In the first half of the 16th century. Spain occupied a leading position in geographical discoveries, colonial conquests, trade with America and in the system of international relations. However, Spain's rise was short-lived. From the middle of the 16th century. The progressive economic and political decline of the country began. However, its elements were already present in the socio-economic and political system of Spain in the first half of the 16th century, despite all the external splendor of this era.

State of the economy. Individual regions of Spain differed sharply in their socio-economic conditions and the position of the peasantry. In Castile, the central province of Spain, peasants have been personally free since the Reconquista. They could leave the land and had certain rights to their holding. In Aragon, the feudal lords still had complete power over the personality of the peasant, including the right to kill him with impunity. The duties of Aragonese peasants were especially difficult. In Catalonia after the uprisings of the late 15th century. peasants achieved personal freedom.

From the beginning of the 16th century. further urban growth and the emergence of an American market for agricultural products stimulated the intensification of agriculture. New vineyards and olive groves appeared in southern Spain and Castile. Wine, olive oil and other products were widely exported not only to the American colonies, but also to other European countries.

The well-known economic recovery did not, however, affect peasant farming. Only the Moriscos who lived in the south of the country have long cultivated grapes, olives, sugar cane, rice, mulberries and citrus fruits. Peasants, who still grew mainly grain, had to sell their grain on the market at low prices set by the state, while prices for other goods were rising rapidly. Going bankrupt, many peasants became dependent on moneylenders.

A real scourge for peasant farming, especially in Castile, was transhumance sheep farming. Several million sheep belonging to the grandees were annually driven from Castile to the south, to Extremadura and Andalusia, and then back to the north. The herds moved along wide roads that cut through sown fields and even vineyards and olive groves. Attempts by peasants to fence off their fields encountered resistance from the union of large cattle breeders - the Mesta, which achieved power in the first half of the 16th century. The increased demand for wool (due to the development of cloth making in Western Europe) provided it with huge profits. The royal power, which found an important source of treasury income in the wool trade, provided patronage to the union. The traveling judges of the Mesta were in charge of all controversial cases with the peasants. Peasants increasingly left the lands, going to the cities, turning into vagabonds and beggars. Due to the ruin of the peasantry, grain production was reduced. Already in the first half of the 16th century. During the lean years, Spain did not have enough of its own grain.

At this time, Spain experienced a significant rise in handicraft production, in which individual elements of capitalist manufacture appeared. The leading industry was the cloth industry. In its main centers - in Segovia, Toledo, Cordoba and Cuenca - large manufacturing enterprises developed. In the vicinity of these cities lived many spinners, weavers and other workers engaged in scattered 430

manufactory. Cloths were also made in Zaragoza (Aragon) and Barcelona (Catalonia). Glazed earthenware products were produced in Seville and Talavera. Vizcaya was an important center of shipbuilding and metallurgy.

The production of silk fabrics, which had survived since the times of the Arabs, continued to develop in Toledo, Granada, Valencia, and Murcia. Malaga, maintaining its old guild organization. Unlike cloth, silk fabrics - taffeta, satin, velvet, etc. - were of high quality and were exported to Flanders, France, Italy and North Africa. From the previous era, Spain also inherited the art of making embossed and patterned colored leather, which was famous far beyond the country's borders. Weapons were also made: swords, daggers, etc.

The rise in industrial production was greatly facilitated by the expansion of the market not only in Spain itself, but since the 30s. and in its American colonies. The Spanish hidalgos who moved there bought clothes and weapons, paying for them in gold and silver. The growth of new types of enterprises was also facilitated by the emergence of a significant number of free hands as a result of the flight of peasants from the countryside. In Valladolid, Salamanca and some other cities, beggars and vagabonds were forcibly turned into workers.

However, industry absorbed only a very small part of this free force. It lagged behind the production of advanced European countries: technology was relatively poorly developed, production costs were high. Spain's imports consistently exceeded its exports, with the latter dominated by raw materials and agricultural products. Even in the first half of the 16th century. - during a period of significant growth in cloth production, the export of wool from Spain not only did not decrease, but increased approximately three times.

In the 16th century There was a significant revival of foreign trade. Seville became the largest trading center, where all trade with America was concentrated. The richest merchants of Spain lived here. There were also many foreign merchants in the city, especially Italian ones. Two flotillas, consisting of more than 100 ships loaded with everything necessary for the settlers, regularly departed from Seville to America;

they returned with a cargo of precious metals and colonial goods. Medina del Campo was famous for its fairs:

goods were brought here from different European countries. It became an important center for credit operations.

Due to the economic fragmentation of the country, the development of domestic trade lagged far behind the growth of foreign trade.

Beginning of the reign of Charles I. In 1516, after the death of Ferdinand of Aragon, his grandson (the eldest son of Ferdinand's daughter Juana the Mad) Charles I became king of Spain. By this time, Charles already owned the possessions of his deceased father, Archduke Philip the Fair of Austria - Franche-Comté and the Netherlands.

lands. Soon, in 1519, after the death of his paternal grandfather Maximilian I of Habsburg, Charles was elected emperor of the “Holy Roman Empire” under the name Charles V. Thus, Spain became an integral part of a huge empire, which included, in addition to Spain, its Italian possessions (Southern Italy, Sicily, Sardinia) and colonies in America, Germany, as well as Franche-Comté and the Netherlands. No wonder contemporaries argued that the sun never sets in Charles’s monarchy.

Charles V, who grew up and was educated in Flanders, was not familiar with Spain or even the Spanish language. When the 17-year-old king, surrounded by Flemish advisers, finally came to Spain in the fall of 1517, he was met with hostility. With difficulty, he managed to get the Cortes of Castile, Aragon and Catalonia to recognize him as the king of Spain and receive a monetary subsidy. Charles began to generously distribute all kinds of privileges, monetary gifts and lucrative government positions to the Flemings. The news of Charles's election as emperor and his upcoming departure to Germany increased the discontent of the Spaniards. The Cortes, convened by him in 1519 in order to obtain a new subsidy, demanded that Charles stay outside the country for no more than three years, so that the export of money abroad should be stopped and positions should no longer be filled by foreigners. Only a promise to fulfill these demands and large cash handouts helped Karl achieve a subsidy.

Revolt of the Comuneros. In May 1520, Charles sailed from Spain, leaving Cardinal Adrian of Utrecht, who came with him from the Netherlands, as his governor. In Castile, a powerful uprising of urban communes (comuneros in Spanish) immediately began.

At first, various segments of the population took part in the uprising. Rich townspeople were dissatisfied not only with the rule of the Flemings and the financial extortion of the king, but also with the fact that Charles, continuing the absolutist policy of Ferdinand and Isabella, had little regard for the Cortes and began to limit the self-government of cities. It was not for nothing that the townspeople of Toledo, who were the first to rise up against him, called on other cities for joint action in defense of the liberties of the kingdom. The overwhelming majority of the rebels were artisans and the urban lower classes, who suffered most from increased tax oppression. In some areas they were actively supported by impoverished peasants. At first, grandees and hidalgos also joined the uprising. The grandees sought to use the actions of the cities against the central government in order to restore their former privileges. Small and medium-sized feudal lords also retained (to a certain extent) the desire for independence that they enjoyed during the constant wars with the Moors. In addition, the Spanish feudal lords were no less outraged than the cities by the dominance of foreigners, who forced them out of profitable and influential positions.

In May - June, a number of Castilian cities (Segovia, Burgos, Avila, etc.) joined Toledo. They expelled the corregidores (royal officials) and elected a new, more democratic government. On July 29, deputies from five cities gathered in Avila, formed the “Holy Junta” (union) and elected a representative of the Castilian nobility, Juan de Padilla, as its head and commander of the army. After the terrible defeat of Medina del Campo by royal troops, the uprising swept through almost all the communes of northern and central Castile. The junta declared Hadrian deposed. But later she showed indecisiveness. Hoping to reach a compromise with Charles, the junta sent him a petition in October outlining the demands of the communes. The cities still insisted that the king live in Spain, that only Spaniards be appointed to the highest government positions, and that gold and silver not be exported abroad. The Cortes, the petition said, should be convened regularly - every three years. At the same time, the townspeople for the first time touched upon the interests of the nobility and nobility: they demanded the imposition of taxes on the nobles and the return to the treasury of lands and mines stolen by the aristocracy. They also sought to deprive grandees and nobles of the right to hold positions in city government.

This served as a turning point in the uprising: hostility between the nobles and the cities flared up again. Hoping to use it to his advantage. Charles agreed in a letter to give some concessions to the nobles. The final impetus that prompted the majority of the grandees and hidalgos to move to the royal camp was the further development of the movement, which at this stage assumed an anti-feudal character. Craftsmen and plebs declared that the privileges and luxury of the grandees were leading to the impoverishment of the kingdom. The peasants of Castile began to attack their lords. Some cities left the vacillating “Holy Junta”. In November 1520, a new organization was formed in Valladolid, representing the most radical part of the rebels - the “Junta of Detachments”. She behaved, in contrast to the “Holy Junta,” as the highest authority in Castile. The manifesto she issued in the spring of the following year said: “From now on, the war against the grandees, caballeros [nobles] and other enemies of the kingdom, against their property and palaces must be waged by fire, sword and destruction.”

The decisive battle between the rebels and the royal troops took place in April 1521 near the village of Villalar. The noble army completely defeated the poorly organized and armed detachments of the “Holy Junta”, which consisted mainly of urban militias and peasants. Padilla and other leaders were captured and executed. Only one city - Toledo - continued to resist steadfastly for six months under the leadership of Padilla's widow, Maria Pacheco, enduring all the disasters of the siege. When in July 1522 Charles returned to Spain with an army

German Landsknechts, the uprising was already completely suppressed.

The failure of the uprising of the free cities of Castile was not accidental. In Spain, provincial separatism still persisted. Aragon and Catalonia did not join the movement. Almost simultaneously with the uprising of the communes of Castile, major uprisings broke out in Valencia and on the island of Mallorca, but the Castilian cities did not enter into contact with the rebels. Instead of trying to unite within Spain all the forces that opposed the central government, the cities preferred to appeal for help to foreign powers - Portugal and Spain's enemy - France, who refused to help the rebels. Even the Castilian communes that opposed Charles did not immediately unite into a single union. “... The main service to Charles was rendered by the sharp class antagonism between the nobles and the townspeople, which helped him weaken both.” At the same time, the guild burghers, who acted indecisively from the very beginning, did not support (despite the discord between him and the nobility) an anti-feudal movement of impoverished urban artisans, plebeian masses and peasants, and this movement was defeated.

The revolt of the Comuneros was controversial. Despite commercial and industrial development, the cities still largely retained their medieval appearance; just started in them

the birth of the bourgeoisie.

The Castilian communes, which in the previous period supported royal power in its struggle to subjugate the grandees, demanded a return to the “good customs of the times of the Catholic kings” (Ferdinand and Isabella) when royal power affected self-government and the privileges of cities. Thus, the communes of Castile opposed not so much the individual negative aspects of the policy of the Spanish absolute monarchy of this time, in particular against financial extortion, but rather the centralizing policy of absolutism.

Spain's place in the Habsburg Monarchy. Charles's power was a conglomerate of disunited states and territories that were at different stages of development, differing in the nature of their economy and political structure. Meanwhile, Charles cherished a plan to create a “worldwide Christian monarchy.” Pompously declaring that he was the “standard bearer of God,” Charles considered himself the head of the Catholics in the fight against the “infidels” - the Turks, and later the German Protestants. His great-power policy also subordinated his actions on the Iberian Peninsula: Spain was the main source of funds for his campaigns and supplied the soldiers he needed.

"Marx K. Revolutionary Spain. - Marx K., Engels F. Soch., vol. 10, p. 430. 434

During the Italian wars, Charles managed to capture most of Northern Italy. Trying to stop the further advance of the Turks into Europe, Charles, having collected a large army, took Tunisia from them (1535). But further struggle for North Africa was unsuccessful, and Tunisia's vassalage soon became nominal. Even the western part of the Mediterranean Sea was plied by the ships of Turkish corsairs. Their attacks caused considerable harm to Spanish trade.

After Charles abdicated the imperial and Spanish thrones in 1556, his son Philip II (1556-1598) became king of Spain, who also inherited Franche-Comté and the Netherlands, Spanish possessions in Italy and America.

Spain under Philip II. With the accession of Philip II, a raging religious fanatic, Spain entered one of the darkest periods in its history. The king sought the merciless extermination of heretics and the establishment of unlimited dominion over his subjects. The activities of the Inquisition intensified even more, which essentially became part of the state apparatus, and the inquisitors became officials of the king, appointed and removed at his discretion. In Spain, not only were Lutherans and Calvinists completely exterminated, but anyone suspected (often without any reason) of the slightest deviation from orthodox doctrine was persecuted. Contributing to the further strengthening of royal power, the Inquisition sometimes dealt with political opponents of absolutism. During the second half of the 16th century. For the glory of the Catholic Church, more than 100 auto-da-fe (Spanish “act of faith”) were organized - solemnly staged public ceremonies proclaiming the verdict of the Inquisition over heretics. Then the heretics were handed over to the secular authorities to carry out the sentence, which in most cases doomed them to be burned. Sometimes dozens of people were burned at the stake at the same time. Supervision over the spiritual life of the country was concentrated in the hands of the Inquisition. She was in charge of censorship and published indexes of banned books.

The Maurices were subjected to intensified persecution by the Inquisition. They were forbidden to keep Arabic names, speak and read Arabic, and adhere to their original customs. Suspecting the Moriscos of secret adherence to Islam, the Inquisition kept a vigilant watch over them. In 1568, the Moriscos of Granada and Andalusia rebelled. Troops were sent; by a special edict, Philip II allowed soldiers to plunder the local population. The inhabitants of some towns were completely exterminated. Only in In 1572, the uprising was suppressed; the Moriscos of Granada were resettled in other areas of the peninsula.

Philip II preferred to manage his possessions and command the Spanish troops without leaving the majestic but gloomy palace of Escorial, which he built near the new capital.

tsy - Madrid. Distrustful and suspicious, he sought to concentrate in his hands all the threads of governing the country. Numerous informants reported to him about everything that was happening in the state.

Philip II led the Catholic reaction in the international arena. Like Karl, he relentlessly pursued two goals:

to establish Spanish hegemony in Europe and achieve the complete triumph of Catholicism by exterminating all heretics, be they French Huguenots, German Protestants or adherents of the Church of England.

In the 60s The Netherlands rebelled against Spanish absolutism. As a result of a long and fierce struggle with them, which absorbed huge amounts of money, Spain lost the industrialized and rich northern provinces of the Netherlands.

Spain's main enemy was Protestant England. There was an intense struggle between the powers for supremacy at sea. Philip tirelessly supported conspiracies against Elizabeth, at the center of which the Scottish Queen Mary Stuart was always found. But in 1587 Maria was executed. Open conflict between England and Spain was inevitable. Philip decided to conquer England. A large fleet called the “Invincible Armada” was sent to the shores of England in 1588. The fleet was supposed to land troops in England - an army from the Netherlands, reinforced by reinforcements sent from Spain. Off the coast of England, the "Invincible Armada" was completely defeated by the English fleet. The invasion of England did not take place. Some of the ships of the armada were lost during a storm on the way back; Only half of the ships returned to Spanish ports. Victory was on the side of England - one of the most advanced countries of that time. Spain's naval power was dealt a mortal blow.

During the civil wars in France, Philip II, fearing a Protestant victory, became close to the Guises, who led the Catholic camp. In 1590 he sent troops to France to fight the Huguenots in Brittany, Languedoc and other places. The following year, a permanent Spanish garrison was introduced into Paris. Philip hoped to marry his daughter to one of the Catholic contenders for the royal throne and thus establish the supremacy of Spain over France. But in 1594, Paris was occupied by the former head of the Protestants, King Henry IV. The war continued; in 1598, the critical state of finances forced Philip to make peace with the French king and recognize the integrity and independence of France.

Only twice were Philip II's actions successful. Continuing the fight against the Turks, Spain, in alliance with Venice and the Pope, sent a fleet to the coast of the Balkan Peninsula (1571). In the Gulf of Lepanto, a huge Spanish-Venetian flotilla of those times, numbering more than 200 large ships, after the fire

In a precision battle, the Turkish fleet was completely defeated. Almost All The ships of the Ottoman Empire were destroyed. However, due to contradictions between members of the anti-Turkish league, Philip II was unable to take sufficient advantage of the results of the victory.

Finally, in 1581, after the death of the Portuguese king during a military expedition to North Africa, who left no heirs, Philip, winning over the Portuguese nobility and clergy with promises and intrigues, achieved the annexation of Portugal with its vast colonial possessions to Spain. For a time, the Iberian Peninsula turned into a single state. But Portugal was part of the Spanish state for only 60 years.

These were the results of the international policy of Philip II. Despite the presence of a first-class army, which borrowed Swiss military tactics, and large resources in the form of American treasures, this policy was doomed to failure: establishing the hegemony of feudal Spain during the formation of national states and the emergence of a new, capitalist system was impossible.

Features of Spanish absolutism. After the suppression of the uprisings of the 20s. the position of absolutism was strengthened. The cities partially retained self-government, but all city positions were held by nobles. City deputies in the Cortes were also hidalgos who lived in cities. The grandees were excluded from participating in the Cortes. The Cortes lost their right to make laws and authorize their repeal; their function was actually reduced to approving subsidies from royal power: the hidalgos willingly agreed to taxes from which they themselves were exempt. A bureaucratic apparatus obedient to the monarch was formed; The ranks of the bureaucracy were filled with townspeople and hidalgos.

Yet complete centralization of management was not achieved. The former independent states, having turned into provinces of Spain, retained a certain autonomy, their own tax systems, different laws, separate Cortes and other governing bodies with their historically established features. Even after suppressing the uprising of nobles and townspeople in Aragon (1591), Philip did not dare to liquidate it, but only significantly limited its autonomy.

Spanish absolutism was not similar in nature to English or French absolutism. Deprived of political power, the grandees retained and even strengthened their economic power throughout the 16th century, further expanding their land holdings. In return for their former independence, they received titles and honorary positions. A significant part of the aristocracy turned into courtiers and moved to the capital. At the magnificent court of Philip II, a prim and complex etiquette reigned, which served as a model for other courts in Europe. The church, which was dependent on the from

royal power, which was also one of the features of Spanish absolutism.

In Spain, as in England and France, the main social support of absolutism were the middle and small nobles - hidalgos. However, their position was very peculiar. Even after the end of the reconquista, the Spanish feudal lords remained aloof from economic activity. In search of new military exploits, and most importantly, easy ways to get rich, the nobles took part in the wars waged by the Spanish kings. Many hidalgos went as conquistadors to America, where there were the greatest opportunities for conquest and plunder. These hidalgos directly appropriated American treasures. Through the mediation of the state, which received a large share of these riches, American gold and silver also reached another part of the Spanish nobles: in the form of salaries paid for military service or, less often, for service in the state apparatus, in the form of pensions, etc. Acquisition of New World precious metals by nobles determined their complete disinterest in the economic development of their country, which sharply distinguished them not only from the English nobility (part of which adapted to the changes that were taking place), but also from the French, because the latter’s income was largely dependent on centralized rent, and a considerable share of it was taxes on trade and industry. Therefore, in Spain, the alliance of the noble absolute monarchy with the cities, which was outlined under Ferdinand and Isabella, did not develop.

The decline of the Spanish economy and its causes. Thus, the Spanish absolute monarchy, unlike other absolutist states in Europe, almost from the very beginning of its existence did not play a progressive role in the development of the country. This is precisely the reason for what began in the middle of the 16th century. economic decline.

Since American treasures were concentrated primarily in Spain, and from the Iberian Peninsula they came to other European countries, the “price revolution” affected Spain with particular force. It started in the 30s. XVI century, by the middle of the century, prices for agricultural products (except grain), raw materials and industrial goods approximately doubled, and by the end of the 16th century. approximately four times (and in Andalusia even five times). At the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. prices have stabilized. Since Spanish industrial goods were more expensive than those of countries with more developed industries and were also inferior in quality, they could not withstand the competition of foreign goods. Spanish products have lost their market in other European countries. Moreover, they began to lose it in the American colonies and even in Spain itself.

This could have been avoided by consistently implementing a system of protectionist measures. But politics

the central government, reflecting the interests of the nobility, which did not want to take into account the interests of the Spanish economy, ran counter to the urgent needs of industry. The government, which became close to Mesta and was interested in receiving duties, usually allowed the export of some wool to Flanders, France and Italy. As a result, the main branch of Spanish production - the cloth industry - was in dire need of raw materials; In addition, the export of wool contributed to an increase in prices for it in the country. Other types of raw materials were also exported - raw silk, metals. In addition, Charles, who considered the Netherlands and Spain as components of the state, did not put any obstacles to the sale of Dutch woolen fabrics, linens, lace, and carpets in Spain. The government also allowed the import of goods from other countries: English, French and Florentine cloth, French paper, etc. Philip II banned the import of foreign cloth for the first time, but at the same time the government willingly gave special permission for their import for a fee,

The economic isolation of individual provinces was completely preserved; sometimes the duties levied on Spanish goods at internal customs were higher than the duties on goods imported from other countries.

The second reason for the decline of Spain was rooted in the international policy of Spanish absolutism. The country's national interests were sacrificed to this policy, which completely exhausted Spain's financial resources. Needing funds, Charles I and Philip II constantly increased direct and indirect taxes. During the first half of the 16th century. the amount of direct taxes increased fourfold. In the second half of the century, the alcabala, a ten percent tax on the sale of goods, increased especially rapidly. The rise in taxes ruined the tax-paying classes - peasants and townspeople.

Not content with the funds obtained in this way, the Spanish kings took out huge loans from South German, Florentine and Genoese bankers, giving them in return important privileges in their possessions. The Fuggers, who lent money to Charles in 1519 to bribe the German electors, received a lease of mercury deposits in Spain, the largest in Europe. German bankers were given the right to trade with America, export silk from Granada, etc.

By the time of Charles's abdication, the national debt had reached a huge amount - 7 million ducats. Philip II, continuing to resort to loans, embarked on a dangerous path: he declared state bankruptcy three times, which brought even greater disorder into the economic life of the country. His declaration of bankruptcy in 1575, which bankrupted both foreign and Spanish creditors of the crown, meant the collapse of Medina del Campo.

As a result of paying interest on loans to foreign financiers and waging endless wars, gold and silver floated away

behind border. Part of the American wealth that ended up in the hands of the Spanish nobility was spent unproductively and also mostly went to other countries as payment for foreign goods purchased by the nobles. The church, which led the feudal-Catholic reaction, which had such a severe impact on the development of Spain, also played a significant role in the economic decline of the country. Her persecution resulted in the extermination and expulsion from the country of the most enterprising elements of the Morisco population (see below).

The decline of the Spanish economy gradually affected all sectors of the economy: agriculture, then industry, and somewhat later trade.

Agriculture was in disastrous condition. The flight of peasants from villages became widespread. At the end of the 16th century. Cultivation of approximately a third of cultivated land ceased. Since the 70s The constant import of grain into the country began: French, Sicilian, and later mainly Polish and even Russian wheat.

From the second half of the 16th century. Cloth making was increasingly reduced:

by the middle of the 17th century. in Cuenca, Avila, Zaragoza, the production of cloth has almost ceased; even in such a large industrial center as Toledo, in 1665 only 13 machines remained. Equally profound was the decline of silk production and other industries. Spain was now completely dependent on foreign goods. The population of industrial cities decreased sharply.

The collapse of industry and increased taxation led to a reduction in trade. As a result of repeated damage to the coins, gold and silver soon disappeared from circulation altogether;

the use of bulky copper money made trade transactions extremely difficult. Since the 70s the only city that remained a busy trading center for some time was Seville, which retained a monopoly on trade with America. The highest volume of cargo turnover in Spanish-American trade dates back to the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries. However, foreign goods occupied the main place in this trade, and merchants from other countries increasingly sailed from Seville to America under the Spanish flag. In the following decades, the robbery of Spanish ships by corsairs of England, Holland and France and the widespread development of smuggling trade between these countries and America, which Spain was unable to prevent, gradually caused the decline of Spanish-American trade, and with it the decline of Seville.

In this situation, entrepreneurs and merchants withdrew their capital from industry and trade. In an effort to find a non-risky use for their money, they invested this capital in land (which gave them the title of nobility), bought government positions, farmed out taxes, or purchased government bonds.

Spain in the first half of the 17th century. During the reign of Philip III (1598-1621), not a trace remained of the former greatness and power of Spain. Philip III had an insurmountable aversion to public affairs. All power was concentrated in the hands of the royal favorite, the mediocre Duke of Lerma. The court camarilla - Lerma, his relatives and minions - shamelessly plundered the treasury. The grandees, who owned colossal wealth, taking advantage of the weakening of the central government, again regained political dominance.

Most of the hidalgos, receiving negligible income from their ruined estates and despising all work, led an almost beggarly lifestyle. At the same time, the minor nobles tried in every possible way to hide their poverty so as not to damage the prestige of their noble family. Hidalgos often sought to get to the court, which was distinguished by its extraordinary luxury, and joined the ranks of the clergy, officials or army.

Most of the kingdom's income was appropriated by predatory officials, very numerous, since the government, seeking sources of income, created more and more new positions with the aim of selling them. The clergy increased and many monasteries were built. The church owned a quarter of all lands.

Further increases in taxes made any productive work generally unprofitable. Peasants who left their plots in droves and were unable to find work in the cities, as well as former artisans, became vagabonds and beggars. “The majority of Spaniards turned into real slackers,” wrote one of his contemporaries, “some into slacker nobles, others into slacker beggars.”

The expulsion of the Moriscos, to whom in the previous era owed their flourishing agriculture and silk production in the southern and eastern regions of Spain, further deepened the decline of the country. The Edict of Expulsion of the Moriscos was issued in 1609 at the request of the clergy. The Moriscos were accused of adherence to Islam and secret relations with the enemies of Spain. They were ordered to leave the country and move to North Africa. Only 6% of the Moriscos were left “so that, as the decree stated, their houses, sugar industries, rice fields and irrigation canals could be preserved, and so that they [the Moriscos] could teach the new settlers their trade.” The Moriscos were allowed to take with them only that part of the movable property that they could carry;

many of them were also robbed along the way. Some of the Moriscos of Valencia rebelled; as a result of fierce fighting, their resistance was broken. In total, about 500 thousand people were expelled from Spain.

During the reign of Philip IV (1621-1665), power was in the hands of his favorite, Olivares. At this time, the economic life of Spain finally came to a standstill. For the first half of the 17th century. as a result of frequent famines, epidemics, wars, expulsion of Maurice-

kovs and emigration to the colonies, Spain lost about a quarter of its population. Despite the complete economic depletion of the country, the government continued to pursue an aggressive and reactionary foreign policy. Even in the last years of the reign of Philip III, the Spanish Habsburgs, as Austrian allies, intervened in the Thirty Years' War that began in Europe. Energetic opposition from other states, including France and Sweden, who were determined to prevent Habsburg hegemony in Europe, led to an unfavorable outcome for Spain in this ruinous war. According to the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, she was forced to recognize the independence of Holland, and according to the Peace of the Pyrenees in 1659, which ended the war with France, she was forced to cede Roussillon on the Pyrenean border and part of the Spanish Netherlands - the Artois region, a number of fortresses in Flanders and Luxembourg.

At the same time, uprisings broke out in Catalonia and Portugal. Organized by the Portuguese nobles at the end of 1640, the conspiracy was supported by the residents of Lisbon. Portugal separated from Spain. The terrible uprising in Catalonia was caused by an increase in taxes, as well as attempts by the absolute monarchy to eliminate the privileges, customs, judicial autonomy of the province, and the rights of the Cortes. Castilian soldiers stationed in the cities and villages of Catalonia did not receive pay for a long time and were engaged in systematic robbery of the population. In the spring of 1640, highlanders from the Heron region attacked the rampaging soldiers. In June, the peasants of the mountainous regions entered Barcelona; The townspeople joined them. The Viceroy and a number of other persons associated with the Spanish government were killed. All of Catalonia rose up. The troops thrown against the rebels failed, and the war dragged on. Only in October 1652, after a fifteen-month siege, did Barcelona surrender. Philip IV had to confirm all the liberties of Catalonia. This uprising most clearly revealed the political weakness of Spain, which had become one of the minor powers of Europe.

Spanish literature. The omnipotence of the Inquisition influenced the culture of Spain in the 16th-17th centuries. And yet the Inquisition failed to suppress the spiritual life of society. In the middle of the 16th century. A very unique genre of literature arose - the “punter novel”. In the first of them - the anonymous "Lazarillo from Tormes" - and subsequent ones, the main character is a rogue who, by any means, strives to achieve success in a harsh and merciless world, depicted critically and sometimes grotesquely.

The greatest writer of this era is Miguel Cervantes de Saavedra (1547-1616). Cervantes was born into the family of a surgeon, a poor hidalgo. His turbulent life gave him the opportunity to become closely acquainted with Spanish reality. He took part in the Battle of Lepanto and continued to fight after being wounded.

Niyya, although his left arm was paralyzed, was captured by pirates on his way to Spain and spent five years in Algeria; later in Spain he was imprisoned twice without being guilty. He spent the last period of his life, completely devoted to literary work, in poverty. At this time, a work was created that immortalized his name - “The Cunning Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha” (the first volume was published in 1605, the second in 1615).

Conceived as a parody of the extremely popular chivalric romances of that time, Don Quixote quickly outgrew its original concept. Its main character is a tragicomic figure. Living in a fictional world, he mistakes inns for castles, mills for giants, a flock of sheep for an enemy army. His absurd adventures end in beatings that fall on him and his squire Sancho Panza. But the main quality of Don Quixote is becoming increasingly clear: he acts as a champion of justice, a defender, in his own words, of “the disadvantaged and oppressed by the powerful of this world” and at the same time shows amazing resilience. In his reasoning, madness is intricately intertwined with wisdom. The novel gradually intensifies its humanistic sound. “Blood is inherited,” says Don Quixote, “virtue is acquired, and it costs much more than blood.” The hero acquires a kind of tragic greatness. The appearance of the simple-minded and narrow-minded peasant Sancho Panza also changes. As a joke supposedly made by the governor of the island, the illiterate Sancho displays common sense, selflessness and kindness, insight in resolving legal battles. Don Quixote represents the pinnacle of Spanish literature.

Drama has received particular development in Spain. The founder of classical national drama was Lope Feliz de Vega Carpio (1562-1535). Lope de Vega wrote about 1,800 comedies (of which 426 survive) and many other works. Having rejected the classical rules of ancient drama - the unity of time, place and action, combining “tragic with funny” in his plays, Lope de. Vega made their form flexible, suitable for a variety of subjects. Brilliantly educated, he drew his plots from Spanish epics and folk romances, Italian short stories, comedies of the Renaissance, and most importantly - from contemporary life in Spain. With great skill and his inherent wealth of imagination, Lope de Vega created plays full of intense dynamism: everyday comedies (in particular, the so-called comedies of the cloak and sword), historical dramas, etc. His heroes belong to various strata of society - from grandees and hidalgos to simple peasants The best of his historical plays, the folk drama Fuente Ovejuna, shows the heroic behavior of the peasants of this village, who rebelled in 1476 against their lord, who kidnapped the bride of one of their fellow villagers. Heroes of the comedies “Dog in the Manger”, “The Valencian Widow”, 443

The “dance teacher” and others actively defend their right to happiness. Lope de Vega's plays were intended for the public theater; they invariably appeal to the mass audience.

Spanish painting. Despite the fact that the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries. characterized by the decline of the country, the brilliant flowering of painting dates back to this time. El Greco (Domenico Theotocopouli, 1541-1614) occupies a special place in it. This artist, Greek by origin, originally from Crete, settled in Spain (in Toledo), where he became known under the name El Greco. His paintings are distinguished by extreme expressiveness and emotional richness of images. The artist achieves this with a unique technique: the figures are deliberately deformed, elongated, the oval contours of the faces and gestures are stylized. The source of El Greco’s creativity is reality, but a transformed reality: the foreground and background, the earth and sky seem to transform into one another, everything is illuminated by bizarre flashes of light (as, for example, in his famous landscape “Toledo in a Thunderstorm”). In “The Funeral of Count Orgaz” there are many portraits of Toledo hidalgos, whose faces reflect their inner world. Forgotten after his death, El Greco was appreciated only at the beginning of the 20th century.

The most important artist of Spain in the 17th century. is Diego Velazquez de Silva (1599-1660). In the early period of his work, Velazquez created a number of paintings in his hometown of Seville, the subject of which was everyday scenes - “Breakfast”, “Water Seller”, “The Old Cook”, etc. Their characters - people from the people - are filled with self-esteem. Later, for 36 years until his death, Velazquez was the court painter of Philip IV. He had to portray the king, members of his family, courtiers, and jesters again and again. But the artist, who increasingly improved his skills, with rare insight managed to achieve not just an external resemblance:

Through the ceremonial appearance in the portraits, the spiritual appearance of these people emerges - the weakness and insignificance of Philip IV, the arrogance and lust for power of Olivares. A deep perception of life, the remarkable art of composition and conveyance of the air environment are visible in his later paintings “Las Meninas” (Maids of Honor) and “The Spinner”. The movements of women busy with work, free and relaxed, are sharply different from the prim stiffness of the characters in “Las Menin”. The work of Velázquez is of great importance not only for Spanish, but for all world art.

Following the discoveries and conquest of America, Spain experienced an economic revolution. It would seem that this revolution should be the start of the transition to early capitalism. But this did not happen. The economic growth of the first half of the 16th century gave way to stagnation and decline in the 17th century.

It should be noted that the economic development of Spain during this period was extremely heterogeneous, and this heterogeneity was both in temporal and spatial dimensions. What does it mean?

1). The 16th century, especially its first half, was a time of economic recovery, the development of market relations, new forms of organization of industry and trade, and a time of urban growth.

2). Second half of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries. – economic decline, reduction in foreign and domestic trade, naturalization of economic life.

These are changes over time. What about in space? Different regions of Spain were unevenly developed. In particular, Castile was more developed than Valencia and other areas. And even in Castile itself, the North lagged behind the South.

It should be noted that Spain had the most favorable starting conditions.

1. As a result of geographical discoveries, vast colonies belonged to her. The country was the monopoly owner and distributor of American treasures. According to the American historian Hamilton, for 1503-1660. Spain received 191,333 kg of gold and 16,886,815 kg of silver. Moreover, at first only gold was exported. This is only official data. Obviously, there was also smuggling.

2. In the first half of the 16th century there was continuous population growth. By the end of the century it reached 8 million people.

But these material wealth did not contribute to the development of the national economy, but rather, on the contrary, intensified the economic crisis.

Common causes of the crisis.

1). One of the reasons was the so-called. "price revolution" It affected all countries, but nowhere were its consequences as disastrous as in Spain. The rise in prices began in the third decade of the 16th century and continued with sharp fluctuations throughout the century. In the first half of the 16th century, prices increased by 107.6%, and in the second half there was another sharp jump. The “Golden Age” in Spain resulted in a 4.5-fold increase in prices. The heaviest impact of the rise in prices was on wheat (over 100 years, wheat prices in England increased by 155%, in Spain by 556%). Which segments of the population benefit from rising prices? For grain producers to the market! But in the Spanish countryside these were not peasants, but nobles; it was they who created large latifundia in the south, where hired labor was even used. Vedyushkin V.A. wrote about this in his articles. The purchasing power of peasants, artisans and proletarians decreased by 1/3. Of course, the price revolution was not the only and, perhaps, not the main reason for the economic decline of Spain.

a) the severity of taxes, primarily alkabala - 10% tax on each trade transaction;

b) the existence of a system of taxes - artificial control of bread prices by the state. What is it and what did it lead to? In 1503, the government first set a maximum price for bread. Can't go any higher! In 1539 the tax system was finally approved. Since the country had a fixed feudal rent, those who sold grain lost. Moreover, it was especially difficult for ordinary peasants, while wholesalers circumvented official prohibitions. The Cortes of Castile in one of the petitions demanded the abolition of taxes, “... for many people are leaving the lands, and more and more fields are left without sowing... many of those who lived by agriculture have turned into vagabonds and beggars...”;

c) the crisis in agriculture was also associated with the activities of the Mesta. The Mesta is a privileged organization of sheep farmers that dates back to the 13th century. For three hundred years it has significantly expanded its privileges. It included about 3,000 people: nobles, clergy, wealthy townspeople. Every autumn, Mesta's herds followed three main routes - cañadas from North to South, and in the spring - back to the North. The place was beneficial to the state, as it exported raw wool to France, the Netherlands, and Italy. The king received stable income from export duties. Therefore, the Place had many privileges: sheep farmers were exempt from paying many duties; they practically freely seized communal lands for pasture; The cañadas were so narrow that during the movement of sheep they caused damage to peasant fields and vineyards. All together led to the decline of agriculture. The peasants left their lands, therefore, there was a concentration of land ownership in the hands of the largest feudal lords. Along with peasant farms, small noble farms are also going bankrupt.

3). Already at the beginning of the 16th century in Spain there were complaints about the ruin of the craft. Although the real crisis in this industry came at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries. The reasons for it were laid down earlier.

The crisis in industry was caused by the anti-mercantilism of Spanish absolutism. Spanish products were very expensive, even on the domestic market they were more expensive than imported ones, that is, Dutch, French, English. When the demand for wool and fabrics in the colonies increased, Spain exported to America not its own, but foreign fabrics, primarily Dutch. Why?

The Spanish manufacture could not withstand the competition with the Dutch one. The fact is that the Spanish government considered the Netherlands as part of its state, so duties on wool imported there were low, and the import of Flemish cloth into Spain was carried out on preferential terms. And this happened precisely when the fledgling Spanish manufacture needed to be supported. By the 17th century, not a trace remained of the once thriving cities and crafts. curled up with amazing speed. In one of the quarters of Toledo in 1665, only 10 artisans out of 608 remained. In the former capital of Castile, 50 thousand people were previously employed in the wool and silk weaving industry, in 1665 there were only... 16 weaving looms.

Due to the decline of crafts, the population of cities and towns decreased. In Medina del Campo in the 16th century there were 5 thousand householders, at the beginning of the 17th century only 500 remained. In Madrid in the mid-16th century there were 400 thousand people, in the mid-17th century there were 150 thousand.

In 1604, the Cortes complained: “Castile is so depopulated, there are not enough people for agricultural work, in many villages the number of houses has been preserved from 100 to 10, or even not a single one remains.” Where did the numerous beggars and vagabonds go? Some of them were sent to the colonies, some of the dispossessed died in wars. Manufactures and the declining urban craft could not absorb them all.

4). These phenomena led to the creation of a special socio-psychological climate in the country, which often forced foreign contemporaries to believe that the Spaniards were not inclined to economic activity. One Venetian ambassador wrote: “Economy is a word from a language unknown to the Spaniards; disorder becomes a matter of prestige and honor.”

Against the background of the decline of agriculture and industry, colonial trade still flourished for a long time. Its highest rise occurred at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries. However, this trade no longer brought wealth to Spain, because in the colonies it sold foreign-made goods, for which it paid in American gold.

In addition, the funds that Spain received from the robbery of the colonies went to the unproductive consumption of the feudal clique. All this taken together allowed Karl Marx to say that Spain was one of the first countries to embark on the path of primitive accumulation of capital. However, the specific features of socio-economic development, as discussed above, prevented Spain from following the path of progressive development.

Thus, the gold of America, pumped out by Spain, became the most important lever of the PNC in other countries and primarily in the Netherlands, significantly accelerating the process of development of capitalism there. In Spain, at the beginning of the century, capitalism develops; in the middle of the century, its development stops and refeudalization begins. That is, the decomposition of the old feudal is not accompanied by the strong formation of a new progressive - this is the main result of the economic state of the country. It should also be added that, due to the circumstances listed above, the Spanish bourgeoisie not only did not strengthen, but also completely went bankrupt. The impoverishment of the bourgeoisie was accompanied by the enrichment of the upper nobility. It lived by plundering the people of its country and colonies. A group like the English “gentry” or the French “nobility of the robe” did not form within it. It was extremely reactionary, and adapted the entire economy of Spain and the colonies to its interests. This was expressed in the peculiarities of Spanish absolutism, which will be discussed below.

Being an integral part of a larger whole - the monarchy of Charles V, Spain became a source from which financial resources were drawn for waging wars and other purposes alien to the interests of Spanish society. In Spain this was felt from the very first moment the new king appeared on its territory.

Spain in the first half of the 16th century

Charles I(V), King of Spain, ascended the throne in 1516 after the death of his maternal grandfather Ferdinand of Aragon. After the death of his other grandfather, Maximilian I of Habsburg, in 1519 he was elected emperor of the “Holy Roman Empire” under the name of Charles V by bribed German electors. Thus, Spain and part of Italy (Southern Italy, Sicily and Sardinia) came under Charles’s rule. , the Netherlands, Franche-Comté and the Empire. Together with Spain, the newly founded colonies in the New World passed to him, where the most economically important territories were conquered in the 20-30s of the 16th century. During the war with France, Spanish troops captured part of Northern Italy. In 1535, as a result of a military campaign, Tunisia was taken from the Turks and turned into a vassal state of Spain (soon, however, again captured by the Turks). Contemporaries were close to the truth when they said that the sun never sets in Charles’s domains. Spain in the 16th century. was a great turf and occupied a leading position in the system of international relations. The coast of Spain became the target of constant attacks by Algerian pirates. And finally, in the north, beyond the Pyrenees, a large French monarchy grew and strengthened, no less warlike than Spain itself.

Charles had difficulty obtaining recognition from the Cortes as king of Spain; his attempts to obtain money from the provincial Cortes were not always successful. The main demands presented by the Cortes to Charles were formulated back in November 1519 by the city of Toledo in its appeal to other cities of Castile: the king should not leave Spain and distribute government positions to foreigners; he is obliged to prohibit the export of gold coins and horses abroad. But Charles paid little attention to the discontent of the cities. After his election as emperor in 1519, he, having achieved at the cost of a number of concessions and promises of a new subsidy from the Cortes of Castile, left for Germany in May 1520. After the unification of Castile and Aragon, royal power, based on numerous hidalgos and cities, managed to pacify the old turbulent nobility, who went to serve the kings.

However, true centralization was still not achieved. The provinces, which were previously independent states, retained a certain autonomy, their own tax systems, and their own administrative and judicial structure. In Castile, Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia, Cortes continued to function, consisting of representatives of the nobility, clergy and cities. The Cortes decided the most important local affairs and voted taxes. The cities' support for the policy aimed at centralizing the country was not unconditional: it lasted until the royal power affected the self-government and liberties of the cities themselves. In the first half of the 16th century, when the last stage in the history of centralization of the country began (liquidation of urban liberties) and the royal power began to subjugate its former ally - the cities, it was the cities of Castile that raised the most powerful uprising. Until this time, they played an important role in the Castilian Cortes, whose demands Charles took little account of. The cities of Spain largely bore the brunt of the expenses of Charles's great power policies, which hampered their economic development.

The organizing center of the movement was the city of Toledo, where the uprising broke out first - already in April 1520. The Toledans were the leaders of the movement - aristocrats Juan de Padilla and Pedro Lazo de la Vega. Soon, in May - June, Segovia, Tordesillas, Zamora, Burgos, Madrid, Avila, Guadalajara, Cuenca, Salamanca, Toro, Murcia and other cities rose. The Cardinal Viceroy's attempts to extinguish the fire, which threatened to engulf the entire country, were unsuccessful. Toledo sent letters everywhere with a proposal to organize a confederation of cities, the center of which was the city of Avila. On July 29, 1520, representatives of the cities gathered here proclaimed the “Holy Junta” (“Holy Alliance”), vowing not to spare their lives “for the king and the communes.”

in August, royal troops staged a terrible pogrom of one of the main economic centers of the country - Medina del Campo, which refused to hand over the artillery located in it to the king's representative. The news of this pogrom prompted almost all the cities of Castile to join the junta, the Junta proclaimed Juan de Padilla commander-in-chief of its troops. The cardinal-vicar was declared deposed, the junta completely seized power in Castile, and every city had to accept its decrees as law.

But the union of the nobility and the cities turned out to be temporary and fragile. The cities, as before, wanted the king to live in Spain, and only Spaniards were appointed to the highest government positions. In November 1520, a new junta was formed in Valladolid - the “Junta of Detachments,” which represented the most radical part of the rebels. In contrast to the “Holy Junta,” she considered herself the highest authority in Castile. In the spring of 1521, she issued a manifesto, which declared that “from now on, the war against the grandees, caballeros and other enemies of the kingdom, against their property and palaces must be waged with fire, sword and destruction.” Peasants' protests began. When Charles returned to Spain in July 1522 with 4 thousand German landsknechts, the uprising had already been largely liquidated. Soon he granted amnesty to the participants of the uprising, with the exception of 293 of its most prominent representatives. Thus ended the uprising of the free cities of Castile.

Due to the backwardness of Spanish cities, a bourgeoisie has just begun to emerge in them, which gains more from the unity of the country than it loses from the loss of its medieval liberties and privileges. The Castilian communes, while supporting the central government to a certain extent, still preferred to preserve their liberties and return, as they declared, to “the good customs of the times of Ferdinand and Isabella.” The dissatisfaction of the cities with Charles's policies took such acute forms not only in Castile. Almost simultaneously with the uprising of the urban communes of Castile, related uprisings broke out in Valencia and on the island of Mallorca.

In the city of Valencia, artisans were completely excluded from participation in city government, concentrated in the hands of the nobility and patriciate. In 1519, a plague broke out in the city, and most of the nobles and wealthy citizens left the city. The rebels called for the extermination of the nobles and the confiscation of their property; in the city of Valencia itself, the houses of the nobility were destroyed. All this caused a split among the leaders of the movement. Meanwhile, there were battles between the troops of “Germania,” commanded by the cloth merchant Vicente Peris, and detachments of nobles. In the south, German troops won a number of victories. It was not until 1522 that the uprising was largely suppressed. The uprising on the island of Mallorca broke out under the influence of unrest in Valencia. In February 1521, both artisans and the plebeian lower classes of the cities, as well as peasants, rose up. The entire island was in uprising, with the exception of Alcudia, where the nobles, wealthy citizens and officials of the island fled. In the winter of 1521/22, the rebels laid siege to Alcudia, but were unable to take the city. During these winter months, the struggle with the nobility and wealthy townspeople reached its climax; The masses put forward demands for the wholesale beating of the rich and the division of their property. By December the island was largely conquered. Numerous peasants who participated in the uprising took refuge in the main city of the Balearic Islands, Palma. On December 1, its siege by royal troops began. In March 1523, Palma capitulated. The reprisal against the participants in the uprising lasted until the end of the year; hundreds of people were executed.

After the suppression of the uprisings of the 20s, the strengthened absolutist regime no longer encountered serious resistance. The Hidalgos, who went over to the side of the royal power during the Castilian uprising, benefited from its victory: they gradually took possession of city self-government. The representatives of the cities in the Cortes were now also mostly nobles, who generally supported Charles' policies, although sometimes they refused him too frequent and large subsidies.

Spain in the second half of the 16th century.

In 1556, Charles, defeated in the fight against the German Protestant princes and convinced of the failure of his fantastic plans for creating a world empire, abdicated the imperial and, in the same year, the Spanish throne. Charles divided his possessions: the empire went to his brother Ferdinand; His son Philip II (1556-1598) became the king of Spain, who also inherited Franche-Comté and the Netherlands, Spanish possessions in Italy and America.

One of the darkest periods of Spanish history began, when all the worst aspects of the regime that had developed in Spain emerged with particular force. Philip fanatically pursued one goal - the triumph of Catholicism and the merciless extermination of heretics. He sought to achieve unlimited dominion over the subjects of his vast domains. A regime of terror reigned in the country. The Spanish Inquisition, which essentially became part of the state apparatus, became a terrible weapon of absolutism. Submitting only to the king, she enjoyed almost unlimited power. The Moriscos were subjected to severe persecution by the Inquisition. They were forbidden to wear ancient costumes or speak, read or write Arabic. In 1568, the Moriscos of Andalusia rebelled, which was suppressed only in 1571, and the men were exterminated without exception, and women and children were sold into slavery in the thousands.

During the reign of Philip in Spain, more than 100 auto-da-fés were held for the glory of the Catholic Church; during some of them, 80-90 people were burned at the stake. Philip II moved the capital from Toledo to Madrid and was almost constantly in his gloomy palace, built near Madrid, the Escorial. In an effort to concentrate the entire administration of the country in his hands, he interfered in the work of government bodies and single-handedly resolved all, even minor, issues. The extremely expanded bureaucratic apparatus required colossal funds for its maintenance, and chaos reigned in administrative matters.

Taking advantage of the fact that the Portuguese king died during a military expedition to North Africa, leaving no direct heirs, Philip achieved the annexation of Portugal and its huge colonial possessions to Spain in 1581. For a time, the Iberian Peninsula turned into a single state.

The centralization policy pursued by Philip caused in 1591 an uprising of the townspeople and nobles of Zaragoza, who defended the liberties of Aragon, which still retained a significant degree of independence. Philip for the first time brought Castilian troops into the territory of Aragon and brutally dealt with the rebels, exterminating all opposition groups among the nobility and residents of Zaragoza. He established his unlimited power in this province.

Continuing the policies of his father, Philip led the European Catholic reaction: he dreamed of subduing, with the help of Spanish soldiers and the Inquisition, all the states of Europe to his power or influence and eradicating heretics in them - be they French Huguenots, Dutch Calvinists or Anabaptists, German Protestants or supporters of the Anglican Church. But the attempt to establish the hegemony of feudal Spain during the period of formation and strengthening of national states was doomed to failure. In the 60s of the 16th century. The Netherlands rebelled against Spanish absolutism, and as a result of a long and fierce struggle, which cost Spain dearly, it lost the rich northern Netherlands.

The struggle of Philip II with England, Spain's main rival on the seas, also ended in a shameful defeat. The conspiracies of the Scottish Queen Mary Stuart, supported by Philip, were exposed. The huge Spanish fleet, sent to the shores of England and previously called the “Invincible Armada,” was completely defeated in August 1588 by a small English fleet, but excellent in its seaworthiness and combat qualities. Soon, Philip intervened in the civil war in France, sending troops to fight the Huguenots in Normandy, Brittany, Languedoc and other areas. In 1591, a permanent Spanish garrison was introduced into Paris. Philip hoped to marry his daughter to one or another contender for the royal throne and make her queen of France. But after the Huguenot leader and enemy of Spain, Henry IV of Navarre, entered Paris in 1594, Spanish troops had to leave the capital of France. The war continued for several more years and ended in a peace beneficial to France (1598). Philip's plans failed again.

Philip continued to fight the Turks. In 1560, he sent a fleet to the shores of North Africa in order to return to Spain the recently lost Tripoli and, having strengthened there, prevent the Turks from penetrating the Western Mediterranean. But the Turkish fleet quickly arrived and completely defeated the Spanish Armada. Philip's adventurous policy absorbed enormous funds extracted from Spain and placed a heavy burden on the exhausted country. The reign of Philip II was a time of rapid economic decline for Spain.

Spanish absolutism. The absolute monarchy in Spain had a very unique character. Centralized and subordinate to the individual will of the monarch or his all-powerful temporary workers, the state apparatus had a significant degree of independence. In its policy, Spanish absolutism was guided by the interests of the feudal class and the church. This was especially clearly manifested during the period of the economic decline of Spain that followed in the second half of the 16th century. As the trade and industrial activity of cities declined, internal exchange decreased, communication between residents of different provinces weakened, and trade routes became empty. The weakening of economic ties exposed the old feudal characteristics of each region, the medieval separatism of the cities and provinces of the country was resurrected. Under the current conditions, Spain did not develop a single national language, separate ethnic groups still remained: Catalans, Galicians and Basques spoke their own languages, different from Castilian dialect, which formed the basis of literary Spanish. Unlike other European states, the absolute monarchy in Spain did not play a progressive role and was unable to provide true centralization.

Decline of Spain

The decline in industrial production, which began around the middle of the 16th century, ended by the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th century. deep decline of industry. In Toledo, most of the wool and silk weaving workshops were closed. Silk production almost completely ceased in Granada, and cloth production in Zaragoza. In Cuenca, 3-4 cloth workshops survived. Segovia continued to produce only coarse cloth in a small volume; fine cloth was now imported only from other countries. In Seville alone, the center of trade with the colonies, at the beginning of the 17th century, 3 thousand silk weaving looms were still operating. In Cordoba and other cities of Andalusia, leather production has completely collapsed.

A crushing blow to trade was the increase in 1575 of the alcabala (Alcabala is a tax levied, starting from the reign of Ferdinand, at the rate of 10 percent of the value of the sale of almost all goods. The government determined in advance what amount each of the provinces of the kingdom should pay as alcabala. ) 3 times compared to 1561 and a simultaneous increase in other taxes. Despite the influx of precious metals from America, there was an acute shortage of them in trade turnover, and in the first half of the 17th century. As a result of the minting of increasingly devalued coins, gold and silver disappeared from circulation altogether. With only copper remaining in circulation, agriculture suffered a catastrophic decline. Frightened by this, the Cortes repeatedly asked Philip to protect the peasants from the oppression inflicted by the judges of the Mesta, and also to issue a law allowing them to take draft cattle and agricultural equipment from debtor peasants as collateral only if the peasants had nothing else. At the beginning of the 17th century. There were almost no mulberry trees left in Spain, and even the olive groves began to produce a meager harvest, not to mention grain. Peasants left the village in droves, some villages completely disappeared from the face of the earth.

Expensive Spanish goods, which were also inferior in quality to goods from countries with more developed industry, could not withstand the competition of these foreign goods. They began to lose their market not only in other European countries (this market for Spanish goods was small from the very beginning), but also in the Spanish colonies and even, as mentioned above, in Spain itself. The death of industry was accelerated by the fact that the state did not provide it with patronage and material support in the form of subsidies and advances. The monarchy in Spain expressed the interests of the nobility, which received additional income from the silver mines and gold deposits of America and from the robbery of the population of those countries where the Spaniards dominated or where Spanish troops fought the armies of other European states. In addition, Charles I and Philip II waged constant wars on the fields of Europe, which were in no way dictated by the interests of the Spanish economy, and spent huge sums collected in Spain and American treasures on their campaigns of conquest.

Thus, the policy of the royal power ran counter to the interests of the economic development of the country, and sometimes directly undermined this development. For fiscal purposes, Charles even encouraged the import of foreign goods and the export of raw materials. The customs tariff of 1546 made it so difficult to import raw silk from Granada to Castile and facilitated its export to other states. Spain was overrun by foreign merchants and became, as the Cortes declared, “India for foreigners.” Philip II for the first time banned the import of foreign cloth, but the government willingly gave special permission for their import for a fee. During this period, the Spanish economy's dependence on Western European merchants and bankers increased. Consequently, the economic decline was closely related to the characteristics of the Spanish absolute monarchy, which, like other absolute monarchies, did not play a progressive role.



Spain is one of the most ancient countries in the world, which has had and continues to influence the development of Europe, the Iberian region, the countries of South and Latin America. The history of Spain is full of drama, ups and downs, contradictions that determined the course of development of the medieval state, the formation of a national state with a single nation and culture, and the identification of the main directions of foreign policy.

Spain in the primitive period

Archaeologists have found finds on the territory of the Iberian Peninsula that date back to the Paleolithic period. This means that Neanderthals reached Gibraltar in the Paleolithic and began to explore the shores of the mainland. Settlements of primitive people are found not only in Gibraltar, but also in the province of Soria, on the Manzanares River, near Madrid.

14-12 thousand years ago in the north of Spain there was a developed Magdalenian culture, whose bearers painted animals on the walls of caves and painted them with different colors. There are also traces of other cultures on the territory of Spain:

• Azilskaya.
• Asturian.
• Neolithic El Argar.
• Bronze El Garcel and Los Millares.

In 3 thousand BC, people were already building fortified settlements that protected the fields and crops on them. There are tombs in Spain - large stone structures in the form of trapezoids and rectangles in which nobles were buried. At the end of the Bronze Age, the Tartessian culture appeared in Spain, whose bearers used writing, the alphabet, built ships, were engaged in navigation and trade. This culture contributed to the formation of the Greco-Iberian civilization.

Antique period

• 1 thousand BC - Indo-European peoples arrived: Proto-Celts, who settled in the north and center; Iberians who lived in the center of the peninsula. The Iberians were Hamitic tribes who sailed to Spain from North Africa and conquered the southern and eastern regions of Spain.
• The Phoenicians simultaneously with the Proto-Celts penetrated the Pyrenees, founding here in the 11th century. BC city of Cadiz.
• In the east from the 7th century. BC. The Greeks settled and created their colonies on the sea coast.

In the 3rd century. BC, the inhabitants of Carthage separated from Phenicia, and actively began to develop the south and southeast of Spain. The Romans drove the Carthaginians out of their colonies, marking the beginning of the Romanization of the Iberian Peninsula. East Coast The Romans completely controlled the east coast, establishing many settlements here. This province was called Near Spain. The Greeks owned Anladusia and the interior peninsulas, and traded with the Romans and Carthaginians. The Romans called this province Further Spain.

The Celtiberian tribes were conquered by Rome in 182 BC. Next came the turn of the Lusitanians and Celts, tribes that lived in modern Portugal.

The Romans evicted the local population to the most remote regions, as the inhabitants resisted the colonialists. The southern provinces experienced the strongest impact. Roman emperors lived in Spain, theaters, arenas, hippodromes, bridges, aqueducts were built in the cities, and new ports were opened on the coast. In 74, the Spaniards received full citizenship in Rome. In the 1st-2nd centuries. AD Christianity began to penetrate into Spain, and within a hundred years there were many Christian communities here, which the Romans actively fought against. But this did not stop Christianity. At the beginning of the 4th century. AD in Iliberis, near Granada, the first cathedral appeared.

Medieval period

One of the longest stages in the development of Spain, which is associated with the conquest by the barbarians, their founding of the first kingdoms, the Arab conquest, and the Reconquista. In the 5th century Spain was conquered by Germanic tribes, who formed the Visigothic kingdom with its capital in Toledo. The power of the Visigoths was recognized by Rome at the end of the 5th century. AD In subsequent centuries, the struggle for the right to own the Iberian Peninsula took place between the Romans, Byzantines and Visigoths. Spain was divided into several parts. Political fragmentation was intensified by religious schism. The Visigoths professed Arianism, which was prohibited by the Council of Nicaea as a heresy. The Byzantines brought with them Orthodoxy, which supporters of the Catholic faith tried to supplant. Catholicism, as a state religion, was adopted in Spain at the end of the 6th century, which made it possible to erase the boundaries in the development of the Goths and Romano-Spaniards. In the 8th century. An internecine struggle began between the Visigoths, which weakened the kingdom and allowed the Arabs to capture the Pyrenees. They brought with them not only a new government, but also Islam. The Arabs called the new lands Al-Andaluz, and ruled them with the help of a governor. He was subordinate to the caliph who was sitting in Damascus. In the middle of the 8th century. The Emirate of Cordoba was founded, and its ruler Abdarrahman the Third in the 10th century. awarded himself the title of caliph. The caliphate existed until the 11th century, and then broke up into small emirates.

In the 11th century The movement against Muslim Arabs intensified within the caliphate. On the one hand, the Arabs fought, and on the other, the local population, who sought to overthrow the rule of the caliphate. This movement was called the Reconquista, which caused the collapse of the Cordoba Caliphate. In the 11th-12th centuries. on the territory of Spain there were several large state entities - the kingdom of Asturias or Leon, the county of Castile, which united with Leon, the kingdom of Navarre, the county of Aragon, and several small counties belonging to the Franks.

Catalonia in the 12th century. became part of Aragon, which expanded its territories to the south, capturing the Balearic Islands.

The reconquista ended with the victory of the crusaders and the undermining of the influence of the emirs in the Pyrenees. In the 13th century King Ferdinand the Third was able to unite Leon, Castile, and captured Cordoba, Murcia, and Seville. Only Granada retained independence in the new kingdom, which remained free until 1492.

The reasons for the success of the Reconquista were:

• Military actions of European Christians who united to fight the Arab threat.
• The desire and readiness of Christians to negotiate with Muslims.
• Granting Muslims the right to live in Christian cities. At the same time, the faith, traditions and language of the Arabs were preserved.

Unification of the state

The Reconquista and the suppression of the emirs contributed to the fact that the Spanish kingdoms, duchies, and counties embarked on the path of independent development. Stronger state associations, for example, Castile and Aragon, tried to seize weaker counties, within which clashes and civil wars constantly occurred. Neighboring countries - France and England - took advantage of the weakness of Spanish state formations. The prerequisites for the future unification of Spain into a single state began to take shape in the 15th century, Castile was headed by Juan II, the son of the deceased King Enrique III. But instead of Juan, the kingdom was ruled by his brother Ferdinand, who became his brother's co-regent. Ferdinand managed to defend power in Aragon, interfering in the affairs of Castile. In this kingdom, a political alliance was formed against the Aragonese, whose members did not want to strengthen power in Castile.

Between Aragon and Castile during the 15th century. There was a confrontation, internecine wars that provoked civil massacre. Only the appointment of Isabella of Castile as heir to the throne could stop the confrontation. She married Ferdinand of Aragon, former Infante of Aragon. In 1474, Isabella became queen of Castile, and five years later her husband took the royal throne of Aragon. This marked the beginning of the unification of the Spanish state. It gradually included the following territories:

• Navarre.
• Balearics.
• Corsica.
• Sicily.
• Sardinia.
• Southern Italy.
• Valencia.

In the occupied lands, the positions of governors or viceroys were introduced, who ruled the provinces. The power of the kings was limited by the Cortes, i.e. parliaments. These were representative bodies of government. The Cortes in Castile were weak and did not have much influence on the policies of the kings, but in Aragon it was the other way around. For the internal life of Spain in the 15th century. the following is typical:

• An uprising of serfs or remens, who demanded the abolition of feudal duties.
• Civil War 1462-1472
• Abolition of serfdom and heavy feudal duties.
• Opposition against Jews who lived separately in Spain.
• The Spanish Inquisition was established.

Spain in the 16th-19th centuries.

• In the 16th century Spain became part of the Holy Roman Empire, where it served the interests of the Habsburgs, who used it against the Lutherans, Turks, and French. Madrid became the capital of the Kingdom of Spain, which happened in the second half of the 16th century. Spain's participation in many European conflicts, one of which in 1588 destroyed the "Invincible Armada". As a result, Spain lost its supremacy at sea. Spanish kings in the 16th century. managed to strengthen centralized power, limit the power of the Cortes, which were convened less and less often. At the same time, the Spanish Inquisition intensified, controlling all spheres of the social and spiritual life of Spanish society.
• Late 16th century – 17th century were difficult for a state that had lost its status as a world power. The incomes of the kingdoms and revenues to the treasury were constantly increasing, but only due to revenues from the colonies. In general, Philip II had to declare the country bankrupt twice. The reign of his heirs - Philip III and Philip IV - did not change the situation, although they managed to sign a truce with Holland, France, England, and expel the Moriscos. Spain was also drawn into the Thirty Years' War, which depleted the kingdom's resources. After the defeat in the conflict, the colonies, as well as Catalonia and Portugal, began to rebel one by one.
• The last ruler from the Habsburg dynasty who was on the Spanish throne was Charles II. His reign lasted until 1700, then the Bourbon dynasty established itself on the throne. Philip the Fifth during 1700-1746. kept Spain out of civil war, but lost many territories, including Sicily, Naples, Sardinia and other Italian provinces, the Netherlands and Gibraltar. Ferdinand the Sixth and Charles the Third tried to stop the collapse of the Spanish Empire, who carried out successful political and economic reforms and fought on the side of France against Britain. Since 1793, Spain fell into the sphere of influence of France.
• 19th century was associated with constant political changes in the history of Spain. The overthrow of Napoleon the First Bonaparte, attempts to restore the monarchy through the heirs of the Bourbon dynasty, the adoption of a constitution, the implementation of liberal reforms, the restoration of the absolute monarchy - these are the main features of the political and social development of Spain in the 19th century. The instability ended in 1868 when Spain became a hereditary monarchy. The restoration of representatives of the ruling dynasty took place several times, and ended with the minor Alphonse Twelfth ascending the throne in 1874. He was succeeded by Alphonse the Thirteenth, who ruled the country until 1931.

Features of development in the 20-21st centuries.

Spain in the 20th century. “threw” from side to side - from democracy to dictatorship and totalitarianism, then there was a return to democratic values, political and economic instability, and social crisis. In 1933, a coup d'etat took place, as a result of which the fascist party of F. Franco came to power. He and his associates used terrorist measures to suppress Spanish discontent and dissent. Franco fought for power in Spain with the Republicans for several years, which triggered the outbreak of the Civil War (1936-1939). The final victory was achieved by Franco, who established a dictatorship. In the early years, more than one million people became victims of his rule, who were sent to prisons and labor camps. 400 thousand people died during the three years of the Civil War, another 200 thousand were executed from 1939 to 1943.

Spain was unable to take the side of Italy and Germany in World War II because it was exhausted by internal confrontations. Franco provided assistance to his allies by sending a division to the Eastern Front. The cooling of relations between Franco and Hitler began in 1943, when it became clear that the Third Reich was losing the war. After World War II, Spain fell into international isolation and was not a member of either the UN or NATO. Diplomatic ties with Western countries began to be gradually restored only in 1953:

• The country was accepted into the UN.
• Agreements were signed with the United States, one of which was that American bases would be located on Spanish territory.
• Adoption of a new constitution, Organic Law.

At the same time, the majority of Spaniards did not take part in the political and social life of the country. And the government did not try to correct the situation, as a result of which illegal trade unions began to emerge, strikes began, separatist movements intensified in Catalonia, the Basque Country, and the nationalist organization ETA arose.

The Franco regime was supported by the Catholic Church, with which the dictator concluded a concordat. The document was signed between Spain and the Vatican, and allowed the secular authorities to choose the highest hierarchy of the Catholic Church in Spain. This situation continued until 1960, when the church gradually began to separate from Franco's political regime.

In the 1960s Spain was establishing ties with Western Europe, which increased the flow of tourists to this country. At the same time, the migration of Spaniards to other European countries increased. The country's participation in military and economic organizations was blocked, so Spain did not immediately join the European Economic Community.

In 1975, Franco died, having announced several years earlier as his heir Prince Juan Carlos of Bourbon, who was the grandson of Alfonso XIII. Under him, reforms began to be carried out, the liberalization of the country's socio-political life began, and a new democratic constitution was adopted. In the early 1980s. Spain joined NATO and the EU.

The reforms made it possible to relieve tension in society and stabilize the economic situation. The number of tourists who, since the late 1980s. visited Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Catalonia, Valencia, Aragon and other provinces of the country, increasing annually. At the same time, the government is constantly fighting the separatists - the Basque Country and Catalonia.

Catalonia problem

There are many contradictory phenomena and problems in the history of Spain, and one of them - Catalan - has a centuries-old history of confrontation for its independence. For centuries, Catalans have believed that they are a separate nation with their own culture, language, traditions and mentality.

The region now known as Catalonia began to be settled by the Greeks in 575 BC during the colonization of the sea coast. Here they founded a colony, calling it Empirion; the ports of Cartagena and Alicante appeared nearby, which are now the largest “sea” gates of Spain.

The capital of Catalonia, the city of Barcelona, ​​was founded by a resident of Carthage, the commander Hamilcar, who arrived here in 237 BC. Most likely, Hamilcar had the nickname Barca, which means Lightning. The soldiers allegedly named the new settlement in his honor - Barsina. Barcelona, ​​like Tarragona, became major cities of the Roman Empire, which captured the Pyrenees in 218-201. BC.

During the Great Migration of Peoples in the 5th century. Already in our era, the Romans were expelled from the peninsula by the Visigoths, who founded their kingdom of Gotalania here. Gradually the name transformed into Catalonia. Ancient Roman and ancient Greek historians wrote that they tried to call the Pyrenees Catalonia, but the Carthaginian word “i-spanim” was more sonorous. This is how the name Spain appeared, and only a separate region was called Catalonia.

The secession of Catalonia began at the end of the 8th century, when Emperor Charlemagne made his loyal subject Sunifred Count of Barcelona. His possessions included the following lands:

• Bezier.
• Carcassonne.
• Catalonia.

Under Sunifred and his descendants, Catalonia began to develop its own language, which is actually a mixture of French and Spanish. In the 10th century Count Borrell II declared Catalonia independent. Supporters of Catalan nationalism and developers of the concept of separation from Spain call the reign of Borrell II a turning point in the struggle for independence. In the second half of the 12th century. The County of Barcelona became part of the Kingdom of Aragon, which was the result of a dynastic marriage between the rulers of two regions of Spain.

When Aragon united with Castile, the Catalans reacted ambiguously to this event. Some of them supported representatives of the Austrian dynasty for centuries, and some supported the heirs of the Bourbons. Catalans were considered second-class citizens in Spain. The population of the region declared the right to secession in the second half of the 19th century, when Spain adopted a new constitution. The idea of ​​Catalan independence was either revived or lost against the background of other events, but continued to live on. In the 1930s General F. Franco came to power, under whom the idea of ​​Catalan separatism began to flourish.

In October 1934, the Catalan parliament voted for independence and secession, but this did not happen. The Spanish government began to carry out mass arrests of activists, political leaders, and intellectuals. The actions of the Catalan parliament were declared treason. During the civil war, Catalan autonomy was abolished and the language was banned.

Autonomy was restored in 1979, when Spain returned to the path of democratic development. The Catalan language has received official status in the province. Local parties and activists have repeatedly sought to expand rights and freedoms. Only in 2006 did the government partially satisfy their demands:

• The rights of local governments were expanded.
• Catalonia independently began to manage its taxes and half of the taxes that went to the central government.

All this only catalyzed the desire of the population of Catalonia to separate from Spain. In this regard, an independence referendum was held in October 2017, in which more than 90% of voters said yes to secession. Now the issue of provincial independence is one of the most pressing in the internal political life of the country. The authorities - the government and the monarch - are thinking about what to do next, while the Catalans demand to immediately recognize the results of the referendum and begin the process of secession from Spain.

Golden Age for Spain

Note 1

After the conquest of America, a golden age begins for Spain. The country turned into the strongest maritime power in Europe. The entire Iberian Peninsula, except Portugal, came under the rule of the Spanish monarch. The creation of the strongest army in the world allowed the country to continue expanding its territories on the European continent.

In 1504 Spain subjugated Naples. The daughter and heiress of Ferdinand and Isabella, Juana, strengthened the position of the Spanish throne by becoming related to the Austrian Habsburg dynasty. Her son Charles conquered Oran in 1509 and Navarre in 1512. In 1519, Charles was proclaimed Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire under the name of Charles V. The Cortes supplied the emperor with money to wage war in Africa and Mexico, against France and Germany.

Dissatisfaction with Charles' policies led to his resignation in 1556. By this time, Spain retained power in Europe only over the Netherlands, Milan, Naples, Sardinia, Sicily and Franche-Comté. The country turned into a reactionary center of Catholic Church politics. The Inquisition was carried out, any desire for freedom was suppressed.

More and more arable land was transferred to the church, emptying or being converted into pastures. Trade was in the hands of foreigners. The colonial possessions of the Spanish Empire reached their peak by 1580 after the enslavement of South and Central America. Absolutism was established in the country.

The beginning of the decline of Spain

The income from the colonization of the American colonies did not bring development to the economic life of the country. The flow of gold from the New World is directed to achieve political goals. The Spanish crown spares no expense to preserve the power of the Habsburg dynasty in European life and to restore the power of the Catholic Church. Spain begins to lag behind other European countries, especially from the Protestant states of the North-West region.

In the middle of the 16th century there was a decline in the country's economy. Reasons for economic regression:

1. increasing the tax burden;
2. waging constant wars;
3. price revolution.

Charles's heir, Philip II, moves the capital of the state to Madrid (it was in Toledo). A new period in the history of the country begins. Spanish absolutism turned out to be closely connected with the Catholic Inquisition. His actions led to the decline of the Spanish army and the state itself:

• in 1571 power over Tunisia was lost;
• the actions of the Duke of Alba in the Netherlands led to a revolution that the Spanish crown could not suppress;
• the war with England for its return from Protestantism to Catholicism ended with the death of the “invincible armada”;
• Intervention in the religious wars in France led to the strengthening of the French monarchy and the weakening of the Spanish one.

17th century in the history of Spain

The death of Philip II brought various noble factions to power.

1. The first of them was headed by the Duke of Lerma (practically ruled the country under Philip III). He turned the richest state in Europe (in 1607) into bankruptcy. The expenses for the army were enormous, most of the treasury was stolen by senior officials and Lerma himself. The eviction of the Moriscos caused a decline in trade and the desolation of cities.
2. The second group was led by the Duke of Olivares (acted under Philip IV). Spanish intervention in religious