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A SHORT HISTORY OF
SPAIN
BY
MARY PLATT PARMELE
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1906
COPYRIGHT, 1898, BY
MARY PLATT PARMELE
COPYRIGHT, 1898, 1906, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
[Illustration: From the portrait by Titian.
Charles V.]
PREFACE.
In presenting this book to the public the author can only reiterate
what she has already said in works of a similar kind: that she has
tried to exclude the mass of confusing details which often make the
reading of history a dreary task; and to keep closely to those facts
which are vital to the unfolding of the narrative. This is done under
a strong conviction that the essential facts in history are those
which reveal and explain the development of a nation, rather than
the incidents, more or less entertaining, which have attended such
development. And also under another conviction: that a little,
thoroughly comprehended, is better than much imperfectly remembered
and understood.
M.P.P
NEW YORK. _June 15, 1898._
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Ancient Iberia--The Basques--The Keltberians--The
Phenicians--Cadiz Founded, 1
CHAPTER II.
Struggle between Phenicians and Assyrians--Founding
of Carthage--Decline of Phenicia--Rise
of Roman Power--First Punic War, 9
CHAPTER III.
Hamilcar--Hannibal--Siege and Fall of Saguntum--Rome
Invades Spain--Scipio's Policy--Cadiz,
(Gades) Surrendered to the Romans--By What
Steps IBERIA Became SPAIN--Fall of Carthaginian
Power--How Spain Became a Roman
Province, 15
CHAPTER IV.
Sertorius--Story of the White Hind--Rome Fights
Her Own Battles on Spanish Soil--Battle of
Munda--Caesar Declared Dictator--The Ides of
March--Octavius Augustus--Spain Latinized--Four
Hundred Years of Peace, 24
CHAPTER V.
Northern Races in the History of Civilization--Roman
Empire Expiring--Ataulfus--Attila and
the Huns--Theodoric--Evaric Completes Conquest
of Spanish Peninsula--Europe Teutonized--Difference
between Anglo-Saxon and
Latin Races, 30
CHAPTER VI.
Ulfilas--Arianism--The Spanish Language--Brunhilde--Leovigild--His
Son's Apostasy--Arianism
Ceases to be the Established Religion of Spain, 39
CHAPTER VII.
Toledo--Church of Santa Maria--Wamba, 45
CHAPTER VIII.
Decline of Visigoths--Roderick--Count Julian's
Treachery--Mahommedanism--Tarif--Prophecy
Found in the Enchanted Tower--Tarik--Roderick's
Defeat and Death--Moslem Empire Established in Spain, 50
CHAPTER IX.
Musa's Dream of European Conquest--Charles Martel--Characteristics
of Mahommedan Rule--Mission of the Saracen in Europe--The Germ
of a Christian Kingdom in the North of Spain, 58
CHAPTER X.
Pelayo and the Cave of Covadonga--Alfonso I.--Berbers
and Arabs at War on African Coast--War
Extends to Spain--The Omeyyad Khalifs
Superseded by the Abbasides--Abd-er-Rahman--Omeyyad
Dynasty Established at Cordova--Ineffectual
Attempt of the Abbasides to
Overthrow Abd-er-Rahman--Character of This Conqueror, 64
CHAPTER XI.
Charlemagne--Battle of Roncesvalles, 69
CHAPTER XII.
Conditions after Death of Abd-er-Rahman--Abd-er-Rahman
II.--Arab Refinements--Eulogius
and the Christian Martyrs--Abd-er-Rahman
III.--A Khalifate at Cordova--The Great
Mosque--The City of "The Fairest"--Death
of Abd-er-Rahman III., 72
CHAPTER XIII.
Rough Cradle of a Spanish Nationality in the
Asturias--Alfonso III. and His Hidalgos and
Dons--Guerrilla Warfare with Moors--Jealousies
and Strife between Christian Kingdoms--Civil
War--Almanzor--Ruin of Christian State
Seemed Imminent--Death of Almanzor--Berber
Revolt--Anarchy in Moorish State--A Khalif
Begging a Crust of Bread--Berbers Destroy Cordova--Library
Burned--City of "The Fairest"
a Ruin--Asturias--Leon and Castile United--Alfonso
VI.--The Cid--Triumph of Christians--Moors
Ask Aid of the Almoravides--Christians
Driven Back--Death of the Cid--A Dynasty of
the Almoravides--The Alhomades--The Great
Mahdi--Moorish People Become Subject to
Emperor of Morocco--His Designs upon
Europe--The Pope Proclaims a Crusade--Alhomades
Driven Out of Spain by Christians--Moorish
Kingdom Reduced to Province of Granada, 78
CHAPTER XIV.
European Conditions in Thirteenth Century--Visigoth
Kings Recover Their Land--Its
Changed Conditions--Effect of Arab Civilization
upon Spanish Nation--Fernando III.--Spain
Draws into Closer Companionship with
European States--Alfonso X.--Spain Becoming
Picturesque--The Bull-Fight--Beautiful Granada--The
Alhambra, 87
CHAPTER XV.
Perpetual Civil War between Spanish States--Castile
and Aragon Absorb the Others and in Conflict
for Supremacy--Pedro the Cruel--The
"Black Prince" His Champion against Aragon--John
of Gaunt--His Claim upon the Throne of
Castile--His Final Compromise--Political Conditions
Contrasted with Those of Other States, 94
CHAPTER XVI.
Death of Juan II.--Enrique IV.--Isabella--Her Marriage
with Ferdinand of Aragon--Isabella
Crowned Queen of Castile--Ferdinand, King of
Aragon--The Two Crowns United--Characteristics
of the Two Sovereigns--The Inquisition
Created--Jews Driven out of the Kingdom--Abdul-Hassan's
Defiance--Zahara--Family
Troubles at the Alhambra--Ayesha and Boabdil--Alhama
Captured by Ferdinand--Boabdil
Supplants His Father--Massacre of the Abencerrages--Granada
Besieged--Its Capitulation--Moorish
Rule Ended in Spain, 100
CHAPTER XVII.
Columbus and Isabella--Isabella's Private Griefs--Her
Death--Charles, King under a Regency--Charles
Elected Emperor of Germany--Spain
during His Reign--Cruelties in the East and
in the West--Vain Struggle with Protestantism--Abdication
and Death of Charles, 108
CHAPTER XVIII.
Philip II.--Union of Spain and Portugal--The Duke
of Alva in the Netherlands--War with England--Spanish
Armada Destroyed--Death of
Philip II.--Spain's Decline--Glory of the Name
"Castilian," 117
CHAPTER XIX.
Philip III.--Rebellion of the Moriscos--Last of the
Moors Conveyed to African Coast--Don Quixote--Philip
IV.--Louis XIV. Marries Spanish Infanta--A
Diminishing Kingdom--Carlos II.--First
Collision between Anglo-Saxon and
Spaniard in America--Close of Hapsburg Dynasty
in Spain, 125
CHAPTER XX.
New European Conditions--Louis XIV.--War
of the "Spanish Succession"--Marlborough
Checks Louis at Blenheim--Archduke Abandons
Sovereignty in Spain--Peace of Utrecht--Further
Dismemberment of Spain--Gibraltar
Passes to England--Bourbon Dynasty--Commences
with Philip V.--Ferdinand VI.--Carlos
III.--Expulsion of the Jesuits, 131
CHAPTER XXI.
A Dismantled Kingdom--Spanish-American Colonies--England
and France at War over American
Boundaries--Spain the Ally of France--Loss
of Some of Her West India Islands, and
Capture of Havana and Manila by British--Florida
Given in Exchange for Return of Conquered
Territory--Growing Irritation against
England--France Aids American Colonies in
War with England--Spain's Satisfaction at
Their Success--Its Effect in Peru--Revolution
in France--Rapid Rise of Napoleon--Carlos IV.
Removed and Joseph Bonaparte King--Spain
Joins Napoleon in War against England--Trafalgar--Arthur
Wellesley--Joseph Flees from His Kingdom, 137
CHAPTER XXII.
Liberal Sentiment Developing--Constitution of
1812--Ferdinand VI. and Reactionary Measures--Revolt
of all the Spanish-American
Colonies--The Holy Alliance--The Monroe
Doctrine--Revolution in Spain--Spain under
the Protectorate of the Holy Alliance--Ferdinand
Reinstated--Two Political Parties--Six
Spanish-American Colonies Freed, 144
CHAPTER XXIII.
The Salic Law and the Princess Isabella--The
Carlists--Regency of Christine--Isabella II.--Her
Expulsion from Spain--Amadeo--An Era
of Republicanism--Castelar--Alfonso XII. Recalled--His
Brief Reign and Death--Alfonso XIII., 150
CHAPTER XXIV.
Birth of an Insurgent Party in Cuba--Ten Years'
War--Impossible Reforms Promised--Revolution
Started by Jose Marti, 1895--Attitude of
the American Government--General Weyler's
Methods--Effect upon Sentiment in America--Destruction
of the Battle-Ship _Maine_--Verdict
of Court of Inquiry--War Declared between
Spain and America--Victories of Manila and in
Cuba--Terms of Peace--Marriage of Alfonso
XIII. and the Princess Ena, 154
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Charles V. _Frontispiece_
FACING PAGE
Columbus at the Court of Ferdinand and Isabella 108
The Surrender of Breda 118
Philip IV. of Spain 126
Heroic Combat in the Pulpit of the Church of
St. Augustine, Saragossa, 1809 144
The Duke de la Torre sworn in as Regent before
the Cortes of 1869 152
A SHORT HISTORY OF SPAIN.
CHAPTER I.
No name is more fraught with picturesque and romantic interest than
that of the "Spanish Peninsula."
After finishing this rare bit of handiwork nature seems to have thrown
up a great ragged wall, stretching from sea to sea, to protect it; and
the Pyrenees have stood for ages a frowning barrier, descending toward
France on the northern side from gradually decreasing heights--but on
the Spanish side in wild disorder, plunging down through steep chasms,
ravines, and precipices--with sharp cliffs towering thousands of feet
skyward, which better than standing armies protect the sunny plains
below.
But the "Spanish Peninsula," at the time we are about to consider,
was neither "Spanish" nor was it a "peninsula." At the dawn of history
this sunny corner of Europe was known as _Iberia_, and its people as
_Iberians_.
Time has effaced all positive knowledge of this aboriginal race; but
they are believed to have come from the south, and to have been allied
to the Libyans, who inhabited the northern coast of Africa. In fact,
_Iberi_ in the Libyan tongue meant _freeman_; and _Berber_, apparently
derived from that word, was the term by which all of these western
peoples were known to the Ancient Egyptians.
But it is suspected that the Iberians found it an easy matter to flow
into the land south of the Pyrenees, and that they needed no boats for
the transit. There has always existed a tradition of the joining
of the two continents, and now it is believed by geologists that
an isthmus once really stretched across to the African coast at
the narrowest point of the Straits, at a time when the waters of a
Mediterranean gulf, and the waters flowing over the sands of Sahara,
together found their outlet in the Indian Ocean.
There is also a tradition that the adventurous Phenicians, who are
known to have been in Iberia as early as 1300 B.C., cut a canal
through the narrow strip of land, and then built a bridge across
the canal. But a bridge was a frail link by which to hold the mighty
continents together. The Atlantic, glad of such an entrance to the
great gulf beyond, must have rushed impetuously through, gradually
widening the opening, and (may have) thus permanently severed Europe
and Africa; drained the Sahara dry; transformed the Mediterranean gulf
into a Mediterranean Sea; and created a "Spanish Peninsula."
How long this fair Peninsula was the undisturbed home of the Iberians
no one knows. Behind the rocky ramparts of the Pyrenees they may have
remained for centuries unconscious of the Aryan torrent which was
flooding Western Europe as far as the British Isles. Nothing has been
discovered by which we may reconstruct this prehistoric people and
(perhaps) civilization. But their physical characteristics we are
enabled to guess; for just as we find in Cornwall, England, lingering
traces of the ancient Britons, so in the mountain fastnesses of
northern Spain linger the _Basques_, who are by many supposed to be
the last survivors of that mysterious primitive race.
The language of the Basques bears no resemblance to any of the
Indo-European, nor indeed to any known tongue. It is so difficult, so
intricate in construction, that only those who learn it in infancy can
ever master it. It is said that, in Basque, "you spell Solomon, and
pronounce it Nebuchadnezzar." Its antiquity is so great that one
legend calls it the "language of the angels," and another says that
_Tubal_ brought it to Spain before the lingual disaster at Babel! And
still another relates that the devil once tried to learn it, but that,
after studying it for seven years and learning only three words, he
gave it up in despair.
A language which, without literature, can so resist change, can so
persist unmodified by another tongue spoken all around and about it,
must have great antiquity; and there is every reason to believe
that the Basque is a survival of the tongue spoken by the primitive
Iberians, before the Kelts began to flow over and around the
Pyrennees; and also that the physical characteristics of this people
are the same as those of their ancient progenitors; small-framed,
dark, with a faint suggestion of the Semitic in their swarthy faces.
We cannot say when it occurred, but at last the powerful, warlike
Kelts had surmounted the barrier and were mingled with this non-Aryan
people, and the resulting race thus formed was known to antiquity as
the _Keltiberians_.
It is probable that the rugged Kelt easily absorbed the race of more
delicate type, and made it, in religion and customs, not unlike the
Keltic Aryan in Gaul. But the physical characteristics of the other
and primitive race are indelibly stamped upon the Spanish people; and
it is probably to the Iberian strain in the blood that may be traced
the small, dark type of men which largely prevails in Spain, and to
some extent also in central and southern France.
But the Keltiberians were Keltic in their religion. There are now in
Spain the usual monuments found wherever Druid worship prevailed. Huge
blocks of stone, especially in Cantabria and Lusitania (Portugal),
standing alone or in circles, tell the story of Druidical rites, and
of the worship of the ocean, the wind, and the thunder, and of the
placating of the powers of nature by human sacrifices.
The mingling of the Kelts and the Iberians in varying proportions in
different parts of Spain, and in some places (as among the Basques)
their mingling not at all, produced that diversity of traits which
distinguished the _Asturians_ in the mountain gorges from their
neighbors the _Cantabrians_, and both these from the _Catalonians_ in
the northeast and the _Gallicians_ on the northwest coast, and from
the _Lusitanians_, where now is Portugal; and still more distinguished
the _Basques_, in the rocky ravines of the Pyrenees, from each and
all of the others. And yet these unlike members of one family were
collectively known as Keltiberians.
While this race--hardy, temperate, brave, and superstitious--was
leading its primitive life upon the Iberian peninsula, while they
were shooting arrows at the sky to threaten the thunder, drawing their
swords against the rising tide, and prizing iron more dearly than
their abundant gold and silver, because they could hammer it into
hooks, and swords, and spears--there had long existed in the East a
group of wonderful civilizations: the Egyptian, hoary with age and
steeped in wisdom and in wickedness; the _Chaldeans_, who, with
"looks commercing with the skies," were the fathers of astronomy;
the _Assyrians_ and _Babylonians_, with their wonderful cities of
_Nineveh_ and _Babylon_, and the Phenicians, with their no less famous
cities of _Sidon_ and _Tyre_. Sidon, which was the more ancient of
these two, is said to have been founded by Sidon, the son of Canaan,
who was the great-grandson of Noah.
Of all these nations it was the Phenicians who were the most
adventurous. They were a Semitic people, Syrian in blood, and their
home was a narrow strip of coast on the east of the Mediterranean,
where a group of free cities was joined into a confederacy held
together by a strong national spirit.
Of these cities Sidon was once the head, but in time Tyre eclipsed it
in splendor, and writers, sacred and profane, have sung her glories.
These Phenicians had a genius for commerce and trade. They scented a
bargain from afar, and knew how to exchange "their broidered work, and
fine linen, and coral, and agate" (I Kings xxvii. 16), their glassware
and their wonderful cloths dyed in Tyrian scarlet and purple, for the
spices and jewels of the East, and for the gold and silver and the
ivory and the ebony of the south and west.
Their ships were coursing the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf and
bringing back treasures from India and searching every inlet in the
Mediterranean, and finally, either through the canal they are said
to have cut, or the straits it had made, they sailed as far as the
British Isles and brought back tin.
But the gold and silver of the Iberian Peninsula were more alluring
than the spices of India or the tin of Britain. So upon the Spanish
coast they made permanent settlements and built cities. As early as
1100 B.C. they had founded beyond the "Pillars of Hercules," the City
of _Gades_ (Cadiz), a walled and fortified town, and had taught
the Keltiberians how to open and work their gold and silver mines
systematically; and in exchange they brought an old civilization,
with new luxuries, new ideas and customs into the lives of the simple
people.
But they bestowed something far beyond this--something more enriching
than silver and gold,--an alphabet,--and it is to the Phenicians that
we are indebted for the alphabet now in use throughout the civilized
world.