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The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella The Catholic, V2

W >> William H. Prescott >> The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella The Catholic, V2



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HISTORY OF THE REIGN OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA, THE CATHOLIC.

BY
WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT.

IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. II.




CONTENTS OF VOLUME II.


PART FIRST. [CONTINUED.]

CHAPTER XII.
INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF THE KINGDOM.--INQUISITION IN ARAGON.
ISABELLA ENFORCES THE LAWS
CHASTISEMENT OF CERTAIN ECCLESIASTICS
MARRIAGE OF CATHARINE OF NAVARRE
LIBERATION OF CATALAN SERFS
INQUISITION IN ARAGON
REMONSTRANCES OF CORTES
CONSPIRACY FORMED
ASSASSINATION OF ARBUES
CRUEL PERSECUTIONS
INQUISITION THROUGHOUT FERDINAND'S DOMINIONS

CHAPTER XIII.
WAR OF GRANADA.--SURRENDER OF VELEZ MALAGA.--SIEGE AND CONQUEST
OF MALAGA.
POSITION OF VELEZ MALAGA
ARMY BEFORE VELEZ
DEFEAT OF EL ZAGAL
NARROW ESCAPE OF FERDINAND
SURRENDER OF VELEZ
DESCRIPTION OF MALAGA
SHARP RECONTRE
MALAGA INVESTED BY SEA AND LAND
BRILLIANT SPECTACLE
EXTENSIVE PREPARATIONS
THE QUEEN VISITS THE CAMP
SUMMONS OF THE TOWN
DANGER OF THE MARQUIS OF CADIZ
CIVIL FEUDS OF THE MOORS
ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE THE SOVEREIGNS
DISTRESS AND RESOLUTION OF THE BESIEGED
ENTHUSIASM OF THE CHRISTIANS
DISCIPLINE OF THE ARMY
GENERAL SALLY
GENEROSITY OF A MOORISH KNIGHT
OUTWORKS CARRIED
GRIEVOUS FAMINE
PROPOSALS FOR SURRENDER
HAUGHTY DEMEANOR OF FERDINAND
MALAGA SURRENDERS AT DISCRETION
PURIFICATION OF THE CITY
ENTRANCE OF THE SOVEREIGNS
RELEASE OF CHRISTIAN CAPTIVES
LAMENT OF THE MALAGANS
SENTENCE PASSED ON THEM
WARY DEVICE OF FERDINAND
CRUEL POLICY OF THE VICTORS
MEASURES FOR REPEOPLING MALAGA

CHAPTER XIV.
WAR OF GRANADA.--CONQUEST OF BAZA.--SUBMISSION OF EL ZAGAL.
THE SOVEREIGNS VISIT ARAGON
INROADS INTO GRANADA
BORDER WAR
EMBASSY FROM MAXIMILIAN
PREPARATIONS FOR THE SIEGE OF BAZA
THE KING TAKES COMMAND OF THE ARMY
POSITION AND STRENGTH OF BAZA
ASSAULT ON THE GARDEN
DESPONDENCY OF THE SPANISH CHIEFS
DISPELLED BY ISABELLA
GARDENS CLEARED OF THEIR TIMBER
CITY CLOSELY INVESTED
MISSION FROM THE SULTAN OF EGYPT
HOUSES ERECTED FOB THE ARMY
ITS STRICT DISCIPLINE
HEAVY TEMPEST
ISABELLA'S ENERGY
HER PATRIOTIC SACRIFICES
RESOLUTION OF THE BESIEGED
ISABELLA VISITS THE CAMP
SUSPENSION OF ARMS
BAZA SURRENDERS
CONDITIONS
OCCUPATION OF THE CITY
TREATY OF SURRENDER WITH EL ZAGAL
PAINFUL MARCH OF THE SPANISH ARMY
INTERVIEW BETWEEN FERDINAND AND EL ZAGAL
OCCUPATION OF EL ZAGAL'S DOMAIN
EQUIVALENT ASSIGNED TO HIM
DIFFICULTIES OF THIS CAMPAIGN
ISABELLA'S POPULARITY AND INFLUENCE
NOTICE OF PETER MARTYR

CHAPTER XV.
WAR OF GRANADA.-SIEGE AND SURRENDER OF THE CITY OF GRANADA.
THE INFANTA ISABELLA
PUBLIC FESTIVITIES
GRANADA SUMMONED IN VAIN
KNIGHTHOOD OF DON JUAN
FERDINAND'S POLICY
ISABELLA DEPOSES THE JUDGES OF CHANCERY
FERDINAND MUSTERS HIS FORCES
ENCAMPS IN THE VEGA
POSITION OF GRANADA
MOSLEM AND CHRISTIAN CHIVALRY
THE QUEEN SURVEYS THE CITY
SKIRMISH WITH THE ENEMY
CONFLAGRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN CAMP
ERECTION OF SANTA FE
NEGOTIATIONS FOR SURRENDER
CAPITULATION OF GRANADA
COMMOTIONS IN GRANADA
PREPARATIONS FOR OCCUPYING THE CITY
THE CROSS RAISED ON THE ALHAMBRA
FATE OF ABDALLAH
RESULTS OF THE WAR OF GRANADA
ITS MORAL INFLUENCE
ITS MILITARY INFLUENCE
DESTINY OF THE MOORS
DEATH AND CHARACTER OF THE MARQUIS OF CADIZ
NOTICE OF BERNALDEZ, CURATE OF LOS PALACIOS
IRVING'S CHRONICLE OF GRANADA

CHAPTER XVI.
APPLICATION OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS AT THE SPANISH COURT.
MARITIME ENTERPRISE OF THE PORTUGUESE
EARLY SPANISH DISCOVERIES
EARLY HISTORY OF COLUMBUS
BELIEF OF LAND IN THE WEST
COLUMBUS APPLIES TO PORTUGAL
TO THE COURT OF CASTILE
REFERRED TO A COUNCIL
HIS APPLICATION REJECTED
HE PREPARES TO LEAVE SPAIN
INTERPOSITION IN HIS BEHALF
COLUMBUS AT SANTA FE
NEGOTIATIONS AGAIN BROKEN OFF
THE QUEEN'S FAVORABLE DISPOSITION
FINAL ARRANGEMENT WITH COLUMBUS
HE SAILS ON HIS FIRST VOYAGE
INDIFFERENCE TO HIS ENTERPRISE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS DUE TO ISABELLA
NOTICE OF NAVARRETE

CHAPTER XVII.
EXPULSION OF THE JEWS FROM SPAIN.
EXCITEMENT AGAINST THE JEWS
FOMENTED BY THE CLERGY
VIOLENT CONDUCT OF TORQUEMADA
EDICT OF EXPULSION
ITS SEVERE OPERATION
CONSTANCY OF THE JEWS
ROUTES OF THE EMIGRANTS
THEIR SUFFERINGS IN AFRICA
IN OTHER COUNTRIES
WHOLE NUMBER OF EXILES
DISASTROUS RESULTS
TRUE MOTIVES OF THE EDICT
CONTEMPORARY JUDGMENTS
MISTAKEN PIETY OF THE QUEEN

CHAPTER XVIII.
ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF FERDINAND.--RETURN AND SECOND VOYAGE OF
COLUMBUS.
THE SOVEREIGNS VISIT ARAGON
ATTEMPT ON FERDINAND'S LIFE
GENERAL CONSTERNATION
LOYALTY OF THE PEOPLE
SLOW RECOVERY OF THE KING
PUNISHMENT OF THE ASSASSIN
RETURN OF COLUMBUS
DISCOVERY OF THE WEST INDIES
JOYOUS RECEPTION OF COLUMBUS
HIS PROGRESS TO BARCELONA
INTERVIEW WITH THE SOVEREIGNS
SENSATIONS CAUSED BY THE DISCOVERY
BOARD FOR INDIAN AFFAIRS
REGULATIONS OF TRADE
PREPARATIONS FOR A SECOND VOYAGE
CONVERSION OF THE NATIVES
NEW POWERS GRANTED TO COLUMBUS
APPLICATION TO ROME
FAMOUS BULLS OF ALEXANDER VI
JEALOUSY OF THE COURT OF LISBON
WARY DIPLOMACY
SECOND VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS
MISSION TO PORTUGAL
DISGUST OF JOHN II
TREATY OF TORDESILLAS

CHAPTER XIX.
CASTILIAN LITERATURE.--CULTIVATION OF THE COURT.--CLASSICAL LEARNING.--
SCIENCE.
FERDINAND'S EDUCATION NEGLECTED
INSTRUCTION OF ISABELLA
HER COLLECTION OF BOOKS
TUITION OF THE INFANTAS
OF PRINCE JOHN
THE QUEEN'S CARE FOR THE EDUCATION OF HER NOBLES
LABORS OF MARTYR
OF LUCIO MARINEO
SCHOLARSHIP OF THE NOBLES
ACCOMPLISHED WOMEN
CLASSICAL LEARNING
LEBRIJA
ARIAS BARBOSA
MERITS OF THE SPANISH SCHOLARS
UNIVERSITIES
SACRED STUDIES
OTHER SCIENCES
PRINTING INTRODUCED
THE QUEEN ENCOURAGES IT
ITS RAPID DIFFUSION
ACTUAL PROGRESS OF SCIENCE

CHAPTER XX.
CASTILIAN LITERATURE.--ROMANCES OF CHIVALRY.--LYRICAL POETRY.--
THE DRAMA.
THIS REIGN AN EPOCH IN POLITE LETTERS
ROMANCES OF CHIVALRY
THEIR PERNICIOUS EFFECTS
BALLADS OR ROMANCES
EARLY CULTIVATION IN SPAIN
RESEMBLANCE TO THE ENGLISH
MOORISH MINSTRELSY
ITS DATE AND ORIGIN
ITS HIGH REPUTE
NUMEROUS EDITIONS OF THE BALLADS
LYRIC POETRY
CANCIONERO GENERAL
ITS LITERARY VALUE
LOW STATE OF LYRIC POETRY
COPLAS OF MANRIQUE
RISE OF THE SPANISH DRAMA
TRAGICOMEDY OF CELESTINA
CRITICISM ON IT
IT OPENED THE WAY TO DRAMATIC WRITING
NUMEROUS EDITIONS OF IT
JUAN DE LA ENCINA
HIS DRAMATIC ECLOGUES
TORRES DE NAHARRO
HIS COMEDIES
SIMILAR IN SPIRIT WITH THE LATER DRAMAS
NOT ACTED IN SPAIN
LOW CONDITION OF THE STAGE
TRAGIC DRAMA
OLIVA'S CLASSIC IMITATIONS
NOT POPULAR
NATIONAL SPIRIT OF THE LITERATURE OF THIS EPOCH
MORATIN'S DRAMATIC CRITICISM

PART SECOND.

THE PERIOD WHEN, THE INTERIOR ORGANIZATION OF THE MONARCHY HAVING BEEN
COMPLETED, THE SPANISH NATION ENTERED ON ITS SCHEMES OF DISCOVERY AND
CONQUEST; OR THE PERIOD ILLUSTRATING MORE PARTICULARLY THE FOREIGN POLICY
OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA.

CHAPTER I.
ITALIAN WARS.--GENERAL VIEW OF EUROPE.--INVASION OF ITALY BY CHARLES
VIII., OF FRANCE.
FOREIGN POLITICS DIRECTED BY FERDINAND
EUROPE AT THE CLOSE OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
CHARACTER OF THE REIGNING SOVEREIGNS
IMPROVED POLITICAL AND MORAL CONDITION
MORE INTIMATE RELATIONS BETWEEN STATES
FOREIGN RELATIONS CONDUCTED BY THE SOVEREIGN
ITALY THE SCHOOL OF POLITICS
HER MOST POWERFUL STATES
CHARACTER OF ITALIAN POLITICS
INTERNAL PROSPERITY
INTRIGUES OF SFORZA
CHARLES VIII., OF FRANCE
HIS PRETENSIONS TO NAPLES
NEGOTIATIONS RESPECTING ROUSSILLON
CHARLES'S COUNSELLORS IN THE PAY OP FERDINAND
TREATY OF BARCELONA
ITS IMPORTANCE TO SPAIN
ALARM AT THE FRENCH INVASION, IN ITALY
IN EUROPE, ESPECIALLY SPAIN
PREPARATIONS OF CHARLES
AN ENVOY SENT TO THE FRENCH COURT
ANNOUNCES FERDINAND'S VIEWS
CHARLES'S DISSATISFACTION
THE FRENCH CROSS THE ALPS
ITALIAN TACTICS
THE SWISS INFANTRY
FRENCH ARTILLERY
SFORZA JEALOUS OF THE FRENCH
THE POPE CONFERS THE TITLE OF CATHOLIC
NAVAL PREPARATIONS IN SPAIN
SECOND MISSION TO CHARLES VIII
BOLD CONDUCT OF THE ENVOYS
THE KING OF NAPLES FLIES TO SICILY
THE FRENCH ENTER NAPLES
GENERAL HOSTILITY TO THEM
LEAGUE OF VENICE
ZURITA'S LIFE AND WRITINGS

CHAPTER II.
ITALIAN WARS.--RETREAT OF CHARLES VIII.--CAMPAIGNS OF GONSALVO DE
CORDOVA.--FINAL EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH.
CONDUCT OF CHARLES
PLUNDERS THE WORKS OF ART
RETREAT OF THE FRENCH GONSALVO DE CORDOVA
HIS EARLY LIFE
HIS BRILLIANT QUALITIES
RAISED TO THE ITALIAN COMMAND
ARRIVES IN ITALY
LANDS IN CALABRIA
MARCHES ON SEMINARA
GONSALVO'S PRUDENCE
BATTLE OF SEMINARA
DEFEAT OF THE NEAPOLITANS
GONSALVO RETREATS TO REGGIO
FERDINAND RECOVERS HIS CAPITAL
GONSALVO IN CALABRIA
HIS SUCCESSES
DECLINE OF THE FRENCH
BESIEGED IN ATELLA
GONSALVO SURPRISES LAINO
ARRIVES BEFORE ATELLA
RECEIVES THE TITLE OF GREAT CAPTAIN
BEATS A DETACHMENT OF SWISS
CAPITULATION OF MONTPENSIER
MISERABLE STATE OF THE FRENCH
DEATH OF FERDINAND OF NAPLES
ACCESSION OF FREDERIC II
TOTAL EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH
REMARKS ON GUICCIARDINI AND GIOVIO
SISMONDI

CHAPTER III.
ITALIAN WARS.--GONSALVO SUCCORS THE POPE.--TREATY WITH FRANCE.--
ORGANIZATION OF THE SPANISH MILITIA.
WAR ON THE SIDE OF ROUSSILLON
THE POPE ASKS THE AID OF GONSALVO
STORMING AND CAPTURE OF OSTIA
GONSALVO ENTERS ROME
HIS RECEPTION BY THE POPE
RETURNS TO SPAIN
PEACE WITH FRANCE
FERDINAND'S VIEWS RESPECTING NAPLES
HIS FAME ACQUIRED BY THE WAR
INFLUENCE OF THE WAR ON SPAIN
ORGANIZATION OF THE MILITIA

CHAPTER IV.
ALLIANCES OF THE ROYAL FAMILY.--DEATH OF PRINCE JOHN AND PRINCESS
ISABELLA.
ROYAL FAMILY OF CASTILE
JOANNA BELTRANEJA
MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS ISABELLA
DEATH OF HER HUSBAND
ALLIANCES WITH THE HOUSE OF AUSTRIA
AND THAT OF ENGLAND
JOANNA EMBARKS
THE QUEEN'S ANXIETY
MARGARET OF AUSTRIA
RETURNS IN THE FLEET
MARRIAGE OF JOHN AND MARGARET
SECOND MARRIAGE OF PRINCESS ISABELLA
SUDDEN ILLNESS OF PRINCE JOHN
HIS DEATH
HIS AMIABLE CHARACTER
THE KING AND QUEEN OF PORTUGAL VISIT SPAIN
OBJECTIONS TO THEIR RECOGNITION
ISABELLA DISPLEASED
HER DAUGHTER'S DEATH
ITS EFFECTS ON ISABELLA
PRINCE MIGUEL'S RECOGNITION

CHAPTER V.
DEATH OF CARDINAL MENDOZA.--RISE OF XIMENES.--ECCLESIASTICAL REFORM.
DEATH OF MENDOZA
HIS EARLY LIFE
AND CHARACTER
HIS AMOURS
THE QUEEN HIS EXECUTOR
BIRTH OF XIMENES
HE VISITS ROME
HIS RETURN AND IMPRISONMENT
ESTABLISHED AT SIGUENZA
ENTERS THE FRANCISCAN ORDER
HIS SEVERE PENANCE
HIS ASCETIC LIFE
HE IS MADE GUARDIAN OF SALZEDA
INTRODUCED TO THE QUEEN
MADE HER CONFESSOR
ELECTED PROVINCIAL
CORRUPTION OF THE MONASTERIES
ATTEMPTS AT REFORM
SEE OF TOLEDO VACANT
OFFERED TO XIMENES
HE RELUCTANTLY ACCEPTS
CHARACTERISTIC ANECDOTES OF XIMENES
HIS AUSTERE LIFE
REFORM IN HIS DIOCESE
EXAMPLE OF HIS SEVERITY
REFORM OF THE MONASTIC ORDERS
GREAT EXCITEMENT CAUSED BY IT
VISIT OF THE FRANCISCAN GENERAL
INSULTS THE QUEEN
THE POPE'S INTERFERENCE
CONSENTS TO THE REFORM
ITS OPERATION AND EFFECTS
ALVARO GOMEZ, AND BIOGRAPHERS OF XIMENES

CHAPTER VI.
XIMENES IN GRANADA.--PERSECUTION, INSURRECTION, AND CONVERSION OF THE
MOORS.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
XIMENES, HIS CONSTANCY OF PURPOSE
TRANQUIL STATE OF GRANADA
TENDILLA
TALAVERA
ARCHBISHOP OF GRANADA
HIS MILD POLICY
THE CLERGY DISSATISFIED WITH IT
TEMPERATE SWAY OF THE SOVEREIGNS
XIMENES IN GRANADA
HIS VIOLENT MEASURES
DESTROYS ARABIC BOOKS
MISCHIEVOUS EFFECTS
REVOLT OF THE ALBAYCIN
XIMENES BESIEGED IN HIS PALACE
THE INSURGENTS APPEASED BY TALAVERA
DISPLEASURE OF THE SOVEREIGNS
XIMENES HASTENS TO COURT
CONVERSION OP GRANADA
APPLAUDED BY THE SPANIARDS

CHAPTER VII.
RISING IN THE ALPUXARRAS.--DEATH OF ALONSO DE AGUILAR.--EDICT AGAINST
THE MOORS.
THE ALPUXARRAS
RISING OF THE MOORS
HUEJA SACKED
FERDINAND MARCHES INTO THE MOUNTAINS
CARRIES LANJARON
PUNISHMENT OF THE REBELS
REVOLT OF THE SIERRA VERMEJA
RENDEZVOUS AT RONDA
EXPEDITION INTO THE SIERRA
THE MOORS RETREAT UP THE MOUNTAINS
RETURN ON THE SPANIARDS
ALONSO DE AGUILAR
HIS GALLANTRY AND DEATH
HIS NOBLE CHARACTER
BLOODY ROUT OF THE SPANIARDS
DISMAY OF THE NATION
THE REBELS SUBMIT TO FERDINAND
BANISHMENT OR CONVERSION
COMMEMORATIVE BALLADS
MELANCHOLY REMINISCENCES
EDICT AGAINST THE MOORS OF CASTILE
CHRISTIANITY AND MAHOMETANISM
CAUSES OF INTOLERANCE
AGGRAVATED IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
EFFECTS OF THE INQUISITION
DEFECTS OF THE TREATY OF GRANADA
EVASION OF IT BY THE CHRISTIANS
PRIESTLY CASUISTRY
LAST NOTICE OF THE MOORS IN THE PRESENT REIGN

CHAPTER VIII.
COLUMBUS.--PROSECUTION OF DISCOVERY.--HIS TREATMENT BY THE COURT.
PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY
MISCONDUCT OF THE COLONISTS
COMPLAINTS AGAINST COLUMBUS
HIS SECOND RETURN
THE QUEEN'S CONFIDENCE IN HIM UNSHAKEN
HONORS CONFERRED ON HIM
HIS THIRD VOYAGE
DISCOVERS TERRA FIRMA
MUTINY IN THE COLONY
LOUD COMPLAINTS AGAINST COLUMBUS
BIGOTED VIEWS IN REGARD TO THE HEATHEN
MORE LIBERAL SENTIMENTS OF ISABELLA
SHE SENDS BACK THE INDIAN SLAVES
AUTHORITY TO BOBADILLA
OUTRAGE ON COLUMBUS
DEEP REGRET OF THE SOVEREIGNS
RECEPTION OF COLUMBUS
VINDICATION OF THE SOVEREIGNS
COMMISSION TO OVANDO
GROUNDLESS IMPUTATIONS ON THE GOVERNMENT
THE ADMIRAL'S DESPONDENCY
HIS FOURTH AND LAST VOYAGE
REMARKABLE FATE OF HIS ENEMIES

CHAPTER IX.
SPANISH COLONIAL POLICY.
CAREFUL PROVISION FOR THE COLONIES
LIBERAL GRANTS
LICENSE FOR PRIVATE VOYAGES
THEIR SUCCESS
INDIAN DEPARTMENT
CASA DE CONTRATACION
IMPORTANT PAPAL CONCESSIONS
SPIRIT OF THE COLONIAL LEGISLATION
THE QUEEN'S ZEAL FOB CONVERTING THE NATIVES
UNHAPPILY DEFEATED
IMMEDIATE PROFITS FROM THE DISCOVERIES
ORIGIN OF THE VENEREAL DISEASE
MORAL CONSEQUENCES OP THE DISCOVERIES
THEIR GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT
HISTORIANS OF THE NEW WORLD
PETER MARTYR
HERRERA AND MUÑOZ




PART FIRST. [CONTINUED.]


CHAPTER XII.

INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF THE KINGDOM.--INQUISITION IN ARAGON.

1483-1487.

Isabella enforces the Laws.--Punishment of Ecclesiastics.--Inquisition in
Aragon.--Remonstrances of the Cortes.--Conspiracy.--Assassination of the
Inquisitor Arbues.--Cruel Persecutions.--Inquisition throughout
Ferdinand's Dominions.


In such intervals of leisure as occurred amid their military operations,
Ferdinand and Isabella were diligently occupied with the interior
government of the kingdom, and especially with the rigid administration of
justice, the most difficult of all duties in an imperfectly civilized
state of society. The queen found especial demand for this in the northern
provinces, whose rude inhabitants were little used to subordination. She
compelled the great nobles to lay aside their arms, and refer their
disputes to legal arbitration. She caused a number of the fortresses,
which were still garrisoned by the baronial banditti, to be razed to the
ground; and she enforced the utmost severity of the law against such
inferior criminals as violated the public peace. [1]

Even ecclesiastical immunities, which proved so effectual a protection in
most countries at this period, were not permitted to screen the offender.
A remarkable instance of this occurred at the city of Truxillo, in 1486.
An inhabitant of that place had been committed to prison for some offence
by order of the civil magistrate. Certain priests, relations of the
offender, alleged that his religious profession exempted him from all but
ecclesiastical jurisdiction; and, as the authorities refused to deliver
him up, they inflamed the populace to such a degree, by their
representations of the insult offered to the church, that they rose in a
body, and, forcing the prison, set at liberty not only the malefactor in
question, but all those confined there. The queen no sooner heard of this
outrage on the royal authority, than she sent a detachment of her guard to
Truxillo, which secured the persons of the principal rioters, some of whom
were capitally punished, while the ecclesiastics, who had stirred up the
sedition, were banished the realm. Isabella, while by her example she
inculcated the deepest reverence for the sacred profession, uniformly
resisted every attempt from that quarter to encroach on the royal
prerogative. The tendency of her administration was decidedly, as there
will be occasion more particularly to notice, to abridge the authority
which that body had exercised in civil matters under preceding reigns. [2]

Nothing of interest occurred in the foreign relations of the kingdom,
during the period embraced by the preceding chapter; except perhaps the
marriage of Catharine, the young queen of Navarre, with Jean d'Albret, a
French nobleman, whose extensive hereditary domains, in the southwest
corner of France, lay adjacent to her kingdom. This connection was
extremely distasteful to the Spanish sovereigns, and indeed to many of the
Navarrese, who were desirous of the alliance with Castile. This was
ultimately defeated by the queen-mother, an artful woman, who, being of
the blood royal of France, was naturally disposed to a union with that
kingdom. Ferdinand did not neglect to maintain such an understanding with
the malcontents of Navarre, as should enable him to counteract any undue
advantage which the French monarch might derive from the possession of
this key, as it were, to the Castilian territory. [3]

In Aragon, two circumstances took place in the period under review,
deserving historical notice. The first relates to an order of the Catalan
peasantry, denominated vassals _de remenza_. These persons were subjected
to a feudal bondage, which had its origin in very remote ages, but which
had become in no degree mitigated, while the peasantry of every other part
of Europe had been gradually rising to the rank of freemen. The grievous
nature of the impositions had led to repeated rebellions in preceding
reigns. At length, Ferdinand, after many fruitless attempts at a mediation
between these unfortunate people and their arrogant masters, prevailed on
the latter, rather by force of authority than argument, to relinquish the
extraordinary seignorial rights, which they had hitherto enjoyed, in
consideration of a stipulated annual payment from their vassals. [4]

The other circumstance worthy of record, but not in like manner creditable
to the character of the sovereign, is the introduction of the modern
Inquisition into Aragon. The ancient tribunal had existed there, as has
been stated in a previous chapter, since the middle of the thirteenth
century, but seems to have lost all its venom in the atmosphere of that
free country; scarcely assuming a jurisdiction beyond that of an ordinary
ecclesiastical court. No sooner, however, was the institution organized on
its new basis in Castile, than Ferdinand resolved on its introduction, in
a similar form, in his own dominions.

Measures were accordingly taken to that effect in a meeting of a privy
council convened by the king at Taraçona, during the session of the cortes
in that place, in April, 1484; and a royal order was issued, requiring all
the constituted authorities throughout the kingdom to support the new
tribunal in the exercise of its functions. A Dominican monk, Fray Gaspard
Juglar, and Pedro Arbues de Epila, a canon of the metropolitan church,
were appointed by the general, Torquemada, inquisitors over the diocese of
Saragossa; and, in the month of September following, the chief justiciary
and the other great officers of the realm took the prescribed oaths. [5]

The new institution, opposed to the ideas of independence common to all
the Aragonese, was particularly offensive to the higher orders, many of
whose members, including persons filling the most considerable official
stations, were of Jewish descent, and of course precisely the class
exposed to the scrutiny of the Inquisition. Without difficulty, therefore,
the cortes was persuaded in the following year to send a deputation to the
court of Rome, and another to Ferdinand, representing the repugnance of
the new tribunal to the liberties of the nation, as well as to their
settled opinions and habits, and praying that its operation might be
suspended for the present, so far at least as concerned the confiscation
of property, which it rightly regarded as the moving power of the whole
terrible machinery. [6]

Both the pope and the king, as may be imagined, turned a deaf ear to these
remonstrances. In the mean while the Inquisition commenced operations, and
autos da fe were celebrated at Saragossa, with all their usual horrors, in
the months of May and June, in 1485. The discontented Aragonese,
despairing of redress in any regular way, resolved to intimidate their
oppressors by some appalling act of violence. They formed a conspiracy for
the assassination of Arbues, the most odious of the inquisitors
established over the diocese of Saragossa. The conspiracy, set on foot by
some of the principal nobility, was entered into by most of the new
Christians, or persons of Jewish extraction in the district. A sum of ten
thousand reals was subscribed to defray the necessary expenses for the
execution of their project. This was not easy, however, since Arbues,
conscious of the popular odium that he had incurred, protected his person
by wearing under his monastic robes a suit of mail, complete even to the
helmet beneath his hood. With similar vigilance, he defended, also, every
avenue to his sleeping apartment. [7]

At length, however, the conspirators found an opportunity of surprising
him while at his devotions. Arbues was on his knees before the great altar
of the cathedral, near midnight, when his enemies, who had entered the
church in two separate bodies, suddenly surrounded him, and one of them
wounded him in the arm with a dagger, while another dealt him a fatal blow
in the back of his neck. The priests, who were preparing to celebrate
matins in the choir of the church, hastened to the spot; but not before
the assassins had effected their escape. They transported the bleeding
body of the inquisitor to his apartment, where he survived only two days,
blessing the Lord that he had been permitted to seal so good a cause with
his blood. The whole scene will readily remind the English reader of the
assassination of Thomas à Becket. [8]

The event did not correspond with the expectations of the conspirators.
Sectarian jealousy proved stronger than hatred of the Inquisition. The
populace, ignorant of the extent or ultimate object of the conspiracy,
were filled with vague apprehensions of an insurrection of the new
Christians, who had so often been the objects of outrage; and they could
only be appeased by the archbishop of Saragossa, riding through the
streets, and proclaiming that no time should be lost in detecting and
punishing the assassins.

This promise was abundantly fulfilled; and wide was the ruin occasioned by
the indefatigable zeal, with which the bloodhounds of the tribunal
followed up the scent. In the course of this persecution, two hundred
individuals perished at the stake, and a still greater number in the
dungeons of the Inquisition; and there was scarcely a noble family in
Aragon but witnessed one or more of its members condemned to humiliating
penance in the autos da fe. The immediate perpetrators of the murder were
all hanged, after suffering the amputation of their right hands. One, who
had appeared as evidence against the rest, under assurance of pardon, had
his sentence so far commuted, that his hand was not cut off till after he
had been hanged. It was thus that the Holy Office interpreted its promises
of grace. [9]

Arbues received all the honors of a martyr. His ashes were interred on the
spot where he had been assassinated. [10] A superb mausoleum was erected
over them, and, beneath his effigy, a bas-relief was sculptured
representing his tragical death, with an inscription containing a suitable
denunciation of the race of Israel. And at length, when the lapse of
nearly two centuries had supplied the requisite amount of miracles, the
Spanish Inquisition had the glory of adding a new saint to the calendar,
by the canonization of the martyr under Pope Alexander the Seventh, in
1664. [11]

The failure of the attempt to shake off the tribunal served only, as usual
in such cases, to establish it more firmly than before. Efforts at
resistance were subsequently, but ineffectually, made in other parts of
Aragon, and in Valencia and Catalonia. It was not established in the
latter province till 1487, and some years later in Sicily, Sardinia, and
the Balearic Isles. Thus Ferdinand had the melancholy satisfaction of
riveting the most galling yoke ever devised by fanaticism, round the necks
of a people, who till that period had enjoyed probably the greatest degree
of constitutional freedom which the world had witnessed.


FOOTNOTES

[1] Lebrija, Rerum Gestarum Decades, iii. lib. 1, cap. 10.--Pulgar, Reyes
Católicos, part. 3, cap. 27, 39, 67, et alibi.--L. Marineo, Cosas
Memorables, fol. 175.--Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 348.

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