Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/80

Ixii INTRODUCTION. iNTROD. revenues as equal to one third of those in the whole kingdom. ^^ Their tmbu. These ambitious nobles did not consume their lent spirit. fortunes, or their energies in a life of effeminate luxury. From their earliest boyhood, they were accustomed to serve in the ranks against the infi- del, ^^ and their whole subsequent lives were occu- pied either with war, or with those martial exercises which reflect the image of it. Looking back with pride to their ancient Gothic descent, and to those times, when they had stood forward as the peers, the electors of their sovereign, they could ill brook the slightest indignity at his hand. ^^ With these haughty feelings and martial habits, and this enor- mous assumption of power, it may readily be con- ceived that they would not suffer the anarchical provisions of the constitution, which seemed to con- cede an almost unlimited license of rebellion, to 64 The ample revenues of the The only son of Alfonso VI. was Spanish grandee of the present slain, fighting manfully in the time, instead of being lavished on ranks, at the battle of Ucles, in a band of military retainers, as of 1109, when only eleven years of yore, are sometimes dispensed in age. Mariana, Hist, de Espaiia, the more peaceful hospitality of torn. i. p. 565. supporting an almost equally for- 66 The northern provinces, the midable host of needy relations and theatre of this primitive indepen- dependents. According to Bour- dence, have always been conse- goanne (Travels in Spain, vol. i. crated by this very circumstance, chap. 4), no less than 3000 of these in the eyes of a Spaniard. "The gentry were maintained on the proudest lord," says Navagiero, estates of the duke of Arcos, who "feels it an honor to trace his died in 1780. pedigree to this quarter." (Viag- 65 Mendoza records the circum- gio, fol. 44.) The same feeling stance of the head of the family of has continued, and the meanest Ponce de Leon, (a descendant of native of Biscay, or the Asturias, the celebrated marquis of Cadiz,) at the present day, claims to be carrying his son, then thirteen noble ; a pretension, which often years old, with him into battle ; contrasts ridiculously enough with " an ancient usage," he says, "in the humble character of his occu- that noble house." (Guerra de pation, and has furnished many a Granada, (Valencia, 1776,) p. 318.) pleasant anecdote to travellers.