Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/510

482 482 FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. FART II. Public em- beUishments. dence and maritime enterprise the proudest of the Italian republics ;^^^ Medina del Campo, whose fairs were already the great mart for the commercial exchanges of the Peninsula ; ^^^ and Seville,"^ the golden gate of the Indies, whose quays began to be thronged with merchants from the most distant countries of Europe. The resources of the inhabitants were displayed in the palaces and public edifices, fountains, aque- ducts, gardens, and other works of utility and orna- ment. This lavish expenditure was directed by an improved taste. Architecture was studied on purer principles than before, and, with the sister arts of design, showed the influence of the new connexion with Italy in the first gleams of that excellence, 131 It was a common saying in Navagiero's time, " Barcelona la ricca, Saragossa la harta, Valentia la hennosa." (Viaggio, fol. 5.) The grandeur and commercial splendor of the first-named city, which forms the subject of Capma- ny's elaborate work, have been suf- ficiently displayed in PartL, Chap- ter 2, of this History. 132 '< Algunos suponen,^^ says Capmany, "que eslas ferias eran ya famosas en tiempo de los Reyes Catolicos," &c. (Mem. de Barce- lona, torn. iii. p. 356.) A very cursory glance at the laws of this time, will show the reasonableness of the supposition. See the Prag- maticas, fol. 146, and the ordinan- ces from the archives of Simancas, apud Mem. do Acad., tom. vi. pp. 249, 252, providing for the erection of buildings and other accommoda- tions for the " great resort of trad- ers." In 1520, four years after Ferdinand's death, the city, in a petition to the regent, represented the losses sustained by its mer- chants in the recent fire, as more than the revenues of the crown would probably be able to meet for several years. (Ibid., p. 264.) Navagiero, who visited Medina some six years later, when it was rebuilt, bears unequivocal testimo- ny to its commercial importance. " Medina e buona terra, e piena di buone case, abondante assai se non che le tante ferie che se vi fanno ogn' anno, e il concorso grande che vi ^ di tutta Spagna, fanno pur che il tutto si paga piCi di quel che si faria.* * * * * La feria e abondante certo di molte cose, ma sopra tutto di speciarie assai, che vengono di Portogallo ; ma le maggior faccen- de che se vi facciano sono cambij." Viaggio, fol. 36. 133 " ftiiicn no vi6 4 Sevilla No vi6 innravilla." The proverb, according to Zuiii- ga, is as old as the time of Alonso XL Annales de Sevilla, p. 183.