MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 167 



MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY, IV. 



BY DR. FREDERICK ADAMS WOODS, 

 HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 



Spain. 

 f I ^HE early history of its great family is coincident with the his- 

 -*- tory of the rise of Spain's greatness as a nation. Whatever 

 value other factors may have had in producing Spain's glory the 

 presence of the long line of great rulers and warriors must have 

 been one of the greatest. This influence of the great leaders could 

 make itself felt then, even more than now. 



Within a short time we have had an example in Lord Roberts of 

 what genius for generalship can accomplish in the turn of events. 

 How much greater impress on his times the great man must have 

 made in those medieval days when the masses knew almost nothing! 



I know of no other direct line, except the then reigning one in 

 Portugal, where greatness was maintained for so long a period, nor 

 has there appeared any other than these two dynasties, where vigorous 

 and distinguished blood was so continuously introduced into the stock. 

 Portugal was five times united with the best of the stock of Spain 

 to its evident advantage. Spain took wives three times from Por- 

 tugal. Two of these, the marriage of Ferdinand II. of Leon (d. 1187) 

 and Ferdinand IV. (d. 1317), were of great benefit. The third was 

 valuable as far as the introduction of Portugal's blood was concerned, 

 but happened to be very unwise, because it brought back again in a 

 double way the cruel traits of Sancho IV. which resulted in producing 

 Pedro 'the Cruel' whose tyrannies amounted almost to madness. 



There are a few exceptions among the noble characters, such as 

 the cruel tyrants just referred to, whose traits will be seen to be 

 evidently caused by heredity. Still for twenty-one generations in the 

 direct male line of Castile from Sancho II. in the tenth century to 

 Charles Quint, the greatest ruler of his time (d. 1558), there were 

 only four who did not possess a high degree of strength and ability. 

 These were Alfonso IX., Ferdinand IV., John I. of Castile and 

 Ferdinand I. of Aragon. 



The first two of these were in the early centuries. John I. of 

 Castile and Ferdinand I. of Aragon were father and son, who lived 

 in the period just before the time of Ferdinand and Isabella. 



There were two others, also father and son, who ruled over Castile 



