the Atlantic islands and beyond. There was no obvious clash of interests, and little economic rivalry. In their foreign policy Ferdinand and Isabella could use the duality to excellent effect.

The two rulers had no unifying programme, and initially few policies to be applied in both kingdoms. Due regard for the most pressing problems of each made this inevitable. Thus in Castile the most urgent need was for a restoration of royal authority over the nobility. In the large, still in many parts underpopulated, country the extensive property patterns of the reconquest remained; the nobles had acquired shares in royal taxation, which they helped to collect, and other privileges from the crown. The rulers used both firm measures and gentle incentives. Military force was invoked to check abuses of privileges; there was a revival of the hermandades or townbased militias, as an additional check: the monarchs continued the process of replacing the nobility as administrators by letrados or university-trained professionals. The aristocracy was to be made into a courtier class, dependent on the favours of the monarchs. At the same time the rulers recognized their immunity from taxation, and indirectly compensated them particularly by granting extensive privileges to the Mesta, the organization of livestock owners which included many of the aristocracy. All this kept Ferdinand in Castile; Aragon saw him for a total of less than seven years in the thirty-seven of his reign. Here, despite his absence, viceroys and the parliaments continued with government and some reforms were effected, especially in Catalonia, where Ferdinand recognized the need to heal the scars of the recent civil war and to encourage economic revival.

Ferdinand and Isabella's achievement, though, lies less in the detail of their administration than in the strong sense of direction achieved during their reign. That classic recipe, of a popular foreign war of aggression to unite opinion, took on special significance in this last phase of Reconquista; the time had come to complete the process. War--it was a crusade, and was subsidized by the papacy--for the conquest of Granada began in reaction to provocation by the king of Granada in

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