The intellectual movement in Aragon and Catalonia ran along lines parallel to that in León and Castile, but with more frequent contact with French and Italian thought. Jaime I followed the custom of the era in founding universities, establishing one at Lérida and another at Valencia. One great name appeared in the literary history of this period, reaching over into the next, that of Raimundo Lulio, known to English scholars as Raymond Lull, or Lully (1232-1315), a philosopher, mystic, and poet, who wrote many books which had a noteworthy influence on European thought. Writing in the vulgar tongue and in a style adapted to the general public, he attacked the pantheistic ideals of Averröes and held that all sciences, though they have their individual principles, lead to a single all-embracing science, which, for him, was Christianity; in other words, he represented the reconcilement of Christianity with reason and science. The development of the Romance tongues followed the same course as in Castile, but the Catalan became widely separated from the other peninsular tongues, being more akin to the Provençal, or language of southern France. The Provençal influence on poetry was earlier in evidence in Catalonia than in Castile, and was more pronounced. Lyric poetry, accompanied by music, was so high in favor that great nobles and the kings themselves cultivated it. Alfonso II (1162-1196) was the first Spanish troubadour, and other kings followed, including Jaime I. History was the most important form of prose literature, and the principal work was that of Jaime I himself, a chronicle of the vicissitudes of his reign. Jaime I also compiled a collection of proverbs and the sayings of wise men.
Architecture.
The Romanesque art of this region was less heavy and more gracefully proportioned than that of Castile,—possibly, the result of Italian influences. Catalan Gothic architecture was especially affected by Italian art,—so much so, that it lacked some of the principal elements of the Gothic.
Navarre
Attention need be called only to the profound French influence in this region.
CHAPTER X
DEVELOPMENT TOWARD NATIONAL UNITY: CASTILE, 1252-1479
General characteristics of the era.
AFTER the death of Ferdinand III and of Jaime I the reconquest of Spain from the Moslems came to a virtual standstill for over two centuries. Some slight accessions of territory were obtained by Castile, but no serious effort was made to acquire the only remaining enemy stronghold, the kingdom of Granada. Conditions had changed to such an extent that Moslem Spain for the first tune in more than five centuries was of secondary and even minor importance. Castile and Aragon devoted their principal attention to other affairs, and both took great strides ahead in the march of civilization. In Castile the chief problems were of an internal social and political nature. On the one hand this period marked the change from a seigniorial country type of life to that of the developed town as the basis of society; on the other it witnessed the struggle of monarchy and the ideal of national unity against seigniorial anarchy and decentralization for which the lords (including many of the great churchmen) and the towns contended. As before, the king’s principal opponents were the nobles, and the civil wars of this era, whatever the alleged causes, were really only the expression of the struggle just referred to. Outwardly the kings appeared to have been defeated, but in no period of the history of Spain has the external narrative been more at variance with the actual results, as shown by a study of the underlying institutions, than in this. The real victory lay with monarchy and unity, and this was to be made manifest in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella following this era. That reign was therefore the true end of this period, but as it was even more the beginning of modern Spain it has been left for separate treatment. The institutions of Castile from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century were therefore of more than usual importance, and particularly so since they formed the basis for the system which Spain was so soon to establish in the Americas. In almost every aspect of life, social, political, economic, and intellectual, Castile forged as far ahead over the preceding period as that had over the one before it, although it did not reach that high and intricate culture which is the product of modern times. Castile was still medieval, like nearly all of Europe, but the new age was close at hand.
Alfonso “the Learned.”
His foreign policy.