consequently liable, in all respects, to human infirmities, and apt to be guided in their decisions by the deceptions of false counsels or by error of judgment. In Alfonso the Learned, I admire the most eminent man of his age and the monarch who used his utmost endeavours to have his subjects instructed in every branch of art and science; but, with all his knowledge, there were many things of which he was unable to take a dispassionate view, and in many things that he did, he could not help being dragged along by that ignorance which was so common in those days, and even for some centuries afterwards. In the same laws, in which he determines the punishment to be inflicted upon the Jews who should be proved to have crucified children, he speaks of the penalties to which all were to be liable who should hold compact with the devil, or be wizzards or witches.20 66 20 The first Spanish writer who ridiculed those that believed in witches was the learned physician of Segovia, Andrés Laguna. In his translation and illustration of the work of Pedacio Dioscórides Anazarbeo, he gives a list of the ingredients, of which the unguents made to be applied to various parts of the body by the people called witches, were composed. As his words are very quaint, I take them down for the amusement of the curious. Speaking of some wizzards taken at Nancy in 1545, he says, Among other things found in the cave of those wizzards was a jar half full of a certain green unguent, similar to poplar ointment, with which they used to anoint themselves; the strength and offensiveness of its smell showed it to be a composition of herbs of the most chilling and soporific qualities, such as hemlock, night-shade, henbane, mandrakes. Through the medium of the alguazil, who was a friend of mine, I contrived to get a box of it made, and, afterwards, when in the city of Metz, I had the executioner's wife smeared over with it from head to foot: this woman had, through jealousy of her husband, entirely lost the power of Besides the laws already cited, which were made to the prejudice of the Jews by Don Alfonso, and placed among those contained in the Seven Partidas, he ordained in those of the Fuero Real" that the children sleeping, and become, as it were, half frenzied. I had this done to her because she was a very fit subject to try such experiments upon, and also because she had made trial of innumerable remedies without effect, and, besides, I thought it was a very proper remedy and one which, judging from the smell and colour of it, could not fail of doing her good. The woman, all on a sudden, while being anointed, and with her eyes open like a rabbit and presenting the appearance of a boiled hare, fell into such a sound sleep that I never expected I should be able to awake her. However, by means of strong ligatures and friction of the extremities, washings of oil, costus and spurge, fumes and vapours applied to the nostrils, and, finally, by the use of cupping-glasses, I made such dispatch with her that, at the expiration of six-and-thirty hours, I restored her to her reason and memory, though the first words she uttered were, Why in evil hour have ye awaked me, for I was surrounded with the greatest conceivable pleasure and delight?' And with her eyes turned towards her husband, she said to him, smiling at the time, Rascal, I let thee know that I have put on my horns for thee, and with a younger and finer gallant than thee.' After saying many other extraordinary things, she pressed us to leave her alone and let her fall again into her sweet sleep from which we gradually diverted her, but she always had her head filled with some vain fancies. From which we may conjecture that whatever the unfortunate witches say or do is a mere dream produced by very chilling beverages and unctions, which have such a destructive effect upon the memory and imagination as to make the poor timid creatures fancy and firmly believe they have done, while awake, what they have dreamed in their sleep: which results cannot proceed from any other cause than the excessive coldness of the ointment, which is absorbed into their system and gets to their very marrow." ANDRES LAGUNA.-Pedacio Dioscórides Anazarbeo, on materia medica, translated from the Greek into the vulgar Castilian, and illustrated with clear and substantial notes. Antwerp, 1555; Salamanca, 1570. 21 Lib. IV. tit. ii. law 4. The first, second, third, fifth, and sixth laws of the same book and title are also aimed at the Jews. For these laws, see Opúsculos Legales de Alfonso X., publicados por la Acad. Esp.-Translator, of Christians should not be suckled by Jewesses, nor the children of Jews by Christian women. His successors, kings Sancho the Brave, Ferdinand the Fourth, and Alfonso the Eleventh, renewed the above-mentioned statutes against the Jews: this was done by the first of the three in the Cortes holden at Valladolid in the year 1293: by the second, in the Cortes holden at the same place in 1295, and in those holden at Medina del Campo in 1303: and by the third, in 1310, in the collection of Leyes de Estilo," and afterwards in the Ordenamiento de Alcalá.23 22 In the council of Zamora in 1313, in that of Valladolid in 1322, and in that of Salamanca in the year 1335, several statutes against the Jews were passed: and though Pedro the First, of Castile, commanded the said ordinance which his father had made at Alcalá, to 22 There is either an error in these figures or in the name of the sovereign to whom this act is ascribed, for Alfonso the Eleventh did not come to the throne till the year 1312.-Translator. 23 The Leyes de Estilo have been published with the Opúsculos Legales of Alfonso X., because, in a manuscript book which contains the Fuero Real, they come immediately after it, but are not considered by the editor to be the works of that monarch, though, possibly, they may have been composed by Alfonso XI.: this collection contains some severe laws against the Jews, and so does the Ordenamiento de Alcalá, published also by the Royal Academy in the Coleccion de Cortes de Leon y de Castilla. For the Ordenamiento de Alcalá, see also Semanario Erudito, vol. II., from page 65 to page 128.Translator. 24 The editor of the Coleccion de Cortes, &c., says he thinks this council took place in the year 1325, and that the chroniclers are wrong in supposing 1322 to be the true date. I cannot discover anything with regard to the other councils mentioned in this paragraph.-Translator. be observed and complied with, he continued for their benefit (though in opposition to the general wish of the states assembled in the Cortes at Valladolid) the jurisdiction of an ordinary judge," who was to hear them and deliver their pleas in civil causes, alleging, as a reason for this appointment, that the Jews were poor and miserable, helpless, and in need of protection.20 This protection and countenance given to the Jews by Don Pedro, was very gratefully acknowledged by them, inasmuch as, in all the enterprises which this ill-fated monarch undertook against his rebellious brothers who embroiled the kingdom in civil wars, they assisted him with money, and, in some instances, even with arms. In 1355, several gentlemen of the faction of Don Fadrique," Master of Santiago, and 25 Juez ordinario, a term thus explained in the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy: "the judge who takes cognizance of causes and suits in the first instance." This expression first instance is a legal term; in Spain there are judges of the first, the second, and the third instance. For the council of 1335 (or, as some think, 1336), see the Semanario Erudito, vol. xvI., from page 2 to 230, but particularly page 178. See also Aguirre's Notitia Conciliorum Hispania.-Translator. 26 It is gratifying to find an example of benevolence displayed by a prince, to whom the epithet of Cruel was, not without reason, given by his subjects. I think it might have been, with equal if not greater justice, applied to his brother, Henry the Second, who murdered and then succeeded him.—Translator. 27 This Don Fadrique was treacherously murdered by his brother Pedro, as will be shown by the accounts given by the historians Mariana and Lopez de Ayala: the latter I have abridged. "At the commencement of the year 1358, Don Fadrique, Master of Santiago, took Jumilla by force of arms and rescued it from the power of the Arragonese. When he had done this, the Master came to Seville, and on entering the Alcázar, was cruelly murdered by 28 Don Enrique, Earl of Trastamara, carrying these lords with them and placing them at their head, ap some of the king's macebearers, by the command and before the eyes of the king his brother. This was the reward and favour conferred upon him for the service he had just rendered the king. It is certain, however, that Fadrique was not pacifically inclined, and was at this time thinking of going over to the side of Arragon: I suspect that this must have come to the knowledge of the king, and that for this reason his death was accelerated." (Mariana, Historia General de España, lib. xvii. cap. 2.) According to Ayala, Pedro wrote several letters to the Master of Santiago requesting the latter to come to him at Seville, and when Fadrique made his appearance, the king, who was playing at some game (expressed in Spanish by Las tablas, probably backgammon, draughts, or chess), received him with apparent kindness, and told him to go to his lodgings and return presently: the Master withdrew from the king's presence and went into another apartment of the Alcázar, which was occupied by María de Padilla and her daughters, whom he wished to see, and while there, discovered by the sad expression on María's countenance that all was not right on this he went out into the courtyard, the doors of which he found locked, and discovered that his mules had been taken away: while he was hesitating as to what he should do, he was summoned by two gentlemen into the king's presence: in this dilemma he thought it best to obey, and entered the palace with no other attendants than the Master of Calatrava (who knew nothing of the plot) and two other gentlemen, for the persons who had charge over the gates had given directions to the porters not to admit any When they got to the iron palace in which the king then was, they found the door locked, and after they had waited a considerable time, during which they were joined by Pero Lopez de Padilla, chief macebearer to the king, a secret door or postern (postigo) was opened in the palace, and Don Pedro appeared and said to Pero Lopez de Padilla, " arrest the master: " Pero Lopez enquired, "which of them shall I arrest?" the king replied, "the Master of Santiago." Pero Lopez de Padilla immediately laid hold of the master, Don Fadrique, and said to him, "surrender yourself." The master became much frightened and offered no resistance; and then the king said to some of his macebearers who were present, "Macebearers, kill the Master of Santiago." This was more than they durst do at more. |