SECTION I.
institutions, its inhabitants displayed an uncommon share of intellectual and moral energy. Its long line of coast opened the way to an extensive and flourishing commerce; and its enterprising navy indemnified the nation for the scantiness of its territory at home, by the important foreign conquests of Sardinia, Sicily, Naples, and the Balearic Isles.
The remaining provinces of Leon, Biscay, the Asturias, Galicia, Old and New Castile, Estremadura, Murcia, and Andalusia, fell to the crown of Castile, which, thus extending its sway over an unbroken line of country from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean, seemed by the magnitude of its territory, as well as by its antiquity, (for it was there that the old Gothic monarchy may be said to have first revived after the great Saracen invasion,) to be entitled to a preëminence over the other states of the Peninsula. This claim, indeed, appears to have been recognised at an early period of her history. Aragon did homage to Castile for her territory on the western bank of the Ebro, until the twelfth century, as did Navarre, Portugal, and, at a later period, the Moorish kingdom of Granada.[1] And, when at length the various states of Spain were consolidated into one monarchy, the capital of Castile became the capital of the new empire, and
- ↑ Aragon was formally released from this homage in 1177, and Portugal in 1264. (Mariana, Historia General de España, (Madrid, 1780,) lib. 11, cap. 14; lib. 13, cap. 20.) The king of Granada, Aben Alahmar, swore fealty to St. Ferdinand, in 1245, binding himself to the payment of an annual rent, to serve under him with a stipulated number of his knights in war, and personally attend cortes when summoned;—a whimsical stipulation this for a Mahometan prince. Conde, Historía de la Dominacion de los Arabes en España, (Madrid, 1820, 1821,) tom. iii. cap. 30.
