452 FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. PART n. Legal profes- sion advanc- ed. name imports, of the great military fraternities." The " council of Aragon " was intrusted with the general administration of that kingdom and its dependencies, including Naples ; and had besides extensive jurisdiction as a court of appeal/^ Last- ly, the "council of the Indies" was instituted by Ferdinand, in 1511, for the control of the Ameri- can department. Its powers, comprehensive as they were in its origin, were so much enlarged under Charles the Fifth and his successors, that it became the depository of all law, the fountain of all nominations, both ecclesiastical and temporal, and the supreme tribunal, where all questions, whether of government or trade in the colonies, were finally adjudicated.*' Such were the forms, which the government as- sumed under the hands of Ferdinand and Isabella. 55 Ante, Part I., Chapter 6, note 34. 56 Riol,Informe, apud Semanario Erudito, torn. iii. p. 149. — It con- sisted of a vice-chancellor, as pres- ident, and six ministers, two from each of the three provinces of the crown. It was consulted by the king on all appointments and mat- ters of government. The Italian department was committed to a separate tribunal, called the coun- cil of Italy, in 1556. Capmany (Mem. de Barcelona, torn. iv. Apend. 17,) has explained at length the functions and authority of this institution.
- 7 See the nature and broad ex-
tent of these powers, in Recop. de Leyes de las Indias, torn. i. lib. 2, tit. 2, leyes 1, 2. — Also Solorzano, Politica Indiana, tom. ii. lib. 5, cap. 15 ; who goes no further back than the remodelling of this tribu- nal under Charles v. — Riol, In- forme, apud Semanario Erudito, tom. iii. pp. 159, 160. The third volume of the Sema- nario Erudito, pp. 73-233, con- tains a report, drawn up by com- mand of Philip v., in 1726, by Don Santiago Agustin Riol, on the or- ganization and state of the vari- ous tribunals, civil and ecclesiasti- cal, under Ferdinand and Isabella; together with an account of the Papers contained in their archives, t is an able memorial, replete with curious information. It is singular that ihis interesting and authentic document should have been so little consulted, considering the popular character of the collection, in which it is preserved. I do not recollect ever to have met with a reference to it in any author. It was by mere accident, in the absence of a gene- ral index, that I stumbled on it in the mare magnum in which it is in- gulfed.
