Part 2 — CHAPTER IV. Concerning the infallible teaching of the Roman Pontiff: (continued 35)

G. Long, Decline of the Roman Republic, volume 2, chapters 31-33.

ALSO IN: H. G. Liddell, History of Rome, book 7, chapter 62.

SPAIN: B. C. 49. Cæsar's first campaign against the Pompeians.

See ROME: B. C. 49.

SPAIN: B. C. 45. Cæsar's last campaign against the Pompeians. His victory at Munda.

See ROME: B. C. 45.

SPAIN: 3d Century. Early Christianity.

See CHRISTIANITY: A. D. 100-312 (SPAIN).

SPAIN: A. D. 408. Under the usurper Constantine.

See BRITAIN: A. D. 407.

SPAIN: A. D. 409-414. Invasion of the Vandals, Sueves, and Alans.

From the end of the year 406 to the autumn of 409, the barbaric torrent of Alans, Sueves and Vandals which had swept away the barriers of the Roman empire beyond the Alps, spent its rage on the unhappy provinces of Gaul. On the 13th of October, 409, the Pyrenees were passed and the same flood of tempestuous invasion poured into Spain. "The misfortunes of Spain may be described in the language of its most eloquent historian [Mariana], who has concisely expressed the passionate, and perhaps exaggerated, declamations of contemporary writers. 'The irruption of these nations was followed by the most dreadful calamities; as the barbarians exercised their indiscriminate cruelty on the fortunes of the Romans and the Spaniards, and ravaged with equal fury the cities and the open country. The progress of famine reduced the miserable inhabitants to feed on the flesh of their fellow-creatures; and even the wild beasts, who multiplied without control in the desert, were exasperated by the taste of blood and the impatience of hunger boldly to attack and devour their human prey. Pestilence soon appeared, the inseparable companion of famine; a large proportion of the people was swept away; and the groans of the dying excited only the envy of their surviving friends. At length the barbarians, satiated with carnage and rapine, and afflicted by the contagious evils which they themselves had introduced, fixed their permanent seats in the depopulated country. {2974} The ancient Galicia, whose limits included the kingdom of Old Castile, was divided between the Suevi and the Vandals; the Alani were scattered over the provinces of Carthagena and Lusitania, from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean; and the fruitful territory of Bætica was allotted to the Silingi, another branch of the Vandalic nation. … The lands were again cultivated; and the towns and villages were again occupied by a captive people. The greatest part of the Spaniards was even disposed to prefer this new condition of poverty and barbarism to the severe oppressions of the Roman government; yet there were many who still asserted their native freedom, and who refused, more especially in the mountains of Galicia, to submit to the barbarian yoke.'"

E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 31.

SPAIN: A. D. 414-418. First conquests of the Visigoths.

See GOTHS (VISIGOTHS): A. D. 410-419.

SPAIN: A. D. 428. Conquests of the Vandals.

See VANDALS: A. D. 428.

SPAIN: A. D. 477-712. The Gothic kingdom.

See GOTHS (VISIGOTHS): A. D. 453-484; and 507-711.

SPAIN: A. D. 573. The Suevi overcome by the Visigoths.

See SUEVI: A. D. 409-573.

SPAIN: A. D. 616. First expulsion of the Jews.

See JEWS: 7TH CENTURY.

SPAIN: A. D. 711-713. Conquest by the Arab-Moors.

The last century of the Gothic kingdom in Spain was, on the whole, a period of decline. It gained some extension of boundaries, it is true, by the expulsion of Byzantine authority from one small southern corner of the Spanish peninsula, in which it had lingered long; but repeated usurpations had shaken the throne; the ascendancy of church and clergy had weakened the Gothic nobility without strengthening the people; frequent recurrences of political disorder had interfered with a general prosperity and demoralized society in many ways. The condition of Spain, in fact, was such as might plainly invite the flushed armies of Islam, which now stood on the African side of the narrow strait of Gibraltar. That another invitation was needed to bring them in is not probable. The story of the great treason of Count Illan, or Ilyan, or Julian, and of the betrayed daughter, Florinda, to whose wrongs he made a sacrifice of his country, has been woven into the history of the Moorish conquest of Spain by too many looms of romance and poetry to be easily torn away,—and it may have some bottom of fact in its composition; but sober reason requires us to believe that no possible treason in the case could be more than a chance incident of the inevitable catastrophe. The final conquest of North Africa had been completed by the Arab general Musa Ibn Nosseyr,—except that Ceuta, the one stronghold which the Goths held on the African side of the straits, withstood them. They had not only conquered the Berbers or Moors, but had practically absorbed and affiliated them. Spain, as they learned, was distracted by a fresh revolution, which had brought to the throne Roderick —the last Gothic king. The numerous Jews in the country were embittered by persecution and looked to the more tolerant Moslems for their deliverance. Probably their invitation proved more potent than any which Count Ilyan could address to Musa, or to his master at Damascus. But Ilyan commanded at Ceuta, and, after defending the outpost for a time, he gave it up. It seems, too, that when the movement of Invasion occurred, in the spring of 711, Count Ilyan was with the invaders. The first expedition to cross the narrow strait from Ceuta to Gibraltar came under the command of the valiant one-eyed chieftain, Tarik Ibn Zeyud Ibn Abdillah. "The landing of Tarik's forces was completed on the 30th of April, 711 (8th Regeb. A. H. 92), and his enthusiastic followers at once named the promontory upon which he landed, Dschebel-Tarik [or Gebel-Tarik], the rock of Tarik. The name has been retained in the modernized form, Gibraltar. It is also spoken of in the Arabian chronicles as Dschebalu-l-Fata, the portal or mountain of victory." Tarik entered Spain with but 7,000 men. He afterwards received reinforcements to the extent of 5,000 from Musa. It was with this small army of 12,000 men that, after a little more than two months, he encountered the far greater host which King Roderick had levied hastily to oppose him. The Gothic king despised the small numbers of his foe and rashly staked everything upon the single field. Somewhere not far from Medina Sidonia, —or nearer to the town of Xeres de la Frontera. —on the banks of the Guadalete, the decisive battle began on the 19th day of July, A. D. 711. It lasted obstinately for several days, and success appeared first on the Gothic side; but treason among the Christians and discipline among the Moslems turned the scale. When the battle ended the conquest of Spain was practically achieved. Its Gothic king had disappeared, whether slain or fled was never known, and the organization of resistance disappeared with him. Tarik pursued his success with audacious vigor, even disobeying the commands of his superior, Musa. Dividing his small army into detachments, he pushed them out in all directions to seize the important cities. Xeres, Moron, Carmona, Cordova, Malaga, and Gharnatta—Granada—(the latter so extensively peopled with Jews that it was called "Gharnatta-al-Yahood," or Granada of the Jews) were speedily taken. Toledo, the Gothic capital, surrendered and was occupied on Palm Sunday, 712. The same spring, Musa, burning with envy of his subordinate's unexpected success, crossed to Spain with an army of 18,00() and took up the nearly finished task. He took Seville and laid siege to Merida—the Emerita Augusta of the Romans—a great and splendid city of unusual strength. Merida resisted with more valor than other cities had shown, but surrendered in July. Seville revolted and was punished terribly by the merciless Moslem sword. Before the end of the second year after Tarik's first landing at Gibraltar, the Arab, or Arab-Moorish, invaders had swept the whole southern, central and eastern parts of the peninsula, clear to the Pyrenees, reducing Saragossa after a siege and receiving the surrender of Barcelona, Valencia, and all the important cities. Then, in the summer of 713, Musa and Tarik went away, under orders from the Caliph, to settle their jealous dissensions at Damascus, and to report the facts of the great conquest they made.

H. Coppée, History of the Conquest of Spain, books 2-3 (volume 1).

{2975}

ALSO IN: J. A. Condé, History of the Arabs in Spain, chapters 8-17 (volume 1).

For preceding events;

See GOTHS (VISIGOTHS); and MAHOMETAN CONQUEST AND EMPIRE.

SPAIN: A. D. 713-910. The rally of the fugitive Christians.

"The first blow [of the Moslem conquest] had stunned Gothic Spain; and, before she could recover her consciousness, the skilful hands of the Moslemah had bound her, hand and foot. From the first stupor they were not allowed to recover. The very clemency of the Moslems robbed the Christians of argument. If their swords were sharp, their conduct after battle was far better than the inhabitants had any right to expect, far better than that of the Roman or Gothic conquerors had been, when they invaded Spain. Their religion, the defence of which might have been the last rallying-point, was respected under easy conditions; their lives rendered secure and comfortable; they were under tribute, but a tribute no more exacting than Roman taxes or Gothic subsidies. … It was the Gothic element, and not the Hispano-Romans, that felt the humiliation most. … The Spanish Goths, at first impelled by the simple instinct of self-preservation, had fled in all directions before the fiery march of the Moslemah, after the first fatal battle in the plains of Sidonia. They had taken with them in their flight all the movable property they could carry and the treasures of the churches. Some had passed the Pyrenees to join their kinsmen in Septimania; and others had hidden in the mountain valleys of the great chain-barrier; while a considerable number, variously stated, had collected in the intricate territory of the Asturias and in Galicia, where strength of position made amends for the lack of numbers and organization, and where they could find shelter and time for consultation as to the best manner of making head against the enemy. The country is cut up in all directions by inaccessible, scarped rocks, deep ravines, tangled thickets, and narrow gorges and defiles." This band of refugees in the Asturias—the forlorn hope of Christian Spain—are said to have found a gallant leader in one Pelayo, whose origin and history are so covered with myth that some historians even question his reality. But whether by Pelayo or another prince, the Asturian Spaniards were held together in their mountains and began a struggle of resistance which ended only, eight centuries later, in the recovery of the entire peninsula from the Moors. Their place of retreat was an almost inaccessible cavern—the Cave of Covadonga—in attacking which the Moslems suffered a terrible and memorable repulse (A. D. 717). "In Christian Spain the fame of this single battle will endure as long as time shall last; and La Cueva de Covadonga, the cradle of the monarchy, will be one of the proudest spots on the soil of the Peninsula. … This little rising in the Asturias was the indication of a new life, new interests, and a healthier combination. … Pelayo was the usher and the representative of this new order, and the Christian kingdom of Oviedo was its first theatre. … The battle of Covadonga, in which it had its origin, cleared the whole territory of the Asturias of every Moslem soldier. The fame of its leader, and the glad tidings that a safe retreat had been secured, attracted the numerous Christians who were still hiding in the mountain fastnesses, and infused a new spirit of patriotism throughout the land. … Pelayo was now king in reality, as well as in name. … With commendable prudence, he contented himself with securing and slowly extending his mountain kingdom by descending cautiously into the plains and valleys. … Adjacent territory, abandoned by the Moslems, was occupied and annexed; and thus the new nation was made ready to set forth on its reconquering march."

H. Coppée, Conquest of Spain by the Arab-Moors, book 5, chapters 1-2 (volume 1).

"The small province thus preserved by Pelayo [whose death is supposed to have occurred A. D. 737] grew into the germs of a kingdom called at different times that of Gallicia, Oviedo, and Leon. A constant border warfare fluctuated both ways, but on the whole to the advantage of the Christians. Meanwhile to the east other small states were growing up which developed into the kingdom of Navarre and the more important realm of Aragon. Castile and Portugal, the most famous among the Spanish kingdoms, are the most recent in date. Portugal as yet was unheard of, and Castile was known only as a line of castles on the march between the Saracens and the kingdom of Leon."

E. A. Freeman, History and Conquests of the Saracens, lecture 5.

"The States of Pelagio [Pelayo] continued, during his reign and that of his son Favila, to be circumscribed to the Asturian mountains; but … Alfonso I., the son-in-law of Pelagio, ascended the throne after Favila, and he soon penetrated into Galicia up to the Douro, and to Leon and Old Castile. … Canicas, or Cangas, was the capital of the Asturias since the time of Pelagio. Fruela (brother of Alfonso I.] founded Oviedo, to the west, and this State became later on the head of the monarchy." About a century later, in the reign of the vigorous king Alfonso III. [A. D. 866-9101, the city of Leon, the ancient Legio of the Romans, was raised from its ruins, and Garcia, the eldest son of Alfonso, established his court there. One of Garcia's brothers held the government of the Asturias, and another one that of Galicia, "if not as separate kingdoms, at least with a certain degree of independence. This equivocal situation of the two princes was, perchance, the reason why the King of Oviedo changed his title to that of Leon, and which appears in the reign of Garcia as the first attempt towards dismembering the Spanish Monarchy. Previous to this, in the reign of King Alfonso III., Navarre, always rebellious, had shaken off the Asturian yoke."

E. McMurdo, History of Portugal, introduction, part 3.

SPAIN: A. D. 756-1031. The Caliphate of Cordova.

See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST AND EMPIRE: A. D. 756-1031.

SPAIN: A. D. 778. Charlemagne's conquests.

The invasion of Spain by Charlemagne, in 778, was invited by a party among the Saracens, disaffected towards the reigning Caliph, at Cordova, who proposed to place the northern Spanish frontier under the protection of the Christian monarch and acknowledge his suzerainty. He passed the Pyrenees with a great army and advanced with little serious opposition to Saragossa, apparently occupying the country to the Ebro with garrisons and adding it to his dominions as the Spanish March. At Saragossa he encountered resistance and undertook a siege, the results of which are left uncertain. {2976} It would seem that he was called away, by threatening news from the northern part of his dominions, and left the conquest incomplete. The return march of the army, through a pass of the Pyrenees, was made memorable by the perfidious ambuscade and hopeless battle of Roncesvalles, which became immortalized in romance and song. It was in the country of the Gascons or Wascones (Basques) that this tragic event occurred, and the assailants were not Saracens, as the story of the middle ages would have it, but the Gascons themselves, who, in league with their neighbors of Aquitaine, had fought for their independence so obstinately before, against both Charlemagne and his father. They suffered the Franks to pass into Spain without a show of enmity, but laid a trap for the return, in the narrow gorge called the Roscida Vallis—now Roncesvalles. The van of the army, led by the king, went through in safety. The rear-guard, "oppressed with baggage, loitered along the rocky and narrow pathway, and as it entered the solitary gap of Ibayeta, from the lofty precipices on either side an unknown foe rolled suddenly down enormous rocks and trunks of uprooted trees. Instantly many of the troops were crushed to death, and the entire passage was blockaded. … The Franks who escaped the horrible slaughter were at once assailed with forks and pikes; their heavy armor, which had served them so well in other fights, only encumbered them amid the bushes and brambles of the ravine; and yet they fought with obstinate and ferocious energy. Cheered on by the prowess of Eghihard, the royal sencschal, of Anselm, Count of the Palace, of Roland, the warden of the Marches of Brittany, and of many other renowned chiefs, they did not desist till the last man had fallen, covered with wounds and blood. … How many perished in this fatal surprise was never told; but the event smote with profound effect upon the imagination of Europe; it was kept alive in a thousand shapes by tales and superstitions; heroic songs and stories carried the remembrance of it from generation to generation; Roland and his companions, the Paladins of Karl, untimely slain, became, in the Middle Ages, the types of chivalric valor and Christian heroism; and, seven centuries after their only appearance in history, the genius of Pulci, Boiardo, and Ariosto still preserved in immortal verse the traditions of their glory. … Roland is but once mentioned in authentic history, but the romance and songs, which make him a nephew of Karl, compensate his memory for this neglect."

P. Godwin, History of France: Ancient Gaul, chapter 16, with foot-note.

ALSO IN: J. I. Mombert, History of Charles the Great, book 2, chapter 5.

G. P. R. James, History of Charlemagne, book 5.

J. O'Hagan, Song of Roland.

T. Bulfinch, Legends of Charlemagne.

H. Coppée, Conquest of Spain by the Arab·Moors, book 7, chapter 3 (volume 2).

SPAIN: A. D. 778-885 (?). Rise of the kingdom of Navarre.

See NAVARRE: ORIGIN OF THE KINGDOM.

SPAIN: A. D. 1026-1230. The rise of the kingdom of Castile.

"Ancient Cantabria, which the writers of the 8th century usually termed Bardulia, and which, at this period [the 8th century] stretched from the Biscayan sea to the Duero, towards the close of the same century began to be called Castella—doubtless from the numerous forts erected for the defence of the country by Alfonso I. [the third king of Oviedo, or Leon]. As the boundaries were gradually removed towards the south, by the victories of the Christians, the same denomination was applied to the new as well as to the former conquests, and the whole continued subject to the same governor, who had subordinate governors dependent on him. Of the first governors or counts, from the period of its conquest by that prince in 760, to the reign of Ordoño I. (a full century), not even the names are mentioned in the old chroniclers; the first we meet with is that of Count Rodrigo, who is known to have possessed the dignity at least six years,—viz. from 860 to 866." The last count of Castile, Garcia Sanchez, who was the eighth of the line from Rodrigo, perished in his youth by assassination (A. D. 1026), just as he was at the point of receiving the title of king from the sovereign of Leon, together with the hand of the latter's daughter. Castile was then seized by Sancho el Mayor, king of Navarre, in right of his queen, who was the elder sister of Garcia. He assumed it to be a kingdom and associated the crown with his own. On his death, in 1035, he bequeathed this new kingdom of Castile to one of his sons, Fernando, while leaving Navarre to another, and Aragon, then a lordship, to a third. Fernando of Castile, being involved soon afterwards in war with the young king of Leon, won the kingdom of the latter in a single battle, where the last of the older royal dynasty of Spain fell fighting like a valiant knight. The two kingdoms of Castile and Leon were united under this prosperous king (see, also, PORTUGAL: EARLY HISTORY) until his death, A. D. 1065, when Castile passed to Sancho, the eldest of his sons, and Leon to Alfonso, the second. But Sancho soon ousted Alfonso, and Alfonso, biding his time, acquired both crowns in 1072, when Sancho was assassinated. It was this Alfonso who recovered the ancient capital city, Toledo, from the Moslems, and it was in his reign that the famous Cid Campeador, Rodrigo de Bivar, performed his fabulous exploits. The two kingdoms were kept in union until 1157, when they fell apart again and continued asunder until 1230. At that time a lasting union of Castile and Leon took place, under Fernando III., whom the church of Rome has canonized.

S. A. Dunham, History of Spain and Portugal, book 3, section 2, chapter 1.

{2976a} {2976b}

[IMAGE: SPAIN AT ABOUT THE BEGINNING OF THE NINTH CENTURY EMPIRE OF CHARLEMAGNE. KINGDOM OF ASTURIA. EMIRATE OF CORDOVA.

DURING THIS PERIOD THE BASIN OF THE DOURA RIVER WAS UNDER LITTLE ORGANIZED RULE. THE RIVER FORMS MERELY A NOMINAL BOUNDARY BETWEEN THE KINGDOM OF ASTURIA AND THE EMIRATE OF CORDOVA

SPAIN IN 1035, SHOWING THE DIVISIONS OF THE KINGDOM OF NAVARRE AFTER THE DEATH OF SANCHO THE GREAT (1035) AND OF THE MOHAMEDAN TERRITORIES ON THE EXTINCTION OF THE CORDOVAN CALIPHATE (1031).

DIVISIONS OF SANCHO'S KINGDOM NAVARRE CASTILE ARAGON AND RIBAGORCA FRANCE

THE DATES UNDER A NUMBER OF THE MOHAMMEDAN CITIES INDICATE THE ENCROACHMENTS OF THE CHRISTIAN STATES UP TO ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY.

SPAIN AT ABOUT THE YEAR 1150. NAVARRE. LEON. CASTILE. ARAGON. PORTUGAL. EMPIRE OF THE ALMOHADES.

SPAIN AT THE CLOSE OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. CASTILE AND LEON. ARAGON. PORTUGAL. GRANADA.

THE GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS AS SHOWN ON THIS MAP REMAINED PRACTICALLY UNCHANGED UP TO THE LATTER PART OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.]

SPAIN: A. D. 1031-1086. Petty and short-lived Moorish kingdoms.

"The decline and dissolution of the Mohammedan monarchy, or western caliphate, afforded the ambitious local governors throughout the Peninsula the opportunity for which they had long sighed—that of openly asserting their independence of Cordova, and of assuming the title of kings. The wali of Seville, Mohammed ben Ismail ben Abid, … appears to have been the first to assume the powers of royalty; … he declared war against the self-elected king of Carmona, Mohammed ben Abdalla, on whose cities, Carmona and Ecija, he had cast a covetous eye. The brother of Yahia, Edris ben Ali, the son of Hamud, governed Malaga with equal independence. Algeziras had also its sovereigns. Elvira and Granada obeyed Habus ben Maksan: Valencia had for its king Abdelasis Abul Hassan, Almeria had Zohair, and Denia had Mugehid; but these two petty states were soon absorbed in the rising sphere of Valencia. Huesca and Saragossa were also subject to rulers, who though slow to assume the title of kings were not the less independent, since their sway extended over most of Aragon. {2977} The sovereign of Badajos, Abdalla Muslema ben Alaftas, was the acknowledged head of all the confederated governors of Algarve and Lusitania; and Toledo was subject to the powerful Ismail ben Dyluun, who, like the king of Seville, secretly aspired to the government of all Mohammedan Spain."

S. A. Dunham, History of Spain and Portugal, book 3, section 1, chapter 1 (volume 2).

"These petty kings were sometimes fighting against each other, and sometimes joining hands to oppose the down-coming of Christians, until they were startled by a new incursion from Africa … which, in consolidating Islam, threatened destruction to the existing kingdoms by the absorption of everyone of them in this African vortex. I refer to the coming of the Almoravides."

H. Coppée, Conquest of Spain by the Arab-Moors, book 8, chapter 2 (volume 2).

SPAIN: A. D. 1035-1258. The Rise of the Kingdom of Aragon.

The province of Aragon, with Navarre to the west of it and Catalonia to the east, was included in the Spanish March of Charlemagne. Navarre took the lead among these provinces in acquiring independence, and Aragon became for a time a lordship dependent on the Navarrese monarchy. "The Navarre of Sancho the Great [the same who gathered Castile among his possessions, making it a kingdom, and who reigned from 970 to 1035] stretched some way beyond the Ebro; to the west it took in the ocean lands of Biscay and Guipuzcoa, with the original Castile; to the east it took in Aragon, Ripacurcia and Sobrarbe. … At the death of Sancho the Great [A. D. 1035] his momentary dominion broke up. … Out of the break-up of the dominion of Sancho came the separate kingdom of Navarre, and the new kingdoms of Castile, Aragon, and Sobrarbe. Of these the two last were presently united, thus beginning the advance of Aragon. … The power of Aragon grew, partly by conquests from the Mussulmans, partly by union with the French fiefs to the east. The first union between the crown of Aragon and the county of Barcelona [by marriage, 1131] led to the great growth of the power of Aragon on both sides of the Pyrenees and even beyond the Rhone. This power was broken by the overthrow of King Pedro at Muret—[Pedro II. of Aragon, who allied himself with the Albigenses—see ALBIGENSES: A. D. 1210-1213—and was defeated and slain by Simon de Montfort, at Muret, near Toulouse. September 12, 1213]. But by the final arrangement which freed Barcelona, Roussillon, and Cerdagne, from all homage to France [A. D. 1258], all trace of foreign superiority passed away from Christian Spain. The independent kingdom of Aragon stretched on both sides of the Pyrenees, a faint reminder of the days of the West-Gothic kings."

E. A. Freeman, History Geography of Europe, chapter 12, section 1.

ALSO IN: S. A. Dunham, History of Spain and Portugal, book 3, section 2, chapter 4.

See, also, PROVENCE: A. D. 1179-1207.

SPAIN: A. D. 1086-1147. Domination of the Almoravides.

See ALMORAVIDES.

SPAIN: A. D. 1140. Separation of Portugal from Castile. Its erection into an independent kingdom.

See PORTUGAL: A. D. 1095-1325.

SPAIN: A. D. 1146-1232. Invasion and dominion of the Almohades and the decisive battle of Tolosa.

The invasion of Spain by the Moorish Almohades (see ALMOHADES), and their struggle for dominion with the Almoravides, produced, at the outset, great alarm in Christendom, but was productive in the end of many opportunities for the advancement of the Christian cause. In the year 1212 Pope Innocent III. was moved by an appeal from Alfonso VIII. of Castile to call on all Christian people to give aid to their brethren in Spain, proclaiming a plenary indulgence to those who would take up arms in the holy cause. Thousands joined the crusade thus preached, and flocked to the Castilian standards at Toledo. The chief of the Almohades retorted on his side by proclaiming the Algihed or Holy War, which summoned every Moslem in his dominions to the field. Thus the utmost frenzy of zeal was animated on both sides, and the shock of conflict could hardly fail to be decisive, under the circumstances. Substantially it proved to be so, and the fate of Mahometanism in Spain is thought to have been sealed on Las Navas de Tolosa—the Plains of Tolosa—where the two great hosts came to their encounter in July, 1212. The rout of the Moors was complete; "the pursuit lasted till nightfall, and was only impeded by the Moslem corpses."

H. Coppée, Conquest of Spain by the Arab-Moors, book 8, chapter 4 (volume 2).

SPAIN: 12-15th Centuries. The old monarchical constitution. The Castilian and Aragonese Cortes.

See CORTES, THE EARLY SPANISH.

SPAIN: A. D. 12-16th Centuries. Commercial importance and municipal freedom of Barcelona.

See BARCELONA: 12-16TH CENTURIES.

SPAIN: A. D. 1212-1238. Progress of the arms of Castile, Leon, and Aragon. Succession of the count of Champagne to the throne of Navarre. Permanent union of the crowns of Leon and Castile. The founding of the Moorish kingdom of Granada. Castilian conquest of Cordova.

Alfonso of Castile died two years after his great victory [of 'las navas de Tolosa']. He left his crown to his only son Henry, a boy of eleven, and the regency to his daughter Berenguela, queen of Leon, who was separated, upon the almost always available plea of too near consanguinity, from her husband Alfonso. Berenguela administered her delegated power ably, but held it only three years: at the end of that time the young king was accidentally killed by a tile falling upon his head. Berenguela was her brother's natural heiress; but idolizing her only son, Ferdinand, whom she had nursed and educated herself, she immediately renounced her claim to the throne in his favour, … and caused Ferdinand III. to be acknowledged king: Alfonso IX., however, long continued to disturb his wife and son's government. The king of Aragon [Pedro II.] was recalled immediately after the great battle to the concerns of his French dominions," where he joined his kinsman, the count of Toulouse, as stated above, in resisting the Albigensian crusade, and fell (1213) at Muret. "Whilst Pedro's uncles and brothers were struggling for his succession, the queen·dowager obtained from the Pope an order to Simon de Montfort, the leader of the crusade, to deliver her son [whom the father had given up as hostage before he resolved to commit himself to war with the crusaders] into her hands. Having thus got possession of the rightful heir, she procured the assembling of the Cortes of Aragon, to whom she presented the young king, when nobles, clergy, and town deputies voluntarily swore allegiance to him. {2978} This was the first time such an oath was taken in Aragon, the most limited of monarchies. It had been usual for the Aragonese kings at their coronation to swear observance of the laws, but not to receive in return an oath of fidelity from the people. Henceforward this corresponding oath of fidelity was regularly taken under the following form, celebrated for its singularly bold liberty. 'We, who are as good as you, make you our king to preserve our rights; if not, not.' The Catalans followed the example of their Aragonese brethren in proclaiming James king; but many years elapsed ere he could sufficiently allay the disorders excited by his ambitious uncles to prosecute the war against the Moors. At length the several kings of Castile, Leon, Aragon, and Portugal, were ready, unconnectedly, to invade Mussulman Spain, where Almohade princes and Mohammed aben Hud, a descendant of the kings of Saragossa, were contending for the sovereignty, and many 'walis' were struggling for independent royalty; all far more intent upon gratifying their mutual jealousies and enmities than upon resisting the common foe, with whom, on the contrary, all were willing to enter into alliance in furtherance of their separate views. Under these circumstances, James of Aragon made himself master of the greater part of Valencia, and of the island of Majorca [and subsequently of Minorca]; Ferdinand of Castile extended his conquests in Andalusia; Alfonso of Leon his in Estremadura: and Sancho II. of Portugal, who had lately succeeded to his father Alfonso II., acquired the city of Elvas, … Sancho of Navarre took no part in these wars. After … the battle of 'las navas de Tolosa' he quitted the career of arms, devoting himself wholly to the internal administration of his kingdom. He had no children, neither had his eldest sister, the queen of England [Berengaria, wife of Richard Cœur de Lion], any. Thence his youngest sister's son, Thibalt, count of Champagne, became his natural heir. But Sancho, judging that the distance between Navarre and Champagne unfitted the two states for being governed by one prince, adopted his kinsman, James of Aragon, and to him, as heir, the Navarese clergy and nobility, and the count of Champagne himself, prospectively swore fealty. Upon Sancho's death, in 1234, however, the Navarrese, preferring independence under the lineal heir to an union with Aragon, entreated king James to release them from their oaths. He was then engaged in the conquest of Valencia; and unwilling, it may be hoped, to turn his arms from Mahometan enemies against his fellow-Christians, he complied with the request, and Thibalt was proclaimed king of Navarre. Thibalt neglected the wars carried on by his Spanish brother kings against the Mahometans, to accept the command of a crusade for the recovery of Jerusalem. The expedition was unsuccessful, but the reputation of the leader did not, suffer. Upon his return, Thibalt followed the example of his uncle in studying only to promote the internal welfare of the country. He introduced the cultivation of the grape and the manufacture of wine into Navarre, with other agricultural improvements. Thibalt is more known as one of the most celebrated troubadours or poets of his day. Prior to Thibalt's accession, the conquering progress of Leon and Castile had been temporarily interrupted. Alfonso of Leon died in 1230, and by his will divided Leon and Galicia between two daughters of his first marriage, wholly overlooking his son Ferdinand. … By negociation, however, and the influence which the acknowledged wisdom and virtues of queen Berenguela appear to have given her over everyone but her husband, the superior claims of Ferdinand were admitted. The two infantas were amply endowed, and the crowns of Leon and Castile were thenceforward permanently united, With power thus augmented, Ferdinand III. renewed his invasion of the Mussulman states, about the time that Yahie, the last of the Almohade candidates for sovereignty, died, bequeathing his pretensions to Mohammed abu Abdallah aben Alhamar, an enterprising leader, who, in the general confusion, had established himself as king of Jaen, and was the sworn enemy of Yahie's chief rival, Abdallah aben Hud. Ferdinand invaded the dominions of Abdallah, and Mohammed took that opportunity of materially enlarging his own. After a few years of general war, Abdallah aben Hud was assassinated by the partisans of the king of Jaen, and his brother Aly, who succeeded to his pretensions, met a similar fate. Mohammed ben Alhamar was immediately received into the city of Granada, which he made his capital; and thus, in 1238, founded the kingdom of Granada, the last bright relic of Moorish domination in Spain, and the favourite scene of Spanish romance. Had Mohammed succeeded to the Almohade sovereignty in Spain, and his authority been acknowledged by all his Mussulman countrymen, so able and active a monarch might probably have offered effective resistance to Christian conquest. But his dominions consisted only of what is still called the kingdom of Granada, and a small part of Andalusia. The remaining Mahometan portions of Andalusia, Valencia, and Estremadura, as well as Murcia and Algarve, swarmed with independent 'walis' or kings. James of Aragon completed the subjugation of Valencia the following year. Cordova, so long the Moorish capital, was taken by Ferdinand [1235], with other places of inferior note. The Murcian princes avoided invasion by freely offering to become Castilian vassals; and now the conquering troops of Castile and Leon poured into the territories of Mohammed. The king of Granada, unsupported by his natural allies, found himself unequal to the contest, and submitted to become, like his Murcian neighbours, the vassal of Ferdinand. In that capacity he was compelled to assist his Christian liege lord in conquering Mussulman Seville."

M. M. Busk, History of Spain and Portugal, chapter 7.

ALSO IN: Chronicle of James I., King of Aragon, Surnamed the Conqueror; translated by J. Forster.

SPAIN: A. D. 1238-1273. The Moorish kingdom of Granada. The building of the Alhambra.

"A new era had begun in the fortunes of the Moors. Reft of their two magnificent capitals at Cordova and Seville, they had gathered into the extreme south, under the able and beneficent rule of Aben-al-Hamar, who, though a tributary to Castille, termed himself Sultan and Emir of the Faithful, and is usually called King of Granada. Karnattah, as the Arabs had named it, meant the Cream of the West. The Spaniards in later times, deceived by the likeness of the word to Granada, a pomegranate, fancied it to have been thence named, and took the fruit as its emblem. {2979} The kingdom was a mere fragment, and did not even reach to the Straits; for Algesira, the green island, and its great fortresses, belonged to the Africans; and it had in it elements of no small danger, containing as it did the remnants of no less than thirty-two Arab and Moorish tribes, many of them at deadly feud with one another, and divided by their never-ending national enmities. The two great tribes of Abencerrages, or sons of Zeragh, and the Zegris, or refugees from Aragon, were destined to become the most famous of these. The king himself, Mohammed-Abou-Said, was of the old Arabian tribe of Al Hamar, by whose name he is usually called. He was of the best old Arabic type-prudent, just, moderate, temperate, and active, and so upright as to be worthy to belong to this age of great kings, and his plans for his little kingdom were favoured by the peace in which his Christian neighbours left him; while Alfonso X. of Castille was vainly endeavouring to become, not Emperor of Spain alone, but Roman Emperor. The Almohides of Algarve obeyed neither Alfonso nor Al Hamar, and they united to subdue them. Ten cities were surrendered by the governor on condition that he should enjoy the estates of the King's Garden at Seville, and the tenth of the oil of an oliveyard. There was still a mar·gin of petty walis who preferred a brief independence to a secure tenure of existence as tributaries, and these one by one fell a prey to the Castilians, the inhabitants of their cities being expelled, and adding to the Granadine population. AI Hamar received them kindly, but made them work vigorously for their maintenance. Every nook of soil was in full cultivation; the mountain-sides terraced with vineyards; new modes of irrigation invented; the breeds of horses and cattle carefully attended to; rewards instituted for the best farmers, shepherds, and artisans. The manufacture of silk and wool was actively carried on, also leather-work and sword-cutlery. Hospitals and homes for the sick and infirm were everywhere; and in the schools of Granada the remnants of the scholarship of Cordova and Seville were collected. Granada itself stood in the midst of the Vega, around two hills, each crowned by a fortress: Albayzin, so called by the fugitives from Baeza; and the Al Hâmra [or Alhambra], or Red Fortress. The wall was extended so as to take in its constantly increasing population, and the king began to render the Al Hâmra one of the strongest and most beautiful places in existence. Though begun by Al Hamar it was not completed for several generations, each adding to the unrivalled beauty of the interior, for, as usual in Arabian architecture, the outside has no beauty, being a strong fortification of heavy red walls. … Mohammed Aben-Al-Hamar died 1273, and his son Mohammed II. followed in his steps."

C. M. Yonge, The Story of the Christians and Moors of Spain, chapter 20.

ALSO IN: W. Irving, The Alhambra.

J. C. Murphy, Arabian Antiquities of Spain.

SPAIN: A. D. 1248-1350. The conquest of Seville. The reigns of St. Ferdinand, Alfonso the Learned, and their three successors in Castile.

Seville, which had become the second city of Moslem Spain, its schools and universities rivalling those of Cordova, shared the fate of the latter and surrendered to the Christians on the 22d of December, 1248. "This was the achievement of King Ferdinand III., under whom the crowns of Castile and Leon had become united. His territory extended from the Bay of Biscay to the Guadalquiver, and from the borders of Portugal as far as Arragon and Valencia. His glory was great in the estimation of his countrymen for his conquests over the Moors, and four centuries afterwards he was canonized by the Pope, and is now known as Saint Ferdinand. … Ferdinand lived at the same time with another king who was also canonized—Louis IX. of France, who became Saint Louis. … The two kings, in fact, were cousins, and the grandmother of both of them was Eleanor, daughter of Henry II. of England. … The son of Saint Ferdinand was Alfonso X., called 'El Sabio,' the learned, and not, as it is sometimes translated, 'the wise.' He certainly was not very wise, for he did an immense number of foolish things; but he was such a strange man that it would be interesting to know more about him than it is easy to do. It was a period when not only commerce and industry but literature and art were taking a new start in Europe—the time of Roger Bacon and Dante. Alfonso loved his books, and dabbled in science, and was really one of the learned men of his time. … His mind was very naturally disturbed by a glimpse he had of being emperor of Germany [or, to speak accurately, of the Holy Roman Empire]. … The dignity was elective," and Alfonso became the candidate of one party among the German electors; but he did not obtain the dignity.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1250-1272.

"Ferdinand de la Cerda, the son and heir of Alfonso, died during the lifetime of his father, and a difficulty arose about the succession which extended over a long time. A Cortes was assembled to decide the question, and it was agreed that Sancho, brother to Ferdinand de la Cerda, should be heir to the crown, to the exclusion of the children of Ferdinand, grandchildren of Alfonso. This decision displeased the king of France," who was the uncle of the children set aside. Alfonso "declared in favor of his son Sancho, and came near having a war with France in consequence." Yet Sancho, soon afterwards, was persuaded to rebel against his father, and the latter was reduced to sore straits, having no allies among his neighbors except the king of Morocco. "At last the goaded king assembled his few remaining adherents in Seville, and, in a solemn act, not only disinherited his rebel son Sancho, but called down maledictions on his head. In the same act he instituted his grandsons, the infantes de la Cerda, as his heirs, and after them, in default of issue, the kings of France." But Sancho fell ill after this, and the fondness of his old father revived with such intensity that he sickened of anxiety and grief. "Sancho recovered and was soon as well as ever; but the king grew worse, and soon died [1284], full of grief and affection for his son. He had not, however, revoked his will. Nobody minded the will, and Sancho was proclaimed king. He reigned, and his son and grandson reigned after him." The son was Ferdinand IV., who came to the throne in 1295; the grandson was Alfonso XI., who followed him in 1312. The latter was succeeded in 1350 by his son Pedro, or Peter, surnamed the Cruel, and quite eminent under that sinister designation, especially through the unfortunate connection of the English Black Prince with his later evil fortunes.

E. E. and S. Hale, The Story of Spain, chapter 18.

{2980}

SPAIN: A. D. 1273-1460. The slow crumbling of the Moorish kingdom of Granada.

The founder of the kingdom of Granada, Aben-Al-Hamar, or Ibnu-l-ahmar, died in 1273. He was "succeeded by his son, Abú Abdillah, known as Mohammed II. Obeying his father's injunctions, he called upon Yahúb, the Sultan of the Beni Merines at Fez, to come to his aid, and captured Algeçiras, to serve as a receptacle and magazine for these African allies. He also presented Tarifa to Yahúb. The two allied forces then went out to meet Nuño de Lam with the Christian frontier troops, and routed him. But Mohammed was soon prevailed upon by his fears to renew the Christian alliance; and the Christian troops, thus freed from one enemy, soon wrested Algeçiras, Tarifa [1291], Ronda, and other towns, from the Beni Merines, who were, all but a small remnant, driven back into Africa. … Mohammed II. died in 1302, and was succeeded by a greater king,—Mohammed III., another Abú Abdillah, … dethroned by a revolt of his brother, Nasr; but when, in 1312, Nasr in turn was forced to abdicate, he was succeeded by Isma'il Abú-l-Waled, after whom came Mohammed IV., in 1315. Meantime the Christian monarchs were always pressing the Moorish frontier. In 1309, Ferdinand IV. of Castile succeeded in taking Gibraltar, while the troops of Aragon besieged Almeria, and thus the circle was ever narrowing, but not without bloody dispute. When Don Pedro, Infante of Castile, made his great effort against Granada in 1319, he was wofully defeated in the battle of Elvira, and his rich camp despoiled by the Moors. Mohammed IV. succeeded in retaking Gibraltar from the Christians [or, rather, according to Condé, it was taken in 1331 by Mohammed's ally, the king of Fez, to whom Mohammed was forced to cede it]. … He was assassinated by his African allies, and succeeded by his brother Yúsuf in 1333. Prompted purely by self-interest, Abu-l-has, another leader, with 60,000 men, beside the contingent from Granada, encountered the Christians near Tarifa in the year 1340, and was defeated with immense loss [in the battle of the Guadacelito or the Salado]. Yúsuf was assassinated by a madman in 1354, and was succeeded by Mohammed V. … Driven from his throne by a revolt of his half-brother Isma'il, he first fled for his life to Guadix, and then to Africa, in the year 1359. And all these intestine quarrels were playing into the Christians' hands. Isma'il, the usurper, held the nominal power less than a year, when he was dethroned and put to death. His successor, Mohammed VI., surrounded by difficulties, came to the strange determination to place himself and his kingdom under the protection of that King Pedro of Castile whom history has named 'el cruel,' but whom his adherents called 'el justiciero,' the doer of justice. The Castilian king vindicated his claim to the historic title by putting Mohammed to death, and seizing 'the countless treasures which he and the chiefs who composed his suite brought with them.' To the throne, thus once more vacant by assassination, Mohammed V. returned, and ruled a second time, from 1362 to 1391. … Then came the reigns of Yúsuf II. and Mohammed VII., uneventful, except that, in the words of the Arabian chronicler, 'the Mohammedan empire still went on decaying, until it became an easy prey to the infidels, who surrounded it on every side, like a pack of hungry wolves.' Many portents of ruin were displayed, and the public mind was already contemplating the entire success of the Christians." A century of confused struggles ensued, in the course of which Gibraltar was several times besieged by the Christians, and was finally taken by the Duke of Medina Sidonia in 1460. Other strongholds of the Moors fell, one by one, and they "were being more and more restricted to their little kingdom of Granada, and the Christians were strengthening to dislodge and expel them."

H. Coppée, History of the Conquest of Spain by the Arab-Moors, book 8, chapter 5 (volume 2).

ALSO IN: J. A. Condé, History of the Dominion of the Arabs in Spain, part 4, chapters 9-33.

SPAIN: (Aragon): A. D. 1282-1300. Acquisition of Sicily by King Peter. It passes as a separate kingdom to his younger son.

See ITALY (SOUTHERN): A. D. 1282-1300.

SPAIN: A. D. 1366-1369. Pedro the Cruel of Castile and the invasion of the English Black Prince.

"Pedro the Cruel, King of Castile at this time (1350-1369), had earned his title by a series of murders, which dated from the time he was sixteen years old, and comprised his wife, his step-mother, two of his half-brothers, and a great number of the chief nobles of his kingdom. He was on bad terms with the pope, for he was the friend of Moors and Jews, and had plundered bishops and monasteries; he was hated in the court of France, for his murdered queen was the king's cousin, Blanche de Bourbon; he was at war with the King of Arragon. Instigated by this monarch and by the King of Navarre, the eldest of Pedro's half-brothers, Don Henry of Trastamere, who had been serving for some time with the Free Companions in Languedoc, conceived the idea of uniting them in a grand enterprise against the kingdom of Castile. Charles V. [of France] approved the project, and lent money and his best captain, Du Guesclin; Pope Urban V. contributed his blessing and money; and the Free Lances eagerly embraced a scheme which promised them the plunder of a new country." The expedition "succeeded without bloodshed. The people rose to welcome it, and Don Pedro was forced to escape through Portugal, and take ship hastily at Corunna. Don Henry was crowned in his palace at Burgos (April 1366). In his distress Don Pedro applied to the Prince of Wales [the Black Prince, then holding the government of Aquitaine] for support. There was no reason why England or Aquitaine should be mixed up in Spanish politics. Both countries required rest after an exhausting war. … But Pedro was a skilful diplomatist. He bribed the Prince of Wales by a promise to cede the province of Biscay." With the consent of his father, King Edward III. of England, the Prince took up the cause of the odious Don Pedro, and led an army of 24,000 horse, besides great numbers of archers, into Spain (A. D. 1367). At the decisive battle of Navarette the Spaniards and their allies were overwhelmingly defeated, Du Guesclin was taken prisoner, Don Henry fled, and Pedro was reinstated on the Castilian throne. "Then came disappointment. The prince demanded performance of the promises Don Pedro had made, and proposed to stay in Spain till they were acquitted. … For some months Edward vainly awaited the performance of his ally's promises. {2981} Then, as his troops were wasting away with dysentery and other diseases caused by the strange climate, till it was said scarcely a fifth remained alive, Edward resolved to remove into Aquitaine, which Don Henry was attacking, and was glad to find that the passes of the Pyrenees were left open to him by the Kings of Arragon and Navarre (August 1367). … The results of Edward's mischievous policy soon became evident. All he had achieved in Spain was almost instantly undone by Don Henry, who crossed the Pyrenees a few weeks only after Edward had left Spain (September 1367) recovered his kingdom in the course of the next year, and captured and killed Don Pedro a little later (March 1369). The whole power of Castile, which was far from being contemptible at sea, was then thrown into the scale against England."

C. H. Pearson, English History in the Fourteenth Century, chapter 8.

ALSO IN: J. Froissart, Chronicles (translated by Johnes), book 1, chapters 230-245.

P. Merimée, History of Peter the Cruel, volume 2, chapters 7-11.

See, also, FRANCE: A. D. 1360-1380.

SPAIN: A. D. 1368-1479. Castile under the House of Trastamere. Discord and civil war. Triumph of Queen Isabella. The Castilian dynasty in Aragon. Marriage of Isabella and Ferdinand.

"A more fortunate period began [in Castile] with the accession of Henry [of Trastamare, or Henry II.]. His own reign was hardly disturbed by any rebellion; and though his successors, John I. [1379] and Henry III. [1390], were not altogether so unmolested, especially the latter, who ascended the throne in his minority, yet the troubles of their time were slight, in comparison with those formerly excited by the houses of Lara and Haro, both of which were now happily extinct. Though Henry II. 's illegitimacy left him no title but popular choice, his queen was sole representative of the Cerdas, the offspring … of Sancho IV. 's elder brother. … No kingdom could be worse prepared to meet the disorders of a minority than Castile, and in none did the circumstances so frequently recur. John II. was but fourteen months old at his accession [1406]; and but for the disinterestedness of his uncle Ferdinand, the nobility would have been inclined to avert the danger by placing that prince upon the throne. In this instance, however, Castile suffered less from faction during the infancy of her sovereign than in his maturity. The queen dowager, at first jointly with Ferdinand, and solely after his accession to the crown of Aragon, administered the government with credit. … In external affairs their reigns were not what is considered as glorious. They were generally at peace with Aragon and Granada, but one memorable defeat by the Portuguese at Aljubarrota [August 14, 1385] disgraces the annals of John I., whose cause [attempting the conquest of Portugal] was as unjust as his arms were unsuccessful. This comparatively golden period ceases at the majority of John II. His reign was filled up by a series of conspiracies and civil wars, headed by his cousins John and Henry, the infants of Aragon, who enjoyed very extensive territories in Castile, by the testament of their father Ferdinand. Their brother the king of Aragon frequently lent the assistance of his arms. … These conspiracies were all ostensibly directed against the favourite of John II., Alvaro de Luna, who retained for 35 years an absolute control over his feeble master. … His fate is among the memorable lessons of history. After a life of troubles endured for the sake of this favourite, sometimes a fugitive, sometimes a prisoner, his son heading rebellions against him, John II. suddenly yielded to an intrigue of the palace, and adopted sentiments of dislike towards the man he had so long loved. … Alvaro de Luna was brought to a summary trial and beheaded; his estates were confiscated. He met his death with the intrepidity of Strafford, to whom he seems to have borne some resemblance in character. John II. did not long survive his minister, dying in 1454, after a reign that may be considered as inglorious, compared with any except that of his successor. If the father was not respected, the son fell completely into contempt. He had been governed by Pacheco, marquis of Villena, as implicitly as John by Alvaro de Luna. This influence lasted for some time afterwards. But the king inclining to transfer his confidence to the queen, Joanna of Portugal, and to one Bertrand de Cueva, upon whom common fame had fixed as her paramour, a powerful confederacy of disaffected nobles was formed against the royal authority. … They deposed Henry in an assembly of their faction at Avila with a sort of theatrical pageantry which has often been described. … The confederates set up Alfonso, the king's brother, and a civil war of some duration ensued, in which they had the support of Aragon. The queen of Castile had at this time borne a daughter, whom the enemies of Henry IV., and indeed no small part of his adherents, were determined to treat as spurious. Accordingly, after the death of Alfonso, his sister Isabel was considered as heiress of the kingdom. … Avoiding the odium of a contest with her brother, Isabel agreed to a treaty by which the succession was absolutely settled upon her [1469]. This arrangement was not long afterwards followed by the union of that princess with Ferdinand, son of the king of Aragon. This marriage was by no means acceptable to a part of the Castilian oligarchy, who had preferred a connexion with Portugal. And as Henry had never lost sight of the interests of one whom he considered, or pretended to consider, as his daughter, he took the first opportunity of revoking his forced disposition of the crown and restoring the direct line of succession in favour of the princess Joanna. Upon his death, in 1474, the right was to be decided by arms. Joanna had on her side the common presumptions of law, the testamentary disposition of the late king, the support of Alfonso king of Portugal, to whom she was betrothed, and of several considerable leaders among the nobility. … For Isabella were the general belief of Joanna's illegitimacy, the assistance of Aragon, the adherence of a majority both among the nobles and people, and, more than all, the reputation of ability which both she and her husband had deservedly acquired. The scale was, however, pretty equally balanced, till the king of Portugal having been defeated at Toro in 1476, Joanna's party discovered their inability to prosecute the war by themselves, and successively made their submission to Ferdinand and Isabella." Ferdinand of Aragon, by whose marriage with Isabella of Castile the two kingdoms became practically united, was himself of Castilian descent, being the grandson of that magnanimous Ferdinand who has been mentioned above, as the uncle and joint guardian of John II. of Castile. {2982} In 1410, on the death of King Martin, the right of succession to the throne of Aragon had been in dispute, and Ferdinand was one of several claimants. Instead of resorting to arms, the contending parties were wisely persuaded to submit the question to a special tribunal, composed of three Aragonese, three Catalans, and three Valencians. "A month was passed in hearing arguments; a second was allotted to considering them; and at the expiration of the prescribed time it was announced to the people … that Ferdinand of Castile had ascended the throne. In this decision it is impossible not to suspect that the judges were swayed rather by politic considerations than a strict sense of hereditary right. It was therefore by no means universally popular, especially in Catalonia. … Ferdinand however was well received in Aragon. … Ferdinand's successor was his son Alfonso V., more distinguished in the history of Italy than of Spain. For all the latter years of his life he never quitted the kingdom that he had acquired by his arms.

See ITALY: A. D. 1412-1447;

Enchanted by the delicious air of Naples, intrusted the government of his patrimonial territories to the care of a brother and an heir. John II., upon whom they devolved by the death of Alfonso without legitimate progeny, had been engaged during his youth in the turbulent revolutions of Castile, as the head of a strong party that opposed the domination of Alvaro de Luna. By marriage with the heiress of Navarre he was entitled, according to the usage of those times, to assume the title of king, and administration of government, during her life. But his ambitious retention of power still longer produced events which are the chief stain on his memory. Charles, prince of Viana, was, by the constitution of Navarre, entitled to succeed his mother [1442]. She had requested him in her testament not to assume the government without his father's consent. That consent was always withheld. The prince raised what we ought not to call a rebellion; but was made prisoner. … After a life of perpetual oppression, chiefly passed in exile or captivity, the prince of Viana died in Catalonia [1461], at a moment when that province was in open insurrection upon his account. Though it hardly seems that the Catalans had any more general provocations, they persevered for more than ten years [until the capitulation of Barcelona, after a long siege, in 1472] with inveterate obstinacy in their rebellion, offering the sovereignty first to a prince of Portugal, and afterwards to Regnier duke of Anjou, who was destined to pass his life in unsuccessful competition for kingdoms." Ferdinand, who married Isabella of Castile, was a younger half-brother of prince Charles of Viana, and succeeded his father, John II., on the throne of Aragon, in 1479.

H. Hallam, The Middle Ages, chapter 4 (volume 2).

ALSO IN: W. H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, part 1, chapters 1-5.

See, also, NAVARRE: A. D. 1442-1521.

SPAIN: A. D. 1458. Separation of the crown of Naples from those of Aragon and Sicily.

See ITALY: A. D. 1447-1480.

SPAIN: A. D. 1476-1492. The last struggle of the Moors. Fall of the city and kingdom of Granada.

"The days of the Moorish kingdom were already numbered when, in 1466, Aboul Hacem succeeded Ismael; but the disturbances in Castille emboldened him, and when, in 1476, the regular demand for tribute was made, he answered: 'Those who coined gold for you are dead. Nothing is made at Granada for the Christians but sword-blades and lance-points.' Such was the last proclamation of war from the Moors. Even the Imaums disapproved, and preached in the mosques of Granada. 'Woe to the Moslems in Andalusia!' 'The end is come,' they said; 'the ruins will fall on our heads!' Nevertheless, Aboul Hacem surprised the Aragonese city of Zahara with 60,000 inhabitants, and put them all to the sword or sold them into slavery; but he was not welcomed, evil was predicted, and he became more and more hated when he put four of the Abencerrages to death. The king and queen [Ferdinand, or Fernando, and Isabella] now began to prepare the whole strength of their kingdom for a final effort, not to be relaxed till Spain should be wholly a Christian land. … Don Rodrigo Ponce de Leon, who had become Marquis of Cadiz, made a sudden night attack upon Alhama, only eight leagues from Granada, and though the inhabitants fought from street to street he mastered it. … Alhama was a terrible loss to the Moors, and was bewailed in the ballad, 'Ay de me Al Hama,' which so moved the hearts of the people that it was forbidden to be sung in the streets of Granada. It has been translated by Byron, who has in fact united two ballads. … Alhama had once before been taken by St. Fernando, but could not then be kept, and a council was held by the 'Reyes Catolicos' [Ferdinand and Isabella], in which it was declared that it would take 5,000 mules' burthen of provisions sent several times a year, to support a garrison thus in the heart of the enemy's country. The high spirit of the queen, however, carried the day. She declared that the right thing to do was to take Loja to support Alhama, and, after causing the three chief mosques to be purified as Christian churches, she strained every effort [1482] to equip an army with which Fernando was to besiege Loja. On the day before he set out Isabel gave birth to twins—one dead, the other a daughter: and this was viewed as an ill omen. … Ali Atar, one of the bravest of the Moors, defeated Fernando and forced him to retreat with the loss of his baggage. Aboul Hacem was prevented from following up his success by the struggles of the women in his harem. His favourite wife was a Christian by birth, named Isabel de Solis, the daughter of the Alcayde of Bedmar; but she had become a renegade, and was commonly called Zoraya, or the Morning Star. Childless herself, she was vehemently set on the promotion of Abou-Abd-Allah, son of another wife, Ayescha, who is generally known by the Spanish contraction of his name, Boabdil; also in Arabic as Al Zaquir, the little, and in Spanish as 'el Rey Chico.' Such disaffection was raised that Aboul Hacem was forced to return home, where he imprisoned Ayescha and her son; but they let themselves down from the window with a rope twisted of the veils of the Sultana's women, and, escaping to the palace or Albaycin, there held out against him, supported by the Abencerrages. The Zegris held by Aboul Hacem, and the streets of Granada ran red with the blood shed by the two factions till, in 1482, while the elder king was gone to relieve Loja, the younger one seized the Alhamra; and Aboul Hacem, finding the gates closed against him, was obliged to betake himself to Malaga, where his brother Abd Allah, called Al Zagal, or the young, was the Alcayde."

C. M. Yonge, The Story of the Christians and Moors in Spain, chapter 24.

{2983}

"The illegal power of Boabdil was contested by his uncle, Az-Zagal (El Zagal), who held a precarious sway for four years, until 1487, when Boabdil again came to the throne. This was rendered more easy by the fact that, in a battle between the Moors and Christians in the territory of Lucena, not long after his accession, Boabdil was taken prisoner by the Christian forces. By a stroke of policy, the Christian king released his royal prisoner, in the hope that through him he might make a treaty. Boabdil went to Loja, which was at once besieged by Ferdinand, and this time captured, and with it the Moorish king again fell into the Christian hands. Again released, after many difficulties he came into power. The Christian conquests were not stayed by these circumstances. In 1487, they captured Velez Malaga, on the coast a short distance east of Malaga, and received the submission of many neighboring towns. In the same year Malaga was besieged and taken. In 1489, Baeza followed; then the important city of Almeria, and at last the city of Granada stood alone to represent the Mohammedan dominion in the Peninsula. The strife between Boabdil and El Zagal now came to an end; and the latter, perhaps foreseeing the fatal issue, embarked for Africa, leaving the nominal rule and the inevitable surrender to his rival. … The army of Ferdinand and Isabella was in splendid condition, and reinforcements were arriving from day to day. System and order prevailed, and the troops, elated with victory, acknowledged no possibility of failure. Very different was the condition of things and very depressed the spirit of the people in Granada. Besides its own disordered population, it was crowded with disheartened fugitives, anxious for peace on any terms. The more warlike and ambitious representatives of the tribes were still quarrelling in the face of the common ruin, but all parties joined in bitter denunciations of their king. When he had been released by Ferdinand after the capture of Loja, he had promised that when Guadix should be taken and the power of El Zagal destroyed, he would surrender Granada to the Christian king, and retire to some seignory, as duke or marquis. But now that the 'casus' had arrived, he found … that the people would not permit him to keep his promise. … The only way in which Boabdil could appease the people was by an immediate declaration of war against the Christians. This was in the year 1490. When this was made known, Ferdinand and Isabella were at Seville, celebrating the marriage of the Infanta Isabel with Alfonso, crown prince of Portugal. The omen was a happy one. The armies of Spain and Portugal were immediately joined to put an end to the crusade. With 5,000 cavalry and 20,000 foot, the Spanish king advanced to the Sierra Elvira, overlooking the original site of the Granadine capital. The epic and romantic details of the conquest may be read elsewhere. … There were sorties on the part of the Moors, and chivalrous duels between individuals, until the coming of winter, when, leaving proper guards and garrisons, the principal Christian force retired to Cordova, to make ready for the spring. El Zagal had returned from Africa, and was now fighting in the Christian ranks. It was an imposing army which was reviewed by Ferdinand on the 26th of April, 1491, in the beautiful Vega, about six miles from the city of Granada; the force consisted of 10,000 horse and 40,000 foot, ready to take position in the final siege. … It was no part of the Spanish king's purpose to assault the place. … He laid his siege in the Vega, but used his troops in devastating the surrounding country, taking prisoners and capturing cattle. … Meantime the Christian camp grew like a city, and when Queen Isabella came with her train of beauty and grace, it was also a court city in miniature." In July, an accidental fire destroyed the whole encampment, and roused great hopes among the Moors. But a city of wood (which the pious queen called Santa Fé—the Holy Faith) soon took the place of the tents, and "the momentary elation of the Moors gave way to profound depression; and this induced them to capitulate. The last hour had indeed struck on the great horologe of history; and on the 25th of November the armistice was announced for making a treaty of peace and occupancy."

H. Coppée, History of the Conquest of Spain by the Arab-Moors, book 8, chapter 5 (volume 2).

"After large discussion on both sides, the terms of capitulation were definitively settled. … The inhabitants of Granada were to retain possession of their mosques, with the free exercise of their religion, with all its peculiar rights 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 [Boabdil] was to reign over a specified territory in the Alpuxarras, for which he was to do homage to the Castilian crown. … The city was to be surrendered in 60 days from the date of the capitulation;" but owing to popular disturbances in Granada, the surrender was actually made on the 2d of January, 1492. Boabdil soon tired of the petty sovereignty assigned to him, sold it to Ferdinand and Isabella, passed over to Fez, and perished in one of the battles of his kinsmen.

W. H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, chapter 15.

ALSO IN: W. Irving, Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada.

SPAIN: A. D. 1476-1498.- The reorganization of the Hermandad, or Holy Brotherhood, in Castile.

See HOLY BROTHERHOOD.

SPAIN: A. D. 1481-1525. Establishment and organization of the "Spanish Inquisition." Its horrible work.

See INQUISITION: A. D. 1203-1525.

SPAIN: A. D. 1492. Expulsion of the Jews.

See JEWS; 8-15TH CENTURIES.

{2984}

SPAIN: A. D. 1492-1533. Discovery of America. First voyages, colonizations and conquests.

See AMERICA: A. D. 1492, 1493-1406, and after.

SPAIN: A. D. 1493. The Papal grant of the New World.

See AMERICA: A. D. 1493.

SPAIN: A. D. 1494. The Treaty of Tordesillas. Amended partition of the New World with Portugal.

See AMERICA: A. D. 1494.

SPAIN: A. D. 1495. Alliance with Naples, Venice, Germany and the Pope against Charles VIII. of France.

See ITALY: A. D. 1494-1496.

SPAIN: A. D. 1496-1517. Marriage of the Infanta Joanna to the Austro-Burgundian Archduke Philip. Birth of their son Charles, the heir of many crowns. Insanity of Joanna. Death of Queen Isabella. Regency of Ferdinand. His second marriage and his death. Accession of Charles, the first of the Austro-Spanish dynasty.

Joanna, second daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, was married in 1496 to "the archduke Philip, son of the emperor Maximilian, and sovereign, in right of his mother [Mary of Burgundy], of the Low Countries. The first fruit of this marriage was the celebrated Charles V., born at Ghent, February 24th, 1500, whose birth was no sooner announced to Queen Isabella than she predicted that to this infant would one day descend the rich inheritance of the Spanish monarchy. The premature death of the heir apparent, Prince Miguel, not long after [and also of the queen of Portugal, the elder daughter of Isabella and Ferdinand], prepared the way for this event by devolving the succession on Joanna, Charles's mother. From that moment the sovereigns were pressing in their entreaties that the archduke and his wife would visit Spain. … In the latter part of 1501, Philip and Joanna, attended by a numerous suite of Flemish courtiers, set out on their journey," passing through France and being royally entertained on the way. In Spain, they first received the usual oath of fealty from the Castilian cortes, and then "were solemnly recognized by the four 'arms' of Aragon as successors to the crown, in default of male issue of King Ferdinand. The circumstance is memorable as affording the first example of the parliamentary recognition of a female heir apparent in Aragonese history. Amidst all the honors so liberally lavished on Philip, his bosom secretly swelled with discontent, fomented still further by his followers, who pressed him to hasten his return to Flanders, where the free and social manners of the people were much more congenial to their tastes than the reserve and stately ceremonial of the Spanish court. … Ferdinand and Isabella saw with regret the frivolous disposition of their son-in-law. … They beheld with mortification his indifference to Joanna, who could boast few personal attractions, and who cooled the affections of her husband by alternations of excessive fondness and irritable jealousy." Against the remonstrances of king, queen and cortes, as well as in opposition to the wishes of his wife, Philip set out for Flanders in December, again traveling through France, and negotiating on the way a treaty with Louis XII. which arranged for the marriage of the infant Charles with princess Claude of France—a marriage which never occurred. The unhappy Joanna, whom he left behind, was plunged in the deepest dejection, and exhibited ere long decided symptoms of insanity. On the 10th of March, 1503, she gave birth to her second son, Ferdinand, and the next spring she joined her husband in Flanders, but only to be worse treated by him than before. Queen Isabella, already declining in health, was deeply affected by the news of her daughter's unhappiness and increasing disturbance of mind, and on the 26th of November, 1504, she died. By her will, she settled the crown of Castile on the infanta Joanna as "queen proprietor," and the archduke Philip as her husband, and she appointed King Ferdinand (who was henceforth king in Aragon, but not in Castile), to be sole regent of Castile, in the event of the absence or incapacity of Joanna, until the latter's son Charles should attain his majority. On the day of the queen's death Ferdinand resigned the crown of Castile, which he had worn as her consort, only, and caused to be proclaimed the accession of Joanna and Philip to the Castilian throne. "The king of Aragon then publicly assumed the title of administrator or governor of Castile, as provided by the queen's testament." He next convened a cortes at Toro, in January, 1505, which approved and ratified the provisions of the will and "took the oaths of allegiance to Joanna as queen and lady proprietor, and to Philip as her husband. They then determined that the exigency contemplated in the testament, of Joanna's incapacity, actually existed, and proceeded to tender their homage to King Ferdinand, as the lawful governor of the realm in her name." These arrangements were unsatisfactory to many of the Castilian nobles, who opened a correspondence with Philip, in the Netherlands, and persuaded him "to assert his pretensions to undivided supremacy in Castile." Opposition to Ferdinand's regency increased, and it was fomented not only by Philip and his friends, but by the king of France, Louis XII. To placate the latter enemy, Ferdinand sought in marriage a niece of the French king, Germaine, daughter of Jean de Foix, and negotiated a treaty, signed at Blois, October 12, 1505, in which he resigned his claims on Naples to his intended bride and her heirs. Louis was now detached from the interests of Philip, and refused permission to the archduke to pass through his kingdom. But Ferdinand, astute as he was, allowed himself to be deceived by his son-in-law, who agreed to a compromise, known as the concord of Salamanca, which provided for the government of Castile in the joint names of Ferdinand, Philip, and Joanna, while, at the same time, he was secretly preparing to transfer his wife and himself to Spain by sea. On the first attempt they were driven to England by a storm; but in April, 1506, Philip and Joanna landed at Coruña, in Spain, and in June Ferdinand was forced to sign and swear to an agreement "by which he surrendered the entire sovereignty of Castile to Philip and Joanna, reserving to himself only the grand-masterships of the military orders, and the revenues secured by Isabella's testament." Philip took the government into his own hands, endeavoring to obtain authority to place his wife in confinement, as one insane; but this the Castilians would not brook. Otherwise he carried things with a high hand, surrounding himself with Flemish favorites, and revolutionizing the government in every branch and the court in every feature. His insolence, extravagance and frivolity excited general disgust, and would probably have provoked serious revolts, if the country had been called upon to endure them long. {2985} But Philip's reign was brief. He sickened, suddenly, of a fever, and died on the 25th of September, 1506. His demented widow would not permit his body to be interred. A provisional council of regency carried on the government until December. After that it drifted, with no better authoritative guidance than that of the poor insane queen, until July 1507, when Ferdinand, who had been absent, in Naples, during the year past, returned and was joyfully welcomed. His unfortunate daughter "henceforth resigned herself to her father's will. " Although she survived 47 years, she never quitted the walls of her habitation; and although her name appeared jointly with that of her son, Charles V., in all public acts, she never afterwards could be induced to sign a paper, or take part in any transactions of a public nature. … From this time the Catholic king exercised an authority nearly as undisputed, and far less limited and defined, than in the days of Isabella." He exercised this authority for nine years, dying on the 23d of January, 1516. By his last will he settled the succession of Aragon and Naples on his daughter Joanna and her heirs, thus uniting the sovereignty of those kingdoms with that of Castile, in the same person. The administration of Castile during Charles' absence was intrusted to Ximenes, and that of Aragon to the king's natural son, the archbishop of Saragossa. In September, 1517, Charles, the heir of many kingdoms, arrived in Spain from the Netherlands, where his youth had been spent. Two months later Cardinal Ximenes died, but not before Charles had rudely and ungratefully dismissed him from the government. The queen, Joanna, was still living; but her arbitrary son had already commanded the proclamation of himself as king.

W. H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, part 2, chapters 12-13, 16-17,19-20, 24-25.

See, also, AUSTRIA: A. D. 1496-1526.

SPAIN: A. D. 1501-1504. Treaty of Ferdinand with Louis XII. for the partition of Naples. Their joint conquest. Their quarrel and war. The French expelled. The Spaniards in possession.

See ITALY: A. D. 1501-1504.

SPAIN: A. D. 1505-1510. Conquests on the Barbary coast.

See BARBARY STATES: A. D. 1505-1510.

SPAIN: A. D. 1508-1509. The League of Cambrai against Venice.

See VENICE: A. D. 1508-1509.

SPAIN: A. D. 1511-1513. Ferdinand of Aragon in the Holy League against France.

See ITALY: A. D. 1510-1513.

SPAIN: A. D. 1512-1515. Conquest of Navarre. Its incorporation in the kingdom of Castile.

See NAVARRE: A. D. 1442-1521.

SPAIN: A. D. 1515-1557. Discovery of the Rio de la Plata and colonization of Paraguay.

See PARAGUAY: A. D. 1515-1557.

SPAIN: A. D. 1516-1519. The great dominion of Charles.

See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1496-1526; and NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1494-1519.

SPAIN: A. D. 1517. The Treaty of Noyon, between Charles and Francis I.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1516-1517.

SPAIN: A. D. 1518-1522. Popular discontent. Election of Charles to the German imperial throne. Rebellion of the Holy Junta, and its failure. Absolutism of the crown established.

Charles had not been long in Spain before "symptoms of discontent … were every where visible. Charles spoke the Spanish language imperfectly: his discourse was consequently slow, and delivered with hesitation; and from that circumstance many of the Spaniards were induced to regard him as a prince of a slow and narrow genius. But the greatest dissatisfaction arose from his attachment to his Flemish favourites, who engrossed or exposed to sale every office of honour or emolument, and whose rapacity was so unbounded that they are said to have remitted to the Netherlands no less a sum than 1,100,000 ducats in the space of ten months. … While Spain, agitated by a general discontent, was ready for rebellion, a spacious field was opened to the ambition of her monarch. The death of the Emperor Maximilian [1519] had left vacant the imperial throne of Germany. The Kings of Spain, of France, and of England, offered themselves as candidates for this high dignity," and Charles was chosen, entering now upon his great career as the renowned Emperor, Charles V.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1519.

"Charles received the news of his election to the imperial throne with the joy that was natural to a young and aspiring mind. But his elevation was far from affording the same satisfaction to his Spanish subjects, who foresaw that their blood and their treasures would be lavished in the support of German politics." With great difficulty he obtained from the Cortes money sufficient to enable him to proceed to Germany in a suitable style. Having accomplished this, he sailed from Corunna in May, 1520, leaving his old preceptor, now Cardinal Adrian, of Utrecht, to be Regent during his absence. "As soon as it was understood that, although the Cortes had voted him a free gift, they had not obtained the redress of any grievance, the indignation of the people became general and uncontrollable. The citizens of Toledo took arms, attacked the citadel, and compelled the governor to surrender. Having, in the next place, established a democratical form of government, composed of deputies from the several parishes of the city, they levied troops, and appointed for their commander Don Juan de Padilla, son of the Commendator of Castile, a young man of an ambitious and daring spirit, and a great favourite with the populace. Segovia, Burgos, Zamora, and several other cities, followed the example of Toledo." Segovia was besieged by Fonseca, commander-in-chief in Castile, who, previously, destroyed a great part of the town of Medino del Campo by fire, because its citizens refused to deliver to him a train of artillery. Valladolid now rose in revolt, notwithstanding the presence of the Regent in the city, and forced him to disavow the proceedings of Fonseca.

J. Bigland, History of Spain, volume 1, chapter 12.

"In July [1520], deputies from the principal Castilian cities met in Avila; and having formed an association called the Santa Junta, or Holy League, proceeded to deliberate concerning the proper methods of redressing the grievances of the nation. The Junta declared the authority of Adrian illegal, on the ground of his being a foreigner, and required him to resign it; while Padilla, by a sudden march, seized the person of Joanna at Tordesillas. The unfortunate queen displayed an interval of reason, during which she authorised Padilla to do all that was necessary for the safety of the kingdom; but she soon relapsed into her former imbecility, and could not be persuaded to sign any more papers. {2986} The Junta nevertheless carried on all their deliberations in her name; and Padilla, marching with a considerable army to Valladolid, seized the seals and public archives, and formally deposed Adrian. Charles now issued from Germany circular letters addressed to the Castilian cities, making great concessions, which, however, were not deemed satisfactory by the Junta; who, conscious of their power, proceeded to draw up a remonstrance, containing a long list of grievances. … Charles having refused to receive the remonstrance which was forwarded to him in Germany, the Junta proceeded to levy open war against him and the nobles; for the latter, who had at first sided with the Junta, finding their own privileges threatened as well as those of the King, began now to support the royal authority. The army of the Junta, which numbered about 20,000 men, was chiefly composed of mechanics and persons unacquainted with the use of arms; Padilla was set aside, and the command given to Don Pedro de Giron, a rash and inexperienced young nobleman." From this time the insurrection failed rapidly. In December, the royalists recovered Tordesillas and the person of Queen Joanna; and in April, 1521, Padilla was defeated, taken prisoner and executed, near Villalar. "This defeat proved the ruin of the Junta. Valladolid and most of the other confederated towns now submitted, but Toledo, animated by the grief and courage of Padilla's widow, still held out." Even after the surrender of the city, "Dona Maria retired to the citadel and held it four months longer; but on the 10th February 1522, she was compelled to surrender, and escaped in disguise to Portugal; after which tranquillity was re-established in Castile."

T. H. Dyer, History of Modern Europe, book 2, chapter 3 (volume 1).

"The insurrection was a failure; and the blow which crushed the insurgents on the plains of Villalar deprived them [the Spaniards at large] for ever of the few liberties which they had been permitted to retain. They were excluded from all share in the government, and were henceforth summoned to the cortes only to swear allegiance to the heir apparent, or to furnish subsidies for their master. … The nobles, who had stood by their master in the struggle, fared no better. … They gradually sunk into the unsubstantial though glittering pageant of a court. Meanwhile the government of Castile, assuming the powers of both making the laws and enforcing their execution, became in its essential attributes nearly as absolute as that of Turkey."

W. H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Philip II., book 6, chapter 1.

ALSO IN: W. Robertson, History of the Reign of Charles V., book 3 (volume 2).

SPAIN: A. D. 1519-1524. The conquest of Mexico.

See MEXICO: A. D. 1519, to 1524.

SPAIN: A. D. 1523. The conspiracy of Charles V. with the Constable of Bourbon against France.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1520-1523.

SPAIN: A. D. 1523-1527. Double-dealings of Pope Clement VII. with Charles. The imperial revenge. Capture and sack of Rome.

See ITALY: A. D. 1523-1527; and 1527.

SPAIN: A. D. 1524. Disputes with Portugal in the division of the New World. The voyage of Magellan and the Congress of Badajos.

See AMERICA: A. D. 1519-1524.

SPAIN: A. D. 1526. The Treaty of Madrid. Perfidy of Francis I.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1525-1526.

SPAIN: A. D. 1526. Compulsory and nominal Conversion of the Moors, or Moriscoes, completed.

See MOORS: A. D. 1492-1609.

SPAIN: A. D. 1528-1542. The expeditions of Narvaez and Hernando de Soto in Florida.

See FLORIDA: A. D. 1528-1542.

SPAIN: A. D. 1531-1541. Pizarro's conquest of Peru.

See PERU: A. D. 1528-1531, to 1533-1548.

SPAIN: A. D. 1535. Conquest and vassalage of Tunis.

See BARBARY STATES: A. D. 1516-1535.

SPAIN: A. D. 1536-1544. Renewed war between Charles V. and Francis I. Treaty of Crespy.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1532-1547.

SPAIN: A. D. 1541. Disastrous expedition of Charles V. against Algiers.

See BARBARY STATES: A. D. 1541.

SPAIN: A. D. 1556. Abdication of Charles. Accession of Philip II.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1555.

SPAIN: A. D. 1556-1559. War with France and the Pope. Successes in Italy and northwestern France. Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1547-1559.

SPAIN: A. D. 1559-1563. Early measures of Philip II. His stupid and stifling despotism. His attempt to shut knowledge out of the kingdom. His destruction of commerce and industry. His choice of Madrid for a capital. His building of the Escorial.

"In the beginning of his reign he [Philip II.] issued a most extraordinary decree. … That document is a signal revelation of the policy which Philip adopted as the very soul of his Government. Determined to stop by all imaginable means the infiltration into Spain of the doctrines of the religious reformation which agitated Europe, it seems that he planned to isolate her intellect from that of the rest of the world. … For this purpose he ordered that none of his subjects, without any exception whatever, should leave the Kingdom 'to learn, or to teach, or to read anything,' or even 'reside' in any of the universities, colleges or schools established in foreign parts. To those who were thus engaged he prescribed that they should return home within four months. Any ecclesiastic violating this decree was to be denationalized and lose all his temporalities; any layman was to be punished with the confiscation of his property and perpetual exile. Thus a sort of Chinese legislation and policy was adopted for Spain. There was to be on her frontiers a line of custom-houses through which the thought of man could not pass without examination. No Spaniard was to receive or to communicate one idea without the leave of Philip. … In 1560, the Cortes of Castile had their second meeting under the reign of Philip. … The Cortes presented to Philip one hundred and eleven petitions. … To those petitions which aimed at something practicable and judicious he gave some of his usual evasive answers, but he granted very readily those which were absurd. For instance, he promulgated sumptuary ordinances which were ridiculous, and which could not possibly have any salutary effects. He also published decrees which were restrictive of commerce, and prohibited the exportation of gold, silver, grains, cattle and other products of the soil, or of the manufacturing industry of the country. … {2987} In the meantime, the financial condition of the Kingdom was rapidly growing worse, and the deficit resulting from the inequality of expenditure and revenue was assuming the most alarming proportions. All the ordinary and extraordinary means and resources had been exhausted. … Yet, on an average, Philip received annually from his American Dominions alone more than 1,200,000 ducats—which was at least equivalent to $6,000,000 at the present epoch. The Council of Finances, or Hacienda, after consulting with Philip, could not devise anything else, to get out of difficulty, than to resort again to the sale of titles of nobility, the sale of vassals and other Royal property, the alienation of certain rights, and the concession of privileges. … It is difficult to give an idea of the wretched administration which had been introduced in Spain, and of those abuses which, like venomous leeches, preyed upon her vitals. Suffice it to say that in Castile, for instance, according to a census made in 1541, there was a population of near 800,000 souls, and that out of every eight men there was one who was noble and exempt from taxation, thereby increasing the weight of the burden on the shoulders of the rest; and as if this evil was not already unbearable, Philip was selling profusely letters patent of nobility. … In these conjunctures [1560], Philip, who had shown, on all occasions, that he preferred residing in Madrid, … determined to make that city the permanent seat of the Court and of the Supreme Government, and therefore the capital of the Monarchy. That barren and insalubrious locality presented but one advantage, if it be one of much value, that of being a central point. … Reason and common sense condemned it from the beginning. … Shortly after having selected Madrid as his capital, Philip had laid [1563] with his own bands, in the vicinity of that city, the first stone of the foundations of the Escorial, that eighth marvel of the world, as it is called by the Spaniards."

C. Gayarré, Philip II. of Spain, chapter 4.

"The common tradition that Philip built the Escorial in pursuance of a vow which he made at the time of the great battle of St. Quentin, the 10th of August, 1557, has been rejected by modern critics. … But a recently discovered document leaves little doubt that such a vow was actually made. However this may have been, it is certain that the king designed to commemorate the event by this structure, as is intimated by its dedication to St. Lawrence, the martyr on whose day the victory was gained. The name given to the place was 'El Sitio de San Lorenzo el Real.' But the monastery was better known from the hamlet near which it stood—El Escurial, or El Escorial—which latter soon became the orthography generally adopted by the Castilians. … The erection of a religious house on a magnificent scale, that would proclaim to the world his devotion to the Faith, was the predominant idea in the mind of Philip. It was, moreover, a part of his scheme to combine in the plan a palace for himself. … The site which, after careful examination, he selected for the building, was among the mountains of the Guadarrama, on the borders of New Castile, about eight leagues northwest of Madrid. … In 1584, the masonry of the Escorial was completed. Twenty-one years had elapsed since the first stone of the monastery was laid. This certainly must be regarded as a short period for the erection of so stupendous a pile. … Probably no single edifice ever contained such an amount and variety of inestimable treasures as the Escorial,—so many paintings and sculptures by the greatest masters,—so many articles of exquisite workmanship, composed of the most precious materials." It was despoiled by the French in 1808, and in 1837 the finest works of art surviving were removed to Madrid. "The Escorial ceased to be a royal residence. Tenantless and unprotected, it was left to the fury of the blasts which swept down the hills of the Guadarrama."

W. H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Philip II., book 6, chapter 2 (volume 3).

SPAIN: A. D. 1560. Disastrous expedition against Tripoli.

See BARBARY STATES: A. D. 1543-1560.

SPAIN: A. D. 1563-1564. Repulse of the Moors from Oran and Mazarquiver. Capture of Penon de Velez.

See BARBARY STATES: A. D. 1563-1565.

SPAIN: A. D. 1565. The massacre of French Huguenots in Florida and occupation of the country.

See FLORIDA: A. D. 1565; and 1567-1568.

SPAIN: A. D. 1566-1571. Edict against the Moriscoes. Their rebellion and its suppression.

See MOORS: A. D. 1492-1609.

SPAIN: A. D. 1568-1610. The Revolt o the Netherlands.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1568-1572, and after.

SPAIN: A. D. 1570-1571. The Holy League with Venice and the Pope against the Turks. Great battle and Victory of Lepanto.

See TURKS: A. D. 1566-1571.

SPAIN: . D. 1572. Rejoicing of Philip at the news of the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's day.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1572 (AUGUST-OCTOBER).

SPAIN: A. D. 1572-1573. Capture of Tunis by Don John of Austria, and its recovery, with Goletta, by the Turks.

See TURKS: A. D. 1572-1573.

SPAIN: A. D. 1572-1580. Piratical warfare of England.

See AMERICA: A. D. 1572-1580.

SPAIN: A. D. 1580. The crown of Portugal claimed by Philip II. and secured by force.

See PORTUGAL: A. D. 1579-1580.

SPAIN: A. D. 1585. Secret alliance with the Catholic League of France.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1576-1585.

SPAIN: A. D. 1587-1588. The expedition of the Armada, against England.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1587-1588; and 1588.

SPAIN: A. D. 1590. Aid rendered to the Catholic League in France. Parma's deliverance of Paris. Philip's ambition to wear the French crown.