Spain, a war for independence was also a war for religion; the contest between Arabian Infidels and Spanish Christians, succeeding that formerly carried on between the Trinitarians of France and the Arians of Spain. Slowly, and with infinite difficulty, the Christians fought their way. By the middle of the ninth century, they reached the line of the Douro.25 Before the close of the eleventh century, they conquered as far as the Tagus, and Toledo, their ancient capital, fell into their hands in 1085.26 Even then much remained to be done. In the south, the struggle assumed its deadliest form, and there it was prolonged with such obstinacy, that it was not until the capture of Malaga in 1487, and of Granada in 1492, that the Christian empire was re-established, and the old Spanish monarchy finally restored.27

The effect of all this on the Spanish character was most remarkable. During eight successive centuries, the whole country was engaged in a religious crusade; and those holy wars which other nations occasionally waged, were, in Spain, prolonged and continued for more than twenty generations.28 The object being not only to

25 Prescott's History of Ferdinand and Isabella, vol. i. pp. xxxviii. 287. Lafuente (Historia de España, vol. iii. p. 363) marks the epoch rather indistinctly, "basta ya el Duero." Compare Florez, Memorias de las Reynas Catholicos, Madrid, 4to, 1761, vol. i. p. 68.

26 There is a spirited account of its capture in Mariana's Historia de España, vol. ii. pp. 506-513; after which Ortiz (Compendio de la Historia, vol. iii. p. 156) and Lafuente (Historia General, vol. iv. pp. 236-242) are rather tame. The Mohammedan view of this, the first decisive blow to their cause, will be found in Conde, Historia de la Dominacion de los Arabes, p. 347. "Asi se perdió aquella inclita ciudad, y acabó el reino de Toledo con grave pérdida del Islam." The Christian view is that "concedió Dios al Rey la conquista de aquella capital." Florez, Reynas Catholicas, vol. i. p. 165.

27

Circourt, Histoire des Arabes, vol. i. pp. 313, 349. Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, pp. 656, 664. Ortiz, Compendio, vol. v. pp. 509, 561. Lafuente, Historia, vol ix. pp. 341, 399.

28" According to the magnificent style of the Spanish historians, eight centuries of almost uninterrupted warfare elapsed, and three thousand seven hundred battles were fought, before the last of the Moorish kingdoms in Spain submitted to the Christian arms." Robertson's Charles V. by Prescott, London, 1857, p. 65. "En nuestra misma España, en Leon y Častilla, en esta nueva Tierra Santa, donde se sostenia una cruzada perpétua y constante contra los infieles, donde se mantenia en todo su fervor el espíritu á la vez

regain a territory, but also to re-establish a creed, it naturally happened that the expounders of that creed assumed a prominent and important position. In the camp, and in the council-chamber, the voice of ecclesiastics was heard and obeyed; for as the war aimed at the propagation of Christianity, it seemed right that her ministers should play a conspicuous part in a matter which particularly concerned them.29 The danger to which the country was exposed being moreover very imminent, those superstitious feelings were excited which danger is apt to provoke, and to which, as I have elsewhere shown,30 the tropical civilizations owed some of their leading peculiarities. Scarcely were the Spanish Christians driven from their homes and forced to take refuge in the north, when this great principle began to operate. In their mountainous retreat, they preserved a chest filled with relics of the saints, the possession of which they valued as their greatest security.31 This was to them a national standard, round which they ral

"Era

religioso y guerrero." Lafuente, Historia de España, vol. v. p. 293. España theatro de una continua guerra contra los enemigos de la Fe." Florez, Reynas Catholicas, vol. i. p. 226. "El glorioso empeño de exterminar á los enemigos de la Fe." p. 453. "Esta guerra sagrada." Vol. ii. p. 800. "Se armaron nuestros Reyes Cathólicos, con zelo y animo alentado del cielo; y como la causa era de Religion para ensanchar los Dominios de la Fe, sacrificaron todas las fuerzas del Reyno, y sus mismas personas." p. 801. What was called the Indulgence of the Crusade was granted by the Popes "aux Espagnols qui combattoient contre les Mores." Fleury, Histoire Ecclésiastique, vol. xviii. p. xxi., vol. xix. pp. 158, 458, vol. xxi. p. 171.

29"En aquellos tiempos [y duró hasta todo el siglo xv. y toma de Granada] eran los obispos los primeros capitanes de los exércitos." Ortiz, Compendio, vol. iii. p. 189. "Los prelados habian sido siempre los primeros no solo en promover la guerra contra Moros, sino á presentarse en campaña con todo su poder y esfuerzo, animando á los demas con las palabras y el exemplo." Vol. v. pp. 507, 508.

30 History of Civilization, vol. i. pp. 110-118.

31"Les chrétiens avoient apporté dans les Asturies une arche ou coffre plein de reliques, qu'ils regardèrent depuis comme la sauve-garde de leur état." "Elle fut emportée et mise enfin à Oviedo, comme le lieu le plus sûr entre ces montagnes, l'ère 773, l'an 775." Fleury, Histoire Ecclésiastique, vol. ix. p. 190. This "arca llena de reliquias" was taken to the Asturias in 714. Mariana, Historia de España, vol. ii. p. 227; and, according to Ortiz (Compendio, vol. ii. p. 182), it was 'un tesoro inestimable de sagradas reliquias." See also Geddes' Tracts concerning Spain, vol. ii. p. 237, London, 1730; and Ford's Spain, 1847, p. 388.

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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 "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,

As

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 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 devo

mandó 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." 66 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."

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VOL. II.

C

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 reestablish 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; extirper de ses royaumes le nom et la secte de Mahomet.".. "Sa vie fut presque 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.

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