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[1] Catalonia was united with Aragon by the marriage of queen Petronilla with Raymond Berengere, count of Barcelona, in 1150. Valencia was conquered from the Moors by James I., in 1238.

[2] Capmany, Mem. de Barcelona, tom. iii. pp. 45–47.—The Catalans were much celebrated during the Middle Ages for their skill with the crossbow; for a more perfect instruction in which, the municipality of Barcelona established games and gymnasiums. Ibid., tom. i. p. 113.

[3] Sicily revolted to Peter III., in 1282.—Sardinia was conquered by

James II., in 1324, and the Balearic Isles by Peter IV., in 1343–4.

Zurita, Anales, tom. i. fol. 247; tom. ii. fol. 60.—Hermilly, Histoire du

Royaume de Majorque, (Maestricht, 1777,) pp. 227–268.

[4] Hence the title of duke of Athens, assumed by the Spanish sovereigns. The brilliant fortunes of Roger de Flor are related by count Moncada, (Expedicion de los Catalanes y Aragoneses contrá Turcos y Griegos, Madrid, 1805) in a style much commended by Spanish critics for its elegance. See Mondejar, Advertencias, p. 184.

[5] It was confirmed by Alfonso III., in 1328. Zurita, Anales, tom. ii. fol. 90.

[6] See the fragments of the Fuero de Soprarbe, cited by Blancas, Aragonensium Rerum Commentarii, (Caesaraugustae, 1588.) pp. 25–29.—The well-known oath of the Aragonese to their sovereign on his accession, "Nos que valemos tanto como vos," etc., frequently quoted by historians, rests on the authority of Antonio Perez, the unfortunate minister of Philip II., who, however good a voucher for the usages of his own time, has made a blunder in the very sentence preceding this, by confounding the Privilege of Union with one of the Laws of Soprarbe, which shows him to be insufficient, especially as he is the only, authority for this ancient ceremony. See Antonio Perez, Relaciones, (Paris, 1598,) fol. 92.

[7]

Dodeka gar kata daemon aripretees Basilaees

Archoi krainonsi, triskaidekatos d' ego autos.

Odyss. O 390.

In like manner Alfonso III. alludes to "the ancient times in Aragon, when there were as many kings as ricos hombres." See Zurita, Anales, tom. i. fol. 316.

[8] The authenticity of the "Fuero de Soprarbe" has been keenly debated by the Aragonese and Navarrese writers. Moret, in refutation of Blancas, who espouses it, (see Commentarii, p. 289,) states, that after a diligent investigation of the archives of that region, he finds no mention of the laws, nor even of the name, of Soprarbe, until the eleventh century; a startling circumstance for the antiquary. (Investigaciones Históricas de las Antiguedades del Reyno de Navarra, (Pamplona, 1766,) tom. vi. lib. 2, cap. 11.) Indeed, the historians of Aragon admit, that the public documents previous to the fourteenth century suffered so much from various causes as to leave comparatively few materials for authentic narrative. (Blancas, Commentarii, Pref.—Risco, España Sagrada, tom. xxx. Prólogo.) Blancas transcribed his extract of the laws of Soprarbe principally from Prince Charles of Viana's History, written in the fifteenth century. See Commentarii, p. 25.

[9] Asso y Manuel, Instituciones, pp. 39, 40.—Blancas, Commentarii, pp. 333, 334, 340.—Fueros y Observancias del Reyno de Aragon, (Zaragoza, 1667,) tom. i. fol. 130.—The ricos hombres, thus created by the monarch, were styled de mesnada, signifying "of the household." It was lawful for a rico hombre to bequeath his honors to whichsoever of his legitimate children he might prefer, and, in default of issue, to his nearest of kin. He was bound to distribute the bulk of his estates in fiefs among his knights, so that a complete system of sub-infeudation was established. The knights, on restoring their fiefs, might change their suzerains at pleasure.

[10] Asso y Manuel, Instituciones, p. 41.—Blancas, Commentarii, pp. 307, 322, 331.

[11] Fueros y Observancias, tom. i. fol. 130.—Martel, Forma de Celebrar Cortes en Aragon, (Zaragoza, 1641,) p. 98.—Blancas, Commentarii, pp. 306, 312–317, 323, 360.—Asso y Manual, Instituciones, pp. 40–43.

[12] Zurita, Anales, tom. i. fol. 124.

[13] Blancas, Commentarii, p. 334.

[14] See the partition of Saragossa by Alonso the Warrior. Zurita, Anales, tom. i. fol. 43.

[15] Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. p. 198.—Blancas, Commentarii, p. 218. [16] See a register of these at the beginning of the sixteenth century, apud L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 25.

[17] Zurita, Anales, tom. ii. fol. 127.—Blancas, Commentarii, p. 324.— "Adhaec Ricis hominibus ipsis majorum more institutisque concedebatur, ut sese possent, dum ipsi vellent, a nostrorum Regum jure et potestare, quasi nodum aliquem, expedire; neque expedire solum, sed dimisso prius, quo potirentur, Honore, bellum ipsis inferre; Reges vero Rici hominis sic expediti uxorem, filios, familiam, res, bona, et fortunas omnes in suam recipere fidem tenebantur. Neque ulla erat eorum utilitatis facienda jactura."

[18] Fueros y Observancias, tom. i. p. 84.—Zurita, Anales, tom. i. fol. 350.

[19] Blancas somewhere boasts, that no one of the kings of Aragon has been stigmatized by a cognomen of infamy, as in most of the other royal races of Europe. Peter IV., "the Ceremonious," richly deserved one.

[20] Zurita, Anales, tom. i. fol. 102.

[21] Zurita, Anales, tom. i. fol. 198.—He recommended this policy to his son-in-law, the king of Castile.

[22] Sempere, Histoire des Cortès, p. 164.

[23] Zurita, Anales, lib. 4, cap. 96.—Abarca dates this event in the year preceding. Reyes de Aragon, en Anales Históricos, (Madrid, 1682–1684,) tom. ii. fol. 8.

[24] Blancas, Commentarii, pp. 192, 193.—Zurita, Anales, tom. i. fol. 266 et alibi.

[25] Zurita, Anales, tom. ii. fol. 126–130.—Blancas, Commentarii, pp. 195–197.—Hence he was styled "Peter of the Dagger;" and a statue of him, bearing in one hand this weapon, and in the other the Privilege, stood in the Chamber of Deputation at Saragossa in Philip II.'s time. See Antonio Perez, Relaciones, fol. 95.

[26] See the statute, De Prohibità Unione, etc. Fueros y Observancias, tom. i. fol. 178.—A copy of the original Privileges was detected by Blancas among the manuscripts of the archbishop of Saragossa; but he declined publishing it from deference to the prohibition of his ancestors. Commentarii, p. 179.

[27] "Haec itaque domestica Regis victoria, quae miserrimum universae Reipublicae interitum videbatur esse allatura, stabilem nobis constituit pacem, tranquillitatem, et otium. Inde enim Magistratus Justitiae Aragonum in eam, quam nunc colimus, amplitudinem dignitatis devenit." Ibid., p. 197.

[28] Martel, Forma de Celebrar Cortes, cap. 8.—"Bracos del reino, porque abraçan, y tienen en si."—The cortes consisted only of three arms in Catalonia and Valencia; both the greater and lesser nobility sitting in the same chamber. Perguera, Cortes en Cataluña, and Matheu y Sanz, Constitucion de Valencia, apud Capmany, Práctica y Estilo, pp. 65, 183, 184.

[29] Martel, Forma de Celebrar Cortes, cap. 10, 17, 21, 46.—Blancas, Modo de Proceder en Cortes de Aragon, (Zaragoza, 1641,) fol. 17, 18.

[30] Capmany, Práctica y Estilo, p. 12.

[31] Blancas, Modo de Proceder, fol. 14—and Commentarii, p. 374.— Zurita, indeed, gives repeated instances of their convocation in the thirteenth and twelfth centuries, from a date almost coeval with that of the commons; yet Blancas, who made this subject his particular study, who wrote posterior to Zurita, and occasionally refers to him, postpones the era of their admission into the legislature to the beginning of the fourteenth century.

[32] One of the monarchs of Aragon, Alfonso the Warrior, according to Mariana, bequeathed all his dominions to the Templars and Hospitallers. Another, Peter II., agreed to hold his kingdom as a fief of the see of Rome, and to pay it an annual tribute. (Hist. de España, tom. i. pp. 596, 664.) This so much disgusted the people, that they compelled his successors to make a public protest against the claims of the church, before their coronation.—See Blancas, Coronaciones de los Serenisimos Reyes de Aragon, (Zaragoza, 1641,) Cap. 2.

[33] Martel, Forma de Celebrar Cortes, cap. 22.—Asso y Manuel, Instituciones, p. 44.

[34] Zurita, Anales, tom. i. fol. 163, A.D. 1250.

[35] Ibid., tom. i. fol. 51.—The earliest appearance of popular representation in Catalonia is fixed by Ripoll at 1283, (apud Capmany, Práctica y Estilo, p. 135.) What can Capmany mean by postponing the introduction of the commons into the cortes of Aragon to 1300? (See p. 55.) Their presence and names are commemorated by the exact Zurita, several times before the close of the twelfth century.

[36] Práctica y Estilo, pp. 14, 17, 18, 30.—Martel, Forma de Celebrar Cortes, cap. 10.—Those who followed a mechanical occupation, including surgeons and apothecaries, were excluded from a seat in cortes. (Cap. 17.) The faculty have rarely been treated with so little ceremony.

[37] Martel, Forma de Celebrar Cortes, cap. 7.—The cortes appear to have been more frequently convoked in the fourteenth century, than in any other. Blancas refers to no less than twenty-three within that period, averaging nearly one in four years. (Commentarii, Index, voce Comitia.) In Catalonia and Valencia, the cortes was to be summoned every three years. Berart, Discurso Breve sobre la Celebracion de Cortes de Aragon, (1626,) fol. 12.

[38] Capmany, Práctica y Estilo, p. 15.—Blancas has preserved a specimen of an address from the throne, in 1398, in which the king, after selecting some moral apothegm as a text, rambles for the space of half an hour through Scripture history, etc., and concludes with announcing the object of his convening the cortes together, in three lines. Commentarii, pp. 376–380.

[39] See the ceremonial detailed with sufficient prolixity by Martel, (Forma de Celebrar Cortes, cap. 52, 53,) and a curious illustration of it in Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 313.

[40] Capmany, Práctica y Estilo, pp. 44 et seq.—Martel, Forma de Celebrar Cortes, cap. 50, 60 et seq.—Fueros y Observancias, tom. i. fol. 229.— Blancas, Modo de Proceder, fol. 2–4.—Zurita, Anales, tom. iii. fol. 321. —Robertson, misinterpreting a passage of Blancas, (Commentarii, p. 375,) states, that a "session of Cortes continued forty days." (History of Charles V., vol. i. p. 140.) It usually lasted months.

[41] Fueros y Observancias, fol. 6, tit. Privileg. Gen.—Blancas, Commentarii, p. 371.—Capmany, Práctica y Estilo, p. 51.—It was anciently the practice of the legislature to grant supplies of troops, but not of money. When Peter IV. requested a pecuniary subsidy, the cortes told him, that "such thing had not been usual; that his Christian subjects were wont to serve him with their persons, and it was only for Jews and Moors to serve him with money." Blancas, Modo de Proceder, cap. 18.

[42] See examples of them in Zurita, Anales, tom. i. fol. 51, 263; tom. ii. fol. 391, 394, 424.—Blancas, Modo de Proceder, fol. 98, 106.

[43] "There was such a conformity of sentiment among all parties," says Zurita, "that the privileges of the nobility were no better secured than those of the commons. For the Aragonese deemed that the existence of the commonwealth depended not so much on its strength, as on its liberties." (Anales, lib. 4, cap. 38.) In the confirmation of the privilege by James the Second, in 1325, torture, then generally recognized by the municipal law of Europe, was expressly prohibited in Aragon, "as unworthy of freemen." See Zurita, Anales, lib. 6, cap. 61—and Fueros y Observancias, tom. i. fol. 9. Declaratio Priv. Generalis.

[44] The patriotism of Blancas warms as he dwells on the illusory picture of ancient virtue, and contrasts it with the degeneracy of his own day. "Et vero prisca haec tanta severitas, desertaque illa et inculta vita, quando dies noctesque nostri armati concursabant, ac in bello et Maurorum sanguine assidui versabantur; verè quidem parsimoniae, fortitudinis, temperantiae, caeterarumque virtutum omnium magistra fuit. In quá maleficia ac scelera, quae nunc in otiosâ hac nostrâ umbratili et delicatâ gignuntur, gigni non solebant; quinimmo ita tunc aequaliter omnes omni genere virtutum floruere, ut egregia haec laus videatur non hominum solum, verum illorum etiam temporum fuisse." Commentarii, p. 340.

[45] It was more frequently referred, both for the sake of expedition, and of obtaining a more full investigation, to commissioners nominated conjointly by the cortes and the party demanding redress. The nature of the greuges, or grievances, which might be brought before the legislature, and the mode of proceeding in relation to them, are circumstantially detailed by the parliamentary historians of Aragon. See Berart, Discurso sobre la Celebracion de Cortes, cap. 7.—Capmany, Práctica y Estilo, pp. 37–44.—Blancas, Modo de Proceder, cap. 14—and Martel, Forma de Celebrar Cortes, cap. 54–59.

[46] Blancas, Modo de Proceder, cap. 14.—Yet Peter IV., in his dispute with the justice Fernandez de Castro, denied this. Zurita, Anales, tom. ii. fol. 170.

[47] Blancas, Modo de Proceder, ubi supra.

[48] As for example the ciudadanos honrados of Saragossa. (Capmany, Práctica y Estilo, p. 14.) A ciudadano honrado in Catalonia, and I presume the same in Aragon, was a landholder, who lived on his rents without being engaged in commerce or trade of any kind, answering to the French propriétaire. See Capmany, Mem. de Barcelona, tom. ii. Apend. no. 30.

[49] Blancas, Modo de Proceder, fol. 102.

[50] Not, however, it must be allowed, without a manly struggle in its defence, and which, in the early part of Charles V.'s reign, in 1525, wrenched a promise from the crown, to answer all petitions definitively, before the rising of cortes. The law still remains on the statute-book, (Recop. de las Leyes, lib. 6, tit. 7, ley 8,) a sad commentary on the faith of princes.

[51] Práctica y Estilo, p. 14.

[52] "Y nos tenemos á ellos como buenos vassallos y compañeros."—Zurita, Anales, lib. 7, cap. 17.

[53] The noun "justicia" was made masculine for the accommodation of this magistrate, who was styled "el justicia." Antonio Perez, Relaciones, fol. 91.

[54] Blancas, Commentarii, p. 26.—Zurita, Anales, tom. i. fol. 9.

[55] Molinus, apud Blancas, Commentarii, pp. 343, 344.—Fueros y Observancias, tom. i. fol. 21, 25.

[56] Blancas, Commentarii, p. 536.—The principal of these jurisdictions was the royal audience in which the king himself presided in person. Ibid., p. 355.

[57] Fueros y Observancias, tom. i. fol. 23, 60 et seq., 155, lib. 3, tit. De Manifestationibus Personarum.—Also fol. 137 et seq., tit. 7, De Firmis Juris.—Blancas, Commentarii, pp. 350, 351.—Zurita, Anales, lib. 10, cap. 37.—The first of these processes was styled firma de derecho, the last, manifestation. The Spanish writers are warm in their encomiums of these two provisions. "Quibus duobus praesidiis," says Blancas, "ita nostrae reipublicae status continetur, ut nulla pars communium fortunarum tutelâ vacua relinquatur." Both this author and Zurita have amplified the details respecting them, which the reader may find extracted, and in part translated, by Mr. Hallam, Middle Ages, vol. ii. pp. 75–77, notes.

When complex litigation became more frequent, the Justice was allowed one, afterwards two, and at a still later period, in 1528, five lieutenants, as they were called, who aided him in the discharge of his onerous duties. Martel, Forma de Celebrar Cortes, Notas de Uztarroz, pp. 92–96.—Blancas, Commentarii, pp. 361–366.

[58] Ibid., pp. 343, 346, 347.—Idem, Coronaciones, pp. 200, 202.—Antonio Perez, Relaciones, fol. 92.

Sempere cites the opinion of an ancient canonist, Canellas, bishop of Huesca, as conclusive against the existence of the vast powers imputed by later commentators to the Justicia. (Histoire des Cortès, chap. 19.) The vague, rhapsodical tone of the extract shows it to be altogether undeserving of the emphasis laid on it; not to add, that it was written more than a century before the period, when the Justicia possessed the influence or the legal authority claimed for him by Aragonese writers—by Blancas, in particular, from whom Sempere borrowed the passage at second hand.

[59] The law alluded to runs thus: "Ne quid autem damni detrimentive leges aut libertates nostrae patiantur, judex quidam medius adesto, ad quem a Rege provocare, si aliquem laeserit, injuriasque arcere si quas forsan Reipub. intulerit, jus fasque esto." Blancas, Commentarii, p. 26.

[60] Such instances may he found in Zurita, Anales, tom. ii. fol. 385, 414.—Blancas, Commentarii, pp. 199, 202–206, 214, 225.—When Ximenes Cerdan, the independent Justice of John I., removed certain citizens from the prison, in which they had been unlawfully confined by the king, in defiance equally of that officer's importunities and menaces, the inhabitants of Saragossa, says Abarca, came out in a body to receive him on his return to the city, and greeted him as the defender of their ancient and natural liberties. (Reyes de Aragon, tom. i. fol. 155.) So openly did the Aragonese support their magistrate in the boldest exercise of his authority.

[61] This occurred once under Peter III., and twice under Alfonso V. (Zurita, Anales, tom. iii. fol. 255.—Blancas, Commentarii, pp. 174, 489, 499.) The Justice was appointed by the king.

[62] Fueros y Observancias, tom. i. fol. 22.

[63] Ibid., tom. i. fol. 25.

[64] Ibid., tom. i. lib. 3, tit. Forum Inquisitionis Officii Just. Arag., and tom. ii. fol. 37–41.—Blancas, Commentarii, pp. 391–399.

The examination was conducted in the first instance before a court of four inquisitors, as they were termed; who, after a patient hearing of both sides, reported the result of their examination to a council of seventeen, chosen like them from the cortes, from whose decision there was no appeal. No lawyer was admitted into this council, lest the law might be distorted by verbal quibbles, says Blancas. The council, however, was allowed the advice of two of the profession. They voted by ballot, and the majority decided. Such, after various modifications, were the regulations ultimately adopted in 1461, or rather 1467. Robertson appears to have confounded the council of seventeen with the court of inquisition. See his History of Charles V., vol. i. note 31.

[65] Probably no nation of the period would have displayed a temperance similar to that exhibited by the Aragonese at the beginning of the fifteenth century, in 1412; when the people, having been split into factions by a contested succession, agreed to refer the dispute to a committee of judges, elected equally from the three great provinces of the kingdom; who, after an examination conducted with all the forms of law, and on the same equitable principles as would have guided the determination of a private suit, delivered an opinion, which was received as obligatory on the whole nation.

[66] See Zurita, Anales, lib. 8, cap. 29—and the admirable sentiments cited by Blancas from the parliamentary acts, in 1451. Commentarii, p. 350.

From this independent position must be excepted, indeed, the lower classes of the peasantry, who seem to have been in a more abject state in Aragon than in most other feudal countries. "Era tan absolute su dominio (of their lords) que podian mater con hambre, sed, y frio á sus vasallos de servidumbre." (Asso y Manuel, Instituciones, p. 40—also Blancas, Commentarii, p. 309.) These serfs extorted, in an insurrection, the recognition of certain rights from their masters, on condition of paying a specified tax; whence the name villanos de parada.

[67] Although the legislatures of the different states of the crown of Aragon were never united in one body when convened in the same town, yet they were so averse to all appearance of incorporation, that the monarch frequently appointed for the places of meeting three distinct towns, within their respective territories and contiguous, in order that he might pass the more expeditiously from one to the other. See Blancas, Modo de Proceder, cap. 4.

[68] It is indeed true, that Peter III., at the request of the Valencians, appointed an Aragonese knight Justice of that kingdom, in 1283. (Zurita, Anales, tom. i. fol. 281.) But we find no further mention of this officer, or of the office. Nor have I met with any notice of it in the details of the Valencian constitution, compiled by Capmany from various writers. (Práctica y Estilo, pp. 161–208.) An anecdote of Ximenes Cerdan, recorded by Blancas, (Commentarii, p. 214,) may lead one to infer, that the places in Valencia, which received the laws of Aragon, acknowledged the jurisdiction of its Justicia.

[69] Capmany, Práctica y Estilo, pp. 62–214.—Capmany has collected copious materials, from a variety of authors, for the parliamentary history of Catalonia and Valencia, forming a striking contrast to the scantiness of information he was able to glean respecting Castile. The indifference of the Spanish writers, till very recently, to the constitutional antiquities of the latter kingdom, so much more important than the other states of the Peninsula, is altogether inexplicable.

[70] Corbera, Cataluña Illustrada, (Nápoles, 1678,) lib. 1, c. 17.—Petrus de Marca cites a charter of Raymond Berenger, count of Barcelona, to the city, as ancient as 1025, confirming its former privileges. See Marca Hispanica, sive Limes Hispanicus, (Parisiis, 1688,) Apend. no. 198.

[71] Navarrete, Discurso Histórico, apud Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. v. pp. 81, 82, 112, 113.—Capmany, Mem. de Barcelona, tom. i. part. 1, cap. 1, pp. 4, 8, 10, 11.

[72] Mem. de Barcelona, part. 1, cap. 2, 3.—Capmany has given a register of the consuls and of the numerous stations, at which they were established throughout Africa and Europe, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, (tom. ii. Apend. no. 23.) These officers during the Middle Ages discharged much more important duties than at the present day, if we except those few residing with the Barbary powers. They settled the disputes arising between their countrymen, in the ports where they were established; they protected the trade of their own nation with these ports; and were employed in adjusting commercial relations, treaties, etc. In short, they filled in some sort the post of a modern ambassador, or resident minister, at a period when this functionary was only employed on extraordinary occasions.

[73] Macpherson, Annals of Commerce, (London, 1825,) vol. i. p. 655.—The woollen manufacture constituted the principal staple of Barcelona. (Capmany, Mem. de Barcelona, tom. i. p. 241.) The English sovereigns encouraged the Catalan traders by considerable immunities to frequent their ports during the fourteenth century. Macpherson, ubi supra, pp. 502, 551, 588.

[74] Heeren, Essai sur l'Influence des Croisades, traduit par Villers, (Paris, 1808,) p. 376.—Capmany, Mem. de Barcelona, tom. i. p. 213, also pp. 170–180.—Capmany fixes the date of the publication of the Consulado del Mar at the middle of the thirteenth century, under James I. He discusses and refutes the claims of the Pisans to precedence in this codification. See his Preliminary Discourse to the Costumbres Maritimas de Barcelona.

[75] Navagiero, Viaggio, fol. 3.—L. Marineo styles it "the most beautiful city he had ever seen, or, to speak more correctly, in the whole world." (Cosas Memorables, fol. 18.) Alfonso V., in one of his ordinances, in 1438, calls it "urbs venerabilis in egregiis templis, tuta ut in optimis, pulchra in caeteris aedificiis," etc. Capmany, Mem. de Barcelona, tom. ii. Apend. no. 13.

[76] Capmany, Mem. de Barcelona, Apend. no. 24.—The senate or great council, though styled the "one hundred," seems to have fluctuated at different times between that number and double its amount.

[77] Corbera, Cataluña Illustrada, p. 84.—Capmany, Mem. de Barcelona, tom. ii. Apend. no. 29.

[78] Capmany, Mem. de Barcelona, tom. i. part. 3, p. 40, tom. iii. part. 2, pp. 317, 318.

[79] Capmany, Mem. de Barcelona, tom. i. part. 2, p. 187.—tom. ii. Apend. 30.—Capmany says principal nobleza; yet it may be presumed that much the larger proportion of these noble candidates for office was drawn from the inferior class of the privileged orders, the knights and hidalgos. The great barons of Catalonia, fortified with extensive immunities and wealth, lived on their estates in the country, probably little relishing the levelling spirit of the burghers of Barcelona.

[80] Barcelona revolted and was twice besieged by the royal arms under John II., once under Philip IV., twice under Charles II., and twice under Philip V. This last siege, 1713–14, in which it held out against the combined forces of France and Spain under Marshal Berwick, is one of the most memorable events in the eighteenth century. An interesting account of the siege may be found in Coxe's Memoirs of the Kings of Spain of the House of Bourbon, (London, 1815,) vol. ii. chap. 21.—The late monarch, Ferdinand VII., also had occasion to feel, that the independent spirit of the Catalans did not become extinct with their ancient constitution.

[81] Viaggio, fol. 3.

[82] Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. fol. 183.—Zurita, Anales, tom. iii. lib. 12, cap. 59.—The king turned his back on the magistrates, who came to pay their respects to him, on learning his intention of quitting the city. He seems, however, to have had the magnanimity to forgive, perhaps to admire, the independent conduct of Fiveller; for at his death, which occurred very soon after, we find this citizen mentioned as one of his executors. See Capmany, Mem. de Barcelona, tom. ii. Apend. 29.

[83] The taxes were assessed in the ratio of one-sixth on Valencia, two- sixths on Aragon, and three-sixths on Catalonia. See Martel, Forma de Celebrar Cortes, cap. 71.

[84] See the items specified by Capmany, Mem. de Barcelona, tom. i. pp. 231, 232.

[85] Idem, tom. i. pp. 221, 234.—Capmany states, that the statute of Alfonso V. prohibited "all foreign ships from taking cargoes in the ports of his dominions." (See also Colec. Dipl., tom. ii. no. 187.) The object of this law, like that of the British Navigation Act, was the encouragement of the national marine. It deviated far, however, from the sagacious policy of the latter, which imposed no restriction on the exportation of domestic produce to foreign countries, except, indeed, its own colonies.

[86] Andres, Dell' Origine, de' Progressi, e dello Stato Attuale d' Ogni Letteratura, (Venezia, 1783,) part. 1, cap. 11.—Lampillas, Saggio Storico-Apologetico della Letteratura Spagnuola, (Genova, 1778,) part. 1, dis. 6, sec. 7.—Andres conjectures, and Lampillas decides, in favor of Catalonia. Arcades ambo; and the latter critic, the worst possible authority on all questions of national preference.

[87] Velazquez, Orígenes de la Poesía Castellana, (Málaga, 1797,) pp. 20- 22.—Andres, Letteratura, part. 1, cap. 11.—Alfonso II., Peter II., Peter III, James I., Peter IV., have all left compositions in the Limousin tongue behind them; the three former in verse; the two latter in prose, setting forth the history of their own time. For a particular account of their respective productions, see Latassa, (Escritores Aragoneses, tom. i. pp. 175–179, 185–189, 222, 224, 242–248; tom. ii. p. 28,) also Lanuza, (Historias Eclesiásticas y Seculares de Aragon, (Zaragoza, 1622,) tom. i. p. 553.) The Chronicle of James I. is particularly esteemed for its fidelity.

[88] Whether Jordi stole from Petrarch, or Petrarch from Jordi, has been matter of hot debate between the Spanish and French littérateurs. Sanchez, after a careful examination of the evidence, candidly decides against his countryman, (Poesías Castellanas, tom. i. pp. 81–84.) A competent critic in the Retrospective Review, (No. 7, art. 2,) who enjoyed the advantage over Sanchez of perusing a MS. copy of Jordi's original poem, makes out a very plausible argument in favor of the originality of the Valencian poet. After all, as the amount stolen, or, to speak more reverently, borrowed, does not exceed half a dozen lines, it is not of vital importance to the reputation of either poet.

[89] The abate Andres lamented fifty years ago, that the worms and moths should be allowed to revel among the precious relics of ancient Castilian literature. (Letteratura, tom. ii. p. 306.) Have their revels been disturbed yet?

[90] Mayáns y Siscár, Orígenes de la Lengua Española, (Madrid, 1737,) tom. ii. pp. 323, 324.—Crescimbeni, Istoria della Volgar Poesia, (Venezia, 1731,) tom. ii. p. 170.—Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. i. p. 183.— Velazquez, Poesía Castellana, pp. 23, 24.

[91] Mayáns y Siscár, Orígenes, tom. ii. pp. 325–327.

[92] Andres, Letteratura, tom. iv. pp. 85, 86.—Capmany, Mem. de Barcelona, tom. ii. Apend. no. 16.—There were thirty-two chairs, or professorships, founded and maintained at the expense of the city; six of theology; six of jurisprudence; five of medicine; six of philosophy; four of grammar; one of rhetoric; one of surgery; one of anatomy; one of Hebrew, and another of Greek. It is singular, that none should have existed for the Latin, so much more currently studied at that time, and of so much more practical application always, than either of the other ancient languages.

[93] The Valencian, "the sweetest and most graceful of the Limousin dialects," says Mayáns y Siscár, Orígenes, tom. i. p. 58.

[94] Nicolás Antonio, Bibliotheca, Hispana Vetus, (Matriti, 1788,) tom. ii. p. 146.—Andres, Letteratura, tom. iv. p. 87.

[95] Cervantes, Don Quixote, (ed. de Pellicer, Madrid, 1787,) tom. i, p. 62.—Mendez, Typographia Española, (Madrid, 1796,) pp. 72–75.—Andres, Letteratura, ubi supra.—Pellicer seems to take Martorell's word in good earnest, that his book is only a version from the Castilian.

The names of some of the most noted troubadours are collected by Velazquez, Poesía Castellana, (pp. 20–24.—Capmany, Mem. de Barcelona, tom. ii. Apend. no. 5.) Some extracts and pertinent criticisms on their productions may be found by the English reader in the Retrospective Review. (No. 7, art. 2.) It is to be regretted that the author has not redeemed his pledge of continuing his notices to the Castilian era of Spanish poetry.

[Illustration: GENEALOGY OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA.]