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Spain History - 1st Decline - (1598- 1700)
With the death of Felipe II in September 1598 his son and heir gave little hope for
the future of Spain. It appears that these particular ruling Habsburgs
showed
a tendency for family incest and his fourth wife of Felipe I, who was Anna of Austria,
was both King Felipe’s niece and also the daughter of his first cousin. Felipe III
inherited a bankrupt throne but with its possessions still virtually intact. As
he preferred hunting, the theatre and religious festivals to state matters, the
administration of Spain was given to the Duke of Lerma. The 17th Century was to
prove very sad for the proud Spanish with the loss of much of their Empire.
The imperial glories of the earlier period became memories as Spain attempted to
fall into step with the dramatic changes.
The century opened with a vain Spanish attempt to balance accounts with England.
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. During this
reign there was one final expulsion in 1609 of the Moriscos whom had built up
their control of Valencia. A reason given for this decision was that these people
were active as pirates controlling the Spanish coastline. The estimate of the number
of expelled people ranges from 150,000 to 500,000 and piracy considerably
declined.
The Duke of Lerma was given to his pleasures and organized for the
king's entertainment many extravagant events. The costs were ignored alongside
with most state matters of importance. The Spanish currency was devalued with
the introduction of copper into the coinage. Social life became paramount with
loose morality in contrast to the severity of religion. The playwright Miguel de
Cervantes (1547-1616) left in his work "Don Quixote" a powerful statement as to
the confusion of the times.
The next King was Felipe IV from the union of Felipe II and another wife who was
also another of his cousins. This new King was considered more capable than his
cousin but was also subject to being controlled, this time by the wily and
powerful Gaspar de Guzman, the Conde-Duque de Olivares. Whilst the Duke
manipulated to his benefit the King spend his time with countless mistresses
and sired over 30 illegitimate children. The end result of his reign was
no better when the Portuguese successfully revolted and and gained back their independence,
the population offering the crown back to the Duke of Bragança. Disastrous
battle defeats were suffered at different times by the King against the Dutch,
English and French. Regardless of these woes, war and terror, the population of
Spain had during the same period continued enjoying their social life with the
emergence of some very notable cultural figures in painters and the
playwrights Lope de Vega (1562-1635) and Calderón (1600-1681).
Olivares was of a different quality to his predecessor Lerma. For 22 years
he tried his utmost with little success to keep all the Spanish possessions
as one state and
juggle the nation’s finances at the same time. Under his guidance Spain once
again found itself at war with England, France and the Netherlands.
To pay for
the expense more taxes were applied on the population - a tax on salt in Catalonia caused riots.
An expedition sailed from England in 1625 at the orders sent of
Charles I to attack Cádiz but it was soon defeated. In 1630 Spain
managed to make peace with both France and England, but in 1635 when
the Netherlands once again declare war on Spain the French decided
to join them against their old enemy. In 1640 the Catalonians murdered the
Castille Viceroy and claimed King Louis XIII of France as the new Count of
Barcelona. After some bitter fighting the Castilians returned to the fold and
with the fall from power of Olivares the path was cast for future problems.
On the western side of Spain they were not so fortunate as in the
same year the Portuguese turned to their Duke of Bragança to save
them from the ruling Spanish. In Lisbon a mere 400 armed supporters
took one of the Royal Palaces and declared the Duke as their new
King João IV. By the next year João was enthroned and five years
later survived an assassination plot by the Spanish and from 1662
until 1664 managed to repel a Spanish invasion. Spain had waited
some 27 years before officially granting recognition to the
existence of the Portuguese king. Troubles at home also continued,
and in 1652 a rebellion by Catalonians only ended after Barcelona
had been besieged for a year. In 1655 the English took Jamaica from
the Spanish and the following year they seize loaded treasure ships
off the port of Cádiz and war was once again declared against
England.
The
Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 marked the end of Spanish power in Europe which
was taken up by France under Louis XIV. To prove his superiority the French
King Louis XIV allowed himself to be married to Maria 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.
During these reigns the Spanish rulers and the nobles in general maintained
their distain for labour and with self-vanity ignored the need to generate
commerce and productivity both in farming and industry. They seem to
maintain the belief that all financial problems could be solved and there was
always the magical bounty from the Americas. Deeply instilled remained their
preoccupation with religion with constant religious festivals and processions
which required time consuming attention.
During the reign of Felipe IV a Spanish School of Painting came to the fore with
names such as Diego de Silva y Velazquez (1599-1660), Francisco de
Zurbarán (1598-1664), Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682), and Jusepe de
Ribera (1591-1652). Without
question Velazquez was to record the royal family in oils for posterity. These
painters went beyond the thinking of their northern brothers in Europe bringing
to canvas a realism which became a visual statement of the high born down to
peddlers in the street. Equally, the Spanish sculptures turned to wood as a
softer more expressive media to present the pain and suffering in the carved
faces. Besides the previously mentioned Cervantes there were creative writers
like Lope de Vega who produced 1,800 known plays. Tirso de Molina
(1584-1648), created the
famous lover "Dom Juan" in his popular classic about a friar from Seville. It is
remarkable that during this period the hold over culture held by the Inquisition was still
very strong.
In 1665 Felipe's son inherited the throne at the age of four as Carlos II (The
Bewitched), and reigned 35 years regardless of his questionable sanity
as a result of the family interbreeding. His mother was also his first cousin
and she acted as Regent until he became 15 years old. Again the court was
ruled by another person, the Queen's confessor, an Austrian
Jesuit named Nithard. History has recorded nothing notable about
Carlos II with the losing battle over the possession of the
Netherlands, the warring with both England and France (With the
Treaty of Dover in 1670 the French and English made a pact to
support the Netherlands against Spain). In 1676, Don Juan the
bastard elder brother of Carlos II, lead an unsuccessful revolt
against the King as being incompetent as a ruler. In 1678 through
the Treaty of Nijmergen the Netherlands kept its territories and
France gained land in Flanders but by 1683 Spain and France were back
at war, and in 1686 the League of Augsburg joined the Holy Roman
Empire, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Saxony and Palatine against
France. Upon the death of Carlos in 1700 and leaving no offspring he brought the
long rule
of the House of Habsburgs to its end. The succession of weak
Kings left the nation
in a bankrupt state, reduced possessions and little earning power, a
population that had decreased during the last century from about nine million
to six million due to revolts, wars, expulsions, plagues and high infant
mortality.
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