Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/229

205 CLASSICAL LEARNING.— SCIENCE. 205 archbishop of Toledo ; Talavera, whose hospitable chapter mansion was itself an academy for men of letters, — ^ — ^- and whose princely revenues were liberally dis- pensed for their support, was raised to the see of Granada ; and Ximenes, whose splendid literary projects will require more particular notice here- after, succeeded Mendoza in the primacy of Spain. Under the protection of these enlightened patrons, theological studies were pursued with ardor, the Scriptures copiously illustrated, and sacred elo- quence cultivated with success. A similar impulse was felt in the other walks of other scien- i ces. science. Jurisprudence assumed a new aspect, un- der the learned labors of Montalvo.^^ The mathe- matics formed a principal branch of education, and were successfully applied to astronomy and geogra- phy. Valuable treatises were produced on medi- cine, and on the more familiar practical arts, as husbandry, for example. ^^ History, which since the time of Alfonso the Tenth, had been held in higher honor and more widely cultivated in Castile than in any other European state, began to lay aside the garb of chronicle, and to be studied on more scientific principles. Charters and diplomas were consulted, manuscripts collated, coins and lapidary inscriptions deciphered, and collections made of these materials, the true basis of authentic ^ For some remarks on the la- culture, which, since its puhlica- bors of this distinguished juriscon- tion in Toledo, in 1520, has passed suit, see Part I. Chap. 6, and Part through a variety of editions at n. Chap. 26. of the present work, home, and translations abroad. 33 The most remarkable of these Nic. Antonio, Bibliotheca Nova, latter is Herrera's treatise on Agri- torn. i. p. 503.