The Vale of Cedars; Or, The Martyr

by Grace Aguilar

  CHAPTER III.

  "Now History unfolds her ample page, Rich with the spoils of Time."

  Clearly to comprehend the internal condition of Spain at the periodof our narrative (1479)--a condition which, though apparently purelynational, had influence over every domestic hearth--it is necessary toglance back a few years. The various petty Sovereignties into whichSpain had been divided never permitted any lengthened period of peace;but these had at length merged into two great kingdoms, under thenames of Arragon and Castile. The _form_ of both governments wasmonarchical; but the _genius_ of the former was purely republican,and the power of the sovereign so circumscribed by the Junta, theJusticia, and the Holy Brotherhood, that the vices or follies of themonarch were of less consequence, in a national point of view, inArragon, than in any other kingdom. It was not so with Castile. Fromthe death of Henry the Third, in 1404, a series of foreign and civildisasters had plunged the kingdom in a state of anarchy and misery.John the Second had some virtues as an individual, but none as a king;and his son Henry, who succeeded him in 1450, had neither the one northe other. Governed as his father had been, entirely by favorites,the discontent of all classes of his subjects rapidly increased; thepeople were disgusted and furious at the extravagance of the monarch'sminion; the nobles, fired at his insolence; and an utter contempt ofthe king, increased the virulence of the popular ferment. Unmindful ofthe disgrace attendant on his divorce from Blanche of Navarre, Henrysought and obtained the hand of Joanna, Princess of Portugal, whoseambition and unprincipled intrigues heightened the ill-favor withwhich he was already regarded. The court of Castile, once so famousfor chastity and honor, sank to the lowest ebb of infamy, the shadowof which, seeming to extend over the whole land, affected nobles andpeople with its baleful influence. All law was at an end: the people,even while they murmured against the King, followed his evil example;and history shrinks from the scenes of debauchery and licentiousness,robbery and murder, which desecrated the land. But this state ofthings could not last long, while there still remained some noblehearts amongst the Castilians. Five years after their marriage, theQueen was said to have given birth to a daughter, whom Henry declaredshould be his successor, in lieu of his young brother Alfonso (John'sson, by a second wife, Isabella of Portugal). This child the noblesrefused to receive, believing and declaring that she was not Henry'sdaughter, and arrogated to themselves the right of trying and passingsentence on their Sovereign, who, by his weak, flagitious conduct had,they unanimously declared, forfeited all right even to the presentpossession of the crown.

  The confederates, who were the very highest and noblest officers ofthe realm, assembled at Avita, and with a solemnity and pomp whichgave the whole ceremony an imposing character of reality, dethronedKing Henry in effigy, and proclaimed the youthful Alfonso sovereign inhis stead. All present swore fealty, but no actual good followed: theflame of civil discord was re-lighted, and raged with yet greaterfury; continuing even after the sudden and mysterious death of theyoung prince, whose extraordinary talent, amiability, and firmness,though only fourteen, gave rise to the rumor that he had actually beenput to death by his own party, who beheld in his rising genius theutter destruction of their own turbulence and pride. Be this asit may, his death occasioned no cessation of hostilities, theconfederates carrying on the war in the name of his sister, theInfanta Isabella. Her youth and sex had pointed her out as one notlikely to interfere or check the projects of popular ambition, andtherefore the very fittest to bring forward as an excuse for theirrevolt. With every appearance of humility and deference, they offeredher the crown; but the proudest and boldest shrank back abashed,before the flashing eye and proud majesty of demeanor with which sheanswered, "The crown is not yours to bestow; it is held by Henry,according to the laws alike of God and man; and till his death, youhave no right to bestow, nor I to receive it."

  But though firm in this resolution, Isabella did not refuse tocoincide in their plans for securing her succession. To this measureHenry himself consented, thus appearing tacitly to acknowledge thetruth of the reports that Joanna was a surreptitious child, and fora brief period Castile was delivered from the horrors of war. Oncedeclared heiress of Castile and Leon, Isabella's hand was sought bymany noble suitors, and her choice fell on Ferdinand, the youngKing of Sicily, and heir-apparent to the crown of Arragon. Love wasIsabella's incentive. Prudence, and a true patriotic ambition, urgedthe Archbishop of Toledo not only to ratify the choice, but to smoothevery difficulty in their way; he saw at once the glory which mightaccrue to Spain by this peaceful union of two rival thrones. Everypossible and impossible obstacle was privately thrown by Henry toprevent this union, even while he gave publicly his consent; hisprejudice against Ferdinand being immovable and deadly. But themanoeuvres of the Archbishop were more skilful than those of the King.The royal lovers--for such they really were--were secretly unitedat Valladolid, to reach which place in safety Ferdinand had beencompelled to travel in disguise, and attended only by four cavaliers;and at that period so straitened were the circumstances of the Princeand Princess, who afterwards possessed the boundless treasures of thenew world, that they were actually compelled to borrow money to defraythe expenses of their wedding!

  The moment Henry became aware of this marriage, the civil strugglerecommenced. In vain the firm, yet pacific Archbishop of Toledorecalled the consent he had given, and proved that the union not onlysecured the after-glory of Spain, but Henry's present undisturbedpossession of his throne. Urged on by his wife, and his intriguingfavorite, the Marquis of Villena, who was for ever changing sides, hepublished a manifesto, in which he declared on oath that he believedJoanna to be his daughter, and proclaimed her heiress of Castile.Ferdinand and Isabella instantly raised an array, regardless of theforces of Portugal (to whose monarch Joanna had been betrothed), whowere rapidly advancing to the assistance of Henry. Ere, however, warhad regularly commenced, a brief respite was obtained by the death ofHenry, and instantly and unanimously Isabella was proclaimed Queen ofLeon and Castile. Peace, however, was not instantly regained; the Kingof Portugal married Joanna, and resolved on defending her rights. Someskirmishing took place, and at length a long-sustained conflict nearFero decided the point--Ferdinand and the Castilians were victorious;the King of Portugal made an honorable retreat to his own frontiers,and the Marquis of Villena, the head of the malcontents, and by manysupposed to be the real father of Joanna, submitted to Isabella. Peacethus dawned for Castile; but it was not till three years afterwards,when Ferdinand had triumphed over the enemies of Arragon, andsucceeded his father as Sovereign of that kingdom, that any vigorousmeasures could be taken for the restoration of internal order.

  The petty Sovereignties of the Peninsular, with the sole exception ofthe mountainous district of Navarre, and the Moorish territories inthe south, were now all united; and it was the sagacious ambition ofFerdinand and Isabella to render Spain as important in the scale ofkingdoms as any other European territory; and to do this, they knew,demanded as firm a control over their own subjects, as the subjectionof still harassing foes.

  Above a century had elapsed since Spain had been exposed to the swayof weak or evil kings, and all the consequent miseries of misrule andwar. Rapine, outrage, and murder had become so frequent and unchecked,as frequently to interrupt commerce, by preventing all communicationbetween one place and another. The people acknowledged no law buttheir own passions. The nobles were so engrossed with hatred of eachother, and universal contempt of their late sovereign, with personalambition and general discontent, that they had little time or leisureto attend to any but their own interest. But a very brief intervalconvinced both nobles and people that a new era was dawning for them.In the short period of eighteen months, the wise administration ofIsabella and Ferdinand, had effected a sufficient change to startleall ranks into the conviction that their best interests lay in promptobedience, and in exerting themselves in their several spheres, tosecond the sovereign's will. The chivalric qualities of Ferdinand, hisundoubted wisdom and unwavering firm
ness, excited both love and fear;while devotion itself is not too strong a term to express the nationalfeeling entertained toward Isabella. Her sweet, womanly gentleness,blended as it was with the dignity of the sovereign; her readysympathy in all that concerned her people--for the lowest of hersubjects; doing justice, even if it were the proud noble who injured,and the serf that suffered--all was so strange, yet fraught with suchnational repose, that her influence every year increased; while everyemotion of chivalry found exercise, and yet rest in the heart of thearistocracy for their Queen; her simple word would be obeyed, on theinstant, by men who would have paused, and weighed, and reasoned,if any other--even Ferdinand himself--had spoken. Isabella knew herpower; and if ever sovereign used it for the good, the happiness ofher people, that proud glory was her own.

  In spite of the miserable condition of the people during the civilstruggles, the wealth of Spain had not decreased. It was protectedand increased by a class of people whose low and despised estate was,probably, their safeguard--these were the Jews, who for many centurieshad, both publicly and secretly, resided in Spain. There were manyclasses of this people in the land, scattered alike over Castile,Leon, Arragon, Navarre, and also in the Moorish territories; somethere were confined to the mystic learning and profound studies of theschools, whence they sent many deeply learned men to other countries,where their worth and wisdom gained them yet greater regard than theyreceived in Spain: others were low and degraded in outward seeming,yet literally holding and guiding the financial and commercialinterests of the kingdom;--whose position was of the lowest--scornedand hated by the very people who yet employed them, and exposed toinsult from every class; the third, and by far the largest body ofSpanish Jews, were those who, Israelites in secret, were so completelyCatholic in seeming, that the court, the camp, the council, even themonasteries themselves, counted them amongst them. And this had beenthe case for years--we should say for centuries--and yet so inviolablewas the faith pledged to each other, so awful the dangers around them,were even suspicion excited, that the fatal secret never transpired;offices of state, as well as distinctions of honor, were frequentlyconferred on men who, had their faith or race been suspected, wouldhave been regarded as the scum of the earth, and sentenced to tortureand death, for daring to pass for what they were not. At the periodof which we write, the fatal enemy to the secret Jews of more moderntimes, known as the Holy Office, did not exist; but a secret andterrible tribunal there was, whose power and extent were unknown tothe Sovereigns of the land.

  The Inquisition is generally supposed to have been founded byFerdinand and Isabella, about the year 1480 or '82; but a deeperresearch informs us that it had been introduced into Spain severalcenturies earlier, and obtained great influence in Arragon. Confidingin the protection of the papal see, the Inquisitors set no bounds totheir ferocity: secret informations, imprisonments, tortures, midnightassassinations, marked their proceedings; but they overreachedthemselves. All Spain, setting aside petty rivalships, rose up againstthem. All who should give them encouragement or assistance weredeclared traitors to their country; the very lives of the Inquisitorsand their families were, in the first burst of fury, endangered; butafter a time, imagining they had sunk into harmless insignificance,their oppressors desisted in their efforts against them, andwere guilty of the unpardonable error of not exterminating thementirely.[A]

  [Footnote A: Stockdale's History of the Inquisition.]

  According to the popular belief, the dreaded tribunal slept, and sosoundly, they feared not, imagined not its awakening. They littleknew that its subterranean halls were established near almost all theprincipal cities, and that its engines were often at work, even in thepalaces of kings. Many a family wept the loss of a beloved member,they knew not, guessed not how--for those who once entered those fatalwalls were never permitted to depart; so secret were their measures,that even the existence of this fearful mockery of justice andReligion was not known, or at that time it would have been whollyeradicated. Superstition had not then gained the ascendency which inafter years so tarnished the glory of Spain, and opened the wide gatesto the ruin and debasement under which she labors now. The fiercewars and revolutions ravaging the land had given too many, and toofavorable opportunities for the exercise of this secret power; butstill, regard for their own safety prevented the more public displayof their office, as ambition prompted. The vigorous proceedings ofFerdinand and Isabella rendered them yet more wary; and little did theSovereigns suspect that in their very courts this fatal power heldsway. The existence of this tribunal naturally increased the dangersenvironing the Israelites who were daring enough to live amongstthe Catholics as one of them; but of this particular danger theythemselves were not generally aware, and their extraordinary skillin the concealment of their faith (to every item of which they yetadhered) baffled, except in a very few instances, even these ministersof darkness.