Isabel of Castile and the making of the Spanish nation, 1451-1504

by Ierne L. Plunket

Declaring that individuals were responsible for their own conduct alone, he repudiated any connection with Villena save the tie of marriage with his sister. His sword had been drawn in self-defence when the Duke attacked him in his house and drove him from the city; but he had neither the time nor inclination to help the Portuguese. In token of his loyalty he offered to hand over Xerez and the other fortresses in his power to whatever officials Isabel chose to send in her name.

Such a complete surrender bears witness to the impression already created in Castile by the new sovereigns. It was the certainty that he would obtain justice that had brought the Marquis of Cadiz so trustingly to Seville. It was fear of what disobedience might cost him that made the Duke of Medina-Sidonia submit to his enemy’s return to favour. The Queen on her part accepted their compliance as if she thought it the only possible course they could have adopted; but she knew their rivalry still smouldered, and, having gained control of their fortresses, took steps to prevent further trouble. Neither Duke nor Marquis, she declared, should put foot in Seville henceforth without her leave; though she and Ferdinand gave their promise that they would enquire into the quarrel when leisure permitted, and would see what could be done to effect a settlement, that both might return to the city in safety. Circumstances, however, were to make this interposition unnecessary, as will be seen in a later chapter.

The justice shown in Galicia and Seville was typical of the measures adopted elsewhere; measures so widespread that the old machinery of government proved totally inadequate for their execution. Reconstruction went perforce hand in hand with reform; and, just as in the Cortes of Madrigal and Dueñas the Santa Hermandad had been placed on a new and more practical basis, so in the Cortes of Toledo of 1480 the whole executive and judicial system was subjected to a close revision.

Amongst the changes effected, none was to prove of more lasting influence than the decided bias there given towards the employment of the lawyer class in all important matters of state. Sprung mainly from the bourgeoisie, or from the ranks of the lesser nobility, the lawyers had for a long time rendered to Castilian sovereigns their services of penmanship and technical knowledge; but the preponderating power in the royal counsels had remained the higher aristocracy with its claims of blood and wealth.

Ferdinand and Isabel did not set themselves openly to humble the latter class, as Henry IV. had attempted in his new creations; but the fact that the government was daily growing more specialized made it necessary that trained and expert officials should take the place of amateurs, however high their personal qualifications. Thus, in the Cortes of Toledo, the composition of the Royal Council, before mainly aristocratic, was officially settled as one bishop, three “caballeros,” or knights, and eight or nine lawyers. This does not mean that the greater nobles suddenly received an intimation that their presence was no longer required. They were welcomed as before with profound respect, but the feeling that it rested with themselves whether they attended or no would soon encourage the less strenuous to withdraw. A further impetus to their exclusion would be given by the division of the government into the specialized departments described by Hernando de Pulgar in his account of the Cortes of Toledo.

Hitherto the Royal Council, “Nuestro Consejo” as the sovereigns were fond of alluding to it, had been the chief medium of their will. At times a consultative committee, its functions were also administrative and judicial; and, in the latter aspect, it had tended to absorb much of the work belonging to the other Courts of Law, such as the “Royal Audiences” or “Chancery” for civil cases, and the supreme criminal court of the “Alcaldes de Corte.”

In response to the deputies’ petitions, the encroachments of the Royal Council in this respect were forbidden; while a scheme was discussed by which the Court of Chancery, which had followed the sovereigns from place to place to the great inconvenience of litigants, was in 1485 permanently established in Valladolid for the benefit of Northern Castile. Another similar court was also placed in Ciudad Real to supply the needs of the country south of the Tagus, being removed however at the end of the Moorish war to the more important town of Granada.

At first sight it would seem from these measures as if the judicial functions of the Royal Council had been destroyed, whereas on the contrary they were to develop an authority, that not only threatened but dominated the “Audiences” of Valladolid and the South. Of the five departments of government defined by the Cortes of Toledo, it was in the Council of Justice that the true nucleus of the Royal Council, their common ancestor, remained. Here sat the King and Queen in person, the recognized source of all Castilian law; here, in their absence, ruled a President, whose authority was reckoned in the kingdom as second only to that of Sovereignty itself; here was a body of highly trained lawyers, whose official acts demanded the unqualified obedience of every subject, and whose decisions on legal matters were final. It is little wonder if the Council of Justice became the dominating element of the Castilian Government.

The Council of State, the second of the new departments for public affairs, was also presided over by the King and Queen, but it dealt mainly with foreign negotiations, hearing embassies and transacting business with the Court of Rome. In addition there was the Supreme Court of the Santa Hermandad, a Council of Finance, and a Council for settling purely Aragonese matters.

A link between these central councils and the local government of the country was found in “pesquisidores,” or inspectors, sent out from headquarters to enquire how the law was being administered and obeyed. Were the repressive measures against the Jews sternly enforced? Were the “corregidores,” now in 1480 imposed by royal authority on all cities and towns, doing their duty both by the Crown and also by the municipalities in which they were placed? Had any governor of a fortress or other official oppressed the people in his neighbourhood, or for his own ends shown favouritism to certain families? These were some of the questions to which the inspector must require an answer, and where those answers were unsatisfactory it rested with him to see justice performed.