Castile and Aragon

The Catholic Encyclopedia

The united kingdom which came into existence by the marriage (1469) of Isabella,
heiress of Castile, with Ferdinand the Catholic, King of Aragon. Columbus made his
voyages of discovery as the agent of the "Catholic Kings" (los Reyes Católicos ) of this
united kingdom, which in the course of history became the Kingdom of Spain — or,
more precisely, of the Spains.

Castile

The origin of the name Castile is a matter of dispute, but it is more than probably
derived from the fortified castles (castillos ), built first by the Romans to protect
themselves from the Cantabrians whom they had not completely subjugated, and
afterwards by the Christians to defend the northern regions which they had conquered
from the Moors. At the present time this name is given to the extensive region which
forms the central portion of Spain, and is bounded on the north by the Bay of Biscay
(the ancient Sinus Cantabricus ), on the east by the Basque Provinces, and the provinces
of Navarre, Aragon, and Valencia, on the south by Andalusia, and on the west by
Estremadura, Leon, and the Asturias, and is divided into Old Castile and New Castile.

It is asserted by some (Fernández Guerra, Cantabria) that Old Castile was called
Vellegia and afterwards Vétula, that it was called Vieja, or Antiqua, to distinguish it
from Castilla la Nueva — the New Castile formed from the lands which since the
eleventh century had been reconquered beyond the mountain chain of the
Carpetano-Vetónica. Old Castile is in outline an irregular triangle, the western frontier
bordering on the ancient Kingdom of Leon, the south-eastern boundary being the
Sierras de Gredos, Guadarrama, and the Moncayo (Mons Caunus ), and the
north-eastern, the river Ebro. In the political division of Spain the ancient province of
Cantabria, which is included in Castile, does not belong to it either ethnographically or
geographically, but forms a separate district called by those who inhabit it de Peñas al
Mar, or more commonly La Montaña. In the present political division Old Castile
comprises a territory of 22,415 square miles, with a population of 1,654,585, and since
the division of 1833 it has included the eight provinces of Burgos, Palencia, Valladolid,
Avila, Segovia, Soria, Logroño, and Santander. Old Castile forms the highest plateau of
Spain, perhaps of Europe, the mean height being 880 feet. The mountain streams of this
region feed the river Ebro in the north-east, the Duero, which flows through the centre,
and the Pisuerga, which is a tributary of the Duero. Owing to its situation it has the most
extreme climate of Spain, both as to cold and heat, and its fertile soil produces wheat
and other cereals. The most important cities are: Burgos, population 29,683, famous for
its Gothic cathedral, which is one of the most beautiful in the world; Valladolid,
population 52,181, which was the capital of Spain until the time of Philip II; Santander,
population 41,021, capital of Cantabria, a maritime city with an extensive commerce;
Segovia, population 11,318, where the ancient Alcazar and the artillery school are
situated; and Avila, population 25,039, the city of St. Teresa.
As has already been said, this name was given to the territory reconquered from the
Arabs, from the time of Alfonso VI to that of St. Ferdinand. This region also forms a
great table-land, not quite so lofty as that of Old Castile, and is bounded on the north by
the mountain chain of the Carpetano-Vetónica, on the south by the Sierra Morena, on
the east by the mountains of Cuenca; the mountains of Toledo, which merge into the
Sierra de Guadalupe in Estremadura, run through the centre and separate the two great
valleys into which New Castile is divided, that of the Tagus to the north, and that of the
Guadiana to the south. The river Jucar, which flows through the south-east, rises in the
mountains of Cuenca. The climate is not so cold as that of Old Castile, and the soil not
so fertile, there being a scarcity of water, especially in La Mancha. Its present limits
comprise an area of 28,017 square miles, with a population of 1,777,506, and is divided
into the five provinces of Madrid, Toledo, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, and Guadalajara. The
principal cities are: Madrid, population 518,442, the capital of Spain since the time of
Philip II, noted for its royal palace, picture gallery, containing specimens of Velasquez,
Murillo, etc., and armoury (Museo de la Real Armería); Toledo, population 26,239,
ancient capital of the kingdom of the Visigoths, honoured by Charles I with the title of
"Imperial", and noted for its cathedral, one of the finest monuments of Spain, and the
see of the cardinal primate, as well as for its military school; Guadalajara, which has a
military school for engineers; Aranjuez, where one of the favourite country residences
of the Spanish royal family is situated; and Alcalá, the seat of the university founded by
Cisneros, which has since been transferred to Madrid. The Escorial, near Madrid,
contains the famous mausoleum of Philip II, and is one of the historic monuments of
New Castile.

(1) The Countship (Condado) of Castile

The territory of Old Castile began to be reconquered in the time of the first three
Alfonsos, who entrusted to several counts the repopulation and defence of these cities;
thus Ordoño I entrusted the repopulation of Amaya, on the Pisuerga, to Rodrigo, a Goth
by extraction, and his son, Diego Porcellos, fortified and repopulated Burgos under the
orders of Alfonso III. Nuño Núñez de Roa, Gonzalo Téllez de Osma, and Fernán
Gonzáles de Sepúlveda appear also in the same rôle. In 910 a Count of Castile, Nuño
Fernández, assisted the sons of Alfonso III in their rebellion against their father, and
Ordoño II of Leon (924) was defeated by the troops of Abdérraman in Valdejunquera
because the Counts of Castile did not come to his assistance; in punishment of their
disloyalty, Ordoño had them imprisoned and executed in Leon. Tradition hands down
the names of these counts as Nuño Fernández, Abolmondar el Blanco, his son Diego,
and Fernando Ansúrez. Further on mention is made of the judges of Castile, Lain Calvo
and Nuño Rasura, established to facilitate the administration of justice, but who
fostered the spirit of independence. The hero of this movement was Count Fernán
González, to whom legendary lore has attributed all manner of heroic achievements. It
is, however, known that, after having fought with Ramiro II against the Arabs, and after
the battle of Simancas and the retreat of Abdérraman, this count, dissatisfied, as it
appears, because the King of Leon distributed his troops in the frontier towns, rose in
rebellion against him. He was, however, vanquished and made prisoner. He became
reconciled with his sovereign, giving his daughter Urraca in marriage to the king's son,
Ordoño, who afterwards became Ordoño III. Notwithstanding this alliance, Fernán
González continued to foment trouble and discord in Leon, aiming to secure his
independence. He successively aided Sancho against his brother, Ordoño III, and
Ordoño, son of Alfonso IV (the Monk), against Sancho the Fat (el Graso ). After the
death of Fernán González (970) there followed the campaigns of Almánzor, in which
all the reconquered territory was at stake. In 995 the King of Navarre and García
Fernández, the son of Fernán González, made an attempt to oppose him, but were
defeated at Alcocer. Sancho Garcia, grandson of Fernán González, took part in the
victory of Calatañazor, which put an end to the campaigns of the victorious Moslem
hájib (1002). This Count Sancho García was called El de los Fueros (literally, "He of
the Rights" or "of the Charters"), because of the rights or charters which he granted to
the various cities. His son, García Sánchez, gave one of his sisters, Elvira, in marriage
to Sancho the Great of Navarre, and another, Jimena, to Bermudo III of Leon, and was
himself about to marry Sancha, Bermudo's sister, when he was assassinated by the
Velas, Counts of Alava. At his death Sancho of Navarre reclaimed the countship of
Castile, and took possession of it, notwithstanding the resistance of Bermudo III.

(2) The Kingdom of Castile

Sancho the Great divided his possessions among his sons. Castile, with the title of king,
was given to Ferdinand, who had married Sancha, the sister of Bermudo, who was to
have married García Sánchez, the last independent count. Ferdinand I, of Castile,
united Castile and Leon, the latter having fallen to his wife upon the death of her
brother, Bermudo III. Thus reinforced, Ferdinand extended his conquests as far as
Coimbra; but he committed the fatal error of dividing his possessions among his three
sons and two daughters. Sancho, who inherited the Kingdom of Castile, began
encroaching upon the rights of his brothers, but was assassinated at the siege of Zamora,
which he was trying to take from his sister Urraca, and was succeeded by Alfonso VI.
This monarch began to reunite the estates of his father, and carried the war of
reconquest beyond the mountain chain of the Carpentano-Vetónica, capturing Madrid
and Toledo, and thus laying the foundations of New Castile. He gave his daughter
Teresa in marriage to Henry of Burgundy, forming for them, with the western territory
reconquered from the Moors, the Countship of Portugal, which was the beginning of
the Portuguese monarchy. His daughter Urraca succeeded him, the first queen to reign
in the kingdom where Isabella the Catholic was later to hold the sceptre. Alfonso VII
bore the title of emperor, and extended his conquests as far as Almeria, but he, also, at
his death in 1157, divided his possessions among his children, giving Leon to
Ferdinand II, and Castile to Sancho, in whose short reign the Military Order of
Alcántara was founded. Alfonso VIII (1158-1214) conquered Cuenca and defeated the
Almohades in the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212), which definitively freed New
Castile from the Mussulman yoke. This decisive victory is annually commemorated by
the Church in Spain on the 16th of July, under the title "El Triumfo de la Santa Cruz"
(The Triumph of the Holy Cross). After the brief reigns of Henry I and Doña
Berengaria, Castile and Leon were definitively united under St. Ferdinand III (1219-52),
who conquered the greater part of Andalusia (Jaen, Cordova, and Seville, 1248),
leaving the Mohammedans only the Kingdom of Granada. The cathedral of Burgos
occupies the first place among the monuments of his greatness. His successors failed to
carry on the reconquest. Alfonso X, "The Wise" (el Sabio ), was too much taken up with
his vain pretensions to the imperial crown of Germany, Sancho the Brave (1248-95)
and Ferdinand IV, "The Cited" (el Emplazado ), with their domestic struggles. In the
time of Sancho IV the celebrated defence of Tarifa took place, giving to Alonzo Pérez
de Guzmán, to whom it was entrusted, the title of "The Good" (el Bueno ). Alfonso XI
(1310-50) in the battle of Salado annihilated the last of the Mussulmans who attempted
the reconquest of Spain. The irregularity of his private life, however, paved the way for
the disorders and cruelties of the reign of his son Pedro, the Cruel, who met death at the
hands of his bastard brother, Henry II (1369-79). Bertrand du Guesclin, with his famous
companies, was the ally of Henry II. John I attempted to obtain possession of Portugal,
but was defeated by the Portuguese at Aljubarrota (1385), and his grandson, John II,
turned over the government to his favourite, Alvaro de Luna, whom he afterwards
caused to be decapitated (1453). Henry IV, "The Impotent", was the tool of the nobles,
who forced him to declare illegitimate his daughter Juana, known as la Beltraneja (the
daughter of Beltran), and the succession thus passed to his sister Isabella the Catholic
(1474).

Aragon

Aragon derives its name from the river Aragon, a small tributary of the Ebro near
Alfaro, and forms an irregular ellipse, bounded on the north by the Central Pyrenees
(Pic du Midi), on the east by Catalonia and Valencia (Provinces of Lérida, Tarragona,
and Castellon), on the south by Valencia and New Castile (Provinces of Valencia and
Cuenca), and on the west by Navarre and Castile (Provinces of Guadalajara and Soria).
It is one of the most mountainous regions of Spain, perhaps of Europe, surrounded as it
is on the north by the Pyrenees mountains and the Sierras de la Peña and de Guara, on
the west by the Moncayo and the mountains of Cuenca, and on the south by the Montes
Universales and the Sierra de Gúdar. From northwest to south-east it is traversed by the
River Ebro, of which almost all the rivers of this region are tributaries, the Aragon,
Gallego, and Cinca emptying into it from the north, and the Jiloca, the Jalon, and others
of lesser importance from the south. The Guadalaviar and the Mijares, however, are fed
directly from the mountains of Teruel. These topographical conditions made the soil of
Aragon very fertile; the mountains are covered with great forests, and fruits grow
abundantly, but, on account of the isolation of the mountains and the scarcity of water
on some of the high table-lands, some regions are but thinly populated. According to
the modern division of provinces (30 Nov., 1833), Saragossa, Huesca, and Teruel
belong to Aragon. The principal cities are Saragossa, famous for its sieges in the War of
Independence and for the ancient shrine del Pilar, where from very remote times the
Blessed Virgin has been venerated, and Huesca (Osca), where Pedro IV established, in
1354, a university to which was given the name of the Sertorio, in memory of Quintus
Sertorius, who, in 77 B. C., founded here a school for the sons of native chiefs.

We must depend principally on legend for information about the origin of the
Aragonese monarchy. It is certain that a portion of the Goths driven northward by the
Mussulman invasion sought refuge among the mountaineers, who were never
completely subjugated by any conqueror (indoctus juga ferre — Horace), and there
formed certain independent countships, principally those of Sobrarbe, Aragon, and
Ribagorza. The legend designates the Montes Uruel or S. Juan de la Peña as the spot
where the patriots assembled, and from a cross which appeared over a tree the name,
Sobrarbe, and the coat of arms were derived, just as Aragon took its name from the river
which flows west of Jaca, which appears to have been its capital. About 724 mention is
made of a García Jiménez who was Count of Sobrarbe, and further on we find that
García Iñiguez bestowed the Countship of Aragon upon a knight named Azmar, who
had obtained possession of Jaca. This countship then embraced the valleys of Canfranc,
Aisa, Borao, Aragües, and Hecho. After Azmar (d. 975) we find the names of several
counts of Aragon — Galindo, Jimeno Aznar, Jimeno García Aznar, Fortunio Jiménez,
and Urraca, or Andregoto, who married García of Navarre, thus uniting Navarre and
Aragon. The Countship of Ribagorza, established under the protection of the Franks,
was reconquered by Sancho the Great of Navarre, who at his death left Aragon to his
son Ramiro, and Sobrarbe and Ribagorza to his son Gonzalo (1035), but at Gonzalo's
death Ramiro was elected to succeed him, the Aragonese monarchy being definitively
founded. Sancho Ramírez (1069-94) took a great part of the deep valley of the Cinca
from the Moors, with the strongholds of Barbastro and Monzon, and died while
besieging Huesca. His son Pedro I, after vanquishing the Moorish auxiliary army in the
battle of Alcoraz, took possession of the city. His brother, Alfonso the Fighter (El
Batallador, 1104-34), who succeeded him, captured Saragossa (1118), but died from
the effects of wounds received in the siege of Fraga, willing his estates to the military
orders of Jerusalem, thinking that they would be best able to bring the war of
reconquest to a successful close. His subjects, however, would not accept this, and
obliged his brother Ramiro, who was a monk in the monastery of Saint-Pons de
Tomières, to accept the crown. Dispensed by the pope from his vows, he married Agnes
of Poitiers, and when the birth of a daughter, whom he married to Raymond Berengar
IV, Count of Barcelona, assured the succession, he returned to his cloister. Thus a
permanent union was effected between Aragon and Catalonia. Raymond Berengar
reconquered Fraga, and his son Alfonso II finished the reconquest of Aragon, adding
Teruel. Pedro II, "The Catholic" (El Católico, 1196-1213), made his kingdom a
dependency of the Holy See, although not with the consent of his subjects, but died in
the battle of Muret, in which he took part to aid his kinsman, the Count of Toulouse, in
the war against the Albigenses. Jaime the Conqueror (El Conquistador ) successfully
terminated the conquest of Valencia (1238) and Majorca (1228), and aided Alfonso X
of Castile to reconquer Murcia, thus accomplishing the reconquest of the western part
of the Peninsula. Pedro III, "The Great" (El Grande, 1276-85), after the Sicilian
Vespers took possession of Sicily as heir of the Hohenstaufen, and the wars and
disputes which followed in Italy, and the dissensions of the Aragonese nobles occupied
the reigns of Alfonso III (1285-91), Jaime II, Alfonso IV (1327-36), and Pedro IV
(1336-87). John I and Martin (1395-1410) dying without heirs, the Conpromiso de
Caspe (a commission of nine members, three from the Cortes of each province) was
assembled and gave the crown of Aragon to Ferdinand of Antequera, Infante of Castile.
Alfonso V, his son and successor, renewed the wars in Italy. As the adopted son of
Joanna of Naples, he laid claim to the throne of Naples, and obtained possession of it
(1416-58). John II disturbed the peace of his reign by the unjust persecution of his son
the Prince of Viana, and at his death was succeeded by Ferdinand the Catholic, who by
his marriage to Isabella the Catholic definitively united the Kingdoms of Castile and
Aragon.

Relations between Castile and Aragon

The will of Sancho the Great of Navarre had in 1035 separated these two kingdoms; in
the twelfth century they were temporarily united by the marriage of Doña Urraca to
Alfonso I, "The Fighter", but this unhappy marriage caused a war which ended in the
separation of the couple (1114), and Alfonso VII was afterwards obliged to recover the
strongholds of La Rioja, which had remained in the possession of the Aragonese
monarch (1134). At the death of Alfonso I of Aragon Alfonso VII reclaimed and
occupied part of his estates, but Alfonso II aided by Alfonso VIII in the siege of Cuenca
(1177) obtained for his kingdom freedom from the dependence on Castile, to which it
had been subjected since the time of Ramiro the Monk. The two great warriors, St.
Ferdinand III and Jaime el Conquistador, were contemporaries and lived in harmony.
Jaime helped Alfonso X in the conquest of Murcia, which remained to Castile. Later,
however, the relations between Castile and Aragon again became involved, on account
of the claims for the succession to Alfonso X, which the Infantes of la Cerda, aided by
Philip III of France and Alfonso III of Aragon, put forth. The Compromiso de Caspe
placed the crown of Aragon on the head of an Infante of Castile, Ferdinand of
Antequera (1412), and the marriage of Isabella, heiress of Henry IV, to Ferdinand, the
heir of John II of Aragon, finally united these kingdoms and formed the beginning of
the Spanish monarchy.

The linguistic unity of Castile and Aragon is a very notable fact because although
Aragon and Catalonia, united since the twelfth century (1137), possess two very
different languages, Castile and Aragon, although they had an entirely independent
historical development until the sixteenth century, have the same language with the
exception of some minor dialectical differences. After the union the political
individuality of Aragon was lost in that of Castile, and in the time of Philip II, on
account of the Antonio Pérez incident, the ancient kingdom lost part of its fueros, or
political liberties. In the War of Succession it sided with the Archduke Charles, and the
victory of Philip V served still more to increase its dependence.

Civil and ecclesiastical divisions

It is difficult, on account of the different epochs in which they were formed and the
different principles which governed them, to give an exact idea of the relations between
the civil and ecclesiastical divisions of Castile and Aragon.

The Judiciary Divisions consist of the five district courts of (1) Burgos, (2) Valladolid,
(3) Madrid, (4) Albacete-Murcia, and (5) Saragossa, which are subdivided as follows:
(1) Provinces of Burgos, Santander, Logroño, and Soria; (2) Valladolid and Palencia; (3)
Madrid, Avila, Guadalajara, Segovia, and Toledo; (4) Ciudad Real and Cuenca; (5)
Saragossa, Huesca, and Teruel. The Burgos district comprises thirty-seven Courts of
First Instance and as many Property Registries; that of Valladolid, seventeen of each;
that of Madrid, forty-nine Courts of First Instance and forty-two Property Registries;
Albacete-Murcia, eighteen Courts of First Instance and the same number of Property
Registries; Saragossa, twenty-one Courts of First Instance and thirty Property
Registries.

For Military Purposes there are four districts, subdivided into sixteen provinces, as
follows: Old Castile, subdivided into the provinces of Avila, Palencia, and Valladolid;
Burgos, with the provinces of Burgos, Logroño, Soria, and Santander; New Castile,
with the provinces of Madrid, Segovia, Toledo, Cuenca, Ciudad Real, and Guadalajara;
Aragon, with Saragossa, Huesca, and Teruel.

Education

For university and secondary instruction the four districts are: Old Castile, with the
University of Valladolid and four centres of secondary education at Valladolid, Burgos,
Palencia, and Santander; New Castile, with the University of Madrid, and centres of
secondary instruction at Madrid (S. Isidro and Cisneros), Ciudad Real, Guadalajara,
Segovia, Toledo, and Cuenca; Aragon, with the University of Saragossa, and centres of
secondary instruction at Saragossa, Huesca, Teruel, Logroño, and Soria; Leon, with the
University of Salamanca and a centre of secondary instruction at Avila. Primary
instruction is under the care of one first-class inspeccion at Madrid, the four
second-class inspecciones of Valladolid, Burgos, Toledo, and Saragosso, and the
eleven third-class inspecciones of Avila, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Logroño, Guadalajara,
Palencia, Santander, Segovia, Soria, Huesca, and Teruel.

This is in many respects not in conformity with the civil, and still subject to the changes
made by the Concordat of 1851, which suppressed some sees and transferred others. In
Old Castile there are the two Archdioceses of Burgos and Valladolid, the former of
which has for its suffragan dioceses Palencia, Santander, Calaborra (Logroño), and
Osma (Soria), while the latter has Avila and Segovia. In New Castile the Archdiocese
of Toledo has the four suffragan dioceses of Madrid-Alcalá, Guenca, Sigüenza
(Guadalajara), and Ciudad Real. In Aragon the Archdiocese of Saragossa has for its
suffragans Jaca, Huesca, Tarazona, Barbastro, and Teruel. The statistics of all these
dioceses are given in the following table:—

Religious instruction and charitable institutions

There are seminaries in all the dioceses, and besides a number of colleges for youths
intended for the priesthood (collegios de vocaciones eclesiásticas ). There are also
numerous colleges under the direction of the Society of Jesus, the Piarists, the Marists,
the Brothers of the Christian Schools, and the Salesians. The statistics of these
independent schools have never been published.

Although charitable work is carried on extensively throughout Spain, especially by the

religious orders, both of men and women, which devote themselves exclusively to such
work, it is difficult to give exact figures, as some are under government control, while
others are purely religious, and the statistics are very incomplete. Thus, official
statistics, which place the total number of institutions at 356, give to Saragossa only
two charitable institutions, whereas the "Anuario Eclesiastico" makes the number
twenty-eight.