Christianity and Islam in Spain, A.D. 756-1031 Part 24

A similarly independent spirit shewed itself in Aragon. In 1213 Pedro II. died fighting against the papal persecutor of the Albigensians, and down to the time of Charles V., the princes of Aragon were at open enmity with the Roman See,[3] and the Aragonese strenuously resisted the establishment of the Inquisition.[4]

[1] Prescott, "Ferd. and Isab.," p. 15.

[2] Prescott, p. 72. Cp. the charter of Aragon, whereby the king, if he violated the charter of the realm, might be deposed, and any other _Pagan_ or Christian subst.i.tuted.

_Ibid_, p. 23.

[3] Lockhart, Introduction to Spanish ballads, p. 9. (Chandos Cla.s.sics.)

[4] Prescott, "Ferd. and Isab.," p. 26, n.

That fatal instrument of religious bigotry, the cause of more unmerited suffering and more unmixed evil than any other devised by man, whereby more innocent people pa.s.sed through the fire than were perhaps ever sacrificed at the altar of Moloch, was first put into action in September 1480, during the reign of the pious and n.o.ble-minded Isabella.[1] The festival of Epiphany in the following year was selected as an appropriate date for the manifestation of the first auto da fe, when six Jews were burnt at Seville; for it was against that unfortunate people that this inhuman persecution was devised, or at least first used. That one year witnessed the martyrdom of 2000 persons, and the infliction on 17,000 others of punishments only less than death itself.

During the administration of Thomas of Torquemada, which lasted eighteen years, more than 10,000 persons perished at the stake, nearly 100,000 were, as the phrase went, reconciled.[2] The confiscation of property which accompanied all this burning and imprisoning brought in enormous sums into the coffers of the Inquisitors.

The Jews being burnt, converted, or expelled the country, the Inquisition was turned upon the wretched Moriscoes, as the Moors under Christian government were called, who were oppressed and persecuted in the same way as the Jews, and finally driven from Spain.

But a more important conquest than these--more important, that is, to the supremacy of the Roman See--was the undoubted conquest achieved by the Inquisition over the reforming doctrines which in the sixteenth century began to find their way into Spain from Germany and England.

Finding a congenial soil, the reformation began to spread in Spain with wonderful rapidity. The divines sent by Charles V. into England were themselves converted, and returned full of zeal for the Protestant faith--"Their success," says Geddes,[3] "was such that had not a speedy and full stop been put to their pious labours by the merciless Inquisition, the whole kingdom of Spain had in all likelihood been converted to the Protestant religion, in less time than any other country had ever been before."[4] So untrue is it to say that persecution always fails of its object! In Spain it has riveted the fetters, which the weakness and superst.i.tion of the earlier kings of Leon and Castile, together with the piety and misdirected enthusiasm of Isabella, placed upon a proud and once peculiarly independent people.

Plunged in the depths of ignorance and imbecility, social, religious, and political, Spain affords a melancholy but instructive spectacle to the nations.

[1] The inquisitional code was drawn up in 1233, and introduced into Spain, 1242. Prescott.

[2] Prescott, "Ferd. and Isab.," p. 146.

[3] Miscell. Tracts. Pref. to "Spanish Martyrs," pp. 1, ff.

[4] Geddes, Pref. to "Spanish Martyrs," p. 3, 4, quotes a Romanist author, who says: "the number of converts was so great that had the stop which was put to that evil been delayed but two or three months longer, I am persuaded that all Spain had been put into a flame by them."

LIST OF AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.

I. ORIGINAL AUTHORITIES:--

A. Arab (in translations):

(1.) _Ibn abd el Hakem._ "History of the Conquest of Spain." with notes by J.H. Jones, Ph.D., 1858. This work only goes down to 743.

(2.) _J.A. Conde._ "History of the Domination of the Arabs in Spain,"

translated from the Spanish by Mrs Foster. 3 vols. Bohn, 1854. The author (Preface, p. 2) says that "he has compiled his work from Arabian memorials and writings in such sort that those doc.u.ments may be read as they were written;" (p. 18), "The student of history may read this book as written by an Arabic author."

Older writers used to speak very highly of this work, but their modern successors cannot find a good word for it.[1] De Gayangos, the learned translator of the Arabic history of Al Makkari, though not blind to the "unmethodical arrangement of the whole work, the absence of notes and citations of authorities, and the numerous errors and contradictions,"[2] yet does not hesitate to call Conde's book the foundation of all our knowledge of the history of Mohammedan Spain. It certainly is astonis.h.i.+ng that Conde, who points out[3] the errors of his predecessors, makes precisely the same kind of mistakes himself, not only once, but constantly. Claiming to be above all things faithful to his authorities, he is found, where those authorities can be identified, not to be faithful.

[1] Stanley Lane-Poole, Preface to "Moors in Spain" (1887).

Dozy, Preface to "Mussulmans in Spain," p. 6: "Conde ... qui manquait absolumment de sens historique."

[2] As to these he might plead Al Makkari's excuse, that in transcribing or extracting the accounts of different historians some facts are sure to be repeated, and others entirely contradicted. See Al Makk., i. p. 29.

[3] Pref., p. 13 ff.

(3.) _J.C. Murphy._ "History of the Mahometan Empire in Spain," with additions by Professor Shakespear, 1816. This work is based on Mohammedan sources, those, namely, which are mostly to be found in Al Makkari's compilation. The concluding chapters on the influence, scientific and literary, exercised by the Arabs in Europe, are exhaustive and interesting.

(4.) _Ahmed ibn Mohammed Al Makkari_. "History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain," being an extract from a larger work by that author, translated by Pascual de Gayangos. 2 vols. London, 1840. This work, which Dozy finds fault with for certain inaccuracies, is on the whole very trustworthy, and its notes form a perfect mine of information for the student wandering helplessly among the mazes of Arab history. Al Makkari, a native of Africa, flourished at the beginning of the seventeenth century; but he quotes from many old Arabic writers, whose evidence is most valuable. Among these are--

[Greek: a.] _Abu Bekr Mohammed ibn Omar, Ibn al Kuttiyah_, descended from the grand-daughter of Witiza; died, 877.

[Greek: b.] _Ahmed ibn Mohammed ibn Musa Arrazi_, flourished in the reign of Abdurrahman III.

[Greek: g.] _Ibn Ghalib Temam ibn Ghalib_, of Cordova; died, 1044.

[Greek: d.] _Abu Mohammed Ali ibn Ahmed ibn Said ibn Hazm_, born at Cordova, 994; died, 1064.

[Greek: e.] _Abu Merwan Hayyan ibn Khalf ibn Huseyn ibn Hayyan,_ born at Cordova, 1006.

[Greek: z.] _Abul Kasim Khalf ibn Abdilmalik ibn Mesud ibn Musa Al Anssari_, Cordova, 1101-1183.

[Greek: e.] _Abul hasan Ali ibn Musa ibn Mohammed ibn Abdalmalik ibn Said_ of Granada, 1214-1286.

[Greek: th.] _Abu Zeyd Abdurrahman ibn Mohammed ibn Khaldun. Ishbili,_ born at Tunis, 1332; died, 1406.

B. Christian (in Latin). These are to be found in--

(1.) _Schott's_ "Hispania Ill.u.s.trata," 3 vols. Frankfort, 1603.

(2.) _Florez,_ "Espana Sagrada," 26 vols., containing a most useful collection of Spanish writers, together with much information about them, written in Spanish.

(3.) _Migne's_ "Patrologia," Latin and Greek, a most invaluable collection in several score volumes. The following is a list of those consulted:--

([Greek: a].) _Isidore of Beja_, "Epitome Imperatorum vel Arab.u.m Ephemerides atque Hispaniae Chronographia," being a continuation of the Chronicle of Isidore of Seville.

Sidenote: Migne, xcvi pp.1246-1280.

([Greek: b].) Chronicon _Sebastiani_, "Salmanticensis Episcopi," 866.

(Conde, Pref., p. 7, says 672-886.) Sidenote: _Ibid._, cxxix. pp. 1111-1124.

([Greek: g].) Chronicon _Albeldense_, 866-976. (Conde, _ibid._, says to 973.) This is also called Chronicon Emilianense. It was perhaps begun by Dulcidius, Bishop of Salamanca, and carried on by the monk Vigila.

Sidenote: _Ibid._ 1146.

([Greek: d].) Chronicon _Sampiri_ "Asturicensis Episcopi" (written about 1000), 869-982.

Sidenote: Florez, "Esp. Sagr.," xiv. 438-457.

([Greek: e].) _Chronicon regum Legionensium_, 982-1109, by Pelagius, Bishop of Oviedo--a very doubtful authority, and branded with the epithet "fabulosus."

Sidenote: _Ibid._, pp. 466-475.

([Greek: z].) Chronicon _Silensis_ Monachi, written _circa_ 1100.

Sidenote: _Ibid._, xvii. 270-330.

([Greek: e].) _Lucas of Tuy_, "Chronicon Mundi," written _circa_ 1236.