Spain

ISABELLA I AND FERDINAND V

Spain, which did not exist as such during the Renaissance period, consisted of the kingdom of Castile (which included Leon) and the kingdom of Aragon. The latter included the kingdom of Naples and the Two Sicilies (Sicily and Sardinia). In the south of Spain, the Moorish kingdom of Granada was ruled by Muslim leaders, who paid tribute to Castile. Although Granada was famous for its culture and architecture, the Muslims were not a strong military force by the 15th century. Castilian monarchs wanted to drive the Muslims completely out of Spain, to give Castile the entire sweep of the peninsula from north to south. In Castile, however, aristocrats who had profited from the seizure of Muslim estates and who benefited from Muslim tribute payments were reluctant to disturb the status quo. They enjoyed special privileges, being exempt from taxation and entitled to trial in special courts that were presided over by their fellow aristocrats. Nevertheless, the Muslim rule in what Castile considered its rightful territory was a constant presence in the mind of 15th-century Castilians, who valued the heroic ideal of the soldier-citizen in service to the king. They needed only a determined monarch who could convince them that the main purpose of their government should be to reclaim Granada for Castile. As it turned out, that monarch was a woman, Isabella I (1451-1504).

Although the Castilian Corte exerted local authority, it was not as powerful as the Corte of Aragon. In Castile the monarch was not required to hold regular meetings of the Cortes and could pass laws without their permission or participation. In Aragon, however, the three main regions were governed by three different Cortes. Each new law had to be approved by all three Cortes, and these groups were summoned on a regular basis. In 1469 the future king of Aragon, Ferdinand V (1452-1516, later Ferdinand II of Castile and Leon) and Isabella I, future queen of Castile and Leon, were married. After a civil war was waged to determine whether Isabella would be heir to the throne, she and Ferdinand began to rule in 1479. Ferdinand subsequently spent most of his life in Castile, supporting the constitutional rights of the Cortes. In 1494 he approved the creation of the Council of Aragon, a powerful supervisory body based in Castile. Because both Ferdinand and Isabella believed that the monarch should be directly involved in government, their court was itinerant, traveling around the realm. They redistributed power among various levels of society, appointing royal officials from members of the middle class. Many of these officials administered new institutions and social systems to care for the poor. Isabella, a staunch Catholic, argued for greater governmental control of church income and for the right to make church appointments. By achieving these goals, Ferdinand and Isabella enlarged their base of power. In addition, they had papal permission to institute a tax on members of the clergy, called the cruzada, for the avowed purpose of financing their crusade against the Muslims. After the final stage of the Reconquest was completed, however, the royal coffers

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Continued to be subsidized with income from this tax. Isabella turned her attention to the Jews after the Muslims were conquered in 1492, giving Jewish residents four months to leave the country. At least 120,000 did so, taking their wealth and skills with them, a tremendous loss to society and commerce.

In 1492, Isabella selected Jimenez de Cisneros (1436-1517), an austere Franciscan friar, as her confessor. She trusted completely in his judgment, following his advice in affairs of state. Because religion was so embroiled in politics during this time, Cisneros became an important statesman and took charge of relations between Castilian authorities and Muslims in the kingdom of Granada. Those who refused to convert to Catholicism via mass baptism in order to be loyal subjects of the Crown were exiled. After the death of Philip I, Cisneros ruled Castile as regent between 1506 and 1507, when Ferdinand returned from Aragon and made Cisneros inquisitor general. Because the bishop had been such a politically powerful figure, with numerous officials answering to him, Cisneros was able to unleash the Spanish Inquisition, first established by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1478, with unparalleled results (see Chapter 2, on religion).

CHARLES I (CHARLES V)

When Philip I (1478-1506), king of Castile, died in 1506, his son and heir to the throne, the future Charles I (1500-58), was only six years old. Charles was the grandson of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519) and of Isabella and Ferdinand. Because Ferdinand had returned to Aragon, a Regency Council headed by Bishop Cisneros was established. Charles I assumed rule of the Netherlands, the Spanish dominion where he spent his boyhood, in 1515. He was crowned king of Castile and Leon the following year after Ferdinand died. At the time the young king could not speak Spanish and was alienated from his Iberian subjects. He had great difficulty extracting money from the Cortes, and revolts erupted in both Castile and Aragon while Charles was in Germany competing in the election for Holy Roman Emperor, which he won in 1519. (He was subsequently referred to as Charles V.) In Valencia

1.4 Portrait of Charles V. Netherlandish painter, c. 1520. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Friedsam Collection, Bequest of Michael Friedsam, 1931 [32.100.46])

(southern Aragon), for example, the rebels, refusing to recognize the monarchy, intended to create a republican form of government. In 1521 royal troops defeated them; Charles ordered the execution of the rebel leaders but pardoned everyone else. This policy for dealing with dissention won many followers for the king, who was learning to deal diplomatically with social unrest. During most of his reign, Charles had to travel between Spain and the Netherlands, dealing, for example, with financial problems in the south and the increasing hostility of Protestants in the north. Years of his life were consumed by traveling back and forth. Because the king could not always be present, royal councils administered governmental business. The councils consisted of men trained in the university system as lawyers and of members of

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The lesser nobility, and the Council of the Indies was incredibly powerful by midcentury. This council was in charge of Spain’s dominions in the New World, appointing viceroys, overseeing commercial interests, and settling disputes.

PHILIP II

In 1555 Charles abdicated in favor of his son, Philip II (1527-98), leaving Spain virtually bankrupt from the vast sums spent on wars against France and the Turks. The burden of taxation fell on the common people, who were reduced to miserable conditions. Philip declared in 1557 that all payments from the monarchy to banks had to be suspended, taking the country through a phase of financial adjustment. Philip II took charge with a vengeance, gathering as much power as possible and centralizing it within Spain. As of 1559 he ruled from his palace complex of El Escorial near Madrid, the first time in nearly a century that Spanish court society was focused in one location. In 1563 Philip established the Supreme Council of Italy, making all Spanish dominions (which included the duchy of Milan) directly answerable to his central government. After 1580, he was also king of Portugal and sent a Spanish viceroy to Lisbon. Portugal lost autonomy in several legal, judicial, and financial matters.