Carla Rahn Phillips

The Spanish Wool Trade, 1500–1780

Official tax records and other documents provide the sources for an estimation of wool exports overtime. Four main points emerge: after a peak circa 1550, exports stagnated and declined for over a century before rising again strongly; political and economic developments in Spain and the rest of Europe affected both the volume and the direction of wool exports; most exports went to Flanders before 1550, then to Italy for a time, and finally to northern Europe again from about 1650 onward; and Spanish merchants controlled most of the trade until the mid- sixteenth century but lost dominance thereafter, retaining control only over the internal market supplying wool for export.

The Golden Age of painting in Spain

The frontiers of Spanish art the arrival of the Renaissance, 1480-1560 the Revolution of Philip II El Greco crosscurrents in Castile 1598-1621 Nascent Naturalism, Seville 1575-1625 the dawn of a new golden age, Madrid 1620-1640 the art of immediacy, 1625-1640 Jusepe de Ribera, a Spaniard in Italy collectors and collections painting in transition, Madrid 1640-1665 Seville at mid-century 1640-1660 the new era in Andalusia 1660-1700 a grand finale epilogue - masters or servants? Spanish painters of the golden age.

The Moriscos of La Mancha, 1570-1614

Between 1609 and 1614 the Spanish government expelled the Moriscos (converted Moslems) from Spain, a massive undertaking that transformed 275,000 useful citizens into bitter exiles.1 Ever since then, historians have been picking over the documentary remains to analyze the causes and effects of this expulsion. Was the governments decision religiously motivated? (The Moriscos were notoriously bad Christians.) Was it motivated by greed for Morisco-owned property? Or was it instead a response to the military threat posed by this alien community that had spiritual and cultural links to the Ottoman Empire? The threat was real enough in 1568 when rebelling Moriscos in Granada were offered help from the Ottomans.2 Was it still real in 1609, or did the government per-

Spanish Mariners in a Global Context

From the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, Spanish shipping, and the mariners employed therein, functioned in a global oceanic context that included the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, the Pacific and the South China Sea. During the period in which Habsburg kings ruled Portugal as well as Spain – from 1580 to 1640 – that context also included the Indian Ocean. Trade and defence for both of the Iberian empires required ships, mariners, merchants, soldiers, bureaucrats, and civilian purveyors of food and equipment in staggering numbers. Mariners of all ranks might serve in a variety of venues in the course of their lives at sea, and they might alternate between mercantile or military fleets, and sailing vessels or galleys. Maritime bureaucrats might serve on land or sea, as the occasion demanded, and soldiers might serve on sailing ships or galleys as well as on land. To demonstrate the wide variety of Spanish maritime service, this chapter will begin with a brief discussion of the fluctuating demand for ships and men during the early modern period. Then it will turn to wages, individual career trajectories and venues for maritime labour, focusing on the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.1 The combined labour of tens of thousands of individuals on land and sea played a crucial role in developing, maintaining and defending the Spanish empire.2

Book Review: Circulations maritimes: L'Espagne et son empire (XVIe-XVIIIesiècle):

domestic and industrial applications. The author also develops a persuasive reexamination of the relationships between human and environment even as he challenges common assumptions about European ideas about nature in this period while also emphasizing the uniqueness of Venice in a European context. Thus, Venice, the smallest of powers, was the first to create a workable system for the exploitation of timber to be backed by a professional bureaucracy devoted entirely to its enforcement. Venices exploitation of its forests also required a conscious application ofconservation techniques, making the most of what was close at hand, rather than exploiting foreign and remote resources. The contribution of this book to environmental history earned it the American Historical Associations 2010 Herbert Baxter Adams Prize. The contribution that itmakes in reassessing the connection between maritime activity and forest management is also priceless. The impact, however, that the procurement of forest resources along the rivers leading into the Venetian lagoon had on the marine animal populations of the rivers and within the lagoon itself still awaits a thorough investigation.

A Concise History of Spain: The rise of Spain to international prominence

The modern geography of the Iberian Peninsula, which Spain shares with Portugal, seems so familiar that we might assume that the two countries were destined to evolve toward their modern borders. If we trace the late medieval history of the peninsula, however, there was no inevitability about the process. Castile might have amalgamated with Portugal, a possibility that informed the contingency plans of a succession of monarchs in both Spain and Portugal. And, instead of the amalgamation of Castile and Aragon in the late fifteenth century, those two kingdoms might have remained separate. In short, depending on the vagaries of dynastic politics and demographic realities, the Iberian Peninsula might have had a very different configuration from the familiar borders we recognize today. To understand why events unfolded as they did requires recognition of the contingent nature of events in every aspect of the late medieval history of Spain. For example, in diplomacy, each of the Iberian kingdoms looked outward to strengthen diplomatic ties with various parts of Mediterranean and Atlantic Europe, as well as with North Africa, and those ties inevitably affected internal politics as well. Economically, growth in the Spanish kingdoms in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries – based on stock-raising, agriculture, and manufacturing – supported an expanding export trade that benefited from Spains location at the nexus of Mediterranean and Atlantic Europe. Over the course of the late Middle Ages, that economic growth prepared Spain to become the first world power. Paradoxically, economic development took place against a background of enormous upheaval. The Black Death of the mid fourteenth century, in addition to causing a major demographic decline, also had widespread effects on Spanish economy and society. With a smaller population and fewer available workers, the herding industry, with low requirements for labor, could take advantage of the vast grazing lands available throughout the peninsula, at the same time that agricultural production declined. The Black Death also affected politics in ways both subtle and immediate. One of the most dramatic events was the death of King Alfonso XI of Castile in 1350, stricken by the epidemic as he besieged Muslim Gibraltar. Alfonso was the only reigning monarch in Europe killed by the Black Death, and his demise set the stage for a struggle and eventually a long civil war between his legitimate heir and his bastard son, Enrique of Trastamara.

A Concise History of Spain: Diversity in medieval Spain

The fall of the Visigothic monarchy marked the beginning of the Islamic phase of Spains history. From 711 to 1492, Muslims controlled varying portions of Iberia, and their long presence had a profound influence on Spanish culture long after they lost political control. From their origins in the Arabian Peninsula during the time of the prophet Muḥammad ( c . 570–632), the Muslims spread quickly and widely throughout the Middle East and across North Africa. They conquered cities as they went, fighting when they had to and making deals with local authorities when they could. People who came under Muslim authority had the option of converting to Islam, but they did not have to do so to live peaceably under their new overlords. Christians and Jews, considered “People of the Book” or fellow monotheists, could retain their religion and customs if they refrained from proselytizing, if they paid special taxes, and if they agreed to political restrictions preventing them from having authority over Muslims. The historical sources, both Christian and Muslim, for the end of the Visigothic monarchy and the conquest and establishment of Islamic Spain are not abundant and come from later periods. Contemporary accounts are not available, and later ones are contradictory and contain legendary accretions. Nonetheless, scholars generally agree on the main outlines of the early years of Muslim consolidation in Spain.

A Concise History of Spain: Spain as the first global empire

The administrative structure that the Catholic Monarchs implanted across the Atlantic Ocean laid the basis for the empire that Spain created in the sixteenth century. They improvised that structure from past precedents, responding to the changing situation as Spaniards explored the new lands across the sea. For several centuries Spain also held an empire in Europe, though Spaniards more often referred to the whole collection of diverse territories as a monarchy – lands ruled by a single person. Ironically, Spains European empire was even more accidental than its American one – the product of bad luck more than conscious planning, as we have seen. Carlos I was proclaimed king of Spain in Brussels in 1516, ignoring the traditions and prerogatives of the various Spanish kingdoms, and prepared to take up his inheritance. In Spain Cardinal Francisco Ximenez de Cisneros, the driving force behind the reformation of the Spanish church and many aspects of the Spanish Renaissance, performed one last service for the crown by keeping the political situation stable until Carlos arrived in 1517. Fernandos regency had allowed a generation of explorers to continue tracing the outlines of Castiles New World across the ocean, and Spanish settlers had founded colonies on Hispaniola, Cuba, and various small outposts of the mainland of Central and South America. Whether the embryonic empire would turn out to be profitable remained to be seen. In the meantime, the crown simply gave permission for lands to be explored and settled in its name, but invested little money in the enterprise. The seventeen-year-old Carlos took great interest in Castiles overseas ventures. Shortly after arriving in Spain, he personally approved a proposal by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan to sail westward to Asia to establish a Spanish presence on the far side of the globe. Magellan departed from Spain in 1519 on what would turn out to be the first voyage around the world, but that was not its original aim. Magellan was killed in the Philippines while intervening in a local conflict, and the survivors of the expedition could not find the winds and currents to take them back across the Pacific. Instead, they were forced to return to Spain by sailing around Africa through the half of the world that the Portuguese claimed as their sphere of influence.

A Concise History of Spain: The land and its early inhabitants

The Iberian Peninsula occupies several crucial crossroads, providing connections between Europe and Africa, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, and Europe and the Atlantic world. Spains connections with Africa date from prehistoric times. When Muslim rulers controlled most of Spain during the Middle Ages, the close relationship with the North African world intensified. Today, Spain is the destination of choice for African would-be immigrants to Europe. Spains connections with the rest of Europe are powerful as well, defined by history and geography and enhanced by the ties of the European Union. Spains connections with Latin America date from the period of exploration and empire-building in the late fifteenth century. In our times, Spain provides an important link between Europe and Latin America, with the greatest number of flights between the two continents, the largest investment in Latin America of any European country, and the most Latin American immigrants in Europe. For the world as a whole, Spain is a major center of tourism. In 2007 Spain ranked second in the world in the number of tourists, according to the World Tourism Organization. In that year, some 59.2 million tourists entered the country, compared to a Spanish population of about 45 million, a clear indication of Spains continuing importance as a nexus of travel, transportation, and exchange. This is a concise history of Spain, which we understand to mean a modern country that shares the Iberian Peninsula with Portugal. All of those geographical terms have a complex history, however. The Greeks called the whole peninsula “Iberia,” and the Romans called it “Hispania.” Between the end of the Roman Empire and the eighteenth century, “Spain” was more a term of convenience than a political reality, and other terms have come and gone to describe the land and its peoples. When the Muslims held Spain, they called the part they controlled “al-Andalus,” an area that varied in geographical extent as the area under Islamic control waxed and ultimately waned. Medieval Jews called the country “Sefarad.” Christian Spain in the Middle Ages contained a number of kingdoms and smaller entities. Castile and Aragon were the most prominent of those kingdoms and, by the end of the Middle Ages, controlled a large portion of the peninsula. The marriage of their rulers Isabel of Castile and Fernando of Aragon marked the origin of the modern definition of Spain.

A Concise History of Spain: Toward modernity: from the Napoleonic invasion to Alfonso XIII

Joseph Bonaparte was arguably the best of the Bonaparte clan, and Napoleon undoubtedly hoped that the Spanish people would accept him as a welcome replacement for the feckless Bourbons. He was wrong. By the time that Joseph arrived at the frontier, a spontaneous revolt against the French invasion had already begun. The rising began in Madrid on May 2, in reaction to news that the royal family had left for France. General Murat put down a riot in the Puerta del Sol quickly and brutally, using the Mameluke cavalry that Napoleon had recruited in Egypt. Given the long Spanish history of conflict with Muslim forces, the sight of turbaned horsemen charging a crowd of men and women in the heart of Madrid had a shocking effect. The next day, Murats soldiers executed the supposed leaders of the riot on the hill of Principe Pio, at the western edge of Madrid near the royal palace. Various Spanish artists would paint their interpretations of those two actions, but the versions that history remembers are two arresting canvases by Goya, which capture the events in all their horror. In The Charge of the Mamelukes on the 2nd of May , the mad look on the face of the horseman in the center of the composition, and the tangle of bloodied bodies and enraged citizens in front of him, evoke the violent movement, confusion, and savagery of the confrontation.