OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF THE SPANISH INTELLECT FROM THE FIFTH TO THE
MIDDLE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
In the preceding chapters, I have endeavoured to establish four leading
propositions, which, according to my view, are to be deemed the basis of
the history of civilization. They are: 1st, That the progress of mankind
depends on the success with which the laws of phenomena are
investigated, and on the extent to which a knowledge of those laws is
diffused. 2nd, That before such investigation can begin, a spirit of
scepticism must arise, which, at first aiding the investigation, is
afterwards aided by it. 3rd, That the discoveries thus made, increase
the influence of intellectual truths, and diminish, relatively not
absolutely, the influence of moral truths; moral truths being more
stationary than intellectual truths, and receiving fewer additions. 4th,
That the great enemy of this movement, and therefore the great enemy of
civilization, is the protective spirit; by which I mean the notion that
society cannot prosper, unless the affairs of life are watched over and
protected at nearly every turn by the state and the church; the state
teaching men what they are to do, and the church teaching them what they
are to believe. Such are the propositions which I hold to be the most
essential for a right understanding of history, and which I have
defended in the only two ways any proposition can be defended; namely,
inductively and deductively. The inductive defence comprises a
collection of historical and scientific facts, which suggest and
authorize the conclusions drawn from them; while the deductive defence
consists of a verification of those conclusions, by showing how they
explain the history of different countries and their various fortunes.
To the former, or inductive method of defence, I am at present unable to
add anything new; but the deductive defence I hope to strengthen
considerably, and by the aid of the following chapters, confirm not only
the four cardinal propositions just stated, but also several minor
propositions, which, though strictly speaking flowing from them, will
require separate verification. According to the plan already sketched,
the remaining part of the introduction will contain an examination of
the history of Spain, of Scotland, of Germany, and of the United States
of America, with the object of elucidating principles on which the
history of England supplies inadequate information. And as Spain is the
country where what I conceive to be the fundamental conditions of
national improvement have been most flagrantly violated, so also shall
we find that it is the country where the penalty paid for the violation
has been most heavy, and where, therefore, it is most instructive to
ascertain how the prevalence of certain opinions causes the decay of the
people among whom they predominate.
We have seen that the old tropical civilizations were accompanied by
remarkable features which I have termed Aspects of Nature, and which, by
inflaming the imagination, encouraged superstition, and prevented men
from daring to analyze such threatening physical phenomena; in other
words, prevented the creation of the physical sciences. Now, it is an
interesting fact that, in these respects, no European country is so
analogous to the tropics as Spain. No other part of Europe is so clearly
designated by nature as the seat and refuge of superstition. Recurring
to what has been already proved,[1164] it will be remembered that among
the most important physical causes of superstition are famines,
epidemics, earthquakes, and that general unhealthiness of climate,
which, by shortening the average duration of life, increases the
frequency and earnestness with which supernatural aid is invoked. These
peculiarities, taken together, are more prominent in Spain than
anywhere else in Europe; it will therefore be useful to give such a
summary of them as will exhibit the mischievous effects they have
produced in shaping the national character.
[1164] In the second chapter of the first volume of _Buckle's History
of Civilization_.
If we except the northern extremity of Spain, we may say that the two
principal characteristics of the climate are heat and dryness, both of
which are favoured by the extreme difficulty which nature has interposed
in regard to irrigation. For, the rivers which intersect the land, run
mostly in beds too deep to be made available for watering the soil,
which consequently is, and always has been, remarkably arid.[1165] Owing
to this, and to the infrequency of rain, there is no European country as
richly endowed in other respects, where droughts and therefore famines
have been so frequent and serious.[1166] At the same time the
vicissitudes of climate, particularly in the central parts, make Spain
habitually unhealthy; and this general tendency being strengthened in
the middle ages by the constant occurrence of famine, caused the ravages
of pestilence to be unusually fatal.[1167] When we moreover add that in
the Peninsula, including Portugal, earthquakes have been extremely
disastrous,[1168] and have excited all those superstitious feelings
which they naturally provoke, we may form some idea of the insecurity of
life, and of the ease with which an artful and ambitious priesthood
could turn such insecurity into an engine for the advancement of their
own power.[1169]
[1165] 'The low state of agriculture in Spain may be ascribed partly to
physical and partly to moral causes. At the head of the former
must be placed the heat of the climate and the aridity of the
soil. Most part of the rivers with which the country is
intersected run in deep beds, and are but little available
except in a few favoured localities, for purposes of
irrigation.' _M'Culloch's Geographical and Statistical
Dictionary_, London, 1849, vol. ii. p. 708. See also _Laborde's
Spain_, London, 1809, vol. iv. p. 284, vol. v. p. 261. The
relative aridity of the different parts is stated in _Cook's
Spain_, London, 1834, vol. ii. pp. 216-219.
[1166] On these droughts and famines, see _Mariana_, _Historia de
España_, Madrid, 1794, vol. ii. p. 270, vol. iii. p. 225, vol.
iv. p. 32. _Conde_, _Historia de la Dominacion de los Arabes en
España_, Paris, 1840, pp. 142, 149, 154, 170. _Davila_,
_Historia de la Vida de Felipe Tercero_, Madrid, 1771, folio,
lib. ii. p. 114. _Clarke's Letters concerning the Spanish
Nation_, London, 1763, 4to. p. 282. _Udal ap Rhys' Tour through
Spain_, London, 1760, pp. 292, 293. _Spain by an American_,
London, 1831, vol. ii. p. 282. _Hoskins' Spain_, London, 1851,
vol. i. pp. 127, 132, 152. 'España es castigada frecuentemente
con las sequedades y faltas de lluvias.' _Muriel_, _Gobierno de
Carlos III._, Madrid, 1839, p. 193.
[1167] 'Añádase á todo esto las repetidas pestes, y mortales epidemias
que han afligido á las provincias de España, mayormente á las
meridionales que han sido las mas sujetas á estas plagas. De
estas se hace mencion en los anales é historias muy
freqüentemente; y en su confirmacion se puede leer el tratado
histórico, ó _epidemiológia_ que sobre ellas ha publicado Don
Joachîn de Villalba, donde se verá con dolor y espanto con
quanta freqüencia se repetian estos azotes desde mediados del
siglo décimoquarto.' ... 'Dos exemplos bien recientes y
dolorosos hemos visto, y conservaremos en la memoria, en los
formidables estragos que acaban de padecer gran parte del reyno
de Sevilla, Cádiz, y sus contornos, Málaga, Cartagena, y
Alicante; sin contar la mortandad con que han afligido á la
mayor parte de los pueblos de ámbas Castillas las epidemias de
calenturas pútridas en el año pasado de 1805.' ... 'Por otra
parte la fundacion de tantas capillas y procesiones á San Roque,
y á San Sebastian, como abogados contre la peste, que todavía se
conservan en la mayor parte de nuestras ciudades de España, son
otro testimonio de los grandes y repetidos estragos que habian
padecido sus pueblos de este azote. Y el gran número de médicos
españoles que publicáron tratados preservativos y curativos de
la peste en los reynados de Cárlos V., Felipe II., Felipe III.,
y Felipe IV., confirman mas la verdad de los hechos.' _Capmany_,
_Qüestiones Criticas_, Madrid, 1807, pp. 51, 52; see also pp.
66, 67; and _Janer_, _Condicion Social de los Moriscos de
España_, Madrid, 1857, pp. 106, 107; and the notice of Malaga in
_Bourgoing_, _Tableau de l'Espagne_, Paris, 1808, vol. iii.
p. 242.
[1168] 'Earthquakes are still often felt at Granada and along the coast
of the province of Alicante, where their effects have been very
disastrous. Much further in the interior, in the small Sierra
del Tremédal, or district of Albarracia, in the province of
Terruel, eruptions and shocks have been very frequent since the
most remote periods; the black porphyry is there seen traversing
the altered strata of the oolitic formation. The old inhabitants
of the country speak of sinking of the ground and of the escape
of sulphureous gases when they were young; these same phenomena
have occurred during four consecutive months of the preceding
winter, accompanied by earthquakes, which have caused
considerable mischief to the buildings of seven villages
situated within a radius of two leagues. They have not, however,
been attended with any loss of life, on account of the
inhabitants hastening to abandon their dwellings at the first
indications of danger.' _Ezquerra on the Geology of Spain_, in
the _Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London_,
vol. vi. pp. 412, 413, London, 1850. 'The provinces of Malaga,
Murcia, and Granada, and, in Portugal, the country round Lisbon,
are recorded at several periods to have been devastated, by
great earthquakes.' _Lyell's Principles of Geology_, London,
1853, p. 358. 'Los terremotos son tan sensibles y freqüentes en
lo alto de las montañas, como en lo llano, pues Sevilla está
sujeta á ellos hallándose situada sobre una llanura tan igual y
baxa como Holanda.' _Bowles_, _Introduccion à la Historia
Natural de España_, Madrid, 1789, 4to, pp. 90, 91. 'The littoral
plains, especially about Cartagena and Alicante, are much
subject to earthquakes.' _Ford's Spain_, 1847, p. 168. 'This
corner of Spain is the chief volcanic district of the Peninsula,
which stretches from Cabo de Gata to near Cartagena; the
earthquakes are very frequent.' _Ford_, p. 174. 'Spain,
including Portugal, in its external configuration, with its vast
tableland of the two Castiles, rising nearly 2,000 feet above
the sea, is perhaps the most interesting portion of Europe, not
only in this respect, but as a region of earthquake disturbance,
where the energy and destroying power of this agency have been
more than once displayed upon the most tremendous scale.'
_Mallet's Earthquake Catalogue of the British Association_,
Report for 1858, p. 9, London, 1858.
I quote these passages at length, partly on account of their
interest as physical truths, and partly because the facts stated
in them are essential for a right understanding of the history
of Spain. Their influence on the Spanish character was pointed
out, for I believe the first time, in my _History of
Civilization_, vol. i. pp. 123, 124. On that occasion, I adduced
no evidence to prove the frequency of earthquakes in the
Peninsula, because I supposed that all persons moderately
acquainted with the physical history of the earth were aware of
the circumstance. But, in April 1858, a criticism of my book
appeared in the _Edinburgh Review_, in which the serious
blunders which I am said to have committed are unsparingly
exposed. In p. 468 of that Review, the critic, after warning his
readers against my 'inaccuracies,' observes, 'But Mr. Buckle
goes on to state that "earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are
more frequent and more destructive in Italy, and in the Spanish
and Portuguese peninsula, than in any other of the great
countries." Whence he infers, by a singular process of
reasoning, that superstition is more rife, and the clergy more
powerful; but that the fine arts flourish, poetry is cultivated,
and the sciences neglected. Every link in this chain is more or
less faulty. There is no volcano in the Spanish peninsula, and
the only earthquake known to have occurred there was that of
Lisbon.' Now, I have certainly no right to expect that a
reviewer, composing a popular article for an immediate purpose,
and knowing that when his article is read, it will be thrown
aside and forgotten, should, under such unfavourable
circumstances, be at the pains of mastering all the details of
his subject. To look for this would be the height of injustice.
He has no interest in being accurate; his name being concealed,
his reputation, if he have any, is not at stake; and the errors
into which he falls ought to be regarded with leniency, inasmuch
as their vehicle being an ephemeral publication, they are not
likely to be remembered, and they are therefore not likely to
work much mischief.
These considerations have always prevented me from offering any
reply to anonymous criticisms. But the passage in the _Edinburgh
Review_, to which I have called attention, displays such
marvellous ignorance, that I wish to rescue it from oblivion,
and to put it on record as a literary curiosity. The other
charges brought against me could, I need hardly say, be refuted
with equal ease. Indeed, no reasonable person can possibly
suppose that, after years of arduous and uninterrupted study, I
should have committed those childish blunders with which my
opponents unscrupulously taunt me. Once for all, I may say that
I have made no assertion for the truth of which I do not possess
ample and irrefragable evidence. But it is impossible for me to
arrange and adduce all the proofs at the same time; and, in so
vast an enterprise, I must in some degree rely, not on the
generosity of the reader, but on his candour. I do not think
that I am asking too much in requesting him, if on any future
occasion his judgment should be in suspense between me and my
critics, to give me the benefit of the doubt, and to bear in
mind that statements embodied in a deliberate and
slowly-concocted work, authenticated by the author's name, are,
as a mere matter of antecedent probability, more likely to be
accurate than statements made in reviews and newspapers, which,
besides being written hastily, and often at very short notice,
are unsigned, and by which, consequently, their promulgators
evade all responsibility, avoid all risk, and can, in their own
persons, neither gain fame nor incur obloquy.
The simple fact is, that in Spain there have been more
earthquakes than in all other parts of Europe put together,
Italy excepted. If the destruction of property and of life
produced by this one cause were summed up, the results would be
appalling. When we moreover add those alarming shocks, which,
though less destructive, are far more frequent, and of which not
scores, nor hundreds, but thousands have occurred, and which by
increasing the total amount of fear, have to an incalculable
extent promoted the growth of superstition, it is evident that
such phenomena must have played an important part in forming the
national character of the Spaniards. Whoever will take the
trouble of consulting the following passages will find decisive
proofs of the frightful ravages committed by earthquakes in
Spain alone; Portugal being excluded. They all refer to a period
of less than two hundred years; the first being in 1639, and the
last in 1829. _Lettres de Madame de Villars, Ambassadrice en
Espagne_, Amsterdam, 1759, p. 205. _Laborde's Spain_, London,
1809, vol. i. p. 169. _Dunlop's Memoirs of Spain_, Edinburgh,
1834, vol. ii. pp. 226, 227. _Boisel_, _Journal du Voyage
d'Espagne_, Paris, 1669, 4to, p. 243. _Mallet's Earthquake
Catalogue of the British Association_, London, 1858; Report for
1853, p. 146; for 1854, pp. 26, 27, 54, 55, 57, 58, 65, 110,
140, 173, 196, 202. _Swinburne's Travels through Spain_, London,
1787, vol. i. p. 166. _Ford's Spain_, London, 1847, p. 178.
_Bacon's Six Years in Biscay_, London, 1838, p. 32, compared
with _Inglis' Spain_, London, 1831, vol. i. p. 393, vol. ii. p.
289-291.
These authorities narrate the ravages committed during a hundred
and ninety years. From their account it is manifest, that in
Spain hardly a generation passed by without castles, villages,
and towns being destroyed, and men, women, or children killed by
earthquakes. But according to our anonymous instructor, it is
doubtful if there ever was an earthquake in Spain; for he says
of the whole Peninsula, including Portugal, 'the only earthquake
known to have occurred there was that of Lisbon.'
[1169] On the superstitious fears caused by earthquakes in Spain, see a
good passage in _Conde_, _Historia de la Dominacion de los
Arabes_, p. 155. 'En el año 267, dia jeuves, 22 de la luna de
Xawâl, tembló la tierra con tan espantoso ruido y
estremecimiento, que cayeron muchos alcazares y magnificos
edificios, y otros quedaron muy quebrantados, se hundieron
montes, se abrieron peñascos, y la tierra se hundió y tragó
pueblos y alturas, el mar se retrajo y apartó de las costas, y
desaparecieron islas y escollos en el mar. Las gentes
abandonaban los pueblos y huian á los campos, las aves salian de
sus nidos, y las fieras espantadas dejaban sus grutas y
madrigueras con general turbacion y trastorno; nunca los hombres
vieron ni oyeron cosa semejante; se arruinaron muchos pueblos de
la costa meridional y occidental de España. Todas estas cosas
influyeron tanto en los animos de los hombres, y en especial en
la ignorante multitud, que no pudo Almondhir persuadirles que
eran cosas naturales, aunque poco frecüentes, que no tenían
influjo ni relacion con las obras de los hombres, ni con sus
empresas, sino por su ignorancia y vanos temores, que lo mismo
temblaba la tierra para los muslimes que para los cristianos,
para las fieras que para las inocentes criaturas.' Compare
_Geddes' Tracts concerning Spain_, London, 1730, vol. i. p. 89;
and Mariana, who, under the year 1395, says (_Historia de
España_, vol. v. p. 27): 'Tembló la tierra en Valencia mediado
el mes de Diciembre, con que muchos edificios cayéron por
tierra, otros quedaron desplomados; que era maravilla y lástima.
El pueblo, _como agorero que es, pensaba eran señales del cielo_
y pronosticos de los daños que temian .' The history of Spain
abounds with similar instances far too numerous to quote or even
to refer to. But the subject is so important and has been so
misrepresented, that, even at the risk of wearying the reader, I
will give one more illustration of the use of earthquakes in
fostering Spanish superstition. In 1504 'an earthquake,
accompanied by a tremendous hurricane, such as the oldest men
did not remember, had visited Andalusia, and especially Carmona,
a place belonging to the Queen, and occasioned frightful
desolation there.' The superstitious Spaniards now read in these
portents _the prophetic signs by which Heaven announces some
great calamity. Prayers were put up in every temple,_ &c. &c.
_Prescott's History of Ferdinand and Isabella_, Paris, 1842,
vol. iii. p. 174.
Another feature of this singular country is the prevalence of a pastoral
life, mainly caused by the difficulty of establishing regular habits of
agricultural industry. In most parts of Spain, the climate renders it
impossible for the labourer to work the whole of the day;[1170] and this
forced interruption encourages among the people an irregularity and
instability of purpose, which makes them choose the wandering
avocations of a shepherd, rather than the more fixed pursuits of
agriculture.[1171] And during the long and arduous war which they waged
against their Mohammedan invaders, they were subject to such incessant
surprises and forays on the part of the enemy, as to make it advisable
that their means of subsistence should be easily removed; hence they
preferred the produce of their flocks to that of their lands, and were
shepherds instead of agriculturists, simply because by that means they
would suffer less in case of an unfavourable issue. Even after the
capture of Toledo, late in the eleventh century, the inhabitants of the
frontier in Estramadura, La Mancha, and New Castile, were almost
entirely herdsmen, and their cattle were pastured not in private meadows
but in the open fields.[1172] All this increased the uncertainty of
life, and strengthened that love of adventure, and that spirit of
romance, which, at a later period, gave a tone to the popular
literature. Under such circumstances, everything grew precarious,
restless, and unsettled; thought and inquiry were impossible; doubt was
unknown; and the way was prepared for those superstitious habits, and
for that deep-rooted and tenacious belief, which have always formed a
principal feature in the history of the Spanish nation.
[1170] _Buckle's History of Civilization_, vol. i. p. 43. See also
_Laborde's Spain_, vol. iv. p. 42.
[1171] A writer early in the eighteenth century notices 'el gran numero
de pastores que hay.' _Uztariz_, _Theorica y Practica de
Comercio_, 3rd ed. Madrid, 1757, folio p. 20. As to the Arabic
period, see _Conde_, _Historia de la Dominacion_, p. 244:
'Muchos pueblos, siguiendo su natural inclinacion, se entregaron
á la ganaderia .' Hence 'the wandering life so congenial to the
habits of the Spanish peasantry,' noticed in _Cook's Spain_,
vol. i. p. 85, where, however, the connexion between this and
the physical constitution of the country is not indicated. The
solution is given by Mr. Ticknor with his usual accuracy and
penetration: 'The climate and condition of the Peninsula, which
from a very remote period had favoured the shepherd's life and
his pursuits, facilitated, no doubt, if they did not occasion,
the first introduction into Spanish poetry of a pastoral tone,
whose echoes are heard far back among the old ballads.' ...
'From the Middle Ages the occupations of a shepherd's life had
prevailed in Spain and Portugal to a greater extent than
elsewhere in Europe; and, probably, in consequence of this
circumstance, eclogues and bucolics were early known in the
poetry of both countries, and became connected in both with the
origin of the popular drama.' _Ticknor's History of Spanish
Literature_, London, 1849, vol. iii. pp. 9, 36. On the pastoral
literature of Spain, see _Bouterwek's History of Spanish
Literature_, London, 1823, vol. i. pp. 123-129; and on the great
number of pastoral romances, _Southey's Letters from Spain_,
Bristol, 1799, p. 336. But these writers, not seizing the whole
question, have failed to observe the relation between the
literary, physical, and social phenomena.
[1172] See the memoir by Jovellanos, in _Laborde's Spain_, vol. iv.
p. 127. This was the necessary consequence of those vindictive
attacks by which, for several centuries, both Mohammedans and
Christians seemed resolved to turn Spain into a desert; ravaging
each other's fields, and destroying every crop they could meet
with. _Conde_, _Dominacion de los Arabes_, pp. 75, 188, 278,
346, 396, 417, 418, 471, 499, 500, 505, 523, 539, 544, 551, 578,
645, 651, 658. To quote one of these instances, late in the
eleventh century: 'La constancia de Alfonso ben Ferdeland en
hacer entradas y talas en tierra de Toledo dos veces cada año,
fué tanta que empobreció y apuró los pueblos;' ... 'el tirano
Alfonso taló y quemó los campos y los pueblos.' _Conde_, p. 346.
As such havoc, which was continued with few interruptions for
about seven hundred years, has done much towards forming the
national character of the Spaniards, it may be worth while to
refer to _Mariana_, _Historia de España_, vol. iii. p. 438, vol.
iv. pp. 193, 314, vol. v. pp. 92, 317, 337; and to _Circourt_,
_Histoire des Arabes d'Espagne_, Paris, 1846, vol. i. p. 99.
To what extent these circumstances would, if they stood by themselves,
have affected the ultimate destiny of Spain, is a question hardly
possible to answer; but there can be no doubt that their effects must
always have been important, though, from the paucity of evidence, we are
unable to measure them with precision. In regard, however, to the actual
result, this point is of little moment, because a long chain of other
and still more influential events became interwoven with those just
mentioned, and, tending in precisely the same direction, produced a
combination which nothing could resist, and from which we may trace with
unerring certainty the steps by which the nation subsequently declined.
The history of the causes of the degradation of Spain will indeed become
too clear to be mistaken, if studied in reference to those general
principles which I have enunciated, and which will themselves be
confirmed by the light they throw on this instructive though melancholy
subject.
After the subversion of the Roman Empire, the first leading fact in the
history of Spain is the settlement of the Visigoths, and the
establishment of their opinions in the Peninsula. They, as well as the
Suevi, who immediately preceded them, were Arians, and Spain during a
hundred and fifty years became the rallying point of that famous
heresy,[1173] to which indeed most of the Gothic tribes then adhered.
But, at the end of the fifth century, the Franks, on their conversion
from Paganism, adopted the opposite and orthodox creed, and were
encouraged by their clergy to make war upon their heretical neighbours.
Clovis, who was then king of the Franks, was regarded by the church as
the champion of the faith, in whose behalf he attacked the unbelieving
Visigoths.[1174] His successors, moved by the same motives, pursued the
same policy;[1175] and, during nearly a century, there was a war of
opinions between France and Spain, by which the Visigothic Empire was
seriously endangered, and was more than once on the verge of
dissolution. Hence, in Spain, a war for national independence became
also a war for national religion,[1176] and an intimate alliance was
formed between the Arian kings and the Arian clergy. The latter class
were, in those ages of ignorance, sure to gain by such a compact,[1177]
and they received considerable temporal advantages in return for the
prayers which they offered up against the enemy, as also for the
miracles which they occasionally performed. Thus early a foundation was
laid for the immense influence which the Spanish priesthood have
possessed ever since, and which was strengthened by subsequent events.
For, late in the sixth century, the Latin clergy converted their
Visigothic masters, and the Spanish government, becoming orthodox,
naturally conferred upon its teachers an authority equal to that wielded
by the Arian hierarchy.[1178] Indeed, the rulers of Spain, grateful to
those who had shown them the error of their ways, were willing rather to
increase the power of the church than to diminish it. The clergy took
advantage of this disposition; and the result was, that before the
middle of the seventh century the spiritual classes possessed more
influence in Spain than in any other part of Europe.[1179] The
ecclesiastical synods became not only councils of the church, but also
parliaments of the realm.[1180] At Toledo, which was then the capital of
Spain, the power of the clergy was immense, and was so ostentatiously
displayed, that in a council they held there in the year 633, we find
the king literally prostrating himself on the ground before the
bishops;[1181] and half a century later, the ecclesiastical historian
mentions that this humiliating practice was repeated by another king,
having become, he says, an established custom.[1182] That this was not a
mere meaningless ceremony, is moreover evident from other and analogous
facts. Exactly the same tendency is seen in their jurisprudence; since,
by the Visigothic code, any layman, whether plaintiff or defendant,
might insist on his cause being tried not by the temporal magistrate,
but by the bishop of the diocese. Nay, even if both parties to the suit
were agreed in preferring the civil tribunal, the bishop still retained
the power of revoking the decision, if in his opinion it was incorrect;
and it was his especial business to watch over the administration of
justice, and to instruct the magistrates how to perform their
duty.[1183] Another, and more painful proof of the ascendency of the
clergy, is that the laws against heretics were harsher in Spain than in
any other country; the Jews in particular being persecuted with
unrelenting rigour.[1184] Indeed, the desire of upholding the faith was
strong enough to produce a formal declaration that no sovereign should
be acknowledged, unless he promised to preserve its purity; the judges
of the purity being of course the bishops themselves, to whose suffrage
the king owed his throne.[1185]
[1173] The unsettled chronology of the early history of Spain appears
from the different statements of various writers respecting the
duration of Arianism, a point of much more importance than the
death and accession of kings. Antequera (_Historia de la
Legislacion Española_, Madrid, 1849, p. 37) says, 'La secta
Arriana, pues, segun las epocas fijadas, permaneció en España
125 años;' Fleury (_Histoire Ecclésiastique_, vol. vii. p. 586,
Paris, 1758) says 'environ 180 ans;' and M'Crie, generally well
informed, says in his _History of the Reformation in Spain_,
Edinburgh, 1829, p. 7, 'Arianism was the prevailing and
established creed of the country for nearly two centuries:' for
this, he refers to Gregory of Tours. With good reason,
therefore, does M. Fauriel term it 'une question qui souffre des
difficultés.' See his able work, _Histoire de la Gaule
Méridionale_, Paris, 1836, vol. i. p. 10.
[1174] In 496, the orthodox clergy looked on Clovis as 'un champion
qu'il peut opposer aux hérétiques visigoths et burgondes.'
_Fauriel_, _Histoire de la Gaule Méridionale_, vol. ii. p. 41.
They also likened him to Gideon, p. 66. Compare _Fleury_,
_Histoire Ecclésiastique_, vol. vii. pp. 89, 90. Ortiz is so
enthusiastic that he forgets his patriotism, and warmly praises
the ferocious barbarian who made war, indeed, on his country,
but still whose speculative opinions were supposed to be sound.
'Mientras Alarico desfogaba su encono contra los Católicos, tuvo
la Iglesia Galicana el consuelo de ver Católico á su gran Rey
Clodoveo. Era el único Monarca del mundo que á la sazón
profesaba la Religion verdadera.' _Ortiz_, _Compendio de la
Historia de España_, vol. ii. p. 96, Madrid, 1796.
[1175] Thus, in 531, Childebert marched against the Visigoths, because
they were Arians. _Fauriel_, _Histoire de la Gaule Méridionale_,
vol. ii. p. 131; and in 542, Childebert and Clotaire made
another attack, and laid siege to Saragossa, p. 142. 'No
advertian los Godos lo que su falsa creencia les perjudicaba, y
si lo advertian, su obcecacion les hacia no poner remedio. Los
reyes francos, que eran católicos, les movian guerras en las
Galias por arrianos, y los obispos católicos de la misma Galia
gótica deseaban la dominacion de los francos.' _Lafuente_,
_Historia de España_, vol. ii. p. 380, Madrid, 1850.
[1176] 'Los Francos por el amor que tenian á la Religion Cathólica, que
poco antes abrazaran, aborrecian á los Visigodos como gente
inficionada de la secta Arriana.' _Mariana_, _Historia de
España_, vol. ii. p. 43. And of one of their great battles he
says, p. 46, 'vulgarmente se llamó el campo Arriano por causa de
la religion que los Godos seguian.'
[1177] 'En religion et en croyance, comme en toute chose, les Visigoths
se montrèrent plus sérieux, plus profonds, plus tenaces que les
Burgondes. J'ai dit ailleurs comment ils étaient devenus presque
en même temps chrétiens et ariens. Transplantés en Gaule et en
Espagne, non-seulement ils avaient persévéré dans leur hérésie;
ils s'y étaient affermis, affectionnés, et dans le peu que
l'histoire laisse apercevoir de leur clergé, on s'assure qu'il
était austère, zélé, et qu'il exerçait un grand empire sur les
chefs comme sur la masse de la nation visigothe.' ... 'Les rois
visigoths se croyaient obligés à de grandes démonstrations de
respect pour leur clergé arien.' _Fauriel_, _Histoire de la
Gaule Méridionale_, vol. i. pp. 577, 578.
[1178] The abjuration of Recared took place between the years 586 and
589. _Dunham's History of Spain and Portugal_, London, 1832,
vol. i. pp. 126-128. _Mariana_, _Historia de España_, vol. ii.
pp. 99-101. _Ortiz_, _Compendio de la Historia de España_, vol.
ii. p. 120. _Lafuente_, _Historia de España_, vol. ii. pp.
360-363; and says Lafuente, p. 384, 'Recaredo fué el primero que
con todo el ardor de un neófito, comenzó en el tercer concilio
toledano à dar a estas asambleas conocimiento y decision en
negocios pertenecientes al gobierno temporal de los pueblos.'
Similarly, Antequera (_Historia de la Legislación_, p. 31) is
happy to observe that 'Recaredo abjuró la heregia arriana,
abrazó decididamente la religion de Jesu-Cristo, _y concedió à
los ministros de la Iglesia una influencia en el gobierno del
Estado, que vino à ser en adelante, ilimitada y absoluta_.'
[1179] 'As for the councils held under the Visigoth kings of Spain
during the seventh century, it is not easy to determine whether
they are to be considered as ecclesiastical or temporal
assemblies. No kingdom was so thoroughly under the bondage of
the hierarchy as Spain.' _Hallam's Middle Ages_, edit. 1846,
vol. i. p. 511. 'Les prêtres étaient les seuls qui avaient
conservé et même augmenté leur influence dans la monarchie
goth-espagnole.' _Sempere_, _Histoire des Cortès d'Espagne_,
Bordeaux, 1815, p. 19. Compare _Lafuente_, _Historia de España_,
vol. ii. p. 368, on 'la influencia y preponderancia del clero,
no ya solo en los negocios eclesiásticos, sino tambien en los
políticos y de estado.'
[1180] 'But it is in Spain, after the Visigoths had cast off their
Arianism, that the bishops more manifestly influence the whole
character of the legislation. The synods of Toledo were not
merely national councils, but parliaments of the realm.'
_Milman's History of Latin Christianity_, London, 1854, vol. i.
p. 380. See also _Antequera_, _Historia de la Legislación
Española_, pp. 41, 42.
[1181] In 633, at a council of Toledo, the king 's'étant prosterné á
terre devant les évêques.' _Fleury_, _Histoire Ecclésiastique_,
vol. viii. p. 308, Paris, 1758.
[1182] In 688, at a council of Toledo, 'le roi Egica y étoit en
personne; et après s'être prosterné devant les évêques, _suivant
la coutume_, il fit lire un mémoire où il leur demandoit
conseil,' &c. _Fleury_, _Histoire Ecclésiastique_, vol. ix.
p. 89, Paris, 1758.
[1183] See a short but admirable summary of this part of the Visigothic
code in _Dunham's History of Spain_, vol. iv. pp. 77, 78;
perhaps the best history in the English language of a foreign
modern country. 'In Spain, the bishops had a special charge to
keep continual watch over the administration of justice, and
were summoned on all great occasions to instruct the judges to
act with piety and justice.' _Milman's History of Latin
Christianity_, 1854, vol. i. p. 386. The council of Toledo, in
633, directs bishops to admonish judges. _Fleury_, _Histoire
Ecclésiastique_, vol. viii. p. 313; and a learned Spanish
lawyer, Sempere, says of the bishops, 'Le code du _Fuero Juzgo_
fut leur ouvrage; les juges étaient sujets à leur juridiction;
les plaideurs, grevés par la sentence des juges, pouvaient se
plaindre aux évêques, et ceux-ci évoquer ainsi leurs arrêts, les
réformer, et châtier les magistrats. Les procureurs du roi,
comme les juges, étaient obligés de se présenter aux synodes
diocésains annuels, pour apprendre des ecclésiastiques
l'administration de la justice; enfin le gouvernement des Goths
n'était qu'une monarchie théocratique.' _Sempere_, _Monarchie
Espagnole_, Paris, 1826, vol. i. p. 6, vol. ii. pp. 212-214.
[1184] 'The terrible laws against heresy, and the atrocious juridical
persecutions of the Jews, already designate Spain as the throne
and centre of merciless bigotry.' _Milman's History of Latin
Christianity_, vol. i. p. 381. 'Tan luego como la religion
católica se halló dominando en el trono y en el pueblo,
comenzaron los concilianos toledanos á dictar disposiciones
canónicas y á prescribir castigos contra los idolatras, contra
los judios, y contra los hereges.' _Lafuente_, _Historia de
España_, vol. ix. pp. 199-200. See also p. 214, and vol. ii. pp.
406, 407, 451. _Prescott's History of Ferdinand and Isabella_,
vol. i. pp. 235, 236. _Johnston's Institutes of the Civil Law of
Spain_, p. 262. _Circourt_, _Histoire des Arabes d'Espagne_,
vol. i. pp. 260, 261; and _Southey's Chronicle of the Cid_, p.
18. I particularly indicate these passages, on account of the
extraordinary assertion of Dr. M'Crie, that 'on a review of
criminal proceedings in Spain anterior to the establishment of
the court of Inquisition, it appears in general that heretics
were more mildly treated there than in other countries.'
_M'Crie's_ _History of the Reformation in Spain_, p. 83, the
best book on the Spanish Protestants.
[1185] A council of Toledo in 638 orders, 'qu'à l'avenir aucun roi ne
montera sur le trône qu'il ne promette de conserver la foi
catholique;' and at another council in 681, 'le roi y présenta
un écrit par lequel il prioit les évêques de lui assurer le
royaume, qu'il tenoit de leurs suffrages.' _Fleury_, _Histoire
Ecclésiastique_, vol. viii. p. 339, vol. ix. p. 70.
Such were the circumstances which, in and before the seventh century,
secured to the Spanish Church an influence unequalled in any other part
of Europe.[1186] Early in the eighth century, an event occurred which
apparently broke up and dispersed the hierarchy, but which in reality
was extremely favourable to them. In 711 the Mohammedans sailed from
Africa, landed in the south of Spain, and in the space of three years
conquered the whole country, except the almost inaccessible regions of
the north-west. The Spaniards, secure in their native mountains,[1187]
soon recovered heart, rallied their forces, and began in their turn to
assail the invaders. A desperate struggle ensued, which lasted nearly
eight centuries, and in which, a second time in the history of Spain, a
war for independence was also a war for religion; the contest between
Arabian Infidels and Spanish Christians, succeeding that formerly
carried on between the Trinitarians of France and the Arians of Spain.
Slowly, and with infinite difficulty, the Christians fought their way.
By the middle of the ninth century, they reached the line of the
Douro.[1188] Before the close of the eleventh century, they conquered as
far as the Tagus, and Toledo, their ancient capital, fell into their
hands in 1085.[1189] Even then much remained to be done. In the south,
the struggle assumed its deadliest form, and there it was prolonged with
such obstinacy, that it was not until the capture of Malaga in 1487, and
of Granada in 1492, that the Christian empire was re-established, and
the old Spanish monarchy finally restored.[1190]
[1186] Those happy times have received the warm applause of a modern
theologian, because in them the church, 'ha opuesto un muro de
bronce al error;' and because there existed 'la mas estrecha
concordia entre el imperio y el sacerdocio, por cuyo inestimable
beneficio debemos hacer incesantes votos.' _Observaciones sobre
El Presente y El Porvenir de la Iglesia en España_, _por Domingo
Costa y Borras_, _Obispo de Barcelona_, Barcelona, 1857, pp. 73,
75.
[1187] To which they fled with a speed which caused their great enemy,
Muza, to pass upon them a somewhat ambiguous eulogy. 'Dijo, son
leones en sus castillos, aguilas en sus caballos, y mugeres en
sus escuadrones de á pié; pero si ven la ocasion la saben
aprovechar, y cuando quedan vencidos son cabras en escapar á los
montes, que no ven la tierra que pisan.' _Conde_, _Historia de
la Dominacion de los Arabes_, p. 30.
[1188] _Prescott's History of Ferdinand and Isabella_, vol. i.
pp. xxxviii. 287. Lafuente (_Historia de España_, vol. iii.
p. 363) marks the epoch rather indistinctly, 'basta ya el
Duero.' Compare _Florez_, _Memorias de las Reynas Catholicas_,
Madrid, 4to, 1761, vol. i. p. 68.
[1189] There is a spirited account of its capture in _Mariana's Historia
de España_, vol. ii. pp. 506-513; after which Ortiz (_Compendio
de la Historia_, vol. iii. p. 156) and Lafuente (_Historia
General_, vol. iv. pp. 236-242) are rather tame. The Mohammedan
view of this, the first decisive blow to their cause, will be
found in _Conde_, _Historia de la Dominacion de los Arabes_, p.
347. 'Asi se perdió aquella ínclita ciudad, y acabó el reino de
Toledo con grave pérdida del Islam.' The Christian view is that
'concedió Dios al Rey la conquista de aquella capital.'
_Florez_, _Reynas Catholicas_, vol. i. p. 165.
[1190] _Circourt_, _Histoire des Arabes_, vol. i. pp. 313, 349. _Conde_,
_Dominacion de los Arabes_, pp. 656, 664. _Ortiz_, _Compendio_,
vol. v. pp. 509, 561. _Lafuente_, _Historia_, vol. ix. pp. 341,
399.
The effect of all this on the Spanish character was most remarkable.
During eight successive centuries, the whole country was engaged in a
religious crusade; and those holy wars which other nations occasionally
waged, were, in Spain, prolonged and continued for more than twenty
generations.[1191] The object being not only to regain a territory, but
also to re-establish a creed, it naturally happened that the expounders
of that creed assumed a prominent and important position. In the camp,
and in the council-chamber, the voice of ecclesiastics was heard and
obeyed; for as the war aimed at the propagation of Christianity, it
seemed right that her ministers should play a conspicuous part in a
matter which particularly concerned them.[1192] The danger to which the
country was exposed being moreover very imminent, those superstitious
feelings were excited which danger is apt to provoke, and to which, as I
have elsewhere shown,[1193] the tropical civilizations owed some of
their leading peculiarities. Scarcely were the Spanish Christians driven
from their homes and forced to take refuge in the north, when this great
principle began to operate. In their mountainous retreat, they preserved
a chest filled with relics of the saints, the possession of which they
valued as their greatest security.[1194] This was to them a national
standard, round which they rallied, and by the aid of which they gained
miraculous victories over their infidel opponents. Looking upon
themselves as soldiers of the cross, their minds became habituated to
supernatural considerations to an extent which we can now hardly
believe, and which distinguished them in this respect from every other
European nation.[1195] Their young men saw visions, and their old men
dreamed dreams.[1196] Strange sights were vouchsafed to them from
heaven; on the eve of a battle mysterious portents appeared; and it was
observed that whenever the Mohammedans violated the tomb of a Christian
saint, thunder and lightning were sent to rebuke the misbelievers, and,
if need be, to punish their audacious invasion.[1197]
[1191] 'According to the magnificent style of the Spanish historians,
eight centuries of almost uninterrupted warfare elapsed, and
three thousand seven hundred battles were fought, before the
last of the Moorish kingdoms in Spain submitted to the Christian
arms.' _Robertson's Charles V._ by Prescott, London, 1857, p.
65. 'En nuestra misma España, en Leon y Castilla, en esta nueva
Tierra Santa, donde se sostenia una cruzada perpétua y constante
contra los infieles, donde se mantenía en todo su fervor el
espiritu á la vez religioso y guerrero.' _Lafuente_, _Historia
de España_, vol. v. p. 293. 'Era España theatro de una continua
guerra contra los enemigos de la Fe.' _Florez_, _Reynas
Catholicas_, vol. i. p. 226. 'El glorioso empeño de exterminar á
los enemigos de la Fe.' p. 453. 'Esta guerra sagrada.' Vol. ii.
p. 800. 'Se armaron nuestros Reyes Cathólicos, con zelo y animo
alentado del cielo; y como la causa era de Religion para
ensanchar los Dominios de la Fe, sacrificaron todas las fuerzas
del Reyno, y sus mismas personas.' p. 801. What was called the
Indulgence of the Crusade was granted by the Popes 'aux
Espagnols qui combattoient contre les Mores.' _Fleury_,
_Histoire Ecclésiastique_, vol. xviii. p. xxi., vol. xix. pp.
158, 458, vol. xxi. p. 171.
[1192] 'En aquellos tiempos [y duró hasta todo el siglo xv. y toma de
Granada] eran los obispos los primeros capitanes de los
exércitos.' _Ortiz_, _Compendio_, vol. iii. p. 189. 'Los
prelados habían sido siempre los primeros no solo en promover la
guerra contra Moros, sino á presentarse en campaña con todo su
poder y esfuerzo, animando á los demas con las palabras y el
exemplo.' Vol. v. pp. 507, 508.
[1193] _History of Civilization_, vol. i. pp. 121-130.
[1194] 'Les chrétiens avoient apporté dans les Asturies une arche ou
coffre plein de reliques, qu'ils regardèrent depuis comme la
sauve-garde de leur état.' ... 'Elle fut emportée et mise enfin
à Oviedo, comme le lieu le plus sûr entre ces montagnes, Père
773, l'an 775.' _Fleury_, _Histoire Ecclésiastique_, vol. ix. p.
190. This 'arca llena de reliquias' was taken to the Asturias in
714. _Mariana_, _Historia de España_, vol. ii. p. 227; and,
according to Ortiz (_Compendio_, vol. ii. p. 182), it was 'un
tesoro inestimable de sagradas reliquias.' See also _Geddes'
Tracts concerning Spain_, vol. ii. p. 237, London, 1730; and
_Ford's Spain_, 1847, p. 388.
[1195] 'But no people ever felt themselves to be so absolutely soldiers
of the cross as the Spaniards did, from the time of their
Moorish wars; no people ever trusted so constantly to the
recurrence of miracles in the affairs of their daily life; and
therefore no people ever talked of Divine things as of matters
in their nature so familiar and common-place. Traces of this
state of feeling and character are to be found in Spanish
literature on all sides.' _Ticknor's History of Spanish
Literature_, vol. ii. p. 333. Compare _Bouterwek's History of
Spanish Literature_, vol. i. pp. 105, 106; and the account of
the battle of las Navas in _Circourt_, _Histoire des Arabes
d'Espagne_, vol. i. p. 153: 'On voulait trouver partout des
miracles.' Some of the most startling of these miracles may be
found in _Lafuente_, _Historia de España_, vol. v. p. 227; in
_Mariana_, _Historia de España_, vol. ii. pp. 378, 395, vol.
iii. p. 338; and in _Ortiz_, _Compendio_, vol. iii. p. 248,
vol. iv. p. 22.
[1196] One of the most curious of these prophetic dreams is preserved in
_Conde_, _Dominación de los Arabes_, pp. 378, 379, with its
interpretation by the theologians. They were for the most part
fulfilled. In 844 'El Apóstol Santiago, según que lo prometiera
al Rey, fué visto en un caballo blanco, y con una bandera blanca
y en medio della una cruz roxa, que capitaneaba nuestra gente.'
_Mariana_, _Historia de España_, vol. ii. pp. 310, 311. In 957
'El Apóstol Santiago fué visto entre las hacas dar la victoria à
los fieles,' p. 382. In 1236 'Publicóse por cierto que San Jorge
ayudó á los Christianos, y que se halló en la pelea.' Vol. iii.
p. 323. On the dreams which foreshadowed these appearances, see
_Mariana_, vol. ii. pp. 309, 446, vol. iii. pp. 15, 108.
[1197] 'Priests mingle in the council and the camp, and, arrayed in
their sacerdotal robes, not unfrequently led the armies to
battle. They interpreted the will of Heaven as mysteriously
revealed in dreams and visions. Miracles were a familiar
occurrence. The violated tombs of the saints sent forth thunders
and lightnings to consume the invaders.' _Prescott's History of
Ferdinand and Isabella_, vol. i. p. 39. In the middle of the
ninth century, there happened the following event: 'En lo mas
cruel de los tormentos' [to which the Christians were exposed]
'subió Abderramen un dia á las azuteas ó galerias de su Palacio.
Descubrió desde alli los cuerpos de los Santos martirizados en
los patíbulos y atravesados con los palos, mandó los quemasen
todos para que no quedase reliquia. Cumplióse luego la órden:
pero aquel impio probó bien presto los rigores de la venganza
divina que volvía por la sangre derramada de sus Santos.
Improvisamente se le pegó la lengua al paladar y fauces;
cerrósele la boca, y no pudo pronunciar una palabra, ni dar un
gemido. Conduxeronle, sus criados á la cama, murió aquella misma
noche, y antes de apagarse las hoguerasen que ardian los santos
cuerpos, entró la infeliz alma de Abderramen en los eternos
fuegos del infierno.' _Ortiz_, _Compendio_, vol. iii. p. 52.
Under circumstances like these, the clergy could not fail to extend
their influence; or, we may rather say, the course of events extended it
for them. The Spanish Christians, pent up for a considerable time in the
mountains of Asturias, and deprived of their former resources, quickly
degenerated, and soon lost the scanty civilization to which they had
attained. Stripped of all their wealth, and confined to what was
comparatively a barren region, they relapsed into barbarism, and
remained, for at least a century, without arts, or commerce, or
literature.[1198] As their ignorance increased, so also did their
superstition; while this last, in its turn, strengthened the authority
of their priests. The order of affairs, therefore, was very natural. The
Mohammedan invasion made the Christians poor; poverty caused ignorance;
ignorance caused credulity; and credulity, depriving men both of the
power and of the desire to investigate for themselves, encouraged a
reverential spirit, and confirmed those submissive habits, and that
blind obedience to the Church, which form the leading and most
unfortunate peculiarity of Spanish history.
[1198] Circourt (_Histoire des Arabes_, vol. i. p. 5) says, 'Les
chrétiens qui ne voulurent pas se soumettre furent rejetés dans
les incultes ravins des Pyrénées, où ils purent se maintenir
comme les bêtes fauves se maintiennent dans les forêts.' But the
most curious account of the state of the Spanish Christians in
the last half of the eighth century, and in the first half of
the ninth, will be found in _Conde_, _Historia de la
Dominacion_, pp. 95, 125. 'Referian de estos pueblos de Galicia
que son cristianos, y de los mas bravos de Afranc; pero que
viven como fieras, que nunca lavan sus cuerpos ni vestidos, que
no se los mudan, y los llevan puestos hasta que se los caen
despedazados en andrajos, que entran unos en las casas de otros
sin pedir licencia.' ... In A.D. 815, 'no habia guerra sino
contra cristianos por mantener frontera, y no con deseo de
ampliar y extender los limites del reino, ni por esperanza de
sacar grandes riquezas, por ser los cristianos gente pobre de
montaña, sin saber nada de comercio ni de buenas artes.'
From this it appears, that there were three ways in which the Mohammedan
invasion strengthened the devotional feelings of the Spanish people. The
first way was by promoting a long and obstinate religious war; the
second was by the presence of constant and imminent dangers; and the
third way was by the poverty, and therefore the ignorance, which it
produced among the Christians.
These events being preceded by the great Arian war, and being
accompanied and perpetually reinforced by those physical phenomena which
I have indicated as tending in the same direction, worked with such
combined and accumulative energy, that in Spain the theological element
became not so much a component of the national character, but rather the
character itself. The ablest and most ambitious of the Spanish kings
were compelled to follow in the general wake; and, despots though they
were, they succumbed to that pressure of opinions which they believed
they were controlling. The war with Granada, late in the fifteenth
century, was theological far more than temporal; and Isabella, who made
the greatest sacrifices in order to conduct it, and who in capacity as
well as in honesty was superior to Ferdinand, had for her object not so
much the acquisition of territory as the propagation of the Christian
faith.[1199] Indeed, any doubts which could be entertained respecting
the purpose of the contest must have been dissipated by subsequent
events. For, scarcely was the war brought to a close, when Ferdinand and
Isabella issued a decree expelling from the country every Jew who
refused to deny his faith; so that the soil of Spain might be no longer
polluted by the presence of unbelievers.[1200] To make them Christians,
or, failing in that, to exterminate them, was the business of the
Inquisition, which was established in the same reign, and which before
the end of the fifteenth century was in full operation.[1201] During the
sixteenth century, the throne was occupied by two princes of eminent
ability, who pursued a similar course. Charles V., who succeeded
Ferdinand in 1516, governed Spain for forty years, and the general
character of his administration was the same as that of his
predecessors. In regard to his foreign policy, his three principal wars
were against France, against the German princes, and against Turkey. Of
these, the first was secular; but the two last were essentially
religious. In the German war, he defended the church against innovation;
and at the battle of Muhlberg, he so completely humbled the Protestant
princes, as to retard for some time the progress of the
Reformation.[1202] In his other great war, he, as the champion of
Christianity against Mohammedanism, consummated what his grandfather
Ferdinand had begun. Charles defeated and dislodged the Mohammedans in
the east, just as Ferdinand had done in the west; the repulse of the
Turks before Vienna being to the sixteenth century what the conquest of
the Arabs of Granada was to the fifteenth.[1203] It was, therefore, with
reason that Charles, at the close of his career, could boast that he had
always preferred his creed to his country, and that the first object of
his ambition had been to maintain the interests of Christianity.[1204]
The zeal with which he struggled for the faith, also appears in his
exertions against heresy in the Low Countries. According to contemporary
and competent authorities, from fifty thousand to a hundred thousand
persons were put to death in the Netherlands during his reign on account
of their religious opinions.[1205] Later inquirers have doubted the
accuracy of this statement,[1206] which is probably exaggerated; but we
know that, between 1520 and 1550, he published a series of laws, to the
effect that those who were convicted of heresy should be beheaded, or
burned alive, or buried alive. The penalties were thus various, to meet
the circumstances of each case. Capital punishment, however, was always
to be inflicted on whoever bought an heretical book, or sold it, or even
copied it for his own use.[1207] His last advice to his son, well
accorded with these measures. Only a few days before his death, he
signed a codicil to his will, recommending that no favour should ever be
shown to heretics; that they should all be put to death; and that care
should be taken to uphold the Inquisition, as the best means of
accomplishing so desirable an end.[1208]
[1199] 'Isabella may be regarded as the soul of this war. She engaged in
it with the most exalted views, less to acquire territory than
to reëstablish the empire of the Cross over the ancient domain
of Christendom.' _Prescott's History of Ferdinand and Isabella_,
vol. i. p. 392. Compare _Fleury_, _Histoire Ecclésiastique_,
vol. xxiii. p. 583, 'bannir de toute l'Espagne la secte de
Mahomet;' and _Circourt_, _Histoire des Arabes d'Espagne_,
vol. ii. pp. 99, 109, 'pour elle une seule chose avait de
l'importance; extirper de ses royaumes le nom et la secte de
Mahomet.' ... 'Sa vie fut presque exclusivement consacrée à
faire triompher la croix sur le croissant.' Mariana (_Historia
de España_, vol. v. p. 344, and vol. vii. pp. 51, 52) has warmly
eulogized her character, which indeed, from the Spanish point of
view, was perfect. See also _Florez_, _Reynas Catholicas_,
vol. ii. pp. 774, 788, 829.
[1200] 'En España los Reyes Don Fernando y Doña Isabel luego que se
viéron desembarazados de la guerra de los Moros, acordáron de
echar de todo su reyno á los Judíos.' _Mariana_, _Historia de
España_, vol. vi. p. 303. A Spanish historian, writing less than
seventy years ago, expresses his approbation in the following
terms: 'Arrancado de nuestra peninsula el imperio Mahometano,
quedaba todavía la secta Judayca, peste acaso mas perniciosa, y
sin duda mas peligrosa y extendida, por estar los Judíos
establecidos en todos los pueblos de ella. Pero los Catolicos
Monarcas, cuyo mayor afan era desarraigar de sus reynos toda
planta y raiz infecta y contraria á la fé de Jesu-Cristo, dieron
decreto en Granada dia 30 de Marzo del año mismo de 1492,
mandando saliesen de sus dominios los Judíos que no se
bautizasen dentro de 4 meses.' _Ortiz_, _Compendio_, Madrid,
1798, vol. v. p. 564. The importance of knowing how these and
similar events are judged by Spaniards, induces me to give their
own words at a length which otherwise would be needlessly
prolix. Historians, generally, are too apt to pay more attention
to public transactions than to the opinions which those
transactions evoke; though, in point of fact, the opinions form
the most valuable part of history, since they are the result of
more general causes, while political actions are often due to
the peculiarities of powerful individuals.
Of the number of Jews actually expelled, I can find no
trustworthy account. They are differently estimated at from
160,000 to 800,000. _Prescott's History of Ferdinand and
Isabella_, vol. ii. p. 148. _Mariana_, _Historia de España_,
vol. vi. p. 304. _Ortiz_, _Compendio_, vol. v. p. 564.
_Lafuente_, _Historia de España_, vol. ix. pp. 412, 413.
_Llorente_, _Histoire de l'Inquisition_, Paris, 1817, vol. i. p.
261. _Mata_, _Dos Discursos_, Madrid, 1794, pp. 64, 65.
_Castro_, _Decadencia de España_, Cadiz, 1852, p. 19.
[1201] It had been introduced into Aragon in 1242; but, according to M.
Tapia, 'sin embargo la persecucion se limitó entónces á la secta
de los albigenses; y como de ellos hubo tan pocos en Castilla,
no se consideró sin duda necesario en ella el establecimiento de
aquel tribunal.' _Tapia_, _Historia de la Civilizacion
Española_, Madrid, 1840, vol. ii. p. 302. Indeed, Llorente says
(_Histoire de l'Inquisition d'Espagne_, Paris, 1817, vol. i. p.
88), 'Il est incertain si au commencement du 15^e siècle
l'Inquisition existait en Castille.' In the recent work by M.
Lafuente, 1232 is given as its earliest date; but, 'á fines del
siglos xiv. y principios del xv. apenas puede saberse si existia
tribunal de Inquisicion en Castilla.' _Lafuente_, _Historia de
España_, vol. ix. pp. 204-206, Madrid, 1852. It seems therefore
with good reason that Mariana (_Historia_, vol. vi. p. 171)
terms the Inquisition of Ferdinand and Isabella 'un _nuevo_ y
santo tribunal.' See also _Florez_, _Memorias de las Reynas
Catholicas_, vol. ii. p. 799.
[1202] _Prescott's History of Philip II._, vol. i. p. 23, London, 1857.
_Davies' History of Holland_, vol. i. p. 447, London, 1841. On
the religious character of his German policy, compare _Mariana_,
_Historia de España_, vol. vii. p. 330; _Ortiz_, _Compendio_,
vol. vi. pp. 195, 196.
[1203] _Prescott's Philip II._, vol. i. p. 3; and the continuation of
_Fleury_, _Histoire Ecclésiastique_, vol. xxvii. p. 280.
Robertson, though praising Charles V. for this achievement,
seems rather inclined to underrate its magnitude; _History of
Charles V._, p. 246.
[1204] In the speech he made at his abdication, he said that 'he had
been ever mindful of the interests of the dear land of his
birth, but above all of the great interests of Christianity. His
first object had been to maintain these inviolate against the
infidel.' _Prescott's Philip II._, vol. i. p. 8. Miñana boasts
that 'el César con piadoso y noble ánimo exponia su vida á los
peligros para extender los limites del Imperio Christiano.'
_Continuación de Mariana_, vol. viii. p. 352. Compare the
continuation of _Fleury_, _Histoire Ecclésiastique_, vol. xxxi.
p. 19.
[1205] Grotius says, 100,000; Bor, Meteren, and Paul say 50,000.
_Watson's History of Philip II._, London, 1839, pp. 45, 51.
_Davies' History of Holland_, London, 1841, vol. i. pp. 498,
499. _Motley's Dutch Republic_, London, 1858, vol. i. pp. 103,
104.
[1206] It is doubted, if I rightly remember, by Mr. Prescott. But the
opinion of that able historian is entitled to less weight from
his want of acquaintance with Dutch literature, where the
principal evidence must be sought for. On this, as on many other
matters, the valuable work of Mr. Motley leaves little to
desire.
[1207] _Prescott's Philip II._, vol. i. pp. 196, 197. In 1523, the first
persons were burned. _Motley's Dutch Republic_, vol. i. p. 69.
The mode of burying alive is described in _Davies' History of
Holland_, vol. i. p. 383, vol. ii. pp. 311, 312.
[1208] He died on the 21st September; and on the 9th he signed a
codicil, in which he 'enjoined upon his son to follow up and
bring to justice every heretic in his dominions, and this
without exception, and without favour or mercy to any one. He
conjured Philip to cherish the holy inquisition as the best
means of accomplishing this good work.' _Prescott's Additions to
Robertson's Charles V._, p. 576. See also his instructions to
Philip in _Raumer's History of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth
Centuries_, vol. i. p. 91; and on his opinion of the
Inquisition, see his conversation with Sir Thomas Wyatt, printed
from the State Papers in _Froude's History of England_, vol.
iii. p. 456, London, 1858. This may have been mere declamation;
but in _Tapia's Civilizacion Española_, Madrid, 1840, vol. iii.
pp. 76, 77, will be found a deliberate and official letter, in
which Charles does not hesitate to say, 'La santa inquisicion
como oficio santo y puesto por los reyes católicos, nuestros
señores y abuelos á honra de Dios nuestro señor y de nuestra
santa fé católica, tengo firme é entrañablemente asentado y
fijado en mi corazon, para la mandar favorecer y honrar, como
principe justo y temeroso de Dios es obligado y debe hacer.'
The codicil to the will of Charles still exists, or did very
recently, among the archives at Simancas. _Ford's Spain_, 1847,
p. 334. In M. Lafuente's great work, _Historia de España_, vol.
xii. pp. 494, 495, Madrid, 1853, it is referred to in language
which, in more senses than one, is perfectly Spanish: 'Su
testamento y codicilo respiran las ideas cristianas y religiosas
en que habia vivido y la piedad que señaló su muerte.' ... 'Es
muy de notar en primera cláusula [i.e.] of the codicil por la
cual deja muy encarecidamente recomendado al rey Don Felipe que
use de todo rigor en el castigo de los hereges luteranos que
habian sido presos y se hubieren de prender en España.' ...
'"Sin escepcion de persona alguna, ni admitir ruegos, ni tener
respeto á persona alguna; porque para el efecto de ello
favorezca y mande favorecer al Santo Oficio de la
Inquisición,"' &c.
This barbarous policy is to be ascribed, not to the vices, nor to the
temperament of the individual ruler, but to the operation of large
general causes, which acted upon the individual, and impelled him to the
course he pursued. Charles was by no means a vindictive man; his natural
disposition was to mercy rather than to rigour; his sincerity is
unquestionable; he performed what he believed to be his duty; and he was
so kind a friend, that those who knew him best were precisely those who
loved him most.[1209] Little, however, could all that avail in shaping
his public conduct. He was obliged to obey the tendencies of the age and
country in which he lived. And what those tendencies were, appeared
still more clearly after his death, when the throne of Spain was
occupied upwards of forty years by a prince who inherited it in the
prime of life, and whose reign is particularly interesting as a symptom
and a consequence of the disposition of the people over whom he ruled.
[1209] Native testimony may perhaps be accused of being partial; but, on
the other hand, Raumer, in his valuable _History of the
Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries_, vol. i. p. 22, justly
observes, that his character has been misrepresented 'by reason
that historians have availed themselves by preference of the
inimical narratives of French and Protestant writers.' To steer
between these extremes, I will transcribe the summing up of
Charles's reign as it is given by a learned and singularly
unprejudiced writer. 'Tortuous as was sometimes the policy of
the emperor, he never, like Francis, acted with treachery; his
mind had too much of native grandeur for such baseness. Sincere
in religion and friendship, faithful to his word, clement beyond
example, liberal towards his servants, indefatigable in his
regal duties, anxious for the welfare of his subjects, and
generally blameless in private life, his character will not
suffer by a comparison with that of any monarch of his times.'
_Dunham's History of Spain_, vol. v. p. 41. 'Clemency was the
basis of his character.' p. 30.
Philip II., who succeeded Charles V. in 1555, was indeed eminently a
creature of the time, and the ablest of his biographers aptly terms him
the most perfect type of the national character.[1210] His favourite
maxim, which forms the key to his policy, was, 'That it is better not to
reign at all than to reign over heretics.'[1211] Armed with supreme
power, he bent all his energies towards carrying this principle into
effect. Directly that he heard that the Protestants were making converts
in Spain, he strained every nerve to stifle the heresy;[1212] and so
admirably was he seconded by the general temper of the people, that he
was able without risk to suppress opinions which convulsed every other
part of Europe. In Spain, the Reformation, after a short struggle, died
completely away, and in about ten years the last vestige of it
disappeared.[1213] The Dutch wished to adopt, and in many instances did
adopt, the reformed doctrine; therefore Philip waged against them a
cruel war, which lasted thirty years, and which he continued till his
death, because he was resolved to extirpate the new creed.[1214] He
ordered that every heretic who refused to recant should be burned. If
the heretic did recant, some indulgence was granted; but having once
been tainted, he must die. Instead of being burned, he was therefore to
be executed.[1215] Of the number of those who actually suffered in the
Low Countries, we have no precise information;[1216] but Alva
triumphantly boasted that, in the five or six years of his
administration, he had put to death in cold blood more than eighteen
thousand, besides a still greater number whom he had slain on the field
of battle.[1217] This, even during his short tenure of power, would make
about forty thousand victims; an estimate probably not far from the
truth, since we know, from other sources, that in one year more than
eight thousand were either executed or burned.[1218] Such measures were
the result of instructions issued by Philip, and formed a necessary part
of his general scheme.[1219] The desire paramount in his mind, and to
which he sacrificed all other considerations, was to put down the new
creed, and to reinstate the old one. To this, even his immense ambition
and his inordinate love of power were subordinate. He aimed at the
empire of Europe, because he longed to restore the authority of the
Church.[1220] All his policy, all his negotiations, all his wars,
pointed to this one end. Soon after his accession, he concluded an
ignominious treaty with the Pope, that it might not be said that he bore
arms against the head of the Christian world.[1221] And his last great
enterprise, in some respects the most important of all, was to fit out,
at an incredible cost, that famous Armada with which he hoped to humble
England, and to nip the heresy of Europe in its bud, by depriving the
Protestants of their principal support, and of the only asylum where
they were sure to find safe and honourable refuge.[1222]
[1210] 'The Spaniards, as he grew in years, beheld, with pride and
satisfaction, in their future sovereign, the most perfect type
of the national character.' _Prescott's History of Philip II._
vol. i. p. 39. So, too, in _Motley's Dutch Republic_, vol. i. p.
128, 'he was entirely a Spaniard;' and in _Lafuente_, _Historia
de España_, vol. i. p. 155, 'pero el reinado de Felipe fué todo
Español.'
[1211] _Prescott's Philip II._ vol. i. pp. 68, 210, vol. ii. p. 26.
_Watson's Philip II._ p. 55. Compare _Fleury_, _Histoire
Ecclésiastique_, vol. xxxiv. p. 273.
[1212] 'Como era tan zeloso en la extirpación de la heregía, uno de sus
primeros cuidados fué el castigo de los Luteranos; y á presencia
suya, se executó en Valladolid el dia ocho de Octubre el
suplicio de muchos reos de este delito.' _Miñana_, _Continuacion
de Mariana_, vol. ix. p. 212.
[1213] 'The contest with Protestantism in Spain, under such auspices,
was short. It began in earnest and in blood about 1559, and was
substantially ended in 1570.' _Ticknor's History of Spanish
Literature_, vol. i. p. 425. See also _M'Crie's History of the
Reformation in Spain_, pp. 336, 346. Thus it was that 'España se
preservó del contagio. Hizolo con las armas Carlos V., y con las
hogueras los inquisidores. España se aisló del movimiento
europeo.' _Lafuente_, _Historia de España_, vol. i. p. 144,
Madrid, 1850. M. Lafuente adds, that, in his opinion, all
Christendom is about to follow the good example set by Spain of
rejecting Protestantism. 'Si no nos equivocamos, en nuestra
misma edad se notan sintomas de ir marchando este problema hácia
su resolucion. El catolicismo gana prosélitos; los protestantes
de hoy no son lo que antes fueron, y creemos que la unidad
católica se realizará.'
[1214] Before the arrival of Alva, 'Philip's commands to Margaret were
imperative, to use her utmost efforts to extirpate the
heretics.' _Davies' History of Holland_, vol. i. p. 551; and in
1563 he wrote, 'The example and calamities of France prove how
wholesome it is to punish heretics with rigour.' _Raumer's
History of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries_, vol. i. p.
171. The Spaniards deemed the Dutch guilty of a double crime;
being rebels against God and the king: 'Rebeldes á Dios por la
heregía, y á su Principe á quien debian obedecer.' _Mariana_,
_Historia de España_, vol. vii. p. 410. 'Tratauan de secreto de
quitar la obediencia á Dios y á su Principe.' _Vanderhammen's
Don Filipe el Prudente Segundo deste Nombre_, Madrid, 1632, p.
44 rev. Or, as Miñana phrases it, Philip 'tenia los mismos
enemigos que Dios.' _Continuacion de Mariana_, vol. x. p. 139.
[1215] _Motley's Dutch Republic_, vol. i. p. 229. _Watson's Philip II._
pp. 51, 52, 177.
[1216] Mr. Motley, under the year 1566, says, 'The Prince of Orange
estimated that up to this period fifty thousand persons in the
provinces had been put to death in obedience to the edicts. He
was a moderate man, and accustomed to weigh his words.'
_Motley's Dutch Republic_, vol. i. pp. 424, 425.
[1217] _Watson's Philip II._ pp. 248, 249. Tapia (_Civilizacion
Española_, vol. iii. p. 95) says, 'quitó la vida á mas de diez y
ocho mil protestantes con diversos géneros de suplicios.'
Compare _Motley's Dutch Republic_, vol. ii. p. 423, and _Davies'
History of Holland_, vol. i. p. 608.
[1218] _Davies' History of Holland_, vol. i. p. 567. Vanderhammen (_Don
Filipe el Prudente_, Madrid, 1632, p. 52 rev.), with tranquil
pleasure, assures us that 'muriessen mil y setecientas personas
en pocos dias con fuego, cordel y cuchillo en diuersos lugares.'
[1219] 'El duque de Alba, obrando en conformidad á las instrucciones de
su soberano, y apoyado en la aprobacion que merecian al rey
todas sus medidas.' _Lafuente_, _Historia de España_, vol. xiii.
p. 221.
[1220] 'It was to restore the Catholic Church that he desired to obtain
the empire of Europe.' _Davies' History of Holland_, vol. ii. p.
329. 'El protestó siempre "que sus desinios en la guerra, y sus
exercitos no se encaminauan á otra cosa, que el ensalçamiento de
la Religion Christiana."' _Vanderhammen's Don Filipe el
Prudente_, p. 125. 'El que aspiraba á someter todas las naciones
de la tierra á su credo religioso.' _Lafuente_, _Historia de
España_, vol. xv. p. 203. The bishop of Salamanca in 1563 openly
boasted 'que son roi ne s'étoit marié avec la reine d'Angleterre
que pour ramener cette isle à l'obéissance de l'église.'
_Continuation de Fleury_, _Histoire Ecclésiastique_, vol.
xxxiii. p. 331. Compare _Ortiz_, _Compendio_, vol. vi. p. 204.
'Este casamiento no debió de tener otras miras que el de la
religion.'
[1221] On this treaty, the only humiliating one which he ever concluded,
see _Prescott's Philip II._ vol. i. p. 104. His dying advice to
his son was, 'Siempre estareis en la obediencia de la Santa
Iglesia Romana, y del Sumo Pontifice, teniendole por vuestro
Padre espiritual.' _Davila_, _Historia de la Vida de Felipe
Tercero_, Madrid, 1771, folio, lib. i. p. 29. According to
another writer, 'La ultima palabra que le salió con el espiritu,
fue: "Yo muero como Catolico Christiano en la Fe y obediencia de
la Iglesia Romana, y respeto al Papa, como á quien trae en sus
manos las llaues del Cielo, como á Principe de la Iglesia, y
Teniente de Dios sobre el imperio de las almas."'
_Vanderhammen_, _Don Filipe el Prudente_, p. 124.
[1222] Elizabeth, uniting the three terrible qualities of heresy, power,
and ability, was obnoxious to the Spaniards to an almost
incredible degree, and there never was a more thoroughly
national enterprise than the fitting out of the Armada against
her. One or two passages from a grave historian, will illustrate
the feelings with which she was regarded even after her death,
and will assist the reader in forming an opinion respecting the
state of the Spanish mind. 'Isabel, ó Jezabel, Reyna de
Inglaterra, heretica Calvinista, y la mayor perseguidora que ha
tenido la sangre de Jesu-Christo y los hijos de la Iglesia.'
_Davila_, _Historia de Felipe Tercero_, p. 74. 'Los sucesos de
fuera causaron admiracion; y el mayor y muy esperado de toda la
Christiandad fue la muerte de Isabela, Reyna de Inglaterra,
heretica Calvinista, que hizo su nombre famoso con la infamia de
su vida, y perseguir á la Iglesia, derramando la sangre de los
Santos, que defendian la verdadera Religion Catolica, dexando
registradas sus maldades en las historias públicas del mundo,
pasando su alma á coger el desdichado fruto de su obstinada
soberbia en las penas del Infierno, donde conoce con el castigo
perpetuo el engaño de su vida.' pp. 83, 84.
While Philip, following the course of his predecessors, was wasting the
blood and treasure of Spain in order to propagate religious
opinions,[1223] the people, instead of rebelling against so monstrous a
system, acquiesced in it, and cordially sanctioned it. Indeed, they not
only sanctioned it, but they almost worshipped the man by whom it was
enforced. There probably never lived a prince who, during so long a
period, and amid so many vicissitudes of fortune, was adored by his
subjects as Philip II. was. In evil report, and in good report, the
Spaniards clung to him with unshaken loyalty. Their affection was not
lessened, either by his reverses, or by his forbidding deportment, or by
his cruelty, or by his grievous exactions. In spite of all, they loved
him to the last. Such was his absurd arrogance, that he allowed none,
not even the most powerful nobles, to address him, except on their
knees, and, in return, he only spoke in half sentences, leaving them to
guess the rest, and to fulfil his commands as best they might.[1224] And
ready enough they were to obey his slightest wishes. A contemporary of
Philip, struck by the universal homage which he received, says that the
Spanish did 'not merely love, not merely reverence, but absolutely adore
him, and deem his commands so sacred, that they could not be violated
without offence to God.'[1225]
[1223] One of the most eminent of living historians well says, 'It was
Philip's enthusiasm to embody the wrath of God against
heretics.' _Motley's Dutch Republic_, vol. ii. p. 155. 'Philip
lived but to enforce what he chose to consider the will of God.'
p. 285.
[1224] 'Personne vivante ne parloit à lui qu'à genoux, et disoit pour
son excuse à cela qu'estant petit de corps, chacun eust paru
plus eslevé que lui, outre qu'il sçavoit que les Espagnols
estoient d'humeur si altiere et hautaine, qu'il estoit besoin
qu'il les traittast de cette façon; et pour ce mesme ne se
laissoit voir que peu souvent du peuple, n'y mesme des grands,
sinon aux jours solemnels, et action necessaire, en cette façon?
il faisoit ses commandemens à demy mot, et falloit que l'on
devinast le reste, et que l'on ne manquast à bien accomplir
toutes ses intentions; mesmes les gentilshommes de sa chambre,
et autres qui approchoient plus près de sa personne, n'eussent
osé parler devant luy s'il ne leur eust commandé, se tenant un
tout seul à la fois près de la porte du lieu où il estoit, et
demeurant nud teste incessamment, et appuyé contra une
tapisserie, pour attendre et recevoir ses commandemens.'
_Mémoires de Cheverny_, pp. 352, 353, in _Petitot's Collection
des Mémoires_, vol. xxxvi. Paris, 1823.
[1225] These are the words of Contarini, as given in _Ranke's Ottoman
and Spanish Empires_, London, 1843, p. 33. Sismondi, though
unacquainted with this passage, observes in his _Literature of
the South of Europe_, vol. ii. p. 273, London, 1846, that
Philip, though 'little entitled to praise, has yet been always
regarded with enthusiasm by the Spaniards.' About half a century
after his death, Sommerdyck visited Spain, and in his curious
account of that country he tells us that Philip was called 'le
Salomon de son siècle.' _Aarsens de Sommerdyck_, _Voyage
d'Espagne_, Paris, 1665, 4to, pp. 63, 95. See also _Yañez_,
_Memorias para la Historia de Felipe III._, Madrid, 1723, p.
294. 'El gran Felipe, aquel Sabio Salomon.' Another writer
likens him to Numa. 'Hacia grandes progresos la piedad, á la
qual se dedicaba tanto el Rey Don Felipe, que parecia su reynado
en España lo que en Roma el de Numa, despues de Rómulo.' _Miñana
Continuacion de Mariana_, vol. ix. p. 241. When he died,
'celebradas sus exêquias entre lágrimas y gemidos.' vol. x. pp.
259, 260. We further learn from _Vanderhammen's Filipe Segundo_,
Madrid, 1632, p. 120 rev., that the people ascribed to him 'una
grandeza adorable, y alguna cosa mas que las ordinarias á los
demas hombres.'
That a man like Philip II., who never possessed a friend, and whose
usual demeanour was of the most repulsive kind, a harsh master, a brutal
parent, a bloody and remorseless ruler,--that he should be thus
reverenced by a nation among whom he lived, and who had their eyes
constantly on his actions; that this should have happened, is surely one
of the most surprising, and, at first sight, one of the most
inexplicable facts in modern history. Here we have a king who, though
afflicted by every quality most calculated to excite terror and disgust,
is loved far more than he is feared, and is the idol of a very great
people during a very long reign. This is so remarkable as to deserve our
serious attention; and in order to clear up the difficulty, it will be
necessary to inquire into the causes of that spirit of loyalty which,
during several centuries, has distinguished the Spaniards above every
other European people.
One of the leading causes was undoubtedly the immense influence
possessed by the clergy. For the maxims inculcated by that powerful body
have a natural tendency to make the people reverence their princes more
than they would otherwise do. And that there is a real and practical
connexion between loyalty and superstition, appears from the historical
fact that the two feelings have nearly always flourished together and
decayed together. Indeed, this is what we should expect on mere
speculative grounds, seeing that both feelings are the product of those
habits of veneration which make men submissive in their conduct and
credulous in their belief.[1226] Experience, therefore, as well as
reason, points to this as a general law of the mind, which, in its
operation, may be occasionally disturbed, but which holds good in a
large majority of cases. Probably the only instance in which the
principle fails is, when a despotic government so misunderstands its own
interests as to offend the clergy, and separate itself from them.
Whenever this is done, a struggle will arise between loyalty and
superstition; the first being upheld by the political classes, the other
by the spiritual classes. Such a warfare was exhibited in Scotland; but
history does not afford many examples of it, and certainly it never took
place in Spain, where, on the contrary, several circumstances occurred
to cement the union between the Crown and the Church, and to accustom
the people to look up to both with almost equal reverence.
[1226] 'Habits of reverence, which, if carried into religion, cause
superstition, and if carried into politics, cause despotism.'
_Buckle's Hist. of Civilization_, vol. ii. p. 117.
By far the most important of these circumstances was the great Arab
invasion, which drove the Christians into a corner of Spain, and reduced
them to such extremities, that nothing but the strictest discipline, and
the most unhesitating obedience to their leaders, could have enabled
them to make head against their enemies. Loyalty to their princes became
not merely expedient, but necessary; for if the Spaniards had been
disunited, they would, in the face of the fearful odds against which
they fought, have had no chance of preserving their national existence.
The long war which ensued, being both political and religious, caused an
intimate alliance between the political and religious classes, since the
kings and the clergy had an equal interest in driving the Mohammedans
from Spain. During nearly eight centuries, this compact between Church
and State was a necessity forced upon the Spaniards by the peculiarities
of their position; and, after the necessity had subsided, it naturally
happened that the association of ideas survived the original danger, and
that an impression had been made upon the popular mind which it was
hardly possible to efface.
Evidence of this impression, and of the unrivalled loyalty it produced,
crowds upon us at every turn. In no other country are the old ballads so
numerous and so intimately connected with the national history. It has,
however, been observed, that their leading characteristic is the zeal
with which they inculcate obedience and devotion to princes, and that
from this source, even more than from military achievements, they draw
their most favourite examples of virtue.[1227] In literature the first
great manifestation of the Spanish mind was the poem of _The Cid_,
written at the end of the twelfth century, in which we find fresh proof
of that extraordinary loyalty which circumstances had forced upon the
people.[1228] The ecclesiastical councils display a similar tendency;
for, notwithstanding a few exceptions, no other church has been equally
eager in upholding the rights of kings.[1229] In civil legislation, we
see the same principle at work; it being asserted, on high authority,
that in no system of laws is loyalty carried to such extreme height as
in the Spanish codes.[1230] Even their dramatic writers were unwilling
to represent an act of rebellion on the stage, lest they should appear
to countenance what, in the eyes of every good Spaniard, was one of the
most heinous of all offences.[1231] Whatever the king came in contact
with, was in some degree hallowed by his touch. No one might mount a
horse which he had ridden;[1232] no one might marry a mistress whom he
had deserted.[1233] Horse and mistress alike were sacred, and it would
have been impious for any subject to meddle with what had been honoured
by the Lord's anointed. Nor were such rules confined to the prince
actually reigning. On the contrary, they survived him, and, working with
a sort of posthumous force, forbade any woman whom he had taken as a
wife, to marry, even after he was dead. She had been chosen by the king;
such choice had already raised her above the rest of mortals; and the
least she could do was to retire to a convent, and spend her life
mourning over her irreparable loss. These regulations were enforced by
custom rather than by law.[1234] They were upheld by the popular will,
and were the result of the excessive loyalty of the Spanish nation. Of
that loyalty their writers often boast, and with good reason, since it
was certainly matchless, and nothing seemed able to shake it. To bad
kings and to good kings it equally applied. It was in full strength amid
the glory of Spain in the sixteenth century; it was conspicuous when the
nation was decaying in the seventeenth century; and it survived the
shock of civil wars early in the eighteenth.[1235] Indeed, the feeling
had so worked itself into the traditions of the country, as to become
not only a national passion, but almost an article of national faith.
Clarendon, in his History of that great English Rebellion, the like of
which, as he well knew, could never have happened in Spain, makes on
this subject a just and pertinent remark. He says that a want of respect
for kings is regarded by the Spaniards as a 'monstrous crime;'
'submissive reverence to their princes being a vital part of their
religion.'[1236]
[1227] 'More ballads are connected with Spanish history than with any
other, and, in general, they are better. The most striking
peculiarity of the whole mass is, perhaps, to be found in the
degree in which it expresses the national character. Loyalty is
constantly prominent. The Lord of Butrago sacrifices his own
life to save that of his sovereign,' &c. _Ticknor's History of
Spanish Literature_, vol. i. p. 133. 'In the implicit obedience
of the old Spanish knight, the order of the king was paramount
to every consideration, even in the case of friendship and love.
This code of obedience has passed into a proverb--"mas pesa el
Rey que la sangre,"' _Ford's Spain_, p. 183. Compare the
admirable little work of Mr. Lewes, _The Spanish Drama_, London,
1846, p. 120, 'ballads full of war, loyalty, and love.'
[1228] See some interesting remarks in M. Tapia's _Civilizacion
Española_, vol. i. He observes that, though cruelly persecuted
by Alfonso, the first thing done by the Cid, after gaining a
great victory, was to order one of his captains 'para que lleve
al rey Alfonso treinta caballos árabes bien ensillados, con
sendas espadas pendientes de los arzones en señal de homenage, á
_pesar del agravio que habia recibido_.' p. 274. And at p. 280,
'comedido y obediente súbdito á un rey que tan mal le habia
tratado.' Southey (_Chronicle of the Cid_, p. 268) notices with
surprise that the Cid is represented in the old chronicles as
'offering to kiss the feet of the king.'
[1229] 'Le xvi^e Concile de Tolède appelait les rois "vicaires de Dieu
et du Christ;" et rien n'est plus fréquent dans les conciles de
cette époque que leurs exhortations aux peuples pour
l'observation du serment de fidélité á leur roi, et leurs
anathêmes contre les séditieux.' _Sempere_, _Monarchie
Espagnole_, vol. i. p. 41. 'Aparte de los asuntos de derecho
civil y canonico y de otros varios que dicen relacion al
gobierno de la iglesia, sobre los cuales se contienen en todos
ellos disposiciones muy útiles y acertadas, la mayor parte de
las leyes dictadas en estas asambleas tuvieron por objeto dar
fuerza y estabilidad al poder real, proclamando su
inviolabilidad y estableciendo graves penas contra los
infractores; condenar las heregías,' &c. _Antequera_, _Historia
de la Legislacion Española_, p. 47.
[1230] 'Loyalty to a superior is carried to a more atrocious length by
the Spanish law than I have seen it elsewhere.' ... 'The
_Partidas_ (P. 2, T. 13, L. 1) speaks of an old law whereby any
man who openly wished to see the King dead, was condemned to
death, and the loss of all that he had. The utmost mercy to be
shown him was to spare his life and pluck out his eyes, that he
might never see with them what he had desired. To defame the
King is declared as great a crime as to kill him, and in like
manner to be punished. The utmost mercy that could be allowed
was to cut out the offender's tongue. P. 2, T. 13, L. 4.'
_Southey's Chronicle of the Cid_, p. 442. Compare _Johnston's
Civil Law of Spain_, London, 1825, p. 269, on 'Blasphemers of
the King.'
[1231] Thus, Montalvan, the eminent poet and dramatist, who was born in
1602, 'avoided, we are told, representing rebellion on the
stage, lest he should seem to encourage it.' _Ticknor's History
of Spanish Literature_, vol. ii. p. 283. A similar spirit is
exhibited in the plays of Calderon and of Lope de Vega. On the
'Castilian loyalty' evinced in one of Calderon's comedies, see
_Hallam's Literature of Europe_, 2d edit. London, 1843, vol.
iii. p. 63; and as to Lope, see _Lewes on the Spanish Drama_,
p. 78.
[1232] 'His Majesty's horses could never be used by any other person.
One day, while Philip IV. was going in procession to the church
of Our Lady of Atocha, the Duke of Medina-de-las-Torres offered
to present him with a beautiful steed which belonged to him, and
which was accounted the finest in Madrid; but the King declined
the gift, because he should regret to render so noble an animal
ever after useless.' _Dunlop's Memoirs_, vol. ii. p. 372. Madame
d'Aulnoy, who travelled in Spain in 1679, and who, from her
position, had access to the best sources of information, was
told of this piece of etiquette. 'L'on m'a dit que lors que le
Roy s'est servy d'un cheval, personne par respect ne le monte
jamais.' _D'Aulnoy_, _Relation du Voyage d'Espagne_, Lyon, 1693,
vol. ii. p. 40. In the middle of the eighteenth century, I find
another notice of this loyal custom, which, likely enough, is
still a tradition in the Spanish stables. 'If the king has once
honoured a Pad so much as to cross his back, it is never to be
used again by anybody else.' _A Tour through Spain_, _by Udal ap
Rhys_, 2d edit. London, 1760, p. 15.
[1233] Madame d'Aulnoy, who was very inquisitive respecting these
matters, says (_Relation du Voyage d'Espagne_, vol. ii. p. 411),
'Il y a une autre étiquette, c'est qu'après que le Roi a eu une
Maitresse, s'il vient à la quitter, il faut qu'elle se fasse
Religieuse, comme je vous l'ai déjà écrit; et l'on m'a conté que
le feu Roi s'estant amoureux d'une Dame du Palais, il fut un
soir fraper doucement à la porte de sa chambre. Comme elle
comprit que c'estoit lui, elle ne voulut pas lui ouvrir, et elle
se contenta de lui dire au travers de la porte, _Baya, baya, con
Dios, no quiero ser monja_; c'est à dire, "Allez allez, Dieu
vous conduise, je n'ai pas envie d'estre Religieuse."' So too
Henry IV. of Castile, who came to the throne in the year 1454,
made one of his mistresses 'abbess of a convent in Toledo;' in
this case to the general scandal, because, says Mr. Prescott, he
first expelled 'her predecessor, a lady of noble rank and
irreproachable character.' _Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella_,
vol. i. p. 68.
[1234] There is, however, one very remarkable old law, in the form of a
canon enacted by the third Council of Saragossa, which orders
that the royal widows 'seront obligées à prendre l'habit de
religieuses, et à s'enfermer dans un monastère pour le reste de
leur vie.' _Fleury_, _Histoire Ecclésiastique_, vol. ix. p. 104.
In 1065 Ferdinand I. died; and, says the biographer of the
Spanish Queens, 'La Reyna sobrevivió: y parece, que muerto su
marido, entró en algun Monasterio; lo que expressamos no tanto
por _la costumbre antigua_, quanto por constar en la Memoria
referida de la Iglesia de Leon, el dictado de 'Consagrada á
Dios,' frasse que denota estado Religioso.' _Florez_, _Memorias
de las Reynas Catholicas_, Madrid, 1761, 4to, vol. i. p. 148. In
1667 it was a settled principle that 'les reines d'Espagne n'en
sortent point. Le couvent de _las Señoras descalças reales_ est
fondé afin que les reines veuves s'y enferment.' _Discours du
Comte de Castrillo à la Reine d'Espagne_, in _Mignet's
Négociations relatives à la Succession d'Espagne_, vol. ii. p.
604, Paris, 1835, 4to. This valuable work consists for the most
part of documents previously unpublished, many of which are
taken from the archives at Simancas. To the critical historian,
it would have been more useful if the original Spanish had been
given.
[1235] See some good remarks on San Phelipe, in _Ticknor's History of
Spanish Literature_, vol. iii. pp. 213, 214, which might easily
be corroborated by other testimony; as, for instance, Lafuente
under the year 1710: 'Ni el abandono de la Francia, ni la
prolongacion y los azares de la guerra, ni los sacrificios
pecuniarios y personales de tantos años, nada bastaba á entibiar
el amor de los castellanos á su rey Felipe V.' (_Historia de
España_, vol. xviii. p. 258); and Berwick (_Mémoires_, vol. ii.
p. 114, edit. Paris, 1778): 'La fidélité inouie des Espagnols;'
and, nine years earlier, a letter from Louville to Torcy: 'Le
mot révolte, pris dans une acception rigoureuse, n'a pas de sens
en Espagne.' _Louville_, _Mémoires sur l'établissement de la
Maison de Bourbon en Espagne_, edit. Paris, 1818, vol. i. p.
128. See also _Memoirs of Ripperda_, London, 1740, p. 58; and
_Mémoires de Gramont_, vol. ii. p. 77, edit. Petitot, Paris,
1827. All these passages illustrate Spanish loyalty in the
eighteenth century, except the reference to Gramont, which
concerns the seventeenth, and which should be compared with the
following observations of Madame D'Aulnoy, who writes from
Madrid in 1679: 'Quelques richesses qu'ayent les grands
Seigneurs, quelque grande que soit leur fierté ou leur
présomption, ils obéïssent aux moindres ordres du Roy, avec une
exactitude et un respect que l'on ne peut assez loüer. Sur le
premier ordre ils partent, ils reviennent, ils vont en prison,
ou en exil, sans se plaindre. Il ne se peut trouver une
soûmission, et une obéïssance plus parfaite, ni un amour plus
sincère, que celui des Espagnols pour leur Roi. Ce nom leur est
sacré, et pour réduire le peuple à tout ce que l'on souhaite, il
suffit de dire, "Le Roi le veut."' _D'Aulnoy_, _Voyage_,
vol. ii. pp. 256, 257.
[1236] 'And Olivarez had been heard to censure very severely the duke's
(Buckingham's) familiarity and want of respect towards the
prince, a crime monstrous to the Spaniard.' ... 'Their
submissive reverence to their princes being a vital part of
their religion.' _Clarendon's History of the Rebellion_, ed.
Oxford, 1843, p. 15. For the religion of loyalty, in an earlier
period, see _Florez_, _Reynas Catholicas_, vol. i. p. 421: 'La
persona del Rey fue mirada de sus fieles vassallos con respeto
tan sagrado,' that resistance was 'una especie de sacrilegio.'
These, then, were the two great elements of which the Spanish character
was compounded. Loyalty and superstition; reverence for their kings and
reverence for their clergy were the leading principles which influenced
the Spanish mind, and governed the march of Spanish history. The
peculiar and unexampled circumstances under which they arose, have been
just indicated; and having seen their origin, we will now endeavour to
trace their consequences. Such an examination of results will be the
more important, not only because nowhere else in Europe have these
feelings been so strong, so permanent, and so unmixed, but also because
Spain, being seated at the further extremity of the Continent, from
which it is cut off by the Pyrenees, has, from physical causes, as well
as from moral ones, come little into contact with other nations.[1237]
The course of affairs being, therefore, undisturbed by foreign habits,
it becomes easier to discover the pure and natural consequences of
superstition and loyalty, two of the most powerful and disinterested
feelings which have ever occupied the human heart, and to whose united
action we may clearly trace the leading events in the history of Spain.
[1237] These impediments to intercourse were once deemed almost
invincible. Fontenay-Mareuil, who visited Spain in 1612, and was
not a little proud of the achievement, says, 'Au reste,
parcequ'on ne va pas aussy ordinairement en Espagne qu'en
France, en Italie et ailleurs; et qu'estant comme en un coin, et
séparée du reste du monde par la mer ou par les Pyrénées, on
n'en a, ce me semble, guere de connoissance, j'ay pense que je
devois faire icy une petite digression pour dire ce que j'en ay
appris dans ce voyage et despuis.' _Mémoires de
Fontenay-Mareuil_, in _Collection des Mémoires par Petitot_,
vol. i. p. 169, 1^e Série, Paris, 1826. Seventy years later,
another writer on Spain says of the Pyrenees, 'Ces montagnes
sont à nos voyageurs modernes, ce qu'étoit aux anciens mariniers
le _Non plus ultra_ et les colomnes du grand Hercule.' _L'Estat
de l'Espagne_, Geneve, 1681 Epistre, p. ii. This work, little
known and not much worth knowing, forms the third volume of _Le
Prudent Voyageur_.
The results of this combination were, during a considerable period,
apparently beneficial, and certainly magnificent. For, the church and
the crown making common cause with each other, and being inspirited by
the cordial support of the people, threw their whole soul into their
enterprises, and displayed an ardour which could hardly fail to insure
success. Gradually advancing from the north of Spain, the Christians,
fighting their way inch by inch, pressed on till they reached the
southern extremity, completely subdued the Mohammedans, and brought the
whole country under one rule and one creed. This great result was
achieved late in the fifteenth century, and it cast an extraordinary
lustre on the Spanish name.[1238] Spain, long occupied by her own
religious wars, had hitherto been little noticed by foreign powers, and
had possessed little leisure to notice them. Now, however, she formed a
compact and undivided monarchy, and at once assumed an important
position in European affairs.[1239] During the next hundred years, her
power advanced with a speed of which the world had seen no example since
the days of the Roman Empire. So late as 1478 Spain was still broken up
into independent and often hostile states; Granada was possessed by the
Mohammedans; the throne of Castile was occupied by one prince, the
throne of Aragon by another. Before the year 1590, not only were these
fragments firmly consolidated into one kingdom, but acquisitions were
made abroad so rapidly as to endanger the independence of Europe. The
history of Spain, during this period, is the history of one long and
uninterrupted success. That country, recently torn by civil wars, and
distracted by hostile creeds, was able in three generations to annex to
her territory the whole of Portugal, Navarre, and Roussillon. By
diplomacy, or by force of arms, she acquired Artois and Franche Comté,
and the Netherlands; also the Milanese, Naples, Sicily, Sardinia, the
Balearic Islands, and the Canaries. One of her kings was emperor of
Germany; while his son influenced the councils of England, whose queen
he married. The Turkish power, then one of the most formidable in the
world, was broken and beaten back on every side. The French monarchy was
humbled. French armies were constantly worsted; Paris was once in
imminent jeopardy; and a king of France, after being defeated on the
field, was taken captive, and led prisoner to Madrid. Out of Europe, the
deeds of Spain were equally wonderful. In America, the Spaniards became
possessed of territories which covered sixty degrees of latitude, and
included both the tropics. Besides Mexico, Central America, Venezuela,
New Granada, Peru, and Chili, they conquered Cuba, San Domingo, Jamaica,
and other islands. In Africa, they obtained Ceuta, Melilla, Oran,
Bougiah, and Tunis, and overawed the whole coast of Barbary. In Asia,
they had settlements on each side of the Deccan; they held part of
Malacca; and they established themselves in the Spice Islands. Finally,
by the conquest of the noble archipelago of the Philippines, they
connected their most distant acquisitions, and secured a communication
between every part of that enormous empire which girdled the world.
[1238] 'Con razon se miró la conquista de Granada, no como un
acontecimiento puramente español, sino como un suceso que
interesaba al mundo. Con razon tambien se regocijó toda la
cristiandad. Hacia medio siglo que otros mahometanos se habian
apoderado de Constantinopla; la caida de la capital y del
imperio bizantino en poder de los turcos habia llenado de terror
á la Europa; pero la Europa se consoló al saber que en España
habia concluido la dominacion de los musulmanes.' _Lafuente_,
_Historia de España_, vol. xi. p. 15.
[1239] 'L'Espagne, long-temps partagée en plusieurs états, et comme
étrangère au reste de l'Europe, devint tout-à-coup une puissance
redoutable, faisant pencher pour elle la balance de la
politique.' _Koch_, _Tableau des Révolutions de l'Europe_,
Paris, 1823, vol. i. p. 362. On the relation between this and
some changes in literature which corresponded to it, see
_Bouterwek's History of Spanish Literature_, vol. i. pp.
148-152, where there are some ingenious, though perhaps scarcely
tenable, speculations.
In connexion with this, a great military spirit arose, such as no other
modern nation has ever exhibited. All the intellect of the country which
was not employed in the service of the Church was devoted to the
profession of arms. Indeed, the two pursuits were often united; and it
is said that the custom of ecclesiastics going to war was practised in
Spain long after it was abandoned in other parts of Europe.[1240] At all
events, the general tendency is obvious. A mere list of successful
battles and sieges in the sixteenth and part of the fifteenth century,
would prove the vast superiority of the Spaniards, in this respect, over
their contemporaries, and would show how much genius they had expended
in maturing the arts of destruction. Another illustration, if another
were required, might be drawn from the singular fact that since the time
of ancient Greece, no country has produced so many eminent literary men
who were also soldiers. Calderon, Cervantes, and Lope de Vega risked
their lives in fighting for their country. The military profession was
also adopted by many other celebrated authors, among whom may be
mentioned, Argote de Molina, Acuña, Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Boscan,
Carrillo, Cetina, Ercilla, Espinel, Francisco de Figueroa, Garcilasso de
la Vega, Guillen de Castro, Hita, Hurtado de Mendoza, Marmol Carvajal,
Perez de Guzman, Pulgar, Rebolledo, Roxas, and Virues; all of whom bore,
in this manner, unconscious testimony to the spirit by which Spain was
universally pervaded.
[1240] 'The holy war with the infidels' (Mohammedans) 'perpetuated the
unbecoming spectacle of militant ecclesiastics among the
Spaniards, to a still later period, and long after it had
disappeared from the rest of civilized Europe.' _Prescott's
History of Ferdinand and Isabella_, vol. i. p. 162.
Here, then, we have a combination which many readers will still consider
with favour, and which, at the time it occurred, excited the admiration,
albeit the terror, of Europe. We have a great people glowing with
military, patriotic, and religious ardour, whose fiery zeal was
heightened, rather than softened, by a respectful obedience to their
clergy, and by a chivalrous devotion to their kings. The energy of
Spain, being thus both animated and controlled, became wary as well as
eager; and to this rare union of conflicting qualities we must ascribe
the great deeds which have just been related. But the unsound part of a
progress of this sort is, that it depends too much upon individuals, and
therefore cannot be permanent. Such a movement can only last as long as
it is headed by able men. When, however, competent leaders are succeeded
by incompetent ones, the system immediately falls to the ground, simply
because the people have been accustomed to supply to every undertaking
the necessary zeal, but have not been accustomed to supply the skill by
which the zeal is guided. A country in this state, if governed by
hereditary princes, is sure to decay; inasmuch as, in the ordinary
course of affairs, incapable rulers must sometimes arise. Directly this
happens, the deterioration begins; for the people, habituated to
indiscriminate loyalty, will follow wherever they are led, and will
yield to foolish counsels the same obedience that they had before paid
to wise ones. This leads us to perceive the essential difference between
the civilization of Spain and the civilization of England. We, in
England, are a critical, dissatisfied, and captious people, constantly
complaining of our rulers, suspecting their schemes, discussing their
measures in a hostile spirit, allowing very little power either to the
Church or to the Crown, managing our own affairs in our own way, and
ready, on the slightest provocation, to renounce that conventional,
lip-deep loyalty, which, having never really touched our hearts, is a
habit lying on the surface, but not a passion rooted in the mind. The
loyalty of Englishmen is not of that sort which would induce them to
sacrifice their liberties to please their prince, nor does it ever, for
a moment, blind them to a keen sense of their own interests. The
consequence is, that our progress is uninterrupted, whether our kings
are good or whether they are bad. Under either condition, the great
movement goes on. Our sovereigns have had their full share of imbecility
and of crime. Still, even men like Henry III. and Charles II. were
unable to do us harm. In the same way, during the eighteenth and many
years of the nineteenth century, when our improvement was very
conspicuous, our rulers were very incompetent. Anne and the first two
Georges were grossly ignorant; they were wretchedly educated, and nature
had made them at once weak and obstinate. Their united reigns lasted
nearly sixty years; and after they had passed away, we, for another
period of sixty years, were governed by a prince who was long
incapacitated by disease, but of whom we must honestly say that, looking
at his general policy, he was least mischievous when he was most
incapable. This is not the place to expose the monstrous principles
advocated by George III., and to which posterity will do that justice
from which contemporary writers are apt to shrink; but it is certain
that neither his contracted understanding, nor his despotic temper, nor
his miserable superstition, nor the incredible baseness of that ignoble
voluptuary who succeeded him on the throne, could do aught to stop the
march of English civilization, or to stem the tide of English
prosperity. We went on our way rejoicing, caring for none of these
things. We were not to be turned aside from our path by the folly of our
rulers, because we know full well that we hold our own fate in our own
hands, and that the English people possess within themselves those
resources and that fertility of contrivance by which alone men can be
made great, and happy, and wise.
In Spain, however, directly the government slackened its hold, the
nation fell to pieces.[1241] During that prosperous career which has
just been noticed, the Spanish throne was invariably filled by very able
and intelligent princes. Ferdinand and Isabella, Charles V. and Philip
II., formed a line of sovereigns not to be matched in any other country
for a period of equal length. By them, the great things were effected,
and by their care, Spain apparently flourished. But, what followed when
they were withdrawn from the scene, showed how artificial all this was,
and how rotten, even to the core, is that system of government which
must be fostered before it can thrive, and which, being based on the
loyalty and reverence of the people, depends for success not on the
ability of the nation, but on the skill of those to whom the interests
of the nation are entrusted.
[1241] A learned Spanish lawyer has made some remarks which are worth
quoting, and which contain a curious mixture of truth and error:
'Comment la monarchie espagnole fut-elle déchue de tant de
grandeur et de gloire? Comment perdit-elle les Pays-Bas et le
Portugal dans le dix-septième siècle, et s'y trouva-t-elle
réduite à n'être qu'un squelette de ce qu'elle avait été
auparavant? Comment vit-elle disparaître plus d'une moitié de sa
population? Comment, possédant les mines inépuisables du Nouveau
Monde, les revenus de l'état n'étaient à peine que de six
millions de ducats sous le règne de Philippe III? Comment son
agriculture et son industrie furent-elles ruinées? et comment
presque tout son commerce passa-t-il dans les mains de ses plus
grands ennemis? Ce n'est point ici le lieu d'examiner les
véritables causes d'une métamorphose si triste; il suffira
d'indiquer _que tous les grands empires contiennent en euxmêmes
le germe de leur dissolution_,' &c. 'D'ailleurs les successeurs
de ces deux monarques' (Charles V. and Philip II.) 'n'eurent
point les mêmes talens, ni les ducs de Lerme et d'Olivarès,
leurs ministres, ceux du cardinal Cisneros; et il est difficile
de calculer l'influence de la bonne ou de la mauvaise direction
des affaires sur la prospérité ou les malheurs des nations. Sous
une même forme de gouvernement, quel qu'il puisse être, _elles
tombent ou se relèvent suivant la capacité des hommes qui les
dirigent_, et d'après les circonstances où ils agissent.'
_Sempère_, _Histoire des Cortès_, Bordeaux, 1815, pp. 265-267.
Of the two passages which I have marked with italics, the first
is a clumsy, though common, attempt to explain complicated
phenomena by a metaphor which saves the trouble of generalizing
their laws. The other passage, though perfectly true as regards
Spain, does not admit of that universal application which M.
Sempere supposes; inasmuch as in England, and in the United
States of America, national prosperity has steadily advanced,
even when the rulers have been very incapable men.
Philip II., the last of the great kings of Spain, died in 1598, and
after his death the decline was portentously rapid.[1242] From 1598 to
1700, the throne was occupied by Philip III., Philip IV., and Charles
II. The contrast between them and their predecessors was most
striking.[1243] Philip III. and Philip IV. were idle, ignorant, infirm
of purpose, and passed their lives in the lowest and most sordid
pleasures. Charles II., the last of that Austrian dynasty which had
formerly been so distinguished, possessed nearly every defect which can
make a man ridiculous and contemptible. His mind and his person were
such as, in any nation less loyal than Spain, would have exposed him to
universal derision. Although his death took place while he was still in
the prime of life, he looked like an old and worn-out debauchee. At the
age of thirty-five, he was completely bald; he had lost his eyebrows; he
was paralyzed; he was epileptic; and he was notoriously impotent.[1244]
His general appearance was absolutely revolting, and was that of a
drivelling idiot. To an enormous mouth, he added a nether jaw protruding
so hideously that his teeth could never meet, and he was unable to
masticate his food.[1245] His ignorance would be incredible, if it were
not substantiated by unimpeachable evidence. He did not know the names
of the large towns, or even of the provinces, in his dominions; and
during the war with France he was heard to pity England for losing
cities which in fact formed part of his own territory.[1246] Finally, he
was immersed in the most grovelling superstition; he believed himself
to be constantly tempted by the devil; he allowed himself to be
exorcised as one possessed by evil spirits; and he would not retire to
rest, except with his confessor and two friars, who had to lie by his
side during the night.[1247]
[1242] 'With Philip II. ends the greatness of the kingdom, which from
that period declined with fearful rapidity.' _Dunham's History
of Spain_, vol. v. p. 87. And Ortiz (_Compendio_, vol. vii.,
Prologo, p. 6) classes together 'la muerte de Felipe II. y
principios de nuestra decadencia.' The same judicious historian
elsewhere observes (vol. vi. p. 211), that if Philip III. had
been equal to his father, Spain would have continued to
flourish. Several of the more recent Spanish writers, looking at
the heavy expenses caused by the policy of Philip II., and at
the debts which he incurred, have supposed that the decline of
the country began in the latter years of his reign. But the
truth is, that no great nation ever was, or ever will be, ruined
by the prodigality of its government. Such extravagance causes
general discomfort, and therefore ought not to be tolerated; but
if this were the place for so long an argument, I could easily
show that its other and more permanent inconveniences are
nothing like what they are commonly supposed to be.
[1243] 'Abstraido Felipe III. en devociones, amante Felipe IV. de
regocijos, mortificado Carlos II. por padecimientos, cuidáronse
poco ó nada de la gobernacion del Estado, y confiaronla á
validos altaneros, codiciosos, incapaces, y de muy funesta
memoria.' _Rio_, _Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._, Madrid,
1856, vol. i. p. 33.