Brian Hamnett

The Appropriation of Mexican Church Wealth by the Spanish Bourbon Government—The ‘Consolidación de Vales Reales’, 1805–1809

Between the years 1805 and 1809, the Spanish Metropolitan Government secured an estimated total of between 10,500,000 and 12,750,000 pesos by the appropriation of the capital and sale of landed properties belonging to Pious Foundations and Chantries. The present article deals with (i) the nature and functions of these Foundations; (ii) why Spain was forced to order their appropriation; (iii) the course of the implementation of the appropriation, known as the ‘ Consolidacion de vales reales ’; (iv) the persons and institutions affected, and adjacent incomes of the Ramo de Consolidacion; (v) the effects in New Spain. Secondary sources concede the importance of the appropriation, but rarely offer more than rudimentary details. Through the use of primary sources, the present article attempts to remedy in a small measure that dearth of information.

Process and pattern: A re-examination of the Ibero-American independence movements, 1808-1826

The article attempts to identify the principal processes and patterns, divergences and contrasts that operated during the Independence period in Latin America. These are frequently lost among the detail involved in discussing this period either in monographic or general textual form. The method is to take Spanish and Portuguese America together. Comparison takes place here at a number of levels, not just between Spanish and Portuguese America. The article gives prominence to the regional and social dimensions, rather than to the economic, since this would require separate treatment in view of the issues that emerge. The argument is that: (1) Independence formed part of a broader historical process that covered the readjustments of the period from c. 1770– c. 1870 not just between metropoles and dominions but also within colonial territories; (2) there was not always a clear-cut dichotomy between Empire or Independence, but many different positions between the two polarities; (3) cross-class and multi-ethnic coalitions emerged in several instances; considerable evidence exists of popular participation; essentially, though, the process of Independence was elite-directed and led frequently to elite-dominated ‘national states’, within which pre-existing social issues remained unresolved; (4) nationalism did not make independent states; nation and national identity would have to be created after Independence.

Mexico's Royalist Coalition: the Response to Revolution 1808–1821

Consensus politics delayed the achievement of Mexican independence. The numerically small, but variegated elites, regrouped in a common stand against Hidalgos revolutionary movement in 1810. Themselves fragmented, mutually antagonistic on central issues, they sank their differencesfor the duration of the counter-revolutionary struggle. This re-forged unity proved, needless to say, temporary. A tactical alliance concealed far-reaching divisions: ultimately, the removal of the revolutionary challenge created a new set of circumstances.

Fictitious Histories: The Dilemma of Fact and Imagination in the Nineteenth-Century Historical Novel

The article takes up the issue of how fiction and history relate to one another. In many respects, the nineteenth century revealed its uncertainties concerning its place in history through the historical novel. This genre, which emerged in modern form at the beginning of the nineteenth century with Walter Scott, was the meeting point of these two distinct disciplines. Although initially a product of the Enlightenment, the historical novel influenced the development of Romanticism and was in turn transformed by it. Alessandro Manzonis I promessi sposiadmirably illustrates this process. For a time history and the historical novel developed in a parallel fashion, until the complexity of source materials in the former drove the latter into crisis by the 1850s and 1860s, and forced leading novelists to explore new methods of approaching their historical subject matter. Gustave Flaubert and George Eliot moved beyond the realist novel, then at its height, towards symbolism in the search for fresh modes of expression for their perspective on history. Flauberts Salammbôand Eliots Romola, both of which received harsh criticism, are discussed as exemplary texts for the understanding of the dilemmas posed by the writing of historical novels. The historical novel still remained vibrant after the 1860s, as the fictional examination of political transformation in Spain by Benito Pérez Galdós demonstrates. Yet in this writer, too, the tension between fact and imagination remained uppermost.

Spain and Portugal and the Loss of their Continental American Territories in the 1820s: An Examination of the Issues

The least studied aspect of Ibero-American Independence is the impact on Spain and Portugal. Many complex issues were involved, including the nature of the economic impact, the degree of political readjustment, and the international position of the former metropoles. The 1820s exposed the contradictions in Iberian responses to the loss of continental American territories. Spanish merchants turned towards the domestic and Caribbean markets, and Portuguese policy shifted away from Brazil to the southern-African territories. Although the monarchy survived in both Spain and Portugal, each experienced dynastic convulsions of differing dimensions. The survival of empire beyond continental America complicated the development of European identities and of specifically Spanish and Portuguese national sentiment.

The Reception of Romanticism in Italy and Spain: Parallels and Contrasts

Summary Liberalism arose alongside Romanticism but the two were qualitatively different. Romantic Liberalism in Italy and Spain, with roots in the Enlightenment, looked for the reasons why supposed past liberties had been lost and for methods to regain them. The constitutional issue, however, exposed the differences between the two countries, due principally to continued foreign rule in Italy, lack of political unity and the absence of an accepted common language. In both countries, however, the conjunction of Liberalism and Romanticism assisted the elaboration of national myths. Literature in both countries responded to the overriding issues but with different emphases. Spain Romanticism produced no writer of Alessandro Manzonis stature.

Roots of Insurgency. Mexican Regions, 1750-1824

List of maps Acknowledgements Weights and measures Introduction 1. Social tensions in the provinces 2. Insurgency - characteristics and responses 3. Conflict, protest and rebellion 4. Death and dislocation 5. Insurrection - recruitment and extension 6. The struggle for Puebla, 1811-13 7. Local conflict and provincial chieftains 8. Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index.