The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic (Vol. 1-3) - William Hickling Prescott

Скачать книгу

marriage between Ferdinand and Isabella was publicly celebrated, on the morning of the 19th of October, in the palace of John de Vivero, the temporary residence of the princess, and subsequently appropriated to the chancery of Valladolid. The nuptials were solemnized in the presence of Ferdinand's grandfather, the admiral of Castile, of the archbishop of Toledo, and a multitude of persons of rank, as well as of inferior condition, amounting in all to no less than two thousand. [69] A papal bull of dispensation was produced by the archbishop, relieving the parties from the impediment incurred by their falling within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity. This spurious document was afterwards discovered to have been devised by the old king of Aragon, Ferdinand, and the archbishop, who were deterred from applying to the court of Rome by the zeal with which it openly espoused the interests of Henry, and who knew that Isabella would never consent to a union repugnant to the canons of the established church, and one which involved such heavy ecclesiastical censures. A genuine bull of dispensation was obtained, some years later, from Sixtus the Fourth; but Isabella, whose honest mind abhorred everything like artifice, was filled with no little uneasiness and mortification at the discovery of the imposition. [70] The ensuing week was consumed in the usual festivities of this joyous season; at the expiration of which, the new-married pair attended publicly the celebration of mass, agreeably to the usage of the time, in the collegiate church of Sante Maria. [71]

      An embassy was despatched by Ferdinand and Isabella to Henry, to acquaint him with their proceedings, and again request his approbation of them. They repeated their assurances of loyal submission, and accompanied the message with a copious extract from such of the articles of marriage, as, by their import, would be most likely to conciliate his favorable disposition. Henry coldly replied, that "he must advise with his ministers." [72]

       * * * * *

      Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdés, author of the "Quincuagenas" frequently cited in this History, was born at Madrid, in 1478. He was of noble Asturian descent. Indeed, every peasant in the Asturias claims nobility as his birthright. At the age of twelve he was introduced into the royal palace, as one of the pages of Prince John. He continued with the court several years, and was present, though a boy, in the closing campaigns of the Moorish war. In 1514, according to his own statement, he embarked for the Indies, where, although he revisited his native country several times, he continued during the remainder of his long life. The time of his death is uncertain.

      Oviedo occupied several important posts under the government, and he was appointed to one of a literary nature, for which he was well qualified by his long residence abroad; that of historiographer of the Indies. It was in this capacity that he produced his principal work, "Historia General de las Indias," in fifty books. Las Casas denounces the book as a wholesale fabrication, "as full of lies, almost, as pages." (Oeuvres, trad. de Llorente, tom. i. p. 382.) But Las Casas entertained too hearty an aversion for the man, whom he publicly accused of rapacity and cruelty, and was too decidedly opposed to his ideas on the government of the Indies, to be a fair critic. Oviedo, though somewhat loose and rambling, possessed extensive stores of information, by which those who have had occasion to follow in his track have liberally profited.

      The work with which we are concerned is his Quincuagenas. It is entitled "Las Quincuagenas de los generosos é ilustres é no menos famosos Reyes, Príncipes, Duques, Marqueses y Condes et Caballeros, et Personas notables de España, que escribió el Capitan Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdez, Alcáide de sus Magestades de la Fortaleza de la Cibdad é Puerto de Sancto Domingo de la Isla Españiola, Coronista de las Indias," etc. At the close of the third volume is this record of the octogenarian author; "Acabé de escribir de mi mano este famoso tractado de la nobleza de España, domingo 1730; dia de Páscua de Pentecostes XXIII. de mayo de 1556 años. Laus Deo. Y de mi edad 79 años." This very curious work is in the form of dialogues, in which the author is the chief interlocutor. It contains a very full, and, indeed, prolix notice of the principal persons in Spain, their lineage, revenues, and arms, with an inexhaustible fund of private anecdote. The author, who was well acquainted with most of the individuals of note in his time, amused himself, during his absence in the New World, with keeping alive the images of home by this minute record of early reminiscences. In this mass of gossip, there is a good deal, indeed, of very little value. It contains, however, much for the illustration of domestic manners, and copious particulars, as I have intimated, respecting the characters and habits of eminent personages, which could have been known only to one familiar with them. On all topics of descent and heraldry, he is uncommonly full; and one would think his services in this department alone might have secured him, in a land where these are so much respected, the honors of the press. His book, however, still remains in manuscript, apparently little known, and less used, by Castilian scholars. Besides the three folio volumes in the Royal Library at Madrid, from which the transcript in my possession was obtained, Clemencin, whose commendations of this work, as illustrative of Isabella's reign, are unqualified. (Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 10,) enumerates three others, two in the king's private library, and one in that of the Academy.

      FOOTNOTES

      [1]

      "Nil pudet assuetos sceptris: mitissima sors est

       Regnorum sub rege novo." Lucan, Pharsalia, lib. 8.

      [2] Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 8.—Rodericus Sanctius, Historia Hispanica, cap. 38, 39.—Pulgar, Claros Varones, tit. 1.—Castillo, Crónica, i. 20.—Guzman, Generaciones, cap. 33.—Although Henry's lavish expenditure, particularly on works of architecture, gained him in early life the appellation of "the Liberal," he is better known on the roll of Castilian sovereigns by the less flattering title of "the Impotent."

      [3] Zuñiga, Anales Eclesiasticos y Seculares de Sevilla, (Madrid, 1667,) p. 344.—Castillo, Crónica, cap. 20.—Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. pp. 415, 419.—Alonso de Palencia, Corónica, MS., part. 1, cap. 14 et seq.—The surprise of Gibraltar, the unhappy source of feud between the families of Guzman and Ponce de Leon, did not occur till a later period, 1462.

      [4] Such was his apathy, says Mariana, that he would subscribe his name to public ordinances, without taking the trouble to acquaint himself with their contents. Hist. de España, tom. ii. p. 423.

      [5] Pulgar, Crónica de los Reyes Católicos, (Valencia, 1780,) cap. 2.— Alonso de Palencia, Corónica, MS., part. 1, cap. 4.—Aleson, Anales de Navarra, tom. iv. pp. 519, 520.—The marriage between Blanche and Henry was publicly declared void by the bishop of Segovia, confirmed by the archbishop of Toledo, "por impotencia respectiva, owing to some malign influence"!

      [6] La Clède, Hist. de. Portugal, tom. iii. pp. 325, 345.—Florez, Reynas Cathólicas, tom. ii. pp. 763, 766.—Alonso de Palencia, Corónica, MS., part. 1, cap. 20, 21.—It does not appear, however, whom Beltran de la Cueva indicated as the lady of his love on this occasion. (See Castillo, Crónica, cap. 23, 24.) Two anecdotes may he mentioned as characteristic of the gallantry of the times. The archbishop of Seville concluded a superb fête, given in honor of the royal nuptials, by introducing on the table two vases filled with rings garnished with precious stones, to be distributed among his female guests. At a ball given on another occasion, the young queen having condescended to dance with the French ambassador, the latter made a solemn vow, in commemoration of so distinguished an honor, never to dance with any other woman.

      [7] Alonso de Palencia, Corónica, MS., cap. 42, 47.—Castillo, Crónica, cap. 23.

      [8] Alonso de Palencia, Corónica, MS., cap. 35.—Sempere, Hist. del. Luxo, tom. i. p. 183.—Idem, Hist. des Cortès, ch. 19.—Marina, Teoría, part. 1, cap. 20.—part. 2, pp. 390, 391.—Zuñiga, Anales de Sevilla, pp. 346, 349.—The papal bulls of crusade issued on these occasions, says Palencia, contained among other indulgences an exemption from the pains and penalties of purgatory, assuring to the soul of the purchaser, after death, an immediate translation into a state of glory. Some of the more orthodox casuists doubted the validity of such a bull. But it was decided, after due examination, that, as the holy father possessed plenary power of absolution of all offenses committed upon earth, and as purgatory is situated upon earth, it properly fell within his jurisdiction, (cap. 32.) Bulls of crusade were sold at the rate of 200 maravedies each; and it is computed by the same

Скачать книгу