Although the piety of Ferdinand and Isabella earned them the sobriquet of the “Catholic Kings,” particularly merited in the case of Isabella, they did not let their regard for the church interfere with their conceptions of the royal authority. Something has already been said about their resistance to the intrusions of ecclesiastical courts and their objection to appointments of foreigners to Spanish benefices. The same conflict with the pope was maintained with regard to papal appointments of Spaniards. In the case of Granada and the Americas the crown gained the patronato real, or royal patronage, in such degree that the monarch became the virtual administrative head of the church, but the concession for the rest of Spain was not so complete. Nevertheless, the royal nominees were usually appointed. The Catholic Kings displayed great consideration for the church when the interests of the latter did not run counter to the monarchical ideal, and in Castile the confessors of the queen obtained a certain ascendency which made them among the most powerful individuals in the state. They proved to be well deserving of their influence, however, notably cardinals Mendoza, Talavera, and Ximénez, of whom the last-named was, after the Catholic Kings, by far the most important figure of the times.
CHAPTER XXI
MATERIAL AND INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS, 1479-1517
Economic medievalism.
Privileges of the Mesta.
THE Catholic Kings attacked the economic problems of their era with much the same zeal they had displayed in social and political reforms, but without equal success, for medievalism in material affairs was more persistent than in social, political, and intellectual institutions. The same false economic ideas of the past were still operative. Especially was this manifest in the belief that legislation and state intervention in business provided a panacea for all evils, when the real needs were the development of the wealth at hand and the modification of geographical conditions in such a way as to permit of additional productivity. Protection and excessive regulation were the keynote of the laws. As a result manufactures were stimulated on the one hand, and various cities of the two kingdoms became notable industrial centres, but on the other hand, these same industries were hindered by inspections, by laws regulating the fashion and style of goods and fixing prices, wages, and the hours of labor, and by a host of other measures which killed initiative and hindered rapidity of work. In part to promote this artificial industrial life, so that raw wool might be readily procured, the Catholic Kings recognized and even extended the privileges of the great corporation of the Mesta. Starting from La Mancha and Extremadura in April, flocks of sheep annually ravaged Castile, returning in September to the place whence they had come. The cañada real, or royal sheepwalk, was set aside for their exclusive use, and a prohibition was placed on clearing, working, or enclosing any part of that strip. In fact the sheepmen ventured beyond the legal limits, and although required by law to pay damages in such cases were so powerful that they rarely did so. Withal, the stimulus to manufacturing was almost purely artificial, and the Spanish cities, even Barcelona, found competition with foreign cloths and other goods too keen. In the main, Spain continued to be a raw material land, exporting primary articles to foreign countries, in return for manufactures.
Lack of progress in agriculture.
Attempts were made to encourage agriculture, but the spirit of legislative interference and the superior importance accorded the grazing industry were not conducive to progress. The menace of the Mesta was responsible for the almost complete destruction of forestry and agriculture in many regions which were suitable to development in those respects, while the irrigation ditches of Andalusia and other former Moslem lands were too often allowed to decay.
Vicissitudes of commerce.
The same royal solicitude appeared, to assist and to retard commerce. Interior customs lines were to some extent done away with, notably on the frontier of Castile and Aragon proper. Shipbuilding was encouraged, but favors were shown to owners of large ships, wherefore the smaller ship traffic was damaged, at the same time that the larger boats were too big for the needs of the trade. A flourishing foreign commerce developed, nevertheless, but it was in the hands of the Jews and, after their expulsion, of foreigners of Italian, Germanic, and French extraction. Many laws were passed subjecting foreigners to annoyances, lest they export precious metal or in other ways act contrary to the economic interests of the peninsula as they were then understood. It was in this period that the commerce of the Mediterranean cities of the kingdom of Aragon sank into a hopeless decline. Other factors than those of the false economic principles of the day were primarily responsible, such as the conquests of the Turks, which ended the eastern Mediterranean trade, and the Portuguese discovery of the sea-route to India, along with the Castilian voyages to America, which made the Atlantic Ocean the chief centre of sea-going traffic and closed the era of Mediterranean supremacy.
Advance in wealth.