In what ways and to what extent does the concept of Spain's 'Golden Age' apply more specifically to the reign of Philip II than to the whole of the period 1474-1598?

Authors Avatar

Andrea Newton                                                        January 2003

History A Level

Coursework

PART B

In what ways and to what extent does the concept of Spain’s ‘Golden Age’ apply more specifically to the reign of Philip II than to the whole of the period 1474-1598?  Justify your answer by reference to the similarities and differences between the periods before and after the accession of Philip II in 1556.

        The phrase ‘Golden Age’ is used to describe the period of rule in Spain in 1474–1598.  During this time, there were four monarch’s ruling; Ferdinand and Isabella both sat on the throne in 1479–1516, Charles between the years 1516-56, and Philip, his successor between 1556-98.

        According to Jill Kilsby, the phrase ‘Golden Age’ “is bound to be instigated and enjoyed by the rich elite classes alone”.  I agree with Kilsby to some extent, however, monarchs cannot rule without support and advice from government, who therefore, play a vital part in producing a ‘Golden Age’.  Also, the giving of royal patronage due to a monarch’s success can involve the gentry and normal folk.  I believe a ‘Golden Age’ is how successful a monarch rules with the following factors.  Their government should be stable and supportive with little disagreements to the decisions the monarch makes.  The monarchs should be financially and economically stable throughout their reign.  Military success to gain territorial expansion is of importance, however, internal peace, order and national/international unity in my opinion is more important.  Confidence in a monarch regarding their nation and identity is of vital importance to contribute to the overall perception of a nation.  Religion is likely to be the most contributing factor in causing riots and wars.  The success of a monarch and how they deal with differences in religion is vital in portraying a successful ‘Golden Age’.  

        Philip II ruled from 1556-98, and his form of governing was far from the same as his father’s.  He preferred staying in one place to make decisions rather than move around the country with a body of advisors.  As a result of Philip’s reluctance to delegate, his workload mounted up.  This resulted in Philip being the only one who knew all the details of matters, leaving his advisors with little knowledge and little advice to give.  The government of this time was very unstable, being both “reluctant to and incapable of making major decisions fast”.  This posed problems, which continued throughout Philip’s reign.   They did not know how to deal with inflation, and there were problems not only in Spain, but  in other countries of the empire.  Opposition to Philip arose, showing the working of the Spanish government at it’s most ineffective.  

        There were elements of success to Spain’s government.  It became more centralised during Philip’s reign, as central government offices were set up in Madrid, making it easier to be called upon.  There was also success abroad in the Indies.  Philip’s advisors (the juntas) were of more use to the king, than the government at this time.        

        Philip was at war with France at the beginning of his reign, and as he was suffering financially, he had to end this war.  He was left a large amount of debt by his father, giving him no choice but to cancel payments on all of his debts in 1557.  Philip was declared bankrupt on three occasions and had to finance many wars.  Inflation was another hurdle for Philip, as he had to find means of funding government, the military and naval requirements.  The only option to overcome this was to reduce expenditure, increase income and borrow.  These proved to be of some success to Philip as his financial position increased.  However, Philip’s financial policies were unpopular.  But, Philip managed to receive a large amount of annual income from the Indies, in the form of silver and custom duty taxes.  Overall, there was never enough income for Philip to deal with the financial difficulties of his reign, and he was never able to fully pay back his borrowings.  

Philip had little military success, but managed to increase his empire by a large amount.  Firstly, there were two rebellions against Philip in 1567 and 1572, because of his policies in the Netherlands.  The success over the moriscos in 1568, whose fighting “marked by cruelty and massacres were eventually defeated by government forces in 1570”, was an overall failure as Philip’s method of dealing with those not captured or made slaves was not successful.  

Join now!

Philip’s Armada failed in 1588 as “more than half the ships sent were destroyed and 15,000 men died”.  The king could not accept defeat and retaliated by “seizing all English ships in Spanish ports for English piracies in the west Indies”.  Philip planned to invade Ireland, giving him a closer base to invade England, but this failed as Philip lost his second Armada.  At home, rebellion broke out in Aragon in 1591.  “The lesser nobility suspected that this was Philip’s first step in taking away their local power”.  Philip sent in his army to resolve the problem.  A religious military ...

This is a preview of the whole essay