of the cities which they represented. From that list it appears, that only eighteen cities had deputies in this assembly. Anales de Aragon, tom. vi. p. 3. What was the occasion of this great difference in the number of cities represented in these two meetings of the Cortes, I am unable to explain.

NOTE XXXIV. SECT. III. p. 183. [LL].

A GREAT part of the territory in Spain was engrossed by the nobility. L. Marinæus Siculus, who composed his treatise De Rebus Hispaniæ during the reign of Charles V. gives a catalogue of the Spanish nobility, together with the yearly rent of their estates. According to his account, which he affirms was as accurate as the nature of the subject would admit, the sum total of the annual revenue of their lands amounted to one million four hundred and eighty-two thousand ducats. If we make allowance for the great difference in the value of money in the fifteenth century from that which it now bears, and consider that the catalogue of Marinæus includes only the Titulados, or nobility whose families were distinguished by some honorary title, their wealth must appear very great. L. Marinæus ap. Schotti Scriptores Hispan. vol. i. p. 323. The Commons of Castile, in their contests with the Crown, which I shall hereafter relate, complain of the extensive property of the nobility as extremely pernicious to the kingdom. In one of their manifestoes they assert, that from Valladolid to St. Jago in Galicia, which was

an hundred leagues, the crown did not possess more than three villages. All the rest belonged to the nobility, and could be subjected to no public burden. Sandov. Vida del Emperor Carl. V. vol. i. p. 422. 422. It It appears from the testimony of authors quoted by Bovadilla, that these extensive possessions were bestowed upon the Ricos-hombres, hidalgos, and cavalleros, by the Kings of Castile, in reward for the assistance which they had received from them in expelling the Moors. They likewise obtained by the same means a considerable influence in the cities, many of which anciently depended upon the nobility. Politica para Corregidores. Amb. 1750. fol. vol. i. 440. 442.

NOTE XXXV. SECT. III. p. 186. [MM].

I HAVE been able to discover nothing certain, as I observed, Note XVIII. with respect to the origin of communities or free cities in Spain. It is probable, that as soon as the considerable towns were recovered from the Moors, the inhabitants who fixed their residence in them, being persons of distinction and credit, had all the privilege of municipal government and jurisdiction conferred upon them. Many striking proofs occur of the splendour, wealth, and power of the Spanish cities. Hieronymus Paulus wrote a description of Barcelona in the year 1491, and compares the dimensions of the town to that of Naples, and the elegance of its buildings, the variety of its manufac tures, and the extent of its commerce, to Florence. Hieron. Paulus ap. Schottum Script. Hisp. ii. 844.

Marinæus describes Toledo as a large and populous city. A great number of its inhabitants were persons of quality and of illustrious rank. Its commerce was great. It carried on with great activity and success the manufactures of silk and wool; and the number of inhabitants employed in these two branches of trade, amounted nearly to ten thousand. Marin. ubi supr. p. 308. I know no city, says he, that I would prefer to Valladolid for elegance and splendour. Ibid. p. 312. We may form some estimate of its populousness from the following circumstances. The citizens having taken arms in the year 1516, in order to oppose a measure concerted by cardinal Ximenes, they mustered in the city, and in the territory which belonged to it, thirty thousand fighting men. Sandov. Vida del Emper. Carl. V. tom. i. p. 81. The manufactures carried on in the towns of Spain were not intended merely for home consumption, they were exported to foreign countries, and their commerce was a considerable source of wealth to the inhabitants. The maritime laws of Barcelona are the foundation of mercantile jurisprudence in modern times, as the Leges Rhodiæ were among the ancients. All the commercial states in Italy adopted these laws, and regulated their trade according to them. Sandi Storia Civile Veneziani, vol. ii. 865. It appears from several ordonances of the Kings of France, that the merchants of Aragon and Castile were received on the same footing, and admitted to the same privileges with those of Italy. Ordonances des Roys, &c. tom. ii. p. 135. iii. 166. 504. 635. Cities in such

a flourishing state became a respectable part of the society, and were entitled to a considerable share in the legislature. The magistrates of Barcelona aspired to the highest honour a Spanish subject can enjoy, that of being covered in the presence of their sovereign, and of being treated as grandees of the kingdom. Origin de la dignidad de Grande de Castilla por don Alonso Carillo. Madr. 1657. p. 18.

NOTE XXXVI. SECT. III. p. 188. [NN].

THE military order of St. Jago, the most honourable and opulent of the three Spanish orders, was instituted about the year 1170. The bull of confirmation by Alexander III. is dated A. D. 1176. At that time a considerable part of Spain still remained under subjection to the Moors, and the whole country was much exposed to depredations not only of the enemy, but of banditti. It is no wonder, then, that an institution, the object of which was to oppose the enemies of the Christian faith, and to restrain and punish those who disturbed the public peace, should be extremely popular, and meet with general encouragement. The wealth and power of the order became so great, that, according to one historian, the Grand Master of St. Jago was the person in Spain of greatest power and dignity next to the King. Æl. Anton. Nebrissensis, ap. Schott. Scrip. Hisp. i. 812. Another historian observes, that the order possessed every thing in Castile that a King would most desire to obtain. Zurita Anales, v. 22.

The knights took the vows of obedience, of pos verty, and of conjugal chastity. By the former they were bound implicitly to obey the commands of their grand master. The order could bring into the field a thousand men at arms. El. Ant. Ne briss. p. 813. 813. If, as we have reason to believe; these men at arms were accompanied, as was usuał in that age, this was a formidable body of cavalry. There belonged to this order eighty-four commanderies, and two hundred priories and other benefices. Dissertations sur la Chevalerie par Hon. de St. Marie, p. 262. It is obvious how formidable to his sovereign the command of these troops, the administration of such revenues, and the disposal of so many offices, must have rendered a subject. The other two orders, though inferior to that of St. Jago in power and wealth, were nevertheless very considerable fraternities. When the conquest of Granada deprived the knights of St. Jago of those enemies against whom their zeal was originally directed, superstition found out a new object, in defence of which they engaged to employ their courage. To their usual oath, they added the following clause: "We do swear to believe, to maintain, and to contend in public and in private, that the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, our Lady, was conceived without the stain of original sin." This addition was made about the middle of the seventeenth century. Honore de St. Marie Dissertations, &c. p. 263.-Nor is such a singular engagement peculiar to the order of St. Jago. The members of the second military order in Spain, that of Calatrava, equally zealous