Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/71

liii iermaii dades of Castile CASTILE. liii plainly how often the rights of the people were in- section vaded by the violence of the privileged orders, or the more artful and systematic usurpations of the crown. But, far from being intimidated by such acts, the representatives in cortes were ever ready to stand forward as the intrepid advocates of con- stitutional freedom ; and the unqualified boldness of their language on such occasions, and the con- sequent concessions of the sovereign, are satisfac- tory evidence of the real extent of their power, and show how cordially they must have been sup- ported by public opinion. It would be improper to pass by without notice He an anomalous institution peculiar to Castile, which sought to secure the public tranquillity by means scarcely compatible themselves with civil subordi- nation. I refer to the celebrated Hermandad, or Holy Brotherhood, as the association was some- times called, a name familiar to most readers in the lively fictions of Le Sage, though conveying there no very adequate idea of the extraordinary func- tions which it assumed at the period under review. Instead of a regularly organized police, it then con- sisted of a confederation of the principal cities bound together by solemn league and covenant, for the defence of their liberties in seasons of civil anarchy. Its affairs were conducted by deputies, who assembled at stated intervals for this purpose, transacting their business under a common seal, enacting laws which they were careful to transmit to the nobles and even the sovereign himself, and enforcing their measures by an armed force. This