Owing to the restricted power of the monarch and the feebleness of the government, the different Span ish states presented, during the greater part of this period, a scene of the utmost disorder and insubordi nation. The bonds of civil society seemed to have been burst asunder. The administration of the laws was so extremely weak, that it afforded no protection to the subject; and robbery and murder became so common, as not only to intercept the internal com merce of the kingdom, but in a great measure to sus pend all intercourse between its cities. The feudal barons who were sufficiently forward to assist their prince in repelling foreign aggressions, or in extend ing his dominions, were equally ready in resisting any encroachments upon their privileges, which were alike inimical to the stability of the throne and the welfare of the people. They claimed and exercised a sovereign jurisdiction within their own territories; and this, with their frequent private wars, the want of discipline among the troops, and the incessant de predations of the infidels, filled the provinces of Spain with confusion and tumult. The inhabitants of the cities were the greatest sufferers; and as a measure of sell' defence, the cities of the kingdom of Aragon, and after their example those of Castile, formed them selves into an association, distinguished by the name of the Hermandad, or " loly Brotherhood." They exacted a certain contribution from each of the asso ciated towns; they levied a considerable body of troops, in order to protect travellers and to pursue crimi nals; they appointed judges, who opened their courts in various parts of the kingdom. Whoever was guilty of murder or robbery, or of any act that violated the public peace, and was seized by the troops of the Bro therhood, was carried before judges of their nomina tion, who without payibg any regard to the exclusive and sovereign jurisdiction which the lord of the place might claim, tried and condemned the criminals. By the establishment of this fraternity, the prompt and impartial administration of justice was restored; and together with it internal tranquillity and order began to return. The nobles alone murmured at this salu tary institution. They complained of it as an en croachment on one of their most valuable privileges. They remonstrated against it in a high tone: and, on some occasions, refused to grant any aid to the crown unless it were abolished." Ferdinand, however, was too sensible of the good effects of such an institution to listen to any proposal for abridging its powers. He supported it on all occasions with the whole force of royal authority; for to limit and abolish the inde pendent jurisdiction of the nobility was one of the great objects of his policy; and this he in a great measure accomplished by his perseverance and the assistance of the Hermandad. When the deputies from the states of Aragon, who had refused him sup plies in his war with France, offered to accede to his demands upon condition of his restoring the territo rial jurisdiction, he ordered them from his presence, declaring that " he would not purchase a supply at the expense of the liberties of his subjects; that before his reign the vassals of the nobility were their slaves; that he had made them free, and would keep them so." Notwithstanding, however, the exertions of this able and wise prince, the spirit of liberty was so vigorous among the people, and the spirit of independence so high among the nobility, that the kingly prerogative was less extensive in Spain OA in any other of the great monarchies of Europe.
The affairs of Spain, until the arrival of Charles, were conducted by the aged Cardinal Ximenes with such wisdom, integrity, and firmness, that the king dom felt not the loss of the powerful mind of Ferdi nand. Many of the nobles who, supposing that the reins of government would be relaxed under the dele gated power of a regent, had taken up arms to prose cute their private quarrels and pretensions, were compelled to repress their hostilities and to submit to the terms of the Cardinal. The decision and vi gour of his administration, and the high authority which he assumed, excited the fears of the nobility for the safety of their peculiar privileges; and when they sent a deputation to question his power, and de mand by what right he held the regency of the king dom, he showed them the will of Ferdinand, ratified by Charles. This, however, not seeming to produce the acquiescence which he wished, he led them to a balcony, and pointing to a body of troops and a train of artillery stationed before the palace, said, "These are the powers by which I mean to govern Spain un til the arrival of his majesty." But the exertions of this able minister, who, during his short regency, did so much for the security of the kingdom, and the extension of the royal prerogative, were rewarded with neglect and disgrace. On the arrival of Charles at St. Andero, Ximenes hastened to meet him, but was seized during the journey with a violent disorder, supposed to be the effects of poison. This accident obliged him to stop at Aranda, from whence he wrote to the king, earnestly desiring an interview, and at the same time advising him to dismiss all the strangers in his train, whose numbers and influence already gave great offence to the Spaniards, and who would ere long alienate the affections of the whole people. This advice was disregarded; and the Flem
ish courtiers, jealous of the power of the Cardinal, industriously kept the king at a distance from Aranda, and at length prevailed with hint to dismiss this faithful minister and supporter of his throne. Xime nes died a few hours after receiving this communica tion, leaving behind him a reputation for wisdom and sanctity, prudence and boldness, which no monarch or minister had ever enjoyed in that country.
After the death of Ximenes, Charles found great difficulty in establishing his authority in Spain. His Flemish favourites, by their exactions and avarice, had become odious throughout the kingdom; and se veral cities of the first rank in Castile entered into a confederacy for the maintenance of their rights and privileges. This confederacy assumed the name of the Holy Junta, and bound themselves by a solemn oath to live and die in the service of the king, and in defence of the privileges of their order. As Charles was now absent in Flanders, they appointed vdepu tation to wait upon his majesty, and drew up a re monstrance, which contained not only an enumeration of their grievances, but also many new regulations for the security of their liberties; and which show that the Spaniards of that day had acquired more li beral ideas, with respect to their own rights and pri vileges, and had formed more bold and generous sen timents concerning government, than other people in Europe. The nobles, while they supposed that the demands of the Junta were confined to the redress of such grievances as had arisen from the inexperience of the monarch, or the rapacity of his courtiers, con nived at, and even favoured their proceedings; but when they perceived that their own peculiar privi leges were in some danger, they immediately joined the forces of the regent. After a contest of nearly eight months, which was prosecuted with a rage and fury peculiar to civil insurrections, and which was attended with many fruitless negotiations the army of the Junta, under Don Juan Patlilla, was completely routed near Villelar, when three of their chiefs were taken prisoners, and immediately executed. After this defeat, the city of Toleda alone maintained the struggle, being animated by the presence and courage of Donna Maria Pacheco, Padilla's widow,a woman of rank, abilities, and boundless ambition. When driven to the citadel, she defended it for four months with amazing fortitude; but being at last reduced to great extremities, she made her escape into Portugal. Si milar troubles prevailed in Valencia, where the com mons assumed the name of Germanada, and also in Aragon and Majorca; but the spirit of disaffection was completely crushed before the arival of the king in 1521 Charles, who had now obtained the imperial crown, proceeded with great prudence and moderation to heal the unhappy divisions which had distracted Spain during his absence. He proclaimed a general pardon for all crimes committed during the insurrec tion, with the exception of about eighty persons, of whom, however, very few suffered; and many who were of rank had their outlawry reversed, and were restored to their honours and estates. This act of clemency was condemned by his council, who strongly solicited him to make some more examples; but he answered that "enough of blood had been already shed;" and when one of his courtiers, in expectation of a reward, officiously informed him where one of the proscribed party was concealed, he sharply re plied, " You had done better in advising Ferdinand de Avalos to be gone, than in putting me in the way to apprehend him." By this magnanimous conduct, and by "his address in assuming the manners, and speaking the language of the Castilians, he acquired an ascendency over the people which hardly any of their native princes had ever attained, and brought them to support him in all his enterprises, with a zeal and valour to which he owed much of his success and grandeur." It would be foreign to our purpose to follow this prince in his campaigns in the Milanese, and his wars with France, which continued with little interruption during the whole of his reign. These belong more properly to his history as Emperor of Germany, and a succinct account of which will be found in the ar ticle FRANCE. Spain was but as one of the provinces of his extensive dominions; and however much his successes in these wars might redound to his own glory, and throw a gleam of splendour around his name as a warrior and a politician, they were fatal to the internal improvement of this kingdom. The pro duce of its soil, the treasures of its colonies, and the flower of its population, were dissipated in foreign lands in the prosecution of his ambitious schemes. His demands for subsidies were repeatedly refused by the cortes; and his impoverished subjects were fre quently upon the eve of a rebellion, which was pre vented only by his foresight and prudence.