lied, and by the aid of which they gained miraculous victories over their Infidel opponents. Looking upon themselves as soldiers of the cross, their minds became habituated to supernatural considerations to an extent which we can now hardly believe, and which distinguished them in this respect from every other European nation.32 Their young men saw visions, and their old men dreamed dreams.33 Strange sights were vouchsafed to them from heaven; on the eve of a battle mysterious portents appeared; and it was observed, that whenever the Mohammedans violated the tomb of a Christian saint, thunder and lightning were sent to rebuke the misbelievers, and, if need be, to punish their audacious invasion.34

32 "But no people ever felt themselves to be so absolutely soldiers of the cross as the Spaniards did, from the time of their Moorish wars; no people ever trusted so constantly to the recurrence of miracles in the affairs of their daily life; and therefore no people ever talked of Divine things as of matters in their nature so familiar and common-place. Traces of this state of feeling and character are to be found in Spanish literature on all sides." Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature, vol. ii. p. 333. Compare Bouterwek's History of Spanish Literature, vol. i. pp. 105, 106; and the account of the battle of las Navas in Circourt, Histoire des Arabes d'Espagne, vol. i. p. 153 : "On voulait trouver partout des miracles." Some of the most startling of these miracles may be found in Lafuente, Historia de España, vol. v. p. 227 ; in Mariana, Historia de España, vol. ii. pp. 378, 395, vol. iii. p. 338; and in Ortiz, Compendio, vol. iii. p. 248, vol. iv. p. 22.

33 One of the most curious of these prophetic dreams is preserved in Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, pp. 378, 379, with its interpretation by the theologians. They were for the most part fulfilled. In 844 66 El Apóstol Santiago, segun que lo prometiera al Rey, fué visto en un caballo blanco, y con una bandera blanca y en medio della una cruz roxa, que capitaneaba nuestra gente." Mariana, Historia de España, vol. ii. pp. 310, 311. In 957" El Apóstol Santiago fué visto entre las haces dar la victoria á los fieles," p. 382. In 1236“Publicóse por cierto que San Jorge ayudó á los Christianos, y que se halló en la pelea." Vol. iii. p. 323. On the dreams which foreshadowed these appearances, see Mariana, vol. ii. pp. 309, 446, vol. iii. pp. 15, 108.

34" Priests mingled in the council and the camp, and, arrayed in their sacerdotal robes, not unfrequently led the armies to battle. They interpreted the will of Heaven as mysteriously revealed in dreams and visions. Miracles were a familiar occurrence. The violated tombs of the saints sent forth thunders and lightnings to consume the invaders." Prescott's History of Ferdinand and Isabella, vol. i. p. xxxix. In the middle of the ninth century, there happened the following event: "En lo mas cruel de los tormentos" [to which the Christians were exposed] "subió Abderramen un dia á las azuteas ó galerias de su Palacio. Descubrió desde alli los cuerpos de los Santos martirizados en los patíbulos y atravesados con los palos,

Under circumstances like these, the clergy could not fail to extend their influence; or, we may rather say, the course of events extended it for them. The Spanish Christians, pent up for a considerable time in the mountains of Asturias, and deprived of their former resources, quickly degenerated, and soon lost the scanty civilization to which they had attained. Stripped of all their wealth, and confined to what was comparatively a barren region, they relapsed into barbarism, and remained, for at least a century, without arts, or commerce, or literature.35 As their ignorance increased, so also did their superstition; while this last, in its turn, strengthened the authority of their priests. The order of affairs, therefore, was very natural. The Mohammedan invasion made the Christians poor; poverty caused ignorance; ignorance caused credulity; and credulity, depriving men both of the power and of the desire to investigate for themselves, encouraged a reverential spirit, and confirmed those submissive habits, and that blind obedience to the Church, which form the leading and most unfortunate peculiarity of Spanish history.

From this it appears, that there were three ways in which the Mohammedan invasion strengthened the devomandó los quemasen todos para que no quedase reliquia. Cumplióse luego la orden: pero aquel impio probó bien presto los rigores de la venganza divina que volvía por la cangre derramada de sus Santos. Improvisamente se le pegó la lengua al paladar y fauces; cerrósele la boca, y no pudo pronunciar una palabra, ni dar un gemido. Conduxeronle sus criados á la cama, murió aquella misma noche, y antes de apagarse las hogueras en que ardian los santos cuerpos, entró la infeliz alma de Abderramen en los eternos fuegos del infierno." Ortiz, Compendio, vol. iii. p. 52.

25 Circourt (Histoire des Arabes, vol. i. p. 5) says, "Les chrétiens qui ne volurent pas se soumettre furent rejetés dans les incultes ravins des Pyrénées, où ils purent se maintenir comme les bêtes fauves se maintiennent dans les forêts." But the most curious account of the state of the Spanish Christians in the last half of the eighth century, and in the first half of the ninth, will be found in Conde, Historia de la Dominacion, pp. 95, 125. "Referian de estos pueblos de Galicia que son cristianos, y de los mas bravos de Afranc; pero que viven como fieras, que nunca lavan sus cuerpos ni vestidos, que no se los mudan, y los llevan puestos hasta que se los caen despedazados en andrajos, que entran unos en las casas de otros sin pedir licencia." In A.D. 815, "no habia guerra sino contra cristianos por mantener frontera, y no con deseo de ampliar y extender los limites del reino, ni por esperanza de sacar grandes riquezas, por ser los cristianos gente pobre de montaña, sin saber nada de comercio ni de buenas artes."

VOL. II.

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tional feelings of the Spanish people. The first way was by promoting a long and obstinate religious war; the second was by the presence of constant and imminent dangers; and the third way was by the poverty, and therefore the ignorance, which it produced among the Christians.

These events being preceded by the great Arian war, and being accompanied and perpetually reinforced by those physical phenomena which I have indicated as tending in the same direction, worked with such combined and accumulated energy, that in Spain the theological element became not so much a component of the national character, but rather the character itself. The ablest and most ambitious of the Spanish kings were compelled to follow in the general wake; and, despots though they were, they succumbed to that pressure of opinions which they believed they were controlling. The war with Granada, late in the fifteenth century, was theological far more than temporal; and Isabella, who made the greatest sacrifices in order to conduct it, and who in capacity as well as in honesty was superior to Ferdinand, had for her object not so much the acquisition of territory as the propagation of the Christian faith.36 Indeed, any doubts which could be entertained respecting the purpose of the contest must have been dissipated. by subsequent events. For, scarcely was the war brought to a close, when Ferdinand and Isabella issued a decree expelling from the country every Jew who refused to deny his faith; so that the soil of Spain might be no

36 "Isabella may be regarded as the soul of this war. She engaged in it with the most exalted views, less to acquire territory than to reëstablish the empire of the Cross over the ancient domain of Christendom." Prescott's History of Ferdinand and Isabella, vol. i. p. 392. Compare Fleury, Histoire Ecclésiastique, vol. xxiii. p. 583, "bannir de toute l'Espagne la secte de Mahomet ;" and Circourt, Histoire des Arabes d'Espagne, vol. ii. pp. 99, 109, 'pour elle une seule chose avait de l'importance; extirpe de ses royaumes le nom et la secte de Mahomet." "Sa vie fut presque

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exclusivement consacrée à faire triompher la croix sur le croissant." Mariana (Historia de España, vol. v. p. 344, and vol. vii. pp. 51, 52) has warmly eulogized her character, which indeed, from the Spanish point of view, was perfect. See also Florez, Reynas Catholicas, vol. ii. pp. 774, 788, 829.

longer polluted by the presence of unbelievers.37 To make them Christians, or, failing in that, to exterminate them, was the business of the Inquisition, which was established in the same reign, and which before the end of the fifteenth century was in full operation.38 During the sixteenth century, the throne was occupied by two princes of eminent ability, who pursued a similar course. Charles V., who succeeded Ferdinand in 1516, governed Spain for forty years, and the general character of his administration was the same as that of his predecessors.

"En España los Reyes Don Fernando y Doña Isabel luego que se viéron desembarazados de la guerra de los Moros, acordáron de echar de todo su reyno á los Judíos." Mariana, Historia de España, vol. vi. p. 303. A Spanish historian, writing less than seventy years ago, expresses his approbation in the following terms: "Arrancado de nuestra peninsula el imperio Mahometano, quedaba todavía la secta Judayca, peste acaso mas perniciosa, y sin duda mas peligrosa y extendida, por estar los Judios establecidos en todos los pueblos de ella. Pero los Catolicos Monarcas, cuyo mayor afan era desarraigar de sus reynos toda planta y raiz infecta y contraria á la fé de Jesu-Cristo, dieron decreto en Granada dia 30 de Marzo del año mismo de 1492, mandando saliesen de sus dominios los Judios que no se bautizasen dentro de 4 meses." Ortiz, Compendio, Madrid, 1798, vol. v. p. 564. The importance of knowing how these and similar events are judged by Spaniards, induces me to give their own words at a length which otherwise would be needlessly prolix. Historians, generally, are too apt to pay more attention to public transactions than to the opinions which those transactions evoke ; though, in point of fact, the opinions form the most valuable part of history, since they are the result of more general causes, while political actions are often due to the peculiarities of powerful individuals.

Of the number of Jews actually expelled, I can find no trustworthy account. They are differently estimated at from 160,000 to 800,000. Prescott's History of Ferdinand and Isabella, vol. ii. p. 148. Mariana, Historia de España, vol. vi. p. 304. Ortiz, Compendio, vol. v. p. 564. Lafuente, Historia de España, vol. ix. pp. 412, 413. Llorente, Histoire de l'Inquisition, Paris, 1817, vol. i. p. 261. Mata, Dos Discursos, Madrid, 1794, pp. 64, 65. Castro, Decadencia de España, Cadiz, 1852, p. 19.

It had been introduced into Aragon in 1242; but, according to M. Tapia, "sin embargo, la persecucion se limitó entonces á la secta de los albigenses; y como de ellos hubo tan pocos en Castilla, no se consideró sin duda necesario en ella el establecimiento de aquel tribunal." Tapia, Historia de la Civilizacion Española, Madrid, 1840, vol. ii. p. 302. Indeed, Llorente says (Histoire de l'Inquisition d'Espagne, Paris, 1817, vol. i. p. 88), "Il est incertain si au commencement du 15e siècle l'Inquisition existait en Castille." In the recent work by M. Lafuente, 1232 is given as its earliest date; but "á fines del siglos xiv. y principios del xv. apenas puede saberse si existia tribunal de Inquisicion en Castilla." Lafuente, Historia de España, vol. ix. pp. 204-206, Madrid, 1852. It seems therefore with good reason that Mariana (Historia, vol. vi. p. 171) terms the Inquisition of Ferdinand and Isabella "un nuevo y santo tribunal." See also Florez, Memorias de las Reynas Catholicas, vol. ii. p. 799.

In regard to his foreign policy, his three principal wars were against France, against the German princes, and against Turkey. Of these, the first was secular; but the two last were essentially religious. In the German war, he defended the church against innovation; and at the battle of Muhlberg, he so completely humbled the Protestant princes, as to retard for some time the progress of the Reformation.39 In his other great war, he, as the champion of Christianity against Mohammedanism, consummated what his grandfather Ferdinand had begun. Charles defeated and dislodged the Mohammedans in the east, just as Ferdinand had done in the west; the repulse of the Turks before Vienna being to the sixteenth century, what the conquest of the Arabs of Granada was to the fifteenth.40 It was, therefore, with reason that Charles, at the close of his career, could boast that he had always preferred his creed to his country, and that the first object of his ambition had been to maintain the interests of Christianity.1 The zeal with which he struggled for the faith, also appears in his exertions against heresy in the Low Countries. According to contemporary and competent authorities, from fifty thousand to a hundred thousand persons were put to death in the Netherlands during his reign on account of their religious opinions.42 Later inquirers have doubted the accu

39 Prescott's History of Philip II., vol. i. p. 23, London, 1857. Davies' History of Holland, vol. i. p. 447, London, 1841. On the religious character of his German policy, compare Mariana, Historia de España, vol. vii. p. 330; Ortiz, Compendio, vol. vi. pp. 195, 196.

40 Prescott's Philip II., vol. i. p. 3; and the continuation of Fleury, Histoire Ecclésiastique, vol. xxvii. p. 280. Robertson, though praising Charles V. for this achievement, seems rather inclined to underrate its magnitude; History of Charles V., p. 246.

In the speech he made at his abdication, he said that "he had been ever mindful of the interests of the dear land of his birth, but above all of the great interests of Christianity. His first object had been to maintain these inviolate against the infidel." Prescott's Philip II., vol. i. p. 8. Miñana boasts that "el César con piadoso y noble ánimo exponia su vida á los peligros para extender los limites del Imperio Christiano." Continuacion de Mariana, vol. viii. p. 352. Compare the continuation of Fleury, Histoire Ecclésiastique, vol. xxxi. p. 19.

42 Grotius says 100,000; Bor, Meteren, and Paul say 50,000. Watson's History of Philip II., London, 1839, pp. 45, 51. Davies' History of Holland,