300 A. D. 1068. 



whole peninfula out of their hands. Charlemagne, the mighty fove- 

 reign of France, Germany, and Italy, alfo found an opportunity of in- 

 terfering in the affairs of Spain, and conquered a confiderable part of 

 the country adjacent to the Pyrensean mountains, the governor of which 

 he appointed to refide in Barcelona. About the year 900 the governor 

 of Barcelona made himfelf independent of Charles the Simple, king of 

 France. His fuccefTors, the counts of Barcelona, appear to have wifely 

 attended to the manufaduring and commercial intercfls of their fub- 

 jects ; and their country confequently became profperous and opulent. 



In the year 1068 the ufages or cuftomary laws of Barcelona were col- 

 lected into a code (' el codigo de los ufages Barcelonefes'), under the au- 

 thority of the national alTembly, in. which Raymundo Berenguer I, 

 count of Barcelona, prefided. By the law, n°. Iviii, ufually known by 

 its firfl words, ' Omnes quippe naves^ all veflels arriving at, or failing 

 from, Barcelona are alfured of friendly treatment ; and they are de- 

 clared to be under the protedion of the prince as long as they are upon 

 the coaft of Catalonia *. This judicious and hofpitable law was confirm- 

 ed and amplified by his faccelTors, the kings of Aragon f , in the years 

 1283, 1289, and 1299 ; and the code is to this day the bafis of the con- 

 fhtution of the province of Catalonia, of which Barcelona is the capital. 

 By the wife and liberal policy of admitting the commerce of all nations 

 without regarding difference of religion, and the fagacity of the fove- 

 reigns in relaxing the rigour of the feudal government, Barcelona, after 

 it fell under the dominion of the Chriftians, continued to be the chief 

 trading port on the weft coaft of the Mediterranean fea, and diftributed 

 the rich merchandize of the Oriental regions to the other Chriftian pro- 

 vinces of Spain. \Capmany, Memorins hifloricas de Barcelona, V. i. Com. 



pp. 21, 23, 25, 221 ; V. ii, Notas, p. 5 B^'U- Tudel. in Purcbas's Pil- 



grimes, B. ix, p. 1438.] 



1070 — William, now king of England, being fenfible of the great 

 importance of the city of London, endeavoured to conciliate the good 

 will of the inhabitants by a charter confirming their privileges ; and, in 

 order to render it the more agreeable to them, he made it be written in 

 their own language, though he is faid to have had an averfion to it, and 

 to have done all in his power to abolifh it. The charter, tranflated iiito 

 modern Englifli, is as follows. 



' William the king greets William the bifhop and Godfred the port- 

 ' geref, and all the burgefies in London, French and Englifli, in a friend- 

 ' ly manner. And I make known to you, that it is my will, that you be 



* Is there any cailit-r notice than this of the count ot" Barctlona, nianicd the infant daughter 



piotectlon which a vtfl'cl enjoys by biing within and heirefs of Ramiro i<ing of Aragon. and thtnce- 



the jurifdiftipn, or under the gun», of a neutral forth I'-ueelona and the province of Catalonia have 



power? l)cen ui>iled to that kingdom. 



[ In the year 1137 Raymundo Berenguer IV, 



