Spain

Spain (Span. España) occupies the larger part of the south-western peninsula of Europe, and attains in Cape Tarifa the most southerly point of the whole continent. It lies between 43° 45' and 36° 1' N. lat., and between 3° 20' E. and 9° 32' W. long. It is bounded on the N. by the Bay of Biscay and by the Pyrenees, on the E. and S. by the Mediterranean, on the SW., W., and NW. by the Atlantic and by Portugal. From Fuenterrabia in the north to Tarifa in the south is 560, from Cape Finisterre in the north-west to Cape Creux in the north-east is 650 miles. The area is 191,367 sq. m.; the population in 1890 was estimated at 17,500,000. The country, including the Balearic and Canary Isles, was divided in 1834 into forty-nine provinces; but the names of the fourteen more ancient kingdoms and provinces are still in use (see table). The census of 1887 showed a total of 17,550,246. That of 1897 proved that in spite of national losses and troubles the pop. had increased to 18,089,500.

Copyright 1892 in U.S.
by J. B. Lippincott
Company.

The population of Spain includes 18,480 French, 6755 Portuguese, 5719 English, 3877 Italians, 1826 Germans, and 5738 of other nationalities.

Of the once great colonies of Spain, all that remained in 1898 were the Philippine Islands, Cuba, Porto Rico, the Caroline and Pelew Islands, the Ladrones, with Fernando Po, Annobon, &c. Of these the Philippines, Cuba, and Porto Rico were lost as the result of the war of 1898 with the United States—the population of the Spanish colonies being thus reduced from near 10,000,000 to about 250,000. There are separate articles on the islands named.

Coast-line.—The coast-line is estimated at 1317 miles, of which 712 belong to the Mediterranean and 605 to the Atlantic. Spain has thus but 1 mile of coast-line to 145 sq. miles of area, while Italy has 1 to 40 and Greece 1 to 7. The shore of the Bay of Biscay presents an almost unbroken wall of mountain and rock, but in the north-west and west appears the most southerly prolongation of the fiord or firth system of Norway, western Scotland and Ireland, forming as usual fine harbours—Ferrol, Corunna, Vigo, &c. Portugal indents a frontier of nearly 400 miles; to the south, from Portugal to Gibraltar, the Atlantic coast is low. Cádiz is here the chief harbour. The southern Mediterranean shore is rocky, backed up by the huge mass of the Sierra Nevada and its prolongations to Cape Gata. Málaga and Almería are the chief harbours here; in the south-east and east are the naval arsenal of Cartagena and the commercial ports of Valencia and Barcelona and others. Though almost a peninsula, this uniform character of the coast-line and the great elevation of its central plateau give Spain a more continental character in its extreme range of temperature than any of the other peninsulas of Europe. The greater part of its surface consists of a plateau of between 2000 and 3000 feet above the sea-level, traversed by loftier ranges. On the east the plateau is buttressed by chains which descend rapidly to the Mediterranean. The mountains of Oca, the Sierra de Moncayo, and the Idubeda Mountains rise sharply from the valley of the Ebro on the north; the Sierra Morena on the south is of inferior elevation; the western ranges run into the frontier of Portugal, and lose themselves in the Atlantic. Outside the plateau lie the highest summits of the whole country, the Pic de Néthou in the Pyrenees (11,151 feet), and the Pic de Velate in the Sierra Nevada (11,670), while the Picos de Europa in the Cantabrian Range attain over 8000 feet. The plateau itself is traversed by four mountain-ranges, the Oca and Idubeda Mountains above mentioned, which separate the valley of the Ebro from that of the Douro; the Guadarrama Range, which divides this river from the basin of the Tagus; the Sierra de Toledo, which forms the watershed between the Tagus and the Guadiana; while the southern buttress, the Sierra Morena, forms the northern wall of the valley of the Guadalquivir. The whole plateau has a general slight inclination from east or north-east to south-west, and hence all the considerable rivers of Spain except the Ebro flow westward to the Atlantic. The general elevation of the plateau conceals the real height of its mountains and passes; thus, the highest point of the railway from the north to Madrid is about 60 feet higher than the tunnel of Mont Cenis, and that of the old coach-road through the Guadarrama is 300 feet higher still.

Geology.—A mass of granitic, Cambrian, and Silurian rocks extends from Galicia south-east to the valley of the Guadalquivir. The Carboniferous formation occupies the north and south-west corners of the great plateau. The valley of the Ebro is a trough of Secondary rocks extending from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean; another band of Secondary rocks forms the region of Andalusia south of the Guadalquivir; the Upper Cretaceous formation stretches from the basin of the Ebro to the granite of the Guadarrama and to the east of Madrid; these older formations are overlaid by Tertiary, Eocene and Miocene, marine and fresh-water deposits. The visible surface of Spain consists of 37 per cent. of crystalline and Palæozoic rocks, 34 per cent. of Tertiary, 19 of Secondary rocks, and 10 per cent. of Quaternary deposits. The remains of undoubted volcanoes are found at Olot in Catalonia, at Cabo de Gata in the south-east, and at Ciudad Real in La Mancha. To the frequency of older igneous action, and to the fractured condition of the later rocks, is perhaps due the great mineral wealth of Spain.

Climate and Products.—The configuration of the country renders the climate very varied. In parts of the north-west the rainfall is among the heaviest in Europe. In the east and south-east occasionally no rain falls in the whole year. Even in the north the contrasts are striking. The rainfall in the Western Pyrenees is very great, yet on the northern slope of the valley of the Ebro there are districts almost rainless. The western side of the great plateau, speaking generally, is more humid and much colder than the eastern, where irrigation is necessary for successful cultivation. With this difference in climate goes a corresponding difference in products. Galicia is almost a cattle country;

Estremadura possesses vast flocks of sheep and herds of swine. The vegetable productions of Galicia and the Asturias are almost those of Devonshire and of south-west Ireland. Till the 18th century cider was the great beverage in the north; but in the basin of the Minho, in the Ríojas on the Ebro, in Navarre, Aragon, and Catalonia strong red wines are grown in abundance. The productions of Catalonia and Tarragona are almost those of Provence and the Riviera. The plains of Leon and of Old and New Castile are excellent corn-growing regions. From Valencia southwards the products are semi-tropical; the climate is almost more tropical than that of the opposite coast of Africa. Fruits of all kinds, luscious or fiery wines, oil, rice, esparto grass, and sugar are common along the coast. No other part of the soil of Europe is so rich in varied produce. It is curious to note how much of this is originally exotic, but has become naturalised. Like all other countries of western Europe, the agriculture of Spain has been depressed of late years by competition with America; but her export of wine to France has been greatly increased owing first to the destruction of the French vineyards by the phylloxera, and afterwards to the war of tariffs between France and Italy; the export of wine to France is over £10,000,000, while that to England is only £866,000. The quantity of agricultural produce in Spain in cereals, wine, oil, and fruit seems to be limited only by the paying demand, and is checked only by the cheaper competition of other countries. Large tracts of Spain once cultivated in Roman or in Moorish times now lie abandoned and unproductive; 46 per cent. of the territory is uncultivated.

Population.—For a moment in the 16th century Spain was the most important country in Europe; but the population was unequal to the drain upon it caused by constant warfare, emigration, expulsion of portions of the inhabitants of the peninsula, and above all by adverse economical and industrial conditions. Thus a population of over 10 millions at the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th centuries fell to little more than 6 millions in the 17th; the numbers then slowly rose: (1768) 9,307,804; (1797) 10,541,221; (1857) 15,464,340; (1860) 15,673,536; (1870) 16,835,506. Spain, if the census can be trusted, has increased in population some 7,000,000 during the 19th century. As in other countries, the town and industrial population has augmented in a greater ratio than the rural and agricultural. In 1887 there were in Spain one city with over 400,000 inhabitants, Madrid; one of 250,000, Barcelona; three of between 150,000 and 100,000, Seville, Valencia, and Malaga. The most densely populated provinces are Madrid, Barcelona, Galicia, and the Basque Provinces. Emigration, which is steadily on the increase, is proving a heavy drain on the country; already there are not enough labourers in the agricultural districts, and every year thousands of families are seeking new homes and higher wages in South America, Algeria, and elsewhere.

Industries.—Some 60 or 70 per cent. of the population are engaged in agriculture of various kinds, and 10 or 11 per cent. in mining or manufacturing industries and trade. Since the sale of church, crown, and much of the municipal property during the 19th century the land has become much divided; it is estimated that there are about 3½ millions of farms, of which $\backslash frac\{3\}\{4\}$ million are occupied by tenants, the rest by proprietors. The seat of the manufacturing industries—mainly cotton—is chiefly Catalonia; and the manufacture of corks (1,400,000 yearly) employs over 8000 men in that province. The mineral wealth is more widely distributed—iron in Biscay and the province of Huelva; copper at Huelva, in the Rio Tinto and Tharsis mines; lead at Linares; quicksilver at Almaden; coal chiefly in the Asturias; salt in Catalonia, and by evaporation near Cadiz. The amount produced in 1888 was as follows:

Until lately the only religion tolerated was that of the state, the Roman Catholic; now a certain toleration is allowed to other denominations. The Catholic clergy are paid by the state; ecclesiastical matters are regulated by the Concordat of 1851. There are nine archbishops, with fifty-seven suffragan bishops, four unattached bishops, and about 35,000 clergy. Since 1868 the theological education is given in seminaries entirely under the hands of the bishops.

Education varies greatly among different classes and in different provinces. In the large towns and in some of the provinces a great effort is made to keep the higher and the technical schools on a level with the best in other European countries. In other parts the neglect is very great. There are ten universities—Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, Oviedo, Salamanca, Seville, Santiago, Valencia, Valladolid, and Saragossa: the number of students is about 17,000. In the episcopal seminaries and religious schools about 9000 are educated. Of secondary institutions there are about 70, with 356 affiliated colleges. The primary schools number some 25,000, with 1,500,000 pupils, and the private schools 5000, with about 300,000 pupils. Many of the primary schools in the provinces are in a wretched condition, the salary of the teachers being only about £5 per annum, and the buildings and other appliances to match. The great fault of the higher Spanish education is in the numbers who press into professional, literary, and political careers in comparison with those who dedicate themselves to commercial, industrial, or agricultural pursuits. By reason of this Spain loses great part of the advantages of her natural wealth. All her principal mines are worked, her railways built, schemes of irrigation carried out with foreign capital, and in spite of the excellence of her labourers the higher employees are often foreigners. The progress of agriculture is impeded in the same way, and legislation is too often founded on merely theoretical ideas, instead of any practical knowledge of the real needs of the country.

The total imports and exports of Spain have much increased of late years. The imports in 1877 amounted to £16,340,672, and the exports to £18,175,140; in 1887 £22,550,072 and £25,326,612; in 1890 £37,645,517 and £37,510,395 respectively. The recent increase is chiefly due to the export of wine to France and imports from that country. The exports from Spain to Great Britain are about £11,500,000, and the imports £5,000,000; but the statistics are always behind-hand and often very confused. Since October 1848 over 6000 miles of railway have been constructed. Madrid, the capital, is now in railway communication with all the chief harbours and commercial routes in the kingdom, and also with Portugal. Two lines at either extremity of the Pyrenees connect the Spanish with the French and European lines, and a third was in 1892 constructed through the centre of the chain. 10,670 miles of telegraph are open.

The government of Spain is a hereditary monarchy founded on the constitution of 1876. The Cortes consists of two bodies—the Senate, one-third of the members of which sit by hereditary right, one-third are appointed by the sovereign for life, and one-third elective. The Chamber of Deputies is elected at the rate of one member to every 50,000 inhabitants. Universal suffrage (1890) and trial by jury have lately been introduced. The provinces are administered by governors and provincial deputations, and the towns by alcaldes and municipal councils, all formed more or less after the model of the French prefects, councils-general, maire, &c. All these and other employees are under the control of the government, who are thus able to manipulate elections, except in the large towns. The public debt of Spain, funded and floating, is about £259,900,000, bearing an interest at 4 per cent. of over £10,750,000. The revenue and expenditure, nominally nearly balanced, have risen from £31,000,000 in 1881 to £35,000,000 in 1891, and the wealth of the country is gradually increasing.

The navy of Spain consists of one large ironclad, 10 of from 7 to 9000 tons, 20 of the second class, and of over 80 vessels of smaller size. The army on a peace footing is 95,000, not including the Guardia civil, or gendarmes, the Carabineros, and other active or reserve forces. A large proportion of the naval ships were captured or destroyed in the war with the United States, 1898.

The legal official currency is founded like the French on a decimal system, the peseta of 9·6 pence being the unit; but the terms of the older coinage are still in use, especially for copper money and small change. The legal measures are still more closely copied from those of France; but the older measures of capacity and weights are still in use in many of the provinces.

See, besides the standard Spanish topographical and statistical books, Borrow's Bible in Spain, Ford's Hand-book and Gatherings from Spain, A. J. C. Hare's Wanderings in Spain, and later books on the country and its life by Mrs Harvey (1875), Rose (1875-77), Campion (1876), Frances Elliot (1882), Gallenga (1883), Hope-Edwards (1883), Olive Patch (1884), Willkomm (Prague, 1884), Lomas (1885), Parlow (Leip. 1888), H. T. Finck (1891), and the present writer (1881).

HISTORY.—Spain (Spania, Hispania, Iberia of the Greeks and Romans), from its position as the south-west peninsula of Europe, beyond which was the ocean only, early became a very eddy of tribes and races. Its prehistoric ethnology is not determined. The earliest race of which we have authentic testimony is the Iberian. It occupied nearly the whole of Spain and the south of France before the Roman conquest. Overlying these Iberian tribes are probably two invasions of Celtic peoples: the earlier mingled with the Iberians, and formed the Celtiberian tribes of central and western Spain; the later has left the more purely Celtic names in the north and north-west. There was probably never any Iberian nation—only a congeries of tribes of the same race like that of the North American Indians, but in a higher state of civilisation—a civilisation excelling that of contemporaneous Gaul or the more purely Celtic tribes to the north. The Iberians were adepts at mining, and used writing (see BASQUES). Omitting traces left by mere traders, such as the Phoenicians on the south and south-west, the Egyptians on the east, Greeks from Massilia on the north-east, the first power which seriously attempted to occupy Spain was Carthage (q.v.). The Carthaginians had probably succeeded to the commercial enterprises of their mother-country Phœnicia; but it was not until they had retired baffled from Sicily that the occupation of Spain was seriously begun. Hamilcar, first of the great line of Carthaginian generals, opened the conquest in 238 B.C. (see CARTHAGE, HAMILCAR, HANNIBAL). Here again they were met and thwarted by the Romans (see ROME, HANNIBAL, SCIPIO). It then became the task of the Romans to conquer Spain. In subjugating the Iberian and Celtiberian tribes of Spain they found far greater difficulty than with any more purely Celtic race. Spain early showed her tenacity of resistance. The sieges of Saguntum, Numantia, Clunia are memorable in history. Even when conquest seemed assured Viriathus (147-140 B.C.), probably a native, and Sertorius, a Sabine leader (83-72 B.C.), tried the capacity of the best generals of Rome. It was in Spain too that the final issue between Cæsar and the Pompeians was fought out at Munda. Spain was not completely brought under Roman rule till the time of Augustus. Once subdued, it became thoroughly Roman. The impress of Rome has been deeper on the language, manners, and religion of Spain than on those of any other country. Under the Romans Spain was divided first into two provinces—Nearer and Farther Spain: in the time of Augustus these became three—Bætica, embracing nearly the modern Andalusia; Lusitania, Portugal with some of the western Spanish provinces; and Tarraconensis, comprising the remainder of the country. Local rule and customs and speech were, however, not wholly obliterated in the varied Municipia and Respublicæ. Celtiberian coinage continued contemporaneously with that of Rome, and for probably 200 years after Augustus. All the great arts and works of Roman civilisation flourished. Latin was the language of the educated classes, and Spain furnished a large contingent of authors to the silver age—Martial, Seneca, Quintilian, Lucan, Silius Italicus, Columella, Pomponius Mela. Trajan was a Spaniard. Some of Spain's greatest cities still bear Latin names—Legio (Leon), Emerita Augusta (Merida), Cæsar Augusta (Zaragoza or Saragossa), Pompeiopolis (Pamplona). During Roman rule Christianity was introduced into Spain, and rapidly spread. In 325 A.D., at the Council of Nicea, Hosius of Cordova was the greatest name in the west, overshadowing that of the bishop of Rome. Prudentius (338-405), almost the first Latin Christian poet, was a native of northern Spain. Two centuries later (560-636) Isidore, bishop of Seville, was the most learned writer of the west.

With all western Europe Spain felt the effects of the downfall of the Roman empire. The native Spanish legionaries were serving in all parts of the empire; barely two foreign legions garrisoned the whole of Spain. Thus, when the Suevi, Alans, Vandals (c. 409), Visigoths (414; see GOTHS) invaded Spain, the country, which had cost the Romans two centuries to subdue, had little means of resistance. The Suevi established themselves in Galicia and Lusitania, the Vandals penetrated farther south, and gave their name to (V)andalusia; thence in 429 they crossed to Africa. The Visigoths brought with them more than a tinge of Roman civilisation. Though both Visigoths and Vandals were nominally Christians, their Arian heresy placed them in opposition to the native bishops, the most ardent defenders of the Nicene faith. For some time Spain was only a province of a larger Visigothic kingdom. Theudis (573) was the first Visigothic king who fixed his court in Spain. It was not till the reign of Leovigild (584) that the Suevi were definitely dispossessed, and not till the reign of Suintilla (624) that the Byzantine Romans were finally expelled from the east coast; and even to the end they retained the Straits of Gibraltar and a few towns in southern Portugal; and some native tribes in the Orospeña Mountains preserved their independence. The abjuration of Arianism by the sons of Leovigild strengthened the church at the expense of the monarchy. The bishops were supreme in the councils of Toledo, which were also the chief councils of the state. The Jews, unmolested by the Arians, were now persecuted and rendered hostile. They intrigued with the Mohammedan Arabs, who had conquered North Africa and crushed out Christianity. Their assistance and that of the count of the Roman possessions in the straits enabled Tarik to land at Tarifa; and the Gothic monarchy was destroyed at the battle of the Guadalete (711), where fell also Roderic, last of the Gothic kings. The chief mark left by the Goths in Spain was in legislation; first in the Lex Romana Visigothorum, then in the Fuero Juzgo or Forum Judicum. The tradition of a conquering caste and the events of the reconquest made the Spanish aristocracy look on the Visigoths as the English gentry do on the Normans; otherwise their influence has been exaggerated. The few remains of art are copies of Byzantine models. Of literature not a trace remains.

The Moors in Spain.—Seldom has there been so rapid a conquest as that of Spain by the Arabs and Moors. In 714 they had gained the whole of Spain except the north and north-west. In 719 they had added the Narbonnais to their dominions; in 732 they reached their extreme northern limit when defeated by Charles Martel at the battle of Tours. The Arabs and Moors were divided by racial, tribal, sectarian, and dynastic differences. The old quarrels which had existed in Arabia before the time of Mohammed broke out again in Spain as soon as the first enthusiasm of conquest had subsided. Arabs and Berbers of North Africa were ever at strife; the feuds between the sects of Islam raged bitterly in Spain, and the claims of rival dynasties—e.g. the Abbasides and Ommiades—weakened the common cause. Whenever the Moors were united the progress of the reconquest was checked; the Christians gained ground when division and disunion spread among the invaders. The final expulsion was delayed for centuries through the civil strife of the Christian kingdoms. The rule of the early emirs was by no means harsh; a Gothic chief Theodoric preserved an independent Christian kingdom, Todmir, in Valencia and the neighbouring provinces. The Jews were treated almost as equals, the Christian religion was tolerated to the Mozarabes (see MORISCOS). There were differences in the several provinces, but at Cordova only, which became the capital of the western caliphate (see CALIF, MOORS), was any persistent persecution carried on. Under Abderrahman I., the heir of the Ommiades, and his successors the Arab rule in Spain attained its highest glories. He (756) and his son Hakam I. (796) made Cordova the finest city in the west; its mosque (786–796) is still one of the grandest remains of Arabic architecture. No Christian people in the west was then capable of such work. The greatest chief of this period was Almansor, who forced back the tide of Christian conquest and penetrated to Compostella in Galicia (997); but all his conquests were lost at Catalañazor (1002). Many Moorish names survive in Spanish topography (see NAMES). The origin of the various Spanish kingdoms of the reconquest is obscure. Pelayo, said to be of Gothic or mixed Roman blood, began the reconquest at Covadonga in 718. A little later a distinct organised resistance commenced in Navarre and in Aragon. The counts of Barcelona established themselves in the Spanish March which dated from Charlemagne (q.v.) and Louis. The most important of these kingdoms was that of Asturias. Galicia on the west was soon annexed to it, then Leon to the south. Alfonso I. (739–756) had already overrun the country as far as the Mondego and the Sierra de Guadarrama. Alfonso II. (791–842), the ally of Charlemagne, pushed his raids as far as Lisbon, and founded in the north the cities of Compostella and Oviedo. Alfonso III. (866–909) removed the capital to Leon, and reached in one expedition the Sierra Morena. The unwise division of his dominions among his sons retarded the advance for a time. After the battle of Catalañazor the Christian frontier stretched from the Tagus to Tudela on the Ebro; and Castile (the land of frontier castles), which had been governed from 932 by semi-independent counts, rose into a new kingdom. From this period date the constitutional liberties of Spain. The councils summoned by the king continued those of Toledo, and were as much political as ecclesiastical: assemblies of the nobles and magnates to settle the succession or election of kings were held in 931 and 933; but the first more general Cortes was that of Leon, 1020. In it was established the right of behetria—i.e. of changing lords, which in Spain prevented many of the worst feudal abuses, but encouraged civil war. Many of the fueros were now granted in order to attract defenders to towns reconquered and denuded of inhabitants (see FUERO).

After the death of Bermudo III. (1037) the crowns of Leon and Castile were united under Ferdinand the Great; his son, Alfonso VI., by his capture of Toledo (1085) made the Christian power predominate. In spite of a defeat at Zalacca (1086) and at Ucles (1108), Toledo was never reconquered by the infidels, and the Guadiana instead of the Tagus was now the Christian boundary. To the reign of Alfonso VI. belongs the story of the Cid (q.v.), of his strange career as ally alternately of Moor and Christian, of his occupation of Valencia from 1096 to 1102. Henry of Burgundy founded the country or kingdom of Portugal in 1095 (see PORTUGAL). Alfonso VII. lost the battle of Alarcos (1194), but the great victory of Navas de Tolosa (1212), under the allied kings of Castile, Navarre, and Aragon, broke entirely the power of the Almohades, and made New Castile secure. The separation of Leon from Castile (1157–1230) weakened for a time the Christian forces. Under St Ferdinand, the grandson of Alfonso IX., the crowns of Leon and Castile were finally united. He wrested Cordova from the Moors (1236), Jaen (1246), Seville (1247), Jerez and Cadiz (1250), Granada became a tributary kingdom, and the line of the Guadaluquivir was held by the military orders of Calatrava, Santiago, and Alcantara. Ferdinand died in 1252. Navarre (q.v.) by the succession of the line of Champagne had become almost a French kingdom. To the east Saragossa had been taken in 1118. Valencia had been lost for a time, but first Majorca and the Balearic Isles (1228), then Valencia (1237) fell before the arms of Jaime I. of Aragon, and Murcia was won for Castile (1244).

In constitutional progress Navarre and Aragon kept pace with Castile. Each had its separate Cortes, with three estates in Navarre and four in Aragon, and its own code of laws. Castile used the Fuero Juzgo and the Fuero Real, limited by local fueros; in Navarre and Aragon the fuero was supreme. Catalonia had her usatges. The Siete Partidas of Alfonso X. did not become law till 1384. In ecclesiastical matters Spain had become more closely papal; the Roman rite had superseded the Isidorian or Mozarabic after the taking of Toledo; the finest of the cathedrals of Spain—Leon, Burgos, Toledo, &c.—date from this period. Christian Spain had increased immensely in wealth, yet it took nearly two and a half centuries to destroy the remains of Moorish power. The period between the death of St Ferdinand and the accession of Isabella of Castile (1468) was one of trouble and almost constant civil war. The influence of the Moors on Christians was in some ways more marked than before. Alfonso the Wise (1252-84) in his court at Toledo adopted the best of Moorish science and literature, and the philosophy and art which they had acquired from the Greeks and Byzantines, and henceforth Spanish was not inferior to Moorish civilisation. A century later the Moorish influence was almost wholly ill in the Sevillan court of Pedro the Cruel, the ally of the Black Prince, whose whole career and death by his brother's hand was more like that of an oriental sultan than of a western monarch. The troubles of Castile arose from disputed successions, from long minorities, from the claim of the nobles, even those of the royal family, to transfer their allegiance to any sovereign they might choose (behetria). The Infantes de la Cerda and Henry of Trastamare acted alternately as subjects of Castile, Aragon, or France, or entered into alliance with the Moors, as might serve their private interests. The only trustworthy allies of the crown were the burghers and the clergy, but the rivalry of the cities made their allegiance doubtful. At the death of Henry IV. (1474) the crown of Castile was left with two female claimants, his daughter Juana (the Beltrana) and his sister Isabella. The election of the former meant union with Portugal; by the marriage of Isabella with Ferdinand of Aragon her election united Castile and Aragon. Under a series of strong monarchs, whose authority was limited by a powerful aristocracy, Aragon had become a strong Mediterranean power—to the Balearic Isles had been nominally added Corsica and Sardinia, more really Sicily and Naples, with claims on Northern Italy; these claims and possessions after the union led to the waste of Spanish blood and treasure for centuries, without any corresponding advantages. The conquests from the Moors in this period were few but important—Tarifa (1292), to recover which the African Moors made their final effort of conquest; their defeat on the Salado (1340) entailed the loss of Algeciras in 1344; and Gibraltar, which they had recovered after 1309, became Spanish in 1462. Henceforth the Moors existed in the Peninsula on sufferance only, while the Christians were gathering their forces for the final blow.

Small as were the resources left to the Moors, they were weakened still further by dissensions in the ruling families. Boabdil, the last king of Granada, would have made terms with Castile; his uncle, Muley Hacem of Malaga, and his nephew, El Zagal, opposed a strenuous resistance. Alhama was taken 1482, Ronda 1485, Malaga 1487, Baza 1488, and the Spanish sovereigns with an army of 100,000 men sat down to the siege of Granada in 1491. January 2, 1492, the city surrendered; October 12, 1492, Columbus discovered America; in 1512, after the death of Isabella, Ferdinand wrested Spanish Navarre from its Gascon kings.

Henceforth the history of Spain is no longer exclusively Spanish, but also European. The whole of the Peninsula except Portugal was united under one rule, but true political unity was very far from having been attained. Aragon and Navarre still preserved their separate Cortes, privileges, and regnal titles; the Basque Provinces continued almost a republic under a Spanish suzerain. In Castile, however, the royal power had been greatly strengthened; the fatal mistake of the procuradores in accepting royal pay under Pedro the Cruel ensured the ultimate subservien- cy of Cortes. The masterships of the great military orders had become the gift of the crown in 1476, and in 1513 Pope Hadrian VI. annexed them permanently to it; the Hernandades (q.v.), or ancient associations, first of the bishops, afterwards of civil bodies, for defence of their rights and for the suppression of disorder, became a powerful governmental police; the Inquisition, first employed on a large scale against the Albigenses by the Dominicans in 1248, had been remodelled (1478) to the profit of the crown. But the increased power of the monarchy lay chiefly in the condition of the conquered provinces. Their incorporation was an immense gain to the country, but it gave the king a basis for despotism, and a standing force where-with he could crush any revolt in the north. The still advancing wave of Mohammedan power was not finally rolled back until the battle of Lepanto (1571) and the raising of the siege of Vienna (1683). The Moors of Barbary were still able to harass Spain and seriously to check her trade; but the most fatal legacy of the Moors was the fact that Spain had won her glory as champion of Christianity against Islam in the peninsula, and continuing this rôle she wasted all her resources, and failed, as champion of Roman Catholicism against Protestantism in Europe.

On the death of Isabella her eldest daughter Joana, who had been married to Philip, son of the Archduke Maximilian, sovereign of the Netherlands, succeeded, jointly with her husband, to Castile. Ferdinand retired to Aragon. Philip died in 1506, and Ferdinand resumed the government of Castile as regent for his daughter, who was incapacitated by insanity. Ten years afterwards he died, leaving all his kingdoms to Juana, with her son Charles as regent. Till the arrival of Charles Spain was really governed by Archbishop Ximenez (q.v.), whose work in the interest of the crown was almost as important in Spain as that of Richelieu later in France; his intolerance to the conquered Moors brought on revolts, and all the subsequent troubles with the Moriscos were the result of the policy which he initiated. For the history of Charles I. as Charles V. Emperor of Germany, and of his action towards the Protestants and his campaigns in Italy and Germany, see CHARLES V. His reign was marked by the triumph of absolutism in Castile. His appointment of Flemings to high offices in Spain, and his exorbitant demands for supplies, led to the rising of the cities of Castile and to the war of the comuneros. These were vanquished at Villalar in 1521, and Toledo surrendered soon afterwards. A more popular movement in Valencia was crushed by the nobles of that province. Charles by timely appointments had separated the cause of the nobility from that of the cities; and on the refusal in 1538 of the nobles and clergy to share the burden of taxation these bodies ceased to be summoned to Cortes. The conquest of Tunis in 1535 was a brilliant feat of arms; the attempt on Algiers (1541) utterly failed. The troubles in Germany prevented Charles from following up these campaigns, which might have had results of great benefit to Spain. Worn out by disease, frustrated in all his plans, having failed in the election of his son Philip as emperor, Charles resigned first his hereditary dominions in 1555, and in 1556 abdicated the empire in favour of his brother Ferdinand, and his other crowns in favour of Philip, and retired to the monastery of Yuste, where he died in 1558.

When Philip II. (q.v.) ascended the throne of Spain her dominions were at their greatest. Spain, to which Portugal was added in 1580, Sicily, a great part of Italy, the Low Countries (Holland and Belgium), the whole of North America except the English and French possessions, the whole of South America after 1580, the Philippine and other islands in the East, and possessions in Africa formed the first empire on which it could be said that the sun never set. Philip had inherited the difficulties and complications of his father's policy without his father's ability. Dull, tenacious, yet irresolute, the type of a conscientious bigot, he lived ruthlessly up to his own ideal. He acted as the champion of orthodoxy in Europe; wherever the faith was in danger there would he protect it. He sacrificed everything to this. And he ruled alone, with no assistant body of councillors, with secretaries only. Well served he was by generals, ambassadors, admirals, by great men in all departments; he had the finest fleets and armies of his age; he never swerved from his purpose; he did not, like his father, retire when baffled, but died working in his life's cause to the end. His return to Spain in 1559 was marked by his presence at the autos de fé at Valladolid and Seville. He failed in his attempts on Tunis and Algiers, but raised the siege of Malta in 1565; he put down the rebellion of the Moriscos in 1568-71, and Don John of Austria gained for him in 1571 the great sea-fight of Lepanto, which stayed the advance of the Turks in the Mediterranean. The action of Philip in introducing the Inquisition (q.v.), popular among the lower classes in Spain, but abhorred elsewhere, the license of the Spanish soldiery, and the stern rule of Alba produced a revolt in Flanders in 1559, which led to the formation of the United Provinces in 1609 (see HOLLAND). The abilities of the regents and generals, especially of the Duke of Parma, who took Antwerp in 1585, gave for a time hope of reconquest; but the loss of the Armada (1588), and the diversion of Parma's forces against France (1590-92), made the contest hopeless. Henceforth Philip's power evidently declined. A quarrel with his secretary, Antonio Perez, led to an outbreak in Aragon and the restriction of its liberties in 1592. His communications and commerce with the colonies and with Flanders were continually threatened by Dutch and English corsairs. Philip had introduced the practice of raising money in Spain without consent of the Cortes, which was no longer regularly summoned. From ignorance of the true principles of political economy the very wealth of Spain hastened her decline. The false colonial policy of the time, with its restrictions and monopolies, gave all the profit of the commerce to contraband trade; the supply of only the precious metals made gold and silver cheaper in Spain than elsewhere and all other commodities dearer. Her rising industries died away. The bullion left her to purchase from foreigners things which she no longer produced and for which she had nothing else to give. Districts cultivated by the Moors became desert, population declined, and both the forces and resources of Spain by sea and land diminished yearly. Philip II. died September 13, 1598, in the palace of the Escorial.

Philip II. had reigned alone; with his son Philip III. began the reign of favourites, which continued with slight intermissions through both Austrian and Bourbon dynasties to the Revolution. The Duke of Lerma was the real sovereign. The ability of Spinola, who recovered Ostend in 1604, and of the captains trained in the school of Flanders upheld the prestige of the Spanish arms for a while; but her power was declining. The expulsion of the Moriscos, an agricultural population, in 1609 weakened her still more. In 1618 Lerma fell from power, but no improvement took place. Philip IV. (1621-65) possessed some taste for literature and art, but was as incapable of governing as his father. In the Thirty Years' War Spain fought on the side of the emperor, and her soldiers greatly contributed to his success, but she had no share in the profit. The government was in the hands of the Conde-Duke of Olivares, whose ambitious projects and wasteful expenditure introduced corruption everywhere. All offices became venal. The rights of the more independent kingdoms of Spain were violated, bringing about the revolt of Catalonia; the navy was almost destroyed by the Dutch at Dunkirk in 1639; Rousillon was lost in 1642; with the battle of Rocroy (1643) departed the renown of the Spanish infantry, and the military supremacy henceforward belonged to France; Naples and Catalonia rose in revolt in 1648. In 1655 Jamaica was taken by the English. The marriage of the Infanta Maria Teresa to Louis XIV. and the peace of the Pyrenees (1659) assured to that monarch the supremacy in Spain which had formerly been exercised by Philip II. in France. After an inglorious struggle Portugal and all her colonies were lost in 1640. The reign of the childless Charles II. (1665-1700) closed the Austrian dynasty, a period of degradation surpassed only by that of the Bourbon Charles IV. a century later. Spain was considered as a prey to whichever of the great powers of Europe could lay hands on her. A brief war against France in alliance with Holland lost Franche Comté. Spain shared in the great wars of Louis XIV., but whoever else won she was always a sufferer; and the lack of a navy left her commerce and her richest colonies at the mercy of the buccaneers. A first treaty of partition of her dominions was made in 1698, followed by a second in 1700, after the death of the rightful heir, Leopold of Bavaria, in 1699. Contrary to his father's provisions, Charles left the throne to the grandson of Louis XIV. This did not avert the War of Succession (q.v.) and the losses which it occasioned. At the beginning of the 17th century the Spanish armies were the first in the world, her navy was the largest; at its close the latter was annihilated, her army was unable without assistance from Louis XIV. to establish the sovereign of her choice; population had declined from 8 to less than 6 millions, the revenue from 280 to 30 millions; not a single soldier of talent, not a statesman, remained to recall the glories of the age of Charles V. and Philip II.; the whole country grovelled in discontent at the foot of unworthy favourites raised to power by court intrigues, and dependent on a foreign prince.

The first of the Bourbon kings of Spain, Philip V. (q.v.), was proclaimed in Madrid, May 1700. He was accepted by the Cortes of Castile, but not by Aragon or Catalonia. His rival, the Archduke Charles, was supported by all the enemies of Louis XIV. The theatre of the War of Succession included Flanders, Germany, and Italy, as well as France and Spain and their colonies. In Flanders and Germany the English under Marlborough were victorious, but in Spain they fought with less success. Gibraltar was taken by Sir George Rooke in 1704, Valencia and Barcelona were occupied by Peterborough in 1705, and Philip was twice driven from Madrid. But with the aid of Berwick he won the battle of Almansa (1707), and Vendôme defeated Stanhope at Brihuega and Villavieja in 1710. The exhaustion of France, and the elevation of the archduke to the empire, led to the treaty of Utrecht in 1712. Catalonia submitted in 1714, and Spain was forced to adhere to the treaty, losing all her Italian possessions, Sardinia, Minorca, Gibraltar, and Flanders.

Philip V.'s first care was to alter the law of Spanish regal succession in accordance with the Salic law of France, a change productive of serious consequences later. Though during the war Philip had shown much spirit, a constitutional melancholy led him to resign his crown in 1724 to his son Louis, on whose death, after a reign of a few months, Philip resumed power. The entire government was in the hands of his second queen, Isabel Farnese, and her minister Alberoni. Their whole policy was directed to the establishment of her sons in Italy as duke of Parma and king of Naples and Sicily. In this she succeeded, but the gain was simply for the House of Bourbon; it brought no advantage to Spain. To Philip V. succeeded his son Ferdinand VI. (1746-59). His choice of ministers was good, and his avoiding war gave the country an opportunity of internal development. This led to the greater reforms of his half-brother Charles III. (1759-88). He had already been successively duke of Parma and king of Naples and Sicily, and his was the most flourishing of all the Bourbon reigns. He brought with him his Italian ministers, Grimaldi and Esquilache, who made the policy of the early part of his reign too subservient to that of France. Afterwards he gathered round him the most intelligent Spaniards of his day. Superstitiously religious though he was in private life, his reign was yet notable for the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1757, for reasons which have never been clearly explained. The years 1764-66 were marked by reforms in the administration of the colonies, where great abuses existed. Only 840,000 dollars out of a revenue of 4 millions really entered the treasury. These revenues rose shortly from 6 million to 20 million dollars for Mexico alone. His home policy was equally successful: new manufactures were established, roads were improved, more beneficial commercial treaties were made, banks were introduced, and population increased with wealth. Through fear of the movement spreading to her own colonies, Spain wisely remained neutral during the war of independence of the United States. The foreign events of the greatest importance were a fruitless expedition to Algiers in 1775, the recovery of Minorca in 1782, and the fruitless siege and blockade of Gibraltar (1779-82). The great defect of this reign was that nearly all Charles's ministers were afrescados; their reforms were based rather on the theories of the French encyclopedists than on the real needs and the principles of liberty still existing in Spain. There was a wide gulf between the educated classes and the body of the nation. Charles IV. (1788-1808) retained for a short time his father's ministers; but they were soon replaced by Godoy, whose unbounded influence over Charles and his queen, limitless greed, and shameless subservience to the French, especially to Napoleon, brought the nation to the verge of ruin. He not only accumulated almost all offices in his own person, but in secret schemes with Napoleon bargained for himself half of Portugal as an independent kingdom, or a hereditary viceroyalty in America. On the outbreak of the French Revolution, in spite of ties of blood and of old treaties, Charles IV. was the last to protest against the overthrow of royalty and the execution of Louis XVI. A campaign was then begun on the Pyrenean frontier in 1793, with some success at first, changed to defeat as soon as the Republic could spare forces to turn against her southern neighbour. In 1795 the peace of Basel gained for Godoy his title of Prince of Peace; and the treaty of Ildefonso (1796) bound Spain to an offensive and defensive alliance with France against England. The result was disastrous. In 1797 Jervis won the naval battle of St Vincent; Trinidad was taken, and Cadiz bombarded. But Nelson was repulsed at Teneriffe, Puerto Rico was preserved, and the expeditions of Beresford and White-locke in La Plata eventually failed. The commerce and communications of Spain with her colonies was almost wholly destroyed. A scan- dalous quarrel between Charles IV. and his son Ferdinand (1807) augmented the hatred of the nation against Godoy. All three parties appealed to Napoleon for his arbitration and intervention. In view of the utter degradation of the crown many of the best men in Spain believed that a short rule by Napoleon might stem the tide of corruption. The royal family and the favourite attempted flight, but this was prevented by a popular outbreak at Aranjuez. Godoy was hurled from power. Charles IV. abdicated in favour of his son, Ferdinand VII., March 17, 1808. French troops entered Madrid. Charles IV., his queen, and son Ferdinand, with Godoy, were summoned to Bayonne. There the crown was renounced by Ferdinand in favour of his father, who in turn ceded it to Napoleon. But on May 2 an unsuccessful outbreak in Madrid had begun the war of liberation, and Napoleon had to face a nation in arms. June 6, Joseph Bonaparte was proclaimed king of Spain. Nominally he reigned till 1813, but the Juntas, the representatives of the nation, acknowledged only the captive Ferdinand VII. For details of the French occupation of Spain, their forcible expulsion by Spanish, Portuguese, and English, see MOORE, WELLINGTON, PENINSULAR WAR, &c. While these operations were going on, the patriots were making great efforts to reform the government, and to give more real liberty to the people. The task was difficult; the absolutist party was still strong, and the liberals were divided; but the Constitution of Cadiz of 1812 is really the commencement of modern Spain. When Ferdinand returned in March 1814, he found the absolutists still powerful enough to enable him to reject the constitution to which he had sworn, to re-establish the Inquisition, and to remove all restrictions to his rule. An insurrection headed by Riego and Quiroga forced him to accept the Constitution from 1820 to 1823, but through the mistakes of the liberals, with the aid of 100,000 French soldiers under the Duc d'Angoulême, he regained his authority, and remained absolute master till his death. In December 1829 the childless Ferdinand married his fourth wife, Christina of Naples. Up to this time his brother, Don Carlos, had been considered heir. In prospect of issue, Ferdinand promulgated (March 31, 1830) the pragmatic law of Charles IV., 1789, restoring the old law of Spanish succession. In September 1832 he revoked this sanction, but again recalled his revocation. Don Carlos was exiled to Portugal. April 4, 1833, Cortes acknowledged Ferdinand's daughter Isabella as heir to the throne, with her mother as regent. Ferdinand died 29th September 1833. During his reign the whole of Spanish continental America was lost (see AMERICA, Vol. I. p. 224, PERU, &c.), and of all the vast colonies there remained only Cuba, Porto Rico, the Philippine, Caroline, and Mariana islands, Fernando Po, the Canaries, and a few ports and towns in Africa and the Straits. The opinion of Europe, which in 1823 had been conservative, and had enabled Ferdinand to regain absolutism by French help, had in 1833-40 become liberal, and this, with English help far more than the skill of her own armies, enabled Christina to vanquish Don Carlos; but her government was far from strong, revolts and pronunciamientos, both by liberals and conservatives, were continually occurring. Monks were massacred in Madrid and Catalonia in 1834-35; church property was confiscated. The constitution of 1812, enlarged in 1836, was sworn by Isabella on attaining her majority in 1843. The marriage of the queen to her cousin, Francisco de Assisi, and of her sister to the Duc de Montpensier, only weakened her position. Successive ministries rose or fell from power, all inefficient or corrupt. Narvaez in 1844 showed some energy. O'Donnell conducted successfully a campaign in Morocco in 1859-60. On the whole, liberalism advanced; republicanism appeared after 1848. In disgust at corrupt administration the country accepted a pronunciamiento by Prim and Topete at Cadiz in 1868. Isabella fled to France, and there resigned in favour of her son, Alfonso XII. The programme of the military leaders was simply destructive. A provisional government of two years (the chief event of which was to furnish the pretext for the Franco-German war of 1870) ended in the choice of Amadens (q.v.) of Savoy as king. In 1873 he resigned the crown. The republic which followed showed the wide differences between the Federalists and the conservative Republicans. This occasioned the second Carlist war, 1872-76 (see CARLISTS). On the waning of their cause, Isabella's son, Alfonso XII., was proclaimed king, 29th December 1874. February 27, 1876, Don Carlos withdrew to France. Mainly through the talents of his minister, Cánovas del Castillo, Alfonso's reign of eleven years (1874-85) was a time of relative prosperity and improvement, and enabled his queen Christina quietly to succeed as regent for his posthumous son, Alfonso XIII., born 17th May 1886. Since then the liberals have returned to power, and changes of ministry are no longer marked by bloodshed or exile. The queen-regent is personally respected; but both Carlists and Republicans still agitate. The constitution embraces all modern liberties. Since the last Carlist war Spain for the first time is under one legal rule; but whether liberal or conservative, the ministries are chosen largely by corruption and intrigue. In Cuba (q.v.) there had been trouble since 1895, intensified by the threatened interference of the United States and by the mysterious blowing-up of the U.S. warship Maine in Havana harbour on 15th Feb. 1898. In April the United States submitted an ultimatum to Spain, and the two countries drifted into war. Havana was immediately blockaded; but the first serious blow was struck at Manila, where the Spanish fleet was destroyed by the American squadron under Admiral Dewey. In June, Cuba was invaded by the American troops, with the result that Santiago and the whole of the eastern part of the island surrendered, and the squadron of ships under Admiral Cervera was destroyed. Overtures for peace were then made on behalf of Spain, and after negotiations by a joint commission, which met in September at Paris, Spain surrendered Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines, receiving £4,000,000 for the latter. The sale to Germany of the Caroline, Pelew, and Ladron Islands was discussed. In January 1899 Spain abolished her Colonial Office as being 'no longer necessary.'

From the Historia General de España (30 vols. 1850-66; new ed. 1877 et seq.) to Major Hume's Spain, its Greatness and Decay, works on the history of Spain are very numerous. In addition to those named under more special headings (FERDINAND AND ISABELLA, CHARLES V., PHILIP II., and the several kingdoms and provinces), we may mention M. M. Siret, Les Premiers Âges du Metal dans le Sud-Est de l'Espagne (Antwerp, 1887); Hübner's La Arqueología de España (Barcelona, 1888). In mediæval Spain Schirrmacher's Geschichte Castiliens, 12 und 13 Jahrh. (Gotha, 1881), and Geschichte Spaniens im 14 Jahrh. (Gotha, 1890), with a volume to follow, will lead up to Prescott's works. The reign of Philip II. has attracted numerous recent writers. Ferrer del Río's Historia del Reinado de Carlos III. en España (4 vols.) is good. The España Sagrada (51 vols.) is a useful collection, chiefly for ecclesiastical events. The Academy of History in its Boletín and Memorias has valuable materials. See also Colmeiro's Introduction to the Cortes of Leon and Castile (1883), Cardenas' work on Property (1873), and the crónicas and contemporary writers; also Meyrick, The Church in Spain (1892); H. E. Watts, Spain ('Nations' series, 1893); Ulick R. Burke, A History of Spain (1895); and the articles ARAGON, NAVARRE, &c.

SPANISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.—Three Romance Languages (q.v.) are still spoken in Spain: the Castilian, generally known as Spanish; the Catalan, a dialect of Provençal; and the Galician, closely allied to Portuguese. Castilian, which has been deservedly called 'the noblest daughter of Latin,' is spoken, with slight local variations, by more than two-thirds of the population. The reason for its having to a great degree supplanted Catalan and Galician is to be found quite as much in political causes as in its own richness of vocabulary and stately measured cadence. Its chief characteristics are the purity of its vowel-sounds and the strong guttural, the origin of which is doubtful, though its introduction is undoubtedly modern. The Castilian vocabulary contains a large number of Arabic words, chiefly connected with agriculture or science; Greek words, mostly of learned and modern introduction; the traces of Basque and Gothic are slight. The influence of French is very noticeable, particularly during the 18th and 19th centuries. Castilian is the form of Spanish spoken in Mexico, Central America, South America (excepting Brazil), Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the other Spanish colonies.

See on the subject generally, Grober, Grundriss der Romanischen Philologie; Diez, Grammaire des Langues Romaines (Fr. trans.); the admirable article by Alfred Morel Fatio in the Encyclopædia Britannica; the Dictionary of the Spanish Academy (1st ed. 1726); the Spanish-English dictionaries by Neumann and Baretti, Velasquez, Garnier. Grammars—Wiggers, Grammatik der Spanischen Sprache (Leip. 1884); Knapp, Spanish Grammar (Boston, 1887); Simplified Grammar, by the present writer (1892). For Catalan, Milá y Fontanals, Estudios de la Lengua Catalana. For Galician, Arce, Gramática Gallega (Lugo, 1868).

Castilian Literature.—The earliest existing documents in Spanish belong to the first half of the 12th century. The first monuments of Spanish literature are poetical. The Poema del Cid (see CID), ascribed to the later half of the 12th century, is a typical chanson de geste; picturesque and spirited at times, it breathes the spirit of the turbulent age which produced it. Written in unformed and uncouth language, it displays a barbarous and irregular versification. The lines vary in length from twelve to sixteen syllables, and the same rhyme is carried on through long passages. To the 13th century belongs a body of religious poetry of tame character and slight merit. Gonzalo de Berceo is the first Spanish author whose name has come down to us. He wrote rhyming lives of saints and praises of the Virgin, which closely resemble in style, subject, and versification those of other monkish authors of his own and the succeeding century. The 13th century saw the formation of literary Castilian. To this period belongs Alfonso the Wise, king of Castile (see ALFONSO X.), who left behind him a large and valuable body of works written either by himself or at his direction. The most important of these is the code of laws, with digressions on moral and political philosophy, known as Las Siete Partidas. This treatise, embodying anterior Gothic codes, has been the groundwork of all subsequent Spanish legislation; it forms also a most important monument of the language, which now for the first time appears as an instrument fitted for literary production. A collection of verse, mostly of a religious character, and undoubtedly belonging to this period, has been long a puzzle to scholars from the circumstance that, appearing as the work of Alfonso the Wise, it is written in the Galician dialect. Alfonso's literary tastes were shared by his nephew, Don Jnan Manuel, author of several works of great interest which have come down to us, and of many others now unfortunately lost. He is best known by the Conde Lucanor or Libro de Patronio, a series of stories mostly of eastern origin, loosely connected together and with rhymed morals attached. The most original writer of the 14th century is Juan Ruiz, archpriest of Hita, a disreputable cleric, who relates his love adventures in poetical form, interlarding them quaintly with moral fables and religious hymns. In spite of great blenishes and frequently recurring obscene and blasphemous passages, the work is valuable from its vivacity and the excellent picture it gives of one side of life at the time. The verse is still that of the earlier poets, fourteen syllable lines, stanzas of four lines with one rhyme repeated. In prose these early centuries produced little that is worthy of note, as Latin was still much used. By the direction and, probably, under the supervision of Alfonso the Wise, was compiled the Grande y General Historia, extending from the creation nearly to his own times. This work was continued by official chroniclers, generally as a bare record of events, down to the time of Ferdinand and Isabella. Pedro Lopez de Ayala wrote the history of the kings under whom he lived in somewhat more picturesque and lively style than his predecessors; his Kimado de Palacio is a caricature of the different classes of society of his time, for studying which his high position and many adventures gave him admirable opportunities.

In the 15th century two new and important branches of Spanish literature appear—the Romances of Chivalry (Libros de Caballerías) and Ballads (Romanes). The Amadís de Gaula (see AMADIS), first and best of books of chivalry, has come down to us in a translation from a Portuguese version, of which the original is lost. It is, however, certain that this is not the earliest form of the story in Spanish. The Amadís is not free from the exaggerations and stilted style that deface later books of its class, but, unlike them, it contains passages of great beauty, and, in spite of its being a translation, its language is generally dignified and pure. The popularity of the class was great; but successive authors rivalled one another in wild exaggeration and the frigid impossibility of the adventures of their heroes, who live under social conditions that have never existed, and in a world without geography. The Romance of Chivalry was dying a natural death when Cervantes gave it the coup de grâce. The origin of the Spanish ballads is very uncertain; they are probably of indigenous growth, as no striking parallels can be cited to support the theory that they are imitated from the poetry of the Moorish conquerors of Spain. The great mass of them was collected in the 16th and 17th centuries from the mouths of the people, but many of them are of much earlier date. Handed down orally from generation to generation, they underwent considerable modification, and their language alone cannot be taken as a sufficient clue to their date. Their structure is characteristically Spanish; the lines may be considered either as octosyllabic or as of sixteen syllables with cæsura; the same asonante or vowel-rhyme is continued throughout whole compositions. In subject these ballads range from sacred history to the Arthurian and Carolingian cycles, but the most valuable and interesting are those which celebrate the national heroes and the Moorish champions against whom they fought.

Thus far the works mentioned have been of purely national character or derived from sources common to the writers of the middle ages; but at the court of John II. the influence of Provençal literature began to make itself strongly felt, and a generation of stilted and affected poetasters arose encouraged by the king, who formed one of their number. The works of many authors of this school are collected in the celebrated Cancionero de Baena; with the exception of a few religious pieces they are of slight merit, but they succeeded in enriching Spanish with new lyric metres. At the end of the 15th century appeared the Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea, better known as the Celestina. It is said to be the work of two authors, but the wonderful evenness of its style makes this hard to believe. The Celestina partakes of the nature of novel and drama. Written entirely in dialogue, but at the same time immoderately long and unsuited for dramatic representation, it is unique amongst works of its time and country, being perfectly unaffected in style. Taking its subject from a side of life that must have been familiar to its authors, it neither shirks nor courts obscene details, but aims at and thoroughly succeeds in giving a true and animated picture, and at the same time enforcing a moral lesson. It soon became one of the most popular books in Spain, and was translated into most European languages.

It is probable that from Roman times the Drama (q.v.) never became extinct in Spain. It is mentioned in the Siete Partidas, and one of the earliest extant pieces of Spanish is a miracle-play, El Misterio de los Reyes Magos. The modern Spanish drama, however, must reckon its origin from the end of the 15th century, when Juan del Encina wrote églogas or representaciones of pastoral character, some of which were undoubtedly acted. Gil Vicente and Torres Naharro imitated and improved upon the methods of Encina, but Lope de Rueda, playwright and actor (fl. 1550), must be considered as the father of the Spanish dramatists, and as such he is mentioned by Cervantes. Continuing the pastoral drama of his predecessors, Rueda also wrote regular plays, divided into acts. In these the influence of the Latin stage is perceptible. The best part of Rueda's work consists of his spirited interludes (entremeses, loas) of a popular and burlesque character. Cervantes (q.v.) commenced his career as a dramatic author, but his two earlier pieces, La Numancia and El Trato de Argel, though finely conceived, were unsuccessful.

With the decay of the popularity of the romances of chivalry is coincident the rise of the novel in its different forms. In the Diana Enamorada, Montemayor and Gil Polo directly imitated the Italian. Cervantes and Lope de Vega each produced a novel of the kind, but the false and exaggerated sentiment and inferior verse to which the impossible shepherds generally treat one another in these compositions make it hard to understand the popularity which they undoubtedly enjoyed. Side by side with the pastoral novel, but with stronger growth, throve the realistic novela picaresca, or rogue's story (see NOVELS), subsequently brought to perfection by Le Sage, who in his Gil Blas drew largely upon his Spanish models. The earliest book of the kind is Lazarillo de Tormés, ascribed, apparently without reason, to Diego Hurtado de Mendoza (see MENDOZA), a poet and historian of the time of Charles V., at whose court he played a considerable part. Lazarillo, the hero, like his brethren of the other books of the class, is a poor boy of shady antecedents, who, by his own ingenuity and unscrupulousness, with varying fortune pushes his way, generally as a servant, amongst all classes of society. So admirable a vehicle for amusement and satire was not neglected, and Guzmán de Alfarache, Marcos de Obregón, La Picara Justina, and many others go to prove the popularity of this kind of story. A solitary and not very brilliant example of the historical novel at an early date is the Guerras de Granada by Hita.

Some of the older poets, amongst them the Marqués de Santillana, had imitated Italian models, but the influence of Petrarch and his school is most directly felt in Juan Boscán and Garcilaso de la Vega, who flourished in the first half of the 16th century. The latter in his élogos brought hendecasyllables to perfection in Spanish, and left at his early death a small collection of the most beautiful poetry in the language. An imitator of, and at times a translator from, Virgil and Petrarch, he is not unworthy of his models; the harmony of his verse is unsurpassed, unless it be by the Coplas de Manrique, probably one of the finest elegies extant.

Lyric poetry reached its culmination in the first half of the 16th century. Most of it is of religious character. In sublimity of conception and perfection of execution Herrera's (see HERRERA) odes and elegies are entitled to a very high place in European literature. Whilst Herrera sang of the victories and reverses of his time, Luis de León drew his inspiration from nature, solitude, and religious meditation. Sweetness of language never deserts him, but his productions are uneven in merit. The brothers Argensola (q.v.) owe their fame rather to good taste than to poetic inspiration. These writers come within the Spanish golden age, during which prose reached its highest development in the religious and mystic writings of Luis de León, Luis de Granada, St Teresa, and Juan de la Cruz, in the histories of Mariana (q.v.) and Solís, and in parts of the writings of Cervantes (see CERVANTES). The Don Quixote, with its quaint humour, rollicking fun, melancholy touches, and profound views of human nature, is deservedly, both at home and abroad, the best-known and best-loved book in Spanish. Unique amongst the works of its time, and far superior to the other efforts of its author, it belongs to no class, and has no successor in Spanish or any other literature. Cervantes' other works, the Galatea, Persiles y Segismunda, Viage del Parnaso, dramatic works and novels, are read chiefly on account of the interest which must be felt for the author of Don Quixote.

Contemporary with Cervantes was Lope de Vega (see VEGA), the idol of his time, the 'prodigy of nature' (monstruo de la naturaleza), as he was called on account of the immense mass and great variety of his writings. Almost every branch of literature was familiar to him. Of dramas alone he wrote over 2000, besides a great body of lyric verse, epic and mock epic, novels both pastoral and of adventures, and criticisms. It is by his dramas that he is best known, and especially by those of cloak and sword (capa y espada). These within certain well-defined limits afford considerable scope for variety. The scene is invariably laid in some Spanish town. The principal characters are two lovers, whose adventures and somewhat stilted dialogue are parodied and relieved by those of their servants, one of whom is generally the gracioso or buffoon, whose homely pleasantries sometimes jar disagreeably in the midst of fine and solemn passages. The metre of the Spanish drama is generally the same as that of the ballads; some variety, however, both of grouping of rhymes and of metre is admitted. A distinctive feature is the exceeding intricacy of the plots. This characteristic is so marked as to have led several critics to believe that a Spanish drama requires a Spanish audience to follow it intelligently. The great amount of the productions of Lope de Vega precluded all attempt at finish. His verse, however, is always flowing, and he generally attains success by thoroughly carrying out his own maxim that the drama is a purely popular form of literature, and that the only critics to be regarded are the mass of those who pay their money at the theatre-door. Calderón de la Barca (see CALDERÓN) outlived the golden age of the drama of his country. More philosophic, careful, and with a higher ideal than Lope, he is generally incapable of carrying out his gigantic enterprises, and is, broadly speaking, a poet of fine passages rather than a dramatic author of high merit. In attempting sublimity he frequently becomes bombastic and misty, and is deeply infected with the bad taste of his time. He perfected the auto sacramental, a religious play, or rather a dramatised theological discussion, in which such characters as Conscience, Free-will, Hope, and the cardinal virtues take part. On these, to modern taste, somewhat dull compositions, in which Christian theology is frequently jumbled up with pagan mythology, Calderón lavished a great deal of his best verse, and to them his reputation amongst his contemporaries was largely due. Equal to Lope or Calderón as dramatists, though inferior as poets, are Tirso de Molina (see TELLEZ) and Moreto. The former handled to perfection his native language, and is, more than any other, characteristically a Spaniard of his time. His defects are the want of a high ideal and the frequent coarseness of his language. Outside his own country he is chiefly known as the author who first dramatised the story of Don Juan Tenorio, the Burlador de Sevilla, a theme whose impressive nature he well knew how to take advantage of. Moreto is the most correct of Spanish dramatists, and his Desdén con déden merits special mention, even in an age which produced, besides the authors already mentioned, Rojas and Alarcón (q.v.). The number of dramas produced at this time is almost incredible, and some, even of the anonymous ones, are such as in a less fertile age would have sufficed to found a reputation.

Spanish eloquence has always had a tendency to become bombastic; mannerisms and affectation of the worst kind have been mistaken for cultured style; extravagance of metaphor was rife even at the best period (see EUPHUISM); but when literature began to decay all these defects became more marked. The typical representative of this culto school is Luis de Góngora (see GÓNGORA), a poet who enjoyed great popularity in the golden age, and whose example probably did much to hasten a climax which had already become inevitable. In his youth he wrote simply and correctly short lyric pieces of great beauty. It is difficult to believe that this is the same Góngora who, a few years later, produced the Soledades and Polyfemo, poems so obscure, bombastic, and crammed with concetti that before his death they required lengthy commentaries. Amongst those who protested against the tendency of the times, whilst frequently allowing themselves to be carried away by it, was Francisco de Quevedo y Villegas (see QUEVEDO), the bitter satirist and writer of trenchant verse. Extremely versatile, his writings include erotic verse, light lyrics, essays on government, picaresque novels, and theological discussions. In his merits and defects he closely resembles Swift. The best known of his works are his sueños, or visions, in which the motives and manners of his time are held up to ridicule with a masterly and unsparing hand.

At the end of the 17th century the sun of Spanish glory set, and with it the sun of Spanish literature, so suddenly and completely as not to leave an afterglow behind it. Of the succeeding century only a few names deserve mention. Padre Isla (q.v.) in Fray Gerundio ridiculed the low ebb of education, and particularly of pulpit oratory, with wit and good sense worthy of a better age. Samaniego and Yriarte wrote some clever fables in the style of the inimitable Lafontaine. The Academy, founded during the first half of the 18th century, produced the magnificent dictionary which is its chief claim to the gratitude of scholars. When literature seemed at its lowest ebb, and nothing found favour unless slavishly imitated from the French, Moratín (q.v.) came to add one more name to the glorious list of dramatists.

The war of independence roused the Spaniards from the seemingly hopeless state of lethargy into which they had sunk. In lyric poetry Quintana and the Duque de Rivas attached themselves to the classical school, whilst the influence of Byron pervades the noble verse of Espronceda, whose successors are Zorrilla, Nuñez de Arce, and Campoamor. Historians, critics, and scholars like Juan Valera, Menéndez Pelayo, Pascual de Gayangos, and Cánovas del Castillo worthily carry on the work commenced by Sanchez and Sarmiento. The drama flourishes, though still overshadowed by the French. The novel is, however, the department in which most progress has been made. In the early part of the 19th century Fernán Caballero (q.v.) and Trueba left the old and worn-out track, and drew their inspiration and characters from the people of their own country and age. At the present time Spain possesses novelists worthy to rank with those of any other European country. Juan Valera's Pepita Jimenez is one of the best novels of the century. Pereda writes delightfully of his northern mountains. Emilia Pardo Bazán thoroughly understands her own people and time. Names like those of Alarcón, Pérez Galdos, and Palacio Valdés have only to be better known to secure their possessors a wide appreciation outside their own country. History is occupied chiefly in the collection of materials, and many valuable monographs have been published. As a historian of his country the name of Modesto Lafuente must not be forgotten. Periodical literature of a not very high order is abundant. Signs of literary activity are visible in South America, but as yet no work worthy of separate mention has appeared.

Catalan Literature.—The intercourse between Catalonia and Provence has been great from the earliest times. The troubadours of Provence carried with them across the Pyrenees their own language as well as their own poetical forms. Their influence may be seen in the works of Raymond Lully, whose poem 'Despair' (Lo Desconort) is deeply impregnated with their mannerisms. At the later end of the 14th century a consistory of the gay saber was founded at Barcelona in imitation of the one already existing at Toulouse. From this may be dated the partial emancipation of Catalan verse. Two Valencian poets distinguished themselves in their native language. Ausias March, whose songs of love and songs of death are fine in spite of intentional obscurity, and Jaume Roig, whose bitter satire, The Ladies' Book, is supposed to contain details of his own life. Roig died in 1478, and at the union of Castile and Aragon Catalan sank to the position of a dialect. In prose the principal monuments of old Catalan are the works of Lully, including the interesting Book of the Order of Knighthood; the Chronicles, some of which are interesting both in matter and manner, especially that of Ramón Muntaner; and one romance of chivalry entitled Tirant lo Blanch, an exaggerated example of the defects of the class. In the 19th century Catalan verse has been revived, probably owing to the jealousy that has always existed between Madrid and Barcelona. This revival is largely owing to Jacinto Verdaguer, some of whose verse in archaic language is really charming and natural. In the Galician, which has never been a literary language, few books exist, with the exception of collections of popular songs.

Bibliography.—Castilian: Nicolas Antonio, Biblioteca Hispana (1788); Ticknor, History of Spanish Literature, with notes by Pascual de Gayangos (1851). For the earlier period, Amador de los Rios, Historia Crítica de la Literatura Española; Von Schack, Geschichte der Dramatischen Literatur in Spanien; Ferdinand Wolf,

Studien zur Geschichte der Spanischen und Portugiesischen National-literatur; Menéndez y Pelayo, Historia de las Ideas Estéticas en España (1885). A good short manual is Sanchez de Castro, Historia de la Literatura Española (1890). Catalan: Ballot y Torres, Gramática de la Lengua Catalana; Ximeno, Escriptores del Reino de Valencia; Milá y Fontanals, De los Traductores; Rubió y Ors, Literatura Catalana. There are histories of Spanish literature by the present writer (1893) and Fitzmaurice Kelly (1898). For Spanish painting, see Vol. VII. p. 701.