longer polluted by the presence of unbelievers.37 To make them Christians, or, failing in that, to exterminate them, was the business of the Inquisition, which was established in the same reign, and which before the end of the fifteenth century was in full operation.38 During the sixteenth century, the throne was occupied by two princes of eminent ability, who pursued a similar course. Charles V., who succeeded Ferdinand in 1516, governed Spain for forty years, and the general character of his administration was the same as that of his predecessors.

37"En España los Reyes Don Fernando y Doña Isabel luego que se viéron desembarazados de la guerra de los Moros, acordáron de echar de todo su reyno á los Judíos." Mariana, Historia de España, vol. vi. p. 303. A Spanish historian, writing less than seventy years ago, expresses his approbation in the following terms: "Arrancado de nuestra peninsula el imperio Mahometano, quedaba todavía la secta Judayca, peste acaso mas perniciosa, y sin duda mas peligrosa y extendida, por estar los Judios establecidos en todos los pueblos de ella. Pero los Catolicos Monarcas, cuyo mayor afan era desarraigar de sus reynos toda planta y raiz infecta y contraria á la fé de Jesu-Cristo, dieron decreto en Granada dia 30 de Marzo del año mismo de 1492, mandando saliesen de sus dominios los Judios que no se bautizasen dentro de 4 meses." Ortiz, Compendio, Madrid, 1798, vol. v. p. 564. The importance of knowing how these and similar events are judged by Spaniards, induces me to give their own words at a length which otherwise would be needlessly prolix. Historians, generally, are too apt to pay more attention to public transactions than to the opinions which those transactions evoke ; though, in point of fact, the opinions form the most valuable part of history, since they are the result of more general causes, while political actions are often due to the peculiarities of powerful individuals.

Of the number of Jews actually expelled, I can find no trustworthy account. They are differently estimated at from 160,000 to 800,000. Prescott's History of Ferdinand and Isabella, vol. ii. p. 148. Mariana, Historia de España, vol. vi. p. 304. Ortiz, Compendio, vol. v. p. 564. Lafuente, Historia de España, vol. ix. pp. 412, 413. Llorente, Histoire de l'Inquisition, Paris, 1817, vol. i. p. 261. Mata, Dos Discursos, Madrid, 1794, pp. 64, 65. Castro, Decadencia de España, Cadiz, 1852, p. 19.

38 It had been introduced into Aragon in 1242; but, according to M. Tapia, "sin embargo, la persecucion se limitó entonces á la secta de los albigenses; y como de ellos hubo tan pocos en Castilla, no se consideró sin duda necesario en ella el establecimiento de aquel tribunal." Tapia, Historia de la Civilizacion Española, Madrid, 1840, vol. ii. p. 302. Indeed, Llorente says (Histoire de l'Inquisition d'Espagne, Paris, 1817, vol. i. p. 88), "Il est incertain si au commencement du 15e siècle l'Inquisition existait en Castille." In the recent work by M. Lafuente, 1232 is given as its earliest date; but "á fines del siglos xiv. y principios del xv. apenas puede saberse si existia tribunal de Inquisicion en Castilla." Lafuente, Historia de España, vol. ix. pp. 204-206, Madrid, 1852. It seems therefore with good reason that Mariana (Historia, vol. vi. p. 171) terms the Inquisition of Ferdinand and Isabella "un nuevo y santo tribunal." See also Florez, Memorias de las Reynas Catholicas, vol. ii. p. 799.

In regard to his foreign policy, his three principal wars were against France, against the German princes, and against Turkey. Of these, the first was secular; but the two last were essentially religious. In the German war, he defended the church against innovation; and at the battle of Muhlberg, he so completely humbled the Protestant princes, as to retard for some time the progress of the Reformation.39 In his other great war, he, as the champion of Christianity against Mohammedanism, consummated what his grandfather Ferdinand had begun. Charles defeated and dislodged the Mohammedans in the east, just as Ferdinand had done in the west; the repulse of the Turks before Vienna being to the sixteenth century, what the conquest of the Arabs of Granada was to the fifteenth.40 It was, therefore, with reason that Charles, at the close of his career, could boast that he had always preferred his creed to his country, and that the first object of his ambition had been to maintain the interests of Christianity.41 The zeal with which he struggled for the faith, also appears in his exertions against heresy in the Low Countries. According to contemporary and competent authorities, from fifty thousand to a hundred thousand persons were put to death in the Netherlands during his reign on account of their religious opinions.42 Later inquirers have doubted the accu

20 Prescott's History of Philip II., vol. i. p. 23, London, 1857. Davies' History of Holland, vol. i. p. 447, London, 1841. On the religious character of his German policy, compare Mariana, Historia de España, vol. vii. p. 330; Ortiz, Compendio, vol. vi. pp. 195, 196.

40 Prescott's Philip II., vol. i. p. 3; and the continuation of Fleury, Histoire Ecclésiastique, vol. xxvii. p. 280. Robertson, though praising Charles V. for this achievement, seems rather inclined to underrate its magnitude; History of Charles V., p. 246.

"In the speech he made at his abdication, he said that "he had been ever mindful of the interests of the dear land of his birth, but above all of the great interests of Christianity. His first object had been to maintain these inviolate against the infidel.” Prescott's Philip II., vol. i. p. 8. Miñana boasts that "el César con piadoso y noble ánimo exponia su vida á los peligros para extender los limites del Imperio Christiano." Continuacion de Mariana, vol. viii. p. 352. Compare the continuation of Fleury, Histoire Ecclésiastique, vol. xxxi. p. 19.

42 Grotius says 100,000; Bor, Meteren, and Paul say 50,000. Watson's History of Philip II., London, 1839, pp. 45, 51. Davies' History of Holland,

racy of this statement,43 which is probably exaggerated; but we know that, between 1520 and 1550, he published a series of laws, to the effect that those who were convicted of heresy should be beheaded, or burned alive, or buried alive. The penalties were thus various, to meet the circumstances of each case. Capital punishment, however, was always to be inflicted on whoever bought an heretical book, or sold it, or even copied it for his own use. His last advice to his son, well accorded with these measures. Only a few days before his death, he signed a codicil to his will, recommending that no favour should ever be shown to heretics; that they should all be put to death; and that care should be taken to uphold the Inquisition, as the best means of accomplishing

so desirable an end.45

London, 1841, vol. i. pp. 498, 499. Motley's Dutch Republic, London, 1858, vol. i. pp. 103, 104.

43

It is doubted, if I rightly remember, by Mr. Prescott. But the opinion of that able historian is entitled to less weight from his want of acquaintance with Dutch literature, where the principal evidence must be sought for. On this, as on many other matters, the valuable work of Mr. Motley leaves little to desire.

44 Prescott's Philip II., vol. i. pp. 196, 197. In 1523, the first persons were burned. Motley's Dutch Republic, vol. i. p. 69. The mode of burying alive is described in Davies' History of Holland, vol. i. p. 383, vol. ii. pp. 311, 312.

45 He died on the 21st September; and on the 9th he signed a codicil, in which he "enjoined upon his son to follow up and bring to justice every heretic in his dominions, and this without exception, and without favour or mercy to any one. He conjured Philip to cherish the holy Inquisition as the best means of accomplishing this good work." Prescott's Additions to Robertson's Charles V., p. 576. See also his instructions to Philip in Raumer's History of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, vol. i. p. 91; and on his opinion of the Inquisition, see his conversation with Sir Thomas Wyatt, printed from the State Papers in Froude's History of England, vol. iii. p. 456, London, 1858. This may have been mere declamation; but in Tapia's Civilizacion Española, Madrid, 1840, vol. iii. pp. 76, 77, will be found a deliberate and official letter, in which Charles does not hesitate to say, "La santa inquisicion como oficio santo y puesto por los reyes católicos nuestros señores y abuelos á honra de Dios nuestro señor y de nuestra santa fé católica, tengo firme é entrañablemente asentado y fijado en mi corazon, para la mandar favorecer y honrar, como principe justo y temeroso de Dios es obligado y debe hacer."

The codicil to the will of Charles still exists, or did very recently, among the archives at Simancas. Ford's Spain, 1847, p. 334. In M. Lafuente's great work, Historia de España, vol xii. pp. 494, 495, Madrid, 1853, it is referred to in language which, in more senses than one, is perfectly Spanish: "Su testamento y codicilo respiran las ideas cristianas y religiosas en que

This barbarous policy is to be ascribed, not to the vices, nor to the temperament of the individual ruler, but to the operation of large general causes, which acted upon the individual, and impelled him to the course he pursued. Charles was by no means a vindictive man; his natural disposition was to mercy rather than to rigour; his sincerity is unquestionable; he performed what he believed to be his duty; and he was so kind a friend, that those who knew him best were precisely those who loved him most. Little, however, could all that avail in shaping his public conduct. He was obliged to obey the tendencies of the age and country in which he lived. And what those tendencies were, appeared still more clearly after his death, when the throne of Spain was occupied upwards of forty years by a prince who inherited it in the prime of life, and whose reign is particularly interesting as a symptom and a consequence of the disposition of the people over whom he ruled.

46

Philip II., who succeeded Charles V. in 1555, was indeed eminently a creature of the time, and the ablest of his biographers aptly terms him the most perfect type of the national character.47 His favourite maxim, which

habia vivido y la piedad que señaló su muerte."

“Es muy de notar

su primera cláusula [i.e. of the codicil] por la cual deja muy encarecidamente recomendado al rey don Felipe que use de todo rigor en el castigo de los hereges luteranos que habian sido presos y se hubieren de prender en España.". "Sin escepcion de persona alguna, ni admitir ruegos, ni tener respeto á persona alguna; porque para el efecto de ello favorezca y mande favorecer al Santo Oficio de la Inquisicion,'" &c.

66

To

46 Native testimony may perhaps be accused of being partial; but, on the other hand, Raumer, in his valuable History of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, vol. i. p. 22, justly observes, that his character has been misrepresented by reason that historians have availed themselves by preference of the inimical narratives of French and Protestant writers.' steer between these extremes, I will transcribe the summing up of Charles's reign as it is given by a learned and singularly unprejudiced writer. "Tortuous as was sometimes the policy of the emperor, he never, like Francis, acted with treachery; his mind had too much of native grandeur for such baseness. Sincere in religion and friendship, faithful to his word, clement beyond example, liberal towards his servants, indefatigable in his regal duties, anxious for the welfare of his subjects, and generally blameless in private life, his character will not suffer by a comparison with that of any monarch of his times." Dunham's History of Spain, vol. v. p. 41. "Clemency was the basis of his character," p. 30.

47 "The Spaniards, as he grew in years, beheld, with pride and satisfac

forms the key to his policy, was, "That it is better not to reign at all than to reign over heretics."48 Armed with supreme power, he bent all his energies towards carrying this principle into effect. Directly that he heard that the Protestants were making converts in Spain, he strained every nerve to stifle the heresy :49 and so admirably was he seconded by the general temper of the people, that he was able without risk to suppress opinions which convulsed every other part of Europe. In Spain, the Reformation, after a short struggle, died completely away, and in about ten years the last vestige of it disappeared. 50 The Dutch wished to adopt, and in many instances did adopt, the reformed doctrine; therefore Philip waged against them a cruel war, which lasted thirty years, and which he continued till his death, because he was resolved to extirpate the new creed.5 He ordered that every heretic who refused to recant should be burned. If the heretic did recant, some in

51

tion, in their future sovereign, the most perfect type of the national character." Prescott's History of Philip II., vol. i. p. 39. So, too, in Motley's Dutch Republic, vol. i. p. 128, "he was entirely a Spaniard ;" and in Lafuente, Historia de España, vol. i. p. 155, "pero el reinado de Felipe fué todo Español."

4 Prescott's Philip II., vol. i. pp. 68, 210, vol. ii. p. 26. Watson's Philip II., p. 55. Compare Fleury, Histoire Ecclésiastique, vol. xxxiv.

p. 273.

49 Como era tan zeloso en la extirpacion de la heregía, uno de sus primeros cuidados fué el castigo de los Luteranos; y a presencia suya, se executó en Valladolid el dia ocho de Octubre el suplicio de muchos reos de este delito." Miñana, Continuacion de Mariana, vol. ix. p. 212.

50"The contest with Protestantism in Spain, under such auspices, was short. It began in earnest and in blood about 1559, and was substantially ended in 1570." Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature, vol. i. p. 425. See also M'Cric's History of the Reformation in Spain, pp. 336, 346. Thus it was that "España se preservó del contagio. Hizolo con las armas Carlos V., y con las hogueras los inquisidores. España se aisló del movimiento europeo.' Lafuente, Historia de España, vol. i. p. 144, Madrid, 1850. M. Lafuente adds, that, in his opinion, all Christendom is about to follow the good example set by Spain of rejecting Protestantism. "Si no nos equivocamos, en nuestra misma edad se notan síntomas de ir marchando este problema hácia su resolucion. El catolicismo gana prosélitos; los protestantes de hoy no son lo que antes fueron, y creemos que la unidad católica se realizará."

31 Before the arrival of Alva, "Philip's commands to Margaret were imperative, to use her utmost efforts to extirpate the heretics." Davies' History of Holland, vol. i. p. 551; and in 1563 he wrote, "The example