Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/435

291 THE SPANISH ARABS. 291 as the fifteenth century. The Genoese are men- chapter VIII. tioned as having mercantile establishments in Gra- '. — nada ; and treaties of commerce were entered into with this nation, as well as with the crown of Aragon. Their ports swarmed with a motley con- tribution from " Europe, Africa, and the Levant," so that " Granada," in the words of the historian, " became the common city of all nations." " The reputation of the citizens for trust-worthiness," says a Spanish writer, " was such, that their bare word was more relied on, than a written contract is now among us ; " and he quotes the saying of a Catholic bishop, that " Moorish works and Span- ish faith were all that were necessary to make a good Christian. " ^'^ The revenue, which was computed at twelve Resources ot ■*■ the crown. hundred thousand ducats, was derived from similar, but, in some respects, heavier impositions than those of the caliphs of Cordova. The crown, besides being possessed of valuable plantations in the vega, imposed the onerous tax of one seventh on all the agricultural produce of the kingdom. The pre- cious metals were also obtained in considerable 36 Pedraza, Antiguedad de Gra- on his passage to the court of nada, fol. 101. — Denina, Delle Ri- Lisbon in the middle of the fif- voluzioni d' Italia, (Venezia, 1816,) teenth century, contrasts the su- Capmany y Montpalau, Meraorias perior cultivation, as well as gen- Historicas sobre la Marina, Co- eral civilization, of Granada at this mercio, y Artes de Barcelona, period with that of the other coun- (Madrid, 1779 - 92,) torn. iii. p. tries of Europe through which he 218; torn. iv. pp. 67 et seq. — had travelled. Sismondi, Histoire Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, desRepubliquesItaliennes duMoy- tom. iii. cap. 26. — The ambassa- en-Age, (Paris, 1818,) torn. ix. p. dor of the emperor Frederic III., 405.