Profiles in the Reformation Era, 1492-1648
The Alhambra Palace
in Granada, Spain
Today’s session: Queen Isabella of Spain and the Origins of Modern Europe
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The meanings of “modern“
What about Ferdinand and Isabella!?
Muslim “Spain”
Christian Spain in the 15th century
The rise of Ferdinand and Isabella
The conversion of the Jews
The Spanish Inquisition
Religious expulsions
Trade routes
Columbus & Isabella
The impact of the Spanish Empire
The heirs to Isabella
Charles V
Long term impacts
Banner of the Royal
Questions and answers?
House of Castile
Outline
• Age of classical civilizations
(800 BCE- 600 CE)
• In the wake of the
agricultural revolution
• Settled complex human
civilizations emerge
• Post-classical era (600 CE 1450 CE)
• New centers of civilization
emerge
• Spread of world religions
• Early modern era (1450-1750)
• Dev of a global economy
with Europe at its core
Terms and definitions:
periodization
• Later modern era (1750present?)
• Civilizations changed by
industrial revolution
Hagia Sophia in Istanbul
The pre-modern era
• Energy, creativity and centrality of RELIGION
• Most vibrant civilizations
• Tang China
• Ottoman Turkey
• Islamic Arab empire
• Incas & Aztecs
• Age of extraordinary artistic expression
• Economics & technology … not so much
Feudal society
• Emerged from chaos of early
middle ages where
protection was key
• Organized around:
• manors, military
encampments
• protection primary, trade
secondary
• Key: CASTLES!!
• Power very localized
• Organized around system of
“feudal obligations”
• King
• Nobles, knights
• Peasants
Medieval times: an
era of economic
and social unrest!
• Nobility constantly
challenging the monarchy
• System rife with
corruption, exploitation
and lawlessness
• “Central” gov’ts often
weak and lacking in
resources
• This was the condition in
Iberia
Characteristics of pre-modern
social structure
• VERY STATIC
• Occupations HIGHLY regulated
• Critical social/legal/political
differences between community
“insiders” & “outsiders”
• Peasants produced:
• Primitive goods
• Small surpluses
• Worked to offset local or regional
imbalances.
Characteristics of the “modern”
• Development of science
• Rapid technological change
• Reaching out to the world
• Decline of feudalism
• Decline of serfdom
Serfs in England, circa 1310 AD
Vetruvian Man by de Vinci
Other characteristics
• Development of secularized civic
politics
• Comes in the wake of the
Protestant Reformation and the
Catholic Counter Reformation
The burning of a 16th
century Dutch Anabaptist
Development of
“the state”
• Professional bureaucracy
• State capabilities
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Regulation
Law enforcement
Commerce
Surveillance
• Much more concern about what people
BELIEVED
Joseph Fouche, Napoleon’s
Minister of Police
What about Ferdinand and
Isabella?!
• CENTRAL figures in the modern history of Spain!
• Unified the country
• Reinvigorated Catholicism
• Expelled Jews and Muslims
• Laid the foundations for the global Spanish
empire that dominated Europe and the “New
World” for 200 years
Geography
• To 1472, just a
geographical
expression
Muslim “Spain” (756-1492 AD)
• Based in Córdoba
• A center for HIGH civilization when London and
Paris were villages
• Often included most of Iberia and parts of north
Africa
Al-Hakam II, Caliph of Cordoba (915-976)
Culture and society under
the Muslims
• Very PLURALISTIC!
• Jews and Christians paid a tax and
worshiped as they pleased
• Muslims themselves somewhat lax
• Ambiguous relationship with African
Muslims
• Viewed by rulers as too fundamentalist
• Culturally, Jews and Christians looked
VERY similar
Detail from the pulpit at
the Córdoba Mosque
Weaknesses of
Muslim rule
• In 1212, Muslims
fracture into rival
kingdoms
• Allowed small
Christian kingdoms
to begin the
Reconquista
• After this, the
Muslims KNEW their
days in Iberia were
numbered
Christian majority
• Racked by political and social
conflict – 14th and 15th
centuries
• Bloody feuding between
various claimants to the
thrones of Castile and Aragon
King John II (1405-1454) of
Aragon and Navarre
Isabella of Castile
(1451-1504 AD)
• Daughter of John II
• One of the most extraordinary figures in
European history
• For 12 years, the object of constant
marriage/alliance schemes
Isabella’s character
• Isabella routinely resisted the plans of her father and others
• Isabella ultimately CHOOSES her betrothed, Ferdinand II of Aragon
• Ironically, her first betrothed
• She brought much more to the marriage than Ferdinand
• Followed by a series of plots against her
King Ferdinand of Aragon
Importance of the
marriage in 1469
• Signaled the unification &
emergence of the modern state
of Spain
• Ferdinand (1452-1516) moves
quickly to consolidate his rule, to
expand royal power and bring
ORDER to the country
• Used royal appointments to
bypass the rebellious nobles
• The first MODERN state to
emerge from medieval times
Isabella starts MAJOR reforms
of the Catholic Church in Spain
• Targets clerical laxity, breaking of vows,
rampant corruption, and more
• Foresees much that would be in focus with the
reformation that began 40+ years later
• Reforms effectively nullify the reformation in
Spain
Royal Chapel
of Granada
Jews ordered to convert
• Leaves four groups
• Jews -- who refused to convert
• Three types of CONVERSOS
• (1) Most elite Jews: An easy shift to
noble status
• (2) Middling sort merchants and
upper class: Shift into educated,
ecclesiastical roles in the upper
classes
• (3) Vast majority: Poor who struggled
with conversion
• Conversos thrived
• Over time, it became difficult to
distinguish who was who
By the 1480s, Converso success stirred resentment
and anxiety
• Ferdinand and Isabella disapproved of
the direction of events
• Increasing distrust of the Conversos
• Jews viewed them as traitors
• Christians didn’t trust their conversion
• Were they really converted? Royals and
the Pope say “yes”
• But how can you be sure?!
Enter the
Spanish
Inquisition, 1478
• Original purpose:
against accusations, to
really test the depth of
the Conversos’ and
Moriscos’ conversions
• Later set up all over the
Spanish empire
• In 1492, to satisfy
critics, Jews ordered to
leave
• Would last until 1834!
Regime turns on the Muslims and
Jews
• Reflects events
abroad
• KEY DEVELOPMENT:
Conquest of
Constantinople in
1453
• Despoiling of the
Byzantine capital
reverberated across
Europe
• Mehmet II bragged
about taking all of
Europe
Conquest of Constantinople
Dispersal and expulsion of the Muslims
• Reconquista completed in
1492
• First effort: force Muslims
to convert to Christianity
• Revolt in Grenada in 1499
• 1502, revolt suppressed
and all practicing
Muslims ordered to leave
• Even converted Muslims
ordered out in 1609
And then there was that other
thing that happened in 1492…
The Ottoman “lock” on the spice trade
• M,
What about
the “spice
trade”?
• By 1492, eastern
spices played a
critical role in
the European
diet and other
areas
The Portuguese upstarts!
• nm
For Portugal, a KEY import: SLAVES
• Emerges from the
whole OttomanIberian-North
African context
• Simply another
commodity that
was traded in
• Sets a pattern the
Spanish would
emulate
Critical years:
1488-1498
• Last of the
Muslims driven
from Spain
• BIG news from
Portugal! They
track an all-water
route to India!
Columbus
comes to
the Spanish
Court
• Not big news –
even after he
comes back!
• The value of
the “New
World” to
Spain was very
slow to
materialize
The Alhambra Palace
Who was Columbus?
• Genoese sea captain (1451-1506)
• A curious mix of many strengths:
• An excellent sea captain, storyteller, PR
man; brilliant and, at times, charismatic
• And many weaknesses:
• Cruel, superstitious, a bad administrator,
disobedient, and greedy
• And double-edged capacities:
• Stubborn, ambitious, deeply religious,
intuitive
• Often displayed TERRIBLE judgement!
And Isabella?
• She appreciated Columbus’s
abilities.
• Kept him and his sons around her
court
• His vision fit her own ambitions
and her curiosity about the world
• Ferdinand had no use for him
whatsoever
• Geographers (rightly) viewed his
theories with contempt
• Much of the rest of the court
came to despise Columbus
• Isabella became Columbus’s
ESSENTIAL patron for 14 years
Columbus’s
journeys
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1492 – 3 ships
1493 – 17 ships
1498 – 6 ships
1502 – 4 ships
Spain’s Imperial
“claim”
• The “requirement” – give
indigenous people the
opportunity to surrender
without bloodshed
• The deal for conquered
peoples
• They become loyal subjects
(i.e. do as they are told)
• They work the land
• They pay taxes
• IN RETURN, Spain brings them
Catholicism
The development of the
Spanish Empire
• One of the biggest turning points in
world history!
• Prompts the devastating and
transformational COLUMBIAN
EXCHANGE
• Native populations decline by 90+ percent
• Remakes the environment
Spanish fort at St. Augustine, FL
Turns Spain into the first
“superpower”
• Portugal focused on a “light-footprint” trading
network
• In contrast, Spanish export culture, language,
religion, and political structures
• Pervasive control exercised for next 400
YEARS!
Established
the imperial
port city of
Cadiz
Imperial
port
• End point for the great
treasure ships from
the new world
• Focus of English
strategy during the
times of Queen
Elizabeth and Francis
Drake
Imperial treasure:
focus of PIRACY!!
• A form of undeclared warfare at
times
• Sees the GOLDEN AGE of piracy in
the Caribbean!!
• Dutch, English, French and others
• Francis Drake
• John Hawkins
• Edward “Blackbeard” Teach
• William Kidd
• Henry Morgan
And Ferdinand and Isabella?
• Most of their
political and
family ambitions
came to nothing
• Her children
locked into tragic
marriages
• After Isabella’s
death in 1504,
Ferdinand was
sent packing
back to Aragon
• Columbus died
in 1506
Charles I of Spain
(1500-1558)
• Born in the Netherlands
• The nephew of Isabella and
Ferdinand
• Teenaged Charles became King
Charles I of Spain in 1516
• Considered the “ugliest
monarch” in Europe
• Inexperienced, but
prepared to rule as
absolute monarch
• Absolute monarch -power not limited by
having to consult with
nobles, common
people or their
representatives
Charles I of Spain
• Move towards
absolutism fed by the
Reformation
• Position elective; Charles
borrowed money to buy
votes
• He inherited the Low
Countries of Belgium and
the Netherlands, along
with colonies in the
Americas.
• As emperor Charles V
Becomes Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V in 1519
– Holdings expanded to
parts of Italy, Austria,
various German
states
Charles V and Suleiman the Magnificent
• Ruling vast territories
no easy task
• Faced enemies on all
sides—Ottoman
Turks, French,
rebellious German
princes
• Sulieman the
Magnificent
• Francis I of France
The challenge of ruling the
Habsburg empire in 1519
• Also fought for religious
control over Europe
• Wanted Europe to be
Roman Catholic
• Growing Protestant
movement threatened
influence
• In spite of Charles’
efforts, Protestants
gained influence
The other reality in 1519:
the Reformation
• Rebellions against
Catholic rulers spread
• After years of warfare,
Charles V had to sign
Peace of Augsburg
• During reign, Spanish explorers
claimed much of Americas for
Spain
• Among explorers King Charles
supported
• Hernán Cortés, who
conquered Aztec empire in
Mexico
• Pizzaro conquered the Incan
Empire in Peru
• Francisco de Coronado,
explored American
Southwest region
Charles V more successful in
Americas than in Europe
• Silver and gold flowed from
American colonies
• Brought Spain EXTRAORDINARY
wealth
The empire … too much
for Charles?
• Charles V gave up thrones in 1556
• Frustrated by failures in Europe
• Decided to divide large empire
• Split between his brother and his son
• Ferdinand II
• Phillip II
Followed by Philip II
(1527-1598)
• Spain at peak of grandeur with reign of Philip II
• One reason—stream of gold and silver from colonies
in Americas
• With wealth came power—but gold could not solve
Spain’s problems
• King Philip II devout Catholic
• Saw himself as leader of Counter-Reformation
• Marriage to Queen Mary I of England chance to
spread Catholicism
Long-term legacy for Latin
America
• Locked Latin America into a dependent
relationship with a pre-modern empire
• Misses or resists the key develops that
come with the consumer revolution of
the 18th century and the industrial
revolution of the 19th century
• Both Spain and Latin America poorly
positioned for modern era
Indian agricultural workers in
the Yucatan in the late 19th century
The fuel for “superpower” status?
• Gold, silver, and the wealth of the
“New World”
• Represents 30 PERCENT of the
world’s known supply of gold!
• It all comes flowing into Europe in
the holds of Spanish galleons for
next 200 years
• Prompts accelerated development
of:
• Artillery (Guns)
• Ships and sailing technology
• The volume and scale of capital
transference are UNPRECEDENTED
in world history
Spain AND EUROPE are all transformed. WHY?
• Spanish SPEND the money
faster than it comes in
• On WARS
• Armies, navies all over Europe
• On support for Catholic rulers
and institutions
• Lead Catholic Europe against
the REFORMATION
RESULT: Brings to life … modern
capitalism
• Gold/silver surpluses lead to ample investment
capital
• Exploration/trade/shipping by lesser powers
impossible to fund through NORMAL means or
from gov’ts
• Who were the “lesser powers”?
• France … and especially ENGLAND
• England pioneers the creation of the joint stock
company to pull together the resources to explore
and compete with Spain
• EAST INDIA COMPANY – one of the largest, longest
lived (250+ years) and successful trading and
transportation companies in history
The seeds of Spain’s own
demise
• Inflation ends up deeply undercutting
Spanish development
• Wealth feeds Spain’s
absolutist/authoritarian tendencies
• Kills off entrepreneurialism, federalism,
intellectual inquiry
• TIMING – Spain led the way … at the
WRONG historical moment!
Spain’s Emperor Charles V
(1500-1558)
Summary
Wedding portrait of Ferdinand and Isabella
• The late 1400s was perhaps the
most DEFINING era in Spain’s
long history
• We see the emergence of both
the modern Spanish state and
the 400 year+ global Spanish
empire.
• This largely happens during the
reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella
• More importantly, their reigns
become a defining moment in
WORLD HISTORY
• This happens with Columbus’s
encounter with the New World
Questions
and
answers?
Painting by Edwin Lord Weeks
(circa 1880) depicts an old Moor
preaching at the mosque in Spain