Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/327

ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. 183 two years, in spite of the repeated opposition of chapter the aristocracy. At length, in 1498, the objects '- — ■ for which it was established having been complete- ly obtained, it was deemed advisable to relieve the nation from the heavy charges which its mainte- nance imposed. The great salaried officers were dismissed ; a few subordinate functionaries were retained for the administration of justice, over whom the regular courts of criminal law possessed appellate jurisdiction ; and the magnificent appara- tus of the Santa Hermandad, stripped of all but the terrors of its name, dwindled into an ordinary police, such as it has existed, with various modifica- tions of form, down to the present century. ^ Isabella was so intent on the prosecution of her Tum«u at •"• _ Segovia. schemes of reform, that, even in the minuter details, she frequently superintended the execution of them herself. For this she was admirably fitted by her personal address, and presence of mind in danger, and by the influence which a conviction of her in- tegrity gave her over the minds of the people. A remarkable exemplification of this occurred, the year but one after her coronation, at Segovia. The inhabitants, secretly instigated by the bishop of that place, and some of the principal citizens, rose against Cabrera, marquis of Moya, to whom the government of the city had been intrusted, and 4 Recopilacion de las Leyes, — Lebrija, Rerum Gestarum De- (Madrid, 1640,) lib. 8, tit. 13, ley cad., fol. 37, 38. — Las Pragma- 44. — Zuiiig-a, Annales de Sevilla, ticas del Reyno, (Sevilla, 1520,) p. 379. — Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, fol. 85. — L. Marineo, Cosas part. 2, cap. 51. — Mem. de la Memorables, fol. 160. Acad, de Hist., torn. vi. Ilust. 6.