Spain's Road to Empire
Page 67
(Below) Inheriting from his father a vast range of disunited territories and a bankrupt treasury, Philip II tried to give his empire both order and security, with the help of diplomats, generals and scientific experts from all the nations of Europe.
The execution at Brussels in 1568 of the Counts of Egmont and Homes and other Flemish nobles provoked an outcry against the regime of the Duke of Alba and plunged the Netherlands into eighty years of struggle for independence from Spanish control.
The defeat of the Spanish Armada by the English navy in 1588 was, both militarily and psychologically, the greatest reverse suffered by Spain during its epoch of world power. Fortunately, there were always Europeans who profited from the empire and were willing to support it during periods of crisis.
The legend of the golden man, or El Dorado, fascinated sixteenth-century Europeans (as we can see in this engraving by Theodore de Bry) and spurred several Spanish expeditions to search for the territory where gold was seemingly so abundant that the local king could bathe in it.
(left) Throughout colonial times Colombia remained an important area of gold mining. The pre-conquest Quimbaya culture of the valley of the river Cauca in Colombia produced many artefacts of gold, of which this figurine is an example. (right) African labour was essential to mining in all parts of Spanish America, since the native Indians could not endure the work conditions and quickly died. African slaves were also the main labour force in other key sectors of the colonial economy, notably sugar production.
Gold artefacts in a pre-conquest Mexica shop, as shown in the Florentine Codex edited by the sixteenth-century Fray Bernardino de Sahagún on the basis of information and drawings supplied by the Nahuas who helped him. Gold for the Indians was a metal used in ritual, for the Spaniards it was (Cortés claimed) a necessity of life.
A late colonial view of the great silver mine at Potosí in the mountains of Bolivia, showing the populous city that grew up round the site. Sustained by Indian and African labour, Potosí for a time dominated world production of silver.
The third Duke of Alba, Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, was Castile's most famous general of the imperial age. His harsh policies failed to produce a solution to the rebellion of the Netherlands, but he later successfully occupied Portugal.
Perhaps the most brilliant military commander ever to serve the empire, Alessandro Farnese, prince then later duke of Parma, achieved significant victories against the rebels in the Netherlands.
Chosen to command the army in the Netherlands because of his financial resources, the Genoese noble Ambrogio Spinola went on to become Spain's leading general in the age of the Thirty Years War. This superb portrait was done by his friend Peter Paul Rubens.
Spinola's most memorable achievement was the taking of the fortress of Breda from the Dutch rebels, in 1625. Ten years later Velázquez immortalized the event in a huge canvas that vindicated the majesty of the empire while also respecting the gallantry of the vanquished commander.
Cadiz had been the scene of successful attacks by English naval forces in the preceding century. When they botched it in a raid in 1625, the Spaniards were quick to celebrate the event in a sweeping canvas by Zurbarán.
Spanish missionaries were keen to achieve the conversion of native rulers, but they also systematically made use of violent punishment against Indian backsliders, as shown in this colonial chronicle.
Antonio de Mendoza, who governed New Spain from 1535 to 1550, was the first viceroy to be appointed in the New World empire, and laid down the lines along which the king's representatives would govern.
The Creole élite of colonial America was anxious to claim some part in the heritage of the Incas. This panel of c.1750 shows the succession of the kings of Peru from the Inca Manco Capac to Ferdinand VI of Spain.
From the time of the conquest, many of the Spanish élite in America married native women and were proud to identify themselves with the native civilizations, as we can see from this eighteenth-century family portrait.
Idealized portrait of the emperor Montezuma, painted for the Grand Duke of Tuscany in the later seventeenth century and based on a sixteenth-century Mexican illustration. The powerful image is evidence of the renewed appreciation at that time of the culture and achievements of the native civilizations of America.
The decisive victory gained by the forces of the Duke of Berwick at Almansa in 1707 over the army of the Archduke Charles established the Bourbon monarchy in Spain and inaugurated a series of fundamental reforms in the empire.
In the eighteenth century the missions of the religious orders were the front line of Spanish penetration into Indian territory of the North American continent. Settlements and churches were set up in Arizona (as in this painting), California, Texas and Florida.
The last Muslim ruler of Granada, Boabdil, hands over the keys of the city in 1492 to Ferdinand and Isabella. Granada was not formally conquered, but agreed to capitulate on terms that respected its religion and its property.
The Basque explorer Juan de la Cosa was employed as pilot and cartographer to Christopher Columbus, and around 1500 drew up the first map of the western hemisphere, in which the outlines of the Caribbean islands were clearly given.
Fray Diego Duran's History of the Indies (c. 1580), drawn up with the help of Mexica artists, was a mine of valuable information on the Indian cultures of New Spain. In this illustration from his work, Nahua warriors besiege a force of Spaniards under Pedro de Alvarado, companion of Cortés in the conquest of Tenochtitlan.
A sixteenth-century Mexican illustration depicting the battle for Tenochtitlan, whose capture in 1521 was made possible by Indian allies of the Spaniards. The scene shows a Tlaxcalan ally pulling Cortés out of one of the canals of the city.
A painting that encapsulates the imperial mythology of the conquest. Ranks of well-armoured Spaniards on beautiful steeds prepare to capture the capital of the Mexica in the face of overwhelming odds. The painter conveniently omits that a massive army of Indian allies supported them.
A Nahua chronicler depicts his people dying in battle against the mounted Spanish soldiers. Within a few years the Indians of America also learned to use the horse in their military campaigns.
Contemporary portrait of the conqueror of the Incas, Francisco Pizarro. The capture of the Inca Atahualpa by Pizarro's men was the most daring achievement of the Spanish conquest, but contemporaries were even more impressed by the dazzling treasures secured in Peru.
Capture of the Inca capital Cusco by Pizarro and his soldiers in 1533, as imagined by Theodor de Bry. In reality there was no formal battle for the city, and Pizarro's Indian allies facilitated the Spanish takeover and the crowning of a puppet Inca emperor.
Vienna, besieged for the first time in 1529 by an immense Turkish army, was saved when all Christian Europe, including the Spaniards, rallied to Charles V's appeal for help. Failing to make any headway, the Turks eventually withdrew without engaging in battle.
The siege in 1535 of the fortress of La Goletta, at the entrance to the bay of Tunis and defended by a strong Turkish garrison, was one of the great successes of the reign of Charles V, whose international army went on to capture the city of Tunis. The victory confirmed Spain's yearning for an African empire.
Charles of Ghent was duke of Burgundy, as portrayed here, when he succeeded at the age of sixteen to the kingdoms of Spain. The union of Burgundy and Spain under one ruler converted the latter realm into the centre of a world monarchy.
The famous equestrian portrait of a triumphant Charles V after his victory over the Schmalkaldic League at Miihlberg in 1547 was intended by Titian to promote an image of imperial power.
Magellan's famous voyage of 1519, the first circumnavigation of the globe by a European sea-captain, immediately gave Spain's empire a universal dimension and a claim to dominion in Asia. This Italian map of 1545 showing Magellan's route was once owned by Charles V.
A nineteenth-century painting of the two types of ship on which Spain's maritime powe
r in the sixteenth century rested. On the left is a galleass, a powerful armed version of the galley, the oared vessel used principally in the Mediterranean. On the right is the famous galleon, used by Spaniards across the world's oceans.
The navies of Italy and Spain, commanded by Philip II's half-brother Don Juan of Austria, combined to defeat the Turkish navy in the greatest sea battle of early modern times, off the coast of Greece at Lepanto, in 1571.
The Navarrese Jesuit missionary Francisco Xavier, a subject of the Spanish crown, worked with Portuguese colleagues to bring Christianity to India, Southeast Asia and Japan. He died in 1551 on an island in the South China Sea.
Portuguese mapmakers used their skills to draw up the first systematic maps of Asia. This pioneering portolan map of 1570 by Fernão Vaz Dourado shows the coastline from India through the China Sea towards Japan.
Glossary
adelantado
governor of a frontier province, or leader of an expedition
asiento
a contract, especially contracts of financiers with the crown, or contract to supply slaves
Audiencia
in the Spanish colonies, the highest administrative and judicial tribunal, under the viceroy; by extension, the area governed by it
auto de fe
public ceremony held by the Spanish Inquisition
barangay
in the Philippines, a social unit of settlement; used by the Spaniards to mean ‘a village’
black
in this book for purposes of simplicity the word ‘black’ is used indifferently to apply to all people of African origin, and also to those whose origins were primarily African (such as ‘mulattoes’)
cacique
in New Spain, an Indian chief or official
calpulli
in Mexico, territorial unit or group of families composing it
cédula
royal order
cimarron
runaway; used mainly of black slaves, and of cattle
Comuneros
rebels who took part in the 1520–21 revolt against Charles V
conquistador
conquistador description applied to the Spanish military pioneers in America
Consulado
the Consulado in Seville and other Spanish cities was the corporation of merchants trading there
Creole
New World settler of white, Spanish descent
Cruzada
special tax created by papacy and granted to Spanish government
curaca
in Inca Peru, an Indian chief or official
daimyo
Japanese warlord
datu
in the Philippines, a native chieftain
doctrina
a Church parish area
ducat
originally a gold coin but later simply a monetary unit of account
encomienda
grant of Indians, for labour or for tribute; the holder of an encomienda was the ‘encomendero’
escudo
Castilian coin
galleon
large Spanish ocean-going warship
galley
open-oared vessel, used in coastal traffic and in the Mediterranean
Hermandades
medieval urban police in Castile
huaca
in the Peruvian Andes, a sacred object or place
Infante/Infanta
title applied to son/daughter of the Spanish royal family
juro
annuity from state income, repaying loans made to the crown
maravedí
traditional Spanish unit of account; a small coin
mestizo
person of mixed Spanish-Indian parentage
mita
in Peru, system of native forced labour
Padroado Real
privileges of the Portuguese crown in Church affairs
Patronato Real
privileges of the Spanish crown in Church affairs
peso
unit of value in which American treasure was expressed; there were also silver and gold coins bearing the name ‘peso’
quintal
Spanish measure of weight, approximate to hundredweight
repartimiento
system of Indian draft labour
samurai
Japanese warrior
sepoy
in the British East India Company, a native soldier in their service
situado
annual subsidy received by the Philippines from the treasury of New Spain
tercio
infantry regiment in Spanish armies up to the eighteenth century
List of Abbreviations
AGS: E
Archivo General de Simancas, section Estado
AEA
Anuario de Estudios Americanos
AHR
The American Historical Review
BL
The British Library
BRAE
Boletín de la Real Academia Española
CODOIN
Colección de Documentos Inéditos para la Historia de España
EconHR
The Economic History Review
HAHR
The Hispanic American Historical Review
JEEH
The Journal of European Economic History
OP
Order of Preachers
P&P
Past and Present
PHR
The Pacific Historical Review
PS
Philippine Studies
RABM
Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos
REJ
Revue des Etudes Juives
SCJ
The Sixteenth Century Journal
SJ
Society of Jesus
TRHS
Transactions of the Royal Historical Society
Notes
Preface
1. Castro, p.571.
2. Analysed, for example, by Felipe Fernández-Armesto, The Spanish Armada, Oxford 1988.
3. Quoted in Parker 1998, p.xix.
4. Francisco Mallari SJ, ‘The Spanish navy in the Philippines, 1589–1787’, PS, 37, 1989, p.413.
5. Raymond E. Dumett, ed., Gentlemanly imperialism and British imperialism. The new debate on empire, London 1999, p.13.
6. P. J. Cain and A. G. Hopkins, ‘The theory and practice of British imperialism’, in Dumett, p.198.
7. Arthur O'Shaughnessy, ‘Ode’.
8. For one contribution to the debate, see Henry Kamen, ‘The decline of Spain: an historical myth?’, P&P, 81 (1978), 24–50; for a general discussion, J. K. J. Thompson, Decline in history. The European experience, Cambridge 1998.
9. Fernand Braudel, Autour de la Méditerranée, Paris 1996, p.283.
10. Ellis, p.105.
11. Castro, p. 580.
12. Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Reglas y consejos sobre investigación científica (Los tónicos de la voluntad), 6th edn Madrid 1923, cited in Ramón Tamames, Estructura económica de España, Madrid 1960, pp.198–199.
13. The study that stimulated most discussion on this topic was by E. L. Jones, The European miracle, Cambridge 1981. My views on it were presented in an unpublished paper, ‘Early modern Europe, Eric Jones and the world economy’, Economic History seminar, St Antony's College, University of Oxford, spring 1987.
14. Cf. Tracy, pp.142, 195.
Chapter 1: Foundations
1. M. L. López-Vidriero and P. Cátedra, ‘La imprenta y su impacto en Castilla’ in A. Garcia Simon, ed., Historia de una cultura, Valladolid 1995, I, 472.
2. Cited in Luis Gil Fernández, Panorama social del humanismo español (1500-1800), Madrid 1981, p.565. Aldus was the great Italian printer Aldus Manutius, Froben the Swiss printer Hieronymus Froben.
3. Hillgarth, pp.243–249. Weiditz's Tractenbuch was the first comprehensive artist's survey of life in the peninsula.
4. For a recent ge
neral perspective, Amancio Labandeira, ‘Repertorios tipo-bibliográficos de Hispanoamérica y Filipinas’, Cuadernos de Investigación Histórica, 18, Madrid 2001, p.200.
5. Gil Fernández, p.573.
6. Ibid., pp.565 following.
7. For a brief assessment of Nebrija, see Jeremy Lawrance, in A. Goodman and A. MacKay, The impact of humanism on western Europe, London 1990, pp.240–246.