NOTES.

Count Julian called the invaders.—I. p. 1.

The story of Count Julian and his daughter has been treated as a fable by some authors, because it is not mentioned by the three writers who lived nearest the time. But those writers state the mere fact of the conquest of Spain as briefly as possible, without entering into particulars of any kind; and the best Spanish historians and antiquaries are persuaded that there is no cause for disbelieving the uniform and concurrent tradition of both Moors and Christians.

For the purposes of poetry, it is immaterial whether the story be true or false. I have represented the Count as a man both sinned against and sinning, and equally to be commiserated and condemned. The author of the Tragedy of Count Julian has contemplated his character in a grander point of view, and represented him as a man self-justified in bringing an army of foreign auxiliaries to assist him in delivering his country from a tyrant, and foreseeing, when it is too late to recede, the evils which he is thus bringing upon her.

Not victory that o’ershadows him, sees he!No airy and light passion stirs abroadTo ruffle or to sooth him; all are quell’dBeneath a mightier, sterner stress of mind:Wakeful he sits, and lonely and unmoved,Beyond the arrows, views, or shouts of men:As oftentimes an eagle, when the sunThrows o’er the varying earth his early ray,Stands solitary, stands immoveableUpon some highest cliff, and rolls his eye,Clear, constant, unobservant, unabased,In the cold light, above the dews of morn.Act 5. Scene 2.

Not victory that o’ershadows him, sees he!

No airy and light passion stirs abroad

To ruffle or to sooth him; all are quell’d

Beneath a mightier, sterner stress of mind:

Wakeful he sits, and lonely and unmoved,

Beyond the arrows, views, or shouts of men:

As oftentimes an eagle, when the sun

Throws o’er the varying earth his early ray,

Stands solitary, stands immoveable

Upon some highest cliff, and rolls his eye,

Clear, constant, unobservant, unabased,

In the cold light, above the dews of morn.

Act 5. Scene 2.

Parts of this tragedy are as fine in their kind as any thing which can be found in the whole compass of English poetry.

Juan de Mena places Count Julian with Orpas, the renegado Archbishop of Seville, in the deepest pit of hell.

No buenamente te puedo callarOrpas maldito, ni a ti Julian,Pues soys en el valle mas hondo de afan,Que no se redime jamas por llorar:Qual ya crueza vos pudo indignarA vender un dia las tierras y leyesDe Espana, las quales pujança de reyesEn años a tantos no pudo cobrar.Copla 91.

No buenamente te puedo callar

Orpas maldito, ni a ti Julian,

Pues soys en el valle mas hondo de afan,

Que no se redime jamas por llorar:

Qual ya crueza vos pudo indignar

A vender un dia las tierras y leyes

De Espana, las quales pujança de reyes

En años a tantos no pudo cobrar.

Copla 91.

A Portugueze poet, Andre da Sylva Mascarenhas, is more indulgent to the Count, and seems to consider it as a mark of degeneracy in his own times, that the same crime would no longer provoke the same vengeance. His catalogue of women who have become famous by the evil of which they have been the occasion, begins with Eve, and ends with Anne Boleyn.

Louvar se pode ao Conde o sentimentoDa offensa da sua honestidade,Se o nam vituperara co cruentoDisbarate da Hispana Christandade;Se hoje ouvera stupros cento e centoNesta nossa infeliz lasciva idade,Non se perdera nam a forte Espanha,Que o crime frequentado nam se estranha.Por mulheres porem se tem perdidoMuitos reynos da outra e desta vida;Por Eva se perdeo o Ceo sobido,Por Helena a Asia esclarecida;Por Cleopatra o Egypto foi vencido,Assiria por Semiramis perdida,Por Cava se perdeo a forte Espanha,E por Anna Bolena a Gram Bretanha.Destruiçam de Espanha, p. 9.

Louvar se pode ao Conde o sentimento

Da offensa da sua honestidade,

Se o nam vituperara co cruento

Disbarate da Hispana Christandade;

Se hoje ouvera stupros cento e cento

Nesta nossa infeliz lasciva idade,

Non se perdera nam a forte Espanha,

Que o crime frequentado nam se estranha.

Por mulheres porem se tem perdidoMuitos reynos da outra e desta vida;Por Eva se perdeo o Ceo sobido,Por Helena a Asia esclarecida;Por Cleopatra o Egypto foi vencido,Assiria por Semiramis perdida,Por Cava se perdeo a forte Espanha,E por Anna Bolena a Gram Bretanha.

Por mulheres porem se tem perdido

Muitos reynos da outra e desta vida;

Por Eva se perdeo o Ceo sobido,

Por Helena a Asia esclarecida;

Por Cleopatra o Egypto foi vencido,

Assiria por Semiramis perdida,

Por Cava se perdeo a forte Espanha,

E por Anna Bolena a Gram Bretanha.

Destruiçam de Espanha, p. 9.

Inhuman priests with unoffending bloodHad stain’d their country.—I. p. 1.

Inhuman priests with unoffending blood

Had stain’d their country.—I. p. 1.

Never has any country been so cursed by the spirit of persecution as Spain. Under the Heathen Emperors it had its full share of suffering, and the first fatal precedent of appealing to the secular power to punish heresy with death, occurred in Spain. Then came the Arian controversy. There was as much bigotry, as much rancour, as little of the spirit of Christianity, and as much intolerance, on one part as on the other: but the successful party were better politicians, and more expert in the management of miracles.

Near to the city of Osen, or Ossel, there was a famous Catholic church, and a more famous baptistery, which was in the form of a cross. On holy Thursday in every year, the bishop, the clergy, and the people assembled there, saw that the baptistery was empty, and enjoyed a marvellous fragrance which differed from that of any, or all, flowers and spices, for it was an odour which came as the vesper of the divine virtue that was about to manifest itself: Then they fastened the doors of the church and sealed them. On Easter Eve the doors were opened, the baptistery was found full of water, and all the children born within the preceding twelve months were baptized. Theudisclo, an Arian king, set his seal also upon the doors for two successive years, and set a guard there. Still the miraculous baptistery was filled. The third year he suspected pipes, and ordered a trench to be dug round the building; but before the day of trial arrived, he was murdered, as opportunely as Arius himself. The trench was dry, but the workmen did not dig deep enough, and the miracle was continued.When the victory of the Catholic party was complete, it was no longer necessary to keep it up. The same baptistery was employed to convince the Spaniards of their error in keeping Easter. In Brito’s time, a few ruins called Oscla, were shown near the river Cambria; the broken baptistery was then called the Bath, and some wild superstitions which the peasantry related bore traces of the original legend. The trick was not uncommon; it was practised in Sicily and in other places. The story, however, is of some value, as showing that baptism was administered[2]only once a year, (except in cases of danger,) that immersion was the manner, and that infants were baptized.

Arianism seems to have lingered in Spain long after its defeat. The names Pelayo (Pelagius), and Arias, certainly appear to indicate a cherished heresy, and Brito[3]must have felt this when he deduced the former name from Saint Pelayo of the tenth century; for how came the Saint by it, and how could Brito have forgotten the founder of the Spanish monarchy?

In the latter half of the eleventh century, the Count of Barcelona, Ramon Berenguer,Cap de estopa, as he was called, for his bushy head, made war upon some Christians who are said to have turned Arians, and took the castles into which they retired.[4]By the number of their castles, which he gave to those chiefs who assisted him in conquering them, they appear to have been numerous. It is not improbable that those people were really what they are called; for Arian has never been, like Manichæan, a term ignorantly and indiscriminately given to heretics of all descriptions; and there is no heresy which would be so well understood in Spain, and so likely to have revived there.

The feelings of the triumphant party toward their opponents,are well marked by the manner in which St. Isidore speaks of the death of the Emperor Valens.Thraciam ferro incendiisque depopulantur, deletoque Romanorum exercitu ipsum Valentem jaculo vulneratum, in quadam villa fugientem succenderunt, ut merito ipse ab eis vivus temporali cremaretur incendio, qui tam pulchras animas ignibus æternis[5]tradiderat.If the truth of this opinion should be doubted, there is a good Athanasian miracle in the Chronicon[6]of S. Isidore and Melitus, to prove it. A certain Arian, by name Olympius, being in the bath, blasphemed the Holy Trinity, and, behold! being struck by an angel with three fiery darts, he was visibly consumed.

With regard to the Arians, the Catholics only did to the others as the others would have done to them; but the persecution of the Jews was equally unprovoked and inhuman. They are said to have betrayed many towns to the Moors; and it would be strange indeed if they had not, by every means in their power, assisted in overthrowing a government under which they were miserably oppressed. St. Isidore has a memorable passage relating to their cruel persecution and compulsory conversion under Sisebut;Qui initio regni Judæos ad Fidem Christianam permovens æmulationem quidem habuit, sed non secundum scientiam: potestate enim compulit, ques provocare fidei ratione oportuit. Sed sicut est scriptum sive per occasionem sive per veritatem, Christus annuntiatur, in hoc gaudeo et gaudebo.—S. Isidor. Christ. Goth. Espana Sagrada, 6. 502.

The Moorish conquest procured for them an interval of repose, till the Inquisition was established, and by its damnable acts put all former horrors out of remembrance. When Toledo was recovered from the Moors by Alonso VI., the Jews of that city waited upon the conqueror, and assured him that they were part of the ten tribes whom Nebuchadnezzar had transported into Spain; not the descendants of the Jerusalem Jews who had crucified Christ. Their ancestors, they said, were entirely innocent of the crucifixion; for when Caiaphas the high-priest had written to the Toledan synagogues to ask theiradvice respecting the person who called himself the Messiah, and whether he should be slain, the Toledan Jews returned for answer, that in their judgement the prophecies seemed to be fulfilled in this person, and, therefore, he ought not by any means to be put to death. This reply they produced in the original Hebrew, and in Arabic, as it had been translated by command of King Galifre. Alonso gave ear to the story, had the letter rendered into Latin and Castilian, and deposited it among the archives of Toledo. The latter version is thus printed by Sandoval:—

Levi Archisinagogo, et Samuel, et Joseph, homes bonos del Aljama de Toledo, a Eleazar Muyd gran Sacerdote, e a Samuel Canud, y Anas, y Cayphas, homes bonos de la Aljama de la Terra Santa, Salud en el Dios de Israel.Azarias voso home, Maeso en ley nos aduxo las cartas que vos nos embiavades, por las quales nos faziades saber cuemo passava la facienda del Propheta Nazaret, que diz que facie muchas sennas. Colo por esta vila, non ha mucho, un cierto Samuel, fil de Amacias, et fablo nusco, et reconto muchas bondades deste home, que ye, que es home homildoso et manso, que fabla con los laçeriados, que faz a todos bien, e que faciendole a el mal, el non faz mal a ninguem; et que es home fuerte con superbos et homes malos, et que vos malamente teniades enemiga con ele, por quanto en faz el descubria vosos pecados, ca por quanto facia esto, le aviades mala voluntad. Et perquirimos deste home, en que año, o mes o dia, avia nacido: et que nos lo dixesse: falamos que el dia de la sua Natividade foron vistos en estas partes tres soles muelle a muelle, fizieron soldemente un sol; et cuemo nosos padres cataron esta senna, asmados dixeron que cedo el Messias naceria, et que por aventura era ja nacido. Catad hermanos si por aventura ha ja venido et non le ayades acatado. Relataba tambien el susodicho home, que el suo pay le recontava, que ciertos Magos, homes de mucha sapiencia, en la sua Natividade legaron a tierra santa, perquiriendo logar donde el niño sancto era nacido; y que Herodes voso Rey se asmo, et diposito junto a homes sabios de sua vila, e perquirio donde nasceria el Infante, por quien perquirianMagos, et le respondieron, en Betlem de Juda, segun que Micheas depergino profeto. Et que dixeron aqueles Magos, que una estrella de gran craredad, de luenne aduxo a tierra santa: catad non sea esta quela profezia, cataran Reyes, et andaran en craridad de la sua Natividade. Otrosi, catad non persigades al que forades tenudos mucho honrar et recibir de bon talante. Mais fazed lo que tuvieres por bien aguisada; nos vos dezimos que nin por consejo, nin por noso alvedrio veniremos en consentimiento de la sua morte. Ca, si nos esto fiziessemos, logo seria nuesco, que la profezia que diz, congregaronse de consuno contra el Sennor, et contra el suo Messias. E damos vos este consejo, maguera sodes homes de muyta sapença, que tengades grande aficamento sobre tamana fazienda, porque el Dios de Israel enojado con vasco, non destruya casa segunda de voso segundo templo. Ca sepades cierto, cedo ha de ser destruyda; et por esta rason nosos antepassados, que salieron de captiverio de Babylonia, siendo suo Capitane yrro, que embio Rey Cyro, et aduxo nusco muytas riqueças que tollo de Babylonia el año de sesenta et nueve de captividade, et foron recebidos en Toledo de Gentiles que y moravan, et edificaron una grande Aljama, et non quisieron bolver a Jerusalem otra vegada a edificar Temple, aviendo ser destruido otra vegada. De Toledo catorze dias del mes Nisan, Era de Cesar diez y ocho, y de Augusto Octaviano setenta y uno.—Sandoval, 71.

Azarias voso home, Maeso en ley nos aduxo las cartas que vos nos embiavades, por las quales nos faziades saber cuemo passava la facienda del Propheta Nazaret, que diz que facie muchas sennas. Colo por esta vila, non ha mucho, un cierto Samuel, fil de Amacias, et fablo nusco, et reconto muchas bondades deste home, que ye, que es home homildoso et manso, que fabla con los laçeriados, que faz a todos bien, e que faciendole a el mal, el non faz mal a ninguem; et que es home fuerte con superbos et homes malos, et que vos malamente teniades enemiga con ele, por quanto en faz el descubria vosos pecados, ca por quanto facia esto, le aviades mala voluntad. Et perquirimos deste home, en que año, o mes o dia, avia nacido: et que nos lo dixesse: falamos que el dia de la sua Natividade foron vistos en estas partes tres soles muelle a muelle, fizieron soldemente un sol; et cuemo nosos padres cataron esta senna, asmados dixeron que cedo el Messias naceria, et que por aventura era ja nacido. Catad hermanos si por aventura ha ja venido et non le ayades acatado. Relataba tambien el susodicho home, que el suo pay le recontava, que ciertos Magos, homes de mucha sapiencia, en la sua Natividade legaron a tierra santa, perquiriendo logar donde el niño sancto era nacido; y que Herodes voso Rey se asmo, et diposito junto a homes sabios de sua vila, e perquirio donde nasceria el Infante, por quien perquirianMagos, et le respondieron, en Betlem de Juda, segun que Micheas depergino profeto. Et que dixeron aqueles Magos, que una estrella de gran craredad, de luenne aduxo a tierra santa: catad non sea esta quela profezia, cataran Reyes, et andaran en craridad de la sua Natividade. Otrosi, catad non persigades al que forades tenudos mucho honrar et recibir de bon talante. Mais fazed lo que tuvieres por bien aguisada; nos vos dezimos que nin por consejo, nin por noso alvedrio veniremos en consentimiento de la sua morte. Ca, si nos esto fiziessemos, logo seria nuesco, que la profezia que diz, congregaronse de consuno contra el Sennor, et contra el suo Messias. E damos vos este consejo, maguera sodes homes de muyta sapença, que tengades grande aficamento sobre tamana fazienda, porque el Dios de Israel enojado con vasco, non destruya casa segunda de voso segundo templo. Ca sepades cierto, cedo ha de ser destruyda; et por esta rason nosos antepassados, que salieron de captiverio de Babylonia, siendo suo Capitane yrro, que embio Rey Cyro, et aduxo nusco muytas riqueças que tollo de Babylonia el año de sesenta et nueve de captividade, et foron recebidos en Toledo de Gentiles que y moravan, et edificaron una grande Aljama, et non quisieron bolver a Jerusalem otra vegada a edificar Temple, aviendo ser destruido otra vegada. De Toledo catorze dias del mes Nisan, Era de Cesar diez y ocho, y de Augusto Octaviano setenta y uno.—Sandoval, 71.

Had Alonso been as zealous as some of his Gothic predecessors, or his most Catholic successors, he might have found a fair pretext in this letter for ordering all the Jews of Toledo to the font, unless they would show cause why they should adhere to the opinion of Caiaphas and the Jerusalem Jews, rather than to that of their own ancestors.

General Vallancy believes that the Spanish Jews were brought into the Peninsula by Nebuchadnezzar, and admits these Toledans as authority. He quotes Count de Gebelin, and refers to Strabo and Ezekiel. The proof from Ezekiel rests upon the word Orb, Earb, Warb, or Gharb; which is made into Algarve!

A Jew in Tirante el Blanco (p. 2. c. 74. f. 243.) explainsthe difference between the different races of Jews. They are three, he says. One the progeny of those who took counsel for the death of Christ; and they were known by this, that they were in continual motion, hands and feet, and never could rest; neither could their spirit ever be still, and they had very little shame. The second were the descendants of those who put in execution and assisted at the various parts of the sufferings and death of Christ, and they never could look any man in the face, nor could they, without great difficulty, ever look up to heaven. The third were the children of David, who did all they could to prevent the death of Christ, and shut themselves up in the temple that they might not witness it. These are affable, good men, who love their neighbours; a quiet peaceable race, who can look any where.

Thomas Tamaio de Vargas, the editor of the spurious Luitprand, says, that not only many Hebrew words are mixed with the old Spanish, but that,prô dolor!the black and stinking Jewish blood had been mingled with the most pure blood of the Spaniards. (p. 96.) They were very anxious, he says, to intermarry, and spoil the pure blood. And he adds, that the Spaniards call themputos, quiaputant. “But,” says Sir Thomas Browne, “that an unsavoury odour is gentilitious, or national to the Jews, we cannot well concede. And if, (according to good relations,) where they may freely speak it, they forbear not to boast that there are at present many thousand Jews in Spain, France, and England, and some dispensed withal even to the degree of priesthood, it is a matter very considerable, and could they be smelled out, would much advantage not only the church of Christ, but also the coffers of princes.—The ground that begat or propagated this assertion might be the distasteful averseness of the Christian from the Jew upon the villainy of that fact, which made them abominable, and ‘stink in the nostrils of all men.’ Which real practice and metaphorical expression did after proceed into a literal construction, but was a fraudulent illation; for such an evil savour their father Jacob acknowledged in himself, when he said his sons had made him stink in the land, that is, to beabominable unto the inhabitants thereof.—Another cause is urged by Campegius, and much received by Christians; that this ill savour is a curse derived upon them by Christ, and stands as a badge or brand of a generation that crucified theirSalvator. But this is a conceit without all warrant, and an easy way to take off dispute in what point of obscurity soever.”Vulgar Errors, Book iv. ch. 10.

The Mahommedans also hold a like opinion of the unsavouriness of the Jews, and account for it by this legend which is given by Sale. “Some of the children of Israel abandoned their dwellings because of a pestilence, or, as others say, to avoid serving in a religious war; but as they fled, God struck them all dead in a certain valley. About eight days or more after, when their bodies were corrupted, the Prophet Ezekiel happening to pass that way, at the sight wept; whereupon God said to him, ‘Call to them, O Ezekiel, and I will restore them to life.’ And accordingly, on the prophet’s call, they all arose, and lived several years after; but they retained the colour and stench of dead corpses as long as they lived, and the clothes they wore were changed as black as pitch, which qualities they transmitted to their posterity.”

One of our own travellers[7]tells us of a curious practical application of this belief in Barbary. “The Moors of Tangier,” he says, “when they want rain, and have prayed in vain for it, set the Jews to work, saying, that though God would not grant it to the prayers of the faithful, he would to the Jews, in order to be rid of their stink.” Ludicrous as this is, South has a passage concerning the Jews, which is little more reasonable, in one of his sermons. “The truth is,” he says, “they were all along a cross, odd, untoward sort of people, and such as God seems to have chosen, and (as the Prophets sometimes phrase it) to have espoused to himself, upon the very same account that Socrates espoused Xantippe, only for her extreme ill conditions, above all that he could possibly find or pick out of that sex: and so the fittest argument both toexercise and declare his admirable patience to the world.”—Vol. i. 421.

A yokeOf iron servitude oppress’d and gall’dThe children of the soil.—I. p. 1.

A yoke

Of iron servitude oppress’d and gall’d

The children of the soil.—I. p. 1.

Of the condition of slaves under the Spanish Wisigoths, I have given an account in the Introduction of the Chronicle of the Cid. This also, like the persecution of the Jews, must greatly have facilitated the Moorish conquest. Another facilitating cause was, that notwithstanding their frequent civil disturbances, they had in great measure ceased to be a warlike people. The many laws in the Fuero Juzgo, for compelling men to military service, prove this. These laws are full of complaints that the people would avoid the service if they could. Habits of settled life seem throughout Europe to have effeminated the northern conquerors, till the Normans renovated the race, and the institutions of chivalry and the crusades produced a new era.

Thou, Calpe, sawest their coming: ancient RockRenown’d, no longer now shalt thou be call’dFrom Gods and Heroes of the years of yore,Kronos, or hundred-handed Briareus,Bacchus or Hercules; but doom’d to bearThe name of thy new conqueror.—I. p. 2.

Thou, Calpe, sawest their coming: ancient Rock

Renown’d, no longer now shalt thou be call’d

From Gods and Heroes of the years of yore,

Kronos, or hundred-handed Briareus,

Bacchus or Hercules; but doom’d to bear

The name of thy new conqueror.—I. p. 2.

Gibel-al-Tarif, the mountain Tarif, is the received etymology of Gibraltar: Ben Hazel, a Granadan Moor, says expressly, that the mountain derived its name from this general. Its former appellations may be seen in theHistoria de Gibraltar, by Don Ignacio Lopez de Ayala. The derivation of the word Calpe is not known: Florian de Ocampo identifies it with the English wordgolloping, in a passage which may amuse the Spanish scholar. “La segunda nombradia fue llamarleCalpe, cuya razon, segun dicen algunos, procedio de que los Andaluces ancianos en su lengua vieja solian llamar Calepas y Calpes a qualesquier cosas enhiestas y levantadas, agora fuesen peñascos, o pizarras, o maderos, o piedras menores, como lo significamos en los diez y ocho capitulos precedentes: y dicen que con estar alli junto de Gibraltar sobre sus marinas el risco, que ya dixe muy encumbrado y enhiesto, qual hoy dia parece, lo llamaban Calpes aquellos Andaluces pasados: y por su respecto la mesma poblacion vino tambien a tener despues aquel proprio nombre. No faltan otras personas que siguiendo las Escrituras Griegas pongan esta razon del nombre Calpes mucho diversamente, diciendo, que quando los cosarios Argonautas desembarcaron en España, cerca del estrecho, segun ya lo declaramos, el tiempo que hacian sus exercicios arriba dichos, de saltos y luchas, y musicas acordadas, bien asi como los pastores Españoles comarcanos recibian contentamientos grande, mirado las tales desenvolturas y ligerezas, no menos aquellos Griegos recien venidos notaban algunos juegos, dudo que trabajosos y dificiles, que los mesmos pastores obraban entre si para su recreacion y deporte; particularmente consideraran un regocijo de caballos, donde ciertos dias aplazados venian todos a se juntar como para cosa de gran pundonor.

“El qual regocijo hacian desta manera. Tomaban yeguas en pelo, quanto mas corredoras y ligeras podian haber, y puestos ellos encima desnudos sin alguna ropa, ataban en las quixadas barbicachos de rama, torcidos y majados a manera de freno, con que salian del puesto dos a dos a la par corriendo lo mas que sus yeguas podian, para llegar a cierta senal de pizarras enhiestas o de maderos hincados y levantados en fin de la carrera. Venidos al medio trecho de su corrida saltaban de las yeguas en tierra, no las parando ni deteniendo: y asi trabados por el barbicacho, corrian tambien ellos á pie, sin las dexar, puesto que mas furia llevasen: porque si las dexaban ó se desprendian dellas, y no sustentaban el freno continuamente, hasta ser pasada la carrera, perdian la reputation y las apuestas, quedando tan amenguados y vencidos, quanto quedaria triunfante quien primero llegase con su yegua para tomar la presa que tenian en el fin de la carrera sobre las pizarras o maderos hincados. Quando saltaban de sus yeguas,dicen que les iban hablando porque no se detuviesen, voceandoles y diciendoles a menudo palabras animosos y dulces: llamabanles pies hermosas, generosas en el correr, casta real, hembras preciosas, acrecentadoras de sus honras, y mas otras razones muchas con que las tenian vezadas, a no se parar ni perder el impetu comenzado: de manera que los tropeles en este punto, los pundonores y regocijos de correr, y de no mostrar floxedad era cosa mucho de notar, asi por la parte de los hombres, como por parte de las yeguas. A los Griegos Argonautas les parecio juego tan varonil que muchas veces lo probaron tambien ellos a revuelta de los Espanoles, como quiera que jamas pudieron tener aquella vigilancia ni ligereza, ni reciura que tenian estos otros para durar con sus yeguas. Y dado que las tales yeguas corriesen harto furiosas, y les ensenasen muchos dias antes a seguir estas parejas, quanto mejor entendian a la verdad, ni las de los unos, ni las de los otros corrian tanto despues que saltaban dellas, como quando los traian encima: y asi las palabras que los Griegos en aquella sazon puestos a pie hablaban eran tambien al mesmo proposito conformes a las de los Andaluces Españoles en su lengua, provincial, nombrandolas Calopes, Calopes, Calopes a la contina, que fue palabra Griega, compuesta de dos vocablos: uno Calos, que significa cosa hermosa, ligera y agraciada: otro Pus, que quiere decir pie, como que las llamasen pies agraciados, o pies desenvueltos y ligeros: y por abreviar mas el vocablo, para que sus yeguas lo pudiesen mas presto sentir, acortabanlo con una letra menos en el medio, y en lugar de nombrarlas Calopes, les deciam Calpes, que significa lo mesmo Calopes: la qual palabra me parece dura todavia hasta nuestro siglo presente, donde pocas letras mudadas, por decir Calopes o Calpes, lo pronunciamos Galopes, quando los caballos y yeguas, o qualesquier otros animales, no corren a todo poder sino trote largo seguido. Vino desto que las mesmas fiestas y manera del juego se nombraron Calpes: dado que para conmigo bastara saber la victoria deste juego consistir en ligereza de pies, y por eso solo deberse llamar Calopes a Calpe, sin anadir lo que hablaban a las yeguas, pues aquello primero comprehende bastantemente la razon deste vocablo. Pero si todavia fue cierto que les decian aquellas palabras quandocorrian sus parejas, ninguna cosa daña dexarlas aquí puestas.”—Coronica General de Espana, c. 38.

Famine and Pestilence had wasted them.—I. p. 3.

In the reign of Egica, Witiza’s father,—plaga inguinalis immisericorditer illabitur. (Isid. Pacensis.) And for two years before the Moorish invasion,—habia habido continua hambre y pestilencia en Espana, con que se habian debilitado mucho los cuerpos, sin lo que el ocio las habia enflaquecido.—Morales, 12. 69. 5.

St. Isidore, in his History of the Goths, distinctly describes the Northern Lights among the signs that announced the wars of Attila. “Multa eodem tempore cœli et terræ signa præcesserunt, quorum prodigiis tam crudele bellum significaretur. Nam, assiduis terræ motibus factis, a parte Orientis Luna fuscata est, a solis occasu stella cometes apparuit, atque ingenti magnitudine aliquandiu fulsit.Ab aquilonis plaga cœlum rubens, sicut ignis aut sanguis, effectus est, permistis perigneum ruborem lineis clarioribus in speciem hastarum rutilantium deformatis.Nec mirum, ut in tam ingenti cæsorum strage, divinitus tam multa signorum demonstraretur ostensio.”—España Sagrada, t. vi. 491.

And worst of enemies, their Sins were arm’dAgainst them.—I. p. 3.

And worst of enemies, their Sins were arm’d

Against them.—I. p. 3.

The following description of the state of the Christian world when the Saracens began their conquests, is taken from a singular manuscript, “wherein the history of the Cruisades and of all the Mahommedan emperors from A. D. 558, to A. D. 1588, is gathered out of the Chronikes of William Archbishop of Tyreus, the protoscribe of Palestine, of Basilius Jhohannes Heraldus, and sundry others, and reduced into a poem epike by Robert Barret, 1610.” The author was anold soldier, whose language is a compound of Josuah Sylvester and King Cambyses, with a strong relish of Ancient Pistol.

Now in this sin-flood age not only in EastDid the impious imps the faithful persecute,But like affliction them pursued in West,And in all parts the good trod under foot;For Faith in some was cold, from others fled,And fear of God dislodged out human hearts;Astrea flown to skies, and in her steadIniquity enthronized; in all partsViolence had vogue, and on sathanized earthFraud, Mischief, Murder martialled the camp;Sweet Virtue fled the field: Hope, out of breath;And Vice, all-stainer, every soul did stamp;So that it seem’d World drew to’s evening tide,Nought else expecting but Christ’s second coming;For Charity was cold on every side,And Truth and Trust were gone from earth a-mumming.All things confused ran, so that it seemedThe World return would to his chaos old;Princes the path of justice not esteemed,Headlong with prince ran people young and old.All sainct confederations infringed,And for light cause would prince with prince enquarrel;Countries bestreamed with blood, with fire besinged,All set to each, all murders sorts unbarrelled.No wight his own could own; ’twas current coinEach man to strip, provided he were rich.The church sacriledged, choir made cot for swine,And zealous ministers were made to scritche.Robbing was made fair purchase, murder manhood,And none secure by land ne sea could pass;The humble heartless, ireful hearts ran wood,Esteemed most who mischief most could dressAll lubrick lusts shamelese without comptrollRan full career; each would a rider be;And Heaven’s friend, all sainct Continency,Was banished quite: Lasciviousness did roll,Frugality, healthful SobrietyNo place could find; all parts enquartered wereWith Bacchus-brutes and Satyres-luxury.All lawless games bore sway, with blasphemes roare,’Twixt Clerk and Laick difference was none,Disguized all, phantastick out of norme;But as the Prophet says, as Priests do run,So run the people, peevish in disform.The Bishops graded once, dumb dogs become,Their heads sin vyncting, flocks abandon soon;Princes applauders, person-acceptors,The good’s debarrers and the bad’s abetters;Fleshly all, all filthy simonized,Preferring profit ’fore the Eternal’s praise.The church enschismed, court all atheized,The commons kankred, all all in distrayes;The plotting politician’s pate admired,Their skill consisting in preventions scull,Pathicks preferred, Cyprin ware desired,Ocean of mischiefs flowing moon-tide full:So that it seem’d that all flesh desperatelyLike wolf-scared sheep were plunged headlong downIn pit of hell: puddled all pestfullyThe court, church, commons, province, city, town;All haggards; none reclaimed once could be,Ne by the word, the word ’bused by organs bad,Ne yet by signs that spotted chrystal sky,Ne other prodigies, presages sad,Neither gust shakings of this settled globe;Neither sharpe pencil of war, famine, pest,Could once one ray engrave in steeled breast,Or Christians cause their sin-jagged robe disrobe.Thus stood the sad state of that sin-stain’d time,And Christians of this our all-zeal cold time,Let us now par’llel that time with our time,Our parallel’d time will parallel that time,Then triple-sainct, thou just geometer true,Our time not parallel by thy justice line,But with thy mercy’s paralleling brow,Reform our crimeful Angles by grace thine.

Now in this sin-flood age not only in East

Did the impious imps the faithful persecute,

But like affliction them pursued in West,

And in all parts the good trod under foot;

For Faith in some was cold, from others fled,

And fear of God dislodged out human hearts;

Astrea flown to skies, and in her stead

Iniquity enthronized; in all parts

Violence had vogue, and on sathanized earth

Fraud, Mischief, Murder martialled the camp;

Sweet Virtue fled the field: Hope, out of breath;

And Vice, all-stainer, every soul did stamp;

So that it seem’d World drew to’s evening tide,

Nought else expecting but Christ’s second coming;

For Charity was cold on every side,

And Truth and Trust were gone from earth a-mumming.

All things confused ran, so that it seemed

The World return would to his chaos old;

Princes the path of justice not esteemed,

Headlong with prince ran people young and old.

All sainct confederations infringed,

And for light cause would prince with prince enquarrel;

Countries bestreamed with blood, with fire besinged,

All set to each, all murders sorts unbarrelled.

No wight his own could own; ’twas current coin

Each man to strip, provided he were rich.

The church sacriledged, choir made cot for swine,

And zealous ministers were made to scritche.

Robbing was made fair purchase, murder manhood,

And none secure by land ne sea could pass;

The humble heartless, ireful hearts ran wood,

Esteemed most who mischief most could dress

All lubrick lusts shamelese without comptroll

Ran full career; each would a rider be;

And Heaven’s friend, all sainct Continency,

Was banished quite: Lasciviousness did roll,

Frugality, healthful Sobriety

No place could find; all parts enquartered were

With Bacchus-brutes and Satyres-luxury.

All lawless games bore sway, with blasphemes roare,

’Twixt Clerk and Laick difference was none,

Disguized all, phantastick out of norme;

But as the Prophet says, as Priests do run,

So run the people, peevish in disform.

The Bishops graded once, dumb dogs become,

Their heads sin vyncting, flocks abandon soon;

Princes applauders, person-acceptors,

The good’s debarrers and the bad’s abetters;

Fleshly all, all filthy simonized,

Preferring profit ’fore the Eternal’s praise.

The church enschismed, court all atheized,

The commons kankred, all all in distrayes;

The plotting politician’s pate admired,

Their skill consisting in preventions scull,

Pathicks preferred, Cyprin ware desired,

Ocean of mischiefs flowing moon-tide full:

So that it seem’d that all flesh desperately

Like wolf-scared sheep were plunged headlong down

In pit of hell: puddled all pestfully

The court, church, commons, province, city, town;

All haggards; none reclaimed once could be,

Ne by the word, the word ’bused by organs bad,

Ne yet by signs that spotted chrystal sky,

Ne other prodigies, presages sad,

Neither gust shakings of this settled globe;

Neither sharpe pencil of war, famine, pest,

Could once one ray engrave in steeled breast,

Or Christians cause their sin-jagged robe disrobe.

Thus stood the sad state of that sin-stain’d time,And Christians of this our all-zeal cold time,Let us now par’llel that time with our time,Our parallel’d time will parallel that time,Then triple-sainct, thou just geometer true,Our time not parallel by thy justice line,But with thy mercy’s paralleling brow,Reform our crimeful Angles by grace thine.

Thus stood the sad state of that sin-stain’d time,

And Christians of this our all-zeal cold time,

Let us now par’llel that time with our time,

Our parallel’d time will parallel that time,

Then triple-sainct, thou just geometer true,

Our time not parallel by thy justice line,

But with thy mercy’s paralleling brow,

Reform our crimeful Angles by grace thine.

Eight summer days, from morn till latest eve,The fatal fight endured.—I. p. 3.

Eight summer days, from morn till latest eve,

The fatal fight endured.—I. p. 3.

Ocho veces la lampara febeaSalio alumbrando el mundo, y ocho vecesLa negra sombra de la noche feaDe la luna alteró las blancas teces;Y tantos dias la mortal pelea,El sol y las estrellas por jueces,En España duro, sin durar ellaMas en su libertad, que en fenecella.Balbuena, El Bernardo, t. ii. 275.

Ocho veces la lampara febea

Salio alumbrando el mundo, y ocho veces

La negra sombra de la noche fea

De la luna alteró las blancas teces;

Y tantos dias la mortal pelea,

El sol y las estrellas por jueces,

En España duro, sin durar ella

Mas en su libertad, que en fenecella.

Balbuena, El Bernardo, t. ii. 275.

Roderick’s royal car.—I. p. 3.

“Roderike, the first day after the battayle, observing the auncient guise of his countrey, came into the fielde apparailled in a gowne of beaten golde, having also on his head a crown of gold, and golden shoes, and all his other apparaile set with rich pearles and precious stones, ryding in a horse-litter of ivorie, drawne by two goodly horses; which order the Goths used alwayes in battailes for this consideration, that the souldiours, well knowing their king could not escape away by flight from them, shuld be assured that there was none other way but either to die togither in that place, or else to winne the victorie; for it had bene a thing most shamefull and reproachful to forsake their prince and anoynted soveraigne. Which custome and maner many free confederate cities of Italie folowing, trimmed and adorned for the warres a certainchayre of estate, calledCarocio, wherein were set the penons and ensigns of all the confederates; this chayre, in battaile, was drawn by many oxen, wherby the whole hoast was given to understand that they could not with any honesty flie, by reason of the slow pace and unweldinesse of those heavie beasts.”—A Notable Historie of the Saracens, drawen out of Augustine Curio, and sundry other good Authours. By Thomas Newton, 1575.

En ruedas de marfil, envuelto en sedas,De oro la frente orlada, y mas dispuestoAl triunfo y al festin que a la pelea,El sucesor indigno de AlaricoLlevo tras si la maldicion eterna.Ah! yo la vi: la lid por siete diasDuro, mas no fue lid, fue una sangrientaCarniceria: huyeron los cobardesLos traidores vendieron sus banderas,Los fuertes, los leales perecieron.—Quintana.

En ruedas de marfil, envuelto en sedas,

De oro la frente orlada, y mas dispuesto

Al triunfo y al festin que a la pelea,

El sucesor indigno de Alarico

Llevo tras si la maldicion eterna.

Ah! yo la vi: la lid por siete dias

Duro, mas no fue lid, fue una sangrienta

Carniceria: huyeron los cobardes

Los traidores vendieron sus banderas,

Los fuertes, los leales perecieron.—Quintana.

The author of the chivalrous Chronicle of King Don Rodrigo gives a singular description of this car, upon the authority of his pretended original Eleastras; for he, “seeing that calamities went on increasing, and that the destruction of the Goths was at hand, thought that if things were to end as they had begun, it would be a marvel if there should be in Spain any king or lord of the lineage of the Goths after the death of King Don Rodrigo; and therefore it imported much that he should leave behind him a remembrance of the customs of the Gothic kings, and of the manner in which they were wont to enter into battle and how they went to war. And he says, that the king used to go in a car made after a strange fashion. The wheels of this car were made of the bones of elephants, and the axle-tree was of fine silver, and the perch was of fine gold. It was drawn by two horses, who were of great size and gentle; and upon the car there was pitched a tent, solarge that it covered the whole car, and it was of fine cloth of gold, upon which were wrought all the great feats in arms which had been achieved until that time; and the pillar of the tent was of gold, and many stones of great value were set in it, which sent forth such splendour, that by night there was no need of any other light therein. And the car and the horses bore the same adornments as the king, and these were full of pearls the largest which could be found. And in the middle of the car there was a seat placed against the pillar of the tent; and this seat was of great price, insomuch that the value of it cannot be summed up, so many and so great were the stones which were set in it; and it was wrought so subtly, and of such rare workmanship, that they who saw it marvelled thereat. And upon this seat the king was seated, being lifted up so high that all in the host, little or great, might behold him. And in this manner it was appointed that the king should go to war. And round about the car there were to go a thousand knights, who had all been knighted by the hand of the king, all armed; and in the day of battle they were to be on foot round about the car; and all plighted homage to the king not to depart from it in any manner whatsoever, and that they would rather receive their death there, than go from their place beside the car. And the king had his crown upon his head. And in this guise all the kings of the Goths, who had been lords of Spain, were to go to battle; and this custom they had all observed till the King Don Rodrigo; but he, because of the great grief which he had in his heart, would never ascend the car, neither did he go in it into the battle.”—Part i. c. 215.

Entrò Rodrigo en la batalla fiera,Armado en blanco de un arnes dorado,El yelmo coronado de una esferaQue en luzes vence al circulo estrellado:En unas ricas andas, ô literaQue al hijo de Climene despeñadoEngañaran mejor que el carro de oroDe ygual peligro, y de mayor tesoro.La purpura real las armas cubre,El grave rostro en magestad le baña,El ceptro por quien era le descubreRodrigo ultimo Godo Rey de Espana:Mas de la suerte que en lluvioso OtubreLo verde que le veste ya compaña,Desnuda al olmo blanco, rompe y quitaVulturno ayrado que al invierno incita.Caen las hojas sobre el agua claraQue le bañava el pie, y el ornamentoDel tronco imita nuestra edad que paraEn su primero humilde fundamento:Desierta queda la frondosa vara,Sigue la rama, en remolino, al viento,Que la aparta del arbol, que salteaSu blanca, verde, y palida librea.Assi Rodrigo el miserable diaUltimo de esta guerra desdichada,Quedo en el campo, donde ya teniaLa magestad del ombro derribada:Alli la rota purpura yaziaTeñida en sangre, y en sudor vañada,Alli el verde laurel, y el ceptro de oro,Siendo el arbol su cuerpo, el viento el Moro.Lope de Vega.Jerusalen Conquistada, l. vi. f. 136.

Entrò Rodrigo en la batalla fiera,

Armado en blanco de un arnes dorado,

El yelmo coronado de una esfera

Que en luzes vence al circulo estrellado:

En unas ricas andas, ô litera

Que al hijo de Climene despeñado

Engañaran mejor que el carro de oro

De ygual peligro, y de mayor tesoro.

La purpura real las armas cubre,El grave rostro en magestad le baña,El ceptro por quien era le descubreRodrigo ultimo Godo Rey de Espana:Mas de la suerte que en lluvioso OtubreLo verde que le veste ya compaña,Desnuda al olmo blanco, rompe y quitaVulturno ayrado que al invierno incita.

La purpura real las armas cubre,

El grave rostro en magestad le baña,

El ceptro por quien era le descubre

Rodrigo ultimo Godo Rey de Espana:

Mas de la suerte que en lluvioso Otubre

Lo verde que le veste ya compaña,

Desnuda al olmo blanco, rompe y quita

Vulturno ayrado que al invierno incita.

Caen las hojas sobre el agua claraQue le bañava el pie, y el ornamentoDel tronco imita nuestra edad que paraEn su primero humilde fundamento:Desierta queda la frondosa vara,Sigue la rama, en remolino, al viento,Que la aparta del arbol, que salteaSu blanca, verde, y palida librea.

Caen las hojas sobre el agua clara

Que le bañava el pie, y el ornamento

Del tronco imita nuestra edad que para

En su primero humilde fundamento:

Desierta queda la frondosa vara,

Sigue la rama, en remolino, al viento,

Que la aparta del arbol, que saltea

Su blanca, verde, y palida librea.

Assi Rodrigo el miserable diaUltimo de esta guerra desdichada,Quedo en el campo, donde ya teniaLa magestad del ombro derribada:Alli la rota purpura yaziaTeñida en sangre, y en sudor vañada,Alli el verde laurel, y el ceptro de oro,Siendo el arbol su cuerpo, el viento el Moro.

Assi Rodrigo el miserable dia

Ultimo de esta guerra desdichada,

Quedo en el campo, donde ya tenia

La magestad del ombro derribada:

Alli la rota purpura yazia

Teñida en sangre, y en sudor vañada,

Alli el verde laurel, y el ceptro de oro,

Siendo el arbol su cuerpo, el viento el Moro.

Lope de Vega.Jerusalen Conquistada, l. vi. f. 136.

That helmWhose horns, amid the thickest of the frayEminent, had mark’d his presence.—I. p. 3.

That helm

Whose horns, amid the thickest of the fray

Eminent, had mark’d his presence.—I. p. 3.

Morales describes this horned helmet from a coin. “Tiene de la una parte su rostro, harto diferente de los que en las otras Monedas de estas Reyes parecen. Tiene manera de estar armado, y salenle por cima de la celada unas puntas como cuernos pequeñosy derechos por ambos lados, que lo hacen estraño y espantable.” Florez has given this coin in hisMedallas de Espana, from the only one which was known to be in existence, and which was then in the collection of the Infante D. Gabriel. It was struck at Egitania, the present Idana, and, like all the coins of the Visigoth kings, is of the rudest kind. The lines which Morales describes are sufficiently apparent, and if they are not intended for horns, it is impossible to guess what else they may have been meant to represent.

“These Gothic coins,” says P. D. Jeronymo Contador de Argote, “have a thousand barbarisms, as well in their letters as in other circumstances. They mingle Greek characters with Latin ones; and in what regards the relief or figure, nothing can be more dissimilar than the representation to the thing which it is intended to represent. I will relate what happened to me with one, however much D. Egidio de Albornos de Macedo may reprehend me for it in hisParecer Anathomico. Valerio Pinto de Sa, an honourable citizen of Braga, of whom, in various parts of these Memoirs, I have made well-deserved mention, and of whose friendship I have been proud ever since I have been in that city, gave me, some six or seven years ago, a gold coin of King Leovigildo, who was the first of the Gothic kings of Spain that coined money, for till then both Goths and Sueves used the Roman. I examined it leisurely, and what I clearly saw was a cross on the one side upon some steps, and some ill-shaped letters around it; and on the reverse something, I knew not what: It seemed to me like a tree, or a stake which shot out some branches: Round about were some letters, more distinct; I could not, however, ascertain what they signified. It happened about that time that I had the honour of a visit from the most illustrious Sr. D. Francisco de Almeida, then a most worthy Academician of the Royal Academy, and at present a most deserving and eminent Principal of the Holy Patriarchal Church. He saw this coin, and he also was puzzled by the side which represented what I called a tree. He asked me to lend it him, that he might examine it more at leisure. He took itaway, and after some days returned it, saying, that he had examined it with a microscope, and that what I had taken for a stake was without question the portrait of King Leovigildo. I confess that I was not yet entirely satisfied: however, I showed it afterwards to divers persons, all of whom said they knew not what the said figure could be; but when I desired them to see if it could be this portrait, they all agreed that it was. This undeceived me, and by looking at the coin in every possible light, at last I came to see it also, and acknowledge the truth with the rest. And afterwards I found in the Dialogues of Antonio Agostinho, treating of these Gothic coins, that there are some of such rude workmanship, that where a face should be represented, some represent a pitcher, and others an urn.”—Memorias de Braga, t. iii. p. lix.

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