truggle for Castille between Pedro the Cruel and
his brother established the house of Trastamare on the throne. The
Crowns of Castille and Aragon were united by the marriage of Isabella
and Ferdinand.

The government of the old Gothic monarchy was through the Crown and a
Council of Prelates and Nobles. At a comparatively early date, however,
the "Cortes" was attended by deputies from the town, though the number
of these was afterwards closely limited. The principle of taxation
through representatives was recognised; and laws could neither be made
nor annulled except in the Cortes. This form of constitutionalism was
varied by the claim of the nobles to assume forcible control when
matters were conducted in a fashion of which they disapproved.

The union of Castille and Aragon led immediately to the conquest of
Granada completed in 1492; an event which in some respects
counterbalanced the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks.

_III.--The German Empire and the Papacy_

When the German branch of the Carlovingian dynasty became extinct the
five German nations--Franconia, Swabia, Bavaria, Saxony, and
Lorraine--resolved to make the German kingship elective. For some
generations the Crown was bestowed on the Saxon Ottos. On the extinction
of their house in 1024, it was succeeded by a Franconian dynasty which
came into collision with the Papacy under Pope Gregory VII. On the
extinction of this line in 1025 Germany became divided between the
partisans of the Houses of Swabia and Saxony, the Wibelungs and
Welfs,--the origin of the Hibelines and Guelfs. The Swabian House,
the Hohenstauffen, gained the ascendancy in the person of Frederick
Barbarossa. The lineal representatives of the Saxon Guelfs are found
to-day in the House of Brunswick.

The rule of the Swabian House is most intimately connected with Italian
history. In the thirteenth century the principle that the right of
election of the emperor lay with seven electors was apparently becoming
established. There were the Archbishops of Mentz, Treves, and Cologne,
the Duke of Saxony, the Count Palatine of the Rhine, the King of
Bohemia, and the Margrave of Brandenburg. In all other respects,
however, several other dukes and princes were at least on an equality
with the electors.

In 1272 the election fell on the capable Rudolph of Hapsburg; and for
some time after this the emperors were chosen from the Houses of
Austria, Bavaria, or Luxemburg.

Disintegration was