PART II. 34 had little relish for popular assemblies. He convened them as rarely as possible in Aragon," and, when he did, omitted no effort to influence their deliberations. He anticipated, perhaps, similar difficulties in Castile, after his second marriage had lost him the affections of the people. At any rate, he evaded calling them together on more than one occasion imperiously demanded by the constitution; 35 and, when he did so, he invaded their privileges, and announced principles of govern 36 33 Capmany, however, understates the number, when he limits it to four sessions only during this whole reign. Práctica y Estilo, p. 62. 34 See Part II., Chapter 12, note 7, of this History.- "Si quis aliquid," says Martyr, speaking of a cortes general held at Monzon, by Queen Germaine, " sibi contra jus illatum putat, aut a regiâ coronâ quæquam deberi existimat, nunquam dissolvuntur conventus, donec conquerenti satisfiat, neque Regibus parere in exigendis pecuniis, solent aliter. Regina quotidie scribit, se vexari eorum petitionibus, nec exsolvere se quire, quod se maxime optare ostendit. Rex imminentis necessitatis bellicæ vim proponit, ut in aliud tempus querelas differant, per literas, per nuntios, per ministros, conventum præsidentesque hortatur monetque, et summissis fere verbis rogare videtur." 1512. (Opus Epist., epist. 493.) Blancas notices Ferdinand's astuteness, who, instead of money granted by the Aragonese with difficulty and reservations, usually applied for troops at once, which were furnished and paid by the state. (Modo de Proceder, fol. 100, 101.) Zurita tells us, that both the king and queen were averse to meetings of cortes in Cas tile oftener than absolutely necessary, and both took care, on such occasions, to have their own agents near the deputies, to influence their proceedings. "Todas las vezes que en lo passado el Rey, y la Reyna doña Isabel llamauan à cortes en Castilla, temian de las llamar: y despues de llamados, y ayuntados los procuradores, ponian tales personas de su parte, que continuamente se juntassen con ellos; por escusar lo que podria resultar de aquellos ayuntamientos: y tambien por darles à entender, que no tenian tanto poder, quanto ellos se imaginauan. (Anales, tom. vi. fol. 96.) This course is as repugnant to Isabella's character as it is in keeping with her husband's. Under their joint administration, it is not always easy to discriminate the part which belongs to each. Their respective characters, and political conduct in affairs where they were separately concerned, furnish us a pretty safe clue to our judgment in others. 35 As, for example, both when he resigned, and resumed the regency. See Part II., Chapters 17, 20. 36 In the first cortes after Isabella's death, at Toro, in 1505, Ferdinand introduced the practice, which has since obtained, of admin XXVI. ment,” which formed a discreditable, and, it must be CHAPTER admitted, rare exception to the usual tenor of his administration. Indeed, the most honorable testimony is borne to its general equity and patriotism, by a cortes convened soon after the queen's death, when the tribute, as far as she was concerned, still more unequivocally, must have been sincere. 38 A similar testimony is afforded by the panegyrics and the practice of the more liberal Castilian writers, who freely resort to this reign, as the great fountain of constitutional precedent. 39 The commons gained political consideration, no doubt, by the depression of the nobles; but their chief gain lay in the inestimable blessings of domestic tranquillity, and the security of private rights. The crown absorbed the power, in whatever form, retrieved from the privileged orders; the pensions and large domains, the numerous fortified places, the rights of seigniorial jurisdiction, the command of the military orders, and the like. Other circumstances conspired to raise the regal authority still istering an oath of secrecy to the deputies, as to the proceedings of the session; a serious wound to popular representation. (Marina, Teoria, tom. i. p. 273.) Capmany (Práctica y Estilo, p. 232,) errs in describing this as "un arteficio Maquiavélico inventado por la politica Alemana." The German Machiavelism has quite sins enough in this way to answer for. 37 The introductory law to the "Leyes de Toro" holds this strange language; "Y porque al rey pertenesce y ha poder de hazer fueros y leyes, y de las interpretar y emendar donde vieren que cum ple," &c. (Leyes de Toro, fol. 2.) 38 See the address of the cortes, 39 Among the writers repeatedly cited by me, it is enough to point out the citizen Marina, who has derived more illustrations of his liberal theory of the constitution from the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella than from any other; and who loses no opportunity of panegyric on their "paternal government," and of contrasting it with the tyrannical policy of later times. Advance ment of pre rogative." PART II. higher; as, for example, the international relations then opened with the rest of Europe, which, whether friendly or hostile, were conducted by the monarch alone, who, unless to obtain supplies, rarely condescended to seek the intervention of the other estates; the concentration of the dismembered provinces of the Peninsula under one government; the immense acquisitions abroad, whether from discovery or conquest, regarded in that day as the property of the crown, rather than of the nation; and, finally, the consideration flowing from the personal character, and long successful rule, of the Catholic sovereigns. Such were the manifold causes, which, without the imputation of a criminal ambition, or indifference to the rights of their subjects, in Ferdinand and Isabella, all combined to swell the prerogative to an unprecedented height under their reign. This, indeed, was the direction in which all the governments of Europe, at this period, were tending. The people, wisely preferring a single master to a multitude, sustained the crown in its efforts to recover from the aristocracy the enormous powers it so grossly abused. This was the revolution of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The power thus deposited in a single hand, was found in time equally incompatible with the great ends of civil government; while it gradually accumulated to an extent, which threatened to crush the monarchy by its own weight. But the institutions derived from a Teutonic origin have been found to possess a conservative principle, unknown to the fragile despotisms of XXVI. the east. The seeds of liberty, though dormant, CHAPTER lay deep in the heart of the nation, waiting only the good time to germinate. That time has at length arrived. Larger experience, and a wider moral culture, have taught men not only the extent of their political rights, but the best way to secure them. And it is the reassertion of these by the great body of the people, which now constitutes the revolution going forward in most of the old communities of Europe. The progress of liberal principles must be controlled, of course, by the peculiar circumstances and character of the nation; but their ultimate triumph, in every quarter, none can reasonably distrust. May it not be abused. pilations. The prosperity of the country, under Ferdinand Legal.comand Isabella, its growing trade and new internal relations, demanded new regulations, which, as before noticed, were attempted to be supplied by the pragmáticas. This was adding, however, to the embarrassments of a jurisprudence already far too cumbrous. The Castilian lawyer might despair of a critical acquaintance with the voluminous mass of legislation, which, in the form of municipal charters, Roman codes, parliamentary statutes, and royal ordinances, were received as authority in the courts. The manifold evils resulting from this unsettled and conflicting jurisprudence, had led the legislature repeatedly to urge its digest into a more 40 40 Marina enumerates no less than nine separate codes of civil and municipal law in Castile, by which the legal decisions were to be regulated, in Ferdinand and Isabella's time. Ensayo Historico-Critico, PART II. 41 simple and uniform system. Some approach was made towards this in the code of the "Ordenanças Reales," compiled in the early part of the queen's reign. The great body of Pragmáticas, subsequently issued, were also collected into a separate volume by her command, 12 and printed the year before her death. 43 These two codes may therefore be regarded as embracing the ordinary legislation of her reign. In 1505, the celebrated little code, called "Leyes de Toro," from the place where the cortes was held, received the sanction of that body. Its 41 See Part I., Chapter 6, of this History. 42A collection," says señor Clemencin," of the last importance, and indispensable to a right understanding of the spirit of Isabella's government, but, nevertheless, little known to Castilian writers, not excepting the most learned of them." (Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 9.) No edition of the Pragmáticas has appeared since the publication of Philip II.'s "Nueva Recopilacion," in 1567, in which a large portion of them are embodied. The remainder having no further authority, the work has gradually fallen into oblivion. But, whatever be the cause, the fact is not very creditable to professional science in Spain. 43 The earliest edition was at Alcalá de Henares, printed by Lanzalao Polono, in 1503. It was revised and prepared for the press by Johan Ramirez, secretary of the royal council, from whom the work is often called "Pragmáticas de Ramirez." It passed through several editions by 1550. Clemencin (ubi supra) enumerates five, but his list is incomplete, as the one in my possession, probably the 44 second, has escaped his notice. It is a fine old folio, in black letter, containing in addition some ordinances of Joanna, and the "Laws of Toro," in 192 folios. On the last is this notice by the printer. "Fue ympressa la presente obra en la muy noble y muy leal cibdad de Seuilla, por Juan Varela ympressor de libros. Acabose a dos dias del mes de otubre de mill y quinientos y veynte años." The first leaf after the table of contents exhibits the motives of its publication "E porqué como algunas de ellas (pragmáticas sanciones é cartas) ha mucho tiempo que se dieron, é otras se hicieron en diversos tiempos, estan derramadas por muchas partes, no se saben por todos, é aun muchas de las dichas justicias no tienen complida noticia de todas ellas, paresciendo ser necesario é provechoso; mandamos á los del nuestro consejo que las hiciesen juntar é corregir é impremir," &c. 44 "Leyes de Toro," say Asso and Manuel, "veneradas tanto desde entonces, que se les dió el primer lugar de valimiento sobre todas las del Reyno." Instituciones, Introd. p. 95. |