DEBATE

THE DECLINE OF SPAIN:

A HISTORICAL MYTH?
IN HIS VIGOROUSLY ARGUED PIECE RECENTLY PUBLISHED IN THIS

journal,'HenryKamen reappraisedthenotionlongprevalentin historicalstudiesofthe"declineof Spain", and finding

it inadequatein
severalrespects,urgedits removalfromhistorians'conceptualapparatus.ArguingthatearlymodernSpain cannotin facthave declined,neverhavingrisen,he called upon scholarsto relegatethe
age-old thesisto the "dust-heapof useless concepts".2In place of
whathe accounteda worn-outpresupposition
whichfailsto fitthe
evidence,he advocatedan approachto Spain's developmentwhich
conceivesit as havingbeen hinderedover severalcenturiesby fundamentaleconomicweaknesses,indeedwhichenvisagesearlymodernSpainfromthefifteenth
totheeighteenth
as a "dominated
century
colonialmarketat whoseexpenseotherEuropeannationsprogressed
towardsindustrialgrowth".3Historians,in his view,insteadof "decline", should postulate"dependence", categorizingearlymodern
Spainas an "undeveloped"countrywhichfromtheoutsetwas denied
thefullbenefitsand possibilitiesof itsvastterritorial
powerand imperial grandeur through economic subordinationto the more
countriesof north-western
highly-developed
Europe. Such views,
are at leastrelatively
novel.Weretheyalso wellfoundundoubtedly,
ed, theywould compela profoundchangein scholarlythinkingon
the subject. But novel ideas not infrequently
turnout to be more
misleadingthanthosetheyare intendedto replace,and I forone am
at issuehere,interspersed
persuadedthatthearguments
thoughthey
are withmuchthatis thoughtful
and stimulating,
mostlyfailto stand
up to scrutiny.
Afterdemonstrating
thevarying
ofdeclineencountered
chronology
in the workof different
historians,an issue returnedto at theclose
of thisComment,Kamen deals withthehighlyimportant
matterof
the arbitristas,4
the authorsof projectsforthe economic,social and
of Spain who proliferated
moralregeneration
especiallyduringthe
earlydecades of the seventeenthcentury.The termdecadencia,he

1 HenryKamen, "The Decline of Spain: A HistoricalMyth?",Past and Present,

no. 8i (Nov. 1978), pp. 24-50.
2
Ibid., p. 49.
3 Ibid.,
p. 46.
4

Ibid.,pp.

27-30.

THE DECLINE OF SPAIN: A HISTORICAL MYTH?

I7I

maintains,was largelyabsentfromtheirwritings.Theirthoughtrevolvedmuch less aroundany conceptof declinethana "change in

fortunes",a failureby thenationto achieveits aspirations.Writers
such as Sancho de Moncada and FernandezNavarreteallegedlydid
If they
not conceiveof "precipitatedecay" but of lost opportunity.
as
been
a
of
their
own
age having
precededby goldenage of
thought
he states,theylocatedthatera in
Spanishgreatnessand prosperity,
thetimeofFerdinandand Isabellaand not,as untilnowhavemodern
historians,in thatofCharlesV and PhilipII.
Here at once, surely,theargumentfliesdirectlyin thefaceof the
evidence.Even whileconcedingthatthetermdecadenciais rare,one
was everso peris compelledto ask whetheranyeconomicliterature
and
meatedwitha senseofnationaldeterioration,
decay
impoverishIf thetermdecadenciais unmentas thatof the Spanisharbitrnstas.
common,suchwordingas ruinatotal(totalruin),danogeneral(general
(decline)positivelyabounds.5Whileone ardamage)and declinaci6n
considersthecountryto be suffering
froma ruinousreduction
bitrista
at itslastgasp.6Morein itsvitality,
anotherinsiststhatitis virtually
thisworseningof conditionswas by no
overand no less significant,
meansdeemedto havebeen longevidentor theunavoidableresultof
weakness.Quite thecontrary.
The arbitrista
someage-oldstructural
perceivedthe processas a recentand sudden shiftor fallingaway
froma previouslyflourishing
condition,thatis, an abrupteconomic
contraction
whichhad occurredwithinlivingmemory.7
did notenvisagea recentdecline
Havinginsistedthatthearbitristas
of Spain whenin facttheywereintenselyand principallyoccupied
withpreciselythattheme,Kamen proceedsto narrowthe scope of
hisrevisionsomewhatbygranting
thatSpaindid declinein "imperial
and militarypower".8Since, however,theoutstanding
imperialdefeatstook place, he claims,in theyearsafterI640, deterioration
in
this sense was a phenomenonof the mid-seventeenth
centuryand
shouldbe carefullyset apartfromthesupposedprocessofeconomic
decay whichscholarshave variouslyattributedto different
periods

5 See, forinstance,Sancho de Moncada, Restauracion

politicade Espana (Madrid,
and Decline in EarlySeventeenth-CenI619), pp. I-3; J. H. Elliott,"Self-Perception
and
Present,no. 74 (Feb. 1977), p. 48. In an earlierarticleKamen
turySpain", Past
himselfseems to agree thatthe arbitristas
were filledwitha sense of theirnation's
decline:H. Kamen, "The Decline ofCastile:The Last Crisis",Econ. Hist.Rev., 2nd
ser., xvii(1964-5),p. 63.
6 "Breve discurssoen q se apuntanalgscaussas que ayudana disminuyr
las cossas
de Espania",n.d. butc. 1625, and Fr. Juande Castro,"Medio parasanarla monarquia
esta en las ultimasboqueadas", I669: Brit.Lib., EgertonMS. 339.
que
7
To give but threeclearinstancesof thisemphasisto whichmanyotherscould be
added, see Moncada,Restauracion
politicadeEspana, pp. 2-3; Lope de Deca, Govierno
de agricultura
(Madrid, I618), fos. I9g-20; Pedro Hurtadode Alcozerto Philip
polytico

Documentos
delArchivo
HisIV, 9 Dec. 162I, inLa JuntadeReformacion.
procedentes
torico
NacionalydelGeneraldeSimancas . ., 16i8-I625, ed. AngelGonzalezPalencia
(ArchivoHistoricoEspanol, v, Valladolid,1932), pp. I67-78.
8
Kamen, "The Decline of Spain", p. 32.

172

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER 91

withinthe years I550-I630. Here the authorbrieflystepsintoline

withtheconventionalapproach,assumingthatSpain remainedpreuntilthedefeatby theFrenchat Rocroyin 1643.
eminentmilitarily
But in thiscase one maywellquestionwhethertheusual viewofthe
as it does fromexcessiveconcentramatteris at all sound,stemming
tionon thestrugglebetweenFranceand Spain. It is easyto be misled
by theseemingresilienceof SpanisharmsagainsttheFrenchin the
years1635-43, forit tooksometimeforLouis XIII and Richelieuto
build up a largeand effective
standingarmy,therehavingbeen no
previousexperienceof such in France, while the Spanisharmyof
behindmuch strongerfortiFlanderswas a veteranforcefighting
fications(inheritedfroman earlierepoch) than were available to
the French. The real hollownessof Spanishmilitarypowerby the
I620S was revealedby the ruinousd6ebcle at Bergenop Zoom in
1622, when forthe firsttimea major defeatresultedfromneither
financialshortagenormutiniesbut fromsheermilitary
weakness.It
was revealedagain to the despairof Philip IV and amazementof
at Dutch handsat 's Hertogenbosch
Europe by thereversessuffered
and Wesel in I629 and at Venloand Maastrichtin I632.9 These were
massiveset-backsinvolvingfarmoremen on the Spanishside than
werebeatenat Rocroy.Indeed theloss of thestrategic
fortress
town
and
ofMaastricht,whichlaydeep insideSpanish-controlled
territory
whichwas takenby the Dutch in the faceof threearmiesof relief,
two Spanishand one Imperialist,was deemedat thetimea humiliation unique in the annals of warfare.By I629 discerningmilitary
mindswere well aware of the weaknessof Spanisharmsin general
10
to theDutch in particular.
and theirinferiority
Moving to the innercore of Kamen's argument,we encounter
his contentionthatthe Spanisheconomyremained"undeveloped"
theearlymodernperiod,in a stateof "dependence"on
throughout
north-west
Europe,thoughpassingthroughseveralstagesofdependence.11In theage of Ferdinandand Isabella,themainthrustofthe
economywas towardstheexportof low-valuerawmaterials,princiof relatively
recostlymanufactures,
pallywools,and theimporting
tradebalancewhich,it is conunfavourable
sultingin a persistently
tended,led in turnto the permanentdominationof the Castilian
withinwhich
marketby foreigncapitaland goods. The framework
9 See my"A ConflictofEmpires:Spain and theNetherlands,1618-1643",Past and
Present,no. 76 (Aug. 1977), pp. 42, 63, 67; and my "The Holland Towns and the
de GesDutch-SpanishConflict,1621-1648",Bijdragenen Mededelingen
betreffende
derNederlanden,
xciv(I979), pp. 42, 45.
chiedenis

10On theinferiority
oftheSpanisharmyofFlanders
totheDutchin the1629-33
inBrussels,
to
ofthemarquesde Aytona,
PhilipIV's minister
period,seetheletters

the king,especiallyAytonato Philip IV, Brussels,24 Nov. 1629, 26 Apr. 1630, 27

Aug. 1632: BibliothequeRoyale AlbertIer, Brussels,MS. 16,149, fos. 2-3, 16-17,
80-2.

11 Kamen, "The Decline of

Spain", p. 41.

THE DECLINE OF SPAIN: A HISTORICAL MYTH?

I73

tothoseofitsnorthern
theSpanisheconomywas subordinated
neighbourswas broadenedwiththeriseof commercewiththeAmericas,
which Spain provedunable to servicewithits own manufactures
Eventually,thesituationevolvedintovirtualFrenchcontrolofSpanto thelateeighteenth
ish economiclife."From theearlyseventeenth
century",assertsKamen, "Frencheconomicdominationofthepeninsulawas unquestionable".12
uneaseat
While it is likelythatmanyreaderswillhave registered
thesweepinguse of theterm"dependence"and at theimpliedcontrastbetweenit and itsopposite,economic"independence",ifsuch
a thinghas or evercould exist,I proposehereto avoid discussionof
and tokeepto thehistoricalissuesraised,usingKamen's
terminology
own terms.The majorand ratherobviousdefectof his argumentis
thateconomicdependencecan neverbe an absolutestatebut must
always vary in degree as circumstanceschange. If Spain passed
"throughvarioussystemsof dependence"and ifevidenceof subordinationexistseven forthefifteenth
century,it byno meansfollows
thatthe Spanish economywas thenremotelyso subjectto thatof
north-west
Europeas it laterbecame.UntiltheI570s thetownswere
growingin almostall partsof Castile.'3 The countrybecameone of
moreso thanFranceor
themosturbanizedin Europe, considerably
while
the
industrial
life
of
Toledo, Segovia,C6rbustling
England,
doba, Granada,Soria, Cuenca, Palenciaand othertownsvigorously
expanded in responseboth to the risingdemand at home, as the
populationincreased,and to theopeningof new marketsin the Indies, Portugaland northAfrica.After1575 the populationof most
townsand districtsremainedat thehighlevelattainedby thatdate,
and thetextileindustriescontinuedto expanduntilthe 590os.14The
woollens(panos) ofSegovia,C6rdoba,Cuenca,Toledo and elsewhere
wereoftenof highqualityand sold well in thecolonialmarketsand
it
Portugalas well as at home. While Spain lackeda linenindustry,
possessedone of Europe's mostimportantsilk industries,withToledo, Granada,Seville,Valenciaand Murciaproducingan immense
yearlyoutputof finishedsilks. At theirheight,at the end of the
sixteenthcentury,the silk workshopsof Toledo alone are reported
to have sustainedsome 20,000 people.15But while textileswere

12Ibid., p. 44.
13
economica
deEspania,4thedn. (Barcelona,
JaimeVicensVives,Manual de historia
1965),p. 301; BartolomeBennassar,Valladolidau Siecled'Or (Parisand The Hague,
I967), pp. I66, 184, 189; Michael Weisser,"The Decline of CastileRevisited:The
Case ofToledo", Jl. EuropeanEcon. Hist., ii (1973), pp. 621-2.
14 Weisser,"The Decline of CastileRevisited",pp. 631-3,638; Bennassar,Valladolidau Siecled'Or, p. I03; Felipe Ruiz Martin,"La empresacapitalistaen la industria
textilcastellanadurantelos siglosXVI y XVII", in ThirdInternational
Conference
of
EconomicHistory,
Munich,1965, 5 vols. (Paris and The Hague, 1968-74),v, pp. 26972, 274.
15 "Memorialesque presentoJuanBellugade Moncada sobrela decadenciade Toledo, sus causas y remedios",1621, in AntonioDominguezOrtiz,La sociedadespanola
en el sigloXVII, 2 vols. (Madrid, 1963-70), i, appendix4, p. 349.

174

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER

91

pre-eminent,there were also many other growingindustriesin

sixteenth-century
Spain such as theproductionof paperat Segovia,
manufactureof leathergoods at C6rdoba, and shipbuildingand
in the Basque country.In thelate sixteenthcentury,
iron-founding
a highproportionof theshipssailingin theflotasto theIndies were
of Spanishmanufacture.
The Castilianmanufacturing
interestthus became a forceto be
reckonedwith in politicallife, weakerdoubtlessthan nobilityor
all thesame.Furthermore,
thisgroupingtendchurch,butinfluential
ed to clash, as happenedelsewhere,withelementsinvolvedin exThis fricportingrawmaterialsand importing
foreignmanufactures.
tionhas beenshowntohavebeena powerfulfactorin themajorrevolt
of the Castiliantownsin I520 againstCharlesV who, in general,
followedhis predecessorsin encouragingwool exportsand refusing
to provideCastilianindustrieswithstateprotectionagainstforeign
products.16Though defeatedon thatoccasion, the manufacturin
at themeetinterestremainedformidable,
assertingitselfvigorously
ingsoftheCastilianCortesat Valladolidin I555 and I558.17 The cry
that"Spain had become an Indies forthe foreigner",
heardat the
Cortesof 1548, was hardlya consideredappraisalof existingconditionsbut an indignantcommenton royalpoliciesdeemedunhelpful
to theneedsoftheCastiliantowns.
manufacture
Whilethethreatposedbyimportsofcheaperforeign
was undoubtedlywidelyfeltfroman earlydate,thisthreatcertainly
did not preventthe expansionof Spanishindustriesduringthe sixteenthcenturynor,givenconditionsin theEuropeanmarket,could
ithavedone so at leastuntilthe I590s. The Flemishtextileindustry,
led thewayin exporting
toCastileand Andalusia,
whichtraditionally
in theLow Countriesfrom
was severelydisruptedbythedisturbances
the late I56os onwards,and output of both woollensand linens
throughoutthe South Netherlandsindustrialbelt fell to verylow
levelsuntilafterI600.18 The Dutch clothindustries,stimulatedby
ofthousandsoftextile
thecollapseof theFlemishand themigration
workersfromFlanders,onlyachieveda substantiallevelof productionand exportsfromthelaterI 580s.19Meanwhile,in France,textile
outputat Amiens,Rouen and manyothercentreswas seriouslydislocatedduringthe religiouswarsand onlybeganto recoverthelost
16
des"Comunidades"de Castille,1520-1521 (Bordeaux,
JosephPerez,La revolution
I970), pp. 39-44,98-IO2,688.
17
en Castilla,1500-I700, 2nd edn.
JoseLarraz L6pez, La epocadel mercantilismo
(Madrid, 1943),pp. 56-7,7I-2.
18 See E. Coornaert,La draperie-sayetterie
d'Hondschoote
(Paris, 1930), pp. 493-5;
Parker,"War and Economic Change: The EconomicCosts of the Dutch
Geoffrey
1559-1659(London, 1979),pp. I80-I.
Revolt",in his Spain and theNetherlands,
19 N. W. Posthumus,De geschiedenis
van de Leidschelakenindustrie,
3 vols. (The
Hague, 1908-39),ii, pp. I28-9, I32.

THE DECLINE OF SPAIN: A HISTORICAL MYTH?

I75

groundduringthe I590s.20 The Englishclothindustryat thistime

was stillmainlygearedto thenorthEuropeanmarketand had notyet
begun to produce the types of fabricthat sold well in southern
Europe. Thus therecan have been littlereal pressureon Spain's
textileindustriesbeforethe I590s, and it is indeedfromabout 1595
that,ratherabruptly,the phase of rapidlyfallingoutputat Toledo
and otherclothcentresbegan. During the firsttwo decades of the
seventeenthcentury,a timeof vigoroussimultaneousexpansionin
textileproductionin Flanders,Holland and Francewhilethe "new
draperies",fabricssuited to Mediterraneanmarkets,began to be
in quantityin England,importsof foreignclothinto
manufactured
largeSpainincreasedas neverbeforewhileCastile'stextileindustries
factorin thisprocessof rapiddecline
ly collapsed.21A contributory
was the cease-fireand resumptionof tradebetweenSpain and the
United ProvincesfromI607 until I62I.22 During these fourteen
years,theDutch blockadeof theFlemishcoastwas lifted.This permitteda muchgreatervolumeof Flemishexportsto Spain thanhad
been possible since beforeI570 which coincidedwith the greatly
increasedexportof Dutch products.
Yet whileSpain's industriesand inlandtownsdecisivelydeclined
in theyearsI595-I621, somevestigesofindustrialvitalitynevertheless remained.By 1621 goods made abroadhad won a clearpreponderancein Spain but one that was not yet so overwhelming
as it
became later.At meetingsof the Cortesof CastileduringI6I7-I8,
heavy pressure was exerted on the crown by Toledo, Segovia,
Granada,Murciaand othertownsto limitwoolexportsat last,to ban
and to imposemasimportsofItalianand otherforeignsilksoutright
siveincreasesin impostson importedforeignmanufactures
generalcentres,
ly.23These moveslackedthesupportofthegreatcommercial
Sevilleand Madrid,butPhilipIII's ministers
werecompelledtoenter
intodeliberations
on thepracticability
oftransferring
partoftheburden of the millonesaway fromconsumptiontaxes on the Castilian
populationand ontocustomsdutieson manufactured
imports.It was,
20 P.
Deyon, "Variationsde la productiontextileaux I6e et I7e siecles",Annales.
E.S.C., xviii(1963), pp. 948-9.
21 On the
collapseat Toledo, Segoviaand C6rdoba,see Weisser,"The Decline of
CastileRevisited",p. 632; Ruiz Martin,"Empressa capitalistaen la industriatextil
castellana",pp. 272, 275. On the dramaticexpansionin textileproductionin northwesternEurope, see Coornaert,La draperie-sayetterie
pp. 493-5;
d'Hondschoote,
van de Leidschelakenindustrie,
ii, pp. 128-9;A. Lottinand P.
Posthumus,Geschiedenis
Deyon, "Evolutionde la productiontextilea Lille aux XVIe et XVIIe siecles",Revue
du nord,xlix(1967), pp. 31-2; J. Craeybeckx,"L'industriede la lainedans les anciens
Pays-Basmeridionauxde la findu XVIe au debut du XVIIIe siecle", in Attidella
di studio, o0-16Aprile1970 (IstitutoInternazionaledi StoriaEconsecondasettimana
omica"F. Datini", Prato,Pubblicazioni,2nd ser., Florence,1976), pp. 21-43.
22 This pointis to be dealt within the openingchapterof
my TheDutchRepublic
and theHispanicWorld,i606-i66I (in preparation).
23 Actasde las Cortesde Castilla,xxx,
pp. 444-5,456, 461, 498-501,and xxxi,pp.
103, 158-9,162, 271, 433, 439.

I76

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER 91

ofcourse,no accidentthatthearbitristas
flourished
mainlyduringthe
earlypartof the seventeenth
centuryduringthisperiodof decisive
decline.Nor does it lack significance
thatseveralleadingarbitristas
such as Sancho de Moncada, appealed insistently
forthecurbingof
woolexportsand formoreprotection
forSpain's industries,24
justas
did theCortesofCastile.
At theclose of PhilipIII's reign(I598-162I), therefore,
ministers
wereseriouslyconsideringrestricting
foreigncommercialactivityin
Spain as a means of curingthe country'sailingeconomy.25In one
sense,moreover,thecrowndid finally
providea shieldagainstforeign
merchandisein the formof the prolongedeconomicembargoesimposed againsttheDutch in theyears1621-48and againsttheFrench
from1635 untilI659.26 Far fromany Frencheconomicascendancy
in Spain becomingsteadilygreaterduringthecentury,Frenchships
and cargoes were in factrigorouslyexcluded fromSpain and the
SpanishIndies fora quarterof a century,exceptof coursein rebel
Catalonia,which was under partialFrench occupationduringthe
I640s. One richand so farlittle-usedsourceforconditionsin the
thepost- 648 descentury,
Spanishportsduringthemid-seventeenth
Dutch
from
the
new
consuls
established
at Cadiz, Seville,
patches
Malaga,Alicanteand severalotherportsto theStatesGeneral,makes
it quite clearthatvirtually
no Frenchshipsor merchants
wereactive
in SpainbeforeI659 and,in so faras someFrenchgoodsdid percolate
through,thesewere,as theSpanishambassadorin The Hague ceaseundercoverof
lesslycomplained,smuggledin by Dutch merchants
Dutch and Flemishpapers and seals.27During the Anglo-Spanish
war of I655-9, aside froma fewHanseaticvessels,all foreignships
in Andalusianportswere Dutch and importsof Englishas well as
Frenchgoodswerereducedto a meretrickle.28
WhilePhilipIV's wagingofeconomicwarfareagainsthisnorthern

24
Moncada, Restauraci6n
politicade Espana, fos. 5-8v;Pedro Hurtadode Alcozer
ed. Gonzalez Palencia,pp.
to Philip IV, 9 Dec. 1621, in La Juntade Reformaci6n,
(Barcelona, 62I), fos.49rv; and
171-2; PedroFernandezNavarrete,Discursos
politicos
withregardto curbingwool exports,Franciscode Retama,"Memoriay
specifically
racon que se puede tenerpa retenerla lana en estos reynos",Oct. 1623: Archivo
Generalde Simancas,MS. Estado 2847.
25 See theJuntade Reformacion's
consultaon theissue of curbingforeigninfluence
in Spain: Brit.Lib., EgertonMS. 2078, fos. III-I3.
26 Israel, "A Conflictof Empires", pp. 42-3, 48-54; J. I. Israel, "Spain and the
xii(1978),pp. 17-24,39. I would
Dutch Sephardim,1609-166o",StudiaRosenthaliana,
strongly
disputetheviewsofGirard,whoarguedthattheembargoesagainsttheFrench
had onlya limitedeffect:AlbertGirard,Le commerce
franqaisa SevilleetCadix au temps
desHabsbourgs(Paris and Bordeaux, 1932), pp. 77-87.
27 For example,see Consul PieterJanOorschotto StatesGeneral,San Sebastian,
4 Mar. 1656, and Estevande Gamarrato StatesGeneral,The Hague, 17 Nov. I655,
The Hague (hereafter
6 May I656: AlgemeenRijksarchief,
A.R.H.), StatenGeneraal,

nos. 7047-ii, 7048.

28 Hendrikvan Deutecom (Dutch consul at Seville) to StatesGeneral,Puertode

SantaMaria, 20 Jan. 1658: A.R.H., StatenGeneraal,no. 7052-i.

THE DECLINE OF SPAIN: A HISTORICAL MYTH?

I77

opponentsdid curtailthe influxof foreignproducts,his measures

Castilianwoolexportswere
signallyfailedtoreviveCastilianindustry.
much diminishedduringthe I620s, largelydue to the absence of
Dutch shippingwhichhad previouslycarriedmostof thewool, but
townsprovedunable to profitfromthe
theCastilianmanufacturing
situation.After1630, despitethefactthatthesheepherdshad concentury,woolshipments
siderablycontractedsincethelatesixteenth
abroad revivedalmostto theirlate sixteenth-century
level,eloquent
testimonyto the failureof the country'sindustriesto recoverlost
ground.29Even so, therewas a significant
change in the position
comparedwiththe disastrouscollapse of the pre-I62I period. For
severaldecades, thedeclinein textileoutputwas at leasthaltedand
low level.30At thesame
industriallifestabilizedalbeitat a relatively
time,duringtheI620s, severalnewtextileworkshopsmaking"bays"
and other"new draperies"weresetup withstatesupportat Palencia
and elsewhere.31
The delayedfinalphase in thedeclineof theCastiliantownstook
place aftertheabandonmentoftheembargoesagainsttheDutch and
French. A long overlookedbut crucialshiftin Spanishhistoryoccurredduringthe middleyearsof the seventeenth
century.Under
theTreatyof Munster(1648) PhilipIV not onlyended thestruggle
commercial
withtheDutch,butgrantedhighlyfavourable
privileges,
subsequentlyexpandedundertheSpanish-Dutchcommercialtreaty
muchofthe
of I650, whichenabledDutch merchantsto circumvent
systemof inspectionsand controlsintroducedduringthe I62os.32
a bigincrease
Justas happenedduringthetruceyears,thisstimulated
in both Dutch and Flemish clothexportsto Spain and a renewed
crisisat Toledo and Segovia.33Nevertheless,some remnantsof the
wereretainedduringthe i65os, chieflyso as to
wartimerestrictions
Frenchprodpreventthe Dutch and otherneutralsfromimporting
ucts. The Franco-SpanishPeace of the Pyrenees(I659), however,
endedtheeraofSpanishboycottsand strippedthespecial
definitively
Castilianportsinspectorateset up in the I62os, thealmirantazgo,
of
all remainingraisond'etre.When the Dutch despatchedan extraordinaryembassyto Madrid in I660-I to secureremovalof thelast
29

Le Flem,"MichelCaxade
On theshrinking
ofthesheepherds,seeJean-Paul

Leruela: un defenseurde la Mesta?", Melangesde la casa de Veldzquez,ix (1973), pp.

382-4.

30 Weisser,"The Decline of Castile Revisited",p.

632; Ruiz Martin,"Empressa
capitalistaen la industriatextilcastellana",p. 272; JeanPaul Le Flem, "Vraies et
faussessplendeursde l'industrietextilesegovienne,versI460-versI650", in Attidella
di studio,1970,pp. 534-5.
secondasettimana
31
to the newlyestablishedproductionof "bays"
Consulta,i6 May 1627, referring
at Palencia: ArchivoGeneralde Simancas,Hacienda 632.
32
Israel, "Spain and the Dutch Sephardim",pp. 29, 38-40,54.
33 On thefresh
boostto Flemishtextileexportsto Spain after1648,see J.Everaert,
"L'exportationtextiledes Pays-Bas m6ridionauxvers le monde hispano-colonial,
ca.I650-I700", in Attidella secondasettimana
di studio,1970, pp. 45-7.

178

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER 91

effectiverestrictions,
Philip promptlycompliedby abolishingthe
and itsofficials.34
Thus theDutchdeputationto Madrid
almirantazgo
of i660- arguablymarkstheend ofan entireera in theinternaland
externaldevelopmentofSpainand thebeginningofa newage. From
i66i Spainwas indeeda subjectand captivemarketeffectively
dominatedby foreigncapitaland products.
Furtherobjectionsto Kamen's argumentseem appropriatewith
regardto his passages dealing with depopulationand agricultural
change. Depopulationis treatedalmostas thoughit werea process
oftheeconomiccontext,simplya matterofoverallnumindependent
bersshrinking
and expulsion.35
And
owingto epidemics,emigration
indeedlinkingthedepopulationwithanylong-term
economictrend
necessarilyconflictswiththe author'sthesis.But is it legitimateto
disposeof thematteras he does? Surelyno pointwas morestressed
thanthatitwas less theshrinking
ofoverallnumbers
bythearbitristas
(importantthoughthiswas) thatwas reducingthecountryto "total
ruin" thanthe migrationof greatnumbersof peasantsand artisans
fromvillageand townto livelivesofidlenessand parasitismin Madrid, Seville and the brimmingmonasteries.36Furthermore,this
factorin thedeclineof Spain,was cerphenomenon,a fundamental
tainlynota processwhichcontinuedovercenturies.Indeed,untilthe
endofthesixteenth
century,thegrowthoftheinlandtownshad been
accompaniedbya steadyexpansionoftheland farmedforcropsand
a shrinkingof the sheep herdsin Old Castile,New Castileand Anfromthelandwhichwas
dalusia.37Whilethebeginningsoftheflight
to have such direeffectsin centralSpain can be discernedin certain
districts,such as those of Burgos and Medina del Campo, from
tookplace,
around1570,thegeneralcollapseofCastilianagriculture
as was afterall onlylogical,duringtheverysame yearsas theprostrationofCastile'sindustriesand inlandtowns,thatis, in I595-162.
In otherwords,a long periodof steadygrowthin thepopulationof
the villagesand townswas followedby a massivemovementaway
whichleftlargeformerly
fromthecountryside
cultivatedtractsalmost
desolate. Nor can therebe any doubt that this change should be
viewedas a ratherabruptand suddenone. The deputiesgatheredat
theCortesof Castilein I6I8-19 judgedthatthemainflightfromthe
34 See PhilipIV's cedulaof Io Jan. i66i, and Jacomevan den Hove (Dutch consul
at Cadiz) to StatesGeneral,27 Mar. 1661: A.R.H., StatenGeneraal,no. 7055-i.
35 Kamen, "The Decline of Spain", pp. 35-6.
36 Actasde las Cortes
deCastilla,xxix,pp. 516-19, and xxx,pp. 20I-2; Moncada,
Restauraci6n
politicade Espana, fos. 3, 19; FernandezNavarrete,Discursospoliticos,
fo. 9; "Memorialesque presentoJuanBelluga de Moncada sobre la decadenciade
Toledo", pp. 349-51.
37Bennassar,Valladolidau Siecled'Or,pp. 316-I 8; Weisser,"The DeclineofCastile
Revisited",p. 630; Noel Salomon,La campagnede NouvelleCastillea la findu XVIe
siecled'apresles "RelacionesTopogrdficas"
(Paris, 1964), pp. 94-6.

THE DECLINE OF SPAIN: A HISTORICAL MYTH?

I79

had begunin theyearsaround I6II.38 When Moncada

countryside
in
thattherehad been "greaterchangein Spainin the
I619,
asserted,
last fouror six yearsthan in the precedingfortyor fifty",he was
as Kamen assumes,39to the effectsof the
certainlynot referring,
epidemicof 1599-1602or of the expulsionof the Moriscos(1609)
in Castile.Indeed,Moncadaspecifically
whichhad onlya slighteffect
remarkedthat duringthe firstdecade of the seventeenthcentury
Spain was stillrich.Whathe had in mindwas theruinousmigration
ofpopulationawayfromthevillagesand manufacturing
townsduring
the second decade of the century.This of coursewas thedecade of
theTwelve Years Truce and of resumedtradewiththe Dutch, and
althoughhe did not ventureto say so (issuesof foreignpolicybeing
out of bounds to thearbitristas),
it seemslikelythatthe two
strictly
phenomenawerecloselylinkedin his mindbecauseMoncada,a Toto thecore,fervently
believedthatitwas Castile's
ledanprotectionist
growingtrade with northernEurope which was underminingthe
economyas a whole.
In conclusion,I would like to returnto certainofHenryKamen's
initialobjectionsto the decline thesis.One cause of confusion,he
identification
ofCastile
considers,has been and is the"unwarranted
withSpain".40But have historiansreallyerredin contemplating
the
declineof Spain largelyin termsof theproblemsofCastile?Whatis
ignoredby thosewho makethisallegationis theessentially
regularly
marginalroleoftherealmsofthecrownofAragonduringtheperiod
underdiscussion.Aragonaccountedforlittlemorethanone quarter
of Spain and less thanone seventhof its populationduringthe sixteenthcentury.SinceCastilealso suppliedmorethansix-sevenths
of
thefinancialand militaryresourcesat thedisposalof theHabsburg
kingsof Spain, it is surelynot onlyjustifiablebut essentialto concentrateprincipallyon Castile when ponderingthe questionof the
country'sdecline.In anycase, recentresearchsuggeststhatdevelopmentsin at least some regionsof easternSpain may have differed
much less markedlyfrom those in Castile than is sometimes
claimed.41In Valencia,forexample,the patternwas one of growth
and expansionin thesixteenthcenturyfollowedbydeclineand stagnationin theseventeenth,
theturning-point
occurring,as in Castile,
duringthereignofPhilipIII.
of deFinally,thereremainstheissue of thediffering
chronology
clineput forwardby different
historians.Does thisreallyamountto
38 See the
applicationsfromnumerousCastilianvillagesforreductionsin theirtax
assessments
on thegroundofsevereand rapidpopulationlossduringtheseconddecade
of the seventeenth
century:Actasde las Cortesde Castilla,xxix,p. 519, and xxx,pp.

59, 71, 72, 8i, 130 ff.

39

40

41

Kamen, "The Decline of Spain", p. 35.

Ibid., pp. 25, 48.
See, forinstance,JamesCasey,TheKingdomofValenciaintheSeventeenth
Century

(Cambridge, 1979), pp. 65-7, 69, 71.

I8o

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER 91I

a substantialobjection?Well, ofcourse,it wouldiftheviewsof historianson thispointwerereallyas variousas is implied.But surely

thisis notthecase. It has alreadybeennotedthatthearbitristas
placed
thedecisivedeclinein theopeningyearsoftheseventeenth
century.
And this,afterall, correspondscloselyenoughwiththeperspective
familiarto modernscholars,E. J. Hamiltonhavinglocatedthestart
of the processin the yearsaround I598. If some historianshave in
thepast been inclinedto postulatea muchearlierdate,it is unlikely
thatthosesame scholarswould do so now in the lightof recentresearch. The earlycollapse in and around Burgos and Medina del
Campoin theI570s can nowbe seentohavebeena localphenomenon
due to the
largelyuntypicalof the rest of Castile and specifically
turmoilin the Low Countries.All considered,thereis good reason
to concludethat,farfroma "whollyunscientific
imprecisionabout
when so-calleddeclinecommencedand whenit ended",42thereis
todaya growingbodyofopinionwhichclearlydiscernsthebeginning
of declineduringthe earlyyearsof the reignof Philip III and the
completionof the processduringthe middledecades of the seventeenthcentury.
J. I. Israel
University
College,London

42

Kamen, "The Decline of Spain", p. 48.