UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title The Shaping of Empire: History Writing and Imperial Identity in Early Modern Spain Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/53k0k0pb Author Gonzales, Michael Andrew Publication Date 2013 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California The Shaping of Empire: History Writing and Imperial Identity in Early Modern Spain By Michael Andrew Gonzales A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Thomas Dandelet, Chair Professor William B. Taylor Professor Ignacio Navarrete Fall 2013 Abstract The Shaping of Empire: History Writing and Imperial Identity in Early Modern Spain by Michael Andrew Gonzales Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Berkeley Professor Thomas Dandelet, Chair Previous studies on politics and history writing in early modern Europe have focused on how early modern monarchs commissioned official royal histories that served to glorify the crown and its achievements. These works discuss the careers of royal historians and their importance at court, and examine how the early modern crown controlled history writing. In the case of Spain, scholars have argued that Spanish monarchs, particularly Philip II, strictly controlled the production of history writing by censoring texts, destroying and seizing manuscripts, and at times restricting history writing to authorized historians. Modern scholars have largely avoided analyzing the historical studies themselves, and have ignored histories written by non-royal historians. My dissertation broadens the discussion by examining a variety of histories written by royal historians and authors from outside of the court, including clerics, bureaucrats, and military officers, motivated to write histories by their concern over Spain’s recent imperial policies and campaigns. Their discussion of important events in Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Americas uncovers the historical significant of empire as a concept, legacy, and burden during the rise and decline of Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. My analysis of these works explores the uses of history writing as political commentary and as a platform for the expression of national, regional, and imperial identities. The historians covered in this dissertation weigh in on the crown’s past and present policies, and their texts reveal insights into the political culture of early modern Spain. Many of the authors covered in this study glorify the might of the Spanish monarchy and its status as the protector of the Catholic Church, and they celebrate Spain’s wars against Protestants in Europe and the Ottomans in the Mediterranean. Nevertheless, some Spanish historians rejected this imperial triumphalism, contrary to the view commonly expressed in modern scholarship. Non- royal histories of Philip II’s controversial intervention in the French intervention, for example, reveal an important evolution in thinking about Spain’s imperial legacy, demonstrating a shift from glorification of empire characteristic of royal histories penned during Philip II’s reign, to a more sober assessment in the early seventeenth century, that includes recommendations for fewer military interventions abroad in favor of protecting Spain and its empire. This critical slant was also found in colonial Latin American history writing during the reign of Philip III. The famous mestizo historian Garcilaso de la Vega El Inca used his work to criticize colonial 1 policies enacted under Philip II and advocate for reforms in the imperial administration of the New World. My findings alter conventional wisdom about the thrust of history writing in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which has emphasized contemporary historians’ universal praise of Philip II and his campaigns. Moreover, the multiple print runs of these histories, which passed through royal and Inquisitorial censors, reveals that readers took a keen interest in the discussion and suggests wider concern over Spain’s imperial policies. By analyzing royal and non-royal histories, we discover a critical discourse among historians on Spain’s past, present, and future, and find evidence that the crown and the Church permitted a freer expression of political views than previously argued. 2 Contents Acknowledgements ii Introduction iii Chapter 1: History Writing, Spanish Triumphalism, and the French Wars of Religion 1 Chapter 2: History Writing in the Service of the Crown 20 Chapter 3: The Two-Faced King 49 Chapter 4: A New Vision of Empire 72 Chapter 5: Victory in Defeat 89 Chapter 6: History Writing and Imperial Rivalry in the Mediterranean 112 Chapter 7: Peru and the Paths of Empire 143 Conclusion 177 Bibliography 182 i Acknowledgements I owe an immense amount of gratitude to my advisor Thomas Dandelet, who first introduced me to the topic of empire and history writing during my first year of graduate study at the University of California, Berkeley. Without his support, encouragement, and guidance this project would not have been possible. I am also deeply indebted to William Taylor and Ignacio Navarrete, who pushed me to think beyond the field of early modern European history. Fellowships from UC Berkeley and Brown University allowed me to research and write this project. Lastly I would like to thank my family for their constant love and support. I am incredibly grateful for everything my father, mother, grandmother, and brother have done over the years to help me reach this milestone. ii Introduction Since ancient times, scribes, chroniclers, prophets and historians have written texts meant to shape our understanding of the past and to influence politics, society, religion, philosophy, and culture, frequently by celebrating the actions and thinking of rulers. These texts include iconic histories such as those by Herodotus and Tacitus, and the Old and New Testaments which have shaped our understanding of history, culture and religion. The Renaissance brought about a renewed appreciation for Greek and Roman cultural achievement, and the invention of the printing press enhanced the ability of religious reformers, philosophers, monarchs and their spokesmen to convey information and analysis to a wider audience. The Reformation, the discovery of the New World, Christendom’s clash with the Ottomans in the Mediterranean, rivalries among Catholic and Protestant princes, among other things, were urgent issues that were contested on the battlefield as well as in books, pamphlets, and broadsides. During the sixteenth century, Spain was at the center of these developments. The exploitation of New World silver made Spain the richest empire in the world, and gave the Spanish monarchy the resources to defend dynastic interests and to expand its political influence in Europe and beyond. The reign of Philip II (1555-1598) is commonly seen as the highpoint of the Spanish imperial enterprise. During his long rule the Prudent King definitively put an end to French pretensions over Italy, repelled the Ottoman Empire from the western Mediterranean, solidified Spanish control in Italy, and combated Protestantism both inside and outside of his domains. Beyond the confines of Europe Philip II reformed the colonial administration of the Americas and oversaw the expansion of Spanish power into the Philippines. Philip II’s acquisition of the kingdom of Portugal and his far-flung colonial holdings in Asia and Africa in 1580 gave birth to an empire of unprecedented size that stretched across the globe. Nevertheless, signs of the Spanish empire’s vulnerability began to appear in the final decades of Philip II’s reign. The war against the Dutch rebels, which had begun in 1566, had turned into a quagmire with no end in sight by the late sixteenth century. The famous defeat of the Armada in 1588 was a costly and embarrassing loss for the Spanish crown that emboldened the English Queen Elizabeth I to encourage Francis Drake and others to undertake daring attacks against Spain and her colonies. Philip II’s decision to intervene in the longstanding French Wars of Religion to prevent the Protestant Henry of Navarre from inheriting the throne proved to be another expensive and largely fruitless campaign. In spite of the lucre flowing from the Americas the Spanish crown often had great difficulty funding these multiple wars, and on several occasions Philip II was forced to declare bankruptcy to his bankers. Broadly speaking, this project attempts to uncover the various ways that early modern Spanish historians treated Philip II and his monumental imperial enterprise in their texts. The focus will be on histories of the crown’s recent wars written by Spaniards in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. These historians ventured into controversial territory as they covered still smoldering conflicts that did not always end well for the Spanish crown. Their works were political commentaries on the state of the Spanish empire that threw into relief the pressing political, military, and economic issues of the day. The shifting depictions of Philip II found in these works reflected broad issues of empire in the early modern world. An analysis of these histories reveals the connection between politics, history writing, and imperial identity in early modern Spain. In recent years the topic of history