History - Spain - Philip Ii, 1556-98: Aragonese States And Aragonese Revolt, 1591

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Background - Navarre, Catalonia and Valencia

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. Charles V to Philip - Aragon, "because of the natrue fo tis privileges and constitutions, and because its lawlessness, no less prevalent than elsewhere, is more difficult to investigate and to punish"

. The Cortes of Navarre had 34 deputies each obsessed with opposing the Crown

. The Catalonia Cortes fiercely defended its fueros and in exchange for subsidies, the Crown had to make concession

. Philip was worried about collusion between Catalans and the Huguenots in France - Daring attacks by Catalonian bandits on silver convoys from Madrid to Barcelona bound for Italy wiht an entire shipment captured in 1587

. Valencia - law and order was a serious problem as nobles were more concerned with their own feudal power than national security, so corsair pirates could raid coastal towns easily

. In 1582, Castile had to send 19 companies of infantry to Valencia after major worry over Corsair invasion - This clearly contravened the fueros and there were bitter complaints in the 1585 Cortes

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Background - Aragon 1

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. Philip was very awae of the importance of the regional fueros - The president and the 5 councillors of the Council of Aragon were expected to be natives of the 3 kingdoms

. The Council of Aragon was the highest law court for Valencia, but not Aragon where the Justiciar court was very powerful - For the Justiciar court, the Crown and Aragonese Cortes nominated 5 and 16 members respectively chaired by the Justiciar

. No Aragonese Cortes was summoned from 1563-85, even though 6 were summoned in Castile and even more in Navarre

. Aragonese nobles were strong and kept private armies

. The king had the right to appoint a viceroy but the tradition was that he should be Aragonese - the role of the Justiciar was traditionally in the native house of Lanuza

. Lords in Aragon still had absolute power over their peasants as they could punish or kill them with no legal ramifications

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Background - Aragon 2

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. Philip rarely visited Aragon, although he went for several extended visits and the months add up to a total of more than 3 years

, Philip's first trip was in 1563, to open a general cortes at Monzon - during this visit he swore to uphold the fueros at Zaragoza and then did the same in Barcelona and Valencia in 1564

. His next visit was in 1585 for another general cortes and he stayed for 14 months in the three states

. Philip governed Aragon cautiously - not worth the effort to alienate Aragon as not very wealthy, so no great tax reward, and at a time of war with France it paid to have Aragon loyal

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Background - Aragon 3

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. The Crown never faced unified opposition from Aragon, partly due to the fact that they were distinct kingdoms themselves

. Aragonese nobles were troublesome from the start of the reign (look for McKinnon quote p.44)

. 1566 - execution of some bandits by Viceroy Francavila led to rioting in Zaragoza in defence of fueros, as the people claimed that a Castilian could not order the execution of an Aragonese no matter what the offence (i.e. It would contravene the fueros)

. Francavila fled the kingdom and the Aragonese Cortes met in an emergency session without royal summons - For the next three years, Aragon was without a viceroy and had made its point!

. In 1567, Tiepolo remarked on the three kingdoms - 'where his Majesty does not have absolute power, the most atrocious crimes are committed and travellers have no security because those parts are everywhere infested by bandits..'

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Three main issues of the Aragonese Revolt

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. Ribagorza problems

. Duke of Almenara appointment as viceroy

. Arrival in Aragon of Antonio Perez

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Ribagorza problems 1

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. A county in northern Aragon on the border with France

. From the late 1570s onwards lawlessness was growing to be a major concern in Aragon - Philip worried about civil war between the poor and their lords, whislt some bandits even enjoyed the protection of local nobles

. Philip became frustrated with the endemic banditry and the trouble between Old Christian and Moriscos in the county of Ribagorza that led to massacres of Morisco villages from 1585-88 - There were 50-60,000 Moriscos in Aragon and a 'running war' (Kamen) between them and Old Christians

. All crystalized in county of Ribagorza - 17 towns, 265 villages, strategically key as on the French border

. Philip had been trying to get hold of Ribagorza for over 30 years and add it to crown land because of its proximity to France

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Ribagorza problems 2

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. Philip failed in his attempts to buy Ribagorza from the Duke of Villahermosa - The Count of Chinchon (Castilian, adviser on Aragon) wanted the king to intervene for personal reasons

. Villahermosa's son had had his wife, Chinchon's sister-in-law, executed on a charge of infidelity - Chinchon then had the son executed for the crime in 1573

. Trouble came when Almenara announced that government troops would be placed on the French border to stop Huguenots from entering

. To restore order, Philip sent in Aragonese troops to pacify the county and in 1591 he annexed it for the Crown

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Duke of Almenara

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. In 1588, Philip had appointed a Castilian, the Duke of Almenara, as his viceroy in Aragon with the aim of cracking down on lawlessness - a deliberately provocative act that annoyed the Aragonese

. They debated whether the move was legal or defied the fueros, and legal opinion was split (both Ferdinand and Charles had Castilian viceroys at some point)

. The Duke of Almenara was also the cousion of the unpopular treasurer general of Aragon, Count of Chinchon

. A clear political crisi occurred as Almenara needed to be confirmed by the court of the Justicia in Aragon

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Arrival of Antonio Perez 1

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. The arrival of Antonio Perez added to the sense of crisis - In April 1590, he escaped Madrid where he was to be executed

. Perez was first arrested in 1579, but Philip had to tread cautiously as he was also being incriminated in the Escobedo murder and he also wanted to get his hands on documents in Perez's possession

. At first, Perez was allowed to move around Madrid freely but was re-arrested in1585 - He was put on trial again in 1590 and admitted to the Escobedo murder after torture

. Lynch argues that Philip wanted Perez solely blamed for the murder as rumours of his own involvement were strong

. Perez escaped custody from Madrid in April 1590 and fled to Aragon demanding to be tried in the Justiciar's court - He had many contacts in Aragon, probably holdign documents for him too

. Perez had chosen his moment well, seeing as the Almenara issue was a hot one - Perez could tap into anti-Castilian political feeling

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Arrival of Antonio Perez 2

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. Perez had supporters in Villahermosa, the Count of Aranda and many lower nobles - he was in a country hostile to Castile and close to hostile France, both of whom relished any documents Perez may have to damage Philip's reputation

. In Madrid, Perez was condemned to death in his absence - In Arragon, the King entered a formal plea with the Justiciar's court that he was responsible for the death of Escobdedo

. But the lengthy proceedings gave Perez the chance to publicise his views and he was annoyed by the partiality of the Aragonese judges - Philip withdrew the charges

. Philip now changed tactics and in May 1591, he order the Inquisition to arrest Perez on trumped up charges of heresy

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Aragonese Revolt - Overview 1

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. These problems led to rioting in Zaragoza, led by Perez's supporters and there were cries of Liberty and contra-fuero, in which Almenara was stabbed by the mob and died 2 weeks later

. The Inquisition HQ was burned down and Perez moved back into the protection of the Justiciar's prison from where he continued his propaganda

. In September 1591, Philip again attempted to have Perez returned to the Inquisition prison and this resulted in a wave of rioting that brought in minor nobles from Zaragoza and the young Justiciar, Jean de Lanuza

. Most of the major nobles refused to join the revolt - the exceptions being the Duke of Villerhamosa and Count of Aranda

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Aragonese Revolt - Overview 2

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. In October 1591, Philip sent an army of 14,000 infantry, 3,000 cavalry and 25 artillery pieces to Zaragoza, restoring order in quick time

. All the cities of Aragon, with the exception of Teruel, refused to support the rebels so according to Kamen - 'there was no revolt of any sort in Aragon, nor any use of force'

. Elliott argues that many of the Aragonese peasants may have seen Philip's army as liberators from oppressive nobles - Very few nobles got involved and there was no support from Catalonia and Valencia

. Philip was smart and issued a general amnesty, but Justiciar Lanuza and 22 other rebels were executed - Perez fled to France then London and died in Paris in 1611

. Villarhermosa and Aranda died mysteriously in prison in Castile in 1592 - although there in no proof of Philip ordering their death, rumours persisted and were spread by his enemies

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Aftermath/analysis 1

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. Philip personally attended the Aragonese Cortes in 1592, reaffirming the local fueros

. But Philip also reiterated his right to appoint the viceroy and changed the justiciar from a life appointment to the whim of the crown - also instituted majority voting in the Cortes on all except fiscal matters, instead of unanimous voting, and excluded nobles younger than 20 from voting

. Aragonese also had to accept that a fugitive from justice could not hide in Aragon - the king was given a greater voice in judicial appointments to the court of Justiciar

. The Diputacion, a permanent committee of the Aragonese Cortes, lost much of its control over Aragonese revenues and over the regional guard

. Historians see Philip's political settlement and reaction to the revolt as moderate and praise him for this - he showed his prudence, moderation and restored control with more crown authority

. Philip's army was in Aragon and he could have drastically reduced Aragon's powers but he did not - he knew that Valencia and Catalonia had not come to Aragon's aid so there was political isolation for Aragon

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Aftermath/analysis 2

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. Any attempt to completely suppress Aragon under the Castilian crown would have created hostility and a reaction in Catalonia and Valencia

. Lynch argues that crushing Aragon would have been at odds with Philip's sense of justice as most in Aragon remained loyal - it would have been wrong to punish all for the actions of the few

. Lynch also states that Philip had no wish to destroy Aragon's fuers and give Spain a more centralised constitution, as he respected the traditional structure of Spain and its pluralist concept of monarchy

. Elliott argues that Philip never intended to alter the traditional government of his kingdom

. Kamen suggests that Philip had learnt his lesson from mistakes made earlier in the Netherlands

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Aftermath/analysis 3

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. Aragon was not very rich, so Philip may have felt that it was not worth the effort to impose his power for so little fiscal return

. Philip also strengthened the Aragonese Inquisition, which was located in the newly fortified palace of the Aljaferia in December 1593 and protected by a royal garrison

. The Revolt represents one of the major challenges of Philip's reing - The military response was large and used up precious resources needed for Netherlands and France

. Kamen says there was no major threat and the severity of the response was due to Philip's hatred of rebellion rather than danger - Catalonia, Valencia and the rest of Aragon did not stir

. None of the three states felt a unity of interests with the others any more than they did with Castile

. Kamen about Philip - 'he remained dutifully loyal to his own sense of obligation and to his father's concept of a monarchy of individual states each bound to their sovereign by their traditional legal ties, and continuing to lead independent lives according to their own historical systems of government