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Decline of Spain
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Decline of Spain
The decline of Spain was the gradual process of financial and military exhaustion and attrition suffered by metropolitan Spain throughout the 17th century, in particular when viewed in comparison with the ascendant rival powers of France and England. The decline occurred during the reigns of the last kings of Habsburg Spain: Philip III, Philip IV and Charles II. Concurrent with the military and economic issues there was a depopulation in metropolitan Spain. The Spanish decline was a historical process simultaneous to the purported general crisis of the 17th century that swept most of Eurasia, but which was especially serious for Spain.
It was so debilitating that Spain went from being the hegemonic power in Europe, with the largest economy on the continent in the mid-1500s, to becoming a financially exhausted, second-rate power by the end of the 1600s. Contrary to metropolitan Spain there was not an equivalent decline in Spanish America where Spain successfully defended and consolidated its dominions, and both the cities and the general population grew.
The decline of Spain was reflected in a multitude of areas, including demography, which was mirrored in the resurgence of the plague and other epidemics, and the gradual depopulation of cities in metropolitan Spain. In the economy, it was reflected in chronic fiscal problems, monetary alterations, inflation, hyperinflation, the decline of industry, and a steep drop-off in precious metal remittances from the Americas. There were serious socioeconomic issues, such as chronic religious and inquisitorial tension,[citation needed] the expulsion of the Moors, refeudalization, the rampant ennoblement of certain idle sectors of the population, the purchase of positions, and the increased power of Catholic religious orders.
The decline was also reflected politically and territorially, with the initiation of the twelve years' truce and the maneuvers of the Duke of Lerma, the court favourite, spectacularly manifested in the so-called crisis of 1640, after attempts to restore the reputation of the monarchy with the aggressive policy of the Count-Duke of Olivares. As evidenced with the Peace of Westphalia (1648) and the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659), the pathetic situation of the final half of the 17th century was a nadir for the vast Spanish Empire.
Though the high court officials surrounding Charles II had carried through a few badly needed economic reforms, all the European chancelleries watched carefully but the highly uncertain future of the bewitched king and his shaky hold on the Spanish throne, and the fate of his extraordinary inheritance that girdled the globe if he were to remain heirless. After a series of complex palace intrigues, Cardinal Luis Fernández Portocarrero supported passing on this vast global inheritance through Maria Theresa of Spain, Charles II's sister, to Louis XIV of France, Charles II's brother-in-law, who wanted the Spanish crown for his grandson Philip of Anjou.
It was resolved after the death of Charles II of Spain with the Europe-wide War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714), ending in the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), which divided this vast inheritance between the Habsburgs and the Bourbons, with substantial benefits for England. And that gave way to the Austracist exile and a violent Bourbon repression.
By contrast, the Spanish Decline coincided with the most brilliant manifestations of art and culture, in what has been called the Spanish Golden Age (in Spanish: Siglo de Oro Español). In many of these artistic and cultural triumphs there is a true awareness of decline, which in some cases has been described as negative introspection (Quevedo, the arbitristas). Specifically, the Spanish Baroque (the culteranismo or the churrigueresque) has been interpreted as an art of appearance, scenographic, which hides under an external tinsel a weakness of structure or a poverty of content.
The historiographic interpretation of the causes of the decline has been a much-discussed issue. On many occasions it has been attributed to the clichés characterizing a Spanish national stereotype linked to the black legend present in the anti-Spanish propaganda circulating throughout Europe since the early 1500s. Among these harmful stereotypes included pride in the old Christian caste; an obsession with an indolent nobility highly hostile to entrepreneurialism and industry and prone to violence in the defense of an archaic concept of honor; the uncritical submission, by superstition or fear rather than faith, to despotic power both political and religious; fanatical adherence to the most intolerant, cramped version of Catholicism, which led to quixotic adventures in Europe against the Protestants; and the cruel rule of the conquistadors forced upon the American Indians, which included mass forced conversions.
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Decline of Spain
The decline of Spain was the gradual process of financial and military exhaustion and attrition suffered by metropolitan Spain throughout the 17th century, in particular when viewed in comparison with the ascendant rival powers of France and England. The decline occurred during the reigns of the last kings of Habsburg Spain: Philip III, Philip IV and Charles II. Concurrent with the military and economic issues there was a depopulation in metropolitan Spain. The Spanish decline was a historical process simultaneous to the purported general crisis of the 17th century that swept most of Eurasia, but which was especially serious for Spain.
It was so debilitating that Spain went from being the hegemonic power in Europe, with the largest economy on the continent in the mid-1500s, to becoming a financially exhausted, second-rate power by the end of the 1600s. Contrary to metropolitan Spain there was not an equivalent decline in Spanish America where Spain successfully defended and consolidated its dominions, and both the cities and the general population grew.
The decline of Spain was reflected in a multitude of areas, including demography, which was mirrored in the resurgence of the plague and other epidemics, and the gradual depopulation of cities in metropolitan Spain. In the economy, it was reflected in chronic fiscal problems, monetary alterations, inflation, hyperinflation, the decline of industry, and a steep drop-off in precious metal remittances from the Americas. There were serious socioeconomic issues, such as chronic religious and inquisitorial tension,[citation needed] the expulsion of the Moors, refeudalization, the rampant ennoblement of certain idle sectors of the population, the purchase of positions, and the increased power of Catholic religious orders.
The decline was also reflected politically and territorially, with the initiation of the twelve years' truce and the maneuvers of the Duke of Lerma, the court favourite, spectacularly manifested in the so-called crisis of 1640, after attempts to restore the reputation of the monarchy with the aggressive policy of the Count-Duke of Olivares. As evidenced with the Peace of Westphalia (1648) and the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659), the pathetic situation of the final half of the 17th century was a nadir for the vast Spanish Empire.
Though the high court officials surrounding Charles II had carried through a few badly needed economic reforms, all the European chancelleries watched carefully but the highly uncertain future of the bewitched king and his shaky hold on the Spanish throne, and the fate of his extraordinary inheritance that girdled the globe if he were to remain heirless. After a series of complex palace intrigues, Cardinal Luis Fernández Portocarrero supported passing on this vast global inheritance through Maria Theresa of Spain, Charles II's sister, to Louis XIV of France, Charles II's brother-in-law, who wanted the Spanish crown for his grandson Philip of Anjou.
It was resolved after the death of Charles II of Spain with the Europe-wide War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714), ending in the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), which divided this vast inheritance between the Habsburgs and the Bourbons, with substantial benefits for England. And that gave way to the Austracist exile and a violent Bourbon repression.
By contrast, the Spanish Decline coincided with the most brilliant manifestations of art and culture, in what has been called the Spanish Golden Age (in Spanish: Siglo de Oro Español). In many of these artistic and cultural triumphs there is a true awareness of decline, which in some cases has been described as negative introspection (Quevedo, the arbitristas). Specifically, the Spanish Baroque (the culteranismo or the churrigueresque) has been interpreted as an art of appearance, scenographic, which hides under an external tinsel a weakness of structure or a poverty of content.
The historiographic interpretation of the causes of the decline has been a much-discussed issue. On many occasions it has been attributed to the clichés characterizing a Spanish national stereotype linked to the black legend present in the anti-Spanish propaganda circulating throughout Europe since the early 1500s. Among these harmful stereotypes included pride in the old Christian caste; an obsession with an indolent nobility highly hostile to entrepreneurialism and industry and prone to violence in the defense of an archaic concept of honor; the uncritical submission, by superstition or fear rather than faith, to despotic power both political and religious; fanatical adherence to the most intolerant, cramped version of Catholicism, which led to quixotic adventures in Europe against the Protestants; and the cruel rule of the conquistadors forced upon the American Indians, which included mass forced conversions.
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