[25] See Part I. Chapters 10, 11, et alibi.
[26] At Valladolid, in 1506. The number of cities having right of representation, "que acostumbran continuamente embiar procuradores á cortes," according to Pulgar, was seventeen. (Reyes Católicos, cap. 95.) This was before Granada was added. Martyr, writing some years after that event, enumerates only sixteen, as enjoying the privilege. (Opus Epist., epist. 460.) Pulgar's estimate, however, is corroborated by the petition of the cortes of Valladolid, which, with more than usual effrontery, would limit the representation to eighteen cities, as prescribed "por algunas leyes é inmemorial uso." Marina, Teoría, tom. i. p. 161.
[27] Many of these pragmáticas purport, in their preambles, to be made at the demand of cortes; many more at the petition of corporations or individuals; and many from the good pleasure of the sovereigns, bound to "remedy all grievances, and provide for the exigencies of the state." These ordinances very frequently are stated to have been made with the advice of the royal council. They were proclaimed in the public squares of the city, in which they were executed, and afterwards in those of the principal towns in the kingdom. The doctors Asso and Manuel divide pragmáticas into two classes; those made at the instance of cortes, and those emanating from the "sovereign, as supreme legislator of the kingdom, moved by his anxiety for the common weal." "Muchos de este género," they add, "contiene el libro raro intitulado Pragmáticas del Reyno, que se imprimió la primera vez en Alcalá en 1528." (Instituciones, Introd., p. 110.) This is an error;—see note 43, infra.
[28] "Por la presente premáticasencion," said John II., in one of his ordinances, "lo cual todo é cada cosa dello é parte dello quiero é mando é ordeno que se guarde é compla daqui adelante para siempre jámas en todas las cibdades é villas é logares non embargante cualesquier leyes é fueros é derechos é ordenamientos, constituciones é posesiones é premáticas- senciones, é usos é costumbres, ca en cuanto á est oatañe yo los abrogo é derogo." (Marina, Teoría, tom. ii. p. 216.) This was the very essence of despotism, and John found it expedient to retract these expressions, on the subsequent remonstrance of cortes.
[29] Indeed, it is worthy of remark, as evincing the progress of civilization under this reign, that most of the criminal legislation is to be referred to its commencement, while the laws of the subsequent period chiefly concern the new relations which grow out of an increased domestic industry. It is in the "Ordenanças Reales," and "Leyes de la Hermandad," both published by 1485, that we must look for the measures against violence and rapine.
[30] Thus, for example, the important criminal laws of the Hermandad, and the civil code called the "Laws of Toro," were made under the express sanction of the commons. (Leyes de la Hermandad, fol. l.—Quaderno de las Leyes y Nuevas Decisiones hechas y ordenadas en la Ciudad de Toro, (Medina del Campo, 1555,) fol. 49.) Nearly all, if not all, the acts of the Catholic sovereigns introduced into the famous code of the "Ordenanças Reales," were passed in the cortes of Madrigal, in 1476, or Toledo, in 1480.
[31] It should be stated, however, that the cortes of Valladolid, in 1506, two years after the queen's death, enjoined Philip and Joanna to make no laws without the consent of cortes; remonstrating, at the same time, against the existence of many royal pragmáticas, as an evil to be redressed. "Y por esto se estableció lei que no hiciesen ni renovasen leyes sino en cortes. ***** Y porque fuera de esta órden se han hecho muchas premáticas de que estos vuestros reynos se tienen por agraviados, manden que aquellas se revean y provean y remedien los agravios que las tales premáticas tienen." (Marina, Teoría, tom. ii. p. 218.) Whether this is to be understood of the ordinances of the reigning sovereigns, or their predecessors, may be doubted. It is certain, that the nation, however it may have acquiesced in the exercise of this power by the late queen, would not have been content to resign it to such incompetent hands, as those of Philip and his crazy wife.
[32] "Liberi patriis legibus, nil imperio Regis gubernantur." Opus Epist., epist. 438.
[33] Capmany, however, understates the number, when he limits it to four sessions only during this whole reign. Práctica y Estilo, p. 62.
[34] See Part II., Chapter 12, note 7, of this History.—"Si quis aliquid," says Martyr, speaking of a cortes general held at Monzon, by Queen Germaine, "sibi contra jus illatum putat, aut a regiâ coronâ quaequam deberi existimat, nunquam dissolvuntur conventus, donec conquerenti satisfiat, neque Regibus parere in exigendis pecuniis, solent aliter. Regina quotidie scribit, se vexari eorum petitionibus, nec exsolvere se quire, quod se maxime optare ostendit. Rex imminentis necessitatis bellicae vim proponit, ut in aliud tempus querelas differant, per literas, per nuntios, per ministros, conventum praesidentesque hortatur monetque, et summissis fere verbis rogare videtur." 1512. (Opus Epist., epist. 493.) Blancas notices Ferdinand's astuteness, who, instead of money granted by the Aragonese with difficulty and reservations, usually applied for troops at once, which were furnished and paid by the state. (Modo de Proceder, fol. 100, 101.) Zurita tells us, that both the king and queen were averse to meetings of cortes in Castile oftener than absolutely necessary, and both took care, on such occasions, to have their own agents near the deputies, to influence their proceedings. "Todas las vezes que en lo passado el Rey, y la Reyna doña Isabel llamauan à cortes en Castilla, temian de las llamar: y despues de llamodos, y ayuntados los procuradores, ponian tales personas de su parte, que continuamente se juntassen con ellos; por escusar lo que podria resultar de aquellos ayuntamientos: y tambien por darles à entender, que no tenian tanto poder, quanto ellos se imaginauan." (Anales, tom. vi. fol. 96.) This course is as repugnant to Isabella's character as it is in keeping with her husband's. Under their joint administration, it is not always easy to discriminate the part which belongs to each. Their respective characters, and political conduct in affairs where they were separately concerned, furnish us a pretty safe clue to our judgment in others.