Spain
SPAIN (Espana), a kingdom in the extreme south-west of Europe, comprising about eleven-thirteentha of the Iberian Peninsula, in addition to the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, and the fortified station of Ceuta, on the Moroccan coast opposite to Gibraltar. Each of the two island groups forms one of the forty-nine provinces of the kingdom, although only the first named belongs geographically to Spain. Ceuta is included in the province of Cadiz. In 1900 the kingdom ( exclusive of its colonies) had a population of 18,607,674, and a total area of 194,700 sq. m. It is thus rather more than twice the size of Great Britain, nearly 50,000 sq. m. larger than Japan, and nearly 85,000 sq. m. larger than Italy and Sicily. Exclusive of the Canaries its area is 191,893 sq. m. On all sides except that of Portugal the boundaries of continental Spain are natural, the Peninsula being separated from France by the Pyrenees and on every other side being surrounded by the sea. On the side of Portugal a tract of inhospitable country ,led originally to the separation between the two kingdoms, inasmuch as it caused the reconquest of the comparatively populous maritime tracts from the Moors to be carried out independently of that of the eastern kingdoms, which were also well peopled. The absence of any such means of intercommunication as navigable rivers afford has favoured the continuance of this isolation. The precise line of the western frontier is formed for a considerable length by portions of the chief rivers or by small tributaries, and on the north (between Portugal and Galicia) it is determined to a large extent by small mountain ranges. The British rock of Gibraltar, in the extreme south of the peninsula, is separated from Spain by a low isthmus known as the Neutral Ground.
By the relinquishment of Cuba and the cession of Puerto Rico, the Philippine and Sulu Islands, and Guam, the largest of the Colonial Ladrones, to the United States, as a consequence Posses- of the war of 1898, and of the remaining Ladrone sioos. or Marianne Islands, together with the Caroline and Pelew Islands, to Germany by a treaty of the 8th of February 1899, the colonial possessions of Spain were greatly reduced. Apart from Ceuta, Spain possesses on the Moroccan seaboard Melilla, Alhucemas, Penon de la Gomera, Ifni, and the Chaffarinas islets. Besides these isolated posts Spain holds Rio de Oro, a stretch of the Saharan coast, and its hinterland lying between Morocco and French West Africa; the Muni River Settlements or Spanish Guinea, situated between French Congo and the German colony of Cameroon; Fernando Po, Annobon, Corisco and other islands in the Gulf of Guinea. Spain has given to France the right of pre-emption over any of her West African colonies.
I. GENERAL SURVEY or THE SPANISH KINGDOM Physical Features. The coast-line on the north and northwest is everywhere steep and rocky. On the north there are numerous small indentations, many of which form convenient harbours, although the current flowing along the coast from the west often leaves in the stiller water at their mouths Coast-lines obstruction bars. The best harbours are to be found ' on the rias or fjord-like indentations in the W. and N. of Galicia, where high tides keep the inlets well scoured; here occur the fine natural harbours of Pontevedra and Vigo, Corunna and Ferrol. Less varied in outline but more varied in character are the Spanish coasts on the south and east. The seaboard is generally flat from the frontier of Portugal to the Straits of Gibraltar. Between the mouth of the Rio Tinto and that of the Guadalquivir the shore is lined by a series of sand-dunes, known as the Arenas Gordas. Next follows a marshy tract at the mouth of the Guadalquivir known as Las Marismas, after which the coast-line becomes more varied, and includes the fine Bay of Cadiz. From the Straits of Gibraltar a bold and rocky coast continues almost to Cape Palos, a little beyond the fine natural harbour of Cartagena. North of Cape Palos a line of flat coast, beginning with the narrow strip which cuts off the lagoon called the Mar Menor from the Mediterranean, bounds half of the province of Alicante, but in its northern half this province, becoming mountainous, runs out to the lofty headland of Cape de la Nao. The whole coast of the Bay of Valencia is low and ill provided with harbours; and along the east of Catalonia stretches of steep and rocky coast alternate with others of an opposite character.
The surface of Spain is remarkable at once for its striking contrasts and its vast expanses of dreary uniformity. There are mountains rising with alpine grandeur above the snow-line, but often sheltering rich and magnificent valleys at their Surface. base. Naked walls of white limestone tower above dark woods of cork-oak and olive. In other parts, as in the Basque country, in Galicia, in the Serrania de Cuenca (between the headwaters of the Tagus and those of the Jiicar), in the Sierra de Albarracin (between the headwaters of the Tagus and those of the Guadalaviar), there are extensive tracts of undulating forest -clad hill country, and almost contiguous to these there are apparently boundless plains, or tracts of level table-land, some almost uninhabitable, and some streaked with irrigation canals and richly cultivated like the Requena of Valencia. While, again, continuous mountain ranges and broad plains and table-lands give the prevailing character to the scenery, there are, on the one hand, lofty isolated peaks, such as Monseny, Montserrat (?.P.) and Mont Sant in Catalonia, the Pena Golosa in Valencia, Moncayo on the borders of Aragon and Old Castile, and, on the other hand, small secluded valleys, such as those of Vich and Olot among the Catalonian Pyrenees.
The greater part of the interior of Spain is composed of a table-land bounded by the Cantabrian Mountains in the north and the Sierra Morena in the south, and divided into two by a series ce n t ra i of mountain ranges stretching on the whole from east -fable-land. to west. The northern half of the table-land, made up of the provinces of Leon and Old Castile, has an average elevation estimated at about 2700 ft., while the southern half, made, up of Estremadura and New Castile, is slightly lower about 2600 ft. On all sides the table-land as a whole is remarkably isolated, and hence the passes on its boundary and the river valleys that lead down from it to the surrounding plains are geographical features of peculiar importance. The isolation on the side of Portugal has already been mentioned. On the north-west the valley of the Sil and a series of valleys farther south, along both of which military roads have been carried from an early period, open up communication between Leon and the hill country of Galicia, which explains why this province was united to Leon even before the conquest of Portugal from the Moors. The passes across the Cantabrian Mountains in the north are tolerably numerous, and several of them are crossed by railways. The two most remarkable are the Pass of Pajares, across which winds the railway from Leon to Oviedo and the seaport of Gijon, and that of Reinosa leading down to the deep valley of the Besaya, and crossed by the railway from Valladolid to Santander. In its eastern section the chain is crossed by the railways from Burgos to Bilbao and San Sebastian ; the last-named line winds through the wild and romantic gorge of Pancorbo (in the north-east of the province of Burgos) before it traverses the Cantabrian chain at Idiazabal.
On the north-east and east, where the edge of the table-land sweeps round in a wide curve, the surface sinks in broad terraces to the valley of the Ebro and the Bay of Valencia, and is crowned by more or less isolated mountains, some of which have been already mentioned. On the north-east, by far the most important communication with the Ebro valley is formed by the valley of the Jalon, which has thus always formed a military route of the highest consequence, and is now traversed by the railway from Madrid to Saragossa. Farther south the mountains clustered on the east of the table-land (Sierra de Albarracin, Serrania de Cuenca) long rendered direct communication between Valencia and Madrid extremely difficult, and the principal communications with the east and south-east are effected where the southern table-land of La Mancha (q.v.) merges in the hill country which connects the interior of Spain with the Sierra Nevada.
In the south the descent from the table-land to the valley of the Guadalquivir is again comparatively gradual, but even here in the eastern half of the Sierra Morena the passes are few, the most important being the Puerto de Despenaperros, where the Rio Magafia, a sub-tributary of the Guadalimar, has cut for itself a deep gorge through which the railway ascends from Andalusia to Madrid. Between Andalusia and Estremadura farther west the communication is freer, the Sierra Morena being broken up into series of small chains.
Of the mountains belonging to the table-land the most continuous are those of the Cantabrian chain, which stretches for the most part . . from east to west, parallel to the Bay of Biscay, but " ultimately bends round towards the south between Leon and Galicia (see CANTABRIAN MOUNTAINS). A peculiar feature of this chain, and of the neighbouring parts of the table-land, is the number of the parameras or isolated plateaus, surrounded by steep rocky mountains, or even by walls of sheer cliff. The bleak districts of Sigiienza and Soria, round the headwaters of the Douro, separate the mountains of the so-called Iberian system on the north-east of the table-land from the eastern portion of the central mountain chains of the peninsula. Of these chains, to which Spanish geographers S've the name Carpetano-Vetonica, the most easterly is the Sierra de uadarrama, the general trend of which is from south-west to northeast. It is the Monies Carpetani of the ancients, and a portion of it (due north of Madrid) still bears the name of Carpetanos. Composed almost entirely of granite, it has an aspect when seen from a distance highly characteristic of the mountains of the Iberian Peninsula in general, presenting the appearance of a saw-like ridge (sierra) broken up into numerous sections. Its mean height is about 5250 ft., and near its centre it has three summits, the highest (named the Pico de Penalara) rising to a height of 6910 ft. The chief passes across the Sierra are those of Somosierra (4692 ft.) in the north-east, Navacerrada (5837 ft.), near Penalara, and Guadarrama (5010 ft.), a few miles farther south and west; these are crossed by carriage roads. The railway from Madrid to Segovia passes through a tunnel close to the Guadarrama Pass ; and the railway from Madrid to Avila traverses the south-western portion of the range through a remarkable series of tunnels and cuttings.
A region with a highly irregular surface, filled with hills and parameras, separates the Sierra de Guadarrama from the Sierra de Credos farther west. This is the loftiest and grandest sierra in the whole series. Its culminating point, the Plaza de Almanzor, attains the height of 8730 ft., not far short of that of the highest Cantabrian summits. Its general trend is east and west; towards the south it sinks precipitously, and on the north it descends with a somewhat more gentle slope towards the longitudinal valleys of the Tormes and Alberche which separate it from another rugged mountain range, forming the southern boundary of the paramera of Avila. On the west another rough and hilly tract, similar to that which divides it from the Sierra de Guadarrama in the east, separates it from the Sierra de Gala, the westernmost and the lowest of the Spanish sierras belonging to the series. These hilly intervals between the more continuous sierras greatly facilitate the communication between the northern and southern halves of the Spanish table-land. The Sierra de Credos has a road across it connecting Avila with Talavera de la Reina by the Puerto del Pico ; but for the most part there are only bridle-paths across the Credos and Gata ranges, and no railway crosses either of them, although the line from Plasencia to Salamanca skirts the Sierra de Credos on the west. The Serra da Estrella, in Portugal, is usually regarded as a fourth section in the CarpetanoVetonica chain. , On the southern half of the table-land a shorter series of sierras, consisting of the Monies de Toledo in the east (highest elevation Tejadillas, 4567 ft.) and the sierras of San Pedro, Montanchez and Guadalupe in the west (highest elevation Cabeza del Moro, 5100 ft.), separates the basins of the Tagus and Guadiana. The southern system of mountains bounding the Iberian table-land the Sierra Morena (g.f.) is even less of a continuous chain than the two systems last described. As already intimated, its least continuous portion is in the west. In the east and middle portion it is composed of a countless number of irregularly-disposed undulating mounlains all nearly equal in height.
Even more important than the mountains bounding or crossing the table-land are those which are connected wilh il only al iheir exlremities; viz. the Pyrenees (q.v.) in the north-east, the Sierra Nevada (q.v.) and the coast ranges in the south. The transverse valleys of the Sierra Nevada open southwards into the mountainous longitudinal valleys of the Alpujarras (q.v.), into which open also on the other side the transverse valleys from the most easterly of the coast sierras, the Sierra Contraviesa and the Sierra de Almijara. These ranges are continued farther west by the Sierra de Alhama and Sierra de Abdalajiz. Immediately lo the west of the lasl-named sierra is the gorge of the Guadalhorce, which affords a passage for the railway from Malaga lo Cordova; and beyond lhal gorge, lo ihe wesl and soulh-west, the Serrania de Ronda, a mountain group difficult of access, slretches out its sierras in all directions. To Spanish geographers ihe coast ranges just mentioned are known collectively as the Sierra Penibelica. Allhough nol comparable in allilude wilh the Pyrenees (highest summit Aneto, 11,168 ft.) or the Sierra Nevada (highest summit Mulhacen, 11,421 ft.), the coasl ranges frequenlly allain an elevalion of over 5000 ft., and in some cases of over 6000 ft. North-easl of the Sierra Nevada two small ranges, Alcaraz and La Sagra, rise wilh remarkable abruptness from the plaleau of Murcia, where il merges in lhal of the interior.
The only Iwo importanl lowland valleys of Spain are ihose of the Ebro and the Guadalquivir. The Ebro valley occupies the angle in the norlh-easl belween ihe Pyrenees and the central , . lable-land, and is divided by ranges of heights proceeding VM ** on the one side from the Pyrenees, on the other from the eys ' base of the Moncayo, inlo Iwo portions. The uppermosl of ihese, a plateau of between 1000 and 1300 ft. above sea-level, is only about one-fourth of the size of ihe remaining portion, which is chiefly lowland, bul is cul off from the coasl by a highland Iracl connecling the interior lable-land wilh spurs from ihe Pyrenees. The Guadalquivir basin is likewise divided by the configuration of the ground into a small upper portion of considerable elevation and a much larger lower portion mainly lowland, the latter composed from Seville downwards of a perfeclly level and lo a large exlent unhealthy alluvium (Las Marismas). The division between ihese Iwo seclions is indicated by the change in the course of the main stream from a due westerly lo a more soulh-weslerly direclion.
The main waler-parting of the Peninsula is everywhere near the edge of the table-land on the north, east and south, and hence describes a semicircle with ihe convexily lo the east. . . There are five greal rivers in the Peninsula, the Tagus y v f rs (Spanish Tajo, Portuguese Tejo), Douro (Spanish Duero), Ebro, Guadiana and Guadalquivir, all of which rise in Spain. The Ebro alone flows into the Mediterranean, and the Ebro and Guadalquivir alone belong wholly lo Spain ; ihe lower courses of the Tagus and Douro are bounded by Portuguese territory ; and the lower Guadiana flows partly through Portugal, partly along the fronlier. The Tagus rises in the Monies Universales on the borders of Teruel, and flows in a westerly direclion unlil il enlers the Allanlic below Lisbon, afler a lolal course of 565 m. The Douro (485 m.) and the Ebro (466 m.) flow respeclively soulh-wesl lo the Atlanlic al Oporto, and south-east to the Mediterranean at Cape Tortosa, from iheir sources in the great northern watershed. The Guadiana (510 m.) passes west and south through La Mancha and Andalusia to fall inlo Cadiz Bay al Ayamonle ; and the Guadalquivir (360 m.) takes a similar direclion from ils headwaters in Jaen to Sanlucar de Barrameda, where it also enters Cadiz Bay farther south. These five rivers, as also the smaller Jucar and Segura, which enter the Mediterranean, are fully described in separate articles. With the exception of the Guadalquivir, none of them is of greal service for inland navigalion, so far as ihey lie wilhin the Spanish frontier. On the olher hand, ihose of the easl and soulh are of greal value for irrigalion, and the Jucar and Segura are employed in floaling limber from the Serrania de Cuenca. The only considerable lakes in Spain are ihree coasl lagoons the Albufera (q.v.) de Valencia, the Mar Menor in Murcia and the Laguna de la Janda in Cadiz behind Cape Trafalgar (see MURCIA and CADIZ). Small alpine and olher lakes are numerous, and small sail lakes are lo be found in every steppe region.
Geology. Geologically the Spanish Peninsula consists of a great massif of ancient rock, bordered upon the north, easl and soulh by zones of folding in which the Mesozoic and early Tertiary beds are involved. The massif is composed of Archean, Palaeozoic and eruptive rocks, partly concealed by a covering of Tertiary strala, bul characterized by the absence, excepting on its margins, of any marine deposits of Mesozoic age. It strelches from Galicia and Aslurias on the north lo the valley of the Guadalquivir on the south, and includes the mounlains of Caslile, the Sierra de Toledo and the Sierra Morena. The rocks which form il are often strongly folded, but the folding is of ancient date and strikes obliquely across the massif and has had no influence in determining its outline. The massif is in fact merely a fragment of the great Hercynian mountain system which was formed across Europe at the close of the Carboniferous period. During ihe Mesozoic era ihis mountain chain was shattered and large portions of it sank beneath the sea and were covered by Mesozoic and Tertiary strata. But other fragments still rose above the waves, and of these the great massif of Portugal and western Spain was one. Around illhe deposils of the Jurassic and Crelaceous seas were laid down; and during the Tertiary era ihey were crushed, logether wilh the earlier Tertiary beds, against, the ancient rocks, and thus formed the folded zones of the Cordillera Belica on the soulh, the hills of southern Aragon on the east and the Pyrenees on the north. The intervening plains and plateaus are now for the most part covered by Tertiary deposits, which also spread over much of the ancienl massif.
Archean rocks are exposed in the north of the Peninsula, particularly along the greal Pyrenean axis, in Galicia, Eslremadura, the Sierra Morena, the Sierra Nevada and Serrania de Ronda. They consisl of granites, gneisses and mica-schisls, wilh lalc-schisls, amphibolites and crystalline limestones. The oldest Palaeozoic strata are referred, from their included fossils, to the Cambrian, Ordovician and Silurian syslems. They range through a vast region of Andalusia, Estremadura, Castile, Salamanca, Leon and Aslurias, and along the flanks of the Pyrenean and Cantabrian chain. They consist of slates, greywackes, quartzites and diabafes. Grits, quartzites, shales and limestones referable lo the Devonian syslem are found in a few scattered areas, the largest and most fossiliferous of these occurring in Asturias. The Lower Carboniferous rocks of Spain consist partly of limestones, and partly of shales, sandstones and conglomerates like the culm of Devonshire. It is in the culm of the province of Huelva that the celebrated copper mines of Rio Tinto are worked. The Upper Carboniferous is formed to a large extent of sandstones and shales, with seams of coal ; but beds of massive limestones are often intercalated, and some of these contain Fusulina and other fossils like those of the Russian Fusulina limestone. The system is most extensively developed in the north, covering a considerable space in Asturias, whence it stretches more or less continuously through the provinces of Leon, Palencia and Santander. Another tract, about 500 sq. kilometres in extent, runs I I Quaternary I Tertiary I Cretaceous \ Jurassic Silun-Cambrian I Anhaean and I Metamorphic \ Plutonic Rocks I Volcanic Rock* from the province of Cordova into that of Badajoz. It is in this area that the important coal deposits of Penarroja are found. There are other smaller areas containing little or no coal, but showing by the included plant-remains that the strata undoubtedly belong to the Carboniferous system.
The Permian is probably represented by some of the red sandstones, conglomerates and shales in the Pyrenees, in the Serrania de Cuenca, and in Andalusia. The Triassic system is well developed in the north of the peninsula along the Cantabrian chain and eastwards to the Mediterranean. It is composed of red and variegated sandstones, dolomites and marls, traversed in some places by ophitic rocks, and containing deposits of gypsum, aragonite and rocksalt. It thus resembles the Trias of England and Germany. In the south-east, however, and at the mouth of the Ebro, limestones are found containing a fauna similar to that of the alpine Trias. These strata are overlain by members of the Jurassic series, which are especially conspicuous in the eastern part of the peninsula between Castile and Aragon, along the Mediterranean border, in Andalusia, and likewise along the flanks of the Pyrenees. The Jurassic of Andalusia belongs to the Mediterranean facies of the system; the Jurassic of the rest of Spain is more nearly allied to that of northwestern Europe. The Cretaceous system is distributed in four great districts: the largest of these extends through the kingdoms of Murcia and Valencia ; a second stretches between the two Castiles; a third is found in the Basque Provinces and in Asturias; and a fourth spreads out along the southern slopes of the Pyrenees from Navarre to the Mediterranean. The lower members of the Cretaceous series include an important fresh-water formation (sandstones and clays), which extends from the Cantabrian coast through the provinces of Santander, Burgos, Soria and Logrono, and is supposed to represent the English Wealden series. The higher members comprise massive hippurite limestones, and in the Pyrenean district representatives of the upper subdivisions of the system, including the Danian.
Deposits of Tertiary age cover rather more than a third of Spain. They are divisible into two great series, according to their mode of origin in the sea or in fresh-water. The marine Tertiary accumulations commence with those that are referable to the Eocene series, consisting of nummulitic limestones, marls and siliceous sandstones. These strata are developed in the basin of the Ebro, and in a belt which extends from Valencia through Murcia and Andalusia to Cadiz. Marine Miocene deposits occupy some small tracts, especially on the coast of Valencia. But most of the sandy Tertiary rocks of that district are Pliocene. The Tertiary strata of Andalusia are specially noteworthy for containing the native silver of Herrerias, which is found in a Pliocene bed in the form of flukes, needles and crystals. But the most extensive and interesting Tertiary accumulations are those of the great lakes which in Oligocene and Miocene time spread over so large an expanse of the table-land. These sheets of fresh-water covered the centre of the country, including the basins of the Ebro.Jucar, Guadalaviar, Guadalquivir and Tagus. They have left behind them thick deposits of clays, marls, gypsum and limestone, in which numerous remains of the land-animals of the time have been preserved.
Quaternary deposits spread over about a tenth of the area of the country. The largest tract of them is to be seen to the south of the Cantabrian chain; but another, of hardly inferior extent, flanks the Sierra de Guadarrama, and spreads out over the great plain from Madrid to Caceres. Some of these alluvial accumulations indicate a former greater extension of the snowfields that are now so restricted in the Spanish sierras. Remains of the reindeer are found in caves in the Pyrenees.
Eruptive rocks of many different ages occur in different parts of Spain. The most important tract covered by them is that which stretches from Cape Ortegal to Coria in Estremadura and spreads over a large area of Portugal. They likewise appear in Castile, forming the sierras of Credos and Guadarrama; farther south they rise in the mountains of Toledo, in the Sierra Morena, and across the provinces of Cordova, Seville, Huelva and Badajoz as fai as Evora in Portugal. Among the minor areas occupied by them may be especially mentioned those which occur in the Trinssic districts. Of rocks included in the eruptive series the most abundant is granite. There occur also quartz-porphyry (Sierra Morena, Pyrenees, etc.), diorite, porphyrite, diabase (well developed in the north of Andalusia, where it plays a great part in the structure of the Sierra Morena), ophite (Pyrenees, Cadiz), serpentine (forming an enormous mass in the Serrania de Ronda), trachyte, liparite, andesite, basalt. The last four rocks occur as a volcanic series distributed in three chief districts that of Cape Gata, including the south-east of Andalusia and the south of Murcia, that of Catalonia, and that of La Mancha.
Climate. In accordance with its southerly position and the variety in its superficial configuration, Spain presents within its borders examples of every kind of climate to be found on the northern hemisphere, with the sole exception of that of the torrid zone. As regards temperature, the heart of the table-land is characterized by extremes as great as are to be met in almost any part of central Europe. The northern and north-western maritime provinces, on the other hand, have a climate as equable, and as moist, as that of the west of England or Scotland.
Four zones of climate are distinguished. The first zone is that of the table-land, with the greater part of the Ebro basin. This is the zone of the greatest extremes of temperature. Even in summer the nights are often decidedly cold, and on the high parameras it is not a rare thing to see hoar-frost in the morning. In spring cold, wetting mists occasionally envelop the land for entire days, while in summer the sky is often perfectly clear for weeks together. At all seasons of the year sudden changes of temperature, to the extent of from 30 to 50 F., are not infrequent. The air is extremely dry, which is all the more keenly felt from the fact .that it is almost constantly in motion. At Madrid (2150 ft. above sea-level) it freezes so hard in December and January that skating is carried on on the sheet of water in the Buen Retiro; and, as winter throughout Spain, except in the maritime provinces of the north and north-west, is the season of greatest atmospheric precipitation, snowfalls are frequent, though the snow seldom lies long except at high elevations. The summers, on the other hand, are not only extremely warm but almost rainless, the sea-winds being deprived of their moisture on the edge of the plateau. In July and August the plains of New Castile and Estremadura are sunburnt wastes ; the roads are several inches deep with dust ; the leaves of the few trees are withered and discoloured ; the atmosphere is filled with a fine dust, producing a haze known as calina, which converts the blue of the sky into a dull grey. In the greater part of the Ebro basin the heat of summer is even more intense. The treeless mostly steppe-like valley with a brightcoloured soil acts like a concave mirror in reflecting the sun's rays and, moreover, the mountains and highlands by which the valley is enclosed prevent to a large extent the access of winds.
The second zone is that of the Mediterranean provinces, exclusive of those of the extreme south. In this zone the extremes of temperature are less, though the summers here also are warm, and the winters decidedly cool, especially in the north-east.
The southern zone, to which the name of African has been given, embraces the whole of Andalusia as far as the Sierra Morena, the southern half of Murcia and the province of Alicante. In this zone there prevails a genuine sub-tropical climate, with extremely warm and almost rainjess summers and mild winters, the temperature hardly ever sinking below freezing-point. The hottest part of the region is not the most southerly district but the bright-coloured steppes of the coast of Granada, and the plains and hill terraces of the south-east coast from Almeria to Alicante. Snow and frost are here hardly known. It is said that at Malaga snow falls only about once in twenty-five years. The winter, in fact, is the season of the brightest vegetation: after the long drought of summer the surface gets covered once more in late autumn with a fresh green varied with bright-coloured flowers, and so it remains the whole winter through. On the other hand, the eastern part of this zone is the part of Spain which is liable to be visited from time to time by the scorching leveche, the name given in Spain to the sirocco, as well as by the solano, a moist and less noxious east wind.
The fourth zone, that of the north and north-west maritime provinces, presents a marked contrast to all the others. The temperature is mild and equable; the rains are abundant all the year round, but fall chiefly in autumn, as in the west of Europe generally. Roses bloom in the gardens at Christmas as plentifully as in summer. The chief drawback of the climate is an excess of rain in some parts, especially in the west. Santiago de Compostela, for example, has^one of the highest rainfalls on the mainland of Europe (see table'below).
The figures given in the following table, 1 although based only on data of short periods (from 33 to 20 years), will help to illustrate the preceding general remarks. Greenwich is added for the sake of comparison.
Station.
Height in feet.
Mean Temperature, F.
Rainfall in inches.
Jan.
July.
Year.
Table-land zone j *. , ',' 2600 2150 37 41 1zz 3 76 1zz 3 56 19 15 c* i \ San rernando Southern zone j Mala 1zz 2 54 75 79 63 70 Mediterranean ( Murcia .
63 zone ( Mahon 1zz 7 ( Bilbao Northern mari- j Oviedo .
54 time zone ( Santiago .
45-5 Greenwich .
25 Flora. The vegetation of Spain exhibits a variety in keeping with the differences of climate just described. The number of endemic species is exceptionally large, the number of monotypic genera in the Peninsula greater than in any other part of the Mediterranean domain. The endemic species are naturally most numerous in the mountains, and above all in the loftiest ranges, the Pyrenees and the Sierra Nevada; but it is a peculiarity of the Spanish tableland, as compared with the plains and table-lands of central Europe, that it also possesses a considerable number of endemic plants and plants of extremely restricted range. This fact, however, is also in harmony with the physical conditions above described, being explained by the local varieties, not only of climate, but also of soil. Altogether no other country in Europe of equal extent has so great a wealth of species as Spain. According to the Prodromus florae hispanicae of Willkomm and Lange (completed in 1880), the number of species of vascular plants then ascertained to exist in the country was 5096.
Spain may be divided botanically into four provinces, corresponding to the four climatic zones.
In the table-land province (including the greater part of the Ebro valley) the flora is composed chiefly of species characteristic of the Mediterranean region, and largely of species confined to the Peninsula. A peculiar character is imparted to the vegetation of this province by the growth over large tracts of evergreen shrubs and large herbaceous plants belonging to the Cistineae and Labiatae. Areas covered by the Cistineae are known to the Spaniards asjarales, and are particularly extensive in the Mancha Alta and on the slopes of the Sierra Morena, where the ladanum bush (Cistus ladantferus) is specially abundant ; those covered by the Labiatae are known as tomillares (from tomillo, thyme), and occur chiefly in the south, south-west and east of the table-land of New Castile. In the central parts of the same table-land huge thistles (such as the Onopordum nervosum), centaureas, artemisias and other Compositae are scattered in great profusion. From the level parts of these table-lands trees are almost entirely absent. On the lofty parameras of Soria and other parts of Old Castile the vegetation has an almost alpine character.
The southern or African province is distinguished chiefly by the abundance of plants which have their true home in North Africa (a fact explained by the geologically recent land connexion of Spain with that continent), but is also remarkable for the . occurrence within it of numerous Eastern plants (natives of Syria and Asia Minor), and plants belonging to South Africa and the Canaries, as well as natives of tropical America which have become naturalized here (see A griculture) . I n the maritime parts of Malaga and Granada the vegetation is of almost tropical richness and beauty, while in Murcia, Alicante and Almeria the aspect is truly African, fertile oases appearing in the midst of rocky deserts or barren steppes. A peculiar vegetation, consisting mainly of low shrubs with fleshy glaucous leaves (Inula crithmoides, etc.), covers the swamps of the Guadalquivir and the salt-marshes of the south-west coast. Everywhere on moist sandy ground are to be seen tall thickets of Arundo donax.
The Mediterranean province is that in which the vegetation agrees most closely with that of southern France and the lowlands 1 By conversion from Th. Fischer's Klima der Mittelmeer lander.
of the Mediterranean region generally. On the lower slopes of the mountains and on all the parts left uncultivated the prevailing form of vegetation consists of a dense growth of shrubs with thick leathery leaves, such as are known to the French as maquis, to the Italians as macchie, and to the Spaniards as monte bajo? shrubs which, however much they resemble each other in external appearance, belong botanically to a great variety of families.
The northern maritime province, in accordance with its climate, has a vegetation resembling that of central Europe. Here only are to be found rich grassy meadows covered with flowers such as are seen in English fields, and here only do forests of oak, beech and chestnut cover a large proportion of the area. The extraordinary abundance of ferns (as in western France) is likewise characteristic.
The forest area of Spain is relatively small. The whole extent of forests is estimated at little more than 7! million acres, or less than 6% of the area of the kingdom. Evergreen oaks, chestnuts and conifers are the prevailing trees. The cork oaks of the southern provinces and of Catalonia are of immense value, but the groves have suffered greatly from the reckless way in which the produce is collected. Among other characteristic trees are the Spanish pine (Pinus hispanica), the Corsican pine (P. Laricio), the Pinsapo fir (Abies Pinsapo), and the Quercus Tozza, the last belonging to the slopes of the Sierra Nevada. Besides the date-palm the dwarf-palm grows spontaneously in some parts of the south, but it nowhere makes up a large element of the vegetation.
The Spanish steppes deserve a special notice, since they are not confined to one of the four botanical provinces, but are found in all of them except the last. Six considerable steppe regions are counted : (l) that of Old Castile, situated to the south of Valladolid, and composed chiefly of hills of gypsum; (2) that of New Castile, in the south-east (including parts of La Mancha) ; (3) the Aragonese, occupying the upper part of the basin of the Ebro; (4) the littoral, stretching along the south-east coast from Alicante to the neighbourhood of Almeria; (5) the Granadine, in the east of Upper Andalusia (the former kingdom of Granada); and (6) the Baetic, in Lower Andalusia, on both sides of the valley of the Jenil or Genii. All of these were originally salt-steppes, and, where the soil is still highly impregnated with salt, have only a sparse covering of shrubs, mostly members of the Salsolaceae, with thick, greyish green, often downy leaves. A different aspect is presented by the grass steppes of Murcia, La Mancha, the plateaus of Guadix and Huescar in the province of Granada, etc., all of which are covered chiefly with the valuable esparto grass (Macrochloa tenacissima) .
Fauna. The Iberian Peninsula belongs to the Mediterranean sub-region of the Palaearctic region of the animal kingdom. The forms that betray African affinities are naturally to be found chiefly in the south. Among the mammals that fall under this head are the common genet (Genetta vulgaris), which extends, however, pretty far north, and is found also in the south of France, the fallowdeer, the porcupine (very rare), and a species of ichneumon (Herpestes Widdringtonii) , which is confined to the Peninsula, and is the only European species of this African genus. The magot or Barbary ape (Inuus ecaudatus), the sole species of monkey still found wild in Europe, is also a native of Spain, but only survives on the rock of Gibraltar (q.v.). Of the mammals in which Spain shows more affinity to the fauna of central and northern Europe, some of the most characteristic are the Spanish lynx (Lynx pardinus), a species confined to the Peninsula, the Spanish hare (Lepus madritensis) , and the species mentioned in the article PYRENEES. The birds of Spain are very numerous, partly because the Peninsula lies in the route of those birds of passage which cross from Africa to Europe or Europe to Africa by way of the Straits of Gibraltar. Many species belonging to central Europe winter in Spain, especially on the southeastern coasts and in the valley of the Guadalquivir. Innumerable snipe are killed in the Guadalquivir valley and brought to the market of Seville. Among the birds of prey may be mentioned, besides the cinereous and bearded vultures, the Spanish vulture( Gyps occidentalis), the African or Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus), which is found among all the mountains of the Peninsula, the Spanish imperial eagle (Aqutia Adalberti), the short-toed eagle (Circaetus gallicus), the southern eagle-owl (Bubo atheniensis) , and various kites and falcons. Among gallinaceous birds besides the red-legged partridge, which is met with everywhere on the steppes, there are found also the Pterocles alchita and P. arenarius ; and among the birds of other orders are the southern shrike (Lanius meridionalis), the Spanish sparrow (Passer cyaneus), and the blue magpie (Cyanopica cooki). The last is highly remarkable on account of its distribution, it being confined to Spain while the species most closely allied to it (Cyanopica cyanea) belongs to the east of Asia. The flamingo is found native in the Balearic Islands and on the southern coasts, and a stray specimen is occasionally seen on the table-land of New Castile. Other birds peculiar to the south are two species of quails, the Andalusian hemipode (Turnix sylvatica), confined to the plains of Andalusia, the southern shearwater (Puffinus cinereus), and other water-birds. Amphibians and reptiles are particularly numerous in the southern provinces, and among these the most remarkable are the large southern or eyed lizard (Lacetta 2 As distinguished from monte alto, the collective name for forest trees.
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ocettata), which sometimes attains 3 ft. in length and is very abundant: the Platydactylus saccicularis, the grey amphisbaena (Blanus cinereus), the European pond-tortoise (Emys europaea), and another species, Emys Siegrizii. Insect life is remarkably abundant and varied. More than 350 species of butterflies, many of them endemic, have been counted in the province of Madrid alone. Besides the ordinary European scorpion, which is general in southern Europe, there is another species, the sting of which is said to be still more severe, found chiefly in the basin of the Ebro. Trout abound in the mountain streams and lakes, barbel and many other species of Cyprinidae in the rivers of the plains. For the sea fauna, see under Fisheries below.
Territorial Divisions and Population. For administrative purposes the kingdom of Spain has since 1833 been divided into forty-nine provinces, forty-seven of which belong to the mainland. Before 1833 the mainland was divided into thirteen provinces, also enumerated below, which took their names from the ancient kingdoms and principalities out of which the modern kingdom was built up. All the continental provinces, ancient and modern, as also the Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Annobon, Ceuta, Corisco, the Chaffarinas, Fernando Po, the Muni River Settlements and Rio de Oro are described in separate articles. It is probable that the population of Spain attained its height during the early Roman Empire, when it has been estimated, though of course on imperfect data, to have numbered forty or fifty millions. The best evidence of a dense population in those days is that afforded by the specific estimates of ancient writers for some of the larger cities. The population of Tarraco (Tarragona) was estimated at z\ millions, and those of Nova Carthago ( Cartagena), Italica (Sevilla la Vieja), and other cities at several hundreds of thousands. Emerita Augusta (Merida) had a Roman garrison of 90,000 men, which also implies a large population.
The first Spanish census was made in 1594, but some of the provinces now included in the kingdom were not embraced in the enumeration, so that the total population assigned to Spain within its present limits for that date is obtained by adding the results of enumerations at different dates in the provinces then excluded. The total thus arrived at is 8,206,791.
No other census took place till 1787, when the total was found to be 10,268,150; and this census was followed by another in 1797, when the population was returned as 10,541,221. Various estimates were made within the next sixty years, but the census of 1857 proved that some of these estimates must have been greatly below the truth. The total population then ascertained to exist in Spain was 15,464,340, an increase of not much less than 50% since the census of 1797. Between 1857 and 1877 the population increased to 16,631,869; and by 1897 it had risen to 18,132,475. The annual rate of increase during this period of forty years was less than -45%, or lower than that of any other European state, except France in the later years of the 19th century. The census of 1900, however, showed that the annual rate of increase had risen, between 1897 and 1900, to -89%, or nearly double its former amount. This fact may be explained partly by the growth of mining and certain other industries, partly, perhaps, by the recuperative power which the Spanish people has always exhibited after war the most notable instance of which is the above-mentioned net increase of nearly 50% between 1797 and 1857, despite the Napoleonic invasion and other disastrous wars. A similar though much smaller acceleration in the annual rate of increase after the Carlist Wars of 1874-76 is largely attributable to the prosperity caused by railway development between 1877 and 1887. It would be unjustifiable to assume from the inadequate data available that the Spanish people retains the vitality which characterized it from 1797 to 1857. It is, however, clear from the census returns that at the beginning of the 20th century Area and Population of the Former and Present Provinces.
Provinces.
Area in sq. m.
Pop., 1857.
Pop., 1887.
Pop., 1900.
Pop. per sq. m., 1900.
Mew Castile.
27.935 1,477,915 1,778,155 1,923.310 60-8 Madrid ....
3. 8 4 475,785 683,484 775,034 25I-3 Guadalajara .
4,676 199,088 205,040 200,186 42-8 Toledo ....
5.919 328,755 356,398 376,814 63-6 Cuenca ....
6,636 229,959 246,091 249,696 37-6 Ciudad Real . . .
7,620 244.328 287,142 321,580 42-2 Old Castile ....
25,372 1,609,948 1,744.301 1,785,403 70-3 Burgos ....
5,48o 333,356 342,988 338,828 61-8 Logrono ....
1,946 173,812 183,430 189,376 97-3 Santander 2,108 214,441 249,116 276,003 130-9 Avila 3,042 164,039 195.321 200,457 65-9 Segovia ....
2,635 146,839 155,927 159,243 60-4 Soria ....
3,983 147,468 157,008 150,462 37-7 Palencia .
3,256 185,970 189,349 192,473 59-1 Valladolid 2,922 244,023 271,162 278,561 95-3 Asturias ....
4,205 524,529 615,844 627,069 149-1 Oviedo ....
4,205 524,529 615,844 627,069 149-1 Leon 14,862 861,434 984,711 982,393 66-1 Salamanca .
4,829 263,516 320,588 320,765 66-4 Zamora ....
4,097 249,162 274,890 275,545 67-2 Leon 5,936 348,756 389,233 386,083 65-0 Estremadura .
16,118 707,H5 808,685 882,410 54-7 Badajoz ....
8,45' 404,981 476,273 520,246 61-6 Caceres .
7,667 302,134 332,412 362,164 47-2 Galicia 11,254 1,776,879 1,967,239 1,980,515 175-8 Corunna (Coruna) .
3,051 55L989 635,327 653,556 214-2 Lugo ....
3,8i4 424,186 438,076 463,386 I22-O Orense ....
2,694 371,818 415,237 404,3" I50-I Pontevedra .
1,695 428,886 478,599 457,262 269-8 Andalusia (Andalusia) .
33,777 2,937,183 3,393,681 3,562,606 105-4 Almeria ....
3.360 315,664 345,929 359,013 106-8 Granada ....
4,928 444,629 482,787 492,460 99-9 Malaga ....
2,812' 451,406 523,915 511.989 182-1 Cordova ....
5,299 351,536 413,883 455.859 85-8 Jaen 5,203 345,879 428,152 474.490 91-2 Cadiz (with Ceuta) .
2,834 390,192 423,261 452,659 159-7 Seville ....
5,428 463,486 535,687 555,256 100-4 Huelva ....
3,913 174,391 240,067 260,880 66-6 Valencia . . . .
8,830 1,246,485 1,461,453 1,587.533 179-7 Castellon de la Plana 2,495 260,919 292,952 310,828 124-5 Valencia ....
4,150 606,608 730,916 806,556 194-3 Alicante ....
2,185 378,958 437,685 470,149 215-1 Murcia 10,190 582,087 720,843 815,864 80-0 Albacete ....
5.737 201,118 231,073 237,877 41-3 Murcia ....
4,453 380,969 489,770 577,987 129-8 Catalonia ....
12,427 1,652,291 1,836,139 1,966,382 158-2 Lcrida ....
4,690 306,994 296,609 274,590 58-5 Gerona . . . .
2,264 310,970 3II.I53 299,287 132-2 Barcelona 2,968 713,734 879,771 1,054,541 355-3 Tarragona 2,505 320,593 348,606 337,964 134-9 Aragon 18,294 880,643 922,554 912,711 49-8 Huesca ....
5,848 257,839 260,585 244,867 41-8 Saragossa ....
6,726 384,176 415,152 421,843 62-7 Teruel ....
5,720 238,628 246,817 246,001 43-o Navarre (Navarra).
4.055 297,422 307,994 307,669 75-8 Navarre ....
4,055 297,422 307,994 307,669 75-8 Basque Provinces .
2,739 413,470 5io,i94 603,596 220-3 Biscay (Vizcaya) Guipuzcoa 836 728 160,579 156,493 234,880 181,149 3H,36i 195,850 372-4 269-0 Alava ....
1,175 96,398 94,i65 96,385 82-0 Balearic Islands 1,935 262,893 313,480 3II.649 161-1 Canary Islands 2,807 234,046 301,963 358,564 127-5 Total ....
194,700 15,464.340 17,667,256 18,618,086 95-6 the nation was well able to make good the numerical losses involved by a serious war; that its numbers tend to increase steadily; and that the rate of increase has hitherto shown a marked acceleration in periods of commercial expansion.
The estimated area and population of the Spanish possessions in Africa, exclusive of Ceuta, are shown below:
Area in sq. m.
Pop.
Rio de Oro Muni River Settlements .... Fernando Po, Annobon, Corisco, etc. Melilla, Ifni, etc 70,000 9,800 800 40 130,000 140,000 22,000 15,000 Totals .
80,640 307,000 Its extraordinary lack of population differentiates Spain from every other country possessed of equal natural advantages and an historic civilization. Spain occupies an unsurpassed geographical position; its resources are rich, varied and to some extent unexploited ; its inhabitants include the Basques and Catalans, noted for their commercial enterprise, and the Galicians, noted for their industry. Nevertheless this country, which appears, more than 2000 years ago, to have supported a population nearly thrice as numerous as its present inhabitants and larger than that of the United Kingdom in 1901, is almost as thinly peopled as the most deserted province of Ireland (Connaught 94-5 inhabitants per sq. m.). The depopulation of Spain dates certainly from the Moorish conquest, possibly from the earlier Visigothic invasion. The Moors decimated the native population; when they in turn were expelled, the country lost not only a numerically large section of its inhabitants, but the section best able to develop its natural wealth. The wars of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, and the vast potentialities of fortune which drew men to the Spanish colonies in America, caused a further serious drain upon the population.
As regards the distribution of population between town and country, Spain contrasts in a marked manner with Italy, Spain having but few large towns and a relatively large country population.
Communications. The communications in Spain were greatly improved during the 19th century. In 1808 there were little more than 500 m. of carriage roads; in 1908 the aggregate length of the state, provincial and municipal roads was about 40,000 m. But there are still many parts of the country where trade and especially mining is retarded by the want of good roads. In the mountainous districts, where there are only narrow paths, frequently rather steep, it is still not uncommon to meet long trains of pack-mules, which, with ox-carts for heavier goods, constitute the sole means of transport in such regions.
Railways have made great advance since the middle of the 19th century. The oldest line is that from Barcelona to Mataro, 17^ m., which was opened on the 28th of October 1848. From 1850 onwards the rate of construction increased apace, and during the last decade of the 19th century about 205 m. were opened to traffic every year. In January 1910, 9020 m. had been completed, and the whole kingdom was covered by a network of railways which linked together all the principal towns. The Spanish railway system at this time communicated with the French at Irun and Portbou, west and east respectively of the Pyrenees; and with the Portuguese at or near Tuy on the northern frontier of Portugal, and near La Fregeneda, Ciudad Rodrigo, Valencia de Alcantara and Badajoz on the E. All the Spanish railways belong to private companies, most of which have received state subventions, and they will fall in to the government mostly at the end of 99 years. In granting a concession for a new railway the practice is to give it to the company that offers to construct it with the lowest subvention. For strategical reasons the Spanish gauge was made different from that of France; and military considerations long postponed the construction of any railway across the Pyrenees. The roads which wind through the Pyrenees in northern Aragon, Navarre and Catalonia had long been the channels of an important traffic, although great inconvenience was caused by the snow which blocks the passes in winter. In 1882 the French and Spanish governments proposed to overcome this obstacle by constructing two railways: one from Huesca to Oloron, through the Canfranc Pass, and through an international tunnel which was to be built at Somport ; the other from the Ariege railway system to the Spanish northern system in the province of Lenda. The first line was completed on the Spanish side as far as Jaca, the second was only surveyed; both were opposed by the ministries of war in the two countries concerned. The matter was taken up at the beginning of the 20th century by M. Delcasse, the French minister for foreign affairs, and on the 18th of August 1904 a convention was signed providing for the construction of (l) the Huesca-Oloron line, (2) a line from Ax les Thermes in the Ariege to Ripoll in Catalonia, (3) a line from St Girons in the Ariege to Sort, and thence to Lerida. The Spanish government agreed to finish the Lerida-Sort section by 1915, and the Noguera Pallaresa valley was chosen as the route from Sort to the frontier, where junction with the French railways would be effected through the Port de Salau. All three schemes were ratified in 1904 by the Cortes and the French Chambers. Seventy per cent, of the railways of Spain, and an even larger proportion of the tramways and narrow-gauge railways, especially in mining districts, have been constructed and worked with foreign capital. The postal and telegraphic services have been placed on the same footing as in other civilized countries. In 1907 the number of letters and post-cards carried in the inland service was 133,201,000, in the international service 44,219,000. The length of state telegraph lines increased from 6665 m. in 1883 to 20,575 m. in 1903. In 1907 there were 84 urban telephone systems and 71 inter-urban circuits.
Agriculture. Agriculture is by far the most important Spanish industry. In general it is in a backward condition, and is now much less productive than in the time of the Romans and again under the Moors. The expulsion of the latter people in many places inflicted upon agriculture a blow from which it has not recovered to this day. Aragon and Estremadura, the two most thinly peopled of all the old provinces, and the eastern half of Andalusia (above Seville), have all suffered particularly in this manner, later occupiers never having been able to rival the Moors in overcoming the sterility of nature, as in Aragon, or in taking advantage of its fertility, as in Andalusia and the Tierra de Barros. In some districts the implements used are still of the rudest description. The plough is merely a pointed stick shod with iron, crossed by another stick which serves as a share, scratching the ground to the depth of a few inches. But the regular importation of agricultural implements betokens an improvement in this respect. In general there has been considerable improvement in the condition of agriculture since the introduction of railways, and in every province there is a royal commissioner entrusted with the duty of supervising and encouraging this branch of industry. Among other institutions for the promotion of agriculture the royal central school at Aranjuez, to which is attached a model farm, is of special importance. Of the soil of Spain 79-65 % is classed as productive; 33-8% being devoted to agriculture and gardens, 20-8 to fruit, 19-7 to grass, 3-7 to vineyards and 1-6 to olives. The land is subdivided among a very large number of proprietors; over 3,400,000 farms or estates were assessed for taxation in 1905.
The provinces in which agriculture is most advanced are those of Valencia and Catalonia, in both of which the river valleys are thickly seamed with irrigation canals and the hill-slopes carefully terraced for cultivation. In neither province is the soil naturally fertile, and nothing but the untiring industry of the inhabitants, favoured by the rivers which traverse the province from the table-land of New Castile and the numerous small streams (nacimientos) that issue from the base of the limestone mountains and by the numerous torrents from the Pyrenees, has converted them into two of the most productive regions in Spain. In the Basque Provinces and in Galicia the cultivable area is quite as fully utilized, but in these the difficulties are not so great. The least productive tracts, apart from Aragon and Estremadura, are situated in the south and east of New Castile, in Murcia, and in Lower Andalusia the marshes or marismas of the lower Guadalquivir and the arenas gordas between that river and the Rio Tinto. By far the greater part of the table-land, however, is anything but fertile, the principal exceptions being the Tierra de Campos, said to be the chief corn-growing district in Spain, occupying the greater part of Palencia in the north-west of Old Castile, and the Tierra de Barros, in the portion of Badajoz lying to the south of the Guadiana in Estremadura.
Except in Leon and the provinces bordering on the Bay of Biscay and the Atlantic, irrigation is almost everywhere necessary for cultivation, at least in the case of certain crops. Almost all kinds of vegetables a;nd garden-fruits, oranges, rice, hemp and other products are generally grown solely or mainly on irrigated land, whereas most kinds of grain, vines and olives are cultivated chiefly on dry soil. The water used for irrigation is sometimes derived from springs and rivers in mountain valleys, whence it is conveyed by long canals (acequias) along the mountain sides and sometimes by lofty aqueducts to the fields on which it is to be used. Sometimes the water of entire rivers or vast artificial reservoirs (pdntanos) is used in feeding a dense network of canals distributed over plains many square miles in extent. Such plains in Valencia and Murcia are known by the Spanish name of huertas (gardens), in Andalusia by the Arabic name of vegas, which has the same meaning. Many of the old irrigation works such as those of the plain of Tarragona date from the time of the Romans, and many others from the Moorish period, while new ones are still being laid out at the present day. Where no running water is available for irrigation, water is often obtained from wells by means of waterwheels (norias) of simple construction. In most cases such wheels merely have earthenware pitchers attached to their circumference by means of wisps of esparto, and are turned by a horse harnessed to a long arm fitted to a revolving shaft. In recent years many artesian wells have been sunk for irrigation. In all, about 9 % of the entire surface of Spain is artificially watered, but in 1900 the government adopted plans for the construction of new canals and reservoirs on a vast scale. The system was designed to bring a greatly increased area of arid or semi-arid land under irrigation. The irrigated portions of the Ebro and Tagus valleys yield twelve times as large. a crop per acre as the unirrigated.
Cereals constitute the principal object of cultivation, and among these wheat ranks first, the next in importance being barley, the chief fodder of horses and mules. Both of these grains are cultivated in all parts, but chiefly on the more level districts of the two Castiles and Leon, and on the plains of the Guadalquivir " basin. Oats and rye are cultivated only in the higher parts of the mountains, the former as a substitute for barley in feeding horses and mules, the latter as a breadstuff. Maize also is cultivated in all the provinces; nevertheless, its cultivation is limited, since, being a summer crop, it requires irrigation except in the Atlantic provinces, and other products generally yield a more profitable return where irrigation is pursued. Rice is cultivated on a large scale only in the swampy lowlands of Valencia. Among cereals of less importance are buckwheat (in the mountainous regions of the north), millets, including both the common millet (Panicum miliaceum) and the so-called Indian millet (Sorghum vulgare, the jodri of India, the durrah of Africa), and even (in La Mancha) guinea-corn (Penicillaria spicata).
Among the natural products of the soil of Spain, in regard to quantity, wines come next to cereals, but the only wines which have Wines. a world-wide reputation are those of the south, those of Alicante, of Malaga, and more particularly those which take the name of " sherry," from the town of Jerez, in the neighbourhood of which they are grown (see WINE). From 1880 to 1890 when the French vineyards suffered so much from various plagues, and when Spain gave a great impetus to her foreign trade by numerous treaties of commerce, none of her products showed such an increase in exports as her wines. The vine-growing districts had formerly been mostly in the provinces of Cadiz, Malaga, Barcelona, Aragon and Navarre. Then the vineyards spread all along the Ebro valley and in the Mediterranean seaboard provinces, as well as in New and Old Castile and Estremadura to such an extent that wine is now produced in all the 49 provinces of the kingdom. The average result of the vintage was estimated between 440 and 500 million gallons in 1880 to 1884, and it rose to more than double that amount towards 1890, and amounted in 1898 to 880 million gallons. In that year the total area under the vine was 3,546,375 acres, in 1908 it was 3,136,470 acres. In the hey-day of the cultivation of the vine Spain sent the bulk of her wine exports to France. The imposition of high duties in France on foreign wines in 1891 dealt a severe blow to the export trade in common Spanish wines. The export of wines of the south Jerez, Malaga and other fullbodied wines styled generoso did not suffer so much, and England and France continued to take much the same quantities of such wines. There is also a large export of grapes and raisins, especially from Malaga, Valencia, Almeria and Alicante. The Spanish vines have suffered, like those of France, from mildew and phylloxera. The latter has done most damage in the provinces of Malaga and Alicante, in Catalonia, and in some parts of the Ebro valley in Navarre and Aragon. The vines whose fruit is intended for table use as grapes or raisins are trained on espaliers or on trees, especially the nettle-tree (Celtis australis) .
Among fruit-trees the first place belongs to the olive. Its range in Spain embraces the whole of the southern half of the table-land, Fruit. tne g reater P art f tne Ebro valley, and a small strip on the west coast of Galicia. Along the base of the Sierra Morena from Andiijar to the vicinity of Cordova there run regular forests of olives, embracing hundreds of square miles. Cordova is the headquarters of the oil industry, Seville of the cultivation of olives for table use. In 1908 the yield of oil amounted to 36,337,893 gallons. Oranges and lemons, excluded from the plateau by the severity of the winter cold, are grown in great quantities on the plains of Andalusia and all round the Mediterranean coast ; the peel of the bigarade or bitter orange is exported to Holland for the manufacture of curacao; and figs, almonds, pomegranates, carobs and other southern fruits are also grown abundantly in all the warmer parts, the first two even in central Spain and the more sheltered parts of the northern maritime provinces. In these last, however, the prevailing fruit-trees are those of central Europe, and above all the apple, which is very extensively cultivated in Asturias, the Basque Provinces and Navarre. In these provinces large quantities of cider are brewed. The date-palm is very general in the southeastern half of the kingdom, but is cultivated for its fruit only in the province of Alicante, in which is the celebrated date-grove of Elche (q.v.). In the southern provinces flourish also various subtropical exotics, such as the banana, the West Indian cherimoya, and the prickly pear or Indian fig (Opuntia vulgaris), the last frequently grown as a hedge-plant, as in other Mediterranean countries, and extending even to the southern part of the table-land. It is specially abundant on the Balearic Islands. The agave or American aloe is cultivated in a similar manner throughout Andalusia.
Cotton is now cultivated only here and there in the south; but sugar-cane is, with sugar-beet, becoming more and more of a staple Sugar. * n tj 16 provinces of Granada, Malaga and Almeria. Its cultivation was introduced by the Arabs in the 12th century or later, and was of great importance in the kingdom of Granada at the time of the expulsion of the Moors (1489), but has since undergone great vicissitudes, first in consequence of the introduction of the cane into America, and afterwards because of the great development of beet-sugar in central Europe. The industry received a powerful stimulus from the loss of the Spanish colonies in 1898, which freed the Spanish growers from the rivalry of their most successful competitors in the home market. In 1901 the official statistics showed 22 cane-sugar factories and 47 beet-sugar factories with an annual output of about 100,000 tons.
In the production of pod-fruits and kitchen vegetables Spain is ahead of many other countries. The chick-pea forms part of the daily food of all classes of the inhabitants; and among vegetables other pod-fruits largely cultivated are various kinds of beans and peas, lentils (Ervum lens), Spanish lentils (Lathyrus sativus} and other species of Lathyrus, lupines, etc. The principal fodder-crops are lucerne (Medicago saliva) and esparcette (a variety of sainfoin). Clover, particularly crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum), is grown in the northern provinces. Among vegetables garlic and onions take the chief place, and form an indispensable part of the diet of all Spaniards ; besides these, tomatoes and Spanish pepper are the principal garden crops. Among the vegetable products not yet mentioned the most important are the mulberry, grown in almost all provinces, but principally in those bordering on the Mediterranean, and above all in Valencia, the chief seat of the Spanish silk production and manufacture; tobacco, which is also imported, hemp and flax, grown chiefly in Galicia and other northern provinces; among dye-plants, madder, saffron, woad (Isalis tinctoria), and wild woad or dyer's weed (Reseda luteola); ground-nuts (Arachis hypogaea), grown for their oil, for the preparation of which the nuts are exported in considerable quantity to France; liquorice, cummin, colocynth, etc. Esparto, chiefly from the arid lands of the south-east, is largely exported to Great Britain.
Despite all the efforts of the breeders and of the government, a decline has gone on not only in horse-rearing, but also in other classes of livestock since 1865. Among the causes Livestock assigned for this decay is the fact that horse, sheep, goat and swine rearing is becoming less remunerative. Heavy taxation, aggravated by unequal distribution of the burden, owing to insufficient survey of the assessable property, has also contributed to the decline of this and other branches of Spanish farming.
The only animals belonging to Spain still noted for their excellence are mules and asses, which are recognized as among the best to be found anywhere. Goats are mostly bred in the mountainous districts all along the Spanish side of the Pyrenees from Biscay to Catalonia, and in Badajoz, Caceres, Ciudad Real, Granada and Leon; swine in Badajoz, Lugo, Oviedo, Caceres and Corunna. The pork and hams of Estremadura are famous; goats' milk and cheese are important articles of diet. In some districts a single peasant often owns as many as 3000 head of goats. Besides the cattle reared for field-labour and (in the northern provinces) for regular dairy farming, bulls for bull-fighting are specially reared in many parts of the country, particularly in the forests of Navarre, the mountains separating the two Castiles, the Sierra Morena, and the Serrania de Ronda in Granada, and also in separate enclosures on the islands of the Guadalquivir. Spanish sheep, which once formed so important a part of the national wealth, are far from having the same importance at the present day. The most famous breeds of Spanish sheep are the merinos or migrating sheep, which once brought immense revenues to the state as well as to the large proprietors to whom they mostly belonged (see MERINO). These sheep are pastured in different districts in summer and winter. Their winter quarters are in the lower parts of Leon and Estremadura, La Mancha, and the lowlands of Andalusia, their summer quarters the more mountainous districts to the east and north (Plasencia in the province of Caceres, Avila, Segovia, Cuenca, Valencia), which are not so much affected by the summer droughts of the Peninsula. The mode of the migration and the routes to be followed are prescribed by law. Each flock consists of about 10,000 sheep, under the command of a mayoral, and is divided into sections containing about looo each, each section under the charge of an overseer (capataz), who is assisted by a number of shepherds (pastores) attended by dogs. The shepherds, rudely clad in a sleeveless sheepskin jacket, the wool outside, and leather breeches, and loosely wrapped in a woollen mantle or blanket, are among the most striking objects in a Spanish landscape, especially on the table-land. The migration to the summer quarters takes place at the beginning of April, the return at the end of September. At one time the owners of merino flocks enjoyed the right of pasturing their sheep during their migrations on a strip of ground about 100 yds. in breadth bordering the routes along which the migrations took place, but this right (the tnesta, as it was called) was abolished in 1836 as prejudicial to cultivation. The numbers of the merinos have been greatly reduced, and they have been replaced by coarse-woolled breeds.
Fisheries. The catching of tunnies, sardines, anchovies and salmon on the coasts employs large numbers of fishermen (about 67,000 in 1910), and the salting, smoking and packing of the first three give employment to many others. In 1910 there were about 400 sardine-curing establishments in the kingdom.
Minerals. The mineral resources of Spain are as yet far from being adequately turned to account. No European country produces so great a variety of minerals in large amount, and in the production of copper ore, lead ore and mercury Spain heads the list. In the production of salt and silver it is excelled only by Austria-Hungary, and, as regards silver, not always even by it. Iron ore is chiefly obtained in Biscay and Murcia, the former yielding by far the greater quantity, but the latter yielding the better quality.
All except a small fraction of the copper ore is obtained from the province of Huelva, in which lie the well-known mines of Tharsis and Rio Tinto (q.v.). The lead ore is obtained chiefly in Murcia and Jaen. The famous mines of Linares belong to the latter province. Argentiferous lead is chiefly produced in Almeria, which also produces most of the silver ore of other kinds except argentiferous copper ore, which is entirely obtained from Ciudad Real. The still more celebrated mercury mines of Almaden (q.v.), the richest in the world till the discovery of the Californian mines of New Almaden, belong to Ciudad Real, and this province, together with that of Oviedo, furnishes the whole of the Spanish production of this mineral. Spanish salt is partly marine, partly derived from brine-springs and partly from rock-salt, of which last there is an entire mountain at Cardona (q.v.) in Barcelona. Coal is chiefly obtained in Oviedo, Palencia and Cordova. The production is quite insignificant compared with the extent of the coal-bearing beds, which are estimated to cover an area of about 3500 sq. m., of which nearly a third belongs to Oviedo. Among the less important Spanish minerals are manganese (chiefly in Ciudad Real), antimony, gold, cobalt, sodic sulphate, sulphate of barium (barytes), phosphorite (found in Caceres), alum, sulphur, kaolin, lignite, asphalt, besides a variety of building and ornamental stones. In 1905 the workmen employed on mines in Spain numbered 105,000, and the total value of the output was estimated at 7,734,805. By the law of the 6th of July 1859, a large number of important mines, including all the salt-works and rock-salt mines, were reserved as state property, but financial necessities compelled the government to surrender one mine after another, so that at present the state possesses only the mercury mines and some salt-works. Many of the mines have been granted to foreign (principally British) companies.
Manufactures. The maritime provinces, being those most favourably situated for the import of coal, and, where necessary, of raw material, are the chief seats of Spanish manufactures. The principal manufacture is that of cotton. The exports of Spanish cotton goods were, until the close of the 19th century, hardly worth mentioning outside the colonial markets, which took an average of two millions sterling in the decade 1888-1898. This outlet is now almost closed, as the new masters of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines no longer protect Spanish imports against European and American competitors. But this loss has been to a great extent compensated by the expansion of the home market for cotton, and the Spanish manufacturers are unable to meet the wants of the population, large quantities of cotton goods being imported every year. The cotton industry was long principally centred in Catalonia, and mainly in the province and town of Barcelona, famed also for their manufactures of lace, woollen and linen goods. The northern provinces, especially Guipuzcoa and Biscay, Navarre and Oviedo, have followed in the wake of Catalonia for linen and cotton industries and for paper-mills. Flax-spinning is confined to Galicia. The silk industry, though inadequate to meet the home demands, is active in Valencia, Murcia and Seville. Metal industries, at first limited to the Basque Provinces, particularly around Bilbao, have spread to Asturias, Almeria, Galicia, near the great ore beds and in the vicinity of many coal mines. In the same Asturian districts the government has its foundries and factories for making arms at La Trubia and Oviedo, Toledo being only now famous for its blades and decorative work, while the foundries at Seville and Segovia are unimportant compared with those of Asturias. The manufacture of leather, another Spanish industry of old renown, is still extensively carried on in Catalonia and elsewhere, but the making of cordwain has long ceased to be a speciality of Cordova, from which it takes its name. Gloves are made in Seville and Madrid, shoes in the Balearic Isles, chiefly for Cuba and Puerto Rico. The esparto is twisted into cords and ropes and the staple matting so common on the floors of Spanish houses of all classes, the estera. Soap, chocolate and cork manufactures are among the prosperous industries. The same may be said of charcoal, both for heating and mechanical purposes. The large furnaces for the distillation of mercury at Almaden were at one time heated solely with charcoal obtained from the Cistus ladaniferus. The making of porcelain is chiefly carried on at Seville. The war of tariffs between France and Spain after 1891 was an inducement for an extraordinary development in the making of brandy and liqueurs of every kind, of fruit preserves, potted meats, etc., in Navarre, the Bascuie Provinces, Catalonia, and even in Valladolid and Andalusia. Special mention must be made of the manufacture of tobacco, a royal monopoly, farmed out to a company, which increased the factories from seven to twelve and began by paying the treasury 3,400,000 annually.
The decade following the Spanish-American War (1898-1908), which may be regarded as a period of industrial and commercial reconstruction, was marked by a very rapid increase in the use of electricity for lighting, traction and other purposes. Owing to the abundance of water-power to be obtained in the mountainous regions, these new undertakings prpved very successful. Spain is, on the whole, a country whose production falls far short of her own requirements. With a protected home market, cheap power and cheap labour available, there is room for much industrial development. It is, however, noteworthy that Spanish capitalists are, as a class, though exclusive of the Catalans, unduly conservative. Hence the capital for the establishment of electrical industries was almost exclusively subscribed in Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland and the United States, just as, in the 19th century, the railways and mining industries had been mainly financed by British investors, and the Valencian silk industry by French. Another feature of the period of reconstruction was the formation of numerous trusts or combinations of producing companies designed to take advantage of the high tariff, and to restrict competition, lower expenses and raise prices. The paper, sugar, salt petroleum and metallurgical industries were subjected to this process, but in no case was it possible to secure a complete monopoly.
Commerce. Possessing varied resources and being favourably situated for commerce, Spain might be expected to take a leading place among the trading communities of Europe. This it did at one time hold, when the treasure acquired by the discovery of America and the conquest of Mexico and Peru was squandered in the purchase of various commodities from England, the Netherlands and other countries. This period of outward prosperity, however, was also that in which the seeds of decline were planted. The expulsion of the Moors from Granada was contemporaneous with the discovery of the New World. Hundreds of thousands of Moors were driven out from the country on subsequent occasions, and in the act Spain lost the best of her agriculturists and handicraftsmen. The Spaniards ot that day. excited by the hope of rapidly acquired wealth and the love of adventure, embarked upon a career of discovery, and agriculture and manufacturing industry fell into contempt. The loss of all her possessions on the American mainland in the early part of the 19th century dealt a severe blow to the foreign commerce of Spain, from which it only recovered about 1 850, when imports and exports began to increase. After the restoration of the Bourbons in 1875, the first cabinet of Alphonso XII. 's reign stopped the operation olf the tariff law of the Revolution and reverted to protection. In 1882 a Liberal cabinet revived the system of a gradual reduction of import duties to a fixed maximum, and made commercial treaties with France and several other nations, which were followed by a treaty with Great Britain in 1886. The foreign commerce of Spain rapidly developed in the decade 1882-1892, Great Britain, France and the United States figuring at the head of the imports, Great Britain and France at the head of the exports. The exports of Spanish wines to France alone amounted to 12,000,000 annually. When France and other European nations abandoned free trade for protection towards 1890, a strong movement set in in Spain in favour of protection. In 1890 the Conservative cabinet of Senor Canovas raised the duties on agricultural products, in 1891 it denounced all the treaties of commerce that included most-favoured-nation treatment clauses, and in 1892 a new tariff law established considerably higher duties than those of 1882 in fact, duties ranging from 40% to 300%. The subsequent revision of the tariff, completed in 1906, involved no serious departure from the economic policy adopted in 1890.
The following table shows the value of Spanish imports and exports for a number of representative years after 1848:
Year.
Imports.
Exports.
1849 6,360,000 5,240,000 1860 14,833,000 10,982,000 1865 16,262,000 12,864,000 1870 20,876,000 15,982,000 1875 22,812,000 18,081,000 1880 28,482,000 25,999,000 1885 30,590,000 27,920,000 1890 37,646,000 37,510,000 1895 33,540,000 32,198,000 1900 34,496,000 28,955,000 1905 32,320,000 50,012,000 The principal exports include metals and other minerals; wine,, sugar, fruit and other alimentary substances, cotton and its manufactures; animals and their products, including wool and hair; timber and wrought wood. The principal imports include grain, dried fish and other food-stuffs; livestock and animal products; machinery, vehicles and ships; stone, minerals, glass and pottery; drugs and chemical products; textiles and raw cotton. Great Britain, France, the United States, Germany and Portugal, named in the order of their importance, are the chief consumers of Spanish exports. The chief exporters to Spain (in the same order) are Great Britain, France, Cuba, Germany and Portugal. The foreign trade of the country is of course carried on mainly by sea, and of the land commerce by far the largest proportion is with or through France. The smallness of the trade with Portugal is partly due to the similarity of the chief products of the two countries.
Shipping and Navigation. Spain has 21 seaboard provinces, with more than 120 ports of some importance. The merchant navy of Spain, far from decaying through the loss of her colonies in 1898, seems to have been given fresh impetus. Many English and French steamers have been purchased abroad and nationalized. In 1905, the mercantile marine comprised 449 steamships of 434,846 tons, and 541 sailing vessels of 85,583 tons. The sailing vessels are decreasing in numbers in the exterior trade, but not in the coasting trade, which is decidedly developing and occupying more craft. It is carried on exclusively under the Spanish nag. The fishing fleet, chiefly sailing boats, is also important, and is manned by a hardy and active coast population. In 1905 19,722 ships of 16,595,267 tons entered, and 18,033 f 1 6,442,355 tons cleared.
Banking and Credit. The Bank of Spain (Banco de Espana) has a charter which has been renewed and enlarged several times since its foundation after the Restoration, and its privileged note issue has had to be gradually and very largely increased by legislative authorizations, especially in 1891 and 1898, as its relations with the treasuries of Spain and of her colonies increased ; since nothing in the services rendered by the bank to the public would ever have justified the growth of the note issue first to thirty millions sterling in 1891, then by quick strides to fifty and over sixty-one millions sterling in 1899 and 1900. At the close of the 19th century the remodelled bank charter, which is only to expire in 1921, authorized a maximum issue of 100,000,000, on condition that the bank keeps cash in hand, gold and silver in equal quantities, equal to a third of the notes in circulation up to 60,000,000, and equal to half the amount issued above that sum. gold has practically disappeared from business of every kind since 1881, when the premium began to rise ; it reached a maximum of 1 20 % during the war with America. Afterwards it dropped to about 30 in 1900. Bank-notes and silver coin have been practically the currency for many years.
Currency, Weights and Measures. The metric system of weights and measures was officially adopted in Spain in 1859 and the decimal monetary system in 1871. In the case of the weights and measures the French names were also adopted, with only the necessary linguistic changes. Certain older standards remain in common use, notably the quintal (of loivj. Ib avoirdupois), the libra (i'O!4 ft avoirdupois), the arroba (3^ imperial gallons for wine, 2\ imperial gallons for oil), thefanega (i J imperial bushels). In the case of the currency the old Spanish name of peseta was retained for the unit (the franc, 9id.). The peseta is divided into 100 centesimos. According to its par value 25-225 pesetas are about equal to i, but the actual value of the peseta is about 7|d. In law, there is a double standard of value, silver and gold, in the ratio of 15! to I. But the only silver coin which is legal tender up to any amount is the 5-peseta piece, and the coinage of this is restricted. Onepeseta pieces in silver, and 20-, 10- and 5-peseta pieces in gold are also current. Before the introduction of the decimal monetary system the peseta was the fifth part of a peso duro, which was equal to 20 reales de vellon, or rather more than a 5-franc piece. The only paper money consists of the notes of the Bank of Spain.
Finance. Spanish finance passed through many vicissitudes during the 19th century. In the reigns of Ferdinand VII. and Isabella II. the creditors of the state had to suffer several suspensions of payments of their dues, and reductions both of capital and interest. During the Revolution, from 1868 to 1874, matters culminated in bankruptcy. Payments of interest were only in part resumed after the Restoration in 1876, and in 1882 the government of King Alphonso XII. proposed arrangements to consolidate the floating and treasury debts of the Peninsula in the shape of 70,000,000 of 4% stock, redeemable in 40 years, and to reduce and consolidate the old exterior and interior debts, then exceeding 480,000,000, in the form of 78,840,000 of exterior 4 % debt exempt from taxation under an agreement to that effect with the council of foreign bondholders in London on the 28th of June 1882 and 77,840,000 of perpetual interior 4%. The colonial debts were not included in those plans. The debts of Spain were further increased in 1891 by a consolidation of 10,000,000 of floating debt turned into 4% redeemable stock similar to that of 1882 ; and this did not prevent a fresh growth of floating debts out of annual deficits averaging two to three millions sterling during the last quarter of the 19th century. The floating debt in 1900 had swollen to 24,243,300. The government of Spain having guaranteed the colonial debts of Cuba and of the Philippines, when those colonies were lost in 1898, Spain was further saddled with 46,210,000 of colonial consolidated debts, and with the expenses of the wars amounting, besides, to 63,257,000. Consequently, the Spanish government had once more to attempt to make both ends meet by asking its creditors to assent to the suppression of all the amortization of imperial and colonial debts, and to a tax of 20% on the coupons of all the debts, whilst at the same time the Cortes were asked to authorize a consolidation and liquidation of the floating and war debts and an annual increase of 3,200,000 in already heavy taxation. Under these modifications the Spanish debt at the close of the 19th century, exclusive of 44,000,000 of treasury debt, consisted of 41,750,000 of exterior debt, still temporarily exempted from taxation on the condition of being held by foreigners, of 270,000,000 of 4% interior consols, and of 60,000,000 of new 5 % consols, replacing the war and floating debts. In January 1905 this total outstanding debt of 415,750,000 had been reduced to 381,833,000; the capital sum was thus approximately equal to 20 8s. per head of the population, and the annual charge amounted to about 173. 6d. per head. Between 1885 and 1905 the revenue of Spain varied from 30,000,000 to 40,000,000, and the expenditure was approximately equal ; deficits were common towards the beginning of this period, surpluses towards the end. For an analysis of the budget the year 1908 may be taken as typical, inasmuch as trade had then resumed its normal condition, after the disturbing influence of tariff revision in 1906 and the failure of many crops in 1907. The estimates for 1908 showed that the revenue was derived as follows: Direct taxes on land, houses, mines, industry and commerce, livestock, registration acts, titles of nobility, mortgages and salaries paid by the state, 18,020,800; indirect taxes, including customs, excise, tolls and bridge and ferry dues, r 4. 748.000; tobacco monopoly, lottery, mint, national property, balance from public treasury, etc., 8,858,400; total 41,627,200. The principal items of expenditure were: Public debt, 16,199,300; ministry of war, 6,301,100; ministry of public works, etc., 3,679,540; pensions, 2,881,400. The total was 40,926,740.
Constitution and Government. Spain is an hereditary monarchy the constitution of which was voted by the Cortes and became the fundamental law of the 30th of June 1876. This law fixes the order of succession as follows: should no legitimate descendant of Alphonso XII. survive, the succession devolves first upon his sisters, next upon his aunt and her legitimate descendants, and finally upon the legitimate descendants of the brothers of Ferdinand VII. " unless they have been excluded." Should all lines become extinct, the nation may elect its monarch. The sovereign becomes of age on completing his or her sixteenth' year. He is inviolable, but his ministers are responsible to the Cortes, and none of his decrees is valid unless countersigned by a minister. The sovereign is grand-master of the eight Spanish orders of knighthood, the principal of which is that of the Golden Fleece (Toison de Oro), founded in 1431 by Philip of Burgundy. The chain of this order surrounds the royal arms, in which are included, besides the arms of Castile, Leon, Granada, and the lilies of the royal house of Bourbon, the arms of Austria, Sicily, Savoy, Brabant and others. The national colours are red and yellow. The flag is divided into three horizontal stripes, two red stripes with a yellow one between bearing the royal arms.
The legislative authority is exercised by the sovereign in conjunction with the Cortes, a body composed of two houses a senate and a chamber of deputies. The senate is composed of members of three classes: (i) members by right of birth or office princes, nobles who possess an annual income of 60,000 pesetas (2,400), and hold the rank of grandee (grandc), a dignity conferred by the king either for life or as an hereditary honour, captains-general of the army, admirals of the navy, the patriarch of the Indies, archbishops, cardinals, the presidents of the council of state or of the Supreme Court, and other high officials, all of whom must have retained their appointments for two years; (2) members nominated by the sovereign for life; and (3) members elected three each by the 49 provinces of the kingdom, and the remainder by academies, universities, dioceses and state corporations. The members belonging to the first two classes must not exceed 180 in number, and there may be the same number of members of the third class. The senatorial electors in the provinces are (i) delegates of the communes and (2) all the members of the provincial council, presided over by the governor. The lower house of the Cortes was elected by a very limited franchise from 1877 to 1890, when the Cortes passed a reform bill which became law on the 2Qth of June 1890. This law re-established universal male suffrage, which had existed during the Revolution, from 1869 to 1877. Under the law of the 2Qth of June 1890 every Spaniard who is not debarred from his civil and civic rights by any legal incapacity, and has resided consecutively two years in his parish, becomes an elector on completing his twenty-fifth year. Soldiers and sailors in active service cannot vote. All Spaniards aged 25 who are not clerks in holy orders can be elected. The same electoral law was extended to the municipal elections.
The executive administration is entrusted to a responsible ministry, in which the president generally holds no portfolio, though some prime ministers have also taken charge of one of the departments. The ministerial departments are: Foreign affairs, grace and justice, finance, interior, war, education and fine arts, marine, public works, and agriculture and commerce. Under the secretary of state for the interior the civil administration in each province is headed by a governor, who represents the central power in the provincial council (diputacion provincial) which is also elected by universal suffrage. The provincial councils meet yearly, and are permanently represented by a committee (commission provincial), which is elected annually to safeguard their interests. Every commune or municipality has its own elected ayuntamiento (q.v.), which has complete control over municipal administration, with power to levy and collect taxes. Its members are styled regidores or concejales, and half their number is elected every two years. They appoint an alcalde or mayor from among themselves to act as president, chief executive officer, and justice of the peace. In the larger towns the alcalde shares his reponsibilities with several permanent officials called tenientes alcaldes. The fundamental law of 1876 secures to ayuntamientos, and to the provincial councils, an autonomy which is complete within its own limits. Neither the executive nor the Cortes may interfere with provincial and communal administration, except when the local authorities exceed their legal power to the detriment of public interests. This provision of the constitution has not always been strictly observed by the government.
Law and Justice. Spanish law is founded on Roman law, Gothic common law, and the national code proclaimed at the meeting of the Cortes at Toro in 1501 (the leyes de Toro).
The present civil code was put into force on the 1st of May 1889 for the whole kingdom. The penal code dates from 1870, and was modified in 1877. The commercial code was put into force on the 22nd of August 1885, the code of civil procedure on the 1st of April 1 88 1, and the code of criminal procedure on the 22nd of June 1882. There is a court of first instance in each of the 495 partidosjudiciales, or legal _districts, into which the kingdom is divided. From this inferior jurisdiction the appeals go to the 15 audiencias territoriales, or courts of appeal. There is in Madrid a Supreme Court, which is modelled upon the French Cour de Cassation, to rule on points of law when appeals are made from the decisions of inferior courts, or when conflicts arise between civil and military j urisdiction. When the law of the 20th of April 1888 established trial by jury for most crimes and delicts, 49 audiencias criminates, one in each province, were created ; these are a sort of assize held four times a year. The administration of justice is public. The parties to a suit must be represented by counsel. The state is always represented in every court by abogados fiscales, public prosecutors, and counsel who are nominees of the Crown.
Religion. Roman Catholicism is the established religion, and the Church -and clergy are maintained by the state at an annual cost of about 1,600,000. Therelations between Church and state, and the position of the religious orders, were defined by the concordat of 1851, remaining practically unchanged until 1910. There are ten archbishoprics (Toledo, Madrid, Burgos, Granada, Santiago, Saragpssa, Seville, Tarragona, Valencia and Valladolid) and fortyfive bishoprics. The archbishop of Toledo is primate. The number of monastic communities is about 3250, including some 600 convents for men and 2650 for women. Most of the religious orders carry on active educational or charitable work. The monks number about 10,000, the nuns 40,000. The immense majority of the people are professed adherents of the Roman Catholic faith, so that, so far as numbers go, Spain is still the most " Catholic " country iij the world, as it has long been styled. With liberty of conscience during the Revolution, from 1868 to 1877, the Church lost ground, and anti-clerical ideas prevailed for a while in the centres of republicanism in. Catalonia and Andalusia; but a reaction set in with the Restoration. The governments of the Restoration showed the Church much favour, allowed the Jesuits and religious orders of both sexes to spread to an extent without precedent in the century, and to take hold of the education of more than half of the youth of both sexes in all classes of society. This revival of Church and monastic influence began during the reign of Alphonso XII., 1877-1885, and considerably increased afterwards under the regency of Queen Christina, during the long minority of Alphonso XIII., the godson of Pope Leo XIII. Spanish codes still contain severe penalties for delicts against the state religion, as writers frequently discover when they give offence to the ecclesiastical authorities. Blasphemy is punished by imprisonment. The bishops sit in the superior council of education, and exercise much influence on public instruction. Since 1899 all boys have been obliged to attend lectures on theology and religion during six out of seven years of their curriculum to obtain the B.A. degree. Canon law and Church doctrine form an obligatory part of the studies of men qualifying for the bar and magistracy. By the constitution of 1876 non-Catholics were only permitted to exercise their form of worship on condition that they did so in private, without any public demonstration or announcement of their services. The same rule applies to their schools, which are, however, numerously attended, in Madrid, Seville, Barcelona and other towns, by children of Protestant families and of many Roman Catholics also. A proposal to abolish these restrictions was made by the government in 1910 (see History, below).
Education. A law of the 17th of July 1857 made primary education free for the poor, and compulsory on all children of school age, originally fixed at six to nine years. It proved impossible to enforce this statute, and the majority of Spaniards are still illiterate, though in decreasing proportion at each census. The primary schools for both sexes are kept up by the municipalities, at an annual cost of about 1,000,000, to which the state contributes a small subvention. The secondary schools, of which there must be at least one in every province, are styled institutes and are mostly self-supporting, the fees paid by the pupils usually cover the expenses of such establishments, which also receive subsidies from some of the provincial councils. Spain has nine universities: Madrid, the most numerously attended ; Salamanca, the most ancient ; Granada, Seville, Barcelona, Valencia, Santiago, Saragossa and Valladolid. There are also a faculty of medicine at Cadiz and a faculty of law at Oviedo. Most of the universities are self-supporting from the fees of matriculations and of degrees. The state also maintains a variety of technical schools, for agriculture, engineering, architecture, painting, music, etc. The whole system of pJblic instruction is controlled by the minister of education and an advisory council. A law passed on the 1st of July 1902 requires that all private schools must be authorized by the state, and arranges for their periodical inspection, for the enforcement of proper sanitation and discipline, and for the appointment of a suitable staff of teachers. Among the institutions affected by this law are numerous Jesuit and other ecclesiastical schools for boys, and a Jesuit university at Deusto, near Bilbao, whose pupils have to pass their final secondary examinations and to take all degrees in the state establishments as free scholars. The education of girls has been much developed not only in the state schools but even more so in the convents, which educate more than half the girls of the upper and middle classes. Many girls attend the provincial institutes, and some have successfully gone in for the B.A. degrees and even higher honours in the universities.
Defence. The Spanish army is recruited by conscription. Liability to service begins with the first day of the calendar year in which the twentieth year is completed. Except in extraordinary circumstances, the war ministers have seldom called for more than forty to sixty thousand men annually, and of this contingent all who can afford to do so buy themselves off from service at home by payment of 60, and if drafted for colonial service by payment of 80. The period of service for all arms is twelve years three with the colours, three in the first-class reserve, six in the second-class reserve, which contains the surplus of the annual contingent of recruits, and is liable to one month's training in every year. The war ministers can, and frequently do, send on unlimited furlough, or place in the first-class reserve, men who have not completed their first three years, and thus a considerable saving is made. Brothers can take each other's place in the service, and eldest sons of aged parents, or sons of widows, easily get exempted. Spain is divided into seven military regions or army corps. The strength of the regular army for many years varied between 85,000 and 100,000 in time of peace, and during the Carlist Wars, 1868 to 1876, Spain had 280,000 under arms, and nearly 350,000 during her more recent wars. For 1890-1900 the figures were only 80,000. The active army is divided into 56 regiments of the line with 2 battalions each, 20 battalions of rifles or cazadores, 2 Balearic Islands, i Melilla, 4 African battalions of light infantry, 2 battalions of rifles in the Canaries. The cavalry includes a squadron of royal horse guards, 28 regiments of the line, remount and depot establishments, 4 regional squadrons in Majorca, the Canaries, Ceuta, Melilla. The artillery comprises 1 2 regiments of field artillery, i of horse artillery, 3 regiments and an independent division of mountain guns, and 7 battalions of garrison artillery. The royal engineers are 4 regiments of sappers and miners, i of pontooners, i battalion of telegraph engineers, i of railway engineers with cyclists, i balloon corps, and 4 colonial corps. Other permanent military forces are 1075 officers, 1604 mounted and 16,536 foot gendarmes, mostly old soldiers, and 14,156 arabineers, all of them old soldiers. The regular army, at the close of the wars in 1898, had 26,000 officers and about 400 generals, but a law was afterwards made to reduce their numbers by filling only one out of two death vacancies, with a view to reach a peace establishment of 2 marshals, 25 lieutenant-generals, 50 divisional- and 140 brigadier-generals, and 15,000 officers. The total strength of the field army may be estimated at 220,000 combatants. The military academies are Toledo for infantry, Segovia for artillery, Valladolid for cavalry, Avila for commissariat, Escorial for carabineers, Getafe for civil guards, besides a staff college styled Escuela Superior de Guerra at Madrid. Numerous fortresses guard the Portuguese frontier and the passes of the Pyrenees, but many of these are ill-armed and obsolete.
The navy is recruited by conscription in the coast or maritime districts, which are divided into three naval captaincies-general, those of Ferrol, Cadiz and Cartagena at the head of each being a vice-admiral. No attempt was made, during the decade which followed the Spanish-American War, to replace the squadrons destroyed at Manila and Santiago de Cuba. When the reconstruction of the navy was begun, in 1908, Spain possessed i battleship, 2 armoured cruisers, 6 protected cruisers, 5 destroyers and 6 torpedo-boats. All the larger vessels were old and of little value.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. The following works are mainly topographical and descriptive: G. H. Borrow, The Bible in Spain (ist ed., London, 1843; with notes and glossary by Ulick R. Burke, London, 1899); Madoz, Diccionario geogrdfico-historico y estadistico de las provincias de Espana (16 vols., 1846-1850); F. Coello, Resena geogrdfica, geologica, y agricola de Espana (Madrid, 1859); W. Webster, Spain (London, 1882); M. Willkomm, Die pyrendische Halbinsel (3 vols., Leipzig, 1884-1886); E. de Amicis, Spagna (Florence, 1885; Eng. trans. Spain and the Spaniards, New York, 1885); R. del Castillo, Gran diccionario geogrdfico de Espana (4 vols., Barcelona, 1889 1892); R. Bazin, Terre d'Espagne (Paris, 1895); E. Pardo Bazan, For la Espana pintoresca (Barcelona, 1895); R. FoulchtS-Delbosc, Bibliographie des voyages en Espagne (Paris, 1896); H. Gadow, In Northern Spain (London, 1897); J. Hay, Castilian Days (2nd ed., London, 1897); W. J. Root, Spain and its Colonies (London, 1898); K. L. Bates, Spanish Highways and Byways (London, 1900) ; A. J. C. Hare, Wanderings in Spain (8th ed., London, 1904) ; R. Thirlmere, Letters from Catalonia (2 vols., London, 1905). Valuable information can be obtained from the Boletins of the Madrid Geographical Society. Espana, sus monumentos y artes, su naturaleza e historia is an illustrated series of 21 volumes by various writers (Barcelona, 1884- 1891). The " Spanish Series " of monographs on towns and cities, edited by A. F. Calvert (London, 1906, etc.), is noteworthy for descriptions of architecture and painting, and for the excellence of its many illustrations. The best guide-books are H. O'Shea, Guide to Spain and Portugal (London, 1899); R. Ford, Murray's Handbook for Spain (2 vols., London, 1906); and C. Baedeker, Spain and Portugal (Leipzig, 1908). Stieler's Handatlas (Gotha, 1907) contains the best maps for general use. The Mapa topogrdfica de Espana, published by the Instituto geografico y estadistico de Espana in 1080 sheets, is on the scale of 1 : 50,000, or 1-26 in. = I m. For geology, see the maps and other publications of the Comision del Mapa Geologico de Espana; L. Mallada, " Explicacion del mapa geologico de Espana," in Mem. com. mapa geol. Esp. (1895, 1896, 1898 and 1902); C. Barrois, " Recherches sur les terrains anciens des Asturies et de la Galicie," in Mem. soc. geol. du Nord^, vol. ii. (Lille, 1882); F. Fouqu6, etc., "Mission d'Andalousie," in Mem. pres. par divers savants a I'acad. des sciences, ser. 2, vol. xxx. (Paris, 1889).
The chief authorities on flora and fauna are M. Willkomm, Illustrationes florae hispanicae insularumque Balearium (2 vols., Stuttgart, 1881-1892); M. Colmeiro, Enumeracion de las plantas de la Peninsula (vol. i., Madrid, 1885), G. de la Puerto, Botdnica descriptiva, etc. (Madrid, 1891); B. Merino, Contribucion a la flora de Galicia (Tuy, 1897); A. Chapman and W. J. Buck, Wild Spain (London, 1893); id. Unexplored Spain (London, 1910).
Modern social and political conditions are described by G. Routier, L' Espagne en 1897 (Paris, 1897); E. Pardo Bazan, La Espana de ayer y la de hoy (Madrid, 1899); L' Espagne: politique, litterature, armee, etc., numero special de la Nouvelle Revue Internationale (Paris, 1900) ; J. R. Lowell, Impressions of Spain (London, 1900, written 1-877-1880 when Lowell was American minister to the court of Spain) ; P.Gotor de Burbaguena, Nuestras costumbres (Madrid, 1900) ; R. Altamira y Creva Psicologia del pueblo espanol (Madrid, 1902) ; V. Amirall, El Catalanismo (Barcelona, 1902); J. Alenda y Mira, Relaciones de solemnidades y fiestas publicas de Espana (Madrid, 1903); Madrazo, El Pueblo espanol ha muerto? (Santander, 1903); V. Gay, Constitution y vida del pueblo espanol (Madrid, 1905, etc.) ; H. Havelock Ellis, The Soul of Spain (London, 1908).
A comprehensive account of such matters as population, industry, commerce, finance, mining, shipping, public works, post and telegraphs, railways, education, constitution, law and justice, public health, etc.,may be found in the following works; all those of which the place and date of issue are not specified are published annually in Madrid : Censo de la poblacion de Espana: ipoo (Madrid, 1902, etc.) ; Movimiento de la poblacion de Espana; British Foreign Office Reports (annual series and miscellaneous series, London) ; Estadistica general de comercio exterior de Espana con sus provincias de ultramar y potencias extrangeras, formada par la direccion general de Aduanas', Annual Reports of the Council of the Corporation of Foreign Bondholders (London); Estadistica mineral de Espana; Memoria sobre las obras publicas; Anuario oficial de correos y telegrafos de Espana; Situacion de los ferro-carriles; Anuario de la primera ensenanza; H. Gmelin, Studien zur spanischen Verfassungsgeschichte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts (Stuttgart, 1905); R. de Oloriz, La Constitucion espanola comparada con las de Inglaterra, Eslados-Vnidos, Francia y Alemania (Valencia, 1904); T. Gomez Herrero, Diccionario-guia legislative espanol (5 vols., Madrid, 1901- 1903); Estadistica de la administracion de justicia en lo criminal durante; Boletin mensual de estadistica demogrdfica-sanitaria de la peninsula y islas adjacentes (Madrid, monthly); Estado general de la armada para el ano; C. Fernandez Duro, Armada espanola desde la union de los reinos de Castilla y de Leon (9 vols., Madrid, 1895-1903) ; Boletin oficial del ministerio de marina. (K. G. J.)
HISTORY A. Ancient lo A.D. 406.
Primitive Inhabitants. The origin and character of the early inhabitants of the Peninsula are unknown; recent conjectures on the subject, which have been many, are more bold than probable, and we must await the result of further excavations of prehistoric sites and further inquiries into the native inscriptions before we can hope for much certainty. The Romans, whose acquaintance with the country began in the 3rd century B.C., mention three races: Iberians (in the east, north and south), Celts (north-west) and Celtiberians (centre), but the classification does not help us far. The use to-day of the strange and ancient Basque tongue on the western slopes of the Pyrenees and in Vizcaya (Biscay) a tongue which is utterly unlike Celtic or Italian or any " Indo-Germanic " language suggests that the Iberians may have been an older people than the Celts and alien from them in race, though the attempts hitherto made to connect Basque with ancient traces of strange tongues in the Basque lands have not yielded clear results. On the other hand, numerous placenames show that parts of the Peninsula were once held by Celtic-speaking peoples, and it is, of course, possible that Celts and Iberians may have formed a mixed race in certain regions. Of other ancient races little trace can be detected. The Phoenicians were here traders and not settlers; the Greeks, though they planted early colonies on the Gulf of Lyons, occupied hardly any site south of the Pyrenees, and the seeming likeness in name of Saguntum (q.v.) and the Greek island Zacynthus is mere coincidence. It is possible, however, that after the Roman conquest Italians drifted in, and it is fairly certain that after the Roman Empire fell German conquerors brought German settlers, though in what numbers no wise man will guess.
Earliest Historic Period. Phoenician traders probably reached Spain long before our historical knowledge of the Peninsula begins, possibly as early as the nth century B.C. Thephoem One of their earlier settlements, Gades (now n ici aas . Cadiz), has been called the oldest town in the world (or in Europe) which has kept a continuity of life and name from its first origin. But the Phoenician exploitation of Spain dates principally from after the rise of Carthage (q.v.), the great Phoenician city of North Africa. Carthaginian " factories " were planted on many Spanish coasts: a Nova Carthago (New Carthage, mod. Cartagena) formed a Carthaginian fortress with the best harbour of south-eastern Spain. The expansion is attributed chiefly to the second half of the 3rd century B.C., and to the genius of the Carthaginian statesman, Hamilcar Barca, who, seeing his country deprived by Rome of her trading dominion in Sicily and Sardinia, used Spain, not only as a source of commercial wealth, but as an inexhaustible supply of warlike troops to serve in the Carthaginian armies. But Rome had already her eyes on the Spanish men and mines, and, in the. second Punic War, drove Carthage finally and completely out of the Peninsula (201 B.C.).
Roman Spain. The Romans divided Spain into two " spheres of administration " (provinciae), Hither or Citerior, that is the northern districts which were nearer to Italy, and Republican Further or Ulterior, the south. To each " province " Period, was sent yearly a governor, often with the title 200-27B.C. proconsul. The commands were full of military activity. The south, indeed, and in particular the fertile valley of Andalusia, the region of the Guadalquivir (Baetis), then called Baetica, was from the first fairly peaceful. Settlements of Italian veterans or of Spanish soldiers who had served for Rome were made at Hispalis (Seville) and at Carteia near Gibraltar, and a beginning was made of a Romanized provincial population, though in a somewhat half-hearted way. But in the north, on the high plateau and amidst the hills, there was incessant fighting throughout the greater part of the 2nd century B.C., and indeed in some quarters right down to the establishment of the empire. The Carthaginians had extended their influence no great distance from the eastern coast and their Roman successors had all the work to do. In the long struggle many Roman armies were defeated, many commanders disgraced, many Spanish leaders won undying fame as patriot chiefs (see NUMANTIA). Even where one Roman succeeded, the incapacity or the perfidy of his successor too often lost the fruits of success. But though its instruments were weak the Republic was still strong, and the struggle itself, a struggle quite as much for a peaceful frontier as for aggrandizement and annexation of fresh land, could not be given up without risk to the lands already won. So the war went on to its inevitable issue. Numantia, the centre of the fiercest resistance, fell in 133 B.C. before the science of Scipio Aemilianus (see SCIPIO), and even northern Spain began to accept Roman rule and Roman civilization. When in the decade 80-70 B.C. the Roman Sertorius (q.v.) attempted to make head in Spain against his political enemies in Rome, the Spaniards who supported him were already half Romanized. There remained only some disturbed and unconquered tribes in the northern hills and on the western coast. Some of these were dealt with by Julius Caesar, governor here in 61 B.C., who is said also to have made his way, by his lieutenant Crassus, to the tin mines of the north-west in Galicia. Others, especially the hill tribes of the Basque and Asturian mountains fringing the north coast, were still unquiet under Augustus, and we find a large Roman garrison maintained throughout the empire at Leon (Legio) to overawe these tribes. But behind all this long fighting, pacification and culture had spread steadily. The republican administration of Spain was wise. The Spanish subjects were allowed to collect themselves the taxes and tribute due to Rome, and, though the mineral wealth doubtless fell into the hands of Roman capitalists, the natives were free from the tithes and tithe system which caused such misery and revolt in the Roman province of Sicily. On the other hand, every facility was given them to Romanize themselves; there was no competing influence of Hellenic or Punic culture and the uncivilized Spaniards accepted Roman ways gladly. By the days of Cicero and Caesar (70-44 B.C.) the southern districts, at least, had become practically Roman: their speech, their literature, their gods were wholly or almost wholly Italian, as Cicero and Strabo and other writers of these and the next few years unanimously testify. Gades, once Phoenician, gained, by Caesar's favour and the intercession of Balbus, a Roman municipal charter as municipium: that is, its citizens were regarded as sufficiently Romanized to be granted both the Roman personal franchise and the Roman city-rights. It was the first city outside of ' Italy which obtained such a municipal charter, without the usual implantation of Roman citizens (either poor men needing land or discharged veteran soldiers) from Italy.
Augustus (or Tiberius possibly) reorganized the administration of Roman Spain. Henceforward there were three proTYieEmpfre.vinces: (a) the north and north-west, the central 27B.C,- table-land and the east coast as far south as New A.D. 406. Carthage, that is, all the thinly-populated and unquiet hill country, formed the province of Tarraconensis with a capital at Tarraco (Tarragona) under a legatus Augusti pro praelore with a legion (VII. Gemina) at Leon and some other troops at his disposal; (6) the fertile and peaceful west formed the province of Lusitania, very roughly the modern Portugal, also under a legatus Augusti pro praetor -e, but with very few troops; (c) the fertile and peaceful south formed the province of Baetica, called after its chief river, the Baetis, under a proconsul nominated by the senate, with no troops. These divisions (it will be observed) exactly coincide with the geographical features of the Peninsula. Substantially, they remained till the end of the empire, though Tarraconensis was broken up at different dates into smaller and more manageable areas. Augustus also accelerated the Romanization of the land by planting in it many municipalities (coloniae) of discharged soldiers, such for example as Augusta Emerita (mod. Merida), which declares by its name its connexion with time-expired veterans and still possesses extensive Roman ruins. Either now, too, or soon after, imperial finance agents (procurators) were appointed to control the revenues and also to look after the mines, which now became Imperial property, while a special praefeclus administered the Balearic Islands. The two principal features of the whole country during the imperial period are its great prosperity and its contributions to Roman literature. Shut off from foreign enemies (though occasionally vexed by pirates from Africa) , secluded from the wars of the empire, it developed its natural resources to an extent unequalled before or since. Its iron and copper and silver and lead were well known: it was also (according to the elder Pliny) the chief source whence the Roman world obtained its tin and quite outdistanced in this period the more famous mines of Cornwall. But such commercial prosperity characterized many districts of the empire during the first two centuries of our era. Spain can boast that she supplied Rome with almost her whole literature in the silver age. The Augustan writers had been Italians. When they passed away there arose in their places such writers as the younger Seneca, the epic poet Lucan, the epigrammatist Martial, the literary critic Quintilian, besides a host of lesser names. But the impulse of the opening empire died away and successful commerce drove out literary interests. With the 2nd century the great Roman-Spanish literature ceased: it was left to other regions which felt later than Spain the stimulus of Romanization to enter into the literary tradition. Of statesmen the Peninsula was less prolific. The emperor Trajan, indeed, and his relative and successor Hadrian, were born in Spain, but they were both of Roman stock and Roman training. The 3rd and 4th centuries saw a decline in the prosperity of Roman Spain. The confiscations of Septimus Severus and the ravages of barbarians in the middle of the 3rd century have both been adduced as causes for such a decline. But while we need not doubt that the decline occurred, we can hardly determine either its date or its intensity without careful examination of the Roman remains of Spain. Many of the best Roman ruins such as the aqueduct of Segovia or the bridge of Alcantara no doubt date from before A.D. 200. Others are probably later, and indicate that prosperity continued here, as it did on the other side of the Pyrenees in Gaul, till the later days of the 4th century perhaps indeed not till the fatal winter's night in 406-7 when the barbarians burst the Rhine frontier and flooded Gaul and even Spain with a deluge from which there was no recovery. (F. J. H.)
B. From A.D. 406 to the Mahommedan Conquest.
The Barbarian Invasion and the Visigothic Kingdom. With the irruption of the Vandals, the Suebi and the Alans, the history of Spain enters on a long period of division and confusion which did not end even with the union of the chief kingdoms by the marriage of Isabella and Ferdinand at the close of the 15th century. The function of the barbarians everywhere was to cut the communications of commerce, and the nerves of the imperial administration, thereby throwing the invaded country back into a fragmentary condition from which a new order was to arise in the course of centuries.
This function was effectually discharged in Spain by the Vandals and their associates, who plundered far and wide, and then by the Visigoths, who appeared as the foederati," or duly commissioned defenders of the Romans. The first-comers cannot be said to have conquered the country in the sense that they established a rule of their own. They were not numerous enough for the execution of such a task, even if they had possessed the capacity. When in 428 Gaiseric, king of the Vandals (q.v.), accepted the invitation of Bonifacius, the count of Africa, and passed out of Spain to found the Vandal kingdom of Carthage, his whole horde numbered only 80,000 persons, including old men, women and children, and runaway slaves who had joined him. The Suebi, who remained, were certainly not more numerous. Such small bodies could not have occupied so extensive a territory, even if they had scattered themselves in driblets all over its surface. What they did was to rove about in hordes, plundering or levying blackmail. The cowed inhabitants had been trained out of all habit of acting for themselves by the imperial despotism, and could only flee or submit. There is probably some truth in the assertion of Salvian that many of the subjects of the empire preferred poverty among the barbarians to the tyranny of the imperial tax collectors. This would be preeminently the case with the smaller landowners who formed the " curiales," and who were in reality serfs of the fisc, for on them fell the main weight of taxation, and they were confined to their position by oppressive laws. The great landowners who formed the " ordo senatorius " had almost as much to fear from the agrarian insurgents known as bagaudae, who are indeed found acting with the Suebi, as from the barbarians. In time some of them took to " living barbarously " that is to say, they fortified their villas, collected an armed following and fought for their lives, families and property. In some districts the inhabitants reverted to a state of tribal independence. This undoubtedly was the case in the north, where the Asturians and Basques, the least Romanized part of the population, appear from the beginning of the age of barbarization as acting for themselves. In the mountain country of Cuenca, Albacete, and the Sierra Nevada the natives known as the Orospedans were entirely independent in the middle of the 6th century. But if there lay in this revival of energy and character the germs of a vigorous national life, for the time being Spain was thrown back into the state of division from which it had been drawn by the Romans with the vital difference that the race now possessed the tradition of the Roman law, the municipalities, and one great common organization in the Christian Church.
No help was to be expected from the empire. Unable to aid itself it had recourse to the Visigoths (see GOTHS). Ataulphus visi title ('") l ^ e successor f Alaric, and the husband of Occupation. Placidia, daughter of the emperor Theodosius, whom he had married against the wish of her brother Honorius, entered Spain in 412, as the ally of the empire. He was murdered in 41 5, but after the speedily ensuing murder of his murderer and successor Sigeric, Wallia (415-419), who was elected to the kingdom, continued his work. He destroyed the Alans, and drove the Vandals and Suebi into the north-west. Then he handed Spain back to the imperial officials, that is to say, to weakness and corruption, and marched with all his people into the Second Aquitaine, the south-west of modern France, which had been assigned to them by Honorius as a home and a reward. From this date till the very end of the reign of Amalaric (511- 531), the seat of the Visigothic kings was at Bordeaux, or Toulouse or Narbonne, and their main interests were in Gaul. They continued to intervene in Spain and to extend their influence over it. But for an interval of more than twenty-five years they stood apart. Southern Spain was overrun and plundered by the Vandals before their departure for Africa. In 456 Theodoric II. (453-466) entered Spain as ally of Avitus, whom he had himself raised to the empire in Gaul. He defeated the Roman senators of the Tarraconensis and the Suebi, putting their king to death, and advanced as far as Merida. But he was recalled to Gaul, and his return was accompanied by outrages against the Roman cities. Majorian (457-461), the last capable emperor of the West, proposed to make Spain the basis of his attack on the Vandals at Carthage till his fleet was destroyed by them in the harbour of Carthagena. The fratricidal murderer and successor of Theodoric, Euric (466-485) followed his brother's policy in Spain. With the extinction of the Western Empire (476 or 479) the kings of the Visigoths became more and more the representatives of authority, which they exercised on Roman lines, and with an implied or formal deference to the distant emperor at Constantinople. But the continued existence of the obscure Suevic kingdom in the north-west, the effective independence of several districts, and the rule of others by the Roman senators, proves that the regions actually under Visigothic rule were not extensive. After the defeat and death of Alaric II. (485-507) at Vouille the shattered Visigoth power was preserved from destruction at the hands of the Frankish king Clovis (q.v.) by Theodoric, the Gothic king of Italy. But on his death the advance of the Franks began again. Amalaric (507-531) fled from Narbonne, to meet the usual violent end of a Visigothic king at Barcelona.
The line of the Visigothic kings of Spain begins, strictly speaking, with his successor Theudis (531-548), an Ostrogoth appointed by Theodoric to act as guardian of Amalaric. He character ot had acquired great possessions in the valley of the Visigothic Ebro by marriage with a Roman lady. It was a Kingdom. government, and not a people, which was established in Spain with Theudis. The Visigoths had been much Romanized during their establishment in Gaul, and we hear of no exodus as having accompanied Amalaric. The example of Theudis is enough to show that the law of the Theodosian code which forbade the marriage of Romans and barbarians was not regarded by the Goths. It remained indeed unrepealed, as many laws have done since, long after it had become a mere dead letter. The government which came with Theudis, and fell to ruin with Roderic, may be described as having been at once Roman and bad. In so far as it was affected by the Visigoths it was influenced for the worse. Their monarchy was elective. Until the death of Amalaric the choice was confined to one family, but he was the last of his line. The kings tried to make the crown hereditary, and the nobles, Visigothic seniores, and Roman senatores seized every opportunity to keep it elective. Spain presented a forecast of the anarchy of Poland. Of the twenty-three kings between Theudis and Roderic five were certainly murdered, one was deposed, and three were tonsured by tricks or open force. Of the others some were passing phantoms, and the records of the later times of the kingdom are so obscure that we cannot be sure of knowing the names of all who perished by violence.
The administration which these kings of unstable authority had to direct was essentially the Roman system. The great owners, whether nominally Visigoth or nominally Roman seniores or senatores continued to enjoy all the privileges and exemptions of the ordo senatorius in the last days of the empire. They lived surrounded by multitudes of semi-servile coloni, or farmers, bound to the soil, of actual slaves, and of buccelarei, who were free swordsmen to whom they gave rations (buccclatum, soldiers' bread, or buccella, a portion). The curiales remained as before the victims of the fisc. How far the fact that Theudis and the four next sovereigns were Arians affected their government is not very clear. It prevented them from enjoying the active support of the Catholic clergy. But it is very doubtful whether Christianity had spread much beyond the cities. We hear of the conversion of pagans down to the last days of the Visigothic kingdom. The spread of Mahommedanism was so rapid in the first years after the conquest that it is impossible to believe that the country had been thoroughly christianized.
Theudis, who made his headquarters at Seville, endeavoured to complete his mastery of the diocese of Spain by occupying Mauritania Tingitana, but he was defeated by the The imperial officers at Ceuta. He was in due course Visigothic murdered at Seville by Theudigisel (548-549) who ags ' was himself promptly slain. The reigns of his two successors, Agila (549-554) and Athanagild (554-567), coincided with the reign of Justinian and the temporary revival of the Eastern Empire. Athanagild called on the imperial officers to help him against Agila, and paid for their assistance by the surrender of the province of Baetica. On his death there was an obscure interregnum of five months, which ended by the election of Liuva (567-572), the governor of Narbonne, the surviving remnant of the Visigoth power to the north of the Pyrenees. Liuva did not come to Spain, but associated his brother Leovigild (567-586) with him. The reigns of Leovigild and of his son Reccared are the greatest in the list of the Visigoth kingdom in Spain. The father was manifestly a man of great energy who cowed his unruly nobles by murder, forced the Orospedans to recognize his superiority, swept away the Suevic kingdom which had lingered in the north-west, and checked the raids of the Basques. To secure the succession in his family he associated his sons Hermenegild and Reccared with himself. He was the first Visigothic king who wore the crown, and it would appear that he threw off all pretence of allegiance to the empire. The series of the Visigothic gold coins begins with him, and it is to be noted that while the earliest are struck in the name of the emperor Justinian, the imperial superscription disappears in the later. Leovigild drove the imperial officers from Seville and Cordova, though they still retained control of the coast. His son Hermenegild, to whom he entrusted the government of Baetica, was married to a Prankish princess. Intermarriages had not been uncommon between Frank and Visigoth, but they had rarely led to any. other result than to subject the Arian ladies who were sent from Spain, or the Catholic ladies who came from France, to blows and murder by their husbands and their husbands' families. Ingunda the Prankish wife of Hermenegild, with the help of Leandro, archbishop of Seville, the brother and predecessor of the more famous Isidore (q.v.), persuaded her husband to renounce Arianism. He revolted against his father, was reduced to submission and executed in prison.
The reign of Reccared (586-601) is famous in Spanish history for the establishment of Catholicism as the religion of the state. Reccared must have seen from the example of the Franks that the support of the Church was a great element of strength for the Crown. He made the change at the Third Council of Toledo. If Reccared hoped to secure the perpetuance of his dynasty he was mistaken. His son Liuva the second (601-603) was murdered by an Arian reaction headed by Witteric (603-610). The Catholics regained power by his overthrow, but they could not give stability to the state. A succession of obscure " priests' kings," who are but names, followed: Gunthemar (610-612), Sisebut (612-620), Reccared II. (620-621), Swintella, associated with his son Reccimer (621-631), Sisinand (631-636), Chintila (636-640), Tulga (640-641), Chindaswinth(64i-65 2), Recceswinth (649-672). The growing weakness of the Merovingians saved them from serious attack, though not from occasional invasion on the north. The prostration of the empire in the East by Avar and Persian invasions enabled them to drive the imperial officers from the coast towns. But the kingdom was growing internally weaker. The nobles were strong enough to prevent the monarchy from becoming hereditary. The Church seemed to exert great power, but it had itself become barbarized by contact with kings and nobles. Violent persecutions of heretics and of the numerous Jews brought in new elements of discord. Wamba (672-680) is credited with an attempt to reform the state, but he was tonsured while unconscious from illness or poison, and disappeared into a religious house. His successors again are but names, Euric (680-687) and Egica (687-701). Witiza (697-710) has more substance. He was in aftertimes denounced as a monster of vice, whose sins accounted for the Mahommedan conquest. Contemporaries speak of him with respect, and he appears to have been a well-meaning man who endeavoured to check the corruption of the clergy and the persecution of the Jews, and who resisted the dictation of the pope. His reign ended in turmoil, and perhaps by murder. With Roderic, whose " tumultuous " election was the work of Witiza 's enemies, the line of the Visigoth kings is considered to have ended.
The Visigoth kingdom presents an appearance of coherence which was very far from corresponding to the reality. At the Organiza- ^ ea( ^ was the king, surrounded by his household of tionofthe leudes, and aided by the palatines, great officers of visigothk state imitated from the imperial model. At the head Kingdom. o f t he provinces, eight in number, were dukes, and the cities were governed by counts. Both were, at least in theory, officers named by the king and removable by him. The king was advised by councils, made up by a combination of a senate of the great men, and of the ecclesiastical councils which had met under the Roman rule and that of the tolerant Arian kings. The formation of the council was not complete until the establishment of Catholicism as the state religion. But from the reign of Reccared till the Arab invasion they met sixteen times in all, generally at Toledo in the church of Santa Leocadia. Purely ecclesiastical matters were first discussed by the clergy alone. Then the great men, Visigoth and Roman, joined with the clergy, and the affairs of the kingdom were debated. The Leges Wisigothorum were elaborated in these councils (see GERMANIC LAW). But there was more show than reality in this parade of government by free discussion and by law. There was no effective administration to enforce the law. The Mahommedan Conquest. How utterly weak it was can be seen from the fact that it was shattered by the feeble Moslem invasion of 711. The danger from Africa had been Moslem patent for half a century. During the reign of invasion, Witiza the Moslem masters of northern Africa had 7tl ' pressed the town of Ceuta, the last remnant of the Byzantine possessions, very closely, and it had been relieved by supplies from Spain. Only the want of ships had prevented the Mahommedans from mastering the town, and crossing the straits, and now this deficiency was supplied by the Christians themselves. It seems to be certain that Julian, the imperial count or governor of Ceuta, acting in concert with the family and faction of Witiza, who sought his help against Roderic, provided vessels to transport the Berber Tarik (Tariq) across the straits. Tarik, the general of the caliph's governor in northern Africa, Musa b. Nosair, was invited as an ally by the conspirators, who hoped to make use of him and then send him back. He came with a small force, but with the certainty of finding allies, and on being joined by another detachment of Berbers marched inland. On the 19th of July 711 he met Roderic near the Lago de la Janda between Medina Sidonia and Vejer de la Frontera. He had perhaps already been joined by Spanish allies. It is at least certain that in the battle the enemies of Roderic passed over to the invader. The Visigoth king was routed and disappears from authentic history. There is some probability that he did not perish in the battle, but escaped to fall two years later, at Seguyjuela near Salamanca, in action with Merwan the son of Musa. A single blow delivered as much by Christian as by Moslem hands, sufficed to cut the bond which seemed to hold the kingdom together, and to scatter its fragments all over the soil of the Peninsula. Through these frag- The Maments Tarik marched without a single check of im- bommedan portance. Before the end of 711 he had advanced as Cot "i aest - far north as Alcala. Cordova fell to a detachment of his army. In 712 Musa joined his lieutenant, and the conquest of the south was completed. M6rida was the only town which offered an honourable resistance. During 713 and 714 the north was subdued to the foot of the mountains, and when Musa and Tarik were recalled to Damascus by the caliph the progress of the Moslems was not delayed. In 718 they crossed the Pyrenees, and continued their invasions of Gaul till they met the solid power of the Austrasian Franks at Poitiers 732 (see CHARLES MARTEL and CALIPHATE, B. 6, 10). The rush of the Mahommedan flood sent terror all over Europe, but the little opposition it encountered south of the Pyrenees is to be easily explained, and the victory, though genuine, was more specious than substantial. That the lieutenants of the caliph at Damascus should take the place of the Visigoth kings, their dukes and counts seemed to many no loss and to a still greater number a gain. The great landowners, to whom patriotism was unknown and whose religious faith was tepid, were as ready to pay tribute to the caliph as to render service to one of their own body who had become king by violence or intrigue. On the part of the Arabs, who, though a small minority of the invaders, were the ruling element, there was a marked absence of proselytizing zeal. They treated the occupation of Spain as a financial speculation more than as a war for the faith. The Arab, though he produced Mahommedanism, was the least fanatical of the followers of the Prophet, .... 11* 11 Charactcrot and was not only willing but desirous to leave to all Arab Kule men who would pay tribute the free exercise of their religion. He cynically avowed a greater liking for the poll tax paid by the Christian than for his conversion. The Spanish Roman and the Visigoth, so-called, of that epoch of poorness of spirit, accustomed as he was to compound with one master after another, saw nothing dishonourable in making such an arrangement. That it was made is matter of record. In Murcia the duke whom the Arabs knew as Tadmir became a tributary prince, and his family retained the principality for generations. He no doubt contrived to induce the Arabs to recognize him as the owner of what had been public domain, and made an excellent bargain. The family of Witiza did obtain possession of an immense stretch of the land of the state in Andalusia on condition of paying tribute. One of them, by name Ardabast, was deprived of his holding at a later date on the ground that he held more land than could be safely left in the hands of a Christian. Everywhere landowners made the bargain, and the monasteries and the cities followed their example. Nor was submission and payment of tribute all that they were prepared to give. Many professed themselves converts to Mahommedanism. In the north one great Visigoth family not only accepted Islam, but founded a dynasty, with its capital at Saragossa, which played a stirring part in the 8th and gih centuries, the Beni-Casi, or Beni-Lope. To the mass of the population the conquest was, for the present, a pure gain. The Jews, escaped from brutal persecution, were the eager allies of the Arabs. As the conquerors swept away the Roman fiscal system, which the Visigoths had retained, and replaced it by a poll tax (which was not levied on old men, women, children, cripples or the very poor) and a land tax, the gain to the downtrodden serfs of the rise was immense. They acquired personal freedom. Add to this that a slave who professed Islam could secure his freedom, at least from slavery to a Christian master, that Arianism had not been quite rooted out, that the country districts were still largely pagan, and it will not appear wonderful that within a generation Mahommedan Spain was full of renegades who formed in all probability a majority of its population and a most important social and political element. The Arabs at first were content to take a fifth of the land to constitute the public domain, or khoms, out of which fiefs held on military tenure were provided for the chiefs of the conquering army.
If this moderate policy had been or could have been steadily pursued, the invaders would in all probability have founded a lasting state. But it could not be pursued, since it required for its application a consistency, and a power to act on a definite political principle, of which the Mahommedan conquerors were absolutely destitute. Nor had Spain been conquered by a single race. The invaders were a coalition of Arabs, Syrians and Berbers. The Arab was incurably anarchical, and was a noble who had no political idea except the tribal one. That their personal dignity must be asserted and recognized was the first article in the creed of these descendants of the heroes of the desert. They looked down on the Syrian, they thought the Berber a lout and a plebeian, they scorned the renegade, and called him a slave and son of a slave. They fought out the old tribal rivalries of Arabia on the banks of the Guadalquivir and on the Vega of Granada. They planted the Berber down on the bleak, illwatered, and wind-swept central plateau. He revolted, and they strove to subdue him by the sword. He deserted his poor share of the conquered land, and in many cases returned to Africa. The conflict for the caliphate (q.v.) between Omayyad and Abbasid removed all shadow of control by the head of the Mahommedan world, and Spain was given up to mere anarchy. The treaties made with the Christians were soon violated, and it seemed as if Islam would destroy itself. From that fate it was preserved by the arrival in Spain of Abdurrahman ( Abdarrahman b. Moawiya) the Omayyad (758), one of the few princes of his house who escaped massacre at the hands of the Abbasides. With the help of his clansmen among the Arabs, and to a large extent of the renegades who counted as his clients, by craft, by the sword, by keeping down the fanatical Berber element, and by forming a mercenary army of African negroes, and after thirty years of blood and battle, Abdurrahman founded the independent amirate, which in the 10th century became the caliphate of Cordova. It was an Oriental monarchy like another, strong when the amir was a strong man, weak when he was not, but exceptionally rich in able men. Its rulers had to fight the Arab nobles as much as the Christians, and the real basis of their power was their slave army of negroes, or of Christian slaves, largely Slavonians sold by their German captors to the Jew slave traders of Verdun, and by them brought to Spain. These janissaries at first gave them victory, and then destroyed them.
Such a kingdom as this needed only attack from a more solidly organized power to be shattered. The Christian enemies of the Mahommedans were for long weak and no less Christian anarchical than themselves, but they were never States of altogether wanting, and they had, what the Arab ^e North. and Berber had not, a tradition of law and a capacity for forming an organized polity and a state. They are to be sought for along the line of the mountains of the north. In the centre were the Basques, dwelling on both sides of the Pyrenees, who kept against the Mahommedan the independence they had vindicated against the Visigoth. On the east of the Basques, along the line of the Pyrenees, were others of kindred blood, who also kept a rude freedom on the slopes and in the valleys of the mountains. The Arab passed through them, going and returning to and from Gaul, but he never fully conquered them. The names of their leaders Garci Jeminez and Inigo Arista are altogether legendary. But here were the roots of the kingdom of Navarre, of Sobrarbe and Aragon. In the earliest times their most pressing foe was not the Arab or Berber so much as the Carolingian. It was at their hands that Charlemagne (q.v), while returning from his expedition to Saragossa, suffered that disaster to his rearguard at Roncesvalles which is more famous in poetry than important in history. With the aid of the Spanish Moslem Beni-Casi the Basques drove off the counts and wardens of the marches of the Carolingians. On the eastern extremity of the Pyrenees the Franks found no native free population. Here, mainly under the leadership of Louis the Pious, they formed the Marca Hispanica, where Frankish counts and wardens of the marches gradually gained ground. By the reign of Charles the Fat a principality had been founded. Wilfred the Hairy the Comes Vellosus, so called because his countship was poor and covered with scrub wood, and not because the palms of his hands were covered with hair as the legend has it became the founder of the counts of Barcelona.
The greatest destiny was preserved for the Christian remnant which stood out to the west of the Basques, in the mountains of Asturias. Pelayo, whom they chose for king, and his victory of Covadonga, are well nigh as legendary, and are quite as obscure as Garci Jimenes and Inigo Arista. Yet it is certain that in this region were planted the seeds of the kingdom of Castile and Leon, the dominant power of the Spain of the future. The total silence of the contemporary chronicle, called by the name of Isidore of Beja, shows that in the south of Spain, where the writer lived, nothing was known of the resistance made in the north. The next Christian authorities belong to the latter part of the 9th century. It is therefore with the warning that the dates can only be given as probably correct that the three first Christian kings can be said to have reigned from 718 to 757. Pelayo (718- 737), his brother Favila (737-739) of whom we only know that he is said to have been killed by a bear while hunting and Alphonso I., the Catholic (739-757), stand as little more than names. While the invasion of Gaul was still going on Manuza, the chief of the Berbers settled in north-western Spain, had revolted against the caliph's lieutenants. In 740 came the great general revolt of the Berbers. In 7 50 plague, following on drought and famine, swept away thousands of conquered and conquerors alike. Amid the general desolation Alphonso I. duke of Cantabria and son-in-law of Pelayo, constituted the kingdom which the Arabs called Gallicia. It answered closely to the old Roman province of the same name extending from the Bay of Biscay to the line of the Duero, from the ocean to the foot of the mountains of Navarre. Internally it was divided into two belts. Along the shores of the bay, and in the valleys of the mountains to the north and west it was inhabited ; but a great belt of desolation separated it from the regions in which the Moslem were fighting out their own quarrels. Alphonso swept all through that region, already more than half depopulated, slaying the lingering remnants of the Berbers, and carrying back the surviving Christians to the north. Behind that shield of waste the Christian kingdom developed; from the death of Alphonso I. to the reign of Ramiro II. (931-950) it was subject to no serious attack, though raids on the frontier never ceased. Norse pirates appeared on the coast in the 9th century, but made no permanent settlements. As the population grew, it pushed down to the plain of Leon and Castile. The advance is marked by the removals of the capital forward from Cangas de Ona to Oviedo, from Oviedo to Leon, and by the settlement of adventurous frontier men in the ancient Bardulia, which from their " peels," and towers of strength, gained the name of Castilla the castles. Burgos became its centre. The Montana (hill country) of Burgos, and in particular the district called the Alfoz of Lara, was the cradle of the heroes of the Castilian share in the reconquest the count Porcellos, and the judge of the people, Lain Calvo, the infantes of Lara, the bastard Mudarra, and Ruy Diaz of Bivar, in whose lives legend and history are mingled beyond disentanglement, and of whom some are pure figures of romance. By a process which was going on elsewhere in Europe the frontier settled into a new political organism. As the Marca Hispanica on the east became the county of Barcelona, so the chiefs of Bardulia became the counts of Castile, then the count of Castile, the rival of the king at Leon, and in time the king of Castile, and head of Christian Spain.
There is much in the internal history of that kingdom which stands apart from the general development of western Europe, from which it was shut out. In all the long period from Pelayo to Ramiro II. only one event occurred which had much tendency to bring the Christians of the north-west into close relations with their neighbours of the same faith north of the Pyrenees. This was the discovery, or, in strict ecclesiastical language, the " invention " of the body of St James the Apostle in the reign of Alphonso II. the Chaste (780-842). The shrine at Santiago in Gallicia was accepted in an age when evidence and criticism were words of no meaning, and it attracted pilgrims, who brought trade. But, apart from this opening for foreign influence, the Christians were left to develop their order untouched by alien examples, and they developed from the Visigoth monarchy. The men who raised Pelayo on the shield believed themselves to be electing a successor to Roderic, and indeed they were. They continued for a time to call themselves Goths, and to -claim Gothic descent, which had become for them very much what descent from the companions of the conqueror was to Englishmen of the 14th or 15th centuries and later another name for nobility of blood. There was the same king possessing theoretically almost absolute power, both administrative and legislative; the same nobles who limited his effective power by rebellion, their constant effort to keep the crown elective, and his no less steady, and by the 10th century victorious, effort to make it hereditary; the same distinction between the few free, who are also the rich owners of land, and the many serfs, who are partial bondsmen, or the slaves pure and simple. But the fact that every arm was needed for the raids on the frontier, and to provide settlers who should also be garrison for the regained lands, worked for freedom. The serf, who was also a soldier, revolted against bondage. The chief who had to " people " a new and exposed township had to tempt men by freedom and secure rights to follow his banner. The influences which by the 13th century had abolished serfdom in western Spain were all at work before the reign of Ramiro II. In spite of revolts and of fratricidal struggles a state was formed. To the east of it, the Navarrese, having rid themselves of the Carolingian counts and marchers, had made a kingdom in their mountains, and beyond them the little free territories of the central Pyrenees were advancing, in subordination to the Navarrese king at Pamplona. The Arab called them the Christians of Al Frank, and distinguished them from the Gallicians.
The 10th century and the first years of the nth saw a great set-back of the Christian revival. Dissensions among themselves coincided with an energetic rally of the Moslem power. From the foundation of the amirate by Abdur- Th .. rahman I. (758-790) to the beginning of the reign of hommedaa Abdurrahman III. (912-961) Mahommedan Spain had Amirate. shared the usual fortunes of an Oriental monarchy. A strong amir, such as Abdurrahman I. or his grandson Hakam I. (796-822), could enforce obedience by arms, or by murder, but it was the rule of the most pugnacious and the hardest hitter. Even with him it was often only apparent. On the upper frontier, which is now Aragon, the " Visigoth " Beni-Casi ruled, doing homage and paying tribute intermittently, supported by a loyal population of native Mahommedans, whose Christian or nominally Christian fathers had been their followers before the conquest. The " Moors," so called, who afterwards filled the kingdom of Aragon were of native blood. Toledo, relying on the immense military strength of its position, was more often in rebellion than in subordination. The massacre which Hakam I. effected by a lavish use of fraud cowed it only for a time. Abdurrahman III. found it independent again when he came to the throne, and had to besiege it for two years before it yielded. The renegades grew in numbers, and in faith. Under the influence of orthodox Berber teachers their fanaticism was turned against the amir himself. Hakam, a winebibber much suspected of heterodoxy, had to expel thousands from his capital. Part went to people the town of Fez, newly founded in the Morocco, by the Idrisites. Part wandered eastward to found a Mahommedan state in Crete. Under the stimulus of Berber fanaticism the toleration first shown to the Christians was turned to persecution. A counter fanaticism was aroused in them, and for years the " Martyrs of Cordoba " continued to force the often reluctant cadis to behead them, by blaspheming the Prophet. The relations of the amir to the Christian bishops were very much those of the Ottoman sultan to the Greek patriarch. There were Spaniards who, like the Greeks of the Phanar, were the servile instruments of their Moslem master. Under Abdurrahman II. (822-852), who spent his life listening to a favourite and highly accomplished Persian tenor and in the company of dancing girls, and under Mahommed I. (852-886), the niggardly Mondhir (886-888), whose time was short, and Abdalla (888-912), who was feeble, the amirate was torn to fragments.
From this state of anarchy the amirate was saved by Abdurrahman III. (912-961), the Akbar of his race. He came to the throne when half a century of war and murder had # ev /v a / produced exhaustion. The country was swarming under Abwith brigands, and the communications were so dangerous that seven years had been known to pass during which no caravan travelled from Cordova to Saragossa. There was a disposition on all hands, save among the irreconcilable Christians of the Sierra de Ronda, to accept peace under a capable master. The Arabs were beaten down, and the renegades had gained most of what they fought for when the aristocracy was cowed. Abdurrahman III., an Oriental ruler of the great stamp, industrious, resolute, capable of justice, magnificent, and free handed without profusion, was eminently qualified to give all that his people wanted. The splendour of his reign is a commonplace. He restored order even in the Ronda, and then he took the field against the Christians. He obeyed the rule which has called upon all the intelligent governors of Spain to make sure of the African coast by occupying it. He saw the Christian princes of the north become his vassals and submit to his judgment in their quarrels. But within a period not so long as his own life his dynasty was extinct and his kingdom in fragments.
Hakam II. (961-976), Abdurrahman's son, ascended the throne in mature years, and continued his father's policy. A lover of books, he gave protection to writers and thinkers who were not strictly orthodox. From his Christian neighbours he had nothing to fear. The anarchy which broke out in the northwest, the kingdom now called Leon, on the death of Ramiro II. whose sons fought among themselves and the endless conflicts between Leon and Castile, rendered the only formidable Christian kingdom powerless. Even on Hakam's death the power of the caliphate was exercised for some thirty years with great vigour. In his old age, one of his wives Sobh (the Daybreak), a Basque, bore him the first son born in his harem. To this son Hisham II. (976- ?) he left the crown. The rule went to the sultana, and her trusted agent Ibn Abi 'Amir Mahommed ben Abdallah an Arab of noble descent, who in his early life was a scribe, and who rose by making himself useful first to the ministers and to the favourite wife. By them he was promoted, and in time he brought their ruin. By her he was made hajib lord chamberlain, prime minister, great domestic, alter ego, in short, of the puppet caliph for Hisham II. in Adminls- all his long life was nothing else and in due time trafwn ut he reduced the sultana to insignificance. The Mansur. administration of Mahommed ben Abdallah, who took the royal name al-Mansur Billah (" the victorious through God ") and is generally known as Mansur (<?..), is also counted among the glories of the caliphate of Cordova. It was the rule of a strong man who made, and kept under his own control, a janissary army of slaves from all nations, Christian mercenaries from the north, Berbers and negroes from Africa. With that host he made fifty invasions into the Christian territory. A more statesmanlike conqueror leading a people capable of real civilization would have made five, and his work would have lasted. Mansur made raids, and left his enemies in a position to regain all they had lost. It mattered little that he desolated the shrine of St James at Compostella, the monastery of Cardefia in Castile, took Leon, Pamplona and Barcelona, if at the end he left the roots of the Christian states firm in the soil, and to his son and successor as hajib only a mercenary army without patriotism or loyalty. In later times Christian ecclesiastical writers, finding it difficult to justify the unbroken prosperity of the wicked to an age which believed in the judgment of God and trial by combat, invented a final defeat for Mansur at Calatanaxor. He died in 1002 undefeated, but racked by anxiety for the permanence of the prosperity of his house. His son Mozaffar, kept the authority as hajib, always in the name of Hisham II., who was hidden away in a second palace suburb of Cordova, Zahira. But Mozaffar lasted for a short time, and then died, poisoned, as it was said, by his brother Abdurrahman, called Sanchol, the son of Mansur by one of the Christian ladies whom he extorted for his harem from the fears of the Christian princes. Abdurrahman Sanchol was vain and feather-headed. He extorted from the feeble caliph the Abdur- t'^ 6 ^ successor, thereby deeply offending the rahmaa princes of the Omayyad house and the populace Sanchol. of Cordova. He lost his hold on his slaves and merEadotthe cenaries, whose chiefs had begun to think it would Empire of be more to their interest to divide the country among rahrnaniH th emse Lv es - A palace revolution, headed by Mahommed, of the Omayyad family, who called himself Al Mahdi Billah (guided by God), and a street riot, upset the power of the hajib at Cordova while he was absent on a raid against Castile. His soldiers deserted him, and he was speedily slaughtered. Then in the twinkling of an eye the whole edifice went into ruin. The end of Hisham II. is unknown, and the other princes perished in a frantic scramble for the throne in which they were the puppets of military adventurers. A score of shifting principalities, each ready to help the Christians to destroy the others, took the place of the caliphate. The fundamental difference between the Moslem, who know only the despot and the Koran, and a Christian people who have Development 1 ^ Church, a body of law and a Latin speech, was of the well seen in the contrast between the end of the Christian greatness of Mansur, and the end of the weakness *" of his Christian contemporaries. The first left no trace. The second attained, after much fratricidal strife, to the foundation of a kingdom and of institutions. The interval between the death of Ramiro II. in 950 and the establishment of the kingdom of Castile by Fernando I. in 1037 is on the surface as anarchical as the Mahommedan confusion of any time.
The personages are not anywise heroic, even when like Alphonso V. (999-1027) they were loyal to their duty. Sancho the Fat, and Bermudo II. the Gouty, with their shameless feuds in the presence of the common enemy, and their appeals to the caliph, were miserable enough. But the emancipation of the serfs made progress. Charters began to be given to the towns, and a class of burghers, endowed with rights and armed to defend them, was formed; while the council of the magnates was beginning to develop into a Cortes. The council over which Alphonso V. of Leon and his wife Geloria (i.e. Elvira) presided in 1020, conferred the great model charter of Leon, and passed laws for the whole kingdom. The monarchy became thoroughly hereditary, and one main source of anarchy was closed. By the beginning of the 11th century the leading place among the Christian kings had been taken by sancho the Sancho El Mayor (the Great) of Navarre. He was Great of married to a sister of Garcia, the last count of Navarre - Castile. Garcia was murdered by the sons of Count Vela of Alava whom he had despoiled, and Sancho took possession of Castile, giving the government of it to his son Fernando, (Ferdinand I.), with the title of king, and taking the name of " king of the Spains " for himself. It was the beginning of attempts, which continued to be made till far , , ,..,,., Ferdinand I.
into the 12th century, to obtain the unity of the O f Castile, Christians by setting up an emperor, or king of "Emperor kings, to whom the lesser crowns should be subject. ~ th . e Fernando was married to a daughter of Alphonso V. of Leon. Her brother Bermudo, the last of his line, could not live in peace with the new king, and lost his life in the battle of Tamaron, in a war which he had himself provoked. Fernando now united all the north-west of Spain into the kingdom of Castile and Leon with Gallicia. Navarre was left by Sancho to another son, Garcia, while the small Christian states of the central Pyrenees, Aragon and Sobrarbe with the Ribagorza went to his other sons, Ramiro Sanchez and Gonzalo. Fernando, as the elder, called himself emperor, and asserted a general superiority over his brothers. That he took his position of king of kings seriously would seem to be proved by the fact that when his brother Garcia attacked him in 1054, and was defeated and slain at Atapuerca, he did not annex Navarre, but left his nephew, Garcia's son, on the throne as vassal. The Council of Coyanza, now Valencia de Don Juan (1050), at councilor which he confirmed the charters of Alphonso V., Coysnza, is a leading date in the constitutional history of loso ' Spain. When he had united his kingdom, he took the field against the Mahommedans; and the period of the great reconquest began. So far the Christians had not gone much beyond the limits of the territory left to them at the end of the 8th century. They had only developed and organized Beginning within it. Under Fernando, they advanced to otthe the banks of theTagus in the south, and into Valencia Christian on the south-east. They began to close round R Toledo, the shield of Andalusia. The feeble Andalusian princes were terrified into paying tribute, and Fernando advanced to the very gates of Seville without finding an enemy to meet him in the field. His death in 1065 brought about a pause for a time. He left his three kingdoms to his three sons Sancho, Alphonso and Garcia. Alphonso, to whom Leon had fallen as his share, remained master after the murder of Sancho at Zamora, which he was endeavouring to take from his sister, and the imprisonment of Garcia of Gallicia. The reign of Alphonso VI., which lasted till 1109, is one of the fullest in the Alphonso annals of Spain. He took up the work of his vi., father, with less of the crusading spirit than was in I0o ^"0. Fernando, but with conspicuous ability. His marriage with Constance, daughter of Robert, duke of Burgundy, brought a powerful foreign influence into play in Castile. Constance favoured the monks of Cluny, and obtained her husband's favour for them. Under their leadership measures were taken to reform the Church, from which hitherto little had been expected save that it should be zealous and martial. The adoption of the Roman instead of the Gothic ritual of Saint Isidore has been lamented, but it marked the assumption by Castile of a place in the community of the western European kingdoms. The Frenchmen, both monks and knights, who accompanied Constance brought to bear on Spain the ecclesiastical, architectural, literary and military influence of France, then the intellectual centre of Europe, as fully as it ever was exercised in later times. Castile ceased to be an isolated kingdom, and became an advance guard of Europe in not the least vital part of the crusades. Alphonso, who during his exile owed some good services to the Mahommedan king of Toledo, spared that city while his friend lived. Alphonso But ne carried the war forward elsewhere. He overruns extorted tribute, and double and treble tribute Mabomme- f rom the princes of Andalusia. In 1082 he swept dan Spain. aU througn t h e va u ey o f tne Guadalquivir to Tarifa, where he rode his horse into the sea and claimed possession of the " last land in Spain." In 1084, his friend being dead, he made himself master of Toledo. The fall of the city resounded throughout Islam, and shocked the Mahommedan princes of Andalusia into gravity and a sense of their position. Their peoples began to look to Africa, where Yusuf ben Techufin was ruling the newly founded empire of the Almoravides. The princes had cause to dread him; for Yusuf, the leader of a religious movement still in its first zeal, was known to have no friendly feeling for their religious indifference and elegant, dissipated habits. It was likely that, if he came as ally, he invasion of would remain as master. But the case was extAe/Umoni-cellently put by al-Motamid, amir of Seville, a vides. brilliant cavalier, an accomplished Arab poet, and one of the most amiably spendthrift of princes. When the peril of appealing to Yusuf was put before him at durbar by his son, he acknowledged the danger, but added that he did not wish to be cursed throughout Islam as the case of the loss of Spain and that, if choose he must, he thought it better to lead camels in Africa than to tend pigs in Castile. Yusuf came, and in 1086 inflicted a terrible defeat on Alphonso VI. at Zalaca near Badajoz. The immediate results of the stricken field were, however, but small. Yusuf was called back to Africa, and in his absence the Christians resumed the advance. When he returned he was chiefly employed in suppressing the Mahommedan princes. Alphonso was compelled to withdraw a garrison he had placed in Murcia, and Valencia was, by his decision, given up by the widow of the Cid (<?..). But he kept his hold on Toledo, and though his last days were darkened by the death of his only son in the lost battle of Ucles (1108), he died in 1109 with the security that his work would last.
The Almoravides went round the fatal circle of Asiatic and African monarchy with exceptional rapidity. One generation of military efficiency and of comparative honesty - in administration was followed by sloth and cormedan ruption as bad as that of the Arabs. To this the Power under Almoravides, who were Berbers and were largely m i n gl e d with pure negroes, added a dull bigotry and a hatred of thought and knowledge from which the Arab, anarchical and politically incapable as he was, was free. In Aragon the successors of Ramiro Sanchez had begun to press close on Saragossa when the Almoravide invasion took place. The battle of Zalaca gave pause to the Aragonese, as it did for a short space to the Castilians. The interval of advance in the reconquest would have been shorter than it was but for the results of a most unfortunate attempt on the part of Alphonso VI. to unite the crowns of Aragon and Castile by the marriage of Alphonso I. ( 1104-1134) of Aragon with his daughter Urraca. Urraca (the name is a form of Maria) was dissolute and Alphonso was arbitrary. There Alphonso I. was notn j n g j n t he manners of the 12th century i04-'n34.' to make a husband hesitate to beat his wife, and Urraca was beaten, and in the presence of witnesses. The marriage, too, was declared null by the pope, as the parties were within the prohibited degrees. Alphonso and Urraca came to open war, in which he claimed to be king of Castile by right of his marriage and his election by the nobles.
The confusion was increased by the fact that Alphonso, Urraca's son by her first marriage with Raymond of Burgundy, was recognized as king in Gallicia, was bred up there by the able bishop Diego Gelmirez, and took an active part in the feuds of his mother and step-father. The death of Urraca in 1126 allowed her son to reunite the dominions of his grandfather. In the meantime his quarrels with Urraca had not deterred Alphonso, who is surnamed the Battler in Aragonese history, from taking Saragossa in 1118, and from defeating the Almoravides at the decisive battle of Cutanda in 1120. In 1125 he carried out a great raid through Mahommedan Spain, camping in its midst for months, and returning with many thousands of the Christian rayahs, who, under the name of Mozarabes, had hitherto continued to live under Moslem rule. They now fled from the bigotry and negro brutality of the Almoravides. The failure of Alphonso's attempt to take Braga in 1 134 was speedily followed by his death. He left his kingdom by will to the Knights of the Temple and the Hospital, but the barons of Aragon paid no attention to his wish, and drew his brother Ramiro, a monk, from his cell to continue the royal line. Ramiro, having been first ex-claustrated by the pope, married Agnes of Aquitaine, and on the birth of his daughter Petronilla affianced her to Ramon Berenguer (Raymond Berenger), count of Barcelona, and then retired to his cell at Narbonne. 1 union of This marriage united Aragon and Catalonia for ever, Aragon and and marks a great step forward in the constitution Cata] onia. of a national unity in Spain. Navarre, indeed, which had been united with Aragon since the fratricidal murder of its king Sancho in 1076, preferred to remain independent under a new ruler of its choice. It was henceforth /va^rreT a small state lying across the Pyrenees, dependent on France, and doomed inevitably to be partitioned between its great neighbours to north and south.
Alphonso VII., the son of Urraca, was, during the twenty years between his mother's death and his own in 1157, the dominating sovereign of Spain. In 1135 he was A j paonso crowned at Leon, in the presence of the new king vn., of Navarre, of the counts of Barcelona and Toulouse, "Emperor and of other princes, Christian and Mahommedan, iaS P ala -" " Emperor in Spain, and king of the men of the two religions." In his character of emperor and king of the men of the two religions Alphonso VII. seems to have aimed not at expelling, but at reducing the Moors to subjection as vassal communities.
He took Cordova and conquered as far as Almeria, TJ. End ot the but left vassal Moslem princes in possession. His,, mp/rei ,, death was followed by another and, happily, a last division of Castile and Leon. Sancho, his eldest son, took the first and Fernando the second. The dream of the empire was speedily dissipated by the death of Sancho of Castile a year after his father; Portugal had already become a semi-independent state.
The complicated story of the Christian kingdoms of Spain during the next two generations can be best made intelligible by taking the king of Castile as the centre of the Alfonso vm. turmoil. His boyhood was filled by all the miseries of Castile, which rarely failed to descend in the middle &ges 11S8 ~ 1214 ' on the people whose king was a child. Alphonso VIII. married Leonora, daughter of Henry II. of England, who, as duke of Aquitaine, by right of his marriage with the duchess Eleanor, had a strong direct interest in Spanish politics. Castile, by its geographical position as the centre of Spain from Cantabria to the Sierra Morena, was the forefront of the struggle with the Moors. In Andalusia the downfall of the Almoravides had war with opened the way to the Almohades, or followers of the Aimothe Mahdi, an even more bigoted religious sect than aades " the other. Alphonso had conquered Cuenca, in the hill country between Castile and Valencia, in 1177, with the help of the king of Aragon, also an Alphonso, the son of Petronilla and of Ramon Berenguer of Barcelona. With eminent good sense he rewarded his ally by resigning all claim to feudal superiority over Aragon.
1 Raymond du Puy, grand master of the Hospitallers, came to terms with Count Raymond in the matter of the bequest. (See SAINT JOHN OF JERUSALEM, KNIGHTS OF.)
At a later period the two kingdoms defined their respective spheres of influence by a treaty. Aragon was left free to Hl conquer the Balearic Islands and Valencia, while of the lade- Murcia and Andalusia were to fall to Castile. The peadence of Almohades took the field against Alphonso in force, Aragon. an( j as n j s f e ]] ow Christian sovereigns failed him in the hour of need, he was defeated at Alarcos. But this wave of the ebbing Moslem tide had less force than the Almoravide, and fell back both sooner and farther than its predecessor. Alphonso na< ^ l e ' sure to P umsn his brother kings for deserting him, and to look to the organization of his kingdom. Kingdom. It was a great epoch of the granting of charters, The mm- an( } o { (.jjg ac i vanc e of the towns. To this age also tary ere. jj e j on g s tne formation of the great monastic military orders of Calatrava, Santiago and Alcantara. They supplied the Crown with a strong force of well-disciplined and wellappointed cavalry. To tighten the bond with Leon, Alphonso of Castile married his daughter Berengaria to its king Alphonso (1188-1230), the son of his uncle Fernando. The marriage was dissolved by the pope as being within the prohibited degrees, but the son born of it was recognized as legitimate. Berengaria, a woman of very noble character and eminent ability, deserved a better husband than her cousin of Leon, who was nicknamed El Baboso the Slobberer and who appears to have been epileptic. In 1212 the king of Castile reaped the reward of long years of patience. The Almohades threatened an invasion in force, and he organized a crusade against them. Aragon was represented by its king Peter II., Navarre by its king Sancho, and Portugal by a strong contingent of Templars and other knights. Overthrow At the Navas de Tolosa, just south of the Sierra of the Morena, the Almohades received the final overthrow /t/mo/isdes. which laid Mahommedan Spain at the feet of the Christians. Alphonso died in 1214. His son Enrique (Henry) was killed by the fall of a tile three years later; and Berengaria, to whom the crown came, sent to Leon for her son Fernando, and abdicated in his favour.
Fernando (Ferdinand III.) who was in all ways worthy of his mother, took up the crusading duty of a king of Castile, and Ferdinand continued the advance into Andalusia. The Almo/;/., 1217- hades were in swifter decline than the Almoravides. 12S2. Q ne o f them, al-Mamun, even sought Fernando's help to regain his throne in Morocco, and ceded a suburb of the city to his Christian allies. In 1230 the death of Alphonso of Leon opened the way to a final union of the crowns. The " Baboso " had, indeed, left his kingdom by will to his daughters by Teresa of Portugal, but Fernando was saved from the necessity of enforcing his rights by his mother. She persuaded Teresa and the infantas to resign their claims in Final Union return for pensions and lordships. Castile and of Castile Leon were united, never to be divided again. The and Leon. wor k o f t ^ e reconquest was now completed with swift steps. In 1236 Cordova was conquered, and Seville fell in 1248 with the help of a fleet from the Basque coast and of the Moorish king of Granada, who was Fernando's vassal, paying tribute and attending Cortes when summoned. Fernando died in May 1252. It will avoid repetition to note here that the Aragonese share of the reconquest was completed by James the Conqueror (1213-1276), the son of that king Peter who fought in the Navas de Tolosa. He conquered the Balearic Islands in 1229 and Valencia in 1238. In 1265 he entered Murcia, which, Reconquesi however, he agreed to occupy in the name of Castile. of Spain, Mahommedan Spain was reduced to Granada and except a ij ne o f ports round to Cadiz. The Christian 1 "' population had disappeared in Granada and Moslem refugees had peopled it closely. Its king was a vassal, and of itself it was no longer a danger.
The close of the period of the great reconquest, five centuries of struggle, left Spain divided between two states of different Spain after character. On the west of the Iberian range and the Recon- south of the Guadarrama was the kingdom called, for short, Castile and Leon. In fact its sovereign was also king of Gallicia, Asturias, Estremadura, Jaen, Cordova xxv. 18 and Seville. This multiplicity of titles was more than a mere formula of the royal chancery. It was the official recognition of a substantial political fact namely, that the kingdom of Castile and Leon had been made up by the agglutination of separate political entities. The real bond between them lay in the common crown, the common creed. They were one only as subjects of the same lords and members of the same Church. But their territorial patriotism was local. The peoples were not Spaniards, save as a general term, but Gallicians, Asturians, Castilians, Andalusians. The great foreign question for them was the possibility, and from time to time the imminence, of renewed invasion from Africa. That peril did not cease till the defeat of the last formidable African invader at the battle of the Rio Salado in 1340. It is characteristic of the loose construction of the kingdom that the Cortes of Leon and of Castile continued, after the final union, to meet apart on some occasions until 1301.
On the eastern slope of the Iberian hills and the great central table-land was the kingdom called, again for short, Aragon. Its king was also a ruler of many titles king in . oa Aragon, in Valencia, and the Balearic Isles (with one interval of separation), count of Barcelona, and in Provence. Marriage and inheritance had given him territorial rights in the south-east of France. Thus he came in contact with the crusaders of Simon de Montfort and the expansion of the French monarchy. Another marriage, that of Peter, the son and successor of James the Conqueror, with Costanza, the daughter of Manfred of Beneventum, gave him claims on the Neapolitan and Sicilian inheritance of the Hohenstaufen. From the date of the Sicilian Vespers (1283) Aragon is found mixed in the politics of Italy. The commercial activity of Barcelona brought it into collision with Genoa and alliance with Venice. The curious double position of the king of Aragon is fully illustrated by the career of that king Peter who was the father of James the Conqueror. He fought as a crusader at the Navas de Tolosa, he went to Rome to be crowned, and did voluntary homage to the pope. Yet his interests as a prince of southern France compelled him to draw the sword in defence of the Albigenses, and, orthodox as he was in creed, he fell fighting for them at Muret in 1213. If the fortunes of Aragon were to be followed in an outline of Spanish history, it would be necessary to wander as far as Athens and Constantinople.
The difference of the relations of these two states towards the comity of nations had corresponding internal distinctions. It has been already noted that eastern Spain was feudal. Therefore the distinction of classes was far sharper in Aragon than in nonfeudal Castile and Leon. Predial slavery, which had disappeared in Castile and Leon in the 13th century, existed unmodified in Aragon, and in its worst form, down to the Bourbon dynasty. When we are told of the freedom of Aragon, it is well to remember that it was enjoyed only by the small minority who were personally free and also privileged: by the citizens of the towns which had charters called in Aragon the Universidades the nobles, the gentry and the Church. The Catalans attained emancipation from feudal subjection by a succession of savage peasant revolts in the 15th and 16th centuries. In Valencia emancipation was finally brought by a measure which in itself was cruel the expulsion of the Moriscoes in the 17th century. The landlords were compelled to replace them by free tenants. The prevalence of predial slavery in Aragon and Valencia can be largely explained by the number of Mudejares, that is Mahommedans living under Christian rule, and of Moriscoes converted Mohammedans.
If now we look at the internal history of Spain from the conclusion of the period of the reconquest, which may be put in the middle of the 13th century, down to the union of the crowns of Castile and of Aragon by the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabel in 1469, it will be found to be occupied with two great processes. These two processes are firstly, the christianization of Spain, a very different thing from its reconquest from Moslem masters and, secondly, not its unification, for that is hardly attained even now, but its progress towards unification.
When Fernando (Ferdinand III.), the conqueror of Andalusia, died in 1252, he was indeed the king of the two, or even the three, religions. The Jews and the Mahommedans formed a -M verv large part of his subjects. We have no means of aadMa - es timating their numbers, but there is much probability rat-dans. t ^ a( . to g et her they formed not much less than a half of the population. The Jews, who had suffered cruelly from the brutal fanaticism of the Almohades, had done a great deal to forward the conquest of Andalusia. They were repaid by the confidence of the king, and the period which includes the reign of Fernando and lasts till the end of the 14th century was the golden age of their history in Spain. In 1391 the preaching of a priest of Seville, Fernando Martinez, led to the first general massacre of the Jews, who were envied for their prosperity and hated because they were the king's tax collectors. But the history of the persecution and expulsion of the Jews is the same everywhere except in date. The story of the Mudejares and Moriscoes is peculiarly Spanish. In the Christian advance they were from the beginning first subjected and then incorporated. As far north as Astorga there is still a population known as the Maragatos, and familiar to all Spain as carters and muleteers. This marked type of the Leonese of modern times represents a Berber colony cut off among the Christians, and christianized at an early date, who went on using Arab and Berber names long after their conversion. They are only the most conspicuous example of a process which was common to all the Peninsula. As the Christians worked down to the south they found an existing Mahommedan population. To reduce them to pure slavery would, in the case of Castile at least, have been dangerous, and would also have been offensive to the Christians, who were themselves fighting for emancipation. To expel them would have been to have the soil unfilled. Therefore the king, the nobles, the Church and the military orders combined to give them protection. For them, as for the Jews, the 13th and 14th centuries were a golden age. By the end of the 14th the persecutions began. Forced conversion prepared the way for expulsion, which came in the reign of Philip III. (1598-1621). But before the end was reached all had been persuaded or forced into Christianity, had ceased to be Mudejares, and had become Moriscoes. In the majority of cases the conversion had occurred so long ago that the memory of the time when they were Mahommedans was lost, and multitudes of the children of Mudejares remained. The Mozarabes again the Christians who had always lived under The Mahommedan rule were an element of importance Mozarabes. m me< iieval Spain. They had learnt to write in 'Arabic, and used Arabic letters even when writing Latin, or the corrupt dialect of Latin which they spoke. The conquest of Toledo by Alphonso VI. first brought the Christians into contact with a large body of these Arabized Spaniards, and their influence was considerable. By Alphonso they were favoured. He stamped his name on his coins in Arabic letters. It is said with probability that one of the early kings of Aragon, Peter I., could write no other letters than the Arabic. The Mozarabes were treated under the kings of the reconquest as separate bodies with their own judges and law, which they had been allowed to keep by the Moslem rulers. That code was the forum judicum of the Visigoths, the fuero juzgo, as it was called in the " romance " of later times and in Castilian. The Mozarabes brought in the large Arabic element, which is one of the features of the Castilian language. A part of the work of christianizing the Spain of the 13th century, and not the least part, was done by the monks of Cluny introduced by the French wife of Alphonso VI. To them was due the impulse given to the reform of the church, and to education. The foundation of the stadium generate of Palencia in 1212 by Alphonso IX. was an outcome of the movement. It fell in the troubles following his death, but Fernando III. revived it by the foundation of the university of Salamanca, which dates from 1245. The church and the university were the great promoters of the effort to secure religious unity which began in the 14th and produced its full effects in the 17th century. How far the character, habits and morality of the Christian Spaniards were affected by Oriental influences is not a question which it is easy to answer. To some extent they no doubt were coloured. Such a social institution as the form of marriage known by the name of barragania shows visible traces of Eastern influence. In so far as it was a mere agreement of a man and woman to live together as husband and wife, it had precedents both Roman and Teutonic. There was also Roman and Teutonic example for recognizing the children of such a union as having rights of inheritance. On the other hand the name is Arabic, and so is the term applied to the children, hijos de ganancia, sons of the strange woman. Moreover the Oriental character of this union, be its origin what it may, is visible from the fact that it was polygamous. The only insuperable barrier to a barragania was the previous marriage " with the blessing," the full religious marriage, of the woman to another man. A married man might be united in barragania to a woman other than his lawful wife, and the children of that connexion, though not fully legitimate, were not bastards. The most signal example among many which could be quoted is that of Peter the Cruel (1350-1367), who, though married to Blanche of Bourbon, was abarraganado to Maria de Padilla. He left his kingdom to the daughters she bore him, and their quasi legitimacy was recognized not only by the Cortes during King Peter's life, but abroad. John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, married the elder of the daughters of Maria de Padilla, and claimed the crown of Castile by right of his wife. The clergy, who were debarred from the religious marriage by the discipline of the church, were commonly abarraganado all through the middle ages. The sumptuary laws, which required the barraganas of priests to wear a red border to their dresses, recognized them as a known and tolerated class.
The work of political unification was essentially more difficult than the christianization of Spain. The great common institution of the church, common enthusiasms, prejudices and envies, were available for the second. The first had to contend with deeply rooted differences of national character and of class. The Gallician who spoke, and e""/ still speaks, a language of his own, was profoundly separated from the Andalusian. The Basque, who till much later times practically included the Navarrese, was a man of another nationality and another speech from the Castilian. And what is true of Castile and Leon applies equally to Aragon. Aragonese, Catalans and Valencians were j as different as Galicians, Basques, Castilians and Andalusians. Aragon spoke a dialect of Castilian. Catalonia and Valencia, together with the Balearic Islands, spoke, and speak, dialects of the southern French, the so-called Limose, though it was not the language of the Limousin. And the causes of division did not end here. The word " commonwealth " had no meaning either east or west of the Iberian range. Every one of the kingdoms grouped round the two sovereigns who shared modern Spain was itself a loose conglomeration of classes. Mention has already been made of the Jew and the Mudcjar. These were more or less forcibly absorbed or brutally expelled. But the distinctions between class D Isnoble and not noble, between town and country, were Unctions. in the very fibre of all the Spanish peoples. Expulsion was impossible and combination only attainable by mutual agreement, and that was never secured. High mountain barriers and deep river courses had separated the Spaniards locally. They were more subtly and incurably separated by traditional and legal status. Speaking generally, and with the proviso that though names might differ from region to region, the facts did not; it may be said that Spain could be classified as follows: Under the crown of Castile all the territory was either abodengo, realingo, salariego, behetria, or it belonged to some town, big or little, which had its carta pueblo or town charter, its own fuero g ys ( ems / (forum) or law. Abadengo was land of the church, j^and realingo domain of the crown, salariego land of the Tenure. nobles. Behetria is less easy to translate. The word is the romance form of benefactoria. Behetrias, called " plebeian lordships," were districts and townships of peasants who were bound to have a lord, and to make him payments in money or in kind, but who had a varying freedom of choice in electing their lord. Some were described as " from sea to sea, and seven times a day," that is to say they could take him anywhere in the king's dominions from the Bay of Biscay to the Straitsof Gibraltar, and change him as often as they pleased. Others were de linage, that is to say, bound to take their lord from certain lineages. Their origin must probably be sought in the action of communities of Mozarabes, Christians living under Moslem rule as rayahs, who put themselves under _ _ Christian chiefs of the early days of the reconquest for the benefice of their protection. They were mainly in old Castile. By the end of the middle ages they had disappeared. The chartered towns, in Spain east and west, were practically republics living under their own carta pueblo with their own fuero or law. All charters were not granted by the king. Many of them were given by nobles or ecclesiastics, but required the confirmation of the king. And in this country, where all was local law usage and privilege, where uniformity was unknown, all charters were not held by towns. In many cases the serfs in the course of their struggle for freedom extorted charters and fueros. The greater chartered towns had their surrounding comarcas, answering to the " county " of an Italian city, over which they exercised jurisdiction. In time the villages dependent on a chartered city, as they grew to be towns themselves, fought for, and in many cases won, emancipation, which they then sought to have confirmed by the king and proceeded to symbolize by setting up their own gallows in the market-place. The church had won exemption from the payment of taxes by no general law, but by The clergy particular privilege to this or that chapter, bishopric an< ff/, e or monastery. The nobles claimed, and were allowed, /f j/ es . exemption from taxation. Church and nobles alike were for ever extending their borders by purchase, or trying to do so by force. They conferred their exemptions on the land they acquired, thus throwing the burden of taxation on the towns and the non-nobles with increasing weight. But in this land, where nothing was consistent, there was in reality no sharp division except in the smaller and feudal portion called Aragon for convenience and save as between Christian and non-Christian, noble and non-noble. The necessities of the reconquest made it obligatory that all the dwellers on the frontier should be garrison. Hence they were not only encouraged but required to possess arms. Those of them who could provide themselves with a charger, a mail . * . *" shirt, a spear and sword were ranked as milites 'and the miles was a caballero. Alphonso VII. especially authorized all men who could arm themselves, mount themselves, and serve " cavalierly " to live as and count themselves " cavaliers." Hence the formation of the class of caballeros de fuero, non-nobles living " nobly " with a right to wear the sword. The privilege survived the epoch of the reconquest, and was often extended to gilds which the king wished to encourage. Hence came the practice which caused so much surprise and amusement to French and German travellers of the 16th and i/th centuries the wearing of the gentlemanly sword by the artisans of towns.
No general law controlled these local usages and fueros. The juero juzgo (forum judicum) was accepted by the Mozarabes, and Local Laws ac ^ authority everywhere in cases not provided for by the charters, or where no privilege had been granted by the king. But it was subject to innumerable exceptions, and particular jurisdictions. There was no common tribunal. Nor was any material change introduced after the epoch of the reconquest. Alphonso X., El Sabio or Learned, made a fuero real, which was formed by combining the best parts of existing charters. It was accepted by towns and districts not already _ . chartered, but by them only. The famous siete partidas P rtldas ( tne seven divisions), drawn up about 1260, is often spoken of as a code of laws. It was never so treated till it was promulgated at the Cortes of Alcala in 1338, in the reign of his great grandson, Alphonso XI. Even then it was subject to the restriction that it was not to prevail against any fuero, or the fuero real. The Cortes might have been expected to forward the work of unification. But without going into details on a subject which requires particular treatment, it may be noted that the Th c rt Cortes was no more coherent, or fixed in constitution or s ' working, and was no more national, than any other of the institutions of the country. The crown of Castile and Leon had indeed a common Cortes after 1301. Aragon never advanced so far. It, Catalonia and Valencia had each their Cortes, which never united. When King Philip IV. (1621-1665) wished to secure grants of money from these parts of his dominions he had to summon three separate Cortes, which sat in different frontier towns, and he had to negotiate simultaneously with all three. Then the Spaniards, in their carelessness of form and regularity, never fixed any rule as to the constitution of a Cortes. The third estate secured representation in the Cortes of Leon (1188), and then in Castile and the Common Cortes. In the kingdom of Aragon the right was secured about the same time. It was decided that no new tax could be imposed save with the consent of the commons, and that therefore they must be represented. But no rule was ever made as to whom the king was bound to summon, nor even that the presence of the clergy and the nobles was necessary to constitute a true Cortes. It was never claimed by the Cortes that its consent was necessary to the making of laws. The Roman maxim that what the " prince " wills has the force of law was not disputed nor did the Spaniard doubt that the king acting by himself was " the prince." The check which the justiza, or chief justice, of Aragon imposed on the king was supported by the force of nobles and cities, but it was an exception in Spain. The representatives of the commons were the personeros and procuradores, i.e. attorneys of the cities. There was no knight of the shire in any Spanish Cortes. The great cities in Castile and Leon succeeded finally in reducing the right of representation to a privilege of eighteen among them, with the good will of the king, who found it easier to coerce or bribe the procurators of eighteen towns than the representatives of a hundred and fifty. The legislative work of such bodies was necessarily small. Their practical power might be great when the king was weak and necessitous, but only then.
It ought to have been easy for kings whose authority was confessedly so great to have made themselves effectively despotic amid all this division and weakness. Nor would fe 8 tnev nave failed so to do if the sovereigns of Castile had not been either incapable or short-lived, and if there had not been an extraordinary succession of long minorities; while the kings of Aragon were tempted to neglect their Spanish possessions because they were in pursuit of their claims and ambitions in Italy. Alphonso X. of Castile (1252-1284) was an admirable writer, and a man of /2 "/""*" k gen intelligent interest in science and law. As a ruler he was at once weak, unstable and obstinate. He wasted much time and great sums of money in endeavouring to secure his election as emperor not in Spain, but in the Holy Roman Empire. He did indeed add the town of Cadiz to his possessions with the help of his vassal, the Moorish king of Granada, but his reign is filled with quarrels between himself and his nobles. The nobles of Castile and Leon were not feudal vassals, but great landowners claiming and exercising rights or jurisdiction on their estates. Their name of ricos hombres, which first appears in written documents of the 12th The Nobles. century, has been credited with a Teutonic origin, Rkos but it was in all probability nothing but a " romance " Homar **- or Castilian translation of the seniores and senatores, potentiores and possessores of the Visigoth councils and code. They represented a nobility of wealth and not of blood. In the earlier times their possessions were divided among their sons. It was only at the end of the 13th century and later that they began to form mayorazgos or entails, to preserve their name and family. It was then that segundones, or younger sons, began to be known in the social life of Spain. But whatever their position may have been legally, they were as grasping as any feudal nobility in Europe, and they were singularly destitute of any capacity for combined political action. In Aragon, indeed, the nobles did extort a promise from the king that they should not be put to death or deprived of their estates by his mere decision. In Castile they never went beyond begging or extorting grants of the crown lands, or pensions charged on the royal revenue. Alphonso X. ended his life in a civil war with his son Sancho, who claimed the succession in preference to the children of his elder brother, Fernando de la Cerda, and in virtue of a doctrine of which much was heard in the middle ages elsewhere than in Spain. He maintained that the younger son, being nearer to the father than the grandson, had a right to succeed in preference to the children of an elder brother who had died before the succession was open. Alphonso, after first accepting Sancho's claim, repudiated it, and made a will by which he not only left the crown of Castile to the eldest son of Fernando de la Cerda, but cut vassal kingdoms out of the southern parts of Spain for Sancho's younger brothers. The reign of Sancho IV., surnamed El Bravo, or the Fierce (1284- 1234-1296.' 1296), was one constant struggle with the very nobles who had helped him against his father, with his younger brothers, and with the sons of Fernando de la Cerda. Ferdinand Murder and massacre were his familiar methods. IV., 1296- He was succeeded by his infant son Fernando (Fer- 1313 ' dinand IV.), whose long minority was an anarchy, tempered by the courage and the tact of his mother, Maria de Molina. Fernando, ungrateful to his mother and incapable as a king, died in 1312, leaving a son of less than a year old, Alphonso XI. (1312-1350). After another minority of confusion, Alphonso, surnamed " of the Rio Salado," from the great Alphonso victory he won over an invading host from Africa, XL, 1312- ruled with energy and real political capacity. He was indeed ferocious, but such actions as the murder of his greatuncle, Don Juan El Tuerto the distorted in body and mind did not seem to his subjects more than the exercise by " the prince " of that right to act for the good of the state legibus solutus which is inherent in sovereignty. But Alphonso did not use his freedom to act legibus solutus except against such hoary and incorrigible intriguers as Don Juan el Tuerto or the Caballero Diego Gil, whom he beheaded with seventeen of his men after promising them security for their lives. He did something to found the judicial and administrative unity of the country. His death at the age of thirty-eight, during the great plague, and while he was besieging Gibraltar, was a misfortune to Spain. His successor, Peter, surnamed the Cruel (1350- 1368) was destined to show the Castilians exactly Peterihe what the constant use by " the prince " of the Cruel, reserved rights of the sovereign authority could be 13S - 1368 - made to mean, when they were exercised by a passionate man maddened by suspicion of all about him. Administering the civil side of his government through Jewish tax-gatherers and farmers of the taxes, and surrounded by the Mudejar guard, who were the executors of his justice, his path is marked by one long succession of murders. With all his appearance of energy, he shrank from action at the critical moment of his wars out of utter want of trust in all about him. His expulsion by his brother, Henry of Trastamara, the eldest son of Leonora de Guzman, his restoration by the Black Prince (q.v.), his treachery to him, and his final defeat and murder at Montiel, are famous episodes. Henry of Trastamara, the beginner of the " new Henry at kings" (1368-1379), reigned by election. The Trastamara, nobles and the cities to whom he owed his crown 1368-1379. k ac j proportionate power. In his reign and those of his immediate successors the Cortes flourished, although it failed to establish checks on the absolute power of the king. Henry was on the whole a successful ruler. He forced his neighbours of Portugal to make peace, his fleet defeated an English squadron off Rochelle, and he restored internal order. The civic hermandodes, or brotherhoods, enforced respect from John l ' ^ e n D ' es ' J nn I- ( I 379- I 39)> Henry's son and 1379-1390. successor, had to contend with John of Gaunt, son of Edward III. of England, who had married the eldest daughter of Peter the Cruel, and claimed the crown of Castile in her name. John averted the danger by arranging a marriage between his son Henry and Constance, the eldest daughter of John of Gaunt, an alliance which united the two equally illegitimate lines representing Alphonso XI., and so closed the dispute as to the succession. He was less fortunate in his efforts to vindicate the rights of his wife Beatrix to the throne of Portugal. The defeat of the Castilians at the battle of Aljubarrota (1385) compelled the king to renounce his pretensions. The minority of his son, Henry III. (1390-1406) was long, and his effective reign short, but in the brief 1390^1406. s P ace allowed him the king, a weakly man surnamed El Doliente (the sufferer) did something to establish order. He recovered all the immense grants of crown lands and rents, impounded by the nobles during his minority. The first years of the minority of his infant son, John II. (1406- 1454), were by a rare exception peaceful. The young 406-14S4. king's uncle Ferdinand (called " of Antequera " because he was besieging that town, which he took from the Moors, when he heard in 1412 that he had been declared heir to the crown of Aragon by the Cortes of Caspe) acted as regent. Ferdinand was able and honest. His succession to the throne of Aragon is an event of capital importance in the history of the Peninsula.
The kings of Aragon from the death of James the Conqueror in 1276 to the death of Martin I. in 1410 were so largely concerned in the struggle with the Angevin party in Naples and Sicily, that their history belongs rather to Italy than to their Peninsular kingdom. They were six in number; Peter III. (1276-1285), Alphonso III. (1285-1291), James II. (1291-1327), Alphonso IV. (1327- 1336), Peter IV. (1336-1387), John I. (1387-1395), and Martin I. (1395-1410). In so far as their influence was felt in the internal affairs of their Spanish kingdoms, they had a double task to perform. The first was to reunite the Balearic Islands and Roussillon, which James the Conqueror had left by will to a younger son, to the crown of Aragon. This was finally achieved, after a hideous story of fratricidal hatred and murder by poison, by Peter IV. Their second task was to reduce their turbulent barons, in Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia alike, to the position of obedient subjects. In this task also it was Peter IV. who achieved success. The barons of Aragon and Valencia had extorted from his weak father the charter known Peteriv. as the Union, which not only recognized their just and the right not to be punished in life or property, except "Union." by process of law, but explicitly authorized them to elect the justiza or .the chief justice, whose decisions were to be independent of royal confirmation, and to take up arms whenever they considered themselves aggrieved. Such an instrument was of course incompatible with the monarchical or any other form of government. The object of the life of Peter IV. was to force the barons to surrender their charter. After years of struggle and preliminary failures, Peter IV. defeated the " Union " utterly at the decisive battle of Epila (1348). He was a typical king of the 15th century, immeasurably false, and unspeakably ferocious, but he was not a mere bloodthirsty sultan like his enemy, Peter the Cruel of Castile. When he won he took indeed a brutal vengeance on individuals, and he extorted the surrender of the charter and destroyed it with his dagger in the presence of the Cortes at Saragossa. He cut his hand in his eagerness, and declared that the blood of a king was well shed in securing the destruction of such an instrument whence his popular nickname of Peter of the Dagger (del Punejalet). But his use of the victory was statesmanlike. He fully confirmed the right of the nobles to trial by law and security against arbitrary punishment; he left the franchises of the city untouched, and respected the independence of the justiza. The result of his victory was to give Aragon and his other dominions a measure of internal peace unknown in Castile. The reigns of his sons and successors, John and Martin, were insignificant and tranquil. The death of Martin without children in 1410 left the succession open. The two years of discussion which followed are interesting as a proof that Aragon had The Sucreached a higher political level than Castile. The cession in Cortes was able to administer in peace, and the Ara i a - question of the succession was debated as if it had been in a suit between private persons. The judges finally decided in favour of Ferdinand, on the ground that his mother, Eleanor, was the daughter of Peter IV., and that though a woman could not reign as a " proprietary queen " in Aragon, she could convey the right to her husband or transmit it to her son. On their own principles they ought to have given the crown to John of Castile as the son of Ferdinand's elder brother. But the countries were not ripe for union. Nevertheless the choice of Ferdinand was a step forward towards union.
From 1412 to 1479 the separation lasted with a growing approximation of the two states whose interests touched one another so closely. In Castile John II. (1406-1454), a man Castile. of amiable but indolent character and of literary John //., tastes, was governed by his favourite, Alvaro de IM 6 -^ 4 ' Luna, and harassed by his nobles. His reign is full' of contentions which were not wars for a principle, but were scuffles for the control of the spigot of taxation. At the end of his life he sacrificed his favourite at the instigation of his second wife, an act which, it is said, justly embittered his last days. Of his son, Henry IV. (1454-1474) it is enough to say that he was called " the Impotent, " and that there is every 1454^1414. reason to believe that he deserved the description in all the senses of the word. His reign was an inferior copy of his father's. As the legitimacy of his alleged daughter Juana was disputed, his sister Isabella claimed the succession, and married her cousin, Ferdinand of Aragon, son of John I., in 1469 in defiance of her brother. In Aragon, Ferdinand I. " of Antequera " (1412-1416) was succeeded by Alphonso V. (1416- Afg og 1458) the Magnanimous, whose brilliant life belongs to Italy. In Aragon he was represented by his brother John, who administered as lieutenant-general, and who reigned in his own right (1458-1479) when Alphonso V. died without legitimate heirs, leaving Naples by will to a bastard son. John I., a man of indomitable energy and consider- 1458-1479 able capacity, spent most of his life in endeavouring to enforce his claims to the kingdom of Navarre as the husband and heir of its queen Blanche. His conflict with his son by his first marriage, Charles, prince of Viana, was settled in his favour by the death of the prince. Then he had to contend with a national revolt in Catalonia, which endeavoured to make itself independent under three successive foreign pririces. In the end the pertinacity of John triumphed. At the age of over eighty, blind and unconquerable, he transmitted his kingdom to Ferdinand, his son by his second marriage, with Juana Enriquez, of the family of the hereditary admirals of Castile. Navarre went to a daughter ,<and Roussillon was somewhat fraudulently retained by Louis XI. as security for a debt. Ferdinand conquered the Spanish half of Navarre later, and recovered Roussillon from Charles VIII., the successor of Louis XI.
With the death of John II. of Aragon in 1479 the history of Spain enters on an entirely new period. Hitherto it has been the story of a national development. The process did not cease, but, during the reign of Isabella the Catholic (1474-1504) until the death of her husband Ferdinand in 1516, was carried, not to completion, but to the stopping place at which it was destined to rest for two centuries. The voyage of Columbus Spanish in 1492, and the intervention of Ferdinand in the History great conflict of France, the empire and the papacy after 1479. f or predominance in Italy, had, simultaneously, the effect of opening to her the world of conquest and adventure in America, and of committing her to incessant wars in the Italian Peninsula. The death of John, the only son of Ferdinand and Isabella, the worst misfortune which ever happened to Spain, opened the succession to all the crowns and coronets worn by the Catholic sovereigns to Charles of Habsburg the emperor Charles V. From that day Spain became a part the leader, then the paymaster, then the dupe of the international monarchical confederation called " the illustrious House of Austria." The Spaniard became the swordsman and executioner of the counter- Reformation, because the power of the House of Austria depended on the imposition of religious unity in Europe. The decision of Charles V., king of Spain and emperor, to leave the Netherlands to his sen Philip II., committed the Spaniards to conflict on the sea with England, and to the insane attempt to secure a safe road for their armies across Europe from the snores of the Mediterranean to the North Sea. Thereby they threatened the very national existence of France. The arrangement was made possible only by the hopeless divisions of Germany, the blind pride of Spain, and the utter political incapacity of both. It forced every patriotic ruler of England to oppose Spain on the sea, and every statesmanlike master of France to ruin her power on the land. Meanwhile the Spaniards were endeavouring to check the advance of the Turks in the Mediterranean, and to exclude all Europe from the waters of the New World. In the intensity of their struggle with the Reformation they subjected education to a censorship which, in order to exclude all risk of heresy, stifled thought and reduced knowledge to the repetition of safe formulas. With their eyes on the ends of the earth, and a ring of enemies from Constantinople to the Antilles, the Spaniards fought, with steadily diminishing material resources, with a character and intellect which shrivelled by swift degrees. When nearly bled to death for the illustrious House of Austria, they were transferred to the House of Bourbon, which in its turn dragged them into conflict with Austria in Italy and England on the sea. At the beginning of the 19th century they had fallen into such a state of weakness that Napoleon could, with some considerable measure of excuse, look upon their country as a species of no-man's-land into which his troops had only to march on police duty to secure immediate obedience. The history of the 19th century is the liquidation of an enormous bankruptcy, and the completion of the circle which confines the Spaniard once more to the soil of the Peninsula.
Ferdinand and Isabella were proclaimed king and queen of Castile together, although the crown was hers alone, and although she never consented to part with her sovereign a^d Isabella, authority. In the purely internal affairs of Castile 'it was always she who decided on questions of administration. Some opposition was offered by a faction of the nobles who took up the claims of Henry's supposed daughter, commonly called Juana la Beltraneja, because her father was alleged -to have been Don Beltran de la Cueva, who, however, fought for Isabella. Juana's party had the support of the king of Portugal, who arranged a marriage between her and his son. The defeat of the Portuguese at Toro made an early end of the war. The new sovereigns immediately began the work of establishing order and obedience in their dominions. The line of policy followed by the Catholic sovereigns 1 was to keep the old forms, but draw the substance of power to themselves. Thus, for instance, they organized a police to clear the country of brigands, and attached a special jurisdiction to it, but they gave it the old name of Hermandad and the very superficial appearance of a voluntary association of the cities and the gentry. It consisted of a force of well-appointed horsemen, in the pro- 1 The name was not formally given to them by the pope till later, but it is convenient to use it at once.
portion of one to every hundred families. Its merits as a police have perhaps been exaggerated, and in the war with Granada its bands were employed as soldiers. But an end was at least put to the existence of penas bravas in the dominions of the crown of Castile. And this was the uniform model of their policy. The masterships x>f the military orders of Calatrava, St lago and Alcantara were one by one annexed to the Crown. Their commandaries were used to pay, or pension, the servants of the sovereigns. No attack was made on the charters of the towns, but in Castile and Aragon alike royal officers were appointed to adjudicate on disputes within the corporations themselves, or between corporation and corporation. By them the old councils were rapidly reduced to a state of atrophy. The same course was followed with the Cortes. It continued to be summoned by the Catholic sovereigns and their successors of the Habsburg line, but it was needed only to grant money. The nobles and the clergy, who as exempt from taxation had no vote, became purely ornamental parts of the Cortes. The representatives of the third estate were confined by the indifference of the Castilians to eighteen towns, whose procurators were named by the councils either from among themselves in rotation, or from particular families. Moreover, they received pay from the Crown while the Cortes sat. For the work of legislation the Cortes was not needed, and never had been. It was not even summoned during the whole of the war with Granada. The Catholic sovereigns provided themselves with a revenue by the customary wholesale resumptions of grants Q 0ve rnmeat made during the reigns of John II. and Henry IV., of the and by the suppression or reduction of the pensions "Catholic they had granted with profusion. The nobles, Sove ~ jf having been brought to obedience by a frown, were re * s left in possession of their estates, their social rank and the obligation to render military service. They were summoned to the royal council, but only as ornamental members, the real authority and the exclusive right to vote being confined to the letrados, or lawyers, chosen by the Crown from the class of the burghers. Encouragement of industry was not wanting; the state undertook to develop the herds of merino sheep, by issuing prohibitions against inclosures, which proved the ruin of agriculture, and gave premiums for large merchant ships, which ruined the owners of small ' vessels and reduced the merchant navy of Spain to a handful of galleons. Tasas, fixed prices, were placed on everything. The weaver, the fuller, the armourer, the potter, the shoemaker were told exactly how to do their own work. All this did not bear its full fruit during the reign of the Catholic sovereigns, but by the end of the 16th century it had reduced Spain to a state of Byzantine regulation in which every kind of work had to be done under the eye and subject to the interference of a vast swarm of government officials, all ill paid, and often not paid, all therefore necessitous and corrupt. When the New World was opened, commerce with it was limited to Seville in order that the supervision of the state might be more easily exercised. The great resource of the treasury was the alcabalas or excises taxes (farmed by contractors) of 5 or 10% on an article every time it was sold on the ox when sold to the butcher, on the hide when sold to the tanner, on the dressed hide sold to the shoemaker and on his shoes. All this also did not bear its full fruit till later times, but by the 17th century it had made Spain one of the two " most beggarly nations in Europe " the other being Portugal.
The policy of the Catholic sovereigns towards the Church was of essentially the same character as their treatment of the nobles or the cities. They aimed at using it as an instrument of government. One of the first measures adopted by them in Castile, before the union with Aragon, waste stop the nomination of foreigners to Spanish benefices by the pope. But the most characteristic part of their ecclesiastical policy was the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition (<?..). By the bull of Sixtus IV. of 1578 they obtained authority to appoint three inquisitors, whom they were empowered to remove or replace, and who were independent of, and superior to, the inquisitorial courts of the bishops.
The Spanish Inquisition was a department of the royal government, employed to enforce religious unity and obedience, because they were held to be indispensable in order to obtain national unity and to enforce the authority of the Crown. The Inquisition was at first established (in 1480) in the dominions of Castile only, but it was extended in 1486 to Catalonia and in 1487 to Aragon, in spite of strong protests. The first duties of the Inquisition were to deal with the converted Jews and Mahommedans, respectively known as Marranos and Moriscoes, and with those who still professed their religions. The latter were dealt with by expulsion, which in the case of the Jews was enforced in 1492, and in the case of the subject Mahommedans or Mudejares in 1502. Both were industrious classes, and the loss of their services was disaster to Spain the first of a long series of similar measures which culminated in the final expulsion of the Moriscoes in 1610. The converted Jews and Mahommedans presented greater difficulties to the Inquisition. Many of the higher ecclesiastics and of the nobility were of Jewish, or partially Jewish, descent. The landlords who found the Moriscoes useful tenants, and the commercial authorities of towns like Barcelona, who knew the value of the converted Jews, endeavoured to moderate the zeal of the inquisitors. But they were supported by the Crown, and there can be no question that the Holy Office was popular with the mass of the nation. It produced a wholesale flight of the converted Jews to France. -.
In social life the religious zeal favoured by the I nquisition led to such things as those public processions of flagellants which went on in Spain till the end of the 18th century. It aimed at preserving orthodoxy and developing sainthood on the medieval model. Of ordinary immorality it took little notice, and the triumph of its cause in the 16th and l/th centuries, while producing such types of ecstatic piety as St Theresa (q.v.), the Sor Mariade Jesus (Maria Agreda), (g.v.) and the Venerable Virgin Luisa de Carvajal (q.v.), was accompanied by an extraordinary development of moral laxity. The Holy Office showed equal zeal in extending its jurisdiction, and by the end of the 17th century had provoked a strong reaction. The most honourable passage in its history is the part it took in forwarding the great, though temporary, reform of the monastic orders, which was a favourite object with Queen Isabella.
Between 1481 and 1492 the Catholic sovereigns completed the work of the reconquest by subjugating the one surviving Conquest of Mahommedan state of Granada. Their task was Granada, materially facilitated by dissensions among the Moors, whose princes intrigued against one another, and were to the last ready to aid the Christians in the hope of obtaining a small fragment of territory for themselves. The surrender of Granada on the 2nd of January 1492 was partly secured by promises of toleration, which were soon violated. A revolt had to be suppressed in 1501. Having secured the unity of their territory in the Peninsula, the Catholic sovereigns were free to begin the work of expansion. In 1492 Columbus (q.v.) sailed on his first voyage to the west. In 1493 *' Ferdinand secured the restoration of Roussillon from Charles VIII. of France by the fallacious treaty in which he undertook to remain neutral during the king's expedition to Italy. The voyage of Columbus had unforeseen consequences which led to diplomatic difficulties with Portugal, and the treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, which defined the respective spheres of influence of the two powers in the New World and in Asia. In 1497 Ferdinand, with the support of his wife, Foreign entered on those wars of Italy in which the Spanish Policy of regular soldiers first gained their reputation, and Ferdinand w hich made Spain for a time the dominant power and Isabella. ^ n ^ j ta u an peninsula (see CORDOBA, GONZALO F. DE). They endeavoured to strengthen themselves against France by marriages with the royal family of England (see CATHERINE OF ARAGON) and the Habsburgs. The marriage of Juana, called the Mad, with Philip of Habsburg, son of the emperor Maximilian (q.v.) brought a new dynasty to Spain. On the death of the queen in 1504 her son-in-law claimed the regency, and was supported by the Castilian nobles. His death in 1506 and the in- Fe'dfaaDA /sanit y of his widow left tne Castilians no choice but to restore Ferdinand as regent. During the next ten years Ferdinand governed with the very able assistance of the archbishop of Toledo, Jimenes de Cisneros (q.v.). He annexed the southern part of Navarre, which was held by the representatives of his half-sister. The archbishop organized and directed the expedition which conquered Oran, Tripoli and other points on the African coast. Here beyond all doubt lay the proper field for the expansion of Spain. She was drawn from it on the death of Ferdinand in 1516. He was succeeded by his grandson Charles of Habsburg, and when Charles was elected to the empire in 1519 Spain was dragged into the wars and politics of central Europe.
Only the smaller part of the reign of Charles was spent in Spain. He came to it from Flanders, where he had received his education, unable to speak the language and sur- Charles I. of rounded by Flemish favourites. To him and them Spain, v. as the country was only a source of supply from which Bmperor. money was to be obtained in order to bribe the German electors. The disregard which both showed for the interests of Spain and its constitutional rights led to the outbreak of the revolt of the cities the Comuneros which plunged Castile into confusion in 1519 and 1520 after the departure Revolt of the of Charles for Flanders. The rising of the Comuneros, Comuneros has often been spoken of as a ISI9 - 20 - struggle for freedom. But it has a very dubious right to the name. In many places the movement was simply an excuse for a revival of private wars between wealthy noble families. In others it was a struggle to enforce the claims of particular towns. It hardly extended as a political movement beyond the two Castiles. If its leaders had acted together, in combination with the nobles, the Comuneros could have imposed their own terms, for there was no royal army to oppose them. But they drifted into hostility with the nobles, and were defeated by them at Villalar. The movement then rapidly collapsed. Charles had no part in the suppression of the revolt. Throughout his reign he respected the claim of the Cortes that no new taxation should be raised without its consent, but as he had to deal only with the representatives of eighteen cities, who could generally be bribed, he rarely failed to secure what he demanded.
The outbreak of the Comuneros in Castile coincided with the social and agrarian revolt in Valencia known as the Germania or brotherhood, from the name of the directing committee appointed by the insurgents. It was in no sense a movement for political rights, but an attack by Rising of the the sailors, the workmen of the towns, and the German/a la Christian peasants on the landowners and their Valencla - Mudejar and Morisco serfs. It was accompanied by murder and massacre and by forced conversions of the Mudejares. After desolating Valencia for some three years it was put down by the help of troops from Castile. The conquest of Mexico by Hernan Cortes (q.v.) and of Peru by Francisco Saa]n and Pizarro (q.v.) belong to this reign, but were imme- the Eurodiately due to the adventurers in America. These P fan Poiky conquests and the incessant wars into which Spain ofcharles v - was drawn by the Aragonese claims in Italy, and its connexion with the empire, gave to the nation a great European position and to the Spanish soldiers of the time many opportunities to win renown. The capture of the French king at Pavia and his imprisonment at Madrid gratified the pride of the Spaniards, and did much to reconcile them to the sacrifices which the policy of the emperor imposed on them. Except, however, in the case of the successful attack on Tunis in 1535, and the attempt to take Algiers in 1541, his actions were not inspired by any regard for the interests of his Spanish kingdoms. He treated them simply as instruments to promote the grandeur of his house. His indifference to their good, or his utter inability to see "where it lay, was conspicuously shown when, on his abdication in 1556, he left his hereditary Flemish possessions to his son Philip, and not to his brother Ferdinand.
The reign of Philip II. (1556-1598) was a prolongation of the reign of his father, both in domestic and in foreign policy. In it the vices of this policy were displayed to the pftffl H fullest extent. Philip's marriage with Mary Tudor 1556-1598. (q.v.) in 1554 having proved barren, and her death in 1558 having placed Elizabeth on the throne of England, he was left without the support against France which this union was meant to secure. At the same time his inheritance of the Netherlands brought him into collision with their inhabitants, who feared his absolutist tendencies, and with the Reformation.
The revolt in the Low Countries was inevitably favoured by both France and England. Philip was consequently drawn Spain and i nto intervention in the religious wars of France the Neiher- (q.v.) and into war with England, which culminated lands, in the great Armada (q.v.) of 1588. His relations France and w ; tn ng i anc j were further complicated by the extension of English maritime enterprise to the New World (see HAWKINS JOHN; andDRAKE, FRANCIS). In the Mediterranean he was equally forced by his position to take a part in resisting the Turks (see MALTA: History; and LEPANTO, BATTLE of). But the key to his whole policy must be sought in his relations to his Flemish subjects. With his absolutist tendencies he was bound to wish to govern them as he did Castibj and the principle of religious toleration, which was not understood by any prince in Europe with the exception of the prince of Orange, William the Silent (q.v.), was peculiarly impossible for him. His reign was therefore one long struggle with forces which he was unable to master.
The burden of the struggle fell with crushing effect on his Spanish dominions and peculiarly on Castile. Aragon, which was poor and tenacious of its rights, would give little; Catalonia and Valencia afforded small help. The Flemish revenue was destroyed by the revolt. The Italian states barely paid their expenses. Resources for the incessant wars of the reign had been sought in the taxation of Castile and the revenue from the mines of America. They were wholly inadequate, and the result of the attempt to dominate all western Europe was to Character of produce bankruptcy and exhaustion. In his internal Philip's government Philip was fully despotic. He made no Covernmen<.p retence o f consulting the Cortes on legislation, and though he summoned them to vote new taxes he established the rule that the old were to be considered as granted for ever, and as constituting the fixed revenue of the Crown. The nobles were excluded from all share in the administration, which was in the hands of boards (juntas) of lawyers and men of the middle class. All business was conducted by correspondence, and with a final reference to the king, and the result was naturally endless delay.
The first years of the reign of Philip II. were occupied in concluding the last of his father's wars with France, to which Foreign was added a very unwelcome quarrel with the pope, Policy of arising out of his position as duke of Milan. He Philip. was unable to avoid sending an army under Alva against Paul IV., and was glad to avail himself of the services of Venice to patch up a peace. On the Flemish frontier, with the help of an English contingent and by the good generalship of Philibert of Savoy he defeated a French army at St Quentin on the loth of August 1557, and again at Gravelines on the 13th of July 1558. But he did not follow up his successes, and the war was ended by the signing of the peace of Cateau Cambresis on the 2nd of April 1559. The exhaustion of his resources made peace necessary to him, and it was no less desirable to the French government. Philip's marriage with Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry II. and of Catherine de Medici, together with their common fear of the Reformation, bound him for a time to the French royal house. In August 1559 he returned to Spain, which he never left for the rest of his life. The outcry of the Cortes, whether of Castile or of the other states, for relief from taxation was loud. In some cases the king went so far as to levy taxes in what he acknowledged was an illegal manner and excused under the plea of necessity. By 1567 the revolt in the Netherlands was flagrant, and the duke of Alva was sent with a picked army, and at the expense of Spain, to put it down. In the following year the tyranny of the Inquisition, encouraged by the king who desired to purge his kingdom of all taint of heterodoxy, led to the revolt of the Moriscoes, which desolated Granada from 1568 to 1570, and ruined the province completely. The Moriscoes had looked for help from the Turks, who were engaged in conquering Cyprus from Venice. The danger to Spain and to the Spanish possessions in Italy stimulated the king to join in the Holy League formed by the pope and Venice against the Turks; and Spanish ships and soldiers had a great share in the splendid victory at Lepanto. But the penury of the treasury made it impossible to maintain a permanent naval force to protect the coast against the Barbary pirates (q.v.). Andalusia, Murcia, Valencia, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands were subject to their raids throughout the whole of the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1581 Philip annexed Portugal, as heir to King Henry, the aged successor of Dom Sebastian. Philip endeavoured to placate the Portuguese by the fullest recognition of their constitutional rights, and in particular by favouring the fidalgos or gentry. The duke of Braganza, whose claims were better than Philip's, was bought off by immense grants. Spain seemed now to have reached a commanding height of power. But she was internally exhausted. Her real weakness, and the incompetence of her government, were shown when open war began with /spa/n D England in 1585. While a vast armament was being slowly collected for the invasion of England, Drake swept the West Indies, and in 1587 burnt a number of Spanish ships in their own harbour of Cadiz. The ruinous failure of the great Armada in 1588 demonstrated the incapacity of Spain to maintain her pretensions. In 1591 the support given by the Aragonese to Antonio Perez (q.v.) led to the invasion of their country by a Castilian army. The constitutional rights of Aragon were not entirely suppressed, but they were diminished, and the kingdom was reduced to a greater measure of submission. In his later years Philip added to all his other burdens a costly intervention in France to support the league and resist the succession of Henry IV. to the throne. He was compelled to acknowledge himself beaten in France before his death on the 13th of September 1598. He left the war with England and with the Netherlands as an inheritance to his son.
The period of one hundred and two years covered by the reigns of Philip III. ^598-1621), Philip IV. (1621-1665) and Charles II. (1665-1700), was one of decadence, ending in intellectual, moral and material degradation. The dynasty continued to make the maintenance of the rights and interests of the House of Austria its main object. Spain had the misfortune to be saved from timely defeat by the weakness of its neighbours. The policy of James I. of England (q.v.), the civil wars of Charles I. (q.v.), the assassination of Henry IV. of France, the troubles of the minority and reign of Louis XIII. (q.v.) and the Fronde (q.v.), preserved her from concerted and persistent foreign attack. After a futile attempt to injure England by giving support to the earl of Tyrone in Ireland (see TYRONE, EARLS OF) peace was made between the powers in 1604. In 1609 a twelve years' truce was made with the Dutch. But the temporary cessation of foreign wars brought no real peace to Spain. In 1610 fears of the help which the Moriscoes might give to a Mahommedan attack from Africa combined with religious bigotry to cause their expulsion. The measure was thoroughly popular with the nation, but it was industrially more injurious than a foreign invasion need have been. The king was idle and pleasure-loving. He resigned the control of his government to the duke of Lerma (q.v), one of the most worthless of all royal favourites. The expenses of the royal household increased fourfold, and most of the increase was absorbed by the favourite and his agents. The nobles, who had been kept at a distance by Philip II., swarmed round the new king, and began to secure pensions in the old style. The pillage was so shameless that public opinion was stirred to revolt. Some of the lesser sinners were forced to restitution, and in 1618 Lerma fell from power, but only because he was supplanted by his son, the duke of Uceda, a man as worthless as himself. In that year was taken the step which was destined to consummate the ruin of Spain. The Thirty Years' War began in Germany, and Spain was called upon to support the House of Austria.
The death of Philip III. on the 21st of March 1621 brought no real change. His son, Philip IV., was an abler man, and even gave indications of a wish to qualify himself to discharge his duties as king. But he was young, pleasure-loving, and wanted the strength of will to make his good intentions effective For twenty years the administration was really directed by his favourite the count of Olivares (q.v.) and duke of San Lucar, known as the " Conde Duque," the count*ib2i-1665. duke. Olivares was far more able and honest than Lerma. But he could only keep his place by supplying his master with the means of dissipation and by conforming to his dynastic sentiments. The truce concluded in 1609 with Holland ended in 1621, and was not renewed. The commercial classes, particularly in Portugal, complained that it subjected them to Dutch competition. War was renewed, and the Dutch invaded Brazil. As their fleets made it dangerous to send troops by sea to Flanders, Spain had to secure a safe road overland. Therefore she endeavoured to obtain full control of the Valtellina, the valley leading from Lombardy to Tirol, and from thence to the German ecclesiastical states, which allowed a free passage to the Spanish troops. War with France ensued. The failure of the treaty of marriage with England (see CHARLES I. and BUCKINGHAM, FIRST DUKE of) led to war, for the English court was offended by the Spanish refusal to aid in the restoration of the count palatine, son-in-law of James I., to his dominions. In Flanders the town of Breda was taken after a famous siege. The French conducted their campaign badly. The Dutch were expelled from Bahia in Brazil, which they had seized. An English attack on Cadiz in 1625 was repulsed. His flatterers called the king Philip the Great. A 'few years later it began to be a standing jest that he was great in the sense that a pit is great: the more that is taken from it the greater it grows. By 1640 the feebleness of the monarchy was so notorious that it began to fall to pieces. In that year Portugal fell away without needing to strike a blow. Then followed the revolt of Naples (see MASANIELLO) and of the Catalans, who were bitterly angered by the excesses of the troops sent to operate against the French in Roussillon. They called in the French, and the Spanish government was compelled to neglect Portugal. Olivares, who was denounced by the nation as the cause of all its misfortunes, was dismissed, and the king made a brief effort to rule for himself. But he soon fell back under the control of less capable favourites than Olivares. In 1643 the prestige of the Spanish infantry was ruined by the battle of Rocroy. At the peace of Munster, which ended the Thirty Years' War in 1648, Spain was cynically thrown over by the German Habsburgs for whom she had sacrificed so much. Aided by the disorders of the minority of Louis XIV., she struggled on till the peace of the Pyrenees in 1659, by which Roussillon was ceded to France. An attempt was now made to subdue Portugal, but the battle of Montesclaros in 1665 proved the futility of the effort. The news of the disaster was followed by the death of the king on the 17th of September 1665. Catalonia was saved by the reaction produced in it by the excesses of the French troops, and in Naples the revolt had collapsed. But Portugal was lost for ever, and the final judgment on the time may be passed in the words of Olivares, who complained that he could find " no men " in Spain. He meant no men fit for high command. The intellect and character of the nation had been rendered childish.
During the whole of the reign of Charles II. (1665- !66S-i70o'.' I 7)> t ne son of the second marriage of Philip IV.
with his niece Mariana of Austria, the Spanish monarchy was an inert mass, which Louis XIV. treated as raw material to be cut into at his discretion, and was saved from dismemberment only by the intervention of England and Holland. The wars of 1667-68, ended by the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, those of 1672-78, ended by the peace of Nijmwegen, those of 1683-84, ended by the peace of Ratisbon, and the war of the League of Augsburg, 1680-96, were some of them fought wholly, and all of them partly, because the French king wished to obtain one or another portion of the dominions of the Spanish Habsburgs. But Spain took a subordinate and often a merely passive part in these wars. The king was imbecile. During his minority the government was directed by his mother and her successive favourites, the German Jesuit Nithard and the Granadine adventurer Fernando de Valenzuela. In 1677 the king's bastard brother, the younger Don John of Austria, defeated the queen's faction, which was entirely Austrian in sentiment, and obtained power for a short time. By him the king was married in 1679 to Marie Louise of Orleans, in the interest of France. When she died in 1689, he was married by the Austrian party to Mariana of Neuburg. At last the French party, which hoped to save their monarchy from partition by securing the support of France, persuaded the dying king to leave his kingdom by will to the duke of Anjou, the grandson of Louis XIV., and of Maria Teresa, daughter of Philip IV. by his first marriage. On the death of Charles II., on the ist of November 1700, the duke of Anjou was proclaimed king.
The Bourbon Dynasty. The decision of Louis XIV. to accept the inheritance left to his grandson by Charles II. led to a final struggle between him and the other powers of western \v aro f Europe (see SPANISH SUCCESSION, WAR or '\\\\.), Spanish which was terminated in 1713 by the peace of Succession, Utrecht. The part taken by Spain in the actual tTO -' 3 - struggle was mainly a passive one, and it ended for her with the loss of Gibraltar and the island of Minorca, which remained in the hands of England, and of all her dominions in Italy and Flanders. Another and a very serious consequence was that England secured the Asiento (q.v.), or contract, which gave her the monopoly of the slave trade with the Spanish colonies, as well as the right to establish " factories " that is to say commercial agencies in several Central and South American ports, and to send one cargo of manufactured goods yearly in a ship of 500 tons to New Carthagena. In internal affairs the years of the war were of capital importance in Spanish history. The general political and administrative mo^/fie. nullity of the Spaniards of this generation led to the assumption of all real power by the French or Italian servants and advisers of the king. Under their direction important financial and administrative reforms were begun. The opposition which these innovations produced encouraged the separatist tendencies of the eastern portion of the Peninsula. Philip V. was forced to reduce Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia by arms. Barcelona was only taken in 1714, the year after the signing of the treaty of Utrecht. The local privileges of these once independent kingdoms, which had with rare exceptions been respected by the Austrian kings, were swept away. Their disappearance greatly promoted the work of national unification, and was a gain, since they had long ceased to serve any really useful purpose. The removal of internal custom-houses, and the opening of the trade with America, hitherto confined to Seville and to the dominions of the crown of Castile, to all Spaniards, were considerable boons. The main agents in introducing and promoting these changes were the French ambassadors, a very able French treasury official Jean Orry, seigneur de Vignory (1652-1719) and the lady known as the princess des Ursins (q.v.), the chief lady-in-waiting. Her maiden name was Anne Marie de la Tremoille, and she was the widow of Flavio Orsini, duke of Bracciano. Until 1714 she was the power behind the throne in Spain. On the death of Philip V.'s first wife Maria Louisa Gabriella of Savoy, in 1714, the king was married at once to Elizabeth Farnese of Parma, who expelled Mme des Ursins, obtained complete control ($,& over her husband, and used her whole influence to Elizabeth drag Spain into a series of adventures in order to ^f" ese f*"' obtain Italian dominions for her sons. Her first agent was the Italian priest Alberoni (q.v.), whose favour lasted from 1714 to 1719. Alberoni could not, and perhaps did not, sincerely wish to prevent the queen and king from plunging into an attempt to recover Sardinia and Sicily, which provoked the armed intervention of France and England and led to the destruction of the rising Spanish navy off Cape Passaro (see TORRINGTON, GEORGE BYNG, VISCOUNT). In 1731 Elizabeth secured the succession of her eldest son, Charles, afterwards Charles III. of Spain, to the duchy of Parma, by arrangement with England and the Empire. Apart from the Italian intrigues, the most important foreign affairs of the reign were connected with the relations of Spain with England. A feeble attempt to regain Gibraltar was made in 1733, and a serious war was only averted by the resolute peace policy of Sir Robert Walpole. But in 1739 trade difficulties, which had arisen out of the Asicnto in America, led to a great war with England, which became merged in the War of the Austrian Succession (q.v.). The king, who had become almost entirely mad at the end of his life, died on the 9th of July 1746. His successor, Ferdinand VI., the second son of his first marriage, whose reign lasted till the 1cth of August Ferdinand 1759, was a retiring and modest man, who adopted vi.,i74&- a policy of peace with England. His ministers, of 1759. whom the most notable were Zenon de Somadevila, marquis of Ensenada, and Richard Wall, an Irish Jacobite, carried on the work of financial and administrative reform. The advance of the country in material prosperity was considerable. Foreign influences in thought and literature began to modify the opinions of Spaniards profoundly. The party known as the Regalistas, the lawyers who wished to vindicate the regalities, or rights of the Crown, against the encroachments of the pope and the Inquisition, gained the upper hand.
The new sovereign was one of the most sincere, and the most successful, of the " enlightened despots " of the 18th century.
He had had a long apprenticeship in Naples, and was 1759-1788." a man f forty-three when he came to Spain in 1759.
Until his death on the 14th of December 1788 he was engaged in internal politics, in endeavouring to advance the material prosperity of Spain. His foreign policy was less wise. He had a deep dislike of England, and a strong desire to recover Minorca and Gibraltar, which she held. He had also a strong family feeling, which induced him to enter into the " Family Compact " with his French cousins. He made war on England in 1761, with disastrous results to Spain, which for the time lost both Havana and Manila. In 1770 he came to the verge of war with England over the Falkland Islands. In 1778 he joined France in supporting the insurgent English colonists in America. The most statesmanlike of his foreign enterprises, the attempt to take the piratical city of Algiers in 1775 (see BARBARY PIRATES), was made with insufficient forces, was ill executed, and ended in defeat. Yet he was able to recover Minorca and Florida in the War of American Independence, and he finally extorted a treaty with Algiers which put a stop to piratical raids on the Spanish coast. The worst result for Spain of his foreign policy was that the example set by the United States excited a desire for independence in the Spanish colonies, and was the direct incitement to the rebellions at the beginning of the 19th century. The king's domestic policy, on the contrary, was almost wholly fruitful of good. Under his direction many useful public works were carried out roads, bridges and large schemes of drainage. The first reforms undertaken had provoked a disturbance in Madrid directed against the king's favourite minister, the Sicilian marquis of Squillacci. Charles, who believed that the Jesuits had promoted the outbreak, and also that they had organized a murder plot against him, allowed his minister Aranda (q.v.), the correspondent of Voltaire, to expel the order in 1766, and he exerted his whole influence to secure its entire suppression. The new spirit was otherwise shown by the restrictions imposed on the numbers of the religious orders and on the Inquisition, which was reduced to practical subjection to the lay courts of law. Many of the king's industrial enterprises, such as the Bavarian colony, established by him on the southern slope of the Sierra Morena, passed away without leaving much trace. On the other hand the shipping and the industry of Spain increased greatly. The population made a considerable advance, and the dense cloud of sloth and ignorance which had settled on the country in the 17th century was lifted. In this work Charles III. was assisted, in addition to Squillacci and Aranda, by Campomanes (q.v.), who succeeded Aranda as minister of finance in 1787, and by Floridablanca (q.v.), who ruled the country in the spirit of enlightened bureaucracy.
Charles III. was succeeded in 1788 by his son Charles IV. The father, though " enlightened," had been a thorough despot; the son was sluggish and stupid to the verge of imbecility, but the despotism remained. The new king was much under the xxv. 1 8 a influence of his wife, Maria Louisa of Parma, a coarse, passionate and narrow-minded woman; but he continued to repose confidence in his father's ministers. Floridablanca was, however, unable to continue his earlier policy, in view of the .contemporaneous outbreak of the Revolution in France. The revival of Spain depended on the restoration of her colonial and naval ascendancy at the expense of Great Britain, and for this the support of France was needed. But the " Family Compact," on which the French alliance depended, ceased to exist when Louis XVI. was deprived of power by his subjects. Of this conclusive evidence was given in 1791. Some English merchants had violated the shadowy claim of Spain to the whole west coast of America by founding a settlement at Nootka Sound. The Spanish government lodged a vigorous protest, but the French National Assembly refused to lend any assistance, and Floridablanca was forced to conclude a humiliating treaty and give up all hope of opposing the progress of Great Britain. This failure was attributed by the minister to the Revolution, spaiaand of which he became the uncompromising opponent, the French The reforms of Charles IIl.'s reign were abandoned t evolutloa - and all liberal tendencies in Spain were suppressed. But Floridablanca was not content with suppressing liberalism in Spain; he was eager to avenge his disappointment by crushing the Revolution in France. He opened negotiations with the emigres, urged the European powers to a crusade on behalf of legitimacy, and paraded the devotion of Charles IV. to the head of his family. This bellicose policy, however, brought him into collision with the queen, who feared that the outbreak of war would diminish the revenues which she squandered in selfindulgence. She had already removed from the ministry Campomanes and other supporters of Floridablanca, and had compelled the latter to restrict himself to the single department of foreign affairs. Early in 1792 she completed her task by inducing Charles IV. to banish Floridablanca to Murcia, and his place was entrusted to the veteran Aranda, who speedily found that he held office only by favour of the queen, and that this had to be purchased by a disgraceful servility to her paramour, Emanuel Godoy. Spain withdrew from the projected coalition against France, and sought to maintain an attitude of neutrality, which alienated the other powers, while it failed to conciliate the Republic. The repressive measures of Floridablanca were withdrawn; society and the press regained their freedom; and no opposition was offered to the propaganda of French ideas. Aranda's policy might have been successful if it had been adopted earlier, but the time for temporizing was now past, and it was necessary to choose one side or the other. In November 1792 the queen felt herself strong enough to carry out the scheme which she had been long maturing. Aranda was dismissed, Qodo and the office of first minister was entrusted to Godoy, who had recently received the title of duke of Alcudia. Godoy, who was at once the queen's lover and the personal favourite of the king, had no experience of the routine of office, and no settled policy. Fortunately for him, the course now to be pursued was decided for him. The execution of Louis XVI. (Jan. 21, 1793) made a profound impression in a country where loyalty was a superstition. Charles IV. was roused to demand vengeance for the insult to his family, and Spain became an enthusiastic member of the first coalition against France. The number of volunteers who offered their services rendered conscription unnecessary; and the southern provinces of France welcomed the Spaniards as deliverers. These advantages, however, were nullified by the shameful incompetence and carelessness of the government. The troops were left without supplies; no plan of combined action was imposed upon the commanders; and the two campaigns of 1793 and 1794 were one long catalogue of failures. Instead of reducing the southern provinces of France, the Spaniards were driven from the strong fortresses that guarded the Pyrenees, and the French advanced almost to the Ebro; and at the same time the British were utilizing the war to extend their colonial power and were establishing more firmly that maritime supremacy which the Spanish government had been struggling for almost a century to overthrow. Under the circumstances the queen and Godoy hastened to follow the example set by Prussia, and concluded the treaty of Basel with France (1795). The terms were unexpectedly favourable, and so great was the joy excited in Madrid that popular acclamation greeted the bestowal upon Godoy of the title of " Prince of the Peace." But the moderation of the treaty was only a flimsy disguise of the disgrace that it involved. Spain found herself tied hand and foot to the French republic. Godoy had to satisfy his allies by the encouragement of reforms which both he and his mistress loathed, and in 1796 the veil was removed by the conclusion of the treaty of San Ildefonso. This was a virtual renewal of the " Family Compact " of 1761, but with terms far more disadvantageous to Spain. Each power was pledged to assist the other in case of war with twenty-five ships, 18,000 infantry and 6000 cavalry. The real object of the treaty, which was to involve Spain in the war against Great Britain, was cynically avowed in the 18th article, by which, during the present war, the Spanish obligations were only to apply to the quarrel between Great Britain and France. A scheme was prepared for a joint attack on the English coast, but it was foiled by the battle of St Vincent (q.v.), in which Jervis and Nelson forced the Spanish fleet to retire to Cadiz. This defeat was the more disastrous because it deprived Spain of the revenues derived from her colonies. Great Britain seized the opportunity to punish Spain for its conduct in the American War by encouraging discontent in the Spanish colonies, and in the Peninsula itself both nobles and people were bitterly hostile to the queen and her favourite. It was in vain that Godoy sought to secure the friendship of the reforming party by giving office to two of its most prominent members, Jovellanos and Saavedra. Spanish pride and bigotry were offended by the French occupation of Rome and the erection of a republic in the place of the papal government. The treatment of the duke of Parma by the Directory was keenly resented by the queen. Godoy found himself between two parties, the Liberals and the Ultramontanes, who agreed only in hatred of himself. At the same time the Directory, whose mistrust was excited by his attitude in the question of Parma, insisted upon his dismissal. Charles IV. could not venture to refuse; the queen was alienated by Godoy 's notorious infidelities; and in March 1798 he was compelled to resign his office.
Godoy's office was entrusted to Saavedra, but the reformers did not obtain the advantages which they expected from the change. Jovellanos was compelled in August to retire on account of ill health the result, it was rumoured of attempts on the part of his opponents to poison him. His place was taken by Caballero, an ardent opponent of reform, who restored all the abuses of the old bureaucratic administration and pandered to the bigoted prejudices of the clergy and the court. The only advantage which Spain enjoyed at this period was comparative independence of France. The military plans of the Directory were unsuccessful during the absence of their greatest general in Egypt, and the second coalition gained successes in 1799 which had seemed impossible since 1793. But the return of Bonaparte, followed as it was by the fall of the Directory and the establishment of the Consulate, commenced a new epoch for Spain. As soon as the First Consul had time to turn his attention to the Peninsula, he determined to restore Godoy, who had already regained the affection of the queen, and to make him the tool of his policy. Maria Louisa was easily gained over by playing on her devotion to the house of Parma, and on the 1st of October 1800 a secret treaty was concluded at San Ildefonso. Spain undertook to cede Louisiana and to aid France in all her wars, while Bonaparte promised to raise the duke of Parma to the rank of king and to increase his territories by the addition either of Tuscany or of the Roman legations. This was followed by Godoy's return to power, though he left the department of foreign affairs to a subordinate. Spain was now more servile to France than ever, and in 1801 was compelled to attack Portugal in the French interests. The Spanish invasion, commanded by Godoy in person, met with no resistance, and the prince ventured to conclude a peace on his own authority by which Portugal promised to observe a strict neutrality on condition that its territories were left undiminished. But Bonaparte resented this show of independence, and compelled Charles IV. to refuse his ratification of the treaty. Portugal had to submit to far harsher terms, and could only purchase peace by the cession of territory in Guiana, by a disadvantageous treaty of commerce, and by payment of twenty-five million francs. In the preliminary treaty with Great Britain he ceded the Spanish colony of Trinidad without even consulting the court of Madrid, while he ,old Louisiana to the United States in spite of his promise not to alienate it except to Spain.
Godoy, since his return, had abandoned all connexion with the reforming party. The Spanish Church was once more placed in strict subjection to the Roman see, from which for a short time it had been freed. As soon as Bonaparte saw himself involved in a new war with England, he turned to Spain for assistance and extorted a new treaty (Oct. 9, 1803), which was still more burdensome than that of 1796. Spain had to pay a monthly subsidy of six million francs, and to enforce strict neutrality upon Portugal, this involving war with England. The last remnants of its maritime power were shattered in the battles of Cape Finisterre and Trafalgar, and the English seized Buenos Aires. The popular hatred of Godoy was roused to passion by these disasters, and Spain seemed to stand on the brink of revolution. At the head of the opposition was Ferdinand, the heir to the throne, as insignificant as his rival, but endowed with all good qualities by the credulous favour of the people. Napoleon was at this time eager to humble Great Britain by excluding it from all trade with Europe. The only country which had not accepted his " continental system " was Portugal, and he determined to reduce that kingdom by force. It was not difficult to bribe Godoy, who was conscious that his position could not be maintained after the death of Charles IV. In October 1807 Spain accepted the treaty of Fontainebleau. (See PORTUGAL: History.) The treaty was hardly concluded when a French army under Junot marched through Spain to Portugal, and the royal family of that country fled to Brazil. Ferdinand, whose wife had died in 1806, determined to imitate his rival by bidding for French support. He entered into secret relations with Eugene Beauharnais, Napoleon's envoy at Madrid, and went so far as to demand the hand of a Bonaparte princess. Godoy, who discovered the intrigue, induced Charles IV. to order his son's arrest (Oct. 27, 1807), on the charge of plotting to dethrone his father and to murder his mother and Godoy. The prince indeed was soon released and solemnly pardoned; but, meanwhile, Napoleon had seized the opportunity afforded by the effect of this public scandal in lowering the prestige of the royal family to pour his troops into Spain, under pretext of reinforcing Junot's corps in Portugal. Even this excuse was soon dropped, and by January and February 1808 the French invasion had become clearly revealed as one of conquest. Charles IV. and his minister determined on flight. The news of this intention, however, excited a popular rising at Aranjuez, whither the king and queen had gone from Madrid. A raging mob surrounded the palace, clamouring for Godoy's head; and the favourite's life was only saved by Charles IV. 's announcement of his abdication in favour of Ferdinand (March 17). Murat, however, who commanded the French, refused to be turned aside by this change of circumstances. He obtained from Charles IV. a declaration that his abdication had been involuntary, and occu- Napoleon pied Madrid (March 23, 1808). Meanwhile Napoleon attacks had advanced to Bayonne on the frontier, whither, at s P aln - his orders, Murat despatched the old king and queen and their favourite Godoy. The emperor had already made up his mind to place one of his brothers on the Spanish throne; but in order to achieve this it was necessary to cajole the young king Ferdinand VII. and get him into his power. Ferdinand, instead of retiring to Andalusia and making himself the rallying point of national resistance, had gone to Madrid, where he was at the mercy of Murat's troops and whence he wrote grovelling letters to Napoleon. It was no difficult matter for the emperor's envoy, General Savary, to lure him by specious promises to the frontier, and across it to Bayonne, where he was confronted with his parents and Godoy in a scene of pitiful degradation. Struck and otherwise insulted, he was forced to restore the crown to his father, who laid it at the feet of Napoleon. The old king and queen, pensioned by the French government, retired to Rome; Abdication Ferdinand was kept for six years under strict military of Charles guard at Talleyrand's chateau of Valencay (see IV - FERDINAND VII., King of Spain). On the 13th of May Murat announced to an improvised " junta of regency " at Madrid that Napoleon desired them to accept Joseph Bonaparte as their king.
But Spanish loyalty was too profound to be daunted even by the awe-inspiring power of the French emperor. For the first Joseph t ' me Napoleon found himself confronted, not by Bonaparte terrified and selfish rulers, but by an infuriated proclaimed people. The rising in Spain began the popular moveKlag ' ment which ultimately proved fatal to his power. At first he treated the novel phenomenon with contempt, and thought it sufficient to send his less prominent generals against the rebels. Madrid was easily taken, but the Spaniards showed great capacity for the guerrilla warfare in the provinces. The French were repulsed from Valencia; and Dupont, who had advanced into the heart of Andalusia, was compelled to retreat and ultimately to capitulate with all his forces at Baylen (July 10). The Spaniards now advanced upon Madrid and drove Joseph from the capital, which he had just entered. Unfortunately the insurgents displayed less political ability than military courage. Godoy's agents, the ministers, were swept aside by the popular revolt, and their place was taken by local juntas, or committees, and then by a central junta formed from among them, which ruled despotically in the name of the captive king. In a country divided by sectional jealousies it was impossible to expect a committee of thirty-four members to impose unity of action even in a common cause; and the Spanish rising, the first fierceness of which had carried all before it, lacked the organizing force which alone would have given it permanent success. As it was, Napoleon's arrival in Spain was enough to restore victory to the French. In less than a week the Spanish army was broken through and scattered, and Napoleon restored his brother in Madrid. Sir John Moore, who had advanced with an English army to the relief of the capital, retired when he found he was too late, and an obstinate battle, in which the gallant general lost his life, had to be fought before the troops could secure their embarcation at Corunna. Napoleon, thinking the work accomplished, had quitted the Peninsula, and Soult and Victor were left to complete the reduction of the provinces. The capture of Seville resulted in the dissolution of the central junta, and the Peninsula was only saved from final submission by the obstinate resistance of Wellington in Portugal and by dissensions among the French. The marshals were jealous of each other, and Napoleon's plans were not approved by his brother. Joseph wished to restore peace and order among his subjects in the hope of ruling an independent nation, while Napoleon was determined to annex Spain to his own overgrown empire. So far did these disputes go that Joseph resigned his crown, and was with difficulty induced to resume it. Meanwhile, the dissolution of the central junta had given free play to the extremer reforming parties; on the 24th of September these met at Cadiz, which became the capital of what was left of independent Spain.
The Spanish Cortes had never been so entirely suspended as the states-general of France. Philip V., after suppressing the local institutions of the crown of Aragon, had given representation to some of the eastern cities in the general Cortes of Spain. This body had been summoned at the beginning of reigns to swear homage to the new king and his heir, or to confirm regulations made as to the succession. It sat in one house, and was composed of the nobles and churchmen who formed the great majority of procurators chosen by the town councils of a limited though varying number of towns, and of representatives of " kingdoms." The Cortes of 1810 was constructed on these lines, but with a very important difference in the proportion of its elements. The third estate of the commons secured 184 representatives, who were sufficient to swamp the nobles and the clergy. No intelligent scheme under which the representatives were to be elected had been fixed. In theory the members of the third estate had been chosen by a process of double election. In fact, however, since much of the country was held by the French, they were often returned by such natives of the regions so occupied as happened to be present in Cadiz at the time. The real power fell to those of the delegates who were influenced by the new ideas. Unhappily, they had no experience of affairs; and they were perfectly ready to make a constitution for Spain on Jacobin lines, without the slightest regard to the real beliefs and interests of Spaniards. Out of these materials nothing could be expected to come except such a democratic constitution as might have been made by a Jacobin club in Paris. In a country noted for its fanatical loyalty to the Crown and the Church, the kingship was to be deprived of all power and influence, and the clergy to be excluded as such fromspan/sh all share in legislation. As though to deprive the Constitution constitution of any chance of being made effective, "*'^' the worst expedients dictated by the suspicious temper of the French convention of 1790 were adopted. Ministers were excluded from the chamber, thus rendering impossible any effective co-operation between the legislature and the executive; and, worst of all, a provision was introduced making members of the Cortes ineligible for re-election, an effective bar to the creation of a class of politicians possessing experience of affairs.
The Spaniards were so broken to obedience, and the manlier part of them so intent on fighting the French, that the Cortes was not at the time resisted. The suppression of the Inquisition and the secularization of the church lands measures which had already been taken by the government of the intruding French king Joseph at Madrid passed together with much else. But even before the new constitution was published and sworn, on the 1pth of March 1812, large numbers of Spaniards had made up their minds that after the invaders were driven out the Cortes must be suppressed.
The liberation of Spain could hardly have been accomplished without the assistance of Great Britain. The story of 'the struggle, from the military point of view, is told in the article PENINSULAR WAR. In 1812 Wellington determined on a great effort. He secured his base of operations by the capture of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz, and at Salamanca he completely routed the opposing army of Marmont. This victory enabled the English general to enter Madrid (Aug. 12), and Joseph retreated to Valencia. But further advance was prevented by the concentration of the French forces in the east, and Wellington found it advisable to retire for the third time to winter quarters on the Portuguese frontier. It was during this winter that Napoleon suffered his first and greatest reverse in the retreat from Moscow and the destruction of his grand army. This was the signal for the outbreak of the " war of liberation " in Germany, and French troops had to be withdrawn from Spain to central Europe. For the first time Wellington found himself opposed by fairly equal forces. In the spring of 1813 he advanced from Ciudad Rodrigo and defeated Jourdan at Vittoria, the battle which finally decided the Peninsular War. Joseph retired altogether from his kingdom, and Wellington, eager to take his part in the great European contest, fought his way through the Pyrenees into France. Napoleon, who had suffered a crushing defeat at Leipzig, hastened to recognize the impossibility of retaining Spain by releasing Ferdinand VII., who returned to Madrid in March 1814.
Before entering Spain Ferdinand had undertaken to maintain the constitution of 1812, and when on the 22nd of March 1814 he reached Figueras, he was met by a demand on Restoratloa the part of the Cortes that he must accept all theo/ Ferditerms of the constitution as a condition of his recog- "ana vn., nition as king. But Ferdinand had convincing 18U ' proof of the true temper of the nation. He now refused to recognize the constitution, and was supported in his refusal not only "by the army and the Church, but by the masses. There can be no doubt that Ferdinand VII. could have ruled despotically if he had been able to govern well. But, although possessed of some sardonic humour and a large measure of cunning, he was base, and had no real capacity. He changed his ministers incessantly, and on mere caprice. Governed by a camarilla of low favourites, he was by nature cruel as well as cowardly. The government under him was thoroughly bad, and the persecution of the "Jacobins," that is of all those suspected of Liberal sentiment, ferocious. Partial revolts took place, but were easily crushed. The revolt which overpowered him in 1820 was a military mutiny. During the war the American colonies had rebelled, and soldiers had been sent to suppress them. No progress had been made, the service was dreadfully costly in life, and it became intensely unpopular among the troops. Meanwhile the brutality of the king and his ministers had begun to produce a reaction. Not a few of the officers held Liberal opinions, and this was especially Revolution tne case w ' tn those who had been prisoners in on820. " F rance during the war and had been inoculated with foreign doctrines. These men, of whom the most conspicuous was Colonel Rafael Riego (q.v.), worked on the discontent of the soldiers, and in January 1820 brought about a mutiny at Cadiz, which became a revolution. Until 1823 the king was a prisoner in the hands of a section of his subjects, who restored the constitution of 1812 and had the support of the army. The history of these three miserable years cannot be told except at impossible length. It was a mere anarchy. The Liberals were divided into sub-sections, distinguished from one another by a rising scale of violence. Any sign of moderation on the part of the ministers chosen from one of them was enough to secure him the name of " Servile " from the others. The " Serviles " proper took up arms in the north. At last this state of affairs became intolerable to the French government of Louis XVIII. As early as 1820 the emperor Alexander I. of Russia had suggested a joint intervention of the powers of the Grand Alliance to restore order in the Peninsula, and had offered to place his own army at their disposal for the purpose. The Con- The project had come to nothing owing to the oppogressof sition of the British government and the strenuous 3"% Md objection of Prince Metternich to a course which would have involved the march of a powerful Russian force through the Austrian dominions. In 1822 the question was again raised as the main subject of discussion at the congress assembled at Verona (see VERONA, CONGRESS OF). The French government now asked to be allowed to march into Spain, as Austria had marched into Naples, as the mandatory of the powers, for the purpose of putting a stop to a state of things perilous alike to herself and to all Europe. In spite of the vigorous protest of Great Britain, which saw in this demand only a pretext for reviving the traditional Bourbon ambitions in the Peninsula, the mandate was granted by the majority of the powers; and on the 7th of April 1823 the duke of Preach la- Angouleme, at the head of a powerful army, crossed ten-nation, the Bidassoa. The result was a startling proof of 1823. tne flj ms y structure of Spanish Liberalism. What the genius of Napoleon had failed to accomplish through years of titanic effort, Angouleme seemed to have achieved in a few weeks. But the difference of their task was fundamental. Napoleon had sought to impose upon Spain an alien dynasty; Angouleme came to restore the Spanish king " to his own." The power of Napoleon had been wrecked on the resistance of the Spanish people; Angouleme had the active support of some Spaniards and the tacit co-operation of the majority. The Cortes, carrying the king with it, fled to Cadiz, and after a siege, surrendered with no conditions save that of an amnesty, to which Ferdinand solemnly swore before he was sent over into the French lines. As was to be expected, an oath taken " under compulsion " by such a man was little binding; and the French troops were compelled to witness, with helpless indignation, the orgy of cruel reaction which immediately began under the protection of their bayonets.
The events of the three years from 1820-1823 were the beginning of a series of convulsions which lasted till 1874. On the one hand were the Spaniards who desired to assimilate their country to western Europe, and on the other those of them who adhered to the old order. The first won because the general trend of the world was in their favour, and because their opponents were blind, contumacious, and divided among themselves.
If anything could have recalled the distracted country to harmony and order, it would have been the object-lesson presented by the loss of all its colonies on the continent of America. These had already become de facto colon?'' independent during the death-struggle of the Spanish monarchy with Napoleon, and the recognition of their independence de jure was, for Great Britain at least, merely a question of time. A lively trade had grown up between Great Britain and the revolted colonies; but since this commerce, under the colonial laws of Spain, was technically illegitimate, it was at the mercy of the pirates, who preyed upon it under the aegis of the Spanish flag, without there being any possibility of claiming redress from the Spanish government. The decision of the powers at the congress of Verona to give a free hand to France in the matter of intervention in Spain, gave the British government its opportunity. When the invasion of Spain was seen to be inevitable, Canning had informed the French government that Great Britain would not tolerate the subjugation of the Spanish colonies by foreign force. A disposition of the powers of the Grand Alliance to come to the aid of Spain in this matter was countered by the famous message of President Monroe (Dec. 2, 1823), laying the veto of the United States on any interference of concerted Europe in the affairs of the American continent. The empire of Brazil and the republics of Mexico and Colombia were recognized by Great Britain in the following year; the recognition of the other states was only postponed until they should have given proof of their stability. In announcing these facts to the House of Commons, George Canning, in a phrase that became famous, declared that he had " called a new world into existence to redress the balance of the old " and that " if France had Spain, it should at least be Spain without her colonies."
In Spain itself, tutored by misfortune, the efforts of the king's ministers, in the latter part of his reign, were directed to restoring order in the finances and reviving agriculture Reactionary and industry in the country. The king's chief Elements in difficulties lay in the attitude of the extreme mon- s P" ln - archists (Apostolicos), who found leaders in the king's brother Don Carlos and his wife Maria Francisca of Braganza. Any tendency to listen to liberal counsels was denounced by them as weakness and met by demands for the restoration of the Inquisition and by the organization of absolutist demonstrations, and even revolts, such as that which broke out in Catalonia in 1828, organized by the " supreme junta " set up at Manresa, with the object of freeing the king from " the disguised Liberals who swayed him." Yet the absolute monarchy would probably have lasted for long if a dispute as to the succession had not thrown one of the monarchical parties on the support of the Liberals. The king had no surviving Q uest i oa ot children by his first three marriages. By his the Succesfourth marriage, on the nth of December 1829, sion. The with Maria Christina of Naples he had two daughters. Pr w na ' fc A j- i i i /i -AM Sanction.
According to the ancient law of Castile and Leon women could rule in their own right, as is shown by the examples of Urraca, Berengaria, and Isabella the Catholic. In Aragon they could transmit the right to a husband or son. Philip V. had introduced the Salic Law, which confined the succession to males. But his law had been revoked in the Cortes summoned in 1789 by Charles IV. The revocation had not however been promulgated. Under the influence of Maria Christina Ferdinand VII. formally promulgated it Isabella n., at the close of his life, after some hesitation, and Queen, amid many intrigues. When he died on the 29th of 1833 ' September 1833, his daughter Isabella II. was proclaimed queen, with her mother Maria Christina as regent.
The immediate result of the dead king's decision was to throw Spain back into a period of squalid anarchy. Maria Christina would have ruled despotically if she could, and began by announcing that material changes would not be made in the method of government. But the Conservatives preferred to support the late king's brother Don Carlos, and they had the active aid of the Basques, who feared for their local franchises, and of the mountaineers of Navarre, Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia, who were either quite clerical, or who had become attached, during the French invasion and the troubles of the reign of Ferdinand, to a life of guerrillero adventure. Maria Christina Christina.' nad the support of the army, and the control of the machinery of government; while the mass of the people passively submitted to the powers that were, while as far as possible eluding their orders. The regent soon found that this was not enough to enable her to resist the active hostility of the Carlists and the intrigues of their clerical allies. She was eventually driven by the necessities of her position to submit to the establishment of parliamentary institutions. She advanced only when forced, first by the need for buying support, and then with the bayonet at her back. First the historic Cortes was summoned. Then in April 1834, under the influence of the minister Martinez de La Rosa, a charter (Estatudo Real) was issued establishing a Cortes in two Eslamentos or Estates, one of senators (prdceres) and one of deputies, but with no rights save that of petition, and absolutely dependent on the Crown. This constitution was far from satisfying the advanced Liberals, and the supporters of Christina known as Crislinos broke into two sections, the Moderados, or Moderates, and Progressistas or Exaltados, the Progressists or Hot-heads. In August 1836 a military revolt at the palace of La Granja in the hills above Segovia drove the regent by sheer ^""^"""""violence to accept a democratic constitution, based on that of 1812, which was issued in 1837. Meanwhile Cristinos and Carlistas, the successors of the " Liberates " and " Serviles," were fighting out their quarrel. In 1835 a violent outbreak against the monastic orders took place. In some cities, notably in Barcelona, it was accompanied by cruel massacres. Though the measure was in itself repugnant to Maria Christina, the pressing needs of her government compelled her to consent when Juan Alvarez y Mendizabal (1790- 1853), a minister of Jewish descent, forced on her by Liberals, secularized the monastic lands and used them for a financial operation which brought some relief to the treasury.
The Carlist War lasted from the beginning of Isabella's reign till 1840. At first the Carlists were feeble, but they gathered strength during the disputes among the Cristinos. lZ* r ' M Their leaders, Tomas Zumalacarregui in Biscay and Navarre, and Ramon Cabrera in Valencia, were the ablest Spaniards of their time. The war was essentially a guerrilleros struggle in which the mountaineers held their ground among the hills against the insufficient, illappointed, and mostly very ill-led armies of the government, but were unable to take the fortresses, or to establish themselves in central Spain south of the Ebro; though they made raids as far as Andalusia. At last, in August 1839, exhaustion brought the Basques to recognize the government of Queen Isabella by the convention of Vergara in return for the confirmation of their privileges. The government was then able to expel Cabrera from Valencia and Catalonia. Great Britain and France gave some help to the young queen, and their intervention availed to bring a degree of humanity into the struggle.
Maria Christina, who detested the parliamentary institutions which she had been forced to accept, was always ready Kevoitand to nullify them by intrigue, and she was helped Regency of by the Moderados. In 1841 the regent and the Espartero. Moderados made a law which deprived the towns of the right of electing their councils. It was resented by the Liberals and provoked a military rising, headed by the most popular of the Cristino generals, Baldomero Espartero. The queen regent having been compelled to sign a decree illegally revoking the law, resigned and left for France. Espartero was declared regent. He held office till 1843, during an agitated period, in which the Carlists reappeared in the north, mutinies were common, and a barbarous attempt was made to kidnap the young queen in her palace on the night of the 7th of October 1841. It was only defeated by the hard fighting of eighteen of the palace guards at the head of the main staircase. In 1843 Espartero, a man of much personal courage and of fitful energy, but of no political capacity, was expelled by a military rising, promoted by a combination of discontented Liberals and the Moderates. The queen, though only thirteen years old, was declared of age.
The reign of Queen Isabella, from 1843 till her expulsion in 1868, was a prolongation of that of her mother's regency. It was a confused conflict between the constant attempt of the court to rule despotically, with a mere i" a , pretence of a Cortes, and the growing wish of the Spaniards to possess a parliamentary government, or at least the honest and capable government which they hoped that a parliament would give them. In 1845 the Moderates having deceived their Liberal allies, revised the constitution of 1837 and limited the freedom it gave. Their chief leader, General Ramon Narvaez, had for his guiding principle that government must be conducted by the stick and by hard hitting. In 1846 Europe was scandalized by the ignominious intrigues connected with the young queen's marriage. Louis Philippe, king of the French, saw in the marriage of the The young queen a chance of reviving the family alliance "Spanish which had, in the 18th century, bound Bourbon Marriages." Spain to Bourbon France. The court of Madrid was rent by the intrigues of the French and the English factions; the former planning an alliance with a son of the French king, the latter favouring a prince of the house of Coburg. The episode of the Spanish marriages forms an important incident in the history of Europe; for it broke the entente cordiale between the two western Liberal powers and accelerated the downfall of the July monarchy in France. There can be no doubt, in spite of the apology for his action published by Guizot in his memoirs, that Louis Philippe made a deliberate attempt to overreach the British government; and, if the attempt issued in disaster to himself, this was due, not to the failure of his statecraft so much as to his neglect of the obvious factor of human nature. Palmerston, on behalf of Great Britain, had agreed to the principle that the queen should be married to one of her Bourbon cousins of the Spanish line, and that the younger sister should marry the duke of Montpensier, son of Louis Philippe, but not till the birth of an heir to the throne should have obviated the danger of a French prince wearing the crown of Spain. Louis Philippe, with the aid of the queen-mother, succeeded in forcing Isabella to accept the hand of Don Francisco d'Assisi, her cousin, who was notoriously incapable of having heirs; and on the same day the younger sister was married to the duke of Montpensier. The queen's marriage was miserable; and she consoled herself in a way which at once made her court the scandal of Europe, and upset the French king's plans by providing the throne of Spain with healthy heirs of genuine Spanish blood. But incidentally the scandals of the palace had a large and unsavoury part in the political troubles of Spain. Narvaez brought Spain through the troubled revolutionary years 1848 and 1849' without serious disturbance, but his own unstable temper, the incessant intrigues of the palace, and the inability of the Spaniards to form lasting, political parties made good government impossible. The leaders on all sides were of small capacity. In 1854 another series of outbreaks began which almost ended in a revolution. Liberals and discontented Moderates, supported as usual by troops led into mutiny by officers whose chief object was promotion, imposed some restraint on the queen. Another revision of the constitution was undertaken, though not carried out, and Espartero was brought from retirement to head a new government. But the coalition soon broke up. Espartero was overthrown by General Leopold O'Donnell, who in 1858 formed the Union-Liberal ministry which did at last give Spain five years of fairly good government. A successful war in Morocco in 1859 flattered the pride of the Spaniards, and the country began to make real progress towards prosperity. In 1863 the old scene of confusion was renewed. O'Donnell was dismissed. For the next five years the political history of Spain was the story of a blind attempt on the part of the queen to rule despotically, by the help of reckless adventurers . of mean capacity, and by brute violence. The Misrule at , J ', , J c . ...
Isabella. opposition took the form of successive military outbreaks accompanied by murder, and suppressed by massacre. In 1868 the government of Queen Isabella collapsed by its own rottenness. She had even lost the mob popularity which she had once gained by her jovial manners. All men of political influence were either in open opposition or, when they belonged to the Conservative parties, were holding aloof in disgust at the predominance of the queen's favourites, Gonzales Brabo, a mere ruffian, and Marfori, her steward, whose position in the palace was perfectly well known.
In September 1868 the squadron at Cadiz under the command of Admiral Topete mutinied, and its action was the signal for a Revolution general secession. One gallant fight was made for oi 1868. the queen at the bridge of Alcolea in Andalusia by Deposition General Pavia, who was horribly wounded, but it of Isabella. was an exce p^j on Gonzales Brabo deserted her in a panic. She went into exile, and her reign ended. The Revolution of 1868 was the first openly and avowedly directed against the dynasty. It became a familiar saying that the " spurious race of Bourbon " had disappeared for ever, and the country was called upon to make a new and a better government. But the history of the six years from September 1868 to December 1874 proved that the political incapacity of the Spaniards had not been cured. There was no definite idea anywhere as to how a substitute was to be found. A Republican party had been formed led by a few professors and coffee-house politicians, with the mob of the towns for its support, and having as its mouthpiece Don Emilio Castelar, an honest man of Republican incredible fluency. The mass of the Spaniards, and however, were not prepared for a republic. Be- Monarchical s [fe s them were the various monarchical parties: Parties. ^ Alfonsistas,viho wished for the restoration of the queen's son with a regency, the partisans -of the widower king consort of Portugal; those of the duke of Montpensier; the Carlists; and a few purely fantastic dreamers who would have given the crown to the aged Espartero. The real power was in the hands of the military politicians, Francisco Serrano (q.v.) and Juan Prim (q. .), who kept order by means of the army. A constituent Cortes was assembled in 1869, and decided in favour of a monarchy. Serrano was declared regent until a king could be found, and it proved no easy task to find Serrano one - Ferdinand of Portugal declined. Montpensier was supposed to be unwelcome to Napoleon, and was opposed by Prim, who had also committed himself to the prophecy that the Bourbons would never return to Spain. Attempts to find a candidate in the Italian family failed at first. So did the first steps taken to find a king in the house of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. When the desired ruler was again sought in this family in 1870, the acceptance of the offer by Prince Leopold proved the immediate cause of the Franco-German War, in which Spain had a narrow Amadeo of escape of being entangled. At last, in August of Savoy 1870, Prince Amadeo of Savoy, second son of Victor accepts the Emmanuel II., consented to become candidate. He Crown. was e j ecte( j on t jj e ^rd of November. On the 27th of December 1870, on the very day on which the new king reached Carthagena, Prim was murdered by assassins who were never discovered.
The nominal reign of Amadeo lasted till February 1873. It was a scandalous episode. The Italian prince had put himself into a thoroughly false position, in which the nearest approach to friends he could find were intriguing politicians who sought to use him as a tool, and where every man of honest principles, royalist or republican, looked upon him as an in- truder. The Carlists began to colkct in the mountains. Republican agitations went on in the towns. At last a dispute in regard to the officering of the artillery gave the king an honourable excuse for resigning a throne on which both he and his wife had been treated with the utmost insolence.
The Republicans entered the place he left vacant simply because there was nobody to oppose them. Until January of the following year the country was given up to anarchy. The Republicans had undertaken abolish the conscription, and many of the soldiers, taking them at their word, disbanded. The Carlists increased rapidly in numbers, and were joined by many Royalists, who looked upon them as the last resource. Bands of ruffians calling themselves " volunteers of liberty " were found to defend the Republic, and to terrorize society. A new Cortes was collected and proved a mere collection of hysterical ranters. Three presidents succeeded one another within a year, Pi y Margall, Salmeron and Castelar. Ministries changed every few days. As the Republic was to be federal when finally organized many parts of Spain proceeded to act independently. One party went beyond federalism and proposed to split Spain into cantons. The Cantonalists, who were largely galley slaves and deserters, seized the important harbour of Carthagena and the ships in it. The ships were taken out of their hands by the British and German squadrons. The spectacle of anarchy, and the stoppage in payment of taxes frightened the Republican deputies into some approach to sanity. Stlmeron allowed General Pavia to restore order in Andalusia. When he gave place to Castelar, the eloquent Republican deputy, who was left unchecked by the recess, Casielar , s threw all his most eagerly avowed principles to the p res u en cy. wind, raised a great conscription, and provided the means of reducing Carthagena and pushing the war against the Carlists with vigour. When the Cortes met again in January 1874, the extreme parties voted against Castelar on the 3rd of the month. Hereupon General Pavia, the governor of Madrid, turned the Cortes into the streets, to the relief of all sane men in the country. Serrano was appointed as head of the executive, and was mainly employed during the year in efforts to save Bilbao from falling into the hands of the Carlists. It had now become clear that the restoration of the Bourbons in the person of Don Alphonso, Isabella's son, was the only way of securing a final settlement. His civilian Alphonso agents would have preferred to see him brought in XII. King, by a Cortes. But on the 29th of December 1874 1874 ' General Martinez Campos caused him to be proclaimed king at Murviedro by a brigade of troops, and the example there set was followed everywhere. Don Alphonso XII. landed in Barcelona on the loth of January 1875.
The Restored Monarchy, 1814-1900. The first act of Alphonso was a royal decree confirming the appointment of Canovas del Castillo as prime minister. A strong Conservative administration was formed, to which Canovas admitted some men of the old parties of Queen Isabella's reign side by side with men who had played a part in the Revolution before they became his active auxiliaries in the Alphonsist propaganda in 1872 and 1873. This cabinet gave its chief attention for fifteen months to the pacification of the Peninsula, adopting a Conservative and Catholic policy which contributed quite as much as the great display of military resources to make the Pretender lose adherents and prestige from the moment that his cousin reached Madrid. The Church, the nobility and the middle classes soon pronounced for the new state of things. The Alphonsist armies, led by Marshals Campos and Jovellar, swept the Carlist bands from the right bank of the Ebro to the Pyrenees, and took their last strongholds in the eastern provinces, Cantavieja and Seo de Urgel. Not a few of the Carlist leaders accepted bribes to go abroad, and others put their swords at the disposal of the government for employment against the Cuban rebels. Then all the forces of King Alphonso under Marshal Quesada gradually closed round the remainder Internal Changes of the Carlist army in Navarre and in the Basque Provinces at the beginning of 1876. The young king himself was present at the close of the campaign, which sent his rival a fugitive across the French frontier, with the few thousand followers who had clung to his cause to the very end.
Directly the Carlist War was over, the government used part of the large army at its disposal to reinforce the troops which The Cuban had been fighting the Cuban insurgents since 1869. insurrec- Marshal Jovellar was sent out to Havana as governor**" general, with Marshal Martinez Campos as com- mander-in-chief of the forces. In about eighteen months they managed to drive the rebels into the eastern districts of the island, Puerto Principe and Santiago de Cuba, and induced all but a few irreconcilable chiefs to accept a convention that became famous under the name of the peace treaty of Zanjon. Marshal Campos, who very soon succeeded Jovellar as governor-general of Cuba, for the first time held out to the loyalists of the island the prospect of reforms, fairer treatment at the hands of the mother country, a more liberal tariff to promote their trade, and self-government as the crowning stage of the new policy. He also agreed to respect the freedom of the maroons who had fled from their masters to join the Cubans during the ten years' war, and this led to Spain's very soon granting gradual emancipation to the remainder of the slaves who had stood by their owners. Marshal Campos was not allowed to carry out his liberal and conciliatory policy, which the reactionary party in the colony, el partido espanol, resented as much as their allies in the Peninsula. Though much of his time and energies had been devoted to the re-establishment of peace at home and in the colonies from 1875 to 1880, Senor Canovas had displayed considerable activity and resolution in the reorganization of the monarchy. Until he felt sure of the early termination of the struggle with the pretender, he ruled in a dictatorial manner without the assistance of parliament. Royal decrees simply set aside most of the legislation and reforms of the Spanish Revolution. Universal suffrage alone was respected for a while and used as the means to call into existence the first Cortes of the Restoration in 1876. The electors proved, as usual, so docile, and they were so well handled by the authorities, that Canovas obtained a parliament with great majorities in both houses which voted a limited franchise to take the place of universal suffrage. Immediately afterwards they voted the constitution of 1876, which was virtually a sort of compromise between the constitution of 1845 in the reign of Isabella and the principles of the democratic constitution of the Revolution in 1869. For instance, liberty of conscience, established for the first time in 1869, was reduced to a minimum of toleration for Protestant worship, schools and cemeteries, but with a strict prohibition of propaganda and outward signs of faith. Trial by jury was abolished, on the plea that it had not worked properly. Liberty of associations and all public meetings and demonstrations were kept within narrow limits and under very close surveillance of the authorities. The municipal and provincial councils were kept in leash by intricate laws and regulations, much resembling those of France under the Second Empire. The political as well as the administrative life of the country was absolutely in the hands of the wire-pullers in Madrid; and their local agents, the governors, the mayors and the electoral potentates styled los Caciques, were all creatures of the minister of the interior at the head of Castilian centralization. The constitution of 1876 had created a new senate, of which half the members were either nominees of the Crown or sat by right of office or birth, and the other half were elected by the provinces of the Peninsula and the colonies, the clergy, the universities and the learned societies and academies. The House of Deputies, composed of 456 members, was elected by the limited franchise system in Spain and by an even more restricted franchise in the colonies, five-sixths of the colonists being deprived of representation. From the beginning of the Restoration the great statesman, who was nicknamed at the time the Richelieu of Alphonso XII. 's reign, established a system of government which lasted for a quarter of a century. He encouraged the men of the Revolution who wanted to bow to accomplished facts and make the best of the restricted amount of liberty remaining, to start afresh in national politics as a Dynastic Liberal party. From the moment that such former revolutionists as Sagasta, Ulloa, Leon y Castillo, Camacho, Alonzo Martinez and the marquis de la Vega de Armijo declared that they adhered to the Restoration, Canovas did not object to their saying in the same breath that they would enter the Cortes to defend as much as possible what they had achieved during the Revolution, and to protest and agitate, legally and pacifically, until they succeeded in re-establishing some day all that the first cabinet of Alphonso XII. had altered in the Constitution of 1869. The premier not only approved Sagasta's efforts to gather round him as many Liberals and Democrats as possible, but did not even oppose the return of Emilio Castelar and a few Republicans. He also countenanced the presence in the Cortes for the first time of 1 5 senators and 42 deputies to represent Cuba and Puerto Rico, including a couple of home rulers. Thus Canovas meant to keep up the appearance of a constitutional and parliamentary government with what most Spaniards considered a fair proportional representation of existing parties, except the Carlists and the most advanced Republicans, who only crept into the House of Deputies in some later parliaments. Canovas ruled his own coalition of Conservatives and Catholics with an iron hand, managing the affairs of Spain for six years with only two short interruptions, when he stood aside for a few months, just long enough to convince the king that the Conservative party could not retain its cohesion, even under such men as Marshals Jovellar and Campos, if he did not choose to support them.
In the early years of the Restoration the king and Canovas acted in concert in two most delicate matters. Alphonso XII. agreed with his chief counsellor as to the expediency of keeping military men away from active politics. Canovas boldly declared in the Cortes that the era of military pronunciamientos had been for ever closed by the Restoration, and the king reminded the generals more than once that he intended to be the head of the army. The king and his prime minister were equally agreed about the necessity of showing the Vatican and the Church sufficient favour to induce them to cease coquetting with the pretender Don Carlos, but not so much as to allow the pope and the clergy to expect that they would tolerate any excessive Ultramontane influence in the policy of the Restoration. In regard to foreign policy, the king and Canovas both inclined to assist national aspirations in Morocco, and jealously watched the relations of that empire with other European powers. This desire to exercise a preponderant influence in the affairs of Morocco culminated in the Madrid conference of 1880. Preponderant influence was not attained, but the conference led to a treaty which regulated the consular protection extended to the subjects of Morocco.
In 1878, in spite of the well-known hostility of his mother to the Montpensiers, and in spite of his ministers' preferences for an Austrian match, King Alphonso insisted marriage of upon marrying the third daughter of the duke of Alphonso Montpensier, Dona Mercedes, who only survived xu - her marriage five months. Barely seventeen months after the death of his first wife, the king listened to the advice of Canovas and married, in November r879, the Austrian archduchess Maria Christina of Habsburg. In general matters the king allowed his ministers much liberty of action. From 1875 to 1881, when not too much engrossed in more pressing affairs, his governments turned their attention to the reorganization of the finances, the resumption of payment of part of the debt coupon, and the consolidation of the colonial and imperial floating debts. They swerved from the mild free trade policy which was inaugurated by Senor Figuerola and by Prim at the beginning of the Revolution, and to which was due the remarkable progress of the foreign trade. This went on almost continuously as long as the regime of moderate tariffs and commercial treatises lasted, i.e. until i8qo.
In 1881 the Dynastic Liberals began to show impatience at being kept too long in the cold shade of opposition. Their Liberal chief, Sagasta, had found allies in several ConAdminis- servative and Liberal generals Campos, Jovellar, trations. L O p ez .E) orn j n g uez and Serrano who had taken offence at the 'idea that Canovas wanted to monopolize power for civil politicians. These allies were said to be the dynastic and monarchical ballast, and in some sort the dynastic guarantees of liberalism in the eyes of the court. Canovas came to the conclusion that it was expedient for the Restoration to give a fair trial to the quondam revolutionists who coalesced under Sagasta in such conditions. He arranged with the king to moot a series of financial projects the acceptance of which by His Majesty would have implied a long tenure of office for the Conservatives, and so Alphonso XII. found a pretext to dissent from the views of his premier, who resigned on the spot, recommending the king to send for Sagasta. The Liberal administration which that statesman formed lasted two years and some months. The policy of Sagasta in domestic affairs resembled that of Canovas. The Liberals had to act cautiously and slowly, because they perceived that any premature move towards reform or democratic legislation would not be welcome at court, and jnight displease the generals. Sagasta and his colleagues therefore devoted their attention chiefly to the material interests of the country. They made several treaties of commerce with European and SpanishAmerican governments. They reformed the tariff in harmony with the treaties, and with a view to the reduction of the import duties by quinquennial stages to a fiscal maximum of 15% ad valorem. They undertook to carry out a general conversion of the consolidated external and internal debts by a considerable reduction of capital and interest, to which the bondholders assented. They consolidated the floating debt proper in the shape of a 4% stock redeemable in 40 years, of which 70,000,000 was issued in 1882 by Senor Camacho, the greatest Spanish financier of the century. Sagasta was not so fortunate in his dealings with the anti-dynastic parties, and the Republicans gave him much trouble in August 1883. The most irreconcilable Republicans knew that they could not expect much from popular risings in great towns or from the disaffected and anarchist peasantry in Andalusia, so they resorted to the old practice of barrack conspiracies, courting especially the non-commissioned officers and some ambititms subalterns. The chief of the exiles, Don Manuel Ruiz Zorilla, who had retired to Paris since the Restoration, organized a military conspiracy, which was sprung upon the Madrid government at Badajoz, at Seo de Urgel, and at Santo Domingo in the Ebro valley. This revolutionary outbreak was swiftly and severely repressed. It served, however, to weaken the prestige of Sagasta's administration just when a Dynastic Left was being formed by some discontented Liberals, headed by Marshal Serrano and his nephew, General Lopez-Dominguez. They were joined by many Democrats and Radicals, who seized this opportunity to break off all relations with Ruiz Zorilla and to adhere to the monarchy. After a while Sagasta resigned in order to let the king show the Dynastic Left that he had no objection to their attempting a mildly democratic policy, on condition that the Cortes should not be dissolved and that Sagasta and his Liberal majorities in both houses should grant their support to the cabinet presided over by Senor Posada Herrera, a former Conservative, of which the principal members were General Lopez-Dominguez and Senores Moret, Montero Rios and Becerra. The support of Sagasta did not last long, and he managed with skill to elbow the Dynastic Left out of office, and to convince all dissentients and free lances that there was neither room nor prospect for third parties in the state between the two great coalitions of Liberals and Conservatives under Sagasta and Canovas. When Posada Herrera resigned, the Liberals and Sagasta did not seem much displeased at the advent to power of Canovas in 1884, and soon almost all the members of the Dynastic Left joined the Liberal party.
From 1 88 1 to 1883, under the two Liberal administrations of Sagasta and Posada Herrera, the foreign policy of Spain was much like that of Canovas, who likewise had had to bow to the king's very evident inclination policy" for closer relations with Germany, Austria and Italy than with any other European powers. Alphonso XII. found a very willing minister for foreign affairs in the person of the marquis de la Vega de Armijo, who cordially detested France and cared as little for Great Britain. The Red-books revealed very plainly the aims of the king and his minister. Spanish diplomacy endeavoured to obtain the patronage of Italy and Germany with a view to secure the admission of Spain into the European concert, and into international conferences whenever Mediterranean and North African questions should be mooted. It prepared the way for raising the rank of the representatives of Spain in Berlin, Vienna, Rome, St Petersburg and London to that of ambassadors. In Paris the country had been represented by ambassadors since 1760. The Madrid foreign office welcomed most readily a clever move of Prince Bismarck's to estrange Spain from France and to flatter the young king of Spain. Alphonso XII. was induced to pay a visit to the old emperor William in Germany, and during his stay there, in September 1883, he was made honorary colonel of a Uhlan regiment quartered at Strassburg. The French people resented the act, and the Madrid government was sorely embarrassed, as the king had announced his intention of visiting Paris on his way back from Germany. Nothing daunted by the ominous attacks of the French people and press, King Alphonso went to Paris. He behaved with much coolness and self-possession when he was met in the streets by a noisy and disgraceful demonstration. The president of the Republic and his ministers had to call in person on their guest to tender an apology, which was coldly received by Alphonso and his minister for foreign affairs. After the king's return, the German emperor sent his son the crown prince Frederick, with a brilliant suite, to the Spanish capftal, where they were the guests of the king for several days. Until the end of his reign Alphonso XII. kept up his friendly relations with the German Imperial family and with the German government.
The close of the reign of Alphonso XII. was marked by much trouble in domestic politics, and by some great national calamities and foreign complications, while the declining health of the monarch himself cast a gloom over the court and governing classes. The last Conservative cabinet of this reign was neither popular nor successful. When the cholera appeared in France, quarantine was so rigorously enforced in the Peninsula that the external trade and railway traffic were grievously affected. On Christmas night, 1884, an earthquake caused much damage and loss of life in the provinces of Granada and Malaga. Many villages in the mountains which separate those provinces were nearly destroyed. At Alhama, in Granada, more than 1000 persons were killed and injured, several churches and convents destroyed, and 300 houses laid in ruins. King Alphonso went down to visit the district, and distributed relief to the distressed inhabitants, despite his visibly failing health. He held on gallantly through the greater part of 1885 under great difficulties. In the Cortes the tension in the relations between the government and the opposition was growing daily more serious. Outside, the Republicans and Carlists were getting troublesome, and the tone of their press vied with that of the Liberals in their attacks on the Conservative cabinet. Then, to make matters worse, an outbreak of cholera occurred in the eastern provinces of the kingdom. The epidemic spread rapidly over the Peninsula, causing great havoc in important cities like Granada, Saragossa and Valencia. The authorities confessed that ros.ooo persons died of cholera in the summer and autumn of 1885, being on an average from 41 to 56% of those attacked.
In September a conflict arose between Spain and Germany which had an adverse effect upon his health. Prince Bismarck looked upon the rights of Spain over the Caroline Islands in the Pacific as so shadowy that he sent some German war-ships to take possession of a port in the largest island of the group. The action of Germany caused great indignation in Spain, which led, in Madrid, to imposing demonstrations. The government got alarmed when the mob one night attacked the German embassy, tore the arms of the empire from the door of the consulate, and dragged the escutcheon to the Puerto del Sol, where it was burnt amid much uproar. The troops had to be called out to restore order. Alphonso alone remained cool, and would not listen to those who clamoured for a rupture with Germany. He elected to trust to diplomacy; and Spain made out such a good case for arbitration, on the ground of her ancient rights of discovery and early colonization, tha^t the German emperor, who had no desire to imperil the dynasty and monarchy in Spain, agreed to submit the whole affair to the pope, who gave judgment in favour of Spain.
After his return to Madrid the king showed himself in public less than usual, but it was clear to all who came in contact Death of with him that he was dying. Nevertheless, in Alphonso Madrid, Canovas would not allow the press to say XIIm a word. Indeed, in the ten months before the death of Alphonso XII. the Conservative cabinet displayed unprecedented rigour against the newspapers of every shade. The Dynastic, Liberal and Independent press, the illustrated papers and the satirical weeklies fared no better than the Republicans, Socialists and Carlists, and in 60 days 1260 prosecutions were ordered against Madrid and provincial papers. At last, on the 24th of November 1885, the truth had to be admitted and on the morning of the 25th the end came.
It was no wonder that the death of a king who had shown so much capacity for rule, so much unselfish energy and courage, Regency of and so many amiable personal qualities, should Queen have made Spaniards and foreigners extremely Christina, anxious about the prospects of the monarchy. Alphonso XII. left no male issue. He had two daughters, the princess of the Asturias, born in 1880, and the Infanta Maria Theresa, born in 1882. At the time of his death it had not been officially intimated that the queen was enceinte. The Official Gazette did not announce that fact until three months after the demise of the sovereign. On the iyth of May 1886, six months after the death of Alphonso XII., his posthumous son, Alphonso XIII., was born at the palace of Madrid. Six months before this event definitely settled the question of the succession to the throne, the royal family and its councillors assembled to take very important decisions. There could be no doubt that under the constitution of 1876 the widowed queen was entitled to the regency. Dona Maria Christina calmly presided over this solemn council, listening to the advice of Marshal Campos, always consulted in every great crisis; of Captain-General Pavia, who answered for the loyalty of the capital and of its garrison; of the duke de Sexto, the chief of the household; of Marshal Blanco, the chief of the military household; and of all the members of the cabinet and the presidents of the Senate and Congress assembled in the presence of the queen, the ex-queen Isabella, and the Infanta Isabella. All looked chiefly to Marshal Campos and Canovas del Castillo for statesmanlike and disinterested advice. The question was whether it would be expedient to continue the policy of the late king and of his last cabinet. Canovas assured the queenregent that he was ready to undertake the task of protecting the new state of things if it was thought wise to continue the Conservative policy of the late king, but in the circumstances created by his death, he must frankly say that he considered it advisable to send for Senor Sagasta and ask him to take the reins of government, with a view to inaugurate the regency under progressive and conciliatory policy.
Sagasta was summoned to El Pardo, and the result of his interview with the queen-regent, Canovas and the generals, was the understanding ever afterwards known as the pact of El Pardo, the corner-stone of the whole policy of the regency, and of the two great statesmen who so long led the great dynastic parties and the governments of Dona Christina. It was agreed that during the first years of the regency, Canovas and Sagasta would assist each other in defending the institutions and the dynasty. Sagasta made no secret of the fact that it was his intention to alter the laws and the constitution of the monarchy so as to make them very much resemble the constitution of the Revolution of 1868, but he undertook to carry out his reform policy by stages, and without making too many concessions to radicalism and democracy, so that Canovas and his Conservative and Catholic followers might bow to the necessities of modern times after a respectable show of criticism and resistance. The generals assured the queen-regent and the leaders of the dynastic parties that the army might be counted upon to stand by any government which was sincerely determined to uphold the Restoration against Republicans and Carlists. Sagasta left the palace to form the first of several cabinets over which he presided contiriuously for five years. He took for colleagues some of the strongest and most popular statesmen of the Liberal party, virtually representing the three important groups of men of the Revolution united under his leadership veteran Liberals like Camacho and Venancio Gonzalez; Moderates like Alonzo Martinez, Gamazo and Marshal Jovellar; and Democrats like Moret, Montero Rios and Admiral Beranger. The new cabinet convoked the Cortes elected under the administration .of Canovas in 1884, and the Conservative majorities of both houses, at the request of Canovas, behaved very loyally, voting supplies and other bills necessary to enable the government to be carried on until another parliament could be elected in the following year, 1886.
Pending the dissolution and general election, Sagasta and his colleagues paid most attention to public peace and foreign affairs. A sharp look-out was kept on the doings Republican of the Republicans, whose arch-agitator, Ruiz and Cariist Zorilla, in Paris displayed unusual activity in his iitr/gues. endeavours to persuade the Federals, the Intransigeants, and even the Opportunists of Democracy that the times were ripe for a venture. Ruiz Zorilla found no response from the Republican masses, who looked to Pi y Margall for their watchword, nor from the Republican middle classes, who shared the views of Salmeron, Azcarate and Pedregal as to the inexpediency of revolutionary methods. Castelar, too, raised his eloquent protest against popular risings and barrack conspiracies. The Carlists showed equal activity in propaganda and intrigues. Sagasta derived much benefit from the divisions which made democracy powerless; and he was able to cope with Carlism chiefly because the efforts of the pretender himself abroad, and of his partisans in Spain, were first restrained and then decisively paralysed by the influence of foreign courts and governments, above all by the direct interference of the Vatican in favour of the Spanish regency and of the successor of Alphonso XII. The young and most impatient adherents of Carlism vainly pleaded that such an opportunity would not soon be found again, and threatened to take the law into their own hands and unfurl the flag of Dios, Patria, y Rey in northern and central Spain. Don Carlos once more showed his wellknown lack of decision and dash, and the Cariist scare passed away. Pope Leo XIII. went even further in his patronage, for he consented to be the godfather of the posthumous son of Alphonso XII., and he never afterwards wavered in the steady sympathy he showed to Alphonso XIII. He was too well acquainted with the domestic politics of the Peninsula to suppose that Carlism could ever do more than disturb for a while the tranquillity of Spain. He did not wish to stake the interests of the Church on a cause which could only revive against her the old animosities of Spanish liberalism and democracy, so roughly displayed in tha years 1836 and 1868. Dona Christina, apart from the dictates of gratitude towards the head of her Church for the kindness shown to her son and government, was a zealous Catholic. She proved all through her regency that she not only relied upon the support of the Vatican and of the prelates, but that she was determined to favour the Church and the religious foundations in every possible way. Her purse was always open to assist convents, monasteries, and religious works and societies of all kinds, as long as they were under the management of the Church. She became regent when Spain had felt the consequences of the expulsion of the Jesuits and other religious orders from France after the famous Jules Ferry laws, which aimed at placing these orders more under state control, to which they declined to submit. They selected Spain as an excellent field of enterprise; and it must be said that all the governments of the regency showed so much indulgence towards the Catholic revival thus started, that in less than a decade the kingdom was studded with more convents, monasteries, Jesuit colleges, Catholic schools, and foundations than had existed in the palmy days of the houses of Austria and Bourbon in the iyth and 18th centuries. A wave of Clericalism and ultra-Catholic influences swept over the land, affecting the middle classes, the universities and learned societies, and making itself very perceptible also among the governing classes and both dynastic parties, Liberals and Conservatives.
Next in importance to papal protection was the favourable attitude of all the European governments towards the Europe queen-regent and, later, towards her son. The and the court and government of Germany vied with, the Regency. Austrian and Italian royal families and governments in showing sympathy to the widow of Alphonso XII. Republican France and the tsar made as cordial demonstrations as Queen Victoria and her government, and Switzerland, Belgium, Holland and others followed suit. The Spanish foreign office received every assurance that friendly governments would watch the Carlists and Republicans, to prevent them from using their territories as a basis for conspiracies against the peace of Spain. The statesmen of both dynastic parties, from the beginning of the regency, agreed to observe strict neutrality in European affairs, in order to avoid complications fraught with evil consequences for the monarchy and the dynasty in the unsettled state of the country. This neutrality was maintained until the close of the 1pth century.
Sagasta conducted the first general election in 1886 much after the usual precedents. The Long Parliament of the regency was composed of considerable Liberal majorities Sagasa ' ln both houses, though Sagasta had allowed a larger share than Canovas was wont to do to the minorities, so much so that on the opposition benches the Republicans of various shades were represented by their most eminent leaders, the Carlists had a respectable group, and the Conservatives a strong muster, flanked by a group of dissentients. The first Cortes of the regency in five sessions did really good and substantial work. A civil code was carefully drawn up by Senor Alonzo Martinez, in order to consolidate the very heterogeneous ancient legislation of the monarchy and the local laws of many provinces, especially Catalonia, Aragon, Valencia, Navarre, and the Basque territory. Trial by jury was re-established for most crimes and offences. The laws regulating the rights of association and public meeting, the liberty of the press, and other rights of the subject were reformed on liberal and more tolerant lines. Finance and trade received attention. Some commercial treaties and agreements were made, including one with Great Britain, which proved highly beneficial to home trade, and the tariff was altered, in spite of much resistance on the part of the Protectionists. In his progressive policy Sagasta was actively and usefully supported by the chief of the moderate Republicans, Emilio Castelar, who recommended his partisans to vote with the Liberal party, because he confessed that bitter experience had taught him that liberties and rights were better attained and made stable by pacific evolution than by revolution. He laid most stress upon this axiom when, in September 1886> Ruiz Zorilla suddenly sprang upon Sagasta a military and revolutionary movement in the streets and barracks of Madrid. The military authorities acted with promptitude, the rebels being pursued, dispersed and arrested. General Marina and several other officers were condemned to death by court martial, but Queen Christina commuted the sentence into penal servitude, and the ministers of war and marine retired from the cabinet in consequence. Very shortly afterwards, another war minister, General Castillo, attempted to strike at the root of military insubordination, and simultaneously in every garrison of the kingdom the senior sergeants, more than 1000 in all, were given their discharge and ordered to start for their homes on the spot. The lesson produced a good result, as no trace of revolutionary work revealed itself among the non-commissioned officers after 1886. As time wore on, Sagasta found it difficult to maintain discipline in the ranks of the Liberal party. He was obliged to reconstruct the cabinet several times in order to get rid of troublesome colleagues like General Cassola, who wanted to make himself a sort of military dictator, and Camacho, whose financial reforms and taxation schemes made him unpopular He had more often to reorganize the government in order to find seats in the cabinet for ambitious and impatient worthies of the Liberal party not always with success, as Senor Martos, president of the Congress, and the Democrats almost brought about a political crisis in 1889. Sagasta cleverly affected to resign and stand aside, so that Senor Alonzo Martinez might vainly attempt to form an intermediary cabinet. Canovas, who was consulted by the queen when Alonzo Martinez failed, faithfully carried out the pact of El Pardo and advised Her Majesty to send for Sagasta again, as he alone could carry out what remained to be done of the Liberal programme. Sagasta reconstructed his ministry for the last time, and announced his intention to make the re-establishment of universal suffrage the crowning act of the Liberal policy, knowing very well that he would thus rally round him all the Liberals, Democrats and Republicans in the last session of the Long Parliament. The Suffrage Bill was carried through the Senate and Congress in the spring of 1890 after protracted debates, in which the Conservatives and many military politicians who had previously been regarded as the allies of Sagasta did their best to obstruct the measure. Marshals Campos, Jovellar and Novaliches, and Generals Pavia, Primo de Rivera, Daban and others, were'angry with Sagasta and the Liberals not only because they deemed their policy too democratic, but because they ventured to curb the insubordinate attitude of general officers, who shielded themselves behind the immunities of their senatorial position to write insolent letters to the war minister on purely professional questions. Spanish generals of pronunciamiento fame thought it perfectly logical and natural that sergeants and subalterns should be shot or sent to penal servitude for acts of indiscipline, but if an insubordinate general was sent to a fortress under arrest for two months they publicly demonstrated their sympathy with the offender, made angry speeches against their hierarchical chief, the war minister, in the Senate, and dared to call upon the queen-regent to make representations, which unfortunately were listened to, according to the worst precedents of the Spanish monarchy. The increasing violence of the Conservative press and opposition, the divisions developing in the ranks of liberalism, and the restlessness of the agricultural protectionists led by Senor Gamazo, did not weigh so much in the balance at court against Sagasta as the aggressive attitude of the military politicians. Sagasta held on as long as was necessary to secure the promulgation of the universal suffrage law, but he noticed that the queen-regent, when he waited upon her for the despatch of public business, showed almost daily more impatience for a change of policy, until at last, in July 1890, she peremptorily told him that she considered the time had come for calling the Conservatives and their military patrons to her councils. Sagasta loyally furnished the queen with a constitutional pretext for carrying out her desire, and tendered the resignation of the whole cabinet, so that Her Majesty might consult, as usual, the party leaders and generals on the grave question of the expediency of entrusting to new ministers or to the Liberals the mission of testing the new electoral system. Queen Christina on this occasion acted exactly as she henceforth did in all ministerial crises. She slowly consulted the magnates of all i parties with apparent impartiality, and finally adopted the course 5 6 3 which it was an open secret she had decided upon in pectore beforehand.
Canovas gathered round him most of the prominent Conservative and Catholic statesmen. The first step of the new cabinet A Protec- was calculated to satisfy the protectionist aspirations tionist which had spread in the kingdom about the same Regime. t j me t jj at mos t Continental countries were remodelling and raising their tariffs. The Madrid government used an authorization which Sagasta had allowed his Long Parliament to vote, to please Senor Gamazo and the Liberal representatives of agricultural interests, empowering the government to revise and increase all tariff duties not covered by the then existing treaties of commerce. This was the case with most of the products of agriculture and with live stock, so Canovas and his finance minister made, by royal decree, an enormous increase in the duties on these classes of imports, and particularly on breadstuffs. Then, in 1891, they denounced all the treaties of commerce which contained clauses stipulating mostfavoured-nation treatment, and they prepared and put in force in February 1892 a protectionist tariff which completely reversed the moderate free-trade policy which had been so beneficial to the foreign commerce of Spain from 1868 to 1892. Not a few nations retaliated with higher duties upon Spanish exports, and France raised her wine duties to such an. extent that the exports of wines to that country dropped from 12,500,000 before 1892 to 2,400,000 in 1893 and the following years. The effects of a protectionist policy verging upon prohibition were soon sharply felt in Spain. Foreign exchanges rose, exports decreased, the railway traffic declined, and the commercial classes and consumers of foreign goods and products were loud in their protests. Industrial interests alone benefited, and imported more raw materials, chemicals, and coal and coke, which naturally influenced the exchanges adversely. Spain only attempted to make new treaties of commerce with Holland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland. The Great Powers contented themselves with securing by agreements the same treatment for their commerce in Spain as that granted by those five treaties. The Protectionists in 1893 wrecked a treaty of commerce with Germany in the Senate; and Spain subsequently persevered in her protectionist policy. During his two and a half years' stay in office Canovas had not so much trouble with the opposition as with the divisions which sprang up in the Conservative ranks, though he fancied that he had managed the general election in 1891 so as to secure the customary docile majorities. The split in the Conservative camp originated in the rivalry between the two principal lieutenants of Canovas, Romero Robledo and Francisco Silvela. The latter and a strong and influential body of Conservatives, chiefly young politicians, dissented from the easy-going views of Romero Robledo and of Canovas on the expediency of reforms to correct the notorious and old-standing abuses and corruption of the municipalities, especially of Madrid. When Canovas found himself deserted on so delicate a matter by a numerous section of his party, he resigned, and advised the queen to send for Sagasta and the Liberals.
Sagasta took office very reluctantly, as he considered a change of policy premature. He conducted the general election with Difficulty much regard for the wishes of the opposition, and out of 456 seats in the Lower House allowed them xo ' to have more than r7O, the Conservatives getting nearly 100 and the Republicans 30. He had to settle some knotty questions, foremost a conflict with Morocco, which was the consequence of the aggression of the unruly Riff tribes upon the Spanish outposts around Melilla. Reinforcements were tardily sent out; and in a second attack by the Arabs the Spanish forces lost heavily, and their commander, General Margallo, was killed. Public opinion was instantly fired, and the press called so loudly for revenge that the government sent to Melilla no less a personage than Marshal Campos, at the head of 29 generals and 25,000 men. The sultan of Morocco lost no time in censuring the behaviour of the Riff tribes, and in promising that he would chastise them. Marshal Campos was sent to Fez to make a treaty, in which he obtained ample redress and the promise of an indemnity of 800,000, which Morocco punctually paid.
Colonial affairs gave Sagasta much to do. He had given seats in his cabinet to Senor Antonio Maura as colonial secretary and to Senor Gamazo, his brother-in-law, as finance minister. These two moderate Liberals acted in Q u l st " a." concert to grapple with colonial questions, which in 1894 had assumed a very serious aspect; Spain had received many ominous warnings. Marshal Campos, on returning from Cuba in 1879, had advocated some concessions to satisfy the legitimate aspirations of the majority of the colonists. In 1886, in the first parliament of the regency, Cuban autonomist deputies divided the house on a motion in favour of home rule and of an extension of the franchise in Cuba. This motion was negatived by all the Conservatives, by most of the Dynastic Liberals and by some of the Republicans. The majority of Spaniards were kept by the government and the press quite in the dark about the growth of disaffection in Cuba, so that they were loath to listen to the few men, soldiers and civilians, courageous enough to raise the note of alarm during the ten years before the final catastrophe. For no other reason did -the minister for the colonies, Senor Maura, in 1894 fail to convince the Cortes, and even the Liberal party, that his very moderate Cuban Home Rule Bill was an indispensable and wise, though tardy, attempt to avert a conflict which many plain symptoms showed to be imminent in the West Indies. Maura was warmly supported in Congress by the Cuban home rulers and by some far-sighted Liberals and Republicans. Nevertheless, his bill did not find favour with the Conservatives or the majority of the Liberals, and Sagasta, trimming according to his inveterate habit, found a pretext to get rid of Maura and Gamazo. In the place of Maura he found a more pliant minister for the colonies, Senor Abarzuza, who framed a Cuban Reform Bill so much short of what his predecessor had thought an irreducible minimum of concessions, that it was censured in Havana by all the colonial Liberals and home rulers, and by their representatives in Madrid. The latter at the last moment recorded their votes in favour of the Abarzuza Bill when they perceived that a strange sort of eleventh-hour presentiment was about to make all the Spanish parties vote this insufficient reform. Before it could be promulgated, the tidings came of a separatist rising in the old haunts of Creole disaffection near Santiago de Cuba. Sagasta sent about 12,000 men to reinforce the 15,000 soldiers in Cuba under General Callaga, and was preparing more when a characteristically Spanish ministerial crisis arose. The subalterns of the Madrid garrison took offence at some articles published by Radical newspapers, and they attacked the editorial offices. Neither the war minister nor the commanders of the garrison chose to punish the offenders, and sooner than endorse such want of discipline, Sagasta and the Liberal party once more made way for Canovas. A very few days after he assumed office Canovas received information concerning the spread of the rising in Cuba which induced him to send out Marshal Campos with 30,000 men. He allowed Marshal Campos much liberty of action, but dissented from his views on the expediency of allowing him to offer the loyalists of Cuba as much home rule as would not clash with the supremacy of Spain. The prime minister declared that the Cubans must submit first, and then the mother country would be generous.
Before a year had passed, in view of the signal failure of Marshal Campos, the Madrid government decided to send out General Weyler, who had made himself famous in the Philippines and at Barcelona for his stern and cruel procedure against disaffection of every kind. He showed the same merciless spirit in dealing with the Cubans; and he certainly cleared two-thirds of the island of Creole bands, and stamped out disaffection by vigorous military operations and by obliging all the non- Genera/ combatants who sympathized with the rebels in Weyier's arms to elect between joining them in the bush, Cam P al a a - La Manigua, or residing within the Spanish lines. This system might probably have succeeded if the United States had not countenanced the sending of supplies of every kind to the rebels, and if American diplomacy had not again and again made representations against Weyler's ruthless policy. Canovas so fully comprehended the necessity of averting American intervention that he listened to the pressing demands of secretary Olney and of the American minister in Madrid, Hannis Taylor, and laid before the Cortes a bill introducing home rule in Cuba on a more liberal scale than Maura, Abarzuza and Sagasta had dared to suggest two years before. Canovas did not live to see his scheme put into practice, as he was assassinated by an anarchist at the baths of Santa Agueda, in the Basque Provinces, on the 9th of August 1897. The queen-regent appointed General Azcarraga, the war minister, as successor to Canovas; and a few weeks later President McKinley sent General Woodford as representative of the United States at the court of Madrid. At the end of September 1897 the American minister placed on record, in a note handed by him at San Sebastian to the minister for foreign affairs, the duke of Tetuan, a strongly-worded protest against the state of things in Cuba, and demanded in substance that a stop should be put to Weyler's proceedings, and some measures taken to pacify the island and prevent the prolongation of disturbances that grievously affected American interests. Less than a fortnight after this note had been delivered, the Conservative cabinet resigned, and the queen-regent asked Sagasta to form a new administration. The Liberal government recalled Weyler, and sent out, as governor-general of Cuba, Marshal Blanco, a conciliatory and prudent officer, who agreed to carry out the home-rule policy which was concerted by Senor Moret and by Sagasta, with a view to obtain the goodwill of the president of the United States. If things had not already gone too far in Cuba, and if public opinion in the United States had not exercised irresistible pressure on both Congress and president, the Moret home-rule project would probably have sufficed to give the Cubans a fair amount of self-government. All through the winter of 1897-1898 the Madrid government took steps to propitiate the president and his government, even offering them a treaty of commerce which would have allowed American commerce to compete on equal terms with Spanish imports in the West Indies and defeat all European competition. But the blowing up of the American cruiser " Maine " in the port of Havana added fuel to the agitation in the United States against Spanish rule in Cuba. When Congress met in Washington the final crisis was hurried on. Spain appealed in vain to European mediation, to the pope, to courts and governments. All, with the exception of Great Britain, showed sympathy for the queen-regent and her government, but none were disposed to go beyond purely platonic representations in Washington.
At last, on the aoth of April 1898, when the Spanish government learned that the United States minister, General Woodford, WarwHh had been instructed by telegraph to present an the United ultimatum demanding the cessation of hostilities states. j n c u b aj with a view to prepare for the evacuation of the island by the Spanish forces, Sagasta decided to give General Woodford his passports and to break off official relations with the United States. It was an open secret that this grave decision was not taken at the cabinet council presided over by the queen without a solemn protest by Senor Moret and the ministers of war and marine that the resources of Spain were totally inadequate for a struggle with the United States. These protests were overruled by the majority of the ministers, who invoked dynastic and monarchical considerations in favour of a desperate stand, however hopeless, in defence of the last remnants of the colonial empire of Spain. Reckless as was the course adopted, it was in touch with the feelings of the majority of a nation which had been to the very end deceived by the government and by the press not only in regard to its own resources, but also in regard to those of the United States and of the colonists in arms in Cuba and in the Philippine Islands. The sequel is soon told. The Spanish fleet in the Far East was defeated in Manila Bay by Admiral Dewey. Admiral Cervera's squadron was destroyed outside the Bay of Santiago de Cuba by the American fleet under Admirals Sampson and Schley. All communication between Spain and her colonies was thus cut off. An American expedition landed near Santiago, and the Spanish garrison surrendered after a fortnight's show of resistance. Very shortly afterwards, at the end of July, Spain sued for peace through the mediation of French diplomacy, which did not obtain much from President McKinley. It was agreed that hostilities should cease on sea and land, but that Spain should evacuate Cuba and Puerto Rico pending the negotiations for a peace treaty which were to begin in Paris at the end of September 1898. In the meantime Manila and its garrison had surrendered to the Americans. The agreement of the 9th of August, signed by M. Cambon, the French ambassador in Washington, in the name of Spain, clearly stipulated that her rule in the New World must be considered at an end, and that the fate of the Philippines would be settled at the Paris negotiations. Unfortunately, Spain indulged in the illusion that America would perhaps respect her rights of sovereignty in the Philippine Islands,, or pay a considerable sum for their cession and recognize the debts of Cuba and of the Philippines. The American commission, presided over by secretary Day in Paris, absolutely refused to admit the Spanish contention that the United States or the new administration in Cuba and the Philippines should be saddled with several hundred million dollars of debts, contracted by the colonial treasuries, and guaranteed by Spain, almost entirely to maintain Spanish rule against the will of the Cubans and Filipinos. Spain could not help assenting to a treaty by which she renounced unconditionally all her rights of sovereignty over Cuba and Puerto Rico and ceded the Philippine and Sulu Islands and the largest of the Marianne Islands in consideration of the payment of four millions sterling by America. Thus ended a struggle which only left Spain the Carolines and a few other islands in the Pacific, which she sold to Germany in 1899 for 800,000, and a couple of islands which were left out in the delimitation made by the Paris peace treaty of the 12th of December 1898, and for which America paid 20,000 in 1900.
The consequences of the war and of the loss of the colonies were very serious for Spanish finance. The national debt, which consisted before the war of 234,866,500 of external Financial and internal consols and redeemable debts, and and Political 24,250,000 of home floating debt, was increased Reorgaaizaby 46,210,000 of Cuban and Philippine debts, which a n ' the Cortes had guaranteed, and by 60,000,000 of debts contracted at a high rate of interest, and with the national guarantee, to meet the expenses of the struggle with the colonies and of the war with the United States. These additional burdens rendered it necessary that taxation and the budget should be thoroughly reorganized. Sagasta and the Liberal party would gladly have undertaken the reorganization of Spain and her finances, but the issue of the war and the unavoidable peace treaty had so evidently damaged their popularity in the country and their credit at court, that the government seized the pretext of an adverse division in the Senate to resign. The Liberals left office after having done all that was morally and materially possible, considering the extremely difficult, indeed inextricable, situation in which they found the country in October 1897. The task of reorganization was confided by the queen-regent to Senor Silvela, who had been universally recognized as the leader of the Conservatives and Catholics after the death of Canovas del Castillo. Silvela endeavoured to unite in what he styled a Modern Conservative party the bulk of the followers of Canovas; the Ultramontanes, who were headed by General Polavieja and Senor Pidal; the Catalan Regionalists, whose leader, Duran y Bas, became a cabinet minister; and his own personal following, of whom the most prominent were the home secretary, Senor Dato, and the talented and energetic finance minister, Senor Villaverde, upon whose shoulders rested the heaviest part of the task of the new cabinet. Silvela lacked the energy and decision which had been the characteristics of Canovas. He behaved constantly like a wary and cautious trimmer, avoiding all extreme measures, shaking off compromising allies like the Ultramontanes and the Regionalists, elbowing out of the cabinet General Polavieja when he asked for too large credits for the army, taking charge of the ministry of marine to carry out reforms that no admiral would have ventured to make for fear of his own comrades, and at last dispensing with the services of the ablest man in the cabinet, the finance minister, Senor Villaverde, when the sweeping reforms and measures of taxation which he introduced raised a troublesome agitation among the taxpayers of all classes. Villaverde, however, had succeeded in less than eighteen months in giving a decisive and vigorous impulse to the reorganization of the budget, of taxation and of the home and colonial debts. He resolutely reformed all existing taxation, as well as the system of assessment and collection, and before he left office he was able to place on record an increase of close upon three millions sterling in the ordinary sources of revenue. His reorganization of the national debt was very complete; in fact, he exacted even more sacrifices from the bondholders than from other taxpayers. The amortization of the home and colonial debts was suppressed, and the redeemable debts of both classes were converted into 4 % internal consols. The interest on all colonial debts ceased to be paid in gold, and was paid only in pesetas, like the rest of the internal debts, and like the external debt held by Spaniards. Alone, the external debt held by foreigners continued to enjoy exemption from taxation, under the agreement made on the 28th of June 1882 between the Spanish government and the council of foreign bondholders, and its coupons were paid in gold. The Cortes authorized the government to negotiate with the foreign bondholders with a view to cancelling that agreement. This, however, they declined to do, only assenting to a conversion of the 4 % external debt into a 3!% stock redeemable in sixty-one years.
After parting with Villaverde, Silvela met with many difficulties, and had much trouble in maintaining discipline in the heterogeneous ranks of the Conservative party. He had to proclaim not only such important provinces as Barcelona, Valencia and Bilbao, but even the capital of Spain itself, in order to check a widespread agitation which had assumed formidable proportions under the direction of the chambers of commerce, industry, navigation and agriculture, combined with about 300 middle-class corporations and associations, and supported by the majority of the gilds and syndicates of taxpayers in Madrid and the large towns. The drastic measures taken by the government against the National Union of Taxpayers, and against the newspapers which assisted it in advocating resistance to taxation until sweeping and proper retrenchment had been effected in the national expenditure, checked this campaign in favour of reform and retrenchment for a while. Silvela's position in the country had been much damaged by the very fact of his policy having fallen so much short of what the nation expected in the shape of reform and retrenchment. At the eleventh hour he attempted to retrieve his mistake by vague promises of amendment, chiefly because all the opposition groups, above all Sagasta and the Liberals, announced their intention of adopting much the same programme as the National Union. The attempt was unsuccessful, and on the 6th of March 1901 a Liberal government, under the veteran Sagasta, was once more in office. (A. E. H.)
Parties and Conflicts, igoo-igio. The loss of nearly all that remained of her colonial empire, though in appearance a crowning disaster, in fact relieved Spain of a perennial source . weakness and trouble, and left her free to set her own house in order. In this the task that faced the government at the outset of the 20th century was sufficiently formidable. Within the country the traditional antagonisms, regional, political, religious, still lived on, tending even to become more pronounced and to be complicated by the introduction of fresh elements of discord. The old separatist tendencies were increased by the widening gulf between the interests of the industrial north and those of the agricultural south. The growing disposition of the bourgeois and artisan classes, not in the large towns only, to imitate the " intellectuals " in desiring to live in closer touch with the rest of Europe as regards social, economic, scientific and political progress, embittered the struggle between the forces of Liberalism and those of Catholicism, powerfully entrenched in the affections of the women and the illiterate masses of the peasantry. To these causes of division were added others from without: the revolutionary forces of Socialism and Anarchism, here, as elsewhere, so far as the masses were concerned, less doctrines and ideals than rallyingcries of a proletariat in revolt against intolerable conditions. Finally, as though to render the task of patriotic Spaniards wellnigh hopeless, there was little evidence of any cessation of that purely factious spirit which in Spanish politics has ever rendered stable party government impossible. A sketch of the political history of a country is necessarily concerned with the externals of politics the shifting balance of parties, changes of ministries, the elaboration of political programmes; and these have their importance. It must, however, not be f , i . . . . Spanish forgotten that in a country in which, as in Spain, Politics. the constitutional consciousness of the mass of the people is very little developed, all these things reflect only very imperfectly the great underlying forces by which the life of the nation is being moulded and its destiny determined. For a century politics in Spain had been a game, played by professionals, between the " ins " and " outs "; victory or defeat at the polls depended less on any intelligent popular judgment on the questions at issue than on the passing interests of the " wire-pullers " and " bosses " (Caciques) who worked the electoral machinery.
Silvela's Conservative cabinet was succeeded in March 1901 by a Liberal government under the veteran Sagasta, who remained in office save for two short interludes until the 3rd of December 1902. He was at once faced with two problems, very opposite in their nature, which were destined to play a very conspicuous part in Spanish politics. The first was that presented by the growth of the religious orders and congregations, the second that arising out of the spread of Socialism and industrial unrest. Under the concordat of the 20th of March 1851, by which the relations of Spain and the Vatican are Question of still governed, the law under which since 1836 the the Reiigireligious congregations had been banished from ous Onlers - Spain was so far relaxed as to permit the re- establishment of the orders of St Vincent de Paul, St Philip Neri and " one other among those approved by the Holy See," so that throughout the country the bishops "might have at their disposal a sufficient number of ministers and preachers for the purpose of missions in the villages of their dioceses, etc." In practice the phrase " one other " was interpreted by the bishops, not as one for the whole of Spain, but as one in each diocese, and at the request of the bishops congregations of all kinds established themselves fn Spain, the number greatly increasing after the loss of the colonies and as a result of the measures of secularization in France. 1 The result was what is usual in such cases. The regular clergy were fashionable and attracted the money of the pious rich, until their wealth stood in scandalous contrast with the poverty of the secular clergy. They also all of them claimed, under the concordat, exemption from taxes; and, since many of them indulged in commercial and industrial pursuits, they competed unfairly with other traders and manufacturers, and tended to depress the labour market. The Law of Associations of the 30th of June 1887 had attempted to modify the evil by compelling all congregations to register their members, and all, except the three already recognized under the concordat, to apply for authorization. This law the congregations, hotbeds of reactionary tendencies, had ignored; and on the 19th of July 1901, the queen-regent issued a decree, countersigned by Sagasta, for enforcing its provisions.
Meanwhile, however, more pressing perils distracted the attention of the government. The industrial unrest, fomented by Socialist agitation, culminated in January 1902 in / D( j os<r / a ; serious riots at Barcelona and Saragossa, and on u tin-stand the 16th of February in the proclamation of a general Socialist strike in the former city. The government senf 4 **' General Weyler, of Cuban notoriety, to deal with the 1 See " Church and State in Spain." The Times, July 15, 1910.
situation; and order was restored. The methods by which this result had been achieved were the subject of violent attacks on the government in the Cortes, and on the 13th of March Sagasta resigned, but only to resume office five days later. He now returned to the question of the religious orders, and on the 9th of April issued a decree proclaiming his intention of enforcing that of the 1pth of July 1901. The attitude of the Church was practically one of defiance. The nuncio, indeed, announced that the papacy would be prepared to discuss the question of authorization, but only on condition that all demands for such authorization should be granted. To avoid a crisis at the time when the young king was about to come of age, the government yielded; and on the 1cth of May Sagasta announced that a modus vivendi with the Vatican had been established.
King Alphonso XIII., whose enthronement took place with all the antique ceremonial on the lyth of May, was himself at enthrone- the outset under clerical and reactionary influences, meat of and his contemptuous treatment of ministers who at t ^ le cer cmonial functions were placed wholly in ' the background seemed to argue an intention of ruling personally under the advice of the court camarilla)- This impression, due doubtless to the king's extreme youth and inexperience, was belied in the event; but it served to discredit the Liberal government still further at the time. Senor Antonio Resignation Maura y Montanes, who proved himself later a ana Death statesman of exceptional character, seceded to the of Sagasta. Conservatives. On the 7th of November Sagasta himself resigned, resumed office temporarily on the 14th, and handed in his final resignation on the 3rd of December. On the 6th of December a Conservative cabinet was formed under Senor Silvela, Senor Villaverde, pledged to a policy of retrenchment, taking the portfolio of finance.
The death of Sagasta, on the 5th of January 1903, temporarily broke up"' the Liberal party, which could not agree on a leader; its counsels were directed for the time by a committee, consisting of Senors Montero Rios and Moret, the marquis de la Vega de Armijo, Senor Salvador and Count Romanones. The Re- _ publicans, under Salmeron, also had their troubles, Break-up of , . . ,, , . , .
Parties ^ ue ' ^ ne g rowln g influence of Socialism ; and, finally, the Conservatives were distracted by the rivalries between Silvela, Villaverde and Maura. In the country, meanwhile, the unrest continued. At Barcelona the university had to be closed to stop the revolutionary agitation of the students; in April there were serious riots at Salamanca, Barcelona and Madrid. The result of the new elections to the Cortes, declared on the 26th of April, revealed tendencies unfavourable to the government and even to the dynasty; the large towns returned 34 Republicans. A ministerial crisis followed; Maura resigned; and though the elections to the senate resulted in a large Conservative majority, and though in the lower house a vote of confidence was carried by 183 to 81, Silvela himself resigned shortly afterwards. Senor Villaverde was now called viiiaverde upon to form a cabinet. His government, however, Ministry, accomplished little but the suppression of renewed 1904 - troubles at Barcelona. His programme included drastic proposals for financial reform, which necessarily precluded an adventurous policy abroad or any additional expenditure on armaments, principles which necessarily brought him into conflict with the military and naval interests. On the 3rd of December Villaverde was forced to resign, his successor being Senor Maura. Meanwhile, on the 24th of November, the Liberal party had been reconstructed, as the Democratic party, under Senor Montero Rios.
Senor Maura, as was to be proved by his second administration, represented the spirit of compromise and of conservative First Maura reform. His position now was one of singular diffiMinistry, culty. Though a Catholic, he had to struggle against the clerical coterie that surrounded the king, and had not influence enough to prevent the appointment of Monsignor Nozaleda, formerly archbishop of Manila and a prelate of notoriously reactionary views, to the important l Ann. Register (1902), p. 347.
see of Valencia. His concessions to the demands of the ministers of war and marine for additional estimates for the army and navy exposed him to the attacks of Villaverde in the Cortes; and still fiercer criticism was provoked by the measure, laid by him before the Cortes on the 23rd of June, for the revision of the concordat with Rome, and more especially by the proposal to raise a loan at 4 % to indemnify the religious orders for their estates confiscated during the Revolution. Violent scenes greeted the attempt of the government to procure the suspension of the parliamentary immunities of 140 deputies, accused or suspected of more or less treasonable practices, and when, on the 4th of October, the Cortes reopened after the summer recess, Senor Romero Robledo, the president of the lower house, opened an attack on the ministry for their attempted breach of its privileges. Furious debates followed on this, and on the subject of Maura's financial proposals, which were attacked by the Conservative Villaverde and the Liberal Moret with impartial heat. On the 14th of December Maura resigned an impossible task and King Alphonso made General Azcarraga head of a narrowly ClericalConservative cabinet.
The new ministry, confronted by a rapidly spreading revolutionary agitation and by a rising provoked by a crop failure and famine in Andalusia, survived scarcely a month vniaverde On the 26th of January 1905 Azcarraga resigned, Ministry, and two days later Senor Villaverde once more 190S ' became prime minister. He was in no hurry to summon the Cortes, partly because the elections to the provincial councils were due in March, and these had to be manipulated so as to ensure the return of a Senate of the right colour, partly because the convocation of the Cortes seemed at best a necessary evil. Already the discredit of parliamentary government was being evidenced in the increased personal power of the young king. Alphonso was now shaking himself loose from the deadening influence of the reactionary court, and was beginning to display a disconcerting interest in affairs, information about which he was apt to seek at first hand. The resignation of the see of Valencia by Archbishop Nozaleda was a symptom of the new spirit. This was none the less distasteful to the Republicans, who thundered against personal government, and to the Liberals, who clamoured for the Cortes and the budget. The Cortes met at last on the 14th of June, and the upshot justified Villaverde's reluctance to meet it. Attacked by Maura and Moret alike, the prime minister (June 20) accused his former colleague of acting through personal pique; on a motion of confidence, however, he was defeated by 204 votes to 54, and resigned. He died on the 15th of July following, within a few weeks of his former leader and colleague Silvela.
The Liberals now once more came into power under Senor E. Montero Rios, Senor Moret having refused the premiership. The government programme, announced with a /nontero view to influencing the impending elections, included Rios financial reform, reform of the customs, modifica- Ministry, tion of the octroi, and the question of the concordat with Rome. The result of the elections was a substantial Liberal majority in both houses. The government was none the less weak. Quarrels broke out in the cabinet between Senor Jose Echeray, the distinguished banker and famous dramatist, who as minister of finance was intent on retrenchment, and General Weyler, who as minister of war objected to any starving of the army. On the 27th of October, scarcely a fortnight after the opening of the session, the government resigned. At the instance of the king, who was going abroad, Senor Montero Rios consented indeed to resume office; but his difficulties only increased. The price of corn rose, owing to the reimposition by the government, before the elections, of the import duties on corn and flour; and in November there was serious rioting in Seville, Granada, Oviedo, Bilbao and Valencia, Mgnt while in Catalonia the Separatist movement gathered Ministry. such force that on the 2gth martial law was proclaimed throughout the province. The same day the government finally resigned. Senor Moret now accepted the premiership; he took over Senor Echeray's budget, while General Weyler was replaced at the war office by General Luque.
The great constitutional parties had broken up into quarrelling groups just at the time when, as it seemed, the parties of reaction were concentrating their forces. Not the least ominous symptom was the attitude of the officers, who, irritated by newspaper attacks on their conduct in Catalonia more especially, demanded that all crimes against the army should be tried by the councils of war. The prolonged controversies to which this gave rise were settled on the 18th of March by a compromise passed by the Cortes; under this act all cases of press attacks on officers were to be tried by the courts martial, while those against the army generally and the national flag were still to be reserved for the civil courts. The singular weakness of the government revealed by this abdication of part of the essential functions of the civil power would have led to its speedy downfall, but for the truce cried during the festivities connected with the marriage of the king with Princess Victoria Eugenie Ena of Battenberg, which took place on the 31st of May.
The king's marriage was in many respects significant. In spite of the young queen's " conversion " and the singular distinction conferred on her by the papal gift of the golden rose, the p rotestant alliance marked a further stage in Alphonso XIII. 's emancipation from the tutelage of the Clerical-Conservative court. He was, indeed, increasingly displaying a tendency to think and act for himself which, though never over-stepping the bounds of the constitution, was somewhat disconcerting to all parties. His personal popularity, too, due partly to his youth and genial manners, was at this time greatly increased by the cool courage he had shown after the dastardly bomb attack made upon him and his young wife, during the wedding procession at Madrid, by the anarchist Matteo Morales. 1 Whatever his qualities, the growing entanglement of parliamentary affairs was soon to put them to the test. For the coronation was hardly over when Senor Moret resigned, Lopez- an d on tne 6th of July Captain-General LopezDomiaguez Dominguez became head of a cabinet with a frankly Ministry, anti-clerical programme, including complete liberty 1906. Q wors hjp ) the secularization of education, and the drastic regulation of the right of association. The signature by the king of an ordinance giving legal validity to the civil Civtt marriages of Catholics aroused a furious agitation Marriage among the clergy, to which bounds were only set Question, ^y t he threat of the government to prosecute the bishop of Tuy and the chapter of Cordova. In the session 1906- 1907 the most burning subject of debate was the new Associations Law, drawn up by Senor Davila. Even in the Liberal ranks the question aroused furious differences of opinion; Senor Montero Rios, the president of the senate, denounced the " infamous attacks on the church "; the government itself showed a wavering temper in entering on long and futile negotiations with the Vatican; while in January 1907 the cardinal archbishop of Toledo presented a united protest of the Spanish episcopate against the proposed law. This and other issues produced complete disunion in the Liberal party. Already, on the 27th of November, Lopez-Dominguez had resigned; his Vegade successor, Moret, had at once suffered defeat in the Armtjo house and been succeeded in his turn, on the 4th of Ministry, December, by marquis de la Vega de Armijo. The ' 7 ' question was now mooted in the cabinet of dropping the Associations Law; but on the zist of January Senor Canalejas, president of the lower house, who was credited with having inspired the bill, publicly declared that in that event he would cease to support the government. By the 24th the cabinet had resigned, and a Conservative government was in office under Senor Maura as premier.
The administration of Senor Maura, which lasted till the 21st of October 1900 marks an important epoch in the history of 1 The king's reckless daring was destined later to impair his popularity, for in an enthusiastic motorist blind courage is a quality apt to be exercised at the expense of others.
modern Spain. .The new premier was no mere party politician, but a statesman who saw the need of his country, on the one hand for effective government, on the other hand for second education, so as to enable it ultimately to govern Maura itself. Though a sincere Catholic, he was no Clerical, **"**** as was proved by his refusal to withdraw the tl0 "' 1907 ' ordinance on civil marriage. The main objects that he set before himself were, firstly, the maintenance of order; secondly, the reform of local government, so as to destroy the power of the Caciques and educate the people in their privileges and responsibilities. The dissolution of the Cortes produced a certain rearrangement of parties. The Liberal groups, as usual when in opposition, coalesced. The Republicans, on tlie other hand, split into sections; in Barcelona, Tarragona and Gerona they were Separatists, while a new party appeared under the name of Solidarists, consisting of Separatists, Carlists and Socialists. The elections in April resulted in a sweeping Conservative victory the government secured a majority in the lower house of 88 over all other groups combined. As for the " dynastic opposition," it was reduced to a rump of 66 members, a result so unsatisfactory from the point of view of the monarchy that the government offered to quash certain Conservative returns in order to provide it with more seats. The dynastic opposition, however, considered that it had been unfairly dealt with in the conduct of the elections; and though, out of consideration for the dynasty (an heir to the throne having been born on the loth of May), they attended the opening of the Cortes on the 13th of May, the Liberals refused to take part in the session that followed, which lasted till the 29th of, July. When, Local however, the Cortes reopened on the loth of October, Admtaistrathe dynastic opposition was once more in its Ho" Reform. place. It was now that Senor Maura brought in his Local Administration Bill, a measure containing 429 clauses, the main features of which were that it largely increased the responsibility of the local elected bodies, made it compulsory for every elector to vote, and did away with official interference at the polls. The bill met with strenuous opposition, and on the 23rd of December 1907 the Cortes adjourned without its having been advanced.
At the close of the year an Anarchist outrage gave the excuse for the proclamation of martial law in Barcelona, and after the opening of the new session of the Cortes (January 23, 1908) a bill was introduced into the senate giving to the government the most drastic powers for the suppression of Anarchism. Its provisions practically amounted to a complete suspension of the guarantees for civil liberty, it met with the most strenuous opposition, and its final passing by the Senate (May 9) was followed by a serious crisis. Two months before (March 10-13) King Alphonso, with characteristic courage, had paid a surprise visit to Barcelona, and the general enthusiasm of his reception seemed to prove that the disaffection was less widespread or deep than had been supposed. In the circumstances, Senor Maura dropped the Suppression Bill, and the king issued an ordinance re-establishing constitutional guarantees in Catalonia.
This good feeling was unfortunately not destined to be of long duration; and in the following year the struggle between the antagonistic forces in Spain once more produced a perilous crisis. The Local Administration Bill, after being debated for two sessions, passed the lower house on the 13th of February 1909, having at the last moment received the support of the Liberal Senor Moret, though the Radicals as a whole opposed it as gratifying to Senor Cambo, the Regionalist leader, and therefore as tending to disintegration. Though ruling in the spirit of an enlightened despotism rather than in that of a constitutional government, Senor Maura had succeeded in doing a notable work for Spain. It was inevitable that in doing so he should incur unpopularity in many quarters. His efforts to reconstruct the Spanish navy were attacked both by the apostles of retrenchment and by those who saw in the shipbuilding contracts an undue favouring of the foreigner; the Marine Industries Protection Act was denounced as favouring the large shipowners and exporters at the expense of the smaller men; the Compulsory Education Act as " a criminal assault on the rights of the family." His ecclesiastical policy also exposed him to the fate of those who take the middle way; the Liberals denounced the minister of education, Don F. Rodriguez San Pedro, for making concessions to the teaching orders, while the archbishops of Burgos and Santiago de Compostella fulminated against the government for daring to tax the congregations. In his reforming work Senor Maura had an active and efficient lieutenant in the minister of the interior, Senor La Cierva. Under his auspices laws were passed reforming and strengthening the police force, instituting industrial tribunals, regulating the work of women and children, introducing Sunday rest, early closing, and other reforms. In short, the government, whatever criticism might be levelled at its methods, had accomplished a notable work, and when on the 6th of June 1909 the Cortes adjourned, its position seemed to be assured.
Its downfall was ultimately due to the development of the crisis in Morocco. This is described elsewhere (see MOROCCO: Morocco History) ; here it is only proposed to outline the effects Crisis. o f its reaction upon the internal affairs of Spain. The trouble, long brewing, broke out in July, with the attack by the Riff tribesmen upon the workmen engaged on the railway being built to connect Melilla with the mines in the hills, held by Spanish concessionaires. The necessity for strengthening the Spanish forces in Africa had for some time been apparent ; but Senor Maura had not dared to face the Cortes with a demand for the necessary estimates, for which, now that the crisis had become acute, he had to rely on the authorization of the council of state. The spark was put to the powder by the action of the war minister, General Linares, in proposing to organize a new field force by calling out the Catalan reserves. This summoned up too vivid memories of the useless miseries of former over-sea expeditions. On the 26th of July a general strike was proclaimed at Barcelona, and a movement directed at first against the " conscription " rapidly developed into a revolutionary attack on the established order in church and state. Barcelona The city, a colluvies gentium, was seething with Rising of dangerous elements, its native proletariat being July 1909. reinforced by emigrants returned embittered from failure in South America and a cosmopolitan company of refugees from justice in other lands. The mob, directed by the revolutionary elements, attacked more especially the convents and churches. From the city the revolutionary movement spread to the whole province. In Barcelona the rising was suppressed after three days' street fighting (July 27-29). On the 28th martial law was proclaimed throughout Spain; and now began a military reign of terror, which lasted until the end of September. In the fortress of Monjuich in Barcelona were collected, not only rioters caught red-handed, but many others notably journalists whose opinions were obnoxious. The greatest sensation was caused by the arrest, on the 315! of August, of Senor Ferrer, a theoretical anarchist well known in many countries for his anti-clerical educational work and in Spain especially as the founder of the " lay schools." He was accused of being the chief instigator of the Barcelona rising, was tried by court martial (Oct. 11-13), and shot. This tragedy, which rightly or wrongly aroused the most widespread indignation throughout Europe, produced a ministerial crisis in Spain. The opening of the October session of the Cortes was signalized by a furious attack by Senor Moret on Sefiores Maura and La Cierva, who were accused of having Fall of sacrificed Ferrer to the resentment of their clerical Maura. task-masters. The government had been already weakened by the news of Marshal Marina's reverse in Morocco (Sept. 30); to this new attack it succumbed, Senor Maura resigning on the 21st of October 1909.
On the 22nd the formation of a new cabinet under Senor Moret was announced. It was from the first in a position of Moret singular weakness, without a homogeneous majority Ministry, in the Cortes, and depending for its very existence 1909-1910. on (.jj e uncer t a i n support of the extreme Left and the Republicans. For three months it existed without daring to put forward a programme. It sent General Weyler to keep Barcelona in order, caused the release of most of the prisoners in Monjuich, reduced the forces in Morocco, reopened negotiations with Rome for a modification of the concordat, and on the 31st of December, the end of the financial year, was responsible for the issue of a royal decree stating that the budget would remain in force until the Cortes could pass a new one. But, meanwhile, the municipal elections, under the new Local Administration Law, had resulted in a triumph of the Liberals (Dec. 12). Senor Moret now considered the time ripe for a dissolution; the king, however, refused to consent, and on the gth of February 1910 the ministry resigned. The new cabinet, with Senor Canalejas as president of the council, included members of the various Liberal and Radical Canaieias groups: Garcia Prieto (foreign affairs), Count Ministry, Sagasta (interior), General Aznar (war), the Demo- 19IO- crat Arias Miranda (navy), Cobian, a strong Catholic though a Liberal (finance), Ruiz Valarino, a Democrat (justice), Calbeton (public works) and Count Romanones, who advocated a liberal settlement with the Church (education).
Though at once denounced by Senor Moret as " a democratic flag being used to cover reactionary merchandise," 1 the name of Canalejas was in itself a guarantee that the burn- Quarrel ing question of the relations of the state to Rome with the and the religious orders would at last be taken in ^itlcaa. hand, while the presence of so many moderate elements in his cabinet showed that it would be approached in a conciliatory spirit. A beginning was made with the issue of a circular by the minister of finance (March 18), ordering the collection of taxes from all religious bodies carrying on commercial and industrial enterprises. What more could be done would depend on the result of the elections necessitated by the dissolution of the Cortes on the 15th of April. Count Romanones, desiring to educate the electors, had been busy establishing schools; but the sweeping victory of the Liberals at the polls 2 was probably far more due to the fact that this was the first election held under Senor Maura's Local Administration Act, and that the ignorant electors, indignant at being forced to vote under penalty of a fine, where they did not spoil their ballot papers, voted against the Conservatives as the authors of their grievance.
The government was thus in a position vigorously to pursue its religious policy. On the 31st of May the official Gaceta published a decree setting forth the rules to which the religious associations would have to submit. It was pointed out that, in conformity with the decree of the 9th of April 1902, it had become necessary to coerce those congregations and associations which had not fulfilled the formalities prescribed by the law of 1887, and also those engaged in commerce and industry which had not taken out patents with a view to their taxation. It further ordered that all foreign members of congregations were to register themselves at their respective consulates, in accordance with the decrees of 1901 and 1902. On the nth of June a further and still more significant step was taken. A royal ordinance was issued repealing that signed by Canovas del Castillo (Oct. 23, 1876), immediately after the promulgation of the constitution of 1876, interpreting the nth article of the constitution, by which the free exercise of all cults was guaranteed in Spain. The article in question forbade " external signs or public manifestations of all religious confessions with the exception of that of the state," which was defined by Canovas del Castillo as meaning " any emblem, attribute or lettering which would appear on the exterior walls of dissident places of worship." 3 In the speech from the throne at the opening of the new Cortes (June 16) the king declared that his government would " strive to give expression to the 1 The Times (Feb. 18, 1910).
2 The composition of the new parliament was as follows Senate : Ministerialists, 103 ; Conservatives, 42 ; Regionalists, 5 ; Republicans, 4; Carlists, 3; miscellaneous groups, n. Lower House: Ministerialists, 227_ ; Conservatives, 105 ; Republicans, 42 ; Carlists, 9 ; Catalans, 7; Integrists, 2; Independents, 9; unattached, 3.
3 The Times (June 13, 1910).
public aspirations for the reduction and control of the excessive number of orders and religious orders, without impairing their independence in spiritual matters," and in introducing a bill for the amendment of the law of 1887 Senor Canalejas declared that the government, " inspired by the universal spirit of liberty of conscience," had given to article xi. of the constitution " the full sense of its text." 1 "Liberty of conscience," a principle condemned by the Syllabus of 1864 and sneered at in the encyclical Pascendi gregis of 1905, was hardly a phrase calculated to conciliate the Spanish clergy, still less the Vatican. A cry went up that to allow dissident churches to announce their presence was to insult and persecute the Catholic Church ; 2 at Rome the decree was attacked as unconstitutional, and a breach of diplomatic propriety all the more reprehensible as negotiations for a revision of the concordat were actually pending. A violent clerical agitation, encouraged by the Vatican, was started, 72 Spanish archbishops and bishops presenting a joint protest to the government. Fuel was added to the fire by the introduction of a bill known as the Cadenas bill forbidding the settlement of further congregations in Spain until the negotiations with the Vatican should have been completed. This was denounced at Rome as a unilateral assertion on the part of the Spanish government of an authority which, under the concordat, belonged to the Holy See as well. As a preliminary to negotiation, the government was required to rescind all the obnoxious measures. This demand broke the patience of the prime minister, and on the 30th of July Senor de Ojeda, Spanish ambassador at the Vatican, was instructed to hand in his papers. In Vatican circles dark hints began to be dropped of a possible rapprochement with Don Jaime, who had succeeded his father Don Carlos, on the 18th of July 1909, as the representative of Spanish legitimacy and Catholic orthodoxy. The pretender, indeed, disclaimed any intention of stirring up civil war in Spain; his mission would be to restore order when the country should have wearied of the republican regime whose speedy advent he foresaw. The fulfilment of the first part of this prophecy seemed to some to be brought a step nearer by the overthrow of the monarchy in Portugal on the 5th of October 1910. For Spain its immediate effect was to threaten a great increase of the difficulties of the government, by the immigration of the whole mass of religious congregations expelled from Portugal by one of the first acts of the new regime.
(W. A. P.)
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES OF CHRISTIAN DYNASTIES IN SPAIN. Kings of the Visigoths, having relations with Spain, but not established within it:
Ataulf . Sigeric . Wallia . .
Theodoric I.
Thorismund Theodoric II. Euric . ' . Alaric II. .
Gesalic . Amalaric 410-415 415 415-419 419-451 451-453 453-466 466-485 485-507 507-5" 507-531 Entered the north-east of Spain, murdered at Barcelona.
His murderer, promptly murdered in turn.
Elected king, was the ally ( foederatus) of the empire. Defeated the Vandals and Alans. Migrated to south-west of France with all his people.
Made inroads into Spain, as ally of the empire. Killed in the battle with Attila.
All these kings had the seat of their government north of the Pyrenees. They made inroads in Spain and had a stronghold on the north-east. Alaric was killed by the Frankish king, Clovis, at Vouilld, 507.
Bastard son of Alaric, was murdered.
Reigned in south and south-east of France under protection of Theodoric, the Ostrogothic king in Italy. Fled before Franks to Barcelona at end of reign, and was murdered at Barcelona.
Kings of the Visigoths established in Spain :
Theudis Theudigisel Agila . , Athanagild .
Liuva I. Leovigild Reccared Liuva II. Witteric. .
Gunthemar . Sisebut . Reccared II.
Swintella Reccimer Sisinand Chintila. Tulga . _ . Chindaswinth Recceswinth Wamba .
Erwic Egica Witiza Roderic 531-548 548-549 549-554 554-567 567-572 567-586 586-601 601-603 603-610 610-612 612-620 620-621 621-631 621-631 631-636 636-640 640-641 641-652 649-672 672-680 680-687 687-701 697-710 710-711 An Ostrogoth, general of Theodoric. Murdered Amalaric, and was murdered in turn at Seville by Theudigesil.
Murdered by Agila. Murdered at M6rida.
Rebelled against Agila, evacuated Andalusia to secure aid of Imperial officers. Established the capital at Toledo.
Elected at Narbonne.' Associated his brother Leovigild with himself.
The first Visigoth king who assumed the diadem and purple, struck coins in his own name, and enforced recognition of his supremacy in all parts of Spain, except the south coast.
Son. Associated with his father. The first Visigoth king who was a Catholic.
Son. Soon murdered. Leader of Arian reaction.
Obscure kings.
Associated his family with him on the throne. They were all deposed by the nobles.
These kings were mainly supported by the clergy, and were engaged in endeavouring to make the crown hereditary, by associating their kinsmen with themselves.
Unrelated to his predecessor and elected by the nobles was deposed and tonsured.
The most obscure of the Visigoth kings. Egica and Witiza appear to have continued the struggle with the nobles, by whom Roderic was tumultuously elected, in opposition to Witiza's son Actula.
Early kings of the Christian north-west of Spain, of uncertain chronology and relationship :
Pelayo . .
718-737 Elected as " king of the Goths."
Favila 737-739 Brother of Pelayo.
Alphonso I. . .
739-757 Son-in-law of Pelayo.
Froila 757-768 Son of Alphonso I. Murdered by his brother.
Aurelio .
768-774 Brother or cousin.
Silon 774-785 Brother-in-law of Aurelio.
Maurecat 785-789 Bastard son of Alphonso I.
Bermudo 789-792 Called the Deacon, descendant of Alphonso I., reigned for a very short time, and retired to a religious house.
Alphonso II.
792-842 Called the Chaste, son of Froila. Was perhaps chosen in opposi- tion to Bermudo, Ramiro I. .
842-850 Son of Bermudo the Deacon.
Ordono I.
850-866 Son of Ramiro.
Alphonso III. .
866-914 Son of Ordono.
Period of the small kingdoms, unions, separations and reunions; the sons of Alphonso III. having rebelled, and forced a division of the kingdom near the close of the king's reign :
Garcia .
Ordono II. .
Fruela .
Alphonso IV. .
Ramiro II. .
Ordono III. .
Sancho I., " The Fat."
Ramiro III.
Bermudo II., " The Goutv " Alphonso V.
Bermudo III.
Fernando I., or Ferdinand.
910-913 913-923 923-924 924-931 931-950 950-955 955-967 967-982 982-999 999-1027 1027-1037 1027-1065 Took Leon, which then included Bardulia, or Castile, as the eldest son.
Second son; became king in Gallicia which included northern Portugal and acquired Leon on the death of his brother Garcia.
Third brother; held Asturias, and was king of all north-west for a short time after death of Ordono.
Son of Ordono ; became a monk at Sahagun, and was succeeded by his brother Ramiro.
In his reign Castile broke away from Leon, under the count Fernan Gonzales.
Son of Ramiro.
Half brother of Ordono III. and son of Ramiro II. by his second marriage with a daughter of Sancho Abarca of Navarre. Was driven out by his nobles, in alliance with Fernan Gonzales, count of Castile, and restored by the caliph. The rebels put Ordono, son of Alphonso IV., on the throne for a time.
Son of Sancho. Succeeded as a boy. His reign was a period of anarchy.
Son of Ordono III., was supported against his cousin Ramiro III. by the nobles, and was placed on the throne by the Hajib Mansur.
Son of Bermudo. Began the restoration of the kingdom after the period of anarchy, and subjection to the caliphate. Killed at siege of Viseu.
Son of Alphonso V.; was killed in battle at Tamaron with his brother-in-law Ferdinand, count and then first king of Castile.
Son of Sancho el Mayor of Navarre, king of Castile by right of his mother, and of Leon and Gallicia by the sword.
COUNTS OF CASTILE The counts of Castile began, as a body, and not as a line of chiefs, in the reign of Alphonso the Chaste (789-842). They strove for independence from the first, and when one count had replaced several they achieved it.
Fernan Gonzales Garcia Fernandez Sancho Garcia . Garcia .
923-968 968-1006 1006-1028 1028 Made himself independent of Leon. One of his daughters married Ordono III. of Leon. By a second marriage with a daughter of Sancho Abarca of Navarre he had a -son and successor.
Son. Son.
Murdered. Castile then passed to Garcia's sister, the wife of Sancho el Mayor of Navarre.
The early history of Navarre has been overlaid with fable, and with pure falsification, largely the work of the Benedictines of San Juan de la Pena near Huesca. Their object was to prove the foundation of their house by a king of Navarre, Aragon and Sobrarbe, in the 9th century. They were helped by the patriotism of the Aragonese, who wished to give their kingdom an antiquity equal to that of Leon. Hence much pure invention, bolstered up by forgery of charters, falsification of genuine ones, and construction of imaginary pedigrees.
Sancho Abarca, i.e. Brogues Garcia Sanchez Sancho Garcia Garcia Sanchez "TheTrembler" Sancho el Mayor Garcia III. .
Sancho IV.
906-926 926-966 966-993 993-1000 1000-1035 1035-1054 1054-1076 Made himself independent king at Pamplona. He fought with the Carolingian counts of the marches, and in alliance with theSpanish Mahommedan Beni Casi of Saragossa.
Very obscure. The most undoubted personality of the time is Tota (Theuda), widow of Sancho Abarca, who governed for her son and whose daughters were married to the kings of Leon and counts of Castile.
Son of " The Trembler." He married a daughter of Sancho Garcia, count of Castile. On the murder of Garcia, the last count, he took Castile by right of his wife. He inherited, or acquired, superiority over the central Pyrenean regions of Aragon and Sobrarbe. He divided his various dominions Navarre to Garcia, Castile to Fernando,Sobrarbeto Gonzalo, and Aragon to Ramiro Sanchez, a natural son.
Killed in battle with his brother Fernando of Castile and Leon at Atapuerca.
Son. Murdered by his natural brother Ramon at Penalen. The Navarrese then chose Sancho Ramirez of Aragon as king. The kingdoms remained united till 1134.
Historic kingdom of Aragon :
Ramiro Sanchez Sancho I.
Pedro I. . . .
Alphonso I. "The Battler."
Ramiro II.
Petronilla 1035-1067 1067-1094 1094-1102 1102-1134 1I34-II37 1137-1164 Natural son of Sancho el Mayor of Navarre, who on the death of his legitimate brother Gonzalo, annexed Sobrarbe. The kingdom of Sobrarbe lasted only during the life of Gonzalo.
Son of Ramiro. Was killed while besieging Huesca.
Son of Sancho.
Second son of Sancho. He took Saragossa from the Moors, and was married to Urraca, queen of Castile and Leon.
Third son of Sancho. A monk, who was exclaustrated after the death of Alphonso, but returned to the cloister on the birth of his daughter Petronilla.
Married to Ramon Berenguer, count of Barcelona, who became king by right of his wife.
COUNTS OF BARCELONA In the last years of the 8th and beginning of the 9th century, Charlemagne and Louis the Pius began conquering the north-east of Spain, which the Arabs had occupied as early as 713. By 811 the Franks had conquered as far as Tortosa and Tarragona. The territory gained was called the Marca Hispanica, and was governed by counts of Roussillon, Ampurias, Besaltu, Barcelona, Cerdena, Pallars and Urgell. They became independent during the decadence of the Carolingians. The supremacy was acquired gradually by the counts of Barcelona who became independent with Wilfred I. by 874. He and his immediate descendants gradually subdued the other counts. They suffered much from the inroads of Mansur in the 10th century, but on the decline of the caliphate, they took part in the general advance.
Berenjuer Ramon I.
Ramon Berenguer, " The Old.
Ramon Berenguer II.
and Berenguer Ramon II.
Ramon Berenguer .
Ramon Berenguer 1018-1035 1035-1076 1076-1082 1076-1082 | 1082-1131 1131-1162 Held Barcelona, Vich and Manresa with land conquered from the Moors to the south.
Son. His father had divided his possessions between his widow and all his sons, but Ramon Berenguer reunited them by force. He left his dominion to be held in common by his two sons.
Ramon Berenguer II. Cap d'estops (" Tow Pow ") was murdered by Berenguer Ramon II., whose end is unknown.
Son of Ramon Berenguer II. By his marriage with Aldonza or Douce of Provence he acquired territory in south-eastern France. He inherited or subdued all the other countships of Catalonia, except Peralada Son. Inherited the Spanish possessions of his father, the French going to a brother. Was betrothed to Petronilla of Aragon, and married her in 1150, becoming king of Aragon.
Second period of the union, disunion and reunion of Castile and Leon from Fernando I. to Fernando III. Fernando I. divided his dominions among his three sons: to Sancho, the eldest, Castile; to Alfonso, the second son, Leon ; to Garcia, the third son, Gallicia.
Sancho II. Alphonso VI. Urraca . Alphonso VII.
Sancho III. . Fernando II. Alphonso VIII. Alphonso IX.
Henry I. Berengaria .
Fernando III.
1065-1072 1065-1109 1109-1126 1126-1157 1157-1158 1157-1188 1158-1214 1188-1230 1214-1217 1217- 1217-1252 He expelled Alphonso and Garcia, reuniting the three kingdoms. Murdered at Zamora.
Returned from exile, obtained all the three kingdoms, and imprisoned Garcia for life.
Daughter of Alphonso VI., and widow of Raymond of Burgundy.
Son. Recognized as king in Gallicia during his mother's life. Divided his kingdoms between his sons; to the elder Sancho, Castile, to the younger, Fernando, Leon.
In Castile.
In Leon.
Castile. Son of Sancho III.
Leon. Son of Fernando II. Is numbered IX. because he was junior to the cousin Alphonso of Castile.
Castile. Son of Alphonso VIII.
Daughter of Alphonso VIII. Married to Alphonso IX. of Leon, but the marriage was declared uncanonical by the pope. The children were declared legitimate. Berengaria resigned the crown of Castile to her son Fernando by the uncanonical marriage with Alphonso IX. of Leon.
Inherited Leon on the death of his father Alphonso IX., and united the crowns for the last time, in 1230.
CASTILE AND LEON TILL THE UNION WITH ARAGON. Fernando III. was king of Castile and Leon from 1230 to 1252.
Alphonso X. Sancho IV. .
Ferdinand IV. . Alphonso XI. . Peter "The Cruel' Henry II. . .
John I. . Henry III. John II.
Henry IV. Isabella .
1252-1284 1284-1295 1295-1312 13*2-1350 1350-1369 1369-1379 1379-I390 1390-1406 1406-1454 1454-1474 1474-1504 Eldest son of Fernando III.
Second son of Alphonso X. Was preferred to the sons of his elder brother Ferdinand de la Cerda, who died in Alphonso's lifetime.
Son of Sancho.
Son of Ferdinand IV.
Son of Alphonso XI.
Natural son of Alphonso IX. He deposed and murdered Peter, and founded the line of the new kings.
Son of Henry II.
Son of John I.
Son of Henry III.
Son. The legitimacy of the daughter of his second marriage was not recognized, and the crown of Castile passed to his sister, who married Ferdinand of Aragon. The marriage united the crowns in 1479.
Aragon, from the union with the county of Barcelona, to the union with Castile:
Alphonso II.
Peter II. James I., " The Conqueror."
Peter III.
Alphonso III. James II.
Alphonso IV. Peter IV. .
John I. . . Martin .
Ferdinand I.
Alphonso V. John II.
Ferdinand II.
1162-1196 1196-1213 1213-1276 1276-1285 1285-1291 1291-1327 1327-I336 1336-1387 1387-1395 1395-Hio 1412-1416 1416-1458 1458-1479 1479-1516 Son and successor of Petronilla and Ramon Berenguer IV. Recovered the Provencal possessions of Ramon Berenguer II.
Son. Killed at Muret.
Son. Conquered the Balearic Islands and Valencia. Left the islands to his son James, from whom the title passed in succession to Sancho (d. 1324), his eldest son, to Sancho's nephew James (d. 1349), and to another James, his son (d. 1375); but the actual possession was recovered by the elder line before the extinction of the younger branch.
Eldest son. Conquered Sicily, claimed by right of his wife Constance, daughter of Manfred of Beneventum.
Eldest son. Succeeded to Spanish possessions.
Second son of Peter III. He had succeeded to Sicily, but resigned his rights, which were then assumed by his brother Frederick, who founded the Aragonese line of kings of Sicily.
Son of James II.
Finally reannexed the Balearic Islands.
Son by the marriage of Peter IV. with his cousin Eleanor of the Sicilian line.
Younger brother of John I. His son Martin was chosen king of Sicily, but died in 1409. The male line of the kings of Aragon of the House of Barcelona ended with Martin.
Second son of Eleanor, sister of Martin, and wife of John I. of Castile. Succeeded by choice of the Cortes.
Son. Spent most of his life in Italy, where he was king of Naples and Sicily.
Brother of Alphonso V., whom he succeeded in the Spanish possessions, and Sicily, but not in Naples.
Son. His marriage with Isabella united the crowns.
572 Navarre till the conquest of Ferdinand the Catholic :
Garcia IV.
Sancho VI., called " The Wise " Sancho VII. Theobald I.
Theobald II. . Henry I. Jeanne I.
Jeanne II. Charles II., called " The Bad " Charles III.,"The Noble " John I. of Aragon Francis Phoebus Catherine 1134-1150 1150-1:94 1194-1234 1234-1253 1253-1270 1270-1274 1274-1305 1328-1349 1349-1387 C 1387-1425 "1 1425-1479 1479-H83 1483-1514 A descendant of Sancho el Mayor. Elected by the Navarrese on the death of Alphonso of Aragon without issue.
Son. Father of Berengaria, wife of Richard Coeur de Lion.
Son. Died without issue.
Husband of Blanche, daughter of Sancho " The Wise."
Son. Died without issue. Brother.
Daughter, wife of Philip IV. of France. Navarre was now absorbed in France, and so remained till 1328, when on the death of Charles IV. of France, the last of the house of Hugh Capet, it passed to his niece Jeanne, daughter of Louis X., and wife of Philip, count of Evreux.
Son. These two kings were much concerned with France, and little with Spain.
King of Navarre by right of his wife Blanche, daughter of Charles III. On his death Navarre passed to his daughter by Blanche, Eleanor, widow of Gaston IV., count of Foix. She died in the same year as her father, and Navarre passed to her grandson, Francis Phoebus.
Died without issue, and was succeeded by his sister, the wife of Jean D'Albret. The Spanish part of Navarre was conquered by Ferdinand the Catholic in 1512.
Joan, "The Mad' Charles I. in Spain Philip II. .
Philip III. .
Philip IV. .
Charles II. .
Philip V. .
Ferdinand VI. . Charles III. . . Charles IV. .
1504-1520 15I6-I556 1556-1598 1598-1621 1621-1665 1665-1700 1700-1746 1746-1759 1759-1788 1788-1808 Daughter of Isabella, whom she succeeded in Castile, with her husband Philip I., of Habsburg After his death, her father Ferdinand was guardian and regent.
Son of Joan. Was recognized as king with his mother; elected to the empire as Charles V.
Son. Succeeded on abdication of Charles V.
Son.
Son.
Son. Died without issue.
Succeeded by the will of Charles II., as grandson of Maria Teresa, daughter of Philip IV., and of Louis XIV., king of France. With him began the line of the Spanish Bourbons. He abdicated for a few months in 1 724- 1725 in favour of his son Louis, but resumed the crown when Louis died.
Son by Philip V.'s first marriage witn Maria Louisa of Savoy. Died without issue.
Brother. Son of Philip V. by his second marriage with Elizabeth Farnese.
Son. He abdicated under pressure in 1808 in favour of his son Ferdinand, and then resigned his rights to Napoleon.
KINGS OF UNITED SPAIN (continued)
Ferdinand VII.
Isabella II. .
Alphonso XII. Alphonso XIII.
1808-1833 1833-1868 1875-1885 1886- Was proclaimed king on the forced abdication of his father. Remained a prisoner in France during the Peninsular War. He repealed the Salic Law established by Philip V.
Daughter. Her succession was resisted by her uncle Don Carlos, and the Carlist Wars ensued. Deposed.
Son. His mother abdicated in his favour and he was restored.
Born after his father's death.
(D. H.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY. (i) Sources: There are several published collections of sources for Spanish history. Of these the oldest is R. Belus, Rerum hispanicarum scriptores aliquot in bibliotheca Roberti Belt ... 3 vols. fol. (Frankfort, 1579-1581). In 1740-1752 was published at Madrid J. A. de Creu y Bertodano's Coleccion de los tratados de paz, alianza, neutralidad, garanzia, proteccion, treguia y mediation, etc., que han hecho los reyes de Espana con los pueblos, republicans y demas potencias y otras partes del mondp, in 12 vols. folio. A Coleccion de documentos ineditos para la historia de Espagna, by Pidal and others, was published in 65 vols. (Madrid 1842-1876). In 1851 the Royal Academy of History of Madrid began the publication of its Memorial historica espanol, a collection of documents, etc. See also Dionisio Hidalgo, Diccionario general de bibliografia espanola, 7 vols. (Madrid, 1862-1881).
(2) Works: The standard general history of Spain written by a Spaniard is that of Don Modesto Lafuente in 30 volumes (1850-1867; new ed., by Valera, 22 vols., Barcelona, 1888). It was written before the medieval period had been properly investigated, is wordy, and largely spoilt by displays of national vanity. A later and more critical writer of nearly the same name, Don Vicente de la Fuente, has published valuable Estudios criticos sabre la historia y el derecho de Aragon (1884-1886). No satisfactory general history of Spain has been written by a foreigner. The best is that of M. Romey, Histpire d'Espagne (1843). Don Rafael Altamira has published an Historia de Espana y de la civilizacion espanola (2 vols., Barcelona, 1900-1902), in which he sums up the results of later research. Among older writers Juan de Mariana, who ends with the Catholic sovereigns, professedly took Liyy as a model, and wrote a fine example of a rhetorical history published in Latin (1592-1609), and then in Spanish translated and largely re-written by himself. It was continued to 1600 by Minana. An English translation, with supplements, was published by Captain J. Stephens in 1699. The Anales de Aragon of Geronimo Zurita (1610) are very far superior to the history of Mariana in criticism and research. The great school of Spanish historians died out with the other glories 01 the nation in the 17th century. The later periods have been indifferently treated by them, but Don Antonio Canpvas del Castillo published some valuable studies on the later Austrian dynasty under the title Estudios del reinado de Felipe IV. (1889). The reader may also consult for the earlier period Florian de Ocampo and Ambrosio de Morales, whose combined works are known as the Cronica general de Espana (fol. editions, 1543-1586, republished in 10 small volumes at Madrid, 1791-1792). This was continued by Prudencio de Sandoval, bishop of Tuy and afterwards of Pampeluna, under the title of Hist, de los reyes de Castilla y de Leon: Fernando I.-Alonso VII. Both ancient and later times are dealt with in the Historia general de Espana, escrita par individuos de la real academia de la historia (Madrid, 1892 sqq.) a series of studies by different hands; that on the reign of Charles III., by Senor Manuel Danvila, is very valuable for the later 18th century. An account of the troubled years of the 19th century has been written by Don Antonia Pirala, Historia contempordnea (1871-1879). The latest general history of Spain is Don Rafael Altamira y Crevea's Historia de Espana y de la civilizacion espanola, 3 vols(Barcelona 1902-1906). The standard authority for the Mahommedan side of Spanish history 'is the Histoire des Musulmans d'Espagne, 711-1110, by R. P. A. Dozy (4 vols., Leiden, 1861). It requires to be supplemented by Don Pascual de Gayongos's translation of Al Makkari's History of the Mahommedan Dynasties in Spain (1840-1843) and by Senor Francisco Codera's Decadencia y desaparicion de los Almoravides en Espana (Saragossa, 1899) and Estudios criticos de hist, arabe espanola (ibid., 1003). See also Stanley Lane Poolft, The Moors in Spain (" Story of the Nations " Series, 1887) and S. P. Scott, Hist, of the Moorish Empire in Europe (3 vols., Philadelphia and London, 1904). Other English works, on general Spanish history, are Martin A. S. Hume's Spain, its Greatness and Decay, ^ 1479-1788 (Cambridge, 1898) and Modern Spain, 1788- 1898 ("Story of the Nations" Series, 1899), and Butler Clarke's Modern Spain, 1815-1898 (Cambridge, 1906). Excellent summaries of Spanish history year by year are published in the Annual Register.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)