Chapter Five
The Old World – Post-Iberian Spain
Much of the information provided here is taken for the Internet
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At this juncture, it’s important to understand the newly unified Spain of the last decade of the
15th Century. “The Crescent had conquered,
but the Cross endured.” After almost 800
years of war and expulsion of the African
Islamist Moors, Christian Iberians were to
become a united Catholic Spain under the
Monarchs, Ferdinand of Aragón and Isabella of
Castile.
This monarchy was a form of government in
which sovereignty was embodied in these two
individuals, the “Catholic Monarchs.” This
monarchy and its legal autonomy provided that they held all governance with little or no legal
restraints in state and political matters. The only exception was one of religion, as the Pope in
Rome held this power. However, make no mistake about this they quietly imposed critical
requirements upon controlling clergy regarding religion and other considerations. The Spain
they founded was an absolute monarchy and autocracy. Their discretion had no limitations.
Their Catholic Majesties had one overriding concern, unification of Spain on the Iberian
Peninsula. This was an immediate and non-negotiable
issue. After 8 centuries of Iberian Christian resistance
to African Islamic Moors domination the monarchs
would have it no other way. Several impediments to
this unification would have to be dealt with. These
included submission to their authority by the nobles,
conversion and or expulsion of the Jews and Moors,
and the expulsion of Protestants and others.
In the Spain of Ferdinand and Isabella, the nobles held the power. The new central government
was not yet stable. Each area of the peninsula had its own set of laws; although, appointed
“Hermandades” acted as enforcers of the law. The nobles retained revenues for themselves
which negatively impacted the royal treasury. The majority of the population was in poverty.
Trade was not managed. Agriculture was in the hands of the nobles to do with it as they may.
The new country’s Iberian-wide infrastructure was almost non-existent. Spain faced these and
many more problems. It would be a daunting task to rehabilitate, improve, and build an
incorruptible nation out of separate and opposing publics.
They set about to impose their royal authority on all of Spain. This royal authority was known
as the Pacification of Castile, which was seen as a crucial step toward the creation of a strong
nation-state. The Crown immediately created the Holy Brotherhood, used as a judicial police
force for Castile to keep Castilian nobles under control. Their Majesties then established a
uniform judicial system, creating a Royal Council and appointing magistrates (judges) to run
Spanish cities and towns. They sought various ways to diminish the influence of the Cortés
Generales in Castile and the Aragonese equivalent system in the Crown of Aragon. Each
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community and region was then connected to them through personal loyalty to the crown,
limiting bureaucracies as ties.
By January of 1492, the Spanish Army had defeated the African Muslim forces in Granada. This
last act of almost 800 years of Iberian Christian history placed the whole of Iberia (Except
Portugal) under Spain’s Christian rule. With the Peninsula’s unification complete, the Crown
concluded that the Jews were expendable. On March 30th, they issued the expulsion decree.
The order was to take effect in four months.
In Christopher Columbus' diary entry he writes, “In the same month in which their Majesties
issued the edict that all Jews should be driven out of the kingdom and its territories, in the
same month they gave me the order to undertake with sufficient men my expedition of
discovery to the Indies." On July 30, 1492, the entire Jewish community was expelled from
Spain. Tens of thousands died while trying to reach safety.
The Jewish expulsion was strongly supported by the Spanish Inquisition, headed by Father
Tomas de Torquemada (Himself of Jewish Converso heritage). The belief was that as long as
Jews remained in Spain, they would influence the tens of thousands of recent Jewish converts
(Conversos) to Christianity to secretly continue practicing Judaism. This was in direct defiance
of the new Catholic-only policy. The second issue was that Jews were perceived to be disloyal
to Iberian Christians and the Monarchy. It was believed by the general Iberian populous and
the Church that Jews had long been complicit with the African Islamic Moors in the conquest of
Iberia, its continued enslavement of Christians, and that the Jews would again aid the Islamists
in a reconquest of Iberia.
Many of the Jews had served the aristocracy as accountants and managers of their estates,
ensuring that Christian Iberians who worked for them labored hard and long. They also acted
as tax collectors for various Spanish lords, demanding payment on time and in full. Even more
problematic, was the fact that they were money lenders making them easy targets for those
who accused them of excessive usury. The interest rates of the time were usurious, at 30% or
40%, and it was extremely difficult for the peasants to repay. These jobs left the Jews with few
friends and even fewer protectors.
The “Moriscos” were mainly descendants of ethnically Iberian peoples and for the most part
not descendants of Arab and Berber conquerors. They were instead overwhelmingly the
descendants of Muladi, native Iberian Christians who converted to Islam under Muslim rule.
The Islamic population was initially tolerated under the terms of the Treaty of Granada.
Following the conquest of the City of Granada the Moorish inhabitants of the province revolted
twice against Christian rule. Pressure placed upon them to convert to Christianity played a part
in the 1499 uprising. However, this first revolt was quickly put down. In the following year
there were more serious revolts in the mountain villages of the Alpujarra the region below the
Sierra Nevada. There were also revolts in the western parts of the former Kingdom and
Suppression by the Catholic forces of these revolts was severe.
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The Spanish Monarchs feared that even after conversion, many Moriscos would look to the
Ottoman Empire (Islam) for assistance and release from the imposition of the Christian faith.
Why? The Ottoman armies had control of much of Europe and continued to for centuries.
Although, they never came to the aid of their brothers in Spain, this concern persisted. Morisco
pleas to the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II for help in 1501 were met with a typical response. The
Ottomans were already engaged in attempted conquests in the east against the Safavid Empire
of Iran and in the west against both the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia. They could ill
afford to offer aid. Lacking aid, those Moriscos wishing to stay reverted to Christianity under
the Monarch’s threat of exile in 1502.
Almost 7 decades later, in the years between 1568 and 1571, outbreaks of armed rebellion by
the Moriscos known as the War of Las Alpujarras or the second rebellion occurred throughout
the former Kingdom of Granada. It began in the City of Granada on Christmas Eve of 1568.
However, this failed due to the rebels being few in numbers. The Moriscos of Granada, in the
Alpujarras, and many who had fled from villages under Christian rule became outlaws in the
mountains. These assembled in secret at the Valle de Lecrin, repudiating Christianity. They
proclaimed Aben Humeya, born Fernando de Valor, as their king.
Morisco mountain villages then joined the revolt. The reaffirmed Islamists burned churches
and assassinated priests and other Christians. The Marques of Mondejar then led an army into
the Alpujarra to take control. In the first major battle he took control of the Poqueira valley,
where the Morisco king had placed his headquarters. From there, the Spanish forces continued
on taking many villages and rescuing Christians who had been imprisoned in churches.
The war degenerated into massacres, pillaging, and atrocities committed by both sides. In the
next year, the number of rebels had greatly increased. Philip II replaced the Marques of
Mondejar with his own half-brother John of Austria and a large force of Spanish and Italian
troops. As the Islamist rebels became divided and disorganized, they lost whatever gains they
had made. Their king was assassinated by his own followers and replaced by Aben Aboo. The
war came to an end in March 1571, after Aben Aboo was killed by his own people.
After ordering the dispersal of the Moriscos to other parts of the country, Philip II believed that
the Morisco community would be fragmented and their assimilation into the Christian
population would be accelerated. Eventually, this rebellion led to the expulsion of 80,000
Moriscos from the former Kingdom of Granada. With the revolt suppressed, almost the entire
Morisco population was rounded up and held in churches. Many left for Cordova, others to
found their way to Toledo, some made it as far as Leon. Those from the Almería region were
moved as far as Seville. The rebellion by the indigenous Islam was at that point considered
ended in Spain.
Unfortunately, the Moriscos from Granada actually had some influence on the local Moriscos
who had until then become more assimilated. Over 100 years after the first revolt, in 1609,
King Philip III ordered the expulsion of Moriscos from all of Spain. Few avoided expulsion.
Most of these ended in North Africa. Later, some would manage to return to Spain.
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From 1609 through 1614, the Spanish government continued to force Moriscos to leave. They
were only allowed possessions they could carry. These expulsions negatively affected the
Kingdom of Valencia and the Kingdom of Aragon more than the remainder of Spain.
The last mass prosecution against Moriscos for crypto-Islamic practices occurred in Granada
almost 130 years from the first revolt in 1727, resulting in most of the convicted receiving
relatively light sentences.
During the reign of the Catholic Monarchs the Inquisition was also active in persecuting others
for offences such as crypto-Judaism, heresy, and Protestantism. This was a determined effort
to identify and eliminate any and all resistance to Spain’s Catholic-only edicts.
Comments
Now, here I must offer a word of caution. We in the 21st Century see the world through
beliefs based on democracy where the rule of law reigns supreme. However, it would be a
mistake to superimpose our current world view on the nations of the past, including Spain.
It is understood that nomocracy or the rule of law is not a new legal principle. As a concept,
it was familiar to ancient philosophers such as Aristotle, who wrote "Law should govern." It
refers to the influence and authority of law within society as it relates to a constraint upon
behavior, including the behavior of government officials. The phrase can be traced back to
16th Century England and it was popularized in the 19th Century. It suggests that law
should govern a nation, as opposed to arbitrary decisions made by individual government
officials. Rule of law implies that every citizen is subject to the law. This would obviously
include the law makers themselves. It stands in stark contrast to an autocracy, dictatorship,
or oligarchy where the rulers (Monarchs) may be held above the law. Such was the case of
the “Spain” of the Catholic Monarchs. They were not only above the law. They were the
law! As such, they made all decisions, good and bad, for their realm.
Nor can Spain’s past be viewed through the lens of the much touted concept of “separation
of church and state,” that modern-day description for the distance in the relationship
between organized religion and the nation-state. Spain of that time was an absolute
monarchy, not a constitutional monarchy. This concept now adopted in a number of
countries has varying degrees of separation. It is totally dependent upon the various legal
structures applied by the parties and those prevalent views held by that particular populous
toward what it sees as the proper relationship between its religions and existing politics.
Spain under the Catholic Monarchs had only one world view of Church and state, that was
the view held by the Monarchs. The people were left only to follow.
In the West, a country's policy may be to maintain specified distinctions in church and state.
An "arm's-length-distance” relationship may be employed by which the two entities interact
as independent organizations. It may also refer to the creation of a secular state. Over
centuries, many European countries have taken over the social roles of the church with the
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state leading a secularized public sphere. To be sure the degree of separation varies,
whether by total separation or by degree as mandated by a constitution.
This was not the case in the Spain of the Catholic Monarchs. To attempt to understand
Spain of the 15th-18th centuries, one must accept that the concept of the separation of
church and state was something unknown and foreign. The Spain of the Catholic Monarchs
was just that, a nation held by monarchs. They had complete power. Their Majesties
practiced Catholicism and expected all of their subjects to follow suit. The fear of Islam and
its past enslavement of the Iberian Peninsula drove them. They would have one Spain, a
Catholic Spain. All others unwilling or unable to accept this reality were converted by force
or coercion, removed, or killed. There was no court of public appeal, only the Crown and
the Inquisition. And Catholic Spain would spread this gospel throughout the realm and its
future dominions.
In the context of this discussion Spanish fear of Muslims and Islam should not be
misunderstood. It was palpable, obvious, and viewed as a blatant threat to their very
survival, if not existence. By anyone’s standards, an 800 year war is a very, very long war.
To reinforce these fears after the last Moors were forced from Iberia, Spain had
experienced tens of decades of continued resistance and rebellion from the Moriscos. In
today’s understanding of the matter it can be misunderstood as an innocuous issue, not
likely to give offense or to arouse strong feelings or hostility. In fact, the fear of Islam and
its warriors and a possible dreaded reconquest and Recolonization of Iberia remained with
the Spanish and Portuguese Christians. The Spaniards understood only to clearly Moorish
claims that Islamic law gave them the right to return and re-establish Muslim rule. Iberia’s
fear of Islam was based upon fact and not misinformed conjecture. African Islamic invaders
had overcome Iberian Christian lands in 711A.D. and enslaved its peoples until forcefully
removed. It is a fact that the takeover of Spain by Islam had begun almost 385 years before
the First Crusade (Roman Catholic Europe to regain the Holy Lands) of 1096 A.D.
The deliberate and planned Muslim/Islamic invasions and conquests or Arab/Islamic
invasions and conquests of non-Muslim lands (Christian and other) began with the prophet
Muhammad in the 7th Century. Later, Islamic religious-based governance was eventually
implemented unifying the Arabian Peninsula under the Rashidun or “Rightly Guided
Caliphs” and the Umayyad Caliphates. Islam then saw a century of rapid expansion of
Muslim power, colonization, and forced religious conversion and enslavement of those
populations. It would grow beyond the Arabian Peninsula as an Islamic religious empire
expanding from the borders of China and India, through Central Asia, the Middle East, North
Africa, Sicily, across the Iberian Peninsula, and up into the Pyrenees. To reinforce these
gains, the Arabic language and laws of the Quran were imposed in all conquered areas.
Before we proceed, one must remember that these were Christian and other religion-based
lands before Islamic aggression, invasion, conquest, pressured religious conversions, forced
marriages, enslavement, and the murder of many of those unwilling to convert.
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The First Crusade (1096–1099) began as a widespread pilgrimage (France and Germany). It
would end as a military incursion by Roman Catholic Europe in an effort to regain the Holy
Lands taken and colonized during the Islamist Muslim invasions and conquests of the Levant
(632–661). This adventure ultimately resulted in the recapturing of Jerusalem in 1099. It
was championed in 1095 by Pope Urban II. Its primary goal was to respond to the appeal
from Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, who was requesting western volunteers to
come to his aid and help eject the invading Seljuq Turks from Anatolia. A secondary goal
quickly became a principal objective, the Christian reconquest of the sacred city of
Jerusalem and the Holy Land thus freeing of the Eastern Christians from Islamic rule and
enslavement.
The conquests by Islam brought about the destruction of the Sassanid Empire (Persia). The
Byzantine Empire suffered an immediate territorial loss and eventual collapse. The
Byzantine Empire or the Eastern Roman Empire was the eastern half of and continuing
portion of the Roman Empire during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Its inhabitants
were predominantly Greek-speaking Christians. Its capital city was Constantinople
(Modern-day Istanbul) which was originally founded as Byzantium. It had survived the
fragmenting and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th Century A.D. and continued
its existence for another thousand years until it fell to the Islamic Ottoman Turks in 1453.
Islam, its leaders, and adherents find it convenient to begin the history of all of these lands
after their takeover and colonization. It should not be forgotten that other cultures and
religions preceded the Islamic Empire which eventually expanded out of Arabia and moved
quickly from North Africa and into Europe. Islamic Jihad is a legacy of this Islamic
Imperialism and colonization which by religious necessity resulted in the forced conversions
and ultimate slavery of non-Muslims.
To clarify, one must examine Islam’s view of its religious duty. Jihad is an Islamic term
referring to a religious duty of Islamists. It is accepted that a person engaged in jihad is
called a mujahidin. The word jihad appears frequently in the Quran. It means, "Striving in
the way of God (Allah)". Classical Islamic law refers to a struggle against those (All nonMuslims) who do not believe in the Islamic Allah (The only God) and will not acknowledge
their necessary and complete submission to Muslims. It is also translated as a "Holy War".
It is understood by those who know the true nature of jihad that in the majority of cases, it
has a military meaning. There would appear to be a consensus among Islamic scholars that
the concept of jihad should always include an armed struggle against wrong doers (All nonMuslims).
Historically, it was generally accepted by Islam that an order for a general war could only be
given by a Caliph. However, those Islamists who did not acknowledge the spiritual authority
of a Caliphate looked to their rulers for a proclamation of a jihad. In today’s world, radical
adherents to Islam take it upon themselves to make this determination. Thus, the existence
of the current world situation where Islamists carry the banner of Islamic Jihad high, while
attacking non-Muslims on every front possible.
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Today’s Islamic “media defenders” continually spin every action by the West as it’s wanting
to re-take Muslim lands. They defend this mantra by employing a strategy which has served
them well, the adage “the best defense is a good offense.” The idea suggests that strong
offensive action will preoccupy the opposition (The West) and ultimately hinder (The West)
its ability to mount an opposing counterattack, leading to a strategic advantage (Which
Islam uses effectively and efficiently). The west has fallen into this trap nicely. Its guilt over
its own colonialism has left it unable to recount the history of those lands before that
period. Factually, Islam’s colonial period continues even to today. It should be understood
clearly that Islam and its Koran has always seen non-Muslims from the same vantage point,
potential slaves and continues to do its best to bring this about.
As the Empire grew and entered into lands of various ethnicity and racial origin, all captives
were relegated to slave status. Islamic slavery of non-Muslims was a century’s long
endeavor. From the 800s through the end of Islamic domination of the seas, the practice
grew along with wanton killing and pillaging. North African Muslim pirates continually
raided European coastal towns and villages from Sicily to Cornwall. They also attacked
European ships for some three centuries and enslaved over one million Europeans and
some American seamen.
800s: By the 800s, the African Islamic Moorish rulers traded in Spanish and Eastern
European Christian slaves. There were prerequisites for being enslaved in Islam. Whether
for domestic or industrial labor, sex slavery and concubinage or chattel, it was not based on
race but on being a non-Muslim war captive. Thus, non-Muslim people were seen as things
to be used by Islamists.
1450-1700: According to another estimate, between 1450 and 1700, the Crimean Tatars
exported some 10,000 slaves, including some Circassians, annually—that is, some 2,500,000
slaves in all, to the Ottoman Empire.
1463: The Tatar slave-raiding Khans returned with 18,000 slaves from Poland (1463)
1498: 100,000 from Lvov (1498)
1515: 60,000 from South Russia (1515)
1516: 50,000–100,000 from Galicia (1516)
1521: 800,000 from Moscow (1521)
1555: 200,000 from South Russia (1555)
1571: 100,000 from Moscow (1571)
1612: 50,000 from Poland (1612)
1646: 60,000 from South Russia (1646)
1648: 100,000 from Poland (1648)
1654: 300,000 from Ukraine (1654)
1676: 400,000 from Valynia (1676)
1694: Thousands from Poland (1694)
Besides these slave-raiding runs, they took countless more Jihad actions during the same
period. These yielded a few to tens of thousands of slaves.
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1468-1694: Crimean Tatars enslaved and sold some 1,750,000 Ukrainians, Poles, and
Russian between 1468 and 1694.
These European slaves were in particular demand for serving as concubines, and most
probably sex slaves. These were commonly found in the royal army, palaces, and in
establishments of the rich in Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Libya.
1575: One of the most famous European Christian slaves in Barbary Muslim Africa was
Miguel de Cervantes, the famous Spanish author of the Don Quixote epic. He was taken
captive in 1575 by Barbary pirates and was later released upon payment of ransom.
1530-1780: Between 1530 and 1780, some estimates have been given which suggest in
Islamic North Africa 1.5 million Europeans and Americans were enslaved. One example is
the people of the town of Baltimore in Ireland. In one single night, all were carried off by
the Barbary pirates, sometimes called Barbary corsairs or Ottoman corsairs. These were
pirates and privateers who operated from North Africa, based primarily in the ports of Salé,
Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli.
Islamic slavery was no small enterprise. Barbary Muslim pirates kidnapped Europeans from
ships in North Africa’s coastal waters or the Barbary Coast. They also attacked, pillaged, and
plundered Atlantic coastal fishing villages and towns in Europe, enslaving their inhabitants.
The most harassed villages and towns were on the coast of Italy, Spain, Portugal and France.
These Muslim slave-raiders also seized non-believers from Britain and Iceland.
1350-1453: The Ottoman Empire’s penetration of Europe beginning in the 1350s, and their
later capture of Constantinople in 1453, tore open a huge gaping hole in Europe’s defenses
against Islamic invasion and slave-trading.
1550-1730: It is estimated that there were a minimum of 25,000 white slaves at any time in
Sultan Moulay Ismail’s palace. Records maintained at Algiers, show a population of 25,000
white slaves between 1550 and 1730. It is possible that their numbers could have doubled
at certain times. During the same period, it is reported that Tunis and Tripoli each
maintained a white slave population of about 7,500. Also, the Barbary pirates enslaved
some 5,000 Europeans annually over a period of nearly three centuries.
1554: In 1544, the island of Ischia off of Naples was ransacked. Barbary Muslim pirates took
an estimated 4,000 inhabitants as prisoners. Also, some 9,000 inhabitants of Lipari Island
off the north coast of Sicily were enslaved.
1609-1616: Between 1609 and 1616, the Barbary pirates captured 466 English trading ships
along with their occupants and cargoes.
1620-1630: One anthology of American Barbary captivity narratives lists a collection of
essays by nine American captives held in North Africa. It suggests that there were more
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than 20,000 white Christian slaves by 1620 in Algiers. This number grew to more than
30,000 men and 2,000 women by the 1630s.
1625: In 1625, Barbary pirates captured Lund Island in the Bristol Channel as a base. From
there, they ransacked and pillaged the surrounding villages and towns. Daily, they attacked
unarmed fishing villages, seized inhabitants, and burned homes. By the end of the summer
of 1625, the mayor of Plymouth reported that approximately 1,000 skiffs had been
destroyed. At least 1,000 villagers had also been abducted and taken into slavery.
1627: Murad Rais, a European convert to Islam, became a leader of the Barbary pirates at
the coastal Corsair town of Salé off Morocco. In 1627, he led a pillaging and enslaving
campaign to Iceland. Anchoring at Reykjavik, his forces ransacked the town and abducting
400 men, women and children and later sold them in Algiers.
1631: In 1631, Rais made another voyage with a 200 pirates to the coast of Southern
Ireland. There he ransacked and pillaged the village of Baltimore, carrying off 237 men,
women and children to Algiers.
These Islamic slave raiding activities by the Barbary Pirates had a devastating effect on
Europe. France, England, and Spain lost thousands of ships which devastated their sea
trade. Long stretches of the coast in Spain and Italy were abandoned by their inhabitants
until the 19th Century. The European finishing industry was almost devastated.
1663: In 1663, Turgut Reis, the Turkish pirate chief, ravaged coastal settlements near
Granada, Spain and carried off some 4,000 inhabitants.
1683: In Islam’s last attempt to overrun Europe in 1683, the Ottoman army was defeated at
the Gates of Vienna. However, they did return with 80,000 captives. In addition, a great
number of slaves flowed to Islamic markets from the Crimea, the Balkans, and the steppes
of West Asia. Tartars and other Black Sea peoples sold millions of Ukrainians, Georgians,
Circassians, Armenians, Bulgarians, Slavs, and Turks.
In light of the facts, I think Iberians of old would find it extraordinary to hear complaints
from today’s Islamic nations and their Muslim clerics, scholars, and adherents that the West
is continuing its crusade of aggression against their most holy sites and lands. One needs
only remember that the West once accepted as appropriate the concept of “the right of
conquest” as a principle of international law and a convenient out for European nations and
the part they played in the conquest and subjugation of the New World. It would not do to
have this concept challenged over existing territories won and discussions begin about
reinstating possession of land to those who first held them. It would be inconvenient to say
the least.
In short, post-Christian lands conquered and colonized by Islam are safe from recapture by
the West. From the perspective of the West, reinstatement of the previous non-Muslim
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inhabitants with a status of ownership of these lands is unthinkable. The more appropriate
question in Spanish minds should be, is the West safe from Islam? To be clear, Islam’s
teachings encourage the retaking of any lands once held by Muslims, and this includes
Spain.
The Monarch’s final and all important concern was that of adequate revenues for the financing
of the newly minted Spain. This would have to be sought after and gained by whatever means
necessary. To be sure, this in part moved the Monarchs to confiscate lands and treasure of
those persecuted and expelled.
This period also marked a definitive turning point for Spain. The Reyes Católicos, Isabella and
Ferdinand sponsored the search of a westward way to reach Asia, led by Christopher Columbus.
The enterprise had been offered and turned down by Portugal, which was more interested in
pursuing the African route. At the time, it was thought that the circumference of the earth was
significantly smaller than it actually was, and that no relevant land masses existed between
Europe and Asia. Columbus would assume that he had reached India when he inadvertently
discovered the Americas, and so the Spanish called the area the “Indies”. Columbus would land
on the island of Española (Hispaniola) and sight Cuba. Upon his return he would claim all the
lands he explored for Spain.
As we move forward with our discussion of Old World’s post-Iberian Spain, we must endeavor
to understand it and its people. They were recently freed Iberians, led by Monarchs with
religious fervor, bent on a unified, Catholic Spain. And behind all of this was the specter of
Islam’s possible return, the reconquest and re-colonization of Iberia, and the once again
enslavement of its Catholics by the African Muslims. The Spanish people could only pray to
their Catholic god that they would be spared this evil and in return they would do all for the
glory of his name.
15th Century
1492: 1492 was one of the most momentous years in all of Spanish history.
Spain was then on the threshold of a new era of discovery and nationalism.
Under the leadership of Ferdinand of Aragón and Isabella of Castile, Iberian
Spain was united for the first time. In this same year, Torquemada, the master
of the Inquisition, had orchestrated the issuance of an edict of the Crown
expelling the Jews from Spain. As the Monarchs believed that the state and it’s
Church and were one, all had to submit to Catholicism or leave. Therefore, the
sizeable Jewish population of Spain was forced to choose between renouncing
its faith or leave. In future, a member of the Spanish realm would not only be a
Spaniard, but also a Catholic. Members of my family lines (De Ribera) were
Conversos, “Converted Jews” who became Christians. Many of these too, were
expelled. These family lines are members of the Sephardic Jewish group.
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After a long six-year wait on the periphery of the Spanish royal court,
Christopher Columbus was finally given permission that same year to set sail
westward in search for the wealth of the East Indies.
1492: The decline of knightly Orders in Spain is the subject of much debate.
Some have suggested that Chivalry's decline was due to the expulsion of the
Muslims with the fall of Granada in 1492, or the centralization of political power
under the Monarchs. Once the mission of driving the Moors from Spain was
accomplished, the four Orders, like the great crusader Orders elsewhere in
Europe, were perceived as subjects with too much power. It became a priority
for the Spanish Crown to gain control over them, particularly as frequent
quarrels between the rival bodies was a source of dissension. This would also
further the Crown’s efforts to establish its central authority.
The Spanish kings had frequently obtained the election of close connections of
their families as Masters of the Orders and at Calatrava in 1489, Santiago in 1494
and Alcántara in 1495 the administration of the three Magisteries were
ultimately granted to King Ferdinand of Aragón, as Sovereign of Aragón and KingConsort of Castille. Finally, by the Bull Dum intra of Pope Adrian VI dated May 4,
1523, the, “perpetual administration' of the three Orders was transferred to
Charles I (the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V), King of Spain, and his heirs and
successors…”
After the Reconquista and the loss of their prominence in the peninsula, Spanish
Orders and later incarnations of Spanish chivalry found a new role as an elite
corps of the nobility maintaining their castles and estates as commanderies to
provide incomes for those who had distinguished themselves in the service of
the Monarch. Succeeding centuries would see the growth of the Spanish Empire
with a resurgence of chivalric ideals and its knights transcending and reappearing
as the conquistadors in the New World.
The rewards for the new conquistadors were similar to those of their medieval
predecessor. The post-reconquistadores had lands to conquer, people to
convert to Christianity, and glory and fame to win. The knight-errant of myth
and his fictional history was a creature indifferent to material gain. The 16th
Century conquistadors were real people who sought wealth. As Bernal Díaz de
Castillo, a soldier who took part in the conquest of Mexico stated of the
conquistador’s objective, “We came here to serve God and the king and also to
get rich.”
The New World conquistadors would do all of these things through force of
arms. The Reconquest of Spain’s lands had made them fierce men of war,
hardened, and strong. Their weapons were the best in the Old World. Their
horses were trained for battle and ready for warfare.
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Notes:
During Spain’s internal Reconquista, members of the Spanish nobility and
various military orders received large land grants which the Kingdom of
Castile had conquered from the African Islamic Moors. These landowners
were to defend the lands placed under their control and use them as a
means for generating revenue. Under the Royal Council of the Mesta, it was
found that open-range breeding of sheep and cattle was the most suitable
use for these vast tracts, particularly in the parts of Spain now known as
Castilla-La Mancha, the Extremadura, and the Andalucía.
During the Middle Ages and the medieval Crown of Castile period, the Mesta
System or Honrado Concejo de la Mesta, (Honorable Council of the
Mesta)"controlled the great flocks of sheep that were driven from the
pastures of Extremadura (in the central plains) to Castile (in the northern
mountains) and back again according to season. This powerful association of
sheep owners who managed these flocks by hiring shepherds from the
mountains who knew the terrain for the transhumance. Dogs were not used
for this purpose, and were in fact prohibited, except for livestock guardian
breeds. Thus, horseback riding for managing the Sheep would gradually
evolve. Later, as the ranchers introduced new livestock onto their lands the
men watching over the sheep would need to learn new horseback riding
techniques to deal with them. This would birth doma vaquera horseback
riding for the working of Spanish cattle ranches evolved from a style called
jinete. In Spanish, jinete (Also spelled ginete or genitour) means
"horseman". In some cases it refers to the horse, the rider, or both.
Originally, jinete referenced a type of light cavalryman who by training was
proficient at skirmishing and rapid maneuver. When used as a military term,
jinete means a Spanish light horseman armed with a javelin, sword, and
shield. It also suggests a troop type developed in the early Middle Ages in
response to the massed light cavalry of the Moors. The Spanish military
often fielded these in significant numbers, at times being the most numerous
of the Spanish mounted troops. Until the 16th Century, the jinete played an
important role in Spanish mounted warfare throughout the Reconquista and
served successfully in the Italian Wars under Gonzalo de Cordoba and Ramon
de Cardona.
The military tactics employed by the jinete were not to close on the enemy
but to hover around their opponents. These genitours swarmed,
overwhelming the enemy with javelins. They hung at his flanks harassing
continually and charged when the enemy grew tired, gave ground, broke
formation, or fell into disorder, and then when able charge the enemy.
194
Undoubtedly, the military Jinete greatly influenced methods for managing
and working sheep and large herds of cattle.
Doma means training. Vaquero means cowboy, from the Spanish word vaca
for cow. Ranching and the cowboy tradition originated in Spain, out of the
necessity to handle large herds of grazing animals on dry land from
horseback. It later developed into as a style of riding which could be used for
managing a horse in battle. The Doma vaquera produced many excellent
horsemen which would later use their considerable riding talents in the art of
war.
Over time, most of the cattle ranches in Spain gave way to agriculture and
the few remaining ranches began raising fighting bulls. The Spanish vaquero
worked with these aggressive and dangerous animals requiring his skills to be
carefully refined. His horse became skilled, athletic, and fearless. As the
large ranches began disappearing the doma vaquera transitioned into a
competitive sport and art form.
In the New World doma vaquera would prove to be an essential element in
the successful warfare waged by the mounted conquistadors against the
native populations who fought on foot.
In Castilian, it is used adjectivally of a rider who knows how to ride a horse,
especially those who are fluent or champions at equestrian practices, such as
the gaucho or huaso (gauso) of the plains, the cowboy, Vaquero, or charro
among others. Later in Mexico, jinete took on the meaning of "rodeo rider",
hence "cowboy". It was also used in the Spanish Army to designate
personnel belonging to the cavalry arm.
1492: The Catholic Monarchs, Fernando and Isabel, completed the Reconquest
of Iberia by taking Granada the last stronghold of the Islamists in Spain. On
January the 2nd, they took advantage of the rivalry of the last Muslim governors
of Spain and took the city by force of arms.
1492: The caravels sent by the Crown of Castile under the command of
Christopher Columbus discovered America on October 12th.
1492: The Canary Islands became part of Spanish territory, in 1492.
1492: The Catholic Monarchs expelled all Jews from Castile-Aragón (Nicolle,
1988).
1492: Leonor de Ribera y Mendoza Titles: Señora (Dame) de Olivares
Parents:
195
Per Afán de Ribera y Portocarrero
Munia de Mendoza y FIGUEROA
Spouses and children:
Married: to Enrique II Pérez de Guzmán y Fonseca, 2ième Duque (Duc) de
Medina Sidona †1492 with
Juan Alonso Pérez de Guzmán y de Ribera, 3ième Duque (Duc) de Medina
Sidona 1464-1507
Siblings:
Inés de Ribera
Catalina de Ribera y Mendoza, Condesa (Comtesse) de los Molares 1505
Leonor de Ribera y Mendoza
Titles: Señora (Dame) de Olivares
Parents:
Per Afán de Ribera y Portocarrero
Munia de Mendoza y Figueroa
Spouses and children:
Married: to Enrique II Pérez de Guzmán y Fonseca, 2ième Duque (Duc) de
Medina Sidona 1492 with
Juan Alonso Pérez de Guzmán y de Ribera, 3ième Duque (Duc) de Medina
Sidona 1464-1507
Siblings:
Inés de Ribera
Catalina de Ribera y Mendoza, Condesa (Comtesse) de los Molares 1505
1492: Juan de Silva y Ribera, II marqués de Montemayor
Birthdate: January 11, 1492
Death: September 14, 1566
Immediate Family:
Son of Juan de Silva y Ribera, I marqués de Montemayor and María Manrique
de Toledo, señora de Magan y Cambrillos
Husband of María de Vega
Father of Pedro de Silva y Ribera and Juan de Silva y Ribera, marqués de
Montemayor
Brother of Fernando de Silva y Ribera, alférez mayor de Toledo and Enrique
Manrique de Lara, comendador de Guadalerza
1493: In other places, Islam was still advancing and threatening Christian Europe.
1493: By 1493, new discoveries and conquests by Spain and Portugal were being
confirmed by official papal decrees, with the pope mediating and reducing
conflicts. The pope assigned more formal boundaries to territorial claims based
previously on vague borders. At Spain’s request, in 1493 Pope Alexander VI
officially certified the right of Spain to the newfound West Indies, helping to set
the division of the unexplored world between the two countries.
196
1493-1502: In the Americas (Between 1493 and 1502) where Columbus made
three more voyages, he insisted that he had reached India. This caused the
indigenous peoples of the new continent to be called Indians, regardless of their
different cultures.
Note:
Columbus brought approximately 1,500 colonists on his second voyage to
Hispaniola, in addition to farm animals and fruit trees. Within a decade, only
one tenth of the original population of the island survived. The colony relied
heavily on native labor, the native Taínos. Many died from overwork,
battles, and/or newly introduced European diseases.
The impact of the colonization process for both natives and newcomers was
tremendously difficult. The Americas were a new world for Europeans with
hostile environments and in many places inhabited by unfriendly natives.
Many of the initial attempts of permanent settlement failed.
Due to the high mortality rates of the natives, in 1505, the first African slaves
would be brought to the Americas. This would begin the regrettable
commerce of slavery which lasted four centuries and involve 10 million
Africans.
Columbus was unsuccessful in his role as administrator and in 1500 lost his
post as governor of the Indies.
1494: In 1494, Portugal and Spain signed the Treaty of Tordesillas, establishing
the “Line of Demarcation”. It crossed over present-day Brazil at the approximate
longitude of 48 degrees. This meridian line demarcation granted Spain new
lands to the west and Portugal discoveries to the east. Later, Portugal claimed
Brazil following the landing by Pedro Álvares Cabral at Porto Seguro in 1500.
1495: To the detriment of France, Spain’s hegemony in the Mediterranean was
affirmed with the conquest of the Kingdom of Naples and Navarre and their
incorporation into the Kingdom.
1496: In 1496, Portugal moved to expel all Jews.
1497: In 1497, Portugal substituted a policy of forced conversion
Comments:
Near the close of the next century, a second diaspora of Sephardic Jews took
place, this time involving Conversos from Portugal who moved to the
197
Netherlands and later to England, northern Europe, and the New World.
Some of these Conversos reestablished their Jewish identity, while others
assimilated into the Christian population. The third major movement of the
Sephardim has taken place since World War II, with the settlement of many
Middle Eastern and North African Sephardim in Israel, immigration to the
United States, and migration from North Africa to France and Spain.
Using a broad definition for Sephardic Jews, in the modern era countries with
the largest Sephardic populations in the 1980s (Figures are estimates) were:
 Israel 1.7 million
 United States 350,000
 France 260,000
Other countries with large Sephardic populations include:
 Argentina 34,000
 Brazil 30,000
 Italy 30,000
 Mexico 15,000
 Morocco 13,000
 Spain 12,000
In general, in most New World (i.e., Argentina, Brazil, and United States)
countries where Sephardic Jews (sometimes Conversos) formed the earliest
Jewish Communities, they are now far outnumbered by the descendants of
Ashkenazic Jews whose ancestors arrived later. Similarly, diaspora
communities founded by Conversos in Europe eventually disappeared as the
Conversos either assimilated or reasserted their Jewish identity. However,
Converso communities are reported as still existing in Mexico and on
Majorca.
1497: In North Africa, Spanish expansion started in Melilla and Ifni in 1497 and
came to include a number of small coastal exclaves. In the 1500s, Spain made
some incursions into present-day Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. By 1580, it
acquired Ceuta from Portugal, a stronghold on the North African coast which
served as a major Mediterranean port for goods (gold, ivory, and slaves)
transported from the interior of Africa across the Sahara Desert.
16th Century:
In the 16th Century, as a consequence of the marriage politics of the Reyes
Católicos, their grandson Charles V came to rule the largest Western empire
since the Romans, including all of Spain and her colonies, a large share of Italy,
the Low Countries, and the Holy Roman Empire.
198
The Empire’s expansion of 15th Century had set the stage for Spain’s becoming
the first transcontinental superpower during the 16th and 17th centuries and
shaping much of the modern world. Its status was built on military might, naval
ingenuity, the mining of gold and silver, and maintaining trade. These ushered in
Spain’s “Golden Age.”
The Spanish Imperial Age had profound repercussions for Europe and especially
in the conquered regions. The dismantling of ancient civilizations, decimation of
indigenous populations, and the introduction of slavery and its evils rank among
the worst resulting consequences for these conquered regions. However, the
Empire’s expansion also resulted in increased trade, spurred development, and
allowed for the transplanting of technologies and the adoption of new crops.
At its greatest extent, the empire would grow to include most of Central and
South America, as well as important areas in North America, Africa, Asia, and in
Oceania.
The 16th and 17th centuries were also Seville’s golden years, much as they were
Spain’s. It expanded rapidly, accumulated great wealth, yet much of its
population suffered from extreme poverty. It had luxurious palaces but it was
also full of squalor. The city practiced charity like no other city in the country,
yet at the same time was riddled with crime and corruption. Its nobles dressed
opulently, but it was plagued by pícaros (rogues), vagabonds, beggars, and
prostitutes. Its religious fervor was famous throughout Spain, so too was its
sensual corruption.
Notes:
People flocked to Seville from all over Spain and outside in hopes of a better
life. This made it one of the most cosmopolitan cities of Europe. Genoan
traders had already established themselves there. Later they were joined by
other merchants, shopkeepers, and artisans from Flanders, Portugal, France,
Germany, Italy and England. There African slaves, Morisco craftsmen
(Muslim converts to Christianity), sailors, soldiers, and emigrants headed to
the New World. The streets were full of activity awaiting the return of the
transatlantic fleets.
Seville’s spectacular growth in the 16th and early 17th centuries was built on
its trading monopoly with the America, or Las Indias to Spaniards. It retained
the privilege bestowed on it in 1503, until the beginning of the 18th Century.
In that same year, a Casa de Contratación or Chamber of Commerce was
established in the Reales Alcázares, close to the cathedral. It regulated all
exported and imported goods.
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After a return crossing that could take anything from 3 to 6 months, news
came that the fleet had been sighted. Crowds then gathered to watch, and
church services were held to celebrate the event. Great expectations and
fortunes depended upon the safe arrival of the fleet. The loss of one ship
could spell disaster for those who had an interest in the venture. The
crossing was full of danger from storms, many enemy ships, and pirates. The
presence of the powerful armed Spanish galleons could not guarantee the
safety and security of the bullion laden vessels.
Gold and silver were the most important items. Most of these precious
metals were sent to other destinations. Twenty percent were destined for
the king’s coffers and large amounts to Spain to bankers in Genoa and
Germany. This was in repayment for the loans to underwrite Spain’s attempt
to control areas of Europe and the Mediterranean.
Seville became famous for its new buildings, great palaces (e.g. the Casa de
Pilatos), convents, and churches. It also became infamous for its slums. To
impress, aristocrats and wealthy merchants built palaces and houses. These
favored family life around a patio. This new style called for large windowed
areas and ornate facades. The patios were surrounded by fragrant flowers
and citrus trees.
Poverty was widespread and corruption rife. Contemporary observers
commented on the scale of money and favors being exchanged for lenient
sentences or freedom from jail.
The city became famous for its charitable organizations. The rapidly
expanding population (from about 50,000 in 1530 to 150,000 by 1600), was
under the constant threat of social unrest. Natural disasters, droughts, and
floods caused inflation and higher food prices. There was also the
manipulation of food costs by speculators.
Numerous convents, churches, guilds, and religious fraternities were in
competition to provide food. These helped to keep the peace.
The great number of new buildings at Seville during its Golden Age provided
work. The nobility, merchants, churches and convents vied for builders,
artisans, woodcarvers, carpenters, sculptors, stonemasons, ceramicists,
goldsmiths, painters, and others.
Cultural life flourished under the patronage of the aristocracy, church, and
wealthy merchants. The Church was particularly active in commissioning
sculptors and artists to adorn their buildings with works meant to inspire and
contemplate spiritual matters. Seville appears to have outdone all other
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Spanish cities in the quantity and excellence of its city and religious buildings.
In the 17th Century, monasteries and convents doubled and the cult of the
Virgin Mary increased.
Seville also enjoyed literary fame. At the palace of the Conde de Gelves,
great-grandson of Christopher Columbus, he regularly entertained from
1559-1581 the best of Seville’s literary and artistic world.
Seville’s privileged position as port to the Americas soon began to suffer
during the course of the 17th Century. Larger transatlantic vessels found it
difficult to navigate the Guadalquivir River. By 1680 most Atlantic ships
preferred Cádiz. The administration of the trade through the Casa de
Contratación continued from Seville until 1717. Seville’s special position as
Spain’s most important port was finally brought to an end.
Additionally, Seville suffered several natural disasters. The Guadalquivir was
prone to floods. In 1627 and 1683 the city was inundated, and thousands of
buildings ruined. Plagues helped by the unhygienic conditions, had many
outbreaks during the 16th and 17th centuries. The worst was in 1649. It
wiped out almost half the population.
1500:
1500s: Spain made some incursions into present-day Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya.
1500: Don Fadrique Enríquez de Ribera, the first marquis of Tarifa founded the
Parliament of Andalucía building in 1500
Parliament of Andalucía
The Parliament of Andalucía is seated in a large 16th Century complex.
Originally built as a hospital just outside the historic city walls, it was
converted and renovated in 1992 to house the parliamentary offices.
Hospital de las Cinco Llagas
Parliament of Andalucía
The Autonomous Parliament of Andalucía has its seat in a former hospital
building, the Hospital de las Cinco Llagas (Hospital of the Five Wounds).
201
The hospital was founded in 1500 when Pope Alexander VI gave Doña
Catalina Ribera permission to set up a hospital in Seville. The hospital was
originally located in a temporary building in the Calle Santiago near Casa de
Pilatos. Catalina's son, Don Fadrique Enríquez de Ribera, the first marquis of
Tarifa, decided to build a new hospital complex just outside the city walls
near the Macarena Basilica.
The Baroque portal
Construction started in 1546 under the direction of Martín de Gainza, who
had earlier collaborated on the construction of Seville's city hall. The vast
complex, which wouldn't be completed until 1613, was built in a renaissance
style. It is structured around a number of courtyards; originally nine, eight
are left today.
At the center of the long south facade is a large portal, designed by Asensio
de Maeda in a typical Spanish Baroque style. The portal leads straight to the
hospital's church, which dominates the central courtyard. The church, built
in 1560 by Hernán Ruiz the Younger, is now used for parliamentary meetings.
The hospital was abandoned in the 1960s and stood empty for years until
1992 when it was restored to serve as the seat of the Parliament of
Andalucía, which became an Autonomous Community of Spain in 1981. In
front of the parliamentary building is a modern formal garden with a statue
of Hercules, originally created for the Universal Exposition of 1992 in Seville.
1502: Spanish Muslims were expelled.
1503: Don Francisco Enriquez de Ribera family, the lord of Alcala de los Gazules
after the Christian conquest the Paterna’s lands took control of the land officially
founding of the village, along with the establishment of its town hall in 1503.
202
It was given the name Paterna de Ribera, its inhabitants paying taxes to the
House of Ribera as well as to Alcala de los Gazules Village Council. The village did
not receive its independence until 1825. One of the most characteristic forms of
flamenco song called la Petenera, originated in Paterna de Rivera.
The village of Paterna de Rivera
The village of Paterna de Rivera sits in the center of the province of Cadiz, at
the crossroads of the Ruta del Toro. It connects Medina Sidonia to the
south-west with Alcalá de los Gazules to the east, and Jerez de la Frontera to
the north with Los Barrios to the south.
1503-1558: Don Juan Alfonso Pérez de Guzmán y Afán de Ribera, 3rd Duke of
Medina Sidonia. Used as his second surname "Afan de Ribera". This could be
because his mother was a Mendoza and it was not unknown for women and
ecclesiastics to use the name of their mother, in spite of her father being an
"Afan de Ribera"
Mother: Leonor de Mendoza y Ribera,
He married twice, being the
Father of:
4th Duke of Medina Sidonia, d. 1512 Duke Enrique Pérez de Guzmán
5th Duke of Medina Sidonia and d. 1549 Duke Alfonso Pérez de Guzmán,
6th Duke of Medina Sidonia 1502-1558 Duke Juan Alfonso Pérez de Guzmán y de
Guzmán-Zúñiga (24 March 1502—26 November 1558).
He was the son of Juan Alfonso Pérez de Guzmán, 3rd Duke of Medina Sidonia
and half-brother of Enrique Pérez de Guzmán, 4th Duke of Medina Sidonia, and
the brother of Alfonso Pérez de Guzmán, 5th Duke of Medina Sidonia. Upon his
brother's death in 1549, he became Duke of Medina Sidonia.
He was the father, with Ana de Aragón, of Juan Claros de Guzman y Aragón, or
Juan Carlos Pérez de Guzmán y Aragón (d. 1556), who married Leonor de Zúñiga
y Sotomayor. However, as Don Juan Carlos predeceased his father in 1556, the
title passed to his eldest son Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, 7th Duke of Medina
Sidonia.
203
His daughter, Leonor Pérez de Guzmán y Pérez de Guzmán, married Jaime I,
Duke of Braganza, the most powerful noble in all of Portugal, and one of the
most powerful nobles in all of Iberia
1502-1558: Juan Alfonso Pérez de Guzmán y de Guzmán-Zúñiga, 6th Duke of
Medina Sidonia (March 24, 1502-November 26, 1558) was the son of Juan
Alfonso Pérez de Guzmán, 3rd Duke of Medina Sidonia, half brother of Enrique
Pérez de Guzmán, 4th Duke of Medina Sidonia, and the brother of Alfonso Pérez
de Guzmán, 5th Duke of Medina Sidonia. Upon his brother's death in 1549, he
became Duke of Medina Sidonia.
He was the father, with Ana de Aragón, of Juan Claros de Guzman y Aragón, or
Juan Carlos Pérez de Guzmán y Aragón (d. 1556), who married Leonor de Zúñiga
y Sotomayor. However, as Don Juan Carlos predeceased his father in 1556, the
title passed to his eldest son Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, 7th Duke of Medina
Sidonia.
Father was Juan Carlos de Guzmán y de Aragón, deceased 1556. Juan Carlos died
two years before his own father, Juan Alfonso Pérez de Guzmán, 6th Duke of
Medina Sidonia died, thus he did not inheriting the ducal title and died as the 9th
Count of Niebla only.
1504: Inés de Ribera
Parents:
Per Afán de Ribera y Portocarrero
Munia de Mendoza y Figueroa
Spouses and children:
Married: to Don Juan Portocarrero, 2ième Conde (Comte) de Medellin 1504
Rodrigo Portocarrero
Inés Portocarrero y Ribeira
Siblings:
Leonor de Ribera y Mendoza, Señora (Dame) de Olivares
Catalina de Ribera y Mendoza, Condesa (Comtesse) de los Molares 1505
1505: In 1505, Francisco Enríquez de Ribera founded the Monastery of Saint
Mary of the Rosary. It was famous for its cloister supported by 56 marble
columns and was a main religious center in the 18th Century. The monastery
declined and only a small tower and parts of its wall are still visible.
1509: Francisco Enríquez de Ribera was made Count of Los Molares
Pedro Enríquez y de Quiñones, Lord de Tarifa
Married 1: Catalina de Ribera y Mendoza
Married 2: Beatriz de Ribera y Mendoza
E.1 Francisco Enríquez de Ribera, Count of Los Molares, +1509
204
E.2 Fernando Enríquez de Ribera, I Marquis of Tarifa, *1476, +1539, Md.1) Elvira
de Herrera; Md.2) Inés Portocarrero
F.1 Per Afan Enríquez de Ribera, I Duke of Alcalá de los Gazules, II Marquis of
Tarifa, VI Count of los Molares, Adelantado and Notary in Andalucía, Virrey de
Cataluña y Nápoles Md. Leonor Ponce de León
F.2 Fernando Enríquez de Ribera y Portocarrero, II Duke of Alcalá de los Gazules,
*1527 Md. Juana Cortés Ramírez de Arellano, d. of Hernán Cortés de Monroy,
Marquis of Valle de Oaxaca
G.1 Fernando Enríquez de Ribera, IV Marquis of Tarifa Md. Ana Girón, d. of Pedro
Girón de la Cueva, V Count of Ureña, I Duke of Osuna, +1558
H.1 Fernando Enríquez de Ribera y Girón, III Duke of Alcalá de los Gazules Md.
Beatriz de Moura, d. of Cristóbal de Moura y Távora, I Marquis of Castel-Rodrigo,
Grandee of Spain
I.1 Fernando Afán de Ribera, VI Marquis of Tarifa Md. Ana de Mendoza Sandoval,
+1634
I.2 Margarita Afán de Ribera
I.3 Ana Girón Enríquez de Ribera Md. Pedro Fajardo de Zúñiga y Requesens, IV
Marquis of Molina and V Marquis of los Vélez
I.4 María Enriquez Afan de Ribera, IV Duchesse of Alcalá de los Gazules, +1638
Md. Don Luigi Guglielmo Moncada d’Aragona, Prince of Paternò
H.2 Juana Enríquez de Ribera, + 1649 Md. Alfonso Fernández de Córdoba y
Figueroa, V Marquis of Priego, V Duke of Feria, II Marquis of Montalbán, XIII Lord
of Casa de Córdoba and XI Lord of Villa de Aguilar de la Frontera
H.3 Pedro Enríquez Girón de Ribera Md. Antonia Portocarrero, II Marquise of
Alcalá de la Alameda, Baroness of Antella, Lorda of Lobón
1509: Intense immigration to the New World continued. By 1509, some 10,000
Spaniards lived on Hispaniola. From the early 16th Century, Spaniards used the
major Caribbean islands as a base for expeditions to mainland Central America
and to explore the Guelfo de la Nueva España (Gulf of Mexico).
Note:
In the first half on the 16th Century, the New World became a stage of
intense expeditionary activity, with Spaniards launching multiple incursions
first by sail, then by horseback and foot into unknown territories. These
expeditions were prepared and led by hardened men, each a blend of
navigator, explorer, and warrior, called the conquistadores (conquerors).
Later, others would come as colonists and settlers. These men, some
veterans of the Iberian reconquest, came for the promise of great wealth,
glory, and the lure of mythical places such as the Seven Cities of Cíbola or the
Fountain of Youth. These prospects also attracted able Portuguese and
Italian navigators to the service of the Spanish crown. The conquistadores
advanced through Central and South America taking treasure and territory
205
for Spain while evangelizing the natives, thus winning recognition from the
king and approval from the Church.
1510:
1516: On January 23 1516, Ferdinand of Aragón died. Charles was proclaimed
Charles V - King of Spain King of Castile and Aragón at Brussels,
on March 14, 1516. For the first time, the crowns of Castile and
Aragón were united under the same king. Charles V, King of
Spain as Charles I, was to reign together with his mother,
Joanna of Castile.
Portrait of Charles V, 1533
Charles I of Spain and V of Germany united under a single scepter the Spanish
kingdoms of Castile and Aragón, and also the Italian and European dominions of
the Habsburgs.
1519: June 28th, 1519, Charles I of Spain and V of Germany was crowned
emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, which involved Spain in endless wars. The
monarch confronted the Ottoman Empire, took Francois I of France prisoner at
Pavia, and tried to solve the serious problem of the Reformation.
1520:
1520: Pedro Enriquez de Quiñones. Tomb (1520)
Second-born son was son of Fadrique Enriquez, 1st count of Melgar, II Admiral of
Castile, II lord of Medina de Rioseco, and his second wife Teresa Fernandez de
Quiñones, member of the House of Moon.
1520: Effigy (Image of Pedro Enríquez his tomb 1520, in the mausoleum of the
Ribera family in the monastery of Santa María de las Cuevas
206
1522: Doña Catalina de Ribera Carthusian order of Seville. The grave of Doña
Catalina de Ribera is made of marble of Carrara, by Pace Gazini, or Gazzini.
She was the daughter of Per Afan de Ribera, Conde de Los Molares and greater
advance III of Andalucía and Mary Hurtado de Mendoza y Figueroa (daughter of
Íñigo López de Mendoza, Marqués de Santillana).
Catalina’s contract marriage in 1474 with Pedro Enríquez de Quiñones, I Lord of
rate (1493) and IV saw the family lines advance into most of the Andalucía. One
result of the family’s expansion
was Fadrique Enríquez de Ribera
V count of Los Molares, I Marquis
of Tarifa (Born 1514). A second
was Fernando Enríquez de Ribera
Captain General of Seville. Pedro
Enríquez had been married in first
wedlock with his sister Beatriz in
1460, she died a decade later.
In 1483, he acquired from the
Pineda family the Palacio de las
Dueñas, who sold it to pay a
ransom for Juan de Pineda, then a
prisoner of the Islamists in the
Ajarquía of Málaga. Although the
contract was not written until 13
years later, the Palacio would be
similar in size and decoration to
the Casa de Pilatos, and become the residence of the second-born son.
At the end of the 15th Century, along with her husband, Pedro Enríquez, they
started the construction of the Casa de Pilatos. It would become a beautiful
207
Palace of 10,000 square metres, the second only to the Reales Alcazares (The
Royal Alcázar of Seville is a set of palaces surrounded by a wall, located in the
city of Seville.). The Palacio de las Dueñas was richly decorated by her son,
Fadrique, after his pilgrimage to the Holy land.
A Widow by 1492, she and her son Fadrique founded the Hospital de las Cinco
Llagas in 1500, after obtaining the Papal bull allowing them to create a charity
hospital for the poor. By 1540, the Santiago Street location became unsafe and
its contents were moved to a new building in the northern part of the City of
Seville. It remained in operation until 1982. It was then converted to the seat of
the Parliament of Andalucía.
She died in Seville, on the January 13, 1505 and was buried in an elaborate
Tomb, opposite her husband, in the Carthusian monastery of Santa María de las
Cuevas de Sevilla, the monastery of La Cartuja. After a seizure took place in the
19th Century the monastery became the factory of ceramic La Cartuja Pickman.
The tombs of both she and her husband were transferred to the Pantheon of
illustrious Sevillians of the Church of the Anunciacion. The factory was moved in
the 20th Century to the Municipality of Salteras. When restoration work was
done on the monastery for the Universal Exposition of 1992, both tombs were
returned moved back to La Cartuja.
1530:
1540:
1550:
By the 1550s, the Crown had Spanish America governed as two large
administrative regions called viceroyalties, each headed by a representative of
the king.
Notes:
The viceroyalty of New Spain included Mexico, most of Central America, and
Spanish territories in the Caribbean. The viceroyalty of Peru encompassed
what is now Panama and almost all of Spanish South America. The major
permanent settlements were in central Mexico and in the Andes Mountains,
and many of the new urban areas were built on an existing native city or
town. A few Spaniards dominated a vast indigenous population, relying on
existing native hierarchies and maintaining worker systems for the haciendas
and Church.
Initially, the only Spanish port allowed contact with the Americas was Seville
and later Cádiz. Many sailed from these ports to the New World. At the New
World end, they would land first in Mexico and Peru.
208
The Spanish colonial system in the Americas was maintained by agriculture,
mining, and the resulting commerce. Agriculture was based on large estates
(haciendas) that depended heavily on the labor of slaves (First indigenous
and later African). Blacks were imported mostly to the sugarcane plantations
of the Caribbean and the tropical coasts of the mainland to replace the
indigenous peoples who had died. Africans and the European nations helped
supply the Spanish colonies with these African slaves.
Agricultural exports to Europe included corn, cotton, dyes, peanuts,
potatoes, tobacco, and tomatoes. Potatoes and corn revolutionized
agriculture and became staples of human survival. Precious metal from large
silver mines in Mexico and Potosí, in present-day Bolivia were also exported.
In return, cattle, wheat, and barley were sent to the colonies, along with
manufactured products. American mines provided much gold but mostly
silver.
1550-1615: The 7th Duke Don Alonso Pérez de Guzmán y de ZúñigaSotomayor, 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia (10 September 1550-July 26, 1615),
Grandee of Spain, a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece since 1581, was the
commander-in-chief of the Spanish Armada.
His father was Juan Carlos de Guzmán y de Aragón, deceased 1556. Juan Carlos
died two years before his own father, Juan Alfonso Pérez de Guzmán, 6th Duke
of Medina Sidonia died, thus he did not inheriting the ducal title and died as the
9th Count of Niebla only.
His paternal grandmother was Ana de Aragón y de Gurrea, deceased 1528, one
of the daughters, "born out of sin", of Alonso de Aragón y Ruiz de Iborra,
Archbishop of Zaragoza, Royal bastard of King Ferdinand II of Aragón. She
married twice in the year 1518 with a Duke of Medina Sidonia, first with Alfonso
Pérez de Guzmán, 5th Duke of Medina Sidonia, deceased childless, 1548,
formally declared "mentecato", (out of his mind, unfit to reason properly), and
then again, in the same year 1518 with the 5th Duke’s brother, Juan Alfonso
Pérez de Guzmán, 6th Duke of Medina Sidonia, (March 24, 1502, Sanlúcar de
Barrameda, province of Cádiz, Spain, 26 November 1558).
His mother was a most powerful and wealthy lady, Leonor de Zúñiga y
Sotomayor, she was daughter of a powerful duchess, Teresa de Zúñiga, 2nd
marchioness of Ayamonte, 3rd duchess of Béjar, 4th countess of Bañares, 2nd
marchioness of Gibraleón. It was the name Zúñiga which was to be passed to
the family. She was married to a "Sotomayor" of lesser titles of nobility, county
of Belalcázar. This was something that was by no means unique in High Spanish
Nobility of the time.
209
When his father, Juan Claros died in 1556, Don Alonso became Duke and master
of one of the greatest fortunes in Europe, which he had inherited from his
grandfather in 1559, at age 9.
The 7th duke was betrothed in 1565 to Ana de Silva y Mendoza, who was then
four years of age, the daughter of the Prince and the Princess of Éboli. In 1572
when the duchess was twelve years of age, the pope granted a dispensation for
the consummation of the marriage. The Duke of Medina Sidonia had a son, Juan
Manuel, who succeeded his father.
In 1581, he was created a knight of the Golden Fleece, and named Captain
General of Lombardy. By pressing supplications to the king he got himself
exempted on the ground of poverty and poor health.
Don Alonso was also the patron of Don Jerónimo Sánchez de Carranza who
wrote the premier text on the Spanish system of swordplay which was called the
'True Art' or the Verdadera Destreza. He was asked by King Phillip II of Spain to
lead the Spanish Armada.
1554: Piero Prince of Tuscany and María Della Ribera
Born: June 3, 1554, in Firenze, Italy
Died: Apr 25, 1604, in Madrid, Spain
Married: Beatriz De Menezes in 1593
Other marriages:
 María Della Ribera
 Leonor De Toledo
 Antonia Carajaval
 Isabella Carajaval
Don Pietro de' Medici (3 June 1554 – 25 April 1604) was the youngest son of
Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Eleonora di Toledo. Early in
1571 he went to Rome and in the spring of 1575 he went to Venice. In 1571 he
210
married his first cousin Eleonora di Garzia di Toledo.
Eleonora di Garzia di Toledo 1571
At the end of 1577, he went for the first of many stays at the Spanish court.
There he remained until the end of 1578. He left Tuscany in October 1579 to
bring Italian troops to Spain and lead them during the mission to Portugal. He
stayed in Lisbon until the end of 1582. His return and presence in Spain is
documented (1583-1584).
Don Pietro went to Italy in July 1584 to ask his brothers to cover his debts. He
managed to incur their disapproval by living with a woman of questionable
reputation. The Medici court tried to arrange a marriage for Pietro, but in July
1586, returned to Spain where he continued accumulating debt. He went back
to Italy in November 1587, after Francesco I de' Medici's death and stayed until
September 1589, when once again returned to Spain, dying before turning 50.
After his death his illegitimate children were all brought to Florence to be cared
for by the Medici. Pietro was buried in the Monasterio de la Santissima Trinidad
in Madrid. His corpse was later brought to Florence by Cosimo II de' Medici. He
also had an illegitimate son with María della Ribera, Ferdinando I, Grand Duke of
Tuscany
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province
of Florence. Florence lies in a basin formed by the hills of Careggi, Fiesole,
Settignano, Arcetri, Poggio Imperiale and Bellosguardo (Florence). The Arno
River and three other minor rivers flow through it.
211
Florence is famous for its history as a center of medieval European trade and
finance and one of the wealthiest cities of the time. It is considered the
birthplace of the Renaissance and has been called "the Athens of the Middle
Ages." Its turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful
Medici family, and numerous religious and republican revolutions. From
1865-1871 the city was the capital of the Kingdom of Italy.
1555: Antonio de Rivera
Born: About 1555, Sevilla, Spain, Cartagena
Died: Yes, date unknown
Notes: SOURCE: Archivo General de Indias. Catalogo de Pasajeros a Indias, Siglos
XVI, XVII y XVIII - Volumen VI (1578-1585) por Ma. del Carmen Galvis Diez. p.
222.
Father: Juan de Bastidas, b. Abt. 1530, Sevilla, Spain, Cartagena, d. Yes, date
unknown
Mother: Jeronima de Velasco, b. Abt. 1530, Sevilla, Spain, Cartagena, d. Yes, date
unknown
Married: Abt. 1555, Sevilla, Spain, Cartagena
Family: Juana de Villegas, b. Abt. 1555, Sevilla, Spain, Cartagena, d. Yes, date
unknown
Married: Abt. 1575, Sevilla, Spain, Cartagena
Children:
1. Luisa Ribera, b. Abt. 1575, Sevilla, Spain, Cartagena, d. Yes, date unknown
2. María Ribera, b. Abt. 1575, Sevilla, Spain, Cartagena, d. Yes, date unknown
3. Ana Ribera, b. Abt. 1575, Sevilla, Spain, Cartagena, d. Yes, date unknown
Sources: Catalogo de Pasajeros a Indias Vol. VI, María del Carmen Galbis Diez.
1556: Charles abdicated and entered the monastery of Yuste (where he died two
years later), dividing his dominions between his son Philip II and his younger
brother Ferdinand I. Most of the Empire remained in the hands of the Spanish
branch of the House of Austria.
1559: In 1559, Fadrique Enríquez de Ribera bought the domain of La Campana
La Campana now Municipality, Andalucía, Spain
212
Flag of La Campana
La Campana
The municipality of La Campana (Municipal) is located 60 km east of Seville.
The original village of La Campana dates back to 1412, when the King of
Castile sold the domain of La Campana to Micer Bartolomé de Bocanegra,
who founded a settlement of 50 inhabitants. In 1559, Juana, Infant of Castile
and Princess of Portugal, sold the domain to Fadrique Enríquez de Ribera.
The domain was eventually incorporated, in the 19th Century, into the Duchy
of Alba.
Symbols of La Campana
The flag and arms of La Campana, adopted on April 4, 2005 by the Municipal
Council and submitted on May 12, 2005 to the Directorate General of the
Local Administration, are prescribed by a Decree adopted on May 19, 2005
by the Directorate General of the Local.
The symbols are described as follows:
Flag: Rectangular with a relation 3:2, a Bordeaux red background (Pantone
194c). In the middle the municipal coat of arms Coat of arms: Gules, a bell or
with melena and clapper, surmounted by three leaves of olive tree. The bell
(campana) is the traditional heraldic representation of the municipality. The
olive leaves symbolize the significance of the natural environment for the life
of the town.
Former coat of arms of La Campana
The former coat of arms of La Campina is "On a field gules (meaning the
war), a bell or with its melena, clapper and rope placed in the chief of the
shield, in the base of the same a Napoleonic French helmet, surmounting
213
two rifles equipped with a bayonet and a sword, all the elements argent and
or fimbriated sable."
1560:
1565: Fernando Enríque de Ribera y Cortés (Fernando Enríque de Ribera y
Cortés de Zuñiga)
Titles: 3ième Marqués (Marquis) de Tarifa
Born: January 2, 1565-Palacio de las Dueñas, Sevilla
Deceased: July 19, 1590-Sevilla (Séville), Spain, age at death: 25 years old
Buried: Iglesia del Convento de Madre de Dios (Sevilla) & Cartuja de Santa María
de las Cuevas (Sevilla)
Parents:
Fernando Enríque de Ribera y Portocarrero, 2ième Duque (Duc) de Alcalá de los
Gazules (1527-1592)
Doña Juana Cortés de Zuñiga 1533. (1536-1588)
Spouses and children:
Married: January 8, 1582, Iglesia Colegiata de la Asunción, Osuna, to Ana TéllezGirón Téllez-Girón y Guzmán (1555-1625) with
Doña Juana Enríque de Ribera y Téllez-Girón 1649
Pedro Enríque de Ribera y Téllez-Girón, Marqués (Marquis) de Alcalá (15861633)
Siblings:
Juana Enríque de Ribeira y Cortés 1635
Doña Catalina Francisca Enríque de Ribera y Cortés de Zuñiga 1635
1570:
1571: Don Juan de Austria, the half-brother of Philip II, defeated the Turks in the
naval battle of Lepanto.
1573: Francisco Hurtado de Mendoza y Ribera (Santa Olalla, 1573 - October 22,
1634, Madrid) was a Spanish churchman. Son of the counts of Orgaz, was an
alumnus of the Cuenca, doctorate in Canon Law at the University of Salamanca,
Canon of Toledo, Inquisitor in Salamanca, Adviser to the Court of the Supreme
Inquisition in Toledo, Bishop of Salamanca, Pamplona, Malaga and Plasencia and
Governor of the Archbishopric of Toledo in the absence of the cardinal infante
Fernando de Austria.
1576: The Countess of Chichón Francisca Henríquez de Ribera (1576-1639) was
the wife of the Virrey Fernandez, the King delegate. She was infected with a
mortal disease. Soon the news arrived to Loja, the city Corregidor. There Father
Juan López looked for help from an herb doctor, as he had done before. One
Pedro Leiva revealed the name of the miracle plant from which a healing could
be obtained. After the Countess of Chichón recovered, the cascarilla was called
Cinchona, in honoring the lady and her cure.
1580:
214
1580-1640: After 1580, Philip II of Spain gained control of the Portuguese Empire
until 1640. Later, in the Mid-17th Century the colonies and the world started to
suffer important changes and the Spanish Empire began a long period of decline.
1580: In 1580, Spain acquired Ceuta from Portugal, a stronghold on the North
African coast that served as a major Mediterranean port for goods (gold, ivory,
and slaves) transported from the interior of Africa across the Sahara Desert.
1584: Juana Enríquez de Ribera y Girón
Birth: 1584
Decease: Madrid, February 14, 1649
Burial: Iglesia del Colegio de los Jesuitas (Montilla)
Parents:
Fernando Enríquez de Ribera, IV Marqués de Tarifa
(Palacio de las Dueñas, Sevilla, 1/2/1565-Sevilla, 7/19/1590)
Ana Girón (12/7/1555 - Sevilla, 1/10/1625)
Spouse:
Alonso Fernández de Córdoba y Figueroa "El Mudo", V Marqués de Priego
(Montilla, 10/9/1588-Montilla, 7/24/1645)-Iglesia de San Juan de la Palma
(Sevilla), 2/20/1607
Children:
1. Pedro Matías, III Marqués de Montalbán (1612-1621) [sine nuptiae]
2. Pedro (1614-1620) [sine nuptiae]
3. Fernando (1615-1620)
4. Alonso (1616?)
5. Fernando Pablo (1621-1625) [sine nuptiae]
6. Male Luis Ignacio, VI Marqués de Priego Female (1623-1665) [Cabra,
12/3/1641]
Maríana Fernández de Córdoba Cardona y Aragón (1628-1673) [with issue]
7. Catalina (1607-1610)
8. Ana (1608-1679) [Montilla, 5/18/1625]
Gómez Suárez de Figueroa y Córdoba, III Duque de Feria (1587-1634) [with issue]
[Hortaleza, 8/30/1649]
Pedro Antonio de Aragón Folc de Cardona, VIII Duque de Segorbe (1611-1690)
[sine prole]
9. María Andrea de Jesús (1609-1638) [Montilla, 1/5/1635]
Pedro Portocarrero y Aragón, VIII Conde de Medellín (?-1679) [sine prole]
10. Juana (1611-1680) [Montilla, 3/1/1640]
Gaspar Alonso Pérez de Guzmán el Bueno, IX Duque de Medina Sidonia (?-1664)
[with issue]
11. Catalina María, Abadesa del Convento de Santa Clara (1613-?) [sine nuptiae]
12. Inés, Monja del Convento de Santa Clara (1615-?) [sine nuptiae]
13. Francisca, Monja del Convento de Santa Clara (1618-?)
215
14. Isabel (1619-d. 1654) [Iglesia de Santiago (Montilla), 12/3/1641] Francisco
Fernández de Córdoba Cardona y Requesens, VIII Duque de Sessa (1626-1688)
[with issue]
15. Josefa Jacinta (1627-1664) [3/28/1645]
Iñigo Melchor Fernández de Velasco y de Tovar, VII Duque de Frías (?-1696)
1587: Don Enrique de Guzmán y Ribera
Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel, 1st Count-Duke of Olivares (Spanish: Gaspar de
Guzmán y Pimentel, conde-duque de Olivares, also known as Conde de Olivares y
duque de Sanlúcar la Mayor) (January 6, 1587-July 22, 1645), was a Spanish royal
favorite of Philip IV and minister. As prime minister from 1621 to 1643, he overexerted Spain in foreign affairs and unsuccessfully attempted domestic reform.
His policies of committing Spain to recapture Holland led to his major
involvement in the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) and his attempts to centralize
power and increase wartime taxation led to revolts in Catalonia and Portugal
which brought about his fall.
Olivares was born in Rome in 1587, where his father, Don Enrique de
Guzmán y Ribera, from one of Spain's oldest noble families, was the Spanish
ambassador. His mother died young, and his father brought him up under a
strict parental regime. He returned to Spain in 1599, and became student
rector at Salamanca University. By background, he was both a man of letters
and well-trained in arms. During the reign of King Philip III he was appointed
to a post in the household of the heir apparent, Philip, by his maternal uncle
Don Baltasar de Zúñiga, a key foreign policy advisor to Phillip III, who himself
had already established a significant influence over the young prince.
Olivares in turn rapidly became the young prince's most trusted advisor.
When Philip IV ascended the throne in 1621, at the age of sixteen, he
showed his confidence in Olivares by ordering that all papers requiring the
royal signature should first be sent to the count-duke; despite this, Olivares,
then aged 34, had no real experience of administration. Olivares told his
uncle de Zúñiga, who was to die the following year, that he was now "all" the dominant force at court; he had become what is known in Spain as a
valido, something more than a prime minister, the favorite and alter ego of
the king. His compound title is explained by the fact that he inherited the
title of count of Olivares, but was created Duke of Sanlucar la Mayor by King
Philip IV of Spain. He begged the king to allow him to preserve his inherited
title in combination with the new honor — according to a practice almost
unique in Spanish history. Accordingly, he was commonly spoken of as el
conde-duque.
216
The royal favorite came to power with a desire to commit the monarchy to a
“crusade of reform”, with his early recommendations being extremely
radical. The heart of the problem, Olivares felt, was Spain's moral and
spiritual decline. Olivares was concerned that Spain was too attached to the
idea of limpieza de sangre, “purity of blood”, and worried about Castilians'
disinclination for manual work. For Olivares, the concept of Spain was
centered on the monarchy and Philip IV as a person; unlike his French
contemporary Cardinal Richelieu, Olivares did not elaborate a concept of the
“state” as separate from the person of the king.
Olivares was skillful in using the formal and elaborate protocol of the court as
a way of controlling the ambitions of Philip's enemies and rivals. Determined
to attempt to improve the bureaucratic Castilian system of government,
during the 1620s Olivares began to create juntas, smaller governmental
committees, to increase the speed of decision making. By the 1630s, these
were increasingly packed with Olivares' own placemen, tasked to implement
his policies. Olivares placed tight controls on the use of special royal favors
to circumvent tight spending controls. The result was a very particular
combination of centralized power in the form of Olivares, and loose
government executed by small committees.
Over time, Olivares began to suffer under his tremendous workload,
developing sleeping disorders and, later in life, suffering from mental illness.
He became increasingly impatient with those who disagreed with him, flying
into rages, and refusing to listen to advice proffered by his own advisers.
For twenty-two years Olivares directed Spain's foreign policy. It was a period
of constant war, and finally of disaster abroad and of rebellion at home.
Olivares' foreign policy was based around his assessment that Philip IV was
surrounded by jealous rivals across Europe, who wished to attack his position
as a champion of the Catholic Church; in particular, Olivares saw the
rebellious Dutch as a key enemy. Although Olivares made much of religion as
a facet of Spain's foreign policy, in practice he often overruled that principle.
It has also been argued that Olivares' dislike of flamboyant spending may
have influenced his views of the Dutch republic, known for its relatively open
show of wealth.
217
The re-taking of Breda, an early Spanish success in the Thirty Years War by Diego Velazquez
For the remainder of the Thirty Years War, Olivares would pursue a
“Netherlands first” strategy, focusing his resources and attention on
delivering success in the Netherlands first, with the hope of dealing with the
other challenges facing the Spanish across Europe once this key Spanish
possession had been secured. For the first fifteen years of the war, this
strategy proved largely successful. Spain made considerable early advances
against the Dutch, finally retaking the key city of Breda in 1624, albeit at huge
expense. In 1634, against the backdrop of Swedish successes across
northern Europe, Olivares was crucial to the creation of a fresh Spanish army
in northern Italy, and the projection of that force under the leadership of
Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand along the Spanish Road into Germany, where the
“almost miraculous appearance” of the army defeated the Protestant
alliance at the Battle of Nördlingen. The scene had been set, Olivares
believed, for a renewed attack on the Dutch.
Olivares' strategy ultimately failed due to the entry of France into the war.
His handling of War of the Mantuan Succession, which started to pitch
France against the Hapsburgs in northern Italy and would ultimately result in
the French invasion of Spain, has been much criticized. By 1634 France,
seeing the Spanish successes in Germany and the defeat of her Swedish
allies, began raising the political stakes, taking provocative military action on
a small scale. In 1635, Spain responded by intervening against the Elector of
Trier, a significant move that effectively forced a French declaration of war.
By this stage in the war, Olivares' advice to the king was that this conflict
with France would be for all or nothing - Spain would win or fall by the result.
Nonetheless, French victory was far from certain in the 1630s; Olivares'
invasion plan in 1635 involved four different armies and two navies, being
described as 'the most ambitious military conception of early modern
Europe. Although Spanish forces were within 16 miles of Paris at the height
218
of their success that year, Olivares' plan ultimately failed and Spain faced a
massive counter-attack in 1637.
By 1639, Olivares was attempting to convince the king to compromise with
French but without success; he considered making a separate peace with the
Dutch, which would have freed up resources for the war on France, but the
Dutch occupation of Brazil and the Portuguese opposition to any peace
involving relinquishing their colony made this impossible. The destruction of
the Spanish Atlantic fleet at the Battle of the Downs was another major blow,
leaving a cash-strapped Spain unable to build a replacement force. By 1640,
Olivares' foreign policy was creaking badly under pressure from an
increasingly powerful France, with money increasingly tight.
Olivares approached the problem of domestic policy through the prism of
foreign affairs. Spain in the early 1600s was a collection of possessions - the
kingdoms of Castile, Aragón, València and Portugal, the autonomous
provinces of Catalonia and Andalucía, complete with the wider provinces of
Naples, the Netherlands, Milan, etc. - all loosely joined together through the
institution of the Castile monarchy and the person of Philip IV. Each part had
different taxation, privileges and military arrangements; in practice, the level
of taxation in many of the more peripheral provinces was less than in Castile,
but the privileged position of the Castilian nobility at all senior levels of royal
appointment was a contentious issue for the less favored provinces. This
loose system had successfully resisted reform and higher taxation before,
ironically resulting in Spain having had historically, up until the 1640s at least,
less than the usual number of fiscal revolts for an early modern European
state. By the 1620s and '30s, however, the ability of the Spanish monarchy
to extract resources from Castile was at breaking point, as illustrated by
Olivares' early failure to reform the millones food tax in Castile, and with war
continuing across Europe, new options were necessary.
The Battle of Montjuïc (1641), by Pandolfo Reschi
219
The Battle of Montjuïc, a Spanish failure during the Catalan Revolt which
would help seal Olivares' fate as prime minister.
Like many contemporaries, Olivares was “haunted” by Spain's potential
decline, and saw part of the solution at least in a reform of the Spanish state.
Olivares saw Catalan and the other provinces as paying less to the crown
than they should, and did not really understand why the inhabitants should
object to a fairer distribution of taxes. He was confident in the intellectual
argument for a better defended, better ordered Spain, and never seems to
have shown serious doubt that his plans would succeed, or understood the
growing hatred against his rule. These plans took form first in Olivares'
Unión de Armas, or 'Union of Arms' concept, put forward in 1624. This would
have involved the different elements of Philip's territories raising fixed
quotas of soldiers in line with their size and population. Despite being
portrayed by Olivares as a purely military plan, it reflected Olivares' desire for
a more closely unified Spain - although not, it is generally argued, a
completely unified kingdom.
Olivares' “Union of Arms” plan failed in the face of opposition from the
provinces, in particular Catalonia, leading him to offer his resignation to the
king in 1626 - it was not accepted. The subsequent years were challenging
financially for Spain. In 1627, Olivares attempted to deal with the problem of
Philip's Genoese bankers - who had proved uncooperative in recent years by declaring a state bankruptcy. With the Genoese debt now removed,
Olivares hoped to turn to indigenous bankers for renewed funds. In practice,
the plan was a disaster. The Spanish treasure fleet of 1628 was captured by
the Dutch, and Spain's ability to borrow and transfer money across Europe
declined sharply. Faced by the Dutch capture of Brazil, Olivares turned to
Portugal in 1637, attempting to raise taxes to pay for a mission to reclaim the
Portuguese colony. The result was a minor Portuguese uprising.
The final years of Olivares' rule were marked by major uprisings in Catalonia
and Portugal. Catalan histories have tended to represent Olivares as
deliberately provoking the rebellion of 1640, in order that he could crush it
and thereby unify Spain, although this is considered doubtful by most
historians. Instead, it appears most likely that in the face of the increased
French threat and the need to raise men, money and arms to defend the
Peninsula, Olivares sent his army of 9,000 men into Catalonia expecting
relatively limited resistance. Chaos ensued in the form of a major revolt;
Portugal followed suit later in the year in the face of Olivares' attempts to
convince its nobility to serve in the war in Catalonia, with Lisbon offering
Philip's throne to the House of Braganza.
220
Olivares in 1635, his face appearing tired and swollen, markedly aged since
his previous portrait, by Diego Velazquez.
Olivares' fall from power occurred for several reasons. The revolts in
Catalonia and Portugal proved the immediate factor, placing the stability of
Spain itself in doubt, but other factors played a part. Olivares had
increasingly suffered from mental illness in his later years, and was no longer
as effective an administrator as he had once been. He had also increasingly
alienated the other Castilian nobility. His use of junta committees, packed
with his own men, irritated many. Olivares was also largely blamed for
contemporaries for the new royal palace of Buen Retiro, the huge cost of
which appeared to fly in the face of the wider austerity measures Olivares
had championed in the 1630s. 1641 had seen a disastrous bout of inflation,
causing economic chaos. More generally, the Spanish, who were too
thoroughly monarchical to blame the king himself, held his favorite
responsible for the numerous misfortunes of the country in the 1640s.
Olivares did not let go of power readily. He attempted to use art and theatre
in the 1630s to shore up his waning popularity among the elite, but without
success, although he was able to overcome the attempts of the Duke of
Medina Sidonia, whose family was a traditional enemy of the Counts of
Olivares, to remove him from power in the Andalusian Revolt of 1641. By the
following year, his situation was weakening as the Catalan Revolt dragged on.
221
Olivares' nephew and favored successor, along with Olivares' daughter and
young baby had all died in 1626, and in the absence of other children he
chose to legitimate his bastard son, Don Enrique Felipez de Guzman in 1641.
In doing so he had effectively disinherited another nephew and heir de Haro,
causing huge family tensions within the upper echelons of Castilian society.
The king himself noted that it might be necessary to sacrifice Olivares' life in
order to avert unpopularity from the royal house. The end was near, but the
king parted with him reluctantly in 1643, and only under the pressure of a
court intrigue headed by Queen Isabella.
He retired by the king's order first to Loeches, where he published an
apology under the title of El Nicandro, which was perhaps written by an
agent, but was undeniably inspired by the fallen minister. El Nicandro was
denounced to the Inquisition, and it is not impossible that Olivares might
have ended in the prisons of the Holy Office, or on the scaffold, if he had not
died beforehand of natural causes. His rivals felt that Loeches remained too
close to the court, and he was moved onto his sister's palace at Toro. Here
he endeavored to satisfy his passion for work, partly by sharing in the
municipal government of the town and the regulation of its commons, woods
and pastures. He died, increasingly consumed by madness, in 1645. The
Olivares library was not preserved as he had instructed after his death, and
his collection of private and state papers was largely destroyed in an 18th
Century fire.
The count-duke became, and for long remained, in the opinion of his
countrymen, the accepted model of a grasping and incapable favorite,
though this opinion changed over the centuries. Olivares' reputation has
traditionally been portrayed unfavorably, especially compared to his
contemporary Cardinal Richelieu, a trend which began as early as the 1700s.
Today it is felt unjust to blame Olivares alone for the decadence of Spain,
which was due to internal causes of long standing. The gross errors of his
policy — the renewal of the war with the Netherlands in 1621, the
persistence of Spain in taking part in the Thirty Years' War, the lesser wars
undertaken in northern Italy, and the failure of efforts to promote the
unification of the different states forming the peninsular kingdom — were
shared by him with the king, the Church and the commercial classes.
1588: By 1588, with the disaster that overtook of the Invincible Armada sent
against England the decline of Spain became more noticeable.
1590:
1590: Juan Luis Silva y Ribera, IV Marqués de Montemayor was Uncle to the
Marquis Don Juan, the brother of his father, who married Doña Leonor de
Mendoza, sister of the count of Orgaz quarto Marquis of Montemayor
(Marqueses de Montemayor).
222
Born: Abt. 1590
Died: Yes, date unknown
Father: Pedro de Silva y Ribera, b. Abt. 1530, d. Yes, date unknown
Mother: Teresa de Acuña y Guzmán, b. Abt. 1565, d. Yes, date unknown
Family: Leonor Mendoza y Barroso de Ribera, b. Abt. 1590, d. Yes, date
unknown
Children:
1. Juan Francisco Silva y Ribera, b. Abt. 1614, d. 5 Jan 1685 (Age 71 years)
2. Juana de Silva, b. Abt. 1615, d. Yes, date unknown
3. Pedro de Silva y Mendoza, I marqués de la Vega de la Sagra, b. Abt. 1616,
d. Yes, date unknown
4. Lope de Silva, b. Abt. 1617, d. Yes, date unknown
5. María de Silva, b. Abt. 1618, d. Yes, date unknown
6. Teresa de Silva y Mendoza, b. Abt. 1619, d. Yes, date unknown
In 1590, Fernando Enríquez de Ribera founded the Saint Bernardino Convent. It
was used as a college by the Franciscan monks, and also nearly disappeared
today.
1590: Francisco de Ribera Barroso, Toledo Spain, the 2nd Marquis of Malpica.
Mother and Father: Catalina de Rivera y Mosquera, who married Pedro Barroso,
Marquis of Malpica
Malpica
The castle of Malpica is located in the municipality of Malpica de Tajo, to the
north of the province of Toledo. It was constructed on an old 10th Century
Arab stronghold. Information suggests that its existence is from the year
1307, when the Gomez de Toledo family held it. In 1599, the castle passed to
Marshals of Castile and Marquesses of Malpica, the Perafán family of Shore
(De Ribera).
1590: Francisco de Ribera, S.J. Spanish doctor of theology (1537-1591) invented
the system called “Futurism”. Futurism places the coming of Antichrist just
seven years before the end of time.
1594: By 1594, Pedro Téllez-Girón, 3rd Duke of Osuna Married Catalina Enríquez
de Ribera y Cortés (February 17, 1574-September 20, 1624) was a Spanish
nobleman and politician. He was the 2nd Marquis of Peñafiel, 7th Count of
Ureña, Spanish Viceroy of Sicily (1611-1616), Viceroy of Naples (1616-1620), a
Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece since 1608, Grandee of Spain, member
of the Spanish Supreme Council of War, and the subject of several poems by his
friend, counselor and assistant, Francisco de Quevedo.
223
Peñafiel
Peñafiel is located in Valladolid Province, autonomous community of Castile
and León, Spain. The Peñafiel Castle is one of the most important fortresses
of medieval Castile. Peñafiel Castle is situated on a high hill that overlooks
the valleys of Duraton and Botijas. The castle was built in the 10th Century
where an older fortification once stood and is very well preserved. This ridge
between the Duero and the Duraton rivers must have always been fortified.
The area was a strategic point for both Christians and Moors due to the
Duero River. According to legend, the fortification was taken by the Christian
leader Count Sancho. Count Sancho Garcia conquered the site in the 11th
Century and later AIfonso X left it to his brother, Don Juan Manuel Lord in
Castile, who undertook important constructions in 1307. The principal tower
was rebuilt during the reign of John II. The present structures date mostly
from the 15th Century.
He was born in Osuna, province of Sevilla, and baptized on January 18, 1575, the
son of Juan Téllez-Girón, 2nd Duke of Osuna, and of his wife Ana María de
Velasco, daughter of Íñigo Fernández de Velasco, 4th Duke of Frías and
Constable of Castile.
Pedro Téllez-Girón married Catalina Enríquez de Ribera y Cortés on January 17,
1594. In April, 1594, he inherited the dukedom Afán de Ribera.
The estate of Osuna was only second in Spain to that of the Duke of Medina
Sidonia in total wealth. Then deeply in debt the estate was placed under the
Council of Castile administration to avoid financial mismanagement because of
his young age.
In 1602, Osuna escaped his confinement in the castle of Cuéllar, a place/prison
used for the last two centuries to control "illustrious" Crown guests. He had
done so apparently with the agreement of his uncle and political godfather and
one of the most powerful and outstanding personalities of the reign of King
Philip III of Spain, Juan Fernández de Velasco, 5th Duke of Frías, Constable of
Castile. He was accompanied by a servant, arriving in Brussels in October of that
year.
Initially, he enlisted in the army of the Archduke Albert of Austria as a private.
Soon, he was given the command of two cavalry companies. In 1602 and 1603
he had a role in controlling and then defusing mutinies which erupted in Brabant
among the armies of the Archduke. He raised money in Flanders with
guarantees made on his Spanish properties and then financed arrangements
with the mutineers with his own money. He also took part in several important
battles, being seriously wounded twice.
224
In 1608, he took no part in the negotiations at the Hague for the 12 year truce
between Maurice of Nassau and Ambrogio Spinola regarding the Eighty Years
War, as he was against them. He returned to Spain as a hero, being decorated in
1608 with the Order of the Golden Fleece, the highest decoration given by the
King of Spain as head of the Habsburg dynasty.
Also in 1608, he arranged the marriage of his son, Juan, to the daughter of
Cristóbal de Sandoval, Duke of Uceda, the son and assistant of Francisco Gómez
de Sandoval y Rojas, Duke of Lerma, the Prime Minister and Valido of King Philip
III of Spain. The political advantage of the agreement was that he was accepted
as a member of the Lerma's family and group of friends, the real ruling elite of
the Spanish monarchy at the time. This held until his displacement by his
political enemy, Don Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel Ribera y Velasco de Tovar,
Count of Olivares and Duke of San Lúcar la Mayor, Grandee of Spain around
1621.
In Italy on September 18, 1610, he was named viceroy of Sicily, and took
possession of his post at Milazzo on March 9, 1611. During his Sicilian
viceroyalty he organized a squadron of galleys for the Royal Navy but also his
own corsair fleet.
He launched several successful expeditions against Berber pirates and harbors,
as well as against the Turks. In 1613 Ottavio d'Aragona the Younger was
victorious in the Battle of Cape Corvo. In 1616, the commander of the royal
Sicilian fleet, Francisco de Rivera y Medina achieved another important victory
against Turkish galleys in the Battle of Cape Celidonia. Overall, Osuna set up a
sizable naval force in Sicily and reinforced the military might of the island. By
1616, he was promoted to Viceroy of Naples, holding that office until June 1620.
The main problem for Spain in Italy was French and Savoyard ambitions on the
Duchy of Milan, a key territory from the strategic point of view to maintain
military communications between Spain and the Low Countries and other
Habsburg territories in Europe.
Between 1613 and 1618 Spain and Savoy were actually at war, the former trying
to contain the Duke of Savoy within the boundaries established after the Treaty
of Cateau-Cambresis (1559), and the Duke, playing the role of Italian leader
against foreign invaders (the Spaniards) trying by all means to enlarge his
territories and, if possible, with French and Venetian help, to conquer Milan.
The main provider of financial help to Savoy was the Republic of Venice; Osuna
considered that to end the Venetian dominion of the Adriatic gulf and even to
conquer Venice itself was convenient and feasible.
225
In May 1618 the Venetian authorities claimed to have uncovered a very serious
conspiracy to sack the city and burn the arsenal, summarily executing a number
of alleged participants (all of them French) but insinuating that the real and
secret heads of the plot were Osuna and the Spanish ambassador to Venice,
Bedmar. The so-called "Conspiracy of the Spaniards against Venice of 1618" has
been a question open to discussion among historians for the last four centuries.
Spanish and German historians have a tendency to deny that the conspiracy was
real or was serious enough; French and Italian historians have the opposite view.
The end of Osuna's government in Naples was very confused and tense. The
nobility of Naples was increasingly hostile to Osuna. One of the major reasons
was the economic burden imposed by the need to feed and lodge the big
military force (12,000 soldiers) that Osuna had lodged in the city without the
agreement of its representative bodies. Osuna also supported the political
demands of the representatives of the low classes. In June 1620, the new
temporary Viceroy, Cardinal Borja, former ambassador to Rome, took possession
of the Viceroyalty against all formal rules, but Osuna accepted the authority of
Borja and returned obediently to Madrid.
In 1621, Philip III died. Soon, his son, Philip IV, the very young king began his
purge of those ministers associated with the valido, Lerma. Osuna was arrested
by a decision of the State Council (The highest political and administrative body
of the Spanish Monarchy) on a large and wide-ranging array of accusations
(corruption, but also impiety, sexual misconduct, etc.). He remained under
house arrest and imprisoned in castles or noble houses until his death in
September 1624. The purge was actively promoted by the new Royal PM, Don
Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel Ribera y Velasco de Tovar, Count of Olivares and
Duke of San Lúcar la Mayor, Grandee of Spain.
No sentence was ever pronounced, but the House of Osuna was out of the royal
favor for three decades, and only during the reign of Charles II did it again play
an important role in Spanish political life.
Note
Catalina's mother was Juana Cortés y Ramírez de Arellano. Her father came
from one of the most prominent and wealthiest noble Houses of Andalucía,
the Afán de Ribera or Enríquez de Ribera. She was a granddaughter, on her
mother's side, of Hernán Cortés, the conqueror of Mexico.
1596: In 1596, Pope Clement VIII issued a papal dispension in recognition of the
services provided by the Ha-Levi descendants to the Church and because they
were believed to be from the same Hebrew tribe as the Virgin Mary. So
prominent were Spain’s Ha-Levi descendants who had married into many "Old
226
Christian" families such as Mendoza, Guzman, Toledo and Ossorio (To name but
a few) that King Felipe III issued a royal decree accepting their purity of bloodline
(limpieza de sangre). Felipe did this in recognition of a papal dispensation. The
Mendozas certainly had Jewish ancestry. In 1560, Cardinal Francisco Mendoza y
Bobadilla was so upset by the refusal of two military orders to accept two of his
relatives that wrote as a memo to King Felipe II "Tizon de la Nobleza de Espana"
(Blot on the Spanish Nobility). The purpose of this memo was to prove that the
entire Spanish nobility had Jewish ancestry. It has been suggested that the
"Tizon" was never disproved and that it was reprinted as a tract attacking the
nobility until the 19th Century.
1598: With the death of King Felipe II in September 1598 his son and heir gave
little hope for the future of Spain. It appears that these ruling Habsburgs
showed a tendency for family incest. The fourth wife of King Felipe I, Anna of
Austria, was both King Felipe’s niece and also the daughter of his first cousin.
King Felipe III inherited a bankrupt throne. However, its possessions were still
virtually intact. He preferred hunting, the theatre, and religious festivals to
matters of state. The administration of Spain was given to the Duke of Lerma.
17th Century:
The 17th Century was to prove very humbling for the proud Spanish with the loss
of much of their Empire. The imperial glories of the earlier period became only
faded memories. Spain attempted to transition the many dramatic changes then
occurring. The century opened with a frustrated, failing Spanish attempt to
redress the insults of her enemy England.
1600:
1600: In 1600, a Spanish force landed in Ireland and over a period of two years
failed in the attempt to start a rebellion. The death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603
and the entry of King James I to the English throne improved the previous sour
relations and shortly afterwards Spain formally accepted the Independence of
Holland.
1609: During the reign King Felipe II there was an expulsion in 1609 of the
Moriscos (Native Iberian Islamic Converts) who had established some control in
València. A reason given for this decision was that these Islamist re-converts to
Catholicism were active as pirates controlling the Spanish coastline. Some have
estimated the number expelled in the range of 150,000-500,000. After the
expulsion piracy did decline considerably.
1610:
1613: Ana María Luisa Enríquez Afan de Ribera y Portocarrero
Titles: 5ième Duquesa (Duchesse) de Alcalá de los Gazules, 8ième Marquesa
(Marquise) de Tarifa, 3ième Marquesa (Marquise) de Alcalá de la Alameda,
227
Marquesa (Marquise) de Malagón, 9ième (10ième) Condesa (Comtesse) de los
Molares, Condesa (Comtesse) de Castellar
Born: in 1613 - Sevilla Andalousie, Spain
Baptized: September 19, 1613 - Iglesia de San Andrés (Sevilla)
Deceased: January 26, 1645 - Sanlucar de Barrameda, age at death: 32 years old
Parents:
Pedro Enríquez de Ribera y Téllez-Girón, Marqués (Marquis) de Alcalá 15861633
Antonia Portocarrero y Cárdenas, 2ième Marquesa (Marquise) de Alcalá de la
Alameda 1613
Spouses and children:
Married 28 November 1625, Iglesia de Santa María Magdalena (Dos Hermanas),
to Don Antonio Juan Luis de La Cerda y Toledo Dávila, 7ième Duque (Duc) de
Medinaceli 1607-1671
Don Juan Francisco Tomás Lorenzo de La Cerda y Enríquez de Ribera, 8ième
Duque (Duc) de Medinaceli 1637-1691
Tomás Antonio Manuel Lorenzo de La Cerda y Toledo Dávila, 3ième Marqués
(Marquis) de La Laguna de Camero-Viejo 1638-1692
1614: Fernando Enriquez de Ribera y de Moura, 6th Marquis of Tarifa (1614–
1633), no issue, dead before his father, was the son of Grandee of Spain.
Notes
Because he died before his father died and not having issue either, the titles
of 7th Marchioness of Tarifa and 4th Duchesse of Alcalá de los Gazules were
inherited by his sister, Ana Giron y Enriquez de Ribera, as a sign of respect
towards her grandmother, something not unusual for women of the High
Spanish Nobility then and/or brothers serving the Catholic Church as
hierarchies.
Ana Girón y Enriquez de Ribera was married to Viceroy of Sicily, 1644-1647,
Pedro Fajardo de Zúñiga y Requesens, 5th Marquis of Los Vélez since 1631 till
1647, (Mula, region of Murcia, 1602 - Palermo, Sicily, 1647), Viceroy of
València, 1631-1635, Viceroy of Navarre, 1638–1640, dismissed Viceroy of
Catalonia, 1640-1642, and as from 1644, 9 years after the death of his
brother in law, also a Viceroy of Sicily, 1644-1647, dying there, too, at
Palermo, Sicily, November 3, 1647.
There was no issue either from this marriage between Ana Girón and Viceroy
Pedro Fajardo de Zúñiga y Requesens.
228
An elder sister of Fernando and Ana, María Enriquez Afán de Ribera y de
Moura, became in 1636 the 4th duchess of Alcalá de los Gazules when the
father of these 3 siblings died. She died only 2 years later, in 1638.
She had married on November 27, 1629, Cardinal of the Roman Catholic
Church.
There was no issue either and consequently, after María's death in 1638 the
inheritances and titles attached to the 4th dukedom of Alcalá de los Gazules
passed to another woman, family related to the Enriquez de Ribera, but she
would be dead by 1645. Her name was "Ana Francisca Luisa Portocarrero",
(House of Medinaceli).
Fernando Enriquez de Ribera y de Moura 6th Marquis of Tarifa Some
references
Short description: Spanish viceroy
Date of birth: 1614
Place of birth:?
Date of death: 1635
Place of death:?
1616: The battle of Cape Celidonia took place on July 14, 1616 during the
Ottoman-Habsburg struggle for the control of the Mediterranean when a small
Spanish fleet under the command of Captain Don Francisco de Rivera y Medina
cruising off Cyprus was attacked by an Ottoman fleet that vastly outnumbered
and outgunned it. Despite this, the Spanish ships, mostly galleons, managed to
repel the Ottomans, whose fleet consisted mainly of galleys, inflicting on them
heavy losses.
1616: Juan Francisco de Silva y Ribera
Titles: 5ième Marqués (Marquis) de Montemayor; 2ième (1er) Marqués
(Marquis) de Águila (1639)
Born: October 1616
Deceased January 5, 1685, age at death: 68 years old
Parents:
Juan Luis de Silva y Ribera, 4ième Marqués (Marquis) de Montemayor
Leonor de Mendoza
Spouses and children:
Married to María de Toledo y Vicentelo
Antonia de Silva y Ribera y Toledo
229
1618: Don Cristóbal Suárez de Ribera
Don Cristóbal Suárez de Ribera was Godfather of christening of Juana Pacheco
Velázquez married in April 1618, and died the same year, on October 13th, at
sixty-eight years of age. He founded the chapel of San Hermenegildo in Seville,
built 1607-1616. While there he was always found
painting on canvas, assigned to Francisco de Herrera
the elder. His works were in an inventory there
through 1795, until its deposit at the Museum of fine
arts after being restored in 1910.
A posthumous portrait of Velázquez follows, the face
of the does not reflect the subject’s actual age as it
was painted from memory.
1620:
1620: Juan de Mendoza y Velasco, Marquis de la
Hinojosa, Governor of the Duchy of Milan, 1612-1616, Viceroy of Navarre, 1620–
1623, Spanish Ambassador in England. A knight of the Military Order of
Santiago, he was awarded the title of Marquis de la Hinojosa by King Philip III of
Spain, on February 11, 1612. In 1623, he went England to discuss the
requirements to be met by the English politicians for the marriage of the ruling
King Philip IV of Spain’s 19 years old sister, Maria of Austria, and Prince Charles.
Meetings were held with the regnant father of the later King Charles I of
England. He deceased December 24, 1628.
He married Isabel de Velasco y Enríquez de Ribera, apparently from a rather
modest branch of rural proprietors albeit assuming some sort connections with
this powerful de Velasco ducal family, (Dukes of Frías). He was the second of
three males and 4 sisters, all of them becoming nuns.
1625: An expedition sailed from England in 1625 at the orders of King Charles I to
attack Cádiz, but it was soon defeated.
1630:
1630: In 1630 Spain managed to make peace with both France and England.
230
1631: In 1631, the domain of Guillena incorporated into the County of Torre,
owned by Perafán de Rivera.
Guillena is a Municipality, Andalucía, Spain.
Flag of Guillena
The municipality of Guillena is located 20 km from Seville. It was named
after a Roman colony, Villa Agilius/Gaelius; several Roman ruins have indeed
been excavated in the town, for instance a milestone from Roman way. XXII,
marking the distance between Villa Agilius and a place called Mons Marioru,
not located yet, eight tombs, a Corinthian capital, remains of houses and an
aqueduct.
Under the Muslim rule, Guillena became a strategic place, protecting Seville
from potential invaders coming down from the Sierra Morena. Sacked by the
Castilians in 1213, Guillena (mentioned as Guliena in the Annals of Toledo)
was eventually reconquered by King Ferdinand III in 1247. Seized without
fighting, the town proved to be very useful in the subsequent reconquest of
Seville.
Alfonso X appointed a lord and knights to defend Guillena. In 1286, Sancho
IV granted the title of villa to the town. Alfonso XI later granted arms to the
town in 1319 as a reward for its resistance to a Moorish attack. In 1631, the
domain of Guillena was incorporated into the County of Torre, owned by
Perafán de Rivera.
1635: In 1635, when the Netherlands once again declared war on Spain the
French joined them against their old enemy.
1638: Matteo de Ribera, the Barone Ribera di San Paolino. Title granted to
Matteo de Ribera on the July 16, 1638, by the President and Captain-General of
Sicily by authority of Philip IV, King of Spain and Sicily with remainder to his
descendants.
Notes
231
The title passed from father to son until Guido de Ribera, the 5th Baron di
San Paolino died without issue. The title was then succeeded by his sister’s
son, Chev. Alberto Montalto de Ribera.
Chev. Alberto Montalto de Ribera, married an heiress of the Maltese Barony
di Benwarrad, and their eldest son Paolo succeeded to both Baronies
(Benwarrad and San Paolino), died in 1825.
His heir was María Antonia, who became Baroness di Benwarrad and San
Paolino, and married Dr. Guiseppe Attard M.D, created one of Malta’s finest
families in the 19th Century, the Attard-Montalto’s.
The succession from María Antonia’s son Angiolino to his son Guiseppe in
1892, deceased in 1935 with no sons.
The title of San Paolino under Italian law was to be succeeded by male
descendants only.
This title was never recognised by Maltese Law, though the change in the
Italian Law, in 1926, meant that María Angela Attard Montalto was to
succeed in the Maltese Barony of Benwarrad, and her cousin to the Sicilian
Title of San Paolino.
The descendants of Paolino dei Baroni Attard Montalto, the brother of the
7th Barone di Benwarrad were to succeed as Barons of San Paolino.
Paolino’s son Angiolino (c 1898-) succeeded as the 8th Barone and his son
Josie as the 9th Barone di San Paolino.
The title of San Paolino will remain under the Attard-Montalto name until
extinction.
Present holder of the Count of San Paolino d'Aquilejo: Charles Vella.
Matteo de Ribera, 1st Barone di San Paolino, (Cr: 1683-Sicily), with issue
1. Ferdinand de Ribera, 2nd Barone.
Note: The title of Barone di San Paolino was on the 16th July 1638 conferred
upon Matteo De Ribera, with succession to one of his descendants, by letters
patent issued at Palermo, by the President and Captain-General of Sicily, by
authority vested in him by Philip IV. King of Spain and Sicily.
At Maltese Law this title is only a foreign title and, as such, it can be
considered for the purposes of precedence in Malta only if registration or
232
Magistral recognition has been achieved in accordance with the rules of 1739
and 1795 as enacted by Grand Masters Despuig and Rohan. In this case, this
title granted to de Ribrera was never registered in Malta, nor does it appear
to have received direct recognition for the Grand Masters who ruled Malta.
1640: In 1640, the Catalonians murdered the Viceroy of Castile and claimed King
Louis XIII of France as the new Count of Barcelona. After bitter fighting the
Castilians returned to the fold and with the fall from power of Olivares the path
was cast for future problems.
1640: On the western side of Spain, they were not so fortunate. The Portuguese
turned to their Duke of Bragança to save them from the ruling Spanish. In Lisbon
400 armed supporters took a Royal palace and declared the Duke as their new
King João IV. By the next year, Dom João was enthroned. Five years later, he
survived an assassination plot by the Spanish. From 1662 until 1664 he managed
to repel a Spanish invasion. Spain would wait 27 years before officially granting
recognition to the existence of the Portuguese King.
1650:
1652: Troubles at home also continued. In 1652, a rebellion by Catalonians only
ended after Barcelona had been besieged for a year.
1655: In 1655, the English took Jamaica from the Spanish.
1659: In 1659, the Treaty of the Pyrenees marked the end of Spanish power in
Europe. Power was taken by France under Louis XIV. To prove his superiority,
the French King Louis XIV married to María Teresa, the daughter of the Felipe IV,
in a ceremony that took place at the town of Elvas in Portugal. It is from this
marriage contract that there exists in the south of France and just north of the
Spanish border a small Spanish state named Llivia.
Note:
Spanish rulers and the nobles saw themselves as Catholic warriors first.
Having won Spain from the clutches of Islam by the grace of their Christian
God, it would appear that this left them with a preoccupation with the
Catholic religion and its constant festivals and processions which required a
great deal of time and consumed much of their attention. As such, during
this period they ignored the need to generate commerce and productivity
both in farming and industry. They also held a belief that financial concerns
would be dealt with by treasures from the Americas.
1659: In 1659, after the Peace of the Pyrenees France was a military superpower.
With an abundance of revenue it embarked upon any foreign policy it chose.
233
Notes
The private and dynastic interests of its king were dominant over foreign
policy and national interests. These royal interests appeared to be over
ambitious and were perceived as focused on conquering the world. Thus,
France’s War of Spanish Succession and foreign policy goals by Louis XIV
were:
 Conquering and annexing the Spanish Netherlands
 Annexing all other territories west of the Rhine (the so-called natural
frontier)
 Conquering and annexing territories east of the Rhine
 Humiliating the Dutch (because their free press openly mocked him, and
he wanted to get their riches)
 Eradicating Protestantism in France
 Becoming emperor of Germany
 Becoming king of Spain, or at least making his son king
 Promoting French trade and industry by an aggressive trade policy
 Having more colonies
Louis did not try to achieve these goals immediately. He favored having
different phases in French foreign policy:
 From 1661-1666, Becoming dominant in Europe
 From 1667-1668, War of Devolution
 From 1668-1679, Franco-Dutch War
 From 1679-1684, The Reunions
 From 1684-1697, The Nine Years War
 From 1698-1714, The War of the Spanish Succession
These policies would spell the beginning of the end for Spain.
1659: Salvadór Matias De Ribera (1659-1712) my progenitor
Born: Puerto De Santa María, España on 1659
Married: Juana De Sosa Canela and had a child. He passed away on 1712 in
Santa Fe, Nuevo Mejico.
Family Members: Unavailable
Parents: Unavailable
Spouse(s): Juana De Sosa Canela (1663-Unknown)
Children: Juan Felipe De Ribera (1696-1767)
1660:
1661 to 1666: The first phase began with the start of Louis' personal reign in
1661 to 1666. France purchased Dunkirk from England and was in conflict with
234
the pope. It took measures to strengthen its position in the Americas and
promoted national manufacturing.
With regard to the succession of the Spanish throne, Charles II of Spain was not
expected to survive his childhood. Louis concluded alliances with Brandenburg
and the United Provinces to isolate the emperor in case the king of Spain would
die.
1665: The next King was King Felipe IV from the union of Felipe II and another
wife. The new Spanish king was considered more capable than his cousin, but
was also given to being controlled. In this case, the controller was Gaspar de
Guzman, the Conde-Duque de Olivares, a wily and powerful courtier. The end
result of this reign made things no better. The Portuguese successfully revolted,
they regained their independence, and the population offered the crown once
again to the Duke of Bragança. The King suffered disastrous defeats at different
times by the Dutch, English, and French.
1665: In 1665 King Felipe's son inherited the throne at the age of four as King
Carlos II (The Bewitched). He reigned for 35 years despite his questionable
sanity. His mother, also his first cousin, acted as Regent until he was 15 years of
age. The court was then controlled by the Queen's confessor, an Austrian Jesuit
named Nithard. His reign suggests nothing notable. King Carlos II lost the battle
over the possession of the Netherlands. He warred with both England and
France (Treaty of Dover in 1670), the French and English having made a pact to
support the Netherlands against Spain.
1666: The English seized loaded treasure ships off the port of Cádiz and war was
once again declared against England.
1667-1668: The king of Spain died in 1665 and his fragile son Charles II (16611700) took the throne. Louis of France started the War of Devolution in 1677.
The rapid advance of the French troops was stopped by the United Provinces,
England, and Sweden who had signed the Triple Alliance against France. The
treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1668, granted France a dozen cities in the Spanish
Netherlands. However, its overt aggression troubled many other countries.
1670:
1672: During the War of Devolution, Louis of France concluded that he had to
strike against the United Provinces in order to have a free hand in Spanish
Netherlands. His policy began in 1667, with the damaging the Dutch economy
by implementing higher tariffs. France then succeeded in the break up the Triple
Alliance by winning England and Sweden to its side. Using the bishops of
Cologne and Münster and a string of other states, he practically isolated the
Dutch.
235
1672: In 1672, the Franco-Dutch War was started by England, France, and the
bishops who attacked the United Provinces. These attacks were stopped by
inundations of the Hollandic Water Line (A defence system involving strategic
flooding), the fleet, and the small Dutch army.
The Dutch then proposed peace. The French followed with outrageous demands
which force the Dutch to continue fighting. Gradually, the Spanish, the emperor,
and the other nations changed sides. France was then forced to fight against this
coalition.
1676: In 1676, Don Juan the bastard elder brother of King Carlos II led an
unsuccessful revolt against suggesting the King was an incompetent ruler.
1678: By 1678, via the Treaty of Nijmergen the Netherlands kept its territories
and France gained land in Flanders
1679 to 1684: After the peace of Nijmegen France instituted a number of courts
to prove that certain territories had belonged to France or was one of the
territories of France. By their verdicts these territories were then reunited to
France. The reunion policy made clear that France was no longer just aiming at
the Spanish Netherlands, but aimed at the whole left bank of the Rhine. Apart
from the conquest of Strassburg the courts bluntly annexed a Rhineland territory
that belonged to Sweden and a territory that belonged to the Duke of
Würtemberg.
1680:
1681: Pedro de Ribera (Madrid, 4 August 1681 - Madrid, 1742) Spanish architect.
Ribera worked almost exclusively in Madrid during the first half of the 18th
Century. He was a disciple of José Benito de Churriguera (creator of the style
Churrigueresque). Following in the footsteps of his master, Ribera is considered
one of the most important architects of the late Baroque period in Spain. He
designed a remarkable quantity of work in Madrid, the capital of Spain, giving
the city bridges, palaces, monumental fountains, churches and a variety of public
buildings, many of which can still be seen.
Between 1718 and 1719, he was Lieutenant Major Master of Works and sources
of Madrid, succeeding Theodore Ardemans following his death. This position
cemented his reputation and allowed him to occupy an important position at
court, despite the clear preference of King Philip V of Spain of the sort of foreign
architects working in Madrid in the 1720s.
Many of Ribera's creations were destroyed or modified later, especially in the
18th Century, when Neoclassicism was a dominating movement. Ribera's
architectural style was attacked by influential art scholars like Antonio Ponz.
236
1683: By 1683, Spain and France were back at war.
1683: On July 14, 1683, the Islamic Turks started the Siege of Vienna.
1683: On September 1, 1683, France invaded the Spanish Netherlands and
started to besiege Luxemburg. France counted on a Turkish victory that would
crush the emperor and depose him. It would then have the opportunity to
march on Vienna, save Christendom, and have the French king proclaimed
emperor.
1683: Polish armies routed the Islamic Turks at the Kahlenberg on September 12,
1683.
1684: France offered the 20 year Regensburg Truce on the basis of the Status
Quo, which was signed in Regensburg in August 1684. By the truce France
continued to occupy the Reunion territories and gained Luxembourg, but left its
(unofficial) Turkish ally to fight for itself. This truce gave France many
advantages because most of the reunions became French permanently. The
disadvantage was that the emperor got a free hand against the Islamic Turks and
secured his Easter flank by conquering parts of Hungary.
1684 to 1697: After the truce of Regenburg in August 1684 France revoked the
edict of Nantes in 1685. It led to the massive flight of French Protestants and not
only hurt the French economy, but also antagonized the whole of protestant
Europe. France’s claim for a part of the Palatinate at the death of the elector
palatine in 1685 did not immediately lead to open war, but did lead to the
formation of the Leaque of Augsburg in 1686 between the Elector Palatine, the
Elector of Bavaria, the Emperor, three Reichskreitsen, and the kings of Spain and
Sweden on account of their imperial fiefs. Prussia made a defensive alliance
with emperor.
To make matters worse France then infringed on the treaty of Nijmegen by reimplementing the tariff list of 1667. France then argued with the pope over the
succession of the electoral bishop of Cologne in 1688. When the pope ruled
against France’s candidate, it occupied the papal possessions in southern France
and sent an ultimatum to the emperor to recognize his candidate, the reunions,
and his claim to a part of the Palatinate.
1684: Juan Francisco de la Cerda Enríquez de Ribera, VIII, duke of Medinaceli,
was appointed prime minister by Charles II upon the death of Don Juan José de
Austria. This was the start of an economic policy of clear reformist character
which was developed by the Board of Trade and Currency. Currency devaluation
occurred after the launch which led to the collapse of prices and hoarding of
grains. The action was also an indirect cause of various bankruptcies.
237
Soon, there were outbreaks of riots in several cities. This was followed by poor
military actions in the war with the France of Louis XIV. The Peace of Basel of
1684 was then completed. These became the reasons for the Duke’s
abandoning of his government position and his withdrawal to his home in
Guadalajara, where he lived out of power until his death.
1686: In 1686, the League of Augsburg joined the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, the
Netherlands, Sweden, Saxony and Palatine against France.
1690:
1698 to 1714: On the eve of the Spanish Succession War (1701-1714) Louis XIV
still had some options open to him. Austria had become a great power. William
held England and the United Provinces in personal union and had solid alliances
with the German states in order to prevent any further thrusts to the Rhine. By
1700 France was also deeply in debt.
Succeeding to the Spanish throne would however drastically change the strategic
situation west of the Rhine, in Italy, and on sea. This is also one of the
justifications often given for the policy to accept the Spanish crown. It was seen
as a way to put an end to the “Habsburg encirclement of France”. The
Habsburgs in reality were too weak to be aggressive. The actual encirclement
would come from powerful English fleets, English gold, and the fighting proxy
wars on the continent.
18th Century
During the 18th Century, the population of Spanish America grew considerably,
agricultural and mining production surged, and new towns were built. Spaniards
founded more settlements and missions in what are now California, Arizona,
New Mexico, and Texas. However, this was not enough to help Spain of the Old
World.
1700:
1700: Upon the death of King Carlos in 1700, he had left no offspring. This
brought the long rule of the House of Habsburgs in Spain to its end. The long
succession of weak Kings left the nation in a bankrupt state, reduced its
possessions, and it had little earning power. Spain’s population had decreased
during the past century from about nine million to six million due to revolts,
wars, expulsions, plagues, and high infant mortality.
Upon the death of Charles II, the War of the Spanish Succession began with
France, England and Austria.
1710:
1713: Strategically located at the western entrance to the Mediterranean Sea,
the rock of Gibraltar was ceded to Britain in 1713 and it is still claimed by Spain.
238
1714: The war ended and France imposed Philip of Anjou (Philip V), the grandson
of Louis XIV, as king of Spain. Spain lost Belgium, Luxemburg, Milan, Naples,
Sardinia, Minorca, and Gibraltar.
1720:
1729: Sicilian Baron Ferdinand De Ribera married Eugenia De Piro in 1729,
daughter of the first Baron of Budaq. Gio'Pio then purchased land all over Malta
and in Sicily, great tracts in the plains of Girgenti. He kept houses in Valletta, in
Medina, and, by the sea in Scicli and also in the hexagonal city of Avola. He also
invested in good unions. He married off his daughter to the Baron Ferdinando
de Ribera and his granddaughter to Francesco, eldest son of the Duke of
Montalto. Both ladies were given conspicuous dowries, the descriptions of
which survive in the family archives.
1730:
1740:
1750:
1756: Spain lost the Seven Years’ War (1756-63) to Britain, giving up Florida.
However, it did receive the territory of Louisiana from France as compensation.
1760:
1770:
1774: Conte Alberto Montalto de Ribera, 6th Barone di San Paolino, Malta.
Married 1774 to Maria Antonia Gatto, with issue.
1776: Responding to growth and trying to improve its control over the colonies,
in 1776, Spain decided to create the new Viceroyalty of the Río de La Plata in
part of South America. With its capital at Buenos Aires, the new viceroyalty was
made up of territories formerly governed under the Viceroyalty of Peru.
1779: Spain recovered Florida in 1779.
1780:
1780S: In the 1780s the Spanish presence still extended over much of the
continent, but Spain had to face the growing threat of British power and nearby
presence of the Dutch and French. Although trade between Spain and its
American colonies increased, it was unable to prevent other nations from trading
with them, and smuggling of foreign manufactured goods increased. The
Spanish government increasingly drained American treasure and resources, and
the colonists’ resistance grew, with colonial Creole leaders seeking more control
and freedom to trade in other markets.
Late-1700s: In the Late-1700s, Spain received from Portugal areas in the Gulf of
Guinea off western Africa, namely the islands of Fernando Póo (now Bioko) and
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Annobón (now San Antonio de Palé), and the territory of Río Muni (now Mbini)
on the African mainland.
In the late 1700s, the Americas became an increasing focus of European national
rivalries for control of commerce and the international balance of power. Piracy
around the Caribbean Sea also intensified and Spain’s contact with the empire
decreased. Still, Spain tried to monopolize commerce with the colonies. Spanish
American colonies and their respective societies became more complex and
different from Spain’s. There were rising numbers of creoles (people of Spanish
descent who were born in the Americas) and mestizo (people of mixed European
and indigenous ancestry) which identified more with the New World than the
Old.
By the late 18th Century, Spanish Americans increasingly exported tobacco,
cotton, sugar, cocoa beans, and indigo dye. The colonies also had higher output
of gold and silver. However, this did not help Spain’s ongoing slide into
becoming a less powerful nation.
1790:
1796: In 1796, the British blockaded shipping between Spain and America. By
1810, revolts against Spanish authorities would begin. Their struggles would
benefit from the power vacuum caused in Spain during Napoleon’s invasions of
the Iberian Peninsula. Simón Bolívar liberated Venezuela, Colombia, and
Ecuador. He then assisted José de San Martín in the release of Chile from
Spanish control and in the independence of Peru.
1797: Captain Joaquin Rodriguez de Rivera
The Battle of Cape St Vincent was fought between the fleets of Britain and Spain
on Valentine's Day 1797. This was the battle where Nelson made his mark and
helped his rise to become one of the most talked-about officers in the British
navy. The following are lists of ships and their commanders that were part of
the British and Spanish fleets for the Battle of Cape St. Vincent.
Frigates
Ship
Commander
Casilda
Perla
Mercedes
Paz
Dorotea
Guadalupe
Teresa
Matilde
Captain Ramón Herrera
Captain Francisco Moyua
Captain José Vasco y Vargas
Captain Santiago Irizarri
Captain Manuel Guerrero
Captain José de la Encina
Captain Pablo Pérez
Captain Manuel Victoria
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Diana
Atocha
Ceres
Flora
Brigida
Captain Juan José Verela
Captain Francisco Parexa
Captain Ignacio Olaeta
Captain Joaquin Rodriguez de Rivera
Captain José Gonzálaz
19th Century
Several major reasons are given to explain Spanish overseas expansion. The
need to spread Christianity to the world was a legacy of the long period of
reconquest. This mission from God strengthened the Spanish conviction of the
ethnic superiority of Spaniards. This sense of a higher mission may have kept
alive and increased Spain’s international influence.
1800:
1800: In the Americas, Spanish possessions stretched from the present-day
western United States, through Mexico and Central America, and along the
western shores of South America to the edge of Patagonia. They included the
state of Florida, the Caribbean islands, and what would become Venezuela,
Colombia, Bolivia, Paraguay,
Uruguay, and Argentina.
In Africa, in different periods,
Spain held possessions on the
coast of present-day
Equatorial Guinea, including
the island of Fernando Póo
(now Bioko). It occupied
territories in the Western
Sahara (occupied by modern
Morocco).
In Asia, Spain ruled the
Philippine Islands.
In Oceania, Spain held the Maríana Islands and later the Caroline Islands.
It can be said that in some areas of the Empire, Spanish sovereignty was more
official than factual. At issue was that large tracts of wild and sparsely populated
land had remaining unexplored until the 1800s. However, despite the difficulty
controlling such a vast domain, Spain would maintain much of the empire until
the 19th Century. Today, only the North African exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla
and the Canary Islands, off the African coast, remain under the Spanish flag.
241
Finally, during the period Spain felt the need to compete with its neighbor the
kingdom of Portugal. Competition centered upon new territory and for easier
trade with the Far East. Portugal had gained some advantage by embracing
maritime exploration from the start of the 15th Century and by establishing
strongholds in Atlantic islands and along the western coast of Africa, then
practically unknown to Europeans.
1808-1813: The Spanish people rose against French domination (May 2, 1808)
and with the assistance of England defeated Napoleon. The Peninsular War
(Guerra de la Independencia) is considered another a key factor in the
crystallization of the Spanish nationality.
1808: In 1808, following the Napoleonic invasion, Joseph Bonaparte was
installed on the Spanish throne. Fierce resistance of the Spanish people would
culminate in the restoration of Fernando VII, of the line of Bourbon.
Notes:
In 1808, the crisis of the Old Order had opened the doors to the Napoleonic
invasion. Napoleon would not recognize the rule of Fernando VII, in order to
take advantage of the Spanish dynastic crisis to substitute Bonapartes for
Bourbons. To do so, he summoned the Spanish royal family to Bayonne and
compelled Fernando VII to abdicate in favor of his father, who then
abdicated in favor of Jospeh Bonaparte. This act took place with all legal
formalities and was adhered to by all the principal institutions and
personnages of the kingdom. The political regime that the Bonapartes
attempted to unite was planned by the Statute of Bayonne on 8 July 1808.
However, the document had no juridical or practical significance because it
never came into force.
This coincided with a dynastic crisis that seriously undermined the enormous
prestige of a Spanish millenary crown. After 1388, the title Prince and
Princess of Asturias was to belong to the official successor of the Castilian
throne. In the first years, the title was not only honorary. It included the
ownership of the territory of Asturias. The Prince ruled the Principality in
representation of the King and was able to appoint judges, mayors, etc. This
was changed by the Catholic Monarchs, who limited the scope of the title
making it merely honorary. This decision was upheld by the members of the
House of Habsburg and the House of Bourbon until the present day.
During 1808, Fernando the prince of Asturias and heir to the throne,
intrigued against Godoy, the Prime Minister, who had been accused by public
opinion of being the Queen's lover, and was blamed for all the ills of those
242
troubled times. In March 1808, Godoy fell and Carlos IV abdicated in favor of
his son, but the monarchic institution had been irreparably damaged.
The Spanish people rejected them as they considered the new monarchy to
be illegitimate and a product of treason. The result was a generalized
uprising which began on May 2nd. The Spanish War, as it was known in
France, lasted six years. The Spaniards called it the War of Independence,
and it was an all-encompassing national war.
1810:
1810: The Spanish Peninsular War brought about juridical and administrative
bodies created so that the country could defend itself from the invaders using
other means. The opening session of the new Cortés was held on September 24,
1810. Basic principles were ratified such as sovereignty resides in the Nation,
the legitimacy of Fernando VII as King of Spain (Fernando VII de Borbón), and the
inviolability of the deputies. The work of the Cortés of Cádiz was very intense
and the first Spanish constitutional text was promulgated in the city of Cadiz on
March 12, 1812.
1812: This was the beginning of the Spanish constitutionalism. Since that time,
Spain has had many fully-fledged constitutions.
1814: When the Spanish diplomats attended the Congress of Vienna in 1814,
they represented a constitutional State, however, one ruined and divided nation.
The crisis of Spain had undermined the Spanish American empire. Many of the
American colonies claimed their independence in the first decades of the 19th
Century.
Spain’s history for the remainder of the 19th Century was dominated by the
dynastic issue produced by the death of Ferdinand VII without a male heir. His
daughter took the throne as Isabel II. Her uncle, Don Carlos, opposed her claim.
This gave rise to the first of the two Carlist Wars, which chiefly affected Navarre,
the Basque Country and El Maestrazgo, the region near Castellon, Tarragona and
Teruel.
1814 to 1833: During the reign of Fernando VII, the Spanish colonies of America
gained their independence, except for Cuba and Puerto Rico.
1820:
1824: By 1824, Spain had lost all of its mainland possessions. Cuba and Puerto
Rico were the only remaining American colonies, until the Cuban revolt in 1895
triggered the Spanish-American War, won by the United States.
1830:
1833 to 1868: On the death of Ferdinand VII, the rise to power of Isabel II
brought about the first Carlist War as the Salic law is abolished.
1840:
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1841 to 1843: General Espartero was proclaimed regent of the kingdom.
1843: General Narvaez deposed General Espartero.
1850:
1854: Leopoldo O'Donnell rebelled against Narvaez and alternated with him as
Prime Minister.
1858: In 1858, Spain created the colony of Spanish Guinea.
1860:
1868: In 1868, the revolution which overthrew Isabel II was headed by Generals
Serrano and Prim.
1870:
1870s: In the 1870s, more land was acquired in Equatorial Guinea. Catalan
migrants established rich cocoa plantations on Fernando Póo.
1870: Amadeo I, Amadeo of Savoy, Duke of Aosta was elected King of Spain and
the Cortés proclaim a republic.
1870: General Prim was assassinated.
1873: In 1873, the brief reign of Amadeo of Savoy ended with his abdication, and
the First Republic of Spain was proclaimed.
1873 to 1874: The First Republic of Spain had to deal with war in Cuba, the third
Carlist war, and the Cantonalist rising of the South and South East of the country.
After the presidencies of the Republic by Figueras, Pi y Margall, Salmeron and
Castelar, the “pronunciamiento” of General Pavia dissolved the Cortés and
established the government of General Serrano.
1874: The Restoration - General Martinez Campos rose up in Sagunto and
proclaimed the restoration of the Bourbons (Borbones) under Alfonso XII.
1875: A military pronunciamiento in 1875 restored the monarchy and Alfonso XII
was proclaimed King of Spain.
1876 to 1878: The defeat of Carlism and the peace of El Zanjon brought to an
end the ten year war in Cuba, making it possible to set up a stable Government.
1880:
1881: A trading post was established on the Río de Oro in 1881, an inlet opposite
the Canary Islands in the region later known as the Spanish Sahara.
1884: Spain declared a protectorate over the coast from Cape Bojador to Cape
Blanc in 1884.
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1885 to 1886: Alfonso XII died and was succeeded by his son, Alfonso XIII, under
the regency of his mother, María Cristina de Habsburgo y Lorena.
1895: The Cuban war of independence began.
1886: Alfonso XII was succeeded in 1886 by his son Alfonso XIII, although his
mother Queen María Cristina of Habsburg acted as regent until 1902, when he
was crowned king.
1899: Like the Philippines, when the United States defeated Spain in the SpanishAmerican War, Guam became a U.S. possession, but the other Maríana Islands
were sold to Germany in 1899.
1890:
By 1890, the Spanish Empire had all but vanished however, its core legacies
endure. In Latin America and in the Philippines, large Catholic populations
remain. There are more than 350 million Spanish speakers and Spanish is now
the third largest language group in the world. Many cities retained forms of
Spanish urban planning, with a large central square anchored by a church and a
city hall and streets radiating out from it. In some places Spanish customs, such
as bullfighting and the afternoon siesta, remain.
1898: In 1898, Cuba became independent and Puerto Rico fell under the United
States’ administration. The Spanish-American War ended 400 years of Spanish
dominion in the Americas and marked the rise of the United States as a world
power.
1898: The war with the United States put an end to the remains of the Spanish
colonial empire and the Philippines were turned over to the victors.
1898: In 1898, Spain took on Morocco as a protectorate, which was to prove a
new source of friction.
20th Century
No further information
Commentary
At this juncture, it is appropriate to look back to the year 1492. For almost eight hundred years
(711 AD) Spain's hard fighting Conquistadors had fought against the African Moorish Islamic
invaders and other subsequent, successive waves of Moslem invaders. The stranglehold upon
native Iberian aspirations was finally removed in 1492. This was the beginning of what is
known as the Spanish Golden Era. Under the Spanish Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, a
newly unified Spain began its rise to world power. The Great Admiral, Christopher Columbus,
245
discovered the route to the New World. Spain then navigated and explored the lands beyond
the oceans and took their riches by “right of conquest.” The Spanish Conquistadors that
followed in Columbus' footsteps were bred by war, the struggle against the subjugation of
Islam, its enslavement, and cruelty.
The conquest of the New World was preceded by centuries of constant warring with the Islam.
This 800 year struggle to free Iberia of Islamic enslavement, created a vast army of well-trained,
battle hardened veterans of the centuries long war for European cultural and religious freedom.
Seasoned soldiers under the direction of mounted Spanish nobility were prepared for the
conquests that were before them. After eight centuries of war and bloodshed, these
conquistadors were warriors and crusaders, whose mission was to conquer infidels, baptize
them to the Christian faith, and take gold and wealth from the enemies of the cross.
The harsh European world of religious wars into which they had been born was one of racial
intolerance and absolute religious dominance. These crusading knights knew only war and
constant change. The conquest of their mortal enemies, Islam, had convinced these nobles and
their soldiers of the invincibility of Spanish arms. After centuries of war they believed only in
their own power and ability to face and overcome great odds and the God who made it
possible. These were the characteristics that served my progenitors so well in their adventures
in the Americas.
After generations of living off the land and a burning religious fervor,
these men were ready for another war. Their leaders, born to the
saddle and trained in the use of sword and shield looked forward to
booty. When in 1492, the last battles against the hated African
Islamist Moors had finally been won; the conquistadors of the Spanish
crusade found themselves without work and purpose.
With little to lose and much to gain by venturing into the New World
discovered by Columbus these nobles and their soldiers were men
ready for adventure. Cortés and these men conquered Tenochtitlán,
the Capitol of the Aztecs. At the campaign's end, a final three-month siege brought the
downfall of Tenochtitlán. The victorious Spanish and their brave Indian allies took the
magnificent capital city of the Aztecs on August 13, 1521. This fateful encounter of two
different worlds resulted in the rapid disintegration of the Aztec world. Cortés, the great
Spanish Conquistador, defeated the Aztecs with just five hundred of these nobles and soldiers
and a few cannons. His small army of mighty Spaniards and native tribes overthrew thousands
of mighty Aztec warriors.
With these riches brought envy and malice from the other European monarchs. By the 16th
Century, Spain's power and wealth would place her at her zenith. Its arts and literature would
flower. Spain’s people would awaken to understand the concept of empire. With time they
would understand its benefits and drawbacks.
246
Charles I of Spain, grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella, and also a grandson of the Hapsburg
Emperor Maximilian, became king in 1516. This would end the domination of Spain by the
Kings of Aragon and Castile. This is no small matter. It was these kingdoms that had led the
wars of the “Reconquista” to free the Iberian Peninsula of the African Islamist Moorish
invaders. It was their efforts over an almost 800 year period that made the unification of Iberia
possible under the Catholic Monarch’s Spain. The character of Spain was formed around this
group of Iberian nobles.
Four years later, he was crowned as Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Within a generation,
Charles V. would spend most of his reign defending his empire from other European rivals while
extending its reach to new lands. He ruled a tremendous empire that included possessions in
France, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and Austria.
The difficulties of domestic government were increased by the fact that the prospective ruler
was a youthful foreigner, who had never visited Spain, and who was completely ignorant of the
customs and even of the language of the country. Charles had been born and educated in the
Netherlands, of which he had been nominal ruler ever since the death of his father in 1506. All
his friends and advisers were Flemings, who cared nothing for Spanish interests and had
already acquired a reputation for selfish greed. The first symptom of discontent in Spain was
caused by Charles' demand to be recognized as king, in utter disregard of his unfortunate
mother. In Aragón the demand was unhesitatingly refused, but in Castile the vigorous
measures of Ximenes secured Charles' proclamation. The regent, however, had great
difficulties to face.
A non-Iberian, non-Spaniard with few Spanish influences had taken the throne. The
Reconquista was to him some vague historical rivalry with the Moors with which he had little
knowledge or concern. His world view was formed in the Netherlands and his heart remained
there.
The nobles were delighted to be rid of the strong government of Ferdinand and wished to
utilize the opportunity to regain the privileges and independence they had lost. In this crisis the
loyal devotion of Ximenes saved the monarchy. Throwing himself upon the support of the
citizen class, he organized a militia which frightened the nobles and maintained order. Next, a
French invasion of Navarre occurred which was repulsed. To avoid any danger from the
discontent of the inhabitants all the fortresses of the province, with the single exception of
Pamplona, were dismantled. His distinguished services were rewarded with royal ingratitude
from Charles, who had come to Spain in 1517, and who allowed the aged cardinal to die on
November 8th without granting him the kindness of an interview.
The young king soon felt the loss of the able and experienced adviser. His Flemish ministers,
with Chievres at their head, regarded Spain as a rich booty to be plundered at will. The
Castilians, the proudest nation in Europe, soon found all the positions of honor and profit
seized by the greedy foreigners. The Cortés had shown their loyalty by acknowledging Charles
as joint-king with his mother and by granting him an unprecedented service of 600,000 ducats.
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Unfortunately, they had attached their grants eighty-eight significant demands which the young
king accepted but made no pretence of fulfilling. In Aragón and Catalonia more difficulty was
experienced. Nearly two years were wasted in obtaining the recognition of the royal title, and
no supplies were forthcoming. València was not visited at all, and the attempt to induce the
people to do homage to a viceroy was a failure. A civil war broke out in the province between
the privileged nobles and a germandada, or brotherhood, of the burgher class. The
Government exasperated parties by supporting each in turn, but ultimately joined with the
nobles.
Meanwhile the death of Maximilian had given Charles the succession to the considerable
Hapsburg territories in Germany. By 1519, the German electors had chosen him to be King of
the Romans. He was now the first prince in Europe. It was necessary for him to leave Spain to
look after his interests in Germany and to cement alliances which he needed against the
inevitable hostility of France. His elevation by no means increased his popularity in Castile.
The Castilians had already grounds for complaints against in the rapacious Flemings and in
Charles' failure to perform his promises to the Cortés. But these were nothing compared to the
prospect that Castile might no longer be the primary state of their king, and that their revenues
might be employed in the attainment of objects in which they had not the slightest interest.
Charles’ military preparations and his promises to the German electors placed him under great
pressure. He summoned the Cortés to meet at Santiago (Compostella) in Galicia, and then
transferred them to Coruna. This was done so he could embark as soon as he had obtained
needed supplies.
The meeting place was chosen to isolate and expose the assembly to his royal influence and
overt intimidation. Toledo took the lead in opposition. It refused to send its two deputies, as
this would be too favorable to the crown. Instead it sent other representatives to protest
against Charles and to encourage the other cities. They were driven from Coruña, and the
deputies of Salamanca were excluded from the Cortés. By these and other means the desired
grant was extorted. Charles quickly left Spain, as his departure was necessary to secure his
other interests.
Charles left Adrian of Utrecht as regent in Castile, and two native nobles in Aragón and
Catalonia. To the Spaniards this was reckless behavior, at a time when València was in civil war
and Castile was on the verge of rebellion. The king also ordered the removal of the magistrates
of Toledo and had sent a new governor to ensure the city’s obedience.
Soon, Spanish citizens headed by a young noble, Juan de Padilla, resisted this order and began
an insurrection. Other cities joined the movement and a central committee, known as the
"Holy Junta," was established at Avila. The unfortunate regent failed to control Segovia and
disbanded his forces. The nobles, alienated by the appointment of a foreigner to the regency,
made no attempt to check a movement against a Government they detested. Padilla,
advancing to Tordesillas, made himself master. The Castilians were not prepared to end the
monarchy, so Padilla was forced to consider coming to terms with Charles. The "Holy Junta,"
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drew up a series of demands, which, if acceded to, would have established a constitutional
monarchy in Spain.
Their envoys to Germany found it impossible to secure an audience with the king. Meanwhile,
the insurrection failed because of internal dissensions, especially Burgos. Class differences
made an agreement impossible. An army was raised, Padilla was executed, and one city after
another fell. Charles’ return of to Spain in June 1522 completed the triumph of the monarchy.
In 1523, he convened the Castilian Cortés, forcing them to grant supplies before presenting
their petitions for redress. He had won.
It is clear by now that Charles' reign was more European than Spanish. His enormous wealth
was increased by the successes in Mexico and Peru, his annexation of the Milanese, and his
conquests in northern Africa. In the governing of his vast empire, Spain played an important
role. Its soldiers were Charles' most effective weapon. To make these more readily available it
was necessary to depress the liberties of the country. The independence of the towns had
been crushed at Villalar. In 1538, after Charles concluded his struggle with France by the truce
of Nice; he proposed to raise supplies in Castile by an excise tax upon commodities. The nobles
objected on the grounds of their exemption from taxation. The emperor gave way, but took his
revenge by excluding them altogether from the Cortés. In the future, it would consist only of
thirty-six deputies from eighteen towns, powerless to oppose his wishes.
By now, Charles I was exhausted and in despair. In 1555-56 (64 years after 1492), he resigned
and ended his life in 1558 in retirement at Yuste. As Charles V (24 February 1500-September
21, 1558) the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519, he voluntary abdication in favor of his
younger brother Ferdinand I as Holy Roman Emperor. He also, as Charles I, of the Spanish
Empire from 1516, made his son Philip II King of Spain in 1556. These included the Spanish
holdings in Italy, Spanish colonies, and lands in the Netherlands.
He had added to all his lands the territories conquered by the Spanish in the New World and in
the western Pacific. From 1521, the Spanish New World conquest had begun. In twenty-nine
years from Columbus’ famous voyage to the taking of the Aztec Empire, history had been
changed. Cortés moved against Aztec Mexico in 1519 and huge amounts of gold and precious
stones flooded the Spanish treasury. With this extensive wealth from the New World he
financed military campaigns against the Islamic Turks, the French, and German Protestants.
Philip II, Charles's only legitimate son, would rule Spain, receiving the Spanish and Burgundian
inheritance, and Milan. He would also play a great part in European history. There would be
one great difference. Castile was to be the central point of his monarchy. His policies were to
be absolutely directed by Spanish interests. In character and education he was a Spaniard of
the Spaniards. So much so, that after 1559, he never left Spain again. Placing his residence at
Madrid, he gave Spain the capital it had never had. The new king employed the forces of one
province to crush the liberties of the others. These actions were an immense advantage to his
royal power as the old divisions within Spain had lessened its strength. Philip also possessed a
formidable weapon in the Inquisition and he did not hesitate to use it for secular purposes. The
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king crushed religious dissent as he did political independence. Soon, Castile was taken under
the direct supervision of the king and was subjected to crushing despotism. Aragón, Catalonia,
València, Milan, Naples, and Sicily were governed as provinces.
The king was not entitled to the allegiance of the province of Aragón until he had solemnly
sworn to observe its "fueros." They had preserved these medieval privileges almost intact.
Decisions by the Cortés required that each deputy have a practical right of veto. This authority
rivaled that of the crown. Philip seized the first opportunity to attack the institutions which
could control his will. When the people rose in defence of their liberties they were crushed by
troops from Castile.
By 1590, Antonio Perez, a minister had incurred the king's displeasure. He then fled to Aragón
and appealed to its fueros for protection. Philip had him arrested and brought before the
Inquisition. He was put to death and his successors became nominees of the crown. The
Cortés was assembled in 1591 at Tarragona. There he compelled them to abolish the fueros.
Their control over the judicial administration was abrogated. Any necessity for unanimity was
only retained in specific cases, notably the granting of supplies. To avoid future danger from
the few privileges left, a citadel was built in Saragossa for a royal garrison. He then created a
regular standing army, allowing the militia established by Ximenes to be retained and extended
for the suppression of local disorders. With Philip's internal administration now successful
everywhere, he obtained the power he desired.
A rising of the Moors in the Alpujarras was crushed by the military ability of his famous halfbrother, Don John of Austria. In 1580, a claim to the crown of Portugal, which Philip derived
from his mother, was successfully asserted. This at last completed the unity of the Peninsula.
Unfortunately, no attempt was made to reconcile the Portuguese to their new ruler. Instead,
the kingdom was treated as a conquered province. All those who resisted the Spanish invasion
were punished as traitors. The nobles were excluded from the new government, which was
entrusted solely to Spaniards. The commerce of Portugal was ruined when provisions were
made which conferred a monopoly to Spain. The result of this short-sighted policy was that the
Portuguese managed their discontent, but eagerly waited for the first opportunity to recover
their independence.
The colonial territories of Spain were greatly extended. Outside Spain Philip's policies proved
to be a complete failure. Deeply religious, the king continued his wars against heresy. His
religious intolerance forced him to put down uprisings in the Netherlands, which ended in the
loss of the Seven Northern Provinces. He also expelled the Christianized Moors from Spain.
With these and many other emotional actions, his Catholicism would prove to be his undoing.
Philip was also responsible for the ill fated dispatching of the great Spanish Armada against
England in the hope of putting a Catholic, Mary of Scotland, on the English throne. That great
armada was seen by the world as a super weapon which would end England’s aspirations for
becoming the dominant world power. It wasn’t and it didn’t.
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Spain’s concern with remaining the premier military power in the world was a dangerous
endeavor. Its grand schemes against England were utterly ruined by the destruction of the
Spanish Armada. The financial cost of this burden was enormous and caused Spain’s power to
begin its steady decline. The conquests and expansion of its empire had reached their limits.
Unfortunately, this Spanish monarch, Philip II, knew no limits. Finally, his efforts to establish
Spanish influence over France were foiled by the accession and triumph of Henry IV. By the
Treaty of Vervins, he was forced to acknowledge his humiliating defeat. It was one of the last
acts of his reign, which ended with his death on September 13, 1598.
Without a robust internal infrastructure based upon an industrial economy, and a Spanish
nobility class prepared for the forces bringing about rapid changes in the world, Spain
prospered only while wealth could be extracted from its colonies. This could not continue.
With rulers, such as, Philip III (1598-1621) who laid the groundwork for the exploration and
founding of northern New Spain, New Mexico, my Progenitors would be part of that
exploration and founding. However, Spain’s colonies could do nothing without the Crown’s
agreement and understanding of their needs. Her colonies were left on the margins of the
empire to fade into poverty and expire.
Philip II left to his son and successor, Philip III., an empire which was nominally undiminished, as
the independence of the United Provinces had never been recognized. The war for their
reduction was still ongoing. The Spanish masses were suffering from exhaustion. The
resources of Spain and the New World had been squandered with few returns. The attention of
her people had been distracted from peace and industry to unprofitable wars. The military of
Spain, once seen as invincible, lost their prestige in the marshes of Holland.
Spain’s tax policy left nobles and clergy exempt and fell upon the few productive classes. Due
to these enormous taxes, Castile had suffered most because it was most completely subject to
them. The provinces which had retained their liberties the longest were the most prosperous,
even though these had shared little in the riches that had poured into Castile from the western
colonies. The king's reckless ambition and the economic policies were a disaster. Prices had
become abnormally high and the wealth of the country was not in proportion to the currency.
Toward the future, the nobles would be carefully excluded from all political affairs and ceased
to take the slightest interest in the administration. With Philip II's death this exclusion came to
an end. Unfortunately, the nobles acted only as courtiers, rivaling each other in the
extravagance. But they contributed nothing to the efficiency of the state. The government had
been centralized by successive kings, but was neglected. The administration of justice was
incompetent. The Spanish people having been deprived of their liberty had received neither
order nor security. Spain would pay dearly for its short period of glory. Its rapid decline in the
17th Century was its inevitable penalty for the failures the 16th.
Philip II said of his son, Philip III, "God, who has been gracious in giving me so many states, has
not given me an heir capable of governing them." His successor was a product of his father's
Spain. Spain became exhausted by the degeneracy of its rulers. Philip III was twenty-one years
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old at his accession. He had been raised among priests and women. His education was lacking
the necessary depth and breadth necessary to govern. Known for his piety and his devotion, he
left cares of government entirely to his favorite, the Duke of Lerma. The king contented himself
with religious duties and ceremonies at court. However, the nation needed attention.
In 1601, an attempt by a royal ordinance was made to impose new duties on Biscay. Its
deputies protested against this encroachment upon their liberties and openly threatened to
seek another ruler. Philip III immediately withdrew the ordinance to avert a storm. The policy
of centralization was soon abandoned and the Spanish tendency toward division and isolation
continued. The province of Biscay retained its ancient privileges intact and Spain fell behind.
The past religious suppression of the conquered Moors caused their first revolt in 1502. They
had also been provoked by a breach of the compact made upon the fall of Granada. The result
was to have Moors expelled from Spain. Charles V renewed the edict of 1502 in 1526, and
extinguished the overt profession of Islam in Spain. In secret, they continued the practice of
their faith. This monarch would have no subjects that were heretics. An edict of Philip II was
pronounced in 1566, forbidding them to speak or write in Arabic and ordered them to renounce
all traditions and ceremonies of the Islamic faith. Their desperate uprising was quelled in 1570.
Many of the rebels were exiled to Africa, but most of them submitted.
Philip III was determined to prove his zeal for orthodoxy by completing the work which his
father had left unfinished. This was to be disastrous for Spain. He found it necessary to
persecute the Moriscoes. In 1609, he ordered all the Moriscoes to leave the Peninsula within
three days, under penalty of death. The same penalty applied to any Christians who should
shelter them. The edict was obeyed. The Spaniards had for sometime left what they regarded
as degrading employment to their Morisco inferiors. Unfortunately, these same Moriscoes
were the backbone of Spain’s industrial population.
They were active in trade, manufacturing, and agriculture. The Moriscoes followed on what the
Moors had introduced into Spain, the cultivation of sugar, cotton, rice, and silk. They continued
the system of irrigation which had made Spain’s soil fertile. The province of València had
become a model for agriculture to the rest of Europe. In manufacturing and commerce they
had displayed unique ability and craftsmanship. Many Spanish products were sought by other
countries. The king sacrificed all of these advantages for religious unity.
Additionally, many of the resources of Spain had already been exhausted. Under these
circumstances it was an absolute necessity that the ambitious schemes of previous rulers be
abandoned. Fortunately for Spain, the Duke of Lerma was personally inclined toward peace.
The accession of James I in England provided an opportunity for concluding the long war that
had been carried on with Elizabeth. England’s mediation brought about a 12 year peace in
1609 with the United Provinces, allowing their independence. The Twelve Years' Truce was the
name given to the cessation of hostilities between the Habsburg rulers of Spain and the
Southern Netherlands and the Dutch Republic as agreed to in Antwerp on April 9, 1609. The
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Truce allowed King Philip III to disengage from the conflict in the Low Countries and devote
himself to Spain’s internal problems.
The death of Henry IV and the regency of Mary de' Medici enabled Spain’s Duke of Lerma to
arrange an alliance with France. It was cemented by a double marriage. Louis XIII would marry
the Infanta Anne of Austria and Elizabeth of France was betrothed to the son and heir of Philip
III. For some short period, Spain would enjoy a better position in Europe than it had held since
the disastrous defeat of its Armada.
The first Stuart king of England, James I (1603-1625), lacked a definite policy and was
considerably weakened by quarrels with his parliament. France’s regency distracted by internal
squabbles abandoned the positions of Henry IV. James I was the only son of Mary, Queen of
Scots. Rebel Scottish lords defeated Mary and she abdicated the throne. James, 1 year old,
became king of Scotland on July 24, 1567. Mary then left the kingdom in 1568. During his
minority James was surrounded by a small band of the great Scottish lords, whom became the
four successive regents.
The Holy Roman Empire was in the hands of Matthias II (1557-1619), a member of the House of
Habsburg. By 1578, Matthias was invited to the Netherlands by the States-General of the
provinces, who offered him the position of Governor-General. Matthias accepted the
appointment without recognition from his uncle, Philip II of Spain, the hereditary ruler of the
provinces. He set down the rules for religious peace for most of the United Provinces via Article
13 of the 1579 Union of Utrecht. The rebels soon deposed Philip II and declared full
independence in 1581. Matthias would reign as King of Hungary and Croatia from 1608, King of
Bohemia from 1611, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1612. He married Archduchess Anna of
Austria, the daughter of his uncle Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria, whose successor in Austria
Matthias had become in 1595.
As for the Muslim threat, Suleiman I the Magnificent died in 1566. By then, the Turks became a
lesser threat to Europe. During that time, Spain remained an absolute monarchy, enjoying the
same prestige as in the days of Philip II (1527-1598). With that new found power, old ambitions
had surfaced. The recognition of the archduke Ferdinand as the successor of Mathias II in the
Austrian territories was being discussed. Philip III (1578-1621) responded with a claim for
Hungary and Bohemia due to his mother being a daughter of Maximilian II. In fact, Ferdinand
was only descended from that emperor's brother. The claim was not indisputable, but was
inconvenient to Ferdinand. Therefore, to gain the support of Spain, he ceded Alsace and the
vacant imperial fief of Finale in Italy (1617). On these terms he succeeded obtaining his desires.
The potential was now available for Spain to connect its Italian possessions with the
Netherlands.
The advancement Roman Catholicism as a firm policy was resumed. Ferdinand intended to
secure a victory for the Counter-Reformation in Germany. The Duke of Lerma found this policy
distasteful and retired by 1618. Still in good standing his offices were conferred upon his son,
the duke of Uzeda.
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The alliance between the two branches of the house of Hapsburg was vigorously championed
by Oñate, the Spanish representative at Vienna. It was also supported by Khevenhüller, the
Austrian envoy at Madrid, and by the Spanish party, headed by Zufiiga. These had always
opposed the policy of Lerma. Neither Uzeda nor the royal confessor, Aliaga, were in favor of an
alliance whereby Spanish men and resources would be expended to secure the interests of
Austria. Ferdinand was not to complete the arrangement.
Spain became involved in the Thirty Years' War, in January of 1620. Philip III sent assistance
(Soldiers and financing) to Ferdinand II, in an attempt to appeal to his religious feelings. This
was important to Spain, as the Archduke of Austria, King of Hungary and of Bohemia, Duke of
Styria, Carinthia and Carniola, held joint possession of the territory of the Tyrol with his two
brothers. These wide-spread, powerful territories, with their different languages and laws,
diverse manners and customs, were united under the Austrian Monarchy. It was undeniably
one of the leading powers of Europe. Above all this, he was a prominent candidate for the
imperial crown of Germany. The Spanish monarchy understood that to secure this he would
have to rely upon them.
The war had begun in 1618, when Bohemia revolted against the elector-palatine, Frederick V,
who had accepted of the Crown. He was the son-in-law of James I, King of England and
Scotland. His humiliation would hinder the long-cherished project of a marriage between
Prince Charles and the Spanish Infanta. The truce with Holland was due to expire in April of
1621 and a war could resume with the Dutch. Therefore, it was essential to isolate them by
concluding the alliance with England.
However, the party of peace was still strong in Spain and she was in no condition to support the
expenses of another European war. Philip III had been on the verge of recalling the Duke of
Lerma to discuss these considerations when he died in March of 1621. This, even though
Spanish troops from Italy assisted Tilly in winning the battle of the White Hill and Spinola led an
army from the Netherlands against the Palatinate.
Spain’s Philip IV (1621-1665) like his father was adverse to the burdens and cares of
government. He gave the office of first minister to Zúñiga and had Lerma and Uzeda banished
from Court. However, true influence over the administration was exercised by the first royal
favorite, the Count of Olivares. He would later succeed Zúñiga upon his death. Olivares was a
man of considerable industriousness and ablility, though his reputation wasn’t that of his great
French contemporary and rival, Richelieu. It was he who conceived the plan of restoring Spain
to its former greatness. This would be done by returning to the policy of Philip II, regardless of
the difficulties it held for the internal resources of the country. All ideas of peace would be
abandoned and Spain would be plunged headlong into European struggles.
Commercial progress by the Dutch was fatal to the trade of the Spanish Netherlands. The
unpopularity of the truce with the United Provinces had exacerbated an already bad situation.
Amsterdam had begun to take the place of Antwerp. In April 1621, expiration of the truce was
followed by an immediate war. For the war to be successful it was imperative to solidify an
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alliance with England. However, this was sacrificed because the emperor insisted on taking the
Palatinate, which he then conferred upon Maximilian of Bavaria. England broke off the match
between the Spanish Infanta and Prince Charles. Instead, he married Henrietta María of
France. The failure of the Dutch War was insured by the alienation of England.
Once Spinola was recalled in 1629, the mainland stadtholders or stewards, Maurice and
Frederick Henry, had a distinct advantage. They had held their own even against the
experienced Spinola. These de facto hereditary heads of state of the republic of the
Netherlands during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries exercised a medieval function which had
developed into a rare type leader for the Low Countries. The people had accepted their
leadership and followed them.
The Dutch gained their most conspicuous successes on the sea. By 1628, the Spanish treasurefleet was captured by Admiral Hein, with a booty estimated at seven million of guilders. The
greater part of Brazil together with Malacca, Ceylon, Java, and other islands were conquered by
the Dutch. Instead of conquering the Northern Provinces, Spain was now forced to defend the
frontiers of the southern Netherlands.
War in central Europe was more favorable to Spain and her allies. The elector-palatine soon
suffered a crushing defeat. This was followed by the humiliation of the Protestant champion,
Christian IV of Denmark. In that moment, Ferdinand II enjoyed greater power than any other
successor of Charles V. It would appear that the Edict of Restitution would complete the
triumph of the Catholicism in Germany. Unfortunately for Spain there was a revival of
Hapsburg power was awakened and France’s jealousy reared its ugly head.
By 1624, France was under the strong rule of Richelieu. The Cardinal de Richelieu, Armand Jean
du Plessis or Cardinal-Duke of Richelieu and of Fronsac (1585-1642) the French clergyman,
noble, and statesman had been consecrated as a bishop in 1607. He was later appointed
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in 1616. Richelieu would rise in both the Catholic Church
and the French government. He became a Cardinal in 1622 and King Louis XIII's chief minister
in 1624. He would remain in office until his death in 1642. To say the good Cardinal was a
political master of his times, is an understatement. Political genius is a more apt description of
his unique abilities. The Spaniards were at a definite political disadvantage.
The Spaniards had held the Valtelline, that important pass which connected Lombardy with
Tyrol. They would be expelled by a French army in 1624. The treaty of Moncon would restore
once again the pass to the community of the Orisons. France was occupied with the
suppression of a Huguenot uprising for short period of time. Once La Rochelle had fallen
Richelieu again thwarted the designs of Spain. At issue was the Mantuan succession. The
rightful heir to the duchy, the Duke of Nevers, was to be excluded by the Spaniards due to his
connection with France. Richelieu forced the Spanish to raise the siege of Casale and ultimately
gained the Treaty of Cherasco in 1631. The result was that the emperor recognized succession
by the Duke of Nevers to Mantua. With the occupation of Pinerolo, the French were given an
opening into Italy and the power which Spain had so long exercised on the Peninsula. The
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victories of Gustavus Adolphus had destroyed an imperial and a Catholic ascendency in
Germany. Also, the Spaniards were driven from positions which they had occupied on the
Rhine.
Spain was determined on victory and the Roman Catholic powers had new hopes when
Gustavus Adolphus died at Lützen. Philip IV sent his brother Ferdinand, the cardinal-archbishop
of Toledo, to raise troops in Italy. He led them through Germany into the Netherlands. By
1634, Ferdinand joined with the imperial forces and their combined power won the victory at
Nordlingen. Headed by John George of Saxony, the Lutheran princes quickly came to terms
with the emperor in the treaty of Prague, in 1635. Unfortunately for the Swedes, they were left
isolated in Germany. Richelieu read the crisis and embarked upon war as a principal. He soon
concluded a close alliance with the Dutch against Spain.
For several years, France’s policy seemed likely to fail. French troops were not ready for war
and certainly no match for Spain’s trained veterans who repulsed them from the Netherlands.
With the invasion of France, in 1636, a panic arose in the capital. Spain’s success, however, was
short lived and soon Richelieu’s brilliance would give France the upper hand.
Alsace had fallen into French hands after the death of Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar. Its occupation
interrupted the connection between the Netherlands and Italy. Here the French would regain
ground and restore the regent of Savoy, whom the Spaniards had expelled. The later alliance
with Holland would give France sea superiority.
A great Spanish fleet soon to be destroyed sought refuge and fled into the Downs where it
stayed under the neutral flag of England. This made it almost impossible for Spain to send
reinforcements to Brussels. Here Richelieu was fracturing the Spanish empire into digestible
pieces. His task soon became easier with the outbreak of internal dissension within Spain.
The strengthening Spain by a vigorous policy of centralization by Olivares had been inspired by
the success of his great rival, Richelieu. The monarchy was in fact a number of scattered
provinces, each ruled by a separate council in Madrid. Each also was its own separate
institution. Only the predominance of Castile and religious unity held them together. Olivares
was determined to abolish this system by placing absolute royal power in all provinces. Spain
would in future meet the dangers from foreign enemies as one indissoluble whole.
Knowing that the spirit of provincial independence was still strong, Richelieu moved to absorb
the attention of Spain in its domestic affairs by artfully encouraging intrigues. In 1640, a royal
Spanish edict ordered all able-bodied men to prepare for the war, under penalty of confiscation
of property and holdings. This provoked a revolt among the Catalans. These had jealously
protected their privileges of independence and had grown tired of the hardships that their
closeness to the French frontier had exposed them to.
Soon, Castilian troops were driven from the province and Catalonia formed a republic under the
protection of France. This event influenced Portugal where the distaste for Castile was national
rather than provincial. Richelieu's emissaries had already been active there. In December
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1640, a successful revolution was accomplished in Lisbon and the crown was taken by the
noble, John of Braganza, in whose blood ran that of the ancient kings. These disasters proved
fatal to Olivares on whose system of government they were blamed. In 1643, he was forced to
resign his post. Philip IV then announced his intention to rule alone.
The undisguised discontent shown by several of the other provinces and the revolt of Catalonia
and Portugal hampered Spain’s conduct of her European War. The conquest of Roussillon in
1642 allowed the French to give assistance to the Catalans who had acknowledged Louis XIII as
count of Barcelona. There would be no changes in policy for France even with the successive
deaths of Richelieu (1642) and Louis XIII (1643). With Mazarin directing policy under the
regency of Anne of Austria, the French had completely made up for their military inferiority
which limited their earlier efforts at the beginning of the war.
By 1643, Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé (1621-1686), a French general and the most
famous representative of the Condé branch of the House of Bourbon, was renowned for his
military prowess as le Grand Condé. He won the first of a series of brilliant victories at Rocroi
and his success was important because it solidified the domestic authority of the regent.
Disasters for Spain increased. There was an uprising in Naples led by Masaniello against the
Habsburgs in 1647. It was continued by the leader of the Republic Henry II of Lorraine, duke of
Guise a descendant of the former king of Naples Rene I of Anjou. It was only suppressed with
great difficulty in 1648. This was followed by the loss of the Austrian alliance through the treaty
of Westphalia.
For Spain to contend single-handed against the coalition was impossible. Fortunately, she
seized an opportunity to make terms with Holland. Unfortunately, it was only achieved by
consenting to great-sacrifices of surrendering all claims to sovereignty over the Northern
Provinces and ceding to them the northern districts of Brabant, Flanders, and Limburg, with the
strong fortresses of Maestricht, Hertogenbosch (Bois-le-Duc), Bergen-op-Zoom, and Breda. The
Dutch also retained all their conquests in America and the Indies. This marked recognition of
the United Provinces as an independent state and also transferred maritime supremacy to the
northern powers.
France and Spain were now to face each other for the next four years. The triumph of Mazarin
in 1653 enabled France to devote itself to the war. The military operations became a duel in
the Netherlands between the rival generals Conde and Turenne. The old Spanish tactics were
now out of date and its once invincible infantry was almost useless against the quick
movements of light-armed troops which had been introduced by Gustavus Adolphus. The
struggle was finally decided by the intervention of England. The rapid advance of French power
was the reason England chose to assist Spain. One after another the fortresses of Flanders fell
into French hands and it became impossible for Spain to continue the war. In 1659, Mazarin
and Don Luis de Haro, the successor of Olivares, met on a small island in the Bidassoa and
arranged the treaty of the Pyrenees. Spain made great sacrifices. Artois and several fortresses
in the Netherlands, Roussillon and Cerdagne were ceded to France. The Pyrenees fixed by law
the boundary between the two countries. Louis XIV was to marry the Infanta María Theresa,
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who was to receive a large dowry. She was forced to renounce all claims to the Spanish crown.
The only concessions made by France were the pardon of Conde, the recognition of Catalonia
as a province of Spain, and the promise to give no more assistance to the Portuguese.
With Spain now free from external hostilities, it seemed possible that Portugal might be
controlled at last. But soon the alliance of France was speedily replaced by that of England.
Catherine of Braganza married Charles II. When he tried and failed to obtain from the Spanish
Government an acknowledgment of his wife's claims of succession, he continued to send secret
assistance to the Portuguese. The French general, Schömberg, defeated Don John of Austria in
1663. Two years later, Spanish forces were routed at the battle of Villa Viciosa. This final
disaster was far too much for Philip IV, who died on September 17, 1665.
Philip IV had bequeathed the government to his widow María Anna of Austria, with a special
junta to advise her in affairs of state. Spain’s golden era was by then coming to an end. His son
Charles II (1665-1700) was only four years old when his father passed. María Anna had given
him five children, but only two survived to adulthood. A daughter Margarita Teresa was born in
1651. The future Charles II of Spain arrived in 1661. Charles was sickly and in frequent danger
of dying, which made the line of inheritance uncertain. She was Philip IV’s second wife. Also
known as Maríana, she was Philip's niece and the daughter of the Emperor Ferdinand. María
would be guided by politics and Philip's desire to strengthen the relationship with Habsburg
Austria. Her son would be seen by many as an ineffective ruler.
A Spanish monarchy in decline, its authority had been exercised by a series of chief ministers
Lerma, Olivares, and Haro. This continued as the way executive power would be maintained.
The queen-mother soon raised to the position of chief minister her confessor, Father Nithard, a
native of Styria. He was a man of ability and experience. He attempted to lower public
expenditures by limiting the salaries of officials and by putting an end to the abuses. Many
hindered commerce with the colonies. But soon he was called upon to face unexpected issues.
Louis XIV using the so-called "law of devolution, an old custom by which the children of the first
marriage succeeded to the exclusion of all later descendants, claimed on behalf of his wife
certain territories in the Netherlands. Spain resisted the claim and the French invaded Flanders
and overran Franche-Comte. The regent was forced to purchase back Franche-Comte by ceding
part of Flanders to France in the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1668).
During the same period, the independence of Portugal was finally acknowledged. These
failures under the rule of a Jesuit and a foreigner increased the discontent of the Spanish
nobles. By 1669, a strong opposition party was formed under the leadership of Don John of
Austria. Nithard was compelled to resign. There was little unity among the nobles and a
difference arose as to the policy to be pursued when France’s Louis XIV attacked Holland in
1672. The queen-mother sided with Austria and her influence secured Spain’s assistance to the
first European coalition against France. She quickly obtained the post of chief minister for
another favorite, Fernando de Valenzuela. He was appointed Marquis of Villafierra and raised
to the rank of a grandee of Spain. The angry nobles again formed a league for the maintenance
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of their privileges under Don John of Austria. This time they were completely successful.
Valenzuela banished and María Anna was forced to retire from the court and take up residence
in Toledo.
Don John now all-powerful withdrew Spain from the Austrian alliance and joined France. A
marriage was concluded between Charles II and María Louisa of Orleans. It was hoped that
better terms would be obtained from Louis XIV. However, in the Treaty of Nimeguen Spain was
forced to surrender Franche-Comte and fourteen fortresses in Flanders. This treaty marked
Spain’s loss of its position as a first-rate power. In future, it would only exist by the support of
those states which resented the aggrandizement of France.
Don John was no more successful in his domestic policy than his foreign policy. He was as
industrious as Philip II and determined to rule independently of all advisers. His chief aim was
to obtain crown domains which had passed into private hands. This scheme against the nobles
failed and he died in 1679, having accomplished little.
It was under Charles II’s reign that my progenitor, Salvadór Matías de Ribera, arrived in New
Spain’s, New Mexico. He was born at Puerto de Santa María, Spain in 1675. The records from a
marriage he attended in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1697, shows that he arrived from Spain on
the ship, Santo Tomas De Villa Nueva. Clearly, he would have had some knowledge of a
weakened Spain, which had continued to involve itself in costly European wars. As a result, the
people of Spain were heavily taxed to maintain the large Spanish army and navy in which he
and his sons would serve. The extravagances of the distant royal court at Madrid would have
been well known, so too, would have been the resulting series of revolts which broke out in
various areas of Spain.
By the first half of the 17th Century, Spanish arts and literature would blossom. Unfortunately,
Spain’s focus should have been on commerce and internal industry. The treasure from its
colonies was used to help to build industry elsewhere. Nations, such as England and France
provided Spain with needed manufactured goods. These powers were better prepared for the
coming changes in world politics and dominion. Spain proper was rudderless and its far flung
colonies were in free fall.
Spain under the Habsburg rule (1516-1700) ended with the death of Ferdinand, a period of
uninterrupted rule which lasted for nearly two centuries. In the course of this period the
monarchy obtained absolute authority, and Spain, after rising for a time to be the foremost
state in Europe, sank to the position of a second-rate power from which it has never since
emerged.
In the beginning, the condition of Spanish affairs was by no means promising. The unity of
Spain which had advanced with such rapid strides after the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella
had been seriously shaken by the selfish policies pursued by its king since his wife's death.
Aragón and Castile were distinct kingdoms, and the former was again divided into the three
provinces of Aragón, Catalonia, and València each of which had its own Cortés, its own
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privileges, and the most warmly-cherished traditions of independence. Classes were
everywhere divided against each other and within each class jealousies and quarrels were
frequent. The foreign possessions of the two crowns were a source of weakness rather than of
strength. France was ready at the earliest opportunity to contest the possession of Navarre
with Castile and that of Naples with Aragón.
The early Bourbons began their rise after the Hapsburg Dynasty ended with Charles II. Philip of
Anjou, the first of the Bourbon kings, succeeded him. He reigned as Philip V from 1700 to 1746.
His claim to the throne was contested by the Hapsburg Archduke Charles and the War of the
Spanish succession dragged on until the Peace of Utrecht in 1713.
Philip's second son, Charles III (1759-1788), reigned during, lifetime Salvadór, the son of my
progenitor Salvadór Matías de Ribera. Charles III was considered an able and intelligent ruler.
Fortunately, he, unlike his father, relied on the advice of well-informed ministers. He is noted
for his attempts to improve the lives of the ordinary people in Spain. Under his stewardship,
land reform was started, highways were improved, cities rebuilt and refurbished, and trade and
internal industry encouraged. Unfortunately, his reign was too short. It would have been
better had he lived earlier. Perhaps, he could have changed the course of Spanish history.
The decline of Spain in the 17th Century cannot be solely measured by its territorial losses.
Holland had gained its independence through hard fought efforts. Portugal had become a
separate kingdom. Catalonia was reduced to grudging submission. France had seized
Roussillon and Cerdagne, Franche-Comte, and great part of the southern Netherlands. French
influence had been established in Italy as a counter weight to the power of Spain.
Spain’s losses were the result of its great weakness at its center. The weaknesses at the
extremities of the Empire were caused by a lack of will and failed leadership. The population of
the Iberian Peninsula has been estimated at twenty million under the Arabs. Under Ferdinand
and Isabella it is placed at twelve million. By the reign of Charles II it had fallen to less than six
million. One can accept that a portion of this loss was due to religious extremism which
condemned thousands of Jews and Moriscoes to death or forced exile. The continued decline
in Spain’s economic prosperity was also a major reason.
Agriculture had suffered from the departure of the Moriscoes and a number of other factors.
The lack of laws such as the “Statutes of Mortmain (Two enactments, in 1279 and 1290, by King
Edward I of England aimed at preserving the kingdom's revenues by preventing land from
passing into the possession of the Church)” led to the accumulation of at approximately onefourth of the land by the monasteries. Their continued use of outdated methods of cultivation
caused their estates to produce very low yields. The system of entail which earlier monarchs
had tried to restrict also continued with its limitation on the inheritance of property to a certain
class of heirs. By the 16th Century, most of the secular estates were concentrated in the hands
of a few great nobles who lived at Madrid. These spent their wealth on lavish and extravagance
life styles. They had little or no regard for the interests of their tenants. In the provinces of
Andalucía and Extremadura agriculture was entirely ruined by the system of sheep-farming
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imposed in the 12th Century. The inhabitants were forbidden to enclose their lands with
hedges or ditches. Successive Spanish monarchs had encouraged the rearing of huge flocks of
sheep which could easily be driven over the open country into a place of safety. All of this was
a result of past destructive forays of the Moors which had ended.
In the 16th and 17th centuries the condition on the ground had changed, but the old
regulations were maintained by the company of La Mesta, a powerful, independent, and
wealthy corporation. It derived huge revenues from the sale of wool and was able to retain
these privileges until the reign of Charles III. Every summer their flocks came down from the
northern mountains. The lack of proper enclosures made it impossible to protect crops from
destruction. The focus upon sheep and their wool led to a gradual disappearance of forests and
made agriculture impossible. Without the planting of new trees, vast areas of Castile became
arid deserts.
Unfortunately, the worship of the warrior class led the Spaniards of nobility to view a living
made by handicraft as something to be done by those without a proper view of honor. When
Spain ejected the Moriscoes it was almost impossible to obtain skilled artisans, unless
imported. The Spaniards were unable to cut their own timber for ships or construct necessary
fortifications for their towns. Madrid and other cities became crowded with foreigners who
came to make their fortune and carry it back to their native lands. The Government was as
much to blame as individuals.
New World gold would have enabled Spain to control the markets of Europe, but restrictions on
the exportation of the precious metals were strictly enforced. The high price of commodities
has been attributed to the competition of foreign and colonial markets and not on an over
abundance of precious metals which would impact the medium of exchange. One article after
another was forbidden from export. The colonies of my progenitors were left to send gold
without receiving anything in exchange. These policies were supported by the merchants who
refused to fill their vessels with anything but gold and silver, leaving indigo, cotton, and other
commodities to the English and the Dutch. These ruinous policies speak for themselves.
Excessive taxation imposed by Philip II and his descendants brought about by ambitious political
schemes crippled domestic production and almost destroyed it. Spain became a great
subsidizing power in the 17th Century, as England later did in the 18th. Austria would have
never been able to carry out the Thirty Years' War without the supplies received from Spain.
Those enormous enabling expenditure were wrung from the classes least able to pay them.
The Spanish government was not strong enough to attack the tax exemptions of nobles and
clergy. The alcavala or the tax on sales which Ximenes had abolished was restored under Philip
II. By the 17th Century it had reached 14 per cent. Traders attempting to make a profit sought
to evade a tax that was impossible to pay. This only made the revenue officers more vigilant.
They endeavored to collect the tax at every opportunity, whether on the raw materials or on
manufactured products, and also every time that they changed hands. Taxation in Spain was
ruinous for the nation.
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It is abundantly clear that foreign nations reaped all the advantages from the poor policies
which the short sighted Spaniards implemented. Five-sixths of the manufactured commodities
consumed in Spain were provided by foreigners. These same foreigners carried on nine-tenths
of the commerce with the Spanish colonies. By law Spanish all foreign trade with the colonies
was prohibited. However, the decline of native industry made it impossible to enforce these
laws. The Spanish Government was then forced to turn a blind eye to the contraband trade by
which other countries gained all the profit. Earlier kings had implemented policies which made
the colonies dependent upon European products. When Spain could no longer supply them,
these products had to be obtained elsewhere.
Political circumstances of the second half of the 17th Century found Spain, England, and
Holland allied against France. The English and Dutch then built their commercial supremacy on
the trade which Spain foolishly left to them. Spain, that great nation which sent a hundred
vessels to the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 and decisively defeating the main fleet of the Ottoman
Empire at the Gulf of Corinth, off western Greece and in 1588 dispatched the great Armada
against England, was reduced under Charles II to borrowing Genoese ships to maintain its
commerce with the New World. An army, which had once been the terror of Europe, was by
this time a force of little more than 20,000. In literature and art Spain had also fallen behind.
She had deliberately sacrificed that intellectual advancement which was occurring all over
Europe, but preserved her religious unity.
At its greatest extent in the 18th Century, the Spanish Empire included most of Central and
South America, as well as important areas in North America, Africa, Asia, and in Oceania. But it
was the Americas in the late 1700s which became an increasing focus of European national
rivalries. Each wanted control of commerce to manipulate the international balance of power.
Piracy around the Caribbean Sea also intensified, and Spain’s contact with the empire
decreased. Still, Spain tried to monopolize commerce with the colonies. Spanish American
societies became more complex and different from Spain’s, including rising numbers of creoles,
people of Spanish descent who were born in the Americas, and mestizo, people of mixed
European and indigenous ancestry. By the 18th Century, the population of Spanish America
grew considerably, agricultural and mining production surged, and new towns were built.
Colonial Spaniards such as my family the de Riberas founded settlements and missions in what
are now California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.
When Spain lost the Seven Years’ War (1756–63) to Britain, Spain gave up Florida but received
the territory of Louisiana from France as compensation, recovering Florida in 1779. In the late
18th Century, Spanish Americans increasingly exported tobacco, cotton, sugar, cocoa beans,
and indigo dye and also enjoyed higher output of gold and silver. Responding to growth and
trying to improve its control over the colonies, in 1776, Spain decided to create the new
Viceroyalty of the Río de La Plata in part of South America. With its capital at Buenos Aires, the
new viceroyalty was made up of territories formerly governed under the Viceroyalty of Peru.
By the 1780s, Spain’s presence still extended over much of the continent, but Spain had to face
the growing threat of British power and nearby presence of the Dutch and French. Although
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trade between Spain and its American colonies increased, Spain was unable to prevent other
nations from trading with them, and smuggling of foreign manufactured goods increased. The
Spanish government increasingly drained American treasure and resources and the colonial
resistance grew, with Creole leaders seeking more control and freedom to trade in other
markets.
In 1796, the British blockaded shipping between Spain and America. By 1810, colonists began
to revolt against Spanish authorities, their struggle benefiting from the power vacuum brought
about during Napoleon’s invasions of the Iberian Peninsula. Simón Bolívar liberated Venezuela,
Colombia, and Ecuador and assisted José de San Martín, who had released Chile from Spanish
control, to obtain Peru’s independence.
By 1824, Spain had lost all of its mainland possessions. Cuba and Puerto Rico were the only
remaining American colonies, until the Cuban revolt in 1895 triggered the Spanish-American
War, won by the United States. Later, in 1898, Cuba became independent, and Puerto Rico fell
under the United States’ administration. The Spanish-American War ended 400 years of
Spanish dominion in the Americas and marked the rise of the United States as a world power.
Spain as many other great powers had her time in the limelight of the world stage. She had as
monarchs those from her native Iberia Aragón and Castile (1469-1516), Austria and Germany’s
House of Hapsburgs (1516-1700), and France’s House of Bourbon (1700-Present). After the
Iberians of many tribes were brought under the banner of “Spaniards”, the nobles of Castile
only held political power for a short time. Their dream was for a Spain free from Islam, wealth,
and stability.
To clarify, Spain and many other European countries continued to be victims of constant Islamic
aggression from 711 onward. Successive Islamic nations had attacked various areas of Europe
for 1121 years until the naval Battle of Navarino was fought on October 20, 1827. This occurred
during the Greek War of Independence (1821–32), at Navarino Bay (modern-day Pylos), on the
west coast of the Peloponnese peninsula, in the Ionian Sea.
An Ottoman armada of imperial warships including squadrons from the eyalets (provinces) of
Egypt, Tunis and Algiers was destroyed. The victors were an Allied force from Britain, France,
and Russia. The sinking of the Ottoman Mediterranean fleet saved the fledgling Greek Republic
from destruction. The causal factor was Russia's strong emotional support for the fellowOrthodox Christian Greeks, who had rebelled against their Ottoman overlords in 1821. France
and Great Britain bound Russia by treaty to a joint intervention aimed at securing Greek
autonomy.
It would require two more military interventions before the withdrawal of Ottoman forces from
central and southern Greece securing Greek independence. One by Russia, during the RussoTurkish War of 1828–1829. A second was accomplished by French expeditionary forces in the
Peloponnese.
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By 1827, these powers agreed by the Treaty of London to force the Ottoman government to
grant the Greeks autonomy. They dispatched naval squadrons to the eastern Mediterranean
Sea to enforce this policy.
From the early 1500s on, non-Spaniards took the crown and used its wealth and power for the
greater glory of European domination. Spanish treasure and blood was squandered on the
foolishness of Empire without benefit to its people. In the late 19th Century, Spain was
exhausted and dispossessed of her wealth, prestige, and power.
These Spaniards are my mother’s people. They came to the New World to begin a new life.
Strong and certain they brought their faith in God and their love of Spain. The de Riberas and
the others helped to found New Spain, and later, New Mexico. It began in 1599, with the Don
Juan Pérez de Oñate y Salazar Expedition and the founding of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Later,
after the Indian Rebellion of 1680, they returned in 1692, to Santa Fe with de Vargas to reclaim
the land. Thereafter, they held the land until Mexico seized it by force in 1821. They remained
working the land and welcomed the Americanos with open arms when in 1846 they claimed it
on behalf of the United States of America.
Here we have remained. We New World Spanish who settled the land those many, many years
ago. The de Riberas, Americans after 1846 were proud citizens of the greatest nation the world
has ever produced. I can only ask myself, will a member of the de Ribera line one day in the far
distant future add to this family history with the story of yet one more empire lost? The empire
I refer to is the United States of America.
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