Spain: Political History and Notable Figures

1479 - 1555 - House of Tratsamara (All Facts)

• House which founded the unified Kingdom of Spain and laid the foundations for the Spanish Empire

1479 - 1504 - Isabella of Castile (All Facts)

• First Queen (Ruler) and Founder of the Kingdom of Spain of the House of Tratsamara

  • She was initially the Queen of Castile, succeeding to the throne after her brother Henry IV died

  • She married Ferdinand of Aragon in order to unify the multiple kingdoms of Spain

    • This was effectively a federation, creating a powerful force via their alliance of thrones

  • She was intelligent, pious, and possessed a great sense of royal dignity

• She and Ferdinand

  • established the Spanish Inquisition

    • This denounced the Jews as blasphemers and usurers, and encouraged every form of intolerance towards them

  • established the Encomienda System

    • This sanctioned the system of levying tribute payments from the inhabitants in America and using them as forced labor

  • set out a series of measures intended to encourage the inhabitants in the New World to

    • adopt a settled way of life

    • spread the gospel amongst themselves

  • defeated the Afonso V and the Portuguese during and after the War of the Castilian Succession

  • sponsored Christopher Columbus’s expedition to the West Indies (Americas) after being persuaded by him

  • took possession of Malaga, which up until their rule had been an independent Muslim principality

  • took possession of Granada, the last Muslim kingdom in Spain, thus ending the Reconquista

  • allowed Andalusian (Spanish) Muslims

    • to emigrate freely

    • to keep all arms except firearms

    • to continue to maintain their religion free from interference

    • to continue to enjoy their own communal life

    • to continue to be able to maintain their own judicial system and local officials

  • issued the Alhambra Decree

    • This was a royal edict decreeing the expulsion of all Jews from Spain

    • 150,000-200,000 Jews had just four months to leave Spain after years of growing anti-Jewish feelings

    • Some historians say that expelling the Jews and Conversos from Spain seriously depleted Spain’s merchant class, contributing to its later bankruptcy under their later successors

  • issued an edict ordering the expulsion from the Kingdom of Castile of all Moors who had not yet been baptized as Christians

  • signed the “Treaty of Barcelona” with King Charles VIII of France

    • This allowed Spain to regain Cerdagne and Roussillon, which were previously pledged to King Louis XI of France by King John of Aragon

  • signed the “Treaty of Tordesillas” with King John II of Portugal

    • This treaty drew an imaginary demarcation line down the Western Atlantic, which (in hindsight) slightly favored Spain since the treaty allowed Spain to retain discovered land west of the demarcation line

  • have a son named John who they had married to Margaret, the daughter of Maximilian of the Holy Roman Empire

    • He later died while they were still ruling

  • established the House of Trade / Casa de Contratación

• Under her and Ferdinand’s reign,

  • Hispaniola / Santo Domingo was claimed and founded

• However, she was the dominant partner in their co-rulership

  • Ferdinand had to live in Castile and was not able to leave without his namesake wife’s permission

  • Ferdinand could not wage war without his namesake wife’s advice and consent

  • Only Castilians were appointed to the council, not Aragonese

• When she died, effective power remained in the hands of her husband who continued to rule without her, rather than her daughter and successor

1479 - 1516 - Ferdinand of Aragon (All Facts)

• First King (Ruler) and Founder of the Kingdom of Spain of the House of Tratsamara

  • He was initially the King of Aragon, succeeding to the throne after his father John II died

  • He married Isabella of Castile in order to unify the multiple kingdoms of Spain

    • This was effectively a federation, creating a powerful force via their alliance of thrones

  • He was fond of women, and of gold and jewels which he not only wore but with which he adorned the trappings of his horses

  • He showed great personal courage and endurance in recent civil war struggles in Spain

• He and Isabella

  • established the Spanish Inquisition

    • This denounced the Jews as blasphemers and usurers, and encouraged every form of intolerance towards them

  • established the Encomienda System

    • This sanctioned the system of levying tribute payments from the inhabitants in America and using them as forced labor

  • set out a series of measures intended to encourage the inhabitants in the New World to

    • adopt a settled way of life

    • spread the gospel amongst themselves

  • defeated the Afonso V and the Portuguese during and after the War of the Castilian Succession

  • sponsored Christopher Columbus’s expedition to the West Indies (Americas) after being persuaded by him

  • took possession of Malaga, which up until their rule had been an independent Muslim principality

  • took possession of Granada, the last Muslim kingdom in Spain, thus ending the Reconquista

  • allowed Andalusian (Spanish) Muslims

    • to emigrate freely

    • to keep all arms except firearms

    • to continue to maintain their religion free from interference

    • to continue to enjoy their own communal life

    • to continue to be able to maintain their own judicial system and local officials

  • issued the Alhambra Decree

    • This was a royal edict decreeing the expulsion of all Jews from Spain

    • 150,000-200,000 Jews had just four months to leave Spain after years of growing anti-Jewish feelings

    • Some historians say that expelling the Jews and Conversos from Spain seriously depleted Spain’s merchant class, contributing to its later bankruptcy under their later successors

  • issued an edict ordering the expulsion from the Kingdom of Castile of all Moors who had not yet been baptized as Christians

  • signed the “Treaty of Barcelona” with King Charles VIII of France

    • This allowed Spain to regain Cerdagne and Roussillon, which were previously pledged to King Louis XI of France by King John of Aragon, the namesake’s father and predecessor

  • signed the “Treaty of Tordesillas” with King John II of Portugal

    • This treaty drew an imaginary demarcation line down the Western Atlantic, which (in hindsight) slightly favored Spain since the treaty allowed Spain to retain discovered land west of the demarcation line

  • have a son named John who they had married to Margaret, the daughter of Maximilian of the Holy Roman Empire

    • He later died while they were still ruling

  • established the House of Trade / Casa de Contratación

• During his reign,

  • He led Spain against France in the Third Italian War

  • He led Spain against France in the Fourth Italian War

• Under he and Isabella’s reign,

  • Hispaniola / Santo Domingo was claimed and founded

• Under his reign,

  • Puerto Rico was claimed and founded

  • Santiago / (Spanish) Jamaica was claimed and founded

  • Cuba was claimed and founded

  • Florida was claimed

• After Isabella’s death, he continued to rule alongside his namesake female successor, but in which he had effective power; he

  • was granted rights by Pope Julius II to establish and build churches, especially in the Americas (New World / New Spain)

  • founded the Council of the Indies (although his successor may have founded it instead)

  • gave official authorization for Spanish settlers / colonists to import African slaves into America (New World / New Spain), which began in Hispaniola via directives issued by the namesake to Nicholas de Ovando and Cuba

  • and his forces occupied the entire kingdom of Navarre; having seized Pamplona and St. Jean Pied de Port

• After Isabella’s death, under his reign,

  • Spain occupied the island of Penon, in the bay of Algiers

  • The Laws of Burgos were issued

• However, he was the weaker partner in their co-rulership

  • He had to live in Castile and was not able to leave without Isabella’s permission

  • He could not wage war without Isabella’s advice and consent

  • Aragonese could not be appointed to the council, only Castilians

• He died and was succeeded by the Habsburgs, which up to that point had fused with the House of Tratsamara

1504 - 1555 - Joanna (All Facts)

• 2nd Queen and Co-Ruler of Spain

  • She was nicknamed “The Mad”

  • She was the daughter of her predecessors

  • She married Philip IV in order to strengthen ties between the House of Habsburg and the House of Tratsamara, laying the foundations for Habsburg rule of Spain

1506 - Philip IV (All Facts)

• 2nd Co-Ruler of Spain

  • He was nicknamed “The Fair” / “The Handsome”

  • He was the son of Emperor Maximilian (and inherited the Netherlands from his mother, Mary of Burgundy)

  • He was the husband of Joanna, daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabela of Spain

  • His marriage to Joanna strengthened ties between the House of Habsburg and the House of Tratsamara, laying the foundations for his successor to rule over Spain

• He died at Burgos

1507 - 1517 - Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros / Cardinal Cisneros (All Facts)

• Cardinal and Statesman of Spain

• He served as regent of Spain for a time

• He banned the importation of African slaves into the Americas

1490 - 1521 - Juan de Padilla (All Facts)

• Leader of the Revolt of the Comuneros against King Charles

• He and his forces were defeated by the royalist forces in the Battle of Villalar and he was executed as a result

1480 - 1536 - Antonio de Leyva (All Facts)

• Spanish Governor of Pavia and Commander of the Spanish forces in the Battle of Pavia

• He had built new fortifications inside Pavia’s walls, enabling French troops to be routed by the city’s defenders

1553 - 1580 - Emmanuel Philibert (All Facts)

• Duke of Savoy

• (Savoyard) General of Spanish Forces

• He and his Spanish forces defeated Anne de Montmorency and his French forces in the Battle of St. Quentin during the Ninth Italian War

1516 - 1700 - House of Habsburg (All Facts)

• House which founded the Spanish Empire

1516 - 1556 - Charles (Before Reign and Consolidation of Power)

• 3rd King of Spain and First King and Founder of the House of Habsburg of Spain

• His reign marked the beginning of Habsburg Spain

• He was the son of his predecessors Philip and Joanna

• He was crowned King of Spain after making a sea voyage around the coast from Brussels

• He succeeded to the throne on the death of his namesake predecessor and grandfather

• He inherited a troubled throne as rival noblemen sought rebellion and Spain’s North African colonies were lost to Spain due to insurrection

• He came to the Spanish throne with much experience, having

  • already ruled the Netherlands by the age of seven

  • learned Spanish language and customs from his Spanish tutor Luis de Vaca and Dutch teacher Adrian of Utrecht

• He consolidated his power upon the death of his predecessor and father Philip by locking Joanna away under close watch and assuming the regency of Spain

• Upon assumption to the throne, he showed much confidence, telling the Spanish people to “be good and loyal subjects” and that he will “be a good prince to you”

• Upon his reign, he also became Holy Roman Emperor as the V, out-electing King Henry VIII of England and King Francis of France from the position

1516 - 1556 - Charles (All Facts)

• 3rd King of Spain and First King and Founder of the House of Habsburg of Spain

• During his reign,

  • He sponsored Ferdinand Magellan’s Spanish Expedition, where Magellan ended up crossing the Pacific Ocean and landing in the Philippines

  • He appointed Hernan Cortes as First Governor of New Spain (Mexico)

  • He returned to Spain after three years of civil unrest, somewhat marked by the Revolt of the Comuneros against him and his administration, in order to provide political stability again

    • He was pardoned and he decided not to withdraw privileges from cities that joined the rebels’ “santa junta,” all of which contributed to the ease of tensions between him and the Spanish people

  • He had Spain send a new expedition against the Maya into the isthmus of Tehuantepec in response to an appeal to Spain by the Cakchiquel natives there

  • He and his forces defeated Hayreddin Barbarossa and his Ottoman forces in the Conquest of Tunis during the Ottoman-Habsburg Wars

  • He had a defense fleet organized for the Indies

  • He granted Francisco Pizzaro the titles of Governor and “captain-general” of Peru in order to secure his own support for Pizzaro and made him governor of “New Castile” (Peru)

  • He ordered the University of Salamanca to suspend all debates and to forbid the publication of all books that discussed the right of conquest

  • He appointed Blasco Nunez de Vela as First Viceroy of (Spanish) Peru

  • He issued a law banning African slaves from taking native American mistresses and from carrying firearms

    • The law stipulated that African slaves who violated the law could be whipped, imprisoned, or had their ears cut off as punishment

• During his reign,

  • He nearly bankrupted Spain

    • He was able to rely on Italy and the Netherlands to contribute to the fight against heresy in northern Europe and in his campaigns against the Ottoman Turks; however

      • Ghent (in Netherlands) revolted against his administration

      • Naples (in Italy) was so heavily taxed that it virtually bled dry

    • He turned to for new sources of revenue

      • Castile

      • Aragon

      • The Church

      • The South American colonies

      • sale of indulgences by which noblemen became exempt from direct tax

      • German and Italian bankers, at increasingly exorbitant interest rates

• During his reign, he signed

  • The Treaty of Madrid (with King Francis of France)

  • The Treaty of Zaragoza (with King John III of Portugal)

  • The Treaty of Barcelona (with Pope Clement VII of the Papacy)

• Under his reign,

  • Mexico (New Spain) and Mexico City were claimed and founded

  • Peru was claimed and founded

  • Florida was claimed

  • Panama was founded

  • Colombia was founded

  • Ecuador was founded

  • Argentina was founded

  • Chile was founded

• Under his reign,

  • the last of Spain’s Moors were expelled

    • they had been working on the great estates of the Valencian plains

  • chocolate was introduced to Spain from Mexico

  • Spain took Tlemcen and killed the Barbary pirate Aruj al-Din Barbarossa

  • Barbary pirate Khayr al-Din Barbarossa repulsed a Spanish offensive on Algiers from the island of Penon

  • A group of Spanish settlers in Cumana (modern-day Venezuela) were massacred by the natives there

  • A new / revised set of the Burgos Laws were passed, giving further protections against enslavement of the native inhabitants of the Americas

  • Spanish explorers described great wooden temple mounds built by natives in southeastern North America

• He resigned from the kingship of Spain and handed it to his son and successor

  • He retired to a remote Spanish monastery in Yuste

  • He lived out the last three years of his life in solitude there

  • He rejected a grand funeral, having been buried in the chapel there under the high altar as “half his body was to be placed underneath, the other half outside so that the priest will stand over his head and chest”

  • His last years were spent peacefully enough at Yuste, living in a small villa designed so that he could see the high altar in the monastery from his bed

  • After the last rites had been administered, he asked for the crucifix which his wife had held on her deathbed and he died to the sound of Psalms

  • From there, he died

1546 - 1569 - Aben Humeya (All Facts)

• Muslim Leader of the Morisco Revolt against King Philip II

• He and the Moriscos rose up against the campaign of intolerance towards them

1547 - 1578 - Don John of Austria (All Facts)

• He was the illegitimate son of King and Holy Roman Emperor Charles

• He harshly suppressed the Morisco Revolt

• He and his Holy League forces defeated Ali Pasha and the Ottoman Turks in the Battle of Lepanto

• He and his Spanish forces seized Tunis and Bizerta from the Berbers

• He and his 20K forces took Tunis, only for it to be retaken by the Ottoman Turks away from him and his forces a year later

1517 - 1586 - Cardinal Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle (All Facts)

• Advisor to King Philip II

  • He was also effective governor of the Netherlands at the time

• He was recalled to Spain on account of growing unrest against Spanish domination in the Netherlands

  • There was also fierce lobbying against him in Madrid

1567 - 1573 - Fernando Álvarez de Toledo (All Facts)

• He was the 3rd Duke of Alba

• He was King Philip II of Spain’s Commander-in-Chief of the Habsburg (Spanish) Netherlands

  • He was sent to the Netherlands to crush the Calvinist revolt there

  • He ordered the arrest of Counts Egmont and Hoorne, the leaders of the nobility there

  • He ensured that William of Orange was deprived of his office of stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, and Utrecht

  • He set up a new court in the Netherlands that tried suspected rebels

• He ordered the execution in Brussels of 20 noble leaders, including Counts Egmont and Hoorne

  • He imposed crippling taxation on the rebel province of Groningen

  • He oversaw the Count of Egmont’s execution via order of the repressive “Court of Unrest,” the so-called “Council of Blood”

• He suppressed the initial anti-Catholic, anti-Spanish Calvinist insurrection that had initiated the Eighty Years War between Spain and the Netherlands

  • He pledged himself to bring back the Spanish Inquisition into the Netherlands

  • He pledged himself to establish a new order for King Philip II

• When he arrived in the Netherlands,

  • He came with 10K elite Spanish troops and marched through the streets of Ghent, organizing the troops into ranks of five, following them up with prostitutes in frilly dresses riding donkeys and bringing with a host of camp followers; making it clear that the Dutch Calvinist insurrection was over

  • He made sure the behavior of his troops underlined the ferocity with which he approached his task

  • He had the Dutch population, even the good Catholics there, insulted in the streets as “traitors” and “heretics”

  • He had merchants beaten up

• He turned his regime in the Netherlands into a dictatorship

  • He imposed the hated “tenth penny” tax on the (Spanish) Netherlands to help a bankrupted Spain and pay his army in the Low Countries

  • He humiliated Margaret of Parma, the civil governor, by

    • forcing her to demobilize her army she raised

    • assuming many of her powers until she was forced to leave for Italy

  • He established the “Council of Troubles,” a newer and more sinister form of the Spanish Inquisition within the Netherlands, in which he

    • organized the arrests of thousands just in one spring

    • oversaw the execution of 1,000 alleged heretics

    • oversaw the stripping of property of 8,000 alleged heretics

    • oversaw the seizing and burning of 500 alleged heretical books in the Calvinist city of Tournai

• He was recalled to Spain and succeeded as viceroy of the Netherlands

1528 - 1576 - Luis de Requesens y Zúñiga (All Facts)

• Spanish General and Governor of the Habsburg (Spanish) Netherlands during the Eighty Years’ War

  • He succeeded Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, the 3rd Duke of Alba

  • He assumed the throne when Brill, Enkhuisen, Flushing, Arnemuide, Veere, Holland, and Zeeland were all controlled by the “Sea Beggars”

• He and his Spanish forces defeated the Dutch Protestant / Calvinist rebels in the Battle of Mookerheyde during the Dutch Revolt / Eighty Years’ War

  • This occurred after he had arrived in Brussels at the end of the prior year to replace his predecessor as Governor of the Habsburg (Spanish) Netherlands

• He advised King Philip II to

  • grant a general pardon to the Dutch Protestant rebels

  • abolish the “tenth penny” tax imposed onto the Netherlands by Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, the 3rd Duke of Alba

• He agreed with Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II to withdraw Spanish troops and officials from the Netherlands

1530 - 1578 - Juan de Escobedo (All Facts)

• Spanish Politician and Secretary and Councilor of Don John of Austria

• He had threatened Antonio Perez that he would reveal Perez’ involvement in political intrigue against King Philip II

• Perez had him murdered as a result, which in turn led to the arrest and imprisonment of Perez by the Spanish authorities

1556 - 1598 - Philip II (All Other Facts)

• 4th King of Spain and 2nd King of the House of Habsburg of Spain

  • He was the brother of Margaret of Parma (regent of the Netherlands)

  • He regarded himself as a great champion of Roman Catholicism

• Prior to his reign, he

  • was married to (Queen) Mary (Tudor) of England

    • He deserted her shortly before he died

  • received the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily and Duchy of Milan from his father and predecessor

  • received the remaining Spanish dominions in the Old and New World from his father and predecessor

  • he renounced his claim to the German / Holy Roman throne in favor of Maximilian (the son of Frederick of Habsburg)

• During his reign, he

  • established the capital of Spain at Madrid

  • promised to construct a magnificent building to commemorate the victory of Emmanuel Philibert and his forces over Anne de Montmorency and his forces in the Battle of St. Quentin

• During his reign, he

  • oversaw the suppression of the Morisco people and the Morisco Revolt against him and his reign

    • He took repressive measures against the Moriscos, forbidding them from

      • speaking Arabic

      • wearing their traditional dress

    • He crushed the Morisco community of Granada with help from his half-brother Don John of Austria and his forces

    • He refused to turn a blind eye to the Moriscos’ Moorish customs and oversaw the slow process of their assimilation into Spain

  • supported the harsh measures of the Spanish Inquisition

  • passed a law integrating the Incan Empire’s feudal system in Peru into the Spanish system of rule

    • This effectively made him and the Viceroy of Peru become successors of the Inca rulers

  • entered Aragon with an army and abolished the province’s constitutional privileges in response to a rebellion over the affair of his advisor Antonio Perez that occurred there when Perez was freed by a rioting mob in Saragossa after he had been prosecuted for heresy on the namesake’s instigation via the Spanish Inquisition

  • appointed Francisco Suarez to the First Chair of Theology at the University of Coimbra in Portugal

• Under his reign,

  • The Theater of the Cross in Madrid was founded

• He died and was succeeded by his son

  • He spent the last few months preparing for his death, ordering black cloth for his mourning draperies and rehearsing the ritual of extreme unction in which ceaseless prayers were cast in the huge basilica of El Escorial Palace

  • He died in ulcerous agony in his grim and gloomy El Escorial Palace outside Madrid

  • He was 71 years old

1556 - 1598 - Philip II (Foreign Policy)

• During his reign, he

  • precipitated and led Spain in the Eighty Years War with the (Habsburg / Spanish) Netherlands by

    • deciding to curb the Netherlands’ autonomy

    • bring the Spanish Inquisition into the Netherlands

    • order the execution of its leaders including Counts Egmont and Hoorne

    • having had one of his (French) agents, Balthazar Gerard, assassinate William of Orange to try and put down the Dutch Revolt against Spain and Eighty Years’ War

  • annexed Portugal, unifying the Iberian Peninsula

    • which gave Spain

      • a new Atlantic seaboard

      • a naval fleet to help further protect it and its holdings

      • a second empire stretching from Mozambique to Brazil and from Calicut to the Moluccas; thus taking control of all of Portugal’s colonial holdings

    • which gave Portugal

      • relief following the many problems that arose from the disastrous reign of King Sebastian of Portugal

      • a new king, who succeeded King Sebastian after his throne had become vacant

      • a much needed political connection with Spain for economic reasons, and which brought economic benefits

    • which he did after

      • two years of political and diplomatic maneuvering

      • announcing his claim to the vacant Portuguese throne, having outbid his rival claimants by making available the liberal supplies of Spanish silver, taking advantage of Portugal’s own bankruptcy

      • dispatching an army to Portugal after Portugal had ignored his ultimatum sent to them as they were traditionally anti-Spanish

      • convening the Cortes at Tomar and taking the oath to observe all the laws and customs of Portugal

      • being recognized as the lawful king of Portugal following these ceremonies

    • which effectively made him King of Portugal, succeeding Cardinal Henry (who succeeded King Sebastien)

      • He was declared king after his troops overran the country

  • led Spain in the Anglo-Spanish War with England

    • He wanted to teach England a lesson after Queen Elizabeth and the explorers and privateers under her such as Francis Drake and John Hawkins, had thoroughly raided and were unimpeded / encouraged by the Queen to continue the raids on various Spanish ships

      • Queen Elizabeth was prompted to do all this after she had received intelligence that the namesake was building up a fleet of ships

    • However, Spain was defeated by England and thereafter began to decline in its power

    • This bid to punish England for its support of the Dutch Revolt against Spain and for plundering Spanish, and for its plundering of Spanish possessions in Mexico (New Spain) and South America came badly unstuck

    • Although Spain remained a major power after its defeat, its prestige had been seriously damaged and its naval supremacy definitively lost

• During his reign, he

  • signed the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis with King Henry II of France

    • He married Elizabeth of Valois as per the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis

  • signed the Peace of Vervins with King Henry IV of France

• During his reign, he

  • ordered for the halting of the colonization of Florida

  • appointed the count of Egmont to rule over the Habsburg (Spanish) Netherlands jointly with William of Orange and Count Philip of Hoorne

  • had Spain support the Ridolfi Plot to overthrow Queen Elizabeth of England

  • established the Mexican Inquisition / “Holy Office of the Inquisition” in Mexico (New Spain)

  • initially refused to help King Sebastien of Portugal in his crusade against the Moors, but he eventually gave in when King Sebastien had asked for the namesake’s daughter’s hand in marriage

  • agreed to give financial support to Henry of Guise of France’s “Catholic League” in order to help defend the (French) Roman Catholics against the Huguenots

  • authorized half-castes in America to become priests, provided that they were legitimate, which was rarely the case

  • had Spain divide southeastern North America into mission provinces; his administration having decided that conversion of native Americans was preferable to conquest over them

• Under his reign,

  • Florida was founded

  • the Philippines were conquered, claimed and founded (and clearly named after him)

• Under his reign,

  • Don John of Austria and the Spanish forces defeated Ali Pasha and the Ottoman Turks in the Battle of Lepanto, permanently breaking their power

  • The French recovered St. John’s Fishery that was captured by a Basque fleet two years prior to their retaking of the port in Newfoundland that they had done with the help of an armed escort

  • Spanish troops left the Netherlands in compliance with an undertaking given to his sister and regent of the Netherlands at the time, Margaret of Parma

  • Spanish reinforcements (a relief fleet) raised the Siege of Malta by the Ottoman Turks as the Knights of St. John had withstood the Ottoman Turkish assaults up to that point

  • The Spanish made an unsuccessful attempt to land in Ireland to support the rebels there protesting English and Protestant domination

  • Pope Pius X instructed the apostolic “nuncio” of Spain to set up a commission to deal with the problems of missionaries in the Americas (New World)

  • Laws were passed barring territorial conquest in the Indies without royal sanction

  • A Black Code was published, or series of laws concerning the slavery of Africans in the Americas

  • the Spanish destroyed a French vessel under Gilberto Gil while he was inquiring about Nicolas Strozzi at the mouth of St. John’s River in (Spanish) Florida

  • He was deposed by the Estates General (Parliament) of the Hague in the Netherlands as ruler of the seven provinces which formed the Union of Utrecht, and thus by doing so, the Netherlands declared both independence of and war against Spain

  • Alonso de Guzmán y Sotomayor and his Spanish forces were defeated by Lord Charles Howard of Nottingham and his English forces in the Spanish Armada during the Anglo-Spanish War

  • the Spaniards defeated Antonio of Crato of Portugal when he marched on Lisbon a second time with English support

  • The Mercedarian fathers and members of the Order of Mercy arrived in Mexico

1556 - 1598 - Philip II (Economic Policy)

• During his reign,

  • Spain went officially bankrupt, which occurred

    • due to years of costly wars, which drained what had already become a flimsy royal treasury,

      • in the Netherlands

      • against England

    • due to Spain’s never having properly invested in the riches of the Americas

    • despite all its power, prestige, and wealth generated from all its colonies and military victories in Europe

  • Spain went officially bankrupt a second time, which occurred, as he eventually admitted publicly, due to

    • the Eighty Years War with the Netherlands, which also weakened the Spanish armed forces

    • the Anglo-Spanish War with England (specifically, the disaster that was the Spanish Armada)

    • the Franco-Spanish War with France

    • revolts against the Spanish Empire in the New World

    • heavy domestic spending

    • poor financial management

    • bad weather

• During his reign,

  • He let imperial interests override economic interests, the main consequence being that the Spanish crown could not pay its troops in the Eighty Years’ War in the Netherlands, so mercenaries frequently mutinied and military gains in the region were lost

  • He found it impossible to pay the interest on their debt or repay any borrowed money to the bankers of Antwerp

    • He issued a decree suspending all payments from the Castilian treasury, with all outstanding debts to be consolidated into “juros” or annuities repaying loans out of revenue at 5% interest

    • This move reflected the magnitude of the debts left in the Spanish treasury by his father and predecessor

1556 - 1598 - Philip II (Legacy)

• He ruled for more than 40 years

• Under his reign, Spain became the richest and most formidable nation on earth

• During his reign, he boasted of ruling the world from the El Escorial Palace with pen and paper

• However, Spain was in trouble ever since he sent his “invincible” Spanish Armada to invade England

  • Although Spain remained a major power after its defeat, its prestige had been seriously damaged and its naval supremacy definitively lost

• He regarded himself as a great champion of Roman Catholicism

1540 - 1611 - Antonio Perez (All Facts)

• Secretary of State and Advisor to King Philip II

• He was arrested and imprisoned in Madrid after organizing the murder of Juan de Escobedo due to Escobedo’s threatening him to reveal his involvement in political intrigue against King Philip II

  • He escaped from Madrid and found refuge in Aragon

• He was prosecuted for heresy at the instigation of King Philip II via the Spanish Inquisition

  • He was freed, however, by a rioting mob in Saragossa

  • He fled Spain as a result

1550 - 1615 - Alonso de Guzmán y Sotomayor (All Facts)

• He was the 7th Duke of Medinia Sidonia

• He and his Spanish forces were defeated by Lord Charles Howard of Nottingham and his English forces in the Spanish Armada during the Anglo-Spanish War

  • When he expected to rendezvous with reinforcements and landing craft from the Netherlands, they never made it, due to the ongoing anti-Spanish Eighty Years’ War

  • After a week of running fights, he anchored off Calais

1598 - 1621 - Isabella Clara Eugenia (All Facts)

• Spanish Archduchess of the Netherlands

• She famously vowed that she would change her blouse until Ostend fell, imitating a chivalric tradition

1598 - 1621 - Philip III (All Facts)

• 5th King of Spain and 3rd King of the House of Habsburg of Spain

• During his reign,

  • He led Spain in the Eighty Years War with the (Habsburg / Spanish) Netherlands

  • He notified Pedro de Valdes, governor of (Spanish) Cuba, about his reservations about missionary and military efforts in (Spanish) Florida

  • He withdrew practical support for Pope Paul V

  • a royal decree was passed ordering for all Moriscos to be expelled from Spain, as he bowed to pressure from his hostile subjects

    • He initially tried a policy of forced conversion, but this failed, so he decided to drive them out to be sent to northwestern Africa

• Under his reign,

  • a law was passed in Spain’s colonies that forbade whites to enter native villages without permission

  • a royal decree was passed legalizing the slavery of natives Chileans in (Spanish) Chile

  • The Treaty of Pavia was signed between Spain and the Duchy of Savoy, which further strengthened Spain’s alliances against France

  • the Plaza Mayor was constructed in Madrid

• He died and was succeeded by his son

1569 - 1630 - Ambrogio Spinola (All Facts)

• Spanish General

• He and his Spanish forces defeated Maurice of Nassau and his Dutch forces in the Siege of Bergen op Zoom during the Eighty Years War

• He and his Spanish forces defeated Maurice of Nassau and his Dutch forces in the Siege of Breda during the Eighty Years War

1638 - 1640 - Dalmau de Queralt (All Facts)

• Viceroy of Catalonia during the reign of King Philip IV

  • He was the Count of Santa Coloma

• He failed to keep order of the Catalans after the royal decree of the Union of Arms was issued

  • He was caught and struck down trying to escape from a mob where he was murdered

1622 - 1643 - Gaspar de Guzmán (All Facts)

• Chief Minister and Favorite of King Philip IV

  • He was the Count-Duke of Olivares

  • He watched every move on Europe’s diplomatic chessboard with Cardinal Richelieu of France

    • In other words, he was King Philip IV’s equivalent of King Louis XIII’s Cardinal Richelieu

• He led Spain in the Franco-Spanish War during and after the Thirty Years War

  • He and his forces defeated the French forces in the First / Second Siege of Corbie and occupied the town

  • He and his forces were stiffly resisted by the French in The Siege of St. Jean de Losne, a notably little village

• He signed the Treaty of Monzon

  • Despite this, Spain lost a bid to control the vital route through the Alps, as a French task force saw off Spanish troops in a military standoff

• He was anxious to revert to King Philip II’s policy of establishing Spanish rule and Catholic supremacy in Europe

  • However, the Eighty Years’ War / invasion of the Netherlands, was causing considerable strategic problems for him

  • It was Spain that had to pay heavily to move her troops across Europe from Italy

  • It was Spain whose depleted navy had to be deployed in protecting treasure ships in the Atlantic and escorting troop-ships to Genoa, leaving the North Sea and Baltic ports open for Dutch shipping

• He oversaw patronage of Spanish artists

  • This contributed to Spain’s penury

  • However, he developed schemes to raise further income

• He issued the Union of Arms in attempt to finance Spain’s wars

  • He pressed Catalonia constantly to provide more men and money for the Franco-Spanish War, their hatred of him and Madrid steadily mounting

  • However, there was defiance from the Catalans and limited cooperation from the rest of the provinces of Spain

  • His failure to leave the Catalans alone after the passing of the Union of Arms led to their unrest and culminated in the Catalan Revolt

    • His only hope was a counter-revolution by an alliance of nobles and Conversos who had been refused concessions by King John IV of Portugal for fear of offending the papacy

    • However, this plot was discovered and its conspirators were arrested

• He once said “God is Spanish and fights for our nation these days”

• He was dismissed by King Philip IV, the victim of intrigued by a handful of disgruntled grandees

  • His hectic routine killed off four of his secretaries

  • His mistake lay in committing Spain to

    • foreign ventures that were far beyond Spain’s powers, such as the extension of the Eighty Years War

    • domestic ventures that were beyond Spain’s powers, such as the Catalan Revolt and Portuguese independence

  • His mismanagement thus led to his dismissal

1643 - 1661 - Luis Méndez de Haro (All Facts)

• Chief Minister and Favorite of King Philip IV

  • He was the 2nd Duke of Olivares

  • He was the nephew of his ministerial predecessor

  • He was appointed to succeed his predecessor by King Philip IV

• He signed the Treaty of Pyrenees with Cardinal Jules Mazarin of France

1638 - 1683 - Maria Theresa (All Facts)

• (Spanish) Queen of France, Wife of King Louis XIV

  • She married him as per the Treaty of the Pyrenees

1621 - 1665 - Philip IV (All Facts)

• 6th King of Spain and 4th King of the House of Habsburg of Spain

  • He was considered the best horseman in Spain

  • He preferred the Theater of Madrid to the theater that was international politics, preferring to spend his time in the company of actresses selected as companions by his agents

  • He had numerous mistresses and over 30 bastard children, but only one legitimate son to succeed him

  • Despite his many mistresses and playboy reputation, it was said that he laughed only three times in his life

  • Diego Velazquez was his only friend

  • He relegated foreign affairs to Gaspar de Guzman and Luis Mendez de Haro, his Chief Ministers and Court Favorites

• During his reign,

  • Spain gradually declined due to

    • The Eighty Years War

    • The Valtellina War

    • The Franco-Spanish War

    • The Catalan Revolt

    • The Portuguese Restoration War

    • The Great Plague and Revolt of Seville

    • The Tumult of Mexico City

  • He led Spain in the Eighty Years War with the (Habsburg / Spanish) Netherlands

    • He then deferred much of the policy of this war to Gaspar de Guzman

  • He led Spain in the Franco-Spanish War with France

    • He then deferred much of the policy of this war to Gaspar de Guzman and Luis Mendez de Haro

  • He then dismissed Gaspar de Guzman and appointed Guzman’s nephew Luis Mendez de Haro to replace him

  • He oversaw patronage of Spanish artists

    • This contributed to Spain’s penury

• Under his reign,

  • Spanish forces took Breda

  • The Treaty of Monzon was signed

  • Spain backed the Duke of Guastalla, who was expected to leave his strongholds in Montferrat

  • France took Martinique from Spain

  • Spanish forces, along with Bavarian forces, invaded France, but were driven back

  • the Catalan Revolt occurred against him, Gaspar de Guzman, and Madrid

  • Portugal regained its independence from Spain; thus Spain lost Portugal and Portugal’s colonial empire

  • The Great Plague of Seville occurred

  • The Revolt of Seville occurred

  • The Treaty of the Pyrenees was signed, ending the Franco-Spanish War

• He died and was succeeded by his only legitimate but sickly son who reigned under the regency of Mariana of Austria

1649 - 1696 - Mariana of Austria (All Facts)

• Queen of Spain, Wife of King Philip IV

• She served as regent of Spain during the youthful years of King Charles II

1665 - 1700 - Charles II (All Facts)

• 7th King of Spain and 5th and Final King of the House of Habsburg of Spain

  • Upon reaching adulthood, he was sickly and uninterested in affairs of state

  • Thus, the regent, Marianna of Austria continued to dominate Spanish politics, but other figures also contributed

• Under his reign,

  • The Portuguese War of Restoration occurred

  • The War of Devolution occurred

  • The Treaty of Aix-La-Chappelle was signed

  • The Treaty of Lisbon was signed

  • The Treaty of Madrid was signed

  • The Messina Revolt occurred

• He died childless, thus triggering the War of the Spanish Succession

  • In his will, he favored Duke Philip of Anjou of the (French) House of Bourbon and the grandson of King Louis XIV, to succeed him