than once brought the nation to the verge of ruin. More Christian blood
was wasted in these national feuds, than in all their encounters with the
infidel. The soldiers of Fernan Goncalez, a chieftain of the tenth
century, complained that their master made them lead the life of very
devils, keeping them in the harness day and night, in wars, not against
the Saracens, but one another. [10]

These circumstances so far palsied the arm of the Christians, that a
century and a half elapsed after the invasion, before they had penetrated
to the Douro, [11] and nearly thrice that period before they had advanced
the line of conquest to the Tagus, [12] notwithstanding this portion of
the country had been comparatively deserted by the Mahometans. But it was
easy to foresee that a people, living, as they did, under circumstances so
well adapted to the development of both physical and moral energy, must
ultimately prevail over a nation oppressed by despotism, and the
effeminate indulgence, to which it was naturally disposed by a sensual
religion and a voluptuous climate. In truth, the early Spaniard was urged
by every motive that can give efficacy to human purpose. Pent up in his
barren mountains, he beheld the pleasant valleys and fruitful vineyards of
his ancestors delivered over to the spoiler, the holy places polluted by
his abominable rites, and the crescent glittering on the domes, which were
once consecrated by the venerated symbol of his faith. His cause became
the cause of Heaven. The church published her bulls of crusade, offering
liberal indulgences to those who served, and Paradise to those who fell in
battle, against the infidel. The ancient Castilian was remarkable for his
independent resistance of papal encroachment; but the peculiarity of his
situation subjected him in an uncommon degree to ecclesiastical influence
at home. Priests mingled in the council and the camp, and, arrayed in
their sacerdotal robes, not unfrequently led the armies to battle. [13]
They interpreted the will of Heaven as mysteriously revealed in dreams and