THE PROFESSOR’S TALK ABOUT SPAIN.
As usual, the professor had a large map posted
where all could see it. It was a map of Spain
and Portugal in this instance, in which the physical as
well as the political features of the peninsula were exhibited.
The instructor pointed at the map, and commenced
his lecture.
“The ancient name of Spain was _Iberia_; the Latin,
_Hispania_. The Spaniards call their country _España_.
Notice the mark over the _n_ in this word, which gives it
the value of _ny_, the same as the French _gn_. You will
find it in many Spanish words.
“With Portugal, Spain forms a peninsula whose
greatest length, from east to west, is six hundred and
twenty miles; and, from north to south, five hundred
and forty miles. It is separated from the rest of
Europe by the Pyrenees Mountains: they extend quite
across the isthmus, which is two hundred and forty
miles wide. It contains two hundred and fourteen
thousand square miles, of which one hundred and
seventy–eight thousand belong to Spain, and thirty–six
thousand to Portugal. Spain is not quite four times as
large as the State of New York; and Portugal is a
little larger than the State of Maine.
“Spain has nearly fourteen hundred miles of seacoast,
four–sevenths of which is on the Mediterranean.
Spain is a mountainous country. About one–half of its
area is on the great central plateau, from two to three
thousand feet above the level of the sea. The mountain
ranges, you observe, extend mostly east and west,
which gives the rivers, of course, the same general
direction. The Cantabrian and the Pyrenees are the
same range, the former extending along the northern
coast to the Atlantic. Between this range and the
Sierra Guadarrama are the valleys of the Duero and
the Ebro. This range reaches nearly from the mouth
of the Tagus to the mouth of the Ebro, and takes
several names in different parts of the peninsula.
The mountains of Toledo are about in the centre of
Spain. South of these are the Sierra Morena, with the
basin of the Guadiana on the north and that of the
Guadalquiver on the south. Near the southern coast
is the Sierra Nevada, which contains the Cerro de
Mulahacen, 11,678 feet, the highest peak in the peninsula.
_Sierra_ means a saw, which a chain of mountains
may resemble; though some say it comes from the
Arabic word _Sehrah_, meaning wild land.
“There are two hundred and thirty rivers in Spain;
but only six of them need be mentioned. The Minho
is in the north–west, and separates Spain and Portugal
for about forty miles. It is one hundred and thirty
miles long, and navigable for thirty. The Duero,
called the Douro in Portugal, has a course of four hundred
miles, about two–thirds of which is in Spain. It
is navigable through Portugal, and a little way into
Spain, though only for boats. The Tagus is the longest
river of the peninsula, five hundred and forty miles.
It is navigable only to Abrantes in Portugal, about
eighty miles; though Philip II. built several boats at
Toledo, loaded them with grain, and sent them down
to Lisbon. The Guadiana is in the south–west, three
hundred and eighty miles long, and navigable only
thirty–five. Near its source this river, like the Rhone
and some others, indulges in the odd freak of disappearing,
and flowing through an underground channel
for twenty miles. The river loses itself gradually in an
expanse of marshes, and re–appears in the form of
several small lakes, which are called ‘los ojos de la
Guadiana,’—the eyes of the Guadiana.
“The Guadalquiver is two hundred and eighty miles
long, and, like all the rivers I have mentioned, flows
into the Atlantic. It is navigable to Cordova, and
large vessels go up to Seville. The Ebro is the only
large river that flows into the Mediterranean. It is
three hundred and forty miles long, and is navigable
for boats about half this distance. Great efforts have
been made to improve the navigation of some of these
rivers, especially the largest of them. There are no
lakes of any consequence in Spain, the largest being a
mere lagoon on the seashore near Valencia.
“Spain has a population of sixteen millions, which
places it as the tenth in rank among the nations of
Europe. In territorial extent it is the seventh. It is
said that Spain, as a Roman province, had a population
of forty millions.
“Spain, including the Balearic and Canary Islands,
contains forty–nine provinces, each of which has its
local government, and its representation in the national
legislature, or _Cortes_. But you should know something
of the old divisions, since these are often mentioned in
the history of the country. There are fourteen of them,
each of which was formerly a kingdom, principality, or
province. Castile was the largest, including Old and
New Castile, and was in the north–central part of the
peninsula. This was the realm of Isabella; and, by her
marriage with Ferdinand, it was united with Aragon,
lying next east of it. East of Aragon, forming the
north–east corner of Spain, is Catalonia, of which
Barcelona is the chief city. North of Castile, on or
near the Bay of Biscay, are the three Basque provinces.
Bordering the Pyrenees, nearest to France, is the little
kingdom of Navarre, with Aragon on the east. Forming
the north–western corner of the peninsula is the
kingdom of Galicia. East of it, on the Bay of Biscay,
is the principality of the Asturias. South of this, and
between Castile and Portugal, is the kingdom of Leon,
which was attached to Castile in the eleventh century.
Estremadura is between Portugal and New Castile.
La Mancha, the country of Don Quixote, is south of
New Castile. Valencia and Murcia are on the east,
bordering on the Mediterranean. Andalusia is on both
sides of the Guadalquiver, including the three modern
provinces of Seville, Cordova, and Jaen. Granada is
in the south, on the Mediterranean. You will hear the
different parts of Spain spoken of under these names
more than any other.
“The principal vegetable productions of Spain are
those of the vine and olive. The export of wine is ten
million dollars; and of olive–oil, four millions. Raisins,
flour, cork, wool, and brandy are other important
exports, to say nothing of the fruits of the South, such
as grapes and oranges. Silver, quicksilver, lead, and
iron are the most valuable minerals. Silk is produced
in Valencia, Murcia, and Granada.
“The climate of Spain, as you would suppose from
its mountainous character, is very various. The north,
which is in the latitude of New England, is very
different from this region of our own country. On the
table–lands of the centre, it is hot in summer and cold
in winter. In the south, the weather is hot in summer,
but very mild in winter. Even here in Barcelona, the
mercury seldom goes down to the freezing point. The
average winter temperature of Malaga is about fifty–five
degrees Fahrenheit.
“Three thousand miles of railroad have been built,
and two thousand miles more have been projected.
One can go to all the principal cities in Spain now by
rail from Madrid; and those on the seacoast are connected
by several lines of steamers.
“The army consists of one hundred and fifty thousand
men, and may be increased in time of war by calling
out the reserves; for every man over twenty is
liable to do military duty. The navy consists of one
hundred and ten vessels, seventy–three of which are
screw steamers, twenty–four paddle steamers, and thirteen
sailing vessels. Seven of the screws are iron–clad
frigates. They are manned by thirteen thousand sailors
and marines; and this navy is therefore quite formidable.
“The government is a constitutional monarchy. The
king executes the laws through his ministers, but is not
held responsible for any thing. If things do not work
well, the ministers are to bear the blame, and his
Majesty may dismiss them at pleasure. The laws are
made by the _Cortes_, which consists of two bodies, the
Senate and the Congress. Any Spaniard who is of age,
and not deprived of his civil rights, may be a member
of the _Congreso_, or lower house. Four senators are
elected for each province. They must be forty years
old, be in possession of their civil rights, and must have
held some high office under the government in the army
or navy, in the church, or in certain educational institutions.
“The present king is Amedeo I., second son of Vittorio
Emanuele, king of Italy. He was elected king of
Spain Nov. 16, 1870.[1]
“All but sixty thousand of the population of Spain
are Roman Catholics; and of this faith is the national
church, though all other forms of worship are tolerated.
In 1835 and in 1836 the _Cortes_ suppressed all conventual
institutions, and confiscated their property for the
benefit of the nation. In 1833 there were in Spain one
hundred and seventy–five thousand ecclesiastics of all
descriptions, including monks and nuns. In 1862 this
number had been reduced to about forty thousand,
which exhibits the effect of the legislation of the _Cortes_.
The archbishop of Toledo is the head of the Church,
primate of Spain.
“Though there are ten universities in Spain some of
them very ancient and very celebrated, the population
of Spain have been in a state of extreme ignorance till
quite a recent period. At the beginning of the present
century, it was rare to find a peasant or an ordinary
workman who could read. Efforts have been put forth
since 1812 to promote popular education; but with no
great success, till within the last forty years. In 1868
there were a million and a quarter of pupils in the public
and private schools; and not more than one in ten
of the population are unable to read. But the sum
expended for public education in Spain is less per
annum than the city of Boston devotes to this object.
“Money values in Spain are generally reckoned in
_reales_, a _real_ being five cents of our money. This is
the unit of the system. The _Isabelino_, or Isabel as it
is generally called, is a gold coin worth one hundred
_reales_, or five dollars. A _peso_, or _duro_, is the same as
our dollar: it is a silver coin. The _escudo_ is half a
dollar. The _peseta_ is twenty cents; the half _peseta_ is
ten. The _real_ is the smallest silver coin. Of the copper
coins, the _medio real_ means half a real. You will
see a small copper coin stamped ‘1 _centimo de escudo_,’
which means one hundredth of an _escudo_, or half dollar.
It is the tenth of a _real_, or half a cent. Then
there is the _doble decima_, worth one cent; and the
_medio decima_, worth a quarter of a cent. But probably
you will not hear any of these copper coins mentioned.
Instead of them the small money will be counted in
_cuartos_, eight and a half of them making a real. An
American cent, an English halfpenny, a French sou,
or any other copper coin of any nation, and about the
same size, will go for a _cuarto_. A _maravedis_ is an
imaginary value, four of which were equal to a _cuarto_.
It is used in poetry and plays; and, though there is no
such coin, any piece of base metal, even a button, will
pass for a _maravedis_. There is a vast quantity of bad
money in circulation in Spain, especially of the gold
coins; and the traveller should be on the lookout for it.
There are also a great many counterfeit _escudos_, or half–dollars.
Travellers should have nothing to do with
paper money, as it is not good away from the locality
where it is issued.
“Having said all that occurs to me on these general
topics, I shall now ask your attention to the history of
Spain, which is very interesting to the student, though
I am obliged to make it quite brief. I hope you have
read the historical writings of our own Prescott, which
are more attractive than the novels of the day. If you
have not read these works, do so before you are a year
older; and here in Spain is the time for you to begin.
“Recent events have called an unusual amount of
attention to the Spanish peninsula; and this unhappy
country has long been in so uneasy a state that a revolution
surprises very few. Spain has had its full share,
both of the smiles and the frowns of fortune. It was
as widely known in early ages for its wealth, as it has
been in modern times for its beggars.
“Nearly three thousand years ago, the Phœnicians
began to plant colonies in the South of Spain. They
found the country abounding with silver. So plenty,
indeed, was the silver ore, that, according to one
account, they not only loaded their fleet with it, but
they returned home with their anchors and the commonest
implements made of the same precious metal.
“This is doubtless an exaggeration; but we have
reason to believe that silver was more abundant in
Spain than in any other quarter of the ancient world.
Few silver–mines were known in Asia in those days:
yet an immense quantity of silver was in circulation
there during the flourishing period of the Persian empire.
Herodotus tells us that in the reign of Darius,
son of Hystaspes, all the nations under the yoke of the
Persians, except the Indians and the Ethiopians, paid
their tribute in silver. A large portion of this was
obtained from the Phœnicians, and was distributed
through Asia by the traders who came to Tyre. The
Carthaginians also drew uncounted treasures in silver
from Spain. When Carthagina was taken from them
by Scipio, the portion of the precious metals that went
into the Roman treasury was eighteen thousand three
hundred pounds in weight of silver, two hundred and
seventy–six golden cups each weighing a pound, and
silver vessels without number. Near this city is a
silver–mine which is said to have employed forty thousand
workmen, and which paid the Romans nearly two
million dollars annually. Another mine in the Pyrenees
furnished to the Carthaginians in Hannibal’s time
three hundred pounds every day. The quantities of
gold and silver brought into the public treasury by the
Roman consuls who subjugated the different parts of
the Spanish peninsula were enormous. Still the
country was not exhausted; for it was almost as highly
favored in soil and climate as in its mineral treasures.
‘Next to Italy, if I except the fabulous regions of India,
I would rank Spain,’ wrote Pliny in the first century of
our era. At that time the country contained four hundred
and nine cities; and there was not within the
Roman empire a province where the people were more
industrious or more prosperous. How strongly this
account contrasts with the history of modern Spain!
When the Spanish monarchs were aspiring to rule the
world, in the sixteenth century, the streets of their
cities were overrun with beggars. Only a century ago,
the number of people in Spain who were without shirts,
because they were too poor to buy such a luxury, was
estimated at three millions, or one–third of the population
of the kingdom. Within a hundred years, however,
in spite of numerous drawbacks, the wealth of
the country has vastly increased, and the population
has nearly doubled.
“The Spaniards are the descendants of various
races, tribes, and nations. At the dawn of history, we
find the country in possession of the Iberians and
Celts. Of the Iberians we know but little. From
them Spain received its ancient name, Iberia; and the
Iberus River, now the Ebro, took the name by which,
with slight changes, it is still known. The language
of the Iberians is supposed to survive in that of the
Basque provinces of Biscaya, Guipuzcoa, and Alava,
which I located a few moments since.
“The Celts, who a little more than two thousand
years ago had not lost possession of Northern Italy
and the countries now known as England, Scotland,
and Ireland, drove the Iberians from the South of
France and from the north–western part of Spain, in
very early times. In the centre of the latter country
these people united, and were afterwards known as
Celt–Iberians.
“About a thousand years before Christ, the Phœnicians
began to build towns on the southern coast of
Spain; and, a century or two later, colonies were established
on the eastern coast by the Rhodians and by
other Greeks. Cadiz, Malaga, and Cordova were Phœnician
towns; and Rhodos and Saguntum—now Rosas
and Murviedro—were among those founded by the
Greeks.
“Carthage was founded by the Tyrians; but the
Carthaginians did not allow relationship to stand in
the way of gain or conquest. Nearly six hundred
years before our era, they found an opportunity to
supplant the Phœnicians in Spain; and in the course
of two centuries and a half they had brought under
their sway a large portion of the country. At length
the Greek colonies on the coast of Catalonia and
Valencia, and several independent nations of the
interior, seeing no other way to avoid submitting to
Carthage, called upon the Romans for help. Rome
sent commissioners to Carthage in the year B.C.
227, who obtained a promise that the Carthaginians
would not push their conquests beyond the Ebro, and
that they would not disturb the Saguntines and other
Greek colonies. But, in spite of this agreement,
Saguntum was besieged eight years later, by a Carthaginian
army under Hannibal. The siege and
destruction of this city caused the second Punic war,
lasting from B.C. 218 to 201, during which Carthage
lost her last foot–hold in Spain.
“But the Romans did not obtain quiet possession of
the country their great enemy had lost. Nearly all the
territory had to be won again from the natives; and in
some parts of the peninsula the contest was doubtful
for years. As if this were not enough, many of the
battles of the civil wars, during the decline of the Roman
republic, were fought on the soil of Spain, which,
for two centuries after the fall of Saguntum, hardly
knew the blessing of peace for a single year. To say
nothing of lesser celebrities, we find the names of Hasdrubal,
Hanno, Mago, and Hannibal, among the Carthaginians;
of Viriathus, the Lusitanian; and, of the
Romans, the Scipios, Sertorius, Metellus, Pompey the
Great, and Julius Cæsar,—in the military annals of
Spain during this period.
“Shortly after the Roman republic became an empire,
under Augustus,—B.C. 30 to A.D. 14,—war
was suspended throughout the Roman empire; and the
Spaniards enjoyed a large share of tranquillity from
that time till the barbarians poured across the Pyrenees,
at the beginning of the fifth century. As a province of
the empire, Spain held a high rank. The stupendous
Bridge of Alcantara, the well–preserved Theatre of
Murviedro, and the celebrated Aqueducts of Segovia
and Tarragona, still attest the magnificence of that
period. Nor was the peninsula wanting in illustrious
men during these times. The most learned and practical
writer on agriculture among the ancients,—Columella,—the
poets Martial and Lucan, the philosopher
Seneca, the historian Florus, the geographer Pomponius
Mela, and the rhetorician Quintilian, were
Spaniards. Three of the Roman emperors—Trajan,
one of the greatest princes that ever swayed a sceptre;
Hadrian, the enlightened protector of arts and literature;
and Marcus Aurelius, whose name was long held
in grateful remembrance by his subjects—were also
natives of the Spanish peninsula.
“After the death of Constantine, A.D. 337, the
prosperity of Spain began to decline. The taxes
became heavier, and were increased till they were more
than the people could bear. In a short time towns
were deserted, fields ran to waste, and fruit–trees were
uprooted, so as to reduce the value of property in order
to avoid taxation. At the close of the century nothing
was to be seen but desolation, poverty, and misery.
But there was still a lower deep: the barbarians crossed
the Pyrenees, and the country was turned into a desert.
“The great irruption of the northern nations into the
Roman empire began in 375. A century later, the
western empire fell. The most important division of
the barbarians, who occupy so large a place in the history
of the fourth and fifth centuries, were the Germans.
The Vandals and Suevi, two of the nations that entered
Spain in 409, were Germans. It is not certain that the
third nation coming to Spain, the Alani, were of the
same race. The ravages of these barbarians were terrible.
Towns were burned, the country laid waste, and
the inhabitants were massacred without distinction of
age or sex. Famine and pestilence made fearful havoc,
and the wild beasts left their hiding–places to make
war on the wretched people. Even the corpses were
devoured by the starving population.
“At length the conquerors themselves saw that converting
a land in which they intended to live into a
desert was not the wisest policy. They divided by lot,
among themselves, those parts of the peninsula which
they occupied. The southern part fell to the Vandals,
whence it received the name of Vandalicia, which has
easily become Andalusia. Lusitania, which was very
nearly the modern Portugal, went to the Alani; and the
Suevi had the north–western part of the peninsula,
which is now Galicia. The Romans still held the rest
of the country.
“But this division was soon destroyed by the Visigoths,
or West Goths, another Germanic tribe. All
these Germans were only a little less savage than our
North American Indians. They neglected agriculture,
and no man tilled the same field more than one year.
War was really their only occupation. One of them
boasted to Julius Cæsar that his soldiers had been fourteen
years without entering a house; another declared
that the only country he knew as his home was the territory
occupied by his troops; and we are told by Tacitus
that war was the only work they liked.
“The Visigoths, under their King Alaric, had ravaged
Greece and Italy, and had taken Rome, before
they established themselves in Southern Gaul, in 411.
They commenced the conquest of Spain almost immediately
after the foundation of their new kingdom; but
they were the nominal rather than the real masters of
the kingdom for more than half a century.
“Euric (466 to 484) was the founder of the Gothic
kingdom of Spain; and Amalaric (522 to 531) was the
first sovereign to hold his court in the country. Before
long, Spain became the most flourishing of the governments
established by the Germans on the ruins of the
western empire. The conquerors, as they were the few
while the civilized Roman inhabitants were the many,
adopted the manners, the religion, the laws, and the
language, of the subject people. They mingled a little
Gothic with the Latin; and from this mixture arose, in
the course of time, the noble and beautiful Castilian, or
Spanish language.
“By degrees the Visigoths became less warlike, and
finally ceased to be a nation of soldiers. Their kings
were elective, and seem to have possessed more power
than those of other German tribes. Still they were
controlled to a great extent by the clergy. The councils
of Toledo figured largely in the history of that
period; and in these the bishops were a power. ‘Let
no one in his pride seize upon the throne,’ says one
of the Visigothic laws; ‘let no pretender excite civil
war among the people; let no one conspire the death
of the prince. But, when the king is dead in peace,
let the principal men of the whole kingdom, together
with the bishops—who have received power to bind
and to loose, and whose blessing and unction confirm
princes in their authority—appoint his successor
by common consent, and with the approval of God.’
But the kings were not always allowed to die in peace.
From Euric to Roderick, the greater number of them
were assassinated or deposed. Roderick, the last of the
Gothic kings of Spain, drove his predecessor from the
throne. The relations of the dethroned monarch invited
the Arabs, or Moors, of Africa to their aid; and
the famous battle fought on the plains of the modern
_Xeres de la Frontera_, near Cadiz, a battle that lasted
three days, put an end to the life of Roderick, and to
the Gothic kingdom of Spain, in the year 711.
“In the days of the patriarch Jacob, the people of
Arabia were far enough advanced in civilization to
maintain an active overland trade with Egypt. The
Midianite merchantmen to whom Joseph was sold for
twenty pieces of silver—about a dozen dollars—were
from Arabia. Yet, for more than two thousand years
from that time, the Arabs continued to be so divided
into hostile clans, that they were almost unknown to
history. The religion of Mohammed first united them;
and the history of the Arabs really begins with the
Hegira, or flight of the Prophet from Mecca, in the
year 622. For ten years Mohammed had proclaimed
his new creed in Mecca; his followers had been few,
and had suffered incessant persecution; and now he
was promised, by men from Medina, that, if he would
flee to their city, his faith should be adopted and maintained.
He made his escape from Mecca, though not
without great risk, and reached Medina in safety,
accompanied by a single friend. In Mecca he had
preached patience and resignation under the wrongs
inflicted by man. At Medina, where he had followers,
his doctrine was, that one drop of blood shed in the
cause of God—meaning the new faith, of course—was
to be of more avail in working out the salvation of
his hearers than two months of fasting and prayer. At
first he made war on the caravan trade of his native
city; and Mecca sent out an army to meet him.
Mohammed had but three hundred and twenty–four
men, while the Meccans were a thousand. But the
prophet assured his followers that three thousand angels
were fighting on his side; and with these unseen allies
he utterly routed his enemy. After this first victory,
conquest followed conquest in rapid succession. In
less than a century from the Hegira, Arabia was but a
small province of the empire which had been founded
by Mohammed’s successors; an empire that extended
from India to the Atlantic, and included Syria, Phœnicia,
Mesopotamia, Persia, Bactriana, Egypt, Libya,
Numidia, Spain, and many important islands of the
Mediterranean.
“After King Roderick’s defeat and death at Xeres,
the Moors almost immediately took possession of the
whole country, except Biscaya, Navarre, a part of Aragon,
and the mountains of the Asturias. Here a few
resolute Goths made a stand, under Pelayo, and established
a kingdom; a stronghold which enabled the
Christians step by step to recover their lost territory,
till after eight centuries the last foot of Spanish soil
was retaken from the Moslems.
“During a part of the Moors’ dominion in Spain the
country was very prosperous. For more than forty
years after the conquest, however, it was ruled by viceroys
dependent upon the caliphs who reigned in Damascus.
This was a time of discord and civil war; and,
towards the close of this period, many a city and village
was laid in ruins never again to rise.
“The eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries were the
most prosperous in the history of Mohammedan Spain;
and the last was its golden age. The Moors, though
warlike, were also industrious, and agriculture flourished
during this period as it has never flourished since.
Roads and bridges were built, and canals for fertilizing
the land were made in all parts of the country. Learning
was encouraged by the kings of Cordova; and, at
the end of the eleventh century, Moorish Spain could
boast of seventy large libraries; while her poets, historians,
philosophers, and mathematicians were second
to none of that age. Cordova, the capital, was equal to
many cities like the Cordova of to–day. At one time
there were in that city six hundred mosques, and nearly
four thousand chapels, or mosques of smaller dimensions;
four hundred and thirty minarets, or towers
from which the people were called to prayers, such as
you saw in Constantinople; nine hundred baths; more
than eighty thousand shops; sixty thousand palaces
and mansions; and two hundred and thirteen thousand
common dwelling–houses. The city extended eight
leagues along the Guadalquiver. If these statistics
are correct, the city must have contained not less than
a million inhabitants. We can form some idea of its
splendors when we are told that a palace built near the
city, by Abderrahman III., had its roof supported by
more than four thousand pillars of variegated marble;
that the floors and walls were of the same costly material;
that the chief apartments were adorned with
exquisite fountains and baths; and that the whole was
surrounded by most magnificent grounds.
“In 1031 the kingdom, or caliphate, of Cordova
came to an end; and several petty kingdoms took its
place. But all of them soon became dependent upon
the Moorish monarch of Northern Africa. The Christian
kings of Spain were prompt in taking advantage
of this division among the infidels, as the Moors were
called; and the power of the Moslems began to decline.
The Christians gained rapidly on the Moors; and in
1238, when the kingdom of Granada was founded, the
Moors held only a part of Southern Spain. Granada
was the last realm of the Moors in Spain; and its population
was largely composed of the Moslems who fled
there from the kingdoms which had been overthrown
by the victorious arms of the Christian monarchs.
The little kingdom of Granada, though it had an
area of only nine thousand square miles, contained
thirty–two large cities and ninety–seven smaller ones,
and a population of three million souls. The city of
Granada had seventy thousand houses. This kingdom
held out against the Christians till the beginning of the
year 1492. This was the year in which America was
discovered; and Columbus followed Ferdinand and
Isabella, in their campaign against the Moors, to this
city.
“With the fall of Granada, came the close of the
Moorish rule in the peninsula. A few years later many
of the Moors were expelled from the country. In
many parts of Spain the traveller still sees numerous
traces of their dominion. He finds these traces in the
Oriental style of the older buildings; in the _alcazars_,
or palaces, they built; in the mosques now converted
into Christian churches; and in the canals which still
fertilize the soil from which the Moslems were driven
more than three centuries ago.
“The old Gothic monarchy founded by Pelayo survived
in the kingdom of the Asturias. As the Christians
began to recover their lost territory from the
Moors, these conquests, instead of being joined to the
Asturian kingdom, were erected into independent
states; but, by the middle of the fifteenth century, the
number of them had been reduced to five,—Navarre,
Aragon, Castile, Granada, and Portugal. We shall say
something of Portugal at another time, for it has a
history of its own. In 1479 Ferdinand of Aragon and
Isabella of Castile united these two monarchies into
one. The kingdom of the Asturias had been merged
into that of Leon, which was united to Castile in 1067.
Granada was added in 1492, and Navarre twenty years
later.
“At the death of Ferdinand in 1516, Charles I.
became king of Spain. He was the son of ‘Crazy
Jane,’ daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella. He was
elected emperor of Germany three years after his
accession to the throne, as Charles V. His reign and
that of his son and successor covered the most splendid
period in the history of modern Spain, ending with the
death of Philip in 1588. Their dominions were the
most extensive among the monarchs of Europe; their
armies were the best of that age; and their treasuries
were supplied by the exhaustless mines of the new
world which Columbus had given to Spain. But, after
the death of Philip II., the monarchy rapidly declined;
so rapidly indeed that a century later, when Charles II.
died, in 1700, it was without money, without credit, and
without troops.
“I must again call your attention to the magnificent
works of our own Prescott. I hope you will all read
them, for I have not time to mention a score of topics
which are treated in these volumes, such as the Inquisition,
the Spanish Rule in Naples, the Conquest of
Granada, the Great Captain, the Cardinal Ximines,
and the Spanish Rule in the Netherlands. I commend
to you also the works of Motley and Washington Irving;
of the latter, especially ‘The Life of Columbus,’ ‘The
Alhambra,’ and ‘The Conquest of Granada.’”
“Charles II., as he had no children, and there was no
heir to the throne, signed an instrument, before his
death, declaring Philip, Duke of Anjou, grandson of
the grand monarch Louis XIV., his successor. This
king was Philip V., the first of the Spanish branch of
the Bourbon family, to which Isabella II., the late
queen of Spain, belonged. England, Holland, and
Germany objected to this arrangement, because it
placed both France and Spain under the rule of the
same family; and for twelve years resisted the claim of
Philip to the throne. This was ‘the war of the Spanish
succession,’ in which Prince Eugene and the Duke of
Marlborough won several great victories. But Philip
retained the throne, though he lost the Spanish possessions
in Italy and the Netherlands, and was obliged to
cede Gibraltar and Minorca to England. Under Philip
V. and his successors, the prosperity of Spain revived;
and the kingdom flourished till the French Revolution.
“Philip was followed by his son Ferdinand VI. in
1748; but he was mentally unfit to take an active part
in the government, and was succeeded by his stepbrother
Charles III. in 1759. He was a wise prince,
and greatly promoted the prosperity of his country.
Charles IV., who came to the throne in 1788, began his
reign by following the wise policy of his father; but he
soon placed himself under the influence of Godoy, his
prime minister, who led him into several fruitless wars
and expensive alliances, which reduced the country to
a miserable condition. In 1808 an insurrection compelled
him to abdicate in favor of his son, who ascended
the throne as Ferdinand VII. A few days later the
ex–king wrote a letter to Napoleon, declaring that he
had abdicated under compulsion; and he revoked the
act. Napoleon offered to arbitrate between the father
and son, and he met them at Bayonne for this purpose.
He induced both of them to resign their claims to
the throne, and then made his brother Joseph king of
Spain. The new king started for his dominion; but
the Spaniards were not satisfied with this little arrangement,
and insurrections broke out all over the country.
England decided to take a hand in the game, made
peace with Spain, acknowledged Ferdinand VII. as
king of Spain, and formed an alliance with the government.
Thus began the peninsular war, in which the
Duke of Wellington prepared the way for the destruction
of Napoleon’s power. As you travel, you will visit
the battle–fields of this great conflict, and your guide–book
will contain full accounts of the struggle in various
places.
“In 1812, while Ferdinand was a prisoner in France,
and the war was still raging, the _Cortes_, driven from
Madrid to Seville, and then to Cadiz, drew up a written
constitution, the first of the kind known in the peninsula.
The regency acting for the absent monarch,
recognized by England and Russia, took an oath to
support it. In 1814 Ferdinand was released, and
came back to Spain. He declared the constitution
null and void, and the _Cortes_ that adopted it illegal.
He ruled the nation in an arbitrary manner, and even
attempted to restore the inquisition, which had been
abolished, and to annul the reforms which had been for
years in progress. But in 1820 the patience of the
people was exhausted, and a revolution was undertaken.
The king was deserted by his troops; and the royal
palace was surrounded by a multitude of the people,
who demanded his acceptance of the constitution of
1812. The humbled monarch appeared at a balcony,
holding a copy of the instrument in his hand, as an
indication that he was ready to accept it, and take the
oath to support it. In a few months the _Cortes_ met; and
the king formally swore to obey the constitution, and
accept the new order of things. But this did not suit
France, Austria, Russia, and Prussia: they had no
stomach for liberal constitutions; and these powers
sent a French army into Spain, which soon overpowered
the resistance offered; and Ferdinand was again in condition
to rule as absolutely as ever. It was during this
period that the Spanish–American colonies, which had
begun to revolt in 1808, secured their independence.
“Even those who favored the king’s views were not
wholly satisfied with the king, and believed he was not
energetic enough for the situation. Many of the people
wished to dethrone Ferdinand, and elevate his
brother Carlos, or Charles, to his place. Several insurrections
broke out, but they were failures. Of
course this state of things did not create the best of
feeling between Ferdinand and Carlos. The Bourbon
family were governed by the Salic law, which excludes
females from the throne. In 1830, the year in which
Isabella the late queen, who was the daughter of Ferdinand
VII., was born, Maria Christina induced her
husband, the king, to abolish the Salic law. Two years
later, when the king was very sick, the Church party
compelled him to revoke the act; but he got better;
and, as the _Cortes_ had sanctioned the annulling of the
Salic law, he destroyed the documents which had been
extorted from him on his sick–bed. His queen had
been made regent during his illness. When Ferdinand
died, his daughter was proclaimed queen, in accordance
with the programme, as Isabella II. Don Carlos had
protested against his exclusion from the throne, and
now he took up arms to enforce his right. In the
Basque provinces he was proclaimed king, as Charles
V. His arms were successful at first; but, though the
war lasted seven years, it was a failure in the end.
“While the Carlist war was still raging, in 1836, a
revolution in favor of a constitution broke out; and
the next year that of 1812, with important amendments,
was adopted by the _Cortes_, and ratified by the
queen regent, for Isabella was a child of only six
years. In 1841, Maria Christina having resigned, Espartero
was appointed regent, by the _Cortes_, for the
rest of the queen’s minority. He was a progressive
man, and his administration very largely promoted
the prosperity of the country. The government had
abolished convents, and confiscated the revenues of
the Church; and this awakened the hostility of the
clergy, who, for a time, prevented the sale of the property
thus acquired. This question finally produced a
rupture between Espartero and the clergy, resulting in
a general insurrection. The regent fled to England,
and the _Cortes_ declared the queen to be of age when
she was only thirteen years old. Espartero was recalled
a few years later, and has since held many high offices.
The pope eventually permitted the Church property to
be sold; but the contest between the progressive and
the conservative parties was continued for a long period.
Narvaez, Serrano, General Prim, Castelar, and Espartero
are the most prominent statesmen; and doubtless
the last–named is the most able.
“The frequent insurrections gave the government
some excuse for ruling with little regard to the fundamental
law of the land; and this led to another revolution
in 1854, in favor of a little more constitution.
The evil was corrected for the time; and the instrument
adopted, or rather restored, is sometimes called the
constitution of 1854. But the queen was a Bourbon,
and seemed to be always in favor of tyrannical measures
and of the party that advocated them; and the country
has continued to be in a disorganized state largely on
this account. She has been noted for the frequent
changes of her ministers. A few years ago General
Prim raised the standard of revolt; but the time for
a change had not yet come, and the general was glad
to escape into Portugal.
“The revolution of 1868 commenced with the fleet
off Cadiz; but, the cry, ‘Down with the Bourbons!’
soon reached the army and the people, and the revolution
was accomplished almost without opposition. The
queen fled to France. A provisional government was
organized, and an election of members of the _Cortes_
was ordered to decide on the form of the new government.
The _Cortes_ met, and in May, 1869, decreed that
the new government should be a monarchy. About the
same time the crown was offered to King Louis of
Portugal, who, however, declined it. Last June, Queen
Isabella abdicated in favor of her son Alfonso, prince
of the Asturias, who will be Alfonso XII. if he ever
becomes king of Spain. Later in the year Prince
Leopold, of Hohenzollern Sigmaringen, was invited to
the throne. He was a relative of the king of Prussia;
and, when he accepted the crown, it was a real grievance
to France. Leopold was withdrawn from the candidacy;
but this matter was made the pretext for the
Franco–Prussian war now raging on the soil of France.
“But we read history in the newspapers for the
latest details; and only last month the _Cortes_ elected
Amedeo, second son of the king of Italy, king of Spain.
He has accepted the crown, and departed for his kingdom.
We can wish him a prosperous reign; but in
a country like Spain he will find that a crown is not a
wreath of roses. I will not detain you longer, young
gentlemen.”
* * * * *
The professor bowed, and descended from his rostrum.
Most of the students had given good attention to his
discourse; for they desired to understand the history
of the country they were about to visit.
Since Professor Mapps finished his lecture in the port
of Barcelona, King Amedeo, after two long years of fruitless
struggling with the enemies of Spain’s peace and
prosperity, renounced the crown for himself, his children,
and successors. Nearly a year later Alfonso XII.
was proclaimed king of Spain, and now occupies the
throne. While the country was looking for a king, the
third Carlist war was begun,—the last two led by
the son of the original Don Carlos,—but it was a
failure.