mally decreed that the
Mozarabic ritual must be put aside in Castile. Before the formal
adoption of the Roman form, however, it was decided wise to resort once
more to a trial by ordeal, as the favorable issue of such a public test
would make it much easier to conquer the prejudices of the people. This
time, Constance advising it, the ordeal by fire was tried, and, as Miss
Yonge phrases it, "a great pile was erected in the market place of
Toledo for the most harmless _auto de fe_ that ever took place there."
Seats were built up on all sides in amphitheatre fashion, the queen, the
king, the court, and the dignitaries of the two clerical parties were
there in special boxes, and again were the people much in evidence, but
this time much in doubt as to the final outcome. When all was ready, the
torch was applied to the pile and the two volumes were committed to the
flames. The book which was not consumed by the fire was to be considered
acceptable to God. To the chagrin of the papal party, the Roman book was
utterly consumed, but the Gothic missal came forth unscathed. Although
there was great rejoicing at this final triumph for the national clergy,
the foreigners were in control, and the king, urged on by his wife,
decided to act upon his own responsibility, without regard for the
manifest judgment of heaven, and lost no time in giving his signature to
the decree of the Council of Burgos, which then went into immediate
effect. This time the people made no resistance, and, as has been said,
Spain became once more, after the lapse of nearly seven centuries, the
obedient province of Rome. In the succeeding centuries the influence of
Rome has been ever present and powerful in the affairs of the Spanish
peninsula, and whether for its weal or woe, which is not a matter for
consideration here, the fact remains that Queen Constance was the one
person in Spain who was most responsible for this state of affairs. Her
unflagging interest in the success of the papal party and her
perseverance in the face of the opposition of a majority of the Spanish
clergy made her the life of the whole movement, and to this day she is
held in grateful memory at the Holy See.

CHAPTER XV

WOMEN IN EARLY POLITICAL LIFE

After the time of the good Queen Constance and with the growth of the
Spanish monarchies, which in spite of all their internal turmoil and
confusion were fast becoming more powerful and more of a menace to the
Moslem rule, th