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TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE * Italics are denoted by underscores as in _italics_. * Small caps are represented in upper case as in SMALL CAPS. * Original spelling was kept, but variant spellings were made consistent when a predominant usage was found. * Obvious printer errors have been silently corrected. * The following changes were also made: Page 29: cheek â check (to check the indulgence) Page 31: potents â portents (with these signs and portents) Page 459: seÃ±oria â seÃ±orio (the seÃ±orio of Serpa) Page 516: Argoti â Argote (Argote de Molina) Page 521: pundoner â pundonor (âpundonor,â or point of honor) * The text of chapter headings and of Table of Contents entries have been made consistent. * All chapters end with ornated illustrations, even when they were not present in the printed book. [Illustration: The Court of Dolls. Alcazar. Seville.] PHILADELPHIA J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. SPANISH PAPERS. BY WASHINGTON IRVING. EDITED BY PIERRE M. IRVING. PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 1872. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by G. P. PUTNAM AND SON, In the Clerkâs Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. [Illustration] PREFACE BY THE EDITOR. A limited edition of the âLegends of the Conquest of Spain,â with which this volume commences, was published in 1835. These Legends, consisting of the âLegend of Don Roderick,â the âLegend of the Subjugation of Spain,â the âLegend of Count Julian and his Family,â formed No. III. of the âCrayon Miscellany.â For the Chronicles which follow them, with the exception of âAbderahmanâ and âSpanish Romance,â which have appeared in the âKnickerbocker Magazine,â I have drawn upon the unpublished manuscripts of Mr. Irving, bequeathed to me by his will. This portion of the volume is illustrative of the wars between the Spaniards and the Moors, and consists of the âLegend of Pelayo,â the âChronicle of Count Fernan Gonzalez,â the most illustrious hero of his epoch, who united the kingdoms of Leon and Castile; and the âChronicle of Fernando the Saint,â that renowned champion of the faith, under whom the greater part of Spain was rescued from the Moors. I have selected these themes from a mass of unpublished manuscript that came into my hands at the death of Mr. Irving, because they bore the impress of being most nearly, though not fully, prepared for the press, and because they had for him a special fascination, arising in part, perhaps, from his long residence in that romantic country. âThese old Morisco-Spanish subjectsââis the language of one of his published lettersââhave a charm that makes me content to write about them at half price. They have so much that is high-minded, and chivalrous, and quaint, and picturesque, and at times half comic, about them.â [Illustration] [Illustration] CONTENTS. THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. CHAPTER I. PAGE Of the Ancient Inhabitants of Spain.âOf the Misrule of Witiza the Wicked. 1 CHAPTER II. The Rise of Don Roderick.âHis Government. 8 CHAPTER III. Of the Loves of Roderick and the Princess Elyata. 13 CHAPTER IV. Of Count Julian. 19 CHAPTER V. The Story of Florinda. 22 CHAPTER VI. Don Roderick receives an Extraordinary Embassy. 31 CHAPTER VII. Story of the Marvelous and Portentous Tower. 35 CHAPTER VIII. Count Julian.âHis Fortunes in Africa.âHe hears of the Dishonor of his Child.âHis Conduct thereupon. 45 CHAPTER IX. Secret Visit of Count Julian to the Arab Camp.âFirst Expedition of Taric el Tuerto. 53 CHAPTER X. Letter of Muza to the Caliph.âSecond Expedition of Taric el Tuerto. 58 CHAPTER XI. Measures of Don Roderick on Hearing of the Invasion.âExpedition of Ataulpho.âVision of Taric. 64 CHAPTER XII. Battle of Calpe.âFate of Ataulpho. 69 CHAPTER XIII. Terror of the Country.âRoderick rouses himself to Arms. 76 CHAPTER XIV. March of the Gothic Army.âEncampment on the Banks of the Guadalete.âMysterious Predictions of a Palmer.âConduct of Pelistes thereupon. 82 CHAPTER XV. Skirmishing of the Armies.âPelistes and his Son.âPelistes and the Bishop. 88 CHAPTER XVI. Traitorous Message of Count Julian. 93 CHAPTER XVII. Last Day of the Battle. 97 CHAPTER XVIII. The Field of Battle after the Defeat.âThe Fate of Roderick. 103 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE FOREGOING LEGEND. The Tomb of Roderick. 108 The Cave of Hercules. 109 LEGEND OF THE SUBJUGATION OF SPAIN. CHAPTER I. Consternation of Spain.âConduct of the Conquerors.âMissives between Taric and Muza. 119 CHAPTER II. Capture of Granada.âSubjugation of the Alpuxarra Mountains. 125 CHAPTER III. Expedition of Magued against Cordova.âDefense of the Patriot Pelistes. 132 CHAPTER IV. Defense of the Convent of St. George by Pelistes. 136 CHAPTER V. Meeting between the Patriot Pelistes and the Traitor Julian. 142 CHAPTER VI. How Taric el Tuerto captured the City of Toledo through the Aid of the Jews, and how he found the famous Talismanic Table of Solomon. 146 CHAPTER VII. Muza ben Nosier.âHis Entrance into Spain and Capture of Carmona. 153 CHAPTER VIII. Muza marches against the City of Seville. 158 CHAPTER IX. Muza besieges the City of Merida. 160 CHAPTER X. Expedition of Abdalasis against Seville and the âLand of Tadmir.â 168 CHAPTER XI. Muza arrives at Toledo.âInterview between him and Taric. 177 CHAPTER XII. Muza prosecutes the Scheme of Conquest.âSiege of Saragossa.âComplete Subjugation of Spain. 182 CHAPTER XIII. Feud between the Arab Generals.âThey are summoned to appear before the Caliph at Damascus.âReception of Taric. 187 CHAPTER XIV. Muza arrives at Damascus.âHis Interview with the Caliph.âThe Table of Solomon.âA rigorous Sentence. 193 CHAPTER XV. Conduct of Abdalasis as Emir of Spain. 198 CHAPTER XVI. Loves of Abdalasis and Exilona. 203 CHAPTER XVII. Fate of Abdalasis and Exilona.âDeath of Muza. 208 LEGEND OF COUNT JULIAN AND HIS FAMILY. Legend of Count Julian and his Family. 217 Note to the preceding Legend. 232 THE LEGEND OF PELAYO. CHAPTER I. Obscurity of the Ancient Chronicles.âThe Loves of DoÃ±a Lucia and the Duke Favila.âBirth of Pelayo, and what happened thereupon; His Early Fortunes, and his Tutelage under the veteran Count Grafeses. 237 CHAPTER II. What happened to Pelayo at the Court of Witiza. 246 CHAPTER III. How Pelayo lived among the Mountains of Cantabria.âHis Adventure with the Needy Hidalgo of Gascony and the Rich Merchant of Bordeaux.âDiscourse of the Holy Hermit. 249 CHAPTER IV. Pilgrimage of Pelayo, and what befell him on his Return to Spain. 261 CHAPTER V. The Battle of Covadonga. 268 CHAPTER VI. Pelayo becomes King of Leon.âHis Death. 274 ABDERAHMAN: THE FOUNDER OF THE DYNASTY OF THE OMMIADES OF SPAIN. CHAPTER I. Of the Youthful Fortunes of Abderahman. 279 CHAPTER II. Landing of Abderahman in Spain.âCondition of the Country. 289 CHAPTER III. Triumphs of Abderahman.âThe Palm-tree which he planted, and the Verses he composed thereupon.âInsurrections.âHis Enemies subdued.âUndisputed Sovereign of the Moslems of Spain.âBegins the famous Mosque in Cordova.âHis Death. 293 CHRONICLE OF FERNAN GONZALEZ, COUNT OF CASTILE. Introduction. 313 CHAPTER I. Installation of Fernan Gonzalez as Count of Castile.âHis First Campaign against the Moors.âVictory of San Quirce.âHow the Count disposed of the Spoils. 316 CHAPTER II. Of the Sally from Burgos, and Surprise of the Castle of Lara.âCapitulation of the Town.âVisit to Alfonso the Great, King of Leon. 321 CHAPTER III. Expedition against the Fortress of MuÃ±on.âDesperate Defense of the Moors.âEnterprise against Castro Xeriz. 326 CHAPTER IV. How the Count of Castile and the King of Leon make a Triumphant Foray into the Moorish Country.âCapture of Salamanca.âOf the Challenge brought by the Herald, and of the Countâs Defiance. 329 CHAPTER V. A Night Assault upon the Castle of Carazo.âThe Moorish Maiden who betrayed the Garrison. 331 CHAPTER VI. Death of Alfonso, King of Leon.âThe Moors determined to strike a fresh Blow at the Count, who summons all Castile to his Standard.âOf his Hunt in the Forest while waiting for the Enemy, and of the Hermit that he met with. 335 CHAPTER VII. The Battle of the Ford of Cascajares. 340 CHAPTER VIII. Of the Message sent by the Count to Sancho II., King of Navarre, and the Reply.âTheir Encounter in Battle. 343 CHAPTER IX. How the Count of Toulouse makes a Campaign against Castile, and how he returns in his Coffin. 347 CHAPTER X. How the Count went to receive the Hand of a Princess, and was thrown into a Dungeon.âOf the Stranger that visited him in his Chains, and of the Appeal that he made to the Princess for his Deliverance. 351 CHAPTER XI. Of the Meditations of the Princess, and their Result.âHer Flight from the Prison with the Count, and Perils of the Escape.âThe Nuptials. 355 CHAPTER XII. King Garcia confined in Burgos by the Count.âThe Princess intercedes for his Release. 361 CHAPTER XIII. Of the Expedition against the ancient City of Sylo.âThe unwitting Trespass of the Count into a Convent, and his Compunction thereupon. 363 CHAPTER XIV. Of the Moorish Host that came up from Cordova, and how the Count repaired to the Hermitage of San Pedro, and prayed for Success against them, and received Assurance of Victory in a Vision.âBattle of Hazinas. 366 CHAPTER XV. The Count imprisoned by the King of Leon.âThe Countess concerts his Escape.âLeon and Castile united by the Marriage of the Prince OrdoÃ±o with Urraca, the Daughter of the Count by his first Wife. 373 CHAPTER XVI. Moorish Incursion into Castile.âBattle of San Estevan.âOf Pascual Vivas and the Miracle that befell him.âDeath of OrdoÃ±o III. 378 CHAPTER XVII. King Sancho the Fat.âOf the Homage he exacted from Count Fernan Gonzalez, and of the strange Bargain that he made with him for the Purchase of his Horse and Falcon. 385 CHAPTER XVIII. Further of the Horse and Falcon. 389 CHAPTER XIX. The Last Campaign of Count Fernan.âHis Death. 393 CHRONICLE OF FERNANDO THE SAINT. CHAPTER I. The Parentage of Fernando.âQueen Berenguela.âThe Laras.âDon Alvar conceals the Death of King Henry.âMission of Queen Berenguela to Alfonso IX.âShe renounces the Crown of Castile in favor of her son Fernando. 401 CHAPTER II. King Alfonso of Leon ravages Castile.âCaptivity of Don Alvar.âDeath of the Laras. 408 CHAPTER III. Marriage of King Fernando.âCampaign against the Moors.âAben Mohamed, King of Baeza, declares himself the Vassal of King Fernando.âThey march to Jaen.âBurning of the Tower.âFernando commences the Building of the Cathedral at Toledo. 415 CHAPTER IV. Assassination of Aben Mohamed.âHis Head carried as a Present to Abullale, the Moorish King of Seville.âAdvance of the Christians into Andalusia.âAbullale purchases a Truce. 420 CHAPTER V. Aben Hud.âAbullale purchases another Yearâs Truce.âFernando hears of the Death of his Father, the King of Leon, while pressing the Siege of Jaen.âHe becomes Sovereign of the two Kingdoms of Leon and Castile. 423 CHAPTER VI. Expedition of the Prince Alonzo against the Moors.âEncamps on the Banks of the Guadalete.âAben Hud marches out from Xerez and gives Battle.âProwess of Garcia Perez de Vargas.âFight and Pursuit of the Moors.âMiracle of the Blessed Santiago. 427 CHAPTER VII. A bold Attempt upon Cordova, the Seat of Moorish Power. 435 CHAPTER VIII. A Spy in the Christian Camp.âDeath of Aben Hud.âA vital Blow to Moslem Power.âSurrender of Cordova to King Fernando. 439 CHAPTER IX. Marriage of King Fernando to the Princess Juana.âFamine at Cordova.âDon Alvar Perez. 446 CHAPTER X. Aben Alhamar, Founder of the Alhambra.âFortifies Granada and makes it his Capital.âAttempts to Surprise the Castle of Martos.âPeril of the Fortress.âA Womanâs Stratagem to save it.âDiego Perez, the Smasher.âDeath of Count Alvar Perez de Castro. 450 CHAPTER XI. Aben Hudiel, the Moorish King of Murcia, becomes the Vassal of King Fernando.âAben Alhamar seeks to drive the Christians out of Andalusia.âFernando takes the Field against him.âRavages of the King.âHis last Meeting with the Queen-Mother. 456 CHAPTER XII. King Fernandoâs Expedition to Andalusia.âSiege of Jaen.âSecret Departure of Aben Alhamar for the Christian Camp.âHe acknowledges himself the Vassal of the King, who enters Jaen in Triumph. 465 CHAPTER XIII. Axataf, King of Seville, exasperated at the Submission of the King of Granada, rejects the Propositions of King Fernando for a Truce.âThe latter is encouraged by a Vision to undertake the Conquest of the City of Seville.âDeath of Queen Berenguela.âA Diplomatic Marriage. 470 CHAPTER XIV. Investment of Seville.âAll Spain aroused to Arms.âSurrender of Alcala del Rio.âThe Fleet of Admiral Ramon Bonifaz advances up the Guadalquivir.âDon Pelayo Correa, Master of Santiago.âHis Valorous Deeds and the Miracles wrought in his Behalf. 475 CHAPTER XV. King Fernando changes his Camp.âGarci Perez and the seven Moors. 482 CHAPTER XVI. Of the Raft built by the Moors, and how it was boarded by Admiral Bonifaz.âDestruction of the Moorish Fleet.âSuccor from Africa. 488 CHAPTER XVII. Of the Stout Prior Ferran Ruyz, and how he rescued his Cattle from the Moors.âFurther Enterprises of the Prior, and of the Ambuscade into which he Fell. 492 CHAPTER XVIII. Bravado of the Three Cavaliers.âAmbush at the Bridge over the Guadayra.âDesperate Valor of Garci Perez.âGrand Attempt of Admiral Bonifaz on the Bridge of Boats.âSeville dismembered from Triana. 496 CHAPTER XIX. Investment of Triana.âGarci Perez and the Infanzon. 504 CHAPTER XX. Capitulation of Seville.âDispersion of the Moorish Inhabitants.âTriumphant Entry of King Fernando. 508 CHAPTER XXI. Death of King Fernando. 514 SPANISH ROMANCE. Spanish Romance. 519 Legend of Don Munio Sancho de Hinojosa. 523 [Illustration] PREFACE. Few events in history have been so original and striking in their main circumstances, and so overwhelming and enduring in their consequences, as that of the conquest of Spain by the Saracens; yet there are few where the motives, and characters, and actions of the agents have been enveloped in more doubts and contradiction. As in the memorable story of the âFall of Troy,â we have to make out, as well as we can, the veritable details through the mists of poetic fiction; yet poetry has so combined itself with, and lent its magic coloring to every fact, that to strip it away would be to reduce the story to a meagre skeleton and rob it of all its charms. The storm of Moslem invasion that swept so suddenly over the peninsula, silenced for a time the faint voice of the Muse, and drove the sons of learning from their cells. The pen was thrown aside to grasp and sword and spear, and men were too much taken up with battling against the evils which beset them on every side, to find time or inclination to record them. When the nation had recovered in some degree from the effects of this astounding blow, or rather had become accustomed to the tremendous reverse which it produced, and sage men sought to inquire and write the particulars, it was too late to ascertain them in their exact verity. The gloom and melancholy that had overshadowed the land had given birth to a thousand superstitious fancies; the woes and terrors of the past were clothed with supernatural miracles and portents, and the actors in the fearful drama had already assumed the dubious characteristics of romance. Or if a writer from among the conquerors undertook to touch upon the theme, it was embellished with all the wild extravagances of an oriental imagination, which afterwards stole into the graver works of the monkish historians. Hence, the earliest chronicles which treat of the downfall of Spain, are apt to be tinctured with those saintly miracles which savor of the pious labors of the cloister, or those fanciful fictions that betray their Arabian authors. Yet from these apocryphal sources the most legitimate and accredited Spanish histories have taken their rise, as pure rivers may be traced up to the fens and mantled pools of a morass. It is true, the authors, with cautious discrimination, have discarded those particulars too startling for belief, and have culled only such as, from their probability and congruity, might be safely recorded as historical facts; yet, scarce one of these but has been connected in the original with some romantic fiction, and, even in its divorced state, bears traces of its former alliance. To discard, however, everything wild and marvelous in this portion of Spanish history, is to discard some of its most beautiful, instructive, and national features; it is to judge of Spain by the standard of probability suited to tamer and more prosaic countries. Spain is virtually a land of poetry and romance, where every-day life partakes of adventure, and where the least agitation or excitement carries everything up into extravagant enterprize and daring exploit. The Spaniards, in all ages, have been of swelling and braggart spirit, soaring in thought, pompous in word, and valiant, though vainglorious, in deed. Their heroic aims have transcended the cooler conceptions of their neighbors, and their reckless daring has borne them on to achievements which prudent enterprise could never have accomplished. Since the time, too, of the conquest and occupation of their country by the Arabs, a strong infusion of oriental magnificence has entered into the national character, and rendered the Spaniard distinct from every other nation of Europe. In the following pages, therefore, the author has ventured to dip more deeply into the enchanted fountains of old Spanish chronicle than has usually been done by those who, in modern times, have treated of the eventful period of the Conquest; but in so doing, he trusts he will illustrate more fully the character of the people and the times. He has thought proper to throw these records into the form of legends, not claiming for them the authenticity of sober history, yet giving nothing that has not historical foundation. All the facts herein contained, however extravagant some of them may be deemed, will be found in the works of sage and reverend chroniclers of yore, growing side by side with long-acknowledged truths, and might be supported by learned and imposing references in the margin. [Illustration] LEGENDS OF THE CONQUEST OF SPAIN. [Illustration] [Illustration] THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK.[1] [1] Many of the facts in this legend are taken from an old chronicle, written in quaint and antiquated Spanish, and professing to be a translation from the Arabian chronicle of the Moor Rasis, by Mohammed, a Moslem writer, and Gil Perez, a Spanish priest. It is supposed to be a piece of literary mosaic work, made up from both Spanish and Arabian chronicles; yet, from this work most of the Spanish historians have drawn their particulars relative to the fortunes of Don Roderick. CHAPTER I. Of the Ancient Inhabitants of Spain.âOf the Misrule of Witiza the Wicked. Spain, or Iberia as it was called in ancient days, has been a country harassed from the earliest times by the invader. The Celts, the Greeks, the PhÅnicians, the Carthaginians, by turns or simultaneously, infringed its territories, drove the native Iberians from their rightful homes, and established colonies and founded cities in the land. It subsequently fell into the all-grasping power of Rome, remaining for some time a subjugated province; and when that gigantic empire crumbled into pieces, the Suevi, the Alani, and the Vandals, those barbarians of the North, overran and ravaged this devoted country, and portioned out the soil among them. Their sway was not of long duration. In the fifth century the Goths, who were then the allies of Rome, undertook the reconquest of Iberia, and succeeded, after a desperate struggle of three yearsâ duration. They drove before them the barbarous hordes, their predecessors, intermarried and incorporated themselves with the original inhabitants, and founded a powerful and splendid empire, comprising the Iberian peninsula, the ancient Narbonnaise, afterwards called Gallia Gothica, or Gothic Gaul, and a part of the African coast called Tingitania. A new nation was, in a manner, produced by this mixture of the Goths and Iberians. Sprang from a union of warrior races, reared and nurtured amidst the din of arms, the Gothic Spaniards, if they may so be termed, were a warlike, unquiet, yet high-minded and heroic people. Their simple and abstemious habits, their contempt for toil and suffering, and their love of daring enterprise, fitted them for a soldierâs life. So addicted were they to war that, when they had no external foes to contend with, they fought with one another; and, when engaged in battle, says an old chronicler, the very thunders and lightnings of heaven could not separate them.[2] [2] Florain, _de Ocampo_, lib. 3, c. 12. Justin, _Abrev. Trog Pomp._, lib. 44. Bleda, _Cronica_, lib. 2, c. 3. For two centuries and a half the Gothic power remained unshaken, and the sceptre was wielded by twenty-five successive kings. The crown was elective, in a council of palatines, composed of the bishops and nobles, who, while they swore allegiance to the newly made sovereign, bound him by a reciprocal oath to be faithful to his trust. Their choice was made from among the people, subject only to one condition, that the king should be of pure Gothic blood. But though the crown was elective in principle, it gradually became hereditary from usage, and the power of the sovereign grew to be almost absolute. The king was commander-in-chief of the armies; the whole patronage of the kingdom was in his hands; he summoned and dissolved the national councils; he made and revoked laws according to his pleasure; and, having ecclesiastical supremacy, he exercised a sway even over the consciences of his subjects. The Goths, at the time of their inroad, were stout adherents of the Arian doctrines; but after a time they embraced the Catholic faith, which was maintained by the native Spaniards free from many of the gross superstitions of the Church at Rome, and this unity of faith contributed more than anything else to blend and harmonize the two races into one. The bishops and other clergy were exemplary in their lives, and aided to promote the influence of the laws and maintain the authority of the state. The fruits of regular and secure government were manifest in the advancement of agriculture, commerce, and the peaceful arts; and in the increase of wealth, of luxury, and refinement; but there was a gradual decline of the simple, hardy, and warlike habits that had distinguished the nation in its semi-barbarous days. Such was the state of Spain when, in the year of Redemption 701, Witiza was elected to the Gothic throne. The beginning of his reign gave promise of happy days to Spain. He redressed grievances, moderated the tributes of his subjects, and conducted himself with mingled mildness and energy in the administration of the laws. In a little while, however, he threw off the mask, and showed himself in his true natureâcruel and luxurious. Two of his relatives, sons of a preceding king, awakened his jealousy for the security of his throne. One of them, named Favila, Duke of Cantabria, he put to death, and would have inflicted the same fate upon his son Pelayo, but that the youth was beyond his reach, being preserved by Providence for the future salvation of Spain. The other object of his suspicion was Theodofredo, who lived retired from court. The violence of Witiza reached him even in his retirement. His eyes were put out, and he was immured within a castle at Cordova. Roderick, the youthful son of Theodofredo, escaped to Italy, where he received protection from the Romans. Witiza, now considering himself secure upon the throne, gave the reins to his licentious passions, and soon, by his tyranny and sensuality, acquired the appellation of Witiza the Wicked. Despising the old Gothic continence, and yielding to the example of the sect of Mahomet, which suited his lascivious temperament, he indulged in a plurality of wives and concubines, encouraging his subjects to do the same. Nay, he even sought to gain the sanction of the Church to his excesses, promulgating a law by which the clergy were released from their vows of celibacy, and permitted to marry and to entertain paramours. The sovereign Pontiff Constantine threatened to depose and excommunicate him, unless he abrogated this licentious law; but Witiza set him at defiance, threatening, like his Gothic predecessor Alaric, to assail the eternal city with his troops, and make spoil of her accumulated treasures.[3] âWe will adorn our damsels,â said he, âwith the jewels of Rome, and replenish our coffers from the mint of St. Peter.â [3] _Chron. de Luitprando_, 709. Abarca, _Anales de Aragon_ (el Mahometismo, fol. 5). Some of the clergy opposed themselves to the innovating spirit of the monarch, and endeavored from the pulpits to rally the people to the pure doctrines of their faith; but they were deposed from their sacred office, and banished as seditious mischief-makers. The church of Toledo continued refractory; the Archbishop Sindaredo, it is true, was disposed to accommodate himself to the corruptions of the times, but the prebendaries battled intrepidly against the new laws of the monarch, and stood manfully in defense of their vows of chastity. âSince the church of Toledo will not yield itself to our will,â said Witiza, âit shall have two husbands.â So saying, he appointed his own brother Oppas, at that time archbishop of Seville, to take a seat with Sindaredo in the episcopal chair of Toledo, and made him primate of Spain. He was a priest after his own heart, and seconded him in all his profligate abuses. It was in vain the denunciations of the Church were fulminated from the chair of St. Peter. Witiza threw off all allegiance to the Roman Pontiff, threatening with pain of death those who should obey the papal mandates. âWe will suffer no foreign ecclesiastic, with triple crown,â said he, âto domineer over our dominions.â The Jews had been banished from the country during the preceding reign, but Witiza permitted them to return, and even bestowed upon their synagogues privileges of which he had despoiled the churches. The children of Israel, when scattered throughout the earth by the fall of Jerusalem, had carried with them into other lands the gainful arcana of traffic, and were especially noted as opulent money-changers, and curious dealers in gold and silver and precious stones; on this occasion, therefore, they were enabled, it is said, to repay the monarch for his protection by bags of money, and caskets of sparkling gems, the rich product of their oriental commerce. The kingdom at this time enjoyed external peace, but there were symptoms of internal discontent. Witiza took the alarm; he remembered the ancient turbulence of the nation and its proneness to internal feuds. Issuing secret orders, therefore, in all directions, he dismantled most of the cities, and demolished the castles and fortresses that might serve as rallying points for the factious. He disarmed the people also, and converted the weapons of war into the implements of peace. It seemed, in fact, as if the millennium were dawning upon the land; for the sword was beaten into a ploughshare, and the spear into a pruning-hook. While thus the ancient martial fire of the nation was extinguished, its morals likewise were corrupted. The altars were abandoned, the churches closed, wide disorder and sensuality prevailed throughout the land, so that, according to the old chroniclers, within the compass of a few short years, âWitiza the Wicked taught all Spain to sin.â [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER II. The Rise of Don Roderick.âHis Government. Woe to the ruler who founds his hope of sway on the weakness or corruption of the people. The very measures taken by Witiza to perpetuate his power ensured his downfall. While the whole nation, under his licentious rule, was sinking into vice and effeminacy, and the arm of war was unstrung, the youthful Roderick, son of Theodofredo, was training up for action in the stern but wholesome school of adversity. He instructed himself in the use of arms; became adroit and vigorous by varied exercises: learned to despise all danger, and inured himself to hunger and watchfulness and the rigor of the seasons. His merits and misfortunes procured him many friends among the Romans; and when, being arrived at a fitting age, he undertook to revenge the wrongs of his father and his kindred, a host of brave and hardy soldiers flocked to his standard. With these he made his sudden appearance in Spain. The friends of his house and the disaffected of all classes hastened to join him, and he advanced rapidly and without opposition, through an unarmed and enervated land. Witiza saw too late the evil he had brought upon himself. He made a hasty levy, and took the field with a scantily equipped and undisciplined host, but was easily routed and made prisoner, and the whole kingdom submitted to Don Roderick. The ancient city of Toledo, the royal residence of the Gothic kings, was the scene of high festivity and solemn ceremonial on the coronation of the victor. Whether he was elected to the throne according to the Gothic usage, or seized it by the right of conquest, is a matter of dispute among historians, but all agree that the nation submitted cheerfully to his sway, and looked forward to prosperity and happiness under their newly elevated monarch. His appearance and character seemed to justify the anticipation. He was in the splendor of youth, and of a majestic presence. His soul was bold and daring, and elevated by lofty desires. He had a sagacity that penetrated the thoughts of men, and a magnificent spirit that won all hearts. Such is the picture which ancient writers give of Don Roderick, when, with all the stern and simple virtues unimpaired, which he had acquired in adversity and exile, and flushed with the triumph of a pious revenge, he ascended the Gothic throne. Prosperity, however, is the real touchstone of the human heart; no sooner did Roderick find himself in possession of the crown, than the love of power and the jealousy of rule were awakened in his breast. His first measure was against Witiza who was brought in chains into his presence. Roderick beheld the captive monarch with an unpitying eye, remembering only his wrongs and cruelties to his father. âLet the evils he has inflicted on others be visited upon his own head,â said he; âas he did unto Theodofredo, even so be it done unto him.â So the eyes of Witiza were put out, and he was thrown into the same dungeon at Cordova in which Theodofredo had languished. There he passed the brief remnant of his days in perpetual darkness, a prey to wretchedness and remorse. Roderick now cast an uneasy and suspicious eye upon Evan and Siseburto, the two sons of Witiza. Fearful lest they should foment some secret rebellion, he banished them the kingdom. They took refuge in the Spanish dominions in Africa, where they were received and harbored by Requila, governor of Tangier, out of gratitude for favors which he had received from their late father. There they remained, to brood over their fallen fortunes, and to aid in working out the future woes of Spain. Their uncle Oppas, bishop of Seville, who had been made copartner, by Witiza, in the archiepiscopal chair at Toledo, would have likewise fallen under the suspicion of the king; but he was a man of consummate art, and vast exterior sanctity, and won upon the good graces of the monarch. He was suffered, therefore, to retain his sacred office at Seville; but the see of Toledo was given in charge to the venerable Urbino, and the law of Witiza was revoked that dispensed the clergy from their vows of celibacy. The jealousy of Roderick for the security of his crown was soon again aroused, and his measures were prompt and severe. Having been informed that the governors of certain castles and fortresses in Castile and Andalusia had conspired against him, he caused them to be put to death and their strongholds to be demolished. He now went on to imitate the pernicious policy of his predecessor, throwing down walls and towers, disarming the people, and thus incapacitating them from rebellion. A few cities were permitted to retain their fortifications, but these were intrusted to alcaids in whom he had especial confidence; the greater part of the kingdom was left defenseless; the nobles, who had been roused to temporary manhood during the recent stir of war, sunk back into the inglorious state of inaction which had disgraced them during the reign of Witizaâpassing their time in feasting and dancing to the sound of loose and wanton minstrelsy.[4] It was scarcely possible to recognize in these idle wassailers and soft voluptuaries the descendants of the stern and frugal warriors of the frozen Northâwho had braved flood and mountain, and heat and cold, and had battled their way to empire across half a world in arms. [4] Mariana, _Hist. Esp._, lib. 6, c. 21. They surrounded their youthful monarch, it is true, with a blaze of military pomp. Nothing could surpass the splendor of their arms, which were embossed and enameled, and enriched with gold and jewels and curious devices; nothing could be more gallant and glorious than their array; it was all plume and banner and silken pageantry, the gorgeous trappings for tilt and tourney and courtly revel; but the iron soul of war was wanting. How rare it is to learn wisdom from the misfortunes of others. With the fate of Witiza full before his eyes, Don Roderick indulged in the same pernicious errors, and was doomed, in like manner, to prepare the way for his own perdition. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER III. Of the Loves of Roderick and the Princess Elyata. As yet the heart of Roderick, occupied by the struggles of his early life, by warlike enterprises, and by the inquietudes of newly-gotten power, had been insensible to the charms of women; but in the present voluptuous calm the amorous propensities of his nature assumed their sway. There are divers accounts of the youthful beauty who first found favor in his eyes, and was elevated by him to the throne. We follow in our legend the details of an Arabian chronicler,[5] authenticated by a Spanish poet.[6] Let those who dispute our facts produce better authority for their contradiction. [5] _Perdida de EspaÃ±a_, por Abulcasim Tarif Abentarique, lib. 1. [6] Lope de Vega. Among the few fortified places that had not been dismantled by Don Roderick was the ancient city of Denia, situated on the Mediterranean coast, and defended on a rock-built castle that overlooked the sea. The alcaide of the castle, with many of the people of Denia, was one day on his knees in the chapel, imploring the Virgin to allay a tempest which was strewing the coast with wrecks, when a sentinel brought word that a Moorish cruiser was standing for the land. The alcaide gave orders to ring the alarm-bells, light signal-fires on the hill-tops, and rouse the country, for the coast was subject to cruel maraudings from the Barbary cruisers. In a little while the horsemen of the neighborhood were seen pricking along the beach, armed with such weapons as they could find, and the alcaide and his scanty garrison descended from the hill. In the mean time the Moorish bark came rolling and pitching towards the land. As it drew near, the rich carving and gilding with which it was decorated, its silken bandaroles and banks of crimson oars, showed it to be no warlike vessel, but a sumptuous galiot destined for state and ceremony. It bore the marks of the tempest; the masts were broken, the oars shattered, and fragments of snowy sails and silken awnings were fluttering in the blast. As the galiot grounded upon the sand, the impatient rabble rushed into the surf to capture and make spoil; but were awed into admiration and respect by the appearance of the illustrious company on board. There were Moors of both sexes sumptuously arrayed, and adorned with precious jewels, bearing the demeanor of persons of lofty rank. Among them shone conspicuous a youthful beauty, magnificently attired, to whom all seemed to pay reverence. Several of the Moors surrounded her with drawn swords, threatening death to any that approached; others sprang from the bark, and throwing themselves on their knees before the alcaide, implored him, by his honor and courtesy as a knight, to protect a royal virgin from injury and insult. âYou behold before you,â said they, âthe only daughter of the king of Algiers, the betrothed bride of the son of the king of Tunis. We were conducting her to the court of her expecting bridegroom, when a tempest drove us from our course, and compelled us to take refuge on your coast. Be not more cruel than the tempest, but deal nobly with that which even sea and storm have spared.â The alcaide listened to their prayers. He conducted the princess and her train to the castle, where every honor due to her rank was paid her. Some of her ancient attendants interceded for her liberation, promising countless sums to be paid by her father for her ransom; but the alcaide turned a deaf ear to all their golden offers. âShe is a royal captive,â said he; âit belongs to my sovereign alone to dispose of her.â After she had reposed, therefore, for some days at the castle, and recovered from the fatigue and terror of the seas, he caused her to be conducted, with all her train, in magnificent state to the court of Don Roderick. The beautiful Elyata[7] entered Toledo more like a triumphant sovereign than a captive. A chosen band of Christian horsemen, splendidly armed, appeared to wait upon her as a mere guard of honor. She was surrounded by the Moorish damsels of her train, and followed by her own Moslem guards, all attired with the magnificence that had been intended to grace her arrival at the court of Tunis. The princess was arrayed in bridal robes, woven in the most costly looms of the Orient; her diadem sparkled with diamonds and was decorated with the rarest plumes of the bird of paradise, and even the silken trappings of her palfrey, which swept the ground, were covered with pearls and precious stones. As this brilliant cavalcade crossed the bridge of the Tagus, all Toledo poured forth to behold it, and nothing was heard throughout the city but praises of the wonderful beauty of the princess of Algiers. King Roderick came forth, attended by the chivalry of his court, to receive the royal captive. His recent voluptuous life had disposed him for tender and amorous affections, and at the first sight of the beautiful Elyata he was enraptured with her charms. Seeing her face clouded with sorrow and anxiety, he soothed her with gentle and courteous words, and, conducting her to a royal palace, âBehold,â said he, âthy habitation, where no one shall molest thee; consider thyself at home in the mansion of thy father, and dispose of anything according to thy will.â [7] By some she is called Zara. Here the princess passed her time with the female attendants who had accompanied her from Algiers; and no one but the king was permitted to visit her, who daily became more and more enamored of his lovely captive, and sought by tender assiduity to gain her affections. The distress of the princess at her captivity was soothed by this gentle treatment. She was of an age when sorrow cannot long hold sway over the heart. Accompanied by her youthful attendants, she ranged the spacious apartments of the palace, and sported among the groves and alleys of its garden. Every day the remembrance of the paternal home grew less and less painful, and the king became more and more amiable in her eyes; and when at length he offered to share his heart and throne with her, she listened with downcast looks and kindling blushes, but with an air of resignation. One obstacle remained to the complete fruition of the monarchâs wishes, and this was the religion of the princess. Roderick forthwith employed the archbishop of Toledo to instruct the beautiful Elyata in the mysteries of the Christian faith. The female intellect is quick in perceiving the merits of new doctrines; the archbishop, therefore, soon succeeded in converting, not merely the princess, but most of her attendants, and a day was appointed for their public baptism. The ceremony was performed with great pomp and solemnity, in the presence of all the nobility and chivalry of the court. The princess and her damsels, clad in white, walked on foot to the cathedral, while numerous beautiful children, arrayed as angels, strewed their path with flowers; and the archbishop meeting them at the portal, received them, as it were, into the bosom of the church. The princess abandoned her Moorish appellation of Elyata, and was baptized by the name of Exilona, by which she was thenceforth called, and has generally been known in history. The nuptials of Roderick and the beautiful convert took place shortly afterwards, and were celebrated with great magnificence. There were jousts, and tourneys, and banquets, and other rejoicings, which lasted twenty days, and were attended by the principal nobles from all parts of Spain. After these were over, such of the attendants of the princess as refused to embrace Christianity, and desired to return to Africa, were dismissed with munificent presents; and an embassy was sent to the king of Algiers, to inform him of the nuptials of his daughter, and to proffer him the friendship of King Roderick.[8] [8] âComo esta Infanta era muy hermosa, y el Rey [Don Rodrigo] dispuesto y gentil hombre, entro por medio el amor y aficion, y junto con el regalo con que la avia mandado hospedar y servir ful causa que el rey persuadio esta Infanta que si se tornava a su ley de christiano la tomaria por muger, y que la haria seÃ±ora de sus Reynos. Con esta persuasion ella fue contenta, y aviendose vuelto christiana, se caso con ella, y se celebraron sus bodas con muchas fiestas y regozijos, como era razon.ââAbulcasim, _Conqâst de Espan_, cap. 3. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER IV. Of Count Julian. For a time Don Roderick lived happily with his young and beautiful queen, and Toledo was the seat of festivity and splendor. The principal nobles throughout the kingdom repaired to his court to pay him homage, and to receive his commands; and none were more devoted in their reverence than those who were obnoxious to suspicion from their connection with the late king. Among the foremost of these was Count Julian, a man destined to be infamously renowned in the dark story of his countryâs woes. He was one of the proudest Gothic families, lord of Consuegra and Algeziras, and connected by marriage with Witiza and the bishop Oppasâhis wife, the countess Frandina, being their sister. In consequence of this connection, and of his own merits, he had enjoyed the highest dignities and commands, being one of the Espatorios, or royal sword-bearersâan office of the greatest confidence about the person of the sovereign.[9] He had, moreover, been intrusted with the military government of the Spanish possessions on the African coast of the strait, which at that time were threatened by the Arabs of the East, the followers of Mahomet, who were advancing their victorious standard to the extremity of Western Africa. Count Julian established his seat of government at Ceuta, the frontier bulwark, and one of the far-famed gates of the Mediterranean Sea. Here he boldly faced, and held in check, the torrent of Moslem invasion. [9] Condes Espatorios; so called from the drawn swords of ample size and breadth with which they kept guard in the ante-chambers of the Gothic kings. Comes Spathariorum, custodum corporis Regis Profectus. Hunc et Propospatharium appellatum existimo.â_Patr. Pant. de Offic. Goth._ Don Julian was a man of an active, but irregular genius, and a grasping ambition; he had a love for power and grandeur, in which he was joined by his haughty countess; and they could ill brook the downfall of their house, as threatened by the fate of Witiza. They had hastened therefore to pay their court to the newly elevated monarch, and to assure him of their fidelity to his interests. Roderick was readily persuaded of the sincerity of Count Julian; he was aware of his merits as a soldier and a governor, and continued him in his important command; honoring him with many other marks of implicit confidence. Count Julian sought to confirm this confidence by every proof of devotion. It was a custom among the Goths to rear many of the children of the most illustrious families in the royal household. They served as pages to the king, and handmaids and ladies of honor to the queen, and were instructed in all manner of accomplishments befitting their gentle blood. When about to depart for Ceuta, to resume his command, Don Julian brought his daughter Florinda to present her to the sovereigns. She was a beautiful virgin that had not as yet attained to womanhood. âI confide her to your protection,â said he to the king, âto be unto her as a father; and to have her trained in the paths of virtue. I can leave with you no dearer pledge of my loyalty.â King Roderick received the timid and blushing maiden into his parental care; promising to watch over her happiness with a parentâs eye, and that she should be enrolled among the most cherished attendants of the queen. With this assurance of the welfare of his child, Count Julian departed, well pleased, for his government at Ceuta. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER V. The Story of Florinda. The beautiful daughter of Count Julian was received with great favor by the queen Exilona and admitted among the noble damsels that attended upon her person. Here she lived in honor and apparent security, and surrounded by innocent delights. To gratify his queen, Don Roderick had built for her rural recreation a palace without the walls of Toledo, on the banks of the Tagus. It stood in the midst of a garden, adorned after the luxurious style of the East. The air was perfumed by fragrant shrubs and flowers; the groves resounded with the song of the nightingale, while the gush of fountains and water-falls, and the distant murmur of the Tagus, made it a delightful retreat during the sultry days of summer. The charm of perfect privacy also reigned throughout the place, for the garden walls were high, and numerous guards kept watch without to protect it from all intrusion. In this delicious abode, more befitting an oriental voluptuary than a Gothic king, Don Roderick was accustomed to while away much of that time which should have been devoted to the toilsome cares of government. The very security and peace which he had produced throughout his dominions by his precautions to abolish the means and habitudes of war, had effected a disastrous change in his character. The hardy and heroic qualities which had conducted him to the throne, were softened in the lap of indulgence. Surrounded by the pleasures of an idle and effeminate court, and beguiled by the example of his degenerate nobles, he gave way to a fatal sensuality that had lain dormant in his nature during the virtuous days of his adversity. The mere love of female beauty had first enamored him of Exilona, and the same passion, fostered by voluptuous idleness, now betrayed him into the commission of an act fatal to himself and Spain. The following is the story of his error as gathered from an old chronicle and legend. In a remote part of the palace was an apartment devoted to the queen. It was like an eastern harem, shut up from the foot of man, and where the king himself but rarely entered. It had its own courts, and gardens, and fountains, where the queen was wont to recreate herself with her damsels, as she had been accustomed to do in the jealous privacy of her fatherâs palace. One sultry day the king, instead of taking his siesta, or mid-day slumber, repaired to this apartment to seek the society of the queen. In passing through a small oratory, he was drawn by the sound of female voices to a casement overhung with myrtles and jessamines. It looked into an interior garden or court, set out with orange-trees, in the midst of which was a marble fountain, surrounded by a grassy bank, enameled with flowers. It was the high noontide of a summer day when, in sultry Spain, the landscape trembles to the eye, and all nature seeks repose, except the grasshopper, that pipes his lulling note to the herdsman as he sleeps beneath the shade. Around the fountain were several of the damsels of the queen, who, confident of the sacred privacy of the place, were yielding in that cool retreat to the indulgence prompted by the season and the hour. Some lay asleep on the flowery bank; others sat on the margin of the fountain, talking and laughing, as they bathed their feet in its limpid waters, and King Roderick beheld delicate limbs shining through the wave that might rival the marble in whiteness. Among the damsels was one who had come from the Barbary coast with the queen. Her complexion had the dark tinge of Mauritania, but it was clear and transparent, and the deep rich
{'title': 'Spanish Papers by Washington Irving', 'source': 'Project Gutenberg', 'lang': 'en'}