[49]
"Hizo guerra a los Moros,
Ganando sus fortalezas
Y sus villas.
Y en las lides que Venció
Caballeros y Caballos
Se perdiéron,
Y en este ofloio ganó
Las rentas y los vasallos
Que le dieron." Coplas de Manrique, copla 31.
[50] Asso and Manuel derive the introduction of fiefs into Castile, from Catalonia. (Instituciones, p. 96.) The twenty-sixth title, part. 4, of Alfonso X.'s code, (Siete Partidas,) treats exclusively of them. (De los Feudos.) The laws 2, 4, 5, are expressly devoted to a brief exposition of the nature of a fief, the ceremonies of investiture, and the reciprocal obligations of lord and vassal. Those of the latter consisted in keeping his lord's counsel, maintaining his interest, and aiding him in war. With all this, there are anomalies in this code, and still more in the usages of the country, not easy to explain on the usual principles of the feudal relation; a circumstance, which has led to much discrepancy of opinion on the subject, in political writers, as well as to some inconsistency. Sempere, who entertains no doubt of the establishment of feudal institutions in Castile, tells us, that "the nobles, after the Conquest, succeeded in obtaining an exemption from military service,"—one of the most conspicuous and essential of all the feudal relations. Histoire des Cortès, pp. 30, 72, 249.
[51] Asso y Manuel, Instituciones, p. 26.—Sempere, Histoire des Cortès, chap. 4.—The incensed nobles quitted the cortes in disgust, and threatened to vindicate their rights by arms, on one such occasion, 1176. Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. i. p. 644. See also tom. ii. p. 176.
[52] Idem auctores, ubi supra.—Prieto y Sotelo, Historia del Derecho Real de España, (Madrid, 1738,) lib. 2, cap. 23; lib. 3, cap. 8.
[53] Siete Partidas, (ed. de la Real Acad., Madrid, 1807,) part. 4, tit. 25, ley 11. On such occasions they sent him a formal defiance by their king at arms. Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. i. pp. 768, 912.
[54] Ibid., tom. i. pp. 707, 713.
[55] The forms of this solemnity may be found in Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. i. p. 907.
[56] Marina, Ensayo, p. 128.
[57] John I., in 1390, authorized appeals from the seignorial tribunals to those of the crown. Ibid., tom. ii. p. 179.
[58] The nature of these dignities is explained in Salazar de Mendoza, Monarquía, tom. i. pp. 155, 166, 203.