Modern Age: part 2

The Spanish Empire

After the Catholic monarchs, the territories ruled by the new king, Carlos I, expanded. In the early 16th, the empire included many territories in Europe (Spain, the Netherlands, part of Italy, areas in central Europe), islands in the Mediterranean and Atlantic, The American Colonies, territories in Africa and Asia. Apart from this, in 1580 the Kingdom of Portugal came under Spanish rule, adding all its territories to the Empire.

Carlos I

He was the grandson of the Catholic Monarchs. He was not educated in Castilla but in the Netherlands. He became the king of Spain in 1516.  He faced many problems during his reign:

Internal conflicts: when Carlos became king, he brought many foreign councillors to help him. People did not like this. There were two revolts asking the king to choose Castilian councillors and better living conditions:

•           1520: Revuelta de las Comunidades de Castilla
•         1520: Revuelta de las Germanías

International level: Carlos I fought in different wars against:

•     France: Spain´s main rival for power in Europe.
•        Turks: they wanted to control the Mediterranean making difficult for Spain to trade with Ital
•      Lutherans: a new movement in the Catholic Church. They didn´t want to accept the pope (Papa).  He couldn´t slow the expansion of this movement.

Carlos I, frustrated and exhausted, abandoned the throne in 1556.

Felipe II

He was the son of Carlos I. He became ruler of the largest empire of his time in 1556.

• He defeated France but the conflict reappeared at the end of his reign.
• He defeated the Turks in the Batalla de Lepanto.
• The Netherlands became his major problem: the Northern provinces declared independence from Spanish rule. Felipe did not accept this. This began a long and costly war.  England helped the Netherlanders and Felipe sent the Spanish Armada against them. Spain was defeated in 1588.

All this wars were very expensive. The Spanish population became poorer and the prices of certain products went up. At the same time, the metals coming from America went down.

Felipe II died in 1598, leaving a weak and poor empire that was breaking up. 

The Fragmentation of the Empire:

After Felipe II, we had Felipe III, Felipe IV and Carlos II as kings.

In this new century, the 17^th century, we have to talk about the validos or favourites.

The validos were ministers and friends with the confidence of the king. They governed in its name. Some of them had a lot of power, such as the Duque de Lerma and the Conde-duque de Olivares. They had so much of the king´s power that this caused revolts of protest in Portugal, Cataluña and Italy. This ended with the independence of Portugal from Spain, in 1640.

The war in the Netherlands continued until 1648, when Spain recognized their independence. 

The war of succession

In 1700, Carlos II died without leaving a successor. There were two candidates:

• Archiduque Carlos: German
• Felipe d´Anjou: French

Each European country supported one or other depending on its own interests. Spain was also divided: Castilla supported Felipe whilst Aragon supported Carlos. This started the War of succession which was not only international but also a civil war.  It ended in 1713 with the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht, recognizing the triumph of Felipe, who became King Felipe V.