Discover SPAIN in the 17TH CENTURY

We explain what the history of Spain was like in the 17th century. In addition, the economic crisis, military conflicts and literary splendor.

During the 17th century, Spain participated in the Thirty Years' War.

What was the history of Spain like in the 17th century?

The 17th century in Spain was characterized by the reign of the Habsburgs minorwhose government affairs were in charge of the valid ones (aristocrats who had the personal trust of the kings).

In the 17th century, The Spanish monarchy participated in the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) and was involved in a conflict with the United Provinces of the Netherlands. It also went through internal conflicts, such as the uprising in Catalonia and a war that led to independence from Portugal.

During the 17th century, the Spanish Empire experienced significant territorial losses in Europe and Spanish society was affected by a demographic and economic crisis. Simultaneously, the plastic arts and literature experienced a period of splendor, with the creation of the Baroque masterpieces and the publication of several fundamental literary works of the Spanish Golden Age.

The Spain of the Austrias Minor (17th century)

Philip III was the first of the Lesser Austrias, who reigned in the 17th century.

The reign of the House of Habsburg in Spain began in the 16th century with the enthronement of Charles I of Spain (Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire) and, later, of his son Philip II. These extended the borders of the Spanish Empire and were called the Greater Austrias.

The following kings of the House of Habsburg, who reigned in Spain during the 17th century, were known as the Habsburgs Minor:

Philip III (1598-1621)
Philip IV (1621-1665)
Charles II (1665-1700)

These kings were characterized by leaving political decisions in charge of valid men, trusted men of the king. who did not hold institutional positions. Among the best known were the Duke of Lerma (in the reign of Philip III) and the Count-Duke of Olivares (in the reign of Philip IV).

Another political characteristic of the reign of the Habsburgs Minor was the sale of positionsboth in minor offices and in important bodies such as the Councils (which advised the king). This practice, which allowed the Court's income to increase, became widespread from the reign of Philip III.

Internal conflicts in Spain in the 17th century

Political and economic tensions in the 17th century

The Catholic Monarchs had built the Spanish State as a set of kingdoms united under a single monarchy. but they maintained their own laws and institutions. Since the 16th century, conflicts have arisen between a centralizing tendencywhich tried to homogenize the territories of the Crown according to the model of the most powerful kingdom (Castile), and a decentralizing trendwhich sought to maintain the laws (fueros) and particular institutions of each territory.

These political tensions were added, in the 17th century, to those derived from the economic and social crisis that the Hispanic monarchy went through. For example, in 1609 Philip III decreed the expulsion of the Moors (Muslims converted to Catholicism), which caused the depopulation of some regions, especially in the kingdoms of Aragon and Valencia, and created a shortage of agricultural labor.

The crisis of 1640 in Spain

A peasant rebellion caused the death of the viceroy of Catalonia.

The Thirty Years' War began in 1618. and Spain's hostilities with the Dutch Protestants were renewed in 1621, after a truce of twelve years.

The military effort (in material and human resources) and the Union of Arms (proposed by the Count-Duke of Olivares in 1626), which demanded that the kingdoms that made up the Spanish monarchy contribute to the military effort, They precipitated the crisis of 1640, which had two main scenarios: Catalonia and Portugal.

The Catalan institutions did not accept the Union of Arms, but Olivares sent troops to the Principality of Catalonia when the war with France broke out. The presence of Castilian troops in Catalonia precipitated the outbreak of revolts among the Catalan peasantry. Finally, on Corpus Christi day in 1640, groups of peasants attacked Barcelona, assassinated the viceroy of Catalonia and caused the authorities to flee.

When the viceroy, representative of the monarchy, died, the Generalitat of Catalonia took charge of the rebellion. Before the advance of Castilian troops, The rebels accepted the sovereignty of France. A French army entered Catalonia and defeated the Castilian troops at Montjüic. Roussillon and Lérida were conquered by France in 1642. However, In 1652 the Spanish monarchy reconquered Barcelona and the Principality of Catalonia.

The Catalan crisis encouraged uprisings in Andalusia, Aragon and Naples, which were put down, but also, in December 1640, a rebellion in Portugal, which at that time was part of the Spanish monarchy.

The lack of Castilian help Faced with the Dutch attacks against the Portuguese possessions in Asia and the presence of Castilians in the government of the kingdom, the Portuguese ruling classes promoted the rebellion, organized around the Braganza dynasty, which spread rapidly.

France and England sought to weaken Spain and supported Portugal. Finally, Mariana of Austria (mother-regent of Charles II) ended up recognizing the independence of Portugal in 1668.

The decline of the Spanish Empire in Europe in the 17th century

The Thirty Years' War

The 17th century witnessed the consolidation of a new international order in Europe. Wars were a constantas demonstrated by the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) and, linked to the previous one, the Franco-Spanish War (1635-1659).

The reign of Philip III (1598-1621) It was rather peaceful.. Spain and its enemies were exhausted after the continuous wars of the previous century, and the conflicts with France, England and the rebels of the Netherlands were paralyzed, with whom the Twelve Years' Truce was signed.

With Philip IV (1621-1665) and his valid, the count-duke of OlivaresSpain once again became involved in the major European conflicts. The Spanish monarchy participated in the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), in support of the Habsburgs of Austria (who ruled the Holy Roman Empire) and the German Catholic princes. The end of the Twelve Years' Truce with the Netherlands in 1621 added a new front to the conflict.

The Peace of Westphalia

The impotence of the Habsburgs finally led to the signing of the Peace of Westphalia (1648) by which put an end to the Thirty Years War and Spain recognized the independence of the United Provinces of the Netherlands. The Peace of Westphalia marked the end of the European hegemony of the Habsburgs (Austrias).

The Peace of Westphalia did not mark the end of hostilities. The war with France continued until 1659. Finally, with the Peace of the Pyrenees (1659), Philip IV accepted important territorial cessions (like Roussillon and Cerdanya) to the France of Louis XIV.

The weak monarchy of Charles II (1665-1700) He was unable to stop the French expansionism of Louis XIV. Spain gave up various European territories in the treaties of Aachen (1668), Nijmegen (1678) and Ryswick (1697). The death without issue of Charles II in 1700 provoked the War of Succession (1701-1713) to the Spanish throne, in which the internal conflict overlapped with a general European conflict. The Peace of Utrecht in 1713 meant the end of the Spanish Empire in Europe.

The 17th century was a period of economic crisis in Europe in general and, especially, in the Iberian Peninsula.. In the Spanish Crown the crisis was earlier and deeper than in the rest of Europe

In the first half of the 17th century, serious demographic problems appeared. This crisis, which affected Castile more strongly than the peripheral kingdoms of the Spanish monarchy, was due to several factors:

some epidemicslike those of the plague, were repeated periodically and They coincided with times of famine and hunger. For example, Seville lost 60,000 inhabitants in the plague of 1647.
The expulsion of the Moors In 1609 it led to the loss of three percent of the kingdom's population, and had particularly serious effects in Valencia and Aragon.
The frequent foreign wars generated mortality rates and destruction of resources.
The increase in members of the clergy caused a decrease in the birth rate.

In the second half of the 17th century, the crisis continued and worsened. The decline of agriculture, aggravated by the expulsion of the Moriscos who were an important workforce, was joined by that of sheep farming, which encountered serious difficulties for export, and that of industry, unable to compete with the foreign productions.

Trade also entered a recessionary phase. The French competition in the Mediterranean and English and Dutch competition in the Atlantic aggravated a situation marked by the growing self-sufficiency of the Indies and the depletion of American mines. As a consequence of the trade crisis, monetary circulation decreased.

The economic policy of the Crown governments aggravated the problems with the debasement of the currency (less silver in its content), the monetary devaluation and the tax increase.

This economic crisis led to impoverishment of peasantry (which constituted the majority of the population), the weakness of the bourgeoisie and the middle classes, and the numerical growth of unproductive social groups (such as the nobility and the clergy, at one extreme, and the marginalized, at the other) . In this context, The idle gentleman and the rogue became social archetypes of Baroque literature and art.

Spanish culture in the 17th century

The mentality of the Spanish nobility

In the 17th century, Spanish society continued to be marked by aristocratic and religious values of the previous century. Honor and dignity were claimed by social groups. An example were duels, widespread custom that had the purpose of resolving offenses against the honor of a noble through the use of swords. Dueling was legally prohibited in the 18th century.

Among the nobles it was also characteristic the rejection of manual labor, considered “vile” (that is, they stained the “honor” and “dignity” of those who exercised them).

This mentality was supported by the privileges held by the nobility: exemption from paying direct taxes, from being imprisoned for debt, from being tortured or from being executed by hanging (they could only be beheaded).

The predominance of this mentality, with the exception of mercantile cities such as Cádiz or Barcelona, led some researchers to consider that we cannot speak of the existence of a bourgeoisie. (merchants, manufacturers) with a business mentality, of the style of England or the Netherlands.

People with economic means They were not so much dedicated to making productive investments in agriculture, commerce or crafts as to seek the means of ennoblingthrough the acquisition of land and the adoption of noble ways of life.

The Spanish Golden Age

In the 17th century, art and literature in Spain experienced a time of unprecedented splendor.. The Spanish Golden Age began before the time of the Habsburgs, but during the 17th century the works of some of the most important writers in the history of Spanish literature, such as:

Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616), author of The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quijote of La Mancha (1605 and 1615) and other novels
Francisco de Quevedo (1580-1645), author of poetic and prose works, mostly of the satirical genre
Lope de Vega (1562-1635), poet and playwright who composed, for example, the play Fuenteovejuna (1619)
Luis de Góngora (1561-1627), author of poems and plays.
Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-1681), author of dramas and comedies, such as life is dream (1635) and The mayor of Zalamea (1636).

Most of these writers shaped what was called baroque literature, which expressed deep pessimism. On the other hand, Spanish Baroque painting was one of the key moments in the history of world painting. The most prominent names of the Spanish Baroque are:

Francisco de Zurbarán (1598-1664)
Diego Velazquez (1599-1660)
Alonso Cano (1601-1667)
Jose de Ribera (1591-1652)
Bartolome Esteban Murillo (1618-1682).

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References

Britannica, Encyclopaedia (2022). Golden Age. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/
Britannica, Encyclopaedia (2022). Thirty Years' War. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/
Lynch, J. (1993). The Austrians (1598-1700). Criticism.
Simón Tarrés, A., Contreras, J. & García Cárcel, J. (1999). History of Spain. Spain in the 17th century. Espasa.
Taranilla de la Varga, CJ (2018). Brief history of the Baroque. Nowtilus.