SPAIN. 
the king of Cordova, and being exceedingly provoked 
against the Christians on account of what his countrymen 
had suffered from them, made war with the most implacable 
fury. He took the city of Leon, murdered the inhabitants, 
and reduced the houses to ashes. Barcelona shared the same 
fate: Castile was reduced to a desert; Gallicia and Portugal 
ravaged; and he is said to have overcome the Christians in 
fifty different engagements. At last, having takenr and de¬ 
molished the city of Compostella, and carried off in triumph 
the gates of the church of St. James, a flux happened to 
break out among his troops, which the superstitious Chris¬ 
tians supposed to be a divine judgment on account of his 
sacrilege. Taking it for granted, therefore, that the Moors 
were now entirely destitute of all heavenly aid, they fell upon 
them with such fury in the next engagement, that all the 
valour and conduct of Almanzor could not prevent a defeat. 
Overcome with shame and despair at this misfortune, he 
desired his followers to shift for themselves, while he himself 
retired to Medina Cceli, and put an end to his life by absti¬ 
nence in the year 993. 
During this period a new Christian principality appeared 
in Spain, namely, that of Castile, which is now divided into 
Old and New Castile. The Old Castile was recovered long 
before that called the New. It was separated from the king¬ 
dom of Leon on one side by some little rivers; on the other, 
it was bounded by the Austrias, Biscay, and the province of 
Rioja. On the south it had the mountains of Segovia and 
Avila ; thus lying in the middle between the Christian king¬ 
dom Leon and Oviedo, and the Moorish kingdom of Cor- 
dova. Hence this district soon became an object of con¬ 
tention between the kings of Leon and those of Cordova; 
and as the former were generally victorious, some of the 
principal Castilian nobility retained their independence 
under the protection of the Christian kings, even when the 
power of the Moors was at its greatest height. In 884 we 
first hear of Don Rodriguez, assuming the title of Count of 
Castile, though it does not appear that either his territory or 
title were given him by the king of Leon. Nevertheless, 
this monarch having taking upon him to punish some of the 
Castilian lords as rebels, the inhabitants made a formal re¬ 
nunciation of their allegiance, and set up a new kind of go¬ 
vernment. The supreme power was now vested in two per¬ 
sons of quality, styled judges; however, this method did not 
long continue to give satisfaction, and the sovereignty was 
once more vested in a single person. By degrees, Castile 
fell entirely under the power of the kings of Leon and 
Oviedo ; and, in 1037, Don Sancho bestowed it on his eldest 
son Don Ferdinand, with the title of king; and thus the 
territories of Castile were first firmly united to those of Leon 
and Oviedo, and the sovereigns were thenceforth styled 
kings of Leon and Castile. 
Besides all these, another Christian kingdom was set up 
in Spain about the beginning of the 11th century. This 
was the kingdom of Arragon. The inhabitants were very 
brave, and lovers of liberty, so that it is probable they had 
in some degree maintained their independence, even when 
the power of the Moors was greatest. The history of Arra¬ 
gon, however, during its infancy, is much less known than 
that of any of the others hitherto mentioned. We are only 
assured, that about the year ] 035, Dan Sancho, surnamed 
the Great, king of Navarre, erected Arragon into a kingdom 
in favour of his son Don Ramiro, and afterwards it became 
very powerful. At this time, then, we may imagine the 
continent of Spain divided into two unequal parts by a 
straight line drawn from east to west, from the coasts of 
Valencia to a little below the mouth of the Douro. The 
country north of this belonged to the Christians, who, as 
yeb had the smallest and least valuable state, and all the rest 
to the Moors. In point of wealth and real power, both by 
land and sea, the Moors were much superior, but their con¬ 
tinual dissensions greatly weakened them, and every day 
facilitated the progress of the Christians. Indeed, had 
either of the parties been united, the other must soon have 
yielded; for though the Christians did not make war upon 
each other constantly as the Moors did, their mutual feuds 
403 
were yet sufficient to have ruined them, had their adversaries 
made the proper nse of the advantages thus afforded them. 
But among the Moors almost every city was a kingdom; 
and as these petty sovereignties supported one another very 
indifferently, they fell a prey one after another to their ene¬ 
mies. In 1080, the king of Toledo was engaged in a war 
with the king of Seville, auother Moorish potentate ; which 
being observed by Alphonso, king of Castile, he also in¬ 
vaded his territories; and in four years made himself master 
of the city of Toledo, with all the places of importance in 
its neighbourhood; from thenceforth making Toledo the 
capital of his dominions. In a short time the whole pro¬ 
vince of New Castile submitted; and Madrid, the present 
capital of Spain, fell into the hands of the Christians, being 
at that time a small place. 
The Moors were so much alarmed at these conquests, that 
they not only entered into a general confederacy against the 
Christians, but invited to their assistance Mahomet Ben 
Joseph, the sovereign of Barbary. He accordingly came, 
attended by an incredible multitude; but was utterly de¬ 
feated by the Christians in the defiles of the Black Mountain, 
or Sierra Morena, on the borders of Andalusia. The victory 
happened on the 16th of July, 1212, and the anniversary is 
still celebrated at Toledo. This victory was not improved ; 
the Christian army immediately dispersed themselves, while 
the Moors of Andalusia were strengthened by the remains 
of the African army ; yet, instead of being taught, by their 
past misfortunes, to unite among themselves, their dissen¬ 
sions became worse than ever, and the conquests of the 
Christians became daily more rapid. In 1236, Don Ferdi¬ 
nand of Castile and Leon took the celebrated city of Cordova, 
the residence of the first Moorish kings; at the same time that 
Jarnesl. of Arragondispossessedthemoftheisland ofMajorca, 
and drove them out of Valencia. Two years after, Ferdinand 
made himself master of Murcia, and took the city of Seville ; 
and in 1303, Ferdinand IV. reduced Gibraltar. 
In the time of Edward III., we find England, for the first 
time, interfering in the affairs of Spain, on the following 
occasion. In the year 1284 the kingdom of Navarre had 
been united to that of France by the marriage of Donna 
Joanna Queen of Navarre with Philip the Fair of France. 
In 1328, however, the kingdoms were again separated, 
though the sovereigns of Navarre were still related to those of 
France. In 1350, Charles, surnamed the Wicked, ascended 
the throne of Navarre, and married the daughter of John 
King of France. Notwithstanding this alliance, and that 
he himself was related to the royal family of France, he 
secretly entered into a negociation with England against 
the French monarch, and even drew into his schemes the 
dauphin Charles, afterwards surnamed the Wise. The young 
prince, how r ever, was soon after made fully sensible of the 
danger and folly of the connections into which he had enter, 
ed; and by way of atonement, promised to sacrifice his 
associates. Accordingly he invited the king of Navarre, and 
some of the principal nobility of the same party, to a feast 
at Rouen, where he betrayed them to his father. The most 
obnoxious were executed, and the king of Navarre was 
thrown into prison. In this extremity, the party of the 
king of Navarre had recourse to England. The prince of 
Wales, surnamed the Black Prince, invaded France, de¬ 
feated King John atPoictiers, and took him prisoner; which 
unfortunate event produced the most violent disturbances 
in that kingdom. The dauphin, now about 19 years of 
age, naturally assumed the royal power during his father’s 
captivity: but possessed neither experience nor authority 
sufficient to remedy the prevailing evils. In order to obtain 
supplies, he assembled the states of the kingdom: but that 
assembly, instead of supporting his administration, laid hold 
of the present opportunity to demand limitations of the 
prince’s power, the punishment of past malversations, and 
the liberty of the king of Navarre. Marcel, provost of the 
merchants of Paris, and first magistrate of that city, put him¬ 
self at the head of the unruly populace, and pushed them to 
commit the most criminal outrages against the royal autho¬ 
rity. They detained the dauphin in a kind of captivity; 
murdered 
