A History of Spain Part 16

[Sidenote: Nature of the union of Castile and Aragon.]

Ferdinand's accession to the crown of Aragon and the recognition of Isabella as queen of Castile did not at that time bring about a political union of the two kingdoms, and resulted in no radical change in the separate inst.i.tutions of either. They did mean the establishment of consistent policies in each (especially in international affairs) which were to bring about a more effectual union at a later day and produce the Spanish nation. The first problem of the Catholic Kings was that of the pacification of their realms. Aragon and Catalonia offered no serious difficulty, but the violence of the Castilian n.o.bility called for repression of a vigorous type. Galicia and Andalusia were the regions where such action was most imperatively needed.

[Sidenote: Overthrow of seigniorial anarchy.]

The real weakness of the seigniorial cla.s.s is well ill.u.s.trated by the case of Galicia. The lawless conduct of the n.o.bility and even of the high functionaries of the church was traditional, besides which Juana la Beltraneja had counted with many partisans there. Petty war, the oppression of individuals and towns (through the medium of illegal tributes or the collection of those belonging to the kings), and an almost complete disobedience of royal authority were the rule. Resolved to do away with such an evil state of affairs the Catholic Kings sent two delegates there in 1480, the one a soldier, Fernando de Acuna, and the other a lawyer and member of the _Consejo Real_, Garci Lopez de Chinchilla, accompanied by three hundred picked hors.e.m.e.n. Without loss of time and with praiseworthy energy they proceeded to carry out the royal will. Forty-six castles were demolished, the tributes which the n.o.bles had been diverting from the king were collected once more for the royal treasury, many individuals of greater or less degree (both n.o.bles and ordinary bandits) were put to death, and others were dominated or compelled to flee the country. Similar action was taken in Andalusia and Castile proper, wherefore within a few years the pacification of the kingdom was achieved; the seemingly hopeless anarchy of the period of Henry IV had been overcome.

[Sidenote: The conquest of Granada.]

At the same time that the Catholic Kings were engaged in the establishment of good order in the realm of Castile, they were giving their attention to another problem which may well be considered as of domestic import,--the long delayed conquest of Granada. The last years of the Moslem kingdom epitomized the history of that government during its more than two centuries of existence, with the important difference that it was no longer to escape the bitter pill of conquest which its own weakness and decadent life had long rendered inevitable once a determined effort should be made. There appeared the figure of the emir, Abul Ha.s.san, dominated by the pa.s.sion which his slave girl, Zoraya, had inspired in him. Other members of his family, notably his brother, El Zagal (or Al Zagal), and his son, Abu Abdullah, best known as Boabdil, headed factions which warred with Abul Ha.s.san or with each other.

Meanwhile, the war with Castile, which had broken forth anew in 1481, was going on, and to the credit of the Moslem warrior as a fighting man was being sustained, if not with success, at least without great loss of territory. Ferdinand, to whom treachery was only a fine art of kings.h.i.+p, availed himself of the internal disorder of Granada to gain advantages to which his military victories in open combat did not ent.i.tle him.

Twice he had Boabdil in his power as a prisoner, and on each occasion let him go, so that he might cause trouble for El Zagal, who had become emir, at the same time making promises of peace and of abstention from conquest which he disloyally failed to observe. Another time, El Zagal was similarly deceived. By these means, after ten years of war, Ferdinand was able to enter the Granadine plain and besiege the Moslem capital, courageously defended by Boabdil and his followers. The military camp of Santa Fe was founded, and for months the siege went on, signalized by deeds of valor on both sides. Overcome by hunger the defenders were at length obliged to capitulate, and on January 2, 1492, the Castilian troops occupied the Alhambra. Some time later Boabdil and his household departed for Africa. It is fitting to observe that many of the legends concerning this prince, notably those which reflect on his courage and manliness, are without foundation in fact.

[Sidenote: Forced conversion of the Mudejares of Castile.]

The terms of surrender had included numerous articles providing for the security of the Moslem population. Virtually they amounted to a promise that the Mudejar, or Moslem, element would not be molested in any respect, whether in Granada or elsewhere in Castile. Such a treaty could not long be enforced in the face of the religious ardor and intolerance of the age. The greatest men of the kingdom, and among them the most notable of all, the archbishop of Toledo, Ximenez de Cisneros, confessor of the queen, joined in urging a different policy. Pressure began to be exerted in direct contravention of the treaty to bring about an enforced conversion of the Mudejares to Christianity. A Moslem uprising was the result, and this was seized upon by Ximenez as justifying a complete disregard, henceforth, of the terms of the capitulation, on the ground that the Moslems had nullified the treaty by their rebellion,--a convenient argument which did not enquire into the real causes of the outbreak. Christianization by force, not without a number of serious uprisings, now went on at a rapid rate, and was completed by a royal decree of 1502 which ordered that all Mudejares in the Castilian domains should accept Christianity or leave the country. Many took the latter course, but the greater number remained, Christians in outward appearance if not so at heart. Officially there were no more Mudejares in Castile except slaves. The newly converted element became known, henceforth, as "Moriscos," thus attaching them by a.s.sociation of ideas to their ancient faith, and since their Christianity did not inspire much confidence they were made subject to the dread Inquisition.

[Sidenote: Castilian activities in northwestern Africa and the Canary Islands.]

The discovery of America in 1492, together with other factors, directed Castilian attention to the Canary Islands and northwestern Africa, bringing the Spanish kingdom into contact and rivalry with the Portuguese, who had devoted themselves to exploration, conquest, and colonization in that region for nearly a century. It may suffice here to say that in successive treaties of 1480, 1494, and 1509 Portugal recognized Castile's claim to the Canaries and certain posts in northwestern Africa. The security of the American route was not the princ.i.p.al motive of Castilian interest at that time in northwestern Africa. The wars with Granada and the danger of fresh invasions, coupled with the crusading zeal which had been aroused against the Moslems, and aggravated by the activities of North African corsairs, were perhaps the leading factors affecting the policy of the Catholic Kings. In 1494 the definitive conquest of the Canary Islands was made, and at the same time a post was established on the neighboring coast of western Africa to serve as a centre for the resistance to the Moslems. Meanwhile, private attacks by Spaniards on North African ports were being made, but it was not until 1497 that the Catholic Kings formally embarked on that enterprise. Bent upon checking piracy in that region they took possession of Melilla, which thenceforth became an important Spanish post.

[Sidenote: Ferdinand's European policy.]

While Ferdinand had much to do with the events which have thus far been discussed, he and his subjects of Aragon and Catalonia were more interested in other affairs. Ferdinand aimed at nothing less than a predominant place for Spain in European affairs, to be preceded by the establishment of Aragonese supremacy in the Mediterranean. The princ.i.p.al stumbling-block was the power of the French kings. Ferdinand schemed, therefore, to bring about the isolation and humiliation of France. The entering wedge came through the French possession of the Catalan regions of Cerdagne and the Roussillon which had been granted to the king of France by Juan II. Charles VIII of France consented to restore the two provinces, but in return exacted Ferdinand's promise not to interfere with the former's designs respecting the kingdom of Naples. Ferdinand readily agreed in 1493 to aid no enemy of the French king save the pope, and not to form matrimonial alliances between members of his family and those of the reigning houses of Austria, England, and Naples. With Cerdagne and the Roussillon in his possession he proceeded with characteristic duplicity to disregard the treaty. Marriage alliances were projected or arranged, some of them to be sure before 1493, not only with the ruling families of Portugal and Navarre but also with those of Austria and England. Thus Ferdinand hoped to secure considerable accessions of territory and to avoid any interference on the part of the Holy Roman Empire and England, the only outstanding powers which might be able to hinder his plots against France. It is perhaps poetic justice that these plans, so cleverly made and executed at the time, were to have an ultimate result which was quite different from that which Ferdinand had reason to expect. Untimely deaths rendered the various Portuguese alliances of no effect; the authorities of Navarre would have nothing to do with Ferdinand's proffer; and Spanish Catherine in England was to figure in the famous divorce from Henry VIII, precipitating the English Reformation. One marriage was productive of results, that of Juana, heir of Ferdinand and Isabella, to Philip the Handsome of Burgundy. Thus the Spanish kings were brought into the line of the Hapsburg family and of imperial succession, which was to prove less a boon than a fatality.

[Sidenote: The acquisition of Naples.]

Charles VIII wished to revive the Angevin claim to the Neapolitan territory held at the time by the illegitimate branch of Alfonso V of Aragon, related by blood to Ferdinand the Catholic. Alleging that Naples was a fief of the pope and therefore excepted from the treaty of 1493, Ferdinand resisted the pretensions of Charles, and formed an alliance with the pope, the emperor, Venice, and Milan against him. The forces of the league proving too much for him, Charles was forced in 1497 to suspend hostilities, whereupon Ferdinand agreed with him in secret to divide Naples between them, renewing the agreement with Louis XII, who ascended the French throne in 1498. The division was carried into effect, but a quarrel sprang up over a certain portion of the territory, and war broke out. Thanks to the military genius of the great Spanish leader, Gonzalo de Cordoba, Ferdinand was victorious by the year 1504, and Naples came under his authority.

[Sidenote: Juana la Loca and Philip the Handsome.]

In the same year, 1504, Isabella the Catholic died, leaving her throne to her elder daughter, Juana, and in case she should prove unable to govern to Ferdinand as regent until Juana's heir should become twenty years of age. Since Juana had already given evidence of that mental instability which was to earn for her the soubriquet "La Loca" (the Crazy), it was the intention of both Isabella and Ferdinand that the latter should rule, but Philip the Handsome, husband of Juana, intervened to procure the regency for himself. This was a serious set-back to the plans of Ferdinand, but fortunately for him there occurred the unexpected death of Philip in 1506. On the occasion of the latter's burial Juana gave such ample proof of her mental unfitness that it was now clear that Ferdinand would be called in as regent. In 1507 he was so installed, and he now had the resources of Spain at his back in the accomplishment of his ambitious designs. Leaving Cardinal Ximenez to effect conquests in northern Africa and to carry into execution other Castilian projects Ferdinand once again turned his attention to the aggrandizement of Aragon in Italy.

[Sidenote: The aggrandizement of Aragon in Italy and the conquest of Navarre.]

In 1508 Ferdinand joined an alliance of the pope, the emperor, and Louis XII of France against Venice, whereby he rounded out his Neapolitan possessions. Seeing that the French were gaining more than he desired he formed a new alliance, in 1511, with the pope, the emperor, Venice, and Henry VIII of England against France. The French were defeated and thrown out of Italy. Meanwhile, Ferdinand had taken advantage of the French sympathies of the ruler of Navarre and the excommunication of that king by the pope to overrun Navarre in 1512. The pope sanctioned the conquest of that part of the kingdom lying south of the Pyrenees, and it was definitely added to the Spanish domain. The French became dangerous anew with the accession of the glory-loving, ambitious Francis I in 1515. Ferdinand hastened to concert a league against him, into which entered the pope, the emperor, Milan, Florence, the Swiss states, and England, but war had hardly broken out when in 1516 Ferdinand died. For good or evil he had brought Spain into a leading place in European affairs. If his methods were questionable they were in keeping with the practices of his age; he was only worse than his rivals in that he was more successful.

[Sidenote: The accession of Charles I.]

Juana was still alive, but was utterly incompetent to act as head of the state. The logic of events and the will of Ferdinand pointed to her eldest son, Charles of Ghent, as the one to rule Aragon and Navarre and to act as regent of Castile (during his mother's life), although he had not attained to his twentieth year, a condition which had been exacted by the will of Isabella. Until such time as he could reach Spain, for he was then in the Low Countries, Cardinal Ximenez served as regent. With two acts of doubtful propriety Charles I, the later Charles V of the Empire, began his reign in the peninsula. He sent word to Ximenez, demanding that he be proclaimed king of Castile, despite the fact that the queen, his mother, was living. Notwithstanding the opposition of the _Cortes_ and his own unwillingness Ximenez did as Charles had required.

In 1517 Charles reached Spain, surrounded by a horde of Flemish courtiers. Foreseeing the difficulties likely to result from this invasion of foreign favorites Ximenez wrote to Charles, giving him advice in the matter, and hastening to meet him asked for an interview.

Instead of granting this request Charles sent him a note, thanking him for his services, and giving him leave to retire to his diocese "to rest and await the reward of Heaven for his merits."

CHAPTER XIX

SOCIAL REFORMS, 1479-1517

[Sidenote: Leading elements in the social history of the era.]

The most important events in Spain of a social character during the period of the Catholic Kings were the expulsion of the Jews and the conversion of the Castilian Mudejares, with the relations of the new Inquisition to both of these elements of Spanish society. Other events of more than ordinary note were the deprivation of the n.o.bility of some of their former prestige, the settlement of the dispute between the serfs and lords of Catalonia, the purification of the Castilian clergy, and the definitive triumph of the Roman principles in private law.

Greater than all of these were the problems which were to arise through the Spanish subjection of new races in the colonies overseas.

[Sidenote: Prestige of the n.o.bility, despite their reverses.]

Though with diminished prestige the n.o.bility continued to be the leading social cla.s.s in Castile, sharing this honor with the higher officials of the church. Much of the former economic preponderance of the n.o.bles was gone, due to the development of personalty as a form of wealth as distinguished from land, the fruit of the commerce and industry of the Jews, Mudejares, and middle cla.s.ses. They suffered still further through Isabella's revocation of the land grants they had received at times of civil war and internal weakness in former reigns, especially in that of Henry IV. Few n.o.bles or great churchmen, for the decree applied equally to the latter, escaped without loss of at least a portion of their rents, and some forfeited all they had. Naturally, the measure caused not a little discontent, but it was executed without any noteworthy resistance. On the other hand, through the continuance of the inst.i.tution of primogeniture and through new acquisitions of land in return for services in the war against Granada, the greater n.o.bles still possessed immense wealth. The Duke of Medina Sidonia, for example, offered Philip the Handsome two thousand _caballeros_ and 50,000 ducats ($750,000) if he would disembark in Andalusia. Not only in political authority but also in prestige the n.o.bles were lowered by the measures of the Catholic Kings. Such practices as the use of a royal crown on their s.h.i.+elds and the employment of royal insignia or ceremonial in any form were forbidden. On the other hand, the ancient privileges of the n.o.bility, both high and low, were confirmed to them,--such, for example, as exemption from taxation and from the application in certain cases of the penalties of the law. At the same time, the Catholic Kings offered a new kind of dignity, depending for its l.u.s.tre on the favor of the crown.

n.o.bles were encouraged to appear at court and strive for the purely ornamental honors of palace officialdom. Many came, for those who remained on their estates consigned themselves to obscurity, being without power to improve their fortunes by a revolt as their ancestors had done. In Aragon and Catalonia they still displayed tendencies to engage in private war and banditry, a condition of affairs which endured throughout this period and into the next, though it was by no means so serious a problem as it had been in earlier times.

[Sidenote: Grades of n.o.bility.]

The grades of n.o.bility remained much as before, but with a change in nomenclature. The old term of _ricos...o...b..es_ for the great n.o.bles disappeared (though not until 1520 officially), and was subst.i.tuted by that of _grandes_, or grandees. Among the grandees the t.i.tle of duke (_duque_) and marquis (_marques_) now became of more frequent usage than the formerly more general count (_conde_). In the epoch of the Catholic Kings there were fifteen grandees in Castile, but eight of them had been created, with the t.i.tle of duke, by Isabella. For the n.o.bility of the second grade, the terms _hijosdalgo_ (modern _hidalgo_) and _caballero_, used in a generic sense to denote n.o.ble lineage, were employed indiscriminately. n.o.bles without fortune lived, as formerly, under the protection of the grandees, or took service in the military orders or even in the new royal army.

[Sidenote: Advance of the rural ma.s.ses.]

The situation of the former servile cla.s.ses of Castile, aside from the slaves, had been rendered very nearly satisfactory from a juridical point of view in the previous era, but their new liberty was insecure and was not freely accorded in practice. The Catholic Kings energetically cut short the greater part of the abuses, and definitely decided that a man adscripted to the land (a _solariego_) could sell or carry away his personalty, and go wherever he willed. In Aragon proper the problem was more serious, because of the social backwardness of that region. The first step toward freedom from serfdom was taken at this time, consisting in the frequent uprisings of the serfs. Ferdinand made some attempts to modify the _malos usos_, or evil customs, of the relation of lord and serf, but found the inst.i.tutions too deeply rooted in his day for remedy. In Catalonia, Ferdinand inherited the problem of the warfare of the serfs with the n.o.bles and the high churchmen, against the latter of whom, particularly the bishop of Gerona, the wrath of the rural cla.s.ses was especially directed. At the outset he attempted, as had Alfonso V and Juan II before him, to utilize the quarrel to serve his own political and financial ends, accepting bribes from both sides.

Finally, an agreement was reached whereby the king was to serve as arbitrator, without appeal, between the warring elements. The Sentence of Guadalupe, so-called because the evidence was taken and the decision rendered at Guadalupe in Extremadura, in 1486, was the judgment p.r.o.nounced by Ferdinand. It went to the root of the matter by abolis.h.i.+ng the _malos usos_ and declaring the freedom of the rural serfs.

Furthermore, the lords were deprived of criminal jurisdiction over their va.s.sals, this right pa.s.sing to the crown, and the same privileges as that just recorded in the case of the _solariegos_ of Castile was granted to the rural ma.s.ses of Catalonia. On the other hand, the now freed serfs were obliged to pay a heavy ransom to their lords. The decision satisfied neither party to the issue, but was accepted, and proved in fact the solution of the evil. A rural cla.s.s of small proprietors soon grew up, while many other persons occupied lands for which they paid rent instead of the former irksome services.

[Sidenote: Policy of the Catholic Kings toward the Mudejares.]

If a policy of benevolent a.s.similation had been followed by the Christians of Spain with regard to the other great elements of the population, the Mudejar and the Jewish, it is possible that the two latter might have been made use of to the advantage of the peninsula, for they were Spanish in most of their habits, and had intermarried with Christians, even those of high rank. For centuries, however, a different practice, based primarily on religious intolerance, had tended to promote the adoption of an opposite course, and it was in the reign of the Catholic Kings that the first steps were taken to bring the matter to an issue. The measures by which the Mudejares were compelled to emigrate from Castile or become converted as Moriscos have already been chronicled, and the same procedure was taken with regard to Navarre and the Basque provinces. Ferdinand, who was less zealous in this undertaking than his pious consort, did not go to the same lengths in Aragon. On the pet.i.tion of the lords, who had many Moslem va.s.sals and feared to lose them, he confirmed the privileges of the Mudejares, though forbidding the erection of new mosques, and permitted of preaching to bring about their voluntary conversion.

[Sidenote: Expulsion of the Jews.]

The hatred of the Christians for the Jews was so great that the time was ripe for the final step in the measures taken against them, and early in the reign of the Catholic Kings it was decided to expel them from the peninsula. While the religious motive was the princ.i.p.al one, Ferdinand and Isabella were also actuated, as indeed also in the case of the Mudejares, by their ideal of a centralized absolutism, wherefore an element which was not in sympathy with the religion of the state seemed to them to const.i.tute a political danger. Their action was hastened, no doubt, by popular fanaticism, which expressed itself in numerous acts of violence against the hated race. With Granada conquered the Catholic Kings lost no time in promulgating a decree, dated March 31, 1492, requiring conversion or expulsion, and applicable to both Castile and Aragon. The Jews were granted four months to dispose of their affairs and leave Spain. The blow to them financially was ruinous. Forced sales, especially when there was so much to be sold, could not be expected to yield a fair return, and this was aggravated by prohibitions against carrying away any gold, silver, coin, or other kinds of personalty, except what the laws ordinarily permitted to be exported.

The full effect of this harsh legislation was avoided by some through a resort to the international banking agencies which the Jews had established. A number preferred to become Christians rather than go into exile, but thousands took the latter course. Some computations hold that as many as 2,000,000 left the country, but a more careful estimate by a Jewish historian gives the following figures: emigrants, 165,000; baptized, 50,000; those who lost their lives in course of the execution of the decree, 20,000. The exiles went to Portugal, North Africa, Italy, and France, but were so harshly treated, especially in the two first-named lands, that a great many preferred to return to Spain and accept baptism. Portugal and Navarre soon followed the action of Castile and Aragon, thus completing the cycle of anti-Jewish legislation in the peninsula. In law there were no more Jews; they had become Marranos.

[Sidenote: Activities of the Inquisition in Castile.]

Not a few of the converts, both Mudejar and Jewish, became sincere Christians, and some of them attained to high rank in the church.

Hernando de Talavera, for example, at one time confessor of the queen and one of the most influential men in the kingdom, had Jewish blood in his veins. A great many, very likely the majority, remained faithful at heart to the religion of their fathers, due partly to the lack of Christian instruction, and even when they did not, they were suspected of so doing, or maliciously accused of it by those who were envious of their wealth or social position. This had led the Catholic Kings to procure a papal bull, as early as 1478, granting the monarchs a right to name certain men, whom they should choose, as inquisitors, with power to exercise the usual authority of ecclesiastical judges. This was the beginning of the modern Spanish Inquisition. Leaving aside, for the present, its formal const.i.tution and procedure, its activities against converts may here be traced. The Inquisition began its work in Seville in 1480, with the object of uprooting heresy, especially among the Marranos. Afraid of being accused many fled, but enough remained for scores to be apprehended. In 1481 the first _auto de fe_ (decision of the faith) was held, and sixteen persons were burned to death. From Seville the inst.i.tution spread to other cities, and the terror became general. There is no doubt that the inquisitors displayed an excess of zeal, of which various papal doc.u.ments themselves furnish ample proof. A great many were put to death, especially while Juan de Torquemada was at the head of the inst.i.tution, 1485 to 1494. Some charge his inquisitorial reign with the death of 8000 persons, but more dispa.s.sionate estimates reduce the figures greatly, calculating the number to be 2000 for the reign of Isabella, ending in 1504. Very many more were either burned in effigy or put in prison, while confiscation of goods was one of the usual concomitants of a sentence involving loss of life or liberty.

Books were also examined and burned or their publication or circulation forbidden, and in every way efforts were made to prevent heresy as well as to stamp it out. By far the greatest number of sufferers were the Judaizantes, or those Marranos who practised the Jewish faith in secret.

It must be said that public opinion was not by any means on the side of the Inquisition; in course of time it became universally hated, as also feared, for n.o.body was entirely safe from accusation before the dread tribunal.

[Sidenote: The Inquisition in Aragon.]

The Inquisition had existed in the kingdom of Aragon since the thirteenth century, but Ferdinand now introduced the Castilian body. In 1485 the Inquisition became a single inst.i.tution for all Spain, although it was not until 1518 that this became definitive. The new organization had not been welcomed in Castile, but it found even less favor in Aragon, not only because of its excessive pretensions and rigors, but also because it superseded the traditional Aragonese Inquisition, was in the hands of Castilian "foreigners," and interfered with business. The city of Barcelona was especially resentful on this last account, because its prosperity depended not a little on the trade in the hands of Jewish converts, whom fear was driving away. On the first occasion of their appearance, in 1486, the inquisitors were obliged to leave Barcelona, and no less a personage than the bishop joined in the act of ejecting them, but in 1487 they returned to stay. The fear of the Inquisition and certain social and political disadvantages of being regarded as of Jewish or Moslem descent occasioned the introduction of doc.u.ments of _limpieza de sangre_ (purity of blood), attesting the Catholic ancestry of the possessors, although the development of this custom was more marked in the reign of Charles I.

[Sidenote: Reform of the Castilian church.]

One of the most signal reforms of the period, to which the pious Isabella, aided by Ximenez, gave her attention, was the purification of the Castilian clergy. The church, like the great n.o.bles, had suffered from the revocation of land grants it had gained in times of stress, and was obliged, furthermore, to restore the financial rights, such as the _alcabala_ and certain rents, it had usurped from the crown.

Nevertheless, its wealth was enormous. The rents of the secular church in all Spain are said to have amounted to some 4,000,000 ducats ($60,000,000), of which the archbishop of Toledo alone received 80,000 ($1,200,000). The regular clergy were equally wealthy. Vast as these sums appear, even today, their real value should be considered from the standpoint of the far greater purchasing power of money in that age than now. Whether or not the members of the clergy were softened by this wealth and by the favors they received as representatives of the church at a time of great religious zeal on the part of the Spanish people, it is certain that ignorance and immorality were prevalent among them.

Despite the centuries of conflict against it, the inst.i.tution of _barragania_ still had its followers, among others, Alfonso de Aragon, archbishop of Saragossa, and Cardinal Pedro de Mendoza. Laws were pa.s.sed imposing fines, banishment, and the lash,--without avail. Church councils met to discuss the various evils within the church. Ximenez at length applied to the church of Castile the methods Isabella had used in suppressing seigniorial anarchy. A Franciscan himself, he proceeded to visit the convents of the order and to administer correction with a heavy hand, expelling the more recalcitrant. It is said that some four hundred friars emigrated to Africa, and became Mohammedans, rather than submit to his rulings. From the Franciscan order the reforms pa.s.sed on to others. Isabella intervened more particularly in the case of the secular clergy, exercising great care in the choice of candidates for the higher dignities, selecting them from the lower n.o.bility or the middle cla.s.s instead of from the families of great n.o.bles as had formerly been the practice. At the same time, she took steps with considerable success to prevent the appointment of foreigners by the popes to Castilian benefices. In Aragon the same evils existed as in Castile, but the reforms did not come at this time to modify them.

[Sidenote: Triumph of Roman principles in Castilian private law.]