82 HISTORY AND ETHNOLOGY. 



Lorenzo had to bear up against the hostility of Pope Sixtus lY. and of Fer- 

 dinand I., king of Naples ; but he gallantly defended himself against both, 

 and became the benefactor of his people. He died in 1492. 



In Milan the family of the Yisconti won great consideration. One of its 

 members, John Galeazzo, 23urchased the title of duke, in 1395, of Wenceslaus, 

 the German king, and soon swayed the government of twenty-two Italian 

 cities. When the male line of the Yisconti became extinct, in IMT, 

 Francis Sforza assumed the ducal crown, and governed with some renown. 

 He died in 1467. His son, Galeazzo Maria, was murdered by conspirators 

 in 1476. John Galeazzo, son of Maria, was recognised as successor, but 

 was at length poisoned by his uncle and guardian, Louis the Moor, who 

 seized upon the regency. Louis himself finally fell a victim to his own 

 intrigues. 



In Spain the chief power of the Christians was vested in two leading 

 houses, those of Castile and Arragon. On the latter, Majorca, Sicily, and 

 Sardinia, were dependencies. The Arabian caliphate, in the south, lost one 

 province after another. By the marriage of Ferdinand 11. of Arragon with 

 Isabella of Castile, 1469, the two Christian states were more closely allied ; 

 but Spain only consolidated her government in 1516. In 1492 the king- 

 dom of Granada passed from the hands of the Mohammedans to those of 

 the Christians. The same year witnessed the discovery of America by 

 Christopher Columbus, an event of imjDortance not only to Spain but to the 

 w^orld at large. 



Portugal, which for a long time was governed by dukes, rose in 1139 to 

 the dignity of a kingdom, and Algarvia was allotted to it in 1253. By the 

 aid of the crusaders Lisbon was wrested from the Moors, 1147. The reign 

 of Dionysius (Dinez) the Just, extending from 1279 to 1322, was remark- 

 ably fortunate. His grandson Pedro, 1357, immortalized in song by his 

 romantic passion for Inez de Castro, likewise ruled with much ability and 

 justice. With the death of his son Ferdinand, 1383, the proper Burgundian 

 line became extinct ; for though John 11. of Castile, husband of Ferdinand's 

 daughter, claimed the throne, the popular voice called for Prince John, 

 natural son of Pedro, and grand master of the order of Aviz. His reign 

 lasted fifty years, and was very glorious and prosperous. 



During this century the Portuguese, under the patronage of Henry, 

 third son of John, commenced their voyages of discovery, and met with 

 great success. Their bold seamen passed Cape Non on the African coast, 

 and discovered Madeira and the Azores. The immediate successors of 

 John, Conradin I. and Alphonso Y., permitted the interest in these voyages 

 to decline, but John 11. (1481) manifested the same predilection for maritime 

 affairs as John L, and, above all, made the East Indies the object of his enter- 

 prises, in order to wrest their commerce from the Genoese and Yenetians. 

 Africa's most southern point. Capo Tormentoso (afterwards called Cape of 

 Good Hope) had already been discovered, when John died, and left his 

 eastern plans to be completed under Emanuel the Great, by Yasco de Gama. 



The kingdom of Denmark had reached its greatest extent under Walde- 

 mar I. (1157-82) and Waldem^ar H. (1202-41) ; but in 1223 it lost Holstein, 

 254 



