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CXXXVII.

Manners of the ancient

on the same horse, when they went to battle. The Carites or Caristi inhabited part of Biscay on the same declivities of the Pyrences; on the southern sides, the Turmodiges and the Murbogii were settled in the province of Burgos. Their neighbours on the east, were the Autrigones in Alava, the Berones in Rioja, and the Varduli in Guipuscoa. The Vascones or Navarrenses, the ancestors of the present Gascons, were settled on the north of the Ebro. The Jaccetani were scattered on the Pyrenean declivities of Arragon. The brave Hergetes resided in the country round Lerida, and the Vescitani, between the Vascones and Ilergetes. As to the country on the east of these tribes, the whole of Catalonia was peopled by the Cerretani, Indigetes, Castellani, the Ausetani, Saletani and Cosetani. The lands on the south of the Ebro were inhabited by the Arevaci and Pelendoncs, the former were so called from the river Areva; they were settled in the neighbourhood of Arevola, and in the province of Segovia; the latter possessed the high plains of Soria and Moncayo. The space between the mountains of Albarracino and the river, was peopled by the Edetani, one of the most powerful tribes in Spain. The Ilercavones, who were not less formidable, inhabited an extensive district between the Upper Jucar and the lower Ebro. The territory of the Suessetani, between the Ebro and the Guadalaviar, extended to the shores of the Mediterranean. The country of the Carpetani, or the space from the Guadiana to the Somo-Sierra, forms at present the archiepiscopal see of Toledo. The people on the south of the last, were the Oretani, between the Guadiana and the Mariani mountains, and the Olcades, a small tribe, near the confluence of the Gabriel and the Jucar. Carthaginensis, a subdivision of Tarraconensis, was inhabited by two tribes;—the Bastetani in the centre of Murcia, who often made incursions into Betica, and the Contestani, who possessed the two banks of the Segura, near the shores of the Mediterranean from Cape Palos to the Jucar.

In time of peace, says Diodorus Siculus, the Iberi and Spaniards. Lusitani amused themselves in a lively and light dance, which requires much activity. The ancient writer alludes perhaps to the fandango, a dance of which the origin is un

known. An assembly, composed of old Celtiberians was BOOK held every year, it was part of their duty to examine what CXXXVII. the women had made with their own hands within the twelvemonth, and to her, whose work the assembly thought the best, a reward was given. An ancient author* mentions that singuar custom, and adds that corpulency was considered a reproach by the same people; for in order to preserve their bodies light and active, the men were measured every year by a cincture of a certain breadth, and some sort of punishment was inflicted on those who had become too large. The age of marriage was fixed by law; the girls chose their husbands among the young warriors, and the best means of obtaining the preference, was to present the fair one with the head of an enemy slain in battle.

Strabo enters into some details concerning the dress of the ancient Spaniards. The Lusitani covered themselves with black mantles, because their sheep were mostly of that colour. The Celtiberian women wore iron collars with rods of the same metal rising behind, and bent in front; to these rods was attached the veil, their usual ornament. Others wore a sort of broad turban, and some twisted their hair round a small ring about a foot above the head, and from the ring was appended a black veil. Lastly, a shining forehead was considered a great beauty; on that account, they pulled out their hair, and rubbed their brows with oil.†

Dress.

The different tribes were confounded while the Romans the middle Spain in oppressed the country, but in the beginning of the fifth ages. century, the Sueves, Vandals and Visigoths invaded the Peninsula, and mixing with the Celts and Iberians, produced the different races, which the physiologist still observes in Spain. The first people or the Sueves descended the Duero under the conduct of Ermeric, and chose Braga for the capital of their kingdom. Genseric led his Vandals to the centre of the Peninsula, and fixed his residence at Toledo; but fifteen years had not elapsed after the settlement of the barbarous horde, when Theodoric, con

• Nicholas of Damas. See his fragments collected by Constantine Porphyrogenetes.

+ Strabo, Book III. ch. 2 and 3.

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quered by Clovis, abandoned Toulouse, penetrated into Spain, CXXXVII. took Toledo, and compelled the Vandals to fly into Africa.

Spain under the Moors.

During the short period that the Vandals remained in the country, the ancient province of Betica was called Vandalousia, and it bears the name of Andalousia to this day. But the Visigoths soon extended their conquest, and all the country from the Ebro to the Straits of Gibraltar, submitted to them. The ancient Celtiberians, who had so long resisted the Romans, made then no struggle for liberty or independence, they yielded without resistance to their new masters. Powers and privileges were the portion of the Gothic race, and the title of hijo del Goda, or the son of the Goth, which the Spaniards changed into hidalgo, became the title of a noble or a free and powerful man among a people of slaves. A number of petty and almost independent states were formed by the chiefs of the conquering tribes; but the barons or free men acknowledged a liege lord. Spain and Portugal were thus divided, and the feudal system was thus established. Among the Visigoths, however, the crown was not hereditary, or at least the law of regular succession was often set at defiance by usurpers. The sovereign authority was limited by the assemblies of the great vassals, some of whom were very powerful; indeed the Count Julian to avenge himself on King Roderic for an outrage committed on his daughter, delivered Spain to the Mahometan yoke.

After the country had submitted for three centuries to the Visigoths, it was subdued by the Arabs in the year 712. A single engagement, the battle fought at Xeres on the left bank of the Guadalete, was sufficient to secure the conquest. The settlement of the Moors in the Peninsula may be considered one of the events which illustrate the superiority of a well informed and polished people over a nation divided by factions, and degraded by the feudal system. Cordova was chosen as the capital of their empire; rendered confident by success, they devoted themselves to the sciences, cultivated letters and the fine arts, embellished Cordova, Grenada and other towns with their elegant mosques, governed the vanquished with mildness and justice, and no where violated the laws of a wise toleration.

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By such means, they thought to strengthen their empire, while a poor but intrepid people in the mountains of As- CXXXVII. turia, were silently preparing a way for the independence of their country. Pelagio or Pelayo, a simple shepherd, whom some writers call a prince or a king, because he showed himself worthy of being one, founded the kingdom of Oviedo, which he extended by his conquests to the Duero, and afterwards to the chain of Guadarrama. The same kingdom was divided by its founder into two, those of Leon and the Asturias. The Christians were encouraged by his example; whilst they, to preserve themselves, concentrated their forces, the lieutenants of the caliphs were divided by ambition, and weakened by civil discord. They were styled kings of Cordova, Seville, Valencia and Grenada, but they were not united, and separately, they were unable to resist the torrent that threatened to destroy them. From the year 1085, the Moors began to lose their provinces in Spain, and on the second of January 1469, Ferdinand of Arragon and Isabella of Castille made their triumphant entry into Grenada, the last bulwark of the Mussulmans.

of the kingdom of

The kingdom of Grenada lost with its ancient masters, Conquest its wealth and power. It was the finest conquest of the Spaniards, but fanaticism transformed it into a desolate and Grenada. wretched province. The Mahometan population, the most enlightened, industrious and wealthy in the Peninsula, were reduced to slavery. It was forgotten that the Moors had respected in the time of their prosperity, the laws and the religion of the vanquished. The fires of the Inquisition were kindled by the same men who preached union and brotherly love. According to the terms of the capitulation, concluded with the last king of Grenada, no one was to be punished for his religious belief; but the violation of treaties made with infidels, was considered an act of piety by the Holy Office. The conquered, almost reduced to despair, were easily excited to revolt. Unable to resist, great numbers received baptism, and the wealthiest on paying a stipulated sum, obtained permission to pass into Africa. By this measure, considerable sums flowed into the royal treasury, but immense capitals were for ever taken away from Spain.

BOOK Not satisfied with its triumph, the inquisition pretended that CXXXVII. the conversion of the Mussulmans was not real, and the

Expulsion

of the Moors.

latter could only escape from death by a new and successful revolt. Having fled for shelter to the mountains, they called to their assistance their brethren in Africa, but before any aid could be had from that quarter, a Moorish sovereign was proclaimed, conquered and beheaded. The Spanish government, emboldened by the weakness of the rebels, refused their submission, and they were banished from the kingdom, conformably to a decree of Philip the Third.

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Their expulsion was an act of state policy, of which the consequences were long fatal to the arts, agriculture and commerce of Spain. A Spanish writer describes the kingdom of Grenada about the beginning of the sixteenth century. "A short time after the conquest of Ferdinand, that rich province contained seventy fortified towns, and Grenada alone was peopled by two hundred thousand inhabitants.* The imposts and produce of the mines in the same part of the Peninsula, were enormous comparatively with what they are at present. The single tax on silk produced a revenue of 181,500 gold ducats. It is humiliating to the Spaniards, says an English writer, that the noblest monuments in their country, are those which a hateful race of conquerors left behind them.+

* Zurita, Annals of Arragon.

Voyage pittoresque et historique de l'Espagne, by Al. de Laporide, folio edition, tom. ii.

Hallam's Middle Ages.