Forging Imperial Cities: Seville and Formation of Civic Order in the Early Modern Hispanic World
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Forging Imperial Cities: Seville and Formation of Civic Order in the Early Modern Hispanic World By ©2014 Stephanie Stillo Submitted to the graduate degree program in History and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy ________________ Luis Corteguera Chair ________________ Marta Vicente ________________ Elizabeth Kuznesof ________________ Robert Schwaller ________________ Patricia Manning Date Defended: 12/11/2013 The Dissertation Committee for Stephanie Stillo certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Forging Imperial Cities: Seville and Formation of Civic Order in the Early Modern Hispanic World _______________________ Chairperson Luis Corteguera Date Approved: 12/11/2013 ii Abstract In 1503 the Spanish monarchy awarded the city of Seville a monopoly on Spanish-American trade. Serving as the gateway to Spain’s lucrative Atlantic Empire for over two centuries, the city fashioned itself as an imperial capital, and natural successor to ancient Rome. Despite never serving as the official capital to the Spanish Habsburgs, civic authorities in Seville nonetheless expressed their city’s wealth and nobility through an excess of laudatory histories, artwork, architectural renovations, and regional patron saints. This dissertation first contextualizes Seville’s prominence by exploring how Phillip II’s refusal to establish a permanent capital in Madrid until 1561 promoted competition between many cities in Castile, all of which saw themselves as potential contenders for the future imperial court. As Spain moved into Atlantic territories, this competition helped fashion the urban organizational strategy for colonial settlement in the New World. As Seville was the most important city in Spain during the early modern period, the city greatly influenced the conceptualization and development of Spanish-American cities between the late sixteenth to the early eighteenth centuries. Colonial capitals such as Mexico City found in Seville a language for expressing their inclusion in the Habsburgs’ global empire through lavish ceremonies and architecture which could establish their New World cities as distinctly Spanish and Catholic. By placing Seville at the center of the empire, my research will act as an amendment to contemporary Spanish historiography which has failed to fully recognize the influence of Andalusia in early colonial development. iii Acknowledgements To Kimberly Lynn and Amanda Eurich at Western Washington University, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude. It was through their guidance and persistence that I found my way to the University of Kansas. I would also like to acknowledge the immeasurable contribution of my dissertation committee from the Department of History at the University of Kansas. I am exceptionally grateful for the guidance and unconditional patience of Luis Corteguera, who has defined what it means to be mentor. In addition, the intellectual contribution of Marta Vicente, Elizabeth Kuznesof, Robert Schwaller, and Patricia Manning cannot be overstated. Without their unique insight and enthusiasm about my interests, as well as their own, this project would not have been possible. I would also like to thank my graduate cohort at the University of Kansas. Their continued friendship and dedication to academic excellence has made my experience at KU truly exceptional. There were many academic bodies that contributed to this research project. I most gratefully acknowledge: the Council on Library and Information Resources, The Truman Foundation, the Council for European Studies, as well as the Department of History and the Department of Latin American Studies at the University of Kansas. Lastly, I would like to acknowledge the immeasurable personal support of my family, particularly Sara Christine Styles, Frank Stillo, Joshua Benjamin Stillo, Rebecca Stillo, and my fiancé, Shelby Lane Callaway. iv Table of Contents Abstract……………………………………………….iii Acknowledgements……………………………….......iv Introduction…………………………………………....1 Chapter 1: …………………………………………….20 Chapter 2……………………………………………...50 Chapter 3……………………………………………...81 Chapter 4……………………………………………..118 Conclusion…………………………………………...157 Bibliography…………………………………………167 v INTRODUCTION “Communities are to be distinguished, not by their falsity/genuineness, but by the style in which they are imagined.”1 Benedict Anderson Imagined Communities “He who hath not seen Seville hath not seen wonder.”2 Richard Blome Geographical Description of the Four Parts of the World (1670) Spain and its Atlantic territories during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were a mosaic of old and new. In Castile, many regions were the product of Islamic domination in the medieval period, and possessed physical architecture, histories, and populaces which reflected their pre- Christian heritage. Efforts by local municipal authorities often embraced this non-Christian linage, emphasizing their victory in the reconquest of Spain and imagining their region’s history as sites of pitched battles against Islamic intruders. Promoting this narrative, cities like Seville and Toledo proudly recast their urban landscape as proof of their triumph over infidels and continued commitment to the Catholic faith. Civic monuments such as Seville’s Giralda and Toledo’s Santiago 1 Benedict Anderson, Imagined communities: reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism, Rev. and extended ed. (New York: Verso, 1991). 6. 2 Richard Blome, A geographical description of the four parts of the world taken from the notes and workes of the famous Monsieur Sanson, geographer to the French king, and other eminent travellers and authors (London: Printed by T. N. for R. Blome, 1670). 7-8. 1 del Arrabal - both mosques converted into churches – became layered narratives about both cities’ complicated past.3 Cities in Spanish-America were met with an equally challenging physical and conceptual landscape. Colonial officials, merchants, settlers and mendicant orders were constantly preoccupied by their efforts to integrate indigenous and African peoples into their social, political, and historical frameworks. As Spanish colonialism spread deeper into American territories, the question of how to unite disparate populations across vast distances became a vexing question to officials on both sides of the Atlantic. In an attempt to locate commonality, or a sense of community, in Spain’s complex, pre-national empire, this dissertation poses a fundamental question: In an empire which spanned two oceans and several continents and ruled over populations which lacked historic and linguistic commonality, where do we find what Benedict Anderson calls “stretchable nets” of cohesion and identity?4 In short, how did the monarchy and the people throughout Spain’s vast empire feel connected to one another? This dissertation will argue that cities became the necessary imaginary for uniting the Habsburgs’ diverse populations both in Castile and their Spanish-American territories. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, urban centers in the Spanish empire united in festivals, artwork, and architecture that could prove their urban, and thus civilized, identity to the monarchy. In early modern Castile, urbanity became synonymous with civility. Spanish cities became the backdrop for 3 While some cities effectively recast their past to reaffirm their relevance to the monarchy, other cities in Castile declined in significance due to their inability to reconcile their history of Islamic dominance to a supposedly unified Christian present. For example, despite the efforts of civic leaders in Granada to distance the city from its Moorish heritage through overt displays of loyalty to the crown and mythologized local histories, the city continued to struggle with its non-Christian past throughout the early modern period. For this see, William Childers, ""Granada": Race and Place in Early Modern Spain," in Spectacle and Topophilia: Reading Early Modern and Postmodern Hispanic Cultures, ed. David R Castillo and Bradley J. Nelson (Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2011). For successful attempts at reform, see Chapters One and Two of this dissertation, which were greatly influenced by the informative work, Amanda Wunder, "Classical, Christian, and Muslim Remains in the Construction of Imperial Seville (1520-1635)," Journal of the History of Ideas 64, no. 2 (2003). 4 Anderson, Imagined communities: reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism: 6. 2 visual and textual competitions to prove their historic ties to Catholicism and contemporary devotion to the crown. As Spain moved into Atlantic territories, cities became the organizational strategy for colonial settlement, making urban (or civic) identity the social and political bridge which united the Habsburgs’ diverse populations across the ocean. Attempting to exceed the grandeur and wealth of their Old World contemporaries, New World city officials funded festivals and artwork which recast the physical landscape of colonial cities as an ideal urban setting realized, arguing that Spanish- America uniquely lacked the architectural constraints of established Old World cities. Key to understanding Spain’s urban imaginary during the early modern period is locating comparable models. This proves no easy task in sixteenth- and seventeen-century Spain. Most urban historians interested in European cities focus on metropolises such as London, Paris, or Rome, all capital cities