Spanish Papers

If any one should doubt of the miraculous apparition of these phantom knights, let him consult the “History of the Kings of Castile and Leon,” by the learned and pious Fray Prudencio de Sandoval, Bishop of Pamplona, where he will find it recorded in the History of the King Don Alonzo VI., on the hundred and second page. It is too precious a legend to be lightly abandoned to the doubter.

THE END

1

Many of the facts in this legend are taken from an old chronicle, written in quaint and antiquated Spanish, and professing to be a translation from the Arabian chronicle of the Moor Rasis, by Mohammed, a Moslem writer, and Gil Perez, a Spanish priest. It is supposed to be a piece of literary mosaic work, made up from both Spanish and Arabian chronicles; yet, from this work most of the Spanish historians have drawn their particulars relative to the fortunes of Don Roderick.

2

Florain, de Ocampo, lib. 3, c. 12. Justin, Abrev. Trog Pomp., lib. 44. Bleda, Cronica, lib. 2, c. 3.

3

Chron. de Luitprando, 709. Abarca, Anales de Aragon (el Mahometismo, fol. 5).

4

Mariana, Hist. Esp., lib. 6, c. 21.

5

Perdida de España, por Abulcasim Tarif Abentarique, lib. 1.

6

Lope de Vega.

7

By some she is called Zara.

8

“Como esta Infanta era muy hermosa, y el Rey [Don Rodrigo] dispuesto y gentil hombre, entro por medio el amor y aficion, y junto con el regalo con que la avia mandado hospedar y servir ful causa que el rey persuadio esta Infanta que si se tornava a su ley de christiano la tomaria por muger, y que la haria señora de sus Reynos. Con esta persuasion ella fue contenta, y aviendose vuelto christiana, se caso con ella, y se celebraron sus bodas con muchas fiestas y regozijos, como era razon.” – Abulcasim, Conq’st de Espan, cap. 3.

9

Condes Espatorios; so called from the drawn swords of ample size and breadth with which they kept guard in the ante-chambers of the Gothic kings. Comes Spathariorum, custodum corporis Regis Profectus. Hunc et Propospatharium appellatum existimo. —Patr. Pant. de Offic. Goth.

10

Perdida de España, por Abulcasim Tarif Abentarique, L. 1, c. 6. Cronica del Rey Don Rodrigo, por el Moro Rasis, L. 1, c. 1. Bleda, Cron. cap. vii.

11

From the minute account of the good friar, drawn from the ancient chronicles, it would appear that the walls of the tower were pictured in mosaic work.

12

Bleda, Cronica, cap. 7.

13

Bleda, Cronica cap. 7.

14

Bleda, cap. 5.

15

Bleda, cap. 4.

16

Beuter, Cron. Gen. de España, L. 1, c. 28. Marmol Descrip. de Africa, L. 2, c. 10.

17

Bleda, Cron. c. 5.

18

Conde, Hist. Dom. Arab. part 1, c. 8.

19

Conde, part 1, c. 8.

20

Conde, part 1, c. 9.

21

La Perdida de España, cap. 9. Bleda, L. 2, c. 8.

22

This name was given to it subsequently by the Arabs. It signifies the River of Death. Vide Pedraza, Hist. Granad. p. 3, c. 1.

23

Bleda, Cronica.

24

Entrand. Chron. an. Chris. 714.

25

This battle is called indiscriminately by historians the battle of Guadalete, or of Xeres, from the neighborhood of that city.

26

Bleda, Cron. L. 2, c. 9. Abulcasim Tarif Abentarique, L. 1, c. 10.

27

Here lies Roderick,

The last King of the Goths.

28

Salazar, Hist. Gran. Cardinal. Prologo, vol. i. plan 1.

29

Mr. D. W – kie.

30

Lord Mah – n.

31

In this legend most of the facts respecting the Arab inroads into Spain are on the authority of Arabian writers, who had the most accurate means of information. Those relative to the Spaniards are chiefly from old Spanish chronicles. It is to be remarked that the Arab accounts have most the air of verity, and the events as they relate them are in the ordinary course of common life. The Spanish accounts, on the contrary, are full of the marvelous; for there were no greater romancers than the monkish chroniclers.

32

Conde, p. 1, c. 10.

33

Chronica de España, de Alonzo el Sabio. P. 3, c. 1.

34

The house shown as the ancient residence of Aben Habuz is called la Casa del Gallo, or the house of the weathercock; so named, says Pedraza, in his history of Granada, from a bronze figure of an Arab horseman, armed with lance and buckler, which once surmounted it, and which varied with every wind. On this warlike weathercock was inscribed, in Arabic characters, —

“Dice el sabio Aben HabuzQue asi se defiende el Andaluz.”(In this way, says Aben Habuz the Wise,The Andalusian his foe defies.)

The Casa del Gallo, even until within twenty years, possessed two great halls beautifully decorated with morisco reliefs. It then caught fire and was so damaged as to require to be nearly rebuilt. It is now a manufactory of coarse canvas, and has nothing of the Moorish character remaining. It commands a beautiful view of the city and the vega.

35

Pedraza, Hist. Granad. p. 3, c. 2. Bleda, Cronica, L 2 c. 10.

36

Conde, Hist. de los Arabes en España, c. 12.

37

The stratagem of the Jews of Toledo is recorded briefly by Bishop Lucas de Tuy, in his chronicle, but is related at large in the chronicle of the Moor Rasis.

38

According to Arabian legends, this table was a mirror revealing all great events; insomuch that by looking on it the possessor might behold battles and sieges and feats of chivalry, and all actions worthy of renown; and might thus ascertain the truth of all historic transactions. It was a mirror of history therefore; and had very probably aided King Solomon in acquiring that prodigious knowledge and wisdom for which he was renowned.

39

Abulcasim, Perdida de España, L. 1, c. 13.

40

Cron. gen. de España, por Alonzo el Sabio. P. 3, c. 1.

41

Bleda, Cronica, L. 2, c. 11.

42

Conde, p. 1, c. 13. Ambrosio de Morales. N. B. – In the chronicle of Spain, composed by order of Alonzo the Wise, this anecdote is given as having happened at the siege of Seville.

43

Marmol, Descrip. de Africa, T. 1, L. 2.

44

Abulcasim, Perdida de España, L. 1, c. 13.

45

Espinosa, Antq. y Grand. de Seville, L. 2, c. 3.

46

Conde, P. 1, c. 14.

47

Conde, p. 1. Cronica del Moro Rasis.—Cron. gen. España, por Alonzo el Sabio, p. 3, c. 1.

48

Conde, pt. 1. c. 15.

49

Conde, pt. 1, c. 15.

50

Conde, pt. 1, c. 16.

51

Conde, pt. 1, c. 17.

52

Algarbe, or Algarbia, in Arabic signifies the west, as Axarkia is the east, Algufia the north, and Aquibla the south. This will serve to explain some of the geographical names on the peninsula which are of Arabian origin.

53

Faxardo, Corona Gothica, T. 1, p. 492. – Joan. Mar. de Reb. Hisp. L. 6, c. 27.

54

Conde, pt. 1, c. 17.

55

Chron. gen. de Alonzo el Sabio, p. 3. Joan Mar. de Reb. Hisp. lib. 6, c. 27. Conde, pt. 1, c. 19.

56

Abarca, Anales de Aragon. Ante regno, § 2.

57

El Moro Rasis, La Destruycion de España. Rojas, Hist. Toledo, pt. 2, L. 4, cl.

58

El Moro Rasis, Destruycion de España, pt. 2, c. 101.

59

Morales, Cronicon de España, L. 13, c. 2.

60

Judicio Domini actum est, ut ipsius montis pars se a fundamentis evolvens, sexaginta tria millia caldeorum stupenter in fulmina projecit, atque eos omnes opressit. Ubi usque nunc ipse fluvius dum tempore hyemali alveum suum implet, ripasque dissoluit, signa armorum et ossa eorum evidentissime ostendit. —Sebastianus Salmanticensis Episc.

61

La Destruycion de España, part 3.

62

Sandoval, p. 301.

63

It does not appear that Count Fernan Gonzalez kept his promise of founding a church and monastery on the site of the hermitage. The latter edifice remained to after ages. “It stands,” says Sandoval, “on a precipice overhanging the river Arlanza, insomuch that it inspires dread to look below. It is extremely ancient; large enough to hold a hundred persons. Within the chapel is an opening like a chasm, leading down to a cavern larger than the church, formed in the solid rock, with a small window which overlooks the river. It was here the Christians used to conceal themselves.”

As a corroboration of the adventure of the Count of Castile, Sandoval assures us that in his day the oak still existed to which Don Fernan Gonzalez tied his horse, when he alighted to scramble up the hill in pursuit of the boar. The worthy Fray Agapida, however, needed no corroboration of the kind, swallowing the whole story with the ready credence of a pious monk. The action here recorded was known by the name of the battle of the Ford of Cascajares.

Sandoval gives a different account of the fate of the hermits. He says that Almanzor, in a rage at their prognostics, overthrew their chapel, and, without alighting from his horse, ordered the three monks to be beheaded in his presence. “This martyrdom,” he adds, “is represented in an ancient painting of the chapel which still exists.”

64

Sandoval. The Five Bishops. Mariana, lib. 8, c. 5, p. 367. Cron. Gen. de España, part 3, c. 18, fol. 53.

65

Cron. Gen. de España, ut supra.

66

Cron. Gen. de España.

67

Mariana, lib. 8, c. 5, p. 367.

68

Sandoval, p. 313.

69

In the Cronica General de España, this imprisonment is said to have been by King Sancho the Fat; but the cautious Agapida goes according to his favorite Sandoval in attributing it to King Ramiro, and in so doing he is supported by the Chronicle of Bleda, L. 3, c. 19.

70

Exactly the same kind of miracle is recorded as happening in the same place to a cavalier of the name of Don Fernan Antolenez, in the service of the Count Garcia Fernandez. Fray Antonio Agapida has no doubt that the same miracle did actually happen to both cavaliers; “for in those days,” says he, “there was such a demand for miracles that the same had frequently to be repeated;” witness the repeated appearance of Santiago in precisely the same manner, to save Christian armies from imminent danger of defeat, and achieve wonderful victories over the infidels, as we find recorded throughout the Spanish chronicles.

71

Cronica de Alonzo el Sabio, pt. 3 c. 19.

72

Sandoval, p. 334.

73

Cronica Gotica, por Don Alonzo Nuñez de Castro, p. 17.

74

Cronica General de España, pt. 3, p. 370.

75

Cron. Gen. de España, pt. 4, fol. 373.

76

Cron. Gen. de España, pt. 4, c. ii.

77

The hiatus, here noted by the author, has evidently arisen from the loss of a leaf of his manuscript. The printed line which precedes the parenthesis concludes page 32 of the manuscript; the line which follows it begins page 34. The intermediate page is wanting. I presume the author did not become conscious of his loss until he had resorted to his manuscript for revision, and that he could not depend upon his memory to supply what was wanting without a fresh resort to authorities not at hand. Hence a postponement and ultimate omission. The missing leaf would scarce have filled half a page of print, and, it would seem from the context, must have related the invasion of Andalusia by Fernando and the ravages committed by his armies. – Ed.

78

Cron. Gen. de España, pt. 4. Bleda, lib. 4, c. 10.

79

Cronica del Rey Santo, cap. 13.

80

Notas para la Vida del Santo Rey, p. 554.

81

Some chronicles, through mistake, make it Pezuelo near Ciudal Real, in the mountains on the confines of Granada.

82

Conde, tom. iii. c. 5.

83

Notas para la Vida, etc., p. 562.

84

Notas para la Vida del Santo Rey, p. 572.

85

Rodriguez, Memorias del Santo Rey, c. lviii.

86

Cronica del Rey Don Fernando, c. XIII.

87

Zuniga, Annales de Sevilla, L. 1.

88

Jacob Paranes, Lib. de los Maestros de St. Iago. Corona Gothica, T. 3, § xiii. Zuniga, Annales de Sevilla.

89

Corona Gothica, T. 3, § viii.

90

Cronica Gotica, L. 3, § 13. Cronica General, pt. 4. Cronica de Santo Rey, c. 55.

91

Cronica General, pt. 4, p. 338.

92

Cronica General de España, pt. 4. Cronica del Rey Fernando el Santo, c. 60. Corona Gothica, T. 3, p. 126.

93

Cronica General, pt. 4, 341.

94

Cronica General, pt. 4. Corona Gothica, T. 3, § 16.

95

Cronica General, pt. 4. Cronica del Rey Santo. Corona Gothica, T. 3, § 16.

96

Cronica General, pt. 4, p. 424.

97

Mariana, L. 13, c. 7.

98

In Castile, whenever the kings entered any place where there was a synagogue, the Jews assembled in council and paid to the Monteros, or bull-fighters, twelve maravedis each, to guard them, that they should receive no harm from the the Christians; being held in such contempt and odium, that it was necessary they should be under the safeguard of the king, not to be injured or insulted.

99

Pablo de Espinosa, Grandesas de Sevilla, fol. 146. Cronica del Santo Rey, c. 78. Corona Gothica, T. 3, p. 166.

100

Argote de Molina, Nobleza de Andaluzia, L. 1, c. 21. Tomas Bocio, Signales de la Iglesia, L. 20. Don Rodrigo Sanchez, Bishop of Palencia, pt. 3, c. 40.

101

Pablo de Espinosa, fol. 146.