The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic — Volume 3

by William Hickling Prescott

The commons gained political consideration, no doubt, by the depression of the nobles; but their chief gain lay in the inestimable blessings of domestic tranquillity, and the security of private rights. The crown absorbed the power, in whatever form, retrieved from the privileged orders; the pensions and large domains, the numerous fortified places, the rights of seigniorial jurisdiction, the command of the military orders, and the like. Other circumstances conspired to raise the regal authority still higher; as, for example, the international relations then opened with the rest of Europe, which, whether friendly or hostile, were conducted by the monarch alone, who, unless to obtain supplies, rarely condescended to seek the intervention of the other estates; the concentration of the dismembered provinces of the Peninsula under one government; the immense acquisitions abroad, whether from discovery or conquest, regarded in that day as the property of the crown, rather than of the nation; and, finally, the consideration flowing from the personal character, and long successful rule, of the Catholic sovereigns. Such were the manifold causes, which, without the imputation of a criminal ambition, or indifference to the rights of their subjects, in Ferdinand and Isabella, all combined to swell the prerogative to an unprecedented height under their reign.

This, indeed, was the direction in which all the governments of Europe, at this period, were tending. The people, wisely preferring a single master to a multitude, sustained the crown in its efforts to recover from the aristocracy the enormous powers it so grossly abused. This was the revolution of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The power thus deposited in a single hand, was found in time equally incompatible with the great ends of civil government; while it gradually accumulated to an extent, which threatened to crush the monarchy by its own weight. But the institutions derived from a Teutonic origin have been found to possess a conservative principle, unknown to the fragile despotisms of the east. The seeds of liberty, though dormant, lay deep in the heart of the nation, waiting only the good time to germinate. That time has at length arrived. Larger experience, and a wider moral culture, have taught men not only the extent of their political rights, but the best way to secure them. And it is the reassertion of these by the great body of the people, which now constitutes the revolution going forward in most of the old communities of Europe. The progress of liberal principles must be controlled, of course, by the peculiar circumstances and character of the nation; but their ultimate triumph, in every quarter, none can reasonably distrust. May it not be abused.

The prosperity of the country, under Ferdinand and Isabella, its growing trade and new internal relations, demanded new regulations, which, as before noticed, were attempted to be supplied by the pragmáticas. This was adding, however, to the embarrassments of a jurisprudence already far too cumbrous. The Castilian lawyer might despair of a critical acquaintance with the voluminous mass of legislation, which, in the form of municipal charters, Roman codes, parliamentary statutes, and royal ordinances, were received as authority in the courts. [40] The manifold evils resulting from this unsettled and conflicting jurisprudence, had led the legislature repeatedly to urge its digest into a more simple and uniform system. Some approach was made towards this in the code of the "Ordenanças Reales," compiled in the early part of the queen's reign. [41] The great body of Pragmáticas, subsequently, issued, were also collected into a separate volume by her command, [42] and printed the year before her death. These two codes may therefore be regarded as embracing the ordinary legislation of her reign. [43]

In 1505, the celebrated little code, called "Leyes de Tore," from the place where the cortes was held, received the sanction of that body. [44] Its laws, eighty-four in number, and designed as supplementary to those already existing, are chiefly occupied with the rights of inheritance and marriage. It is here that the ominous term "mayorazgo" may be said to have been naturalized in Castilian jurisprudence. [45] The peculiar feature of these laws, aggravated in no slight degree by the glosses of the civilians, [46] is the facility which they give to entails; a fatal facility, which, chiming in with the pride and indolence natural to the Spanish character, ranks them among the most efficient agents of the decay of husbandry and the general impoverishment of the country.

Besides these codes, there were the "Leyes de la Hermandad," [47] the "Quaderno de Alcavalas," with others of less note for the regulation of trade, made in this reign. [48] But still the great scheme of a uniform digest of the municipal law of Castile, although it occupied the most distinguished jurisconsults of the time, was unattained at the queen's death. [49] How deeply it engaged her mind in that hour, is evinced by the clause in her codicil, in which she bequeaths the consummation of the work, as an imperative duty, to her successors. [50] It was not completed till the reign of Philip the Second; and the large proportion of Ferdinand and Isabella's laws, admitted into that famous compilation, shows the prospective character of their legislation, and the uncommon discernment with which it was accommodated to the peculiar genius and wants of the nation. [51]

The immense increase of empire, and the corresponding development of the national resources, not only demanded new laws, but a thorough reorganization of every department of the administration. Laws may be received as indicating the dispositions of the ruler, whether for good or for evil; but it is in the conduct of the tribunals that we are to read the true character of his government. It was the upright and vigilant administration of these, which constituted the best claim of Ferdinand and Isabella to the gratitude of their country. To facilitate the despatch of business, it was distributed among a number of bureaus or councils, at the head of which stood the "royal council," whose authority and functions I have already noticed. [52] In order to leave this body more leisure for its executive duties, a new audience, or chancery, as it was called, was established at Valladolid, in 1480, whose judges were drawn from the members of the king's council. A similar tribunal was instituted, after the Moorish conquests, in the southern division of the monarchy; and both had supreme jurisdiction over all civil causes, which were carried up to them from the inferior audiences throughout the kingdom. [53]

The "council of the supreme" was placed over the Inquisition with a special view to the interests of the crown; an end, however, which it very imperfectly answered, as appears from its frequent collision with the royal and secular jurisdictions. [54] The "council of the orders" had charge, as the name imports, of the great military fraternities. [55] The "council of Aragon" was intrusted with the general administration of that kingdom and its dependencies, including Naples; and had besides extensive jurisdiction as a court of appeal. [56] Lastly, the "council of the Indies" was instituted by Ferdinand, in 1511, for the control of the American department. Its powers, comprehensive as they were in its origin, were so much enlarged under Charles the Fifth and his successors, that it became the depository of all law, the fountain of all nominations, both ecclesiastical and temporal, and the supreme tribunal, where all questions, whether of government or trade in the colonies, were finally adjudicated. [57]

Such were the forms, which the government assumed under the hands of Ferdinand and Isabella. The great concerns of the empire were brought under the control of a few departments, which looked to the crown as their common head. The chief stations were occupied by lawyers, who were alone competent to the duties; and the precincts of the court swarmed with a loyal militia, who, as they owed their elevation to its patronage, were not likely to interpret the law to the disparagement of prerogative. [58]

The greater portion of the laws of this reign are directed, in some form or other, as might be expected, to commerce and domestic industry. Their very large number, however, implies an extraordinary expansion of the national energy and resources, as well as a most earnest disposition in the government to foster them. The wisdom of these efforts, at all times, is not equally certain. I will briefly enumerate a few of the most characteristic and important provisions.

By a pragmatic of 1500, all persons, whether natives or foreigners, were prohibited from shipping goods in foreign bottoms, from a port where a Spanish ship could be obtained. [59] Another prohibited the sale of vessels to foreigners. [60] Another offered a large premium on all vessels of a certain tonnage and upwards; [61] and others held out protection and various immunities to seamen. [62] The drift of the first of these laws, like that of the famous English navigation act, so many years later, was, as the preamble sets forth, to exclude foreigners from the carrying trade; and the others were equally designed to build up a marine, for the defence, as well as commerce of the country. In this, the sovereigns were favored by their important colonial acquisitions, the distance of which, moreover, made it expedient to employ vessels of greater burden than those hitherto used. The language of subsequent laws, as well as various circumstances within our knowledge, attest the success of these provisions. The number of vessels in the merchant service of Spain, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, amounted to a thousand, according to Campomanes. [63] We may infer the flourishing condition of their commercial marine from their military, as shown in the armaments sent at different times against the Turks, or the Barbary corsairs. [64] The convoy which accompanied the infanta Joanna to Flanders, in 1496, consisted of one hundred and thirty vessels, great and small, having a force of more than twenty thousand men on board; a formidable equipment, inferior only to that of the far-famed "Invincible Armada." [65]