o far increased as to provoke the rigour of the laws and of the civil
authority. It is proved by the codes of that time, by several
chronicles, and a variety of other documents worthy of credit, that the
greater number of the clergy were living openly in a state of
concubinage. The term _barraganas_ formed part of the ordinary language
of the people, as well as of that used in legislation, and was applied to
designate the paramours of the ecclesiastics: indeed, these _barraganas_
were commanded by certain sovereigns to dress in a peculiar manner, so
that they might be distinguished from virtuous women; while other
sovereigns insisted on their also living in separate buildings, called
_barraganerias_, one of which, according to tradition, was situated in
that spot in Madrid now called Puerta del Sol. In one of the ancient
codes is to be found a regulation, in virtue of which it was ordered that
no clergyman should have more than one _barragana_!

Many of the bishops were accustomed to take these creatures with them on
official visits to their dioceses. This scandal began to disappear under
the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, "the Catholic sovereigns," and from
that time the clergy, by slow degrees, began to give to their body a more
compact organization, and to introduce among their ranks a stricter
discipline. Those amendments, however, did but tend to augment their
influence and their power. But what most contributed to the
aggrandisement of that privileged class was the wealth which rapidly
accumulated in their treasury and in all their establishments.

This wealth flowed from a variety of sources. The church took its tithes
and first-fruits; and this income, slender and precarious as it was
during the wars against the Moors and the lengthened dispute between the
crowns of Castille and Arragon, increased, afterwards, to such an extent
as to produce most incredible amounts so soon as order had once become
consolidated under the firm rule of Isabella; for, then, all kinds of
useful labour began to fructify, especially those of agriculture, which
had to sustain the weight of these onerous burdens.

But besides that source of income, the churches were daily enriched by
the donations which they received from the munificence of kings and
magnates. The most meritorious act of devotion and of religion,
according to the popular notion of those times, was the endowment of a
church with lands, flocks, and plate. These