Modern age: part 3

The bourbons

Felipe V established a new form of government: an absolute monarchy. In it, the king controlled all the powers of state.

The kings of the 18^th century. Fleipe V, Fernando VI, Carlos II and Carlos IV, made many reforms:

• -          Administrative reforms: Substituted the  validos with secretaries of state who helped the king.
• -          Infrastructure: improvements in roads and canals.
• -          Economic reforms: creation of the Royal Factories.

Society during the modern ages:

It was divided into privileged and non-privileged:

• -         Privileged: nobility and clerics; did not pay taxes, held government positions and owned most of the land.
• -         Non-privileged: merchants, craftsmen and farmers; paid taxes and could not hold government positions. There was an enormous difference in wealth (riqueza) among them: farmers were, in general, very poor but the richest merchants owned large properties.

Talking about religion, the society was not tolerant: the Jews were expelled in 1492 and in 1609 the moriscos.

Culture:

From the middle of the 16^th century to the end of the 17^th century, Spain made scientific advanced and produced many works of art and literature, for this reason, this period is known as the Golden Age (Edad de Oro)

-        Literature: the printing press was invented in the 15^th century. Some famous Spanish writers were:

• o   16^th century:  Santa Teresa de Jesús, San Juan de la Cruz and Garcilaso de la Vega
• o   17th century: Miguel de Cervantes, Luis de Góngora, Francisco de Quevedo, Lope de Vega and Calderón de la Barca
• o   18th century: Spanish Enlightenment: la Ilustración.

-        Art

• o   16^th century: El Greco
• o   17^th century: Diego de Velázquez, Francisco de Zurbarán, José Ribera and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo.
• o   18^th century: Francisco de Goya

End of the modern age:

 Throughout the 18^th century, Portugal and Great Britain distrupted the trade routes between Spain and America. There were many wars that had enormous costs. This, made the kings to raise taxes so the people became poorer. The people protested and this led to the king, Carlos IV, to leave the throne (Abdicate). His son, Fernando VII became the next king.