ner of Spain, under Pelayo, with vows resting upon them "to rid the
land of its infidel invaders and to advance the standard of the cross
until it was everywhere victorious over the crescent," the "Expulsion of
the Moors" had been the hereditary appanage of the crown of Castile and
Leon, the first fruits of the reconquest.

The crown was heavy and the burden was great that descended to Isabella
in 1474, for although she came to the throne through Gothic ancestry and
in conformity with Gothic law, her father's heir and the chosen of the
people, yet the nation had already poured out its blood in defence of
her "succession" and the war of her "accession" was pending. No wonder
that Isabella never forgot that it was through the people and for the
people, and in defence of the cross, that she wore the crown and sat
upon the throne of Leon and Castile.

During the preceding reigns the laws of the country had been so
constantly defied that they had become of no effect. The one law of
barbarism seemed the only law that governed,

"He can take who has the power,
And he may keep who can."

The country was infested with lawless banditti, and even the cities were
powerless to protect individuals or property. The prisons were
overcrowded with suspected criminals who had never been brought to
trial; the immorality of the court had spread like a deadly poison
through the lower grades of social life; even the priests had become
tainted with the general demoralization. The coin of Castile had been
debased until the most necessary articles of life were enhanced from
three to six times their value; the late civil wars had exhausted the
treasury, and the country seemed on the verge of bankruptcy. The Moors
had even ceased to pay tribute and were making frequent forays into the
surrounding country, taking men, women, and children into Mussulman
captivity with the hope of exacting a ransom. Public confidence was
dead. No wonder that Isabella felt her crown heavy and the burden of her
kingdom great.

But the brave, resolute woman, making choice of wise and able
counsellors, entered at once upon a vigorous crusade of reform. The
first measure proposed to the cortes, in 1476, was the re-establishment
of the celebrated Hermandad, or Holy Brotherhood, which was carried into
effect the same year. The new institution differed from the ancient,
inasmuch as its power proceeded from the crown and was disbanded by it
in 1498. The Hermandad i