The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Volume III Part 39

[31] It should be stated, however, that the cortes of Valladolid, in 1506, two years after the queen's death, enjoined Philip and Joanna to make no laws without the consent of cortes; remonstrating, at the same time, against the existence of many royal _pragmaticas_, as an evil to be redressed. "Y por esto se establecio lei que no hiciesen ni renovasen leyes sino en cortes. ***** Y porque fuera de esta orden se han hecho muchas prematicas de que estos vuestros reynos se tienen por agraviados, manden que aquellas se revean y provean y remedien los agravios que las tales prematicas tienen." (Marina, Teoria, tom. ii. p. 218.) Whether this is to be understood of the ordinances of the reigning sovereigns, or their predecessors, may be doubted. It is certain, that the nation, however it may have acquiesced in the exercise of this power by the late queen, would not have been content to resign it to such incompetent hands, as those of Philip and his crazy wife.

[32] "Liberi patriis legibus, nil imperio Regis gubernantur." Opus Epist., epist. 438.

[33] Capmany, however, understates the number, when he limits it to four sessions only during this whole reign. Practica y Estilo, p. 62.

[34] See Part II., Chapter 12, note 7, of this History.--"Si quis aliquid," says Martyr, speaking of a cortes general held at Monzon, by Queen Germaine, "sibi contra jus illatum putat, aut a regia corona quaequam deberi existimat, nunquam dissolvuntur conventus, donec conquerenti satisfiat, neque Regibus parere in exigendis pecuniis, solent aliter. Regina quotidie scribit, se vexari eorum pet.i.tionibus, nec exsolvere se quire, quod se maxime optare ostendit. Rex imminentis necessitatis bellicae vim proponit, ut in aliud tempus querelas differant, per literas, per nuntios, per ministros, conventum praesidentesque hortatur monetque, et summissis fere verbis rogare videtur." 1512. (Opus Epist., epist. 493.) Blancas notices Ferdinand's astuteness, who, instead of money granted by the Aragonese with difficulty and reservations, usually applied for troops at once, which were furnished and paid by the state. (Modo de Proceder, fol. 100, 101.) Zurita tells us, that both the king and queen were averse to meetings of cortes in Castile oftener than absolutely necessary, and both took care, on such occasions, to have their own agents near the deputies, to influence their proceedings. "Todas las vezes que en lo pa.s.sado el Rey, y la Reyna dona Isabel llamauan a cortes en Castilla, temian de las llamar: y despues de llamodos, y ayuntados los procuradores, ponian tales personas de su parte, que continuamente se junta.s.sen con ellos; por escusar lo que podria resultar de aquellos ayuntamientos: y tambien por darles a entender, que no tenian tanto poder, quanto ellos se imaginauan." (a.n.a.les, tom. vi. fol. 96.) This course is as repugnant to Isabella's character as it is in keeping with her husband's.

Under their joint administration, it is not always easy to discriminate the part which belongs to each. Their respective characters, and political conduct in affairs where they were separately concerned, furnish us a pretty safe clue to our judgment in others.

[35] As, for example, both when he resigned, and resumed the regency. See Part II., Chapters 17, 20.

[36] In the first cortes after Isabella's death, at Toro, in 1505, Ferdinand introduced the practice, which has since obtained, of administering an oath of secrecy to the deputies, as to the proceedings of the session; a serious wound to popular representation. (Marina, Teoria, tom. i. p. 273.) Capmany (Practica y Estilo, p. 232.) errs in describing this as "un arteficio Maquiavelico inventado por _la politica Alemana_."

The German Machiavelism has quite sins enough in this way to answer for.

[37] The introductory law to the "Leyes de Toro" holds this strange language; "Y porque al rey pertenesce y ha poder de hazer fueros y leyes, y de las interpretar y emendar donde vieren que c.u.mple," etc. (Leyes de Toro, fol. 2.) What could John II., or any despot of the Austrian line, claim more?

[38] See the address of the cortes, in Marina, Teoria, tom. p. 282.

[39] Among the writers repeatedly cited by me, it is enough to point out the citizen Marina, who has derived more ill.u.s.trations of his liberal theory of the const.i.tution from the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella than from any other; and who loses no opportunity of panegyric on their "paternal government," and of contrasting it with the tyrannical policy of later times.

[40] Marina enumerates no less than nine separate codes of civil and munic.i.p.al law in Castile, by which the legal decisions were to be regulated, in Ferdinand and Isabella's time. Ensayo Historico-Critico, sobre la Antigua Legislacion de Castilla, (Madrid, 1808,) pp. 383-386.-- a.s.so y Manuel, Inst.i.tuciones, Introd.

[41] See Part I., Chapter 6, of this History.

[42] "A collection," says senor Clemencin, "of the last importance, and indispensable to a right understanding of the spirit of Isabella's government, but, nevertheless, little known to Castilian writers, not excepting the most learned of them." (Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi.

Il.u.s.t. 9.) No edition of the _Pragmaticas_ has appeared since the publication of Philip II.'s "Nueva Recopilacion," in 1567, in which a large portion of them are embodied. The remainder having no further authority, the work has gradually fallen into oblivion. But, whatever be the cause, the fact is not very creditable to professional science in Spain.

[43] The earliest edition was at Alcala de Henares, printed by Lanzalao Polono, in 1503. It was revised and prepared for the press by Johan Ramirez, secretary of the royal council, from whom the work is often called "Pragmaticas de Ramirez." It pa.s.sed through several editions by 1550. Clemencin (ubi supra) enumerates five, but his list is incomplete, as the one in my possession, probably the second, has escaped his notice.

It is a fine old folio, in black letter, containing in addition some ordinances of Joanna, and the "Laws of Toro," in 192 folios. On the last is this notice by the printer. "Fue ympressa la presente obra en la muy n.o.ble y muy leal cibdad de Senilla, por Juan Varela ympressor de libros.

Acabose a dos dias del mes de otubre de mill y quinientos y veynte anos."

The first leaf after the table of contents exhibits the motives of its publication. "E porque como algunas de ellas (pragmaticas sanciones e cartas) ha mucho tiempo que se dieron, e otras se hicieron en diversos tiempos, estan derramadas por muchas partes, no se saben por todos, e aun muchas de las dichas justicias no tienen comlida noticia de todas ellas, paresciendo ser necesario e provechoso; mandamos fi los del nuestro consejo que las hiciesen juntar e corregir e impremir," etc.

[44] "Leyes de Toro," say a.s.so and Manuel, "veneradas tanto desde entonces, que se les dio el primer lugar de valimiento sobre todas las del Reyno." Inst.i.tuciones, Introd. p. 95.

[45] See the sensible memorial of Jovellanos, "Informe al Real y Supremo Consejo en el Expediente de Ley Agraria." Madrid, 1795.

There have been several editions of this code, since the first of 1505.

(Marina, Ensayo, No. 450.) I have copies of two editions, in black letter, neither of them known to Marina; one, above noticed, printed at Seville, in 1520; and the other at Medina del Campo, in 1555, probably the latest.

The laws were subsequently incorporated in the "Nueva Recopilacion."

[46] "Esta ley," says Jovellanos, "que los jurisconsultos llaman a boca llena injusta y barbara, lo es mucho mas por la extension quelos pragmaticas le dieron en sus comentarios." (Informe, p. 76, nota.) The edition of Medina del Campo, in 1555, is swelled by the commentaries of Miguel de Cifuentes, till the text, in the language of bibliographers, looks like "cymba in oceano."

[47] Ante, Part I., Chapter 6.

[48] Leyes del Quaderno Nuevo de las Rentas de las Alcavalas y Franquezas, hecho en la Vega de Granada, (Salamanca, 1550); a little code of 37 folios, containing 147 laws for the regulation of the crown rents. It was made in the Vega of Granada, December 10th, 1491. The greater part of these laws, like so many others of this reign, have been admitted into the "Nueva Recopilacion."

[49] the head of these, undoubtedly, must be placed Dr. Alfonso Diaz de Montalvo, noticed more than once in the course of this History. He ill.u.s.trated three successive reigns by his labors, which he continued to the close of a long life, and after he had become blind. The Catholic sovereigns highly appreciated his services, and settled a pension on him of 30,000 maravedies. Besides his celebrated compilation of the "Ordenancas Reales," he wrote commentaries on the ancient code of the "Fuero Real," and on the "Siete Partidas," printed for the first time under his own eye, in 1491. (Mendez, Typographia Espanola, p. 183.) Marina (Ensayo, p. 405) has bestowed a beautiful eulogium on this venerable lawyer, who first gave to light the princ.i.p.al Spanish codes, and introduced a spirit of criticism into the national jurisprudence.

[50] This gigantic work was committed, wholly or in part, to Dr. Lorenzo Galindez de Carbajal. He labored many years on it, but the results of his labors, as elsewhere noticed, have never been communicated to the public.

See a.s.so y Manuel, Inst.i.tuciones, pp. 50, 99.--Marina, Ensayo, pp. 392, 406, and Clemencin, whose Il.u.s.t. 9 exhibits a most clear and satisfactory view of the legal compilations under this reign.

[51] Lord Bacon's comment on Henry VII.'s laws, might apply with equal force to these of Ferdinand and Isabella. "Certainly his times for good commonwealth's laws did excel. ***** For his laws, whoso marks them well, are deep, and not vulgar; not made upon the spur of a particular occasion for the present, but out of providence of the future, to make the estate of his people still more and more happy; after the manner of the legislators in ancient and heroical times." Hist. of Henry VII., Works, (ed. 1819,) vol. v. p. 60.

[52] Ante, Part I., Chapter 6.

[53] Pragmaticas del Reyno, fol. 24, 30, 39.--Recop. de las Leyes, (ed.

1640,) tom. i. lib. 2, t.i.t. 5, leyes 1, 2, 3, 11, 12, 20; t.i.t. 7, ley 1.-- Ordenancas Reales, lib. 2. t.i.t. 4. The southern chancery, first opened at Ciudad Real, in 1494, was subsequently transferred by the sovereigns to Granada.

[54] Ante, Part I., Chapter 7, note 39.

[55] Ante, Part I., Chapter 6, note 34.

[56] Riol, Informe, apud Seminario Erudito, tom. iii. p. 149.--It consisted of a vice chancellor, as president, and six ministers, two from each of the three provinces of the crown. It was consulted by the king on all appointments and matters of government. The Italian department was committed to a separate tribunal, called the council of Italy, in 1556.

Capmany (Mem. de Barcelona, tom. iv. Apend. 17) has explained at length the functions and authority of this inst.i.tution.

[57] See the nature and broad extent of these powers, in Recop. de Leyes de las Indias, tom. i. lib. 2, t.i.t. 2, leyes 1, 2.--Also Solorzano, Politica Indiana, tom. ii. lib. 5, cap. 15; who goes no further back than the remodelling of this tribunal under Charles V.--Riol, Informe, apud Semanario Erudito, tom. iii. pp. 159, 160.

The third volume of the Semanario Erudito, pp. 73-233, contains a report, drawn up, by command of Philip V., in 1726, by Don Santiago Augustin Riol, on the organization and state of the various tribunals, civil and ecclesiastical, under Ferdinand and Isabella; together with an account of the papers contained in their archives. It is an able memorial, replete with curious information. It is singular that this interesting and authentic doc.u.ment should have been so little consulted, considering the popular character of the collection in which it is preserved. I do not recollect ever to have met with a reference to it in any author. It was by mere accident, in the absence of a general index, that I stumbled on it in the _mare magnum_ in which it is engulfed.

[58] "Pusieron los Reyes Catolicos," says the penetrating Mendoza, "el govierno de la justicia, i cosas publicas en manos de Letrados, gente media entre los grandes i pequenos, sin ofensa de los linos ni de los otros. Cuya profesion eran letras legales, comedimiento, secreto, verdad, vida liana, i sin corrupcion de costumbres." Guerre de Granada, p. 15.

[59] Granada, September 3d, Pragmaticas del Reyno, fol. 135.--A pragmatic of similar import was issued by Henry III. Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom, i., Introd. p. 46.

[60] Granada, August 11th, 1501. Pragmaticas del Reyno, fol. 137.

[61] Alfaro, November 10th, 1495. Ibid., fol. 136.

[62] See a number of these, collected by Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, Introd. pp. 43, 44.

[63] Cited by Robertson, History of America, vol. iii. p. 305.

[64] The fleet fitted out against the Turks, in 1482, consisted of seventy sail, and that under Gonsalvo, in 1500, of sixty, large and small. (Ante, Part I., Chapter 6: Part II., Chapter 10.) See other expeditions, enumerated by Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. i. p. 50.

[65] Cura de los Palacios, MS., cap. 153; who, indeed, estimates the complement of this fleet at 25,000 men; a round number, which must certainly include persons of every description. The Invincible Armada consisted, according to Dunham, of about 130 vessels, large and small, 20,000 soldiers, and 8,000 seamen. (History of Spain and Portugal, vol. v.

p. 59.) The estimate falls below that of most writers.

[66] En el real de la vega de Granada, December 20th. (Pragmaticas del Reyno, fol. 133.) "Y les apercibays," enjoins the ordinance, "que los marauedis porque los vendieren los ban de sacar de nuestros reynos en mercadurias: y ni en oro ni en plata ni en moneda amonedada de manera que no pueden pretender ygnorancia: y den fiancas lianas y abonadas de lo fazer y c.u.mplir a.s.si: y si fallaredes que sacan o lieuan oro o plata o moneda contra el tenor y forma de las dichas leyes y desta nuestra carta mandamos vos que gelo torneys: y sea perdido como las dichas leyes mandan, y demas cayan y incurran en las penas en las leyes de nuestros reynos contenidas contra los que sacan oro o plata o moneda fuera dellos sin nuestra licencia y mandado: las quales executad en ellosy en sus fiadores."

[67] Pragmaticas del Reyno, fol. 92, 134.--These laws were as old as the fourteenth century in Castile, and had been renewed by every succeeding monarch, from the time of John I. (Ordenancas Reales, lib. 6, t.i.t. 9, leyes 17-22.) Similar ones were pa.s.sed under the contemporary princes, Henry VII. and Henry VIII. of England, James IV. of Scotland, etc.

[68]--"Balucis malleator Hispanae," says Martial, noticing the noise made by the gold-beaters, hammering out the Spanish ore, as one of the chief annoyances which drove him from the capital, (lib. 12, ep. 57.) See also the precise statement of Pliny, cited Part I., Chapter 8, of this History.

[69] "Porque haciendose ansi al modo e costumbre de los dichos senores Reyes pasados, cesaran los inmensos gastos y sin provecho que la mesa e casa de S. M. se hacen; pues el dano desto notoriamente paresce porque se halla en el plato real y en los platos que se hacen a los privados e criados de su casa gasta.r.s.e cada mio dia ciento y cincuenta mil maravedis; y los Catolicos Reyes D. Hernando e Dona Isabel, seyendo tan excelentes y tan poderosos, en su plato y en el plato del principe D. Joan que haya gloria, e de las senoras infantas con gran numero y mult.i.tud de damas no se gastar cada un dia, seyetido mui abastados como de tales Reyes, mas de doce a quince mil maravedis." Peticion de la Junta de Tordesillas, October 20, 1520, apud Sandoval, Hist. del Emp. Carlos V., tom. i. p. 230.

[70] In 1493; repeated in 1501. Recop. de las Leyes, tom. ii. fol. 3.--In 1502. Pragmaticas del Reyno, fol. 139.

[71] At Segovia, September 2d; also in 1496 and 1498. Pragmaticas del Reyno, fol. 123, 125, 126.

[72] At Granada, in 1499.--This on pet.i.tion of cortes, in the year preceding. Sempere, in his sensible "Historia del Luxo," has exhibited the series of the manifold sumptuary laws in Castile. It is a history of the impotent struggle of authority, against the indulgence of the innocent propensities implanted in our nature, and naturally increasing with increasing wealth and civilization.