Unifying Spain: The Canary Islands, Portugal, and State Organization Under the Catholic Monarchs
The Canary Islands and Portugal
The Canary Islands were disputed between Castile and Portugal during the war of succession, until Portugal relinquished the archipelago.
The conquest was an unequal fight, bringing demographic collapse due to indigenous diseases brought from the peninsula.
Many people shared land with peninsulars, especially Andalusians, who enslaved the local population despite prohibitions.
Castile and Portugal were pioneers in Atlantic exploration, with qualified mariners and refined mapping, using the astrolabe and the compass.
Portuguese sailors searched for the spice route, skirting the west African coast to reach India, rejecting Christopher Columbus’s projects. Castile considered a westward route to reach the spice islands.
After the capitulation of Santa Fe, Castile enabled Columbus to organize his trip to America, appointing him admiral, viceroy, and governor of discovered lands.
State Organization: Institutions of Government
The Catholic Monarchs laid the foundations of the authoritarian monarchy, a system based on the assertion of royal power. This meant limiting the political power of the nobility, though their economic and social development was maintained. Strengthening royal power required more complex growth management and bureaucracy, so the kings recruited lawyers from universities.
They created the Holy Brotherhood, an international body to prosecute wrongdoers at the district level, with the power to pursue, apprehend, and punish.
The Royal Council became an important institution, serving as an authentic governing body. Other specialized councils emerged for specific cases, like the Inquisition, Aragon, or military orders.
A true administration of justice was created: in Castile, two chancilleries were created as higher courts, and two audiencias as inferior courts. In the Crown of Aragon, an audiencia was established in each kingdom.
The Castilian Courts were totally dominated by the monarchs, though they were convened to give solemnity to the approval of laws.
As for local government, the power of the mayor was strengthened, introducing this institution in cities of the Crown of Aragon.
Italian and North African Foreign Policy
The Catholic Monarchs assumed the commitments inherited in each of their kingdoms. Aragon was interested in conquering Navarre. They maintained a good relationship with Portugal and supported business relationships with ports and cities of northern Europe. Key elements of the Catholic Monarchs’ foreign policy were diplomacy, the army, and matrimonial politics.
Diplomacy became a defining element in establishing foreign relations. Permanent ambassadors were stationed in Rome, Venice, London, and Brussels. Initially, their mission was a valuable tool for setting up alliances.
They showed great interest in having a standing army under the direct control of royal power.
The Catholic Monarchs systematically used marriages of their children for dynastic and political advantage.
The dynastic union of Castile and Aragon was an important power bloc that favored the expansion of these realms outside the peninsula.
North Africa’s control was of vital interest to Castile to avoid another Muslim invasion and control Berber pirate attacks, leading to the conquest of Melilla and other cities.
Italy was of interest to the Crown of Aragon; the kingdom of Naples was in the hands of a cousin of Ferdinand. But France also wanted to exert its influence in Italy, leading to war. Ferdinand’s troops, led by the Great Captain, defeated the French, who had to recognize the incorporation of the kingdom of Naples into the Crown of Aragon.