Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/476

448 448 FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. PART II. simple and uniform system. Some approach was made towards this in the code of the " Ordenan9as Reales," compiled in the early part of the queen's reign. ^^ The great body of Pragmdticas, subse- quently issued, were also collected into a separate volume by her command, ^^ and printed the year before her death. ^^ These two codes may there- fore be regarded as embracing the ordinary legisla- tion of her reign. In 1505, the celebrated little code, called " Leyes de Toro," from the place where the cortes was held, received the sanction of that body. ^^ Its 41 See Part I., Chapter 6, of this History. "^■2 "A collection," says sefior Clemencin, " of the last impor- tance, and indispensable to a right understanding of the spirit of Isa- bella's government, but, neverthe- less, little known to CastiJian wri- ters, not excepting the most learned of them." (Mem.de la Acad, de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 9.) No edition of the Praginaticas has appeared since the publication of Philip H.'s "Nueva Recopilacion," in 1567, in which a large portion of them are embodied. The remainder hav- ing no further authority, the work has gradually fallen into oblivion. But, whatever be the cause, the fact is not very creditable to pro- fessional science in Spain. ^^ The earliest edition was at Alcala de Henares, printed by Lanzalao Polono, in 1503. It was revised and prepared for the press by Johan Ramirez, secretary of the royal council, from whom the work is often called "Pragmdticas de Ramirez." It passed through sev- eral editions by 1550. Clomencin (ubi supra) enumerates five, but liis list is incomplete, as the one in my possession, probably the second, has escaped his notice. It is a fine old folio, in black letter, containing in addition some ordi- nances of Joanna, and the " Laws of Toro," in 192 folios. On the last is this notice by the printer. " Fue ympressa la presente obra en la muy noble y muy leal cibdad de Seuilla, por Juan Varela ym- pressor de libros. Acabose a dos dias del mes de otubre de mill y quinientos y veynte aiios." The first leaf after the table of contents exhibits the motives of its publica- tion " E porque como algunas de ellas (pragmaticas sanciones e car- tas) ha mucho tiempo que se dieron, e otras se liicieron en diversos tiem- pos, estan derramadas por muchas partes, no se saben por todos, k aun muchas de las dichas justicias no tienen complida noticia de todas ellas, paresciendo ser nccesario ^ provechoso ; inandamos a los del nucstro consejo que las hiciesen juntar k corregir e impremir," &c. ^4 "Leyes de Toro," say Asso and Manuel, " veneradas tanto des- de entonces, que se les dio el primer lugar de valimiento sobre todas las del Reyno." Institucioncs, Introd. p. 95.