Summary of the Catholic Monarchs

Who are the Catholic Monarchs?

It is the marriage formed by Isabel of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon, making possible the connection of these two crowns in the same “dynastic union”. Although there are opinions that the Catholic Monarchs are the creators of a national unity, in reality, it was not a total integration of these territories, since each kingdom remained separated institutionally and politically. In 1469, they married secretly in Valladolid. After Henry IV of Castile dies, his paternal sister Isabel will be able to freely access the throne of Castile.

This marriage unleashed a civil war in Castile due to Isabel's disobedience of the Pact of the Bulls of Guisando (1468), through which Isabel could only marry with the permission of King Henry IV. This succession conflict will end with the battle of Toro and thanks to the Treaty of Alcaçovas (1479) through which peace was established with Portugal and Isabel and Ferdinand can legitimately reign in Castile and Aragon. After this dynastic union, some issues remained unresolved so that the administration of the kingdoms could function without hindrance. To this end, the Treaty of Segovia (1475) was signed, through which the functions of King Ferdinand in Castile were established. The motto of the Catholic kings will be “So much mounts, mounts so much.” This ruling can be interpreted as equality of power and authority between both spouses, although in reality, the power was not exactly exercised that way. The crown of Castile had a unitary structure that ensured the authoritarian power of the monarch. Aragon, on the other hand, consisted of three regions: Valencia, Aragon and Catalonia, which were distinct states with complex recognized privileges that made royal authority difficult. Castile was also more extensive and populated, with 4 million inhabitants compared to Aragon's 800.000.

The Nasrid Kingdom of Granada and the incorporation of the Kingdom of Navarra

The Granada War did not begin in a planned and unified manner. It lasted for eleven years (1481-1492) in which both military actions and diplomacy were used. As a result, it became the first war of the Modern Age. Three stand out
phases:

• Defense and Conquest of Alhama: The Marquis of Cádiz and Rodrigo Ponce de León take Alhama. The excuse for this was the Muslim takeover of Zahara. Given this, The Catholic Monarchs supported these daring nobles and took advantage of the weakness that the Nasrid Kingdom was suffering.
• Taking of Malaga: This was a very hard episode from a military point of view. The assault on the city of Malaga was a genuine hostility that resulted in harsh revenge from the victors. The entire population of Malaga was subjected and reduced to the condition of slaves.
• Surrender of Granada: Although it was long-lasting, the surrender of Granada was the easiest part of the reconquest carried out by the Catholic Monarchs. Sultan Boabdil I signed the capitulations of Granada in 1492. Respect for the personal freedom, property and religious practices of all Muslims was agreed. But the arrival of the Christians and the non-compliance with these agreements led to the deterioration of coexistence that ended with the insurrection of the Mudejars, the defeat and the decrees of conversion or expulsion dictated by the Catholic Monarchs that would end their policy of tolerance. religious. The Tribunal of the Holy Inquisition is founded by papal concession, to persecute heresy and false converts to Christianity. The conquest of Granada was very important and was understood as help against the advance of the Turks in the Mediterranean who had been persecuting Christianity since the taking of Constantinople (1453). For its financing, the Catholic Monarchs asked the Pope for help by requesting a Crusade Bull that was linked to the special taxes of Jews and Mudejars and the credits of the councils. The war served to unify the kingdoms under the reign of the Catholic Monarchs and ratify their power against the nobility who were the true winners in the distribution of lands in exchange for loyalty.

Navarre remained independent of Castile and Aragon and under the influence of the kings of France. The Catholic Monarchs thought about the possibility of changing French rule for their own. Once Isabel had died in 1512 and faced with the risk that a daughter of the King of France would marry the Navarrese heir, Ferdinand conquered the kingdom with the permission of the Pope, and the southern part of the Pyrenees was unified, but it did not become effective until 1515. A viceroy swore in the name of King Ferdinand to respect the Navarrese privileges and privileges.

The Atlantic projection

At the end of the 1479th century, the Kingdom of Castile only had the Canary Islands on the Atlantic route. These islands had been placed under Castilian power by the Treaty of Alcaçovas (25.000) in which Castile signed the renunciation of the lands and routes furthest from the south of the islands, in exchange, Portugal recognized Isabel as the legitimate queen of Castile after of the death of Henry IV. It was a clear monopoly of this route to the Indies by Portugal, despite it, the route to the west was still open. From the Canary Islands, an attempt was made to conquer Gran Canaria, which was taken by Pedro de Vera, La Palma and Tenerife. The one that faced the greatest difficulty was Tenerife, taking advantage of the tribal divisions, Castilian rule was achieved victoriously. After thirty years of the conquest, they were already colonized and a quarter of the XNUMX inhabitants were native. New population arrived from Castilla, Extremadura, Portugal or Andalusia and some Catalan or Muslim merchants, as well as black African slaves for the planting and harvesting of sugar cane. There were very few taxes to pay, which contributed to very high commercial development. Due to the conquest, the crown allowed private actions, there were islands of royalty or lordship. The crown appointed a governor general in Gran Canaria or an advance in Tenerife and La Palma.

The Castilian model was beneficial for the reorganization of the islands and the oligarchy took control of its power. In 1485 the bishopric of Las Palmas was formed, dependent on the Archbishopric of Seville. Portugal always had good relations with Castile, since Isabel was the daughter of a Portuguese woman (Isabel of Portugal), in addition, the Catholic Monarchs married their daughters to Portuguese princes. When America was discovered, Portugal demanded compliance with the treaty that left all the lands south of the Canary Islands under Portuguese rule. Castile, dissatisfied, claimed that America was a different continent and Castile went to the Pope for the Bull Inter Caeterea that reorganized the territories. The Treaty of Tordesillas (1491) would put an end to these disagreements, with a vertical division that divided the world in two by means of a meridian. This line delimited the right of conquest of both powers. This allowed Portugal to take over Brazil effortlessly.

The Catholic Monarchs reserved for the Crown the monopoly of trade in America, so they established in Seville the only port of entry and exit for the American fleet and with the creation of the Casa de Contratación (1503) they ensured control of all trade. with goods from the New World.

The reign of the Catholic Monarchs

At the end of the 1480th century, the union of the Catholic Monarchs was not evident in a national unity. The kingdoms remained separated from an institutional and political point of view. These monarchs propose a way to exercise authoritarianism independently. What they achieved was to establish a monarchical authority greatly degraded by civil wars. This was not in vain and the centralization of power had to be offered in exchange for economic and social power to the ecclesiastics and lay lords (creation of the mayorazgo and the ratification of the Mesta). With this policy of attraction towards the lords, a certain stability was sought. The Catholic Monarchs and their autocratic model, typical of the Modern Age, combined better in Castile than in Aragon, a kingdom in which pactism was still in force. The Royal Council, the most important, was reorganized in the Cortes of Toledo in 1476. It became even more qualified, filling itself with lawyers and emptying itself of great lords. It was divided into several institutions so that there was more efficiency (Treasury, State, Justice,...). Royal Secretaries were created to transact directly with them. In Castile, the courts served to swear in positions at the coronation and approve subsidies. In order to alleviate the work of Valladolid, the Audiencia was created in Granada, and to maintain order in XNUMX the monarchs created the Holy Brotherhood that acted against crime by organizing armed gangs by the councils. Other novelties were the Captains General, the Governors, Merinos, Adelantados, Viceroys, who represented the monarchy in its absence. Municipal power continued in the same way with the mayors, councils and magistrates. They reorganized the royal council, introducing members of the lower nobility and the bourgeoisie into it, dispensing with the nobility. Apart from the Royal Council, others were created such as the Treasury, Aragón or the Indies.

As for the Treasury, for collection purposes, papal Bulls, extraordinary subsidies and the transfer of the Maestrazgos (land of the Military Orders) to the crown were used. The court continued to be itinerant, without fixed capital. In Aragon, there were not many innovations. It did not move towards the modernity of the Authoritarian State and maintained the seigneurial privileges and its privileges of the Middle Ages thanks to the Cortes and the work of the Greater Justice of Aragon. The differences between Aragon and Castile will mark the coming centuries with great tension and imbalance. Being in his kingdom for a short time, Fernando named himself Viceroy. The issue of the farmers of Remensa was also closed with the Arbitration Sentence of Guadalupe (1486), the peasants could abandon their lord without any need to pay the remensa. To avoid disputes between Cosell de Cent and the Generalitat, in Barcelona, ​​insaculation was promoted, that is, drawing lots for positions.

The so-called Laws of Toro (1505) were also enacted, through which the institution of mayorazgo was established, that is, that the large lands would be in the hands of the nobles. Regarding the common institutions for the two kingdoms, the Catholic Monarchs obtained from the Pope the Regio Patronato, by which the positions of the Church in the kingdoms of Spain were chosen by the Pope but from a list that the Kings offered. The Inquisition is brought to Castile, under the mandate of the kings in both kingdoms. At this time knowledge and education will also be promoted; Cardinal Cisneros will found the University of Alcalá (Complutense).

Economic and social bases of his reign

The demographic and economic circumstances in this period fit into the recovery from the late medieval crisis, much more evident in the crown of Castile than in that of Aragon. Transhumant sheep farming continued to be essential for Castilla. La Mesta increased its honors thanks to the privilege of possession. The RRCCs attracted a considerable increase in foreign wool trade, with great profitability for Basque transporters. The protection of the wool trade postponed textile activity, which despite the desire of some cities to encourage it, led to a subordination of artisans and merchants. In general, the textile profession in Castilla, especially in Cuenca, Segovia and Córdoba, grew, while the crisis continued in Catalonia. The production of iron also increased, especially Biscayan iron, due to progressive military needs.

Commercial activity increased towards the Atlantic space and was mainly strong in the territories of the Crown of Castile. It employed a large number of muleteers and marine transporters (especially Basques). Shipowners and merchants saw their businesses grow. The lordships continued to be elemental in society. The Catholic Monarchs were inclined to eliminate the slightest abuses of the lords, but preserving the system. The civil war for the throne of Castile forced Isabel to agree to the support of the great noble houses that maintained a good part of their social and economic power. The advances of the authoritarian monarchy in jurisdictional matters were that the kings became the summit of the judicial system. The situation in the countryside was very difficult in Aragon and Catalonia, where the peasants were reduced to a situation of servitude. Ferdinand the Catholic was inclined to resolve the most difficult aspects of this situation.

In Catalonia the remensa farmers approached a second war against their lords, but this situation of tension ended with the Arbitration Sentence of Guadalupe (1486). 6. The religious policy of the Catholic Monarchs. The court of the Inquisition (1478). At the time of the Catholic Monarchs, the idea predominated throughout Europe that political unity was impossible if it was not accompanied by religious unity. Hence, the Catholic Monarchs reflected on the need to promulgate and defend the Catholic faith in all their kingdoms where there were Muslim, Jewish and Christian vassals. To achieve this, in 1478, they created the Modern Inquisition in Castile, whose purpose was to supervise and examine converts to the Christian religion due to the suspicion that Jews continued to practice their beliefs clandestinely.

The expulsion of the Jews (1492)

The Jews had a population of around half a million. They lived in cities where crafts and commerce were well established. They were mainly dedicated to usury, high-interest loans. Many of them were tax collectors for the crown. This produced the rejection and hatred of the population towards this minority population, reaching the point of massacres in Jewish neighborhoods and aljamas, which were very frequent at the end of the 1492th century. Given the social pressure towards the Catholic Monarchs, the Decree of Expulsion of the Jews was promulgated in 80.000, which ordered the expulsion of Jews who refused to reconvert to the Christian faith. Some 1501 Jews decided to emigrate to North Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean or Central Europe. His departure caused a setback for the economic prosperity of Spain, since it was a very labor-oriented minority in commercial and financial matters. On the other hand, Muslims will also be forced to convert to the Christian faith starting in XNUMX.

Foreign policy of the Catholic Monarchs

Under the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, foreign policy had a unitary vision for the first time. For this reason, it was not possible to make the historical interests of both kingdoms compatible and the one that benefited the most was Aragon. Castilla will pay for the armies and diplomacy that the confrontation with France, Castile's traditional ally with the Trastámara, will entail, since they will follow the interests of Ferdinand's kingdom in Mediterranean expansion through Italy. The general lines of foreign policy will be:

• Recovery of the Aragonese territories of the Trastámara.
• Navarra, was property of Juan II, father of Fernando and was now in the hands of the
  count of Foie, originally from France and annexed in 1512. John II cedes Roussillon and the
  Sardinia to France to receive their support in its civil war. And Naples, which was
  Alfonso V, Fernando's uncle.
• Consolidation of Aragon's Mediterranean expansion. This situation will lead the kings to a series of disputes and revolts with the Muslim population, especially in North Africa. This area is of great commercial interest for the crown of Aragon and Castile.
  after conquering the Nasrid kingdom of Granada.
• Advancement of the expansion across the Atlantic Ocean of the kingdom of Castile. In 1479 the kingdom of Castile signed the Treaty of Alcaçovas with Portugal, which limited Castile's expansion into the southern Atlantic. The terms of the treaty also defined the conditions for the conquest of the Canary Islands. This treaty improved relations with the Portuguese. Later, new alliances were sought against the English, such as the Holy Roman Empire and the Netherlands.
• Diplomacy, with Ferdinand's ambassadors in Europe and the help of a pope of Valencian origin (Borgia), the creation of a permanent and modern army paid for by the crown, will be instruments of the splendor of the international relations of the Catholic Monarchs. In Italy in particular, diplomacy played a very important role in bringing to the side of the Catholic monarch the multitude of weak states that were divided and centered between Castile, Aragon and France.
• This led to divisions over the military presence, leading to a war. In this conflict, Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba (the Great Captain) was very relevant, who won the battles of Garellano and Ceriñola, which led to the recovery of Naples. Gonzalo Fernández was in charge of repressing the French advance to the north, the Pope was kept in the center and Aragón was confined to the south.
• As for the African continent, after the capture of Granada, some expeditions were carried out to pacify the Western Mediterranean area against the Turkish empire at a time of expansion and also stop the influx of Barbary pirates. The crusading spirit was still alive. Melilla, Bugia, Oran in Algeria and Tripoli in Libya were taken.
• In their desire to formalize alliances with other kingdoms, the monarchs closed an alliance with the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian I, by marrying his daughter Juana “the Mad” to the emperor's grandson, Philip “the Beautiful” (1496). In this way, France was surrounded, thus allowing the Crown of Aragon to recover Roussillon, Cerdanya and Naples. Another alliance that the kings established was with England, by marrying their daughter Catherine to the Englishman Henry VIII.

The conquest of America

The Turkish Empire took Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, in 1453 and closed access to the eastern routes to the Mediterranean. This fact prompted Spain and Portugal to look for new trade routes on the Atlantic coasts towards the Indies. Although they shared geographical, cartographic knowledge and technical advances (compass, astrolabe, caravels), Portugal was more advanced and had found the Cape of Good Hope, which represented an alternative route to spices, behind the Turks and protected. for the Portuguese by the Treaty of Alcaçovas of 1479. At this time the figure of Christopher Columbus appeared. Most likely he was of Genoese origin. He worked in Lisbon for nine years as a sailor. When his Portuguese wife's family fell from grace, he went to Spain and presented the Catholic monarchy with a plan for a Western route, which they had rejected in Portugal. He was influenced at court by figures such as the Royal Confessor Fray Hernando de Talavera. Thanks to him and despite four refusals from the Spanish technicians, he carried out the expedition.

The ships and other aspects were financed largely with fines to be paid by different councils and to attract the crew they counted on the figure of the Pinzón brothers and their reputed value as sailors. On August 3, 1492, the fleet left the port of Palos with the ship Santa María and the caravels Pinta and Niña. Before (April 1492), in the Granada town of Santa Fe and as a good merchant, Columbus signed some capitulations (Capitulations of Santa Fe) by which he was named Admiral of the fleet, Governor General of the lands that were discovered, Viceroy and he is given the benefit of 10 percent of the profits derived from the trip. On October 12, 1492, they sighted land and landed on an island called Guanean, later named San Salvador, in the Bahamas. Christopher Columbus made a series of calculations that led him to believe that he had actually arrived in the Indies. He will not be certain of reality until he returns from the second trip of the four he made. In addition to Guanean, he made landfall in Cuba (Juana) and Hispaniola (Santo Domingo), settling in the latter the Fort of Christmas with the remains of the shipwreck of the Santa María. The return is made in search of the trade winds and the Gulf Stream, which shows us the great intuition of Columbus. On March 4, 1493 he landed in Lisbon and went to Barcelona to be received by the Catholic Monarchs.

In the following voyages the land of the American continent was searched and an attempt was made to find the cape that would open the way to the Spice Islands. In 1513 Vasco Núñez de Balboa, after crossing the isthmus of Panama, discovered the Pacific. Christopher Columbus's relations with the Catholic Monarchs deteriorated considerably. The Admiral intended to commercially exploit the route with the slave trade, which was rejected by Isabel. Columbus was deposed and taken to prison due to his disagreements with the Catholic Monarchs. The perks agreed upon in the Capitulations of Santa Fe were withdrawn from him. The discovery endangered the Treaty of Alcaçobas. Castile asked the Pope for bulls (Bulas Inter Caetera) after the first trip, but even so, in the face of Portugal's anger, it was negotiated and resolved, as we have already seen, by the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) the line of influence of Castile advanced towards the West. With the new discoveries it was possible to verify that a new continent existed until then unknown to Europeans. This marked the beginning of a new horizon of expansion opportunities beyond the Atlantic.