or John's encouragement of literature, the general
intellectual movement, and the birth of Isabella, three years before
John's death.

The immediate heir to the throne was Isabella's elder half-brother
Henry. Her mother was the Princess of Portugal, so that on both sides
she was descended from John of Gaunt, the father of our Lancastrian
line. Both her childhood and that of Ferdinand of Aragon, a year her
junior, were passed amidst tumultuous scenes of civil war. Henry,
good-natured, incompetent, and debauched, yielded himself to favourites,
hence he was more than once almost rejected from his throne. Old King
John II. of Aragon was similarly engaged in a long civil war, mainly
owing to his tyrannous treatment of his eldest son, Carlos.

But by 1468 Isabella and Ferdinand were respectively recognised as the
heirs of Castile and Aragon. In spite of her brother, Isabella made
contract of marriage with the heir of Aragon, the instrument securing
her own sovereign rights in Castile, though Henry thereupon nominated
another successor in her place. The marriage was effected under romantic
conditions in October 1469, one circumstance being that the bull of
dispensation permitting the union of cousins within the forbidden
degrees was a forgery, though the fact was unknown at the time to
Isabella. The reason of the forgery was the hostility of the then pope;
a dispensation was afterwards obtained from Sixtus IV. The death of
Henry, in December 1474, placed Isabella and Ferdinand on the throne of
Castile.

_II.--Overthrow of the Moorish Dominion_

Isabella's claim to Castile rested on her recognition by the Cortes; the
rival claimant was a daughter of the deceased king, or at any rate, of
his wife, a Portuguese princess. Alfonso of Portugal supported his niece
Joanna's claim. In March 1476 Ferdinand won the decisive victory of
Toro; but the war of the succession was not definitely terminated by
treaty till 1479, some months after Ferdinand had succeeded John on the
throne of Aragon.

Isabella was already engaged in reorganising the administration of
Castile; first, in respect of justice, and codification of the law;
secondly, by depressing the nobles. A sort of military police, known as
the _hermandad_, was established. These reforms were carried out with
excellent effect; instead of birth, merit became the primary
qualification for honourable offices. Papal usurpations on
ecclesiastical rights were resisted, trade was