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From Columbus’s voyages in 1492 during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs Isabel and
Ferdinand, to the powerful House of Habsburg acquiring the throne while ruling the Holy Roman
Empire, Spain was projected to be the greatest empire of all. But by the mid 1600’s this great
kingdom which had dominated the world scene for a great portion of a century encountered itself
in the verge of collapse. So, the big question for history is: what was the cause? What caused
Spain to lose its leadership in Europe and the rest of the world? If one has ever learned
something from playing the strategy board game “Risk”, is that conquering and forming an
empire is one thing; but maintaining it is quite another. And even though there are hundreds of
theories and facts on what happened, the aforementioned question will be answered through the
analysis of two documents, one of them written at the beginning of the decline and the other one
mid-way through it, these are: the count-duke of Olivares’ “Instructions on Government” (also
known as the Gran Memorial), and Philip V’s, “Decrees on Political Centralization”. Through
the analysis of these, I’ll further explain how back in the 17th and 18th centuries there were
serious concerns about Spain’s declining global position, and how the solutions they suggested at
First and foremost, it is important to, as the saying goes, “paint the whole picture”, and to
understand how great Spain really was before it suffered its decline. With the marriage of Isabel
of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon and the union of their respective thrones, one can say this
was the true foundation of the Spanish Monarchy. They were the ones that, after imposing the
Inquisition, took the kingdom back entirely from Muslims. After this came the “discovery of a
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new world” by Columbus in 1492, funded by no other but the king and queen, making the
already rich empire even richer. Then, as history continued to be made, Charles I was crowned in
1516 not only as king of Spain but also as Holy Roman Emperor, giving him control of nearly all
of Western Europe. He came closer than anyone to ruling all of Europe through these two joint
empires. After him came Philip II, and it was then when Spain was at the height of its power.
Philip ruled one of the world largest empires and his kingship began a period of cultural growth
What followed after these great times was a fall, which takes me to the first document:
the count-duke of Olivares, one of the highest-ranking nobles in Spain, was the closest adviser to
King Philip IV, becoming by 1623 the king’s favorite, or chief minister. During these years,
European kingdoms were trying to remove all interference from rival powers like France and
England, and Olivares pursued to govern Spain in that same vein (Cowans, 2003), he wanted to
keep other powers out of the Spanish Empire and make the Habsburg alliance the dominant in
Europe. But even though he was known to be one of the most effective bureaucrats in all of
Europe, many of his economic reforms and military and diplomatic policies didn’t attain any of
his goals. Reason why in 1643, after revolts in Catalonia and Portugal, and protests against his
policies, King Philip gave in to the pressures from the royal court and removed him from his
position.
But before all of this happened, in 1624 Olivares wrote the Gran Memorial, a document
addressed to the young king Philip IV. Philip was about to take on the position as king, and even
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though the count-duke continued to govern, he offered this confidential advice on a range of
intriguing issues which he considered threatening to the empire, revealing elements of his
political philosophy and offering advice on solutions. “Considering how young Your Majesty is
(…) I believe it is my obligation to provide Your Majesty with instructions on some general
principles concerning the government of Castile and of Spain” (Cowans, 2003), Olivares points
out concerns that could evolve into risks for Spain, such as the immense wealth of the
ecclesiastical state, or the Church, which was at the time the most powerful institution in wealth,
revenues and properties at the time. He exposed how it was the most important and delicate
domestic matter the king was going to face, as it was “reducing all the substance of these
kingdoms and drawing it toward itself” (Cowans, 2003). Right after bringing out the problem he
suggests a solution: ask for more money. Even though the church made important contributions
to the throne and to the general good, Olivares believed they still had much more to offer, and in
order to obtain these, appointment to church positions should be made carefully and strategically,
It is important to know that Olivares’ main goal was to maintain and enhance power and
reputation of Spain and its monarchy (Fowler, 2020), so most of his next concerns presented on
the document where mainly directed on the relationship between the throne, and the rest of social
classes that existed at the time. He wrote about the infants, who are the sons and daughters of the
king, and how important it was that they were respected by everyone bellow them, including the
grandees, as this will somehow humble them. The count-duke suggested to prohibit
schemes. Olivares continues to name other classes of nobility such as the grandees of castile,
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which need to be favored but kept under control, as it would be a threat if they grew to mighty,
Moving on, he mentions lords, who didn’t have as much power but when united their
influence was huge. These should be treated with respect, and most importantly, in order to
preserve the rivalry between them and the grandees he should make it clear that he esteemed
some of the title lords as much as the grandees, an example of how the duke thought strategically
of relationships and tried to avoid big alliances that could be a threat to the crown. He continued
by talking about the fourth class, the knights, who much be sent to war, where they were
“useful”, and finally concluded with what should be the king’s first concern: the people, lowest
in quality but greatest power (Cowans, 2003). Olivares knew the power they had, because they
were huge in number, so he asked the king to be just and vigilant with them, punishing with
penalties and constant intimidation to avoid revolts. The king should know that they wouldn’t
put up with lack of “bread and sustenance”, so these should never lack but they should work in
order for it to be abundant, engaging into a culture of “hard work, high pay”. His best advice was
to always pay attention to the voice of the people, as the ultimate royal ambition was “to be
greatly loved by your vassals”, but it is impossible for a king to be loved without being feared
(Cowans, 2003). His ultimate solutions to all of the presented problems were: to watch closely
over religion, behavior, lives, customs and learning of the ecclesiastical estate; distribute favors
and administer justice with temperance, moderation and care; let no one assume that he’d
tolerate any grave error committed out of malice, presumption or self-interest; favor commerce
and mercantile companies, all with the idea of increasing royal revenues by all mean possible.
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But as it is known, during King Philip IV’s reign Spain foreign power declined
completely and entered into a religious turned political war also known as the Thirty Years’ War,
one of the most destructive conflicts of human history. After years of millions of deaths and
violence, Spain worst decade by far was the 1640’s, with Portuguese and Catalan revolts, the
Dutch earning their independence and much more, this great kingdom had a huge blow on their
reputation and power, and lowered into the second rate power in Europe (Fowler, 2020), the first
being France, who ultimately was the great winner of the war. But things kept getting worse, as
Philip IV’s son, Charles II, dies childless in 1700, putting an end to the Habsburg dynasty and
opening a debate on who would succeed him. This started a new conflict known as the war of the
There were 3 main contenders to inherit the Spanish Crown, these from Bavaria, Austria
and France. the French candidate, Philip of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV, prevailed, but no one
wanted to see Spain and France under one power, so the war was also joined by England and
Austria, and in Catalonia many feared that Philip would create a centralized absolutist regime
like that of his grandfather. But ultimately Philip of Anjou, crowned himself as Philip V,
renouncing any claims to the French crown for him or his descendants and marking the
This new Bourbon king made some reforms for the failing empire, all based on Catalans
greatest fear: Centralization. This was an imitation of the immense centralization of France at
this time which gave more control to the local government, which takes me to the next
document, a decree made in 1707 by the king in response to the Catalan rebellion and confirming
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all suspicions about the Bourbons: “Decrees on Political Centralization”. As he thought people
were breaking their oaths and fidelity sworn to him, affecting dominion of kingdoms like Aragon
and Valencia, Philip V addressed this issue by reducing all of its kingdoms in Spain to the
“uniformity of one set of laws, usages, customs and tribunals” with all being governed equally
by the laws of Castile (Cowans, 2003). He granted the right of Castillians to obtain offices and
positions in Aragon and Valencia, and the Aragonese and the Valencians could also have this
privilege in Castile.
Still, Catalans fought on against Philip’s troops, holding out in Barcelona until 1714. But
whether it was an act of punishment for the rebellion or the fulfillment of prior intentions to
impose a new political centralization on Spain, Philip V did indeed impose a new system of rule
in Catalonia after the war (Cowans, 2003). As some may know, the Catalan movement that went
from the 19th century and through the 20th was, on its essence, an attempt for Catalans to
recover linguistic, political and other rights and powers that were lost at this time of
centralization. In 1716 Philip V finally entirely pacified the principality of Catalonia and
continued his regime by imposing new laws and policies. One of them was the formation of an
audiencia, ruled by the commanding general and taking place on what was previously used for
the Diputación (a Catalan political institution whose task included guarding Catalan Liberties).
This audiencia was composed of 10 ministers for its civil brand and five for its criminal branch,
plus two public prosecutors and a high constable (Cowans, 2003). All cases in the royal
audiencia were to be argued in Castilian language, in order to attain the greatest possible
satisfaction of the parties involved. Philip also abolished any other office that existed in the
municipality previous to his reign, and suppressed any militias or military juntas, treating them
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as subversives. And as the ultimate ending point, the king ended all prohibitions based on
foreignness, this because his intention was that “in my kingdoms the dignities and honors should
be conferred equally to my vassals based on merit and not on birth in one or the other of the
To conclude, and as shown in the mentioned documents, Spain’s decline was an issue
that was predicted from before it even happened, but there were many causes to its deterioration
as a world power, so the question “what was the cause of Spain’s decline” is simply incorrect,
as there were numerous factors that contributed to it, not just one. Olivares promoted
centralization, but this led to revolts and increased the Empire’s internal fragility, and his
“instructions on government” weren’t successful, and didn’t save the kingdom from the war that
later came, nor attained the idea of saving the Habsburg dynasty. On the other hand, even though
king Philip V actually achieved the centralization of the kingdoms, that didn’t help them to get
where they once were, and Spain could never recover itself. There were too many problems, and
as Benito Feijoo, a Spanish professor of theology once said, “the combination of all of them
form an almost insurmountable obstacle”. But still, one can just wonder, was there a way to save
the empire? Could the Spanish kingdom have done something different and save its position? Or
Works cited:
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of Pennsylvania Press
https://campus.ie.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?
course_id=_114250848_1&content_id=_2324342_1&mode=reset