attracted the avarice of neighboring and more powerful states. But, since
their selfish schemes operated as a mutual check upon each other, Navarre
still continued to maintain her independence, when all the smaller states
in the Peninsula had been absorbed in the gradually increasing dominion of
Castile and Aragon.

This latter kingdom comprehended the province of that name, together with
Catalonia and Valencia. Under its auspicious climate and free political
institutions, its inhabitants displayed an uncommon share of intellectual
and moral energy. Its long line of coast opened the way to an extensive
and flourishing commerce; and its enterprising navy indemnified the nation
for the scantiness of its territory at home, by the important foreign
conquests of Sardinia, Sicily, Naples, and the Balearic Isles.

The remaining provinces of Leon, Biscay, the Asturias, Galicia, Old and
New Castile, Estremadura, Murcia, and Andalusia, fell to the crown of
Castile, which, thus extending its sway over an unbroken line of country
from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean, seemed by the magnitude, of
its territory, as well as by its antiquity, (for it was there that the old
Gothic monarchy may be said to have first revived after the great Saracen
invasion,) to be entitled to a pre-eminence over the other states of the
Peninsula. This claim, indeed, appears to have been recognized at an early
period of her history. Aragon did homage to Castile for her territory on
the western bank of the Ebro, until the twelfth century, as did Navarre,
Portugal, and, at a later period, the Moorish kingdom of Granada. [1] And,
when at length the various states of Spain were consolidated into one
monarchy, the capital of Castile became the capital of the new empire, and
her language the language of the court and of literature.

It will facilitate our inquiry into the circumstances which immediately