Home / Business/ History of Spain. Catholic kings (1496–1516) Children and marriage alliances

History of Spain. Catholic kings (1496–1516) Children and marriage alliances

Based on an alliance with the church, cities and minor nobility, having large incomes from maritime trade, royal power of both Castile and Aragon in the XIV-XV centuries. launched a decisive attack on the political rights of large feudal lords and deprived them of a significant share of independence. By the end of the 15th century. she deprived large feudal lords of the right to mint coins, wage private wars, and confiscated many lands from them. The king also took possession of the lands spiritual knightly orders.

In 1479 Aragon, and. Castile united into single state under the rule of a married couple - Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. This event was one of the important stages in the strengthening of royal power in Spain. In crushing the power of large feudal lords, the royal authorities were supported by the cities. In 1480, the cities of Castile entered into an alliance with each other - the “holy hermandada”, which organized its own militia to fight the feudal lords. But, having used the military forces of the cities to curb the feudal lords, the royal power gradually curtailed the independence of the cities themselves. The church also provided enormous support to royal power, especially the Inquisition, introduced in Spain in 1480.

Fighting all kinds of anti-church heresies, the Inquisition thereby persecuted all social and political opposition to the existing system. In Spain, according to Marx, “thanks to the Inquisition, the church became the most indestructible weapon of absolutism.” The first to lead the Spanish Inquisition was the ferocious Torquemada, whose name became a household name.

Having strengthened their positions within the country, the Spanish kings directed their attack on the Emirate of Granada - the last possession of the Arabs in Spain. After a long siege in 1492, Granada capitulated. With its fall, the entire Iberian Peninsula, with the exception of Portugal, fell into the hands of the Spanish kings. The Moors surrendered Granada on the condition that they and the Jews retained property and freedom of religion. But these promises were not kept. The persecuted Muslims launched a series of uprisings. They were faced with a dilemma: either be baptized or leave Spain. A significant part of the Muslims and Jews who lived in the south of the country moved to Africa. Thus, most of the trade and craft population, who played an important role in economic development countries. The Moors (Moriscos) who remained in Spain and converted to Christianity were subjected to constant persecution by the church.

Under Ferdinand and Isabella, an absolute monarchy is established in Spain. Large feudal lords lost their political independence and turned into a court aristocracy. The Cortes are losing their former importance and are convened less and less often. Management takes on a bureaucratic character, concentrating at the center in the hands of royal councils, and locally in the hands of royal officials (corregidors). However, the provincial and class disunity of Spain that has developed over centuries is reflected in the extreme cumbersomeness and lack of coordination of the administrative apparatus.

In the Iberian states earlier than in other countries Western Europe, estate-representative institutions appeared. This is explained by the high political activity of the privileged classes and cities caused by the reconquista. During the liberation struggle, local laws and customs arose, political role nobility and townspeople, acquired the privileges of nobility. The royal power needed the support of all these influential forces and was forced to reckon with their rights and privileges. Often she found herself completely dependent on class-representative institutions.

The earliest Cortes arose in Leon, united into one kingdom with Castile. This happened in 1188, during the reign of King Alfonso IX, when, along with secular and spiritual feudal lords, representatives of cities began to sit in the royal curia. From 1250, Cortes began to meet regularly in Castile. In Catalonia, cortes with the participation of representatives of cities functioned since 1218, in Aragon - from the second half of the 13th century. At the same time, the Cortes took shape in Portugal and Navarre. The Cortes usually included representatives of three classes - the clergy, the nobility and the townspeople. In Aragon, four classes were represented in the Cortes - the feudal nobility, nobles, clergy and representatives of some city municipalities. At first, the city curia of the Castilian Cortes also included representatives of free peasant communities - begetria.

The Cortes had broader rights than estate-representative bodies in other Western European countries. They had not only financial functions, but also participated in legislation and intervened in issues of succession to the throne. The Aragonese Cortes took an oath from the king that he would respect the customs (fueros) of the country. The Castilian Cortes set the budget for the royal court. Members of the Cortes enjoyed “parliamentary immunity” here.

The two largest states of the Iberian Peninsula - Castile and Aragon - united in 1479 into a single Kingdom of Spain as a result of the dynastic marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon with Isabella of Castile. This unification met the interests of the Castilian and Aragonese feudal lords, since a common struggle lay ahead against the Arabs, who still held the Granada region. At the same time, the Castilian nobility and cities were interested in the foreign markets that Aragon owned in the Mediterranean basin. The dynastic union turned out to be durable and led to the creation of a single state, because the population of both kingdoms, despite local differences, basically constituted a single ethnic community - the Spanish people.

By the end of the 15th century. Royal power in Spain grew significantly stronger. Although each of the kingdoms continued to maintain its autonomy at first (a separate king and separate Cortes), the privileges of the feudal nobility in both Castile and Aragon were violated. She was forbidden to wage private wars or mint coins. The lands of the rebel feudal lords were confiscated in favor of the king. In the fight against the nobility, royal power relied on cities and their military force.

The Catholic kings (as Ferdinand and Isabella were called) subjugated the church and used it as a tool of absolutism. Ferdinand received from the pope mastery over all spiritual knightly orders and confiscated their rich land holdings. In 1480, the Inquisition was introduced in Spain, which entirely served the interests of state power. Under her vigilant supervision was the entire population of the country, but most of all the Moors and Jews converted to Christianity. Any Spaniard suspected of dissent or dissent could be subjected to trial by the Inquisition by secret denunciation. With the help of the Inquisition, all political opposition was suppressed.

Having strengthened power within the country, the Spanish kings began a war against the Emirate of Granada. In 1492, after a long siege, Granada fell and the south of the country was annexed to the Kingdom of Spain. The Moors were promised to preserve their religion, but these promises were immediately broken. Religious persecution of Muslims and Jews began, which caused uprisings on their part. Many left Spain and moved to Africa. This led to the economic decline of the once prosperous south of the country.

At the end of the 15th century. In Spain, in its main features, an absolute monarchy had already taken shape. The powerful feudal nobility was pacified and turned into a court aristocracy. The Cortes lost their former influence and convened rarely. State administration was carried out with the help bureaucratic apparatus. However, unlike other absolutist Western European states, Spain did not develop into a strictly centralized nation-state. The provincial and class disunity that had developed over centuries remained.

To strengthen order in the country, Isabella created a kind of special police force, supported by each city or village. She wanted to cleanse the country of the crime that had overwhelmed it, which always grows in crisis conditions. And she quickly achieved this, but at what cost! For the slightest theft, a hand was cut off or executed. And the corpses remained hanging on the trees as a warning to others. The Queen never missed an opportunity to preside over trials here and there.

At this time, Queen Isabella said that four things were most pleasant for her: a warrior on the battlefield, a bishop in the cathedral, a beautiful lady in bed and a thief on the gallows.

But she did all this alone, since Ferdinand at that time was in Barcelona, where his father, Juan II of Aragon, died on January 19, 1479, and it was necessary to take care of receiving the throne due to him.

Also in 1479, Ferdinand became king and Isabella became queen of Aragon. From this point on, both crowns were united into a dual monarchy.

Historian Christian Duverger gives us the following explanation: “Ferdinand ... took the throne of Aragon. Two crowns united. In addition to Aragon itself, with its center in Zaragoza, its Crown belonged to Catalonia - the former kingdom of Valencia, the Balearic Islands and Sicily. These territories, with a population of one million, joined Castile, which in 1479 had a population of four million, not counting the inhabitants of Navarre and Granada. The new entity on the map of Europe, which became the Spain of Ferdinand and Isabella, was still little compared to France with its thirteen or fourteen million inhabitants. But Spain could rival Northern Italy (5.5–6 million people), England (3 million) or the Netherlands (2.5–3 million). Germany at that time was demographically insignificant than Portugal (about one million inhabitants).

But although on paper the Spain of 1479, which became the fruit of a successful marriage, inheritance and victory in civil war, came into existence, it was still more of an abstraction than a reality. Both Aragon and Castile maintained their own internal structure, and within these “borders” each province sought to emphasize its identity. In Castile, Galicia, Asturias, the Basque Country, Leon, Extremadura, Andalusia, Cordoba, Jaén, Murcia and Toledo coexisted, forming a very unstable entity around Burgos, the capital of Old Castile. In Aragon, things were no better: the Catalans zealously cultivated their particularism, while in Valencia, which was distinguished by a strong concentration of Moriscos, a spirit of rebellion was in the air. To this we must also add the independent position and military strength of the nobles settled in their estates, the economic power of the spiritual knightly orders, the liberties granted to the cities, university freedoms and the impunity of highway robbers... What else is left of royal power?

In M. V. Barro’s essay about Torquemada we read: “The two largest kingdoms of Spain were thus united into one political whole, although at first only nominally.”

Nevertheless, both kingdoms continued to maintain autonomy for some time.

The historian Jean Seville writes on this occasion: “Castile and Aragon retained their institutions of power, their money and their languages (Castilian would later take over), and their crowns remained separate until the 18th century. The personal union of Isabella and Ferdinand, however, became the trigger for the formation of Spain. It is the Catholic kings - this name was given to them by Pope Alexander VI - who will give the country a strengthening of the state, internal peace, pacification of the nobility and a new social balance. These are decisive things, without which the continuation of Spanish history could not be written."

Thus, the marriage itself between Isabella and Ferdinand was not yet a birth nation state Spain. And yet, it was from then on that most of the Iberian Peninsula was united into a dual monarchy with two equal rulers (in 1474, Isabella and Ferdinand became queen and king of Castile, and from 1479 - queen and king of Aragon and Valencia, as well as countess and Count of Barcelona).

In this dual monarchy, Castile was the leader: it had many more inhabitants, Castile accounted for 65 percent of the joint territory, and the royal couple lived almost exclusively in Castile (a viceroy or regent was appointed to manage Aragonese affairs, and from 1494 also a special council at court).

At this time, Queen Isabella said that four things were most pleasant for her: a warrior on the battlefield, a bishop in the cathedral, a beautiful lady in bed and a thief on the gallows.

Also in 1479, Ferdinand became king and Isabella became queen of Aragon. From this point on, both crowns were united into a dual monarchy.

But although the Spain of 1479 came into existence on paper, the fruit of a successful marriage, an inheritance and a victory in the civil war, it was still more an abstraction than a reality. Both Aragon and Castile maintained their own internal structure, and within these “borders” each province sought to emphasize its identity. In Castile, Galicia, Asturias, the Basque Country, Leon, Extremadura, Andalusia, Cordoba, Jaén, Murcia and Toledo coexisted, forming a very unstable entity around Burgos, the capital of Old Castile. In Aragon, things were no better: the Catalans zealously cultivated their particularism, while in Valencia, which was distinguished by a strong concentration of Moriscos, a spirit of rebellion was in the air. To this we must also add the independent position and military strength of the nobles settled in their estates, the economic power of the spiritual knightly orders, the liberties granted to the cities, university freedoms and the impunity of highway robbers... What else is left of royal power?

In M. V. Barro’s essay about Torquemada we read: “The two largest kingdoms of Spain were thus united into one political whole, although at first only nominally.”

Nevertheless, both kingdoms continued to maintain autonomy for some time.

Thus, the marriage between Isabella and Ferdinand was not in itself the birth of the nation-state of Spain. And yet, it was from then on that most of the Iberian Peninsula was united into a dual monarchy with two equal rulers (in 1474, Isabella and Ferdinand became queen and king of Castile, and from 1479 - queen and king of Aragon and Valencia, as well as countess and Count of Barcelona).

Moriscos (Spanish moriscos) - this is the name given to the Moors who were baptized.

Exacerbation of class struggle

Royalty and the Cortes

In all the kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula in the XII-XIII centuries. class monarchies emerge. Royal power was limited to meetings of representatives of the estates - the Cortes. The estates sat in them separately. The Castilian Cortes had three chambers: the clergy, the nobility and the cities. Until the beginning of the 15th century. representatives of cities sometimes sat together with representatives of peasant communities. This was a feature of the Castilian Cortes. A feature of the Aragonese Cortes was that the small and middle nobility sat separately from the large feudal lords. There, the Cortes consisted of four chambers: the highest nobility, the minor and middle nobility, the clergy and the cities. Cortes were also in Portugal, Catalonia and Valencia. They limited the actions of monarchical power, voted taxes, decided controversial issues succession to the throne, influenced domestic and foreign policy.

K. Marx noted that during the formation of the kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula, there were favorable conditions for limiting royal power: “On the one hand, during the long struggle with the Arabs, small parts of the territory were in different times conquered and turned into special kingdoms. During this struggle, folk laws and customs arose. Gradual conquests, carried out mainly by the nobility, enormously increased his power, while at the same time weakening the power of the king. On the other side, settlements and the cities within the country acquired great importance, for the inhabitants were forced to settle together in fortified places and seek protection there from the continuous invasions of the Moors; at the same time, Spain's position as a peninsula and constant relations with Provence and Italy contributed to the formation of first-class commercial coastal cities on the coast. Already in the 14th century, representatives of the cities constituted the most powerful part of the Cortes, which also included representatives of the clergy and nobility.”

The development of commodity-money relations in the states of Spain entailed increased exploitation of the feudally dependent peasantry. The free peasantry is also to a large extent felt the power of the lords. The development of sheep farming in Castile resulted in the XIV-XV centuries. massive conversion of peasant lands into pastures. All this intensified the class struggle in the Castilian countryside, which was complicated by conflicts between feudal lords and cities and the struggle of the feudal lords themselves for power.

Particularly famous was the uprising of the “Hermandinos” (brothers) in Castile, suppressed by the government in 1437. Peasant uprisings took place in the 14th-15th centuries. in the Balearic Islands, where the peasants were joined by the urban poor oppressed by the merchants.

The arena of particularly persistent and massive peasant movements during several decades of the 15th century. there was Catalonia, where, as noted, the situation of the peasantry was especially difficult. A movement among Catalan serfs arose at the beginning of the 15th century. The peasants demanded the abolition of personal dependence and “bad customs.” In 1462-1472, a real peasant war broke out in the north of Catalonia. The rebel serfs were also joined by free peasants, land-poor and landless, who demanded the redistribution of land. The uprising took on a fairly organized character: its participants were divided into military detachments, and contributions for military needs were collected among them. The rebels were led by the poor hidalgo Verntaliat. The Aragonese king Juan II, who was at enmity with the Catalan nobility and cities, used the uprising for his own purposes. With the help of Verntagliat and his peasant army Juan II asserted his authority over Catalonia. Verntaliat received rich land holdings and the title of viscount for this, and the peasants were reassured by some insignificant concessions, which, however, were soon canceled by the Cortes.

In 1484, a new powerful uprising began in Catalonia under the leadership of the peasant Pedro Juan Sala. The actions of government troops against the rebels were unsuccessful, since the soldiers were reluctant to oppose the peasants. The capture and execution of Sala did not stop the movement. In 1486, the government had to come to an agreement with the rebels and abolish the personal dependence of the peasants in Catalonia, which was recorded in the “Guadalupe Maxim”. “Bad customs” were abolished, but almost all for a large ransom. The peasants became personally free and could leave the land with their movable property, but their plots still remained the property of the lords and feudal rent was collected for them. Extortions in favor of the church were completely preserved.

Thus, peasant wars in Spain in the 15th century. Unlike the vast majority of peasant uprisings of the Middle Ages, they achieved at least partial success. The intensification of the class struggle accelerated the process of centralization of the state.

Relying on an alliance with the church, cities and minor nobility, with large incomes from maritime trade, the royal power of both Castile and Aragon in the XIV-XV centuries. launched a decisive attack on the political rights of large feudal lords and deprived them of a significant share of independence. By the end of the 15th century. she deprived large feudal lords of the right to mint coins, wage private wars, and confiscated many lands from them. The king also took possession of the lands of the spiritual knightly orders.

In 1479 Aragon, and. Castile united into a single state under the rule of a married couple - Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. This event was one of the important stages in the strengthening of royal power in Spain. In crushing the power of large feudal lords, the royal authorities were supported by the cities. In 1480, the cities of Castile entered into an alliance with each other - the “holy hermandada”, which organized its own militia to fight the feudal lords. But, having used the military forces of the cities to curb the feudal lords, the royal power gradually curtailed the independence of the cities themselves. The church also provided enormous support to royal power, especially the Inquisition, introduced in Spain in 1480.

Having strengthened their positions within the country, the Spanish kings directed their attack on the Emirate of Granada - the last possession of the Arabs in Spain. After a long siege in 1492, Granada capitulated. With its fall, the entire Iberian Peninsula, with the exception of Portugal, fell into the hands of the Spanish kings. The Moors surrendered Granada on the condition that they and the Jews retained property and freedom of religion. But these promises were not kept. The persecuted Muslims launched a series of uprisings. They were faced with a dilemma: either be baptized or leave Spain. A significant part of the Muslims and Jews who lived in the south of the country moved to Africa. Thus, most of the trade and craft population, who played an important role in the economic development of the country, left Spain. The Moors (Moriscos) who remained in Spain and converted to Christianity were subjected to constant persecution by the church.

History of Spain. Catholic kings (1496–1516) Children and marriage alliances

Password recovery