Chapter VIII (1)

OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF THE SPANISH INTELLECT FROM THE FIFTH TO THE
MIDDLE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

In the preceding chapters, I have endeavoured to establish four leading propositions, which, according to my view, are to be deemed the basis of the history of civilization. They are: 1st, That the progress of mankind depends on the success with which the laws of phenomena are investigated, and on the extent to which a knowledge of those laws is diffused. 2nd, That before such investigation can begin, a spirit of scepticism must arise, which, at first aiding the investigation, is afterwards aided by it. 3rd, That the discoveries thus made, increase the influence of intellectual truths, and diminish, relatively not absolutely, the influence of moral truths; moral truths being more stationary than intellectual truths, and receiving fewer additions. 4th, That the great enemy of this movement, and therefore the great enemy of civilization, is the protective spirit; by which I mean the notion that society cannot prosper, unless the affairs of life are watched over and protected at nearly every turn by the state and the church; the state teaching men what they are to do, and the church teaching them what they are to believe. Such are the propositions which I hold to be the most essential for a right understanding of history, and which I have defended in the only two ways any proposition can be defended; namely, inductively and deductively. The inductive defence comprises a collection of historical and scientific facts, which suggest and authorize the conclusions drawn from them; while the deductive defence consists of a verification of those conclusions, by showing how they explain the history of different countries and their various fortunes. To the former, or inductive method of defence, I am at present unable to add anything new; but the deductive defence I hope to strengthen considerably, and by the aid of the following chapters, confirm not only the four cardinal propositions just stated, but also several minor propositions, which, though strictly speaking flowing from them, will require separate verification. According to the plan already sketched, the remaining part of the introduction will contain an examination of the history of Spain, of Scotland, of Germany, and of the United States of America, with the object of elucidating principles on which the history of England supplies inadequate information. And as Spain is the country where what I conceive to be the fundamental conditions of national improvement have been most flagrantly violated, so also shall we find that it is the country where the penalty paid for the violation has been most heavy, and where, therefore, it is most instructive to ascertain how the prevalence of certain opinions causes the decay of the people among whom they predominate.

We have seen that the old tropical civilizations were accompanied by remarkable features which I have termed Aspects of Nature, and which, by inflaming the imagination, encouraged superstition, and prevented men from daring to analyze such threatening physical phenomena; in other words, prevented the creation of the physical sciences. Now, it is an interesting fact that, in these respects, no European country is so analogous to the tropics as Spain. No other part of Europe is so clearly designated by nature as the seat and refuge of superstition. Recurring to what has been already proved,[1164] it will be remembered that among the most important physical causes of superstition are famines, epidemics, earthquakes, and that general unhealthiness of climate, which, by shortening the average duration of life, increases the frequency and earnestness with which supernatural aid is invoked. These peculiarities, taken together, are more prominent in Spain than anywhere else in Europe; it will therefore be useful to give such a summary of them as will exhibit the mischievous effects they have produced in shaping the national character.

[1164] In the second chapter of the first volume of _Buckle's History
of Civilization_.

If we except the northern extremity of Spain, we may say that the two principal characteristics of the climate are heat and dryness, both of which are favoured by the extreme difficulty which nature has interposed in regard to irrigation. For, the rivers which intersect the land, run mostly in beds too deep to be made available for watering the soil, which consequently is, and always has been, remarkably arid.[1165] Owing to this, and to the infrequency of rain, there is no European country as richly endowed in other respects, where droughts and therefore famines have been so frequent and serious.[1166] At the same time the vicissitudes of climate, particularly in the central parts, make Spain habitually unhealthy; and this general tendency being strengthened in the middle ages by the constant occurrence of famine, caused the ravages of pestilence to be unusually fatal.[1167] When we moreover add that in the Peninsula, including Portugal, earthquakes have been extremely disastrous,[1168] and have excited all those superstitious feelings which they naturally provoke, we may form some idea of the insecurity of life, and of the ease with which an artful and ambitious priesthood could turn such insecurity into an engine for the advancement of their own power.[1169]

[1165] 'The low state of agriculture in Spain may be ascribed partly to
physical and partly to moral causes. At the head of the former
must be placed the heat of the climate and the aridity of the
soil. Most part of the rivers with which the country is
intersected run in deep beds, and are but little available
except in a few favoured localities, for purposes of
irrigation.' _M'Culloch's Geographical and Statistical
Dictionary_, London, 1849, vol. ii. p. 708. See also _Laborde's
Spain_, London, 1809, vol. iv. p. 284, vol. v. p. 261. The
relative aridity of the different parts is stated in _Cook's
Spain_, London, 1834, vol. ii. pp. 216-219.

[1166] On these droughts and famines, see _Mariana_, _Historia de
España_, Madrid, 1794, vol. ii. p. 270, vol. iii. p. 225, vol.
iv. p. 32. _Conde_, _Historia de la Dominacion de los Arabes en
España_, Paris, 1840, pp. 142, 149, 154, 170. _Davila_,
_Historia de la Vida de Felipe Tercero_, Madrid, 1771, folio,
lib. ii. p. 114. _Clarke's Letters concerning the Spanish
Nation_, London, 1763, 4to. p. 282. _Udal ap Rhys' Tour through
Spain_, London, 1760, pp. 292, 293. _Spain by an American_,
London, 1831, vol. ii. p. 282. _Hoskins' Spain_, London, 1851,
vol. i. pp. 127, 132, 152. 'España es castigada frecuentemente
con las sequedades y faltas de lluvias.' _Muriel_, _Gobierno de
Carlos III._, Madrid, 1839, p. 193.

[1167] 'Añádase á todo esto las repetidas pestes, y mortales epidemias
que han afligido á las provincias de España, mayormente á las
meridionales que han sido las mas sujetas á estas plagas. De
estas se hace mencion en los anales é historias muy
freqüentemente; y en su confirmacion se puede leer el tratado
histórico, ó _epidemiológia_ que sobre ellas ha publicado Don
Joachîn de Villalba, donde se verá con dolor y espanto con
quanta freqüencia se repetian estos azotes desde mediados del
siglo décimoquarto.' ... 'Dos exemplos bien recientes y
dolorosos hemos visto, y conservaremos en la memoria, en los
formidables estragos que acaban de padecer gran parte del reyno
de Sevilla, Cádiz, y sus contornos, Málaga, Cartagena, y
Alicante; sin contar la mortandad con que han afligido á la
mayor parte de los pueblos de ámbas Castillas las epidemias de
calenturas pútridas en el año pasado de 1805.' ... 'Por otra
parte la fundacion de tantas capillas y procesiones á San Roque,
y á San Sebastian, como abogados contre la peste, que todavía se
conservan en la mayor parte de nuestras ciudades de España, son
otro testimonio de los grandes y repetidos estragos que habian
padecido sus pueblos de este azote. Y el gran número de médicos
españoles que publicáron tratados preservativos y curativos de
la peste en los reynados de Cárlos V., Felipe II., Felipe III.,
y Felipe IV., confirman mas la verdad de los hechos.' _Capmany_,
_Qüestiones Criticas_, Madrid, 1807, pp. 51, 52; see also pp.
66, 67; and _Janer_, _Condicion Social de los Moriscos de
España_, Madrid, 1857, pp. 106, 107; and the notice of Malaga in
_Bourgoing_, _Tableau de l'Espagne_, Paris, 1808, vol. iii.
p. 242.

[1168] 'Earthquakes are still often felt at Granada and along the coast
of the province of Alicante, where their effects have been very
disastrous. Much further in the interior, in the small Sierra
del Tremédal, or district of Albarracia, in the province of
Terruel, eruptions and shocks have been very frequent since the
most remote periods; the black porphyry is there seen traversing
the altered strata of the oolitic formation. The old inhabitants
of the country speak of sinking of the ground and of the escape
of sulphureous gases when they were young; these same phenomena
have occurred during four consecutive months of the preceding
winter, accompanied by earthquakes, which have caused
considerable mischief to the buildings of seven villages
situated within a radius of two leagues. They have not, however,
been attended with any loss of life, on account of the
inhabitants hastening to abandon their dwellings at the first
indications of danger.' _Ezquerra on the Geology of Spain_, in
the _Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London_,
vol. vi. pp. 412, 413, London, 1850. 'The provinces of Malaga,
Murcia, and Granada, and, in Portugal, the country round Lisbon,
are recorded at several periods to have been devastated, by
great earthquakes.' _Lyell's Principles of Geology_, London,
1853, p. 358. 'Los terremotos son tan sensibles y freqüentes en
lo alto de las montañas, como en lo llano, pues Sevilla está
sujeta á ellos hallándose situada sobre una llanura tan igual y
baxa como Holanda.' _Bowles_, _Introduccion à la Historia
Natural de España_, Madrid, 1789, 4to, pp. 90, 91. 'The littoral
plains, especially about Cartagena and Alicante, are much
subject to earthquakes.' _Ford's Spain_, 1847, p. 168. 'This
corner of Spain is the chief volcanic district of the Peninsula,
which stretches from Cabo de Gata to near Cartagena; the
earthquakes are very frequent.' _Ford_, p. 174. 'Spain,
including Portugal, in its external configuration, with its vast
tableland of the two Castiles, rising nearly 2,000 feet above
the sea, is perhaps the most interesting portion of Europe, not
only in this respect, but as a region of earthquake disturbance,
where the energy and destroying power of this agency have been
more than once displayed upon the most tremendous scale.'
_Mallet's Earthquake Catalogue of the British Association_,
Report for 1858, p. 9, London, 1858.

I quote these passages at length, partly on account of their
interest as physical truths, and partly because the facts stated
in them are essential for a right understanding of the history
of Spain. Their influence on the Spanish character was pointed
out, for I believe the first time, in my _History of
Civilization_, vol. i. pp. 123, 124. On that occasion, I adduced
no evidence to prove the frequency of earthquakes in the
Peninsula, because I supposed that all persons moderately
acquainted with the physical history of the earth were aware of
the circumstance. But, in April 1858, a criticism of my book
appeared in the _Edinburgh Review_, in which the serious
blunders which I am said to have committed are unsparingly
exposed. In p. 468 of that Review, the critic, after warning his
readers against my 'inaccuracies,' observes, 'But Mr. Buckle
goes on to state that "earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are
more frequent and more destructive in Italy, and in the Spanish
and Portuguese peninsula, than in any other of the great
countries." Whence he infers, by a singular process of
reasoning, that superstition is more rife, and the clergy more
powerful; but that the fine arts flourish, poetry is cultivated,
and the sciences neglected. Every link in this chain is more or
less faulty. There is no volcano in the Spanish peninsula, and
the only earthquake known to have occurred there was that of
Lisbon.' Now, I have certainly no right to expect that a
reviewer, composing a popular article for an immediate purpose,
and knowing that when his article is read, it will be thrown
aside and forgotten, should, under such unfavourable
circumstances, be at the pains of mastering all the details of
his subject. To look for this would be the height of injustice.
He has no interest in being accurate; his name being concealed,
his reputation, if he have any, is not at stake; and the errors
into which he falls ought to be regarded with leniency, inasmuch
as their vehicle being an ephemeral publication, they are not
likely to be remembered, and they are therefore not likely to
work much mischief.

These considerations have always prevented me from offering any
reply to anonymous criticisms. But the passage in the _Edinburgh
Review_, to which I have called attention, displays such
marvellous ignorance, that I wish to rescue it from oblivion,
and to put it on record as a literary curiosity. The other
charges brought against me could, I need hardly say, be refuted
with equal ease. Indeed, no reasonable person can possibly
suppose that, after years of arduous and uninterrupted study, I
should have committed those childish blunders with which my
opponents unscrupulously taunt me. Once for all, I may say that
I have made no assertion for the truth of which I do not possess
ample and irrefragable evidence. But it is impossible for me to
arrange and adduce all the proofs at the same time; and, in so
vast an enterprise, I must in some degree rely, not on the
generosity of the reader, but on his candour. I do not think
that I am asking too much in requesting him, if on any future
occasion his judgment should be in suspense between me and my
critics, to give me the benefit of the doubt, and to bear in
mind that statements embodied in a deliberate and
slowly-concocted work, authenticated by the author's name, are,
as a mere matter of antecedent probability, more likely to be
accurate than statements made in reviews and newspapers, which,
besides being written hastily, and often at very short notice,
are unsigned, and by which, consequently, their promulgators
evade all responsibility, avoid all risk, and can, in their own
persons, neither gain fame nor incur obloquy.

The simple fact is, that in Spain there have been more
earthquakes than in all other parts of Europe put together,
Italy excepted. If the destruction of property and of life
produced by this one cause were summed up, the results would be
appalling. When we moreover add those alarming shocks, which,
though less destructive, are far more frequent, and of which not
scores, nor hundreds, but thousands have occurred, and which by
increasing the total amount of fear, have to an incalculable
extent promoted the growth of superstition, it is evident that
such phenomena must have played an important part in forming the
national character of the Spaniards. Whoever will take the
trouble of consulting the following passages will find decisive
proofs of the frightful ravages committed by earthquakes in
Spain alone; Portugal being excluded. They all refer to a period
of less than two hundred years; the first being in 1639, and the
last in 1829. _Lettres de Madame de Villars, Ambassadrice en
Espagne_, Amsterdam, 1759, p. 205. _Laborde's Spain_, London,
1809, vol. i. p. 169. _Dunlop's Memoirs of Spain_, Edinburgh,
1834, vol. ii. pp. 226, 227. _Boisel_, _Journal du Voyage
d'Espagne_, Paris, 1669, 4to, p. 243. _Mallet's Earthquake
Catalogue of the British Association_, London, 1858; Report for
1853, p. 146; for 1854, pp. 26, 27, 54, 55, 57, 58, 65, 110,
140, 173, 196, 202. _Swinburne's Travels through Spain_, London,
1787, vol. i. p. 166. _Ford's Spain_, London, 1847, p. 178.
_Bacon's Six Years in Biscay_, London, 1838, p. 32, compared
with _Inglis' Spain_, London, 1831, vol. i. p. 393, vol. ii. p.
289-291.

These authorities narrate the ravages committed during a hundred
and ninety years. From their account it is manifest, that in
Spain hardly a generation passed by without castles, villages,
and towns being destroyed, and men, women, or children killed by
earthquakes. But according to our anonymous instructor, it is
doubtful if there ever was an earthquake in Spain; for he says
of the whole Peninsula, including Portugal, 'the only earthquake
known to have occurred there was that of Lisbon.'

[1169] On the superstitious fears caused by earthquakes in Spain, see a
good passage in _Conde_, _Historia de la Dominacion de los
Arabes_, p. 155. 'En el año 267, dia jeuves, 22 de la luna de
Xawâl, tembló la tierra con tan espantoso ruido y
estremecimiento, que cayeron muchos alcazares y magnificos
edificios, y otros quedaron muy quebrantados, se hundieron
montes, se abrieron peñascos, y la tierra se hundió y tragó
pueblos y alturas, el mar se retrajo y apartó de las costas, y
desaparecieron islas y escollos en el mar. Las gentes
abandonaban los pueblos y huian á los campos, las aves salian de
sus nidos, y las fieras espantadas dejaban sus grutas y
madrigueras con general turbacion y trastorno; nunca los hombres
vieron ni oyeron cosa semejante; se arruinaron muchos pueblos de
la costa meridional y occidental de España. Todas estas cosas
influyeron tanto en los animos de los hombres, y en especial en
la ignorante multitud, que no pudo Almondhir persuadirles que
eran cosas naturales, aunque poco frecüentes, que no tenían
influjo ni relacion con las obras de los hombres, ni con sus
empresas, sino por su ignorancia y vanos temores, que lo mismo
temblaba la tierra para los muslimes que para los cristianos,
para las fieras que para las inocentes criaturas.' Compare
_Geddes' Tracts concerning Spain_, London, 1730, vol. i. p. 89;
and Mariana, who, under the year 1395, says (_Historia de
España_, vol. v. p. 27): 'Tembló la tierra en Valencia mediado
el mes de Diciembre, con que muchos edificios cayéron por
tierra, otros quedaron desplomados; que era maravilla y lástima.
El pueblo, _como agorero que es, pensaba eran señales del cielo_
y pronosticos de los daños que temian .' The history of Spain
abounds with similar instances far too numerous to quote or even
to refer to. But the subject is so important and has been so
misrepresented, that, even at the risk of wearying the reader, I
will give one more illustration of the use of earthquakes in
fostering Spanish superstition. In 1504 'an earthquake,
accompanied by a tremendous hurricane, such as the oldest men
did not remember, had visited Andalusia, and especially Carmona,
a place belonging to the Queen, and occasioned frightful
desolation there.' The superstitious Spaniards now read in these
portents _the prophetic signs by which Heaven announces some
great calamity. Prayers were put up in every temple,_ &c. &c.
_Prescott's History of Ferdinand and Isabella_, Paris, 1842,
vol. iii. p. 174.

Another feature of this singular country is the prevalence of a pastoral life, mainly caused by the difficulty of establishing regular habits of agricultural industry. In most parts of Spain, the climate renders it impossible for the labourer to work the whole of the day;[1170] and this forced interruption encourages among the people an irregularity and instability of purpose, which makes them choose the wandering avocations of a shepherd, rather than the more fixed pursuits of agriculture.[1171] And during the long and arduous war which they waged against their Mohammedan invaders, they were subject to such incessant surprises and forays on the part of the enemy, as to make it advisable that their means of subsistence should be easily removed; hence they preferred the produce of their flocks to that of their lands, and were shepherds instead of agriculturists, simply because by that means they would suffer less in case of an unfavourable issue. Even after the capture of Toledo, late in the eleventh century, the inhabitants of the frontier in Estramadura, La Mancha, and New Castile, were almost entirely herdsmen, and their cattle were pastured not in private meadows but in the open fields.[1172] All this increased the uncertainty of life, and strengthened that love of adventure, and that spirit of romance, which, at a later period, gave a tone to the popular literature. Under such circumstances, everything grew precarious, restless, and unsettled; thought and inquiry were impossible; doubt was unknown; and the way was prepared for those superstitious habits, and for that deep-rooted and tenacious belief, which have always formed a principal feature in the history of the Spanish nation.

[1170] _Buckle's History of Civilization_, vol. i. p. 43. See also
_Laborde's Spain_, vol. iv. p. 42.

[1171] A writer early in the eighteenth century notices 'el gran numero
de pastores que hay.' _Uztariz_, _Theorica y Practica de
Comercio_, 3rd ed. Madrid, 1757, folio p. 20. As to the Arabic
period, see _Conde_, _Historia de la Dominacion_, p. 244:
'Muchos pueblos, siguiendo su natural inclinacion, se entregaron
á la ganaderia .' Hence 'the wandering life so congenial to the
habits of the Spanish peasantry,' noticed in _Cook's Spain_,
vol. i. p. 85, where, however, the connexion between this and
the physical constitution of the country is not indicated. The
solution is given by Mr. Ticknor with his usual accuracy and
penetration: 'The climate and condition of the Peninsula, which
from a very remote period had favoured the shepherd's life and
his pursuits, facilitated, no doubt, if they did not occasion,
the first introduction into Spanish poetry of a pastoral tone,
whose echoes are heard far back among the old ballads.' ...
'From the Middle Ages the occupations of a shepherd's life had
prevailed in Spain and Portugal to a greater extent than
elsewhere in Europe; and, probably, in consequence of this
circumstance, eclogues and bucolics were early known in the
poetry of both countries, and became connected in both with the
origin of the popular drama.' _Ticknor's History of Spanish
Literature_, London, 1849, vol. iii. pp. 9, 36. On the pastoral
literature of Spain, see _Bouterwek's History of Spanish
Literature_, London, 1823, vol. i. pp. 123-129; and on the great
number of pastoral romances, _Southey's Letters from Spain_,
Bristol, 1799, p. 336. But these writers, not seizing the whole
question, have failed to observe the relation between the
literary, physical, and social phenomena.

[1172] See the memoir by Jovellanos, in _Laborde's Spain_, vol. iv.
p. 127. This was the necessary consequence of those vindictive
attacks by which, for several centuries, both Mohammedans and
Christians seemed resolved to turn Spain into a desert; ravaging
each other's fields, and destroying every crop they could meet
with. _Conde_, _Dominacion de los Arabes_, pp. 75, 188, 278,
346, 396, 417, 418, 471, 499, 500, 505, 523, 539, 544, 551, 578,
645, 651, 658. To quote one of these instances, late in the
eleventh century: 'La constancia de Alfonso ben Ferdeland en
hacer entradas y talas en tierra de Toledo dos veces cada año,
fué tanta que empobreció y apuró los pueblos;' ... 'el tirano
Alfonso taló y quemó los campos y los pueblos.' _Conde_, p. 346.
As such havoc, which was continued with few interruptions for
about seven hundred years, has done much towards forming the
national character of the Spaniards, it may be worth while to
refer to _Mariana_, _Historia de España_, vol. iii. p. 438, vol.
iv. pp. 193, 314, vol. v. pp. 92, 317, 337; and to _Circourt_,
_Histoire des Arabes d'Espagne_, Paris, 1846, vol. i. p. 99.

To what extent these circumstances would, if they stood by themselves, have affected the ultimate destiny of Spain, is a question hardly possible to answer; but there can be no doubt that their effects must always have been important, though, from the paucity of evidence, we are unable to measure them with precision. In regard, however, to the actual result, this point is of little moment, because a long chain of other and still more influential events became interwoven with those just mentioned, and, tending in precisely the same direction, produced a combination which nothing could resist, and from which we may trace with unerring certainty the steps by which the nation subsequently declined. The history of the causes of the degradation of Spain will indeed become too clear to be mistaken, if studied in reference to those general principles which I have enunciated, and which will themselves be confirmed by the light they throw on this instructive though melancholy subject.

After the subversion of the Roman Empire, the first leading fact in the history of Spain is the settlement of the Visigoths, and the establishment of their opinions in the Peninsula. They, as well as the Suevi, who immediately preceded them, were Arians, and Spain during a hundred and fifty years became the rallying point of that famous heresy,[1173] to which indeed most of the Gothic tribes then adhered. But, at the end of the fifth century, the Franks, on their conversion from Paganism, adopted the opposite and orthodox creed, and were encouraged by their clergy to make war upon their heretical neighbours. Clovis, who was then king of the Franks, was regarded by the church as the champion of the faith, in whose behalf he attacked the unbelieving Visigoths.[1174] His successors, moved by the same motives, pursued the same policy;[1175] and, during nearly a century, there was a war of opinions between France and Spain, by which the Visigothic Empire was seriously endangered, and was more than once on the verge of dissolution. Hence, in Spain, a war for national independence became also a war for national religion,[1176] and an intimate alliance was formed between the Arian kings and the Arian clergy. The latter class were, in those ages of ignorance, sure to gain by such a compact,[1177] and they received considerable temporal advantages in return for the prayers which they offered up against the enemy, as also for the miracles which they occasionally performed. Thus early a foundation was laid for the immense influence which the Spanish priesthood have possessed ever since, and which was strengthened by subsequent events. For, late in the sixth century, the Latin clergy converted their Visigothic masters, and the Spanish government, becoming orthodox, naturally conferred upon its teachers an authority equal to that wielded by the Arian hierarchy.[1178] Indeed, the rulers of Spain, grateful to those who had shown them the error of their ways, were willing rather to increase the power of the church than to diminish it. The clergy took advantage of this disposition; and the result was, that before the middle of the seventh century the spiritual classes possessed more influence in Spain than in any other part of Europe.[1179] The ecclesiastical synods became not only councils of the church, but also parliaments of the realm.[1180] At Toledo, which was then the capital of Spain, the power of the clergy was immense, and was so ostentatiously displayed, that in a council they held there in the year 633, we find the king literally prostrating himself on the ground before the bishops;[1181] and half a century later, the ecclesiastical historian mentions that this humiliating practice was repeated by another king, having become, he says, an established custom.[1182] That this was not a mere meaningless ceremony, is moreover evident from other and analogous facts. Exactly the same tendency is seen in their jurisprudence; since, by the Visigothic code, any layman, whether plaintiff or defendant, might insist on his cause being tried not by the temporal magistrate, but by the bishop of the diocese. Nay, even if both parties to the suit were agreed in preferring the civil tribunal, the bishop still retained the power of revoking the decision, if in his opinion it was incorrect; and it was his especial business to watch over the administration of justice, and to instruct the magistrates how to perform their duty.[1183] Another, and more painful proof of the ascendency of the clergy, is that the laws against heretics were harsher in Spain than in any other country; the Jews in particular being persecuted with unrelenting rigour.[1184] Indeed, the desire of upholding the faith was strong enough to produce a formal declaration that no sovereign should be acknowledged, unless he promised to preserve its purity; the judges of the purity being of course the bishops themselves, to whose suffrage the king owed his throne.[1185]

[1173] The unsettled chronology of the early history of Spain appears
from the different statements of various writers respecting the
duration of Arianism, a point of much more importance than the
death and accession of kings. Antequera (_Historia de la
Legislacion Española_, Madrid, 1849, p. 37) says, 'La secta
Arriana, pues, segun las epocas fijadas, permaneció en España
125 años;' Fleury (_Histoire Ecclésiastique_, vol. vii. p. 586,
Paris, 1758) says 'environ 180 ans;' and M'Crie, generally well
informed, says in his _History of the Reformation in Spain_,
Edinburgh, 1829, p. 7, 'Arianism was the prevailing and
established creed of the country for nearly two centuries:' for
this, he refers to Gregory of Tours. With good reason,
therefore, does M. Fauriel term it 'une question qui souffre des
difficultés.' See his able work, _Histoire de la Gaule
Méridionale_, Paris, 1836, vol. i. p. 10.

[1174] In 496, the orthodox clergy looked on Clovis as 'un champion
qu'il peut opposer aux hérétiques visigoths et burgondes.'
_Fauriel_, _Histoire de la Gaule Méridionale_, vol. ii. p. 41.
They also likened him to Gideon, p. 66. Compare _Fleury_,
_Histoire Ecclésiastique_, vol. vii. pp. 89, 90. Ortiz is so
enthusiastic that he forgets his patriotism, and warmly praises
the ferocious barbarian who made war, indeed, on his country,
but still whose speculative opinions were supposed to be sound.
'Mientras Alarico desfogaba su encono contra los Católicos, tuvo
la Iglesia Galicana el consuelo de ver Católico á su gran Rey
Clodoveo. Era el único Monarca del mundo que á la sazón
profesaba la Religion verdadera.' _Ortiz_, _Compendio de la
Historia de España_, vol. ii. p. 96, Madrid, 1796.

[1175] Thus, in 531, Childebert marched against the Visigoths, because
they were Arians. _Fauriel_, _Histoire de la Gaule Méridionale_,
vol. ii. p. 131; and in 542, Childebert and Clotaire made
another attack, and laid siege to Saragossa, p. 142. 'No
advertian los Godos lo que su falsa creencia les perjudicaba, y
si lo advertian, su obcecacion les hacia no poner remedio. Los
reyes francos, que eran católicos, les movian guerras en las
Galias por arrianos, y los obispos católicos de la misma Galia
gótica deseaban la dominacion de los francos.' _Lafuente_,
_Historia de España_, vol. ii. p. 380, Madrid, 1850.

[1176] 'Los Francos por el amor que tenian á la Religion Cathólica, que
poco antes abrazaran, aborrecian á los Visigodos como gente
inficionada de la secta Arriana.' _Mariana_, _Historia de
España_, vol. ii. p. 43. And of one of their great battles he
says, p. 46, 'vulgarmente se llamó el campo Arriano por causa de
la religion que los Godos seguian.'

[1177] 'En religion et en croyance, comme en toute chose, les Visigoths
se montrèrent plus sérieux, plus profonds, plus tenaces que les
Burgondes. J'ai dit ailleurs comment ils étaient devenus presque
en même temps chrétiens et ariens. Transplantés en Gaule et en
Espagne, non-seulement ils avaient persévéré dans leur hérésie;
ils s'y étaient affermis, affectionnés, et dans le peu que
l'histoire laisse apercevoir de leur clergé, on s'assure qu'il
était austère, zélé, et qu'il exerçait un grand empire sur les
chefs comme sur la masse de la nation visigothe.' ... 'Les rois
visigoths se croyaient obligés à de grandes démonstrations de
respect pour leur clergé arien.' _Fauriel_, _Histoire de la
Gaule Méridionale_, vol. i. pp. 577, 578.

[1178] The abjuration of Recared took place between the years 586 and
589. _Dunham's History of Spain and Portugal_, London, 1832,
vol. i. pp. 126-128. _Mariana_, _Historia de España_, vol. ii.
pp. 99-101. _Ortiz_, _Compendio de la Historia de España_, vol.
ii. p. 120. _Lafuente_, _Historia de España_, vol. ii. pp.
360-363; and says Lafuente, p. 384, 'Recaredo fué el primero que
con todo el ardor de un neófito, comenzó en el tercer concilio
toledano à dar a estas asambleas conocimiento y decision en
negocios pertenecientes al gobierno temporal de los pueblos.'
Similarly, Antequera (_Historia de la Legislación_, p. 31) is
happy to observe that 'Recaredo abjuró la heregia arriana,
abrazó decididamente la religion de Jesu-Cristo, _y concedió à
los ministros de la Iglesia una influencia en el gobierno del
Estado, que vino à ser en adelante, ilimitada y absoluta_.'

[1179] 'As for the councils held under the Visigoth kings of Spain
during the seventh century, it is not easy to determine whether
they are to be considered as ecclesiastical or temporal
assemblies. No kingdom was so thoroughly under the bondage of
the hierarchy as Spain.' _Hallam's Middle Ages_, edit. 1846,
vol. i. p. 511. 'Les prêtres étaient les seuls qui avaient
conservé et même augmenté leur influence dans la monarchie
goth-espagnole.' _Sempere_, _Histoire des Cortès d'Espagne_,
Bordeaux, 1815, p. 19. Compare _Lafuente_, _Historia de España_,
vol. ii. p. 368, on 'la influencia y preponderancia del clero,
no ya solo en los negocios eclesiásticos, sino tambien en los
políticos y de estado.'

[1180] 'But it is in Spain, after the Visigoths had cast off their
Arianism, that the bishops more manifestly influence the whole
character of the legislation. The synods of Toledo were not
merely national councils, but parliaments of the realm.'
_Milman's History of Latin Christianity_, London, 1854, vol. i.
p. 380. See also _Antequera_, _Historia de la Legislación
Española_, pp. 41, 42.

[1181] In 633, at a council of Toledo, the king 's'étant prosterné á
terre devant les évêques.' _Fleury_, _Histoire Ecclésiastique_,
vol. viii. p. 308, Paris, 1758.

[1182] In 688, at a council of Toledo, 'le roi Egica y étoit en
personne; et après s'être prosterné devant les évêques, _suivant
la coutume_, il fit lire un mémoire où il leur demandoit
conseil,' &c. _Fleury_, _Histoire Ecclésiastique_, vol. ix.
p. 89, Paris, 1758.

[1183] See a short but admirable summary of this part of the Visigothic
code in _Dunham's History of Spain_, vol. iv. pp. 77, 78;
perhaps the best history in the English language of a foreign
modern country. 'In Spain, the bishops had a special charge to
keep continual watch over the administration of justice, and
were summoned on all great occasions to instruct the judges to
act with piety and justice.' _Milman's History of Latin
Christianity_, 1854, vol. i. p. 386. The council of Toledo, in
633, directs bishops to admonish judges. _Fleury_, _Histoire
Ecclésiastique_, vol. viii. p. 313; and a learned Spanish
lawyer, Sempere, says of the bishops, 'Le code du _Fuero Juzgo_
fut leur ouvrage; les juges étaient sujets à leur juridiction;
les plaideurs, grevés par la sentence des juges, pouvaient se
plaindre aux évêques, et ceux-ci évoquer ainsi leurs arrêts, les
réformer, et châtier les magistrats. Les procureurs du roi,
comme les juges, étaient obligés de se présenter aux synodes
diocésains annuels, pour apprendre des ecclésiastiques
l'administration de la justice; enfin le gouvernement des Goths
n'était qu'une monarchie théocratique.' _Sempere_, _Monarchie
Espagnole_, Paris, 1826, vol. i. p. 6, vol. ii. pp. 212-214.

[1184] 'The terrible laws against heresy, and the atrocious juridical
persecutions of the Jews, already designate Spain as the throne
and centre of merciless bigotry.' _Milman's History of Latin
Christianity_, vol. i. p. 381. 'Tan luego como la religion
católica se halló dominando en el trono y en el pueblo,
comenzaron los concilianos toledanos á dictar disposiciones
canónicas y á prescribir castigos contra los idolatras, contra
los judios, y contra los hereges.' _Lafuente_, _Historia de
España_, vol. ix. pp. 199-200. See also p. 214, and vol. ii. pp.
406, 407, 451. _Prescott's History of Ferdinand and Isabella_,
vol. i. pp. 235, 236. _Johnston's Institutes of the Civil Law of
Spain_, p. 262. _Circourt_, _Histoire des Arabes d'Espagne_,
vol. i. pp. 260, 261; and _Southey's Chronicle of the Cid_, p.
18. I particularly indicate these passages, on account of the
extraordinary assertion of Dr. M'Crie, that 'on a review of
criminal proceedings in Spain anterior to the establishment of
the court of Inquisition, it appears in general that heretics
were more mildly treated there than in other countries.'
_M'Crie's_ _History of the Reformation in Spain_, p. 83, the
best book on the Spanish Protestants.

[1185] A council of Toledo in 638 orders, 'qu'à l'avenir aucun roi ne
montera sur le trône qu'il ne promette de conserver la foi
catholique;' and at another council in 681, 'le roi y présenta
un écrit par lequel il prioit les évêques de lui assurer le
royaume, qu'il tenoit de leurs suffrages.' _Fleury_, _Histoire
Ecclésiastique_, vol. viii. p. 339, vol. ix. p. 70.

Such were the circumstances which, in and before the seventh century, secured to the Spanish Church an influence unequalled in any other part of Europe.[1186] Early in the eighth century, an event occurred which apparently broke up and dispersed the hierarchy, but which in reality was extremely favourable to them. In 711 the Mohammedans sailed from Africa, landed in the south of Spain, and in the space of three years conquered the whole country, except the almost inaccessible regions of the north-west. The Spaniards, secure in their native mountains,[1187] soon recovered heart, rallied their forces, and began in their turn to assail the invaders. A desperate struggle ensued, which lasted nearly eight centuries, and in which, a second time in the history of Spain, a war for independence was also a war for religion; the contest between Arabian Infidels and Spanish Christians, succeeding that formerly carried on between the Trinitarians of France and the Arians of Spain. Slowly, and with infinite difficulty, the Christians fought their way. By the middle of the ninth century, they reached the line of the Douro.[1188] Before the close of the eleventh century, they conquered as far as the Tagus, and Toledo, their ancient capital, fell into their hands in 1085.[1189] Even then much remained to be done. In the south, the struggle assumed its deadliest form, and there it was prolonged with such obstinacy, that it was not until the capture of Malaga in 1487, and of Granada in 1492, that the Christian empire was re-established, and the old Spanish monarchy finally restored.[1190]

[1186] Those happy times have received the warm applause of a modern
theologian, because in them the church, 'ha opuesto un muro de
bronce al error;' and because there existed 'la mas estrecha
concordia entre el imperio y el sacerdocio, por cuyo inestimable
beneficio debemos hacer incesantes votos.' _Observaciones sobre
El Presente y El Porvenir de la Iglesia en España_, _por Domingo
Costa y Borras_, _Obispo de Barcelona_, Barcelona, 1857, pp. 73,
75.

[1187] To which they fled with a speed which caused their great enemy,
Muza, to pass upon them a somewhat ambiguous eulogy. 'Dijo, son
leones en sus castillos, aguilas en sus caballos, y mugeres en
sus escuadrones de á pié; pero si ven la ocasion la saben
aprovechar, y cuando quedan vencidos son cabras en escapar á los
montes, que no ven la tierra que pisan.' _Conde_, _Historia de
la Dominacion de los Arabes_, p. 30.

[1188] _Prescott's History of Ferdinand and Isabella_, vol. i.
pp. xxxviii. 287. Lafuente (_Historia de España_, vol. iii.
p. 363) marks the epoch rather indistinctly, 'basta ya el
Duero.' Compare _Florez_, _Memorias de las Reynas Catholicas_,
Madrid, 4to, 1761, vol. i. p. 68.

[1189] There is a spirited account of its capture in _Mariana's Historia
de España_, vol. ii. pp. 506-513; after which Ortiz (_Compendio
de la Historia_, vol. iii. p. 156) and Lafuente (_Historia
General_, vol. iv. pp. 236-242) are rather tame. The Mohammedan
view of this, the first decisive blow to their cause, will be
found in _Conde_, _Historia de la Dominacion de los Arabes_, p.
347. 'Asi se perdió aquella ínclita ciudad, y acabó el reino de
Toledo con grave pérdida del Islam.' The Christian view is that
'concedió Dios al Rey la conquista de aquella capital.'
_Florez_, _Reynas Catholicas_, vol. i. p. 165.

[1190] _Circourt_, _Histoire des Arabes_, vol. i. pp. 313, 349. _Conde_,
_Dominacion de los Arabes_, pp. 656, 664. _Ortiz_, _Compendio_,
vol. v. pp. 509, 561. _Lafuente_, _Historia_, vol. ix. pp. 341,
399.

The effect of all this on the Spanish character was most remarkable. During eight successive centuries, the whole country was engaged in a religious crusade; and those holy wars which other nations occasionally waged, were, in Spain, prolonged and continued for more than twenty generations.[1191] The object being not only to regain a territory, but also to re-establish a creed, it naturally happened that the expounders of that creed assumed a prominent and important position. In the camp, and in the council-chamber, the voice of ecclesiastics was heard and obeyed; for as the war aimed at the propagation of Christianity, it seemed right that her ministers should play a conspicuous part in a matter which particularly concerned them.[1192] The danger to which the country was exposed being moreover very imminent, those superstitious feelings were excited which danger is apt to provoke, and to which, as I have elsewhere shown,[1193] the tropical civilizations owed some of their leading peculiarities. Scarcely were the Spanish Christians driven from their homes and forced to take refuge in the north, when this great principle began to operate. In their mountainous retreat, they preserved a chest filled with relics of the saints, the possession of which they valued as their greatest security.[1194] This was to them a national standard, round which they rallied, and by the aid of which they gained miraculous victories over their infidel opponents. Looking upon themselves as soldiers of the cross, their minds became habituated to supernatural considerations to an extent which we can now hardly believe, and which distinguished them in this respect from every other European nation.[1195] Their young men saw visions, and their old men dreamed dreams.[1196] Strange sights were vouchsafed to them from heaven; on the eve of a battle mysterious portents appeared; and it was observed that whenever the Mohammedans violated the tomb of a Christian saint, thunder and lightning were sent to rebuke the misbelievers, and, if need be, to punish their audacious invasion.[1197]

[1191] 'According to the magnificent style of the Spanish historians,
eight centuries of almost uninterrupted warfare elapsed, and
three thousand seven hundred battles were fought, before the
last of the Moorish kingdoms in Spain submitted to the Christian
arms.' _Robertson's Charles V._ by Prescott, London, 1857, p.
65. 'En nuestra misma España, en Leon y Castilla, en esta nueva
Tierra Santa, donde se sostenia una cruzada perpétua y constante
contra los infieles, donde se mantenía en todo su fervor el
espiritu á la vez religioso y guerrero.' _Lafuente_, _Historia
de España_, vol. v. p. 293. 'Era España theatro de una continua
guerra contra los enemigos de la Fe.' _Florez_, _Reynas
Catholicas_, vol. i. p. 226. 'El glorioso empeño de exterminar á
los enemigos de la Fe.' p. 453. 'Esta guerra sagrada.' Vol. ii.
p. 800. 'Se armaron nuestros Reyes Cathólicos, con zelo y animo
alentado del cielo; y como la causa era de Religion para
ensanchar los Dominios de la Fe, sacrificaron todas las fuerzas
del Reyno, y sus mismas personas.' p. 801. What was called the
Indulgence of the Crusade was granted by the Popes 'aux
Espagnols qui combattoient contre les Mores.' _Fleury_,
_Histoire Ecclésiastique_, vol. xviii. p. xxi., vol. xix. pp.
158, 458, vol. xxi. p. 171.

[1192] 'En aquellos tiempos [y duró hasta todo el siglo xv. y toma de
Granada] eran los obispos los primeros capitanes de los
exércitos.' _Ortiz_, _Compendio_, vol. iii. p. 189. 'Los
prelados habían sido siempre los primeros no solo en promover la
guerra contra Moros, sino á presentarse en campaña con todo su
poder y esfuerzo, animando á los demas con las palabras y el
exemplo.' Vol. v. pp. 507, 508.

[1193] _History of Civilization_, vol. i. pp. 121-130.

[1194] 'Les chrétiens avoient apporté dans les Asturies une arche ou
coffre plein de reliques, qu'ils regardèrent depuis comme la
sauve-garde de leur état.' ... 'Elle fut emportée et mise enfin
à Oviedo, comme le lieu le plus sûr entre ces montagnes, Père
773, l'an 775.' _Fleury_, _Histoire Ecclésiastique_, vol. ix. p.
190. This 'arca llena de reliquias' was taken to the Asturias in
714. _Mariana_, _Historia de España_, vol. ii. p. 227; and,
according to Ortiz (_Compendio_, vol. ii. p. 182), it was 'un
tesoro inestimable de sagradas reliquias.' See also _Geddes'
Tracts concerning Spain_, vol. ii. p. 237, London, 1730; and
_Ford's Spain_, 1847, p. 388.

[1195] 'But no people ever felt themselves to be so absolutely soldiers
of the cross as the Spaniards did, from the time of their
Moorish wars; no people ever trusted so constantly to the
recurrence of miracles in the affairs of their daily life; and
therefore no people ever talked of Divine things as of matters
in their nature so familiar and common-place. Traces of this
state of feeling and character are to be found in Spanish
literature on all sides.' _Ticknor's History of Spanish
Literature_, vol. ii. p. 333. Compare _Bouterwek's History of
Spanish Literature_, vol. i. pp. 105, 106; and the account of
the battle of las Navas in _Circourt_, _Histoire des Arabes
d'Espagne_, vol. i. p. 153: 'On voulait trouver partout des
miracles.' Some of the most startling of these miracles may be
found in _Lafuente_, _Historia de España_, vol. v. p. 227; in
_Mariana_, _Historia de España_, vol. ii. pp. 378, 395, vol.
iii. p. 338; and in _Ortiz_, _Compendio_, vol. iii. p. 248,
vol. iv. p. 22.

[1196] One of the most curious of these prophetic dreams is preserved in
_Conde_, _Dominación de los Arabes_, pp. 378, 379, with its
interpretation by the theologians. They were for the most part
fulfilled. In 844 'El Apóstol Santiago, según que lo prometiera
al Rey, fué visto en un caballo blanco, y con una bandera blanca
y en medio della una cruz roxa, que capitaneaba nuestra gente.'
_Mariana_, _Historia de España_, vol. ii. pp. 310, 311. In 957
'El Apóstol Santiago fué visto entre las hacas dar la victoria à
los fieles,' p. 382. In 1236 'Publicóse por cierto que San Jorge
ayudó á los Christianos, y que se halló en la pelea.' Vol. iii.
p. 323. On the dreams which foreshadowed these appearances, see
_Mariana_, vol. ii. pp. 309, 446, vol. iii. pp. 15, 108.

[1197] 'Priests mingle in the council and the camp, and, arrayed in
their sacerdotal robes, not unfrequently led the armies to
battle. They interpreted the will of Heaven as mysteriously
revealed in dreams and visions. Miracles were a familiar
occurrence. The violated tombs of the saints sent forth thunders
and lightnings to consume the invaders.' _Prescott's History of
Ferdinand and Isabella_, vol. i. p. 39. In the middle of the
ninth century, there happened the following event: 'En lo mas
cruel de los tormentos' [to which the Christians were exposed]
'subió Abderramen un dia á las azuteas ó galerias de su Palacio.
Descubrió desde alli los cuerpos de los Santos martirizados en
los patíbulos y atravesados con los palos, mandó los quemasen
todos para que no quedase reliquia. Cumplióse luego la órden:
pero aquel impio probó bien presto los rigores de la venganza
divina que volvía por la sangre derramada de sus Santos.
Improvisamente se le pegó la lengua al paladar y fauces;
cerrósele la boca, y no pudo pronunciar una palabra, ni dar un
gemido. Conduxeronle, sus criados á la cama, murió aquella misma
noche, y antes de apagarse las hoguerasen que ardian los santos
cuerpos, entró la infeliz alma de Abderramen en los eternos
fuegos del infierno.' _Ortiz_, _Compendio_, vol. iii. p. 52.

Under circumstances like these, the clergy could not fail to extend their influence; or, we may rather say, the course of events extended it for them. The Spanish Christians, pent up for a considerable time in the mountains of Asturias, and deprived of their former resources, quickly degenerated, and soon lost the scanty civilization to which they had attained. Stripped of all their wealth, and confined to what was comparatively a barren region, they relapsed into barbarism, and remained, for at least a century, without arts, or commerce, or literature.[1198] As their ignorance increased, so also did their superstition; while this last, in its turn, strengthened the authority of their priests. The order of affairs, therefore, was very natural. The Mohammedan invasion made the Christians poor; poverty caused ignorance; ignorance caused credulity; and credulity, depriving men both of the power and of the desire to investigate for themselves, encouraged a reverential spirit, and confirmed those submissive habits, and that blind obedience to the Church, which form the leading and most unfortunate peculiarity of Spanish history.

[1198] Circourt (_Histoire des Arabes_, vol. i. p. 5) says, 'Les
chrétiens qui ne voulurent pas se soumettre furent rejetés dans
les incultes ravins des Pyrénées, où ils purent se maintenir
comme les bêtes fauves se maintiennent dans les forêts.' But the
most curious account of the state of the Spanish Christians in
the last half of the eighth century, and in the first half of
the ninth, will be found in _Conde_, _Historia de la
Dominacion_, pp. 95, 125. 'Referian de estos pueblos de Galicia
que son cristianos, y de los mas bravos de Afranc; pero que
viven como fieras, que nunca lavan sus cuerpos ni vestidos, que
no se los mudan, y los llevan puestos hasta que se los caen
despedazados en andrajos, que entran unos en las casas de otros
sin pedir licencia.' ... In A.D. 815, 'no habia guerra sino
contra cristianos por mantener frontera, y no con deseo de
ampliar y extender los limites del reino, ni por esperanza de
sacar grandes riquezas, por ser los cristianos gente pobre de
montaña, sin saber nada de comercio ni de buenas artes.'

From this it appears, that there were three ways in which the Mohammedan invasion strengthened the devotional feelings of the Spanish people. The first way was by promoting a long and obstinate religious war; the second was by the presence of constant and imminent dangers; and the third way was by the poverty, and therefore the ignorance, which it produced among the Christians.