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The Modern Age began on the Iberian Peninsula during the joint reign of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon (1469-1504/1516) and ended with the Spanish War of Independence (1808-1814). There were two dynasties that ruled throughout that period, the Habsburgs dynasty (1517-1700) and the Bourbons one; the latter since the childless death of Charles II.<br>
During the 15th 15<sup>th</sup> century, the dynastic link between Castile and Aragon was very strong as well as that between Castile and Portugal. The Aragonese Trastámaras all married Castilian queens, while the Castilians almost all married Portuguese queens. The result was a civil war that Isabella, daughter of Juan II of Castile, supported by Aragon, won against ''Juana la Beltraneja'', daughter of Enrique IV, (Isabella’s stepbrother), supported by Portugal.<br>
The Canary Islands were incorporated into the Castilian-Aragonese dynastic union, through a colonising occupation. Also were incorporated the Kingdom of Granada, in what many have called “the last medieval war”, and the Kingdom of Navarra, which was occupied by a Castilian army with the support of the noble side of the ''beamonteses''.<br>
The Catholic Monarchs developed a policy of marriage agreements with Portugal, England and the House of Burgundy-Habsburg. Their goal was to encircle an old enemy, France and their dream was to complete the peninsular union, which failed due to successive deaths. The result was the enthronement of the Habsburg dynasty, whose first king was their grandson, Charles I of Spain (1516), who also became Holy Roman Emperor Charles V four years later.<br>
Columbus was clearly set to take sides: in the confrontation between two ''Taino'' chiefs, Guacanari and Caonabo, he took the side of the former, whose two sons embarked for Spain in 1495. Moreover, they did so on the first ship built in an American shipyard, the ''Santa Cruz (la India)''. In the case of the Aztec empire, Hernán Cortés did act as a conqueror and also as a leader of the uprising peoples subjected by the imperial despotism of the Mexica. The army that conquered Tenochtitlan in 1521 was made up of some 900 Spaniards and tens of thousands of avenging warriors, particularly Tlascaltecas. The Tlascaltecas (following the model of the ''señoríos vascos'') were recognised as ''hidalgos'' who were titled ''don'' before their Hispanicized names. They participated in the expansionism of Cortés and played an active role, together with Legazpi (founder of Manila in 1571) in the conquest of the Philippines. Two children of Moctezuma (Isabella and Peter) started noble dynasties on the Peninsula, which have survived to the present day. Regarding the Inca empire, Pizarro and the Spaniards acted similarly: they were at the same time conquerors and supporters of the legitimate emperor, Huascar, in the civil war in which his bastard brother, Atahualpa (who ended up assassinating him), tried to snatch the throne from him. Cuzco (1533) soon became a great Hispanic capital, with the legitimist Inca nobility incorporated into the Spanish culture.<br>
In America, a dominant class of few peninsulars and many Creoles, the children of a mighty mixture of blood, committed many abuses. Nonetheless, in Spain, intellectuals, theologians and jurists understood America as an extension of the Peninsula; in the ''Controversias de Valladolid'' (1550 and 1551), it was debated whether there were fair titles for the new peoples which the different Laws of the Indies intented to legislate in their favour. The Crown, which enslaved 10,000 Muslims after the capture of Malaga (1487), rejected this practice for its subjects in America, which led to the African slave trade.<br>
Thus, arose a formidable cultural and political space. It encompassed on the one hand, sons and grandsons of the Incas or Mexica, who became, for example, chroniclers of the Indies as well as others who reached high literary accomplishments, such as the Mexican Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz in the17th 17<sup>th</sup> century. There were also leaders of the great anti-Spanish rebellion (1780), such as the Hispanic-Inca hero Tupac Amaru II, José Gabriel Condorcanqui Noguera. The New Continent started developing, magnificent constructions began in 1541, with the Cathedral of Santo Domingo; in 1560, the one in Cuzco and in 1571, the Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico; splendid palaces, great fortifications, ports and highways. Among the oldest universities in the world are several of the forty founded there (the first in 1538 in Santo Domingo), while there were only thirty on the Peninsula. Today we know that despite the large amounts of silver and gold that the Spanish extracted from America, much more was invested in over three centuries that gave rise to nineteen nations with powerful Hispanic cultural roots (1810-1824), which also proudly value their native peoples.
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Charles I of Spain and Holy Roman emperor Charles V, a remote foreigner who knew nothing about Spain, arrived in 1517 surrounded by Flemish lords, with whom he replaced the peninsular nobility in government. This inheritance was, for him, a simple addition to the glory of the Habsburgs. The disappointment of his subjects increased with his claim to the Imperial Crown, after the death of his grandfather Maximilian, and his demand that the cost (donations to the German prince-electors) should come from the ''Cortes de Castilla'' convened in 1519 while he was marching to Germany. He was crown Emperor in 1520, but caused an uprising in the cities of Castile (the ''Comunidades'') and trade union revolts in Valencia and Majorca (the ''Germanías''). The nobility condescended to them, until they saw their anti-lordly character (anti-Moorish in Valencia). The ''comuneros'' Padilla, Bravo and Maldonado were executed in Villalar (1521) and the ''Germanías'' (Llorens in Valencia) suffocated in 1522. From then on, the aristocracy and the people of the Spanish kingdoms became hopelessly enthusiastic about the labyrinth of European imperial politics.<br>
In Spain, the elitist movement critical of clerical corruption could have given rise to Protestantism, inspired in the ideas of Erasmus of Rotterdam. However, the Emperor, who soon learned Spanish and ended his life in retirement at the Jerónimos de Yuste Monastery, considered himself an advocate of the ideal of ''Universitas Christiana'', supported by his peninsular kingdoms, which provided so much economic return from America. Thus, he confronted the reformism of Luther and the German princes who defended him, promoted the Council of Trent with a large presence of Hispanic theologians, and supported the Society of Jesus in the Counter-Reformation. He forbade studying at foreign universities (except for Bologna), Erasmism was isolated, Protestantism was persecuted. The Spanish version of the feeling of direct union with God –mysticism– was always frowned upon by the Inquisition. Along with that came movements of an exaggerated spiritualism, such as that of the ''recogidos'' and of the ''iluminados''.<br>
In order to isolate France, the Catholic Monarchs arranged the marriage of their children, Juan and Juana, with two Habsburgs. Although there was an economic interest as well. Spanish merino wool, the main raw material for export had competed advantageously with English wool since the 14th 14<sup>th</sup> century with which it disputed the markets of Flanders and the Netherlands, a flourishing domain of the Habsburgs, inherited from the House of Burgundy. The great European textile centres were there: cloths, lace, tapestries, rugs and bedspreads. The fine linens were known throughout Europe as “cloth from Holland”. Nevertheless, while Flanders, in the south of the Netherlands, remained faithful to Spanish wool, the Dutch soon preferred English wool and linen or cotton, imported from overseas.<br>
The herds were owned by the nobility, powerfully organised in the association called the ''Mesta'' (1273-1836). The cattle migrated in winter, grazed on rented meadows in La Mancha and Extremadura, and returned in spring. They moved along their own paths, protected by cane (''cañas'') fences, or by ropes (''cuerdas'') between stakes, named ''cañadas'' (75 m wide), ''cordeles'' (38 m) and ''veredas'' (21 m), with periodic resting places (''descansaderos''). The ranchers paid the ''servicio y montazgo'' as they passed through the “royal ports” that marked the entire Sistema Central: a great fiscal source for the Crown. The fair of Medina del Campo was the financial centre, and export was organised from the Consulate of Burgos. The ''Mesta'', distributed territorially in four districts (''cuadrillas''), was grouped into route networks: Leonese, Segovian, Sorian and from Cuenca, with a meticulous judicial and economic regulation that still keeps a strong presence today.
With Philip II, Spanish hegemony oscillated between war successes –San Quintín (1557) or Lepanto battles (1571)– and failures, such as that of the Spanish Armada (''Armada Invencible'', 1588), or the resistance to accept his rule in the Netherlands (the “United Provinces” of the north). On the Peninsula, his unitary political conception pushed him to dictate intergrative provisions in clothing, customs and religion for the Moriscos (many lived in Granada and even in Aragon and Valencia). This caused a great uprising, the rebellion of the Alpujarras that, once defeated, led to the dispersion of the Moriscos of Granada. Ten years later, the mythical King Sebastian of Portugal died childless in the battle of Alcazarquivir. Philip II, supported by powerful Lusitanian nobles, was recognised King of Portugal as Philip I. He lived in Lisbon for two years, where he organised a court and planned to make the River Tagus navigable to Toledo. After another ten years (in a secret episode of betrayal, envy and love, with the involvement of the princess of Éboli and the king himself), Antonio Pérez, the royal secretary, orders the assassination of Juan de Escobedo, secretary of Don Juan de Austria. Antonio Pérez fled and took refuge under the protection of a foral institution: the Justicia Mayor de Aragón. It was in 1591, when Don Pedro Lanuza, supported by the people of Saragossa, refused to hand him over to the King’s Justice. However, a royal army took Saragossa, Don Pedro was executed and strong cuts of the Aragonese ''fueros'' (privileges) were dictated, which increased the unitary policy.<br>
The brilliant Spanish hegemony was kept on credit. Philip II had to declare bankruptcy three times, despite the high tax pressure in Castile and the constant incomes of precious metals from America and from Spain itself, because the middle years of the 16th 16<sup>th</sup> century are known as ''the prodigious decade of Spanish mining''. The Crown owned all of the mines, and between 1550 and 1570, the silver production of the Guadalcanal mine (Seville) surpassed the one of Potosí. There was a formidable development of mining engineering, administration and techniques in Spain and America, and in 1624, the Board of Mines (''Junta de minas'') was created. No amount seemed to suffice; the Genoese (Centurione or Spínola) and German (Fugger or Welser) banks lent money guaranteed by the mines, then by the taxes on wool and, always, by the gold and silver of America. Their agents were controlling income in Seville and Cádiz (trade with America), at the Medina fairs (wool trade), in the Cantabrian export ports and at the consulates of Seville and Bilbao. They were contracted on behalf of the Spanish and were also in charge of the thousands of payments (soldiers, imports, maintenance of the Spanish road from Milan to Flanders, etc.). The very high imports always kept a deficit balance of trade, but there were many Spanish industries as well, such as the cloth one in Segovia, the Basque ironworks, cutlery in Albacete, and the Toledo swords. Mining declined in the 17th 17<sup>th</sup> century, although in the 18th 18<sup>th</sup> century there was an evident recovery, due to copper from Riotinto and mercury from Almadén.<br>During the 16th 16<sup>th</sup> and 17th 17<sup>th</sup> centuries, the Spanish Administration was of utmost efficiency, accounting precision, information speed, and support for specifically Spanish sciences, such as the nautical or botanical sciences. Justice had two supreme courts (the ''chancillerías''), royal territorial audiences, and ''corregimientos'' in each city (the ''corregidor'' was the highest municipal and judicial authority) with very important institutions such as the ''veedores'' (overseers for inspection visits) and the ''juicios de residencia'' (very important in the Indies), to which all authorities, including viceroys, had to submit after leaving office. However, some ancient figures survived, such as the ''adelantamientos'' (a military title for “a forward man”), used for a long time in the Indies, not to mention that various sectors had their own jurisdictions (universities, army, professional associations, etc.).
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Philip III, a lover of art, literature and, particularly, hunting left the government in the hands of Royal favourites (''validos''): the Duque de Lerma and then his son, the Duque de Uceda, as Louis XIII would do in France with Cardinal Richelieu. Shortly before his death, his father, Philip II, had sealed the peace of Vervins with France, which he would consolidate by marrying his daughter Anne of Austria to the French king. He signed the peace with England in 1604 and suspended the war in the Netherlands (Twelve Years’ Truce) in 1609. Thus, the ''Pax Hispanica'' reigned throughout Europe. The fight only continued against the Turks, who harassed the Habsburg territories on the Danube and the Spanish coasts through the North African pirates. This was the excuse for the expulsion of the Moriscos in 1609. About three hundred thousand would leave, especially from the ancient kingdoms of Murcia and Valencia, with great damage to the production of orchards and rice fields, which would not be overcome even with the introduction of new crops.<br>
A subsistence agriculture employed more than 90% of the population, with the three traditional crops for the winery, the oil mill and the mill, that is, wine, oil and wheat. However, there were still innovations, such as the substitution of oxen for mules, corn brought from America or industrial crops: esparto grass and hemp (sails and ropes), linen and mulberry (textiles); for dyes, indigo and madder (red dyes and pharmacy) as well as the ''barrilla'' for glass, soaps and pharmacy. Nonetheless, everything was declining due to the dreadful tax pressure on industrial production, which prevented profits and technical innovation. In 1679, with Colbert-like criteria for state intervention, the General Board of Commerce (''Junta General de Comercio'') was created, which attracted some foreign capital for the manufacture of glass, ceramics, soap and, above all, paper, which the expansive administration consumed without limit. Shipyards were promoted in America, such as the one in Havana, where the largest ship in the world, the ''Trinidad'', was built in the 18th 18<sup>th</sup> century with four decks, 140 cannons and a capacity for 1,140 sailors. Notwithstanding, the exhausted Spain demanded much more: economic weakness, wars, emigration to America (600,000 people?) and three appalling epidemics led to a decrease in the population, especially in the centre of the Peninsula.<br>It is true that, in the 18th 18<sup>th</sup> century, the Bourbons managed to maintain the façade of the Spanish political edifice. Albeit, as a significant symbol, the ''Trinidad'' was sunk by the English in the Trafalgar battle at the beginning of the 19th 19<sup>th</sup> century (1805).
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The European reformist spirit of the 18th 18<sup>th</sup> century arrived with Philip V. As a result, for example, the Habsburgs’ hunting palaces were converted into Royal Sites and beautiful Versailles-like palaces with attractive gardens and fountains, were periodically visited by the court with all their paraphernalia.<br>
Many royal factories opened and technical advances were fostered following the model of Colbert, the minister of Louis XIV. They catered to strategic productions (weapons’ factories), luxury creations for the court in the Royal Sites (porcelain, tapestries, crystals...), consumer goods (table linens, cloths...) and even leisure (playing cards). The Colbertist leadership led to the establishment of the so-called “''estanco''” products, which were sold by concession of the State: tobacco, stamps, stamped paper. Peasants and artisans repopulated barren lands, occupying new areas as an “enlightened urbanism”. Minister Pablo de Olavide stood out, repopulating areas of Andalusia and Sierra Morena during the reign of Charles III (1767).<br>
The stability of the first years of Charles III was interrupted as from 1763-1765. One of the endemic cereal crises produced a shortage of bread. There were riots, and a public security order on the use of wide-brimmed hats and long capes, which unleashed the anger of the people of Madrid against the Minister Marqués de Esquilache, who Charles III had brought from Naples. Esquilache was banished and the king was forced to decree a price reduction. The Society of Jesus was blamed for these and other riots, and was expelled from Spain in 1767, as had previously happened in France and Portugal. The Jesuits were persecuted for their opposition to statist regalismo (policy developed during the Enlightenment, consisting of reclaiming faculties, powers, or prerogatives for the monarch, recognized by the nobility and the clergy).<br>
The Bourbons introduced a unitary and centralist State, which sought efficiency against the administrative dispersion of the Habsburgs. The Peninsula was divided into 32 provinces, following the French influence, especially in Castile (24 provinces); those of the crown of Aragon, Navarra and the Basque territories were kept as single provinces. In the Central Administration, they took the model of ministries, which they called ''secretarías de despacho''. The ''Decretos de Nueva Planta'' eliminated the regional privileged status (''foralidad'') in the crown of Aragon, although not in Navarra or the Basque provinces, nor for the feudal rights of the bishop of Urgel over Andorra.<br>
In the Territorial Administration, they created the disputed figure of the ''intendentes'', similar as provincial governors, with control functions of supplies and fiscal intervention. They were suppressed in 1724, and restored by the Marqués de la Ensenada in 1749. Nonetheless, the ''chancillerías'' and ''audiencias'', reflected on the map ''Administration of Ordinary Royal Justice in the 16th 16<sup>th</sup> Century'', were maintained.<br>
The peninsular viceroys were replaced by captain generals, which was a more managerial than courtly position. From 1716, the captain general also acted as president of the audience for administrative and governmental matters; and the maritime departments reinforced the defensive system.<br>
Following this model, in America the four great viceroyalties and a General Captaincy were maintained; the one of Chile was once called a kingdom. The Bío Bío River was agreed upon with the Mapuche population as a natural border. The mighty Viceroyalty of New Spain included New California, New Mexico, Texas, Florida, and all of the Caribbean.
The economic societies of friends of the country were very particular institutions. In 1765, the Real Sociedad Bascongada was the first to obtain royal approval. Then further development of these institutions continued, especially with Charles III. Campomanes encouraged their expansion in his ''Speech on the Promotion of Popular Industry'' (1774) and by the distribution of promotional circulars throughout Spain. A year later, in 1775, the Real Sociedad Económica Matritense was approved.<br>
Each one presented its own profile but in all of them, there were noblemen, ecclesiastics, civil servants, soldiers, landowners, intellectuals, liberal professionals such as doctors and journalists, as well as some merchants and artisans. In any case, people with reformist tendencies. The main interest of the societies were education, the economy, charitable work (''montes de piedad'') and the teaching of trades. They also pursued a fair knowledge of their own territory.<br>
In the university field, several reform projects failed such as those of Melchor de Macanaz, Mayans (''Idea of the new teaching methods for Spanish Universities, 1767'') or that of Pablo de Olavide. During the 18th 18<sup>th</sup> century, historical universities coexisted with others of less relevance and newly created ones. Among the latter, it is worth mentioning the University of Cervera, founded in 1717 by Philip V to replace the rest of the universities in Catalonia, all of which were suppressed due to their support for the Habsburg pretender to the Spanish throne, against the Bourbons.<br>
Conservatism predominated in the university cloisters and ideas of criticism or progress were non-existent. For example, to be a full professor at the University of Valladolid, it was necessary to swear the defence of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Therefore, being impossible to use the universities as disseminators of the Enlightenment principles, the Bourbons promoted other centres for the teaching and promotion of scientific knowledge and culture. Thus, in addition, the French reality of those times was emulated. The royal academies arose, the academy of language, of history and all kinds of institutions in the various disciplines: medicine, mathematics, mining... Natural history cabinets, astronomical observatories and botanical gardens were created.<br>
As for the ''Ecclesiastical territorial organisation'', it was said that to the north of the Sistema Central all the bishoprics depended on Santiago de Compostela, except for Oviedo and León, which even in the 18th 18<sup>th</sup> century continued to qualify as “exempt bishoprics”, (''obispado exento'') of Burgos or Toledo, despite this being the “Primate Headquarters” since its conquest. In the south, two archdioceses predominated, Granada and Seville, both also recognised since their conquest. The latter was extremely powerful, being the head of all American episcopates.<br>
The ''cabildos'' were a very important centre of power in the cities. During the eighteenth century new bishoprics were achieved in Santander (1754), Ibiza (1782), Tudela (1783) and Minorca (1795). Calatayud, Játiva and Lorca, which also aspired to it, did not achieve their transformation from a collegiate church to an episcopal see. Many collegiate churches, however, managed to survive throughout the 18th century. The collegiate churches and their ''cabildos'' played a very notable role in many smaller towns being like second-rate cathedrals.
