History of the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic of Spain Volume 2 - Softcover

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1851 Excerpt: ...qualities of his hero. Every page bears the mark of that "golden pen " which the politic Italian reserved for his favourites; and while this obvious partiality may put the reader somewhat on his guard, it gives an interest to the work inferior to none other of his agrceable compositions. The most imposing of the Spanish memoirs of Gonsalvo, in bulk at least, is the " Chronica del Gran Capitan," Aleala de Henares, 1584. Nic. Antonio doubts whether the author were Pulgar, who wrote the " History of the Catholic Kings," of sueh frequent reference in the Granadine wars; or another Pulgar del Salar, as he is called, who received the honours of knighthood from king Ferdinand for his valorous exploits against the Moors. (Sce Bibliotheca Nova, torn. i. p. 387.) With regard to the first Pulgar, there is no reason to suppose that he lived into the sixtcenth century; and as to the second, the work composed by him, so far from being the one in question, was a compendium, bearing the title of "Sumario de los licchos del Gran Capitan," printed as early as 1527 at Seville. (Sec the editor's prologue to Pulgar's " Chronica de los Reyes Cat61icos," ed. Valencia, 1780.) Its author, therefore, remains in obscurity. He sustains no great damage on the score of reputation, however, from this cireumstance, as his work is but an indifferent specimen of the rich old Spanish chronicle, exhibiting most of its charaeteristic blemishes, with a very small admixture of its beauties. The long and prosy narrative is overloaded with the most frivolous details, trumpeted forth in a strain of glorification which sometimes disfigures more Sec Dubos, Ligue de Cambray, dissert. prelim. p. 60.--This French WTiter has shown himself superior to nati...