Spanish Society, 1348–1700

Spanish Society, 1348–1700 Beginning with the Black Death in 1348 and extending through to the demise of Habsburg rule in 1700, this second edition of Spanish Society, 1348–1700 has been expanded to provide a wide and compelling explora- tion of Spain’s transition from the Middle Ages to modernity. Each chapter builds on the frst edition by offering new evidence of the changes in Spain’s social structure between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries. Every part of society is examined, culminating in a fnal section that is entirely new to the second edition and presents the changing social practices of the period, particularly in response to the growing crises facing Spain as it moved into the seventeenth century. Also new to this edition is a consideration of the social meaning of culture, specifcally the presence of Hermetic themes and of magical elements in Golden Age literature and Cervantes’s Don Quijote. Through the extensive use of case studies, historical examples and literary extracts, Spanish Society is an ideal way for students to gain direct access to this captivating period. Teoflo F. Ruiz is Professor of History at the University of California, Los Angeles. His previous publications include A King Travels: Festive Tradi- tions in Late Medieval and Early Modern Spain (2012), Spain, 1300–1469: Centuries of Crises (2007), Medieval Europe and the World (2005) and From Heaven to Earth: The Reordering of Castilian Society, 1150–1350 (2004). Spanish Society, 1348–1700 Second Edition Teoflo F. Ruiz Second edition published 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2017 Teoflo F. Ruiz The right of Teoflo F. Ruiz to be identifed as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifcation and explanation without intent to infringe. First edition published by Pearson Education Limited 2001 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Ruiz, Teoflo F., 1943– author. Title: Spanish society, 1348–1700 / Teoflo F. Ruiz. Description: Second edition. | Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifers: LCCN 2016055547 | ISBN 9781138957862 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781138999053 (hbk : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315180960 (ebook : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Spain—Social conditions—to 1800. | Spain—Social life and customs. | Spain—History—711–1516. | Spain—History— House of Austria, 1516–1700. | Social classes—Spain. Classifcation: LCC HN583 .R85 2017 | DDC 306.0946—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016055547 ISBN: 978-1-138-99905-3 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-95786-2 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-18096-0 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by Apex CoVantage, LLC To Sir John H. Elliott ¡Qué amigo de sus amigos! ¡Qué señor para criados y parientes! ¡Qué enemigo de enemigos! ¡Qué maestro de esforçados y valientes! ¡Qué seso para discretos! ¡Qué gracia para donosos! ¡Qué razón! ¡Qué benigno a los sujetos y a los bravos y dañosos, un león! Jorge Manrique Contents List of tables ix Preface to the second edition x Preface to the frst edition xiv Acknowledgements xvi Introduction: from medieval to early modern 1 PART I The geographical and political setting 9 1 The making of Spain 11 PART II A society of orders 43 2 Those who have not: peasants and town dwellers 45 3 Those who have: nobility and clergy 77 4 On the margins of society 104 PART III The structures of everyday life 131 5 Festivals and power: sites of inclusion and exclusion 133 6 From Carnival to Corpus Christi: festivals of affrmation 155 7 The burdens of violence: sites of confict 176 8 Resisting violence: the wrath of the poor 202 viii Contents 9 The patterns of everyday life: eating and dressing 224 10 The patterns of everyday life: religion, honour, sexuality and popular culture 248 PART IV Culture and society in an age of decline 269 11 Spain under the late Habsburgs: society in an age of crisis I 271 12 Spain under the late Habsburgs: society in an age of crisis II 290 Conclusion 310 Appendix I: chronology of events, 1348–1700 316 Appendix II: glossary of terms 320 Bibliography 323 Index 336 Tables 2.1 City population in early modern Spain 63 2.2 The population of Seville, 1384–1594 65 2.3 A typology of urban social groups in Seville 66 2.4 Changes in trades in Barcelona, 1516–1717 70 9.1 Summary of caloric intake of Spanish sailors in the early seventeenth century 235 Preface to the second edition Preface to the second edition of Spanish society, 1348–1700 The frst edition of Spanish Society, 1400–1600 appeared more than a decade and a half ago in 2001. Since then, there have been many important works on the social history of early modern Europe and of late medieval and early modern Spain. My own work has changed dramatically over that period of time and, although I still think that my book has held its own over the period since its frst publication, clearly, there are many things I would do quite dif- ferently today. Over the course of my long career, I have written many books to the chagrin of trees and to the well-being of insomniacs. Of all the books I have written, however, Spanish Society has always been, and remains, my favourite. When I wrote it towards the end of the twentieth century, I was able to work on both sides of the chronological divide (the dreaded 1492) and to argue against the rigid distinctions between medieval and early modern. The book also allowed me to draw from literature and to use culture as a means to understand social structures and the social meaning of cultural artefacts. As such, though profoundly anchored in social history, the frst edition of Spanish Society, 1400–1600 sought to integrate culture into social developments. Liking the original so much, I am a bit reluctant to admit that a highly revised second edition is necessary. One’s own sense of possession of one’s work and the illusory sense that the works one writes are truly endur- ing (which of course they are not) may lead me to attempt only a cosmetic reassessment of my 2001 efforts. This is not the case here, and over the years I have come to realise that a somewhat longer and different book, while not discarding what was accomplished in the frst edition, was necessary. Chronology, geography, culture and religion: Spain in a global society Chronology I should begin with the most obvious change in the nature of this second edition, that is, changes in the chronological span of the book. In the frst Preface to the second edition xi edition, I was constrained by the dates dictated by the demands for a series on social history for which my Spanish Society, 1400–1600 was just one of the volumes commissioned by the general editor of the series. Although I sought to provide some background for the period before 1400, as well as to go well beyond 1600 and to illustrate some discreet aspects of social change with historical vignettes drawn from before and after those chronological boundaries, the results were not always satisfactory. Clearly, the sweeping impact of the Black Death in the mid-fourteenth century, the end of Alfonso XI’s reign in 1350 (the only king to die from the plague in West- ern Europe and to maintain some semblance of order in Castile during the turbulent fourteenth century), the rising tide of violence against religious minorities and myriad of other developments had an important impact on the social structures of peninsular kingdoms. These developments need to be explicated in greater detail if one is to make sense of social change in the later centuries. The frst edition chronological terminus, 1600, coincided roughly with an important landmark, the death of Philip II in 1598, widespread epidemics throughout Iberia and economic decline. Nonetheless, for the next hundred years, the Habsburgs still ruled in the different Spanish kingdoms. Clearly, the seventeenth century witnessed the almost break-up of the Spanish monarchy in 1640, military defeats in the Low Countries and elsewhere in Cen- tral Europe, the rise of France, the Dutch republic and, to a lesser extent, England (all three enemies of Spain) as the hegemonic power(s) in Western Europe. The seventeenth century also observed the fnal settlement of religious warfare but without any real gains after more than a century of war. The troubled (almost tragic) end of the Habsburg dynasty in the Iberian Peninsula in 1700 triggered new social issues. We cannot see the develop- ment of new attitudes towards social groups or the rise of religious sensi- bilities unless we understand the political and cultural context of the long seventeenth century. It was, after all, a general European crisis that affected Spain as much as it did the rest of the continent. The War of Spanish Suc- cession, the coming of a Bourbon dynasty to rule Spain in the eighteenth century and beyond signalled a new period in Spain’s (now truly Spain as a centralised monarchy to the detriment of traditional autonomies and liber- ties) institutions, economy and social life.

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