IT has already been pointed out that the union of Castile and Aragon under the Catholic Kings lacked a real political or institutional basis. Both monarchs signed papers applicable to the two kingdoms and exercised personal influence, each with the other, but although Ferdinand assisted his consort in Castilian affairs, Isabella was clearly regarded as ruler in Castile, as Ferdinand was in Aragon. The latter’s will advised Charles I to maintain the separation of the kingdoms and to conduct their affairs through native officials. Nevertheless, the long continuance of the same royal family at the head of both was bound to produce a greater unity eventually. Castile was drawn into European politics through the medium of the Aragonese wars in Italy. On the other hand, she tended to become the centre of authority and influence on account of the greater extent of her territory (especially with the addition of Granada, Navarre, and the Americas), her greater wealth, the royal practice of residing in Castile, and the more advanced social and political condition of Castile as the result of Isabella’s reforms.

Both sovereigns followed the policy of centralization in their respective kingdoms. In Castile the major problem was the reduction of the oligarchical nobility, for the middle classes had already been won over in great part when Isabella ascended the throne. Her success in reducing the lawless nobles has already been discussed; it only remains to point out the significance of the act by which she completed this task,—her incorporation of the masterships of the military orders into the crown. The principal element in the three great orders of Santiago, Calatrava, and AlcÁntara were the segundones of great noble families and members of the lesser nobility. Not only by their military power but also by their numbers and wealth these orders constituted a potential danger to the crown unless their action could be controlled. An estimate of the year 1493 showed that there were 700,000 members and vassals in the order of Santiago, and 200,000 and 100,000 respectively in those of Calatrava and AlcÁntara. The first-named had annual revenues of some 60,000 ducats ($900,000), and the two last combined, some 95,000 ($1,425,000). With the masterships in royal hands the probability of civil strife was greatly lessened.

As regards the towns the Catholic Kings followed precisely the same practices which had been employed with such success in the previous era. It was rare, indeed, that they suppressed charters, but circumstances like those already recorded[52] enabled the corregidores and other royal officers to exercise virtual control. Meanwhile, the process of unification was going on through the ordinances of the Cortes and royal decrees, fortified by the unrecorded development of similarity in customs in Castilian municipal life. This was furthered by the representatives of the towns themselves, for royal and municipal interests were usually in accord. Noteworthy extensions of royal authority appeared in the subjection of local officials to the residencia (or trial during a number of days after the completion of a term of office, to determine the liability of an official for the wrongful acts of his administration) and in the sending of royal pesquisidores, or enquirers (in cases of crime), and veedores (inspectors), later more often called visitadores (visitors), to investigate matters of government, such as the accounts of financial agents and the conduct of public officers. These institutions were later transferred to the Americas, becoming an important means of sustaining the authority of the mother country. In some instances the Catholic Kings resorted to force to reduce municipalities which were too autonomous in character, notably in the case of the hermandad of the north coast towns, whose decadence dates from this reign.

The royalist ideal was manifested strikingly in the relations of the Catholic Kings with the Castilian Cortes. From 1475 to 1503 the Cortes was summoned but nine times, and during the years 1482 to 1498, at a time when Granada was being conquered, America discovered and occupied, the new Inquisition instituted, and the Jews expelled, it did not meet even once. Its decline was evidenced still further in the increasingly respectful language employed whenever it addressed the monarch and its growing dependence on the Consejo Real, which body subjected the acts of the Cortes to its own revision and whose president acted in a similar capacity for the Cortes.

Ferdinand followed the same policy in Aragon. The various Cortes of Aragon, Catalonia, and Valencia and the general Cortes of all three were infrequently called; the king acted in an arbitrary manner in his methods of raising funds, without observing the spirit of the laws. It was in his dealings with Barcelona that he most clearly manifested the royalist tendency, for that city was the most powerful element in the kingdom. Through his intervention the practice of electing the five concelleres, or councillors, was suspended in favor of royal appointment, and the Consell, or council of a hundred, was altered so that it was no longer democratic but represented the will of the monarch. The fact that these changes were made without provoking resistance and almost without protest shows how utterly dead were the political ideals of the past.

The concentration in royal hands of so many powers which were formerly exercised by the lords and towns made necessary the development of a numerous and varied officialdom to assist the monarch. As the basis of the new bureaucracy in Castile the Catholic Kings had at hand the Consejo Real, which with some changes was admirably adapted to the purpose. The first step was to rid it of the great nobles. In 1480 the untitled letrados became a majority in this body. The counts, dukes, and marquises were still allowed to attend, but were deprived of the right to vote. Shortly afterward they were excluded altogether, and the Consejo Real now responded without question to the will of the king. It served as the head of the various branches of the bureaucratic organization, with the final decision, subject to the wishes of the king, in all matters of government. Pressure of work led to the formation of three additional councils, those of the Inquisition (InquisiciÓn), the military orders, (Órdenes Militares), and the Americas, or Indies (Indias), while there were still others in the kingdom of Aragon. Particularly important among the other officials was the monarch’s private secretary, who came to have a very nearly decisive influence, owing to the favor he enjoyed with the head of the state. A horde of other officers, old and new, made up the ranks of the bureaucracy. Among the older group it is to be noted that the adelantados were supplanted by alcaldes mayores, until only one of the former was left. Among newer officials the important inquisitors and veedores, or visitadores, should be noted.

A similar development to that of the executive branch was experienced in the administration of justice. The fountain-head was the chancillerÍa at the capital, Valladolid, to which were subordinate in a measure the several regional audiencias, which were now established for the first time, besides the hierarchy of the judiciary of lower grades. In addition to unifying and regulating the judicial system the Catholic Kings gave attention to the internal purification of the courts, with a view to eliminating the unfit or undesirable and to checking abuses. The corrupt practices of those outside the courts were also attacked, especially powerful persons who attempted to overawe judges or procure a miscarriage of justice. One of the principal difficulties encountered was that of conflicts of jurisdiction, notably in the case of the church courts. Good Catholic though she was, Isabella was determined in her opposition to ecclesiastical invasions of royal jurisdiction, but despite her energetic measures the issue was far from being decided in her day. In line with the royal policy of settling disputes by law rather than by force the use of firearms was prohibited, gambling was persecuted, and the riepto (or judicial duel, the last survival of medieval procedure) was abolished. Good order in the present-day sense was far from existing, and this led to a revival of the medieval idea of the hermandades for the punishment of crimes committed in uninhabited places or small villages as well as for the pursuit and execution generally of those guilty of felony. The Santa Hermandad, with its capital at Toledo, was created as a kind of judicial body, sustained by the groups of citizens who formed part of it, employing a militia of mounted men, and making use of summary methods and extreme penalties in its procedure. Its life as an effective body was brief, although it continued to exist for many years. On the other hand the medieval hermandad of Toledo enjoyed a revival of life and usefulness.[53]

It is hardly necessary to trace the administrative and judicial reforms of Ferdinand in Aragon. Suffice to say that they followed the Castilian pattern much more closely, indeed, than in the matter of social organization.

The Castilian Inquisition, first created in 1478 for specific and temporary objects, underwent considerable modification when retained as a permanent body to combat heresy in general. The popes refused to allow it to be in all respects a royal instrument, and retained the right of appointing or dismissing inquisitors, permitting the kings to recommend candidates. The expansion of the institution from Seville to other cities in Spain and the creation of a supreme council of the Inquisition have already been mentioned. XimÉnez, who became head of the Inquisition of Castile in 1507, extended its operations to Africa and the Americas. The methods of trial were harsh, though less so if gauged by the standards of that time. Torture was used as a means of obtaining confessions. The accused was kept utterly apart from his family and friends, who did not learn what had become of him until his liberation or his appearance in an auto de fe. The same secrecy was employed in dealing with the prisoner, who was informed of the general charge against him, without the details and without knowing his accuser’s name. He was allowed to indicate those in whom he lacked confidence, and if he should chance to hit upon an accuser that person’s evidence was eliminated. Two witnesses against him were sufficient to outweigh any testimony he might give. He might have a lawyer, but could not confer with him in private. He might also object to a judge whose impartiality he had reason to suspect, and could appeal to the pope. Penalties varied from the imposition of a light penance to imprisonment or burning to death. Burning in effigy of those who escaped or burning of the remains of those who had died was also practised. The auto de fe represented, as the words imply, merely the decision in the given case, and not the imposition of the penalty as has often been stated. The general rule was for the executions to take place on holidays, which in Spain are indeed “holy days,” or days in celebration of events in church history. A procession was held, in which the functionaries of the Inquisition took part. A public announcement of the decisions was made, and those who were condemned to death were turned over to the civil authorities, who carried out the execution in the customary place. As has already been said, the imposition of sentences was accompanied by confiscations or the levy of fines. Since the Inquisition was supported by these amercements there were numerous scandals in connection therewith. Certain royal orders implied, and complaints by men of such standing as Juan de Daza, bishop of Cordova, directly charged, that the Inquisition displayed a too great eagerness to insure its financial standing by confiscations. On one occasion it seems that the estate of a wealthy victim of the Inquisition was divided between Cardinal Carvajal, the inquisitor Lucero, the royal treasurer Morales, and Ferdinand’s private secretary. The funds did not belong in law to the Inquisition. That body collected them and turned them over to the king, who granted them back again.

The new Castilian and Aragonese states required greatly increased funds and a royal army, and both of these matters received the careful consideration of Ferdinand and Isabella. In financial affairs their activities were twofold: to procure more revenues; and to bring about greater economy in their collection and administration. The revocation of earlier land grants was one measure productive of income, since the taxes from them now went to the crown rather than to the lords. Two sources of revenue of a religious character were procured by papal grant. One of these was the cruzada, or sale of indulgences, based on the crusade (cruzada) against the Moslems. Designed for a temporary purpose it became an enduring element in the royal income. The other was the diezmo, or tithe, presumably for the same objects as the cruzada, although it too was diverted to other uses. Great attention was paid to the administration of the remunerative alcabala, and to stamp taxes and customs duties. The treasury department as a modern institution may be said to date from this era. In addition the Catholic Kings corrected abuses in the coinage of money. The final result is shown in the increase in the revenues from about 900,000 reales[54] in 1474 to well over 26,000,000 in 1504. Expenses were so heavy, however, that more than once a resort to loans was necessary.

The army kept pace with other institutions in the advance out of medievalism into modernity. The seigniorial levies, unequal in size and subversive of discipline as well as a potential danger, were virtually done away with after the Granadine war, although such bodies appeared occasionally even in the next era. In their place were substituted a larger royal army at state expense and the principle of universal military service. One man in every twelve of those between twenty and forty years of age was held liable, but did not take the field and was not paid except when specifically called. The glory of the new professional army attracted many who had formerly served the great lords, including a number of the nobility and the adventurous element. Under the leadership of Gonzalo de Ayora and especially of the “great captain,” Gonzalo de CÓrdoba, noteworthy reforms in tactics were made. The army was now an aggregation of equal groups, based on battalions and companies, while the larger divisions were assigned a proportionate number of infantry, cavalry, and artillery. From this period date many current military titles: colonel, captain, and others. Arms and equipment were much improved and military administration bettered. The importance of firearms was just becoming recognized; cannon, firing balls of stone, played a prominent part in the war with Granada. A similar if less pronounced development appeared in the navy. The admiral of Castile, who had enjoyed a semi-independent sinecure, now lost much of his authority, for many of his powers were taken over by the crown.

The reforms which have been chronicled were the result of a great body of legislation, most of which emanated directly from the crown, although some important laws were enacted in conjunction with the Cortes. Taken with the variety of legislation in preceding years it caused not a little confusion as to the precise principle governing a specific case. This led to the compilation by Alfonso DÍaz de Montalvo of the Ordenanzas Reales de Castilla (1484?), or Royal Ordinances of Castile, commonly called the Ordinance (Ordenamiento) of Doctor Montalvo, in which were set forth various ordinances of the Cortes since that of AlcalÁ in 1348 and certain orders of the kings from the time of Alfonso X, together with some provisions of earlier date. In all, 1163 laws were included, of which 230 belonged to the era of the Catholic Kings. Although it is not certain, the Ordenanzas seems to have been promulgated as law, and in any event was very influential, running through thirteen editions down to the year 1513. The compilation was far from meeting the full requirement of the times, however. Besides being incomplete, as was only to be expected, it contained various inaccuracies of form and substance. Furthermore, with such varying elements still in effect as the Partidas and the medieval fueros, besides the unwritten transformation and unification which had been going on for two centuries (as a result of royalist policies), there was need for a clear and methodical revision of Castilian legislation. Various other publications covering special phases of the laws, such as the Ordenanzas de Alcabalas (1491), or Ordinances of the Alcabala, the already mentioned Leyes de Toro (1505), and the privileges of the Mesta (1511), date from this era, while there was a similar tendency toward legislative publication in the Catalonian and Valencian parts of the kingdom of Aragon.

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.