ld Byzantine workmanship, supposed to have aided the Cid in many a
battle,--as the only _souvenir_ of his stay in the Valencian see.

The next four or five bishops fought among themselves. At one time the
city had no fewer than two, a usurper, and another who was not much
better; the Pope deprived one of his dignity, the king another, the
influential Archbishop of Santiago chose a third, who was also
deposed--the good old times!--until at last one Berengario was
appointed, and the ignominious conflict was peacefully settled.

The inhabitants of the city at the beginning were a strong, warlike
medley of Jews (these were doubtless the least warlike!), Arabs,
Aragonese, Castilian, French, and Leonese. Bands of these without a
commander invaded Moorish territory, sacking and pillaging where they
could. On one occasion they were pursued by an Arab army, whose general
asked to speak with the captain of the Salamantinos. The answer was,
"Each of us is his own captain!" words that can be considered typical of
the anarchy which reigned in Spain until the advent of Isabel and
Ferdinand in the fifteenth century.

If the bishops fought among themselves, and if the low class people
lived in a state of utter anarchy, the same spirit spread to--or
emanated from--the nobility, of whom Salamanca had more than its share,
especially as soon as the university was founded. The annals of no other
city are so replete with family traditions and feuds, which were not
only restricted to the original disputers, to their families and
acquaintances, but became generalized among the inhabitants themselves,
who took part in the feud. Thus it often happened that the city was
divided into two camps, separated by an imaginary line, and woe betide
the daring or careless individual who crossed it!

One of the most dramatic of these feuds--a savage species of
vendetta--was the following:

Dona Maria Perez, a Plasencian dame of noble birth, had married one of
the most powerful noblemen in Salamanca, Monroy by name, and upon the
latter's death remained a widowed mother of two sons. One of them asked
and obtained in marriage the hand of a noble lady who had refused a
similar proposition made by one Enriquez, son of a Sevillan aristocrat.
The youth's jealousy and anger was therefore bitterly aroused, and he
and his brother waited for a suitable opportunity in which to avenge
themselves. It soon came: they were playing Spanish ball, _pelota_, one
day with