HISTORY
OF THE
Moorish Empire
IN EUROPE

BY

S. P. SCOTT

AUTHOR OF “THROUGH SPAIN”

Corduba famosa locuples de nomine dicta,

Inclyta deliciis, rebus quoque splendida cunctis

Hroswitha, Passio S. Pelagii

IN THREE VOLUMES

VOL. III.

PHILADELPHIA & LONDON
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
1904

Copyright, 1904
By J. B. Lippincott Company

Published March, 1904

Printed by J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, U. S. A.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME III.

HISTORY OF THE MOORISH EMPIRE IN EUROPE

CHAPTER XXIII
INFLUENCE OF THE MOORS ON EUROPE THROUGH THE EMPIRE OF FREDERICK II. AND THE STATES OF SOUTHERN FRANCE
1194–1250

Permanence of Arab Ideas in the South of Europe—Social Corruption—Revolts against the Papacy—Antagonism of the Holy See and the German Empire—Consolidation of the Papal Power under Innocent III.—Civilizing Agencies in Sicily—Influence of the Normans as Heirs of the Arabs—Birth of Frederick II.—Character of Innocent III.—Genius of the Emperor—His Reforms—System of Jurisprudence—Commerce—Legislation—The University of Naples—The Medical School of Salerno—Character of Frederick—His Court—The South of France—Its Early Civilization—Cosmopolitan Character of its Population—Its Wealth, Intelligence, and Profligacy—-Debased Condition of the Clergy—The University of Montpellier—The Troubadours—The Albigenses—Their Defiance of Rome—A Crusade is preached against Them—They are annihilated—Cruelty of the Crusaders—Parallel between the Civilization of Sicily and Languedoc—Survival of the Philosophical Principles and Opinions of the Thirteenth Century.

The extraordinary impulse to scientific investigation, to historical research, to the development and perfection of the industrial arts, to the extension of commerce, to the improvement of the social and economic conditions which are so intimately connected with the comfort and happiness of mankind, imparted by the Saracen kingdoms of Southern Europe, was far from being destroyed by the absorption or conquest of their provinces or by the final extinction of their empire. The progress of their humanizing influence upon other nations had been slow and imperceptible. The philosophical ideas and principles advanced by the Arab universities were necessarily hostile to the doctrines of Christianity, to the opinions of the Fathers, to the inspiration of an infallible Pope, to the imperious claims of ecclesiastical supremacy. In consequence of their heretical tendency, they were perused in secret; and the diligence with which this prohibited literature was studied is revealed by the number of sects which arose, and the defiance of Papal authority, which is the distinguishing characteristic of European annals during the first half of the thirteenth century. The doctrines taught at Cordova and Palermo inspired those audacious mediæval reformers, far in advance of their age, whose aspirations for intellectual and religious liberty were promptly and mercilessly extinguished at the stake and on the scaffold. The spirit of resistance to Papal aggression, corruption, and tyranny, temporarily checked, in time revived, and found permanent expression in the bold and revolutionary theories of the Reformation. These great and radical changes were not spontaneously effected; the causes of their development had been in silent operation for many centuries.

The schools of Moslem Spain and Sicily had long been the resort of students, ambitious of literary attainments and distinction, from every country in Europe. Princes of Castile and France had for generations enjoyed the benefits of the educational advantages to be obtained in the Spanish Peninsula. The proximity of the polished and luxurious towns of Sicily to the ancient seat of Roman greatness and power had produced a corresponding effect, less evident and less durable, it is true, but still most civilizing and beneficial, upon the ferocious barbarism which had succeeded the cruel and shameless vices of the Cæsars. The sacerdotal order had profited more largely than all others by the learning of the Mohammedans. Pope Sylvester II., the most accomplished ecclesiastic of his time, whose prodigious acquirements caused him to be accused of sorcery and led to his assassination by poison, was educated at the University of Cordova. Roger Bacon, another reputed wizard, had deeply imbibed the heretical but fascinating opinions of the sages of the Tagus and the Guadalquivir. In almost every European monastery, whose inmates, corrupted by wealth and depraved by sensual indulgence, had abandoned the ascetic habits of the cloister, the infidel works of the Arabian philosophers were studied with curiosity and delight by jovial monks, long strangers to the vows inculcated as cardinal precepts by the regulations of their order.

With the secular clergy, whose ostentatious luxury was proverbial, the case was even worse. While considerations of policy and self-interest prevented the avowal of principles totally at variance with the tenets of their profession, the fact that those principles were entertained was far from being a secret. The influential prelates of the Church, ignorant or heedless of the prejudicial effects which must inevitably ensue from familiarity with the works of the Moslem philosophers, did not vigorously attempt to suppress them until the mischief they had produced was almost irreparable. The unbelief and moral obliquity of the clergy reacted upon their flocks. The latter saw—first with surprise, then with indifference—the ill-concealed skepticism and open immorality of their spiritual counsellors. As a result of this lax and inconsistent behavior, society became permeated with hypocrisy. The popular tales of the Middle Ages, many of them undoubtedly founded on fact, indicate only too plainly the estimation in which the clergy were held by the people. That such pictures of ecclesiastical life could be drawn and published without interference or punishment shows not only the extent of the evil, but the recognition of its existence by every class of the community. The licentious stories of the mediæval writers were read or repeated with delight both in the palace of the noble and the hovel of the serf. One of the most remarkable of these collections owes its origin to the patronage of Louis XI., the Most Christian King of France.

Although the clergy, and especially the members of the monastic orders, were, in these facetious productions, uniformly represented as objects of hatred and contempt, the practice of the vices and weaknesses imputed to them was evidently so common to their calling as not even to arouse those feelings of resentment which would naturally arise from accusations so nearly affecting their piety and virtue. So little attention, indeed, was paid to these disclosures of the habits of ecclesiastics, that their recital formed one of the ordinary diversions of conventual life, and the Gesta Romanorum, which long maintained a questionable celebrity, is a monkish compilation. When the spiritual guides of a community are deliberately held up to ridicule as the incarnation of all that is vile, rapacious, and bestial, their usefulness as directors of the public conscience and arbiters of private morals is at an end. Their pernicious example was not lost upon the people, although their influence for good declined. Universal corruption became the most prominent trait of every rank of society. The most glaring acts of impiety remained unrebuked. National faith and personal obligations were alike unblushingly violated. Every revolting crime was committed by those whose means were sufficient to appease sacerdotal venality and purchase temporary absolution. No epoch in European history presents a more distressing picture of social demoralization, of royal perfidy, of priestly hypocrisy, of universal wickedness, than the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. But while this condition of affairs was productive of widespread moral debasement, it was not wholly an unmixed evil. The weakening of the sentiments of fatuous reverence with which things denominated sacred had for ages been regarded, awakened among the masses a spirit of intellectual independence. The right of the exercise of private judgment began to be first tolerated, and afterwards tacitly recognized. Then originated the great moral revolution which, subsequently checked and almost overwhelmed by the power of the Papacy and disgraced by scenes of horror to which history affords no parallel, ended in the momentous struggle of the sixteenth century, and the permanent triumph of reason over dogma, of intelligence over ecclesiastical authority.

But it was not only by the removal of superstitious prejudice, through the comparison of creeds, the judicious employment of the principles of philosophical criticism, and the public exposure of the lives of the clergy, that this great and beneficial change was accomplished. The commerce of the European Moslems was almost coextensive with the world at that time familiar to mariners. The excellence and beauty of their wares, unequalled by those of any other nation, were eagerly sought after by the wealthy and luxurious inhabitants of Christian countries. Merchants, traders, and students had spread far and wide accounts of the marvels to be seen beyond the Pyrenees,—opulent and flourishing communities, where the meanest citizen was in the daily enjoyment of comforts unattainable as luxuries by the greatest potentates of Christendom; edifices whose decorations surpassed in richness the wildest conceptions of Oriental fiction; vast plantations, where fruits, unknown to colder climes, grew in prodigal abundance; caravansaries and markets crowded with a profusion of costly fabrics, and resounding with a Babel of strange and guttural tongues; institutions of learning frequented by tens of thousands of students, whose attainments—extraordinary in a world of ignorance—were believed to have been secured by an unholy compact with the infernal powers.

The existence of this civilization in close proximity to the semi-barbarous Mediterranean nations and the salutary experience of its benefits could not fail to produce upon the latter a deep and lasting impression. The Crusades, also, to some extent had enlarged the minds of the fierce warriors of the West. Their respect had been inspired by the equal valor and superior intelligence of their Mohammedan adversaries; and a Saracen was no longer, as formerly, considered a demon incarnate, destitute of honor, insatiable of blood, incapable of compassion, ignorant alike of the courtesies of war and the suggestions of humanity. These various moral and physical agencies, acting through the maintenance of maritime intercourse and the promiscuous association with travellers of every description, gradually produced effects long unperceived and unappreciated by the class whose material interests were most vitally endangered.

The dawn of the thirteenth century witnessed the outbreak and the arrest of two most significant movements of the human mind, destined to exercise immense influence on the intellectual character and political destiny of Europe. The one appeared in Sicily; arose under the auspices and was supported by the power of the Emperor Frederick II.,—that prodigy of mediæval learning and diplomacy, great by birth, and, through the hereditary traditions of his line, still greater through the talents with which he was endowed and the accomplishments that adorned his character; a colossal figure among the pygmy soldiers and churchmen of his time; a combination of opposite and eccentric qualities; brave but treacherous, impetuous but crafty; a skeptic, and an unrelenting persecutor of heretics; at one time heading a crusade for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre; at another marshalling Saracen armies against the partisans of the Pope; a vassal of the Holy See, and an open ally and friend of the infidel; a professed champion of Christianity, while endeavoring to wrest from its acknowledged head that spiritual dominion which invested him with unlimited power over the lives, the fortunes, and the ultimate destiny of men; legislator, troubadour, author, naturalist; “a poet in an age of schoolmen, a philosopher in an age of monks, a statesman in an age of crusaders.”

The other intellectual revolution against ecclesiastical traditions and Papal despotism originated in the sunny lands of Provence and Languedoc, between the Mediterranean and the Pyrenees. That region, early overrun and colonized by the Saracen, had long remained subject to the Mohammedan princes of Spain. Although nominally Christian, its population was deeply infected with heterodox and atheistical opinions. The country had never lost the characteristics peculiar to the Moslem conqueror,—the intelligent and persevering cultivation of the soil, the venturesome spirit of commercial enterprise, the development and profitable adaptation of every natural resource, the pride of ostentatious luxury, the profound distrust of the female sex, which condemns its members to the seclusion of the harem. Amidst the freedom and gayety of its semi-Oriental cities, sectaries of every creed lived unquestioned and undisturbed. Polygamy was practised without concealment or reproach; scarcely a castle of count or baron was without its numerous seraglio. Education was general, and remarkable in its scope and efficiency when contrasted with the ignorance of contemporaneous societies. The famous University of Montpellier, a manifestation of the intellectual ideas and spirit which pervaded the South of France, was for generations a monument of the progress and erudition of the inhabitants of Languedoc. Among the public teachers were many Jews and Mohammedans, who, in addition to the profound and varied learning of the schools of Cordova, brought to the notice of a curious and speculative race theories that boded ill to the ecclesiastical establishment, which, stained with every hideous and disgusting vice, was fast sinking into universal and deserved contempt. The practice of improvisation,—the composition of extemporaneous poetry,—derived from the imaginative but unlettered tribes of the Arabian Desert, and for generations the delight of the capitals of Moorish Spain, found here its most fascinating expression and its highest development. Next to the prince himself, the troubadour was the most important personage of the Provençal court. His accomplishments, often acquired by association with the Moslem, were the envy of the cavalier and the horror of the priest. His elegant manners and poetical talents gained for him the passionate adoration of high-born ladies, whose beauty he celebrated in florid and licentious verse. His satires were often directed against the clergy, whose lives too readily furnished cause for ridicule and censure. With him occasionally travelled the jongleur, who, to the recitation of amorous chants, added the charm of harmonious minstrelsy. The ditties of the troubadours, like the coarse and facetious tales of this and subsequent periods, afforded an unfailing index of popular taste and prevalent opinions. In their lays the ecclesiastic is almost invariably an object of derision. His hypocrisy, his licentiousness, his greed, are depicted in language which admits of no palliating or ambiguous interpretation. He is constantly represented as the proverbial embodiment of all that is execrable and repulsive. If a butt for ridicule was needed, to give an appropriate climax to a story composed for the amusement of the court, the monastery could be relied upon to furnish an inexhaustible number of subjects, whose foibles were at once recognized by the delighted and scoffing auditors. The sacred calling of the ministers of religion was constantly made the occasion of ribald pleasantry; the tricks of practical jokers were played with impunity upon every incumbent of the sacerdotal dignity, from the haughty bishop to the cowled and barefooted friar. Even the populace, in whom the spirit of superstitious reverence is always the first to be awakened and the last to be destroyed, shared in an equal degree the feelings of their superiors. The vagrant rhymer, declaiming his sarcastic verses in the streets or by the wayside, was always sure of a liberal and appreciative audience. Such a condition of society indicates a certain degree of intellectual progress which can only result from independence of thought and moral irresponsibility of action. The extraordinary opinion began to be advanced and largely accepted that the investiture of the priesthood, of itself, conveyed no special virtue which dispensed with the rules of social morality or conferred immunity from public criticism. This idea, at variance with all the traditions of a Church which attached the highest importance to the rigid observance of mere formalities, was followed by others of even more novel and startling character. The unbroken intercourse with the Moslem principalities of the Peninsula had introduced into a country, whose people might, in some degree, justly claim consanguinity with the Saracens of Andalusia, the arts, the philosophy, and the erudition which had long embellished the accomplished courts of the Western Khalifate. Hence arose the popularity of the works of Averroes, and the general familiarity with the pantheistic ideas of Indian origin, subsequently adopted by the heretical sects which, from time to time, sprang up to vex the Papal orthodoxy of Europe. With their importation into France, the doctrines of the Arab philosophers were invested with a far broader significance than had ever been claimed by those who first inculcated their truths. The gay ballads of the South assumed a greater license of sentiment and language than their prototypes, whose freedom had provoked the censure of the Mohammedan society of the Guadalquivir, little inclined to displays of prudish morality. It was from such beginnings that were derived the suggestions of those memorable religious revolutions which, headed by Wyclif in England, Huss in Bohemia, and Luther in Germany, in defiance of the tremendous power of the Vatican, impressed an indelible seal upon the character and belief of so large a portion of the inhabitants of the civilized globe. The influence that Troubadour and Trouvère—poets and minstrels—during their incessant wanderings exerted upon the provincial dialects in which their productions were composed, and the extensive distribution of the latter, did more than all else to form and perfect the language of France. It was the same in Italy. That country also indirectly owes the sweet and musical accents of its graceful idiom, equally adapted to the descriptions of the historian, the representations of the dramatist, and the melodious versification of the poet, to a race foreign in all its characteristics and traditions to that quarter of the world where it exercised its greatest power. As with poetry, so it was with other manifestations of genius. Much of the architecture of Southern Europe, and especially those buildings devoted to religious worship, present unmistakable evidences of their Moorish origin; and thus the law of Mohammed, while it failed to retain its dominion over the minds of men, was enabled to perpetuate the memory of the arts, which it promoted in the construction of magnificent and imposing edifices raised for the celebration of the rites of another and an inimical religion. In a thousand ways, the march of intellectual improvement, suggested by the presence and example of Moslem skill and learning, was accelerated in the provinces of the South of France. The active minds of the inhabitants of the valley of the Rhone devoured with eagerness the extravagant tales of Moorish fiction, and their curiosity was stimulated by the study of the maxims of Plato and Aristotle contained in Arabic versions of those writers. Their manners insensibly became softened, their ideas were enlarged, their tastes were cultivated; they no longer regarded the torture of heretics and the massacre of infidels as conformable to the precepts of a religion based upon “peace and good-will to men.” With deep disgust they threw off their allegiance to the Church of Rome. Woman, hitherto a slave, subjected to the caprice of an imperious and irresponsible master, was raised by the hand of chivalry and made the cherished companion, if not the equal, of her lord. Semi-barbarous Europe looked with wonder upon a land so blessed by nature and adorned by art; where the remains of classic antiquity were taught in the same schools with the botany of Syria and the chemistry of Spain; where a philosophic spirit of inquiry had awakened the noblest aspirations of the human intellect, and where knightly courtesy had replaced the rudeness of the sword.

This advanced civilization had, unfortunately, come four centuries too soon. The fears of the Papacy were excited, and a ferocious crusade, which spared neither rank, age, sex, nor infirmity, was published against the unfortunate Albigenses. Upon the ruins of one of the most refined societies that had arisen to instruct mankind since the days of Athenian greatness, a society which embodied all that was interesting, learned, profitable, or entertaining in human life, was erected the Inquisition, the bane of science, and the implacable foe of civil and religious liberty.

The great contest of the thirteenth century between the Empire and the Holy See for the mastery of the world derived its origin from the barbarian occupation of Italy. The imperial dignity of the Cæsars embodied, as is well known, not only its supreme exercise, but the prestige and the mysterious power which attached to the place of Pontifex Maximus, the prototype of the Papacy. That power had been solemnly confirmed, and materially enlarged, by the ambition and politic measures of Constantine. The occasional employment of the Bishop of Rome as arbiter of the differences between the Sees of Constantinople and Alexandria had magnified the importance and insensibly extended the jurisdiction of his office. Aspiring prelates, who held their court on the banks of the classic Tiber, in sight of the stupendous memorials of ancient civilization, soon began to arrogate to themselves a preponderance in the determination of secular matters to which their comparatively obscure predecessors had advanced no claim. The texts of Scripture were invoked and interpreted to confirm their pretensions. In addition to the alleged vicarious sovereignty vested in them by the traditional choice of the Saviour, they asserted that the privileges and authority enjoyed by the Pontifex Maximus were theirs by the right of inheritance. They insisted, moreover, that as celestial matters were of far greater importance to mankind than any connected with the affairs of a transitory life, the sacredness of their exalted position conferred extraordinary prerogatives, and that the imperial power was subordinate to, and, under some circumstances, actually merged into, the pontifical dignity. By thus shrewdly taking advantage of every circumstance which could either strengthen its influence or extend its jurisdiction, the Holy See subjected to its tyrannical and irresponsible sway a far more extensive and populous territory than had ever paid reluctant tribute to the masters of imperial Rome. Excommunication, anathema, and interdict, the means by which this tremendous authority was enforced, were moral instruments which appealed with irresistible force to the fears of a superstitious age.

The barbarian invasions, which swept away the last vestige of imperial greatness, introduced the heretical doctrines of Arius into Southern Europe. The religious antagonism resulting from the incessant clash of adverse opinions was perpetuated by the mutual jealousies of king and bishop, until the accession of Charlemagne practically united in the hands of that emperor the temporal and sacerdotal powers,—the dominion of the earth, and the control of an order whose members were universally regarded as mediators with heaven. With his death the exercise of the exalted prerogative of spiritual jurisdiction reverted to the Papacy. The claim to its enjoyment was never afterwards successfully urged by any monarch who was entitled, by right of inheritance, to the dignities and privileges of the Carlovingian empire. By degrees, the resistless influence of intellectual superiority, quietly, but none the less powerfully exerted, began to manifest itself. It was to the fact that the Church monopolized all the learning of early mediæval times, even more than to the reverence that attached to the holy calling of its ministers, that its boundless power over the most truculent and merciless barbarians is to be attributed. A mysterious and exaggerated importance was ascribed to that profession whose members held communion with past ages; who called down the blessings or the maledictions of celestial beings in a tongue unknown to the vulgar; who communicated, in unintelligible characters, with the learned and the wise of distant nations; and who, in the seclusion of the laboratory, indulged in pursuits condemned by the canons of their faith, but occasionally productive of results whose character, remarkable for that epoch, not infrequently acquired for the monkish chemist the unenviable and perilous title of conjuror. The literary and scientific attainments acquired in the cloister bore, however, no comparison to the erudition of those countries where Saracen energy and munificence had long promoted the exercise and expansion of the highest faculties of the human intellect. The knowledge possessed by the clergy was only extensive by contrast with the impenetrable ignorance by which they were surrounded, and which it was their interest to diligently propagate and maintain.

The era which witnessed the climax of Papal supremacy was coincident with the most thoroughly concerted and menacing attempt at its overthrow ever directed by any secular potentate. The birth of Frederick II. preceded the election of Innocent III. to the Holy See only three years. In the deadly struggle that arose between these two mighty antagonists,—a struggle which was far more political than religious, and whose tempting prize was the dominion of the earth,—the influence of the Saracen was a powerful, and, in many instances, a predominant factor. Moslem laws, institutions, and customs had for centuries, amidst communities hostile in origin and belief, survived alike the existence of their own dynasties and the domination of their conquerors. Tribal dissensions and hereditary enmity had prompted and facilitated the destruction of the splendid Mohammedan empire in Sicily. In its turn, the Norman kingdom, after a prolonged and stormy existence, in which the Moorish tributaries played no inconsiderable part, lost its identity; and, by the marriage of Constance, the mother of Frederick II., with Henry VI., was merged into the German Empire. During the great political and moral revolutions which disposed of crowns and repeatedly changed the destinies of the island, the Arab element of the population maintained an undisputed superiority in arts, in commerce, in literature,—in short, in all professions and employments save that of war alone. The semi-barbarian conqueror, whose only passports to distinction were the dexterity with which he wielded lance and sword and the undaunted courage with which he faced tenfold odds, early recognized the advantages of that intellectual power which enabled his Moorish vassals to cope with, and overreach, in both trade and diplomacy, the astute politicians of Christian Italy. This exotic population, notwithstanding the successive calamities which had afflicted it, exhibited through long periods of time no extraordinary diminution of numbers, a fact no doubt largely attributable to the prevalence of polygamous customs. In the centre of the island many Moorish settlements, defended by impregnable fortresses, subsisting by pastoral occupations, and whose comparative poverty offered little inducement to invasion, remained in tranquillity and in the enjoyment of a rustic independence. In the great seaports, on the other hand, the Moslem tributaries retained under foreign domination all of the refinement and much of the splendor which had distinguished the luxurious court of the emirs. In these vast emporiums, where were constantly assembled the merchants of every Christian and of every Mohammedan state, a numerous, motley, and industrious people pursued, without oppression or hinderance, all the avocations of thriving mercantile communities. The peculiar adaptability of the genius of the Norman to novel social and political conditions, a quality which was the main source of his prosperity and greatness, was never more prominently displayed than after the conquest which transferred the sceptre of Sicily from one race of foreign adventurers to another. No more striking antagonism of national customs, religious prejudices, habits, and traditions could be conceived than that existing between the victor and the vanquished. One came from the borders of the Arctic Circle; the original home of the other was in the Torrid Zone. Both traced their lineage to tribes steeped in barbarism and idolatry; but the Norman, though he had changed his system of worship, still retained many of its objectionable and degrading features, while the Arab professed a creed that regarded with undisguised abhorrence the adoration of images and the invocation of saints. In the arts of civilization, there was no corresponding advance which could suggest resemblance or justify comparison. Poverty, ignorance, ferocity, still remained the characteristics of the Norman, as when, with a handful of resolute companions, he scattered to the winds the armies of the Sicilian Mussulman. The latter, however, if inferior in endurance and martial energy to his conqueror, was possessed of accomplishments which justly entitled him to a prominent rank in the community of nations. No circumstance of honor, of distinction, of inventive genius, was wanting to exalt his character or magnify his reputation. The fame of his military achievements had filled the world. His commercial relations had made his name familiar to and respected by remote and jealous races, to whom the Christian kingdoms of Europe were unknown. His civil polity was admirably adapted to the character and necessities of the people its laws were intended to govern. Under those laws, administered by a succession of great princes, Moslem society had become opulent, polished, and dissolute beyond all example, but eventually and inevitably enervated and decadent. Political and social disorganization had not, however, entirely destroyed the prestige earned by ages of military glory and intellectual pre-eminence. The schools of Cordova had been swept away by hordes of African fanatics. Her libraries had been scattered or destroyed. Her incomparable palaces had been levelled with the ground or had succumbed to the gradual decay to which they had been abandoned by ferocious chieftains, alike ignorant of the arts and indifferent to the claims of civilization. But the glory of the fallen metropolis had been reflected upon the provincial capitals of a distracted and dismembered monarchy. Malaga, Granada, Toledo, Seville, were still celebrated as seats of learning; civil war had interrupted but not extinguished the pursuit of science; a taste for letters counteracted in some degree the thirst for blood which prompted the atrocities of tribal hate and hostile faction; and the chivalrous intercourse established at intervals between the two races contending for national superiority afforded a happy if a deceptive image of affluence and security. ‘The Sicilian Mohammedans, while the vicissitudes and calamities of their history presented in miniature a general resemblance to those experienced by their brethren of the Spanish Peninsula, were never subjected to such repeated and overwhelming disasters as fell to the lot of the subjects of the Ommeyade dynasty and of the principalities which inherited its enmities, and the shattered fragments of its once vast and populous but cumbersome empire. The Norman acquisition of Sicily, unlike the Spanish Reconquest, was accomplished with surprising ease and rapidity. In the former instance there was but little of that indiscriminate ferocity which was characteristic of the conflicts of the Middle Ages, and especially of these where religious interests were directly involved. The experience of the conquerors—obtained in many lands—enabled them to appreciate the value of the monuments of a highly developed civilization, whose promoters were soon to pass under their sceptre. For this reason there was no ruthless spoliation of cities, no indiscriminate devastation of a fertile country which had been reclaimed by infinite toil and perseverance from an unpromising prospect of marsh, ravine, and precipice. The tangible results of three hundred years of national progress and culture were transmitted, with but little impairment, to the victorious foreigner. These advantages were at once grasped and appropriated with an avidity absolutely phenomenal in a people whose career had been dictated by the predatory instincts of the bandit, and whose manners had been formed amidst the license of the camp, the superstition of the cloister, and the carnage of the field.

Norman Sicily exhibited, to all intents and purposes, a prolongation, under happier auspices, of that dominion to which the island owed its prosperity and its fame. The influence of Moorish thrift, capacity, and skill was everywhere manifest and acknowledged. Its silent operation facilitated its progress and increased its power. The maritime interests of the island were in the hands of the Moslems; they controlled the finances; they negotiated treaties; to them was largely confided the administration of justice and the education of youth. Their integrity was acknowledged even by those whose practices appeared most unfavorable by contrast; their versatile talents not infrequently raised them to the highest and most responsible posts of the Norman court. That court is declared by contemporary historians to have equalled in splendor and culture those of Cairo and Bagdad. This comparison, while the highest encomium that could be pronounced upon its grandeur and brilliancy, also denoted unmistakably the Oriental influence which pervaded it. Great dignitaries, with pompous titles and retinues imposing in numbers and magnificence, exercised the principal employments of the crown. A rigid system of subordination and accountability was established, governing the conduct of the minor officials in their relations to their superiors and to the sovereign. The gradations in rank of these civil magistrates were numerous, and their respective duties plainly and accurately defined. The system of fiefs had never obtained in Northern Italy, owing to the extraordinary growth of maritime enterprise, the mutual jealousies engendered by commercial rivalry, the prejudices of the Lombard population, hostile to the restraints and abuses which the adoption of that system implied, the foundation of many independent and wealthy communities,—conditions naturally incompatible with the maintenance of an establishment based upon obligations of military service and baronial protection. In Apulia and Northern Sicily, however, Norman domination transplanted, to some extent, the laws and customs of Western Europe, which found a congenial soil in provinces already familiar with the exactions of Saracen despotism. But the feudal system of Norman rule had lost much of its original severity, and had been curtailed of those oppressive privileges with difficulty endured even in countries for centuries accustomed to the suffering and degradation they entailed. These modifications were so extensive and radical as to be almost revolutionary in their nature. The disputes of lord and vassal, of noble and suzerain, were decided by a court of judicature. Villeinage, as recognized elsewhere in Europe, was practically unknown. While the villein was attached to the glebe and passed with its transfer, he could not be persecuted with impunity; he could own property and alienate it, make wills, ransom his services, and, in many other respects, exercise the rights of a freeman, while still subject to the disabilities of a serf. The days of compulsory labor enjoined upon him were prescribed by law. His testimony was admissible in the trial of causes; he could not be illegally deprived of the results of his industry when his duties to his lord had been faithfully discharged; and, under certain circumstances, he was permitted to enter the clerical profession, whose opportunities might open to an aspiring zealot a career of the highest distinction.

The barbarian prejudices of the Norman conqueror survived in many institutions inherited from ages of gross superstition and ignorance. Among these were the absurd and iniquitous trials by fire, water, and judicial combat, prevalent in societies dominated partly by priestcraft and partly by the sword. But more correct ideas of the true character of evidence and its application, acquired from association with a people familiar with the codes of Justinian and Mohammed, eventually mitigated the evils produced by such irrational procedure; and, while not entirely abandoned, its most offensive features were gradually suffered to become obsolete. In other respects, the administration of justice—for the excellence of its system, for the rapidity with which trials were conducted, for the opportunity afforded the litigant for appeal and reversal of judgment—was remarkable. Invested with a sacred character, the judge, in the honor of his official position, was inferior to the king alone. His person was inviolable. No one might question his motives or dispute his authority under penalty of sacrilege. The head of the supreme court of the kingdom, by which all questions taken on appeal from the inferior tribunals were finally adjudicated, was called the Grand Justiciary. His powers and dignity claimed and received the highest consideration. None but men conspicuously eminent for learning and integrity were raised to this exalted office. The Grand Justiciary, although frequently of plebeian extraction, took precedence of the proud nobility, whose titles, centuries old and gained in Egypt and Palestine, had already become historic. A silken banner, the emblem of his office, was carried before him. In public assemblies and royal audiences he sat at the left hand of the sovereign. Only the constable, of all the officials of the crown, approached him in rank. These unusual honors paid to a dignitary whose title to respect was due, not to personal prowess or to hereditary distinction, but to the reverence attaching to his employment, indicate a great advance in the character of a people which, but a few years before, acknowledged no law but that of physical superiority, no tribunal but that of arms. In the other departments of government—in finance, in legislation, in the regulations of commerce, in the protection and encouragement of agriculture, in the maintenance of order—the Norman domination in Sicily presented an example of advanced civilization to be seen nowhere else in Europe, except in the Moorish principalities of Spain. The system of taxation not only embraced regular assessments, but authorized such extraordinary contributions as might be required for the construction of great public works or demanded by the exigencies of war. A powerful and well-equipped navy enforced the authority and protected the rights of the Norman kings in the Mediterranean. In the classification of orders, ecclesiastics were not, as elsewhere, granted extraordinary privileges by reason of their sacred profession. Those of rank were enrolled among the feudatories; the inferior clergy were relegated to the intermediate grade of subjects placed between the noble and the serf; all were, equally with the laity, responsible for infractions of the laws. The monarch was the head of the Church under the Pope; the office of Papal legate, which he usurped, was assumed, by a convenient fiction, to have been transmitted by inheritance; he exercised the rights of the erection of bishoprics, the presentation of benefices, the translation of prelates, the exemption of abbeys; he imposed taxes on the priesthood, and, when occasion demanded, did not hesitate to seize and appropriate property set aside for the uses of public worship. In his dominions, the Pope, while the nominal head of Christendom, was merely a personage of secondary importance, with little real influence and with no prestige save that derived from his venerated title and from his residence in that city which had once given laws to the world. The Papacy, it is true, had not yet fully established those portentous claims to empire which subsequently brought the most remote countries under its jurisdiction; but its aspiring pontiffs had already laid the foundations of their despotism; and this defiance of their authority, at the very gates of the capital of Christendom, was fraught with the most vital consequences to the future peace and welfare of Europe.

No people presented greater variety in manners, language, habits, and religion than that of Norman Sicily. The mingling of strange tongues, the constant recurrence of picturesque costumes, denoted the presence of many distinct nationalities. In general, although close relations were maintained and intermarriages were common, the different races were distributed in separate quarters and districts, and existed as castes. Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, as well as the harsh and barbaric dialects of Germany and France, were spoken; the laws of each nation were suffered to prevail, except when they conflicted with the supreme authority; enforced proselytism and religious persecution were unknown; and, in a society of such a diversified character, it was impossible that national prejudice could obtain a permanent foothold. The tendency of public opinion, as well as the policy of the government, was towards the indulgence of religious and intellectual freedom. In no respect was this liberality so apparent as in the treatment of the Jews. Elsewhere in Europe they were considered the legitimate prey of every oppressor; liable to be transferred by entire communities, like so many cattle, from one petty tyrant to another; robbed and tortured with impunity; incapacitated from invoking the protection of the laws; rendered powerless by centuries of systematic oppression to exert the right of self-defence or to successfully appeal to arms in an age of anarchy and violence. In Sicily, under the Normans, an enlightened public sentiment dictated the measures pursued in the treatment of an enterprising but unfortunate people. Their usefulness to the state was recognized by the immunities they enjoyed. For generations, no badge of infamy or servitude made them conspicuous in the crowded streets; no onerous taxes were laid upon them as a class; they shared, in large measure, the rights and privileges of other citizens; no tribunal was permitted to discriminate against them in the dispensation of justice; they were not prohibited from exercising the profession of bankers, but the rate of interest they might exact was limited to ten per cent.

The lustre of Saracen civilization was rather heightened than tarnished by the Norman conquest. The stability and confidence which the rule of the victors produced more than compensated for the damage inevitably resulting from their military operations. The supremacy of law was everywhere established. Tribal animosity, which had been the curse of Moslem society, was suppressed, if not entirely eradicated. The seaports increased rapidly in extent and opulence. Palaces of equal dimensions and beauty, but more substantial in their construction, replaced the airy and picturesque villas which had displayed the taste of the Moorish princes. Massive stairways afforded access to the broad stone quays encumbered with the merchandise of the Mediterranean. The narrow and tortuous thoroughfares of the Orient gave way to wide and well-paved avenues adapted to the commercial necessities of a numerous trading population. As formerly, under Greek and Moslem, Palermo exhibited, in the highest degree, the influence and progress of the arts of civilization. Its citadel, defended by every resource of military science, was of such extent as to merit of itself the appellation of a city. Here were situated the warehouses, the bazaars, the baths, the markets, the churches, and the mosques. Above it rose the castle reared by the Normans, the solid blocks which composed its walls being covered with arabesques and inscriptions. The residences of the merchants and the nobility were conspicuous for their number and elegance; the royal palace was in itself a marvel of architectural grandeur and sybaritic luxury. But the edifices which struck the imagination of the stranger most forcibly were the two great shrines respectively allotted to Christian and to Moslem worship. Sectarian rivalry had exhausted itself in their construction and adornment. The mosque was one of the most superb in all Islam. Its beauty was enhanced by its rich tapestries, and by the exquisite coloring and gilding it exhibited in the delicate carvings which embellished its interior. But grand and beautiful as it was, the Christian cathedral was generally conceded to surpass it in those material attractions which appeal most strongly to the senses of the enthusiastic and the devout. Arab writers have vied with each other in celebrating the majesty and splendor of this famous temple. The combined skill of the Moorish and the Byzantine artist had been laid under contribution in its embellishment. The walls were incrusted with gold, whose dazzling brilliancy was relieved by panels of precious marble of various colors bordered with foliage of green mosaic. The columns were sculptured with floral ornaments, interspersed with inscriptions in Cufic characters. The lofty cupola, covered with glistening tiles, was one of the landmarks of the capital, and, projected against the cloudless sky, was the most prominent object which caught the eye of the expectant mariner. Around the city, rising in terraces, like the seats of an amphitheatre, were the suburbs, verdant with the luxuriant vegetation of every country that could be reached by the enterprise of man, through whose leafy screen appeared at intervals the gayly painted villas of the merchant princes or the sumptuous and imposing palaces of the Norman aristocracy.

Amidst the numerous measures originated and brought to maturity by the new domination, it is remarkable that no especial encouragement was afforded to institutions of learning. A tradition exists of the academy of the great Count Roger, but it is only a tradition. No national university was founded to perpetuate the fame or to exalt the benefits of regal patronage. No general plan of promoting the education of the masses was inaugurated. The Jewish and Saracen schools, however, still survived; they were often the recipients of royal generosity, and were resorted to by such Christians as were desirous of profiting by the valuable instruction they afforded. As elsewhere in Christendom, the clergy were the general depositaries of knowledge,—an advantage which they thoroughly understood, and were by no means willing to voluntarily relinquish. In one respect alone their power was seriously curtailed. The spurious medicine of the time, as practised under the sanction of the Holy See, had raised up a herd of ignorant and mercenary ecclesiastical charlatans. These operated by means of chants, relics, and incense; and their enormous gains were one of the chief sources of revenue to the parish and the monastery, and a corresponding burden on the people. King Roger abolished this abuse, and required an examination, by experienced physicians, of all candidates for the profession of medicine and surgery, restricting those whose superstition was ineradicable or whose learning was deficient to the clandestine ministrations of the shrine and the confessional.

In the subjugated race, which had inherited the wisdom and experience of many ages and peoples, is to be discerned the principal, and indeed the indispensable, factor of Norman prosperity and civilization. Its characteristics had been deeply impressed upon the various regulations which controlled the destinies of the island; they reappeared in the military organization, in the civil polity, in the social customs, in the architectural designs, even in the religious ceremonial, of the conquerors. The invaders were but a handful in number; but the moral influence they wielded, through invincible valor, prodigious personal strength, and inflexible tenacity of purpose, at once gave them almost undisputed ascendency. These qualities, however, could not, unaided, found or maintain a flourishing state eminent in those arts which contribute to the welfare and opulence of nations. Oriental craft, refinement, and learning were able, however, to supply the deficiencies of whose existence the rude and unpolished Western adventurers were thoroughly cognizant. The Moslem stood high in the confidence and favor of the Norman princes. Quick to appreciate and meet the exigencies of every occasion, his prowess was invaluable in the suppression of anarchy and the establishment of order. Saracen cavalry were enrolled by thousands in the Norman armies. Saracen councillors stood in the shadow of the throne. Saracens collected taxes and administered the public revenues. They conducted, with the artful diplomacy characteristic of their race, important negotiations with foreign powers. Their religious assemblies were protected from intrusion and insult with the same solicitude which assured the inviolability of Christian worship. The unobstructed enjoyment and disposal of real and personal property was accorded to them by the laws. Their impress on the customs of social and domestic life was deep and permanent. The prevailing language of court and city alike was Arabic. Eunuchs, in flowing robes and snowy turbans, swarmed in the palaces of king, noble, and bishop. Dark-eyed beauties of Moorish lineage filled the harems of the martial and licentious aristocracy. The kadi, retaining the insignia and authority of his original official employment, was an important member of the Sicilian judiciary. He not only determined the causes of his countrymen, but was frequently the trusted adviser of the monarch. From the summits of a hundred minarets which seemed to pierce the skies, the muezzin, shrilly intoning the prescribed verses of the Koran, summoned the followers of Mohammed to prayer. As was Palermo, such were the other Sicilian cities,—Messina, Syracuse, Enna, Agrigentum.

Moslem institutions, with the powerful influences resulting from their universal adoption, thus maintained an overwhelming preponderance throughout the provinces of the Norman kingdom. Even in Apulia and Calabria, the original seat of the new dynasty, the same conditions prevailed. The centre of the Papal power and of the various states subject to its immediate jurisdiction—a jurisdiction already important, but not as yet exercised with undisputed authority—could not fail to be profoundly impressed by the proximity of this anomalous empire; where Christian symbols and Koranic legends were blended in the embellishment of cathedrals; where the crucifixion and the mottoes of Mohammedan rulers were impressed together upon the coinage of the realm; where eminent prelates owed investiture, rendered homage, and paid tribute to the secular power; where Moslem dignitaries not infrequently took precedence of Papal envoys; and the hereditary enemies of Christendom fought valiantly under the standard of the Cross. Nor was the effect of this ominous example confined to localities where daily familiarity had caused it to lose its novelty. The traders who visited the remote and semi-barbarous courts of Europe, the Crusaders who from time to time enjoyed the hospitality of the Sicilian cities, the returned adventurers who had served in the armies of the princely House of De Hauteville, all spread, far and wide, exaggerated and romantic accounts of the strange and sacrilegious customs of the Norman monarchy. Ecclesiastics crossed themselves with dismay when they heard of the honors lavished upon infidels, whose co-religionists had profaned the Holy Sepulchre, evoking gigantic expeditions which had depopulated entire provinces and drained the wealth of credulous and fanatic Europe. Others, whom study and reflection had made wise beyond the age in which they lived, saw, with open indifference and concealed delight, in this defiance and contempt of Popish tyranny, the dawn of a brighter era, the prospect of the ultimate emancipation of the human mind. The progress of the mental and moral changes which affected European society, acting through the intervention of Norman influence in the political and religious life of the continent, was gradual, indeterminate, and long imperceptible, but incessant and powerful. The universal deficiency of the means of information, the dearth of educational facilities, which promoted the dependence of the masses upon the only class capable of instructing and improving them, the terrible penalties visited upon heresy, deferred for nearly three hundred years the inevitable outbreak of an intellectual revolution. The principles on which that revolution was based, although at first discussed furtively and in secret, in time became so popular as to endanger the empire of the Church and to seriously impair its prestige.

The influence of the royal House of De Hauteville was extended, magnified, perpetuated, by the imperial House of Hohenstaufen. The traditions of the Arab, inherited by the Norman, were transmitted to and became the inspiration of the German. The genius of Frederick II. impressed itself indelibly upon the entire Teutonic race. It must not be forgotten that the most formidable revolt against Papal tyranny and corruption broke out in Saxony. The new German Empire owes largely its commanding position in Europe and its exalted rank in the scale of civilization to the talents, the energy, and the transcendent wisdom of the greatest monarch of mediæval times.

The fierce struggle between the Papacy and the Empire for universal rule began with the ascendency of the House of Hohenstaufen, in the beginning of the twelfth century. The princes of that House, eminent for valor and diplomacy, early displayed a spirit of insubordination towards the Holy See which augured ill for the political supremacy which had begun to be the leading object of its ambition. The Papal power, not yet consolidated, nor even fully defined, was unable to successfully oppose to the encroachments of the haughty German sovereigns those measures which afterwards proved so effective against the recalcitrant monarchs of Europe in the settlement of disputes involving its doctrines and its authority. The chaotic state of European politics made it impossible for the Pope to enlist the aid of any potentate able to withstand the tyrants of the North, whose ambition aimed at the absorption of St. Peter’s patrimony, as their insolence had already menaced the independence of his throne. Diplomatic negotiation had proved of no avail. The once formidable weapon of excommunication was treated with contempt. No other resource remained. The influence of the Empire attained its maximum during the reign of Henry VI.; and the Pope, surrounded on every side by powerful and determined enemies, seemed about to be degraded to the rank of an imperial vassal, when the sudden death of the Emperor, and the election of one of the greatest of the Supreme Pontiffs ever raised to the chair of the Holy See, reversed the political and ecclesiastical conditions, to all appearances firmly established, and upon whose maintenance so much depended, and opened the way for a train of calamities unequalled in their atrocious character by any acts of tyranny that have ever stifled independent thought or retarded the progress of human civilization.

Innocent III., when elected to the Papal dignity, was already a man of mature years, wide experience, and established reputation. His abilities as a scholar and a diplomatist, his familiarity with the principles of theology and law, had made his name known and respected throughout Europe, while the influence he exerted in the councils of the Church, long before his exaltation to its highest office, rendered him eminently conspicuous in the ecclesiastical affairs of Italy. With his extensive erudition and versatility of character were united talents for intrigue and administration equal to the most exacting requirements of statesmanship and command. Insinuating in address, jovial in conversation, by turns haughty and affable in manner, his unrivalled acquaintance with human nature, and his delicacy of tact, enabled him to regulate his conduct and his demeanor according to the circumstances of his political or religious environment. Conscious of his commanding genius, his insatiable ambition was not content with the enjoyment of the traditional honors and material advantages of Papal sovereignty; it aimed at the establishment of an autocracy, free from the interference of earthly potentates, nominally subject to celestial power alone, but, in fact, absolutely irresponsible and despotic.

Such was the formidable antagonist who, at the close of the twelfth century, confronted the majesty of the German Empire, represented by an infant less than four years of age. The minority of that infant, afterwards Frederick II., was one of degrading dependence and constant humiliation. His mother was compelled to acknowledge the suzerainty of the Pope in order to retain even nominal authority in her own hereditary dominions. Her death left her child the ward of the Holy See, in addition to being its vassal, and, in consequence, the entire ecclesiastical polity of his kingdom was changed; the clergy were declared independent of the secular power; grants of real property, confiscated by preceding emperors and confirmed by long prescription, were revoked, and the lands restored to the Church; quarrels among the turbulent nobles were industriously fomented, to afford a pretext for Papal interference and an extension of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, for the nominal purpose of reconciling enmities and preserving order; the Jews and Moslems, left without a protector and subjected to horrible persecution, were driven to the desperate alternative of exile or brigandage. As a result of these impolitic measures, Sicily became oppressed by anarchy far more deplorable and vexatious than that produced by the crimes and follies of Saracen misgovernment. Its population diminished; its prosperity declined; its commerce almost disappeared. With the returning ascendency of the priesthood, the evils inseparable from that condition—ignorance, intolerance, private corruption, organized hypocrisy—once more became predominant. The irruption of a horde of greedy and insatiable ecclesiastics into the rich Sicilian benefices brought with it all the abuses of Papal Italy. Simony was openly practised. Some priests lent money at ruinous rates of interest; some kept taverns; others derived enormous incomes from even more questionable places of public entertainment. The impurity of their lives and the blasphemies in which they often indulged soon caused them to forfeit the respect of their parishioners, as had long been the case at Rome. They were so careless of the outward observances and duties enjoined by their profession as to neglect the service of the altar until their conduct became a scandal. It was a matter of common complaint that the sacred vestments were ragged and filthy; the chalices unpolished; the sacramental wine sour; the Host, the visible symbol of God, unprotected from insects and covered with dust. The habits of the clergy were incredibly vile. The more exalted the rank and the more conspicuous the prelate, the greater was the example of pecuniary corruption and social depravity. The revenues of the Church, extorted from a reluctant and impoverished people, were squandered in the purchase of fine equipages, in sumptuous banquets, and upon rapacious courtesans. The duties of religion were forgotten in the general scramble for power. The palace of Palermo was the rallying point of these ecclesiastical politicians, whose broils and intrigues, so inconsistent with their calling, frequently disturbed the peace of the city, and whose vices were the reproach of a population which had never been able to boast of a high standard of personal morality.

The imperious spirit of Frederick, unwilling to brook interference in the affairs of his kingdom even from his feudal superior, first disclosed itself when he was but fourteen years old in a dispute with the clergy of Palermo, who appealed from his decision to the Pope. His defiance of the Pontiff was subsequently of such frequent occurrence as to be regarded as one of the leading principles of his administration. Innocent seems to have viewed with almost paternal indulgence the disobedience of a youth of excellent parts and undaunted resolution, who was subject to his authority not only as a member of the Christian communion, but in the double capacity of ward and vassal. His inability to appreciate the true character of Frederick was never so apparent as when he committed the fatal error which raised that prince to the greatest throne in Christendom. The paltry concessions extorted as the price of this great dignity were an indifferent compensation for the series of misfortunes its bestowal entailed upon Europe,—the rancorous hostility of faction; the perpetuation of intestine conflict, with its inseparable evils, widespread anarchy, the destruction of cities, the waste of provinces, the massacre of non-combatants, the obstruction of national progress; and the partial return to the barbarous conditions of former ages induced by the relentless strife of Guelf and Ghibelline. It is not the object of this work to minutely set forth the events of that mighty struggle. The relations of the Holy See and the Empire are only important as they may have affected indirectly the influence of the reforms instituted by the great Emperor; reforms whose foundation had been laid by two preceding dynasties of widely different character, and whose principles derived their origin from the colonization of Sicily by a nation utterly foreign to the laws and traditions of contemporaneous Europe.

Born under a southern sky, accustomed from childhood to daily intercourse with the most intellectual society of the age, Frederick II. retained to the last a decided predilection for Sicily, the land of his birth. The classic memories and romantic history of that famous island exerted over his active mind a most potent and lasting influence. He had no sympathy with, and less inclination for, the rude and barbarous customs, the coarse festivities, the ferocity, drunkenness, and bestiality of that country which was the original seat of his royal House, the realm whence he derived the proudest and most grandiloquent of his numerous titles. Educated by two Moorish preceptors, under the superintendence of a cardinal,—a curious circumstance which indicates that infidel learning had not yet entirely succumbed to ecclesiastical prejudice,—he in time became proficient in all the arts and accomplishments possessed by that remarkable people whose erudition and industry were admired and feared by the dominant race whose members the fortune of arms had made the depositaries of power and the interpreters of orthodoxy. This early, intimate, and constant association with Mohammedans and Greeks, in each of whose systems of government the temporal and spiritual functions were vested in one individual, undoubtedly suggested to the mind of the Emperor the stupendous project of merging the Papal office in the imperial dignity,—a combination of two despotisms under a single head, whose powers, of uncertain and indefinable extent, could not be questioned without incurring the penalties of both treason and sacrilege, and whose jurisdiction would eventually embrace the habitable world. The political and judicial systems instituted and perfected by Frederick II., remarkable in themselves, become almost marvellous when considered in relation to the era of their establishment, the difficulties encountered in their application, and the antagonism of the privileged classes whose designs they interfered with and whose abuses they were intended to correct and restrain. Two questions of paramount importance engaged the attention of this enlightened prince, questions containing in themselves the solution of every administrative and every social problem,—the promulgation of law and implicit obedience to its mandates, and the adoption of measures which might secure the greatest attainable happiness of the people. To the accomplishment of these noble and praiseworthy ends the talents and energy of the great ruler were constantly devoted,—in hours of triumph and in hours of humiliation; when engrossed with the cares of a vast and seditious empire; in the deserts of Syria; in the very face of death; in the bitterness of spirit induced by shattered dreams of long-nourished ambition.

The evils incident to a protracted minority had manifested themselves with more than ordinary prominence in the Kingdom of Sicily. The supervision of the Pope had, as usual, been uniformly exercised for the benefit of the ecclesiastical order and the aggrandizement of the Holy See. A fierce and rapacious aristocracy, impatient of restraint and eager for innovation, defied the laws, and wreaked their hereditary vengeance upon each other with every circumstance of merciless atrocity. The mass of the population, probably composed of more diversified elements and nationalities than any community of equal numbers in the world, unable to prosper and scarcely able to live, endeavored to obtain, by different methods, exemption from the intolerable persecution of their enemies. The Greek, with the craft of his race, attached himself to the faction which, for the time being, enjoyed the best prospect of success. The Jew purchased a temporary immunity by the voluntary surrender of the greater part of his possessions. Alone among his companions, the Saracen took up arms. His martial spirit and the numbers of his countrymen obtained from his turbulent and disorganized adversaries a tacit recognition of independence, which the rugged nature of the country that contained his strongholds did not a little to confirm. In the effort to re-establish the royal authority, the Saracens rendered invaluable assistance; they were among the first to assemble around the imperial standard; without their co-operation the result would have been uncertain; and their valor and fidelity preserved the empire of Frederick, as that of their fathers had consolidated the power of the Norman domination.

The jurisprudence of the Emperor was based upon and included the system established by the Normans. Its rules were modified and improved as experience had suggested would be expedient and profitable. The main objects of the laws were the extinction of feudal tyranny, and the enjoyment of private liberty so far as it was not inconsistent with the prerogatives of the crown. No monarch of ancient or modern times was more solicitous for the happiness of his subjects, and none ever more fully appreciated the fact that the test of a nation’s greatness is the benefit derived by mankind from its works, its history, its example. The difficulties encountered in the formation of a uniform code which could be enforced in such a cosmopolitan society as that of Sicily seemed insuperable. Feudal rights and ecclesiastical exemptions; the privileges of the Jews and Saracens, founded on prescription and confirmed by tribute; the jealous contentions of many forms of religious belief; the perpetual encroachments and usurpations of pontifical authority; the skepticism of Moslem philosophers, and the fanatical rage of persecuting zealots,—all of these antagonistic rights, claims, prejudices, and prerogatives it was necessary to correct, rearrange, amend, and embody in one practical, efficient, and harmonious system. The task, though stupendous, was not beyond the abilities and constructive genius of the great law-giver. The turbulence of the nobles was firmly restrained. All members of the clerical order were rendered amenable to the laws of the realm in cases which concerned the dignity and traditions of the empire. In matters relating to marriage alone they were permitted to exercise jurisdiction over those who had not taken the tonsure; the assent of the Emperor was necessary to the validity of an election; the prelate as well as the layman was compelled to assist in defraying the expenses of the government; nor, in any way, could he escape the discharge of duties enjoined by the Imperial Code or plead immunity from burdens necessary to the security of the state or the enforcement of order. The law of mortmain, framed under the direction of the Emperor, preceded the famous statute of Edward I., of which it was the prototype, nearly a century. Upon every individual the maxim was continually impressed that the sovereign was the fountain of justice, authority, and mercy. The criminal procedure, founded on Norman precedents, was singularly free from the legal atrocities generally prescribed by feudal regulations; the penalty of death was only inflicted for the most heinous offences; mutilation was seldom permitted except in the cases of incorrigible criminals; torture, while recognized, was one of the rarest of punishments. The courts were invested with every outward circumstance of official pomp and dignity. From the decision of the supreme tribunal there was no appeal; even in the monarch vexatious litigation was systematically discouraged; judicial bribery was considered a crime of peculiar infamy; and the practice of holding the magistrate responsible for the maintenance of peace in his district was a most efficient check upon the violence and depredations of professional malefactors.

In the statutes relating to the detection and punishment of heresy, the character of Frederick appears to singular and manifest disadvantage. His long wars with the Pope, his close intimacy with infidels, his oppression of ecclesiastics, the repeated acts of sacrilege of which he was guilty, the blasphemous speeches constantly upon his tongue, the profane and mysterious studies in which he delighted, his employment of and confidence in wizards and astrologers, demonstrate beyond contradiction the weakness of his faith or the profoundness of his hypocrisy. But the latitude of opinion and conduct which he allowed himself was in an inverse ratio to that which he vouchsafed to others. No familiar of the Inquisition ever pursued heretics with greater zeal or pertinacity than the famous monarch whose name is constantly associated with all that is liberal, enlightened, and profitable in the annals of human progress, an inconsistency all the more glaring in a prince whose favorite sentiment was, “The glory of a ruler is the safe and comfortable condition of the subject.” History has never been able to advance a satisfactory or even a plausible explanation of this anomaly; its cause, at this distance of time, must remain forever unknown, and may be ascribed, for want of a better solution, to the innate perversity of the human mind, which often by a single glaring defect obscures the brilliant lustre of a character eminently conspicuous for every princely quality, for every generous impulse, and for every literary and artistic excellence.

His commercial regulations were among the principal sources of Frederick’s power and greatness. His genius perceived at a glance the vast advantages which must result from an interchange of commodities with maritime nations; and, in the application of this principle, every facility was afforded those bold spirits whose energy the expectation of gain or the love of adventure directed into the channels of trade. Treaties more liberal in their provisions and more profitable in their effects than any which had heretofore been adopted by the powers of the Mediterranean were concluded with the greatest mercantile communities of Europe,—Constantinople, Venice, Genoa,—as well as with Damascus and Alexandria and the Moorish principalities of Africa and Spain.

The intimacy maintained by Frederick with Mohammedan sovereigns contributed greatly to the prosperity of his dominions. The Sultan of Egypt was his friend. The Emir of Tunis was his tributary. With the other Moslem princes he was on the best of terms. Treaties of commerce, framed for mutual advantage, were frequently negotiated with these potentates, who were only too willing to discriminate against other European monarchs in favor of the Emperor of Germany. In 1241, on the arrival of the Imperial ambassadors, Cairo was illuminated in their honor. The trade of Sicily extended to India. The luxuries of the Orient were brought to the ports of Palermo and Messina. In their markets the arms, the jewels, the stuffs, the porcelain, of countries remote from civilization found a ready sale. In return, immense quantities of grain and manufactured articles were exported. It has been established upon undoubted authority that white female slaves of Christian birth formed no inconsiderable portion of the commodities dealt in by the subjects of Frederick II.

The fortunate geographical situation of Sicily, her magnificent harbors, the productiveness of her soil, the excellence and variety of her manufactures, had, in all ages, been factors of paramount importance in her commercial development. That development was now materially aided by the reciprocal observance of humane and courteous regulations, hitherto unrecognized in the intercourse of nations during the Middle Ages. Merchants in foreign ports were received with lavish hospitality; distrust of strangers gradually subsided; and unfortunates, cast away at sea, were no longer compelled to endure both the violence of the elements and the heartless rapacity of ferocious outlaws or amateur freebooters. In the widely distributed commerce of the monarchy the crown enjoyed no insignificant share. The ships of Frederick were anchored in every harbor; his warehouses were filled with the choicest and most costly fabrics of every country; and his agents, conspicuous for their enterprise and daring, collected, in the distant and almost unknown regions of the Orient, articles whose sale would most contribute to the benefit of the royal treasury. The principles of free trade seem to have been first promulgated in the maritime code of Sicily. The Emperor, however, in the application of those principles, evinced no reluctance in discriminating against his own subjects, whose vessels were not permitted to clear for foreign ports until those of the crown had been a certain time at sea. Every branch of commerce paid tribute to the imperial merchant. His ships carried pilgrims to the Holy Land. The grain he annually sent to Africa returned an enormous and certain profit. His trade with India brought into European markets objects of unfamiliar uses and elaborate workmanship, whose rarity often increased their great intrinsic value. His friendly relations with Mohammedan princes, begun during the Crusade and terminated only by his death, made him frequently the recipient of magnificent presents. We read that on one occasion an eastern potentate sent him a dozen camels laden with silver and gold. All ships trading to Palestine were required to bring back a cross-bow for each of their cables, a measure which, while it replenished the royal arsenals with the most effective weapons of the age, was free from the dangers of official incapacity or corruption, and entailed no expense on the government. A great fleet of galleys, commanded by the Genoese admiral Spinola, maintained the naval power of the kingdom and protected the coasts from the depredations of pirates.

In the internal administration of the kingdom, the most progressive and equitable ideas of commercial honor and common advantage prevailed. No duty could be levied on articles of necessity transported from one province to another. While monopolies were not forbidden, they were restricted to the crown, and the oppression resulting from this measure in other countries was not felt by the subjects of Frederick. Annual fairs were held in all the principal cities; markets existed everywhere. Taxes were apportioned according to the wealth of the district where they were to be collected. Constant war made these impositions onerous at times, but there was some relief in the knowledge that the clergy were forced to contribute their share to the public burdens, an inconvenience from which they were elsewhere exempt. The coinage was one of the purest, the most convenient, the most beautifully executed that had ever been put in circulation by any government. Agriculture, still largely in the hands of the Arabs, was carried to the highest perfection. Every plant or tree, whose culture was known to be profitable and which could adapt itself to a soil of phenomenal fertility, was to be found in the gardens and plantations of Sicily. The regulations of the kingdom concerning the rural economy of its people were minute and specific, even paternal, in their character. They were especially exact in details when directing how the royal demesnes should be administered. Records were kept of the crops produced in each district. Inventories of all the stock, poultry, grain, and fruit were made each year; the methods of their disposition and the prices they brought were noted on the public registers. The very uses to which even the feathers of the domestic fowls were destined was a matter of official inquiry. The breeds of horses, asses, and cattle were improved; the greatest care was taken of these animals. Food, which after experiment was found to be the most nutritious, was adopted; and the Emperor, whose interest in these matters was stimulated by the profit he derived from his stables, personally scrutinized their management with the most assiduous care. The supervision exercised by government officials over all occupations was most precise, and must have often proved vexatious. Weights and measures were prescribed by law, and any departure from honest dealing in this respect was visited with the severest penalties. Officers were appointed in every town for the detection of false weights and the sale of spurious merchandise. The laws of hygiene were understood and enforced with a degree of intelligence unknown to many European communities even at the present day. Unwholesome provisions could not be exposed for sale in the markets. Trades offensive to the senses or injurious to public health were prohibited within the walls of cities. A depth was prescribed for graves, that the exhalations proceeding from them might not contaminate the air. No carrion was permitted to be left on the highways.

In questions of legislation, as well as in those relating to political economy, the kingdom of Sicily was far in advance of its contemporaries. The constitution of England, and especially the organization of the House of Commons, owe much to the Sicilian Parliament. While the duties of its members were ordinarily confined to the registering of royal edicts and the imposition of taxes, it presents the first example of a truly elective, representative assembly that is mentioned in history. From the institutions of Frederick, his relative, Alfonso X. of Castile, appropriated many of the legislative and judicial provisions of Las Siete Partidas,—a compilation for which that monarch is principally entitled for his fame. France and Germany also ultimately experienced the imperceptible but potent impulse communicated to society by the supremacy of law over theology, which had its beginning in Sicily during the thirteenth century.

Extensive and important as were the reforms of Frederick, it was from the munificent and discerning patronage extended to science and literature that is derived his most enduring claim to the gratitude and commendation of posterity. The impressions imparted by Moslem taste, in the prosecution of early studies, during the formation of his character, never lost their power. His court was frequented by the most accomplished Jews and Arabs of the age. They were the favorite instructors of youth. Their opinions, drawn from the sources of classic and Oriental learning, were heard with respect and awe, even by those who dissented from their creeds and deprecated their influence. They filled the most responsible and lucrative offices of the government. Admitted to friendly and confidential audiences with the sovereign, who, himself an excellent mathematician, delighted to pose them with abstruse problems in geometry and algebra, their philosophy was regarded with signal disfavor by distinguished prelates that daily, in halls and antechambers, impatiently awaited the pleasure of the Emperor. So fond was Frederick of these intellectual diversions, that he sent certain questions for solution to the Mohammedan countries of Africa and the East; but no one was found competent to answer them until they reached the court of one of the princes of Moorish Spain. One of the most accomplished of linguists, Frederick sedulously encouraged the study of languages throughout his dominions. Arabic, Hebrew, and Greek were understood and spoken by all who made any pretensions to thorough education. Naples and Salerno were the most famous seats of learning in that epoch,—at the former was the University established by the Emperor; the Medical College of Salerno is justly celebrated as one of the most extraordinary academical institutions that has ever existed. The Faculty of the University was composed of the most eminent scholars who could be attracted by ample salaries, the prospect of literary distinction, and the certain favor of an enlightened monarch. The resources of all countries were diligently laid under contribution to insure the success of this noble foundation. The popularity of Frederick with the Moslem princes of the East gave him exceptional facilities for the acquirement of literary treasures. The collections of Egypt and Syria and of the monasteries of Europe were ransacked for rare and curious volumes with which to furnish the library of the great Neapolitan college. No city was better adapted to the necessities of a large scholastic institution than Naples. Its situation in the centre of the Mediterranean, the salubrity of the climate, the cheapness and variety of its markets, offered unusual inducements to poor and ambitious students desirous of an education. Their interests were protected and their security assured by special and rigorous laws. Extraordinary precautions were taken to prevent their being molested during their journeys to and fro. The prices which might be charged for lodging were clearly and definitely established. Provision was made for loans, at a nominal interest, to such scholars as did not have the funds requisite to successfully prosecute their studies. The preparatory schools of the kingdom were conducted with equal care and prudence, and nowhere else in the world, in that age, could educational advantages of a similar character be enjoyed as in the Sicilian dominions of the Emperor.

Great as it was, the reputation of the University of Naples has been eclipsed by the superior renown of the Medical College of Salerno. There the study of surgery and medicine was pursued under the eyes of the most learned and distinguished practitioners of every nation familiar with the healing art. Ignorance of any language could scarcely be an impediment to the student, for instruction was given in Latin, Greek, German, Hebrew, Arabic. Scientific methods were invariably observed in its curriculum. The prevalent superstitions, which, encouraged by the clergy, appealed to the credulous fears of the vulgar, were contemptuously banished from its halls. While the School of Salerno had existed since the eighth century, and, from its origin, chiefly owed its fame and success to Arabic and Jewish influence, it attained its greatest prosperity under the fostering care of Frederick II. The writers principally relied on by its professors were Hippocrates and Galen, whose works had been preserved from barbarian destruction or oblivion by the Saracens of Egypt and Spain. But while these venerable authorities were always quoted with reverence, no obstinate adherence to tradition, no devotion to errors consecrated by the usages of centuries, characterized the College of Salerno. Its spirit was eminently progressive, inquisitive, liberal. The monk, the rabbi, the imam, the atheist, were numbered among its teachers, and each maintained a position among his fellows in a direct ratio to his intellectual attainments. This anomalous condition, the more conspicuous in an era of general ignorance, and flourishing under the very shadow of the Papacy, itself inimical to all pursuits which tended to mental progress and interference with its spiritual emoluments, rendered the existence of such an institution all the more remarkable. To its researches are to be attributed many maxims, theories, and methods of practice still recognized as correct by modern physicians. Its investigations were thoroughly philosophical and based largely upon experiment. Information was communicated by lectures; anatomical demonstrations, as in modern times, were considered among the most useful and valuable means of instruction. Mediæval prejudice still opposed the mutilation of the human form, which, with the sectarian prohibition of ceremonial uncleanness, had long before been overcome by the Moorish surgeons of Cordova; and, in the Salernitan clinic, anatomists were forced to be apparently content with the dissection of hogs and monkeys. In secret, however, human bodies were not infrequently delivered to the scalpel, and the offices of many internal organs were observed and determined by the aid of vivisection,—a practice indispensable to a proper understanding of surgery, yet reprobated, even in our age of scientific inquiry, by a class of noisy, but well-meaning, fanatics. The unsatisfactory memorials of the School of Salerno which have descended to us—some of doubtful authenticity, others of unknown derivation—nevertheless disclose the extraordinary discoveries its professors had made in anatomy; among them those of the functions of the chyle ducts, of the lymphatic system, of the capillaries, which then received their name; of the different coats and humors of the eye; of the phenomena of digestion, together with detailed descriptions of the office of the ovaries and their tubes, which anticipated the researches of Falloppio by more than four hundred years. Specialists then, as now, devoted their talents to the improvement and perfection of certain branches of medical science. There were many celebrated oculists and lithotomists, and practitioners who were highly successful in the treatment of hernia, of mechanical injuries of every kind, and of the diseases of women. The rules of hygiene, the properties of the various substances of the Materia Medica, the principles of pathology and therapeutics, as laid down by the faculty of Salerno, have been transmitted to us in a lengthy and curious poem entitled, “Flos Medicinæ Scholæ Salerni,” popularly known as Regimen Sanitatis.

This extraordinary production, none of which is probably later than the twelfth century, and whose origin is unknown, has been ascribed by Sprengel to Isaac ben Solomon, a famous Jewish practitioner of Cordova, who died in 950. Careful examination, however, discloses the fact that it is not the work of a single hand, but a compilation of various medical precepts and opinions belonging to different epochs. In its prologue, the pre-eminent value of temperance in all things is diligently inculcated:

“Si vis incolumem, si vis te vivere sanum:

Curas linque graves, irasci crede profanum.

Parce mero, cœnato parum; non sit tibi vanum

Surgere post epulas; somnum fuge meridianum.

Si tibi deficiant Medici, medici tibi fiant

Hæc tria; mens læta, requies, moderata diæta.”

It also contains hints on diagnosis and prognosis; information indicating no small degree of anatomical and physiological knowledge; formulas for antidotes of poisons; advice for the care of the body during every month in the year; and astrological indications of the favorable or malign influence of the signs of the zodiac and the stars. From the following couplet, designating the Seven Ages of Man,

“Infans, inde puer, adolescens, juvenis, vir,

Dicitur inde senex, postea decrepitus,”

seems to have been derived the inspiration of the familiar lines of Shakspeare.

The vitiated taste of an age not yet fully acquainted with the properties of correct literary composition caused the incorporation of verses into many of its most serious and dignified productions. These didactic poems seem singularly out of place in a medical treatise, and especially so where, as is usually the case, the poetry is, in both matter and harmony of numbers, below mediocrity.

Apothecaries and chemists, of whom a competent knowledge of drugs was required, were subject to the corps of physicians who were forbidden to join in their enterprises or share their profits; they were sworn to obey the Code; the number of pharmacies was limited; and they were liable to the visitation of imperial inspectors responsible for the purity of their merchandise and the observance of the law. The precautions required in the sale of poisons; the directions for compounding electuaries and syrups; the most approved methods for the preparation of the love-potions believed to be so efficacious by mediæval credulity; the fabrication of charms for the prevention of disease, are all set forth in the Salernitan Code with minute and tedious exactness.

In the city were many hospitals, the oldest of which was established in the ninth century, and was contemporaneous with similar institutions founded by the Ommeyade dynasty of Cordova. Some of them were richly endowed, others were entirely supported by charitable donations. The strict requirements of medical police were recognized in the isolation of patients suffering from contagious diseases. A systematic distinction was observed in the purposes of these beneficent foundations; they were of various classes and devoted to the care of the poor and the homeless, to the protection of invalid females of rank and fortune, to the support of foundlings; and the most intelligent treatment of every malady was gratuitously afforded. The members of monastic orders, for the most part, had charge of the hospitals, and acted in the capacity of nurses and attendants.

The regulations of Frederick, who united the various schools of Salerno into one vast institution of medical learning, exacted the possession of the highest abilities, dexterity, and experience by the expectant practitioner. A preparatory course of three years in the general branches of literature and philosophy was required of him. Five years at least were to be devoted to study in the colleges, and one year was then to be passed under the eye of an experienced physician before the aspirant for professional distinction was pronounced competent to prescribe for the suffering.

The remarkable attainments and skill of Roger of Parma, the great surgeon, who was famous for the treatment of wounds and fractures and the extirpation of tumors and polypi; of Maurus, Gaulterius, and Matthew Silvaticus, who published treatises on phlebotomy, general practice, and the Materia Medica; of Garipontus, an expert in operations for calculus and other diseases of the pelvic organs; of Giovanni da Procida, the accomplished court physician of Frederick II., all graduates of the School of Salerno, are conspicuous in the annals of mediæval surgery and medicine. Then first appeared the patronymic of Farragut—afterwards destined to such renown in the naval history of the New World—borne by a Jew of Messina, who was educated at Salerno and Montpellier, and whose translation of the “Continent” of Rhazes, made in the latter part of the thirteenth century, was dedicated to Charles of Anjou, brother of Louis IX., King of France.

Students of both sexes were permitted to enjoy the rare advantages afforded by the School of Salerno; no prejudice hampered the acquisition by woman of medical knowledge, in whose application her natural acuteness and sympathy rendered her remarkably proficient and successful. Many female physicians rose to great eminence in the different departments of their profession as lecturers, chemists, operators: among them the names of Rebecca, who wrote on fevers and the embryo; Abella, on generation and prenatal life; Trotula, on the Materia Medica, hernia, and obstetrics; Mercuriade, on general surgery; and Costanza Colenda, whose scientific accomplishments, as well as her beauty, made her famous in Europe, have descended to our time. A college of midwifery existed at Salerno, whose graduates were subjected to examinations fully as strict as those required of candidates for medical honors, and who, sworn to fidelity, enjoyed a lucrative practice in the opulent families of Naples and Messina. Although a lofty sense of professional etiquette distinguished the faculty of Salerno, imperial supervision, which, under Frederick, found nothing too minute for its attention, carefully protected the public from extortion. Fees were fixed by law; their amounts were regulated by circumstances. Even the ordinary number of visits required in a given time was defined; and attendance was accorded without charge to the poor. In our age, so prolific of professional incompetence, the exalted rank and profound attainments of the graduates of the Salernitan school may well excite astonishment; amidst the darkness of mediæval ignorance it was the educational and literary phenomenon of Europe.

A generous patron of every art and occupation which could embellish his domains, benefit his subjects, or enrich his treasury, the Emperor gave also much attention to great public works,—the fortification of cities, the improvement of harbors, the construction of highways. His palaces disclosed a marked partiality for Moorish customs and Moorish architecture. Some of these beautiful edifices had come down from the Saracen domination, but many were constructed after the plans of the royal architect, who personally superintended their erection. They were finished with costly marbles and adorned with bas-reliefs, statues, and paintings. The eagles of Germany were sculptured over their portals. Outworks of vast extent defended their approaches. In all were courts and gardens odorous with the blossoms of jasmine and orange and surrounded by secluded apartments destined for the occupants of the imperial seraglio. Attached to some of these delightful retreats were extensive menageries, aviaries, and miniature lakes filled with gold and silver fish. There was no appliance of Oriental luxury, no means which could contribute to the gratification of the senses, that was not to be found in the Sicilian palaces of Frederick II. In the foundation of new cities, extensive districts were depopulated to provide them with inhabitants. This arbitrary proceeding was often a measure of profound policy, which insured the good behavior of a turbulent population that, removed from the influence of former associations, transplanted among strangers, and regarded by their new neighbors with suspicion and hostility, were rendered incapable of serious mischief. In this manner was established the Saracen colony of Lucera, whose members, composed of rebellious Mussulmans of Sicily, became, soon after their settlement, the most faithful subjects of Frederick and the chief support of the imperial throne.

That city was built on the slope of the Apennines, in a location most advantageous for both the purposes of commerce and defence. Its citadel was a mile in circuit and protected by fortifications of enormous strength. In the centre stood a lofty tower, at once the palace and the treasury of the Emperor. Frederick neglected no opportunity of gratifying the pride and confirming the attachment of his Saracen subjects. The spoils of the Papal states were lavished upon them. The trade of the colony was encouraged by every available means. Armorers and workers in the precious metals were imported from Syria. From Egypt came laborers highly skilled in horticulture. Great orchards were planted in the environs. The soldiers of the imperial body-guard were Moslems of Lucera. Splendidly uniformed and mounted, they were constantly on duty at the palace, on the march, in the camp. Conspicuous in the funeral escort of the deceased monarch, their duties were only relinquished at the grave.

The maintenance of this infidel stronghold in the heart of Christian Europe was a standing reproach to the Papacy; and the horror of the clergy was aggravated by the knowledge that churches had been demolished to supply it with building materials; that the revenues of rich and populous districts were diverted through its agency from the coffers of the cathedral and the monastery; that it enjoyed exclusive and valuable commercial privileges; and that, worst of all, it was able at a moment’s notice to furnish more than twenty thousand well-equipped, valiant, and incorruptible soldiers to the armies of the Emperor.

The patronage of letters, which distinguished this accomplished sovereign, is not the least of his titles to renown. No prince ever sought out books and manuscripts with greater assiduity, or more strenuously endeavored, by the bestowal of scholastic honors and pecuniary emoluments, to attract the learned to his court. Nationality, creed, partisanship, feudal enmity, private grudges, were alike forgotten in the friendly contest for literary pre-eminence. In the royal antechambers, in the halls of the University, no student was entitled to precedence, save only through his established claim to mental superiority. The incessant rivalry of many acute and highly cultivated intellects, stimulated by rewards and unhampered by restrictions, was productive of results most important for the revival of letters and the future benefit of humanity. Great advances were made in all departments of knowledge,—chemistry, natural history, botany, poetry, mathematics. The famous scholar, Michael Scott, whose rare attainments contemporaneous ignorance attributed to magic, and whose simple tomb in Melrose Abbey awakens to-day the veneration of every educated and appreciative traveller, was employed by the Emperor as a translator of the classics, and carried to Palermo vast stores of learning acquired in the schools of the Spanish Moslems. Theodore, called “The Philosopher,” published treatises on geometry and astrology; John of Palermo wrote on arithmetical problems; Leonardo Fibouacci brought to the general notice of Europe the science of algebra as known and used in modern schools; the versatile Pietro de Vinea, statesman, jurist, orator, amused his leisure in the composition of the first Italian lyric poetry, and of epistolary correspondence unsurpassed, in any age, for perspicuity, ease, and elegance of diction. Frederick himself wrote amorous sonnets, and published in Latin a work on hawking and birds of prey, which is even now an authority on the subject. The apocryphal book, De Tribus Impostoribus, an alleged compendium of blasphemy and vileness, attributed to him by the clergy of the Middle Ages, is now known to have been an invention of ecclesiastical malice to blacken a character only too vulnerable to such attacks. At the Sicilian court was formed that melodious and graceful idiom afterwards employed with such success by Petrarch, Dante, and Boccaccio. The political, social, and literary revolutions of seven centuries have not materially altered the grammatical construction or orthography of the beautiful language spoken and sung by the knights and ladies of Palermo. The enduring fame of such an achievement far exceeds in value and utility the temporary and barren distinctions obtained by the gaining of battles, the sack of cities, the plunder of baronial strongholds, and the humiliation of popes.

Such was the Emperor Frederick II., and such the civilization which, inspired by Moslem precept, tradition, and example, his commanding genius established in Southern Europe. Not only was he the most intelligent, but he was the most powerful and illustrious sovereign of his age. In addition to the imperial dignity, he possessed the titles of King of Naples and Sicily, of Lombardy, of Poland, of Bohemia, of Hungary, of Denmark, of Sardinia, of Arles, and of Jerusalem. In birth and affinity he was first among the great potentates of the earth. He was the grandson of the famous Barbarossa and of King Roger of Sicily. He was the uncle of Jaime I. of Aragon, Lo Conquerador. He was the father-in-law of the Greek Emperor of Nicea. He was the son-in-law of the Latin Emperor of Constantinople. He was the brother-in-law of the King of England. His relations with the Sultan of Egypt, dictated, in a measure, by state policy, but for the most part prompted by personal admiration, were of the most social and friendly character. He exchanged gifts with the chief of the execrated Ismailian sect known as the “Old Man of the Mountain.” Community of ideas, tastes, languages, and mercantile interests, which he shared with Mohammedan rulers, confirmed the intimacy already long existing between the Kingdom of Sicily and the fragments of the Hispano-Arab empire. His authority was respected from the Mediterranean to the Baltic; his matrimonial connections made his influence felt from the banks of the Nile to the Pillars of Hercules. It was this power, exercised over a territory of vast extent and unlimited resources, added to a consciousness of pre-eminent ability, that suggested to Frederick a renewal of the ancient Carlovingian jurisdiction, and the daring but imprudent attempt, by usurping the prerogatives of the Papacy, to realize a dream of more than imperial ambition.

That dream contemplated the foundation of a national, schismatical church, of which he was to be the head and Pietro de Vinea the vicar. The Pope was to be restricted to the exercise of spiritual functions, and finally deposed. In the Emperor were to be centred all the glory, the majesty, the sanctity, of an omnipotent ruler, presumably responsible only to the Almighty; really the sole arbiter of the religious professions and the actions of mankind. How the demands of such a system, which must necessarily be maintained, to a certain extent, by intellectual coercion, could be reconciled with the broad and equitable tolerance which was for the most part the distinguishing characteristic of the policy of Frederick, does not appear. The claim was, as has already been mentioned, that ecclesiastical supremacy was vested in the secular power of the empire, and dated from the time of the Roman emperors. They were the Supreme Pontiffs from whom the Pope derived his title, but not his authority. That office was merged into, and was inferior to, the imperial dignity. Its inheritance by the monarch of Italy rested upon a more secure basis than the ambiguous and disputed commission alleged to have been conferred upon the fisherman of Galilee. Its validity had been strengthened by centuries of prescription. It had been exercised by many generations of sovereigns. The ministrations of the chief priest of a sect embracing millions of worshippers, the revered intermediary between the devotee and Heaven, are only too easily confounded with the attributes of divinity. These advantages were early recognized and diligently improved by Constantine. The Byzantine emperor was the head of the Greek Church. In Mohammed temporal and spiritual functions were united. Such examples, constantly present to the mind of Frederick, exerted no small influence in determining his course. In the eyes of his Sicilian subjects, the claim of the Imperial Crown to religious supremacy was regarded as a royal prerogative, which had been suspended but never relinquished. The usurpation of the Papal power was a favorite project of European monarchs in succeeding ages. It was seriously meditated by Philippe le Bel in France during the fourteenth century. It was effected by Henry VIII. in England during the sixteenth century. The defiance of the Pope by the great German Emperor was, even at the distance of three hundred years, one of the inspiring causes of the Reformation. The spirit of intellectual liberty, oppressed at first, was victorious in the end.

The genius of Frederick II. was five centuries in advance of his time. His most intelligent contemporaries were incapable of understanding his motives or of appreciating his efforts for the regeneration of humanity. No individual of that age accomplished so much for civilization. He improved the condition of every class of society in his dominions. He diffused the learning of the Arabs throughout Europe. He imparted a new impulse to the cause of education in distant countries not subject to his sway; an impulse which, while it was often impeded, was never wholly suppressed. His liberal ideas excited the abhorrence of the devout. His superstitions evoked the anathemas of the clergy. In his expedition for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre, his guards and councillors were Mohammedans. He attended service in the mosques. He knighted the Emir Fakr-al-Din at Acre. He feasted the envoy of the Sheik of the Assassins at Amalfi. At his court the astrologer was a more important personage than the logothete.

Under the administration of this great prince personal merit was the best title to official promotion. His most eminent ministers were of plebeian origin. From them he exacted unremitting attention to their duties. His suggestions to his ambassadors recall the maxims of Machiavelli. As a negotiator, he had no rivals in an age of shrewd and crafty politicians. His erudition was vast, varied, and profound. To aid the study of natural history he collected extensive menageries. He read medical works and prescribed rules of hygiene for his family and household. With his own hands he drew the plans for his palace at Capua. Magnificent hospitals, aqueducts, bridges, castles, arsenals, arose in the imperial domains of Sicily and Italy.

With all his accomplishments, Frederick was singularly deficient in military ability and generalship. He cared more for the pomp than for the victories of war. His crusade was a campaign of diplomacy. The defeat he sustained at the hands of the Parmesans, and which shook the foundations of his throne, was effected by a rabble of peasants and women who attacked his camp while he was absent on a hunting excursion.

The gorgeous court of Palermo, with its stately ceremonial, its heterodox opinions, its intellectual atmosphere, and the predominant Moslem influence which controlled its policy, prescribed its customs, and contributed largely to its importance, was at once the envy and the scandal of Christendom. The bulk of the imperial armies was composed of Saracens. Philosophers and statesmen of the latter nationality often engrossed, to the exclusion of all others, the confidence and intimacy of the Emperor. His different consorts, in turn, subjected to Oriental restrictions, were attended by guards of African eunuchs, colossal in stature, hideous in feature, splendidly apparelled. His harems, luxuriant establishments, not confined to Palermo, but scattered through the cities of Southern Italy, were filled with Moorish beauties from Syria, Egypt, Morocco, and Spain. A number of their occupants always formed part of his retinue in both peace and war. They journeyed after the fashion of the East, in closed litters borne by gayly caparisoned camels. Arab ladies, as remarkable for wit and learning as for their personal charms, mingled freely with the brilliant society of the capital. Among the diversions of the court were the dances of the East, feats of jugglers and buffoons, amatory improvisations of minnesinger and troubadour, games, falconry, literary contests, magnificent banquets. In these merry assemblies, where pleasure reigned supreme, the sensual was, however, never permitted to prevail over the intellectual; they were enlivened by philosophical discussions, by the application of proverbs, by the stories of travellers, by the recitation of ballads.

The personal aspect of Frederick did not correspond to the expectations of those who had formed an ideal from the fame of his talents and the extent of his erudition. His stature was short, his shoulders bent, his form ungainly and corpulent. He was bald and near-sighted. His reddish beard indicated the lineage of the Hohenstaufens. So insignificant was his appearance, that an Arab writer, who saw him at Jerusalem, asserts, with astonishment and contempt, that if he had been exposed for sale as a slave he would not have brought two hundred drachms of silver. The general lustre of his character was marred by many serious and fatal defects. He was tyrannical, perfidious, hypocritical, superstitious, and inordinately dissolute, even in a licentious age. The domestic relations of the greatest of mediæval emperors were the reproach of the Papacy and the horror of Christian Europe. Like the infamous Marquis de Sade, he considered tears and suffering the most desirable prelude to libidinous pleasures. The festivals of the imperial palace of Palermo were enlivened by the performances of the singing- and dancing-girls of the East. European females of the same profession, during the Crusade, travelled in the royal train to Acre, where the novelty of their appearance and costume amused the idle moments of the Moslem princes of Egypt and Syria. Nothing in the career of Frederick provoked the ire of the clergy more than this concession to infidel curiosity. The gigantic Nubians who watched over the Empress, and whose faces were compared to “ancient masks,” awakened the amazement of foreign travellers at the Sicilian court.

The most frightful torments, whose ingenious cruelty was long remembered with fear and hatred, were inflicted on his victims. Many were dismembered by wild horses; some were crushed by ponderous cloaks of lead; others were slowly roasted by fire applied to brazen helmets in which their heads had been encased. The special objects of these punishments were the partisans of the Pope, who were charged with the offences of both heresy and rebellion. In the orders issued to his agents, he showed that he was an adept in the arts of deception. Devoted to the forbidden science of astrology, he became the dupe of charlatans; and even the consummation of his marriage with the Princess of England was deferred until the position of the planets was declared to be favorable. His genius was essentially Italian. From early childhood he had been familiar with the arts, the schemes, the casuistry, of unprincipled priests and politicians. In the formation of his character these associations had exercised a most pernicious influence. His education and experience had led him to doubt the existence of the virtues of truth, patriotism, integrity. He never forgave an injury to himself or an insult to his dignity. He sacrificed, without compunction, ministers who had long served him in the most responsible employments, who had profited by his generosity, who had shared his confidence. His utter want of feeling is revealed by a saying attributed to him which is more remarkable for its energy than its elegance, “I have never fattened a hog except to obtain its lard.”

His philosophical indifference to religion did not prevent him from posing as the representative of the orthodox faith and the restorer of primitive Christianity. He compared himself to Elias and to Christ. He humbly solicited enrolment among the monks of Casamara. In a communication to the successor of St. Francis of Assis, he declared his belief in the Scriptures and his hope of eternal salvation. He presided over important religious festivals and assumed the most prominent part in the celebration of their ceremonies. On his death-bed, he wished, in token of his pretended reverence for the humblest ministers of the Gospel, to be clothed with the cowl of a Cistercian friar. Policy caused him to thus profess allegiance to the Church, but there is little doubt that he was an unbeliever, perhaps an atheist. In unguarded moments he scoffed at all religion. One of his favorite jests was in ridicule of the Eucharist. He criticised Divine Wisdom for the selection of the barren land of Palestine, instead of the rich and fertile Sicily, as the abode of the chosen people. In the very cradle of Christianity, at the spot once sanctified by the presence of the Saviour, he edified his Moslem hosts by comparing the throngs of pilgrims who crowded to the shrine to droves of the most stupid and unclean of animals. His unflinching antagonism to the Papacy caused the clergy and the rabble to regard him as Antichrist. He was deposed by the Council of Lyons; was four times excommunicated by the Pope; and was repeatedly disciplined by inferior prelates. In the implacable contest which broke his power and destroyed his house, the ecclesiastical autocracy of Rome, for the moment, triumphed. The civilization he had fostered was checked and obscured. His treasures were scattered. His libraries disappeared. The last of his race perished ignominiously on the scaffold. But the spirit of independent thought which he promoted, and whose exercise he bequeathed to posterity, survived the attack of intolerance and tyranny, to be revived in a better and a more auspicious age.

The South of France, not as yet incorporated into the monarchy, but existing as a semi-independent state, and governed by the Count of Toulouse, one of the most powerful feudatories in Europe, was the scene of another great mediæval revolt of the human mind against Papal despotism and intellectual servitude. From a period so remote that its beginning is lost in tradition, that region had been the seat of a splendid civilization, at once the exemplar and the pride of antiquity. The Phœnicians had early established trading-posts on its shores, and had introduced, with the commercial policy and enterprise of their race, the arts, the learning, and the culture which had laid the foundation of the wealth and renown of Carthage. To the Phœnicians succeeded the Greeks of Phocæa, that flourishing Ionian seaport which, for dignity, elegance of manners, and erudition, ranked among the most famous cities of the Grecian name. Its principal colony, Massilia, exercised dominion over nearly all of the territory south of the Loire; a territory already rich and populous, and containing, among the twenty-five important cities subject to its jurisdiction, such great and opulent communities as Monaco, Nice, Arles, Nîmes, Béziers, Avignon. Unaided by extraneous support, the people of Massilia, in spite of the efforts of barbarian neighbors and jealous rivals, preserved their political and mercantile importance until their conquest by Cæsar degraded their commonwealth to a subordinate rank among the provinces composing the gigantic fabric of the Roman Empire. The policy of that great soldier despoiled them of their dependencies, crippled their resources, and turned to letters and the arts the restless spirit which had formerly been engrossed by the pursuits of commerce and the exercise of arms. Before its political annihilation, the colony of Massilia, in extent, in population, in wealth, and in intelligence, ranked higher than any Grecian republic that had ever existed, save Athens alone. Its possessions were not acquired by conquest. They were gradually absorbed through the imperceptible influence of superior knowledge, the example of prosperity and luxury, the acuteness of sagacious and aggressive rulers, the exhibition of magnificent monuments of artistic genius. Under the Romans, this region, designated as Narbonnese Gaul, was one of the most flourishing provinces of the empire. Its literary culture was proverbial. Its schools were famous. It is mentioned by Livy as having preserved without contamination the arts, the manners, and the laws of Greece. The ancient polity of Massilia is eulogized by Cicero as a scheme of almost ideal perfection. The philosophers of that city enjoyed such a reputation for learning, that the patronage of such of the Roman youth as were ambitious of the most finished education was equally divided between it and Athens. The first three professors of Latin rhetoric at Rome were Gauls educated at Massilia. Its intellectual progress was greatly assisted by the mercantile spirit of its citizens, whose faculties were developed and enlarged by constant and familiar intercourse with other nations. Its navigators possessed all the skill and activity of their Phœnician ancestors. Their vessels were seen on the western coast of Africa, in the Euxine, in the Baltic, in the distant fjords of Norway. Their factories and their agents were established in Germany and Britain. Their internal trade was most extensive and important. They traversed the course of the Rhone and the Loire from their sources to the sea. Every tribe in communication with those waterways paid tribute to their shrewdness and shared the benefits of their experience. The Greek language was familiar to the inhabitants of Gaul; it was even adopted and used by the Druidical priesthood, and eventually became the general medium of commercial and social intercourse. The dark and cruel superstitions and legends of the country were supplanted by the elegant and graceful fictions of Paganism; by the songs, the dances, the floral games, the pomp of sacrifice, the joyous festivals, which characterized the religious ceremonials of Greece and Italy. The existence of such conditions could not fail to exert a marked effect upon the minds of a people, barbarous indeed, yet highly susceptible to impressions which appealed equally to its imagination and its interest. Narbonnese Gaul, under the emperors, maintained the literary and artistic pre-eminence which had, from time immemorial, distinguished it among the provinces of Western Europe. The most copious, elegant, and euphonic of languages was still spoken throughout the various municipalities that formerly acknowledged the jurisdiction of the Massilian Republic. The capital was especially renowned for its philosophers and physicians; for its patronage of letters; for the refinement of its society; and for the number and excellence of its educational institutions, which, in the estimation of many distinguished Romans, took precedence of the schools of Greece. Imperial favor bestowed upon the Narbonnese province monuments whose perfection was eminently worthy of the taste and splendor of the Augustan age. Its cities were adorned with beautiful temples, porticos, and theatres. In the gardens were peristyles of precious marble, mosaic pavements, superb fountains, vases filled with flowers, and statues of gilded bronze. Sumptuous baths administered to the luxury of the populace. In the circus, the chariot race displayed a pomp but little inferior to that exhibited by the imperial spectacles of Rome. Aqueducts of colossal dimensions brought, for a distance of many leagues, the water demanded by the requirements of an immense population. In no portion of the Roman world have such a variety of the architectural memorials of classic elegance survived as in the district of Provence and Languedoc. From the magnificent ruins that still remain, we are enabled to form a grand but inadequate idea of the structures created by imperial munificence and Grecian taste which have perished by the neglect and the violence of thirteen centuries. After the Roman came the Goth, and then the Arab, himself at first but a marauder. By degrees, however, his nobler instincts obtained the mastery over his love of rapine; his predatory strongholds were transformed into centres of trade; and with the habits and religion of the Orient were introduced all the benefits and all the vices of its voluptuous existence. The Moorish principality of Narbonne was subject to the Western Emirate only forty years; yet, during that short period, the impressions produced by Moorish occupancy were so deeply stamped upon the mental and physical characteristics of the population that no subsequent revolutions have ever been able to entirely efface them. The practical genius of the Arab, which considered utility as the first and most valuable of all the objects of civilization, was again exhibited in the improvements applied to all the arts and avocations of life which sprang up in the track of his victorious armies. The Oriental principles of agriculture, with its painstaking tillage of the soil, its perfect irrigating system, its introduction of foreign plants, were applied with wonderful success to the delightful region watered by the Rhone and the Garonne. Many varieties of grain, including the buckwheat, originally brought from Persia, and which at that time obtained its significant name of sarrasin, were imported from Spain. The bark of the cork-tree, still one of the greatest sources of wealth to Catalonia and Provence, was then first made known to Europe. The boundless evergreen forests on the slopes of the Pyrenees were utilized for the manufacture of pitch and rosin. In every district, the breed of horses was improved by crosses with the best blood of Arabia. Innumerable articles of luxury preserved in museums and private collections—beautiful objects of silver, ivory, and crystal, damascened armor, and silken robes—attest the variety and excellence of the Moorish manufactures. The popular dances and other amusements of Southern France are also striking reminiscences of the Moslem ascendency. While Arabic literature must have exercised an important influence upon the public mind of Provence and Languedoc, no historical information has been transmitted to us relative to its character, and even its existence during this period is largely a matter of conjecture. There is no doubt, however, concerning the effects subsequently produced by familiarity with Moorish civilization, established by conquest and perpetuated by the aid of merchants and travellers. The learning, the elegance, the refinement, and the infidelity of the court of Cordova were carried beyond the Pyrenees. The writings of Averroes and other Arabian philosophers were studied with pleasure by the scholars of Southern France. That entire region was more Mohammedan than Christian and more infidel than either. The nobles adopted polygamous habits and maintained harems filled with concubines. A thriving trade in eunuchs was carried on with the Spanish Arabs, whose profits, it was notorious, were principally engrossed by ecclesiastics. A passionate love of poetry developed the troubadour, a most important factor of European intellectual progress, and the counterpart and representative of the Arab bard, whose improvisations had, from time immemorial, been the delight of the emotional tribes of the Desert. A language infinitely sweeter and more melodious than modern French, and exhibiting a strong similarity to the Italian formed at the court of Frederick II., became the vehicle of charming poetical compositions, which satirized the lives of the priesthood, recounted the achievements of the tournament and the foray, and celebrated, in graceful and rhythmic hyperbole, the beauty and fascinations of woman. This tongue, known as the Langue d’Oc, while indirectly derived from the Latin, owed, in fact, nothing to classic associations or influence. It was the first of the numerous family of languages and dialects of Roman origin which, during mediæval times, attained to any marked degree of perfection in grammatical construction or in elegance of expression. It is a significant fact that it only obtained a permanent foothold in countries once subject to Arab domination. It spread eventually all over the South of Europe. It was spoken in Valencia, Barcelona, and the Balearic Isles, whose dialects are now corrupted forms of the ancient Limousin. The productions of which it formed the medium were read in Italy, Germany, Sicily, and England. It adapted itself with such ease to the purposes of the poet that it almost seemed constructed especially for that variety of composition. It early incurred the hostility of the Church on account of the Albigensian heresy; and in 1248, Innocent IV., by a special bull, forbade its study to all good Catholics. The rapidity with which it was perfected, the extent of its distribution, the number of provincial dialects to which it gave rise, the richness of the literature which adopted it, and the suddenness and completeness of its extinction constitute one of the most interesting and extraordinary phenomena in the annals of linguistics.

The literary and social condition of Southern France was, with the single exception of Sicily, which bore to it a remarkable resemblance, anomalous among the countries of civilized Europe. Its population was singularly cosmopolitan; half a score of races had contributed to its formation; it had inherited the culture of the Greek, the Roman, the Arab; mixture of blood and comparison of creeds had produced universal toleration of belief and widespread and uncompromising skepticism. In its courts, its schools, its learned professions, Semitic ideas, traditions, and influence preponderated. Not a few Moslems had established themselves in the cities of Nîmes, Narbonne, and Toulouse, and the Jews abounded in every community which afforded encouragement to scientific attainments or facilities for traffic. The system of public instruction was essentially Hebrew; the faculty of the famous medical school of Montpellier, the successful competitor of that of Salerno, was at first principally composed of Jews and Mohammedans, and retained for centuries, amidst foreign conquest and domestic convulsion, the impress derived from the character of its founders. The closest relations were maintained between the academies of Languedoc and those of imperial Sicily and Moorish Spain. This intimacy was strengthened by the multiplicity of mercantile transactions arising from a constant interchange of commodities dependent upon a vast and profitable trade. The capitals of Cordova, Seville, and Palermo were better known to the people of Provence than any of the Mediterranean cities to the inland towns of continental Europe; now, great centres of wealth, commerce, and civilization; then, despised as semi-barbarous and rarely visited. The continuance of this friendly intercourse with Mohammedan countries, confirmed at once by congenial pursuits and by the powerful influence of pecuniary advantage, was portentous in its effects, and boded ill to the propagation of Christianity and the maintenance of ecclesiastical discipline. The succession of numerous forms of worship, distinct in their origin, unlike in their ceremonial, irreconcilably hostile in their polity, each asserting divine infallibility, yet each, in turn, overthrown by a new and more popular belief, was not favorable to the existence of any religion. Strongly attached to the cheerful festivals of Paganism, the inhabitants of Southern France had embraced the precepts of the Gospel with insincerity and reluctance. Their disposition, their traditions, the souvenirs of classic magnificence and beauty which surrounded them, all contributed to confirm the deeply grounded affection they entertained for the creed of their fathers. Nowhere else in Christendom was such a spectacle presented of all that is attractive to the luxurious, and all that is admired by the intellectual, as that disclosed by the life of the polished and corrupt society of Southern France. That entire region was subjected to the highest cultivation of which the soil, naturally fertile and improved by every resource of scientific agriculture, was susceptible. The cities, large and populous, enjoyed every advantage of wealth which could be derived from an extensive traffic. Béziers had sixty thousand inhabitants, a larger number than any town in England. Nîmes, Arles, Carcassonne, were but little inferior in size and grandeur. Every commercial device was familiar to the people. Their shrewdness was proverbial. Their trade was enormous. A knowledge of banking and bills of exchange, with many important fiscal regulations, had been introduced by the Jews of Barcelona.

Toulouse, one of the most beautiful and licentious of mediæval capitals, was the focus of this splendid civilization. It was the seat of the Muses, the home of chivalry, the goal of every devotee of love and of ambition. There the knightly adventurer sought distinction in the tournament and the tilt of reeds, martial amusements borrowed from the Moor. Thither journeyed the troubadour and the jongleur, sure of hospitality and reward in palace and castle, in the comfortable home of the merchant, in the humble dwelling of the laborer. There was crowned the poet, successful in the literary contest, two hundred years before the laurel was placed upon the brow of Petrarch in the Capitol at Rome. There were held the Courts of Love, where women argued and determined, with all the grave impartiality of a judicial tribunal, questions involving the laws of gallantry, their observance and their violation. The potentate, who, under the modest title of count, governed this great and opulent realm, enjoyed a larger measure of authority than most representatives of the royal houses of Europe. His family was of high antiquity, and its rank dated back for many centuries. The rich fiefs of Béziers, Foix, Quercy, Montpellier, and Narbonne, with their numerous important dependencies, acknowledged his authority as suzerain. Wealthier than any of his Christian contemporaries, he was more powerful in all the attributes of monarchical dignity than the King of France. His dominions included the greater part of the territory south of the Loire, and embraced the fertile and flourishing districts bounded by the Garonne, the Isère, the Mediterranean, and the Alps. He had achieved renown in the Crusades. His sword had won for him the principality of Tripoli. He had been an unsuccessful but prominent competitor for the throne of Jerusalem. In his public relations he was the soul of chivalric courtesy; in his personal habits a fastidious voluptuary; in belief a skeptic; in tastes a Mohammedan. The conspicuous valor he displayed on the fields of Palestine was, in some degree, neutralized by a moral cowardice which instinctively shrank from a conflict involving the dearest privileges for which humanity can contend,—the preservation of political integrity and the exercise of the right of intellectual freedom. Brave, impetuous, sensual, vacillating, and insincere, such was Raymond VI., Count of Toulouse, the representative of the most polished and dissolute state in Europe.

The political organization of the various cities and provinces composing the County of Toulouse presented a strange anomaly. Some were, in all but name, republican; their magistrates, under the title of consuls, administered the affairs of government, and were elected by the public voice of the people. The civil regulations of others partook rather of the nature of feudal tenures in which the most oppressive privileges had been relaxed or entirely discharged. But neither the feeble copy of the institutions of ancient Rome nor the barbarous laws of mediæval tyranny were sufficient to compel the obedience of such a heterogeneous population. The authority of the elective magistracy was frequently defied. The fealty of the great vassals was but nominal. The jurisdiction of the suzerain was, under various, and sometimes under frivolous, pretexts, questioned or ignored. There was no organized military power to enforce the mandates of the ruling authority. Enervated by pleasure, the people of Languedoc and Provence passed their existence in a constant round of intellectual diversions and refined sensuality. The martial sports of the chase and the tourney did little but recall the profession of arms, once the only occupation worthy of the dignity of the mediæval cavalier. Thus, broken up into semi-independent communities, destitute of military resources, and incapable of systematic defence or united action, the power of the Count of Toulouse was ready to crumble at the approach of the first resolute aggressor. The civilization represented by that power lacked the indispensable essentials of every permanent government,—loyalty and religion. Want of centralization, and a multiplicity of rulers, weakened the patriotic attachment of the people, and discouraged the growth of an enlightened and healthy public sentiment. National pride could not exist when there was no royal personage to whom all could appeal, no common country to exalt and defend. In addition to these serious impediments to durability and progress was added an absolute want of religious feeling. Numerous causes had combined to produce this condition. Comparisons of many forms of faith had exposed their defects and inconsistencies, and led to a general rejection of them all. The Crusaders had familiarized all Europe, and especially France, with the manners and religion of the Mussulmans. Hundreds of enterprising merchants had assumed the cross, much less for the piety it was presumed to indicate and the sacred privileges it conferred, than for the worldly advantages to be procured by traffic with distant, and otherwise inaccessible, regions. Their glowing reports of Oriental civilization had dissipated the remaining prejudices of a people whose intercourse with the Moslem kingdoms beyond the Pyrenees had long predisposed them in favor of a race held in peculiar abhorrence by the See of Rome. The silks and gold of Syria and Egypt appealed far more eloquently to the passions of the multitude than the genuflexions of the priest or the rosary and cowl of the friar. Even the sacred profession was invaded by the prevailing spirit of toleration, itself dependent on material interests; the inferior clergy dealt as brokers in the money of the East, and from the mints of bishops and metropolitans were issued coins impressed with Mohammedan texts and symbols. In addition to this extraordinary partiality for infidel customs, and the practical renunciation of the vow of poverty, which were calculated to arouse, especially among the vulgar, a suspicion of heterodoxy, the entire body of the Provençal clergy had become thoroughly debased and profligate. Those of high rank vied with the nobles in prodigal and ostentatious luxury. Prelates constantly abandoned the duties of their office for the fascinations of the chase and the licentious pleasures of intrigue. They travelled in state with numerous trains of ladies and attendants, the richness of whose appointments rivalled that of a royal equipage. The Archbishop of Narbonne kept in his pay a band of foreign outlaws who levied blackmail on opulent citizens, and who, protected by their ecclesiastical patron, defied the weak and disorganized civil power of the land. In every gay assembly where the song of the troubadour recounted the triumphs of love and gallantry, or aimed its satirical shafts at the failings of the priesthood, the bishop was foremost in laughter and applause. It was a common saying among the people that while the apostles were poor, their successors, plunged in luxury, “loved fine horses and splendid garments, white women and red wine.” The vices of the higher class, confirmed by the possession of great wealth and secure from the censure of ecclesiastical tribunals, surpassed, in turpitude and effrontery, the excesses of any other society then existing in Christendom.

The episcopal dignitaries were usually of noble blood and connected with the most ancient and distinguished families of France. Not so, however, with the inferior members of the hierarchy. The avarice, the extortion, the hypocrisy, the drunkenness, and the debauchery universally imputed to all included in that sacred profession had made it infamous. The prelates, indeed, enjoyed all that could be purchased or exacted by eminent birth, boundless opulence, and irresistible power. The priests, however, were nearer the people, and were taken from the lowest ranks of society. Such was their degradation, that it had passed into a proverb. The populace, by way of imprecation, were accustomed to say, “May I become a priest before I do such a thing!” Livings were filled exclusively from the ranks of the coarse and brutal peasantry, for no citizen of the middle class would permit his son to be disgraced by the assumption of the tonsure. Even respectable vassals recoiled from the equivocal honors of the Church, and the lords, who regarded the tithes as a portion of their legal perquisites, were forced to select as candidates for holy orders the most ignorant and degraded of their dependents and slaves. The rude manners and vicious tastes engendered by a debased and plebeian origin increased the hatred and contempt of the scoffing multitude. In some parts of Languedoc public feeling ran so high against the clergy, that priests, to avoid personal violence, were forced to conceal from the passers-by all outward evidences of their calling.

The Pope, long aware of the insults offered to his dignity and of the evils which threatened the faith of Rome, had frequently condemned in unmeasured terms the conditions which imperilled the existence of all religion in the South of France. Ecclesiastical fulminations, however, possessed no terrors for the blithe and careless inhabitants of Provence and Languedoc. The Papal bulls only furnished another amusing theme for the sarcasm of the poet. Interdicts, elsewhere so potent, in that land, alone of all those subject to Christian authority, were treated with derision. The pretensions of the legate of the Apostolic See were ridiculed in his very presence, and even the Holy Father himself was not able to escape the raillery and censure of those whom experience had made acquainted with the shocking venality and license of the Roman court. Every vestige of moral influence upon which rested public consideration for the clergy had disappeared. The churches were all but deserted. Latin, the language of the altar, had been discarded for the Langue d’Oc, the idiom of the skeptical and the dissolute. In many parishes bells had ceased to announce the hour of worship, for no one heeded them. The priest, intent on his pleasures, was only too ready to abandon the duties enjoined by his calling, especially when there were few to listen and still fewer to contribute. The revenues of the Church, greatly diminished, were diverted into channels entirely foreign to the purpose for which they had nominally been collected. Some were appropriated by the nobles, whose vassals had been presented to livings. Vast sums were squandered by licentious prelates in vices whose enormity appalled every sincere Christian. The greatest profits which enured to the benefit of the clergy were derived from the uncanonical and prohibited practices of simony and usury. No effort was made to conceal the existence of these abuses, and the ecclesiastical residence was generally recognized as the head-quarters of brokerage in bills and benefices.

Thus had the Roman Catholic Church, by the corruption and effrontery of its ministers, forfeited the respect of mankind. Its edicts were disregarded. Its lessons were unheard. The pious turned with loathing from the hypocritical exhortations of religious teachers whose lives were stained with every crime, and whose conduct presented examples of flagrant iniquity, which fortunately had few parallels outside of their profession. The reverence once attaching to the Vatican was sensibly impaired. While its policy encouraged the promotion of the humble, its authority necessarily suffered through the enrolment into the priesthood of men without education, refinement, honor, decency, or independence. Public respect could not be retained by a class degraded by servile associations and still subject to the arbitrary caprices of a secular lord. As in every community are to be found many individuals to whom religion is a necessity, so in the Provençal cities and villages devout persons turned from the ancient and discredited hierarchy to other quarters for the inestimable consolations of forgiveness and hope. Such conditions infallibly generate heresy, and the eagerness and unanimity with which heterodox opinions were adopted in that populous region demonstrated at once the extent of the evil and the necessity for the radical measures by which its removal was accomplished.

The centre of intellectual culture in Southern France was the University of Montpellier. It has been well said that the history of the faculty of that famous institution is to a great extent the history of medicine in Europe. During the early part of the twelfth century, Montpellier was the most important emporium of France. The trade of the entire country converged to that point. Its commercial establishments were upon a colossal scale. Its population was cosmopolitan. The conquests of Ferdinand and Jaime, the occupation of Cordova, Seville, Majorca, and Valencia had attracted to Languedoc, and especially to its most thriving city, tens of thousands of Mohammedan refugees. The Jews had long been numerous in that region, and were already conspicuous for wealth, intelligence, and power.

From that epoch dates, in reality, the foundation of the University. A school of medicine had existed there for nearly a century, but to the influx of Moorish and Hebrew learning must be attributed the reputation soon obtained by that institution throughout Europe. The majority of its professors belonged to those two nationalities. They brought with them the experience, the methods, the remedies, and the instruments of the most eminent and successful practitioners of the Peninsula. Many of them from time to time visited the colleges of Granada and Toledo for the purpose of adding to their stock of information, and of profiting by the superior facilities those schools afforded. A broad and catholic spirit controlled the organization and the policy of the University. Sectarian prejudice was unknown. Teacher and scholar were free to worship according to their belief, or to entertain and express the most radical philosophical opinions. Intellectual attainments and marked ability were the principal qualifications for admission to the Faculty.

The Lords of Montpellier, and subsequently the Kings of France, were the patrons of the school. They conferred upon it at different times great and extraordinary privileges. The rights it had enjoyed under the Count were confirmed by the sovereign. Philip of Valois, in 1331, by a special edict placed its doctors under the royal protection. Charles VI., in 1350, granted its beadles permission to carry silver maces as symbols of its dignity. The Duke of Aragon, in 1364, exempted it from taxation. The patents of Charles VIII., in 1484, transferred all causes in which the professors and students were interested to the jurisdiction of the Governor of Montpellier. The execution of legal process could only be made in the presence of the Chancellor. To the officers of the Faculty were committed the supervision and inspection of the apothecary shops of the city, in order to insure the purity of the medicines dispensed.

At Montpellier were performed the first public anatomical demonstrations of Christian Europe. The surgical investigations of the School of Salerno had been principally confined to the lower animals. Moorish and Hebrew operators carried into France the advanced ideas of Mohammedan Spain, which, in defiance of ancient prejudice and mediæval superstition, sought for the knowledge of the location and functions of the human organs in the intelligent and systematic dissection of the human body. In the thirteenth century, the corpse of a criminal was every year given to the Faculty of Montpellier for this purpose. Two hundred years elapsed before similar demonstrations were authorized by the University of Paris.

The Medical Academy of Montpellier inherited the energetic and progressive spirit of its prototype, the University of Cordova. It absorbed all the available learning of antiquity. It adopted the maxims and the methods of the great Arab surgeons and physicians of the Peninsula. Among its most celebrated professors were graduates of the School of Salerno. It utilized the talents and experience of famous practitioners of every country and of every creed. There the works of Hippocrates and Galen were translated from the Arabic, in which idiom they had been preserved, into the Latin, by which they were to be transmitted to posterity. There the learned disquisitions of Averroes, Avicenna, Rhazes, and Abulcasis were enriched with voluminous and invaluable commentaries.

A long and thorough course of study was required to obtain the title of Doctor. The office of Chancellor was one of great dignity, and carried with it many privileges. It may well be imagined that ecclesiastical imposture could not flourish in the shadow of such an institution. Such was its influence, even with a class naturally hostile, that as early as the last half of the twelfth century the First and Second Councils of Montpellier prohibited all members of the clergy from teaching medicine, under severe penalties. The scientific character of the studies pursued in that city, and the success of those who profited by them, discredited the practice of shrine-cure and the imposition of relics. The theological odium attaching to the University was not less than that which had stigmatized kindred seats of learning among the Arabian infidels. Many works of its professors were publicly burned by the Inquisition.

And yet no class of men was more highly esteemed by the orthodox sovereigns of Christendom than the graduates of the University of Montpellier. They were the friends and confidants of popes and kings. Their heretical principles were forgotten at the bedside of the sick and the afflicted. Arnold de Villanova was the physician of Clement V., of Peter III., King of Aragon, of Frederick II., Emperor of Germany. Guy de Chauliac was the regular medical adviser of Clement VI., of Innocent VI., of Urban V. While its greatest reputation is derived from its influence on medicine, the labors of the School of Montpellier were not confined to that science. They gave rise to many valuable contributions to various branches of literature. The astronomical researches of the Spanish Jew, Profatius, in 1300,—his tables of longitude; his calculations, which established the declination of the sun and the inclination of the earth’s axis, by means of which terrestrial motion was conclusively demonstrated, have not lost their authority in our time.

The treatises of Gordonius on Diseases of the Kidneys, of Gerard de Solo on Hygiene, of Raymond de Vinario on the Plague, indicate to the medical scholar the extraordinary accomplishments of the members of the Faculty of Montpellier. The great work of Guy de Chauliac on General Surgery was the main reliance of European operators for two hundred and fifty years.

The mad extravagance of the Provençal nobility, their lavish expenditures, the pomp of their retinues, their efforts to surpass in prodigality and luxury the splendid festivals of imperial Rome, aroused the wonder of Europe. Their chargers were shod with silver. Their dogs wore collars set with precious jewels. It was an ordinary occurrence for a wealthy lord to scatter great sums to be scrambled for by the populace. One sowed like seed thirty thousand gold crowns in the neighborhood of his castle. Another enriched his noble guests by the bestowal of gifts of incalculable value. A third sacrificed upon a funeral pyre, in the presence of an immense assemblage, thirty of his finest horses. There was apparently no limit to the intoxication produced by the pride, the opulence. and the voluptuousness of Provençal society. In that society differences in rank were not so sharply defined as in those of other countries. The serf, indeed, retained his degradation; but the ordinarily intermediate class of burghers were practically the equals of the feudal aristocracy. Many of them boasted a purer and a more distinguished lineage. They used coats of arms. They had their mansions, their embattled castles, their bodies of organized retainers. They excelled in martial exercises, and it was no unusual occurrence for knights who had crossed swords with the infidels of Palestine to be worsted by them in the tournament. The title to noble rank was thus to a considerable extent connected with municipal residence. In the cities all was splendor, gayety, courtesy. Outside of them, the inhabitants were for the most part condemned to villeinage. In the Courts of Love, whose absurdity has caused them to be regarded as mythical by many subsequent writers, judicial decisions were rendered on every point of amorous casuistry. The mock solemnity with which such matters were propounded and determined was only exceeded by the dissolute tendency of the customs that governed the proceedings of these extraordinary tribunals. No greater proof of the prevalent laxity of morals could be desired than that furnished by their canons. They encouraged the violation of the marriage vow. They defined with minute and curious particularity the rules of intrigue. The nature of the questions debated by high-born ladies in the presence of a numerous auditory was such as cannot be even designated, still less described, in a modern book. The brazen coarseness which characterized these ridiculous controversies afforded a remarkable contrast to the refinement of manners otherwise displayed by those who participated in them. The popularity of this unique system of jurisprudence was so great, that, at the time of the Albigensian crusade, it was on the point of being generally established in every part of France. No institution, even in those times of heresy and unbelief, was so fatal to religion. It undermined the vital principles by which society is held together. It defied the injunctions and ridiculed the dogmas of the Church. The Virgin, as the object of adoration, was supplanted by the mistress of the cavalier, often a woman of dissolute character and the recipient of the adulation of a score of favored lovers.

A charming picture of mediæval society is presented by the life of the educated classes of Languedoc and Provence. Everywhere was dispensed the most elegant and lavish hospitality. The table was spread before the open door of the castle. Marked attention was shown to the guest, whether merchant, knight, pilgrim, minstrel, or troubadour. He was welcomed with unaffected cordiality. He was tendered the use of the hot-air bath. A wreath of flowers was placed upon his brow. The ladies themselves ministered to his necessities. In accordance with a custom borrowed from the Arabs, the choicest morsels were placed in his mouth by dainty white and jewelled fingers perfumed with lavender and rose. The diversions of the day were feats of strength and displays of horsemanship, the game of chess, the chase with the falcon, the contest for the prize of knightly dexterity in the lists of the tournament. In winter, the company gathered about the huge fireplace of the banqueting hall; in summer, under the rustling foliage of the park. The evening was spent with song and dance, with the recital of the story-teller, with the improvisations of the poet. The feast was enlivened by wit, by jest, by sparkling repartee. The returned crusader related his adventures in the Holy Land,—the bloody encounters of the siege of Acre; the quarrels of the Christian chieftains; the events in which were displayed the dignity, the valor, the noble generosity of Saladin. The trader, just from the Moorish cities of Spain,—then, indeed, sadly fallen from their first estate, but still exhibiting in their fading splendor no unworthy image of their former grandeur and power,—described in glowing language the beauties of Cordova, Valencia, and Seville. Between cavalier and mistress communication was constantly maintained unobserved, through the silent and pantomimic medium of the language of flowers.

In this brilliant company the troubadour was pre-eminently conspicuous. Although often the butt of the equivocal speeches and practical jokes of his companions of both sexes,—attentions which he did not fail to repay with interest in the cutting satire of his verse,—his opinions, generally authoritative, were always heard with respect. He determined points of precedence and etiquette. He gave wholesome advice to young ladies on the care of their persons, on their behavior at table, on their treatment of lovers. His principal duties were, however, the glorification of the family of his patron and the celebration of the charms of his mistress. All courted his favor. Few were rash enough to provoke his enmity. In the society of Languedoc, whether the dependent of a noble house or a careless wanderer from court to court, he was always the central figure.

Among the inmates of the baronial palace, if an intrigue existed, it was concealed by the mask of decency. The poet, in the burning verses which enumerated the charms of his lady-love, never mentioned her name, or betrayed the slightest indication of her identity. His attachment he regarded in the same light as the tribute paid by a Pagan worshipper to his tutelary goddess. The laws of his code demanded impenetrable reserve. The object of his devotion was, to all appearances, an imaginary personage, an ideal of feminine perfection.

The highest development of splendor, taste, intelligence, and luxury was to be found in the feudal castle. In the cities, it is true, great pomp and extravagance, the results of the accumulation of incredible wealth, were constantly displayed. The mansions of many opulent merchants far surpassed in the magnificence of their interiors the palaces of the King of France. On occasions of festivity priceless hangings of brocade and velvet, of silken tapestry and cloth of gold, were suspended over the streets. The households of these powerful citizens were on a scale commensurate with the dignity of their masters. Hundreds of retainers obeyed their bidding. Their apartments were full of singers, dancers, buffoons, and eunuchs. There was no delicacy not to be found upon their tables; no means of sensual enjoyment which did not contribute to the stimulation of their blunted appetites; no vice with which they were not familiar.

Thus in the courts of the numerous principalities of Southern France, amidst the delights of a society gay, skeptical, licentious, the troubadour was the arbiter of taste, the oracle of the populace, the idol of women. Public opinion was far from discouraging the practice of gallantry in an age which scoffed alike at the maxims of social morality and the ceremonies of religion. The mistress of the vagrant bard was always the wife of a noble, not infrequently a princess of the highest dignity. To her was addressed his passionate homage, often in strains whose expressions are too bold and ardent for translation into a modern language. The adoration they convey, unsurpassed in fervency by any vows ever offered at the shrine of a celestial divinity, affords a key to both the influence of the poet and the relaxation of manners. The life of the latter was passed in an intoxicating atmosphere of music, flattery, and amorous intrigue. His power over society was not less important than that formerly exercised by the repudiated clergy, and was, morally speaking, fully as pernicious. The adulation he lavished upon the object of his affections, represented as the personification of every physical grace and every mental accomplishment, could not fail to fire the romantic imagination of the goddess in whose veins coursed the hot blood of the South, and whose vanity caused her to recognize in this extravagant flattery and devotion the highest tribute to her charms. Around the bard, in the brilliant circles of Arles or Carcassonne, was grouped a mirthful and appreciative auditory,—ladies in brocades and jewels, knights in burnished armor, pages in silk and gold. In that animated assemblage the restraints of rank, never rendered irksome by the exactions of pompous ceremonial, were for the moment entirely suspended. The conversation sparkled with epigram, equivocal allusions, and good-humored satire. Its character, formed by the dissolute customs of the age, often transgressed the rules of propriety which govern modern social intercourse. Inspired by such surroundings, the troubadour arose and began the recital of an impromptu amatory ode. Young, slender, and handsome, his physical appearance alone might well elicit female admiration. His long, dark locks fell in ringlets upon his shoulders. A golden chain hung about his neck. His fingers glittered with gems. From his belt an enamelled poniard was suspended. His picturesque costume of brilliant colors, his silken doublet, his velvet cloak, set off to the best advantage the graces of his person, and revealed the popularity which he enjoyed with his patrons. All eyes were turned upon him, for his talents were of the highest order, and the object of his admiration was present, perchance in the person of the chatelaine herself. As he chanted his verses in accents, now ardent, now pathetic, now humorous, the enraptured audience, swayed by conflicting emotions, broke forth alternately into tears and laughter. His ambiguous expressions, his licentious images,—whose boldness the severity of modern criticism would reject as offensive to decency,—were received with every manifestation of approval by his delighted hearers. The nature of the entertainment was often varied by the performances of the jongleur. That personage, who, as a retainer of the troubadour, occupied a position analogous to that of esquire to knight, united in his calling the office of minstrel, juggler, story-teller, and buffoon. Sometimes he accompanied the song of the poet upon the harp or the guitar; sometimes, with expressive gesticulation, he recounted the legends, the martial exploits, and the popular romances whose relation was a favorite diversion of mediæval society. His rank was ordinarily far beneath that of his companion; yet it was not unusual for the two professions to be combined; and there were instances when their positions were reversed through the vicissitudes of success or misfortune.

The extraordinary privileges enjoyed by these vagrant sonneteers were by no means entirely attributable to the amusement which their talents afforded. Their compositions were the sole medium by which public opinion could be aroused and the abuse of power and the excesses of social depravity restrained. The influence of the pulpit, long omnipotent in the regulation of morals, had declined; in some localities it had wholly disappeared. Centuries were destined to elapse before the press, the most formidable weapon of political censure, could become available. The satire of the poet, whose verses, carried from place to place, in a fortnight became familiar to a hundred communities, was recognized as the instrument of moral correction, the dread of the tyrant, the scourge of the shamelessly dissolute. Its potent effects were feared by wrong-doers of every class, and by none so much as by those of exalted position.

The fierceness and rancor displayed by the troubadours in their attacks upon obnoxious personages, in an age of irresponsible authority, can only be explained upon the hypothesis that they were encouraged and protected by the force of overwhelming public sentiment. Their poems were composed in the Langue d’Oc, the first perfected and the most important of the Romance languages,—an idiom of great compass and power, and beyond the Loire used by the educated and polished members of society alone. The finest of these productions frequently owed their origin to authors destitute of literary culture; many troubadours could not even read. They evinced no admiration of the beauties of nature. The stanzas were isolated, often absolutely without continuity. A common similarity of type and resemblance of ideas pervaded all. It is a singular circumstance, that in form and metrical arrangement the last poem of a troubadour was not, in any important particular, superior to the oldest, at present, known; there was no improvement in two hundred years. In delicacy of sentiment, in vigor of expression, in sweetness of melody, these compositions are not excelled by the lyrics of any nation. Their analogy to those of the Spanish Mohammedans is striking and self-evident. There is the same play of words, the same predominating class of subjects, the same far-fetched and extravagant similes, the same incessant obtrusion of the author’s personality. The Langue d’Oc contains a greater number of rhyming terminations than any other language except Arabic; a coincidence to be attributed to imitation or a common poetic taste, and certainly not the result of accident. In the productions of both idioms the prevailing rhyme is by distichs, and occurs throughout the entire poem, the second verse of every distich always ending with the same sound; and the meaning is often obscured or sacrificed to preserve continuous harmony of versification.

The taste for letters was introduced into France partly as a consequence of the Moslem occupation, but principally by the Jews, who remained after their allies had been driven back over the Pyrenees. The similarity of taste and expression existing between the poets of these two branches of the Semitic race is apparent to every one who has compared the Bible and the Koran. Many of the Hebrew colonists of Narbonne and Marseilles had been educated at Cordova, and all spoke the Arabic language with fluency. Not a few were scholars of marked ability, gifted with poetic talents, the possessors of large libraries. These superior advantages had great weight with a semi-barbarous people steeped in ignorance, with no mental resources except the interchange of gossip, and the exhortations of a priest, who often could not understand his breviary. The ferocious and intolerant spirit with which the Jew was generally regarded, counteracted, in a measure, the effect of his influence, but the power of intellect and culture finally prevailed. The Hebrews familiarized the population of Languedoc and Provence with the art, the science, and the literature of the Arabs. Through their agency an acquaintance with the Arabic language and literature became in Southern France and in Sicily indispensable to the education of a scholar. Another factor of great importance in the intellectual development of Southern Europe was the number of Moslem refugees who sought safety in foreign lands from the influx of African barbarism and from the perils incident to constant revolution. A large proportion of these were philosophers, whose high attainments had made them dangerously conspicuous, and whose heretical doctrines were obnoxious to the stern fanaticism of the Almoravides. Such an immigration could not fail to produce a profound impression upon the mental characteristics and literary habits of any people.

The intercourse of all classes of the population in Southern France was distinguished by every manifestation of courtesy. The degrees of precedence, the style of dress, the order of amusements, the arrangement of the banquet, were governed by established rules of etiquette.

Nor was this life by any means devoted to frivolous pursuits. The great hall of the castle was often the scene of debate between famous scholars and ecclesiastics. There, too, were performed the burlesque miracle-plays of the age. An expensive library was the pride of the count. The philosopher was frequently, the astrologer almost invariably, a member of his household. In the secret vaults of the laboratory, surrounded by crucibles and alembics, the adept sought for the secret of potable gold; from the summit of the keep the astronomer held nightly communion with the stars.

An inclination to dialectical controversy, inherited from their Greek ancestry; the subtle arguments of Arab metaphysicians and natural philosophers; commercial intercourse with the Orient, which familiarized them with the religious theories and principles of various heretical beliefs; and the corrupt and debauched lives of the clergy, which excited the universal abhorrence of all, predisposed the piously inclined to the acceptance of new forms of faith. Among the heterodox sects which arose in the early ages of Christianity, that of the Paulicians was the most numerous, the most popular, and the most enduring. Its tenets were partly borrowed from those of the Gnostics, but largely derived from the ancient Persian doctrine of the two antagonistic Principles of Good and Evil, ever contending for the mastery of the universe and the empire of mankind. The peculiar ideas of this Manichean sect had, from the first, awakened the apprehensions and called forth the anathemas of the Church. The mysticism which characterized them, the ascetic life which they inculcated, appealed powerfully to the superstitions and devout impulses which most strongly influence the human mind. From Armenia the belief of the Paulicians rapidly invaded every province of the Byzantine Empire, and then, following the lines of trade, made innumerable proselytes in Germany, Italy, Spain, and France. It gave rise to the Waldenses and the Albigenses, names of sad and ominous import in the religious annals of Europe. In no country were these false doctrines embraced with such enthusiasm as in Provence and Languedoc. Their adoption was not confined to the ignorant and the obscure, for many personages of the most exalted rank openly avowed their adherence to this dangerous heresy. Simplicity of creed and purity of manners distinguished the new sectaries from the subjects of the ancient hierarchy. They denied the real presence in the Eucharist; the value of baptism as a ceremony; the efficacy of absolution granted by a priest whose calling was not unfrequently dishonored by acts of the most glaring profligacy. Their ministers discarded the splendid vestments of the Roman Catholic priesthood for simple robes of black. They rejected the Old Testament, as inspired by the Spirit of Evil, because of the sanguinary deeds authorized by a superior power, which, by the extermination of populous communities, indicated irreconcilable enmity to the human race. Bells and images of every kind alike shared their animadversion. They advocated benevolence, abstinence, chastity, celibacy. In self-abnegation many of them exceeded the discipline of the most exacting of the monastic orders. They denounced as one of the most grievous offences against morality the practice of every form of lying and deceit. In their creed the sacerdotal office and the ceremonial of the Church were invested with no sanctity, and could confer no benefits, if not associated with honesty of purpose and purity of life. Their very existence was a protest against Papal infallibility and an assertion of the right of individual judgment. Their liberal opinions, their charity, the persuasive eloquence with which they promulgated their doctrines, obtained for them the respect of the nobility and the ardent devotion of the multitude. The name of the obnoxious sect was to every consistent member of the Catholic communion a term of peculiar infamy and reproach.

Throughout the region tainted with this heresy, which derived its name from the diocese of Albi, where its professors were most numerous, the authority of the Vatican was undermined or entirely destroyed. The habits of the clergy had prejudiced all classes against them. The churches were empty. Payment of tithes had ceased. Vassals subject to ecclesiastical jurisdiction refused obedience and withheld their tribute. In certain districts it was unsafe for a priest to appear upon the highway. The public exhortations of friars, whose extraordinary influence was now for the first time disclosed, were interrupted by shouts of derision and flying missiles. At Toulouse, the centre of the Albigensian doctrines, a renegade prelate, usurping the functions of the Pope, convoked at intervals councils of heretic bishops. The recalcitrant sectaries possessed houses of worship, ecclesiastical residences, cemeteries. The piety or fears of the devout bestowed upon their clergy valuable estates and great sums in legacies. That portion of the community which did not accept the new belief—which probably equalled the rest in numbers, and certainly surpassed it in wealth and social importance, infected with the theories of Arabic philosophy—was thoroughly infidel. Against such rebels the thunders of the Vatican availed nothing. Apostolic admonitions were treated with ridicule. Interdicts had lost their power. Even the Papal legate was treated with scant courtesy. The missionary efforts of Dominic, whose fiery zeal now began to raise him to eminence, met with signal and ignominious failure. The Church—menaced at the same time by this serious defection, by rebellion in her own temporal dependencies, and by the aspiring genius of the youthful emperor, Frederick II.—was in great distress. At no time in her history had she been confronted with such powerful enemies or been exposed to more deadly perils. And yet this beautiful land, now under the ban of the Papal See, had scarcely a century before been regarded as one of the bulwarks of the Christian faith. It was at Clermont that the first Crusade was proclaimed by the Languedocian Bishop of Puy, as the representative of the Pope. A hundred thousand persons from Southern France followed Peter the Hermit to Palestine. The famous Order of Hospitallers was a Provençal institution. A large proportion of its Grand Masters were natives of Languedoc. The treasure contributed by its people to the prosecution of these chimerical expeditions of Rome was far from inconsiderable. Such a radical change had increased intelligence and the untrammelled exercise of reason wrought in the minds of the inhabitants of the most civilized country of Christian Europe.

The malignant genius of Innocent III. was, however, equal to the emergency. In spite of the fact that ecclesiastical corruption was principally responsible for the widespread revolt against Papal authority, the Count of Toulouse and his feudatories were, in exquisite irony, appointed the ministers of apostolic vengeance. The mandate was issued by the Vatican that the Provençal nobility should become the persecutors of their vassals and lay waste their own possessions with fire and sword. No family ties, no considerations of friendship or intimacy, no hereditary connections, were exempted from the operation of this atrocious decree. When it had failed, as it was certain to do, as a last decisive expedient, a bull was promulgated announcing a crusade against the infidels of France. Their lands and their lives were declared forfeited for the crime of heresy; all good Catholics were called to arms; and the property of the rebellious sectaries was promised as a reward to the faithful champions of the Holy See. Every resource of Papal ingenuity and power was invoked. From twelve hundred monasteries, bands of fanatics issued to preach the crusade in all the states of Christendom. Plenary indulgence was granted to the warrior who donned his armor in the cause of the Church. Excommunication and the withdrawal of ecclesiastical protection were denounced against any guilty of hesitation or lukewarmness. In addition to the general absolution authorized by the Pope, the Crusaders were during the continuance of this Holy War released from the payment of all pecuniary obligations contracted prior to their enlistment, a concession which was practically equivalent to the repudiation of their debts. The answer to the summons of the Vatican was ready and unanimous. Every absorbing passion and every ignoble impulse—love of fame, religious zeal, national prejudice, desire of novelty, insatiable cupidity, private malice—attracted the roving, the licentious, and the unprincipled to the standard of the Cross. At that time Europe swarmed with military adventurers, some of whom had served in Palestine, in the trains of eminent personages; others, the refuse of disbanded armies, were outlaws and criminals who subsisted by plunder and extortion. To men like these, the announcement of such an enterprise appeared a singular stroke of good fortune. Provence and Languedoc embraced the richest territory, of its dimensions, west of Constantinople. Its luxury and its opulence, its elegant civilization, the magnificence of its cities, the vast treasures of its warehouses, the beauty of its women, were well known to its envious and ambitious neighbors. It was also known that no adequate means of defence existed, and that the hands, which had in the midst of barbarism evoked these marvels, lacked both the power and the resolution to protect them. The frontier was exposed to the invader. No efficient military force could be assembled to successfully resist a hostile advance. The stern qualifications of a soldier were not to be obtained in the effeminate atmosphere of the Provençal court, devoted to dancing, poetry, and amorous indulgence. Physically as well as morally the soft and idle population of the South was not fitted to cope with hardy adventurers accustomed to arms from childhood, tried in a hundred battles, and exercised daily in the broils and contests inseparable from the society of a turbulent and lawless age.

No incentive was wanting to arouse the enthusiasm of every rank,—from the king to the villain, from the archbishop to the monk. The monarchy of France, whose feudal obligations nominally included the powerful states of the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean, was, in fact, unable to enforce its mandates beyond the Loire. The sovereignty of that rich country, now abandoned to conquest, could not fail to immeasurably augment the power and consequence of the crown. Ecclesiastical avarice and revenge looked longingly upon the wealthy benefices usurped and administered by heretics, the prospect of enormous forfeitures, the certainty of a fearful retribution entailed by religious errors and impious defiance of the admonitions of the Pope. Hope of the unbridled indulgence of every brutal passion appealed to the baser and more selfish instincts of the rabble,—the beggars, the robbers, the soldiers of fortune. The popularity of the enterprise is shown by the numbers who assumed the cross. It is estimated that from three hundred thousand to half a million engaged in the war, of whom nearly a hundred thousand were fighting men who had seen military service. There was not a government in Europe at that time able to withstand the onslaught of such a force. Appalled by the frightful prospect of impending destruction, the Count of Toulouse consented to observe unconditionally the requirements of the Holy See, in the delusive hope of averting from his dominions the tempest which must involve all his subjects in one common ruin. His punishment was inflicted with every circumstance of public ignominy and personal degradation. His excommunication, long since pronounced for heretical opinions which he did not entertain, was not revoked. Summoned before an ecclesiastical council at Valence, he acknowledged his sins and promised future obedience. Stripped naked to the girdle, he was conducted, in the presence of a great multitude, to the front of the principal church, where he abjured his errors, and, his hands placed in those of the Legate, he swore allegiance to the Pope. He conveyed to the clergy, as security for his obligations, seven of the strongest castles in his dominions,—a fatal step, which rendered his downfall, hitherto scarcely doubtful, now a matter of absolute certainty. Then, a rope having been passed about his neck, he was dragged through the aisle to the altar, where he was scourged like the vilest criminal. His recantation was repeated, and absolution was finally pronounced under condition of implicit submission, and with the promise that he would assist in the prosecution of a war which involved the devastation of his country and the extermination of his subjects. These humiliating sacrifices, made with the implied understanding that future immunity would be granted his vassals in case they submitted to pontifical authority, proved unavailing. The clergy placed their own construction upon matters in which they were at once prosecutors and judges. Although the Count of Toulouse observed as far as possible the degrading conditions through whose performance he became reconciled to the Church, it was not the policy of Innocent to deal leniently with those who had disobeyed her canons, questioned her inspiration, or intercepted her revenues. Pretexts were easily found under which Raymond was accused of having violated his covenants. His castles were declared escheated to the Papacy. His actions were carefully observed, and it became evident that his presence with the Crusaders was enforced rather than voluntary. The great army which had assembled to vindicate the outraged majesty of the Vicar of Christ now clamored to be led to battle. Their irresistible numbers darkened the plains of Lyons and spread consternation among the peasantry, whose women they insulted and whose substance they consumed. The eminent prelates of the French hierarchy sanctioned by their presence and their example the most awful of outrages on human rights and intellectual liberty. The religious character of the enterprise was indicated by the predominance of the sacerdotal order; by the omnipresence of holy emblems,—crosiers, censers, banners, relics; by the mitre of the metropolitan; by the scallop-shell of the pilgrim; by the cowl and the knotted cord of the friar; by the tattered garb and emaciated form of the hermit. The clergy were headed by Arnold, Abbot of Citeaux, the Papal Legate. Four archbishops and ten bishops, in their official vestments, were conspicuous in the van. Monkish zealots, whose untaught eloquence had inflamed the worst passions of the ignorant populace of Europe, brandishing crucifix and sword, and calling for vengeance against the abhorred sectaries whom divine justice had delivered as a prey to the elect, foaming at the mouth, and uttering maledictions and inarticulate cries, rushed to and fro through the maddened and tumultuous throng. All wore the cross embroidered upon the breast, in contradistinction to the Crusaders of Palestine, who wore it upon the shoulder. In the train of the higher clergy were numerous priests and thousands of dependents and retainers. The Archdeacon of Paris, a distinguished member of the church militant, was present in the capacity of chief engineer. Despite his pacific calling, he proved himself, in the discharge of the seemingly incongruous duties of his new profession, one of the most talented soldiers of the age. The shrewd and politic Philip Augustus, while anxious to secure for the Crown of France the substantial benefits certain to result from the conquest and spoliation of the great feudatories of the South, yet unwilling to share the ignominy attaching to the undertaking, promoted it in secret, but refused to openly employ the resources of his kingdom in such a cause. The French nobility also, for the most part, held aloof; but the names of the Duke of Burgundy and the Counts of Nevers and St. Pol have come down to us as instruments of the apostolic wrath which extirpated the Albigensian heresy.

Of all the leaders, spiritual or secular, Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, was the most zealous and distinguished. An English adventurer, of ancient and illustrious lineage, he had long followed the exciting career of a soldier of fortune, and had won a high reputation for courage and military capacity among the Christian warriors who contended with the infidel in the wars of the Holy Land. In his political and social relations, De Montfort was a man of exceptional probity, courtesy, and honor; but in matters that involved the maintenance of ecclesiastical supremacy, he was a monster of savage brutality, a remorseless persecutor, an incarnate fiend. His bravery, his fanaticism, and his talents for war early secured for him the admiration of the clergy, whose influence eventually raised him to the supreme command of the motley host which their exhortations had assembled. The infamy of the Albigensian crusade is inseparably associated with his name, which has descended to posterity as the synonym of all that is merciless, base, and treacherous in the history of religious persecution. Attendant upon their feudal lords were long retinues of vassals, resplendent in sumptuous armor and gaudy liveries, and the sturdy yeomanry, now beginning to assert their importance in the mailed armies of Europe. The promise of booty and glory, of pardon for past offences and of immunity for future crimes, had, as in former Crusades, drawn from every quarter the dregs of the city and the camp, the footpad and the outlaw, the merciless slaves of rapine, lust, and superstition. This mob was for the most part unarmed, but many were provided with scythes and other implements of husbandry, impotent against the armor of the knight, but amply sufficient for the destruction of those whom age, infirmity, or the disadvantages of sex rendered incapable of defence. Confident in their immense superiority in numbers, this fanatical and disorderly rabble swept like a tornado over the smiling and fertile territory of the Rhone. The authority of the Count of Toulouse, who, incapacitated from hostile action by his humiliating compact with the Pope, was forced to aid the invaders, had been assumed by his nephew, Raymond Roger. The latter, relying upon the strength of his principal cities, Béziers and Carcassonne, two of the best-fortified fortresses in Europe, awaited the approach of the enemy with the calm intrepidity born of the consciousness of right and the resolution of despair. While the Crusaders were pitching their camp, they were surprised by a sally of the besieged. Overwhelmed by numbers, the latter were driven back; the gateways, choked by the fugitives, permitted the ingress of the enemy, and almost in an instant the fate of the populous and thriving city of Béziers was decided. In the horrible butchery that ensued no quarter was shown. The old and the young, the strong and the weak, perished alike under the weapons of the infuriated assailants. Catholics obtained no immunity by reason of their belief, but fell by the side of their Albigensian neighbors. When the soldiers, in the heat of the massacre, demanded of the Papal Legate how they might distinguish the orthodox believer from the heretic, that pious monster replied, “Kill them all; God will know His own!” In the Roman Catholic cathedral seven thousand corpses were counted after the assault. Priests, clad in their sacred vestments, fell at the very foot of the altar. The population of the city had been greatly increased by the neighboring peasantry, who had sought protection behind its ramparts. Of all this multitude, not a single person escaped alive. The estimates of those thus devoted to slaughter are variously given by different writers at from twelve to sixty thousand. The city was pillaged and set on fire, and even the churches and monasteries belonging to the See of Rome disappeared in the indiscriminate destruction. The invading army, flushed with triumph, and not yet satiated with blood, next invested Carcassonne, whose fortifications, still stronger than those of Béziers, offered some hope of successful resistance. Its resources, however, were seriously impaired by the number of refugees who had fled thither for safety. In a few days the water gave out. Defective sanitary conditions, increased by great masses of human beings crowded together in a limited space, produced a pestilence. A surrender was agreed upon, by which the inhabitants were permitted to depart, leaving behind them all their effects. In consequence of these rigorous measures, the entire country was filled with starving beggars, many of whom, but a week before, had been living in affluence and luxury. The Viscount, Raymond Roger, whose safe-conduct had been perfidiously violated, was imprisoned and died suddenly, probably of poison.

The examples of Béziers and Carcassonne were not lost upon the terror-stricken people of Languedoc. Strongholds and villages submitted by the hundred without resistance; the garrisons of those castles which held out were massacred to a man; the lands of the heretic were parcelled out among the crusaders, under the suzerainty of that faithful and consistent servant of the Papacy, the Earl of Leicester. The establishment of the Inquisition, under the auspices of the Dominican order of friars, completed the ruin of the country, whose civilization had long been a shining beacon amidst the intellectual darkness of Christendom. The classic monuments which had escaped the violence of former ages were broken to pieces or defaced. The destruction of great cities, the dread of mysterious tribunals, whose victims, immured in filthy dungeons or devoted, in the name of religion, to awful tortures and a lingering death, never saw again the light of day, the insatiable rapacity of the clergy, the tyranny of alien masters, depopulated entire districts and turned the commerce upon which the prosperity of Southern France principally depended into foreign channels, where the property and person of the merchant could be reasonably secure. The beautiful and melodious language of the troubadours, the parent of the modern idioms of Latin derivation, which seemed about to be adopted by all the people of French extraction, was abandoned, and degraded to a patois which, much corrupted, is still spoken by the Gascon and Catalan peasantry. The gay diversions, the dances, the literary contests, the musical chants of the jongleur, the passionate and satirical verses of the poet, the banquets, the Courts of Love, the hunting parties, the tournaments, disappeared forever.

The Albigensian crusade is one of the darkest blots upon the religious history of Rome. It gave rise to the infamous maxim, then first officially promulgated by Papal authority, that no contract made with heretics was binding upon a member of the Roman Catholic faith. Then the civil power was for the first time employed in the systematic and unrelenting suppression of independent thought. Then was organized and set in motion the most gigantic and effective engine of persecution that the world has ever known. Then was perfected that grand and imposing fabric of government which, begun and improved by the genius of many successive pontiffs, rose to such a towering height during the administration of Innocent III.,—a system in whose policy the religious and the secular powers, while theoretically separate, were, in fact, closely co-ordinated and combined; which, while draining of its revenues every kingdom within its grasp, extolled beyond all virtues the merit of evangelical poverty; which, while discouraging philosophical studies, endeavored to secure a monopoly of learning, thus adding to the superiority attaching to a sacred character and profession the influence derived from mental attainments and unusual erudition; which fastened upon Europe an intolerable despotism, under which it was doomed to suffer for more than three hundred years, and which brought to the prosecution of its ambitious designs every device of intrigue and every method of intimidation, enforced by the infliction of punishments whose ingenious and merciless atrocity had been hitherto unknown to the political oppression of ancient or of mediæval times.

In this way was the absolute power of the Papal system consolidated by one of the greatest of the Supreme Pontiffs, through the extirpation of two grand civilizations which for more than a century had represented the intelligence, the culture, and the science of Christian Europe.

I have thus related—not in their chronological order, but in the order of their importance—the events growing out of the rise, development, and suppression of the intellectual revolutions which, in the thirteenth century, appeared in Sicily and Southern France, for the reason that they were the direct and legitimate results of Arab conquest and the subsequent promulgation of Arab philosophical opinions. A striking analogy exists between the circumstances respectively connected with these two great movements of the human mind. Both arose in regions which had been subject to Moslem domination. In both, after the extinction of Saracen rule, the customs of the vanquished race long maintained their influence over the ruder conquerors, who insensibly adopted and diligently observed them. Commercial relations strengthened the bonds already existing between Christian master and Moslem tributary. In the heyday of their prosperity, the courts of Toulouse and Palermo were, in all but name and costume, Mohammedan. Indeed, one of these exceptions scarcely applied to the Sicilian capital, where the ample robes and spotless turbans of the Moorish philosophers suggested at every step the habits and traditions of the Orient. In Sicily, the Arabic language was almost universally used by the nobility and the mercantile classes; in Provence and Languedoc, intercourse with the Moorish principalities of Spain rendered its adoption necessary to a large portion of the community; in both countries its study formed an essential part of a learned education. The general trend of scientific thought, and its practical adaptation to the intellectual requirements of the people, is disclosed by the establishment of those two great literary foundations, the medical colleges of Salerno and Montpellier. In the curriculums of these magnificent schools, which were by no means confined to instruction in the art of healing, Arabic and Hebrew literature, taught by professors of those nationalities, predominated. The Romance idiom, more widely diffused than any other tongue spoken in Europe since the dissolution of the Roman Empire, has, in a measure, survived the calamities of conquest and revolution; still indicates its Arabic derivation by words daily heard upon the banks of the Seine and the Danube; and forms no inconsiderable portion of the language of the English-speaking world. In Italy, it made greater progress than in any other country, advancing simultaneously through the North from France and through the South from Sicily, superseding the unformed dialects of the Latin Peninsula, and, through its adoption by the potentates of Ferrara and Montferrat, it reached even the Greek principality of Thessalonica; its impress is to-day apparent in Portuguese, in Castilian, and in the numerous soft and guttural dialects of Spain.

From Moorish sources, through intercourse with the Hispano-Arabs and the medium of French and Sicilian conquest, were derived those maxims of chivalry which modified the turbulent barbarism of feudal Europe, the courteous gallantry of the tournament, idolatrous devotion to the female character, a high sense of honor and personal dignity, and the refining amenities of social life.

From these originals sprang the germ of modern literature and the earliest models of modern poetry. The Arabs were unrivalled masters of improvisation, an art which attained an extraordinary degree of popularity in the Middle Ages; and the employment of rhyme, the most important and striking characteristic of modern versification, was familiar to the Bedouin centuries before the appearance of Mohammed. The vagrant bard of the Desert was the literary progenitor of the troubadour, as was the Arabian buffoon and story-teller the prototype of his companion the jongleur, whose broad pleasantry and suggestive antics diverted the appreciative and not over-delicate assemblies of the Provençal and Sicilian courts. Through the schools of Montpellier and Salerno, contemporaneous seats of learning and both dominated by Arabian influence, the philosophy of Averroes, the botany of Ibn-Beithar, the surgery of Abulcasis, the agriculture of Ibn-al-Awam, the histories of Ibn-al-Khatib, became familiar to the benighted and priest-ridden people of Europe.

It was, however, in the impetus it gave to the assertion of the right of private interpretation in religious matters that Moorish influence was most marked and permanent. One of the principal tenets of the Moslem creed was toleration. On the other hand, the first duty of the Christian was unquestioning obedience to his spiritual advisers. The rapid and almost miraculous development of the human mind during the thirteenth century was the inevitable consequence of a policy based upon those principles whose application had promoted the wonderful progress of every nation ruled by the enlightened successors of Mohammed.

The parallel existing between the Sicilian and Languedocian civilizations in origin, in progress, in thought, in education, in skepticism, in the repudiation of ecclesiastical interference, is continued even in the date and the method of their extirpation. Both reached their climax during the pontificate of Innocent III., the exemplar of Papal autocracy, the ruthless foe of religious freedom, the evil genius of the thirteenth century. Each was destroyed by a crusade which under the mask of piety appealed to the most sordid impulses and degrading instincts of humanity. Both were followed by conflicts, seditions, and persecutions which endured for centuries. But the fires, while apparently quenched, still smouldered under the ashes of their victims. The principles advocated by philosophical thinkers at the courts of Raymond and Frederick formed the basis of the creeds of Lollard, Huguenot, Puritan. All of the blessings of civil and religious liberty now enjoyed by the enlightened nations of the earth, all of the wonderful mechanical contrivances which lighten toil, diminish suffering, facilitate communication, encourage commerce, promote manufactures, and conduce to the general happiness of the human race, are indirectly derived from the impulse given to philosophical inquiry and scientific progress by the Norman kings of Sicily, the Emperor Frederick II., and the Counts of Provence, animated by the spirit and emulous of the achievements of Arab civilization. These inestimable benefits are inseparable from the innate right of every individual to freely exercise and profit by his mental faculties. That right the Church has always denied as subversive of her alleged prescriptive title to universal sovereignty over the opinions of mankind. In Europe it was first publicly asserted upon the banks of the Guadalquivir, and the advantages its untrammelled practice affords the present generation are a priceless legacy of the founders of the Moslem empire in Spain.

CHAPTER XXIV
THE SPANISH JEWS
711–1492

Influence of the Semitic Race on Civilization—Enterprise of the Ancient Jews—Their Eminent Talents—Their Power during the Middle Ages—Their Universal Proscription—Their Condition under the Moors of Spain—Their Extraordinary Attainments—Their Devotion to Letters—Their Academies—Rabbis as Ambassadors of the Khalifs—Learned Men—Poets, Physicians, Statesmen, Philosophers—Maimonides: His Genius and His Works—His Character—Preponderating Influence of the Spanish Jews in Government and Society—Their Necessity to the Ruling Classes—They are driven to Usury—Their Prosperity—They are favored by Alfonso X. and Pedro el Cruel—Their Proficiency in Medicine—Obligations of Mediæval and Modern Science to the Jews—Their Wonderful Survival under Oppression—Their Exile from the Peninsula—Their Sufferings—The Taint of Hebrew Blood in the Aristocracy of Spain and Portugal.

The preponderance of Semitic influence is one of the most remarkable phenomena in the annals of human civilization. The progress of those nations, which in ancient times attained the highest rank of intellectual culture, is directly traceable to that influence. The success of the Semitic element in modifying the character of every people with which it had been brought in intimate contact, either by conquest or through commercial intercourse, is one of the most striking and instructive incidents of history. From the days when the Phœnicians controlled the trade of antiquity, profiting by their thorough knowledge of humanity, whose avarice they stimulated by the introduction of unknown luxuries, and whose fears they excited by the invention of portentous fables; through the Middle Ages, whose tyrants and inquisitors plundered and oppressed the Hebrew bankers and merchants of Europe, down to our time, when the Jew is not only the possessor of a large proportion of the wealth of the globe, but also a dominating force in the business community of every city and village of the Old and New Worlds, the enterprising genius of the Semitic race has been paramount in its control over the minds and the fortunes of men. And not merely in a mercantile but in a religious point of view is this influence manifest. The Scriptures and the Koran monopolize the pious reverence of the civilized world. The successors of Mohammed in Hindustan alone changed the faith of forty-one million souls. The most important dogmas of the Church, the leading maxims of kingly government, are of Semitic origin; the majority of the popular legends and tales which compose the folk-lore of France, Germany, Scandinavia, and Britain are indigenous to the Valley of the Nile or the plains of Arabia. Asiatic ideas, which dominated the comparatively insignificant geographical area of the continent of Europe whose appreciation of the advantages of literary and scientific investigation made it so conspicuous amidst mediæval ignorance, have maintained their power unshaken through many centuries. To the impulse thus imparted to letters, modern society owes a debt which it long repudiated, and which it is even now loath to acknowledge. Among those races which have exercised the greatest influence on human destiny that of the Hebrews is pre-eminently distinguished. From the earliest times of which history makes mention, the Jews have occupied an exalted place among civilized nations. They were among the first of traders, merchants, navigators. Neighbors of the Phœnicians, they imbibed the commercial spirit of that adventurous people, accompanied their expeditions, participated in their enterprises, shared their profits, and with them overcame the obstacles which invested the navigation of unknown and mysterious seas. They were not slow to recognize the immense commercial advantages to be obtained from the development of the boundless resources of the Spanish Peninsula, whence the Tyrian and Sidonian mariners brought such quantities of silver that their vessels could scarcely transport it, notwithstanding that the anchors, the most common utensils, and even the ballast, were composed of that precious metal.

The accounts of the reign of Solomon afford abundant evidence of the wealth and prosperity of the Hebrews. Their abilities and services were highly appreciated by the most enlightened governments of antiquity. They were invited by the Ptolemies to establish colonies on the banks of the Nile. They were often intrusted by the Roman emperors with the collection and disbursement of the imperial revenues. The Emperor Hadrian declared that during his travels in Egypt he had never met a Jew of that country who was not an expert mathematician. In the far Orient, where their ancestors had once been detained in ignominious captivity, they rose to be the confidential friends of powerful monarchs. They were known and welcomed in every seaport of the Mediterranean, and their thirst for gain even induced them to boldly encounter the perils of the barbarous countries of Europe. In all their social and political relations, they maintained their reputation for that mental superiority which is still one of the marked characteristics of the Hebrew race. All of the knowledge extant among contemporaneous nations—the secret lore of the Egyptians, imparted in mysterious temples under the shadow of the Pyramids; the hoary traditions of the Magi; the rich inheritance of classic antiquity; the argumentative skill acquired in the Museum of Alexandria and the philosophical schools of Athens—was the patrimony of the Jew. His curiosity was awakened by travel and by contact with a hundred different peoples included within the sphere of his commercial activity; his genius was developed and matured by studious industry; and the affluence resulting from his shrewdness enabled him to profit to the utmost by his unrivalled opportunities. No fact is better established than that the intellectual improvement of a nation, its progress in the arts, its scientific acquirements, its literary culture, have a direct and absolute dependence upon its material prosperity and the independent pecuniary circumstances of its scholars and learned men. While poverty is often an incentive to that perseverance which insures success, it is a condition which only affects individual and not national development. Without leisure, there can be no studies; without studies, no advance. Another factor of paramount importance in the evolution and maintenance of civilization, and one to which the Hebrew was deeply indebted, was the wide and varied experience derived from cosmopolitan habits and associations. This intercourse was facilitated by the easy and rapid means of international communication at the disposal of the Jewish trader. The Mediterranean, which washed the shores of three great continents, presented no obstacles to the enterprise of the Phœnicians, whose intimate connections with the Jews gave the latter advantages enjoyed by no other people; and the fabled monsters invented by those astute navigators to damp the ardor of other maritime adventurers, and which survive in the traditions of classic mythology, possessed no terrors for the allies and friends of the Tyrian merchants and sailors. No area of equal extent in the world offered so diversified and instructive a spectacle of human life and manners as the winding coast of that great inland sea. With its cities and its kingdoms, founded under different political conditions, living under different systems, governed by different laws, frequent and prolonged visits had early made the Jew familiar. To the audacious navigator who had sailed over the mysterious Ocean, far beyond the Pillars of Hercules, the coasting of the Mediterranean was a trifle. In subsequent times the military highways of the Roman Empire—whose construction, the first work after the invasion of a country destined to subjection, indicated the fate of its people, and insured their obedience with far more certainty than the fortified camps of the legions—afforded the Hebrew merchant easy access to the utmost limits of the vast region subject to imperial authority. But it was not only in lands generally accessible to commercial enterprise that the mercantile and intellectual activity of the Jew was displayed. With the periodical caravans he traversed the Arabian Peninsula, and braving the perils of the Desert—the stifling heat, the sand-storms, the robbers who thrived amidst its desolation—collected and distributed the precious commodities of Yemen. He penetrated to the centre of Ethiopia; his costume and his wares were known to the inhabitants of every city on the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. The coast of Britain was visited by Jews long before the invasion of Cæsar. The restless, adventurous spirit, so universal that it became a national characteristic fostered through untold generations, and the extensive and profound acquaintance with the motives and the affairs of humanity which resulted from its exercise, is the principal secret of the prodigious and phenomenal development of the Hebrew mind. Other considerations of no less importance contributed largely to this result. In the estimation of those who strictly observed the precepts of the law, and to whom were committed the instruction of youth and the guidance of the community, idleness was considered one of the most despicable of vices. “Whoever,” say the learned rabbis, “does not teach his son some trade, rears him for a life of brigandage;” and the sedulous inculcation of this principle led to its universal adoption and practice, until its effects are to-day discernible in the habits of every individual of Hebrew extraction. In ancient times there was no industrial occupation whose requirements were unfamiliar to the Jewish artisan, no profession in which the scholars of that nation did not excel. The talents of the latter were often unprofitably employed in commentaries on the Talmud and whimsical interpretations of the Scriptures, whose texts were at times distorted to support some absurd and extravagant conception which the fruitless ingenuity of the doctors of the law, devoted to metaphysical subtleties, had invented. The Talmud was regarded with even greater reverence than the Pentateuch. Its diligent perusal was required as a duty; children were familiar with its maxims long before their minds were sufficiently developed to thoroughly comprehend them; and the mastery of this voluminous and incongruous compilation was regarded as the rarest and most desirable of mental accomplishments. From the study of this work was derived the partiality for mysticism, magic, and oneiromancy, topics which formed so large a proportion of ancient Hebrew literature, and which frequently dissipated the efforts of genius which might have been exercised in more practical and advantageous employments. In the Talmud, however, are also to be found the germs of medical science in which, from the remotest antiquity, the Jews were distinguished, and whose pursuit, thus sanctioned by an authority regarded as divine, became the favorite pursuit of that extraordinary people. Some of its ideas and principles had been learned from the Magi of Persia; others were borrowed from the Egyptian priesthood. The more numerous, and by far the most valuable, precepts of that science, however, were a portion of the inheritance transmitted by the noble school of the Ptolemies. With all were mingled not a few puerile superstitions which exalted the virtues of charms and amulets. The Bible gives many instances of diseases and their treatment, which in that age was the peculiar province of the Levites. The talents of the Hebrew thus early directed to medicine and botany arrived eventually at an extraordinary degree of development; and his adaptive ingenuity was revealed in the discovery and application of many indispensable drugs of the Materia Medica, and in the intelligent use of the instruments and caustics of the surgeon. In ancient Chaldea and Babylonia there were no physicians. The priesthood, as in the Middle Ages, enjoyed a monopoly of learning, which, so far as the practice of medicine was concerned, rested upon no more substantial foundation than the imposture of the charlatan. The cure of disease was effected by the exorcism of evil spirits; and such is the tenacity of venerable ideas and the lamentable credulity of the human mind that, through the influence of a certain class whose pecuniary interests are directly involved, this superstitious belief, with others equally absurd, still prevails among the members of educated communities even in our enlightened age. The difference between the fetichism of the African savage, the mediæval relic-cure, and the so-called Christian Science of modern days is one of degree and not of kind. In the infancy of civilization every malady was attributed to demoniacal possession. The Jews were the first to detect the true nature of disease and to realize the necessity for the employment of physical remedies, where heretofore, through the medium of spells and incantations, the aid of the supernatural alone had been invoked. By the adoption and application of rational principles, they revolutionized the theory and practice of medicine. Their attempts to thus partially emancipate the human mind from the degrading thraldom of superstition brought upon them the anathemas of the priesthood wherever these innovations were attempted. The wonder-workers of Pagan temples and the monkish custodians of Christian shrines saw with dismay their incomes decreasing as a consequence of the successful ministrations of the Hebrew practitioner. It was not without reason that the latter became an object of clerical animadversion, for the offerings annually bestowed by grateful credulity upon the custodians of some apocryphal relic of imaginary virtues not infrequently exceeded in value the revenues of a city. Much of the prejudice everywhere existing against the Jewish name is thus attributable to sacerdotal malevolence, originally excited by interference with material interests. But even in an age of ignorance homage was paid, however reluctantly, to the ascendency of intellectual power; and the Jews flourished in countries where the laws did not tolerate their presence and sovereigns were pledged by their coronation oaths to their destruction. Political necessity proved stronger than popular odium; and the strange anomaly of a proscribed race, whose existence was condemned by the civil and ecclesiastical codes alike, flourishing in the midst of implacable enemies was exhibited in every country of mediæval Europe. This peculiar condition was due to the dominating force of intellect alone. It is true that toleration was frequently purchased with gold; but the Jews were the sole depositaries of real knowledge, and without their wise and practical counsels the wheels of government could not be kept in motion. This indispensable necessity of maintaining in positions of honor and power a class whose nominal disabilities degraded them below the legal status of cattle was a result of the illiterate and priest-ridden state of the Dark Ages.

The cause of the universal prejudice existing against the Jews from time immemorial has been the subject of much speculation, but has never been definitely ascertained. That prejudice long antedates the Christian era. They were banished by the Egyptians, enslaved by the Persians, despised by the Greeks, persecuted by the Romans. So little were they esteemed by the latter, that during the wars with Hadrian four Jews were bartered for a modius of barley. A well-founded tradition, repeated time and again by classic historians, declared that they were expelled from Egypt for fear that the plague might be communicated by the loathsome diseases with which they were afflicted. In that country, as elsewhere subsequently, they were isolated from all other members of the community. Moses is designated by ancient writers as the “Chief of the Lepers.” It is well known that leprosy was first introduced into Italy by the soldiers of Pompey, who contracted it in Palestine. This awful malady was not only indigenous to the latter country, but was generally considered a morbid physiological condition peculiar to the Hebrew people, with whom, in fact, it was chronic and hereditary, and among whom it assumed its most malignant and appalling form.

The national customs of the Jews were regarded with peculiar abhorrence by the polished nations of antiquity. They practised human sacrifices. Tacitus says that they rendered distinguished homage to the ass, an animal sacred to the Phœnician goddess Astarte. A golden head of that animal was worshipped in their temples. The Bible repeatedly mentions the fact that they were debased and incorrigible idolaters. In Pagan Arabia they conformed to the religious customs of the country, shaved their heads, venerated the images of the Kaaba, and made the circuit of that shrine upon their knees. The idea of the Resurrection, which, with that of the Trinity, formed no part of the primitive belief of any Semitic race, but is a purely Aryan conception, they learned during the latter part of the Babylonian captivity. Its adoption was far from unanimous, however, for it was always repudiated by the Sadducees, reputed the most orthodox and precisian sect of the Hebrew nation. They sold their children into slavery. Their personal habits were indescribably filthy. It was believed by the African Christians that a peculiarly offensive odor, an evidence of Divine wrath provoked by the tragedy of the crucifixion, and which could only be removed by baptism, emanated from them. Hatred of everything non-Jewish was a ruling principle of their nature and conduct, and every country in which they were domiciled they betrayed, in turn, to the invader.

The moral and physical condition—that of a race of pariahs infected with foul distempers—which characterized them in ancient times presents a singular contrast to that under which they actually existed subsequently, and under which they exist to-day. They were not affected by the great epidemics which swept with devastating force over Europe during the Middle Ages, although they were as fully exposed to contagion as any of the nations which were decimated by them. Their immunity to many of the most serious ailments which afflict mankind is demonstrated by every table of medical statistics. Their longevity, unquestionably due to a strong constitution, is proverbial. Their average annual death-rate, in both Europe and America, is less than one-half that of persons of other nationalities subjected to the influence of similar conditions of climate, food, and occupation. Their freedom from criminality and pauperism is one of their most remarkable characteristics. Every lawyer knows how rarely a Jew is seen in courts of justice, either as a litigant, a malefactor, or a witness.

The propagation and improvement of a people under circumstances which indicated their speedy and inevitable extinction is one of the most curious problems in the annals of ethnology. Not only is it anomalous, but it is absolutely inexplicable under any scientific and logical hypothesis which can now be advanced. It would ordinarily be conceded that a race affected with congenital leprosy, whose habits were uncleanly, and whose members constantly intermarried, must certainly perish in a few generations. It would also not be denied that such a race would be especially liable to visitations by epidemics, and that its reduced capacity for resistance would induce an extraordinary fatality. Not so, however, with the Jews. They grew stronger by intermarriage. They threw off the disease which had once made them odious in the sight of men. The plague and the typhus which desolated the homes of their neighbors passed them by. They not only survived, but throve under persecution which would have exterminated any other branch of the human family. Their tenacity of life, the persistence of their institutions, the boundless power they wield in the commercial world, their versatility of character, their success in the most difficult undertakings, their national and religious organization maintained in the face of appalling obstacles, tend to confirm the ancient tradition that they are the Chosen People of God.

The Hebrew, whatever his capacity or experience, was in the eye of the law immeasurably inferior to the most humble and ignorant of those who ruled him. He paid higher taxes than any one else. His testimony was not competent in a court of justice. He was excluded from the enjoyment of office. If, having become an apostate through force or policy, he addressed a word to one who was loyal to the faith and traditions of his people, even though of his own blood, he was condemned to slavery. He was not permitted to abstain from food which his ordinances declared unclean. The practice of the rite of circumcision, a rite pronounced by the rabbi more meritorious than all others, and enjoined by the Talmud, brought with it confiscation and death. The ancient national records—the books of the Law, the chronicles of bygone dynasties, the treatises of Hebrew physicians already prominent in the world of science—were diligently sought for and destroyed. Every effort was made to separate wives from their husbands and slaves from their masters, by the edict that the ceremony of baptism, when solicited by consort or bondsman, produced, according to circumstances, ipso facto, divorce or emancipation. All Jews were enrolled upon the public registers, and at stated times were mustered by the bishop. They were also required to report to the magistrate at every town they visited, to be examined as to their business and destination. The Seventeenth Council of Toledo, by a sweeping decree, seized the property of all the Jews in the kingdom and sentenced its owners, without exception, to absolute servitude. They were accused of practices alike revolting to humanity and subversive of morals,—of poisoning the sacramental elements, of the torture of children, of crimes against nature, of cannibalism. The ecclesiastical denunciations of offences concerning religion, such as the blasphemy of images and relics, the ridicule of orthodox tenets, the promulgation of the doctrines of the Talmud, and the soliciting of proselytes, were not less violent than those which reprobated the greatest enormities of which human frailty is susceptible. Every rank of society vied with the others in manifestations of hostility towards the despised race. The monarch, upon frivolous pretexts, confiscated their property and abandoned them to the violence of the populace. In the eyes of the ferocious noble, who scarcely acknowledged the superior dignity of his king, they were sources of wealth to be utilized as occasion or inclination demanded; and the levy of an excessive contribution was regarded as an act of especial leniency, when the last ducat might have been exacted with impunity. The Church never failed to pour out upon these victims of prejudice the full measure of ecclesiastical oppression and hatred, and no deed was more meritorious than the persecution of a Jew. But it was with the lower orders that the unfortunate Children of Israel fared the worst. Their wealth aroused the basest passions of the ignorant and fanatical rabble. To the malice incited by poverty and envy was added the animosity engendered by religious prejudice, which found expression in every kind of maltreatment and outrage. Although necessary to the state and indispensable to its political and financial prosperity, the Jew was precluded from claiming the protection of the very laws he assisted to administer. Deprived of this unquestionable right, he was unfitted by his constitution, his habits, and his traditions for armed resistance. Centuries of oppression had taught him to rely on pacific rather than on violent measures for the discomfiture of his enemies. None understood more thoroughly than he the secret springs of action which control the movements of mankind; and with its worst and most degrading characteristics, his experience, reaching through many troubled generations, had rendered him especially familiar. His practical and thorough acquaintance with every foible of human nature thus made him equal to the exigencies of every occasion. He dispensed his gold with unstinted liberality. Powerful nobles, everywhere, were in his pay. Ecclesiastics of eminent talents and reputed sanctity were not ashamed to accept his gifts, and, in return, to secretly and effectually protect his person and his interests. No efforts were spared to impress the sovereign with the extent of his attainments and the value of his services. The people, despite their prejudices, looked with awe and respect upon the members of a race who had visited lands whose very names were unknown to them, who conversed fluently in strange and guttural tongues, and who spread before their wondering and delighted eyes precious articles of merchandise of whose existence they had hitherto remained in ignorance.

Under such circumstances, however disadvantageous, the Jews, scattered throughout the countries of Europe, maintained from century to century the integrity of their social and religious organization. Their isolation was in many respects productive of personal safety and financial benefit. Exempted by their civil disabilities from exposure to the dangers of revolution, they escaped the penalties of unsuccessful treason and profited by the necessities of every faction. They alone of all classes flourished amidst the perils of internal disorder. By the liberal and judicious employment of money, they secured the favor of the party for the moment in power. Meanwhile the commerce of every country was almost exclusively under their control. No competition, of any importance, interposed to diminish their enormous profits. There was not a city, scarcely a hamlet, where the Hebrew was not sure of sympathy and assistance from his countrymen. With them his goods were secure. They afforded him valuable information. Their experience enabled him to obtain the highest prices for his wares, and the secret intelligence at their disposal gave him timely warning of the presence of danger and facilitated his escape. His cosmopolitan habits prevented national affiliations, and permitted him to immediately change his residence whenever it was required by personal considerations or commercial interests. He bought amber on the Baltic. He sold slaves in Constantinople. He exchanged the commodities of Spain for the furs of Russia and the pearls and incense of Yemen. In France he found a profitable market for jewels, spices, and cochineal. His intimate and extensive relations with the great emporiums of the Orient were one of the most important factors of his success. In that quarter of the world, enjoying the protection and confidence of the rulers of Persia, Babylonia, Syria, and Egypt, were to be found the most powerful and wealthy communities of the Hebrew nation. The omnipresent Jew had established a chain of trading stations across every continent, and even far beyond the most distant limits of civilization. This immense advantage was his alone; no competitor possessed, or could ever hope to obtain, such extraordinary mercantile facilities. From the depths of the mysterious East came the rare products which commanded fabulous prices in the European capitals,—costly tissues, gems, dyes, aromatics, porcelain,—articles which often brought far more than their weight in gold. The monopoly enjoyed by the shrewd importers enabled them to receive for their commodities sums which far exceeded their intrinsic value, and placed them beyond the reach of any excepting the most opulent.

But the enterprise of the Jew was not confined to the importation and distribution of luxuries. He furnished society with every species of merchandise, from the crown of the monarch to the sandals of the beggar. The law forbade him to be seated by an ecclesiastic without the latter’s invitation, but the bishop was compelled to purchase of him the sacerdotal vestments in which his race was anathematized; and the sacred furniture of the altar, including even the crucifix, the significant emblem of the Passion, was sold to the cathedral chapter by the descendants of those who had enacted the tragedy of Golgotha, and had trafficked in the body and blood of our Saviour. The Jews of Provence paid their tribute to the Church in wax, and provided the tapers used in the ceremonies of great religious festivals. The vessels destined for the celebration of the mass were frequently disposed of to Jewish merchants by dishonest custodians; and this sacrilegious trade became at one time so notorious and shameless in France as to call forth the indignant denunciation of the Holy See. The pawning of objects consecrated to Christian worship for loans ostensibly contracted for the benefit of the Church was one of the most flagrant abuses of ecclesiastical authority in mediæval times. These pledges, often forfeited, became the property of the lender, and the clergy were constantly subjected to the scandal arising from their exposure for sale in the shops and public markets. It was no unusual circumstance in those days for the greater part of the sacred plate of an entire diocese to be temporarily in the hands of Jewish usurers. It was, moreover, a matter of common notoriety that the families of wealthy Jewish brokers daily drank from golden chalices in which once had been offered the holy sacramental wine of the mass.

The confidence reposed by all classes in the Hebrews, despite the universal and ineradicable prejudice entertained against their nationality, affords undeniable proof of their integrity. Their financial capacity and experience procured for them the office of receiver of royal taxes in countries where public sentiment was absolutely opposed to their toleration. Their fitness for this important and responsible post was emphasized not only by their abilities, but by the fact that their prosperous circumstances were, in a measure, a guaranty of their honesty, their wealth removing the principal incentive to peculation. The most bigoted Christians eagerly sought their services in the management of property and the settlement of estates; and to their sagacity and wisdom was frequently committed the solution of the difficult problems relating to the methods of taxation and enforced contribution adopted by both the Crown and the Church. During the Middle Ages, every court in Europe patronized the Hebrew physician. His practice, while by no means free from the prevailing charlatanism of the time, embodied many principles of the healing art still recognized as sound, and represented all that was then known of medical science.

In literary culture, as in commercial ability and scientific acquirements, the mediæval Jew of Christian Europe had no rivals. It was an extraordinary circumstance when a sovereign could even read, in an age when one of the greatest princes in Europe was invested with the title of Beauclerc because he could write his own name legibly, a remarkable distinction in an era of almost universal ignorance. Such accomplishments, when they did exist in any community, were almost entirely confined to the clerical profession, and, even among its members, were far from being generally diffused. The officiating priest had, ordinarily, sufficient education to enable him to stumble through the pages of his missal. In the monastic establishments, where the opportunity afforded by solitude and leisure permitted, and even encouraged, the cultivation of letters, the talents of able men were too often wasted in frivolous and unprofitable pursuits. While such unpromising conditions prevailed among the higher classes, the state of the populace was incredibly degraded. The latter naturally looked to its spiritual advisers for instruction and guidance, and the evil influence of the Church was everywhere significantly disclosed by the crowds of stupid and fanatical devotees who listened with awe and rapture to the incoherent harangues of monkish zealots, or, bowed upon their faces, grovelled in the mire before the idolatrous shrine of some spurious saint.

In the midst of the darkness which obscured the face of the mediæval world, Hebrew learning emitted a small but brilliant ray of light. Priestly tyranny and popular odium prevented the regeneration of the masses, which, under different auspices, might readily have been accomplished. The erudition of the early rabbis, remarkable even at the present time, was, in the age in which they flourished, absolutely phenomenal. Their superior intelligence and extensive acquirements caused them to be universally branded as wizards and enchanters. Men shunned all intercourse with them, and even feared to encounter them upon the highways. No greater tribute could be paid to their knowledge and ability than the ecclesiastical decrees launched against the Jews at the very time when their talents were employed in directing the financial affairs of the Church. In spite of his indispensable usefulness to government and society, the proscribed Hebrew was always under the ban of the law and lived in a state of constant apprehension. Princes claimed and exercised the privilege of absolute ownership of all the Jews and their property in their dominions. Even such an enlightened sovereign as the Emperor Frederick II. published a sweeping edict reducing the Jews of his realms to servitude, and declaring their wealth forfeited to the state. In England, near the end of the thirteenth century, every Jew in the kingdom was arrested and held in durance until a ransom of twelve thousand pounds had been extorted. Three years afterwards all their property was taken, and they were expelled from the country. The bishop often received, as a token of royal esteem, the present of the Jews of his diocese. This singular prerogative, which was neither based upon prescriptive custom, former enslavement, nor any claim excepting that of force, was first exerted in France; and the enormous profits resulting from its application led to its general adoption by all the Christian sovereigns of Europe. The Jew, by the stringent restrictions of savage laws, was degraded below the level of humanity. The owner of a beast was entitled to fixed legal compensation for its death, but no penalty was enacted and no damages could be claimed for the murder of a Jew. If maltreated, no evidence could be received against his assailant. The Jews of Toulouse, who, tradition declared, had surrendered the city to the Moors, were condemned each year on that anniversary to furnish one of their number to receive a box on the ear at the cathedral door. One of the oldest and most respectable of the community was always selected; the blow was usually given with a mailed hand, and the victim not infrequently died from the effects of it. During Passion Week, the active persecution of the accursed sect was considered so meritorious as to be almost equivalent to the performance of a religious duty. At that time no Hebrew could appear in the street without endangering his life. On Good Friday, in the year 1016, an earthquake destroyed many of the houses in Rome. Pope Benedict VIII., having learned that at the time of its occurrence the Jews were worshipping in their synagogue, and attributing the catastrophe to their influence, caused a great number to be massacred. At all times they were exposed to the contumely of adults and the petty persecutions of children. The isolated quarter in every community, to which their residence was restricted, and separated from the dwellings of orthodox Christians to prevent contamination, is to-day, in nearly all the cities of Europe, still known by its once distinctive name; although, in most instances, its Jewish population has disappeared. It was also a common pastime of the mob to stone the houses of the Jews, and, as the latter were not permitted to defend themselves, all large towns resounded with tumult and disorder during the celebration of the most sacred festival of Christendom. Upon every occasion, these unfortunates were pursued and baited like wild animals; always with the tacit connivance, often with the open encouragement, of the authorities. Their intimate relations with the countries of the East offered substantial grounds for the belief that they introduced leprosy into France, Spain, and England,—a disease whose general dissemination has ordinarily been credited to the Crusades, but whose existence in France as early as the sixth century must be attributed to some anterior agency. The undoubted Oriental origin of this malady pointed strongly to the itinerant Jewish merchants as responsible for its appearance in Western Europe; while its loathsome and incurable character tended to increase the popular odium with which those suspected of infecting a portion of the human race hitherto exempt from this affliction were universally regarded.

Every precaution which could have a tendency to maintain the social and domestic ostracism that popular intolerance had placed upon the Jew was enforced by civil and ecclesiastical authority. He could not legally marry a Christian, inherit real property, hold slaves. In royal donations, where, without warrant of right or pretence of ancient custom, he was deprived of his liberty and his possessions, his person was thereafter attached to the glebe. He was forbidden the exercise of many of the most profitable mechanical arts in which he excelled. Christians could not eat or drink with him, visit his house, listen to his conversation, or learn his language. The priesthood considered the integrity of the doctrines which were at once the foundation and the instruments of their power as of far greater importance than the material comfort and intellectual improvement of their parishioners. They were quick to recognize the peril with which ecclesiastical institutions would be threatened if exposed to the logic and sarcasm of Hebrew criticism. The necessities of society could not, as yet, permit the extermination of the Jews, but their practical isolation was imperatively demanded by considerations of prudence, and by the just apprehension that the toleration of social intimacy would eventually result in the emancipation of the masses from ignorance, and the consequent disintegration of the Church. The Dominican and Franciscan Orders were the sworn enemies of the Jew from the very day of their organization. The Inquisition was introduced into Spain for the express purpose of plundering the rich Jews of Aragon. The efforts of the Papacy were assisted by the policy of the more bigoted of the rabbis, who saw, with no less apprehension than their Christian oppressors, the diffusion of liberal ideas which threatened their own authority and importance. Under such discouraging conditions had the Jews maintained their national existence, the purity of their religion, the perpetuation of their customs, the permanence of their laws amidst the anarchy, corruption, and intolerance of mediæval Europe.

The origin of this strange people is absolutely unknown. Their roving propensity probably dates from the very foundation of the race, as the words Hebrew and pilgrim are derived from the same root. No question, however, can exist concerning their Semitic affiliations. Their geographical distribution was extensive in very early times. The most ancient collection of myths extant describes their migrations. They were numerous in China during the third century before Christ. Profoundly superstitious, implicit believers in omens, idolaters while professing monotheism, the facile dupes of wizards and magicians, the simplest phenomena of nature were always, in their eyes, invested with a mysterious or an astrological significance. Even their division into tribes has been traced by Dozy to a cabalistic association with the twelve signs of the zodiac.

The Israelites are first noticed in history as a horde of vagabond herdsmen in Mesopotamia. Oppressed by powerful neighbors, repeatedly enslaved, and reduced to those depths of moral degradation incident only to long-continued servitude, they still succeeded in preserving inviolate the principles of their religious and social organization. They were almost universally considered as outcasts, with whom it was contamination to associate. But in all their adversity their peculiar theocratic belief confirmed their resolution and sustained their hopes. They were the Chosen People of God. His Spirit was ever with them, speaking through the voices of their teachers, directing the councils of their rulers, illuminating the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle, hovering about the Ark with its golden cherubim. They had the Divine assurance that one day their troubles would end, that the scattered members of their race would be again united, that they would inherit the kingdoms and possess the riches of the earth. Their arrogant exclusiveness was unconsciously, but none the less diligently, fostered by the prejudices and regulations of the countries within whose borders they fixed their residence. In each city they were confined to a certain quarter, within whose precincts Christian men were little disposed, and Christian women absolutely forbidden, to enter. The use of a distinctive costume, popularly regarded as a badge of ignominy, was imposed upon them. They were not allowed to marry outside their sect. The minute and innumerable restrictions of Hindu caste were not more rigid or vexatious than those ordinances which regulated the intercourse of Jew and Christian during the Middle Ages. The enforcement of these social distinctions, as well as the inexorable requirements of the laws, increased the isolation of the Jews in every community. In this manner their unity was preserved, and the extraordinary vitality which characterized their existence in all its phases was promoted.

In no part of Europe had their influence exhibited such constant, marked, and permanent effects as in the Spanish Peninsula. On its coast, with which their ancestors had long been familiar, and where archæological research has placed the Tarshish of Holy Writ, the establishment of the Hebrew is of such high antiquity that history has failed to record it; and it may not unreasonably be assumed that it antedated the Christian era by at least a thousand years. The turbulent and perfidious character of the Hebrew sectaries caused them to be regarded with apprehension by the Romans. In the time of Hadrian, their old and powerful families were distributed, as a measure of public safety, among the most widely separated provinces of the empire. The fact is well ascertained that the Spanish Jews were rich and numerous in the fifth century, and then practically controlled the commerce and the financial resources of the country. Even at that early period they were renowned for their intellectual accomplishments, their extensive literature, their dexterity in the mechanical employments, the assiduity with which they pursued the most abstruse branches of science, and their proficiency in those practical arts which tend to the amelioration of the condition of the human race and the prolongation of the term of human life. As has been mentioned in a previous chapter, although occasionally pursued by royal avarice and clerical animosity, the Jews did not experience in Spain the full effects of that hatred which seemed to be their unhappy birthright until the accession of Reccared, the first orthodox sovereign of the Visigothic dynasty. From the latter part of the sixth century, the malice accumulated in the church and the cloister through ages of alternate restraint and forbearance was unmercifully wreaked upon them. The Visigothic Code is largely taken up with the statement of their disabilities, the denunciation of their customs, the enumeration of their offences, and the description of the penalties to be inflicted by the avenging magistrate. The paternal character of the ecclesiastical legislation, then and long afterwards in the ascendant in the Councils, scrutinized with jealous vigilance not only the public actions of the offensive sectaries, but invaded with brutal violence the sacred privacy of domestic life. The celebration of all national religious festivals was prohibited. A Jew could not be a witness against a Christian; intermarriage of the two races was declared null and void, and all issue of such unions were subject to seizure by the clergy, to be reared and educated in monastic institutions; circumcision was declared illegal; and the grotesque cruelty of the law which enforced the use of pork as food violated without cause or excuse a rational prejudice of the Jew, established by Divine command and confirmed by the unbroken practice of countless generations of his kinsmen. The observance of these savage and unreasonable regulations was enforced by penalties of corresponding severity. The culprit was usually burned alive; in cases where it seemed that leniency might be properly exercised, he was stoned to death. The constant and systematic evasion of these laws, which even priestly malevolence hesitated to enforce, was the consequence of their extreme rigor. Many circumstances then, as subsequently, intervened to mitigate the condition of the Jews; the necessities of the state, the jealousy of the nobles, the venal and corrupt disposition of the clergy, who were often the first to violate the ordinances which they themselves had been instrumental in having enacted, were all enlisted, from time to time, in securing for the objects of popular hatred a temporary and precarious indulgence.

Under the Visigothic domination, as a rule, the policy of the government was decidedly hostile. The opulent were, as is usual in such cases, considered the most guilty; and thousands were seized, despoiled, and murdered on no other provocation than the evidences of prosperity and the imprudent and ostentatious exhibition of their wealth. In the Council, which chose the sovereign, ecclesiasticism always preponderated; and through its influence a clause was early inserted in the coronation oath which bound the king to suffer no other religion but the Roman Catholic in his dominions. Powerful protectors, whose services were purchased by the lavish distribution of bribes, averted the storm for the time; but about the beginning of the seventh century public opinion declined to be longer conciliated, and a frightful persecution was begun. An immense number, amounting, it is said, to ninety thousand, apostatized and publicly received the rite of baptism. Multitudes, who preferred banishment to renunciation of their faith, fled to France, Italy, and other countries. Such extreme measures drove the suffering Israelites to resistance, but their hereditary cowardice and their total want of organization rendered their exertions hopeless, and produced no result but an aggravation of their misfortunes.

While these events were transpiring in the Visigothic kingdom, Mohammedan conquest had spread from Central Arabia to the western extremity of the African continent. Before its irresistible force, the activity of the Berber savage and the discipline of the Roman veteran had alike been humbled in the dust. The dangerous proximity of the Moslem outposts at the south had more than once aroused the apprehensions of the proud and luxurious sovereigns of Spain. But their efforts had been directed rather to the indulgence of their passions and the extirpation of heresy than to the fortification of the frontiers of the kingdom against the ambition of an unknown and underrated foe. The Jews, however, fully realized the gravity of the situation, and were only too willing to promote the designs of an enemy whose success, they were convinced, would enure to their own advantage and security. Numerous considerations of profound significance impelled them to this course. They themselves and the Arabs were derived from a common origin. Both sprang from the same branch of the great human family. Many of their customs were identical; their traditions denote a similar source; their languages vary but little in construction and pronunciation, and have been so slightly modified by the vicissitudes of centuries that the Hebrew rabbi and the Bedouin sheik of to-day can readily communicate with each other by means of their respective idioms. Both nations had for centuries been accustomed to a pastoral life on the vast plains of Asia, where the illimitable monotony of the landscape, the unbroken stillness of immense solitudes, the magnificent spectacle of the unclouded heavens glowing with the most gorgeous constellations of the firmament, have always impressed upon the nations subject to these potent and omnipresent influences the conviction of the unity of God. The caravans that issued from the Desert exchanged the precious commodities of that region for the wares manufactured and imported by the Hebrews of Alexandria, Damascus, and Antioch. Although in the early ages of Islam the Jews were often harshly treated, the Arabs were quick to perceive the advantages to be obtained from their commercial experience and literary knowledge. As Hebrew enterprise was instrumental in opening to the world the lucrative and important trade of the Arabian Peninsula, so Hebrew genius disclosed to the descendants of Ishmael the capacity of their own tongue, which until then had found no permanent mode of expression. The first book which appeared in the Arabic language was written by Javaich, a Syrian Jew. It was the translation of a medical work by a famous practitioner of Alexandria, and the practical character of the subject not only indicates the serious nature of early Hebrew research, but also becomes a matter of curious significance when the subsequent interest and proficiency of Arab scholars in everything concerning the scientific acquirements of that profession are considered.

The impulse thus early exerted by Jewish culture upon the Arab intellect was eventually productive of the most extraordinary results. The scholars soon surpassed their instructors in the extent and profundity of their knowledge. The Arab mind assimilated, with wonderful ease and insatiable avidity, the useful and valuable information afforded it, while its critical faculty enabled it to reject what it intuitively perceived to be spurious. In all the countries subject to the Khalifates of Mecca and Damascus, the Hebrew opened to the Moslem conqueror the avenues of literature and science. He was treated by the Mohammedan princes with far more consideration and justice than he had ever experienced under Pagan or Christian domination. His synagogues were erected in the shadow of Moslem minarets. His academies became famous as centres of learning. The works of Grecian philosophers, the fragmentary treasures of Alexandrian erudition, were, through his efforts, made familiar to the studious of the great Mohammedan capitals. In the distribution of literary patronage the Jews were the most distinguished recipients of royal munificence. In proportion to the eminence they attained in the province of letters, their political power and financial prosperity increased. They enjoyed the familiar confidence of the monarch, when his favorite councillors dared not venture without a summons into his presence. They amassed great fortunes in the various branches of trade and industry. Their mercantile occupations brought them frequently in contact with their fellow-sectaries, who, in other parts of the world, maintained under the weighty sceptre of cruel and bigoted sovereigns an existence fraught with danger and hardship.

These facts were well known to the Spanish Jews who had, amidst the multiplied catastrophes afflicting their race, survived the effects of Visigothic tyranny. Notwithstanding the successive persecutions of which they had been the object, they were still numerous in the Peninsula. The phenomenal vitality of a people which, from time immemorial, has preserved its integrity under the most adverse conditions, enabled it to defy the malice of courts and the edicts of councils whose office and pastime was the pitiless extirpation of heresy. The Jews flourished in defiance of bloodthirsty laws. In many ways they evaded the effects of proscription. Thousands apostatized. Multitudes secretly purchased immunity by means of the arts of corruption. Of those who had gone into exile, the majority quickly returned and took up their residence in other provinces, where, unknown to the populace, and often with the venal connivance of civil officials and prelates, they were permitted to pursue their avocations in comparative security. The Israelitish element was so preponderant in Toledo, Lucena, and Granada, at the time of the Moorish invasion, that they were known as Jewish cities. This large population formed a separate state, an imperium in imperio, whose members, exasperated by the memory of intolerable suffering and sustained by the hope of retribution, were ready to embrace the first opportunity to avenge the oppression of centuries. Thus the fatal policy of the Visigoths—weak, violent, and corrupt—had introduced an organized, powerful, unscrupulous, and vindictive enemy into every province and city of their tottering empire. With their African brethren the Jews of Spain maintained an intimate and frequent correspondence. Numbers of the latter had sought a refuge beyond the sea, as their descendants did, under similar circumstances, seven centuries afterwards. The settlements of the Mauritanian coast swarmed with indigenous or exiled Hebrews, attracted thither by the superior facilities they offered to commercial pursuits. All of these shrewd and intelligent traders were perfectly familiar with the condition of the Visigothic monarchy; with its apparent splendor and actual decay; with the political and social disorganization pervading every department of the state and every rank of society; with the tyranny of the King; with the universal disaffection of the nobles; with the grasping avarice of the clergy, whose exactions spared neither the plenty of the rich nor the starving wretchedness of the poor; with the weakness of the army, whose soldiers, subsisting by pillage, had neither weapons to arm nor officers to command them; with the abject misery of the people, who, protected by none and plundered by all, insecure in the pursuit of every employment, a constant prey to licensed brigandage, with no recollection of the past but the bitter reminiscence of unprovoked and repeated injury, with no hope of the future save in the intervention of a more powerful, perhaps a more ruthless, oppressor, were certain of tranquillity only in the silence and oblivion of the grave.

The advent of Moslem supremacy, which promised a new and splendid career to the down-trodden race, was welcomed by the Jews of Africa with all the enthusiasm of an impulsive and excitable people. Al-Maghreb had scarcely been conquered before the Moslem generals were more conversant with the details of Visigothic weakness and demoralization than the councillors of Roderick himself. The minute and secret ramifications of Jewish society united in a common cause the widely distributed communities of Africa and Spain; the intelligence and resolution of the conspirators, whose hostility was increased by the bitterness of sectarian hatred, rendered their enterprise and activity the more dangerous; and a propitious opportunity alone was awaited to pour upon the fertile and defenceless plains of the Peninsula the resistless torrent of Moslem invasion. That opportunity soon arrived. The fortress of Ceuta, lost by treason, fell into the hands of the Arabs; the Visigothic power, crushed in one great battle, succumbed to the superior valor of an enterprising enemy; and within the short period of fourteen months the sceptre of empire passed from the feeble hands of a barbarian dynasty to the control of a foreign race, whose mental capacity and intellectual ambition, as yet untried, were subsequently found to be equal to the most exacting demands of a refined and highly developed civilization. In these events, whose consequences produced such radical modifications in the religious, political, and domestic conditions of European society, Hebrew energy and craft were eminently conspicuous. One of the principal divisions of Tarik’s army was commanded by a Jew. During the invasion, Jewish guides conducted the Moslem squadrons along the highways of an unknown country, furnished information of the enemy’s movements, disclosed the whereabouts of military supplies and hidden wealth. When the slender numbers of the Arab forces would not admit of their diminution for garrison duty, the Jews volunteered their services to defend the conquered cities and faithfully discharged the important trust. The obligations thus incurred by the Moorish invaders to their allies were of the most important character. The latter not only facilitated an enterprise whose difficulty, without their co-operation, would have been enormously increased, if not actually rendered impracticable, but, the country once subdued, they directed the attention of the Arabs to elegant pursuits, of whose nature and value they had hitherto remained in ignorance. Moslem civilization in Europe owed an incalculable debt of gratitude to the Jews. They were its real founders. They inculcated a taste for letters. They promoted the investigations of science, the development of industry and the arts. Their refined tastes and intellectual employments aroused a noble emulation in the minds of their pupils and imitators, which, in turn, reacted upon their own talents and aspirations. Hebrew genius and ambition were no longer hampered by the malicious interference of royal councils and ecclesiastical synods. The Jewish merchant and the Jewish banker pursued their way to opulence and distinction, unmolested by the extortionate demands of corrupt officials and tyrannical farmers of the revenue. Their scholars were not insensible to the advantages to be derived from the study of ancient learning, and the Greek and Latin classics were thoroughly familiar to the Spanish Jew, whose commentaries upon them were of considerable extent and of unquestionable authority.

Under a government favorable to their existence and prosperity, their numbers rapidly increased. The depopulation resulting from the conquest of an already impoverished and exhausted territory required an extraordinary and immediate remedy. Publication was everywhere made throughout the Orient inviting the settlement of immigrants in Spain. Lands and houses were promised to all who were willing to change their domiciles for new homes in the distant and recently founded Mohammedan empire. In the multitude that responded were, it is said, fifty thousand Hebrew families, amounting to not less than a quarter of a million individuals. These, with their fellow-sectaries already established in the Peninsula, composed a most important element of its population. Highly favorable social and domestic conditions, among which must be considered the prevalent institution of polygamy, caused in after years a prodigious multiplication of the race. The colonists brought with them the devotion to learning which they had imbibed in the presence of the great memorials of ancient civilization on the banks of the Nile and the Euphrates, and many volumes of native and foreign lore which were destined to form the nucleus of the magnificent libraries of Moorish Spain. History has repeatedly mentioned the tireless assiduity with which the Jews, secure and tranquil under the tolerant administration of the khalifs, devoted themselves to the cultivation of letters. Their diligence was only exceeded by the marvellous proficiency they attained in every branch of useful knowledge. They mastered with ease the most abstruse and perplexing mathematical problems. The rabbis were great linguists; there were few of them not thoroughly conversant with the numerous idioms of Europe and Asia. Medicine and astronomy, their favorite pursuits, under their direction soon acquired an unprecedented, almost a magical, development.

The tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries represent the epoch of the greatest fame and influence of the Spanish Jews. This period, coincident with the highest power and civilization of the Hispano-Arab empire, had, however, been preceded by two centuries of uninterrupted progress. The enlightened policy of the Western khalifs, from the accession of the Ommeyade dynasty, attracted to their capital the learned of every country and of every profession. Of these strangers, the Hebrews constituted the largest proportion of any one race, excepting the Arabs. The schools and academies they founded vied in educational opportunities and literary culture with the Moslem institutions of similar character whose reputation was unrivalled in the world. The interpretations of the Scriptures and the Talmud, as promulgated by the synagogues of Toledo and Cordova, were acknowledged everywhere as of the highest and most binding authority. A constant and profitable intercourse was maintained with their kinsmen of the Orient, which promoted an interchange of ideas, and was consequently of incalculable advantage to the mental development of both divisions of the race. The intellectual supremacy of the Spanish Jew was, however, rarely disputed. The opportunities he enjoyed in the society of the most splendid of mediæval capitals; the vast stores of information at his disposal; the great libraries collected by the khalifs to which he had access; the permanent distinction which awaited successful competition in the public contests for literary precedence; the favor of the sovereign, often himself a scholar of great erudition and varied accomplishments, always a liberal patron of science and the arts; the applause of the multitude; the substantial pecuniary benefits which promised a life of ease and opulence to all whose abilities were sufficiently eminent to merit public recognition and recompense; with these manifold privileges and incentives it is not singular that Hebrew genius obtained and preserved an exalted rank in the literary society of the age. Encouraged by the influence which they wielded, and presuming upon the favor of a liberal and indulgent sovereign, the Jews of the Moorish empire formed an organization modelled after the institutions of their ancestors which could scarcely have been tolerated under a severe and jealous despotism. They elected as their king a prince of the house of Judah, who, while not openly invested with the insignia of royalty, received the homage and the tribute of his subjects. Under this potentate judges and priests were chosen, who exercised the functions performed centuries before in the days of the independence and renown of the Hebrew nation. The Moors countenanced, and even approved of, the establishment of this anomalous system. Its officials, despite their grandiloquent titles, were strictly subordinated to the authority of the khalifate. They were suffered, however, to administer the affairs of those who acknowledged their jurisdiction; their decisions in theological matters limited to their faith were unquestioned; and they were intrusted with the collection of taxes, whose amount and apportionment had been previously determined by the regular officers of the imperial treasury.

The eminently practical character of the Jewish mind did not confine itself to speculations upon the traditions of the Talmud or disquisitions concerning abstruse points of philosophy. The Hebrew sages embraced with the greatest ardor the fascinating pursuits of mechanical invention and scientific discovery. In medicine and surgery they particularly excelled. They wrote treatises on the application of hydraulics and the comparative merits of various systems of irrigation. They thoroughly understood the principles of horticulture. The excellence of the manufactures for which the Khalifate of Cordova was famous was, to a considerable extent, indebted to Jewish talents and industry. In many instances the nationality of Hebrew scholars was obscured through the similarity of their names and occupations to those of their distinguished associates in the great Moslem centres of learning. Many Jewish doctors received Arab appellations and wrote almost exclusively in the Arabic language. Among these was Ibn-Zohr, who, for these reasons, has been generally considered a Mohammedan, but whose parentage, religion, associations, and education were entirely Hebrew.

The tenth century witnessed the culmination of Jewish greatness in Europe. In its rapid advancement, it had kept pace with the ever-progressive march of Moslem power and culture. Wherever the Saracens established themselves, the Jewish population increased. The harmonious co-operation of the two races—one of which, while nominally tributary to and dependent upon the other, was in reality upon a footing of friendly intimacy with its acknowledged superior—proved of immense advantage to both, in the promotion of every measure which could enure to the substantial benefit of humanity. In the consideration which they enjoyed, and in the prosperity and distinction which were the reward of intelligent and useful effort, the Jews lost the memory of the calamities which had been their lot for so many centuries. In common with all peoples who have attained the highest civilization, they abandoned themselves to luxury. The men were clothed in the richest of silken fabrics. The jewels of the women equalled in brilliancy and value the choicest treasures of the imperial harems. The great Hebrew functionaries of state, who possessed the confidence of the sovereign, appeared in public, guarded by retinues of armed and magnificently attired eunuchs. Their mansions exhibited all the luxurious appointments of the fastidious sybarite. The Rabbi Hasdai-ben-Schaprut was one of the principal ministers of Abd-al-Rahman III. Al-Hakem II. enlisted the services of Jewish ambassadors in important embassies. Hischem II. ordered a translation of the Talmud to be made into Arabic, and caused its literature to be introduced as a branch of study in the Moslem colleges. The educated Moors treated with the greatest honor and respect the princes and officials of the hierarchy chosen by the assemblies of the Synagogue. The beginning of the tenth century witnessed the destruction of the renowned academies of Persia, whose members, by the promulgation of liberal doctrines, had rendered themselves obnoxious to Oriental despotism. Their societies dissolved, these learned men were forced to seek security in exile. Some of the most famous, including the Rabbi Moses, of the Academy of Pumbedita, were taken by African corsairs and exposed for sale in the slave-market of Cordova. Such was the eminent reputation of this doctor, that, as soon as his identity was disclosed, he was unanimously elected prince of the Hispano-Hebrew nation.

These Oriental scholars were not the only exiles who enriched the universities of Spain with their accumulated stores of wisdom. From every country where the hand of persecution was raised against the Jew refugees flocked by thousands into the Peninsula, until the Ommeyade khalif included among his subjects a larger proportion of the people of this race than any other sovereign of the age. The list of rabbis who illuminated with their genius and learning the reign of the Cordovan princes is both instructive and interesting, especially when we consider the benighted condition of contemporaneous Europe. In France, during the ninth century, a Christian bishop declared the rabbis preached better than the priests.

The active minds of these gifted scholars enabled them to master at the same time the most complicated problems of widely different branches of scientific knowledge. The difficulty and novelty of the subject were always the strongest incentives to their industry. The study of jurisprudence enjoined by their law, as a religious duty, was always entered upon in the beginning of their literary career, no matter to what professions they were subsequently to be devoted. Rabbi Hasdai-ben-Schaprut wrote a commentary on the botanical treatise of Dioscorides, of which he had made an Arabic version; Rabbi Judah, who lived under Abd-al-Rahman III., was renowned for his acquaintance with both Hebrew and Arabic literature; Joseph translated the Talmud for Hischem II.; Manasseh-ben-Baruch compiled a critical lexicon, a colossal monument of patience and erudition. To Isaac-ben-Chanan is ascribed the rendering into classic Hebrew of the complete works of Aristotle. Isaac Alphes codified the laws of the Talmud; Samuel-ben-Alarif, the minister of Habus, King of Granada, renowned alike as statesman, astronomer, and poet, composed a panegyric of his sovereign in seven languages. Moses-ben-Ezra wrote poems which disclose instructive scenes of mediæval life and manners; the grammatical works of Judas-ben-David were recognized as authoritative wherever the Hebrew tongue was spoken; Isaac-ben-Baruch was one of the most learned and accomplished mathematicians of his time. In addition to these names, famous in the history of letters, the Hebrew community of Spain included poets like Judas Levi, whose works, translated into Arabic and Latin, obtained a wide and deserved popularity; astronomers like Ben-Chia; geographers like Isaac Latef; physicians like Charizi; travellers like Benjamin of Tudela, whose writings may still be perused with pleasure and advantage; natural philosophers like Solomon-ben-Gabirol, who had the rare faculty of clothing scientific conceptions in poetical language; universal geniuses like Moses-ben-Maimon and Ben-Ezra, whose talents illustrated and embellished every subject within the realm of human knowledge. Not less noted were the Jewish physicians, who did not, however, exist as a distinctive profession, their commanding abilities being also displayed in other departments of literature and science.

Most prominent among the names which immortalize the golden age of Hebrew erudition is that of Moses-ben-Maimon, popularly known as Maimonides. A native of Cordova, and sprung from a family which had furnished many learned and distinguished members of the Jewish hierarchy, he enjoyed from his earliest youth the unrivalled educational advantages of the great Moslem capital. His mind was formed and his tastes developed under the most able instructors of the University of Cordova, and it has even been stated, upon disputed authority, however, that he was the pupil and friend of the famous philosopher Averroes. The profession of medicine which he adopted, and in which he afterwards so greatly excelled, he regarded rather as an instrument with which to observe the secret characteristics and incentives of human nature than as a means of livelihood. At the age of thirty, his reputation for prodigious erudition had spread far beyond the limits of the Moslem empire of the West. The fanatical policy of Abd-al-Mumen, founder of the Almohade dynasty, demanded the conversion of the Jews; thousands, under the fear of death, renounced their religion, and among them was Maimonides, whose resolution was not proof against the prospective sufferings of martyrdom. Escaping soon after to Egypt, where his renown had preceded his arrival, he became the friend and adviser of the Sultan. It is said that whenever he left his house he was compelled to pass through lines of people, some of whom desired his opinion on metaphysical questions, and others, who were afflicted with various ailments, that sought the aid of his medical knowledge. Such was his devotion to his profession, that in the care of his patients he deprived himself of sleep, and many times fainted from sheer exhaustion. In the midst of his arduous duties he found time for the composition of many voluminous treatises,—on biblical and rabbinical literature; on the action of remedies; on the duties and responsibilities of man as inculcated by the higher philosophy. His principal work, More-Hanebushim, “The Guide of Lost Spirits,” is one of the masterpieces of Hebrew literature. The learning it displays, the profound knowledge of mankind it reveals, the originality of its conceptions, the ingenuity and logical force of the argument, the sublime moral maxims it inculcates, and the elegance and beauty of the style, owing little to the native harshness of the idiom in which it is written, stamp it as one of the most remarkable productions of the human mind. The genius of this great writer regarded as diversions undertakings which would have appeared formidable tasks to men of inferior capacity. His medical works, fourteen in number, and especially his learned commentary on Hippocrates, were long the guide of the profession, and to this day many of his precepts for the treatment of disease are employed by the intelligent practitioner. He was one of the first to recognize that mental derangement is often the result of physical indisposition. Maimonides was more familiar with the doctrines of Christian theology than the majority of the prelates whose duty it was to inculcate them. His understanding rejected with contempt the alluring and prevalent delusions of the age, which too frequently contaminated the wisdom of the scholar with the mummeries of the impostor. His condemnation of judicial astrology, in which he exposed by irrefutable arguments the absurdities and dangers of that puerile but fascinating science, was adopted and promulgated as authoritative by both Popes Sixtus V. and Urban VIII. While he criticised with uncompromising severity the faults of his sect and the weakness and inconsistency of many of its traditions, Maimonides never intentionally swerved from the path of orthodox Judaism. His surroundings and associations were, however, on the whole not favorable to the maintenance of archaic theological systems. The intellectual society of Cordova was deeply infected with infidelity. The instructors of youth, the professors of the University, were disciples of Averroes. Religious commentary had long been supplanted by philosophical skepticism. Even the populace, always the last to abandon the obsolete opinions of theological infancy, were imbued with the same iconoclastic ideas. The sublime conceptions of India, the doctrine of Emanation and Absorption, had been largely adopted by the educated communities of Moorish Spain. The exposure of the Hebrew dogmas to the mocking and sarcastic raillery of his learned companions produced no effect upon the faith of Maimonides. His principles were too firmly grounded to be shaken by the jeers of polished atheism. While his progressive ideas caused him to be for a time regarded with suspicion by the stricter of the Hebrews, they eventually contended with each other in paying tribute to his lofty genius, and in their extravagant admiration styled him “The Eagle of Jewish Literature,” “The Guide of the Rabbis,” “The Light of the Occident.” The liberal character of his doctrines may be inferred from the following passage taken from the preface to his works: “The end of religion is to conduct us to perfection, and to teach us to act and think in conformity with reason. In this consists the distinctive attribute of human nature.”

Maimonides was one of the most eminent personages of his time. No writer of his nationality ever attained to such an exalted rank, even among those who dissented from his opinions. The kindness of his disposition was not less remarkable than the extent of his intellectual acquirements. Although a born polemic and controversialist, he never voluntarily wounded the feelings of an adversary. The object of his investigations was invariably the discovery of truth. His learning, his critical acumen, his quickness of perception, his accuracy of judgment, his talent for argument, were unrivalled. His system aimed at the reconciliation of revealed maxims and scientific deductions; at the co-ordination of Biblical and Talmudical ideas with the principles of ancient wisdom and contemporaneous philosophy. Such a task was beyond even his great abilities. The studies of the infidel schools of Spain had, unconsciously to himself, affected his religious belief. The instructions of Averroes were not conducive to the existence of rigid Judaism. Maimonides was, in fact, a pantheist. Throughout his writings, despite their mysticism, the doctrine of Emanation is everywhere prominent. He refers to successive spheres born of Divine thought. He considers the absorption of the souls of the good into the Divine Essence. While admitting the indestructibility of force, he rejects the idea of the eternity of matter. With him, as with the majority of scholars who had been educated under Arabic auspices, the authority of Aristotle was paramount. His works, while professedly written to elucidate and confirm the Talmud, really undermined it. His Mischne Thora and Commentary on the Mischna are prodigies of dialectical skill and varied erudition. In the first of these, a religious code, ten years of constant labor were expended.

The life of Maimonides was an eventful period in the history of his race. Then it reached the highest point of intellectual distinction, but among its sages none ranked with the distinguished rabbi. In addition to his vast stores of universal knowledge, he had profited by the practical benefits of travel. He had visited Fez, Montpellier, Cairo, Bagdad, Jerusalem. He was the court physician of Saladin. He refused a similar employment tendered by Richard I., King of England. He was raised to the important office of Chief Rabbi of all the Hebrew communities of Egypt. From the East and West, his countrymen sought his opinion on abstruse questions of religion and philosophical doctrine, and accepted his answers as infallible. His influence was by no means confined to members of his own sect. His works, translated into Latin, were diligently studied by Christian polemics, and furnished arguments to successive generations of schoolmen. Diffused throughout the South of France, their rationalist opinions played no small part in the promotion of the Albigensian heresy.

But while the intellectual supremacy of Maimonides placed him far in advance of his contemporaries, he was by no means the only distinguished scholar of his epoch. Ben-Ezra, equally proficient in the departments of medicine, literature, and astronomy, enjoyed a reputation second only to that of the Greatest of the Hebrews. His inquisitive mind, stimulated by years of assiduous application, sought in the scenes of foreign lands the valuable experience and intimate acquaintance with human life which are not to be obtained by the perusal of books alone. The remarkable abilities of Ben-Ezra were exercised alike in the solution of mathematical problems and in the composition of sacred poems. In his knowledge of astronomy, he surpassed the most accurate observers of an age especially devoted to the cultivation of the grandest and most fascinating of sciences. In his moments of mental relaxation he embodied in verse the rules of the game of chess; and the preface to this poem, in which the reader is warned against the evils of cards and dice, proves conclusively that gaming implements supposed to have been invented hundreds of years afterwards were familiar to the Spanish Jews and Moors in the early part of the thirteenth century.

Not unworthy rivals of Ben-Ezra in the contest for literary precedence were Nachmanides, who at the age of sixteen was the honored associate of the most learned of the Jewish nation, and whose precocious maturity acquired for him in early manhood the title of Abu-Harushma, “The Father of Wisdom;” Joseph Hadain, whose charming verses were the delight of the people of Cordova; Solomon-ben-Gabirol, and Abraham-ben-David-Halevi, distinguished philosophers, in whose writings were illustrated the principles of theological reform and independent criticism demanded by the bold and progressive spirit of the age. Among the Jews of Spain were also many original poets, fabulists, and writers of romance. Such were the most eminent scholars whose attainments reflected honor on the Hebrew name, under the beneficent rule of the Moslem princes of the West, an era coincident with the darkest period of European history. Besides these there were others in every community, some of rabbinical rank, some of humble station, with talents that elsewhere would have raised them far above mediocrity, but who were obscured and overwhelmed in the dazzling glare of literary excellence. The commercial prosperity of the Jews; the universality of education, whose institutions afforded facilities nowhere else attainable in the world; the naturally inquisitive bent of the Hebrew mind, whose acuteness seemed capable of solving questions when all others had failed, and whose versatility was equal to the most varied and arduous undertakings; the superhuman industry which shrank from no task, however difficult; the consideration with which they were treated by sovereign and plebeian alike, gave full scope to the capabilities of a race of men who never previously, even in the days of Judea’s splendor, had been afforded such opportunities for development. The generous emulation provoked by the intellectual efforts of their Saracen rivals was exerted by the Jews in every branch of learning and every department of scientific research. Through the literary productions of these two nations alone was the way of knowledge accessible. A thorough acquaintance with Arabic and Hebrew was indispensable to the ambitious student. Latin, whose corrupted idiom was the language of the Church, was the vehicle of priestly intercourse, and the medium through which were transmitted Papal decrees and ecclesiastical tradition. The ancient classics of Greece and Rome were practically unknown outside the Peninsula; and there is good reason to believe that a majority of the famous prelates of the time were ignorant that they had ever existed. The accurate retranslations of these works into Latin from the Arabic, into which they had been originally transcribed, first revealed their merits to Western Europe, and paved the way to the revival of learning. The impulse imparted by this means to literary curiosity and investigation found its culmination in the epoch which produced Aretino, Petrarch, Boccaccio, and Dante. The Italian Renaissance, the dawn of modern European intelligence and progress, received its inspiration from the civilizing influences and cultivated tastes brought to extraordinary perfection in the great cities of Southern Spain.

The dissolution of the Moslem empire, its subsequent division and gradual conquest, naturally effected great changes in the political relations and ultimate destiny of the Hebrew race. Under the petty kings who administered with various fortune the shattered fragments of the magnificent inheritance bequeathed by the Ommeyade khalifs, the condition of the Jews changed with the caprices and the passions of each new tyrannical potentate. For the most part, however, they received indulgent and often flattering treatment. The Mohammedan sovereigns recognized the value of such subjects; there were many whose political sagacity was not obscured by prejudice, and who still observed the tolerant precepts of Islam. At Granada the Jews had always been popular; there is a tradition that the capital of the kingdom was founded by them. In the fourteenth century, there were fifteen thousand Hebrew families resident in that city. While the rest of the Peninsula was convulsed with revolution and disorder, and their kinsmen were being everywhere persecuted and robbed by Papal inquisitor and Christian king, the Jews of Granada pursued their occupations in peace, under the protection of the Zirite and Alhamar dynasties, until the final success of the Spanish arms involved their nation in irretrievable ruin.

The Jews were the principal medium through which Moorish civilization was permanently impressed upon Europe. Their peculiar characteristics; their vitality amidst the most dreadful misfortunes; the intimate relationship maintained by their communities, where distance and territorial isolation seemed matters of little importance, and their wide distribution were most important factors in the maintenance and dissemination of knowledge. The Jew travelled with safety in lands where a price was set upon his head; outside of Moslem jurisdiction, even among strangers unfamiliar with his story and his creed, the Saracen was an outcast. The requirements of royal and ecclesiastical incompetency contributed to the preservation of that learning which ignorance and fear constantly incited to destroy. As the Peninsula yielded by degrees to the steady encroachments of Christian power, the superior abilities of the Jews proved a potent safeguard against oppression. In spite of the furious protests of fanatics, they exercised the most important public employments. Kings of irreproachable orthodoxy habitually availed themselves of their unrivalled medical attainments. The physicians of Alfonso X., Pedro el Cruel, Henry III., Juan II. of Castile, of Jaime I. of Aragon, of Duarte and Juan I. of Portugal, were all members of the detested sect. Their tact and discernment caused their services to be enlisted in the settlement of perplexing questions of diplomacy. The early times of the Reconquest were far from exhibiting the vindictive and intolerant spirit which marked its termination. The Hebrew colony at Toledo numbered twelve thousand souls. Its academy stood first in rank among similar institutions in Europe. A vast sum was annually paid by this tributary population into the royal treasury of Castile.

The king, the noble, and the scholar treated the Jew with favor, often with the highest consideration. The clergy and the mob were ever his bitterest enemies. His extraordinary influence was daily manifested in defiance of savage laws which public sentiment enacted and applauded, but was unable to enforce. The hated sectary, proscribed by both the ecclesiastical and civil powers, pursued his way, indifferent to the edicts of either the altar or the throne. He dictated the policy of the government. He made treaties with foreign nations. He flaunted his wealth in the faces of the rabble. With strange inconsistency, members of the priesthood sold him Christian serfs, whom their own decrees declared it was illegal for him to own. They pledged with him the consecrated vessels of their calling for money with which to indulge in forbidden pleasures. His opulence was his most serious offence. In the thirteenth century, one-third of the entire real-property of Castile was in the possession or under the control of the Hebrews. At the death of Pedro II. of Aragon, they had acquired possession of all the demesnes of the crown, by the purchase of claims against the state. At one time they owned nearly all the city of Paris. Their pomp and insolence aroused the envy and hatred of the nobles, many of whom were virtually their prisoners for default in the payment of debts. During the reign of Pedro el Cruel, Joseph-ben-Ephraim, the royal tax-gatherer, rode in a magnificent coach, guarded by a retinue of fifty armed attendants. His clerks were the sons of Spanish grandees. It was long a popular saying in Europe that “The Castilians had the pride and the devotion, the Jews the talents and the money.”

The Spanish cavaliers who had experienced the prowess and courtesy of their Moorish adversaries, as a rule, cherished no bitterness against the Jews. Those who, in the course of events, were absorbed with the territory of the growing kingdom, often elicited admiration and respect by reason of their commanding talents and erudition. The political administration of Castile and Leon, under Alfonso VIII., was committed to a Jew; and his physician, who was of the same race and enjoyed the royal confidence, was chosen by the nobles as an intermediary between themselves and their sovereign in a transaction which required the exercise of the greatest ability and discretion. A beautiful Jewess was for many years the mistress of Alfonso IX., over whom her empire, while unbounded, was never abused; until at last the clergy, scandalized rather by the nationality of the favorite than by the gravity of the sin, caused her to be sacrificed to public resentment. It requires but a glance at the writings of the few mediæval reformers to infer how much consistency there was in this simulated indignation. The works of these alone are sufficient to establish the existence of universal sacerdotal depravity among those censors of public morals whose scruples were excited by the influence ascribed to the charms of a lovely infidel. Under Alfonso el Sabio, the Jews received greater consideration than under any other Christian monarch of Spain. The famous Alphonsine Tables, drawn up under the direction of Hebrew astronomers, were the most memorable scientific achievement of the epoch. Their cost, which exceeded the enormous sum of four hundred thousand ducats, is indicative not only of the interest of that prince in undertakings whose importance was neither understood nor appreciated elsewhere, but of the value attached to the services of great scholars, whose knowledge had been imparted by a civilization which their royal patron considered it his political and religious duty to eradicate.

The indulgent policy of Don Pedro el Cruel towards his Hebrew subjects was one of the most remarkable peculiarities of his sanguinary reign. His financiers and his confidential advisers were members of that proscribed race. The treasurer of the monarchy, Samuel Levi, whose position and favor enabled him to amass a princely fortune, is remembered by Jewish tradition as one of the great benefactors of humanity. The extraordinary power he wielded; the splendor of his retinue; the sumptuous appointments of his palace; his patronage of letters; the prodigal generosity he displayed in the relief of the unfortunate and the deserving of every nationality, have exalted, perhaps exaggerated, his merits in the memory of his countrymen. His greatest claim to distinction, however, consists in the erection, at his own expense, of a superb synagogue at Toledo. This edifice, unique of its kind, was built by the most skilful Moorish artificers of Granada, and its decorations suggested the most finished and elegant models of Arab art. Its walls were embellished with miniature horseshoe and stalactitic arches, whose openings were relieved by polygonal ornaments and golden stars. Belts of foliage alternating with appropriate inscriptions composed the frieze; and the ceiling, which was of the incorruptible cedar of Lebanon, resembled, in the maze of its geometrical designs, the artesonados of the Alhambra. In common with the other principal synagogues of Toledo, the earth upon which the pavement was laid was said to have been brought from Mount Sion, a tradition which enhanced their sanctity in the eyes of the worshipper.

Many converted Hebrews, as the reward of their apostasy, were raised to the most exalted civil and episcopal dignities; unusual literary accomplishments in a Spanish prelate during the Middle Ages were almost infallible indications that his information had been derived from infidel sources; and Catholic piety recognized no more ardent defenders of the dogmas of the Church than the converted Jews, Paul, Bishop of Burgos and Grand Chancellor of Castile, and Alfonso de Spina, Rector of the University of Salamanca. The celebrated Bible produced at Alcalá de Henares through the munificence of Cardinal Ximenes, at a cost of fifty thousand pieces of gold, and which required the unremitting labor of fifteen years, was the work of apostate Jews. Three secretaries of Queen Isabella were of the despised nationality. One of them, the famous chronicler Pulgar, had held the same office of trust under King Henry IV.

The intolerance of the Spanish clergy increased in an exact ratio with the decadence of Moslem power. As ecclesiastical supremacy became strong enough to control the policy of the throne, the privileges of the Jews, already greatly curtailed, were almost entirely abolished. As yet, however, the sovereign was unable to dispense either with the taxes they paid, which were the most important part of the royal revenues, or with the financial talents and sterling honesty which insured their proper disbursement. It was not until the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella that fanaticism was allowed to prevail over the wise and prudential considerations of policy which, though frequently interrupted by scenes of horror and carnage, had in practice ignored for centuries the fulminations of ecclesiastical synods and councils. As the rise of Hebrew greatness in the Peninsula dates from, and is attributable to, the Moslem conquest, in like manner its decay progressed with the declining fortunes of the Saracens, and its destruction was coincident with the disappearance of their empire.

Scattered throughout Europe, the Jews alone preserved for future generations the precious heritage of Arab science and culture; and had they not proved capable of retaining and transmitting it, the discoveries of Moorish genius, banished with those who made them, would have been forever lost to posterity. The effects of civilization, whose arts, distributed through the agency of the Hebrews, were productive of such great results, were principally manifested, as might readily be conjectured, in the countries contiguous to or most intimately connected with the Peninsula. The tide of Hebrew emigration and trade rolled steadily into France, Portugal, Italy. The states of Provence and Languedoc, under the Gothic name of Septimania, early overrun by the conquerors of Spain, were, long prior to that time, subject to Hebrew influence. Attracted by the salubrious climate and the excellent commercial facilities of the coast, the Jews settled there in great numbers. The overthrow of the Mohammedan power in that region was not followed by the immediate abolition of the social and educational systems which it had inaugurated, and whose perpetuation was insured by the most favorable climatic and ethnological conditions. At Lyons, the Jews at one time were held in such esteem that the market day was changed from Saturday to Sunday in deference to their religious prejudices. In Provence, practically free from the humiliating distinctions of caste, they enjoyed the same privileges and were entitled to the same protection as other citizens. At Béziers, Carcassonne, Avignon, Montpellier, and Narbonne the Hebrew element predominated. It has already been stated that the famous school of Montpellier owed its origin to the Arabs and the Jews. The Moslem conquest vastly increased the Hebrew population, which had already been numerous in Southern France for more than eight hundred years. The mystery which in times of mediæval darkness enveloped everything derived from Hebrew and Arabic sources, the peculiarities of the written, the incomprehensibility of the spoken, idioms, in which education was imparted, the methodical treatment of disease, so thorough in application, so successful in results, pursued by its graduates, and immeasurably superior in every respect to the mummeries of priestly superstition, invested the University of Montpellier with a reputation which, acquired at the expense of sacerdotal influence, was attributed by the ignorant to the invocation of infernal spirits. The infidel physicians of that institution were shunned by the devout as sorcerers. The Church excommunicated all who had recourse to them. Not only in that city, but through the greater part of Christendom, it was considered far better to permit an invalid to perish than to secure his recovery by the aid of practitioners whose methods were denounced from every pulpit as diabolical and infamous. Christian women often died in childbed rather than summon a Jewish midwife, whose profession was exercised with signal ability, and whose education was little less thorough and profound than that of the doctors of the medical school. Such sacrifices were regarded as peculiarly meritorious, as establishing beyond doubt the consistent piety of the victim. Under existing circumstances, there was no relief for the priest-ridden sufferer, for the practice of medicine was confined to the Jews. The application of relics, even when strengthened by the most edifying exhibition of faith, could hardly prevail against a fatal distemper. On the one hand was the terrifying prospect of impending dissolution; on the other, the assurance of divine displeasure and the certainty of sacerdotal condemnation. In the midst of this general intolerance the Lords of Montpellier stood firm. They were proud of their city,—proud of its wealth, its enterprise, its intelligence, its reputation. They thoroughly appreciated the conditions under which that reputation had been created. Their Jewish subjects were the wealthiest, the most learned, the most law-abiding of citizens. They had more than once discharged with credit important public employments. They had their exchange, their banks, their schools, their cemeteries, even their own wells for purposes of ablution. They worshipped in a magnificent synagogue, which in richness and beauty vied with the most splendid mosques, and from whose ceiling of aromatic woods were suspended hundreds of golden lamps. Not only had their hereditary commercial instincts made Montpellier a great and prosperous emporium, but their ingenuity was exhibited in the establishment of many important branches of manufactures. The cloths exported by them were especially noted for delicacy of finish and texture. In the goldsmiths’ shops was produced elegant jewelry of classic design. Not a few of the sacred vessels used for the celebration of the mass in the cathedrals of Europe were fabricated by the Jewish artisans of Montpellier. Some of the most lucrative departments of industry for which Mohammedan Spain was famous were represented in that city, among them those of silk, leather, and porcelain. The incorporation of the dominions of the Lords of Montpellier into the French monarchy not only subjected the Jews to the disabilities and persecutions elsewhere the heritage of their race, but, as a necessary consequence, proved fatal to the prosperity of that flourishing provincial capital. Royal and episcopal avarice rioted in a new and productive field of legalized extortion. The Jews were robbed and expelled, recalled under promises of immunity, and plundered again and again. The feudal law of mortmain authorized the confiscation of their property if they were converted; if they refused this questionable privilege, official oppression at once reduced them to beggary.

With the increase of Christian influence in Southern Europe their condition grew more and more desperate. At Toledo, a riot having broken out on account of the levy of an obnoxious tax, the public disorder was made an excuse for the spoliation and massacre of the Jews. In many districts in Europe people were prohibited from furnishing them with the necessaries of life. At Aix, a Jew was flayed alive for alleged blasphemy, and a column was erected to commemorate the pious deed. The menacing eloquence of St. Vincent Ferrer is said to have driven fifteen thousand Valencian Hebrews to the Catholic communion. The cry raised against Jewish rapacity by dishonest or insolvent debtors enured to their benefit in the proceeds resulting from pillage, and by the forcible recovery of chattels deposited with brokers as security. Public hatred was not confined to denunciation of their financial methods; their learning and its depositories shared the common obloquy. Hebrew manuscripts were destroyed whenever found. At Salamanca alone, six thousand were consumed in a single bonfire. In Paris, in one day, twenty-four cart-loads of literary treasures were committed to the flames. Monkish intolerance raged everywhere against these dangerous competitors for popular favor and pecuniary gain. This prejudice extended to their language; its study was forbidden under penalty of excommunication; and it was constantly proclaimed from the pulpit that whoever acquired it became from that moment to all intents and purposes a Jew. Gradually excluded from all mechanical trades and liberal professions, the unhappy people were driven to the business of brokerage. To this unpopular calling, whose commercial necessity was as yet unrecognized by European ignorance, Hebrew enterprise was ultimately, for the most part, restricted. The practice of usury, reprobated by those whose improvidence or vices forced them to have recourse to it for temporary relief, had existed in Europe long before the stigma arising from its abuse attached to the Jewish name. The Lombards and Florentines, whose unfeeling rapacity belied their claim to humanity, were those who first rendered it odious; and the Apostolic See repeatedly sold to commercial organizations the privilege of financial oppression. The small amount of cash in circulation authorized the imposition of enormous rates of interest. In Spain, under Christian domination, the rate was limited to thirty-three and a third per cent., and in other countries it was even more exorbitant, but regulated, as such matters always are, by the natural laws of supply and demand. The Italian brokers, who plied their calling in France, not infrequently exacted one hundred and twenty per cent. per annum. The edicts of kings and the anathemas of councils were ineffectually directed against this evil, which threatened the impoverishment of every necessitous person of credit, produced unspeakable suffering, and seriously retarded the progress of national prosperity. Those loudest in their denunciations were generally the first to apply for pecuniary advances to the objects of their simulated wrath. Catholic sovereigns secretly pledged the royal jewels with Hebrew usurers; and it was the public boast of the latter that the sacred vessels of cathedrals and religious houses were the greater part of the time at their absolute or conditional disposal. The glaring inconsistency which characterized every phase of Jewish persecution was thus unusually conspicuous in the condemnation of their usurious practices.

In Portugal, whose proximity to and original incorporation with the Hispano-Arab empire had attracted a large Hebrew immigration, the Jews, as elsewhere, availing themselves of the superior attainments acquired under Moslem institutions, speedily grew rich and powerful. There, also, in an ignorant society debased by the predominance of a narrow and despotic ecclesiastical system, their toleration became for a time a political necessity. Their services were so indispensable to all orders of the state that the disabilities imposed upon them were regarded as merely nominal, and the laws regulating their intercourse with each other and with the Christians remained for the most part inoperative.

In Italy, the hand of the Jew was visible in the energy and enterprise of the maritime states of Venice, Genoa, Leghorn, and Naples. A less intolerable existence was insured to him under the shadow of the Papal throne. The exiles of Western Europe, expelled by the short-sighted policy of irrational fanatics, were coldly welcomed on the banks of the Po and the Tiber and on the sunny shores of the Adriatic. The industry and culture inherited from the golden age of Moslem domination became sources of wealth, mercantile importance, and literary distinction to the Italians, whose reluctant hospitality was eventually repaid a hundred-fold by the profit derived from the labors of these refugees and the results of the emulation excited by their example. It was thus that, after the lapse of five centuries and at a distance of a thousand miles, the civilization of the Moslem empire in Spain produced, through the agency of an alien and exiled race, the glorious revival of arts and letters in Italy. That the Jews should be credited with the dissemination of Arab science and literature is demonstrated by the fact that in whatever country those of Spanish extraction, or their descendants, established themselves, the people of that country quickly experienced an intellectual impulse unknown to others not exposed to similar associations. Modern civilization has ill-requited the priceless benefits it has received from Jewish learning and Jewish skill.

The tenacity of the mind of the Israelite was amazing. It never relaxed its hold upon a valuable idea once within its grasp. Much as it communicated, its secretive character induced it always to suppress far more than it imparted, a habit which increased its mysterious influence. It had the peculiar quality of immediately quickening into life the more sluggish mental natures of all with whom it was brought in contact. No disposition, however harsh or ascetic, was proof against the exertion of its power. The Jewish colonies, transplanted into the midst of an ignorant population, became at once foci of learning. Bigotry itself regarded with awe and respect the intellectual superiority which anticipated and checked hostile measures directed against its continuance, and, without the employment of force, nullified laws especially enacted for its repression. It was not strange that prosperity maintained in the presence of such obstacles should be attributed to diabolical interference. Into his new home the Jew brought not only the energy and acuteness which were the guaranty of his success, but the intelligent curiosity which was the principal factor of his extraordinary mental development. Not a few possessed extensive libraries, luxuries absolutely unknown in many European countries where even writing materials did not exist, or, if they did, were unavailable. The scattered books to be found in churches and monasteries were palimpsests, ancient parchments from which the productions of classic authors had been laboriously effaced to make room for saintly homilies and patristic legends. Perfection in calligraphy had kept pace with the other artistic achievements of the Spanish Hebrews. Their Biblical manuscripts had a world-wide celebrity for accuracy of text and beauty of ornamentation. Many were illuminated with arabesques and floral designs executed in colors and embellished with gold. So highly were these copies of the Scriptures valued that in Spain one of but ordinary merit readily brought a hundred crowns.

The number of Hebrew writers who attained distinction in the Middle Ages was enormous. The great catalogue of Bartholoccius, which enumerates those of Spain, Italy, and France—countries particularly subject, directly and individually, to Arab influence—fills four volumes in folio and contains four thousand names. Among these, authors of Spanish origin largely predominate. The activity of the Hebrew intellect was not hampered by conventional restrictions of sex, nor deterred by the difficulties or demands of any profession or calling. Among that people, precautions arising from Oriental jealousy, which had been observed from time immemorial, required the seclusion of women; and this custom was naturally unfavorable to female education. They were practically the slaves, first of their fathers, then of their husbands. In public they always appeared veiled from head to foot. In so little esteem were they ordinarily held, that it was not considered necessary to instruct them even in the doctrines of religion. Whatever talents, therefore, Jewish females possessed were, until the Saracen domination in Europe, unknown and undeveloped.

The educational facilities afforded the Moorish women under the beneficent sway of the Ommeyade khalifs, and the prominence attained by many of them in the world of letters, did not fail to exercise its influence upon the habits and the career of their Jewish sisters. This fact is of the greatest importance, in view of the strict subordination enforced upon Hebrew women in all periods of their history, a regulation largely due to their naturally dependent condition and their alleged intellectual inferiority. In the cultivated society of Cordova, the stubborn tenacity of long-established prejudice vanished before the enlightened and progressive spirit of the age. Under such circumstances, even the severe authority of the rabbis became, in a measure, relaxed; and while the names of no Jewish women pre-eminently distinguished for learning have come down to us, it is an unquestionable fact that they were allowed to enjoy, to an extent hitherto unprecedented, the literary advantages whose possession was generally admitted to constitute an exclusive privilege of the masculine sex. As the policy and traditions of the Synagogue discouraged such innovations, it is not strange that no record of their results has been preserved. The exhaustive researches of Kayserling have brought to light the name of a single Hebrew poetess, Xemosa, of the era of the khalifate; but all particulars of time and locality, of her literary career, and of the character of her works are missing.

The most remarkable peculiarity of the Hebrew character was its versatility. In every pursuit in which his talents were employed the Jew of Spanish origin rose to unrivalled distinction. The marvellous erudition and diversified accomplishments of their scholars were not inferior to those of the Moorish philosophers of Cordova in the most glorious days of Moslem dominion. They became equally proficient in many branches of abstruse science, any one of which was sufficient to exhaust the mental resources of an ordinary student. Their eminence in the practice of medicine gave rise to the popular belief that an admixture of Jewish blood was absolutely essential to success in that profession, an opinion not confined to the vulgar, but seriously discussed by a learned Italian historian. The fact that the study of astronomy should have been almost always combined with that of medicine is one of the most singular incidents in the annals of literature. It might be explained by a predilection for astrology, if Hebrew intelligence had not long outgrown the belief in that delusion, so prevalent in the infancy of knowledge. In familiarity with the visible heavens, with the motions of the planets, and the relative position of stars, in accuracy of mathematical calculation, in dexterous use of the astrolabe and the armillary sphere, they surpassed all other observers except the Arabs. So popular was this science among them in Spain during the thirteenth century that the Jewish astronomers of Toledo alone exceeded in numbers all the others of Christian Europe combined. The invaluable services they rendered to learning were not inferior to the ingenious methods by which they facilitated international communication and promoted the convenience and security of trade. When suddenly expelled from France by Philip Augustus, they left with Christians in whom they could confide their personal property, which, from its bulk or its value, they were unable to carry with them. After their arrival in Italy, they drew through Lombard merchants upon the custodians of their chattels, either for the goods themselves or for the cash realized from their sale. In this way Europe became indebted to the Jews for the general introduction of bills of exchange, previously invented by their countrymen at Barcelona, which from a benefit to mercantile transactions in the settlement of foreign obligations have now grown to be a commercial necessity.

Popular prejudice against the Hebrew nationality was aggravated, not only because of the eminent ability in matters of literature and finance, implying superiority, which it displayed, but on account of its control of the markets of the world and of its possession of the greater part of the money in circulation west of the Bosphorus. From the tenth century, when the Moorish ports of Southern Spain had become the emporiums of the Mediterranean, to the sixteenth, when the discovery of Columbus and the passage of the Cape of Good Hope had opened a new field to the cupidity and ambition of Europe, the trade of three great continents was subservient to the enterprise of the Jews. The commercial heritage bequeathed to their allies by the Phœnicians had endured through changes of empire, through the wrecks of successive dynasties, through persecutions of incredible atrocity, for more than twenty centuries.

The persistency which is a marked ethnological peculiarity of the Jews is at once the cause and the effect of their claim to Divine favor. The more intelligent of that people have never expected the appearance of a personal Messiah. They regard the popular myth of his coming as symbolizing the termination of national exile,—a mere allegorical allusion to the eventual independence and tranquillity which hope, deepening through ages into belief, assured them would one day be the condition of their race. This conviction, founded rather in the knowledge of its justice than in any well-defined prospect of its realization, sustained them through a long series of grievous trials and misfortunes. Accused of crimes such as the utmost ingenuity of malice has never imputed to any other sect, they retaliated by acts of self-sacrifice and generosity. In the midst of the futile solemnities of the Church, the pomp of processions, the intonation of litanies, the muttering of prayers, the smoking of censers, the exhibition of relics, they administered the remedies of scientific medicine to the suffering stricken with the pestilence. During the first visitation of the plague at Venice, in addition to a liberal donation, they lent the government a hundred thousand ducats for the relief of the poor. In time of national peril, their loyalty never faltered, except when their spirit had been exasperated by continued oppression. The funds they advanced were employed to drive the Arabs out of Spain. Moorish domination, established through their instrumentality, was thus indebted to their contributions for its overthrow. The most exacting requirements of retributive justice were certainly satisfied with the penalty exacted by fate for this perfidious act of ingratitude.

Modern prejudice, like mediæval ignorance, is reluctant to confess the obligations learning owes to Hebrew genius and industry. The Jews were, in turn, the teachers, the pupils, and the coadjutors of the Moors; the legatees and the distributors of the precious stores of Arab wisdom. The rabbis, few of whom, it may be remarked, were not expert workmen in the mechanical trades, a knowledge of which was enjoined by their religion, spread the love of letters everywhere. All treatises in Arabic, of practical or scientific value, were translated into Hebrew. Their familiarity with every branch of classical literature is apparent in their writings; even the Fables of Æsop were reproduced in their language. Purity of diction and elegance of style were striking characteristics of all the literary productions of the Spanish Jews. The most eminent Christian prelates of Spain during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were apostate rabbis. The proficiency of their medical practitioners has already been repeatedly alluded to. For years after the banishment of the Jews from the Peninsula, entire districts remained without the benefits of medical treatment. Such as were able resorted to foreign countries at great expense and inconvenience; the vast majority of invalids suffered without relief. The reputation of the Hebrew was so great, even in the sixteenth century, that Francis I. sent to the Emperor Charles V. for a Jewish physician; and one who had been converted to Christianity having undertaken the journey to Paris, the French king refused to receive him as soon as he learned that he was an apostate. Hebrew erudition exercised no small influence on both Moorish and Spanish literature. Many of the treatises of the Jewish philosophers, written in Arabic, enjoyed a wide circulation in the cultivated society of the khalifate and of the principalities which succeeded it. The first biography of the Cid was written by Ibn-Alfange, a Jew. The collection of tales entitled El Conde Lucanor, by Don Juan Manuel, is borrowed from a composition of similar character by Moses Sephardi, a Hebrew fabulist.

In the works of all the distinguished Jewish writers who had either directly or remotely been subjected to the influence of the Moslem academies of Spain, Aristotelian and Neo-Platonic opinions prevail. Orthodox Judaism could not survive in the atmosphere of those infidel institutions. The rabbis were, without exception, to a greater or less degree, infected with pantheistic ideas. They were firm believers in the heretical doctrine of Emanation and Absorption. In common with their Arabic associates, who had long since repudiated the legends of the Koran, they accepted in all its portentous significance the aphorism, “Science is religion.”

Nothing is more remarkable in the history of the Jews of the Middle Ages than their survival under persecution. The most awful calamities failed to impair their organization or destroy their faith. They were naturally a rebellious people. Their ancient history is a tale of breaches of faith, treason, and sedition. They were enslaved in a body by Egiza, King of the Visigoths, for a conspiracy which aimed at the overthrow of the monarchy. The Crusaders, inflamed by the harangues of the clergy, on their march to Palestine butchered them wherever found. In France alone a hundred thousand were massacred by the truculent soldiers of the Cross. The Almohade fanatics drove them out of Spain. Philippe le Bel confiscated their property and expelled them from his kingdom. Henry III., of England, sold all the Jews in his dominions to his brother Richard for a large sum of money. The Emperor Louis IV. pawned the Hebrew colony of the city of Spires, like so much merchandise, to the Bishop as security for a debt. In Aragon, at the close of the fifteenth century, fifty thousand were put to death and double that number compelled to renounce their religion. The popes alternately treated them with severity and indulgence, as the financial condition of the Holy See was prosperous or necessitous. Thus, while grievously oppressed in other countries of Europe, they often enjoyed temporary immunity in Italy. Possessed of no civil rights, existing only by sufferance, they were the prey of every one clothed for the moment with power. Church and State, alike, regarded them as a most valuable source of income. The money annually extorted from the Jewish population of a kingdom was frequently far in excess of all other revenues combined.

The Hebrew works of mediæval antiquity contain the germs of scientific discoveries which modern pride is pleased to designate as of comparatively recent origin. In the Zohar, a collection of treatises belonging to the Kabbala, are embodied highly philosophic cosmological ideas, and rational conceptions relating to the vital principle of Nature, and the scientific treatment of disease, which were subsequently applied to public instruction and practical use in the famous schools of Salerno and Montpellier. The various physiognomical changes wrought upon the lineaments of the human countenance by the cultivation of benevolent instincts or the indulgence of evil passions are there described with a faithfulness which points to an extraordinary insight into the incentives and desires which control the actions of men. In this remarkable compilation of Hebrew learning, the doctrine of Pantheism, as suggested by the time-honored philosophy of India, is set forth; the globular form of the earth, its diurnal revolution on its axis, the varying phases of that planet, the difference in the length of day and night at the equator and the poles, and the scientific reasons for the existence of these phenomena, are all described with an accuracy which is wonderful when the general ignorance of the epoch during which these opinions, so far in advance of the time, were promulgated, is remembered. In the thirteenth century, Jedediah-ben-Abraham, of Béziers, advanced the hypothesis that all objects impelled in opposite directions, and undisturbed by other forces, move in straight lines,—the essential element of one of the laws now universally recognized as governing the motions of the heavenly bodies. Solomon-ben-Virga, a Spanish refugee, in his historical treatise, Sebeth-Jehuda, published in the sixteenth century, states that the earth, equally attracted by the surrounding stars, remains suspended in the midst of space; an unmistakable conception of the principle of gravity which antedates its republication in Europe by more than a hundred years. The philosophical truths just enumerated, which anticipate the important discoveries of Boerhaave, Lavater, Galileo, Kepler, and Newton, afford a suggestive idea of the attainments of the rabbis, the accuracy of their reasoning, and the extent and profundity of their scientific knowledge.

While Jewish exiles were instrumental in awakening the spirit which inspired the Renaissance, and the consequent intellectual regeneration of Europe, their literature produced no inconsiderable effect upon the fortunes of that other momentous revolution which changed its religious aspect, the Protestant Reformation. The right of unrestricted perusal and private interpretation of the Scriptures, which was the vital principle of that movement, had always been enjoyed by the Hebrews. Their commentaries on the Bible were surprisingly voluminous: whole libraries were composed of them. The writings of the rabbis which elucidated obscure passages of Holy Writ were composed in a spirit of judicious toleration, entirely foreign to the policy dictated by bigoted ecclesiasticism and Papal authority. To exercise private judgment in religious matters was to invite the discipline of the Inquisition. Not one priest in ten thousand understood a word of Hebrew. Its study was prohibited to Catholics as conducive to heresy. On the other hand, Luther, Calvin, Melanchthon, Zwinglius, Conrad, in short, all the great Reformers, were thoroughly proficient in that language. Rabbinical literature exerted a powerful influence on their minds, inspired their efforts, provoked their rivalry, confirmed their resolution. In this respect, as in numerous others, posterity owes much to the despised Israelites of the mediæval era. A vast interval of time divides the ages of Abd-al-Rahman I. and Luther; the cities of Cordova and Worms are separated by many hundred leagues; but the inherent ideas of personal liberty and private right recognized on the banks of the Guadalquivir ultimately prevailed in the centre of Germany, once the most unlettered of countries. Thus the inheritance of barbarism, rendered possible by Roman decadence, transmitted by Goth, Hun, and Vandal, and perpetuated for the material interests of the Church, was supplanted by the labors and the example of rabbinical industry and learning. The epoch of ignorance, during which men feared to be enlightened by a people whose transcendent knowledge was believed to be of infernal origin, was past; but their disabilities were never entirely removed, and Jew-baiting is, unfortunately, still a popular diversion in some of the countries of Europe.

The importance of the invention of printing was at once understood and appreciated by the Jews. Ten years after it became known, their presses in Italy produced typographical works of extraordinary beauty and excellence. Their prominence in every movement directed towards the weakening of superstition and the emancipation of the human intellect did not prevent them from sustaining intimate and confidential relations with the Holy See. The Papacy was, as a rule, not unfavorably inclined towards them; it borrowed their money, and availed itself of their talents in the conduct of public affairs. Many Jews of Rome attained to great political distinction. Jehid was the financial minister of Alexander III.; and the son of a wealthy Hebrew merchant, named Pietro il Buono, is known to posterity as the anti-pope Anacletus. Such were the Hebrews of the Middle Ages, whose success in literature, art, science, commerce, politics, and diplomacy is to be attributed to the impulse originally imparted to their genius, and to the privileges enjoyed by their ancestors, under the generous and tolerant policy of the Khalifs of Cordova.

The expulsion of the Spanish Jews is one of the saddest and most deplorable tragedies in history. The royal edict which decided their fate, and whose execution had been deferred until the Moorish wars were ended, was published March 31, 1492. The charge brought against them of having menaced the security of the State and the tranquillity of the Church, by projected conspiracy, is too absurd to be seriously considered. To strengthen these unfounded accusations, the threadbare fables relating to the sacrifice of Christian infants at Easter, and the repeated solicitation of Catholics to apostasy, were once more utilized to inflame the passions of the fanatical multitude. Three months only were allowed for the disposal of their property and the completion of their preparations for departure; and, if that term were exceeded, the proclamation made them liable to the seizure of their chattels, and even to the penalty of death. They were prohibited from removing from the kingdom money or vessels of gold or silver; and the only objects specified in the royal ordinance which they were permitted to retain were bills of exchange and portable effects which could easily be transported. The Grand Inquisitor, Torquemada, revered in the annals of the Church as one of her most famous champions, and the confessor of Queen Isabella, to whose credit stand the tortures of a hundred thousand heretics and the grief and misery of other unnumbered multitudes, was the inspiring spirit of this atrocious crime against humanity. His influence neutralized the supplications of an entire people; the remonstrances of the few statesmen who, withstanding the popular clamor, foresaw the certain decline of commercial prosperity incident to the enforcement of this measure; the insidious and hitherto omnipotent agency of vast sums of gold. Accounts differ materially as to the number of Jews expelled from Spain; it was, however, not less than four hundred thousand, and was probably near a million. Their sufferings equalled, if they did not surpass, those of the Moriscoes, afterwards condemned by a similar proscription. The air was filled with their lamentations. Many remained for days in the cemeteries, weeping over the graves of their ancestors. The majority who travelled by land went on foot. With the exiles departed the greater portion of the learning, the skill, the wealth, the industry, and the prosperity of Spain. Their estates were confiscated by the crown. Rigid personal search was made of every individual for concealed valuables, which impelled many to swallow their gold. Brigands stripped them on the highway. Sailors robbed them on the sea. Their wives were ravished, their children despatched before their eyes. Many perished from want of food. A pestilence decimated an entire company, and the survivors were abandoned to die on a desert island, without water or shelter. Great numbers were sold by their barbarous custodians to slave traders. The inadvertent disclosure of wealth was fatal to its possessor; he was at once thrown overboard, and his property became the spoil of the murderer. Those who landed in Morocco were not permitted to enter the cities, and a famine which at that time was desolating the country made it impossible for such an increased population to obtain subsistence. Encamped in the arid desert, they were compelled to have recourse to unwholesome roots and herbs in a desperate effort to sustain life. Thousands died of exposure. Many sold their children to avoid starvation. A large proportion of these refugees landed in Italy, where an enlightened public sentiment stood ready to profit by the wealth and industry that the narrow spirit of Spanish bigotry was so determined to throw away. Pope Alexander VI., the head of the house of Borgia, notwithstanding that the prominent Israelites of Rome offered him a thousand pieces of gold to exclude them, received the heretics proscribed by the most Catholic sovereigns with the utmost consideration and sympathy. The maritime states of the Adriatic compelled their Hebrew citizens, who, fearing commercial rivalry, were inclined to regard this influx of strangers with disfavor, to render substantial assistance to their unfortunate brethren. In Holland, also, the exiles were welcomed with a hospitality that in after years the advantages derived from their establishment abundantly repaid. The antipathy entertained by the Spanish populace towards the Jews, diligently fostered by the infamous arts of the Inquisition, was far from being dissipated by the banishment and extermination of the victims of its malevolence; in default of the living, its vengeance was wreaked upon the dead. Nearly a century after the expulsion, when an avowed Israelite could not be found in the Spanish monarchy, the Hebrew cemetery at Seville was invaded by a mob; the costly monuments were battered into fragments; the graves opened and rifled, and the mouldering bones found in them burned to ashes. A considerable booty in gold and silver trinkets, jewels, precious stuffs, and illuminated manuscripts rewarded this act of sacrilege, whose authors were neither molested nor punished by the authorities.

Among the most eminent victims of Jewish persecution was the great statesman and scholar, Abarbanel. No name in letters stood higher than his. In turn, the favorite and absolute minister of the sovereigns of Portugal, Spain, and Naples, he shared the fate of his countrymen, and, deprived of his offices and home in each of these kingdoms, was three times driven into exile. Such was the respect which his talents inspired, that the princes who had been foremost in persecuting him were glad to avail themselves of his experience in settlements of important questions of diplomacy. His literary ability was so great that his admirers have classed him with Maimonides. In philosophy he was most liberal; in religion a polemic; in politics, strange to say, a republican. In private or in public life no stain or dishonor ever attached to his name.

The scenes witnessed during the expulsion of the Jews from Portugal were even more shocking in their barbarity than those that characterized their expatriation from any other country of Christian Europe. Only two months were allowed them to settle their affairs; if any remained beyond that time they were condemned to slavery. All males under the age of fourteen were to be separated from their relatives, that they might be brought into the pale of the Church, which aimed at the annihilation of their race. The latter part of the inexorable sentence was the first to be executed. The screaming boys were torn from the arms of their parents, who were brutally clubbed until they released their hold; many distracted mothers, unable to sustain the loss of their children, committed suicide or killed their offspring; of the latter some were cast into wells, others were strangled. Every obstacle was thrown in the way of the departure of the Jews until the limited time had expired, and then nearly the entire number was enslaved. Apostasy was now the only remedy for their distressed condition, and this many embraced. Their social status was thereby immensely improved at the expense of their conscience. They contracted distinguished alliances with their recent oppressors, and their children were adopted into the families of the nobility.

The Spanish Jews, by reason of the peculiarities of their situation, the hostility of their rulers,—which their pecuniary resources and natural acuteness often baffled, yet never entirely overcame,—and their successive domination by races of different origin, faith, and language, were impressed with mental characteristics and peculiarities not to be met with in their brethren of other countries. Their rigid formalism was proverbial, and the Hebrew of Toledo observed more conscientiously the precepts of the Pentateuch and the Talmud than the Hebrew of Damascus or Jerusalem. But their traditional reserve did not prevent them from soliciting proselytes; and it is stated that the rabbis, ignoring the prohibitory injunctions of the national Code, upon one occasion challenged the bishops to a debate, in presence of the throne, upon the merits of their respective systems; an act of audacity which does not seem to have excited even the surprise of the prelates of that age. The Spanish grandee prides himself upon his Gothic ancestry, the sangre azul, whose presence is presumed to indicate conclusively that in the ascending line can be found no progenitor of the despised Semitic race. The falsity of this presumption was, however, established by the councils convoked by royal authority at Burgos, Valladolid, and Madrid during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, to settle the question of purity of blood. According to the statutes adopted by these Informaciones de Nobleza, as they were called, descent from a Jewish ancestor was solemnly declared to be no blemish upon a noble escutcheon, a decision which affected not a few of the oldest and haughtiest families of Castile and Aragon.

There are to-day few of the great houses of Portugal and Spain which have not an admixture of Hebrew blood. Works have been published by ecclesiastics tracing this contaminated lineage to its source, which all the authority of a despotic government was not able to suppress. It is said that the Portuguese King Joseph I. once ordered every male of Jewish descent in his dominions to wear a yellow hat. The Marquis of Pombal appeared with three; and on being asked by the King for what use he intended them, he answered, “In obedience to the royal decree, I have brought one for Your Majesty, one for the Grand Inquisitor, and one for myself.” This anecdote, whose authenticity is well established, shows the extent to which the blood of a once proscribed and persecuted people, despite all attempts at its annihilation, had been infused into the veins of the proudest and most exclusive aristocracy in Europe.

CHAPTER XXV
THE CHRISTIANS UNDER MOSLEM RULE
711–1492

Scarcity of Information concerning the Tributary Christians—Supremacy of the Church under the Visigoths—Independence of the Spanish Hierarchy—Its Wealth—Civil Organization of the Christians under the Moors—Their Privileges—Restrictions imposed upon Them—Freedom of Worship—Churches, Monasteries, and Convents—Conditions in Sicily—Greater Severity of the Laws in that Island—Anomaly in the Ecclesiastical Government of Spain—The Khalif the Virtual Head of the Church—Abuse of His Power—Results of the Arab Occupation of Septimania—Increased Authority of the Spanish Hierarchy resulting from its Isolation—Social Life of the Christian Tributaries—Their Devotion to Arab Learning—They are employed by the Khalifs in Important Missions—Innate Hostility of Moslem and Christian—Number and Influence of the Renegades—The Martyrs—Causes of Persecution—Contrast between the Maxims and Policy of the Two Religions—Impediments to Racial Amalgamation.

No portion of Spanish annals presents such difficulties to historical research as that which relates to the condition of the Christians under the Moorish domination. Arab writers, usually so minute and circumstantial in their narratives, have scarcely mentioned the subject. The extraordinary conduct of the martyrs, who courted death by open violation of Moslem law, seems alone to have attracted their attention or deserved their notice. From this significant silence the inference would seem to be that the great mass of Christian tributaries were contented and peaceable. We learn from St. Eulogius and other eminent ecclesiastics that the majority of the conquered race had apostatized. It is with unconcealed feelings of sorrow and vexation that they refer to the widespread defection from the ancient faith. Even among those whose constancy was unshaken, the zealots were in a minority. It is not strange, therefore, that the Arabs should have considered the latter as irresponsible persons, whose offences, unpardonable under the Code of Islam, were punished because the law permitted the exercise of no discretion on the part of the magistrate. It is evident that those who solicited the honors of martyrdom were not regarded as representatives of either their sect or their nationality. The Moorish historians recount the voluntary sacrifice of those enthusiasts with every manifestation of wonder and pity. It was not until their obstinacy, provoking dissension and revolt, began to menace the safety of the government, that their language reveals a feeling of vindictiveness against their misguided tributaries.

On the other hand, little information of value is to be gleaned from the Christian chroniclers. Those who have related the events of their times were all members of the persecuted faction. Both contemporary and subsequent writers were blinded by prejudice and actuated by every motive of sectarian bigotry to the perversion of the truth. Prolix in their enumeration of the sufferings of martyrs, their accounts of all other occurrences are remarkable for extreme meagreness of detail. No descriptions are given of the social relations of the dominant and subject races; no direct mention is ever made of the thousand incidents constantly transpiring in the intercourse of the two peoples, trivial in themselves, yet most important in forming a correct idea of the character, the aspirations, and the life of a nation. Such matters, so interesting to posterity as depicting the manners of a class during a period conspicuous in history, were too insignificant for the pen of the monkish annalist, and must now be gathered at random from the narratives of other events, in the elucidation of which they have been casually and undesignedly mentioned. The works of these ecclesiastical writers are filled with errors. They are, as usual, overloaded with absurd legends and spurious miracles. It is apparent, even from a superficial perusal, that not only the sufferings, but the virtues of the saints whose lives they describe are largely fictitious and often exaggerated. To such authorities, therefore, little credit can be given by the historian.

No people mentioned in history ever attained to a high rank in the scale of civilization whose policy was founded on the systematic repression of religious opinions. Theological intolerance is the most serious of obstacles to intellectual progress. Among the great nations of antiquity, freedom in religious matters was generally conceded as a matter of right. Where invasions of that right occurred, they may almost invariably be traced to interference with the established government. The intimate connection of political and religious institutions in those times will readily account for occasional examples of apparent persecution. The most eminent Athenian statesmen not infrequently performed the functions of priest in the ceremonial of public worship. The title of Pontifex Maximus was one of the most honorable and coveted of the dignities of the Republic of Rome, and under the Empire it conferred additional distinction upon the attributes and the exercise of imperial power. Under that wise and politic dispensation, the gods of foreign countries were admitted into the national pantheon on an equal footing with the domestic divinities, and none could claim an excessive and undue pre-eminence in the national system. It was not until the Christians profaned the altars, and excited mutiny in the army, that their privileges were curtailed and their religious ceremonies interrupted. The conditions formerly prevailing were then revolutionized. Indulgence was followed by persecution. Persecution disclosed and produced tens of thousands of proselytes. The experience of the Christian sect suggested the perpetuation in its religious constitution of the incomparable political system of the empire, a measure which in the end contributed so largely to its success, its discipline, and its permanence. In no country subject to the authority of the Papacy were the effects of these advantages of imperial organization more apparent than in the Spanish Peninsula.

During the era of Visigothic supremacy the influence of the Church was paramount in every department of the civil administration. Its councils regulated the succession, framed the laws, chose the sovereign. Its servants dictated every measure of national policy. Its sanction imparted a sacred character to the royal edicts. Eminent prelates, who even in trivial matters never permitted the pretensions of their order to be subordinated to the interests of the crown, constituted in reality the supreme power of the state. They negotiated treaties. They participated in campaigns. They imposed and collected taxes. In repeated contests with the nobility they generally emerged victorious. Their intellectual acquirements, superficial as they were, gave them a decided advantage over their illiterate and often brutal antagonists. The authority they obtained by superior knowledge, craft, and energy was in time confirmed by habit and strengthened by prescription. That authority, based upon public veneration and extending through countless generations, has often been shaken, but never abolished. The disastrous effects of its abuse are apparent in every period of Spanish history for more than a thousand years.

At the time of the Arab invasion, the Visigothic hierarchy was at the summit of its importance and power. Its former adherence to the Arian heresy had engendered within it a spirit of independence, which was not relinquished with the return of the Spanish Church to the orthodox communion. The facility with which an entire people at the command of the monarch renounced the faith of their ancestors for unfamiliar and hitherto reprobated doctrines is one of the most extraordinary events in the annals of Christianity. Such a peaceful revolution, involving the most sacred interests of a numerous sect, affords incontestable proof of the slight hold possessed in those times by any religious dogma upon the popular mind. With the acceptance of the Athanasian creed was necessarily included the acknowledgment of Papal supremacy. The Gothic prelates, however, were never obsequious vassals of the Holy See. The Pope soon found that while he might solicit, he could not compel their obedience. His fulminations did not excite the terror in Spain which they did in other countries of Catholic Europe. Where he was not able to command, he was forced to flatter, to recommend, to temporize. A compact and powerful body of ecclesiastics, in whose hands were the government of their country and the election of its king, were naturally loath to submit to the arrogant dictation of a foreign potentate, whom their predecessors had regarded as a heretic, and whose faith they had adopted rather from policy than from sincere conviction.

The Spanish Church under the Visigoths was eminently worthy of the attention and the favor of the Holy Father. Its organization was thorough; its wealth enormous; its priesthood numerous and superior to their contemporaries in learning and ability; its national influence unrivalled. Its temples, in a country whose public monuments had least experienced the destructive effects of barbarian violence, exhibited in their noble proportions and harmonious decoration the expiring efforts of classic taste and genius. The superb edifices of imperial power, visible on every side, had been at once the inspiration and the models of the ecclesiastical architect. The churches and cathedrals of the seventh and eighth centuries afforded the best examples of the ambition and opulence of the omnipotent hierarchy. Their plan was usually that of the basilica. Their walls were incrusted with precious marbles. Their floors were of mosaic. In the apse, where stood the altar, the skill of the artist exhausted itself in elaborate carvings, paintings, and sculpture. The sacred vessels were of solid gold and silver. Offerings of untold value, the tribute of grateful convalescents, were suspended before the shrine. The accession of each sovereign was marked by the donation of a magnificent votive crown to the Cathedral of Toledo. The pomp of worship in the Visigothic metropolis exceeded that of all others, excepting Constantinople and Rome. Its religious processions equalled in splendor those which awakened the pious enthusiasm of the devout in the metropolitan churches of those two famous capitals. The greatest deference was paid to the sacerdotal dignity. The congregation, when not kneeling, stood during the service. The women, always veiled, occupied galleries by themselves. No priesthood in Christendom was treated with more respect, enjoyed more extensive privileges, or lived in greater luxury than the Gothic clergy of Spain.

With the Arab occupation this imposing fabric of spiritual and temporal grandeur fell to the ground. The power of the hierarchy, formerly unlimited, vanished in the twinkling of an eye. Its sacred edifices were seized and devoted to the sacrilegious uses of the conqueror. The precious furniture of its altars was deposited in the treasury of the khalif. Its revenues were confiscated. Many of its members fell victims to the rage of oppressed and injured vassals. Thousands of others fled almost penniless to Christian lands. Monks were enslaved and condemned to the performance of the most arduous and exhausting labors. Multitudes of nuns passed from the solitude and meditation of the cloister to the revelry and delights of the seraglio. In view of the popular opinions and prejudices of the time, it is not singular that this sudden and tremendous revolution should have been universally attributed to the vengeance of God.

When the first shock of conquest had passed, the overpowering terror inspired by the presence of the invaders subsided. They proved to be something very different from the incarnate demons which a distorted imagination had painted them. They were found to be lenient, generous, humane. The law of Mohammed had specifically designated the privileges of victory and the rights of the vanquished. The latter were not slow to recognize and accept the advantages arising from a speedy and unreserved submission, and were thus enabled to participate in the benefits of the civilization, almost from the very beginning inaugurated by their rulers.

The civil organization of the Christians under Moslem domination differed little from that under which they had been governed by the princes of Visigothic blood. The amount of tribute which permitted the free exercise of religious worship, the jurisdiction of their own tribunals, and the terms conferring the preservation and enjoyment of their national customs were definitely fixed by law. Each bishopric was assessed at the sum of one hundred ounces of silver annually, monasteries at fifty, churches at twenty-five. Individuals were classified according to their rank and possessions. The rich paid forty-eight dirhems, or thirty-two dollars, per annum; the middle class, twenty-five dirhems; the laborer, twelve. From owners of land a tax upon its products of twenty per cent., called the Kharadj, was collected. Apostasy was rewarded by the remission of the former; the latter, however, was never abrogated. Women, children, cripples, beggars, and monks were exempt from all enforced contributions. Except in cases of obstinate resistance, private property was untouched. The wealth of the churches, except that of such as were expressly mentioned in treaties, was legitimate spoil. Under the rule of the Visigoths, the ownership of chattels was only conditional, and they could not be alienated; under the Moors, that ownership was absolute. The condition of the serfs that cultivated the royal demesnes—whose area was so vast that they embraced the fifth part of all confiscated territory—was greatly ameliorated. They still surrendered thirty-three per cent. of the crops, as under their former masters; but they were freed from the frequent and arbitrary impositions which often deprived them of the entire fruits of their labor. The conquest had caused the division of the extensive estates held by the privileged classes, and obtained by centuries of extortion and cruelty, into innumerable farms, a condition which facilitated cultivation and increased agricultural wealth. Many of these lands, formerly devoted to pasturage and to the sports of the nobility, were now improved, and under the skilful efforts of Moorish industry yielded immensely profitable returns.

Each Christian community was rigidly isolated from its Moslem neighbors. In the large cities, the quarter inhabited by the tributaries was walled, and at sunset the gates were closed. A count of their own selection, who was generally of noble blood, discharged the functions of governor and collected the taxes, of which he rendered an account to the Divan. The proceedings of the judicial tribunals were conducted by Christian magistrates under the forms of Visigothic law. All disputes between Christians were decided there, and criminals paid the penalty of their misdeeds as prescribed by the ancient statutes. No sentence of death, however, could be executed without the approval of the Moslem authorities. Suits in which a Mohammedan was a party, and prosecutions where he was either the participant in, or the victim of, a crime, were removed from the jurisdiction of the Christian courts. The Code of Islam prescribed certain regulations to be observed by all tributaries, and obedience to which was a consideration for the protection which the latter enjoyed. Blasphemy of the Prophet or of his religion, entrance into a mosque, and apostasy were capital offences. Upon these points the law was inexorable. Violation of the chastity of a Moslem woman was also punishable with death, a penalty which, however, might be averted by the offender embracing the Mohammedan faith. The repetition of the familiar formula of Islam, even in jest, carried with it a renunciation of all former creeds, and an assumption of the responsibilities of a believer which could never thereafter be relinquished. These laws, while apparently of a religious character, were, owing to the Moslem constitution which united the functions of both spiritual and temporal sovereignty, vitally necessary to the dignity and maintenance of government. Christian fanatics, blinded by prejudice and eager for martyrdom, regarded them as unreasonable and tyrannical restrictions, whose public violation was a duty which they owed to their sect; meritorious, not only as evincing contempt for a detested religion, but as affording opportunities for exhibitions of self-sacrifice, certain to elicit the praise of their companions, and likely to deserve the coveted honor of canonization. All, therefore, that was required of the Christians living under Moslem jurisdiction was that they should pay tribute regularly and obey the laws of the land.

To insure the protection to which they were entitled, and to secure them from insult and oppression, a special magistrate was appointed, under the khalifs, to watch over their interests and supervise their conduct. This official, whose title was that of katib, or secretary, was invested with extraordinary powers, and was usually a noble of distinguished rank as well as a personage of high consideration in the Divan.

At the time of the Conquest, a certain number of churches were set aside for Christian worship; but that number could not be increased, nor could additions be even made to the ancient edifices. In case reconstruction or repairs were necessary, the identical old materials were required to be used. The stringency of these rules was, however, often relaxed by the generous indulgence of the authorities. The law which forbade that a building erected by a Christian should be of greater height than that of a Moslem was also frequently evaded. In Spain and Sicily the towers of church and cathedral often overtopped the minaret of the mosque, an implication of superiority which, in other countries of the Mohammedan world, would have caused their instant demolition. In those two kingdoms of Islam alone the use of bells was tolerated. Elsewhere, boards suspended by cords and beaten with mallets took their place and announced the opening of Christian service. The greatest liberty was permitted in the exercise of public worship. The clergy wore their sacred vestments. They discharged the duties of their holy calling in peace and security, and those who ventured to interfere with them were liable to severe punishment. They celebrated mass with all the pomp of the ancient Visigothic ceremonial. The priest carried the viaticum to the dying, in solemn procession through the crowded streets. The bodies of the dead, enveloped in the smoke of tapers and incense, and preceded by chanting choristers, were borne to the cathedral for the performance of the final rites of the Church. The toleration of the Spanish Moslems even went to the extent of permitting the use of images—execrated as idolatrous by every follower of the Prophet—in Christian temples. Effigies of saints were by no means rare. In the Cathedral of Santa Maria at Cordova was a statue of the Virgin. Her shrine was famous for its sanctity, and, more accessible than that of Santiago, yearly attracted multitudes of devout pilgrims from every part of Europe. In each church was preserved the body of the martyr to whom the sacred edifice was dedicated, and from whom it derived its name. The great city of Cordova contained six Christian houses of worship besides the cathedral. Eleven monasteries and convents offered a refuge to those who sought the devotional retirement of cloistered life. Of these, three were in the city and eight upon the wooded slopes of the Sierra Morena. Some, instituted probably with a view to the acquisition of increased merit by resistance to constant temptation, were occupied by both sexes under a single abbot. The monks appeared in cowl and tonsure; the nuns were constantly veiled. All members of the monastic orders, as well as those of the secular priesthood, traversed at will and unmolested the streets of the capital. St. Eulogius, Cyprian, Samson, and other contemporaneous ecclesiastical writers bear repeated and voluntary testimony to the indulgent forbearance extended to Christians by the Khalifs of Cordova.

In Sicily, practically the same conditions prevailed. As, however, the indigenous population overwhelmingly exceeded in number that of the invaders, toleration was necessary for the maintenance of public tranquillity, and was, in fact, a measure of expediency as well as of justice. The civil organization of the Byzantine Empire was continued. The magistrates retained the same titles and exercised the same jurisdiction as formerly, subject always to the supervision of the officials of the Divan. The procedure of the ancient tribunals was but slightly modified. The rights of person and property were fully recognized. Freedom of worship was guaranteed to all law-abiding tributaries. Taxation was uniform and regular; the legal impositions were far less onerous than those exacted by the tyrannical rapacity of the Greek administration. Under the Moors, all persons whose condition or infirmities prevented them from obtaining a livelihood were exempt; the Byzantine fiscal agents carried their merciless perquisitions into the abodes of helplessness, disease, and destitution. The Moslem law regulating the distribution of estates and the rights of heirs was so admirably adapted to the purpose, that it was continued, with trifling modifications, by the Normans, after it had been in force for nearly two centuries. No lands were confiscated but those which had been abandoned by their owners. The number of these was so great that they afforded ample space for the settlements of the Saracen colonists, who occupied the most valuable portions of the States of Trapani, Palermo, and Agrigentum.

The restrictions imposed upon the Sicilian Christians were more harsh than the requirements exacted of their Spanish brethren. The general provisions of the Mohammedan code relating to the prohibited acts of misbelievers were, of course, rigidly enforced. The Christian priests of Sicily, like those of Spain, were compelled to perform the rites of their religion behind closed doors. Like them also, they were forbidden to publicly discuss the merits of their creed or to attempt to secure proselytes. The laws of that island, considering the numerical weakness of the dominant race, were strangely severe. As tokens of degradation, peculiar marks were placed upon the houses of Christians; they were restricted to a costume distinctive in materials and color, and wore girdles of woollen cloth or leather. They were forbidden to mount a horse, to own saddles, to bear arms. They could not use seals with Arabic inscriptions or give their children Arabic names. In the streets they gave way to their Saracen masters, and always stood with bowed heads in their presence. Drinking wine in the sight of a Mussulman was visited with exemplary punishment. No Christian woman was allowed to remain in the bath with a Mohammedan, even though the latter were one of the humblest maid-servants of the harem. If one of the tributary sect admitted the slave of a Mussulman into his house, he was liable to a heavy fine. The ringing of the bells of church or monastery loudly was prohibited, as was also the reading of the Scriptures in the hearing of the followers of the Prophet. No Christian could cross himself in public. The slightest interference with Moslem worship was punishable with death.

Despite these arbitrary and often oppressive laws, the condition of the Christians of Sicily was, upon the whole, far more agreeable and prosperous under the Arabs than it had been under the Greeks. Relief from arbitrary taxation made secure the profits of industry. Every branch of commerce was open to the enterprising. The system of guilds and corporations, which had existed among tradesmen since the Roman domination, remained unimpaired. If a Christian distrusted the integrity or capacity of his own magistrate, he was at liberty to submit his cause to the kadi, who rendered judgment according to the maxims and precedents of Moslem jurisprudence.

In the Spanish Peninsula, the government of the Church presented a strange and portentous anomaly. As the representative of Islam was a member of the family of the Ommeyades, which had, in the beginning, exerted all the influence of a powerful caste to overwhelm its founder and render his teachings odious, so now the interests of Christianity were delivered over to the tender mercies of its hereditary and most unrelenting foe. The Visigothic sovereigns, chosen by ecclesiastical councils, were, by virtue of their election, clothed with a certain degree of sanctity, and enjoyed an ample measure of spiritual power. The monarch practically controlled the policy of the Church. His decision was final in all matters not important enough to be submitted to the assembled wisdom of the great ecclesiastical dignitaries of the kingdom. He consecrated bishops. He exercised without question the sacerdotal rights of presentation, translation, investiture. He convoked councils. The fate of every member of the hierarchy, from acolyte to archbishop, was in his hands. Even the metropolitan see of Toledo, the primacy of Spain, could not be filled without his sanction. He could appoint the most unworthy candidate to the most exalted station in the priesthood. He could arbitrarily depose ministers whose lives had exhibited the practice of every Christian virtue. He interpreted and dictated the application of intricate points of ecclesiastical law. Notwithstanding the apparent ascendency of the sacerdotal order in the temporal affairs of the government on the one hand, it was largely neutralized on the other by the influence of the Crown over the fortunes of the Church, an influence always weighty and often predominant.

These prerogatives, dangerous to religious liberty and liable to abuse even in the hands of an orthodox sovereign, were transmitted, in all their force, to the Arabian khalifs, as the lords of the lost heritage of the Visigothic kings. The principle upon which such authority could pass to the head of a hostile sect, whose sworn purpose was the annihilation of the very religion which he was presumed, by virtue of his office, in duty bound to protect, has not been, and never can be, explained by any considerations of honor, consistency, or equity. It was practically a flagrant usurpation of privileges for which the Moslem sovereign could not allege even a shadow of right. It was not conferred by conquest. It could not be accounted for under the color of a legal fiction. Supremacy in ecclesiastical government, where the practice of public worship was guaranteed by treaty, and the clergy purchased by tribute the management of their affairs and the enforcement of discipline, certainly was not implied by the fact that it had been enjoyed by the ruling prince of the vanquished faith. Its peaceful exercise for centuries—for its validity does not seem to have been questioned in the writings of even the most bigoted ecclesiastics—is one of the most singular problems of religious history.

The consequences of this anomalous condition were, as may readily be conjectured, fatal to the dignity and order of the Catholic hierarchy. The khalif was, to all intents and purposes, the spiritual head of two hostile religions,—one of which it was his duty, as well as his inclination, to exalt; the other of which he was prompted by the prejudices of race, inheritance, and belief to destroy. There were few Hispano-Arab monarchs who did not contribute their share to the degradation of Christianity. The highest offices of the Church were put up at auction. The orthodoxy and fitness of the candidate were never considered; his qualifications were ignored; and his success was dependent upon the amount he was willing to disburse for the coveted dignity. In this scandalous traffic the women of the harems and the eunuchs were the recognized agents of the purchaser. There was no secrecy about these transactions. The practice of simony was so universal that even the greatest offenders made no attempt to conceal it. A profligate canon, named Saul, entered into a written obligation to pay these corrupt intermediaries four hundred ounces of silver for the bishopric of Cordova. Some of those raised to the richest sees of the Peninsula were heretics or infidels. It was not unusual for a prelate, even during Holy Week, to abandon the service of the altar and indulge in the most shameless excesses of drunkenness and debauchery. The ordinances of the Church were interpreted by men ignorant of the first rudiments of ecclesiastical law. Priests, whose atheism was notorious, administered the sacraments with mock humility and imparted hypocritical consolation to the devout. If any of his flock eluded the search of the tax-collector, the bishop, more faithful to the power to which he owed his authority than to the interests of the congregation over which he presided, stood ready to furnish the desired information from the registers of the diocese, and to assist in the punishment of the delinquents. When a prelate disregarded the summons to a council, the vacancy was filled by the appointment of a Mussulman or a Jew. Such circumstances as these were not propitious to either sacerdotal welfare or successful proselytism.

Nor were abuses of power confined to the ecclesiastical system. The dignity of count, the most eminent office of the Christian magistracy, was also a subject of negotiation and barter. The opportunities it afforded for extortion and peculation made it one of the most lucrative employments in the gift of the khalif. It was ordinarily bestowed upon a member of the Visigothic nobility, but the rapacity of the eunuchs looked rather to the means than to the birth of the aspirant; and persons of base origin and doubtful integrity not infrequently received the coveted distinction, which was utilized largely for the benefit of their patrons,—the fiscal officers and the degraded servitors of the harem. Count Servandus, the son of a slave, who lived during the reign of the Khalif Mohammed, has been handed down to the execration of all good Christians as one of the most cruel and infamous of oppressors. On a single occasion, he extorted from his unhappy vassals the enormous sum of a hundred thousand solidi, equal in our time to more than half a million dollars.

The various gradations of the hierarchy were preserved as before the Arab occupation. The archbishops had the usual number of suffragans subject to their jurisdiction; the lower orders of the clergy, their clerks, choristers, readers, and other subordinates. To exercise the office of priest it was necessary for both parents to be of the Christian faith; if the father were a Moslem, the law of the conqueror interposed its claim upon the candidate, who, regarded as a Mussulman by birth, was liable to condemnation for apostasy. Unlike the canonical practice of other Catholic countries, an ecclesiastic was eligible to offices of the most distinguished rank, even to the primacy itself, without being compelled to pass through the intermediate grades of the priesthood. There was no diminution of pomp or solemnity in the celebration of the rites of Christian worship. Councils for the regulation of church government and discipline were even more frequent than under the Visigoths; during the ninth century, three were held at Cordova alone in less than thirty-five years. In many of the monasteries, schools were established for the communication of instruction, on both sacred and profane subjects, to those whose religious scruples prevented them from profiting by the splendid opportunities afforded by the great Arab institutions of learning. In some of these religious houses were extensive libraries, composed for the most part, however, of treatises of patristic science, polemics, and hagiology. To St. Eulogius, alarmed by the increasing influence of the Mussulman academies, which offered irresistible attractions to the Christian youth, is due the credit of having introduced to the notice of his countrymen the works of Horace, Virgil, Juvenal, and others of the Latin classics, copies of which he obtained during a visit to Navarre.

In Spain, as in Sicily, the influence of the Holy See disappeared with the advent of Moslem supremacy. The clergy of the khalifate became independent of the Papacy, and did not even recognize the authority of the Asturian priesthood, whose members held councils and promulgated canons, with a nominal allegiance to Rome. In the abeyance of Papal representation, the Metropolitan of Toledo was the supreme head of the Spanish hierarchy. The Christians of Sicily acknowledged the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople. During the Moorish occupation of Southern France, the existing religion was scarcely interfered with. No counts were appointed to govern or oppress the conquered. No unworthy prelates were assigned to rich sees as the result of intrigue or corruption. Few churches were transformed into mosques. The only attempt to restrain the Christian tributaries was shown by a disposition to isolate, as far as possible, the clergy of the provincial settlements from those of the larger towns. The tolerance of Mussulman rule is disclosed by the great preponderance of the subject race existing at Narbonne, which was always rather a Christian than a Moslem capital.

The long independence of the Spanish Church exerted no inconsiderable influence upon its subsequent history. Its isolation enabled it to preserve uncontaminated the ancient forms and discipline transmitted by ecclesiastical tradition from apostolic times. The authority of its councils or the validity of their canons was never questioned by the most exacting dignitaries of the Roman hierarchy after it had again acknowledged the jurisdiction of the Papal See. Its orthodoxy was never impeached. While Europe was distracted by heresy, no daring religious innovator threatened the integrity or disputed the power of the ecclesiastical government of the Peninsula. Its policy was inimical to change in organization, in ceremonial, in doctrine. Of all the religious ceremonials in Christendom its liturgy showed the least alteration, not even excepting that used in St. Peter’s at Rome. When in 1067 King Alfonso of Leon submitted the rival claims of the Gothic and Roman rituals first to the wager of battle and then to the ordeal of fire, the Christians of Arabian Spain resolutely adhered to the ancient and time-honored formulary. The only schisms recorded were those which sprang from the conflicting ambition of rival prelates. Under the iron rule of the khalifs no irregular councils assembled to disturb the harmony or excite the doubts of the Faithful. The principal abuse that existed was the fraudulent manufacture of charters, and the multitude of these pious forgeries whose spurious character has been exposed indicate at once the ease with which such documents could be issued, as well as the profit that must have attended their fabrication. The generally undisturbed condition of the Mozarabes under the sway of the House of Ommeyah is the best evidence of their enjoyment of the blessings of civil and religious liberty.

Their social customs and mode of life show in many particulars a close affiliation with their masters. They had forgotten the rude idiom of their fathers. Arabic was the language in common use among all classes of the tributary population, both Jew and Christian. It was an indispensable requisite of official position that the incumbent should possess a competent knowledge of that tongue. St. Eulogius repeatedly deplores the fact that its prevalence was universal in the Peninsula. Its popularity increased with time, and was so great during the domination of the Almoravides that the Archbishop of Seville caused the Bible to be translated into Arabic, in order that it might be intelligible to the priests of his diocese. The peculiar phrases of Moslem intercourse, such as “God preserve you!” “May you rest in heaven!” constantly on the lips of the reverent Mohammedan, formed part of the daily greetings of every Christian. They gave their children Arabic names. Their attire and their furniture were similar to those of the dominant race. The conspicuous tokens of degradation imposed upon the Mozarabes of Sicily were unknown in Spain even under the Almoravide bigots. The confidence reposed in their fidelity, and the respect with which their courage was regarded, were evinced by their constant enrolment in the body-guard of the khalifs. Partly from a desire to propitiate the favor of their rulers, and perhaps through conviction of their physiological benefits, they abstained from pork, and adopted the rite of circumcision,—concessions which, once granted, practically left the repetition of the Moslem formula the sole remaining barrier between the followers of Christ and the sectaries of Mohammed. These practices, elsewhere unknown to the Christian communities of Europe, excited the wonder and abhorrence of the stout old monk, John de Gorza, ambassador of the German Emperor to the court of Abd-al-Rahman. He denounced them in unmeasured terms to the Archbishop of Cordova, who excused their observance under the plea of necessity, and as customs long countenanced by the Church, a statement which indicates that in the tenth century they had already been in use for many generations. In a spirit of charity, greatly at variance with the intolerant hatred displayed towards the Moors in subsequent ages, prayers were regularly offered for the khalif in every Christian church of Arabian Spain.

Every circumstance relating to the habits and intercourse of the two races which has come down to us proves that, openly at least, they did not consider each other as enemies. Great numbers of Christians embraced with eagerness the extraordinary educational benefits afforded by the schools and academies of the khalifate. The University of Cordova, open to individuals of every rank, creed, and nationality, was attended by Christian students, not only resident in the Peninsula, but attracted from almost every country of Europe. The infidel doctrines taught in that famous institution had long provoked the animadversion of Moslem theologians; but the prejudices they excited among orthodox Mussulmans were far less intense and bitter than the aversion entertained towards the professors of these opinions by the Catholic clergy. Intermarriages were frequent, although public sentiment, as well as the policy of Islam, discouraged such alliances. A far greater number of women than of men renounced their ancestral faith in consequence of these unions, and the majority of proselytes were those who embraced the religion of Mohammed.

Important civil employments were repeatedly conferred upon Christians eminent for their talents and integrity. The expostulations of the faquis and the united influence of the Divan were hardly sufficient to prevent Abd-al-Rahman III. from appointing a renegade, whose parents were both Christians, to the office of Grand Kadi of Cordova, the highest judicial position of the empire. The latter monarch habitually employed Christian prelates in missions requiring the exercise of the greatest tact and ability. Rabi, Archbishop of Cordova, was sent on different occasions as envoy to the courts of Germany and Constantinople. It was he who was intrusted with the conveyance of valuable gifts from the Emperor of the East to the Khalif, among them the fountains of the palace of Medina-al-Zahrâ. The Bishop of Granada was selected to secure the withdrawal by the German Emperor of the scurrilous letter which the fanatic John de Gorza was charged to deliver, a task of great responsibility and one which few were either competent or willing to undertake. Another prelate of episcopal rank was also despatched by Abd-al-Rahman to congratulate Otho on his victory over the Hungarians. The predilection of Ali for members of the nominally prescribed sect constantly aroused the indignation and alarm of the Almoravide zealots.

Christians were not excluded from the most responsible posts of the Moorish fiscal administration. They discharged with skill and fidelity the duties connected with all the various employments of the revenue. To members of their sect was invariably committed the collection of the tribute due from their co-religionists. Thousands of them served in the Mussulman armies. When Barcelona was besieged by the Franks, the Christian residents of that city fought side by side with the Moslems against the orthodox King of Aquitaine. Of all nationalities, the Spanish Christians were considered most worthy to guard the sacred person of the khalif. At no period of the Arab domination were they absolutely excluded from court. Under the administration of the Almoravide sultan, Ali, who was conspicuous among the fanatical princes of his line for the strictness of his orthodoxy and the austerity of his manners, the Mozarabes were in high favor, and exerted an almost preponderating influence in the government.

Although in theory belonging to an inferior caste, in fact the tributary could not, by the unpractised eye, be distinguished from the votary of Islam. His life, his habits, his language, were the same. His house was an exact counterpart of that of his Moorish neighbor; his garments were cut after the pattern of the Orient. His manners were no longer suggestive of the rudeness of his Gothic ancestors. When his means permitted, he went to great lengths in the gratification of propensities censured by the canons of his Church,—entertained catamites, indulged in polygamous practices, and filled his harem with female slaves guarded by retinues of eunuchs.

But while the line of demarcation between Moslem and Christian was thus faintly drawn, and threatened, in the course of time, to entirely disappear through the fusion of the two races, there still existed in the minds not only of the zealots of the hostile sects, but also in those of the masses, a profound and irreconcilable antipathy. This prejudice was sedulously and successfully nourished by the Mohammedan faquis as well as by the Christian clergy. The tributaries, while apparently on the point of merging into the body of the conquerors, were in reality isolated from them by the most powerful emotions that can influence the human heart. No concessions could thoroughly eradicate the prejudices arising from difference of religious belief. No familiarities of social intercourse could banish the humiliating remembrance of conquest. No political honors could compensate for the injuries inflicted by racial animosity. The actual condition of the Spanish Christians was, therefore, the reverse of that exhibited by their daily life. In the presence of a mutual antagonism, all the more violent for being repressed, there could be no thorough amalgamation of races. The exalted spirit of religious enthusiasm which could voluntarily solicit the tortures of martyrdom was not propitious to national apostasy.

And yet the circumstances which appear most conspicuous and vital in the consideration of this ethnological paradox would seem to point to an opposite conclusion. A community of customs generally existed in which those of the Arab always predominated. The harems of the Moslems were filled with Christian maidens who had, without hesitancy or compensation, renounced the faith of their fathers. The corrupted Latin dialect of the Visigoths, proscribed by Hischem I., was almost extinct. The law forbade it to be either written or spoken; and it survived only in the massive volumes of the Fathers or in the secluded intercourse of the occupants of monasteries and convents. By the same decree of the Khalif, education in the Arabian schools was made compulsory. Alvarus, who wrote about the middle of the ninth century, declares that not one Christian could be found among a thousand who could compose a letter in Latin. On the other hand, the popularity of the Arab writers, and the enthusiasm with which their compositions were perused by persons of all ages, were in the eyes of pious ecclesiastics a national scandal. The growing inclination to apostasy, the natural result of these associations, was also one of the crowning grievances of the Spanish clergy. As heretofore stated, it is a fact, well established by the reluctant testimony of the Fathers themselves, that the greater part of the conquered nation had fallen away from Christianity.

Many causes had conspired to produce this lamentable condition of affairs. The geographical isolation of the Peninsula, which has always had a tendency to preserve unaltered the mental and physical characteristics of its people, has also had no unimportant influence upon the national faith. That country, even at the time of the Saracen invasion, was Christian only in name. It had never wholly discarded its Pagan forms or traditions. It was the last kingdom of Europe to nominally accept the new religion. Its creed had long been heterodox, and that creed it had abandoned, without remonstrance or regret, at the command of its sovereign. The despotic power of the hierarchy had never been able to abolish the ceremonies of Pagan antiquity which were incorporated with the ritual of the Church. The population, the offspring of a score of nations, each of which worshipped different divinities and was familiar with the fraudulent pretensions of many sacerdotal claimants to inspiration, was inclined to discredit and deride them all. To such a society religious professions and formalities were naturally matters of indifference. A nation which could spontaneously abandon the heresy of Arius would hardly hesitate to embrace the monotheistic doctrines of Mohammed. By the Moslems, so far as their tributaries were concerned, no open inducements were offered for apostasy. The practice of Islam discouraged the active proselytism advocated by other sects. The conversion of a Christian tributary, unless he had violated the law, must be voluntary, and the obligation, once assumed, could never be renounced.

The favor enjoyed by the renegade was, however, a far more powerful incentive than any that the promises of the ministers of religion could evoke. The apostate was at once received into full social communion with his former masters. He was eligible to the highest political and military honors. In theory, at least, no stigma could attach to his former condition or antecedents. The equality of all men who professed belief in its dogmas was, as is well known, the cardinal principle of the law of the Prophet.

To the slave, these considerations appealed with peculiar force. Tens of thousands of this oppressed and degraded caste had been transferred, at a single stroke by the fortunes of war, from the hands of one master to those of another. A host of captives had been taken in battle. In the minds of but few of these unfortunates the obligations of religion were deeply founded. While emancipation did not invariably follow the profession of the faith of Islam, it usually did; and the condition of the slave was always greatly improved by this concession to the prejudices of him who regulated his conduct and controlled his destiny. In view of these facts, there is little wonder that multitudes of slaves embraced the Mussulman doctrines.

The religious freedom of the Christians under Moslem rule was mainly dependent on the prejudices of their own clergy, the character of the dominant faction, and the temper of the sovereign. The provisions of the treaties which guaranteed their privileges were at first strictly observed. The general influx of fanatical foreigners, in time, however, created a strong public sentiment against the proscribed tributaries. They were sometimes deprived of their houses of worship. Arbitrary contributions were frequently exacted from them. On one occasion, the Christians of Cordova were compelled to pay into the treasury the sum of a hundred thousand pieces of gold, nearly a million and a quarter dollars. The revenues of the Church were so impaired by these grievous impositions, that ecclesiastics were often forced to engage in commercial pursuits to provide for the pressing necessities of their order. Some carried the manufactures of Cordova to Germany. Others journeyed as peddlers through France. The trading priest of Moorish Spain was well known in the markets of Genoa and Constantinople. Persons in clerical garb were no longer safe in public places. In the time of the Almoravides, when a Christian passed through the streets, the crowd shrank from contact with him as from one stricken with the plague. Religious processions were pelted by mobs of hooting children, and those who took part in them were fortunate if they escaped without serious personal injury. The ringing of the church-bells provoked the loud threats and curses of intemperate zealots. The breaking up of a congregation during Holy Week was often the signal for a riot. The vengeance of Allah upon the idolater was invoked by the scoffing bystanders when the corpse of a Christian was consigned to the grave.

The clergy, against whom these insults were principally aimed, were naturally exasperated by the indignity suffered by their creed and their profession. Their ignorance, in spite of the example and the benefits of Moslem civilization ever before their eyes, was not less dense than that of their brethren of Catholic Europe. With every opportunity to familiarize themselves with the tenets of Islam, and thoroughly conversant with Arabic, they steadfastly declined to honor the alleged revelations of the Prophet with their attention or perusal. Their opinions on this subject they obtained from the writings of fanatical monks, fully as ignorant as, and even more bigoted than, themselves. The sage conclusion which they arrived at from these researches was that the doctrines of the most uncompromising of monotheists and image-breakers were Pagan and idolatrous.

Apprehensive of violence if they ventured to show themselves in public, they remained almost constantly in the seclusion of their dwellings. Even the sacred calls of duty remained unanswered. Often, for weeks, mass was not celebrated. The pulpit and the confessional were deserted. The dying passed away unshriven. Maddened by rage and terror, they were scarcely accessible even to their sympathizing parishioners, who themselves incurred the risk of ill-treatment from the populace in their visits to the episcopal palace and the parsonage. Brooding over their wrongs, encouraged by the promises and exhortations of the Fathers of the Church, wresting the texts of Scripture to their purpose, fasting many consecutive days, praying for hours at a time, exhausted by penance, their enthusiasm became wrought up to the highest pitch. From such a condition the progress to martyrdom is easy.

The persecution of the Christians of Spain was inflicted, for the most part, under the reigns of Abd-al-Rahman II. and Mohammed. The annoyances to which they were subjected were by no means so serious as they subsequently became, when the influence of the Africans preponderated. The word persecution, implying as it does the tyrannical abuse of superior power, is not applicable to the circumstances under which the Mozarabes were sent to the scaffold. They were rather criminals than martyrs. They voluntarily offered themselves for the sacrifice. They denounced the religion of Islam as false and idolatrous. They reviled the name of the Prophet. They rushed into the mosques. When the voice of the muezzin resounded from the minaret, they crossed themselves, and cried out, “Save us, O Lord, from the call of the Evil One, both now and in eternity!” In their eagerness to court destruction, they pushed their way into the tribunals, and, in the presence of the judge, gave utterance to their blasphemies. Even the majesty of the throne was not respected by these frantic enthusiasts. St. Pelayus called the Khalif a dog to his face. St. Isaac, not content with heaping abuse on Mohammed, grossly insulted the Grand Kadi of Cordova. Such offences were capital under the law, and admitted of neither extenuation nor pardon.

At first, the magistrates, moved by astonishment and compassion, refused to condemn persons whose actions seemed attributable only to intoxication or insanity. But the deluded wretches would accept no indulgence. Thrown into prison, they continued their revilings. Their spurious zeal, mistaken constancy, and self-inflicted tortures produced many imitators. Their cells became places of pilgrimage. From them each day went forth new candidates for pious consideration, fresh victims for the executioner. Some were hanged, others beheaded. Not a few were burned at the stake and their ashes cast into the river. The bitter feelings engendered by religious controversy were not confined to Mohammedans. The ties of blood seemed for a time forgotten or ignored. The hiding-places of the accused were revealed by their own kindred. Brothers and sisters denounced each other for the sake of the property they might inherit. But the punishment only aggravated the evil. The number of martyrs constantly multiplied. A great many of these came from the laity. Youths of tender age excited the wonder and admiration of the devout by the boldness of their utterances and the unflinching courage with which they met their fate. Delicate women walked barefoot for leagues, nominally to share the glory of dying for the Faith, in reality to solicit the infliction of the extreme penalty of violated law.

The contagion of example spread fast through the Christian community of Cordova. No distinction was now so honorable as to stand in the foremost rank of the blasphemers of the Prophet. In this pious and meritorious performance, the secular clergy were, however, not conspicuous. Their lives were entirely too precious to be endangered so long as members of their flocks were eager to demonstrate their willingness to die for a perverted religious principle, involving an unprovoked breach of the contract from which they derived security of worship, life, and property. In secret, they promoted the increasing madness by prayer and vehement exhortation. The impulse to the spirit of spontaneous martyrdom was not a little stimulated by the honors paid to the victims. Independent of both Roman and Asturian influence, the Andalusian hierarchy conferred without delay the distinction of canonization upon each aspirant for celestial glory. Their remains were conveyed to the churches, where they at once began to disclose their supernatural powers by response to prayer, by the cure of disease, by the working of portentous and astonishing miracles.

The Moslem authorities were appalled by the strange conduct of their tributaries, insensible alike to the inducement of clemency or the dread of punishment. In the hope of abating the evil by summary measures, Abd-al-Rahman II. authorized, by public edict, any one to kill on the instant a Christian who was guilty of blasphemy. This decree, while not fully accomplishing its object, lessened the number of applicants for martyrdom and produced a great increase of apostates and fugitives.

But the mania which impelled the most fanatical to self-sacrifice was far from infecting the entire Christian population of the capital. There were many who looked with disapproval upon a course which must eventually result in the oppression of their sect, in the increase of its burdens, in the curtailment of its privileges. They foresaw that the acts of a few irresponsible individuals would ere long be regarded by the Moslem government as the authorized policy of the Church. Many Christians held office under the administration. It was only a question of time, if these disturbances continued, when they would be dismissed from their employments. The khalifate was then at the height of its power. If an uprising provoked by the clergy should occur, as seemed not improbable, the entire tributary sect might be exterminated; and, indeed, this measure had already been vehemently urged by the intolerant African marabouts. In any event, there would be arbitrary taxation, confiscation, violence, exile. In their extremity, the more sober-minded of the Christians petitioned the Khalif to summon a council, whose decision might be authoritative and final in determining the duty of the people in the present emergency.

All the prelates in the jurisdiction of the khalifate were accordingly convoked. Abd-al-Rahman appointed as his representative an official named Gomez, prominent in the administration, nominally attached to the Christian communion, but of suspicious morals and of more than suspicious orthodoxy. He was a man of fine education, conspicuous talents, polished manners, insufferable pride, and enormous wealth. The head of the faction which had, in vain, endeavored to check the increasing disposition to martyrdom which menaced the destruction of his sect, he had incurred the unmeasured hatred of the clergy. Realizing fully the fatal consequences of the insane acts of his co-religionists if unrestrained, his interest concurred with his inclination to repress the dangerous manifestations of their intemperate zeal before it became too late.

With great ability and eloquence he presented his views to the council. The assembled prelates, awed by the government and possessing little sympathy for those who were destroying the credit of their order, were not disinclined to condemn these fanatical suicides. But here a serious difficulty arose. The martyrs had been canonized. Their relics had already demonstrated their sanctity by the production of miracles. Their bodies were enshrined in the shadow of the altar; their deeds and their sufferings were now a part of the history of the Church. It was therefore manifestly impolitic, as well as sacrilegious, to attempt to deprive them of the rank in the celestial hierarchy which had been conferred by the infallible wisdom of God. A middle course was possible. The council, silent upon past martyrdoms, prohibited them in the future. Like all temporizing measures intended to correct deeply rooted abuses, this evasion of the issue left matters worse than before. The extremists, headed by St. Eulogius, declared that the real sentiment of the council manifestly ran counter to the one it expressed, as it did not pronounce deserving of censure the acts of those who had suffered for the Faith. The priests continued to arouse the zeal of their misguided parishioners; enthusiasts continued to outrage the sanctity of the mosques and the dignity of the tribunals, and the executions went relentlessly on. Recafred, Archbishop of Cordova, exasperated by the contempt with which the decree of the council had been received, heartily co-operated with the Moslems in the punishment of the offenders, now under the ban of both the government and the Church. Many recalcitrant priests were seized and thrown into prison. Others eluded with the greatest difficulty the search of the authorities. Among the latter was St. Eulogius, with whom, as well as with many of his holy brethren, the merits of martyrdom seemed most glorious when obtained by the sufferings of others. These vigorous measures filled the souls of the elect with terror. A few escaped to the Asturias. A considerable number, including some who had been loudest in their praise of the saints and apparently most eager to emulate their example, apostatized.

The so-called persecution, begun under Abd-al-Rahman II. and continued under Mohammed, lasted eight years. The works of contemporaneous ecclesiastical writers conclusively establish the fact that it was provoked by the violence of the Christians themselves. It is apparent from the same authorities that its effects and importance were grossly exaggerated. The Memorial of the Saints, by Eulogius, the last and most eminent of the alleged victims of Moslem tyranny, contains the names of comparatively few martyrs. But forty-four are mentioned by the erudite historian Florez, whose diligent industry has collated the voluminous records bearing upon the hagiology of that time, as having been executed at Cordova. Several of these were women, between whom and their male companions in suffering and glory, the pious chronicler naïvely declares, “mysterious affinities” existed.

With the decline of the empire, the prevalence of anarchy, and the ascendency of the Berbers, the condition of the Spanish Christians became more and more distressing. The suspension of the laws afforded every facility for their oppression. Their churches were torn down. Their property was confiscated. The descendants of the partisans of Ibn-Hafsun maintained a correspondence with the Castilian enemy. Alfonso of Aragon traversed the Peninsula from the Ebro to the sea, at the invitation of the Mozarabes of Granada. Ten thousand of the latter attended him in his retreat. The vengeance exacted of their treacherous vassals by the Moors of that kingdom was terrible. The expedition was productive of not less unhappy results at Cordova. Nearly every church was destroyed, the Christians were tortured, despoiled of their possessions, and deported in a body to Africa.

At the beginning of the twelfth century, the misfortunes of the maltreated sectaries had reached their culmination. The Almohades, when not dominated by the marabouts, were inclined to be tolerant. The Arab chronicles which treat of the Moorish principalities do not mention the subject of persecution, and no Christian records of that time have been preserved. The Mozarabes of the kingdom of Granada enjoyed the largest liberty. In Sicily, during the entire period of Moslem supremacy, martyrdoms were exceedingly rare.

Considering the widely extended apostasy which followed the Arab conquest, it is remarkable, if viewed only from a worldly stand-point, that the entire Christian population of the Peninsula did not become Mohammedan. There is no doubt that those who remained consistently steadfast in the faith were in a decided minority. No inconsiderable number of proselytes was recruited from the patrician class. Among the great body of serfs and slaves, there were few who were not willing to renounce their religion for the certain enjoyment of liberty and the flattering prospect of future ease or distinction. The mass of the tributaries of the province of Seville had early abandoned the Christian communion, and during the reign of Abd-al-Rahman II. a magnificent mosque was built for their especial accommodation. The majority of the prisoners taken in war embraced without hesitation the doctrines of Islam. Leaving out of consideration the influence of that Divine Power which must have preserved its servants under the severest trials, circumstances of a political or social character may have arisen to prevent the wholesale apostasy of a nation.

And such was indeed the case. The treatment to which the renegades were subjected is a single instance of many, most important in determining the causes of the decline of proselytism. In this class, the freedmen largely preponderated in numbers. Notwithstanding the nominal equality of the renegade granted by his former masters in the beginning, this equality was now never conceded. The stigma of servitude which attached to the majority became the unjust reproach of the caste. While many were sincere in their belief, others took small pains to disguise the interested motives which had prompted their conversion. The knowledge of this fact impelled the Moslems to treat all converts with the greatest indignity. They were publicly insulted. Opprobrious epithets were heaped upon them. Even those whose ancestors had ranked with the most distinguished of the Gothic aristocracy were not exempt from the sneers of the Mussulman rabble. Possession of vast wealth, reputation for genius, taste, or learning, afforded no immunity from outrage by the vilest of mankind. It was rare that a renegade, no matter how conspicuous his abilities, obtained a responsible office in the government. Even the Christian stood a far better chance of official promotion by the followers of the Prophet than the recent proselyte to Islam. It was not in the nature of a numerous and powerful caste, smarting under unmerited humiliation and conscious of its strength, to calmly submit to such injustice. Nor was it long before this destructive policy, which, like many of the evils that afflicted the Mussulman domination, had its origin in Arab pride, produced momentous political results. It encouraged treasonable correspondence with the Christians of the North. It raised up spies in every community. It provoked the bloody revolt of the southern suburb of Cordova during the reign of Al-Hakem I. It recruited the armies of Ibn-Hafsun, who for thirty years defied the power of the khalifate. The renegades, who outnumbered all other classes combined, lacked only organization and leadership to have driven their haughty oppressors into the sea. When the power of the Arab faction was destroyed, their condition was improved, but the ardor of proselytism had vanished. Such experiences tended rather to confirm than to weaken the faith of the hesitating.

Other causes contributed to the prevalent apathy. The semi-theocratical character of the Moslem constitution implied to all believers the active exertion of supernatural power. The head of the government was at the same time the Successor and the Representative of the Prophet. A system which claims divine superiority should by all means be free from turmoil, from vices, from schism; its infallibility should be demonstrated by the pre-eminent wisdom of its decrees; its banners should never be lowered. Yet Islam was rent by faction and controversy. Rival princes, on every side, asserted their conflicting pretensions. In the confusion of warring sects, it was always impossible to distinguish the heretic from the orthodox. The Mussulman armies had often retired in disgrace from before the half-savage and ill-equipped Asturian mountaineers. Tried by the standards of mediæval ignorance, standards founded upon unity of purpose and invincibility in war, Islamism was no better than the creeds it had supplanted.

Again, the results of Moslem civilization, whose benefits were apparent to the least discerning, were not derived from the efforts of the devout. The theologians, without exception, were obstructionists. They decried learning. They denounced philosophy. To them the elegant pursuits of literature were an abomination. As a rule, they had nothing in common with the scholars of Cordova, renowned for their wit, their politeness, their culture. Their persons were neglected, their manners uncouth, their language coarse, ungrammatical, and insolent. In their opinion a madman was inspired, and a scientific instrument a device of Satan.

Not so, however, with the eminent instructors who directed the public mind of the nation, who imparted knowledge to eager pilgrims from foreign lands. It was to their lectures that the young Christians delighted to repair. There was no subject on which they were not competent to discourse; no topic which they did not elucidate with their learning and adorn with their eloquence. They were, almost to a man, what would be called in our day agnostics. Some were acknowledged atheists. Others inclined to the Pantheism of India. None mentioned without a contemptuous smile the celestial origin of the Koran or the claims of the Prophet to divine inspiration.

The University of Cordova was the seat of the literary faction whose influence was long paramount in the empire. Although its exercises were sometimes held in the Great Mosque, it had no sympathy with religion or its ministers. Its infidel teachings had for generations been the reproach of the pious faquis and the abhorrence of the Catholic clergy. Its doors were open to the studious of every race; its honors were bestowed upon the meritorious scholar, without regard to his belief or his ancestry. In its great library, the Mussulman, the Christian, the Buddhist, and the Jew pursued their researches in generous rivalry or friendly co-operation.

Under such unfavorable circumstances, it is not surprising that the conversion of Christians to Islamism was permanently arrested. Outrages upon proselytes, frequent insurrections, confusion of doctrines, vulgarity of theologians, infidelity of those best qualified to determine the value of established opinions, and the unrestricted enjoyment of educational facilities were serious impediments, rather than incentives, to a change of religious belief.

The fierce hostility that has always been manifested by the Apostolic Church against every kind of profane learning—the outgrowth of the tremendous power successfully exerted for many centuries to degrade the mind, to pervert the understanding, to dwarf the noble faculty of reason—had no terrors for the more enlightened part of the Christian population of the khalifate. There, in the presence of the unrivalled achievements of Moslem genius, the stern intolerance of Patristicism could not stand before the liberal policy of Islam and the daily application of the lofty sentiment of its Prophet, “Whoso pursues the road of knowledge, God will direct him to the road of Paradise. Verily, the superiority of a learned man over a mere worshipper is like that of the full moon over all the stars!” The exhibition of universal charity, of broad philanthropy, of educational advantages impartially bestowed, as contrasted with the narrow maxims of their own communion; the overwhelming superiority of Mussulman civilization; the powerful influence of daily intercourse and example; the prodigious augmentation of commercial prosperity and worldly grandeur; the alluring prospect of carnal pleasures, while they might not conduce to proselytism, nevertheless undermined the faith and constancy of the Christian youth.

The teachings of the philosophers of Cordova were not propitious to the maintenance of either established dogma or ecclesiastical superiority; and the clergy saw, with undisguised dismay, the growing prevalence of lukewarmness and skepticism. The predominance of the Spanish Arabs in every branch of literary culture, their eminent success in arms, their intelligence, their valor, their courtesy, the seductive power of their splendor and their opulence had far more effect upon the minds of the rising generation of Christians than the delusive promises and impotent anathemas proclaimed every week from a thousand pulpits. And, indeed, the contrast presented by the two rival religions was most striking to the unprejudiced seeker after truth. On the one hand was the church, with its resounding vaults and its gloomy and sepulchral crypt; the monastery, with its privations; the reliquaries, with their offensive hoards of withered flesh and mouldering bones; the inconsistencies of a system which inculcated charity and commanded persecution; the inexorable tyranny of the priesthood; the systematic discouragement of learning; the confessional with its enforced revelation of secrets; the mass with its monotonous services and its ritual in an unknown tongue; the penance with its sufferings and humiliation. On the other hand rose the mosque, light, airy, beautiful; its graceful minaret pointing towards the heavens; its court shaded by palm- and orange-trees, redolent with the mingled fragrance of a thousand exotics, musical with the plashing of crystal waters; its walls covered with a maze of intricate and brilliant stuccoes; its ceiling emblazoned with the golden texts of the Koran; its sanctuary sparkling with mosaics, whose exquisite tracery rivalled the fabled creations of the genii; the sermon, intelligible to the most humble and untutored listener; the prayer, remarkable for earnestness, simplicity, reverence. On this side were exhibited the factitious virtues and revolting license inseparable from the unnatural condition of celibacy; the sacrifice of every diversion that renders health attainable or existence attractive; the morose austerity of monastic solitude; the ill-concealed excesses by which human nature attempts to indemnify itself for the restraints imposed by organized hypocrisy; the solicited martyrdom of the half-crazed zealot; the savage pursuit of infidels and schismatics; the sanctified example of ecclesiastical ignorance, moral abasement, and physical impurity. On the other were the delights of the harem; the physical and mental vigor derived from constant exercise of the muscular system and the intellectual faculties; the benefits arising from the practice of frequent ablution; the palatial appointments of the public bath; the innumerable conveniences invented or adopted by a society ever alert to grasp every new idea, to profit by every past experience; the advantages of a method of education unparalleled in excellence and unapproached by even the wisest teachers of antiquity; the vast libraries, filled with the stores of ancient learning; the lectures of the lyceum; the curious experiments of scientific observers; the entertaining scenes of social festivity; the animated disputations of learned assemblies.

The jurisprudence of the orthodox believer was basely subservient to the claims of superstition. His cause was determined by the uncertain results of judicial combat, by the oaths of prejudiced compurgators, by the frivolous ordeals of water and fire. The sectary of Mohammed was tried by the kadi, a magistrate governed by established principles of law, and bound by religious as well as by temporal considerations to an impartial administration of justice.

When a Christian became ill, attempts were made to exorcise the evil spirit to which his sufferings were attributed by binding him to the altar, by the invocation of saints, by the application of relics and consecrated amulets. The Moslem was conveyed to the hospital provided and maintained by royal beneficence; the cause of his complaint was ascertained; and during his stay he received gratuitously the assiduous attentions of the nurse and the intelligent care of the surgeon.

While the priest-ridden peasantry of the Pyrenees and the Rhone denounced the Saracen as a foe of God and a scourge to humanity, the Christian who lived in security under his government, enjoyed his favor, shared his hospitality, profited by his instruction, knew but too well the calumny of these assertions, and that their maligned object exhibited upon occasion all the noble attributes of a faithful friend and a brave and chivalrous enemy. The dissensions of the Arabs, and their ungenerous treatment of those who voluntarily embraced their faith, were largely instrumental in preventing the amalgamation of races, even then far on the way towards accomplishment. Had not these causes intervened, only a few centuries would probably have elapsed before the subject nation, already closely united with the predominant caste by the bonds of marriage, consanguinity, and interest, by intimate mercantile associations, by the powerful influence of habits, education, and language, might have become thoroughly Mohammedanized. As it was, a greater affinity always existed between the Christian vassals of the Spanish khalifs and their lords than between the members of the several factions of the Arabs themselves, whose inextinguishable hatred, the fruit of countless generations of hostility, eventually compassed the destruction of their empire.

CHAPTER XXVI
THE MORISCOES
1492–1609

State of the Kingdom after the Conquest—Superiority of the Moors—Policy of the Crown—Introduction of the Holy Office—Administration of Talavera—His Popularity—He is superseded by Ximenes—The Two Great Spanish Cardinals—Their Opposite Characters—Influence on Their Age—Violence of Ximenes—He burns the Arabic Manuscripts—Insurrection of the Moriscoes—Rout in the Sierra Bermeja—Bigotry of Isabella—The Moors under Charles V.—Persecution by the Clergy and the Inquisition under Philip II.—War in the Alpujarras—Ibn-Ommeyah—Operations of Don John of Austria—Removal of the Moors of Granada—Death of Ibn-Ommeyah—Ibn-Abu becomes King—Siege of Galera—Atrocities of the Campaign—Fate of Ibn-Abu—Condition of the Moriscoes in Spain—They are Exiled by Philip III.—Their Sufferings—Effect of their Banishment upon the Prosperity of the Kingdom.

The close of the Reconquest left the Spanish monarchy in a condition of physical and financial collapse. The maintenance of a great army for ten years, with the resultant casualties of battle, exposure, and disease, had sensibly diminished the population. The treasury had long been depleted. The Queen had pawned her jewels to the bankers of Valencia and Barcelona. Wealthy subjects had been induced to advance funds to the government by methods equivalent to confiscation, and which held out but slender hopes of ultimate reimbursement. National credit was practically destroyed. The absence of the more industrious citizens in military service, the incorrigible idleness of those who remained, had impaired the pursuit of agriculture, upon which the resources of the kingdom depended. Had it not been for the taxes and extraordinary contributions levied upon the Jewish and Moslem tributaries, the war could not have been prosecuted to a successful conclusion. These two sects, which occupied an anomalous position in the body politic, numbered over two million. Although so inferior in numbers, they engrossed the trade and controlled the personal property of the Peninsula. The Jew, who practised with enormous profit the congenial but unpopular profession of usury, converted his gains into money and jewels. The Mudejar, who, after the Conquest, gave place to the Morisco, mindful of the Koranic precept which inculcates industry as a virtue and stigmatizes idleness as a crime, was the most laborious and successful of agriculturists, the most skilful of artisans. Representatives of these two classes directed the operations of the largest mercantile houses in the principal cities, and the commerce of the entire country was practically in their hands. Their prosperity was regarded with an evil eye by their Castilian masters, and the Moslem was especially the object of this animadversion. For generations the former had pursued the glorious but brutalizing calling of arms. With them, every occupation that implied or necessitated the performance of manual labor was considered undignified and degrading. Centuries of unremitting warfare had impressed upon the whole nation a military character, with its inevitable concomitants of pride, tyranny, and insolence; and these sentiments were intensified a hundred-fold by racial hatred and sectarian prejudice. From the earliest times the Moors had been regarded as interlopers, scarcely entitled to the ordinarily indisputable rights of conquest. The acquisition of their domain by Spanish prowess was always considered as the recovery of former inalienable possession, not as new territory wrested from an adversary by dint of superior strength and valor. The establishment of the Catholic faith was, in the opinion of adroit casuists, an additional argument in favor of their title, for it was held that the consecration of altars to Christianity conferred rights which could never be abrogated through occupation by infidels. With the inconsistency of ignorance, the Castilians asserted their title both by inheritance and prescription. They forgot that Spain had ever been the rich prize for which almost every warlike nation of the ancient world had contended. The Visigoths overran and ravaged it in the fifth century, and their occupancy, derived solely from conquest, lasted three hundred years. Then came the Saracens, whose domination, obtained in precisely the same manner, required about the same length of time for the conquest, but endured for more than twice as long. It was evident, therefore, to every mind not obscured by prejudice, that the title of the Moslems, even from the Spanish point of view, was better than that of their conquerors. In more than one respect, indeed, had the followers of Mohammed claims upon the country of their adoption as well as upon the gratitude and admiration of mankind. Their industry and enterprise had developed beyond all precedent the wonderful resources of the Peninsula. Its prosperity had never been so great, its people so happy, its sovereigns so renowned, as at the meridian of the Moslem power. In intellectual attainments, and the skilful adaptation of scientific principles to the practical affairs of life, the subjects of the khalifate far surpassed all their contemporaries. The civilization—if it is worthy of the name—which the Saracens overthrew was infinitely inferior to the one that they created. The Visigoths had scarcely emerged from barbarism. Their monarchs attempted to emulate, in their magnificence and luxury, the brilliant court of the Eastern Empire, and to supply, by the splendor and richness of the materials, the glaring deficiencies in skill and workmanship which characterized the productions of their artisans. They never discarded the savage customs engendered and perpetuated by ages of violence and injustice. Sedentary and industrial occupations were repugnant to the genius of a people whose national traditions from time immemorial had breathed a spirit of truculence and war. And yet, even in their chosen field, they at once demonstrated their inferiority to an enemy who had hardly completed his apprenticeship in arms.

After the Conquest, the insignificant number of Christians saved by the inaccessible fastnesses of the Asturias from Mohammedan subjection had little left but their swords and their independence. Their previous habits had unfitted them for labor. The ungenerous nature of the soil and the severity of the climate offered few inducements for tillage. They had, therefore, no resource but war by which to maintain their existence and repair their broken fortunes. Their children were reared in ignorance and under conditions favorable to the development of the highest degree of ferocity and fanaticism. They were taught to regard their enemies as monsters, unworthy of the name and attributes of humanity, and having nothing in common with the remainder of mankind but an erect form and the capacity of speech. In the course of time, greater familiarity with their adversaries insensibly produced a change of feeling, and many of these absurd and unjust prejudices were modified or entirely discarded. Numerous Mohammedan customs were adopted, especially by the nobility of Castile, whose inherent profligacy especially inclined them to the forbidden and unorthodox license of the seraglio. Moslem kings were not infrequently appointed arbiters of disputes between Christian princes of the blood. In arms, in manners, in costume, in amusements, the despised infidel furnished models to the proud and boorish descendants of Pelayus and his mountaineers. Even the language was contaminated. Thousands of terms familiar to the reader of the Koran were incorporated unchanged into its comprehensive vocabulary, and the noble and sonorous Castilian idiom remains to-day almost one-third Arabic. The system of warfare, the evolutions of cavalry, the adoption of lighter armor, all exhibited the effect of the pervading Moorish influence. Architects from Granada were employed by Castilian monarchs in the construction of palaces, and even by orthodox prelates in the ornamentation of cathedrals. It was the custom of many sovereigns in those turbulent times to intrust their safety to a body-guard of Saracen mercenaries, who could neither be intimidated nor corrupted. The honors paid to deceased Castilian royalty by the Moslems were not inferior to those with which the obsequies of the greatest emirs were celebrated. The court of Granada went into mourning for Ferdinand III., and a guard of Moorish nobles escorted his remains to the tomb. Henry IV. gave audience to ambassadors seated upon a divan and supported by cushions, in the traditional Saracen fashion. The tilt of reeds and the bull-fight, the exercises of the grand arena, which, requiring the greatest address and agility, were so popular with the Spanish chivalry, superseded the ruder and more dangerous exhibitions of the tournament. In innumerable examples, in every phase of the public and domestic life of the Christians, the influence of Mohammedan association was manifested. It is a curious fact, as already stated, that, in spite of this, the deep-seated prejudices of the two races, so far from being eradicated, were scarcely even perceptibly modified. Notwithstanding intermarriages, the formal and elaborate display of public courtesy, the frequency of appeals to royal arbitration, the adoption of official ceremonials by one people, the voluntary solicitation of protection by the other, all appearances of amity were fallacious, and a feeling of irreconcilable hostility constantly prevailed between the two races. Both reduced their prisoners to slavery, a condition which generally implied the most inhuman treatment. The captives taken by the Castilians were branded upon the forehead, a mark of degradation which could never be erased; the slaves of the Moslems were confined in damp and unwholesome dungeons, and compelled to labor daily in the construction of mosques and fortifications. It was no unusual occurrence, when a place had provoked the animosity of either by an obstinate resistance, for the entire population, irrespective of age or sex, to be ruthlessly put to the sword. In the heat of conflict, quarter was seldom expected. Despite the omnipresent and irrefutable evidences of superior knowledge, refinement, and culture, the arrogant and conceited Castilians always stigmatized their adversaries as barbarians. With them, implicit belief in and attachment to the Roman Catholic faith was the infallible touchstone of civilization. Whatever they did not understand they attributed to magic. The mysterious accents of the Arabic language, and the intricate manner in which its characters were combined in the inscriptions which adorned the public edifices, aroused in the minds of the ignorant suspicions of sorcery, with its accompaniments of talismans, amulets, charms, and incantations. The magnificent architectural works of Arab genius were attributed to infernal agency, as beyond the efforts of unaided human power; an opinion still entertained by the Spanish peasantry, who not only firmly believe that the Moslem palaces were constructed by evil spirits, but also ascribe the origin of the gigantic, and apparently eternal, monuments of classic antiquity to the hands of the devil himself.

Besides the inveterate prejudices arising from antagonistic faiths and protracted warfare, other circumstances intervened to preclude the fusion of the two races after the Conquest. The Spaniard, with characteristic pride, asserted the superiority and predominance of his race and origin, and the slightest suspicion of Moorish blood constituted a blemish which no political or military distinction was ever able to eradicate. The industry of the Mudejares, their frugality, their clannishness, the seclusion of their women, aroused unfavorable comment among a people whose prejudices associated these practices with the name of an hereditary and implacable enemy. It had long been a subject of universal complaint that the larger proportion of the wealth of the kingdom was possessed by these unpopular tributaries. The idle Castilian, whose ancestors had for twenty-three generations subsisted by rapine, could not regard with indifference the plodding industry that conferred upon a subjugated and misbelieving race those substantial benefits which he had always been taught to regard as the birthright of a Christian. It was also publicly stated, to the prejudice of the tributary Moors, that even when they renounced their faith they still adhered to their former laborious habits; that none of them ever entered convents or monasteries; and that their contributions to the Church were not of the value to be expected from the zeal and generosity of sincere proselytes. Their conversion did not bring with it that indulgence and those privileges to which their ghostly instructors assured them they would be entitled; it did not even confer immunity from insult. Until the reign of Henry II. the Mudejares were exempt from the inconvenience of wearing a distinctive mark indicative of their social condition, which, long before imposed upon the Jews, was justly considered a badge of ignominy. After that time, however, they were required to wear upon their caps and turbans a blue crescent “of the size of an orange,” which constantly brought upon them the affronts of children, and not infrequently the taunts and violence of a fanatical populace. In spite of the serious restrictions imposed upon the Mudejares, and the enormous contributions levied upon their industry, they continued to prosper, and at the time of the surrender of Granada they were the most valuable subjects of the Spanish Crown. Policy, based upon a sense of weakness, had long repressed the avarice and envy of the Castilian sovereigns in their relations with a class whose skill and labor were the principal sources of the opulence of the realm. The time had now come when all restraint could be cast aside without danger, and royal aggression, not only sanctioned but suggested and encouraged by ecclesiastical authority, could violate every obligation, human and divine, that had been entered into with a conquered people, whose principal crime was their prosperity, and whose independence had been voluntarily relinquished under solemn treaties which had absolutely guaranteed their personal safety and the unmolested exercise of their civil and religious rights and privileges. A most pernicious maxim, but one entirely consonant with the prevailing sentiments of the age, had been recently adopted, and declared by the highest ecclesiastical authority susceptible of unlimited application. This was that, the original conquest of the Peninsula by the Moors partaking of the nature of an usurpation, or rather of a theft obtained by violence, all treaties or engagements entered into with the descendants of the invaders were valid only so long as the Christians chose to observe them, as having been dictated by necessity and contracted with persons outside the pale of the law. The peculiar casuistry, which deduced from Biblical precedent and the exterminating wars of the Jews analogies whose application wrought such havoc among the conquered nations of Spain and the New World, found no difficulty in the acceptation of the broader, and consequently even more atrocious, principle that no faith whatever was to be kept with infidels. Ecclesiastical ingenuity has never invented more potent weapons for the attainment of absolutism than these two maxims, which, rigorously applied, demonstrated their temporary and apparent efficacy by the utter extermination of millions of nominal enemies of the Spanish monarchy.

By the union of Castile and Aragon and the Conquest of Granada national unity had been secured; it now remained to place the religious establishment of the kingdom upon the same advantageous footing. The Inquisition, an engine of tremendous power, whose operations were attended by the most gratifying results, had, for more than two centuries, been employed in subduing recalcitrant heretics, procuring conversions, and replenishing the exhausted coffers of Church and State. First introduced into Aragon from France, its efforts were mainly directed against the Jews, whose wealth had brought upon them a convenient suspicion of heresy. The main objects of the Inquisition were in reality secular and political. That hideous institution aimed at the establishment of unquestioned sovereignty by the instruments of persecution. Religious dogmas, while nominally of vital importance in its procedure, were but pretexts by which the clergy, and indirectly the orthodox monarch, profited in the acquirement and consolidation of irresponsible authority. The stifling of human thought, the suppression of every branch of knowledge, the prohibition of the exercise of private judgment, the infinite multiplication of offences against religion, the minute gradation of penances, many of them of barbarous and incredible severity, were all means to the accomplishment of one base and ignoble end. The theological aspect of the Inquisition has engrossed the attention of historians to the exclusion of its genuine but concealed objects. That the punishment of heresy was not the real mission of its tribunal is proved by the fact that its sentences were frequently suspended, commuted, or abrogated by the sovereign, conditional on the payment of money. The rich were the especial objects of its hostility; the denunciation of a wealthy person was equivalent to conviction; and if a Hebrew or a Moslem, he could hardly escape the extreme penalty. The mystery of its organization, its unexpected arrests, its secret procedure, its frightful dungeons, the fiendish cruelty of the tortures it inflicted, and the atrocities of its public exhibitions—which partook of the nature of religious festivals, and, with shocking inconsistency, were supposed to be devoted to popular recreation—struck terror into every community and every family.

The successful prosecution of heresy by the Inquisition, as well as the financial advantages it promised, and the increase of ecclesiastical and royal power which followed its establishment, appealed forcibly to the bigoted and arbitrary mind of the Spanish Queen. Not so, however, with Ferdinand, whose experience with that dread tribunal had caused him to regard its operations with disfavor, and who had rendered his orthodoxy liable to suspicion by intrusting to Jewish bankers the administration of the finances of the Crown of Aragon. His remonstrances were, however, unheeded by his obstinate and despotic consort. The Kingdom of Castile had always enjoyed an unquestioned preponderance of authority and prestige in the affairs of the Peninsula. The compact which consolidated the two great realms into one empire expressly conferred upon Isabella the exclusive control of all matters relating to ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The right of presentation to benefices—long asserted by Castilian princes as a royal prerogative, and whose exercise, denounced by the Papacy as an usurpation, had repeatedly brought upon them the censures of the Holy See—invested the Queen with a power of vast and indefinable extent over the members of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, who owed their offices to her generosity, and whose revenues were largely dispensed in accordance with her advice. Her policy and her apparent interest induced her, therefore, to consent to the introduction of the Holy Office; and its tribunal was established at Cordova, under the direction of Tomas de Torquemada, first Inquisitor-General of the kingdom, a name of awful prominence in the history of Spanish persecution.

The capitulation of Granada had been concluded with every indication of sincerity, and with the most solemn assurances with which it is possible to invest the provisions and confirm the faith of treaties. The unsuspecting Moslems did not long remain in ignorance of the duplicity of their conquerors. Excesses were publicly committed by licentious cavaliers, who, instead of undergoing the penalty of death adjudged for such offences, escaped with a gentle reprimand, and were even conspicuously distinguished by the favor of their royal mistress. The seclusion of domestic life, so jealously guarded by Mohammedan custom, was unceremoniously invaded upon the most frivolous pretexts by the rude and insolent soldiery. The mosques, whose possession had been especially guaranteed by the articles of the treaty, were one after another seized and consecrated to the Christian worship. For these flagrant breaches of trust, the stupid and remorseless bigotry of Isabella was largely responsible. The city had hardly passed into the hands of the conquerors, before the advisability of forcible conversion began to be seriously discussed, and the Queen listened with pleasure to suggestions of indiscriminate and compulsory baptism. The efforts of priestly avarice and intolerance, secure in the royal support, began to encroach more and more upon the acknowledged rights of these unfortunate victims of persecution, until a revolution broke out, which threatened the integrity of the newly acquired dominions, and required the entire resources of the kingdom to suppress it. The government of Granada had been left in the hands of three men, whose excellent qualifications, previous experience, and inborn sense of justice rendered them eminently qualified for the difficult task to which they had been assigned. The famous Count of Tendilla was appointed Captain-General of the province. The interests of the Church were committed to Hernando de Talavera, Archbishop of Granada, a prelate in whose mind fanaticism never attained predominance over the noble impulses which assert the dignity of human nature; and whose liberality, rare in his age and profession, never refused indulgence and compassion to those of different blood or hostile faith. To these two representatives of royal and ecclesiastical authority was added as an adviser, and an interpreter of the treaty of capitulation, which he himself had drafted, Hernando de Zafra, secretary of the Catholic sovereigns, a man of talent, intelligence, and spotless integrity, who enjoyed the confidence of his superiors, and who, while conspicuously devout, was far less tinctured with the prejudices of the time than his theological education and previous associations would seem to imply.

Under the administration of these three dignitaries, the territory of Granada once more assumed an appearance of prosperity. Their probity won the confidence of the Moors, which had been shaken by the arbitrary and indefensible proceedings following the surrender. The capital, fallen into neglect and decay during years of insurrection and war, was repaired; new streets were opened, sanitary regulations were enforced, the markets were again crowded with traders; the Vega, long the scene of desolation, began to blossom once more under the patient hands of the industrious laborer. While a high sense of honor and an unusual diplomatic tact obtained for the Count of Tendilla the respect of his dependents, it was upon the disposition of the Archbishop that the security of the government and the pacification of the Moslems principally depended. The first great difficulty was, in reality, not with the latter, but with the Christian colonists, who had received, in recompense for real or fictitious services, establishments in the city, and whose licentious conduct provoked the animosity of the vanquished, and rendered the streets unsafe at night for wayfarers of every description.

The conduct of the Archbishop was beyond all praise. He endeavored by every conceivable means to improve the condition of his diocese, to revive decaying industry, and to promote the friendly relations of the two races whose previous traditions made complete fusion impossible. He dispensed at all times the most unbounded and discerning charity. He caused public works to be inaugurated, by which the needy poor were provided with employment. His apostolic zeal never stooped to the violence of persecution; his appeals were made to reason alone; and his subordinates, for the effectual performance of their duties, were compelled to learn the Arabic language, in which he himself, although far advanced in years, became sufficiently proficient to employ it successfully for the noble purposes of religious instruction. From the printing-presses, established by his munificence, issued sumptuous volumes printed in Castilian and Arabic, whose perusal might not only arouse the interest of old believer and recent proselyte, but could not fail to alike confirm the faith and facilitate the intercourse of both Christian and Moslem. Under his direction schools were founded; rituals and works embodying the doctrines and discipline of the Church translated; and regular conferences organized, wherein, at stated intervals, the comparative merits of the Christian and Mohammedan creeds were publicly discussed by learned theologians of both religions.

This excellent prelate, whose virtues are the more conspicuous and admirable when contrasted with the generally dissolute character of the ecclesiastics of the Spanish court, voluntarily renounced the larger portion of the emoluments of his office, reserving only what was sufficient for his immediate necessities, and dispensing with the pomp which the dignitaries of the hierarchy were accustomed to assume in the exercise of their calling. Two hundred and fifty persons shared daily the hospitality of his table; his bounty was enjoyed alike by officials of the highest rank, by Moors of every degree, by pilgrims and travellers soliciting alms. In his visits to the sick and the unfortunate he permanently impaired his health. Recognizing the importance of a consistent example, he instituted extensive reforms among the clergy. Their luxury was repressed, their intemperate zeal restrained, the systematic observance of their duties compelled, and those vices which had long been the scandal of the pious were either entirely checked, or, driven from public view, were forced into seclusion for their indulgence. In every possible manner he attempted to relieve the oppressive burdens imposed upon his parishioners by the fiscal regulations. His notaries were forbidden to collect the fees, which formed an important part of the revenues of the archiepiscopal see. He interposed his authority to prevent illegal and oppressive exactions by the tax-collectors. In his sermons, and by the exertion of his authority, he discouraged the practice of professional mendicity, the scourge and the disgrace of both Catholic and Mussulman countries.

With the secular and the ecclesiastical power vested in the hands of such men as the Count of Tendilla and Hernando de Talavera, the greatest results could not fail of accomplishment. The manners of the Spaniards were insensibly reformed. Such was the public tranquillity, that a mere handful of soldiers sufficed for the garrison of the Alhambra and the guard of the captain-general. The pious and unselfish example of the Archbishop soon bore fruit. Great numbers of Moors voluntarily signified their desire to become Christians. In one day three thousand were baptized, not one of whom ever afterwards recanted. These conversions were not obtained through suggestions of temporal advantage or the influence of fear; nor were the proselytes admitted to communion without previous instruction in the doctrines they were expected to profess or the duties they would be required to perform. The affection and respect of the Moslems for their instructor and friend were unbounded. They called him the “Holy Faqui of the Christians.” The churches were found unable to accommodate the increasing numbers of converts, and altars and pulpits were erected in the three principal squares of the city; the nightly brawls excited by the turbulent soldiers of fortune, domiciled by the Conquest in the Moorish capital, became more and more infrequent; a sense of security began to prevail in the community; the relations of noble and vassal were modified, to the decided advantage of the latter; ancient prejudices, confirmed by the enmity of centuries, were softened; and the political union of the two peoples, which could only be effected by a just and conciliatory policy, and upon which, in fact, depended the future prosperity of the Peninsula, seemed at length to offer a flattering prospect of realization.

Under these favorable auspices, for the space of several years, order, tranquillity, and contentment reigned in Granada. The courteous and equitable, but firm, administration of the governor; the blameless life, the humble piety, the sympathetic interest of the Archbishop had awakened the love and compelled the obedience of the tributary Moslems, who compared with wonder and gratification the operation of a system of kindness and justice with the arbitrary and violent measures of the despotism to which they had heretofore always been accustomed. During that period many important and tragic events transpired. Al-Zagal, oppressed with years and calamities and broken in spirit, had gone into voluntary exile. Boabdil, by means of an ignoble and treacherous device, whose adoption was alike unworthy of a monarch and a Christian, had been deprived of the principality for which he had bartered his crown and forced to retire into Africa. Every important provision of the capitulation had been repeatedly violated, and only the tact of those who controlled the government of Granada had prevented the most serious consequences. The Jews, under circumstances of unspeakable cruelty, had been expelled from the kingdom. In the hierarchy changes had taken place which boded no good to the heretic and the suspected apostate. Cardinal Mendoza, Primate of Spain, had died, and Francisco Ximenes de Cisneros, a Franciscan friar and the confessor of the Queen, had been promoted to that exalted dignity, whose power and emoluments rivalled those of the crown. The life, the associations, the studies of this man had developed a mind whose feelings were in perfect accordance with the narrow and intolerant spirit of the age. Without indulgence for the inherent weakness of human nature, without patience to await the effect of the deliberate and rational methods of discussion which promote religious conviction, absolutely devoid of generosity, of tenderness, of sympathy, he regarded unquestioning obedience to the Church as the most imperative of all obligations and mortification of the flesh as the most meritorious of virtues. He had recently secured the appointment of Diego de Deza, one of his creatures, to the place of Inquisitor-General, which gave him absolute control of the operations of the Holy Office.

The characters of the two great churchmen who in succession dictated the policy of the crown, though widely different in many respects, in general faithfully represent the prevalent ideas and aspirations of every class of society in the kingdom. The aim of both was religious unity, which during the long crusade against the infidel had usurped the place and depreciated the worth of patriotism. Both governed the sovereign, and with the sovereign the monarchy. Both filled the highest ecclesiastical office in the Peninsula, an office second in dignity and power only to the Papacy. Both were zealous patrons of the Inquisition. One recommended the expulsion of the Jews. The other inaugurated the persecution of the Moriscoes. Both commanded armies. Both founded institutions of learning. Both were regarded at Rome as the most valuable servants of the Holy See. Here, however, all resemblance ends. Mendoza belonged to the haughtiest of the Castilian aristocracy; he traced his lineage in a direct line to Roman patricians on one side and to the Gothic Dukes of Cantabria on the other; the Cid was his ancestor, as were also the Lords of Biscay; the blood of royalty coursed in his veins; he was the cousin of Ferdinand and Isabella; he was nearly related to the princely house of Infantado, whose duke took precedence of all Spanish grandees; more than seventy titles of nobility were in his family, which was the first in the Peninsula and one of the most celebrated in Europe.

Ximenes sprang from the people. His ancestry, while respectable and deserving recognition as of the hidalgo class, was not noble. He renounced his baptismal name for that of the founder of his order, the Franciscans. He had no relatives, a fact which afterwards obtained for him the Regency.

The dignities of Mendoza were the most eminent in the hierarchy and the kingdom, and were all conferred before he had reached the meridian of life. He was Bishop of Calahorra and Siguenza, Archbishop of Seville and Toledo, Primate of Spain, a Prince of the Church, Patriarch of Alexandria, Legate of the Pope. He became Chancellor of Castile. He was appointed Captain-General under both Henry IV. and Isabella. He was most prominent in all the events of the civil and the Moorish wars. He won the battle of Olmedo for Juan II. He defeated the King of Portugal on the field of Toro. At twenty-four he was practically minister of state. At sixty-four he planned the last campaign before Granada as commander-in-chief of the besieging army. His hands raised upon the Tower of Comares the archiepiscopal cross of his diocese, the symbol of Christian supremacy and ecclesiastical power.

In habits, tastes, demeanor, and personal appearance a marked contrast existed between the two most famous prelates of the fifteenth century. Mendoza was epicurean, Ximenes ascetic. The table of the Great Cardinal was furnished with every luxury. His garments were of the finest quality, as befitted his rank. Jewels sparkled upon his fingers. His cleanliness excited the wonder and often the disapprobation of the pious, as savoring of heresy. None but youths of distinguished birth were admitted to his household. His morals partook of the laxity of the time. The ladies honored with his attentions were members of the aristocracy, daughters of noble houses, maids of honor to the Queen. His three sons were legitimatized by Pope Innocent VIII. in 1486 and by Isabella in 1487. Through their matrimonial connections, the blood of this famous ecclesiastical grandee has been mingled with that of many of the proudest families of Castile.

While the promotion of Mendoza to the highest offices of Church and State was due partly to his illustrious ancestry and partly to his eminent talents, that of Ximenes was derived entirely from his reputation for piety and wisdom. Honors were literally thrust upon him. With real or affected humility, he attempted to evade the search and disobey the commands of those who wished to raise him to absolute power. He loudly protested his unworthiness. He declared his preference for the duties and the seclusion of a private station. Even while at the height of his greatness, he never abandoned the habits of the monastery. He carried into the splendid archiepiscopal see of Toledo, the highest post in the ecclesiastical system of Europe, the practices of the penitent and the anchorite. Under his cardinal’s robes of scarlet and gold he wore constantly the cowl and knotted girdle of the Franciscan friars. A haircloth shirt, which was never changed, irritated his flesh. His diet was frugal to excess. “He only ate enough,” says his biographer, “to sustain the little life that penance had left him.” His food consisted principally of herbs, his only drink was water. His virtue was impregnable,—even St. Anthony himself might have envied him his constancy under temptation. To him was never imputed the reproach of frequent ablution, the stigma of the Moslem heretic. The constant use of a haircloth undergarment, while not conducive to personal purity, is readily productive of those physical conditions which, in the Middle Ages, were almost infallible signs of a good Christian.

The early life of Mendoza was passed amidst the atmosphere of the most dignified and punctilious court in Europe. His experience from boyhood fitted him for any service to which he might be assigned by the order of his king. He was thoroughly familiar with the arts of diplomacy. He had led his vassals in many a bloody encounter. With the skill of a successful general he had directed the movements of large bodies of troops in action. In every conflict he had fearlessly exposed himself to danger. He was indulgent to the faults of his ecclesiastical inferiors. For the glory of the Church he built and endowed the College of Valladolid. The Hospital of Santa Cruz at Toledo was a superb monument to his munificence. He expended great sums in charity. The debasing vice of bigotry was far from dominating his character.

The person of Mendoza was tall, erect, and commanding; his features handsome; his bearing that of a soldier and a gentleman; his manners affable and unaffected; in all respects he was the model of dignity, of gentleness, and of courtesy. His influence in the government was so great that he was everywhere known as “The Third King of Spain.” It was said of him as of Cæsar, “Quicquid volebat, valde volebat.”

Ximenes brought to the management of a great empire none of that familiarity with public affairs so essential to the statesman. His life had been bounded by the narrow horizon of the cloister. His reading had been confined to the homilies and polemics of the Fathers. At the assault of Oran, instead of leading his troops, he retired to pray in his tent. The university he established at Alcalá, as a rival to that of Salamanca, was far from realizing his hopes. His appearance disclosed his obscure lineage and his plebeian associations. His form was bent, his face emaciated, his manners shy and awkward. He possessed none of that winning grace which is the common birthright of his countrymen. In the administration of his office he was arbitrary and irascible. His obstinacy was only exceeded by the severity with which he enforced his decrees; his pursuit of heresy and monastic license, only by the vigor with which he encountered and crushed all opposition. His reputation for ability, for learning, for sanctity, for every attribute that evokes the admiring applause of mankind, far surpassed that of his predecessor among all ranks of his contemporaries.

Such were the two churchmen, both of whom had obtained the finest education afforded by their age and country; both founders of great colleges; both gifted with extraordinary talents; both clothed with despotic power; to whose agency is to be principally attributed the absolute annihilation of Jewish and Moslem science and literature in the Spanish Peninsula.

It is impossible for us at this distance of time to fully appreciate the enormous influence wielded by a prelate who dispensed the wealth and patronage of the ecclesiastical establishment of the Spanish monarchy. His capacity for good or evil was practically unlimited. He was the keeper of the royal conscience. The sentiments of every community, the decision of important questions of diplomacy, the adoption of measures vital to the permanence of national existence, the prosecution of war, the negotiation of peace, all depended upon the opinions and advice which emanated from the throne of the metropolitan see of Toledo. When to the prestige and revenues of the primacy were added the mysterious procedure and dreadful energy of the Inquisition, the formidable character of the power possessed by Ximenes may be conjectured. His will was law in every parish in the kingdom. Through the fears and mistaken devotion of a superstitious queen he was already the virtual ruler of Castile. His zeal was the more dangerous from the fact that it was sincere; no element of hypocrisy discredited the motives or impaired the supremacy of this uncompromising fanatic. The sweeping reforms he instituted among the clergy, and the rigor with which all disobedience was punished, awakened the resentment of every ecclesiastic whose lax morality or religious indifference had rendered him the object of official admonition or discipline. Those who appealed to the Pope were thrown into prison. Petitions for indulgence were treated with contempt. Remonstrances were chastised by suspension from functions and deprivation of benefices. The energy of his measures, the rudeness of his manners, the arbitrary, almost brutal, defiance of precedent and custom with which he treated his inferiors, his well-known control over the infamous tribunal whose public sacrifices in the name of religious unity had already terrorized the kingdom, his incorruptibility and self-mortification, invested the office of Ximenes with more than imperial authority. Isabella congratulated herself on her discernment. Her pious ambition was excited. In the hands of this active prelate the Moors of Granada might be speedily Christianized. The slow and pacific methods of Talavera had frequently aroused the displeasure and invoked the censures of the impatient Queen. Her partiality for the eccentric and determined churchman whose enforcement of long-neglected monastic regulations and whose condemnation of the luxurious habits of his subordinates had procured for him the open homage and secret execration of bishop and friar alike, whose inflexible decision, whose disregard of humanity and justice whenever he conceived the interests of the Church were involved, rendered him so offensively conspicuous, suggested him at once as a pre-eminently suitable instrument for the extermination of Moslem heresy and the rapid propagation of the Faith. He was, therefore, ordered to Granada, nominally as the adviser of Talavera in the work of spiritual regeneration, with the secret understanding, however, that his superior rank would exempt him from even the apparent exercise of official duties in a subordinate capacity. His first step, and one of which it is scarcely possible that Isabella could have been ignorant, was to procure a formal authorization from the Holy Office to investigate and punish the crime of heresy.

Armed with this document, and confident in the support of the Queen, Ximenes arrived at Granada in October, 1499. His conduct from the beginning was marked by unflinching audacity and resolution. The prestige of his dignity and the arrogance of his manners at once overawed the gentle Archbishop, who, renouncing the means which had achieved such great success, henceforth abandoned himself blindly to the merciless impulses of his distinguished superior. The latter was not long in profiting by the ascendency he had obtained. He claimed for himself supreme and dictatorial authority in matters not only ecclesiastical, but in questions often affecting the jurisdiction of the civil power. His first measures evinced none of the unrelenting severity of the inquisitor; they were corrupt, politic, conciliatory. The faquis and santons, whose influence with their countrymen was supposed to be the greatest and whose mercenary character had been notorious in the evil days preceding the surrender, were enlisted in the service of conversion by magnificent gifts of silken garments, jewels, and gold. With their zeal quickened by these potent arguments, the new missionaries had no difficulty in securing multitudes of proselytes. Their ardor was further stimulated by forcible representations of the inconveniences and trials which would inevitably be visited upon all who persisted in their adherence to error. Great emulation was excited by these extraordinary inducements to Mohammedan apostasy; each faqui reckoned with pride the number of converts he had conducted to the altar; the unprincipled populace welcomed, with feigned and interested enthusiasm, a religious compliance purchased with the mammon of unrighteousness; the Great Mosque of the Albaycin—in which quarter the Moors had, by a highly impolitic decree, been concentrated after the Conquest—was consecrated to Christianity, and within its precincts more than four thousand alleged penitents received the rite of baptism. This ceremony was effected without previous examination or instruction; and the candidates were equally ignorant of their duties and of the dreadful consequences involved in the sin of recantation. From that moment their moral responsibility was fixed. No excuse could be pleaded for the unconscious maintenance of heretical opinions or even for involuntary infractions of ecclesiastical discipline; the voice of the informer was ever ready to denounce, the hand of the inquisitor to punish.

This triumph of the Faith, while exceedingly gratifying, was proportionately expensive. The entire available revenues of the See of Toledo, amounting to seventy thousand ducats, were expended in its accomplishment. Even this great sum proved insufficient, and Ximenes was forced to pledge his private credit to appease the demands of the crowd of mercenary sycophants and spurious converts who claimed the reward of their abasement and dishonor. Among the sincere disciples of the Prophet, and there were many in Granada, the course of their perfidious brethren was regarded with unconcealed abhorrence. The more earnest and devout of these endeavored to counteract the growing inclination to religious defection by public exhortations and remonstrances. It was not in the imperious nature of the Primate to brook such opposition. The offending faquis were thrown into prison. History has not revealed the nature of the arguments employed to shake their constancy, but the persecuted Moslems were evidently not of the stuff of which martyrs and saints are made. One after another recanted and were baptized; many of their fellow-sectaries profited by their example; resistance was for the time effectually suppressed; and Ximenes pursued, without molestation, his favorite and inexorable method of wholesale conversion. To his narrow and arbitrary mind the employment of the most radical measures seemed to promise the greatest assurances of success. In the furtherance of this idea, and with a view to eradicating the apparent cause of the evil, he now planned what he considered a master-stroke of policy. Without previous notice, a diligent search was made of every house throughout the entire city, and every manuscript in the Arabic language which could be found was seized. The number thus secured amounted to nearly a million. Among them were not only superb copies of the Koran, but relics of the great Ommeyade body of literature, which had been the pride of the imperial court of Cordova, and had been cherished as priceless through many generations; the contents of the public libraries, whose preservation and increase had been the especial care of the enlightened Alhamares; treatises on history and science, which described the events and pictured the intellectual advancement of what had been the most learned and polished of nations; and the literary treasures of every scholar and philosopher in the capital. The works on chemistry, botany, astronomy, and medicine, subjects which had always engaged the diligent curiosity of the Spanish Arab, predominated. There, too, were doubtless to be found many translations of the classics, inheritances from the Grecian school of Alexandria,—henceforth forever lost,—which had found their way into the Peninsula from the distant banks of the Nile. These volumes exhibited in the beauty of their calligraphy and the magnificence of their adornment all the pomp, the pride, the luxury, of Saracen art. Beautiful arabesques in gold, silver, and many colors, embellished pages written with a delicacy and regularity which equalled that of the finest type. The bindings were of inlaid leather; some were embroidered; others were incrusted with tortoise-shell, mother-of-pearl, ivory, and jewels; the clasps were of solid gold. All of these inestimable stores of learning were heaped in one immense pile in the centre of the Plaza de la Babal-Rambla, set on fire, and consumed. The importance of this sacrifice to bigotry may be inferred from the fact that there was probably in the entire world no collection of equal extent and value as that destroyed by Ximenes in this historic square, where, in the time of the emirs, national festivals had been celebrated, and the emulation of distinguished warriors in the martial sports of the tournament excited by the presence of the beauty and the gallantry of the Moslem court; where the differences of Castilian princes had been settled by a chivalric appeal to arms; where cultured audiences had witnessed the friendly rivalry of Moorish poets and troubadours, and the reward of the victor had been bestowed by the hand of royalty, all little suspecting that on the scene of their pleasures would one day be exhibited such a melancholy spectacle.

The pecuniary loss entailed by this vandalism was of itself immense, but the destructive effect it produced upon society was incalculable. By it perished unique literary monuments which it was impossible to replace; it offered a premium upon ignorance, for through such deeds alone was the favor of the all-powerful sacerdotal order to be secured; it discouraged learning to such a degree that from that time forth no Moslem writer of distinction appeared to illustrate the annals or depict the manners of his race; and it annihilated in a single hour the precious accumulation of ages, from which the modern historian might have collected data relative to Moorish civilization elsewhere unattainable in the world of letters. The intellectual degradation resulting from this intolerant act of Ximenes was most deplorable. All knowledge was thereafter filtered through the narrow channels of ecclesiastical inspection and thoroughly cleansed of every suspicion of heresy; the missal and the breviary supplanted the works of Arabic annalists and philosophers; and the enduring results of this crime against learning and of its pernicious example are still apparent in the remarkably illiterate and fanatical character of the inhabitants of Granada. Three hundred volumes on the science of medicine were saved from the flames, for the library of the University of Alcalá; but no entreaties or remonstrances from his companions could move the ferocious bigot to exempt from the sacrifice volumes whose jewelled covers and clasps of gold represented in themselves a princely fortune.

The destruction of Arabic manuscripts was the first step towards the employment of violence. With characteristic energy, the Primate availed himself of the authority with which he had been armed by the Holy Office. Persons suspected of heresy were summarily seized, imprisoned, tortured; and those who for the moment escaped experienced all the indignities which could be inflicted by the hands of ecclesiastical malice strengthened by boundless power. These outrages, and the repeated violation of the rights granted in their treaty with the crown, aroused the populace to desperation; and the arrest of a widow, whose wealth had attracted the cupidity of the authorities, was the signal for a dangerous revolt. The gates of the Albaycin were closed and guarded. The streets were barricaded. The towers were occupied, and Ximenes, whom the indignant threats of the people openly devoted to death, was besieged by an armed multitude in his palace, from which perilous situation he was with difficulty released by the Count of Tendilla. The news of the insurrection called down upon the tyrannical prelate the wrath of his sovereigns, but the singular credit he enjoyed and the vast influence he was able to wield soon restored him to royal favor.

It was now resolved to carry matters to extremes, and the choice of baptism or death was offered to the Moors, whose rebellion, although provoked by the oppression of their masters, was declared to have caused a forfeiture of all their privileges. The disaffection spread rapidly to the provinces; the mountaineers of the Alpujarras and the adjacent rugged country, which were the resorts of bands of desperate outlaws who entertained intimate relations with the Barbary corsairs, became involved; and the Catholic monarchs, so far from the religious triumph which they had anticipated, saw themselves suddenly confronted by a war which promised to assume formidable proportions. Space will not permit a detailed description of the repeated insurrections and final subjugation of the Moriscoes, and only the more important events of that memorable struggle can be touched upon. The mountain ranges of Southern Spain were admirably adapted to the desultory tactics in which they excelled, and the prolongation of the struggle was the natural consequence of the difficulties of the ground, of the boldness and activity of the insurgents, of the incapacity of the Castilian commanders, and of the proverbial want of discipline and fatal recklessness of the Christian soldiery. The general disarmament of the Moors had deprived them of the greater part of their weapons, but this disadvantage was eventually repaired by the spoils of battle and by the enterprise of Aragonese and Castilian traders, who, undismayed by the prospect of detection and punishment, were always ready, for an extravagant compensation, to furnish the enemies of their king with arms of the most approved pattern and workmanship. The operations of the contending forces were prosecuted with a cruelty hitherto unknown, even in the bloody annals of the Peninsula; and the ultimate triumph of the Spaniards was signalized by acts of such merciless vengeance that the foreign soldiers of fortune, enlisted for plunder and long seasoned by bloodshed, were appalled by their dreadful atrocity. The massacre of the population of a place taken by storm was the rule and not the exception; the wounded remaining on fields of battle were exterminated; prisoners were subjected to horrible tortures; every crime suggested by the incentives of lust, rapine, and hereditary aversion was perpetrated; and the most desirable fate of a captive was to be consigned for life to the tyranny of an unfeeling master dominated by every vice, inaccessible to mercy, and unrestrained by any law either of God or man.

An army of nearly a hundred thousand men assembled, at the summons of the Spanish sovereigns, for the suppression of the insurrection, at Alhendin near Granada. Formidable in numbers alone, this great host was composed of materials very different from the soldiery that had achieved the Conquest. It was indifferently equipped, unorganized, and absolutely deficient in discipline. The flower of the Castilian youth, inspired by the discoveries of Columbus, had sought new scenes of adventure on the shores of mysterious lands beyond the ocean. Commercial pursuits had weakened the military spirit; a peace of many years had impaired the energy of the nation and incapacitated, for the exposure of a perilous service, a people who had been reared and nurtured amidst the din of arms. The blessings of internal tranquillity, almost forgotten in the conflict of centuries, had once more permitted the unmolested exercise of the mechanical arts and the practice of agricultural industry. The better class of citizens, in the full enjoyment of security, were loath to resume, for the sake of a religious principle, whose enforcement promised much danger and trifling advantage, the hazards of the uncertain game of war. The army was therefore mainly composed of the retainers and vassals of the nobility, whose duty required their presence, and an innumerable horde of penniless adventurers, who sought, in the excitements and vicissitudes of a campaign against the infidel, an opportunity for the improvement of their desperate fortunes. Aided by a smaller force operating from Almeria, the rebellion was, after some fighting and much cruel retaliation, put down; the insurgents, impelled by the promise of immunity or the menace of death, consented to embrace the Catholic faith; the ancient chroniclers relate with becoming pride that during a single day ten thousand proselytes were baptized in the Sierra de Filabres alone; and through material inducements, or from the contagion of example, the inhabitants of Baza and Guadix, of the Alpujarras, and of the mountain regions to the south as far as the sea, were reckoned among those who acknowledged the authority of the Church and accepted the doctrines of Christianity.

With the advent of the sixteenth century, a royal decree was promulgated, establishing at Granada the same civil jurisdiction which obtained in the other provincial capitals of the kingdom. The magistracy was nominally divided between the Spaniards and the Moors, but the equality was only apparent, and the preponderance of power virtually remained with the conquerors. Allured by the delusive prospect of a voice in the affairs of the government, and despairing of assistance from their brethren in Africa, whose good offices they had repeatedly but vainly solicited, the Moors of the Albaycin finally consented to baptism. They required, as a condition of their compliance, permission to wear their national costume and to use the Arabic language, privileges which were subsequently made pretexts for oppression. It was also agreed that the Holy Office should not be established at Granada for the space of forty years; a provision which ecclesiastical acumen readily evaded by placing that city under the jurisdiction of the Inquisitorial tribunal of Cordova.

Still dissatisfied with the slow progress made by her ministers in bringing the obdurate Moors within the pale of Christianity, Isabella a second time ordered Ximenes to Granada. Instructed by his prior experience, he conducted himself with more discretion than before; but his proselytes, driven into the Church by hundreds, without previous instruction, remained, like their predecessors, profoundly ignorant of its doctrines and of the responsibilities imposed upon them by their enforced conversion. This time the stay of the Primate was short; his ascetic habits had impaired a constitution never extremely robust; and a pulmonary affection of a serious character, whose symptoms were aggravated by unremitting excitement and toil, speedily developed. The available resources of medical science were unable to relieve his malady, and, abandoned as hopeless by regular practitioners, in the hour of his extremity he was induced to submit to the treatment of a venerable Moorish woman, who combined with Arabic science the mysterious and uncanny ceremonies of the witch and the empiric. Under her ministrations the distinguished sufferer improved with a rapidity which, under other conditions, would have been deemed miraculous; and he was soon able to leave the scene of his labors, owing his life to the skill of a member of that race which he had relentlessly persecuted,—after a career which, however short, had made a more profound and fatal impress upon the policy of the Spanish Crown than that of any other dignitary of his time, and which was destined subsequently to exert a powerful influence upon the political fate and the future civilization of Europe.

A sequence of calamities, traceable to royal perfidy and ecclesiastical usurpation, was now about to descend upon the Spanish monarchy. The apprehensions of the inhabitants of the Serrania of Ronda had been aroused by reports of the injustice and violence visited upon their countrymen of Granada. The Moorish citizens of the ancient capital and its environs were now all nominally Christians. The persuasive methods of Talavera and the severity of Ximenes had enrolled upon the registers of the Church more than seventy thousand proselytes. Under the circumstances, the professions of a vast majority of these were necessarily insincere. It was an example of the organization of hypocrisy upon a gigantic scale, where religious principle was subordinated to material interests, and an outward observance of superstitious rites was accepted as an equivalent of earnest devotion and genuine piety. These reputed converts had not, however, by any means abandoned the faith of their forefathers. They diligently celebrated its rites in secret. Their children were early, and with secrecy, instructed in the doctrines of Islam. In defiance of royal decrees, they practised many suspicious ceremonies not recognized even by orthodox Moslems, performed incantations, wore talismans and charms. A concealed system of communication was established between them and their brethren in the provinces; and each important event that took place in the city was known within a few hours to every inhabitant of the sierras. The Moors of the Serrania of Ronda did not receive the Gospel with the same docility as their kinsmen of the Alpujarras, whose doubts had been speedily removed by the cogent argument of a hundred thousand armed men. The missionaries, who tried to carry matters with a high hand, were maltreated and driven away. The mountaineers rose; the country was swept by bands of merciless brigands; the corsairs of Africa repaired in large numbers to the scene of booty and adventure; the passes were barricaded; and the region in the vicinity of Ronda assumed the appearance of a fortified camp. Offers of amnesty, conditional on baptism, were received with scorn. An army under Don Alonso de Aguilar, the Count of Cifuentes, and the Count of Ureña then entered the mountains. The Moors, evacuating their villages, slowly retired to the Sierra Bermeja, where they made a final stand. The impetuosity and want of discipline of the Christians lured them into a disadvantageous situation, whence there was no escape. After a day of fighting, they were surrounded in the darkness and routed with frightful slaughter. Don Alonso de Aguilar, Francisco Ramirez de Madrid, chief of ordnance of the Spanish army, and many other cavaliers, were killed; and the mountain slopes were strewn with the bodies of soldiers who had been butchered as they fled. The victory of the Sierra Bermeja was the only important one gained by the insurgents in the long course of the Morisco wars. It was productive of no substantial advantage; and its only permanent effect was to exasperate the Queen, who, now regarding herself as the injured party, devoted henceforth all her energy to the oppression of a heretic race whose existence she considered a blemish upon her piety and a scandal to her dominions.

The submission of the Moors, during the gradual subjugation of the Peninsula, had left large numbers in different conditions of life scattered through the provinces of the various kingdoms. A few had early apostatized; many were held in a state of servitude; but by far the larger portion enjoyed a nominal freedom, and purchased immunity from molestation by the payment of tribute. All who complied with the laws regulating their responsibilities to the government were allowed the peaceful exercise of their religious ceremonies. The principal wealth of the Castilian nobility consisted in the industry of these their intelligent and laborious dependents. On what are now known as the dehesas and despoblados—“pastures” and “deserts”—of Castile and Estremadura, the Moorish agriculturists produced from an ungrateful soil the wheat which supplied the population of the entire Peninsula. These invaluable tributaries of the Spanish Crown had never evinced the slightest concern for the fate of their fellow-sectaries contending for liberty and religion on the distant banks of the Genil. Not only had they failed to manifest their sympathy, but the extraordinary contributions for the prosecution of the war levied upon the products of their thrift largely contributed to the successful termination of a struggle in whose result they naturally must have felt a more than passing interest. Had their feelings been sufficiently ardent to have induced active and armed co-operation, the difficulties of the Reconquest must have been vastly increased. As it was, their apathetic and selfish conduct was far from securing them immunity from persecution. The malignant bigotry of the Queen, flinging to the winds every sentiment of justice, piety, and humanity, had now usurped over her better nature an imperious and undisputed dominion; and on the twelfth of February, 1502, she published an edict ordering the banishment of all the Moors of Leon and Castile. The extraordinary lack of political discernment disclosed by such a step affords painful evidence to what dishonorable and injurious expedients a mind of more than ordinary capacity may be impelled by the fury of religious passion. These objects of her animadversion were, as a class, her most faithful, obedient, and valuable subjects. They had always observed the laws with scrupulous fidelity. Those most prejudiced against their blood and their belief had never imputed to them the crimes of sacrilege, of conspiracy, of treason. Under their patient and skilful hands, the most unpromising regions, heretofore abandoned by native ignorance and sloth as totally unproductive, now blossomed with unsurpassed fertility. Their industry filled the granaries of the kingdom; there was no other available source of supply, and with their expulsion a famine was imminent; in the future, as was subsequently demonstrated, there were none competent or willing to take their place. The slaves of her powerful vassals, serfs who represented infinite blood and treasure expended in the service of the crown, were not originally exempted from the force of this sweeping decree, and the infringement of private rights resulting from the arbitrary confiscation of this property, without excuse or recompense, promised disastrous political complications. These considerations had, however, no weight in the mind of the obstinate Isabella. The fact that in the midst of a Christian population an infidel community was suffered to exist, especially after the Moslems of Granada had declared their adherence to the Faith, was repugnant to her intolerant nature, and a standing reproach to the religion she professed. In support of her policy, she coined the atrocious maxim, worthy of the ingenious casuistry of a Jesuit, “It is better to prevent than to punish; and it is right to punish the little for the crimes of the great.” The vicarious sufferings of the Castilian Arabs were now to atone for the offences of the rebels of Granada, with whom they had nothing in common but a similar origin and an inherited creed, and in whose behalf they had never exhibited the slightest indication of countenance or sympathy. The enforcement of this measure, whose inhuman provisions subjected the unhappy objects of its severity to the treatment due outlaws and criminals, was only partially observed. At the very beginning it was seen that, if carried out to the letter, a considerable part of the kingdom would become a barren and uninhabited solitude. The decree was therefore revoked. A compromise, by which the delicate scruples of the Queen were satisfied, was effected,—baptism was substituted for exile; the scenes of indiscriminate and wholesale aspersion were repeated; a large and industrious population bartered their religious convictions for safety, and, by the force of a royal proclamation, were transformed from a self-respecting body of colonists into a nation of hypocrites.

With the death of Isabella, which occurred at this time, the Moriscoes were relieved from the persecution of a vindictive and persevering enemy. The permanent elimination of her influence from the politics of the Peninsula did not, however, improve the condition of the recent victims of her fiery and unrelenting zeal. The system by which she governed; the infamous maxims which guided her conduct in the relations existing between sovereign and subject; the shameless violation of treaties; the audacious usurpations of the clergy; the prejudices engendered by years of oppression, were perpetuated by her successors, and adopted by their ministers as an essential part of the policy of the crown. The reverence with which her memory is regarded is to be attributed, not so much to the greatness of her abilities, eminent as they were, but to their misapplication; not to the military achievements of her armies, but to the sanguinary revenge they inflicted upon vanquished enemies; not to the blessings of a wise, a just, and a stable government,—the most substantial foundation upon which the fame of a monarch can be erected,—but to the inauguration of measures which eventually purged the kingdom of misbelievers, who were the source of its material wealth and of its commercial and agricultural prosperity. A princess who could deliberately repudiate the obligations of national honor can scarcely be regarded in the light of a public benefactor. The patroness of the Inquisition has but a slender claim to the admiration of posterity. The popularity of Isabella is based upon the fact that she was the representative of contemporaneous popular sentiment. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries no proceeding was so meritorious as the torture of heretics. All questions of political expediency were rigidly subordinated to the claims of what was universally regarded as a paramount religious duty. The progressive decadence of Spanish power dates from its very establishment, and is directly traceable to the incessant intervention of ecclesiastical authority in civil affairs, and to the awful consequences resulting from the unlimited application of the atrocious principle that national faith and public honor must be always sacrificed to the interests of the Roman Catholic religion.

The different aspects under which the same things appeared, during the sixteenth century, to people of a common nationality, living under the same laws and professing the same doctrines, are remarkable. During the bitter persecutions in Castile, the Aragonese Moslems retained their privileges unimpaired. Not only that, but while the spirit of fanaticism was driving the tributaries of Isabella by thousands to simulated conversion, Ferdinand issued a decree granting to the Moors of Valencia the enjoyment of their religious and social rights in perpetuity. On the one hand, therefore, was the most radical suppression of individual thought and action; on the other, a toleration worthy of the most enlightened statesmanship, and, it must be added, little to be anticipated under the circumstances. But the sagacity of Ferdinand never willingly countenanced the employment of force in matters of religion. His jealousy of power caused him to resent the encroachments of the priesthood; and he secretly discouraged the oppression of a race which he recognized as controlling the material resources upon whose maintenance depended the preservation of his dignity and prestige.

During the twelve years that intervened between the death of Isabella and that of Ferdinand, the Moors enjoyed comparative peace and immunity; and the advent of Charles V. brought at first no unfavorable changes in their political or social conditions. That prince was scarcely seated upon the throne which he had inherited, and by whose acceptance there devolved upon him responsibilities of the greatest moment and the government of a people of whose disposition and character he was profoundly ignorant, when serious internal disturbances began to menace his authority. In Castile, the Comuneros, a conspiracy of nobles and municipalities, arose to assert their ancient privileges, impaired by foreign influence; and, at the same time, the Valencian populace banded together under the name of Germania, or Brotherhood, to repress the growing insolence of the aristocracy. The encroachments of the latter had long been a serious grievance in the kingdom of Valencia. Its members, ever since the Conquest, had maintained an insulting deportment with their inferiors, which had exasperated the latter beyond all endurance. They borrowed money of wealthy merchants and repaid them with curses and ridicule. The establishment of a regency had weakened the administration of the laws; the nobles were not slow to observe the advantages which a virtual interregnum afforded the development of private ambition; and, in the assertion of obsolete feudal privileges, every wrong which avarice or hatred could suggest was inflicted upon the citizens of a rich and defenceless community. The Moors, who were the vassals of the Valencian nobles, were not infrequently the instruments of their malevolence, and shared with their masters the general obloquy which attached to their conduct. The organization of the Germania had an important and disastrous effect upon the fortunes of the former. Their lot was cast with their lords, and the predominance temporarily acquired by the rebels through the incapacity of the Viceroy proved fatal in the end to the liberties of the vassal. The popular cry of infidel was raised by the insurgents, who numbered many ecclesiastics in their ranks, and sixteen thousand Moslems submitted to the infliction of compulsory baptism. The Emperor, who seems to have inherited with his dominions a taste for persecution, was not satisfied while a single Mohammedan remained within the jurisdiction of the Spanish Crown. With great difficulty he extorted a bull from the Pope which absolved him from the oath he had taken to observe the ancient laws and treaties of the kingdom, and expressly authorizing the reduction to slavery of every Mussulman whose scruples or obstinacy might prevent him from renouncing the belief of his fathers. Secure of Papal sanction, Charles now issued a proclamation requiring the Moors, under mysterious but unspecified penalties, to become Christians within ten days. The latter, who did not manifest the submissive spirit of their brethren, maintained a sullen demeanor, and, disposing of their personal effects for whatever they could obtain, prepared to go into exile. The publicity of their intention, however, defeated it; the authorities forbade the sale of their property as well as their departure, and nothing remained for them but apostasy or armed resistance. The former alternative was embraced by far the greater number. With such a multitude individual aspersion was impossible; the water of regeneration was sprinkled over kneeling thousands with branches of hyssop, and more than one unrepentant infidel, who had submitted with secret disgust to an obnoxious ceremony, was heard to mutter, “Praise be to Allah! Not a drop defiled me!”

The rural communities of Valencia regarded the prospect of conversion with even more disfavor than did the inhabitants of the capital. The ecclesiastical commissioners sent to enforce the royal edicts were excluded from the dwellings of the peasantry, who refused to hear their exhortations. In some localities open violence was manifested; the Baron of Cortes, who had urged submission, was killed by his retainers, and his body left to be devoured by swine. Resistance to royal authority was soon followed by organized revolt, and the Sierra de Espadan became the seat of a formidable insurrection. Including the banditti who habitually infested the mountains, and the African freebooters who hailed every disturbance as a source of plunder and profit, the army of the rebels amounted to more than four thousand well-armed men. A farmer named Selim Carbaic was elected their general, whose natural abilities and the valor of whose followers maintained for months an unequal struggle with the combined resources of the monarchy. Overcome at last, two thousand of the insurgents with their leader perished in a single battle; and a general amnesty was declared, under the sole condition by which any Moslem was now permitted to retain life or liberty. The Moors of Catalonia and Aragon were tendered the same alternative. Without hesitation they preferred hypocrisy to martyrdom; and by the year 1526 there no longer remained within the limits of the Spanish Peninsula a single individual who dared to openly acknowledge his belief in the creed of Mohammed.

This flattering result having been finally accomplished, it was now considered advisable to reform the proselytes. In nearly all localities where the Moriscoes predominated they occupied an anomalous position, so far as their spiritual welfare was concerned, for they were practically living without any religion. They neglected to conform to the ordinances or to observe the canons of the Church whose pale they had entered under compulsion. The evasion of their duties was connived at by the priests, who, so long as their parishioners were quiet and regularly paid their contributions, closed their eyes to all formal irregularities, and never troubled themselves with the instructions which it was their office to impart. This indulgence was further secured by donatives that exempted unwilling sinners from penance, whose vexatious performance might always be commuted for a pecuniary consideration. In the sight of the clergy, spiritual duties were thus entirely obscured by the more palpable advantages to be derived from worldly benefits and the maintenance of their flocks in ignorance,—a policy which at the same time confirmed their authority and increased their revenues. But the Moriscoes, while they shunned the mass, could not with safety resort to any other source of religious consolation. They were more than suspected of practising the rites of Islam in secret; but the jealousy with which they guarded the privacy of their domestic life prevented the verification of this suspicion. In the eyes of devout Christians, who did not fail to notice and reprobate their shortcomings, they were regarded as something worse than Pagans. Although they possessed all the requisites of good citizenship, and their intercourse with their neighbors was marked by every evidence of honor and probity, these qualities were ignored when their religious consistency was called in question.

The visit of Charles V. to Granada in 1526 was made the occasion for a strenuous appeal for the reform of the Moriscoes. Petitions and remonstrances without number, reinforced with all the arts of sacerdotal eloquence, were presented to the Emperor, urging that radical measures be taken to correct an evil which was seriously affecting the credit and the discipline of the Church. A commission of thirteen members, most of them high ecclesiastical dignitaries, and presided over by Don Alonso Manrique, Grand Inquisitor of Spain, was therefore appointed, and began an investigation. There was no difficulty in anticipating the decision of such a tribunal. That its decrees might be properly executed, the Holy Office was brought from Jaen and formally established in one of the palaces of the city. Ten sessions sufficed to determine a question in which were involved matters of the greatest consequence to the welfare of the kingdom, the maintenance of national honor, and the justice and integrity of the crown. Every accusation against the Moriscoes was received and considered, but they were not permitted to be heard in their own defence. The determination of the commission was published in a royal edict, which prohibited the Moriscoes the use of their family names, their dress, their language; which compelled the exposure of the faces of their women to the insulting gaze of the loungers in the streets; which required the abandonment of the peculiar ceremonies employed in the slaughter of animals for food; which sanctioned by domiciliary visits invasion of the privacy of their homes; and forbade them to ever lose sight of the Inquisitorial palace, whose officials were directed to henceforth exercise careful supervision over their conduct, and to punish with their customary rigor all infractions of religious discipline.

The terror experienced by the victims of this atrocious decree, which not only violated the conditions upon which Spanish supremacy depended, but deliberately sacrificed every consideration of justice for which national honor had solemnly pledged its faith, can hardly be imagined. But the Moriscoes, whose experience with their spiritual advisers had taught them the efficacy of certain methods in averting impending evil, had recourse to an expedient which, on a smaller scale, had repeatedly proved successful. It was no secret that the royal treasury was empty; and it was suspected that the depressed condition of the national finances was largely responsible for the proselyting zeal so unexpectedly exerted against a peaceable and inoffensive class. In consideration of a “gift” of eight thousand ducats, the execution of the obnoxious decree was suspended, during the pleasure of the Emperor, as soon as it had been signed; but this indulgence, it was expressly declared, did not affect the jurisdiction of the Holy Office. The parasites who surrounded the throne demanded and received an equal amount for an influence they claimed to possess, but which was probably never exerted. Thus a monarch, who posed as the secular representative of Roman Catholicism, consented to sacrifice the religious interests of a large body of his subjects and to compromise the imperial dignity for a sum equivalent at the present day to nine hundred thousand dollars in gold. No event in Spanish history discloses more clearly than this the true motives which instigated the prosecution of heresy, or the extraordinary wealth of those who were the objects of official cupidity and public malevolence.

The Moors of Granada, who had heretofore been almost exempt from the exactions of inquisitorial tyranny, now experienced for the first time the dire powers of the Holy Office. One of the first acts of Isabella, after the Conquest, was the foundation of innumerable monasteries. The favorite sites of these establishments were the suburban palaces of the Moslem princes, it being considered a peculiarly meritorious achievement to erect on the ruins of a splendid villa, devoted to the pleasures of a votary of Islam, an abode for holy men, who, by a pious fiction, were supposed to employ their abundant leisure in praying for the salvation of heretics. In building these structures the baths were first demolished, on account of the scandal the sight of apartments devoted to ablution and luxury caused every good Christian, as well as for the reason that their use was always considered entirely superfluous in a monastic institution. As a result of the partiality exhibited by successive princes towards the monachal orders, the city swarmed with friars of every description. Their prejudices made them the bitter enemies of the Moriscoes, while their numbers and audacity rendered them both influential and formidable. The fact that the inferior officials of the Inquisition were principally recruited from their ranks augmented the terror which their insolence and rapacity inspired, and no familiar who wore the Dominican or Franciscan garb was ever known to incline to the side of mercy. To such hands was now committed the fate of the Moors of Granada. The compact with the Emperor, by which they had been confirmed for the time in the enjoyment of their customs, was broken. Their property was confiscated. They were subjected to the diabolical tortures adopted by the direst of tribunals for the production of testimony and the confession of guilt. In the famous Plaza de la Bab-al-Rambla, the scene of many knightly encounters and of the destruction of Moslem learning by Ximenes, the condemned underwent the final penance, the sacrifice of the auto-da-fé. The annoying restraints imposed upon them by priestly intolerance were the least oppressive of the many evils the Moriscoes were condemned to endure. In the frequent controversies which arose concerning the interpretation of imperial edicts and canonical decrees, the authority of the latter always prevailed. Every official, civil, religious, or military, asserted the privilege of magistracy, and claimed the right to compound an offence or to impose a penalty. In the art of extorting money, as in the direction of all matters pertaining to civil and ecclesiastical jurisdiction, the servants of the Church displayed an extraordinary aptitude. The regular taxes imposed upon the Moriscoes, a grievous burden in themselves, were augmented a hundred-fold by impositions unauthorized by law, and which had no other foundation than the demands of official rapacity. The sums obtained from these enforced contributions were enormous. An idea may be formed of the probable amount they yielded when it is remembered that the legitimate tax paid annually by the silk markets of Almeria, Malaga, and Granada added more than a million dollars to the royal treasury. The irregular means employed were far more profitable in their results than those countenanced by legal authority; and there were few demands, however iniquitous, which a Morisco dared refuse when confronted with the menacing power of the Inquisition.

In Valencia also the Holy Office, supported by Papal sanction and imperial duplicity, found a rich and most fruitful field for its nefarious operations. It was in this kingdom, so remarkable for its natural advantages and the industry of its people, that the Spanish proverb, “Quien tiene Moro, tiene oro,” had its origin. The relation of vassalage which the Moors of that kingdom in general sustained to the nobility was far from sufficient to protect them against the effects of secular and ecclesiastical prejudice. The unquestioned orthodoxy of the lord, his generosity to the Church, the antiquity of his family, the prestige of his name, his services to the crown, were swept aside when the question of disciplining his retainers was involved. The slightest suspicion attaching to a Moslem was enough to invite the descent of a horde of familiars and alguazils, who never failed to discover evidences of irregularity sufficient to render their examination profitable. The visitations of these functionaries were doubly offensive by reason of the unfeeling and insolent manner in which they were conducted. They left no corner of a dwelling unsearched; they destroyed property, insulted women, and without color of right or pretence of concealment appropriated such jewels and trinkets as struck their fancy. Spies of the Holy Office swarmed in the Moorish quarter, ever alert for signs of heresy. For these outrages there was no possibility of redress, and the trembling victim gladly purchased, by the confiscation of his effects, temporary security from greater misfortunes, which, if his worldly possessions were sufficient to warrant further interference, he was certain sooner or later to undergo. The intolerable nature of these persecutions impelled thousands of Moriscoes to seek by flight the only available relief from oppression. The Holy Fathers of the Inquisition were horrified by the retaliatory measures adopted by the friends of those who, for the welfare of their souls, were subjected to the salutary restraints of ecclesiastical discipline. Every time that the Moors condemned by that tribunal expiated their heresies in an auto-da-fé, information was promptly sent to Barbary, and an equal number of Christian captives perished by fire.

The African corsairs, under the command of the relentless Barbarossa, at that time held the empire of the Mediterranean, and by their aid multitudes of Moriscoes succeeded in escaping to Morocco. In vain the nobles protested against a policy which depreciated the value of their estates, depopulated their villages, and daily deprived them of laborers whose services could not be dispensed with and whose loss could not be replaced; both royal power and popular sentiment sanctioned the course of the Church, and the material prosperity of a single province was not worthy of consideration when weighed with the perishing souls of thousands of suspected heretics. Pecuniary arguments were then employed, and after several years of negotiation the operations of the Holy Office were suspended upon the payment of a yearly donative of twenty-five hundred ducats. Once more free from the perils of Inquisitorial visitation and punishment, the Moriscoes at once relapsed into their former religious indifference; the clergy viewed with unconcern the unmistakable evidences of apostasy among their parishioners; the nobles welcomed with undisguised satisfaction the relief of their vassals, the increase of their revenues, and the indications of returning prosperity; while the inquisitors, whose treasury had been filled to overflowing with the gold wrung by fines and confiscations from the wealthiest subjects of the kingdom, sought in other quarters new material for the stake and the dungeon, to be condemned to present torture and eternal infamy in the name of an All-Merciful God.

The abdication of Charles V. brought a grateful respite to the harassed and suffering Moors. The mighty interests of an empire which extended over two worlds engrossed the attention of Philip II., and he had, at first, no time to devote to the persecution of a handful of alleged heretics lost in a corner of his vast dominions. The Roman Pontiff, who, perhaps influenced by motives of humanity, but certainly not absolutely free from political bias or resentment for the outrage inflicted by the Emperor upon the Holy See, had always discountenanced his oppression of the Moriscoes, now heartily co-operated with Philip in alleviating the misery of their condition. A brief issued from the Vatican in 1556 empowered confessors to absolve from the offence of heresy without penance, and deprived the Inquisition of the greater part of its jurisdiction and authority. The nature of the young King had not yet been corrupted by absolute power; nor were his actions now controlled by that morose and pitiless spirit subsequently developed by remorse, disease, and bigotry, which, added to the hereditary taint of insanity which afflicted his family, rendered him, during the greater portion of his life, one of the most unfeeling monsters that has ever disgraced a throne.

The beneficial effects of leniency upon the Moriscoes, as contrasted with the employment of violent measures, were soon disclosed. They conformed, with seeming alacrity, to the often vexatious regulations imposed upon their conduct. They wore the Spanish costume; they adopted, in all public transactions at least, the use of the Castilian language. Colleges were founded for their instruction by devout and enterprising prelates. Their children, male and female, were educated in the schools, and assumed the ecclesiastical habit of the various monastic orders within whose jurisdiction they were enrolled. From Morisco seminaries missionaries went forth to instruct and reconcile their doubting countrymen. In imitation of their patrons, they founded and supported religious brotherhoods. Their professions were apparently sincere; they began to perform their duties with scrupulous regularity; and it seemed as if at last the hitherto delusive hope of Moslem conversion was about to be realized. But the spirit of ferocious intolerance, ever predominant in the Spanish character, and which in the sixteenth century amounted to a frenzy, regarded with anything but complacency the indulgent consideration extended towards the unhappy objects of hereditary aversion. With this sentiment generally prevalent, fresh pretexts for encroachment were easily invented. In 1560 the assistance of the government was invoked by the Christians of Granada to restrain the purchase of slaves by the Moriscoes, who, it was stated, were in the habit of instructing their servants secretly in the doctrines of Islam and thereby multiplying the number of its adherents, to the scandal of the Church and the prejudice of the royal authority. No attempt was made to ascertain the truth or falsity of this accusation, and the Moriscoes were deprived, by royal decree, of the right of possessing slaves, a measure seriously affecting the rural and domestic economy of the entire population of Granada, which was dependent upon the cultivation of the soil by a multitude of negroes held by the Moorish farmers in servitude.

In addition to this virtual confiscation of property for no valid cause and without indemnity, the Moors were compelled to produce the arms whose possession had already been licensed, in order to have them stamped by the government, and thus contribute still further to the gratification of official greed. The penalty incurred for the possession of a weapon without permission was six years in the galleys; that for counterfeiting the royal stamp was death. The enforcement of these regulations, the first of which threatened to paralyze agricultural labor, the principal occupation of the Moriscoes and the main dependence of the revenues of the crown, exasperated beyond endurance those affected by their enactment. The loss of their slaves impoverished many. Some surrendered their arms and procured others clandestinely. Others enlisted in the organized bands of outlaws who, under the name of monfis, roamed through the sierras and levied at will contributions upon the wealthy Spaniards of the Vega. Many of these brigands, through the connivance of their sympathizers, entered the capital by night in force, bore away the wives and children of their enemies, and left in the squares and highways the mutilated corpse of every Christian they encountered. The numbers of the monfis increased with alarming rapidity. Their incursions began to resemble the operations of an organized army; preparations for an insurrection were secretly instituted, and the assistance of the rulers of Fez, Algiers, and Constantinople was earnestly solicited in behalf of those who represented themselves as persecuted Mohammedans, abandoned without any other resource to the tyranny of Christian avarice and power.

Untaught by experience and regardless of consequences, the officials of the various civil and ecclesiastical tribunals pursued their extortionate policy without pity or restraint. The competition existing between them, and the adverse claims involving contested jurisdiction and disputed plunder which constantly arose, often caused serious conflicts of authority, from which the representatives of the Church and the Inquisition generally emerged victorious. These quarrels between these two classes of oppressors embittered them both against their common victims, and dissension increased instead of alleviating the sufferings of the latter. To make their situation even more desperate, the decree of Charles V., promulgated in 1526, was now put in force by the King. The Moriscoes, unable longer to sustain the grievous exactions which they well understood were but preliminaries to the expulsion of their race, now rapidly matured their plans of rebellion. In the accomplishment of this they displayed extraordinary tact and shrewdness. A considerable estate had been granted to them in the neighborhood of Granada for the erection of a hospital. Under pretence of soliciting funds for its completion, trusty emissaries of revolt were despatched to every Moorish community of the kingdom. The collectors employed in this dangerous service visited in their journey one hundred and ten thousand families. The incorruptible faith of the Moors and their loyalty to their race were unprecedented; for among the multitudes intrusted with a secret for which a traitor would have received a fortune not a single individual abused the confidence of his countrymen. The entire sum obtained by this means is not known; it must, however, have been amply sufficient, for the contributions of those who were fit for military service alone amounted to forty-five thousand pieces of gold.

Messengers were next despatched to Africa to purchase arms. Secret and well-organized communication was perfected. The election of a leader now became imperative. In the old Moorish capital there lived a young man of amiable disposition and excellent mental capacity, but of prodigal and licentious habits, named Don Fernando de Valor, in whose veins coursed the blood of the famous Ommeyade dynasty of Cordova. A prince by birth, and enjoying the greatest popularity as a citizen, his prominence in the community had secured for him a place among the councillors who, under the constitution granted by the crown, assisted in the nominal government of the city. Although his dissolute manners and frivolous associations exempted him from the suspicion of the authorities, and his public observance of religious ceremonies stamped him as an orthodox believer, he had not forgotten the glorious traditions of his royal line, and in spite of his apparent sloth was active, brave, aspiring, and unscrupulous. In the house of a wealthy resident of the Albaycin, and within a stone’s throw of the inquisitorial palace, the chiefs of the conspiracy conferred upon this youth the perilous honor of leading a hopeless insurrection. With all the ceremonial of the ancient khalifate, he was invested with the royal insignia; his new subjects rendered him obeisance; he named the dignitaries of his court, and the assemblage invoked the blessing of heaven upon the Servant of Allah and the Representative of the Prophet, Muley Mohammed-Ibn-Ommeyah, King of Granada and Andalusia! The performance of this farcical ceremony neither inspired confidence nor awakened enthusiasm among the Moriscoes of the city. The character of the personage selected to re-establish the glories of Moslem dominion was too well known in Granada to arouse any other sentiments than those of ridicule and contempt. Intolerable as their condition was, the wealthy Moors hesitated to hazard their lives and property in support of a cause in whose success they had little faith; and the populace, while ever prone to riot, waited patiently for the signal from their superiors. For this reason, although several uprisings were projected, and even the hours of their accomplishment appointed, popular indecision and apathy rendered all designs abortive.

In the Alpujarras, where everything was already upon a hostile footing, the case was different, and the wild mountaineers hailed with enthusiasm the advent of a sovereign and the welcome prospect of war and depredation. The tempest of rebellion burst forth at once in every settlement of the sierras. The excesses committed by the insurgents are incredible in their atrocity and worthy of a race of savages. Their animosity was especially directed against the priests, whom they considered as the instigators and the instruments of their misfortunes. Some had their mouths stuffed with gunpowder and their heads blown to atoms. Others were compelled to sit before the altar while their former parishioners tore out the hairs of their heads and eyebrows one by one and then slashed them to death with knives and razors. Others, still, were subjected to ingenious tortures and barbarous mutilation; compelled to swallow their own eyes, which had been torn from the sockets; to be gradually dismembered; to have their tongues and hearts cut out and thrown to dogs. Hundreds of monks were seethed in boiling oil. Nuns were subjected to shocking indignities and then tortured to death. The glaring hypocrisy in which the Moriscoes had been living was disclosed by their conduct as soon as they believed themselves emancipated from the restraints under which they had chafed so long. They exulted in every form of sacrilege. Dressed in sacerdotal habiliments, they travestied the solemn ceremonies of the mass. They defiled and trampled upon the Host. The churches were filled with laughing, jeering crowds that polluted every portion of the sanctuary. Sacred images, donated by pious monarchs and blessed by famous prelates, were broken to pieces and burnt. Ecclesiastical hatred had, as an indispensable sign of regeneration, forced all Moslem converts to eat pork, a kind of food doubly offensive from inherited prejudice and Koranic prohibition. In retaliation for this annoying requirement, the insurgents, with mock solemnity, and invested with all the paraphernalia of Catholic worship, sacrificed hogs upon the Christian altars. Every form of violence, every outrage which newly-found freedom exasperated by the memory of long-continued injury could devise, was perpetrated by the enraged Moriscoes. So unbridled was their fury that even the common usages of war were constantly violated; prisoners taken in battle were put to death without mercy, and it was publicly declared that not a Christian should be left alive within the insurgent territory. This resolution, promulgated without his knowledge, was discountenanced by Ibn-Ommeyah, and he deposed the commanders who had by their arbitrary conduct and impolitic cruelty insulted the honor of his crown, but not until irreparable wrong had been committed.

The news of the insurrection, the exaggeration of its extent, and the horrors which followed in its train produced a general panic in Granada. All Christians who could do so took refuge in the Alhambra. The Moriscoes, in vain protesting their innocence, barricaded themselves in their houses, and such as imprudently ventured into the streets perished at the hands of the infuriated mob. The contest of jurisdiction which had so long existed between the civil and military authorities, each of whom claimed the supremacy, and neither of whom was willing to sacrifice his pretensions, even in the face of a cunning and dangerous enemy, added to the perplexities of the situation. Thoroughly acquainted with the discord of their masters, the Moriscoes, already elated by the exploits of their countrymen, of which they had early and accurate intelligence, began to manifest a suspicious activity. The prospect of war called to arms the turbulent and dissolute spirits of the kingdom. The feudal laws, which were still in force in the Peninsula, prevented, through the disputes of the nobles for precedence, that submission to authority requisite for successful operations. With these independent bands there was no question of patriotism; the national standard was merely a rallying point for pillage, and that commander was the most popular whose neglect of discipline afforded the greatest opportunities for unbounded license. These troops were commanded by the Marquis de Mondejar, Governor of Granada, and the Marquis de los Velez, both of whom were indebted rather to their names than to their qualifications for the prominence they enjoyed, for the one was without discretion and the other without experience.

In the campaign that ensued every consideration of military virtue, of pity, of humanity, was cast aside. The Christians fought with an energy dictated by fanaticism and rapacity, the Moors with all the reckless courage of despair. The Castilian officers, so far from restraining the excesses of the soldiery, encouraged them in order to increase their ferocity and render reconciliation impossible till all the available booty could be secured. The Moors of Granada paid dearly for the apathy with which they had received the overtures of their more daring countrymen. The lawless rabble of the Spanish camp, which recognized no restraint but that of superior force, was quartered upon the wealthy citizens of the Albaycin. It is notorious that even the plain-spoken old chroniclers of the time blushed to record the outrages inflicted by these savage volunteers, callous to every appeal of decency or honor. An extraordinary tax of six thousand ducats was imposed upon the Albaycin for the purpose of provisioning the army; and the Moorish farmers of the Vega were compelled under heavy penalties to furnish every day twenty thousand pounds of bread at a price arbitrarily fixed by the authorities. Thus the unhappy Moriscoes of the capital, too timorous to second an attempt to regain their independence, were forced to contribute to the discomfiture of their friends, to undergo unspeakable insults and frightful suffering, and in the end to sacrifice their property and in many instances their lives as the result of their distrust of a cause which lack of intelligent co-operation rendered hopeless from the very beginning. The activity of the Spanish generals, and the superiority in numbers of their troops, soon gained for them the advantage. The campaign resolved itself into a succession of skirmishes and marauding expeditions, whose monotony was occasionally relieved by promiscuous butchery. In consequence of a disturbance provoked by the insolent conduct of a Spanish soldier, thirteen hundred prisoners, of whom a thousand were women, were massacred at the Castle of Jubiles. The plans of the royal commanders were hampered by the insubordination of the soldiery; their insatiable greed placed the army in desperate situations, whence by good fortune alone it could be extricated, and the frequency of desertion seriously threatened the efficiency of a force unrestrained either by self-respect or military law. Driven from point to point, the army of Ibn-Ommeyah was finally beaten and dispersed. The Alpujarras were occupied by lines of fortified posts, which prevented the assembling of any considerable body of insurgents; the mountaineers of the adjacent sierras were gradually reduced to submission, and the insurrection was at last only represented by the fugitive prince and a handful of followers, whose fidelity was sorely tried by the tempting reward offered for the head of their sovereign.

The Moriscoes, terrified by the misfortunes which they had undergone, offered, for the sake of present security, to submit to any conditions that might be imposed,—to deportation, to exile, to confiscation, to the maintenance of the troops that might be detailed as their guards against future hostility. Different and irreconcilable opinions prevailed among the officials of the crown as to the policy to be adopted; one party advocated amnesty, another extermination. In the mean time, while their superiors were wrangling, the soldiers pursued without interruption the agreeable diversion of rapine. Although hostilities had ceased, small bands of military brigands roamed everywhere without control, robbing houses, destroying property, ravishing women. Inoffensive peasants, who had never borne arms, were seized, carried to Granada, and publicly sold as slaves in the markets of the city by these outlaws, with the knowledge and connivance of the authorities. The latter quarrelled over the division of the spoil and the questionable distinction acquired by conflagration and massacre. No faith was kept with the vanquished. Safe-conducts signed by the highest officials were not respected. No Morisco was exempt from molestation and violence; no house was secure from the intrusion of prowling and bloodthirsty ruffians. When a body of Christian troops passed through a Moorish community everything portable departed with it, the rest was burned. There was deliberate method in this wholesale destruction of property. The army desired nothing so little as peace. War had been profitable even beyond expectation. The booty already secured was immense, but the greater portion had as yet escaped the avarice of the conqueror. The general and the common soldier alike cast longing glances upon the wealth of the Albaycin; upon the productive estates of the Vega, still cultivated by Moorish industry; upon the untold wealth in gold and jewels known to be hoarded by the residents of Guadix, Baza, and Almeria. Leaving all else out of consideration, the Moriscoes themselves, who numbered more than half a million, if condemned to slavery, would realize a prodigious sum. These were the sinister motives which urged an indefinite prosecution of the war, and it was not long before the desired object was attained. The Moriscoes, driven to despair by the duplicity of their enemies whose violence they could not resist, again fled to the mountains and sought the standard of Ibn-Ommeyah. The Spanish mob of Granada, excited by rumors of conspiracy, at once massacred the defenceless Moorish occupants of the prisons to the number of several hundred. Their personal effects were appropriated by the governor; their lands were confiscated for the benefit of the crown; and their widows and orphans were reduced to beggary. A judgment of the court subsequently obtained confirmed this arbitrary act, stating that its decision was based upon the fact that, “while some of the prisoners were actually guilty, all were guilty in intention.” The affair was regarded as a suggestive warning, and in the future the insurgents did not receive or expect assistance from their friends in Granada.

Once more the flames of war were kindled in the sierras, and the scenes of indiscriminate butchery were resumed. The power of Ibn-Ommeyah, strengthened by thousands of desperate men fleeing from persecution, by the monfis, by the corsairs, and by numbers of savage adventurers from the northern coast of Africa, now became more formidable than ever. That power he exercised with ferocious severity. The discipline of his troops was improved. Marauding parties of Christians from the principal cities were surprised and cut to pieces. Prominent officials who had ventured to advocate surrender were promptly executed for treason. The discouraging and hitherto hopeless task of enlisting the sympathy and aid of the Mohammedan princes of Fez and Algiers was resumed, but with no better prospect of success than before.

Philip, fully informed of the incapacity and mutual distrust of those hitherto charged with the government of Granada, now determined to commit the subjection of the rebels to a general whose rank and talents would command the obedience and check the insubordination of the ill-disciplined bands composing the bulk of the Spanish army. Don John of Austria, his half-brother, the natural son of Charles V., a youth whose opportunities had as yet given little indication of the military genius he possessed, but in whom discerning eyes had already perceived the existence of those brilliant qualities subsequently displayed with such lustre at Lepanto, was assigned to the command.