Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/30

6 INTERNAL AFFAIRS. PART I. 1486. Inquisition in Aragon, sons were subjected to a feudal bondage, which had its origin in very remote ages, but which had be- come in no degree mitigated, while the peasantry of every other part of Europe had been gradually rising to the rank of freemen. The grievous nature of the impositions had led to repeated rebellions in preceding reigns. At length, Ferdinand, after many fruitless attempts at a mediation between these unfortunate people and their arrogant masters, prevailed on the latter, rather by force of author- ity than argument, to relinquish the extraordinary seignorial rights, which they had hitherto enjoyed, in consideration of a stipulated annual payment from their vassals. ^ The other circumstance worthy of record, but not in like manner creditable to the character of the sovereign, is the introduction of the modern Inquisition into Aragon. The ancient tribunal had existed there, as has been stated in a previous chapter, since the middle of the thirteenth century, but seems to have lost all its venom in the atmo- sphere of that free country ; scarcely assuming a jurisdiction beyond that of an ordinary ecclesiasti- cal court. No sooner, however, was the institution organized on its new basis in Castile, than Ferdi- nand resolved on its introduction, in a similar form, in his own dominions. Measures were accordingly taken to that effect in a meeting of a privy council convened by the king at Tara^ona, during the session of the cortes 4 Zurita, Anales, torn. iv. cap. 62, 67. paua, lib. 25, cap. 8. ■Mariana, Hist, de Es-