Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/496

468 468 FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. PART period ; a circumstance implying more wisdom in '. — her policy than is commonly conceded to her. The fate of the acquisitions alluded to forms no excep- tion to the remark ; and Naples, like Sicily, con- tinued permanently ingrafted on the kingdom of Aragon. Government ^ fundamental change in the institutions of Na- of Naples. O pies became requisite to accommodate them to its new relations. Its great offices of state and its legal tribunals were reorganized. Its jurisprudence, which, under the Angevin race, and even the first Aragonese, had been adapted to French usages, was now modelled on the Spanish. The various inno- vations were conducted by the Catholic king with his usual prudence ; and the reform in the legisla- tion is commended by a learned and impartial Italian civilian, as breathing a spirit of moderation and wisdom. ^°° He conceded many privileges to the people, and to the capital especially, whose vener- able university he resuscitated from the decayed state into which it had fallen, making liberal ap- propriations from the treasury for its endowment. The support of a mercenary army, and the burdens incident to the war, pressed heavily on the people during the first years of his reign. But the Nea- politans, who, as already noticed, had been trans- ferred too often from one victor to another to be keenly sensible to the loss of political indepen- 100 " Queste furono," says Gian- gnuoli piu d' ogni altra nazione none, " le prime leggi che ci avveduli, e piii esatti imilatori de' diedero gli Spagnuoli : Icggi tutte Romani." Istoria di Napoli, lib. provvidc c savie, nello stabilir delle 30, cap. 5. quali furono veramente gli Spa-