but the individual
will always remain in the background.

In the special epoch of Spanish history with which the present chapter
is concerned, the twelfth century and the first part of the thirteenth,
there is little to say of women in general which cannot be said of the
mediaeval women of other parts of Europe. Oriental ideas had been
introduced to some extent, it is true, by the Moors, but otherwise the
general ignorance and dependence of the women of the time call for no
special comment. Above this commonplace level there are to be seen,
nevertheless, two women who occupied a commanding position in the world,
which was quite unusual. They were both queens of Castile, and as one
was bad, vain, reckless, and frivolous, so was the other good,
unselfish, wise, and dignified. Within the extremes of character which
their lives present is traced the measure of a woman's possibilities at
that time.

Urraca of Castile, daughter of Constance and King Alfonso VII.,
inherited little of her mother's devout nature; the world rather than
the Church had attracted her, and she began to show at an early age a
taste for gallantry and intrigue which became but more pronounced with
her maturer years. She was dark rather than fair, with an imperious
bearing, she had compelling eyes, and there was a grace in her movements
which it was difficult to see without admiring, but she was vain, intent
upon conquest, and without an atom of moral firmness, if all accounts be
true. Her mother was sorely tried by her waywardness, but did not live
long enough to appreciate her real lack of moral instinct; and her
father, in spite of his several marriages, which were almost as numerous
as those of Henry VIII. of England, was chagrined to find Urraca as his
sole heir, no other children having survived. In the hope that France
might again furnish material for a dignified alliance as it had done
before in sending Constance herself, Alfonso arranged for the marriage
of Urraca with Raymond of Burgundy. Urraca was soon left a widow, with
one son, Alfonso; and while she apparently felt some affection for this
child, she was in no way weaned from her love of excitement, and was
soon again the soul and centre of the court's gay revels. One among the
throng of courtiers attracted her, the tall Count Gomez of Candespina,
and she made no secret of her love for him. As often seen together,
they formed a striking pair, and it was not strange that the Castilian
nobl