The End of Spanish Hapsburg Rule in Naples

CHAPTER SIX THE END OF SPANISH HAPSBURG RULE IN NAPLES Since the late fifteenth century the political life of Naples was con trolled by Spain; its connections with the kingdom of Aragon went back even further. The fortune of Naples had risen with that of Spain and it suffered with it in its decline in the seventeenth century. Imperial failure need not correlate, as in the recent example of the Soviet Union, with a deluded, blundering, inefficient or corrupt administra tion. Braudel, his followers, and other historians have argued persua sively that the post-Renaissance decline of the Mediterranean world was due more to the lay of the land than any failure of nerve, of vision blinkered by ideology, or of a weakening of the joints in the Spanish or, for that matter, the Ottoman Empires. The accomplish ment and trials of early modern Spain have been the subject of new studies and assessments. Naples has been the beneficiary of this change of historiographical fortunes; Neapolitan and other historians have re-evaluated the limits and successes of the Spanish rule of southern Italy.1 The very practical problem of Spanish royal succession consumed a large amount of Spain's productive energy at the end of the sev enteenth century. Charles II, born in 1661 came to the throne with the death of his father Philip IV in 1664. Many were amazed that Charles lived as long as he did; he was continuously ill and consid ered deformed. Yet he must have had amazing reserves of strength, for despite continuous medical attention he survived almost forty years. It was inevitable that he marry and at first he was coupled with Maria Louisa Bourbon; their union produced no off-spring. Her death in 1689 required that the martital experiment be tried again, this time with Maria Anna of Neuburg. Charles "the sufferer", as he has 1 An excellent sampling of this work has been translated into English by Antonio Calabria and John A. Marino, Good Government in Spanish Maples (New York: Peter Lang, 1990). See also Antonio Calabria, The Cost of Empire: The Finances of the King dom of Naples in the Time of Spanish Rule (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991). John Marino's Pastoral Economics in the Kingdom of Naples, especially Pt. 3 and 5 deals with this topic. THE END OF SPANISH HAPSBURG RULE 111 become known, did not accomplish his purpose, nor did the mar riage offer much joy. His continuing life thwarted the plans of those who anticipated his death; he outlived projected successors and many who had plotted to partition the Spanish Empire. It seemed the infant Electoral Prince of Bavaria, born in 1698, would succeed to the throne, at least that was the agreement be tween Louis XIV and William III, ruler of Holland and England. The child's sudden death in 1699 ended this possibility. The remain ing heirs meant a choice between the families of the Austrian Hapsburgs or of the Bourbons, an impossible alternative. Charles died on November 1, 1700 and willed his kingdom to Philip of Anjou, a grandson of Louis XIV. Louis chose to recognize the will and early in 1701 Louis sent French troops into the Spanish Nether lands. The territory so vigorously disputed in the previous war, the Nine Years War, fell into French hands; the complex system of Dutch garrisons occupying fortified areas in this region which had been arranged by the peace treaty at Rijswijk in 1697 came to naught, for the Dutch decided not to fight. On September 16, 1701, England's displaced sovereign, James II, died; Louis promptly proclaimed his recognition of James' son as the rightful English king. Louis, having offended Austria, and then the Dutch and now the English, made war inevitable, though this time Spain was on the side of France. In Naples the news of Charles' death arrived on November 20, 1700; this followed the bad news at the end of September, that the Neapolitan pope Innocent XII had died. The opera season which had begun in November was cancelled. In the language of the time there was an outpouring of universal mourning. Not the least would be the moanings of the singers and musicians whose contracts were declared void.2 Worse was the prospect of a carnival season without opera; only Spanish mourning could require such sacrifice. Was there to be no singing in the theaters? Well then musical comedy would move back outside to the large public space in front of the Angevine castle. There Neapolitans could hear their music presented under the cover of the puppet theater. The musicians were concealed by a 2 Medina Codi asked Maria Maddalena Musi who had expected to sing three operas that season to stay on until the summer. She refused to do this unless she was given her anticipated salary and a supplement; Medina Coeli responded by paying her a third of her pay and ordering her out of town in four hours. Eventu ally a kind of accomodation was reached. See John Rosselli, Singers of Italian Opera, p. 22. .

Load more