maintained by the various military orders, who devoted themselves, in the
bold language of the age, to the service "of God and the ladies." So that
the Spaniard may be said to have put in action what, in other countries,
passed for the extravagances of the minstrel. An example of this occurs in
the fifteenth century, when a passage of arms was defended at Orbigo, not
far from the shrine of Compostella, by a Castilian knight, named Sueno de
Quenones, and his nine companions, against all comers, in the presence of
John the Second and his court. Its object was to release the knight from
the obligation, imposed on him by his mistress, of publicly wearing an
iron collar round his neck every Thursday. The jousts continued for thirty
days, and the doughty champions fought without shield or target, with
weapons bearing points of Milan steel. Six hundred and twenty-seven
encounters took place, and one hundred and sixty-six lances were broken,
when the emprise was declared to be fairly achieved. The whole affair is
narrated with becoming gravity by an eye-witness, and the reader may fancy
himself perusing the adventures of a Launcelot or an Amadis. [73]

The influence of the ecclesiastics in Spain may be traced back to the age
of the Visigoths, when they controlled the affairs of the state in the
great national councils of Toledo. This influence was maintained by the
extraordinary position of the nation after the conquest. The holy warfare,
in which it was embarked, seemed to require the co-operation of the
clergy, to propitiate Heaven in its behalf, to interpret its mysterious
omens, and to move all the machinery of miracles, by which the imagination
is so powerfully affected in a rude and superstitious age. They even
condescended, in imitation of their patron saint, to mingle in the ranks,
and, with the crucifix in their hands, to lead the soldiers on to battle.
Examples of these militant prelates are to be found in Spain so late as
the sixteenth century. [74]