Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/128

INTRODUCTION. iNTRoD. in the rest of Europe, the law seemed only the web to ensnare the weak, the Aragonese historians could exult in the reflection, that the fearless ad- ministration of justice in their land " protected the weak equally with the strong, the foreigner with the native." Well might their legislature assert, that the value of their liberties more than counter- balanced " the poverty of the nation, and the steril- ity of their soil."^^ The governments of Valencia and Catalonia, which, as has been already remarked, were ad- ministered independently of each other after their consolidation into one monarchy, bore a very near resemblance to that of Aragon." No institution, however, corresponding in its functions with that of the Justicia, seems to have obtained in either.^^ Valencia and Catalonia. vate suit, delivered an opinion, which was received as obligatory on the whole nation. 66 See Zurita, Anales, lib. 8, cap. 29, — and the admirable sen- timents cited by Blancas from the parliamentary acts, in 1451. Com- mentarii, p. 350. From this independent position must be excepted, indeed, the lower classes of the peasantry, who seem to have been in a more abject state in Aragon than in most other feu- dal countries. " Era tan absolute su dominio (of their lords) que po- dian mater con hambre, sed, y frio a sus vasallos de servidumbre." (Asso y Manuel, Instituciones, p. 40, — also Blancas, Commentarii, p. 309.) These serfs extorted, in an insurrection, the recognition of certain rights irom their masters, on condition of paying a specified tax ; whence the name villanos dc parada. 67 Although the legislatures of the different states of the crown of Aragon were never united in one body when convened in the same town, yet they were so averse to all appearance of incorporation, that the monarch frequently ap- pointed for the places of meeting three distinct towns, within their respective territories and contigu- ous, in order that he might pass the more expeditiously from one to the other. See Blancas, Modo de Proceder, cap. 4. 68 It is indeed true, that Peter III., at the request of the Yalen- cians, appointed an Aragonese knight Justice of that kingdom, in 1283. (Zurita, Anales, torn. i. fol. 281.) But we find no further mention of this officer, or of the office. Nor have I met with any notice of it in the details of the Valencian constitution, compiled by Capmany from various writers.