History - Spain - Charles I,1516:56 - Government In Depth

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Charles' positive actions 1

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. Repression ceased after Charles returned to Spain - In 1522 he signed a general pardon following the Comuneros Revolt

. All the cities that had taken part remained untouched in their privileges and this clemency have the king a strong basis for reconciliation with his subjects

. In 1522 Charles paraded a force of 4,000 German soldiers armed with the lastest artillery through the rebellious towns of Castile as a show of force

. Charles's return to Spain 1522-29 - He looked and acted like a king and had gained in self-confidence

. Charles used the long seven years to try to establish his authority over government in Spain - When he left in 1529 he was no longer considered a foreign monarch and had adopted Spain as his spiritual home

. Spain had become the centre of his empire and the home for his family - as early as 1523 he referred to his Spanish lands as 'the head of all the rest'

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Charles' positive actions 2

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. On his return , the language at court was Spanish - Kamen points to the 'rapid Hispanicisation of the court'; e.g he only selected Spanish confessors

. Spaniards became eligible for foreign honours - From 1516, 10 places in the famous Burgundian Order of the Golden Fleece were reserved for them

. The unpopular Chievres de Croy (died May 1521) was replaced by Mercurino Gattinara, ironically Italian, but the respected counsellor of Joanna

. Kamen credits Charles with resuming the peripatetic style of monarchy as seen under the Catholic Kings - 'He was seen by and consequently earned the direct loyalty of Spaniards. This fact is essential to an understanding of how the general suspicion of 1520 was replaced by a good measure of devotion'

. For example, Charles was in Castile in January 1526 in Madrid signing a treaty releasing Francis I from captivity, April in Seville to marry his cousin, May to late autumn he honeymooned in Granada, court moved to Valladolid in January to prepare for the 1527 Cortes

. He made a popular marriage i n1526 when he wedded Isabella, his cousin, sister of the King of Portugal - the comuneros rebels had been first to suggest this match in 1520

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Reforms to conciliar system - Council of Castile

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. This was inherited from the Catholic Monarchs

. Charles modernised it as it had become unwieldy with too much business to deal with

. He halved its size from 16 to 8, in order to improve efficiency

. He increased the representation of men of proven administrative efficiency whilst diminishing the representation of the Castilian artistocracy

. He limited the number of judicial appeals allowed to hear to facilitate other business

. Under Ferdinand and Isabella it had been forced to advise the Crown on all matters pertaining to the kingdom, including finance, and the appointment of royal officials

. It also served as the final court of appeal when other judicial remedies had been exhausted and by 1522 the back log of case load accumulated in the years of turmoil threatened to strangle its deliberations entirely

. Charles saw the primary function of the Council to have been administrative supervision and its highest calling the selection of honest and competent bureaucrats

. Thus Maltby concludes that the main function of the Council became 'the vetting and appointment of Crown officials and the supervision of visitas and residencias' as Charles had intended

. Only letrados were in this council - It was the highest administrative body. 'the support of my realms' Charles called it

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Reforms to conciliar system - Council of Aragon

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. Again inherited from Ferdinand (set up in 1494)

. Charles reduced the participation of the aristocracy - But he preserved the Council of Aragon's responsibility for the Habsburg possessions in Italy

. It dealt mainly with administering justice, as the court of highest appeal

. Officials were letrados and Charles generally respected the tradition that they came from the 3 kingdoms

. Maltby says neither the Council of Castile and Aragon 'was expected to provide advice on matters of state' - Thus highlighting their limited power compared to the King

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Reforms to conciliar system - Council of State

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. A new council set up in 1526

. In theory, its role was to advise the Emperor on all areas of foreign and domestic policy and to oversee the work of the other councils

. In practice though, Charles and his regents largely dispensed of its advice

. It did have a use though and provided Charles with a useful source of patronage - membership of the council conferred social prestige on its members if little political power

. It was made up of Gattinara, Henry of Nassua and fivce leading Spaniards - Aim to 'discuss the most important matters concerning the government of Spain and Germany'

. Kamen notes that 'in practice Charles did not use it and worked instead through Granvelle and Cobos'

. In practicve its existence under Charles was probably designed to give social distinction to its members, who constantly attended the Emperor

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Reforms to conciliar system - Council of War

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. New council set up in 1522

. It was set up to coordinate military affairs - Effectively the Council of State sitting under a different name

. It usually had the same membership as the Council of State, with added military experts

. Responsibility was to coordinate all the military matters concerning the crown

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Reforms to conciliar system - Council of Finance

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. New council set up by Gattinara in 1523 and run by Cobos until his death in 1546 - it met daily

. It remained a Castilian institution with Castilian members but came to supervise Charles's wider income and spending

. It drew up budgets each year and tried to balance income and expenditure - As such, it was the most innovative and important of the new councils

. Rady has a positive view of the Council of Finance that it 'ensured the proper monitoring of royal income, expenditure and borrowing'

. However, it had no authority to stop Charles spending huge amounts of money on foreign wars and interest payments on royal debt were not included, so secretaries had no awareness of the real level of debt

. Pendrill says on the surface this looked good but in reality the Council was a failure due to the constant warfare of Charles

. The Council thus oversaw the collapse of Spain's finances and didn't even know the scale of the debts, as interest payments on royal debt were not included in the annual calculation of expenditure

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Reforms to conciliar system - Council of Indies and Italy

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. The Council of Indies was established in 1524 and it covered Italy in 1555

. It was modelled on the Councils of Castile and Aragon and developed to administer the new lands

. The Council of the Inquisition was one of the few elements that linked all Spain together

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Assessment of conciliar government 1

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. MacDonald sees that the developemnt of the conciliar system had several advantages for Charles

. As the Councils of Aragon and Castile were staffed by natives of those kingdoms, they were useful in keeping Charles informed about the feeling of his subjects in those territories - Also important in checking that the regents and ministers were following his instructions in his absences

. Furthermore, MacDonald says that by expanding the role of professional administrators, letrados, at the expense of the nobles, he enhanced the efficiency and neutrality of his administrative system

. Best trained were those from Salamanca, Alcala or Valladolid universities, who could work for government after studying law for 10 years - This raised interest generally in education and encouraged the idea of a trained bureaucracy

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Assessment of concilar government 2

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. MacDonald syas that it is misleading to see these improvements in the conciliar system as a move to a modern style of bureaucratic government and as large scale administrative change - It was only a very early step in this direction and their powers remained limited

. MacDonald cites a considerable and confusing overlapping of functions between the various functions and their role remained advisory - Such shortcomings gave rise to a new source of political power, the royal secretaries

. The individual secretaries of the Councils took the lead in running them and preparing agendas and Charles dealt with the secretaries rather than the council, thus Rady concludes that 'cabinet government' was developed in Castile

. MacDonald says Cobos' career highlights that the conciliar system failed to function effectively until subordinated to the direction of powerful individuals who enjoyed the king's favour - In many ways it was the secretaries, and Cobos particularly, who dealt with the taks that in theory belonged to the councils

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Assessment of conciliar government 3

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. Charles continued the reforms begun by Ferdinand and Isabella to conciliar government - Additions and changes needed to be made to the system for Charles to establish his control and to meet the new demands of big empire

. There is a historical debate over whether there was a revolution in the development of government under Charles - Kilsby says that certainly administrative machinery had to evolve to meet the new demands of empire but 'the conciliar system already existed in Spain; Charles merely added to it and adapted it to meet his needs'

. Although War and State were new, other councils clearly linked to what had gone before

. A natural by-product of the new territories was the extension of councils, not revolutionary and looked back to the previous reign as they were modelled on the Council of Aragon set up by Ferdinand

. Kilsby says that the administrative councils can all be traced back to previous reigns but major change was that secretaries such as Cobos grew in power

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Assessment of conciliar government 4

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. The councils were still largely aadvisory bodies, the Crown was not obliged to accept their consultas - Kamen says this was a real problem in America where the repeated orders from the Council of the Indies would often remain unimplemented

. Thus 'the daily government continued as it was before Villalar' - Maltby says Charles loved the Conciliar system as 'it provided useful advice without in any way challenging the prerogatives of the King'

. Kilsby says that other areas of government remained similar to before - e.g. continued to be no fixed capital, though much work was done through Valladolid

. Like Ferdinand and Isabella, Charles was constantly on the move, accompanied by his secretaries and advisers

. The powers of the Cortes in Castile and Aragon remained unchanged - In local affairs, the Crown still had to rely on nobles

. Thus Kilsby concludes that there was important change but not a 'revolution'

. Aragon had been used to an absentee monarch under Ferdinand, so no change there

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Gattinara

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. Gattinara was the imperial chancellor after the death of Chievres in May 1521

. He developed the conciliar system of Ferdinand and Isabella by reforming the Council of Castile, creating the Councils of Finance and the Indies and remodelling the Council of War

. He died in 1530

. 'On the initiative of Gattinara, a complete overhaul of royal administration was undertaken' - Kamen

. The secretaries acted as filters for correspondence and whether it should go through councils or straight to the Emperor, all royal documents had to be countersigned by them and they prepared agendas for Council meetings

. They could issue royal decrees without the agreement of councils

. Much patroange was at their command as they controlled access to the emperor - corruption was rife

. Thus their powers caused resentment among council members - But as of the speed they were able to act, Charles made increasing use of them in his reign

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Francisco de los Cobos

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. Kamen describes him as the most important figure in royal administration until his death in 1547

. He had previously worked as an accountant for Isabella - His office dealt with Castie, the Indies, Portugal and Italy from 1530 - Cobos became the emperor's chief secretary and he was secretary to most of the councils

. Gattinara's death in 1530 confirmed his pre-eminence - Charles became his own chancellor with Cobos responsible for Spanish and Mediterranean affairs and Nicholas Perrenot, Lord of Granvelle, his leading adviser for the Empire and the Netherlands

. Kamen says that Cobos's main contribution was the recruitent and training of a bureaucracy for local government in Castile

. Cobos was a poor boy from Andalusia who had come up through one of the secretarial schools that were producing fine administrators - he never had a university education

. From 1543-45, Cobos also arranged for administrative papers to be deposited at Simancas, and thus started the beginning of the state archive

. Kamen notes that although Spain had no fixed capital under Charles, increasingly administrators worked out of Valladolid, but councils were obliged to move round with the king - 'whose absences abroad robbed the system of a focus, so that considerable credit must go to Cobos for guaranteeing an efficient administration that laid the basis of a reliable bureaucracy in Castile

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Corruption in government 1

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. A major drawback of the power of the secretaries was the corruption from the patronage available to Cobos - Charles was prepared to accept this as he was sure of his personal loyalty abd efficiency

. Charles could not afford to pay his officials decent saaries, so as bureaucracy expanded and more officials were appointed, there was the usual rush to supplement income by taking bribes for favours

. Charles' patronage was enormous, so officials made money being able to recommend people for various posts

. Cobos did best out of the system as the most trusted secretary - By his deaht he had an annual income of 60,000 ducats/year, the same financial level as the richest nobles in Castile

. Cobos also ensured his family were looked after - His daughter married the Duke of Seta, jhis son was ennobled as the Marques of Camarasa and his nephew succeeded him as one of the king's main secretaries

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Corruption in government 2

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. The administrative system thus depended on venality (taking bribes and corruption), no different from other European states and not modernisation from Ferdinand and Isabella

. To guard against excessive corruption, Charles did not completely depend on his secretaries - he never tired to leave any matter entirely in the hands of his servants and aimed to play a personal part in every issue

. Charles sometimes wrote to his ministers and ambassadors himself rather than relying on his secretaries

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Castilian Cortes - Royal absolutism?

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. The Castilian Cortes met 15 times under Charles

. In every case, the Castilian Cortes was summoned for taxation but after that Charles never restricted freedom of speech and the discussion of grievances

.'The volumious records of their meetings are clear proof that the Crown accepted a free interchange of ideas with his subjects' - Kamen

. Kamen goes on to say that the defeat of the Comuneros extinguished any hopes from the cities for a bigger share in government, but little changed in the workings of the Cortes

. Thus there weas not absolutism in government

. Maltby adds to the idea that Charles was not absolute and argues that 'nearly half of the legislative edicts in his reign proceeded in the first instance from the petitions of the Cortes'

. Thus it was an influential Cortes backed up by the fact that Charles never tried to stop members speaking freely and recognised his duty to listen to their conerns - after a vote of tax though as this was the Castilian convention

. He forced the Castilian Cortes to back down in 1523 over grievances discussed before tax confident after his recent victory and MacDoanld says from this time he was able to accpet or dismiss petitions from the Cortes at will

. Thus the obstacles posed by towns to royal authority had effectively disappeared - 'The Castilian Cortes became little more than a tax-voting body'

. Thus MacDonald says perhaps the most important legacy of the Comuneros Revolt was 'the triumph of royal authority over the Castilian towns and the Castilian Cortes'

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Parliamentary Management 1

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. Maltby argues that in 1522 Charles realised the need to restore frayed relations with the Cortes and the urban elites it represented and 'the keystone of his policy' was to tie new requests for money with a continuation of the encabezamiento

. Maltby argues that of all the blunders made by his advisors on the eve of the Comuneros Revolt, was to propose to abolish the encabeamiento in favour of tax farming

. Now Charles embraced the system with enthusiasm - City councils would negotiate their share of a new tax with royal officials and collect it themselves as they had long done with the alcabala

. Conversely if a city's representative failed to support a servicio in the Cortes, its government might be excluded from collecting it and left to the mercy of the tax farmers retained by the Crown

. Thus Maltby argues that 'the governing elites of the towns became partners with the king' in the crucial business of taxes, a process made easier by the Crown's willingness to negotiate, often on the most personal levels, for the city's vote

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Parliamentary management 2

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. Thus by 1525, Charles recognised that coercion was counterproductive and Maltby says that he developed a system of 'parliamentary management' over the course of the reign

. Whenever a servicio was requested, he sent his personal representatives to meet each town council who would tell the towns why they wanted certain action supported by letters from Charles

. Charles would hint at rewards of appointment that would bring good salaries and other honours to get his way - This made it more likely that the government would then approve other legislation th town proposed

. Maltby says that Charles's only real failure came in 1538 over the Sisa

. In conclusion, Maltby says that the Castilian Cortes 'became a central instrument of royal power that bound the cities and their governing classes ever more closely to the dynasty'

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1523 - Valladolid Cortes

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. An attempt was made by the Cortes to establish that grievances should be discussed before money - but it was firmly rebuffed by Charles

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1525 - Toledo Cortes

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. The King did make some concessions to the Cortes - In 1525 at Toledo he allowed the assembly to elect two procuradoes as a standing committee, on the model of the Diputacion in the crown of Aragon

. In 1525 he also conceded to most cities that their alcabala taxes would be paid by an encabezamiento rather than through tax farmers - an arrangement thatt was adopted firmly by a later Cortes in 1534 (this form of taxation had been widely extended since Ferd/Isabella)

. The Diputacion was a committee that met in the absence of the Cortes to conduct business - This was already used in Aragon and allowed a permannet body to be set up to supervise the collection of taxes and to ensure that Charles fulfilled his promise to the Cortes

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1527 - Valladolid Cortes

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. The King took the unusual step, not seen since 1480, of summoning all nobles and clergy as well as towns to a Cortes

. Charles needed money to fund his Hungarian campaign against the Ottomans

. But the privileged orders were adamant not to set a precedent of being taxed by the servicio and refused to pay - All he got were some private donations from clergy members

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1538 - Toledo Cortes

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. All 3 estates were summoned again

. The main business was finance - the sisa; rejected by nobles and towns and towns onbly willing to vote a servicio

. The last time nobles/clergy were summoned to a Cortes was because they were not playing any part in the main purpose, to raise tax

. The sisa was needed to get money for campaigns in France, North Africa and Germany against the Turks, and also to help meet the ordinary expenses of government

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1544 - Valladolid Cortes

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. Kamen says that the limited role of the Castilian Cortes was recognised by the Cortes of valladolid in 1544, which asked not to be summoned more often than every 3 years as the taxes were costing them so much

. Although the richer elements of society successfully avoided tax, the towns had little choice but to agree to Charles' demands

. The Cortes requested that they should not be summoned 'on account of the great costs and expense' - Seemed to be implying that the Cortes had little choice but to agree to what Charles wanted (which links to the terrible economic situation in Spain in the 1540s and after)

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Aragonese Cortes

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. Charles did not envisage joining the separate kingdoms of Spain like Ferdinand and Isabella - He was King of Castile and King of Aragon, not King of Spain

. Perhaps due to the Germania Revolt, Charles remained sensitive to the different mehtods of government in Aragon - Like Ferdinand/Isabella, he accepted the power and financial limitations of the Crown in the eastern kingdoms and did not attempt to unify Spain

. Lotherington argues a major feature of these years is the decisive relegation of Aragn to a secondary role, suggesting that Charles continued the policy of Ferdinand in regarding Castile as the head of the rest as wealthier, more populous and easier to extract revenue from

. The revolt of the Germania did not affect the privileges of Aragon - Nobility in Aragon continued to exercise great power over their tenants and unlike Castile, its Cortes retained the right to discuss grievances before taxation

. JH Elliott saw the Aragonese prickliness as detrimental for them in the long run as the history of Spain became the history of Castile

. Castilians became reconciled to Charles as of the new opportunities his reign offered and his increasing attachment to Castile, Aragon found themselves increasingly isolated from the affairs of state

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Dates of Charles' absences

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. April 1533 - April 1535

. December 1536 to early 1538

. July 1538 - November 1539

. November 1541 - May 1543

. September 1556 - September 1558

. He only spent 17 out of 40 years of his reign in Spain, but still more than any other part - 12 years in Netherlands, 9 years in Germany

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Charles' regular absences 1

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. Charles's absences from Spain was helped by the strong system of government he had developed from 1522-29

. Hunt argues that despite absences after 1529, Charles still made many decisions

. Charles was particularly interested in the New World and assiduously read and dealt with the papers from the Council of the Indies

. Some historians have been impressed by his application he gave to state business - He liked to have political dispatches read to him persoanlly and his precise and relevant replies can be found in archives

. Charles received consultas from his councils and the careful attention he gave them is recorded by his annotations on them

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Charles' regular absences 2

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. However, there is also some evidence that Charles showed some slackness in routine government - He was prone to laziness and to a preference for the more trivial pursuits of court life, hunting in particular

. Also his ill health - gout particularly often distracted him from affairs of state

. As Charles grew older, he suffered from fits of depression when ministers were frustrated by his inattention to state business

. In the 1550s, Charles had a series of mental breakdowns, when he isolated himself from his ministers

. During his absences Charles made an effective choice of regents - contrasts with the problems faced by the foreign regent Adrian of Utrecht from 1520-22

. 1529-39 - Isabella, the Queen and Empress, supported by Cardinal Juan Tavera, Archbishop of Toledo

. 1539-43 - Prince Philip with Tavera, Duke of Alba - de los Cobos to advise (Isabella died 1539)

. 1543-48 - Prince Philip ruled personally using the advice of various nobles and two sets of 'Instructions' drawn up by Charles

. 1548-51 - Archduke Maximilian (son of Ferdinand) came to Spain to marry Maria, Philip's sister and was left in charge when Philip was summoned to Brussels by Charles

. 1551-54 - Prince Philip, he left again to marry Mary Tudor in 1554

. 1555-59 - Joanna, Philip's sister and widow of the King of Portugal

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Philip's regency - 1543-56

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. Philip acrted as regent since Charles was dealing with HRE problems - He was brought up in Castile, spoke only Castilian fluently and was very devoted to Catholicism

. Cobos helped prepare Philip for his regency and Philip helped Cobos in the setting up of the Crown government archive for administrative papers at Simancas

. Philip had been attending council meetings since his was 12 and thus had a good grounding in government

. Charles wrote two confidential 'Instructions' for Philip - One 'Intimate' instruction was a summary of the ideals he should strive for - The second 'Secret' instruction was his thoughts on his ministers

. Charles was worried that his young son's authority might be usurped by leading ministers and advisers - 'this careful balance of interests...helps to explain the apparent absence of conflict in the governmental affairs of Charles in Spain' - Kamen

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Abdication of Charles 1

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. In the late 1540s Charles had indicated that he wanted to keep the HRE as part of one empire and that after his brother Ferdinand's death, Prince Philip would inherit the HRE

. It was previously accepted that Ferdinand and his heirs would rule the HRE

. An argument broke out between the brothers and they met in 1550 at Augusburg - Ferdinand resented the fact that his son Maximilian would be cut out of the HRE inheritance and Charles eventually had to back down in the 'brothers' quarrel' (1547-51) and split the Empire between central European and Spanish wings

. Politically, this was a good move for Spain as it was now a 'monarchy and empire which both in its territorial and organisational disposition was dominated and led by Spain' - Rady

. Thus the empire was easier to govern and more centralised around a Spanish focus as there was no need to bother with HRE

. Charles left Philip with a more manageable empiure based on Spain/New World, Netherlands, Italy and England - But the death of Mary Tudor in 1558 left the Netherlandfs as an isolated outpost

. Historians are unsure when the decision to abdicate was finally made but Maltby dates it to 1553 - The motives were his worsening physical ailments, mental depression, disaster in Germany, French held Metz and Henry II reopened war on 2 fronts in the mediterranean and low countries

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Abdication of Charles 2

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. Charles had failed to extinguish Protestantism in the HRE and he had been fighting against the growth of Protestantism and the Schmalkaldic League since the 1520s

. By 1545 most of north-east and north-west Germany was Protestant

. His role as HRE and King of Spain a heavy burden even though he had Philip in Spain as regent

. Since his late 20s, Charles had suffered from gout - Gluttony also left him with painful indigestion, asthma and piles added to his woes - Rady says these problems were dwarfed by his menta breakdown in the 1550s

. Rpeorts reached Philip, talking of constant weeping or vcancy and taking his clocks apart and putting them together again

. Eliott calls the accession of Spanish born Philip II as a symbol of the 'hispanicization of the dynasty'

. Whilst Charles was in Brussels, between October 1555 and Juanuary 1556 he abdicated all his titles

. He recalled his many journeys, he apologised to his people for the incessant wars of his reign and assured them that the goal had always been the peace of Christendom

. He retired to a monastery at Yuste in 1557 and spent long hours reading religious works and discussing spiritual matters with his confessor

. Charles died on 21st September 1558, attended by monks reading psalms

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Historian thoughts 1

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. Kamen says that Spaniards 'continued to regret Charles's commitments to northern Europe and the HRE: the theme recurs in every Cortes of the reign', promoting the idea that the ending of the Comuneros Revolt did not totally subdue all opposition

. Historians such as Kamen are cautious about reading too much into the peace of 1522-56 - That it was a period of political peace is not in dispute but this doesn't mean that grievances disappeared - Thus Kamen sees the period as less an enthusiastic acceptance of the Habsburg succession and more of a resigned submission to Charles's superior force

. Kamen only sees grumbling, not major opposition - evidence can be gleaned from the opinions of those in power and influence

. The Castilian Cortes throughout the reign urged Charles to reduce tax burden, return to spain and attend to their problems - In the 1530s, Empress Isabella repeatedly urged Charles to return to Spain to address its problems; In the 1540s both Philip and Cobos urged Charles to recognise the grave difficultires facing Spain

. Kamen argues the public 'were slow to adjust to the emperor'

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Historian thoughts 2

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. 'Spaniards seemed to have gained remarkably little from the reign' - Kamen

. No significant conquests had been made as Tunis gave more security to Italy than Spain, expansion in America was carried out by private, not crown initiatives, the Castilian army played a secondary role rather than a principal role in Europe and the naval strength of Spain would have been negligible were it not for Italian help

. But Kamen concludes there was 'an unmistakable growth of sympathy for the emperor and pride in his enterprises' - There were a few complaints about the emperor's absences and about the high cost of the court, but after the 1520s there was relative peace and no political conflict

. Kamen puts this down to Charles paying closer attention to Spain and by actively indentifying Spanish soldiers and officials with imperial policy so that 'Charles weaned Castilians away from their isolationism'

. Maltby concludes that Charles's government and administration made Castile 'one of the most stable kingdoms in Europe' - The Spanish military force reinforced that perception

. In 1536 Charles reorganised an already powerful military force into tercios with a nominal strength of 3,000 pikemen and arquebusiers while retaining the basic tactics of Gonzalo de Cordoba

. The tercios, although rarely more than a third of the imperial army, served as its elite corps and maintained their dominance on the battlefields of Euripe until the Thiry Years' War

. 'The reforms of Charles in Castile may have been incremental, but they laid the foundation of Spain's status as a great power in the century after his death'