1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Spain
SPAIN (España), a kingdom in the extreme south-west of Europe, comprising about eleven-thirteenths of the Iberian Peninsula, in addition to the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, and the fortified station of Ceuta, on the Moroccan coast opposite to Gibraltar. Each of the two island groups forms one of the forty-nine provinces of the kingdom, although only the first named belongs geographically to Spain. Ceuta is included in the province of Cadiz. In 1900 the kingdom (exclusive of its colonies) had a population of 18,607,674, and a total area of 194,700 sq. m. It is thus rather more than twice the size of Great Britain, nearly 50,000 sq. m. larger than Japan, and nearly 85,000 sq. m. larger than Italy and Sicily. Exclusive of the Canaries its area is 191,893 sq. m. On all sides except that of Portugal the boundaries of continental Spain are natural, the Peninsula being separated from France by the Pyrenees and on every other side being surrounded by the sea. On the side of Portugal a tract of inhospitable country led originally to the separation between the two kingdoms, inasmuch as it caused the reconquest of the comparatively populous maritime tracts from the Moors to be carried out independently of that of the eastern kingdoms, which were also well peopled. The absence of any such means of intercommunication as navigable rivers afford has favoured the continuance of this isolation. The precise line of the western frontier is formed for a considerable length by portions of the chief rivers or by small tributaries, and on the north (between Portugal and Galicia) it is determined to a large extent by small mountain ranges. The British rock of Gibraltar, in the extreme south of the peninsula, is separated from Spain by a low isthmus known as the Neutral Ground.
By the relinquishment of Cuba and the cession of Porto Rico, the Philippine and Sulu Islands, and Guam, the largest of the Ladrones, to the United States, as a consequence of the war of 1898, and of the remaining Ladrone or Marianne Islands, together with the Caroline Colonial Possessions. and Pelew Islands, to Germany by a treaty of the 8th of February 1899, the colonial possessions of Spain were greatly reduced. Apart from Ceuta, Spain possesses on the Moroccan seaboard Melilla, Alhucemas, Pefion de la Gomera, Ifni, and the Chaffarinas islets. Besides these isolated posts Spain holds Rio de Oro, a stretch of the Saharan coast, and its hinterland lying between Morocco and French West Africa; the Muni River Settlements or Spanish Guinea, situated between French Congo and the German colony of Cameroon; Fernando Po, Annobon, Corisco and other islands in the Gulf of Guinea. Spain has given to France the right of pre-emption over any of her West African colonies.
I.—General Survey of the Spanish Kingdom
Physical Features.—The coast-line on the north and north-west is everywhere steep and rocky. On the north there are numerous small indentations, many of which form convenient harbours, although the current flowing along the coast from the west often leaves in the stiller water at their mouths obstruction bars. The best harbours are to be found Coast-lines. on the rias or fjord-like indentations in the W. and N. of Galicia, where high tides keep the inlets well scoured; here occur the fine natural harbours of Pontevedra and Vigo, Corunna and Ferrol. Less varied in outline but more varied in character are the Spanish coasts on the south and east. The seaboard is generally flat from the frontier of Portugal to the Straits of Gibraltar. Between the mouth of the Rio Tinto and that of the Guadalquivir the shore is lined by a series of sand-dunes, known as the Arenas Gordas. Next follows a marshy tract at the mouth of the Guadalquivir known as Las Marismas, after which the coast-line becomes more varied, and includes the fine Bay of Cadiz. From the Straits of Gibraltar a bold and rocky coast continues almost to Cape Palos, a little beyond the fine natural harbour of Cartagena. North of Cape Palos a line of flat coast, beginning with the narrow strip which cuts off the lagoon called the Mar Menor from the Mediterranean, bounds half of the province of Alicante, but in its northern half this province, becoming mountainous, runs out to the lofty headland of Cape de la Nao. The whole coast of the Bay of Valencia is low and ill provided with harbours; and along the east of Catalonia stretches of steep and rocky coast alternate with others of an opposite character.
The surface of Spain is remarkable at once for its striking contrasts and its vast expanses of dreary uniformity. There are mountains rising with alpine grandeur above the snow-line, but often sheltering rich and magnificent valleys at their Surface. base. Naked walls of white limestone tower above dark woods of Surface. cork-oak and olive. In other parts, as in the Basque country, in Galicia, in the Serrania de Cuenca (between the headwaters of the Tagus and those of the Jucar), in the Sierra de Albarracin (between the headwaters of the Tagus and those of the Guadalaviar), there are extensive tracts of undulating forest-clad hill country, and almost contiguous to these there are apparently boundless plains, or tracts of level table-land, some almost uninhabitable, and some streaked with irrigation canals and richly cultivated—like the Requena of Valencia. While, again, continuous mountain ranges and broad plains and table-lands give the prevailing character to the scenery, there are, on the one hand, lofty isolated peaks, such as Monseny, Montserrat (q.v.) and Mont Sant in Catalonia, the Peña Golosa in Valencia, Moncayo on the borders of Aragon and Old Castile, and, on the other hand, small secluded valleys, such as those of Vich and Olot among the Catalonian Pyrenees.
The greater part of the interior of Spain is composed of a table-land bounded by the Cantabrian Mountains in the north and the Sierra Morena in the south, and divided into two by a series of mountain ranges stretching on the whole from east to west. The northern half of the table-land, Central Table-land.made up of the provinces of Leon and Old Castile, has an average elevation estimated at about 2700 ft., while the southern half, made up of Estremadura and New Castile, is slightly lower—about 2600 ft. On all sides the table-land as a whole is remarkably isolated, and hence the passes on its boundary and the river valleys that lead down from it to the surrounding plains are geographical features of peculiar importance. The isolation on the side of Portugal has already been mentioned. On the north-west the valley of the Sil and a series of valleys farther south, along both of which military roads have been carried from an early period, open up communication between Leon and the hill country of Galicia, which explains why this province was united to Leon even before the conquest of Portugal from the Moors. The passes across the Cantabrian Mountains in the north are tolerably numerous, and several of them are crossed by railways. The two most remarkable are the Pass of Pajares, across which winds the railway from Leon to Oviedo and the seaport of Gijon, and that of Reinosa leading down to the deep valley of the Besaya, and crossed by the railway from Valladolid to Santander. In its eastern section the chain is crossed by the railways from Burgos to Bilbao and San Sebastian; the last-named line winds through the wild and romantic gorge of Pancorbo (in the north-east of the province of Burgos) before it traverses the Cantabrian chain at Idiazabal.
On the north-east and east, where the edge of the table-land sweeps round in a wide curve, the surface sinks in broad terraces to the valley of the Ebro and the Bay of Valencia, and is crowned by more or less isolated mountains, some of which have been already mentioned. On the north-east, by far the most important communication with the Ebro valley is formed by the valley of the Jalon, which has thus always formed a military route of the highest consequence, and is now traversed by the railway from Madrid to Saragossa. Farther south the mountains clustered on the east of the table-land (Sierra de Albarracin, Serrania de Cuenca) long rendered direct communication between Valencia and Madrid extremely difficult, and the principal communications with the east and south-east are effected where the southern table-land of La Mancha (q.v.) merges in the hill country which connects the interior of Spain with the Sierra Nevada.
In the south the descent from the table-land to the valley of the Guadalquivir is again comparatively gradual, but even here in the eastern half of the Sierra Morena the passes are few, the most important being the Puerto de Despeñaperros, where the Rio Magana, a sub-tributary of the Guadalimar, has cut for itself a deep gorge through which the railway ascends from Andalusia to Madrid. Between Andalusia and Estremadura farther west the communication is freer, the Sierra Morena being broken up into series of small chains.
Of the mountains belonging to the table-land the most continuous are those of the Cantabrian chain, which stretches for the most part from east to west, parallel to the Bay of Biscay, but ultimately bends round towards the south between Leon and Galicia (see Cantabrian Mountains). A peculiar feature Mountains.of this chain, and of the neighbouring parts of the table-land, is the number of the parameras or isolated plateaus, surrounded by steep rocky mountains, or even by walls of sheer cliff. The bleak districts of Sigüenza and Soria, round the headwaters of the Douro, separate the mountains of the so-called Iberian system on the north-east of the table-land from the eastern portion of the central mountain chains of the peninsula. Of these chains, to which Spanish geographers give the name Carpetano-Vetonica, the most easterly is the Sierra de Guadarrama, the general trend of which is from south-west to north-east. It is the Montes Carpetani of the ancients, and a portion of it (due north of Madrid) still bears the name of Carpetanos. Composed almost entirely of granite, it has an aspect when seen from a distance highly characteristic of the mountains of the Iberian Peninsula in general, presenting the appearance of a saw-like ridge (sierra) broken up into numerous sections. Its mean height is about 5250 ft., and near its centre it has three summits, the highest (named the Pico de Penalara) rising to a height of 6910 ft. The chief passes across the Sierra are those of Somosierra (4692 ft.) in the north-east, Navacerrada (5837 ft.), near Penalara, and Guadarrama (5010 ft.), a few miles farther south and west ; these are crossed by carriage roads. The railway from Madrid to Segovia passes through a tunnel close to the Guadarrama Pass; and the railway from Madrid to Avila traverses the south-western portion of the range through a remarkable series of tunnels and cuttings.
A region with a highly irregular surface, filled with hills and parameras, separates the Sierra de Guadarrama from the Sierra de Gredos farther west. This is the loftiest and grandest sierra in the whole series. Its culminating point, the Plaza de Almanzor, attains the height of 8730 ft., not far short of that of the highest Cantabrian summits. Its general trend is east and west; towards the south it sinks precipitously, and on the north it descends with a somewhat more gentle slope towards the longitudinal valleys of the Tormes and Alberche which separate it from another rugged mountain range, forming the southern boundary of the paramera of Ávila. On the west another rough and hilly tract, similar to that which divides it from the Sierra de Guadarrama in the east, separates it from the Sierra de Gata, the westernmost and the lowest of the Spanish sierras belonging to the series. These hilly intervals between the more continuous sierras greatly facilitate the communication between the northern and southern halves of the Spanish table-land. The Sierra de Gredos has a road across it connecting Ávila with Talavera de la Reina by the Puerto del Pico; but for the most part there are only bridle-paths across the Gredos and Gata ranges, and no railway crosses either of them, although the line from Plasencia to Salamanca skirts the Sierra de Gredos on the west. The Serra da Estrella, in Portugal, is usually regarded as a fourth section in the Carpetano-Vetonica chain.
On the southern half of the table-land a shorter series of sierras, consisting of the Montes de Toledo in the east (highest elevation Tejadillas, 4567 ft.) and the sierras of San Pedro, Montanchez and Guadalupe in the west (highest elevation Cabeza del Moro, 5100 ft.), separates the basins of the Tagus and Guadiana. The southern system of mountains bounding the Iberian table-land—the Sierra Morena (q.v.)—is even less of a continuous chain than the two systems last described. As already intimated, its least continuous portion is in the west. In the east and middle portion it is composed of a countless number of irregularly-disposed undulating mountains all nearly equal in height.
Even more important than the mountains bounding or crossing the table-land are those which are connected with it only at their extremities; viz. the Pyrenees (q.v.) in the north-east, the Sierra Nevada (q.v.) and the coast ranges in the south. The transverse valleys of the Sierra Nevada open southwards into the mountainous longitudinal valleys of the Alpujarras (q.v.), into which open also on the other side the transverse valleys from the most easterly of the coast sierras, the Sierra Contraviesa and the Sierra de Almijara. These ranges are continued farther west by the Sierra de Alhama and Sierra de Abdalajiz. Immediately to the west of the last-named sierra is the gorge of the Guadalhorce, which affords a passage for the railway from Malaga to Cordova; and beyond that gorge, to the west and south-west, the Serrania de Ronda, a mountain group difficult of access, stretches out its sierras in all directions. To Spanish geographers the coast ranges just mentioned are known collectively as the Sierra Penibetica. Although not comparable in altitude with the Pyrenees (highest summit Aneto, 11,168 ft.) or the Sierra Nevada (highest summit Mulhacen, 11,421 ft.), the coast ranges frequently attain an elevation of over 5000 ft., and in some cases of over 6000 ft. North-east of the Sierra Nevada two small ranges, Alcaraz and La Sagra, rise with remarkable abruptness from the plateau of Murcia, where it merges in that of the interior.
The only two important lowland valleys of Spain are those of the Ebro and the Guadalquivir. The Ebro valley occupies the angle in the north-east between the Pyrenees and the central. table-land, and is divided by ranges of heights proceeding on the one side from the Pyrenees, on the other from the Lowland valleys. base of the Moncayo, into two portions. The uppermost of these, a plateau of between 1000 and 1300 ft. above sea-level, is only about one-fourth of the size of the remaining portion, which is chiefly lowland, but is cut off from the coast by a highland tract connecting the interior table-land with spurs from the Pyrenees. The Guadalquivir basin is likewise divided by the configuration of the ground into a small upper portion of considerable elevation and a much larger lower portion mainly lowland, the latter composed from Seville downwards of a perfectly level and to a large extent unhealthy alluvium (Las Marismas). The division between these two sections is indicated by the change in the course of the main stream from a due westerly to a more south-westerly direction.
The main water-parting of the Peninsula is everywhere near the edge of the table-land on the north, east and south, and hence describes a semicircle with the convexity to the east. There are five great rivers in the Peninsula, the Tagus (Spanish Tajo, Portuguese Tejo), Douro (Spanish Rivers and Lakes. Duero), Ebro, Guadiana and Guadalquivir, all of which rise in Spain. The Ebro alone flows into the Mediterranean, and the Ebro and Guadalquivir alone belong wholly to Spain; the lower courses of the Tagus and Douro are bounded by Portuguese territory; and the lower Guadiana flows partly through Portugal, partly along the frontier. The Tagus rises in the Montes Universales on the borders of Teruel, and flows in a westerly direction until it enters the Atlantic below Lisbon, after a total course of 565 m. The Douro (485 m.) and the Ebro (466 m.) flow respectively south-west to the Atlantic at Oporto, and south-east to the Mediterranean at Cape Tortosa, from their sources in the great northern watershed. The Guadiana (510 m.) passes west and south through La Mancha and Andalusia to fall into Cadiz Bay at Ayamonte; and the Guadalquivir (360 m.) takes a similar direction from its headwaters in Jaen to Sanlucar de Barrameda, where it also enters Cadiz Bay farther south. These five rivers, as also the smaller Júcar and Segura, which enter the Mediterranean, are fully described in separate articles. With the exception of the Guadalquivir, none of them is of great service for inland navigation, so far as they lie within the Spanish frontier. On the other hand, those of the east and south are of great value for irrigation, and the Júcar and Segura are employed in floating timber from the Serrania de Cuenca. The only considerable lakes in Spain are three coast lagoons—the Albufera (q.v.) de Valencia, the Mar Menor in Murcia and the Laguna de la Janda in Cadiz behind Cape Trafalgar (see Murcia and Cadiz). Small alpine and other lakes are numerous, and small salt lakes are to be found in every steppe region.
Geology.—Geologically the Spanish Peninsula consists of a great massif of ancient rock, bordered upon the north, east and south by zones of folding in which the Mesozoic and early Tertiary beds are involved. The massif is composed of Archean, Palaeozoic and eruptive rocks, partly concealed by a covering of Tertiary strata, but characterized by the absence, excepting on its margins, of any marine deposits of Mesozoic age. It stretches from Galicia and Asturias on the north to the valley of the Guadalquivir on the south, and includes the mountains of Castile, the Sierra de Toledo and the Sierra Morena. The rocks which form it are often strongly folded, but the folding is of ancient date and strikes obliquely across the massif and has had no influence in determining its outline. The massif is in fact merely a fragment of the great Hercynian mountain system which was formed across Europe at the close of the Carboniferous period. During the Mesozoic era this mountain chain was shattered and large portions of it sank beneath the sea and were covered by Mesozoic and Tertiary strata. But other fragments still rose above the waves, and of these the great massif of Portugal and western Spain was one. Around it the deposits of the Jurassic and Cretaceous seas were laid down: and during the Tertiary era they were crushed, together with the earlier Tertiary beds, against the ancient rocks, and thus formed the folded zones of the Cordillera Betica on the south, the hills of southern Aragon on the east and the Pyrenees on the north. The intervening plains and plateaus are now for the most part covered by Tertiary deposits, which also spread over much of the ancient massif.
Archean rocks are exposed in the north of the Peninsula, particularly along the great Pyrenean axis, in Galicia, Estremadura, the Sierra Morena, the Sierra Nevada and Serrania de Ronda. They consist of granites, gneisses and mica-schists, with talc-schists, amphibolites and crystalline limestones. The oldest Palaeozoic strata are referred, from their included fossils, to the Cambrian, Ordovician and Silurian systems. They range through a vast region of Andalusia, Estremadura, Castile, Salamanca, Leon and Asturias, and along the flanks of the Pyrenean and Cantabrian chain. They consist of slates, greywackes, quartzites and diabases. Grits, quartzites, shales and limestones referable to the Devonian system are found in a few scattered areas, the largest and most fossiliferous of these occurring in Asturias. The Lower Carboniferous rocks of Spain consist partly of limestones, and partly of shales, sandstones and conglomerates like the culm of Devonshire. It is in the culm of the province of Huelva that the celebrated copper mines of Rio Tinto are worked. The Upper Carboniferous is formed to a large extent of sandstones and shales, with seams of coal; but beds of massive limestones are often intercalated, and some of these contain Fusulina and other fossils like those of the Russian Fusulina limestone. The system is most extensively developed in the north, covering a considerable space in Asturias, whence it stretches more or less continuously through the provinces of Leon, Palencia and Santander. Another tract, about 500 sq. kilometres in extent, runs from the province of Cordova into that of Badajoz. It is in this area that the important coal deposits of Penarroja are found. There are other smaller areas containing little or no coal, but showing by the included plant-remains that the strata undoubtedly belong to the Carboniferous system.
The Permian is probably represented by some of the red sandstones, conglomerates and shales in the Pyrenees, in the Serrania de Cuenca, and in Andalusia. The Triassic system is well developed in the north of the peninsula along the Cantabrian chain and eastwards to the Mediterranean. It is composed of red and variegated sandstones, dolomites and marls, traversed in some places by ophitic rocks, and containing deposits of gypsum, aragonite and rock-salt. It thus resembles the Trias of England and Germany. In the south-east, however, and at the mouth of the Ebro, limestones are found containing a fauna similar to that of the alpine Trias. These strata are overlain by members of the Jurassic series, which are especially conspicuous in the eastern part of the peninsula between Castile and Aragon, along the Mediterranean border, in Andalusia, and likewise along the flanks of the Pyrenees. The Jurassic of Andalusia belongs to the Mediterranean facies of the system; the Jurassic of the rest of Spain is more nearly allied to that of north-western Europe. The Cretaceous system is distributed in four great districts: the largest of these extends through the kingdoms of Murcia and Valencia; a second stretches between the two Castiles; a third is found in the Basque Provinces and in Asturias; and a fourth spreads out along the southern slopes of the Pyrenees from Navarre to the Mediterranean. The lower members of the Cretaceous series include an important fresh-water formation (sandstones and clays), which extends from the Cantabrian coast through the provinces of Santander, Burgos, Soria and Logroñio, and is supposed to represent the English Wealden series. The higher members comprise massive hippuriie limestones, and in the Pyrenean district representatives of the upper subdivisions of the system, including the Danian.
Deposits of Tertiary age cover rather more than a third of Spain. They are divisible into two great series, according to their mode of origin in the sea or in fresh-water. The marine Tertiary accumulations commence with those that are referable to the Eocene series, consisting of nummulitic limestones, marls and siliceous sandstones. These strata are developed in the basin of the Ebro, and in a belt which extends from Valencia through Murcia and Andalusia to Cadiz. Marine Miocene deposits occupy some small tracts, especially on the coast of Valencia. But most of the sandy Tertiary rocks of that district are Pliocene. The Tertiary strata of Andalusia are specially noteworthy for containing the native silver of Herrerias, which is found in a Pliocene bed in the form of flukes, needles and crystals. But the most extensive and interesting Tertiary accumulations are those of the great lakes which in Oligocene and Miocene time spread over so large an expanse of the table-land. These sheets of fresh-water covered the centre of the country, including the basins of the Ebro, Júcar, Guadalaviar, Guadalquivir and Tagus. They have left behind them thick deposits of clays, marls, gypsum and limestone, in which numerous remains of the land-animals of the time have been preserved.
Quaternary deposits spread over about a tenth of the area of the country. The largest tract of them is to be seen to the south of the Cantabrian chain; but another, of hardly inferior extent, flanks the Sierra de Guadarrama, and spreads out over the great plain from Madrid to Cáceres. Some of these alluvial accumulations indicate a former greater extension of the snowfields that are now so restricted in the Spanish sierras. Remains of the reindeer are found in caves in the Pyrenees.
Eruptive rocks of many different ages occur in different parts of Spain. The most important tract covered by them is that which stretches from Cape Ortegal to Coria in Estremadura and spreads over a large area of Portugal. They likewise appear in Castile, forming the sierras of Gredos and Guadarrama; farther south they rise in the mountains of Toledo, in the Sierra Morena, and across the provinces of Cordova, Seville, Huelva and Badajoz as far as Evora in Portugal. Among the minor areas occupied by them may be especially mentioned those which occur in the Triassic districts. Of rocks included in the eruptive series the most abundant is granite. There occur also quartz-porphyry (Sierra Morena, Pyrenees, &c.), diorite, porphyrite, diabase (well developed in the north of Andalusia, where it plays a great part in the structure of the Sierra Morena), ophite (Pyrenees, Cadiz), serpentine (forming an enormous mass in the Serrania de Ronda), trachyte, liparite, andesite, basalt. The last four rocks occur as a volcanic series distributed in three chief districts—that of Cape Gata, including the south-east of Andalusia and the south of Murcia, that of Catalonia, and that of La Mancha.
Climate.—In accordance with its southerly position and the variety in its superficial configuration, Spain presents within its borders examples of every kind of climate to be found on the northern hemisphere, with the sole exception of that of the torrid zone. As regards temperature, the heart of the table-land is characterized by extremes as great as are to be met in almost any part of central Europe. The northern and north-western maritime provinces, on the other hand, have a climate as equable, and as moist, as that of the west of England or Scotland.
Four zones of climate are distinguished. The first zone is that of the table-land, with the greater part of the Ebro basin. This is the zone of the greatest extremes of temperature. Even in summer the nights are often decidedly cold, and on the high parameras it is not a rare thing to see hoar-frost in the morning. In spring cold, wetting mists occasionally envelop the land for entire days, while in summer the sky is often perfectly clear for weeks together. At all seasons of the year sudden changes of temperature, to the extent of from 30 to 50 F., are not infrequent. The air is extremely dry, which is all the more keenly felt from the fact that it is almost constantly in motion. At Madrid (2150 ft. above sea-level) it freezes so hard in December and January that skating is carried on on the sheet of water in the Buen Retiro; and, as winter throughout Spain, except in the maritime provinces of the north and north-west, is the season of greatest atmospheric precipitation, snowfalls are frequent, though the snow seldom lies long except at high elevations. The summers, on the other hand, are not only extremely warm but almost rainless, the sea-winds being deprived of their moisture on the edge of the plateau. In July and .August the plains of New Castile and Estremadura are sunburnt wastes; the roads are several inches deep with dust; the leaves of the few trees are withered and discoloured; the atmosphere is filled with a fine dust, producing a haze known as calina, which converts the blue of the sky into a dull grey. In the greater part of the Ebro basin the heat of summer is even more intense. The treeless mostly steppe-like valley with a bright-coloured soil acts like a concave mirror in reflecting the sun's rays and, moreover, the mountains and highlands by which the valley is enclosed prevent to a large extent the access of winds.
The second zone is that of the Mediterranean provinces, exclusive of those of the extreme south. In this zone the extremes of temperature are less, though the summers here also are warm, and the winters decidedly cool, especially in the north-east.
The southern zone, to which the name of African has been given, embraces the whole of Andalusia as far as the Sierra Morena, the southern half of Murcia and the province of Alicante. In this zone there prevails a genuine sub-tropical climate, with extremely warm and almost rainless summers and mild winters, the temperature hardly ever sinking below freezing-point. The hottest part of the region is not the most southerly district but the bright-coloured steppes of the coast of Granada, and the plains and hill terraces of the south-east coast from Almeria to Alicante. Snow and frost are here hardly known. It is said that at Malaga snow falls only about once in twenty-five years. The winter, in fact, is the season of the brightest vegetation: after the long drought of summer the surface gets covered once more in late autumn with a fresh green varied with bright-coloured flowers, and so it remains the whole winter through. On the other hand, the eastern part of this zone is the part of Spain which is liable to be visited from time to time by the scorching leveche, the name given in Spain to the sirocco, as well as by the solano, a moist and less noxious east wind.
The fourth zone, that of the north and north-west maritime provinces, presents a marked contrast to all the others. The temperature is mild and equable; the rains are abundant all the year round, but fall chiefly in autumn, as in the west of Europe generally. Roses bloom in the gardens at Christmas as plentifully as in summer. The chief drawback of the climate is an excess of rain in some parts, especially in the west. Santiago de Compostela, for example, has one of the highest rainfalls on the mainland of Europe (see table below).
The figures given in the following table,[1] although based only on data of short periods (from 312 to 20 years), will help to illustrate the preceding general remarks. Greenwich is added for the sake of comparison.
| Station. | Height in feet. |
Mean Temperature, F. | Rainfall in inches. | ||||
| Jan. | July. | Year. | |||||
| ° | ° | ° | |||||
| Table-land zone | Leon | 2600 | 37 | 73 | 53 | 19 | |
| Madrid | 2150 | 41 | 76 | 56 | 15 | ||
| Southern zone | San Fernando | 90 | 52 | 75 | 63 | 30 | |
| Malaga | 75 | 54 | 79 | 70 | — | ||
| Mediterranean zone | Murcia | 140 | 49 | 79 | 63 | 14 | |
| Mahon | — | 52 | 72 | 64 | 27 | ||
| Northern maritime zone | Bilbao | 50 | 46 | 70 | 58 | 46 | |
| Oviedo | 750 | 43 | 66 | 54 | 36 | ||
| Santiago | 750 | 45·5 | 66 | 55 | 66 | ||
| Greenwich | — | 39 | 63 | 50 | 25 | ||
Flora.—The vegetation of Spain exhibits a variety in keeping with the differences of climate just described. The number of endemic species is exceptionally large, the number of monotypic genera in the Peninsula greater than in any other part of the Mediterranean domain. The endemic species are naturally most numerous in the mountains, and above all in the loftiest ranges, the Pyrenees and the Sierra Nevada; but it is a peculiarity of the Spanish table-land, as compared with the plains and table-lands of central Europe, that it also possesses a considerable number of endemic plants and plants of extremely restricted range. This fact, however, is also in harmony with the physical conditions above described, being explained by the local varieties, not only of climate, but also of soil. Altogether no other country in Europe of equal extent has so great a wealth of species as Spain. According to the Prodromus florae hispanicae of Willkomm and Lange (completed in 1880), the number of species of vascular plants then ascertained to exist in the country was 5096.
Spain may be divided botanically into four provinces, corresponding to the four climatic zones.
In the table-land province (including the greater part of the Ebro valley) the flora is composed chiefly of species characteristic of the Mediterranean region, and largely of species confined to the Peninsula. A peculiar character is imparted to the vegetation of this province by the growth over large tracts of evergreen shrubs and large herbaceous plants belonging to the Cistineae and Labiatae. Areas covered by the Cistineae are known to the Spaniards as jarales, and are particularly extensive in the Mancha Alta and on the slopes of the Sierra Morena, where the ladanum bush (Cistus ladaniferus) is specially abundant ; those covered by the Labiatae are known as tomillares (from tomillo, thyme), and occur chiefly in the south, south-west and east of the table-land of New Castile. In the central parts of the same table-land huge thistles (such as the Onopordum nervosum), centaureas, artemisias and other Compositae are scattered in great profusion. From the level parts of these table-lands trees are almost entirely absent. On the lofty parameras of Soria and other parts of Old Castile the vegetation has an almost alpine character.
The southern or African province is distinguished chiefly by the abundance of plants which have their true home in North Africa (a fact explained by the geologically recent land connexion of Spain with that continent), but is also remarkable for the occurrence within it of numerous Eastern plants (natives of Syria and Asia Minor), and plants belonging to South Africa and the Canaries, as well as natives of tropical America which have become naturalized here (see Agriculture). In the maritime parts of Malaga and Granada the vegetation is of almost tropical richness and beauty, while in Murcia, Alicante and Almeria the aspect is truly African, fertile oases appearing in the midst of rocky deserts or barren steppes. A peculiar vegetation, consisting mainly of low shrubs with fleshy glaucous leaves (Inula crithmoides , &c), covers the swamps of the Guadalquivir and the salt-marshes of the south-west coast. Everywhere on moist sandy ground are to be seen tall thickets of Arundo donax.
The Mediterranean province is that in which the vegetation agrees most closely with that of southern France and the lowlands of the Mediterranean region generally. On the lower slopes of the mountains and on all the parts left uncultivated the prevailing form of vegetation consists of a dense growth of shrubs with thick leathery leaves, such as are known to the French as maquis, to the Italians as macchie, and to the Spaniards as monte bajo,[2] shrubs which, however much they resemble each other in external appearance, belong botanically to a great variety of families.
The northern maritime province, in accordance with its climate, has a vegetation resembling that of central Europe. Here only are to be found rich grassy meadows covered with flowers such as are seen in English fields, and here only do forests of oak, beech and chestnut cover a large proportion of the area. The extraordinary abundance of ferns (as in western France) is likewise characteristic.
The forest area of Spain is relatively small. The whole extent of forests is estimated at little more than 712 million acres, or less than 6% of the area of the kingdom. Evergreen oaks, chestnuts and conifers are the prevailing trees. The cork oaks of the southern provinces and of Catalonia are of immense value, but the groves have suffered greatly from the reckless way in which the produce is collected. Among other characteristic trees are the Spanish pine (Pinus hispanica), the Corsican pine (P. Laricio), the Pinsapo fir (Abies Pinsapo), and the Quercus Tozza, the last belonging to the slopes of the Sierra Nevada. Besides the date-palm the dwarf-palm grows spontaneously in some parts of the south, but it nowhere makes up a large element of the vegetation.
The Spanish steppes deserve a special notice, since they are not confined to one of the four botanical provinces, but are found in all of them except the last. Six considerable steppe regions are counted: (1) that of Old Castile, situated to the south of Valladolid, and composed chiefly of hills of gypsum; (2) that of New Castile, in the south-east (including parts of La Mancha); (3) the Aragonese, occupying the upper part of the basin of the Ebro; (4) the littoral, stretching along the south-east coast from Alicante to the neighbourhood of Almeria; (5) the Granadine, in the east of Upper Andalusia (the former kingdom of Granada); and (6) the Baetic, in Lower Andalusia, on both sides of the valley of the Jenil or Genil. All of these were originally salt-steppes, and, where the soil is still highly impregnated with salt, have only a sparse covering of shrubs, mostly members of the Salsolaceae, with thick, greyish green, often downy leaves. A different aspect is presented by the grass steppes of Murcia, La Mancha, the plateaus of Guadix and Huescar in the province of Granada, &c, all of which are covered chiefly with the valuable esparto grass (Macrochloa tenacissima).
Fauna.—The Iberian Peninsula belongs to the Mediterranean sub-region of the Palaearctic region of the animal kingdom. The forms that betray African affinities are naturally to be found chiefly in the south. Among the mammals that fall under this head are the common genet (Genetta vulgaris), which extends, however, pretty far north, and is found also in the south of France, the fallow-deer, the porcupine (very rare), and a species of ichneumon (Herpestes Widdringtonii) , which is confined to the Peninsula, and is the only European species of this African genus. The magot or Barbary ape (Inuus ecaudatus), the sole species of monkey still found wild in Europe, is also a native of Spain, but only survives on the rock of Gibraltar (q.v.). Of the mammals in which Spain shows more affinity to the fauna of central and northern Europe, some of the most characteristic are the Spanish lynx (Lynx pardinus), a species confined to the Peninsula, the Spanish hare (Lepus madritensis) , and the species mentioned in the article Pyrenees. The birds of Spain are very numerous, partly because the Peninsula lies in the route of those birds of passage which cross from Africa to Europe or Europe to Africa by way of the Straits of Gibraltar. Many species
belonging to central Europe winter in Spain, especially on the south-eastern coasts and in the valley of the Guadalquivir. Innumerable snipe are killed in the Guadalquivir valley and brought to the market of Seville. Among the birds of prey may be mentioned, besides the cinereous and bearded vultures, the Spanish vulture (Gyps occidentalis), the African or Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus), which is found among all the mountains of the Peninsula, the Spanish imperial eagle (Aquila Adalberti), the short-toed eagle (Circaetus gallicus), the southern eagle-owl (Bubo atheniensis), and various kites and falcons. Among gallinaceous birds besides the red-legged partridge, which is met with everywhere on the steppes, there are found also the Pterocles alchita and P. arenarius; and among the birds of other orders are the southern shrike (Lanius meridionalis), the Spanish sparrow (Passer cyaneus), and the blue magpie (Cyanopica cooki). The last is highly remarkable on account of its distribution, it being confined to Spain while the species most closely allied to it (Cyanopica cyanea) belongs to the east of Asia. The flamingo is found native in the Balearic Islands and on the southern coasts, and a stray specimen is occasionally seen on the table-land of New Castile. Other birds peculiar to the south are two species of quails, the Andalusian hemipode (Turnix sylvatica), confined to the plains of Andalusia, the southern shearwater (Puffinus cinereus), and other water-birds. Amphibians and reptiles are particularly numerous in the southern provinces, and among these the most remarkable are the large southern or eyed lizard (Lacerta .png)
ocellata), which sometimes attains 3 ft. in length and is very abundant; the Platydactylus saccicularis, the grey amphisbaena (Blanus cinereus), the European pond-tortoise (Emys europaea), and another species, Emys Siegrizii. Insect life is remarkably abundant and varied. More than 350 species of butterflies, many of them endemic, have been counted in the province of Madrid alone. Besides the ordinary European scorpion, which is general in southern Europe, there is another species, the sting of which is said to be still more severe, found chiefly in the basin of the Ebro. Trout abound in the mountain streams and lakes, barbel and many other species of Cyprinidae in the rivers of the plains. For the sea fauna, see under Fisheries below.
Territorial Divisions and Population.—For administrative purposes the kingdom of Spain has since 1833 been divided into forty-nine provinces, forty-seven of which belong to the mainland. Before 1833 the mainland was divided into thirteen provinces, also enumerated below, which took their names from the ancient kingdoms and principalities out of which the modern kingdom was built up. All the continental provinces, ancient and modern, as also the Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Annobon, Ceuta, Corisco, the Chaffarinas, Fernando Po, the Muni River Settlements and Rio de Oro are described in separate articles.
It is probable that the population of Spain attained its height during the early Roman Empire, when it has been estimated, though of course on imperfect data, to have numbered forty or fifty millions. The best evidence of a dense population in those days is that afforded by the specific estimates of ancient writers for some of the larger cities. The population of Tarraco (Tarragona) was estimated at 212 millions, and those of Nova Carthago (Cartagena), Italica (Sevilla la Vieja), and other cities at several hundreds of thousands. Emerita Augusta (Mérida) had a Roman garrison of 90,000 men, which also implies a large population.
The first Spanish census was made in 1594, but some of the provinces now included in the kingdom were not embraced in the enumeration, so that the total population assigned to Spain within its present limits for that date is obtained by adding the results of enumerations at different dates in the provinces then excluded. The total thus arrived at is 8,206,791. No other census took place till 1787, when the total was found to be 10,268,150; and this census was followed by another in 1797, when the population was returned as 10,541,221. Various estimates were made within the next sixty years, but the census of 1857 proved that some of these estimates must have been greatly below the truth. The total population then ascertained to exist in Spain was 15,464,340, an increase of not much less than 50% since the census of 1797. Between 1857 and 1877 the population increased to 16,631,869; and by 1897 it had risen to 18,132,475. The annual rate of increase during this period of forty years was less than .45%, or lower than that of any other European state, except France in the later years of the 19th century. The census of 1900, however, showed that the annual rate of increase had risen, between 1897 and 1900, to .89%, or nearly double its former amount. This fact may be explained partly by the growth of mining and certain other industries, partly, perhaps, by the recuperative power which the Spanish people has always exhibited after war—the most notable instance of which is the above-mentioned net increase of nearly 50% between 1797 and 1857, despite the Napoleonic invasion and other disastrous wars. A similar though much smaller acceleration in the annual rate of increase after the Carlist Wars of 1874–76 is largely attributable to the prosperity caused by railway development between 1877 and 1887. It would be unjustifiable to assume from the inadequate data available that the Spanish people retains the vitality which characterized it from 1797 to 1857. It is, however, clear from the census returns that at the beginning of the 20th century.
| Provinces | Area in sq. m. |
Pop., 1857. | Pop., 1887 | Pop., 1900. | Pop. per sq. m., 1900. |
New Castile |
27,935 |
1,477,915 |
1,778,155 |
1,923,310 |
60.8 |
| Total | 194,700 | 15,464,340 | 17,667,256 | 18,618,086 | 95.6 |
involved by a serious war; that its numbers tend to increase steadily; and that the rate of increase has hitherto shown a marked acceleration in periods of commercial expansion.
The estimated area and population of the Spanish possessions in Africa, exclusive of Ceuta, are shown below:—
| Area in sq. m. | Pop. | |
| Rio de Oro | 70,000 | 130,000 |
| Muni River Settlements | 9,800 | 140,000 |
| Fernando Po, Annobon, Corisco, &c. | 800 | 22,000 |
| Melilla, Ifni, &c. | 40 | 15,000 |
| Totals | 80,640 | 307,000 |
Its extraordinary lack of population differentiates Spain from every other country possessed of equal natural advantages and an historic civilization. Spain occupies an unsurpassed geographical position; its resources are rich, varied and to some extent unexploited; its inhabitants include the Basques and Catalans, noted for their commercial enterprise, and the Galicians, noted for their industry. Nevertheless this country, which appears, more than 2000 years ago, to have supported a population nearly thrice as numerous as its present inhabitants and larger than that of the United Kingdom in 1901, is almost as thinly peopled as the most deserted province of Ireland (Connaught 94.5 inhabitants per sq. m.). The depopulation of Spain dates certainly from the Moorish conquest, possibly from the earlier Visigothic invasion. The Moors decimated the native population; when they in turn were expelled, the country lost not only a numerically large section of its inhabitants, but the section best able to develop its natural wealth. The wars of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, and the vast potentialities of fortune which drew men to the Spanish colonies in America, caused a further serious drain upon the population.
As regards the distribution of population between town and country, Spain contrasts in a marked manner with Italy, Spain having but few large towns and a relatively large country population.
Communications.—The communications in Spain were greatly improved during the 19th century. In 1808 there were little more than 500 m. of carriage roads; in 1908 the aggregate length of the state, provincial and municipal roads was about 40,000 m. But there are still many parts of the country where trade—and especially mining—is retarded by the want of good roads. In the mountainous districts, where there are only narrow paths, frequently rather steep, it is still not uncommon to meet long trains of pack-mules, which, with ox-carts for heavier goods, constitute the sole means of transport in such regions.
Railways have made great advance since the middle of the 19th century. The oldest line is that from Barcelona to Mataro, 1712 m., which was opened on the 28th of October 1848. From 1850 onwards the rate of construction increased apace, and during the last decade of the 19th century about 205 m. were opened to traffic every year. In January 1910, 9020 m. had been completed, and the whole kingdom was covered by a network of railways which linked together all the principal towns. The Spanish railway system at this time communicated with the French at Irun and Portbou, west and east respectively of the Pyrenees; and with the Portuguese at or near Tuy on the northern frontier of Portugal, and near La Fregeneda, Ciudad Rodrigo, Valencia de Alcantara and Badajoz on the E. All the Spanish railways belong to private companies, most of which have received state subventions, and they will fall in to the government mostly at the end of 99 years. In granting a concession for a new railway the practice is to give it to the company that offers to construct it with the lowest subvention. For strategical reasons the Spanish gauge was made different from that of France; and military considerations long postponed the construction of any railway across the Pyrenees. The roads which wind through the Pyrenees in northern Aragon, Navarre and Catalonia had long been the channels of an important traffic, although great inconvenience was caused by the snow which blocks the passes in winter. In 1882 the French and Spanish governments proposed to overcome this obstacle by constructing two railways: one from Huesca to Oloron, through the Canfranc Pass, and through an international tunnel which was to be built at Somport; the other from the Ariege railway system to the Spanish northern system in the province of Lerida. The first line was completed on the Spanish side as far as Jaca, the second was only surveyed; both were opposed by the ministries of war in the two countries concerned. The matter was taken up at the beginning of the 20th century by M. Delcasse, the French minister for foreign affairs, and on the 18th of August 1904 a convention was signed providing for the construction of (1) the Huesca-Oloron line, (2) a line from Ax les Thermes in the Ariege to Ripoll in Catalonia, (3) a line from St Girons in the Ariege to Sort, and thence to Lerida. The Spanish government agreed to finish the Lerida-Sort section by 1915, and the Noguera Pallaresa valley was chosen as the route from Sort to the frontier, where junction with the French railways would be effected through the Port de Salau. All three schemes were ratified in 1904 by the Cortes and the French Chambers. Seventy per cent, of the railways of Spain, and an even larger proportion of the tramways and narrow-gauge railways, especially in mining districts, have been constructed and worked with foreign capital. The postal and telegraphic services have been placed on the same footing as in other civilized countries. In 1907 the number of letters and post-cards carried in the inland service was 133,201,000, in the international service 44,219,000. The length of state telegraph lines increased from 6665 m. in 1883 to 20,575 m. in 1903. In 1907 there were 84 urban telephone systems and 71 inter-urban circuits.
Agriculture.—Agriculture is by far the most important Spanish industry. In general it is in a backward condition, and is now much less productive than in the time of the Romans and again under the Moors. The expulsion of the latter people in many places inflicted upon agriculture a blow from which it has not recovered to this day. Aragon and Estremadura, the two most thinly peopled of all the old provinces, and the eastern half of Andalusia (above Seville), have all suffered particularly in this manner, later occupiers never having been able to rival the Moors in overcoming the sterility of nature, as in Aragon, or in taking advantage of its fertility, as in Andalusia and the Tierra de Barros. In some districts the implements used are still of the rudest description. The plough is merely a pointed stick shod with iron, crossed by another stick which serves as a share, scratching the ground to the depth of a few inches. But the regular importation of agricultural implements betokens an improvement in this respect. In general there has been considerable improvement in the condition of agriculture since the introduction of railways, and in every province there is a royal commissioner entrusted with the duty of supervising and encouraging this branch of industry. Among other institutions for the promotion of agriculture the royal central school at Aranjuez, to which is attached a model farm, is of special importance. Of the soil of Spain 79.65% is classed as productive; 33.8% being devoted to agriculture and gardens, 20.8 to fruit, 19.7 to grass, 3.7 to vineyards and 1.6 to olives. The land is subdivided among a very large number of proprietors; over 3,400,000 farms or estates were assessed for taxation in 1905.
The provinces in which agriculture is most advanced are those of Valencia and Catalonia, in both of which the river valleys are thickly seamed with irrigation canals and the hill-slopes carefully terraced for cultivation. In neither province is the soil naturally fertile, and nothing but the untiring industry of the inhabitants, favoured by the rivers which traverse the province from the table-land of New Castile and the numerous small streams (nacimientos) that issue from the base of the limestone mountains and by the numerous torrents from the Pyrenees, has converted them into two of the most productive regions in Spain. In the Basque Provinces and in Galicia the cultivable area is quite as fully utilized, but in these the difficulties are not so great. The least productive tracts, apart from Aragon and Estremadura, are situated in the south and east of New Castile, in Murcia, and in Lower Andalusia—the marshes or marismas of the lower Guadalquivir and the arenas gordas between that river and the Rio Tinto. By far the greater part of the table-land, however, is anything but fertile, the principal exceptions being the Tierra de Campos, said to be the chief corn-growing district in Spain, occupying the greater part of Palencia in the north-west of Old Castile, and the Tierra de Barros, in the portion of Badajoz lying to the south of the Guadiana in Estremadura.
Except in Leon and the provinces bordering on the Bay of Biscay and the Atlantic, irrigation is almost everywhere necessary for cultivation, at least in the case of certain crops. Almost all kinds of vegetables and garden-fruits, oranges, rice, hemp and other products are generally grown solely or mainly on irrigated land, whereas most kinds of grain, vines and olives are cultivated chiefly on dry soil. The water used for irrigation is sometimes derived from springs and rivers in mountain valleys, whence it is conveyed by long canals (acequias) along the mountain sides and sometimes by lofty aqueducts to the fields on which it is to be used. Sometimes the water of entire rivers or vast artificial reservoirs (pántanos) is used in feeding a dense network of canals distributed over plains many square miles in extent. Such plains in Valencia and Murcia are known by the Spanish name of huertas (gardens), in Andalusia by the Arabic name of vegas, which has the same meaning. Many of the old irrigation works—such as those of the plain of Tarragona—date from the time of the Romans, and many others from the Moorish period, while new ones are still being laid out at the present day. Where no running water is available for irrigation, water is often obtained from wells by means of waterwheels (norias) of simple construction. In most cases such wheels merely have earthenware pitchers attached to their circumference by means of wisps of esparto, and are turned by a horse harnessed to a long arm fitted to a revolving shaft. In recent years many artesian wells have been sunk for irrigation. In all, about 9% of the entire surface of Spain is artificially watered, but in 1900 the government adopted plans for the construction of new canals and reservoirs on a vast scale. The system was designed to bring a greatly increased area of arid or semi-arid land under irrigation. The irrigated portions of the Ebro and Tagus valleys yield twelve times as large a crop per acre as the unirrigated.
Cereals constitute the principal object of cultivation, and among these wheat ranks first, the next in importance being barley, the chief fodder of horses and mules. Both of these grains are cultivated in all parts, but chiefly on the more level districts of the two Castiles and Leon, and on the plains of the Guadalquivir Grain. basin. Oats and rye are cultivated only in the higher parts of the mountains, the former as a substitute for barley in feeding horses and mules, the latter as a breadstuff. Maize also is cultivated in all the provinces; nevertheless, its cultivation is limited, since, being a summer crop, it requires irrigation except in the Atlantic provinces, and other products generally yield a more profitable return where irrigation is pursued. Rice is cultivated on a large scale only in the swampy lowlands of Valencia. Among cereals of less importance are buckwheat (in the mountainous regions of the north), millets, including both the common millet (Panicum miliaceum) and the so-called Indian millet (Sorghum vulgare, the joári of India, the durrah of Africa), and even (in La Mancha) guinea-corn (Penicillaria spicata).
Among the natural products of the soil of Spain, in regard to quantity, wines come next to cereals, but the only wines which have a world-wide reputation are those of the south, those of Alicante, of Malaga, and more particularly those which take the name of “sherry,” from the town of Jerez, in the Wines. neighbourhood of which they are grown (see Wine). From 1880 to 1890 when the French vineyards suffered so much from various plagues, and when Spain gave a great impetus to her foreign trade by numerous treaties of commerce, none of her products showed such an increase in exports as her wines. The vine-growing districts had formerly been mostly in the provinces of Cadiz, Malaga, Barcelona, Aragon and Navarre. Then the vineyards spread all along the Ebro valley and in the Mediterranean seaboard provinces, as well as in New and Old Castile and Estremadura to such an extent that wine is now produced in all the 49 provinces of the kingdom. The average result of the vintage was estimated between 440 and 500 million gallons in 1880 to 1884, and it rose to more than double that amount towards 1890, and amounted in 1898 to 880 million gallons. In that year the total area under the vine was 3,546,375 acres, in 1908 it was 3,136,470 acres. In the hey-day of the cultivation of the vine Spain sent the bulk of her wine exports to France. The imposition of high duties in France on foreign wines in 1891 dealt a severe blow to the export trade in common Spanish wines. The export of wines of the south—Jerez, Malaga and other full-bodied wines styled generoso—did not suffer so much, and England and France continued to take much the same quantities of such wines. There is also a large export of grapes and raisins, especially from Malaga, Valencia, Almeria and Alicante. The Spanish vines have suffered, like those of France, from mildew and phylloxera. The latter has done most damage in the provinces of Malaga and Alicante, in Catalonia, and in some parts of the Ebro valley in Navarre and Aragon. The vines whose fruit is intended for table use as grapes or raisins are trained on espaliers or on trees, especially the nettle-tree (Celtis australis).
Among fruit-trees the first place belongs to the olive. Its range in Spain embraces the whole of the southern half of the table-land, the greater part of the Ebro valley, and a small strip on the west coast of Galicia. Along the base of the Sierra Morena from Andujar to the vicinity of Cordova there run Fruit. regular forests of olives, embracing hundreds of square miles. Cordova is the headquarters of the oil industry, Seville of the cultivation of olives for table use. In 1908 the yield of oil amounted to 36,337,893 gallons. Oranges and lemons, excluded from the plateau by the severity of the winter cold, are grown in great quantities on the plains of Andalusia and all round the Mediterranean coast; the peel of the bigarade or bitter orange is exported to Holland for the manufacture of curaçao; and figs, almonds, pomegranates, carobs and other southern fruits are also grown abundantly in all the warmer parts, the first two even in central Spain and the more sheltered parts of the northern maritime provinces. In these last, however, the prevailing fruit-trees are those of central Europe, and above all the apple, which is very extensively cultivated in Asturias, the Basque Provinces and Navarre. In these provinces large quantities of cider are brewed. The date-palro is very general in the south-eastern half of the kingdom, but is cultivated for its fruit only in the province of Alicante, in which is the celebrated date-grove of Elche (q.v.). In the southern provinces flourish also various sub-tropical exotics, such as the banana, the West Indian cherimoya, and the prickly pear or Indian fig (Opuntia vulgaris), the last frequently grown as a hedge-plant, as in other Mediterranean countries, and extending even to the southern part of the table-land. It is specially abundant on the Balearic Islands. The agave or American aloe is cultivated in a similar manner throughout Andalusia.
Cotton is now cultivated only here and there in the south; but sugar-cane is, with sugar-beet, becoming more and more of a staple in the provinces of Granada, Malaga and Almería. Its cultivation was introduced by the Arabs in the 12th century or later, and was of great importance in the kingdom of Sugar. Granada at the time of the expulsion of the Moors (1489), but has since undergone great vicissitudes, first in consequence of the introduction of the cane into America, and afterwards because of the great development of beet-sugar in central Europe. The industry received a powerful stimulus from the loss of the Spanish colonies in 1898, which freed the Spanish growers from the rivalry of their most successful competitors in the home market. In 1901 the official statistics showed 22 cane-sugar factories and 47 beet-sugar factories with an annual output of about 100,000 tons.
In the production of pod-fruits and kitchen vegetables Spain is ahead of many other countries. The chick-pea forms part of the daily food of all classes of the inhabitants; and among other pod-fruits largely cultivated are various kinds of beans and peas, lentils (Ervum lens), Spanish lentils (Lathyrus Vegetables. sativus) and other species of Lathyrus, lupines, &c. The principal fodder-crops are lucerne (Medicago sativa) and esparcette (a variety of sainfoin). Clover, particularly crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum), is grown in the northern provinces. Among vegetables garlic and onions take the chief place, and form an indispensable part of the diet of all Spaniards; besides these, tomatoes and Spanish pepper are the principal garden crops. Among the vegetable products not yet mentioned the most important are the mulberry, grown in almost all provinces, but principally in those bordering on the Mediterranean, and above all in Valencia, the chief seat of the Spanish silk production and manufacture; tobacco, which is also imported, hemp and flax, grown chiefly in Galicia and other northern provinces; among dye-plants, madder, saffron, woad (Isatis tinctoria), and wild woad or dyer’s weed (Reseda luteola); ground-nuts (Arachis hypogaea), grown for their oil, for the preparation of which the nuts are exported in considerable quantity to France; liquorice, cummin, colocynth, &c. Esparto, chiefly from the arid lands of the south-east, is largely exported to Great Britain.
Despite all the efforts of the breeders and of the government, a decline has gone on not only in horse-rearing, but also in other classes of livestock since 1865. Among the causes assigned for this decay is the fact that horse, sheep, goat and swine rearing is becoming less remunerative. Heavy Livestock. taxation, aggravated by unequal distribution of the burden, owing to insufficient survey of the assessable property, has also contributed to the decline of this and other branches of Spanish farming.
The only animals belonging to Spain still noted for their excellence are mules and asses, which are recognized as among the best to be found anywhere. Goats are mostly bred in the mountainous districts all along the Spanish side of the Pyrenees froth Biscay to Catalonia, and in Badajoz, Caceres, Ciudad Real, Granada and Leon ; swine in Badajoz, Lugo, Oviedo, Caceres and Corunna. The pork and hams of Estremadura are famous; goats’ milk and cheese are important articles of diet. In some districts a single peasant often owns as many as 3000 head of goats. Besides the cattle reared for field-labour and (in the northern provinces) for regular dairy farming, bulls for bull-fighting are specially reared in many parts of the country, particularly in the forests of Navarre, the mountains separating the two Castiles, the Sierra Morena, and the Serrania de Ronda in Granada, and also in separate enclosures on the islands of the Guadalquivir. Spanish sheep, which once formed so important a part of the national wealth, are far from having the same importance at the present day. The most famous breeds of Spanish sheep are the merinos or migrating sheep, which once brought immense revenues to the state as well as to the large proprietors to whom they mostly belonged (see Merino). These sheep are pastured in different districts in summer and winter. Their winter quarters are in the lower parts of Leon and Estremadura, La Mancha, and the lowlands of Andalusia, their summer quarters the more mountainous districts to the east and north (Plasencia in the province of Cáceres, Ávila, Segovia, Cuenca, Valencia), which are not so much affected by the summer droughts of the Peninsula. The mode of the migration and the routes to be followed are prescribed by law. Each flock consists of about 10,000 sheep, under the command of a mayoral, and is divided into sections containing about 1000 each, each section under the charge of an overseer (capataz), who is assisted by a number of shepherds (pastores) attended by dogs. The shepherds, rudely clad in a sleeveless sheepskin jacket, the wool outside, and leather breeches, and loosely wrapped in a woollen mantle or blanket, are among the most striking objects in a Spanish landscape, especially on the table-land. The migration to the summer quarters takes place at the beginning of April, the return at the end of September. At one time the owners of merino flocks enjoyed the right of pasturing their sheep during their migrations on a strip of ground about 100 yds. in breadth bordering the routes along which the migrations took place, but this right (the mesta, as it was called) was abolished in 1836 as prejudicial to cultivation. The numbers of the merinos have been greatly reduced, and they have been replaced by coarse-woolled breeds.
Fisheries.—The catching of tunnies, sardines, anchovies and salmon on the coasts employs large numbers of fishermen (about 67,000 in 1910), and the salting, smoking and packing of the first three give employment to many others. In 1910 there were about 400 sardine-curing establishments in the kingdom.
Minerals.—The mineral resources of Spain are as yet far from being adequately turned to account. No European country produces so great a variety of minerals in large amount, and in the production of copper ore, lead ore and mercury Spain heads the list. In the production of salt and silver it is excelled only by Austria-Hungary, and, as regards silver, not always even by it. Iron ore is chiefly obtained in Biscay and Murcia, the former yielding by far the greater quantity, but the latter yielding the better quality.
All except a small fraction of the copper ore is obtained from the province of Huelva, in which lie the well-known mines of Tharsis and Rio Tinto (q.v.). The lead ore is obtained chiefly in Murcia and Jaen. The famous mines of Linares belong to the latter province. Argentiferous lead is chiefly produced in Almeria, which also produces most of the silver ore of other kinds except argentiferous copper ore, which is entirely obtained from Ciudad Real. The still more celebrated mercury mines of Almaden (q.v.), the richest in the world till the discovery of the Californian mines of New Almaden, belong to Ciudad Real, and this province, together with that of Oviedo, furnishes the whole of the Spanish production of this mineral. Spanish salt is partly marine, partly derived from brine-springs and partly from rock-salt, of which last there is an entire mountain at Cardona (q.v.) in Barcelona. Coal is chiefly obtained in Oviedo, Palencia and Cordova. The production is quite insignificant compared with the extent of the coal-bearing beds, which are estimated to cover an area of about 3500 sq. m., of which nearly a third belongs to Oviedo. Among the less important Spanish minerals are manganese (chiefly in Ciudad Real), antimony, gold, cobalt, sodic sulphate, sulphate of barium (barytes), phosphorite (found in Cáceres), alum, sulphur, kaolin, lignite, asphalt, besides a variety of building and ornamental stones. In 1905 the workmen employed on mines in Spain numbered 105,000, and the total value of the output was estimated at £7,734,805. By the law of the 6th of July 1859, a large number of important mines, including all the salt-works and rock-salt mines, were reserved as state property, but financial necessities compelled the government to surrender one mine after another, so that at present the state possesses only the mercury mines and some salt-works. Many of the mines have been granted to foreign (principally British) companies.
Manufactures.—The maritime provinces, being those most favourably situated for the import of coal, and, where necessary, of raw material, are the chief seats of Spanish manufactures. The principal manufacture is that of cotton. The exports of Spanish cotton goods were, until the close of the 19th century, hardly worth mentioning outside the colonial markets, which took an average of two millions sterling in the decade 1888–1898. This outlet is now almost closed, as the new masters of Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippines no longer protect Spanish imports against European and American competitors. But this loss has been to a great extent compensated by the expansion of the home market for cotton, and the Spanish manufacturers are unable to meet the wants of the population, large quantities of cotton goods being imported every year. The cotton industry was long principally centred in Catalonia, and mainly in the province and town of Barcelona, famed also for their manufactures of lace, woollen and linen goods. The northern provinces, especially Guipúzcoa and Biscay, Navarre and Oviedo, have followed in the wake of Catalonia for linen and cotton industries and for paper-mills. Flax-spinning is confined to Galicia. The silk industry, though inadequate to meet the home demands, is active in Valencia, Murcia and Seville. Metal industries, at first limited to the Basque Provinces, particularly around Bilbao, have spread to Asturias, Almeria, Galicia, near the great ore beds and in the vicinity of many coal mines. In the same Asturian districts the government has its foundries and factories for making arms at La Trubia and Oviedo, Toledo being only now famous for its blades and decorative work, while the foundries at Seville and Segovia are unimportant compared with those of Asturias. The manufacture of leather, another Spanish industry of old renown, is still extensively carried on in Catalonia and elsewhere, but the making of cordwain has long ceased to be a speciality of Cordova, from which it takes its name. Gloves are made in Seville and Madrid, shoes in the Balearic Isles, chiefly for Cuba and Porto Rico. The esparto is twisted into cords and ropes and the staple matting so common on the floors of Spanish houses of all classes, the estera. Soap, chocolate and cork manufactures are among the prosperous industries. The same may be said of charcoal, both for heating and mechanical purposes. The large furnaces for the distillation of mercury at Almaden were at one time heated solely with charcoal obtained from the Cistus ladaniferus. The making of porcelain is chiefly carried on at Seville. The war of tariffs between France and Spain after 1891 was an inducement for an extraordinary development in the making of brandy and liqueurs of every kind, of fruit preserves, potted meats, etc., in Navarre, the Basque Provinces, Catalonia, and even in Valladolid and Andalusia. Special mention must be made of the manufacture of tobacco, a royal monopoly, farmed out to a company, which increased the factories from seven to twelve and began by paying the treasury £3,400,000 annually.
The decade following the Spanish-American War (1898–1908), which may be regarded as a period of industrial and commercial reconstruction, was marked by a very rapid increase in the use of electricity for lighting, traction and other purposes. Owing to the abundance of water-power to be obtained in the mountainous regions, these new undertakings proved very successful. Spain is, on the whole, a country whose production falls far short of her own requirements. With a protected home market, cheap power and cheap labour available, there is room for much industrial development. It is, however, noteworthy that Spanish capitalists are, as a class, though exclusive of the Catalans, unduly conservative. Hence the capital for the establishment of electrical industries was almost exclusively subscribed in Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland and the United States, just as, in the 19th century, the railways and mining industries had been mainly financed by British investors, and the Valencian silk industry by French. Another feature of the period of reconstruction was the formation of numerous trusts or combinations of producing companies designed to take advantage of the high tariff, and to restrict competition, lower expenses and raise prices. The paper, sugar, salt petroleum and metallurgical industries were subjected to this process, but in no case was it possible to secure a complete monopoly.
Commerce.—Possessing varied resources and being favourably situated for commerce, Spain might be expected to take a leading place among the trading communities of Europe. This it did at one time hold, when the treasure acquired by the discovery of America and the conquest of Mexico and Peru was squandered in the purchase of various commodities from England, the Netherlands and other countries. This period of outward prosperity, however, was also that in which the seeds of decline were planted. The expulsion of the Moors from Granada was contemporaneous with the discovery of the New World. Hundreds of thousands of Moors were driven out from the country on subsequent occasions, and in the act Spain lost the best of her agriculturists and handicraftsmen. The Spaniards of that day, excited by the hope of rapidly acquired wealth and the love of adventure, embarked upon a career of discovery, and agriculture and manufacturing industry fell into contempt. The loss of all her possessions on the American mainland in the early part of the 19th century dealt a severe blow to the foreign commerce of Spain, from which it only recovered about 1850, when imports and exports began to increase. After the restoration of the Bourbons in 1875, the first cabinet of Alphonso XII.’s reign stopped the operation of the tariff law of the Revolution and reverted to protection. In 1882 a Liberal cabinet revived the system of a gradual reduction of import duties to a fixed maximum, and made commercial treaties with France and several other nations, which were followed by a treaty with Great Britain in 1886. The foreign commerce of Spain rapidly developed in the decade 1882–1892, Great Britain, France and the United States figuring at the head of the imports, Great Britain and France at the head of the exports. The exports of Spanish wines to France alone amounted to £12,000,000 annually. When France and other European nations abandoned free trade for protection towards 1890, a strong movement set in in Spain in favour of protection. In 1890 the Conservative cabinet of Senor Canovas raised the duties on agricultural products, in 1891 it denounced all the treaties of commerce that included most-favoured-nation treatment clauses, and in 1892 a new tariff law established considerably higher duties than those of 1882—in fact, duties ranging from 40% to 300%. The subsequent revision of the tariff, completed in 1906, involved no serious departure from the economic policy adopted in 1890.
The following table shows the value of Spanish imports and exports for a number of representative years after 1848:—
| Year. | Imports. | Exports. |
| £ | £ | |
| 1849 | 6,360,000 | 5,240,000 |
| 1860 | 14,833,000 | 10,982,000 |
| 1865 | 16,262,000 | 12,864,000 |
| 1870 | 20,876,000 | 15,982,000 |
| 1875 | 22,812,000 | 18,081,000 |
| 1880 | 28,482,000 | 25,999,000 |
| 1885 | 30,590,000 | 27,920,000 |
| 1890 | 37,646,000 | 37,510,000 |
| 1895 | 33,540,000 | 32,198,000 |
| 1900 | 34,496,000 | 28,955,000 |
| 1905 | 32,320,000 | 50,012,000 |
The principal exports include metals and other minerals; wine, sugar, fruit and other alimentary substances, cotton and its manufactures; animals and their products, including wool and hair; timber and wrought wood. The principal imports include grain, dried fish and other food-stuffs; livestock and animal products; machinery, vehicles and ships; stone, minerals, glass and pottery; drugs and chemical products; textiles and raw cotton. Great Britain, France, the United States, Germany and Portugal, named in the order of their importance, are the chief consumers of Spanish exports. The chief exporters to Spain (in the same order) are Great Britain, France, Cuba, Germany and Portugal. The foreign trade of the country is of course carried on mainly by sea, and of the land commerce by far the largest proportion is with or through France. The smallness of the trade with Portugal is partly due to the similarity of the chief products of the two countries.
Shipping and Navigation.—Spain has 21 seaboard provinces, with more than 120 ports of some importance. The merchant navy of Spain, far from decaying through the loss of her colonies in 1898, seems to have been given fresh impetus. Many English and French steamers have been purchased abroad and nationalized. In 1905 the mercantile marine comprised 449 steamships of 434,846 tons, and 541 sailing vessels of 85,583 tons. The sailing vessels are decreasing in numbers in the exterior trade, but not in the coasting trade, which is decidedly developing and occupying more craft. It is carried on exclusively under the Spanish flag. The fishing fleet, chiefly sailing boats, is also important, and is manned by a hardy and active coast population. In 1905 19,722 ships of 16,595,267 tons entered, and 18,033 of 16,442,355 tons cleared.
Banking and Credit.—The Bank of Spain (Banco de Espana) has a charter which has been renewed and enlarged several times since its foundation after the Restoration, and its privileged note issue has had to be gradually and very largely increased by legislative authorizations, especially in 1891 and 1898, as its relations with the treasuries of Spain and of her colonies increased; since nothing in the sen-ices rendered by the bank to the public would ever have justified the growth of the note issue first to thirty millions sterling in 1891. then by quick strides to fifty and over sixty-one millions sterling in 1899 and 1900. At the close of the 19th century the remodelled bank charter, which is only to expire in 1921, authorized a maximum issue of £100,000,000, on condition that the bank keeps cash in hand, gold and silver in equal quantities, equal to a third of the notes in circulation up to £60,000,000, and equal to half the amount issued above that sum. Gold has practically disappeared from business of every kind since 1881, when the premium began to rise; it reached a maximum of 120% during the war with America. Afterwards it dropped to about 30 in 1900. Bank-notes and silver coin have been practically the currency for many years.
Currency, Weights and Measures.—The metric system of weights and measures was officially adopted in Spain in 1859 and the decimal monetary system in 1871. In the case of the weights and measures the French names were also adopted, with only the necessary linguistic changes. Certain older standards remain in common use, notably the quintal (of 101.4 ℔ avoirdupois), the libra (1.014 ℔ avoirdupois), the arroba (312 imperial gallons for wine, 234 imperial gallons for oil), the fanega (112 imperial bushels). In the case of the currency the old Spanish name of peseta was retained for the unit (the franc, 912d.). The peseta is divided into 100 centesimos. According to its par value 25.225 pesetas are about equal to £1, but the actual value of the peseta is about 712d. In law, there is a double standard of value, silver and gold, in the ratio of 1512 to 1. But the only silver coin which is legal tender up to any amount is the 5-peseta piece, and the coinage of this is restricted. One-peseta pieces in silver, and 20-, 10- and 5-peseta pieces in gold are also current. Before the introduction of the decimal monetary system the peseta was the fifth part of a peso duro, which was equal to 20 reales de velion, or rather more than a 5-franc piece. The only paper money consists of the notes of the Bank of Spain.
Finance.—Spanish finance passed through many vicissitudes during the 19th century. In the reigns of Ferdinand VII. and Isabella II. the creditors of the state had to suffer several suspensions of payments of their dues, and reductions both of capital and interest. During the Revolution, from 1868 to 1874, matters culminated in bankruptcy. Payments of interest were only in part resumed after the Restoration in 1876, and in 1882 the government of King Alphonso XII. proposed arrangements to consolidate the floating and treasury debts of the Peninsula in the shape of £70,000,000 of 4% stock, redeemable in 40 years, and to reduce and consolidate the old exterior and interior debts, then exceeding £480,000,000, in the form of £78,840,000 of exterior 4% debt—exempt from taxation under an agreement to that effect with the council of foreign bond-holders in London on the 28th of June 1882—and £77,840,000 of perpetual interior 4%. The colonial debts were not included in those plans. The debts of Spain were further increased in 1891 by a consolidation of £10,000,000 of floating debt turned into 4% redeemable stock similar to that of 1882; and this did not prevent a fresh growth of floating debts out of annual deficits averaging two to three millions sterling during the last quarter of the 19th century. The floating debt in 1900 had swollen to £24,243,300. The government of Spain having guaranteed the colonial debts of Cuba and of the Philippines, when those colonies were lost in 1898, Spain was further saddled with £46,210,000 of colonial consolidated debts, and with the expenses of ths wars amounting, besides, to £63,257,000. Consequently, the Spanish government had once more to attempt to make both ends meet by asking its creditors to assent to the suppression of all the amortization of imperial and colonial debts, and to a tax of 20% on the coupons of all the debts, whilst at the same time the Cortes were asked to authorize a consolidation and liquidation of the floating and war debts and an annual increase of £3,200,000 in already heavy taxation. Under these modifications the Spanish debt at the close of the 19th century, exclusive of £44,000,000 of treasury debt, consisted of £41,750,000 of exterior debt, still temporarily exempted from taxation on the condition of being held by foreigners, of £270,000,000 of 4% interior consols, and of £60,000,000 of new 5% consols, replacing the war and floating debts. In January 1905 this total outstanding debt of £415,750,000 had been reduced to £381,833,000; the capital sum was thus approximately equal to £20 8s. per head of the population, and the annual charge amounted to about 17s. 6d. per head. Between 1885 and 1905 the revenue of Spain varied from £30,000,000 to £40,000,000, and the expenditure was approximated equal ; deficits were common towards the beginning of this period, surpluses towards the end. For an analysis of the budget the year 1008 may be taken as typical, inasmuch as trade had then resumed its normal condition, after the disturbing influence of tariff revision in 1906 and the failure of many crops in 1907. The estimates for 1908 showed that the revenue was derived as follows : Direct taxes on land, houses, mines, industry and commerce, livestock, registration acts, titles of nobility, mortgages and salaries paid by the state, £18,020,800; indirect taxes, including customs, excise, tolls and bridge and ferry dues, £14,748,000; tobacco monopoly, lottery, mint, national property, balance from public treasury, &c, £8,858,400; total £41,627,200. The_ principal items of expenditure were: Public debt, £16,199,300; ministry of war, £6,301,100; ministry of public works, &c, £3,679,540; pensions, £2,881,400. The total was £40,926,740.
Constitution and Government.—Spain is an hereditary monarchy the constitution of which was voted by the Cortes and became the fundamental law of the 30th of June 1876. This law fixes the order of succession as follows: should no legitimate descendant of Alphonso XII. survive, the succession devolves first upon his sisters, next upon his aunt and her legitimate descendants, and finally upon the legitimate descendants of the brothers of Ferdinand VII. “unless they have been excluded.” Should all lines become extinct, the nation may elect its monarch. The sovereign becomes of age on completing his or her sixteenth year. He is inviolable, but his ministers are responsible to the Cortes, and none of his decrees is valid unless countersigned by a minister. The sovereign is grand-master of the eight Spanish orders of knighthood, the principal of which is that of the Golden Fleece (Toison de Oro), founded in 1431 by Philip of Burgundy. The chain of this order surrounds the royal arms, in which are included, besides the arms of Castile, Leon, Granada, and the lilies of the royal house of Bourbon, the arms of Austria, Sicily, Savoy, Brabant and others. The national colours are red and yellow. The flag is divided into three horizontal stripes, two red stripes with a yellow one between bearing the royal arms. The legislative authority is exercised by the sovereign in conjunction with the Cortes, a body composed of two houses—a senate and a chamber of deputies. The senate is composed of members of three classes: (1) members by right of birth or office—princes, nobles who possess an annual income of 60,000 pesetas (£2,400), and hold the rank of grandee (grande), a dignity conferred by the king either for life or as an hereditary honour, captains-general of the army, admirals of the navy, the patriarch of the Indies, archbishops, cardinals, the presidents of the council of state or of the Supreme Court, and other high officials, all of whom must have retained their appointments for two years; (2) members nominated by the sovereign for life; and (3) members elected three each by the 49 provinces of the kingdom, and the remainder by academies, universities, dioceses and state corporations. The members belonging to the first two classes must not exceed 180 in number, and there may be the same number of members of the third class. The senatorial electors in the provinces are (1) delegates of the communes and (2) all the members of the provincial council, presided over by the governor. The lower house of the Cortes was elected by a very limited franchise from 1877 to 1890, when the Cortes passed a reform bill which became law on the 29th of June 1890. This law re-established universal male suffrage, which had existed during the Revolution, from 1869 to 1877. Under the law of the 29th of June 1890 every Spaniard who is not debarred from his civil and civic rights by any legal incapacity, and has resided consecutively two years in his parish, becomes an elector on completing his twenty-fifth year. Soldiers and sailors in active service cannot vote. All Spaniards aged 25 who are not clerks in holy orders can be elected. The same electoral law was extended to the municipal elections.
The executive administration is entrusted to a responsible ministry, in which the president generally holds no portfolio, though some prime ministers have also taken charge of one of the departments. The ministerial departments are: Foreign affairs, grace and justice, finance, interior, war, education and fine arts, marine, public works, and agriculture and commerce. Under the secretary of state for the interior the civil administration in each province is headed by a governor, who represents the central power in the provincial council (diputacion provincial) which is also elected by universal suffrage. The provincial councils meet yearly, and are permanently represented by a committee (commission provincial), which is elected annually to safeguard their interests. Every commune or municipality has its own elected ayuntamiento (q.v.), which has complete control over municipal administration, with power to levy and collect taxes. Its members are styled regidores or concejales, and half their number is elected every two years. They appoint an alcalde or mayor from among themselves to act as president, chief executive officer, and justice of the peace. In the larger towns the alcalde shares his responsibilities with several permanent officials called tenientes alcaldes. The fundamental law of 1876 secures to ayuntamientos, and to the provincial councils, an autonomy which is complete within its own limits. Neither the executive nor the Cortes may interfere with provincial and communal administration, except when the local authorities exceed their legal power to the detriment of public interests. This provision of the constitution has not always been strictly observed by the government.
Law and Justice.—Spanish law is founded on Roman law, Gothic common law, and the national code proclaimed at the meeting of the Cortes at Toro in 1501 (the leyes de Toro).
The present civil code was put into force on the 1st of May 1889 for the whole kingdom. The penal code dates from 1870, and was modified in 1877. The commercial code was put into force on the 22nd of August 1885, the code of civil procedure on the 1st of April 1881, and the code of criminal procedure on the 22nd of June 1882. There is a court of first instance in each of the 495 partidos judiciales, or legal districts, into which the kingdom is divided. From this inferior jurisdiction the appeals go to the 15 audiencias territoriales, or courts of appeal. There is in Madrid a Supreme Court, which is modelled upon the French Cour de Cassation, to rule on points of law when appeals are made from the decisions of inferior courts, or when conflicts arise between civil and military jurisdiction. When the law of the 20th of April 1888 established trial by jury for most crimes and delicts, 49 audiencias criminales, one in each province, were created; these are a sort of assize held four times a year. The administration of justice is public. The parties to a suit must be represented by counsel. The state is always represented in every court by abogados fiscales, public prosecutors, and counsel who are nominees of the Crown.
Religion.—Roman Catholicism is the established religion, and the Church and clergy are maintained by the state at an annual cost of about £1,600,000. The relations between Church and state, and the position of the religious orders, were defined by the concordat of 1851, remaining practically unchanged until 1910. There are ten archbishoprics (Toledo, Madrid, Burgos, Granada, Santiago, Saragossa, Seville, Tarragona, Valencia and Valladolid) and forty-five bishoprics. The archbishop of Toledo is primate. The number of monastic communities is about 3250, including some 600 convents for men and 2650 for women. Most of the religious orders carry on active educational or charitable work. The monks number about 10,000, the nuns 40,000. The immense majority of the people are professed adherents of the Roman Catholic faith, so that, so far as numbers go, Spain is still the most “Catholic” country in the world, as it has long been styled. With liberty of conscience during the Revolution, from 1868 to 1877, the Church lost ground, and anti-clerical ideas prevailed for a while in the centres of republicanism in Catalonia and Andalusia; but a reaction set in with the Restoration. The governments of the Restoration showed the Church much favour, allowed the Jesuits and religious orders of both sexes to spread to an extent without precedent in the century, and to take hold of the education of more than half of the youth of both sexes in all classes of society. This revival of Church and monastic influence began during the reign of Alphonso XII., 1877–1885, and considerably increased afterwards under the regency of Queen Christina, during the long minority of Alphonso XIII., the godson of Pope Leo XIII. Spanish codes still contain severe penalties for delicts against the state religion, as writers frequently discover when they give offence to the ecclesiastical authorities. Blasphemy is punished by imprisonment. The bishops sit in the superior council of education, and exercise much influence on public instruction. Since 1899 all boys have been obliged to attend lectures on theology and religion during six out of seven years of their curriculum to obtain the B.A. degree. Canon law and Church doctrine form an obligatory part of the studies of men qualifying for the bar and magistracy. By the constitution of 1876 non-Catholics were only permitted to exercise their form of worship on condition that they did so in private, without any public demonstration or announcement of their services. The same rule applies to their schools, which are, however, numerously attended, in Madrid, Seville, Barcelona and other towns, by children of Protestant families and of many Roman Catholics also. A proposal to abolish these restrictions was made by the government in 1910 (see History, below).
Education.—A law of the 17th of July 1857 made primary education free for the poor, and compulsory on all children of school age, originally fixed at six to nine years. It proved impossible to enforce this statute, and the majority of Spaniards are still illiterate, though in decreasing proportion at each census. The primary schools for both sexes are kept up by the municipalities, at an annual cost of about £1,000,000, to which the state contributes a small subvention. The secondary schools, of which there must be at least one in every province, are styled institutes and are mostly self-supporting, the fees paid by the pupils usually cover the expenses of such establishments, which also receive subsidies from some of the provincial councils. Spain has nine universities: Madrid, the most numerously attended; Salamanca, the most ancient; Granada, Seville, Barcelona, Valencia, Santiago, Saragossa and Valladolid. There are also a faculty of medicine at Cadiz and a faculty of law at Oviedo. Most of the universities are self-supporting from the fees of matriculations and of degrees. The state also maintains a variety of technical schools, for agriculture, engineering, architecture, painting, music, &c. The whole system of public instruction is controlled by the minister of education and an advisory council. A law passed on the 1st of July 1902 requires that all private schools must be authorized by the state, and arranges for their periodical inspection, for the enforcement of proper sanitation and discipline, and for the appointment of a suitable staff of teachers. Among the institutions affected by this law are numerous Jesuit and other ecclesiastical schools for boys, and a Jesuit university at Deusto, near Bilbao, whose pupils have to pass their final secondary examinations and to take all degrees in the state establishments as free scholars. The education of girls has been much developed not only in the state schools but even more so in the convents, which educate more than half the girls of the upper and middle classes. Many girls attend the provincial institutes, and some have successfully gone in for the B.A. degrees and even higher honours in the universities.
Defence.—The Spanish army is recruited by conscription. Liability to service begins with the first day of the calendar year in which the twentieth year is completed. Except in extraordinary circumstances, the war ministers have seldom called for more than forty to sixty thousand men annually, and of this contingent all who can afford to do so buy themselves off from service at home by payment of £60, and if drafted for colonial service by payment of £80. The period of service for all arms is twelve years—three with the colours, three in the first-class reserve, six in the second-class reserve, which contains the surplus of the annual contingent of recruits, and is liable to one month's training in every year. The war ministers can, and frequently do, send on unlimited furlough, or place in the first-class reserve, men who have not completed their first three years, and thus a considerable saving is made. Brothers can take each other’s place in the service, and eldest sons of aged parents, or sons of widows, easily get exempted. Spain is divided into seven military regions or army corps. The strength of the regular army for many years varied between 85,000 and 100,000 in time of peace, and during the Carlist Wars, 1868 to 1876, Spain had 280,000 under arms, and nearly 350,000 during her more recent wars. For 1899–1900 the figures were only 80,000. The active army is divided into 56 regiments of the line with 2 battalions each, 20 battalions of rifles or cazadores, 2 Balearic Islands, 1 Melilla, 4 African battalions of light infantry, 2 battalions of rifles in the Canaries. The cavalry includes a squadron of royal horse guards, 28 regiments of the line, remount and dépôt establishments, 4 regional squadrons in Majorca, the Canaries, Ceuta, Melilla. The artillery comprises 12 regiments of field artillery, 1 of horse artillery, 3 regiments and an independent division of mountain guns, and 7 battalions of garrison artillery. The royal engineers are 4 regiments of sappers and miners, 1 of pontooners, 1 battalion of telegraph engineers, 1 of railway engineers with cyclists, 1 balloon corps, and 4 colonial corps. Other permanent military forces are 1075 officers, 1604 mounted and 16,536 foot gendarmes, mostly old soldiers, and 14,156 carabineers, all of them old soldiers. The regular army, at the close of the wars in 1898, had 26,000 officers and about 400 generals, but a law was afterwards made to reduce their numbers by filling only one out of two death vacancies, with a view to reach a peace establishment of 2 marshals, 25 lieutenant-generals, 50 divisional- and 140 brigadier-generals, and 15,000 officers. The total strength of the field army may be estimated at 220,000 combatants. The military academies are Toledo for infantry, Segovia for artillery, Valladolid for cavalry, Ávila for commissariat, Escorial for carabineers, Getafe for civil guards, besides a staff college styled Escuela Superior de Guerra at Madrid. Numerous fortresses guard the Portuguese frontier and the passes of the Pyrenees, but many of these are ill-armed and obsolete.
The navy is recruited by conscription in the coast or maritime districts, which are divided into three naval captaincies-general, those of Ferrol, Cadiz and Cartagena—at the head of each being a vice-admiral. No attempt was made, during the decade which followed the Spanish-American War, to replace the squadrons destroyed at Manila and Santiago de Cuba. When the reconstruction of the navy was begun, in 1908, Spain possessed 1 battleship, 2 armoured cruisers, 6 protected cruisers, 5 destroyers and 6 torpedo-boats. All the larger vessels were old and of little value.
Bibliography.—The following works are mainly topographical and descriptive: G. H. Borrow, The Bible in Spain (1st ed., London, 1843; with notes and glossary by Ulick R. Burke, London, 1899); Madoz, Diccionario geográfico-histórico y esladistico de las provincias de España (16 vols., 1846–1850); F. Coello, Reseña geográfica, geológica, y agricola de España (Madrid, 1859); W. Webster, Spain (London, 1882); M. Willkomm, Die pyrendische Halbinsel (3 vols., Leipzig, 1884–1886); E. de Amicis, Spagna (Florence, 1885; Eng. trans. Spain and the Spaniards, New York, 1885) ; R. del Castillo, Gran diccionario geográfico de España (4 vols., Barcelona, 1889–1892); R. Bazin, Terre d’Espagne (Paris, 1895); E. Pardo Bazan, Por la España pintoresca (Barcelona, 1895); R. Foulche-Delbosc, Bibliographie des voyages en Espagne (Paris, 1896) ; H. Gadow, In Northern Spain (London, 1897); J. Hay, Castilian Days (2nd ed., London, 1897); W. J. Root, Spain and its Colonies (London, 1898); K. L. Bates, Spanish Highways and Byways (London, 1900) ; A. J. C. Hare, Wanderings in Spain (8th ed., London, 1904) ; R. Thirlmere, Letters from Catalonia (2 vols., London, 1905). Valuable information can be obtained from the Boletíns of the Madrid Geographical Society. España, sus monumentos y artes, su naturaleza e historia is an illustrated series of 21 volumes by various writers (Barcelona, 1884–1891). The “Spanish Series” of monographs on towns and cities, edited by A. F. Calvert (London, 1906, &c), is noteworthy for descriptions of architecture and painting, and for the excellence of its many illustrations. The best guide-books are H. O’Shea, Guide to Spain and Portugal (London, 1899); R. Ford, Murray's Handbook for Spain (2 vols., London, 1906); and C. Baedeker, Spain and Portugal (Leipzig, 1908). Stieler’s Handatlas (Gotha, 1907) contains the best maps for general use. The Mapa topográfica de España, published by the Instituto geográfico y estadístico de España in 1080 sheets, is on the scale of 1 : 50,000, or 1.26 in. = 1 m.
For geology, see the maps and other publications of the Comision del Mapa Geológico de España; L. Mallada, “Explicacion del mapa geológico de España,” in Mem. com. mapa geol. Esp. (1895, 1896, 1898 and 1902); C. Barrois, “Recherches sur les terrains anciens des Asturies et de la Galicie,” in Mém. soc. geol. du Nord, vol. ii. (Lille, 1882); F. Fouqué, &c, “Mission d’Andalousie,” in Mém. pres. par divers savants à l’acad. des sciences, ser. 2, vol. xxx. (Paris, 1889).
The chief authorities on flora and fauna are M. Willkomm, Illustrationes florae hispanicae insularumque Balearium (2 vols., Stuttgart, 1881–1892); M. Colmeiro, Enumeración de las plantas de la Peninsula (vol. i., Madrid, 1885), G. de la Puerto, Botánica descriptiva, &c. (Madrid, 1891); B. Merino, Contribución á la flora de Galicia (Tuy, 1897); A. Chapman and W. J. Buck, Wild Spain (London, 1893); id. Unexplored Spain (London, 1910).
Modern social and political conditions are described by G. Routier, L’Espagne en 1897 (Paris, 1897); E. Pardo Bazan, La España de ayer y la de hoy (Madrid, 1899); L’Espagne: politique, littérature, armée, &c., numéro spécial de la Nouvelle Revue Internationale (Paris, 1900); J. R. Lowell, Impressions of Spain (London, 1900, written 1877–1880 when Lowell was American minister to the court of Spain) ; P.Gotor de Burbáguena, Nuestras costumbres (Madrid, 1900); R. Altamira y Creva, Psicología del pueblo español (Madrid, 1902); V. Amirall, El Catalanismo (Barcelona, 1902); J. Alenda y Mira, Relaciones de solemnidades y fiestas publicas de España (Madrid, 1903) ; Madrazo, El Pueblo español ha muerto? (Santander, 1903) ; V. Gay, Constitucion y vida del pueblo español (Madrid, 1905, &c.); H. Havelock Ellis, The Soul of Spain (London, 1908).
A comprehensive account of such matters as population, industry, commerce, finance, mining, shipping, public works, post and telegraphs, railways, education, constitution, law and justice, public health, &c.,may be found in the following works; all those of which the place and date of issue are not specified are published annually in Madrid : Censo de la población de España: 1900 (Madrid, 1902, &c.); Movimiento de la población de España; British Foreign Office Reports (annual series and miscellaneous series, London); Estadistica general de comercio exterior de España con sus provincias de ultramar y potencias extrangeras, formada por la dirección general de Aduanas; Annual Reports of the Council of the Corporation of Foreign Bondholders (London); Estadística mineral de España; Memoria sobre las obras publicas; Anuario oficial de correos y telégrafos de España; Situación de los ferro-carriles; Anuario de la primera enseñanza; H. Gmelin, Studien zur spanischen Verfassungsgeschichte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts (Stuttgart, 1905) ; R. de Oloriz, La Constitución española comparada con las de Inglaterra, Estados-Unidos, Francia y Alemania (Valencia, 1904); T. Gomez Herrero, Diccionario-guia legislativo español (5 vols., Madrid, 1901–1903); Estadística de la administración de justicia en lo criminal durante; Boletín mensual de estadística demográfica-sanitaria de la peninsula y islas adjacentes (Madrid, monthly); Estado general de la armada para el año; C. Fernandez Duro, Armada española desde la union de los reinos de Castillo y de Leon (9 vols., Madrid, 1895–1903); Boletin oficial del ministerio de marina. (K. G. J.)
History
A.—Ancient to A.D. 406.
Primitive Inhabitants.—The origin and character of the early inhabitants of the Peninsula are unknown; recent conjectures on the subject, which have been many, are more bold than probable, and we must await the result of further excavations of prehistoric sites and further inquiries into the native inscriptions before we can hope for much certainty. The Romans, whose acquaintance with the country began in the 3rd century B.C., mention three races: Iberians (in the east, north and south), Celts (north-west) and Celtiberians (centre), but the classification does not help us far. The use to-day of the strange and ancient Basque tongue on the western slopes of the Pyrenees and in Vizcaya (Biscay)—a tongue which is utterly unlike Celtic or Italian or any “Indo-Germanic” language—suggests that the Iberians may have been an older people than the Celts and alien from them in race, though the attempts hitherto made to connect Basque with ancient traces of strange tongues in the Basque lands have not yielded clear results. On the other hand, numerous place-names show that parts of the Peninsula were once held by Celtic-speaking peoples, and it is, of course, possible that Celts and Iberians may have formed a mixed race in certain regions. Of other ancient races little trace can be detected. The Phoenicians were here traders and not settlers; the Greeks, though they planted early colonies on the Gulf of Lyons, occupied hardly any site south of the Pyrenees, and the seeming likeness in name of Saguntum (q.v.) and the Greek island Zacynthus is mere coincidence. It is possible, however, that after the Roman conquest Italians drifted in, and it is fairly certain that after the Roman Empire fell German conquerors brought German settlers, though in what numbers no wise man will guess.
Earliest Historic Period.—Phoenician traders probably reached Spain long before our historical knowledge of the Peninsula begins, possibly as early as the 11th century B.C. One of their earlier settlements, Gades (now Cadiz), has been called the oldest town in the world The Phoenecians. (or in Europe) which has kept a continuity of life and name from its first origin. But the Phoenician exploitation of Spain dates principally from after the rise of Carthage (q.v.), the great Phoenician city of North Africa. Carthaginian “factories” were planted on many Spanish coasts: a Nova Carthago (New Carthage, mod. Cartagena) formed a Carthaginian fortress with the best harbour of south-eastern Spain. The expansion is attributed chiefly to the second half of the 3rd century B.C., and to the genius of the Carthaginian statesman, Hamilcar Barca, who, seeing his country deprived by Rome of her trading dominion in Sicily and Sardinia, used Spain, not only as a source of commercial wealth, but as an inexhaustible supply of warlike troops to serve in the Carthaginian armies. But Rome had already her eyes on the Spanish men and mines, and, in the second Punic War, drove Carthage finally and completely out of the Peninsula (201 B.C.).
Roman Spain.—The Romans divided Spain into two “spheres of administration” (provinciae), Hither or Citerior, that is the northern districts which were nearer to Italy, and Further or Ulterior, the south. To each “province” was sent yearly a governor, often with the title Republican Period, 200–27 B.C.proconsul. The commands were full of military activity. The south, indeed, and in particular the fertile valley of Andalusia, the region of the Guadalquivir (Baetis), then called Baetica, was from the first fairly peaceful. Settlements of Italian veterans or of Spanish soldiers who had served for Rome were made at Hispalis (Seville) and at Carteia near Gibraltar, and a beginning was made of a Romanized provincial population, though in a somewhat half-hearted way. But in the north, on the high plateau and amidst the hills, there was incessant fighting throughout the greater part of the 2nd century B.C., and indeed in some quarters right down to the establishment of the empire. The Carthaginians had extended their influence no great distance from the eastern coast and their Roman successors had all the work to do. In the long struggle many Roman armies were defeated, many commanders disgraced, many Spanish leaders won undying fame as patriot chiefs (see Numantia). Even where one Roman succeeded, the incapacity or the perfidy of his successor too often lost the fruits of success. But though its instruments were weak the Republic was still strong, and the struggle itself, a struggle quite as much for a peaceful frontier as for aggrandizement and annexation of fresh land, could not be given up without risk to the lands already won. So the war went on to its inevitable issue. Numantia, the centre of the fiercest resistance, fell in 133 B.C. before the science of Scipio Aemilianus (see Scipio), and even northern Spain began to accept Roman rule and Roman civilization. When in the decade 80–70 B.C. the Roman Sertorius (q.v.) attempted to make head in Spain against his political enemies in Rome, the Spaniards who supported him were already half Romanized. There remained only some disturbed and unconquered tribes in the northern hills and on the western coast. Some of these were dealt with by Julius Caesar, governor here in 61 B.C., who is said also to have made his way, by his lieutenant Crassus, to the tin mines of the north-west in Galicia. Others, especially the hill tribes of the Basque and Asturian mountains fringing the north coast, were still unquiet under Augustus, and we find a large Roman garrison maintained throughout the empire at Leon (Legio) to overawe these tribes. But behind all this long fighting, pacification and culture had spread steadily. The republican administration of Spain was wise. The Spanish subjects were allowed to collect themselves the taxes and tribute due to Rome, and, though the mineral wealth doubtless fell into the hands of Roman capitalists, the natives were free from the tithes and tithe system which caused such misery and revolt in the Roman province of Sicily. On the other hand, every facility was given them to Romanize themselves; there was no competing influence of Hellenic or Punic culture and the uncivilized Spaniards accepted Roman ways gladly. By the days of Cicero and Caesar (70–44 B.C.) the southern districts, at least, had become practically Roman: their speech, their literature, their gods were wholly or almost wholly Italian, as Cicero and Strabo and other writers of these and the next few years unanimously testify. Gades, once Phoenician, gained, by Caesar’s favour and the intercession of Balbus, a Roman municipal charter as municipium: that is, its citizens were regarded as sufficiently Romanized to be granted both the Roman personal franchise and the Roman city-rights. It was the first city outside of Italy which obtained such a municipal charter, without the usual implantation of Roman citizens (either poor men needing land or discharged veteran soldiers) from Italy.
Augustus (or Tiberius possibly) reorganized the administration of Roman Spain. Henceforward there were three provinces: (a) the north and north-west, the central table-land and the east coast as far south as New Carthage, that is, all the thinly-populated and The Empire,
27 B.C.–A.D. 406unquiet hill country, formed the province of Tarraconensis with a capital at Tarraco (Tarragona) under a legatus Augusti pro praetore with a legion (VII. Gemina) at Leon and some other troops at his disposal; (b) the fertile and peaceful west formed the province of Lusitania, very roughly the modern Portugal, also under a legatus Augusti pro praetore, but with very few troops; (c) the fertile and peaceful south formed the province of Baetica, called after its chief river, the Baetis, under a proconsul nominated by the senate, with no troops. These divisions (it will be observed) exactly coincide with the geographical features of the Peninsula. Substantially, they remained till the end of the empire, though Tarraconensis was broken up at different dates into smaller and more manageable areas. Augustus also accelerated the Romanization of the land by planting in it many municipalities (coloniae) of discharged soldiers, such for example as Augusta Emerita (mod. Mérida), which declares by its name its connexion with time-expired veterans and still possesses extensive Roman ruins. Either now, too, or soon after, imperial finance agents (procuratores) were appointed to control the revenues and also to look after the mines, which now became Imperial property, while a special praefectus administered the Balearic Islands. The two principal features of the whole country during the imperial period are its great prosperity and its contributions to Roman literature. Shut off from foreign enemies (though occasionally vexed by pirates from Africa), secluded from the wars of the empire, it developed its natural resources to an extent unequalled before' or since. Its iron and copper and silver and lead were well known: it was also (according to the elder Pliny) the chief source whence the Roman world obtained its tin and quite outdistanced in this period the more famous mines of Cornwall. But such commercial prosperity characterized many districts of the empire during the first two centuries of our era. Spain can boast that she supplied Rome with almost her whole literature in the silver age. The Augustan writers had been Italians. When they passed away there arose in their places such writers as the younger Seneca, the epic poet Lucan, the epigrammatist Martial, the literary critic Quintilian, besides a host of lesser names. But the impulse of the opening empire died away and successful commerce drove out literary interests. With the 2nd century the great Roman-Spanish literature ceased: it was left to other regions which felt later than Spain the stimulus of Romanization to enter into the literary tradition. Of statesmen the Peninsula was less prolific. The emperor Trajan, indeed, and his relative and successor Hadrian, were born in Spain, but they were both of Roman stock and Roman training. The 3rd and 4th centuries saw a decline in the prosperity of Roman Spain. The confiscations of Septimus Severus and the ravages of barbarians in the middle of the 3rd century have both been adduced as causes for such a decline. But while we need not doubt that the decline occurred, we can hardly determine either its date or its intensity without careful examination of the Roman remains of Spain. Many of the best Roman ruins—such as the aqueduct of Segovia or the bridge of Alcantara—no doubt date from before A.D. 200. Others are probably later, and indicate that prosperity continued here, as it did on the other side of the Pyrenees in Gaul, till the later days of the 4th century-perhaps indeed not till the fatal winter’s night in 406–7 when the barbarians burst the Rhine frontier and flooded Gaul and even Spain with a deluge from which there was no recovery. (F. J. H.)
B.—From A.D. 406 to the Mahommedan Conquest.
The Barbarian Invasion and the Visigothic Kingdom.—With the irruption of the Vandals, the Suebi and the Alans, the history of Spain enters on a long period of division and confusion which did not end even with the union of the chief kingdoms by the marriage of Isabella and Ferdinand at the close of the 15th century. The function of the barbarians everywhere was to cut the communications of commerce, and the nerves of the imperial administration, thereby throwing the invaded country back into a fragmentary condition from which a new order was to arise in the course of centuries.
This function was effectually discharged in Spain by the Vandals and their associates, who plundered far and wide, and then by the Visigoths, who appeared as the “foederati,” or duly commissioned defenders of the Romans. The first-corners cannot be said to Vandals and Suebi.have conquered the country in the sense that they established a rule of their own. They were not numerous enough for the execution of such a task, even if they had possessed the capacity. When in 428 Gaiscric, king of the Vandals (q.v.), accepted the invitation of Bonifacius, the count of Africa, and passed out of Spain to found the Vandal kingdom of Carthage, his whole horde numbered only 80,000 persons, including old men, women and children, and runaway slaves who had joined him. The Suebi, who remained, were certainly not more numerous. Such small bodies could not have occupied so extensive a territory, even if they had scattered themselves in driblets all over its surface. What they did was to rove about in hordes, plundering or levying blackmail. The cowed inhabitants had been trained out of all habit of acting for themselves by the imperial despotism, and could only flee or submit. There is probably some truth in the assertion of Salvian that many of the subjects of the empire preferred poverty among the barbarians to the tyranny of the imperial tax collectors. This would be preeminently the case with the smaller landowners who formed the “curiales,” and who were in reality serfs of the fisc, for on them fell the main weight of taxation, and they were confined to their position by oppressive laws. The great landowners who formed the “ordo senatorius” had almost as much to fear from the agrarian insurgents known as bagaudae, who are indeed found acting with the Suebi, as from the barbarians. In time some of them took to “living barbarously”—that is to say, they fortified their villas, collected an armed following and fought for their lives, families and property. In some districts the inhabitants reverted to a state of tribal independence. This undoubtedly was the case in the north, where the Asturians and Basques, the least Romanized part of the population, appear from the beginning of the age of barbarization as acting for themselves. In the mountain country of Cuenca, Albacete, and the Sierra Nevada the natives known as the Orospedans were entirely independent in the middle of the 6th century. But if there lay in this revival of energy and character the germs of a vigorous national life, for the time being Spain was thrown back into the state of division from which it had been drawn by the Romans—with the vital difference that the race now possessed the tradition of the Roman law, the municipalities, and one great common organization in the Christian Church.
No help was to be expected from the empire. Unable to aid itself it had recourse to the Visigoths (see Goths). Ataulphus (q.v.) the successor of Alaric, and the husband of Placidia, daughter of the emperor Theodosius, whom he had married against the wish of her brother Visigothic Occupation. Honorius, entered Spain in 412, as the ally of the empire. He was murdered in 415, but after the speedily ensuing murder of his murderer and successor Sigeric, Wallia (415–419), who was elected to the kingdom, continued his work. He destroyed the Alans, and drove the Vandals and Suebi into the north-west. Then he handed Spain back to the imperial officials, that is to say, to weakness and corruption, and marched with all his people into the Second Aquitaine, the south-west of modern France, which had been assigned to them by Honorius as a home and a reward. From this date till the very end of the reign of Amalaric (511–531), the seat of the Visigothic kings was at Bordeaux, or Toulouse or Narbonne, and their main interests were in Gaul. They continued to intervene in Spain and to extend their influence over it. But for an interval of more than twenty-five years they stood apart. Southern Spain was overrun and plundered by the Vandals before their departure for Africa. In 456 Theodoric II. (453–466) entered Spain as ally of Avitus, whom he had himself raised to the empire in Gaul. He defeated the Roman senators of the Tarraconensis and the Suebi, putting their king to death, and advanced as far as Merida. But he was recalled to Gaul, and his return was accompanied by outrages against the Roman cities. Majorian (457–461), the last capable emperor of the West, proposed to make Spain the basis of his attack on the Vandals at Carthage till his fleet was destroyed by them in the harbour of Carthagena. The fratricidal murderer and successor of Theodoric, Euric (466–485) followed his brother’s policy in Spain. With the extinction of the Western Empire (476 or 479) the kings of the Visigoths became more and more the representatives of authority, which they exercised on Roman lines, and with an implied or formal deference to the distant emperor at Constantinople. But the continued existence of the obscure Suevic kingdom in the north-west, the effective independence of several districts, and the rule of others by the Roman senators, proves that the regions actually under Visigothic rule were not extensive. After the defeat and death of Alaric II. (485–507) at Vouille the shattered Visigoth power was preserved from destruction at the hands of the Frankish king Clovis (q.v.) by Theodoric, the Gothic king of Italy. But on his death the advance of the Franks began again. Amalaric (507–531) fled from Narbonne, to meet the usual violent end of a Visigothic king at Barcelona.
The line of the Visigothic kings of Spain begins, strictly speaking, with his successor Theudis (531–548), an Ostrogoth appointed by Theodoric to act as guardian of Amalaric. Hehad acquired great possessions in the valley of the Ebro by marriage with a Roman lady. It was a Character of Visigothic Kingdom. government, and not a people, which was established in Spain with Theudis. The Visigoths had been much Romanized during their establishment in Gaul, and we hear of no exodus as having accompanied Amalaric. The example of Theudis is enough to show that the law of the Theodosian code which forbade the marriage of Romans and barbarians was not regarded by the Goths. It remained indeed unrepealed, as many laws have done since, long after it had become a mere dead letter. The government which came with Theudis, and fell to ruin with Roderic, may be described as having been at once Roman and bad. In so far as it was affected by the Visigoths it was influenced for the worse. Their monarchy was elective. Until the death of Amalaric the choice was confined to one family, but he was the last of his line. The kings tried to make the crown hereditary, and the nobles, Visigothic seniores, and Roman senatores seized every opportunity to keep it elective. Spain presented a forecast of the anarchy of Poland. Of the twenty-three kings between Theudis and Roderic five were certainly murdered, one was deposed, and three were tonsured by tricks or open force. Of the others some were passing phantoms, and the records of the later times of the kingdom are so obscure that we cannot be sure of knowing the names of all who perished by violence.
The administration which these kings of unstable authority had to direct was essentially the Roman system. The great owners, whether nominally Visigoth or nominally Roman—seniores or senatores—continued to enjoy all the privileges and exemptions of the ordo senatorius in the last days of the empire. They lived surrounded by multitudes of semi-servile coloni, or farmers, bound to the soil, of actual slaves, and of buccelarei, who were free swordsmen to whom they gave rations (buccelatum, soldiers’ bread, or buccella, a portion). The curiales remained as before the victims of the fisc. How far the fact that Theudis and the four next sovereigns were Arians affected their government is not very clear. It prevented them from enjoying the active support of the Catholic clergy. But it is very doubtful whether Christianity had spread much beyond the cities. We hear of the conversion of pagans down to the last days of the Visigothic kingdom. The spread of Mahommedanism was so rapid in the first years after the conquest that it is impossible to believe that the country had been thoroughly christianized.
Theudis, who made his headquarters at Seville, endeavoured to complete his mastery of the diocese of Spain by occupying Mauritania Tingitana, but he was defeated by the imperial officers at Ceuta. He was in due course murdered at Seville by Theudigisel (548–549) who was The Visigothic Kings.himself promptly slain. The reigns of his two successors, Agila (549–554) and Athanagild (554–567), coincided with the reign of Justinian and the temporary revival of the Eastern Empire. Athanagild called on the imperial officers to help him against Agila, and paid for their assistance by the surrender of the province of Baetica. On his death there was an obscure interregnum of five months, which ended by the election of Liuva (567–572), the governor of Narbonne, the surviving remnant of the Visigoth power to the north of the Pyrenees. Liuva did not come to Spain, but associated his brother Leovigild (567–586) with him. The reigns of Leovigild and of his son Reccared are the greatest in the list of the Visigoth kingdom in Spain. The father was manifestly a man of great energy who cowed his unruly nobles by murder, forced the Orospedans to recognize his superiority, swept away the Suevic kingdom which had lingered in the north-west, and checked the raids of the Basques. To secure the succession in his family he associated his sons Hermenegild and Reccared with himself. He was the first Visigothic king who wore the crown, and it would appear that he threw off all pretence of allegiance to the empire. The series of the Visigothic gold coins begins with him, and it is to be noted that while the earliest are struck in the name of the emperor Justinian, the imperial superscription disappears in the later. Leovigild drove the imperial officers from Seville and Cordova, though they still retained control of the coast. His son Hermenegild, to whom he entrusted the government of Baetica, was married to a Frankish princess. Intermarriages had not been uncommon between Frank and Visigoth, but they had rarely led to any other result than to subject the Arian ladies who were sent from Spain, or the Catholic ladies who came from France, to blows and murder by their husbands and their husbands' families. Ingunda the Frankish wife of Hermenegild, with the help of Leandro, archbishop of Seville, the brother and predecessor of the more famous Isidore (q.v.), persuaded her husband to renounce Arianism. He revolted against his father, was reduced to submission and executed in prison.
The reign of Reccared (586–601) is famous in Spanish history for the establishment of Catholicism as the religion of the state. Reccared must have seen from the example of the Franks that the support of the Church was a great element of strength for the Crown. He made the change at the Third Council of Toledo. If Reccared hoped to secure the perpetuance of his dynasty he was mistaken. His son Liuva the second (601–603) was murdered by an Arian reaction headed by Witteric (603–610). The Catholics regained power by his overthrow, but they could not give stability to the state. A succession of obscure “priests’ kings,” who are but names, followed: Gunthemar (610–612), Sisebut (612–620), Reccared II. (620–621), Swintella, associated with his son Reccimer (621–631), Sisinand (631–636), Chintila (636–640), Tulga (640–641), Chindaswinth (641–652), Recceswinth (649–672). The growing weakness of the Merovingians saved them from serious attack, though not from occasional invasion on the north. The prostration of the empire in the East by Avar and Persian invasions enabled them to drive the imperial officers from the coast towns. But the kingdom was growing internally weaker. The nobles were strong enough to prevent the monarchy from becoming hereditary. The Church seemed to exert great power, but it had itself become barbarized by contact with kings and nobles. Violent persecutions of heretics and of the numerous Jews brought in new elements of discord. Wamba (672–680) is credited with an attempt to reform the state, but he was tonsured while unconscious from illness or poison, and disappeared into a religious house. His successors again are but names, Euric (680–687) and Egica (687–701). Witiza (697–710) has more substance. He was in aftertimes denounced as a monster of vice, whose sins accounted for the Mahommedan conquest. Contemporaries speak of him with respect, and he appears to have been a well-meaning man who endeavoured to check the corruption of the clergy and the persecution of the Jews, and who resisted the dictation of the pope. His reign ended in turmoil, and perhaps by murder. With Roderic, whose “tumultuous” election was the work of Witiza’s enemies, the line of the Visigoth kings is considered to have ended.
The Visigoth kingdom presents an appearance of coherence which was very far from corresponding to the reality. At the head was the king, surrounded by his household of leudes, and aided by the palatines, great officers of state imitated from the imperial model. At the head Organization of the Visigothic Kingdom. of the provinces, eight in number, were dukes, and the cities were governed by counts. Both were, at least in theory, officers named by the king and removable by him. The king was advised by councils, made up by a combination of a senate of the great men, and of the ecclesiastical councils which had met under the Roman rule and that of the tolerant Arian kings. The formation of the council was not complete until the establishment of Catholicism as the state religion. But from the reign of Reccared till the Arab invasion they met sixteen times in all, generally at Toledo in the church of Santa Leocadia. Purely ecclesiastical matters were first discussed by the clergy alone. Then the great men, Visigoth and Roman, joined with the clergy, and the affairs of the kingdom were debated. The Leges Wisigothorum were elaborated in these councils (see Germanic Law). But there was more show than reality in this parade of government by free discussion and by law. There was no effective administration to enforce the law.
The Mahommedan Conquest.—How utterly weak it was can be seen from the fact that it was shattered by the feeble Moslem invasion of 711. The danger from Africa had been patent for half a century. During the reign of Witiza the Moslem masters of northern Africa had Moslem Invasion, 711. pressed the town of Ceuta, the last remnant of the Byzantine possessions, very closely, and it had been relieved by supplies from Spain. Only the want of ships had prevented the Mahommedans from mastering the town, and crossing the straits, and now this deficiency was supplied by the Christians themselves. It seems to be certain that Julian, the imperial count or governor of Ceuta, acting in concert with the family and faction of Witiza, who sought his help against Roderic, provided vessels to transport the Berber Tarik (Tāriq) across the straits. Tarik, the general of the caliph’s governor in northern Africa, Mūsā b. Nosair, was invited as an ally by the conspirators, who hoped to make use of him and then send him back. He came with a small force, but with the certainty of finding allies, and on being joined by another detachment of Berbers marched inland. On the 19th of July 711 he met Roderic near the Lago de la Janda between Medina Sidonia and Vejer de la Frontera. He had perhaps already been joined by Spanish allies. It is at least certain that in the battle the enemies of Roderic passed over to the invader. The Visigoth king was routed and disappears from authentic history. There is some probability that he did not perish in the battle, but escaped to fall two years later, at Seguyjuela near Salamanca, in action with Merwan the son of Mūsā. A single blow delivered as much by Christian as by Moslem hands, sufficed to cut the bond which seemed to hold the kingdom together, and to scatter its fragments all over the soil of the Peninsula. Through these fragments The Mahommedan Conquest. Tarik marched without a single check of importance. Before the end of 711 he had advanced as far north as Alcalá. Córdova fell to a detachment of his army. In 712 Mūsā joined his lieutenant, and the conquest of the south was completed. Merida was the only town which offered an honourable resistance. During 713 and 714 the north was subdued to the foot of the mountains, and when Mūsā and Tarik were recalled to Damascus by the caliph the progress of the Moslems was not delayed. In 718 they crossed the Pyrenees, and continued their invasions of Gaul till they met the solid power of the Austrasian Franks at Poitiers 732 (see Charles Martel and Caliphate, B. §§ 6, 10). The rush of the Mahommedan flood sent terror all over Europe, but the little opposition it encountered south of the Pyrenees is to be easily explained, and the victory, though genuine, was more specious than substantial. That the lieutenants of the caliph at Damascus should take the place of the Visigoth kings, their dukes and counts seemed to many no loss and to a still greater number a gain. The great landowners, to whom patriotism was unknown and whose religious faith was tepid, were as ready to pay tribute to the caliph as to render service to one of their own body who had become king by violence or intrigue. On the part of the Arabs, who, though a small minority of the invaders, were the ruling element, there was a marked absence of proselytizing zeal. They treated the occupation of Spain as a financial speculation more than as a war for the faith. The Arab, though he produced Mahommedanism, was the least fanatical of the followers of the Prophet, and was not only willing but desirous to leave to all Character of Arab Rule. men who would pay tribute the free exercise of their religion. He cynically avowed a greater liking for the poll tax paid by the Christian than for his conversion. The Spanish Roman and the Visigoth, so-called, of that epoch of poorness of spirit, accustomed as he was to compound with one master after another, saw nothing dishonourable in making' such an arrangement. That it was made is matter of record. In Murcia the duke whom the Arabs knew as Tadmir became a tributary prince, and his family retained the principality for generations. He no doubt contrived to induce the Arabs to recognize him as the owner of what had been public domain, and made an excellent bargain. The family of Witiza did obtain possession of an immense stretch of the land of the state in Andalusia on condition of paying tribute. One of them, by name Ardabast, was deprived of his holding at a later date on the ground that he held more land than could be safely left in the hands of a Christian. Everywhere landowners made the bargain, and the monasteries and the cities followed their example. Nor was submission and payment of tribute all that they were prepared to give. Many professed themselves converts to Mahommedanism. In the north one great Visigoth family not only accepted Islam, but founded a dynasty, with its capital at Saragossa, which played a stirring part in the 8th and 9th centuries, the Beni-Casi, or Beni-Lope. To the mass of the population the conquest was, for the present, a pure gain. The Jews, escaped from brutal persecution, were the eager allies of the Arabs. As the conquerors swept away the Roman fiscal system, which the Visigoths had retained, and replaced it by a poll tax (which was not levied on old men, women, children, cripples or the very poor) and a land tax, the gain to the downtrodden serfs of the fisc was immense. They acquired personal freedom. Add to this that a slave who professed Islam could secure his freedom, at least from slavery to a Christian master, that Arianism had not been quite rooted out, that the country districts were still largely pagan, and it will not appear wonderful that within a generation Mahommedan Spain was full of renegades who formed in all probability a majority of its population and a most important social and political element. The Arabs at first were content to take a fifth of the land to constitute the public domain, or khoms, out of which fiefs held on military tenure were provided for the chiefs of the conquering army.
If this moderate policy had been or could have been steadily pursued, the invaders would in all probability have founded a lasting state. But it could not be pursued, since it required for its application a consistency, and a power to act on a definite political principle, of which the Mahommedan conquerors were absolutely destitute. Nor had Spain been conquered by a single race. The invaders were a coalition of Arabs, Syrians and Berbers. The Arab was incurably anarchical, and was a noble who had no political idea except the tribal one. That their personal dignity must be asserted and recognized was the first article in the creed of these descendants of the heroes of the desert. They looked down on the Syrian, they thought the Berber a lout and a plebeian, they scorned the renegade, and called him a slave and son of a slave. They fought out the old tribal rivalries of Arabia on the banks of the Guadalquivir and on the Vega of Granada: They planted the Berber down on the bleak, ill-watered, and wind-swept central plateau. He revolted, and they strove to subdue him by the sword. He deserted his poor share of the conquered land, and in many cases returned to Africa. The conflict for the caliphate (q.v.) between Omayyad and Abbasid removed all shadow of control by the head of the Mahommedan world, and Spain was given up to mere anarchy. The treaties made with the Christians were soon violated, and it seemed as if Islam would destroy itself. From that fate it was preserved by the arrival in Spain of Abdurrahman (Abdarrahman b. Moawiya) the Omayyad (758), one of the few princes of his house who escaped massacre at the hands of the Abbasides. With the help of his clansmen among the Arabs, and to a large extent of the renegades who counted as his clients, by craft, by the sword, by keeping down the fanatical Berber element, and by forming a mercenary army of African negroes, and after thirty years of blood and battle, Abdurrahman founded the independent amirate, which in the 10th century became the caliphate of Cordova. It was an Oriental monarchy like another, strong when the amir was a strong man, weak when he was not, but exceptionally rich in able men. Its rulers had to fight the Arab nobles as much as the Christians, and the real basis of their power was their slave army of negroes, or of Christian slaves, largely Slavonians sold by their German captors to the Jew slave traders of Verdun, and by them brought to Spain. These janissaries at first gave them victory, and then destroyed them.
Such a kingdom as this needed only attack from a more
solidly organized power to be shattered. The Christian enemies
of the Mahommedans were for long weak and no less
anarchical than themselves, but they were never
altogether wanting, and they had, what the Arab Christian States
of the North.
and Berber had not, a tradition of law and a capacity for forming an organized polity and a state. They are to be sought for
along the line of the mountains of the north. In the centre were
the Basques, dwelling on both sides of the Pyrenees, who kept
against the Mahommedan the independence they had vindicated
against the Visigoth. On the east of the Basques, along the line
of the Pyrenees, were others of kindred blood, who also kept a
rude freedom on the slopes and in the valleys of the mountains.
The Arab passed through them, going and returning to and from
Gaul, but he never fully conquered them. The names of their
leaders Garci Jeminez and Iñigo Arista are altogether legendary.
But here were the roots of the kingdom of Navarre, of Sobrarbe
and Aragon. In the earliest times their most pressing foe was
not the Arab or Berber so much as the Carolingian. It was at
their hands that Charlemagne (q.v.), while returning from his
expedition to Saragossa, suffered that disaster to his rearguard
at Roncesvalles which is more famous in poetry than important
in history. With the aid of the Spanish Moslem Beni-Casi the
Basques drove off the counts and wardens of the marches of
the Carolingians. On the eastern extremity of the Pyrenees
the Franks found no native free population. Here, mainly
under the leadership of Louis the Pious, they formed the
Marca Hispanica, where Frankish counts and wardens of the
marches gradually gained ground. By the reign of Charles
the Fat a principality had been founded. Wilfred the Hairy—the
Comes Vellosus, so called because his countship was poor
and covered with scrub wood, and not because the palms of
his hands were covered with hair as the legend has it—became
the founder of the counts of Barcelona.
The greatest destiny was preserved for the Christian remnant which stood out to the west of the Basques, in the mountains of Asturias. Pelayo, whom they chose for king, and his victory of Covadonga, are well nigh as legendary, and are quite as obscure as Garci Jimenes and Inigo Arista. Yet it is certain that in this region were planted the seeds of the kingdom of Castile and Leon, the dominant power of the Spain of the future. The total silence of the contemporary chronicle, called by the name of Isidore of Beja, shows that in the south of Spain, where the writer lived, nothing was known of the resistance made in the north. The next Christian authorities belong to the latter part of the 9th century. It is therefore with the warning that the dates can only be given as probably correct that the three first Christian kings can be said to have reigned from 718 to 757. Pelayo (718–737), his brother Favila (737–739)—of whom we only know that he is said to have been killed by a bear while hunting—and Alphonso I., the Catholic (739–757), stand as little more than names. While the invasion of Gaul was still going on Manuza, the chief of the Berbers settled in north-western Spain, had revolted against the caliph’s lieutenants. In 740 came the great general revolt of the Berbers. In 750 plague, following on drought and famine, swept away thousands of conquered and conquerors alike. Amid the general desolation Alphonso I. duke of Cantabria and son-in-law of Pelayo, constituted the kingdom which the Arabs called Gallicia. It answered Kingdom of Gallicia. closely to the old Roman province of the same name—extending from the Bay of Biscay to the line of the Duero, from the ocean to the foot of the mountains of Navarre. Internally it was divided into two belts. Along the shores of the bay, and in the valleys of the mountains to the north and west it was inhabited; but a great belt of desolation separated it from the regions in which the Moslem were fighting out their own quarrels. Alphonso swept all through that region, already more than half depopulated, slaying the lingering remnants of the Berbers, and carrying back the surviving Christians to the north. Behind that shield of waste the Christian kingdom developed; from the death of Alphonso I. to the reign of Ramiro II. (931–950) it was subject to no serious attack, though raids on the frontier never ceased. Norse pirates appeared on the coast in the 9th century, but made no permanent settlements. As the population grew, it pushed down to the plain of Leon and Castile. The advance is marked by the removals of the capital forward from Cangas de Ona to Oviedo, from Oviedo to Leon, and by the settlement of adventurous frontier men in the ancient Bardulia, which from their “peels,” and towers of strength, gained the name of Castilla—the castles. Burgos became its centre. The Montana (hill country) of Burgos, and in particular the district called the Alfoz of Lara, was the cradle of the heroes of the Castilian share in the reconquest—the count Porcellos, and the judge of the people, Lain Calvo, the infantes of Lara, the bastard Mudarra, and Ruy Diaz of Bivar, in whose lives legend and history are mingled beyond disentanglement, and of whom some are pure figures of romance. By a process which was going on elsewhere in Europe the frontier settled into a new political organism. As the Marca Hispanica on the east became the county of Barcelona, so the chiefs of Bardulia became the counts of Castile, then the count of Castile, the rival of the king at Leon, and in time the king of Castile, and head of Christian Spain.
There is much in the internal history of that kingdom which stands apart from the general development of western Europe, from which it was shut out. In all the long period from Pelayo to Ramiro II. only one event occurred which had much tendency to bring the Christians of the north-west into close relations with their neighbours of the same faith north of the Pyrenees. This was the discovery, or, in strict ecclesiastical language, the “invention” of the body of St James the Apostle in the reign of Alphonso II. the Chaste (789–842). The shrine at Santiago in Gallicia was accepted in an age when evidence and criticism were words of no meaning, and it attracted pilgrims, who brought trade. But, apart from this opening for foreign influence, the Christians were left to develop their order untouched by alien examples, and they developed from the Visigoth monarchy. The men who raised Pelayo on the shield believed themselves to be electing a successor to Roderic, and indeed they were. They continued for a time to call themselves Goths, and to claim Gothic descent, which had become for them very much what descent from the companions of the conqueror was to Englishmen of the 14th or 15th centuries and later—another name for nobility of blood. There was the same king possessing theoretically almost absolute power, both administrative and legislative; the same nobles who limited his effective power by rebellion, their constant effort to keep the crown elective, and his no less steady, and by the 10th century victorious, effort to make it hereditary; the same distinction between the few free, who are also the rich owners of land, and the many serfs, who are partial bondsmen, or the slaves pure and simple. But the fact that every arm was needed for the raids on the frontier, and to provide settlers who should also be garrison for the regained lands, worked for freedom. The serf, who was also a soldier, revolted against bondage. The chief who had to "people" a new and exposed township had to tempt men by freedom and secure rights to follow his banner. The influences which by the 13th century had abolished serfdom in western Spain were all at work before the reign of Ramiro II. In spite of revolts and of fratricidal struggles a state was formed. To the east of it, the Navarrese, having rid themselves of the Carolingian counts and marchers, had made a kingdom in their mountains, and beyond them the little free territories of the central Pyrenees were advancing, in subordination to the Navarrese king at Pamplona. The Arab called them the Christians of Al Frank, and distinguished them from the Gallicians.
The 10th century and the first years of the 11th saw a great set-back of the Christian revival. Dissensions among themselves coincided with an energetic rally of the Moslem power. From the foundation of the amirate by Abdurrahman I. (758–790) to the beginning of the reign of The Mahommedan Amirate. Period of Anarchy. Abdurrahman III. (912–961) Mahommedan Spain had shared the usual fortunes of an Oriental monarchy. A strong amir, such as Abdurrahman I. or his grandson Hakam I. (796–822), could enforce obedience by arms, or by murder, but it was the rule of the most pugnacious and the hardest hitter. Even with him it was often only apparent. On the upper frontier, which is now Aragon, the "Visigoth" Beni-Casi ruled, doing homage and paying tribute intermittently, supported by a loyal population of native Mahommedans, whose Christian or nominally Christian fathers had been their followers before the conquest. The “Moors,” so called, who afterwards filled the kingdom of Aragon were of native blood. Toledo, relying on the immense military strength of its position, was more often in rebellion than in subordination. The massacre which Hakam I. effected by a lavish use of fraud cowed it only for a time. Abdurrahman III. found it independent again when he came to the throne, and had to besiege it for two years before it yielded. The renegades grew in numbers, and in faith. Under the influence of orthodox Berber teachers their fanaticism was turned against the amir himself. Hakam, a winebibber much suspected of heterodoxy, had to expel thousands from his capital. Part went to people the town of Fez, newly founded in the Morocco, by the Idrisites. Part wandered eastward to found a Mahommedan state in Crete. Under the stimulus of Berber fanaticism the toleration first shown to the Christians was turned to persecution. A counter fanaticism was aroused in them, and for years the "Martyrs of Cordoba" continued to force the often reluctant cadis to behead them, by blaspheming the Prophet. The relations of the amir to the Christian bishops were very much those of the Ottoman sultan to the Greek patriarch. There were Spaniards who, like the Greeks of the Phanar, were the servile instruments of their Moslem master. Under Abdurrahman II. (822–852), who spent his life listening to a favourite and highly accomplished , Persian tenor and in the company of dancing girls, and under Mahommed I. (852–886), the niggardly Mondhir (886–888), whose time was short, and Abdalla (888–912), who was feeble, the amirate was torn to fragments.
From this state of anarchy the amirate was saved by Abdurrahman III. (912–961), the Akbar of his race. He came to the throne when half a century of war and murder had produced exhaustion. The country was swarming with brigands, and the communications were so Betrayal under Abdurrahman III. dangerous that seven years had been known to pass during which no caravan travelled from Cordova to Saragossa. There was a disposition on all hands, save among the irreconcilable Christians of the Sierra de Ronda, to accept peace under a capable master. The Arabs were beaten down, and the renegades had gained most of what they fought for when the aristocracy was cowed. Abdurrahman III., an Oriental ruler of the great stamp, industrious, resolute, capable of justice, magnificent, and free handed without profusion, was eminently qualified to give all that his people wanted. The splendour of his reign is a commonplace. He restored order even in the Ronda, and then he took the field against the Christians. He obeyed the rule which has called upon all the intelligent governors of Spain to make sure of the African coast by occupying it. He saw the Christian princes of the north become his vassals and submit to his judgment in their quarrels. But within a period not so long as his own life his dynasty was extinct and his kingdom in fragments.
Hakam II. (961–976), Abdurrahman’s son, ascended the throne in mature years, and continued his father's policy. A lover of books, he gave protection to writers and thinkers who were not strictly orthodox. From his Christian neighbours he had nothing to fear. The anarchy which broke out in the north-west, the kingdom now called Leon, on the death of Ramiro II.—whose sons fought among themselves—and the endless conflicts between Leon and Castile, rendered the only formidable
Christian kingdom powerless. Even on Hakam's death the
power of the caliphate was exercised for some thirty years with
great vigour. In his old age, one of his wives Sobh (the Daybreak),
a Basque, bore him the first son born in his harem. To
this son Hisham II. (976–?) he left the crown. The rule
went to the sultana, and her trusted agent Ibn Abi 'Amir
Mahommed ben Abdallah—an Arab of noble descent, who in
his early life was a scribe, and who rose by making himself useful
first to the ministers and to the favourite wife. By them he was
promoted, and in time he brought their ruin. By her he was
made hajib—lord chamberlain, prime minister, great domestic,
alter ego, in short, of the puppet caliph—for Hisham II. in
Administration
of Mansur.
all his long life was nothing else—and in due time
he reduced the sultana to insignificance. The
administration of Mahommed ben Abdallah, who
took the royal name al-Mansur Billah (“the victorious
through God”) and is generally known as Mansur (q.v.), is
also counted among the glories of the caliphate of Cordova.
It was the rule of a strong man who made, and kept under
his own control, a janissary army of slaves from all nations,
Christian mercenaries from the north, Berbers and negroes
from Africa. With that host he made fifty invasions into the
Christian territory. A more statesmanlike conqueror leading
a people capable of real civilization would have made five,
and his work would have lasted. Mansur made raids, and left
his enemies in a position to regain all they had lost. It mattered
little that he desolated the shrine of St James at Compostella,
the monastery of Cardeña in Castile, took Leon, Pamplona and
Barcelona, if at the end he left the roots of the Christian states
firm in the soil, and to his son and successor as hajib only a
mercenary army without patriotism or loyalty. In later times
Christian ecclesiastical writers, finding it difficult to justify
the unbroken prosperity of the wicked to an age which believed
in the judgment of God and trial by combat, invented a final
defeat for Mansur at Calatañaxor. He died in 1002 undefeated,
but racked by anxiety for the permanence of the prosperity of
his house. His son Mozaffar, kept the authority as hajib, always
in the name of Hisham II., who was hidden away in a second
palace suburb of Cordova, Zahira. But Mozaffar lasted for a
short time, and then died, poisoned, as it was said, by his brother
Abdurrahman, called Sanchol, the son of Mansur by one of
the Christian ladies whom he extorted for his harem from the
fears of the Christian princes. Abdurrahman Sanchol was vain
and feather-headed. Abdurrahman Sanchol. He extorted from the feeble caliph the title of successor, thereby deeply offending the princes of the Omayyad house and the populace of Cordova. He lost his hold on his slaves and mercenaries, whose chiefs had begun to think it would
be more to their interest to divide the country among
themselves. A palace revolution, headed by Mahommed, of the Omayyad family, who called himself
End of the Empire
of Abdurrahman III. Al Mahdi Billah (guided by God), and a street riot, upset
the power of the hajib at Cordova while he was absent on a
raid against Castile. His soldiers deserted him, and he was
speedily slaughtered. Then in the twinkling of an eye the whole
edifice went into ruin. The end of Hisham II. is unknown,
and the other princes perished in a frantic scramble for the
throne in which they were the puppets of military adventurers.
A score of shifting principalities, each ready to help the
Christians to destroy the others, took the place of the caliphate.
The fundamental difference between the Moslem, who know only the despot and the Koran, and a Christian people who have the Church, a body of law and a Latin speech, was well seen in the contrast between the end of the greatness of Mansur, and the end of the weakness Development of the Christian Kingdom. of his Christian contemporaries. The first left no trace. The second attained, after much fratricidal strife, to the foundation of a kingdom and of institutions. The interval between the death of Ramiro II. in 950 and the establishment of the kingdom of Castile by Fernando I. in 1037 is on the surface as anarchical as the Mahommedan confusion of any time.
The personages are not anywise heroic, even when like
Alphonso V. (999–1027) they were loyal to their duty. Sancho
the Fat, and Bermudo II. the Gouty, with their shameless feuds
in the presence of the common enemy, and their appeals to the
caliph, were miserable enough. But the emancipation of the
serfs made progress. Charters began to be given to the towns,
and a class of burghers, endowed with rights and armed to
defend them, was formed; while the council of the magnates
was beginning to develop into a Cortes. The council over
which Alphonso V. of Leon and his wife Geloria (i.e. Elvira)
presided in 1020, conferred the great model charter of Leon,
and passed laws for the whole kingdom. The monarchy became
thoroughly hereditary, and one main source of anarchy was
closed. By the beginning of the 11th century the leading place
among the Christian kings had been taken by Sancho the Great
of Navarre.
Sancho El Mayor (the Great) of Navarre. He was
married to a sister of Garcia, the last count of
Castile. Garcia was murdered by the sons of Count Vela of
Alava whom he had despoiled, and Sancho took possession of
Castile, giving the government of it to his son Fernando,
(Ferdinand I.), with the title of king, and taking the name
of “king of the Spains” for himself. It was the beginning
of attempts, which continued to be made till far Ferdinand I.
of Castile, “Emperor of the Spains.”
into the 12th century, to obtain the unity of the
Christians by setting up an emperor, or king of "Emperor
kings, to whom the lesser crowns should be subject.
Fernando was married to a daughter of Alphonso V.
of Leon. Her brother Bermudo, the last of his line, could
not live in peace with the new king, and lost his life in the
battle of Tamaron, in a war which he had himself provoked.
Fernando now united all the north-west of Spain into the
kingdom of Castile and Leon with Gallicia. Navarre was left by
Sancho to another son, Garcia, while the small Christian states
of the central Pyrenees, Aragon and Sobrarbe with the Ribagorza
went to his other sons, Ramiro Sanchez and Gonzalo.
Fernando, as the elder, called himself emperor, and asserted a
general superiority over his brothers. That he took his position
of king of kings seriously would seem to be proved by the fact
that when his brother Garcia attacked him in 1054, and was
defeated and slain at Atapuerca, he did not annex Navarre, but
left his nephew, Garcia's son, on the throne as vassal. The Council
of Coyanza, now Valencia de Don Juan (1050), at Council of
Coyanza, 1050.
which he confirmed the charters of Alphonso V.,
is a leading date in the constitutional history of
Spain. When he had united his kingdom, he took the
field against the Mahommedans; and the period of the great
reconquest began. So far the Christians had not gone much
beyond the limits of the territory left to them at the end of the
8th century. They had only developed and organized Beginning of the Christian Reconquest.
within it. Under Fernando, they advanced to
the banks of the Tagus in the south, and into Valencia
on the south-east. They began to close round
Toledo, the shield of Andalusia. The feeble Andalusian princes
were terrified into paying tribute, and Fernando advanced
to the very gates of Seville without finding an enemy to meet
him in the field. His death in 1065 brought about a pause for
a time. He left his three kingdoms to his three sons Sancho,
Alphonso and Garcia. Alphonso, to whom Leon had fallen as
his share, remained master after the murder of Sancho at Zamora,
which he was endeavouring to take from his sister, and the
imprisonment of Garcia of Gallicia. The reign, of Alphonso VI.,
which lasted till 1109, is one of the fullest in the Alphonso VI.,
1065–1109.
annals of Spain. He took up the work of his
father, with less of the crusading spirit than was in
Fernando, but with conspicuous ability. His marriage with Constance, daughter of Robert, duke of Burgundy, brought a powerful foreign influence into play in Castile. Constance favoured the monks of Cluny, and obtained her husband's favour for them. Under their leadership measures were taken to reform the Church, from which hitherto little influence had been expected save that it should be zealous and martial. The adoption of the Roman instead of the Gothic ritual of Saint Isidore has been lamented, but it marked the
assumption by Castile of a place in the community of the
western European kingdoms. The Frenchmen, both monks
and knights, who accompanied Constance brought to bear
on Spain the ecclesiastical, architectural, literary and military
influence of France, then the intellectual centre of Europe, as
fully as it ever was exercised in later times. Castile ceased to
be an isolated kingdom, and became an advance guard of
Europe in not the least vital part of the crusades. Alphonso,
who during his exile owed some good services to the Mahommedan king of Toledo, spared that city while his friend lived.
Alphonso overruns Mahommedan Spain. But he carried the war forward elsewhere. He
extorted tribute, and double and treble tribute
from the princes of Andalusia. In 1082 he swept
all through the valley of the Guadalquivir to
Tarifa, where he rode his horse into the sea and claimed
possession of the “last land in Spain.” In 1084, his friend
being dead, he made himself master of Toledo. The fall of the
city resounded throughout Islam, and shocked the Mahommedan
princes of Andalusia into gravity and a sense of their position.
Their peoples began to look to Africa, where Yusuf ben Techufin
was ruling the newly founded empire of the Almorávides. The
princes had cause to dread him; for Yusuf, the leader of a
religious movement still in its first zeal, was known to have no
friendly feeling for their religious indifference and elegant,
dissipated habits. It was likely that, if he came as ally, he
Invasion of the Almorávides. would remain as master. But the case was excellently put by al-Motamid, amir of Seville, a
brilliant cavalier, an accomplished Arab poet, and
one of the most amiably spendthrift of princes. When the
peril of appealing to Yusuf was put before him at durbar
by his son, he acknowledged the danger, but added that he
did not wish to be cursed throughout Islam as the cause of the
loss of Spain and that, if choose he must, he thought it better
to lead camels in Africa than to tend pigs in Castile. Yusuf
came, and in 1086 inflicted a terrible defeat on Alphonso VI.
at Zalaca near Badajoz. The immediate results of the stricken
field were, however, but small. Yusuf was called back to
Africa, and in his absence the Christians resumed the advance.
When he returned he was chiefly employed in suppressing the
Mahommedan princes. Alphonso was compelled to withdraw a
garrison he had placed in Murcia, and Valencia was, by his
decision, given up by the widow of the Cid (q.v.). But he kept
his hold on Toledo, and though his last days were darkened by the
death of his only son in the lost battle of Ucles (1108), he died
in 1109 with the security that his work would last.
The Almorávides went round the fatal circle of Asiatic and African monarchy with exceptional rapidity. One generation of military efficiency and of comparative honesty in administration was followed by sloth and corruption as bad as that of the Arabs. To this the Almorávides, who were Berbers and were largely Decline of the Mahommedan Power under the Almorávides.mingled with pure negroes, added a dull bigotry and a hatred of thought and knowledge from which the Arab, anarchical and politically incapable as he was, was free. In Aragon the successors of Ramiro Sanchez had begun to press close on Saragossa when the Almorávide invasion took place. The battle of Zalaca gave pause to the Aragonese, as it did for a short space to the Castilians. The interval of advance in the reconquest would have been shorter than it was but for the results of a most unfortunate attempt on the part of Alphonso VI. to unite the crowns of Aragon and Castile by the marriage of Alphonso I. (1104–1134) of Aragon with his daughter Urraca. Urraca (the name is a form of Maria) was dissolute and Alphonso was arbitrary. There Alphonso I. of Aragon. 1104–1134. was nothing in the manners of the 12th century to make a husband hesitate to beat his wife, and Urraca was beaten, and in the presence of witnesses. The marriage, too, was declared null by the pope, as the parties were within the prohibited degrees. Alphonso and Urraca came to open war, in which he claimed to be king of Castile by right of his marriage and his election by the nobles. The confusion was increased by the fact that Alphonso, Urraca’s son by her first marriage with Raymond of Burgundy, was recognized as king in Gallicia, was bred up there by the able bishop Diego Gelmirez, and took an active part in the feuds of his mother and step-father. The death of Urraca in 1126 allowed her son to reunite the dominions of his grandfather. In the meantime his quarrels with Urraca had not deterred Alphonso, who is surnamed the Battler in Aragonese history, from taking Saragossa in 1118, and from defeating the Almorávides at the decisive battle of Cutanda in 1120. In 1125 he carried out a great raid through Mahommedan Spain, camping in its midst for months, and returning with many thousands of the Christian rayahs, who, under the name of Mozarabes, had hitherto continued to live under Moslem rule. They now fled from the bigotry and negro brutality of the Almorávides. The failure of Alphonso’s attempt to take Braga in 1134 was Speedily followed by his death. He left his kingdom by will to the Knights of the Temple and the Hospital, but the barons of Aragon paid no attention to his wish, and drew his brother Ramiro, a monk, from his cell to continue the royal line. Ramiro, having been first ex-claustrated by the pope, married Agnes of Aquitaine, and on the birth of his daughter Petronilla affianced her to Ramon Berenguer (Raymond Berenger), count of Barcelona, and then retired to his cell at Narbonne.[3] Union of Aragon and Catalonia. This marriage united Aragon and Catalonia for ever, and marks a great step forward in the constitution of a national unity in Spain. Navarre, indeed, which had been united with Aragon since the fratricidal murder of its king Sancho in 1076, preferred to remain independent under a new ruler of its choice. It was henceforth Kingdom of Navarre. a small state lying across the Pyrenees, dependent on France, and doomed inevitably to be partitioned between its great neighbours to north and south.
Alphonso VII., the son of Urraca, was, during the twenty
years between his mother’s death and his own in 1157, the
dominating sovereign of Spain. In 1135 he was
crowned at Leon, in the presence of the new king
of Navarre, of the counts of Barcelona and Toulouse,Alphonso VII., “Emperor in Spain.”
End of the “Empire.”
and of other princes, Christian and Mahommedan,
“Emperor in Spain, and king of the men of the two religions.”
In his character of emperor and king of the men of the two
religions Alphonso VII. seems to have aimed not at expelling,
but at reducing the Moors to subjection as vassal communities.
He took Cordova and conquered as far as Almeria,
but left vassal Moslem princes in possession. His
death was followed by another and, happily, a last
division of Castile and Leon. Sancho, his eldest son, took the first
and Fernando the second. The dream of the empire was speedily
dissipated by the death of Sancho of Castile a year after his father;
Portugal had already become a semi-independent state.
The complicated story of the Christian kingdoms of Spain during the next two generations can be best made intelligible by taking the king of Castile as the centre of the turmoil. His boyhood was filled by all the miseries which rarely failed to descend in the middle agesAlfonso VIII. of Castile, 1158–1214. on the people whose king was a child. Alphonso VIII. married Leonora, daughter of Henry II. of England, who, as duke of Aquitaine, by right of his marriage with the duchess Eleanor, had a strong direct interest in Spanish politics. Castile, by its geographical position as the centre of Spain from Cantabria to the Sierra Morena, was the forefront of the struggle with the Moors. In Andalusia the downfall of the Almorávides had opened the way to the Almohádes, or followers of the Mahdi, an even more bigoted religious sect than theWar with the Almohádes. other. Alphonso had conquered Cuenca, in the hill country between Castile and Valencia, in 1177, with the help of the king of Aragon, also an Alphonso, the son of Petronilla and of Ramon Berenguer of Barcelona. With eminent good sense he rewarded his ally by resigning all claim to feudal superiority over Aragon. At a later period the two kingdoms defined their respective spheres of influence by a treaty. Aragon was left free to Recognition of the Independence of Aragon. conquer the Balearic Islands and Valencia, while Murcia and Andalusia were to fall to Castile. The Almohádes took the field against Alphonso in force, and as his fellow Christian sovereigns failed him in the hour of need, he was defeated at Alarcos. But this wave of the ebbing Moslem tide had less force than the Almorávide, and fell back both sooner and farther than its predecessor. Alphonso had leisure to punish his brother kings for deserting him, and to look to the organization of his kingdom. It was a great epoch of the granting of charters, and the advance of the towns. To this age also Organization of the Kingdom. The Military orders. belongs the formation of the great monastic military orders of Calatrava, Santiago and Alcantara. They supplied the Crown with a strong force of well-disciplined and well-appointed cavalry. To tighten the bond with Leon, Alphonso of Castile married his daughter Berengaria to its king Alphonso (1188–1230), the son of his uncle Fernando. The marriage was dissolved by the pope as being within the prohibited degrees, but the son born of it was recognized as legitimate. Berengaria, a woman of very noble character and eminent ability, deserved a better husband than her cousin of Leon, who was nicknamed El Baboso—the Slobberer—and who appears to have been epileptic. In 1212 the king of Castile reaped the reward of long years of patience. The Almohádes threatened an invasion in force, and he organized a crusade against them. Aragon was represented by its king Peter II., Navarre by its king Sancho, and Portugal by a strong contingent of Templars and other knights. Overthrow of Almohádes. At the Navas de Tolosa, just south of the Sierra of the Morena, the Almohádes received the final overthrow which laid Mahommedan Spain at the feet of the Christians. Alphonso died in 1214. His son Enrique (Henry) was. killed by the fall of a tile three years later; and Berengaria, to whom the crown came, sent to Leon for her son Fernando, and abdicated in his favour.
Fernando (Ferdinand III.) who was in all ways worthy of his
mother, took up the crusading duty of a king of Castile, and
continued the advance into Andalusia. The Almohádes were in swifter decline than the Almorávides.
One of them, al-Mamun, even sought Fernando’s
Ferdinand III.,
1217–1252.help to regain his throne in Morocco, and ceded a suburb of the
city to his Christian allies. In 1230 the death of Alphonso
of Leon opened the way to a final union of the crowns.
The “Baboso” had, indeed, left his kingdom by will to
his daughters by Teresa of Portugal, but Fernando was saved
from the necessity of enforcing his rights by his mother. She
persuaded Teresa and the infantas to resign their claims in
return for pensions and lordships. Castile and
Leon were united, never to be divided again. The
work of the reconquest was now completed with
Final Union of Castile and Leon.
swift steps. In 1236 Cordova was conquered, and Seville
fell in 1248 with the help of a fleet from the Basque coast and
of the Moorish king of Granada, who was Fernando’s vassal,
paying tribute and attending Cortes when summoned. Fernando
died in May 1252. It will avoid repetition to note here that
the Aragonese share of the reconquest was completed by James
the Conqueror (1213–1276), the son of that king Peter who fought
in the Navas de Tolosa. He conquered the Balearic Islands in
1229 and Valencia in 1238. In 1265 he entered Murcia, which,
Reconquest of Spain, except Granada. however, he agreed to occupy in the name of Castile.
Mahommedan Spain was reduced to Granada and
a line of ports round to Cadiz. The Christian
population had disappeared in Granada and Moslem
refugees had peopled it closely. Its king was a vassal, and
of itself it was no longer a danger.
The close of the period of the great reconquest, five centuries of struggle, left Spain divided between two states of different character. On the west of the Iberian range and south of the Guadarrama was the kingdom called, for short, Castile and Leon. In fact its sovereign Spain after the Reconquest. was also king of Gallicia, Asturjas, Estremadura, Jaen, Cordova and Seville. This multiplicity of titles was more than a mere formula of the royal chancery. It was the official recognition of a substantial political fact—namely, that the kingdom of Castile and Leon had been made up by the agglutination of separate political entities. The real bond between them lay in the common crown, the common creed. They were one only as subjects of the same lords and members of the same Church. But their territorialCastile and Leon. patriotism was local. The peoples were not Spaniards, save as a general term, but Gallicians, Asturians, Castilians, Andalusians. The great foreign question for them was the possibility, and from time to time the imminence, of renewed invasion from Africa. That peril did not cease till the defeat of the last formidable African invader at the battle of the Rio Salado in 1340. It is characteristic of the loose construction of the kingdom that the Cortes of Leon and of Castile continued, after the final union, to meet apart on some occasions until 1301.
On the eastern slope of the Iberian hills and the great central table-land was the kingdom called, again for short, Aragon. Its king was also a ruler of many titles—king in Aragon, in Valencia, and the Balearic Isles (with one interval of separation), count of Barcelona, and in Provence.Aragon. Marriage and inheritance had given him territorial rights in the south-east of France. Thus he came in contact with the crusaders of Simon de Montfort and the expansion of the French monarchy. Another marriage, that of Peter, the son and successor of James the Conqueror, with Costanza, the daughter of Manfred of Beneventum, gave him claims on the Neapolitan and Sicilian inheritance of the Hohenstaufen. From the date of the Sicilian Vespers (1283) Aragon is found mixed in the politics of Italy. The commercial activity of Barcelona brought it into collision with Genoa and alliance with Venice. The curious double position of the king of Aragon is fully illustrated by the career of that king Peter who was the father of James the Conqueror. He fought as a crusader at the Navas de Tolosa, he went to Rome to be crowned, and did voluntary homage to the pope. Yet his interests as a prince of southern France compelled him to draw the sword in defence of the Albigenses, and, orthodox as he was in creed, he fell fighting for them at Muret in 1213. If the fortunes of Aragon were to be followed in an outline of Spanish history, it would be necessary to wander as far as Athens and Constantinople.
The difference of the relations of these two states towards the comity of nations had corresponding internal distinctions. It has been already noted that eastern Spain was feudal. Therefore the distinction of classes was far sharper in Aragon than in non-feudal Castile and Leon. Predial slavery, which had disappeared in Castile and Leon in the 13th century, existed unmodified in Aragon, and in its worst form, down to the Bourbon dynasty. When we are told of the freedom of Aragon, it is well to remember that it was enjoyed only by the small minority who were personally free and also privileged: by the citizens of the towns which had charters—called in Aragon the Universidades—the nobles, the gentry and the Church. The Catalans attained emancipation from feudal subjection by a succession of savage peasant revolts in the 15th and 16th centuries. In Valencia emancipation was finally brought by a measure which in itself was cruel—the expulsion of the Moriscoes in the 17th century. The landlords were compelled to replace them by free tenants. The prevalence of predial slavery in Aragon and Valencia can be largely explained by the number of Mudejares, that is Mahommedans living under Christian rule, and of Moriscoes—converted Mohammedans.
If now we look at the internal history of Spain from the conclusion of the period of the reconquest, which may be put in the middle of the 13th century, down to the union of the crowns of
Castile and of Aragon by the marriage of Ferdinand
and Isabel in 1469, it will be found to be occupied
Christianization
of Spain.
with two great processes. These two processes are firstly, the christianization of Spain, a very different thing from its reconquest from Moslem masters—and, secondly, not its unification, for that is hardly attained even now, but its progress towards unification.
When Fernando (Ferdinand III.), the conqueror of Andalusia, died in 1252, he was indeed the king of the two, or even the three, religions. The Jews and the Mahommedans formed a The Jews and the Mahommedans. very large part of his subjects. We have no means of estimating their numbers, but there is much probability that together they formed not much less than a half of the population. The Jews, who had suffered cruelly from the brutal fanaticism of the Almohades, had done a great deal to forward the conquest of Andalusia. They were repaid by the confidence of the king, and the period which includes the reign of Fernando and lasts till the end of the 14th century was the golden age of their history in Spain. In 1391 the preaching of a priest of Seville, Fernando Martinez, led to the first general massacre of the Jews, who were envied for their prosperity and hated because they were the king’s tax collectors. But the history of the persecution and expulsion of the Jews is the same everywhere except in date. The story of the Mudejares and Moriscoes is peculiarly Spanish. In the Christian advance they were from the beginning first subjected and then incorporated. As far north as Astorga there is still a population known as the Maragatos, and familiar to all Spain as carters and muleteers. This marked type of the Leonese of modern times represents a Berber colony cut off among the Christians, and christianized at an early date, who went on using Arab and Berber names long after their conversion. They are only the most conspicuous example of a process which was common to all the Peninsula. As the Christians worked down to the south they found an existing Mahommedan population. To reduce them to pure slavery would, in the case of Castile at least, have been dangerous, and would also have been offensive to the Christians, who were themselves fighting for emancipation. To expel them would have been to have the soil untilled. Therefore the king, the nobles, the Church and the military orders combined to give them protection. For them, as for the Jews, the 13th and 14th centuries were a golden age. By the end of the 14th the persecutions began. Forced conversion prepared the way for expulsion, which came in the reign of Philip III. (1598–1621). But Expulsion before the end was reached all had been persuaded or forced into Christianity, had ceased to be Mudejares, Expulsion of the Moriscoes. and had become Moriscoes. In the majority of cases the conversion had occurred so long ago that the memory of the time when they were Mahommedans was lost, and multitudes of the children of Mudejares remained. The Mozárabes again—the Christians who had always lived under The Mahommedan rule—were an element of importance The Mozárabes. in medieval Spain. They had learnt to write in Arabic, and used Arabic letters even when writing Latin, or the corrupt dialect of Latin which they spoke. The conquest of Toledo by Alphonso Vi. first brought the Christians into contact with a large body of these Arabized Spaniards, and their influence was considerable. By Alphonso they were favoured. He stamped his name on his coins in Arabic letters. It is said with probability that one of the early kings of Aragon, Peter I., could write no other letters than the Arabic. The Mozarabes were treated under the kings of the reconquest as separate bodies with their own judges and law, which they had been allowed to keep by the Moslem rulers. That code was the forum judicum of the Visigoths, the fuero juzgo, as it was called in the “romance” of later times and in Castilian. The Mozarabes brought in the large Arabic element, which is one of the features of the Castilian language. A part of the work of christianizing the Spain of the 13th century, and not the least part, was done by the monks of Cluny introduced by the French wife of Alphonso VI. To them was due the impulse given to the reform of the church, and to education. The foundation of the studium generale of Palencia in 1212 by Alphonso IX. was an outcome of the movement. It fell in the troubles following his death, but Fernando III. revived it by the foundation of the university of Salamanca, which dates from 1245. The church and the university were the great promoters of the effort to secure religious unity which began in the 14th and produced its full effects in the 17th century. How far the character, habits and morality of the Christian Spaniards were affected by Oriental influences is not a question which it is easy to answer. To some extent they no doubt were coloured. Such a social institution as the form of marriage known by the name of barragania shows visible traces of Eastern influence. In so far as it was a mere agreement of a man and woman to live together as husband and wife, it had precedents both Roman and Teutonic. There was also Roman and Teutonic example for recognizing the children of such a union as having rights of inheritance. On the other hand the name is Arabic, and so is the term applied to the children, hijos de ganancia, sons of the strange woman. Moreover the Oriental character of this union, be its origin what it may, is visible from the fact that it was polygamous. The only insuperable barrier to a barragania was the previous marriage “with the blessing,” the full religious marriage, of the woman to another man. A married man might be united in barragania to a woman other than his lawful wife, and the children of that connexion, though not fully legitimate, were not bastards. The most signal example among many which could be quoted is that of Peter the Cruel (1350–1367), who, though married to Blanche of Bourbon, was abarraganado to Maria de Padilla. He left his kingdom to the daughters she bore him, and their quasi legitimacy was recognized not only by the Cortes during King Peter’s life, but abroad. John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, married the elder of the daughters of Maria de Padilla, and claimed the crown of Castile by right of his wife. The clergy, who were debarred from the religious marriage by the discipline of the church, were commonly abarraganado all through the middle ages. The sumptuary laws, which required the barraganas of priests to wear a red border to their dresses, recognized them as a known and tolerated class.
The work of political unification was essentially more difficult
than the christianization of Spain. The great common institution
of the church, common enthusiasms, prejudices and Problem of the Unification of Spain.
envies, were available for the second. The first had
to contend with deeply rooted differences of national
character and of class. The Galician who spoke, and Soala
still speaks, a language of his own, was profoundly
separated from the Andalusian. The Basque, who till much
later times practically included the Navarrese, was a man of
another nationality and another speech from the Castilian.
And what is true of Castile and Leon applies equally to
Aragon. Aragonese, Catalans and Valencians were National Differences.
as different as Galicians, Basques, Castilians and
Andalusians. Aragon spoke a dialect of Castilian.
Catalpnia and Valencia, together with the Balearic Islands,
spoke, and speak, dialects of the southern French, the so-called
Limose, though it was not the language of the Limousin.
And the causes of division did not end here. The word “commonwealth” had no meaning either east or west of the Iberian
range. Every one of the kingdoms grouped round the two
sovereigns who shared modern Spain was itself a loose conglomeration
of classes. Mention has already been made of the
Jew and the Mudejar. These were more or less forcibly absorbed
or brutally expelled. But the distinctions between class Class Distinctions.
noble and not noble, between town and country, were
in the very fibre of all the Spanish peoples. Expulsion
was impossible and combination only attainable by mutual agreement, and that was never secured. High mountain barriers
and deep river courses had separated the Spaniards locally. They
were more subtly and incurably separated by traditional and legal
status. Speaking generally, and with the proviso that though
names might differ from region to region, the facts did not; it
may be said that Spain could be classified as follows: Under the
crown of Castile all the territory was either abadengo, realingo,
salariego, behetria, or it belonged to some town, big or little, which
had its carta pueblo or town charter, its own fuero Systems of Land Tenure.
(forum) or law. Abadengo was land of the church,
realingo domain of the crown, salariego land of the
nobles. Behetria is less easy to translate. The word
is the romance form of benefactoria. Behetrias, called “plebeian
lordships,” were districts and townships of peasants who were
bound to have a lord, and to make him payments in money
or in kind, but who had a varying freedom of choice in electing
their lord. Some were described as “from sea to sea, and
seven times a day,” that is to say they could take him anywhere
in the king’s dominions from the Bey of Biscay to the Straits
of Gibraltar, and change him as often as they pleased. Others
were de linage, that is to say, bound to take their lord from
certain lineages. Their origin must probably be sought in the
action of communities of Mozarabes, Christians living under
Moslem rule as rayahs, who put themselves under
Christian chiefs of the early days of the reconquest for The Towns.
the benefice of their protection. They were mainly in old Castile.
By the end of the middle ages they had disappeared. The
chartered towns, in Spain east and west, were practically republics living under their own carta pueblo with their own fuero or law. All charters were not granted by the king. Many of them
were given by nobles or ecclesiastics, but required the confirmation of the king. And in this country, where all was local law usage and privilege, where uniformity was unknown, all charters were not held by towns. In many cases the serfs in the course of their struggle for freedom extorted charters and fueros. The greater chartered towns had their surrounding comarcas, answering to the “county” of an Italian city, over which they exercised jurisdiction. In time the villages dependent on a chartered city, as they grew to be towns themselves, fought for, and in many cases won, emancipation, which they then sought to have confirmed by the king and proceeded to symbolize by setting up their own gallows in the market-place. The church had won exemption from the payment of taxes by no general law, but by The clergy particular privilege to this or that chapter, bishopric The Clergy and the Nobles.
or monastery. The nobles claimed, and were allowed,
exemption from taxation. Church and nobles alike were for ever extending their borders by purchase, or trying to do so by force. They conferred their exemptions on the land they acquired, thus throwing the burden of taxation on the towns and the non-nobles with increasing weight. But in this land, where nothing was consistent, there was in reality no sharp division except in the smaller and feudal portion—called Aragon for convenience—and save as between Christian and non-Christian, noble and non-noble. The necessities of the reconquest made it obligatory that all the dwellers on the frontier should be garrison. Hence they were not only
encouraged but required to possess arras. Those of them who
The Caballeros
de Fuero
could provide themselves with a charger, a mail
a spear and a sword were ranked as milites—and the miles was a caballero. Alphonso VII. especially
authorized all men who could arm themselves, mount themselves,
and serve “cavalierly” to live as and count themselves “cavaliers.”
Hence the formation of the class of caballeros de fuero, non-nobles
living “nobly” with a right to wear the sword. The privilege
survived the epoch of the reconquest, and was often extended to
gilds which the king wished to encourage. Hence came the practice
which caused so much surprise and amusement to French and
German travellers of the 16th and 17th centuries—the wearing
of the gentlemanly sword by the artisans of towns.
No general law controlled these local usages and fueros. The fuero juzgo (forum judicum) was accepted by the Mozarabes, and had authority everywhere in cases not provided for by the charters, or where no privilege had been granted by the king. But it was subject to innumerable exceptions, Local Laws. and particular jurisdictions. There was no common tribunal. Nor was any material change introduced after the epoch of the reconquest. Alphonso X., El Sabio or Learned, made a fuero real, which was formed by combining the best parts of existing charters. It was accepted by towns and districts not already chartered, but by them only. The famous siete partidas (seven divisions), drawn up about 1260, is often spoken of as a code of laws. It was never so treated The Siete Partidas. till it was promulgated at the Cortes of Alcala in 1338, in the reign of his great grandson, Alphonso XI. Even then it was subject to the restriction that it was not to prevail against any fuero, or the fuero real. The Cortes might have been expected to forward the work of unification. But without going into details on a subject which requires particular treatment, it may be noted that the Cortes was no more coherent, or fixed in constitution or working, and was no more national, than any other of The Cortes. the institutions of the country. The crown of Castile and Leon had indeed a common Cortes after 1301. Aragon never advanced so far. It, Catalonia and Valencia had each their Cortes, which never united. When King Philip IV. (1621–1665) wished to secure grants of money from these parts of his dominions he had to summon three separate Cortes, which sat in different frontier towns, and he had to negotiate simultaneously with all three. Then the Spaniards, in their carelessness of form and regularity, never fixed any rule as to the constitution of a Cortes. The third estate secured representation in the Cortes of Leon (1188), and then in Castile and the Common Cortes. In the kingdom of Aragon the right was secured about the same time. It was decided that no new tax could be imposed save with the consent of the commons, and that therefore they must be represented. But no rule was ever made as to whom the king was bound to summon, nor even that the presence of the clergy and the nobles was necessary to constitute a true Cortes. It was never claimed by the Cortes that its consent was necessary to the making of laws. The Roman maxim that what the “prince” wills has the force of law was not disputed—nor did the Spaniard doubt that the king acting by himself was “the prince.” The check which the justiza, or chief justice, of Aragon imposed on the king was supported by the force of nobles and cities, but it was an exception in Spain. The representatives of the commons were the personeros and procuradores, i.e. attorneys of the cities. There was no knight of the shire in any Spanish Cortes. The great cities in Castile and Leon succeeded finally in reducing the right of representation to a privilege of eighteen among them, with the good will of the king, who found it easier to coerce or bribe the procurators of eighteen towns than the representatives of a hundred and fifty. The legislative work of such bodies was necessarily small. Their practical power might be great when the king was weak and necessitous, but only then.
It ought to have been easy for kings whose authority was
confessedly so great to have made themselves effectively despotic
amid all this division and weakness. Nor would
they have failed to do so if the sovereigns of Castile
had not been either incapable or short-lived, and if
The Kings of Castile. there had not been an extraordinary succession of long
minorities; while the kings of Aragon were tempted to neglect
their Spanish possessions because they were in pursuit of
their claims and ambitions in Italy. Alphonso X. of Castile
(1252–1284) was an admirable writer, and a man of
keen intelligent interest in science and law. As
a ruler he was at once weak, unstable and obstinate.
He wasted much time and great sums of money in endeavouring
Alphonso X.
1252–1284. to secure his election as emperor—not in Spain, but in the Holy Roman Empire. He did indeed add the town of Cadiz to his
possessions with the help of his vassal, the Moorish king of
Granada, but his reign is filled with quarrels between himself
and his nobles. The nobles of Castile and Leon were not feudal
vassals, but great landowners claiming and exercising rights 01
jurisdiction on their estates. Their name of ricos hombres.
which first appears in written documents of the 12th The Nobles, Ricos Hombres.
century, has been credited with a Teutonic origin,
but it was in all probability nothing but a “romance”
or Castilian translation of the seniores and senatores, potentiores and possessores of the Visigoth councils and code. They represented a nobility of wealth and not of blood. In the earlier times their possessions were divided among their sons. It was only at the end of the 13th century and later that they began to form mayorazgos or entails, to preserve their name and family.
It was then that segundones, or younger sons, began to be known
in the social life of Spain. But whatever their position may
have been legally, they were as grasping as any feudal nobility
in Europe, and they were singularly destitute of any capacity
for combined political action. In Aragon, indeed, the nobles
did extort a promise from the king that they should not be put
to death or deprived of their estates by his mere decision. In
Castile they never went beyond begging or extorting grants of
the crown lands, or pensions charged on the royal revenue.
Alphonso X. ended his life in a civil war with his son Sancho,
who claimed the succession in preference to the children of his
elder brother, Fernando de la Cerda, and in virtue of a doctrine
of which much was heard in the middle ages elsewhere than in
Spain. He maintained that the younger son, being nearer to
the father than the grandson, had a right to succeed in preference to the children of an elder brother who had died before the succession was open. Alphonso, after first accepting Sancho’s claim, repudiated it, and made a will by which he not only left the crown of Castile to the eldest son of Fernando de la Cerda, but cut vassal kingdoms out of the southern parts of Spain for Sancho’s younger brothers.Sancho IV.,
1284–1296.
Ferdinand IV.,
1296–1312 The reign of Sancho IV., surnamed El Bravo, or the Fierce (1284–1296), was one constant struggle with the very nobles who had helped him against his father, with his younger brothers, and with the sons of Fernando de la Cerda. Murder and massacre were his familiar methods. He was succeeded by his infant son Fernando (Ferdinand IV.), whose long minority was an anarchy, tempered by the courage and the tact of his mother, Maria de Molina. Fernando, ungrateful to his mother and incapable as a king, died in 1312, leaving a son of less than a year old, Alphonso XI. (1312–1350). After another minority of confusion, Alphonso, surnamed “of the Rio Salado”, from the great victory he won over an invading host from Africa, ruled with energy and real political capacity. Alphonso XI.,
1312–1350He was indeed ferocious, but such actions as the murder of his great-uncle, Don Juan El Tuerto—the distorted in body and mind—did not seem to his subjects more than the exercise by “the prince” of that right to act for the good of the state legibus solutus which is inherent in sovereignty. But Alphonso did not use his freedom to act legibus solutus except against such hoary and incorrigible intriguers as Don Juan el Tuerto or the Caballero Diego Gil, whom he beheaded with seventeen of his men after promising them security for their lives. He did something to found the judicial and administrative unity of the country. His death at the age of thirty-eight, during the great plague, and while he was besieging Gibraltar, was a misfortune to Spain. His successor, Peter, surnamed the Cruel (1350–1368) was destined to show the Castilians exactly what the constant use by “the prince” of the Peter the Cruel, 1350–1368reserved rights of the sovereign authority could be made to mean, when they were exercised by a passionate man maddened by suspicion of all about him. Administering the civil side of his government through Jewish tax-gatherers and farmers of the taxes, and surrounded by the Mudejar guard, who were the executors of his justice, his path is marked by one long succession of murders. With all his appearance of energy, he shrank from action at the critical moment of his wars out of utter want of trust in all about him. His expulsion by his brother, Henry of Trastamara, the eldest son of Leonora de Guzman, his restoration by the Black Prince (q.v.), his treachery to him, and his final defeat and murder at Montiel, are famous
episodes. Henry of Trastamara, the beginner of the “new
Henry of Trastamara, 1368–1379. kings” (1368–1379), reigned by election. The
nobles and the cities to whom he owed his crown
had proportionate power. In his reign and those of
his immediate successors the Cortes flourished, although it
failed to establish checks on the absolute power of the king.
Henry was on the whole a successful ruler. He forced his
neighbours of Portugal to make peace, his fleet defeated an
English squadron off Rochelle, and he restored internal order.
The civic hermandades, or brotherhoods, enforced respect from
the nobles. John I. (1379–1390), Henry’s son and
John I. 1379–1390. successor, had to contend with John of Gaunt, son
of Edward III. of England, who had married the
eldest daughter of Peter the Cruel, and claimed the crown of
Castile in her name. John averted the danger by arranging a
marriage between his son Henry and Constance, the eldest
daughter of John of Gaunt, an alliance which united the two
equally illegitimate lines representing Alphonso XI., and so
closed the dispute as to the succession. He was less fortunate
in his efforts to vindicate the rights of his wife Beatrix to the
throne of Portugal. The defeat of the Castilians at the battle
of Aljubarrota (1385) compelled the king to renounce his pretensions.
The minority of his son, Henry III. (1390–1406) was
Henry III., 1390–1406.
long, and his effective reign short, but in the brief
space allowed him the king, a weakly man surnamed
El Doliente (the sufferer) did something to establish
order. He recovered all the immense grants of crown
lands and rents, impounded by the nobles during his minority.
The first years of the minority of his infant son, John II. (1406–1454),
were by a rare exception peaceful. The young
king’s uncle Ferdinand (called “of Antequera”
John II., 1406–1454
because he was besieging that town, which he took
from the Moors, when he heard in 1412 that he had been declared
heir to the crown of Aragon by the Cortes of Caspe) acted as
regent. Ferdinand was able and honest. His succession to
the throne of Aragon is an event of capital importance in the
history of the Peninsula.
The kings of Aragon from the death of James the Conqueror
in 1276 to the death of Martin I. in 1410 were so largely concerned in the struggle with the Angevin party in
Naples and Sicily, that their history belongs rather
to Italy than to their Peninsular kingdom. They
The Kings of Aragon.
were six in number; Peter III. (1276–1285), Alphonso III.
(1285–1291), James II. (1291–1327), Alphonso IV. (1327–1336),
Peter IV. (1336–1387), John I. (1387–1305), and
Martin I. (1395–1410). In so far as their influence was felt
in the internal affairs of their Spanish kingdoms, they had a
double task to perform. The first was to reunite the Balearic
Islands and Roussillon, which James the Conqueror had left by
will to a younger son, to the crown of Aragon. This was finally
achieved, after a hideous story of fratricidal hatred and murder
by poison, by Peter IV. Their second task was to reduce their
turbulent barons, in Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia alike, to
the position of obedient subjects. In this task also it was
Peter IV. who achieved success. The barons of Aragon and
Valencia had extorted from his weak father the charter known
Peter IV. and the “Union." as the Union, which not only recognized their just
right not to be punished in life or property, except
by process of law, but explicitly authorized them
to elect the justiza or the chief justice, whose decisions
were to be independent of royal confirmation, and to take up
arms whenever they considered themselves aggrieved. Such
an instrument was of course incompatible with the monarchical
or any other form of government. The object of the life of
Peter IV. was to force the barons to surrender their charter.
After years of struggle and preliminary failures, Peter IV.
defeated the “Union” utterly at the decisive battle of Epila
(1348). He was a typical king of the 15th century, immeasurably
false, and unspeakably ferocious, but he was not a mere blood-thirsty sultan like his enemy, Peter the Cruel of Castile. When
he won he took indeed a brutal vengeance on individuals, and
he extorted the surrender of the charter and destroyed it with
his dagger in the presence of the Cortes at Saragossa. He cut his
hand in his eagerness, and declared that the blood of a king
was well shed in securing the destruction of such an instrument—whence
his popular nickname of Peter of the Dagger (del Punejalet). But his use of the victory was statesmanlike. He fully
confirmed the right of the nobles to trial by law and security
against arbitrary punishment; he left the franchises of the city
untouched, and respected the independence of the justiza.
The result of his victory was to give Aragon and his other
dominions a measure of internal peace unknown in Castile. The
reigns of his sons and successors, John and Martin, were insignificant and tranquil. The death of Martin without children in
1410 left the succession open. The two years of discussion which
followed are interesting as a proof that Aragon had The Succession
in Aragon.
reached a higher political level than Castile. The
Cortes was able to administer in peace, and the
question of the succession was debated as if it had been
in a suit between private persons. The judges finally decided in
favour of Ferdinand, on the ground that his mother, Eleanor,
was the daughter of Peter IV., and that though a woman
could not reign as a “proprietary queen” in Aragon, she
could convey the right to her husband or transmit it to her
son. On their own principles they ought to have given the
crown to John of Castile as the son of Ferdinand’s elder brother.
But the countries were not ripe for union Nevertheless the
choice of Ferdinand was a step forward towards union.
From 1412 to 1479 the separation lasted with a growing approximation of the two states whose interests touched one another
so closely. In Castile John II. (1406–1454), a man
of amiable but indolent character and of literary
tastes, was governed by his favourite, Alvaro de
Castile. John II., 1406–1454.
Luna, and harassed by his nobles. His reign is full of
contentions which were not wars for a principle, but were scurries
for the control of the spigot of taxation. At the end of his life
he sacrificed his favourite at the instigation of his second wife, an
act which, it is said, justly embittered his last days. Of his son,
Henry IV. (1454–1474) it is enough to say that he
was called “the Impotent,” and that there is every
reason to believe that he deserved the description in
Henry IV.,
1454–1474.
all the senses of the word. His reign was an inferior copy of his
father’s. As the legitimacy of his alleged daughter Juana was
disputed, his sister Isabella claimed the succession, and married
her cousin, Ferdinand of Aragon, son of John I., in 1469 in
defiance of her brother. In Aragon, Ferdinand I. “of Antequera”
(1412–1416) was succeeded by Alphonso V. (1416–1458) the Magnanimous, whose brilliant life belongs
to Italy. In Aragon he was represented by his brother John,
who administered as lieutenant-general, and who reigned in his
own right (1458–1479) when Alphonso V. died without legitimate
heirs, leaving Naples by will to a bastard son. John I., a man of indomitable energy and considerable capacity, spent most of his life in endeavouring to enforce his claims to the kingdom of Navarre as the husband and heir of its queen Blanche. His conflict with his son by his first marriage, Charles, prince of Viana, was settled in his favour by the death of the prince. Then he had to contend with a national revolt in Catalonia, which endeavoured to make itself independent under three successive foreign princes. In the end the pertinacity of John triumphed. At the age of over eighty, blind and unconquerable, he transmitted his kingdom to Ferdinand, his son by his second marriage, with Juana Enriquez, of the family of the hereditary admirals of Castile. Navarre went to a daughter, and Roussillon was somewhat fraudulently retained by Louis XI. as security for a debt. Ferdinand conquered the Spanish half of Navarre later, and recovered Roussillon from Charles VIII., the successor of Louis XI.
With the death of John II. of Aragon in 1479 the history of Spain enters on an entirely new period. Hitherto it has been the story of a national development. The process did not cease, but, during the reign of Isabella the Catholic (1474–1504.) until the death of her husband Ferdinand in 1516, was carried, not to completion, but to the stopping place at which it was destined to rest for two centuries. The voyage of Columbus Spanish History after 1479. in 1492, and the intervention of Ferdinand in the great conflict of France, the empire and the papacy for predominance in Italy, had, simultaneously, the effect of opening to her the world of conquest and adventure in America, and of committing her to incessant wars in the Italian Peninsula. The death of John, the only son of Ferdinand and Isabella, the worst misfortune which ever happened to Spain, opened the succession to all the crowns and coronets worn by the Catholic sovereigns to Charles of Habsburg—the emperor Charles V. From that day Spain became a part—the leader, then the paymaster, then the dupe—of the international monarchical confederation called “the illustrious House of Austria.” The Spaniard became the swordsman and executioner of the counter-Reformation, because the power of the House of Austria depended on the imposition of religious unity in Europe. The decision of Charles V., king of Spain and emperor, to leave the Netherlands to his sen Philip II., committed the Spaniards to conflict on the sea with England, and to the insane attempt to secure a safe road for their armies across Europe from the shores of the Mediterranean to the North Sea. Thereby they threatened the very national existence of France. The arrangement was made possible only by the hopeless divisions of Germany, the blind pride of Spain, and the utter political incapacity of both. It forced every patriotic ruler of England to oppose Spain on the sea, and every statesmanlike master of France to ruin her power on the land. Meanwhile the Spaniards were endeavouring to check the advance of the Turks in the Mediterranean, and to exclude all Europe from the waters of the New World. In the intensity of their struggle with the Reformation they subjected education to a censorship which, in order to exclude all risk of heresy, stifled thought and reduced knowledge to the repetition of safe formulas. With their eyes on the ends of the earth, and a ring of enemies from Constantinople to the Antilles, the Spaniards fought, with steadily diminishing material resources, with a character and intellect which shrivelled by swift degrees. When nearly bled to death for the illustrious House of Austria, they were transferred to the House of Bourbon, which in its turn dragged them into conflict with Austria in Italy and England on the sea. At the beginning of the 19th century they had fallen into such a state of weakness that Napoleon could, with some considerable measure of excuse, look upon their country as a species of no-man’s-land into which his troops had only to march on police duty to secure immediate obedience. The history of the 19th century is the liquidation of an enormous bankruptcy, and the completion of the circle which confines the Spaniard once more to the soil of the Peninsula.
Ferdinand and Isabella were proclaimed king and queen of
Castile together, although the crown was hers alone, and although
she never consented to part with her sovereign
authority. In the purely internal affairs of Castile
it was always she who decided on questions of
Ferdinand
and Isabella.
administration. Some opposition was offered by a faction of
the nobles who took up the claims of Henry’s supposed daughter,
commonly called Juana la Beltraneja, because her father was
alleged to have been Don Beltran de la Cueva, who, however,
fought for Isabella. Juana’s party had the support of the king
of Portugal, who arranged a marriage between her and his
son. The defeat of the Portuguese at Toro made an early end
of the war. The new sovereigns immediately began the work
of establishing order and obedience in their dominions. The
line of policy followed by the Catholic sovereigns[4] was to keep
the old forms, but draw the substance of power to themselves.
Thus, for instance, they organized a police to clear the country
of brigands, and attached a special jurisdiction to it, but they
gave it the old name of Hermandad and the very superficial
appearance of a voluntary association of the cities and the gentry.
It consisted of a force of well-appointed horsemen, in the proportion of one to every hundred families. Its merits as a police
have perhaps been exaggerated, and in the war with Granada
its bands were employed as soldiers. But an end was at least
put to the existence of peiias bravas in the dominions of the
crown of Castile. And this was the uniform model of their
policy. The masterships of the military orders of Calatrava,
St Iago and Alcantara were one by one annexed to the Crown.
Their commandaries were used to pay, or pension, the servants
of the sovereigns. No attack was made on the charters of the
towns, but in Castile and Aragon alike royal officers were
appointed to adjudicate on disputes within the corporations
themselves, or between corporation and corporation. By them
the old councils were rapidly reduced to a state of atrophy.
The same course was followed with the Cortes. It continued to
be summoned by the Catholic sovereigns and their successors
of the Habsburg line, but it was needed only to grant money.
The nobles and the clergy, who as exempt from taxation had no
vote, became purely ornamental parts of the Cortes. The
representatives of the third estate were confined by the indifference of the Castilians to eighteen towns, whose procurators
were named by the councils either from among themselves in
rotation, or from particular families. Moreover, they received
pay from the Crown while the Cortes sat. For the work of legislation the Cortes was not needed, and never had been. It was
not even summoned during the whole of the war with Granada.
The Catholic sovereigns provided themselves with a revenue
by the customary wholesale resumptions of grants Government of
the “Catholic Sovereigns.”
made during the reigns of John II. and Henry IV.,
and by the suppression or reduction of the pensions
they had granted with profusion. The nobles,
having been brought to obedience by a frown, were
left in possession of their estates, their social rank and the obligation to render military service. They were summoned to the
royal council, but only as ornamental members, the real authority
and the exclusive right to vote being confined to the letrados,
or lawyers, chosen by the Crown from the class of the burghers.
Encouragement of industry was not wanting; the state undertook to develop the herds of merino sheep, by issuing prohibitions against inclosures, which proved the ruin of agriculture,
and gave premiums for large merchant ships, which ruined the
owners of small vessels and reduced the merchant navy of
Spain to a handful of galleons. Tasas, fixed prices, were placed
on everything. The weaver, the fuller, the armourer, the
potter, the shoemaker were told exactly how to do their own
work. All this did not bear its full fruit during the reign
of the Catholic sovereigns, but by the end of the 16th century
it had reduced Spain to a state of Byzantine regulation in which
every kind of work had to be done under the eye and subject
to the interference of a vast swarm of government officials, all
ill paid, and often not paid, all therefore necessitous and corrupt. When the New World was opened, commerce with it was limited to Seville in order that the supervision of the state might be more easily exercised. The great resource of the treasury was the alcabalas or excises—taxes (farmed by contractors) of 5 or 10% on an article every time it was sold—on the ox when
sold to the butcher, on the hide when sold to the tanner, on the
dressed hide sold to the shoemaker and on his shoes. All this
also did not bear its full fruit till later times, but by the 17th
century it had made Spain one of the two “most beggarly
nations in Europe”—the other being Portugal.
The policy of the Catholic sovereigns towards the Church was of essentially the same character as their treatment of the nobles or the cities. They aimed at using it as an instrument of government. One of the first measures adopted by them in Castile, before the union with Aragon, was to stop the nomination of foreigners to Spanish benefices by the pope. But the most characteristic part of their ecclesiastical policy was the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition (q.v.). By the bull of Sixtus IV. of 1578 they obtained The Spanish Inquisition. authority to appoint three inquisitors, whom they were empowered to remove or replace, and who were independent of, and superior to, the inquisitorial courts of the bishops.
The Spanish Inquisition was a department of the royal government, employed to enforce religious unity and obedience, because they were held to be indispensable in order to obtain national unity and to enforce the authority of the Crown. The Inquisition was at first established (in 1480) in the dominions of Castile only, but it was extended in 1486 to Catalonia and in 1487 to Aragon, in spite of strong protests. The first duties of the Inquisition were to deal with the converted Jews and Mahommedans, respectively known as Marranos and Moriscoes, and with those who still professed their religions. The latter were dealt with by expulsion, which in the case of the Jews was enforced in 1492, and in the case of the subject Mahommedans or Mudejares in 1502. Both were industrious classes, and the loss of their services was disaster. to Spain—the first of a long series of similar measures which culminated in the final expulsion of the Moriscoes in 1610. The converted Jews and Mahommedans presented greater difficulties to the Inquisition. Many of the higher ecclesiastics and of the nobility were of Jewish, or partially Jewish, descent. The landlords who found the Moriscoes useful tenants, and the commercial authorities of towns like Barcelona, who knew the value of the converted Jews, endeavoured to moderate the zeal of the inquisitors. But they were supported by the Crown, and there can be no question that the Holy Office was popular with the mass of the nation. It produced a wholesale flight of the converted Jews to France.
In social life the religious zeal favoured by the Inquisition led to such things as those public processions of flagellants which went on in Spain till the end of the 18th century. It aimed at preserving orthodoxy and developing sainthood on the medieval model. Of ordinary immorality it took little notice, and the triumph of its cause in the 16th and 17th centuries, while producing such types of ecstatic piety as St Theresa (q.v.), the Sor Maria de Jesus (Maria Agreda), (q.v.) and the Venerable Virgin Luisa de Carvajal (q.v.), was accompanied by an extraordinary development of moral laxity. The Holy Office showed equal zeal in extending its jurisdiction, and by the end of the 17th century had provoked a strong reaction. The most honourable passage in its history is the part it took in forwarding the great, though temporary, reform of the monastic orders, which was a favourite object with Queen Isabella.
Between 1481 and 1492 the Catholic sovereigns completed the work of the reconquest by subjugating the one surviving Mahommedan state of Granada. Their task was Granada, materially facilitated by dissensions among the Moors, whose princes intrigued against one another, Conquest of Granada, 1492. and were to the last ready to aid the Christians in the hope of obtaining a small fragment of territory for themselves. The surrender of Granada on the 2nd of January 1492 was partly secured by promises of toleration, which were soon violated. A revolt had to be suppressed in 1501. Having secured the unity of their territory in the Peninsula, the Catholic sovereigns were free to begin the work of expansion. In 1492 Columbus (q.v.) sailed on his first voyage to the west. In 1493 Discovery of America. Ferdinand secured the restoration of Roussillon from Charles VIII. of France by the fallacious treaty in which he undertook to remain neutral during the king’s expedition to Italy. The voyage of Columbus had unforeseen consequences which led to diplomatic difficulties with Portugal, and the treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, which defined the respective spheres of influence of the two powers in the New World and in Asia. In 1497 Ferdinand, with the support of his wife, Foreign Policy of Ferdinand and Isabella. entered on those wars of Italy in which the Spanish regular soldiers first gained their reputation, and which made Spain for a time the dominant power in the Italian peninsula (see Córdoba, Gonzalo F. de). They endeavoured to strengthen themselves against France by marriages with the royal family of England (see Catherine of Aragon) and the Habsburgs. The marriage of Juana, called the Mad, with Philip of Habsburg, son of the emperor Maximilian (q.v.) brought a new dynasty to Spain. On the death of the queen in 1504 her son-in-law claimed the regency, and was supported by the Castilian nobles. His death in 1506 and the insanity of his widow left the Castilians no choice but to restore Ferdinand as regent. During the next ten years Ferdinand governed with the very able assistance Sole Reign of Ferdinand. of the archbishop of Toledo, Jimenes de Cisneros (q.v.). He annexed the southern part of Navarre, which was held by the representatives of his half-sister. The archbishop organized and directed the expedition which conquered Oran, Tripoli and other points on the African coast. Here beyond all doubt lay the proper field for the expansion of Spain. She was drawn from it on the death of Ferdinand in 1516. He was succeeded by his grandson Charles of Habsburg, and when Charles was elected to the empire in 1519 Spain was dragged into the wars and politics of central Europe.
Only the smaller part of the reign of Charles was spent in
Spain. He came to it from Flanders, where he had received his
education, unable to speak the language and surrounded
by Flemish favourites. To him and them
the country was only a source of supply from which
Charles I. of Spain, V. as Emperor.
money was to be obtained in order to bribe the German electors.
The disregard which both showed for the interests of Spain
and its constitutional rights led to the outbreak of the revolt
of the cities—the Comuneros—which plunged Castile into
confusion in 1519 and 1520 after the departure
of Charles for Flanders. The rising of the
Comuneros has often been spoken of as a
struggle for freedom. But it has a very dubious right
to the name. In many places the movement was simply
Revolt of the Comuneros,
1519–1520.
an excuse for a revival of private wars between wealthy noble
families. In others it was a struggle to enforce the claims of
particular towns. It hardly extended as a political movement
beyond the two Castiles. If its leaders had acted together, in
combination with the nobles, the Comuneros could have imposed
their own terms, for there was no royal army to oppose them.
But they drifted into hostility with the nobles, and were defeated
by them at Villalar. The movement then rapidly collapsed.
Charles had no part in the suppression of the revolt. Throughout his reign he respected the claim of the Cortes that no new
taxation should be raised without its consent, but as he had to
deal only with the representatives of eighteen cities, who could
generally be bribed, he rarely failed to secure what he demanded.
The outbreak of the Comuneros in Castile coincided with
the social and agrarian revolt in Valencia known as the
Germania or brotherhood, from the name of the directing
committee appointed by the insurgents. It was in no sense
a movement for political rights, but an attack by Rising of the Germania in Valencia.
the sailors, the workmen of the towns, and the
Christian peasants on the landowners and their
Mudéjar and Morisco serfs. It was accompanied by murder
and massacre and by forced conversions of the Mudéjares.
After desolating Valencia for some three years it was put down
by the help of troops from Castile. The conquest of Mexico
by Hernan Cortes (q.v.) and of Peru by
Francisco Pizarro (q.v.) belong to this reign, but were immediately due to the adventurers in America. These
conquests and the incessant wars into which Spain
was drawn by the Aragonese claims in Italy, and its connexion
with the empire, gave to the nation a great European position
and to the Spanish soldiers of the time many opportunities
Spain and the European Policy
of Charles V.
to win renown. The capture of the French king at Pavia and
his imprisonment at Madrid gratified the pride of the Spaniards,
and did much to reconcile them to the sacrifices which the policy
of the emperor imposed on them. Except, however, in the case
of the successful attack on Tunis in 1535, and the attempt to
take Algiers in 1541, his actions were not inspired by any regard
for the interests of his Spanish kingdoms. He treated them
simply as instruments to promote the grandeur of his house.
His indifference to their good, or his utter inability to see where it lay, was conspicuously shown when, on his abdication in 1556, he left his hereditary Flemish possessions to his son Philip, and not to his brother Ferdinand.
The reign of Philip II. (1556–1598) was a prolongation of the reign of his father, both in domestic and in foreign policy. In it the vices of this policy were displayed to the fullest extent. Philip’s marriage with Mary Tudor 1556–1598. (q.v.) in 1554 having proved barren, and her death in 1558 having placed Elizabeth on the throne of England, he was left without the support against France which this union was meant to secure. At the same time his inheritance of the Netherlands brought him into collision with their inhabitants, who feared his absolutist tendencies, and with the Reformation. The revolt in the Low Countries was inevitably favoured by both France and England. Philip was consequently drawn into intervention in the religious wars of France (q.v.) and into war with England, which culminated in the great Armada (q.v.) of 1588. His relations Spain and the Netherlands, France and England. with England were further complicated by the extension of English maritime enterprise to the New World (see Hawkins, John; and Drake, Francis). In the Mediterranean he was equally forced by his position to take a part in resisting the Turks (see Malta: History; and Lepanto, Battle of). But the key to his whole policy must be sought in his relations to his Flemish subjects. With his absolutist tendencies he was bound to wish to govern them as he did Castile, and the principle of religious toleration, which was not understood by any prince in Europe with the exception of the prince of Orange, William of Orange (q.v.), was peculiarly impossible for him. His reign was therefore one long struggle with forces which he was unable to master.
The burden of the struggle fell with crushing effect on his Spanish dominions and peculiarly on Castile. Aragon, which was poor and tenacious of its rights, would give little; Catalonia and Valencia afforded small help. The Flemish revenue was destroyed by the revolt. The Italian states barely paid their expenses. Resources for the incessant wars of the reign had been sought in the taxation of Castile and the revenue from the mines of America. They were wholly inadequate, and the result of the attempt to dominate all western Europe was to Character of Philip’s government. produce bankruptcy and exhaustion. In his internal government Philip was fully despotic. He made no pretence of consulting the Cortes on legislation, and though he summoned them to vote new taxes he established the rule that the old were to be considered as granted for ever, and as constituting the fixed revenue of the Crown. The nobles were excluded from all share in the administration, which was in the hands of boards (Juntas) of lawyers and men of the middle class. All business was conducted by correspondence, and with a final reference to the king, and the result was naturally endless delay.
The first years of the reign of Philip II. were occupied in concluding the last of his father’s wars with France, to which was added a very unwelcome quarrel with the pope, arising out of his position as duke of Milan. He was unable to avoid sending an army under Alva Foreign Policy of Philip. against Paul IV., and was glad to avail himself of the services of Venice to patch up a peace. On the Flemish frontier, with the help of an English contingent and by the good generalship of Philibert of Savoy he defeated a French army at St Quentin on the 10th of August 1557, and again at Gravelines on the 13th of July 1558. But he did not follow up his successes, and the war was ended by the signing of the peace of Cateau Cambresis on the 2nd of April 1559. The exhaustion of his resources made peace necessary to him, and it was no less desirable to the French government. Philip’s marriage with Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry II. and of Catherine de Medici, together with their common fear of the Reformation, bound him for a time to the French royal house. In August 1559 he returned to Spain, which he never left for the rest of his life. The outcry of the Cortes, whether of Castile or of the other states, for relief from taxation was loud. In some cases the king went so far as to levy taxes in what he acknowledged was an illegal manner and excused under the plea of necessity. By 1567 the revolt in the Netherlands was flagrant, and the duke of Alva was sent with a picked army, and at the expense of Spain, to put it down. In the following year the tyranny of the Inquisition, encouraged by the king who desired to purge his kingdom of all taint of heterodoxy, led to the revolt of the Moriscoes, which desolated Granada from 1568 to 1570, and ruined the province completely. The Moriscoes had looked for help from the Turks, who were engaged in conquering Cyprus from Venice. The danger to Spain and to the Spanish possessions in Italy stimulated the king to join in the Holy League formed by the pope and Venice against the Turks; and Spanish ships and soldiers had a great share in the splendid victory at Lepanto. But the penury of the treasury made it impossible to maintain a permanent naval force to protect the coast against the Barbary pirates (q.v.). Andalusia, Murcia, Valencia, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands were subject to their raids throughout the whole of the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1581 Philip annexed Portugal, as heir to King Henry, the aged successor of Dom Sebastian. Philip endeavoured to placate the Portuguese by the fullest recognition of their constitutional rights, and in particular by favouring the fidalgos or gentry. The duke of Braganza, whose claims were better than Philip’s, was bought off by immense grants. Spain seemed now to have reached a commanding height of power. But she was internally exhausted. Her real weakness, and the incompetence of her Exhaustion of Spain. government, were shown when open war began with England in 1585. While a vast armament was being slowly collected for the invasion of England, Drake swept the West Indies, and in 1587 burnt a number of Spanish ships in their own harbour of Cadiz. The ruinous failure of the great Armada in 1588 demonstrated the incapacity of Spain to maintain her pretensions. In 1591 the support given by the Aragonese to Antonio Perez (q.v.) led to the invasion of their country by a Castilian army. The constitutional rights of Aragon were not entirely suppressed, but they were diminished, and the kingdom was reduced to a greater measure of submission. In his later years Philip added to all his other burdens a costly intervention in France to support the league and resist the succession of Henry IV. to the throne. He was compelled to acknowledge himself beaten in France before his death on the 13th of September 1598. He left the war with England and with the Netherlands as an inheritance to his son.
The period of one hundred and two years covered by the
reigns of Philip III. (1598–1621), Philip IV. (1621–1665) and
Charles II. (1665–1700), was one of decadence, ending
in intellectual, moral and material degradation.
The dynasty continued to make the maintenance of
Philip III.,
1598–1621.
the rights and interests of the House of Austria its main object.
Spain had the misfortune to be saved from timely defeat by
the weakness of its neighbours. The policy of James I. of England
(q.v.), the civil wars of Charles I. (q.v.), the assassination
of Henry IV. of France, the troubles of the minority and reign
of Louis XIII. (q.v.) and the Fronde (q.v.), preserved her from
concerted and persistent foreign attack. After a futile attempt
to injure England by giving support to the earl of Tyrone in
Ireland (see Tyrone, Earls of) peace was made between the
powers in 1604. In 1609 a twelve years’ truce was made with
the Dutch. But the temporary cessation of foreign wars
brought no real peace to Spain. In 1610 fears of the help which
the Moriscoes might give to a Mahommedan attack from Africa
combined with religious bigotry to cause their expulsion. The
measure was thoroughly popular with the nation, but it was
industrially more injurious than a foreign invasion need have
been. The king was idle and pleasure-loving. He resigned
the control of his government to the duke of Lerma (q.v.) one
of the most worthless of all royal favourites. The expenses of the
royal household increased fourfold, and most of the increase
was absorbed by the favourite and his agents. The nobles,
who had been kept at a distance by Philip II., swarmed round
the new king, and began to secure pensions in the old style.
The pillage was so shameless that public opinion was stirred to
revolt. Some of the lesser sinners were forced to restitution,
and in 1618 Lerma fell from power, but only because he was
supplanted by his son, the duke of Uceda, a man as worthless
as himself. In that year was taken the step which was
destined to consummate the ruin of Spain. The Thirty
Years’ War began in Germany, and Spain was called upon to
support the House of Austria.
The death of Philip III. on the 21st of March 1621 brought no real change. His son, Philip IV., was an abler man, and even gave indications of a wish to qualify himself to discharge his duties as king. But he was young, pleasure-loving, and wanted the strength of will to make his good intentions effective.
For twenty years the administration was really directed by
his favourite the count of Olivares (q.v.) and duke of San
Lucar, known as the “Conde Duque,” the count-duke.
Olivares was far more able and honest than
Lerma. But he could only keep his place by supplyingPhilip IV.,
1621–1665.
his master with the means of dissipation and by conforming to
his dynastic sentiments. The truce concluded in 1609 with
Holland ended in 1621, and was not renewed. The commercial
classes, particularly in Portugal, complained that it subjected
them to Dutch competition. War was renewed, and the Dutch
invaded Brazil. As their fleets made it dangerous to send troops
by sea to Flanders, Spain had to secure a safe road overland.
Therefore she endeavoured to obtain full control of the Valtellina,
the valley leading from Lombardy to Tirol, and from thence
to the German ecclesiastical states, which allowed a free passage
to the Spanish troops. War with France ensued. The failure
of the treaty of marriage with England (see Charles I. and
Buckingham, First Duke of) led to war, for the English court
was offended by the Spanish refusal to aid in the restoration of the
count palatine, son-in-law of James I., to his dominions. In
Flanders the town of Breda was taken after a famous siege.
The French conducted their campaign badly. The Dutch were
expelled from Bahia in Brazil, which they had seized. An
English attack on Cadiz in 1625 was repulsed. His flatterers
called the king Philip the Great. A few years later it began to
be a standing jest that he was great in the sense that
a pit is great: the more that is taken from it the greater it
grows. By 1640 the feebleness of the monarchy was so notorious
that it began to fall to pieces. In that year Portugal fell away
without needing to strike a blow. Then followed the revolt
of Naples (see Masaniello) and of the Catalans, who were
bitterly angered by the excesses of the troops sent to operate
against the French in Roussillon. They called in the French, and
the Spanish government was compelled to neglect Portugal.
Olivares, who was denounced by the nation as the cause of all its
misfortunes, was dismissed, and the king made a brief effort
to rule for himself. But he soon fell back under the control of
less capable favourites than Olivares. In 1643 the prestige
of the Spanish infantry was ruined by the battle of Rocroy.
At the peace of Münster, which ended the Thirty Years’ War in
1648, Spain was cynically thrown over by the German Habsburgs
for whom she had sacrificed so much. Aided by the disorders
of the minority of Louis XIV., she struggled on till the peace of
the Pyrenees in 1659, by which Roussillon was ceded to France.
An attempt was now made to subdue Portugal, but the battle
of Montesclaros in 1665 proved the futility of the effort. The
news of the disaster was followed by the death of the king on the
17th of September 1665. Catalonia was saved by the reaction
produced in it by the excesses of the French troops, and in
Naples the revolt had collapsed. But Portugal was lost forever,
and the final judgment on the time may be passed in the
words of Olivares, who complained that he could find “no
men” in Spain. He meant no men fit for high command. The
intellect and character of the nation had been rendered childish.
During the whole of the reign of Charles II. (1665–1700),
the son of the second marriage of Philip IV.
with his niece Mariana of Austria, the Spanish
monarchy was an inert mass, which Louis XIV. treated as
raw material to be cut into at his discretion, and was savedCharles II.,
1665–1700.
from dismemberment only by the intervention of England
and Holland. The wars of 1667–68, ended by the peace of
Aix-la-Chapelle, those of 1672–78, ended by the peace of
Nijmwegen, those of 1683–84, ended by the peace of Ratisbon,
and the war of the League of Augsburg, 1689–96, were some
of them fought wholly, and all of them partly, because the
French king wished to obtain one or another portion of the
dominions of the Spanish Habsburgs. But Spain took a
subordinate and often a merely passive part in these wars.
The king was imbecile. During his minority the government
was directed by his mother and her successive favourites,
the German Jesuit Nithard and the Granadine adventurer
Fernando de Valenzuela. In 1677 the king’s bastard brother,
the younger Don John of Austria, defeated the queen’s faction,
which was entirely Austrian in sentiment, and obtained power
for a short time. By him the king was married in 1679 to Marie
Louise of Orleans, in the interest of France. When she died in
1689, he was married by the Austrian party to Mariana of Neuburg.
At last the French party, which hoped to save their
monarchy from partition by securing the support of France,
persuaded the dying king to leave his kingdom by will to the
duke of Anjou, the grandson of Louis XIV., and of Maria Teresa,
daughter of Philip IV. by his first marriage. On the death of
Charles II., on the 1st of November 1700, the duke of Anjou was
proclaimed king.
The Bourbon Dynasty.—The decision of Louis XIV. to accept
the inheritance left to his grandson by Charles II. led to a final
struggle between him and the other powers of western war of
Europe (see Spanish Succession, War of the),
which was terminated in 1713 by the peace ofWar of Spanish Succession.
Utrecht. The part taken by Spain in the actual
struggle was mainly a passive one, and it ended for her .with the
loss of Gibraltar and the island of Minorca, which remained in
the hands of England, and of all her dominions in Italy and
Flanders. Another and a very serious consequence was that
England secured the Asiento (q.v.), or contract, which gave her
the monopoly of the slave trade with the Spanish colonies, as
well as the right to establish “factories”—that is to say commercial
agencies—in several Central and South American ports,
and to send one cargo of manufactured goods yearly in a ship
of 500 tons to New Carthagena. In internal affairs the years
of the war were of capital importance in Spanish
history. The general political and administrative
nullity of the Spaniards of this generation led toPhilip V.,
1700–1746.
the assumption of all real power by the French or Italian
servants and advisers of the king. Under their direction
important financial and administrative reforms were begun.
The opposition which these innovations produced encouraged
the separatist tendencies of the eastern portion of the
Peninsula. Philip V. was forced to reduce Aragon, Catalonia
and Valencia by arms. Barcelona was only taken in 1714,
the year after the signing of the treaty of Utrecht. The
local privileges of these once independent kingdoms, which had
with rare exceptions been respected by the Austrian kings, were
swept away. Their disappearance greatly promoted the work
of national unification, and was a gain, since they had long
ceased to serve any really useful purpose. The removal of
internal custom-houses, and the opening of the trade with
America, hitherto confined to Seville and to the dominions of the
crown of Castile, to all Spaniards, were considerable boons. The
main agents in introducing and promoting these changes were
the French ambassadors, a very able French treasury official—Jean
Orry, seigneur de Vignory (1652–1719)—and the lady
known as the princess des Ursins (q.v.), the chief lady-in-waiting.
Her maiden name was Anne Marie de la Trémoille, and she was the
widow of Flavio Orsini, duke of Bracciano. Until 1714 she
was the power behind the throne in Spain. On the death of
Philip V.’s first wife Maria Louisa Gabriella of Savoy, in 1714,
the king was married at once to Elizabeth Farnese of Parma, who
expelled Mme des Ursins, obtained complete control Queen
over her husband, and used her whole influence to Elizabeth
drag Spain into a series of adventures in order to Farnese ana
obtain Italian dominions for her sons. Her first agent
was the Italian priest Alberoni (q.v.), whose favour lasted from
1714 to 1719. Alberoni could not, and perhaps did not, sincerely
wish to prevent the queen and king from plunging into an attempt
to recover Sardinia and Sicily, which provoked the armed intervention
of France and England and led to the destruction of
the rising Spanish navy off Cape Passaro (see Torrington, George Byng, Viscount).
In 1731 Elizabeth secured the
succession of her eldest son, Charles, afterwards Charles III.
of Spain, to the duchy of Parma, by arrangement with England
and the Empire. Apart from the Italian intrigues, the most
important foreign affairs of the reign were connected with the
relations of Spain with England. A feeble attempt to regain
Gibraltar was made in 1733, and a serious war was only averted
by the resolute peace policy of Sir Robert Walpole. But in
1739 trade difficulties, which had arisen out of the Asiento in
America, led to a great war with England, which became merged
in the War of the Austrian Succession (q.v.). The king, who had
become almost entirely mad at the end of his life, died on the
9th of July 1746. His successor, Ferdinand VI., the second son
of his first marriage, whose reign lasted till the 10th of August
Ferdinand VI.,
1746–1759.
1759, was a retiring and modest man, who adopted
a policy of peace with England. His ministers, of
whom the most notable were Zenon de Somadevila,
marquis of Ensenada, and Richard Wall, an Irish Jacobite,
carried on the work of financial and administrative reform.
The advance of the country in material prosperity was considerable.
Foreign influences in thought and literature began to
modify the opinions of Spaniards profoundly. The party known
as the Rcgalistas, the lawyers who wished to vindicate the
regalities, or rights of the Crown, against the encroachments of
the pope and the Inquisition, gained the upper hand.
The new sovereign was one of the most sincere, and the most
successful, of the “enlightened despots” of the 18th century.
He had had a long apprenticeship in Naples, and was
a man of forty-three when he came to Spain in 1759.
Until his death on the 14th of December 1788 he was
Charles III.,
1759–1788.
engaged in internal politics, in endeavouring to advance the
material prosperity of Spain. His foreign policy was less wise.
He had a deep dislike of England, and a strong desire to recover
Minorca and Gibraltar, which she held. He had also a strong
family feeling, which induced him to enter into the “Family Compact”
with his French cousins. He made war on England in 1761,
with disastrous results to Spain, which for the time lost both
Havana and Manila. In 1770 he came to the verge of war
with England over the Falkland Islands. In 1778 he joined
France in supporting the insurgent English colonists in America.
The most statesmanlike of his foreign enterprises, the attempt
to take the piratical city of Algiers in 1775 (see Barbary Pirates),
was made with insufficient forces, was ill executed,
and ended in defeat. Yet he was able to recover Minorca and
Florida in the War of American Independence, and he finally
extorted a treaty with Algiers which put a stop to piratical raids
on the Spanish coast. The worst result for Spain of his
foreign policy was that the example set by the United States
excited a desire for independence in the Spanish colonies, and
was the direct incitement to the rebellions at the beginning of
the 19th century. The king’s domestic policy, on the contrary,
was almost wholly fruitful of good. Under his direction many
useful public works were carried out—roads, bridges and large
schemes of drainage. The first reforms undertaken had provoked
a disturbance in Madrid directed against the king’s favourite
minister, the Sicilian marquis of Squillacci. Charles, who
believed that the Jesuits had promoted the outbreak, and also
that they had organized a murder plot against him, allowed his
minister Aranda (q.v.), the correspondent of Voltaire, to expel the
order in 1766, and he exerted his whole influence to secure its
entire suppression. The new spirit was otherwise shown by the
restrictions imposed on the numbers of the religious orders and
on the Inquisition, which was reduced to practical subjection
to the lay courts of law. Many of the king’s industrial enterprises,
such as the Bavarian colony, established by him on the
southern slope of the Sierra Morena, passed away without leaving
much trace. On the other hand the shipping and the industry
of Spain increased greatly. The population made a considerable
advance, and the dense cloud of sloth and ignorance which
had settled on the country in the 17th century was lifted. In
this work Charles III. was assisted, in addition to Squillacci
and Aranda, by Campomanes (q.v.), who succeeded Aranda as
minister of finance in 1787, and by Floridablanca (q.v.), who
ruled the country in the spirit of enlightened bureaucracy.
Charles III. was succeeded in 1788 by his son Charles IV. The father, though “enlightened,” had been a thorough despot; the son was sluggish and stupid to the verge of imbecility, but the despotism remained. The new king was much under the influence of his wife, Maria Louisa of Parma, a coarse, passionate and narrow-minded woman; but he continued to repose confidence in his father’s ministers. Floridablanca was, however, unable to continue his earlier policy, in view of the contemporaneous outbreak of the Revolution in France. The revival of Spain depended on the restoration of her colonial and naval ascendancy at the expense of Great Britain, and for this the support of France was needed. But the “Family Compact,” on which the French alliance depended, ceased to exist when Louis XVI. was deprived of power by his subjects. Of this conclusive evidence was given in 1791. Some English merchants had violated the shadowy claim of Spain to the whole west coast of America by founding a settlement at Nootka Sound. The Spanish government lodged a vigorous protest, but the French National Assembly refused to lend any assistance, and Floridablanca was forced to conclude a humiliating treaty and give up all hope of opposing the progress of Great Britain. This failure was attributed by the minister to the Revolution, Spain and the French Revolution. of which he became the uncompromising opponent, The reforms of Charles III.’s reign were abandoned and all liberal tendencies in Spain were suppressed. But Floridablanca was not content with suppressing liberalism in Spain; he was eager to avenge his disappointment by crushing the Revolution in France. He opened negotiations with the émigrés, urged the European powers to a crusade on behalf of legitimacy, and paraded the devotion of Charles IV. to the head of his family. This bellicose policy, however, brought him into collision with the queen, who feared that the outbreak of war would diminish the revenues which she squandered in self-indulgence. She had already removed from the ministry Campomanes and other supporters of Floridablanca, arid had compelled the latter to restrict himself to the single department of foreign affairs. Early in 1792 she completed her task by inducing Charles IV. to banish Floridablanca to Murcia, and his place was entrusted to the veteran Aranda, who speedily found that he held office only by favour of the queen, and that this had to be purchased by a disgraceful servility to her paramour, Emanuel Godoy. Spain withdrew from the projected coalition against France, and sought to maintain an attitude of neutrality, which alienated the other powers, while it failed to conciliate the Republic. The repressive measures of Floridablanca were withdrawn; society and the press regained their freedom; and no opposition was offered to the propaganda of French ideas. Aranda’s policy might have been successful if it had been adopted earlier, but the time for temporizing was now past, and it was necessary to choose one side or the other. In November 1792 the queen felt herself strong enough to carry out the scheme which she had been long maturing. Aranda was dismissed, Godoy.and the office of first minister was entrusted to Godoy, who had recently received the title of duke of Alcudia. Godoy, who was at once the queen’s lover and the personal favourite of the king, had no experience of the routine of office, and no settled policy. Fortunately for him, the course now to be pursued was decided for him. The execution of Louis XVI. (Jan. 21, 1793) made a profound impression in a country where loyalty was a superstition. Charles IV. was roused to demand vengeance for the insult to his family, and Spain became an enthusiastic member of the first coalition against France. The number of volunteers who offered their services rendered conscription unnecessary; and the southern provinces of France welcomed the Spaniards as deliverers. These advantages, however, were nullified by the shameful incompetence and carelessness of the government. The troops were left without supplies; no plan of combined action was imposed upon the commanders; and the two campaigns of 1793 and 1794 were one long catalogue of failures. Instead of reducing the southern provinces of France, the Spaniards were driven from the strong fortresses that guarded the Pyrenees, and the French advanced almost to the Ebro; and at the same time the British were utilizing the war to extend their colonial power and were establishing more firmly that maritime supremacy which the Spanish government had been struggling for almost a century to overthrow. Under the circumstances the queen and Godoy hastened to follow the example set by Prussia, and concluded the treaty of Basel with France (1795). The terms were unexpectedly favourable, and so great was the joy excited in Madrid that popular acclamation greeted the bestowal upon Godoy of the title of “Prince of the Peace.” But the moderation of the treaty was only a flimsy disguise of the disgrace that it involved. Spain found herself tied hand and foot to the French republic. Godoy had to satisfy his allies by the encouragement of reforms which both he and his mistress loathed, and in 1796 the veil was removed by the conclusion of the treaty of San Ildefonso. This was a virtual renewal of the “Family Compact” of 1761, but with terms far more disadvantageous to Spain. Each power was pledged to assist the other in case of war with twenty-five ships, 18,000 infantry and 6000 cavalry. The real object of the treaty, which was to involve Spain in the war against Great Britain, was cynically avowed in the 18th article, by which, during the present war, the Spanish obligations were only to apply to the quarrel between Great Britain and France. A scheme was prepared for a joint attack on the English coast, but it was foiled by the battle of St Vincent (q.v.), in which Jervis and Nelson forced the Spanish fleet to retire to Cadiz. This defeat was the more disastrous because it deprived Spain of the revenues derived from her colonies. Great Britain seized the opportunity to punish Spain for its conduct in the American War by encouraging discontent in the Spanish colonies, and in the Peninsula itself both nobles and people were bitterly hostile to the queen and her favourite. It was in vain that Godoy sought to secure the friendship of the reforming party by giving office to two of its most prominent members, Jovellanos and Saavedra. Spanish pride and bigotry were offended by the French occupation of Rome and the erection of a republic in the place of the papal government. The treatment of the duke of Parma by the Directory was keenly resented by the queen. Godoy found himself between two parties, the Liberals and the Ultramontanes, who agreed only in hatred of himself. At the same time the Directory, whose mistrust was excited by his attitude in the question of Parma, insisted upon his dismissal. Charles IV. could not venture to refuse; the queen was alienated by Godoy's notorious infidelities; and in March 1798 he was compelled to resign his office.
Godoy's office was entrusted to Saavedra, but the reformers did not obtain the advantages which they expected from the change. Jovellanos was compelled in August to retire on account of ill health—the result, it was rumoured—of attempts on the part of his opponents to poison him. His place was taken by Caballero, an ardent opponent of reform, who restored all the abuses of the old bureaucratic administration and pandered to the bigoted prejudices of the clergy and the court. The only advantage which Spain enjoyed at this period was comparative independence of France. The military plans of the Directory were unsuccessful during the absence of their greatest general in Egypt, and the second coalition gained successes in 1799 which had seemed impossible since 1793. But the return of Bonaparte, followed as it was by the fall of the Directory and the establishment of the Consulate, commenced a new epoch for Spain. As soon as the First Consul had time to turn his attention to the Peninsula, he determined to restore Godoy, who had already Napoleon and Spain. regained the affection of the queen, and to make him the tool of his policy. Maria Louisa was easily gained over by playing on her devotion to the house of Parma, and on the 1st of October 1800 a secret treaty was concluded at San Ildefonso. Spain undertook to cede Louisiana and to aid France in all her wars, while Bonaparte promised to raise the duke of Parma to the rank of king and to increase his territories by the addition either of Tuscany or of the Roman legations. This was followed by Godoy's return to power, though he left the department of foreign affairs to a subordinate. Spain was now more servile to France than ever, and in 1801 was compelled to attack Portugal in the French interests. The Spanish invasion, commanded by Godoy in person, met with no resistance, and the prince ventured to conclude a peace on his own authority by which Portugal promised to observe a strict neutrality on condition that its territories were left undiminished. But Bonaparte resented this show of independence, and compelled Charles IV. to refuse his ratification of the treaty. Portugal had to submit to far harsher terms, and could only purchase peace by the cession of territory in Guiana, by a disadvantageous treaty of commerce, and by payment of twenty-five million francs. In the preliminary treaty with Great Britain he ceded the Spanish colony of Trinidad without even consulting the court of Madrid, while he sold Louisiana to the United States in spite of his promise not to alienate it except to Spain.
Godoy, since his return, had abandoned all connexion with the reforming party. The Spanish Church was once more placed in strict subjection to the Roman see, from which for a short time it had been freed. As soon as Bonaparte saw himself involved in a new war with England, he turned to Spain for assistance and extorted a new treaty (Oct. 9, 1803), which was still more burdensome than that of 1796. Spain had to pay a monthly subsidy of six million francs, and to enforce strict neutrality upon Portugal, this involving war with England. The last remnants of its maritime power were shattered in the battles of Cape Finisterre and Trafalgar, and the English seized Buenos Aires. The popular hatred of Godoy was roused to passion by these disasters, and Spain seemed to stand on the brink of revolution. At the head of the opposition was Ferdinand, the heir to the throne, as insignificant as his rival, but endowed with all good qualities by the credulous favour of the people. Napoleon was at this time eager to humble Great Britain by excluding it from all trade with Europe. The only country which had not accepted his “continental system” was Portugal, and he determined to reduce that kingdom by force. It was not difficult to bribe Godoy, who was conscious that his position could not be maintained after the death of Charles IV. In October 1807 Spain accepted the treaty of Fontainebleau. (See Portugal: History.) The treaty was hardly concluded when a French army under Junot marched through Spain to Portugal, and the royal family of that country fled to Brazil. Ferdinand, whose wife had died in 1806, determined to imitate his rival by bidding for French support. He entered into secret relations with Eugene Beauharnais, Napoleon's envoy at Madrid, and went so far as to demand the hand of a Bonaparte princess. Godoy, who discovered the intrigue, induced Charles IV. to order his son's arrest (Oct. 27, 1807), on the charge of plotting to dethrone his father and to murder his mother and Godoy. The prince indeed was soon released and solemnly pardoned; but, meanwhile, Napoleon had seized the opportunity afforded by the effect of this public scandal in lowering the prestige of the royal family to pour his troops into Spain, under pretext of reinforcing Junot's corps in Portugal. Even this excuse was soon dropped, and by January and February 1808 the French invasion had become clearly revealed as one of conquest. Charles IV. and his minister determined on flight. The news of this intention, however, excited a popular rising at Aranjuez, whither the king and queen had gone from Madrid. A raging mob surrounded the palace, clamouring for Godoy's head; and the favourite's life was only saved by Charles IV.'s announcement of his abdication in favour of Ferdinand (March 17). Murat, however, who commanded the French, refused to be turned aside by this change of circumstances. He obtained from Charles IV. a declaration that his abdication had been involuntary, and, occupied Napoleon attacks Spain. Madrid (March 23, 1808). Meanwhile Napoleon had advanced to Bayonne on the frontier, whither, at his orders, Murat despatched the old king and queen and their favourite Godoy. The emperor had already made up his mind to place one of his brothers on the Spanish throne; but in order to achieve this it was necessary to cajole the young king Ferdinand VII. and get him into his power. Ferdinand, instead of retiring to Andalusia and making himself the rallying point of national resistance, had gone to Madrid, where he was at the mercy of Murat's troops and whence he wrote grovelling letters to Napoleon. It was no difficult matter for the emperor’s envoy, General Savary, to lure him by specious promises to the frontier, and across it to Bayonne, where he was confronted with his parents and Godoy in a scene of pitiful degradation. Struck and otherwise insulted, he was forced to restore the crown to his father, who laid it at the feet of Napoleon. The old king and queen, pensioned by the French government, retired to Rome; Abdication Ferdinand was kept for six years under strict military of Charles guard at Talleyrand’s chateau of Valencay (see Ferdinand VII., King of Spain). On the 13th of May Murat announced to an improvised “junta of regency” at Madrid that Napoleon desired them to accept Joseph Bonaparte as their king.
But Spanish loyalty was too profound to be daunted even by the awe-inspiring power of the French emperor. For the first time Napoleon found himself confronted, not by Bonaparte terrified and selfish rulers, but by an infuriated proclaimed people. The rising in Spain began the popular movement which ultimately proved fatal to his power. At first he treated the novel phenomenon with contempt, and thought it sufficient to send his less prominent generals against the rebels. Madrid was easily taken, but the Spaniards showed great capacity for the guerrilla warfare in the provinces. The French were repulsed from Valencia; and Dupont, who had advanced into the heart of Andalusia, was compelled to retreat and ultimately to capitulate with all his forces at Baylen (July 10). The Spaniards now advanced upon Madrid and drove Joseph from the capital, which he had just entered. Unfortunately the insurgents displayed less political ability than military courage. Godoy's agents, the ministers, were swept aside by the popular revolt, .and their place was taken by local juntas, or committees, and then by a central junta formed from among them, which ruled despotically in the name of the captive king. In a country divided by sectional jealousies it was impossible to expect a committee of thirty-four members to impose unity of action even in a common cause; and the Spanish rising, the first fierceness of which had carried all before it, lacked the organizing force which alone would have given it permanent success. As it was, Napoleon's arrival in Spain was enough to restore victory to the French. In less than a week the Spanish army was broken through and scattered, and Napoleon restored his brother in Madrid. Sir John Moore, who had advanced with an English army to the relief of the capital, retired when he found he was too late, and an obstinate battle, in which the gallant general lost his life, had to be fought before the troops could secure their embarcation at Corunna. Napoleon, thinking the work accomplished, had quitted the Peninsula, and Soult and Victor were left to complete the reduction of the provinces. The capture of Seville resulted in the dissolution of the central junta, and the Peninsula was only saved from final submission by the obstinate resistance of Wellington in Portugal and by dissensions among the French. The marshals were jealous of each other, and Napoleon's plans were not approved by his brother. Joseph wished to restore peace and order among his subjects in the hope of ruling an independent nation, while Napoleon was determined to annex Spain to his own overgrown empire. So far did these disputes go that Joseph resigned his crown, and was with difficulty induced to resume it. Meanwhile, the dissolution of the central junta had given free play to the extremer reforming parties; on the 24th of September these met at Cadiz, which became the capital of what was left of independent Spain.
The Spanish Cortes had never been so entirely suspended as the states-general of France. Philip V., after suppressing the local institutions of the crown of Aragon, had given representation to some of the eastern cities in the general Cortes of Spain. This body had been summoned at the beginning of reigns to swear homage to Cortes of 1810. the new king and his heir, or to confirm regulations made as to the succession. It sat in one house, and was composed of the nobles and churchmen who formed the great majority of procurators chosen by the town councils of a limited though varying number of towns, and of representatives of “kingdoms.” The Cortes of 1810 was constructed on these lines, but with a very important difference in the proportion of its elements. The third estate of the commons secured 184 representatives, who were sufficient to swamp the nobles and the clergy. No intelligent scheme under which the representatives were to be elected had been fixed. In theory the members of the third estate had been chosen by a process of double election. In fact, however, since much of the country was held by the French, they were often returned by such natives of the regions so occupied as happened to be present in Cadiz at the time. The real power fell to those of the delegates who were influenced by the new ideas. Unhappily, they had no experience of affairs; and they were perfectly ready to make a constitution for Spain on Jacobin lines, without the slightest regard to the real beliefs and interests of Spaniards. Out of these materials nothing could be expected to come except such a democratic constitution as might have been made by a Jacobin club in Paris. In a country noted for its fanatical loyalty to the Crown and the Church, the kingship was to be deprived of all power and influence, and the clergy to be excluded as such from Spanish Constitution of 1812. all share in legislation. As though to deprive the constitution of any chance of being made effective, the worst expedients dictated by the suspicious temper of the French convention of 1790 were adopted. Ministers were excluded from the chamber, thus rendering impossible any effective co-operation between the legislature and the executive; and, worst of all, a provision was introduced making members of the Cortes ineligible for re-election, an effective bar to the creation of a class of politicians possessing experience of affairs.
The Spaniards were so broken to obedience, and the manlier part of them so intent on fighting the French, that the Cortes was not at the time resisted. The suppression of the Inquisition and the secularization of the church lands—measures which had already been taken by the government of the intruding French king Joseph at Madrid—passed together with much else. But even before the new constitution was published and sworn, on the 19th of March 1812, large numbers of Spaniards had made up their minds that after the invaders were driven out the Cortes must be suppressed.
The liberation of Spain could hardly have been accomplished without the assistance of Great Britain. The story of the struggle, from the military point of view, is told in the article Peninsular War. In 1812 Wellington determined on a great effort. He secured his base of operations by the capture of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz, and at Salamanca he completely routed the opposing army of Marmont. This victory enabled the English general to enter Madrid (Aug. 12), and Joseph retreated to Valencia. But further advance was prevented by the concentration of the French forces in the east, and Wellington found it advisable to retire for the third time to winter quarters on the Portuguese frontier. It was during this winter that Napoleon suffered his first and greatest reverse in the retreat from Moscow and the destruction of his grand army. This was the signal for the outbreak of the “war of liberation” in Germany, and French troops had to be withdrawn from Spain to central Europe. For the first time Wellington found himself opposed by fairly equal forces. In the spring of 1813 he advanced from Ciudad Rodrigo and defeated Jourdan at Vittoria, the battle which finally decided the Peninsular War. Joseph retired altogether from his kingdom, and Wellington, eager to take his part in the great European contest, fought his way through the Pyrenees into France. Napoleon, who had suffered a crushing defeat at Leipzig, hastened to recognize the impossibility of retaining Spain by releasing Ferdinand VII., who returned to Madrid in March 1814.
Before entering Spain Ferdinand had undertaken to maintain the constitution of 1812, and when on the 22nd of March 1814 he reached Figueras, he was met by a demand on the part of the Cortes that he must accept all the terms of the constitution as a condition of his recognition as king. But Ferdinand had Restoration of Ferdinand VII., 1814. convincing proof of the true temper of the nation. He now refused to recognize the constitution, and was supported in his refusal not only by the army and the Church, but by the masses. There can be no doubt that Ferdinand VII. could have ruled despotically if he had been able to govern well. But, although possessed of some sardonic humour and a large measure of cunning, he was base, and had no real capacity. He changed his ministers incessantly, and on mere caprice. Governed by a camarilla of low favourites, he was by nature cruel as well as cowardly. The government under him was thoroughly bad, and the persecution of the “Jacobins,” that is of all those suspected of Liberal sentiment, ferocious. Partial revolts took place, but were easily crushed. The revolt which overpowered him in 1820 was a military mutiny. During the war the American colonies had rebelled, and soldiers had been sent to suppress them. No progress had been made, the service was dreadfully costly in life, and it became intensely unpopular among the troops. Meanwhile the brutality of the king and his ministers had begun to produce a reaction. Not a few of the officers held Liberal opinions, and this was especially the case with those who had been prisoners in Revolution of 1820. France during the war and had been inoculated with foreign doctrines. These men, of whom the most conspicuous was Colonel Rafael Riego (q.v.), worked on the discontent of the soldiers, and in January 1820 brought about a mutiny at Cadiz, which became a revolution. Until 1823 the king was a prisoner in the hands of a section of his subjects, who restored the constitution of 1812 and had the support of the army. The history of these three miserable years cannot be told except at impossible length. It was a mere anarchy. The Liberals were divided into sub-sections, distinguished from one another by a rising scale of violence. Any sign of moderation on the part of the ministers chosen from one of them was enough to secure him the name of “Servile” from the others. The “Serviles” proper took up arms in the north. At last this state of affairs became intolerable to the French government of Louis XVIII. As early as 1820 the emperor Alexander I. of Russia had suggested a joint intervention of the powers of the Grand Alliance to restore order in the Peninsula, and had offered to place his own army at their disposal for the purpose. The Congress of Verona and Spain. The project had come to nothing owing to the opposition of the British government and the strenuous objection of Prince Metternich to a course which would have involved the march of a powerful Russian force through the Austrian dominions. In 1822 the question was again raised as the main subject of discussion at the congress assembled at Verona (see Verona, Congress of). The French government now asked to be allowed to march into Spain, as Austria had marched into Naples, as the mandatory of the powers, for the purpose of putting a stop to a state of things perilous alike to herself and to all Europe. In spite of the vigorous protest of Great Britain, which saw in this demand only a pretext for reviving the traditional Bourbon ambitions in the Peninsula, the mandate was granted by the majority of the powers; and on the 7th of April 1823 the duke of French Intervention, 1823.Angouleme, at the head of a powerful army, crossed the Bidassoa. The result was a startling proof of the flimsy structure of Spanish Liberalism. What the genius of Napoleon had failed to accomplish through years of titanic effort, Angouleme seemed to have achieved in a few weeks. But the difference of their task was fundamental. Napoleon had sought to impose upon Spain an alien dynasty; Angouleme came to restore the Spanish king “to his own.” The power of Napoleon had been wrecked on the resistance of the Spanish people; Angouleme had the active support of some Spaniards and the tacit co-operation of the majority. The Cortes, carrying the king with it, fled to Cadiz, and after a siege, surrendered with no conditions save that of an amnesty, to which Ferdinand solemnly swore before he was sent over into the French lines. As was to be expected, an oath taken “under compulsion” by such a man was little binding; and the French troops were compelled to witness, with helpless indignation, the orgy of cruel reaction which immediately began under the protection of their bayonets.
The events of the three years from 1820–1823 were the beginning of a series of convulsions which lasted till 1874. On the one hand were the Spaniards who desired to assimilate their country to western Europe, and on the other those of them who adhered to the old order. The first won because the general trend of the world was in their favour, and because their opponents were blind, contumacious, and divided among themselves.
If anything could have recalled the distracted country to harmony and order, it would have been the object-lesson presented by the loss of all its colonies on the continent of America. These had already become de facto independent during the death-struggle of the Spanish The Spanish Colonies. monarchy with Napoleon, and the recognition of their independence de jure was, for Great Britain at least, merely a question of time. A lively trade had grown up between Great Britain and the revolted colonies; but since this commerce, under the colonial laws of Spain, was technically illegitimate, it was at the mercy of the pirates, who preyed upon it under the aegis of the Spanish flag, without there being any possibility of claiming redress from the Spanish government. The decision of the powers at the congress of Verona to give a free hand to France in the matter of intervention in Spain, gave the British government its opportunity. When the invasion of Spain was seen to be inevitable, Canning had informed the French government that Great Britain would not tolerate the subjugation of the Spanish colonies by foreign force. A disposition of the powers of the Grand Alliance to come to the aid of Spain in this matter was countered by the famous message of President Monroe (Dec. 2, 1823), laying the veto of the United States on any interference of concerted Europe in the affairs of the American continent. The empire of Brazil and the republics of Mexico and Colombia were recognized by Great Britain*in the following year; the recognition of the other states was only postponed until they should have given proof cf their stability. In announcing these facts to the House of Commons, George Canning, in a phrase that became famous, declared that he had “called a new world into existence to redress the balance of the old” and that “if France had Spain, it should at least be Spain without her colonies.”
In Spain itself, tutored by misfortune, the efforts of the king’s ministers, in the latter part of his reign, were directed to restoring order in the finances and reviving agriculture and industry in the country. The king's chief difficulties lay in the attitude of the extreme monarchistsReactionary Elements in Spain. (Apostolicos), who found leaders in the king’s brother Don Carlos and his wife Maria Francisca of Braganza. Any tendency to listen to liberal counsels was denounced by them as weakness and met by demands for the restoration of the Inquisition and by the organization of absolutist demonstrations, and even revolts, such as that which broke out in Catalonia in 1828, organized by the “supreme junta” set up at Manresa, with the object of freeing the king from “the disguised Liberals who swayed him.” Yet the absolute monarchy would probably have lasted for long if a dispute as to the succession had not thrown one of the monarchical parties on the support of the Liberals. The king had no surviving Question of the Succession. The Pragmatic Sanction. children by his first three marriages. By his fourth marriage, on the 11th of December 1829, with Maria Christina of Naples he had two daughters. According to the ancient law of Castile and Leon women could rule in their own right, as is shown by the examples of Urraca, Berengaria, and Isabella the Catholic. In Aragon they could transmit the right to a husband or son. Philip V. had introduced the Salic Law, which confined the succession to males. But his law had been revoked in the Cortes summoned in 1789 by Charles IV. The revocation had not however been promulgated. Under the influence of Maria Christina Ferdinand VII. formally promulgated it Isabella II., Queen, 1833. at the close of his life, after some hesitation, and amid many intrigues. When he died on the 29th of September 1833, his daughter Isabella II. was proclaimed queen, with her mother Maria Christina as regent.
The immediate result of the dead king's decision was to throw Spain back into a period of squalid anarchy. Maria Christina would have ruled despotically if she could, and began by announcing that material changes would not be made in the method of government. But the Conservatives preferred to support the late king's brother Don Carlos, and they had the active aid of the Basques, who feared for their local franchises, and of the mountaineers of Navarre, Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia, who were either quite clerical, or who had become attached, during the French invasion and the troubles of the reign of Ferdinand, to a life of guerrillero adventure. Maria Christina Regency of Christina. had the support of the army, and the control of the machinery of government; while the mass of the people passively submitted to the powers that were, while as far as possible eluding their orders. The regent soon found that this was not enough to enable her to resist the active hostility of the Carlists and the intrigues of their clerical allies. She was eventually driven by the necessities of her position to submit to the establishment of parliamentary institutions. She advanced only when forced, first by the need for buying support, and then with the bayonet at her back. First the historic Cortes was summoned. Then in April 1834, under the influence of the minister Martinez de La Rosa, a charter (Estatudo Real) was issued establishing a Cortes in two Estamentos or Estates, one of senators (proceres) and one of deputies, but with no rights save that of petition, and absolutely dependent on the Crown. This constitution was far from satisfying the advanced Liberals, and the supporters of Christina—known as Cristinos—broke into two sections, the Moderados, or Moderates, and Progressistas or Exaltados, the Progressists or Hot-heads. In August 1836 a military revolt at the palace of La Granja in the hills above Segovia drove the regent by sheer violence to accept a democratic constitution, based on that of 1812, which was issued in 1837. Meanwhile Cristinos and Carlistas, the successors of the "Liberates" and "Serviles," were fighting out their quarrel. In 1835 a violent outbreak against the monastic orders took place. In some cities, notably in Barcelona, it was accompanied by cruel massacres. Though the measure was in itself repugnant to Maria Christina, the pressing needs of her government compelled her to consent when Juan Alvarez y Mendizabal (1790–1853), a minister of Jewish descent, forced on her by Liberals, secularized the monastic lands and used them for a financial operation which brought some relief to the treasury.
The Carlist War lasted from the beginning of Isabella's reign till 1840. At first the Carlists were feeble, but they gathered strength during the disputes among the Cristinos. Their leaders, Tomas Zumalacarregui in Biscay and Navarre, and Ramon Cabrera in Valencia, were the ablest Spaniards of their time. The war was essentially a giterrilleros struggle in which the mountaineers held their ground among the hills against the insufficient, ill-appointed, and mostly very ill-led armies of the government, but were unable to take the fortresses, or to establish themselves in central Spain south of the Ebro; though they made raids as far as Andalusia. At last, in August 1839, exhaustion brought the Basques to recognize the government of Queen Isabella by the convention of Vergara in return for the confirmation of their privileges. The government was then able to expel Cabrera from Valencia and Catalonia. Great Britain and France gave some help to the young queen, and their intervention availed to bring a degree of humanity into the struggle.
Maria Christina, who detested the parliamentary institutions which she had been forced to accept, was always ready to nullify them by intrigue, and she was helped by the Moderados. In 1841 the regent and the Moderados made a law which deprived the towns of Revolt and Regency of Espartero. the right of electing their councils. It was resented by the Liberals and provoked a military rising, headed by the most popular of the Cristino generals, Baldomero Espartero. The queen regent having been compelled to sign a decree illegally revoking the law, resigned and left for France. Espartero was declared regent. He held office till 1843, during an agitated period, in which the Carlists reappeared in the north, mutinies were common, and a barbarous attempt was made to kidnap the young queen in her palace on the night of the 7th of October 1841. It was only defeated by the hard fighting of eighteen of the palace guards at the head of the main staircase. In 1843 Espartero, a man of much personal courage and of fitful energy, but of no political capacity, was expelled by a military rising, promoted by a combination of discontented Liberals and the Moderates. The queen, though only thirteen years old, was declared of age.
The reign of Queen Isabella, from 1843 till her expulsion in 1868, was a prolongation of that of her mother's regency. It was a confused conflict between the constant attempt of the court to rule despotically, with a mere pretence of a Cortes, and the growing wish of the Spaniards to possess a parliamentary government, or at least the honest and capable government which they hoped that a parliament would give them. In 1845 the Moderates having deceived their Liberal allies, revised the constitution of 1837 and limited the freedom it gave. Their chief leader, General Ramon Narvaez, had for his guiding principle that government must be conducted by the stick and by hard hitting. In 1846 Europe was scandalized by the ignominious intrigues connected with the young queen's marriage. Louis Philippe, king of the French, saw in the marriage of the The young queen a chance of reviving the family alliance The "Spanish Marriages." which had, in the 18th century, bound Bourbon Spain to Bourbon France. The court of Madrid was rent by the intrigues of the French and the English factions; the former planning an alliance with a son of the French king, the latter favouring a prince of the house of Coburg. The episode of the Spanish marriages forms an important incident in the history of Europe; for it broke the entente cordiale between the two western Liberal powers and accelerated the downfall of the July monarchy in France. There can be no doubt, in spite of the apology for his action published by Guizot in his memoirs, that Louis Philippe made a deliberate attempt to overreach the British government; and, if the attempt issued in disaster to himself, this was due, not to the failure of his statecraft so much as to his neglect of the obvious factor of human nature. Palmerston, on behalf of Great Britain, had agreed to the principle that the queen should be married to one of her Bourbon cousins of the Spanish line, and that the younger sister should marry the duke of Montpensier, son of Louis Philippe, but not till the birth of an heir to the throne should have obviated the danger of a French prince wearing the crown of Spain. Louis Philippe, with the aid of the queen-mother, succeeded in forcing Isabella to accept the hand of Don Francisco d'Assisi, her cousin, who was notoriously incapable of having heirs; and on the same day the younger sister was married to the duke of Montpensier. The queen's marriage was miserable; and she consoled herself in a way which at once made her court the scandal of Europe, and upset the French king's plans by providing the throne of Spain with healthy heirs of genuine Spanish blood. But incidentally the scandals of the palace had a large and unsavoury part in the political troubles of Spain. Narvaez brought Spain through the troubled revolutionary years 1848 and 1849 without serious disturbance, but his own unstable temper, the incessant intrigues of the palace, and the inability of the Spaniards to form lasting political parties made good government impossible. The leaders on all sides were of small capacity. In 1854 another series of outbreaks began which almost ended in a revolution. Liberals and discontented Moderates, supported as usual by troops led into mutiny by officers whose chief object was promotion, imposed some restraint on the queen. Another revision of the constitution was undertaken, though not carried out, and Espartero was brought from retirement to head a new government. But the coalition soon broke up. Espartero was overthrown by General Leopold O'Donnell, who in 1858 formed the Union-Liberal ministry which did at last give Spain five years of fairly good government. A successful war in Morocco in 1859 nattered the pride of the Spaniards, and the country began to make real progress towards prosperity. In 1863 the old scene of confusion was renewed. O'Donnell was dismissed. For the next five years the political history of Spain was the story of a blind attempt on the part of the queen to rule despotically, by the help of reckless adventurers Misrule of Isabella. of mean capacity, and by brute violence. The Isabella opposition took the form of successive military outbreaks accompanied by murder, and suppressed by massacre. In 1868 the government of Queen Isabella collapsed by its own rottenness. She had even lost the mob popularity which she had once gained by her jovial manners. All men of political influence were either in open opposition or, when they belonged to the Conservative parties, were holding aloof in disgust at the predominance of the queen's favourites, Gonzales Brabo, a mere ruffian, and Marfori, her steward, whose position in the palace was perfectly well known.
In September 1868 the squadron at Cadiz under the command of Admiral Topete mutinied, and its action was the signal for a general secession. One gallant fight was made for the queen at the bridge of Alcolea in Andalusia by General Pavia, who was horribly wounded, but it Revolution of 1868. Deposition of Isabella. was an exception. Gonzales Brabo deserted her in a panic. She went into exile, and her reign ended. The Revolution of 1868 was the first openly and avowedly directed against the dynasty. It became a familiar saying that the “spurious race of Bourbon” had disappeared for ever, and the country was called upon to make a new and a better government. But the history of the six years from September 1868 to December 1874 proved that the political incapacity of the Spaniards had not been cured. There was no definite idea anywhere as to how a substitute was to be found. A Republican party had been formed led by a few professors and coffee-house politicians, with the mob of the towns for its support, and having as its mouthpiece Don Emilio Castelar, an honest man of Republican and Monarchical Parties.incredible fluency. The mass of the Spaniards, however, were not prepared for a republic. Besides them were the various monarchical parties: the Alfonsistas, who wished for the restoration of the queen's son with a regency, the partisans -of the widower king consort of Portugal; those of the duke of Montpensier; the Carlists; and a few purely fantastic dreamers who would have given the crown to the aged Espartero. The real power was in the hands of the military politicians, Francisco Serrano (q.v.) and Juan Prim (q.v.), who kept order by means of the army. A constituent Cortes was assembled in 1869, and decided in favour of a monarchy. Serrano was declared regent until a king Regency of Serrano. could be found, and it proved no easy task to find one. Ferdinand of Portugal declined. Montpensier was supposed to be unwelcome to Napoleon, and was opposed by Prim, who had also committed himself to the prophecy that the Bourbons would never return to Spain. Attempts to find a candidate in the Italian family failed at first. So did the first steps taken to find a king in the house of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. When the desired ruler was again sought in this family in 1870, the acceptance of the offer by Prince Leopold proved the immediate cause of the Franco-German War, in which Spain had a narrow Amadeo of Savoy accepts the crown.escape of being entangled. At last, in August of 1870, Prince Amadeo of Savoy, second son of Victor Emmanuel II., consented to become candidate. He was elected on the 3rd of November. On the 27th of December 1870, on the very day on which the new king reached Carthagena, Prim was murdered by assassins who were never discovered.
The nominal reign of Amadeo lasted till February 1873.
It was a scandalous episode. The Italian prince had put himself
into a thoroughly false position, in which the nearest
approach to friends he could find were intriguing politicians
who sought to use him as a tool, and where every man of honest
principles, royalist or republican, looked upon him as an intruder.
The Carlists began to collect in the mountains. Republican
Resignation
of Amadeo.
agitations went on in the towns. At last a dispute in
regard to the officering of the artillery gave the
king an honourable excuse for resigning a throne
on which both he and his wife had been treated
with the utmost insolence.
The Republicans entered the place he left vacant simply
because there was nobody to oppose them. Until January
of the following year the country was given up
to anarchy. The Republicans had undertaken to
abolish the conscription, and many of the soldiers, Republican Interlude.
taking them at their word, disbanded. The Carlists increased
rapidly in numbers, and were joined by many Royalists,
who looked upon them as the last resource. Bands of ruffians
calling themselves “volunteers of liberty” were found to defend
the Republic, and to terrorize society. A new Cortes was
collected and proved a mere collection of hysterical ranters.
Three presidents succeeded one another within a year, Pi y
Margall, Salmeron and Castelar. Ministries changed every few
days. As the Republic was to be federal when finally organized
many parts of Spain proceeded to act independently. One
party went beyond federalism and proposed to split Spain
into cantons. The Cantonalists, who were largely galley
slaves and deserters, seized the important harbour of Carthagena
and the ships in it. The ships were taken out of their
hands by the British and German squadrons. The spectacle
of anarchy, and the stoppage in payment of taxes frightened
the Republican deputies into some approach to sanity. Salmeron
allowed General Pavia to restore order in Andalusia.
When he gave place to Castelar, the eloquent Republican
deputy, who was left unchecked by the recess,
threw all his most eagerly avowed principles to the Castelar’s presidency.
wind, raised a great conscription, and provided
the means of reducing Carthagena and pushing the war against
the Carlists with vigour. When the Cortes met again in January
1874, the extreme parties voted against Castelar on the 3rd
of the month. Hereupon General Pavia, the governor of
Madrid, turned the Cortes into the streets, to the relief of all
sane men in the country. Serrano was appointed as head of
the executive, and was mainly employed during the year in
efforts to save Bilbao from falling into the hands of the Carlists.
It had now become clear that the restoration of the Bourbons
in the person of Don Alphonso, Isabella's son, was the only
way of securing a final settlement. His civilian Alphonso XII.
King, 1874.
agents would have preferred to see him brought in
by a Cortes. But on the 29th of December 1874
General Martinez Campos caused him to be proclaimed king
at Murviedro by a brigade of troops, and the example there
set was followed everywhere. Don Alphonso XII. landed in
Barcelona on the 10th of January 1875.
The Restored Monarchy, 1874–1900.—The first act of Alphonso was a royal decree confirming the appointment of Canovas del Castillo as prime minister. A strong Conservative administration was formed, to which Canovas admitted some men of the old parties of Queen Isabella's reign side by side with men who had played a part in the Revolution before they became his active auxiliaries in the Alphonsist propaganda in 1872 and 1873. This cabinet gave its chief attention for fifteen months to the pacification of the Peninsula, adopting a Conservative and Catholic policy which contributed quite as much as the great display of military resources to make the Pretender lose adherents and prestige from the moment that his cousin reached Madrid. The Church, the nobility and the middle classes soon pronounced for the new state of things. The Alphonsist armies, led by Marshals Campos and Jovellar, swept the Carlist bands from the right bank of the Ebro to the Pyrenees, and took their last strongholds in the eastern provinces, Cantavieja and Seo de Urgel. Not a few of the Carlist leaders accepted bribes to go abroad, and others put their swords at the disposal of the government for employment against the Cuban rebels. Then all the forces of King Alphonso under Marshal Quesada gradually closed round the remainder of the Carlist army in Navarre and in the Basque Provinces at the beginning of 1876. The young king himself was present at the close of the campaign, which sent his rival a fugitive across the French frontier, with the few thousand followers who had clung to his cause to the very end.
Directly the Carlist War was over, the government used part of the large army at its disposal to reinforce the troops which had been fighting the Cuban insurgents since 1869. Marshal Jovellar was sent out to Havana as governor-general, with Marshal Martinez Campos as commander-in-chief The Cuban Insurrection.they managed to drive the rebels of the forces. In about eighteen months into the eastern districts of the island, Puerto Principe and Santiago de Cuba, and induced all but a few irreconcilable chiefs to accept a convention that became famous under the name of the peace treaty of Zanjon. Marshal Campos, who very soon succeeded Jovellar as governor-general of Cuba, for the first time held out to the loyalists of the island the prospect of reforms, fairer treatment at the hands of the mother country, a more liberal tariff to promote their trade, and self-government as the crowning stage of the new policy. He also agreed to respect the freedom of the maroons who had fled from their masters to join the Cubans during the ten years’ war, and this led to Spain's very soon granting gradual emancipation to the remainder of the slaves who had stood by their owners. Marshal Campos was not allowed to carry out his liberal and conciliatory policy, which the reactionary party in the colony, el partido espanol, resented as much as their allies in the Peninsula.
Though much of his time and energies had been devoted to the re-establishment of peace at home and in the colonies from 1875 to 1880, Señor Canovas had displayed considerable activity and resolution in the reorganization of the monarchy. Until he felt sure Internal Changes. of the early termination of the struggle with the pretender, he ruled in a dictatorial manner without the assistance of parliament. Royal decrees simply set aside most of the legislation and reforms of the Spanish Revolution. Universal suffrage alone was respected for a while and used as the means to call into existence the first Cortes of the Restoration in 1876. The electors proved, as usual, so docile, and they were so well handled by the authorities, that Canovas obtained a parliament with great majorities in both houses which voted a limited franchise to take the place of universal suffrage. Immediately afterwards they voted the constitution of 1876, which was virtually a sort of compromise between the constitution of 1845 in the reign of Isabella and the principles of the democratic constitution of the Revolution in 1869. For instance, liberty of conscience, established for the first time in 1869, was reduced to a minimum of toleration for Protestant worship, schools and cemeteries, but with a strict prohibition of propaganda and outward signs of faith. Trial by jury was abolished, on the plea that it had not worked properly. Liberty of associations and all public meetings and demonstrations were kept within narrow limits and under very close surveillance of the authorities. The municipal and provincial councils were kept in leash by intricate laws and regulations, much resembling those of France under the Second Empire. The political as well as the administrative life of the country was absolutely in the hands of the wire-pullers in Madrid; and their local agents, the governors, the mayors and the electoral potentates styled los Caciques, were all creatures of the minister of the interior at the head of Castilian centralization. The constitution of 1876 had created a new senate, of which half the members were either nominees of the Crown or sat by right of office or birth, and the other half were elected by the provinces of the Peninsula and the colonies, the clergy, the universities and the learned societies and academies. The House of Deputies, composed of 456 members, was elected by the limited franchise system in Spain and by an even more restricted franchise in the colonies, five-sixths of the colonists being deprived of representation. From the beginning of the Restoration the great statesman, who was nicknamed at the time the Richelieu of Alphonso XII.'s reign, established a system of government which lasted for a quarter of a century. He encouraged the men of the Revolution who wanted to bow to accomplished facts and make the best of the restricted amount of liberty remaining, to start afresh in national politics as a Dynastic Liberal party. From the moment that such former revolutionists as Sagasta, Ulloa, Leon y Castillo, Camacho, Alonzo Martinez and the marquis de la Vega de Armijo declared that they adhered to the Restoration, Canovas did not object to their saying in the same breath that they would enter the Cortes to defend as much as possible what they had achieved during the Revolution, and to protest and agitate, legally and pacifically, until they succeeded in re-establishing some day all that the first cabinet of Alphonso XII. had altered in the Constitution of 1869. The premier not only approved Sagasta's efforts to gather round him as many Liberals and Democrats as possible, but did not even oppose the return of Emilio Castelar and a few Republicans. He also countenanced the presence in the Cortes for the first time of 15 senators and 42 deputies to represent Cuba and Porto Rico, including a couple of home rulers. Thus Canovas meant to keep up the appearance of a constitutional and parliamentary government with what most Spaniards considered a fair proportional representation of existing parties, except the Carlists and the most advanced Republicans, who only crept into the House of Deputies in some later parliaments. Canovas ruled his own coalition of Conservatives and Catholics with an iron hand, managing the affairs of Spain for six years with only two short interruptions, when he stood aside for a few months, just long enough to convince the king that the Conservative party could not retain its cohesion, even under such men as Marshals Jovellar and Campos, if he did not choose to support them.
In the early years of the Restoration the king and Canovas acted in concert in two most delicate matters. Alphonso XII. agreed with his chief counsellor as to the expediency of keeping military men away from active politics. Canovas boldly declared in the Cortes that the era of military pronunciamientos had been for ever closed by the Restoration, and the king reminded the generals more than once that he intended to be the head of the army. The king and his prime minister were equally agreed about the necessity of showing the Vatican and the Church sufficient favour to induce them to cease coquetting with the pretender Don Carlos, but not so much as to allow the pope and the clergy to expect that they would tolerate any excessive Ultramontane influence in the policy of the Restoration. In regard to foreign policy, the king and Canovas both inclined to assist national aspirations in Morocco, and jealously watched the relations of that empire with other European powers. This desire to exercise a preponderant influence in the affairs of Morocco culminated in the Madrid conference of 1880. Preponderant influence was not attained, but the conference led to a treaty which regulated the consular protection extended to the subjects of Morocco.
In 1878, in spite of the well-known hostility of his mother to the Montpensiers, and in spite of his ministers’ preferences for an Austrian match, King Alphonso insisted upon marrying the third daughter of the duke of Montpensier, Dona Mercedes, who only survivedMarriage of Alphonso XII. her marriage five months. Barely seventeen months after the death of his first wife, the king listened to the advice of Canovas and married, in November 1879, the Austrian archduchess Maria Christina of Habsburg. In general matters the king allowed his ministers much liberty of action. From 1875 to 1881, when not too much engrossed in more pressing affairs, his governments turned their attention to the reorganization of the finances, the resumption of payment of part of the debt coupon, and the consolidation of the colonial and imperial floating debts. They swerved from the mild free trade policy which was inaugurated by Señor Figuerola and by Prim at the beginning of the Revolution, and to which was due the remarkable progress of the foreign trade. This went on almost continuously as long as the regime of moderate tariffs and commercial treatises lasted, i.e. until 1890.
In 1881 the Dynastic Liberals began to show impatience at being kept too long in the cold shade of opposition. Their chief, Sagasta, had found allies in several Conservative and Liberal generals—Campos, Jovellar, Lopez-Dominguez and Serrano—who had taken Liberal Administrations. offence at the idea that Canovas wanted to monopolize power for civil politicians. These allies were said to be the dynastic and monarchical ballast, and in some sort the dynastic guarantees of liberalism in the eyes of the court. Canovas came to the conclusion that it was expedient for the Restoration to give a fair trial to the quondam revolutionists who coalesced under Sagasta in such conditions. He arranged with the king to moot a series of financial projects the acceptance of which by His Majesty would have implied a long tenure of office for the Conservatives, and so Alphonso XII. found a pretext to dissent from the views of his premier, who resigned on the spot, recommending the king to send for Sagasta. The Liberal administration which that statesman formed lasted two years and some months. The policy of Sagasta in domestic affairs resembled that of Canovas. The Liberals had to act cautiously and slowly, because they perceived that any premature move towards reform or democratic legislation would not be welcome at court, and might displease the generals. Sagasta and his colleagues therefore devoted their attention chiefly to the material interests of the country. They made several treaties of commerce with European and Spanish-American governments. They reformed the tariff in harmony with the treaties, and with a view to the reduction of the import duties by quinquennial stages to a fiscal maximum of 15% ad valorem. They undertook to carry out a general conversion of the consolidated external and internal debts by a considerable reduction of capital and interest, to which the bondholders assented. They consolidated the floating debt proper in the shape of a 4% stock redeemable in 40 years, of which £70,000,000 was issued in 1882 by Señor Camacho, the greatest Spanish financier of the century. Sagasta was not so fortunate in his dealings with the anti-dynastic parties, and the Republicans gave him much trouble in August 1883. The most irreconcilable Republicans knew that they could not expect much from popular risings in great towns or from the disaffected and anarchist peasantry in Andalusia, so they resorted to the old practice of barrack conspiracies, courting especially the non-commissioned officers and some ambitious subalterns. The chief of the exiles, Don Manuel Ruiz Zorilla, who had retired to Paris since the Restoration, organized a military conspiracy, which was sprung upon the Madrid government at Badajoz, at Seo de Urgel, and at Santo Domingo in the Ebro valley. This revolutionary outbreak was swiftly and severely repressed. It served, however, to weaken the prestige of Sagasta’s administration just when a Dynastic Left was being formed by some discontented Liberals, headed by Marshal Serrano and his nephew, General Lopez-Dominguez. They were joined by many Democrats and Radicals, who seized this opportunity to break off all relations with Ruiz Zorilla and to adhere to the monarchy. After a while Sagasta resigned in order to let the king show the Dynastic Left that he had no objection to their attempting a mildly democratic policy, on condition that the Cortes should not be dissolved and that Sagasta and his Liberal majorities in both houses should grant their support to the cabinet presided over by Señor Posada Herrera, a former Conservative, of which the principal members were General Lopez-Dominguez and Señores Moret, Montero Rios and Becerra. The support of Sagasta did not last long, and he managed with skill to elbow the Dynastic Left out of office, and to convince all dissentients and free lances that there was neither room nor prospect for third parties in the state between the two great coalitions of Liberals and Conservatives under Sagasta and Canovas. When Posada Herrera resigned, the Liberals and Sagasta did not seem much displeased at the advent to power of Canovas in 1884, and soon almost all the members of the Dynastic Left joined the Liberal party.
From 1881 to 1883, under the two Liberal administrations of Sagasta and Posada Herrera, the foreign policy of Spain was much like that of Canovas, who likewise had had to bow to the king’s very evident inclination for closer relations with Germany, Austria and Foreign Policy. Italy than with any other European powers. Alphonso XII. found a very willing minister for foreign affairs in the person of the marquis de la Vega de Armijo, who cordially detested France and cared as little for Great Britain. The Red-books revealed very plainly the aims of the king and his minister. Spanish diplomacy endeavoured to obtain the patronage of Italy and Germany with a view to secure the admission of Spain into the European concert, and into international conferences whenever Mediterranean and North African questions should be mooted. It prepared the way for raising the rank of the representatives of Spain in Berlin, Vienna, Rome, St Petersburg and London to that of ambassadors. In Paris the country had been represented by ambassadors since 1760. The Madrid foreign office welcomed most readily a clever move of Prince Bismarck’s to estrange Spain from France and to flatter the young king of Spain. Alphonso XII. was induced to pay a visit to the old emperor William in Germany, and during his stay there, in September 1883, he was made honorary colonel of a Uhlan regiment quartered at Strassburg. The French people resented the act, and the Madrid government was sorely embarrassed, as the king had announced his intention of visiting Paris on his way back from Germany. Nothing daunted by the ominous attacks of the French people and press, King Alphonso went to Paris. He behaved with much coolness and self-possession when he was met in the streets by a noisy and disgraceful demonstration. The president of the Republic and his ministers had to call in person on their guest to tender an apology, which was coldly received by Alphonso and his minister for foreign affairs. After the king’s return, the German emperor sent his son the crown prince Frederick, with a brilliant suite, to the Spanish capital, where they were the guests of the king for several days. Until the end of his reign Alphonso XII. kept up his friendly relations with the German Imperial family and with the German government.
The close of the reign of Alphonso XII. was marked by much trouble in domestic politics, and by some great national calamities and foreign complications, while the declining health of the monarch himself cast a gloom over the court and governing classes. The last Conservative cabinet of this reign was neither popular nor successful. When the cholera appeared in France, quarantine was so rigorously enforced in the Peninsula that the external trade and railway traffic were grievously affected. On Christmas night, 1884, an earthquake caused much damage and loss of life in the provinces of Granada and Malaga. Many villages in the mountains which separate those provinces were nearly destroyed. At Alhama, in Granada, more than 1000 persons were killed and injured, several churches and convents destroyed, and 300 houses laid in ruins. King Alphonso went down to visit the district, and distributed relief to the distressed inhabitants, despite his visibly failing health. He held on gallantly through the greater part of 1885 under great difficulties. In the Cortes the tension in tlve relations between the government and the opposition was growing daily more serious. Outside, the Republicans and Carlists were getting troublesome, and the tone of their press vied with that of the Liberals in their attacks on the Conservative cabinet. Then, to make matters worse, an outbreak of cholera occurred in the eastern provinces of the kingdom. The epidemic spread rapidly over the Peninsula, causing great havoc in important cities like Granada, Saragossa and Valencia. The authorities confessed that 105,000 persons died of cholera in the summer and autumn of 1885, being on an average from 41 to 56% of those attacked.
In September a conflict arose between Spain and Germany which had an adverse effect upon his health. Prince Bismarck looked upon the rights of Spain over the Caroline Islands in the Pacific as so shadowy that he sent some German war-ships to take possession of a port in the largest island of the group. The action of Germany caused great indignation in Spain, which led, in Madrid, to imposing demonstrations. The government got alarmed when the mob one night attacked the German embassy, tore the arms of the empire from the door of the consulate, and dragged the escutcheon to the Puerto del Sol, where it was burnt amid much uproar. The troops had to be called out to restore order. Alphonso alone remained cool, and would not listen to those who clamoured for a rupture with Germany. He elected to trust to diplomacy; and Spain made out such a good case for arbitration, on the ground of her ancient rights of discovery and early colonization, that the German emperor, who had no desire to imperil the dynasty and monarchy in Spain, agreed to submit the whole affair to the pope, who gave judgment in favour of Spain.
After his return to Madrid the king showed himself in public
less than usual, but it was clear to all who came in contact
with him that he was dying. Nevertheless, in
Madrid, Canovas would not allow the press to say
a word. Indeed, in the ten months before the
Death of
Alphonso XII.
death of Alphonso XII. the Conservative cabinet displayed
unprecedented rigour against the newspapers of every shade.
The Dynastic, Liberal and Independent press, the illustrated
papers and the satirical weeklies fared no better than the
Republicans, Socialists and Carlists, and in 60 days 1260
prosecutions were ordered against Madrid and provincial
papers. At last, on the 24th of November 1885, the truth
had to be admitted and on the morning of the 25th the end
came.
It was no wonder that the death of a king who had shown so much capacity for rule, so much unselfish energy and courage, and so many amiable personal qualities, should have made Spaniards and foreigners extremely anxious about the prospects of the monarchy. Regency of Queen Christina. Alphonso XII. left no male issue. He had two daughters, the princess of the Asturias, born in 1880, and the Infanta Maria Theresa, born in 1882. At the time of his death it had not been officially intimated that the queen was enceinte. The Official Gazette did not announce that fact until three months after the demise of the sovereign. On the 17th of May 1886, six months after the death of Alphonso XII., his posthumous son, Alphonso XIII., was born at the palace of Madrid. Six months before this event definitely settled the question of the succession to the throne, the royal family and its councillors assembled to take very important decisions. There could be no doubt that under the constitution of 1876 the widowed queen was entitled to the regency. Dona Maria Christina calmly presided over this solemn council, listening to the advice of Marshal Campos, always consulted in every great crisis; of Captain-General Pavia, who answered for the loyalty of the capital and of its garrison; of the duke de Sexto, the chief of the household; of Marshal Blanco, the chief of the military household; and of all the members of the cabinet and the presidents of the Senate and Congress assembled in the presence of the queen, the ex-queen Isabella, and the Infanta Isabella. All looked chiefly to Marshal Campos and Canovas del Castillo for statesmanlike and disinterested advice. The question was whether it would be expedient to continue the policy of the late king and of his last cabinet. Canovas assured the queen-regent that he was ready to undertake the task of protecting the new state of things if it was thought wise to continue the Conservative policy of the late king, but in the circumstances created by his death, he must frankly say that he considered it advisable to send for Senor Sagasta and ask him to take the reins of government, with a view to inaugurate the regency under progressive and conciliatory policy.
Sagasta was summoned to El Pardo, and the result of his interview with the queen-regent, Canovas and the generals, was the understanding ever afterwards known as the pact of El Pardo, the corner-stone of the whole policy of the regency, and of the two great statesmen who so long led the great dynastic parties and the governments of Dona Christina. It was agreed that during the first years of the regency, Canovas and Sagasta would assist each other in defending the institutions and the dynasty. Sagasta made no secret of the fact that it was his intention to alter the laws and the constitution of the monarchy so as to make them very much resemble the constitution of the Revolution of 1868, but he undertook to carry out his reform policy by stages, and without making too many concessions to radicalism and democracy, so that Canovas and his Conservative and Catholic followers might bow to the necessities of modern times after a respectable show of criticism and resistance. The generals assured the queen-regent and the leaders of the dynastic parties that the army might be counted upon to stand by any government which was sincerely determined to uphold the Restoration against Republicans and Carlists. Sagasta left the palace to form the first of several cabinets over which he presided continuously for five years. He took for colleagues some of the strongest and most popular statesmen of the Liberal party, virtually representing the three important groups of men of the Revolution united under his leadership—veteran Liberals like Camacho and Venancio Gonzalez; Moderates like Alonzo Martinez, Gamazo and Marshal Jovellar; and Democrats like Moret, Montero Rios and Admiral Beranger. The new cabinet convoked the Cortes elected under the administration of Canovas in 1884, and the Conservative majorities of both houses, at the request of Canovas, behaved very loyally, voting supplies and other bills necessary to enable the government to be carried on until another parliament could be elected in the following year, 1886.
Pending the dissolution and general election, Sagasta and his colleagues paid most attention to public peace and foreign affairs. A sharp look-out was kept on the doings of the Republicans, whose arch-agitator, Ruiz Zorilla, in Paris displayed unusual activity in his Republican and Carlist Intrigues.endeavours to persuade the Federals, the Intransigeants, and even the Opportunists of Democracy that the times were ripe for a venture. Ruiz Zorilla found no response from the Republican masses, who looked to Pi y Margall for their watchword, nor from the Republican middle classes, who shared the views of Salmeron, Azcarate and Pedregal as to the inexpediency of revolutionary methods. Castelar, too, raised his eloquent protest against popular risings and barrack conspiracies. The Carlists showed equal activity in propaganda and intrigues. Sagasta derived much benefit from the divisions which made democracy powerless; and he was able to cope with Carlism chiefly because the efforts of the pretender himself abroad, and of his partisans in Spain, were first restrained and then decisively paralysed by the influence of foreign courts and governments, above all by the direct interference of the Vatican in favour of the Spanish regency and of the successor of Alphonso XII. The young and most impatient adherents of Carlism vainly pleaded that such an opportunity would not soon be found again, and threatened to take the law into their own hands and unfurl the flag of Dios, Patria, y Rey in northern and central Spain. Don Carlos once more showed his well-known lack of decision and dash, and the Cariist scare passed away. Pope Leo XIII. went even further in his patronage, for he consented to be the godfather of the posthumous son of Alphonso XII., and he never afterwards wavered in the steady sympathy he showed to Alphonso XIII. He was too well acquainted with the domestic politics of the Peninsula to suppose that Carlism could ever do more than disturb for a while the tranquillity of Spain. He did not wish to stake the interests of the Church on a cause which could only revive against her the old animosities of Spanish liberalism and democracy, so roughly displayed in the years 1836 and 1868. Dona Christina, apart from the dictates of gratitude towards the head of her Church for the kindness shown to her son and government, was a zealous Catholic. She proved all through her regency that she not only relied upon the support of the Vatican and of the prelates, but that she was determined to favour the Church and the religious foundations in every possible way. Her purse was always open to assist convents, monasteries, and religious works and societies of all kinds, as long as they were under the management of the Church. She became regent when Spain had felt the consequences of the expulsion of the Jesuits and other religious orders from France after the famous Jules Ferry laws, which aimed at placing these orders more under state control, to which they declined to submit. They selected Spain as an excellent field of enterprise; and it must be said that all the governments of the regency showed so much indulgence towards the Catholic revival thus started, that in less than a decade the kingdom was studded with more convents, monasteries, Jesuit colleges, Catholic schools, and foundations than had existed in the palmy days of the houses of Austria and Bourbon in the 17th and 18th centuries. A wave of Clericalism and ultra-Catholic influences swept over the land, affecting the middle classes, the universities and learned societies, and making itself very perceptible also among the governing classes and both dynastic parties, Liberals and Conservatives.
Next in importance to papal protection was the favourable
attitude of all the European governments towards the
queen-regent and, later, towards her son. The
court and government of Germany vied with the
Austrian and Italian royal families and governments
Europe and
the Regency.
in showing sympathy to the widow of Alphonso XII.
Republican France and the tsar made as cordial demonstrations
as Queen Victoria and her government, and
Switzerland, Belgium, Holland and others followed . suit. The
Spanish foreign office received every assurance that friendly
governments would watch the Carlists and Republicans, to prevent
them from using their territories as a basis for conspiracies
against the peace of Spain. The statesmen of both dynastic
parties, from the beginning of the regency, agreed to observe
strict neutrality in European affairs, in order to avoid complications
fraught with evil consequences for the monarchy and the
dynasty in the unsettled state of the country. This neutrality
was maintained until the close of the 19th century.
Sagasta conducted the first general election in 1886 much after the usual precedents. The Long Parliament of the regency was composed of considerable Liberal majorities in both houses, though Sagasta had allowed a larger share than Canovas was wont to do to the minorities, so much so that on the opposition benches the Republicans of various shades were represented by their most eminent leaders, the Carlists had a respectable group, and the Conservatives a strong muster, flanked by a group of dissentients. The first Cortes of the regency in five sessions did really good and substantial work. A civil code was carefully drawn up by Senor Alonzo Martinez, in order to consolidate the very heterogeneous ancient legislation of the monarchy and the local laws of many provinces, especially Catalonia; Aragon, Valencia, Navarre, and the Basque territory. Trial by jury was re-established for most crimes and offences. The laws regulating the rights of association and public meeting, the liberty of the press, and other rights of the subject were reformed on liberal and more tolerant lines. Finance and trade received attention. Some commercial treaties and agreements were made, including one with Great Britain, which proved highly beneficial to home trade, and the tariff was altered, in spite of much resistance on the part of the Protectionists. In his progressive policy Sagasta was actively and usefully supported by the chief of the moderate Republicans, Emilio Castelar, who recommended his partisans to vote with the Liberal party, because he confessed that bitter experience had taught him that liberties and rights were better attained and made stable by pacific evolution than by revolution. He laid most stress upon this axiom when, in September 1886, Ruiz Zorrilla suddenly sprang upon Sagasta a military and revolutionary movement in the streets and barracks of Madrid. The military authorities acted with promptitude, the rebels being pursued, dispersed and arrested. General Marina and several other officers were condemned to death by court martial, but Queen Christina commuted the sentence into penal servitude, and the ministers of war and marine retired from the cabinet in consequence. Very shortly afterwards, another war minister, General Castillo, attempted to strike at the root of military insubordination, and simultaneously in every garrison of the kingdom the senior sergeants, more than 1000 in all, were given their discharge and ordered to start for their homes on the spot. The lesson produced a good result, as no trace of revolutionary work revealed itself among the non-commissioned officers after 1886, As time wore on, Sagasta found it difficult to maintain discipline in the ranks of the Liberal party. He was obliged to reconstruct the cabinet several times in order to get rid of troublesome colleagues like General Cassola, who wanted to make himself a sort of military dictator, and Camacho, whose financial reforms and taxation schemes made him unpopular He had more often to reorganize the government in order to find seats in the cabinet for ambitious and impatien. worthies of the Liberal party—not always with success, as Senor Martos, president of the Congress, and the Democrats almost brought about a political crisis in 1889. Sagasta cleverly affected to resign and stand aside, so that Senor Alonzo Martinez might vainly attempt to form an intermediary cabinet. Canovas, who was consulted by the queen when Alonzo Martinez failed, faithfully carried out the pact, of El Pardo and advised Her Majesty to send for Sagasta again, as he alone could carry out what remained to be dome of the Liberal programme. Sagasta reconstructed his ministry for the last time, and announced his intention to make the re-establishment of universal suffrage the crowning act of the Liberal policy, knowing very well that he would thus rally round him all the Liberals, Democrats and Republicans in the last session of the Long Parliament. The Suffrage Bill was carried through the Senate and Congress in the spring of 1890 after protracted debates, in which the Conservatives and many military politicians who had previously been regarded as the allies of Sagasta did their best to obstruct the measure. Marshals Campos, Jovellar and Novaliches, and Generals Pavia, Primo de Rivera, Daban and others, were angry with Sagasta and the Liberals not only because they deemed their policy too democratic, but because they ventured to curb the insubordinate attitude of general officers, who shielded themselves behind the immunities of their senatorial position to write insolent letters to the war minister on purely professional questions. Spanish generals of pronunciamiento fame thought it perfectly logical and natural that sergeants and subalterns should be shot or sent to penal servitude for acts of indiscipline, but if an insubordinate general was sent to a fortress under arrest for two months they publicly demonstrated their sympathy with the offender, made angry speeches against their hierarchical chief, the war minister, in the Senate, and dared to call upon the queen-regent to make representations, which unfortunately were listened to, according to the worst precedents of the Spanish monarchy. The increasing violence of the Conservative press and opposition, the divisions developing in the ranks of liberalism, and the restlessness of the agricultural protectionists led by Senor Gamazo, did not weigh so much in the balance at court against Sagasta as the aggressive attitude of the military politicians. Sagasta held on as long as was necessary to secure the promulgation of the universal suffrage law, but he noticed that the queen-regent, when he waited upon her for the despatch of public business, showed almost daily more impatience for a change of policy, until at last, in July 1890, she peremptorily told him that she considered the time had come for calling the Conservatives and their military patrons to her councils. Sagasta loyally furnished the queen with a constitutional pretext for carrying out her desire, and tendered the resignation of the whole cabinet, so that Her Majesty might consult, as usual, the party leaders and generals on the grave question of the expediency of entrusting to new ministers or to the Liberals the mission of testing the new electoral system. Queen Christina on this occasion acted exactly as she henceforth did in all ministerial crises. She slowly consulted the magnates of all parties with apparent impartiality, and finally adopted the course which it was an open secret she had decided upon in pectore beforehand.
Canovas gathered round him most of the prominent Conservative and Catholic statesmen. The first step of the new cabinet was calculated to satisfy the protectionist aspirations which had spread in the kingdom about the same time that most Continental countries were remodellingA Protectionist Regime. and raising their tariffs. The Madrid government used an authorization which Sagasta had allowed his Long Parliament to vote, to please Senor Gamazo and the Liberal representatives of agricultural interests, empowering the government to revise and increase all tariff duties not covered by the then existing treaties of commerce. This was the case with most of the products of agriculture and with live stock, so Canovas and his finance minister made, by royal decree, an enormous increase in the duties on these classes of imports, and particularly on breadstuffs. Then, in 1891, they denounced all the treaties of commerce which contained clauses stipulating most-favoured-nation treatment, and they prepared and put in force in February 1892 a protectionist tariff which completely reversed the moderate free-trade policy which had been so beneficial to the foreign commerce of Spain from 1868 to 1892. Not a few nations retaliated with higher duties upon Spanish exports, and France raised her wine duties to such an extent that the exports of wines to that country dropped from £12,500,000 before 1892 to £2,400,000 in 1893 and the following years. The effects of a protectionist policy verging upon prohibition were soon sharply felt in Spain. Foreign exchanges rose, exports decreased, the railway traffic declined, and the commercial classes and consumers of foreign goods and products were loud in their protests. Industrial interests alone benefited, and imported more raw materials, chemicals, and coal and coke, which naturally influenced the exchanges adversely. Spain only attempted to make new treaties of commerce with Holland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland. The Great Powers contented themselves with securing by agreements the same treatment for their commerce in Spain as that granted by those five treaties. The Protectionists in 1893 wrecked a treaty of commerce with Germany in the Senate; and Spain subsequently persevered in her protectionist policy. During his two and a half years' stay in office Canovas had not so much trouble with the opposition as with the divisions which sprang up in the Conservative ranks, though he fancied that he had managed the general election in 1891 so as to secure the customary docile majorities. The split in the Conservative camp originated in the rivalry between the two principal lieutenants of Canovas, Romero Robledo and Francisco Silvela. The latter and a strong and influential body of Conservatives, chiefly young politicians, dissented from the easy-going views of Romero Robledo and of Canovas on the expediency of reforms to correct the notorious and old-standing abuses and corruption of the municipalities, efpecially of Madrid. When Canovas found himself deserted on so delicate a matter by a numerous section of his party, he resigned, and advised the queen to send for Sagasta and the Liberals.
Sagasta took office very reluctantly, as he considered a change of policy premature. He conducted the general election with much regard for the wishes of the opposition, and out of 456 seats in the Lower House allowed them to have more than 170, the Conservatives gettingDifficulty with Morocco. nearly 100 and the Republicans 30. He had to settle some knotty questions, foremost a conflict with Morocco, which was the consequence of the aggression of the unruly Riff tribes upon the Spanish outposts around Melilla. Reinforcements were tardily sent out; and in a second attack by the Arabs the Spanish forces lost heavily, and their commander, General Margallo, was killed. Public opinion was instantly fired, and the press called so loudly for revenge that the government sent to Melilla no less a personage than Marshal Campos, at the head of 29 generals and 25,000 men. The sultan of Morocco lost no time in censuring the behaviour of the Riff tribes, and in promising that he would chastise them. Marshal Campos was sent to Fez to make a treaty, in which he obtained ample redress and the promise of an indemnity of £800,000, which Morocco punctually paid.
Colonial affairs gave Sagasta much to do. He had given seats in his cabinet to Senor Antonio Maura as colonial secretary and to Senor Gamazo, his brother-in-law, as finance minister. These two moderate Liberals acted in Question. concert to grapple with colonial questions, which in 1894 had assumed a very serious aspect. Spain had received many ominous warnings. Marshal Campos, on returning from Cuba in 1879, had advocated some concessions to satisfy the legitimate aspirations of the majority of the colonists. In 1886, in the first parliament of the regency, Cuban autonomist deputies divided the house on a motion in favour of home rule and of an extension of the franchise in Cuba. This motion was negatived by all the Conservatives, by most of the Dynastic Liberals and by some of the Republicans. The majority of Spaniards were kept by the government and the press quite in the dark about the growth of disaffection in Cuba, so that they were loath to listen to the few men, soldiers and civilians, courageous enough to raise the note of alarm during the ten years before the final catastrophe. For no other reason did the minister for the colonies, Senor Maura, in 1894 fail to convince the Cortes, and even the Liberal party, that his very moderate Cuban Home Rule Bill was an indispensable and wise, though tardy, attempt to avert a conflict which many plain symptoms showed to be imminent in the West Indies. Maura was warmly supported in Congress by the Cuban home rulers and by some far-sighted Liberals and Republicans. Nevertheless, his bill did not find favour with the Conservatives or the majority of the Liberals, and Sagasta, trimming according to his inveterate habit, found a pretext to get rid of Maura and Gamazo. In the place of Maura he found a more pliant minister for the colonies, Senor Abarzuza, who framed a Cuban Reform Bill so much short of what his predecessor had thought an irreducible minimum of concessions, that it was censured in Havana by all the colonial Liberals and home rulers, and by their representatives in Madrid. The latter at the last moment recorded their votes in favour of the Abarzuza Bill when they perceived that a strange sort of eleventh-hour presentiment was about to make all the Spanish parties vote this insufficient reform. Before it could be promulgated, the tidings came of a separatist rising in the old haunts of Creole disaffection near Santiago de Cuba. Sagasta sent about 12,000 men to reinforce the 15,000 soldiers in Cuba under General Callaga, and was preparing more when a characteristically Spanish ministerial crisis arose. The subalterns of the Madrid garrison took offence at some articles published by Radical newspapers, and they attacked the editorial offices. Neither the war minister nor the commanders of the garrison chose to punish the offenders, and sooner than endorse such want of discipline, Sagasta and the Liberal party once more made way for Canovas. A very few days after he assumed office Canovas received information concerning the spread of the rising in Cuba which induced him to send out Marshal Campos with 30,000 men. He allowed Marshal Campos much liberty of action, but dissented from his views on the expediency of allowing him to offer the loyalists of Cuba as much home rule as would not clash with the supremacy of Spain. The prime minister declared that the Cubans must submit first, and then the mother country would be generous.
Before a year had passed, in view of the signal failure of Marshal Campos, the Madrid government decided to send out General Weyler, who had made himself famous in the Philippines and at Barcelona for his stern and cruel procedure against disaffection of every kind. He showed the same merciless spirit in dealing with the Cubans; and he certainly cleared two-thirds of the island of Creole bands, and stamped out disaffection by vigorous military operations and by obliging all the non-combatants General Weyler’s Campaign.who sympathized with the rebels in Weyler’s arms to elect between joining them in the bush, La Manigua, or residing within the Spanish lines. This system might probably have succeeded if the United States had not countenanced the sending of supplies of every kind to the rebels, and if American diplomacy had not again and again made representations against Weyler’s ruthless policy. Canovas so fully comprehended the necessity of averting American intervention that he listened to the pressing demands of secretary Olney and of the American minister in Madrid, Hannis Taylor, and laid before the Cortes a bill introducing home rule in Cuba on a more liberal scale than Maura, Abarzuza and Sagasta had dared to suggest two years before. Canovas did not live to see his scheme put into practice, as he was assassinated by an anarchist at the baths of Santa Agueda, in the Basque Provinces, on the 9th of August 1897. The queen-regent appointed General Azcarraga, the war minister, as successor to Canovas; and a few weeks later President McKinley sent General Woodford as representative of the United States at the court of Madrid. At the end of September 1897 the American minister placed on record, in a note handed by him at San Sebastian to the minister for foreign affairs, the duke of Tetuan, a strongly-worded protest against the state of things in Cuba, and demanded in substance that a stop should be put to Weyler’s proceedings, and some measures taken to pacify the island and prevent the prolongation of disturbances that grievously affected American interests. Less than a fortnight after this note had been delivered, the Conservative cabinet resigned, and the queen-regent asked Sagasta to form a new administration. The Liberal government recalled Weyler, and sent out, as governor-general of Cuba, Marshal Blanco, a conciliatory and prudent officer, who agreed to carry out the home-rule policy which was concerted by Señor Moret and by Sagasta, with a view to obtain the goodwill of the president of the United States. If things had not already gone too far in Cuba, and if public opinion in the United States had not exercised irresistible pressure on both Congress and president, the Moret home-rule project would probably have sufficed to give the Cubans a fair amount of self-government. All through the winter of 1897–1898 the Madrid government took steps to propitiate the president and his government, even offering them a treaty of commerce which would have allowed American commerce to compete on equal terms with Spanish imports in the West Indies and defeat all European competition. But the blowing up of the American cruiser “Maine” in the port of Havana added fuel to the agitation in the United States against Spanish rule in Cuba. When Congress met in Washington the final crisis was hurried on. Spain appealed in vain to European mediation, to the pope, to courts and governments. All, with the exception of Great Britain, showed sympathy for the queen-regent and her government, but none were disposed to go beyond purely platonic representations in Washington.
At last, on the 20th of April 1898, when the Spanish government
learned that the United States minister, General Woodford,
had been instructed by telegraph to present an
ultimatum demanding the cessation of hostilities
in Cuba, with a view to prepare for the evacuation
War with the
United States.
of the island by the Spanish forces, Sagasta decided to give
General Woodford his passports and to break off official
relations with the United States. It was an open secret that
this grave decision was not taken at the cabinet council presided
over by the queen without a solemn protest by Señor Moret
and the ministers of war and marine that the resources of Spain
were totally inadequate for a struggle with the United States.
These protests were overruled by the majority of the ministers,
who invoked dynastic and monarchical considerations in favour
of a desperate stand, however hopeless, in defence of the last
remnants of the colonial empire of Spain. Reckless as was
the course adopted, it was in touch with the feelings of the
majority of a nation which had been to the very end deceived
by the government and by the press not only in regard to its
own resources, but also in regard to those of the United States
and of the colonists in arms in Cuba and in the Philippine Islands.
The sequel is soon told. The Spanish fleet in the Far East
was defeated in Manila Bay by Admiral Dewey. Admiral
Cervera’s squadron was destroyed outside the Bay of Santiago
de Cuba by the American fleet under Admirals Sampson and
Schley. All communication between Spain and her colonies
was thus cut off. An American expedition landed near Santiago,
and the Spanish garrison surrendered after a fortnight’s show
of resistance. Very shortly afterwards, at the end of July,
Spain sued for peace through the mediation of French diplomacy,
which did not obtain much from President McKinley. It was
agreed that hostilities should cease on sea and, land, but that
Spain should evacuate Cuba and Porto Rico pending the negotiations
for a peace treaty which were to begin in Paris at the end
of September 1898. In the meantime Manila and its garrison
had surrendered to the Americans. The agreement of the 9th
of August, signed by M. Cambon, the French ambassador in
Washington, in the name of Spain, clearly stipulated that her
rule in the New World must be considered at an end, and that
the fate of the Philippines would be settled at the Paris negotiations.
Unfortunately, Spain indulged in the illusion that
America would perhaps respect her rights of sovereignty in
the Philippine Islands, or pay a considerable sum for their
cession and recognize the debts of Cuba and of the Philippines.
The American commission, presided over by secretary Day
in Paris, absolutely refused to admit the Spanish contention
that the United States or the new administration in Cuba and
the Philippines should be saddled with several hundred million
dollars of debts, contracted by the colonial treasuries, and
guaranteed by Spain, almost entirely to maintain Spanish rule
against the will of the Cubans and Filipinos. Spain could not
help assenting to a treaty by which she renounced unconditionally
all her rights of sovereignty over Cuba and Porto Rico and ceded
the Philippine and Sulu Islands and the largest of the Marianne
Islands in consideration of the payment of four millions sterling
by America. Thus ended a struggle which only left Spain
the Carolines and a few other islands in the Pacific, which she
sold to Germany in 1899 for £800,000, and a couple of islands
which were left out in the delimitation made by the Paris peace
treaty of the 12th of December 1898, and for which America
paid £20,000 in 1900.
The consequences of the war and of the loss of the colonies were very serious for Spanish finance. The national debt, which consisted before the war of £234,866,500 of external and internal consols and redeemable debts, and £24,250,000 of home floating debt, was increased Financial and Political Reorganization.by £46,210,000 of Cuban and Philippine debts, which tion the Cortes had guaranteed, and by £60,000,000 of debts contracted at a high rate of interest, and with the national guarantee, to meet the expenses of the struggle with the colonies and of the war with the United States. These additional burdens rendered it necessary that taxation and the budget should be thoroughly reorganized. Sagasta and the Liberal party would gladly have undertaken the reorganization of Spain and her finances, but the issue of the war and the unavoidable peace treaty had so evidently damaged their popularity in the country and their credit at court, that the government seized the pretext of an adverse division in the Senate to resign. The Liberals left office after having done all that was morally and materially possible, considering the extremely difficult, indeed inextricable, situation in which they found the country in October 1897. The task of reorganization was confided by the queen-regent to Señor Silvela, who had been universally recognized as the leader of the Conservatives and Catholics after the death of Canovas del Castillo. Silvela endeavoured to unite in what he styled a Modern Conservative party the bulk of the followers of Canovas; the Ultramontanes, who were headed by General Polavieja and Señor Pidal; the Catalan Regionalists, whose leader, Duran y Bas, became a cabinet minister; and his own personal following, of whom the most prominent were the home secretary, Señor Dato, and the talented and energetic finance minister, Señor Villaverde, upon whose shoulders rested the heaviest part of the task of the new cabinet. Silvela lacked the energy and decision which had been the characteristics of Canovas. He behaved constantly like a wary and cautious trimmer, avoiding all extreme measures, shaking off compromising allies like the Ultramontanes and the Regionalists, elbowing out of the cabinet General Polavieja when he asked for too large credits for the army, taking charge of the ministry of marine to carry out reforms that no admiral would have ventured to make for fear of his own comrades, and at last dispensing with the services of the ablest man in the cabinet, the finance minister, Senor Villaverde, when the sweeping reforms and measures of taxation which he introduced raised a troublesome agitation among the taxpayers of all classes. Villaverde. however, had succeeded in less than eighteen months in giving a decisive and vigorous impulse to the reorganization of the budget, of taxation and of the home and colonial debts. He resolutely reformed all existing taxation, as well as the system of assessment and collection, and before he left office he was able to place on record an increase of close upon three millions sterling in the ordinary sources of revenue. His reorganization of the national debt was very complete; in fact, he exacted even more sacrifices from the bondholders than from other taxpayers. The amortization of the home and colonial debts was suppressed, and the redeemable debts of both classes were converted into 4% internal consols. The interest on all colonial debts ceased to be paid in gold, and was paid only in pesetas, like the rest of the internal debts, and like the external debt held by Spaniards. Alone, the external debt held by foreigners continued to enjoy exemption from taxation, under the agreement made on the 28th of June 1882 between the Spanish government and the council of foreign bondholders, and its coupons were paid in gold. The Cortes authorized the government to negotiate with the foreign bondholders with a view to cancelling that agreement. This, however, they declined to do, only assenting to a conversion of the 4% external debt into a 312% stock redeemable in sixty-one years.
After parting with Villaverde, Silvela met with many difficulties, and had much trouble in maintaining discipline in the heterogeneous ranks of the Conservative party. He had to proclaim not only such important provinces as Barcelona, Valencia and Bilbao, but even the capital of Spain itself, in order to check a widespread agitation which had assumed formidable proportions under the direction of the chambers of commerce, industry, navigation and agriculture, combined with about 300 middle-class corporations and associations, and supported by the majority of the gilds and syndicates of taxpayers in Madrid and the large towns. The drastic measures taken by the government against the National Union of Taxpayers, and against the newspapers which assisted it in advocating resistance to taxation until sweeping and proper retrenchment had been effected in the national expenditure, checked this campaign in favour of reform and retrenchment for a while. Silvela’s position in the country had been much damaged by the very fact of his policy having fallen so much short of what the nation expected in the shape of reform and retrenchment. At the eleventh hour he attempted to retrieve his mistake by vague promises of amendment, chiefly because all the opposition groups, above all Sagasta and the Liberals, announced their intention of adopting much the same programme as the National Union. The attempt was unsuccessful, and on the 6th of March 1901 a Liberal government, under the veteran Sagasta, was once more in office. (A. E. H.)
Parties and Conflicts, 1900–1910.—The loss of nearly all that remained of her colonial empire, though in appearance a crowning disaster, in fact relieved Spain of a perennial source of weakness and trouble, and left her free to set her own house in order. In this the task that faced the Conflicting Tendencies. government at the outset of the 20th century was sufficiently formidable. Within the country the traditional antagonisms, regional, political, religious, still lived on, tending even to become more pronounced and to be complicated by the introduction of fresh elements of discord. The old separatist tendencies were increased by the widening gulf between the interests of the industrial north and those of the agricultural south. The growing disposition of the bourgeois and artisan classes, not in the large towns only, to imitate the “intellectuals” in desiring to live in closer touch with the rest of Europe as regards social, economic, scientific and political progress, embittered the struggle between the forces of Liberalism and those of Catholicism, powerfully entrenched in the affections of the women and the illiterate masses of the peasantry. To these causes of division were added others from without: the revolutionary forces of Socialism and Anarchism, here, as elsewhere, so far as the masses were concerned, less doctrines and ideals than rallying-cries of a proletariat in revolt against intolerable conditions. Finally, as though to render the task ' of patriotic Spaniards wellnigh hopeless, there was little evidence of any cessation of that purely factious spirit which in Spanish politics has ever rendered stable party government impossible. A sketch of the political history of a country is necessarily concerned with the externals of politics—the shifting balance of parties, changes of ministries, the elaboration of political programmes; and these have their importance. It must, however, not be forgotten that in a country in which, as in Spain,Spanish Politics. the constitutional consciousness of the mass of the people is very little developed, all these things reflect only very imperfectly the great underlying forces by which the life of the nation is being moulded and its destiny determined. For a century politics in Spain had been a game, played by professionals, between the “ins” and “outs”; victory or defeat at the polls depended less on any intelligent popular judgment on the questions at issue than on the passing interests of the “wire-pullers” and “bosses” (Caciques) who worked the electoral machinery.
Silvela’s Conservative cabinet was succeeded in March 1901 by a Liberal government under the veteran Sagasta, who remained in office—save for two short interludes—until the 3rd of December 1902. He was at once faced with two problems, very opposite in their nature, which were destined to play a very conspicuous part in Spanish politics. The first was that presented by the growth of the religions orders and congregations, the second that arising out of the spread of Socialism and industrial unrest. Under the concordat of the 20th of March 1851, by which the relations of Spain and the Vatican are Question of the Religious Orders. still governed, the law under which since 1836 the religious congregations had been banished from Spain was so far relaxed as to permit the re-establishment of the orders of St Vincent de Paul, St Philip Neri and “one other among those approved by the Holy See,” so that throughout the country the bishops “might have at their disposal a sufficient number of ministers and preachers for the purpose of missions in the villages of their dioceses, &c.” In practice the phrase “one other” was interpreted by the bishops, not as one for the whole of Spain, but as one in each diocese, and at the request of the bishops congregations of all kinds established themselves in Spain, the number greatly increasing after the loss of the colonies and as a result of the measures of secularization in France.[5] The result was what is usual in such cases. The regular clergy were fashionable and attracted the money of the pious rich, until their wealth stood in scandalous contrast with the poverty of the secular clergy. They also all of them claimed, under the concordat, exemption from taxes; and, since many of them indulged in commercial and industrial pursuits, they competed unfairly with other traders and manufacturers, and tended to depress the labour market. The Law of Associations of the 30th of June 1887 had attempted to modify the evil by compelling all congregations to register their members, and all, except the three already recognized under the concordat, to apply for authorization. This law the congregations, hot-beds of reactionary tendencies, had ignored; and on the 19th of July 1901, the queen-regent issued a decree, countersigned by Sagasta, for enforcing its provisions.
Meanwhile, however, more pressing perils distracted the attention of the government. The industrial unrest, fomented by Socialist agitation, culminated in January 1902 in serious riots at Barcelona and Saragossa, and on the 16th of February in the proclamation of a general Industrial Unrest and Socialist Agitation. strike in the former city. The government sent General Weyler, of Cuban notoriety, to deal with the situation; and order was restored. The methods by which this result had been achieved were the subject of violent attacks on the government in the Cortes, and on the 13th of March Sagasta resigned, but only to resume office five days later. He now returned to the question of the religious orders, and on the 9th of April issued a decree proclaiming his intention of enforcing that of the 19th of July 1901. The attitude of the Church was practically one of defiance. The nuncio, indeed, announced that the papacy would be prepared to discuss the question of authorization, but only on condition that all demands for such authorization should be granted. To avoid a crisis at the time when the young king was about to come of age, the government yielded; and on the 10th of May Sagasta announced that a modus vivendi with the Vatican had been established.
King Alphonso XIII., whose enthronement took place with all the antique ceremonial on the 17th of May, was himself at the outset under clerical and reactionary influences, of and his contemptuous treatment of ministers—who at the ceremonial functions were placed wholly in Enthronement of Alphonso XIII., 1902. the background—seemed to argue an intention of ruling personally under the advice of the court camarilla.[6] This impression, due doubtless to the king’s extreme youth and inexperience, was belied in the event; but it served to discredit the Liberal government still further at the time. Señor Antonio Maura y Montanes, who proved himself later a statesman of exceptional character, seceded to the Conservatives. On the 7th of November Sagasta Resignation and Death of Sagasta. himself resigned, resumed office temporarily on the 14th, and handed in his final resignation on the 3rd of December. On the 6th of December a Conservative cabinet was formed under Señor Silvela, Señor Villaverde, pledged to a policy of retrenchment, taking the portfolio of finance.
The death of Sagasta, on the 5th of January 1903, temporarily broke up the Liberal party, which could not agree on a leader; its counsels were directed for the time by a committee, consisting of Señors Montero Rios and Moret, the marquis de la Vega de Armijo, Señor Salvador and Count Romanones. The Republicans, Break-up of Parties. under Salmeron, also had their troubles, due to the growing influence of Socialism; and, finally, the Conservatives were distracted by the rivalries between Silvela, Villaverde and Maura. In the country, meanwhile, the unrest continued. At Barcelona the university had to be closed to stop the revolutionary agitation of the students; in April there were serious riots at Salamanca, Barcelona and Madrid. The result of the new elections to the Cortes, declared on the 26th of April, revealed tendencies unfavourable to the government and even to the dynasty; the large towns returned 34 Republicans. A ministerial crisis followed; Maura resigned; and though the elections to the senate resulted in a large Conservative majority, and though in the lower house a vote of confidence was carried by 183 to 81, Silvela himself resigned shortly afterwards. Señor Villaverde was now called Villaverde Ministry, 1904. upon to form a cabinet. His government, however, accomplished little but the suppression of renewed troubles at Barcelona. His programme included drastic proposals for financial reform, which necessarily precluded an adventurous policy abroad or any additional expenditure on armaments, principles which necessarily brought him into conflict with the military and naval interests. On the 3rd of December Villaverde was forced to resign, his successor being Señor Maura. Meanwhile, on the 24th of November, the Liberal party had been reconstructed, as the Democratic party, under Señor Montero Rios.
Señor Maura, as was to be proved by his second administration, represented the spirit of compromise and of conservative First Maura reform. His position now was one of singular difficulty. Though a Catholic, he had to struggle against the clerical coterie that surrounded the king, First Maura Ministry, 1904. and had not influence enough to prevent the appointment of Monsignor Nozaleda, formerly archbishop of Manila and a prelate of notoriously reactionary views, to the important see of Valencia. His concessions to the demands of the ministers of war and marine for additional estimates for the army and navy exposed him to the attacks of Villaverde in the Cortes; and still fiercer criticism was provoked by the measure, laid by him before the Cortes on the 23rd of June, for the revision of the concordat with Rome, and more especially by the proposal to raise a loan at 4% to indemnify the religious orders for their estates confiscated during the Revolution. Violent scenes greeted the attempt of the government to procure the suspension of the parliamentary immunities of 140 deputies, accused or suspected of more or less treasonable practices, and when, on the 4th of October, the Cortes reopened after the summer recess, Señor Romero Robledo, the president of the lower house, opened an attack on the ministry for their attempted breach of its privileges. Furious debates followed on this, and on the subject of Maura’s financial proposals, which were attacked by the Conservative Villaverde and the Liberal Moret with impartial heat. On the 14th of December Azcarraga Ministry. Maura resigned an impossible task and King Alphonso made General Azcarraga head of a narrowly Clerical-Conservative cabinet.
The new ministry, confronted by a rapidly spreading revolutionary agitation and by a rising provoked by a crop failure and famine in Andalusia, survived scarcely a month. On the 26th of January 1905 Azcarraga resigned, and two days later Señor Villaverde once more Villaverde Ministry, 1905. became prime minister. He was in no hurry to summon the Cortes, partly because the elections to the provincial councils were due in March, and these had to be manipulated so as to ensure the return of a Senate of the right colour, partly because the convocation of the Cortes seemed at best a necessary evil. Already the discredit of parliamentary government was being evidenced in the increased personal power of the young king. Alphonso was now shaking himself loose from the deadening influence of the reactionary court, and was beginning to display a disconcerting interest in affairs, information about which he was apt to seek at first hand. The resignation of the see of Valencia by Archbishop Nozaleda was a symptom of the new spirit. This was none the less distasteful to the Republicans, who thundered against personal government, and to the Liberals, who clamoured for the Cortes and the budget. The Cortes met at last on the 14th of June, and the upshot justified Villaverde’s reluctance to meet it. Attacked by Maura and Moret alike, the prime minister (June 20) accused his former colleague of acting through personal pique; on a motion of confidence, however, he was defeated by 204 votes to 54, and resigned. He died on the 15th of July following, within a few weeks of his former leader and colleague Silvela.
The Liberals now once more came into power under Señor E. Montero Rios, Señor Moret having refused the premiership. The government programme, announced with a view to influencing the impending elections, included financial reform, reform of the customs, modification Montero Rios Ministry, 1905. of the octroi, and the question of the concordat with Rome. The result of the elections was a substantial Liberal majority in both houses. The government was none the less weak. Quarrels broke out in the cabinet between Señor José Echeray. the distinguished banker and famous dramatist, who as minister of finance was intent on retrenchment, and General Weyler, who as minister of war objected to any starving of the army. On the 27th of October, scarcely a fortnight after the opening of the session, the government resigned. At the instance of the king, who was going abroad, Señor Montero Rios consented indeed to resume office; but his difficulties only increased. The price of corn rose, owing to the reimposition by the government, before the elections, of the import duties on corn and flour; and in November there was serious rioting in Seville, Granada, Oviedo, Bilbao and Valencia, Moret Ministry. while in Catalonia the Separatist movement gathered Ministry. such force that on the 29th martial law was proclaimed throughout the province. The same day the government finally resigned. Señor Moret now accepted the premiership; he took over Señor Echeray’s budget, while General Weyler was replaced at the war office by General Luque.
The great constitutional parties had broken up into quarrelling groups just at the time when, as it seemed, the parties of reaction were concentrating their forces. Not the least ominous symptom was the attitude of the officers, who, irritated by newspaper attacks on their conduct in Catalonia more especially, demanded that all crimes against the army should be tried by the councils of war. The prolonged controversies to which this gave rise were settled on the 18th of March by a compromise passed by the Cortes; under this act all cases of press attacks on officers were to be tried by the courts martial, while those against the army generally and the national flag were still to be reserved for the civil courts. The singular weakness of the government revealed by this abdication of part of the essential functions of the civil power would have led to its speedy downfall, but for the truce cried during the festivities connected with the marriage of the king with Princess Victoria Eugenie Ena of Battenberg, which took place on the 31st of May.
The king’s marriage was in many respects significant. In spite
of the young queen’s “conversion” and the singular distinction
conferred on her by the papal gift of the golden rose,
the “Protestant” alliance marked a further stage
in Alphonso XIII.’s emancipation from the tutelage
Alphonso XIII.
of the Clerical-Conservative court. He was, indeed, increasingly
displaying a tendency to think and act for himself which, though
never over-stepping the bounds of the constitution, was somewhat
disconcerting to all parties. His personal popularity,
too, due partly to his youth and genial manners, was at this
time greatly increased by the cool courage he had shown after
the dastardly bomb attack made upon him and his young wife,
during the wedding procession at Madrid, by the anarchist
Matteo Morales.[7] Whatever his qualities, the growing entanglement
of parliamentary affairs was soon to put them to the test.
For the coronation was hardly over when Señor Moret resigned,
and on the 6th of July Captain-General Lopez-Dominguez
Lopex-Dominguez Ministry, 1906.
Civil Marriage Question.
became head of a cabinet with a frankly
Ministry, anti-clerical programme, including complete liberty
of worship, the secularization of education, and the
drastic regulation of the right of association. The signature
by the king of an ordinance giving legal validity to the civil
marriages of Catholics aroused a furious agitation
among the clergy, to which bounds were only set
by the threat of the government to prosecute the
bishop of Tuy and the chapter of Cordova. In the session 1906–1907
the most burning subject of debate was the new Associations
Law, drawn up by Señor Davila. Even in the Liberal
ranks the question aroused furious differences of opinion; Señor
Montero Rios, the president of the senate, denounced the
"infamous attacks on the church"; the government itself
showed a wavering temper in entering on long and futile negotiations
with the Vatican; while in January 1907 the cardinal
archbishop of Toledo presented a united protest of the Spanish
episcopate against the proposed law. This and other issues
produced complete disunion in the Liberal party. Already, on
the 27th of November, Lopez-Dominguez had resigned; his
Vega de Armijo Ministry, 1906–1907.
successor, Moret, had at once suffered defeat in the
house and been succeeded in his turn, on the 4th of
December, by marquis de la Vega de Armijo. The
question was now mooted in the cabinet of dropping
the Associations Law; but on the 21st of January Señor Canalejas,
president of the lower house, who was credited with having
inspired the bill, publicly declared that in that event he would
cease to support the government. By the 24th the cabinet
had resigned, and a Conservative government was in office
under Señor Maura as premier.
The administration of Señor Maura, which lasted till the 21st of October 1900. marks an important epoch in the history of modern Spain. The new premier was no mere party politician, but a statesman who saw the need of his country, on the one hand for effective government, on the other hand for Second Maura Administration, 1907. education, so as to enable it ultimately to govern itself. Though a sincere Catholic, he was no Clerical, as was proved by his refusal to withdraw the ordinance on civil marriage. The main objects that he set before himself were, firstly, the maintenance of order; secondly, the reform of local government, so as to destroy the power of the Caciques and educate the people in their privileges and responsibilities. The dissolution of the Cortes produced a certain rearrangement of parties. The Liberal groups, as usual when in opposition, coalesced. The Republicans, on the other hand, split into sections; in Barcelona, Tarragona and Gerona they were Separatists, while a new party appeared under the name of Solidarists, consisting of Separatists, Carlists and Socialists. The elections in April resulted in a sweeping Conservative victory—the government secured a majority in the lower house of 88 over all other groups combined. As for the “dynastic opposition,” it was reduced to a rump of 66 members, a result so unsatisfactory from the point of view of the monarchy that the government offered to quash certain Conservative returns in order to provide it with more seats. The dynastic opposition, however, considered that it had been unfairly dealt with in the conduct of the elections; and though, out of consideration for the dynasty (an heir to the throne having been born on the 10th of May), they attended the opening of the Cortes on the 13th of May, the Liberals refused to take part in the session that followed, which lasted till the 29th of July. When, however, the Cortes reopened on the 10th of October, Local Administration Reform. the dynastic opposition was once more in its place. It was now that Señor Maura brought in his Local Administration Bill, a measure containing 429 clauses, the main features of which were that it largely increased the responsibility of the local elected bodies, made it compulsory for every elector to vote, and did away with official interference at the polls. The bill met with strenuous opposition, and on the 23rd of December 1907 the Cortes adjourned without its having been advanced.
At the close of the year an Anarchist outrage gave the excuse for the proclamation of martial law in Barcelona, and after the opening of the new session of the Cortes (January 23, 1908) a bill was introduced into the senate giving to the government the most drastic powers for the suppression of Anarchism. Its provisions practically amounted to a complete suspension of the guarantees for civil liberty, it met with the most strenuous opposition, and its final passing by the Senate (May 9) was followed by a serious crisis. Two months before (March 10–13) King Alphonso, with characteristic courage, had paid a surprise visit to Barcelona, and the general enthusiasm of his reception seemed to prove that the disaffection was less widespread or deep than had been supposed. In the circumstances, Señor Maura dropped the Suppression Bill, and the king issued an ordinance re-establishing constitutional guarantees in Catalonia.
This good feeling was unfortunately not destined to be of long duration; and in the following year the struggle between the antagonistic forces in Spain once more produced a perilous crisis. The Local Administration Bill, after being debated for two sessions, passed the lower house on the 13th of February 1909, having at the last moment received the support of the Liberal Señor Moret, though the Radicals as a whole opposed it as gratifying to Señor Cambo, the Regionalist leader, and therefore as tending to disintegration. Though ruling in the spirit of an enlightened despotism rather than in that of a constitutional government, Señor Maura had succeeded in doing a notable work for Spain. It was inevitable that in doing so he should incur unpopularity in many quarters. His efforts to reconstruct the Spanish navy were attacked both by the apostles of retrenchment and by those who saw in the shipbuilding contracts an undue favouring of the foreigner; the Marine Industries Protection Act was denounced as favouring the large ship-owners and exporters at the expense of the smaller men; the Compulsory Education Act as “a criminal assault on the rights of the family.” His ecclesiastical policy also exposed him to the fate of those who take the middle way; the Liberals denounced the minister of education, Don F. Rodriguez San Pedro, for making concessions to the teaching orders, while the archbishops of Burgos and Santiago de Compostella fulminated against the government for daring to tax the congregations. In his reforming work Señor Maura had an active and efficient lieutenant in the minister of the interior, Señor La Cierva. Under his auspices laws were passed reforming and strengthening the police force, instituting industrial tribunals, regulating the work of women and children, introducing Sunday rest, early closing, and other reforms. In short, the government, whatever criticism might be levelled at its methods, had accomplished a notable work, and when on the 6th of June 1909 the Cortes adjourned, its position seemed to be assured.
Its downfall was ultimately due to the development of the crisis in Morocco. This is described elsewhere (see Morocco: History) ; here it is only proposed to outline the effects of its reaction upon the internal affairs of Spain. The trouble, long brewing, broke out in July, with the attack Morocco Crisis. by the Riff tribesmen upon the workmen engaged on the railway being built to connect Melilla with the mines in the hills, held by Spanish concessionaires. The necessity for strengthening the Spanish forces in Africa had for some time been apparent; but Señor Maura had not dared to face the Cortes with a demand for the necessary estimates, for which, now that the crisis had become acute, he had to rely on the authorization of the council of state. The spark was put to the powder by the action of the war minister, General Linares, in proposing to organize a new field force by calling out the Catalan reserves. This summoned up too vivid memories of the useless miseries of former over-sea expeditions. On the 26th of July a general strike was proclaimed at Barcelona, and a movement directed at first against the “conscription” rapidly developed into a revolutionary attack on the established order in church and state. Barcelona The city, a colluvies gentium, was seething with Rising of dangerous elements, its native proletariat being July 1909. reinforced by emigrants returned embittered from failure in South America and a cosmopolitan company of refugees from justice in other lands. The mob, directed by the revolutionary elements, attacked more especially the convents and churches. From the city the revolutionary movement spread to the whole province. In Barcelona the rising was suppressed after three days’ street fighting (July 27-29). On the 28th martial law was proclaimed throughout Spain; and now began a military reign of terror, which lasted until the end of September. In the fortress of Monjuich in Barcelona were collected, not only rioters caught red-handed, but many others—notably journalists—whose opinions were obnoxious. The greatest sensation was caused by the arrest, on the 31st of August, of Señor Ferrer, a theoretical anarchist well known in many countries for his anti-clerical educational work and in Spain especially as the founder of the “lay schools.” He was accused of being the chief instigator of the Barcelona rising, was tried by court martial (Oct. 11-13), and shot. This tragedy, which rightly or wrongly aroused the most widespread indignation throughout Europe, produced a ministerial crisis in Spain. The opening of the October session of the Cortes was signalized by a furious attack by Señor Moret on Señores Maura and La Cierva, who were accused of having Fall of Maura. sacrificed Ferrer to the resentment of their clerical task-masters. The government had been already weakened by the news of Marshal Marina’s reverse in Morocco (Sept. 30); to this new attack it succumbed, Señor Maura resigning on the 21st of October 1909.
On the 22nd the formation of a new cabinet under Señor Moret was announced. It was from the first in a position of singular weakness, without a homogeneous majority in the Cortes, and depending for its very existence on the uncertain support of the extreme Left and Moret Ministry, 1909–1910.the Republicans. For three months it existed without daring to put forward a programme. It sent General Weyler to keep Barcelona in order, caused the release of most of the prisoners in Monjuich, reduced the forces in Morocco, reopened negotiations with Rome for a modification of the concordat, and on the 31st of December, the end of the financial year, was responsible for the issue of a royal decree stating that the budget would remain in force until the Cortes could pass a new one. But, meanwhile, the municipal elections, under the new Local Administration Law, had resulted in a triumph of the Liberals (Dec. 12). Señor Moret now considered the time ripe for a dissolution; the king, however, refused to consent, and on the 9th of February 1910 the ministry resigned. The new cabinet, with Señor Canalejas as president of the council, included members of the various Liberal and RadicalCanalejas Ministry, 1910. groups: Garcia Prieto (foreign affairs), Count Sagasta (interior), General Aznar (war), the Democrat Arias Miranda (navy), Cobian, a strong Catholic though a Liberal (finance), Ruiz Valarino, a Democrat (justice), Calbeton (public works) and Count Romanones, who advocated a liberal settlement with the Church (education).
Though at once denounced by Señor Moret as “a democratic flag being used to cover reactionary merchandise,”[8] the name of Canalejas was in itself a guarantee that the burning question of the relations of the state to Rome and the religious orders would at last be taken in Quarrel with the Vatican. hand, while the presence of so many moderate elements in his cabinet showed that it would be approached in a conciliatory spirit. A beginning was made with the issue of a circular by the minister of finance (March 18), ordering the collection of taxes from all religious bodies carrying on commercial and industrial enterprises. What more could be done would depend on the result of the elections necessitated by the dissolution of the Cortes on the 15th of April. Count Romanones, desiring to educate the electors, had been busy establishing schools; but the sweeping victory of the Liberals at the polls[9] was probably far more due to the fact that this was the first election held under Señor Maura’s Local Administration Act, and that the ignorant electors, indignant at being forced to vote under penalty of a fine, where they did not spoil their ballot papers, voted against the Conservatives as the authors of their grievance.
The government was thus in a position vigorously to pursue its religious policy. On the 31st of May the official Gaceta published a decree setting forth the rules to which the religious associations would have to submit. It was pointed out that, in conformity with the decree of the 9th of April 1902, it had become necessary to coerce those congregations and associations which had not fulfilled the formalities prescribed by the law of 1887, and also those engaged in commerce and industry which had not taken out patents with a view to their taxation. It further ordered that all foreign members of congregations were to register themselves at their respective consulates, in accordance with the decrees of 1901 and 1902. On the 11th of June a further and still more significant step was taken. A royal ordinance was issued repealing that signed by Canovas del Castillo (Oct. 23, 1876), immediately after the promulgation of the constitution of 1876, interpreting the 11th article of the constitution, by which the free exercise of all cults was guaranteed in Spain. The article in question forbade “external signs or public manifestations of all religious confessions with the exception of that of the state," which was defined by Canovas del Castillo as meaning “any emblem, attribute or lettering which would appear on the exterior walls of dissident places of worship.”[10] In the speech from the throne at the opening of the new Cortes (June 16) the king declared that his government would” strive to give expression to the
public aspirations for the reduction and control of the excessive number of orders and religious orders, without impairing their independence in spiritual matters," and in introducing a bill for the amendment of the law of 1887 Señor Canalejas declared that the government, “inspired by the universal spirit of liberty of conscience,” had given to article xi. of the constitution “the full sense of its text.”1
“Liberty of conscience,” a principle condemned by the Syllabus of 1864 and sneered at in the encyclical Pascendi gregis of 1905, was hardly a phrase calculated to conciliate the Spanish clergy, still less the Vatican. A cry went up that to allow dissident churches to announce their presence was to insult and persecute the Catholic Church;2 at Rome the decree was attacked as unconstitutional, and a breach of diplomatic propriety all the more reprehensible as negotiations for a revision of the concordat were actually pending. A violent clerical agitation, encouraged by the Vatican, was started, 72 Spanish archbishops and bishops presenting a joint protest to the government. Fuel was added to the fire by the introduction of a bill—known as the Cadenas bill—forbidding the settlement of further congregations in Spain until the negotiations with the Vatican should have been completed. This was denounced at Rome as a unilateral assertion on the part of the Spanish government of an authority which, under the concordat, belonged to the Holy See as well. As a preliminary to negotiation, the government was required to rescind all the obnoxious measures. This demand broke the patience of the prime minister, and on the 30th of July Serior de Ojeda, Spanish ambassador at the Vatican, was instructed to hand in his papers. In Vatican circles dark hints began to be dropped of a possible rapprochement with Don Jaime, who had succeeded his father Don Carlos, on the 18th of July 1909, as the representative of Spanish legitimacy and Catholic orthodoxy. The pretender, indeed, disclaimed any intention of stirring up civil war in Spain; his mission would be to restore order when the country should have wearied of the republican regime whose speedy advent he foresaw. The fulfilment of the first part of this prophecy seemed to some to be brought a step nearer by the overthrow of the monarchy in Portugal on the 5th of October 1910. For Spain its immediate effect was to threaten a great increase of the difficulties of the government, by the immigration of the whole mass of religious congregations expelled from Portugal by one of the first acts of the new regime. (W. A. P.)
Chronological Tables of Christian Dynasties in Spain.
Kings of the Visigoths, having relations with Spain, but not established within it:—
| Ataulf | 410–415 | Entered the north-east of Spain, murdered at Barcelona. | |
| Sigeric | 415 | His murderer, promptly murdered in turn. | |
| Wallia | 415–419 | Elected king, was the ally (foederatus) of the empire. Defeated the Vandals and Alans. Migrated to south-west of France with all his people. | |
| Theodoric I. | 419–451 | Made inroads into Spain, as ally of the empire. Killed in the battle with Attila. | |
| Thorismund | 451–453 | All these kings had the seat of their government north of the Pyrenees. They made inroads in Spain and had a stronghold on the north-east. Alaric was killed by the Frankish king, Clovis, at Vouillé, 507. | |
| Theodoric II. | 453–466 | ||
| Euric | 466–485 | ||
| Alaric II. | 485–507 | ||
| Gesalic | 507–511 | Bastard son of Alaric, was murdered. | |
| Amalaric | 507–531 | Reigned in south and south-east of France under protection of Theodoric, the Ostrogothic king in Italy. Fled before Franks to Barcelona at end of reign, and was murdered at Barcelona. | |
Kings of the Visigoths established in Spain:—
| Theudis | 531–548 | An Ostrogoth, general of Theodoric. Murdered Amalaric, and was murdered in turn at Seville by Theudigesil. | |
| Theudigisel | 548–549 | Murdered by Agila. | |
| Agila | 549–554 | Murdered at Merida. | |
| Athanagild | 554–567 | Rebelled against Agila, evacuated Andalusia to secure aid of Imperial officers. Established the capital at Toledo. | |
| Liuva I. | 567–572 | Elected at Narbonne. Associated his brother Leovigild with himself. | |
| Leovigild | 567–586 | The first Visigoth king who assumed the diadem and purple, struck coins in his own name, and enforced recognition of his supremacy in all parts of Spain, except the south coast. | |
| Reccared | 586–601 | Son. Associated with his father. The first Visigoth king who was a Catholic. | |
| Liuva II. | 601–603 | Son. Soon murdered. | |
| Witteric | 603–610 | Leader of Arian reaction. | |
| Gunthemar | 610–612 | Obscure kings. | |
| Sisebut | 612–620 | ||
| Reccared II. | 620–621 | ||
| Swintella | 621–631 | Associated his family with him on the throne. They were all deposed by the nobles. | |
| Reccimer | 621–631 | ||
| Sisinand | 631–636 | These kings were mainly supported by the clergy, and were engaged in endeavouring to make the crown hereditary, by associating their kinsmen with themselves. | |
| Chintila | 636–640 | ||
| Tulga | 640–641 | ||
| Chindaswinth | 641–652 | ||
| Recceswinth | 649–672 | ||
| Wamba | 672–680 | Unrelated to his predecessor and elected by the nobles—was deposed and tonsured. | |
| Erwic | 680–687 | The most obscure of the Visigoth kings. Egica and Witiza appear to have continued the struggle with the nobles, by whom Roderic was tumultuously elected, in opposition to Witiza’s son Actula. | |
| Egica | 687–701 | ||
| Witiza | 697–710 | ||
| Roderic | 710–711 | ||
Early kings of the Christian north-west of Spain, of uncertain chronology and relationship:—
| Pelayo | 718–737 | Elected as “king of the Goths.” |
| Favila | 737–739 | Brother of Pelayo. |
| Alphonso I. | 739–757 | Son-in-law of Pelayo. |
| Froila . . | 757–768 | Son of Alphonso I. Murdered by his brother. |
| Aurelio . | 768–774 | Brother or cousin. |
| Silon | 774–785 | Brother-in-law of Aurelio. |
| Maurecat | 785–789 | Bastard son of Alphonso I. |
| Bermudo | 789–792 | Called the Deacon, descendant of Alphonso I., reigned for a very short time, and retired to a religious house. |
| Alphonso II. | 792–842 | Called the Chaste, son of Froila. Was perhaps chosen in opposition to Bermudo. |
| Ramiro I. | 842–850 | Son of Bermudo the Deacon. |
| Ordono I. | 850–866 | Son of Ramiro. |
| Alphonso III. | 866–914 | Son of Ordono. |
Period of the small kingdoms, unions, separations and reunions ; the sons of Alphonso III. having rebelled, and forced a division of the kingdom near the close of the king’s reign:—
| Garcia | 910–913 | Took Leon, which then included Bardulia, or Castile, as the eldest son. |
| Ordono II. | 913–923 | Second son; became king in Gallicia which included northern Portugal and acquired Leon on the death of his brother Garcia. |
| Fruela | 923–924 | Third brother; held Asturias, and was king of all north-west for a short time after death of Ordono. |
| Alphonso IV. | 924–931 | Son of Ordono; became a monk at Sahagun, and was succeeded by his brother Ramiro. |
| Ramiro II. | 931–950 | In his reign Castile broke away from Leon, under the count Fernan Gonzales. |
| Ordono III. | 950–955 | Son of Ramiro. |
| Sancho I., “The Fat." |
955–967 | Half brother of Ordono III. and son of Ramiro II. by his second marriage with a daughter of Sancho Abarca of Navarre. Was driven out by his nobles, in alliance with Fernan Gonzales, count of Castile, and restored by the caliph. The rebels put Ordono, son of Alphonso IV., on the throne for a time. |
| Ramiro III. | 967–982 | Son of Sancho. Succeeded as a boy. His reign was a period of anarchy. |
| Bermudo II., “The Gouty” |
982–999 | Son of Ordono III., was supported against his cousin Ramiro III. by the nobles, and was placed on the throne by the Hajib Mansur. |
| Alphonso V. | 999–1027 | Son of Bermudo. Began the restoration of the kingdom after the period of anarchy, and subjection to the caliphate. Killed at siege of Viseu. |
| Bermudo III. | 1027–1037 | Son of Alphonso V. ; was killed in battle at Tamaron with his brother-in-law Ferdinand, count and then first king of Castile. |
| Fernando I., or Ferdinand. |
1027–1065 | Son of Sancho el Mayor of Navarre, king of Castile by right of his mother, and of Leon and Gallicia by the sword. |
Counts of Castile
The counts of Castile began, as a body, and not as a line of chiefs in the reign of Alphonso the Chaste (789–842). They strove for independence from the first, and when one count had replaced several they achieved it.
| Fernan Gonzales | 923–968 | Made himself independent of Leon. One of his daughters married Ordono III. of Leon. By a second marriage with a daughter of Sancho Abarca of Navarre he had a son and successor. |
| Garcia Fernandez | 968–1006 | Son. |
| Sancho Garcia | 1006–1028 | Son. |
| Garcia | 1028 | Murdered. Castile then passed to Garcia's sister, the wife of Sancho el Mayor of Navarre. |
Early Kings of Navarre
The early history of Navarre has been overlaid with fable, and with pure falsification, largely the work of the Benedictines of San Juan de la Pefia near Huesca. Their object was to prove the foundation of their house by a king of Navarre, Aragon and Sobrarbe, in the 9th century. They were helped by the patriotism of the Aragonese, who wished to give their kingdom an antiquity equal to that of Leon. Hence much pure invention, bolstered up by forgery of charters, falsification of genuine ones, and construction of imaginary pedigrees.
| Sancho Abarca, i.e. Brogues |
906–926 | Made himself independent king at Pamplona. He fought with the Carolingian counts of the marches, and in alliance with the Spanish Mahommedan Beni Casi of Saragossa. | |
| Garcia Sanchez | 926–966 | Very obscure. The most undoubted personality of the time is Tota (Theuda), widow of Sancho Abarca, who governed for her son and whose daughters were married to the kings of Leon and counts of Castile. | |
| Sancho Garcia | 966–993 | ||
| Garcia Sanchez “The Trembler” |
993–1000 | ||
| Sancho el Mayor | 1000–1035 | Son of “The Trembler.” He married a daughter of Sancho Garcia, count of Castile. On the murder of Garcia, the last count, he took Castile by right of his wife. He inherited, or acquired, superiority over the central Pyrenean regions of Aragon and Sobrarbe. He divided his various dominions—Navarre to Garcia, Castile to Fernando, Sobrarbe to Gonzalo, and Aragon to Ramiro Sanchez, a natural son. | |
| Garcia III. | 1035–1054 | Killed in battle with his brother Fernando of Castile and Leon at Atapuerca. | |
| Sancho IV. | 1054–1076 | Son. Murdered by his natural
brother Ramon at Pefialen. The Navarrese then chose Sancho Ramirez of Aragon as king. The kingdoms remained united till 1134. | |
Historic kingdom of Aragon:—
| Ramiro Sanchez | 1035–1067 | Natural son of Sancho el Mayor of Navarre, who on the death of his legitimate brother Gonzalo, annexed Sobrarbe. The kingdom of Sobrarbe lasted only during the life of Gonzalo. |
| Sancho I. | 1067–1094 | Son of Ramiro. Was killed while besieging Huesca. |
| Pedro I. . . | 1094–1102 | Son of Sancho. |
| Alphonso I. “The Battler.” |
1102–1134 | Second son of Sancho. He took Saragossa from the Moors, and was married to Urraca, queen of Castile and Leon. |
| Ramiro II. | 1134–1137 | Third son of Sancho. A monk, who was exclaustrated alter the death of Alphonso, but returned to the cloister on the birth of his daughter Petronilla. |
| Petronilla | 1137–1164 | Married to Ramon Berenguer, count of Barcelona, who became king by right of his wife. |
The Early Counts of Barcelona
In the last years of the 8th and beginning of the 9th century, Charlemagne and Louis the Pius began conquering the north-east of Spain, which the Arabs had occupied as early as 713. By 811 the Franks had conquered as far as Tortosa and Tarragona. The territory gained was called the Marca Hispanica, and was governed by counts of Roussillon, Ampurias, Besaltu, Barcelona, Cerdena, Pallars and Urgell. They became independent during the decadence of the Carolingians. The supremacy was acquired gradually by the counts of Barcelona who became independent with Wilfred I. by 874. He and his immediate descendants gradually subdued the other counts. They suffered much from the inroads of Mansur in the 10th century, but on the decline of the caliphate, they took part in the general advance.
| Berenguer Ramon I. | 1018–1035 | Held Barcelona, Vich and Manresa with land conquered from the Moors to the south. | |
| Ramon Berenguer, "The Old." |
1035–1076 | Son. His father had divided his possessions between his widow and all his sons, but Ramon Berenguer reunited them by force. He left his dominion to be held in common by his two sons. | |
| Ramon Berenguer II. | 1076–1082 | Ramon Berenguer II. Cap d’estops (“Tow Pow”) was murdered by Berenguer Ramon II., whose end is unknown. | |
| and | |||
| Berenguer Ramon II. | 1076–1082 | ||
| Ramon Berenguer | 1082–1131 | Son of Ramon Berenguer II. By his marriage with Aldonza or Douce of Provence he acquired territory in south-eastern France. He inherited or subdued all the other countships of Catalonia, except Peralada. | |
| Ramon Berenguer | 1131–1162 | Son. Inherited the Spanish possessions of his father, the French going to a brother. Was betrothed to Petronilla of Aragon, and married her in 1150, becoming king of Aragon. | |
Second period of the union, disunion and reunion of Castile and Leon from Fernando I. to Fernando III. Fernando I. divided his dominions among his three sons: to Sancho, the eldest, Castile; to Alfonso, the second son, Leon; to Garcia, the third son, Gallicia.
| Berenguer Ramon I. | 1018–1035 | Held Barcelona, Vich and Manresa with land conquered from the Moors to the south. |
| Sancho II. | 1065–1072 | He expelled Alphonso and Garcia, reuniting the three kingdoms. Murdered at Zamora. |
| Alphonso VI. | 1065–1109 | Returned from exile, obtained all the three kingdoms, and imprisoned Garcia for life. |
| Urraca | 1109–1126 | Daughter of Alphonso VI., and widow of Raymond of Burgundy. |
| Alphonso VII. | 1126–1157 | Son. Recognized as king in Gallicia during his mother’s life. Divided his kingdoms between his sons; to the elder Sancho, Castile, to the younger, Fernando, Leon. |
| Sancho III. | 1157–1158 | In Castile. |
| Fernando II. | 1157–1188 | In Leon. |
| Alphonso VIII. | 1158–1214 | Castile. Son of Sancho III. |
| Alphonso IX. | 1188–1230 | Leon. Son of Fernando II. Is numbered IX. because he was junior to the cousin Alphonso of Castile. |
| Henry I. | 1214–1217 | Castile. Son of Alphonso VIII. |
| Berengaria | 1217– | Daughter of Alphonso VIII. Married to Alphonso IX. of Leon, but the marriage was declared uncanonical by the pope. The children were declared legitimate. Berengaria resigned the crown of Castile to her son Fernando by the uncanonical marriage with Alphonso IX. of Leon. |
| Fernando III. | 1217–1252 | Inherited Leon on the death of his father Alphonso IX., and united the crowns for the last time, in 1230. |
Castile and Leon till the Union With Aragon.
Fernando III. was king of Castile and Leon from 1230 to 1252.
| Alphonso X. | 1252–1284 | Eldest son of Fernando III. | |
| Sancho IV. | 1284–1295 | Second son of Alphonso. X. Was preferred to the sons of his elder brother Ferdinand de la Cerda, who died in Alphonso's lifetime. | |
| Ferdinand IV. | 1295–1312 | Son of Sancho. | |
| Alphonso XI. | 1312–1350 | Son of Ferdinand IV. | |
| Peter “The Cruel” | 1350–1369 | Son of Alphonso XI. | |
| Henry II. | 1369–1379 | Natural son of Alphonso IX. He deposed and murdered Peter, and founded the line of the new kings. | |
| John I. | 1379–1390 | Son of Henry II. | |
| Henry III. | 1390–1406 | Son of John I. | |
| John II. | 1406–1454 | Son of Henry III. | |
| Henry IV. | 1454–1474 | Son. The legitimacy of the daughter of his second marriage was not recognized, and the crown of Castile passed to his sister, who married Ferdinand of Aragon. The marriage united the crowns in 1479. | |
| Isabella | 1474–1504 | ||
Aragon, from the union with the county of Barcelona, to the union with Castile:—
| Alphonso II. | 1162–1196 | Son and successor of Petronilla and Ramon Berenguer IV. Recovered the Provencal possessions of Ramon Berenguer II. |
| Peter II. | 1196–1213 | Son. Killed at Muret. |
| James I., “The Conqueror.” |
1213–1276 | Son. Conquered the Balearic Islands and Valencia. Left the islands to his son James, from whom the title passed in succession to Sancho (d. 1324), his eldest son, to Sancho’s nephew James (d. 1349), and to another James, his son (d. 1375); but the actual possession was recovered by the elder line before the extinction of the younger branch. |
| Peter III. | 1276–1285 | Eldest son. Conquered Sicily, claimed by right of his wife Constance, daughter of Manfred of Beneventum. |
| Alphonso III. | 1285–1291 | Eldest son. Succeeded to Spanish possessions. |
| James II. | 1291–1327 | Second son of Peter III. He had succeeded to Sicily, but resigned his rights, which were then assumed by his brother Frederick, who founded the Aragonese line of kings of Sicily. |
| Alphonso IV. | 1327–1336 | Son of James II. |
| Peter IV. | 1336–1387 | Finally reannexed the Balearic Islands. |
| John I. | 1387–1395 | Son by the marriage of Peter IV. with his cousin Eleanor of the Sicilian line. |
| Martin | 1395–1410 | Younger brother of John I. His son Martin was chosen king of Sicily , but died in 1409. The male line of the kings of Aragon of the House of Barcelona ended with Martin. |
| Ferdinand I. | 1412–1416 | Second son of Eleanor, sister of Martin, and wife of John I. of Castile. Succeeded by choice of the Cortes. |
| Alphonso V. | 1416–1458 | Son. Spent most of his life in Italy, where he was king of Naples and Sicily. |
| John II. | 1458–1479 | Brother of Alphonso V., whom he succeeded in the Spanish possessions, and Sicily, but not in Naples. |
| Ferdinand II. | 1479–1516 | Son. His marriage with Isabella united the crowns. |
Navarre till the conquest of Ferdinand the Catholic:—
| Garcia IV. | 1134–1150 | A descendant of Sancho el Mayor. Elected by the Navarrese on the death of Alphonso of Aragon without issue. | |
| Sancho VI., called “The Wise” |
1150–1194 | Son. Father of Berengaria, wife of Richard Cœur de Lion. | |
| Sancho VII. | 1194–1234 | Son. Died without issue. | |
| Theobald I. | 1234–1253 | Husband of Blanche, daughter of Sancho “The Wise.” | |
| Theobald II. | 1253–1270 | Son. Died without issue. | |
| Henry I. | 1270–1274 | Brother. | |
| Jeanne I. | 1274–1305 | Daughter, wife of Philip IV. of France. Navarre was now absorbed in France, and so remained till 1328, when on the death of Charles IV. of France, the last of the house of Hugh Capet, it passed to his niece Jeanne, daughter of Louis X., and wife of Philip, count of Evreux. | |
| Jeanne II. | 1328–1349 | ||
| Charles II., called “The Bad” |
1349–1387 | Son. These two kings were much concerned with France, and little with Spain. | |
| Charles III., “The Noble” |
1387–1425 | ||
| John I. of Aragon | 1425–1479 | King of Navarre by right of his wife Blanche, daughter of Charles III. On his death Navarre passed to his daughter by Blanche, Eleanor, widow of Gaston IV., count of Foix. She died in the same year as her father, and Navarre passed to her grandson, Francis Phoebus. | |
| Francis Phoebus | 1479–1483 | Died without issue, and was succeeded by his sister, the wife of Jean D’Albret. The Spanish part of Navarre was conquered by Ferdinand the Catholic in 1512. | |
| Catherine | 1483–1514 | ||
Kings of United Spain
| Joan, “The Mad” | 1504–1520 | Daughter of Isabella, whom she succeeded in Castile, with her husband Philip I., of Habsburg. After his death, her father Ferdinand was guardian and regent. |
| Charles I. in Spain |
1516–1556 | Son of Joan. Was recognized as king with his mother; elected to the empire as Charles V. |
| Philip II. | 1556–1598 | Son. Succeeded on abdication of Charles V. |
| Philip III. | 1598–1621 | Son. |
| Philip IV. | 1621–1665 | Son. |
| Charles II. | 1665–1700 | Son. Died without issue. |
| Philip V. | 1700–1746 | Succeeded by the will of Charles II., as grandson of Maria Teresa, daughter of Philip IV., and of Louis XIV., king of France. With him began the line of the Spanish Bourbons. He abdicated for a few months in 1724–1725 in favour of his son Louis, but resumed the crown when Louis died. |
| Ferdinand VI. | 1746–1759 | Son by Philip V.’s first marriage with Maria Louisa of Savoy. Died without issue. |
| Charles III. | 1759–1788 | Brother. Son of Philip V. by his second marriage with Elizabeth Farnese. |
| Charles IV. | 1788–1808 | Son. He abdicated under pressure in 1808 in favour of his son Ferdinand, and then re-
signed his rights to Napoleon. |
| Ferdinand VII. | 1808–1833 | Was proclaimed king on the forced abdication of his father. Remained a prisoner in France during the Peninsular War. He repealed the Salic Law established by Philip V. |
| Isabella II. | 1833–1868 | Daughter. Her succession was resisted by her uncle Don Carlos, and the Carlist Wars ensued. Deposed. |
| Alphonso XII. | 1875–1885 | Son. His mother abdicated in his favour and he was restored. |
| Alphonso XIII. | 1886– | Born after his father's death. |
(D. H.)
Bibliography.—(1) Sources: There are several published collections of sources for Spanish history. Of these the oldest is R. Belus, Rerum hispanicarum scriptores aliquot in bibliotheca Roberti Beli . . . 3 vols. fol. (Frankfort, 1579–1581). In 1740–1752 was published at Madrid J. A. de Creu y Bertodano’s Coleccion de los tratados de paz, alianza, neutralidad, garanzia, proteccion, treguia y mediacion, &c., que han hecho los reyes de España con los pueblos, republicas y demas potencias y otras partes del mondo, in 12 vols, folio. A Coleccion de documentos inéditos para la historia de Espagna, by Pidal and others, was published in 65 vols. (Madrid 1842–1876). In 1851 the Royal Academy of History of Madrid began the publication of its Memorial histórica español, a collection of documents, &c. See also Dionisio Hidalgo, Diccionario general de bibliografia española, 7 vols. (Madrid, 1862–1881).
(2) Works: The standard general history of Spain written by a Spaniard is that of Don Modesto Lafuente in 30 volumes (1850–1867; new ed., by Valera, 22 vols., Barcelona, 1888). It was written before the medieval period had been properly investigated, is wordy, and largely spoilt by displays of national vanity. A later ' and more critical writer of nearly the same name, Don Vicente de la Fuente, has published valuable Estudios criticos sobre la historia y el derecho de Aragon (1884–1886). No satisfactory general history of Spain has been written by a foreigner. The best is that of M. Romey, Histoire d’Espagne (1843). Don Rafael Altamira has published an Historia de España y de la civilización española (2 vols., Barcelona, 1900–1902), in which he sums up the results of later research. Among older writers Juan de Mariana, who ends with the Catholic sovereigns, professedly took Livy as a model, and wrote a fine example of a rhetorical history published in Latin (1592–1609), and then in Spanish translated and largely re-written by himself. It was continued to 1600 by Minana. An English translation, with supplements, was published by Captain J. Stephens in 1699. The Anales de Aragon of Geronimo Zurita (1610) are very far superior to the history of Mariana in criticism and research. The great school of Spanish historians died out with the other glories of the nation in the 17th century. The later periods have been indifferently treated by them, but Don Antonio Canovas del Castillo published some valuable studies on the later Austrian dynasty under the title Estudios del reinado de Felipe IV. (1889). The reader may also consult—for the earlier period—Florian de Ocampo and Ambrosio de Morales, whose combined works are known as the Crónica general de España (fol. editions, 1543–1586, republished in 10 small volumes at Madrid, 1791–1792). This was continued by Prudencio de Sandoval, bishop of Tuy and afterwards of Pampeluna, under the title of Hist. de los reyes de Castilla y de Leon: Fernando I.–Alonso VII. Both ancient and later times are dealt with in the Historia general de España, escrita por individuos de la real academia de la historia (Madrid, 1892 sqq.)—a series of studies by different hands; that on the reign of Charles III., by Seor Manuel Danvila, is very valuable for the later 18th century. An account of the troubled years of the 19th century has been written by Don Antonia Pirala, Historia contemporánea (1871–1879). The latest general history of Spain is Don Rafael Altamira y Crevea’s Historia de España y de la civilización española, 3 vols. (Barcelona 1902–1906). The standard authority for the Mahommedan side of Spanish history is the Histoire des Musulmans d’Espagne, 711–1110, by R. P. A. Dozy (4 vols., Leiden, 1861). It requires to be supplemented by Don Pascual de Gayongos’s translation of Al Makkari’s History of the Mahommedan Dynasties in Spain (1840–1843) and by Señor Francisco Codera’s Decadencia y desaparición de los Almoravides en España (Saragossa, 1899) and Estudios criticos de hist, arabe española (ibid., 1903). See also Stanley Lane Poole, The Moors in Spain (“Story of the Nations” Series, 1887) and S. P. Scott, Hist. of the Moorish Empire in Europe (3 vols., Philadelphia and London, 1904). Other English works, on general Spanish history, are Martin A. S. Hume's Spain, its Greatness and Decay, 1479–1788 (Cambridge, 1898) and Modern Spain, 1788–1898 (“Story of the Nations” Series, 1899), and Butler Clarke’s Modern Spain, 1815–1898 (Cambridge, 1906). Excellent summaries of Spanish history year by year are published in the Annual Register.
The Spanish Language
The Iberian Peninsula is not a linguistic unit. Not to speak of the Basque, which still forms an island of some importance in the north-west, three Romance languages share this extensive territory: (1) Portuguese-Galician, spoken in Portugal, Galicia, and a small portion of the province of Leon; (2) Castilian, covering about two-thirds of the Peninsula in the north, centre, and south; (3) Catalan, occupying a long strip of territory to the east and south-east.
These three varieties of the Romana ruslica are marked off from one another more distinctly than is the case with, say the Romance dialects of Italy; they do not interpenetrate one another, but where the one ends the other begins. It has only been possible to establish at the points of junction of two linguistic regions the existence of certain mixed jargons in which certain forms of each language are intermingled; but these jargons, called into existence for the necessities of social relations by bilinguists, have an essentially individualistic and artificial character. The special development of the vulgar Latin tongue in Spain, and the formation of the three linguistic types just enumerated, were promoted by political circumstances. From the 9th century onwards Spain was slowly recaptured from the Mahommedans, and the Latin spoken by the Christians who had taken refuge on the slopes of the Pyrenees was gradually carried back to the centre and ultimately to the south of the Peninsula, whence it had been driven by the Arab invasion. Medieval Spain divides itself into three conquistas—that of Castile (much the most considerable), that of Portugal, and that of Aragon. If a given province now speaks Catalan rather than Castilian, the explanation is to be sought simply and solely in the fact that it was conquered by a king of Aragon and peopled by his Catalan subjects.
1. Catalan.—This domain now embraces, on the mainland, the Spanish provinces of Gerona. Barcelona, Tarragona and Lerida (the old principality of Catalonia), and of Castellon de la Plana, Valencia and Alicante (the old kingdom of Valencia), and, in the Mediterranean, that of the Balearic Islands (the old kingdom of Majorca). Catalan, by its most characteristic features, belongs to the Romance of southern France and not to that of Spain; it is legitimate, therefore, to regard it as imported into Spain by those Hispani whom the Arab conquest had driven back beyond the mountains into Languedoc, and who in the 9th century regained the country of their origin; this conclusion is confirmed by the fact that the dialect is also that of two French provinces on the north of the Pyrenees—Roussillon and Cerdagne. From the 9th to the 12th century Catalan spread farther and farther within the limits of Catalonia, properly so called; in 1229 it was brought to Majorca by Jaime el Conquistador, and in 1238 the same sovereign carried it to Valencia also. Even Murcia was peopled by Catalans in 1266, but this province really is part of the Castilian conquest, and accordingly the Castilian element took the upper hand and absorbed the dialect of the earlier colonists. The river Segura, which falls into the Mediterranean in the neighbourhood of Orihuela, a little to the north of Murcia, is as nearly as possible the southern boundary of the Catalan domain; westward the boundary coincides pretty exactly with the political frontier, the provinces of New Castile and Aragon not being at all encroached on. Catalan, which by the reunion of Aragon and the countship of Barcelona in 1137 became the official language of the Aragonese monarchy—although the kingdom of Aragon, consisting of the present provinces of Saragossa, Huesca and Teruel, has always been Castilian in speech—established a footing in Italy also, in all parts where the domination of the kings of Aragon extended, viz. in Sicily, Naples, Corsica and Sardinia, but it has not maintained itself here except in a single district of the last-named island (Alghero); everywhere else in Italy, where it was not spoken except by the conquerors, nor written except in the royal chancery, it has disappeared without leaving a trace.
In the 13th century the name given to the vulgar tongue of eastern Spain was Catalanesch (Catalaniscus) or Catald (Catalanus)—the idiom of the Catalans.[11] By Catalanesch or Catala was understood, essentially, the spoken language and the language of prose, while that of poetry, with a large admixture of Provencal forms, was early called Lemosi, Limosi or language of Limousin—Catalan grammarians, and particularly the most celebrated of them, Ramon Vidal de Besalú, having adopted Lemosi as the generic name of the language of the troubadours. These grammarians carefully distinguish the vulgar speech, or pla Catalá, from the refined trobar idiom, which originally is a modified form of Provencal. Afterwards, and especially in these parts of the Catalan domain outside of Catalonia which did not acknowledge that they derived their language from that province, Lemosi received a more extensive signification, so as to mean the literary language in general, whether of verse or of prose. To this hour, particularly in Valencia and the Balearics, Lemosi is employed to designate on the one hand the old Catalan and on the other the very artificial and somewhat archaizing idiom which is current in the jochs florals; while the spoken dialect is called, according to the localities, Valenciá (in Valencia), Majorquí and Menorquí (in Majorca and Minorca), or Catald (in Catalonia) ; the form Catalanesch is obsolete.
The principal features which connect Catalan with the Romance of France and separate it from that of Spain are the following: (1) To take first its treatment of the final vowels—Catalan, like French and Provencal, having only oxytones and paroxytones, does not admit more than one syllable after the tonic accent: thus anima gives arma, cámera gives cambra. All the proparoxytones of modern Catalan are of recent introduction and due to Castilian influence. Further, the only post-tonic Latin vowel preserved by the Catalan is, as in Gallo-Roman, a : mare gives mar, gratu (s) gives grat, but anima gives arma, and, when the word terminates in a group of consonants requiring a supporting vowel, that vowel is represented by an e: arb(o)rem, Cat. abre (Prov. and Fr. arbre, but Cast. árbol); pop(u)l(us) , Cat. poble (Prov. poble, Fr. peuple, but Cast. pueblo); sometimes, when it is inserted between the two consonants instead of being made to follow them, the supporting vowel is represented by an o : escándol (scándalum), frévol (frivolus), circol (circulus). In some cases a post-tonic vowel other than a is preserved in Catalan, as, for example, when that vowel forms a diphthong with the tonic (Deu, Deus; Ebiru, Hebreus); or, again, it sometimes happens, when the tonic is followed by an i in hiatus, that the i persists (dilúvi, diluvium; servici, servicium; lábi, lábium; ciri, cereus); but in many cases these ought to be regarded as learned forms, as is shown by the existence of parallel ones, such as servey, where the atonic i has been attracted by the tonic and forms a diphthong with it (servíci, servii, servey). What has just been said as to the treatment of the final vowels in Catalan must be understood as applying only to pure Catalan, unaltered by the predominance of the Castilian, for the actual language is no longer faithful to the principle we have laid down; it allows the. final o atonic in a number of substantives and adjectives, and in the verb it now conjugates canto, temo, sento—a thing unknown in the ancient language. (2) As regards conjugation only two points need be noted here: (a) it employs the form known as the inchoative, that is to say, the lengthening of the radical of the present in verbs of the third conjugation by means of the syllable ex or ix, a proceeding common to Italian, Walachian, Provencal and French, but altogether unknown in Hispanic Romance; (b) the formation of a great number of past participles in which the termination is added, as in Provencal, not to the radical of the verb, but to that of the perfect: tingut from tinch, pogut from poch, conegut from conech, while in Castilian tenido (formerly also tenudo), podido, conocido, are participles formed from the infinitive.
As for features common to Catalan and Hispanic (Castilian and Portuguese) Romance, on the other hand, and which are unknown to French Romance, only one is of importance; the conservation, namely, of the Latin u with its original sound, while the same vowel has assumed in French and Provençal, from a very early period—earlier doubtless than the oldest existing monuments of those languages—a labio-palatal pronunciation (ü). It is not to be supposed that the separation of Catalan from the Gallo-Roman' family occurred before the transformation had taken place; there is good reason to believe that Catalan possessed the ii at one time, but afterwards lost it in its contact with the Spanish dialects.
Catalan being a variety of the langue d’oc, it will be convenient to note the peculiarities of its phonetics and inflexion as compared with ordinary Provençal.
Tonic Vowels.—With regard to a, which is pronounced alike in open and close syllables (amar, a m a r e; abre, arbor), there is nothing to remark. The Latin ẽ, which is treated like ĭ, gives e, sometimes close, sometimes open. On this point Catalan is more hesitating than Provençal; it does not distinguish so clearly the pronunciation of e according to its origin; while ē (ĭ) is capable of yielding an open e, the e is often pronounced close, and the poets have no difficulty in making words in e close and in e open rhyme together, which is not the case in Provençal. The Latin e never yields ie in Catalan as it does in French and occasionally in Provençal; sedet becomes seu (where u represents the final d), p e d e m makes peu, and e g o eu; in some words where the tonic e is followed by a syllable in which an i occurs, it may become i {ir, h e r i; mig, m e d i u s; m-Us, melius); and the same holds good for e in a similar situation (ciri, cerius, cereus; fira, f e r i a), and for e in a close syllable before a nasal (eximpli, exemplum; tnintre for mentiri, gint for gent). I tonic long and* short, when in hiatus with another vowel, produce * (amich, amicus; via, vĭa). O tonic long and o short are represented by o close and o open (amor, a m o r e m ; poble, populus). O short is never diphthongized into uo or we; such a treatment is as foreign to Catalan as the diphthongization of e into ie. Just as e before a syllable in which an i occurs is changed into i, so in the same circumstances o becomes u {full, folium; vull, v o i i o for v o 1 e o) and also when the accented vowel precedes a group of consonants like cl, pi, and the like {ull, o c ’ l u s; escull, scop'hs). Latin u persists with the Latin pronunciation, and, as already said, does not take the Franco-Provençal pronunciation ii. Latin au becomes o {cosa, causa; or, a u r u m) ; Old Catalan has kept the diphthong better, but possibly we should attribute the examples of au which are met with in texts of the 13th and 14th centuries to the literary influence of Provence. Latin ua tends to become {cor, q u a r e).
Atonic Vowels.—As for the Latin post-tonic vowels already spoken of, it remains to be noted that a is often represented in writ ; ng by «, especially before s; in old Catalan, the substantives, adjectives and participles readily form their singular in a and their plural in es : artna, armes (anima,animas); bona, bones (b o n a, b o n a s) ; amada, amades (a m a t a, am a t a s). This e is neither open nor close, but a surd e the pronunciation of which comes very near a. In the same way the supporting vowel, which is regularly an e in Catalan, is often written a, especially after r {abra, arborera; astra, a'strum; para, p a t r e tn) ; one may say that in the actual state of the language post-tonic e and a become indistinguishable in a surd sound intermediate between the French a and mute e. Before the tonic the same change between a and e constantly takes place; one finds in manuscripts enar, etnor for anar, amor (the same extends even to the case of the tonic syllable, ten and sent from t a n t u m and sanctum being far from rare), and, on the other hand, autre, arrar, for entre, errar. I atonic is often represented by e even when it is long (vehi, v i c i n u s). O atonic close, which in genuine Catalan exists only before the tonic, has become u; at the present day truvar, cuntradir is the real pronunciation of the words spelt trovar, contradir, and in the final syllables, verbal or other, where under Castilian influence an has come to be added to the normal Catalan form, this has the value of a u: trovo (genuine Catalan, trap) is pronounced trovu ; bravo (genuine Catalan, brau) is pronounced bravu. U atonic keeps its ground.
The only strong diphthongs of the spoken language are d i, au (rather rare), ei, eu, iu, bi, 6u, ui, uu.< Ai produced by a+i or by o+a palatal consonant has for the greater part of the time become an e in the modern language; factum has yielded fait, feit, and then fet, the last being the actual form ; arius has given er alongside of aire, ari, which are learned or semi-learned forms. Of the two weak diphthongs id and ud, the latter, as has been seen, tends to become o close in the atonic syllable, and is pronounced u: quaranta has become coranta, then curanta. After the tonic ua often becomes a in the Catalan of the mainland {ayga, aqua, llenga, lingua), while in Majorca it becomes o {aygo, llengo).
Consonants.—Final t readily disappears after n or l (tan, t a n t u m; aman, venin, partin, for amant,' venint, &c. ; mol, muitum; ocul, ocultum); the I reappears in composition before a vowel (fon, f o n t e m, but Font-alba). On the other hand, a / without etymological origin is frequently added to words ending in r {cart for car, quare; mart for mar, mare; amart, ohirt, infinitive for amar, ohir), and even to some words terminating in a vowel {genii, i n g e n i u m ; premit, p r e m i u m), or the addition of the / has taken place by assimilation to past participles in it. The phenomenon occurs also in Provengal (see Romania, vii. 107, viii. no). Median intervocal d, represented by 5 (z) in the first stage of the language:, has disappeared: f i d e Ii s gave fesel, then feel, and finally fel—v i d e t i s became vezets, then veets, vets and veu. Final d after a vowel has produced u {peu, pedem; niu, nidum; mou, m o d u m) ; but when the d, in consequence of the disappearance of the preceding vowel, rests upon a consonant, it remains and passes into the corresponding surd ; f r i g i d u s gives fred (pronounced fret). The group oV, when produced by the disappearance of the intermediate vowel, becomes ur {creure, credere; oc'iure, o c c i d e r e ; veure, videre; seure, s e d e r e). Final n, if originally it stood between two vowels, drops away {bo, b o n u m ; ii, v i n u m), but not when it answers to mn (thus d o h u m makes do, but d o m n u m don ; s o n u m makes so, but s o m n u m son). Nd is reduced to n {demanar, comanar for demandar, comandar). Assibilated c before e, i is treated like d ; within a word it disappears after having been represented for a while byj(lucere gives llusir, lluhir ; r e c i p e r e gives reiebre, reebre, rebre); at the end of a word it is replaced by u {veu, v i c e m ; feu, feci t). The group c'r gives ur, just like d'r (jaure, j a c e r e; naure, nocere; plaure, p la cere; but facere, dicer e, ducere, make far {fer), dir, dur. Initial I has been preserved only in certain monosyllables (the article lo, los) ; everywhere else it has been replaced by I mouillee (Prov. IK), which in the present orthography is written 11 as in Castilian, but formerly used to be .represented by ly or yl {lletra, 1 i t e r a llengua, lingua). P readily disappears after m, like t after n {cam, c a m p u m ; terns, tempils). B is replaced by the surd p at the end of a word {trobar in the infinitive, but trop in the present tense) ; so also in the interior of a word when it precedes a consonant {supvenir, s u b v e n i re, sopte, s u b ' t o). Median intervocalic / gives v {Esteve, S t e p h a n u s); it has disappeared from profundus, which yielded the form preon, then pregon (g being introduced to obviate the hiatus). V, wherever it has been preserved, has the same pronunciation as b; at the end of a word and between vowels it becomes vocalized into u {suau, s u a v is; viure, v i v e r e). C guttural, written qu before e and i, keeps its ground as a central and as a final letter; in the latter position it is generally written ch {amich, a m i c u m ; joch, j o c u m). G guttural is replaced as a final letter by surd c {longa, but lone; trigar, but tnch). Tj after a consonant gives ss {cassar; captiare); between vowels, after having been represented by soft s, it has disappeared (r a t i o n e m gave razo, rayso. then raho) ; at the end of every word it behaves like ts, that is to say, changes into u {preu, pretium); instead of ts the second person plural of the verb—a t(i)s, e t(i)s, it(i)s—now has au, eu, iu after having had ats, ets its. Dj gives ǵ between vowels {verger, viridiarum), and c as a terminal (written either ig or tx : goig, g a u d i u m mig, mitx, m e d i u m). Si} and sc before e and i, as well as x and ps, yield the sound sh, represented in Catalan by x {angoxa, a n g u s t i a; coneixer, cognoscere; dix, dixit; mateix, met ipse). J almost everywhere has taken the sound of the French j {jutge, &c). Lj and // give / mouillee (// in the present orthography—fill, f* i 1 i u m ; consell, consilium; null, nullum). In the larger portion of the Catalan domain this I mouillee has become y . almost everywhere fiy is pronounced for fill, consey for consell. Nj and nn give; n mouillee {ny in both old and modern spelling : senyor. seniorem; any, a n n u m). Sometimes the ny becomes reduced to y; one occasionally meets in manuscripts with seyor, ay, for senyor, any, but this pronunciation has not become general, as has been the case with the y having it's origin in 11.—Lingual r at the end of a word has a tendency to disappear when preceded by a vowel : thus the infinitives a m a r e, t e m e r e, *1 e g i r e are pronounced amd, teme, llegi. It is never preserved except when protected by the non-etymological t already spoken of {llegirt or llegi, but never llegir) ; the r reappears, nevertheless, whenever the infinitive is followed by a pronoun {donarme, dirho). Rs is reduced to i (cos for cors, corpus). H is merely an orthographic sign ; it is used to indicate that two consecutive vowels do not form a diphthong (vehi raho), and, added to c, it denotes the pronunciation of the guttural c at the end of a word (amich).
Inflexion.—Catalan, unlike Old Provençal and Old French, has never had declensions. It is true that in certain texts (especially metrical, texts) certain traces of case-endings are to be met with, as, for example Deus and Deu, amors and amor, clars and clar, forts and fort, tuyt and tots, abduy and abdos, senyer and senyor, emperaire and emperador ; but, since these forms are used convertibly, the nominative form when the word is in the objective, and the accusative form, when the word is the subject, we can only recognize in these cases a confused recollection of the Provençal rules known only to the literate but of which the transcribers of manuscripts took no account. Catalan, then, makes no distinctions save in the gender and the number of its nouns. As regards the formation of the plural only two observations are necessary. (1) Words which have their radical termination in n but which in the singular drop that n, resume it in the plural before s: homin-em makes ome in the singular and omens in the plural ; asin-um makes ase and asens. (2) Words terminating in s surd or sonant and in x anciently formed their plural by adding to the singular the syllable es {bras, brasses; pres, preses; mateix, mateixes), but subsequently, from about the 15th century, the Castilian influence substituted os, so that one now hears brassos, presos, mateixos. The words in tx, sc, st have been assimilated to words in s (x); from bosch we originally had the plural bosches; but now boscos; from trist, tristes, but now tristos. For these last in st there exists a plural formation which is more in accordance with the genius of the language, and consists in the suppression of the s before the t; from aquest, for example, we have now side by side the two plurals aquestos, in the Castilian manner, and aquets. The article is lo, los (pronounced lu, lus in a portion of the domain), fem. la, les (las). Some instances of li occur in the ancient tongue, applying indifferently to the nominative and the objective case ; el applying to the singular is also not wholly unknown. On the north-western border of Catalonia, and in the island of Majorca, the article is not a derivative from ille but from ipse (sing. masc. es or so, fem. sa; pl. masc. es, and also ets, which appears to come from istos—ets for ests, like aquets for aquests—fem. sas). Compare the corresponding Sardinian forms su, sa, pl. sos, sas. On the pronouns it has only to be remarked that the modern language has borrowed from Castilian the composite forms nosaltres and vosaltres (pronounced also nosaltros and nosatrus), as also the form vosté, vusté (Castilian usted for vuestra merced).
Conjugation.—Catalan, and especially modern Catalan, has greatly narrowed the domain of the 2nd conjugation in e r e; a large number of verbs of this conjugation have been treated as if they belonged to the 3rd in e r e ; d e b e r e makes deure, v i d e r e, veure, and alongside of haber, which answers to h a b e r e, there is a form heure which points to h a b e r e. A curious fact, and one which has arisen since the 15th century, is the addition of a paragogic r to those infinitives which are accented on the radical; in a portion of the Catalan domain one hears creurer, veurer. Some verbs originally belonging to the conjugation in ere have, passed over into that in ir; for example tenere gives tenir alongside of tindre, r e m a n ē r e romanir and romandre. In the gerundive and in the present participle Catalan differs from Provengal in still distinguishing the conjugation in ir from that in er, re—saying, for example, sentint. As in Provencal, the past participle of a large number of verbs of the 2nd and 3rd conjugations is formed, not from the infinitive, but from the perfect (pogut, volgut, tingut suggest the perfects poch, volch, tinch, and not the infinitives poder, voter, tenir). In the present indicative and subjunctive many verbs in *> take the inchoative form already described, by lengthening the radical in the three persons of the singular and in the third person of the plural by means of the syllable esc (isc). agrakir has the present indicative agraesch, agraheixes, agraheix, agraheixen, the present subjunctive agraesca, -as, -a, -an (or more usually now agraesqui, -is, -i, -in). The old perfect of the conjugation in ar had e (also i) in the 1st pers. sing, and -a in the 3rd ; alongside of the -a, which is proper to Catalan exclusively, we also find, in the first period of the language, -et as in Provencal. Subsequently the perfect of the three conjugations has admitted forms in -r (amáres, amárem, amáreu, amáren), derived from the ancient pluperfect amara, &c, which has held its ground down to the present day, with the meaning of a Conditional in some verbs (one still hears fora, haguera). But the simple perfect is no longer employed in the spoken language, which has substituted for it a periphrastic perfect, composed of the infinitive of the verb and the present of the auxiliary anar: vaig pendre, for example, does not mean "I am going to take," but "I have taken." The earliest example of this periphrastic perfect carries us back to the 15th century. The most usual form of the subj. pres. in spoken Catalan is that in -i for all the three conjugations (ami, -is, -i, -em, -eu -in; temi, -is, &c. ; senti, -is, &c); it appears to be an abbreviation from -to, and in effect certain subjunctives, such as cántia, témia, tínguia, vinguia (for cante, tema, tinga, vingia), evidently formed upon sia (subj. of esser), have been and still are used. The same i of the present subjunctive, whatever may be its origin, is still found in the, imperfect : amés, -essis, -es, -essium, &c.
Catalan Dialect of Alghero (Sardinia).—As compared with that of the mainland, the Catalan of Alghero, introduced into this portion of Sardinia by the Aragonese conquerors and colonists, does not present any very important differences; some of them, such as they are, are explicable by the influence of the indigenous dialects of Sassari and Logudoro. In phonetics one observes—(1) the change of Ij into y as an initial before i (yitx, yigis; lego, legis), a change which does not take place in the Catalan of the mainland except in the interior, or at the end of the word; (2) the frequent change of I between vowels and of / after c, g, f, p or b into r (taura tabula; candera, candela; sangrot, singultum; frama, flama). In conjugation there are some notable peculiarities. The 1st pers. sing, does not take the which continental Catalan has borrowed from Castilian (cant, not canto, &c.) ; the imp. ind. of verbs of the 2nd and 3rd conjugations has eva, iva instead of ia, a form which also occurs in the conditional (cantariva, drumiriva) ; the simple perfect, of which some types are still preserved in the actual language (e.g. anighe, agh.e), has likewise served for the formation not only of the past participle but also of the infinitive (agher, habere, can only be explained by ach, 3rd person of the perfect) ; the infinitives with r paragogic (viurer, seurer, plourer) are not used (viure, seure, ploure instead) ; in the conjugation of the present of the verb essar or esser, the jnd pers. sing, ses formed upon the persons of the plural, while continental Catalan says ets (anciently est), as also, in the plural, sem, seu, instead of som, sou, are to be noted; tenere has passed over to the conjugation in re (trenda = tendre), but it is at the same time true that in ordinary Catalan also we have tindrer alongside of tenir the habitual form; dicere gives not dir but diure, which is more regular.
2. Castilian.—This name is the most convenient designation to apply to the linguistic domain which comprises the whole of central Spain and the vast regions of America and Asia colonized from the 16th century onwards by the Spaniards. We might also indeed call it the Spanish domain, narrowing the essentially geographical meaning of the word Español (derived, like the other old form Españon, from Hispania), and using it in a purely political sense. But the first expression is to be preferred, all the more because it has been long in use, and even the inhabitants of the domain outside the two Castiles fully accept it and are indeed the first to call their idiom Castellano. It is agreed on all hands that Castilian is one of the two branches of the vulgar Latin of Spain, Portuguese-Galician being the other; both idioms, now separated by very marked differences, can be traced back directly to one common source—the Hispanic Romance. One and the same vulgar tongue, diversely modified in the lapse of time, has produced Castilian and Portuguese as two varieties, while Catalan, the third language of the Peninsula, connects itself, as has already been pointed out, with the Gallo-Roman.
Within the Castilian domain, thus embracing all in Spain that is neither Portuguese nor Catalan, there exist linguistic varieties which it would perhaps be an exaggeration to call dialects, considering the meaning ordinarily attached to that word, but which are none the less worthy of attention. Generally speaking, from various circumstances, and especially that of the reconquest, by which the already-formed idiom of the Christian conquerors and colonists was gradually conveyed from north to south, Castilian has maintained a uniformity of which the Romance languages afford no other example. We shall proceed in the first instance to examine the most salient features of the normal Castilian, spoken in the provinces more or less closely corresponding to the old limits of Old and New Castile, so as to be able afterwards to note the peculiarities of what, for want of a better expression, we must call the Castilian dialects.
In some respects Castilian is hardly further removed from classical Latin than is Italian; in others it has approximately reached the same stage as Provencal. As regards the tonic, accent and the treatment of the vowels which come after it, Castilian may be said to be essentially a paroxytonic language, though it does not altogether refuse proparoxytonic accentuation and it would be a mistake to regard vocables like lámpara, lágrima, rápido, &c., as learned words. In this feature, and in its almost universal conservation of the final vowels e, i, u (o), Castilian comes very near Italian, while it separates from it and approaches the Gallo-Roman by its modification of the consonants.
Vowels.—Normal Castilian faithfully preserves the vowels ē, ī, ō, ū; the comparatively infrequent instances in which ē and ō are treated like ě and ŏ must be attributed to the working of analogy. It diphthongizes ě in ie, ŏ in ue, which may be regarded as a weakening of uo (see Romania, iv. 30). Sometimes ie and ue in the modern language are changed into i and e : silla from sella (Old Cast. siella), vispera from vesper a (Old Cast, viespera), castillo from c a s t e l l u m (Old Cast, castiello) , frente from f r o n t e m (Old Cast. fruente), fleco from floccus (Old Cast, flueco). The words in which e and have kept their ground are either learned words like medico, mirito, or have been borrowed from dialects which do not suffer diphthongization. In many cases the old language is more rigorous; thus, while modern Castilian has given the preference to mente, como, modo, we find in old texts miente, cuemo, muedo. Lat. a u makes o in all words of popular origin (cosa, oro, &c.).
Consonants.—On the liquids l, m, n, r there is little to be remarked, except that the last-named letter has two pronunciations—one soft (voiced), as in amor, burla, the other hard (voiceless), as hi rendir, tierra (Old Cast, in this case goes so far as to double the initial consonant : rrendir)—and that n is often inserted before 5 and d: ensayo, mensage, rendir (r e d d e r e). L mouillee (written li) represents not only the Latin l, ll, lj, but also, at the beginning of words, the combinations cl, gl, pl, bl, fl llama (f l a m m a), llave (c l a v i s), llorar (plorare); the tendency of the modern language is, as in Catalan, to reduce ll to y; thus one readily hears yeno (plenum). N mouillée (ñ) corresponds to the Lat. nn, mn, nj, and sometimes to initial n : año (a n n u m), dano (damnum), ñudo (n o d u m). Passing to the dentals, except as an initial, t in words that are popularly current and belong to the old stock of the language, can only be derived from Lat. tt, pt, and sometimes ct, as in meter (m i t t e r e), catar (c a p t a r e), punto (p u n c t u m); but it is to be observed that the habitual mode of representing ct in normal Castilian is by ch (pron. tch), as in derecho (directum), pecho (pectus), so that we may take those words in which t alone represents ct as secondary forms of learned words; thus we have bendito, otubre, santo as secondary forms of the learned words bendicto, octubre, sancto, alongside of the old popular forms bendicho, ochubre, sancho. D corresponds in Castilian to Latin t between vowels, or t before r : amado (a m a t u s), padre (p a t r e m). At the present day the d of the suffixes ado, ido is no longer pronounced throughout the whole extent of the domain, and the same holds good also of the final d : salú, poné, for salud, poned (from s a l u t e m, p o n i t e). Sometimes d takes the interdental sound of z (English th), or is changed into l; witness the two pronunciations of the name of the capital—Madriz and Madril (adj. Madrileño). The study of the spirants, c, z, s; g, j is made a very delicate one by the circumstance that the interdental pronunciation of c, z on the one hand, and the guttural pronunciation of g, j on the other, are of comparatively recent date, and convey no notion of the value of these letters before the 17th century. It is admitted, not without reason, that the spirants c, z, which at present represent but one interdental sound (a lisped s, or a sound between s and Eng. th in thing), had down till about the middle of the 16th century the voiceless sound ts and the voiced sound dz respectively, and that in like manner the palatal spirants g, j, x, before assuming the uniform pronunciation of the guttural spirant ( = Germ. ch in Buck), had previously represented the voiced sound of ž (Fr. j) and the voiceless sound of š (Fr. ch), which are still found in Portuguese and in the Castilian dialects of the north-west. The substitution of these interdental and guttural sounds for the surd and sonant spirants respectively did certainly not take place simultaneously, but the vacillations of the old orthography, and afterwards the decision of the Spanish Academy, which suppressed x (=š x was retained for cs) and allows only c and g before e and i, z and j before a, o, u, make it impossible for us to follow, with the help of the written texts, the course of the transformation. S now has the voiceless sound even between vowels: casa (pronounced cassa); final s readily falls away, especially before liquids: todo los for todos los, vamono for vamos nos. The principal sources of j (g) are—Lat. j and g before e and i (juego, j o c u m; gente, g e n t e m) ; Lat. initial s (jabon, s a p o n e m) ; Lat. x (cojo, c o x u m) ; Ij, cl (consejo, consilium; ojo, o c'l u m). The sources of z (c) are Lat. ce, cj, tj, s (cielo, caelum; calza, c a l c e a ; razon, rationem; zampona, symphonia). As regards the spirants f and v, it is to be observed that at the beginning of a word f has in many instances been replaced by the aspirated h (afterwards silent), while in others no less current among the people the transformation has not taken place; thus we have hijo (f i l i u m) alongside of fiesta (f e s t a). In some cases the f has been preserved in order to avoid confusion that might arise from identity of sound : the f in fiel (f i d e l i s) has been kept for the sake of distinction from hiel (f e l). As for v, it has a marked tendency to become confounded, especially as an initial letter, with the sonant explosive b; Joseph Scaliger’s pun—bibere est vivere—is applicable to the Castilians as well as to the Gascons. H is now nothing more than a graphic sign, except in Andalusia, where the aspirate sound represented by it comes very near j. Words beginning in hue, where the h, not etymologically derived, marks the inseparable aspiration of the initial diphthong ue, are readily pronounced giie throughout almost the whole extent of the domain: güele for huele (o l e t); güeso for hueso (o s). This güe extends also to words beginning with bue : güeno for bueno (bonum).
Inflexion.—There is no trace of declension either in Castilian or in Portuguese. Some nominative forms—Dios (anciently Dios, and in the Castilian of the Jews Dio), Carlos, Marcos, sastre (s á r t o r)—have been adopted instead of forms derived from the accusative, but the vulgar Latin of the Peninsula in no instance presents two forms (subjective and objective case) of the same substantive. The article is derived from i l l e, as it is almost everywhere throughout the Romance regions : el, la, and a neuter lo ; los, las. The plural of the first and second personal pronoun has in the modern language taken a composite form—nosotros, vosotros—which has been imitated in Catalan. Quien, the interrogative pronoun which has taken the place of the old qui, seems to come from q u e m.
Conjugation.—The conjugation of Castilian (and Portuguese) derives a peculiar interest from thf archaic features which it retains. The vulgar Latin of Spain has kept the pluperfect indicative, still in current use as a secondary form of the conditional (cantdra, vendiera, partiera), and, what is more remarkable still, as not occurring anywhere else, the future perfect (cantdre, vendiere, pcrtiere, formerly cantdro, vendiero, partiero). The Latin future has been replaced, as every ft-here, by the perirphasis (cantare habeo), but it is worth noticing that in certain old text; of the 13th century, and in the popular songs of a comparatively ancient date which have been preserved in Asturias, the auxiliary can still precede the infinitive (habeo cantare), as with the Latin writers of the decadence : “Mucho de mayor precio a seer el tu manto Que non sera el nuestro” (Berceo, 5. Laur., str. 70), where a seer (h a b e t sederc) corresponds exactly to sera (s e d e r e habet). The vulgar Latin of the Peninsula, moreover, has preserved the 2nd pers. pi. of the imperative (cantad, vended, partid), which has disappeared from all the other Romance languages. Another special feature of Castilian-Portuguese is the complete absence of the form of conjugation known as inchoative (intercalation, in the present tense, of the syllable isc or esc between the radical and the inflexion), although in all the other tenses, except the present, Spanish shows a tendency to lay the accent upon the same syllable in all the six persons, which was the object aimed at by the inchoative form. Castilian displaces the accent on the 1st and 2nd pers. pi. of the imperfect (canldbamos, cantdbais), of the pluperfect indicative (cantdramos, cantdrais), and of the imperfect subjunctive (cantdsemos, cantdseis) ; possibly the impulse to this was given by the forms of future perfect cantdremos, cantdreis (cantarimus, cantaritis). The 2nd persons plural were formerly (except in the perfect) -odes, -edes, -ides; it was only in the course of the 16th century that they got reduced, by the falling away of d, to ais, eis and ts. The verb e s s e r e has been mixed, not as in the other Romance languages with stare, but with s e d e r e, as is proved by older forms seer, siedes, sieden, seyendo, obviously derived from s e d e r e, and which have in the texts sometimes the meaning of " to be seated," sometimes that of " to be," and sometimes both. In old Latin charters also s e d e r e is frequently met with in the sense of esse: e.g. " sedeat istum meum donativum quietum et securum " (anno 1134), where sedeat = sit. The 2nd pers. sing, of the present of ser is eres, which is best explained as borrowed from the imperfect (eras), this tense being often used in Old Spanish with the meaning of the present ; alongside of eres one finds (but only in old documents or in dialects) sos, formed like sois (2nd pers. pl.) upon somos. The accentuation in the inflexion of perfects in the conjugation called strong, like hubieron hizieron, which correspond to habuerunt, fecerunt (while in the other Romance languages the Latin type is erunt: Fr. eurent, firent) , may be regarded as truly etymological, or rather as a result of the assimilation of these perfects to the perfects known as weak (amdron), for there are dialectic forms having the accent on the radical, such as dixon, hlzon. The past participle of verbs in er was formerly udo (u t u s) in most cases ; at present ido serves for all verbs in er and ir, except some ten or twelve in which the participle has retained the Latin form accented on the radical : dicho, hecho, visto, &c. It ought to be added that the past participle in normal Castilian derives its theme not from the perfect, but from the infinitive: habido, sabido, from haber, saber, not from hubo, supo.
Castilian Dialects.—To discover the features by which these are distinguished from normal Castilian we must turn to old charters and to certain modern compositions in which the provincial forms of speech have been reproduced more or less faithfully.
Asturian.—The Asturian idiom, called by the natives bable, is differentiated from the Castilian by the following characters. le occurs, as in Old Castilian, in words formed with the suffix ellum (castiellu, portiellu), while modern Castilian has reduced ie to i. E, i, u, post-tonic for a, e, 0: penes (penas), grades (gracias), esti (este) , frenti (f rente) , llechi (leche) , nucchi (noche) , unu (uno) , primeru (primero). There is no guttural spirant, j, but, according to circumstances, y or x (s) ; thus Lat. cl, Ij gives y: veyu (*v e c l u s), espeyu (s p e c ’ l u m), conseyu (consilium); and after an * this y is hardly perceptible, to judge by the forms fiu (f i l i u m), escoidos (Cast, escogidos), Castia {Castillo) ; Lat. g before e and i, Lat. initial j, and Lat. ss, x, give x (s)—xiente (g e n t e m), xudiu (J u d a e u s), baxu (b a s s u s), coxu (c o x u s), floxu (f l u x u s). Lat. initial f has kept its ground, at least in part of the province : fiu,fueya (Cast. hijo, hoja). A very marked feature is the habitual “mouillure” of l and n as initial letters: lleche, lleer, lluna, llutu; non, nunca, nueve, nube. With respect to inflexion the following forms may be noted: personal pronouns: i (illi), yos (illos) ; possessive pronouns: mio, pi. mios; to, los; so, sos for both masc. and fem. ; verbs: 3rd pers. pi. imp. of the 2nd and 3rd conjugations in in for ten (Cast, ian) ; train, tenin, facin (from facer), fiin (from fer), and even some instances of the 2nd pers. sing, (abis; Cast, habias) ; instances of pres. subj. in ia for a (sirvia, metia, sepia). The verb ser gives yes (sometimes yeres) in the 2nd pers. sing., ye in the 3rd. F a c e r e appears under two forms—facer and fer—and to the abridged form correspond feist fiendo, fiin, &c. Ire often appears under the form dir (antes de diros = antes de iros), which it is not necessary to explain by de-ir". (see H. Schuchardt, Ztschr. f. rom. Philol., v. 312).
Navarrese-Aragonese.—In its treatment cf the post-tonic vowel J this dialect parts company with normal Castilian and comes nearetf Catalan, in so far as it drops the final e, especially after nt, rt (mont, plazient, muert, fuert, parents, gents); and, when the atonic e has dropped after a v, this v becomes a vowel—breu (brevem), grieu (*g r e v e m), nueu (n o v e m). Navarrese-Aragonese has the diphthongs ie, ue from tonic ĕ and ŏ, and adheres more strictly to them than normal Castilian does—cuende (cŏmitem), huey (h ŏ d i e), pueyo (pŏdium), yes (ĕst), yeran (ĕrant), while Castilian says conde, hoy, poyo, es, eran. The initial combinations cl, pl, fl, have withstood the transformation into ll better than in Castilian: plano, pleno, plega, clamado, flama are current in old documents ; and at the present day, although the l has come to be “mouillée,” the first consonant has not disappeared (plluma, pllorá, pllano—pronounced pljuma, &c). Lat. ct gives it, not ch as in Castilian : nueyt (n o c t e m), destruito (destructum), proveito (provectum), dito for ditto (dictum). D between vowels kept its ground longer than in Castilian: documents of the 14th century supply such forms as vidieron, vido, hudio, provedir, redemir, prodeza, Benedit, vidiendo, &c. ; but afterwards y came to be substituted for d or dj: veyere (v i d e r e) , seyer (s e d e r e), seya (s e d e a t), goyo (g a u d i u m), enueyo (i n o d i u m). Initial f does not change into h: fillo, feito. Navarrese-Aragonese does not possess the guttural spirant (j) of Castilian, which is here rendered according to circumstances either by g (Fr. j) or by ll (l mouillée ), but never by the Asturian x. Certain forms of the conjugation of the verb differ from the Castilian: dar, estar, haver, saber, poner readily form their imperfects and imperfect subjunctives like the regular verbs in ar and er—havieron (Cast, hubieron), estaron (Cast, estubieron), sabio (Cast, supo), dasen (Cast, diesen), poniese (Cast, pusiese) ; on the other hand, past participles and gerundives formed from the perfect are to be met with—fisiendo for faciendo (perf. fiso), tuviendo and tuvido for teniendo, tenido (perf. tuvo). In the region bordering on Catalonia the simple perfect has given way before the periphrastic form proper to Catalan: voy cayer (I fell), vafe (he has done), vamos ir (we went), &c. ; the imperfects of verbs in er, ir, moreover, are found in eba, iba (comeba, subiba, for comia, subia), and some presents also occur where the Catalan influence makes itself felt: estigo (Cat. estich), vaigo (Cat. vaig), veigo (Cat. veig). Navarrese-Aragonese makes use of the adverb en as a pronoun: no les en daren pas, no'n hi ha.
Andalusian.—The word “dialect” is still more appropriately applied to Andalusian than either to Asturian or Navarrese-Aragonese. Many peculiarities of pronunciation, however, are commonly called Andalusian which are far from being confined to Andalusia proper, but are met with in the vulgar speech of many parts of the Castilian domain, both in Europe and in America. Of these but a few occur only there, or at least have not yet been observed elsewhere than in that great province of southern Spain. They are the following: L, n, r, d between vowels or at the end of a word disappear: sd {sal), so (sol), viee (viene), tiee (tiene), paa and pa (para), mia (mira), naa and na (nada), too and to (todo). D is dropped even from the beginning of a word: e (de), inero (dinero), on (don). Before an explosive, I, r, d are often represented by i: saiga (saiga), vaiga (valga), laigo (largo), maire (madre), paire (padre). Lat. f is more rigorously represented by h than in normal Castilian, and this h here preserves the aspirate sound which it has lost elsewhere; habld, horma (forma), hoder, are pronounced with a very strong aspiration, almost identical with that of j. The Andalusians also very readily write these words jabld, jorma, joder. This aspirate, expressed by j, often has no etymological origin ; for example, Jdndalo, a nickname applied to Andalusians, is simply the word Andaluz pronounced with the strong aspiration characteristic of the inhabitants of the province. C, z are seldom pronounced like 5 ; but a feature more peculiar to the Andalusians is the inverse process, the softened and interdental pronunciation of the s (the so-called ceceo) : zenor (senor) , &c. Before a consonant and at the end of a word s becomes a simple aspiration: mihmo (mismo), Dioh (Dios), do reales (dos reales). In the inflexion of the verb there is nothing special to note, except some instances of 2nd pers. sing, of the perfect in tes for te: estuvistes, estuvites, for estuviste—evidently a formation by analogy from the 2nd pers. of the other tenses, which all have s.
It is with the Andalusian dialect that we can most readily associate the varieties of Castilian which are spoken in South America. Here some of the most characteristic features of the language of the extreme south of Spain are reproduced—either because the Castilian of America has spontaneously passed through the same phonetic transformations or because the Andalusian element, very strongly represented in colonization, succeeded in transporting its local habits of speech to the New World.
Leonese.—Proceeding on inadequate indications, the existence of a Leonese dialect has been imprudently admitted in some quarters; but the old kingdom of Leon cannot in any way be considered as constituting a linguistic domain with an individuality of its own. The fact that a poem of the 13th century (the Alexandro), and certain redactions of the oldest Spanish code, the Fuero Juzgo, have a Leonese origin has been made too much of, and has led to a tendency to localize excessively certain features common to the whole western zone where the transition takes place from Castilian to Galician-Portuguese.
3. Portuguese.—Portuguese-Galician constitutes the second branch of the Latin of Spain. In it we must distinguish—
(1) Portuguese (Portuguez, perhaps a contraction from the old Portugalez = Portugalensis), the language of the kingdom of Portugal and its colonies in Africa, Asia and America (Brazil) ;
(2) Galician (Gallego), or the language of the old kingdom of Galicia (the modern provinces of Pontevedra, La Coruña, Orense, and Lugo) and of a portion of the old kingdom of Leon (the territory of Vierzo in the province of Leon). Portuguese, like Castilian, is a literary language, which for ages has served as the vehicle of the literature of the Portuguese nation constituted in the beginning of the 12th century. Galician, on the other hand, which began a literary life early in the middle ages—for it was employed by Alfonso the Learned in his Canligas in honour of the Virgin—decayed in proportion as the monarchy of Castile and Leon, to which Galicia had been annexed, gathered force and unity in its southward conquest. At the present day Gallego, which is simply Portuguese variously modified and with a development in some respects arrested, is much less important than Catalan, not only because the Spaniards who speak it (1,800,000) are fewer than the Catalans (3,500,000), but also because, its literary culture having been early abandoned in favour of Castilian, it fell into the vegetative condition of a provincial patois. Speaking generally, Portuguese is further removed than Castilian from Latin; its development has gone further, and its actual forms are more worn out than those of the sister language, and hence it has, not without reason, been compared to French, with which it has some very notable analogies. But, on the other hand, Portuguese has remained more exclusively Latin in its vocabulary, and, particularly in its conjugation, it has managed to preserve several features which give it, as compared with Castilian, a highly archaic air. Old Portuguese, and more especially the poetic language of the 13th century, received from the language of the troubadours, in whose poetry the earlier Portuguese poets found much of their inspiration, certain words and certain turns of expression which have left upon it indelible traces.
Vowels.—Lat. ĕ, ŏ, with the accent have not been diphthongized into ie, uo, ue: pe (p e d e m), dez (d e c e m), born (b o n u s), pode (p o t e t). On the other hand, Portuguese has a large number of strong diphthongs produced by the attraction of an i in hiatus or the resolution of an explosive into i: raiba (r a b i a), feira (f e r i a), feito (f a c t u m), seixo (s a x u m), oito (o c t o). A quite peculiar feature of the language occurs in the “nasal vowels,” which are formed by the Latin accented vowels followed by m, n, or nt, nd: be (ben e), gra (g r a n d e m), bo (b o n u m). These nasal vowels enter into combination with a final atonic vowel : irmao (g e r m a n u s); also amao (a m a n t), sermao (s e r m o n e m), where the is a degenerated representative of the Latin final vowel. In Old Portuguese the nasal vowel or diphthong was not as now marked by the til (~), but was expressed indifferently and without regard to the etymology by m or n: bem (bene), tan (tantum), disserom (d i x e r u n t), sermom (s e r m o n e m). The Latin diphthong au is rendered in Portuguese by ou (ouro, a u r u m; pouco, p a u c u m), also pronounced oi. With regard to the atonic vowels, there is a tendency to reduce a into a vowel resembling the Fr. e “muet,” to pronounce o as u, and to drop e after a group of consonants (dent for dente).
Consonants.—Here the most remarkable feature, and that which most distinctly marks the wear and Aar through which the language has passed, is the disappearance of the median consonants l and n: cor da (corona), lua (l u n a), por formerly poer (ponere), conego (c a n o n i c u s), vir (venire), dor, formerly door (do lore m), paco (p a l a t i u m), saude (salute m), pego (p e l a g u s). Lat. b passes regularly into v : cavallo (caballus), fava (f a b a), arvore (a r b o re m) ; but, on the other hand, Lat. initial v readily tends to become b: bexiga (vesica), bodo (votum). Lat. initial f never becomes h: fazer (f a c e r e), filo (f i l u m). Lat. c before e and i is represented either by the hard sibilant s or by the soft z. Lat. g between vowels is dropped before e and i : ler for leer (l e g e r e), dedo (d i g i t u m) ; the same is the case with d, of course, in similar circumstances: remir (re di mere), rir (ridere). Lat. j has assumed the sound of the French j. The Latin combinations cl, fl, pi at the beginning of words are transformed in two ways in words of popular origin. Either the initial consonant is retained while the l is changed into r : cravo (c l a v u m), prazer (p l a c e r e), fror (f l o re m) ; or the group is changed in ch ( = Fr. ch, Catal. x) through the intermediate sounds kj, fj, pj : chamar (c l a m a r e) , chao (planus), chamma (f l a m m a). Within the word the same group and other groups also in which the second consonant is an l produce l mouillée (written nh, just as n mouillée is written nh, as in Provençal) : ovelha (ovic'la), velho (*v eclus); and sometimes ch: facho (f a c’ l u m), ancho (a m p l u m). Lat. ss or sc before e and i gives x (Fr. ch) : paixo (b a s s u s),faxa (fascia). The group ct is. reduced to it: leito (l e c t u m), peito (pectus), noite (n o c t e m) ; sometimes to ut : douto (d o c t u s). Such words as frulo, reto, dileto are modern derivatives from the learned forms fructo. recto, dilecto. Lat. cs becomes is: seis (s e x); or isc, x ( = Fr. ich, ch) : seixo (s a x u m), luxo (l u x u m) ; or even ij: disse (d i x i).
Inflexion.—The Portuguese article, now reduced to the vocalic form o, a, os, as, was lo (exceptionally also el, which still survives in the expression El-Rei), la, los, las in the old language. Words ending in l in the singular lose the l in the plural (because it then becomes median, and so is dropped): sol (s o l e m), but soes (soles); those having do in the sing, form the plural either in des or in des according to the etymology : thus cao (c a n e m) makes edes, but racao makes racoes. As regards the pronoun, mention must be made of the non-etymological forms of the personal mint and of the feminine possessive minha, where the second n has been brought in by the initial nasal. Portuguese conjugation has more that is interesting. In the personal suffixes the forms of the 2nd pers. pl. in ades, edes, ides lost the d in the 15th century, and have now become ais, eis, is, through the intermediate forms aes, ees, eis. The form in des has persisted only in those verbs where it was protected by the consonants n or r preceding it: pondes, tendes, vindes, amardes, and also no doubt in some forms of the present of the imperative, where the therne has been reduced to an extraordinary degree by the disappearance of a consonant and the contraction of vowels: ides, credes, ledes, &c. Portuguese is the only Romance language which possesses a personal or conjugated infinitive: amar, amar-es, amar, amar-mos, amar-des, amar-em; e.g. antes de sair-mos, “before we go out.” Again, Portuguese alone has preserved the pluperfect in its original meaning, so that, for example, amara (a m a v e r a m) signifies not merely as elsewhere “I would love,” but also “I had loved.” The future perfect, retained as in Castilian, has lost its vowel of inflexion in the 1st and 3rd pers. sing, and consequently becomes liable to be confounded with the infinitive {amar, render, partir). Portuguese, though less frequently than Castilian, employs ter (t e n e r e) as an auxiliary, alongside of aver; and it also supplements the use of e s s e r e with s e d e r e, which furnished the subj. seja, the imperative se, sede, the gerundive sendo, the participle sido, and some other tenses in the old language. Among the peculiarities of Portuguese conjugation may be mentioned—(1) the assimilation of the 3rd pers. sing, to the 1st in strong perfects (houve, pude, quiz, fez), while Castilian has hube and hubo; (2) the imperfects punha, tinha, vinha (from por, ter and vir), which are accented on the radical in order to avoid the loss of the n (ponia would have made poia), and which substitute u and i for o and e in order to distinguish from the present subjunctive (ponha, tenha, venha).
Galician.—Almost all the phonetic features which distinguish Portuguese from Castilian are possessed by Gallego also. Portuguese and Galician even now are practically one language, and still more was this the case formerly : the identity of the two idioms would become still more obvious if the orthography employed by the Galicians were more strictly phonetic, and if certain transcriptions of sounds borrowed from the grammar of the official language (Castilian) did not veil the true pronunciation of the dialect. It is stated, for example, that Gallego does not possess nasal diphthongs; still it may be conceded once for all that such a word as p l a n u s, which in Galician is written sometimes chau and sometimes chan, cannot be very remote from the Portuguese nasal pronunciation chao. One of the most notable differences between normal Portuguese and Galician is the substitution of the surd spirant in place of the sonant spirant for the Lat. j before all vowels and g before e and i : xuez (j u d i c e m), Port, juiz; xunto (ji'nctu m), Port, junto; xente (g e n t e m), Port, gente. In conjugation the peculiarities of Gallego are more marked ; some find their explanation within the dialect itself, others seem to be due to Castilian influence. The 2nd persons plural have stili their old form ades, edes, ides, so that in this instance it would seem as if Gaftego had been arrested in its progress while Portuguese had gone on progressing; but it is to be observed that with these full forms the grammarians admit contracted forms as well: as (Port, ais), es (Port, eis), is (Port. is). The 1st pers. sing. of the perfect of conjugations in er and ir has come to be complicated by a nasal resonance similar to that which we find in the Portuguese mim; we have vendin, partin, instead of vendi, parti, and by analogy this form in in has extended itself also to the perfect of the conjugation in ar, and falin, gardin, for falei, gardei are found. The second persons of the same tense take the ending che, ches in the singular and chedes in the plural : falache or falaches (f a b u l a s t i), falachedes as well as faldstedes (fabulastis), bateche or batiche, pl. batestes or batechedes, &c. Ti (t i b i) having given che in Galician, we see that falasti has become falache by a phonetic process. The 3rd pers. sing, of strong perfect is not in e as in Portuguese (houve, pode), but in (houbo, puido, soubo, coubo, &c.) ; Castilian influence may be traceable here. If a contemporary grammarian, Saco Arce, is to be trusted, Gallego would form an absolute exception to the law of Spanish accentuation in the imperfect and pluperfect indicative: falabdmos, falabddes; bahdmos, baliddes; pididmos, pididdes; and falardmos, falarddes; baterdmos, baterddes; pidirdmos, pidirddes. The future perfect indicative and the imperfect subjunctive, on the other hand, would seem to be accented regularly : faldremos, faldsemos. The important question is worth further study in detail.
Bibliography.—On the general subject the most important works are F. Diez, Grammatik der romanischen Sprachen (5th ed., Bonn, 1882) and Etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Sprachen (4th ed., Bonn, 1878) ; W. Meyer-Lübke, Grammatik der romanischen Sprachen (Leipzig, 1890–1894) ; G. Korting, Lateinisch-romunisches Worterbuch (Paderborn, 1890–1891). See also A. Carnoy, he Latin d’Espagne d'apres les inscriptions (2nd ed., Brussels, I906). (1) Catalan.—A. Morel-Fatio, “Das Catalanische,” in G. Grober’s Grundriss der romanischen Philologie (1888) ; E. Vogel, “Neucatalanische Studien,” in G. Korting’s Neuphilologische Sludien (Heft 5, 1886) ; M. Mila y Fontanals, De los Trovadores en Espana (Barcelona, 1861), and Estudios de lengua catalana (Barcelona, 1875); A. Mussafia’s introduction to Die catalanische metrische Version der sieben weisen Meister (Vienna, 1876); A. Nonell y Mas, Andlisis de la llènga catalana antiga comparada ab la moderna. (Manresa, 1895) ; J. P. Ballot y Torres, Gramatica y apologia de la llengua cathalana (Barcelona, 1815); A. de Bofarull, Estudios, sistema gramaticaly crestomatia de la lengua catalana (Barcelona, 1864); P. Fabra, Contribució á la gramatica de la llengua catalana (Barcelona, 1898). For the Catalan dialect of Sardinia see G. Morosi, “l’Odierno dialetto catalano di Alghero in Sardegna,” in the Miscellanea di filclogia dedicata alia memoria dei Prof. Caix e Canello (Florence, 1885), and F. Romoni, Sardismi (Sassan, 1887). (2) Castilian.—Conde de la Vinaza, Biblioteca historica de la filologia castellana (Madrid, 1893); A. Bello, Gramatica de la lengua castellana (7th ed., with notes by R. J. Cuervo, Paris, 1902) ; R. J. Cuervo, Apuntaciones ritica ssobre el lenguaje bogotano (5th ed., Paris, 1907); G. Baist, “Die spanische Sprache,” in G. Grober’s Grundriss der romanischen Philologie; P. Förster, Spanische Sprachlehre (Berlin, 1880); E. Gorra, Lingua e letteratura spagnuola delle origini (Milan, 1898) ; R. Menendez Pidal, Manual elemental de gramatica historica espanola (Madrid, 1905) ; F. M. Josselyn, Études de phonétique espagnole (Paris, 1907) ; C. Michaelis, Studien zur romanischen Wortschöpfung (Leipzig, 1876); A. Keller, Historische Formenlehre der spanischen Sprache (Murrhardt, 1894); P. de Mugica, Gramática del castellano antiguo (Berlin, 1891) ; S. Padilla, Gramática histórica de la lengua castellana (Madrid, 1903); J. D. M. Ford, “The Old Spanish Sibilants” in Studies and Notes in Philology (Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., 1900). For Asturian, see A. de Rato y Hevia, Vocabulario de las palabras y frases que se hablan en Asturias (Madrid, 1891), and the Coleccion de poesias en dialecto asturiano (Oviedo, 1839); for Navarrese-Aragonese, see J. Borao, Diccionario de voces aragonesas (2nd ed., Saragossa, 1885); for Andalusian, the searching study of H. Schuchardt in the Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie, vol. v.; and for Leonese, R. Menendez Pidal, “El Dialecto leones,” in the Revista de archivos, bibliotecas, y museos (Madrid, 1906). R. J, Cuervo’s Apuntaciones (noted above) is the leading authority on American Spanish. The following publications may be consulted, but with caution: L. Abeille, Idioma nacional de los Argentinos (Paris, 1900) ; D. Granada, Vocabulario rioplatense razonado (Montevideo, 1890) ; J. Fernandez Ferraz, Nahuatlismos de Costa Rica (San Jose, 1892) and C. Gagini, Diccionario de barbarismos de Costa Rica (San Jose, 1893); A. Membreno, Hondurenismps (Tegucigalpa, 1897). See also C. C. Marden, The Phonology of the Spanish Dialect of Mexico City (Baltimore, 1896) ; J. Sanchez Somoano, Modismos, locuciones y terminos mexicanos (Madrid, 1892), and F. Ramos i Duarte, Diccionario de niejicanismos (Mexico, 1895); J. de Arona, Diccionario de peruanismos (Lima, 1883); J. Calcafio, El Castellano en Venezuela (Caracas, 1897). (3) Portuguese.—J. Cornu, “Die portugiesische Sprache,” in G. Grober’s Grundriss der romanischen Philologie ; F. A. Coelho, Theoria da conjugacao em latim e portuguez (Lisbon, 1871), and Questoes da lingua portugueza (Oporto, 1874). For Galician, see A. Fernandez y Morales’s Ensayos poeticos de berceiano (Leon, 1861); M. R. Rodriguez, Apuntes gramaticales sobre el romance gallego de la crónica troyana (La Coruña, 1898), and Saco Arce, Gramática gallega (Lugo, 1868); for other dialectical varieties, see I. J. da Fonseca, Noções de philologia accomodadas á lingoa brasiliana (Rio de Janeiro, 1885); J. Leite de Vasconellos, Dialectos beires (Oporto, 1884), and Sur le dialecte portugais de Macao (Lisbon, 1892).
Important articles by many of the above writers, and by other philologists of note, will be found in Romania, the Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie, the Revue des langues romanes, the Revista lusitana, the Revue hispanique, the Bulletin hispanique, Cultura espaňola and the Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen. (A. M.-Fa.; J. F.-K.)
Spanish Literature
The name Spanish in connexion with literature is now generally restricted to works in the Castilian tongue. In the present article it is taken in the wider sense as embracing the literary productions of the whole Iberian Peninsula, with the exceptions of Portugal and of Galicia, the latter of which, as regards language and literature, belongs to the Portuguese domain. Spanish literature thus considered falls into two divisions—Castilian and Catalan.
I. Castilian Literature.—Of the Castilian texts now extant none is of earlier date than the 12th century, and very probably none goes farther back than 1150. The text generally accepted as the oldest—the Mystery of the Magian Kings, as it is rather inappropriately designated by most historians of literature—is a fragment of a short semi-liturgical play meant to be acted in the church of Toledo on the feast of Epiphany. Manifestly an imitation of the Latin ludi represented in France during the early years of the 12th century, the Spanish piece cannot have been composed much before 1150.
The national hero Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar (d. 1099), better known in history by the Arabic surname of the Cid, was celebrated in the vulgar tongue in two poems, neither of which has come down to us in its entirety. The more ancient cantar, usually entitled Poema del Cid, since it was originally edited (1779) by Tomás Antonio Heroic Poetry. Sanchez, relates in its first part the valiant deeds (gesta) of the Cid subsequent to his quarrel with Alphonso VI. ; in the second the capture of Valencia, the reconciliation of the hero with the king and the marriage of his daughters with the infantes of Carrion; and in the third the treason of the infantes, the vengeance of the Cid, and the second marriage of his daughters with the infantes of Navarre and Aragon. The narrative of the last years of the Cid, which closes the epic, is much curtailed. Whilst in the Poema the Cid appears as the loyal vassal, deploring the necessity of separating from his king, the Cid of the second poem, Crónica rimada del Cid, is almost a rebel and at least a refractory vassal who dares treat his sovereign as an equal. The portion of the Crónica which has been preserved deals in the main with the youth of Rodrigo; it contains the primitive version of his quarrel with the Count Gomez de Gormaz and the marriage of the slayer with Ximena, the Count’s daughter, and also a series of fabulous episodes, such as the Cid’s journey to France to fight with the twelve peers of Charlemagne, &c. The Poema, which survives in a 14th-century manuscript, belongs to about the middle of the 12th century; the form under which the Crónica text has reached us is at least two centuries later; but, on the other hand, several traditions collected by the author bear an incontestable stamp of antiquity. The versification of both poems is irregular. Normally this epic measure may be divided into two hemistichs of seven or eight syllables each; but here the lines sometimes fall short of this number and sometimes exceed it; the strophes follow the model of the laisses of the French chansons de geste—that is, they have a single assonance and vary greatly in extent.
A fragment of an epic poem on the infantes de Lara has been reconstituted from the Crónica general by Ramón Menendez Pidal (1896); if similar poems existed on real personages like Roderick, or mythical heroes like Bernardo del Carpio, they have not survived. Still the frequent allusions in the chronicles to the narratives of the juglares suggest that Castilian heroic poetry was richer than the scarcity of the monuments now extant would lead us to believe. Fernán González, first independent count of Castile (10th century), has alone been celebrated in a poem composed (about 1250 or later) in single-rhyme quatrains.
With the heroic poetry which takes its themes from the national
history and legends, there grew up in the 13th century a school
of religious and didactic poetry, the most eminent
representative of which is Gonzalo de Berceo (1180?–1246?).
This poet, born at Berceo (Logroño),
composed several lives of Spanish saints, and other devotionalPoems of the
13th Century.
poems, such as the Miracles and the Praises of the Virgin.
Berceo calls his poems prosa, decir, dictado, indicating thereby
that he intended them to be read and recited, not sung like the
cantares. They are written in single-rhyme quatrains and in
verses of twelve to fourteen syllables, according as the ending
of each hemistich is masculine or feminine. In the same metre
were composed, also in the 13th century, two long poems—one
on Alexander the Great, the other on Apollonius of Tyre—after
Latin and French sources. The author of the first of these
poems contrasts his system of versification, which he calls
mester de clerecía, with the mester de joglaría used in heroic
poetry, and intended to be sung; and he declares that this
single-rhyme quatrain (curso rimado por la quaderna via) consists
of counted syllables. The composer of Apolonio calls this same
versification nueva mestría. The single-rhyme quatrain, introduced
in imitation of the French poetry of the 12th century,
became from the time of Berceo and the Alixandre and Apolonio
the regular form in Castilian narrative and didactic poetry,
and prevailed down to the close of the 14th century.
To the 13th century are assigned a Life of St Mary the Egyptian, translated from the French, perhaps through a Provencal version, and an Adoration of the Three Kings, in verses of eight or nine syllables rhyming in pairs (aa, bb, cc, &c.), as well as a fragment of a Debate between Soul and Body, in verses of six or seven syllables, evidently an imitation of one of the medieval Latin poems, entitled Rixa animi et corporis. The oldest lyric in Castilian, La Razón feita d’amor, belongs to the same period and probably derives from a French source; it bears the name of Lope de Moros, who, however, seems to have been merely the copyist. Mention may here also be made of the cantigas (songs) of Alphonso the Learned in honour of the Virgin, although, being in the Galician dialect, these properly belong to the history of Portuguese literature.
The 14th century saw the birth of the most original medieval
Spanish poet. Juan Ruiz, archpriest of Hita (near Guadalajara),
has left us a poem of irregular composition,
in which, while reproducing apologues and dits
from foreign sources, he frequently trusts to his
own inspiration. Ruiz celebrates love and woman; his bookPoems of the
14th Century.
is of buen amor, that is, he shows by his own experience and
the example of those whom he follows how a man may become
a successful lover. By way of precaution, the poet represents
himself as one who has survived his illusions, and maintains
that carnal love (loco amor) must finally give place to divine
love; but this mask of devotion cannot disguise the real character
of the work. The Rimado de palacio of Pero Lopez de
Ayala, chancellor of Castile at the end of the 14th century,
does not refer exclusively to court life; the author satirizes
with great severity the vices of all classes of laymen and churchmen.
Akin to this Rimado de palacio are the proverbios morales
of the Jew Sem Tob of Carrion, dedicated to Peter the
Cruel (1350 to 1369). The Poema de Alfonso Onceno, by
Rodrigo Yafiez, is a far-off echo of the epical poems, the laisses
being superseded by octo-syllabic lines with alternate rhymes.
The General Dance of Death and a new version of the Debate
between Soul and Body, both in eight-line strophes of arte mayor
(verses of twelve syllables), and both imitated from French
originals, are usually referred to this period; they both belong,
however, to the 15th century.
The word “romance” not only signifies in Spain, as in other Romanic countries, the vulgar tongue, but also bears the special meaning of a short epic narrative poem (historic ballad) or, at a later date, a short lyric poem. As regards the form, the “romance” (Spanish el romance, in contrast to French, &c., la romance) is a composition in long versesRomance. of sixteen syllables ending with one assonance; these verses are often wrongly divided into two short lines, the first of which, naturally, is rhymeless. This being the form of the romance verse, the Crdnica rimada del Cid, and even the Poema (though in this case the influence of the French alexandrines is perceptible), might be considered as a series of romances; and in fact several of the old romances of the Cid, which form each an independent whole and were printed as separate poems in the 16th century, are partly to be found in the Cronica. Other romances, notably those dealing with the heroes of the Carolingian epic, so popular in Spain, or with the legendary figures which Spanish patriotism opposed to the French paladins—as, for example, Bernardo del Carpio, the rival and the conqueror of Roland in Castilian tradition—seem to be detached fragments of the cantares de gesta mentioned by Alphonso X. At the close of the 15th century, and especially during the 16th, the romances, which had previously passed from mouth to mouth, began to be written down, and afterwards to be printed, at first on broadsheets (pliegos sueltos) and subsequently in collections (romanceros); these are either general collections, in which romances of very different date, character and subject are gathered together, or are collections restricted to a single episode or personage (for example, the Romancero del Cid). In such romancer os the epic verse is usually regarded as octosyllabic and is printed as such; occasionally certain editions divide the romance into strophes of four verses (cuartetas) .
King Alphonso X. (d. 1284), under whose patronage were published the code entitled Las Siete partidas and several great scientific compilations (such as the Libros de astronomia and the Lapidario), was also the founder of Spanish historiography in the vulgar tongue. The Crónica general, composed under his direction, consists of two distinct parts: the one treats of universal history from the creation of the world to the first centuries of the Christian era (La General e grant historia) ; the other deals exclusively with the national history (La Crónica d Historia de España) down to the death of Ferdinand III. (1252), father of Alphonso. The main sources of the Crónica general are two Spanish ecclesiastical chroniclers of the 13th century—Lucas of Tuy and Rodrigo of Toledo; both wrote in Latin, but their works were early translated into the vernacular. In the Historia de España, printed in its true form for the first time in 1906, are collected many legends and occasional references to the songs of the juglares (for the purpose, however, of refuting them), the narrative relating to the Cid being partly based on an Arabic text. This portion, as recast in the Crónica de Castilla compiled by order of Alphonso XI., was published apart by Juan de Velorado under the title of the Crónica del Cid (1512), and has often been reprinted. Alphonso's example bcre fruit In the 14th century we find another Crónica general de España or de Castilla, constructed on the model of the first and embracing the years 1030–1312; next, the Grant crónica de España and the Grant Crónica de los conqueridores, compiled by command of the grand master of the order of St John of Jerusalem, Juan Fernandez de Heredia (1310–1396), about 1390. Special chronicles of each king of Castile were soon written. Our information is defective regarding the authorship of the chronicles of Alphonso X., Sancho IV., Ferdinand IV. and Alphonso XI; but the four following reigns—those of Pedro I., Henry II., John I. and Henry III.—were dealt with by Pero Lopez de Ayala; here we recognize the man of literary culture who had acquired some knowledge of ancient history, for the form of the narrative becomes freer and more personal, and the style rises with the thought. Alvar Garcia de Santa Maria and other writers whose names are not recorded probably compiled the chronicle of John II.; the events of Henry IV.'s disastrous reign were related by Diego Enriquez del Castillo and Alfonso Fernandez de Palencia; the triumphs of the Catholic sovereigns Ferdinand and Isabella by Fernando del Pulgar and Andres Bernaldez. With these royal chronicles should be mentioned some biographies of important persons. Thus in the 15th century the chronicle of Pedro Nino, count of Buelna (1375–1446) by Gutierre Diez de Games; that of Alvaro de Luna, constable of Castile (d. 1453); and a curious book of travels, the narrative of the embassy sent by Henry III. of Castile to Timur in 1403, written by the head of the mission, Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo.
The other productions of Castilian prose in the 13th and 14th centuries are for the most part didactic and sententious compositions, which, however, contain illustrations or tales of Eastern origin. The Spanish translation of Kalila and Dimna, made direct from an Arabic text, dates from the middle of the 13th century, and the romance of the Seven Sages (Sindibad), translated under the title of Libro de los engaños é asayamientos de las mugeres, is referred to 1253. From the second half of the 13th century the collections of aphorisms, dits, apologues and moral tales become very numerous: first of all, versions of the Secretum secretorum, attributed in the middle ages to Aristotle, one of which is entitled Poridat de las poridades, next the Proverbios buenos, the Bocados de oro or Libro de bonium, Rey de Persia and the Libro de los gatos, which is derived from the Narrationes of Odo of Cheriton. During the first half of the 14th century the nephew of Alphonso X., the infante Juan Manuel, wrote the various works which place him in the first rank of medieval Spanish prose writers. The best known is the collection of tales, many of them borrowed from Oriental sources, entitled El Conde Lucanor; but, besides this contribution to literature, he wrote graver and still more didactic treatises. The knowledge of antiquity, previously so vague, made remarkable progress in the 14th century. Curiosity was awakened concerning certain episodes of ancient history, such as the War of Troy, and Benoit de Sainte-More's poem and the Latin narrative of Guido delle Colonne were both translated. Lopez de Ayala translated, or caused to be translated, Pierre Bersuire's French version of Livy, Boetius and various writings of Isidore of Seville and Boccaccio.
While the Carolingian cycle is mainly represented in Spain by assonanced romances, of which the oldest seem to be fragments of lost poems by the juglares, the British cycle (Lancelot, Tristram, Merlin, &c.) is represented chivalry. almost exclusively by works in prose (see Romance). Those narratives are known only in 15th and 16th century editions, and these have been more or less modified to suit the taste of the time; but it is impossible not to recognize that books such as El Baladro del sabio Merlin (1498) and La Demanda del sancto grial (1515) presuppose a considerable antecedent literature of which they are only the afterglow. The principal French romances of the Round Table were translated and imitated in Spain and in Portugal as early as the first half of the 14th century at least; of that there is no doubt. And, even if there were not satisfactory testimony on this point, the prodigious development in Spanish literature of the caballerias, or "books of chivalry," incontrovertibly derived from fictions of Breton origin, would be proof enough that at an early date the Spaniards were familiar with these romantic tales derived from France. The oldest work of the kind is El Caballero Cifar, composed at the beginning of the 14th century, but the first book of real importance in the series of strictly Spanish caballerias is the Amadis de Gaula. Certain considerations lead one to seek for the unknown author of the first Amadis in Portugal, where the romances of the Round Table were more highly appreciated than in Spain, and where they have exercised a deeper influence on the national literature. To Garci Rodriguez de Montalvo, however, falls the honour of having preserved the book by printing it; he made the mistake of diluting the original text and of adding a continuation, Las Sergas de Esplandian. Allied to Montalvo’s Amadis with its supplementary Esplandian (1510) are the Don Florisando (1510) and the Lisuarte de Grecia (1514), the Amadis de Grecia (1514), the Don Florisel de Niquea (1532–1551), &c, which form what Cervantes called the “Amadis sect.” Parallel with the Amadises are the Palmerines, the most celebrated of which are Palmerin de Oliva (1511), Primaleon (1512), and Palmerin de Inglaterre, which was first written in Portuguese by Moraes Cabral. None of those caballerias inspired by the Amadis were printed or even written before the 16th century, and they bear the stamp of that period; but they cannot be separated from their medieval model, the spirit of which they have preserved. Among the caballerias we may also class some narratives derived from the Carolingian epic—the Historia del emperador Carlomagno y de los doce pares, a very popular version still reprinted of the French romance of Fierabras, the Espejo de caballerias, into which has passed a large part of Boiardo's Orlando innamorato, the Historia de la reina Sibilla, &c.
The first half of the 15th century, or what comes almost to the same thing, the reign of John II. of Castile (1407–1454), is characterized as regards his literature (1) by the Poetry of development of a court poetry, artificial and pretentious; (2) by the influence of Italian literature on Castilian prose and poetry, the imitation of Boccaccio and Dante, especially of the latter, which introduced into Spain a liking for allegory; and (3) by more assiduous intercourse with antiquity. After the example of the Provencal troubadours whose literary doctrines had made their way into Castile through Portugal and Catalonia, poetry was now styled the arte de trobar. The arte de trobar is strictly “court” poetry, which consists of short pieces in complicated measures—love plaints, debates, questions and repartees, motes with their glosas, burlesque and satirical songs—verse wholly “occasional” and deficient in charm when separated from its natural environment. In order to understand and appreciate these pieces they must be read in the collections made by the poets of the time, where each poem throws light on the others. The most celebrated cancionero of the 15th century is that compiled for the amusement of his sovereign by Juan Alfonso de Baena; it is, so to say, the official collection of the poetic court of John II., although it also contains pieces by poets of earlier dates. After Baena’s collection may be mentioned the Cancionero de Stúñiga, which contains the Castilian poems of the trobadores who followed Alphonso V. of Aragon to Naples. These cancioneros, consisting of the productions of a special group, were succeeded by collections of a more miscellaneous character in which versifiers of very different periods and localities are brought together, the pieces being classed simply according to their type. The earliest genuine Cancionero general (though it does not bear the title) is that compiled by Juan Fernandez de Constantina, which appears to have been issued from the Valencia press at the beginning of the 16th century; the second, much better known, was published for the first time at Valencia in 1511 by Hernando del Castillo. The other poetic school of the 15th century, which claims to be specially related to the Italians, had as its leaders Juan de Mena, author of the Coronación and the Laberinto de fortuna, and the marquis of Santillana, Inigo Lopez de Mendoza, who in his sonnets was, perhaps, the first to imitate the structure of the Italian hendecasyllabics. With those two chiefs, who may be designated poeias as distinguished from the decidores and the trobadores of the cancioneros, must be ranked Francisco Imperial, a Genoese by descent, who at a somewhat earlier date helped to acclimatize in Spain the forms of Italian poetry. The marquis of Santillana occupies a considerable place in the literature of the 15th century not only by reason of his poems, but through the support he afforded to all the writers of his time, and the impulse he gave to the study of antiquity and to the labours of translators. In the next generation the most prominent figures are Gomez Manrique and Jorge Manrique, the latter of whom has produced a short poem which is a masterpiece.
With the exception of the chronicles and some caballerías the prose of the 15th century contains little that is striking. The translation of Virgil by Enrique de Villena is ponderous and shows no advance on the versions of Latin authors made in the previous century. Prose of 15th Century. A curious and amusing book, full of details about Spanish manners, is the Corbacho (1438) of the archpriest of Talavera, Alfonso Martinez de Toledo, chaplain to King John II.; the Corbacho belongs to the numerous family of satires against women, and this title, by which it is commonly known—borrowed from a work of Boccaccio’s, with which it has otherwise nothing in common—indicates that he has not spared them.
The ancient liturgical Spanish theatre is known to us only by fragments of the play of the Magian Kings, already mentioned; but certain regulations given in the Siete partidas (compiled between 1252 and 1257) prove that such a theatre existed, and that at Dramatic Literature. the great festivals, such as Christmas, Epiphany and Easter, dramatic representations were given in church. These representations, originally a simple commentary on the liturgy, were gradually adulterated with buffoonery, which frequently brought down the censure of the clergy. Alphonso X. even thought it necessary to forbid the “clerks” playing juegos de escarnios, and permitted in the sanctuary only dramas destined to commemorate the principal episodes of the life of Christ. Of all the Church festivals, the most popular in Spain was that of Corpus Christi instituted by Urban IV. in 1264. At an early date the celebration of this festival was accompanied with dramatic performances intended to explain to the faithful the eucharistic mystery. These dramas, called autos sacramentales, acquired more and more importance; in the 17th century, with Calderon, they become grand allegorical pieces, regular theological dissertations in the form of dramas. To the auto sacramental corresponds the auto al nacimiento, or drama of the Nativity. In Spain, as elsewhere, the secular theatre is a product of the religious theatre. Expelled from the Church, the juegos de tscarnios took possession of the public squares and there attained free development; ceasing to be a mere travesty of dogma, they developed into a drama whose movement is no longer determined by the liturgy, and whose actors are borrowed from real life in Spanish society. This new theatre begins towards the close of the 15th century, with the pastoral pieces of Juan del Encina, which, after Virgil’s example, he calls eglogas. Genuine shepherds are the interlocutors of these bucolics, into which are also sometimes introduced students, and Lucas Fernandez, a contemporary and pupil of Encina’s, introduces gentlemen and soldiers. A book which, strictly speaking, does not belong to the theatre, the Tragicomedia de Calixto y Melibea, much better known as La Celestina, caused the new theatre, still rudimentary in the attempts of the school of Encina, to make a step onwards. This astonishing novel taught the Spaniards the art of dialogue, and for the first time exhibited persons of all classes of society (particularly the lowest) speaking in harmony with their natural surroundings. The progress caused by the Celestina may be estimated by means of the Propaladia of Bartolome de Torres Naharro, a collection of pieces represented at Rome in presence of Leo X. Torres Naharro is thought to have borrowed from France the division of the play into “days” (jornadas); shortly after Naharro we find the comedy of manners in Lope de Rueda, whose dramatic work is composed of regular comedies constructed on the model of Italian authors of the beginning of the 16th century, and also of little pieces intended for performance in the intervals between the larger plays (entremeses and pasos) , some of which are models of sprightly wit. Some of Naharro’s, and especially of Rueda’s, pieces foreshadow the comedy of intrigue, which is emphatically the type of the classic stage. But to reach Lope de Vega, the Spanish stage had to be enlarged in relation to national history. A poet of Seville, Juan de la Cueva, first brought on the boards subjects such as the exploits of the Cid, Bernardo del Carpio, and others, which had previously been treated of only in the romances. To a poet called Berrio, of whose work nothing has been preserved, are attributed the comedias of Moors and Christians, in which were represented famous episodes of the age-long struggle against the infidel. And it was at this period (1585) that Cervantes experimented in the drama; in his Tratos de Argel he gives us a picture of galley-life, recollections of his long captivity in Algiers. There is no need to linger over the attempts at tragedy of the ancient type by Jerónimo Bermudez, Cristóbal de Virues, Lupercio Leonardo de Argensoia, &c, the only successful specimen of which is the Numancia of Cervantes; these works, mere exercises in style and versification, remained without influence on the development of the Spanish stage. The pre-classic period of this stage is, as regards dramatic form, one of indecision. Some write in prose, like Rueda; others, like Naharro, show a preference for the redondillas of popular poetry; and there are those again who, to elevate the style of the stage, versify in hendecasyllabics. Hesitation is also evident as to the mode of dividing the drama. At first a division into five acts, after the manner of the ancients, is adopted, and this is followed by Cervantes in his early pieces; then Juan de la Cueva reduced the five acts to four, and in this he is imitated by most poets till the close of the 16th century (Lope de Vega himself in his youth composed pieces in four acts). Francisco de Avendano divided his Florisea into three acts as early as 1551, but his example was not followed till about forty years later, when this division was generally adopted in all dramatic works—with the exception of short pieces like the loa (prologue), the entrants, the paso, the baile (different kinds of entr’acte).
The golden age of Spanish literature belongs to the 16th and 17th centuries, extending approximately from 1550 to 1650. Previous to the reign of the Catholic sovereigns there exists, strictly speaking, only a Castilian literature, largely influenced by imitation first of Classic Age, 16th and 17th Centuries. France and then of Italy; the union of the two crowns of Aragon and Castile, and afterwards the advent of the house of Austria and the king of Spain’s election as emperor, achieved the political unity of Spain and the unity of Spanish literature. After the death of Philip IV. (1665) the light went out; the nation, exhausted by wars and bad administration, produced nothing; its literary genius sank in the general decline, and Spain was destined ere long to fall again under the influence of France, to which she had submitted during the first period of the middle ages. In the 16th and 17th centuries the literature was eminently national. Yet in certain kinds of literature the Spaniards continued to seek models abroad.
Lyric poetry, especially that of the more ambitious order, is always inspired by the Italian masters. An irresistible tendency leads the Spanish poets to rhyme in hendecasyllabics—as the marquis of Santillana had formerly done, though his attempts had fallen Lyric Poetry. into oblivion—and to group their verses in tercets, octaves, sonnets and canciones (canzoni). Juan Boscan, Garcilaso de la Vega and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza are the recognized chiefs of the school al itálico modo, and to them belongs the honour of having successfully transplanted to Spain these different forms of verse, and of having enriched the poetic language of their country. The defects of Boscan and Mendoza (such as certain faults of rhythmic accentuation) were corrected by their disciples Gutierre de Cetina, Gregorio Silvestre, Hernando de Acuña, by the poets of the so-called school of Seville, headed by Fernando de Herrera and also by those of the rival school of Salamanca, rendered famous mainly by the inspired poetry of Luis Ponce de Leon. Against these innovators the poets, faithful to the old Castilian manner, the rhymers of redondillas and romances, held their own; under the direction of Cristobal de Castillejo, they carried on a fierce war against the “Petrarchists.” But by the last third of the 16th century the triumph of the new Italian school was assured, and no one any longer thought of reproaching it for its exotic flavour. Still at this period there was a schism between the higher poetry and the other varieties: in the former only the hendecasyllabic and the heptasyllabic (quebrado) were employed, while the popular poets, or those who affected a more familiar tone, preserved the national metres. Almost all the poets, however, of the 16th and 17th centuries tried their powers in both kinds of versification, using them in turn according to the nature of their subjects. Thus Lope de Vega, first of all, who wrote La Dragontea (1598), La Hermosura de Angelica (1602), La Jerusalem conquistada (1600), in Italian verses and in octaves, composed his long narrative poem on Isidore, the patron of Madrid (1590), in quintillas of octosyllabic verse, not to mention a great number of romances. As regards this last form, previously disdained by artistic poets, Lope de Vega gave it a prestige that brought it into favour at court. A host of poets were pleased to recast the old romances or to compose new ones. The 17th century, it may be said, is characterized by a superabundance of lyric poetry, to which the establishment of various literary academies contributed. Of this enormous mass of verses of all sorts little still survives; the names of most of the versifiers must be omitted, and in addition to those already cited it will be sufficient to mention Góngora and Quevedo. Góngora is especially famous as the founder of the “cultist” school, as the introducer into Castilian poetry of a periphrastic style, characterized by sonorous diction and artificial arrangements of phrase. The Spaniards have given the name of culto to this eccentric style, with its system of inversions based on Latin syntax; but Góngora, a poet of really great powers, had begun better, and as often as he is contented with romances he finds true poetic accents, ingenious ideas and felicitous expressions. Quevedo, much greater in prose than in verse, displays real power only in satire, epigram and parody. There is in some of his serious pieces the stuff of a Juvenal, and his satiric and burlesque romances, of which several are written in slang (germanía), are in their way little masterpieces. Another commonplace of Spanish poetry at this period was epic poetry after the style of Tasso’s Gerusalemme. These interminable and prosaic compositions in octavos r coles do not approach their model; none of them can even be compared in style; elevation of thought and beauty of imagery, to Camoens’s Lusiadas. They are in reality rhymed chronicles, and consequently, when the author happens to have taken part in the events he narrates, they have a genuine historical interest. Such is the case with Alonso de Ercilla’s Araucana, of which it may be said that it was written less with a pen than with a pike. In burlesque poetry the Spaniards have been more successful: La Gatomaquia of Lope de Vega, and La Moschea of Villaviciosa (d. 1658) are agreeable examples of witty invention.
The departments of imaginative literature in which the genius of the new Spanish nation revealed itself with most vigour and originality are the novela and the drama. By novela must be understood the novel of manners, called picaresca (from pīcaro, a rogue or “picaroon”) Fiction. because of the social status of the heroes of those fictions; and this type of novel is a Spanish invention. The pastoral romance, on the other hand—the best-known examples of which are the Diana of Jorge de Montemayor, continued by Alonso Perez and Gaspar Gil Polo, the Galatea of Cervantes, and the Arcadia of Lope de Vega—as well as the novel of adventure begun by Cervantes in his Novelas exemplares, and cultivated after him by a host of writers, is directly derived from Italy. The Arcadia of Sannazaro is the source of the Diana and of all its imitations, just as the Italian novellieri are the masters of most Spanish novelistas of the 17th century. The picaresque novel starts in the middle of the 16th century with the Vida de Lazarillo de Tormes, sus fortunas y adversidades; the impetus was given, and the success of Lazarillo was so great that imitators soon appeared. In 1599 Mateo Aleman published the first part of the adventures of another picaroon, Guzman de Alfarache; before he could issue the sequel (1604) he was anticipated (1602) by an unscrupulous rival, whose continuation was on a lower plane. Quite unlike that of the Lazarillo, the style of Mateo Alemán is eloquent, full, with long and learned periods, sometimes diffuse. Nothing could be more extravagant and more obscure than the history of Justina the beggar woman (La Pícara Justina) by Francisco Lopez de Ubeda (1605), which is generally (but perhaps wrongly) said to be a name assumed by the Dominican Andres Perez. A long series of similar tales continued to be published by writers of considerable merit (see Picaresque Novel).
By degrees the picaresque romance was combined with the novel of Italian origin and gave rise to a new type—half novel of manners, half romance of adventure—of which the characteristic example appears to be the Marcos de Obregón (1618) of Vicente Martinez Espinel, one of the best written works of the 17th century. To the same class belong almost all the novels of Alonso Jerónimo de Salas Barbadillo, Luiz Velex de Guevara and Francisco Santos’s popular pictures of life in Madrid, Dia y noche de Madrid (1663), Periquillo, el de las gallineras, &c. On the other hand, the novels of Tirso de Molina (Los Cigarrales de Toledo, 1624), Perez de Montalbán (Para todos, 1632), Maria de Zayas (Novelas, 1635–1647), are more in the manner of the Novelas exemplares of Cervantes, and consequently of the Italian type. Among the so-called historical romances one only deserves to be mentioned—the Guerras civiles de Granada (1595—1604) by Ginés Perez de Hita, which deals with the last years of the kingdom of Granada and the insurrection of the Moors of the Alpujarras in the time of Philip II. Don Quixote (1605–1615), the masterpiece of Cervantes, is too great a work to be treated with ethers; and, moreover, it does not fall strictly within the limits of any of the classes just mentioned. If it has to be defined, it may be described as the social romance of 16th and 17th century Spain. Cervantes undoubtedly owed much to his predecessors, notably to the few picaresque romancers who came before him, but he considerably enlarged the scope of the type and strengthened the framework of the story by a lofty moral idea. His main purpose was not so much to ridicule the books of chivalry, which were already out of fashion by his time, but to show by an example pushed to absurdity the danger of those prejudices of pure blood and nobler race with which three-fourths of the nation were imbued, and which, by the scorn of all useful labour which they involved, were destined to bring Spain to ruin. The lesson is all the more effective, as Cervantes’s hidalgo, although ridiculous, was not put beyond the pale of the reader’s sympathy, and the author condemns only the exaggeration of the chivalrous spirit, and not true courage and devotion when these virtues have a serious object. What happened to Guzman de Alfarache happened to Don Quixote. In 1614 a spurious second part of the adventures of Don Quixote made its appearance; Cervantes was thus roused from inactivity, and the following year gave to the world the true second part, which instantly eclipsed Avellaneda’s imitation.
The stage in the 17th century in some measure took the place of the romances of the previous age; it is, as it were, the medium of all the memories, all the passions, and all the aspirations of the Spanish people. Its style, being that of the popular poetry, made it Drama of 17th Century. accessible to the most illiterate classes, and gave it an immense range of subject. The Bible, the lives of the martyrs, national traditions, the chronicles of Castile and Aragon, foreign histories and novels, even the daily incidents of contemporary Spanish life, the escapades and nightly brawls of students, the gallantries of the Calle Mayor and the Pradc of Madrid, balcony escalades, sword-thrusts and dagger-stabs, duels and murders, fathers befooled, jealous ladies, pilfering and cowardly valets, inquisitive and sprightly waiting-maids, sly and tricky peasants, fresh country girls—all are turned to dramatic account. The enormous mass of plays with which the literature of this period is inundated may be divided into two great classes—secular and religious; the latter may be subdivided into (1) the liturgical play, i.e. the auto either sacramental or al nacimiento, and (2) the comedia divina or the comedia de santos, which has no liturgical element, and differs from a secular play only in the fact that the subject is religious and frequently, as one of the names indicates, derived from the biography of a saint. In the secular drama, classification might be carried almost to any extent if the nature of the subject be taken as the criterion. It will be sufficient to distinguish the comedia (i.e. any tragic or comic piece in three acts) according to the social types brought on the stage, the equipment of the actors, and the artifices resorted to in the representation We have (1) the comedia de capa y espada, which represents everyday incident, the actors belonging to the middle class, simple caballeros, and consequently wearing the garb of ordinary town life, of which the chief items were the cloak and the sword; and (2) the comedia de teatro or de ruido, or again, de tramoya or de aparencias (i.e. the theatrical, spectacular or scenic play), which has kings and princes for its dramatis personae and makes a great display of mechanical devices and decorations. Besides the comedia, the classic stage has also a series of little pieces subsidiary to the play proper: the loa, or prologue; the entremés, a kind of interlude which afterwards developed into the sainete; the baile, or ballet accompanied with singing; and the zarzuela, a sort of operetta thus named after the royal residence of La Zarzuela, where the kings of Spain had a theatre. As to the dramatic poets of the golden age, even more numerous than the lyric poets and the romancers, it is difficult to group them. All are more or less pupils or imitators of the great chief of the new school, Lope Felix de Vega Carpio; everything has ultimately to be brought back to him whom the Spaniards call the “monster of Nature.” Among Lope’s contemporaries only a few poets of Valencia—Gaspar Honorat de Aguilar (1561–1623), Francisco Tárrega, Guillen de Castro, the author of the Mocedades del Cid (from which Corneille derived his inspiration)—formed a small school, as it were, somewhat less subject to the master than that of Madrid, which could only win the applause of the public by copying as exactly as possible the manner of the great initiator. Lope left his mark on all varieties of the comedia, but did not attain equal excellence in all. He was especially successful in the comedy of intrigue (enredo), of the capa y espada class, and in dramas whose subjects are derived from national history. His most incontestable merit is to have given the Spanish stage a range and scope of which it had not been previously thought capable, and of having taught his contemporaries to invent dramatic situations and to carry on a plot. It is true he produced little that is perfect: his prodigious fecundity and facility allowed him no time to mature his work; he wrote negligently, considered the stage an inferior department, good for the vulgo, and consequently did not judge it worthy of the same esteem as lyric or narrative poetry modelled on the Italians. Lope’s first pupils exaggerated some of his defects, but, at the same time, each, according to his own taste, widened the scope of the comedia. Antonio Mira de Amescua and Luis Velez de Guevara were successful, especially in tragic histories and comedias divinas. Gabriel Téllez, better known under the pseudonym of Tirso de Molina, one of the most flexible, ingenious and inventive of the dramatists, displayed no less talent in the comedy of contemporary manners than in historical drama. El Burlador de Sevilla (Don Juan) is reckoned his masterpiece; but he showed himself a much greater poet in El Vergonzoso en palacio, Don Gil de las Calzas Verdes and Marta la Piadosa. Finally Juan Ruiz de Alarcón the most serious and most observant of Spanish dramatic poets, successfully achieved the comedy of character in La Verdad sospechosa, closely followed by Corneille in his Menteur. Most of the remaining play-writers did little but increase the number of comedias; they added nothing to the real elements of the drama. The second epoch of the classical drama is represented mainly by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, the Spanish dramatist who has obtained most celebrity abroad, where his pieces have been much studied and admired (perhaps extravagantly). It is Calderon who first made honour, or more correctly the point of honour, an essential motive in the conduct of his personages (e.g. El Médico de su honra); it is he also who made the comedia de capa y espada uniform even to monotony, and gave the comic “part” of the gracioso (confidential valet of the caballero) a rigidity which it never previously possessed. There is depth and poetry in Calderon, but also vagueness and bad taste. His most philosophic drama, La Vida es sueño, is a bold and sublime idea, but indistinct and feebly worked out; his autos sacramentales give evidence of extensive theological knowledge and dexterity in dramatizing abstractions. Calderon was imitated, as Lope had been, by exaggerating his manner and perverting his excellences. Two contemporaries deserve to be cited along with him—Francisco de Rojas Zorilla, author of the fine historic play Del Rey abajo ninguno, and Augustín Moreto, author of some pleasant comedies. Among those who worked in a less ambitious vein, mention must be made of Luis Quiñones de Benavente, a skilful writer of entreméses.
A new manner of writing appears with the revival of learning; the purely objective style of the old chroniclers, accumulating one fact after another, without showing the logical connexion or expressing any opinion on men or things, began to be thought puerile. An attempt was made History.to treat the history of Spain in the manner of Livy, Sallust, and Tacitus, whose methods of narration were directly adopted. The 16th century, however, still presents certain chroniclers of the medieval type, with more erudition, precision and the promise of a critical faculty. La Crónica general de España, by Ambrosio de Morales; the Compendio historial of Estéban de Garibay; and the Historia general de las Indias occidentales, by Antonio de Herrera, are, so far as style is concerned, continuations of the last chronicles of Castile. Jeronimo de Zurita is emphatically a scholar; no one in the 16th century knew as he did how to turn to account documents and records for the purpose of completing and correcting the narratives of the ancient chronicles; his Anales de la corona de Aragón is a book of great value, though written in a laboured style. With Juan de Mariana history ceases to be a mere compilation of facts or a work of pure erudition, and becomes a work of art. The Historia de España by the celebrated Jesuit, first written in Latin (1592) in the interest especially of foreigners, was afterwards rendered by its author into excellent Castilian; as a general survey of its history, well planned, well written and well thought out, Spain possesses nothing that can be compared with it. Various works of less extent—accounts of more or less important episodes in the history of Spain—may take their place beside Mariana’s great monument: for example, the Guerra de Granada, by Diego Hurtado de Mendoza (a history of the revolt of the Moors of the Alpujarras under Philip II.), written about 1572, immediately after the events, but not published till 1627; the narrative of the expedition of the Catalans in the Morea in the 14th century, by Francisco de Moncada (d. 1635); that of the revolt of the same Catalans during the reign of Philip IV., by Francisco Manuel de Mello, a Portuguese by birth; and that of the conquest of Mexico by Antonio de Soils. Each of these writers was more or less inspired by some Latin author, one preferring Livy, another Sallust, &c. Most of these imitations are somewhat stilted, and their artificiality in the long run proves as fatiguing as the heaviness of the medieval chroniclers. On the other hand, the historians of the wars of Flanders, such as Carlos Coloma, Bernardino de Mendoza, Alonso Vazquez and Francisco Verdugo, are less refined, and for that very reason are more vivid and more capable of interesting us in the struggle of two races so foreign to each other and of such different genius. As for the accounts of the transatlantic discoveries and conquests, they are of two kinds—either (1) memoirs of the actors or witnesses of those great dramas, as, e.g. the Historia verdadera de la conquista de la nueva España, by Bernal Diaz del Castillo (1492–1581), one of the companions of Cortés, and the Historia de las Indias, by Bartolomé de las Casas, the apostle of the Indians; or (2) works by professional writers, such as Francisco Lopez de Gomara, official historiographers who wrote in Spain on information sent to them from the newly-discovered lands.
Letter writers, a rather numerous body in Spanish literature, are nearly related to the historians; in fact, letters written to be read by others than the persons addressed, or in any case revised afterwards, are only a method of writing history in a familiar style. Fernando Letter Writers. del Pulgar appended to his Claros varones a series of letters on the affairs of his time; and in the 16th century Antonio de Guevara (d. 1544) collected, under the title of Epistolas familiares, his correspondence with his contemporaries, which throws a great light on the early part of the reign of Charles V., although it must be used with caution because of the numerous recasts it has undergone. A celebrated victim of Philip II., Antonio Perez (d. 1611), revenged himself on his master by relating in innumerable letters, addressed during his exile to his friends and protectors, all the incidents of his disgrace, and by selling to the ministers of France and England the secrets of the Spanish policy in which he had a hand; some of these letters are perfect specimens of urbane gallantry.
Philosophy is rather poorly represented in the 16th and 17th
centuries in the literature of the vernacular. The greater
number of the Spanish thinkers of this epoch,
whatever the school to which they belonged—scholastic,
Platonic, Aristotelian or independent—wrote in
Philosophy.
Mysticism.Latin. Ascetic and mystical authors alone made use of
the vulgar tongue for the readier diffusion of their doctrine
among the illiterate, from whose ranks many of
their disciples were recruited. Luis de Granada
(1504–1588), Luis Ponce de León (1528–1598), Teresa de
Jesus (1515–1582), Pedro Malón de Chaide and St John of
the Cross are the brighter lights of this class of writers.
Some of their books, like the Guia de pecadores of Luis de
Granada, the autobiography of St Theresa, and Malón de Chaide’s
Conversion of the Magdalen (1588), have obtained a lasting
success beyond the limits of the Peninsula, and have influenced
the development of mysticism in France. The Spanish mystics
are not only remarkable for the depth or subtlety of their
thoughts and the intensity of the divine love with which they
are inspired; many of them are masters of style, and some,
like St John of the Cross, have composed verses which rank
with the most sublime in the language. A notable fact is that
those who are regarded as illuminati profess the most practical
ideas in the matter of morality. Nothing is more
Moralists.
sensible, nothing less ecstatic, than the manual of
domestic economy by Luis de León—La Perfecta casada. Lay
moralists are numerous in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Some write long and heavy treatises on the art of governing,
the education of princes, the duties of subjects, &c. Pedro
Fernandez de Navarrete’s Conservación de monarquias, Diego
de Saavedra Fajardo’s Idea de un príncipe cristiano, Quevedo’s
La Política de Dios y gobierno de Cristo, give a correct
idea of the ability which the Spaniards have displayed in this
kind of didactic literature—ability of no high order, for the
Spaniard, when he means to expound a doctrine, loses himself
in distinctions and easily becomes diffuse, pedantic and obscure.
But there is a kind of morality in which he indubitably excels,
namely, in social satire, which, under all its forms—dialogue
and dream in the style of Lucian, epistle after the manner of
Juvenal, or pamphlet—has produced several masterpieces and
a host of ingenious, caustic and amusing compositions. Juan
de Valdés (d. 1541), the most celebrated of the Spanish Protestants,
led the way with his Diálogo de Murcurio y Carón, where
the great political and religious questions of the first half of the
16th century are discussed with admirable vigour and freedom.
The most eminent author in the department of social satire,
as in those of literary and political satire, is Quevedo. Nothing
escapes his scrutinizing spirit and pitiless irony. All the vices
of contemporary society are remorselessly pilloried and cruelly
dissected in his Suefios and other short works. While this great
satirist, in philosophy a disciple of Seneca, imitates his master
even in his diction, he is none the less one of the most vigorous
and original writers of the 17th century. The only serious
defect in his style is that it is too full, not of figures and epithets, but of thoughts. His phrases are of set purpose charged with a double meaning, and we are never sure on reading whether
we have grasped all that the author meant to convey. Conceptism is the name that has been given to this refinement of thought, which was doomed in time to fall into ambiguity; it must not be confounded with the cultism of Góngora, the artifice of which lies solely in the choice and arrangement of words. This new school, of which Quevedo may be regarded as the founder, had its Boileau in the person of Baltasar Gracian, who published his Agudeza y arte de ingenio (1642), in which all the subtleties of conceptism are reduced to an exact code. Gracian, who had the gift of sententious moralizing rather than of satire, produced in his Criticón animated pictures of the society of his own day, while he also displayed much ingenuity in collections of political and moral aphorisms which have won him a great reputation abroad.
Spanish thought as well as public spirit and all other forms of national activity began to decline towards the close of the 17th century. The advent of the house of Bourbon, and the increasing invasion of French influence in the domain of politics as well as in literature and 18th Century.science, frustrated the efforts of a few writers who had remained faithful to the pure Spanish tradition. In the hands of the second-rate imitators of Calder6n the stage sank lower and lower; lyric poetry, already compromised by the affected diction of Góngora, was abandoned to rhymesters who tried to make up by extravagance of style for poverty of thought. The first symptoms, not of a revival, but of a certain resumption of intellectual production, appear in the department of linguistic study. In 1714 there was created, on the model of the French academies, La Real Academia Española, intended to maintain the purity of the language and to correct its abuses. This academy set itself at once to work, and in 1726 began the publication of its dictionary in six folio volumes, the best title of this association to the gratitude of men of letters. The Gramática de la lengua castellana, drawn up by the academy, did not appear till 1771. For the new ideas which were introduced into Spain as the result of more intimate relations with France, and which were in many cases repugnant to a nation for two centuries accustomed to live a self-contained life, it was necessary that authoritative sanction should be found. Ignacio de Luzán, well read in the literatures of Italy and France, a disciple of Boileau and the French rhetoricians, yet not without seme originality of his own, undertook in his Poética (1737) to expound to his fellow countrymen the rules of the new school, and, above all, the principle of the famous “unities” accepted by the French stage from Corneille’s day onward. What Luzan had done for letters, Benito Feyjoo, a Benedictine of good sense and great learning, did for the sciences. His Teatro critico and Cartas eruditas y curiosas, collections of dissertations in almost every department of human knowledge, introduced the Spaniards to the leading scientific discoveries of foreign countries, and helped to deliver them from many superstitions and absurd prejudices. The study of the ancient classics and the department of learned research in the domain of national histories and literatures had an eminent representative in Gregorio Mayans y Siscar (1699–1781), who worthily carried on the great traditions of the Renaissance; besides publishing good editions of old Spanish authors, he gave to the world in 1757 a Retorica which is still worth consulting, and a number of learned memoirs. What may be called the littérature d’agrement did not recover much lost ground; it would seem as if the vein had been exhausted. Something of the old picaresque novel came to life again in the Fray Gerundio of the Jesuit Isla, a biographical romance which is also and above all—to the detriment, it is true, of the interest of the Romance. narrative—a satire on the follies of the preachers of the day. The lyric poetry of this period is colourless when compared with its variegated splendour in the preceding century. Nevertheless one or two poets can be named who possessed refinement of taste, and whose collections of verse at least show respect for the language. At the head of the new Poetry. school is Menendez Valdes, and with him are associated Diego Gonzalez (1733–1794), Jose Iglesias de la Casa (1748–1791), known by his letrillas, Cienfuegos, and some others. Among the verse writers of the 18th century who produced odes and didactic poetry it is only necessary to mention Leandro Fernandez de Moratin and Quintana, but the latter belongs rather to the 19th century, during the early part of which he published his most important works. The poverty of the period in lyric poetry is even exceeded by that of the stage. No kind of comedy or tragical drama arose to take the place of the ancient comedia, whose platitudes and absurdities of thought and expression had ended by disgusting even the least exacting portion of the public. The attempt was indeed made to introduce the comedy and the tragedy of France, but the stiff and pedantic adaptations of such writers as the elder Moratin, Agustín de Montiano y Luyando (1697–1764), Tomas de Iriarte, Garcia de la Huerta and the well-known economist Caspar de Jovellanos failed to interest the great mass of playgoers. The only dramatist who was really successful in composing on the French pattern some pleasant comedies, which owe much of their charm to the great purity of the language in which they are written, is Leandro Fernandez de Moratin. It has to be added that the saineté was cultivated in the 18th century by one writer of genuine talent, Ramón de la Cruz; nothing helps us better to an acquaintance with the curious Spanish society of the reign of Charles IV. than the interludes of this genial and light-hearted author, who was succeeded by Juan Ignacio Gonzalez del Castillo.
The struggle of the War of Independence (1808–14), which was destined to have such important consequences in the 19th world of politics, exerted no immediate influence on the literature of Spain. One might have expected as a consequence of the rising of the whole nation against 19th Century. Napoleon that Spanish writers would no longer seek their inspiration from France, and would resume the national traditions which had been broken at the end of the 17th century. But nothing of the sort occurred. Not only the afrancesados (as those were called who had accepted the new regime), but also the most ardent partisans of the patriotic cause, continued in literature to be the submissive disciples of France. Quintana, who in his odes preached to his compatriots the duty of resistance, has nothing of the innovator about him; by his education and by his literary doctrines he remains a man of the 18th century. The same may be said of Martinez de la Rosa, who, though less powerful and impressive, had a greater independence of spirit and a more highly trained and classical taste. And when romanticism begins to find its way into Spain and to enter into conflict with the spirit and habits of the 18th century, it is still to France that the poets and prose writers of the new school turn, much more than to England or to Germany. The first decidedly romantic poet of the generation which flourished about 1830 was the duke of Rivas; no one succeeded better in reconciling the genius of Spain and the tendencies of modern poetry; his poem El Moro expdsito and his drama of Don Alvaro 6 la fuerza del sino belong as much to the old romances and old theatre of Spain as to the romantic spirit of 1830. On the other hand, Espronceda, who has sometimes been called the Spanish Musset, savours much less of the soil than the duke of Rivas; he is a cosmopolitan romantic of the school of Byron and the French imitators of Byron; an exclusively lyric poet, he did not live long enough to give full proof of his genius, but what he has left is often exquisite. Zorilla has a more flexible and exuberant, but much more unequal, talent than Espronceda, and if the latter has written too little it cannot but be regretted that the former should have produced too much; nevertheless, among a multitude of hasty performances, brought out before they had been matured, his Don Juan Tenorio, a new and fantastic version of the legend treated by Tirso de Molina and Moliere, will remain as one of the most curious specimens of Spanish romanticism. In the dramatic literature of this period it is noticeable that the tragedy more than the comedy is modelled on the examples furnished by the French drama of the Restoration; thus, if we leave out of account the play by Garcia Gutierrez, entitled El Trovador, which inspired Verdi’s well-known opera, and Los Amantes de Teruel, by Hartzenbusch, and a few others, all the dramatic work belonging to this date recalls more or less the manner of the professional playwrights of the boulevard theatres, while on the other hand the comedy of manners still preserves a certain originality and a genuine local colour. Bretón de los Herreros, who wrote a hundred comedies or more, some of them of the first order in their kind, apart from the fact that their diction is of remarkable excellence, adheres with great fidelity to the tradition of the 17th century; he is the last of the dramatists who preserved the feeling of the ancient comedia. Mariano Jose de Larra, a prose writer of the highest talent, must be placed beside Espronceda, with whom he has several features in common. Caustic in temper, of a keenly observant spirit, remarkably sober and clear as a writer, he was specially successful in the political pamphlet, the article d’actualité, in which he ridicules without pity the vices and oddities of his contemporaries; his reputation is much more largely due to these letters than either to his plays or his novel El Doncel de Don Enrique el Doliente. With Larra must be associated two other humoristic writers. The first of these is Mesonero Romanos, whose Escenas matritenses, although of less literary value than Larra’s articles, give pleasure by their good-natured gaiety and by the curious details they furnish with regard to the contemporary society of Madrid. The other is Estebanez Calderon, who in his Escenas andaluzas sought to revive the manner of the satirical and picaresque writers of the 17th century; in a uselessly archaic language of his own, tesselated with fragments taken from Cervantes, Quevedo and others, he has delineated with a somewhat artificial grace various piquant scenes of Andalusian or Madrid life. The most prominent literary critics belonging to the first generation of the century were Alberto Lista (1775–1848), whose critical doctrine may be described as a compromise between the ideas of French classicism and those of the romantic school, and Agustín Durán, who made it his special task to restore to honour the old literature of Castile, particularly its romances, which he had studied with ardour, and of which he published highly esteemed collections.
If the struggle between classicists and romanticists continued even after 1830, and continued to divide the literary world into two opposing camps, the new generation—that which occupied the scene from 1840 till about 1868—had other preoccupations. The triumph of the new ideas was assured; what was now being aimed at was the creation of a new literature which should be truly national and no longer a mere echo of that beyond the Pyrenees. To the question whether modern Spain has succeeded in calling into existence such a literature, we may well hesitate to give an affirmative answer. It is true that in every species of composition, the gravest as well as the lightest, it can show works of genuine talent; but many of them are strikingly deficient in originality; all of them either bear unmistakable traces of imitation of foreign models, or show (more or less happily) the imprint of the older literature of the 17th century, to which the historical criticism of Duran and the labours of various other scholars had given a flavour of novelty.
Foreign influence is most clearly marked in the work of Ventura de la Vega (1807–1865), whose relationship to the younger Moratin, and therefore to Moliere, is unmistakable in El Hombre de mundo (1845), a piece written after a long apprenticeship spent in translating French Drama. plays. Among those who endeavoured to revive the dramatic system established by Lope de Vega were Aureliano Fernández-Guerra y Orbe (1816–1804) and Francisco Sanchez de Castro (d. 1878) ; the former in Alonso Cano, and the latter in Hermenegildo, produced examples of ingenious reconstruction, which testified to their scholarship but failed to interest the public permanently. A fusion of early and later methods is discernible in the plays of Adelardo Lopez de Ayala and Tamayo y Baus. Campoamor wrote dramas which, though curious as expressions of a subtle intelligence cast in the form of dialogue, do not lend themselves to presentation, and were probably not intended for the stage. Núñez de Arce in El Haz de leña produced an impressive drama, as well as several plays written in collaboration with Antonio de Hurtado, before he found his true vocation as a lyric poet. The successor of Tamayo y Baus in popular esteem must be sought in José Echegaray, whose earlier plays—such as La Esposa del vengador and En el puño de la espada—are in the romantic style; in his later works he attempts the solution of social problems or the symbolic drama. Such pieces as El Gran Galesto, El Hijo de Don Juan and El Loco dios indicate a careful study of the younger Dumas and Ibsen. During the last few years his popularity has shown signs of waning, and the copious dramatist has translated from the Catalan at least one play by Angel Guimerá. (b. 1847). To Echegaray’s school belong Eugenio Sellés (b. 1844), author of El Nudo gordiano, El Cielo ó el suelo and La Mujer de Loth, and Leopoldo Cano y Masas (b. 1844), whose best productions are La Mariposa, Gloria and La Pasionaria, an admirable example of concise and pointed dialogue. Mention must also be made of José Felíu y Codina (1843–1897), a Catalan who wrote two vigorous plays entitled La Dolores and Moría del Carmen; Joaquín Dicenta (b. 1860), whose Juan José showed daring talent; and especially Jacinto Benavente (b. 1866), a dramatist whose mordant vigour and knowledge of stage-effect is manifest in La Comida de las fieras and Rosas de otoño. In a lighter vein much success has attended the efforts of Miguel Echegaray (b. 1848), whose buoyant humour is in quaint contrast with his brother’s sepulchral gloom, and Vital Aza (b. 1851) and Ricardo de la Vega (b. 1858) deserve the popularity which they have won, the first by El Seilor Cum and the second by Pepa la frescachona, excellent specimens of humorous contrivance. But the most promising writers for the Spanish stage at the present time are Serafin Alvarez Quintero (b. 1871) and his brother Joaquin (b. 1873), to whose collaboration are due El Ojito derecho and Abanicos y panderetes, scenes of brilliant fantasy which continue the tradition of witty observation begun by Lope de Rueda.
Rivas, Espronceda and Zorrilla owe more to foreign models than either Campoamor or Núñez de Arce. It is true that Campoamor has been described, most frequently by foreign critics, as a disciple of Heine, and undoubtedly Campoamor suggests to cosmopolitan readers something Poetry. of Heine’s concentrated pathos; but he has nothing of Heine’s acrimony, and in fact continued in his own semi-philosophic fashion a national tradition of immemorial antiquity—the tradition of expressing lyrical emotion in four or eight lines which finds its most homely manifestation in the five volumes of Cantos populares españoles edited by Francisco Rodriguez Marín. No less national a poet was Núñez de Arce, in whose verses, though the sentiment and reflection are often commonplace, the workmanship is of irreproachable finish. His best performance is Gritos del combate (1875), a series of impassioned exhortations to concord issued during the civil war which preceded the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty. An ineffectual politician, Nunee de Arce failed in oratory, but produced a permanent political impression with a small volume of songs. He wrote much in the ensuing years, and though he never failed to show himself a true poet he never succeeded in repeating his first great triumph—perhaps because it needed a great national crisis to call forth his powers. He found an accomplished follower in Emilio Perez Ferrari (b. 1853), whose Pedro Abelardo and Dos cetros y dos almas recall the dignity but not the impeccability of his model. Another pupil in the same school was Jose Velarde (d. 1892), whose best work is collected in Voces del alma, some numbers of which are indications of a dainty and interesting, if not virile, talent, Absorbed by commerce, Vicente Wenceslao Querol (d. 1889) could not afford to improvise in the exuberant manner of his countrymen, and is represented by a single volume of poems as remarkable for their self-restraint as for a deep tenderness which finds expression in the Cartas d Maria and in the poignant stanzas A la muerte de mi hermana Adela. The temptation to sound the pathetic note so thrillingly audible in Querol’s subdued harmonies proved irresistible to Federico Balart (1831–1905) critic and humorist of repute who late in life astonished and moved the public with a volume of verse entitled Dolores, a sequence of elegiacs which bear a slight formal resemblance to In Memoriam; but the writer’s sincerity was doubtful, and in Horizontes the absence of genuine feeling degenerated into fluent fancy and agreeable prettiness. A more powerful and interesting personality was Joaquin Maria Bartrina (1850–1880) who endeavoured to transplant the pessimistic spirit of Leconte de Lisle to Spanish soil. Bartrina’s crude materialism is antipathetic; he is wholly wanting in the stately impassability of his exemplar, and his form is defective; but he has force, sincerity and courage, and the best verses in Algo (1876) are not easily forgotten. The Andantes y allegros and Cromos y acuarelas of Manuel Reina (1856–1905) have a delightful Andalusian effusiveness and metrical elegance, which compensate for some monotony and shallowness of thought. Manuel del Palacio (1832–1907) combined imagination and wit with a technical skill equal to that of the French Parnassians; but he frittered away his various gifts, so that but a few sonnets survive out of his innumerable poems. More akin to the English “Lake poets” was Amos de Escalante y Prieto (1831–1902), better known by his pseudonym of “Juan Garcia,” whose faculty of poetic description, revealed only to the few who had read his verses in the edition privately circulated in 1890, is now generally recognized. The vein of religious sentiment which runs through Escalante’s most characteristic lyrics was also worked by Luis Ramirez Martinez y Guertero (d. 1874), who, under the pseudonym of “Larmig,” wrote verses impregnated with Christian devotion as well as with a sinister melancholy which finally led him to commit suicide. The most interesting of the younger poets are provincials by sympathy or residence, if not by birth. Salvador Rueda (b. 1857), in his Aires españoles, represents the vivid colouring and resonant emphasis of Andalusia; Ramon Domingo Peres (b. 1863), a Cuban by birth but domiciled at Barcelona, strikes a Catalan note in Musgo (1902), and substitutes restraint and simplicity for the Castilian sonority and pomp; Vicente Medina (b. 1866) in Aires murcianos and La Canción de la huerta reproduces with vivid intensity the atmosphere of the Murcian orchard-country; Juan Alcover and Miguel Costa, both natives of Majorca, celebrate their island scenery with luminous picturesqueness of phrase. The roll of Spanish poets may close with the name of Jose Maria Gabriel y Galan (d. 1905), whose reputation depends chiefly on the verses entitled “El Ama” in Castellanas; Gabriel y Galan was extremely unequal, and his range of subjects was limited, but in El Ama he produced a poem which is unsurpassed in modern Spanish poetry. The facility with which verses of a kind can be written in Spanish has made Spain a nest of singing-birds; but the chief names have been already mentioned, and no others need be recorded here.
Since 1850 there has been a notable renaissance of the Spanish novel. Fernan Caballero is entitled to an honourable place in literary history as perhaps the first to revive the native realism which was temporarily checked by the romantic movement. In all that concerns truth and art she is superior Fiction. to the once popular Manuel Fernández y González (d. 1888), of whom it has been said that Spain should erect a statue to him and should burn his novels at the foot of it. A Spanish Dumas, he equals the French author in fecundity, invention and resource, and some of his tales—such as El Cocinero de su majestad, Los Minfies de las Alpujarras and Martín Gil—are written with an irresistible brio; but he was the victim of his own facility, grew more and more reckless in his methods of composition, and at last sank to the level of his imitators. Antonio de Trueba followed Fernan Caballero in observing local customs and in poetizing them with a sentimental grace of his own, which attracted local patriots and uncritical readers generally. He had no gift of delineating character, and his plots are feeble; but he was not wanting in literary charm, and went his road of incorrigible optimism amid the applause of the crowd. His contemporary, Pedro Antonio de Alarcón, is remembered chiefly as the author of El Sombrero de tres picos, a peculiarly Spanish tale of picaresque malice. Neither Trueba nor Alarcon could have developed into great artists; the first is too falsetto, the second is too rhetorical, and both are too haphazard in execution. Idealizing country life into a pale arcadian idyll, Trueba frowned upon one of his neighbours whose methods were eminently realistic. Jose Maria de Pereda is the founder of the modern school of realistic fiction in Spain, and the boldness of his experiment startled a generation of readers accustomed to Fernan Caballero’s feminine reticence and Trueba’s deliberate conventionality. Moreover, Pereda’s reactionary political views—too frequently obtruded in his imaginative work—alienated from him the sympathies of the growing Liberal element in the country; but the power which stamps his Escenas montañesas was at once appreciated in the northern provinces, and by slow degrees he imposed himself upon the academic critics of Madrid. So long as Pereda deals with Country folk, sailors, fishermen, aspects of sea and land, he deserves the highest praise, for he understands the poor, hits upon the mean between conventional portraiture and caricature, and had the keenest appreciation of natural beauty. His hand was far less certain in describing townsmen; yet it is a mistake to class him as merely a successful landscape painter, for he created character, and continually revealed points of novelty in his descriptions of the common things of life. Pereda is realistic, and he is real. His rival, Juan Valera, is not, in the restricted sense of the word, realistic, but he is no less real in his own wider province; he has neither Pereda’s energy nor austerity of purpose, but has a more infallible tact, a larger experience of men and women, and his sceptical raillery is as effective a moral commentary as Pereda’s Christian pessimism. In Valera’s Pepita Jiménez and Doña Luz, and in Pereda’s Sotileza, we have a trio of Spanish heroines who deserve their fame: Pereda’s is the more vigorous, full-blooded talent, as Valera’s is the more seductive and patrician; yet, much as they differ, both are essentially native in the quality of their genius, system and phrasing. Benito Perez Galdos gave a new life to the historical novel in his huge series entitled Episodios nacionales, a name perhaps suggested by the Romans nationaux of Erckmann-Chatrian; but the subjects and sentiment of these forty volumes are intensely local. The colouring of the Episodios nacionales is so brilliant, their incident is so varied and so full of interest, their spirit so stirring and patriotic, that the born Spaniard easily forgives their frequent prolixity, their insistence on minute details, their loose construction and their uneven style. Their appeal is irresistible; there is no such unanimous approbation of the politico-religious novels such as Doña Perfecta, Gloria and Leon Rock, each of which may be regarded as a roman à thèse. The quick response of Perez Galdos to any external stimulus, his sensitiveness to every change in the literary atmosphere, made it inevitable that he should come under the influence of French naturalism, as he does in Lo Prohibido and in Realidad; but his conversion was temporary, and two forcible novels dealing with contemporary life—Fortunata y Jacinta and Angel Guerra—mark the third place in the development of a susceptible talent. The true leader of the naturalistic school in Spain is Armando Palacio Valdes, whose faculty of artistic selection was first displayed in El Senorito Octavio. Two subsequent works—Marta y Maria and La Hermana San Sulpicio—raised hopes that Spain had, in Palacio Valdés, a novelist of the first order to succeed Pereda and Valera; but in La Espnma and La Fe, two social studies which caused all the more sensation because they contained caricatures of well-known personages, the author followed the French current, ceased to be national and did not become cosmopolitan. His latest books are more original and interesting, though they scarcely fulfil his early promise. Another novelist who for a time divided honours with Palacio Valdes was the lady who publishes under her maiden name of Emilia Pardo Bazan. The powerful, repellent pictures of peasant life and the ethical daring of Los Pazos dc Ulloa and La Madre Naturaleza are set off by graphic passages of description; in later works the author chose less questionable subjects, and the local patriotism which inspires Insolación and De mi tierra is expressed in a style which secures Emilia Pardo Bazan a high place among her contemporaries. Leopoldo Alas (1851–1901), who used the pseudonym of “Clarin,” was better known as a ruthless critic than as a novelist; the interest of his shorter stories has evaporated, but his ambitious novel, La Regenta, lives as an original study of the relation between mysticism and passion. Jacinto Octavio Picón (b. 1852), who has deserted novel writing for criticism, displayed much insight in Lāzaro, the story of a priest who finds himself forced to lay down his orders ; this work was naturally denounced by the clerical party, and orthodoxy declared equally against El Enemigo and Dulce y sabrosa; more impartial critics agree in admiring Picón’s power of awakening sympathy and interest, his gift of minute psychological analysis and his exquisite diction. No suspicion of heterodoxy attaches to Manuel Polo y Peyrolón, the author of that charming story La Tia Levitico, nor to the Jesuit-Luis Coloma (b. 1851), who obtained a fleeting triumph with Pequeñeces, in which the writer satirized the fashionable society of which he had been an ornament before his conversion. Juan Ochoa (d. 1899) showed promise of the highest order in his two short stories, El Amado discípulo and Un alma de Dios and Angel Ganivet (d. 1898) produced in Los Trabajos del infatigable creador Pio Cid, a singular philosophical romance, rich in ideas and felicitous in expression, though lacking in narrative interest. With him may be mentioned Ricardo Macias Picavea (d. 1899), author of La Tierra de campos, who died prematurely before his undoubted talent had reached maturity. Of the younger novelists the most notable in reputation and achievement is Vicente Blasco Ibanez (b. 1866) who began with pictures of Valencian provincial life in Flor de mayo, made romance the vehicle of revolutionary propaganda in La Catedral and La Horda, and shows the influence of Zola in one of his latest books, La Maja desnuda. Blasco Ibáñez lacks taste and judgment, and occasional provincialisms disfigure his style; but his power is undeniable, and even his shorter tales are remarkable examples of truthful impressionism. Ramón del Valle-Inclan (b. 1869) tends to preciosity in Corte de amor and Flor de santidad, but excels in finesse and patient observation; J. Martinez Ruiz (b. 1876) is wittier and weightier in Las Confesiones de un pequeno filosofo and the other stories which he publishes under the pseudonym of “Azorin,” but he lacks much of Valle-Inclan’s picturesque and perceptive faculty; Pio Baroja’s restless and picaresque talent finds vigorous but incoherent expression in El Camino de perfection and Aurora roja, and Gregorio Martinez Sierra (b. 1882) has shown considerable mastery of the difficulties of the short story in Pascua florida and Sol de la tarde.
The tendency of Spanish historical students is rather to collect the raw material of history than to write history. Antonio Cánovas del Castillo was absorbed by politics to the loss of literature, for his Ensayo sobre la casa de Austria en España is ample in information and History and Criticism. impartial in judgment; the composition is hasty and the style is often ponderous, but many passages denote a genuine literary faculty, which the author was prevented from developing. The Historia de los Visigodos, in which Aureliano Fernandez-Guerra y Orbe collaborated with Eduardo de Hinojosa, illuminates an obscure but important period. Francisco Cardenas (1816–1898) in his Historia de la propriedad territorial en España did for Spain much that Maine did for England. Eduardo Perez Pujol (b. 1830) in his Historia de las instiluciones de la España goda (1896) supplements the work of Fernandez-Guerra and Hinojosa, the latter of whom has published a standard treatise entitled Historia del derecho romano. Joaquin Costa’s Estudios ibericos (1891) and Coleclivismo agrario en España (1898) have been praised by experts for their minute research and exact erudition; but his Poesta popular espanola y mitologia y literatura celto-hispanas, in which a most ingenious attempt is made to reconstitute the literary history of a remote period, appeals to a wider circle of educated readers. The monographs of Francisco Codera y Zaidin (b. 1836), of Cesareo Fernandez Duro (1830–1907), of Francisco Fernandez y Gonzalez (b. 1833), of Gumersindo Azcarate (b. 1840), and of many others, such as the Jesuit epigraphist Fidel Fita y Calome, are valuable contributions to the still unwritten history of Spain, but are addressed chiefly to specialists. Many of the results of these investigators are embodied by Rafael Altamira y Crevea (b. 1866) in his Historia de España y de la civilization espanola, now in progress. Literary criticism in Spain, even more than elsewhere, is too often infected by intolerant party spirit. It was difficult for Leopoldo Alas (" Clarin ") to recognize any merit in the work of a reactionary writer, but his prejudice was too manifest to mislead, and his intelligent insight frequently led him to do justice in spite of his prepossessions. In the opposite camp Antonio Valbuena, a humorist of the mordant type, has still more difficulty in doing justice to any writer who is an academician, an American or a Liberal. Pascual de Gayangos y Arce and Manuel Mila y Fontanals escaped from the quarrels of contemporary schools by confining their studies to the past, and Marcelino Menendez y Pelayo has earned a European reputation in the same province of historical criticism. Among his followers who have attained distinction it must suffice to mention Ramon Menendez Pidal (b. 1869), author of La Leyenda de los infantes de Lara (1897), a brilliant piece of scientific, reconstructive criticism; Francisco Rodriguez Marin (b. 1855), wno has published valuable studies on 16th and 17th century authors, and adds to his gifts as an investigator the charm of an alembicated, archaic style; Emilio Cotarelo y Mori (b. 1858), who, besides interesting contributions to the history of the theatre, has written substantial monographs on Enrique de Villena, Villamediana, Tirso de Molina, Iriarte and Ramon de la Cruz; and Adolfo Bonilla y San Martin (b. 1875), whose elaborate biography of Juan Luis Vives, which is a capital chapter on the history of Spanish humanism, gives him a foremost place among the scholars of the younger generation.
Bibliography.—The basis of study is Nicolas Antonio’s Bibliotheca hispana vetus and Bibliotheca hispana nova, in the revised edition of Francisco PeVez Bayer (4 vols., Madrid, 1 788). Supplementary to this are Bartolome Jose Gallardo’s Ensayo de una biblioteca espanola de libros raros y curiosos (4 vols., Madrid, 1863–1889), edited by M. R. Zarco del Valle and Jose' Sancho Rayon; Pedro Salva y Mallen’s Catdlogo de la biblioteca de Salvá (2 vols., Valencia, 1872); James Lyman Whitney’s Catalogue of the Spanish Library and of the Portuguese Books bequeathed by George Ticknor to the Boston Public Library (Boston, 1879) ; Domingo Garcia Peres, Catdlogo de los autores Portugueses que escribieron en castellano (Madrid, 1890). For incunables the best authority is Conrado Haebler, Bibliografia ibérica del siglo xv. (the Hague and Leipzig, 1904). Of general histories the most extensive is George Ticknor’s History of Spanish Literature (3 vols., New York, 1849, and 6th ed., 3 vols., Boston, 1872), which is particularly valuable as regards bibliography; additional information is embodied in the German translation of this work by N. H. Julius (2 vols., Leipzig, 1852) and the supplement by F. J. Wolf (1867) ; and the Spanish translation by Pascual de Gayangos and Enrique de Vedia (4 vols., Madrid, 1851–1856) may be consulted with profit. On a smaller scale are G. Baist, Die spanische Litteratur (Strasburg, 1897) in the second volume of the Grundriss der romanischen Philologie (pt. ii.), H. Butler Clarke, Spanish Literature (London, 1893); Rudolph Beer, Spanische Literaturgeschichte (Leipzig, 1903) ; Philipp August Becker, Geschichte der spanischen Literatur (Strasburg, 1904). The three last-named include modern authors, as do E. Merimee, Precis d'histoire de la litterature espagnole (Paris, 1908) and J. Fitzrnaurice-Kelly, History of Spanish Literature (London, 1898; Spanish translation, Madrid, 1901, and French translation, with a revised text and serviceable bibliography). For the middle ages the best works are F. J. Wolf, Studien zur Geschichte der spanischen und portugiesischen Nationalliteratur (Berlin, 1859), and M. Mila y Fontanals, De la Poesia heroico-popular castillana (Barcelona, 1874). Jose Amador de los Rios, Historia critica de la literatura espanola (7 vols., Madrid, 1861–1865), is diffusive and inaccurate, but gives useful information concerning the period before the 1 6th century. On the drama the most solid works are Cayetano Alberto de la Barrera y Leirado, Catálogo bibliográfico y biográfico del teatro antiguo espanol (Madrid, 1860) ; A. Paz y M<jlia, Catdlogo de las piezas de teatro que se conservan en el departamento de manuscritos de la biblioteca national (Madrid, 1899) ; C. P6rez Pastor, Nuevos dctos acerca del histrionismo espanol en los siglos xvi. y xvii. (Madrid, 1901); Jose Sanchez-Arjona, Noticias referentes a los anales del teatro en Sevilla (Seville, 1898); Antonio Restori, “La Collezione della biblioteca palatina-parmense,” in Studj di filologia romanza, fasc. 15 (Rome, 1891); E. Cotarelo y Mori, Controversias sobre la licitud del teatro en España (Madrid, 1904). Adolf Friedrich von Schack, Geschichte der dramatischen Literatur und Kunst in Spanien (Frankfort-on-Main, 1846–1854), a valuable work when published and still to be read with pleasure, is now out of date, and is not improved in the Spanish translation by Eduardo de Mier; it is in course of being superseded by Wilhelm Creizenach’s Geschichte des neueren Dramas, of which three volumes have already appeared (Halle, 1893–1903). Two fluent and agreeable works on the subject are Adolf Schaeffer, Geschichte des spanischen Nationaldramas (2 vols., Leipzig, 1890), and Louis de Viel Castel, Essai stir le theatre espagnol (2 vols., Paris, 1882). Julius Leopold Klein’s extravagant prejudices detract greatly from the value of Das spanische Drama (Leipzig, 1871–1875), which forms part of his Geschichte des Dramas; but his acumen and learning are by no means contemptible. Other works on the Spanish drama are indicated by A. Morel-Fatio and L. Rouanet in their critical bibliography, Le Theatre espagnol (Paris, 1900). The prefaces by M. Menendez y Pelayo in the Antologia de poetas liricos castellanos desde la formation del idioma hasta nuestros dias (12 vols, already published, Madrid, 1890–1906) form a substantial history of Spanish poetry. The same writer’s Origenes de la novela (Madrid, 1905–1907) and unfinished Historia critica de las ideas esteticas en España (9 vols., Madrid, 1884–1891), are highly instructive. For the 18th century the student is referred to the Historia critica de la poesia castellana en el siglo xv-iii. (3rd ed., 3 vols., Madrid, 1893) by Leopoldo Augusto de Cueto, marques de Valmar; Francisco Blanco Garcia, La Literatura espanola en el siglo xix. (3 vols., Madrid, 1891–1894), is useful and informing, but must be consulted with caution, owing to the writer’s party spirit. Similar prejudices are present in the much more suggestive and acute volumes of Leopoldo Alas. The history of modern criticism is traced by Francisco Fernandez y Gonzalez, Historia de la critica literaria en España desde Luzon hasta nuestros dias (Madrid, 1870). Among miscellaneous monographs and essays the most recommendable are Count Theodore de Puymaigre, Les vieux auteurs castillans (Paris 1861–1862 ; 2nd ed., incomplete, 2 vols., Paris, 1889–1890), and La Cour litteraire de don Juan II. roi de Castille (2 vols., Paris, 1893) ; A. Morel-Fatio, L'Espagne au xvi me et au xvii me Steele (Heilbronn, 1878), and Etudes sur l’Espagne (3 vols., Paris, 1888–1904); Enrique Pifieyro, El Romanticismo en España (Paris, 1904) ; J. Fitzmaurice-Kelly, Chapters on Spanish Literature (London, 1908). The Revue hispanique (Paris) and the Bulletin hispanique (Bordeaux) are specially dedicated to studies on the literary history of Spain, and articles on the subject appear from time to time in Romania, the Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie and Romanische Forschungen, as also in Modern Language Notes (Baltimore) and the Modern Language Review (Cambridge).
2. Catalan Literature.—Although the Catalan language is simply a branch of the southern Gallo-Roman, the literature, in its origin at least, should be considered as supplementary to that of Provence. Indeed, until about the second half of the 13th century there existed Poetry of Middle Ages. in the Catalan districts no other literature than the Provençal, and the poets of north-eastern Spain used no other language than that of the troubadours. Guillem de Bergadan, Uc de Mataplana, Ramon Vidal de Besalu, Guillem de Cervera, Serveri de Gerona and other verse writers of still more recent date were all genuine Provençal poets, in the same sense as are those of Limousin, Quercy or Auvergne, since they wrote in the langue d’oc and made use of all the forms of poetry cultivated by the troubadours north of the Pyrenees. Ramon Vidal (end of the 12th century and beginning of 13th) was a grammarian as well as a poet; his Rasos de trobar became the code for the Catalan poetry written in Provençal, which he called Lemosi, a name still kept up in Spain to designate, not the literary idiom of the troubadours only, but also the local idiom—Catalan—which the Spaniards chose to consider as derived from the former. The influence of R. Vidal and other grammarians of his school, as well as that of the troubadours we have named, was enduring; and even after Catalan prose—an exact reflection of the spoken language of the south-east of the Pyrenees—had given evidence of its vitality in some considerable works, Catalan poetry remained faithful to the Provençal tradition. From the combination of spoken Catalan with the literary language of the troubadours there arose a sort of composite idiom, which has some analogy with the Franco-Italian current in certain parts of Italy in the middle ages, although in the one case the elements of the mixture are more distinctly apparent than are the romance of France and the romance of Italy in the other. The poetical works of Raymond Lully or Ramon Lull are among the oldest examples of this Provençalised Catalan; one has only to read the fine piece entitled Lo Desconort (“Despair”), or some of his stanzas on religious subjects, to apprehend at once the eminently composite nature of that language. Muntaner in like manner, whose prose is exactly that spoken by his contemporaries, becomes a troubadour when he writes in verse; his Sermó on the conquest of Sardinia and Corsica (1323), introduced into his Chronicle of the kings of Aragon, exhibits linguistically the same mixed character as is found in Lully, or, we may venture to say, in all Catalan verse writers of the 14th century. These are not very numerous, nor are their works of any great merit. The majority of their compositions consist of what were called noves rimades, that is, stories in octosyllabic verse in rhymed couplets. There exist poems of this class by Pere March, by a certain Torrella, by Bernat Metge (an author more celebrated for his prose), and by others whose names we do not know; among the works belonging to this last category special mention ought to be made of a version of the romance of the Seven Sages, a translation of a book on good breeding entitled Facetus, and certain tales where, by the choice of subjects, by various borrowings, and even occasionally by the wholesale introduction of pieces of French poetry, it is clearly evident that the writers of Catalonia understood and read the langue d’oui. Closely allied to the noves rimades is another analogous form of versification—that of the codolada, consisting of a series of verses of eight and four syllables, rhyming in pairs, still made use of in one portion of the Catalan domain (Majorca).
The 15th century is the golden age of Catalan poetry. At the instigation and under the auspices of John I. (1387–1395), Martin I. (1395–1410), and Ferdinand I. (1410–1416), kings of Aragon, there was founded at Barcelona a consistory of the “Gay Saber,” on the model of that of Toulouse, 15th Century. and this official protection accorded to poetry was the beginning of a new style much more emancipated from Provençal influence. It cannot be denied, indeed, that its forms are of foreign importation, that the Catalan verse writers accept the prescriptions of the Leys d’amor of Guillaume Molinier, and that the names which they gave to their cobles (stanzas) are all borrowed from the same art de trobar of the Toulouse school; but their language begins to rid itself more and more of Provenpalisms and tends to become the same as that of prose and of ordinary conversation With Pere and Jaume March, Jordi de Sant Jordi, Johan de Masdovelles, Francesch Ferrer, Pere Torroella, Pau de Bellviure, Antoni Vallmanya, and, above all, the Valencian Auzias March, there developed a new school, which flourished till the end of the 15th century, and which, as regards the form of its versification, is distinguished by its almost exclusive employment of eight-verse cobles of ten syllables, each with “crossed” or “chained” rhymes (cobla crohada or encadenada), each composition ending with a tornada of four verses, in the first of which the “device” {divis or senyal) of the poet is given out. Many of these poems are still unedited or have only recently been extracted from the canqoners, where they had been collected in the 15th century. Auzias March alone, the most inspired, the most profound, but also the most obscure of the whole group, was printed in the 16th century; his cants d’amor and cants de mort contain the finest verses ever written in Catalan, but the poet fails to keep up to his own high level, and by his studied obscurity occasionally becomes unintelligible to such a degree that one of his editors accuses him of having written in Basque. Of a wholly different class, and in quite another spirit, is the Libre de les dones of Jaume Roig (d. 1478), a Valencian also, like March; this long poem is a nova rimada, only comediada, that is to say, it is in quadrisyllabic instead of octosyllabic verse. A bitter and caustic satire upon women, it purports to be a true history—the history of the poet himself and of his three unhappy marriages in particular. Notwithstanding its author’s allegations, however, the Libre de les dones is mostly fiction; but it derives a very piquant interest from its really authentic element, its vivid picture of the Valencia of the 15th century and the details of contemporary manners. After this bright period of efflorescence Catalan poetry rapidly faded, a decline due more to the force of circumstances than to any fault of the poets. The union of Aragon with Castile, and the resulting predominance of Castilian throughout Spain, inflicted a death-blow on Catalan literature, especially on its artistic poetry, a kind of composition more ready than any other to avail itself of the triumphant idiom which soon came to be regarded by men of letters as the only noble one, and alone fit to be the vehicle of elevated or refined thoughts. The fact that a Catalan, Juan Boscan, inaugurates in the Castilian language a new kind of poetry, and that the Castilians themselves regard him as the head of a school, is important and characteristic; the date of the publication of the works of Boscan (1543) marks the end of Catalan poetry.
The earliest prose works in Catalan are later than the poems of the oldest Catalan troubadours of the Provençal school; these prose writings date no further back than the close of the 13th century, but they have the advantage of being entirely original. Their language is Prose of 13th–15th Centuries. the very language of the soil which we see appearing in charters from about the time of the accession of James I. (1213). This is true especially of the chronicles, a little less so of the other writings, which, like the poetry, do not escape the influence of the more polished dialect of the country tc the north of the Pyrenees. Its chronicles are the best ornament of medieval Catalan prose. Four of them—that of James I., apparently reduced to writing a little after his death (1276) with the help of memoirs dictated by himself during his lifetime; that of Bernat Desclot, which deals chiefly with the reign of Pedro III. of Aragon (1276–1286); that of Ramon Muntaner (first half of the 14th century), relating at length the expedition of the Catalan company to the Morea and the conquest of Sardinia by James II.; finally that of Pedro IV., the Ceremonious (1335–1387), genuine commentaries of that astute monarch, arranged by certain officials of his court, notably by Bernat Descoll—these four works are distinguished alike by the artistic skill of their narration and by the quality of their language; it would not be too much to liken these Catalan chroniclers, and Muntaner especially, to Villehardouin, Joinville and Froissart. The Doctor Illuminatus, Raymond Lully, whose acquaintance with Latin was very poor—his philosophical works were done into that language by his disciples—wrote in a somewhat Provençalized Catalan various moral and propagandist works—the romance Blanquerna in praise of the solitary life, the Libre de les maravelles, into which is introduced a “bestiary” taken by the author from Kalilah and Dimnah, and the Libre del orde de cavalleria, a manual of the perfect knight, besides a variety of other treatises and opuscula of minor importance. The majority of the writings of Lully exist in two versions—one in the vernacular, which is his own, the other in Latin, originating with his disciples, who desired to give currency throughout Christendom to their master’s teachings. Lully—who was very popular in the lay world, although the clergy had a low opinion of him and in the 15th century even set themselves to obtain a condemnation of his works by the Inquisition—had a rival in the person of Francesch Ximenez or Eximeniz, a Franciscan, born at Gerona some time after 1350. His Crestiá (printed in 1483) is a vast encyclopaedia of theology, morals and politics for the use of the laity, supplemented in various aspects by his three other works—Vida de Jesucrist, Libre del angels, and Libre de les dones; the last named, which is at once a book of devotion and a manual of domestic economy, contains a number of curious details as to a Catalan woman’s manner of life and the luxury of the period. Lully and Eximeniz are the only Catalan authors of the 14th century whose works written in a vulgar tongue had the honour of being translated into French shortly after their appearance.
We have chiefly translators and historians in the 15th century. Antoni Canals, a Dominican, who belongs also to the previous century, translates into Catalan Valerius Maximus and a treatise of St Bernard; Bernat Metge, himself well versed in Italian literature, presents some of its great masters to his countrymen by translating the Griselidis of Petrarch, and also by composing Lo Sompni (“The Dream”), in which the influence of Dante, of Boccaccio, and, generally speaking, of the Italy of the 13th and 14th centuries is very perceptible. The Feyts d’armes de Calalunya of Bernat Boades (d. 1444), a knightly chronicle brought to a close in 1420, reveals a spirit of research and a conscientiousness in the selection of materials which are truly remarkable for the age in which it was written. On the other hand, Pere Tomich, in his Histories é conquestes del reyalme d’Aragó (1448), carries us back too much to the manner of the medieval chroniclers; his credulity knows no bounds, while his style has altogether lost the naive charm of that of Muntaner. To the list of authors who represent the leading tendencies of the literature of the 15th century we must add the name of Johanot Martorell, a Valencian author of three-fourths of the celebrated romance, Tirant lo blanch (finished in 1460 and printed in 1400), which the reader has nowadays some difficulty in regarding as that “treasury of content” which Cervantes will have it to be.
With the loss of political was bound to coincide that of literary independence in the Catalonian countries. Catalan fell to the rank of a patois and was written less and less; lettered persons ceased to cultivate it, and the upper classes, especially in Valencia, owing to the 16th–18th Centuries. proximity of Castile, soon affected to make no further use of the local speech except in familiar conversation. The 16th century, in fact, furnishes literary history with hardly more than a single poet at all worthy of the name—Pere Serafi, some of whose pieces, in the style of Auzias March, but less obscure, are graceful enough and deserve to live; his poems were printed at Barcelona in 1565. Prose is somewhat better represented, but scholars alone persisted in writing in Catalan—antiquaries and historians like Miquel Carbonell (d. 1317), compiler of the Chroniques de Espanya (printed in 1547), Francesch Tarafa, author of the Cronica de cavaliers Catalans, Anton Beuter and some others not so well known In the 17th and 18th centuries the decadence became still more marked. A few scattered attempts to restore to Catalan, now more and more neglected by men of letters, some of its old life and brilliance failed miserably. Neither Hieronim Pujades, author of an unfinished Coronica universal del principal de Catalunya (Barcelona, 1609), nor even Vicent Garcia, rector of Vallfogona (1582–1623), a verse-writer by no means destitute of verve or humour, whose works were published in 1700 under the quaint title of La Armonia del Parnds, mes numerosa en las poesias varias del atlant del cel poetic lo Dr Vicent Garcia, and whose literary talent and originality have been greatly exaggerated by the Catalans of the present day, could induce his countrymen to cultivate the local idiom once more. Sermons, lives of saints, a few works of devotion, didactic treatises and the like are all that was written henceforth in Catalan till the beginning of the 19th century. Writers who were Catalan by birth had so completely unlearned their mother-tongue that it would have seemed to them quite inappropriate, and even ridiculous, to make use of it in serious works, so profoundly had Castilian struck its roots in the eastern provinces of Spain, and so thoroughly had the work of assimilation been carried out to the advantage of the official language of the court and of the government.
In 1814 appeared the Gramática y apologia de la llengua Cathalana of Joseph Pau Ballot y Torres, which may be considered as marking the origin of a genuine renaissance of the grammatical and literary study of Catalan. Although the author avows no object beyond the purely practical one of giving to strangers visitingRevival of Catalan Language and Literature. Barcelona for commercial purposes some knowledge of the language, the enthusiasm with which he sings the praises of his mother-tongue, and his appended catalogue of works which have appeared in it since the time of James L, show that this was not his only aim. In point of fact the book, which is entitled to high consideration as being the first systematic Catalan grammar, written, too, in the despised idiom itself, had a great influence on the authors and literary men of the principality. Under the influence of the new doctrines of romanticism twenty years had not passed before a number of attempts in the way of restoring the old language had made their appearance, in the shape of various poetical works of very unequal merit. The Oda á la patria (1833) of Buenaventura Carlos Aribau is among the earliest if not actually the very first of these, and it is also one of the best; the modern Catalan school has produced few poems more inspired or more correct. Following in the steps of Aribau, Joaquin Rubio y Ors (Lo Gayter del Llobregat), Antonio de Bofarull (Lo Coblejador de Moncada), and soon afterwards a number of other versifiers took up the lyre which it might have been feared was never to sound again since it fell into the hands of Auzias March. The movement spread from Catalonia into other provinces of the ancient kingdom of Aragon; the appeal of the Catalans of the principality was responded to at Valencia and in the Balearic Isles. Later, the example of Provence, of the felibritge of the south of France, accelerated still further this renaissance movement, which received official recognition in 1859 by the creation of the jochs florals, in which prizes are given to the best competitors in poetry, of whom some succeed in obtaining the diploma of mestre en gay saber. It is of course impossible to foresee the future of this new Catalan literature—whether it is indeed destined for that brilliant career which the Catalans themselves anticipate. In spite of the unquestionable talent of poets like Mariano Aguiló (Majorca), Teodoro Llorente (b. 1836; Valencia), and more especially Jacinto Verdaguer (1845–1902), author of an epic poem Atlántída and of the very fascinating Cants mistichs, it is by no means certain that this renaissance of a provincial literature will be permanent now that the general tendency throughout Europe is towards unity and centralization in the matter of language. At all events it would be well if the language were somewhat more fixed, and if its writers no longer hesitated between a pretentious archaism and the incorrectness of vulgar colloquialism. Some improvement in this respect is discernible in the poems of Joan Maragall (b. 1860), the lyrical verse of Apeles Mestre (b. 1854), the fiction of Narcis Oiler and Santiago Rusiñol, as also in the dramas of Angel Guimerá, and if the process be continued there may be a future, as well as a past, for Catalan literature.
Bibliography.—José Rodriguez, Biblioteca valentina (Valencia, 1747); Vicente Ximeno, Escritores del reyno de Valencia (2 vols., Valencia, 1747–1749); Justo Pastor Fuster, Biblioteca valenciana (2 vols., Valencia, 1827–1830); Felix Torres Amat, Memoiras para ayudar á formar un diccionario crítico de los escritores catalanes (Barcelona, 1836), with a supplement by J. Corminas (Burgos, 1849); F. R. Camboulin, Essai sur l’histoire de la littérature catalane (Paris, 1858); M. Milá y Fontanals, De los Trovadores en España (Barcelona 1861), and studies included in his Obras completas; E. Cardona, De la Antica literatura catalana (Naples, 1880); A. Morel-Fatio, " Katalanische Litteratur," in the second volume of the Grundriss der romanischen Philologie, pt. ii., and Catalogue des manuscrits espagnols et portugais de la bibliothèque nationale (Paris, 1881–1892); V. M. O. Denk, Einführung in die Geschichte der altcalalanischen Litteratur (Munich, 1893); J. Masso Torrents, Manuscrits Catalans de la biblioteca nacional de Madrid (Barcelona, 1896). For the modern period see Joaquin Rubió y Ors, Breve reseña del actual renacimiento de la lengua y literatura catalanas (2 vols., Barcelona, 1880); F. M. Tubino, Historia del renacimiento contemporáneo en Cataluña, Baleares y Valencia (Madrid, 1880); A. de Molins, Diccionario biográfico y bibliográfico de escritores y artistas catalanes del siglo xix. (Barcelona, 1891–1896); E. Toda, La Poesia catalana a Sardenya (Barcelona, 1888). Important articles by P. Meyer, A. Thomas, A. PagSs, J. Masso Torrents, A. Morel-Fatio and others appear from time to time in Romania, the Revue des langues romanes, the Revue hispanique, the Revista catalana and other special periodicals. (J. F.-K.; A. M.-Fa.)
- ↑ By conversion from Th. Fischer’s Klima der Mittelmeerländer.
- ↑ As distinguished from monte alto, the collective name for forest trees.
- ↑ Raymond du Puy, grand master of the Hospitallers, came to terms with Count Raymond in the matter of the bequest. (See Saint John of Jerusalem, Knights of.)
- ↑ The name was not formally given to them by the pope till later, but it is convenient to use it at once.
- ↑ See “Church-and State in Spain.” The Times, July 15, 1910.
- ↑ Ann. Register (1902), p. 347.
- ↑ The king’s reckless daring was destined later to impair his popularity, for in an enthusiastic motorist blind courage is a quality apt to be exercised at the expense of others.
- ↑ The Times (Feb. 18, 1910).
- ↑ The composition of the new parliament was as. follows—Senate: Ministerialists, 103; Conservatives, 42; Regionalists, 5; Republicans, 4; Carlists, 3; miscellaneous groups, 11. Lower House: Ministerialists, 227; Conservatives, 105; Republicans, 42; Carlists, 9; Catalans, 7; Integrists, 2; Independents, 9; unattached, 3.
- ↑ The Times (June 13, 1910).
- ↑ The origin of the name Catalanus is unknown.