which that body had exercised in civil matters under preceding reigns. [2]
+
+Nothing of interest occurred in the foreign relations of the kingdom,
+during the period embraced by the preceding chapter; except perhaps the
+marriage of Catharine, the young queen of Navarre, with Jean d'Albret, a
+French nobleman, whose extensive hereditary domains, in the southwest
+corner of France, lay adjacent to her kingdom. This connection was
+extremely distasteful to the Spanish sovereigns, and indeed to many of the
+Navarrese, who were desirous of the alliance with Castile. This was
+ultimately defeated by the queen-mother, an artful woman, who, being of
+the blood royal of France, was naturally disposed to a union with that
+kingdom. Ferdinand did not neglect to maintain such an understanding with
+the malcontents of Navarre, 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. [3]
+
+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 bondage, which had its origin in very remote ages, but which
+had become in no degree mitigated, while the peasantry of every other part
+of Europe had been gradually rising to the rank of freemen. The grievous
+nature of the impositions had led to repeated rebellions in preceding
+reigns. At length, Ferdinand, after many fruitless attempts at a mediation
+between these unfortunate people and their arrogant masters, prevailed on
+the latter, rather by force of authority than argument, to relinquish the
+extraordinary seignorial rights, which they had hitherto enjoyed, in
+consideration of a stipulated annual payment from their vassals. [4]
+
+The other circumstance worthy of record, but not in like manner creditable
+to the character of the sovereign, is the introduction of the modern
+Inquisition into Aragon. The ancient tribunal had existed there, as has
+been stated in a previous chapter, since the middle of the thirteenth
+century, but seems to have lost all its venom in the 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 meeting of a privy
+council convened by the king at Taraçona, during the session of the cortes
+in that place, in April, 1484; and a royal order was issued, requiring all
+the constituted authorities throughout the kingdom to support the new
+tribunal in the exercise of its functions. A Dominican monk, Fray Gaspard
+Juglar, and Pedro Arbues de Epila, a canon of the metropolitan church,
+were appointed by the general, Torquemada, inquisitors over the diocese of
+Saragossa; and, in the month of September following, the chief justiciary
+and the other great officers of the realm took the prescribed oaths. [5]
+
+The new institution, opposed to the ideas of independence common to all
+the Aragonese, was particularly offensive to the higher orders, many of
+whose members, including persons filling the most considerable official
+stations, were of Jewish descent, and of course precisely the class
+exposed to the scrutiny of the Inquisition. Without difficulty, therefore,
+the cortes was persuaded in the following year to send a deputation to the
+court of Rome, and another to Ferdinand, representing the repugnance of
+the new tribunal to the liberties of the nation, as well as to their
+settled opinions and habits, and praying that its operation might be
+suspended for the present, so far at least as concerned the confiscation
+of property, which it rightly regarded as the moving power of the whole
+terrible machinery. [6]
+
+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 Aragonese,
+despairing of redress in any regular way, resolved to intimidate their
+oppressors by some appalling act of violence. They formed a conspiracy for
+the assassination of Arbues, the most odious of the inquisitors
+established over the diocese of Saragossa. The conspiracy, set on foot by
+some of the principal nobility, was entered into by most of the new
+Christians, or persons of Jewish extraction in the district. A sum of ten
+thousand reals was subscribed to defray the necessary expenses for the
+execution of their project. This was not easy, however, since Arbues,
+conscious of the popular odium that he had incurred, protected his person
+by wearing under his monastic robes a suit of mail, complete even to the
+helmet beneath his hood. With similar vigilance, he defended, also, every
+avenue to his sleeping apartment. [7]
+
+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 midnight, when his enemies, who had entered the
+church in two separate bodies, suddenly surrounded him, and one of them
+wounded him in the arm with a dagger, while another dealt him a fatal blow
+in the back of his neck. The priests, who were preparing to celebrate
+matins in the choir of the church, hastened to the spot; but not before
+the assassins had effected their escape. They transported the bleeding
+body of the inquisitor to his apartment, where he survived only two days,
+blessing the Lord that he had been permitted to seal so good a cause with
+his blood. The whole scene will readily remind the English reader of the
+assassination of Thomas à Becket. [8]
+
+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 this persecution, two hundred
+individuals perished at the stake, and a still greater number in the
+dungeons of the Inquisition; and there was scarcely a noble family in
+Aragon but witnessed one or more of its members condemned to humiliating
+penance in the autos da fe. The immediate perpetrators of the murder were
+all hanged, after suffering the amputation of their right hands. One, who
+had appeared as evidence against the rest, under assurance of pardon, had
+his sentence so far commuted, that his hand was not cut off till after he
+had been hanged. It was thus that the Holy Office interpreted its promises
+of grace. [9]
+
+Arbues received all the honors of a martyr. His ashes were interred on the
+spot where he had been assassinated. [10] A superb mausoleum was erected
+over them, and, beneath his effigy, a bas-relief was sculptured
+representing his tragical death, with an inscription containing a suitable
+denunciation of the race of Israel. And at length, when the lapse of
+nearly two centuries had supplied the requisite amount of miracles, the
+Spanish Inquisition had the glory of adding a new saint to the calendar,
+by the canonization of the martyr under Pope Alexander the Seventh, in
+1664. [11]
+
+The failure of the attempt to shake off the tribunal served only, as usual
+in such cases, to establish it more firmly than before. Efforts at
+resistance were subsequently, but ineffectually, made in other parts of
+Aragon, and in Valencia and Catalonia. It was not established in the
+latter province till 1487, and some years later in Sicily, Sardinia, and
+the Balearic Isles. Thus Ferdinand had the melancholy satisfaction of
+riveting the most galling yoke ever devised by fanaticism, round the necks
+of a people, who till that period had enjoyed probably the greatest degree
+of constitutional freedom which the world had witnessed.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+[1] Lebrija, Rerum Gestarum Decades, iii. lib. 1, cap. 10.--Pulgar, Reyes
+Católicos, part. 3, cap. 27, 39, 67, et alibi.--L. Marineo, Cosas
+Memorables, fol. 175.--Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 348.
+
+[2] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 66.--A pertinent example of this
+occurred, December, 1485, at Alcalá de Henares, where the court was
+detained during the queen's illness, who there gave birth to her youngest
+child, Doña Catalina, afterwards so celebrated in English history as
+Catharine of Aragon. A collision took place in this city between the royal
+judges and those of the archbishop of Toledo, to whose diocese it
+belonged. The later stoutly maintained the pretensions of the church. The
+queen with equal pertinacity asserted the supremacy of the royal
+jurisdiction over every 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
+Católicos, cap. 53.--Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1485.
+
+[3] Aleson, Annales de Navarra, tom. v. lib. 35, cap. 2.
+
+[4] Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. cap. 52, 67.--Mariana, Hist. de España, lib.
+25, cap. 8.
+
+[5] Llorente, Hist. de l'Inquisition, tom. i. chap. 6, art. 2.--Zurita,
+Anales, lib. 20, cap. 65.
+
+At this cortes, convened at Taraçona, Ferdinand and Isabella experienced
+an instance of the haughty spirit of their Catalan subjects, who refused
+to attend, alleging it to be a violation of their liberties to be summoned
+to a place without the limits of their principality. The Valencians also
+protested, that their attendance should not operate as a precedent to
+their prejudice. It was usual to convene a central or general cortes at
+Fraga, or Monzon, or some town, which the Catalans, who were peculiarly
+jealous of their privileges, claimed to be within their territory. It was
+still more usual, to hold separate cortes of the three kingdoms
+simultaneously in such contiguous places in each, as would permit the
+royal presence in all during their session. See Blancas, Mode de Proceder
+en Cortes de Aragon, (Zaragoza, 1641,) cap. 4.
+
+[6] By one of the articles in the Privilegium Generale, the Magna Charta
+of Aragon, it is declared, "Que turment: ni inquisicion; no sian en Aragon
+como sian contra Fuero el qual dize que alguna pesquisa no hauemos: et
+contra el privilegio general, el qual vieda que inquisicion so sia feyta."
+(Fueros y Observancias, fol. 11.) The tenor of this clause (although the
+term _inquisicion_ must not be confounded with the name of the modern
+institution) was sufficiently precise, one might have thought, to secure
+the Aragonese from the fangs of this terrible tribunal.
+
+[7] Llorente, Hist. de l'Inquisition, chap. 6, art. 2, 3.
+
+[8] Llorente, ubi supra.--Paramo, De Origine Inquisitionis, pp. 182, 183.
+--Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. viii. pp. 37, 38.
+
+[9] Llorente, Hist. de l'Inquisition, tom. i. chap. 6, art. 5.--Blancas,
+Aragonensium Rerum Commentarii, (Caesaraugustae, 1588,) p. 266. Among
+those, who after a tedious imprisonment were condemned to do penance in an
+auto da fe, was a nephew of King Ferdinand, Don James of Navarre. Mariana,
+willing to point the tale with a suitable moral, informs us, that,
+although none of the conspirators were ever brought to trial, they all
+perished miserably within a year, in different ways, by the judgment of
+God. (Hist. de España, tom. ii. p. 368.) Unfortunately for the effect of
+this moral, Llorente, who consulted the original processes, must be
+received as the better authority of the two.
+
+[10] According to Paramo, when the corpse of the inquisitor was brought to
+the place where he had been assassinated, the blood, which had been
+coagulated on the pavement, smoked up and boiled with most miraculous
+fervor! De Origine Inquisitionis, p. 382.
+
+[11] Paramo, De Origine Inquisitionis, p. 183.--Llorente, Hist. de
+l'Inquisition, chap. 6, art. 4. France and Italy also, according to
+Llorente, could each boast a saint inquisitor. Their renown, however, has
+been, eclipsed by the superior splendors of their great master, St.
+Dominic;
+
+  --"Fils inconnus d'un si glorieux père."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+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.--Brilliant Spectacle.--The Queen visits the Camp.--Attempt to
+Assassinate the Sovereigns.--Distress and Resolution of the Besieged.--
+Enthusiasm of the Christians.--Outworks Carried by them.--Proposals for
+Surrender.--Haughty Demeanor of Ferdinand.--Malaga Surrenders at
+Discretion.--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 distant from the former. This strong town stood along
+the southern extremity of a range of mountains that extend to Granada. Its
+position afforded an easy communication with that capital, and obvious
+means of annoyance to an enemy 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 Antequera, struck into a wild, hilly
+country, that stretches towards Velez. The rivers were so much swollen by
+excessive rains, and the passes so rough and difficult, that the army in
+part of its march advanced only a league a day; and on one occasion, when
+no suitable place occurred for encampment for the space of five leagues,
+the men fainted with exhaustion, and the beasts dropped down dead in the
+harness. At length, on the 17th of April, the Spanish army sat down before
+Velez Malaga, where in a few days they were joined by the lighter pieces
+of their battering ordnance; the roads, notwithstanding the immense labor
+expended on them, being found impracticable for the heavier. [1]
+
+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 relieve the beleaguered city, notwithstanding the critical posture in
+which his absence would leave his affairs in the capital. Dark clouds of
+the enemy were seen throughout the day mustering along the heights, which
+by night were illumined with a hundred fires. Ferdinand's utmost vigilance
+was required for the protection of his camp against the ambuscades and
+nocturnal sallies of his wily foe. At length, however, El Zagal, having
+been foiled in a well-concerted attempt to surprise the Christian quarters
+by night, was driven across the mountains by the marquis of Cadiz, and
+compelled to retreat on his capital, completely baffled in his enterprise.
+There the tidings of his disaster had preceded him. The fickle populace,
+with whom misfortune passes for misconduct, unmindful of his former
+successes, now hastened to transfer their allegiance to his rival,
+Abdallah, and closed the gates against him; and the unfortunate chief
+withdrew to Guadix, which, with Almeria, Baza, and some less considerable
+places, still remained faithful. [2]
+
+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 scabbard
+which hung from the saddle-bow. At this moment he was assaulted by several
+Moors, and must have been either slain or taken, but for the timely rescue
+of the marquis of Cadiz, and a brave cavalier, Garcilasso de la Vega, who,
+galloping up to the spot with their attendants, succeeded after a sharp
+skirmish in beating off the enemy. Ferdinand's nobles remonstrated with
+him on this wanton exposure of his person, representing that he could
+serve them more effectually with his head than his hand. But he answered,
+that "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. [3]
+
+At length, the inhabitants of Velez, seeing the ruin impending from the
+bombardment of the Christians, whose rigorous blockade both by sea and
+land excluded all hopes of relief from without, consented to capitulate on
+the usual conditions of security to persons, property, and religion. The
+capitulation of this place, April 27th, 1487, was followed by that of more
+than twenty places of inferior note lying between it and Malaga, so that
+the approaches to this latter city were now left open to the victorious
+Spaniards. [4]
+
+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 inhabitants acquired unbounded
+opulence, which showed itself in the embellishments of their city, whose
+light forms of architecture, mingling after the eastern fashion with
+odoriferous gardens and fountains of sparkling water, presented an
+appearance most refreshing to the senses in this sultry climate. [5]
+
+The city was encompassed by fortifications of great strength, and in
+perfect repair. It was commanded by a citadel, connected by a covered way
+with a second fortress impregnable from its position, denominated
+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 towards the sea,
+showing an expanse of olive, orange, and pomegranate gardens, intermingled
+with the rich vineyards that furnished the celebrated staple for its
+export.
+
+Malaga was well prepared for a siege by supplies of artillery and
+ammunition. Its ordinary garrison was reinforced by volunteers from the
+neighboring towns, and by a corps of African mercenaries, Gomeres, as they
+were called, men of ferocious temper, but of tried valor and military
+discipline. 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 resolute defence of Ronda. [6]
+
+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 principal citizens of the place,
+on condition of immediate surrender. 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 7th of May, and advanced with his
+whole army as far as Bezmillana, a place on the seaboard about two leagues
+distant from Malaga. [7]
+
+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 Gebalfaro, and forming part of the wild sierra
+which overshadowed Malaga on the north. The enemy occupied both these
+important positions. A corps of Galicians were sent forward to dislodge
+them from the eminence towards 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 Garcilasso de la Vega, [8] 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 reinforced,
+the Spaniards returned to the charge with the most determined resolution.
+They were encountered by the enemy with equal spirit. The latter, throwing
+away their lances, precipitated themselves on the ranks of the assailants,
+making use only of their daggers, grappling closely man to man, till both
+rolled promiscuously together down the steep sides of the ravine. No mercy
+was asked or shown. None thought of sparing or of spoiling, for hatred,
+says the chronicler, was stronger than avarice. The main body of the army,
+in the mean while, pent up in the valley, were compelled to witness the
+mortal conflict, and listen to the exulting cries of the enemy, which,
+after the Moorish custom, rose high and shrill above the din of battle,
+without being able to advance a step in support of their companions, who
+were again forced to give way before their impetuous adversaries, and fall
+back on the vanguard under the grand master of St. James. Here, however,
+they speedily rallied; and, being reinforced, advanced to the charge a
+third time, with such inflexible courage as bore down all opposition, and
+compelled the enemy, exhausted, or rather overpowered by superior numbers,
+to abandon his position. At the same time the rising ground on the 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. [9]
+
+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 contested, was assigned as the post of greatest danger to the
+marquis duke of Cadiz. It was protected by strong works lined with
+artillery, and a corps of two thousand five hundred horse and fourteen
+thousand foot was placed under the immediate command of that nobleman. A
+line of defence was constructed along the declivity from this redoubt to
+the seashore. 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 effectually cut off all
+communication by water. [10]
+
+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 pavilion, proudly displaying the united banners of Castile and
+Aragon, and forming so conspicuous a mark for the enemy's artillery, that
+Ferdinand, after imminent hazard, was at length compelled to shift his
+quarters. The Christians were not slow in erecting counter-batteries; but
+the work was obliged to be carried on at night, in order to screen them
+from the fire of the besieged. [11]
+
+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 subsequently ransomed. The Spanish ordnance was served with
+such effect, that a practicable breach was soon made in the wall. The
+combatants now poured their murderous volleys on each other through the
+opening, and at length met on the ruins of the breach. After a desperate
+struggle the Moors gave way. The Christians rushed into the enclosure, at
+the same time effecting a lodgment on the rampart; and, although a part of
+it, undermined by the enemy, gave way with a terrible crash, they still
+kept possession of the remainder, and at length drove their antagonists,
+who sullenly retreated step by step, within the fortifications of the
+city. The lines were then drawn close around the place. Every avenue of
+communication was strictly guarded, and every preparation was made for
+reducing the town by regular blockade. [12]
+
+In addition to the cannon brought round by water from Velez, the heavier
+lombards, which from the difficulty of transportation had been left during
+the late Siege at Antequera, were now conducted across roads, levelled for
+the purpose, to the camp. Supplies of marble bullets were also brought
+from the ancient and depopulated city of Algezira, where they had lain
+ever since its capture in the preceding century by Alfonso the Eleventh.
+The camp was filled with operatives, employed in the manufacture of balls
+and powder, which were stored in subterranean magazines, and in the
+fabrication of those various kinds of battering enginery, which continued
+in use long after the introduction of gunpowder. [13]
+
+During the early part of the siege, the camp experienced some temporary
+inconvenience from the occasional interruption 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 exaggeration, and
+encouraged the besieged to persevere, by the assurance that Ferdinand
+could not much longer keep the field, and that the queen had actually
+written to advise his breaking up the camp. Under these circumstances,
+Ferdinand saw at once the importance of the queen's presence in order to
+dispel the delusion of the enemy, and to give new heart to his soldiers.
+He accordingly sent a message to Cordova, where she was holding her court,
+requesting her appearance in the camp.
+
+Isabella had proposed to join her husband before Velez, on receiving
+tidings of El Zagal's march from Granada, and had actually enforced levies
+of all persons capable of bearing arms, between twenty and seventy years
+of age, throughout Andalusia, but subsequently disbanded them, 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 attendance on her person. She was received at a short
+distance from the camp by the marquis of Cadiz and the grand master of St.
+James, and escorted to her quarters amidst the enthusiastic greetings of
+the soldiery. Hope now brightened every countenance. A grace seemed to be
+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. [14]
+
+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 proposal; orders were even issued to punish with death any
+attempt at a parley. On the contrary, they made answer by a more lively
+cannonade than before, along the whole line of ramparts and fortresses
+which overhung the city. Sallies were also made at almost every hour of
+the day and night on every assailable point of the Christian 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 watching, during the two preceding
+nights. The Christians, bewildered with the sudden tumult which broke
+their slumber, were thrown into the greatest confusion; and the marquis,
+who rushed half armed from his tent, found no little difficulty in
+bringing them to order, and beating off the assailants, after receiving a
+wound in the arm from an arrow; while he had a still narrower escape from
+the ball of an arquebus, that penetrated his buckler and hit him below the
+cuirass, but fortunately so much spent as to do him no injury. [15]
+
+The Moors were not unmindful of the importance of Malaga, or the gallantry
+with which it was defended. They made several attempts to relieve it,
+whose failure was less owing to the Christians than to treachery and their
+own miserable feuds. A body of cavalry, which El Zagal despatched from
+Guadix to throw 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 Ferdinand, and of
+costly silks and Oriental perfumes to the queen; at the same time
+complimenting them on their successes, and soliciting the continuance of
+their friendly dispositions towards himself. Ferdinand and Isabella
+requited this act of humiliation by securing to Abdallah's subjects the
+right of cultivating their fields in quiet, and of trafficking with the
+Spaniards in every commodity, save military stores. At this paltry price
+did the dastard prince consent to stay his arm, at the only moment when it
+could be used effectually for his country. [16]
+
+More serious consequences were like to have resulted from an attempt made
+by another party of Moors from Guadix to penetrate the Christian lines.
+Part of them succeeded, and threw themselves into the besieged city. The
+remainder were cut in pieces. There was one, however, who, making no show
+of resistance, was made prisoner without harm to his person. Being brought
+before the marquis of Cadiz, he informed that nobleman, that he could make
+some important disclosures to the sovereigns. He was accordingly conducted
+to the royal tent; but, as Ferdinand was taking his siesta, in the sultry
+hour of the day, the queen, moved by divine inspiration, according to the
+Castilian historian, deferred the audience till her husband should awake,
+and commanded the prisoner to be detained in the adjoining tent. This was
+occupied by Doña Beatrix de Bobadilla, marchioness of Moya, Isabella's
+early friend, who happened to be at that time engaged in discourse with a
+Portuguese nobleman, Don Alvaro, son of the duke of Braganza. [17]
+
+The Moor did not understand the Castilian language, and, deceived by the
+rich attire and courtly bearing of these personages, he mistook them for
+the king and queen. While in the act of refreshing himself with a glass of
+water, he suddenly drew a dagger from beneath the broad folds of his
+_albornoz_, or Moorish mantle, which he had been incautiously suffered to
+retain, and, darting on the Portuguese prince, gave him a deep wound on
+the head; and then, turning like lightning on the marchioness, aimed a
+stroke at her, which fortunately glanced without injury, the point of the
+weapon being turned by the heavy embroidery of her robes. 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 mangled 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. [18]
+
+This daring attempt on the lives of the king and queen spread general
+consternation throughout the army. Precautions 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 bodyguard was
+augmented by the addition of two hundred hidalgos of Castile and Aragon,
+who, with their retainers, were to keep constant watch over the persons of
+the sovereigns.
+
+Meanwhile, the city of Malaga, whose natural population was greatly
+swelled by the influx of its foreign auxiliaries, began to be straitened
+for supplies, while its distress was aggravated by the spectacle of
+abundance which reigned throughout the Spanish camp. Still, however, the
+people, overawed by the soldiery, did not break out into murmurs, nor did
+they relax in any degree the pertinacity of their resistance. Their
+drooping spirits were cheered by the predictions of a fanatic, who
+promised that they should eat the grain which they saw in the Christian
+camp; a prediction, which came to be verified, like most others that are
+verified at all, in a very different sense from that intended or
+understood.
+
+The incessant cannonade kept up by the besieging army, in the mean time,
+so far exhausted their ammunition, that they were constrained to seek
+supplies from the most distant parts of the kingdom, and from foreign
+countries. The arrival of two Flemish transports at this juncture, from
+the emperor of Germany, whose interest had been roused in the crusade,
+afforded a seasonable reinforcement of military stores and munitions.
+
+The obstinate defence of Malaga had given the siege such celebrity, that
+volunteers, eager to share in it, 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 galleys 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 nation, and the alacrity which every order of men
+exhibited in supporting its enormous burdens. [19]
+
+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 subordination, that not a knife was
+drawn, and scarcely a brawl occurred, says the historian, among the motley
+multitude. Besides the higher ecclesiastics who attended the court, the
+camp was well supplied with holy men, priests, friars, and the chaplains
+of the great nobility, who performed the exercises of religion in their
+respective quarters with all the pomp and 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. [20]
+
+Hitherto, Ferdinand, relying on the blockade, and yielding to the queen's
+desire to spare the lives of her soldiers, had formed no regular plan of
+assault upon the town. But, as the season rolled on without the least
+demonstration of submission on the part of the besieged, he resolved to
+storm the works, which, if attended by no other consequences, might at
+least serve to distress the enemy, and hasten the hour of surrender. Large
+wooden towers on rollers were accordingly constructed, and 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 operations was placed under
+the direction of Francisco Ramirez, the celebrated engineer of Madrid.
+
+But the Moors anticipated the completion of these formidable preparations
+by a brisk, well-concerted attack on all points of the Spanish lines. They
+countermined the assailants, and, encountering them in the subterraneous
+passages, drove them back, and demolished the frame-work of the galleries.
+At the same time, a little squadron of armed vessels, which had been
+riding in safety under the guns of the city, pushed out and engaged the
+Spanish 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 admiration to this
+unconquerable spirit in an enemy, wasted by all the extremities of famine
+and fatigue. "Who does not marvel," he says, "at the bold heart of these
+infidels in battle, their prompt obedience to their chiefs, their
+dexterity in the wiles of war, their patience under privation, and
+undaunted perseverance in their purposes?" [21]
+
+A circumstance occurred in a sortie from the city, indicating a trait of
+character worth recording. A noble Moor, named Abrahen Zenete, fell in
+with a number of Spanish children who had wandered from their quarters.
+Without injuring them, he touched them gently with the handle of his
+lance, saying, "Get ye gone, varlets, to your mothers." On being rebuked
+by his comrades, who inquired why he had let them escape so easily, he
+replied, "Because I saw no beard upon their chins." "An example of
+magnanimity," says the Curate of Los Palacios, "truly wonderful in a
+heathen, and which might have reflected credit on a Christian hidalgo."
+[22]
+
+But no virtue nor valor could avail the unfortunate Malagans against the
+overwhelming force of their enemies, who, driving them back from every
+point, compelled them, after a desperate struggle of six hours, to shelter
+themselves within the defences of the town. The Christians followed up
+their success. A mine was sprung near a tower, connected by a bridge of
+four arches with the main works of the place. The Moors, scattered and
+intimidated by the explosion, retreated across the bridge, and the
+Spaniards, carrying the tower, whose guns completely enfiladed it,
+obtained possession of this important pass into the beleaguered city. For
+these and other signal services during the siege, Francisco Ramirez, the
+master of the ordnance, received the honors of knighthood from the hand of
+King Ferdinand. [23]
+
+The citizens of Malaga, dismayed at beholding the enemy established in
+their defences, and fainting under exhaustion from a siege which had
+already lasted more than three months, now began to murmur at the
+obstinacy of the garrison, and to demand a capitulation. Their magazines
+of grain were emptied, and for some weeks they had been compelled to
+devour the flesh of horses, dogs, cats, and even the boiled hides of these
+animals, or, in default of other nutriment, vine leaves dressed with oil,
+and leaves of the palm tree, pounded fine, and baked into a sort of cake.
+In consequence of this loathsome and unwholesome diet, diseases were
+engendered. Multitudes were seen dying about the streets. Many deserted to
+the Spanish camp, eager to barter their liberty for bread; and the city
+exhibited all the extremes of squalid and disgusting wretchedness, bred by
+pestilence and famine among an overcrowded population. The sufferings of
+the citizens softened the stern heart of the alcayde, Hamet Zeli, who at
+length yielded to their importunities, and, withdrawing his forces into
+the Gebalfaro, consented that the 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 despatched 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
+their conqueror, should vouchsafe to them." [24]
+
+Ferdinand's answer spread general consternation throughout Malaga. The
+inhabitants saw too plainly that nothing was to be hoped from an appeal to
+sentiments of humanity. After a tumultuous debate, the deputies were
+despatched a second time to the Christian camp, charged with propositions
+in which concession was mingled with menace. They represented that the
+severe response of King Ferdinand to the citizens had rendered them
+desperate. That, however, they were willing to resign to him their
+fortifications, their city, in short, their property of every description,
+on his assurance of their personal security and freedom. If he refused
+this, they would take their Christian captives, amounting to five or six
+hundred, from the dungeons in which they lay, and hang them like dogs over
+the battlements; and then, placing their old men, women, and children in
+the fortress, they would set fire to the town, and cut a way for
+themselves through their enemies, or fall in the attempt. "So," they
+continued, "if you gain a victory, it shall be such a one as 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 embassy on its return
+to the city, were overwhelmed with the deepest gloom at its ominous
+tidings. Their fate was now sealed. Every avenue to hope seemed closed by
+the stern response of the victor. 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 inhabitants, and among them
+those most considerable for wealth and influence, preferred the chance of
+Ferdinand's clemency to certain, irretrievable ruin.
+
+For the last time, therefore, the deputies issued from the gates of the
+city, charged with an epistle to the sovereigns from their unfortunate
+countrymen, in which, after deprecating their anger, and lamenting their
+own blind obstinacy, they reminded their highnesses of the liberal terms
+which their ancestors had granted to Cordova, Antequera, and other cities,
+after a defence as pertinacious as their own. They expatiated on the fame
+which the sovereigns had established by the generous policy of their past
+conquests, and, appealing to their magnanimity, concluded with submitting
+themselves, their families, and their fortunes to their disposal. Twenty
+of the principal citizens were then delivered up as hostages for the
+peaceable 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." [25]
+
+On the appointed day, the commander of Leon rode through the gates of
+Malaga, at the head of his well-appointed chivalry, and took possession of
+the _alcazaba_, or lower citadel. The troops were then posted on their
+respective stations along the fortifications, and the banners of Christian
+Spain triumphantly unfurled from the towers of the city, where the
+crescent had been displayed for an uninterrupted period of nearly eight
+centuries.
+
+The first act was to purify the town from the numerous dead bodies, and
+other offensive matter, which had accumulated during this long siege, and
+lay festering in the streets, poisoning the atmosphere. The principal
+mosque was next consecrated with due solemnity to the service of Santa
+Maria de la Encarnacion. Crosses and bells, the symbols of Christian
+worship, were distributed in profusion among the sacred edifices; where,
+says the Catholic chronicler last quoted, "the celestial music of their
+chimes, sounding at every hour of the day and night, caused perpetual
+torment to the ears of the infidel." [26]
+
+On the eighteenth day of August, being somewhat more than three months
+from the date of opening trenches, Ferdinand and Isabella made their
+entrance into the conquered city, attended by the court, the clergy, and
+the whole of their military array. The procession moved in solemn state up
+the principal streets, now deserted, and hushed in ominous silence, to the
+new cathedral of St. Mary, where mass was performed; and as the glorious
+anthem of the Te Deum rose for the first time within its ancient walls,
+the sovereigns, together with the whole army, prostrated themselves in
+grateful adoration of the Lord of hosts, who had thus reinstated them in
+the domains of their ancestors.
+
+The most affecting incident was afforded by the multitude of Christian
+captives, who were rescued from the Moorish dungeons. They were brought
+before the sovereigns, with their limbs heavily manacled, their beards
+descending to their waists, and their sallow visages emaciated by
+captivity and famine. Every eye was suffused with tears at the spectacle.
+Many 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. [27]
+
+ 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 _rebellion_, 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
+mansions with a guard set over them, while the cravings of appetite were
+supplied by a liberal distribution of food. At length, the whole
+population of the city, comprehending every age and sex, was commanded to
+repair to the great courtyard of the alcazaba, which was overlooked on all
+sides by lofty ramparts garrisoned by the Spanish soldiery. To this place,
+the scene of many a Moorish triumph, where the spoil of the border foray
+had been often displayed, and which still might be emblazoned with the
+trophy of many a Christian banner, the people of Malaga now directed their
+steps. As the multitude swarmed through the streets, filled with boding
+apprehensions of their fate, they wrung their hands, and, raising their
+eyes to heaven, uttered the most piteous lamentations. "Oh, Malaga," they
+cried, "renowned and beautiful city, how are thy sons about to forsake
+thee! Could not thy soil, on which they first drew breath, be suffered to
+cover them 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. [28]
+
+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 distributed as presents at
+home and abroad. Thus, one hundred of the flower of the African warriors
+were sent to the pope, who incorporated them into his guard, and converted
+them all in the course of the year, says the Curate of Los Palacios, into
+very good Christians. Fifty of the most beautiful Moorish girls were
+presented by Isabella to the queen of Naples, thirty to the queen of
+Portugal, others to the ladies of her court; and the residue of both sexes
+were apportioned among the nobles, cavaliers, and inferior members of the
+army, according to their respective rank and services. [29]
+
+As it was apprehended that the Malagans, rendered desperate by the
+prospect of a hopeless, interminable captivity, might destroy or secrete
+their jewels, plate, and other precious effects, in which this wealthy
+city abounded, rather than suffer them to fall into the hands of their
+enemies, Ferdinand devised a politic expedient for preventing it. He
+proclaimed that he would receive a certain sum, if paid within nine
+months, as the ransom of the whole population, and that their personal
+effects should be admitted in part payment. This sum averaged about thirty
+doblas a head, including in the estimate all those who might die before
+the determination of the period assigned. The ransom, thus stipulated,
+proved more than the unhappy people could raise, either by themselves, or
+agents employed to solicit contributions among their brethren of Granada
+and Africa; at the same time, it so far deluded their hopes, that they
+gave in a full inventory of their effects to the treasury. By this shrewd
+device, Ferdinand obtained complete possession both of the persons and
+property of his victims. [30]
+
+Malaga was computed to contain from eleven to fifteen thousand
+inhabitants, exclusive of several thousand foreign auxiliaries, within its
+gates at the time of surrender. One cannot, at this day, read the
+melancholy details of its story, without feelings of horror and
+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 admitted 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 counsellors, who urged her to put every
+inhabitant without exception to the sword; which, they affirmed, would be
+a just requital of their obstinate _rebellion_, and would prove a
+wholesome warning to others! We are not told who the advisers of this
+precious measure were; but the whole experience of this reign shows, that
+we shall scarcely wrong the clergy much by imputing it to them. That their
+arguments could warp so enlightened a mind, as that of Isabella, from the
+natural principles of justice and humanity, furnishes a remarkable proof
+of the ascendency which the priesthood usurped over the most gifted
+intellects, and of their gross abuse of it, before the Reformation, by
+breaking the seals set on the sacred volume, opened to mankind the
+uncorrupted channel of divine truth. [31]
+
+The fate of Malaga may be said to have decided that of Granada. The latter
+was now shut out from the most important ports along her coast; and she
+was environed on every point of her territory by her warlike foe, so that
+she could hardly hope more from subsequent efforts, however strenuous and
+united, than to postpone the inevitable hour of dissolution. The cruel
+treatment of Malaga was the prelude to the long series of 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 towards repeopling the
+depopulated city with their own subjects. Houses and lands were freely
+granted to such as would settle there. Numerous towns and villages with a
+wide circuit of territory were placed under its civil jurisdiction, and it
+was made the head of a diocese embracing most of the recent conquests in
+the south and west of Granada. These inducements, 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. [32]
+
+After these salutary arrangements, the Spanish sovereigns led back their
+victorious legions in triumph to Cordova, whence dispersing to their
+various homes, they prepared, by a winter's repose, for new campaigns and
+more brilliant conquests.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+[1] Vedmar, Antiguedad y Grandezas de la Ciudad de Velez, (Granada, 1652,)
+fol. 148.--Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. lib. 27, cap. 10.--Pulgar,
+Reyes Católicos, part. iii. cap. 70.--Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1487.--
+Bleda, Corónica, lib. 5, cap. 14.
+
+[2] Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. pp. 292-294.--
+Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, ubi supra.--Vedmar, Antiguedad de Velez, fol.
+151.
+
+[3] 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. Vedmar, Antiguedad de Velez, fol. 12.
+
+[4] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 52.--Marmol, Rebelion de
+Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 14.
+
+[5] Conde doubts whether the name of Malaga is derived from the Greek
+_malakè_, signifying "agreeable," or the Arabic _malka_, meaning "royal."
+Either etymology is sufficiently pertinent. (See El Nubiense, Descripcion
+de España, p. 186, not.) For notices of sovereigns who swayed the sceptre
+of Malaga, see Casiri, Bibliotheca Escurialensis, tom. ii. pp. 41, 56, 99,
+et alibi.
+
+[6] Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. p. 237.--Pulgar, Reyes
+Católicos, cap. 74.--El Nubiense, Descripcion de España, not., p. 144.
+
+[7] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 82.--Vedmar, Antiguedad de
+Velez, fol. 154.--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 74.
+
+[8] This cavalier, who took a conspicuous part both in the military and
+civil transactions of this reign, was descended from one of the most
+ancient and honorable houses in Castile. Hyta, (Guerras Civiles de
+Granada, tom. i. p. 399,) with more effrontery 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 alli se ha intitulado,
+  porque en la Vega hiciera
+  campo con aquel pagano."
+
+Oviedo, however, with good reason, distrusts the etymology and the story,
+as he traces both the cognomen and the peculiar device of the family to a
+much older date than the period assigned in the Chronicle. Quincuagenas,
+MS., bat. 1, quinc. 3, dial. 43.
+
+[9] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 75.--Salazar de Mendoza, Crón. del Gran
+Cardenal, lib. 1, cap. 64.
+
+[10] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 83.--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos,
+cap. 76.--Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1487.
+
+[11] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, ubi supra.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS.,
+ubi supra.
+
+[12] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 1, epist. 83--Pulgar, Reyes
+Católicos, cap. 76.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, cap. 83.--Oviedo,
+Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 36.
+
+[13] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 76.
+
+[14] Salazar de Mendoza, Crón. del Gran Cardenal, lib. 1, cap. 64.--
+Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. cap. 70.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap.
+83.
+
+[15] Bleda, Corónica, lib. 5, cap. 15.--Conde, Dominacion, tom. iv. pp.
+237, 238.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 83.--Pulgar, Reyes
+Católicos, cap. 79.
+
+[16] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, ubi supra.
+
+During the siege, ambassadors arrived from an African potentate, the king
+of Tremecen, bearing a magnificent present to the Castilian sovereigns,
+interceding for the Malagans, and at the same time asking protection for
+his subjects from the Spanish cruisers in the Mediterranean. The
+sovereigns graciously complied with the latter request, and complimented
+the African monarch with a plate of gold, on which the royal arms were
+curiously embossed, says Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, cap. 84.
+
+[17] This nobleman, Don Alvaro de Portugal, had fled his native country,
+and sought an asylum in Castile from the vindictive enmity of John II, who
+had been put to death by the duke of Braganza, his elder brother. He was
+kindly received by Isabella, to whom he was nearly related, and
+subsequently preferred to several important offices of state. His son, the
+count of Gelves, married a granddaughter of Christopher Columbus. Oviedo,
+Quincuagenas, MS.
+
+[18] Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 23.--Peter Martyr,
+Opus Epist., lib. 1, epist. 63.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap.
+84.--Bleda, Corónica de los Moros, lib. 5, cap. 15.--L. Marineo, Cosas
+Memorables, fol. 175, 176.
+
+[19] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 87-89.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos,
+MS., cap. 84.
+
+[20] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 87.--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos,
+cap. 71.
+
+[21] Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. pp. 237, 238.--Pulgar,
+Reyes Católicos, cap. 80.--Caro de Torres, Ordenes Militares, fol. 82, 83.
+
+[22] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 9l.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS.,
+cap. 84. The honest exclamation of the Curate brings to mind the similar
+encomium of the old Moorish ballad,
+
+  "Caballeros Granadinos, Aunque Moros, hijosdalgo."
+
+Hyta, Guerras de Granada, tom. i., p. 257.
+
+[23] There is no older well-authenticated account of the employment of
+gunpowder in mining in European warfare, so far as I am aware, than this
+by Ramirez. Tiraboschi, indeed, refers, on the authority of another
+writer, to a work in the library of the Academy of Siena, composed by one
+Francesco Giorgio, architect of the duke of Urbino, about 1480, in which
+that person claims the merit of the invention. (Letteratura Italiana, tom.
+vi. p. 370.) The whole statement is obviously too loose to warrant any
+such conclusion. The Italian historians notice the use of gunpowder mines
+at the siege of the little town of Serezanello in Tuscany, by the Genoese,
+in 1487, precisely contemporaneous with the siege of Malaga. (Machiavelli,
+Istorie Fiorentine, lib. 8.--Guicciardini, Istoria d'Italia, (Milano,
+1803,) tom. iii. lib. 6.) This singular coincidence, in nations having
+then but little intercourse, would seem to infer some common origin of
+greater antiquity. However this may be, the writers of both nations are
+agreed in ascribing the first successful use of such mines on any extended
+scale to the celebrated Spanish engineer, Pedro Navarro, when serving
+under Gonsalvo of Cordova, in his Italian campaigns at the beginning of
+the sixteenth century. Guicciardini, ubi supra.--Paolo Giovio, de Vitâ
+Magni Gonsalvi, (Vitae Illustrium Virorum, Basiliae, 1578,) lib. 2.--
+Aleson, Annales de Navarra, tom. v. lib. 35, cap. 12.
+
+[24] Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. p. 296.--L.
+Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 175.--Rades y Andrada, Las Tres Ordenes,
+fol. 54.--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 92.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos,
+MS., cap. 85.
+
+[25] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 93.--Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et
+d'Espagne, tom. iii. p. 296.
+
+The Arabic historians state that Malaga was betrayed by Ali Dordux, who
+admitted the Spaniards into the castle, while the citizens were debating
+on Ferdinand's terms. (See Conde, Domination de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap.
+39.) The letter of the inhabitants, quoted at length by Pulgar, would seem
+to be a refutation of this. And yet there are good grounds for suspecting
+false play on the part of the ambassador Dordux, since the Castilian
+writers admit that he was exempted, with forty of his friends, from the
+doom of slavery and forfeiture of property, passed upon his fellow-
+citizens.
+
+[26] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 85.
+
+[27] Carbajal, whose meagre annals have scarcely any merit beyond that of
+a mere chronological table, postpones the surrender till September.
+Anales, año 1487.--Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 14.
+
+[28] Bleda, Corónica, lib. 5, cap. 15.
+
+As a counterpart to the above scene, twelve Christian renegades, found in
+the city, were transfixed with canes, _acañavereados_, a barbarous
+punishment derived from the Moors, which was inflicted 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 _fêtes_
+and illuminations most grateful to the Catholic piety of our sovereigns"!
+Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. rey 30, cap. 3.
+
+[29] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, ubi supra.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS.,
+ubi supra.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 62.
+
+[30] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 87.--L. Marineo, Cosas
+Memorables, fol. 176.--Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. p. 238.
+--Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. p. 296.--Carbajal,
+Anales, MS., año 1487.
+
+Not a word of comment escapes the Castilian historians on this merciless
+rigor of the conqueror towards the vanquished. It is evident that
+Ferdinand did no violence to the feelings of his orthodox subjects.
+_Tacendo clamant._
+
+[31] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 87.--Bleda, Corónica, lib. 5,
+cap. 15.
+
+About four hundred and fifty Moorish Jews were ransomed by a wealthy
+Israelite 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 circumstantial Pulgar should have omitted
+to notice so important a fact as the scheme of the Moorish ransom, had it
+occurred. It is still more improbable, that the honest Curate of Los
+Palacios should have fabricated it. Any one who attempts to reconcile the
+discrepancies of contemporary historians even, will have Lord Orford's
+exclamation to his son Horace brought to his mind ten times a day; "Oh!
+read me not history, for that I know to be false."
+
+[32] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 94.--Col. de Céd., tom. vi. no. 321.
+
+
+
+
+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 institution 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 association, extending the term of its duration to five
+years, a measure extremely unpalatable to the great feudal nobility, whose
+power, or rather abuse of power, was considerably abridged by this popular
+military force. [1]
+
+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 being
+thought advisable to suffer the nation to breathe a while, after the
+exhausting efforts in which it had been unintermittingly engaged for so
+many years.
+
+Ferdinand, crossing the eastern borders of Granada, at no great distance
+from Vera, which speedily opened its gates, kept along the southern slant
+of the coast as far as Almeria; whence, after experiencing some rough
+treatment from a sortie of the garrison, he marched by a northerly circuit
+on Baza, for the purpose of reconnoitring its position, as his numbers
+were altogether inadequate to its siege. A division of the army under the
+marquis duke of Cadiz suffered itself to be drawn here into an ambuscade
+by the wily old monarch El Zagal, who lay in Baza with a strong force.
+After extricating his troops with some difficulty and loss from this
+perilous predicament, Ferdinand retreated on his own dominions by 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 slight reverses,
+secured the surrender of a considerable number of fortresses and towns of
+inferior note. [2]
+
+The Moorish chief, El Zagal, elated by his recent success, made frequent
+forays into the Christian territories, sweeping off the flocks, herds, and
+growing crops of the husbandman; while the garrisons of Almeria and
+Salobrena, and the bold inhabitants of the valley of Purchena, poured a
+similar devastating warfare over the eastern borders of Granada into
+Murcia. To meet this pressure, the Spanish sovereigns reinforced the
+frontier with additional levies under Juan de Benavides and 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 Isabella occupied
+themselves with the interior government of Castile, and particularly the
+administration of justice. A commission was specially appointed to
+supervise the conduct of the corregidors and subordinate magistrates, "so
+that every one," says Pulgar, "was most careful to discharge his duty
+faithfully, in order to escape the penalty, which was otherwise sure to
+overtake him." [3]
+
+While at Valladolid, the sovereigns received an embassy from Maximilian,
+son of the emperor Frederic the Fourth, of Germany, soliciting their co-
+operation in his designs against France for the restitution of his late
+wife's rightful inheritance, the duchy of Burgundy, and engaging in turn
+to support them in their claims on Roussillon and Cerdagne. 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 Navarre; 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 armanent 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.
+[4] But, notwithstanding these occasional episodes to the great work in
+which they were engaged, they had little leisure for extended operations;
+and, although they entered into the proposed treaty of alliance with
+Maximilian, they do not seem to have contemplated any movement of
+importance before the termination of the Moorish war. The Flemish
+ambassadors, after being entertained for forty days in a style suited to
+impress them with high ideas of the magnificence of the Spanish court, and
+of its friendly disposition towards their master, were dismissed with
+costly presents, and returned to their own country. [5]
+
+These negotiations show the increasing intimacy growing up between the
+European states, who, as they settled their domestic feuds, had leisure to
+turn their eyes abroad, and enter into the more extended field of
+international politics. The tenor of this treaty indicates also the
+direction which affairs were to take, when the great powers should be
+brought into collision with each other on a common theatre of action.
+
+All thoughts were now concentrated on the prosecution of the war with
+Granada, which, it was determined, should be conducted on a more enlarged
+scale than it had yet been; notwithstanding the fearful pest which had
+desolated the country during the past year, and the extreme scarcity of
+grain, owing to the inundations caused by excessive rains in the fruitful
+provinces of the south. The great object proposed in this campaign was the
+reduction of Baza, the capital of that division of the empire which
+belonged to El Zagal. Besides this important city, that monarch's
+dominions embraced the wealthy sea-port of Almeria, Guadix, and numerous
+other towns and villages of less consequence, together with the mountain
+region of the Alpuxarras, rich in mineral wealth; whose inhabitants,
+famous for the perfection to which they had carried the silk manufacture,
+were equally known for their enterprise and courage in war, so that El
+Zagal's division comprehended the most potent and opulent portion of the
+empire. [6] In the spring of 1489, the Castilian court passed to Jaen, at
+which place the queen was to establish her residence, as presenting the
+most favorable point of communication with the invading army. Ferdinand
+advanced as far as Sotogordo, where, on the 27th of May, he put himself at
+the head of a numerous force, amounting to about fifteen thousand horse
+and eighty thousand foot, including persons of every description; among
+whom was gathered, as usual, that chivalrous array of nobility and
+knighthood, who, with stately and well-appointed retinues, were accustomed
+to follow the royal standard in these crusades. [8]
+
+The first point, against which operations were directed, was the strong
+post of Cuxar, two leagues only from Baza, which surrendered after a brief
+but desperate resistance. The occupation of this place, and some adjacent
+fortresses, left the approaches open to El Zagal's capital. As the Spanish
+army toiled up the heights of the mountain barrier, which towers above
+Baza on the west, their advance was menaced by clouds of Moorish light
+troops, who poured down a tempest of musket-balls and arrows on their
+heads. These however were quickly dispersed by the advancing vanguard; and
+the Spaniards, as they gained the summits of the hills, beheld the lordly
+city of Baza, reposing in the shadows of the bold sierra that stretches
+towards the coast, and lying in the bosom of a fruitful valley, extending
+eight leagues in length, and three in breadth. Through this valley flowed
+the waters of the Guadalentin and the Guadalquiton, whose streams were
+conducted by a thousand canals over the surface of the vega. In the midst
+of the plain, adjoining the suburbs, 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 numerous 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 dominions
+against any hostile movement of his rival in Granada. These veterans were
+commissioned to defend the place to the last extremity; and, as due time
+had been given for preparation, the town was victualled with fifteen
+months' provisions, and even the crops growing in the vega had been
+garnered before their prime, to save them from the hands of the enemy. [8]
+
+The first operation, after the Christian army had encamped before the
+walls of Baza, was to get possession of the garden, without which it would
+be impossible to enforce a thorough blockade, since its labyrinth of
+avenues afforded the inhabitants abundant facilities of communication with
+the surrounding country. The assault was intrusted to the grand master of
+St. James, supported by the principal cavaliers, and the king in person.
+Their reception by the enemy was such as gave them a foretaste of the
+perils and desperate daring they were to encounter in the present siege.
+The broken surface of the ground, bewildered with intricate passes, and
+thickly studded with trees and edifices, was peculiarly favorable to the
+desultory and illusory tactics of the Moors. The Spanish cavalry was
+brought at once to a stand; the ground proving impracticable for it, it
+was dismounted, and led to the charge by its officers on foot. The men,
+however, were soon scattered far asunder from their banners and their
+leaders. Ferdinand, who from a central position 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. [9]
+
+The following morning Ferdinand had the mortification to observe, that the
+ground was too much broken and obstructed with wood, to afford a suitable
+place for a general encampment. To evacuate his position, however, in the
+face of the enemy, was a delicate manoeuvre, and must necessarily expose
+him to severe loss. This he obviated, in a great measure, by a fortunate
+stratagem. He commanded the tents nearest the town to be left standing,
+and thus succeeded in drawing off the greater part of his forces, before
+the enemy was aware of his intention.
+
+After regaining his former position, a council of war was summoned to
+deliberate on the course next to be pursued. The chiefs were filled with
+despondency, as they revolved the difficulties of their situation. They
+almost despaired of enforcing the blockade of a place, whose peculiar
+situation gave it such advantages. Even could this be effected, the camp
+would be exposed, they argued, to the assaults of a desperate garrison on
+the one hand, and of the populous city of Guadix, hardly twenty miles
+distant, on the other; while the good faith of Granada could scarcely be
+expected to outlive a single reverse of fortune; so that, instead of
+besieging, they might be more properly regarded as themselves besieged. In
+addition to these evils, the winter frequently set in with much 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 marquis of Cadiz gave in to this opinion; and Gutierre de
+Cardenas, commander of Leon, a cavalier deservedly high in the confidence
+of the king, was almost the only person of consideration decidedly opposed
+to it. In this perplexity, Ferdinand, as usual in similar exigencies,
+resolved to take counsel of the queen. [10]
+
+Isabella received her husband's despatches a few hours after they were
+written, by means of the regular line of posts maintained between the camp
+and her station at Jaen. She was filled with chagrin at their import, from
+which she plainly saw, that all her mighty preparations were about to
+vanish into air. Without assuming the responsibility of deciding the
+proposed question, however, she besought her husband not to distrust the
+providence of God, which had conducted them through so many perils towards
+the consummation of their wishes. She reminded him, that the Moorish
+fortunes were never at so low an ebb as at present, and that their own
+operations could probably never be resumed on such a formidable scale or
+under so favorable auspices as now, when their arms had not been stained
+with a single important 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 effect,
+silencing the scruples of the most timid, and confirming 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
+furthering the wishes of their heroic queen by prosecuting the siege with
+the utmost vigor.
+
+The army was accordingly distributed into two encampments; one under the
+marquis duke of Cadiz, supported by the artillery, the other under King
+Ferdinand on the opposite side of the city. Between the two lay the garden
+or orchard before mentioned, extending a league in length; so that, in
+order to connect the works of the two camps, it became necessary to get
+possession of this contested ground, and to clear it of the heavy timber
+with which it was covered.
+
+This laborious operation was intrusted to the commander of Leon, and the
+work was covered by a detachment of seven thousand troops, posted in such
+a manner as to check the sallies of the garrison. Notwithstanding four
+thousand _taladores_, or pioneers, were employed in the task, the
+forest was so dense, and the sorties from the city so annoying, that the
+work of devastation did not advance more than ten paces a day, and was not
+completed before the expiration of seven weeks. When the ancient groves,
+so long the ornament and protection of the city, were levelled to the
+ground, preparations were made for connecting the two camps, by a deep
+trench, through which the mountain waters were made to flow; while the
+borders were fortified with palisades, constructed of the timber lately
+hewn, together with strong towers of mud or clay, arranged at regular
+intervals. In this manner, the investment of the city was complete on the
+side of the vega. [11]
+
+As means of communication still remained open, however, by the opposite
+sierra, defences of similar strength, consisting of two stone walls
+separated by a deep trench, were made to run along the rocky heights and
+ravines of the mountains until they touched the extremities of the
+fortifications on the plain; and thus Baza was encompassed by an unbroken
+line of circumvallation.
+
+In the progress of the laborious work, which occupied ten thousand men,
+under the indefatigable commander of Leon, for the space of two months, it
+would have been easy for the people of Guadix, or of Granada, by co-
+operation with the sallies of the besieged, to place the Christian army in
+great peril. Some feeble demonstration of such a movement was made at
+Guadix, but it was easily disconcerted. Indeed, El Zagal was kept in check
+by the fear of leaving his own territory open to his rival, should he
+march against the Christians. Abdallah, in the mean while, lay inactive in
+Granada, incurring the odium and contempt of his people, who stigmatized
+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. [12]
+
+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
+persecution of the Moors, contrasted it with the protection uniformly
+extended by the sultan to the Christians in his dominions. The
+communication concluded with menacing a retaliation of similar severities
+on these latter, unless the sovereigns desisted from their hostilities
+towards 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 additional 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 Isabella, who made answer,
+that they had uniformly observed the same policy in regard to their
+Mahometan, as to their Christian subjects; but that they could no longer
+submit to see their ancient and rightful inheritance in the hands of
+strangers; and that, if these latter would consent to live under their
+rule, as true and loyal subjects, they should experience the same paternal
+indulgence which had been shown to their brethren. With this answer the
+reverend emissaries returned to the Holy Land, accompanied by substantial
+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. [13]
+
+In the mean while, the siege went forward with spirit; skirmishes and
+single rencontres taking place every day between the high-mettled
+cavaliers on both sides. These chivalrous combats, however, were
+discouraged by Ferdinand, who would have confined his operations to strict
+blockade, and avoided the unnecessary effusion of blood; especially as the
+advantage was most commonly on the side of the enemy, from the peculiar
+adaptation of their tactics to this desultory warfare. Although some
+months had elapsed, the besieged rejected with scorn every summons to
+surrender; relying on their own resources, and still more on the
+tempestuous season of autumn, now fast advancing, which, if it did not
+break up the encampment at once, would at least, by demolishing the roads,
+cut off all external communication.
+
+In order to guard against these impending evils, Ferdinand caused more
+than a thousand houses, or rather huts, to be erected, with walls of earth
+or clay, and roofs made of timber and tiles; while the common soldiers
+constructed cabins by means of palisades loosely thatched with the
+branches of trees. The whole work was accomplished in four days; and the
+inhabitants of Baza beheld with amazement a city of solid edifices, with
+all its streets and squares in regular order, springing as it were by
+magic out of the ground, which had before been covered with the light and
+airy pavilions of the camp. The new city was well supplied, owing to the
+providence of the queen, not merely with the necessaries, but the luxuries
+of life. Traders 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 instance, is
+attested by more than one historian. Among others, Peter Martyr, the
+Italian scholar before mentioned, who was present at this siege, dwells
+with astonishment on the severe decorum and military discipline, which
+everywhere obtained among this motley congregation of soldiers. "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 amicably, not only with one another, but with the Toledans,
+La-Manchans, and the wily and jealous Andalusian; all living together in
+harmonious subordination to authority, like members of one family,
+speaking one tongue, and nurtured under a common discipline; so that the
+camp seemed like a community modelled on the principles of Plato's
+republic!" In another part of this letter, which was addressed to a
+Milanese prelate, he panegyrizes the camp hospital of the queen, then a
+novelty in war; which, he says, "is so profusely supplied with medical
+attendants, apparatus, and whatever may contribute to the restoration or
+solace of the sick, that it is scarcely surpassed in these respects by the
+magnificent establishments of Milan." [14]
+
+During the five months which the siege had now lasted, the weather had
+proved uncommonly propitious to the Spaniards, being for the most part of
+a bland and equal temperature, while the sultry heats of midsummer were
+mitigated by cool and moderate showers. As the autumnal season advanced,
+however, the clouds began to settle heavily around the mountains; and at
+length one of those storms, predicted by the people of Baza, burst forth
+with incredible fury, pouring a volume of waters down the rocky sides of
+the sierra, which, mingling with those of the vega, inundated the camp of
+the besiegers, and swept away most of the frail edifices constructed for
+the use of the common soldiery. A still greater calamity 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
+communication was of course suspended with Jaen, and a temporary
+interruption of the convoys filled the camp with consternation. This
+disaster, however, was speedily repaired by the queen, who, with an energy
+always equal to the occasion, caused six thousand pioneers to be at once
+employed in reconstructing the roads; the rivers were bridged over,
+causeways new laid, and two separate passes opened through the mountains,
+by which the convoys might visit the camp, and return without interrupting
+each other. At the same time, the queen bought up immense quantities of
+grain from all parts of Andalusia, which she caused to be ground in her
+own mills; and, when the roads, which extended more than seven leagues in
+length, were completed, fourteen thousand mules might be seen daily
+traversing the sierra, laden with supplies, which from that time forward
+were poured abundantly, and with the most perfect regularity, into the
+camp. [15]
+
+Isabella's next care was to assemble new levies of troops, to relieve or
+reinforce those now in the camp; and the alacrity with which all orders of
+men from every quarter of the kingdom answered her summons is worthy of
+remark. But her chief solicitude was to devise expedients for meeting the
+enormous expenditures incurred by the protracted operations of the year.
+For this purpose, she had recourse to loans from individuals and religious
+corporations, which were obtained without much difficulty, from the
+general confidence in her good faith. As the sum thus raised, although
+exceedingly large for that period, proved inadequate to the expenses,
+further supplies were obtained from wealthy individuals, whose loans were
+secured by mortgage of the royal demesne; and, as a deficiency still
+remained in the treasury, the queen, as a last resource, pawned the crown
+jewels and her own personal ornaments to the merchants of Barcelona and
+Valencia, for such sums as they were willing to advance on them. [16] Such
+were the efforts made by this high-spirited woman, for the furtherance of
+her patriotic enterprise. The extraordinary results, which she was enabled
+to effect, are less to be ascribed to the authority of her station, than
+to that perfect confidence in her wisdom and virtue, with which she had
+inspired the whole nation, and which secured their earnest co-operation in
+all her undertakings. The empire, which she thus exercised, indeed, was
+far more extended than any station, however exalted, or any authority,
+however despotic, can confer; for it was over the hearts of her people.
+
+Notwithstanding the 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
+appeared among the people. Even the women of the place, with a spirit
+emulating that of the dames of ancient Carthage, freely gave up their
+jewels, bracelets, necklaces, and other personal ornaments, of which the
+Moorish ladies were exceedingly fond, in order to defray the charges of
+the mercenaries.
+
+The camp of the besiegers, in the mean while, was also greatly wasted both
+by sickness and the sword. Many, desponding under perils and fatigues,
+which seemed to have no end, would even at this late hour have abandoned
+the siege; and they earnestly solicited the queen's appearance in the
+camp, in the hope that she would herself countenance this measure, on
+witnessing their sufferings. Others, and by far the larger part, anxiously
+desired the queen's visit, as likely to quicken the operations of the
+siege, and bring it to a favorable issue. There seemed to be a virtue in
+her presence, which, on some account or other, made it earnestly desired
+by all.
+
+Isabella yielded to the general wish, and on the 7th of November arrived
+before the camp, attended by the infanta Isabella, the cardinal of Spain,
+her friend, the marchioness of Moya, and other ladies of the royal
+household. The inhabitants of Baza, says Bernaldez, lined the 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 beloved mistress, and gave her the most animated welcome.
+"She came," says Martyr, "surrounded by a choir of nymphs, as if to
+celebrate the nuptials of her child; and her 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. [17]
+
+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
+chivalry. On the same day, a conference was opened with the enemy through
+the _comendador_ of Leon; and an armistice arranged, to continue until the
+old monarch, El Zagal, who then lay at Guadix, could be informed of the
+real condition of the besieged, and his instructions be received,
+determining the course to be adopted.
+
+The alcayde of Baza represented to his master the low state to which the
+garrison was reduced by the loss of lives and the failure of ammunition.
+Still, he expressed such confidence in the spirit of his people, that he
+undertook to make good his defence some time longer, provided any
+reasonable expectation of succor could be afforded; otherwise, it would be
+a mere waste of life, and must deprive him of such vantage ground as he
+now possessed, for enforcing an honorable capitulation. The Moslem prince
+acquiesced in the reasonableness 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 inability to relieve
+him, authorized him to negotiate the best terms of surrender which he
+could, for himself and garrison. [18]
+
+A mutual desire of terminating the protracted hostilities infused a spirit
+of moderation into both parties, which greatly facilitated the adjustment
+of the articles. Ferdinand showed none of the arrogant bearing, which
+marked his conduct towards the unfortunate people of Malaga, whether from
+a conviction of its impolicy, or, as is more probable, because the city of
+Baza was itself in a condition to assume a more imposing attitude. The
+principal stipulations of the treaty were, that the foreign mercenaries
+employed in the defence of the place should be allowed to march out with
+the 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. [19]
+
+On the fourth day of December, 1489, Ferdinand and Isabella took
+possession of Baza, at the head of their legions, amid the ringing of
+bells, the peals of artillery, and all the other usual accompaniments of
+this triumphant ceremony; while the standard of the Cross, floating from
+the ancient battlements of the city, proclaimed the triumph of the
+Christian arms. The brave alcayde, Cidi Yahye, experienced a reception
+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,
+dryly, "were repaid in more substantial coin."
+
+Cidi Yahye was soon prevailed on to visit his royal kinsman El Zagal, at
+Guadix, for the purpose of urging his submission 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 monarchies; that he would only see town after town pared away from
+his territory, until no ground was left for him to stand on, and make
+terms with the victor. He reminded him, that the baleful horoscope of
+Abdallah had predicted the downfall of Granada, and that experience had
+abundantly shown how vain it was to struggle against the tide of destiny.
+The unfortunate monarch listened, says the Arabian annalist, without so
+much as moving an eyelid; and, after a long and deep meditation, replied
+with the resignation characteristic 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, Guadix, and their
+dependencies, constituting the domain of El Zagal, should be formally
+surrendered by that prince to Ferdinand and Isabella, who should instantly
+proceed at the head of their army to take possession of them. [20]
+
+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 towards 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 loftiest hills, and who caused
+beacon fires to be lighted around it, in order to guide the stragglers
+back to their quarters.
+
+At no great distance from Almeria, Ferdinand was met, conformably to the
+previous arrangement, by El Zagal, escorted by a numerous body of Moslem
+cavaliers. Ferdinand commanded his nobles to ride forward and receive the
+Moorish prince. "His appearance," says Martyr, who was in the royal
+retinue, "touched my soul with compassion; for, although a lawless
+barbarian, he was a king, and had given signal proofs of heroism." El
+Zagal, without waiting to receive the courtesies of the Spanish nobles,
+threw himself from his horse, and advanced towards Ferdinand with the
+design of kissing his hand; but the latter, rebuking his followers for
+their "rusticity," in allowing such an act of humiliation in the
+unfortunate monarch, prevailed on him to remount, and then rode by his
+side towards Almeria. [21]
+
+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 surrender
+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 Granada to the coast. To all these places the same liberal
+terms, in regard to personal rights and property, were secured, as to
+Baza.
+
+As an equivalent for these broad domains, the Moorish chief was placed in
+possession of the _taha_, or district, of Andaraz, the vale of Alhaurin,
+and half the salt-pits of Maleha, together with a considerable revenue in
+money. He was, moreover, to receive the title of King of Andaraz, and to
+render homage for his estates to the crown of Castile.
+
+This shadow of royalty could not long amuse the mind of the unfortunate
+prince. He pined away amid the scenes of his ancient empire; and, after
+experiencing some insubordination on the part of his new vassals, he
+determined to relinquish his petty principality, and withdraw for ever
+from his native land. Having received a large sum of money, as an
+indemnification for the entire cession of his territorial rights and
+possessions to the Castilian crown, he passed over to Africa, where, it is
+reported, he was plundered of his property by the barbarians, and
+condemned to starve out the remainder of his days in miserable indigence.
+[22]
+
+The suspicious circumstances attending this prince's accession to the
+throne throw a dark cloud over his fame, which would otherwise seem, at
+least as far as his public life is concerned, to be unstained by any
+opprobrious act. He possessed such energy, talent, and military science,
+as, had he been fortunate enough to unite the Moorish nation under him by
+an undisputed title, might have postponed the fall of Granada for many
+years. As it was, these very talents, by dividing the state in his 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 points as would secure 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, amounting 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
+exposure. [23]
+
+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 all the inclemencies of winter, for more than
+seven months; an effort scarcely paralleled in these times, when both the
+amount of levies, and period of service, were on the limited scale adapted
+to the exigencies of feudal warfare. [24] 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, and thorough discipline of the Spanish soldier, and to the
+patriotism and general resources of the nation; but most of all to
+Isabella. She it was, who fortified the timid councils of the leaders,
+after the disasters of the garden, and encouraged them to persevere in the
+siege. She procured all the supplies, constructed the roads, took charge
+of the sick, and furnished, at no little personal sacrifice, the immense
+sums demanded for carrying on the war; and when at last the hearts of the
+soldiers were fainting under long-protracted sufferings, she appeared
+among them, like some celestial visitant, to cheer their faltering
+spirits, and inspire them with her own energy. The attachment to Isabella
+seemed to be a pervading principle, which animated the whole nation by one
+common impulse, impressing a unity of design on all its movements. This
+attachment was imputable 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 intellectual 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
+quoted in the present chapter, and who will constitute one of our best
+authorities during the remainder of the history, was a native of Arona
+(not of Anghiera, as commonly supposed), a place 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 distinguished literary characters of that cultivated capital. In
+1487, he was persuaded by the Castilian ambassador, the count of Tendilla,
+to accompany him to Spain, where he was received with marked distinction
+by the queen, who would have at once engaged him in the tuition of the
+young nobility of the court, but, Martyr having expressed a preference of
+a military life, she, with her usual delicacy, declined to press him on
+the point. He was present, as we have seen, at the siege of Baza, and
+continued with the army during the subsequent campaigns of the Moorish
+war. Many passages of his correspondence, at this period, show a whimsical
+mixture of self-complacency with a consciousness of the ludicrous figure
+which 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, Saragossa,
+Barcelona, Alcalá 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 letters, drew their literary nourishment from him. "Suxerunt
+mea literalia ubera Castellae 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 Babylonica,"
+being an account of a visit to the sultan of Egypt, in 1501, for the
+purpose of deprecating the retaliation with which he had menaced the
+Christian residents in Palestine, for the injuries inflicted on the
+Spanish Moslems. Peter Martyr conducted his negotiation with such address,
+that he not only appeased the sultan's resentment, but obtained several
+important immunities for his Christian subjects, in addition to those
+previously enjoyed by them.
+
+He also wrote an account of the discoveries of the New World, entitled "De
+Rebus Oceanicis et Novo Orbe," (Coloniae, 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 collection of his
+multifarious correspondence with the most considerable persons of his
+time, whether in political or literary life. The letters are in Latin, 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
+historian, from the fidelity and general accuracy of the details, as well
+as for the intelligent criticism in which they abound, for all which,
+uncommon facilities were afforded by the writer's intimacy with the
+leading actors, and the most recondite sources of information of the
+period.
+
+This high character is fully authorized by the judgments of those best
+qualified to pronounce on their merits,--Martyr's own contemporaries.
+Among these, Dr. Galindez de Carbajal, a counsellor of King Ferdinand, and
+constantly employed in the highest concerns of state, commends these
+epistles as "the work of a learned and upright man, well calculated to
+throw light on the transactions of the period." (Anales, MS., prólogo.)
+Alvaro Gomez, another contemporary who survived Martyr, in the Life of
+Ximenes, which he was selected to write by the University of Alcalá,
+declares, 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 celebrity 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 witnessed the promptness with which he put down things the
+moment they occurred. I have sometimes seen him write one or two letters,
+while they were setting the table. For, as he did not pay much attention
+to style and mere finish of expression, his composition required but
+little time, and experienced no interruption from his ordinary
+avocations." (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, (Palermo, 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 Alcalá 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 memorable letter on the
+_lues venerea_, (No. 68,) obviously misplaced, even according to its
+own date; and that numbered 168, in which two letters are evidently
+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
+intimacy with the history of the period, as well as to correct the various
+inaccuracies 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 my
+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 Literature
+of Europe, (London, 1837,) vol. i. pp. 439-441;) a conclusion which I
+suspect this acute and candid critic would have been slow to adopt, had he
+perused the correspondence in connection with the history of the times, or
+weighed the unqualified testimony borne by contemporaries to its minute
+accuracy.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+[1] Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 351, 352, 356.--Mariana, Hist. de
+España, tom. ii. lib. 25, cap. 12.--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, part. 3,
+cap. 95.
+
+[2] Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. viii. p. 76.--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos,
+cap. 98.--Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 402.--Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique
+et d'Espagne, tom. iii. pp. 298, 299.--Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1488.
+
+[3] Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. pp. 239, 240.--Pulgar,
+Reyes Católicos, cap. 100, 101.--During the preceding year, while the
+court was at Murcia, we find one of the examples of prompt and severe
+exercise of justice, which sometimes occur in this reign. One of the royal
+collectors having been resisted and personally maltreated by the alcayde
+of Salvatierra, a place belonging to the crown, and by the alcalde of a
+territorial court of the 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 fortress, and the alcalde to be delivered over to the
+court of chancery at Valladolid, who ordered his right hand to be
+amputated, and banished him the realm. This summary justice was perhaps
+necessary 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.
+
+[4] Ialigny, Hist. de Charles VIII., pp. 92, 94.--Sismondi, Hist. des
+Français, tom. xv. p. 77.--Aleson, Annales de Navarra, tom. v. p. 61.--
+Histoire du Royaume de Navarre, pp. 578, 579.--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos,
+cap. 102.
+
+In the first of these expeditions, more than a thousand Spaniards were
+slain or taken at the disastrous battle of St. Aubin, in 1488, being the
+same in which Lord Rivers, the English noble, who made such a gallant
+figure at the siege of Loja, lost his life. In the spring of 1489, the
+levies sent into France amounted to two thousand in number. These efforts
+abroad, simultaneous with the great operations of the Moorish war, show
+the resources as well as energy of the sovereigns.
+
+[5] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, ubi supra.
+
+[6] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 91.--Zurita, Anales, tom. iv.
+fol. 354.--Bleda, Corónica, fol. 607.--Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii.
+fol. 307.
+
+Such was the scarcity of grain that the prices in 1489, quoted by
+Bernaldez, are double those of the preceding year.--Both Abarca and Zurita
+mention the report, that four-fifths of the whole population were swept
+away by the pestilence of 1488. Zurita finds more difficulty in swallowing
+this monstrous statement than Father Abarca, whose appetite for the
+marvellous appears to have been fully equal to that of most of his calling
+in Spain.
+
+[7] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 2, epist. 70.--Pulgar, Reyes
+Católicos, cap. 104.
+
+It may not be amiss to specify the names of the most distinguished
+cavaliers 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 Zuñiga, 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, marquis 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, count of Feria.
+  Alvaro Tellez Giron, count of Ureña.
+  Juan de Silva, count of Cifuentes.
+  Fadrique Enriquez, adelantado of Andalusia.
+  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 Palma.
+  Gutierre de Cardenas, first commander of Leon.
+  Pedro Fernandez de Velasco, count of Haro, constable of Castile.
+  Beltran de la Cueva, duke of Albuquerque.
+  Diego Fernandez de Cordova, alcayde of the royal pages, afterwards
+    marquis of Comaras.
+  Alvaro de Zuñiga, duke of Bejar.
+  Iñigo Lopez de Mendoza, count of Tendilla, afterwards marquis of
+    Mondejar.
+  Luis de Cerda, duke of Medina Celi.
+  Iñigo Lopez de Mendoza, marquis of Santillana, second duke of Infantado.
+  Garcilasso de la Vega, lord of Batras.
+
+[8] Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 360.--Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes,
+tom. iii. p. 241.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 2, epist. 70.--Estrada,
+Poblacion de España, tom. ii. fol. 239.--Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos,
+lib. 1, cap. 16.
+
+[9] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, 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 different from his
+entangled narrative of some of the preceding operations in this war. Both
+he and Martyr were present during the whole siege of Baza.
+
+[10] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 92.--Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique
+et d'Espagne, tom. iii. pp. 299, 300.--Bleda, Corónica, p. 611.--Garibay,
+Compendio, tom. ii. p. 664.
+
+Don Gutierre de Cardenas, who possessed so high a place in the confidence
+of the sovereigns, occupied a station in the queen's household, as we have
+seen, at the time of her marriage with Ferdinand. His discretion and
+general ability enabled him to retain the influence which he had early
+acquired, as is shown by a popular distich of that time.
+
+  "Cardenas, y el Cardenal, y Chacon, y Fray Mortero,
+  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 II., of Aragon, to promote her marriage with
+his son Ferdinand. The elder Chacon was treated by the sovereigns with the
+greatest deference and respect, being usually called by them "father."
+After his death, they continued to manifest a similar regard towards Don
+Juan, his eldest son, and heir of his ample honors and estates. Salazar de
+Mendoza, Dignidades, lib. 4, cap. 1.--Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1,
+quinc. 2, dial. 1, 2.
+
+[11] Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. p. 304.--Pulgar,
+Reyes Católicos, cap. 109.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 2, epist. 73.
+--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 92.
+
+[12] Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 40.--Mariana, Hist.
+de España, tom. ii. lib. 25, cap. 12.--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 111.
+
+[13] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 112.--Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom.
+viii. p. 86.
+
+[14] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 2,
+epist. 73, 80.--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 113, 114, 117.--Garibay,
+Compendio, tom. ii. p. 667.--Bleda, Corónica, p. 64.
+
+The plague, which fell heavily this year on some parts of Andalusia, does
+not appear to have attacked the camp, which Bleda imputes to the healing
+influence of the Spanish sovereigns, "whose good faith, religion, and
+virtue banished the contagion from their army, where it must otherwise
+have prevailed." Personal comforts and cleanliness of the soldiers, though
+not quite so miraculous a cause, may be considered perhaps full as
+efficacious.
+
+[15] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 2, epist. 73.--Pulgar, Reyes
+Católicos, cap. 116.
+
+[16] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 118.--Archivo de Simancas, in Mem. de
+la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. p. 311.
+
+The city of Valencia lent 35,000 florins on the crown and 20,000 on a
+collar of rubies. They were not wholly redeemed till 1495. Señor Clemencin
+has given a catalogue of the royal jewels, (see Mem. de la Acad. de Hist.,
+tom. vi. Ilustracion 6,) which appear to have been extremely rich and
+numerous, for a period anterior to the discovery of those countries, whose
+mines have since furnished Europe with its _bijouterie_. Isabella,
+however, set so little value on them, that she divested herself of most of
+them in favor of her daughters.
+
+[17] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 92.--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos,
+cap. 120, 121.--Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. viii. p. 93.--Peter
+Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 3, epist. 80.
+
+[18] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 3, epist. 80.--Conde, Dominacion de
+los Arabes, tom. iii. p. 242.--Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1489.--Cardonne,
+Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. p. 305.
+
+[19] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 124.--Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos,
+lib. 1, cap. 16.
+
+[20] Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 40.--Bleda, Corónica,
+p. 612.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 92.--Marmol, Rebelion de
+Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 16.
+
+[21] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 3, epist. 81.--Cardonne, Hist.
+d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. p. 340.--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, loc.
+cit.--Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 40.
+
+[22] El Nubiense, Descripcion de España, p. 160, not.--Carbajal, Anales,
+MS., año 1488.--Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. p. 304.
+--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 3, epist. 81.--Conde, Dominacion de los
+Arabes, tom. iii. pp. 245, 246.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 93.
+
+[23] Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 360.--Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii.
+fol. 308.
+
+[24] The city of Seville alone maintained 600 horse and 8000 foot under
+the count of Cifuentes, for the space of eight months during this siege.
+See Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 404.
+
+
+
+
+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 Portuguese monarchy, and Isabella, infanta of
+Castile. An alliance with this kingdom, which from its contiguity
+possessed such ready means of annoyance to Castile, and which had shown
+such willingness to employ them in enforcing the pretensions of Joanna
+Beltraneja, was an object of importance to Ferdinand and Isabella. No
+inferior consideration could have reconciled the queen to a separation
+from this beloved daughter, her eldest child, whose gentle and 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 followed by a succession of splendid
+_fêtes_ and tourneys. Lists were enclosed, at some distance from the
+city on the shores of the Guadalquivir, and surrounded with galleries hung
+with silk and cloth of gold, and protected from the noontide heat by
+canopies or awnings richly embroidered with the armorial bearings of the
+ancient houses of Castile. The spectacle was graced by all the rank and
+beauty of the court, with the infanta Isabella in the midst, attended by
+seventy noble ladies, and a hundred pages of the royal household. The
+cavaliers of Spain, young and old, thronged to the tournament, as eager to
+win laurels on the mimic theatre of war, in the presence of so brilliant
+an assemblage, as they had shown themselves in the sterner contests with
+the Moors. King Ferdinand, who broke several lances on the occasion, was
+among the most distinguished of the combatants for personal dexterity and
+horsemanship. The martial exercises of the day were relieved by the more
+effeminate recreations of dancing and music in the evening; and every one
+seemed willing to welcome the season of hilarity, after the long-
+protracted fatigues of war. [1]
+
+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 splendor of the Castilian court.
+Unfortunately, these fair auspices were destined to be clouded too soon by
+the death of the prince, her husband. [2]
+
+No sooner had the campaign of the preceding year been brought to a close,
+than Ferdinand and Isabella sent an embassy to the king of Granada,
+requiring a surrender of his capital, conformably to his stipulations at
+Loja, which guaranteed this, on the capitulation of Baza, Almeria, and
+Guadix. That time had now arrived; King Abdallah, however, excused himself
+from obeying the summons of the Spanish sovereigns; replying that he was
+no longer his own master, and that, although he had all the inclination to
+keep his engagements, he was prevented by the inhabitants of the city, now
+swollen much beyond its natural population, who resolutely insisted on its
+defence. [3]
+
+It is not probable that the Moorish king did any great violence to his
+feelings, in this evasion of a promise extorted from him in captivity. At
+least, it would seem so from the hostile movements which immediately
+succeeded. The people of Granada resumed all at once their ancient
+activity, foraying into the Christian territories, surprising Alhendin and
+some other places of less importance, and stirring up the spirit of revolt
+in Guadix and other conquered cities. Granada, which had slept through the
+heat of the struggle, seemed to revive at the very moment when exertion
+became hopeless.
+
+Ferdinand was not slow in retaliating these acts of aggression. In the
+spring of 1490, he marched with a strong force into the cultivated plain
+of Granada, sweeping off, as usual, the crops and cattle, and rolling the
+tide of devastation up to the very walls of the city. In this campaign he
+conferred the 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. [4]
+
+In the following autumn, Ferdinand repeated his ravages in the vega, and,
+at the same time appearing before the disaffected city of Guadix with a
+force large enough to awe it into submission, proposed an immediate
+investigation of the conspiracy. He promised to inflict summary justice on
+all who had been in any degree concerned in it; at the same time offering
+permission to the inhabitants, in the abundance of his clemency, to depart
+with all their personal effects wherever they would, provided they should
+prefer this to a judicial investigation of their conduct. This politic
+proffer had its effect. There were few, if any, of the citizens who had
+not been either directly concerned in the conspiracy, or privy to it. With
+one accord, therefore, they preferred exile to trusting to the tender
+mercies of their judges. In this way, says the Curate of Los Palacios, by
+the mystery of our Lord, was the 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 ancient 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
+population was quickly filled by the rushing tide of Spaniards. [5]
+
+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 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 afterwards, may be considered as one of the
+first links in the long chain of persecution, which terminated in the
+expulsion of the Moriscoes.
+
+During the following year, 1491, a circumstance occurred illustrative of
+the policy of the present government in reference to ecclesiastical
+matters. The chancery of Valladolid having appealed to the pope in a case
+coming within its own exclusive jurisdiction, the queen commanded Alonso
+de Valdivieso, bishop of Leon, the president of the court, together with
+all the auditors, to be removed from their respective offices, which she
+delivered to a new board, having the bishop of Oviedo at its head. This is
+one among many examples of the constancy with which Isabella,
+notwithstanding her reverence for religion, and respect for its ministers,
+refused to compromise the national independence by recognizing in any
+degree the usurpations of Rome. From this dignified attitude, so often
+abandoned by her successors, she never swerved for a moment during the
+course of her long reign. [6]
+
+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, [7] 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 Tendilla, Cabra, Ureña, and Alonso de
+Aguilar, appeared in person, eager, as they had borne the brunt of so many
+hard campaigns, to share in the closing scene of triumph.
+
+On the 26th of the month, the army encamped near the fountain of Ojos de
+Huescar, in the vega, about two leagues distant from Granada. Ferdinand's
+first movement was to detach a considerable force, under the marquis of
+Villena, which he subsequently supported in person with the remainder of
+the army, for the purpose of scouring the fruitful regions of the
+Alpuxarras, which served as the granary of the capital. This service was
+performed with such unsparing 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 position on
+the banks of the Xenil, in full view of the Moorish metropolis, which
+seemed to stand alone, like some sturdy oak, the last of the forest,
+bidding defiance to the storm which had prostrated all its brethren.
+
+Notwithstanding the failure of all external resources, Granada was still
+formidable from its local position and its defences. On the east it was
+fenced in by a wild mountain barrier, the _Sierra Nevada_, whose snow-clad
+summits diffused a grateful coolness over the city through the sultry
+heats of summer. The side towards the vega, facing the Christian
+encampment, was encircled by walls and towers of massive strength and
+solidity. The population, swelled to two hundred thousand by the
+immigration from the surrounding country, was likely, indeed, to be a
+burden in a protracted siege; but among them were twenty thousand, the
+flower of the Moslem chivalry, who had escaped the edge of the Christian
+sword. In front of the city, for an extent of nearly ten leagues, lay
+unrolled the magnificent vega,
+
+  "Fresca y regalada vega,
+  Dulce recreacion de damas
+  Y de hombres gloria 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. [8]
+
+The inhabitants of Granada were filled with indignation at the sight of
+their enemy, thus encamped under the shadow, as it were, of their
+battlements. They sallied forth in small bodies, or singly, challenging
+the Spaniards to equal encounter. Numerous were the combats which took
+place between the high-mettled cavaliers on both sides, who met on the
+level arena, as on a tilting-ground, where they might display 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, with the courtly train of
+ladies who had accompanied their royal mistress from Alcalá 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 warriors, sheds a
+dying glory round the last hours of Granada. [9]
+
+The festivity, which reigned throughout the camp on the arrival of
+Isabella, did not divert her attention from the stern business of war. She
+superintended the military preparations, and personally inspected every
+part of the encampment. She appeared on the field superbly mounted, and
+dressed in complete 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. [10]
+
+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 mean while, a considerable force, under the marquis duke
+of Cadiz, had been ordered, for the protection of the royal persons, to
+take up a position between the village and the city of Granada, with
+strict injunctions on no account to engage the enemy, as Isabella was
+unwilling to stain the pleasures of the day with unnecessary effusion of
+blood.
+
+The people of Granada, however, were too impatient long to endure the
+presence, and, as they deemed it, the bravado of their enemy. They burst
+forth from the gates of the capital, dragging along with them several
+pieces of ordnance, and commenced a brisk assault on the Spanish lines.
+The latter sustained the shock with firmness, till the marquis of Cadiz,
+seeing them thrown into some disorder, found it necessary to assume the
+offensive, and, mustering his followers around him, made one of those
+desperate charges, which had so often broken the enemy. The Moorish
+cavalry faltered; but might have disputed the ground, had it not been for
+the infantry, which, composed of the rabble population of the city, was
+easily thrown into confusion, and hurried the horse along with it. The
+rout now became general. The Spanish cavaliers, whose blood was up,
+pursued to the very gates of Granada, "and not a lance," says Bernaldez,
+"that day, but was dyed in the blood of the infidel." Two thousand of the
+enemy were slain and taken in the engagement, which lasted only a short
+time; and the slaughter was stopped only by the escape of the fugitives
+within the walls of the city. [11]
+
+About the middle of July, an accident occurred in the camp, which had like
+to have been attended with fatal consequences. The queen was lodged in a
+superb pavilion, belonging to the marquis of Cadiz, and always used by him
+in the Moorish war. By the carelessness of one of her attendants, a lamp
+was placed in such a situation, that, during the night, perhaps owing to a
+gust of wind, it set fire to the drapery or loose hangings of the
+pavilion, which was instantly in a blaze. The flame communicated with
+fearful rapidity to the 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 apartments were near hers, were
+in great peril, and escaped with difficulty, though fortunately without
+injury. The alarm soon spread. The trumpets sounded to arms, for it was
+supposed to be some night attack of the enemy. Ferdinand, snatching up his
+arms hastily, put himself at the head of his troops; but, soon
+ascertaining the nature of the disaster, contented himself with posting
+the marquis of Cadiz, 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
+injury, though not without loss of much valuable property, in jewels,
+plate, brocade, and other costly decorations of the tents of the nobility.
+[12]
+
+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 execution. The work was distributed in due proportions
+among the troops of the several cities and of the great nobility; the
+soldier was on a sudden converted into an artisan, and, instead of war,
+the camp echoed with the sounds of peaceful labor.
+
+In less than three months, this stupendous task was accomplished. The spot
+so recently occupied by light, fluttering pavilions, was thickly covered
+with solid structures of stone and mortar, comprehending, besides
+dwelling-houses, stables for a thousand horses. The town was thrown into a
+quadrangular form, traversed by two spacious avenues, intersecting each
+other at right angles in the centre, in the form of a cross, with stately
+portals at each of the four extremities. Inscriptions on blocks of marble
+in the various quarters, recorded the respective shares of the several
+cities in the execution of the work. When it was 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
+enduring patience of the Spaniards, "the only city in Spain," in the words
+of a Castilian writer, "that has never been contaminated by the Moslem
+heresy." [13]
+
+The erection of Santa Fe by the Spaniards struck a greater damp into the
+people of Granada, than the most successful military achievement could
+have done. They beheld the enemy setting foot on their soil, with a
+resolution never more to resign it. They already began to suffer 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 counsellors became convinced, that the place could not be
+maintained much longer; and at length, in the month of October,
+propositions were made through the vizier Abul Cazim Abdelmalic, to open a
+negotiation for the surrender of the place. The affair was to be conducted
+with the utmost caution; since the people of Granada, notwithstanding
+their precarious condition, and their disquietude, were buoyed up by
+indefinite expectations of relief from Africa, or some other quarter.
+
+The Spanish sovereigns intrusted the negotiation to their secretary
+Fernando de Zafra, and to Gonsalvo de Cordova, the latter of whom was
+selected for this delicate business, from his uncommon address, and his
+familiarity with the Moorish habits and language. Thus the 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 of capitulation were definitively
+settled, and ratified by the respective monarchs on the 25th of November,
+1491. [14]
+
+The conditions were of similar, though somewhat more liberal import, than
+those granted to Baza. The inhabitants of Granada were to retain
+possession of their mosques, with the free exercise of their religion,
+with all its peculiar rites and ceremonies; they were to be judged by
+their own laws, under their own cadis or magistrates, subject to the
+general control of the Castilian governor; they were to be unmolested in
+their ancient usages, manners, language, and dress; to be protected in the
+full enjoyment of their property, with the right of disposing of it on
+their own account, and of migrating when and where they 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 imposed 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 Alpuxarras, for which he was to do homage to the
+Castilian crown. The artillery and the fortifications were to be delivered
+into the hands of the Christians, and the city was to be surrendered in
+sixty days from the date of the capitulation. Such were the principal
+terms of the surrender of Granada, as authenticated by the most accredited
+Castilian and Arabian authorities; which I have stated the more precisely,
+as affording the best data for estimating the extent of Spanish perfidy in
+later times. [15]
+
+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 capitulation 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 performing this last act
+of the drama with suitable pomp and effect. The mourning which the court
+had put on for the death of Prince Alonso of Portugal, occasioned by a
+fall from his horse a few months after his marriage with the infanta
+Isabella, was exchanged for gay and magnificent apparel. On the morning of
+the 2d, the whole Christian camp exhibited a scene of the most animating
+bustle. The grand cardinal Mendoza was sent forward at the head of a large
+detachment, comprehending his household troops, and the veteran infantry
+grown grey in the Moorish wars, to occupy the Alhambra preparatory to the
+entrance of the sovereigns. [16] Ferdinand stationed himself at some
+distance in the rear, near an Arabian mosque, since consecrated as the
+hermitage of St. Sebastian. He was surrounded by his courtiers, with their
+stately retinues, glittering in gorgeous panoply, and proudly displaying
+the armorial bearings of their ancient houses. The queen halted still
+farther in the rear, at the village of Armilla. [17]
+
+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
+Alhambra 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. [18]
+
+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 sunbeams, 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. [19] The grandees who surrounded
+Ferdinand then advanced towards the queen, and kneeling down saluted her
+hand in token of homage to her as sovereign of Granada. The procession
+took up its march towards the city, "the king and queen moving in the
+midst," says an historian, "emblazoned with royal magnificence; and, as
+they were in the prime of life, and had now achieved the completion of
+this glorious conquest, they seemed to represent even more than their
+wonted majesty. Equal with each other, they were raised far above the rest
+of the world. They appeared, indeed, more than mortal, and as if sent by
+Heaven for the salvation of Spain." [20]
+
+In the mean while the Moorish king, traversing the route of the
+Alpuxarras, reached a rocky eminence which commanded a last view of
+Granada. He checked his horse, and, as his eye for the last time wandered
+over the scenes of his departed greatness, his heart swelled, and he burst
+into tears. "You do well," said his more masculine mother, "to weep like a
+woman, for what you could not defend like a 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;
+and 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 _El 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 Alpuxarras, under the shadow, as
+it were, of his ancient palaces. In the following year, he passed over to
+Fez with his family, having commuted his petty sovereignty for a
+considerable sum of money paid him by Ferdinand and Isabella, and soon
+after fell in battle in the service of an African prince, his kinsman.
+"Wretched man," exclaims a caustic chronicler of his nation, "who could
+lose his life in another's cause, though he did not dare to die in his
+own. Such," continues the Arabian, with characteristic resignation, "was
+the immutable decree of destiny. Blessed be Allah, who exalteth and
+debaseth the kings of the earth, according to his divine will, in whose
+fulfilment consists that eternal justice, which regulates all human
+affairs." The portal, through which 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 destiny of the last of the kings of Granada. [21]
+
+The fall of Granada excited general sensation throughout Christendom,
+where it was received as counterbalancing, in a manner, the loss of
+Constantinople, nearly half a century before. At Rome, the event was
+commemorated by a solemn procession of the pope and cardinals to St.
+Peter's, where high mass was celebrated, and the public rejoicing
+continued for several days. [22] 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. [23]
+
+Thus ended the war of Granada, which is often compared by the Castilian
+chroniclers to that of Troy in its duration, and which certainly fully
+equalled the latter in variety of picturesque and romantic incidents, and
+in circumstances of poetical interest. With the surrender of its capital,
+terminated the Arabian empire in the Peninsula, after an existence of
+seven hundred and forty-one years from the date of the 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 local position
+was a matter of just concern, as interposed between the great divisions of
+the Spanish monarchy, and opening an obvious avenue to invasion from
+Africa. By the new conquest, moreover, the Spaniards gained a large extent
+of country, possessing the highest capacities for production, in its
+natural fruitfulness of soil, temperature of climate, and in the state of
+cultivation to which it had been brought by its ancient occupants; while
+its shores were lined with commodious havens, that afforded every facility
+for commerce. The scattered fragments of the ancient Visigothic empire
+were now again, with the exception of the little state of Navarre,
+combined into one great monarchy, as originally destined by nature; and
+Christian Spain gradually rose by means of her new acquisitions from a
+subordinate situation, to the level of a first-rate European power.
+
+The moral influence of the Moorish war, its influence on the Spanish
+character, was highly important. The inhabitants of the great divisions of
+the country, as in most countries during the feudal ages, had been brought
+too frequently into collision with each other to allow the existence of a
+pervading national feeling. This was particularly the case in Spain, where
+independent states insensibly grew out of the detached fragments of
+territory recovered at different times from the Moorish monarchy. The war
+of Granada subjected all the various sections of the country to one common
+action, under the influence of common motives of the most exciting
+interest; while it brought them in conflict with a race, the extreme
+repugnance of whose institutions and character to their own, served
+greatly to nourish the nationality of sentiment. In this way, the spark of
+patriotism was kindled throughout the whole nation, and the most distant
+provinces of the Peninsula were knit together by a bond of union, which
+has remained indissoluble.
+
+The consequences of these wars in a military aspect are also worthy of
+notice. Up to this period, war had been carried on by irregular levies,
+extremely limited in numerical amount and in period of service; under
+little subordination, except to their own immediate chiefs, and wholly
+unprovided with the apparatus required for extended operations. The
+Spaniards were even lower than most of the European nations in military
+science, as is apparent from the infinite pains of Isabella to avail
+herself of all foreign resources for their improvement. In the war of
+Granada, masses of men were brought together, far greater than had
+hitherto been known in modern warfare. They were kept in the field not
+only through long campaigns, but far into the winter; a thing altogether
+unprecedented. They were made to act in concert, and the numerous petty
+chiefs brought in complete subjection to one common head, whose personal
+character enforced the authority of station. Lastly, they were supplied
+with all the requisite munitions, through the 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 gradually 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 Christendom.
+
+But, with all our sympathy for the conquerors, it is impossible, 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
+hands, wandering as exiles over the lands, which still blossomed with the
+fruits of their industry, and wasting away under persecution, until their
+very name as a nation was blotted out from the map of history. [24] It
+must be admitted, however, that they had long since reached their utmost
+limit of advancement as a people. The light shed over their history shines
+from distant ages; for, during the later period of their existence, they
+appear to have reposed in a state of torpid, luxurious indulgence, which
+would seem to argue, that, when causes of external excitement were
+withdrawn, the inherent vices of their social institutions had
+incapacitated them for the further production of excellence. In this
+impotent condition, it was wisely ordered, that their territory should be
+occupied by a people, whose religion and more liberal form of government,
+however frequently misunderstood or perverted, qualified them for
+advancing still higher the interests of humanity.
+
+It will not be amiss to terminate the narrative of the war of Granada with
+some notice of the fate of Rodrigo Ponce de Leon, marquis duke of Cadiz;
+for he may be regarded in a peculiar manner as the hero of it, having
+struck the first stroke by the surprise of Alhama, and witnessed every
+campaign 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 legitimate issue. In his person,
+he was of about the middle stature, of a compact, symmetrical frame, a
+fair complexion, with light hair inclining to red. He was an excellent
+horseman, and well skilled 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. [25]
+
+He was strict in his observance of the Catholic worship, punctilious in
+keeping all the church festivals and in enforcing their observance
+throughout his domains; and, in war, he was a most devout champion of the
+Virgin. He was ambitious of acquisitions, but lavish of expenditure,
+especially in the embellishment and fortification of his towns and
+castles; spending on Alcalá 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
+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 anything like respect for valor, courtesy, unblemished
+honor, or any other attribute of chivalry, shall be found in Spain. [26]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+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, especially 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 superstition of the Spanish clergy in that century. There is
+no great discrimination 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 theatrical accompaniment. His credulity and
+fanaticism, moreover, are well compensated by a simplicity and loyalty of
+purpose, which secure much more credit to his narrative than attaches to
+those of more ambitious writers, 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 observation. Notwithstanding its historical value is
+fully recognized by the Castilian 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 Granata," 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 things, 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 Granada,"
+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 accuracy
+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.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+[1] Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1490.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS.,
+cap. 95.--Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, pp. 404, 405.--Pulgar, Reyes
+Católicos, part. 3, cap. 127.--La Clède, Hist. de Portugal, tom. iv. p.
+19.--Faria y Sousa, Europa Portuguesa, tom. ii. p. 452.
+
+[2] Faria y Sousa, Europa Portuguesa, tom. ii. pp. 452-456.--Florez,
+Reynas Cathólicas, p. 845.--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 129.--Oviedo,
+Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 2, dial. 3.
+
+[3] Conde, Domination de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 41.--Bernaldez, Reyes
+Católicos, MS., cap. 90.
+
+Neither the Arabic nor Castilian authorities impeach the justice of the
+summons made by the Spanish sovereigns. I do not, however, find any other
+foundation for the obligation imputed to Abdallah in them, than that
+monarch's agreement during his captivity at Loja, in 1486, to surrender
+his capital in exchange for Guadix, provided the latter should be
+conquered within six months. Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, p. 275.--Garibay,
+Compendio, tom. iv. p. 418.
+
+[4] L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 176.--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap.
+130.--Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. cap. 85.--Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et
+d'Espagne, tom. iii. p. 309.
+
+[5] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 131, 132.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos,
+MS., cap. 97.--Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 41.--Peter
+Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 3, epist. 84.--Garibay, Compendio, tom. iv. p.
+424.--Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. pp. 309, 310.
+
+[6] Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1491.
+
+[7] According to Zuñiga, the quota furnished by Seville this season
+amounted to 6000 foot and 500 horse, who were recruited by fresh
+reinforcements no less than five times during the campaign. Annales de
+Sevilla, p. 406.--See also Col. de Cédulas, tom. iii. no. 3.
+
+[8] Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 42.--Bernaldez, Reyes
+Católicos, MS., cap. 100.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 3, epist. 89.--
+Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 18.--L. Marineo, Cosas
+Memorables, fol. 177.
+
+Martyr remarks, that the Genoese merchants, "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 authorities.
+Bibliotheca Escurialensis, tom. ii. pp. 247-260.
+
+The French work of Laborde, Voyage Pittoresque, (Paris, 1807,) and the
+English one of Murphy, Engravings of Arabian Antiquities of Spain,
+(London, 1816,) do ample justice in their finished designs to the general
+topography and architectural magnificence of Granada.
+
+[9] On one occasion, a Christian knight having discomfited with a handful
+of men a much superior body of Moslem chivalry, King Abdallah testified
+his admiration of his prowess by sending him on the following day a
+magnificent present, together 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.
+
+  "For ese fresco Genil
+  un campo viene marchando,
+  todo de lucida gente,
+  las armas van relumbrando.
+
+  "Las vanderas traen tendidas,
+  y un estandarte dorado;
+  el General de esta gente
+  es el invicto Fernando.
+  Y tambien viene la Reyna,
+  Muger del Hey don Fernando,
+  la qual tiene tanto esfuerzo
+  que anima a qualquier soldado."
+
+[10] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 101.
+
+[11] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 101.--Conde, Dominacion de los
+Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 42.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 4, epist. 90.
+--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 133.--Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. cap. 88.
+
+Isabella afterwards caused a Franciscan monastery to be built in
+commemoration of this event at Zubia, where, according to Mr. Irving, the
+house from which she witnessed the action is to be seen at the present
+day. See Conquest of Granada, chap. 90, note.
+
+[12] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 4, epist. 91.--Bernaldez, Reyes
+Católicos, MS., cap. 101.--Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. p. 673.--Bleda,
+Corónica, p. 619.--Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 18.
+
+[13] Estrada, Poblacion de España, tom. ii. pp. 344, 348.--Peter Martyr,
+Opus Epist., lib. 4, epist. 91.--Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1,
+cap. 18.
+
+Hyta, who embellishes his florid prose with occasional extracts from the
+beautiful 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,
+  Señores de gran estado," etc.
+
+Guerras de Granada, p. 515.
+
+[14] Pedraza, Antiguedad de Granada, fol. 74.--Giovio, De Vita Gonsalvi,
+apud Vitae Illust. Virorum, pp. 211, 212.--Salazar de Mendoza, Crón. del
+Gran Cardenal, p. 236.--Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii.
+pp. 316, 317.--Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 42.--L.
+Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 178.--Marmol, however, assigns the date in
+the text to a separate capitulation respecting Abdallah, dating that made
+in behalf of the city three days later. (Rebelion 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.
+
+[15] Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 19.--Conde, Dominacion de
+los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 42.--Zurita, Anales, tom. ii. cap. 90.--
+Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. pp. 317, 318.--Oviedo,
+Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 28. Martyr adds, that the
+principal Moorish nobility were to remove from the city. (Opus Epist.,
+lib. 4, epist. 92.) Pedraza, who has devoted a volume to the history of
+Granada, does not seem to think the capitulations worth specifying. Most
+of the modern Castilians pass very lightly over them. They furnish too
+bitter a comment on the conduct of subsequent Spanish monarchs. Marmol and
+the judicious Zurita agree in every substantial particular with Conde, and
+this coincidence may be considered as establishing the actual terms of the
+treaty.
+
+[16] Oviedo, whose narrative exhibits many discrepancies with those of
+other contemporaries, assigns this part to the count of Tendilla, the
+first captain-general of Granada. Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1,
+dial. 28. But, as this writer, though an eye-witness, was but thirteen or
+fourteen years of age at the time of the capture, and wrote some sixty
+years later from his early recollections, his authority cannot be
+considered of equal weight with that of persons who, like Martyr,
+described events as they were passing before them.
+
+[17] Pedraza, Antiguedad de Granada, fol. 75.--Salazar de Mendoza, Crón.
+del Gran Cardenal, p. 238.--Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. cap. 90.--Peter
+Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 4, epist. 92.--Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii.
+fol. 309.--Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 20.
+
+[18] Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, ubi supra.--Conde, Dominacion de los
+Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 43.--Pedraza, Antiguedad de Granada, fol. 76.--
+Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 102.--Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. cap.
+90.--Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 28.
+
+[19] Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., ubi supra.--One is reminded of Tasso's
+description of the somewhat similar feelings 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 placer che quella prima vista
+  Dolcemente spirò nell' altruì petto,
+  Alta contrizion successe, mista
+  Di timoroso e riverente affetto,
+  Osano appena d'innalzar la vista
+  Ver la città."
+
+Gerusalemme Liberata,--Cant. iii. st. 3, 5.
+
+[20] Mariana, Hist. de España tom. ii. p. 597.--Pedraza, Antiguedad de
+Granada, fol. 76.--Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1492.--Conde, Dominacion de
+los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 43.--Bleda, Corónica, pp. 621, 622.--Zurita,
+Anales, tom. iv. cap. 90.--Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. i. cap. 20.
+--L. Marineo, and indeed most of the Spanish authorities, represent the
+sovereigns as having postponed their entrance into the city until the 5th
+or 6th of January. A letter transcribed by Pedraza, 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 Moorish 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 calling 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 Deum laudamus_ was up the Alcala sung,
+  Down from the Alhambra's minarets were all the crescents flung;
+  The arms thereon of Aragon and Castile they display;
+  One king comes in in triumph, one weeping goes away."
+
+[21] Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 90.--Cardonne, Hist.
+d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. ii. pp. 319, 320.--Garibay, Compendio, tom.
+iv. lib. 40, cap. 42.--Marmol, 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 the Appendix to his Chronicle of Granada, concludes a notice of
+Abdallah's fate with the following description of his person. "A portrait
+of Boabdil el Chico is to be seen in the picture gallery of the
+Generalife. He is represented with a mild, handsome face, a fair
+complexion, and yellow hair. His dress is of yellow brocade, relieved with
+black velvet; and he has a black velvet cap, surmounted with a crown. In
+the armory of Madrid are two suits of armor said to have belonged to him,
+one of solid steel, with very little ornament; the morion closed. From the
+proportions of these suits of armor, he must have been of full stature and
+vigorous form." Note, p. 398.
+
+[22] Senarega, Commentarii de Rebus Genuensibus, apud Muratori, Rerum
+Italicarum Scriptores, (Mediolani, 1723-51,) tom. xxiv. p. 531.--It formed
+the subject of a theatrical representation before the court at Naples, in
+the same year. This drama, or _Farsa_, as it is called by its
+distinguished author, Sannazaro, is an allegorical medley, in which Faith,
+Joy, and the false prophet Mahomet play the principal parts. The
+difficulty of a precise classification of this piece, has given rise to
+warmer discussion among Italian critics, than the subject may be thought
+to warrant. See Signorelli, Vicende della Coltura nelle due Sicilie,
+(Napoli, 1810,) tom. 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 any virtue for the showing, had expressed and displayed
+in his letters, at large, with all the particularities and religious
+punctos and ceremonies, that were observed in the reception of that city
+and 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 likewise, 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 had seen a little army of martyrs, to the number of seven hundred and
+more Christians, that had lived in bonds and servitude, as slaves to the
+Moors, pass before his eyes, singing a psalm for their redemption; and
+that he had given tribute unto God, by alms and relief extended to them
+all, for his admission into the city. These things were in the letters,
+with many more ceremonies of a kind of holy ostentation.
+
+"The king, ever willing to put himself into the consort or quire of all
+religious actions, and naturally affecting much the king of 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 the court, together with the mayor and
+aldermen of London, in great solemnity to the church of Paul; there to
+hear a declaration from the lord chancellor, now cardinal. When they were
+assembled, the cardinal, standing upon the uppermost step, or halfpace,
+before the quire, and all the nobles, prelates, and governors of the city
+at the foot of the stairs, made a speech to them; letting them know that
+they were assembled in that consecrated place to sing unto God a new song.
+For that, said he, these many years the Christians 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 Ferdinando 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 victorious 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 effusion 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
+converted. Herewithal he did relate some of the most memorable particulars
+of the war and victory. And, after his speech ended, the whole assembly
+went solemnly in procession, and Te Deum was sung." Lord Bacon, History of
+the Reign of King Henry VII., in his Works, (ed. London, 1819,) vol. v.
+pp. 85, 86.--See also Hall, Chronicle, p. 453.
+
+[24] The African descendants of the Spanish Moors, unable wholly to
+relinquish the hope of restoration to the delicious abodes of their
+ancestors, continued for many generations, and perhaps still continue, to
+put up a petition to that effect in their mosques every Friday. Pedraza,
+Antiguedad de Granada, fol. 7.
+
+[25] Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1492.
+
+Don Henrique de Guzman, duke of Medina Sidonia, the ancient enemy, and,
+since the commencement of the Moorish war, the firm friend of the marquis
+of Cadiz, died the 28th of August, on the same day with the latter.
+
+[26] Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 411.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS.,
+cap. 104.
+
+The marquis left three illegitimate daughters by a noble Spanish lady, who
+all formed high connections. 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 subsequently annexed by the Spanish sovereigns 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.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+APPLICATION OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS AT THE SPANISH COURT.
+
+1492.
+
+Early Discoveries of the Portuguese.--Of the Spaniards.--Columbus.--His
+Application at the Castilian Court.--Rejected.--Negotiations Resumed.--
+Favorable Disposition of the Queen.--Arrangement with Columbus.--He Sails
+on his First Voyage.--Indifference to the Enterprise.--Acknowledgments due
+to Isabella.
+
+
+While Ferdinand and Isabella were at Santa Fe, the capitulation was
+signed, that opened the way to an extent of empire, compared with which
+their recent conquests, and indeed all their present dominions, were
+insignificant. The extraordinary intellectual activity of the Europeans in
+the fifteenth century, after the torpor of ages, carried them forward to
+high advancement in almost every department of science, but especially
+nautical, whose surprising results have acquired for the 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 dismemberment of the empire, it
+continued to be conducted principally through the channel of the Italian
+ports, whence it was diffused 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 especially
+the case with Portugal and Castile, [1] 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 themselves. Thus circumstanced, the two nations of Castile and
+Portugal were naturally led to turn their eyes on the great ocean which
+washed their western borders, and to seek in its hitherto unexplored
+recesses for new domains, and if possible strike out some undiscovered
+track towards the opulent regions of the east.
+
+The spirit of maritime enterprise was fomented, and greatly facilitated in
+its operation, by the invention of the astrolabe, and the important
+discovery of the polarity of the magnet, whose first application to the
+purposes of navigation on an extended scale may be referred to the
+fifteenth century. [2] The Portuguese were the first to enter on the
+brilliant path of nautical discovery, which they pursued under the infant
+Don Henry with such activity, that, before the middle of the fifteenth
+century, they had penetrated as far as Cape de Verd, doubling many a
+fearful headland, which had shut in the timid navigator of former days;
+until at length, in 1486, they descried the lofty promontory which
+terminates Africa on the south, and which, hailed by King John the Second,
+under whom it was discovered, as the harbinger of the long-sought passage
+to the east, received the cheering appellation of the Cape of Good Hope.
+
+The Spaniards, in the 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 adventurers from
+Seville extended their conquests over these islands in the beginning of
+the following century. These were completed in behalf of the crown under
+Ferdinand and Isabella, who equipped several fleets for their reduction,
+which at length terminated in 1495 with that of Teneriffe. [3] From the
+commencement of their reign, Ferdinand and Isabella 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
+misconception of the true principles of trade in that day, are
+sufficiently indicative of the dispositions of the government. [4] Under
+them, and indeed under their predecessors as far back as Henry the Third,
+a considerable traffic had been carried on with the western coast of
+Africa, from which gold dust and slaves were imported into the city of
+Seville. The annalist of that city notices the repeated interference of
+Isabella in behalf of these unfortunate beings, by ordinances tending to
+secure them a more equal protection of the laws, or opening such social
+indulgences as might mitigate the hardships of their condition. A
+misunderstanding gradually arose between the subjects of Castile and
+Portugal, in relation to their respective rights of discovery and commerce
+on the African coast, which promised a fruitful source of collision
+between the two crowns; but which was happily adjusted by an article in
+the treaty of 1479, that terminated the war of the succession. By this it
+was settled, that the right of traffic and of discovery on the western
+coast of Africa should be exclusively reserved to the Portuguese, who in
+their turn should resign all claims on the Canaries to the crown of
+Castile. The Spaniards, thus excluded from further progress to the south,
+seemed to have no other opening left for naval adventure than the hitherto
+untravelled regions of the great western ocean. Fortunately, at this
+juncture, an individual appeared among them, in the person of Christopher
+Columbus, endowed with capacity for stimulating them to this heroic
+enterprise, and conducting it to a glorious issue. [5]
+
+This extraordinary man was a native of Genoa, of humble parentage, though
+perhaps honorable descent. [6] He was instructed in his early youth at
+Pavia, where he acquired a strong relish for the mathematical sciences, in
+which he subsequently excelled. At the age of fourteen, he engaged in a
+seafaring life, which he followed with little intermission till 1470;
+when, probably little more than thirty years of age, [7] he landed in
+Portugal, the country to which adventurous spirits from all parts of the
+world then resorted, as the great theatre of maritime enterprise. After
+his arrival, he continued to make voyages to the then known parts of the
+world, and, when on shore, occupied himself with the construction and sale
+of charts and maps; while his geographical researches were considerably
+aided by the possession of papers belonging to an eminent Portuguese
+navigator, a deceased relative of his wife. Thus stored with all that
+nautical science in that day could supply, and fortified by large
+practical experience, the reflecting mind of Columbus was naturally led to
+speculate on the existence of some other land beyond the western waters;
+and he conceived the possibility of reaching the eastern shores of Asia,
+whose provinces of Zipango and Cathay were emblazoned in such gorgeous
+colors in the narratives of Mandeville and the Poli, by a more direct and
+commodious route than that which traversed the eastern continent. [8]
+
+The existence of land beyond the Atlantic, which was not discredited by
+some of the most enlightened ancients, [9] had become matter of common
+speculation at the close of the fifteenth century; when maritime adventure
+was daily disclosing the mysteries of the deep, and bringing to light new
+regions, that had hitherto existed only in fancy. A proof of this popular
+belief occurs in a curious passage of the "Morgante Maggiore" of the
+Florentine poet Palci, a man of letters, but not distinguished for
+scientific attainments beyond his day. [10] The passage is remarkable,
+independently of the cosmographical knowledge it implies, for its allusion
+to phenomena in physical science, not established till more than a century
+later. The Devil, alluding to the vulgar 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." [11]
+
+Columbus's hypothesis rested on much higher ground than mere popular
+belief. What indeed was credulity with the vulgar, and speculation with
+the learned, amounted in his mind to a settled practical 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 correspondence with
+the learned Italian Toscanelli, who furnished him with a map of his own
+projection, in which the eastern coast of Asia was delineated opposite to
+the western frontier of Europe. [12]
+
+Filled with lofty anticipations of achieving a discovery, which would
+settle a question of such moment, so long involved in obscurity, Columbus
+submitted the theory on which he had founded his belief in the existence
+of a western route to King John the Second, of Portugal. Here he was
+doomed to encounter for the first time the embarrassments and
+mortifications, 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. [13]
+
+The period of his arrival in Spain, being the latter part of 1484, would
+seem to have been the most unpropitious possible to his design. The nation
+was then in the heat of the Moorish war, and the sovereigns were
+unintermittingly engaged, as we have seen, in prosecuting their campaigns,
+or in active preparation for them. The large expenditure, incident to
+this, exhausted all their resources; and indeed the engrossing character
+of this domestic conquest left them little leisure for indulging in dreams
+of distant and doubtful discovery. Columbus, moreover, was unfortunate in
+his first channel of communication with the court. He was furnished by
+Fray Juan Perez de Marchena, guardian of the convent of La Rabida in
+Andalusia, who had early taken a deep interest in his plans, with an
+introduction to Fernando de Talavera, prior of Prado, and confessor of the
+queen, a person high in the royal confidence, and gradually raised through
+a succession of ecclesiastical dignities to the archiepiscopal see of
+Granada. He was a man of irreproachable morals, and of comprehensive
+benevolence for that day, as is shown in his subsequent treatment of the
+unfortunate Moriscoes. [14] He was also learned; although his learning was
+that of the cloister, deeply tinctured with pedantry and superstition, and
+debased by such servile deference even to the errors of antiquity, as at
+once led him to discountenance everything like innovation or enterprise.
+[15]
+
+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 kingdom, 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, prejudice, or skepticism, that years glided away
+before it came to a decision. During this time, Columbus appears to have
+remained in attendance on the court, bearing arms occasionally in the
+campaigns, and experiencing from the sovereigns an unusual degree of
+deference and personal attention; an evidence of which is afforded in the
+disbursements repeatedly made by the royal order for his private expenses,
+and in the instructions, issued to the municipalities of the different
+towns in Andalusia, to supply him gratuitously with lodging and other
+personal accommodations. [16]
+
+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 Salamanca pronounced his scheme to be "vain,
+impracticable, and resting on grounds too weak to merit the support of the
+government." Many in the council, however, were too enlightened to
+acquiesce in this sentence of the majority. Some of the most considerable
+persons of the court, indeed, moved by the cogency of Columbus's
+arguments, and affected by the elevation and grandeur of his views, not
+only cordially embraced his scheme, but extended their personal intimacy
+and friendship to him. Such, among others, were the grand cardinal
+Mendoza, a man whose enlarged capacity and acquaintance 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
+afterwards unhappily perverted in the service of the Holy Office, over
+which he presided as successor to Torquemada. [17] The authority 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 mitigation of their refusal, he seems to have considered
+it as peremptory and final. In great dejection of mind, therefore, but
+without further delay, he quitted the court, and bent his way to the
+south, with the apparently almost desperate intent of seeking out some
+other patron to his undertaking. [18]
+
+Columbus had already visited his native city of Genoa, for the purpose of
+interesting it in his scheme of discovery; but the attempt proved
+unsuccessful. He now made application, it would seem, to the dukes of
+Medina Sidonia and Medina Celi, successively, from the latter of whom he
+experienced much kindness and hospitality; but neither of these nobles,
+whose large estates lying along the sea-shore had often 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 prepared 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. [19]
+
+His progress, however, was arrested at the convent of La Rabida, which he
+visited previous to his departure, by his friend the guardian, who
+prevailed on him to postpone his journey till another effort had been made
+to move the Spanish court in his 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 Granada. Juan Perez
+had formerly been confessor of Isabella, and was held in great
+consideration by her for his excellent qualities. On arriving at the camp,
+he was readily admitted to an audience, when he pressed the suit of
+Columbus with all the earnestness and reasoning of which he was capable.
+The friar's eloquence was supported by that of several eminent persons,
+whom Columbus during his long residence in the country had interested in
+his project, and who viewed with sincere regret the prospect of its
+abandonment. Among these individuals are particularly mentioned Alonso de
+Quintanilla, comptroller general of Castile, Louis de St. Angel, a fiscal
+officer of the crown of Aragon, and the marchioness of Moya, the personal
+friend of Isabella, all of whom exercised considerable influence over her
+counsels. Their 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 dispositions of the sovereigns, that they
+consented to resume the negotiation with Columbus. An invitation was
+accordingly sent to him to repair to Santa Fe, and a considerable sum
+provided for his suitable equipment, and his expenses on the road. [20]
+
+Columbus, who lost no time in availing himself of this welcome
+intelligence, arrived at the camp in season to witness the surrender of
+Granada, when every heart, swelling with exultation at the triumphant
+termination of the war, 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 hypothesis
+was founded. He then endeavored to stimulate the cupidity of his audience,
+by picturing the realms of Mangi and Cathay, which he confidently expected
+to reach by this western route, in all the barbaric 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 fanaticism in a later day,
+and given a visionary tinge to his whole project, was not quite so
+preposterous in an age, in which the spirit of the crusades might be said
+still to linger, and the romance of religion had not yet been dispelled by
+sober reason. The more temperate 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
+religion. [21]
+
+Amidst all these propitious demonstrations towards Columbus, 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 Granada; 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 conferences were abruptly broken off, and he once more
+turned his back upon the Spanish court, resolved rather to forego his
+splendid anticipations of discovery, at the very moment when the career so
+long sought was thrown open to him, than surrender one of the 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. [22]
+
+The misunderstanding was not suffered to be of long duration. Columbus's
+friends, and especially Louis de St. Angel, remonstrated with the queen on
+these proceedings in the most earnest manner. He frankly told her, that
+Columbus's demands, if high, were at least contingent on success, when
+they would be well deserved; that, if he failed, he required nothing. He
+expatiated on his qualifications for the undertaking, so signal as to
+insure in all probability the patronage of some other monarch, who would
+reap the fruits of his discoveries; and he ventured to remind the queen,
+that her present policy was not in accordance with the magnanimous spirit,
+which had hitherto made her the ready patron of great and heroic
+enterprise. Far from being displeased, Isabella was moved by his honest
+eloquence. She 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 ready to pawn my 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 receiver, St.
+Angel, advanced the sums required, from the Aragonese revenues deposited
+in his hands. Aragon however was not considered as adventuring in the
+expedition, the charges and emoluments of which were reserved exclusively
+for Castile. [23]
+
+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 sovereigns, April 17th, 1492. By the terms of the
+capitulation, Ferdinand and Isabella, as lords of the ocean-seas,
+constituted Christopher Columbus their admiral, viceroy, and governor-
+general of all such islands and continents as he should discover in the
+western ocean, with the privilege of nominating 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 commercial transactions within his admiralty. He was to be entitled to
+one-tenth of all the products and profits within the limits of his
+discoveries, and an additional eighth, provided he should contribute one-
+eighth part of the expense. By a subsequent ordinance, the official
+dignities above enumerated were settled on him and his heirs for ever,
+with the privilege of prefixing the title of Don to their names, which had
+not then degenerated into an appellation of mere courtesy. [24]
+
+No sooner were the arrangements completed, than Isabella prepared with her
+characteristic promptness to forward the expedition by the most efficient
+measures. Orders were sent to Seville and the other ports of Andalusia, to
+furnish stores and other articles requisite for the voyage, free of duty,
+and at as low rates as possible. The fleet, consisting of three vessels,
+was to sail from the little port of Palos in Andalusia, which had been
+condemned for some delinquency to maintain two caravels for a twelvemonth
+for the public service. The third vessel was furnished by the admiral,
+aided, as it would seem, in defraying the charges, by his friend the
+guardian of La Rabida, and the Pinzons, a family in Palos long
+distinguished for its enterprise among the mariners of that active
+community. With their assistance, Columbus was enabled to surmount the
+disinclination, and indeed open opposition, manifested 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 ordinance of the
+30th of April, promising protection to all persons, who should embark in
+it, from criminal prosecution of whatever kind, until two months after
+their return. The armament consisted of two caravels, or light vessels
+without decks, and a third of larger burden. The total number of persons
+who embarked amounted to one hundred and twenty; and the whole charges of
+the crown for the expedition did not exceed seventeen thousand florins,
+The fleet was instructed to keep clear of the African coast, and other
+maritime possessions of Portugal. At length, all things being in
+readiness, Columbus and his whole crew partook of the sacrament, and
+confessed themselves, after the devout manner of the ancient Spanish
+voyagers, when engaged in any important enterprise; and on the morning of
+the 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. [25]
+
+It is impossible to peruse the story of Columbus without assigning to him
+almost exclusively the glory of his great discovery; for, from the first
+moment of its conception to that of its final execution, he was
+encountered by every species of mortification and embarrassment, with
+scarcely a heart to cheer, or a hand to help him. [26] Those more
+enlightened persons whom, during his long residence in Spain, he succeeded
+in interesting in his expedition, looked to it probably as the means of
+solving a dubious problem, with the same sort of vague and skeptical
+curiosity as to its successful result, with which we contemplate, in our
+day, an attempt to arrive at the Northwest passage. How feeble was the
+interest excited, even among those who from their science and situation
+would seem to have their attention most naturally drawn towards it, may be
+inferred from the infrequency of allusion to it in the correspondence and
+other writings of that time, previous to the actual discovery. Peter
+Martyr, one of the most accomplished scholars of the period, whose
+residence at the Castilian court must have fully instructed him in the
+designs of Columbus, and whose inquisitive mind led him subsequently to
+take the deepest interest in the results of his discoveries, does not, so
+far as I am aware, allude to him in any part of his voluminous
+correspondence with the learned men of his time, previous to the first
+expedition. The common people regarded, not merely with apathy, but with
+terror, the prospect of a voyage, that was to take the mariner from the
+safe and pleasant seas which he was accustomed to navigate, and send him
+roving on the boundless wilderness of waters, which tradition and
+superstitious fancy had peopled with innumerable forms of horror.
+
+It is true that Columbus experienced a most honorable reception at the
+Castilian court; such as naturally flowed from the benevolent spirit of
+Isabella, and her just appreciation of his pure and elevated character.
+But the queen was too little of a proficient in science to be able to
+estimate the merits of his hypothesis; and, as many of those, on whose
+judgment she leaned, deemed it chimerical, it is probable that she never
+entertained a deep conviction of its truth; at least not enough to warrant
+the liberal expenditure, which she never refused to schemes of real
+importance. This is certainly inferred by the paltry amount actually
+expended on the armament, far inferior to that appropriated to the
+equipment of two several fleets in the course of the late war for a
+foreign expedition, as well as to that, with which in the ensuing year she
+followed up Columbus's discoveries.
+
+But while, on a review of the circumstances, we are led more and more to
+admire the constancy and unconquerable spirit, which carried Columbus
+victorious through all the difficulties of his undertaking, we must
+remember, in justice to Isabella, that, although tardily, she did in fact
+furnish the resources essential to its execution; that she undertook the
+enterprise when it had been explicitly declined by other powers, and when
+probably none other of that age would have been found to countenance it;
+and that, after once plighting her faith to Columbus, she became his
+steady friend, shielding him against the calumnies 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. [27]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+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 purpose
+of collecting information relative to the voyages and discoveries of the
+early Spanish navigators. In 1825, Señor Navarrete gave to the world the
+first fruits of his indefatigable researches, in two volumes, the
+commencement 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 Señor 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
+their results on the fortunes of the Spanish monarchy.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+[1] Aragon, or rather Catalonia, maintained an extensive commerce with the
+Levant, and the remote regions of the east, during the Middle Ages,
+through the flourishing port of Barcelona. See Capmany y Montpalau,
+Memorias Históricas sobre la Marina, Comercio y Artes de Barcelona,
+(Madrid, 1779-92,) passim.
+
+[2] A council of mathematicians in the court of John II., of Portugal,
+first devised the application of the ancient astrolabe to navigation, thus
+affording to the mariner the essential advantages appertaining to the
+modern quadrant. The discovery of the polarity of the needle, which vulgar
+tradition assigned to the Amalfite Flavio Gioja, and which Robertson has
+sanctioned without scruple, is clearly proved to have occurred more than a
+century earlier. Tiraboschi, who investigates the matter with his usual
+erudition, passing by the doubtful reference of Guiot de Provins, whose
+age and personal identity even are contested, traces the familiar use of
+the magnetic needle as far back as the first half of the thirteenth
+century, by a pertinent passage from Cardinal Vitri, who died 1244; and
+sustains this by several similar references to other authors of the same
+century. 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 Portuguese voyagers, trusting to its guidance, ventured
+to quit the Mediterranean and African coasts, and extend their navigation
+to Madeira and the Azores. See Navarrete, Coleccion de los Viages y
+Descubrimientos que hicieron por Mar los Españoles, (Madrid, 1825-29,)
+tom. i. Int. sec. 33.--Tiraboschi, Letteratura Italiana, tom. iv. pp. 173,
+174.--Capmany, Mem. de Barcelona, tom. iii. part. 1, cap. 4.--Koch,
+Tableau des Révolutions de l'Europe, (Paris, 1814,) tom. i. pp. 358-360.
+
+[3] Four of the islands were conquered on behalf of private adventurers,
+chiefly from Andalusia, before the accession of Ferdinand and Isabella,
+and under their reign were held as the property of a noble Castilian
+family, named Peraza. The sovereigns sent a considerable armament from
+Seville in 1480, which subdued the great island of Canary on behalf of the
+crown, and another in 1493, which effected the reduction of Palma and
+Teneriffe after a sturdy resistance from the natives. Bernaldez postpones
+the last conquest to 1495. Salazar de Mendoza, Monarquía, tom. i. pp. 347-
+349.--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, pp. 136, 203.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos,
+MS., cap. 64, 65, 66, 133.--Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. i.
+Introd., sec. 28.
+
+[4] Among the provisions of the sovereigns 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 mariners and fishermen; for
+privileges to the seamen of Palos; for prohibiting the plunder of vessels
+wrecked on the coast; and an ordinance of the very last year, requiring
+foreigners to take their return cargoes in the products of the country.
+See these laws as extracted from the Ordenanças Reales and the various
+public archives, in Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 11.
+
+[5] Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, pp. 373, 374, 398.--Zurita, Anales, tom.
+iv. lib. 20, cap. 30, 34.--Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages.
+
+[6] Spotorno, Memorials of Columbus, (London, 1823,) p. 14.--Senarega,
+apud Muratori, Rerum Ital. Script., tom. xxiv. p. 535.--Antonio Gallo, De
+Navigatione Columbi, apud Muratori, Rerum Ital. Script., tom. xxiii. p.
+202.
+
+It is very generally agreed that the father of Columbus exercised the
+craft of a wool-carder, or weaver. The admiral's son Ferdinand, after some
+speculation on the genealogy of his illustrious parent, concludes with
+remarking, that, after all, a noble descent would confer less lustre on
+him than to have sprung from such a father; a philosophical sentiment,
+indicating pretty strongly that he had no great ancestry to boast of.
+Ferdinand finds something extremely mysterious and typical in his father's
+name of _Columbus_, signifying a _dove_, in token of his being ordained to
+"carry the olive-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 Primitivos de las Indian Occidentals, (Madrid, 1749,) tom.
+i., tom. i. Introd., sec. 21, 24.--Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. vii. p.
+548.
+
+[7] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 131.--Muñoz, Historia del Nuevo-
+Mundo, (Madrid, 1793,) lib. 2, sec. 13.
+
+There are no sufficient data for determining the period of Columbus's
+birth. The learned Muñoz 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 further,
+resting chiefly on a remark of Bernaldez, that he died in 1506, "in a good
+old age, at the age of seventy, a little more or less." (Cap. 131.) The
+expression is somewhat vague. In order to reconcile the facts with this
+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 literally
+taken, would seem to establish his birth near the time assigned by Muñoz.
+Incidental allusions in some other authorities, 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. Introd., sec. 54.)--Mr.
+Irving seems willing to rely exclusively on the authority of Bernaldez.
+
+[8] Antonio de Herrera, Historia General de las Indias Occidentales,
+(Amberes, 1728,) tom. i. dec. 1, lib. 1, cap. 7.--Gomara, Historia de las
+Indias, cap. 14, apud Barcia, Hist. Primitivos, tom. ii.--Bernaldez, Reyes
+Católicos, MS., cap. 118.--Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. i.
+Introd., sec. 30.
+
+Ferdinand Columbus 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; thirdly, testimony
+of sailors, comprehending, in addition to popular rumors of land described
+in western voyages, such relics as appeared to have floated to the
+European shores from the other side of the Atlantic. Hist. del Almirante,
+cap. 6-8.
+
+[9] None of the intimations are so precise as that contained in the well-
+known lines of Seneca's Medea,
+
+  "Venient annuis saecula," etc.,
+
+although, when regarded as a mere poetical vagary, it has not the weight
+which belongs to more serious suggestions, of similar import, in the
+writings of Aristotle and Strabo. The various allusions in the ancient
+classic writers to an undiscovered world form the subject of an elaborate
+essay in the Memorias da Acad. Real das Sciencias de Lisboa, (tom. v. pp.
+101-112,) and are embodied, in much greater detail, in the first section
+of Hnmboldt's "Histoire de la Géographie 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 illustration of many
+interesting points connected with the discovery of the New World, and the
+personal history of Columbus.
+
+[10] 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.
+
+[11] Pulci, Morgante Maggiore, canto 25, st. 229, 230.--I have used blank
+verse, as affording facility for a more literal version than the
+corresponding _ottava rima_ of the original. This passage of Pulci,
+which has not fallen under the notice of Humboldt, or any other writer on
+the same subject whom I have consulted, affords, probably, the most
+circumstantial prediction that is to be found of the existence of a
+western world. Dante, two centuries before, had intimated more vaguely his
+belief in an undiscovered quarter of the globe.
+
+  "De' vostri sensi, ch' è del rimanente,
+  Non vogliate negar l'esperienza,
+  Diretro al sol, del mondo senza gente."
+
+Inferno, cant. 26, v. 115.
+
+[12] Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. ii., Col. Dipl., no. 1.--Muñoz,
+Hist. del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 2, sec. 17.--It is singular that Columbus, in
+his visit to Iceland, in 1477, (see Fernando Colon, Hist. del Almirante,
+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 surprising that he should 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. de Humboldt has well remarked, that the information he obtained in
+Iceland was too vague to suggest the idea, that the lands thus discovered
+by the Northmen had any connection with the Indies, of which he was in
+pursuit. In Columbus's day, indeed, so little 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 Scandinavia. See
+Humboldt, Géographie du Nouveau Continent, tom. ii. pp. 118, 125.
+
+[13] Herrera, Indias Occidentals, tom. i. dec. 1, lib. 1, cap. 7.--Muñoz,
+Hist. del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 2, sec. 19.--Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, cap.
+15.--Benzoni, Novi Orbis Historia, lib. 1, cap. 6.--Fernando Colon, Hist.
+del Almirante, cap. 10.--Faria y Sousa, Europa Portuguesa, tom. ii. part.
+3, cap. 4.
+
+[14] Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., dial. de Talavera.
+
+[15] Salazar de Mendoza, Crón. del Gran Cardenal, p. 214.--Herrera, Indias
+Occidentales, tom. i. dec. 1, lib. 1, cap. 8.--Fernando Colon, Hist. del
+Almirante, cap. 11.
+
+[16] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 1, cap. 8.--Zuñiga,
+Annales de Sevilla, p. 104.--Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. i. sec.
+60, 61, tom. ii., Col. Dipl., nos. 2, 4.
+
+[17] This prelate, Diego de Deza, was born of poor but respectable
+parents, at Toro. He early entered the Dominican order, where his learning
+and exemplary life recommended him to the notice of the sovereigns, who
+called him to court to take charge of Prince John's education. He was
+afterwards raised, through the usual course of episcopal preferment, to
+the metropolitan see of Seville. His situation, as confessor of Ferdinand,
+gave him great influence over that monarch, with whom he appears to have
+maintained an intimate correspondence, to the day of his death. Oviedo,
+Quincuagenas, MS., dial. de Deza.
+
+[18] Fernando Colon, Hist. del Almirante, cap. 11.--Salazar de Mendoza,
+Crón. del Gran Cardenal, p. 215.--Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 2,
+sec. 25, 29.--Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. i., Introd., sec. 60.
+
+[19] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 1, cap. 8.--Muñoz, Hist.
+del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 2, sec. 27.--Spotorno, Memorials of Columbus, pp.
+31-33.--The last 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 his entertaining Columbus as his guest for two
+years. It is very difficult to determine the date of these two years. If
+Herrera is correct in the statement, that, after a five years' residence
+at court, whose commencement 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 departure from Portugal and the first application to the court of
+Castile, in 1486. Some other writers, and among them Muñoz and Irving,
+referring his application to Genoa to 1485, and his first appearance in
+Spain to a subsequent period, make no provision for the residence with the
+duke of Medina Celi. Mr. Irving indeed is betrayed into a chronological
+inaccuracy, in speaking of a seven years' residence at the court in 1491,
+which he had previously noticed as having before begun in 1486. (Life of
+Columbus, (London, 1828,) comp. vol. i. pp. 109, 141.) In fact, the
+discrepancies among the earliest authorities are such as to render
+hopeless any attempt to settle with precision the chronology of Columbus's
+movements previous to his first voyage.
+
+[20] Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. viii. pp. 129, 130.--Muñoz, Hist. del
+Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 2, sec. 31.--Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib.
+1, cap. 8.--Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. i., Introd., sec. 60.
+
+[21] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 1, cap. 8.--Primer Viage
+de Colon, apud Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. i. pp. 2, 117.--
+Fernando Colon, Hist. del Almirante, cap. 13.
+
+[22] Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 2, sec. 28, 29.--Fernando Colon,
+Hist. del Almirante, ubi supra.
+
+[23] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 1, cap. 8.--Muñoz, Hist.
+del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 2, sec. 32, 33.--Fernando Colon, Hist. del
+Almirante, cap. 14.--Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, cap. 15.
+
+[24] Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. ii., Col. Diplomat., nos. 5, 6.
+--Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 412.--Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii.
+p. 605.
+
+[25] Peter Martyr, De Rebus Oceanicis et Novo Orbe, (Coloniae, 1574,) dec.
+1, lib. 1.--Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. ii., Col. Diplomat., nos.
+7, 8, 9, 10, 12.--Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 1, cap. 9.--
+Fernando Colon, Hist. del Almirante, cap. 14.--Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo-
+Mundo, lib. 2, sec. 33.--Benzoni, Novi Orbis Hist., lib. 1, cap. 6.--
+Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, cap. 15.
+
+The expression in the text will not seem too strong, even admitting the
+previous discoveries of the Northmen, which were made in so much higher
+latitudes. Humboldt has well shown the probability, _a priori_, of
+such discoveries, made in a narrow part of the Atlantic, where the
+Orcades, the Feroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland afforded the voyager so
+many intermediate stations, at moderate distances from each other.
+(Géographie du Nouveau Continent, tom. ii. pp. 183 et seq.) The
+publication of the original Scandinavian MSS., (of which imperfect notices
+and selections, only, have hitherto found their way into the world,) by
+the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries, 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 declaration of the
+Prospectus, that "it was the knowledge of the Scandinavian voyages, in all
+probability, which prompted the expedition of Columbus," can ever be
+established. His personal history furnishes strong internal evidence to
+the contrary.
+
+[26] How strikingly are the forlorn condition and indomitable energy of
+Columbus depicted in the following noble verses of Chiabrera;
+
+  "Certo da cor, ch' alto destin non scelse,
+  Son l' imprese magnanime neglette;
+  Ma le bell' alme alle bell' opre elette
+  Sanno gioir nelle fatiche eccelse;
+  Nè biasnio popolar, frale catena,
+  Spirto d'onore, il suo cammin reffrena.
+  Così lunga stagion per modi indegni
+  Europa disprezzò l'inclita speme,
+  Schernendo il vulgo, e seco i Regi insieme,
+  _Nudo nocchier, promettitor di Regni._"
+
+Rime, parte 1, canzone 12.
+
+[27] Columbus, in a letter written on his third voyage, pays an honest,
+heartfelt tribute to the effectual patronage which he experienced from the
+queen. "In the midst of the general incredulity," says he, "the Almighty
+infused into the queen, my lady, the spirit of intelligence and energy;
+and, whilst every one else, in his ignorance, was expatiating only on the
+inconvenience and cost, her Highness approved it, on the contrary, and
+gave it all the support in her power." See Carta al Ama del Principe D.
+Juan, apud Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. i. p. 266.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+EXPULSION OF THE JEWS FROM SPAIN.
+
+1492.
+
+Excitement against the Jews.--Edict of Expulsion.--Dreadful Sufferings of
+the Emigrants.--Whole Number of Exiles.--Disastrous Results.--True Motives
+of the Edict.--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 acquainted
+in a preceding chapter with the prosperous condition of the Jews in the
+Peninsula, and the pre-eminent consideration, which they attained there
+beyond any other part of Christendom. The envy raised by their prosperity,
+combined with the high religious excitement kindled in the long war with
+the infidel, directed the terrible arm of the Inquisition, as has been
+already stated, against this unfortunate people; but the result showed the
+failure of the experiment, since comparatively few conversions, and those
+frequently of a suspicious character, were effected, while the great mass
+still maintained a pertinacious attachment to ancient errors. [1]
+
+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 generation, with all
+the details of place and action. Christian children were said to be
+kidnapped, in order to be crucified in derision of the Saviour; the 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 the people. The Israelites
+were charged with the more probable offence of attempting to convert to
+their own faith the _ancient Christians_, as well as to reclaim such
+of their own race as had recently embraced Christianity. A great scandal
+was occasioned also by the inter-marriages, 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. [2]
+
+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 inquisitors, in particular, to whom the work of
+conversion had been specially intrusted, represented the incompetence of
+all lenient measures to the end proposed. They asserted, that the only
+mode left for the extirpation of the Jewish heresy, was to eradicate the
+seed; and they boldly demanded the immediate and total banishment of every
+unbaptized Israelite from the land. [3]
+
+The Jews, who had obtained an intimation of these proceedings, resorted to
+their usual crafty policy for propitiating the sovereigns. They
+commissioned one of their body to tender a donative of thirty thousand
+ducats towards defraying the expenses of the Moorish war. The negotiation,
+however, was suddenly interrupted by the inquisitor-general, Torquemada,
+who burst into the apartment of the palace, where the sovereigns were
+giving audience to the Jewish deputy, and, drawing forth a crucifix from
+beneath his mantle, held it up, exclaiming, "Judas Iscariot sold his
+master for thirty pieces of silver. Your Highnesses would sell him anew
+for thirty thousand; here he is, take him, and barter him away." So
+saying, the frantic priest threw the crucifix on the table, and left the
+apartment. The sovereigns, instead of chastising this presumption, or
+despising it as a mere freak of insanity, were 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 disposition of the queen. [4]
+But she had been early schooled to distrust her own reason, and indeed the
+natural suggestions of humanity, in cases of conscience. Among the
+reverend counsellors, on whom she most relied in these matters, was the
+Dominican Torquemada. The situation which this man enjoyed as the queen's
+confessor, during the tender years of her youth, gave him an 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 expressed, of the holy
+persons in whom she most confided, Isabella, 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 obstinacy, with which the former persisted in their attempts
+to make converts of the latter to their own faith, and to instruct them in
+their heretical rites, in open defiance of every legal prohibition and
+penalty. When a college or corporation of any kind,--the instrument goes
+on to state,--is convicted of any great or detestable crime, it is right
+that it should be disfranchised, the less suffering with the greater, the
+innocent 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 revisiting 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
+necessities of any Jew, after the expiration of the term limited for his
+departure. The persons and property of the Jews, in the mean time, were
+taken under the royal protection. They were allowed to dispose of their
+effects of every kind on their own account, and to carry the proceeds
+along with them, in bills of exchange, or merchandise not prohibited, but
+neither in gold nor silver. [5]
+
+The doom of exile fell like a thunderbolt on the heads of the Israelites.
+A large proportion of them had hitherto succeeded in shielding themselves
+from the searching eye of the Inquisition, by an affectation of reverence
+for the forms of Catholic worship, and a discreet forbearance of whatever
+might offend the prejudices of their Christian brethren. They had even
+hoped, that their steady loyalty, and a quiet and orderly discharge of
+their social duties, would in time secure them higher immunities. Many had
+risen to a degree of opulence, by means of the thrift and dexterity
+peculiar to the race, which gave them a still deeper interest in the land
+of their residence. [6] 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
+pilgrimage. Even the mass of the common people possessed a dexterity in
+various handicrafts, which afforded a comfortable livelihood, raising them
+far above similar classes in most other nations, who might readily be
+detached from the soil on which they happened to be cast, with
+comparatively little sacrifice of local interests. [7] 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
+their property was bills of exchange. But commerce was too limited and
+imperfect to allow of these being promptly obtained to any very
+considerable, much less to the enormous amount required in the present
+instance. It was impossible, moreover, to negotiate a sale of their
+effects under existing circumstances, since the market was soon glutted
+with commodities; and few would be found willing to give anything like an
+equivalent for what, if not disposed of within the prescribed term, the
+proprietors must relinquish at any rate. So deplorable, indeed, was the
+sacrifice of property, that a chronicler of the day mentions, that he had
+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 the people, who have been
+everywhere conspicuous for their commercial sagacity and resources, and
+who, as factors of the great nobility and farmers of the revenue, enjoyed
+at least equal advantages in Spain with those possessed in other
+countries, for the accumulation of wealth. [8]
+
+While the gloomy aspect of their fortunes pressed heavily on the hearts of
+the Israelites, the Spanish clergy were indefatigable in the work of
+conversion. They lectured in the synagogues and public squares, expounding
+the doctrines of Christianity, and thundering forth both argument and
+invective against the Hebrew heresy. But their laudable endeavors were in
+a great measure counteracted by the more authoritative rhetoric of the
+Jewish Rabbins, who compared the persecutions 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 contributions for the relief of their indigent
+brethren. Thus strengthened, there were found but very few, when the day
+of departure arrived, who were not prepared to abandon their country
+rather than their religion. The 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 obstinacy," with which the worthy Curate of Los Palacios, in
+the charitable feeling of that day, has seen fit to stigmatize it. [9]
+
+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 undertaking
+their painful pilgrimage on foot. The sight of so much misery touched even
+the Spaniards with pity, though none might succor them; for the grand
+inquisitor, Torquemada, enforced the ordinance to that effect, by
+denouncing heavy ecclesiastical censures on all who should presume to
+violate it. The fugitives were distributed along various routes, being
+determined in their destination by accidental circumstances, much more
+than any knowledge of the respective countries to which they were bound.
+Much the largest division, amounting according to some estimates to eighty
+thousand souls, passed into Portugal; whose monarch, John the Second,
+dispensed with his scruples of conscience so far as to give them a free
+passage through his dominions on their way to Africa, in consideration of
+a tax of a _cruzado_ a head. He is even said to have silenced his
+scruples so far as to allow certain ingenious artisans to establish
+themselves permanently in the kingdom. [10]
+
+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, according to the promises of the Rabbins,
+they embarked on board a Spanish fleet for the Barbary coast. Having
+crossed over to Ercilla, a Christian settlement in Africa, whence they
+proceeded by land towards Fez, where a considerable body of their
+countrymen resided, they were assaulted on their route by the roving
+tribes of the desert, in quest of plunder. Notwithstanding the interdict,
+the Jews had contrived to secrete small sums of money, sewed up in their
+garments or the linings of their saddles. These did not escape the
+avaricious eyes of their spoilers, who are even said to have ripped open
+the bodies of their victims, in search of gold, which they were supposed
+to have swallowed. The lawless barbarians, mingling lust with avarice,
+abandoned themselves to still more frightful excesses, violating the wives
+and daughters of the unresisting Jews, or massacring in cold blood such as
+offered resistance. But without pursuing these loathsome details further,
+it need only be added, that the miserable exiles endured such extremity of
+famine, that they were glad to force a nourishment from the grass which
+grew scantily among the sands of the desert; until at length great numbers
+of them, wasted by disease, and broken in spirit, retraced their steps to
+Ercilla, and consented to be 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 historian, "the
+calamities of these poor blind creatures proved in the end an excellent
+remedy, that God made use of to unseal their eyes, which they now opened
+to the vain promises of the Rabbins; so that, renouncing their ancient
+heresies, they became faithful followers of the Cross!" [11]
+
+Many of the emigrants took the direction of Italy. Those who landed at
+Naples brought with them an infectious disorder, contracted by long
+confinement in small, crowded, and ill-provided vessels. The disorder was
+so malignant, and spread with such frightful celerity, as to sweep off
+more than twenty thousand inhabitants of the city, in the course of the
+year, whence it extended its devastation over the whole Italian peninsula.
+
+A graphic picture of these horrors is thus given by a Genoese historian,
+an eye-witness of the scenes he describes. "No one," he says, "could
+behold the sufferings of the Jewish exiles unmoved. A great many perished
+of hunger, especially those of tender years. Mothers, with scarcely
+strength to support themselves, carried their famished infants in their
+arms, and died with them. Many fell victims to the cold, others to intense
+thirst, while the unaccustomed distresses incident to a sea-voyage
+aggravated their maladies. I will not enlarge on the cruelty and the
+avarice which they frequently experienced from the masters of the ships
+which transported them from Spain. Some were murdered to gratify their
+cupidity, others forced to sell their children for the expenses of the
+passage. They arrived in Genoa in crowds, but were not suffered to tarry
+there long, by reason of the ancient law which interdicted the Jewish
+traveller from a longer residence than three days. They were allowed,
+however, to refit their vessels, and to recruit themselves for some days
+from the fatigues of their voyage. One might have taken them for spectres,
+so emaciated were they, so cadaverous 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 expired on
+the mole, which, being completely surrounded by the sea, was the only
+quarter vouchsafed to the wretched emigrants. The infection bred by such a
+swarm of dead and dying persons was not at once perceived; but, when the
+winter broke up, ulcers began to make their appearance, and the malady,
+which lurked for a long time in the city, broke out into the plague in the
+following year." [12]
+
+Many of the exiles passed into Turkey, and to different parts of the
+Levant, where their descendants continued to speak the Castilian language
+far into the following century. Others found their way to France, and even
+England. Part of their religious services is recited to this day in
+Spanish, in one or more of the London synagogues; and the modern Jew still
+reverts with fond partiality to Spain, as the cherished land of his
+fathers, illustrated by the most glorious recollections in their eventful
+history. [13]
+
+The whole number of Jews expelled from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella is
+variously computed from one hundred and sixty thousand to eight hundred
+thousand souls; a discrepancy sufficiently indicating the paucity of
+authentic data. Most modern writers, with the usual predilection for
+startling results, have assumed the latter estimate; and Llorente has made
+it the basis of some important calculations, in his History of the
+Inquisition. A view of all the circumstances will lead us without much
+hesitation to adopt the more moderate computation. [14] This, moreover, is
+placed beyond reasonable doubt by the direct testimony of the Curate of
+Los Palacios. He reports, that a Jewish Rabbin, one of the exiles,
+subsequently returned to Spain, where he was 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 Bernaldez. 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. [15]
+
+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 number of the exiled; and, although even this might have been
+gradually repaired in a country allowed the free and healthful development
+of its energies, yet in Spain this was so effectually 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 independent act of
+the sovereign, might well be regarded as an enormous stretch of
+prerogative, altogether incompatible with anything 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 from 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, and might be lopped
+off at any time, when the health of the system demanded it. Far from being
+protected by the laws, the only aim of the laws, in reference to them, was
+to define more precisely their civil incapacities, and to draw the line of
+division more broadly between them and the Christians. Even this
+humiliation by no means satisfied the national prejudices, as is evinced
+by the great number of tumults and massacres of which they were the
+victims. In these circumstances, it seemed to be no great assumption of
+authority, to pronounce sentence of exile against those whom public
+opinion had so long proscribed as enemies to the state. It was only
+carrying into effect that opinion, expressed as it had been in a great
+variety of ways; and, as far as the rights of the nation were concerned,
+the banishment of a single Spaniard would have been held a grosser
+violation of them, than that of the whole race 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 transport ourselves back to those times, to find it
+in perfect accordance with their spirit, at least in Spain. It is indeed
+incredible, that persons possessing the political sagacity of Ferdinand
+and Isabella could indulge a temporary cupidity at the sacrifice of the
+most important and permanent interests, converting their wealthiest
+districts into a wilderness, and dispeopling them of a class of citizens
+who contributed beyond all others, not only to the general resources, but
+the direct revenues of the crown; a measure so manifestly unsound, as to
+lead even a barbarian monarch of that day to exclaim, "Do they call this
+Ferdinand a politic prince, who can thus impoverish his own kingdom and
+enrich ours!" [16]  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. [17] No imputation of
+this kind attaches to Castile. The clause of the ordinance, which might
+imply such a design, by interdicting the exportation of gold and silver,
+was only enforcing a law, which had been already twice enacted by cortes
+in the present reign, and which was deemed of such moment, that the
+offence was made capital. [18]
+
+We need look no further for the principle of action, in this case, than
+the spirit of religious bigotry, which led to a similar expulsion of the
+Jews from England, France, and other parts of Europe, as well as from
+Portugal, under circumstances of peculiar atrocity, a few years later.
+[19] Indeed, the spirit of persecution did not expire with the fifteenth
+century, but extended far into the more luminous periods of the
+seventeenth 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. [20] How far the banishment of the
+Jews was conformable to the opinions of the most enlightened
+contemporaries, may be gathered from the encomiums lavished on its authors
+from more than one 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. [21]
+
+It cannot be denied, that Spain at this period surpassed most of the
+nations of Christendom in religious enthusiasm, or, to speak more
+correctly, in bigotry. This is doubtless imputable to the long war with
+the Moslems, and its recent glorious issue, which swelled every heart with
+exultation, disposing it to consummate the triumphs of the Cross by
+purging the land from a heresy, which, strange as it may seem, was
+scarcely less detested than that of Mahomet. Both the sovereigns partook
+largely of these feelings. With regard to Isabella, moreover, it must be
+borne constantly in mind, as has been repeatedly remarked in the course of
+this History, that she had been used to surrender her own judgment, in
+matters of conscience, to those spiritual guardians, who were supposed in
+that age to be its rightful depositaries, and the only casuists who could
+safely determine the doubtful line of duty. Isabella's pious disposition,
+and her trembling solicitude to discharge her duty, at whatever cost of
+personal inclination, greatly enforced the precepts of 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. [22]--But we gladly turn from these dark prospects
+to a brighter page of her history.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+[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
+contemporaries, affords the true key to the popular odium against the
+Jews. "Cum namque viderent, Judaeorum tabido commercio, qui hac horâ sunt
+in Hispaniâ _innumeri Christianis ditiores_, plurimorum animos corrumpi ac
+seduci," etc. Opus Epist., epist. 92.
+
+[2] Paramo, De Origine Inquisitionis, p. 164.--Llorente, Hist. de
+l'Inquisition, tom. i. cap. 7, sec. 3.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist.
+94.--Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. viii. p. 128.
+
+[3] Paramo, De Origine Inquisitionis, p. 163.
+
+Salazar de Mendoza refers the sovereign's consent to the banishment of the
+Jews, in a great measure, to the urgent remonstrances of the cardinal of
+Spain. The bigotry of the biographer makes him claim the credit of every
+fanatical act for his illustrious hero. See Crón. del Gran Cardenal, p.
+250.
+
+[4] Llorente, Hist. de l'Inquisition, tom. i. chap. 7, sect. 5.
+
+Pulgar, in a letter to the cardinal of Spain, animadverting with much
+severity on the tenor of certain municipal ordinances against the Jews in
+Guipuscoa and Toledo, in 1482, plainly intimates, that they were not at
+all to the taste of the queen. See Letras, (Amstelodami, 1670,) let. 31.
+
+[5] Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1492.--Recep. de las Leyes, lib. 8, tit. 2,
+ley 2.--Pragmáticas del Reyno, ed. 1520, fol. 3.
+
+[6] The Curate of Los Palacios speaks of several Israelites worth one or
+two millions 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 Curate's
+statement _à la lettre_. See Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 112.
+
+[7] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, ubi supra.
+
+[8] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 10.--Zurita, Analos, tom. v.
+fol. 9.
+
+Capmany notices the number of synagogues 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 Barcelona, tom. iv. Apend. num. 11.
+
+[9] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 10, 113.--Ferreras, Hist.
+d'Espagne, tom. viii. p. 131.
+
+[10] Zurita, Anales, tom. v. fol. 9.--Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom.
+viii. p. 133.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, ubi supra.--La Clède, Hist. de
+Portugal, tom. iv. p. 95.--Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. p. 602.
+
+[11] Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. viii. p. 133.--Bernaldez, Reyes
+Católicos, MS., cap. 113.
+
+[12] Senarega, apud Muratori, Rerum Ital. Script., tom. xxiv. pp. 531,
+532.
+
+[13] See a sensible notice of Hebrew literature in Spain, in the
+Retrospective Review, vol. iii. p. 209.--Mariana, Hist. de España, tom.
+ii. lib. 26, cap. 1.--Zurita, Anales, tom. v. fol. 9.
+
+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; another, as filling the
+posts of astronomer and chronicler, under King Emanuel of Portugal. Many
+of them published works in various departments of science, which were
+translated into the Spanish and other European languages. Biblioteca
+Española, tom. i. pp. 359-372.
+
+[14] From a curious document in the _Archives of Simancas_, consisting of
+a report made to the Spanish sovereigns by their accountant general,
+Quintanilla, in 1492, it would appear, that the population 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 family, would make the whole
+population 6,750,000. It appears from the statement of Bernaldez, that the
+kingdom of Castile contained five-sixths of the whole amount of Jews in
+the Spanish monarchy. This proportion, if 800,000 be received as the
+total, would amount in round numbers to 670,000, or ten per cent, of the
+whole population of the kingdom. Now, it is manifestly improbable that so
+large a portion of the whole nation, conspicuous moreover for wealth and
+intelligence, could have been held so light in a political aspect, as the
+Jews certainly were, or have tamely submitted for so many years to the
+most wanton indignities without resistance; or finally, that the Spanish
+government would have ventured on so bold a measure as the banishment of
+so numerous and powerful a class, and that too with as few precautions,
+apparently, as would be required for driving out of the country a roving
+gang of gypsies.
+
+[15] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 110.--Llorente, Hist. de
+l'Inquisition, tom. i. chap. 7, sect. 7.--Mariana, Hist. de España, tom.
+ii. lib. 26.--Zurita, Anales, tom. v. fol. 9.
+
+[16] Bajazet. See Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. p. 310.--Paramo, De
+Origine Inquisitionis, p. 168.
+
+[17] "In truth," Father Abarca somewhat innocently remarks, "King
+Ferdinand was a politic Christian, making the interests of church and
+state mutually subservient to each other"! Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. fol.
+310.
+
+[18] Once at Toledo, 1480, and at Murcia, 1488. See Recop. de las Leyes,
+lib. 6, tit. 18, ley 1.
+
+[19] The Portuguese government caused all children of fourteen years of
+age, or under, to be taken from their parents and retained in the country,
+as fit subjects for a Christian education. The distress occasioned by this
+cruel provision may be well imagined. Many of the unhappy parents murdered
+their children to defeat the ordinance; and many laid violent hands on
+themselves. Faria y Sousa coolly remarks, that "It was a great mistake in
+King Emanuel to think of converting any Jew to Christianity, old enough to
+pronounce the name of Moses!" He fixes three years of age as the utmost
+limit. (Europa Portuguesa, tom. ii. p. 496.)
+
+Mr. Turner has condensed, with his usual industry, the most essential
+chronological facts relative to modern Jewish history, into a note
+contained in the second volume of his History of England, pp. 114-120.
+
+[20] They were also rejected from Vienna, in 1669. The illiberal, and
+indeed most cruel legislation of Frederic II., in reference to his Jewish
+subjects, transports us back to the darkest periods of the Visigothic
+monarchy. The reader will find a summary of these enactments in the third
+volume of Milman's agreeable History of the Jews.
+
+[21] The accomplished and amiable Florentine, Pico di Mirandola, in his
+treatise on Judicial Astrology, remarks that, "the sufferings of the Jews,
+_in which the glory of divine justice delighted_, were so extreme as
+to fill us Christians with commiseration." The Genoese historian,
+Senarega, indeed admits that the measure savored _of some slight degree
+of cruelty_. "Res haec primo conspectu laudabilis visa est, quia decus
+nostrae Religionis respiceret, sed aliquantulum in se crudelitatis
+continere, si eos non belluas, sed homines a Deo creatos, consideravimus."
+De Rebus Genuensibus, apud Muratori, Rerum Ital. Script., tom. xxiv.--
+Illescas, Hist. Pontif., apud Paramo, De Origine Inquisitionis, p. 167.
+
+[22] 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 Torquemada, to the avarice
+and superstition of Ferdinand, to the false ideas and inconsiderate zeal
+with which they had inspired Isabella, to whom history cannot refuse the
+praise of great sweetness of disposition, and an enlightened mind." Hist.
+de l'Inquisition, tom. i. ch. 7, sec. 10.
+
+
+
+
+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 VI.--Jealousy of
+Portugal.--Second Voyage of Columbus.--Treaty of Tordesillas.
+
+
+Towards the latter end of May, 1492, the Spanish sovereigns quitted
+Granada, between which and Santa Fe they had divided their time since the
+surrender of the Moorish metropolis. They were occupied during the two
+following months with the affairs of Castile. In August they visited
+Aragon, proposing to establish their winter residence there in order to
+provide for its internal administration, and conclude the negotiations for
+the final surrender of Roussillon and Cerdagne by France, to which these
+provinces had been mortgaged by Ferdinand's father, John the Second;
+proving ever since a fruitful source of diplomacy, which threatened more
+than once to terminate in open rupture.
+
+Ferdinand and Isabella arrived in Aragon on the 8th of August, accompanied
+by Prince John and the infantas, and a brilliant train of Castilian
+nobles. In their progress through the country they were everywhere
+received with the most lively enthusiasm. The whole nation seemed to
+abandon itself to jubilee, at the approach of its 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 residence to Catalonia, whose capital
+it reached about the middle of October. During its detention in this
+place, Ferdinand's career was wellnigh brought to an untimely close. [1]
+
+It was a good old custom of Catalonia, long since fallen into desuetude,
+for the monarch to preside in the tribunals of justice, at least once a
+week, for the purpose of determining the suits of the poorer classes
+especially, who could not afford the more expensive forms of litigation.
+King Ferdinand, in conformity with this usage, held a court in the house
+of deputation, on the 7th of December, being the vigil of the conception
+of the Virgin. At noon, as he was preparing to quit the palace, after 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 contiguous to the royal saloon, and just as the king was
+descending a flight of stairs, a ruffian darted from an obscure recess in
+which he had concealed himself early in the morning, and aimed a blow with
+a short sword, or knife, at the back of Ferdinand's neck. Fortunately the
+edge of the weapon was turned by a gold chain or collar which he was in
+the habit of wearing. It inflicted, however, a deep wound between the
+shoulders. Ferdinand instantly cried out, "St. Mary preserve us! treason,
+treason!" and his attendants, rushing on the assassin, stabbed him in
+three places with their poniards, and would have 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 removed to his apartments in the royal
+palace. [2]
+
+The report of the catastrophe spread like wildfire through the city. All
+classes were thrown into consternation by so foul an act, which seemed to
+cast a stain on the 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 readiness one of the galleys lying in the port, in order
+to transport her children from the place, as she feared the conspiracy
+might be designed to embrace other victims. [3]
+
+The populace, in the mean while, assembled in great numbers round the
+palace where the king lay. All feelings of hostility had long since given
+way to devoted loyalty towards a government, which had uniformly respected
+the liberties of its subjects, and whose paternal sway had secured similar
+blessings to Barcelona with the rest of the empire. They thronged round
+the building, crying out that the king was slain, and demanding that his
+murderers should be delivered 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 disperse, on the assurance,
+that the assassin should be brought to condign punishment.
+
+The king's wound, which did not appear dangerous at first, gradually
+exhibited more alarming symptoms. One of the bones was found to be
+fractured, and a part of it was removed 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 excellent 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 remensa_, 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 vindication of his conduct, that he was the rightful
+proprietor of the crown, which he expected to obtain by Ferdinand's death.
+He declared himself willing, however, to give up his pretensions, on
+condition of being set at liberty. The king, convinced of his 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 expiate
+it by the blood of the offender, and condemned the unhappy wretch to the
+dreadful doom of a traitor; the preliminary barbarities of the sentence,
+however, were remitted, at the intercession of the queen. [4]
+
+In the spring of 1493, while the court was still at Barcelona, letters
+were received from Christopher Columbus, announcing his return to Spain,
+and the successful achievement of his great enterprise, by the discovery
+of land beyond the western ocean. The delight and astonishment, raised by
+this intelligence, were proportioned to the skepticism, with which his
+project had been originally viewed. The sovereigns were now filled with a
+natural impatience to ascertain the extent and other particulars of the
+important discovery; and they transmitted instant instructions to the
+admiral to repair to Barcelona, as soon as he should have made the
+preliminary arrangements for the further prosecution of his enterprise.
+[5]
+
+The great navigator had succeeded, as is well known, after a voyage the
+natural difficulties of which had been much augmented 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. [6] He experienced, however, the most honorable 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. [7]
+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. [8]
+
+Great was the agitation in the little community of Palos, as they beheld
+the well-known vessel of the admiral re-entering 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. [9] 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 desirous
+of presenting himself before the sovereigns, to protract his stay long at
+Palos. He took with him on his journey specimens of the multifarious
+products of the newly discovered regions. He was accompanied by several of
+the native islanders, arrayed in their simple barbaric costume, and
+decorated, as he passed through the principal cities, with collars,
+bracelets, and other ornaments of gold, rudely fashioned; he exhibited
+also considerable quantities of the same metal in dust, or in crude
+masses, [10] numerous vegetable exotics, possessed of aromatic or
+medicinal virtue, and several kinds of quadrupeds unknown in Europe, and
+birds, whose varieties of gaudy plumage gave a brilliant effect to the
+pageant. The admiral's progress through the country was everywhere impeded
+by the multitudes thronging forth to gaze at the extraordinary spectacle,
+and the more extraordinary man, who, in the emphatic language of that
+time, which has now lost its force from its familiarity, first revealed
+the existence of a "New World." As he passed through the busy, populous
+city of Seville, every window, balcony, and housetop, which could afford a
+glimpse of him, is described to have been crowded with spectators. It was
+the middle of April before Columbus reached Barcelona. The nobility and
+cavaliers in attendance on the court, together with the authorities of the
+city, came to the gates to receive him, and escorted him to the royal
+presence. Ferdinand and Isabella were seated, with their son, Prince John,
+under a superb canopy of state, awaiting his arrival. On his approach,
+they rose from their seats, and, extending their hands to him to salute,
+caused him to be seated before them. These were unprecedented marks of
+condescension to a person of Columbus's rank, in the haughty and
+ceremonious court of 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 circumstances 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 humanity. [11]
+
+After a brief interval, the sovereigns requested from Columbus a recital
+of his adventures. His manner was sedate and dignified, but warmed by the
+glow of natural enthusiasm. He enumerated the several islands which he had
+visited, expatiated on the temperate character of the climate, and the
+capacity of the soil for every variety of agricultural production,
+appealing to the samples imported by him, as evidence of their natural
+fruitfulness. He dwelt more at large on the precious metals to be found in
+these islands, which he inferred, less from the specimens actually
+obtained, than from the uniform testimony of the natives to their
+abundance in the unexplored regions of the interior. Lastly, he pointed
+out the wide scope afforded to Christian zeal, in the illumination of a
+race of men, whose minds, far from being wedded to any system of idolatry,
+were prepared by their extreme simplicity for the reception of pure and
+uncorrupted doctrine. The last consideration touched Isabella's heart most
+sensibly; and the whole audience, kindled with various emotions by the
+speaker's eloquence, filled up the perspective with the gorgeous coloring
+of their own fancies, as ambition, or avarice, or devotional feeling
+predominated in their bosoms. When Columbus ceased, the king and queen,
+together with all present, prostrated 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 commemoration of some
+glorious victory. [12]
+
+The discoveries of Columbus excited a sensation, particularly among men of
+science, in the most distant parts of Europe, strongly contrasting with
+the apathy which had preceded them. 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 multifarious correspondence, had
+not even deigned to notice the preparations 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. [12]
+
+Most of the scholars of the day, however, adopted the erroneous hypothesis
+of Columbus, who considered the lands he had discovered, as bordering on
+the eastern shores of Asia, and lying adjacent to the vast and opulent
+regions depicted in such golden 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 Indies, an appellation by which they are still recognized in
+the titles of the Spanish. crown. [13]
+
+Columbus, during his residence at Barcelona, continued to receive from the
+Spanish sovereigns the most honorable distinctions which royal bounty
+could confer. When Ferdinand rode abroad, he was accompanied by the
+admiral at his side. The courtiers, in emulation of their master, made
+frequent entertainments, at which he was treated with the punctilious
+deference paid to a noble of the highest class. [14] But the attentions
+most grateful to his lofty spirit were the preparations of the Spanish
+court for prosecuting his discoveries, on a scale commensurate with their
+importance. A board was established for the direction of Indian affairs,
+consisting of a superintendent and two subordinate functionaries. The
+first of these officers was Juan de Fonseca, 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
+de las Indias_, or India House. [15]
+
+The commercial regulations adopted exhibit a narrow policy in some of
+their features, for which a justification may be found in the spirit of
+the age, and in the practice of the Portuguese particularly, but which
+entered still more largely into the colonial legislation of Spain under
+later princes. The 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, without license from the constituted
+authorities. It was impossible to evade this, as a minute specification of
+the ships; cargoes, crews, with the property appertaining to each
+individual, was required to be taken at the office in Cadiz, and a
+corresponding 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 articles
+for domestic consumption or export, were liberally furnished. Commodities
+of every description for the supply of the fleet were exempted from duty.
+The owners of all vessels throughout the ports of Andalusia were required,
+by an ordinance somewhat arbitrary, to hold them in readiness for the
+expedition. Still further authority was given to impress both officers and
+men, if necessary, into the service. Artisans of every sort, provided with
+the implements of their various crafts, including a great number of miners
+for exploring the subterraneous treasures of the new regions, were
+enrolled in the expedition; in order to defray the heavy charges of which,
+the government, in addition to the regular resources, had recourse to a
+loan, and to the sequestrated property of the exiled Jews. [16]
+
+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 establishment; the residue were sent to
+Seville, whence, after suitable religious instruction, they were to be
+returned as missionaries for the propagation of the faith among their own
+countrymen. Twelve Spanish ecclesiastics were also destined to this
+service; among whom was the celebrated Las Casas, so conspicuous
+afterwards for his benevolent exertions in behalf of the unfortunate
+natives. The most explicit directions were given to the admiral, to use
+every effort for the illumination of the poor heathen, which was set forth
+as the primary object of the expedition. He 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 exemplary
+manner, all who should offer the natives the slightest molestation." Such
+were the instructions emphatically urged on Columbus for the regulation of
+his intercourse with the savages; and their indulgent tenor sufficiently
+attests the benevolent and rational views of Isabella, in religious
+matters, when not warped by any foreign influence. [17]
+
+Towards the last of May, Columbus quitted Barcelona for the purpose of
+superintending and expediting the preparations for departure on his second
+voyage. He was accompanied to the gates of the city by all the nobility
+and cavaliers of the court. Orders were issued to the different towns to
+provide 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 application to government; and ordinances and letters
+patent, bearing the royal seal, were to be issued by him, subscribed by
+himself or his deputy. He was intrusted, in fine, with 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. [18]
+
+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 conferred on the kings of Portugal. It was an opinion, as ancient
+perhaps as the crusades, that the pope, as vicar of Christ, had competent
+authority to dispose of all countries inhabited by heathen nations, in
+favor of Christian potentates. Although Ferdinand and Isabella do not seem
+to have been fully satisfied of this right, yet they were willing to
+acquiesce in its assumption in the present instance, from the conviction
+that the papal sanction would most effectually exclude the pretensions of
+all others, and especially their Portuguese rivals. In their application
+to the Holy See, they were careful to represent their own discoveries as
+in no way interfering with the rights formerly conceded by it to their
+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 possession, to be unnecessary, yet, as pious princes, and
+dutiful children of the church, they were unwilling to proceed further
+without the sanction of him, to whose keeping its highest interests were
+intrusted. [19]
+
+The pontifical throne was at that time filled by Alexander the Sixth; a
+man who, although degraded by unrestrained indulgence of the most sordid
+appetites, was endowed by nature with singular acuteness, as well as
+energy of character. He lent a willing ear to the application of the
+Spanish government, and made no hesitation in granting what cost him
+nothing, while it 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 subversion 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 discovered by them in the western
+ocean, comprehending the same extensive rights of jurisdiction with those
+formerly conceded to the kings of Portugal.
+
+This bull he supported by another, dated on the following day, in which
+the pope, in order to obviate any misunderstanding 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. [20] It seems to have escaped his Holiness, that the Spaniards,
+by pursuing a western route, might in time reach the eastern limits of
+countries previously granted to the Portuguese. At least this would appear
+from the import of a third bull, issued September 25th of the same year,
+which invested the sovereigns with plenary authority over all countries
+discovered by them, whether in the east, or within the boundaries of
+India, all previous concessions to the contrary 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 discovery, but for the jealousy of their rivals,
+the Portuguese. [21]
+
+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 in
+their fancies with treasures of inestimable wealth. Their mortification
+was greatly enhanced by the reflection, that all this might have been
+achieved for themselves, had they but known how to profit by the proposals
+of Columbus. [22] From the first moment in which the success of the
+admiral's enterprise was established, John the Second, a politic and
+ambitious prince, had sought some pretence to check the career of
+discovery, or at least to share in the spoils of it. [23]
+
+In his interview with Columbus, 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 entering into the discussion, contented himself with
+declaring, that he had been instructed by his own government to steer
+clear of all Portuguese settlements on the African coast, and that his
+course indeed had led him 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 civilities shown by the court
+of Lisbon to Columbus, on his late arrival there; and acknowledged the
+satisfaction felt by his master at the orders given to the admiral, to
+hold a western course from the Canaries, expressing a hope that the same
+course would be pursued in future, without interfering with the rights of
+Portugal by deviation to the south. This was the first occasion, on which
+the existence of such claims had been intimated by the Portuguese.
+
+In the mean while, Ferdinand and Isabella received intelligence that King
+John was equipping a considerable armament in order to anticipate or
+defeat their discoveries in the west. They instantly sent one of their
+household, Don Lope de Herrera, as ambassador to Lisbon, with 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 discoveries of the Spaniards in the west, in
+the same manner as these latter had been excluded from the Portuguese
+possessions in Africa. The ambassador was furnished with orders of a
+different import, provided he should find the reports correct, respecting
+the equipment and probable destination of a Portuguese armada. Instead of
+a conciliatory deportment, he was, in that case, to assume a tone of
+remonstrance, and to demand a full explanation from King John, of his
+designs. The cautious prince, who had received, through his secret agents
+in Castile, intelligence of these latter instructions, managed matters so
+discreetly as to give no occasion for their exercise. He abandoned, or at
+least postponed, his meditated expedition, in the hope of adjusting the
+dispute by negotiation, in which he excelled. In order to quiet the
+apprehensions 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 propose an amicable adjustment of the
+conflicting claims of the two nations, by making the parallel of the
+Canaries a line of partition between them; the right of discovery to the
+north being reserved to the Spaniards, and that to the south to the
+Portuguese. [24]
+
+While this game of diplomacy was going on, the Castilian court availed
+itself of the interval afforded by its rival, to expedite preparations for
+the second voyage of discovery; which, through the personal activity of
+the admiral, and the facilities everywhere afforded him, were fully
+completed before the close of September. Instead of the reluctance, and
+indeed avowed disgust, which had been manifested by all classes to his
+former voyage, the only embarrassment now arose from the difficulty of
+selection among the multitude of competitors, who pressed to be enrolled
+in the present expedition. The reports and sanguine speculations of the
+first adventurers had inflamed the cupidity of many, which was still
+further heightened by the exhibition of the rich and curious products
+which Columbus had brought back with him, and by the popular belief that
+the new discoveries formed part of that gorgeous east,
+
+                       "whose caverns teem
+  With diamond flaming, and with seeds of gold,"
+
+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 regions of the
+New World. The complement of the fleet was originally fixed at twelve
+hundred souls, which, through importunity or various pretences of the
+applicants, was eventually swelled to fifteen hundred. Among these were
+many who enlisted without compensation, including several persons of rank,
+hidalgos, and members of the royal household. The whole squadron amounted
+to seventeen vessels, three of them of one hundred tons' burden each. With
+this gallant navy, Columbus, dropping down the Guadalquivir, took his
+departure from the bay of Cadiz, on the 25th of September, 1493;
+presenting a striking contrast to the melancholy plight, in which, but the
+year previous, he sallied forth like some forlorn knight-errant, on a
+desperate and chimerical enterprise. [25]
+
+No sooner had the fleet weighed anchor, than Ferdinand and Isabella
+despatched an embassy in solemn state to advise the king of Portugal of
+it. This embassy was composed of two persons of distinguished rank, Don
+Pedro de Ayala, and Don Garci Lopez de Carbajal. Agreeably to their
+instructions, they represented to the Portuguese monarch the
+inadmissibility 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 coasts
+of Africa to the Indies; that these rights had been invariably respected
+by Spain; that the late voyage of Columbus struck into a directly opposite
+track; and that the several bulls of Pope Alexander the Sixth, prescribing
+the line of partition, not from east to west, but from the north to the
+south pole, were intended to secure to the Spaniards the exclusive right
+of discovery in the western ocean. The ambassadors concluded with
+offering, in the name of their sovereigns, to refer the whole matter in
+dispute to the arbitration of the court of Rome, or of any common umpire.
+
+King John was deeply chagrined at learning the departure of the Spanish
+expedition. He saw that his rivals had been acting while he had been
+amused with negotiation. He at first threw out hints of an immediate
+rupture; and 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. [26]
+
+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
+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 convened 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 remonstrance
+of the Portuguese, however, who complained that the papal line of
+demarcation cooped up their enterprises within too narrow limits, they
+consented, that instead of one hundred, it should be removed three hundred
+and seventy leagues west of the Cape de Verd islands, beyond which all
+discoveries should appertain to the Spanish nation. It was agreed that one
+or two caravels should be provided by each nation, to meet at the Grand
+Canary, and proceed due west, the appointed distance, with a number of
+scientific men on board, for the purpose of accurately 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 important consequences to the Portuguese,
+who derived from it their pretensions to the noble empire of Brazil. [27]
+
+Thus this singular misunderstanding, which menaced an open rupture at one
+time, was happily adjusted. Fortunately, the accomplishment of the passage
+round the Cape of Good Hope, which occurred soon afterwards, led the
+Portuguese in an opposite direction to their Spanish rivals, their
+Brazilian possessions having too little attractions, at first, to turn
+them from the splendid path of discovery thrown open in the east. It was
+not many years, however, before the two nations, by pursuing 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.
+[28]
+
+Thus this bold stretch of papal authority, so often ridiculed as
+chimerical and absurd, was in a measure justified by the event, since it
+did, in fact, determine the principles on which the vast extent of
+unappropriated empire in the eastern and western hemispheres was
+ultimately divided between two petty states of Europe.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+[1] Zurita, Anales, tom. v. fol. 13.--Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1,
+quinc. 1, dial. 28.
+
+[2] Zurita, Anales, tom. v. fol. 15.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS.,
+cap. 116.--Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. pp. 678, 679.--Abarca, Reyes de
+Aragon, tom. ii. fol. 315.--Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1492.--Oviedo,
+Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 4, dial. 9.
+
+[3] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 125.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos,
+MS., cap. 116.--Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, ubi supra.
+
+The great bell of Velilla, whose miraculous tolling always announced some
+disaster to the monarchy, was heard to strike at the time of this assault
+on Ferdinand, being the fifth time since the subversion of the kingdom by
+the Moors. The fourth was on the assassination of the inquisitor Arbues.
+All which is established by a score of good orthodox witnesses, as
+reported by Dr. Diego Dormer, in his Discursos Varies, pp. 206, 207.
+
+[4] L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 136.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist.,
+epist. 125, 127, 131.--Zurita, Anales, tom. v. fol. 16.--Bernaldez, Reyes
+Católicos, MS., loc. cit.--Garibay, after harrowing the reader's feelings
+with half a column of inhuman cruelties inflicted on the miserable man,
+concludes with the comfortable assurance, "Pero abogaronle primero por
+clemencia y misericordia de la Reyna." (Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 19, cap.
+1.)
+
+A letter written by Isabella to her confessor, 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 situation,
+furnishing abundant evidence, if it were needed, of her tenderness of
+heart, and the warmth of her conjugal attachment. See Correspondencia
+Epistolar, apud Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 13.
+
+[5] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 2, cap. 3.--Muñoz, Hist.
+del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 4, sect. 13, 14.
+
+Columbus concludes a letter addressed, on his arrival at Lisbon, to the
+treasurer Sanchez, in the following glowing terms; "Let processions be
+made, festivals held, temples be filled with branches and flowers, for
+Christ rejoices on earth as in Heaven, seeing the future redemption of
+souls. Let us rejoice, also, for the temporal benefit likely to result,
+not merely to Spain, but to all Christendom." See Primer Viage de Colon,
+apud Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. i.
+
+[6] 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
+prosperous issue of the voyage; for he testily remarks, that "the admiral
+entered Lisbon with a vainglorious exultation, in order to make Portugal
+feel, by displaying the tokens of his discovery, how much she had erred in
+not acceding to his propositions." Europa Portuguesa, tom. ii. pp. 462,
+463.
+
+[7] My learned friend, Mr. John Pickering, has pointed out to me a passage
+in a Portuguese author, giving some particulars of Columbus's visit to
+Portugal. The passage, which I have not seen noticed by any writer, is
+extremely interesting, coming, as it does, from a person high in the royal
+confidence, and an eye-witness of what he relates. "In the year 1493, on
+the sixth day of March, arrived in Lisbon Christopher Columbus, an
+Italian, who came from the discovery, made under the authority of the
+sovereigns of Castile, of the islands of Cipango and Antilia; from which
+countries he brought with him the first specimens of the people, as well
+as of the gold and other things to be found there; and he was entitled
+admiral of them. The king, being forthwith informed of this, commanded him
+into his presence; and appeared to be annoyed and vexed, as well from the
+belief that the said discovery was made within the seas and boundaries of
+his seigniory of Guinea,--which might give rise to disputes,--as because
+the said admiral, having become somewhat haughty by his situation, and in
+the relation of his adventures always exceeding the bounds of truth, made
+this affair, as to gold, silver, and riches, much greater than it was.
+Especially did the king accuse himself of negligence, in having declined
+this enterprise, when Columbus first came to ask his assistance, from want
+of credit and confidence in it. And, notwithstanding the king was
+importuned to kill kim on the spot; since with his death the prosecution
+of the undertaking, so far as the sovereigns of Castile were concerned,
+would cease, from want of a suitable person to take charge of it; and
+notwithstanding this might be done without suspicion of the king's being
+privy to it,--for inasmuch as the admiral was overbearing and puffed up by
+his success, they could easily bring it about, that his own indiscretion
+should appear the occasion of his death,--yet the king, as he was a prince
+greatly fearing God, not only forbade this, but even showed the, admiral
+honor and much favor, and therewith dismissed him." Ruy de Pina, Chronica
+d'el Rei Dom Joaõ II., cap. 66, apud Collecçaõ de Livros Ineditos de
+Historia Portugueza, (Lisboa, 1790-93,) tom. ii.
+
+[8] Fernando Colon, Hist. del Almirante, cap. 40, 41.--Charlevoix,
+Histoire de S. Domingue, (Paris, 1730,) tom. i. pp. 84-90.--Primer Viage
+de Colon, apud Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. i.--La Clède, Hist. de
+Portugal, tom. iv. pp. 53-58.
+
+Columbus sailed from Spain on Friday, discovered land on Friday, and re-
+entered the port of Palos on Friday. These curious coincidences should
+have sufficed, one might think, to dispel, especially with American
+mariners, the superstitions dread, still so prevalent, of commencing a
+voyage on that ominous day.
+
+[9] Primer Viage de Colon, Let 2.
+
+[10] Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 4, sec. 14.--Fernando Colon, Hist.
+del Almirante, cap. 41.
+
+Among other specimens, was a lump of gold, of sufficient magnitude to be
+fashioned into a vessel for containing the host; "thus," says Salazar de
+Mendoza, "converting the first fruits of the new dominions to pious uses."
+Monarquía, pp. 351, 352.
+
+[11] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 133, 134, 140.--Bernaldez, Reyes
+Católicos, MS., cap. 118.--Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. viii. pp. 141,
+142.--Fernando Colon, Hist. del Almirante, ubi supra.--Zuñiga, Annales de
+Sevilla, p. 413.--Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, cap. 17.--Benzoni, Novi
+Orbis Hist., lib. 1, cap. 8, 9.--Gallo, apud Muratori, Rerum Ital.
+Script., tom. xxiii. p. 203.
+
+[12] Herrera, Indias Occidental., tom. i. dec. 1, lib. 2, cap. 3.--Muñoz,
+Hist. del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 4, sec. 15, 16, 17.--Fernando Colon, Hist. del
+Almirante, ubi supra.
+
+[12] In a letter, written soon after the admiral's return, Martyr
+announces the discovery to his correspondent, Cardinal Sforza, in the
+following manner. "Mira res ex eo terrarum orbe, quem sol horarum quatuor
+et viginti spatio circuit, ad nostra usque tempora, quod minime te latet,
+trita cognitaque dimidia taptum pars, ab Aurea utpote Chersoneso, ad Gades
+nostras Hispanas, reliqua vero a cosmographis pro incognitâ relicta est.
+Et si quae mentio facta, ea tenuis et incerta. Nunc autem, o beatum
+facinus! meorum regum auspiciis, quod latuit hactenus a rerum primordio,
+intelligi coeptum est." In a subsequent epistle to the learned Pomponio
+Leto, he breaks out in a strain of warm and generous sentiment. "Prae
+laetitia prosiliisse te, vixque a lachrymis prae gaudio temperasse, quando
+literas adspexisti meas, quibus de Antipodum Orbe latenti hactenus, te
+certiorem feci, mi suavissime Pomponi, insinuasti. Ex tuis ipse literis
+colligo, quid senseris. Sensisti autem, tantique rem fecisti, quanti virum
+summâ doctrinâ insignitum decuit. Quis namque cibus sublimibus praestari
+potest ingeniis isto suavior? quod condimentum gravius? a me facio
+conjecturam. Beari sentio spiritus meos, quando accitos alloquor prudentes
+aliquos ex his qui ab eâ redeunt provinciâ. Implicent animos pecuniarum
+cumulis augendis miseri avari, libidinibus obscoeni; noetras nos mentes,
+postquam Deo pleni aliquandiu fuerimus, contemplando, hujuscemodi rerum
+notitiâ demulceamus." Opus Epist., epist. 124, 152.
+
+[13] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 118.--Gallo, apud Muratori,
+Rerum Ital. Script., tom. 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.
+"Insulas reperit plures; has esse, de quibus fit apud cosmographos mentio
+extra Oceanum Orientalem, adjacentes Indiae arbitrantur. Nec inficior ego
+penitus, quamvis sphaerae magnitudo aliter sentire videatur; neque enim
+desunt qui parvo tractu a finibus Hispanis distare littus Indicum,
+putent." Opus Epist., epist. 135.
+
+[14] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 2, cap. 3.--Benzoni, Novi
+Orbis Hist., lib. 1, cap. 8.--Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, cap. 17.--
+Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, 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 azure billows. To these were afterwards
+added five anchors, with the celebrated motto, well known as being carved
+on his sepulchre. (See Part II. Chap. 18.) He received 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 descried land. See Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, Col.
+Diplom., nos. 20, 32, 38.
+
+[15] Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. ii. Col. Diplom., no. 45.--
+Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 4, sec. 21.
+
+[16] Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, Col. Diplom., nos. 33, 35, 45.--
+Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 2, cap. 4.--Muñoz, Hist. del
+Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 4, sec. 21.
+
+[17] See the original instructions, apud Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages,
+Col. Diplom., no. 45.--Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 4, sec. 22.--
+Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 413.
+
+L. Marineo eagerly claims the conversion of the natives, as the prime
+object of the expedition with the sovereigns, far outweighing all temporal
+considerations. The passage is worth quoting, if only to show what
+egregious blunders a contemporary may make in the relation of events
+passing, as it were, under his own eyes. "The Catholic sovereigns having
+subjugated the Canaries, and established Christian worship there, sent
+_Peter Colon_, with _thirty-five_ ships, called caravels, and _a great
+number of men_ 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 Memorables, fol. 161.
+
+[18] See copies of the original documents, apud Navarrete, Coleccion de
+Viages, tom. ii., Col. Diplom., nos. 39, 41, 42, 43.
+
+[19] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 2, cap. 4.--Muñoz, Hist.
+del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 4, sec. 18.
+
+[20] A point south of the meridian is something new in geometry; yet so
+says the bull of his Holiness. "Omnes insulas et terras firmas inventas et
+inveniendas, detectas et detegendas, versus Occidentem et meridiem,
+fabricando et constituendo unam lineam a Polo Arctico, scilicet
+septentrione, ad Polum Antarcticum, scilicet meridiem."
+
+[21] See the original papal grants, transcribed by Navarrete, Coleccion de
+Viages, tom. ii., Col. Diplom., nos. 17, 18. Appendice al Col. Diplom.,
+no. 11.
+
+[22] 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 the Moors, and the expulsion of the Jews!" Reyes de Aragon,
+fol. 310, 311.
+
+[23] La Clède, Hist. de Portugal, tom. iv. pp. 53-58.
+
+[24] Faria y Sousa, Europa Portuguesa, tom. ii. p. 463.--Herrera, Indias
+Occidentales, loc. cit.--Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 4, sec. 27,
+28.--Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. pp. 606, 607.--La Clède, Hist. de
+Portugal, tom. iv. pp. 53-58.
+
+[25] Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 413.--Fernando Colon, Hist. del
+Almirante, cap. 44.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 118.--Peter
+Martyr, De Rebus Oceanicis, dec. 1, lib. 1.--Benzoni, Novi Orbis Historia,
+lib. 1, cap. 9.--Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, cap. 20.
+
+[26] La Clède, Hist. de Portugal, tom. iv. pp. 53-58.--Muñoz, Hist. del
+Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 4, sec. 27, 28.
+
+[27] Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, Doc. Diplom., no. 75.--Faria y Sousa,
+Europa Portuguesa, tom. ii. p. 463.--Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1,
+lib. 2, cap. 8, 10.--Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. pp. 606, 607.--La
+Clède, Hist. de Portugal, tom. iv. pp. 60-62.--Zurita, Anales, tom. v.
+fol. 31.
+
+[28] The contested territory was the Molucca Islands, which each party
+claimed for itself, by virtue of the treaty of Tordesillas. After more
+than one congress, in which all the cosmographical science of the day was
+put in requisition, the affair was terminated _à l'amiable_ by the Spanish
+government's relinquishing its pretensions, in consideration of 350,000
+ducats, paid by the court of Lisbon. See La Clède, Hist. De Portugal, tom.
+iv. pp. 309, 401, 402, 480.--Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. pp. 607,
+875.--Salazar de Mendoza, Monarquía, tom. ii. pp. 205, 206.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+CASTILIAN LITERATURE.--CULTIVATION OF THE COURT.--CLASSICAL LEARNING.--
+SCIENCE.
+
+Early Education of Ferdinand.--Of Isabella.--Her Library.--Early Promise
+of Prince John.--Scholarship of the Nobles.--Accomplished Women.--
+Classical Learning.--Universities.--Printing Introduced.--Encouraged by
+the Queen.--Actual Progress of Science.
+
+
+We have now arrived at the period, when the history of Spain becomes
+incorporated with that of the other states of Europe. Before embarking on
+the wide sea of European politics, however, and bidding adieu, for a
+season, to the shores of Spain, it will be necessary, in order to complete
+the view of the internal administration of Ferdinand and Isabella, to show
+its operation on the intellectual culture of the nation. This, as it
+constitutes, when taken in its broadest sense, a principal end of all
+government, should never be altogether divorced from any history. It is
+particularly deserving of note in the present reign, which stimulated the
+active development of the national energies in every department of
+science, and which forms a leading epoch in the ornamental literature of
+the country. The present and the following chapter will embrace the mental
+progress of the kingdom, not merely down to the period at which we have
+arrived, but through the whole of Isabella's reign, in order to exhibit as
+far as possible its entire results, at a single glance, to the eye of the
+reader.
+
+We have beheld, in a preceding chapter, the auspicious literary promise
+afforded by the reign of Isabella's father, John the Second, of Castile.
+Under the anarchical sway of his son, Henry the Fourth, the court, as we
+have seen, was abandoned to unbounded 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 were too much
+clouded by civil dissensions, to afford a much more cheering prospect.
+Ferdinand's early education, moreover, had been greatly neglected. Before
+the age of ten, he was called to take part in the Catalan wars. His
+boyhood was spent among soldiers, in camps instead of schools, and the
+wisdom which he so eminently displayed in later life, was drawn far more
+from his own resources, than from books. [1]
+
+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 languages, and both wrote and
+discoursed in her own with great precision and elegance. No great expense
+or solicitude, however, appears to have been lavished on her education.
+She was uninstructed in the Latin, which in that day was of greater
+importance than at present; since it was not only the common medium of
+communication between learned men, and the language in which the most
+familiar treatises were often composed, but was frequently used by well-
+educated foreigners at court, and especially employed in diplomatic
+intercourse and negotiation. [2]
+
+Isabella resolved to repair the defects of education, by devoting herself
+to the acquisition of the Latin tongue, so soon as the distracting wars
+with Portugal, which attended her accession, were terminated. We have a
+letter from Pulgar, addressed to the queen soon after that event, in which
+he inquires concerning her progress, intimating his surprise, that she can
+find time for study amidst her multitude of engrossing occupations, and
+expressing his confidence that she will acquire the Latin with the same
+facility with which she had already mastered other languages. The result
+justified his prediction; for "in less than a year," observes another
+contemporary, "her admirable genius enabled her to obtain a good knowledge
+of the Latin language, so that she could understand without much
+difficulty whatever was written or spoken in it." [3]
+
+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. [4] The archives of Simancas contain
+catalogues of part of two separate collections, belonging to her, whose
+broken remains have contributed to swell the magnificent library of the
+Escurial. 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. [5]
+
+The queen manifested the most earnest solicitude for the instruction of
+her own children. Her daughters were endowed by nature with amiable
+dispositions, that seconded her maternal efforts. The most competent
+masters, native and foreign, especially from Italy, then so active in the
+revival of ancient learning, were employed in their tuition. This was
+particularly intrusted to two brothers, Antonio and Alessandro Geraldino,
+natives of that country. Both were conspicuous for their abilities and
+classical erudition, and the latter, who survived his brother Antonio, was
+subsequently raised to high ecclesiastical preferments. [6] Under these
+masters, the infantas made attainments rarely permitted to the sex, and
+acquired such familiarity with the Latin tongue especially, as excited
+lively admiration among those over whom they were called to preside in
+riper years. [7]
+
+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. [8]
+
+A mimic council was also formed on the model of a council of state,
+composed of suitable persons of more advanced standing, whose province it
+was to deliberate on, and to discuss, 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 afterwards filled
+with credit the most considerable posts in the state. The severer
+discipline of the prince was relieved by attention to more light and
+elegant accomplishments. 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 benevolence 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 fondness for letters, and for the society of
+learned men, on his various attainments, and more especially his Latin
+scholarship, 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. [9]
+
+Next to her family, there was no object which the queen had so much at
+heart, as the improvement of the young nobility. 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. [10] 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. [11] 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 however 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 on the "good effects likely to result from the literary ambition
+exhibited by the heir apparent, on whom the eyes of the nation were
+naturally turned." [12]  Martyr, in obedience to the royal summons,
+instantly repaired 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 pattern of every exalted virtue, that
+her own near kinsman, the duke of Guimaraena, as well as the young duke of
+Villahermosa, the king's nephew, should remain under my roof during the
+whole day; an example which has been imitated by the principal cavaliers
+of the court, who, after attending my lectures in company with their
+private tutors, retire at evening to review them with these latter in
+their own quarters." [13]  Another Italian scholar, often cited as
+authority in the preceding portion of this work, Lucio Marineo Siculo, co-
+operated with Martyr in the introduction of a more liberal scholarship
+among the 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 1486, with the admiral Henriquez,
+and soon took his place among the professors of Salamanca, where he filled
+the chairs of poetry and grammar with great applause for twelve years. He
+was subsequently transferred to the court, which he helped to illumine, by
+his exposition of the ancient classics, particularly the Latin. [14] 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." [15]
+
+The extent of this generous emulation may be gathered from the large
+correspondence both of Martyr and Marineo with their disciples, including
+the most considerable persons of the Castilian court; it may be still
+further inferred from the numerous dedications to these persons, of
+contemporary publications, attesting their munificent patronage of
+literary enterprise; [16] 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 university of Salamanca. At the same place, Don Pedro
+Fernandez de Velasco, son of the count of Haro, who subsequently succeeded
+his father in the hereditary dignity of grand constable of Castile, read
+lectures on Pliny and Ovid. Don Alfonso de Manrique, son of the count of
+Paredes, was professor of Greek in the university of Alcalá. 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. [17]
+
+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 Doña Maria Pacheco,
+of the ancient house of Mendoza, sisters of the historian, Don Diego
+Hurtado, [18] and daughters of the accomplished count of Tendilla, [19]
+who, while ambassador at Rome, induced Martyr to visit Spain, and who was
+grandson of the famous marquis of Santillana, and nephew of the grand
+cardinal. [20] 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
+enlightened court of Castile. The queen's instructor in the Latin language
+was a lady named Doña Beatriz de Galindo, called from her peculiar
+attainments _la Latina_. Another lady, Doña Lucia de Medrano, publicly
+lectured on the Latin classics in the university of Salamanca. And
+another, Doña Francisca de Lebrija, daughter of the historian of that
+name, filled the chair of rhetoric with applause at Alcalá. 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. [21] Female education in that day embraced a
+wider compass of erudition, in reference to the ancient languages, than is
+common at present; a circumstance attributable, probably, to the poverty
+of modern literature at that time, and the new and general appetite
+excited by the revival of classical learning in Italy. I am not aware,
+however, that it was usual for learned ladies, in any other country than
+Spain, to take part in the public exercises of the gymnasium, and deliver
+lectures from the chairs of the universities. This peculiarity, which may
+be referred in part to the queen's influence, who encouraged the love of
+study by her own example, as well as by personal attendance on the
+academic examinations, may have been also suggested by a similar usage,
+already noticed, among the Spanish Arabs. [22]
+
+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 literary pilgrimage
+to Italy, was Antonio de Lebrija, or Nebrissensis, as he is more
+frequently called from his Latin name. [23] 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 Alcalá, both of which places he long continued to enlighten
+by his oral instruction and publications. The earliest of these was his
+_Introducciones Latinas_, the third edition of which was printed in
+1485, being four years only from the date of the first; a remarkable
+evidence of the growing taste for classical learning. A translation in the
+vernacular accompanied the last edition, arranged, at the queen's
+suggestion, in columns parallel with those of the original text; a form
+which, since become common, was then a novelty. [24] The publication of
+his Castilian grammar, "_Grammatica Castillana_," followed in 1492; a
+treatise designed particularly for the instruction of the ladies of the
+court. The other productions of this indefatigable scholar embrace a large
+circle of topics, independently of his various treatises on philology and
+criticism. Some were translated into French and Italian, and their
+republication has been continued to the last century. No man of his own,
+or of later times, contributed more essentially than Lebrija to the
+introduction of a pure and healthful erudition into Spain. It is not too
+much to say, that there was scarcely an eminent Spanish scholar in the
+beginning of the sixteenth century, who had not formed himself on the
+instructions of this master. [25]
+
+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 former, indeed, he
+seems to have obtained a greater repute than any Spanish scholar of the
+time. He composed some valuable works, especially on ancient prosody. The
+unwearied assiduity and complete success of his academic labors have
+secured to him a high reputation among the restorers of ancient learning,
+and especially that of reviving a livelier relish for the study of the
+Greek, by conducting it on principles of pure criticism, in the same
+manner as Lebrija did with the Latin. [26]
+
+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. [27]
+
+The Castilian scholars of the close of the fifteenth, and the beginning of
+the sixteenth century, may take rank with their illustrious contemporaries
+of Italy. They could not indeed achieve such brilliant results in the
+discovery of the remains of antiquity, for such remains had been long
+scattered and lost amid the centuries of exile and disastrous warfare
+consequent on the Saracen invasion. But they were unwearied in their
+illustrations, both oral and written, of the ancient authors; and their
+numerous commentaries, translations, dictionaries, grammars, and various
+works 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 proper
+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." [28]
+
+The Spanish universities were the theatre on which this classical
+erudition was more especially displayed. Previous to Isabella's reign,
+there were but few schools in the kingdom; not one indeed of any note,
+except in Salamanca; and this did not escape the blight which fell on
+every generous study. But under the cheering patronage of the present
+government, they were soon filled, and widely multiplied. Academies of
+repute were to be found in Seville, Toledo, Salamanca, Granada, and
+Alcalá; and learned teachers were drawn from abroad by the most liberal
+emoluments. At the head of these establishments stood "the illustrious
+city of Salamanca," as Marineo fondly terms it, "mother of all liberal
+arts and virtues, alike renowned for noble cavaliers and learned men."
+[29] Such was its reputation, that foreigners as well as natives were
+attracted to its schools, and at one time, according to the authority of
+the same professor, seven thousand students were assembled within its
+walls. A letter of Peter Martyr, to his patron the count of Tendilla,
+gives a whimsical picture of the literary enthusiasm of this place. The
+throng was so great to hear his introductory lecture on one of the Satires
+of Juvenal, that every avenue to the hall was blockaded, and the professor
+was borne in on the shoulders of the students. Professorships in every
+department of science then studied, as well as of polite letters, were
+established at the university, the "new Athens," as Martyr somewhere
+styles it. Before the close of Isabella's reign, however, its glories were
+rivalled, if not eclipsed, by those of Alcalá; [30] 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. [31]
+
+This active cultivation was not confined to the dead languages, but spread
+more or less over every department of knowledge. Theological science, in
+particular, received a large share of attention. It had always formed a
+principal object of academic instruction, though suffered to languish
+under the universal corruption of the preceding reign. It was so common
+for the clergy to be ignorant of the most elementary 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 correcting
+this abuse, by raising only competent persons to ecclesiastical dignities.
+The highest stations in the church were reserved for those who combined
+the highest intellectual endowments with unblemished piety. Cardinal
+Mendoza, whose acute and comprehensive mind entered with interest into
+every scheme for the promotion of science, was archbishop of Toledo;
+Talavera, whose hospitable mansion was itself an academy for men of
+letters, and whose princely revenues were liberally dispensed for their
+support, was raised to the see of Granada; and Ximenes, whose splendid
+literary projects will require more particular notice hereafter, succeeded
+Mendoza in the primacy of Spain. Under the protection of these enlightened
+patrons, theological studies were pursued with 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 labors of Montalvo. [32] The
+mathematics formed a principal branch of education, and were successfully
+applied to astronomy and geography. Valuable treatises were produced on
+medicine, and on the more familiar practical arts, as husbandry, for
+example. [33] History, which since the time of Alfonso the Tenth had been
+held in higher honor and more widely Cultivated in Castile than in any
+other European state, began to lay aside the garb of chronicle, and to be
+studied on more scientific principles. Charters and diplomas were
+consulted, manuscripts collated, coins and lapidary inscriptions
+deciphered, and collections made of these materials, the true basis of
+authentic history; and an office of public archives, like that now
+existing at Simancas, was established at Burgos, and placed under the care
+of Alonso de Mota, as keeper, with a liberal salary. [34]
+
+Nothing could have been more opportune for the enlightened purposes of
+Isabella, than the introduction of the art of printing into Spain, at the
+commencement, indeed in the very first year, of her reign. She saw, from
+the first moment, all the advantages which it promised for diffusing and
+perpetuating the discoveries of science. She encouraged its establishment
+by large privileges to those who exercised it, whether natives or
+foreigners, and by causing many of the works, composed by her subjects, to
+be printed at her own charge. [35]
+
+Among the earlier printers we frequently find the names of Germans; a
+people, who to the original merits of the discovery may justly add that of
+its propagation among every nation of Europe. We meet with a
+_pragmática_, or royal ordinance, dated in 1477, exempting a German,
+named Theodoric, from taxation, on the ground of being "one of the
+principal persons in the discovery and practice of the art of printing
+books, which he had brought with him into Spain at great risk and expense,
+with the design of ennobling the libraries of the kingdom." [36]
+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. [37] It seems to have been usual
+for the printers to be also the publishers and venders of books. These
+exclusive privileges, however, do not appear to have been carried to a
+mischievous extent. Foreign books, of every description, by a law of 1480,
+were allowed to be imported into the kingdom, free of all duty whatever;
+an enlightened provision, which might furnish a useful hint to legislators
+of the nineteenth century. [38]
+
+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. [39] The first work printed was a collection
+of songs, composed for a poetical contest in honor of the Virgin, for the
+most part in the Limousin or Valencian dialect. [40] 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. [41] Through the liberal patronage
+of the government, the art was widely diffused; and before the end of the
+fifteenth century, presses were established and in active operation in the
+principal cities of the united kingdom; in Toledo, Seville, Ciudad Real,
+Granada, Valladolid, Burgos, Salamanca, Zamora, Saragossa, Valencia,
+Barcelona, Monte Rey, Lerida, Murcia, Tolosa, Tarragona, Alcalá de
+Henares, and Madrid.
+
+It is painful to notice amidst the judicious provisions for the
+encouragement of science, one so entirely repugnant to their spirit as the
+establishment of the censorship. By an ordinance, dated at Toledo, July
+8th, 1502, it was decreed, that, "as many of the books sold in the kingdom
+were defective, or false, or apocryphal, or pregnant with vain and
+superstitious novelties, it was therefore ordered that no book should
+hereafter be printed without special 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. [42]
+This authority was devolved in later times, under Charles the Fifth and
+his successors, on the Council of the Supreme, over which the inquisitor-
+general presided _ex-officio_. The immediate agents employed in the
+examination were also drawn from the Inquisition, who exercised this
+important trust, as is well known, in a manner most fatal to the interests
+of letters and humanity. Thus a provision, destined in its origin for the
+advancement of science, by purifying it from the crudities and corruptions
+which naturally infect it in a primitive age, contributed more effectually
+to its discouragement, than any other which could have been devised, by
+interdicting the freedom of expression, so indispensable to freedom of
+inquiry. [43]
+
+While endeavoring to do justice to the progress of civilization 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, towards
+the close. It was natural that men should explore the long-buried
+treasures descended from their ancestors, before venturing on anything of
+their own creation. Their efforts were eminently successful; and, by
+opening an acquaintance with the immortal productions of ancient
+literature, they laid the best foundation for the cultivation of the
+modern.
+
+In the sciences, their success was more equivocal. A blind reverence for
+authority, a habit of speculation, instead of experiment, so pernicious in
+physics, in short, an ignorance of the true principles of philosophy,
+often led the scholars of that day in a wrong direction. Even when they
+took a right one, their attainments, under all these impediments, were
+necessarily so small, as to be scarcely perceptible, when viewed from the
+brilliant heights to which science has arrived in our own age.
+Unfortunately for Spain, its subsequent advancement has been so retarded,
+that a comparison of the fifteenth century with those which succeeded it,
+is by no means so humiliating to the former as in some other countries of
+Europe; and, it is certain, that in general intellectual fermentation, no
+period has surpassed, if it can be said to have rivalled, the age of
+Isabella.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+[1] L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 153.
+
+[2] L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 154, 182.
+
+[3] Carro de las Doñas, lib. 2, cap. 62 et seq., apud Mem. de la Acad. de
+Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 21.--Pulgar, Letras, (Amstelodami, 1670,) let. 11.
+--L. Marineo, Cosas 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
+indifferently, 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.
+
+[4] Previous to the introduction of printing, collections of books were
+necessarily very small and thinly scattered, owing to the extreme cost of
+manuscripts. The learned Saez has collected some curious particulars
+relative to this matter. The most copious library which he could find any
+account of, in the middle of the fifteenth century, was owned by the
+counts of Benavente, and contained not more than one hundred and twenty
+volumes. Many of these were duplicates; of Livy alone there were eight
+copies. The cathedral churches in Spain rented their books every year by
+auction to the highest bidders, whence they derived a considerable
+revenue.
+
+It would appear from a copy of Gratian's Canons, preserved in the
+Celestine monastery in Paris, that the copyist was engaged twenty-one
+months in transcribing that manuscript. At this rate, the production of
+four thousand copies by one hand would require nearly eight thousand
+years, a work now easily performed in less than four months. Such was the
+tardiness in multiplying copies before the invention of printing. Two
+thousand volumes may be procured now at a price, which in those days would
+hardly have sufficed to purchase fifty. See Tratado de Monedas de Enrique
+III., apud Moratin, Obras, ed. de la Acad., (Madrid, 1830,) tom. i. pp.
+91, 92. Moratin argues from extreme cases.
+
+[5] Navagiero, Viaggio fatto in Spagna et in Francia, (Vinegia, 1563,)
+fol. 23.--Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust, 17. The largest
+collection comprised about two hundred and one articles, or distinct
+works. Of these, about a third is taken up with theology, comprehending
+Bibles, psalters, missals, lives of saints, and works of the fathers; one-
+fifth, civil law and the municipal code of Spain; one-fourth, ancient
+classics, modern literature, and romances of chivalry; one-tenth, history;
+the residue is devoted to ethics, medicine, grammar, astrology, etc. 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 Illustrium Virorum," and "De Claris 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, the 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 collection.
+
+[6] Antonio, the eldest, died in 1488. Part of his Latin poetical works,
+entitled "Sacred Bucolics," was printed in 1505, at Salamanca. The younger
+brother, Alessandro, after bearing arms in the Portuguese 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., tom. vi. Ilust. 16.--Tiraboschi, Letteratura Italiana,
+tom. vi. part. 2, p. 285.
+
+[7] The learned Valencian, Luis Vives, in his treatise "De Christianâ
+Feminâ," remarks, "Aetas noster quatuor illas Isabellae reginae filias,
+quas paullo ante memoravi, eruditas vidit. Non sine laudibus et
+admiratione refertur mihi passim in hae terrâ Joannam, Philippi conjugem,
+Caroli hujus matrem, extempore latinis orationibus, quae de more apud
+novos principes oppidatim habentur, latine respondisse. Idem de reginâ
+suâ, Joannae sorore, Britanni praedicant; idem omnes de duabus aliis, quae
+in Lusitaniâ fato concessere." (De Christianâ Feminâ, 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 filias auas doctas esse voluit." Another contemporary,
+the author of the Carro de las Doñas, (lib. 2, cap. 62, apud Mem. de la
+Acad.  de Hist., Ilust. 21,) says, "she educated her son and daughters,
+giving them masters of life and letters, and surrounding them with such
+persons as tended to make them vessels of election, and kings in Heaven."
+
+Erasmus notices the literary attainments 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;
+nec minus pietate suspicienda, quam eruditione." Epistolae, (Londini,
+1642,) lib. 19, epist. 31; lib. 2, epist. 24.
+
+[8] Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., dial. de Deza.--Mem. de la Acad. de Hist.,
+tom. vi. Ilust. 14.
+
+[9] Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 14.
+
+Juan de la Eucina, 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 sciencia andando
+acompañado de tantos e tan doctísimos varones, que no menos dejareis
+perdurable memoria de haber alargado e estendido los límites e términos de
+la sciencia que 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 epitaph of the learned Greek exile, Constantine Lascaris.
+
+[10] "Aficionados á la guerra," says Oviedo, speaking of some young nobles
+of his time, "_por su Española y natural inclinacion_." Quincuagenas,
+MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 36.
+
+[11] 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.
+
+Lucio Marineo, in a discourse addressed to Charles V., thus notices the
+queen's solicitude for the instruction of her young nobility. "Isabella
+praesertim Regina magnanima, virtutum omnium maxima cultrix. Quae quidem
+multis et magnis occupata negotiis, ut aliis exemplum praeberet, a primis
+grammaticae rudimentis studere coepit, et omnes suae domûs adolescentes
+utriusque sexûs nobilium liberos, praeceptoribus liberaliter et honorifice
+conductis erudiendos commendabat." Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi.
+Apend. 16.--See also Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial.
+36.
+
+[13] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 115.
+
+[14] A  particular account of Marineo's writings may be found in Nic.
+Antonio. (Bibliotheca Nova, tom. ii. Apend. p. 369.) The most important of
+these is his work "De Rebus Hispaniae Memorabilibus," often cited, in the
+Castilian, in this History. It is a rich repository of details respecting
+the geography, statistics, and manners of the Peninsula, with a copious
+historical notice of events in Ferdinand and Isabella's reign. The
+author's insatiable curiosity, during a long residence in the country,
+enabled him to collect many facts, of a kind that do not fall within the
+ordinary compass of history; while his extensive learning, and his
+familiarity with foreign models, peculiarly qualified him for estimating
+the institutions he describes. It must be confessed he is sufficiently
+partial to the land of his adoption. The edition, referred to in this
+work, is in black letter, printed before, or soon after, the author's
+death (the date of which is uncertain), in 1539, at Alcalá de Henares, by
+Juan Brocar, one of a family long celebrated in the annals of Castilian
+printing. Marineo's prologue concludes with the following noble tribute to
+letters. "Porque todos los otros bienes son subjectos a la fortuna y
+mudables y en poco tiempo mudan muchos dueños passando de unos señores en
+otros, mas los dones de letras y hystorias que se ofrescen 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."
+
+[15] Sepulveda, Democrites, apud Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi.
+Ilust. 16.--Signorelli, Coltura nelle Sicilie, tom. iv. p. 318.--
+Tiraboschi, Letteratura Italiana, tom. vii. part. 3, lib. 3, cap. 4.--
+Comp. Lampillas, Saggio Storico-Apologetico de la Letteratura Spagnuola,
+(Genova, 1778,) tom. ii. dis. 2, sect. 5.--The patriotic Abate is greatly
+scandalized by the degree of influence which Tiraboschi and other Italian
+critics ascribe to their own language over the Castilian, especially at
+this period. The seven volumes, in which he has discharged his bile on the
+heads of the offenders, afford valuable materials for the historian of
+Spanish literature. Tiraboschi must be admitted to have the better of his
+antagonist in temper, if not in argument.
+
+[16] Among these we find copious translations from the ancient classics,
+as Caesar, Appian, Plutarch, Plautus, Sallust, Aesop, Justin, Boëthius,
+Apulius, Herodian, affording strong evidence of the activity of the
+Castilian scholars in this department. Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi.
+pp. 406, 407.--Mendez, Typographia Española, pp. 133, 139.
+
+[17] Salazar de Mendoza, Dignidades, cap. 21.
+
+Lucio Marineo Siculo, in his discourse above alluded to, in which he
+exhibits the condition of letters under the reign of Ferdinand and
+Isabella, enumerates the names of the nobility most conspicuous for their
+scholarship. This valuable document was to be found only in the edition of
+Marineo's work, "De Rebus Hispaniae Memorabilibus," printed at Alcalá, in
+1630, whence it has been transferred by Clemencin to the sixth volume of
+the Memoirs of the Royal Academy of History.
+
+[18] His work "Guerra de Granada," was first published at Madrid, in 1610,
+and "may be compared," says Nic. Antonio, in 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
+_picaresco_ novel "Lazarillo de Tormes," have made an epoch in the
+ornamental literature of Spain.
+
+[19] Oviedo has devoted one of his dialogues to this nobleman, equally
+distinguished 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] For an account of Santillana, see the First Chapter of this History.
+The cardinal, in early life, is said to have translated for his father the
+Aeneid, the Odyssey, Ovid, Valerius Maximus, and Sallust. (Mem. de la
+Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 16.) This Herculean feat would put modern
+school-boys to shame, and we may suppose that partial versions only of
+these authors are intended.
+
+[21] Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 16.--Oviedo, Quincuagenas,
+MS., dial. de Grizio.
+
+Señor Clemencin has examined with much care the intellectual culture of
+the nation under Isabella, in the sixteenth _Ilustracion_ of his work. He
+has touched lightly on its poetical character, considering, no doubt, that
+this had been sufficiently developed by other critics. His essay, however,
+is rich in information in regard to the scholarship and severer studies of
+the period. The reader, who would pursue the inquiry still further, may
+find abundant materials in Nic. Antonio, Bibliotheca Vetus, tom. ii. lib.
+10, cap. 13 et seq.--Idem, Bibliotheca Hispana Nova, (Matriti, 1783-8,)
+tom. i. ii. passim.
+
+[22] 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.
+
+[24] Mendez, Typographia Española, pp. 271, 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.
+
+[25] Nic. Antonio, Bibliotheca Nova, tom. i. pp. 132-139.--Lampillas,
+Letteratura Spagnuola, tom. ii. dis. 2, sec. 3.--Dialogo de las Lenguas,
+apud Mayans y Siscar, Orígenes, (Madrid, 1737,) tom. ii. pp. 46, 47.
+
+Lucio Marineo pays the following elegant compliment to this learned
+Spaniard, in his discourse before quoted. "Amisit nuper Hispania maximum
+sui cultorem in re litterariâ, Antonium Nebrissensem, qui primus ex Italiâ
+in Hispaniam Musas adduxit, quibuscum barbariem ex suâ patriâ fugavit, et
+Hispaniam totam linguae Latinae lectionibus illustravit." "Meruerat id,"
+says Gomez de Castro of Lebrija, "et multo majora 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, disputes his critical acquaintance
+with his own language, from his being a native of Andalusia, where the
+Castilian was not spoken with purity. "Hablaba y escrivia como en el
+Andalucia y no como en la Castilla." P. 92. See also pp. 9, 10, 46, 53.
+
+[26] Barbosa, Bibliotheca Lusitana, (Lisboa 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. i. pp. 170,
+171.
+
+[27] Among these are particularly deserving of attention the brothers John
+and Francis Vergara, professors at Alcalá, the latter of whom was esteemed
+one of the most accomplished scholars of the age; Nuñez de Guzman, of the
+ancient house of that name, professor for many years at Salamanca and
+Alcalá, and the author of the Latin version in the famous Polyglot of
+Cardinal Ximenes; he left behind him numerous works, especially
+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
+scholarship of the period is afforded by that stupendous literary work of
+Cardinal Ximenes, the Polyglot Bible, whose versions in the Greek, Latin,
+and Oriental tongues were collated, with a single exception, by Spanish
+scholars. Erasmus, Epistolae, lib. 19, epist. 101.--Lampillas, Letteratura
+Spagnuola, tom. ii. pp. 382-384, 495, 792-794; tom. ii. p. 208 et seq.--
+Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 37.
+
+[28] Erasmus, Epistolae, p. 977.
+
+[29] "La muy esclarecida ciudad de Salamanca, madre de las artes
+liberales, y todas virtudes, y ansi 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 auspicata est quàm a complectendo linguae ac
+bonas literas. Cujus praecipuum oramentum est egregius ille senex,
+planéque dignus qui multos vincat Nestoras, Antonius Nebrissensis." Epist.
+ad Ludovicum Vivem, 1521. Epistolae, p. 755.
+
+[31] Cosas Memorables, ubi supra.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 57.--
+Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, lib. 4.--Chacon, Universidad de Salamanca, ubi
+supra.
+
+It appears that the practice of scraping with the feet as an expression of
+disapprobation, familiar in our universities, is of venerable antiquity;
+for Martyr mentions, that he was saluted with it before 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 jurisconsult,
+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, Bibliotheca Nova, tom. i. p. 503.
+
+[34] This collection, with the ill luck which has too often befallen such
+repositories in Spain, was burnt in the war of the Communities, in the
+time of Charles V. Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 16.--
+Morales, Obras, tom. vii. p. 18.--Informe de Ríol, who particularly
+notices the solicitude of Ferdinand and Isabella for preserving the public
+documents.
+
+[35] Mendez, Typographia Española, p. 51.
+
+[36] Archivo de Murcia, apud Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. p. 244.
+
+[37] Mendez, Typographia Española, pp. 52, 332.
+
+[38] Ordenanças Reales, lib. 4, tit. 4, ley 22.--The preamble of this
+statute is expressed in the following enlightened terms; "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 hiziessen
+los hombres letrados, quisieron y ordenaron, que de los libros no se
+pagasse el alcavala.... Lo qual parece que redunda en provecho universal
+de todos, y en ennoblecimiento de nuestros Reynos."
+
+[39] Capmany, Mem. de Barcelona, tom. i. part. 2, lib. 2, cap. 6.--Mendez,
+Typographia Española, pp. 55, 93.
+
+Bouterwek intimates, that the art of printing was first practised in Spain
+by German printers at Seville, _in the beginning of the sixteenth
+century_. (Bouterwek, Geschichte der Poesie und Beredsamkeit, (Göttingen,
+1801-17,) band iii. p. 98.)--He appears to have been misled by a solitary
+example quoted from Mayans y Siscar. The want of materials has more than
+once led this eminent critic to build sweeping conclusions on slender
+premises.
+
+[40] The title of the book is "Certamen poetich en lohor de la Concecio,"
+Valencia, 1474, 4to. The name of the printer is wanting. Mendez,
+Typographia Española, p. 56.
+
+[41] Ibid., pp. 61-63.
+
+[42] Mendez, Typographia Española, pp. 52, 53.--Pragmáticas del Reyno,
+fol. 138, 139.
+
+[43] Llorente, Hist. de l'Inquisition, tom. i. chap. 13, art. 1.
+
+"Adempto per _inquisitiones_," says Tacitus of the gloomy times of
+Domitian, "et loquendi audiendique commercio." (Vita Agricolae, sec. 2.)
+Beaumarchais, in a merrier vein, indeed, makes the same bitter
+reflections. "Il s'est établi dans Madrid un système de liberté sur la
+vente des productions, qui s'étend même a celles de la presse; et que,
+pourvu que je ne parle en mes écrits ni de l'autorité, ni de culte, ni de
+la politique, ni de la morale, ni des gens en place, ni des corps en
+crédit, ni de l'Opéra, ni des autres spectacles, ni de personne qui tienne
+à quelque chose, je puis tout imprimer librement, sous l'inspection de
+deux ou trois censeurs," Mariage de Figaro, acte 5, sc. 3.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+CASTILIAN LITERATURE.--ROMANCES OF CHIVALRY.--LYRICAL POETRY.-THE DRAMA.
+
+This Reign an Epoch in Polite Letters.--Romances of Chivalry.--Ballads or
+_Romances_.--Moorish Minstrelsy.--"Cancionero General."--Its Literary
+Value.--Rise of the Spanish Drama.--Criticism on "Celestina."--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 Provencal, which reached
+such high perfection in Catalonia, and subsequently in Aragon, as noticed
+in an introductory chapter, [1] expired with the union of this monarchy
+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, losing somewhat of its distinctive
+physiognomy, assumed many of the prevalent features of continental
+literature. Thus the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella becomes an epoch as
+memorable in literary, as in civil history.
+
+The most copious vein of fancy, in that day, was turned in the direction
+of the prose romance of chivalry; now seldom disturbed, even in its own
+country, except by the antiquary. The circumstances of the age naturally
+led to its production. The romantic Moorish wars, teeming with adventurous
+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 stirring adventures by sea as well as land,--above
+all, the discovery of a world beyond the waters, whose unknown regions
+gave full scope to the play of the imagination, all contributed to
+stimulate the appetite for the incredible chimeras, the _magnanime
+menzogne_, of chivalry. The publication of "Amadis de Gaula" gave a
+decided impulse to this popular feeling. This romance, which seems now
+well ascertained to be the production of a Portuguese in the latter half
+of the fourteenth century, [2] was first printed in a Spanish version,
+probably not far from 1490. [3] Its editor, Garci Ordoñez 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." [4] 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, relieved by the delicate play of Oriental machinery,
+its general truth of portraiture, above all, the knightly character of the
+hero, who graced the prowess of chivalry with a courtesy, modesty, and
+fidelity unrivalled in the creations of romance, soon recommended it to
+popular favor and imitation. A continuation, 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
+1510. 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 propagate 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. [5] 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 exceptions only, to the fatal funeral
+pile. [6]
+
+These romances of chivalry must have undoubtedly contributed 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 improbabilities of situation, which they possessed in
+common with the inimitable Italian epics, than from the false pictures
+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 assumed the poetic
+form, as in Italy, and indeed among our Norman ancestors; and that, in its
+prose dress, no name of note appears to raise it to a high degree of
+literary merit. Perhaps such a result might have been achieved, but for
+the sublime parody of Cervantes, which cut short the whole race of
+knights-errant, and by the fine irony, which it threw around the mock
+heroes of chivalry, extinguished them for ever. [7]
+
+The most popular poetry of this period, that springing from the body of
+the people, and most intimately addressed to it, is the ballads, or
+_romances_, as they are termed in Spain. These indeed were familiar
+to the Peninsula as far back as the twelfth and thirteenth centuries; but
+in the present reign they received a fresh impulse from the war with
+Granada, and composed, under the name of the Moorish ballads, what may
+perhaps be regarded, without too high praise, as the most exquisite
+popular minstrelsy of any age or country.
+
+The humble narrative lyrics making up the mass of ballad poetry, and
+forming the natural expression of a simple state of society, would seem to
+be most abundant in nations endowed with keen sensibilities, and placed in
+situations of excitement and powerful interest, fitted to develop them.
+The light and lively French have little to boast of in this way. [8] The
+Italians, with a deeper poetic feeling, were too early absorbed in the
+gross business habits of trade, and their literature received too high a
+direction from its master spirits, at its very commencement, to allow any
+considerable deviation in this track. The countries where it has most
+thriven, are probably Great Britain and Spain. The English and the Scotch,
+whose constitutionally pensive and even melancholy temperament has been
+deepened by the sober complexion of the climate, were led to the
+cultivation of this poetry still further by the stirring scenes of feudal
+warfare in which they were engaged, especially along the borders. The
+Spaniards, to similar sources of excitement, added that of high religious
+feeling in their struggles 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, round whose name might be
+concentrated all the scattered lights of song, thus enabling the nation to
+build up its poetry on the proudest historic recollections. [9] The feats
+of many other heroes, fabulous as well as real, were permitted to swell
+the stream of traditionary verse; and thus a body of poetical annals,
+springing up as it were from the depths of the people, was bequeathed from
+sire to son, contributing, perhaps, more powerfully than any real history
+could have done, to infuse a common principle of patriotism into the
+scattered members of the nation.
+
+There is considerable resemblance between the early Spanish ballad and the
+British. The latter affords more situations of pathos and deep tenderness,
+particularly those of suffering, uncomplaining love, a favorite theme with
+old English poets of every description. [10] 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 general of a more sustained and chivalrous
+character, less gloomy, and although fierce not so ferocious, nor so
+decidedly tragical in their aspect, as the latter. The ballads of the Cid,
+however, have many points in common with the border poetry; the same free
+and cordial manner, the same love of military exploit, relieved by a
+certain tone of generous gallantry, and accompanied by a strong expression
+of national feeling.
+
+The resemblance between the minstrelsy of the two countries vanishes,
+however, as we approach the Moorish ballads. The Moorish wars had always
+afforded abundant themes of interest for the Castilian muse; but it was
+not till the fall of the capital, that the very fountains of song were
+broken up, and those beautiful ballads were produced, which 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. [11] 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-fight of the Vivarrambla, the
+graceful tilt of reeds, the amorous knights with their quaint significant
+devices, the dark Zegris, or Gomeres, and the royal, self-devoted
+Abencerrages, the Moorish maiden radiant at the tourney, the moonlight
+serenade, the stolen interview, where the lover gives vent to all the
+intoxication of passion in the burning language of Arabian metaphor and
+hyperbole, [12]--these, and a thousand similar scenes, are brought before
+the eye, by a succession of rapid and animated touches, like the lights
+and shadows of a landscape. The light trochaic structure of the
+_redondilla_ [13], as the Spanish ballad measure is called, rolling
+on its graceful, negligent _asonante_, [14] 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 expression; a circumstance which has recommended it as the
+ordinary measure of dramatic dialogue.
+
+Nothing can be more agreeable than the general effect of the Moorish
+ballads, which combine the elegance of a riper period of literature, with
+the natural sweetness and simplicity, savoring sometimes even of the
+rudeness, of a primitive age. Their merits have raised them to a sort of
+classical dignity in Spain, and have led to their cultivation by a higher
+order of writers, and down to a far later period, than in any other
+country in Europe. The most successful specimens of this 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 the 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
+picturesque circumstances in the character and condition of the conquered
+nation to invest them with poetic interest.
+
+The Moorish _romances_ fortunately appeared after the introduction of
+printing into the Peninsula, so that they were secured a permanent
+existence, instead of perishing with the breath that made them, like so
+many of their predecessors. This misfortune, which attaches to so much of
+popular poetry in all nations, is not imputable to any insensibility in
+the Spaniards to the excellence of their own. Men of more erudition than
+taste may have held them light, in comparison with more ostentatious and
+learned productions. This fate has befallen them in other countries than
+Spain. [15] But persons of finer poetic feeling, and more enlarged spirit
+of criticism, have estimated them as a most essential and characteristic
+portion of Castilian literature. Such was the judgment of the great Lope
+de Vega, who, after expatiating on the extraordinary compass and sweetness
+of the _romance_, and its adaptation to the highest subjects, commends it
+as worthy of all estimation for its peculiar national character. [16] The
+modern Spanish writers have adopted a similar tone of criticism, insisting
+on its study, as essential to a correct appreciation and comprehension of
+the genius of the language. [17]
+
+The Castilian ballads were first printed in the "Cancionero General" of
+Fernando del Castillo, in 1511. They were first incorporated into a
+separate work, by Sepulveda, under the name of "Romances sacados de
+Historias Antiguas," printed at Antwerp, in 1551. [18] Since that period,
+they have passed into repeated editions, at home and abroad, especially in
+Germany, where they have been illustrated by able critics. [19] Ignorance
+of their authors, and of the era of their production, has prevented any
+attempt at exact chronological arrangement; a circumstance rendered,
+moreover, nearly impossible, 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 fifteenth century. [20] Another
+system of classification has been adopted, 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. [21]
+
+The higher and educated classes of the nation were not insensible to the
+poetic spirit, which drew forth such excellent minstrelsy from the body of
+the people. Indeed, Castilian poetry bore the same patrician stamp through
+the whole of the present reign, which had been impressed on it in its
+infancy. Fortunately, the new art of printing was employed here, as in the
+case of the _romances_, to arrest those fugitive sallies of imagination,
+which in other countries were permitted, from want of this care, to pass
+into oblivion; and _cancioneros_, or collections of lyrics, were
+published, embodying the productions of this reign and that of John the
+Second, thus bringing under one view the poetic culture of the fifteenth
+century.
+
+The earliest _cancionero_ printed was at Saragossa, in 1492. It
+comprehended the works of Mena, Manrique, and six or seven other bards of
+less note. [22] A far more copious collection was made by Fernando del
+Castillo, and first published at Valencia, in 1511, under the title of
+"Cancionero General," since which period it has passed into repeated
+editions. This compilation is certainly more creditable to Castillo's
+industry, than to his discrimination or power of arrangement. Indeed, in
+this latter respect it is so defective, that it would almost seem to have
+been put together fortuitously, as the pieces came to hand. A large
+portion of the authors appear to have been persons of rank; a 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. [23]
+
+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 anticipated 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 commonplace precept,
+unenlivened by a single spark of true poetic fire, and presenting
+altogether a farrago of the most fantastic pedantry.
+
+The lighter, especially the amatory poems, are much more successfully
+executed, and the primitive forms of the old Castilian versification are
+developed with considerable variety and beauty. Among the most agreeable
+effusions in this way, may be noticed those of Diego Lopez de 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 facility and grace. [24] Among the more elaborate
+pieces, Diego de San Pedro's "Desprecio de la Fortuna" may be
+distinguished, not so much for any poetic talent which it exhibits, as for
+its mercurial and somewhat sarcastic tone of sentiment. [25] The
+similarity of subject may suggest a parallel between it and the Italian
+poet Guidi's celebrated ode on Fortune; and the different styles of
+execution may perhaps be taken, as indicating pretty fairly the
+distinctive peculiarities of the Tuscan and the old Spanish school of
+poetry. The Italian, introducing the fickle goddess, in person, on the
+scene, describes her triumphant march over the ruins of empires and
+dynasties, from the earliest time, in a flow of lofty dithyrambic
+eloquence, adorned with all the brilliant coloring of a stimulated fancy
+and a highly finished language. The Castilian, on the other hand, instead
+of this splendid personification, deepens his verse into a moral tone,
+and, dwelling on the vicissitudes and vanities of human life, points his
+reflections with some caustic warning, often conveyed with enchanting
+simplicity, but without the least approach to lyric exaltation, or indeed
+the affectation of it.
+
+This proneness to moralize the song is in truth a characteristic of the
+old Spanish bard. He rarely abandons himself, without reserve, to the
+frolic puerilities so common with the sister Muse of Italy,
+
+  "Scritta così come la penna getta,
+  Per fuggir l'ozio, e non per cercar gloria."
+
+It is true, he is occasionally betrayed by verbal subtilties and other
+affectations of the age; [26] but even his liveliest sallies are apt to be
+seasoned with a moral, or sharpened by a satiric sentiment. His defects,
+indeed, are of the kind most opposed to those of the Italian poet, showing
+themselves, especially in the more elaborate pieces, in a certain tumid
+stateliness and overstrained energy of diction.
+
+On the whole, one cannot survey the "Cancionero General" without some
+disappointment at the little progress of the poetic art, since the reign
+of John the Second, at the beginning of the century. The best pieces in
+the collection are of that date, and no rival subsequently arose to
+compete with the masculine strength of Mena, or the delicacy and
+fascinating graces of Santillana. One cause of this tardy progress may
+have been the direction to 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 language, whose delicate
+finish is so essential to the purposes of the poet, but which was so
+imperfect at this period that Juan de la Encina, a popular writer of the
+time, complained that he was obliged, in his version of Virgil's Eclogues,
+to coin, as it were, a new vocabulary, from the want of terms
+corresponding with the original, in the old one. [27] It was not until the
+close of the present reign, when the nation began to breathe awhile from
+its tumultuous career, that the fruits of the patient cultivation which it
+had been steadily, though silently experiencing, began to manifest
+themselves in the improved condition of the language, and its 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 altogether inadequate.
+
+We must not dismiss the miscellaneous poetry of this period, without some
+notice of the "Coplas" of Don Jorge Manrique, [28] on the death of his
+father, the count of Paredes, in 1474 [29]. 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 tenderness pervades the piece,
+which may remind us of the best manner of Petrarch; while, with the
+exception of a slight taint of pedantry, it is exempt from the
+meretricious vices that belong to the poetry of the age. The effect of the
+sentiment is heightened by the simple turns and broken melody of the old
+Castilian verse, of which perhaps this may be accounted the most finished
+specimen; such would seem to be the judgment of his own countrymen, [30]
+whose glosses and commentaries on it have swelled into a separate volume.
+[31]
+
+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 throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, may
+be traced in Spain to an ancient date. Their familiar performance in the
+churches, by the clergy, is recognized in the middle of the thirteenth
+century, by a law of Alfonso the Tenth, which, while it interdicted
+certain profane mummeries that had come into vogue, prescribed the
+legitimate topics for exhibition. [32]
+
+The transition from these rude spectacles to more regular dramatic
+efforts, was very slow and gradual. In 1414, an allegorical comedy,
+composed by the celebrated Henry, marquis of Villena, was performed at
+Saragossa, in the presence of the court. [33] In 1469, a dramatic eclogue
+by an anonymous author was exhibited in the palace of the count of Ureña,
+in the presence of Ferdinand, on his coming into Castile to espouse the
+infanta Isabella. [34] These pieces may be regarded as the earliest
+theatrical attempts, after the religious dramas and popular pantomimes
+already noticed; but unfortunately they have not come down to us. The next
+production deserving attention is a "Dialogue between Love and an Old
+Man," imputed to 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
+vivacity and grace, and with as much dramatic movement as is compatible
+with only two interlocutors. [35]
+
+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, indeed, constituting nearly one-third of the piece,
+is all that is ascribed to Cota. The remaining twenty, which however
+should rather be denominated scenes, were continued by another hand, some,
+though to judge from the internal evidence afforded by the style, not many
+years later. The second author was Fernando de Roxas, bachelor of law, as
+he informs us, who composed this work as a sort of intellectual
+relaxation, during one of his vacations. The time was certainly not
+misspent. The continuation, however, is not esteemed by the Castilian
+critics to have risen quite to the level of the original act. [36]
+
+The story turns on a love intrigue. A Spanish youth of rank is enamoured
+of a lady, whose affections he gains with some difficulty, but whom he
+finally seduces, through the arts of an accomplished courtesan, whom the
+author has introduced under the romantic name of Celestina. The piece,
+although comic, or rather sentimental in its progress, terminates in the
+most tragical catastrophe, in which all the principal actors are involved.
+The general texture, of the plot is exceedingly clumsy, yet it affords
+many situations of deep and varied interest in its progress. The principal
+characters are delineated in the piece with considerable skill. The part
+of Celestina, in particular, in which a veil of plausible hypocrisy is
+thrown over the deepest profligacy of conduct, is managed with much
+address. The subordinate parts are brought into brisk comic action, with
+natural dialogue, though sufficiently obscene; and an interest of a graver
+complexion is raised by the passion of the lovers, the timid, confiding
+tenderness of the lady, and the sorrows of the broken-hearted parent. The
+execution of the play reminds us on the whole less of the Spanish, than of
+the old English theatre, in many of its defects, as well as beauties; in
+the contrasted strength and imbecility of various passages; its
+intermixture of broad farce and deep tragedy; the unseasonable
+introduction of frigid metaphor and pedantic allusion in the midst of the
+most passionate discourses; in the unveiled voluptuousness of its
+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 obviously never
+intended for representation, to which, not merely the grossness of some of
+the details, but the length and arrangement of the piece, are unsuitable.
+But, notwithstanding this, and its approximation to the character of a
+romance, it must be admitted to contain within itself the essential
+elements of dramatic composition; and, as such, is extolled by the Spanish
+critics, as opening the theatrical career of Europe. A similar claim has
+been maintained for nearly contemporaneous productions in other countries,
+and especially for Politian's "Orfeo," which, there is little doubt, was
+publicly acted before 1483. Notwithstanding its representation, however,
+the "Orfeo," presenting a combination of the eclogue and the ode, without
+any proper theatrical movement, or attempt at development of character,
+cannot fairly come within the limits of dramatic writing. A more ancient
+example than either, at least as far as the exterior forms are concerned,
+may be probably found in the celebrated French farce of Pierre Pathelin,
+printed as early as 1474, having been 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 regarding
+the "Celestina" as having led the way in modern Europe. [37]
+
+Without deciding on its proper classification as a work of art, however,
+its real merits are settled by its wide popularity, both at home and
+abroad. It has been translated into most of the European languages, and
+the preface to the last edition, published in Madrid, so recently as 1822,
+enumerates thirty editions of it in Spain alone, in the course of the
+sixteenth century. Impressions were multiplied in Italy, and at the very
+time when it was interdicted at home on the score of its immoral tendency.
+A popularity thus extending through distant ages and nations, shows how
+faithfully it is built on the principles of human nature. [38]
+
+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 Roxas. 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 profession; and his skill in music recommended him to the
+office of principal director of the pontifical chapel. He was subsequently
+presented with the priory of Leon, and returned to Spain, where he died in
+1534. [39]
+
+Encina's works first appeared at Salamanca, in 1496, collected into one
+volume, folio. [40] Besides other poetry, they comprehend a number of
+dramatic eclogues, sacred and profane; the former, suggested by topics
+drawn from Scripture, like the ancient mysteries; the latter, chiefly
+amatory. They were performed in the palace of his patron, the duke of
+Alva, in the presence of Prince John, the duke of Infantado, and other
+eminent persons of the court; and the poet himself occasionally assisted
+at the representation. [41]
+
+ Encina's eclogues are simple compositions, with little pretence to
+dramatic artifice. The story is too meagre to admit of much ingenuity or
+contrivance, or to excite any depth of interest. There are few
+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 speakers
+precludes anything 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 merit as
+pastorals, they are entitled to little consideration as specimens of
+dramatic art; and, in the vital spirit of dramatic composition, must be
+regarded as far inferior to the "Celestina." The simplicity of these
+productions, and the facility of their exhibition, which required little
+theatrical decoration or costume, recommended them to popular imitation,
+which continued long after the regular forms of the drama were introduced
+into Spain. [42]
+
+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. [43] Few particulars have
+been ascertained of his personal history. He was born at Torre, in the
+province of Estremadura. In the early part of his life he fell into the
+hands of the Algerines, and was finally released from captivity by the
+exertions of certain benevolent Italians, who generously paid his ransom.
+He then established his residence in Italy, at the court of Leo the Tenth.
+Under the genial influence of that patronage, which quickened so many of
+the seeds of genius to production in every department, he composed his
+"Propaladia," a work embracing a variety of lyrical and dramatic poetry,
+first published at Rome, in 1517. 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 embraced 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. [44]
+
+His "Propaladia," first published at Rome, passed through several editions
+subsequently in Spain, where it was alternately prohibited, or permitted,
+according to the caprice of the 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 into _jornadas_, or days, and of
+the _intróito_, 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. [45]
+
+The scenes of Naharro's comedies, with a single exception, are laid in
+Spain and Italy; those in the latter country probably being selected with
+reference to the audiences before whom they were acted. The diction is
+easy and correct, without much affectation of refinement or rhetorical
+ornament. The dialogue, especially in the lower parts, is sustained with
+much comic vivacity; indeed, Naharro seems to have had a nicer 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, deepened
+by the moral reflection so characteristic of the Spaniards. At other
+times, his pieces are disfigured by such a Babel-like confusion of
+tongues, as makes it doubtful which may be the poet's vernacular. French,
+Spanish, Italian, with a variety of barbarous _patois_, and mongrel
+Latin, are all brought into play at the same time, and all comprehended,
+apparently with equal facility, by each one of the _dramatis personae_.
+But it is difficult to conceive how such a jargon could have been
+comprehended, far more relished, by an Italian audience. [46]
+
+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 produced by blending the foulest crimes with zeal for religion. [47]
+
+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 forming a part of the Spanish dominions, might more
+easily furnish an audience capable of comprehending them. [48] 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 histrionic art, and the total deficiency in
+theatrical costume and 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. [49]
+
+Some conception may be afforded of the lamentable poverty of the
+theatrical equipment, from the account given of its condition, half a
+century later, by Cervantes. "The whole wardrobe of a manager of the
+theatre, at that time," says he, "was contained in a single sack, and
+amounted only to four dresses of white fur trimmed, with gilt leather,
+four beards, four wigs, and four crooks, more or less. There were no
+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." [50] In fact, no further apparatus
+was employed than that demanded for the exhibition of mysteries, or the
+pastoral dialogues which succeeded them. The Spaniards, notwithstanding
+their precocity, compared with most of the nations of Europe, in dramatic
+art, were unaccountably tardy in all its histrionic accompaniments. The
+public remained content with such poor mummeries, as could be got up by
+strolling players and mountebanks. There was no fixed theatre in Madrid
+until the latter part of the sixteenth century; and that consisted of a
+courtyard, with only a roof to shelter it, while the spectators sat on
+benches ranged around, or at the windows of the surrounding houses. [51]
+
+A similar impulse with that experienced by comic writing, was given to
+tragedy. The first that entered on this department were professed
+scholars, who adopted the error of the Italian dramatists, in fashioning
+their pieces servilely after the antique, instead of seizing the
+expression of their own age. The most conspicuous attempts in this way
+were made by Fernan Perez de Oliva. [52] He was born at Cordova, in 1494,
+and, after many years passed in the various schools of Spain, France, and
+Italy, returned to his native land, and became a lecturer in the
+university of Salamanca. He instructed in moral philosophy and
+mathematics, and established the highest reputation for his critical
+acquaintance with the ancient languages and his own. He died young, at the
+age of thirty-nine, deeply lamented for his moral, no less than for his
+intellectual worth. [53]
+
+His various works were published by the learned Morales, his nephew, some
+fifty years after his death. Among them are translations in prose of the
+Electra of Sophocles, and the Hecuba of Euripides. They may with more
+propriety be termed imitations, and those too of the freest kind. Although
+they conform, in the general arrangement and progress of the story, to
+their originals, yet characters, nay whole scenes and dialogues, are
+occasionally omitted; and in those retained, it is not always easy to
+recognize the hand of the Grecian artist, whose modest beauties are thrown
+into shade by the ambitious ones of his imitator. [54] 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. [55]
+
+Oliva's reputation led to a similar imitation of the antique. But the
+Spaniards were too national in all their tastes to sanction it. These
+classical compositions did not obtain possession of the stage, but were
+confined to the closet, serving only as a relaxation for the man of
+letters; while the voice of the people compelled all who courted it, to
+accommodate their inventions to those romantic forms, which were
+subsequently developed in such variety of beauty by the great Spanish
+dramatists. [56]
+
+We have now surveyed the different kinds of poetic culture familiar to
+Spain under Ferdinand and Isabella. Their most conspicuous element is the
+national spirit which pervades them, and the exclusive attachment which
+they manifest to the primitive forms of versification peculiar to the
+Peninsula. The most remarkable portion of this body of poetry may
+doubtless be considered the Spanish _romances_, or ballads; that
+popular minstrelsy, which, commemorating the picturesque and chivalrous
+incidents of the age, reflects most faithfully the romantic genius of the
+people who gave it utterance. The lyric efforts of the period were less
+successful. There were few elaborate attempts in this field, indeed, by
+men of decided genius. But the great obstacle may be found in the
+imperfection of the language and the deficiency of the more exact and
+finished metrical forms, indispensable to high poetic execution.
+
+The whole period, however, comprehending, as it does, the first decided
+approaches to a regular drama, may be regarded as very important in a
+literary aspect; since it exhibits the indigenous peculiarities of
+Castilian literature in all their freshness, and shows to what a degree of
+excellence it could attain, while untouched by any foreign influence. The
+present reign may be regarded as the epoch which divides the ancient from
+the modern school of Spanish poetry; in which the language was slowly but
+steadily undergoing the process of refinement, that "made the knowledge of
+it," to borrow the words of a contemporary critic, "pass for an elegant
+accomplishment, even with the cavaliers and dames of cultivated Italy;"
+[57] and which finally gave full scope to the poetic talent, that raised
+the literature of the country to such brilliant 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 eighth
+number of the American Quarterly Review, ascribed to Mr. Ticknor, late
+Professor of Modern Literature in Harvard University. This gentleman,
+during a residence in the Peninsula, had every facility for replenishing
+his library with the most curious and valuable works, both printed and
+manuscript, 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 Castilian scholar, may
+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
+anxiously expected, "Orígenes del Teatro Español," 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
+authors. Moratin states in his Preface, that he was employed from his
+earliest 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
+earliest 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
+publication 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
+discrimination, which resulted from poetic talent combined with extensive
+and thorough erudition. The criticisms, although sometimes warped by the
+peculiar dramatic principles of the author, are conducted in general with
+great fairness; and ample, but not extravagant, commendation is bestowed
+on productions, whose merit, to be properly appreciated, must be weighed
+by one conversant with the character and intellectual culture of the
+period. The work unfortunately did not receive the last touches of its
+author, and undoubtedly something 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, as it were, under one aspect,
+and its real merits accurately determined.
+
+It was not till some time after the publication of this History, that my
+attention was called to that portion of the writings of Don Martinez de la
+Rosa, in which he criticizes the various departments of the national
+literature. This criticism is embodied in the annotations and appendix to
+his elegant "Poetica" (Obras Literarias, (Paris, 1827,) tom. i. ii.) The
+former discuss the general laws, by which the various kinds of poetry are
+to be regulated; the latter presents a very searching and scientific
+analysis of the principal productions of the Spanish poets, down to the
+close of the last century. The critic exemplifies his own views by copious
+extracts from the subjects of his criticism, and throws much collateral
+light on the argument by illustrations borrowed from foreign literature.
+In the examination of the Spanish drama, especially comedy, which he
+modestly qualifies as a "succinct notice, not very exact," he is very
+elaborate; and discovers the same taste and sagacity in estimating the
+merits of individual writers, which he had shown in discussing the general
+principles of the art. Had I read his work sooner, it would have greatly
+facilitated my own inquiries in the same obscure path; and I should have
+recognized, at least, one brilliant exception to my sweeping remark on the
+apathy manifested by the Castilian scholars to the antiquities of the
+national drama.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+[1] Eichhorn, Geschichte der Kultur und Litteratur der Neueren Europa,
+(Göttingen, 1796-1811,) pp. 129, 130.--See also the conclusion of the
+Introduction, Sec. 2, of this History.
+
+[2] Nic. Antonio seems unwilling to relinquish the pretensions of his own
+nation to the authorship of this romance. (See Bibliotheca Nova, tom. ii.
+p. 394.) Later critics, and among them Lampillas, (Ensayo Historico-
+Apologético de la Literatura Española, (Madrid, 1789,) tom. v. p. 168,)
+who resigns no more than he is compelled to do, are less disposed to
+contest the claims of the Portuguese. Mr. Southey has cited two documents,
+one historical, the other poetical, which seem to place its composition by
+Lobeira in the latter part of the fourteenth century beyond any reasonable
+doubt. (See Amadis of Gaul, pref.,--also Sarmiento, Memorias para la
+Historia de la Poesía y Poetas Españoles, Obras Posthumas, (Madrid, 1775,)
+tom. i. p. 239.) Bouterwek, and after him Sismondi, without adducing any
+authority, have fixed the era of Lobeira's death at 1325. Dante, who died
+but four years previous to that date, furnishes a negative argument, at
+least, against this, since, in his notice of some doughty names of
+chivalry then popular, he makes no allusion to Amadis, the best of all.
+Inferno, cantos v., xxxi.
+
+[3] The excellent old romance "Tirante the White," _Tirant lo Blanch_, was
+printed at Valencia in 1490. (See Mendez, Typographia Española, tom. i.
+pp. 72-75.) 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 Montalvo's prologue to his edition at Saragossa,
+in 1521, still preserved in the royal library at Madrid, where he alludes
+to his former publication of it in the time of Ferdinand and Isabella.
+(Cervantes, Don Quixote, ed. Pellicer, Discurso Prelim.)
+
+Mr. Dunlop, who has analyzed these romances with a patience that more will
+be disposed to commend than imitate, has been led into the error of
+supposing that the first edition of the "Amadis" was printed at Seville,
+in 1526, from detached fragments appearing in the time of Ferdinand and
+Isabella, and subsequently by Montalvo, at Salamanca, in 1547. See History
+of Prose Fiction, vol. ii. chap. 10.
+
+[4] The following is Montalvo's brief prologue to the introduction of the
+first book. "Aqvi comiença el primero libro del esforçado et virtuoso
+cauallero Amadis hijo del rey Perion de Gaula; y dela reyna Elisena: el
+qual fue coregido y emendado por el honrado y virtuoso cauallero
+Garciordoñes de Montalvo, regidor dela noble uilla de Medina del campo; et
+corregiole delos antiguos originales que estauan corruptos, et compuestos
+en antiguo estilo: por falta delos diferentes escriptores. Quitando muchas
+palabras superfluas; et poniendo otras de mas polido y elegante estilo:
+tocantes ala caualleria et actos della, animando los coraçones gentiles de
+manzebos belicosos que con grandissimo affetto abrazan el arte dela
+milicia corporal animando la immortal memoria del arte de caualleria no
+menos honestissimo que glorioso." Amadis de Gaula, (Venecia, 1533,) fol.
+1.
+
+[5] Nic. Antonio enumerates the editions of thirteen of this doughty
+family of knights-errant. (Bibliotheca Nova, tom. ii. pp. 394, 395.) He
+dismisses his notice with the reflection, somewhat more charitable than
+that of Don Quixote's curate, that "he had felt little interest in
+investigating these fables, yet was willing to admit, with others, that
+their reading was not wholly useless."
+
+Moratin has collected an appalling catalogue of _part_ of the books
+of chivalry published in Spain at the close of the fifteenth and the
+following century. The first on the list is the _Carcel de Amor_, por
+Diego Hernandez de San Pedro, en Burgos, año de 1496. Obras, tom. i. pp.
+93-98.
+
+[6] Cervantes, Don Quixote, tom. i. part. 1, cap. 6.
+
+The curate's wrath is very emphatically expressed. "Pues vayan todos al
+corral, dixo el Cura, que a trueco de quemar a la reyna Pintiquïniestra, 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 caballero 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 mentirossissimos, son tal mal
+compuestos, assi por dezir las mentiras tan desvergonçadas, como por tener
+el estilo desbaraçado, que no ay buen estomago que lo pueda leer." Apud
+Mayans y Siscar, Orígenes, tom. ii. p. 158.
+
+[7] The labors of Bowles, Rios, Arrieta, Pellicer, and Navarrete would
+seem to have left little to desire in regard to the illustration of
+Cervantes. But the commentaries of Clemencin, published since this chapter
+was written, in 1833, show how much yet remained to be supplied. They
+afford the most copious illustrations, both literary and historical, of
+his author, and exhibit that nice taste in verbal criticism, which is not
+always joined with such extensive erudition. Unfortunately, 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 sufficient
+value permanently to associate the name of its author with that of the
+greatest genius of his country.
+
+[8] The fabliaux cannot fairly be considered 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
+little claim to be considered as the expression of national feeling or
+sentiment. The poetry of the south of France, 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 minstrelsy.
+
+[9] 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.
+
+[10] One exception, among others, readily occurs in the pathetic old
+ballad of the Conde Alarcos, whose woful catastrophe, with the unresisting
+suffering of the countess, suggests many points of coincidence 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.
+
+[11] I have already noticed the insufficiency of the _romances_ to
+authentic history, Part I. Chap. 8, Note 30. My conclusions there have
+been confirmed by Mr. Irving, (whose researches have led him in a similar
+direction,) in his "Alhambra," published nearly a year after the above
+note was written.
+
+The great source of the popular misconceptions respecting the domestic
+history of Granada is Gines Perez de Hyta, whose work, under the title of
+"Historia de los Vandos de los Zegries y Abencerrages, Cavalleros Moros de
+Granada, y las Guerras Civiles que huvo en ella," was published at Alcalá
+in 1604. This romance, written in prose, embodied many of the old Moorish
+ballads in it, whose singular beauty, combined with the romantic and
+picturesque character of the work itself, soon made it extremely popular,
+until at length it seems to have acquired a degree of the historical
+credit claimed for it by its author as a translation from an Arabian
+chronicle; a credit which has stood it in good stead with the tribe of
+travel-mongers and _raconteurs_, persons always of easy faith, who
+have propagated its fables far and wide. Their credulity, however, may be
+pardoned in what has imposed on the perspicacity of so cautions an
+historian as Müller. Allgemeine Geschichte, (1817,) band ii. p. 504.
+
+[12] Thus, in one of their _romances_, we have a Moorish lady "shedding
+drops of liquid silver, and scattering her hair of Arabian gold" over the
+corpse of her murdered husband!
+
+  "Sobre el cuerpo de Albencayde
+  Destila liquida plata,
+  Y convertida en cabellos
+  Esparce el oro de Arabia."
+
+Can anything be more Oriental than this imagery? In another we have "an
+hour of years of impatient hopes;" a passionate sally, that can scarcely
+be outmatched by Scriblerus. This taint of exaggeration, however, so far
+from being peculiar to the popular minstrelsy, has found its way, probably
+through this channel in part, into most of the poetry of the Peninsula.
+
+[13] The _redondilla_ 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. 207.) The redondilla
+admits of great variety; but in the romances 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 Poetica
+Espanola, (Barcelona, 1727,) cap. 9, 44.) Critics have derived this
+delightful measure from various sources. Sarmiento traces it to the
+hexameter of the ancient Romans, which may be bisected into something
+analogous to the redondillas. (Memorias, pp. 168-171.) Bouterwek thinks it
+may have been suggested by the songs of the Roman soldiery. (Geschichte
+der Poesie und Beredsamkeit, band iii., Einleitung, p. 20.)--Velazquez
+borrows it from the rhyming hexameters of the Spanish Latin poets, of
+which he gives specimens of the beginning of the fourteenth century.
+(Poesía Castellana, pp. 77, 78.) Later critics refer its derivation to the
+Arabic. Conde has given a translation of certain Spanish-Arabian poems, in
+the measure of the original, from which it is evident, that the hemistich
+of an Arabian verse corresponds perfectly with the redondilla. (See his
+Dominacion de los Arabes, passim.) The same author, in a treatise, which
+he never published, on the "poesía oriental," shows more precisely the
+intimate affinity subsisting between the metrical form of the Arabian and
+the old Castilian verse. The reader will find an analysis of his
+manuscript in Part I. Chap. 8, Note 49, of this History.
+
+This theory is rendered the more plausible 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 Spanish Arabs; whose superior cultivation naturally
+affected the unformed literature of their neighbors, and through no
+channel more obviously than its popular minstrelsy.
+
+[14] The _asonante_ is a rhyme made by uniformity of the vowels, without
+reference 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 _asonantes_; _regozijo_, _pellico_, _luzido_, _amarillo_. In
+this 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 Poética Española, pp. 214, 215, 218.) There
+is a wild, artless melody in the _asonante_, and a graceful movement
+coming somewhere, as it does, betwixt 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 impediments 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
+Castilian, assumes, perhaps from the effect of association, rather a
+doggerel air in the English.
+
+[15] This may be still further inferred from the tenor of a humorous,
+satirical old _romance_, in which the writer implores the justice of
+Apollo on the heads of the swarm of traitor poets, who have deserted the
+ancient themes of song, the Cids, the Laras, the Gonzalez, to celebrate
+the Ganzuls and Abderrahmans and the fantastical fables of the Moors.
+
+  "Tanta Zayda y Adalifa,
+  tanta Draguta y Daraxa,
+  tanto Azarque y tanto Adulce,
+  tanto Gazul, y Abenamar,
+  tanto alquizer y marlota,
+  tanto almayzar, y almalafa,
+  tantas emprisas y plumas,
+  tantas cifras 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 lança
+  contra Poetas Moriscos."
+
+Dr. Johnson's opinions are well known, in regard to this department of
+English literature, which, by his ridiculous parodies, 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 surer principles of taste, has reversed both these decisions.
+
+[16] "Algunos quieren que sean la cartilla de los Poetas; yo no lo siento
+assi; antes bien los hallo capaces, no solo de exprimir y declarar
+qualquier concepto con facil dulzura, pero de prosequir toda grave accion
+de numeroso Poema. Y soy tan de veras Español, que por ser en nuestro
+idioma 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, Prólogo.) In another place he finely styles them "Iliads without a
+Homer."
+
+[17] See, among others, the encomiastic and animated criticism of
+Fernandez and Quintana. Fernandez, Poesías Escogidas, de Nuestros
+Cancioneros y Romanceros Antiguos, (Madrid, 1796,) tom. xvi., Prólogo.--
+Quintana, Poesías Selectas Castellanas, Introd. art. 4.
+
+[18] 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 Sepulveda
+has escaped their notice. See Literatura Española, pp. 217, 218.
+
+[19] See Grimm, Depping, Herder, etc. This last poet has embraced a
+selection of the Cid ballads, chronologically arranged, and translated
+with eminent simplicity and spirit, if not with the scrupulous fidelity
+usually aimed at by the Germans. See his Sämmtliche Werke, (Wien, 1813,)
+band iii.
+
+[20] Sarmiento, Memorias, pp. 242, 243.--Moratin considers that none have
+come down to us, in their original costume, of an earlier date than John
+II.'s reign, the first half of the fifteenth century. (Obras, tom. i. p.
+84.) The Spanish translators of Bouterwek transcribe a _romance_,
+relating to the Cid, from the fathers Berganza and Merino, purporting to
+exhibit the primitive, uncorrupted diction of the thirteenth century.
+Native critics are of course the only ones competent to questions of this
+sort; but, to the less experienced eye of a foreigner, the style of this
+ballad would seem to resemble much less that genuine specimen of the
+versification of the preceding age, the poem of the Cid, than the
+compositions of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
+
+[21] The principle of philosophical arrangement, if it may so be called,
+is pursued still further in the latest Spanish publications of the
+_romances_, where the Moorish minstrelsy is embodied in a separate
+volume, and distributed with reference to its topics. This system is the
+more practicable with this class of ballads, since it far exceeds in
+number any other. See Duran, Romancero de Romances Moriscos.
+
+The Romancero I have used is the ancient edition of Medina del Campo,
+1602. 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 compilations. When 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 disposed 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.
+
+[22] The title of this work was "Coplas de Vita Christi, de la Cena con la
+Pasion, y de la Veronica con la Resurreccion de nuestro Redemtor. E las
+siete Angustias e siete Gozos de nuestra Señora, con otras obras mucho
+provechosas." It concludes with the following notice, "Fue la presente
+obra emprentada en la insigne Ciudad de Zaragoza de Aragon por industria e
+expensas de Paulo Hurus de Constancia aleman. A 27 dias de Noviembre,
+1492." (Mendez, Typographia Española, pp. 134, 136.) It appears there were
+two or three other cancioneros compiled, none of which, however, were
+admitted to the honors of the press. (Bouterwek, Literatura Española,
+nota.) The learned Castro, some fifty years since, published an analysis
+with copious extracts 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 Española, tom. i. p. 265 et seq.
+
+[23] Cancionero General, passim.--Moratin has given a list of the men of
+rank who contributed to this miscellany; it contains the names of the
+highest nobility of Spain. (Orig. del Teatro Español, Obras, tom. i. pp.
+85, 86.) Castillo's Cancionero passed through several editions, the latest
+of which appeared in 1573. See a catalogue, not entirely complete, of the
+different Spanish Cancioneros in Bouterwek, Literatura Española, trad., p.
+217.
+
+[24] Cancionero General, pp. 83-89.--Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS.
+
+[25] Cancionero General, pp. 158-161.--Some meagre information of this
+person is given by Nic. Antonio, whose biographical notices may be often
+charged with deficiency in chronological data; a circumstance perhaps
+unavoidable from the obscurity of their subjects. Biblioteca Vetus, tom.
+ii. lib. 10, cap. 6.
+
+[26] There are probably more direct puns in Petrarch's lyrics alone, than
+in all the Cancionero General. There is another kind of _niaiserie_,
+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,
+
+  "Acordad Vuestros olvidos
+  Y olvida vuestros acuerdos
+  Porque tales desacuerdos
+  Acuerden vuestros sentidos," etc.
+
+Cancionero General, fol. 226.
+
+It was such subtilties as these, _entricadas razones_, as Cervantes
+calls them, that addled the brains of poor Don Quixote. Tom. i. cap. 1.
+
+[27] Velasquez, Poesía Castellana, p. 122.--More than half a century
+later, the learned Ambrosio Morales complained of the barrenness of the
+Castilian, which he imputed to the too exclusive adoption of the Latin
+upon all subjects of dignity and importance. Obras, tom. xiv. pp. 147,
+148.
+
+[28] L. Marineo, speaking of this accomplished nobleman, styles him "virum
+satis illustrem.--Eum enim poetam et philosophum natura formavit ac
+peperit." He unfortunately fell in a skirmish, five years after his
+father's death, in 1479. Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. p. 531.
+
+[29] An elaborate character of this Quixotic old cavalier may be found in
+Pulgar, Claros Varones, tit. 13.
+
+[30] "Don Jorge Manrique," says Lope de Vega, "cuyas coplas Castellanas
+admiren los ingenios estrangeros y merecen estar escritas con letras de
+oro." Obras Sueltas, tom. xii. Prólogo.
+
+[31] Coplas de Don Jorge Manrique, ed. Madrid, 1779.--Diálogo de las
+Lenguas, apud Mayans y Siscar, Orígenes, tom. ii. p. 149.--Manrique's
+Coplas have also been the subject of a separate publication in the United
+States. Professor Longfellow's version, accompanying it, is well
+calculated to give the English 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, announcing his
+nativity; also his advent, and the coming of the three Magi kings to
+worship him; and his resurrection, showing 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 ecclesiastics, down
+to Isabella's reign, as may be inferred from a decree, very similar to the
+law of the Partidas above cited, published by the council of Aranda, in
+1473. (Apud Moratin, Obras, tom. i. p. 87.) Moratin considers it certain,
+that the representation of the mysteries existed in Spain, as far back as
+the eleventh century. 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 circumstance would seem compatible with a
+much more recent origin.
+
+[33] Cervantes, Comedias y Entremeses, (Madrid, 1749,) tom. i. prólogo de
+Nasarre.--Velazquez, Poesía Castellana, p. 86.--The fifth volume of the
+Memoirs of the Spanish Royal Academy of History contains a dissertation on
+the "national diversions," by Don Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, replete
+with curious erudition, and exhibiting the discriminating taste to have
+been expected from its accomplished author. Among these antiquarian
+researches, the writer has included a brief view of the first theatrical
+attempts in Spain. See Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. v. Mem. 6.
+
+[34] Moratin, Obras, tom. i. p. 115.--Nasarre (Cervantes, Comedias,
+pról.), Jovellanos (Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. v. Memor. 6), Pellicer
+(Orígen 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 representation corresponds precisely
+with that of his birth. The prevalence of so gross a blunder among the
+Spanish scholars, shows how little the antiquities of their theatre were
+studied before the time of Moratin.
+
+[35] This little piece has been published at length by Moratin, in the
+first volume of his works. (See Orígenes del Teatro Español, Obras, tom.
+i. pp. 303-314.)
+
+The celebrated marquis of Santillana's poetical dialogue, "Comedieta da
+Ponza," has no pretensions to rank as a dramatic composition,
+notwithstanding its title, which is indeed as little significant of its
+real character, as the term "Commedia" is of Dante's epic. It is a
+discourse on the vicissitudes of human life, suggested by a sea-fight near
+Ponza, in 1435. It is conducted without any attempt at dramatic action or
+character, or, indeed, dramatic development of any sort. The same remarks
+may be made of the political 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 Ponza" has never appeared in print; the copy
+which I have used is a transcript from the one in the royal library at
+Madrid, and belongs to Mr. George Ticknor.
+
+[36] Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea, (Alcalá, 1586,) Introd.--Nothing
+is positively ascertained respecting the authorship 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 known of him, has in some way or other obtained the
+credit of the authorship of some of the most popular effusions of the
+fifteenth century; such, for example, as the Dialogue above cited of "Love
+and an Old Man," the Coplas of "Mingo Revulgo," and this first act of the
+"Celestina." The principal 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 century,
+probably, after Cota's death; another example of the obscurity which
+involves the history of the early Spanish drama. Many of the Castilian
+critics detect a flavor of antiquity in the first act which should carry
+back its composition as far as John II.'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 unpractised 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, 115,
+116.--Diálogo de las Lenguas, apud Mayans y Siscar, Orígenes, pp. 165-
+167.--Nic. Antonio, Bibliotheca Nova, tom. ii. p. 263.
+
+[37] Such is the high encomium of the Abate Andres, (Letteratura, tom. v.
+part. 2, lib. 1.)--Cervantes does not hesitate to call it "libro divino;"
+and the acute author of the "Diálogo de las Lenguas" 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 diction." (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 dramatic composition, admits the
+"Celestina" to be a "work, rich in various beauties, and meriting
+undoubted applause. In fact," he continues, "the vivacity of the
+description of character, and faithful portraiture of manners, have made
+it immortal." Storia Critica de' Teatri Antichi e Moderni, (Napoli, 1813,)
+tom. vi. pp. 146, 147.
+
+[38] Bouterwek, Literatura Española, notas de traductores, p. 234.--
+Andres, Letteratura, tom. v. pp. 170, 171.--Lampillas, Letteratura
+Spagnuola, tom. vi. pp. 57-59.
+
+[39] Rojas, Viage Entretenido, (1614,) fol. 46.--Nic. Antonio, Bibliotheca
+Nova, tom. i. p. 684.--Moratin, Obras, tom. i. pp. 126, 127.--Pellicer,
+Orígen de la Comedia, tom. i. pp. 11, 12.
+
+[40] They were published under the title "Cancionero de todas las Obras de
+Juan de la Encina con otras añadidas." (Mendez, Typographia Española, p.
+247.) Subsequent impressions of his works, more or less complete, appeared
+at Salamanca in 1509, and at Saragossa in 1512 and 1516.--Moratin, Obras,
+tom. i. p. 127, nota.
+
+[41] 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 appearance of Encina's
+Eclogues with the dawn of the Castilian drama. His verses may be worth
+quoting.
+
+  "Que es en nuestra madre España,
+  porque en la dichosa era,
+  que aquellos gloriosos Reyes
+  dignos de memoria eterna
+  Don Fernando e Ysabel
+  (que ya con los santos reynan)
+  de echar de España acabavan
+  todos los Moriscos, que eran
+  De aquel Reyno de Granada,
+  y entonces se dava en ella
+  princípio a la Inquisicion,
+  se le dio a nuestra comedia.
+  Juan de la Encina el primero,
+  aquel insigne poeta,
+  que tanto bien empezo
+  de quien tenemos tres eglogas
+  Que el mismo represento
+  al Almirante y Duquessa
+  de Castilla, y de Infantado
+  que estas fueron las primeras
+  Y para mas honra suya,
+  y de la comedia 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 empezo
+  el uso de la comedia
+  porque todos se animassen
+  a emprender cosas tan buenas."
+
+Fol. 46, 47.
+
+[42] Signorelli, correcting what he denominates the "romance" of
+Lampillas, considers Encina to have composed only one pastoral drama, and
+that, on occasion of Ferdinand's entrance into Castile. The critic should
+have been more charitable, as he has made two blunders himself in
+correcting one. Storia Critica de' Teatri, tom. iv. pp. 192, 193.
+
+[43] Andres, confounding Torres de Naharro, the poet, with Naharro the
+comedian, who flourished about half a century later, is led into a
+ludicrous train of errors in controverting Cervantes, whose criticism of
+the actor is perpetually misapplied by Andres to the poet. Velasquez seems
+to have confounded them in like manner. Another evidence of the extremely
+superficial acquaintance of the Spanish critics with their early drama.
+Comp. Cervantes, Comedias y Entremeses, tom. i. prólogo.--Andres,
+Letteratura, tom. v. p. 179.--Velazquez, Poesía Castellana, p. 88.
+
+[44] Nic. Antonio, Bibliotheca Nova, tom. i. p. 202.--Cervantes, Comedias,
+tom. i. pról. de Nasarre.--Pellicer, Orígen de la Comedia, tom. ii. p.
+17.--Moratin, Obras, tom. i. p. 48.
+
+[45] Bartolomé Torres de Naharro, Propaladia, (Madrid, 1573.)--The
+deficiency of the earlier Spanish books, of which Bouterwek repeatedly
+complains, has led him into an error respecting 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 this distribution to himself. In fact,
+Naharro did introduce the division into _five_ jornadas, and Cervantes
+assumes only the credit of having been the first to _reduce them to
+three_. Comp. Bouterwek, Geschichte der Poesie und Beredsamkeit, band iii.
+p. 285,--and Cervantes, Comedias, tom. i. pról.
+
+[46] In the argument 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 rehyerta
+  no salen de cuenta cierta
+  por Latin e Italiano
+  Castellano y Valenciano
+  que ninguno desconcierta."
+
+Propaladia, p. 50.
+
+[47] 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 Orfea, in order to gratify the jealousy of his mistress
+Seraphina. Floristan is addressing himself to a priest.
+
+  "Y por mas daño escusar
+  no lo quiero hora hazer,
+  sino que es menester,
+  que yo mate luego a Orfea
+  do Serafina lo vea
+  porque lo pueda creer.
+  Que yo bien me mataria,
+  pues toda razon me inclina;
+  pero se de Serafina
+  que se desesperaría.
+  y Orfea, pues que haria?
+  quando mi muerte supiesse;
+  que creo que no pudiesse
+  sostener la vida un dia.
+  Pues hablando aca entre nos
+  a Orfea cabe la suerte;
+  porque con su sola muerte
+  se escusaran otras dos:
+  de 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,
+  quando mi suerte llegare."
+
+Propaladia, fol. 68.
+
+[48] Signorelli waxes exceedingly wroth with Don Blas Nasarre for the
+assertion, that Naharro first taught the Italians to write comedy, taxing
+him with downright mendacity; and he stoutly denies the probability of
+Naharro's comedies ever having been performed on the Italian 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 country, had he consulted the prologue of
+Naharro himself, where he asserts the fact in the most explicit manner.
+Comp. Propaladia, pról., and Signorelli, Storia Critica de' Teatri, tom.
+vi. pp. 171-179.--See also Moratin, Orígenes, Obras, tom. i. pp. 149, 150.
+
+[49] Propaladia; see the comedies of "Trofea" and "Tinelaria."--
+Jovellanos, Memoria sobre las Diversiones Públicas, apud Mem. de la Acad.
+de Hist., tom. v.
+
+[50] Cervantes, Comedias, tom. i. pról.
+
+[51] Pellicer, Orígen de la Comedia, tom. ii. pp. 58-62.--See also
+American Quarterly Review, no. viii. art. 3.
+
+[52] Oliva, Obras, (Madrid, 1787.)--Vasco Diaz Tanco, a native of
+Estremadura, who flourished in the first half of the sixteenth century,
+mentions in one of his works three tragedies composed by himself 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 hardly
+deserve to be included in the catalogue of dramatic compositions.
+(Moratin, Obras, tom. i. pp. 150, 151.--Lampillas, Letteratura Spagnuola,
+tom. v. dis. 1, sec. 5.) This patriotic _littérateur_ endeavors to
+establish the production of Oliva's tragedies in the year 1515, in the
+hope of antedating that of Trissino's "Sophonisba," composed a year later,
+and thus securing 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 Spagnuola, ubi supra.
+
+[53] Nic. Antonio, Bibliotheca Nova, tom. i. p. 386.--Oliva, Obras, pref.
+de Morales.
+
+[54] The following passage, for example, in the "Venganza de Agamemnon,"
+imitated from the Electra of Sophocles, will hardly be charged on the
+Greek dramatist.
+
+"Habed, yo os ruego, de mi compassion, no querais atapar con vuestros
+consejos los respiraderos de las hornazas de fuego, que dentro me
+atormentan." See Oliva, Obras, p. 185.
+
+[55] Compare the diction of these tragedies with that of the "Centon
+Epistolario," for instance, esteemed one of the best literary compositions
+of John II.'s reign, and see the advance made, not only in orthography,
+but in the verbal arrangement generally, and the whole complexion of the
+style.
+
+[56] Notwithstanding some Spanish critics, as Cueva, for example, have
+vindicated the romantic forms of the drama on scientific principles, it is
+apparent that the most successful writers in this department 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 followed by the Italians, and which naturally
+recommends itself to the scholar. See the canon's discourse in Cervantes,
+Don Quixote, ed. de Pellicer, tom. iii. pp. 207-220,--and, more
+explicitly, Lope de Vega, Obras Sueltas, tom. iv. p. 406.
+
+[57] "Ya en Italia, assi entre Damas, como entre Caballeros, se tiene por
+gentileza y galania, saber hablar Castellano." Diálogo de las Lenguas,
+apud Mayans y Siscar, Orígenes, tom. ii. p. 4.
+
+
+
+
+PART SECOND.
+
+1493-1517.
+
+THE PERIOD WHEN, THE INTERIOR ORGANIZATION OF THE MONARCHY HAVING BEEN
+COMPLETED, THE SPANISH NATION ENTERED ON ITS SCHEMES OF DISCOVERY AND
+CONQUEST; OR THE PERIOD ILLUSTRATING MORE PARTICULARLY THE FOREIGN POLICY
+OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+ITALIAN WARS.--GENERAL VIEW OF EUROPE.--INVASION OF ITALY BY CHARLES VIII.
+OF FRANCE.
+
+1493-1495.
+
+Europe at the Close of the Fifteenth Century.--More Intimate Relations
+between States.--Italy the School of Politics.--Pretensions of Charles
+VIII. to Naples.--Treaty of Barcelona.--The French Invade Naples.--
+Ferdinand's Dissatisfaction.--Tactics and Arms of the Different Nations.--
+Preparations of Spain.--Mission to Charles VIII.--Bold Conduct of the
+Envoys.--The French enter Naples.
+
+
+We have now reached that memorable epoch, when the different nations of
+Europe, surmounting the barriers which had hitherto confined them within
+their respective limits, brought their forces, as if by a simultaneous
+impulse, against each other on a common theatre of action. In the
+preceding part of this work, we have seen in what manner Spain was
+prepared for the contest, by the concentration of her various states under
+one government, and by such internal reforms, as enabled the government to
+act with vigor. The genius of Ferdinand will appear as predominant in what
+concerns the foreign relations of the country, as did that of Isabella in
+its interior administration. So much so, indeed, that the accurate and
+well-informed historian, who has most copiously illustrated this portion
+of the national annals, does not even mention, in his introductory notice,
+the name of Isabella, but refers the agency in these events exclusively to
+her more ambitious consort. [1] In this he is abundantly justified, both
+by the prevailing character of the policy pursued, widely differing from
+that which distinguished the queen's measures, and by the circumstance
+that the foreign conquests, although achieved by the united efforts of
+both crowns, were undertaken on, behalf of Ferdinand's own dominions of
+Aragon, to which in the end they exclusively appertained.
+
+The close of the fifteenth century presents, on the whole, the most
+striking point of view in modern history; one from which we may
+contemplate the consummation of an important revolution in the structure
+of political society, and the first application of several inventions
+destined to exercise the widest influence on human civilization. The
+feudal institutions, or rather the feudal principle, which operated even
+where the institutions, strictly speaking, did not exist, after having
+wrought its appointed uses, had gradually fallen into decay; for it had
+not the power of accommodating itself to the increased demands and
+improved condition of society. However well suited to a barbarous age, it
+was found that the distribution of power among the members of an
+independent aristocracy was unfavorable to that degree of personal
+security and tranquillity indispensable to great proficiency in the higher
+arts of civilization. It was equally repugnant to the principle of
+patriotism, so essential to national independence, but which must have
+operated feebly among a people whose sympathies, instead of being
+concentrated on the state, were claimed by a hundred masters, as was the
+case in every feudal community. The conviction of this reconciled the
+nation to the transfer of authority into other hands; not those of the
+people, indeed, who were too ignorant, and too long accustomed to a
+subordinate, dependent situation, to admit of it,--but into the hands of
+the sovereign. It was not until three centuries more had elapsed, that the
+condition of the great mass of the people was to be so far improved, as to
+qualify them for asserting and maintaining the political consideration
+which of right belongs to them.
+
+In whatever degree public opinion and the progress of events might favor
+the transition of power from the aristocracy to the monarch, it is obvious
+that much would depend on his personal character; since the advantages of
+his station alone made him by no means a match for the combined forces of
+his great nobility. The remarkable adaptation of the characters of the
+principal sovereigns of Europe to this exigency, in the latter half of the
+fifteenth century, would seem to have something providential in it. Henry
+the Seventh of England, Louis the Eleventh of France, Ferdinand of Naples,
+John the Second of Aragon, and his son Ferdinand, and John the Second of
+Portugal, however differing in other respects, were all distinguished by a
+sagacity, which enabled them to devise the most subtile and comprehensive
+schemes of policy, and which was prolific in expedients for the
+circumvention of enemies too potent to be encountered by open force.
+
+Their operations, all directed towards the same point, were attended with
+similar success, resulting in the exaltation of the royal prerogative at
+the expense of the aristocracy, with more or less deference to the rights
+of the people, as the case might be; in France, for example, with almost
+total indifference to them, while in Spain they were regarded, under the
+parental administration of Isabella, which tempered the less scrupulous
+policy of her husband, with tenderness and respect. In every country,
+however, the nation at large gained greatly by the revolution, which came
+on insensibly, at least without any violent shock to the fabric of
+society, and which, by securing internal tranquillity and the ascendency
+of law over brute force, gave ample scope for those intellectual pursuits,
+that withdraw mankind from sensual indulgence, and too exclusive devotion
+to the animal wants of our nature.
+
+No sooner was the internal organization of the different nations of Europe
+placed on a secure basis, than they found leisure to direct their views,
+hitherto confined within their own limits, to a bolder and more distant
+sphere of action. Their international communication was greatly
+facilitated by several useful inventions coincident with this period, or
+then first extensively applied. Such was the art of printing, diffusing
+knowledge with the speed and universality of light; the establishment of
+posts, which, after its adoption by Louis the Eleventh, came into frequent
+use in the beginning of the sixteenth century; and lastly, the compass,
+which, guiding the mariner unerringly through the trackless wastes of the
+ocean, brought the remotest regions into contact. With these increased
+facilities for intercommunication, the different European states might be
+said to be brought into as intimate relation with one another, as the
+different provinces of the same kingdom were before. They now for the
+first time regarded each other as members of one great community, in whose
+action they were all mutually concerned. A greater anxiety was manifested
+to detect the springs of every political movement of their neighbors.
+Missions became frequent, and accredited agents were stationed, as a sort
+of honorable spies, at the different courts. The science of diplomacy, on
+narrower grounds, indeed, than it is now practised, began to be studied.
+[2] Schemes of aggression and resistance, leading to political
+combinations the most complex and extended, were gradually formed. We are
+not to imagine, however, the existence of any well-defined ideas of a
+balance of power at this early period. The object of these combinations
+was some positive act of aggression or resistance, for purposes of
+conquest or defence, not for the maintenance of any abstract theory of
+political equilibrium. This was the result of much deeper reflection, and
+of prolonged experience.
+
+The management of the foreign relations of the nation, at the close of the
+fifteenth century, was resigned wholly to the sovereign. The people took
+no further part or interest in the matter, than if it had concerned only
+the disposition of his private property. His measures were, therefore,
+often characterized by a degree of temerity and precipitation, that could
+not have been permitted under the salutary checks afforded by popular
+interposition. A strange insensibility, indeed, was shown to the rights
+and interests of the nation. War was regarded as a game, in which the
+sovereign parties engaged, not on behalf of their subjects, but
+exclusively on their own. Like desperate gamblers, they contended for the
+spoils or the honors of victory, with so much the more recklessness as
+their own station was too elevated to be materially prejudiced by the
+results. They contended with all the animosity of personal feeling; every
+device, however paltry, was resorted to; and no advantage was deemed
+unwarrantable, which could tend to secure the victory. The most profligate
+maxims of state policy were openly avowed by men of reputed honor and
+integrity. In short, the diplomacy of that day is very generally
+characterized by a low cunning, subterfuge, and petty trickery, which
+would leave an indelible stain on the transactions of private individuals.
+
+Italy was, doubtless, the great school where this political morality was
+taught. That country was broken up into a number of small states, too
+nearly equal to allow the absolute supremacy of any one; while, at the
+same time, it demanded the most restless vigilance on the part of each to
+maintain its independence against its neighbors. Hence such a complexity
+of intrigues and combinations as the world had never before witnessed. A
+subtile, refined policy was conformable to the genius of the Italians. It
+was partly the result, moreover, of their higher cultivation, which
+naturally led them to trust the settlement of their disputes to superior
+intellectual dexterity, rather than to brute force, like the
+_barbarians_ beyond the Alps. [3] From these and other causes, maxims
+were gradually established, so monstrous in their nature as to give the
+work, which first embodied them in a regular system, the air of a satire
+rather than a serious performance, while the name of its author has been
+converted into a by-word of political knavery. [4]
+
+At the period before us, the principal states of Italy were, the republics
+of Venice and Florence, the duchy of Milan, the papal see, and the kingdom
+of Naples. The others may be regarded merely as satellites, revolving
+round some one or other of these superior powers, by whom their respective
+movements were regulated and controlled. Venice may be considered as the
+most formidable of the great powers, taking into consideration her wealth,
+her powerful navy, her territory in the north, and princely colonial
+domain. There was no government in that age which attracted such general
+admiration, both from natives and foreigners; who seem to have looked upon
+it as affording the very best model of political wisdom. [5] Yet there was
+no country where the citizen enjoyed less positive freedom; none whose
+foreign relations were conducted with more absolute selfishness, and with
+a more narrow, bargaining spirit, savoring rather of a company of traders
+than of a great and powerful state. But all this was compensated, in the
+eyes of her contemporaries, by the stability of her institutions, which
+still remained unshaken, amidst revolutions which had convulsed or
+overturned every other social fabric in Italy. [6]
+
+The government of Milan was at this time under the direction of Lodovico
+Sforza, or Lodovico the Moor, as he is commonly called; an epithet
+suggested by his complexion, but which he willingly retained, as
+indicating the superior craftiness on which he valued himself. [7] He held
+the reins in the name of his nephew, then a minor, until a convenient
+season should arrive for assuming them in his own. His cool, perfidious
+character was stained with the worst vices of the most profligate class of
+Italian statesmen of that period.
+
+The central parts of Italy were occupied by the republic of Florence,
+which had ever been the rallying point of the friends of freedom, too
+often of faction; but which had now resigned itself to the dominion of the
+Medici, whose cultivated tastes and munificent patronage shed a splendid
+illusion over their administration, which has blinded the eyes of
+contemporaries, and even of posterity.
+
+The papal chair was filled by Alexander the Sixth, a pontiff whose
+licentiousness, avarice, and unblushing effrontery have been the theme of
+unmingled reproach, with Catholic as well as Protestant writers. His
+preferment was effected by lavish bribery, and by his consummate address,
+as well as energy of character. Although a native Spaniard, his election
+was extremely unpalatable to Ferdinand and Isabella, who deprecated the
+scandal it must bring upon the church, and who had little to hope for
+themselves, in a political view, from the elevation of one of their own
+subjects even, whose mercenary spirit placed him at the control of the
+highest bidder. [8]
+
+The Neapolitan sceptre was swayed by Ferdinand the First, whose father,
+Alfonso the Fifth, the uncle of Ferdinand of Aragon, had obtained the
+crown by the adoption of Joanna of Naples, or rather by his own good
+sword. Alfonso settled his conquest on his illegitimate son Ferdinand, to
+the prejudice of the rights of Aragon, by whose blood and treasure he had
+achieved it. Ferdinand's character, the very opposite of his noble
+father's, was dark, wily, and ferocious. His life was spent in conflict
+with his great feudal nobility, many of whom supported the pretensions of
+the Angevin family. But his superior craft enabled him to foil every
+attempt of his enemies. In effecting this, indeed, he shrunk from no deed
+of treachery or violence, however atrocious, and in the end had the
+satisfaction of establishing his authority, undisputed, on the fears of
+his subjects. He was about seventy years of age at the period of which we
+are treating, 1493. The heir apparent, Alfonso, was equally sanguinary in
+his temper, though possessing less talent for dissimulation than his
+father.
+
+Such was the character of the principal Italian courts at the close of the
+fifteenth century. The politics of the country were necessarily regulated
+by the temper and views of the leading powers. They were essentially
+selfish and personal. The ancient republican forms had been gradually
+effaced during this century, and more arbitrary ones introduced. The name
+of freedom, indeed, was still inscribed on their banners, but the spirit
+had disappeared. In almost every state, great or small, some military
+adventurer, or crafty statesman, had succeeded in raising his own
+authority on the liberties of his country; and his sole aim seemed to be
+to enlarge it still further, and to secure it against the conspiracies and
+revolutions, which the reminiscence of ancient independence naturally
+called forth. Such was the case with Tuscany, Milan, Naples, and the
+numerous subordinate states. In Rome, the pontiff proposed no higher
+object than the concentration of wealth and public honors in the hands of
+his own family. In short, the administration of every state seemed to be
+managed with exclusive reference to the personal interests of its chief.
+Venice was the only power of sufficient strength and stability to engage
+in more extended schemes of policy, and even these were conducted, as has
+been already noticed, in the narrow and calculating spirit of a trading
+corporation.
+
+But, while no spark of generous patriotism seemed to warm the bosoms of
+the Italians; while no sense of public good, or even menace of foreign
+invasion, could bring them to act in concert with one another, [9] the
+internal condition of the country was eminently prosperous. Italy had far
+outstripped the rest of Europe in the various arts of civilized life; and
+she everywhere afforded the evidence of faculties developed by unceasing
+intellectual action. The face of the country itself was like a garden;
+"cultivated through all its plains to the very tops of the mountains;
+teeming with population, with riches, and an unlimited commerce;
+illustrated by many munificent princes, by the splendor of many noble and
+beautiful cities, and by the majesty of religion; and adorned with all
+those rare and precious gifts, which render a name glorious among the
+nations." [10] Such are the glowing strains in which the Tuscan historian
+celebrates the prosperity of his country, ere yet the storm of war had
+descended on her beautiful valleys.
+
+This scene of domestic tranquillity was destined to be changed by that
+terrible invasion which the ambition of Lodovico Sforza brought upon his
+country. He had already organized a coalition of the northern powers of
+Italy, to defeat the interference of the king of Naples in behalf of his
+grandson, the rightful duke of Milan, whom his uncle held in subjection
+during a protracted minority, while he exercised all the real functions of
+sovereignty in his name. Not feeling sufficiently secure from his Italian
+confederacy, Sforza invited the king of France to revive the hereditary
+claims of the house of Anjou to the crown of Naples, promising to aid him
+in the enterprise with all his resources. In this way, this wily
+politician proposed to divert the storm from his own head, by giving
+Ferdinand sufficient occupation at home.
+
+The throne of France was at that time filled by Charles the Eighth, a
+monarch scarcely twenty-two years of age. His father, Louis the Eleventh,
+had given him an education unbecoming, not only a great prince, but even a
+private gentleman. He would allow him to learn no other Latin, says
+Brantôme, than his favorite maxim, "Qui nescit dissimulare, nescit
+regnare." [11] Charles made some amends for this, though with little
+judgment, in later life, when left to his own disposal. His favorite
+studies were the exploits of celebrated conquerors, of Caesar and
+Charlemagne particularly, which filled his young mind with vague and
+visionary ideas of glory. These dreams were still further nourished by the
+tourneys and other chivalrous spectacles of the age, in which he
+delighted, until he seems to have imagined himself some doughty paladin of
+romance, destined to the achievement of a grand and perilous enterprise.
+It affords some proof of this exalted state of his imagination, that he
+gave his only son the name of Orlando, after the celebrated hero of
+Roncesvalles. [12]
+
+With a mind thus excited by chimerical visions of military glory, he lent
+a willing ear to the artful propositions of Sforza. In the extravagance of
+vanity, fed by the adulation of interested parasites, he affected to
+regard the enterprise against Naples as only opening the way to a career
+of more splendid conquests, which were to terminate in the capture of
+Constantinople, and the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre. He even went so
+far as to purchase of Andrew Paleologus, the nephew and heir of
+Constantine, the last of the Caesars, his title to the Greek empire. [13]
+
+Nothing could be more unsound, according to the principles of the present
+day, than Charles's claims to the crown of Naples. Without discussing the
+original pretensions of the rival houses of Aragon and Anjou, it is
+sufficient to state, that, at the time of Charles the Eighth's invasion,
+the Neapolitan throne had been in the possession of the Aragonese family
+more than half a century, under three successive princes solemnly
+recognized by the people, sanctioned by repeated investitures of the papal
+suzerain, and admitted by all the states of Europe. If all this did not
+give validity to their title, when was the nation to expect repose?
+Charles's claim, on the other hand, was derived originally from a
+testamentary bequest of René, count of Provence, operating to the
+exclusion of the son of his own daughter, the rightful heir of the house
+of Anjou; Naples being too notoriously a female fief to afford any pretext
+for the action of the Salic law. The pretensions of Ferdinand, of Spain,
+as representative of the legitimate branch of Aragon, were far more
+plausible. [14]
+
+Independently of the defects in Charles's title, his position was such as
+to make the projected expedition every way impolitic. A misunderstanding
+had for some time subsisted between him and the Spanish sovereigns, and he
+was at open war with Germany and England; so that it was only by large
+concessions that he could hope to secure their acquiescence in an
+enterprise most precarious in its character, and where even complete
+success could be of no permanent benefit to his kingdom. "He did not
+understand," says Voltaire, "that a dozen villages adjacent to one's
+territory, are of more value than a kingdom four hundred leagues distant."
+[15] By the treaties of Etaples and Senlis, he purchased a reconciliation
+with Henry the Seventh of England, and with Maximilian, the emperor elect;
+and finally, by that of Barcelona, effected an amicable adjustment of his
+difficulties with Spain. [16]
+
+This treaty, which involved the restoration of Roussillon and Cerdagne,
+was of great importance to the crown of Aragon. These provinces, it will
+be remembered, had been originally mortgaged by Ferdinand's father, King
+John the Second, to Louis the Eleventh of France, for the sum of three
+hundred thousand crowns, in consideration of aid to be afforded by the
+latter monarch against the Catalan insurgents. Although the stipulated sum
+had never been paid by Aragon, yet a plausible pretext for requiring the
+restitution was afforded by Louis the Eleventh's incomplete performance of
+his engagements, as well as by the ample reimbursement, which the French
+government had already derived from the revenues of these countries. [17]
+This treaty had long been a principal object of Ferdinand's policy. He had
+not, indeed, confined himself to negotiation, but had made active
+demonstrations more than once of occupying the contested territory by
+force. Negotiation, however, was more consonant to his habitual policy;
+and, after the termination of the Moorish war, he pressed it with the
+utmost vigor, repairing with the queen to Barcelona, in order to watch
+over the deliberations of the envoys of the two nations at Figueras. [18]
+
+The French historians accuse Ferdinand of bribing two ecclesiastics, in
+high influence at their court, to make such a representation of the
+affair, as should alarm the conscience of the young monarch. These holy
+men insisted on the restoration of Roussillon as an act of justice; since
+the sums for which it had been mortgaged, though not repaid, had been
+spent in the common cause of Christendom, the Moorish war. The soul, they
+said, could never hope to escape from purgatory, until restitution was
+made of all property unlawfully held during life. His royal father, Louis
+the Eleventh, was clearly in this predicament, as he himself would
+hereafter be, unless the Spanish territories should be relinquished; a
+measure, moreover, the more obligatory on him, since it was well known to
+be the dying request of his parent. These arguments made a suitable
+impression on the young monarch, and a still deeper on his sister, the
+duchess of Beaujeu, who exercised great influence over him, and who
+believed her own soul in peril of eternal damnation by deferring the act
+of restoration any longer. The effect of this cogent reasoning was no
+doubt greatly enhanced by the reckless impatience of Charles, who
+calculated no cost in the prosecution of his chimerical enterprise. With
+these amicable dispositions an arrangement was at length concluded, and
+received the signatures of the respective monarchs on the same day, being
+signed by Charles at Tours, and by Ferdinand and Isabella at Barcelona,
+January 19th, 1493. [19]
+
+The principal articles of the treaty provided, that the contracting
+parties should mutually aid each other against all enemies; that they
+should reciprocally prefer this alliance to that with any other, _the
+vicar of Christ excepted_; that the Spanish sovereigns should enter
+into no understanding with any power, _the vicar of Christ excepted_,
+prejudicial to the interests of France; that their children should not be
+disposed of in marriage to the kings of England, or of the Romans, or to
+any enemy of France, without the French king's consent. It was finally
+stipulated that Roussillon and Cerdagne should be restored to Aragon; but
+that, as doubts might be entertained to which power the possession of
+these countries rightfully appertained, arbitrators _named by Ferdinand
+and Isabella_ should be appointed, if requested by the French monarch,
+with full power to decide the question, by whose judgment the contracting
+parties mutually promised to abide. This last provision, obviously too
+well guarded to jeopard the interests of the Spanish sovereigns, was
+introduced to allay in some measure the discontents of the French, who
+loudly inveighed against their cabinet, as sacrificing the interests of
+the nation; accusing, indeed, the Cardinal D'Albi, the principal agent in
+the negotiation, of being in the pay of Ferdinand. [20]
+
+The treaty excited equal surprise and satisfaction in Spain, where
+Roussillon was regarded as of the last importance, not merely from the
+extent of its resources, but from its local position, which made it the
+key of Catalonia. The nation, says Zurita, looked on its recovery as
+scarcely less important than the conquest of Granada; and they doubted
+some sinister motive, or deeper policy than appeared in the conduct of the
+French king. He was influenced, however, by no deeper policy than the
+cravings of a puerile ambition. [21]
+
+The preparations of Charles, in the mean while, excited general alarm
+throughout Italy. Ferdinand, the old king of Naples, who in vain
+endeavored to arrest them by negotiation, had died in the beginning of
+1494. He was succeeded by his son Alfonso, a prince of bolder but less
+politic character, and equally odious, from the cruelty of his
+disposition, with his father. He lost no time in putting his kingdom in a
+posture of defence; but he wanted the best of all defences, the attachment
+of his subjects. His interests were supported by the Florentine republic
+and the pope, whose family had intermarried with the royal house of
+Naples. Venice stood aloof, secure in her remoteness, unwilling to
+compromise her interests by too precipitate a declaration in favor of
+either party.
+
+The European powers regarded the expedition of Charles the Eighth with
+somewhat different feelings; most of them were not unwilling to see so
+formidable a prince waste his resources in a remote and chimerical
+expedition; Ferdinand, however, contemplated with more anxiety an event,
+which might terminate in the subversion of the Neapolitan branch of his
+house, and bring a powerful and active neighbor in contact with his own
+dominions in Sicily. He lost no time in fortifying the faltering courage
+of the pope by assurances of support. His ambassador, then resident at the
+papal court, was Garcilasso de la Vega, father of the illustrious poet of
+that name, and familiar to the reader by his exploits in the Granadine
+war. This personage with rare political sagacity combined an energy of
+purpose, which could not fail to infuse courage into the hearts of others.
+He urged the pope to rely on his master, the king of Aragon, who, he
+assured him, would devote his whole resources, if necessary, to the
+protection of his person, honor, and estate. Alexander would gladly have
+had this promise under the hand of Ferdinand; but the latter did not think
+it expedient, considering his delicate relations with France, to put
+himself so far in the power of the wily pontiff. [22]
+
+In the mean time, Charles's preparations went forward with the languor and
+vacillation resulting from divided councils and multiplied embarrassments.
+"Nothing essential to the conduct of a war was at hand," says Comines. The
+king was very young, weak in person, headstrong in will, surrounded by few
+discreet counsellors, and wholly destitute of the requisite funds. [23]
+His own impatience, however, was stimulated by that of the youthful
+chivalry of his court, who burned for an opportunity of distinction; as
+well as by the representations of the Neapolitan exiles, who hoped, under
+his protection, to re-establish themselves in their own country. Several
+of these, weary with the delay already experienced, made overtures to King
+Ferdinand to undertake the enterprise on his own behalf, and to assert his
+legitimate pretensions to the crown of Naples, which, they assured him, a
+large party in the country was ready to sustain. The sagacious monarch,
+however, knew how little reliance was to be placed on the reports of
+exiles, whose imaginations readily exaggerated the amount of disaffection
+in their own country. But, although the season had not yet arrived for
+asserting his own paramount claims, he was determined to tolerate those of
+no other potentate. [24]
+
+Charles entertained so little suspicion of this, that, in the month of
+June, he despatched an envoy to the Spanish court, requiring Ferdinand's
+fulfilment of the treaty of Barcelona, by aiding him with men and money,
+and by throwing open his ports in Sicily for the French navy. "This
+gracious proposition," says the Aragonese historian, "he accompanied with
+information of his proposed expedition against the Turks; stating
+incidentally, as a thing of no consequence, his intention to take Naples
+by the way." [25]
+
+Ferdinand saw the time was arrived for coming to an explicit declaration
+with the French court. He appointed a special mission, in order to do this
+in the least offensive manner possible. The person selected for this
+delicate task was Alonso de Silva, brother of the count of Cifuentes, and
+_clavero_ of Calatrava, a cavalier possessed of the coolness and address
+requisite for diplomatic success. [26]
+
+The ambassador, on arriving at the French court, found it at Vienne in all
+the bustle of preparation for immediate departure. After seeking in vain a
+private audience from King Charles, he explained to him the purport of his
+mission in the presence of his courtiers. He assured him of the
+satisfaction which the king of Aragon had experienced, at receiving
+intelligence of his projected expedition against the infidel. Nothing gave
+his master so great contentment, as to see his brother monarchs employing
+their arms, and expending their revenues, against the enemies of the
+Cross; where even failure was greater gain than success in other wars. He
+offered Ferdinand's assistance in the prosecution of such wars, even
+though they should be directed against the Mahometans of Africa, over whom
+the papal sanction had given Spain exclusive rights of conquest. He
+besought the king not to employ the forces destined to so glorious a
+purpose against any one of the princes of Europe, but to reflect how great
+a scandal this must necessarily bring on the Christian cause; above all,
+he cautioned him against forming any designs on Naples, since that kingdom
+was a fief of the church, in whose favor an exception was expressly made
+by the treaty of Barcelona, which recognized her alliance and protection
+as paramount to every other obligation. Silva's discourse was responded to
+by the president of the parliament of Paris in a formal Latin oration,
+asserting generally Charles's right to Naples, and his resolution to
+enforce it previously to his crusade against the infidel. As soon as it
+was concluded, the king rose and abruptly quitted the apartment. [27]
+
+Some days after, he interrogated the Spanish ambassador, whether his
+master would not, in case of a war with Portugal, feel warranted by the
+terms of the late treaty in requiring the co-operation of France, and on
+what plea the latter power could pretend to withhold it. To the first of
+these propositions the ambassador answered in the affirmative, if it were
+a defensive war, but not, if an offensive one, of his own seeking; an
+explanation by no means satisfactory to the French monarch. Indeed, he
+seems not to have been at all prepared for this interpretation of the
+compact. He had relied on this, as securing without any doubt the non-
+interference of Ferdinand, if not his actual co-operation in his designs
+against Naples. The clause touching the rights of the church was too
+frequent in public treaties to excite any particular attention; and he was
+astounded at the broad ground, which it was now made to cover, and which
+defeated the sole object proposed by the cession of Roussillon. He could
+not disguise his chagrin and indignation at what he deemed the perfidy of
+the Spanish court. He refused all further intercourse with Silva, and even
+stationed a sentinel at his gate, to prevent his communication with his
+subjects; treating him as the envoy, not of an ally, but of an open enemy.
+[28]
+
+The unexpected and menacing attitude, however, assumed by Ferdinand,
+failed to arrest the operations of the French monarch, who, having
+completed his preparations, left Vienne in the month of August, 1494, and
+crossed the Alps at the head of the most formidable host which had scaled
+that mountain barrier since the irruption of the northern barbarians. [29]
+It will be unnecessary to follow his movements in detail. It is sufficient
+to remark, that his conduct throughout was equally defective in principle
+and in sound policy. He alienated his allies by the most signal acts of
+perfidy, seizing their fortresses for himself, and entering their capitals
+with all the vaunt and insolent port of a conquerer. On his approach to
+Rome, the pope and the cardinals took refuge in the castle of St. Angelo,
+and on the 31st of December, Charles defiled into the city at the head of
+his victorious chivalry; if victorious they could be called, when, as an
+Italian historian remarks, they had scarcely broken a lance, or spread a
+tent, in the whole of their progress. [30]
+
+The Italians were panic-struck at the aspect of troops so different from
+their own, and so superior to them in organization, science, and military
+equipment; and still more in a remorseless ferocity of temper, which had
+rarely been witnessed in their own feuds. Warfare was conducted on
+peculiar principles in Italy, adapted to the character and circumstances
+of the people. The business of fighting, in her thriving communities,
+instead of forming part of the regular profession of a gentleman, as in
+other countries at this period, was intrusted to the hands of a few
+soldiers of fortune, _condottieri_, as they were called, who hired
+themselves out, with the forces under their command, consisting
+exclusively of heavy-armed cavalry, to whatever state would pay them best.
+These forces constituted the capital, as it were, of the military chief,
+whose obvious interest it was to economize as far as possible all
+unnecessary expenditure of his resources. Hence, the science of defence
+was almost exclusively studied. The object seemed to be, not so much the
+annoyance of the enemy, as self-preservation. The common interests of the
+_condottieri_ being paramount to every obligation towards the state
+which they served, they easily came to an understanding with one another
+to spare their troops as much as possible; until at length battles were
+fought with little more personal hazard than would be incurred in an
+ordinary tourney. The man-at-arms was riveted into plates of steel of
+sufficient thickness to turn a musket-ball. The ease of the soldier was so
+far consulted, that the artillery, in a siege, was not allowed to be fired
+on either side from sunset to sunrise, for fear of disturbing his repose.
+Prisoners were made for the sake of their ransom, and but little blood was
+spilled in an action. Machiavelli records two engagements, at Anghiari and
+Castracaro, among the most noted of the time for their important
+consequences. The one lasted four hours, and the other half a day. The
+reader is hurried along through all the bustle of a well-contested fight,
+in the course of which the field is won and lost several times; but, when
+he comes to the close, and looks for the list of killed and wounded, he
+finds to his surprise not a single man slain, in the first of these
+actions; and, in the second, only one, who, having tumbled from his horse,
+and being unable to rise, from the weight of his armor, was suffocated in
+the mud! Thus war became disarmed of its terrors. Courage was no longer
+essential in a soldier; and the Italian, made effeminate, if not timid,
+was incapable of encountering the adventurous daring and severe discipline
+of the northern warrior. [31]
+
+The astonishing success of the French was still more imputable to the free
+use and admirable organization of their infantry, whose strength lay in
+the Swiss mercenaries. Machiavelli ascribes the misfortunes of his nation
+chiefly to its exclusive reliance on cavalry. [32] This service, during
+the whole of the Middle Ages, was considered among the European nations
+the most important; the horse being styled by way of eminence "the
+battle." The memorable conflict of Charles the Bold with the Swiss
+mountaineers, however, in which the latter broke in pieces the celebrated
+Burgundian _ordonnance_, constituting the finest body of chivalry of
+the age, demonstrated the capacity of infantry; and the Italian wars, in
+which we are now engaged, at length fully re-established its ancient
+superiority.
+
+The Swiss were formed into battalions varying from three to eight thousand
+men each. They wore little defensive armor, and their principal weapon was
+the pike, eighteen feet long. Formed into these solid battalions, which,
+bristling with spears all around, received the technical appellation of
+the _hedgehog_, they presented an invulnerable front on every quarter. In
+the level field, with free scope allowed for action, they bore down all
+opposition, and received unshaken the most desperate charges of the steel-
+clad cavalry on their terrible array of pikes. They were too unwieldy,
+however, for rapid or complicated manoeuvres; they were easily
+disconcerted by any unforseen impediment, or irregularity of the ground;
+and the event proved, that the Spanish foot, armed with its short swords
+and bucklers, by breaking in under the long pikes of its enemy, could
+succeed in bringing him to close action, where his formidable weapon was
+of no avail. It was repeating the ancient lesson of the Roman legion and
+the Macedonian phalanx. [33]
+
+In artillery, the French were at this time in advance of the Italians,
+perhaps of every nation in Europe. The Italians, indeed, were so
+exceedingly defective in this department, that their best field-pieces
+consisted of small copper tubes, covered with wood and hides. They were
+mounted on unwieldy carriages drawn by oxen, and followed by cars or
+wagons loaded with stone balls. These guns were worked so awkwardly, that
+the besieged, says Guicciardini, had time between the discharges to repair
+the mischief inflicted by them. From these circumstances, artillery was
+held in so little repute, that some of the most competent Italian writers
+thought it might be dispensed with altogether in field engagements. [34]
+
+The French, on the other hand, were provided with a beautiful train of
+ordnance, consisting of bronze cannon about eight feet in length, and many
+smaller pieces. [35] They were lightly mounted, drawn by horses, and
+easily kept pace with the rapid movements of the army. They discharged
+iron balls, and were served with admirable skill, intimidating their
+enemies by the rapidity and accuracy of their fire, and easily demolishing
+their fortifications, which, before this invasion, were constructed with
+little strength or science. [36]
+
+The rapid successes of the French spread consternation among the Italian
+states, who now for the first time seemed to feel the existence of a
+common interest, and the necessity of efficient concert. Ferdinand was
+active in promoting these dispositions, through his ministers, Garcilasso
+de la Vega and Alonso de Silva. The latter had quitted the French court on
+its entrance into Italy, and withdrawn to Genoa. From this point he opened
+a correspondence with Lodovico Sforza, who now began to understand, that
+he had brought a terrible engine into play, the movements of which,
+however mischievous to himself, were beyond his strength to control. Silva
+endeavored to inflame still further his jealousy of the French, who had
+already given him many serious causes of disgust; and, in order to detach
+him more effectually from Charles's interests, encouraged him with the
+hopes of forming a matrimonial alliance for his son with one of the
+infantas of Spain. At the same time, he used every effort to bring about a
+co-operation between the duke and the republic of Venice, thus opening the
+way to the celebrated league which was concluded in the following year.
+[37]
+
+The Roman pontiff had lost no time, after the appearance of the French
+army in Italy, in pressing the Spanish court to fulfil its engagements. He
+endeavored to propitiate the good-will of the sovereigns by several
+important concessions. He granted to them and their successors the
+_tercias_, or two-ninths of the tithes, throughout the dominions of
+Castile; an impost still forming part of the regular revenue of the crown.
+[38] He caused bulls of crusade to be promulgated throughout Spain,
+granting at the same time a tenth of the ecclesiastical rents, with the
+understanding that the proceeds should be devoted to the protection of the
+Holy See. Towards the close of this year, 1494, or the beginning of the
+following, he conferred the title of Catholic on the Spanish sovereigns,
+in consideration, as is stated, of their eminent virtues, their zeal in
+defence of the true faith of the apostolic see, their reformation of
+conventual discipline, their subjugation of the Moors of Granada, and the
+purification of their dominions from the Jewish heresy. This orthodox
+title, which still continues to be the jewel most prized in the Spanish
+crown, has been appropriated in a peculiar manner to Ferdinand and
+Isabella, who are universally recognized in history as _Los Reyes
+Católicos_. [39]
+
+Ferdinand was too sensible of the peril, to which the occupation of Naples
+by the French would expose his own interests, to require any stimulant to
+action from the Roman pontiff. Naval preparations had been going forward
+during the summer, in the ports of Galicia and Guipuscoa. A considerable
+armament was made ready for sea by the latter part of December, at
+Alicant, and placed under the command of Galceran de Requesens, count of
+Trevento. The land forces were intrusted to Gonsalvo de Cordova, better
+known in history as the Great Captain. Instructions were at the same time
+sent to the viceroy of Sicily, to provide for the security of that island,
+and to hold himself in readiness to act in concert with the Spanish fleet.
+[40]
+
+Ferdinand, however, determined to send one more embassy to Charles the
+Eighth, before coming to an open rupture with him. He selected for this
+mission Juan de Albion and Antonio de Fonseca, brother of the bishop of
+that name, whom we have already noticed as superintendent of the Indian
+department. The two envoys reached Rome, January 28th, 1495, the same day
+on which Charles set out on his march for Naples. They followed the army,
+and on arriving at Veletri, about twenty miles from the capital, were
+admitted to an audience by the monarch, who received them in the presence
+of his officers. The ambassadors freely enumerated the various causes of
+complaint entertained by their master against the French king; the insult
+offered to him in the person of his minister Alonso de Silva; the
+contumelious treatment of the pope, and forcible occupation of the
+fortresses and estates of the church; and finally, the enterprise against
+Naples, the claims to which as a papal fief could of right be determined
+in no other way than by the arbitration of the pontiff himself. Should
+King Charles consent to accept this arbitration, they tendered the good
+offices of their master as mediator between the parties; should he decline
+it, however, the king of Spain stood absolved from all further obligations
+of amity with him, by the terms of the treaty of Barcelona, which
+expressly recognized his right to interfere in defence of the church. [41]
+
+Charles, who could not dissemble his indignation during this discourse,
+retorted with great acrimony, when it was concluded, on the conduct of
+Ferdinand, which he stigmatized as perfidious, accusing him, at the same
+time, of a deliberate design to circumvent him, by introducing into their
+treaty the clause respecting the pope. As to the expedition against
+Naples, he had now gone too far to recede; and it would be soon enough to
+canvass the question of right, when he had got possession of it. His
+courtiers, at the same time, with the impetuosity of their nation,
+heightened by the insolence of success, told the envoys, that they knew
+well enough how to defend their rights with their arms, and that King
+Ferdinand would find the French chivalry enemies of quite another sort
+from the holiday tilters of Granada.
+
+These taunts led to mutual recrimination, until at length Fonseca, though
+naturally a sedate person, was so far transported with anger, that he
+exclaimed, "The issue then must be left to God,--arms must decide it;"
+and, producing the original treaty, bearing the signatures of the two
+monarchs, he tore it in pieces before the eyes of Charles and his court.
+At the same time he commanded two Spanish knights who served in the French
+army to withdraw from it, under pain of incurring the penalties of
+treason. The French cavaliers were so much incensed by this audacious
+action, that they would have seized the envoys, and, in all probability,
+offered violence to their persons, but for Charles's interposition, who
+with more coolness caused them to be conducted from his presence, and sent
+back under a safe escort to Rome. Such are the circumstances reported by
+the French and Italian writers of this remarkable interview. They were not
+aware that the dramatic exhibition, as far as the ambassadors were
+concerned, was all previously concerted before their departure from Spain.
+[42]
+
+Charles pressed forward on his march without further delay. Alfonso the
+Second, losing his confidence and martial courage, the only virtues that
+he possessed, at the crisis when they were most demanded, had
+precipitately abandoned his kingdom while the French were at Rome, and
+taken refuge in Sicily, where he formally abdicated the crown in favor of
+his son, Ferdinand the Second. This prince, then twenty-five years of age,
+whose amiable manners were rendered still more attractive by contrast with
+the ferocious temper of his father, was possessed of talent and energy
+competent to the present emergency, had he been sustained by his subjects.
+But the latter, besides being struck with the same panic which had
+paralyzed the other people of Italy, had too little interest in the
+government to be willing to hazard much in its defence. A change of
+dynasty was only a change of masters, by which they had little either to
+gain or to lose. Though favorably inclined to Ferdinand, they refused to
+stand by him in his perilous extremity. They gave way in every direction,
+as the French advanced, rendering hopeless every attempt of their spirited
+young monarch to rally them, till at length no alternative was left, but
+to abandon his dominions to the enemy, without striking a blow in their
+defence. He withdrew to the neighboring island of Ischia, whence he soon
+after passed into Sicily, and occupied himself there in collecting the
+fragments of his party, until the time should arrive for more decisive
+action. [43]
+
+Charles the Eighth made his entrance into Naples at the head of his
+legions, February 22d, 1495, having traversed this whole extent of hostile
+territory in less time than would be occupied by a fashionable tourist of
+the present day. The object of his expedition was now achieved. He seemed
+to have reached the consummation of his wishes; and, although he assumed
+the titles of King of Sicily and of Jerusalem, and affected the state and
+authority of Emperor, he took no measures for prosecuting his chimerical
+enterprise further. He even neglected to provide for the security of his
+present conquest; and, without bestowing a thought on the government of
+his new dominions, resigned himself to the licentious and effeminate
+pleasures so congenial with the soft voluptuousness of the climate, and
+his own character. [44]
+
+While Charles was thus wasting his time and resources in frivolous
+amusements, a dark storm was gathering in the north. There was not a state
+through which he had passed, however friendly to his cause, which had not
+complaints to make of his insolence, his breach of faith, his infringement
+of their rights, and his exorbitant exactions. His impolitic treatment of
+Sforza had long since alienated that wily and restless politician, and
+raised suspicions in his mind of Charles's designs against his own duchy
+of Milan. The emperor elect, Maximilian, whom the French king thought to
+have bound to his interests by the treaty of Senlis, took umbrage at his
+assumption of the imperial title and dignity. The Spanish ambassadors,
+Garcilasso de la Vega, and his brother Lorenzo Suarez, the latter of whom
+resided at Venice, were indefatigable in stimulating the spirit of
+discontent. Suarez, in particular, used every effort to secure the co-
+operation of Venice, representing to the government, in the most urgent
+terms, the necessity of general concert and instant action among the great
+powers of Italy, if they would preserve their own liberties. [45]
+
+Venice, from its remote position, seemed to afford the best point for
+coolly contemplating the general interests of Italy. Envoys of the
+different European powers were assembled there, as if by common consent,
+with the view of concerting some scheme of operation for their mutual
+good. The conferences were conducted by night, and with such secrecy as to
+elude for some time the vigilant eye of Comines, the sagacious minister of
+Charles, then resident at the capital. The result was the celebrated
+league of Venice. It was signed the last day of March, 1495, on the part
+of Spain, Austria, Rome, Milan, and the Venetian republic. The ostensible
+object of the treaty, which was to last twenty-five years, was the
+preservation of the estates and rights of the confederates, especially of
+the Roman see. A large force, amounting in all to thirty-four thousand
+horse and twenty thousand foot, was to be assessed in stipulated
+proportions on each of the contracting parties. The secret articles of the
+treaty, however, went much further, providing a formidable plan of
+offensive operations. It was agreed in these, that King Ferdinand should
+employ the Spanish armament, now arrived in Sicily, in re-establishing his
+kinsman on the throne of Naples; that a Venetian fleet of forty galleys
+should attack the French positions on the Neapolitan coasts; that the duke
+of Milan should expel the French from Asti, and blockade the passes of the
+Alps, so as to intercept the passage of further reinforcements; and that
+the emperor and the king of Spain should invade the French frontiers, and
+their expenses be defrayed by subsidies from the allies. [46] Such were
+the terms of this treaty, which may be regarded as forming an era in
+modern political history, since it exhibits the first example of those
+extensive combinations among European princes, for mutual defence, which
+afterwards became so frequent. It shared the fate of many other
+coalitions, where the name and authority of the whole have been made
+subservient to the interests of some one of the parties, more powerful, or
+more cunning, than the rest.
+
+The intelligence of the new treaty diffused general joy throughout Italy.
+In Venice, in particular, it was greeted with _fêtes_, illuminations,
+and the most emphatic public rejoicing, in the very eyes of the French
+minister, who was compelled to witness this unequivocal testimony of the
+detestation in which his countrymen were held. [47] The tidings fell
+heavily on the ears of the French in Naples. It dispelled the dream of
+idle dissipation in which they were dissolved. They felt little concern,
+indeed, on the score of their Italian enemies, whom their easy victories
+taught them to regard with the same insolent contempt, that the paladins
+of romance are made to feel for the unknightly rabble, myriads of whom
+they could overturn with a single lance. But they felt serious alarm as
+they beheld the storm of war gathering from other quarters,--from Spain
+and Germany, in defiance of the treaties by which they had hoped to secure
+them. Charles saw the necessity of instant action. Two courses presented
+themselves: either to strengthen himself in his new conquests, and prepare
+to maintain them until he could receive fresh reinforcements from home, or
+to abandon them altogether and retreat across the Alps, before the allies
+could muster in sufficient strength to oppose him. With the indiscretion
+characteristic of his whole enterprise, he embraced a middle course, and
+lost the advantages which would have resulted from the exclusive adoption
+of either.
+
+        *       *       *       *        *
+
+The principal light, by which we are to be guided through the remainder of
+this history, is the Aragonese annalist, Zurita, whose great work,
+although less known abroad than those of some more recent Castilian
+writers, sustains a reputation at home, unsurpassed by any other, in the
+great, substantial qualities of an historian. The notice of his life and
+writings has been swelled into a bulky quarto by Dr. Diego Dormer, in a
+work entitled, "Progressos de la Historia en el Reyno de Aragon. Zaragoza,
+1680;" from which I extract a few particulars.
+
+Gerónimo Zurita, descended from an ancient and noble family, was born at
+Saragossa, December 4th, 1512. He was matriculated at an early age in the
+university of Alcalá. He there made extraordinary proficiency, under the
+immediate instruction of the learned Nuñez de Guzman, commonly called El
+Pinciano. He became familiar with the ancient, and a variety of modern
+tongues, and attracted particular attention by the purity and elegance of
+his Latinity. His personal merits, and his father's influence, recommended
+him, soon after quitting the university, to the notice of the emperor
+Charles V. He was consulted and employed in affairs of public importance,
+and subsequently raised to several posts of honor, attesting the entire
+confidence reposed in his integrity and abilities. His most honorable
+appointment, however, was that of national historiographer.
+
+In 1547, an act passed the cortes general of Aragon, providing for the
+office of national chronicler, with a fixed salary, whose duty it should
+be to compile, from authentic sources, a faithful history of the monarchy.
+The talents and eminent qualifications of Zurita recommended him to this
+post, and he was raised to it by the unanimous consent of the legislature,
+in the following year, 1548. From this time he conscientiously devoted
+himself to the execution of his great task. He visited every part of his
+own country, as well as Sicily and Italy, for the purpose of collecting
+materials. The public archives, and every accessible source of
+information, were freely thrown open to his inspection, by order of the
+government; and he returned from his literary pilgrimage with a large
+accumulation of rare and original documents. The first portion of his
+annals was published at Saragossa, in two volumes folio, 1562. The work
+was not completed until nearly twenty years later, and the last two
+volumes were printed under his own eye at Saragossa, in 1580, a few months
+only before his death. This edition, being one of those used in the
+present history, is in large folio, fairly executed, with double columns
+on the page, in the fashion of most of the ancient Spanish historians. The
+whole work was again published, as before, at the expense of the state, in
+1585, by his son, amended and somewhat enlarged, from the manuscripts left
+by his father. Bouterwek has fallen into the error of supposing, that no
+edition of Zurita's Annals appeared till after the reign of Philip II.,
+who died in 1592. (Geschichte der Poesie und Beredsamkeit, band iii. p.
+319.)
+
+No incidents worthy of note seem to have broken the peaceful tenor of
+Zurita's life; which he terminated at Saragossa, in the sixty-eighth year
+of his age, in the monastery of Santa Engracia, to which he had retired
+during a temporary residence in the city, to superintend the publication
+of his Annals. His rich collection of books and manuscripts was left to
+the Carthusian monastery of Aula Dei; but from accident or neglect, the
+greater part have long since perished. His remains were interred in the
+convent where he died, and a monument, bearing a modest inscription, was
+erected over them by his son.
+
+The best monument of Zurita, however, is his Annals. They take up the
+history of Aragon from its first rise after the Arabic conquest, and
+continue it to the death of Ferdinand the Catholic. The reign of this
+prince, as possessing the largest interest and importance, is expanded
+into two volumes folio; being one-third of the whole work.
+
+The minuteness of Zurita's investigations has laid him open to the charge
+of prolixity, especially in the earlier and less important periods. It
+should be remembered, however, that his work was to be the great national
+repository of facts, interesting to his own countrymen, but which, from
+difficulty of access to authentic sources, could never before be fully
+exhibited to their inspection. But, whatever he thought of his redundancy,
+in this or the subsequent parts of his narrative, it must be admitted that
+he has uniformly and emphatically directed the attention of the reader to
+the topics most worthy of it; sparing no pains to illustrate the
+constitutional antiquities of the country, and to trace the gradual
+formation of her liberal polity, instead of wasting his strength on mere
+superficial gossip, like most of the chroniclers of the period.
+
+There is no Spanish historian less swayed by party or religious prejudice,
+or by the feeling of nationality, which is so apt to overflow in the loyal
+effusions of the Castilian writers. This laudable temperance, indeed, has
+brought on him the rebuke of more than one of his patriotic countrymen.
+There is a sobriety and coolness in his estimate of historical evidence,
+equally removed from temerity on the one hand, and credulity on the other;
+in short, his whole manner is that of a man conversant with public
+business, and free from the closet pedantry which too often characterizes
+the monkish annalists. The greater part of his life was passed under the
+reign of Charles V., when the spirit of the nation was not yet broken by
+arbitrary power, nor debased by the melancholy superstition which settled
+on it under his successor; an age, in which the memory of ancient liberty
+had not wholly faded away, and when, if men did not dare express all they
+thought, they at least thought with a degree of independence which gave a
+masculine character to their expression. In this, as well as in the
+liberality of his religious sentiments, he may be compared favorably with
+his celebrated countryman Mariana, who, educated in the cloister, and at a
+period when the nation was schooled to maxims of despotism, exhibits few
+glimpses of the sound criticism and reflection, which are to be found in
+the writings of his Aragonese rival. The seductions of style, however, the
+more fastidious selection of incidents, in short, the superior graces of
+narration, have given a wider fame to the former, whose works have passed
+into most of the cultivated languages of Europe, while those of Zurita
+remain, as far as I am aware, still undisturbed in the vernacular.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+[1] Zurita, Historia del Rey Don Hernando el Cathólico, (Anales, tom. v.
+vi., Zaragoza, 1580,) lib. 1, Introd.
+
+[2] The "Legazione," or official correspondence of Machiavelli, while
+stationed at the different European courts, may be regarded as the most
+complete manual of diplomacy as it existed at the beginning of the
+sixteenth century. It affords more copious and curious information
+respecting the interior workings of the governments with whom he resided,
+than is to be found in any regular history; and it shows the variety and
+extent of duties attached to the office of resident minister, from the
+first moment of its creation.
+
+[3] "Sed diu," says Sallust, noticing the similar consequence of increased
+refinement among the ancients, "magnum inter mortales certamen fuit, vine
+corporis an virtute animi res militaris magis procederet. ***** Tum demum
+periculo atque negotiis compertum est, in bello plurimum ingenium posse."
+Bellum Catilinarium, cap. 1, 2.
+
+[4] Machiavelli's political treatises, his "Principe" and "Discorsi sopra
+Tito Livio," which appeared after his death, excited no scandal at the
+time of their publication. They came into the world, indeed, from the
+pontifical press, under the privilege of the reigning pope, Clement VII.
+It was not until thirty years later that they were placed on the Index;
+and this not from any exceptions taken at the immorality of their
+doctrines, as Ginguené has well proved, (Histoire Littéraire d'Italie,
+(Paris, 1811-19,) tom. viii. pp. 32, 74,) but from the imputations they
+contained on the court of Rome.
+
+[5] "Aquel Senado é Señoría de Venecianos," says Gonzalo de Oviedo, "donde
+me parece á mi que esta recogido todo el saber é prudencia de los hombres
+humanos; porque és la gente del mundo que mejor se sabe gobernar; é la
+republica, que mas tiempo há durado en el mundo por la buena forma de su
+regimiento, é donde con mejor manera hán los hombres vivido en comunidad
+sin tener Rey;" etc. Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 3, dial. 44.
+
+[6] Of all the incense which poets and politicians have offered to the
+Queen of the Adriatic, none is more exquisite than that conveyed in these
+few lines, where Sannazaro notices her position as the bulwark of
+Christendom.
+
+  "Una Italum regina, altae pulcherrima Romae
+  Aemula, quae terris, quae dominaris aquis!
+  Tu tibi vel reges cives facis; O decus! O lux
+  Ausoniae, per quam libera turba sumus;
+  Per quam barbaries nobis non imperat, et Sol
+  Exoriens nostro clarius orbe micat!"
+
+Opera Latina, lib. 3, eleg. 1, 95.
+
+[7] Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. i. lib. 3, p. 147.
+
+[8] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 119, 123.--Fleury, Histoire
+Ecclésiastique, contin. (Paris, 1722,) tom. xxiv. lib. 117, p. 545.--Peter
+Martyr, whose residence and rank at the Spanish court gave him access to
+the best sources of information as to the repute in which the new pontiff
+was held there, expresses himself in one of his letters to Cardinal
+Sforza, who had assisted at his election, in the following unequivocal
+language. "Sed hoc habeto, princeps illustrissime, non placuisse meis
+Regibus pontificatum ad Alexandrum, quamvis eorum ditionarium, pervenisse.
+Verentur namque ne illius cupiditas, ne ambitio, ne (quod gravius)
+mollities filialis Christianam religionem in praeceps trahat." Epist. 119.
+
+[9] A remarkable example of this occurred in the middle of the fifteenth
+century, when the inundation of the Turks, which seemed ready to burst
+upon them, after overwhelming the Arabian and Greek empires, had no power
+to still the voice of faction, or to concentrate the attention of the
+Italian states, even for a moment.
+
+[10] Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. i. lib. 1, p. 2.
+
+[11] Brantôme, Vies des Hommes Illustres, Oeuvres Complètes, (Paris, 1822-
+3,) tom. ii. disc. i. pp. 2, 20.
+
+[12] Sismondi, Hist. des Français, tom. xv. p. 112.--Gaillard, Rivalité,
+tom. iv. pp. 2, 3.
+
+[13] Daru, Histoire de la République de Venise, (Paris, 1821,) tom. iii.
+liv. 20.--See the deed of cession, in the memoir of M. de Foncemagne.
+(Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, tom. xvii. pp.
+539-579.) This document, as well as some others which appeared on the eve
+of Charles's expedition, breathes a tone of Quixotic and religious
+enthusiasm that transports us back to the days of the crusades.
+
+[14] The conflicting claims of Anjou and Aragon are stated at length by
+Gaillard, with more candor and impartiality than were to be expected from
+a French writer. (Histoire de François I., (Paris, 1769,) tom. i. pp. 71-
+92.) They form the subject of a juvenile essay of Gibbon, in which we may
+discern the germs of many of the peculiarities which afterwards
+characterized the historian of the Decline and Fall. Miscellaneous Works,
+(London, 1814.) vol. iii. pp. 206-222.
+
+[15] Essai sur les Moeurs, chap. 107.--His politic father, Louis XI.,
+acted on this principle, for he made no attempt to maintain his
+pretensions to Naples; although Mably affects to doubt whether this were
+not the result of necessity rather than policy. "Il est douteux si cette
+modération fut l'ouvrage d'une connoissance approfondie de ses vrais
+intérêts, ou seulement de cette défiance qu'il avoit des grands de son
+royaume, et qu'il n'osoit perdre de vue." Observations sur l'Histoire de
+France, Oeuvres, (Paris, 1794-5,) liv. 6, chap. 4.
+
+[16] Flassan, Histoire de la Diplomatic Française, (Paris, 1809,) tom. i.
+pp. 254-259.--Dumont, Corps Universel Diplomatique du Droit des Gens,
+(Amsterdam, 1726-31,) tom. iii. pp. 297-300.
+
+[17] See the narrative of these transactions in the Fifth and Sixth
+Chapters of Part I. of this History.
+
+Most historians seem to take it for granted, that Louis XI. advanced a sum
+of money to the king of Aragon; and some state, that payment of the debt,
+for which the provinces were mortgaged, was subsequently tendered to the
+French king. (See, among others, Sismondi, Républiques Italiennes, tom.
+xii. p. 93.--Roscoe, Life and Pontificate of Leo X., (London, 1827,) vol.
+i. p. 147.) The first of these statements is a palpable error; and I find
+no evidence of the last in any Spanish authority, where, if true, it would
+naturally have been noticed. I must, indeed, except Bernaldez, who says,
+that Ferdinand having repaid the money, borrowed by his father from Louis
+XI., to Charles VIII., the latter monarch returned it to Isabella, in
+consideration of the great expenses incurred by the Moorish war. It is a
+pity that this romantic piece of gallantry does not rest on any better
+foundation than the Curate of Los Palacios, who shows a degree of
+ignorance in the first part of his statement, that entitles him to little
+credit in the last. Indeed, the worthy curate, although much to be relied
+on for what passed in his own province, may be found frequently tripping
+in the details of what passed out of it. Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS.,
+cap. 117.
+
+[18] Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, lib. 1, cap. 4, 7, 10.
+
+[19] Fleury, Histoire Ecclésiastique, contin., tom. xxiv. pp. 533-555.--
+Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, lib. 1, cap. 14.--Daru, Hist. de Venise,
+tom. iii. pp. 51, 52.--Gaillard, Rivalité, tom. iv. p. 10.--Abarca, Reyes
+de Aragon, tom. ii. rey 30, cap. 6.
+
+Comines, alluding to the affair of Roussillon, says that Ferdinand and
+Isabella, whether from motives of economy or hypocrisy, always employed
+priests in their negotiations. "Car toutes leurs oeuvres ont fait mener et
+conduire par telles gens (religieux), ou par hypocrisie, ou afin de moins
+despendre." (Mémoires, p. 211.) The French king, however, made more use of
+the clergy in this very transaction than the Spanish. Zurita, Hist. del
+Rey Hernando, lib. 1, cap. 10.
+
+[20] Paolo Giovio, Historia sui Temporis, (Basiliae, 1578,) lib. 1, p.
+16.--The treaty of Barcelona is given at length by Dumont. (Corps
+Diplomatique, tom. iii. pp. 297-300.) It is reported with sufficient
+inaccuracy by many historians, who make no hesitation in saying, that
+Ferdinand expressly bound himself, by one of the articles, not to
+interfere with Charles's meditated attempt on Naples. (Gaillard, Rivalité,
+tom. iv. p. 11.--Voltaire, Essai sur les Moeurs, chap. 107.--Comines,
+Mémoires, liv. 8, chap. 23.--Giovio, Hist. sui Temporis, lib. 1, p. 16.--
+Varillas, Politique d'Espagne, ou du Roi Ferdinand, (Amsterdam, 1688,) pp.
+11, 12.--Roscoe, Life of Leo X., tom. i. chap. 3.) So far from this, there
+is no allusion whatever to the proposed expedition in the treaty, nor is
+the name of Naples once mentioned in it.
+
+[21] Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, lib. 1, cap. 18.--Abarca, Reyes de
+Aragon, ubi supra.
+
+[22] Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, lib. 1, cap. 28.--Bembo, Istoria
+Viniziana, (Milano, 1809,) tom. i. lib. 2, pp. 118, 119.--Oviedo,
+Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 3, dial. 43.
+
+[23] Comines, Mémoires, liv. 7, introd.
+
+[24] Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, lib. 1, cap. 20.--Peter Martyr, Opus
+Epist., epist. 123.--Comines, Mémoires, liv. 7, chap. 3.--Mariana, Hist.
+de España, tom. ii. lib. 26, cap. 6.--Zurita concludes the arguments which
+decided Ferdinand against assuming the enterprise, with one which may be
+considered the gist of the whole matter. "El Rey entendia bien que no era
+tan facil la causa que se proponia." Lib. 1, cap. 20.
+
+[25] Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, lib. 1, cap. 31.
+
+[26] Oviedo notices Silva as one of three brothers, all gentle cavaliers,
+of unblemished honor, remarkable for the plainness of their persons, the
+elegance and courtesy of their manners, and the magnificence of their
+style of living. This one, Alonso, he describes as a man of a singularly
+clear head. Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 4.
+
+[27] Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, ubi supra.
+
+[28] Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, lib, 1, cap. 31, 41.
+
+[29] Villeneuve, Mémoires, apud Petitot, Collection des Mémoires, tom.
+xiv. pp. 255, 256.
+
+The French army consisted of 3600 gens d'armes, 20,000 French infantry,
+and 8000 Swiss, without including the regular camp followers. (Sismondi,
+Républiques Italiennes, tom. xii. p. 132.)
+
+The splendor and novelty of their appearance excited a degree of
+admiration, which disarmed in some measure the terror of the Italians.
+Peter Martyr, whose distance from the theatre of action enabled him to
+contemplate more calmly the operation of events, beheld with a prophetic
+eye the magnitude of the calamities impending over his country. In one of
+his letters, he writes thus; "Scribitur exercitum visum fuisse nostra
+tempestate nullum unquam nitidiorem. Et qui futuri sunt calamitatis
+participes, Carolum aciesque illius ac peditum turmas laudibus extollunt;
+sed Italorum impensâ instructas." (Opus Epist., epist. 143.) He concludes
+another with this remarkable prediction; "Perimeris, Galle, ex majori
+parte, nec in patriam redibis. Jacebis insepultus; sed tua non restituetur
+strages, Italia." Epist. 123.
+
+[30] Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. i. lib. 1, p. 71.--Scipione Ammirato,
+Istorie Fiorentine, (Firenze, 1647,) p. 205.--Giannone, Istoria di Napoli,
+tom. iii. lib. 29, introd.--Comines, Mémoires, liv. 7, chap. 17.--Oviedo,
+Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 3, dial. 43.
+
+[31] Du Bos, Histoire de la Ligue faite à Cambray, (Paris, 1728), tom. i.
+dissert, prélim.--Machiavelli, Istorie Fiorentine, lib. 5.--Denina,
+Rivoluzioni d'Italia, lib. 18, cap. 3.
+
+[32] Arte della Guerra, lib. 2.
+
+[33] Machiavelli, Arte della Guerra, lib. 3.--Du Bos, Ligue de Cambray,
+tom. i. dis. prélim.--Giovio, Hist. sui Temporis, lib. 2, p. 41. Polybius,
+in his minute account of this celebrated military institution of the
+Greeks, has recapitulated nearly all the advantages and defects imputed to
+the Swiss _hérisson_, by modern European writers. (See lib. 17, sec.
+25 et seq.) It is singular, that these exploded arms and tactics should be
+revived, after the lapse of nearly seventeen centuries, to be foiled again
+in the same manner as before.
+
+[34] Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. i. pp. 45, 46.--Machiavelli, Arte della
+Guerra, lib. 3.--Du Bos, Ligue de Cambray, ubi supra.
+
+[35] Guicciardini speaks of the name of "cannon," which the French gave to
+their pieces, as a novelty at that time in Italy. Istoria, pp. 45, 46.
+
+[36] Giovio, Hist. sui Temporis, lib. 2, p. 42.--Machiavelli, Arte della
+Guerra, lib. 7.
+
+[37] Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, lib. 1, cap. 35.--Alonso da Silva
+acquitted himself to the entire satisfaction of the sovereigns, in his
+difficult mission. He was subsequently sent on various others to the
+different Italian courts, and uniformly sustained his reputation for
+ability and prudence. He did not live to be old. Oviedo, Quincuagenas,
+MS., bat. 1, quinc. 4.
+
+[38] Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. lib. 26, cap. 6.--Salazar de
+Mendoza, Monarquía, lib. 3, cap. 14.
+
+This branch of the revenue yields at the present day, according to
+Laborde, about 6,000,000 reals, or 1,500,000 francs. Itinéraire, tom. vi.
+p. 51.
+
+[39] Zurita, Abarca, and other Spanish historians, fix the date of
+Alexander's grant at the close of 1496. (Hist. del Rey Hernando, lib, 2,
+cap. 40.--Reyes de Aragon, rey 30, cap. 9.) Martyr notices it with great
+particularity as already conferred, in a letter of February, 1495. (Opus
+Epist., epist. 157.) The pope, according to Comines, designed to
+compliment Ferdinand and Isabella for their conquest of Granada, by
+transferring to them the title of Most Christian, hitherto enjoyed by the
+kings of France. He had even gone so far as to address them thus in more
+than one of his briefs. This produced a remonstrance from a number of the
+cardinals; which led him to substitute the title of Most Catholic. The
+epithet of Catholic was not new in the royal house of Castile, nor indeed
+of Aragon; having been given to the Asturian prince Alfonso I. about the
+middle of the eighth, and to Pedro II., of Aragon, at the beginning of the
+thirteenth century.
+
+I will remark, in conclusion, that, although the phrase _Los Reyes
+Católicos_, as applied to a female equally with a male, would have a
+whimsical appearance literally translated into English, it is perfectly
+consonant to the Spanish idiom, which requires that all words, having
+reference to both a masculine and a feminine noun, should be expressed in
+the former gender. So also in the ancient languages; _Aemen tyrannoi_,
+says Queen Hecuba; (Euripides, _Troad_, v. 476.) But it is clearly
+incorrect to render _Los Reyes Católicos_, as usually done by English
+writers, by the corresponding term of "Catholic kings."
+
+[40] Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1495.
+
+[41] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 138.--Sismondi, Républiques
+Italiennes, tom. xii. pp. 192-194.--Garibay, Compendio, lib. 19, cap. 4.
+
+[42] Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 3, dial. 43.--Zurita, Hist.
+del Rey Hernando, lib. 1, cap. 43.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap.
+138.--Giovio, Hist. sui Temporis, lib. 2, p. 46.--Lanuza, Historias, tom.
+i. lib. 1, cap. 6.
+
+This appears from a letter of Martyr's, dated three months before the
+interview; in which he says, "Antonius Fonseca, vir equestris ordinis, et
+armis clarus, destinatus est orator, qui eum moneat, ne, priusquam de jure
+inter ipsum et Alfonsum regem Neapolitanum decernatur, ulterius procedat.
+Fert in mandatis Antonius Fonseca, ut Carolo capitulum id sonans ostendat,
+anteque ipsius oculos (si detrectaverit) pacti veteris chirographum
+laceret, atque indicat inimicitias." Opus Epist., epist. 144.
+
+[43] Comines, Mémoires, liv. 7, chap. 16.--Villeneuve, Mémoires, apud
+Petitot, Collection des Mémoires, tom. xii., p. 260.--Ammirato, Istorie
+Florentine, tom. iii. lib. 26.--Summonte, Hist. di Napoli, tom. iii. lib.
+6, cap. 1, 2.
+
+[44] Giovio, Hist. sui Temporis, lib. 2, p. 55.--Giannone, Istoria di
+Napoli, lib. 29, cap. 1, 2.--André de la Vigne, Histoire de Charles VIII.,
+(Paris, 1617,) p. 201.
+
+[45] Giovio, Hist. sui Temporis, lib. 2, p. 56.--Guicciardini, Istoria,
+tom. i. pp. 86, 87.--Bembo, Istoria Viniziana, tom. i. lib. 2, p. 120--
+Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, lib. 2, chap. 3, 5.--Comines, Mémoires,
+liv. 7, chap. 19.
+
+[46] Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. i. lib. 2, p. 88.--Comines, Mémoires,
+liv. 7, chap. 20.--Bembo, Istoria Viniziana, tom. i. lib. 2, pp. 122,
+123.--Daru, Hist. de Venise, tom. iii. pp. 255, 256.--Zurita, Hist. del
+Rey Hernando, lib. 2, cap. 5.
+
+[47] Comines, Mémoires, p. 96.--Comines takes great credit to himself for
+his perspicacity in detecting the secret negotiations carried on at Venice
+against his master. According to Bembo, however, the affair was managed
+with such profound caution, as to escape his notice until it was
+officially announced by the doge himself; when he was so much astounded by
+the intelligence, that he was obliged to ask the secretary of the senate,
+who accompanied him home, the particulars of what the doge had said, as
+his ideas were so confused at the time, that he had not perfectly
+comprehended it. Istoria Viniziana, lib. 2, pp. 128, 129.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+ITALIAN WARS.--RETREAT OF CHARLES VIII.--CAMPAIGNS OF GONSALVO DE
+CORDOVA.--FINAL EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH.
+
+1495-1496.
+
+Impolitic Conduct of Charles.--He Plunders the Works of Art.--Gonsalvo de
+Cordova.--His Brilliant Qualities.--Raised to the Italian Command.--Battle
+of Seminara.--Gonsalvo's Successes.--Decline of the French.--He Receives
+the Title of Great Captain.--Expulsion of the French from Italy.
+
+
+Charles the Eighth might have found abundant occupation, during his brief
+residence at Naples, in placing the kingdom in a proper posture of
+defence, and in conciliating the good-will of the inhabitants, without
+which he could scarcely hope to maintain himself permanently in his
+conquest. So far from this, however, he showed the utmost aversion to
+business, wasting his hours, as has been already noticed, in the most
+frivolous amusements. He treated the great feudal aristocracy of the
+country with utter neglect; rendering himself difficult of access, and
+lavishing all dignities and emoluments with partial prodigality on his
+French subjects. His followers disgusted the nation still further by their
+insolence and unbridled licentiousness. The people naturally called to
+mind the virtues of the exiled Ferdinand, whose temperate rule they
+contrasted with the rash and rapacious conduct of their new masters. The
+spirit of discontent spread more widely, as the French were too thinly
+scattered to enforce subordination. A correspondence was entered into with
+Ferdinand in Sicily, and in a short time several of the most considerable
+cities of the kingdom openly avowed their allegiance to the house of
+Aragon. [1]
+
+In the mean time, Charles and his nobles, satiated with a life of
+inactivity and pleasure, and feeling that they had accomplished the great
+object of the expedition, began to look with longing eyes towards their
+own country. Their impatience was converted into anxiety on receiving
+tidings of the coalition mustering in the north. Charles, however, took
+care to secure to himself some of the spoils of victory, in a manner which
+we have seen practised, on a much greater scale, by his countrymen in our
+day. He collected the various works of art with which Naples was adorned,
+precious antiques, sculptured marble and alabaster, gates of bronze
+curiously wrought, and such architectural ornaments as were capable of
+transportation, and caused them to be embarked on board his fleet for the
+south of France, "endeavoring," says the Curate of Los Palacios, "to build
+up his own renown on the ruins of the kings of Naples, of glorious
+memory." His vessels, however, did not reach their place of destination,
+but were captured by a Biscayan and Genoese fleet off Pisa. [2]
+
+Charles had entirely failed in his application to Pope Alexander the Sixth
+for a recognition of his right to Naples, by a formal act of investiture.
+[3] He determined, however, to go through the ceremony of a coronation;
+and, on the 12th of May, he made his public entrance into the city,
+arrayed in splendid robes of scarlet and ermine, with the imperial diadem
+on his head, a sceptre in one hand, and a globe, the symbol of universal
+sovereignty, in the other; while the adulatory populace saluted his royal
+ear with the august title of Emperor. After the conclusion of this farce,
+he made preparations for his instant departure from Naples. On the 20th of
+May, he set out on his homeward march, at the head of one-half of his
+army, amounting in all to not more than nine thousand fighting men. The
+other half was left for the defence of his new conquest. This arrangement
+was highly impolitic, since he neither took with him enough to cover his
+retreat, nor left enough to secure the preservation of Naples. [4]
+
+It is not necessary to follow the French army in its retrograde movement
+through Italy. It is enough to say, that this was not conducted with
+sufficient despatch to anticipate the junction of the allied forces, who
+assembled to dispute its passage on the banks of the Taro, near Fornovo.
+An action was there fought, in which King Charles, at the head of his
+loyal chivalry, achieved such deeds of heroism, as shed a lustre over his
+ill-concerted enterprise, and which, if they did not gain him an
+undisputed victory, secured the fruits of it, by enabling him to effect
+his retreat without further molestation. At Turin he entered into
+negotiation with the calculating duke of Milan, which terminated in the
+treaty of Vercelli, October 10th, 1495. By this treaty Charles obtained no
+other advantage than that of detaching his cunning adversary from the
+coalition. The Venetians, although refusing to accede to it, made no
+opposition to any arrangement, which would expedite the removal of their
+formidable foe beyond the Alps. This was speedily accomplished; and
+Charles, yielding to his own impatience and that of his nobles, recrossed
+that mountain rampart which nature has so ineffectually provided for the
+security of Italy, and reached Grenoble with his army on the 27th of the
+month. Once more restored to his own dominions, the young monarch
+abandoned himself without reserve to the licentious pleasures to which he
+was passionately addicted, forgetting alike his dreams of ambition, and
+the brave companions in arms whom he had deserted in Italy. Thus ended
+this memorable expedition, which, though crowned with complete success,
+was attended with no other permanent result to its authors, than that of
+opening the way to those disastrous wars, which wasted the resources of
+their country for a great part of the sixteenth century. [5]
+
+Charles the Eighth had left as his viceroy in Naples Gilbert de Bourbon,
+duke of Montpensier, a prince of the blood, and a brave and loyal
+nobleman, but of slender military capacity, and so fond of his bed, says
+Comines, that he seldom left it before noon. The command of the forces in
+Calabria was intrusted to M. d'Aubigny, a Scottish cavalier of the house
+of Stuart, raised by Charles to the dignity of grand constable of France.
+He was so much esteemed for his noble and chivalrous qualities, that he
+was styled by the annalists of that day, says Brantôme, "grand chevalier
+sans reproche." He had large experience in military matters, and was
+reputed one of the best officers in the French service. Besides these
+principal commanders, there were others of subordinate rank stationed at
+the head of small detachments on different points of the kingdom, and
+especially in the fortified cities along the coasts. [6]
+
+Scarcely had Charles the Eighth quitted Naples, when his rival, Ferdinand,
+who had already completed his preparations in Sicily, made a descent on
+the southern extremity of Calabria. He was supported in this by the
+Spanish levies under the admiral Requesens, and Gonsalvo of Cordova, who
+reached Sicily in the month of May. As the latter of these commanders was
+destined to act a most conspicuous part in the Italian wars, it may not be
+amiss to give some account of his early life.
+
+Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordova, or Aguilar, as he is sometimes styled from
+the territorial title assumed by his branch of the family, was born at
+Montilla, in 1453. His father died early, leaving two sons, Alonso de
+Aguilar, whose name occurs in some of the most brilliant passages of the
+war of Granada, and Gonsalvo, three years younger than his brother. During
+the troubled reigns of John the Second and Henry the Fourth, the city of
+Cordova was divided by the feuds of the rival families of Cabra and
+Aguilar; and it is reported that the citizens of the latter faction, after
+the loss of their natural leader, Gonsalvo's father, used to testify their
+loyalty to his house by bearing the infant children along with them in
+their rencontres; thus Gonsalvo may be said to have been literally nursed
+amid the din of battle. [7]
+
+On the breaking out of the civil wars, the two brothers attached
+themselves to the fortunes of Alfonso and Isabella. At their court, the
+young Gonsalvo soon attracted attention by the uncommon beauty of his
+person, his polished manners, and proficiency in all knightly exercises.
+He indulged in a profuse magnificence in his apparel, equipage, and
+general style of living; a circumstance, which, accompanied with his
+brilliant qualities, gave him the title at the court of _el príncipe de
+los cavalleros_, the prince of cavaliers. This carelessness of expense,
+indeed, called forth more than once the affectionate remonstrance of his
+brother Alonso, who, as the elder son, had inherited the _mayorazgo_,
+or family estate, and who provided liberally for Gonsalvo's support. He
+served during the Portuguese war under Alonso de Cardenas, grand master of
+St. James, and was honored with the public commendations of his general
+for his signal display of valor at the battle of Albuera; where, it is
+remarked, the young hero incurred an unnecessary degree of personal hazard
+by the ostentatious splendor of his armor. Of this commander, and of the
+count of Tendilla, Gonsalvo always spoke with the greatest deference,
+acknowledging that he had learned the rudiments of war from them. [8]
+
+The long war of Granada, however, was the great school in which his
+military discipline was perfected. He did not, it is true, occupy so
+eminent a position in these campaigns as some other chiefs of riper years
+and more enlarged experience; but on various occasions he displayed
+uncommon proofs both of address and valor. He particularly distinguished
+himself at the capture of Tajara, Illora, and Monte Frio. At the last
+place, he headed the scaling party, and was the first to mount the walls
+in the face of the enemy. He wellnigh closed his career in a midnight
+skirmish before Granada, which occurred a short time before the end of the
+war. In the heat of the struggle his horse was slain; and Gonsalvo, unable
+to extricate himself from the morass in which he was entangled, would have
+perished, but for the faithful servant of the family, who mounted him on
+his own horse, briefly commending to his master the care of his wife and
+children. Gonsalvo escaped, but his brave follower paid for his loyalty
+with his life. At the conclusion of the war, he was selected, together
+with Ferdinand's secretary Zafra, in consequence of his plausible address,
+and his familiarity with the Arabic, to conduct the negotiation with the
+Moorish government. He was secretly introduced for this purpose by night
+into Granada, and finally succeeded in arranging the terms of capitulation
+with the unfortunate Abdallah, as has been already stated. In
+consideration of his various services, the Spanish sovereigns granted him
+a pension, and a large landed estate in the conquered territory. [9]
+
+After the war, Gonsalvo remained with the court, and his high reputation
+and brilliant exterior made him one of the most distinguished ornaments of
+the royal circle. His manners displayed all the romantic gallantry
+characteristic of the age, of which the following, among other instances,
+is recorded. The queen accompanied her daughter Joanna on board the fleet
+which was to bear her to Flanders, the country of her destined husband.
+After bidding adieu to the infanta, Isabella returned in her boat to the
+shore; but the waters were so swollen, that it was found difficult to make
+good a footing for her on the beach. As the sailors were preparing to drag
+the bark higher up the strand, Gonsalvo, who was present, and dressed, as
+the Castilian historians are careful to inform us, in a rich suit of
+brocade and crimson velvet, unwilling that the person of his royal
+mistress should be profaned by the touch of such rude hands, waded into
+the water, and bore the queen in his arms to the shore, amid the shouts
+and plaudits of the spectators. The incident may form a counterpart to the
+well-known anecdote of Sir Walter Raleigh. [10]
+
+Isabella's long and intimate acquaintance with Gonsalvo enabled her to
+form a correct estimate of his great talents. When the Italian expedition
+was resolved on, she instantly fixed her eyes on him as the most suitable
+person to conduct it. She knew that he possessed the qualities essential
+to success in a new and difficult enterprise,--courage, constancy,
+singular prudence, dexterity in negotiation, and inexhaustible fertility
+of resource. She accordingly recommended him, without hesitation, to her
+husband, as the commander of the Italian army. He approved her choice,
+although it seems to have caused no little surprise at the court, which,
+notwithstanding the favor in which Gonsalvo was held by the sovereigns,
+was not prepared to see him advanced over the heads of veterans, of so
+much riper years and higher military renown than himself. The event proved
+the sagacity of Isabella. [11]
+
+The part of the squadron destined to convey the new general to Sicily was
+made ready for sea in the spring of 1495. After a tempestuous voyage, he
+reached Messina on the 24th of May. He found that Ferdinand, of Naples,
+had already begun operations in Calabria, where he had occupied Reggio
+with the assistance of the admiral Requesens, who reached Sicily with a
+part of the armament a short time previous to Gonsalvo's arrival. The
+whole effective force of the Spaniards did not exceed six hundred lances
+and fifteen hundred foot, besides those employed in the fleet, amounting
+to about three thousand and five hundred more. The finances of Spain had
+been too freely drained in the late Moorish war to authorize any
+extraordinary expenditure; and Ferdinand designed to assist his kinsman
+rather with his name, than with any great accession of numbers.
+Preparations, however, were going forward for raising additional levies,
+especially among the hardy peasantry of the Asturias and Galicia, on which
+the war of Granada had fallen less heavily than on the south. [12.]
+
+On the 26th of May, Gonsalvo de Cordova crossed over to Reggio in
+Calabria, where a plan of operation was concerted between him and the
+Neapolitan monarch. Before opening the campaign, several strong places in
+the province, which owed allegiance to the Aragonese family, were placed
+in the hands of the Spanish general, as security for the reimbursement of
+expenses incurred by his government in the war. As Gonsalvo placed little
+reliance on his Calabrian or Sicilian recruits, he was obliged to detach a
+considerable part of his Spanish forces to garrison these places. [13]
+
+The presence of their monarch revived the dormant loyalty of his Calabrian
+subjects. They thronged to his standard, till at length he found himself
+at the head of six thousand men, chiefly composed of the raw militia of
+the country. He marched at once with Gonsalvo on St. Agatha, which opened
+its gates without resistance. He then directed his course towards
+Seminara, a place of some strength about eight leagues from Reggio. On his
+way he cut in pieces a detachment of French on its march to reinforce the
+garrison there. Seminara imitated the example of St. Agatha, and,
+receiving the Neapolitan army without opposition, unfurled the standard of
+Aragon on its walls. While this was going forward, Antonio Grimani, the
+Venetian admiral, scoured the eastern coasts of the kingdom with a fleet
+of four and twenty galleys, and, attacking the strong town of Monopoli, in
+the possession of the French, put the greater part of the garrison to the
+sword.
+
+D'Aubigny, who lay at this time with an inconsiderable body of French
+troops in the south of Calabria, saw the necessity of some vigorous
+movement to check the further progress of the enemy. He determined to
+concentrate his forces, scattered through the province, and march against
+Ferdinand, in the hope of bringing him to a decisive action. For this
+purpose, in addition to the garrisons dispersed among the principal towns,
+he summoned to his aid the forces, consisting principally of Swiss
+infantry, stationed in the Basilicate under Précy, a, brave young
+cavalier, esteemed one of the best officers in the French service. After
+the arrival of this reinforcement, aided by the levies of the Angevin
+barons, D'Aubigny, whose effective strength now greatly surpassed that of
+his adversary, directed his march towards Seminara. [14]
+
+Ferdinand, who had received no intimation of his adversary's junction with
+Précy, and who considered him much inferior to himself in numbers, no
+sooner heard of his approach, than he determined to march out at once
+before he could reach Seminara, and give him battle. Gonsalvo was of a
+different opinion. His own troops had too little experience in war with
+the French and Swiss veterans to make him willing to risk all on the
+chances of a single battle. The Spanish heavy-armed cavalry, indeed, were
+a match for any in Europe, and were even said to surpass every other in
+the beauty and excellence of their appointments, at a period, when arms
+were finished to luxury. [15] He had but a handful of these, however; by
+far the greatest part of his cavalry consisting of _ginetes_, or
+light-armed troops, of inestimable service in the wild guerilla warfare to
+which they had been accustomed in Granada, but obviously incapable of
+coping with the iron _gendarmerie_ of France. He felt some distrust,
+too, in bringing his little corps of infantry without further preparation,
+armed, as they were, only with short swords and bucklers, and much
+reduced, as has been already stated, in number, to encounter the
+formidable phalanx of Swiss pikes. As for the Calabrian levies, he did not
+place the least reliance on them. At all events, he thought it prudent,
+before coming to action, to obtain more accurate information than they now
+possessed, of the actual strength of the enemy. [16]
+
+In all this, however, he was overruled by the impatience of Ferdinand and
+his followers. The principal Spanish cavaliers, indeed, as well as the
+Italian, among whom, may be found names which afterwards rose to high
+distinction in these wars, urged Gonsalvo to lay aside his scruples;
+representing the impolicy of showing any distrust of their own strength at
+this crisis, and of balking the ardor of their soldiers, now hot for
+action. The Spanish chief, though far from being convinced, yielded to
+these earnest remonstrances, and King Ferdinand led out his little army
+without further delay against the enemy.
+
+After traversing a chain of hills, stretching in an easterly direction
+from Seminara, at the distance of about three miles he arrived before a
+small stream, on the plains beyond which he discerned the French army in
+rapid advance against him. He resolved to wait its approach; and, taking
+position on the slope of the hills towards the river, he drew up his horse
+on the right wing, and his infantry on the left. [17]
+
+The French generals, D'Aubigny and Précy, putting themselves at the head
+of their cavalry on the left, consisting of about four hundred heavy-
+armed, and twice as many light horse, dashed into the water without
+hesitation. Their right was occupied by the bristling phalanx of Swiss
+spearmen in close array; behind these were the militia of the country. The
+Spanish _ginetes_ succeeded in throwing the French gendarmerie into
+some disorder, before it could form after crossing the stream; but, no
+sooner was this accomplished, than the Spaniards, incapable of
+withstanding the charge of their enemy, suddenly wheeled about and
+precipitately retreated with the intention of again returning on their
+assailants, after the fashion of the Moorish tactics. The Calabrian
+militia, not comprehending this manoeuvre, interpreted it into a defeat.
+They thought the battle lost, and, seized with a panic, broke their ranks,
+and fled to a man, before the Swiss infantry had time so much as to lower
+its lances against them.
+
+King Ferdinand in vain attempted to rally the dastardly fugitives. The
+French cavalry was soon upon them, making frightful slaughter in their
+ranks. The young monarch, whose splendid arms and towering plumes made him
+a conspicuous mark in the field, was exposed to imminent peril. He had
+broken his lance in the body of one of the foremost of the French
+cavaliers, when his horse fell under him, and as his feet were entangled
+in the stirrups, he would inevitably have perished in the _mêlée_, but for
+the prompt assistance of a young nobleman named Juan de Altavilla, who
+mounted his master on his own horse, and calmly awaited the approach
+of the enemy, by whom he was immediately slain. Instances of this
+affecting loyalty and self-devotion not unfrequently occur in these wars,
+throwing a melancholy grace over the darker and more ferocious features of
+the time. [18]
+
+Gonsalvo was seen in the thickest of the fight, long after the king's
+escape, charging the enemy briskly at the head of his handful of
+Spaniards, not in the hope of retrieving the day, but of covering the
+flight of the panic-struck Neapolitans. At length he was borne along by
+the rushing tide, and succeeded in bringing off the greater part of his
+cavalry safe to Seminara. Had the French followed up the blow, the greater
+part of the royal army, with probably King Ferdinand and Gonsalvo at its
+head, would have fallen into their hands, and thus not only the fate of
+the campaign, but of Naples itself, would have been permanently decided by
+this battle. Fortunately, the French did not understand so well how to use
+a victory, as to gain it. They made no attempt to pursue. This is imputed
+to the illness of their general, D'Aubigny, occasioned by the extreme
+unhealthiness of the climate. He was too feeble to sit long on his horse,
+and was removed into a litter as soon as the action was decided. Whatever
+was the cause, the victors by this inaction suffered the golden fruits of
+victory to escape them. Ferdinand made his escape on the same day on board
+a vessel which conveyed him back to Sicily; and Gonsalvo, on the following
+morning before break of day, effected his retreat across the mountains to
+Reggio, at the head of four hundred Spanish lances. Thus terminated the
+first battle of importance in which Gonsalvo of Cordova held a
+distinguished command; the only one which he lost during his long and
+fortunate career. Its loss, however, attached no discredit to him, since
+it was entered into in manifest opposition to his judgment. On the
+contrary, his conduct throughout this affair tended greatly to establish
+his reputation by showing him to be no less prudent in council, than bold
+in action. [19]
+
+King Ferdinand, far from being disheartened by this defeat, gained new
+confidence from his experience of the favorable dispositions existing
+towards him in Calabria. Relying on a similar feeling of loyalty in his
+capital, he determined to hazard a bold stroke for its recovery; and that,
+too, instantly, before his late discomfiture should have time to operate
+on the spirits of his partisans. He accordingly embarked at Messina, with
+a handful of troops only, on board the fleet of the Spanish admiral,
+Requesens. It amounted in all to eighty vessels, most of them of
+inconsiderable size. With this armament, which, notwithstanding its
+formidable show, carried little effective force for land operations, the
+adventurous young monarch appeared off the harbor of Naples before the end
+of June.
+
+Charles's viceroy, the duke of Montpensier, at that time garrisoned Naples
+with six thousand French troops. On the appearance of the Spanish navy, he
+marched out to prevent Ferdinand's landing, leaving a few only of his
+soldiers to keep the city in awe. But he had scarcely quitted it before
+the inhabitants, who had waited with impatience an opportunity for
+throwing off the yoke, sounded the tocsin, and, rising to arms through
+every part of the city, and massacring the feeble remains of the garrison,
+shut the gates against him; while Ferdinand, who had succeeded in drawing
+off the French commander in another direction, no sooner presented himself
+before the walls, than he was received with transports of joy by the
+enthusiastic people. [20]
+
+The French, however, though excluded from the city, by making a circuit
+effected an entrance into the fortresses which commanded it. From these
+posts, Montpensier sorely annoyed the town, making frequent attacks on it,
+day and night, at the head of his gendarmerie, until they were at length
+checked in every direction by barricades which the citizens hastily
+constructed with wagons, casks of stones, bags of sand, and whatever came
+most readily to hand. At the same time, the windows, balconies, and house-
+tops were crowded with combatants, who poured down such a deadly shower of
+missiles on the heads of the French as finally compelled them to take
+shelter in their defences. Montpensier was now closely besieged, till at
+length, reduced by famine, he was compelled to capitulate. Before the term
+prescribed for his surrender had arrived, however, he effected his escape
+at night, by water, to Salerno, at the head of twenty-five hundred men.
+The remaining garrison, with the fortresses, submitted to the victorious
+Ferdinand, the beginning of the following year. And thus, by one of those
+sudden turns which belong to the game of war, the exiled prince, whose
+fortunes a few weeks before appeared perfectly desperate, was again
+established in the palace of his ancestors. [21]
+
+Montpensier did not long remain in his new quarters. He saw the necessity
+of immediate action, to counteract the alarming progress of the enemy. He
+quitted Salerno before the end of winter, strengthening his army by such
+reinforcements as he could collect from every quarter of the country. With
+this body, he directed his course towards Apulia, with the intention of
+bringing Ferdinand, who had already established his headquarters there, to
+a decisive engagement. Ferdinand's force, however, was so far inferior to
+that of his antagonist, as to compel him to act on the defensive, until he
+had been reinforced by a considerable body of troops from Venice. The two
+armies were then so equally matched, that neither cared to hazard all on
+the fate of a battle; and the campaign wasted away in languid operations,
+which led to no important result.
+
+In the mean time, Gonsalvo de Cordova was slowly fighting his way up
+through southern Calabria. The character of the country, rough and
+mountainous, like the Alpuxarras, and thickly sprinkled with fortified
+places, enabled him to bring into play the tactics which he had learned in
+the war of Granada. He made little use of heavy-armed troops, relying on
+his _ginetes_, and still more on his foot; taking care, however, to
+avoid any direct encounter with the dreaded Swiss battalions. He made
+amends for paucity of numbers and want of real strength, by rapidity of
+movement and the wily tactics of Moorish warfare; darting on the enemy
+where least expected, surprising his strong-holds at dead of night,
+entangling him in ambuscades, and desolating the country with those
+terrible forays, whose effects he had so often witnessed on the fair vegas
+of Granada. He adopted the policy practised by his master Ferdinand the
+Catholic in the Moorish war, lenient to the submissive foe, but wreaking
+terrible vengeance on such as resisted. [22]
+
+The French were sorely disconcerted by these irregular operations, so
+unlike anything to which they were accustomed in European warfare. They
+were further disheartened by the continued illness of D'Aubigny, and by
+the growing disaffection of the Calabrians, who in the southern provinces
+contiguous to Sicily were particularly well inclined to Spain.
+
+Gonsalvo, availing himself of these friendly dispositions, pushed forward
+his successes, carrying one strong-hold after another, until by the end of
+the year he had overrun the whole of Lower Calabria. His progress would
+have been still more rapid but for the serious embarrassments which he
+experienced from want of supplies. He had received some reinforcements
+from Sicily, but very few from Spain; while the boasted Galician levies,
+instead of fifteen hundred, had dwindled to scarcely three hundred men;
+who arrived in the most miserable plight, destitute of clothing and
+munitions of every kind. He was compelled to weaken still further his
+inadequate force by garrisoning the conquered places, most of which,
+however, he was obliged to leave without any defence at all. In addition
+to this, he was so destitute of the necessary funds for the payment of his
+troops, that he was detained nearly two months at Nicastro, until
+February, 1496, when he received a remittance from Spain. After this, he
+resumed operations with such vigor, that by the end of the following
+spring he had reduced all Upper Calabria, with the exception of a small
+corner of the province, in which D'Aubigny still maintained himself. At
+this crisis, he was summoned from the scene of his conquests to the
+support of the king of Naples, who lay encamped before Atella, a town
+intrenched among the Apennines, on the western borders of the Basilicate.
+[23] The campaign of the preceding winter had terminated without any
+decisive results, the two armies of Montpensier and King Ferdinand having
+continued in sight of each other, without ever coming to action. These
+protracted operations were fatal to the French. Their few supplies were
+intercepted by the peasantry of the country; their Swiss and German
+mercenaries mutinied and deserted for want of pay; and the Neapolitans in
+their service went off in great numbers, disgusted with the insolent and
+overbearing manners of their new allies. Charles the Eighth, in the mean
+while, was wasting his hours and health in the usual round of profligate
+pleasures. From the moment of recrossing the Alps he seemed to have shut
+out Italy from his thoughts. He was equally insensible to the
+supplications of the few Italians at his court, and the remonstrances of
+his French nobles, many of whom, although opposed to the first expedition,
+would willingly have undertaken a second to support their brave comrades,
+whom the heedless young monarch now abandoned to their fate. [24]
+
+At length Montpensier, finding no prospect of relief from home, and
+straitened by the want of provisions, determined to draw off from the
+neighborhood of Benevento, where the two armies lay encamped, and retreat
+to the fruitful province of Apulia, whose principal places were still
+garrisoned by the French. He broke up his camp secretly at dead of night,
+and gained a day's march on his enemy, before the latter began his
+pursuit. This Ferdinand pushed with such vigor, however, that he overtook
+the retreating army at the town of Atella, and completely intercepted its
+further progress. This town, which, as already noticed, is situated on,
+the western skirts of the Basilicate, lies in a broad valley encompassed
+by a lofty amphitheatre of hills, through which flows a little river,
+tributary to the Ofanto, watering the town, and turning several mills
+which supplied it with flour. At a few miles' distance was the strong
+place of Ripa Candida, garrisoned by the French, through which Montpensier
+hoped to maintain his communications with the fertile regions of the
+interior.
+
+Ferdinand, desirous if possible to bring the war to a close, by the
+capture of the whole French army, prepared for a vigorous blockade. He
+disposed his forces so as to intercept supplies by commanding the avenues
+to the town in every direction. He soon found, however, that his army,
+though considerably stronger than his rival's, was incompetent to this
+without further aid. He accordingly resolved to summon to his support
+Gonsalvo de Cordova, the fame of whose exploits now resounded through
+every part of the kingdom. [25]
+
+The Spanish general received Ferdinand's summons while encamped with his
+army at Castrovillari, in the north of Upper Calabria. If he complied with
+it, he saw himself in danger of losing all the fruits of his long campaign
+of victories; for his active enemy would not fail to profit by his absence
+to repair his losses. If he refused obedience, however, it might defeat
+the most favorable opportunity which had yet presented itself for bringing
+the war to a close. He resolved, therefore, at once to quit the field of
+his triumphs, and march to King Ferdinand's relief. But, before his
+departure, he prepared to strike such a blow as should, if possible,
+incapacitate his enemy for any effectual movement during his absence.
+
+He received intelligence that a considerable number of Angevin lords,
+mostly of the powerful house of San Severino, with their vassals and a
+reinforcement of French troops, were assembled at the little town of
+Laino, on the northwestern borders of Upper Calabria; where they lay
+awaiting a junction with D'Aubigny. Gonsalvo determined to surprise this
+place, and capture the rich spoils which it contained, before his
+departure. His road lay through a wild and mountainous country. The passes
+were occupied by the Calabrian peasantry in the interest of the Angevin
+party. The Spanish general, however, found no difficulty in forcing a way
+through this undisciplined rabble, a large body of whom he surrounded and
+cut to pieces, as they lay in ambush for him in the valley of Murano.
+Laino, whose base is washed by the waters of the Lao, was defended by a
+strong castle built on the opposite side of the river, and connected by a
+bridge with the town. All approach to the place by the high road was
+commanded by this fortress. Gonsalvo obviated this difficulty, however, by
+a circuitous route across the mountains. He marched all night, and,
+fording the waters of the Lao about two miles above the town, entered it
+with his little army before break of day, having previously detached a
+small corps to take possession of the bridge. The inhabitants, startled
+from their slumbers by the unexpected appearance of the enemy in their
+streets, hastily seized their arms and made for the castle on the other
+side of the river. The pass, however, was occupied by the Spaniards; and
+the Neapolitans and French, hemmed in on every side, began a desperate
+resistance, which terminated with the death of their chief, Americo San
+Severino, and the capture of such of his followers as did not fall in the
+mêlée. A rich booty fell into the hands of the victors. The most glorious
+prize, however, was the Angevin barons, twenty in number, whom Gonsalvo,
+after the action, sent prisoners to Naples. This decisive blow, whose
+tidings spread like wildfire throughout the country, settled the fate of
+Calabria. It struck terror into the hearts of the French, and crippled
+them so far as to leave Gonsalvo little cause for anxiety during his
+proposed absence. [26]
+
+The Spanish general lost no time in pressing forward on his march towards
+Atella. Before quitting Calabria he had received a reinforcement of five
+hundred soldiers from Spain, and his whole Spanish forces, according to
+Giovio, amounted to one hundred men-at-arms, five hundred light cavalry,
+and two thousand foot, picked men, and well schooled in the hardy service
+of the late campaign. [27] Although a great part of his march lay through
+a hostile country, he encountered little opposition; for the terror of his
+name, says the writer last quoted, had everywhere gone before him. He
+arrived before Atella at the beginning of July. The king of Naples was no
+sooner advised of his approach, than he marched out of camp, attended by
+the Venetian general, the marquis of Mantua, and the papal legate, Caesar
+Borgia, to receive him. All were eager to do honor to the man who had
+achieved such brilliant exploits; who, in less than a year, had made
+himself master of the larger part of the kingdom of Naples, and that, with
+the most limited resources, in defiance of the bravest and best
+disciplined soldiery in Europe. It was then, according to the Spanish
+writers, that he was by general consent greeted with the title of the
+Great Captain; by which he is much more familiarly known in Spanish, and,
+it may be added, in most histories of the period, than by his own name.
+[28]
+
+Gonsalvo found the French sorely distressed by the blockade, which was so
+strictly maintained as to allow few supplies from abroad to pass into the
+town. His quick eye discovered at once, however, that in order to render
+it perfectly effectual, it would be necessary to destroy the mills in the
+vicinity, which supplied Atella with flour. He undertook this, on the day
+of his arrival, at the head of his own corps. Montpensier, aware of the
+importance of these mills, had stationed a strong guard for their defence,
+consisting of a body of Gascon archers, and the Swiss pikemen. Although
+the Spaniards had never been brought into direct collision with any large
+masses of this formidable infantry, yet occasional rencontres with small
+detachments, and increased familiarity with its tactics, had stripped it
+of much of its terrors. Gonsalvo had even so far profited by the example
+of the Swiss, as to strengthen his infantry by mingling the long pikes,
+with the short swords and bucklers of the Spaniards. [29]
+
+He made two divisions of his cavalry, posting his handful of heavy-armed,
+with some of the light horse, so as to check any sally from the town,
+while he destined the remainder to support the infantry in the attack upon
+the enemy. Having made these arrangements, the Spanish chieftain led on
+his men confidently to the charge. The Gascon archery, however, seized
+with a panic, scarcely awaited his approach, but fled shamefully, before
+they had time to discharge a second volley of arrows, leaving the battle
+to the Swiss. These latter, exhausted by the sufferings of the siege, and
+dispirited by long reverses, and by the presence of a new and victorious
+foe, did not behave with their wonted intrepidity, but, after a feeble
+resistance, abandoned their position, and retreated towards the city.
+Gonsalvo, having gained his object, did not care to pursue the fugitives,
+but instantly set about demolishing the mills, every vestige of which, in
+a few hours, was swept from the ground. Three days after, he supported the
+Neapolitan troops in an assault on Ripa Candida, and carried that
+important post, by means of which Atella maintained a communication with
+the interior. [30]
+
+Thus cut off from all their resources, and no longer cheered by hopes of
+succor from their own country, the French, after suffering the severest
+privations, and being reduced to the most loathsome aliment for
+subsistence, made overtures for a capitulation. The terms were soon
+arranged with the king of Naples, who had no desire but to rid his country
+of the invaders. It was agreed, that, if the French commander did not
+receive assistance in thirty days, he should evacuate Atella, and cause
+every place holding under him in the kingdom of Naples, with all its
+artillery, to be surrendered to King Ferdinand; and that, on these
+conditions, his soldiers should be furnished with vessels to transport
+them back to France; that the foreign mercenaries should be permitted to
+return to their own homes; and that a general amnesty should be extended
+to such Neapolitans as returned to their allegiance in fifteen days. [31]
+
+Such were the articles of capitulation, signed on the 21st of July, 1496,
+which Comines, who received the tidings at the court of France, does not
+hesitate to denounce as "a most disgraceful treaty, without parallel, save
+in that made by the Roman consuls at the Caudine Forks, which was too
+dishonorable to be sanctioned by their countrymen." The reproach is
+certainly unmerited; and comes with ill grace from a court, which was
+wasting in riotous indulgence the very resources indispensable to the
+brave and loyal subjects, who were endeavoring to maintain its honor in a
+foreign land. [32]
+
+Unfortunately, Montpensier was unable to enforce the full performance of
+his own treaty; as many of the French refused to deliver up the places
+intrusted to them, under the pretence that their authority was derived,
+not from the viceroy, but from the king himself. During the discussion of
+this point, the French troops were removed to Baia and Pozzuolo, and the
+adjacent places on the coast. The unhealthiness of the situation, together
+with that of the autumnal season, and an intemperate indulgence in fruits
+and wine, soon brought on an epidemic among the soldiers, which swept them
+off in great numbers. The gallant Montpensier was one of the first
+victims. He refused the earnest solicitations of his brother-in-law, the
+marquis of Mantua, to quit his unfortunate companions, and retire to a
+place of safety in the interior. The shore was literally strewed with the
+bodies of the dying and the dead. Of the whole number of Frenchmen,
+amounting to not less than five thousand, who marched out of Atella, not
+more than five hundred ever reached their native country. The Swiss and
+other mercenaries were scarcely more fortunate. "They made their way back
+as they could through Italy," says a writer of the period, "in the most
+deplorable state of destitution and suffering, the gaze of all, and a sad
+example of the caprice of fortune." [33] Such was the miserable fate of
+that brilliant and formidable array, which scarcely two years before had
+poured down on the fair fields of Italy in all the insolence of expected
+conquest. Well would it be, if the name of every conqueror, whose
+successes, though built on human misery, are so dazzling to the
+imagination, could be made to point a moral for the instruction of his
+species, as effectually as that of Charles the Eighth.
+
+The young king of Naples did not live long to enjoy his triumphs. On his
+return from Atella, he contracted an inauspicious marriage with his aunt,
+a lady nearly of his own age, to whom he had been long attached. A
+careless and somewhat intemperate indulgence in pleasure, succeeding the
+hardy life which he had been lately leading, brought on a flux which
+carried him off in the twenty-eighth year of his age, and second of his
+reign. He was the fifth monarch, who, in the brief compass of three years,
+had sat on the disastrous throne of Naples.
+
+Ferdinand possessed many qualities suited to the turbulent times in which
+he lived. He was vigorous and prompt in action, and naturally of a high
+and generous spirit. Still, however, he exhibited glimpses, even in his
+last hours, of an obliquity, not to say ferocity of temper, which
+characterized many of his line, and which led to ominous conjectures as to
+what would have been his future policy. [34]
+
+He was succeeded on the throne by his uncle Frederic, a prince of gentle
+disposition, endeared to the Neapolitans by repeated acts of benevolence,
+and by a magnanimous regard for justice, of which the remarkable
+fluctuations of his fortune had elicited more than one example. His
+amiable virtues, however, required a kindlier soil and season for their
+expansion; and, as the event proved, made him no match for the subtile and
+unscrupulous politicians of the age.
+
+His first act was a general amnesty to the disaffected Neapolitans, who
+felt such confidence in his good faith, that they returned, with scarcely
+an exception, to their allegiance. His next measure was to request the aid
+of Gonsalvo de Cordova in suppressing the hostile movements made by the
+French during his absence from Calabria. At the name of the Great Captain,
+the Italians flocked from all quarters, to serve without pay under a
+banner which was sure to lead them to victory. Tower and town, as he
+advanced, went down before him; and the French general, D'Aubigny, soon
+saw himself reduced to the necessity of making the best terms he could
+with his conqueror, and evacuating the province altogether. The submission
+of Calabria was speedily followed by that of the few remaining cities in
+other quarters, still garrisoned by the French; comprehending the last
+rood of territory possessed by Charles the Eighth in the kingdom of
+Naples. [35]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Our narrative now leads us on the beaten track of Italian history. I have
+endeavored to make the reader acquainted with the peculiar character and
+pretensions of the principal Spanish authorities, on whom I have relied in
+the progress of the work. This would be superfluous in regard to the
+Italian, who enjoy the rank of classics, not only in their own country,
+but throughout Europe, and have furnished the earliest models among the
+moderns of historic composition. Fortunately, two of the most eminent of
+them, Guicciardini and Paolo Giovio, lived at the period of our narrative,
+and have embraced the whole extent of it in their histories. These two
+writers, besides the attractions of elegant scholarship, and talent,
+occupied a position which enabled them to take a clear view of all the
+principal political movements of their age; circumstances, which have made
+their accounts of infinite value in respect to foreign transactions, as
+well as domestic. Guicciardini was a conspicuous actor in the scenes he
+describes; and a long residence at the court of Ferdinand the Catholic
+opened to him the most authentic sources of information in regard to
+Spain. Giovio, from his intimate relations with the principal persons of
+his time, had also access to the best sources of knowledge, while in the
+notice of foreign transactions he was but little exposed to those venal
+influences, which led him too often to employ the golden or iron pen of
+history as interest dictated. Unfortunately, a lamentable hiatus occurs in
+his greatest work, "Historiae sui Temporis," embracing the whole period
+intervening between the end of Charles VIII.'s expedition and the
+accession of Leo X., in 1513. At the time of the memorable sack of Rome by
+the duke of Bourbon, in 1527, Giovio deposited his manuscript, with a
+quantity of plate, in an iron chest, which he hid in an obscure corner of
+the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. The treasure, however, did not
+escape the searching eyes of two Spanish soldiers, who broke open the
+chest, and one of them seized on the plate, regarding the papers as of no
+value. The other, not being quite such a fool, says Giovio, preserved such
+of the manuscripts as were on vellum, and ornamented with rich bindings,
+but threw away what was written on paper.
+
+The part thus thrown away contained six books, relating to the period
+above mentioned, which were never afterwards recovered. The soldier
+brought the remainder to their author, who bought them at the price of a
+vacant benefice, which he persuaded the pope to confer on the freebooter,
+in his native land of Cordova. It is not often that simony has found so
+good an apology. The deficiency, although never repaired by Giovio, was in
+some degree supplied by his biographies of eminent men, and, among others,
+by that of Gonsalvo de Cordova, in which he has collected with great
+industry all the events of any interest in the life of this great
+commander. The narrative is in general corroborated by the Spanish
+authorities, and contains some additional particulars, especially
+respecting his early life, which Giovio's personal intimacy with the
+principal characters of the period might easily have furnished.
+
+This portion of our story is, moreover, illustrated by the labors of M.
+Sismondi, in his "Républiques Italiennes," which may undoubtedly claim to
+be ranked among the most remarkable historical achievements of our time;
+whether we consider the dexterous management of the narrative, or the
+admirable spirit of philosophy by which it is illumined. It must be
+admitted, that he has perfectly succeeded in unravelling the intricate web
+of Italian politics; and, notwithstanding the complicated, and, indeed,
+motley character of his subject, the historian has left a uniform and
+harmonious impression on the mind of the reader. This he has accomplished,
+by keeping constantly in view the principle which regulated all the
+various movements of the complex machinery; so that his narrative becomes,
+what he terms it in his English abridgment, a history of Italian liberty.
+By keeping this principle steadily before him, he has been able to solve
+much that hitherto was dark and problematical in his subject; and if he
+has occasionally sacrificed something to theory, he has, on the whole,
+pursued the investigation in a truly philosophical manner, and arrived at
+results the most honorable and cheering to humanity.  Fortunately, his own
+mind was deeply penetrated with reverence for the free institutions which
+he has analyzed. If it is too much to say that the historian of republics
+should be himself a republican, it is at least true that his soul should
+be penetrated to its very depths with the spirit which animates them. No
+one, who is not smitten with the love of freedom, can furnish the key to
+much that is enigmatical in her character, and reconcile his readers to
+the harsh and repulsive features that she sometimes wears, by revealing
+the beauty and grandeur of the soul within.
+
+That portion of our narrative which is incorporated with Italian story is
+too small to occupy much space on Sismondi's plan. He has discussed it,
+moreover, in a manner not very favorable to the Spaniards, whom he seems
+to have regarded with somewhat of the aversion with which an Italian of
+the sixteenth century viewed the ultramontane barbarians of Europe.
+Perhaps the reader may find some advantage in contemplating another side
+of the picture, and studying the less familiar details presented by the
+Spanish authorities.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+[1] Comines, Mémoires, liv. 7, chap. 17.--Summonte, Hist. di Napoli, tom.
+iii. lib. 6, cap. 2.--Giannone, Istoria di Napoli, lib. 29, cap. 2.
+
+[2] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 140-143.
+
+[3] Summonte, Hist. di Napoli, tom. iii. lib. 6, cap. 2.
+
+According to Giannone, (Istoria di Napoli, lib. 29, cap. 2,) he did obtain
+the investiture from the pope; but this statement is contradicted by
+several, and confirmed by none, of the authorities I have consulted.
+
+[4] Brantôme, Hommes Illustres, Oeuvres, tom. ii. pp. 3-5.--Comines,
+Mémoires, liv. 8, chap. 2.
+
+The particulars of the coronation are recorded with punctilious precision
+by André de la Vigne, secretary of Queen Anne. (Hist. de Charles VIII., p.
+201.) Daru has confounded this farce with Charles's original entry into
+Naples in February. Hist. de Venise, tom. iii. liv. 20, p. 247.
+
+[5] Villeneuve, Mémoires, apud Petitot, Collection de Mémoires, tom. xiv.
+pp. 262, 263.--Flassan, Diplomatie Française, tom. i. pp. 267-269.--
+Comines, Mémoires, liv. 8, chap. 10-12, 18.
+
+[6] Comines, Mémoires, liv. 8, chap. 1.--Brantôme, Hommes Illustres, tom.
+ii. p. 59.
+
+[7] Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, lib. 2, cap. 7.--Giovio, Vita Magni
+Gonsalvi, lib. 1, pp. 204, 205.
+
+[8] Pulgar, Sumario de las Hazañas del Gran Capitan, (Madrid, 1834,) p.
+145.--Giovio, Vita Magni Gonsalvi, lib. 1, pp. 205 et seq.
+
+[9] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 90.--Giovio, Vita Magni Gonsalvi,
+lib. 1, pp. 211, 212.--Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap.
+42.--Quintana, Españoles Célebres, tom. i. pp. 207-216.--Pulgar, Sumario,
+p. 193.
+
+Florian has given circulation to a popular error by his romance of
+"Gonsalve de Cordone," where the young warrior is made to play a part he
+is by no means entitled to, as hero of the Granadine war. Graver writers,
+who cannot lawfully plead the privilege of romancing, have committed the
+same error. See, among others, Varillas, Politique de Ferdinand, p. 3.
+
+[10] Giovio, Vita Magni Gonsalvi, p. 214.--Chrónica del Gran Capitan
+Gonzalo Hernandez de Cordova y Aguilar, (Alcalá de Henares, 1584,) cap.
+23.
+
+Another example of his gallantry occurred during the Granadine war, when
+the fire of Santa Fe had consumed the royal tent, with the greater part of
+the queen's apparel and other valuable effects. Gonsalvo, on learning the
+disaster, at his castle of Illora, supplied the queen so abundantly from
+the magnificent wardrobe of his wife Doña Maria Manrique, as led Isabella
+pleasantly to remark, that, "the fire had done more execution in his
+quarters, than in her own." Pulgar, Sumario, p. 187.
+
+[11] Giovio, Vita Magni Gonsalvi, p. 214.--Chrónica del Gran Capitan, cap.
+23.
+
+[12] Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, lib. 2, cap. 7, 24.--Quintana,
+Españoles Célebres, tom. i. p. 222.--Chrónica del Gran Capitan, ubi supra.
+
+Giovio, in his biography of Gonsalvo, estimates these forces at 5000 foot
+and 600 horse, which last in his History he raises to 700. I have followed
+Zurita, as presenting the more probable statement, and as generally more
+accurate in all that relates to his own nation. It is a hopeless task to
+attempt to reconcile the manifold inaccuracies, contradictions, and
+discrepancies, which perplex the narratives of the writers on both sides,
+in everything relating to numerical estimates. The difficulty is greatly
+increased by the extremely vague application of the term _lance_, as
+we meet with it, including six, four, three, or even a less number of
+followers, as the case might be.
+
+[13] Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. lib. 26, cap. 10.--Zurita, Hist.
+del Rey Hernando, lib. 2, cap. 7.
+
+The occupation of these places by Gonsalvo excited the pope's jealousy, as
+to the designs of the Spanish sovereigns. In consequence of his
+remonstrances, the Castilian envoy, Garcilasso de la Vega, was instructed
+to direct Gonsalvo, that, "in case any inferior places had been since put
+into his hands, he should restore them; if they were of importance,
+however, he was first to confer with his own government." King Ferdinand,
+as Abarca assures his readers, "was unwilling to give cause of complaint
+to any one, _unless he were greatly a gainer by it_." Reyes de Aragon, rey
+30, cap. 8.--Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, tom. v. lib. 2, cap. 8.
+
+[14] Giovio, Vita Magni Gonsalvi, pp. 215-217.--Idem, Hist. sui Temporis,
+pp. 83-85.--Bembo, Istoria Viniziana, lib. 3, pp. 160, 185.--Zurita, Hist.
+del Rey Hernando, lib. 2, cap. 8.--Guicciardini, Istoria, lib. 2, pp. 88,
+92.--Chrónica del Gran Capitan, cap. 25.
+
+[15] Giovio, Vita Magni Gonsalvi, lib. 1.--Du Bos, Ligue de Cambray,
+introd., p. 58.
+
+[16] Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, lib. 2, cap. 7.--Giovio, Vita Magni
+Gonsalvi, ubi supra.
+
+[17] Giovio, Vita Magni Gonsalvi, lib. 1, pp. 216, 217.--Chrónica del Gran
+Capitan, cap. 24.--Quintana, Españoles Célebres, tom. i. pp. 223-227.
+
+[18] Giovio, Hist. sui Temporis, lib. 3, pp. 83-85.--Chrónica del Gran
+Capitan, cap. 24.--Summonte, Hist. di Napoli, tom. iii. lib. 6, cap. 2.--
+Guicciardini, Istoria, lib. 2, p. 112.--Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib.
+19, p. 690.
+
+[19] Guicciardini, Istoria, lib. 1, p. 112.--Giovio, Hist. sui Temporis,
+lib. 3, p. 85.--Lanuza, Historias, tom. i. lib. 1, cap. 7.
+
+[20] Summonte, Hist. di Napoli, tom. vi. p. 519.--Guicciardini, Istoria,
+lib. 2, pp. 113, 114.--Giovio, Hist. sui Temporis, lib. 3, pp. 87, 88.--
+Villeneuve, Mémoires, apud Petitot, Collection des Mémoires, tom. xiv. pp.
+264, 265.
+
+[21] Giovio, Hist. sui Temporis, lib. 3, pp. 88-90, 114-119.--
+Guicciardini, Istoria, lib, 2, pp. 114-117.--Summonte, Hist. di Napoli,
+tom. vi. pp. 520, 521.
+
+[22] Bembo, Istoria Viniziana, lib. 3, pp. 173, 174.--Chrónica del Gran
+Capitan, cap. 26.--Giovio, Vita Magni Gonsalvi, lib. 1, p. 218.--
+Villeneuve, Mémoires, p. 313.--Sismondi, Républiques Italiennes, tom. xii.
+p. 386.
+
+[23] Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, lib. 2, cap. 11, 20.--Guicciardini,
+Istoria, lib. 2, p. 140.--Giovio, Vita Magni Gonsalvi, lib. 1, pp. 219,
+220.--Chrónica del Gran Capitan, cap. 25, 26.
+
+[24] Guicciardini, Istoria, lib. 3, pp. 140, 157, 158.--Comines, Mémoires,
+liv. 8, chap. 23, 24.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 183.
+
+Du Bos discriminates between the character of the German levies or
+landsknechts and the Swiss, in the following terms. "Les lansquenets
+étoient même de beaucoup mieux faits, _généralement_ parlant, et de
+bien meilleure mine sous les armes, que les fantassins Suisses; mais ils
+étoient incapables de discipline. Au contraire des Suisses, ils étoient
+sans obéissance pour leur chefs, et sans amitié pours leurs camarades."
+(Ligue de Cambray, tom. i. dissert. prélim., p. 66.) Comines confirms the
+distinction with a high tribute to the loyalty of the Swiss, which has
+continued their honorable characteristic to the present day. Mémoires,
+liv. 8, chap. 21.
+
+[25] Giovio, Vita Magni Gonsalvi, lib. 1, pp. 218, 219.--Chrónica del Gran
+Capitan, cap. 28.--Quintana, Españoles Célebres, tom. i. p. 226.--Bembo,
+Istoria Viniziana, lib. 3, p. 184.--Guicciardini, Istoria, lib. 3, p. 158.
+
+[26] Giovio, Vita Magni Gonsalvi, pp. 219, 220.--Chrónica del Gran
+Capitan, cap. 27.--Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, tom. i. lib. 2, cap.
+26.--Quintana, Españoles Célebres, tom. i. pp. 227, 228.--Guicciardini,
+Istoria, lib. 3, pp. 158, 159.--Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. lib.
+26, cap. 12.
+
+[27] Giovio, Hist. del Rey Hernando, lib. 4, p. 132.
+
+[28] Quintana, Españoles Célebres, tom. i. p. 228.--Giovio, Vita Magni
+Gonsalvi, lib. 1, p. 220.
+
+The Aragonese historians are much ruffled by the irreverent manner in
+which Guicciardini notices the origin of the cognomen of the Great
+Captain; which even his subsequent panegyric cannot atone for. "Era
+capitano Gonsalvo Ernandes, di casa d'Aghilar, di patria Cordovese, uomo
+di molto valore, ed esercitato lungamente nelle guerre di Granata, il
+quale nel principio della venuta sua in Italia, cognominato _dalla
+jattanza Spagnuola_ il Gran Capitano, per significare con questo titolo
+la suprema podestà sopra loro, meritò per le preclare vittorie che ebbe
+dipoi, che per consentimento universale gli fosse confermato e perpetuate
+questo sopranome, per significazione di virtù grande, e di grande
+eccellenza nella disciplina militare." (Istoria, tom. i. p. 112.)
+According to Zurita, the title was not conferred till the Spanish
+general's appearance before Atella, and the first example of its formal
+recognition was in the instrument of capitulation at that place. (Hist.
+del Rey Hernando, lib. 2, cap. 27.) This seems to derive support from the
+fact that Gonsalvo's biographer and contemporary, Giovio, begins to
+distinguish him by that epithet from this period. Abarca assigns a higher
+antiquity to it, quoting the words of the royal grant of the duchy of
+Sessa, made to Gonsalvo, as authority. (Reyes de Aragon, rey 39, cap. 9.)
+In a former edition, I intimated my doubt of the historian's accuracy. A
+subsequent inspection of the instrument itself, in a work since come into
+my possession, shows this distrust to have been well founded; for it is
+there simply said, that the title was conferred in Italy. Pulgar, Sumario,
+p. 188.
+
+[29] This was improving on the somewhat similar expedient ascribed by
+Polybius to King Pyrrhus, who mingled alternate cohorts, armed with short
+weapons after the Roman fashion, with those of his Macedonian spearmen.
+Lib. 17 sec. 24.
+
+[30] Giovio, Hist. sui Temporis, lib. 4, p. 133.--Idem, Vita Magni
+Gonsalvi, pp. 220, 221.--Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, lib. 2, cap. 27.
+--Chrónica del Gran Capitan, cap. 28.--Quintana, Españoles Célebres, tom.
+i. p. 229.--Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, rey 30, cap. 9.
+
+[31] Villeneuve, Mémoires, p. 318.--Comines, Mémoires, liv. 8, chap. 21.--
+Giovio, Hist. sui Temporis, lib. 4, p. 136.
+
+[32] Comines, Mémoires, liv. 8, chap. 21.
+
+[33] Giovio, Hist. sui Temporis, p. 137.--Comines, Mémoires, liv. 8, chap.
+21.--Giovio, Vita Magni Gonsalvi, lib. 1, p. 221.--Guicciardini, Istoria,
+lib. 3, p. 160.--Villeneuve, Mémoires, apud Petitot, tom. xiv. p. 318.
+
+[34] Giannone, Istoria di Napoli, lib. 29, cap. 2.--Summonte, Hist. di
+Napoli, lib. 6, cap. 2.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 188.
+
+While stretched on his death-bed, Ferdinand, according to Bembo, caused
+the head of his prisoner, the Bishop of Teano, to be brought to him, and
+laid at the foot of his couch, that he might be assured with his own eyes
+of the execution of the sentence. Istoria Viniziana, lib. 3, p. 189.
+
+[35] Giovio, Hist. sui Temporis, lib, 4, p. 139.--Zurita, Hist. del Rey
+Hernando, lib. 2, cap. 30, 33.--Guicciardini, Istoria, lib. 3, p. 160.--
+Giannone, Istoria di Napoli, tom. iii. lib. 29, cap. 3.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+ITALIAN WARS.--GONSALVO SUCCORS THE POPE.--TREATY WITH FRANCE.--
+ORGANIZATION OF THE SPANISH MILITIA.
+
+1496-1498.
+
+Gonsalvo Succors the Pope.--Storms Ostia.--Reception in Rome.--Peace with
+France.--Ferdinand's Reputation advanced by his Conduct in the War.--
+Organization of the Militia.
+
+
+It had been arranged by the treaty of Venice, that while the allies were
+carrying on the war in Naples, the emperor elect and the king of Spain
+should make a diversion in their favor, by invading the French frontiers.
+Ferdinand had performed his part of the engagement. Ever since the
+beginning of the war, he had maintained a large force along the borders
+from Fontarabia to Perpignan. In 1496, the regular army kept in pay
+amounted to ten thousand horse and fifteen thousand foot; which, together
+with the Sicilian armament, necessarily involved an expenditure
+exceedingly heavy under the financial pressure occasioned by the Moorish
+war. The command of the levies in Roussillon was given to Don Enrique
+Enriquez de Guzman, who, far from acting on the defensive, carried his men
+repeatedly over the border, sweeping off fifteen or twenty thousand head
+of cattle in a single foray, and ravaging the country as far as Carcassona
+and Narbonne. [1] had concentrated a considerable force in the south,
+retaliated by similar inroads, in one of which they succeeded in
+surprising the fortified town of Salsas. The works, however, were in so
+dilapidated a state, that the place was scarcely tenable, and it was
+abandoned on the approach of the Spanish army. A truce soon followed,
+which put an end to further operations in that quarter. [2]
+
+The submission of Calabria seemed to leave no further occupation for the
+arms of the Great Captain in Italy. Before quitting that country, however,
+he engaged in an adventure, which, as narrated by his biographers, forms a
+brilliant episode to his regular campaigns. Ostia, the seaport of Rome,
+was, among the places in the papal territory, forcibly occupied by Charles
+the Eighth, and on his retreat had been left to a French garrison under
+the command of a Biscayan adventurer named Menaldo Guerri. The place was
+so situated as entirely to command the mouth of the Tiber, enabling the
+piratical horde who garrisoned it almost wholly to destroy the commerce of
+Rome, and even to reduce the city to great distress for want of
+provisions. The imbecile government, incapable of defending itself,
+implored Gonsalvo's aid in dislodging this nest of formidable freebooters.
+The Spanish general, who was now at leisure, complied with the pontiff's
+solicitations, and soon after presented himself before Ostia with his
+little corps of troops, amounting in all to three hundred horse and
+fifteen hundred foot. [3]
+
+Guerri, trusting to the strength of his defences, refused to surrender.
+Gonsalvo, after coolly preparing his batteries, opened a heavy cannonade
+on the place, which at the end of five days effected a practicable breach
+in the walls. In the mean time, Garcilasso de la Vega, the Castilian
+ambassador at the papal court, who could not bear to remain inactive so
+near the field where laurels were to be won, arrived to Gonsalvo's
+support, with a handful of his own countrymen resident in Rome. This
+gallant little band, scaling the walls on the opposite side to that
+assailed by Gonsalvo, effected an entrance into the town, while the
+garrison was occupied with maintaining the breach against the main body of
+the Spaniards. Thus surprised, and hemmed in on both sides, Guerri and his
+associates made no further resistance, but surrendered themselves
+prisoners of war; and Gonsalvo, with more clemency than was usually shown
+on such occasions, stopped the carnage, and reserved his captives to grace
+his entry into the capital. [4]
+
+This was made a few days after, with all the pomp of a Roman triumph. The
+Spanish general entered by the gate of Ostia, at the head of his martial
+squadrons in battle array, with colors flying and music playing, while the
+rear was brought up by the captive chief and his confederates, so long the
+terror, now the derision, of the populace. The balconies and windows were
+crowded with spectators, and the streets, lined with multitudes, who
+shouted forth the name of Gonsalvo de Cordova, the "deliverer of Rome!"
+The procession took its way through the principal streets of the city
+towards the Vatican, where Alexander the Sixth awaited its approach,
+seated under a canopy of state in the chief saloon of the palace,
+surrounded by his great ecclesiastics and nobility. On Gonsalvo's
+entrance, the cardinals rose to receive him. The Spanish general knelt
+down to receive the benediction of the pope; but the latter, raising him
+up, kissed him on the forehead, and complimented him with the golden rose,
+which the Holy See was accustomed to dispense as the reward of its most
+devoted champions.
+
+In the conversation which ensued, Gonsalvo obtained the pardon of Guerri
+and his associates, and an exemption from taxes for the oppressed
+inhabitants of Ostia. In a subsequent part of the discourse, the pope
+taking occasion most inopportunely to accuse the Spanish sovereigns of
+unfavorable dispositions towards himself, Gonsalvo replied with much
+warmth, enumerating the various good offices rendered by them to the
+church; and, roundly taxing the pope with ingratitude, somewhat bluntly
+advised him to reform his life and conversation, which brought scandal on
+all Christendom. His Holiness testified no indignation at this unsavory
+rebuke of the Great Captain, though, as the historians with some
+simplicity inform us, he was greatly surprised to find the latter so
+fluent in discourse, and so well instructed in matters foreign to his
+profession. [5]
+
+Gonsalvo experienced the most honorable reception from King Frederic on
+his return to Naples. During his continuance there, he was lodged and
+sumptuously entertained in one of the royal fortresses; and the grateful
+monarch requited his services with the title of Duke of St. Angelo, and an
+estate in Abruzzo, containing three thousand vassals. He had before
+pressed these honors on the victor, who declined accepting them till he
+had obtained the consent of his own sovereigns. Soon after, Gonsalvo,
+quitting Naples, revisited Sicily, where he adjusted certain differences
+which had arisen betwixt the viceroy and the inhabitants respecting the
+revenues of the island. Then embarking with his whole force, he reached
+the shores of Spain in the month of August, 1498. His return to his native
+land was greeted with a general enthusiasm far more grateful to his
+patriotic heart, than any homage or honors conferred by foreign princes.
+Isabella welcomed him with pride and satisfaction, as having fully
+vindicated her preference of him to his more experienced rivals for the
+difficult post of Italy; and Ferdinand did not hesitate to declare, that
+the Calabrian campaigns reflected more lustre on his crown, than the
+conquest of Granada. [6]
+
+The total expulsion of the French from Naples brought hostilities between
+that nation and Spain to a close. The latter had gained her point, and the
+former had little heart to resume so disastrous an enterprise. Before this
+event, indeed, overtures had been made by the French court for a separate
+treaty with Spain. The latter, however, was unwilling to enter into any
+compact, without the participation of her allies. After the total
+abandonment of the French enterprise, there seemed to exist no further
+pretext for prolonging the war. The Spanish government, moreover, had
+little cause for satisfaction with its confederates. The emperor had not
+co-operated in the descent on the enemy's frontier, according to
+agreement; nor had the allies ever reimbursed Spain for the heavy charges
+incurred in fulfilling her part of the engagements. The Venetians were
+taken up with securing to themselves as much of the Neapolitan territory
+as they could, by way of indemnification for their own expenses. [7] The
+duke of Milan had already made a separate treaty with King Charles. In
+short, every member of the league, after the first alarm subsided, had
+shown itself ready to sacrifice the common weal to its own private ends.
+With these causes of disgust, the Spanish government consented to a truce
+with France, to begin for itself on the 5th of March, and, for the allies,
+if they chose to be included in it, seven weeks later, and to continue
+till the end of October, 1497. This truce was subsequently prolonged, and,
+after the death of Charles the Eighth, terminated in a definitive treaty
+of peace, signed at Marcoussi, August 5th, 1498. [8]
+
+In the discussions to which these arrangements gave rise, the project is
+said to have been broached for the conquest and division of the kingdom of
+Naples by the combined powers of France and Spain, which was carried into
+effect some years later. According to Comines, the proposition originated
+with the Spanish court, although it saw fit, in a subsequent period of the
+negotiations, to disavow the fact. [9] The Spanish writers, on the other
+hand, impute the first suggestion of it to the French, who, they say, went
+so far as to specify the details of the partition subsequently adopted,
+according to which the two Calabrias were assigned to Spain. However this
+may be, there is little doubt that Ferdinand had long since entertained
+the idea of asserting his claim, at some time or other, to the crown of
+Naples. He, as well as his father, and indeed the whole nation, had beheld
+with dissatisfaction the transfer of what they deemed their rightful
+inheritance, purchased by the blood and treasure of Aragon, to an
+illegitimate branch of the family. The accession of Frederic, in
+particular, who came to the throne with the support of the Angevin party,
+the old enemies of Aragon, had given great umbrage to the Spanish monarch.
+
+The Castilian envoy, Garcilasso de la Vega, agreeably to the instructions
+of his court, urged Alexander the Sixth to withhold the investiture of the
+kingdom from Frederic, but unavailingly, as the pope's interests were too
+closely connected, by marriage, with those of the royal family of Naples.
+Under these circumstances, it was somewhat doubtful what course Gonsalvo
+should be directed to pursue in the present exigency. That prudent
+commander, however, found the new monarch too strong in the affections of
+his people to be disturbed at present. All that now remained for
+Ferdinand, therefore, was to rest contented with the possession of the
+strong posts pledged for the reimbursement of his expenses in the war, and
+to make such use of the correspondence which the late campaigns had opened
+to him in Calabria, that, when the time arrived for action, he might act
+with effect. [10]
+
+Ferdinand's conduct through the whole of the Italian war had greatly
+enhanced his reputation throughout Europe for sagacity and prudence. It
+afforded a most advantageous comparison with that of his rival, Charles
+the Eighth, whose very first act had been the surrender of so important a
+territory as Roussillon. The construction of the treaty relating to this,
+indeed, laid the Spanish monarch open to the imputation of artifice. But
+this, at least, did no violence to the political maxims of the age and
+only made him regarded as the more shrewd and subtile diplomatist; while,
+on the other hand, he appeared before the world in the imposing attitude
+of the defender of the church, and of the rights of his injured kinsman.
+His influence had been clearly discernible in every operation of moment,
+whether civil or military. He had been most active, through his
+ambassadors at Genoa, Venice, and Rome, in stirring up the great Italian
+confederacy, which eventually broke the power of King Charles; and his
+representations had tended, as much as any other cause, to alarm the
+jealousy of Sforza, to fix the vacillating politics of Alexander, and to
+quicken the cautious and dilatory movements of Venice. He had shown equal
+vigor in action; and contributed mainly to the success of the war by his
+operations on the side of Roussillon, and still more in Calabria. On the
+latter, indeed, he had not lavished any extraordinary expenditure; a
+circumstance partly attributable to the state of his finances, severely
+taxed, as already noticed, by the Granadine war, as well as by the
+operations in Roussillon, but in part, also, to his habitual frugality,
+which, with a very different spirit from that of his illustrious consort,
+always stinted the measure of his supplies to the bare exigency of the
+occasion. Fortunately, the genius of the Great Captain was so fruitful in
+resources, as to supply every deficiency; enabling him to accomplish such
+brilliant results, as effectually concealed any poverty of preparation on
+the part of his master.
+
+The Italian wars were of signal importance to the Spanish nation. Until
+that time, they had been cooped up within the narrow limits of the
+Peninsula, uninstructed and taking little interest in the concerns of the
+rest of Europe. A new world was now opened to them. They were taught to
+measure their own strength by collision with other powers on a common
+scene of action; and, success inspiring them with greater confidence,
+seemed to beckon them on towards the field, where they were destined to
+achieve still more splendid triumphs.
+
+This war afforded them also a most useful lesson of tactics. The war of
+Granada had insensibly trained up a hardy militia, patient and capable of
+every privation and fatigue, and brought under strict subordination. This
+was a great advance beyond the independent and disorderly habits of the
+feudal service. A most valuable corps of light troops had been formed,
+schooled in all the wild, irregular movements of guerilla warfare. But the
+nation was still defective in that steady, well-disciplined infantry,
+which, in the improved condition of military science, seemed destined to
+decide the fate of battles in Europe thenceforward.
+
+The Calabrian campaigns, which were suited in some degree to the display
+of their own tactics, fortunately gave the Spaniards opportunity for
+studying at leisure those of their adversaries. The lesson was not lost.
+Before the end of the war important innovations were made in the
+discipline and arms of the Spanish soldier. The Swiss pike, or lance,
+which, as has been already noticed, Gonsalvo de Cordova had mingled with
+the short sword of his own legions, now became the regular weapon of one-
+third of the infantry. The division of the various corps in the cavalry
+and infantry services was arranged on more scientific principles, and the
+whole, in short, completely reorganized. [11]
+
+Before the end of the war, preparations were made for embodying a national
+militia, which should take the place of the ancient hermandad. Laws were
+passed regulating the equipment of every individual according to his
+property. A man's arms were declared not liable for debt, even to the
+crown; and smiths and other artificers were restricted, under severe
+penalties, from working them up into other articles. [12] In 1496, a
+census was taken of all persons capable of bearing arms; and by an
+ordinance, dated at Valladolid, February 22d, in the same year, it was
+provided that one out of every twelve inhabitants, between twenty and
+forty-five years of age, should be enlisted in the service of the state,
+whether for foreign war, or the suppression of disorders at home. The
+remaining eleven were liable to be called on in case of urgent necessity.
+These recruits were to be paid during actual service, and excused from
+taxes; the only legal exempts were the clergy, hidalgos, and paupers. A
+general review and inspection of arms were to take place every year, in
+the months of March and September, when prizes were to be awarded to those
+best accoutred, and most expert in the use of their weapons. Such were the
+judicious regulations by which every citizen, without being withdrawn from
+his regular occupation, was gradually trained up for the national defence;
+and which, without the oppressive incumbrance of a numerous standing army,
+placed the whole effective force of the country, prompt and fit for
+action, at the disposal of the government, whenever the public good should
+call for it. [13]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+[1] Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, lib. 2, cap. 12-14; 16, 24.
+
+Giovio says, in allusion to King Ferdinand's show of preparation on the
+frontier, "Ferdinandus, maximè cautus et pecuniae tenax, speciem ingentis
+coacti exercitus ad deterrendos hostes praebere, quam bellum gerere
+mallet, quum id sine ingenti pecunià administrari non posse intelligeret."
+Hist. sui Temporis, p. 140.
+
+[2] Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, lib. 2, cap. 35, 36.--Abarca, Reyes de
+Aragon, rey 30, cap. 9.--Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 19, cap. 5.--
+Comines, Mémoires, liv. 8, chap. 23.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist.
+169.
+
+[3] Giovio, Vita Magni Gonsalvi, lib. 1, p. 221.--Chrónica del Gran
+Capitan, cap. 30.--Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, lib. 3, cap. 1.--
+Villeneuve, Mémoires, p. 317.
+
+[4] Giovio, Vita Magni Gonsalvi, p. 222.--Quintana, Españoles Célebres,
+tom. i. p. 234.
+
+[5] Giovio, Vita Magni Gonsalvi, p. 222.--Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando,
+lib. 3, cap. 1.--Guicciardini, Istoria, lib. 3, p. 175.--Chrónica del Gran
+Capitan, cap. 30.
+
+[6] Giovio, Vita Magni Gonsalvi, p. 223.--Chrónica del Gran Capitan, cap.
+31, 32.--Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, lib. 3, cap. 38.
+
+[7] Comines says, with some _naïveté_, in reference to the places in
+Naples which the Venetians had got into their possession, "Je croy que
+leur intention n'est point de les rendre; car ils ne l'ont point de
+coustume quand elles leur sont bienséantes comme sont cellescy, qui sont
+du costé de leur goufre de Venise." Mémoires, p. 194.
+
+[8] Guicciardini, Istoria, lib. 3, p. 178.--Zurita, Hist. del Rey
+Hernando, lib. 2, cap. 44; lib. 3, cap. 13, 19, 21, 26.--Comines,
+Mémoires, liv. 8, chap. 23.
+
+[9] Comines gives some curious details respecting the French embassy,
+which he considers to have been completely outwitted by the superior
+management of the Spanish government; who intended nothing further at this
+time by the proposal of a division, than to amuse the French court until
+the fate of Naples should be decided. Mémoires, liv. 8, chap. 23.
+
+[10] Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, lib. 2, cap. 26, 33.--Mariana, Hist.
+de España, lib. 26, cap. 16.--Salazar de Mendoza, Monarquía, tom. i. lib.
+3, cap. 10.
+
+[11] Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 6.--Zurita, Hist. del Rey
+Hernando, lib. 3, cap. 6.
+
+The ancient Spaniards, who were as noted as the modern for the temper and
+finish of their blades, used short swords, in the management of which they
+were very adroit. "Hispano," says Livy, "punctim magis, quam caesim,
+adsueto petere hostem, brevitate habiles [gladii] et cum macronibus."
+(Hist., lib. 22, cap. 47.) Sandoval notices the short sword, "cortas
+espadas," as the peculiar weapon of the Spanish soldier in the twelfth
+century. Historia de los Reyes de Castilla y de Leon, (Madrid, 1792,) tom.
+ii. p. 240.
+
+[12] Pragmáticas del Reyno, fol. 83, 127, 129.
+
+The former of these ordinances, dated Taraçona, Sept. 18th, 1495, is
+extremely precise in specifying the appointments required for each
+individual.
+
+Among other improvements, introduced somewhat earlier, may be mentioned
+that of organizing and thoroughly training a small corps of heavy-armed
+cavalry, amounting to twenty-five hundred. The number of men-at-arms had
+been greatly reduced in the kingdom of late years, in consequence of the
+exclusive demand for the _ginetes_ in the Moorish war. Oviedo,
+Quincuagenas, MS.
+
+Ordinances were also passed for encouraging the breed of horses, which had
+suffered greatly from the preference very generally given by the Spaniards
+to mules. This had been carried to such a length, that, while it was
+nearly impossible, according to Bernaldez, to mount ten or twelve thousand
+cavalry on horses, ten times that number could be provided with mules.
+(Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 184.) "E porque si a esto se diesse lugar,"
+says one of the _pragmáticas_, adverting to this evil, "muy prestamente se
+perderia en nuestros reynos la nobleza de la cauellería que en ellos suele
+auer, e se oluidaria el exercicio militar de que en los tiempos passados
+nuestra nacion de España ha alcançado gran fama e loor;" it was ordered
+that no person in the kingdom should be allowed to keep a mule, unless he
+owned a horse also; and that none but ecclesiastics and women should be
+allowed the use of mules in the saddle. These edicts were enforced with
+the utmost rigor, the king himself setting the example of conformity to
+them. By these seasonable precautions, the breed of Spanish horses, so
+long noted throughout Europe, was restored to its ancient credit, and the
+mule consigned to the humble and appropriate offices of drudgery, or
+raised only for exportation. For these and similar provisions, see
+Pragmáticas del Reyno, fol. 127-132.
+
+Matéo Aleman's whimsical _picaresco_ novel, Guzman d'Alfarache, contains a
+comic adventure, showing the excessive rigor with which the edict against
+mules was enforced, as late as the close of Philip II.'s reign. The
+passage is extracted in Roscoe's elegant version of the Spanish Novelists,
+Vol. I. p. 132.
+
+[13] See a copy of the ordinance taken from the Archives of Simancas; apud
+Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. apend. 13.
+
+When Francis I, who was destined to feel the effects of this careful
+military discipline, beheld, during his detention in Spain in the
+beginning of the following century, striplings with scarce down upon the
+chin, all armed with swords at their sides, he is said to have cried out,
+"O bienaventurada España, que pare y eria los hombres armados!" (L.
+Marineo, Cosas Memorables, lib. 5.) An exclamation not unworthy of a
+Napoleon,--or an Attila.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+ALLIANCES OF THE ROYAL FAMILY.--DEATH OF PRINCE JOHN AND PRINCESS
+ISABELLA.
+
+Royal Family of Castile.--Matrimonial Alliances with Portugal.--With
+Austria.--Marriage of John and Margaret.--Death of Prince John.--The
+Queen's Resignation.--Independence of the Cortes of Aragon.--Death of the
+Princess Isabella.--Recognition of her Infant Son Miguel.
+
+
+The credit and authority which the Castilian sovereigns established by the
+success of their arms, were greatly raised by the matrimonial connections
+which they formed for their children. This was too important a spring of
+their policy to be passed over in silence. Their family consisted of one
+son and four daughters, whom they carefully educated in a manner befitting
+their high rank; and who repaid their solicitude by exemplary filial
+obedience, and the early manifestation of virtues rare even in a private
+station. [1] They seem to have inherited many of the qualities which
+distinguished their illustrious mother; great decorum and dignity of
+manners, combined with ardent sensibilities, and unaffected piety, which,
+at least in the eldest and favorite daughter, Isabella, was, unhappily,
+strongly tinctured with bigotry. They could not, indeed, pretend to their
+mother's comprehensive mind, and talent for business, although there seems
+to have been no deficiency in these respects; or, if any, it was most
+effectually supplied by their excellent education. [2]
+
+The marriage of the princess Isabella with Alonso, the heir of the
+Portuguese crown, in 1490, has been already noticed. This had been eagerly
+desired by her parents, not only for the possible contingency, which it
+afforded, of bringing the various monarchies of the Peninsula under one
+head, (a design of which they never wholly lost sight,) but from the wish
+to conciliate a formidable neighbor, who possessed various means of
+annoyance, which he had shown no reluctance to exert. The reigning
+monarch, John the Second, a bold and crafty prince, had never forgotten
+his ancient quarrel with the Spanish sovereigns in support of their rival
+Joanna Beltraneja, or Joanna the Nun, as she was generally called in the
+Castilian court after she had taken the veil. John, in open contempt of
+the treaty of Alcantara, and indeed of all monastic rule, had not only
+removed his relative from the convent of Santa Clara, but had permitted
+her to assume a royal state, and subscribe herself "I the Queen." This
+empty insult he accompanied with more serious efforts to form such a
+foreign alliance for the liberated princess as should secure her the
+support of some arm more powerful than his own, and enable her to renew
+the struggle for her inheritance with better chance of success. [3] These
+flagrant proceedings had provoked the admonitions of the Roman see, and
+had formed the topic, as may be believed, of repeated, though ineffectual
+remonstrance from the court of Castile. [4]
+
+It seemed probable that the union of the princess of the Asturias with the
+heir of Portugal, as originally provided by the treaty of Alcantara, would
+so far identify the interests of the respective parties as to remove all
+further cause of disquietude. The new bride was received in Portugal in a
+spirit which gave cordial assurance of these friendly relations for the
+future; and the court of Lisbon celebrated the auspicious nuptials with
+the gorgeous magnificence, for which, at this period of its successful
+enterprise, it was distinguished above every other court in Christendom.
+[5]
+
+Alonso's death, a few months after this event, however, blighted the fair
+hopes which had begun to open of a more friendly feeling between the two
+countries. His unfortunate widow, unable to endure the scenes of her
+short-lived happiness, soon withdrew into her own country to seek such
+consolation as she could find in the bosom of her family. There,
+abandoning herself to the melancholy regrets to which her serious and
+pensive temper naturally disposed her, she devoted her hours to works of
+piety and benevolence, resolved to enter no more into engagements, which
+had thrown so dark a cloud over the morning of her life. [6]
+
+On King John's death, in 1495, the crown of Portugal devolved on Emanuel,
+that enlightened monarch, who had the glory in the very commencement of
+his reign of solving the grand problem, which had so long perplexed the
+world, of the existence of an undiscovered passage to the east. This
+prince had conceived a passion for the young and beautiful Isabella during
+her brief residence in Lisbon; and, soon after his accession to the
+throne, he despatched an embassy to the Spanish court inviting her to
+share it with him. But the princess, wedded to the memory of her early
+love, declined the proposals, notwithstanding they were strongly seconded
+by the wishes of her parents, who, however, were unwilling to constrain
+their daughter's inclinations on so delicate a point, trusting perhaps to
+the effects of time, and the perseverance of her royal suitor. [7]
+
+In the mean while, the Catholic sovereigns were occupied with negotiations
+for the settlement of the other members of their family. The ambitious
+schemes of Charles the Eighth established a community of interests among
+the great European states, such as had never before existed, or, at least,
+been understood; and the intimate relations thus introduced naturally led
+to intermarriages between the principal powers, who, until this period,
+seem to have been severed almost as far asunder as if oceans had rolled
+between them. The Spanish monarchs, in particular, had rarely gone beyond
+the limits of the Peninsula for their family alliances. The new
+confederacy into which Spain had entered, now opened the way to more
+remote connections, which were destined to exercise a permanent influence
+on the future politics of Europe. It was while Charles the Eighth was
+wasting his time at Naples, that the marriages were arranged between the
+royal houses of Spain and Austria, by which the weight of these great
+powers was thrown into the same scale, and the balance of Europe unsettled
+for the greater part of the following century. [8]
+
+The treaty provided, that Prince John, the heir of the Spanish monarchies,
+then in his eighteenth year, should be united with the princess Margaret,
+daughter of the emperor Maximilian; and that the archduke Philip, his son
+and heir, and sovereign of the Low Countries in his mother's right, should
+marry Joanna, second daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella. No dowry was to
+be required with either princess. [9]
+
+In the course of the following year, arrangements were also concluded for
+the marriage of the youngest daughter of the Castilian sovereigns with a
+prince of the royal house of England, the first example of the kind for
+more than a century. [10] Ferdinand had cultivated the good-will of Henry
+the Seventh, in the hope of drawing him into the confederacy against the
+French monarch; and in this had not wholly failed, although the wary king
+seems to have come into it rather as a silent partner, if we may so say,
+than with the intention of affording any open or very active co-operation.
+[11] The relations of amity between the two courts were still further
+strengthened by the treaty of marriage above alluded to, finally adjusted
+October 1st, 1496, and ratified the following year, between Arthur, prince
+of Wales, and the infanta Doña Catalina, conspicuous in English history,
+equally for her misfortunes and her virtues, as Catharine of Aragon. [12]
+The French viewed with no little jealousy the progress of these various
+negotiations, which they zealously endeavored to thwart by all the
+artifices of diplomacy. But King Ferdinand had sufficient address to
+secure in his interests persons of the highest credit at the courts of
+Henry and Maximilian, who promptly acquainted him with the intrigues of
+the French government, and effectually aided in counteracting them. [13]
+
+The English connection was necessarily deferred for some years, on account
+of the youth of the parties, neither of whom exceeded eleven years of age.
+No such impediment occurred in regard to the German alliances, and
+measures were taken at once for providing a suitable conveyance for the
+infanta Joanna into Flanders, which should bring back the princess
+Margaret on its return. By the end of summer, in 1496, a fleet consisting
+of one hundred and thirty vessels, large and small, strongly manned and
+thoroughly equipped with all the means of defence against the French
+cruisers, was got ready for sea in the ports of Guipuscoa and Biscay. [14]
+The whole was placed under the direction of Don Fadrique Enriquez, admiral
+of Castile, who carried with him a splendid show of chivalry, chiefly
+drawn from the northern provinces of the kingdom. A more gallant and
+beautiful armada never before quitted the shores of Spain. The infanta
+Joanna, attended by a numerous suite, arrived on board the fleet towards
+the end of August, at the port of Laredo, on the eastern borders of the
+Asturias, where she took a last farewell of the queen her mother, who had
+postponed the hour of separation as long as possible, by accompanying her
+daughter to the place of embarkation.
+
+The weather soon after her departure became extremely rough and
+tempestuous; and it was so long before any tidings of the squadron reached
+the queen, that her affectionate heart was filled with the most
+distressing apprehensions. She sent for the oldest and most experienced
+navigators in these boisterous northern seas, consulting them, says
+Martyr, day and night on the probable causes of delay, the prevalent
+courses of the winds at that season, and the various difficulties and
+dangers of the voyage; bitterly regretting that the troubles with France
+prevented any other means of communication, than the treacherous element
+to which she had trusted her daughter. [15] Her spirits were still further
+depressed at this juncture by the death of her own mother, the dowager
+Isabella, who, under the mental infirmity with which she had been visited
+for many years, had always experienced the most devoted attention from her
+daughter, who ministered to her necessities with her own hands, and
+watched over her declining years with the most tender solicitude.[16]
+
+At length, the long-desired intelligence came of the arrival of the
+Castilian fleet at its place of destination. It had been so grievously
+shattered, however, by tempests, as to require being refitted in the ports
+of England. Several of the vessels were lost, and many of Joanna's
+attendants perished from the inclemency of the weather, and the numerous
+hardships to which they were exposed. The infanta, however, happily
+reached Flanders in safety, and, not long after, her nuptials with the
+archduke Philip were celebrated in the city of Lisle with all suitable
+pomp and solemnity.
+
+The fleet was detained until the ensuing winter, to transport the destined
+bride of the young prince of the Asturias to Spain. This lady, who had
+been affianced in her cradle to Charles the Eighth of France, had received
+her education in the court of Paris. On her intended husband's marriage
+with the heiress of Brittany, she had been returned to her native land
+under circumstances of indignity never to be forgiven by the house of
+Austria. She was now in the seventeenth year of her age, and had already
+given ample promise of those uncommon powers of mind which distinguished
+her in riper years, and of which she has left abundant evidence in various
+written compositions. [17]
+
+On her passage to Spain, in midwinter, the fleet encountered such
+tremendous gales, that part of it was ship-wrecked, and Margaret's vessel
+had wellnigh foundered. She retained, however, sufficient composure amidst
+the perils of her situation, to indite her own epitaph, in the form of a
+pleasant distich, which Pontenelle has made the subject of one of his
+amusing dialogues, where he affects to consider the fortitude displayed by
+her at this awful moment as surpassing that of the philosophic Adrian in
+his dying hour, or the vaunted heroism of Cato of Utica. [18]
+
+Fortunately, however, Margaret's epitaph was not needed; she arrived in
+safety at the port of Santander in the Asturias, early in March, 1497.
+
+The young prince of the Asturias, accompanied by the king his father,
+hastened towards the north to receive his royal mistress, whom they met
+and escorted to Burgos, where she was received with the highest marks of
+satisfaction by the queen and the whole court. Preparations were instantly
+made for solemnizing the nuptials of the royal pair, after the expiration
+of Lent, in a style of magnificence such as had never before been
+witnessed under the present reign. The marriage ceremony took place on the
+3d of April, and was performed by the archbishop of Toledo in the presence
+of the grandees and principal nobility of Castile, the foreign
+ambassadors, and the delegates from Aragon. Among these latter were the
+magistrates of the principal cities, clothed in their municipal insignia
+and crimson robes of office, who seem to have had quite as important parts
+assigned them by their democratic communities, in this and all similar
+pageants, as any of the nobility or gentry. The nuptials were followed by
+a brilliant succession of fetes, tourneys, tilts of reeds, and other
+warlike spectacles, in which the matchless chivalry of Spain poured into
+the lists to display their magnificence and prowess in the presence of
+their future queen. [19] The chronicles of the day remark on the striking
+contrast, exhibited at these entertainments, between the gay and familiar
+manners of Margaret and her Flemish nobles, and the pomp and stately
+ceremonial of the Castilian court, to which, indeed, the Austrian
+princess, nurtured as she had been in a Parisian atmosphere, could never
+be wholly reconciled. [20]
+
+The marriage of the heir apparent could not have been celebrated at a more
+auspicious period. It was in the midst of negotiations for a general
+peace, when the nation might reasonably hope to taste the sweets of
+repose, after so many uninterrupted years of war. Every bosom swelled with
+exultation in contemplating the glorious destinies of their country under
+the beneficent sway of a prince, the first heir of the hitherto divided
+monarchies of Spain. Alas! at the moment when Ferdinand and Isabella,
+blessed in the affections of their people, and surrounded by all the
+trophies of a glorious reign, seemed to have reached the very zenith of
+human felicity, they were doomed to receive one of those mournful lessons,
+which admonish us that all earthly prosperity is but a dream. [21]
+
+Not long after Prince John's marriage, the sovereigns had the satisfaction
+to witness that of their daughter Isabella, who, notwithstanding her
+repugnance to a second union, had yielded at length to the urgent
+entreaties of her parents to receive the addresses of her Portuguese
+lover. She required as the price of this, however, that Emanuel should
+first banish the Jews from his dominions, where they had bribed a resting-
+place since their expulsion from Spain; a circumstance to which the
+superstitious princess imputed the misfortunes which had fallen of late on
+the royal house of Portugal. Emanuel, whose own liberal mind revolted at
+this unjust and impolitic measure, was weak enough to allow his passion to
+get the better of his principles, and passed sentence of exile on every
+Israelite in his kingdom; furnishing, perhaps, the only example, in which
+love has been made one of the thousand motives for persecuting this
+unhappy race. [22]
+
+The marriage, ushered in under such ill-omened auspices, was celebrated at
+the frontier town of Valencia de Alcantara, in the presence of the
+Catholic sovereigns, without pomp or parade of any kind. While they were
+detained there, an express arrived from Salamanca, bringing tidings of the
+dangerous illness of their son, the prince of the Asturias. He had been
+seized with a fever in the midst of the public rejoicings to which his
+arrival with his youthful bride in that city had given rise. The symptoms
+speedily assumed an alarming character. The prince's constitution,
+naturally delicate, though strengthened by a life of habitual temperance,
+sunk under the violence of the attack; and when his father, who posted
+with all possible expedition to Salamanca, arrived there, no hopes were
+entertained of his recovery. [23]
+
+Ferdinand, however, endeavored to cheer his son with hopes which he did
+not feel himself; but the young prince told him that it was too late to be
+deceived; that he was prepared to part with a world, which in its best
+estate was filled with vanity and vexation; and that all he now desired
+was, that his parents might feel the same sincere resignation to the
+divine will, which he experienced himself. Ferdinand gathered new
+fortitude from the example of his heroic son, whose presages were
+unhappily too soon verified. He expired on the 4th of October, 1497, in
+the twentieth year of his age, in the same spirit of Christian philosophy
+which he had displayed during his whole illness. [24]
+
+Ferdinand, apprehensive of the effect which the abrupt intelligence of
+this calamity might have on the queen, caused letters to be sent at brief
+intervals, containing accounts of the gradual decline of the prince's
+health, so as to prepare her for the inevitable stroke. Isabella, however,
+who through all her long career of prosperous fortune may be said to have
+kept her heart in constant training for the dark hour of adversity,
+received the fatal tidings in a spirit of meek and humble acquiescence,
+testifying her resignation in the beautiful language of Scripture, "The
+Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be his name!" [25]
+
+"Thus," says Martyr, who had the melancholy satisfaction of rendering the
+last sad offices to his royal pupil, "was laid low the hope of all Spain."
+"Never was there a death," says another chronicler, "which occasioned such
+deep and general lamentation throughout the land." All the unavailing
+honors which affection could devise were paid to his memory. His funeral
+obsequies were celebrated with melancholy splendor, and his remains
+deposited in the noble Dominican monastery of St. Thomas at Avila, which
+had been erected by his parents. The court put on a new and deeper
+mourning than that hitherto used, as if to testify their unwonted grief.
+[26] All offices, public and private, were closed for forty days; and
+sable-colored banners were suspended from the walls and portals of the
+cities. Such extraordinary tokens of public sorrow bear strong testimony
+to the interest felt in the young prince, independently of his exalted
+station; similar, and perhaps more unequivocal evidence of his worth, is
+afforded by abundance of contemporary notices, not merely in works
+designed for the public, but in private correspondence. The learned
+Martyr, in particular, whose situation, as Prince John's preceptor,
+afforded him the best opportunities of observation, is unbounded in
+commendations of his royal pupil, whose extraordinary promise of
+intellectual and moral excellence had furnished him with the happiest,
+alas! delusive auguries, for the future destiny of his country. [27]
+
+By the death of John without heirs, the succession devolved on his eldest
+sister, the queen of Portugal. [28] Intelligence, however, was received
+soon after that event, that the archduke Philip, with the restless
+ambition which distinguished him in later life, had assumed for himself
+and his wife Joanna the title of "princes of Castile." Ferdinand and
+Isabella, disgusted with this proceeding, sent to request the attendance
+of the king and queen of Portugal in Castile, in order to secure a
+recognition of their rights by the national legislature. The royal pair,
+accordingly, in obedience to the summons, quitted their capital of Lisbon,
+early in the spring of 1498. In their progress through the country, they
+were magnificently entertained at the castles of the great Castilian
+lords, and towards the close of April reached the ancient city of Toledo,
+where the cortes had been convened to receive them. [29]
+
+After the usual oaths of recognition had been tendered, without
+opposition, by the different branches to the Portuguese princes, the court
+adjourned to Saragossa, where the legislature of Aragon was assembled for
+a similar purpose.
+
+Some apprehensions were entertained, however, of the unfavorable
+disposition of that body, since the succession of females was not
+countenanced by the ancient usage of the country; and the Aragonese, as
+Martyr remarks in one of his Epistles, "were well known to be a
+pertinacious race, who would leave no stone unturned, in the maintenance
+of their constitutional rights." [30]
+
+These apprehensions were fully realized; for, no sooner was the object of
+the present meeting laid before cortes in a speech from the throne, with
+which parliamentary business in Aragon was always opened, than decided
+opposition was manifested to a proceeding, which it was declared had no
+precedent in their history. The succession of the crown, it was contended,
+had been limited by repeated testaments of their princes to male heirs,
+and practice and public sentiment had so far coincided with this, that the
+attempted violation of the rule by Peter the Fourth, in favor of his own
+daughters, had plunged the nation in a civil war. It was further urged
+that by the will of the very last monarch, John the Second, it was
+provided that the crown should descend to the male issue of his son
+Ferdinand, and in default of such to the male issue of Ferdinand's
+daughters, to the entire exclusion of the females. At all events, it was
+better to postpone the consideration of this matter until the result of
+the queen of Portugal's pregnancy, then far advanced, should be
+ascertained; since, should it prove to be a son, all doubts of
+constitutional validity would be removed.
+
+In answer to these objections, it was stated, that no express law existed
+in Aragon excluding females from the succession; that an example had
+already occurred, as far back indeed as the twelfth century, of a queen
+who held the crown in her own right; that the acknowledged power of
+females to transmit the right of succession necessarily inferred that
+right existing in themselves; that the present monarch had doubtless as
+competent authority as his predecessors to regulate the law of
+inheritance, and that his act, supported by the supreme authority of
+cortes, might set aside any former disposition of the crown; that this
+interference was called for by the present opportunity of maintaining the
+permanent union of Castile and Aragon; without which they must otherwise
+return to their ancient divided state, and comparative insignificance.
+[31]
+
+These arguments, however cogent, were far from being conclusive with the
+opposite party; and the debate was protracted to such length, that
+Isabella, impatient of an opposition to what the practice in her own
+dominions had taught her to regard as the inalienable right of her
+daughter, inconsiderately exclaimed, "It would be better to reduce the
+country by arms at once, than endure this insolence of the cortes." To
+which Antonio de Fonseca, the same cavalier who spoke his mind so
+fearlessly to King Charles the Eighth, on his march to Naples, had the
+independence to reply, "That the Aragonese had only acted as good and
+loyal subjects, who, as they were accustomed to mind their oaths,
+considered well before they took them; and that they must certainly stand
+excused if they moved with caution in an affair, which they found so
+difficult to justify by precedent in their history." [32] This blunt
+expostulation of the honest courtier, equally creditable to the sovereign
+who could endure, and the subject who could make it, was received in the
+frank spirit in which it was given, and probably opened Isabella's eyes to
+her own precipitancy, as we find no further allusion to coercive measures.
+
+Before anything was determined, the discussion was suddenly brought to a
+close by an unforeseen and most melancholy event,--the death of the queen
+of Portugal, the unfortunate subject of it. That princess had possessed a
+feeble constitution from her birth, with a strong tendency to pulmonary
+complaints. She had early felt a presentiment that she should not survive
+the birth of her child; this feeling strengthened as she approached the
+period of her delivery; and in less than one hour after that event, which
+took place on the 23d of August, 1498, she expired in the arms of her
+afflicted parents. [33]
+
+This blow was almost too much for the unhappy mother, whose spirits had
+not yet had time to rally, since the death of her only son. She, indeed,
+exhibited the outward marks of composure, testifying the entire
+resignation of one who had learned to rest her hopes of happiness on a
+better world. She schooled herself so far, as to continue to take an
+interest in all her public duties, and to watch over the common weal with
+the same maternal solicitude as before; but her health gradually sunk
+under this accumulated load of sorrow, which threw a deep shade of
+melancholy over the evening of her life.
+
+The infant, whose birth had cost so dear, proved a male, and received the
+name of Miguel, in honor of the saint on whose day he first saw the light.
+In order to dissipate, in some degree, the general gloom occasioned by the
+late catastrophe, it was thought best to exhibit the young prince before
+the eyes of his future subjects; and he was accordingly borne in the arms
+of his nurse, in a magnificent litter, through the streets of the city,
+escorted by the principal nobility. Measures were then taken for obtaining
+the sanction of his legitimate claims to the crown. Whatever doubts had
+been entertained of the validity of the mother's title, there could be
+none whatever of the child's; since those who denied the right of females
+to inherit for themselves, admitted their power of conveying such a right
+to male issue. As a preliminary step to the public recognition of the
+prince, it was necessary to name a guardian, who should be empowered to
+make the requisite engagements, and to act in his behalf. The Justice of
+Aragon, in his official capacity, after due examination, appointed the
+grandparents, Ferdinand and Isabella, to the office of guardians during
+his minority, which would expire by law at the age of fourteen. [34]
+
+On Saturday, the 22d of September, when the queen had sufficiently
+recovered from a severe illness brought on by her late sufferings, the
+four _arms_ of the cortes of Aragon assembled in the house of deputation
+at Saragossa; and Ferdinand and Isabella made oath as guardians of the
+heir apparent, before the Justice, not to exercise any jurisdiction
+whatever in the name of the young prince during his minority; engaging,
+moreover, as far as in their power, that, on his coming of age, he should
+swear to respect the laws and liberties of the realm, before entering on
+any of the rights of sovereignty himself. The four estates then took the
+oath of fealty to Prince Miguel, as lawful heir and successor to the crown
+of Aragon; with the protestation, that it should not be construed into a
+precedent for exacting such an oath hereafter during the minority of the
+heir apparent. With such watchful attention to constitutional forms of
+procedure, did the people of Aragon endeavor to secure their liberties;
+forms, which continued to be observed in later times, long after those
+liberties had been swept away. [35]
+
+In the month of January, of the ensuing year, the young prince's
+succession was duly confirmed by the cortes of Castile, and, in the
+following March, by that of Portugal. Thus, for once, the crowns of the
+three monarchies of Castile, Aragon, and Portugal were suspended over one
+head. The Portuguese, retaining the bitterness of ancient rivalry, looked
+with distrust at the prospect of a union, fearing, with some reason, that
+the importance of the lesser state would be wholly merged in that of the
+greater. But the untimely death of the destined heir of these honors,
+which took place before he had completed his second year, removed the
+causes of jealousy, and defeated the only chance, which had ever occurred,
+of bringing under the same rule three independent nations, which, from
+their common origin, their geographical position, and, above all, their
+resemblance in manners, sentiments, and language, would seem to have
+originally been intended to form but one. [36]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+[1] The princess Doña Isabel, the eldest daughter, was born at Dueñas,
+October 1st, 1470. Their second child and only son, Juan, prince of the
+Asturias, was not born until eight years later, June 30th, 1478, at
+Seville. Doña Juana, whom the queen used playfully to call her "mother-in-
+law," _suegra_, from her resemblance to King Ferdinand's mother, was
+born at Toledo, November 6th, 1479. Doña Maria was born at Cordova, in
+1482, and Doña Catalina, the fifth and last child, at Alcalá de Henares,
+December 5th, 1485. The daughters all lived to reign; but their brilliant
+destinies were clouded with domestic afflictions, from which royalty could
+afford no refuge. Carbajal, Anales, MS., loc. mult.
+
+[2] The only exception to these remarks, was that afforded by the infanta
+Joanna, whose unfortunate eccentricities, developed in later life, must be
+imputed, indeed, to bodily infirmity.
+
+[3] Nine different matches were proposed for Joanna in the course of her
+life; but they all vanished into air, and the "excellent lady," as she was
+usually called by the Portuguese, died as she had lived, in single
+blessedness, at the ripe age of sixty-eight. In the Mem. de la Acad. de
+Hist., tom. vi., the 19th Ilustracion is devoted to this topic, in regard
+to which Father Florez shows sufficient ignorance, or inaccuracy. Reynas
+Cathólicas, tom. ii. p. 780.
+
+[4] Instructions relating to this matter, written with the queen's own
+hand, still exist in the archives of Simancas. Mem. de la Acad. de Hist.,
+ubi supra.
+
+[5] La Clède, Histoire de Portugal, tom. iv. p. 100.
+
+The Portuguese historian, Faria y Sousa, expends half a dozen folio pages
+on these royal revelries, which cost six months' preparation, and taxed
+the wits of the most finished artists and artificers in France, England,
+Flanders, Castile, and Portugal. (Europa Portuguesa, tom. ii. pp. 452 et
+seq.) We see, throughout, the same luxury of spectacle, the same elegant
+games of chivalry, as the tilt of reeds, the rings, and the like, which
+the Castilians adopted from the Spanish Arabs.
+
+[6] Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, tom. v. fol. 38.--Abarca, Reyes de
+Aragon, tom. ii. fol. 312.
+
+[7] Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, tom. v. fol. 78, 82.--La Clède, Hist.
+de Portugal, tom. iv. p. 95.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 146.
+
+Martyr, in a letter written at the close of 1496, thus speaks of the
+princess Isabella's faithful attachment to her husband's memory; "Mira
+fuit hujus foeminae in abjiciendis secundis nuptiis constantia. Tanta est
+ejus modestia, tanta vidualis castitas, ut neo mensa post mariti mortem
+comederit, nec lauti quicquam degustaverit. Jejuniis sese vigiliisque ita
+maceravit, ut sicco stipite siccior sit effecta. Suffulta rubore
+perturbatur, quandocunque de jugali thalamo sermo intexitur. Parentum
+tamen aliquando precibus, veluti olfacimus, inflectetur. Viget fama,
+futuram vestri regis Emmanuelis uxorem." Epist. 171.
+
+[8] Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, tom. v. fol. 63.
+
+[9] Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, tom. v. lib. 2, cap. 5.--Ferreras,
+Hist. d'Espagne, tom. viii. p. 160.
+
+[10] I believe there is no instance of such a union, save that of John of
+Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, with Doña Constanza, daughter of Peter the
+Cruel, in 1371, from whom Queen Isabella was lineally descended on the
+father's side. The title of _Prince of the Asturias_, appropriated to
+the heir apparent of Castile, was first created for the infant Don Henry,
+afterwards Henry III., on occasion of his marriage with John of Gaunt's
+daughter, in 1388. It was professedly in imitation of the English title of
+Prince of Wales; and the Asturias were selected as that portion of the
+ancient Gothic monarchy, which had never bowed beneath the Saracen yoke.
+Florez, Reynas Cathólicas, tom. ii. pp. 708-715.--Mendoza, Dignidades,
+lib. 3, cap. 23.
+
+[11] Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, lib. 2, cap. 25.--Rymer, Foedera,
+(London, 1727,) vol. xii. pp. 638-642.
+
+Ferdinand used his good offices to mediate a peace between Henry VII. and
+the king of Scots; and it is a proof of the respect entertained for him by
+both these monarchs, that they agreed to refer their disputes to his
+arbitration. (Rymer, Foedera, vol. xii. p. 671.) "And so," says the old
+chronicler Hall, of the English prince, "beying confederate and alied by
+treatie and league with al his neighbors, he gratefied with his moost
+heartie thanks kyng Ferdinand and the quene his wife, to which woman none
+other was comparable in her tyme, for that they were the mediators,
+organes, and instrumentes by the which the truce was concluded betwene the
+Scottish kynge and him, and rewarded his ambassadoure moost liberally and
+bountefully." Chronicle, p. 483.
+
+[12] See the marriage treaty in Rymer. (Foedera, vol. xii. pp. 658-666.)
+The marriage had been arranged between the Spanish and English courts as
+far back as March, 1489, when the elder of the parties had not yet reached
+the fifth year of her age. This was confirmed by another, more full and
+definite, in the following year, 1490. By this treaty, it was stipulated,
+that Catharine's portion should be 200,000 gold crowns, one-half to be
+paid down at the date of her marriage, and the remainder in two equal
+payments in the course of the two years ensuing. The prince of Wales was
+to settle on her one-third of the revenues of the principality of Wales,
+the dukedom of Cornwall, and earldom of Chester. Rymer, Foedera, vol. xii.
+pp. 411-417.
+
+[13] "Procuro," says Zurita, "que se effectuassen los matrimonios de sus
+hijos, no solo con promesas, pero con dadivas que se hizieron a los
+privados de aquellos principes, que en ello entendian." Hist. del Rey
+Hernando, lib. 2, cap. 3.
+
+[14] Historians differ, as usual, as to the strength of this armament.
+Martyr makes it 110 vessels, and 10,000 soldiers, (Opus Epist., epist.
+168;) while Bernaldez carries the number to 130 sail, and 25,000 soldiers,
+(Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 153.) Ferreras adopts the latter estimate,
+(tom. viii. p. 173.) Martyr may have intended only the galleys and regular
+troops, while Bernaldez, more loosely, included vessels and seamen of
+every description. See also the royal ordinances, ap. Coleccion de
+Cédulas, (tom. i. nos. 79, 80, 82,) whose language implies a very large
+number, without specifying it.
+
+[15] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 172.--Carbajal, Anales, MS., año
+1496.--Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. lib. 26, cap. 12.
+
+[16] Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1496.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist.
+172.
+
+[17] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 174.--Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii.
+lib. 19, cap. 6.--Gaillard, Rivalité, tom. iii. pp. 416, 423.--Sandoval,
+Historia del Emperador Carlos V., (Amberes, 1681,) tom. i. p. 2.
+
+These, comprehending her verses, public addresses, and discourse on her
+own life, have been collected into a single volume, under the title of "La
+Couronne Margaritique," Lyons, 1549, by the French writer Jean la Maire de
+Belges, her faithful follower, but whose greatest glory it is, to have
+been the instructor of Clement Marot.
+
+[18] Fontenelle, Oeuvres, tom. i. dial. 4.
+
+  "Ci gist Margot, la gentil' damoiselle
+  Qu'a deux maris, et encore est pucelle."
+
+It must be allowed that Margaret's quiet nonchalance was much more suited
+to Fontenelle's habitual taste, than the imposing scene of Cato's death.
+Indeed, the French satirist was so averse to scenes of all kinds, that he
+has contrived to find a ridiculous side in this last act of the patriot
+Roman.
+
+[19] That these were not mere holiday sports, was proved by the melancholy
+death of Alonso de Cardenas, son of the comendador of Leon, who lost his
+life in a tourney. Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 2, dial. 1.
+
+[20] Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1497.--Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii.
+lib. 26, cap. 16.--Lanuza, Historias, lib. 1, cap. 8.--Abarca, Reyes de
+Aragon, tom. ii. fol. 330.
+
+"Y aunque," says the last author, "a la princessa se le dexaron todos sus
+criados, estilos, y entretenimientos, se la advirtio, que en las
+ceremonias no havia de tratar a las personas Reales, y Grandes con la
+familiaridad y llaneza de las casas de Austria, Borgoñia, y Francia, sino
+con la gravedad, y mesurada autoridad de los Reyes y naciones de España!"
+
+The sixth volume of the Spanish Academy of History contains an inventory,
+taken from the archives of Simancas, of the rich plate and jewels,
+presented to the princess Margaret on the day of her marriage. They are
+said to be "of such value and perfect workmanship, that the like was never
+before seen." (Ilust. 11, pp. 338-342.) Isabella had turned these baubles
+to good account in the war of Granada. She was too simple in her taste to
+attach much value to luxury of apparel.
+
+[21] It is precisely this period, or rather the whole period from 1493 to
+1497, which Oviedo selects as that of the greatest splendor and festivity
+at the court of the Catholic sovereigns. "El año de 1493, y uno ó dos
+despues, y aun hasta el de 1497 años fué cuando la corte de los Reyes
+Católicos Don Fernando é Doña Isabel de gloriosa memoria, mas alegres
+tiempos é mas regozijados, vino en su corte, é mas encumbrada andubo la
+gala é las fiestas é servicios de galanes é damas." Quincuagenas, MS.,
+bat. 1, quinc. 4, dial. 44.
+
+[22] Faria y Sousa, Europa Portuguesa, tom. ii. pp. 498, 499.--La Clède,
+Hist. de Portugal, tom. iv. p. 95.--Zurita, tom. v, lib. 3, cap. 6.--
+Lanuza, Historias, ubi supra.
+
+[23] Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1497.--Florez, Reynas Cathólicas, tom. ii.
+pp. 846, 848.--Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, tom. v. fol. 127, 128.--La
+Clède, Hist. de Portugal, tom. iv. p. 101.
+
+The physicians recommended a temporary separation of John from his young
+bride; a remedy, however, which the queen opposed from conscientious
+scruples somewhat singular. "Hortantur medici Reginam, hortatur et Rex, ut
+a principis latere Margaritam aliquando semoveat, interpellet. Inducias
+precantur. Protestantur periculum ex frequenti copulâ ephebo imminere;
+qualiter eum suxerit, quamve subtristis incedat, consideret iterum atque
+iterum monent; medullas laedi, stomachum hebetari se sentire Reginae
+renunciant. Intercidat, dum licet, obstetque principiis, instant. Nil
+proficiunt. Respondet Regina, homines non oportere, quos Deus jugali
+vinculo junxerit, separare." Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 176.
+
+[24] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 182.--L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables,
+fol. 182.--Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1497.--Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS.,
+dial. de Deza.
+
+Peter Martyr, in more of a classic than a Christian vein, refers Prince
+John's composure in his latter hours to his familiarity with the divine
+Aristotle. "Aetatem quae ferebat superabat; nec mirum tamen. Perlegerat
+namque divini Aristotelis pleraque volumina," etc. Ubi supra.
+
+[25] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 183.
+
+Martyr draws an affecting picture of the anguish of the bereaved parents,
+which betrayed itself in looks more eloquent than words. "Reges tantam
+dissimulare aerumnam nituntur; ast nos prostratum in internis ipsorum
+animum cernimus; oculos alter in faciem alterius crebro conjiciunt, in
+propatulo sedentes. Unde quid lateat proditur. Nimirum tamen, desinerent
+humanâ carne vestiti esse homines, essentque adamante duriores, nisi quid
+amiserint sentirent."
+
+[26] Blancas, Coronaciones de los Serenissimos Reyes de Aragon, (Zaragoza,
+1641,) lib. 3, cap. 18.--Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 19, cap. 6.--
+Sackcloth was substituted for the white serge, which till this time had
+been used as the mourning dress.
+
+[27] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 182.--Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii.
+lib. 19, cap. 6.--L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 182.--Blancas,
+Coronaciones, p. 248.
+
+It must be allowed to furnish no mean proof of the excellence of Prince
+John's heart, that it was not corrupted by the liberal doses of flattery
+with which his worthy tutor was in the habit of regaling him, from time to
+time. Take the beginning of one of Martyr's letters to his pupil, in the
+following modest strain. "Mirande in pueritiâ senex, salve. Quotquot tecum
+versantur homines, sive genere polleant, sive ad obsequium fortunae
+humiliores destinati ministri, te laudant, extollunt, admirantur." Opus
+Epist., epist. 98.
+
+[28] Hopes were entertained of a male heir at the time of John's death, as
+his widow was left pregnant; but these were frustrated by her being
+delivered of a still-born infant at the end of a few months. Margaret did
+not continue long in Spain. She experienced the most affectionate
+treatment from the king and queen, who made her an extremely liberal
+provision. (Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, tom. v. lib. 3, cap. 4.) But
+her Flemish followers could not reconcile themselves to the reserve and
+burdensome ceremonial of the Castilian court, so different from the free
+and jocund life to which they had been accustomed at home; and they
+prevailed on their mistress to return to her native land in the course of
+the year 1499. She was subsequently married to the duke of Savoy, who died
+without issue in less than three years, and Margaret passed the remainder
+of her life in widowhood, being appointed by her father, the emperor, to
+the government of the Netherlands, which she administered with ability.
+She died in 1530.
+
+[29] Marina has transcribed from the archives of Toledo the writ of
+summons to that city on this occasion. Teoría, tom. ii. p. 16.--Zurita,
+Hist. del Rey Hernando, tom. v. lib. 3, cap. 18.--Bernaldez, Reyes
+Católicos, MS., cap. 154.--La Clède, Hist. de Portugal, tom. iv. p. 101.--
+Carbajal, Anales. MS., año 1498.--Faria y Sousa, Europa Portuguesa, tom.
+ii. pp. 500, 501.
+
+The last writer expatiates with great satisfaction on the stately
+etiquette observed at the reception of the Portuguese monarchs and their
+suite by the Spanish sovereigns. "Queen Isabella," he says, "appeared
+leaning on the arm of her old favorite Gutierre de Cardenas, comendador of
+Leon, and of a Portuguese noble, Don Juan de Sousa. The latter took care
+to acquaint her with the rank and condition of each of his countrymen, as
+they were presented, in order that she might the better adjust the measure
+of condescension and courtesy due to each; a perilous obligation," he
+continues, "with all nations, but with the Portuguese most perilous!"
+
+[30] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 194.--Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom.
+ii. fol. 334.--Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. lib. 27, cap. 3.
+
+[31] Blancas, Commentarii, p. 273.--Idem, Coronaciones, lib. 1, cap. 18.--
+Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. lib. 27, cap. 3.--Zurita, Hist. del Rey
+Hernando, tom. v. fol. 55, 56.
+
+It is remarkable that the Aragonese should so readily have acquiesced in
+the right of females to convey a title to the crown which they could not
+enjoy themselves. This was precisely the principle on which Edward III.
+set up his claim to the throne of France, a principle too repugnant to the
+commonest rules of inheritance to obtain any countenance. The exclusion of
+females in Aragon could not pretend to be founded on any express law, as
+in France, but the practice, with the exception of a single example three
+centuries old, was quite as uniform.
+
+[32] Blancas, Coronaciones, lib. 3, cap. 18.--Zurita, Hist. del Rey
+Hernando, tom. v. lib. 3, cap. 30.
+
+It is a proof of the high esteem in which Isabella held this independent
+statesman, that we find his name mentioned in her testament among half a
+dozen others, whom she particularly recommended to her successors for
+their meritorious and loyal services. See the document in Dormer,
+Discursos Varios, p. 354.
+
+[33] Carbajal, Anales, MS., años 1470, 1498.--Florez, Reynas Cathólicas,
+tom. ii. pp. 846, 847.--Faria y Sousa, Europa Portuguesa, tom. ii. p. 504.
+
+[34] Blancas, Commentarii, pp. 510, 511.--Idem, Coronaciones, lib. 3, cap.
+19.--Gerónimo Martel, Forma de Celebrar Cortes en Aragon, (Zaragoza,
+1641,) cap. 44.--Alvaro Gomez, De Rebus Gestis a Francisco Ximenio
+Cisnerio, (Compluti, 1569,) fol. 28.--Lanuza, Historias, lib. 1, cap. 9.
+
+[35] Blancas, Coronaciones, ubi supra.--Idem, Commentarii, pp. 510, 511.
+
+The reverence of the Aragonese for their institutions is shown in their
+observance of the most insignificant ceremonies. A remarkable instance of
+this occurred in the year 1481, at Saragossa, when, the queen having been
+constituted _lieutenant general_ of the kingdom, and duly qualified
+to hold a cortes in the absence of the king her husband, who, by the
+ancient laws of the land, was required to preside over it in person, it
+was deemed necessary to obtain a formal act of the legislature, for
+opening the door for her admission. See Blancas, Modo de Proceder en
+Cortes de Aragon, (Zaragoza, 1641,) fol. 82, 83.
+
+[36] Faria y Sousa, Europa Portuguesa, tom. ii. pp. 504, 507.--Bernaldez,
+Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 154.--Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1499.--Zurita,
+Hist. del Rey Hernando, tom. v. lib. 3, cap. 33--Sandoval, Hist. del Emp.
+Carlos V., tom. i. p. 4.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+DEATH OF CARDINAL MENDOZA.--RISE OF XIMENES.--ECCLESIASTICAL REFORM.
+
+Death of Mendoza.--His Early Life and Character.--The Queen his Executor.
+--Origin of Ximenes.--He Enters the Franciscan Order.--His Ascetic Life.--
+Confessor to the Queen.--Made Archbishop of Toledo.--Austerity of his
+Life.--Reform of the Monastic Orders.--Insults Offered to the Queen.--She
+Consents to the Reform.
+
+
+In the beginning of 1495, the sovereigns lost their old and faithful
+minister, the grand cardinal of Spain, Don Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza. He
+was the fourth son of the celebrated marquis of Santillana, and was placed
+by his talents at the head of a family, every member of which must be
+allowed to have exhibited a rare union of public and private virtue. The
+cardinal reached the age of sixty-six, when his days were terminated after
+a long and painful illness, on the 11th of January, at his palace of
+Guadalaxara. [1]
+
+In the unhappy feuds between Henry the Fourth and his younger brother
+Alfonso, the cardinal had remained faithful to the former. But on the
+death of that monarch, he threw his whole weight, with that of his
+powerful family, into the scale of Isabella, whether influenced by a
+conviction of her superior claims, or her capacity for government. This
+was a most important acquisition to the royal cause; and Mendoza's
+consummate talents for business, recommended by the most agreeable
+address, secured him the confidence of both Ferdinand and Isabella, who
+had long been disgusted with the rash and arrogant bearing of their old
+minister, Carillo.
+
+On the death of that turbulent prelate, Mendoza succeeded to the
+archiepiscopal see of Toledo. His new situation naturally led to still
+more intimate relations with the sovereigns, who uniformly deferred to his
+experience, consulting him on all important matters, not merely of a
+public, but of a private nature. In short, he gained such ascendency in
+the cabinet, during a long ministry of more than twenty years, that he was
+pleasantly called by the courtiers the "third king of Spain." [2]
+
+The minister did not abuse the confidence so generously reposed in him. He
+called the attention of his royal mistress to objects most deserving it.
+His views were naturally grand and lofty; and, if he sometimes yielded to
+the fanatical impulse of the age, he never failed to support her heartily
+in every generous enterprise for the advancement of her people. When
+raised to the rank of primate of Spain, he indulged his natural
+inclination for pomp and magnificence. He filled his palace with pages,
+selected from the noblest families in the kingdom, whom he carefully
+educated. He maintained a numerous body of armed retainers, which, far
+from being a mere empty pageant, formed a most effective corps for public
+service on all requisite occasions. He dispensed the immense revenues of
+his bishopric with the same munificent hand which has so frequently
+distinguished the Spanish prelacy, encouraging learned men, and endowing
+public institutions. The most remarkable of these were the college of
+Santa Cruz at Valladolid, and the hospital of the same name for foundlings
+at Toledo, the erection of which, completed at his sole charge, consumed
+more than ten years each. [3]
+
+The cardinal, in his younger days, was occasionally seduced by those
+amorous propensities, in which the Spanish clergy freely indulged,
+contaminated, perhaps, by the example of their Mahometan neighbors. He
+left several children by his amours with two ladies of rank, from whom
+some of the best houses in the kingdom are descended. [4] A characteristic
+anecdote is recorded of him in relation to this matter. An ecclesiastic,
+who one day delivered a discourse in his presence, took occasion to advert
+to the laxity of the age, in general terms, indeed, but bearing too
+pertinent an application to the cardinal to be mistaken. The attendants of
+the latter boiled with indignation at the preacher's freedom, whom they
+determined to chastise for his presumption. They prudently, however,
+postponed this until they should see what effect the discourse had on
+their master. The cardinal, far from betraying any resentment, took no
+other notice of the preacher than to send him a dish of choice game, which
+had been served up at his own table, where he was entertaining a party of
+friends that day, accompanying it at the same time, by way of sauce, with
+a substantial donative of gold doblas; an act of Christian charity not at
+all to the taste of his own servants. It wrought its effects on the worthy
+divine, who at once saw the error of his ways, and, the next time he
+mounted the pulpit, took care to frame his discourse in such a manner as
+to counteract the former unfavorable impressions, to the entire
+satisfaction, if not edification, of his audience. "Now-a-days," says the
+honest biographer who reports the incident, himself a lineal descendant of
+the cardinal, "the preacher would not have escaped so easily. And with
+good reason; for the holy Gospel should be discreetly preached, 'cum grano
+salis,' that is to say, with the decorum and deference due to majesty and
+men of high estate." [5]
+
+When Cardinal Mendoza's illness assumed an alarming aspect, the court
+removed to the neighborhood of Guadalaxara, where he was confined. The
+king and queen, especially the latter, with the affectionate concern which
+she manifested for more than one of her faithful subjects, used to visit
+him in person, testifying her sympathy for his sufferings, and benefiting
+by the lights of the sagacious mind, which had so long helped to guide
+her. She still further showed her regard for her old minister by
+condescending to accept the office of his executor, which she punctually
+discharged, superintending the disposition of his effects according to his
+testament, [6] and particularly the erection of the stately hospital of
+Santa Cruz, before mentioned, not a stone of which was laid before his
+death. [7]
+
+In one of her interviews with the dying minister, the queen requested his
+advice respecting the nomination of his successor. The cardinal, in reply,
+earnestly cautioned her against raising any one of the principal nobility
+to this dignity, almost too exalted for any subject, and which, when
+combined with powerful family connections, would enable a man of factious
+disposition to defy the royal authority itself, as they had once bitter
+experience in the case of Archbishop Carillo. On being pressed to name the
+individual whom he thought best qualified, in every point of view, for the
+office, he is said to have recommended Fray Francisco Ximenez de Cisneros,
+a friar of the Franciscan order, and confessor of the queen. As this
+extraordinary personage exercised a more important control over the
+destinies of his country than any other subject, during the remainder of
+the present reign, it will be necessary to put the reader in possession of
+his history. [8]
+
+Ximenez de Cisneros, or Ximenes, as he is usually called, was born at the
+little town of Tordelaguna, in the year 1436, [9] of an ancient but
+decayed family. [10] He was early destined by his parents for the church,
+and, after studying grammar at Alcalá, was removed at fourteen to the
+university of Salamanca. Here he went through the regular course of
+instruction then pursued, devoting himself assiduously to the civil and
+canon law, and at the end of six years received the degree of bachelor in
+each of them, a circumstance at that time of rare occurrence. [11]
+
+Three years after quitting the university, the young bachelor removed by
+the advice of his parents to Rome, as affording a better field for
+ecclesiastical preferment than he could find at home. Here he seems to
+have attracted some notice by the diligence with which he devoted himself
+to his professional studies and employments. But still he was far from
+reaping the golden fruits presaged by his kindred; and at the expiration
+of six years he was suddenly recalled to his native country by the death
+of his father, who left his affairs in so embarrassed a condition, as to
+require his immediate presence. [12]
+
+Before his return, Ximenes obtained a papal bull, or _expectative_,
+preferring him to the first benefice of a specified value, which should
+become vacant in the see of Toledo. Several years elapsed before such a
+vacancy offered itself by the death of the archpriest of Uzeda; and
+Ximenes took possession of that living by virtue of the apostolic grant.
+
+This assumption of the papal court to dispose of the church livings at its
+own pleasure, had been long regarded by the Spaniards as a flagrant
+imposition; and Carillo, the archbishop of Toledo, in whose diocese the
+vacancy occurred, was not likely tamely to submit to it. He had, moreover,
+promised this very place to one of his own followers. He determined,
+accordingly, to compel Ximenes to surrender his pretensions in favor of
+the latter, and, finding argument ineffectual, resorted to force,
+confining him in the fortress of Uzeda, whence he was subsequently removed
+to the strong tower of Santorcaz, then used as a prison for contumacious
+ecclesiastics. But Carillo understood little of the temper of Ximenes,
+which was too inflexible to be broken by persecution. The archbishop in
+time became convinced of this, and was persuaded to release him, but not
+till after an imprisonment of more than six years. [13]
+
+Ximenes, thus restored to freedom, and placed in undisturbed possession of
+his benefice, was desirous of withdrawing from the jurisdiction of his
+vindictive superior; and not long after effected an exchange for the
+chaplainship of Siguenza. In this new situation he devoted himself with
+renewed ardor to his theological studies, occupying himself diligently,
+moreover, with Hebrew and Chaldee, his knowledge of which proved of no
+little use in the concoction of his famous Polyglot.
+
+Mendoza was at that time bishop of Siguenza. It was impossible that a man
+of his penetration should come in contact with a character like that of
+Ximenes, without discerning its extraordinary qualities. It was not long
+before he appointed him his vicar, with the administration of his diocese;
+in which situation he displayed such capacity for business, that the count
+of Cifuentes, on falling into the hands of the Moors, after the
+unfortunate affair of the Axarquia, confided to him the sole management of
+his vast estates during his captivity. [14]
+
+But these secular concerns grew more and more distasteful to Ximenes,
+whose naturally austere and contemplative disposition had been deepened,
+probably, by the melancholy incidents of his life, into stern religious
+enthusiasm. He determined, therefore, to break at once from the shackles
+which bound him to the world, and seek an asylum in some religious
+establishment, where he might devote himself unreservedly to the service
+of Heaven. He selected for this purpose the Observantines of the
+Franciscan order, the most rigid of the monastic societies. He resigned
+his various employments and benefices, with annual rents to the amount of
+two thousand ducats, and, in defiance of the arguments and entreaties of
+his friends, entered on his novitiate in the convent of San Juan de los
+Reyes, at Toledo; a superb pile then erecting by the Spanish sovereigns,
+in pursuance of a vow made during the war of Granada. [15]
+
+He distinguished his novitiate by practising every ingenious variety of
+mortification with which superstition has contrived to swell the
+inevitable catalogue of human sufferings. He slept on the ground, or on
+the hard floor, with a billet of wood for his pillow. He wore hair-cloth
+next his skin; and exercised himself with fasts, vigils, and stripes, to a
+degree scarcely surpassed by the fanatical founder of his order. At the
+end of the year, he regularly professed, adopting then for the first time
+the name of Francisco, in compliment to his patron saint, instead of that
+of Gonzalo, by which he had been baptized.
+
+No sooner had this taken place, than his reputation for sanctity, which
+his late course of life had diffused far and wide, attracted multitudes of
+all ages and conditions to his confessional; and he soon found himself
+absorbed in the same vortex of worldly passions and interests, from which
+he had been so anxious to escape. At his solicitation, therefore, he was
+permitted to transfer his abode to the convent of our Lady of Castañar, so
+called from a deep forest of chestnuts, in which it was embosomed. In the
+midst of these dark mountain solitudes, he built with his own hands a
+little hermitage or cabin, of dimensions barely sufficient to admit his
+entrance. Here he passed his days and nights in prayer, and in meditations
+on the sacred volume, sustaining life, like the ancient anchorites, on the
+green herbs and running waters. In this state of self-mortification, with
+a frame wasted by abstinence, and a mind exalted by spiritual
+contemplation, it is no wonder that he should have indulged in ecstasies
+and visions, until he fancied himself raised into communication with
+celestial intelligences. It is more wonderful that his understanding was
+not permanently impaired by these distempered fancies. This period of his
+life, however, seems to have been always regarded by him with peculiar
+satisfaction; for long after, as his biographer assures us, when reposing
+in lordly palaces, and surrounded by all the appliances of luxury, he
+looked back with fond regret on the hours which glided so peacefully in
+the hermitage of Castañar. [16]
+
+Fortunately, his superiors, choosing to change his place of residence
+according to custom, transferred him at the end of three years to the
+convent of Salzeda. Here he practised, indeed, similar austerities, but it
+was not long before his high reputation raised him to the post of guardian
+of the convent. This situation necessarily imposed on him the management
+of the institution; and thus the powers of his mind, so long wasted in
+unprofitable reverie, were again called into exercise for the benefit of
+others. An event which occurred some years later, in 1492, opened to him a
+still wider sphere of action.
+
+By the elevation of Talavera to the metropolitan see of Granada, the
+office of queen's confessor became vacant. Cardinal Mendoza, who was
+consulted on the choice of a successor, well knew the importance of
+selecting a man of the highest integrity and talent; since the queen's
+tenderness of conscience led her to take counsel of her confessor, not
+merely in regard to her own spiritual concerns, but all the great measures
+of her administration. He at once fixed his eye on Ximenes, of whom he had
+never lost sight, indeed, since his first acquaintance with him at
+Siguenza. He was far from approving his adoption of the monastic life, and
+had been heard to say, that "parts so extraordinary would not long be
+buried in the shades of a convent." He is said, also, to have predicted
+that Ximenes would one day succeed him in the chair of Toledo. A
+prediction, which its author contributed more than any other to verify.
+[17]
+
+He recommended Ximenes in such emphatic terms to the queen, as raised a
+strong desire in her to see and converse with him herself. An invitation
+was accordingly sent him from the cardinal to repair to the court at
+Valladolid, without intimating the real purpose of it. Ximenes obeyed the
+summons, and, after a short interview with his early patron, was
+conducted, as if without any previous arrangement, to the queen's
+apartment. On finding himself so unexpectedly in the royal presence, he
+betrayed none of the agitation or embarrassment to have been expected from
+the secluded inmate of a cloister, but exhibited a natural dignity of
+manners, with such discretion and fervent piety, in his replies to
+Isabella's various interrogatories, as confirmed the favorable
+prepossessions she had derived from the cardinal.
+
+Not many days after, Ximenes was invited to take charge of the queen's
+conscience. Far from appearing elated by this mark of royal favor, and the
+prospects of advancement which it opened, he seemed to view it with
+disquietude, as likely to interrupt the peaceful tenor of his religious
+duties; and he accepted it only with the understanding, that he should be
+allowed to conform in every respect to the obligations of his order, and
+to remain in his own monastery when his official functions did not require
+attendance at court. [18]
+
+Martyr, in more than one of his letters dated at this time, notices the
+impression made on the courtiers by the remarkable appearance of the new
+confessor, in whose wasted frame, and pallid, care-worn countenance, they
+seemed to behold one of the primitive anchorites from the deserts of Syria
+or Egypt. [19] The austerities and the blameless purity of Ximenes's life
+had given him a reputation for sanctity throughout Spain; [20] and Martyr
+indulges the regret, that a virtue, which had stood so many trials, should
+be exposed to the worst of all, in the seductive blandishments of a court.
+But Ximenes's heart had been steeled by too stern a discipline to be moved
+by the fascinations of pleasure, however it might be by those of ambition.
+
+Two years after this event, he was elected provincial of his order in
+Castile, which placed him at the head of its numerous religious
+establishments. In his frequent journeys for their inspection he travelled
+on foot, supporting himself by begging alms, conformably to the rules of
+his order. On his return he made a very unfavorable report to the queen of
+the condition of the various institutions, most of which he represented to
+have grievously relaxed in discipline and virtue. Contemporary accounts
+corroborate this unfavorable picture, and accuse the religious communities
+of both sexes throughout Spain, at this period, of wasting their hours,
+not merely in unprofitable sloth, but in luxury and licentiousness. The
+Franciscans, in particular, had so far swerved from the obligations of
+their institute, which interdicted the possession of property of any
+description, that they owned large estates in town and country, living in
+stately edifices, and in a style of prodigal expense not surpassed by any
+of the monastic orders. Those who indulged in this latitude were called
+_conventuals_, while the comparatively small number who put the strictest
+construction on the rule of their founder were denominated
+_observantines_, or brethren of the observance. Ximenes, it will be
+remembered, was one of the latter. [21]
+
+The Spanish sovereigns had long witnessed with deep regret the scandalous
+abuses which had crept into these ancient institutions, and had employed
+commissioners for investigating and reforming them, but ineffectually.
+Isabella now gladly availed herself of the assistance of her confessor in
+bringing them into a better state of discipline. In the course of the same
+year, 1494, she obtained a bull with full authority for this purpose from
+Alexander the Sixth, the execution of which she intrusted to Ximenes. The
+work of reform required all the energies of his powerful mind, backed by
+the royal authority. For, in addition to the obvious difficulty of
+persuading men to resign the good things of this world for a life of
+penance and mortification, there were other impediments, arising from the
+circumstance that the conventuals had been countenanced in their lax
+interpretation of the rules of their order by many of their own superiors,
+and even the popes themselves. They were besides sustained in their
+opposition by many of the great lords, who were apprehensive that the rich
+chapels and masses, which they or their ancestors had founded in the
+various monasteries, would be neglected by the observantines, whose
+scrupulous adherence to the vow of poverty excluded them from what, in
+church as well as state, is too often found the most cogent incentive to
+the performance of duty. [22]
+
+From these various causes, the work of reform went on slowly; but the
+untiring exertions of Ximenes gradually effected its adoption in many
+establishments; and, where fair means could not prevail, he sometimes
+resorted to force. The monks of one of the convents in Toledo, being
+ejected from their dwelling, in consequence of their pertinacious
+resistance, marched out in solemn procession, with the crucifix before
+them, chanting, at the same time, the psalm _De exitu Israel_, in
+token of their persecution. Isabella resorted to milder methods. She
+visited many of the nunneries in person, taking her needle or distaff with
+her, and endeavoring by her conversation and example to withdraw their
+inmates from the low and frivolous pleasures to which they were addicted.
+[23]
+
+While the reformation was thus silently going forward, the vacancy in the
+archbishopric of Toledo already noticed occurred by the death of the grand
+cardinal. Isabella deeply felt the responsibility of providing a suitable
+person to this dignity, the most considerable not merely in Spain, but
+probably in Christendom, after the papacy; and which, moreover, raised its
+possessor to eminent political rank, as high chancellor of Castile. [24]
+The right of nomination to benefices was vested in the queen by the
+original settlement of the crown. She had uniformly discharged this trust
+with the most conscientious impartiality, conferring the honors of the
+church on none but persons of approved piety and learning. [25] In the
+present instance, she was strongly solicited by Ferdinand, in favor of his
+natural son Alfonso, archbishop of Saragossa. But this prelate, although
+not devoid of talent, had neither the age nor experience, and still less
+the exemplary morals, demanded for this important station; and the queen
+mildly, but unhesitatingly, resisted all entreaty and expostulation of her
+husband on his behalf. [26]
+
+The post had always been filled by men of high family. The queen, loath to
+depart from this usage, notwithstanding the dying admonition of Mendoza,
+turned her eyes on various candidates before she determined in favor of
+her own confessor, whose character presented so rare a combination of
+talent and virtue, as amply compensated any deficiency of birth.
+
+As soon as the papal bull reached Castile, confirming the royal
+nomination, Isabella summoned Ximenes to her presence, and, delivering to
+him the parcel, requested him to open it before her. The confessor, who
+had no suspicion of their real purport, took the letters and devoutly
+pressed them to his lips; when his eye falling on the superscription, "To
+our venerable brother Francisco Ximenez de Cisneros, archbishop elect of
+Toledo," he changed color, and involuntarily dropped the packet from his
+hands, exclaiming, "There is some mistake in this; it cannot be intended
+for me;" and abruptly quitted the apartment.
+
+The queen, far from taking umbrage at this unceremonious proceeding,
+waited a while, until the first emotions of surprise should have subsided.
+Finding that he did not return, however, she despatched two of the
+grandees, who she thought would have the most influence with him, to seek
+him out and persuade him to accept the office. The nobles instantly
+repaired to his convent in Madrid, in which city the queen then kept her
+court. They found, however, that he had already left the place. Having
+ascertained his route, they mounted their horses, and, following as fast
+as possible, succeeded in overtaking him at three leagues' distance from
+the city, as he was travelling on foot at a rapid rate, though in the
+noontide heat, on his way to the Franciscan monastery at Ocana.
+
+After a brief expostulation with Ximenes on his abrupt departure, they
+prevailed on him to retrace his steps to Madrid; but, upon his arrival
+there, neither the arguments nor entreaties of his friends, backed as they
+were by the avowed wishes of his sovereign, could overcome his scruples,
+or induce him to accept an office, of which he professed himself unworthy.
+"He had hoped," he said, "to pass the remainder of his days in the quiet
+practice of his monastic duties; and it was too late now to call him into
+public life, and impose a charge of such heavy responsibility on him, for
+which he had neither capacity nor inclination." In this resolution he
+pertinaciously persisted for more than six months, until a second bull was
+obtained from the pope, commanding him no longer to decline an appointment
+which the church had seen fit to sanction. This left no further room for
+opposition, and Ximenes acquiesced, though with evident reluctance, in his
+advancement to the first dignity in the kingdom. [27]
+
+There seems to be no good ground for charging Ximenes with hypocrisy in
+this singular display of humility. The _nolo episcopal_, indeed, has
+passed into a proverb; but his refusal was too long and sturdily
+maintained to be reconciled with affectation or insincerity. He was,
+moreover, at this time, in the sixtieth year of his age, when ambition,
+though not extinguished, is usually chilled in the human heart. His habits
+had been long accommodated to the ascetic duties of the cloister, and his
+thoughts turned from the business of this world to that beyond the grave.
+However gratifying the distinguished honor conferred on him might be to
+his personal feelings, he might naturally hesitate to exchange the calm,
+sequestered way of life, to which he had voluntarily devoted himself, for
+the turmoil and vexations of the world.
+
+But, although Ximenes showed no craving for power, it must be confessed he
+was by no means diffident in the use of it. One of the very first acts of
+his administration is too characteristic to be omitted. The government of
+Cazorla, the most considerable place in the gift of the archbishop of
+Toledo, had been intrusted by the grand cardinal to his younger brother
+Don Pedro Hurtado de Mendoza. The friends of this nobleman applied to
+Ximenes to confirm the appointment, reminding him at the same time of his
+own obligations to the cardinal, and enforcing their petition by the
+recommendation which they had obtained from the queen. This was not the
+way to approach Ximenes, who was jealous of any improper influence over
+his own judgment, and, above all, of the too easy abuse of the royal
+favor. He was determined, in the outset, effectually to discourage all
+such applications; and he declared, that "the sovereigns might send him
+back to the cloister again, but that no personal considerations should
+ever operate with him in distributing the honors of the church." The
+applicants, nettled at this response, returned to the queen, complaining
+in the bitterest terms of the arrogance and ingratitude of the new
+primate. Isabella, however, evinced no symptoms of disapprobation, not
+altogether displeased, perhaps, with the honest independence of her
+minister; at any rate, she took no further notice of the affair. [28]
+
+Some time after, the archbishop encountered Mendoza in one of the avenues
+of the palace, and, as the latter was turning off to avoid the meeting, he
+saluted him with the title of adelantado of Cazorla. Mendoza stared with
+astonishment at the prelate, who repeated the salutation, assuring him,
+"that, now he was at full liberty to consult his own judgment, without the
+suspicion of any sinister influence, he was happy to restore him to a
+station, for which he had shown himself well qualified." It is scarcely
+necessary to say, that Ximenes was not importuned after this with
+solicitations for office. Indeed, all personal application he affected to
+regard as of itself sufficient ground for a denial, since it indicated
+"the want either of merit or of humility in the applicant." [29]
+
+After his elevation to the primacy, he retained the same simple and
+austere manners as before, dispensing his large revenues in public and
+private charities, but regulating his domestic expenditure with the
+severest economy, [30] until he was admonished by the Holy See to adopt a
+state more consonant with the dignity of his office, if he would not
+disparage it in popular estimation. In obedience to this, he so far
+changed his habits, as to display the usual magnificence of his
+predecessors, in all that met the public eye,--his general style of
+living, equipage, and the number and pomp of his retainers; but he relaxed
+nothing of his own personal mortifications. He maintained the same
+abstemious diet, amidst all the luxuries of his table. Under his robes of
+silk or costly furs he wore the coarse frock of St. Francis, which he used
+to mend with his own hands. He used no linen about his person or bed; and
+he slept on a miserable pallet like that used by the monks of his
+fraternity, and so contrived as to be concealed from observation under the
+luxurious couch in which he affected to repose. [31]
+
+As soon as Ximenes entered on the duties of his office, he bent all the
+energies of his mind to the consummation of the schemes of reform which
+his royal mistress, as well as himself, had so much at heart. His
+attention was particularly directed to the clergy of his diocese, who had
+widely departed from the rule of St. Augustine, by which they were bound.
+His attempts at reform, however, excited such a lively dissatisfaction in
+this reverend body, that they determined to send one of their own number
+to Rome, to prefer their complaints against the archbishop at the papal
+court. [32]
+
+The person selected for this delicate mission was a shrewd and intelligent
+canon by the name of Albornoz. It could not be conducted so privately as
+to escape the knowledge of Ximenes. He was no sooner acquainted with it,
+than he despatched an officer to the coast, with orders to arrest the
+emissary. In case he had already embarked, the officer was authorized to
+fit out a fast sailing vessel, so as to reach Italy, if possible, before
+him. He was at the same time fortified with despatches from the sovereigns
+to the Spanish minister, Garcilasso de la Vega, to be delivered
+immediately on his arrival.
+
+The affair turned out as had been foreseen. On arriving at the port, the
+officer found the bird had flown. He followed, however, without delay, and
+had the good fortune to reach Ostia several days before him. He forwarded
+his instructions at once to the Spanish minister, who in pursuance of them
+caused Albornoz to be arrested the moment he set foot on shore, and sent
+him back as a prisoner of state to Spain; where a close confinement for
+two and twenty mouths admonished the worthy canon of the inexpediency of
+thwarting the plans of Ximenes. [33]
+
+His attempts at innovation among the regular clergy of his own order were
+encountered with more serious opposition. The reform fell most heavily on
+the Franciscans, who were interdicted by their rules from holding
+property, whether as a community, or as individuals; while the members of
+other fraternities found some compensation for the surrender of their
+private fortunes, in the consequent augmentation of those of their
+fraternity. There was no one of the religious orders, therefore, in which
+the archbishop experienced such a dogged resistance to his plans, as in
+his own. More than a thousand friars, according to some accounts, quitted
+the country and passed over to Barbary, preferring rather to live with the
+infidel, than conform to the strict letter of their founder's rules. [34]
+
+One account represents the migration as being to Italy and other Christian
+countries, where the conventual order was protected; which would seem the
+most probable, though not the best authenticated, statement of the two.
+
+The difficulties of the reform were perhaps augmented by the mode in which
+it was conducted. Isabella, indeed, used all gentleness and persuasion;
+[35] but Ximenes carried measures with a high and inexorable hand. He was
+naturally of an austere and arbitrary temper, and the severe training
+which he had undergone made him less charitable for the lapses of others;
+especially of those, who, like himself, had voluntarily incurred the
+obligations of monastic rule. He was conscious of the rectitude of his
+intentions; and, as he identified his own interests with those of the
+church, he regarded all opposition to himself as an offence against
+religion, warranting the most peremptory exertion of power.
+
+The clamor raised against his proceedings became at length so alarming,
+that the general of the Franciscans, who resided at Rome, determined to
+anticipate the regular period of his visit to Castile for inspecting the
+affairs of the order. As he was himself a conventual, his prejudices were
+of course all enlisted against the measures of reform; and he came over
+fully resolved to compel Ximenes to abandon it altogether, or to
+undermine, if possible, his credit and influence at court. But this
+functionary had neither the talent nor temper requisite for so arduous an
+undertaking.
+
+He had not been long in Castile before he was convinced that all his own
+power, as head of the order, would be incompetent to protect it against
+the bold innovations of his provincial, while supported by royal
+authority. He demanded, therefore, an audience of the queen, in which he
+declared his sentiments with very little reserve. He expressed his
+astonishment that she should have selected an individual for the highest
+dignity in the church, who was destitute of nearly every qualification,
+even that of birth; whose sanctity was a mere cloak to cover his ambition;
+whose morose and melancholy temper made him an enemy not only of the
+elegances, but the common courtesies of life; and whose rude manners were
+not compensated by any tincture of liberal learning. He deplored the
+magnitude of the evil, which his intemperate measures had brought on the
+church, but which it was, perhaps, not yet too late to rectify; and he
+concluded by admonishing her, that, if she valued her own fame, or the
+interests of her soul, she would compel this man of yesterday to abdicate
+the office, for which he had proved himself so incompetent, and return to
+his original obscurity!
+
+The queen, who listened to this violent harangue with an indignation, that
+prompted her more than once to order the speaker from her presence, put a
+restraint on her feelings, and patiently waited to the end. When he had
+finished, she calmly asked him, "If he was in his senses, and knew whom he
+was thus addressing?" "Yes," replied the enraged friar, "I am in my
+senses, and know very well whom I am speaking to;--the queen of Castile, a
+mere handful of dust, like myself!" With these words, he rushed out of the
+apartment, shutting the door after him with furious violence. [36]
+
+Such impotent bursts of passion could, of course, have no power to turn
+the queen from her purpose. The general, however, on his return to Italy,
+had sufficient address to obtain authority from His Holiness to send a
+commission of conventuals to Castile, who should be associated with
+Ximenes in the management of the reform. These individuals soon found
+themselves mere ciphers; and, highly offended at the little account which
+the archbishop made of their authority, they preferred such complaints of
+his proceedings to the pontifical court, that Alexander the Sixth was
+induced, with the advice of the college of cardinals, to issue a brief,
+November 9th, 1496, peremptorily inhibiting the sovereigns from proceeding
+further in the affair, until it had been regularly submitted for
+examination to the head of the church. [37]
+
+Isabella, on receiving this unwelcome mandate, instantly sent it to
+Ximenes. The spirit of the latter, however, rose in proportion to the
+obstacles it had to encounter. He sought only to rally the queen's
+courage, beseeching her not to faint in the good work, now that it was so
+far advanced, and assuring her that it was already attended with such
+beneficent fruits, as could not fail to secure the protection of Heaven.
+Isabella, every act of whose administration may be said to have had
+reference, more or less remote, to the interests of religion, was as
+little likely as himself to falter in a matter which proposed these
+interests as its direct and only object. She assured her minister that she
+would support him in all that was practicable; and she lost no time in
+presenting the affair, through her agents, in such a light to the court of
+Rome, as might work a more favorable disposition in it. In this she
+succeeded, though not till after multiplied delays and embarrassments; and
+such ample powers were conceded to Ximenes, in conjunction with the
+apostolic nuncio, as enabled him to consummate his grand scheme of reform,
+in defiance of all the efforts of his enemies. [38]
+
+The reformation thus introduced extended to the religious institutions of
+very order equally with his own. It was most searching in its operation,
+reaching eventually to the moral conduct of the subjects of it, no less
+than the mere points of monastic discipline. As regards the latter; it may
+be thought of doubtful benefit to have enforced the rigid interpretation
+of a rule, founded on the melancholy principle, that the amount of
+happiness in the next world is to be regulated by that of self-inflicted
+suffering in this. But it should be remembered, that, however
+objectionable such a rule may be in itself, yet, where it is voluntarily
+assumed as an imperative moral obligation, it cannot be disregarded
+without throwing down the barrier to unbounded license; and that the
+reassertion of it, under these circumstances, must be a necessary
+preliminary to any effectual reform of morals.
+
+The beneficial changes wrought in this latter particular, which Isabella
+had far more at heart than any exterior forms of discipline, are the theme
+of unqualified panegyric with her contemporaries. [39] The Spanish clergy,
+as I have before had occasion to remark, were early noted for their
+dissolute way of life, which, to a certain extent, seemed to be
+countenanced by the law itself. [40] This laxity of morals was carried to
+a most lamentable extent under the last reign, when all orders of
+ecclesiastics, whether regular or secular, infected probably by the
+corrupt example of the court, are represented (we may hope it is an
+exaggeration) as wallowing in all the excesses of sloth and sensuality. So
+deplorable a pollution of the very sanctuaries of religion could not fail
+to occasion sincere regret to a pure and virtuous mind like Isabella's.
+The stain had sunk too deep, however, to be readily purged away. Her
+personal example, indeed, and the scrupulous integrity with which she
+reserved all ecclesiastical preferment for persons of unblemished piety,
+contributed greatly to bring about an amelioration in the morals of the
+secular clergy. But the secluded inmates of the cloister were less open to
+these influences; and the work of reform could only be accomplished there,
+by bringing them back to a reverence for their own institutions, and by
+the slow operation of public opinion.
+
+Notwithstanding the queen's most earnest wishes, it may be doubted whether
+this would have ever been achieved without the co-operation of a man like
+Ximenes, whose character combined in itself all the essential elements of
+a reformer. Happily, Isabella was permitted to see before her death, if
+not the completion, at least the commencement, of a decided amendment in
+the morals of the religious orders; an amendment, which, so far from being
+transitory in its character calls forth the most emphatic eulogium from a
+Castilian writer far in the following century; who, while he laments their
+ancient laxity, boldly challenges comparison for the religious communities
+of his own country, with those of any other, in temperance, chastity, and
+exemplary purity of life and conversation. [41]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The authority on whom the life of Cardinal Ximenes mainly rests, is Alvaro
+Gomez de Castro. He was born in the village of St. Eulalia, near Toledo,
+in 1515, and received his education at Alcalá, where he obtained great
+repute for his critical acquaintance with the ancient classics. He was
+afterwards made professor of the humanities in the university; a situation
+which he filled with credit, but subsequently exchanged for the rhetorical
+chair in a school recently founded at Toledo. While thus occupied, he was
+chosen by the university of Alcalá to pay the most distinguished honor,
+which could be rendered to the memory of its illustrious founder, by a
+faithful record of his extraordinary life. The most authentic sources of
+information were thrown open to him. He obtained an intimate acquaintance
+with the private life of the cardinal, from three of his principal
+domestics, who furnished abundance of reminiscences from personal
+observation, while the archives of the university supplied a mass of
+documents relating to the public services of its patron. From these and
+similar materials, Gomez prepared his biography, after many years of
+patient labor. The work fully answered public expectation; and its merits
+are such as to lead the learned Nic. Antonio to express a doubt, whether
+anything more excellent or perfect in its way could be achieved; "quo
+opere in eo genere an praestantius quidquam aut perfectius, esse possit,
+non immerito saepe dubitavi." (Bibliotheca Nova, tom. i. p. 59.) The
+encomium may be thought somewhat excessive; but it cannot be denied, that
+the narrative is written in an easy and natural manner, with fidelity and
+accuracy, with commendable liberality of opinion, though with a judgment
+sometimes warped into an undue estimate of the qualities of his hero. It
+is distinguished, moreover, by such beauty and correctness of Latinity, as
+have made it a text-book in many of the schools and colleges of the
+Peninsula. The first edition, being that used in the present work, was
+published at Alcalá, in 1569. It has since been reprinted twice in
+Germany, and perhaps elsewhere. Gomez was busily occupied with other
+literary lucubrations during the remainder of his life, and published
+several works in Latin prose and verse, both of which he wrote with ease
+and elegance. He died of a catarrh, in 1580, in the sixty-sixth year of
+his age, leaving behind him a reputation for disinterestedness and virtue,
+which is sufficiently commemorated in two lines of his epitaph;
+
+  "Nemini unquam sciens nocui,
+  Prodesse quam pluribus curavi."
+
+The work of Gomez has furnished the basis for all those biographies of
+Ximenes which have since appeared in Spain. The most important of these,
+probably, is Quintanilla's; which, with little merit of selection or
+arrangement, presents a copious mass of details, drawn from every quarter
+whence his patient industry could glean them. Its author was a Franciscan,
+and employed in procuring the beatification of Cardinal Ximenes by the
+court of Rome; a circumstance which probably disposed him to easier faith
+in the _marvellous_ of his story, than most of his readers will be ready
+to give. The work was published at Palermo in 1653.
+
+In addition to these authorities I have availed myself of a curious old
+manuscript, presented to me by Mr. O. Rich, entitled "Suma de la Vida del
+R. S. Cardenal Don Fr. Francisco Ximenez de Cisneros." It was written
+within half a century after the cardinal's death, by "un criado de la casa
+de Coruña." The original, in "very ancient letter," was extant in the
+archives of that noble house in Quintanilla's time, and is often cited by
+him. (Archetypo, apend., p. 77.) Its author evidently had access to those
+contemporary notices, some of which furnished the basis of Castro's
+narrative, from which, indeed, it exhibits no material discrepancy.
+
+The extraordinary character of Ximenes has naturally attracted the
+attention of foreign writers, and especially the French, who have produced
+repeated biographies of him. The most eminent of these is by Fléchier, the
+eloquent bishop of Nismes. It is written with the simple elegance and
+perspicuity, which characterize his other compositions; and in the general
+tone of its sentiments, on all matters both of church and state, is quite
+as orthodox as the most bigoted admirer of the cardinal could desire.
+Another life, by Marsollier, has obtained a very undeserved repute. The
+author, not content with the extraordinary qualities really appertaining
+to his hero, makes him out a sort of universal genius, quite ridiculous,
+rivalling Molière's Dr. Pancrace himself. One may form some idea of the
+historian's accuracy from the fact, that he refers the commencement and
+conduct of the war of Granada chiefly to the counsels of Ximenes, who, as
+we have seen, was not even introduced at court till after the close of the
+war. Marsollier reckoned largely on the ignorance and _gullibility_
+of his readers. The event proved he was not mistaken.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+[1] Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1495.--Salazar de Mendoza, Crón. del Gran
+Cardenal, lib. 2, cap. 45, 46.--Zurita, Anales, tom. v. fol. 61.--Pulgar,
+Claros Varones, tit. 4.
+
+His disorder was an abscess on the kidneys, which confined him to the
+house nearly a year before his death. When this event happened, a white
+cross of extraordinary magnitude and splendor, shaped precisely like that
+on his arms, was seen in the heavens directly over his house, by a crowd
+of spectators, for more than two hours; a full account of which was duly
+transmitted to Rome by the Spanish court, and has obtained easy credit
+with the principal Spanish historians.
+
+[2] Alvaro Gomez says of him, "Nam praeter clarissimum tum natalium, tum
+fortunae, tum dignitatis splendorem, quae in ilio ornamenta summa erant,
+incredibilem animi sublimitatem cum pari morum facilitate, elegantiâque
+conjunxerat; ut merito locum in republicâ summo proximum ad supremum usque
+diem tenuerit." (De Rebus Gestis, fol. 9.) Martyr, noticing the cardinal's
+death, bestows the following brief but comprehensive panegyric on him.
+"Periit Gonsalus Mendotiae, domûs splendor et lucida fax; periit quem
+universa colebat Hispania, quem exteri etiam principes venerabantur, quem
+ordo cardineus collegam sibi esse gloriabatur." Opus Epist., epist. 158.
+
+[3] Salazar de Mendoza, Crón. del Gran Cardenal, pp. 263-273, 381-410.
+
+[4] "Gran varon, y muy experimentado y prudente en negocios," says Oviedo
+of the cardinal, "_pero a vueltas de las negociaciones desta vida_,
+tuvo trés hijos varones," etc. Then follows a full notice of this
+graceless progeny. Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 8.
+
+[5] Salazar de Mendoza, Crón. del Gran Cardenal, lib. 2, cap. 66.
+
+The doctor Pedro Salazar de Mendoza's biography of his illustrious
+relative is a very fair specimen of the Spanish style of book-making in
+ancient times. One event seems to suggest another with about as much
+cohesion as the rhymes of "The House that Jack built." There is scarcely a
+place or personage of note, that the grand cardinal was brought in contact
+with in the course of his life, whose history is not made the theme of
+profuse dissertation. Nearly fifty chapters are taken up, for example,
+with the distinguished men, who graduated at the college of Santa Cruz.
+
+[6] "Non hoc," says Tacitus with truth, "praecipuum amicorum munus est,
+prosequi defunctum ignavo questu; sed quae voluerit meminisse, quae
+mandaverit exsequi." Annales, lib. 2, sect. 71.
+
+[7] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 143.--Carbajal, Anales, MS., año
+1494.--Salazar de Mendoza, Crón. del Gran Cardenal, lib. 2, cap. 45.
+
+A foundling hospital does not seem to have come amiss in Spain, where,
+according to Salazar, the wretched parents frequently destroyed their
+offspring by casting them into wells and pits, or exposing them in desert
+places to die of famine. "_The more compassionate_," he observes, "laid
+them at the doors of churches, where they were too often worried to
+death by dogs and other animals." The grand cardinal's nephew, who founded
+a similar institution, is said to have furnished an asylum in the course
+of his life to no less than 13,000 of these little victims! Ibid., cap.
+61.
+
+[8] Salazar de Mendoza, Crón, del Gran Cardenal, lib. 2, cap. 46.--Gomez,
+De Rebus Gestis, fol. 8.
+
+The dying cardinal is said to have recommended, among other things, that
+the queen should repair any wrong done to Joanna Beltraneja, by marrying
+her with the young prince of the Asturias; which suggestion was so little
+to Isabella's taste that she broke off the conversation, saying, "the good
+man wandered and talked nonsense."
+
+[9] It is singular, that Fiddlier should have blundered some twenty years
+in the date of Ximenes's birth, which he makes 1457. (Hist. de Ximenés,
+liv. 1, p. 3.) It is not singular, that Marsollier should. Histoire du
+Ministère du Cardinal Ximenez, (Toulouse, 1694,) liv. 1, p. 3.
+
+[10] The honorable extraction of Ximenes is intimated in Juan Vergara's
+verses at the end of the Complutensian Polyglot:
+
+  "Nomine Cisnerius clarâ de stirpe parentum,
+  Et meritis factus clarior ipse suis."
+
+Fray Pedro de Quintanilla y Mendoza makes a goodly genealogical tree for
+his hero, of which King Pelayo, King Pepin, Charlemagne, and other royal
+worthies are the respectable roots. (Proemia Dedicatoria, pp. 5-35.)
+According to Gonzalo de Oviedo, his father was a poor hidalgo, who, having
+spent his little substance on the education of his children, was obliged
+to take up the profession of an advocate. Quincuagenas, MS.
+
+[11] Quintanilla, Archetypo, p. 6.--Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, Ximen., fol.
+2.--Idem, Miscellanear., MS., ex Bibliothecâ, Regiâ Matritensi, tom. ii.
+fol. 189.
+
+[12] Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 2.--Idem, Miscellanear., MS., ubi
+supra.--Eugenio de Robles, Compendio de la Vida y Hazañas del Cardenal Don
+Fray Francisco Ximenez de Cisneros, (Toledo, 1604,) cap. 11.
+
+[13] Quintanilla, Archetype, pp. 8, 10.--Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 2.--
+Fléchier, Hist. de Ximenés, pp. 8-10.--Suma de la Vida del R. S. Cardenal
+Don Fr. Francisco Ximenez de Cisneros, sacada de los Memoriales de Juan de
+Vallejo, Paje de CEamara, è de algunas Personas que en su Tiempo lo
+vieron: para la Ilustrisima Señora Doña Catalina de la Zerda, Condesa de
+Coruña, a quien Dios guarde, y de su Gracia, por un Criado de su Casa, MS.
+
+[14] Suma de la Vida de Cisneros, MS.--Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 3.--
+Robles, Vida de Ximenez, cap. 11.--Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., dial, de
+Ximeni.
+
+[15] Quintanilla, Archetypo, p. ll.--Gomez, Miscellanear., MS., ubi
+supra.--Idem, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 4.
+
+This edifice, says Salazar de Mendoza, in respect to its sacristy, choir,
+cloisters, library, etc., was the most sumptuous and noted of its time. It
+was originally destined by the Catholic sovereigns for their place of
+sepulture; an honor afterwards reserved for Granada, on its recovery from
+the infidels. The great chapel was garnished with the fetters taken from
+the dungeons of Malaga, in which the Moors confined their Christian
+captives. Monarquía, tom. i. p. 410.
+
+[16] Fléchier, Hist. de Ximenés, p. 14.--Quintanilla, Archetype, pp. 13,
+14.--Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 4.--Suma de la Vida de Cisneros, MS.--
+Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS.
+
+[17] Salazar de Mendoza, Crón. del Gran Cardenal, lib. 2, cap. 63.--Gomez,
+De Rebus Gestis, fol. 4.--Suma de la Vida de Cisneros, MS.--Robles, Vida
+de Ximenez, cap. 12.
+
+[18] Fléchier, Hist. de Ximenés, pp. 18, 19.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist.,
+epist. 108.--Robles, Vida de Ximenez, ubi supra.--Oviedo, Quincuagenas,
+MS.
+
+[19] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 108.
+
+"Praeterea," says Martyr, in a letter to Don Fernando Alvarez, one of the
+royal secretaries, "nonne tu sanotissimum quendam virum à, solitudine
+abstrusisque silvis, macie ob abstinentiam confectum, relicti Granatensis
+loco fuisse suffactum, scriptitasti? In istius facie obdnctâ, nonne
+Hilarionis te imaginem aut primi Pauli vultum conspexisse fateris?" Opus
+Epist., epist. 105.
+
+[20] "Todos hablaban," says Oviedo, "de la sanctimonia é vida de este
+religioso." The same writer says, that he saw him at Medina del Campo, in
+1494, in a solemn procession, on the day of Corpus Christi, his body much
+emaciated, and walking barefooted in his coarse friar's dress. In the same
+procession was the magnificent cardinal of Spain, little dreaming how soon
+his proud honors were to descend on the head of his more humble companion.
+Quincuagenas, MS.
+
+[21] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 201.--Suma de la Vida de
+Cisneros, MS.--Mosheim, Ecclesiastical History, vol. iii. cent. 14, p. 2.
+--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 163.--L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables,
+fol. 165.--Oviedo, Epilogo Real, Imperial y Pontifical, MS., apud Mem. de
+la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 8.--Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando,
+lib. 3, cap. 15.
+
+[22] Fléchier, Hist. de Ximenés, pp. 25, 26.--Quintanilla, Archetypo, pp.
+21, 22.--Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 6, 7.--Robles, Vida de Ximenez, cap.
+12.
+
+[23] Fléchier, Hist. de Ximenes, p. 25.--Quintanilla, Archetypo, lib. 1,
+cap. ll.--Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 8--Robles, Vida de
+Ximenez, ubi supra.
+
+[24] Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 2, dial. 1.--Ferdinand and
+Isabella annexed the dignity of high chancellor in perpetuity to that of
+archbishop of Toledo. It seems, however, at least in later times, to have
+been a mere honorary title. (Mendoza, Dignidades, lib. 2, cap. 8.) The
+revenues of the archbishopric at the beginning of the sixteenth century
+amounted to 80,000 ducats, (Navagiero, Viaggio, fol. 9.--L. Marineo, Cosas
+Memorables, fol. 23,) equivalent to about 702,200 dollars at the present
+day. See Introd., Sect. I. Note 63, of this History.
+
+[25] "De mas desto," says Lucio Marineo, "tenia por costumbre que quando
+avia de dar alguna dignidad, o obispado, mas mirava en virtud, honestidad,
+y sciencia de las personas, que las riquezas, y generosidad, aun que
+fuessen sus deudos. Lo qual fue causa que muchos de los que hablavan poco,
+y tenian los cabellos mas cortos que las cejas; comenparon a traer los
+ojos baxos mirando la tierra, y andar con mas gravedad, y hazer mejor
+vida, zimulando por venture algunos mas la virtud, que exercitando la."
+(Cosas Memorables, fol. 182.) "L'hypocrisie est l'hommage que le vice rend
+à la vertu." The maxim is now somewhat stale, like most others of its
+profound author.
+
+[26] Quintanilla, Archetype, lib. 1, cap. 16.--Salazar de Mendoza, Crón.
+del Gran Cardenal, lib. 2, cap. 65. This prelate was at this time only
+twenty-four years of age. He had been raised to the see of Saragossa when
+only six. This strange abuse of preferring infants to the highest
+dignities of the church seems to have prevailed in Castile as well as
+Aragon; for the tombs of five archdeacons might be seen in the church of
+Madre de Dios at Toledo, in Salazar's time, whose united ages amounted
+only to thirty years. See Crón. del Gran Cardenal, ubi supra.
+
+[27] Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 19, cap. 4.--Mariana, Hist. de
+España, tom. ii. lib. 26, cap. 7.--Suma de la Vida de Cisneros, MS.--
+Quintanilla, Archetype, lib. 1, cap. 16.--Gomez, De rebus Gestis, fol.
+11.--Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1495.--Robles, Vida de Ximenez, cap. 13.--
+Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS.
+
+[28] Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 11.
+
+[29] Ibid., ubi supra.--Robles, Vida de Ximenez, cap. 13, 14.
+
+[30] "He kept five or six friars of his order," says Gonzalo de Oviedo,
+"in his palace with him, and as many asses in his stables; but the latter
+all grew sleek and fat, for the archbishop would not ride himself, nor
+allow his brethren to ride either." Quincuagenas, MS.
+
+[31] Suma de la Vida de Cisneros, MS.--Quintanilla, Archetype, lib. 2,
+cap. 8, 9.--Gomez, de Rebus Gestis, fol. 12.--Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS.--
+Robles, Vida de Ximenez, cap. 13.
+
+[32] Gomez de Rebus Gestis, fol. 16. The Venetian minister Navagiero,
+noticing the condition of the canons of Toledo, some few years later,
+celebrates them, as "lording it above all others in their own city, being
+especial favorites with the ladies, dwelling in stately mansions, passing,
+in short, the most agreeable lives in the world, without any one to
+trouble them." Viaggio, fol. 9.
+
+[33] Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 17.
+
+[34] Quintanilla, Archetype, pp. 22, 23.--Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom.
+vi. p. 201.--Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, lib. 3, cap. 15.
+
+[35] "Trataba las monjas," say Riol, "con un agrado y amor tan cariñoso,
+que las robaba los corazones, y hecha dueña de ellas, las persuadia non
+suavidad y eficacia á que votasen clausura. Y es cosa admirable, que raro
+fue el conventu donde entró esta celebre heroina, donde no lograse en el
+propio dia el efecto de su santo deseo." Informe, apud Semanario Erudito,
+tom. iii. p. 110.
+
+[36] Fléchier, Hist. de Ximenes, pp. 56, 58.--Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol.
+14.--Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, lib. 3, cap. 15.--Robles, Vida de
+Ximenez, cap. 13.
+
+[37] Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 23.--Quintanilla, Archetypo, lib. 1,
+cap. 11.
+
+[38] Quintanilla, Archetypo, lib. 1, cap. 13-14.--Riol discusses the
+various monastic reforms effected by Ximenes, in his Memorial to Philip
+V., apud Semanario Erudito, tom. iii. pp. 102-110.
+
+[39] L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 165.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos,
+MS., cap. 201.--et al.
+
+[40] The practice of concubinage by the clergy was fully recognized, and
+the ancient _fueros_ of Castile permitted their issue to inherit the
+estates of such parents as died intestate. (See Marina, Ensayo Histórico-
+Crítico sobre la Antigua Legislacion de Castilla, (Madrid, 1808,) p. 154.)
+The effrontery of these legalized strumpets, _barraganas_, as they
+were called, was at length so intolerable as to call for repeated laws,
+regulating their apparel, and prescribing a badge for distinguishing them
+from honest women. (Sempere, Hist. del Luxo, tom. i. pp. 165-169.) Spain
+is probably the only country in Christendom, where concubinage was ever
+sanctioned by law; a circumstance doubtless imputable, in some measure, to
+the influence of the Mahometans.
+
+[41] Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 23.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+XIMENES IN GRANADA--PERSECUTION, INSURRECTION, AND CONVERSION OF THE
+MOORS.
+
+1499-1500.
+
+Tranquil State of Granada.--Mild Policy of Talavera.--Clergy Dissatisfied
+with it.--Violent Measures of Ximenes.--His Fanaticism.--Its Mischievous
+Effects.--Insurrection in Granada.--Tranquillity Restored.--Baptism of the
+Inhabitants.
+
+
+Moral energy, or constancy of purpose, seems to be less properly an
+independent power of the mind than a mode of action, by which its various
+powers operate with effect. But, however this may be, it enters more
+largely, perhaps, than mere talent, as commonly understood, into the
+formation of what is called character, and is often confounded by the
+vulgar with talent of the highest order. In the ordinary concerns of life,
+indeed, it is more serviceable than brilliant parts; while, in the more
+important, these latter are of little weight without it, evaporating only
+in brief and barren flashes, which may dazzle the eye by their splendor,
+but pass away and are forgotten.
+
+The importance of moral energy is felt not only, where it would be
+expected, in the concerns of active life, but in those more exclusively of
+an intellectual character, in deliberative assemblies, for example, where
+talent, as usually understood, might be supposed to assert an absolute
+supremacy, but where it is invariably made to bend to the controlling
+influence of this principle. No man destitute of it can be the leader of a
+party; while there are few leaders, probably, who do not number in their
+ranks minds from which they would be compelled to shrink in a contest for
+purely intellectual pre-eminence.
+
+This energy of purpose presents itself in a yet more imposing form when
+stimulated by some intense passion, as ambition, or the nobler principle
+of patriotism or religion; when the soul, spurning vulgar considerations
+of interest, is ready to do and to dare all for conscience' sake; when,
+insensible alike to all that this world can give or take away, it loosens
+itself from the gross ties which bind it to earth, and, however humble its
+powers in every other point of view, attains a grandeur and elevation,
+which genius alone, however gifted, can never reach.
+
+But it is when associated with exalted genius, and under the action of the
+potent principles above mentioned, that this moral energy conveys an image
+of power, which approaches, nearer than anything else on earth, to that of
+a divine intelligence. It is, indeed, such agents that Providence selects
+for the accomplishment of those great revolutions, by which the world is
+shaken to its foundations, new and more beautiful systems created, and the
+human mind carried forward at a single stride, in the career of
+improvement, further than it had advanced for centuries. It must, indeed,
+be confessed, that this powerful agency is sometimes for evil, as well as
+for good. It is this same impulse, which spurs guilty Ambition along his
+bloody track, and which arms the hand of the patriot sternly to resist
+him; which glows with holy fervor in the bosom of the martyr, and which
+lights up the fires of persecution, by which he is to win his crown of
+glory. The direction of the impulse, differing in the same individual
+under different circumstances, can alone determine whether he shall be the
+scourge or the benefactor of his species.
+
+These reflections have been suggested by the character of the
+extraordinary person brought forward in the preceding chapter, Ximenes de
+Cisneros, and the new and less advantageous aspect, in which he must now
+appear to the reader. Inflexible constancy of purpose formed, perhaps, the
+most prominent trait of his remarkable character. What direction it might
+have received under other circumstances it is impossible to say. It would
+be no great stretch of fancy to imagine, that the unyielding spirit, which
+in its early days could voluntarily endure years of imprisonment, rather
+than submit to an act of ecclesiastical oppression, might under similar
+influences have been aroused, like Luther's, to shake down the ancient
+pillars of Catholicism, instead of lending all its strength to uphold
+them. The latter position, however, would seem better assimilated to the
+constitution of his mind, whose sombre enthusiasm naturally prepared him
+for the vague and mysterious in the Romish faith, as his inflexible temper
+did for its bold and arrogant dogmas. At any rate, it was to this cause he
+devoted the whole strength of his talents and commanding energies.
+
+We have seen, in the preceding chapter, with what promptness he entered on
+the reform of religious discipline, as soon as he came into office, and
+with what pertinacity he pursued it, in contempt of all personal interest
+and popularity. We are now to see him with similar zeal devoting himself
+to the extirpation of heresy; with contempt not merely of personal
+consequences, but also of the most obvious principles of good faith and
+national honor.
+
+Nearly eight years had elapsed since the conquest of Granada, and the
+subjugated kingdom continued to repose in peaceful security under the
+shadow of the treaty, which guaranteed the unmolested enjoyment of its
+ancient laws and religion. This unbroken continuance of public
+tranquillity, especially difficult to be maintained among the jarring
+elements of the capital, whose motley population of Moors, renegades, and
+Christians suggested perpetual points of collision, must be chiefly
+referred to the discreet and temperate conduct of the two individuals whom
+Isabella had charged with the civil and ecclesiastical government. These
+were Mendoza, count of Tendilla, and Talavera, archbishop of Granada.
+
+The former, the brightest ornament of his illustrious house, has been
+before made known to the reader by his various important services, both
+military and diplomatic. Immediately after the conquest of Granada he was
+made alcayde and captain general of the kingdom, a post for which he was
+every way qualified by his prudence, firmness, enlightened views, and long
+experience. [1]
+
+The latter personage, of more humble extraction, [2] was Fray Fernando de
+Talavera, a Hieronymite monk, who, having been twenty years prior of the
+monastery of Santa Maria del Prado, near Valladolid, was made confessor of
+Queen Isabella, and afterwards of the king. This situation necessarily
+gave him considerable influence in all public measures. If the keeping of
+the royal conscience could be safely intrusted to any one, it might
+certainly be to this estimable prelate, equally distinguished for his
+learning, amiable manners, and unblemished piety; and, if his character
+was somewhat tainted with bigotry, it was in so mild a form, so far
+tempered by the natural benevolence of his disposition, as to make a
+favorable contrast to the dominant spirit of the time. [3]
+
+After the conquest, he exchanged the bishopric of Avila for the
+archiepiscopal see of Granada. Notwithstanding the wishes of the
+sovereigns, he refused to accept any increase of emolument in this new and
+more exalted station. His revenues, indeed, which amounted to two millions
+of maravedies annually, were somewhat less than he before enjoyed. [4] The
+greater part of this sum he liberally expended on public improvements and
+works of charity; objects, which, to their credit be it spoken, have
+rarely failed to engage a large share of the attention and resources of
+the higher Spanish clergy. [5]
+
+The subject which pressed most seriously on the mind of the good
+archbishop, was the conversion of the Moors, whose spiritual blindness he
+regarded with feelings of tenderness and charity, very different from
+those entertained by most of his reverend brethren. He proposed to
+accomplish this by the most rational method possible. Though late in life,
+he set about learning Arabic, that he might communicate with the Moors in
+their own language, and commanded his clergy to do the same. [6] He caused
+an Arabic vocabulary, grammar, and catechism to be compiled; and a version
+in the same tongue to be made of the liturgy, comprehending the selections
+from the Gospels; and proposed to extend this at some future time to the
+whole body of the Scriptures. [7] Thus unsealing the sacred oracles which
+had been hitherto shut out from their sight, he opened to them the only
+true sources of Christian knowledge; and, by endeavoring to effect their
+conversion through the medium of their understandings, instead of seducing
+their imaginations with a vain show of ostentatious ceremonies, proposed
+the only method by which conversion could be sincere and permanent.
+
+These wise and benevolent measures of the good prelate, recommended, as
+they were, by the most exemplary purity of life, acquired him great
+authority among the Moors, who, estimating the value of the doctrine by
+its fruits, were well inclined to listen to it, and numbers were daily
+added to the church. [8]
+
+The progress of proselytism, however, was necessarily slow and painful
+among a people reared from the cradle, not merely in antipathy to, but
+abhorrence of, Christianity; who were severed from the Christian community
+by strong dissimilarity of language, habits, and institutions; and now
+indissolubly knit together by a common sense of national misfortune. Many
+of the more zealous clergy and religious persons, conceiving, indeed, this
+barrier altogether insurmountable, were desirous of seeing it swept away
+at once by the strong arm of power. They represented to the sovereigns,
+that it seemed like insensibility to the goodness of Providence, which had
+delivered the infidels into their hands, to allow them any longer to usurp
+the fair inheritance of the Christians, and that the whole of the stiff-
+necked race of Mahomet might justly be required to submit without
+exception to instant baptism, or to sell their estates and remove to
+Africa. This, they maintained, could be scarcely regarded as an
+infringement of the treaty, since the Moors would be so great gainers on
+the score of their eternal salvation; to say nothing of the
+indispensableness of such a measure to the permanent tranquillity and
+security of the kingdom. [9]
+
+But these considerations, "just and holy as they were," to borrow the
+words of a devout Spaniard, [10] failed to convince the sovereigns, who
+resolved to abide by their royal word, and to trust to the conciliatory
+measures now in progress, and a longer and more intimate intercourse with
+the Christians, as the only legitimate means for accomplishing their
+object. Accordingly, we find the various public ordinances, as low down as
+1499, recognizing this principle, by the respect which they show for the
+most trivial usages of the Moors, [11] and by their sanctioning no other
+stimulant to conversion than the amelioration of their condition. [12]
+Among those in favor of more active measures was Ximenes, archbishop of
+Toledo. Having followed the court to Granada in the autumn of 1499, he
+took the occasion to communicate his views to Talavera, the archbishop,
+requesting leave at the same time to participate with him in his labor of
+love; to which the latter, willing to strengthen himself by so efficient
+an ally, modestly assented. Ferdinand and Isabella soon after removed to
+Seville; but, before their departure, enjoined on the prelates to observe
+the temperate policy hitherto pursued, and to beware of giving any
+occasion for discontent to the Moors. [13]
+
+No sooner had the sovereigns left the city, than Ximenes invited some of
+the leading _alfaquies_, or Mussulman doctors, to a conference, in
+which he expounded, with all the eloquence at his command, the true
+foundations of the Christian faith, and the errors of their own; and, that
+his teaching might be the more palatable, enforced it by liberal presents,
+consisting mostly of rich and costly articles of dress, of which the Moors
+were at all times exceedingly fond. This policy he pursued for some time,
+till the effect became visible. Whether the preaching or presents of the
+archbishop had most weight, does not appear. [14] It is probable, however,
+that the Moorish doctors found conversion a much more pleasant and
+profitable business than they had anticipated; for they one after another
+declared their conviction of their errors, and their willingness to
+receive baptism. The example of these learned persons was soon followed by
+great numbers of their illiterate disciples, insomuch that no less than
+four thousand are said to have presented themselves in one day for
+baptism; and Ximenes, unable to administer the rite to each individually,
+was obliged to adopt the expedient familiar to the Christian missionaries,
+of christening them _en masse_ by aspersion; scattering the consecrated
+drops from a mop, or hyssop, as it was called, which he twirled over the
+heads of the multitude. [15]
+
+So far all went on prosperously; and the eloquence and largesses of the
+archbishop, which latter he lavished so freely as to encumber his revenues
+for several years to come, brought crowds of proselytes to the Christian
+fold. [16] There were  some, indeed, among the Mahometans, who regarded
+these proceedings as repugnant, if not to the letter, at least to the
+spirit of the original treaty of capitulation; which seemed intended to
+provide, not only against the employment of force, but of any undue
+incentive to conversion. [17] Several of the more sturdy, including some
+of the principal citizens, exerted their efforts to stay the tide of
+defection, which threatened soon to swallow up the whole population of the
+city. But Ximenes, whose zeal had mounted up to fever heat in the
+excitement of success, was not to be cooled by any opposition, however
+formidable; and if he had hitherto respected the letter of the treaty, he
+now showed himself to be prepared to trample on letter and spirit
+indifferently, when they crossed his designs.
+
+Among those most active in the opposition was a noble Moor named Zegri,
+well skilled in the learning of his countrymen, with whom he had great
+consideration. Ximenes having exhausted all his usual artillery of
+arguments and presents on this obdurate infidel, had him taken into
+custody by one of his officers named Leon, "a lion," says a punning
+historian, "by nature as well as by name," [18] and commanded the latter
+to take such measures with his prisoner, as would clear the film from his
+eyes. This faithful functionary executed his orders so effectually, that,
+after a few days of fasting, fetters, and imprisonment, he was able to
+present his charge to his employer, penitent to all outward appearance,
+and with an humble mien strongly contreating with his former proud and
+lofty bearing. After the most respectful obeisance to the archbishop,
+Zegri informed him, that "on the preceding night he had had a revelation
+from Allah, who had condescended to show him the error of his ways, and
+commanded him to receive instant baptism;" at the same time, pointing to
+his jailer, he "jocularly" remarked, "Your reverence has only to turn this
+lion of yours loose among the people, and my word for it, there will not
+be a Mussulman left many days within the walls of Granada." [19] "Thus,"
+exclaims the devout Ferreras, "did Providence avail itself of the darkness
+of the dungeon to pour on the benighted minds of the infidel the light of
+the true faith!" [20]
+
+The work of proselytism now went on apace; for terror was added to the
+other stimulants. The zealous propagandist, in the mean while, flushed
+with success, resolved not only to exterminate infidelity, but the very
+characters in which its teachings were recorded. He accordingly caused all
+the Arabic manuscripts which he could procure to be heaped together in a
+common pile in one of the great squares of the city. The largest part were
+copies of the Koran, or works in some way or other connected with
+theology; with many others, however, on various scientific subjects. They
+were beautifully executed, for the most part, as to their chirography, and
+sumptuously bound and decorated; for, in all relating to the mechanical
+finishing, the Spanish Arabs excelled every people in Europe. But neither
+splendor of outward garniture, nor intrinsic merit of composition, could
+atone for the taint of heresy in the eye of the stern inquisitor; he
+reserved for his university of Alcalá three hundred works, indeed,
+relating to medical science, in which the Moors were as pre-eminent in
+that day as the Europeans were deficient; but all the rest, amounting to
+many thousands, [21] he consigned to indiscriminate conflagration. [22]
+
+This melancholy _auto da fe_, it will be recollected, was celebrated,
+not by an unlettered barbarian, but by a cultivated prelate, who was at
+that very time actively employing his large revenues in the publication of
+the most stupendous literary work of the age, and in the endowment of the
+most learned university in Spain. [23] It took place, not in the darkness
+of the Middle Ages, but in the dawn of the sixteenth century, and in the
+midst of an enlightened nation, deeply indebted for its own progress to
+these very stores of Arabian wisdom. It forms a counterpart to the imputed
+sacrilege of Omar, [24] eight centuries before, and shows that bigotry is
+the same in every faith and every age.
+
+The mischief occasioned by this act, far from being limited to the
+immediate loss, continued to be felt still more severely in its
+consequences. Such as could, secreted the manuscripts in their possession
+till an opportunity occurred for conveying them out of the country; and
+many thousands in this way were privately shipped over to Barbary. [25]
+Thus Arabian literature became rare in the libraries of the very country
+to which it was indigenous; the Arabic scholarship, once so flourishing in
+Spain, and that too in far less polished ages, gradually fell into decay
+from want of aliment to sustain it. Such were the melancholy results of
+this literary persecution; more mischievous, in one view, than even that
+directed against life; for the loss of an individual will scarcely be felt
+beyond his own generation, while the annihilation of a valuable work, or,
+in other words, of mind itself embodied in a permanent form, is a loss to
+all future time.
+
+The high hand with which Ximenes now carried measures, excited serious
+alarm in many of the more discreet and temperate Castilians in the city.
+They besought him to use greater forbearance, remonstrating against his
+obvious violations of the treaty, as well as against the expediency of
+forced conversions, which could not, in the nature of things, be lasting.
+But the pertinacious prelate only replied, that, "A tamer policy might,
+indeed, suit temporal matters, but not those in which the interests of the
+soul were at stake; that the unbeliever, if he could not be drawn, should
+be driven, into the way of salvation; and that it was no time to stay the
+hand, when the ruins of Mahometanism were tottering to their foundations."
+He accordingly went on with unflinching resolution. [26]
+
+But the patience of the Moors themselves, which had held out so
+marvellously under this system of oppression, began now to be exhausted.
+Many signs of this might be discerned by much less acute optics than those
+of the archbishop; but his were blinded by the arrogance of success. At
+length, in this inflammable state of public feeling, an incident occurred
+which led to a general explosion.
+
+Three of Ximenes's servants were sent on some business to the Albayein, a
+quarter inhabited exclusively by Moors, and encompassed by walls which
+separated it from the rest of the city. [27] These men had made themselves
+peculiarly odious to the people by their activity in their master's
+service. A dispute, having arisen between them and some inhabitants of the
+quarter, came at last to blows, when two of the servants were massacred on
+the spot, and their comrade escaped with difficulty from the infuriated
+mob. [28] The affair operated as the signal for insurrection. The
+inhabitants of the district ran to arms, got possession of the gates,
+barricaded the streets, and in a few hours the whole Albayein was in
+rebellion. [29]
+
+In the course of the following night, a large number of the enraged
+populace made their way into the city to the quarters of Ximenes, with the
+purpose of taking summary vengeance on his head for all his persecutions.
+Fortunately, his palace was strong, and defended by numerous resolute and
+well-armed attendants. The latter, at the approach of the rioters,
+implored their master to make his escape, if possible, to the fortress of
+the Alhambra, where the count of Tendilla was established. But the
+intrepid prelate, who held life too cheap to be a coward, exclaimed, "God
+forbid I should think of my own safety, when so many of the faithful are
+perilling theirs! No, I will stand to my post and wait there, if Heaven
+wills it, the crown of martyrdom." [30] It must be confessed he well
+deserved it.
+
+The building, however, proved too strong for the utmost efforts of the
+mob; and, at length, after some hours of awful suspense and agitation to
+the beleaguered inmates, the count of Tendilla arrived in person at the
+head of his guards, and succeeded in dispersing the insurgents, and
+driving them back to their own quarters. But no exertions could restore
+order to the tumultuous populace, or induce them to listen to terms; and
+they even stoned the messenger charged with pacific proposals from the
+count of Tendilla. They organized themselves under leaders, provided arms,
+and took every possible means for maintaining their defence. It seemed as
+if, smitten with the recollections of ancient liberty, they were resolved
+to recover it again at all hazards. [31]  At length, after this disorderly
+state of things had lasted for several days, Talavera, the archbishop of
+Granada, resolved to try the effect of his personal influence, hitherto so
+great with the Moors, by visiting himself the disaffected quarter. This
+noble purpose he put in execution, in spite of the most earnest
+remonstrances of his friends. He was attended only by his chaplain,
+bearing the crucifix before him, and a few of his domestics, on foot and
+unarmed like himself. At the site of their venerable pastor, with his
+countenance beaming with the same serene and benign expression with which
+they were familiar when listening to his exhortations from the pulpit, the
+passions of the multitude were stilled. Every one seemed willing to
+abandon himself to the tender recollections of the past; and the simple
+people crowded around the good man, kneeling down and kissing the hem of
+his robe, as if to implore his benediction. The count of Tendilla no
+sooner learned the issue, than he followed into the Albayein, attended by
+a handful of soldiers. When he had reached the place where the mob was
+gathered, he threw his bonnet into the midst of them, in token of his
+pacific intentions. The action was received with acclamations, and the
+people, whose feelings had now taken another direction, recalled by his
+presence to the recollection of his uniformly mild and equitable rule,
+treated him with similar respect to that shown the archbishop of Granada.
+[32]
+
+These two individuals took advantage of this favorable change of feeling
+to expostulate with the Moors on the folly and desperation of their
+conduct, which must involve them in a struggle with such overwhelming odds
+as that of the whole Spanish monarchy. They implored them to lay down
+their arms and return to their duty, in which event they pledged
+themselves, as far as in their power, to allow no further repetition of
+the grievances complained of, and to intercede for their pardon with the
+sovereigns. The count testified his sincerity, by leaving his wife and two
+children as hostages in the heart of the Albayein; an act which must be
+admitted to imply unbounded confidence in the integrity of the Moors. [33]
+These various measures, backed, moreover, by the counsels and authority of
+some of the chief alfaquis, had the effect to restore tranquillity among
+the people, who, laying aside their hostile preparations, returned once
+more to their regular employments. [34]
+
+The rumor of the insurrection, in the mean while, with the usual
+exaggeration, reached Seville, where the court was then residing. In one
+respect rumor did justice, by imputing the whole blame of the affair to
+the intemperate zeal of Ximenes. That personage, with his usual
+promptness, had sent early notice of the affair to the queen by a negro
+slave uncommonly fleet of foot. But the fellow had become intoxicated by
+the way, and the court were several days without any more authentic
+tidings than general report. The king, who always regarded Ximenes's
+elevation to the primacy, to the prejudice, as the reader may remember, of
+his own son, with dissatisfaction, could not now restrain his indignation,
+but was heard to exclaim tauntingly to the queen, "So we are like to pay
+dear for your archbishop, whose rashness has lost us in a few hours what
+we have been years in acquiring." [35]
+
+The queen, confounded at the tidings, and unable to comprehend the silence
+of Ximenes, instantly wrote to him in the severest terms, demanding an
+explanation of the whole proceeding. The archbishop saw his error in
+committing affairs of moment to such hands as those of his sable
+messenger; and the lesson stood him in good stead, according to his
+moralizing biographer, for the remainder of his life. [36] He hastened to
+repair his fault by proceeding to Seville in person, and presenting
+himself before the sovereigns. He detailed to them the history of all the
+past transactions; recapitulated his manifold services, the arguments and
+exhortations he had used, the large sums he had expended, and his various
+expedients, in short, for effecting conversion, before resorting to
+severity. He boldly assumed the responsibility of the whole proceeding,
+acknowledging that he had purposely avoided communicating his plans to the
+sovereigns for fear of opposition. If he had erred, he said, it could be
+imputed to no other motive, at worst, than too great zeal for the
+interests of religion; but he concluded with assuring them, that the
+present position of affairs was the best possible for their purposes,
+since the late conduct of the Moors involved them in the guilt, and
+consequently all the penalties of treason, and that it would be an act of
+clemency to offer pardon on the alternatives of conversion or exile! [37]
+
+The archbishop's discourse, if we are to credit his enthusiastic
+biographer, not only dispelled the clouds of royal indignation, but drew
+forth the most emphatic expressions of approbation. [38] How far Ferdinand
+and Isabella were moved to this by his final recommendation, or what, in
+clerical language, may be called the "improvement of his discourse," does
+not appear. They did not at any rate adopt it in its literal extent. In
+due time, however, commissioners were sent to Granada, fully authorized to
+inquire into the late disturbances and punish their guilty authors. In the
+course of the investigation, many, including some of the principal
+citizens, were imprisoned on suspicion. The greater part made their peace
+by embracing Christianity. Many others sold their estates and migrated to
+Barbary; and the remainder of the population, whether from fear of
+punishment, or contagion of example, abjured their ancient superstition
+and consented to receive baptism. The whole number of converts was
+estimated at about fifty thousand, whose future relapses promised an
+almost inexhaustible supply for the fiery labors of the Inquisition. From
+this period the name of Moors, which had gradually superseded the
+primitive one of Spanish Arabs, gave way to the title of Moriscoes, by
+which this unfortunate people continued to be known through the remainder
+of their protracted existence in the Peninsula. [39]
+
+The circumstances, under which this important revolution in religion was
+effected in the whole population of this great city, will excite only
+feelings of disgust at the present day, mingled, indeed, with compassion
+for the unhappy beings, who so heedlessly incurred the heavy liabilities
+attached to their new faith. Every Spaniard, doubtless, anticipated the
+political advantages likely to result from a measure, which divested the
+Moors of the peculiar immunities secured by the treaty of capitulation,
+and subjected them at once to the law of the land. It is equally certain,
+however, that they attached great value in a spiritual view to the mere
+show of conversion, placing implicit confidence in the purifying influence
+of the waters of baptism, to whomever and under whatever circumstances
+administered. Even the philosophic Martyr, as little tinctured with
+bigotry as any of the time, testifies his joy at the conversion, on the
+ground, that, although it might not penetrate beneath the crust of
+infidelity, which had formed over the mind of the older and of course
+inveterate Mussulman, yet it would have full effect on his posterity,
+subjected from the cradle to the searching operation of Christian
+discipline. [40]
+
+With regard to Ximenes, the real author of the work, whatever doubts were
+entertained of his discretion, in the outset, they were completely
+dispelled by the results. All concurred in admiring the invincible energy
+of the man, who, in the face of such mighty obstacles, had so speedily
+effected this momentous revolution in the faith of a people, bred from
+childhood in the deadliest hostility to Christianity; [41] and the good
+archbishop Talavera was heard in the fulness of his heart to exclaim, that
+"Ximenes had achieved greater triumphs than even Ferdinand and Isabella;
+since they had conquered only the soil, while he had gained the souls of
+Granada!" [42]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+[1] "Hombre," says his son, the historian, of him, "de prudencia en
+negocios graves, de animo firme, asegurado con luenga experiencia de
+rencuentros i battallas ganadas." (Guerra de Granada, lib. 1, p. 9.)
+Oviedo dwells with sufficient amplification on the personal history and
+merits of this distinguished individual, in his garrulous reminiscences.
+Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 28.
+
+[2] Oviedo, at least, can find no better pedigree for him, than that of
+Adam. "Quanto á su linage él fué del linage de todos los humanos ó de
+aquel barro y subcesion de Adan." (Quincuagenas, MS. dial. de Talavera.)
+It is a very hard case, when a Castilian cannot make out a better
+genealogy for his hero.
+
+[3] Pedraza, Antiguedad de Granada, lib. 3, cap. 10.--Marmol, Rebelion de
+Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 21. Talavera's correspondence with the queen,
+published in various works, but most correctly, probably, in the sixth
+volume of the Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., (Ilust. 13,) is not calculated to
+raise his reputation. His letters are little else than homilies on the
+love of company, dancing, and the like heinous offences. The whole savors
+more of the sharp twang of Puritanism than that of the Roman Catholic
+school. But bigotry is neutral ground, on which the most opposite sects
+may meet.
+
+[4] Pedraza, Antiguedad de Granada, lib. 3, cap. 10.--Marmol, lib. 1, cap.
+21.
+
+Equivalent to 56,000 dollars of the present day; a sum which Pedraza makes
+do quite as hard duty, according to its magnitude, as the 500 pounds of
+Pope's Man of Ross.
+
+[5] Pedraza, ubi supra.--Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., dial. de Talavera.
+
+The worthy archbishop's benefactions on some occasions were of rather an
+extraordinary character. "Pidiendole limosna," says Pedraza, "Una muger
+que no tenia camisa, se entró en una casa, y se desnudó la suya y se la
+dio; diziendo con san Pedro, No tengo oro ni plata que darte, doyte lo que
+tengo." Antiguedad de  Granada, lib. 3, cap. 10.
+
+[6] Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 21.--Pedraza, Antiguedad de
+Granada, ubi supra.
+
+[7] Fléchier, Hist. de Ximenes, p. 17.--Quintanilla, Archetypo, lib. 2,
+cap. 2.--Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 32.--Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS.
+
+These tracts were published at Granada, in 1505, in the European
+character, being the first books ever printed in the Arabic language,
+according to Dr. M'Crie, (Reformation in Spain, p. 70,) who cites
+Schnurrer, Bibl. Arabica, pp. 16-18.
+
+[8] Bleda, Corónica, lib. 5, cap. 23.--Pedraza, Antiguedad de Granada,
+lib. 3, cap. 10.--Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 21.--Gomez,
+De Rebus Gestis, fol. 29.--"Hacia lo que predicaba, é predicó lo que
+hizo," says Oviedo of the archbishop, briefly, "é así fué mucho provechoso
+é util en aquella ciudad para la conversion de los Moros." Quincuagenas,
+MS.
+
+[9] Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 23.
+
+[10] Ibid., ubi supra.
+
+[11] In the _pragmática_ dated Granada, October 30th, 1499, prohibiting
+silk apparel of any description, an exception was made in favor of the
+Moors, whose robes were usually of that material, among the wealthier
+classes. Pragmáticas del Reyno, fol. 120.
+
+[12] Another law, October 31st, 1499, provided against the disinheritance
+of Moorish children who had embraced Christianity, and secured, moreover,
+to the female converts a portion of the property which had fallen to the
+state on the conquest of Granada. (Pragmáticas del Reyno, fol. 5.)--
+Llorente has reported this pragmatic with some inaccuracy. Hist. de
+l'Inquisition, tom. i. p. 334.
+
+[13] Bleda, Corónica, lib. 5, cap. 23.--Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 29.--
+Quintanilla, Archetypo, lib. 2, p. 54.--Suma de la Vida de Cisneros, MS.
+Ferdinand and Isabella, according to Ferreras, took counsel of sundry
+learned theologians and jurists, whether they could lawfully compel the
+Mahometans to become Christians, notwithstanding the treaty, which
+guaranteed to them the exercise of their religion. After repeated
+conferences of this erudite body, "il fut decidé," says the historian,
+"qu'on solliciteroit la conversion des Mahometans de la Ville et du
+Royaume de Grenade, en ordonnant à ceux qui ne voudroient pas embrasser la
+religion Chrétienne, de vendre leurs biens et de sortir du royaume."
+(Hist. d'Espagne, tom. viii. p. 194.) Such was the idea of solicitation
+entertained by these reverend casuists! The story, however, wants a better
+voucher than Ferreras.
+
+[14] The  honest Robles appears to be of the latter opinion. "Alfin," says
+he, with _naïveté_, "con halagos, dadivas, y caricias, los truxo a
+conocimiento del verdadero Dios." Vida de Ximenez, p. 100.
+
+[15] Robles, Vida de Ximenez, cap. 14.--Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib.
+1, cap. 24.--Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 29.--Suma de la Vida de
+Cisneros, MS.
+
+[16] Robles, Vida de Ximenez, cap. 14.--Quintanilla, Archetypo, fol. 55.--
+The sound of bells, so unusual to Mahometan ears, pealing day and night
+from the newly consecrated mosques, gained Ximenes the appellation of
+_alfaqui campanero_ from the Granadines. Suma de la Vida de Cisneros,
+MS.
+
+[17] Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 25.
+
+Take for example the following provisions in the treaty. "Que si algun
+Moro tuviere alguna renegada por muger, no será apremiada á ser Christiana
+contra su voluntad, sino que será interrogada, en presencia de Christianos
+y de Moros, y se siguirá su voluntad; y lo mesmo se entenderá con los
+niños y niñas nacidos de Christiana y Moro. Que ningun Moro ni Mora serán
+apremiados á ser Christianos contra su voluntad; y que si alguna doncella,
+ó casada, ó viuda, por razon de algunos amores se quisiere tornar
+Christiana, tampoco será recebida, hasta ser interrogada." The whole
+treaty is given in _extenso_ by Marmol, and by no other author that I
+have seen.
+
+[18] Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, lib. 1, fol. 29.
+
+[19] Robles, Rebelion de Moriscos, cap. 14.--Suma de la Vida de Cisneros,
+MS.--Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 30.--Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib.
+1, cap. 25.
+
+Zegri assumed the baptismal name of the Great Captain, Gonzalo Hernandez,
+whose prowess he had experienced in a personal rencontre in the vega of
+Granada. Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, ubi supra.--Suma de la Vida de
+Cisneros, MS.
+
+[20] Hist. d'Espagne, tom. viii. p. 195.
+
+[21] According to Robles, (Rebelion de Moriscos, p. 104,) and the Suma de
+la Vida de Cisneros, 1,005,000; to Conde, (El Nubiense, Descripcion
+d'España, p. 4, note,) 80,000; to Gomez and others, 5000. There are
+scarcely any data for arriving at probability in this monstrous
+discrepancy. The famous library of the Ommeyades at Cordova was said to
+contain 600,000 volumes. It had long since been dissipated; and no similar
+collection had been attempted in Granada, where learning was never in that
+palmy state which it reached under the Cordovan dynasty. Still, however,
+learned men were to be found there, and the Moorish metropolis would
+naturally be the depository of such literary treasures as had escaped the
+general shipwreck of time and accident. On the whole, the estimate of
+Gomez would appear much too small, and that of Robles as
+disproportionately exaggerated. Conde, better instructed in Arabic lore
+than any of his predecessors, may be found, perhaps, here, as elsewhere,
+the best authority.
+
+[22] Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, lib. 2, fol. 30.--Marmol, Rebelion de
+Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 25.--Robles, Vida de Ximenez, cap. 14.--Suma de la
+Vida de Cisneros, MS.--Quintanilla, Archetypo, p. 58.
+
+[23] Yet the archbishop might find some countenance for his fanaticism in
+the most polite capital of Europe. The faculty of Theology in Paris, some
+few years later, declared "que c'en était fait de la religion, si on
+permettait l'etude du Grec et de l'Hebreu!" Villers, Essai sur l'Esprit et
+l'Influence de la Réformation de Luther, (Paris, 1820,) p. 64, note.
+
+[24] Gibbon's argument, if it does not shake the foundations of the whole
+story of the Alexandrian conflagration, may at least raise a natural
+skepticism as to the pretended amount and value of the works destroyed.
+
+[25] The learned Granadine, Leo Africanus, who emigrated to Fez after the
+fall of the capital, notices a single collection of 3000 manuscripts
+belonging to an individual, which he saw in Algiers, whither they had been
+secretly brought by the Moriscoes from Spain.--Conde, Dominacion de los
+Arabes, prólogo.--Casiri, Bibliotheca Escurialensis, tom. i. p. 172.
+
+[26] Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 30.--Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, rey 30,
+cap. 10.
+
+[27] Casiri, Bibliotheca Escurialensis, tom. ii. p. 281.--Pedraza,
+Antiguedad de Granada, lib. 3, cap. 10.
+
+[28] Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 31. There are some discrepancies, not
+important, however, between the narrative of Gomez and the other
+authorities. Gomez, considering his uncommon opportunities of information,
+is worth them all.
+
+[29] Suma de la Vida de Cisneros, MS.--Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, lib. 2,
+fol. 31.--Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 26.
+
+[30] Robles, Vida de Ximenez, cap. 14.--Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii.
+lib. 27, cap. 5.--Quintanilla, Archetype, p. 56.--Peter Martyr, Opus
+Epist., epist. 212.
+
+[31] Mariana, Hist. de España, ubi supra.--Bleda, Corónica, lib. 5, cap.
+23.--Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, p. 11.
+
+[32] Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 25.--Peter Martyr, Opus
+Epist., epist. 212.--Quintanilla, Archetype, p. 56.--Bleda, Corónica, ubi
+supra.
+
+[33] Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, loc cit.--Mendoza, Guerra de Granada,
+lib. 1, p. 11. That such confidence was justified, may be inferred from a
+common saying of Archbishop Talavera, "That Moorish works and Spanish
+faith were all that were wanting to make a good Christian." A bitter
+sarcasm this on his own countrymen! Pedraza, Antiguedad de Granada, lib.
+3, cap. 10.
+
+[34] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 212.--Bleda, Corónica, loc. cit.--
+Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, ubi supra.
+
+[35] Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. lib. 27, cap. 5.--Robles, Vida de
+Ximenez, 14.--Suma de la Vida de Cisneros, MS.
+
+[36] Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 32.--Robles, Vida de Ximenez, cap. 14.
+
+[37] Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, ubi supra.
+
+[38] Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 33.--Suma de la Vida de Cisneros, MS.
+
+[39] Bleda, Corónica, lib. 5, cap. 23.--Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii.
+lib. 27, cap. 5.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 215.--Marmol, Rebelion
+de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 27.--Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, lib. 2, fol. 32.--
+Lanuza, Historias, tom. i. lib. 1, cap. 11.--Carbajal, Anales, MS., año
+1500.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 159.--The last author carries
+the number of converts in Granada and its _environs_ to 70,000.
+
+[40] "Tu vero inquies," he says, in a letter to the cardinal of Santa
+Cruz, "hisdem in snum Mahometem vivent animis, atque id jure merito
+suspicandum est. Durum namque majorum institute relinquere; attamen ego
+existimo, consultum optime fuisse ipsorum admittere postulata: paulatim
+namque nova superveniente disciplina, juvenun saltem et infantum atque eo
+tutius nepotum, inanibus illis superstitionibus abrasis, novis imbuentur
+ritibus. De senescentibus, qui callosis animis induruerunt, haud ego
+quidem id futurum inficior." Opus Epist., epist. 215.--Also, Carta de
+Gonzalo, MS.
+
+[41] "Magnae deinceps," says Gomez, "apud omnes veneration! Ximenius esse
+cospit.--Porro plus mentis acie videre quam solent homines credebatur,
+qufid re ancipiti, neque plane confirmata, barbara civitate adhoc suum
+Mahumetum spirante, tanza animi contentione, ut Christi doctrinam
+amplecterentur, laboraverat et effecerat." (De Rebus Gestis, fol. 33.) The
+panegyric of the Spaniard is endorsed by Fléchier, (Histoire de Ximenes,
+p. 119,) who, in the age of Louis XIV., displays all the bigotry of that
+of Ferdinand and Isabella.
+
+[42] Talavera, as I have already noticed, had caused the offices,
+catechisms, and other religious exercises to be translated into Arabic for
+the use of the converts; proposing to extend the translation at some
+future time to the great body of the Scriptures. That time had now
+arrived, but Ximenes vehemently remonstrated against the measure. "It
+would be throwing pearls before swine," said he, "to open the Scriptures
+to persons in their low state of ignorance, who could not fail, as St.
+Paul says, to wrest them to their own destruction. The word of God should
+be wrapped in discreet mystery from the vulgar, who feel little reverence
+for what is plain and obvious. It was for this reason, that our Saviour
+himself clothed his doctrines in parables, when he addressed the people.
+The Scriptures should be confined to the three ancient languages, which
+God with mystic import permitted to be inscribed over the head of his
+crucified Son; and the vernacular should be reserved for such devotional
+and moral treatises, as holy men indite, in order to quicken the soul, and
+turn it from the pursuit of worldly vanities to heavenly contemplation."
+De Rebus Gestis, fol. 32, 33.
+
+The narrowest opinion, as usual, prevailed, and Talavera abandoned his
+wise and benevolent purpose. The sagacious arguments of the primate lead
+his biographer, Gomez, to conclude, that he had a prophetic knowledge of
+the coming heresy of Luther, which owed so much of its success to the
+vernacular versions of the Scriptures; in which probable opinion he is
+faithfully echoed, as usual, by the good bishop of Nismes. Fléchier, Hist.
+de Ximenés, pp. 117-119.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+RISING IN THE ALPUXARRAS.--DEATH OF ALONSO DE AGUILAR.--EDICT AGAINST THE
+MOORS.
+
+1500-1502.
+
+Rising in the Alpuxarras.--Expedition to the Sierra Vermeja.--Alonso de
+Aguilar.--His Noble Character, and Death.--Bloody Rout of the Spaniards.--
+Final Submission to Ferdinand.--Cruel Policy of the Victors.--
+Commemorative Ballads.--Edict against the Moors,--Causes of Intolerance.--
+Last Notice of the Moors under the Present Reign.
+
+
+While affairs went forward so triumphantly in the capital of Granada, they
+excited general discontent in other parts of that kingdom, especially the
+wild regions of the Alpuxarras. This range of maritime Alps, which
+stretches to the distance of seventeen leagues in a southeasterly
+direction from the Moorish capital, sending out its sierras like so many
+broad arms towards the Mediterranean, was thickly sprinkled with Moorish
+villages, cresting the bald summits of the mountains, or checkering the
+green slopes and valleys which lay between them. Its simple inhabitants,
+locked up within the lonely recesses of their hills, and accustomed to a
+life of penury and toil, had escaped the corruptions as well as
+refinements of civilization. In ancient times they had afforded a hardy
+militia for the princes of Granada; and they now exhibited an unshaken
+attachment to their ancient institutions and religion, which had been
+somewhat effaced in the great cities by more intimate intercourse with the
+Europeans. [1]
+
+These warlike mountaineers beheld with gathering resentment the faithless
+conduct pursued towards their countrymen, which, they had good reason to
+fear, would soon be extended to themselves; and their fiery passions were
+inflamed to an ungovernable height by the public apostasy of Granada. They
+at length resolved to anticipate any similar attempt on themselves by a
+general insurrection. They accordingly seized on the fortresses and strong
+passes throughout the country, and began as usual with forays into the
+lands of the Christians.
+
+These bold acts excited much alarm in the capital, and the count of
+Tendilla took vigorous measures for quenching the rebellion in its birth.
+Gonsalvo de Cordova, his early pupil, but who might now well be his master
+in the art of war, was at that time residing in Granada; and Tendilla
+availed himself of his assistance to enforce a hasty muster of levies, and
+march at once against the enemy.
+
+His first movement was against Huejar, a fortified town situated in one of
+the eastern ranges of the Alpuxarras, whose inhabitants had taken the lead
+in the insurrection. The enterprise was attended with more difficulty than
+was expected. "God's enemies," to borrow the charitable epithet of the
+Castilian chroniclers, had ploughed up the lands in the neighborhood; and,
+as the light cavalry of the Spaniards was working its way through the deep
+furrows, the Moors opened the canals which intersected the fields, and in
+a moment the horses were floundering up to their girths in the mire and
+water. Thus embarrassed in their progress, the Spaniards presented a fatal
+mark to the Moorish missiles, which rained on them with pitiless fury; and
+it was not without great efforts and considerable loss, that they gained a
+firm landing on the opposite side. Undismayed, however, they then charged
+the enemy with such vivacity, as compelled him to give way and take refuge
+within the defences of the town.
+
+No impediment could now check the ardor of the assailants. They threw
+themselves from their horses, and, bringing forward the scaling-ladders,
+planted them against the walls. Gonsalvo was the first to gain the summit;
+and, as a powerful Moor endeavored to thrust him from the topmost round of
+the ladder, he grasped the battlements firmly with his left hand and dealt
+the infidel such a blow with the sword in his right, as brought him
+headlong to the ground. He then leapt into the place, and was speedily
+followed by his troops. The enemy made a brief and ineffectual resistance.
+The greater part were put to the sword; the remainder, including the women
+and children, were made slaves, and the town was delivered up to pillage.
+[2]
+
+The severity of this military execution had not the effect of intimidating
+the insurgents; and the revolt wore so serious an aspect, that King
+Ferdinand found it necessary to take the field in person, which he did at
+the head of as complete and beautiful a body of Castilian chivalry as ever
+graced the campaigns of Granada. [3] Quitting Alhendin, the place of
+rendezvous, in the latter end of February, 1500, he directed his march on
+Lanjaron, one of the towns most active in the revolt, and perched high
+among the inaccessible fastnesses of the sierra, southeast of Granada.
+
+The inhabitants, trusting to the natural strength of a situation, which
+had once baffled the arms of the bold Moorish chief El Zagal, took no
+precautions to secure the passes. Ferdinand, relying on this, avoided the
+more direct avenue to the place; and, bringing his men by a circuitous
+route over dangerous ravines and dark and dizzy precipices, where the foot
+of the hunter had seldom ventured, succeeded at length, after incredible
+toil and hazard, in reaching an elevated point, which entirely commanded
+the Moorish fortress.
+
+Great was the dismay of the insurgents at the apparition of the Christian
+banners, streaming in triumph in the upper air, from the very pinnacles of
+the sierra. They stoutly persisted, however, in the refusal to surrender.
+But their works were too feeble to stand the assault of men, who had
+vanquished the more formidable obstacles of nature; and, after a short
+struggle, the place was carried by storm, and its wretched inmates
+experienced the same dreadful fate with those of Huejar. [4]
+
+At nearly the same time, the count of Lerin took several other fortified
+places in the Alpuxarras, in one of which he blew up a mosque filled with
+women and children. Hostilities were carried on with all the ferocity of a
+civil, or rather servile war; and the Spaniards, repudiating all the
+feelings of courtesy and generosity, which they had once shown to the same
+men, when dealing with them as honorable enemies, now regarded them only
+as rebellious vassals, or indeed slaves, whom the public safety required
+to be not merely chastised, but exterminated.
+
+These severities, added to the conviction of their own impotence, at
+length broke the spirit of the Moors, who were reduced to the most humble
+concessions; and the Catholic king, "unwilling out of his great clemency,"
+says Abarca, "to stain his sword with the blood of all these wild beasts
+of the Alpuxarras," consented to terms, which may be deemed reasonable, at
+least in comparison with his previous policy. These were, the surrender of
+their arms and fortresses and the payment of the round sum of fifty
+thousand ducats. [5]
+
+As soon as tranquillity was re-established, measures were taken for
+securing it permanently, by introducing Christianity among the natives,
+without which they never could remain well affected to their present
+government. Holy men were therefore sent as missionaries, to admonish
+them, calmly and without violence, of their errors, and to instruct them
+in the great truths of revelation. [6] Various immunities were also
+proposed, as an additional incentive to conversion, including an entire
+exemption to the party from the payment of his share of the heavy mulct
+lately imposed. [7] The wisdom of these temperate measures became every
+day more visible in the conversion, not merely of the simple mountaineers,
+but of nearly all the population of the great cities of Baza, Guadix, and
+Almeria, who consented before the end of the year to abjure their ancient
+religion, and receive baptism. [8]
+
+This defection, however, caused great scandal among the more sturdy of
+their countrymen, and a new insurrection broke out on the eastern confines
+of the Alpuxarras, which was suppressed with similar circumstances of
+stern severity,. and a similar exaction of a heavy sum of money;--money,
+whose doubtful efficacy may be discerned, sometimes in staying, but more
+frequently in stimulating, the arm of persecution. [9]
+
+But while the murmurs of rebellion died away in the east, they were heard
+in thunders from the distant hills on the western borders of Granada. This
+district, comprehending the sierras Vermeja and Villa Luenga, in the
+neighborhood of Ronda, was peopled by a warlike race, among whom was the
+African tribe of Gandules, whose blood boiled with the same tropical
+fervor as that which glowed in the veins of their ancestors. They had
+early shown symptoms of discontent at the late proceedings in the capital.
+The duchess of Arcos, widow of the great marquis duke of Cadiz, whose
+estates lay in that quarter, [10] used her personal exertions to appease
+them; and the government made the most earnest assurances of its intention
+to respect whatever had been guaranteed by the treaty of capitulation.
+[11] But they had learned to place little trust in princes; and the
+rapidly extending apostasy of their countrymen exasperated them to such a
+degree, that they at length broke out in the most atrocious acts of
+violence; murdering the Christian missionaries, and kidnapping, if report
+be true, many Spaniards of both sexes, whom they sold as slaves in Africa.
+They were accused, with far more probability, of entering into a secret
+correspondence with their brethren on the opposite shore, in order to
+secure their support in the meditated revolt. [12]
+
+The government displayed its usual promptness and energy on this occasion.
+Orders were issued to the principal chiefs and cities of Andalusia, to
+muster their forces with all possible despatch, and concentrate them on
+Ronda.
+
+The summons was obeyed with such alacrity, that, in the course of a very
+few weeks, the streets of that busy city were thronged with a shining
+array of warriors drawn from all the principal towns of Andalusia. Seville
+sent three hundred horse and two thousand foot. The principal leaders of
+the expedition were the count of Cifuentes, who, as assistant of Seville,
+commanded the troops of that city; the count of Ureña, and Alonso de
+Aguilar, elder brother of the Great Captain, and distinguished like him
+for the highest qualities of mind and person.
+
+It was determined by the chiefs to strike at once into the heart of the
+Sierra Vermeja, or Red Sierra, as it was called from the color of its
+rocks, rising to the east of Ronda, and the principal theatre of
+insurrection. On the 18th of March, 1501, the little army encamped before
+Monarda, on the skirts of a mountain, where the Moors were understood to
+have assembled in considerable force. They had not been long in these
+quarters before parties of the enemy were seen hovering along the slopes
+of the mountain, from which the Christian camp was divided by a narrow
+river,--the Rio Verde, probably, which has gained such mournful celebrity
+in Spanish song. [13] Aguilar's troops, who occupied the van, were so much
+roused by the sight of the enemy, that a small party, seizing a banner,
+rushed across the stream without orders, in pursuit of them.
+
+The odds, however, were so great, that they would have been severely
+handled, had not Aguilar, while he bitterly condemned their temerity,
+advanced promptly to their support with the remainder of his corps. The
+count of Ureña followed with the central division, leaving the count of
+Cifuentes with the troops of Seville to protect the camp. [14]
+
+The Moors fell back as the Christians advanced, and, retreating nimbly
+from point to point, led them up the rugged steeps far into the recesses
+of the mountains. At length they reached an open level, encompassed on all
+sides by a natural rampart of rocks, where they had deposited their
+valuable effects, together with their wives and children. The latter, at
+sight of the invaders, uttered dismal cries, and fled into the remoter
+depths of the sierra.
+
+The Christians were too much attracted by the rich spoil before them to
+think of following, and dispersed in every direction in quest of plunder,
+with all the heedlessness and insubordination of raw, inexperienced
+levies. It was in vain, that Alonso de Aguilar reminded them, that their
+wily enemy was still unconquered; or that he endeavored to force them into
+the ranks again, and restore order. No one heeded his call, or thought of
+anything beyond the present moment, and of securing as much booty to
+himself as he could carry.
+
+The Moors, in the mean while, finding themselves no longer pursued, were
+aware of the occupation of the Christians, whom they not improbably had
+purposely decoyed into the snare. They resolved to return to the scene of
+action, and surprise their incautious enemy. Stealthily advancing,
+therefore, under the shadows of night, now falling thick around, they
+poured through the rocky defiles of the inclosure upon the astonished
+Spaniards. An unlucky explosion, at this crisis, of a cask of powder, into
+which a spark had accidentally fallen, threw a broad glare over the scene,
+and revealed for a moment the situation of the hostile parties;--the
+Spaniards in the utmost disorder, many of them without arms, and
+staggering under the weight of their fatal booty; while their enemies were
+seen gliding like so many demons of darkness through every crevice and
+avenue of the inclosure, in the act of springing on their devoted victims.
+This appalling spectacle, vanishing almost as soon as seen, and followed
+by the hideous yells and war-cries of the assailants, struck a panic into
+the hearts of the soldiers, who fled, scarcely offering any resistance.
+The darkness of the night was as favorable to the Moors, familiar with all
+the intricacies of the ground, as it was fatal to the Christians, who,
+bewildered in the mazes of the sierra, and losing their footing at every
+step, fell under the swords of their pursuers, or went down the dark gulfs
+and precipices which yawned all around. [15]
+
+Amidst this dreadful confusion, the count of Ureña succeeded in gaining a
+lower level of the sierra, where he halted and endeavored to rally his
+panic-struck followers. His noble comrade, Alonso de Aguilar, still
+maintained his position on the heights above, refusing all entreaties of
+his followers to attempt a retreat. "When," said he proudly, "was the
+banner of Aguilar ever known to fly from the field?" His eldest son, the
+heir of his house and honors, Don Pedro de Cordova, a youth of great
+promise, fought at his side. He had received a severe wound on the head
+from a stone, and a javelin had pierced quite through his leg. With one
+knee resting on the ground, however, he still made a brave defence with
+his sword. The sight was too much for the father, and he implored him to
+suffer himself to be removed from the field. "Let not the hopes of our
+house be crushed at a single blow," said he; "go, my son, live as becomes
+a Christian knight,--live, and cherish your desolate mother." All his
+entreaties were fruitless, however; and the gallant boy refused to leave
+his father's side, till he was forcibly borne away by the attendants, who
+fortunately succeeded in bringing him in safety to the station occupied by
+the count of Ureña. [16]
+
+Meantime the brave little band of cavaliers, who remained true to Aguilar,
+had fallen one after another; and the chief, left almost alone, retreated
+to a huge rock which rose in the middle of the plain, and, placing his
+back against it, still made fight, though weakened by loss of blood, like
+a lion at bay, against his enemies. [17] In this situation he was pressed
+so hard by a Moor of uncommon size and strength, that he was compelled to
+turn and close with him in single combat. The strife was long and
+desperate, till Don Alonso, whose corselet had become unlaced in the
+previous struggle, having--received a severe wound in the breast, followed
+by another on the head, grappled closely with his adversary, and they came
+rolling on the ground together. The Moor remained uppermost; but the
+spirit of the Spanish cavalier had not sunk with his strength, and he
+proudly exclaimed, as if to intimidate his enemy, "I am Don Alonso de
+Aguilar;" to which the other rejoined, "And I am the Feri de Ben Estepar,"
+a well-known name of terror to the Christians. The sound of this detested
+name roused all the vengeance of the dying hero; and, grasping his foe in
+mortal agony, he rallied his strength for a final blow; but it was too
+late,-his hand failed, and he was soon despatched by the dagger of his
+more vigorous rival. [18]
+
+Thus fell Alonso Hernandez de Cordova, or Alonso de Aguilar, as he is
+commonly called from the land where his family estates lay. [19] "He was
+of the greatest authority among the grandees of his time," says Father
+Abarca, "for his lineage, personal character, large domains, and the high
+posts which he filled, both in peace and war. More than forty years of his
+life he served against the infidel, under the banner of his house in
+boyhood, and as leader of that same banner in later life, or as viceroy of
+Andalusia and commander of the royal armies. He was the fifth lord of his
+warlike and pious house who had fallen fighting for their country and
+religion against the accursed sect of Mahomet. And there is good reason to
+believe," continues the same orthodox authority, "that his soul has
+received the glorious reward of the Christian soldier; since he was armed
+on that very morning with the blessed sacraments of confession and
+communion." [20]
+
+The victorious Moors, all this time, were driving the unresisting
+Spaniards, like so many terrified deer, down the dark steeps of the
+sierra. The count of Ureña, who had seen his son stretched by his side,
+and received a severe wound himself, made the most desperate efforts to
+rally the fugitives, but was at length swept away by the torrent. Trusting
+himself to a faithful adalid, who knew the passes, he succeeded with much
+difficulty in reaching the foot of the mountain, with such a small remnant
+of his followers as could keep in his track. [21] Fortunately, he there
+found the count of Cifuentes, who had crossed the river with the
+rearguard, and encamped on a rising ground in the neighborhood. Under
+favor of this strong position, the latter commander and his brave
+Sevillians, all fresh for action, were enabled to cover the shattered
+remains of the Spaniards, and beat off the assaults of their enemies till
+the break of morn, when they vanished like so many foul birds of night
+into the recesses of the mountains.
+
+The rising day, which dispersed their foes, now revealed to the Christians
+the dreadful extent of their own losses. Few were to be seen of all that
+proud array, which had marched up the heights so confidently under the
+banners of their ill-fated chiefs the preceding evening. The bloody roll
+of slaughter, besides the common file, was graced with the names of the
+best and bravest of the Christian knighthood, Among the number was
+Francisco Ramirez de Madrid, the distinguished engineer, who had
+contributed so essentially to the success of the Granadine war. [22]
+
+The sad tidings of the defeat soon spread throughout the country,
+occasioning a sensation such as had not been felt since the tragic affair
+of the Axarquia. Men could scarcely credit that so much mischief could be
+inflicted by an outcast race, who, whatever terror they once inspired, had
+long since been regarded with indifference or contempt. Every Spaniard
+seemed to consider himself in some way or other involved in the disgrace;
+and the most spirited exertions were made on all sides to retrieve it. By
+the beginning of April, King Ferdinand found himself at Ronda, at the head
+of a strong body of troops, which he determined to lead in person,
+notwithstanding the remonstrances of his courtiers, into the heart of the
+Sierra, and take bloody vengeance on the rebels.
+
+These latter, however, far from being encouraged, were appalled by the
+extent of their own success; and, as the note of warlike preparation
+reached them in their fastnesses, they felt their temerity in thus
+bringing the whole weight of the Castilian monarchy on their heads. They
+accordingly abandoned all thoughts of further resistance, and lost no time
+in sending deputies to the king's camp, to deprecate his anger, and sue in
+the most submissive terms for pardon.
+
+Ferdinand, though far from vindictive, was less open to pity than the
+queen; and in the present instance he indulged in a full measure of the
+indignation, with which sovereigns, naturally identifying themselves with
+the state, are wont to regard rebellion, by viewing it in the aggravated
+light of a personal offence. After some hesitation, however, his prudence
+got the better of his passions, as he reflected that he was in a situation
+to dictate the terms of victory, without paying the usual price for it.
+His past experience seems to have convinced him of the hopelessness of
+infusing sentiments of loyalty in a Mussulman towards a Christian prince;
+for, while he granted a general amnesty to those concerned in the
+insurrection, it was only on the alternative of baptism or exile, engaging
+at the same time to provide conveyance for such as chose to leave the
+country, on the payment of ten doblas of gold a head. [23.]
+
+These engagements were punctually fulfilled. The Moorish emigrants were
+transported in public galleys from Estepona to the Barbary coast. The
+number, however, was probably small; by far the greater part being
+obliged, however reluctantly, from want of funds, to remain and be
+baptized. "They would never have stayed," says Bleda, "if they could have
+mustered the ten doblas of gold; a circumstance," continues that
+charitable writer, "which shows with what levity they received baptism,
+and for what paltry considerations they could be guilty of such
+sacrilegious hypocrisy!" [24]
+
+But, although every spark of insurrection was thus effectually
+extinguished, it was long, very long, before the Spanish nation could
+recover from the blow, or forget the sad story of its disaster in the Red
+Sierra. It became the theme, not only of chronicle, but of song; the note
+of sorrow was prolonged in many a plaintive _romance_, and the names
+of Aguilar and his unfortunate companions were embalmed in that beautiful
+minstrelsy, scarcely less imperishable, and far more touching, than the
+stately and elaborate records of history. [25] The popular feeling was
+displayed after another fashion in regard to the count of Ureña and his
+followers, who were accused of deserting their posts in the hour of peril;
+and more than one ballad of the time reproachfully demanded an account
+from him of the brave companions in arms whom he had left in the Sierra.
+[26]
+
+The imputation on this gallant nobleman appears wholly undeserved; for
+certainly he was not called on to throw away his own life and those of his
+brave followers, in a cause perfectly desperate, for a chimerical point of
+honor. And, so far from forfeiting the favor of his sovereigns by his
+conduct on this occasion, he was maintained by them in the same high
+stations, which he before held, and which he continued to fill with
+dignity to a good old age. [27]
+
+It was about seventy years after this event, in 1570, that the duke of
+Arcos, descended from the great marquis of Cadiz, and from this same count
+of Ureña, led an expedition into the Sierra Vermeja, in order to suppress
+a similar insurrection of the Moriscoes. Among the party were many of the
+descendants and kinsmen of those who had fought under Aguilar. It was the
+first time since that these rude passes had been trodden by Christian
+feet; but the traditions of early childhood had made every inch of ground
+familiar to the soldiers. Some way up the eminence, they recognized the
+point at which the count of Ureña had made his stand; and further still,
+the fatal plain, belted round with its dark rampart of rocks, where the
+strife had been hottest. Scattered fragments of arms and harness still lay
+rusting on the ground, which was covered with the bones of the warriors,
+that had lain for more than half a century unburied and bleaching in the
+sun. [28] Here was the spot on which the brave son of Aguilar had fought
+so sturdily by his father's side; and there the huge rock, at whose foot
+the chieftain had fallen, throwing its dark shadow over the remains of the
+noble dead, who lay sleeping around. The strongly marked features of the
+ground called up all the circumstances, which the soldiers had gathered
+from tradition; their hearts beat high, as they recapitulated them one to
+another; and the tears, says the eloquent historian who tells the story,
+fell fast down their iron cheeks, as they gazed on the sad relics, and
+offered up a soldier's prayer for the heroic souls which once animated
+them. [29]
+
+Tranquillity was now restored throughout the wide borders of Granada. The
+banner of the Cross floated triumphantly over the whole extent of its wild
+sierras, its broad valleys, and populous cities. Every Moor, in exterior
+at least, had become a Christian. Every mosque had been converted into a
+Christian church. Still the country was not entirely purified from the
+stain of Islamism, since many professing their ancient faith were
+scattered over different parts of the kingdom of Castile, where they had
+been long resident before the surrender of their capital. The late events
+seemed to have no other effect than to harden them in error; and the
+Spanish government saw with alarm the pernicious influence of their
+example and persuasion, in shaking the infirm faith of the new converts.
+
+To obviate this, an ordinance was published, in the summer of 1501,
+prohibiting all intercourse between these Moors and the orthodox kingdom
+of Granada. [30] At length, however, convinced that there was no other way
+to save the precious seed from being choked by the thorns of infidelity
+than to eradicate them altogether, the sovereigns came to the
+extraordinary resolution of offering them the alternative of baptism or
+exile. They issued a pragmática to that effect from Seville, February
+12th, 1502. After a preamble, duly setting forth the obligations of
+gratitude on the Castilians to drive God's enemies from the land, which he
+in his good time had delivered into their hands, and the numerous
+backslidings occasioned among the new converts by their intercourse with
+their unbaptized brethren, the act goes on to state, in much the same
+terms with the famous ordinance against the Jews, that all the unbaptized
+Moors in the kingdoms of Castile and Leon, above fourteen years of age if
+males, and twelve if females, must leave the country by the end of April
+following; that they might sell their property in the mean time, and take
+the proceeds in anything save gold and silver and merchandise regularly
+prohibited; and, finally, that they might emigrate to any foreign country,
+except the dominions of the Grand Turk, and such parts of Africa as Spain
+was then at war with. Obedience to these severe provisions was enforced by
+the penalties of death and confiscation of property. [31]
+
+This stern edict, so closely modelled on that against the Jews, must have
+been even more grievous in its application. [32] For the Jews may be said
+to have been denizens almost equally of every country; while the Moors,
+excluded from a retreat among their countrymen on the African shore, were
+sent into the lands of enemies or strangers. The former, moreover, were
+far better qualified by their natural shrewdness and commercial habits for
+disposing of their property advantageously, than the simple, inexperienced
+Moors, skilled in little else than husbandry or rude mechanic arts. We
+have nowhere met with any estimate of the number who migrated on this
+occasion. The Castilian writers pass over the whole affair in a very few
+words; not, indeed, as is too evident, from any feelings of
+disapprobation, but from its insignificance in a political view. Their
+silence implies a very inconsiderable amount of emigrants; a circumstance
+not to-be wondered at, as there were very few, probably, who would not
+sooner imitate their Granadine brethren, in assuming the mask of
+Christianity, than encounter exile under all the aggravated miseries with
+which it was accompanied. [33]
+
+Castile might now boast, the first time for eight centuries, that every
+outward stain, at least, of infidelity, was purified from her bosom. But
+how had this been accomplished? By the most detestable expedients which
+sophistry could devise, and oppression execute; and that, too, under an
+enlightened government, proposing to be guided solely by a conscientious
+regard for duty. To comprehend this more fully, it will be necessary to
+take a brief view of public sentiment in matters of religion at that time.
+
+It is a singular paradox, that Christianity, whose doctrines inculcate
+unbounded charity, should have been made so often an engine of
+persecution; while Mahometanism, whose principles are those of avowed
+intolerance, should have exhibited, at least till later times, a truly
+philosophical spirit of toleration. [34] Even the first victorious
+disciples of the prophet, glowing with all the fiery zeal of proselytism,
+were content with the exaction of tribute from the vanquished; at least,
+more vindictive feelings were reserved only for idolaters, who did not,
+like the Jews and Christians, acknowledge with themselves the unity of
+God. With these latter denominations they had obvious sympathy, since it
+was their creed which formed the basis of their own. [35] In Spain, where
+the fiery temperament of the Arab was gradually softened under the
+influence of a temperate climate and higher mental culture, the toleration
+of the Jews and Christians, as we have already had occasion to notice, was
+so remarkable, that, within a few years after the conquest, we find them
+not only protected in the enjoyment of civil and religious freedom, but
+mingling on terms almost of equality with their conquerors.
+
+It is not necessary to inquire here, how far the different policy of the
+Christians was owing to the peculiar constitution of their hierarchy,
+which, composed of a spiritual militia drawn from every country in Europe,
+was cut off by its position from all human sympathies, and attached to no
+interests but its own; which availed itself of the superior science and
+reputed sanctity, that were supposed to have given it the key to the dread
+mysteries of a future life, not to enlighten but to enslave the minds of a
+credulous world; and which, making its own tenets the only standard of
+faith, its own rites and ceremonial the only evidence of virtue,
+obliterated the great laws of morality, written by the divine hand on
+every heart, and gradually built up a system of exclusiveness and
+intolerance most repugnant to the mild and charitable religion of Jesus
+Christ.
+
+Before the close of the fifteenth century, several circumstances operated
+to sharpen the edge of intolerance, especially against the Arabs. The
+Turks, whose political consideration of late years had made them the
+peculiar representatives and champions of Mahometanism, had shown a
+ferocity and cruelty in their treatment of the Christians, which brought
+general odium on all the professors of their faith, and on the Moors, of
+course, though most undeservedly, in common with the rest. The bold,
+heterodox doctrines, also, which had occasionally broken forth in
+different parts of Europe in the fifteenth century, like so many faint
+streaks of light ushering in the glorious morn of the Reformation, had
+roused the alarm of the champions of the church, and kindled on more than
+one occasion the fires of persecution; and, before the close of the
+period, the Inquisition was introduced into Spain.
+
+From that disastrous hour, religion wore a new aspect in this unhappy
+country. The spirit of intolerance, no longer hooded in the darkness of
+the cloister, now stalked abroad in all his terrors. Zeal was exalted into
+fanaticism, and a rational spirit of proselytism, into one of fiendish
+persecution. It was not enough now, as formerly, to conform passively to
+the doctrines of the church, but it was enjoined to make war on all who
+refused them. The natural feelings of compunction in the discharge of this
+sad duty was a crime; and the tear of sympathy, wrung out by the sight of
+mortal agonies, was an offence to be expiated by humiliating penance. The
+most frightful maxims were deliberately engrafted into the code of morals.
+Any one, it was said, might conscientiously kill an apostate wherever he
+could meet him. There was some doubt whether a man might slay his own
+father, if a heretic or infidel, but none whatever as to his right, in
+that event, to take away the life of his son or of his brother. [36] These
+maxims were not a dead letter, but of most active operation, as the sad
+records of the dread tribunal too well prove. The character of the nation
+underwent a melancholy change. The milk of charity, nay of human feeling,
+was soured in every bosom. The liberality of the old Spanish cavalier gave
+way to the fiery fanaticism of the monk. The taste for blood, once
+gratified, begat a cannibal appetite in the people, who, cheered on by the
+frantic clergy, seemed to vie with one another in the eagerness with which
+they ran down the miserable game of the Inquisition.
+
+It was at this very time, when the infernal monster, gorged but not sated
+with human sacrifice, was crying aloud for fresh victims, that Granada
+surrendered to the Spaniards, under the solemn guaranty of the full
+enjoyment of civil and religious liberty. The treaty of capitulation
+granted too much, or too little,--too little for an independent state, too
+much for one whose existence was now merged in that of a greater; for it
+secured to the Moors privileges in some respects superior to those of the
+Castilians, and to the prejudice of the latter. Such, for example, was the
+permission to trade with the Barbary coast, and with the various places in
+Castile and Andalusia, without paying the duties imposed on the Spaniards
+themselves; [37] and that article, again, by which runaway Moorish slaves
+from other parts of the kingdom were made free and incapable of being
+reclaimed by their masters, if they could reach Granada. [38] The former
+of these provisions struck at the commercial profits of the Spaniards, the
+latter directly at their property.
+
+It is not too much to say, that such a treaty, depending for its
+observance on the good faith and forbearance of the stronger party, would
+not hold together a year in any country of Christendom, even at the
+present day, before some flaw or pretext would be devised to evade it. How
+much greater was the probability of this in the present case, where the
+weaker party was viewed with all the accumulated odium of long hereditary
+hostility and religious rancor!
+
+The work of conversion, on which the Christians, no doubt, much relied,
+was attended with greater difficulties than had been anticipated by the
+conquerors. It was now found, that, while the Moors retained their present
+faith, they would be much better affected towards their countrymen in
+Africa, than to the nation with which they were incorporated. In short,
+Spain still had enemies in her bosom; and reports were rife in every
+quarter, of their secret intelligence with the Barbary states, and of
+Christians kidnapped to be sold as slaves to Algerine corsairs. Such
+tales, greedily circulated and swallowed, soon begat general alarm; and
+men are not apt to be over-scrupulous as to measures which they deem
+essential to their personal safety.
+
+The zealous attempt to bring about conversion by preaching and
+expostulation was fair and commendable. The intervention of bribes and
+promises, if it violated the spirit, did not, at least, the letter of the
+treaty. The application of force to a few of the most refractory, who by
+their blind obstinacy were excluding a whole nation from the benefits of
+redemption, was to be defended on other grounds; and these were not
+wanting to cunning theologians, who considered that the sanctity of the
+end justified extraordinary means, and that, where the eternal interests
+of the soul were at stake, the force of promises and the faith of treaties
+were equally nugatory. [39]
+
+But the _chef-d'oeuvre_ of monkish casuistry was the argument imputed
+to Ximenes for depriving the Moors of the benefits of the treaty, as a
+legitimate consequence of the rebellion, into which they had been driven
+by his own malpractices. This proposition, however, far from outraging the
+feelings of the nation, well drilled by this time in the metaphysics of
+the cloister, fell short of them, if we are to judge from recommendations
+of a still more questionable import, urged, though ineffectually, on the
+sovereigns at this very time, from the highest quarter. [40]
+
+Such are the frightful results to which the fairest mind may be led, when
+it introduces the refinements of logic into the discussions of duty; when,
+proposing to achieve some great good, whether in politics or religion, it
+conceives that the importance of the object authorizes a departure from
+the plain principles of morality, which regulate the ordinary affairs of
+life; and when, blending these higher interests with those of a personal
+nature, it becomes incapable of discriminating between them, and is led
+insensibly to act from selfish motives, while it fondly imagines itself
+obeying only the conscientious dictates of duty. [41]
+
+With these events may be said to terminate the history of the Moors, or
+the Moriscoes, as henceforth called, under the present reign. Eight
+centuries had elapsed since their first occupation of the country; during
+which period they had exhibited all the various phases of civilization,
+from its dawn to its decline. Ten years had sufficed to overturn the
+splendid remains of this powerful empire; and ten more, for its nominal
+conversion to Christianity. A long century of persecution, of unmitigated
+and unmerited suffering, was to follow, before the whole was to be
+consummated by the expulsion of this unhappy race from the Peninsula.
+Their story, in this latter period, furnishes one of the most memorable
+examples in history, of the impotence of persecution, even in support of a
+good cause against a bad one. It is a lesson that cannot be too deeply
+pondered through every succeeding age. The fires of the Inquisition are,
+indeed, extinguished, probably to be lighted no more. But where is the
+land which can boast that the spirit of intolerance, which forms the very
+breath of persecution, is altogether extinct in its bosom?
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+[1] Alpuxarras,--an Arabic word, signifying "land of warriors," according
+to Salazar de Mendoza. (Monarquía, tom. ii. p. 138.)
+
+According to the more accurate and learned Conde, it is derived from an
+Arabic term for "pasturage." (El Nubiense, Descripcion de España, p. 187.)
+
+  "La Alpuxarra, aquessa sierra
+  que al Sol la cervis lavanta
+  y que poblada de Villas,
+  es Mar de peñas, y plantas,
+  adonde sus poblaciones
+  ondas navegan de plata."
+
+Calderon, (Comedias, (Madrid, 1760,) tom. i. p. 353,) whose gorgeous muse
+sheds a blaze of glory over the rudest scenes.
+
+[2] Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, tom. i. lib. 1, cap. 28.--Quintana,
+Españoles Célebres, tom. i. p. 239.--Bleda, Corónica, lib. 5, cap. 23.--
+Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 159.--Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom.
+ii. fol. 338.--Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, p. 12.
+
+[3] If we are to believe Martyr, the royal force amounted to 80,000 foot
+and 15,000 horse; so large an army, so promptly brought into the field,
+would suggest high ideas of the resources of the nation; too high indeed
+to gain credit, even from Martyr, without confirmation.
+
+[4] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 215.--Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom.
+ii. fol. 338.--Zurita, Anales, tom. v. lib. 3, cap. 45.--Carbajal, Anales,
+MS., año 1500.
+
+[5] Footnote: Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 28.--Abarca,
+Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. fol. 338.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap.
+159.--Bleda, Corónica, lib. 5, cap. 24.
+
+[6] Bleda, Corónica, lib. 5, cap. 24.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS.,
+cap. 165.
+
+[7] Privilegios á los Moros de Valdelecrin y las Alpuxarras que se
+convirtieren, á 30 de Julio de 1500. Archive de Simancas, apud Mem. de la
+Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. apend. 14.
+
+[8] Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1500.--Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib.
+19, cap. 10.
+
+[9] Footnote: Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1501.--Zurita, Anales, tom. v.
+lib. 4, cap. 27, 31.
+
+[10] The great marquis of Cadiz was third count of Arcos, from which his
+descendants took their title on the resumption of Cadiz by the crown after
+his death. Mendoza, Dignidades, lib. 3, cap. 8, 17.
+
+[11] See two letters dated Seville, January and February, 1500, addressed
+by Ferdinand and Isabella to the inhabitants of the Serrania de Ronda,
+preserved in the archives of Simancas, apud Mem. de la Acad. de Hist.,
+tom. vi. Ilust. 15.
+
+[12] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 165.--Bleda, Corónica, lib.
+5, cap. 25.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 221.
+
+The complaints of the Spanish and African Moors to the Sultan of Egypt, or
+of Babylon, as he was then usually styled, had drawn from that prince
+sharp remonstrances to the Catholic sovereigns against their persecutions
+of the Moslems, accompanied by menaces of strict retaliation on the
+Christians in his dominions. In order to avert such calamitous
+consequences, Peter Martyr was sent as ambassador to Egypt. He left
+Granada in August, 1501, proceeded to Venice, and embarked there for
+Alexandria, which place he reached in December. Though cautioned on his
+arrival, that his mission, in the present exasperated state of feeling at
+the court, might cost him his head, the dauntless envoy sailed up the Nile
+under a Mameluke guard to Grand Cairo. Far from experiencing any outrage,
+however, he was courteously received by the Sultan; although the
+ambassador declined compromising the dignity of the court he represented,
+by paying the usual humiliating mark of obeisance, in prostrating himself
+on the ground in the royal presence; an independent bearing highly
+satisfactory to the Castilian historians. (See Garibay, Compendio, tom.
+ii. lib. 19, cap. 12.) He had three audiences, in which he succeeded so
+completely in effacing the unfavorable impressions of the Moslem prince,
+that the latter not only dismissed him with liberal presents, but granted,
+at his request, several important privileges to the Christian residents,
+and the pilgrims to the Holy Land, which lay within his dominions.
+Martyr's account of this interesting visit, which gave him ample
+opportunity for studying the manners of a nation, and seeing the
+stupendous monuments of ancient art, then little familiar to Europeans,
+was published in Latin, under the title of "De Legatione Babylonica," in
+three books, appended to his more celebrated "Decades de Rebus Oceanicis
+et Novo Orbe." Mazzuchelli, (Sorittori d'ltalia, race Anghiera,) notices
+an edition which he had seen published separately, without date or name of
+the printer.
+
+[13]
+  "Rio Verde, Rio Verde,
+  Tinto va en sangre viva;"--
+
+Percy, in his well-known version of one of these agreeable
+_romances_, adopts the tame epithet of "gentle river," from the
+awkwardness, he says, of the literal translation of "verdant river." He
+was not aware, it appears, that the Spanish was a proper name. (See
+Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, (London, 1812,) vol. i. p. 357.) The
+more faithful version of "green river," however, would have nothing very
+unpoetical in it; though our gifted countryman, Bryant seems to intimate,
+by his omission, somewhat of a similar difficulty, in his agreeable
+stanzas on the beautiful stream of that name in New England.
+
+[14] Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, año 1501.--Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom.
+ii. p. 340.--Bleda, Corónica, lib. 5, cap. 26.--Bernaldez, Reyes
+Católicos, MS., cap. 165.
+
+"Fue muy gentil capitan," says Oviedo, speaking of this latter nobleman,
+"y valiente lanza; y rauchas vezes dio testimonio grande de su animoso
+esfuerzo." Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 36.
+
+[15] Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. fol. 340.--Zurita, Anales, tom. v.
+lib. 4, cap. 33.--Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 19, cap. 10.--
+Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 165.--Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos,
+lib. 1, cap. 28.
+
+[16] Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, p. 13.--Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. 2,
+fol. 340.--Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 28.--Oviedo,
+Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 36.
+
+The boy, who lived to man's estate, was afterwards created marquis of
+Priego by the Catholic sovereigns. Salazar de Mendoza, Dignidades, lib. 2,
+cap. 13.
+
+[17] It is the simile of the fine old ballad:
+
+  "Solo queda Don Alonso
+  Su campaña es acabada
+  Pelea como un Leon
+  Pero poco aprovechaba."
+
+[18] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., ubi supra.--Abarca, Reyes de Aragon,
+tom. ii. ubi supra.--Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 19, cap. 10.--
+Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, p. 13.--Sandoval, Hist. Del Emp. Carlos V.,
+tom. i. p. 5.
+
+According to Hyta's prose, Aguilar had first despatched more than thirty
+Moors with his own hand. (Guerras de Granada, part. i. p. 568.) The
+ballad, with more discretion, does not vouch for any particular number.
+
+  "Don Alonso en este tiempo
+  Muy gran batalla hacia,
+  El cavallo le havian muerto,
+  Por muralla le tenia.
+  Y arrimado a un gran peñon
+  Con valor se defendia:
+
+  Muchos Moros tiene muertos,
+  Pero poco le valia.
+  Porque sobre el cargan muchos,
+  Y le dan grandes heridas,
+  Tantas que cayó allí muerto
+  Entre la gente enemiga."
+
+The warrior's death is summed up with an artless brevity, that would be
+affectation in more studied composition.
+
+  "Muerto queda Don Alonso,
+  Y eterna fama ganada."
+
+[19] Paolo Giovio finds an etymology for the name in the eagle (aguila),
+assumed as the device of the warlike ancestors of Don Alonso. St.
+Ferdinand of Castile, in consideration of the services of this illustrious
+house at the taking of Cordova, in 1236, allowed it to bear as a cognomen
+the name of that city. This branch, however, still continued to be
+distinguished by their territorial epithet of Aguilar, although Don
+Alonso's brother, the Great Captain, as we have seen, was more generally
+known by that of Cordova. Vita Magni Gonsalvi, fol. 204.
+
+[20] Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. fol 340, 341.
+
+The hero's body, left on the field of battle, was treated with decent
+respect by the Moors, who restored it to King Ferdinand; and the
+sovereigns caused it to be interred with all suitable pomp in the church
+of St. Hypolito at Cordova. Many years afterwards the marchioness of
+Priego, his descendant, had the tomb opened; and, on examining the
+mouldering remains, the iron head of a lance, received in his last mortal
+struggle, was found buried in the bones. Bleda, Corónica, lib. 5, cap. 26.
+
+[21]
+  "Tambien el Conde de Urena,
+  Mal herido en demasia,
+  Se sale de la batalla
+  Llevado por una guia.
+    "Que sabia bien la senda
+  Que de la Sierra salia:
+  Muchos Moros dexaba muertos
+  Por su grande valentia.
+    "Tambien algunos se escapan,
+  Que al buen Conde le seguian."
+
+Oviedo, speaking of this retreat of the good count and his followers,
+says, "Volvieron las riendas a sus caballos, y se retiraron a mas que
+galope por la multitud de los Infieles." Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc.
+1, dial. 36.
+
+[22] Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, año 1501.--Carbajal, Anales, MS., año
+1501.--Bleda, Corónica, lib. 5, cap. 26.--Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat.
+1, quinc. 1, dial. 36.
+
+For a more particular notice of Ramirez, see Part I. Chapter 13, of this
+History.
+
+[23] Bleda, Corónica, lib. 5, cap. 26, 27.--Robles, Vida de Ximenez, cap.
+16.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 165.--Mariana, Hist. de España,
+lib. 27, cap. 5.--Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 28.
+
+[24] Corónica, lib. 5, cap. 27.
+
+The Curate of Los Palacios disposes of the Moors rather  summarily; "The
+Christians stripped them, gave them a free  passage, and sent them to the
+devil!" Reyes Católicos, cap. 165.
+
+[25] According to one of the _romances_, cited by Hyta, the expedition of
+Aguilar  was a  piece of romantic Quixotism, occasioned by King
+Ferdinand's  challenging the bravest of his knights to plant his banner on
+the summits of the Alpuxarras.
+
+  "Qual de vosotros, amigos,
+  Ira a la Sierra mañana,
+  A poner mi Real pendon
+  Encima de la Alpuxarra?"
+
+All shrunk from the perilous emprise, till Alonso de Aguilar stepped
+forward and boldly assumed it for himself.
+
+  "A todos tiembla la barba,
+  Sino fuera don Alonso,
+  Que de Aguilar se llamaba.
+  Levantose en pie ante el Rey
+  De esta manera le habla.
+
+  "Aquesa empresa, Señor,
+  Para mi estaba guardada,
+  Que mi senora la reyna
+  Ya me la tiene mandada.
+
+  "Alegrose mucho el Rey
+  Por la oferta que le daba,
+  Au no era amanecido
+  Don Alonso ya cavalga."
+
+These popular ditties, it cannot be denied, are slippery authorities for
+any important fact, unless supported by more direct historic testimony.
+When composed, however, by contemporaries, or those who lived near the
+time, they may very naturally record many true details, too insignificant
+in their consequences to attract the notice of history. The ballad
+translated with so much elaborate simplicity by Percy, is chiefly taken
+up, as the English reader may remember, with the exploits of a Sevillian
+hero named Saavedra. No such personage is noticed, as far as I am aware,
+by the Spanish chroniclers. The name of Saavedra, however, appears to have
+been a familiar one in Seville, and occurs two or three times in the
+muster-roll of nobles and cavaliers of that city, who joined King
+Ferdinand's army in the preceding year, 1500. Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla,
+eodem anno.
+
+[26] Mendoza notices these splenetic effusions (Guerra de Granada, p. 13);
+and Bleda (Corónica, p. 636) cites the following couplet from one of them.
+
+  "Decid, conde de Ureña,
+  Don Alonso donde queda."
+
+[27] The Venetian ambassador, Navagiero, saw the count of Ureña at Ossuna,
+in 1526. He was enjoying a green old age, or, as the minister expresses
+it, "molto vecchio e gentil corteggiano però." "Diseases," said the
+veteran good-humoredly, "sometimes visit me, but seldom tarry long; for my
+body is like a crazy old inn, where travellers find such poor fare, that
+they merely touch and go." Viaggio, fol. 17.
+
+[28] Guerra de Granada, p. 301.--Compare the similar painting of Tacitus,
+in the scene where Germanicus pays the last sad offices to the remains of
+Varus and his legions. "Dein semiruto vallo, humili fossa, accisae jam
+reliquiae consedisse intelligebantur: medio campi albentia ossa, ut
+fugerant, ut restiterant, disjecta vel aggerata; adjacebant fragmina
+telorum, equorumque artus, simul truncis arborum antefixa ora."(Annales,
+lib. 1, sect. 61.) Mendoza falls nothing short of this celebrated
+description of the Roman historian;
+
+  "Pan etiam Arcadiâ dicat se judice victum."
+
+[29] Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, pp. 300-302.
+
+The Moorish insurrection of 1570 was attended with at least one good
+result, in calling forth this historic masterpiece, the work of the
+accomplished Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, accomplished alike as a statesman,
+warrior, and historian. His "Guerra de Granada," confined as it is to a
+barren fragment of Moorish history, displays such liberal sentiments,
+(too liberal, indeed, to permit its publication till long after its
+author's death,) profound reflection, and classic elegance of style, as
+well entitled him to the appellation of the Spanish Sallust.
+
+[30] Pragmáticas del Reyno, fol. 6.
+
+[31] Pragmáticas del Reyno, fol. 7.
+
+[32] Bleda anxiously claims the credit of the act of expulsion for Fray
+Thomas de Torquemada, of inquisitorial memory. (Corónica, p. 640.) That
+eminent personage had, indeed, been dead some years; but this edict was so
+obviously suggested by that against the Jews, that it may be considered as
+the result of his principles, if not directly taught by him. Thus it is,
+"the evil that men do lives after them."
+
+[33] The Castilian writers, especially the dramatic, have not been
+insensible to the poetical situations afforded by the distresses of the
+banished Moriscoes. Their sympathy for the exiles, however, is whimsically
+enough contrasted by an orthodox anxiety to justify the conduct of their
+own government. The reader may recollect a pertinent example in the story
+of Sancho's Moorish friend, Ricote. Don Quixote, part. 2, cap. 54.
+
+[34] The _spirit of toleration_ professed by the Moors, indeed, was
+made a principal argument against them in the archbishop of Valencia's
+memorial to Philip III. The Mahometans would seem the better Christians of
+the two. See Geddes, Miscellaneous Tracts, (London, 1702-6,) vol. i. p.
+94.
+
+[35] Heeren seems willing to countenance the learned Pluquet in regarding
+Islamism, in its ancient form, as one of the modifications of
+Christianity; placing the principal difference between that and
+Socinianism, for example, in the mere rites of circumcision and baptism.
+(Essai sur l'Influence des Croisades, traduit par Villers, (Paris, 1808,)
+p. 175, not.) "The Mussulmans," says Sir William Jones, "are a sort of
+heterodox Christians, if Locke reasons justly, because they firmly believe
+the immaculate conception, divine character, and miracles of the Messiah;
+heterodox in denying vehemently his character of Son, and his equality, as
+God, with the Father, of whose unity and attributes they entertain and
+express the most awful ideas." See his Dissertation on the Gods of Greece,
+Italy, and India; Works, (London, 1799,) vol. i. p. 279.
+
+[36] See the bishop of Orihuela's treatise, "De Bello Sacro," etc., cited
+by the industrious Clemencin. (Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust.
+15.) The Moors and Jews, of course, stood no chance in this code; the
+reverend father expresses an opinion, with which Bleda heartily coincides,
+that the government would be perfectly justified in taking away the life
+of every Moor in the kingdom, for their shameless infidelity. Ubi supra;--
+and Bleda, Corónica, p. 995.
+
+[37] The articles of the treaty are detailed at length by Marmol, Rebelion
+de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 19.
+
+[38] Idem, ubi supra.
+
+[39] See the arguments of Ximenes, or of his enthusiastic biographer
+Fléchier, for it is not always easy to discriminate between them. Hist. de
+Ximenés, pp. 108, 109.
+
+[40] The duke of Medina Sidonia proposed to Ferdinand and Isabella to be
+avenged on the Moors, in some way not explained, after their
+disembarkation in Africa, on the ground that, the term of the royal safe-
+conduct having elapsed, they might lawfully be treated as enemies. To this
+proposal, which would have done honor to a college of Jesuits in the
+sixteenth century, the sovereigns made a reply too creditable not to be
+transcribed. "El Rei é la Réina. Fernando de Zafra, nuestro secretário.
+Vimos vuestra letra, en que nos fecistes saber lo que el duque de
+Medinasidónia tenia pensado que se podia facer contra los Moros de
+Villaluenga después de desembarcados allende. Decide que le agradecemos y
+tenemos en servício el buen deseo que tiene de nos servir: _pero porqué
+nuestra, palabra y seguro real así se debe guardar á los infieles como á
+los Oristianos_, y faciéndose lo que él dice pareceria cautela y engaño
+armado sobre nuestro seguro para no le guardar, que en ninguna, manera se
+haga eso, ni otra cosa de que pueda parecer que se quebranta nuestro
+seguro. De Granada véinte y nueve de mayo de quiniéntos y un años.--Yo el
+Rei.--Yo la Réina--Por mandado del Rei é del Réina, Miguel Perez Almazan."
+Would that the suggestions of Isabella's own heart, instead of the clergy,
+had always been the guide of her conduct in these matters! Mem. de la
+Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 15, from the original in the archives of
+the family of Medina Sidonia.
+
+[41] A memorial of the archbishop of Valencia to Philip III. affords an
+example of this moral obliquity, that may make one laugh, or weep,
+according to the temper of his philosophy. In this precious document he
+says, "Your Majesty may, without any scruple of conscience, make slaves of
+all the Moriscoes, and may put them into your own galleys or mines, or
+sell them to strangers. And as to their children, they may be all sold at
+good rates here in Spain; which will be so far from being a punishment,
+that it will be a mercy to them; since by that means they will all become
+Christians; which they would never have been, had they continued with
+their parents. By the holy execution of which piece of justice, _a great
+sum of money will flow into your Majesty's treasury_." (Geddes,
+Miscellaneous Tracts, vol. i. p. 71.) "Il n'est point d'hostilité
+excellente comme la Chrestienne," says old Montaigne; "nostre zele faict
+merveilles, quand il va secondant nostre pente vers la haine, la cruanté,
+l'ambition, l'avarice, la detraction, la rebellion. Nostre religion est
+faicte pour extirper les vices; elle les couvre, les nourrit, les incite."
+Essais, liv. 2, chap. 12.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+COLUMBUS.--PROSECUTION OF DISCOVERY.--HIS TREATMENT BY THE COURT.
+
+1494-1503.
+
+Progress of Discovery.--Reaction of Public Feeling.--The Queen's
+Confidence in Columbus.--He Discovers Terra Firma.--Isabella Sends Back
+the Indian Slaves.--Complaints against Columbus.--Superseded in the
+Government.--Vindication of the Sovereigns.--His Fourth and Last Voyage.
+
+
+The reader will turn with satisfaction from the melancholy and mortifying
+details of superstition, to the generous efforts, which the Spanish
+government was making to enlarge the limits of science and dominion in the
+west. "Amidst the storms and troubles of Italy, Spain was every day
+stretching her wings over a wider sweep of empire, and extending the glory
+of her name to the far Antipodes." Such is the swell of exultation with
+which the enthusiastic Italian, Martyr, notices the brilliant progress of
+discovery under his illustrious countryman Columbus. [1] The Spanish
+sovereigns had never lost sight of the new domain, so unexpectedly opened
+to them, as it were, from the depths of the ocean. The first accounts
+transmitted by the great navigator and his companions, on his second
+voyage, while their imaginations were warm with the beauty and novelty of
+the scenes which met their eyes in the New World, served to keep alive the
+tone of excitement, which their unexpected successes had kindled in the
+nation. [2] The various specimens sent home in the return ships, of the
+products of these unknown regions, confirmed the agreeable belief that
+they formed part of the great Asiatic continent, which had so long excited
+the cupidity of Europeans. The Spanish court, sharing in the general
+enthusiasm, endeavored to promote the spirit of discovery and
+colonization, by forwarding the requisite supplies, and complying promptly
+with the most minute suggestions of Columbus. But, in less than two years
+from the commencement of his second voyage, the face of things experienced
+a melancholy change. Accounts were received at home of the most alarming
+discontent and disaffection in the colony; while the actual returns from
+these vaunted regions were so scanty, as to bear no proportion to the
+expenses of the expedition.
+
+This unfortunate result was in a great measure imputable to the misconduct
+of the colonists themselves. Most of them were adventurers, who had
+embarked with no other expectation than that of getting together a fortune
+as speedily as possible in the golden Indies. They were without
+subordination, patience, industry, or any of the regular habits demanded
+for success in such an enterprise. As soon as they had launched from their
+native shore, they seemed to feel themselves released from the constraints
+of all law. They harbored jealousy and distrust of the admiral as a
+foreigner. The cavaliers and hidalgos, of whom there were too many in the
+expedition, contemned him as an upstart, whom it was derogatory to obey.
+From the first moment of their landing in Hispaniola, they indulged the
+most wanton license in regard to the unoffending natives, who, in the
+simplicity of their hearts, had received the white men as messengers from
+Heaven. Their outrages, however, soon provoked a general resistance, which
+led to such a war of extermination, that, in less than four years after
+the Spaniards had set foot on the island, one-third of its population,
+amounting, probably, to several hundred thousands, were sacrificed! Such
+were the melancholy auspices, under which the intercourse was opened
+between the civilized white man and the simple natives of the western
+world. [3]
+
+These excesses, and a total neglect of agriculture,--for none would
+condescend to turn up the earth for any other object than the gold they
+could find in it,--at length occasioned an alarming scarcity of
+provisions; while the poor Indians neglected their usual husbandry, being
+willing to starve themselves, so that they could starve out their
+oppressors. [4] In order to avoid the famine which menaced his little
+colony, Columbus was obliged to resort to coercive measures, shortening
+the allowance of food, and compelling all to work, without distinction of
+rank. These unpalatable regulations soon bred general discontent. The
+high-mettled hidalgos, especially, complained loudly of the indignity of
+such mechanical drudgery, while Father Boil and his brethren were equally
+outraged by the diminution of their regular rations. [5]
+
+The Spanish sovereigns were now daily assailed with complaints of the mal-
+administration of Columbus, and of his impolitic and unjust severities to
+both Spaniards and natives. They lent, however, an unwilling ear to these
+vague accusations; they fully appreciated the difficulties of his
+situation; and, although they sent out an agent to inquire into the nature
+of the troubles which threatened the existence of the colony, they were
+careful to select an individual who they thought would be most grateful to
+the admiral; and when the latter in the following year, 1496, returned to
+Spain, they received him with the most ample acknowledgments of regard.
+"Come to us," they said, in a kind letter of congratulation, addressed to
+him soon after his arrival, "when you can do it without inconvenience to
+yourself, for you have endured too many vexations already." [6]
+
+The admiral brought with him, as before, such samples of the productions
+of the western hemisphere, as would strike the public eye, and keep alive
+the feeling of curiosity. On his journey through Andalusia, he passed some
+days under the hospitable roof of the good curate, Bernaldez, who dwells
+with much satisfaction on the remarkable appearance of the Indian chiefs,
+following in the admiral's train, gorgeously decorated with golden collars
+and coronets and various barbaric ornaments. Among these he particularly
+notices certain "belts and masks of cotton and of wood, with figures of
+the Devil embroidered and carved thereon, sometimes in his own proper
+likeness, and at others in that _of a cat or an owl_. There is much
+reason," he infers, "to believe that he appears to the islanders in this
+guise, and that they are all idolaters, having Satan for their lord!" [7]
+
+But neither the attractions of the spectacle, nor the glowing
+representations of Columbus, who fancied he had discovered in the mines of
+Hispaniola the golden quarries of Ophir, from which King Solomon had
+enriched the temple of Jerusalem, could rekindle the dormant enthusiasm of
+the nation. The novelty of the thing had passed. They heard a different
+tale, moreover, from the other voyagers, whose wan and sallow visages
+provoked the bitter jest, that they had returned with more gold in their
+faces than in their pockets. In short, the skepticism of the public seemed
+now quite in proportion to its former overweening confidence; and the
+returns were so meagre, says Bernaldez, "that it was very generally
+believed there was little or no gold in the island." [8]
+
+Isabella was far from participating in this unreasonable distrust. She had
+espoused the theory of Columbus, when others looked coldly or
+contemptuously on it. [9] She firmly relied on his repeated assurances,
+that the track of discovery would lead to other and more important
+regions. She formed a higher estimate, moreover, of the value of the new
+acquisitions than any founded on the actual proceeds in gold and silver;
+keeping ever in view, as her letters and instructions abundantly show, the
+glorious purpose of introducing the blessings of Christian civilization
+among the heathen. [10] She entertained a deep sense of the merits of
+Columbus, to whose serious and elevated character her own bore much
+resemblance; although the enthusiasm, which distinguished each, was
+naturally tempered in hers with somewhat more of benignity and discretion.
+
+But although the queen was willing to give the most effectual support to
+his great enterprise, the situation of the country was such as made delay
+in its immediate prosecution unavoidable. Large expense was necessarily
+incurred for the actual maintenance of the colony; [11] the exchequer was
+liberally drained, moreover, by the Italian war, as well as by the profuse
+magnificence with which the nuptials of the royal family were now
+celebrating. It was, indeed, in the midst of the courtly revelries
+attending the marriage of Prince John, that the admiral presented himself
+before the sovereigns at Burgos, after his second voyage. Such was the low
+condition of the treasury from these causes, that Isabella was obliged to
+defray the cost of an outfit to the colony, at this time, from funds
+originally destined for the marriage of her daughter Isabella with the
+king of Portugal. [12]
+
+This unwelcome delay, however, was softened to Columbus by the
+distinguished marks which he daily received of the royal favor; and
+various ordinances were passed, confirming and enlarging his great powers
+and privileges in the most ample manner, to a greater extent, indeed, than
+his modesty, or his prudence, would allow him to accept. [13] The language
+in which these princely gratuities were conferred, rendered them doubly
+grateful to his noble heart, containing, as they did, the most emphatic
+acknowledgments of his "many good, loyal, distinguished, and continual
+services," and thus testifying the unabated confidence of his sovereigns
+in his integrity and prudence. [14]
+
+Among the impediments to the immediate completion of the arrangements for
+the admiral's departure on his third voyage, may be also noticed the
+hostility of Bishop Fonseca, who, at this period, had the control of the
+Indian department; a man of an irritable, and, as it would seem, most
+unforgiving temper, who, from some causes of disgust which he had
+conceived with Columbus previous to his second voyage, lost no opportunity
+of annoying and thwarting him, for which his official station
+unfortunately afforded him too many facilities. [15]
+
+From these various circumstances the admiral's fleet was not ready before
+the beginning of 1498. Even then further embarrassment occurred in manning
+it, as few were found willing to embark in a service which had fallen into
+such general discredit. This led to the ruinous expedient of substituting
+convicts, whose regular punishments were commuted into transportation, for
+a limited period, to the Indies. No measure could possibly have been
+devised more effectual for the ruin of the infant settlement. The seeds of
+corruption, which had been so long festering in the Old World, soon shot
+up into a plentiful harvest in the New, and Columbus, who suggested the
+measure, was the first to reap the fruits of it.
+
+At length, all being in readiness, the admiral embarked on board his
+little squadron, consisting of six vessels, whose complement of men,
+notwithstanding every exertion, was still deficient, and took his
+departure from the port of St. Lucar, May 30th, 1498. He steered in a more
+southerly direction than on his preceding voyages, and on the first of
+August succeeded in reaching _terra firma_; thus entitling himself to
+the glory of being the first to set foot on the great southern continent,
+to which he had before opened the way. [16]
+
+It is not necessary to pursue the track of the illustrious voyager, whose
+career, forming the most brilliant episode to the history of the present
+reign, has been so recently traced by a hand which few will care to
+follow. It will suffice briefly to notice his personal relations with the
+Spanish government, and the principles on which the colonial
+administration was conducted.
+
+On his arrival at Hispaniola, Columbus found the affairs of the colony in
+the most deplorable confusion. An insurrection had been raised by the arts
+of a few factious individuals against his brother Bartholomew, to whom he
+had intrusted the government during his absence. In this desperate
+rebellion all the interests of the community were neglected. The mines,
+which were just beginning to yield a golden harvest, remained unwrought.
+The unfortunate natives were subjected to the most inhuman oppression.
+There was no law but that of the strongest. Columbus, on his arrival, in
+vain endeavored to restore order. The very crews he brought with him, who
+had been unfortunately reprieved from the gibbet in their own country,
+served to swell the mass of mutiny. The admiral exhausted art,
+negotiation, entreaty, force, and succeeded at length in patching up a
+specious reconciliation by such concessions as essentially impaired his
+own authority. Among these was the grant of large tracts of land to the
+rebels, with permission to the proprietor to employ an allotted number of
+the natives in its cultivation. This was the origin of the celebrated
+system of repartimientos, which subsequently led to the foulest abuses
+that ever disgraced humanity. [17]
+
+Nearly a year elapsed after the admiral's return to Hispaniola, before he
+succeeded in allaying these intestine feuds. In the mean while, rumors
+were every day reaching Spain of the distractions of the colony,
+accompanied with most injurious imputations on the conduct of Columbus and
+his brother, who were loudly accused of oppressing both Spaniards and
+Indians, and of sacrificing the public interests, in the most unscrupulous
+manner, to their own. These complaints were rung in the very ears of the
+sovereigns by numbers of the disaffected colonists, who had returned to
+Spain, and who surrounded the king, as he rode out on horseback, clamoring
+loudly for the discharge of the arrears, of which they said the admiral
+had defrauded them. [18]
+
+There were not wanting, even, persons of high consideration at the court,
+to give credence and circulation to these calumnies. The recent discovery
+of the pearl fisheries of Paria, as well as of more prolific veins of the
+precious metals in Hispaniola, and the prospect of an indefinite extent of
+unexplored country, opened by the late voyage of Columbus, made the
+viceroyalty of the New World a tempting bait for the avarice and ambition
+of the most potent grandee. They artfully endeavored, therefore, to
+undermine the admiral's credit with the sovereigns, by raising in their
+minds suspicions of his integrity, founded not merely on vague reports,
+but on letters received from the colony, charging him with disloyalty,
+with appropriating to his own use the revenues of the island, and with the
+design of erecting an independent government for himself. [19]
+
+Whatever weight these absurd charges may have had with Ferdinand, they had
+no power to shake the queen's confidence in Columbus, or lead her to
+suspect his loyalty for a moment. But the long-continued distractions of
+the colony made her feel a natural distrust of his capacity to govern it,
+whether from the jealousy entertained of him as a foreigner, or from some
+inherent deficiency in his own character. These doubts were mingled, it is
+true, with sterner feelings towards the admiral, on the arrival, at this
+juncture, of several of the rebels with the Indian slaves assigned to them
+by his orders. [20]
+
+It was the received opinion among good Catholics of that period, that
+heathen and barbarous nations were placed by the circumstance of their
+infidelity without the pale both of spiritual and civil rights. Their
+souls were doomed to eternal perdition. Their bodies were the property of
+the Christian nation who should occupy their soil. [21] Such, in brief,
+were the profession and the practice of the most enlightened Europeans of
+the fifteenth century; and such the deplorable maxims which regulated the
+intercourse of the Spanish and Portuguese navigators with the uncivilized
+natives of the western world. [22] Columbus, agreeably to these views,
+had, very soon after the occupation of Hispaniola, recommended a regular
+exchange of slaves for the commodities required for the support of the
+colony; representing, moreover, that in this way their conversion would be
+more surely effected,--an object, it must be admitted, which he seems to
+have ever had most earnestly at heart. Isabella, however, entertained
+views on this matter far more liberal than those of her age. She had been
+deeply interested by the accounts she had received from the admiral
+himself of the gentle, unoffending character of the islanders; and she
+revolted at the idea of consigning them to the horrors of slavery, without
+even an effort for their conversion. She hesitated, therefore, to sanction
+his proposal; and when a number of Indian captives were advertised to be
+sold in the markets of Andalusia, she commanded the sale to be suspended,
+till the opinion of a counsel of theologians and doctors, learned in such
+matters, could be obtained, as to its conscientious lawfulness. She
+yielded still further to the benevolent impulses of her nature, causing
+holy men to be instructed as far as possible in the Indian languages, and
+sent out as missionaries for the conversion of the natives. [23] Some of
+them, as Father Boil and his brethren, seem, indeed, to have been more
+concerned for the welfare of their own bodies, than for the souls of their
+benighted flock. But others, imbued with a better spirit, wrought in the
+good work with disinterested zeal, and, if we may credit their accounts,
+with some efficacy. [24]
+
+In the same beneficent spirit, the royal letters and ordinances urged over
+and over again the paramount obligation of the religious instruction of
+the natives, and of observing the utmost gentleness and humanity in all
+dealings with them. When, therefore, the queen learned the arrival of two
+vessels from the Indies, with three hundred slaves on board, which the
+admiral had granted to the mutineers, she could not repress her
+indignation, but impatiently asked, "By what authority does Columbus
+venture thus to dispose of my subjects?" She instantly caused proclamation
+to be made in the southern provinces, that all who had Indian slaves in
+their possession, granted by the admiral, should forthwith provide for
+their return to their own country; while the few, still held by the crown,
+were to be restored to freedom in like manner. [25]
+
+After a long and visible reluctance, the queen acquiesced in sending out a
+commissioner to investigate the affairs of the colony. The person
+appointed to this delicate trust was Don Francisco de Bobadilla, a poor
+knight of Calatrava. He was invested with supreme powers of civil and
+criminal jurisdiction. He was to bring to trial and pass sentence on all
+such as had conspired against the authority of Columbus. He was authorized
+to take possession of the fortresses, vessels, public stores, and property
+of every description, to dispose of all offices, and to command whatever
+persons he might deem expedient for the tranquillity of the island,
+without distinction of rank, to return to Spain, and present themselves
+before the sovereigns. Such, in brief, was the sum of the extraordinary
+powers intrusted to Bobadilla. [26]
+
+It is impossible now to determine what motives could have led to the
+selection of so incompetent an agent, for an office of such high
+responsibility. He seems to have been a weak and arrogant man, swelled up
+with immeasurable insolence by the brief authority thus undeservedly
+bestowed on him. From the very first, he regarded Columbus in the light of
+a convicted criminal, on whom it was his business to execute the sentence
+of the law. Accordingly, on his arrival at the island, after an
+ostentatious parade of his credentials, he commanded the admiral to appear
+before him, and, without affecting the forms of a legal inquiry, at once
+caused him to be manacled, and thrown into prison. Columbus submitted
+without the least show of resistance, displaying in this sad reverse that
+magnanimity of soul, which would have touched the heart of a generous
+adversary. Bobadilla, however, discovered no such sensibility; and, after
+raking together all the foul or frivolous calumnies, which hatred or the
+hope of favor could extort, he caused the whole loathsome mass of
+accusation to be sent back to Spain with the admiral, whom he commanded to
+be kept strictly in irons during the passage; "afraid," says Ferdinand
+Columbus bitterly, "lest he might by any chance swim back again to the
+island." [27]
+
+This excess of malice served, as usual, however, to defeat itself. So
+enormous an outrage shocked the minds of those most prejudiced against
+Columbus. All seemed to feel it as a national dishonor, that such
+indignities should be heaped on the man, who, whatever might be his
+indiscretions, had done so much for Spain, and for the whole civilized
+world; a man, who, in the honest language of an old writer, "had he lived
+in the days of ancient Greece or Rome, would have had statues raised, and
+temples and divine honors dedicated to him, as to a divinity!" [28]
+
+None partook of the general indignation more strongly than Ferdinand and
+Isabella, who, in addition to their personal feelings of disgust at so
+gross an act, readily comprehended the whole weight of obloquy, which its
+perpetration must necessarily attach to them. They sent to Cadiz without
+an instant's delay, and commanded the admiral to be released from his
+ignominious fetters. They wrote to him in the most benignant terms,
+expressing their sincere regret for the unworthy usage which he had
+experienced, and requesting him to appear before them as speedily as
+possible, at Granada, where the court was then staying. At the same time,
+they furnished him a thousand ducats for his expenses, and a handsome
+retinue to escort him on his journey.
+
+Columbus, revived by these assurances of the kind dispositions of his
+sovereigns, proceeded without delay to Granada, which he reached on the
+17th of December. Immediately on his arrival he obtained an audience. The
+queen could not repress her tears at the sight of the man, whose
+illustrious services had met with such ungenerous requital, as it were, at
+her own hands. She endeavored to cheer his wounded spirit with the most
+earnest assurances of her sympathy and sorrow for his misfortunes.
+Columbus, from the first moment of his disgrace, had relied on the good
+faith and kindness of Isabella; for, as an ancient Castilian writer
+remarks, "she had ever favored him beyond the king her husband, protecting
+his interests, and showing him especial kindness and good-will." When he
+beheld the emotion of his royal mistress, and listened to her consolatory
+language, it was too much for his loyal and generous heart; and, throwing
+himself on his knees, he gave vent to his feelings, and sobbed aloud. The
+sovereigns endeavored to soothe and tranquillize his mind, and, after
+testifying their deep sense of his injuries, promised him, that impartial
+justice should be done his enemies, and that he should be reinstated in
+his emoluments and honors. [29]
+
+Much censure has attached to the Spanish government for its share in this
+unfortunate transaction; both in the appointment of so unsuitable an agent
+as Bobadilla, and the delegation of such broad and indefinite powers. With
+regard to the first, it is now too late, as has already been remarked, to
+ascertain on what grounds such a selection could have been made. There is
+no evidence of his being indebted for his promotion to intrigue or any
+undue influence. Indeed, according to the testimony of one of his
+contemporaries, he was reputed "an extremely honest and religious man,"
+and the good bishop Las Casas expressly declares that "no imputation of
+dishonesty or avarice had ever rested on his character." [30] It was an
+error of judgment; a grave one, indeed, and must pass for as much as it is
+worth.
+
+But in regard to the second charge, of delegating unwarrantable powers, it
+should be remembered, that the grievances of the colony were represented
+as of a most pressing nature, demanding a prompt and peremptory remedy;
+that a more limited and partial authority, dependent for its exercise on
+instructions from the government at home, might be attended with ruinous
+delays; that this authority must necessarily be paramount to that of
+Columbus, who was a party implicated, and that, although unlimited
+jurisdiction was given over all offences committed against him, yet
+neither he nor his friends were to be molested in any other way than by
+temporary suspension from office, and a return to their own country, where
+the merits of their case might be submitted to the sovereigns themselves.
+
+This view of the matter, indeed, is perfectly conformable to that of
+Ferdinand Columbus, whose solicitude, so apparent in every page, for his
+father's reputation, must have effectually counterbalanced any repugnance
+he may have felt at impugning the conduct of his sovereigns. "The only
+ground of complaint," he remarks, in summing up his narrative of the
+transaction, "which I can bring against their Catholic Highnesses is, the
+unfitness of the agent whom they employed, equally malicious and ignorant.
+Had they sent out a suitable person, the admiral would have been highly
+gratified; since he had more than once requested the appointment of some
+one with full powers of jurisdiction in an affair, where he felt some
+natural delicacy in moving, in consequence of his own brother having been
+originally involved in it." And, as to the vast magnitude of the powers
+intrusted to Bobadilla, he adds," It can scarcely be wondered at,
+considering the manifold complaints against the admiral made to their
+Highnesses." [31]
+
+Although the king and queen determined without hesitation on the complete
+restoration of the admiral's honors, they thought it better to defer his
+reappointment to the government of the colony, until the present
+disturbances should be settled, and he might return there with personal
+safety and advantage. In the mean time, they resolved to send out a
+competent individual, and to support him with such a force as should
+overawe faction, and enable him to place the tranquillity of the island on
+a permanent basis.
+
+The person selected was Don Nicolas de Ovando, comendador of Lares, of the
+military order of Alcantara. He was a man of acknowledged prudence and
+sagacity, temperate in his habits, and plausible and politic in his
+address. It is sufficient evidence of his standing at court, that he had
+been one of the ten youths selected to be educated in the palace as
+companions for the prince of the Asturias. He was furnished with a fleet
+of two and thirty sail, carrying twenty-five hundred persons, many of them
+of the best families in the kingdom, with every variety of article for the
+nourishment and permanent prosperity of the colony; and the general
+equipment was in a style of expense and magnificence, such as had never
+before been lavished on any armada destined for the western waters. [32]
+
+The new governor was instructed immediately on his arrival to send
+Bobadilla home for trial. Under his lax administration, abuses of every
+kind had multiplied to an alarming extent, and the poor natives, in
+particular, were rapidly wasting away under the new and most inhuman
+arrangement of the _repartimientos_, which he established. Isabella
+now declared the Indians free; and emphatically enjoined on the
+authorities of Hispaniola to respect them as true and faithful vassals of
+the crown. Ovando was especially to ascertain the amount of losses
+sustained by Columbus and his brothers, to provide for their full
+indemnification, and to secure the unmolested enjoyment in future of all
+their lawful rights and pecuniary perquisites. [33]
+
+Fortified with the most ample instructions in regard to these and other
+details of his administration, the governor embarked on board his
+magnificent flotilla, and crossed the bar of St. Lucar, February 15th,
+1502. A furious tempest dispersed the fleet, before it had been out a
+week, and a report reached Spain that it had entirely perished. The
+sovereigns, overwhelmed with sorrow at this fresh disaster, which
+consigned so many of their best and bravest to a watery grave, shut
+themselves up in their palace for several days. Fortunately, the report
+proved ill-founded. The fleet rode out the storm in safety, one vessel
+only having perished, and the remainder reached in due time its place of
+destination. [34]
+
+The Spanish government has been roundly taxed with injustice and
+ingratitude for its delay in restoring Columbus to the full possession of
+his colonial authority; and that too by writers generally distinguished
+for candor and impartiality. No such animadversion, however, as far as I
+am aware, is countenanced by contemporary historians; and it appears to be
+wholly undeserved. Independent of the obvious inexpediency of returning
+him immediately to the theatre of disaffection, before the embers of
+ancient animosity had had time to cool, there were several features in his
+character, which make it doubtful whether he were the most competent
+person, in any event, for an emergency demanding at once the greatest
+coolness, consummate address, and acknowledged personal authority. His
+sublime enthusiasm, which carried him victorious over every obstacle,
+involved him also in numerous embarrassments, which men of more phlegmatic
+temperament would have escaped. It led him to count too readily on a
+similar spirit in others,--and to be disappointed. It gave an exaggerated
+coloring to his views and descriptions, that inevitably led to a reaction
+in the minds of such as embarked their all on the splendid dreams of a
+fairy land, which they were never to realize. [35] Hence a fruitful source
+of discontent and disaffection in his followers. It led him, in his
+eagerness for the achievement of his great enterprises, to be less
+scrupulous and politic as to the means, than a less ardent spirit would
+have been. His pertinacious adherence to the scheme of Indian slavery, and
+hhis impolitic regulation compelling the labor of the hidalgos, are
+pertinent examples of this. [36] He was, moreover, a foreigner, without
+rank, fortune, or powerful friends; and his high and sudden elevation
+naturally raised him up a thousand enemies among a proud, punctilious, and
+intensely national people. Under these multiplied embarrassments,
+resulting from peculiarities of character and situation, the sovereigns
+might well be excused for not intrusting Columbus, at this delicate
+crisis, with disentangling the meshes of intrigue and faction, in which
+the affairs of the colony were so unhappily involved.
+
+I trust these remarks will not be construed into an insensibility to the
+merits and exalted services of Columbus. "A world," to borrow the words,
+though not the application, of the Greek historian, "is his monument." His
+virtues shine With too bright a lustre to be dimmed by a few natural
+blemishes; but it becomes necessary to notice these, to vindicate the
+Spanish government from the imputation of perfidy and ingratitude, where
+it has been most freely urged, and apparently with the least foundation.
+
+It is more difficult to excuse the paltry equipment with which the admiral
+was suffered to undertake his fourth and last voyage. The object proposed
+by this expedition was the discovery of a passage to the great Indian
+Ocean, which, he inferred sagaciously enough from his premises, though, as
+it turned out, to the great inconvenience of the commercial world, most
+erroneously, must open somewhere between Cuba and the coast of Paria. Four
+caravels, only, were furnished for the expedition, the largest of which
+did not exceed seventy tons' burden; a force forming a striking contrast
+to the magnificent armada lately intrusted to Ovando, and altogether too
+insignificant to be vindicated on the ground of the different objects
+proposed by the two expeditions. [37]
+
+Columbus, oppressed with growing infirmities, and a consciousness,
+perhaps, of the decline of popular favor, manifested unusual despondency
+previously to his embarkation. He talked even of resigning the task of
+further discovery to his brother Bartholomew. "I have established," said
+he, "all that I proposed,--the existence of land in the west. I have
+opened the gate, and others may enter at their pleasure; as indeed they
+do, arrogating to themselves the title of discoverers, to which they can
+have little claim, following as they do in my track." He little thought
+the ingratitude of mankind would sanction the claims of these adventurers
+so far as to confer the name of one of them on that world, which his
+genius had revealed. [38]
+
+The great inclination, however, which the admiral had to serve the
+Catholic sovereigns, and especially the most serene queen, says Ferdinand
+Columbus, induced him to lay aside his scruples, and encounter the perils
+and fatigues of another voyage. A few weeks before his departure, he
+received a gracious letter from Ferdinand and Isabella, the last ever
+addressed to him by his royal mistress, assuring him of their purpose to
+maintain inviolate all their engagements with him, and to perpetuate the
+inheritance of his honors in his family. [39] Comforted and cheered by
+assurances, the veteran navigator, quitting the port of Cadiz, on the 9th
+of March, 1502, once more spread his sails for those golden regions, which
+he had approached so near, but was destined never to reach.
+
+It will not be necessary to pursue his course further than to notice a
+single occurrence of most extraordinary nature. The admiral had received
+instructions not to touch at Hispaniola on his outward voyage. The leaky
+condition of one of his ships, however, and the signs of an approaching
+storm, induced him to seek a temporary refuge there; at the same time, he
+counselled Ovando to delay for a few days the departure of the fleet, then
+riding in the harbor, which was destined to carry Bobadilla and the rebels
+with their ill-gotten treasures back to Spain. The churlish governor,
+however, not only refused Columbus admittance, but gave orders for the
+instant departure of the vessels. The apprehensions of the experienced
+mariner were fully justified by the event. Scarcely had the Spanish fleet
+quitted its moorings, before one of those tremendous hurricanes came on,
+which so often desolate these tropical regions, sweeping down everything
+before it, and fell with such violence on the little navy, that out of
+eighteen ships, of which it was composed, not more than three or four
+escaped. The rest all foundered, including those which contained
+Bobadilla, and the late enemies of Columbus. Two hundred thousand
+_castellanos_ of gold, half of which belonged to the government, went
+to the bottom with them. The only one of the fleet which made its way back
+to Spain was a crazy, weather-beaten bark, which contained the admiral's
+property, amounting to four thousand ounces of gold. To complete these
+curious coincidences, Columbus with his little squadron rode out the storm
+in safety under the lee of the island, where he had prudently taken
+shelter, on being so rudely repulsed from the port. This even-handed
+retribution of justice, so uncommon in human affairs, led many to discern
+the immediate interposition of Providence. Others, in a less Christian
+temper, referred it all to the necromancy of the admiral. [40]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+[1] "Inter has Italiae procellas magis indies ac magis alas protendit
+Hispania, imperium auget, gloriam nomenque suum ad Antipodes porriget."
+Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 146.
+
+[2] See, among others, a letter of Dr. Chanca, who accompanied Columbus on
+his second voyage. It is addressed to the authorities of Seville. After
+noticing the evidences of gold in Hispaniola, he says; "Ansi que de cierto
+los Reyes nuestros Señores desde agora se pueden tener por los mas
+prosperos e mas ricos Principes del mundo, porque tal cosa hasta agora no
+se ha visto ni leido de ningnno en el mundo, porque verdaderamente a otro
+camino que los navios vuelvan puedan llevar tanta cantidad de oro que se
+pueden maravillar cualesquiera que lo supieren." In another part of the
+letter, the Doctor is equally sanguine in regard to the fruitfulness of
+the soil and climate. Letra de Dr. Chanca, apud Navarrete, Coleccion de
+Viages, tom. i. pp. 198-224.
+
+[3] Fernando Colon, Hist. de Almirante, cap. 60, 62.--Muñoz, Hist. del
+Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 5, sec. 25.--Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib.
+2, cap. 9.--Benzoni, Novi Orbis Hist., lib. 1, cap. 9.
+
+[4] The Indians had some grounds for relying on the efficacy of
+starvation, if, as Las Casas gravely asserts, "one Spaniard consumed in a
+single day as much as would suffice three families!" Llorente, Oeuvres de
+Don Barthélemi de las Casas, precedées de sa Vie, (Paris, 1822,) tom. i.
+p. 11.
+
+[5] Martyr, De Rebus Oceanicis, dec. 1, lib. 4.--Goinara, Hist. de las
+Indias, cap. 20, tom. ii.--Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 2,
+cap. 12.
+
+[6] Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. ii., Doc. Dipl., no. 101.--
+Fernando Colon, Hist. del Almirante, cap. 64.--Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo-
+Mundo, lib. 5, sec. 31.
+
+[7] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 131.--Herrera expresses the same
+charitable opinion. "Muy claramente se conocio que el demonio estava,
+apoderado de aquella gente, y la traia ciega y engañada, hablandoles, y
+mostrandoles en diversas figuras." Indias Occidentales, lib. 3, cap. 4.
+
+[8] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 131.--Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo-
+Mundo, lib. 6, sec. 1.
+
+[9] Columbus, in his letter to Prince John's nurse, dated 1500, makes the
+following ample acknowledgment of the queen's early protection of him. "En
+todos hobo incredulidad, y a la Reina mi Señora dio Nuestro Señor el
+espiritu de inteligencia y esfuerzo grande, y la hizo de todo heredera
+como a cara y muy amada hija." "Su Alteza lo aprobaba al contrario, y lo
+sostuvo fasta que pudo." Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. i. p. 266.
+
+[10] See the letters to Columbus, dated May 14th, 1493, August, 1494, apud
+Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. ii. pp. 66, 154, et mult. al.
+
+[11] The salaries alone, annually disbursed by the crown to persons
+resident in the colony, amounted to six million maravedies. Muñoz, Hist.
+del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 5, sec. 33.
+
+[12] Idem, lib. 6, sec. 2.--Fernando Colon, Hist. del Almirante, cap. 64.
+--Herrera, Indias Occidentales, lib. 3, cap. 1.
+
+[13] Such, for example, was the grant of an immense tract of land in
+Hispaniola, with the title of count or duke, as the admiral might prefer.
+Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 6, sec. 17.
+
+[14] The instrument establishing the _mayorazgo_, or perpetual entail
+of Columbus's estates, contains an injunction, that "his heirs shall never
+use any other signature than that of 'the Admiral, _el Almirante_,
+whatever other titles and honors may belong to them." That title indicated
+his peculiar achievements, and it was an honest pride which led him by
+this simple expedient to perpetuate the remembrance of them in his
+posterity. See the original document, apud Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages,
+tom. ii. pp. 221-235.
+
+[15] Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 6, sec. 20.--Fernando Colon, Hist.
+del Almirante, cap. 64.--Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, año 1496.
+
+[16] Peter Martyr, De Rebus Oceanicis, dec. 1, lib. e.--Navarrete,
+Coleccion de Viages, tom. ii., Doc. Dipl., nos. 116, 120.--Tercer Viage de
+Colon, apud Navarrete, tom. i. p. 245.--Benzoni, Novi Orbis Hist., lib. 1,
+cap. 10, ll.--Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 3, cap. 10, ll.--
+Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 6, sec. 19.
+
+[17] Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, cap. 20.--Benzoni, Novi Orbis Hist.,
+lib. 1, cap. 10, ll.--Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 19, cap. 7.--
+Fernando Colon, Hist. del Almirante, cap. 73-82.--Peter Martyr, De Rebus
+Oceanicis, dec. 1, lib. 5.--Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 3,
+cap. 16.--Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 6, sec. 40-42.
+
+[18] Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 19, cap. 7.--Peter Martyr, De Rebus
+Oceanicis, dec. 1, lib. 7.--Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, cap. 23.--
+Benzoni, Novi Orbis Hist., cap. 11.
+
+Ferdinand Columbus mentions that he and his brother, who were then pages
+to the queen, could not stir out into the courtyard of the Alhambra,
+without being followed by fifty of these vagabonds, who insulted them in
+the grossest manner, "as the sons of the adventurer, who had led so many
+brave Spanish hidalgos to seek their graves in the land of vanity and
+delusion which he had found out." Hist. del Almirante, cap. 85.
+
+[19] Benzoni, Novi Orbis Hist., lib. 1, cap. 12.--National feeling
+operated, no doubt, as well as avarice to sharpen the tooth of slander
+against the admiral. "Aegre multi patiuntur," says Columbus's countryman,
+with honest warmth, "peregrinum hominem, et quidem e nostrâ Italia ortum,
+tantum honoris ac gloriae consequutum, ut non tantum Hispanicae gentis,
+sed et cujusvis alterius homines superaverit." Benzoni, lib. 1, cap. 5.
+
+[20] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, lib. 4, cap. 7, 10, and more especially
+lib. 6, cap. 13.--Las Casas, Oeuvres, ed. de Llorente, tom. i. p. 306.
+
+[21] "La qualité de Catholique Romain," says the philosophic Villers,
+"avait tout-à-fait remplacé celle d'homme, et même de Chrétien. Qui
+n'était pas Catholique Romain, n'était pas homme, était moins qu'homme; et
+eût-il été un souverain, c'était une bonne action que de lui ôter la vie."
+(Essai sur la Réformation, p. 56. ed. 1820.) Las Casas rests the title of
+the Spanish crown to its American possessions on the original papal grant,
+made on condition of converting the natives to Christianity. The pope, as
+vicar of Jesns Christ, possesses plenary authority over all men for the
+safety of their souls. He might, therefore, in furtherance of this, confer
+on the Spanish sovereigns _imperial supremacy_ over all lands discovered
+by them,--not, however, to the prejudice of authorities already existing
+there, and over such nations only as voluntarily embraced Christianity.
+Such is the sum of his thirty propositions, submitted to the council of
+the Indies for the inspection of Charles V. (Oeuvres, ed. De Llorente,
+tom. i. pp. 286-311.) One may see in these arbitrary and whimsical
+limitations, the good bishop's desire to reconcile what reason told him
+were the natural rights of man, with what faith prescribed as the
+legitimate prerogative of the pope. Few Roman Catholics at the present day
+will be found sturdy enough to maintain this lofty prerogative, however
+carefully limited. Still fewer in the sixteenth century would have
+challenged it. Indeed, it is but just to Las Casas, to admit, that the
+general scope of his arguments, here and elsewhere, is very far in advance
+of his age.
+
+[22] A Spanish casuist founds the right of his nation to enslave the
+Indians, among other things, on their smoking tobacco, and not trimming
+their beards _à l'Espagnole_. At least, this is Montesquieu's
+interpretation of it. (Esprit des Loix, lib. 15, chap. 3.) The doctors of
+the Inquisition could hardly have found a better reason.
+
+[23] 23 Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 5, sec. 34.--Navarrete,
+Coleccion de Viages, tom. ii., Doc. Dipl., no. 92.--Herrera, Indias
+Occidentales, lib. 3, cap. 4.
+
+[24] "Among other things that the holy fathers carried out," says Robles,
+"was a little organ and several bells, which greatly delighted the simple
+people, so that from one to two thousand persons were baptized every day."
+(Vida de Ximenez, p. 120.)
+
+Ferdinand Columbus remarks with some _naïveté_, that "the Indians were so
+obedient from their fear of the admiral, and at the same time so desirous
+to oblige him, that they voluntarily became Christians!" Hist. del
+Almirante, cap. 84.
+
+[25] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, lib. 4, cap. 7.--Navarrete, Coleccion
+de Viages, tom. ii., Doc. Dipl., no. 134.
+
+Las Casas observes, that "so great was the queen's indignation at the
+admiral's misconduct in this particular, that nothing but the
+consideration of his great public services saved him from immediate
+disgrace." Oeuvres, ed. de Llorente, tom. i. p. 306.
+
+[26] Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. ii., Doc. Dipl., nos. 127-130.
+The original commission to Bobadilla was dated March 21st, and May 21st,
+1499; the execution of it, however, was delayed until July, 1500, in the
+hope, doubtless, of obtaining such tidings from Hispaniola as should
+obviate the necessity of a measure so prejudicial to the admiral.
+
+[27] Fernando Colon, Hist. del Almirante, cap. 86.--Garibay, Compendio,
+tom. ii. lib. 19, cap. 7.--Peter Martyr, De Rebus Oceanicis, dec. 1, lib.
+7.--Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, cap. 23.--Herrera, Indias Occidentales,
+lib. 4, cap. 10.--Benzoni, Novi Orbis Hist., lib. 1, cap. 12.
+
+[28] Benzoni, Novi Orbis Hist., lib. 1, cap. 12.--Herrera, Indias
+Occidentales, lib. 6, cap. 15.
+
+Ferdinand Columbus tells us, that his father kept the fetters in which he
+was brought home, hanging up in an apartment of his house, as a perpetual
+memorial of national ingratitude, and, when he died, ordered them to be
+buried in the same grave with himself. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 86.
+
+[29] Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 19, cap. 7.--Peter Martyr, De Rebus
+Oceanicis, dec. 1, lib. 7.--Fernando Colon, Hist. del Almirante, cap. 86,
+87.--Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. I, lib. 4, cap. 8-10.--Benzoni,
+Novi Orbis Hist., lib. 1, cap. 12.
+
+[30] Oviedo, Hist. Gen. de las Ind., p. 1, lib. 3, cap. 6.--Las Casas,
+lib. 2, cap. 6, apud Navarrete, tom. i., introd., p. 99.
+
+[31] Fernando Colon, Hist. del Almirante, cap. 86.
+
+[32] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 4, cap. 11.--Fernando
+Colon, Hist. del Almirante, cap. 87.--Benzoni, Novi Orbis Hist., lib. 1,
+cap. 12.--Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. p. 385.
+
+[33] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, lib. 4, cap. 11-13.--Navarrete,
+Coleccion de Viages, tom. ii., Doc. Dipl., nos. 138,144.--Fernando Colon,
+Hist. del Almirante, cap. 87.
+
+[34] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, lib. 5, cap. 1.
+
+[35] The high devotional feeling of Columbus led him to trace out
+allusions in Scripture to the various circumstances and scenes of his
+adventurous life. Thus he believed his great discovery announced in the
+Apocalypse, and in Isaiah; he identified, as I have before stated, the
+mines of Hispaniola with those which furnished Solomon with materials for
+his temple; he fancied that he had determined the actual locality of the
+garden of Eden in the newly discovered region of Paria. But his greatest
+extravagance was his project of a crusade for the recovery of the Holy
+Sepulchre. This he cherished from the first hour of his discovery,
+pressing it in the most urgent manner on the sovereigns, and making actual
+provision for it in his testament. This was a flight, however, beyond the
+spirit even of this romantic age, and probably received as little serious
+attention from the queen, as from her more cool and calculating husband.
+Peter Martyr, De Rebus Oceanicis, dec. 1, lib. 6.--Tercer, Viage de Colon,
+apud Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. i. p. 259.--tom. ii., Doc.
+Dipl., no. 140.--Herrera, Indias Occidentales, lib. 6, cap. 15.
+
+[36] Another example was the injudicious punishment of delinquents by
+diminishing their regular allowance of food, a measure so obnoxious as to
+call for the interference of the sovereigns, who prohibited it altogether.
+(Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. ii., Doc. Dipl., 97.) Herrera, who
+must be admitted to have been in no degree insensible to the merits of
+Columbus, closes his account of the various accusations urged against him
+and his brothers, with the remark, that, "with every allowance for
+calumny, they must be confessed not to have governed the Castilians with
+the moderation that they ought to have done." Indias Occidentales, lib. 4,
+cap. 9.
+
+[37] Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 19, cap. 14.--Fernando Colon, Hist.
+del Almirante, cap. 88.--Herrera, Indias Occidentales, lib. 5, cap. 1.--
+Benzoni, Novi Orbis Hist., cap. 14.
+
+[38] It would be going out of our way to investigate the pretensions of
+Amerigo Vespucci to the honor of first discovering the South American
+continent. The reader will find them displayed with perspicuity and candor
+by Mr. Irving, in his "Life of Columbus." (Appendix, No. 9.) Few will be
+disposed to contest the author's conclusion respecting their fallacy,
+though all may not have the same charity as he, in tracing its possible
+origin to an editorial blunder, instead of wilful fabrication on the part
+of Vespucci; in which light, indeed, it seems to have been regarded by the
+two most ancient and honest historians of the event, Las Casas and
+Herrera.
+
+Mr. Irving's conclusions, however, have since been confirmed, in the
+fullest manner, by M. de Humboldt, in the fifth volume of his "Géographie
+du Nouveau Continent," published in 1839, a year after the preceding
+portion of this note was first printed; in which he has assembled a mass
+of testimony, suggesting the most favorable impressions of Vespucci's
+innocence of the various charges brought against him.
+
+Since the appearance of Mr. Irving's work, Señor Navarrete has published
+the third volume of his "Coleccion de Viages y Descubrimientos," etc.,
+containing, among other things, the original letters recording Vespucci's
+American voyages, illustrated by all the authorities and facts, that could
+come within the scope of his indefatigable researches. The whole weight of
+evidence leads irresistibly to the conviction, that Columbus is entitled
+to the glory of being the original discoverer of the southern continent,
+as well as islands, of the western hemisphere. (Coleccion de Viages, tom.
+iii. pp. 183-334.)
+
+In addition to the preceding writers, the American reader will find the
+claims of Vespucci discussed, with much ingenuity and careful examination
+of authorities, by Mr. Cushing, in his "Reminiscences of Spain," vol. ii.
+pp. 210 et seq.
+
+[39] Fernando Colon, Hist. del Almirante, cap. 87.--Herrera notices this
+letter, written, he says, "con tanta humanidad, que parecia extraordinaria
+de lo que usavan con otros, y no sin razon, pues jamas nadie les hizo tal
+servicio," Indias Occidentales, lib. 5, cap. 1.
+
+Among other instances of the queen's personal regard for Columbus, may be
+noticed her receiving his two sons, Diego and Fernando, as her own pages,
+on the death of Prince John, in whose service they had formerly been.
+(Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. ii., Doc. Dipl., 125.)
+
+By an ordinance of 1593, we find Diego Colon made _contino_ of the
+royal household, with an annual salary of 50,000 maravedies. Ibid., Doc.
+Dipl., no. 150.
+
+[40] Peter Martyr, De Rebus Oceanicis, dec. 1, lib. 10.--Garibay,
+Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 19, cap. 14.--Fernando Colon, Hist. del
+Almirante, cap. 88.--Benzoni, Novi Orbis Hist., cap. 12.--Herrera, Indias
+Occidentals, lib. 5, cap. 2.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+SPANISH COLONIAL POLICY.
+
+Careful Provision for the Colonies.--License for Private Voyages.--
+Important Papal Concessions.--The Queen's Zeal for Conversion.--Immediate
+Profits from the Discoveries.--Their Moral Consequences.--Their
+Geographical Extent.
+
+
+A consideration of the colonial policy pursued during Isabella's lifetime
+has been hitherto deferred to avoid breaking the narrative of Columbus's
+personal adventures. I shall now endeavor to present the reader with a
+brief outline of it, as far as can be collected from imperfect and scanty
+materials; for, however incomplete in itself, it becomes important as
+containing the germ of the gigantic system developed in later ages.
+
+Ferdinand and Isabella manifested from the first an eager and enlightened
+curiosity in reference to their new acquisitions, constantly interrogating
+the admiral minutely as to their soil and climate, their various vegetable
+and mineral products, and especially the character of the uncivilized
+races who inhabited them. They paid the greatest deference to his
+suggestions, as before remarked, and liberally supplied the infant
+settlement with whatever could contribute to its nourishment and permanent
+prosperity. [1] Through their provident attention, in a very few years
+after its discovery, the island of Hispaniola was in possession of the
+most important domestic animals, as well as fruits and vegetables of the
+Old World, some of which have since continued to furnish the staple of a
+far more lucrative commerce than was ever anticipated from its gold mines.
+[2]
+
+Emigration to the new countries was encouraged by the liberal tenor of the
+royal ordinances passed from time to time. The settlers in Hispaniola were
+to have their passage free; to be excused from taxes; to have the absolute
+property of such plantations on the island as they should engage to
+cultivate for four years; and they were furnished with a gratuitous supply
+of grain and stock for their farms. All exports and imports were exempted
+from duty; a striking contrast to the narrow policy of later ages. Five
+hundred persons, including scientific men and artisans of every
+description, were sent out and maintained at the expense of government. To
+provide for the greater security and quiet of the island, Ovando was
+authorized to gather the residents into towns, which were endowed with the
+privileges appertaining to similar corporations in the mother country; and
+a number of married men, with their families, were encouraged to establish
+themselves in them, with the view of giving greater solidity and
+permanence to the settlement. [3]
+
+With these wise provisions were mingled others savoring too strongly of
+the illiberal spirit of the age. Such were those prohibiting Jews, Moors,
+or indeed any but Castilians, for whom the discovery was considered
+exclusively to have been made, from inhabiting, or even visiting, the New
+World. The government kept a most jealous eye upon what it regarded as its
+own peculiar perquisites, reserving to itself the exclusive possession of
+all minerals, dyewoods, and precious stones, that should be discovered;
+and although private persons were allowed to search for gold, they were
+subjected to the exorbitant tax of two-thirds, subsequently reduced to
+one-fifth, of all they should obtain, for the crown. [4]
+
+The measure which contributed more effectually than any other, at this
+period, to the progress of discovery and colonization, was the license
+granted, under certain regulations, in 1495, for voyages undertaken by
+private individuals. No use was made of this permission until some years
+later, in 1499. The spirit of enterprise had flagged, and the nation had
+experienced something like disappointment on contrasting the meagre
+results of their own discoveries with the dazzling successes of the
+Portuguese, who had struck at once into the very heart of the jewelled
+east. The report of the admiral's third voyage, however, and the beautiful
+specimens of pearls which he sent home from the coast of Paria, revived
+the cupidity of the nation. Private adventurers now proposed to avail
+themselves of the license already granted, and to follow up the track of
+discovery on their own account. The government, drained by its late heavy
+expenditures, and jealous of the spirit of maritime adventure beginning to
+show itself in the other nations of Europe, [5] willingly acquiesced in a
+measure, which, while it opened a wide field of enterprise for its
+subjects, secured to itself all the substantial benefits of discovery,
+without any of the burdens.
+
+The ships fitted out under the general license were required to reserve
+one-tenth of their tonnage for the crown, as well as two-thirds of all the
+gold, and ten per cent. of all other commodities which they should
+procure. The government promoted these expeditions by a bounty on all
+vessels of six hundred tons and upwards, engaged in them. [6]
+
+With this encouragement the more wealthy merchants of Seville, Cadiz, and
+Palos, the old theatre of nautical enterprise, freighted and sent out
+little squadrons of three or four vessels each, which they intrusted to
+the experienced mariners, who had accompanied Columbus in his first
+voyage, or since followed in his footsteps. They held in general the same
+course pursued by the admiral on his last expedition, exploring the coasts
+of the great southern continent. Some of the adventurers returned with
+such rich freights of gold, pearls, and other precious commodities, as
+well compensated the fatigues and perils of the voyage. But the greater
+number were obliged to content themselves with the more enduring but
+barren honors of discovery. [7]
+
+The active spirit of enterprise now awakened, and the more enlarged
+commercial relations with the new colonies, required a more perfect
+organization of the department for Indian affairs, the earliest vestiges
+of which have been already noticed in a preceding chapter. [8] By an
+ordinance dated at Alcalá, January 20th, 1503, it was provided that a
+board should be established, consisting of three functionaries, with the
+titles of treasurer, factor, and comptroller. Their permanent residence
+was assigned in the old alcazar of Seville, where they were to meet every
+day for the despatch of business. The board was expected to make itself
+thoroughly acquainted with whatever concerned the colonies, and to afford
+the government all information, that could be obtained, affecting their
+interests and commercial prosperity. It was empowered to grant licenses
+under the regular conditions, to provide for the equipment of fleets, to
+determine their destination, and furnish them instructions on sailing. All
+merchandise for exportation was to be deposited in the alcazar, where the
+return cargoes were to be received, and contracts made for their sale.
+Similar authority was given to it over the trade with the Barbary coast
+and the Canary Islands. Its supervision was to extend in like manner over
+all vessels which might take their departure from the port of Cadiz, as
+well as from Seville. With these powers were combined others of a purely
+judicial character, authorizing them to take cognizance of questions
+arising out of particular voyages, and of the colonial trade in general.
+In this latter capacity they were to be assisted by the advice of two
+jurists, maintained by a regular salary from the government. [9]
+
+Such were the extensive powers intrusted to the famous _Casa de
+Contratacion_, or House of Trade, on this its first definite
+organization; and, although its authority was subsequently somewhat
+circumscribed by the appellate jurisdiction of the Council of the Indies,
+it has always continued the great organ by which the commercial
+transactions with the colonies have been conducted and controlled.
+
+The Spanish government, while thus securing to itself the more easy and
+exclusive management of the colonial trade, by confining it within one
+narrow channel, discovered the most admirable foresight in providing for
+its absolute supremacy in ecclesiastical affairs, where alone it could be
+contested. By a bull of Alexander the Sixth, dated November 16th, 1501,
+the sovereigns were empowered to receive all the tithes in the colonial
+dominions. [10] Another bull, of Pope Julius the Second, July 28th, 1508,
+granted them the right of collating to all benefices, of whatever
+description, in the colonies, subject only to the approbation of the Holy
+See. By these two concessions, the Spanish crown was placed at once at the
+head of the church in its transatlantic dominions, with the absolute
+disposal of all its dignities and emoluments. [11]
+
+It has excited the admiration of more than one historian, that Ferdinand
+and Isabella, with their reverence for the Catholic church, should have
+had the courage to assume an attitude of such entire independence of its
+spiritual chief. [12] But whoever has studied their reign, will regard
+this measure as perfectly conformable to their habitual policy, which
+never suffered a zeal for religion, or a blind deference to the church, to
+compromise in any degree the independence of the crown. It is much more
+astonishing, that pontiffs could be found content to divest themselves of
+such important prerogatives. It was deviating widely from the subtle and
+tenacious spirit of their predecessors; and, as the consequences came to
+be more fully disclosed, furnished ample subject of regret to those who
+succeeded them.
+
+Such is a brief summary of the principal regulations adopted by Ferdinand
+and Isabella for the administration of the colonies. Many of their
+peculiarities, including most of their defects, are to be referred to the
+peculiar circumstances under which the discovery of the New World was
+effected. Unlike the settlements on the comparatively sterile shores of
+North America, which were permitted to devise laws accommodated to their
+necessities, and to gather strength in the habitual exercise of political
+functions, the Spanish colonies were from the very first checked and
+controlled by the over-legislation of the parent country. The original
+project of discovery had been entered into with indefinite expectations of
+gain. The verification of Columbus's theory of the existence of land in
+the west gave popular credit to his conjecture, that that land was the
+far-famed Indies. The specimens of gold and other precious commodities
+found there, served to maintain the delusion. The Spanish government
+regarded the expedition as its own private adventure, to whose benefits it
+had exclusive pretensions. Hence those jealous regulations for securing to
+itself a monopoly of the most obvious sources of profit, the dyewoods and
+precious metals.
+
+These impolitic provisions were relieved by others better suited to the
+permanent interests of the colony. Such was the bounty offered in various
+ways on the occupation and culture of land; the erection of
+municipalities; the right of inter-colonial traffic, and of exporting and
+importing merchandise of every description free of duty. [13] These and
+similar laws show that the government, far from regarding the colonies
+merely as a foreign acquisition to be sacrificed to the interests of the
+mother country, as at a later period, was disposed to legislate for them
+on more generous principles, as an integral portion of the monarchy.
+
+Some of the measures, even, of a less liberal tenor, may be excused, as
+sufficiently accommodated to existing circumstances. No regulation, for
+example, was found eventually more mischievous in its operation than that
+which confined the colonial trade to the single port of Seville, instead
+of permitting it to find a free vent in the thousand avenues naturally
+opened in every part of the kingdom; to say nothing of the grievous
+monopolies and exactions, for which this concentration of a mighty traffic
+on so small a point was found, in later times, to afford unbounded
+facility. But the colonial trade was too limited in its extent, under
+Ferdinand and Isabella, to involve such consequences. It was chiefly
+confined to a few wealthy seaports of Andalusia, from the vicinity of
+which the first adventurers had sallied forth on their career of
+discovery. It was no inconvenience to them to have a common port of entry,
+so central and accessible as Seville, which, moreover, by this arrangement
+became a great mart for European trade, thus affording a convenient market
+to the country for effecting its commercial exchanges with every quarter
+of Christendom. [14] It was only when laws, adapted to the incipient
+stages of commerce, were perpetuated to a period when that commerce had
+swelled to such gigantic dimensions as to embrace every quarter of the
+empire, that their gross impolicy became manifest.
+
+It would not be giving a fair view of the great objects proposed by the
+Spanish sovereigns in their schemes of discovery, to omit one which was
+paramount to all the rest, with the queen at least,--the propagation of
+Christianity among the heathen. The conversion and civilization of this
+simple people form, as has been already said, the burden of most of her
+official communications from the earliest period. [15] She neglected no
+means for the furtherance of this good work, through the agency of
+missionaries exclusively devoted to it, who were to establish their
+residence among the natives, and win them to the true faith by their
+instructions, and the edifying example of their own lives. It was with the
+design of ameliorating the condition of the natives, that she sanctioned
+the introduction into the colonies of negro slaves born in Spain. This she
+did on the representation that the physical constitution of the African
+was much better fitted than that of the Indian to endure severe toil under
+a tropical climate. To this false principle of economizing human
+suffering, we are indebted for that foul stain on the New World, which has
+grown deeper and darker with the lapse of years. [16]
+
+Isabella, however, was destined to have her benevolent designs, in regard
+to the natives, defeated by her own subjects. The popular doctrine of the
+absolute rights of the Christian over the heathen seemed to warrant the
+exaction of labor from these unhappy beings to any degree, which avarice
+on the one hand could demand, or human endurance concede on the other. The
+device of the _repartimientos_ systematized and completed the whole
+scheme of oppression. The queen, it is true, abolished them under Ovando's
+administration, and declared the Indians "as free as her own subjects."
+[17] But his representation, that the Indians, when no longer compelled to
+work, withdrew from all intercourse with the Christians, thus annihilating
+at once all hopes of their conversion, subsequently induced her to consent
+that they should be required to labor moderately and for a reasonable
+compensation. [18] This was construed with their usual latitude by the
+Spaniards. They soon revived the old system of distribution on so terrific
+a scale, that a letter of Columbus, written shortly after Isabella's
+death, represents more than six-sevenths of the whole population of
+Hispaniola to have melted away under it! [19] The queen was too far
+removed to enforce the execution of her own beneficent measures; nor is it
+probable, that she ever imagined the extent of their violation, for there
+was no intrepid philanthropist, in that day, like Las Casas, to proclaim
+to the world the wrongs and sorrows of the Indian. [20] A conviction,
+however, of the unworthy treatment of the natives seems to have pressed
+heavily on her heart; for in a codicil to her testament, dated a few days
+only before her death, she invokes the kind offices of her successor in
+their behalf in such strong and affectionate language, as plainly
+indicates how intently her thoughts were occupied with their condition
+down to the last hour of her existence. [21]
+
+The moral grandeur of the maritime discoveries under this reign must not
+so far dazzle us, as to lead to a very high estimate of their immediate
+results in an economical view. Most of those articles which have since
+formed the great staples of South American commerce, as cocoa, indigo,
+cochineal, tobacco, etc., were either not known in Isabella's time, or not
+cultivated for exportation. Small quantities of cotton had been brought to
+Spain, but it was doubted whether the profit would compensate the expense
+of raising it. The sugar-cane had been transplanted into Hispaniola, and
+thrived luxuriantly in its genial soil. But it required time to grow it to
+any considerable amount as an article of commerce; and this was still
+further delayed by the distractions as well as avarice of the colony,
+which grasped at nothing less substantial than gold itself. The only
+vegetable product extensively used in trade was the brazil-wood, whose
+beautiful dye and application to various ornamental purposes made it, from
+the first, one of the most important monopolies of the crown.
+
+The accounts are too vague to afford any probable estimate of the precious
+metals obtained from the new territories previous to Ovando's mission.
+Before the discovery of the mines of Hayna it was certainly very
+inconsiderable. The size of some of the specimens of ore found there would
+suggest magnificent ideas of their opulence. One piece of gold is reported
+by the contemporary historians to have weighed three thousand two hundred
+castellanos, and to have been so large, that the Spaniards served up a
+roasted pig on it, boasting that no potentate in Europe could dine off so
+costly a dish. [22] The admiral's own statement, that the miners obtained
+from six gold castellanos to one hundred or even two hundred and fifty in
+a day, allows a latitude too great to lead to any definite conclusion.
+[23] More tangible evidence of the riches of the island is afforded by the
+fact that two hundred thousand castellanos of gold went down in the ships
+with Bobadilla. But this, it must be remembered, was the fruit of gigantic
+efforts, continued, under a system of unexampled oppression, for more than
+two years. To this testimony might be added that of the well-informed
+historian of Seville, who infers from several royal ordinances that the
+influx of the precious metals had been such, before the close of the
+fifteenth century, as to affect the value of the currency, and the regular
+prices of commodities. [24] These large estimates, however, are scarcely
+reconcilable with the popular discontent at the meagreness of the returns
+obtained from the New World, or with the assertion of Bernaldez, of the
+same date with Zuñiga's reference, that, "so little gold had been brought
+home as to raise a general belief that there was scarcely any in the
+island." [25] This is still further confirmed by the frequent
+representations of contemporary writers, that the expenses of the colonies
+considerably exceeded the profits; and may account for the very limited
+scale on which the Spanish government, at no time blind to its own
+interests, pursued its schemes of discovery, as compared with its
+Portuguese neighbors, who followed up theirs with a magnificent apparatus
+of fleets and armies, that could have been supported only by the teeming
+treasures of the Indies. [26]
+
+While the colonial, commerce failed to produce immediately the splendid
+returns which were expected, it was generally believed to have introduced
+a physical evil into Europe, which, in the language of an eminent writer,
+"more than counterbalanced all the benefits that resulted from the
+discovery of the New World." I allude to the loathsome disease, which
+Heaven has sent as the severest scourge of licentious intercourse between
+the sexes; and which broke out with all the virulence of an epidemic in
+almost every quarter of Europe, in a very short time after the discovery
+of America. The coincidence of these two events led to the popular belief
+of their connection with each other, though it derived little support from
+any other circumstance. The expedition of Charles the Eighth, against
+Naples, which brought the Spaniards, soon after, in immediate contact with
+the various nations of Christendom, suggested a plausible medium for the
+rapid communication of the disorder; and this theory of its origin and
+transmission, gaining credit with time, which made it more difficult to be
+refuted, has passed with little examination from the mouth of one
+historian to another to the present day.
+
+The extremely brief interval which elapsed, between the return of Columbus
+and the simultaneous appearance of the disorder at the most distant points
+of Europe, long since suggested a reasonable distrust of the correctness
+of the hypothesis; and an American, naturally desirous of relieving his
+own country from so melancholy a reproach, may feel satisfaction that the
+more searching and judicious criticism of our own day has at length
+established beyond a doubt that the disease, far from originating in the
+New World, was never known there till introduced by Europeans. [27]
+
+Whatever be the amount of physical good or evil, immediately resulting to
+Spain from her new discoveries, their moral consequences were inestimable.
+The ancient limits of human thought and action were overleaped; the veil
+which had covered the secrets of the deep for so many centuries was
+removed; another hemisphere was thrown open; and a boundless expansion
+promised to science, from the infinite varieties in which nature was
+exhibited in these unexplored regions. The success of the Spaniards
+kindled a generous emulation in their Portuguese rivals, who soon after
+accomplished their long-sought passage into the Indian seas, and thus
+completed the great circle of maritime discovery. [28] It would seem as if
+Providence had postponed this grand event, until the possession of
+America, with its stores of precious metals, might supply such materials
+for a commerce with the east, as should bind together the most distant
+quarters of the globe. The impression made on the enlightened minds of
+that day is evinced by the tone of gratitude and exultation, in which they
+indulge, at being permitted to witness the consummation of these glorious
+events, which their fathers had so long, but in vain, desired to see. [29]
+
+The discoveries of Columbus occurred most opportunely for the Spanish
+nation, at the moment when it was released from the tumultuous struggle in
+which it had been engaged for so many years with the Moslems. The severe
+schooling of these wars had prepared it for entering on a bolder theatre
+of action, whose stirring and romantic perils raised still higher the
+chivalrous spirit of the people. The operation of this spirit was shown in
+the alacrity with which private adventurers embarked in expeditions to the
+New World, under cover of the general license, during the last two years
+of this century. Their efforts, combined with those of Columbus, extended
+the range of discovery from its original limits, twenty-four degrees of
+north latitude, to probably more than fifteen south, comprehending some of
+the most important territories in the western hemisphere. Before the end
+of 1500, the principal groups of the West Indian islands had been visited,
+and the whole extent of the southern continent coasted, from the Bay of
+Honduras to Cape St. Augustine. One adventurous mariner, indeed, named
+Lepe, penetrated several degrees south of this, to a point not reached by
+any other voyager for ten or twelve years after. A great part of the
+kingdom of Brazil was embraced in this extent, and two successive
+Castilian navigators landed and took formal possession of it for the crown
+of Castile, previous to its reputed discovery by the Portuguese Cabral;
+[30] although the claims to it were subsequently relinquished by the
+Spanish Government, conformably to the famous line of demarkation
+established by the treaty of Tordesillas. [31]
+
+While the colonial empire of Spain was thus every day enlarging, the man
+to whom it was all due was never permitted to know the extent or the value
+of it. He died in the conviction in which he lived, that the land he had
+reached was the long-sought Indies. But it was a country far richer than
+the Indies; and, had he on quitting Cuba struck into a westerly, instead
+of southerly direction, it would have carried him into the very depths of
+the golden regions, whose existence he had so long and vainly predicted.
+As it was, he "only opened the gates," to use his own language, for others
+more fortunate than himself; and before he quitted Hispaniola for the last
+time, the young adventurer arrived there, who was destined, by the
+conquest of Mexico, to realize all the magnificent visions, which had been
+derided as only visions, in the lifetime of Columbus.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The discovery of the New World was fortunately reserved for a period when
+the human race was sufficiently enlightened to form some conception of its
+importance. Public attention was promptly and eagerly directed to this
+momentous event, so that few facts worthy of note, during the whole
+progress of discovery from its earliest epoch, escaped contemporary
+record. Many of these notices have, indeed, perished through neglect, in
+the various repositories in which they were scattered. The researches of
+Navarrete have rescued many, and will, it is to be hoped, many more, from
+their progress to oblivion. The first two volumes of his compilation,
+containing the journals and letters of Columbus, the correspondence of the
+sovereigns with him, and a vast quantity of public and private documents,
+form, as I have elsewhere remarked, the most authentic basis for a history
+of that great man. Next to these in importance is the "History of the
+Admiral," by his son Ferdinand, whose own experience and opportunities,
+combined with uncommon literary attainments, eminently qualified him for
+recording his father's extraordinary life. It must be allowed, that he has
+done this with a candor and good faith seldom warped by any overweening,
+though natural, partiality for his subject. His work met with a whimsical
+fate. The original was early lost, but happily not before it had been
+translated into the Italian, from which a Spanish version was afterwards
+made; and from this latter, thus reproduced in the same tongue in which it
+originally appeared, are derived the various translations of it into the
+other languages of Europe. The Spanish version, which is incorporated into
+Barcia's collection, is executed in a slovenly manner, and is replete with
+chronological inaccuracies; a circumstance not very wonderful, considering
+the curious transmigration it has undergone.
+
+Another contemporary author of great value is Peter Martyr, who took so
+deep an interest in the nautical enterprise of his day, as to make it,
+independently of the abundant notices scattered through his
+correspondence, the subject of a separate work. His history, "De Rebus
+Oceanicis et Novo Orbe," has all the value which extensive learning, a
+reflecting, philosophical mind, and intimate familiarity with the
+principal actors in the scenes he describes, can give. Indeed, that no
+source of information might be wanting to him, the sovereigns authorized
+him to be present at the Council of the Indies, whenever any communication
+was made to that body, respecting the progress of discovery. The principal
+defects of his work arise from the precipitate manner in which the greater
+part of it was put together, and the consequently imperfect and
+occasionally contradictory statements which appear in it. But the honest
+intentions of the author, who seems to have been fully sensible of his own
+imperfections, and his liberal spirit, are so apparent, as to disarm
+criticism in respect to comparatively venial errors.
+
+But the writer who has furnished the greatest supply of materials for the
+modern historian is Antonio de Herrera. He did not flourish, indeed, until
+near a century after the discovery of America; but the post which he
+occupied of historiographer of the Indies gave him free access to the most
+authentic and reserved sources of information. He has availed himself of
+these with great freedom; transferring whole chapters from the unpublished
+narratives of his predecessors, especially of the good bishop Las Casas,
+whose great work, "Crónica de las Indias Occidentales," contained too much
+that was offensive to national feeling to be allowed the honors of the
+press. The Apostle of the Indians, however, lives in the pages of Herrera,
+who, while he has omitted the tumid and overheated declamation of the
+original, is allowed by the Castilian critics to have retained whatever is
+of most value, and exhibited it in a dress far superior to that of his
+predecessor. It must not be omitted, however, that he is also accused of
+occasional inadvertence in stating as fact, what Las Casas only adduced as
+tradition or conjecture. His "Historia General de las Indias
+Occidentales," bringing down the narrative to 1554, was published in four
+volumes, at Madrid, in 1601. Herrera left several other histories of the
+different states of Europe, and closed his learned labors in 1625, at the
+age of sixty.
+
+No Spanish historian had since arisen to contest the palm with Herrera on
+his own ground, until, at the close of the last century, Don Juan Bautista
+Muñoz was commissioned by the government to prepare a history of the New
+World. The talents and liberal acquisitions of this scholar, the free
+admission opened to him in every place of public and private deposit, and
+the immense mass of materials collected by his indefatigable researches,
+authorized the most favorable auguries of his success. These were
+justified by the character of the first volume, which brought the
+narrative of early discovery to the period of Bobadilla's mission, written
+in a perspicuous and agreeable style, with such a discriminating selection
+of incident and skilful arrangement, as convey the most distinct
+impression to the mind of the reader. Unfortunately, the untimely death of
+the author crushed his labors in the bud. Their fruits were not wholly
+lost, however. Señor Navarrete, availing himself of them, in connection
+with those derived from his own extensive investigations, is pursuing in
+part the plan of Muñoz, by the publication of original documents; and Mr.
+Irving has completed this design in regard to the early history of Spanish
+discovery, by the use which he has made of these materials in constructing
+out of them the noblest monument to the memory of Columbus.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+[1] See, in particular, a letter to Columbus, dated August, 1494; (apud
+Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. ii., Doc. Dipl., no. 79;) also an
+elaborate memorial presented by the admiral in the same year, setting
+forth the various necessities of the colony, every item of which is
+particularly answered by the sovereigns, in a manner showing how
+attentively they considered his suggestions.--Ibid., tom. i. pp. 226-241.
+
+[2] Abundant evidence of this is furnished by the long enumeration of
+articles subjected to tithes, contained in an ordinance dated October 5th,
+1501, showing with what indiscriminate severity this heavy burden was
+imposed from the first on the most important products of human industry.
+Recopilacion de Leyes de los Reynos de las Indias, (Madrid, 1774,) tom. i.
+lib. 1, tit. 16, ley 2.
+
+[3] Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. ii., Doc. Dipl., no. 86, April
+10th, 1495.--Nos. 103, 105-108, April 23d, 1497.--No. 110, May 6th, 1497.
+--No. 121, July 22d, 1497.--Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 4,
+cap. 12.
+
+[4] Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. ii., Doc. Dipl., nos. 86, 121.--
+Herrera, Indias Occidentales, lib. 3, cap. 2.--Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo-
+Mundo, lib. 5, sec. 34.
+
+The exclusion of foreigners, at least all but "Catholic Christians," is
+particularly recommended by Columbus in his first communication to the
+crown. Primer Viage de Colon.
+
+[5] Among the foreign adventurers were the two Cabots, who sailed in the
+service of the English monarch, Henry VII., in 1497, and ran down the
+whole coast of North America, from Newfoundland to within a few degrees of
+Florida, thus encroaching, as it were, on the very field of discovery
+preoccupied by the Spaniards.
+
+[6] Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 5, sect. 32.--Navarrete, Coleccion
+de Viages, Doc. Dipl., no. 86.
+
+[7] Columbus seems to have taken exceptions at the license for private
+voyages, as an infringement of his own prerogatives. It is difficult,
+however, to understand in what way. There is nothing in his original
+capitulations with the government having reference to the matter, (see
+Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, Doc. Dipl., no. 5,) while, in the letters
+patent made out previously to his second voyage, the right of granting
+licenses is expressly reserved to the crown, and to the superintendent,
+Fonseca, equally with the admiral. (Doc. Dipl., no. 35.) The only legal
+claim which he could make in all such expeditions as were not conducted
+under him, was to one-eighth of the tonnage, and this was regularly
+provided for in the general license. (Doc. Dipl., no. 86.) The sovereigns,
+indeed, in consequence of his remonstrances, published an ordinance, June
+2d, 1497, in which, after expressing their unabated respect for all the
+rights and privileges of the admiral, they declared, that whatever shall
+be found in their previous license repugnant to these shall be null and
+void. (Doc. Dipl., 113.) The hypothetical form in which this is stated
+shows that the sovereigns, with an honest desire of keeping their
+engagements with Columbus, had not a very clear perception in what manner
+they had been violated.
+
+Peter Martyr, De Rebus Oceanicis, Dec. 1, lib. 9.--Herrera, Indias
+Occidentales, lib. 4, cap. 11.--Benzoni, Novi Orbis Hist., cap. 13.
+
+[8] Part I. Chap. 18, of this History.
+
+[9] Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. ii., Doc. Dipl., no. 148.--
+Solorzano y Pereyra, Política Indiana, (Madrid, 1776,) lib. 6, cap. 17.--
+Linage de Veitia, Norte de la Contratacion de las Indias Occidentales,
+(Sevilla, 1672,) lib. 1, cap. 1.--Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, año 1503.--
+Herrera, Indias Occidentales, lib. 5, cap. 12.--Navagiero, Viaggio, fol.
+15.
+
+[10] See the original bull, apud Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. ii.
+apend. 14, and a Spanish version of it, in Solorzano, Política Indiana,
+lib. 4, cap. 1, sec. 7.
+
+[11] Solorzano, Política Indiana, tom. ii. lib. 4, cap. 2, sec. 9--Riol,
+Informe, apud Semanario Erudite, tom. iii. pp. 160, 161.
+
+[12] Among others see Raynal, History of the East and West Indies,
+translated by Justamond, (London, 1788,) vol. iv. p. 277.--Robertson,
+History of America, (London, 1796,) vol. iii. p. 283.
+
+[13] Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 5, sec. 32, 33.--Herrera, Indias
+Occidentales, lib. 4, cap. 11, 12.--Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom.
+ii., Doc. Dipl., no. 86.
+
+[14] The historian of Seville mentions that it was the resort especially
+of the merchants of Flanders, with whom a more intimate intercourse had
+been opened by the intermarriages of the royal family with the house of
+Burgundy. See Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 415.
+
+[15] Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. ii., Doc. Dipl., no. 45, et loc.
+al.--Las Casas, amidst his unsparing condemnation of the guilty, does
+ample justice to the pure and generous, though, alas! unavailing efforts
+of the queen. See Oeuvres, ed. de Llorente, tom. i. pp. 21, 307, 395, et
+alibi.
+
+[16] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, lib. 4, cap. 12.--A good account of the
+introduction of negro slavery into the New World, comprehending the
+material facts, and some little known, may be found in the fifth chapter
+of Bancroft's "History of the United States;" a work in which the author
+has shown singular address in creating a unity of interest out of a
+subject which, in its early stages, would seem to want every other unity.
+It is the deficiency of this, probably, which has prevented Mr. Grahame's
+valuable History from attaining the popularity, to which its solid merits
+justly entitle it. Should the remaining volumes of Mr. Bancroft's work be
+conducted with the same spirit, scholarship, and impartiality as the
+volume before us, it cannot fail to take a permanent rank in American
+literature.
+
+[17] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, lib. 4, cap. 11.
+
+[18] Dec. 20th, 1503.--Ibid., lib. 5, cap. 11.--See the instructions to
+Ovando in Navarrete, (Coleccion de Viages, tom. ii., Doc. Dipl., no. 153.)
+"Pay them regular wages," says the ordinance, "for their labor," "como
+personas libres como lo son, y no como siervos." Las Casas, who analyzes
+these instructions, which Llorente, by the by, has misdated, exposes the
+atrocious manner in which they were violated, in every particular, by
+Ovando and his successors. Oeuvres, ed. de Llorente, tom. i. p. 309, et
+seq.
+
+[19] Ibid., ubi supra.--Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. 2, cap. 36, MS., apud
+Irving, vol. iii. p. 412.--The venerable bishop confirms this frightful
+picture of desolation, in its full extent, in his various memorials
+prepared for the Council of the Indies. Oeuvres, ed. de Llorente, tom. i.
+passim.
+
+[20] Las Casas made his first voyage to the Indies, it is true, in 1498,
+or at latest 1502; but there is no trace of his taking an active part in
+denouncing the oppressions of the Spaniards earlier than 1510, when he
+combined his efforts with those of the Dominican missionaries lately
+arrived in St. Domingo, in the same good work. It was not until some years
+later, 1515, that he returned to Spain and pleaded the cause of the
+injured natives before the throne. Llorente, Oeuvres de Las Casas, tom. i.
+pp. 1-23.--Nic. Antonio, Bibliotheca Nova, tom. i. pp. 191, 192.
+
+[21] See the will, apud Dormer, Discursos Varios, p. 381.
+
+[22] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, lib. 5, cap. 1.--Fernando Colon, Hist.
+del Almirante, cap. 84.--Oviedo, Relacion Sumaria de la Historia Natural
+de las Indias, cap. 84, apud Barcia, Historiadores Primitivos, tom. i.
+
+[23] Tercer Viage de Colon, apud Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. i.
+p. 274.
+
+[24] Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 415. The alteration was in the gold
+currency; which continued to rise in value till 1497, when it gradually
+sunk, in consequence of the importation from the mines of Hispaniola.
+Clemencin has given its relative value as compared with silver, for
+several different years; and the year he assigns for the commencement of
+its depreciation, is precisely the same with that indicated by Zuñiga.
+(Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 20.) The value of silver was
+not materially affected till the discovery of the great mines of Potosí
+and Zacatecas.
+
+[25] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 131.
+
+[26] The estimates in the text, it will be noticed, apply only to the
+period antecedent to Ovando's administration, in 1502. The operations
+under him were conducted on a far more extensive and efficient plan. The
+system of _repartimientos_ being revived, the whole physical force of
+the island, aided by the best mechanical apparatus, was employed in
+extorting from the soil all its hidden stores of wealth. The success was
+such that in 1506, within two years after Isabella's death, the four
+foundries established in the island yielded an annual amount, according to
+Herrera, of 450,000 ounces of gold. It must be remarked, however, that
+one-fifth only of the gross sum obtained from the mines was at that time
+paid to the crown. It is a proof how far these returns exceeded the
+expectations at the time of Ovando's appointment, that the person then
+sent out, as marker of the gold, was to receive, as a reasonable
+compensation, one per cent, of all the gold assayed. The perquisite,
+however, was found to be so excessive, that the functionary was recalled,
+and a new arrangement made with his successor. (See Herrera, Indias
+Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 6, cap. 18.) When Navagiero visited Seville, in
+1520, the royal fifth of the gold, which passed through the mints,
+amounted to about 100,000 ducats annually. Viaggio, fol. 15.
+
+[27] The curious reader is particularly referred to a late work, entitled
+_Lettere sutta Storia de' Mali Venerei, di Domenico Thiene, Venezia_,
+1823; for the knowledge and loan of which I am indebted to my friend, Dr.
+Walter Channing. In this work, the author has assembled all the early
+notices of the disease of any authority, and discussed their import with
+great integrity and judgment. The following positions may be considered as
+established by his researches. 1. That neither Columbus nor his son, in
+their copious narratives and correspondence, allude in any way to the
+existence of such a disease in the New World. I must add, that an
+examination of the original documents, published by Navarrete since the
+date of Dr. Thiene's work, fully confirms this statement. 2. That among
+the frequent notices of the disease, during the twenty-five years
+immediately following the discovery of America, there is not a single
+intimation of its having been brought from that country; but, on the
+contrary, a uniform derivation of it from some other source, generally
+France. 3. That the disorder was known and circumstantially described
+previous to the expedition of Charles VIII., and of course could not have
+been introduced by the Spaniards in that way, as vulgarly supposed. 4.
+That various contemporary authors trace its existence in a variety of
+countries, as far back as 1493, and the beginning of 1494, showing a
+rapidity and extent of diffusion perfectly irreconcilable with its
+importation by Columbus in 1493. 5. Lastly, that it was not till after the
+close of Ferdinand and Isabella's reigns, that the first work appeared
+affecting to trace the origin of the disease to America; and this,
+published 1517, was the production not of a Spaniard, but a foreigner.
+
+A letter of Peter Martyr to the learned Portuguese Arias Barbosa,
+professor of Greek at Salamanca, noticing the symptoms of the disease in
+the most unequivocal manner, will settle at once this much vexed question,
+if we can rely on the genuineness of the date, the 5th of April, 1488,
+about five years before the return of Columbus. Dr. Thiene, however,
+rejects the date as apocryphal, on the ground, 1. That the name of "morbus
+Gallicus," given to the disease by Martyr, was not in use till after the
+French invasion, in 1494. 2. That the superscription of Greek professor at
+Salamanca was premature, as no such professorship existed there till 1508.
+
+As to the first of these objections, it may be remarked, that there is but
+one author prior to the French invasion, who notices the disease at all.
+He derives it from Gaul, though not giving it the technical appellation of
+_morbus Gallicus_; and Martyr, it may be observed, far from confining
+himself to this, alludes to one or two other names, showing that its title
+was then quite undetermined. In regard to the second objection, Dr. Thiene
+does not cite his authority for limiting the introduction of Greek at
+Salamanca to 1508. He may have found a plausible one in the account of
+that university compiled by one of its officers, Pedro Chacon, in 1569,
+inserted in the eighteenth volume of the Semanario Erudito, (Madrid,
+1789.) The accuracy of the writer's chronology, however, may well be
+doubted from a gross anachronism on the same page with the date referred
+to, where he speaks of Queen Joanna as inheriting the crown in 1512.
+(Hist. de la Universidad de Salamanca, p. 55.) Waiving this, however, the
+fact of Barbosa being Greek professor at Salamanca in 1488 is directly
+intimated by his pupil the celebrated Andrew Resendi. "Arias Lusitanus,"
+says he, "quadraginta, et eo plus annos Salmanticae tum Latinas litteras,
+tum Graecas, magnâ cum laude professus est." (Responsio ad Quevedum, apud
+Barbosa, Bibliotheca Lusitana, tom. i. p. 77.) Now, as Barbosa, by general
+consent, passed several years in his native country, Portugal, before his
+death in 1530, this assertion of Resendi necessarily places him at
+Salamanca in the situation of Greek instructor some time before the date
+of Martyr's letter. It may be added, indeed, that Nic. Antonio, than whom
+a more competent critic could not be found, so far from suspecting the
+date of the letter, cites it as settling the period when Barbosa filled
+the Greek chair at Salamanca, (See Bibliotheca Nova, tom. i. p. 170.)
+
+Martyr's epistle, if we admit the genuineness of the date, must dispose at
+once of the whole question of the American origin of the venereal disease.
+But as this question is determined quite as conclusively, though not so
+summarily, by the accumulated evidence from other sources, the reader will
+probably think the matter not worth so much discussion.
+
+[28] This event occurred in 1497, Vasco de Gama doubling the Cape of Good
+Hope, November 20th, in that year, and reaching Calicut in the following
+May, 1498. La Clède, Hist. de Portugal, tom. iii. pp. 104-109.
+
+[29] See, among others, Peter Martyr, Opus Epist, epist. 181.
+
+[30] Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. iii. pp. 18-26.--Cabral's
+pretensions to the discovery of Brazil appear not to have been doubted
+until recently. They are sanctioned both by Robertson and Raynal.
+
+[31] The Portuguese court formed, probably, no very accurate idea of the
+geographical position of Brazil. King Emanuel, in a letter to the Spanish
+sovereigns acquainting them with Cabral's voyage, speaks of the newly
+discovered region as not only convenient, but _necessary_, for the
+navigation to India. (See the letter, apud Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages,
+tom. iii. no. 13.) The oldest maps of this country, whether from ignorance
+or design, bring it twenty-two degrees east of its proper longitude, so
+that the whole of the vast tract now comprehended under the name of
+Brazil, would fall on the Portuguese side of the partition line agreed on
+by the two governments, which, it will be remembered, was removed to 370
+leagues west of the Cape de Verd Islands. The Spanish court made some show
+at first of resisting the pretensions of the Portuguese, by preparations
+for establishing a colony on the northern extremity of the Brazilian
+territory. (Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. iii. p. 39.) It is not
+easy to understand how it came finally to admit these pretensions. Any
+correct admeasurement with the Castilian league would only have included
+the fringe, as it were, of the northeastern promontory of Brazil. The
+Portuguese league, allowing seventeen to a degree, may have been adopted,
+which would embrace nearly the whole territory which passed under the name
+of Brazil, in the best ancient maps, extending from Para on the north, to
+the great river of San Pedro on the south. (See Malte Brun, Universal
+Geography, (Boston, 1824-9,) book 91.) Mariana seems willing to help the
+Portuguese, by running the partition line one hundred leagues farther west
+than they claimed themselves. Hist. de España, tom. ii. p. 607.
+
+END OF VOL. II.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of the Reign of Ferdinand
+and Isabella The Catholic, Vol. 2, by William H. Prescott
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