Imperial Spain 1469-1716

by John H. Elliott

  The government of Spain under Charles V needs further study, although some useful information is scattered through the posthumously published work of F.Walser, Die Spanischen Zentralbehorden und der Staatsrat Karls V (Göttingen, 1959), while John M. Headley, The Emperor and his Chancellor. A Study of the Imperial Chancellery under Gattinara (Cambridge, 1983), traces the transition from the age of the chancellery to that of the secretariat. The important figure of Los Cobos has found a biographer in Hayward Keniston, Francisco de los Cobos. Secretary of the Emperor Charles V (Pittsburgh, 1960), but this remains a strictly personal biography, and there is no comprehensive study of the workings of the governmental machine under Cobos. The standard and indispensable work on the Council of the Indies is Ernesto Schafer, El Consejo Real y Supremo de las Indias (2 vols., Seville, 1935). The history of other royal councils is now attracting the attention of a new generation of Spanish historians, whose interests extend to the backgrounds of the councillors and the political and court environment in which they operated. A sample of the new approach is provided by the essays in Instituciones y élites del poder en la monarquía hispana durante el siglo XVI, ed. José Martínez Millán (Madrid, 1992). For political thought in this period, see J. A. Fernádez-Santamaria, The State, War and Peace. Spanish Political Thought in the Renaissance, 1516–1599 (Cambridge, 1977).

  Until recently, the economic history of the reign of Charles V has fared better than its administrative history. The pioneer in this field was Ramón Carande, whose Carlos V y sus banqueros (3 vols., Madrid, 1943–67) has become the standard authority. J. Larraz, La época del mer-cantilismo en Castilla, 1500–1700 (2nd ed., Madrid, 1943), is an enlightening account of economic policy and practice in Habsburg Spain. Henri Lapeyre, Une Famille de Marchands: les Ruiz (Paris, 1955), is an important study of a great Castilian merchant dynasty, and is complemented by the same author's Simon Ruiz et les Asientos de Philippe II (Paris, 1953), which illustrates the workings of the asiento system. The commercial system linking Spain to its American colonies is described by the Chaunus (see under ‘Economic and Social’, above) and by C. H. Haring, Trade and Navigation between Spain and the Indies in the time of the Hapsburgs (Cambridge, Mass., 1918). Ruth Pike, Aristocrats and Traders. Sevillian Society in the Sixteenth Century (Ithaca and London, 1972), gives an idea of life in the busy port city of Seville. For the poor laws and charitable giving in sixteenth-century Spain, see especially Linda Martz, Poverty and Welfare in Habsburg Spain (Cambridge, 1983).

  Chapter 6 (Race and Religion).

  The influence of Erasmus on Spain has been brilliantly studied by M. Bataillon, Erasme et l'Espagne (Paris, 1937; revised and enlarged edition in Spanish trans., Erasmo y España, 2 vols., Mexico, 1950). Further light is thrown on the persecution of the Erasmians in J.E.Longhurst, Erasmus and the Spanish Inquisition: the Case of Juan de Valdés (Albuquerque, 1950), and the spiritual climate of the period is sensitively evoked by Alastair Hamilton, Heresy and Mysticism in Sixteenth-Century Spain: The Alumbrados (Cambridge, 1992).

  The study of the Inquisition has been one of the major growth areas in Spanish history over the past few decades, partly because of the wealth of documentation to be exploited and partly because of the insights it offers into social and religious history through the tragic case histories of its victims. In spite of all the recent work, the monumental pioneering study by H. C. Lea, A History of the Inquisition in Spain (4 vols., New York, 1906–7), is still well worth consulting for specific topics. But for a general overview, readers should turn to Henry Kamen's survey, The Spanish Inquisition. An Historical Revision (London, 1997), the latest version of a work which first appeared in 1965. William Monter, Frontiers of Heresy (Cambridge, 1990), provides revealing insights into the very considerable variations in the activities and concerns of the different tribunals of the Holy Office in the various regions of the peninsula. The symposium papers edited by Angel Alcalá in The Spanish Inquisition and the Inquisitorial Mind (New York, 1987) give a good idea of the range of possibilities that the records of the Inquisition have to offer, as do the contributions to L'Inquisition espagnole, XVe– XIXe siècle, ed. Bartolomé Bennassar (Paris, 1979). Gustav Henningsen, The Witches' Advocate: Basque Witchcraft and the Spanish Inquisition, 1609–1614 (Reno, Nevada, 1980), is an enthralling account of a famous episode which does much to explain why witch-hunting was a much less common activity in Early Modem Spain than in many other contemporary European societies.

  The best general studies of the Moriscos are Julio Caro Baroja, Los Moriscos del Reino de Granada (Madrid, 1957), and Antonio Domínguez Ortiz and Bernard Vincent, Historia de los moriscos (Madrid, 1978). Kenneth Garrad's doctoral thesis for Cambridge University (1955), ‘The Causes of the Second Rebellion of the Alpujarras', on which I drew heavily in writing this book, has unfortunately never appeared in print. H. Lapeyre, Géographie de l'Espagne Morisque (Paris, 1959), is a meticulous statistical survey of the Morisco population before, and at the time of, the expulsion. There are important articles on the Moriscos of Valencia by T. Halperin Donghi in Cuadernos de Historia de España, vols. XXIII and XXIV (1955), and in Annales. Economies. Sociétés. Civilisa-tions (1956), as well as by James Casey, ‘Moriscos and the Depopulation of Valencia’, Past and Present, 50 (1971), pp. 19–40.

  The history of Spanish Jews and conversos has also received an enormous amount of attention since the publication by Cecil Roth in 1932 of A History of the Marranos (repr. Meridian Books, New York, 1959). A good starting point is to be found in the volume of essays edited by Elie Kedourie, Spain and the Jews (London, 1992). Classic studies of the conversos include Julio Caro Baroja, Los Judios en la España moderna y con-temporánea (3 vols., Madrid, 1962), and Antonio Domínguez Ortiz, Los judeoconversos en la España moderna (repr. Madrid, 1992). A. A. Sicroff, Les Controverses des Statuts de ‘Pureté de Sang' en Espagne du XVe au XVIIe Siècle (Paris, 1960), is an exhaustive study of the great debate about limpieza de sangre. On the attitude to honour, which is connected with the problem of limpieza, there is a famous article by Américo Castro, ‘Algunas observaciones acerca del concepto del honor en los siglos XVI y XVII’, Revista de Filología Española, 3 (1916). Jewish influence on Spanish history is a dominant theme in Américo Castro's controversial but seminal La Realidad Histórica de España (revised ed., Mexico, 1965) and his earlier The Structure of Spanish History, trans. Edmund L. King (Princeton, 1954).

  Deviants have tended to attract more interest than the orthodox in recent work on Spanish religious history of the sixteenth century, but orthodoxy itself was redefined during the course of the century as a result of the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation. William A. Christian's pioneering work, Local Religion in Sixteenth-Century Spain (Princeton, 1981) illustrates the tenacity of popular devotional practices and beliefs in the face of attempts by the institutional church to impose uniformity. Many aspects of the Counter-Reformation in Spain are still poorly studied, but Sara T. Nalle, God in La Mancha. Religious Reform and the People of Cuenca, 1500–1650 (Baltimore and London, 1992), opens up important perspectives into the attitudes of the post-Tridentine church and the problems that it faced. Henry Kamen, The Phoenix and the Flame. Catalonia and the Counter Reformation (New Haven and London, 1993), provides a wealth of detail on similar problems in Catalonia. Carlos M. Eire, From Madrid to Purgatory. The Art and Craft of Dying in Sixteenth-Century Spain (Cambridge, 1995), offers revealing insights into death rituals and the characteristics of Spanish piety.

  With some exceptions, the literature devoted to the religious history of the reign of Philip II tends to be disappointing, but vol. III of the collective work edited by Ricardo García-Villoslada, Historia de la iglesia en España, published in two parts (Madrid, 1980), is a mine of information on the sixteenth-century church. Philip II's relations with the Papacy are summarized in J. Lynch, ‘Philip II and the Papacy’, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 5th series, 11 (1961), pp. 23–42, and his treatment of Archbishop Carranza is scrutinized by G. Mar
añón, ‘El proceso del Arzobispo Carranza‘, Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, CXXVII (1950), pp. 135–78. Carranza has also been the subject of extensive study by José Ignacio Telechea Idígoras, El arzobispo Carranza y su tiempo (2 vols., Madrid, 1968). Maurcie Boyd, Cardinal Quiroga, Inquisitor General of Spain (Dubuque, Iowa, 1954), is little more than an introduction to an important subject. Helen E. Rawlings, ‘The Secularisation of Castilian Episcopal Office under the Habsburgs, c.1516–1700’, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 38 (1987), pp. 53–79, provides valuable insights into the changing criteria for the selection of bishops. Apart from the Jesuits, whose history has been related at length by A. Astraín, Historia de la Compañia de Jesús (7 vols., Madrid, 1912–1925), the Spanish religious orders have not in general received the kind of detailed attention to which their importance in the life of Early Modern Spain entitles them. Bruce Taylor, however, has written in Structures of Reform. The Mercedarian Order in the Spanish Golden Age (Leiden, 2000) an excellent account of the agitated internal history of one of the least-known orders.

  Aubrey Bell, Luis de León (Oxford, 1925), and ‘Liberty in Sixteenth-Century Spain‘, Bulletin of Spanish Studies, 10 (1933), give some idea of the difficulties facing scholars in the early years of the reign, but the difficult question of censorship and self-censorship deserves more systematic attention than it has so far received. Gerald Brenan, ‘St John of the Cross. His life and poetry‘, Horizon, 15 (1947), contains some stimulating ideas about the reform movement and its opponents, and E. Allison Peers, Handbook to the Life and Times of St Teresa and St John of the Cross (London, 1954), is also useful on this subject. Jodi Bilinkoff, The Avila of Saint Teresa. Religious Reform in a Sixteenth-Century City (Ithaca and London, 1989), conveys an idea of the environment in which St Teresa embarked on her remarkable career. A. A. Parker's booklet, Valor actual del humanismo español (Madrid, 1952), has some interesting pages on the growing reaction against Renaissance values in the later sixteenth century. E. Allison Peers, The Mystics of Spain (London, 1951), is an anthology of translated extracts from the writings of the mystics, with a brief introduction. The Toledo of El Greco is often represented as the centre of Spanish mysticism par excellence, but opinions are sharply divided about the sources of El Greco's inspiration, as also about the character of the spiritual climate in Toledo. See in particular the essays in the exhibition catalogue, El Greco of Toledo (Boston, 1982), and Richard Mann, El Greco and his Patrons (Cambridge, 1986).

  Chapter 7 (‘One Monarch, One Empire, and One Sword’).

  Philip II has been the subject of numerous biographies, but remains an elusive figure. Geoffrey Parker, Philip II (London, 1979; 4th ed., Chicago, 2002), is the best intimate portrait of the king, while Peter Pierson, Philip II of Spain (London, 1975), is a good general introduction to the reign. Henry Kamen, Philip II of Spain (New Haven and London, 1997), makes lively use of contemporary documentation, but is rather too quick to absolve the king of the charges levelled against him. G. Marañón, Antonio Pérez (6th ed., 2 vols., Madrid, 1958; abridged English trans. under same title, London, 1954), is a revealing psychological study of the King, as well as an exciting piece of detective work that claims to unravel the mystery of the Pérez affair – a subject which really requires a Namier-style investigation into the family backgrounds and clientage systems of the opposing factions at Court. This is only now beginning to be undertaken. See José Martínez Millán, ed., La corte de Felipe II (Madrid, 1994). G. de Boom, Don Carlos (Brussels, 1955), is a reliable, and sometimes moving, short life of the king's unfortunate son. Of the men around Philip II, James M. Boyden, The Courtier and the King (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, 1995), is a biography of the Prince of Eboli, while William S. Maltby, Alba: A Biography of Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Third Duke of Alba, 1507–1582 (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, 1983), examines the controversial career of his rival. A.W. Lovett looks at the king at work, by way of the activities of one of his secretaries, in Philip II and Mateo Vazquez de Leca: the Government of Spain, 1572–1592 (Geneva, 1977). Richard L. Kagan, Lucrecia's Dreams. Politics and Prophecy in Sixteenth-Century Spain (Berkeley, Los Angeles, Oxford, 1990), uses the dreams of a visionary to provide fascinating insights into the opposition to Philip's policies.

  George Kubler, Building the Escorial (Princeton, 1982), is a massively detailed study of Philip's great construction project, which is perhaps better approached through Catherine Wilkinson Zerner, Juan de Herrera. Architect to Philip II of Spain (New Haven and London, 1993), and Rosemarie Mulcahy, The Decoration of the Royal Basilica of El Escorial (Cambridge, 1994). The best general interpretation of the Escorial is Cornelia von der Osten Sacken, El Escorial. Estudio iconológico (Madrid, 1984).

  J.M. González de Echevarri y Vivanco, La Justicia y Felipe II (Valladolid, 1917), is a brief anthology of incidents illustrating the king's preoccupation with the maintenance of high standards of justice, while Richard L. Kagan, Lawsuits and Litigants in Castile, 1500–1700 (Chapel Hill, 1981), sets the story into its wider context. Ronald W. Truman, Spanish Treatises on Government, Society and Religion in the Time of Philip II (Leiden, 1999), takes a close look at a number of texts that throw light on contemporary attitudes to kingship and government. Charles Jago, ‘Habsburg Absolutism and the Cortes of Castile‘, The American Historical Review, 86 (1981), pp. 307–26, is a valuable reassessment of the role of the Cortes. A similarly revisionist approach is adopted by I. A. A. Thompson, whose Crown and Cortes (Aldershot, 1993) reprints important articles on the Castilian Cortes and on various aspects of government in this and succeeding reigns, while his War and Government in Habsburg Spain, 1560–1620 (London, 1976) is a major study of the bureaucracy that supported Philip's military machine. Further articles are collected in his War and Society in Habsburg Spain (Aldershot, 1992). H. G. Koenigsberger, The Practice of Empire (Ithaca, 1969), a revised version of his The Government of Sicily under Philip II of Spain (London, 1951), is an excellent study of the administration in one of his dominions. David C. Goodman, Power and Penury (Cambridge, 1988), explores the relationship between government, technology and science in the Spain of Philip II.

  Geoffrey Parker, The Grand Strategy of Philip II (New Haven and London, 1998), combines historical evidence and management studies to analyse Philip's approach to the problems of governing and maintaining a worldwide empire. For the first time in a general history of the revolt of the Netherlands, the Spanish side of the story is given its proper due in Geoffrey Parker, The Dutch Revolt (London, 1977), and is further explored in his essays, Spain and the Netherlands, 1559–1659 (London, 1979). The same author's The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road (Cambridge, 1972) is fundamental for an understanding of the logistical problems facing the army that sought to suppress or contain the revolt.

  J. Reglà, Felip II i Catalunya (Barcelona, 1956), while concerned with Philip's government in Catalonia, emphasizes the multiplicity of the problems which confronted the King at the time when the revolt of the Netherlands broke out. Don John of Austria's ambitions and activities are discussed at length in P.O. de Törne, Don Juan d‘Autriche et les pro-jets de conquête de l'Angleterre (2 vols., Helsinki, 1915 and 1928), while L. Van der Essen, Alexandre Famèse (5 vols., Brussels, 1933–7), is a fine biography of his successor in the government of the Netherlands. A considerable literature has grown up on the ‘Enterprise of England' since Garrett Mattingly's classic work, The Defeat of the Spanish Armada (London, 1959). See especially Colin Martin and Geoffrey Parker, The Spanish Armada (London, 1988), which makes use of the findings of underwater archaeology, and Peter Pierson, Commander of the Armada. The Seventh Duke of Medina Sidonia (New Haven and London, 1989).

  For an introduction to Philip's annexation of Portugal and its aftermath, see J. H. Elliott, ‘The Spanish Monarchy and the Kingdom of Portugal, 1580–1640' in Mark Greengrass, ed., Conquest and Coalescence (London, 1991). M. Van Durme, El Cardenal Granvela (Spanish translation from the Flemish, Barcelona, 1957), is valuable for the role of
Granvelle in the union of the crowns of Spain and Portugal. A. P. Usher, ‘Spanish Ships and Shipping in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries‘, Facts and Factors in Economic History. Articles by Former Students of E. F. Gay (Cambridge, Mass., 1932), gives some idea of the relative strength of the combined Spanish and Portuguese merchant fleets, while Fréderic Mauro, Le Portugal et l'Atlantique au XVIIe siècle, 1570–1670 (Paris, 1960), looks at the union in the wider, Atlantic, context.

  On the revolt of Aragon, the standard work remains the Historia de las Alteraciones de Aragón, by the Marqués de Pidal (3 vols., Madrid, 1862–3), but for a reassessment of views on the constitutional consequences of Philip's repression of the revolt, see Xavier Gil, ‘Crown and Cortes in Early Modem Aragon: Reassessing Revisionisms’, Parliaments, Estates and Representation, 13 (1993), pp. 109–122.

  Chapters 8, 9, 10 (Splendour and Misery: Revival and Disaster: Epitaph on an Empire).

  Historical writing about seventeenth-century Spain has traditionally been dominated by the problem of decline. The classic discussion of the problem is to be found in the article by Earl J. Hamilton, ‘The decline of Spain‘, Economic History Review, 1st series, 8 (1938), pp. 168–79. Valuable suggestions towards a new and wider synthesis were made by Pierre Viar, ‘Le temps du Quichotte’, Europe, 34 (1956). Literature produced on the subject since Hamilton's article was surveyed by the author of this book in ‘The decline of Spain‘, Past and Present, 20 (1961), reprinted in J. H. Elliott, Spain and its World, which also contains a further essay originally published in Past and Present, 74 (1977) on ‘Self-perception and Decline in Seventeenth-Century Spain‘. R. A. Stradling, Europe and the Decline of Spain (London, 1981), makes pungent comments on some of the historical literature, and offers a broad chronological survey which concentrates on the theme of Spanish defeat and survival. J. N. Hillgarth, The Mirror of Spain, 1500–1700 (Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2000), documents in extensive detail contemporary European images of Spain, including that of Spain in decline.