Madrid in the Lent of 1495. How did the news affect Ximenez ? "On Good Friday, Ximenez, after he had heard the confession of the queen, was preparing himself to leave his convent at Madrid, in order to spend the holydays in retirement at Ocaña, when one of her majesty's chamberlains unexpectedly summoned him to the palace. He immediately obeyed, hoping soon to obtain leave of absence. Isabella, however, to his great astonishment, after speaking to him for a long time. on many indifferent things, presented the Papal bulls to him with these words,' Reverend father, you will see by these letters what are the commands of his Holiness.' Ximenez kissed them with the greatest reverence (as is the usual custom in the Catholic Church) before he began to read them. When he opened them, and saw the superscription running thus, 'To our venerable brother Francisco Ximenez de Cisneros, Archbishop elect of Toledo,' he changed colour, and immediately left the chamber, saying, 'These letters are not for me,' without even taking leave of Isabella, who contented herself with replying in a kind manner, 'Allow me to see what his Holiness has written to you.' He hastened to Ocaña, without saying anything to his companion Ruyz but these words, 'Come, brother, we must leave here as soon as possible.'". P. 36. He was brought back when three miles from Madrid; but it was six months before he was compelled to occupy the primatial see of Spain. Ximenez was consecrated in a Franciscan convent at Tarazona on the eleventh of October, 1495, in the presence of the two sovereigns. On going, according to custom, to kiss their hands at the conclusion of the ceremony, he said, "I come to kiss the hands of your majesties, not because they have raised me to the first see in Spain, but because I hope they will assist me in supporting the burden which they have placed on my shoulders." This rise was certainly a very rapid one; it was not twelve years since the death of Carillo, who had imprisoned Ximenez, and the dignities of the persecutor had been transferred to the persecuted. We find Ximenez as archbishop retaining all the simple habits of a Franciscan monk, and in fact incited by Pope Alexander VI. to adopt a greater sumptuousness of living; his life was a protest against the pomp and luxury with which the Medieval period closed. All his biographers agree in ascribing to him an episcopal life of more than common zeal and self-devotion. The ungrateful (though often forgiven) conduct of his brother Bernardin occurred about this time. Some preceding chapters are occupied with various minor details of Ximenez's administration; how being lord over fifteen large cities, with a large number of smaller towns and villages, he strove to keep the rights of his see intact, and his patronage free from corruption; how as Grand Chancellor he was 1 P. 38. called upon to marry Prince Juan and Margaret of Austria, on April 3, 1495; how he altered the system of taxation, and went with Isabella to Saragossa. Next we find him busily engaged with Talavera about the Moorish mission, with Moorish priests and doctors at his palace, so that on the 18th of December, 1499, he was enabled to baptise four thousand people. Soon afterwards he caused several thousand copies of the Koran to be burnt in the square at Granada, to which act Dr. Hefele is not slow in comparing the act of Luther, who burnt the books of the Canon Law belonging to the Christian Church before the gate of Wittenburg. Had matters ended here all would have been well with the Moorish mission, but Ximenez used means to force converts to Christianity that nothing could justify, and aided by the Count of Tendilla, he managed finally to gain the day. We cannot coincide in Dr. Hefele's doubt as to whether Ximenez had anything to do with the edict (Pragmatica) which was published in February, 1502, an edict "whereby all unbaptized Moors in the kingdoms of Castile and Leon, above fourteen years of age, if males, and twelve, if females, were commanded to leave the country by the end of the following April." The whole tenour of such a document would coincide exactly with the former policy adopted by Ximenez in this matter. We know that it could not have originated with the Grand Inquisitor Torquemada, for he had been dead some time before this, although the second Grand Inquisitor, Deza, who was at that time the confessor of King Ferdinand, may, as Llorente suspects, have had a subsidiary hand in its preparation. We have now reached a position to mention three of Ximenez' greatest works, the foundation of the university of Alcalá; his edition of the Bible called the Complutensian Polyglot; his reformation and restoration of the Mozarabic Liturgy. As to the first, we find that Spain shared in that dawn of philological and classical studies that broke out in the middle of the fifteenth century. Nothing was done in Spain towards the revival of letters under Henry IV.; and it was not until after Isabella had been seated on the throne for some time, that she was enabled to fulfil her real intentions in favour of this movement. Firstly came the patronage and encouragement of the art of printing; then such men as the brothers Antonio and Alessandro Geraldino, Peter Martyr, Marino Siculo, and other Spaniards "who sought to collect rare and rich treasures of knowledge in foreign lands," such as Antonio de Lebrija, and Avias Barbosa, were invited to court, and received the royal patronage. Next the queen formed a "Schola Palatina," to ever accompany the Court, of which Peter Martyr was the head. "All the Castilian nobles," he says, "had sucked his literary breasts." The translator gives us an extract from Peter Martyr's Epistles, (115,) which well illustrates the revival just then begun. 1 P. 77. 66 6 My house," he says, " swarms all the day long with noble youths, who, reclaimed from ignoble pursuits to those of letters, are now convinced that these, so far from being a hindrance, are rather a help in the profession of arms. . . . . It has pleased our royal mistress, the pattern of every exalted virtue, that her own near kinsman, the Duke of Guimaraens, as well as the young Duke of Villahermosa, the King's nephew, should remain under my roof the whole day." Then arose the Spanish schools, the chairs of which were often filled by men who united the profoundest talents with a most illustrious descent. Salamanca was called the Spanish Athens, containing at one time seven thousand students. "It was there that Peter Martyr gave lessons on Juvenal (1488) before such an immense audience that the entrance to the hall was completely blocked up, and the lecturer had to be carried in on the shoulders of the students. And yet at this time there were other schools formed, at Toledo, Seville, Granada, Ognate, Ossuna, and Valencia. At length all were completely thrown into the shade by the new university of Alcalá, which the Spaniards called the eighth wonder of the world."" Alcalá was the ancient Complutum, pleasantly situated on the banks of the Henares, it had been the seat of a school for two hundred years, which existed under the patronage of the Archbishop of Toledo. The foundation stone of the college of San Ildefonso was laid by Ximenez in 1500, Gumiel the most celebrated architect of the time in Spain having supplied the plans for the building. After various interruptions-partly occasioned by the delay of the Papal Bulls, and partly by Ximenez' court duties, and his subsequent ill health, the university was opened on the 26th of July, 1508. The staff consisted of thirty-three professors and twelve chaplains, the college of San Ildefonso being the head of the university. Then we read of forty-two poor scholars being supported for three years free of all expense, to study the classics; of the colleges of S. Balbina and of S. Catherine which were intended for the students in philosophy, each containing forty-eight scholars, who were required to attend the lectures given by eight professors of the university, and who, at the end of their studies held a disputation for fourteen days before the Rector and the Chancellor of the University, after which degrees were conferred of either bachelor, licentiate, or master of arts. Another school was founded to be a kind of hospital to the University, as well as a Franciscan college called the little school, containing twelve scholars under the authority of the Warden. There were several other colleges connected with this university which we cannot now enumerate; suffice it to say, that "the whole university was under the perpetual patronage of the King of Castile, of the Cardinal de Santa Balbina, the archbishop of Toledo, the Duke del Infantado, and the Count of Corunna." The total number of professors was forty-two: six for Theology, six for Canon Law, four for Medicine, one for Anatomy, one for Surgery, eight for Philosophy, one for Moral Philosophy, one for Mathematics, four for Hebrew and Greek, four for Rhetoric, and six for Grammar: Civil Law was not taught here, as its study flourished at Salamanca and Valladolid. The professorships were only tenable for four years, and the stipends were not paid to the professors who did not lecture. Degrees were conferred in Philosophy, Medicine, and Theology; but in Theology only after a course of study for ten years. The history of Elio Antonio de Lebrija, forms one of the most interesting episodes in the professorial history of the University of Alcalá: a student for five years at Salamanca, and for ten in Italy, a professor at Salamanca, the composer of a Latin dictionary, preceptor of Prince Juan, historiographer under Ferdinand and Isabella, professor at Alcalá, and one of the compilers of the Complutensian Polyglot. Dr. Hefele gives some very interesting particulars of the visit which King Ferdinand paid to the university in 1514, when the King said, "Here is the residence of the muses, where the learned are kings," because the regal attendants objected to the state employed by the Rector; a visit during which Ximenez said, on the king observing that one of the walls was but made of clay, "I am consoled by the reflection that what is now made of clay will one day be made of marble;" a prophecy which was fulfilled some forty-three years after it was uttered. Francis I. of France visited the University some years after, he is reported to have said, "Your Ximenez has undertaken and accomplished a work which I myself could not attempt. The University of Paris, the pride of my kingdom, is the work of many sovereigns, but Ximenez alone has founded one like it." In 1807 the once magnificent university of Alcalá was dissolved and suppressed. When The eleventh chapter of Dr. Hefele's life on the " Complutensian Polyglot" contains, to our thinking, the most interesting portion of the whole work. It opens with an account of the state of Biblical criticism at the beginning of the fifteenth century. The names of Stephen of Citeaux, of Hugo de Santo Caro, of Cardinal Pierre d'Ailly are found, amongst the pioneers in this department of learning. We are told, from 1462 to the year 1500, eighty editions of the Vulgate appeared; the Jews meanwhile working most industriously to procure types and to strike off impressions of the several books of the Old Testament. Then Ximenez comes before us again; we are reminded of the love which he manifested for the Hebrew and Chaldee languages, when head chaplain of Sigüenza; "Often was he heard to say, that he would willingly give up all his knowledge of civil law to be able to explain only a single verse of the Bible."2 His Polyglot was the carrying out of this feeling, for in the prolegomena we find him saying "Every theo VOL. XXII. 1 P. 135. 2 s 2 P. 136. logian should also be able to drink of that water which springeth up to eternal life, at the fountain head itself. This is the reason therefore why we have ordered the Bible to be printed in the original language with different translations." The great idea of producing this Polyglot, founded upon the notion of the Hexapla of Origen, was conceived in 1502 during the court festivities on the acknowledgment of Joanna and Philip as heirs to the crown of Spain. The names of all the learned men collected together at Alcalá for the purpose of working at the MSS. are given by Dr. Hefele. Pope Leo X. aided the undertaking very much, when only a cardinal he sent to Ximenez some of the treasures of the Vatican library, and when Pope permitted the work to be dedicated to himself. The thanks for the loan are thus expressed :"Atque ex ipsis (exemplaribus) quidem Græca Sanctitati Tuæ debemus, qui ex istâ Apostolica Bibliothecâ antiquissimos tam Veteris quam Novi Testamenti codices perquam humanè ad nos misisti." Most probably the "Codex Vaticanus" was not among the MSS. sent from Rome for collation, for Blanchini thinks that Ximenez used many MSS. in the formation of his Greek text, and he proves that the Complutensian text ("sæpissime deflectat") very often differs from the readings of this celebrated Codex. There were also codices in Hebrew, and Latin, and some of those written in the Gothic character were employed for his edition of the Vulgate. The old story of Moldenhawer, who going to Alcalá in 1784, was told that some thirty years before, an ignorant librarian who wanted room for some new books, had sold the ancient vellum MSS. to a person named Toryo, as "membranas inutiles," who being a firework-maker, used them as materials for his rockets, is hardly likely to have more than a foundation in fact, for as with the Roman MSS. so doubtless with most of the others, it happened that they were returned to their possessors when their collation had been completed. The whole expense of the work was about £25,000; and although only 600 copies were printed, the published price of the six folio volumes was under four pounds sterling, and even this produce Ximenez devoted to charitable purposes. Dr. Hefele gives an elaborate account of the contents of each of the six volumes, the last of which was issued from the press of Arnold William de Brocario, of Alcalá, on the 10th of July, 1517. "As soon," says Dr. Hefele, "as John Brocario, the young son of the printer, clothed in his best attire, ran with the last sheets to the cardinal, Ximenez exclaimed with great joy, raising his eyes to heaven, I give Thee thanks, O most High GoD, that Thou hast brought to the long-wished-for end this work which I undertook.'" Ximenez survived this incident only four months; while the Papal permission for the publication of this book was not received for two years afterwards. And the end of an exceedingly well written and |