magne.

and a certain barbarous ruggedness was necessary to their development. In the Roman polity, the idea of the State was supreme. So had it been, though in a different fashion, and within extremely contracted limits, in the commonwealths of Greece. But the State, in its high and elaborate sense, could have no existence amongst inorganic communities of savage warriors, whose only conception of Monarchy was that of chieftainship, and to whom a Republic was simply an incomprehensible folly. Civilisation was deeply injured by this revulsion towards primitive conditions; but the evil could not last, if civilisation was to endure at all. The idea of law, as distinguished from mere custom enforced by the sword, was preserved for ages by the Eastern Empire, and revived in the West under the grand but fugitive sovereignty of CharleGradually, as the new nationalities acquired culture, the necessity of a more settled order became apparent, and the feudal system arose, as the first effort of the new society to constitute itself. At the same time, the Papacy aimed at the creation of a spiritual Empire coextensive with the world. Thus pressed upon by two forces stronger than its own— -the power of the priesthood and the power of the nobles-Monarchy had for several ages little opportunity of independent growth. Kings were nothing more than slaves of the barons and of the Church. Оссаsionally they struggled against this subjection, but not always in the wisest or most disinterested manner, and frequently with scant success. Yet the inevitable tendency of events was to increase the authority of the sovereign, and to diminish that of the great landed proprietors and of the hierarchy. The Papacy never entirely recovered from the discredit of the Great Schism, when it was made apparent to all men that the Infallible Church was at deadly issue with itself. Feudalism received its death-blow when gunpowder was invented; for the mailed knight was in no better position before a battery of cannon than the humble retainer. The large standing armies of the ancient world again came into vogue; the new power fell into the hands of monarchs; and the commonalty often preferred the tyranny of a single head to the multitudinous oppressions of a privileged class. Commerce, learning, reviving art, the professional soldier, and the politic King, were the presiding genii at the birth of the Modern Age.

The first country to obtain predominant power under the new conditions was Spain, the later history of which dates from 1479; and the mention of Spain recalls our attention to the Moorish sovereign

ties in that peninsula. From 1238, the principal of the Spanish Mohammedan States was Granada -the most beautiful part of Andalusia, in itself the most beautiful part of Spain-a land of valley and mountain, of abounding vegetation and glowing vintage, of fruits and flowers, of delicate air and sapphire sky. So enamoured were the Moors of this terrestrial Paradise that, in their poetic way, they said the fairest region of heaven overhung the kingdom of Granada. The natural loveliness of the country was improved by the genius of the people, who delighted in buildings that seemed wrought of jewels-who encrusted their walls with exquisite combinations of gold and colour, broke the gloom of olive-groves with the sparkle of innumerable fountains, and lifted the purity of marble spires into the burning light of noon. A noble specimen of their architecture and their decorative taste still remains to us in the Alhambra-a ruin, it is true, but one which yet speaks eloquently of the past. The Alhambra, which is situated on a lofty hill overlooking the adjacent city, was originally built as a fortress in the early part of the eleventh century, but was enlarged and adorned as a palace by the later race of kings, when Granada succeeded to the position once occupied by Cordova. In the days of its highest glory, the Alhambra must have been almost unequalled among the palaces of the world. Vermilion, azure, and gold, the glitter of mosaics, the intricacy of geometrical forms, the high-wrought fantasies of arabesques, the iridescence of mother-of-pearl, the shine of ivory, and the varied glow of carpets and rich hangings, were intermingled with the fluent silver of fountains, and the living splendour of plants and flowers. was not merely the monarch who dwelt surrounded by beautiful and attractive objects. The houses even of the humble had their gardens, where, freshened by running streams, the orange, the lemon, the citron, and the myrtle, flourished with all the glad exuberance of the south.

But it

At a period when most European monarchs spread their floors with rushes, and hardly, at the best, advanced beyond the luxury of a mat, the Moorish kings of Granada lived under conditions of grandeur which descended to the smallest details. The annals of their State do not show so great a devotion to literature and science as that which had distinguished the Cordovan Caliphate; but the romance of history is equally apparent in the relations of these powerful Sultans with their own subjects, and with the Christian monarchies of Spain. The people of Granada carried on an extensive trade, and were famous for their manufactures. A high degree of prosperity was the natural consequence of

A.D. 1479.]

so much industry and enterprise, and the fertility | of the soil was developed to the utmost by culture. Ibn Alkhatib, a native author who wrote about the middle of the fourteenth century, gives an enthusiastic account of the gardens, farms, orchards, and fields of grain, which surrounded the city, and of the colleges provided for the education of the people. The monarchs of this Eden were often far superior to the usual vices of despots. Mohammed-ben-Alhamar, the first of the independent Sultans of Granada, governed his small kingdom with admirable liberality and wisdom. He established prizes for success in agriculture and manufactures; executed great works of irrigation; and so encouraged the production of silk that the fabrics of Asia were surpassed by those of Southern Spain. Schools and hospitals were founded and maintained by the munificence of Mohammed, and Granada was adorned with baths and public buildings which added to its health and beauty. The population of the kingdom was largely increased by fugitives from other Moorish sovereignties, which had been subdued by the Christians; and Mohammed, though compelled to acknowledge himself a vassal of the King of Leon and Castile, and to assist him in conquering Mussulman territory, preserved his own dominions intact to the end of his days.

The authority of the Granadan Sultans was systematically defied by the rebellious Valis, or Governors of provinces, who had acquired independent positions in Andalusia, Valencia, Estremadura, and other parts of Spain, and who often made common cause with the Christians. The consequence was that the rulers of Aragon and Castile progressed rapidly in subduing the weak and divided Moslems, and that the power of the Spaniards approached the southern coast. The followers of the Prophet struggled with their advancing fate, and sometimes successfully; but, for the most part, the Christians were in the ascendant, and the Spanish Moors obtained only precarious assistance from the Sultans of Morocco. Mohammed II. reigned in constant turmoil and anxiety. Mohammed III., who succeeded in 1302, was troubled by frequent rebellions, though an exemplary ruler; and the same may be related in general terms of the rest. Some of these monarchs provoked their misfortunes by treachery or despotism; yet few royal lines present a greater number of excellent kings than that of Granada. War with the Christians was frequent, and several of the most romantic incidents of Spanish legend belong to these contests of the opposing chivalry, which, characterised by desperate valour and heroic devotion on both sides, were not seldom humanised by acts of generosity, and even

3

by episodes of love. The enemies learned to respect one another, though not to compose their differences; and the Spanish poets sang the praises of Saracen knights almost as frequently as the deeds of their own.

One of the most striking narratives in connection with the Granadan sovereignty is that of the Abencerrages-a relation of doubtful authenticity, but one which cannot be altogether omitted. The Abencerrages were among the most powerful families of Granada under the sceptre of Abou Hassan, who reigned from 1466 to 1484. They had been a good deal mixed up in the civil contentions of previous reigns, and were hated by the family of the Zegris, who especially envied Mohammed Aben Zurran for the esteem in which he was held by the Queen. To effect the ruin of this powerful nobleman, the Zegris told the King that Zurran was engaged in a criminal intrigue with his royal mistress. royal mistress. Abou believed the story, and resolved to destroy the whole race of the Abencerrages. They were invited to the Alhambra, and thirty-six were seized and beheaded as they entered the Court of the Lions. Before the others could be similarly treated, an alarm had spread throughout the city, and the people rushed tumultuously to the palace, with the intention of killing the Sultan. The tyrant, however, escaped; but two hundred of the Zegris, and of another family opposed to the Abencerrages, were slaughtered by the friends of the latter. The insurrection was ultimately suppressed, and the Queen sentenced to be burned alive, if within thirty days she did not produce four knights to defend her cause against her four accusers. Having refused all the offers of Moorish knights, the Queen apparently expected her death on the thirtieth day; but, at the last moment, four Christian knights, disguised as Mohammedans, rode into the great square, challenged the Queen's traducers to mortal combat, and slew them all. The principal of these champions was Don Juan de Chacon, Lord of Carthagena, to whom the Queen had secretly written for assistance. The head of the Zegris afterwards confessed the falsehood of his accusation; but the Queen refused to be reconciled with her husband, and the incident, by increasing the disaffection of the chief families, prepared the way for the conquest of Granada by the Spaniards. Such is the celebrated legend of the Abencerrages. It has been related in many poetical forms, but possesses slight historical foundation. There seems, however, to have been a plot, during the reign of Mohammed VIII., for destroying the Zeragh family, who were objects of suspicion to the monarch, and of whom a certain number were assassinated, while

the rest escaped into Castile. This was probably the origin of the story, of which the more romantic details are not to be found in the authentic histories of Granada.

The principal of the Spanish kingdoms, during the period of the Granadan sovereignty, were Aragon and Castile. To the latter country Leon was finally united in 1230, and in 1458 Aragon and Navarre came under one rule. Juan II. of Navarre, who succeeded his brother as King of Aragon, was the father of Ferdinand II., who subsequently married Isabella, Queen of Castile, and thus prepared the way for that great Spanish Monarchy which was shortly to be the mightiest power in Europe. The marriage took place in 1469, at which time Castile was under the sceptre of King Henry IV., the brother of Isabella, while Juan was still reigning in Aragon. It was not until the decease of Henry, in 1474, that Isabella became Queen of Castile and Leon, or that her husband acquired those rights of sovereignty which he thenceforward exercised. An opponent arose in the person of the Infanta Joanna, a reputed daughter of Henry IV., espoused to Alfonso IV., King of Portugal; and a war ensued, in which Ferdinand defeated the Portuguese army at Toro. A peace was afterwards concluded, which left him and his Queen in quiet possession of the Castilian crown; and the death of Ferdinand's father, in 1479, enabled him to unite the kingdom of Aragon (including its dependencies, Sicily and Sardinia) with the sovereignties of Castile and Leon. Most of the smaller Spanish States had already been absorbed by these larger monarchies, and the only fear of rupture proceeded from the mutual jealousies of the Castilians and the Aragonese. The former appear to have apprehended that the independence of their ancient kingdom would be absorbed in the predominance of Aragon, inasmuch as the Queen would have to yield a certain precedence to the King.

The matter was at length settled by an agreement to the effect that the names of both sovereigns were to appear jointly upon the coin, and in all legal proceedings (the King's, however, taking the first place, in consideration of his sex), but that, in the royal escutcheon, the arms of Castile should be preferred, on account of the greater dignity of that kingdom. The appointment to all civil offices in Castile was to be made by Isabella alone; the nomination to spiritual benefices was to be in the name of both. In the general government of the united monarchy, each was to have an equal voice; and it is a remarkable fact that this somewhat difficult arrangement was pre

served in perfect harmony through the lives of the two rulers.

Ferdinand and his wife were both persons of considerable ability; but they were tainted by the bigotry of their time-a circumstance, however, which is hardly surprising, when we consider the long and desperate contests which had prevailed for ages between the Moors and the Spanish Christians, and which for a long while left it doubtful whether the faith of the latter would not be entirely trampled out. The united monarchs reintroduced the Inquisition into Spain, under forms more despotic than had been known before, expelled the Jews, and received from the Pope the title of "the Catholic," which is still borne by their successors. The special claim of Ferdinand and Isabella to this distinction was based on the great military achievement of their reign—the expulsion of the Moors from the last Mohammedan stronghold of Granada. For several years, a truce had subsisted between the Moslems, on the one hand, and the sovereigns of Castile and Aragon on the other. All the parties to this understanding were glad to be spared the necessity of war, as each had enough to do in repressing feuds and insurrections in his own realm. The Moorish State, in particular, was torn by internal dissensions; but during the reign of Abou Hassan the armistice was broken by the Granadans, who invaded Christian Andalusia, and successfully attacked several towns. Power was afterwards seized by Abdallah el Zagal, who had a rival in Abou Abdallah. Ferdinand and Isabella professed to support the latter of these pretenders, but in reality directed their efforts to the destruction of the Moorish power in Spain, by whomsoever it might be wielded. The war lasted between ten and eleven years, from the invasion of Andalusia, in 1481, to the capture of Granada at the beginning of 1492. Every campaign was conducted by Ferdinand himself, and during his absence Isabella ruled over the united kingdoms with an ability equal to his own. Occasionally she appeared in the camp, clad in complete armour, and riding a horse, and on one occasion nearly fell a victim, together with her husband, to the attack of a Moorish fanatic, who penetrated into the royal tent with the intention of assassinating both.

The war proceeded with varying fortunes, but, in the end, the Christian cause predominated. In 1489, the city of Baza was surrendered by a nephew of Abdallah el Zagal (the reigning monarch), and the latter himself was soon afterwards persuaded to give up the remaining towns, with the exception of the capital, and to resign his royal dignity, upon