REVOLT OF THE MORISCOES.

83

decree had been published that their children should frequent Ch. 7. Christian churches; that the Arabic should no longer be used A. D. in writing; that both men and women should wear the Spanish 1568 costume; that they should no longer receive Mohammedan to 1598. names, or marry without permission. The Moriscoes contended that a particular dress did not involve religious opinions; Revolt that their women used the veil according to their notions of of the modesty; and that the use of their own language was no sin. MorisThese expostulations were, however, without effect. Nothing could move the bigoted king. So revolt followed oppression, and great excesses were committed by both parties.

coes.

Civil war is ever the same, and presents nearly the same undeviating picture of misery and crime. But in this war there was something fiendish. A clergyman was roasted over a brazier, and the women, wearied with his protracted death, despatched him with their needles and knives. The rebels ridiculed the sacrifice of the mass by slaughtering a pig on the high altar of a church. These insults were fearfully retaliated. Thousands of defenceless women and children were murdered in violation of the most solemn treaties. The Their whole Moorish population was finally exterminated, and Gra- expul nada, with its beautiful mountains and fertile valleys, became from a desert. No less than six hundred thousand were driven to Spain. Africa—an act of great impolicy, since the Moriscoes were the most ingenious and industrious part of the population. Their exile greatly contributed to undermine the national prosperity.

The destruction of the Spanish Armada, in the attempted invasion of England, and the losses which the Spaniards suffered from Sir Francis Drake and Admiral Hawkins, have already been mentioned.

The decline of the Spanish monarchy dates from the death of this monarch, which took place in his magnificent palace of the Escurial, in 1598. Under his son Philip III. it became marked, and future ruin could then be predicted.

The principal cause of the decline of prosperity was the great increase of the clergy, and the extent of their wealth.

sion

84

A. D.

DECLINE OF THE SPANISH MONARCHY.

Ch. 7. In the Spanish dominions, which included Spain, Naples, Milan, Parma, Sicily, Sardinia, the Netherlands, Portugal, 1598 and the Indies, there were fifty-four archbishops, six hundred to and eighty-four bishops, seven thousand hospitals, one hun1621. dred thousand abbeys and nunneries, six hundred thousand

monks, and three hundred and ten thousand secular priests— Nume- a priest to every ten families. Almost every village had a

rous

clergy. monastery.

tion,and

its cru

The diocese of Seville had fourteen thousand priests-nearly the present number of all the clergy of the Establishment in England. The cathedral of Seville alone gave support and occupation to one hundred priests.

This numerous clergy gradually usurped the power and dignities of the State. They also encouraged that frightful Inquisition, the very name of which conjures up the most The In- horrid images of death and torture. The inquisitors had quisi- power to apprehend people even suspected of heresy, and, on the testimony of two witnesses, could condemn them to torture, elties. imprisonment, and death. Resistance was vain; complaint was ruin. Arrests took place suddenly and secretly. Nor had the prisoner a knowledge of his accusers, or of the crimes of which he was accused. Even nobles were not exempted from the supervision of this court, which was established in every village and town in Portugal and Spain, and which, in the single city of Toledo, condemned, in one year, seventeen thousand people.

In addition to the evils of this spiritual despotism, came others attendant on wealth. The sudden increase of gold and silver led to luxury, idleness, and degeneracy. Money being Effects abundant, the people neglected the cultivation of those things which money could procure. Then followed a great rise in wealth. the prices of all kind of provision and clothing. Houses,

of

lands, and manufactures also increased in value. Habits of industry were lost, the culture of the soil was neglected, and the gold and silver of the Spaniards were exchanged for the productive industry of other nations. The Dutch and the English, whose manufactures and commerce were in a healthy

DECAY OF NATIONAL PROSPERITY.

85

A. D.

state, became enriched at their expense. With the loss of Ch. 7. substantial wealth-that is, of industry and economy, the Spaniards became cold and proud, and followed frivolous 1622 pleasures and amusements. Plays, pantomimes, and bull to fights now amused a lazy and pleasure-seeking nation, while 1699. the profligacy of the court had scarcely a parallel in Europe.

The country became exhausted by war. The finances were deranged, and province after province rebelled. Everywhere followed military reverses, and a decrease of population. Taxes, in the meanwhile, increased, and a burdened people lamented in vain their misfortune and decline.

Spain.

The reign of Philip IV. (1621 to 1665) was the most disastrous in the annals of the country. The Catalan insurrection, the loss of Jamaica, the Low Countries, and Portugal, Decay were the results of his misrule and imbecility. So rapidly of indeed did Spain degenerate, that, upon the close of the Austrian dynasty, with all the natural advantages of the country, the best harbors and sea coast in Europe, the richest soil, and the finest climate, the people were the poorest, the most ignorant, and the most helpless in Europe.

The death of Charles II., in 1699, left Spain without a king, and the vacant throne became the prize of the monarch who could raise and send across the Pyrenees the largest army. It fell into the hands of Louis XIV., and the Bourbon princes have ever since in vain attempted the restoration of the broken monarchy to its former glory.

For the history of Spain during the Austrian Princes, see Lardner's "Encyclopædia; " Watson's "Life of Philip II.;" Schiller's "Revolt of the Netherlands;" Russell's "Modern Europe;" Prescott's "Conquest of Mexico and Peru;" and Coxe's "Memoirs."

86

THE COUNTER-REFORMATION.

Ch. 8.

A. D.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE COUNTER-REFORMATION AND THE JESUITS.

DURING the period we have just been considering, the most marked peculiarity of the times was the struggle between 1540 Protestantism and Romanism. It is true that objects of perto sonal ambition also occupied the minds of princes, and many 1600. great events occurred, which were not connected with struggles for religious liberty and light. But the great feature of the age was unquestionably a spirit of innovation, which nothing could suppress, and which was directed, in the main, to matters of religion. The conflict was not between Church and State, but between two great parties in each. "No man asked whether another belonged to the same country as himself, but whether he belonged to the same sect."

Luther, Calvin, Zwingle, Knox, and Cranmer, made war upon the Roman Catholic Church, as the great supporter and defender of the ideas of the middle ages. They renounced The her authority. She summoned her friends and vassals, rallied period all her forces, and, with desperate energy, resolved to put flict. them down. The struggles of the Protestants in England,

of con

Germany, France, and the Netherlands, alike manifested the same spirit, were produced by the same causes, and brought forth the same results.

The hostile movements of Rome, for a while, were carried on by armies, massacres, assassinations, and inquisitions. The Duke of Alva's cruelties in the Netherlands, St. Bartholomew's massacre in France, inquisitorial tortures in Spain, and Smithfield burnings in England, illustrate this assertion. But more subtle and artful agents were required, and they were found.

RISE OF THE JESUITS.

87

Men of simple lives, of undoubted piety, of earnest zeal, and Ch. 8. singular disinterestedness arose, and did what the sword and A. D. the stake could not do,-revived Catholicism, and caused a 1540 reaction in its favor. These men were the Jesuits, the most to faithful, intrepid, and successful soldiers that ever enlisted 1600. under the banners of Rome.

race.

Jesuits

The rise and fortunes of this order form one of the most The important and interesting chapters in the history of the human early Their victories, and the spirit which achieved them, are well worth our notice. In considering them, however, it must be borne in mind, that the Jesuits have exhibited traits so dissimilar and contradictory, that it is difficult to form a just judgment respecting them. While they were achieving their victories, they appeared in a totally different light from that which distinguished them when they reposed on their laurels. Hence the earlier and the later Jesuits appear in some aspects to have little in common, although the principles of their system were unchanged, and their organization was always the same. Our present notice will be confined to the Jesuits when they were worthy of respect, and, in some things, even of admiration. Their courage, fidelity, zeal, learning, and intrepidity for half a century, have not been exaggerated.

founder

of the

The founder of the order was Ignatius Loyola, a Spanish The gentleman of noble birth, born in 1491, who first appeared as a soldier at the siege of Pampeluna, where he was wounded, order. about the time that Luther was writing his theses, and denouncing indulgences. He amused himself, on his sick bed, by reading the lives of the saints. His enthusiastic mind was deeply affected, and he resolved to pass from worldly to spiritual knighthood. He became a saint, after the notions of that age; he fasted, wore sackcloth, lived on roots and herbs, practised austerities, retired to lonely places, and spent his time in contemplation and prayer. The people were attracted by his sanctity, and followed him in crowds. His heart burned to convert heretics; and, to prepare himself for his mission, he went to the universities, and devoted himself to study. There