A History of Spain
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Title: A History of Spain
Author: Charles E. Chapman
Rafael Altamira
Release date: September 2, 2012 [eBook #40646]
Language: English
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[Illustration: MAP OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL
COMPILED BY CHARLES E. CHAPMAN]
A HISTORY OF SPAIN
[Illustration: colophon]
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO DALLAS
ATLANTA SAN FRANCISCO
MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED
LONDON BOMBAY CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD.
TORONTO
A HISTORY OF SPAIN
FOUNDED ON THE
_HISTORIA DE ESPAÑA Y DE LA CIVILIZACIÓN ESPAÑOLA_
OF RAFAEL ALTAMIRA
BY
CHARLES E. CHAPMAN, PH.D.
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF HISTORY
IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1918
_All rights reserved_
COPYRIGHT, 1918,
BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and electrotyped. Published October, 1918.
Norwood Press
J. S. Cushing Co.--Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
TO MY SON
SEVILLE DUDLEY CHAPMAN
BORN IN THE CITY WHOSE NAME
HE BEARS
PREFACE
The present work is an attempt to give in one volume the main features
of Spanish history from the standpoint of America. It should serve
almost equally well for residents of both the English-speaking and the
Spanish American countries, since the underlying idea has been that
Americans generally are concerned with the growth of that Spanish
civilization which was transmitted to the new world. One of the chief
factors in American life today is that of the relations between
Anglo-Saxon and Hispanic America. They are becoming increasingly
important. The southern republics themselves are forging ahead; on the
other hand many of them are still dangerously weak, leaving possible
openings for the not unwilling old world powers; and some of the richest
prospective markets of the globe are in those as yet scantily developed
lands. The value of a better understanding between the peoples of the
two Americas, both for the reasons just named and for many others,
scarcely calls for argument. It is almost equally clear that one of the
essentials to such an understanding is a comprehension of Spanish
civilization, on which that of the Spanish American peoples so largely
depends. That information this volume aims to provide. It confines
itself to the story of the growth of Spanish civilization in Spain, but
its ultimate transfer to the Americas has been constantly in the
writer’s mind in the choice of his material, as will appear from the
frequent allusions in the text. An attempt is made to treat Spanish
institutions not as static (which they never were) but in process of
evolution, from period to period. The development of Spanish
institutions in the colonies and the later independent states, it is
hoped, will be the subject of another volume. Neither story has ever
been presented according to the present plan to the American public.
Emphasis here has been placed on the growth of the civilization, or
institutions, of Spain rather than on the narrative of political events.
The latter appears primarily as a peg on which to hang the former. The
volume is topically arranged, so that one may select those phases of
development which interest him. Thus one may confine himself to the
narrative, or to any one of the institutional topics, social, political,
religious, economic, or intellectual. Indeed, the division may be
carried even further, so that one may single out institutions within
institutions. As regards proportions the principal weight is given to
the periods from 1252 to 1808, with over half of the volume devoted to
the years 1479 to 1808. The three centuries from the sixteenth to the
nineteenth are singled out for emphasis, not only because they were the
years of the transmission of Spanish civilization to the Americas, but
also because the great body of the Spanish institutions which affected
the colonies did so in the form they acquired at that time. To treat
Spain’s gift to Spanish America as complete by the year 1492 is as
incorrect as to say that the English background of United States history
is necessary only to the year 1497, when John Cabot sailed along the
North American coast, or certainly not later than 1607, when Jamestown
was founded. In accord with the primary aim of this work the place of
Spain in general European history is given relatively little space. The
recital of minor events and the introduction of the names of
inconsequential or slightly important persons have been avoided, except
in some cases where an enumeration has been made for purposes of
illustration or emphasis. For these reasons, together with the fact that
the whole account is compressed into a single volume, it is hoped that
the book may serve as a class-room text as well as a useful compendium
for the general reader.
The writer has been fortunate in that there exists a monumental work in
Spanish containing the type of materials which he has wished to present.
This is the _Historia de España y de la civilización española_, which
has won a world-wide reputation for its author, Rafael Altamira y
Crevea.[1] Indeed, the present writer makes little claim to originality,
since for the period down to 1808 he has relied almost wholly on
Altamira. Nevertheless, he has made, not a summary, but rather a
selection from the _Historia_ (which is some five times the length of
this volume) of such materials as were appropriate to his point of view.
The chapter on the reign of Charles III has been based largely on the
writer’s own account of the diplomacy of that monarch, which lays
special emphasis on the relation of Spain to the American Revolution.[2]
For the chapter dealing with Spain in the nineteenth century the volumes
of the _Cambridge modern history_ have been used, together with those on
modern Spain by Hume and Butler Clarke. The last chapter, dealing with
present-day Spain, is mainly the result of the writer’s observations
during a two years’ residence in that country, 1912 to 1914. In the
course of his stay he visited every part of the peninsula, but spent
most of his time in Seville, wherefore it is quite possible that his
views may have an Andalusian tinge.
In the spelling of proper names the English form has been adopted if it
is of well-established usage. The founder of the Carlists and Carlism,
however, is retained as “Don Carlos” for obvious reasons of euphony. In
all other cases the Spanish has been preferred. The phrase “the
Americas” is often used as a general term for Spain’s overseas colonies.
It may therefore include the Philippines sometimes. The term “Moslems”
has been employed for the Mohammedan invaders of Spain. The word “Moors”
has been avoided, because it is historically inaccurate as a general
term for all the invaders; the Almohades, or Moors, were a branch of the
Berber family, and other Moslem peoples had preceded them in Spain by
upwards of four hundred years. Their influence both as regards culture
and racial traits was far less than that of the Arabs, who were the most
important of the conquering races, and this fact, together with their
late arrival, should militate against the application of their name to
the whole era of Moslem Spain. All of these alien peoples were
Mohammedans, which would seem to justify the use of the word “Moslems.”
The word “lords” in some cases indicates ecclesiastics as well as
nobles. “Town” has been employed generally for “_villa_,” “_concejo_,”
“_pueblo_,” “_aldea_,” and “_ciudad_,” except when special attention has
been drawn to the different types of municipalities. Spanish
institutional terms have been translated or explained at their first
use. They also appear in the index.
As on previous occasions, so now, the writer finds himself under
obligations to his colleagues in the Department of History of the
University of California. Professor Stephens has read much of this
manuscript and has made helpful suggestions as to content and style.
Professors Bolton and Priestley and Doctor Hackett, of the “Bancroft
Library group,” have displayed a spirit of coöperation which the writer
greatly appreciates. Professor Jaén of the Department of Romance
Languages gave an invaluable criticism of the chapter on contemporary
Spain. Señor Jesús Yanguas, the Sevillian architect, furnished the lists
of men of letters and artists appearing in that chapter. Professor
Shepherd of Columbia University kindly consented to allow certain of the
maps appearing in his _Historical atlas_ to be copied here. Doctors R.
G. Cleland, C. L. Goodwin, F. S. Philbrick, and J. A. Robertson have
aided me with much valued criticisms. The writer is also grateful to his
pupils, the Misses Bepler and Juda, for assistance rendered.
CHARLES E. CHAPMAN.
BERKELEY, January 5, 1918.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
PREFACE vii
INTRODUCTION BY RAFAEL ALTAMIRA xiii
I. THE INFLUENCE OF GEOGRAPHY ON THE HISTORY OF SPAIN 1
II. THE EARLY PEOPLES, TO 206 B.C. 6
III. ROMAN SPAIN, 206 B.C.-409 A.D. 15
IV. VISIGOTHIC SPAIN, 409-713 26
V. MOSLEM SPAIN, 711-1031 38
VI. CHRISTIAN SPAIN IN THE MOSLEM PERIOD, 711-1035 53
VII. ERA OF THE SPANISH CRUSADES, 1031-1276 67
VIII. SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION IN SPAIN, 1031-1276 84
IX. MATERIAL AND INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS IN SPAIN, 1031-1276 102
X. DEVELOPMENT TOWARD NATIONAL UNITY: CASTILE, 1252-1479 111
XI. DEVELOPMENT TOWARD NATIONAL UNITY: ARAGON, 1276-1479 125
XII. SOCIAL ORGANIZATION IN SPAIN, 1252-1479 137
XIII. THE CASTILIAN STATE, 1252-1479 151
XIV. THE ARAGONESE STATE, 1276-1479 166
XV. ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION IN SPAIN, 1252-1479 174
XVI. INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS IN SPAIN, 1252-1479 180
XVII. INSTITUTIONS OF OUTLYING HISPANIC STATES, 1252-1479 192
XVIII. ERA OF THE CATHOLIC KINGS, 1479-1517 202
XIX. SOCIAL REFORMS, 1479-1517 210
XX. POLITICAL REFORMS, 1479-1517 219
XXI. MATERIAL AND INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS, 1479-1517 228
XXII. CHARLES I OF SPAIN, 1516-1556 234
XXIII. THE REIGN OF PHILIP II, 1556-1598 246
XXIV. A CENTURY OF DECLINE, 1598-1700 258
XXV. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENTS, 1516-1700 272
XXVI. POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS, 1516-1700 287
XXVII. RELIGION AND THE CHURCH, 1516-1700 303
XXVIII. ECONOMIC FACTORS, 1516-1700 324
XXIX. THE GOLDEN AGE: EDUCATION, PHILOSOPHY,
HISTORY, AND SCIENCE, 1516-1700. 338
XXX. THE GOLDEN AGE: LITERATURE AND ART, 1516-1700 351
XXXI. THE EARLY BOURBONS, 1700-1759 368
XXXII. CHARLES III AND ENGLAND, 1759-1788 383
XXXIII. CHARLES IV AND FRANCE, 1788-1808 399
XXXIV. SPANISH SOCIETY, 1700-1808 411
XXXV. POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS, 1700-1808 425
XXXVI. STATE AND CHURCH, 1700-1808 443
XXXVII. ECONOMIC REFORMS, 1700-1808 458
XXXVIII. INTELLECTUAL ACTIVITIES, 1700-1808 471
XXXIX. THE GROWTH OF LIBERALISM, 1808-1898 488
XL. THE DAWN OF A NEW DAY, 1898-1917 508
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 527
INDEX 541
MAPS
GENERAL REFERENCE MAP _Frontispiece_
DEVELOPMENT TOWARD NATIONAL UNITY, 910-1492 67
INTRODUCTION
The fact that this book is in great part a summary, or selection, from
one of mine, as is stated in the Preface, makes it almost a duty for me
to do what would in any event be a great pleasure in the case of a work
by Professor Chapman. I refer to the duty of writing a few paragraphs by
way of introduction. But, at the same time, this circumstance causes a
certain conflict of feelings in me, since no one, unless it be a pedant,
can act so freely in self-criticism as he would if he were dealing with
the work of another. Fortunately, Professor Chapman has incorporated
much of his own harvest in this volume, and to that I may refer with
entire lack of embarrassment.
Obviously, the plan and the labor of condensing all of the material for
a history of Spain constitute in themselves a commendable achievement.
In fact, there does not exist in any language of the world today a
compendium of the history of Spain reduced to one volume which is able
to satisfy all of the exigencies of the public at large and the needs of
teaching, without an excess of reading and of labor. None of the
histories of my country written in English, German, French, or Italian
in the nineteenth century can be unqualifiedly recommended. Some, such
as that by Hume, entitled _The Spanish people_, display excellent
attributes, but these are accompanied by omissions to which modern
historiography can no longer consent. As a general rule these histories
are altogether too political in character. At other times they offend
from an excess of bookish erudition and from a lack of a personal
impression of what our people are, as well as from a failure to narrate
their story in an interesting way, or indeed, they perpetuate errors and
legends, long since discredited, with respect to our past and present
life. We have some one-volume histories of Spain in Castilian which are
to be recommended for the needs of our own secondary schools, but not
for those of a foreign country, whose students require another manner of
presentation of our history, for they have to apply an interrogatory
ideal which is different from ours in their investigation of the deeds
of another people,--all the more so if that people, like the Spanish,
has mingled in the life of nearly the whole world and been the victim of
the calumnies and fanciful whims of historians, politicians, and
travellers.
For all of these reasons the work of condensation by Professor Chapman
constitutes an important service in itself for the English-speaking
public, for it gives in one volume the most substantial features of our
history from primitive times to the present moment. Furthermore, there
are chapters in his work which belong entirely to him: XXXII, XXXIX, and
XL. The reason for departing from my text in Chapter XXXII is given by
Professor Chapman in the Preface. As for the other two he was under the
unavoidable necessity of constructing them himself. His, for me, very
flattering method of procedure, possible down to the year 1808, if
indeed it might find a basis for continuation in a chapter of mine in
the _Cambridge modern history_ (v. X), in my lectures on the history of
Spain in the nineteenth century (given at the Ateneo of Madrid, some
years ago), in the little manual of the _Historia de la civilización
española_ (History of Spanish civilization) which goes to the year 1898,
and even in the second part of a recent work, _España y el programa
americanista_ (Spain and the Americanist program), published at Madrid
in 1917, nevertheless could not avail itself of a single text, a
continuous, systematized account, comprehensive of all the aspects of
our national life as in the case of the periods prior to 1808. Moreover,
it is better that the chapters referring to the nineteenth century and
the present time should be written by a foreign pen, whose master in
this instance, as a result of his having lived in Spain, is able to
contribute that personal impression of which I have spoken before, an
element which if it is at times deceiving in part, through the influence
of a too local or regional point of view, is always worth more than
that understanding which proceeds only from erudite sources.
I would not be able to say, without failing in sincerity (and therefore
in the first duty of historiography), that I share in and subscribe to
all the conclusions and generalizations of Professor Chapman about the
contemporary history and present condition of Spain. At times my dissent
would not be more than one of the mere shade of meaning, perhaps from
the form of expression, given to an act which, according as it is
presented, is, or is not, exact. But in general I believe that Professor
Chapman sees modern Spain correctly, and does us justice in many things
in which it is not frequent that we are accorded that consideration.
This alone would indeed be a great merit in our eyes and would deserve
our applause. The English-speaking public will have a guarantee, through
this work, of being able to contemplate a quite faithful portrait of
Spain, instead of a caricature drawn in ignorance of the facts or in bad
faith. With this noble example of historiographical calm, Professor
Chapman amply sustains one of the most sympathetic notes which, with
relation to the work of Spain in America, has for some years been
characteristic, that which we should indeed call the school of North
American historians.
RAFAEL ALTAMIRA.
February, 1918.
A HISTORY OF SPAIN
CHAPTER I
THE INFLUENCE OF GEOGRAPHY ON THE HISTORY OF SPAIN
[Sidenote: Isolation of the Iberian Peninsula.]
The Iberian Peninsula, embracing the modern states of Spain and
Portugal, is entirely surrounded by the waters of the Mediterranean Sea
and the Atlantic Ocean, except for a strip in the north a little less
than three hundred miles in length, which touches the southern border of
France. Even at that point Spain is almost completely shut off from the
rest of Europe, because of the high range of the Pyrenees Mountains.
Portugal, although an independent state and set apart to a certain
extent by a mountainous boundary, cannot be said to be geographically
distinct from Spain. Indeed, many regions in Spain are quite as separate
from each other as is Portugal from the Spanish lands she borders upon.
Until the late medieval period, too, the history of Portugal was in the
same current as that of the peninsula as a whole.
[Sidenote: Mountains and plateaus.]
The greatest average elevation in Spain is found in the centre, in
Castile and Extremadura, whence there is a descent, by great steps as it
were, to the east and to the west. On the eastern side the descent is
short and rapid to the Mediterranean Sea. On the west, the land falls by
longer and more gradual slopes to the Atlantic Ocean, so that central
Spain may be said to look geographically toward the west. There is an
even more gentle decline from the base of the Pyrenees to the valley of
the Guadalquivir, although it is interrupted by plateaus which rise
above the general level. All of these gradients are modified greatly by
the mountain ranges within the peninsula. The Pyrenean range not only
separates France from Spain, but also continues westward under the name
Cantabrian Mountains for an even greater distance along the northern
coast of the latter country, leaving but little lowland space along the
sea, until it reaches Galicia in the extreme northwest. Here it expands
until it covers an area embracing northern Portugal as well. At about
the point where the Pyrenees proper and the Cantabrian Mountains come
together the Iberian, or Celtiberian, range, a series of isolated
mountains for the most part, breaks off to the southeast until near the
Mediterranean, when it curves to the west, merging with the Penibética
range (better known as the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the name of that
part of the range lying south of the city of Granada), which moves
westward near the southern coast to end in the cape of Tarifa.
[Sidenote: Geographical divisions of the peninsula.]
These mountains divide the peninsula into four regions: the narrow
littoral on the northern coast; Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia, Murcia, and
most of La Mancha, looking toward the Mediterranean; Almería, Málaga,
and part of Granada and Cádiz in the south of Spain; and the vast region
comprising the rest of the peninsula. The last-named is subdivided into
four principal regions of importance historically. The Carpetana, or
Carpeto-Vetónica, range in the north (more often called the Guadarrama
Mountains) separates Old Castile from New Castile and Extremadura to the
south, and continues into Portugal. The Oretana range crosses the
provinces of Cuenca, Toledo, Ciudad Real, Cáceres, and Badajoz, also
terminating in Portugal. Finally, the Mariánica range (more popularly
known as the Sierra Morena) forms the boundary of Castile and
Extremadura with Andalusia. Each of the four sub-divisions has a great
river valley, these being respectively, from north to south, the Douro,
Tagus, Guadiana, and Guadalquivir. Various other sub-sections might be
named, but only one is of prime importance,--the valley of the Ebro in
Aragon and Catalonia, lying between the Pyrenees and an eastward branch
of the Iberian range. Within these regions, embracing parts of several
of them, there is another that is especially noteworthy,--that of the
vast table-land of central Spain between the Ebro and the Guadalquivir.
This is an elevated region, difficult of access from all of the
surrounding lands. Geologists have considered it the “permanent nucleus”
of the peninsula. It is in turn divided into two table-lands of unequal
height by the great Carpeto-Vetónica range. The long coast line of the
peninsula, about 2500 miles in length, has also been a factor of no
small importance historically. Despite the length of her border along
the sea, Spain has, next to Switzerland, the greatest average elevation
of any country in Europe, so high are her mountains and table-lands.
[Sidenote: Disadvantageous effects of geography.]
These geographical conditions have had important consequences
climatically and economically and especially historically. The altitude
and irregularity of the land have produced widely separated extremes of
temperature, although as a general rule a happy medium is maintained. To
geographical causes, also, are due the alternating seasons of rain and
drought in most of Spain, especially in Castile, Valencia, and
Andalusia, which have to contend, too, with the disadvantages of a
smaller annual rainfall than is the lot of most other parts of Europe
and with the torrential rains which break the season of drought. When it
rains, the water descends in such quantity and with such rapidity from
the mountains to the sea that the river beds are often unable to contain
it, and dangerous floods result. Furthermore, the sharpness of the slope
makes it difficult to utilize these rivers for irrigation or navigation,
so swift is the current, and so rapidly do the rivers spend themselves.
Finally, the rain is not evenly distributed, and some regions,
especially the high plateau country of Castile and La Mancha, are
particularly dry and are difficult of cultivation.
[Sidenote: Beneficial effects.]
On the other hand the geographical conditions of the peninsula have
produced distinct benefits to counterbalance the disadvantages. The
coastal plains are often very fertile. Especially is this true of the
east and south, where the vine and the olive, oranges, rice, and other
fruits and vegetables are among the best in the world. The northern
coast is of slight value agriculturally, but, thanks to a rainfall
which is constant and greater than necessary, is rich pastorally. Here,
too, there is a very agreeable climate, due in large measure to a
favoring ocean current, which has also been influential in producing the
forests in a part of Galicia. These factors have made the northern coast
a favorite summer resort for Spaniards and, indeed, for many other
Europeans. The mountains in all parts of the peninsula have proved to
contain a mineral wealth which many centuries of mining have been unable
to exhaust. Some gold and more silver have been found, but metals of use
industrially--such, for example, as copper--have been the most abundant.
The very difficulties which Spaniards have had to overcome helped to
develop virile traits which have made their civilization of more force
in the world than might have been expected from a country of such scant
wealth and population.[3]
[Sidenote: Geographical isolation the cause of Spanish individuality.]
The most marked result of these natural conditions has been the
isolation, not only of Spain from the rest of the world, but also of the
different regions of Spain from one another. Spaniards have therefore
developed the conservative clinging to their own institutions and the
individuality of an island people. While this has retarded their
development into a nation, it has held secure the advances made and has
vitalized Spanish civilization. For centuries the most isolated parts
were also the most backward, this being especially true of Castile,
whereas the more inviting and more easily invaded south and east coasts
were the most susceptible to foreign influence and the most advanced
intellectually as well as economically. When at length the centre
accepted the civilization of the east and south, and by reason of its
virility was able to dominate them, it imposed its law, its customs,
and its conservatism upon them, and reached across the seas to the
Americas, where a handful of men were able to leave an imperishable
legacy of Spanish civilization to a great part of two continents.
[Sidenote: Events traceable to geographic conditions.]
Specific facts in Spanish history can also be traced very largely to the
effects of geography. The mineral wealth of the peninsula has attracted
foreign peoples throughout recorded history, and the fertility of the
south and east has also been a potent inducement to an invasion, whether
of armies or of capital. The physical features of the peninsula helped
these peoples to preserve their racial characteristics, with the result
that Spain presents an unusual variety in traits and customs. The fact
that the valley of the Guadalquivir descends to the sea before reaching
the eastern line of the Portuguese boundary had an influence in bringing
about the independence of Portugal,--for while Castile still had to
combat the Moslem states Portugal could turn her energies inward.
Nevertheless, one must not think that geography has been the only or
even the controlling factor in the life and events of the Iberian
Peninsula. Others have been equally or more important,--such as those of
race and, especially, the vast group of circumstances involving the
relations of men and of states which may be given the collective name of
history.
CHAPTER II
THE EARLY PEOPLES, TO 206 B.C.
[Sidenote: Prehistoric Spain.]
The Iberian Peninsula has not always had the same form which it now has,
or the same plants, animals, or climate which are found there today. For
example, it is said that Spain was once united by land with Africa, and
also by way of Sicily, which had not yet become an island, with southern
Italy, making a great lake of the western Mediterranean. The changes as
a result of which the peninsula assumed its present characteristics
belong to the field of geology, and need to be mentioned here only as
affording some clue to the earliest colonization of the land. In like
manner the description of the primitive peoples of Spain belongs more
properly to the realm of ethnology. It is worthy of note, however, that
there is no proof that the earliest type of man in Europe, the
Neanderthal, or Canstadt, man,[4] existed in Spain, and it is believed
that the next succeeding type, the Furfooz man, entered at a time when a
third type, the Cromagnon, was already there. Evidences of the Cromagnon
man are numerous in Spain. Peoples of this type may have been the
original settlers of the Iberian Peninsula.[5] Like the Neanderthal and
Furfooz men they are described generally as paleolithic men, for their
implements were of rough stone. After many thousands of years the
neolithic man, or man of the polished stone age, developed in Spain as
in other parts of the world. In some respects the neolithic man of Spain
differed from the usual European type, but was similar to the neolithic
man of Greece. This has caused some writers to argue for a Greek origin
of the early Spanish peoples, but others claim that similar
manifestations might have developed independently in each region.
Neolithic man was succeeded by men of the ages of the metals,--copper,
bronze, and iron. The age of iron, at least, coincided with the entry
into Spain of peoples who come within the sphere of recorded history. As
early as the bronze age a great mixture of races had taken place in
Spain, although the brachycephalic successors of the Cromagnon race were
perhaps the principal type. These were succeeded by a people who
probably arrived in pre-historic times, but later than the other races
of those ages--that dolichocephalic group to which has been applied the
name Iberians. They were the dominating people at the time of the
arrival of the Phœnicians and Greeks.
[Sidenote: The Iberians.]
The early Spanish peoples left no literature which has survived,
wherefore dependence has to be placed on foreign writers. No writings
prior to the sixth century B.C. which refer to the Iberian Peninsula are
extant, and those of that and the next two centuries are too meagre to
throw much light on the history or the peoples of the land. These
accounts were mainly those of Greeks, with also some from Carthaginians.
In the first two centuries B.C. and in the first and succeeding
centuries of the Christian era there were more complete accounts, based
in part on earlier writings which are no longer available. One of the
problems resulting from the paucity of early evidences is that of the
determination of Iberian origins. Some hold that the name Iberian should
not have an extensive application, asserting that it belongs only to the
region of the Ebro (_Iberus_), the name of which river was utilized by
the Greek, Scylax, of the sixth century B.C., in order to designate the
tribes of that vicinity. Most writers use the term Iberians, however, as
a general one for the peoples in Spain at the dawn of recorded history,
maintaining that they were akin to the ancient Chaldeans and Assyrians,
who came from Asia into northern Africa, stopping perhaps to have a
share in the origin of the Egyptian people, and entering Spain from the
south. According to some authors the modern Basques of northern Spain
and the Berbers of northern Africa are descendants of the same people,
although there are others who do not agree with this opinion. Some
investigators have gone so far as to assert the existence of a great
Iberian Empire, extending through northern Africa, Spain, southern
France, northern Italy, Corsica, Sicily, and perhaps other lands. This
empire, they say, was founded in the fifteenth century B.C., and fought
with the Egyptians and Phœnicians for supremacy in the Mediterranean,
in alliance, perhaps, with the Hittites of Asia Minor, but was defeated,
and fell apart in the twelfth or eleventh century B.C., at which time
the Phœnicians entered Spain.
[Sidenote: The Celtic invasion.]
The origin of the Celts is more certain. Unlike the Iberians they were
of Indo-European race. In the third century B.C. they occupied a
territory embracing the greater part of the lands from the modern Balkan
states through northern Italy and France, with extremities in Britain
and Spain. They entered the peninsula possibly as early as the sixth
century B.C., but certainly not later than the fourth, coming by way of
the Pyrenees. It is generally held that they dominated the northwest and
west, the regions of modern Galicia and Portugal, leaving the Pyrenees,
eastern Spain, and part of the south in full possession of the Iberians.
In the centre and along the northern and southern coasts the two races
mingled to form the Celtiberians, in which the Iberian element was the
more important. These names were not maintained very strictly; rather,
the ancient writers were wont to employ group names of smaller
sub-divisions for these peoples, such as Cantabrians, Turdetanians, and
Lusitanians.
[Sidenote: Celtiberian civilization.]
It is not yet possible to distinguish clearly between Iberian and Celtic
civilization; in any event it must be remembered that primitive
civilizations resemble one another very greatly in their essentials.
There was certainly no united Iberian or Celtic nation within historic
times; rather, these peoples lived in small groups which were
independent and which rarely communicated with one another except for
the commerce and wars of neighboring tribes. For purposes of war tribal
bodies federated to form a larger union and the names of these
confederations are those which appear most frequently in contemporary
literature. The Lusitanians, for example, were a federation of thirty
tribes, and the Galicians of forty. The social and political
organization of these peoples was so similar to others in their stage of
culture, the world over, that it need only be indicated briefly. The
unit was the gens, made up of a number of families, forming an
independent whole and bound together through having the same gods and
the same religious practices and by a real or feigned blood
relationship. Various gentes united to form a larger unit, the tribe,
which was bound by the same ties of religion and blood, although they
were less clearly defined. Tribes in turn united, though only
temporarily and for military purposes, and the great confederations were
the result. In each unit from gens to confederation there was a chief,
or monarch, and deliberative assemblies, sometimes aristocratic, and
sometimes elective. The institutions of slavery, serfdom, and personal
property existed. Nevertheless, in some tribes property was owned in
common, and there is reason to believe that this practice was quite
extensive. In some respects the tribes varied considerably as regards
the stage of culture to which they had attained. Those of the fertile
Andalusian country were not only far advanced in agriculture, industry,
and commerce, but they also had a literature, which was said to be six
thousand years old. This has all been lost, but inscriptions of these
and other tribes have survived, although they have yet to be translated.
On the other hand the peoples of the centre, west, and north were in a
rude state; the Lusitanians of Portugal stood out from the rest in
warlike character. Speaking generally, ancient writers ascribed to the
Spanish peoples physical endurance, heroic valor, fidelity (even to the
point of death), love of liberty, and lack of discipline as salient
traits.
[Sidenote: The Phœnicians in Spain.]
The first historic people to establish relations with the Iberian
Peninsula were the Phœnicians. Centuries before, they had formed a
confederation of cities in their land, whence they proceeded to
establish commercial relations with the Mediterranean world. The
traditional date for their entry into Spain is the eleventh century,
when they are believed to have conquered Cádiz. Later they occupied
posts around nearly all of Spain, going even as far as Galicia in the
northwest. They exploited the mineral wealth of the peninsula, and
engaged in commerce, using a system not unlike that of the British
factories of the eighteenth century in India in their dealings with the
natives. Their settlements were at the same time a market and a fort,
located usually on an island or on an easily defensible promontory,
though near a native town. Many of these Phœnician factories have
been identified,--among others, those of Seville, Málaga, Algeciras, and
the island of Ibiza, as well as Cádiz, which continued to be the most
important centre. These establishments were in some cases bound
politically to the mother land, but in others they were private
ventures. In either case they were bound by ties of religion and
religious tribute to the cities of Phœnicia. To the Phœnicians is
due the modern name of the greater part of the peninsula. They called it
“Span,” or “Spania,” meaning “hidden (or remote) land.” In course of
time they were able to extend their domination inland, introducing
important modifications in the life of the Iberian tribes, if only
through the articles of commerce they brought.
[Sidenote: The Carthaginian conquest.]
The conquest of Phœnicia by the kings of Assyria and Chaldea had an
effect on far-away Spain. The Phœnician settlements of the peninsula
became independent, but they began to have ever more extensive relations
with the great Phœnician colony of Carthage on the North African
coast. This city is believed to have acquired the island of Ibiza in
much earlier times, but it was not until the sixth century B.C. that the
Carthaginians entered Spain in force. At that time the people of Cádiz
are said to have been engaged in a dangerous war with certain native
tribes, wherefore they invited the Carthaginians to help them. The
latter came, and, as has so often occurred in history, took over for
themselves the land which they had entered as allies.
[Sidenote: The Greeks in Spain.]
Meanwhile, the Greeks had already been in Spain for some years.
Tradition places the first Greek voyage to the Spanish coast in the year
630 B.C. Thereafter there were commercial voyages by the Greeks to the
peninsula, followed in time by the founding of settlements. The
principal colonizers were the Phocians, proceeding from their base at
Marseilles, where they had established themselves in the seventh century
B.C. Their chief post in Spain was at Emporium (on the site of Castellón
de Ampurias, in the province of Gerona, Catalonia), and they also had
important colonies as far south as the Valencian coast and yet others in
Andalusia, Portugal, Galicia, and Asturias. Their advance was resisted
by the Phœnicians and their Carthaginian successors, who were able to
confine the Greeks to the upper part of the eastern coast as the
principal field of their operations. The Greek colonies were usually
private ventures, bound to the city-states from which they had proceeded
by ties of religion and affection alone. They were also independent of
one another. Their manner of entry resembled that already described in
the case of the Phœnicians, for they went first to the islands near
the coast, and thence to the mainland, where at length they joined with
native towns, although having a separate, walled-off district of their
own,--comparable to the situation at the present day in certain ports of
European nations on the coast of China. Once masters of the coast the
Greeks were able to penetrate inland and to introduce Greek goods and
Greek influences over a broad area of the peninsula. To them is
attributed the introduction of the vine and the olive, which ever since
have been an important factor in the economic history of Spain.
[Sidenote: Spain under the Barcas.]
The principal objects of the Carthaginians in Spain were to develop the
rich silver mines of the land and to engage in commerce. In furtherance
of these aims they established a rigorous military system, putting
garrisons in the cities, and insisting on tribute in both soldiers and
money. In other respects they left both the Phœnician colonies and
the native tribes in full enjoyment of their laws and customs, but
founded cities of their own on the model of Carthage. They did not
attempt a thorough conquest of the peninsula until their difficulties
with the rising power of Rome pointed out its desirability. In the
middle of the third century B.C., Carthage, which had long been the
leading power in the western Mediterranean, came into conflict with Rome
in the First Punic War. As a result of this war, which ended in 242
B.C., Rome took the place of Carthage in Sicily. It was then that
Hamilcar of the great Barca family of Carthage suggested the more
thorough occupation of Spain as a counterpoise to the Roman acquisition
of Sicily, in the hope that Carthage might eventually engage with
success in a new war with Rome. He at length entered Spain with a
Carthaginian army in 236 B.C., having also been granted political powers
which were so ample that he became practically independent of direction
from Carthage. The conquest was not easy, for while many tribes joined
with him, others offered a bitter resistance. Hamilcar achieved vast
conquests, built many forts, and is traditionally supposed to have
founded the city of Barcelona, which bears his family name. He died in
battle, and was succeeded by his son-in-law, Hasdrubal. Hasdrubal
followed a policy of conciliation and peace, encouraging his soldiers to
marry Iberian women, and himself wedding a Spanish princess. He made his
capital at Cartagena, building virtually a new city on the site of an
older one. This was the principal military and commercial centre in
Spain during the remainder of Carthaginian rule. There the Barcas
erected great public buildings and palaces, and ruled the country like
kings. Hasdrubal was at length assassinated, leaving his command to
Hannibal, the son of Hamilcar. Though less than thirty years of age
Hannibal was already an experienced soldier and was also an ardent
Carthaginian patriot, bitterly hostile to Rome. The time now seemed ripe
for the realization of the ambitions of Hamilcar.
[Sidenote: Siege of Saguntum.]
In order to check the Carthaginian advance the Romans had long since put
themselves forward as protectors of the Greek colonies of Spain. Whether
Saguntum was included in the treaties they had made or whether it was a
Greek city at all is doubted today, but when Hannibal got into a
dispute with that city and attacked it Rome claimed that this violated
the treaty which had been made by Hasdrubal. It was in the year 219 B.C.
that Hannibal laid siege to Saguntum. The Saguntines defended their city
with a heroic valor which Spaniards have many times manifested under
like circumstances. When resistance seemed hopeless they endeavored to
destroy their wealth and take their own lives. Nevertheless, Hannibal
contrived to capture many prisoners, who were given to his soldiers as
slaves, and to get a vast booty, part of which he forwarded to Carthage.
This arrived when the Carthaginians were discussing the question of
Saguntum with a Roman embassy, and, coupled with patriotic pride, it
caused them to sustain Hannibal and to declare war on Rome in the year
218 B.C.
[Sidenote: Expulsion of the Carthaginians by the Romans.]
Hannibal had already organized a great army of over 100,000 men, in
great part Spanish troops, and had started by the land route for Italy.
His brilliant achievements in Italy, reflecting, though they do, not a
little glory on Spain, belong rather to the history of Rome. The Romans
had hoped to detain him in Spain, and had sent Gnæus Scipio to
accomplish this end. When he arrived in Spain he found that Hannibal had
already gone. He remained, however, and with the aid of another army
under his brother, Publius Cornelius Scipio, was able to overrun a great
part of Catalonia and Valencia. In this campaign the natives followed
their traditional practice of allying, some with one side, others with
the other. Hannibal’s brother Hasdrubal was at length able to turn the
tide, defeating the two Scipios in 211 B.C. He then proceeded to the aid
of Hannibal in Italy, but his defeat at the battle of the Metaurus was a
deathblow to Carthage in the war against Rome. The Romans, meanwhile,
renewed the war in Spain, where the youthful Publius Cornelius Scipio,
son of the Scipio of the same name who had been killed in Spain, had
been placed in command. By reckless daring and good fortune rather than
by military skill Scipio won several battles and captured the great city
of Cartagena. He ingratiated himself with native tribes by promises to
restore their liberty and by several generous acts calculated to please
them,--as, for example, his return of a native girl who had been given
to him, on learning that she was on the point of being married to a
native prince. These practices helped him to win victory after victory,
despite several instances of desperate resistance, until at length in
206 B.C. the Carthaginians abandoned the peninsula. It was this same
Scipio who later defeated Hannibal at Zama, near Carthage, in 202 B.C.,
whereby he brought the war to an end and gained for himself the surname
Africanus.
[Sidenote: Results of Carthaginian occupation.]
The Carthaginians had been in Spain for over two hundred years, and, as
was natural, had influenced the customs of the natives. Nevertheless,
their rule was rather a continuation, on a grander scale, of the
Phœnician civilization. From the standpoint of race, too, they and
their Berber and Numidian allies, who entered with them, were perhaps of
the same blood as the primitive Iberians. They had developed far beyond
them, however, and their example assisted the native tribesmen to attain
to a higher culture than had hitherto been acquired. If Rome was to
mould Spanish civilization, it must not be forgotten that the
Phœnicians, Greeks, and Carthaginians had already prepared the way.
CHAPTER III
ROMAN SPAIN, 206 B.C.-409 A.D.
[Sidenote: Importance of the Roman occupation.]
Undoubtedly the greatest single fact in the history of Spain was the
long Roman occupation, lasting more than six centuries. All that Spain
is or has done in the world can be traced in greatest measure to the
Latin civilization which the organizing genius of Rome was able to graft
upon her. Nevertheless, the history of Spain in the Roman period does
not differ in its essentials from that of the Roman world at large,
wherefore it may be passed over, with only a brief indication of events
and conditions in Spain and a bare hint at the workings and content of
Latin civilization in general.
[Sidenote: The Roman conquest.]
The Romans had not intended to effect a thorough conquest of Spain, but
the inevitable law of expansion forced them to attempt it, unless they
wished to surrender what they had gained, leaving themselves once more
exposed to danger from that quarter. The more civilized east and south
submitted easily to the Roman rule, but the tribes of the centre, north,
and west opposed a most vigorous and persistent resistance. The war
lasted three centuries, but may be divided into three periods, in each
of which the Romans appeared to better advantage than in the preceding,
until at length the powerful effects of Roman organization were already
making themselves felt over all the land, even before the end of the
wars.
[Sidenote: The military conquest.]
The first of these periods began while the Carthaginians were still in
the peninsula, and lasted for upwards of seventy years. This was an era
of bitter and often temporarily successful resistance to Rome,--a matter
which taxed the resources of the Roman Republic heavily. The very lack
of union of the Spanish peoples tended to prolong the conflict, since
any tribe might make war, then peace, and war again, with the result
that no conquests, aside from those in the east and south, were ever
secure. The type of warfare was also difficult for the Roman legionaries
to cope with, for the Spaniards fought in small groups, taking advantage
of their knowledge of the country to cut off detachments or to surprise
larger forces when they were not in the best position to fight. These
military methods, employed by Spaniards many times in their history,
have been given, very appropriately, a Spanish name,--_guerrilla_
(little war). Service in Spain came to be the most dreaded of all by the
Roman troops, and several times Roman soldiers refused to go to the
peninsula, or to fight when they got there, all of which encouraged the
Spanish tribes to continue the revolt. The Romans employed harsh methods
against those who resisted them, levelling their city walls and towers,
selling prisoners of war into slavery, and imposing heavy taxes on
conquered towns. They often displayed an almost inhuman brutality and
treachery, which probably harmed their cause rather than helped it. Two
incidents stand out as the most important in this period, and they
illustrate the way in which the Romans conducted the war,--the wars of
the Romans against the Lusitanians and against the city of Numantia in
the middle years of the second century B.C.
[Sidenote: Viriatus.]
The Roman leader Galba had been defeated by the Lusitanians, whereupon
he resorted to an unworthy stratagem to reduce them. He granted them a
favorable peace, and then when they were returning to their homes
unprepared for an attack he fell upon them, and mercilessly put them to
death. He could not kill them all, however, and a determined few
gathered about a shepherd named Viriatus to renew the war. Viriatus was
a man of exceptional military talent, and he was able to reconquer a
great part of western and central Spain. For eight or nine years he
hurled back army after army sent against him, until at length the Roman
general Servilianus recognized the independence of the lands in the
control of Viriatus. The Roman government disavowed the act of
Servilianus, and sent out another general, Cæpio by name, who procured
the assassination of Viriatus. Thereafter, the Lusitanians were unable
to maintain an effective resistance, and they were obliged to take up
their abode in lands where they could be more easily controlled should
they again attempt a revolt.
[Sidenote: The wars of Numantia.]
Meanwhile, the wars of Numantia, which date from the year 152 B.C., were
still going on. Numantia was a city on the Douro near the present town
of Soria, and seems to have been at that time the centre, or capital, of
a powerful confederation. Around this city occurred the principal
incidents of the war in central Spain, although the fighting went on
elsewhere as well. Four times the Roman armies were utterly defeated and
obliged to grant peace, but on each occasion their treaties were
disavowed by the government or else the Roman generals declined to abide
by their own terms. Finally, Rome sent Scipio Æmilianus, her best
officer, with a great army to bring the war to an end. This general
contrived to reach the walls of Numantia, and was so skilful in his
methods that the city was cut off from its water-supply and even from
the hope of outside help. The Numantines therefore asked for terms, but
the conditions offered were so harsh that they resolved to burn the city
and fight to the death. This they did, killing themselves if they did
not fall in battle. Thus ended the Numantine wars at a date placed
variously from 134 to 132 B.C. The most serious part of the fighting was
now over.
[Sidenote: Sertorius.]
In the next period, lasting more than a hundred years, there were not a
few native revolts against the Romans, but the principal characteristic
of the era was the part which Spain played in the domestic strife of the
Roman Republic. Spain had already become sufficiently Romanized to be
the most important Roman province. When the party of Sulla triumphed
over that of Marius in Rome, Sertorius, a partisan of the latter, had to
flee from Italy, and made his way to Spain and thence to Africa. In 81
B.C. he returned to Spain, and put himself at the head of what purported
to be a revolt against Rome. Part Spanish in blood he was able to
attract the natives to his standard as well as the Romans in Spain who
were opposed to Sulla, and in a short time he became master of most of
the peninsula. He was far from desiring a restoration of native
independence, however, but wished, through Spain, to overthrow the
Sullan party in Rome. The real significance of his revolt was that it
facilitated the Romanization of the country, for Sertorius introduced
Roman civilization under the guise of a war against the Roman state. His
governmental administration was based on that of Rome, and his principal
officials were either Romans or part Roman in blood. He also founded
schools in which the teachers were Greeks and Romans. It was natural
that not a few of the natives should view with displeasure the secondary
place allotted to them and their customs and to their hopes of
independence. Several of the Roman officers with Sertorius also became
discontented, whether through envy or ambition. Thus it was that the
famous Roman general Pompey was at length able to gain a victory by
treachery which he could not achieve by force of arms. A price was put
on Sertorius’ head, and he was assassinated in 72 B.C. by some of his
companions in arms, as Viriatus had been before him. In the course of
the next year Pompey was able to subject the entire region formerly
ruled by Sertorius. In the war between Cæsar and Pompey, commencing in
49 B.C., Spain twice served as a battle-ground where Cæsar gained great
victories over the partisans of his enemy, at Ilerda (modern Lérida) in
49, and at Munda (near Ronda) in 45 B.C. It is noteworthy that by this
time a Cæsar could seek his Roman enemy in Spain, without paying great
heed to the native peoples. The north and northwest were not wholly
subdued however. This task was left to the victor in the next period of
civil strife at Rome, Octavius, who became the Emperor Augustus. His
general, Agrippa, finally suppressed the peoples of the northern coasts,
just prior to the beginning of the Christian era.
[Sidenote: Invasions from Africa.]
For another hundred years there were minor uprisings, after which there
followed, so far as the internal affairs of the peninsula were
concerned, the long Roman peace. On several occasions there were
invasions from the outside, once by the Franks in the north, and various
times by peoples from Africa. The latter are the more noteworthy. In
all, or nearly all, of the wars chronicled thus far troops from northern
Africa were engaged, while the same region was a stronghold for pirates
who sailed the Spanish coasts. A large body of Berbers successfully
invaded the peninsula between 170 and 180 A.D., but they were at length
dislodged. This danger from Africa has been one of the permanent factors
in the history of Spain, not only at the time of the great Moslem
invasion of the eighth century, but also before that and since, down to
the present day.
[Sidenote: The Romanization of Spain.]
Administratively, Spain was divided into, first two provinces (197
B.C.), then three (probably in 15 or 14 B.C.), and four (216 A.D.), and
at length five provinces (under Diocletian),[6] but the principal basis
of the Roman conquest and control and the entering wedge for Roman
civilization was the city, or town. In the towns there were elements
which were of Roman blood, at least in part, as well as the purely
indigenous peoples, who sooner or later came under the Roman influence.
Rome sent not only armies to conquer the natives but also laborers to
work in the mines. Lands, too, were allotted to her veteran soldiers,
who often married native women, and brought up their children as Romans.
Then there was the natural attraction of the superior Roman
civilization, causing it to be imitated, and eventually acquired, by
those who were not of Roman blood. The Roman cities were distinguished
from one another according to the national elements of which they were
formed, and the conquered or allied cities also had their different sets
of rights and duties, but in all cases the result was the same,--the
acceptance of Roman civilization. In Andalusia and southern Portugal the
cities were completely Roman by the end of the first century, and
beginning with the second century the rural districts as well gradually
took on a Roman character. Romanization of the east was a little longer
delayed, except in the great cities, which were early won over. The
centre and north were the most conservatively persistent in their
indigenous customs, but even there the cities along the Roman highways
imitated more and more the methods of their conquerors. It was the army,
especially in the early period, which made this possible. Its camps
became cities, just as occurred elsewhere in the empire,[7] and it both
maintained peace by force of arms, and ensured it when not engaged in
campaigns by the construction of roads and other public works.
[Sidenote: The Roman gift to Spain.]
The gift of Rome to Spain and the world was twofold. In the first place
she gave what she herself had originated or brought to a point which was
farther advanced than that to which other peoples had attained, and
secondly she transmitted the civilization of other peoples with whom her
vast conquests had brought her into contact. Rome’s own contribution may
be summed up in two words,--_law_ and _administration_. Through these
factors, which had numerous ramifications, Rome gave the conquered
peoples peace, so that an advance in wealth and culture also became
possible. The details need not be mentioned here, especially since Roman
institutions will be discussed later in dealing with the evolution
toward national unity between 1252 and 1479. The process of
Romanization, however, was a slow one, not only as a result of the
native opposition to innovation, but also because Roman ideas themselves
were evolving through the centuries, not reaching their highest state,
perhaps, until the second century A.D. Spain was especially favored in
the legislation of the emperors, several of whom (Trajan, Hadrian, and
possibly Theodosius, who were also among the very greatest) were born in
the town of Itálica (near Seville), while a fourth, the philosopher
Marcus Aurelius, was of Spanish descent.
[Sidenote: Last years of the Roman rule.]
In the third and fourth centuries Spain suffered, like the rest of the
empire, from the factors which were bringing about the gradual
dissolution of imperial rule. Population declined, in part due to
plagues, and taxes increased; luxury and long peace had also softened
the people, so that the barbarians from the north of Europe, who had
never ceased to press against the Roman borders, found resistance to be
less and less effective. Indeed, the invaders were often more welcome
than not, so heavy had the weight of the laws become. The dying attempt
of Rome to bolster up her outworn administrative system is not a fact,
however, to which much space need be given in a history of Spain.
[Sidenote: Society in Roman Spain.]
In Spain as elsewhere there were a great many varying grades of society
during the period of Roman dominion. There were the aristocratic
patricians, the common people, or plebeians, and those held in
servitude. Each class had various sub-divisions, differing from one
another. Then, too, there were “colleges,” or guilds, of men engaged in
the same trade, or fraternities of a religious or funerary nature. The
difference in classes was accentuated in the closing days of the empire,
and hardened into something like a caste system, based on lack of equal
opportunity. Artisans, for example, were made subject to their trade in
perpetuity; the son of a carpenter had no choice in life but to become a
carpenter. Great as was the lack of both liberty and equality it did not
nearly approximate what it had been in more primitive times, and it was
even less burdensome than it was to be for centuries after the passing
of Rome. Indeed, Rome introduced many social principles which tended to
make mankind more and more free, and it is these ideas which are at the
base of modern social liberty. Most important among them, perhaps, was
that of the individualistic tendency of the Roman law. This operated to
destroy the bonds which subordinated the individual to the will of a
communal group; in particular, it substituted the individual for the
family, giving each man the liberty of following his own will, instead
of subjecting him forever to the family. The same concept manifested
itself in the Roman laws with reference to property. For example,
freedom of testament was introduced, releasing property from the fetters
by which it formerly had been bound.
[Sidenote: Beginnings of the Christian church in Spain.]
Even though Rome for a long time resisted it, she gave Christianity to
the world almost as surely as she did her Roman laws, for the very
extent and organization of the empire and the Roman tolerance (despite
the various persecutions of Christians) furnished the means by which the
Christian faith was enabled to gain a foothold. In the fourth century
the emperors gave the new religion their active support, and ensured its
victory over the opposing faiths. There is a tradition that Saint Paul
preached in Spain, but at any rate Christianity certainly existed there
in the second century, and in the third there were numerous Christian
communities.[8] The church was organized on the basis of the Roman
administrative districts, employing also the Roman methods and the Roman
law. Thus, through Rome, Spain gained another institution which was to
assist in the eventual development of her national unity and to play a
vital part in her subsequent history,--that of a common religion. In the
fourth century the church began to acquire those privileges which at a
later time were to furnish such a problem to the state. It was
authorized to receive inheritances; its clergy began to be granted
immunities,--exemptions from taxation, among others; and it was allowed
to have law courts of its own, with jurisdiction over many cases where
the church or the clergy were concerned. Church history in Spain during
this period centres largely around the first three councils of the
Spanish church. The first was held at Iliberis (Elvira) in 306, and
declared for the celibacy of the clergy, for up to that time priests had
been allowed to marry. The second, held at Saragossa in 380, dealt with
heresy. The third took place at Toledo in 400, and was very important,
for it unified the doctrine of the Christian communities of Spain on the
basis of the Catholic, or Nicene, creed. It was at this time, too, that
monasteries began to be founded in Spain. The church received no
financial aid from the state, but supported itself out of the proceeds
of its own wealth and the contributions of the faithful.
[Sidenote: Priscillianism.]
As in other parts of the Roman world, so too in Spain, heresies were
many and varied at this time. One of the most prominent of them,
Priscillianism, originated in Spain, taking its name from its
propounder, Priscillian. Priscillian was a Galician, who under the
influence of native beliefs set forth a new interpretation of
Christianity. He denied the mystery of the Trinity; claimed that the
world had been created by the Devil and was ruled by him, asserting that
this life was a punishment for souls which had sinned; defended the
transmigration of souls; held that wine was not necessary in the
celebration of the mass; and maintained that any Christian, whether a
priest or not, might celebrate religious sacraments. In addition he
propounded much else of a theological character which was not in accord
with Catholic Christianity. It was to condemn Priscillianism that the
Council of Saragossa was called. Nevertheless, this doctrine found favor
even among churchmen of high rank, and Priscillian himself became bishop
of Ávila. In the end he and his principal followers were put to death,
but it was three centuries before Priscillianism was completely stamped
out. In addition to this and other heresies the church had to combat the
religions which were already in existence when it entered the field,
such as Roman paganism and the indigenous faiths. It was eventually
successful, although many survivals of old beliefs were long existent in
the rural districts.
[Sidenote: Economic development and public works.]
The Romans continued the economic development of Spain on a greater
scale than their predecessors. Regions which the other peoples had not
reached were for the first time benefited by contact with a superior
civilization, and the materials which Spain was already able to supply
were diversified and improved. Although her wealth in agricultural and
pastoral products was very great, it was the mines which yielded the
richest profits. It is said that there were forty thousand miners at
Cartagena alone in the second century B.C. Commerce grew in proportion
to the development of wealth, and was facilitated in various ways, one
of which deserves special mention, for its effects were far wider than
those of mere commercial exchange. This was the building of public
works, and especially of roads, which permitted the peoples of Spain to
communicate freely with one another as never before. The roads were so
extraordinarily well made that some of them are still in use. The
majority date from the period of the empire, being built for military
reasons as one of the means of preserving peace. They formed a network,
crossing the peninsula in different directions, not two or three roads,
but many. The Romans also built magnificent bridges, which, like the
roads, still remain in whole or in part. Trade was fostered by the
checking of fraud and abuses through the application of the Roman laws
of property and of contract.
[Sidenote: Intellectual life and the fine arts.]
In general culture Spain also profited greatly from the Romans, for, if
the latter were not innovators outside the fields of law and government,
they had taken over much of the philosophy, science, literature, and the
arts of Greece, borrowing, too, from other peoples. The Romans had also
organized a system of public instruction as a means of disseminating
their culture, and this too they gave to Spain. The Spaniards were apt
pupils, and produced some of the leading men in Rome in various branches
of learning, among whom may be noted the philosopher Seneca, the
rhetorician Quintilian, the satirical poet Martial, and the epic poet
Lucan. The Spaniards of Cordova were especially prominent in poetry and
oratory, going so far as to impose their taste and style of speech on
conservative Rome. This shows how thoroughly Romanized certain parts of
the peninsula had become. In architecture the Romans had borrowed more
from the Etruscans than from the Greeks, getting from them the principle
of the vault and the round arch, by means of which they were able to
erect great buildings of considerable height. From the Greeks they took
over many decorative forms. Massiveness and strength were among the
leading characteristics of Roman architecture, and, due to them, many
Roman edifices have withstood the ravages of time. Especially notable
in Spain are the aqueducts, bridges, theatres, and amphitheatres which
have survived, but there are examples, also, of walls, temples,
triumphal arches, and tombs, while it is known that there were baths,
though none remain. In a wealthy civilization like the Roman it was
natural, too, that there should have been a great development of
sculpture, painting, and the industrial arts. The Roman type of city,
with its forum and with houses presenting a bare exterior and wealth
within, was adopted in Spain.
In some of the little practices of daily life the Spanish peoples
continued to follow the customs of their ancestors, but in broad
externals Spain had become as completely Roman as Rome herself.
CHAPTER IV
VISIGOTHIC SPAIN, 409-713
[Sidenote: General characteristics of the Visigothic era.]
The Roman influence in Spain did not end, even politically, in the year
409, which marked the first successful invasion of the peninsula by a
Germanic people and the beginning of the Visigothic era. The Visigoths
themselves did not arrive in that year, and did not establish their rule
over the land until long afterward. Even then, one of the principal
characteristics of the entire era was the persistence of Roman
civilization. Nevertheless, in spite of the fact that the Visigoths left
few permanent traces of their civilization, they were influential for so
long a time in the history of Spain that it is appropriate to give their
name to the period elapsing from the first Germanic invasion to the
beginning of the Moslem conquest. The northern peoples, of whom the
Visigoths were by far the principal element, reinvigorated the
peninsula, both by compelling a return to a more primitive mode of life,
and also by some intermixture of blood. They introduced legal,
political, and religious principles which served in the end only to
strengthen the Roman civilization by reason of the very combat necessary
to the ultimate Roman success. The victory of the Roman church came in
this era, but that of the Roman law and government was delayed until the
period from the thirteenth to the close of the fifteenth century.
[Sidenote: Coming of the Vandals, Alans, and Suevians.]
In the opening years of the fifth century the Vandals, who had been in
more or less hostile contact with the Romans during more than two
centuries, left their homes within modern Hungary, and emigrated, men,
women, and children, toward the Rhine. With them went the Alans, and a
little later a group of the Suevians joined them. They invaded the
region of what is now France, and after devastating it for several years
passed into Spain in the year 409. There seems to have been no effective
resistance, whereupon the conquerors divided the land, giving Galicia to
the Suevians and part of the Vandals, and the southern country from
Portugal to Cartagena to the Alans and another group of Vandals. A great
part of Spain still remained subject to the Roman Empire, even in the
regions largely dominated by the Germanic peoples. The bonds between
Spain and the empire were slight, however, for the political strife in
Italy had caused the withdrawal of troops and a general neglect of the
province, wherefore the regions not acknowledging Germanic rule tended
to become semi-independent nuclei.
[Sidenote: Wanderings of the Visigoths.]
The more important Visigothic invasion was not long in coming. The
Visigoths (or the Goths of the west,--to distinguish them from their
kinsmen, the Ostrogoths, or Goths of the east) had migrated in a body
from Scandinavia in the second century to the region of the Black Sea,
and in the year 270 established themselves north of the Danube. Pushed
on by the Huns they crossed that river toward the close of the fourth
century, and entered the empire, contracting with the emperors to defend
it. Their long contact with the Romans had already modified their
customs, and had resulted in their acceptance of Christianity. They had
at first received the orthodox faith, but were later converted to the
Arian form, which was not in accord with the Nicene creed. After taking
up their dwelling within the empire the Visigoths got into a dispute
with the emperors, and under their great leader Alaric waged war on them
in the east. At length they invaded Italy, and in the year 410 captured
and sacked the city of Rome, the first time such an event had occurred
in eight hundred years. Alaric was succeeded by Ataulf, who led the
Visigoths out of Italy into southern France. There he made peace with
the empire, being allowed to remain as a dependent ally of Rome in the
land he had conquered. In all of these wanderings the whole tribe, all
ages and both sexes, went along. From this point as a base the
Visigoths made a beginning of the organization which was to become a
powerful independent state. There, too, in this very Roman part of the
empire, they became more and more Romanized.
[Sidenote: The Visigothic invasion.]
The Visigoths were somewhat troublesome allies, for they proceeded to
conquer southern France for themselves. Thereupon, war broke out with
the emperor, and it was in the course of this conflict that they made
their first entry into Spain. This occurred in the year 414, when Ataulf
crossed the Pyrenees and captured Barcelona. Not long afterward, Wallia,
a successor of Ataulf, made peace with the emperor, gaining title
thereby to the conquests which Ataulf had made in southern France, but
renouncing those in Spain. The Visigoths also agreed to make war on the
Suevians and the other Germanic peoples in Spain, on behalf of the
empire. Thus the Visigoths remained in the peninsula, but down to the
year 456 made no conquests on their own account. Wallia set up his
capital at Toulouse, France, and it was not until the middle of the
sixth century that a Spanish city became the Visigothic seat of
government.
[Sidenote: The Visigothic conquest.]
The Visigoths continued to be rather uncertain allies of the Romans.
They did indeed conquer the Alans, and reduced the power of the Vandals
until in 429 the latter people migrated anew, going to northern Africa.
The Suevians were a more difficult enemy to cope with, however,
consolidating their power in Galicia, and at one time they overran
southern Spain, although they were soon obliged to abandon it. It was
under the Visigothic king Theodoric that the definite break with the
empire, in 456, took place. He not only conquered on his own account in
Spain, but also extended his dominions in France. His successor, Euric
(467-485), did even more. Except for the territory of the Suevians in
the northwest and west centre and for various tiny states under
Hispano-Roman or perhaps indigenous nobles in southern Spain and in the
mountainous regions of the north, Euric conquered the entire peninsula.
He extended his French holdings until they reached the river Loire. No
monarch of western Europe was nearly so powerful. The Visigothic
conquest, as also the conquests by the other Germanic peoples, had been
marked by considerable violence, not only toward the conquered peoples
of a different faith, but also in their dealings with one another. The
greatest of the Visigothic kings often ascended the throne as a result
of the assassination of their predecessors, who were in many cases their
own brothers. Such was the case with Theodoric and with Euric, and the
latter was one of the fortunate few who died a natural death. This
condition of affairs was to continue throughout the Visigothic period,
supplemented by other factors tending to increase the disorder and
violence of the age.
[Sidenote: Visigothic losses to the Franks and the Byzantine Romans.]
The death of Euric was contemporaneous with the rise of a new power in
the north of France. The Franks, under Clovis, were just beginning their
career of conquest, and they coveted the Visigothic lands to the south
of them. In 496 the Franks were converted to Christianity, but unlike
the Visigoths they became Catholic Christians. This fact aided them
against the Visigoths, for the subject population in the lands of the
latter was also Catholic. Clovis was therefore enabled to take the
greater part of Visigothic France, including the capital city, in 508,
restricting the Visigoths to the region about Narbonne, which
thenceforth became their capital. In the middle of the sixth century a
Visigothic noble, Athanagild, in his ambition to become king invited the
great Roman emperor Justinian (for the empire continued to exist in the
east, long after its dissolution in the west in 476) to assist him.
Justinian sent an army, through whose aid Athanagild attained his
ambition, but at the cost of a loss of territory to the Byzantine
Romans. Aided by the Hispano-Romans, who continued to form the bulk of
the population, and who were attracted both by the imperial character
and by the Catholic faith of the newcomers, the latter were able to
occupy the greater part of southern Spain. Nevertheless, Athanagild
showed himself to be an able king, and it was during his reign (554-567)
that a Spanish city first became capital of the kingdom, for Athanagild
fixed his residence in Toledo. The next king returned to France, leaving
his brother, Leovgild, as ruler in Spain. On the death of the former in
573 Leovgild became sole ruler, and the capital returned to Toledo to
remain thereafter in Spain.
[Sidenote: Leovgild.]
Leovgild (573-586) was the greatest ruler of the Visigoths in Spain. He
was surrounded by difficulties which taxed his powers to the utmost. In
Spain he was confronted by the Byzantine provinces of the south, the
Suevian kingdom of the west and northwest, and the Hispano-Roman and
native princelets of the north. All of these elements were Catholic, for
the Suevians had recently been converted to that faith, and therefore
might count in some degree on the sympathy of Leovgild’s Catholic
subjects. Furthermore, like kings before his time and afterward,
Leovgild had to contend with his own Visigothic nobles, who, though
Arian in religion, resented any increase in the royal authority, lest it
in some manner diminish their own. In particular the nobility were
opposed to Leovgild’s project of making the monarchy hereditary instead
of elective; the latter had been the Visigothic practice, and was
favored by the nobles because it gave them an opportunity for personal
aggrandizement. The same difficulties had to be faced in France, where
the Franks were the foreign enemy to be confronted. All of these
problems were attacked by Leovgild with extraordinary military and
diplomatic skill. While he held back the Franks in France he conquered
his enemies in Spain, until nothing was left outside his power except
two small strips of Byzantine territory, one in the southwest and the
other in the southeast. Internal issues were complicated by the
conversion of his son Hermenegild to Catholicism. Hermenegild accepted
the leadership of the party in revolt against his father, and it was six
years before Leovgild prevailed. The rebellious son was subsequently put
to death, but there is no evidence that Leovgild was responsible.
[Sidenote: Reccared.]
Another son, Reccared (586-601), succeeded Leovgild, and to him is due
the conversion of the Visigoths to Catholic Christianity. The mass of
the people and the Hispano-Roman aristocracy were Catholic, and were a
danger to the state, not only because of their numbers, but also because
of their wealth and superior culture. Reccared therefore announced his
conversion (in 587 or 589), and was followed in his change of faith by
not a few of the Visigoths. This did not end internal difficulties of a
religious nature, for the Arian sect, though less powerful than the
Catholic, continued to be a factor to reckon with during the remainder
of Visigothic rule. Reccared also did much of a juridical character to
do away with the differences which separated the Visigoths and
Hispano-Romans, in this respect following the initiative of his father.
After the death of Reccared, followed by three brief reigns of which no
notice need be taken, there came two kings who successfully completed
the Visigothic conquest of the peninsula. Sisebut conquered the
Byzantine province of the southeast, and Swinthila that of the
southwest. Thus in 623 the Visigothic kings became sole rulers in the
peninsula,--when already their career was nearing an end.
[Sidenote: Last century of Visigothic rule.]
The last century of the Visigothic era was one of great internal
turbulence, arising mainly from two problems: the difficulties in the
way of bringing about a fusion of the races; and the conflict between
the king and the nobility, centring about the question of the succession
to the throne. The first of these was complicated by a third element,
the Jews, who had come to Spain in great numbers, and had enjoyed high
consideration down to the time of Reccared, but had been badly treated
thereafter. Neither in the matter of race fusion nor in that of
hereditary succession were the kings successful, despite the support of
the clergy. Two kings, however, took important steps with regard to the
former question. Chindaswinth established a uniform code for both
Visigoths and Hispano-Romans, finding a mean between the laws of both.
This was revised and improved by his son and successor, Recceswinth, and
it was this code, the _Lex Visigothorum_ (Law of the Visigoths), which
was to exercise such an important influence in succeeding centuries
under its more usual title of the _Fuero Juzgo_.[9] Nevertheless, it was
this same Recceswinth who conceded to the nobility the right of
electing the king. Internal disorder did not end, for the nobles
continued to war with one another and with the king. The next king,
Wamba (672-680), lent a dying splendor to the Visigothic rule by the
brilliance of his military victories in the course of various civil
wars. Still, the only real importance of his reign was that it
foreshadowed the peril which was to overwhelm Spain a generation later.
The Moslem Arabs had already extended their domain over northern Africa,
and in Wamba’s time they made an attack in force on the eastern coast of
Spain, but were badly defeated by him. A later invasion in another reign
likewise failed.
[Sidenote: The Moslem conquest.]
The last reigns of the Visigothic kings need not be chronicled, except
as they relate to the entry of the Mohammedans into Spain. King Witiza
endeavored to procure the throne for his son Achila without an election
by the nobility, and Achila in fact succeeded, but in the ensuing civil
war Roderic, the candidate of the nobility, was successful, being
crowned king in the year 710. What followed has never been clearly
ascertained, but it seems likely that the partisans of Achila sought aid
of the Moslem power in northern Africa, and also that the Spanish Jews
plotted for a Moslem invasion of Spain. At any rate the subsequent
invasion found support among both of these elements. Once in 709 and
again in 710 Moslem forces had effected minor landings between Algeciras
and Tarifa, but in 711 the Berber chief Tarik landed with a strong army
of his own people at Gibraltar,[10] and marched in the direction of
Cádiz. Roderic met him at the lake of Janda,[11] and would have defeated
him but for the treacherous desertion of a large body of his troops who
went over to the side of Tarik. Roderic was utterly beaten, and Tarik
pushed on even to the point of capturing Toledo. In the next year the
Arab Musa came from Africa with another army, and took Mérida after an
obstinate siege which lasted a year. Up to this time the invaders had
met with little popular resistance; rather they had been welcomed. With
the fall of Mérida, however, it began to be clear that they had no
intention of leaving the country. At the battle of Segoyuela[12] Musa
and Tarik together won a complete victory, in which it is believed that
Roderic was killed. Musa then proceeded to Toledo, and proclaimed the
Moslem caliph as ruler of the land.
[Sidenote: The family in Visigothic law.]
There were four principal racial elements in the peninsula in the
Visigothic period: the indigenous peoples of varying grades of culture;
the Germanic peoples; the western Roman, which formed a numerous body,
more or less completely Romanized; and the Byzantine Roman, which
influenced even beyond the Byzantine territories in Spain through the
support of the clergy. The two last-named elements were the most
important. The Germanic tribes, especially the Visigoths, had already
become modified by contact with Rome before they reached Spain, and
tended to become yet more so. The Visigoths reverted to the family in
the broad sense of all descended from the same trunk as the unit of
society, instead of following the individualistic basis of Rome,
although individuals had considerable liberty. Members of the family
were supposed to aid and protect one another, and an offence against one
was held to be against all. A woman could not marry without the consent
of her family, which sold her to the favored candidate for her hand. She
must remain faithful to her husband and subject to his will, but _he_
was allowed to have concubines. Nevertheless, she had a right to share
in property earned after marriage, and to have the use of a deceased
husband’s estate, provided she did not marry again. A man might make a
will, but must leave four-fifths of his property to his descendants.
Children were subject to their parents, but the latter did not have the
earlier right of life and death, and the former might acquire some
property of their own.
[Sidenote: Social classes in the Visigothic era.]
The great number of social classes at the close of the Roman period was
increased under the Visigoths, and the former inequalities were
accentuated, for the insecurity of the times tended to increase the
grades of servitude and personal dependence. The nobility was at first a
closed body, but later became open to anybody important enough to enter
it. The kings ennobled whomsoever they chose, and this was one of the
causes of the conflict between them and the older nobility. Freemen
generally sank back into a condition of dependence; in the country they
became serfs, being bound by inheritance both to the land and to a
certain type of labor. Freemen of the city, however, were no longer
required to follow the trade of their fathers. Men of a higher grade
often became the retainers of some noble, pledged to aid him, and he on
his part protected them. Few were completely free. The Suevians took
two-thirds of the lands and half of the buildings in the regions they
conquered, and it is probable that the Visigoths made some such division
after Euric’s conquest, although they seem to have taken less in Spain
than they did in France.
[Sidenote: Social customs.]
The Visigoths were not an urban people like the Romans. The tendency of
this age, therefore, was for a scattering of the city populations to the
country, where the fortified village or the dwelling of a Visigothic
noble with his retinue of armed followers and servants formed the
principal centre. The cities therefore remained Hispano-Roman in
character, and their manner of life was imitated more and more by the
Visigoths. There was a laxity in customs which went so far that priests
openly married and brought up families, despite the prohibitions of the
law.[13] Superstition was prevalent in all classes.[14] One of the
popular diversions of the period seems to have been a form of
bull-fighting.
[Sidenote: Royal power under the Visigoths.]
Before the Visigoths reached Spain the monarchy was elective, but within
a certain family. The king’s authority had already increased from that
of a general and chief justice to something approaching the absolutism
of a Roman emperor. With the extinction of the royal family there was a
long period of strife between rival aspirants for the throne. Leovgild
was the first to take on all the attributes, even the ceremonial, of
absolutism, and was one of many kings who tried to make the throne
hereditary. Despite the support given to the kings by the clergy, who
hoped for peace through enhancing the royal power, the nobles were able
to procure laws for an elective monarch without limitation to a
specified family; an assembly of nobles and churchmen was the electoral
body. These conflicts did not modify the absolute character of the
king’s rule; the king had deliberative councils to assist him, but since
he named the nobles who should attend, both appointed and deposed
bishops, and in any event had an absolute veto, these bodies did no more
than give sanction to his will. Heads of different branches of
administration also assisted the king. The real limitation on absolutism
was the military power of the nobles.
[Sidenote: Visigothic administration.]
For a long time the Visigoths and the Hispano-Romans had different laws
governing their personal relations, although in political matters the
same law applied to both. In the case of litigation between Visigoths
and Hispano-Romans the law of the former applied, with modifications
which approximated it somewhat to the principles of the Roman law. In
the eyes of the law these differences disappeared after the legislation
of Chindaswinth and Recceswinth, but many of them in fact remained as a
result of the force of custom and the weakness of the central authority.
In general administration the Visigoths followed the Roman model from
the first. The land was divided into provinces ruled by officials called
dukes, while the cities were governed by counts.[15] Each had much the
same authority under the king as the kings had over the land. The Roman
provincial and municipal councils were retained, and their position
bettered, since they were not made responsible for the taxes as in the
last days of the empire. Complex as was this system and admirable as it
was in theory there was little real security for justice, for in the
general disorder of the times the will of the more powerful was the
usual law. Taxes were less in amount than in the days of the empire, but
only the Hispano-Romans were subject to them.
[Sidenote: The church in Visigothic times.]
The church became very influential after the time of Reccared, but lost
in independence, since the kings not only appointed the higher church
officers, but also intervened in matters of ecclesiastical
administration, though rarely in those of doctrine. Churchmen had
certain privileges, though fewer than in the last century of Roman rule
and much fewer than they were to acquire at a later time. Their
intervention in political affairs was very great, however, due not only
to their influence with the masses, but even more to their prestige as
the most learned men of the time. Monasteries increased greatly in
number; at this time they were subject to the secular arm of the clergy,
for the bishops gave them their rule and appointed their abbots.
Religious ceremonies were celebrated by what was called the Gothic rite,
and not after the fashion of Rome, although the pope was recognized as
head of the church. As regards heresies the church had to oppose the
powerful Arian sect throughout the period and to uproot the remnants of
indigenous and pagan faiths.
[Sidenote: Economic backwardness.]
An agricultural and military people like the Visigoths, in an age of
war, could not be expected to do much to develop industry and commerce.
Such as there was of both was carried on by some Hispano-Romans and by
Greeks and Jews. Spain dropped far behind in economic wealth in this
era. Roman methods were used, however, even in the agriculture of the
Visigoths.
[Sidenote: Intellectual decline.]
[Sidenote: Saint Isidore.]
Spain also fell back in general culture. Public schools disappeared. The
church became almost the only resort for Christians desirous of an
education, but there were Jewish academies in which the teachers read
from books, and commented on them,--the system adopted by the Christian
universities centuries later. Latin became the dominant tongue, while
Gothic speech and Gothic writing gradually disappeared. The Greek
influence was notable, due to the long presence of Byzantine rule in
southern Spain. The writers of the period were in the main churchmen,
particularly those of Seville. Orosius of the fifth century, author of a
general history of a pronouncedly anti-pagan, pro-Christian character,
was one of the more notable writers of the time. By far more important,
one of the greatest writers in the history of Hispanic literature in
fact, was Saint Isidore, archbishop of Seville in the early part of the
seventh century. Among his numerous works were the following: a brief
universal history; a history of the Visigoths, Vandals, and Suevians;
lives of illustrious men; an encyclopedia of Greco-Roman knowledge; and
books of thoughts, of a philosophical and juridical character. He
represented very largely the ideas of the Spanish clergy, and many of
the principles enunciated by him were later embodied in the _Fuero
Juzgo_. He maintained that political power was of divine origin, but
that the state must protect the church. He supported the ideas of
hereditary succession and the prestige and inviolability of kings as the
best means of securing peace.
[Sidenote: The fine arts.]
In architecture the Visigoths followed the Romans, but on a smaller and
poorer scale. Perhaps the only matter worthy of note as regards the fine
arts was the presence of Byzantine influences, especially marked in the
jewelry of the period.
CHAPTER V
MOSLEM SPAIN, 711-1031
[Sidenote: Importance of the Moslem conquest.]
The Moslem period in Spanish history is the subject of a number of
popular misconceptions. The Moslems are believed to have attained to a
phenomenally high stage of culture and to have lived in a luxury without
parallel at that time in the world. While these views are not without
truth, it is also true that the conquerors never shook themselves free
from their tribal instincts, and it was not until the tenth century that
their civilization was well established. Even then it was more largely
through the efforts of others whom they imitated than through
innovations of their own that they reached their high estate, which was
the natural result of their power and wealth, although its ripest fruit
was reserved for a later period, when much of their political authority
had passed. Nevertheless, the Moslem occupation of Spain was on other
grounds fully as important for Europe as it has usually been regarded,
and perhaps more important for Spain and Spanish America than has ever
been stated. As to the first point, it is true that Europe, through
Moslem Spain, gained a knowledge of classical and Byzantine
civilization. As to the second, racial elements entered the peninsula at
this time which have left a deep impress on Spanish character,
especially on that of the Andalusians and through them on Spanish
America. The later Spanish colonization of the Americas passed almost
wholly through the ports of Seville and Cádiz, and was confined in large
measure to Castilians. At that time, however, Andalusia was considered
part of Castile, and it was only natural that the Andalusian
“Castilians” should have been the ones to go. Many present-day Spanish
American peoples pronounce their language in the Andalusian way,
although differing in degree of similarity and having certain practices
peculiar to themselves. In other respects, too, one finds
Moslem-descended Andalusian traits in the Americas.
[Sidenote: Conversion of the Arabs to Mohammedanism.]
The Arabs were a people dwelling in greatest part in that section of
western Asia which bears their name. Prior to their conversion to
Mohammedanism they led a tribal life, not as one great tribe but as
many, some of them in settled fashion, and others in a nomadic way, but
all were independent one tribe from another and all engaged in endless
strife. There was no such thing as an Arabic national feeling or an
Arabic political state. Early in the seventh century Mahomet began to
preach the faith which he originated, a religion of extreme simplicity
in its doctrinal beliefs, but based very largely on the Jewish and
Christian creeds. The Mohammedans date their era from the year 622 A.D.,
but it was not until after that time that the Arabs were converted to
the new religion. Once they did receive it they were for a long time its
principal sword-bearers, since it fitted their fighting spirit and
promised rewards which suited their pleasure-loving tastes. Most of
them, however, were not nearly so zealous in their religious beliefs as
they have at times been regarded; rather they were too sceptical and
materialistic a people to be enthusiastic devotees of an abstract faith.
[Sidenote: Arabic conquests.]
[Sidenote: Elements of dissension among the Moslem conquerors.]
Nevertheless, the Arabs achieved a conquest which was remarkable alike
for its extent and for its rapidity. Between 697 and 708 they overran
nearly all of Syria and the entire northern coast of Africa, including
Egypt. For their conquests they had formed themselves into a single
state under the rule of a caliph, who was at the same time the head of
the church, thus centering political and religious authority in one
person. The state was divided into provinces, two of which were in
northern Africa,--Egypt and northwestern Africa. This cohesion was more
apparent than real, for the old tribal jealousies and strife continued,
accentuated by differences both in religious zeal and in
interpretations of the Moslem faith. Of the Arabs who entered Spain
there were two principal parties, representing at the same time
religious and tribal animosities, the Sunnites, or Sunnis, who were of
Yemenite race, and the Shiites, or Shiahs, of Mudarite blood. Their
quarrels in Spain, as elsewhere in Moslem realms, were a factor which
rendered difficult the establishment or the maintenance of a strong
political state. In northwestern Africa the Arabs had encountered the
Berbers, who had submitted only after opposing a determined resistance.
The Berbers were by nature a devout and democratic people, and once they
received the Moslem faith they took it up with fanatical enthusiasm.
They never regarded their conquerors with favor, however, and their
hatred was intensified by the very religious indifference of the Arabs.
Here, then, was another element of dissension in Spain, for the Berbers
took part in the conquest along with the Yemenite and Mudarite Arabs.
[Sidenote: Nature of the Moslem conquest of Spain.]
The military conquest took seven years (711-718), for after the fall of
Mérida the invaders met with vigorous, if also unorganized, resistance.
In characteristic fashion the Spanish peoples fought in guerrilla bands
or defended their own towns with desperate courage, but did not aid one
another. Some nobles made terms whereby they were allowed to retain
their estates, but the majority of them opposed the conquerors. Except
for narrow strips in the mountain regions of northern Spain the entire
peninsula had been overrun by the year 718, at which time the Moslem
armies crossed the Pyrenees into southern France. Spain was organized as
a district ruled by an emir under the governor of the province of
Africa, who was in turn subject to the Moslem caliph. The bond uniting
Spain to Africa was not in fact very tightly drawn, for the Spanish
Moslems acted in the main with complete independence of the governor of
Africa. The conquerors did not usually insist on the conversion of the
Spanish peoples (although there were exceptions to the rule), preferring
usually to give them the option of accepting the Mohammedan faith or of
paying a poll tax in addition to the taxation on Moslems and Christians
alike. Many of the Arabs opposed the conversion of the Christians,
since the continuance of the latter in their own religion meant a
lighter financial burden upon the Moslems. Since, also, the conquerors
were outnumbered, they often found it wise to grant the Spanish peoples
a right to retain their faith. In fine the conquest was not a matter of
religious propaganda, but rather was one of a more or less systematic
pillage.
[Sidenote: Division of the conquered lands.]
[Sidenote: Religious effects of the conquest.]
The lands of the Visigothic state, the Christian church, emigrating
nobles, and those who resisted were confiscated, but individuals who
submitted, even nobles (and in some cases monasteries), had their
estates restored to them in whole or in part, subject to the usual
taxation. A fifth of the confiscated lands were taken by the state, and
the rest were distributed among the soldiers and the chiefs of the
Moslem armies. The state holdings were re-allotted to Spanish serfs, who
were required to pay a third of the produce to the government, being
allowed to keep the rest for themselves. The Berbers were given lands in
the north, while the Arabs took the more fertile south. These lands,
too, were given over to serfs on much the same terms as those granted by
the state. The mass of the people were not greatly disturbed. Indeed,
the agricultural laborer advanced economically, because requirements
were lighter than formerly, and, also, since the lands were divided
among a great many proprietors, the evil of the vast estates which had
existed formerly was for the time being corrected. Slaves profited by
the conquest, in part because they were better treated, but also in that
they might become free by the mere act of conversion to Mohammedanism if
they were slaves of Christians or Jews. A great many Christians became
Mohammedans, some of them to escape slavery, others to avoid the poll
tax, and still others from sincere belief, and they came to form an
important class of the Moslem world, called “Renegados,” or renegades,
by the Christians, and “Muladíes” by themselves. The conquest weighed
more heavily on the Christian church, although, indeed, it was allowed
to remain in existence. The church had to experience the curious
practice of having its bishops named or deposed and its councils called
by the Moslem caliph or his representative. The Jews gained more than
any other element. The harsh Visigothic laws were repealed and Jews were
employed in government and administration as allies of the conquerors.
[Sidenote: Civil wars.]
The Moslem invasion of France was carried on with varying success for
several years. In 732 occurred the so-called battle of Tours, in fact
fought near Poitiers, when Charles Martel and a Frankish army defeated
the Moslems. It was not this battle which caused the retreat of the
invaders from France, but rather a civil war in Spain eight years later,
necessitating a return to the peninsula. The Berbers of Africa had risen
in revolt against their Arabic rulers, and had defeated both them and a
Syrian force sent to the latter’s assistance. Thereupon the Spanish
Berbers rose as well. For a time they were successful, but the emir was
able finally to subdue them, being aided by the Syrian army in Africa,
which he had induced to come to Spain. Then followed a terrible war
between the Syrians and the emir, because the promises to the former had
not been fulfilled. The struggle ended with a grant of some of the state
lands in southern Spain to the Syrians, who were to receive the
government’s third of the produce, but not the title to the lands.
Shortly afterward there was another civil war, this time between the
Shiite and Sunnite Arabs, caused by the harsh treatment of the former by
a Sunnite governor. The war lasted eleven years, being then given a new
turn by the intervention of a man who was to play an important part in
the history of the period.
[Sidenote: Coming of Abd-er-Rahman to Spain.]
Other parts of the Moslem world had been afflicted by the same sort of
internal strife as that which was occurring in Spain. In particular
there was a dynastic struggle, which resulted in the dethronement of the
caliphs of the Ommayad family and in the rise to power of the Abbasside
caliphs. The Ommayads were ordered to be put to death, but one of them,
a youth named Abd-er-Rahman, contrived to escape. He took refuge
successively in Egypt and northwestern Africa, and in 755 came to Spain
with the object of establishing himself there. This he was able to do,
though not without a struggle, setting himself up as emir with his
capital in Cordova, and proclaiming his independence of the caliph.
[Sidenote: Abd-er-Rahman I.]
The entire reign of Abd-er-Rahman I (755-788) was one of war. He had to
fight the Yemenite (Sunnite) Arabs, the Berbers, and many chiefs of
various tribes, as well as the governors sent out by the Abbassides,
before his authority was recognized. His ideal was that of an absolute
monarchy which should bring to an end the aristocratic independence and
anarchy in Spain, but in order to accomplish this he had to combat
Arabic tradition and pride, Berber democracy, and inter-tribal hatred.
Abd-er-Rahman was at least able to subject his opponents if not to
change them. It was during his reign that the Frankish king Charlemagne
invaded Spain and got as far as Saragossa. Obliged by events in France
to recross the Pyrenees he was attacked by the Basques in the pass of
Roncesvalles, and his rear-guard was completely destroyed. It was this
event which gave rise to the celebrated French epic poem, the _Chanson
de Roland_ (Song of Roland), in which the Frankish hero Roland is
supposed to combat the forces of Islam. No Mohammedan forces in fact
engaged in the battle, for the Basques were Christians; they were then,
as later, opposed to any foreign army which should invade their lands.
[Sidenote: Internal strife.]
Hisham I, the next emir, was not free from wars, but his reign was more
notable in its religious aspects. He was a devout Mohammedan, and
enabled the religious class to attain to great power. His successor,
Hakem I, was a sincere believer, but did not refrain from drinking wine,
thus breaking the religious law, and he conceded less influence in the
government to the church than his father had. This led to several
uprisings, in which the Renegados were a principal element. Hakem
subdued them, and exiled many thousands, most of them Renegados, who
went to different parts of northern Africa and Egypt. Another serious
revolt broke out in Toledo, which had been enjoying virtual
independence, though nominally subject to the emir. The citizens of
Toledo were most of them Renegados, but they were also Spanish, and were
unable to forget that Toledo had once been the capital of Spain. Hakem
resolved to bring them into real subjection, and was able to effect his
will. Seven years later, in 829, when Abd-er-Rahman II was emir, the
people of Toledo revolted again, and it took eight years to subdue them.
War and disorder were also prevalent in other parts of the realm. The
inhabitants of Mérida, who were Christians, rose several times; in
Murcia there was a seven years’ war between the Sunnites and Shiites. At
this time, too, the Normans began to attack the coasts of Spain just as
they were doing in other parts of Europe. They made no permanent
conquest, but rendered the coasts unsafe during the greater part of the
century. Toward the close of the ninth century the emirate began to
break under the strain of constant war. After repeated rebellions the
city of Toledo formed itself into a republic, and on the basis of an
annual tribute to the emir was recognized by the latter, who had no
other right there. In Aragon the Visigothic but Renegado family of
Beni-Casi founded an independent kingdom. A similar kingdom sprang up in
Extremadura, and another in the mountains of southern Spain. Meanwhile,
the Christian kingdoms were making gains. Except for them the new states
were usually made up of Renegados. They did not work together, however,
or the Arabic domination might have been completely broken: rather, each
little state followed a selfish policy of its own. The most important
was that of Omar-ben Hafsun in the south. Omar founded his kingdom in
884, with his capital at the castle of Bobastro. In 886 the emir
attacked him, and for more than thirty years thereafter there was war
between Omar and the emirs of Cordova. Omar was usually successful,
acquiring nearly all of Andalusia, but his political plans illustrate
the lack of a truly Spanish ideal in the kingdoms carved out of the
emirate. At first he planned only a tiny kingdom of his own; later he
aimed to get the governor of Africa to appoint him emir of Spain;
finally he became converted to Christianity, and resolved to wage a
religious war, whereupon his Renegado followers abandoned him. During
the same period civil wars of a racial nature broke out in other parts
of Spain between the Arabic aristocracy and the Renegados, especially
around the cities of Elvira and Seville. The Arabs despised the
Renegados, who were at this time the principal industrial and commercial
class, especially in Seville, and envied their wealth. Many Arabic
chiefs also refused obedience to the emirs. For a time the aristocratic
party was successful, inflicting great blows on the Renegados, and
increasing their own estates, but in the reign of Abdallah, early in the
ninth century, they received a check. The same Abdallah inflicted a
crushing defeat on King Omar. Thus the way was prepared for Abdallah’s
successor, Abd-er-Rahman III, who was to establish peace in Spain after
two centuries of almost continuous disorder.
[Sidenote: Abd-er-Rahman III.]
Abd-er-Rahman III (912-961) was by far the greatest ruler in the history
of Moslem Spain. His first problem was the establishment of the central
power. Within a few years he had reduced not only the Renegado states of
Toledo, Aragon, Extremadura, and Bobastro but also the aristocratic
Arabs and the Berber chiefs in various parts of Spain. He then changed
his title from that of emir to caliph, thus signifying his intention of
maintaining a robust absolute monarchy. He also drove back the Christian
kings in the north, after which he proceeded to cultivate friendly
relations with them. Even the Moslem province in northwestern Africa
fell under his sway. In administrative matters as well Abd-er-Rahman III
proved his ability. Not only did he create a great army but he also
increased the strength of the navy (which the emirs before him had
already founded) until it became the most powerful fleet in the
Mediterranean Sea. Spain was recognized as the greatest state in Europe,
and in western Europe it was also the centre of the highest culture.
Through the caliph’s measures agriculture, industry, and commerce, and
education, literature, and the fine arts developed to a high point, and
Cordova became a city of half a million inhabitants.
[Sidenote: Almansor.]
Hakem II (961-976) continued his father’s policy in all respects, but
was able to devote even more attention to intellectual activities. In
military affairs the next reign, that of Hisham II (976-1013), was
particularly brilliant, but it was not the caliph who directed affairs.
In the time of Hakem II a certain Mahomet-ben-Abdallah-abu-Amir had
attracted the attention and won the heart of the caliph’s favorite wife.
Through her aid he became the chief minister of Hisham II, who was a
minor at the time of his succession. Hisham was soon put aside by
Mahomet, who sequestered the caliph in the palace, and ruled in the name
of the virtually deposed monarch. Mahomet was principally famous for his
victories, on account of which he was called Almansor, meaning “the
aided of God,” or “the victorious by divine favor.” He reorganized the
army, making it a machine which was not only efficient in a military way
but also personally devoted to him. Then in repeated campaigns he
defeated the Christian kings of the northwest and northeast, reducing
the greater part of their territories to his authority, and making
himself arbiter in the kingdoms which were allowed to exist.
[Sidenote: Downfall of the caliphate.]
Almansor died in 1002, but the military supremacy of the Moslem state
was sustained by his son Abdul Malik, who succeeded as chief minister
and virtual ruler. The latter did not live long, however, being followed
in authority by another son of Almansor, who was not so fortunate in his
rule. The Moslem nobles were hostile to the military absolutism of the
Almansor family, chiefly, no doubt, because of the usual intractability
of the aristocracy, but also because the military element, composed of
Berbers and foreigners of all descriptions, even slaves (who might be
powerful generals), had become the most important in the country. Civil
wars broke out, therefore, and they resulted in the fall of the Almansor
family, in 1009. The wars continued, however, between the generals of
Almansor’s army and the various pretenders to the caliphate (even though
Hisham was alive during part of the time and was believed to be living
for many years after he had probably died or been put to death). In
1027, the last of the Ommayads, Hisham III, became caliph, but in 1031
was deposed. Thenceforth, no one was able to make good a claim to the
throne; Moslem Spain fell apart into a number of independent units, and
the caliphate came to an end.
[Sidenote: Social classes in Moslem Spain.]
Although the differences in social status were much the same in Moslem
Spain as in other parts of Europe, there were added complications, owing
to the differences of race and religion. There were the usual gradations
of aristocracy, freemen, freedmen, and slaves, but the real aristocracy
was the Arabic. This was nearly destroyed in the time of Abd-er-Rahman
III, and a new aristocracy of soldiers and merchants took its place.
Prior to that time both the Arabic and Berber nobility had gone on
increasing their holdings until they had attained vast estates, and it
was perhaps on this account that they lived for the most part in the
country, leaving the cities to the Renegados and “Mozárabes,” as the
Christians living under Moslem rule were called. The Renegados were an
especially important element in the population, both industrially and
intellectually, but were despised by the other groups; indeed, many were
descendants of slaves. The Mozárabes usually lived in a separate
district, and were allowed to govern themselves to some extent, having
law courts and some administrative officials of their own. In daily life
they mixed freely with the Moslem population. The old differences
between the Hispano-Roman and Visigothic Christians were maintained for
a time, but seem at length to have passed away. The Mozárabes were
allowed to retain their Christian worship, and as a rule were not
persecuted, although frequently insulted by lower class Moslems. Late in
the ninth century, especially in the reign of Mahomet I, there was a
period of persecution, caused very largely by the excessive zeal of some
of the Christians. The law inflicted the penalty of death on anybody who
publicly cursed the founder of the Mohammedan faith, wherefore a number
of Christians, already exasperated by certain harsh measures of the
emir, began to seek martyrdom by cursing the prophet. A Christian church
council disapproved of this practice, but it continued and was later
sanctioned by the church, which canonized many of the martyrs. The Jews
were another important element, not only in administration, but also in
commerce and in general culture. Cordova became the world’s centre for
Jewish theological studies. In all of this period the Jews were well
treated.
[Sidenote: Status of women.]
A Mohammedan was allowed to have as many as four wives and a greater
number of concubines, all together forming the particular individual’s
harem. The wives were subject to their husbands, but were not without
rights. The first wife was privileged to forbid her husband’s taking
concubines or additional wives without her consent, although it is
doubtful if the right was generally exercised. Possibly a wife’s most
important powers were those having to do with property, coupled with her
privilege of bringing suit at law without the previous consent of her
husband. Children of legally taken concubines, even if the latter were
slaves, were held to be legitimate and free. Women enjoyed more liberty
than they are commonly supposed to have had, being privileged, for
example, to visit freely with their relatives. The Arabs were very fond
of music and dancing, and took delight in licentious poetry. Not a
little of the pleasure-loving character of this race survives today in
southern Spain.
[Sidenote: Methods of warfare.]
[Sidenote: Moslem law.]
Much has been said already with regard to the general administration of
the Moslem realm, which was not greatly different from that of the
Visigothic kingdom preceding it. As for the Moslem armies they were not
so superior in organization when they entered Spain as their rapid
conquests might lead one to suppose. They were nothing more than tribal
levies, each group marching with its chief as leader. Campaigns were
also managed in a somewhat haphazard fashion, for the Moslem troops went
forth to war when the tasks of harvest time did not require their
presence at home. Many expeditions were made with no idea of military
conquest; rather they were for the sake of destroying an enemy’s crops
or securing plunder, after which the army would return, satisfied with
what it had done. The Moslem rulers gradually began to surround
themselves with special troops, and, finally, Almansor abolished the
tribal levy, and formed regiments without regard to tribe. As for Moslem
law the Koran was at the same time a book of holy writ and one of civil
law. This was supplemented by the legislation of the caliphs, but there
was always more or less confusion between law and religion. There was
never a formal code.
[Sidenote: Religion in Moslem Spain.]
Attention has already been called to the difference in the religious
fervor of the Moslem tribes. Many of the Arabs even went so far as to
deny the existence of God, although the vast body of them, perhaps, were
indifferentists. The Berbers and the mass of the people generally were
very enthusiastic Mohammedans, so that it was unsafe to express one’s
opinions contrary to the faith or even to engage openly in certain
philosophical studies, for these were regarded as heretical. Among the
religious themselves there were varying interpretations of the Koran and
differences of rite. Religious toleration existed to such an extent that
not only were the Mozárabes allowed to retain their churches, their
priesthood, and their councils, but also some of their holy days were
celebrated by Christians and Moslems alike. There was one instance where
the same building served as a Mohammedan mosque and a Christian church.
Christian clergymen from foreign lands frequently visited Moslem Spain,
while native churchmen went forth from the caliphate to travel in the
Christian countries, returning later to the peninsula.
[Sidenote: The wealth of Cordova.]
[Sidenote: Economic prosperity.]
In the tenth century Moslem Spain came to be one of the richest and most
populous lands in Europe. The wealth of Cordova was astounding, although
some allowance has to be made for the exaggerations of the chroniclers.
At one time the Moslem capital was said to have 200,000 houses, 600
mosques, and 900 bath-houses, besides many public buildings. It was well
paved, had magnificent bridges across the Guadalquivir, and contained
numerous palaces of the caliphs and other great functionaries. The most
famous of all was that of Az-Zahra, which was a palace and town in one,
erected by Abd-er-Rahman III for one of his wives. The great mosque of
Cordova, which is in use today as a Catholic cathedral, was equally
luxurious. This was begun in the reign of Abd-er-Rahman I, and was
continued and enlarged by later Moslem rulers. It came to have nineteen
aisles one way, and thirty another, with twenty-one gates, and 1293
columns of porphyry and jasper with gilded capitals. In its adornment it
was a wealth of marble, silver, and precious stones. Travellers came to
Cordova from all parts of the world, but it is worthy of note as an
evidence of the lack of complete security, even in the greatest days of
the caliphate, that it was the practice to come in great bodies, for the
roads were infested with bandits. One measure of the advance of Moslem
Spain is in the revenues of the government, which were eighteen times
greater in the reign of Abd-er-Rahman III than they were in the reign of
Abd-er-Rahman I.[16] This wealth depended on economic well-being, which
was especially in evidence in the tenth century. The Arabs were not
innovators in agriculture, but they had already learned much from
others, and they assimilated Hispano-Roman and Mozárabic methods, with
the result that Spain became richer in this regard than she had ever
been before. They introduced rice, sugar, and several other products
which had not previously been cultivated in Spain, and made use of
irrigation in Granada, Murcia, and Valencia. Stock-raising, mining, and
manufacturing were also extensively carried on. As a natural result of
all this activity there was a like development of commerce. The
principal part of Abd-er-Rahman III’s revenues proceeded from import and
export duties. It is worthy of note that there was a considerable
traffic not only in slaves but also in women,--such was Arabic
character. Seville was perhaps the most important port. Through the
medium of commerce Spain came into close contact with the Moslem East
and with the Byzantine Greeks. As a result of the mathematical problems
involved in trade it is believed that the Arabs introduced into Europe
the very important cipher, or zero, which they on their part had
received from India.
[Sidenote: Languages.]
[Sidenote: Education.]
Not only Arabic and Latin but many other languages as well were spoken
in Moslem Spain; the Berber, for example, was independent of either of
the two first-named. Despite the predominatingly Latin character of the
eventual Spanish tongue the Arabic influence upon it was great,--not so
much in words as in forms and idioms of speech. There were Moslem
schools of a private character, but there was no public school system.
The caliphs often brought learned men to their court, but it was the
religious who more than any others devoted themselves to education.
There were few Moslems who could not read or write, and in this respect
Spain was in advance of the rest of western Europe. Women, far from
being excluded from education, were taught the same branches as the men,
and often became notable both in literature and in scientific studies.
[Sidenote: Intellectual achievements.]
[Sidenote: The fine arts.]
[Sidenote: Narrow streets.]
The Arabs introduced the industrially manufactured paper of the orient
instead of using the parchment or papyrus of the Romans. This greatly
lowered the cost of books, and led to an increase in productivity,
facilitating both literary and scientific studies. Although philosophy
and astronomy were so strongly opposed by the common people and the
priestly class of the Moslems that their study was at times forbidden by
the government,[17] they were a fruitful topic in the education and
researches of the upper classes. One of the greatest glories of Arabic
civilization was the transmission of Greek culture to western Europe,
for the Arabs had become acquainted with the works of the Greeks, while
western Europe had almost completely forgotten them. Nevertheless,
Moslem Spain was to be more important in this respect in the period
following the downfall of the caliphate. Mathematics and medicine did
not meet with popular and religious opposition, and in both of these
sciences the Arabs achieved notable results. Polite literature, however,
and especially poetry, was the most favored intellectual medium. Poetry
had been cultivated by the Arabs while they were yet in their crude
tribal stage. It was not unusual for challenges to personal combat or
declarations of war to be written in poetry. Books of science, even,
made their appearance in verse, and the improvisation of poetry was a
general practice. The most favored subject-matter illustrates a
pronounced trait in Arabic character, for amorous themes of an immoral
order accorded best with Arabic taste. The Spanish Moslems were not
notable in painting and sculpture, but distinguished themselves in
architecture and the industrial arts. Perhaps the most important feature
of their cultivation of these arts was the introduction of Byzantine
influences. They made use of the dome and of the elaborate decoration of
flat surfaces (especially of walls) with arabesques, so named because of
their profuse employment in Arabic work. In addition they painted their
buildings in brilliant and variegated colors. They rarely built in
stone, preferring brick, plaster, and adobe. The mosque was the
principal example of their architecture. In that and in their civil
edifices they made use of one feature, not unlike that of the Roman
house, which has survived in Spain,--the enclosed court, or _patio_,
surrounded by arcades, with a fountain in the centre. Streets were
narrow, both with a view to provide shade against the heat of the sun,
and also because of the necessities of space, so that the city might be
contained within its walls.
CHAPTER VI
CHRISTIAN SPAIN IN THE MOSLEM PERIOD, 711-1035
[Sidenote: Fitful character of the Christian reconquest.]
One of the popular misconceptions of the Moslem period in the history of
Spain is that the Christians began a holy war almost from the time of
the Moslem invasion, and continued to gain in fervor and in power, step
by step, until at length they took Granada in 1492. In fact religious
enthusiasm and national conquest alike were fitful and spasmodic, and
very little progress was made in the period of the emirs and caliphs.
[Sidenote: The kingdom of Asturias.]
[Sidenote: Covadonga.]
It has usually been held, although the matter is in dispute, that the
Visigoths resisted the invaders continuously at only one point in
Spain,--in Asturias. In the mountains of Asturias there gathered various
nobles of the centre and south of Spain, a number of bishops, and the
remains of the defeated Christian armies, and, aided perhaps by the
natives of that land, they prepared to make a stand against the Moslems.
On the news of the death of Roderic they elected a certain Pelayo as his
successor, and it is this king who is customarily regarded as the
founder of the Spanish monarchy. Pelayo fixed his capital at Cangas de
Onís, and is believed to have maintained amicable relations with the
Moslems for a while, perhaps paying them tribute, and possibly even
making a visit to Cordova. Hostilities broke out again, however, and in
the year 718 Pelayo and his partisans won a victory in the valley of
Covadonga. Coming as it did after several years of defeats this
achievement attained to a renown which was far greater than the merits
of the actual battle, and in later years legendary accounts made the
combat itself assume extraordinary proportions. It has usually been
taken as marking the beginning of the Christian reconquests, and it is
said that Pelayo became king in consequence of the battle, when in fact
he was elected several years before. The battle of Covadonga did secure
eastern Asturias to the Christians, which was its immediate result.
Aside from that tiny kingdom there is no proof that there were any
independent Christian states in Spain, although it is probable that
there were several in the other mountainous parts of the north.
[Sidenote: The advance of the Asturian frontier.]
Since the invaders respected the religion and customs of the conquered,
the war of the Christian kingdom of Asturias against them did not at
first have a religious or even a racial character. It was a war of the
nobles and clergy for the reconquest of their landed estates and of the
king for the restoration of his royal authority over the peninsula. The
little Asturian kingdom was like the old Visigothic state in miniature;
for example, there were the struggles between the nobility and the crown
for precisely the same objects as formerly. For a century the history of
Asturias reduced itself primarily to these quarrels. Nevertheless, the
Moslem frontier tended to withdraw from the far northwest, not that the
Moslems were forced out by the Christians, but possibly because their
own civil wars drew them together in the centre and south, or because
their numbers were not great enough to make them seek the less desirable
lands in the northwest. The frontier became fixed south of the Douro
along a line running through Coimbra, Coria, Talavera, Toledo,
Guadalajara, and Pamplona, although the last-named place was not long
retained. It cannot be said that the Christians took a conscious
offensive until the eleventh century. In this period, despite the
internal dissension of the Moslem state, the Christian frontier did not
pass the Guadarrama Mountains even at the most favorable moments,
leaving Aragon and central and southern Spain in the enemy’s hands. The
line of the Douro was far from being held consistently,--as witness the
conquests of Abd-er-Rahman III and Almansor.
[Sidenote: Alfonso I and Alfonso II.]
[Sidenote: Santiago de Compostela.]
The only notable kings of Asturias in the century following the death of
Pelayo (737) were Alfonso I “the Catholic” (739-757) and Alfonso II
“the Chaste” (791-842). Both made successful campaigns against the
Moslems, although their principal importance was that they brought back
many Mozárabes from the temporarily conquered regions, and these helped
to populate the north. To assure his power Alfonso II sought an alliance
with the Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne, and with his son, Louis the
Pious. It is this which gave rise to the legend of Bernardo del Carpio,
who is said to have compelled the king to forbear making treaties with
foreign rulers which lowered the dignity of the Spanish people. Some
writers have found in this supposed incident (for the figure of Bernardo
is a later invention) an awakening sense of nationalism, but it seems
rather to reflect the traditional attitude of the nobility lest the king
become too strong for them, for real patriotism did not exist. The two
Alfonsos did much to reorganize their kingdom internally, and Alfonso
the Chaste moved the capital to Oviedo. In his reign, too, there
occurred a religious event of great importance,--the finding of what was
believed to be the tomb and body of the apostle Santiago (Saint James)
in northwestern Galicia. The site was made the seat of a bishopric, and
a village grew up there, named Santiago de Compostela. Compostela became
a leading political and industrial factor in the Christian northwest,
but was far more important as a holy place of the first grade, ranking
with Jerusalem, Rome, and Loreto. Thenceforth, bands of pilgrims not
only from Spain but also from all parts of the Christian world came to
visit the site, and, through them, important outside influences began to
filter into Spain. More noteworthy still was the use of the story of the
miraculous discovery to fire the Christian warriors with enthusiasm in
their battles against the Moslems, especially at a later period, when
the war entered upon more of a crusading phase.
[Sidenote: Beginnings of Navarre and Aragon.]
The people of the mountains of Navarre were of Basque race, and seem to
have maintained a more or less unorganized freedom from political
subjection for many years before a definite state was formed. They
opposed both the Frankish kings and the Moslem emirs, and for a long
time the former were their principal enemy. At length they established
their independence of both. In these wars the kingdom of Navarre almost
certainly had its origin, but at an uncertain date. Tradition makes
Iñigo Arista one of the early kings, or chiefs, but the first name
definitely to appear is that of Sancho García in the tenth century
(905-925). The founding of an independent state in Aragon was due to the
same causes; indeed, Aragon and Navarre were assigned a common origin in
the legends of the period. Aragon was absorbed by Navarre, however,
possibly toward the end of the tenth century.
[Sidenote: Origin of the Catalan counties.]
Catalonia had been overrun by the Moslems when they entered Spain, but
between 785 and 811 the Frankish kings were able to reconquer that
region, establishing a province there which they called the Spanish
Mark. This section was at first ruled by a number of counts, independent
of each other, but subject to the kings of the Franks. Catalan
submission to the latter did not endure through the ninth century.
Wifredo, count of Barcelona, is believed to have established his
independence as early as 874, although that event is doubtful; at any
rate the separation from the Frankish kingdom was not much longer
delayed. Each count was lord unto himself, although the counts of
Barcelona were recognized as the greatest among them. Indeed, in the
entire breadth of northern Spain each unit labored for its own selfish
ends. Christians fought Moslems, but also fought other Christians. Owing
to the disorder of the Moslem realm, however, the Catalan counts, like
the other Christian rulers, were able to make some territorial gains.
[Sidenote: Two centuries of scant progress in Asturias.]
[Sidenote: The independence of Castile.]
[Sidenote: Sancho the Fat.]
For nearly two centuries after the death of Alfonso II, or until the
fall of the Moslem caliphate, very little progress was made by the kings
of Oviedo and León, which latter city had become the capital of the
Christian kingdom in the northwest early in the tenth century. There was
a marked opposition between the Asturian-Leonese and the Galician parts
of the realm, and the Galician nobles maintained almost continuous war
with the kings. Similarly the counts of the frontier often acted like
petty sovereigns, or even joined with the Moslems against their own
compatriots. So, too, there were contests for the throne, and neither
side hesitated to call in Moslem aid. Some kings achieved conquests of
temporary moment against the Moslems; for example, Alfonso III “the
Great” (866-909) added considerably to his territories in a period of
marked weakness in the caliphate, but was obliged to abdicate when his
sons and even his wife joined in rebellion against him; the kingdom was
then divided among three sons, who took respectively León, Galicia and
Lusitania, and Asturias, leaving to the king the town of Zamora alone.
Then followed the caliphate of Abd-er-Rahman III, when the Christian
kingdoms, except Galicia, were most of the time subject in fact to the
Moslem state, although allowed to govern themselves. To the usual
quarrels there was added a new separatist tendency, more serious than
that of Galicia had been. This proceeded from the eastern part of the
kingdom in a region which came to be called Castile because of the
numerous castles there, due to its situation on the Moslem frontier. The
counts of Castile, centering around Burgos, had repeatedly declined to
obey the kings of Oviedo and León,--for example, when they were called
to serve in the royal armies. During the reign of Ramiro II (930-950),
Count Fernán González united the Castilians under his standard, and
after repeated wars was able to make Castile independent of the king of
León. The reign of Sancho “the Fat” is typical of the times. Sancho
became king of León in 955, but was soon dethroned by his nobles, who
alleged among other things that because of his corpulence he cut a
ridiculous figure as a king. Sancho went to the court of Abd-er-Rahman
III, and got not only a cure for fatness but also a Moslem army. Aided,
too, by the Christian kingdom of Navarre he was able to regain his
throne. He had promised to deliver certain cities and castles to the
caliph, but did not do so until compelled to by the next caliph, Hakem.
Civil wars between the nobles and the crown continued, and many of the
former joined with Moslem Almansor in his victorious campaigns against
their coreligionists and their king.
[Sidenote: Advance of the Christian states in the early eleventh
century.]
[Sidenote: Sancho the Great.]
When the caliphate began to totter, following the deaths of Almansor and
Abdul Malik, the Christian kings returned to the conquest. Alfonso V
(994-1027) of León and his uncle Sancho “the Great” (970-1035) of
Navarre pushed their frontiers southward, Alfonso crossing the Douro in
Portugal. The counts of Castile, too, now aiding one Moslem faction, now
another, now remaining neutral, profited by each new agreement to
acquire additional territory or fortified posts. Shortly after the death
of Alfonso V, Sancho the Great intervened successfully in the wars of
the Christian kingdoms, and united Castile and León under his authority.
Since he was also king in Navarre, Aragon, and the Basque provinces of
France and Spain, only Galicia, where the kings of León took refuge, and
the counties of Catalonia remained free from his rule in the north. Here
seemed to be an important moment in the history of Spain,--one which
might have had tremendous consequences. But it was as yet too early, not
alone for Spanish nationalism, but even for the conception of a Spanish
state. Sancho the Great undid his own work, and consigned himself to a
place only a little short of oblivion by dividing his kingdom among his
sons. The three most important regions resulting from this act were the
kingdoms of Navarre, Castile, and Aragon. The death of Sancho in 1035 is
an important date, however, for it marks the time when work had to be
begun over again to achieve the distant ideal of the unity of Spain.
Meanwhile, the counts of Barcelona, who had lost their territories in
the days of Almansor, regained them in the ensuing decline of the
caliphate, whether by military conquest, or by intervention in the wars
of the Moslem state in return for concessions. The important year 1035
is notable also in Catalonia, for at that time Ramón Berenguer I, the
first outstanding figure among the counts of Barcelona, inherited the
rule of the county.
[Sidenote: Inter-relations of the Christian and Moslem peoples.]
Except in times of war, relations between the Christian and Moslem
peoples were even cordial and intimate. They visited one another’s
countries, aided one another in civil wars, engaged in commerce, and
even contracted mixed marriages, not only among people of the lower
classes, but also among those of the highest rank, even to that of
royalty. Mohammedan law did not require the conversion of Christian
wives, but many of the latter embraced the Moslem faith, with the
consent, too, of their families. Although there were instances of
Mohammedan women marrying Christians, the reverse was usually the case,
for the conquerors did not bring their families as had the earlier
Germanic invaders. Religious differences were not an insuperable barrier
in this period: there was scarcely a war confined to Christians on the
one side and Mohammedans on the other; the Mozárabes were not greatly
molested within the Moslem state; Christians were often employed in
administrative capacities by the emirs and caliphs; and Christian
mercenaries, many of them Spaniards, fought in the Moslem armies. It was
only natural, therefore, that the neighboring Arabic civilization should
have exercised not a little influence on Christian Spain, especially
since the power and wealth of the caliphate were so much greater than in
the kingdoms of the north. In intellectual aspects--for example, in
philosophy and science--the Arabic influence was to be greater at a
succeeding time, but in political and military matters and in language
much passed over to the Christians in this period. In like manner the
Spanish peoples reacted upon the invaders, but this was confined
principally to the effects produced by the Renegados and Mozárabes,
whose contributions were largely due to the conditions of the Moslem
world in which they lived.
[Sidenote: Diversity in Christian Spain.]
Christian Spain itself was far from being a unit; rather diversity was
the rule. The northwest followed the Visigothic tradition, while the
north centre and northeast, especially Navarre and Catalonia, while
retaining much of the Visigothic institutions came into frequent contact
with French peoples, who gave a new turn to their civilization. Within
each section, too, there were many complex differences between one
region and another. Hence the institutions of the principal areas may be
taken separately.
_Kingdoms of Asturias, León, and Castile_
[Sidenote: Social classes in the Christian northwest.]
Social inequality increased in this period, due to a decline in wealth
and to an accentuation of the hazards of life. The higher nobility
attained to vast privileges and authority, although less than in other
parts of Christian Europe. They were often, but not always, allowed to
conquer lands for themselves, rule their own estates with almost
absolute authority, leave the king’s service for that of another
monarch, and be free from taxation. The social prestige of the nobles
was weakened, however, through the king’s right to grant titles of
nobility. The king might also deprive a noble created by himself of his
titles and lands. Most of the nobility of the lower grades were in fact
retainers of the greater nobles or of the king, usually rendering
military service in return for protection. This state of dependence was
called _encomienda_ (commendation),--a term used centuries later to
cover the virtual enslavement of the American Indians. Small landed
proprietors and free agricultural and industrial laborers placed
themselves in similar relations to the great nobles, so that the latter
were about the only really free class of the time. These civilian
dependents gave produce, tribute, or personal service to the lord. The
various grades of servitude, from serfs attached to a piece of land and
enjoying at least some of the products of their labor down to
individuals held in personal slavery, continued to exist. In general the
servile classes advanced in about the same degree that the freemen fell
back; many of them came together to form an intermediate class in which
some rights--for example, to own property and to change one’s habitation
freely within the same seigniorial territory--were enjoyed.
[Sidenote: The political system.]
The king’s power was complete enough in theory to merit being called
absolute, for in him rested supreme legislative, judicial, and
administrative authority over the realm as a whole. In fact the royal
authority did not extend equally over all the land. On his own
properties and usually in conquered regions the king was indeed an
absolute monarch, but as concerned the lands of the nobles and the
church there were important limitations on his authority. On their
estates the nobles enjoyed rights of an economic nature and also those
of a sovereign, with almost as much power in theory and in fact as the
king had in theory over all the land. They raised troops at will, and
fought with one another and even against the king; they had judicial
authority over most of the cases arising within their lands; and they
collected taxes for themselves. The protection which they owed to all on
their estates was not very faithfully accorded, but on the contrary they
oppressed not only their own dependents but also those of other
lords,--a practice which was a fruitful cause of private war. The
nobles, too, were veritable highwaymen, robbing travellers, business
men, and pilgrims, and contributing more than any other class to the
lawlessness of the times. Bishops and abbots occupied a position similar
to that of the great nobles. The church had acquired estates through
gifts of individuals and grants of the king, and the same rights and
duties attached to them as in the case of the nobles. Thus, for example,
great churchmen raised troops, which at times they commanded themselves.
The royal power was still further limited in fact, because of the
necessity of relying upon nobles or churchmen to govern distant lands or
to hold other posts of an administrative and even of a judicial nature.
The rulers of administrative districts were the counts (_condes_)
appointed by the king, and these individuals often gave him considerable
trouble,--as witness the uprisings (at length successful) of the counts
of Castile. The very necessities of civil strife obliged the kings to
yield privileges to one set of nobles in order to get their aid against
another. Nevertheless, great as was the nobles’ authority, it was not so
excessive as elsewhere in western Europe. Feudalism, the essence of
which was the grant of lands in perpetuity with rights of sovereignty
attached, in return for which the grantee owed fealty and some form of
service, perhaps military, to the grantor, did not exist in its fullness
in northwestern Spain. By special grants the king might agree to refrain
from exercising his sovereign privileges, but in such cases certain
limitations were usually expressed. When judicial authority was
conferred on a noble, some attributes were retained,--for example, the
trial of crimes of murder and the right of appeal to the royal authority
from the cases in seigniorial courts. Again, when the lords made laws
for their territories they did so by special grant of the king, who
frequently intervened to change the seigniorial statutes or to enact
others of his own. The difference from European feudalism, however, was
perhaps more juridical than actual.
[Sidenote: Rise of the free towns.]
One element appeared in this period which was to prove a great
limitation on seigniorial authority, and was to be an aid to the king in
the establishment of internal good order and unity. This was the
plebeian town. The most important type of this class was the _villa_, or
_concejo_, which originated in the tenth century. The _villas_ were
founded on lands conquered by the kings, and were usually in frontier
districts exposed to the enemy. On this account special privileges were
granted in order to induce people to settle there. Anybody who could
contrive to reach a _villa_ was declared free, even if of servile grade
before. All citizens were not equal, however; there were varying grades
of rank, though all were free. The _villas_ were exempted from many
duties to the state,--often from the payment of taxes. They were also
withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the counts, and were granted much
political authority. Each _villa_ received its own _fuero_, or charter,
by a special grant, with the result that there was a great variety in
the terms of different charters, although certain of them tended to
become the types which were imitated in subsequent grants. As a general
rule the government of a _villa_ was in the hands of the assembly of
citizens, in which local laws were enacted and judges and administrative
officers elected. These rights, added to a long line of exemptions, made
veritable political entities of the _villas_, which were independent of
all but the king, and were in great measure not subject to him. The
_villa_ extended beyond its own walls to include neighboring rural
districts as well. The rise of the _villas_ on royal lands compelled the
nobility and the clergy to form similar settlements in order to attract
people to their territories or to avoid uprisings of their dependents,
although these towns did not achieve rights equal to those of the
_villas_.
[Sidenote: Diversity and primitive character of the law.]
Since privilege was the general rule, the law in northwestern Spain was
very far from being uniform. The Visigothic _Fuero Juzgo_ continued to
be the general law, but it was often supplanted as a result of grants by
the king to nobles, clergy, and _villas_, and by the nobles and clergy
to yet other units under their rule. Very important, too, was the
modifying effect of local customs, which in the absence of other
specific law were frequently cited. These customs tended to resemble
those of the Germanic invaders or even of the indigenous peoples, since
the type of life at this time was similar to that of earlier unsettled
periods. This era, therefore, was one of a marked falling away from
Roman traditions, which had to wait several centuries before they again
came into their own.
[Sidenote: Economic backwardness.]
As was natural in such an age of disorder, commerce and industry did not
flourish. With the rise of the towns a beginning was made, and at least
one town, Santiago de Compostela, seems to have attained to some
industrial importance. Commerce was hampered by innumerable obstacles,
such as the depredations of foreign enemies and robber lords, the duties
which had to be paid to the king, and the tolls which were collected by
the lords at highways, rivers, or bridges within their lands.
Stock-raising and agriculture and the production of the bare necessities
of life were the principal occupations. Even these suffered, not only
from the raids of the Moslems and the nobles, but also from the extreme
weight of taxation, which was all the worse in that it was levied at the
caprice of the king, lord, or churchman collecting it. The state of
misery was so great that it is not surprising that famine and epidemics
harassed the people.
[Sidenote: Ignorance and superstition.]
[Sidenote: Innovations in architecture.]
In general culture, too, there was a decline to an even lower level than
that of the Visigothic period. Churches and monasteries maintained
something of the old intellectual traditions, and their schools were
almost the only resort for an education. Latin continued to be used in
literature and in official documents, but was already acquiring the new
forms which were to pave the way to the various Romance tongues of later
days. The age was one of superstition, which made itself manifest, as in
other parts of Europe, even in judicial procedure. The tests of wager of
battle (or a duel between litigants), the hot iron, and boiling water
were all used to determine innocence or guilt, in the belief that God
would intervene on the side of the man whose cause was just. Poverty and
danger led men to live in groups, thereby introducing a fresh departure
from Roman individualism. In the towns life more nearly resembled the
Roman type. In architecture this period marked the introduction of the
buttress in some of the churches. Naturally, it was an age of the
building of castles and walls, although the materials used were
perishable. Most edifices were of wood, for in that day Spain was
covered with forests in regions where they no longer exist. The burning
of villages in times of war, especially during the Norman invasions, led
to an exchange from the wooden roof in church building to one of
non-combustible material of industrial manufacture.
_Kingdoms of Navarre, Aragon, and Catalonia_
[Sidenote: The Christian reconquest of Catalonia.]
In essentials, the social organization of north central and northeastern
Spain was not greatly different from that of the northwest. Navarre and
Catalonia were considerably affected by French influence,--Aragon less
so. The details for Navarre and Aragon are in any event obscure or
lacking. The Moslem invasion caused an emigration of the people of
Catalonia across the Pyrenees, with the result that most of the
territory remained deserted for two centuries. By 797 Gerona had been
reconquered, and by 801 Barcelona was retaken, and these dates marked
the beginning of the social and political reorganization of what was to
become Catalonia. Lands were allotted to the Frankish conquerors and to
a number of Catalans who had either remained in that region, subject to
the Moslems, or who came in at the time of the reconquest. These estates
were given free of obligation, except for that of military service. The
most important holders were the various counts, but there were a number
of lesser proprietors beyond their jurisdiction. Many of these were
converted in course of time into feudatories of the counts. The counts
were at first the appointees of the French king; later they became
hereditary; and finally independent. The church also acquired vast
territories in Catalonia, and was allowed to enjoy immunity from
obligations and an absolute dominion over its lands. The most important
holdings were those of the bishop of Gerona.
[Sidenote: Feudalism in Catalonia and Navarre.]
From the above it appears that the feudalism of France had taken root in
Catalonia, where the nobles were more absolute in their own territories
and more free from the power of the king or lord to whom they were
subject than was the case in northwestern Spain. The greater importance
of the counts of Barcelona has already been alluded to; by the beginning
of the eleventh century they were saluted with the title of prince in
recognition of their sovereignty. Aside from their own estates, however,
their legal authority extended little further than that of a right to
inspect judicial tribunals (in order to see that their decisions were in
accord with the general law of the land) and to have certain cases
appealable to their courts. The _Fuero Juzgo_, in so far as it applied
to the changed conditions of Catalonia, was the general law, but
numerous exceptions began to appear, much as in the northwest, although
the development of free towns was not nearly so great. In Navarre the
administration of justice belonged to the king, but on the other hand
the king could not hold court, or make war, peace, or a truce, without
consulting the nobles, and he was subject in every respect to the laws
which confirmed their privileges. Furthermore, he acquired his throne by
election, although the choice was confined as a rule to members of a
single family. Feudalism not only weakened the power of the monarchy in
north central and northeastern Spain, but also tended to impair the lot
of the servile classes, which were delayed in achieving emancipation in
these regions much longer than in other parts of Spain.
[Sidenote: Coming of the monks of Cluny.]
[Sidenote: Backwardness of Pyrenean Spain.]
The most important religious incident of the period was the entry of the
monks of Cluny into Spain. This order had taken it upon itself to
combat simony (the sale of church office) and offences against the
ecclesiastical law of celibacy (requiring that men who had taken holy
orders should not marry), both of which practices were than very
prevalent in Christendom, and to bring about a complete and effective
submission of distant churches to the bishop of Rome. These monks came
into Spain by way of Navarre in the reign of Sancho the Great, and by
1033 they were already in Castile. Aside from their immediate objects
they produced two other important effects: they reinforced the French
ideas which had preceded them; and they accelerated the reconquest as a
result of the influence which they acquired, employing it to urge on the
kings in wars against the Moslems. In economic institutions, general
culture, and the fine arts the north centre and northeast were very
backward, like the northwest. It is noteworthy, however, that by the
ninth century the Catalans were already beginning to engage in trade in
the Mediterranean.
DEVELOPMENT TOWARD NATIONAL UNITY, 910-1492
[Illustration: Spain in 910]
[Illustration: Spain in 1130]
[Illustration: Spain in 1037]
[Illustration: Spain 1212-1492]
CHAPTER VII
ERA OF THE SPANISH CRUSADES, 1031-1276
[Sidenote: General characteristics of the era.]
The period of a little more than two centuries after the downfall of the
caliphate was marked by a complete change from that preceding it, and in
like manner was quite independent of the next succeeding era. Up to this
time Moslem Spain had represented by far the principal element in the
peninsula. The Christian states had maintained themselves with
difficulty, making occasional gains, which were not infrequently
followed by equally great losses whenever the Moslem power was
sufficiently united internally to present its full strength. The
civilization of the Christian kingdoms had also been notably inferior in
almost every respect to that of the Moslem south. From the eleventh to
the middle of the thirteenth century, however, the region of Moslem
Spain, divided against itself, could not make an effective resistance,
and the Christian powers began an offensive which enabled them to
reconquer all of the peninsula except for a narrow strip in southern
Andalusia. These wars partook very largely of the crusading spirit then
so prevalent in Europe, and although it was not nearly so persistent,
fervid, or exclusive an aim as is usually believed it seems appropriate
to characterize this era as that of the Spanish crusades. This was also
a period of noteworthy advance in internal organization in Christian
Spain, for although civil war and disorder were great as compared with
some later eras many regions enjoyed long terms of peace, very much more
complete at least than in the three preceding centuries. The pushing
back of the Moslem frontier conduced greatly to this end. The kings
gradually became more powerful than the great individual nobles, who
had been able to meet them on virtually equal terms before. The free
commoners advanced both in status and in numbers. In material well-being
there was a marked improvement. Finally, in general culture the same
tendency appeared. In all of these respects the fund of civilization was
very slight compared with what it was to become in succeeding centuries,
but it was at least something, whereas the period before had represented
little more than bare existence. Despite the fact that there was very
little understanding of the ideal of national unity, as evidenced by the
frequency with which monarchs divided their kingdoms, circumstances
tended toward the accomplishment of what men could not readily grasp.
Two great states emerged in Christian Spain, the kingdoms of Castile and
Aragon. They were able even to act in peace and concert at times in the
wars against the Moslems. A third region tended to withdraw from the
current of peninsula unity, for it was in this period that the modern
state of Portugal had its independent beginnings. Nevertheless, Moslem
Spain, though less important than Castile and Aragon, remained the
keynote of the period, not alone because of the wars against it, but
also because its civilization, especially in material and intellectual
aspects, was still far superior to that of Castile and Aragon. It was at
this time, indeed, that the Moslem world produced its greatest scholars
and the Christian states became most strongly imbued with the spirit of
Moslem culture, with permanent results on Spanish character. This era
was unequal in length for Castile and Aragon, closing respectively in
1252 and 1276 with the deaths of Ferdinand III and Jaime I.
_Moslem Spain_
[Sidenote: The _taifa_ states and the rise of Seville.]
With the dethronement of Hisham III in 1031 the caliphate broke up into
a number of states called _taifas_, from an Arabic word meaning “tribe,”
or “people.” Down to the close of the eleventh century there were many
of these states,--twenty-three at one time,--but the most important were
those of Cordova, Seville, Málaga, Granada, Almería, Denia and the
Balearic Islands, Saragossa, Toledo, and Badajoz. The rulers were
usually Slavic or Berber generals of the latter-day armies of the
caliphate and their descendants. Each desired to make himself sole
caliph, and so an internecine strife was waged almost continuously,
especially in the south. Seville soon forged ahead of its regional
rivals, and was by far the most important _taifa_ of the century. Like
several of the others it had been founded as a republic (as early as
1023), but its skilful ruler, Abul Cassim Mohammed of the Abbadite
family, soon made himself absolute, while retaining the forms of a
republic. In order to overcome his most powerful neighbors he pretended
that Hisham II had reappeared, availing himself of a mat-maker who
resembled the dead caliph. The stratagem was so successful that Carmona,
Valencia, Denia, Tortosa, and even the republic of Cordova recognized
the pseudo-Hisham, whereupon the crafty Sevillian proceeded to conquer
large parts of the _taifa_ states of Málaga and Granada. His successors
were equally fortunate, and by the end of the third quarter of the
century the greater part of Moslem Spain, especially in the west and
south, had acknowledged the rule of the lord of Seville. Seville, too,
had become every bit as noteworthy an intellectual centre as Cordova had
been under the caliphs.
[Sidenote: Yusuf and the Almoravide conquest.]
The Christian kings of Castile and León had meanwhile profited by the
wars of the _taifa_ states to make conquests or to reduce many of the
_taifas_ to the payment of tribute. Even Seville was tributary to a
Christian king. This inclined many of the Moslem princes, realizing
their own helplessness, to invite a newly-risen Mohammedan power in
northwestern Africa to come to their aid. The rulers of the _taifas_
recognized that their own authority might be endangered by the entry of
their coreligionists, but their feelings were well expressed in the
words attributed to the ruler of Seville: “I would rather be a
camel-driver in Africa than a swineherd in Castile.” The African people
referred to were a branch of the Berbers who had dwelt apart in the
Sahara Desert. Converted at length to the Moslem faith, they became
fanatically religious, taking to themselves the name “Almoravides”
(religious men), and launching themselves forth to the conquest of all
northwestern Africa. The African empire of the Almoravides was already
an accomplished fact when their emperor, Yusuf, was invited to help the
Spanish Moslems under a promise that he would not deprive the _taifa_
rulers of their states. In 1086 Yusuf entered Spain, and encountered the
army of Alfonso VI of León at Zalaca, near Badajoz. Yusuf was completely
successful, and the Christian peril was rolled back, but no
counter-conquests of moment were made. Yusuf himself returned to Africa.
Four years later the Moslem princes had need of Yusuf, and once again he
came to avert the threatening danger. By this time popular opinion,
reinforced by the intrigues of the Moslem priesthood, desired the
establishment of Yusuf’s authority in Spain; the restoration of a single
rule, it was believed, would check the Christian kings, and bring peace
and prosperity. By 1091 Yusuf had reduced all of the _taifa_ princes
except the king of Saragossa, and the latter was subjected by Yusuf’s
successor. Thus the unity of Moslem Spain was again accomplished.[18]
[Sidenote: Rise of the Almohades.]
The Almoravide rule rested very lightly on the Moslem population, but
only for a short time. The emperors lost their religious enthusiasm, and
not only did they fail to advance the conquest but they also gave
themselves up to a life of luxury and dissipation. Public security
declined, with the result that the people now wished to rid themselves
of the sovereigns whom formerly they had desired so much. At this time
there came a tremendous uprising in Africa in 1125 of the Moors of the
Moroccan Atlas, an uncivilized branch of the Berber family. They had
become fanatical Mohammedans, and like their Almoravide predecessors had
taken a name springing from their religious faith, that of “Almohades”
(unitarians). Uncultivated as they were, they were able to master the
military art of that day sufficiently to overwhelm the Almoravide power
in Africa, though only after a long war.
[Sidenote: The Almohades in Spain.]
[Sidenote: The Christian reconquest.]
Meanwhile, a second era of _taifa_ states had sprung up in Spain, but in
1146 the Almohades entered the peninsula, and proceeded to reduce the
_taifa_ princes. By 1172 all Moslem Spain was under their sway. Spain
was now formed into a province of the Almohade empire, the capital of
which was in Africa. The new conquerors did more than merely garrison
the peninsula,--they pursued the hated Arabs so zealously that the
latter were either destroyed or absorbed. The Berbers were for many
years virtually the only Mohammedan element in the peninsula except for
the Renegados. The wars with the Christians were also renewed. In 1194
Alfonso VIII of Castile challenged the emperor Yacub to a battle. Yacub
accepted, and the battle was fought at Alarcos (Badajoz) in 1195, ending
in the rout of the Christians. The war continued, however, and in 1212
the united forces of León, Castile, Navarre, and Aragon gained a great
victory at Navas de Tolosa in Andalusia. This was the turning-point in
the Christian reconquest. The Almohade state soon fell to pieces, and by
1228 the _taifas_ began to reappear, but one after another they were
conquered by the Christian kings. A single Moslem state escaped; in 1230
it had been founded at Arjona, and presently took shape as the kingdom
of Granada, establishing its capital in 1238 at the city of the same
name. This tiny realm, extending at its greatest from Almería to
Gibraltar, was able to maintain itself for over two centuries and a
half.
_León and Castile_
[Sidenote: Castilian conquests.]
[Sidenote: Alfonso VI.]
By the will of Sancho the Great of Navarre, Castile had become legally a
kingdom in 1035. Ferdinand I (1035-1065) soon overwhelmed the king of
León, uniting all northwestern Spain under his rule. Wars with Navarre
followed until 1054, after which Ferdinand devoted himself with great
religious zeal to campaigns against the Moslem _taifas_, making numerous
conquests, and subjecting many states to the payment of tribute. Despite
the lesson of his own experience he divided his realm, at death, into
the three kingdoms of Castile, León, and Galicia, besides two lesser
principalities. A long civil war followed, out of which there emerged
Alfonso VI (1065-1109) as sole ruler of the domain of his father.
Alfonso VI took up the wars against the Moslems with great success, and
on one occasion, in 1082, was able to ride his horse into the sea in the
extreme south of Spain at Tarifa, when he is said to have exclaimed:
“This is the last land in Spain, and I have trod it.” The principal
event of the reign was the capture of Toledo in 1085. Alfonso had
promised to restore the _taifa_ king of Toledo to his throne, from which
he had been ousted by a rebellion, but changed his mind, and took the
city for himself. From that time forward Toledo was of great military
importance to the Christians, serving as the centre of the reconquest,
and it was also the medium through which Moslem civilization began to
produce an effect on Castile. The treaty of capitulation was not very
faithfully carried out; for example, Alfonso had promised to allow the
Mohammedans to retain their principal mosque for purposes of worship,
but in his absence the monks of Cluny were able to persuade the queen to
take over that edifice as a Christian church. The incident is
illustrative of a new crusading spirit which had entered Spain with the
monks of Cluny, although it had not yet become general. _Taifa_ after
_taifa_ now humbled itself before Alfonso; Valencia was captured, and
the former king of Toledo became its nominal ruler, but with a Castilian
army; and Alfonso could with reason entitle himself “sovereign of the
men of the two religions,” a phrase which shows that Christian zeal was
not altogether uncompromising. It was then that the Almoravide invasion
checked the Castilian king, but although he lost Valencia he was able to
maintain the principal part of his conquests.
[Sidenote: The Cid.]
It was in the reign of Alfonso VI that Rodrigo, or Ruy, Díaz of Vivar
(near Burgos), better known as “the Cid,” performed the achievements
which have made him a famous character in literature. Until recently he
was represented as a fanatically ardent, Christian crusader, ever
drawing his sword against the infidel or in defence of any just and
noble cause, and performing superhuman prodigies of valor. The true Cid
was very far from answering to that description, and was also so typical
of his age that his real career has historic value apart from
literature. In the civil wars following the death of Ferdinand I, Díaz
was a partisan of Sancho II of Castile, and contributed greatly to that
monarch’s success,--a victory which was spoiled by the assassination of
his patron. Díaz then recognized Alfonso VI, and was sent by the latter
to collect the tribute due from the king of Seville. On his return he
was accused of having appropriated for himself certain of the funds
which he was bringing to the king, and was banished from Castile;
possibly Alfonso VI may still have felt resentment over Díaz’s part in
the victories of Sancho. Followed by only a few warriors Díaz wandered
over Spain, seeking wealth and honors in return for military aid.
Finally he took service with the Moslem king of Saragossa, and won fame
in all the peninsula as a result of his victories not only against
Moslem enemies but more than once against Christian kings; in fine,
religion seems not to have entered into his program to any appreciable
extent; indeed, the name Cid was applied by his Moslem soldiers, meaning
“lord,” or “master.” In 1086 the Moslem king of Valencia, the same one
who had been placed on the throne by Alfonso VI, got into difficulties
with his subjects, and sought the aid of Saragossa. The Cid was sent
with an army of mingled Christians and Moslems to restore the authority
of the Valencian monarch. This he did, but under a contract which
ignored his Saragossan master and enabled the Cid to become the virtual
ruler of Valencia. In 1092 on the death of the king of Valencia the Cid
converted his _de facto_ into a _de jure_ rule, reigning until his death
in 1099. As monarch of Valencia he was selfish and cruel, like others of
his time, sustaining his power by virtue of his army of Christians and
Moslems against foes of whatever faith, even against Castile. He
espoused one of his daughters to Ramón Berenguer III of Barcelona, and
another to a prince of the royal family of Navarre. After his death his
state fell before the advance of the Almoravides.
[Sidenote: The anarchy of Urraca’s reign.]
[Sidenote: The beginnings of Portugal.]
Alfonso VI was succeeded by his daughter Urraca (1109-1126), for he left
no sons, and her reign was a period of anarchy. Urraca, who was a widow,
was compelled by the nobles to remarry, on the ground that affairs of
state needed a man’s direction, while her infant son by a previous
marriage, Alfonso, was brought up in Galicia, being considered king of
that region. Alfonso I “the Battler” of Aragon was selected as a husband
for Urraca, but the marriage was not a happy one. Urraca was so
imprudent in her manner of life that the Battler saw fit to imprison her
in a castle. Furthermore, he displayed a clear intention of making
himself ruler in Castile as he was in Aragon, a course which the
Castilian nobles were far from approving. The scene having been set the
wars began. A complication entered from the side of Galicia, where
Bishop Gelmírez of Santiago de Compostela proposed that the infant
Alfonso should reign in León as well as in Galicia. The changes of side
and fortune in these wars, not only by the three principals, but also by
individual nobles, need not be followed, except to relate one incident
which marked the first step toward the ultimate independence of
Portugal. Teresa, a sister of Urraca, had married a French count, Henry
of Lorraine, to whom (in 1095?) Alfonso VI granted territories called
the county of Portugal in the northern part of the land which now bears
that name. These estates were held as a fief, subject to tribute and
military service. Henry and later Teresa (on the former’s death)
profited by the civil strife to increase their holdings and acquire real
strength. Urraca died in 1126, and matters were arranged by the
recognition of the young Alfonso (Alfonso VII “the Emperor”) as king in
his grandfather’s domain, while Alfonso the Battler gained some
territories adjoining his kingdom of Aragon.[19]
[Sidenote: Alfonso “the Emperor.”]
The death of Urraca did not end the internal strife in Christian Spain.
For ten years there were wars with Teresa and her son Affonso Enríquez
of Portugal; there were wars, too, against Aragon and Navarre, following
the death of Alfonso the Battler, out of which Alfonso VII procured some
extensions of territory. When the century was nearly half gone Alfonso
was able to turn energetically to an attack upon the Moslem states,
especially between 1144 and 1147 during the second era of the _taifas_.
His conquests were vast, but of brief duration, for the Almohades soon
entered Spain to deprive him of what he had won. Like Ferdinand I before
him Alfonso VII took the title of emperor, which then had a significance
equivalent to that of sole temporal ruler of Christendom in succession
to the Roman emperors. In the case of Ferdinand and Alfonso it may also
have represented a protest against the like pretensions of the Holy
Roman Emperors, then reigning principally in Germanic Europe. Alfonso
seemed in a fair way to create a peninsula empire, for he was able to
make the kings of Aragon and Navarre, the counts of Barcelona and
Toulouse, various lesser princes of Spain and southern France, and some
rulers of the Moslem _taifas_ swear fealty to him as their feudal
sovereign. The imperial confederation had no real strength, however, for
the spirit of separatism was as yet too deeply rooted. Alfonso himself
demonstrated this by dividing his realm at his death, in 1157, into the
two kingdoms of Castile and León.
[Sidenote: The defence of Calatrava.]
[Sidenote: Alfonso VIII and the overthrow of the Moslems.]
The next following reigns had their share of internal strife and one
important event in the course of the Moslem wars,--the defence of
Calatrava in 1158 by two Cistercian monks, who procured an army by
proclaiming a crusade. Out of this event there came the founding in 1164
of the important military order of Calatrava. Alfonso VIII (1158-1214)
inherited the throne of Castile while still a child. War and disorder
followed until 1180, for the kings of León and Navarre and various
nobles endeavored as usual to profit for themselves at the expense of
the newly enthroned monarch. At length Alfonso VIII, who was one of the
ablest rulers of this period (both in internal organization and in
external conquest), directed his attention to the reconquest from the
Moslems. After a rapid succession of victories he was defeated, as
already noted, at the battle of Alarcos, on which occasion the kings of
León and Navarre failed to accord him the aid they had promised. Wars
followed against the two kings, but matters were at length adjusted and
a tremendous army, including many foreigners, was raised to combat the
Almohades. All seemed to be imbued with the crusading spirit, but most
of the foreigners deserted before the issue presented itself. Nearly all
the peoples of Christian Spain were represented in Alfonso’s host,
however, and together they won the great battle of Navas de Tolosa in
1212.
[Sidenote: The independence of Portugal.]
Meanwhile, the counts of Portugal had continued their policy of complete
separation from León and Castile, and had also extended their frontiers
southward by successful wars against the Moslems. Affonso Enríquez took
the title of king, and this was recognized in 1143 by Alfonso VII,
subject to the vassalage of the Portuguese monarch to León. Affonso
Enríquez managed to avoid this condition by submitting his state to the
sovereignty of the pope, who accepted it in 1144, though conferring only
the title of duke on Affonso. A few years later Pope Alexander III
recognized the Portuguese ruler as king. Thus Portugal withdrew from the
current of peninsula unity, and established her independence in law and
in fact.
[Sidenote: Saint Ferdinand and the crusades in Spain.]
Berenguela, daughter of Alfonso VIII of Castile, had married Alfonso IX
(1188-1230) of León, by whom she had a son, Ferdinand. Pope Innocent III
brought about an annulment of the marriage on the ground of
consanguinity, though he recognized the legitimacy of Ferdinand. On the
death of Henry I of Castile in 1217 Berenguela was proclaimed queen, but
granted the throne to her son, who as Ferdinand III, later Saint
Ferdinand (San Fernando), was to prove an even greater monarch than his
grandfather, Alfonso VIII. Wars with his father and with his nobles
occupied the early years of his reign, but by 1225, having overcome his
Christian enemies, he was able to renew the campaigns against the
Moslems. City after city fell into his power; Cordova was taken in 1236;
Murcia became tributary in 1241; and the culminating blow came with the
siege of Seville, which surrendered to Ferdinand in 1248. Despite the
fact that not a little crusading zeal entered into these campaigns and
that Ferdinand himself was an ardent Christian, religious enthusiasm,
even yet, was not as uncompromising as it later became. Ferdinand was an
ally at one time of the Almohade emperor, whom he restored to his throne
in Africa; he also accepted the alliance of the Moslem prince of Granada
in the campaign against Seville; and other similar instances of his
freedom from fanatical intolerance might be adduced. Nevertheless, he
planned to overwhelm the Moslem authority, and would almost certainly
have invaded Africa if he had lived a few years longer. His Christian
spirit, however, was along practical and national lines. When Louis IX
of France invited him to join in a crusade in the orient Ferdinand is
said to have replied: “There is no lack of Moors in _my_ land.” Not only
by conquests but also by internal reforms he assisted in the development
of Castilian unity. One external event of capital importance was the
incorporation into Castile of the kingdom of León in 1230 on the death
of Alfonso IX, despite the latter’s attempt to deliver his dominions to
two daughters by a marriage previous to that with Berenguela. With
Ferdinand’s death in 1252 the era of the Castilian crusades came to an
end.
_Catalonia, 1035 to 1164_
[Sidenote: The extension of the authority of the counts of Barcelona.]
At the time when Ramón Berenguer I (1035-1076) became count of
Barcelona, Catalonia was a federation of counties, acknowledging the
ruler of Barcelona as overlord. Possessed already of Barcelona and
Gerona, Ramón Berenguer soon acquired two more counties, which had been
left by his father to other sons. He extended his frontiers at the
expense of the Moslems, and laid the foundations of the later Catalonian
power in southern France through marriage alliances with princes of that
region. It was in his reign, too, that the Catalan code of the
_Usáticos_, or _Usatges_ (Usages, or Customs), was compiled, though at
the instance of his powerful vassals, who wanted their privileges
reduced to writing. By the end of his reign he had united five
Catalonian counties and many other territories under his rule, including
almost as much land in southern France as he possessed in Spain. No
further progress was made until the reign of Ramón Berenguer III
(1096-1131), who, through inheritance, without civil wars, acquired all
of the Catalonian counties but two and a great part of southern France.
He also waged wars against the Moslems, though perhaps the most notable
thing about them was that the Pisans fought as his allies. Indeed, he
established commercial and diplomatic relations with the various Italian
republics,--a beginning of Spain’s fateful connection with Italy. Ramón
Berenguer IV (1131-1162) inherited only the Spanish portions of his
father’s domain, but extended his authority over Tortosa, Lérida, and
other Moslem regions, being a notable warrior. In 1150 he married the
daughter of the king of Aragon, and in 1164 his son by this marriage
united Aragon and Catalonia under a single rule.
_Aragon_
[Sidenote: The beginnings of Aragon and the union with Catalonia.]
The kingdom of Aragon dates from the will of Sancho the Great of Navarre
in 1035. The new state was almost insignificantly small at the outset,
but, by inheritances, wars with the Moslems, and the peaceful
incorporation of Navarre in 1076, it already included a large portion of
north central Spain by the close of the eleventh century. The era of
great conquests began with Alfonso I “the Battler” (1104-1134), the same
king whose marriage with Urraca of Castile had resulted so unfavorably.
Better fortune awaited him on the Moslem frontier. In 1118 he captured
Saragossa, an event as important in Aragon as was the acquisition of
Toledo a few years before in Castile. He carried his campaigns as far
south, even, as Murcia and Andalusia, but the principal result of these
invasions was that he brought back ten thousand Mozárabes to settle his
newly-won conquests. Having no sons he tried to leave his realm to two
military orders, but this arrangement did not prove agreeable to his
subjects. The nobles of Navarre elected a king of their own, withdrawing
from the union with Aragon, while those of Aragon chose a brother of
Alfonso, named Ramiro, who at the time of his election was a monk. The
reign of Ramiro II “the Monk” (1134-1137) was exceptionally important
for Spain, without any particular merit accruing therefor to the king.
The pope freed him from his vows and he married. From this marriage
there was born a daughter, Petronilla. Ramiro espoused her to Ramón
Berenguer IV of Barcelona, and soon abdicated, returning to his
monastery. Petronilla’s son, Ramón Berenguer, who presently changed his
name to the Aragonese-sounding Alfonso, was the first to rule in his own
right over Aragon and Catalonia in what came to be called the kingdom of
Aragon, although Catalonia was always the more important part.
[Sidenote: The act of vassalage to the pope and the French conquests in
Aragonese dominions of southern France.]
Alfonso II inherited Catalonia in 1162, and became king of Aragon proper
in 1164 on the abdication of Petronilla. Later he inherited nearly all
of southern France. He was also a frequent ally of Alfonso VIII of
Castile against the Moslems, gaining some territories on his own
account. In 1179 these two kings made a treaty dividing Spain between
them, fixing the limits of their respective present and future
conquests,--a noteworthy instance of the approach toward the unification
of Spain. Alfonso II was succeeded by Pedro II “the Catholic”
(1196-1213) at a time when affairs were in a critical state in his
French dominions. That region had been in constant turmoil, as a result
both of the ambitions of the kings of France and of the comparative
independence and selfish aims of the feudal lords. There was now added a
new factor,--the widespread Albigensian heresy, which had been accepted
by the majority of the Provençal people and even more by their lords.
With matters in this state Pedro visited Rome in 1204, and, while
there, gave his dominions in vassalage to the pope, receiving them back
as a fief. This act was to have important consequences at a later time,
but if its immediate object was to check French pretensions to southern
France, as has been supposed, it was not very successful, for the pope
himself proclaimed a crusade against the Albigenses. The crusaders were
French nobles, who represented a purely French invasion quite as much as
they did an orthodox host. Under their leader, Simon de Montfort, they
won several victories, displaying such cruelty against Catholics and
heretics alike that they were censured by a famous religious at that
time preaching among the Albigenses, Domingo de Guzmán. Guzmán was the
Spaniard who later founded the Dominican order, named for him, and who
became canonized as Saint Dominic (San Domingo). Pedro II endeavored to
mediate to check the temporal designs of Montfort, but was persuaded by
the pope to recognize the French leader as his vassal in the regions he
had conquered. When Montfort continued in his aggressive designs Pedro
II declared war against him, but was defeated in a battle which cost him
his life.
[Sidenote: Early years of the reign of Jaime “the Conqueror.”]
The death of Pedro II brought to the throne the greatest Aragonese
monarch of the period, Jaime I “the Conqueror” (1213-1276), a worthy
contemporary of Ferdinand III of Castile. At the outset of his reign he
was a mere child in the dangerous possession of Simon de Montfort. On
this occasion the tremendous influence of the great pope, Innocent III,
was beneficial to Spain, for Montfort was constrained to surrender the
boy king to his people. Then followed the usual troubles which beset the
early years of a youthful monarch in that period. There were wars
brought about by ambitious nobles fighting for the possession of the
king, wars of the nobles among themselves, and wars of the nobles
against the king. Though only a boy, Jaime took a hand in the fighting,
and was many times in danger,--twice he was captured by hostile
nobles,--but thanks to his courage and coolness was always able to free
himself from the perils which beset him. Not until 1228 was he in full
command of the situation. Meanwhile, civil wars had been taking place
in southern France, resolving themselves finally into a struggle between
the count of Toulouse, aided by the Catalans, and Simon de Montfort. In
this war Montfort lost his life, and the French power in that region for
the time being vanished.
[Sidenote: The conquests of Jaime.]
Backed by the sentiment of most of Catalonia, which desired territorial
and commercial expansion in the Mediterranean, Jaime now planned a
career of conquest. Many of the Aragonese and western Catalonian nobles
declined to join him in this enterprise; so he had to find means as best
he could without their aid. In 1229 he entered the island of Majorca,
which for centuries had been successively a pirate and Moslem
stronghold. Having achieved the conquest, which proved an easy matter,
Jaime distributed the lands among his Catalan followers. In 1232 Minorca
was subjected, and in 1235 Ibiza, too. Thus the Balearic Islands fell
into Jaime’s power and received a Catalan civilization, which they still
possess. The greatest prize, however, was the rich kingdom of Valencia.
Although handicapped by the lukewarm support of his nobles Jaime
proceeded to the conquest with such success that he won the aid of those
who had previously failed to help him, and in 1238 the city of Valencia
fell,--an event comparable with the capture of Seville by Ferdinand III.
The rest of the kingdom was not long in falling into Jaime’s power, and
the lands were distributed among his nobles, but the Moslems were so
numerous that they were able to rise in rebellion on two occasions
before the end of the reign. On achieving the conquest of Valencia,
Jaime had agreed with the king of Castile that the southern boundary of
that kingdom should be the limit of the Aragonese conquest, while
Murcia, which became tributary to Ferdinand III in 1241, was reserved
for the ultimate definitive conquest of Castile. The unquenchable
military ardor of Jaime I would not allow him to rest on his laurels,
however, and he engaged to conquer Murcia for the king of Castile. This
he accomplished in the years 1265 and 1266, giving the lands to his
Catalan nobles, who were subjected to the Castilian king, whereupon
Jaime withdrew. These relations between the kings of Castile and Aragon
not only instanced a somewhat rare good faith, but also marked a
tendency which was gradually manifesting itself toward the ultimate
unity of Spain. Next, the restless warrior-king planned to go on a
crusade to Palestine, but his fleet was wrecked, and he gave up the
project, although some Catalan boats did reach their destination. In
1273 Jaime wanted to conquer Granada for Castile, but this time he could
not persuade his Catalan nobles to follow him. He did, however, send a
fleet to attack the coast of Morocco.
[Sidenote: Other characteristics of Jaime’s rule.]
Jaime was not only a great conqueror; he was also a great administrator.
Owing to the entry of feudalism into northeastern Spain his nobles had
such power that even the able Jaime was obliged often to compromise or
to yield to their wishes. He took steps to reduce their power, at the
cost of civil war, and in many other respects bettered the
administration of his kingdom. Though deeply religious he was far from
being an ascetic, as is evidenced by the many illegitimate children
descended from him, and although usually magnanimous in character he was
capable of acts of ferocious cruelty,--such, for example, as that of
ordering the tongue of the bishop of Gerona to be torn out for the
latter’s having revealed to the pope a secret of the confession. In 1276
when the great king died he left a will which contradicted the policies
of centralization and the aggrandizement of the kingdom which in his
lifetime he had unfailingly pursued. He divided his realms, giving
Aragon, Catalonia, and Valencia to his eldest son, Pedro, and Majorca
and the Roussillon (southern France) to his son Jaime. The division was
not to endure long, however.
_Navarre_
[Sidenote: Navarre passes under French rule.]
There is little worth recording in the history of Navarre in this
period. After the separation from Aragon in 1134 Navarre engaged
periodically in civil strife and in wars with Aragon or Castile. When
the throne became vacant in 1234 the French count of Champagne was
elected king, and, with this, Navarre was, for many years, more
involved in the history of France than in that of Spain. At length the
heiress of Navarre married Philip IV of France, whereupon Navarre ceased
to be a kingdom, becoming a mere dependency of the French monarch.
CHAPTER VIII
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION IN SPAIN, 1031-1276
_Moslem Spain_
[Sidenote: Absolutism in government.]
The principle of absolute monarchy continued to be followed in Moslem
Spain, and was even accentuated, whether in the eras of the _taifas_, or
at times of a single dominion. Indeed, this was virtually the case while
the _taifas_ were still republics, although they soon converted
themselves into confessed monarchies. In furtherance of absolutism an
excess of court ceremonial was introduced, and the rulers rarely allowed
their faces to be seen, holding audiences, for example, from behind a
curtain. The _taifa_ kings amassed great wealth, and their palaces were
overflowing with luxury.
[Sidenote: Social factors in Moslem Spain.]
The most important social change was the complete overthrow of the
Arabic element, leaving the Berbers and Renegados in control. Arabic
influence had already done its work, however, and the passing of the
contemporary members of that race did not mean the uprooting of Arabic
traits in Spain. Social well-being declined, owing to the various
factors of war, the development of vast landed estates (at the expense
of the small proprietor), and the increase in taxation. The Jews enjoyed
great consideration for a while, exercising an important influence in
material, intellectual, and even political affairs. Under the
Almoravides and Almohades they were severely persecuted, and many of
them emigrated to Castile, where for the time being they were well
received. The Mozárabes were also persecuted, and in increasing degree
with the advance of the Christians, for they aided not a little in the
reconquest. Many of them were taken north by the Christian kings when
they returned from their invasions, whereupon those remaining in Moslem
territory were all the more harshly treated. The Almohades were
particularly intolerant.
_León and Castile_
[Sidenote: Nobles and clergy.]
The nobility continued to be the most important social class, with much
the same differences of grade among themselves, the same authority and
privileges, and the same tendencies to war against the king and with one
another and to commit acts of violence and robbery as in the preceding
period. The conflict of the nobility as a class against the king took
definite shape, and a numerous new nobility, the _caballeros_ (knights),
sprang up. The _caballeros_ proceeded from the plebeian ranks, being
composed of those who could equip themselves for war as cavalrymen.
Although they gained certain privileges, such as exemptions from
taxation, thus weakening the king’s power, they served in fact as a
counterpoise to the hereditary noble class. They were much favored by
the kings, who needed well-equipped soldiers for their wars. The clergy
made distinct gains as regards personal immunities and the freedom of
their lands from the usual obligations, especially from that of
taxation. This bettering of their position was not the result of general
laws, but rather of the accumulation of individual privileges, granted
now to one religious institution, now to another. Their advantages in
these respects were not always well received by others, and objections
were made, especially by the popular element, through their
representatives in the national _Cortes_ (Congress, or Parliament),--of
which institution presently.
[Sidenote: The advance of the middle class.]
[Sidenote: Gains of the servile classes.]
The free popular element, or middle class, which had been reborn in the
preceding period with the founding of the _villas_, or _concejos_,
developed a much greater social importance than formerly. Many factors
contributed to this end, such as the increase in the number of the
_villas_, the concession of new privileges, the material advance of
Christian Spain (agriculturally, industrially, and commercially), the
important military services of the municipal militia, and the fact that
not only the _caballeros_ but also the leading jurisconsults began to be
recruited from the middle class. As a rule this element paid taxes, but
it enjoyed not a few exemptions and privileges,--for example, a right
not to be required to make unusual contributions at the mere will of the
king, or in some cases a right to commute all of their taxes to a single
tribute. At the same time, the servile classes made striking advances,
in part through their own efforts, but aided also by an increasing
sentiment in favor of manumissions, by the need for population (both as
a result of the conquests and in consequence of economic development),
and by the protection accorded them in the _villas_. The movement for
emancipation was not uniform or free from setbacks, and this led to
numerous uprisings of serfs, who joined the enemies of their masters in
wars against the latter. The monks of Cluny, accustomed to the much
greater subjection of the servile classes in France, represented a
strong current of reaction. At Sahagún, the principal Cluniac centre,
there were such limitations on liberty as those requiring that all bread
must be cooked in the ovens of the monastery, and forbidding anybody to
sell his wine before the monks had sold theirs, or to buy cloth, fresh
fish, firewood, or other necessities before the monks had bought theirs,
and there were other restrictions of a like character. By the end of the
twelfth century serfs generally had gained such rights as the exact
fixing of services due their lords, the abolition of the practice of
selling them with the land, and the recognition of the validity of their
marriages, whether consented to by their lords or not. In the thirteenth
century they gained almost complete personal liberty, doing away with
the _malos usos_, or bad customs, like those referred to in the case of
the monastery of Sahagún.
[Sidenote: The four new social classes.]
Four new social classes became important at this time, principally as a
result of the wars of reconquest,--the foreigners, Jews, Mudéjares, and
Mozárabes. As a general rule each group had its own law, differentiating
it from the national elements. Foreigners from every prominent western
European region came to León and Castile, attracted by the crusading
character of the wars or by the material development of this part of
Spain or perhaps fleeing from worse conditions in the lands whence they
had come. For the Jews this was the happiest period they ever enjoyed in
Catholic Spain, and great numbers of them entered Castile in order to
escape the persecution of the Almoravides and Almohades. For a while
they were on practically an equal footing socially and juridically with
the Christians, and were one of the principal agencies for the diffusion
of Moslem culture in León and Castile. By the opening of the thirteenth
century their situation began to change with the adoption of restrictive
measures, although it was not until the next period that these operated
in all their harshness. As the conquests proceeded, great bodies of
Moslems were incorporated into the Christian states, and they came to be
called “Mudéjares.” Despite the growth of intolerance with the advance
in the crusading character of the wars the Mudéjares were in general
very well treated. Aside from treaties of capitulation making promises
to that effect, political and economic interests made it advisable both
on account of the numbers of the vanquished Moslems and because of the
need for population. Many of them, whether as freemen or serfs, were
agricultural laborers enjoying considerable independence, including the
right of publicly practising their religion. As time went on they tended
to gather into the cities, although subjected to more restrictions than
in the country,--such as the refusal to allow the public practice of the
Moslem faith (with a number of exceptions, however) or requirements that
they must wear a distinctive dress and live in a separate section of the
city. If they were not greatly molested in other respects they did have
to endure very heavy taxation, even including the tithe for the benefit
of the Christian church. The Mozárabes, though of the same race and
religion as the Leonese and Castilian population, had lived so long in
contact with Moslem civilization that they represented a class apart,
having their special laws differing from those of the native-born
Christians. Naturally, they were well received.
[Sidenote: Forms of wedlock.]
[Sidenote: The family.]
Among the social traits of the era may be noted a certain moral laxity.
Two forms of marriage were recognized, that of _bendición_ (blessing of
the church), accompanied by a religious ceremony, and the wedding _á
yuras_ (under oath), by a simple contract between the parties concerned.
A third form of union, similar to the latter but not recognized as
lawful wedlock, was that of _barraganía_ (concubinage). The essential
conditions of _barraganía_ were permanence and fidelity. Both parties
were supposed to be single, although the custom often extended to
include married men; in the latter case, but not in the former, the
children were held to be illegitimate. Many clergymen entered into this
relation, despite efforts to prevent the practice. _Barraganía_ and the
marriage _á yuras_ have been considered to be a Christian imitation of
Moslem marital customs. Divorce was allowed for serious cause. The
father was recognized as the master of the family, although the wife and
children gained certain financial and personal rights which had not
formerly been accorded them. The bonds of family were so strong,
however, that individuals who were free by law to emancipate
themselves--for example, by marriage--often continued under the parental
roof. Thus great family groups living in common were for
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