Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/74

Jvi INTRODUCTION. iNTROD. wealth brought with it the usual appetite for ex- pensive pleasures ; and the popular diffusion of lux urj in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries is attested by the fashionable invective of the satirist, and by the impotence of repeated sumptuary enact- ments.^^ Much of this superfluous wealth, how- ever, was expended on the construction of useful public works. Cities, from which the nobles had once been so jealously excluded, came now to be their favorite residence. ^^ But, while their sump- tuous edifices and splendid retinues dazzled the eyes of the peaceful burghers, their turbulent spirit was preparing the way for those dismal scenes of faction, which convulsed the little commonwealths to their centre during the latter half of the fif- teenth century. The flourishing condition of the communities to the heir apparent of Castile, a flock of English merinos, distin- guished, at that time, above those of every other country, for the beauty and delicacy of their fleece. (Memorias Historicas sobre la Ma- rina, Comercio, y Artes de Barce- lona, (Madrid, 1779-1792, )tom. iii. pp. 336, 337.) This acute writer, after a very careful examination of the subject, differing from those al- ready quoted, considers the raw material for manufacture, and the natural productions of the soil, to have constituted almost the only articles of export from Spain, until after the fifteenth century. (Ibid., p. 338.) We will remark, in con- clusion of this desultory note, that the term merinos is derived, by Conde, from 7nocdinos, signifying "wandering"; the name of an Arabian tribe, who shifted their place of residence with the season. (Hist, de los Arabes en Espaila, torn. i. p. 488, nota.) The deriva- tion might startle any but a pro- fessed etymologist. 44 See the original acts, cited by Sempere. (Historia del Luxo, passim.) The archpriest of Hita indulges his vein freely against the luxury, cupidity, and other fashion- able sins of his age. (See Sanchez, Poesias Castellanas, tom. iv.) — The influence of Mammon appears to have been as supreme in the fourteenth century as at any latei period. " Sen un ome nescio, et riido labrndor, I,os diiieros le fusen fiiialgo e sabidor, Cluaiito mas algo tiene, tanto es inos de valor, El que no ha dineros, non es de si senor." Vv. 465 et seq. 45 Marina, Ensayo, nos. 199, 297. — Zufiiga, Annales de Sevilla. p. 341.