The History of Spain and Portugal Volume 1

PREFACE

The present is an attempt—the first that has been made in our language—to compose, from the interminable mass of original authorities, a general history of the Spanish and Portuguese Peninsula.

That such an attempt has not been made before now, will surprise no one fully aware of the difficulties attending it. Even with the advantages of a long and intimate acquaintance with Spain,—an acquaintance not merely literary, but personal; not confined to one city, but extending over a great part of the country,—we could not foresee their precise extent. The number of authorities, many of great rarity; the trouble and expense of procuring them; the labour of forming a clear and connected narrative from materials generally confused, often obscure and contradictory; above all, the more than Egyptian darkness which at every period involves the political, civil, and ecclesiastical institutions, no less than the social condition, of the Peninsula—subjects, however interesting and important, unaccountably neglected by the national historians—are obstacles formidable enough to intimidate the most resolute student. Could any thing short of actual experience have shown them in their true magnitude, we should assuredly have recoiled from the present task. It is now executed—in what manner remains for the public to decide.

In stating these difficulties, we do not wish either to claim merit for diligent research, or to disarm criticism. We have sometimes spoken strongly of others, and we cannot reasonably object to the same treatment in return. We can only expect that the critics who may honour this compendium with their notice, will exhibit the same impartiality, and use the same diligence towards forming a correct opinion, as, we hope, have guided us.

In the arrangement adopted in regard to the coexisting kingdoms during the Mohammedan domination—their histories being here written consecutively instead of simultaneously—we have aimed at greater perspicuity than could be attained by the usual method. Hitherto, by relating the events of all in chronological order, and by being compelled to pass continually from one sovereignty to another, historians have confounded events and persons, so that no attention in the reader, however undivided and painful, could follow the chain of each particular history. Let any one peruse a single book of Morales, Mariana, Ferreras, or Masdeu, and he will find that, unless he form an abstract as he proceeds of the general history, classing the transactions of each kingdom under their proper head, his memory will retain no distinct impression; nothing will remain in his mind but a mass of confusion,—a poor return for his toil.

In this separate arrangement, the first place has been assigned to the Mohammedan sovereignty,—the most important of the period under consideration. Next follows that of the Asturias, Leon and Castile, which may be regarded as the trunk whence the other Christian states generally diverge as so many ramifications. The rest will be found to occupy places proportioned to their antiquity, their relative importance, or their connection with one another. On the interesting subject of the Arabian and Moorish domination we should certainly have dwelt at much greater length, were it not at this moment in preparation for the Cabinet Cyclopaedia, and by an author (Dr. Southey) whose pen none but the presumptuous would venture to rival.

TABLE OF KINGS

THE HISTORY OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL

INTRODUCTION.

CONDITION AND LOCATION OF THE PENINSULAR NATIONS PRIOR TO THE ROMAN SWAY.

When, and by whom, the Peninsula was peopled, it would be vain to enquire. The earliest inhabitants whom history makes known to us were the Iberians; a nation whose origin was probably derived from the Asiatic country of that name. The establishment of Iberian colonies along the coasts of the Mediterranean, from Asia Minor to Catalonia, seems to indicate the gradual progress westward of those enterprising adventurers. Beyond doubt, they were settled in the country at a period lost in the depths of antiquity; but that they were the first settlers may be reasonably doubted. Its position, climate, and fertility, would cause it to be inhabited before most others in Europe.

At a time so remote also that we cannot ascend to it, the Iberians were disturbed in their possessions by the Celts; a race whose origin is wrapped in impenetrable darkness, and whose migrations have been, and still are, the subject of much ingenious but fruitless disputation. Dissimilar, we are told, in language and manners, the numerous tribes into which the two people were split were long hostile to each other. They contended for the possession, or perhaps the supremacy, of the country, until, finding by experience that their strife was fruitless, they consented, perhaps, to amalgamate together,—certainly, to share the country between them; and the united people were thenceforth called Celtiberians

Such is the natural account, given by the most ancient authorities, of the population of Spain prior to the historic times. It does not, however, satisfy the Spanish writers; who, respectable as is the antiquity assigned their nation, stoutly contend for one higher. Chiefly from the scattered and scarcely intelligible hints to be gleaned from the old poets and geographers, and in some degree from the rich stores of traditionary fiction in the middle ages, they have framed the strangest hypothesis. With one or two unimportant exceptions, which of them ever doubted that Tubal, the grandson of Noah, colonised the country 2163 years before Christ; that the patriarch himself visited the founder, whom he cordially assisted in the great work of building towns and making constitutions; that Osiris, Bacchus, Hercules, Atlas, Nebuchadnezzar, and a host of personages no less illustrious, made it the theatre of their exploits; or that the multitude of kings whose names and actions are so minutely recorded, reigned in it so many ages antecedent to all historic records?

The progress of fable is not difficult to be conceived, especially when a favourite system is to be supported. Rumours, at first broached with becoming diffidence, are eagerly seized by the credulous; obscure allusions are ingeniously cleared up; the feeble and uncertain light of tradition is accepted as a guide: to the mass of materials thus accumulated every succeeding age brings additions; until Fiction, invested with the venerable mantle of Time, usurps the place of indisputable authority, and calls on the world to bow down before her.

Did the Celts enter the Peninsula by the Pyrenees, or cross over from Africa? While the French writers maintain the former hypothesis, Masdeu and other natives as obstinately assert the latter. But, as both parties are more swayed by national prejudice than by a desire to find the truth, their elaborate investigations have added little to our previous stock of knowledge. In the total absence, however, of all positive testimony, the fact cannot be ascertained by either. It would, indeed, be more reasonable to suppose that the stream of Celtic migration flowed over Europe from the Bosphorus to the British Isles, or even along the northern shores of the Mediterranean: we do not hear that they ever formed a single settlement on the southern. But who were the Celts? Were they really a distinct race; or was the term employed by the Greeks merely as a generic one, to designate the mountain inhabitants of western Europe as the Scythians of the northern? The latter supposition would be as plausible as the former.

The condition of the Iberians and Celts, prior to the irruptions of other nations, is described with much complacency by most Spanish writers. According to them, governments were instituted; cities admirably policed; the arts and philosophy taught to flourish, when even Greece, the parent of European civilisation was involved in barbarism. Such dreams may amuse a patriotic fancy; but the severe hand of Truth would trace a very different picture: it would show us a country where, from the multitude of fierce and independent tribes, contests must have been frequent and inevitable; and where, from their savage habits, there could be no hope of security, much less of enjoyment. Every country has its golden age; and every one wisely removes it to an era beyond the sphere of history, where the imagination may luxuriate unchecked.

The character, indeed, of these tribes is represented as favourable to any thing but social tranquillity. Wherever there are mountains there will be robbers, until the arts of life are known and practised, and lawless violence is repressed by the strong arm of authority. The mountaineers of the Peninsula, like those of Scotland and Wales, finding that the districts which they inhabited were too barren for their support, descended into the fertile plains, and carried away to their retreats both the cattle and the produce of the soil. Such aggressions could not be committed without contention between the plunderers and the plundered. Hence necessity taught both the use of arms, in which habit rendered them expert. Hence, too, as all history shows us, the inhabitants of the mountains and of the plains adjoining have ever been distinguished by a warlike and ferocious disposition. But, in the mixed condition of man, there are few evils unproductive of partial good. The courage which in a rude state of society stimulated to lawless strife, and fostered martial habits, would, in one more advanced, when the blessings of freedom were known and prized, resist the progress of foreign aggression. Accordingly, we find that the mountains have ever been the strong-holds of independence. Those of Wales, Scotland, Switzerland, Calabria, the Asturias, and Greece, are renowned as the cradles of national liberty.

The arms of these people were simple, but formidable. Two lances, about three feet in length; a short sword; a pole, hooked at the end to seize the reins of horses; and a sling, were the most usual weapons of the combatants on foot. The horsemen were distinguished by sabres, sometimes by hatchets or ponderous mallets, but generally by lances about six feet long. Both were defended by bucklers; and, in addition, the latter cased their thighs in something on which the sword made no impression. When advancing to battle, each horseman had usually a foot soldier mounted en croupe, who alighted the moment the contest began, and closed with the enemy. The address of the former was remarkable: he could manage two horses at the same time, and could vault, with surprising ease and dexterity, from one to the other, even when proceeding at the most rapid rate.

Bull-fights appear to have been their favourite amusement from the earliest times. That this custom was not introduced by the Romans, is evident from its representation on ancient medals, and on a monument discovered at Clunia about half a century ago,—both unquestionably anterior to the domination of that people.

Their food was very frugal: a few dried acorns or chestnuts, with mead or cider, satisfied the moderate wants of several tribes; and though the inhabitants of the maritime districts were supplied with wine, and the richer portion throughout the country were no strangers to animal food, they observed, even in that barbarous era, a sobriety which contrasted strongly with the intemperance of more northern nations. Even at great entertainments they had no tables; benches placed against the wall were the only accommodation provided for the guests. On these occasions music was introduced, and sometimes dancing: but from this latter exercise, and indeed from the feasts altogether, the women were excluded.

Their dress was no less simple. A garment of linen or leather, girt round the waist, with a cap for the head, constituted the soldier’s covering: a woollen tunic of a black colour, and descending to the feet, sometimes furnished with a hood like some of our modern cloaks for women, was the habit of peace. The females, indeed, were no strangers to fantastic ornaments.

When any individual was afflicted with a serious disease, he was seated on the public thoroughfare, that the passer-by might have pity on him, and bring with him such remedies as had been proved efficacious in similar cases.

Justice was administered with severity. Capital delinquents were stoned to death, or hurled from the top of a precipice. Parricides were conducted beyond the bounds of the kingdom, and there slain; their very bones being considered too polluted to repose in their native soil.

The funerals of the great were magnificent. The corpse was arrayed in costly attire, exposed, during some days, to the public gaze; and while religiously burning on the pile, the deeds and lineage of the deceased were proclaimed to the assembled multitude: military exercises were performed over the tomb. Not unfrequently the most intimate of his friends or companions in arms swallowed poison, disdaining to survive one from whom they had never been separated during life. Assuredly no attachments are so strong as those formed on the field of danger and of death. The Scandinavian annals present us with numerous examples of similar devotedness.

Agriculture was abandoned to the women, as an employment beneath the dignity of a warrior. The fair sex guided the oxen, held the plough, ground the corn, besides attending to their domestic concerns. On them, indeed, the whole drudgery of life rested then, as it does now, in that country. When surprised by the pains of labour, they retired into a corner, no matter where; wrapt the infant stranger in a warm covering; and returned to their occupation, as if nothing extraordinary had happened. This would appear incredible, notwithstanding the experience of savage life, even in these days, were they not attested by authority too strong to be shaken.

There is reason to believe that the Celtiberian nations were not unacquainted with commerce, even before the invasion of the Phoenicians. But their trade was confined to the coasts, and consisted in the exchange of superfluities for the productions of the Mediterranean isles, especially for wine. Certain it is that they knew not the value of the precious metals until the avaricious Syrians compelled them to labour in the mines. From this period the riches of Spain were almost proverbial. Coins and medals of ancient dates—some representing the religious rites or ordinary pursuits of the people, others covered with Phoenician characters,—are frequently dug up, and made to throw light on this darkest period in their history. But iron was the mineral for which the country was most renowned. When turned into steel, the excellence of the swords and spears, and the perfection of the workmanship, made foreigners anxious to obtain them.

The introduction of idolatry into Spain and Portugal was owing, it is said, to the Phoenicians: tradition affirms that, before their arrival, traces of the patriarchal, if not the Mosaic, dispensation were not wholly destroyed. But the Celts had previously settled in the country, and doubtless introduced a religious system distinct from that of the Syrians, and in many respects similar to that of the Gauls and Britons. If the knowledge and worship of one God ever existed there antecedently to the preaching of Christianity, it was probably confined to the Iberians, or to the inhabitants located in Spain before that enterprising people forsook their native mountains and forests.

The deities worshipped by the Tyrian colonies, and by them made known to the native tribes, were doubtless many in number; yet few remain either in ancient writers or on contemporary medals. Hercules, represented sometimes as a pilot, sometimes as grasping a bow, was an emblem of the sun. The moon was represented under the figure of a head with two horns, evidently intended for that of a bull or a cow. The former was called Baal, the latter Astarte or Astaroth. Probably they are the same as the Isis and Osiris of the Egyptians, who always used the figure of a cow to represent the moon. Hence the origin of several monuments distributed throughout the Peninsula. Stone bulls are frequently dug up at Beja, in Portugal; the bridge of Salamanca had formerly a huge one, much older than the bridge itself, and originally an idol. One has also been lately discovered at Olesa in Catalonia; which is the more remarkable from the animal’s head being accompanied by a human one, with four eyes and two horns, or wings.

The names of other deities are to be found inscribed on ancient remains; but their attributes and rights are wholly unknown, or very imperfectly understood. Of these, Endovellicus, or Enobolicus, or Endobelion, has the most inscriptions: but, as they are posterior to the invasion by Rome, the name may have been introduced by the people of that republic; or it may have been so latinised by them as to set at defiance every attempt of the etymologist to deduce it. Another deity, Salambo, was worshipped by the women of Seville: this is the name under which the Babylonians adored Venus. The rites celebrated in her honour in the latter city perfectly resembled those used in the worship of the Greek Adonis. Astarte, Salambo, Isis, and Venus, are probably one and the same; and the favourite of the Cyprian goddess, under different names, may also be traced through the dark cloud which lowers over the still darker superstitions of Egypt, Syria, and Chaldea. A third divinity, Ipsistos, may have been introduced by the Greek colonists; who, as we shall hereafter observe, were located in Spain at a very remote period. In the territory of Almeida a cornelian ring was discovered, bearing an inscription sufficiently indicative of the god’s power,—Bring not on thyself or me the wrath of the god Ipsistos: it is a great name.

Other deities might be named, but they are too obscure to deserve the reader’s notice. It must also be added, that the parts of the Peninsula inhabited by the Celtic tribes abounded with the mysterious stones which attest the rites and the impositions of the druids.

The preceding observations apply to the collective mass of the Spanish nations. We proceed to examine the principal ones more in detail. A knowledge of their location is indispensable towards the understanding of their ancient history. Some other particulars concerning their habits and countries, when found to differ from the general description, are also added.

As before observed, the Peninsula, from the earliest known period, was split into a multitude of tribes, originally divided from two great races or nations. The Celts reigned in the north and west; the Iberians in the south and east. A mixture of the two, the Celtiberians, from whom the whole population was named, possessed a great portion of the interior. Under these three general heads we shall class all the tribes of the country which made any figure in ancient history. Those of which the names only remain, and there are many of them, are omitted, since they would only form a barren and useless nomenclature.

It must, however, be premised, that though the classification adopted is sufficiently accurate for the present purpose, it is not proposed as strictly so. The expeditions of the Phoenicians, the Greeks, and the Carthaginians, and still more the migration of native tribes, doubtless gave rise to various modifications of society on the coasts, to the amalgamation of some states, and the formation of others.

THE CELTS.

The Celts consisted of five powerful tribes:—

1. The ASTURIANS (Astures), who inhabited a territory more extensive than the modern principality of the name; for it comprehended also a considerable portion of Leon and Old Castile. By the Romans it was generally confounded with the country of the Callaici or Gallicians.

The ultramontane Asturians, like their descendants at this day, dwelt in the gorges formed by the numerous ramifications of the mountains which traverse their country. These branches, called by the Spaniards sierras, sometimes cerros, are so near to one another, that many of the ravines between them are scarcely broad enough to serve as beds to the torrents which descend from the snow-clad mountains. The scene is often singularly romantic. Hills gradually ascending, many of them adorned with gloomy forests; cottages embosomed among them, and sending upwards their curling clouds of smoke; the noise of the torrents dashing among the rocks; the murmur of the trees when agitated by the wind; the working of the rustic mills,—for, shut out as these solitudes are from the rest of Spain, the inhabitants are compelled to supply their own wants; the lowing of the cattle; the gambols of the young goats; and the cheerful songs of the labourers, who are industrious, innocent, and therefore happy,—form a pleasing picture to the contemplative no less than the benevolent mind. In many of the valleys, and on the declivities of the less abrupt mountains, vegetation is flourishing; fruit-trees even are common, and corn is abundant. The sharp winds, which in other alpine districts blast the hopes of the husbandman, are here arrested by the everlasting ramparts of nature. A pure and invigorating atmosphere gives health and longevity to the frame.

The natural position of this country, while it averted from the inhabitants the curse of subjugation by Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Goths, or Moors, preserved them from the contagion of the social vices, and cherished within them an ungovernable spirit of independence. In valour they were surpassed by no people of the Peninsula. Their ordinary clothing was the skin of the chamois. Their vigorous constitutions and industrious habits required some stronger support than fruits alone. Game, with which the region has always abounded, furnished them with a never-failing diet, and enabled them to undergo the severest labours. At home, they cultivated the ground; when occupied in war, this duty necessarily devolved on the women. The Romans succeeded in penetrating into such districts as abounded in gold; but the country was but partially known to them, much less subdued.

Nine other tribes were subject to the Asturians.

2. The CANTABRES, who inhabited a territory comprising Biscay Proper, Guipuscoa, and Alava. It abounded in the precious metals, and above all in iron. The whole country, in fact, was one continuous series of mines. It was the arsenal of Spain, and even of foreign nations: it was the forge of Vulcan. Its richness in these valuable minerals made it an object of cupidity to the Romans: but the hands which could manufacture weapons could also use them; and the independence of this hardy race was preserved. This consciousness of their strength gave them an air of calm dignity, and a decision in their purposes, which we should vainly seek in any other nation of the Peninsula. Passionately fond of their mountains, barren as those mountains are, and no less attached to war,—insensible to hunger, heat, and cold,—they were the terror of Rome. They could not, indeed, live without some enemy to fight with: if taken prisoners, they generally committed suicide, not only from abhorrence of slavery, but from disgust of a life which want of success made them consider dishonoured. Sometimes they were put to death by the victors,—a fate which they met with songs of joy.

Their habits were rude. To cleanse the mouth daily with urine, and drink the blood of horses, must appear revolting to modern refinement. Their loud wailings at funerals, and many other of their customs, strongly resemble those of the Irish. In both countries,—as is the case, indeed, in all mountainous districts,—the national character has been singularly preserved, and ancient usages perpetuated.

In these solitudes many ancient remains are to be found: the tumuli and druidical monuments seem to prove both the Asiatic origin of the people, and their identity or subsequent amalgamation with the Celts.  Their dress, indeed, at this day is strikingly similar to that of the Tartars. On Sundays, says a writer of the sixteenth century (and the case is not different now), when they proceed to church, or when they appear in procession at any other solemnity, one would take them, at a distance, for a troop of Turks or Persians. The turbans of the women and the lances carried by the men, even when approaching the house of God, may well warrant the remark.

Of the seven towns mentioned by Ptolemy, two only remain—Guevara and Tolono (anciently Gebata and Tulonio); and of the various tribes, the Barduli were the most numerous and powerful. Seven others were subject to the Cantabres.

3. The VASCONES, who inhabited the country which extended over all the present kingdom of Navarre, and a great part of Aragon: it was bounded by Cantabria, the Pyrenees, the territory of the Ilergetes, and the Ebro.

The warlike spirit of the Basques was well known to the Carthaginians and Romans. Annibal enrolled many of them into his troops previously to his invasion of Italy; and many also served to prop for a time the declining fortunes of the republic in Africa. The barrenness of their native soil, and their addiction to a military life, rendered them willing to fight under the banners of any general who chose to employ them. Their costume and habits bore great resemblance to those of their neighbours, the Cantabrians.

What makes this people the most distinguished of any in the Peninsula is their famous language, which, under the name of Basque, has long exercised the ingenuity of the learned. Whether it be the ancient language of Spain, or whether it be identical with the Celtic, are problems of which we need not expect the solution. It seems, however, probable, from the number of Basque words throughout the topography of the Peninsula, that those writers may be right who contend for its universality in Spain at some remote period of antiquity. With respect to the second point, so little is known of the ancient Celtic, and it is so doubtful whether that reputed race ever possessed a common language, that all disputation on the subject must be idle. Between the dialects which remain of it and the Basque there is unquestionably an affinity: but so there is between the Basque and the Gothic, and even between that language and the Latin and Greek; and, for any thing we know, a still greater may have existed between it and the Phoenician. Laying aside the accident of inflection in the terminations of words, a greater affinity will be found among languages than we are apt to suspect. But, whether Celtic or Iberian, the construction of the Basque is Asiatic, and it is undoubtedly one of the most ancient idioms in the world.

4. The CALLAICI, or Gallicians, who anciently occupied the whole of modern Gallicia, and a portion of the kingdom of Leon: they possessed the sea-coast between the Asturias and Lusitania, and were separated by high mountains from the rest of the Peninsula.

Like all the tribes of Spain, especially the northern, these people were distinguished for their pugnacious disposition. As if nature had not sufficiently defended the country, numerous fortresses were spread over it,—probably intended to guard against the incursions of the pirates, whose depredations were frequent and terrible. From the most ancient times, as at present, their maritime superiority over all other nations of Spain is beyond dispute. The abundance of fish on their coasts, and the fertility of their soil, attracted the Phoenician and Carthaginian merchants to their ports, and rendered their condition uncommonly flourishing. Besides, they had numerous mines of the precious metals, and of tin. Gold, we are told, was so common that the labourers in the fields frequently dug up ingots several ounces in weight. This is exaggerated; but there can be no doubt that the mines were highly productive.

The natives worshipped chiefly the sun and moon; but that they had many other gods in common with the neighbouring tribes, is incontestable from the inscriptions still extant. Fifteen neighbouring tribes owned their supremacy.

5. The LUSITANIANS, who inhabited the western portion of the Peninsula, which was more extensive than the present kingdom of Portugal. It comprised, in addition, the two Estremaduras, and a portion of Castile and Leon.

The tribes scattered over this extensive district were many, but all apparently derived from one common stock, the Celts. The most formidable of these were the Catones, the Turdetani, the Turduli, who were probably a tribe of the latter, and the Lusitani, from whom the country derived its name. Respecting the Turdetani, Strabo has some precious information. He says that they were the most learned tribe of all Spain; that they had reduced their language to grammatical rules; that for six thousand years they had possessed metrical poems, and even laws. Discarding fable, we find nothing in their habits or manners to distinguish them from the other branches of that great race, except perhaps a superior number of druidical remains. They are represented as exceedingly wild and fierce; so much so that, if no foreign enemy appeared, they were sure to fight among themselves: but with equal propriety might the same be said of all the other tribes in the Peninsula.

THE IBERIANS.

The numerous tribes of this nation occupied, as before observed, the southern and eastern provinces of the Peninsula. Their territory was so extensive, that from them the whole of Spain was sometimes called Iberia.

Their most southern province was Baetica; but, from the perpetual influx of strangers to these shores, the formation of new settlements, and still more from the junction of the natives with the colonists, it is difficult to determine what portion of the province was inhabited by the genuine Iberians. The Turdetani seem to have inhabited a portion of Lusitania as well as of Baetica. The Betures or Beturiani occupied the north-western division; the Bastuli the southern, now comprised in the modern Granada; and the Turduli, from the Straits of Gibraltar to Cordova. Probably the two last-named people Were Phoenicians and Carthaginians; with, however, a considerable admixture of native blood. Baetica, indeed, has been termed a Carthaginian province.

Proceeding from the Straits of Gibraltar along the coast of Baetica, and passing the Bastuli, we come to the Bastitani. Their country comprised most of Murcia, and was intersected by the Tadder, now the Segura. It contained fifteen towns, exclusive of the ports.

The Contestani extended from Carthagena to the river Xucar, formerly Sucro, and westward to the mountain range of Idubeda: their territory, consequently, embraced a portion of Murcia and Valencia. It had several ports, of which the most famous was Carthagena, built by the Carthaginians.

To the north of this tribe were the Edetani. Their maritime coast was but small, extending only from the Sucro to the Uduba; but to the north and west their territory stretched much more considerably. It comprised a portion of Valencia and