CHAPTER XVI

The Majorcan historians--War of succession--Families ennobled--Cotoners--Raxa and Cardinal Despuig--Country houses

With the war of the ‘Comunidades’ the romance of Majorcan history ends. During the seventeenth century the country was very slowly recovering from the effects of that disastrous rising; but it was long before the good relations between the different classes of the people were restored. The island was governed under the Kings of the House of Austria by Viceroys, of whom five were natives of Majorca. The names of Moncada, Fuster, Pax, Zaforteza, and Sureda occur in the list.

But though the making of history seemed to be dead, the work of recording the glorious annals of Majorca under her own kings was zealously undertaken by natives of the island. The first official chronicler, appointed by the Jurados, was Don Juan Dameto. He wrote the ‘Historia General del reino Balearico’ between 1621 and 1631, and died prematurely in 1633. His work commences with the earliest Roman times and is brought down to the death of Jayme II. Dameto had travelled much and was an accomplished scholar. His work is by no means a mere chronicle. The style is agreeable and full without being prolix, and shows a sense of proportion and of the relative importance of events.

Don Vicente Mut, who was born at Palma in 1614, was the continuator of Dameto. He was a military man and major of the militia of his island, an accomplished mathematician, as well as a student of history. He searched the archives with great diligence, and gives valuable details respecting the administration of the island at different periods. His history covers the ground from the accession of King Sancho to the suppression of the ‘Comunidades,’ and contains spirited accounts of the raids of Barbary pirates and histories of the monasteries and hospitals. Mut died in 1687.

With him our accessible island histories end, for the history of Geronimo Alemany, which would bring the record down to the death of Charles II., the last King of the House of Austria, is still in manuscript. We have to thank Don Miguel Moragues Pro and Don Joaquim Maria Bover for having edited the histories of Dameto and Mut, with very copious notes. The three thick volumes were published at Palma in 1841, and a fourth volume containing the history by Alemany was promised. Visitors to Palma who take an intelligent interest in the history of the island will desire to possess and to read them. They will find the three volumes at the excellent book-seller’s shop of Don Felipe Guasp, No. 6 Morey Street, the first turn to the right after crossing the Plaza de Santa Eulalia.

The eighteenth century opened with the war of succession. The French claimant was a grandson of a sister of Charles II. The German claimant was a grandson of Charles’s aunt. Catalonia and Majorca espoused the cause of the German archduke, while the rest of Spain proclaimed the French prince as Philip V. On October 1, 1706, Majorca was occupied by the troops of the Archduke Charles, and all adherents of the French claimant were persecuted or banished. Even after the fall of Barcelona the Majorcans held out. But all was in vain. In June 1715 a large army landed and besieged Palma, which capitulated after a siege of seventeen days, and the Bourbons forced the islanders to submit to their yoke. All the ancient privileges and grants of the Aragonese monarchs to the Majorcans were abolished, with their form of government. Captains-general were substituted for the Viceroys, and the present fortifications of Palma were constructed in the reign of Philip V. Majorca suffered from the misgovernment of Bourbon rule with the rest of Spain. From that time the people have had to rely upon their own virility, energy, and skill for any advance in civilisation and well-being, and not in vain. The Majorcans steadily progressed, while their old families, claiming descent from the soldiers of King Jayme, became distinguished in arms and letters and were ennobled, several as early as the times of the Austrian kings. In 1625 the title of Marquis of Bellpuig was given to the family of Dameto y Cotoner, in 1632 that of Santa Maria de Formiguera to the family of Burgues Zaforteza y Villalonga, in 1634 that of Count of Ayamans to the family of Togores (formerly Moncada), in 1658 that of Count of Montenegro to the family of Despuig, and in 1717 that of Count of Ariañy to the family of Cotoner. Several titles were also conferred on Majorcan families during the eighteenth century; generally well deserved.[23]

Among the distinguished sons of the Cotoner family was Rafael Cotoner, who was Grand Master of Malta from 1660 to 1663. He built Fort Ricasoli and the lines which are still known as the Cotonera. His brother, Nicolas Cotoner, was Grand Master from 1663 to 1680. An almost equally distinguished member of this family was the late General Cotoner, who was Governor of Porto Rico, and was devotedly attached to his native island and her interests.

But it was to members of the ancient family of Despuig that Majorca owed its fame as a place of cultured learning during the eighteenth century. Descended from Bernardo Despuig, a companion of the Conqueror Jayme I., the family has always been closely connected with the history of the island. Among them Juan Bautista Despuig served at Lepanto and in Flanders; but his best title to fame was that he devoted his wealth to the promotion of the well-being of his poorer neighbours and won the title of ‘Father of the Poor.’ His grandson did such good service as a military commander that in 1658 he was created Count of Montenegro. The first Count’s son, Bernardo, was Grand Master of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem at Malta from 1736 to 1741. Juan Despuig, the second Count of Montenegro and also Count of Montoro by right of his mother, espoused the Bourbon side in the War of Succession, and suffered a long imprisonment in the castle of Belver from 1706 to 1715, the period of the Austrian occupation of the island. Many other members of the family were distinguished for their services to the State. The best-known is Dr. Don Antonio Despuig, who was Archbishop of Valencia and of Seville and Cardinal of San Calisto, a prelate not more famed for his learning than for the love he always showed for his island home.

Cardinal Despuig has left many memorials which will ever secure for him an honourable place in the island’s history. He devoted both time, money, and a cultivated taste to enriching the country seat of his nephew, the Count of Montenegro, as well as his palace in Palma, with the most precious literary and artistic productions of Italy and Spain.

The country seat of Raxa is a place of enchantment at the foot of the mountains, approached from Palma through miles of almond-groves in full blossom during February. In Moorish times it was called Araxa, and was granted by King Jayme I. to the Count of Ampurias, becoming the property of the family of Despuig in 1620. Raxa is a large house of three storeys, built round a courtyard, with an ancient elm-tree in the centre. The rooms are exceedingly numerous, and all the furniture is of a date at least 150 years ago. There are many beautiful Florentine cabinets, some good pictures, and fayence. The dining-room has a carved oak ceiling in squares, with an old fayence plate let into each. One room is full of valuable Vatican engravings, another of paintings of Rome as it was 150 years ago. One side of the house has balconies, with arcades, looking on the garden and over a lovely view. The great glory of Raxa is the museum of Roman sculpture. Cardinal Despuig acquired a site near Albano, where once had stood the superb temple to Egeria, built by the Emperor Domitian. Between 1787 and 1796 the Cardinal conducted excavations which brought to light many statues, busts, altars, and other remains, which he sent to Majorca to adorn his nephew’s country seat. There is a very fine statue of Trajan, others of Caligula, Hercules, a gladiator, &c. A full descriptive list is given in Bover’s ‘Noticias Historico-topograficas.’[24] Opposite to the door of the museum is that of the chapel, where there is a picture of Jesus and the Woman of Samaria.

There is a charming garden, with fountains, in front of the house, and orange-groves beyond. Behind there are garden terraces up the mountain side, and two very large tanks. A long flight of steps, with statues on either side and water flowing down in masonry channels, leads up to loftier terraces with flower-beds and groves of cypress, pine-trees, and laurustinus. It is like fairyland; and from a summer-house there are views of the sea of almond-blossoms extending to Palma on one side, and of the pine-clad mountains and serrated peaks on the other.

Many of the treasures collected by the Cardinal are in the Montenegro palace in the city of Palma. This palace, in the street of the same name, has a courtyard with palm-trees, whence a wide stone staircase leads to a gallery, where is the front door. The rooms are large and lofty, richly furnished, and warmed by _braseros_. At the back of the house there is a good-sized garden with palm-trees and an evergreen oak. In this palace are more of the treasures collected by the Cardinal. The famous _portolano_ of Valseca has already been fully described. At the top of the house is the magnificent library, arranged in subjects. One of the most valuable books is a manuscript ‘Nobiliario’ of the Aragonese nobility of the fifteenth century, with coats of arms beautifully painted. Here, too, is the original manuscript of Alemany’s history. The poetical and historical works are the most numerous, including fine editions of ‘Don Quijote.’ The room is of great length, and at the end was the cabinet of coins, Roman Consular and Imperial, Spanish-Arabian, Gothic, and Aragonese kings. According to Bover, the finest collection of Majorcan coins is in the cabinet of the Count of Ayamans.

Cardinal Despuig, who was an intimate friend of Pope Pius VI., died at Lucca on May 2, 1813, leaving to his country a thousand memorials which will give his name an honoured place in the Balearic _fasti_. His nephew, for whom all these collections were made, died in the same year. This Count’s son, Ramon, fifth Count of Montenegro, was Captain-General of Majorca, and died in 1848. The present Count, to whose great courtesy our knowledge of Raxa and the Cardinal’s treasures is due, is a grandson of the Captain-General, and is the seventh Count of Montenegro.

Majorca boasts other country houses almost as beautiful, though not quite so interesting as Raxa. Alfavia has already been described, and Canet, the home of the Torrellas, has been mentioned. Another charming country seat is La Granja de Esporla, the home of the Fortuñy family. It is in a valley, with mountain-spurs on either side and abundant supplies of water. The house is built round a courtyard, one side having a wide stone passage on the upper storey, with open colonnades. Over the archway into the courtyard there is a stone coat of arms of Fortuñy (_argent five pellets_, _two_, _two_, _and one_; quartering Gual, Despuig, and Zaforteza). There is a very large stone-paved hall, hung with pictures, which opens on to a narrow garden leading to terraces up the mountain-side, fountains, and artificial grottos. In front there is a long pergola of roses, orange and lemon groves, and a splendid old yew-tree. The mountains are clothed with ilex as well as pine-trees.

There are great advantages in the chief people of the island living in their country houses during the summer and having personal intercourse with their people. It encourages enterprise. Thus at Esporlas there are extensive cloth-factories, and at Canet, under the patronage of the Torrellas, there is a fayence-manufactory, producing vases with very beautiful designs.