FRANCE AFTER THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR
France also issued from the Hundred Years' War with an absolute government. Strengthened by victory over the English, the French kings were able to reduce both the nobility and the commons to impotence. During the reign of Louis XI (1461-1483 A.D.) the royal domains were enlarged by the addition of Anjou, Provence, and the duchy of Burgundy. His son, Charles VIII (1483-1498 A.D.), made Brittany a possession of the French crown. The unification of France was now almost complete.
189. UNIFICATION OF SPAIN (TO 1492 A.D.)
THE SPANISH PENINSULA
The Spanish peninsula, known to the Romans as Hispania, is sharply separated from the rest of Europe by the Pyrenees Mountains. At the same time the nearness of the peninsula to Africa has always brought it into intimate relations with that continent. Just as Russia has formed a link between Asia and Europe, so Spain has served as a natural highway from Africa to Europe.
THE SPANISH PEOPLE
The first settlers in Spain, of whom we know anything, were the Iberians. They may have emigrated from northern Africa. After them came the Celts, who overran a large part of the peninsula and appear to have mingled with the Iberians, thus forming the mixed people known as Celtiberians. In historic times Spain was conquered by the Carthaginians, who left few traces of their occupation, by the Romans, who thoroughly Romanized the country, by the Visigoths, who founded a Germanic kingdom, and lastly by the Moors, who introduced Arabian culture and the faith of Islam. [27] These invaders were not numerous enough greatly to affect the population, in which the Celtiberian strain is still predominant.
CHRISTIAN STATES OF SPAIN
The Moors never wholly conquered a fringe of mountain territory in the extreme north of Spain. Here a number of small Christian states, including León, Castile, Navarre, and Aragon, came into being. In the west there also arose the Christian state of Portugal. Geographically, Portugal belongs to Spain, from which it is separated only by artificial frontiers, but the country has usually managed to maintain its independence.