A History of Spain / founded on the Historia de España y de la civilización española of Rafael Altamira

by Charles E. Chapman; Rafael Altamira

Comparative independence of the other Cortes.

Nowhere was the absolutism of the kings more manifest than in their dealings with the Castilian Cortes. The principal functions of this body had always been to grant or withhold subsidies and to make petitions, which the kings might, or might not, enact into law. In this period the deputies were so submissive that they never failed to grant the required subsidy, despite the exhaustion of the country, while their petitions received scant attention. Under the circumstances, since the grant of a subsidy by the representatives of the towns was now the only reason for calling a Cortes, the nobles and the clergy were not always summoned. Charles I encountered some resistance of the Cortes in the early part of his reign, but in later years the kings experienced no serious difficulty. The deputies themselves lost interest, and not infrequently sold their privilege of attendance to some individual who might even be a non-resident of the town he was to represent. The kings procured the right to appoint many of the deputies, or else issued orders to the towns, directing them how to instruct their delegates, and also gave pensions to the deputies, thus insuring the expression of their own will in the meetings of the Cortes. It is not strange that the Cortes was called frequently,—forty-four times down to 1665. In 1665 the function of granting subsidies was given directly to the towns,—with the result that no Cortes was held in the entire reign of Charles II. The various other Cortes of the peninsula were more fortunate than that of Castile. Those of the kingdom of Aragon (Aragon proper, Catalonia, and Valencia) had always participated more than that of Castile in legislation, and had been more prone to voice their grievances. The calling of a Cortes in these regions involved difficulties, especially in Valencia, where the king was obliged to be present, in order to constitute a legal meeting. The need for funds was such, however, that a number of Cortes were summoned,—seventeen in Aragon, thirteen in Catalonia, fourteen in Valencia, and seventy-three in Navarre,—but the kings did not obtain a great deal from them. Often the delegates refused to make a grant, or else gave so little that it hardly covered the expenses of the king’s journey to the place of meeting. No effort was made to join these bodies with that of Castile to form a national Cortes; the force of particularism was as yet too strong to attempt it.

Subservience of the towns to the royal will.

Just as in the case of the Castilian Cortes, so also in that of the towns, the absolutism of the kings made itself felt to a marked degree, for the way had been prepared in previous reigns, and in this instance the royal authority was equally as noteworthy in Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia, and Majorca as in Castile. This was brought about principally through the decline of the towns in political spirit, a movement which had been going on since the fourteenth century. As a result the ayuntamientos had usurped the powers which formerly belonged to the general assembly of citizens, and now their functions became absorbed more and more by the kings through their officials in the towns, such as the corregidores and others. So great was the authority of the kings that they were able to make a profit for the treasury by the sale in perpetuity of local offices, and when the evils which resulted became too pronounced they gave orders abolishing all such positions acquired before 1630. Furthermore, all local legislation of an important character had to receive the sanction of the Consejo Real. Much the same local officials as in the past administered the affairs of the municipalities, and the methods of their acquisition of office continued to be diverse, being in some towns by election, in others by lot, in still others by inheritance, and in yet others by royal appointment; but in all of the large royal towns (realengos) the king’s authority was paramount. In fine, local autonomy was virtually dead, although the forms of the period when the towns were a virile political factor still persisted. In two classes of municipalities the royal victory was not complete. One was that of the small villages, where the system of the medieval villa, or concejo, obtained, but since these units were of small consequence the retention of their earlier liberties had little or no effect on the general situation. The other was that of the seigniorial towns, most of them in Aragon, Catalonia, and Navarre, where the struggles of past eras, of the citizens against the lords, were repeated in this.

Importance of the bureaucracy.

With the advance both in royal authority and in the scope and extension of government it was inevitable that the new bureaucracy, which had made its appearance in the modern sense under the Catholic Kings, should increase in the number of its officials and in power until it absorbed a great part of the functions which the kings themselves had formerly exercised in person. Aside from the royal secretaries, the governor-generals (during the absence of the king), regents, and members of the various administrative groups there were often individuals without portfolios who exercised great power as private counselors of the king. Some of the members of the Consejo Real were also prominent in this extra-official way. The importance of the royal secretaries, of whom there were always more than one, was notably great in this period. Whenever one of them became the favorite, the others were nevertheless retained, grouping themselves around the one who had the ear of the king. The office of the latter became a universal bureau and secretariat of state (Secretaría de Estado y del Despacho Universal), presiding over the others.

Power of the Consejo Real.

Meanwhile, the Consejo Real advanced in power, and new councils were added. The most notable reform in the Consejo Real was its division in 1608 into four sections, or salas, respectively of government (Gobierno), justice (Justicia), “fifteen hundred” (Mil y quinientos), and the provinces (Provincia). The last three had to do with affairs of justice, while the Sala de Gobierno, the most important of the four, was supposed to concern itself mainly with politics and administration. Nevertheless, the variety of functions which had always characterized the Consejo as a whole applied in like manner to each of the salas. Thus the Sala de Gobierno handled such widely divergent matters as the extirpation of vice and sin, the economic development of the country, the decision in cases of conflict of laws or jurisdictions, cases of recourse of fuerza, the cleaning and improvement of Madrid, questions of peace and war, together with a great number of others. Moreover, many of its functions were judicial in character. Important affairs, especially those on which the king requested advice, were taken up by the Consejo in full (en pleno),—that is, by a joint meeting of the four salas. While the Consejo had been in origin a purely consultive body, it now acquired the privilege of making suggestions to the king of its own volition and of indicating its objections to any measures he might have taken. It was natural that the decisions, or autos, of the Consejo should have great weight, both as affecting matters of justice, and as concerned government and administration in general, since the Consejo might make new laws and annul or dispense with old ones, although of course consulting with the king before publishing its decision. The autos of the Consejo became, therefore, an important source of legislation, and in 1552 it was decided that they should have the same force as the laws of the king himself. Late in the sixteenth century it became customary to call the Consejo the Consejo de Castilla (Council of Castile), by which name, henceforth, it was more generally known.

Importance of the Cámara.

In like manner other councils were formed (in addition to those dating from the era of the Catholic Kings) which relieved the monarch of many of his responsibilities. The most important was the Consejo de la Real Cámara (Council of the Royal Chamber), more often called the Cámara de Castilla, or simply the Cámara. This was founded by Philip II in 1588 to assist him in handling such matters as the kings had always retained for themselves, apart from the Consejo Real, such as questions arising in connection with the patronato real, or royal patronage, of the church and appointments generally to the various councils, audiencias, and other important posts in Castilian administration. Men of the highest character were chosen to compose the Cámara, and secrecy as to their discussions was imposed upon them. In 1616 the Cámara advanced a step further, in that certain affairs—such as pardons for crime, authorizations for entailing estates in primogeniture, the naturalization of foreigners, and the removal of civil and political disabilities from individuals subject to them—were left for it to resolve without consulting the king. The king still intervened in the more important matters. Among the new councils of the era were those of finance (Hacienda), war (Guerra), and indulgences (Cruzada), all of Castilian origin.