The Past and Present Society

Self-Perception and Decline in Early Seventeenth-Century Spain

Author(s): J. H. Elliott
Source: Past & Present, No. 74 (Feb., 1977), pp. 41-61
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of The Past and Present Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/650214
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 AND DECLINE IN EARLY
SELF-PERCEPTION
SPAIN
SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY
IN THE EARLYSUMMER OF I625 THE COUNT OF GONDOMARnNOW OLD
and sick, wasreluctantlysettingout on whatwasto be his last diplo-
matic missionto northernEurope. When he reachedIrun he sat
downto writea long letterto the count-dukeof Olivares,the effective
ruler of Spain for the past four years. The letter, describedby
Olivaresas being in the natureof a generalconfession,contained
fourprincipalchargesagainsthis conductof Spain'saffairs,of which
the firstand most wide-rangingwas that se va todoa fondo-"the
ship is going down".
The count-dukerepliedat length on 2 June with a forcefulpoint
by point rebuttal,couchedin that theatricalstyle so characteristic
of the man. How manyold and disgruntledmen, he asked,had not
said exactlythe same thing, ever since the worldwas first created?
Gondomar,as a man who read books, must know that kingdoms
whose imminentdemisewas announcedhad gone on to flourishfor
many centuriesafterwards. Indeed)within Spainitself, was there
a single centuryin which historianshad not lamented"what we
lamenttoday"? "By this", he continued,"I do not rneanto say
that these are happytimes",nor even that thingswerebetterthan in
I62I when Philip IV came to the throne. But at least there had
been no mutiniesin the armies,and no rebellionsat home, and one
could even point to some modestachievements:
And I conclude by saying that I do not consider a constant and despairing
recitationof the state of affairsto be a useful exercise, because it cannot be
concealed from those who kllow it at first hand. To make them despairof
the remedy can only weaken their resolution, while it caxmotfail to have
adverse effects on everyone else . . . As far as I am concerned,your words
can do no harm. I know the situaiion, I lament it, and it grieves me, but I
will allow no impossibilityto weakenmy zeal or diminish my concern. For,
as the minister with paramourltobligations,it is for me to die unprotesting,
chained to my oar, uniil not a single fragrnentis left in my hands. But
when such things are said where many can hear them, wanton damage is
caused.1
The count-duke'swords-realistic, perhaps,or stoical,but cer-
tainly prophetic offer a poignantinsight into the dilemmasof a
statesmangrapplingwith the monumentaldifficultiesof a society
"in decline". The countryover which he was calledto presidein
the final years of its greatnesshas served as the classic textbook
1 Olivares to Gondomar, 2 June I625: Biblioteca del Palacio, Madrid,
MS. I8I7. I plan to publish this letter in full in a volume of letters and papers
of the count-dukeof Olivares,now in preparation. I have not so far been able
to locate Gondomar'sletter to the count-duke.
42 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER74

exampleof a societywhichfailsto respondadequatelyto the challenges

thatconfrontit andpaysthe supremepenalty,relegationto the side-
lines of history. The reasonsfor that failurehave been the source
of endlesshistoricalinquiry;2but if the resultsof that inquiryhave
not so far provedcommensurate with the quantityof effortdevoted
to it, one possibleexplanationmaybe foundin a certainunwillingness
to probebeyonda supposedly"objective"situationin searchof more
subjectiveevidenceof the kind providedby the count-duke'sletter
to Gondomar. For latergenerationsthe generalpictllreseemsclear
enough:they see, and attemptto measure,"decline". But how did
men who, like Olivares,lived throughthose times seek to under-
stand their predicamentand explainit to themselves? And what
contributiondid their perceptionof the situationmaketo the actual
processof "decline",by influencingthe way in which they reacted,
or failedto react,to events?

The constantinterplaybetweenactionandperceptionshouldform
an integralcomponentof the study of a society "in decline". The
very fact, for instance,that Gondomarand Olivaresin speakingof
their countryas a sinkingship had recourseto a classicalimageof
the statewhichwas a commonplaceof theirtimes, suggestsa view of
governmentand its problemswhich itself may consciouslyor sub-
consciouslyhaveinfluencedtheirbehaviourand responses. Storms,
after all, are acts of God, beyondthe controlof a captain,whose
skills may serve for nothingwhen the crisis comes.3
Such a study shouldnot be beyondthe boundsof possibilityfor
seventeenth-century Spain a societyalmostobsessivelydedicated
to the writtenword.4 It left behindit a wide varietyof evidence
from which to piece togetherits view of itself and its world. In
partthis can be donefromits rich imaginativeliterature,even if this
containselements of distortionthat can easily mislead.5 Similar
2 For bibliographicalreferences, see my "The Decline of Spain", Past and
Present,no. 20 (Nov. I96I), pp. 52-75.
3 Mardn Gonzalez de Cellorigo in the dedication to his Memorial de la
politica necessariay util restauraciona la republicade Espana(Valladolid,I600)
also refers to the dangersof a generalshipwreck. For the image of the ship of
state in this period, see Michael D. Gordon, "The Science of Politics in
Seventeenth-Century Spanish Thought", Pensiero politico, vii (I974), pp.
379-94, and his "John Bodin and the English Ship of State", Bibliotheque
dvAumanisme et renaissance,xxxv (I973), pp. 323-4.
4 Some faint idea of the scale of this obsession may be obtained from the
alarminginformationthat by I603 a visita (the ordinaryform of inquiry)begun
in I590 into the governmentof a recent viceroy of Peru had so far made use of
49,555 sheets of paper. See Lewis Hanke, "E1 visitador licenciado Alonso
Fernandezde Bonilla y el virrey del Peru, el conde del Villar", in Memoriadel
II congresovenezolanode historia (Caracas, I975), ii, p. 28 note 49.
5 See Joseph Perez, "Litteratureet societe dans l'Espagne du Siecle d'Or"
Bulletin hispanique,lxx (I968), pp. 458-67, for a useful discussion of this
problem.
 SELF-PERCEPTIONAND DECLINEIN SPAIN 43
difficultiessurroundanothersource that has yet to be effectively
exploitedfor Spain the printedsermonfor the specialoccasion.
But thereis also a massivequantityof material,in printand manu-
script, which specificallyaddressesitself to what contemporaries
identified as major problems of their times. This includes the
discussionsand documentationof the councilsand juntasengaged
in the governmentof the Spanish monarchy,the debates of the
Cortesof Castile,andthe innumerabletractsandtreatises,published
and unpublished,which sought to analyseand prescriberemedies
for Castile'smanywoes.
The expedientsrecommendedin these treatiseswere known as
arbitrios,andtheirauthorsas arbitristas an appellationwhichmakes
its appearancebeforethe end of the sisteenthcentury.e An almost
exact contemporaryEnglish equivalentof the two words exists in
C'projects" and "projectors")even to the pejorativeovertoneswhich
they both acquired. The arbirristawas the productof a society
whichtookit for grantedthatthe vassalhada dutyto advisewhenhe
hadsomethingto communicateof benefitto kingandcommonwealth,
the assumptionbeingthathe wouldalsobenefithimself. Sometimes
a crookand morefrequentlya crank,he mightrecommendanything
from a secret alchemicalformulainfalliblyguaranteedto refill the
king's depletedcoffers,to the most grandiosepoliticaland military
projects,like those put forwardwith characteristicobduracyby that
enthusiasticexpatriate,ColonelSemple,for whomSpain'sonly hope
lay itl union with Scotland.7
Somearbitrios wereso secretthattheirproudauthorswouldonlybe
preparedto disclosethemin privateaudiencewithsomegreatminister.
Some, laboriouslywritten and hopefully presented, disappeared
without trace into the gaping cavernsof the Spanishbureaucracy.
Others,favourablyreceivedby men in high places,becamethe sub-
ject of formaldiscussionby groupsof ministers. If the councilsin
Madridnot infrequentlyfound themselvesorderedto examinewhat
might at first sight appearto be wildly implausibleschemes,it was
becausesome leadingfigurein the administration had allowedhim-
self to be talkedinto it by the author,or simplyfelt that the most
improbableprojectwas perhapswortha chance. The membersof a
specialjuntaconvenedto consideranotherbatchof projectsfromthe
6 BaltasarAlamos de Barrientos,writing in I598, warns the king to bewar
of "the specious reasoning and false presuppositions of the arbitristas":
Antonio Perez, L'art de go24verner, ed. J. M. Guardia (Paris, I867), p. 308.
This pre-dates by fifteen years the use of the word by Cervantes,as cited in
Jean Vilar's pioneering study of the figure of the arbitrastain Spanish Golden
Age satire, Literaturay economia(Madrid, I973), p. 48. In writing this essay
I have made extensive use of this and other pieces on the arbitristasby Jean
Vilar, whose promised study of arbitrista thinking should transform our
knowledgeof the subject.
7 Vilar, Literaturay econoia, pp. I98-9.
 AND PRESENT
PAST 74
NUMBER
44
Olivares
everreadypen of Sir AnthonySherleywere remindedby
for seventeenth-
ofthe example of Columbus.8 Unfortunately
centurySpain,however,the analogydid not hold.
acquaint-
The arbitristasalso circulatedtheir manuscriptsamong a
or resortedto the printing-pressin the hope of influencing
ances, felt in the
publicopinionwhichwas beginning to make its presence
Spain of Philip III and Philip IV.9 Colmeiro'snineteenth-century
of Spanisheconomictractswrittenduringthese two reigns
listing
I598 and I665, containsI65 titles.l? These,
however,are
between only in part
onlythe survivors fragments of a vast literature,
which proliferatedespecially in the opening and closing
economic, has long since
yearsof the reign of Philip III, and much of which
withouttrace. While many of these tracts and proposals
disappeared which
foringeniousprojects no doubt xichly deserved the oblivion
them, the unfortunateconnotationsof the word arbitrista,
overtook
together with changingfashionsin economictheory,have too often
literatureof
tendedto precludethe dispassionateexaminationof a of worksof
economicand social debate which contains a number
Sanchode
highqualityandinterest. Whilea few selectnames,like way into dis-
Moncadaand FernandezNavarrete,have found their
thought,ll the arbitristas as a group
cussionsof Europeaneconomic
remaintoo little known.
Belatedly,however,a reassessment,basedon a closeracquaintance Thereare
withthe men andtheir writings,is now well underway. theirwork
variousways,not necessarily mutually exclusive, in which
canbe approached. The arbitristas weredrawnfromamongcertain
government
groupsin Spanishsociety academicsand clergymen, and the
ofiicials,military men, members of the urban patriciate

8 Olivares, consulta of 8 Sept.

I626: Atrchivo] G[eneral deJ Stimancas],
Estado,legajo2645, no. 23: "In relationto these projects,it occurs to him how
wild those of Columbusmust have seemed, and yet what benefitsthey brought
to this monarchy". I owe this reference to the kindness of Dr. ConradKent.
The king had already used identical words about Sherley in replying to a
his master'svoice?
corzsultaof 4 August. Which of the two men was repeating Flores, Le "Pesopoliticode
For Sir Anthony Sherley's projects, see Xavier-A.
todo el mundo"d'AnthonySherley(Paris, I963).
9 For public opinion and
opposition in Habsburg Spain, see especially
J. A. Maravall,La oposicionpolitica bajomoderna los Austrias(Madrid, I972); Teofanes
Egido, Satiras politicas de la Espana (Madrid, I973); Jean Vilar,
de l'opposition sous Olivares: Lison y Viedma, defensor
"Formes et tendances vii pp. 263-94. The
de la patria",Melangesde laCasa de Velazquez, (I97I),
propaganda to influence public opinion is examinedin the
government'suse of Historia dre una poldmicay semblanza
pioneering study of JosE M. Jover, I635.
de una generacion (Madrid, I 949).
espanolesde los siglos
10Manuel Colmeiro, Biblioteca de los ecotlomistas See Vilar, Literatura y economia
XVI, XVII y XVIII (Madrid, I86I).
pp. I72-5, for this and the following points.
of Eco1wmicAnalysis
11For example, Joseph A. Schumpeter, History
(London, I954, repr. I967)5 p. I68.
 SELF-PERCEPTIONAND DECLINEIN SPAIN 45
mercantilecommunity and there is ample scope for the study
of theiroriginsand affiliations. In so far as they tendedto speakfor
differentconstituencies,their corporateties and regionallinks
likethoseof the "ToledoSchool"-become a subjectof importance.
Their suggestedremedies,too, can be classifiedin termsof differing
economicdoctrines bullionistor anti-bullionist,proto-physiocratic
or protectionist.l3
The proposalsand prescriptionsof the arbitrislas, however,arenot
the onlyaspectsof theirthoughtwhichdeserveattention. Whilethey
displayaninterestingandoftenimportantdiversity,theyareunitedby
their sharedbeliefthat somethinghad gone seriouslywrongwith the
societyto whichthey owedallegiance. It is this collectiveawareness
of disasteror impendingdisaster,as expressedby a groupof deeply
concernedand articulatemen busily engagedin searchingfor some
way of escape,which makesseventeenth-century Castilean almost
perfectlaboratory in whichto examinea "declining"society'sattitude
to itself. What did these men see, or fail to see, as they lookedat
society,the economyand the state? Why did they see it in the way
they did? Whatwerethe imagesand pointsof referencewhichthey
used, and how did these imagesaffecttheirown responsesandthose
of the men they soughtto influence? Until the arbitristas arebetter
studiedand known,and their relationshipto the organsof govern-
ment and oppositionchartedwith precision,the answersto these
questionsare boundto remainboth generalizedand tentative. But
even now they can hint at somethingof the richnessof interplay
betweena society and its image of itself, which can help bring us
closerto an understanding of ''decline''.l3

12For the role of Jean Vilar in this reassessment, see note 6 above. He
identifies and discusses the "Toledo School" in his contributionto the Fifth
International Congress of Economic History held in Leningrad in I970
("Docteurs et marchands: l''Ecole' de TolEde"), and in his important
introductionto the new edition of Sancho de Moncada, Restauracionpolitica
de Espana (Madrid, I974). For Spanish anti-bullionist thinking, see Pierre
Vilar, Crecimientoy desarrollo(Barcelona,I964), pp. I75-207. Further work
on the arbitristasis being done by Michael D. Gordon (see note 3 above) and
Theodore G. Corbett, who studies a selection of them in a book now in press.
The Instituto de Estudios Fiscales of the Ministerio de Haciendain Madrid is
beginning a collection of reprints of "Clasicos del Pensamiento ELconomico
Espanol" of which two volumes have so far appeared: Jean Vilar's above-
mentioned edition of Moncada's Restauracionpolitica de Espanaof I6I9, and
Je Paul Le Flem's edition of Miguel Gxa de Leruela, Restauracionde 1v
abundanciade Espana (Madrid, I975).
lS The idea of decline has not so far received the atteniion that has been
lavishedon the idea of progress. For a discussion of this question and a useful
bibliography,see Randolph Starn,"Meaning-Levelsin the Theme of Historical
Decline", History and Theory, xiv (I975), pp. I-3I. See also Peter Burke,
"Tradition and Experience: The Idea of Decline from Bruni to Gibbon"
Daedalus(Summer I976), pp. I37-52.
46 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER
74
Duringthe sixteenthcenturyCastile,as the acknowledged headof a
globalempire,hadenjoyeda seriesof spectacularsuccesses. During
the last yearsof Philip II, however,it beganvisiblyto falter. The
late I580S and the I590S seem in retrospectthe criticalyears: the
yearsof majorreversesin Spain'snorthEuropeanpolicies,of another
oicial "bankruptcy" in I597, of the deathof the old king himselfin
I598, and of the famineand plaguewhichsweptthroughCastileand
Andalusiaat the endof the century,andclaimedperhapshalfa million
victimsout of a populationof the orderof six million.lo
These setbacksand disastersstruck a society which had been
conditionedto success, and it is clear that seventeenth-century
Spaniardsfelt an urgent need to explainto themselveswhat was
happeningto them. This need was all the more urgent because
recenteventscontrastedso strikinglywiththe expectationswhichtheir
societyhad createdfor itself. Duringthe sixteenthcenturyCastile
had developeda powerfulstrain of messianicnationalism.l5 The
achievementof world-wideempire and an extraordinaryrun of
victorieshad helped convinceCastiliansthat they were the chosen
peopleof the Lord,especiallyselectedto furtherHis granddesign-
a designnaturally castin cosmictermsas the conversionof the inSdel,
the extirpationof heresy, and the eventual establishmentof the
kingdomof Christon earth. But if Castilewasindeedthe rightarm
of the Lord,how was the suddenseriesof disastersto be explained?
Why did God now seem to have abandonedHis own?
In a cosmologywhichpostulatesa natural,if not alwaysclear-cut,
relationshipbetweendivine dispositionsand humanmorality,there
was one obvious answer. Castilehad provokedthe divine wrath,
and was payingthe priceof its sins. This did not necessarilymean,
however,that God had cast it aside for ever. On the contrary,
disastermighteven be representedas causefor hope,as it wasby the
JesuitPedrode Ribadeneyra, whenhe attemptedto explainthe defeat
of the SpanishArmada. The disasterwas, he argued,yet another
sign of God's special favour, since it would oblige Castiliansto
strengthentheir faith, purify their intentions, and reform their
mannersand morals.l6
14 See my Imperial Spain, I469-I7I6 (London, I963), pp. 279-95, for a
discussion of the setbacks of the late si2ueenthcentury. See also Bartolome
Bennassar,Recherchessur les grandesEpidemiesdans le nord de l'Espagnea la
findu XVIe siecle (Paris, I969), and Antonio Dominguez Oriiz, La sociedad
estanola en el siglo X VII, 2 vols. (Monograffas histbrico-soaales, vii-viii,
Madrid, I963-70), i, pp. 68-70.
16 See the introduciion by Miguel Herrero Garcia to a belated example of
this kind of thinking, Fray Juan de Salazar'sPolitica espanolaof I6I9 (Madrid
I945). M. Herrero Garcia's Ideas de los espanolesdel siglo XVII, 2nd edn.
(Madrid, I966) iS a useful compendiumof the ideas of Spaniardsabout them-
selves and others.
1ll"Cartade Ribadeneyra. . . sobre las causas de la perdidade la Armada":
Pedro de Ribadeneyra,Historiasde la Contrarreforma, ed. Eusebio Rey (Madrid,
I945), pp. I,35I-2.
 SELF-PERCEPTIONAND DECLINEIN SPAIN
47
There was, therefore, a supernaturalexplanationof Castile's
troubles,of whichthe naturalcorollarywas a moralizingpuritanism.
There would be no more victories, warned Mariana,moralist,
arbilristaand historian, until morals were reformed.l7 The age
revealedits corruptionin sexualimmoralityand religioushypocrisy;
in the idleness and insubordinationof youth; in luxuriousliving,
rich clothingand excessiveindulgencein food and drink;and in the
addictionto the theatreand to gamesof chance. To this catalogue
of evils a new one was addedin the lateryearsof Philip III the
effeminatefashionamongmenfor wearingtheirhairlong. A diarist
writingin I627 came to the conclusionthat this was a "contagion
from England",introducedduringthe courseof the negotiationsfor
an Anglo-Spanishmatch.l8
Spain could only be cleansedof these vices by a programmeof
nationalregeneration beginningwiththe court. It wasassumedthat
such a processof purificationwould"oblige"God to lookfavourably
againon Castileand continueHis formermerciesto it. This direct
equationbetweennationalmoralityandnationalfortunewasone that
weighedheavily on the rulers of Spain, who had been taught to
considerthemselvespersonallyresponsiblefor the defeatsand the
sufferingsof the peoplescommittedto theircharge. "I considerthat
Godis angrywithme andmy kingdomsfor oursins,andin particular
for mine's,was the best explanationthat PhilipIV couldfind for the
I)utch captureof Weseland 's Hertogenboschin I629.19
It might appearat first sight that in an intenselyreligioussociety
this supernaturalinterpretationof unexpectedmisfonuneleft little
more to be said. But if seventeenth-century Spamards,like their
contemporaries in other partsof Europe,operatedwithin a narrow
theologicalframeworkboundedby sin and grace, punishmentand
reward,they also operatedwithin a more secularframeworkwhich
impliedan alternative,althoughnot mutuallyexclusive,interpretation
of the terribledramathat was unfoldingbeforethem. This was a
naturalistic,ratherthansupernatural, andit owedmore
interpretation
to the Graeco-Romanthan to the Judeo-Christiantradition in
Europeanthought.
17 Juan de Mariana, De spectacalis,irl his Obras (Biblioteca de Autores
Espanoles, xxxi, Madrid, I854), p. 460. Guenter Lewy, Constitutionalism
and Statecraftduringthe GoldenAge of Spain (Geneva, I960), p. 29, dates this
essay to "well before I599".
18 Dietari de 3reroniPufades, 4 vols. (Barcelona, I975-6), iv, pp. 87-8.
According to Pufades, who is writing of Catalonia the second count of Santa
Colomahas the distinctionof being the first to persecutethe long-hairedyoung.
19 Papel que escribidS.M....: A[rchivo] H[istorico] N[acional, Madrid],
libro 857, fo. I82. For the idea of "obliging" God, see the consultaof the
Junta de Reformacionof II JanuaryI626 quoted in Angel Gonzalez Palencia
"Quevedo, Tirso y las comedias ante la Junta de Reformacion",Boletin de la
Real AcademiaEspanola,xxv (I946), p. 8I.
48 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER74

In this alternativescenarioSpain was no longer seen sub specie

aerernitatis,its fortunesdeterminedby the dictatesof an inscrutable
deity. Insteadit was squarelyplacedwithin the temporalprocess,
governedby thosesame forceswhichdictatedcelestialandterrestrial
movementsin the naturalworld. The idea of an infinitecyclical
process, by which all living organismswere subject to growth,
maturityand decay,was deeplyembeddedin Europeanthinking,as
was Polybius'sapplicationof it to the rise and fall of states. The
organicconceptionof the statein sixteenth-century Europereinforced
the analogy,and historyconfirmedit. Renaissancehistoriography
had dwelt on the inclinatioor the declinatioof Rome.20 If all great
empires,includingthe greatestof them all, had risen only to fall,
could Spain alone escape? This hardlyseemedlikely, and one of
the most acuteof the arbitristas,Gonzalezde Cellorigo,devotedthe
firstchapterof his book,publishedin I600, to the themeof "howour
Spain, howeverfertile and abundantit may be, is subject to the
declinacion to which all republicsare prone".
The fatefulwordhad been uttered-declinacion. It was a word
whichwas hereassociatedwith a purelynaturalprocess,andas such
it raisedtheologicalissues of which Gonzalezde Cellorigowas well
aware. There were, he explained,differingopinionson the causes
of the declineof states. Someattributedit to the movementof the
planets,someto the naturalinstabilityof all thingshuman,aIldothers
to the cyclicalprocessesof natureitself. But astrologicalandnatural
determinismwere unacceptableto the Christian,who was boundto
see in every event, greator small, the hand of an omnipotentGod
whosejudgementswereinscrutable.2l
There was, then, an escape clause: the miraculouscould occur.
But barringthis, there was an inevitabilityaboutthe process,which
mightby humanagencybe sloweddown,but couldneverbe reversed.
The analysisof what had gone wrong would vary from arbitnsta
to arbitnsta,but all began,whetheropenlyor tacitly,wichthe mental
imageof a degeneralive processto whichtheircountrywasinexorably
subject. As might have been expectedof an age when the analogy
between the state and the human body was a commonplace,the
processof declinetendedto be describedin termsof a wastingdisease.
Jeronimode Ceballos,for instance,writesof the:
similarity between the government of a polity and the human body, which
also suffersfrom excess or naturalcauses; and the same thing happensto the
republic, which goes into declinacioneither by bad government . . or by
naturalcauses which proceed from time itself . . . for everythingwhich has a

20 For theories of historical decline in Renaissance and post-Renaissance

Europe, see Starn, "Meaning-Levelsin the Theme of HistoricalDecline", and
SantoMazzarino,Lafine delmo antico(Milan, I959), Englishtrans.by George
Holmes, The End of the Ancient World(London, I966).
21 Cellorigo, Me?norial,
fos. I-4.
 SELF-PERCEPTION IN SPAIN
ANDDECLINE 49
beginning must decline towards its end, just like the rising and the settirlg
sun.a 2
The result of the analogy from the human body was that the medical
metaphor was ubiquitous.23 For Fernandez Navarrete 'Cthe illness
is extremely serious". For Sancho de Moncada, whose Restauracidn
politica de Espana was published in I6I9, Spain had changed more in
the last four or five years than over the last forty or Sfty, like an old
but healthy man, who suddenly in the space of a few days is laid low
by the illnesses which will carry him to the grave. For Lison y
Biedma "this sick man is Your Majesty's monarchy, which is suffer-
ing in the head, namely the royal treasury ...". A state paper
presented to the Cortes in I623 declares that monarchies are "mortal
and perishable", and compares the condition of Castile to that of
one of those bodies described by Galen as being slowly corrupted by
evil humours which yet keep it lingering on, so that the doctors dare
not expel them for fear of inducing sudden death.24
Diseases could, of course, be diagnosed, and indeed the arbitristas
behaved as if they were so many doctors, anxiously examining the
patient for symptoms and each prescribing his own exclusive nostrum.
Since, however, remedies are supposed to yield beneficial results,
arbitrista thirAing is distinguished by the paradox that, while the
illness must be regarded as terminal, all the same there is hope. But
the hope is essentially for a stay of execution: the doctor may not
be able to prolong the patient's life indefinitely, but at least by
applying the right remedies he may be able to check the fever's
course.
Medicine aims to conserve where it cannot restore. If, as
Ceballos asserted, "Your Majesty is the doctor of this republic, and
your vassals are sick",25 good government was a prerequisite for the
survival of the patient. Arbitrismo therefore properly concerned
itself with government as well as with economic and social affairs,
on the reasonable assumption that the first necessity was "physician,
heal thyself". There was an art or "science" of government which,
like that of medicine, had to be studied and learnt. 26 But of what did

2 Jeronimo de Ceballos, Arte real para el buen gounernode los Reyes, y

Principesy de sus vassallos(Toledo, I623), fo. 4.
23 See Jose Antonio Maravall, La cultura del barroco(Barcelona, I975),
pp. I47-8.
24 Pedro Fernandez Navarrete, Conservacionde monarquias(Madrid, I626),
discurso xlix; Moncada, Restauracion,discurso i, cap. 2 (ed. Vilar, p. 97);
Mateo de Lison y Biedma, Discursosy apuntamientos, pt. ii, 21 Nov. I622, fol.
$5VXActas de las Cortesde Castilla, xxxviii, pp. I4I, I46.
35 Ceballos, Arte real, fo. 30.
26 Cf. Alamos de Barrientos:"thi8 science (cencia) which they call of state":
Advertenciaspolfticas, Hispanic Society, New York, MS. HC 380/80 fo. IO;
"To know how to govern is a science": Moncada, Restauracidn,discurso ix,
cap. I (ed. Vilar, pp. 229-30).
so PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER
74
it consist? Essentiallyit was an art of conservation,whetherin
relationto foreignor domesticafEairs. "Goodgovernmentis morea
matterof knowinghow to conservethanacquire",the dukeof Lerma
was told,27and this becamea commonplaceof seventeenth-century
Spanishpoliticalthought. The instinctiveresponseto declinacidn
was conservacidn a word which winds its way throughpolitical
literatureand the recordsof conciliardebatein the reignsof Philip
III and Philip IV.28
Still better than conservationwas actual restoration- that
Restauracidn politicade Espanawhich providedthe title for Sancho
de Moncada'sbook. But those seekingto restorea body afflicted
by a wastingdiseasecherishthe image of a healthystate sometime
in the past. Therewas, however,no clearagreementas to whenthe
organismhadattainedits highestpointof perfection. The men who
cameto powerin I62I consciouslylookedbackto whatthey believed
to be the high standardsof governmentand probitywhichprevailed
under Philip II.29 More often the ideal was seen as the reign of
Ferdinandand Isabella,itself frequentlyviewedas the age in which
the Castilian virtues of an idealized middle ages, after being
temporarilycorruptedby the civil disordersof the fourteenthand
fifteenth centuries,shone forth in all their glory. Accordingto
Gonzilez de Cellorigo,"our Spainin all things reachedits highest
degreeof perfection. . . in thosetimes",andthenthereset in a decline
"to whichno certainbeginningcan be given".30
Whetherthe point of perfectionwas placedin an idealizedmiddle
agesor an idealizedreignof the Catholickings,the scenariotendedto
unfoldin a similarway. In formertimes Spaniardshadlived sober,
hard-working lives,practisingfrugalvirtues,anddedicatedto religion
and the martialarts. But then the Indieshad been discovered,and

97 "Carta que Duarte Gomez escribio al duque de Lerma", zo Nov. I6I2,

fo. 7, in Duarte G6mez Solis, Discursossobrelos comerciosde las dos Indias
(Madrid, I622).
28 Cf. the royal confessor in a debate on the Netherlands in the collncil of
state, I Aug. I628: A.G.S., Estado, legajo 2042: "perhaps the greatest deed
which Your Majesty could perform is to sustain and conserve entire and in
peace the great monarchythat God has given you". For the theme of conser-
vacion,see Maravall,La culturadel barroco,pp. 27I-4 and for Spariishpolitical
theory of this period, his La philosophiepolitique espagnoleau XVIIe szAcle
(Paris, I955).
29 In April I62I Baltasarde Zlifiigatold the Genoese ambassadorthat it was
the new king's intention to "restore everything to the state it was in during
the time of King Philip II". Register otf correspondenceof G. B. Saluzzo,
6 Apr. I62I: Archivio di Stato, Genoa, Lettere Ministri, Spagna 2429.
ao Cellorigo, Memorial,fo. 3I. For the idea of corruption,see Pedro Sainz
Rodriguez, Evoluvbn de las ideas sobrela decadenciaespanola(Madrid, Ig62),
esp. pp. 63-5. For the middle ages as seen through the eyes of Lope de
Vega, see Renato I. Rosaldo Jr., "Lope as a Poet of History", forthcomingin
Hispandfla. I am most gratefulto Dr. Rosaldo for showing me the typescript
of his article.
 SELF-PERCEPTION IN SPAIN
ANDDECLINE 5I

Castile had gained a world-wideempire. Graduallywealth and

luxury had "corruptedthe good customs of men'',al and idleness
had prevailed. From this point the analogywith the fate of Rome
was irresistible. The Jesuit Pedro de Guzmfin,writing in I6I4,
recalledthe wordsof BishopOsoriothat "idlenesshas destroyedthe
greatestempiresin the world,those of the Persians,the Greeks. . .
and the Romans". Fray Juan de SantaMaria,a leadingfigurein
the oppositionto the governmentof the dukeof Lerma,quotesSallust
to the effect that "when a kingdomreachessuch a point of moral
corruptionthat men dress like women, ... that the most exquisite
delicaciesareimportedfor its tables,and men go to sleepbeforethey
are tired, ... then it can be regardedas lost, and its empireat an
ends 38
The historicallaw behindall this was spelt out by a minorliterary
figure, Juan Pablo MErtirRizo, in a life of Maecenaswhich he
publishedwith a dedicationto Olivaresin I626:
Empires are easily preserved with the customs they acquired at the start,
but when idleness replaces hard work, luxury replaces sobriety, and
arrogancesteps in where justice should prevail, then fortune and mannets
are changed, and empires are undone unless a remedy is found.33
It was, therefore,the deviationfrom the guiding principlesof the
heroicage of greatnesswhichwas the true sourceof disaster. Like
othersocietiesCastilehad createdan imageof itself and of its past,
which had helped to shape its expectationsand its goals. The
disappointments and reversesof the late sixteenthand earlyseven-
teenth centuriescreateda crisis of confidence,becausethey implied
that Castilewas fallingshortof the goals - essentiallymilitaryand
religious- whichit hadset itself. This failurewasthen set into the
contextof declinacidn.

and the naturalisticexplana-

The implicationsof the supernatural
tions of Castile'stroubles were the same. The answer,in both
instances,was to go back:to reformand to restore. Overand over
81 Ceballos, Arte real, fo. 32V. See also Mariana, De spectaculis,p. 460,
and Caxa de Leruela, Restauracidnde la abundanciade Espana, cap. asi (ed.
Le Flem, p. 60).
as Pedro de Guzman, Bienes del honesto trabajo y danos de la ociosidad
(Madrid,I6I4) p. 8I. FrayJuan de Santa Maria,RepiAblicay policiachristiana
(Lisbon, I62I edn.), p. 200. For the importance of Santa Maria's book,
see Jean Vilar's introduction to Moncada, Restauracion,pp. I7-I8. Santa
Maria's Republzcay policia christianaappeared in English translationin I632
under two different titles: ChristianPolicie: or, the ChristianCommonwealth
(London, I632, S.T.C. I4830.7 and I483I)) and Policie Unveiled (London,
I632) S.T.C. I483 Ia).
a3 Juan Pablo Mariir Rizo, Hzstoriade la vida de Mecenas(Madrid, I626),
fos. 88V-89. For details of the author,see Jose Antonio Maravall'sintroduciion
to the volume containing Martir Rizo's Norte de principesand his Vida de
Rdmnlo(Madrid, I945).
52 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER74

again the message of the reformersof the first three decades of

the seventeenthcenturywas a messageof return. Returnto the
primevalpurityof mannersand morals;returnto justand uncorrupt
government;return to the simple virtues of a rural and martial
society. The futureessentiallylay in the past. How was returnto
be achieved? By a programmeof national regenerationand
re-dedication,of which the purifyingprocess representedby the
expulsionof the MoriscosfromI609-I4 the uprootingfromCastile
of a "cursedaIldperniciousseed"34 was an earlymanifestation.
Sumptuarylegislationshould be enforced in order to curb the
excessesof moderndress;the theatresshouldbe shut downand the
publicationof frivolousbooksbe banned;noblesshouldbe sent back
to their estates,and their sons be trainedto becomegood horsemen
and good soldiers;and the farmerand the rurallabourershouldbe
rescuedbeforeit was too late.35 The rustic virtueswere idealized
in the increasinglyurbanizedMadridof the earlyseventeenthcentury
by a theatrewhich glorifiedthe independenceand integrityof the
peasantand the ruralcommuxlity the only uncontaminated part
of the commonwealth.86
If this werethe sum totalof the Castilianreformmovementof the
seventeenthcentury,it would seem very similarto the responseof
earliersocietiesto a time of troubles. The senseof decline,the idea
of a lost virtue,the idealizationof traditionalruralvaluesare charac-
teristicof ancientRome, and of the late medievalIslamicworld,as
seen throughthe eyes of Iba Khaldun.87 But in the seventeenth-
centuryCastilianresponseto the nationalpredicament,there is an
additionaland disturbingelement, which helps to differentiateit
from these earlierresponses,and makesthe Castilianexperiencean
interestingforerunnerof that of other societiesin the modernand
contemporary world. It is an elementwhichcertainlyhadits echoes
in other partsof earlyseventeenth-century Europe,and not least in
the "depressed"Englandofthe I620S,38 but whichseemsto harrebeen
felt on a scaleand with an intensitythat transformquantitativeinto
qualitativedifference.
tu Cespedes y Meneses, quoted in Herrero Garcia, Ideasde los espanoles,
P 573
a5See the documents collected in La gunta de Reformacion. Documentos
procedentesdel Archivo HistbricoNacional y del General de Simancas ....
I6I8-I625, ed. Mgel GoMez Palencia (hchivo Estorico Espol, v, Vila-
dolid, I932), and especially doc. iv, the famous reform consultaof I Bebruary
I6I9) at pp. I2-30.
az See Nodl Salomon, Recherches sur le thAmepaysan dans la "comedia"au
temps de Lope de Vega (Bibliothbque des hautes Etudes hispaniques, xxxi,
Bordeaux, I965).
s7 Mazzarino, End of the Ancient World, chs. I-4 Ibn Khaldun, The
Mtcqaddimah, trans. Franz Rosenthal, 2nd edn. (Princeton, t967).
a8 See esp. B. E. Supple, Commercial Crisisand Changein Erfgland,1600-I642
(Cambridge, I959) ch. 9, "Economic Thought".
 SELP-PERCEPTIONAND DECLINEIN SPAIN 53
The indicatorsof declineso farmentionedhavebeenlargelymoral
indicators,even if they also have some bearingon governmentand
the capacityfor war. "Decline"does not seemto havebeen used of
the arts and letters,as it was in the Rome of Pliny and Quintilian,
presumablybecauseof their obviouslyflourishingstate.39 At least
fromthe I620S, however,it was being used by Spaniardsin relation
to their country'sinternationalposition and militarypower. The
count-dukeof Olivares,whendiscussingthe setbackto Spanisharms
in Italy in I629, wroteof the terriblediscreditit broughtupon king
and nation,"whichstill continueson its decline". Philip IV him-
self, writingin I634, describedthe recommendationby the council
of statein I629 that a new truce shouldbe madewith the Dutch at
any price, as markingthe momentwhen "my monarchybegan by
generalconsent,and visibly,to decline".40
But as longas victoriesalternatedwith defeats,"decline"wasmore
obviouslyapplicableto the domesticsituationthan to Spain'sgreat
power status. But declineof what,and in relationto what} The
decayof mannersandmoralsprovidedone set of indicators,but there
was also anotherset, pointingto a differentkind of decline. These
indicatorswere essentiallyeconomicand fiscal. They includedthe
state of the crown'sfinances,which a ministerdescribedin I629 as
havingbeen in "continuousdeclinacion" duringhis thirty-nineyears
in the royalservice;4lthe fiscalburden,especiallyon the peasantry;
the excessof importsoverexportsandthe consequentruinof domestic
industry;the disordersof the debasedvellon coinage;and perhaps
the most alarmingof all the indicatorsin the eyes of contemporaries,
the declineof population.
"Never",wroteLuis Vallede la Cerdain I600, "in sevenhundred
yearsof continuouswar,norin one hundredof continuouspeace,has
Spain as a whole been as ruinedand as poor as it is now".42 But
what was the evidence for this? Much of it, inevitably, was
impressionistic. The decline of agriculturewas confirmedby the
sight of desertedvillages,and by the scarcityof rurallabourers,the
causesof whichwereanalysedat lengthby Lope de Deza in I6I8.43
The declineof tradewasconfirmedby the presenceof the ubiquitous
foreign merchant. Ishe decline of industrywas confirmedby the
39Mazzarino,End of the Ancient World,p. 34. For a view of the state of
the arts in Spain, see the quotation of I628 from Sebastian de Alvarado in
Henry Kamen, "Golden Age, Iron Age: A Conflictof Concepts in dle Renaiss-
ance", yl. Medieval and RenaissanceStudies,iv (I974), p. I36.
40 Olivaresto Gonzalo Fernandezde Cbrdoba,4 May I629: A.G.S., Estado
legajo 27I2; consuka, I6 Mar. I634 (Philip IV's reply): A.G.S., Estado, legajo
2048.
41 A.H.N., Estado libro 856, fo. I4I.
42 Luis Valle de ia Ceri, Despfflo del patrimonzode su M<estad . . .
(Madrid, I600), fo. I56V.
43 Lope de Deza, Go2>iernopolytico de agrtcultura(Madrid, I6I8).
54 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER
74
floodof foreignimports. Such evidencenaturallysufferedfromthe
defect of its origins,and the problemsof evaluationwere diflicult.
That, for instance,was the truth about the Toledo of Philip III,
which complainedso loudly of its troublesthat when Gonzalezde
Cellorigowenttherein I6I9 he expectedto findit a desert? Yet on
his arrivalit seemedto himmuchless affectedthanothertownsby the
"commondeclinacion of these kingdoms,to whicheverythingin the
world is subject". The streets were full of people, the houses
occupied,the buildingsin good shape ....44
Localmemoryandthe impressionsof visitorswerebothveryimper-
fect guidesto the realityand the extentof "decline". But serious
attemptsweremadeto findotherandmorereliableformsof evidence.
The veryuncertaintyoverrecentpopulationtrendsitself servedas an
incentiveto searchfor somekindof statisticalprecision. Sanchode
Moncadawasone of thosewho wanteddecisionsto be basedon facts,
not theories,and referredto the parishregistersas showingthat in
I6I7 and I6I8 there were only half as manymarriagesas there had
been in earlieryears.45 Global populationfigureswerenot easy to
come by, but the paperpresentedto the Cortesof Castilein I623
on the state of the realmmadeuse of the tax assessmentsof I584-5
and I59I as the basisfor its conclusionthat populationhad declined
by a thirdsincethe lastof theseassessments. Butthe admiIiistration
was sufficientlyuncertainof its figuresto expatiateon the need to
introduceinto Castile"whatis calleda census in Latin and a censura
in romance".46
The factthatreformersshouldfastenon economicanddemographic
phenomena moreor less accuratelyobservedand described no
doubtstemsin partfromthe traditionof governmentbasedon local
inquirywhich had led to the compilationof that domesdaysurvey,
the famousRelaciones topogrdfcas, underPhilip II.47 It reflectstoo
the greattraditionof economicdebatein sixteenth-centurySpanish
universities. But it also reflectsan awarenessof, and participation
in, de wider, west Europeandebate of the later sixteenth and
seventeenthcenturiesabout the relationshipof power, population
and productivity. The betterinformedarbitnstasknewcheirBodin
44 Cellorigo to president of council of Cascile,5 Feb. I6I9: Brit. Lib., Add
MS. I4,0I5, fol. 2I6. For a modernview of Toledo's problemsat this moment,
see Micbsel Weisser, "The Decline of Castile Revisited: The Case of Toledo",
gl. EuropeanEcon. Hist., ii (I973), pp. 6I4-40.
46 Moncada,Restauracion,disxrso ii, vp. 4 (ed. Vil=, p. I37). VilarmSes
this point arltnirablyin his introduction,esp. p. 64. For the same approachin
the work of Pedro de Valencia,see J. A. Maravall,"Reformismosocial-agrario
en la crisis del siglo XVII: tierra, trabajoy saIano segfin Pedro de Valencia",
Bulletin hispanique,lxxii (I970), pv 5?*
46 Actas de las Cortes,viii, pp. I35-6, I80.
47 See Nodl Salomon, La campagnede Nouvelle Castille a la fin du XVIe
siecled'aprAsles relacionestopogrdficas(Paris, I964).
 SELF-PERCEPTIONAND DECLINEIN SPAIN S5
and their Botero-"the book is common",wrote the professorof
moralphilosophyat Salamancain I624 of Botero'sReasonof State.48
It wasin his famousbookVII that Boteroarguedthe casefor a large
populationas a sourceof nationalwealth,and then went on to say
that "if Spain is accounteda barrenland this is not due to any
deficiencyof the soil but to the sparsenessof the inhabitants".49
In a worldwherepopulationwas seen as the basis of wealthand
power,demographic trendscameto providethe touchstoneof decline.
If indeed it was true that "the more people there are who eat and
clothe themselves,the more is spent and boughtand sold, and this
in turn increases the royal revenues",50then Spain's plight
was grave. Gondomarnoted as much in a superb letter written
in March I6I9, six months after returningfrom England. Who
that had travelledoutsidethe peninsulacould not fail to be aware
on his wearyhomewardjourneyof the "depopulation,povertyand
misery of Spain today''?5l The relationshipbetween population
and productivitywas endlesslydiscussed often, as by Sanchode
r

Moncada,with considerablesophistication.52But the discussion

alwaysstartedfrom the standpointthat Castilehad too few people,
although from the strictly economic point of view this was not
perhapsthe most criticalproblemfor a society unable to feed or
employsuch peopleas it had.58
Alongsidethe supernaturaland the naturalisticinterpretationsof
Castile'spredicament,then, there existed a more scientificvein of
interpretationwhich while not necessarilyrejectingthe other
approaches soughtto identifyand analysespecificeconomicand
socialproblems,like depopulation,as amenableto correctionby the
appropriate policies,properlyapplied. It wasaninterpretation which
assumed,in line with contemporary thoughtin otherpartsof western
Europe,that it lay within the capacityof men and governmentsto
increaseproductivityand masimize power. Whereasthe bias of
48 ArxgelManrique,Socorro delcleroal estado(Salamanca,I624 repr.Madrid,
I8I4), p. 55. Antonio de Herrera had produced a Spanish translaJcion of
Botero in I592.
49 Giovai Botero, TheReasonof State,trans. by P. J. and D. P. WSey
(London, I956), p. I45.
60 Manrique, Socorro del cleroal estado,p. 58.
oficial
a1Correspondencia deDonDiegoSarmiento condedeGontlomar,
deAcunav
4 vols. (Documentosineditos parala historiade Espana,i-iv, Madrid, I936-45),
ii, p. I35s
Moncada, Restauracidn,
62 Cf. Vilar's introduciion to p. 66. Moncada was
one of those who realized that Spatiish "idleness" might be the involuntary
result of unemployment: ibid., discurso i, cap. II (ed. Vilar, p. I08).
S3 Interestingly, however, Martinez de Mata, the arbitristaof a later
generation,notes when writing in the I650S that the heavy populationlosses of
the last twenty yearshad been useful in purgingthe body politic of evil humours,
since it would have been impossible to find sustenance for so many people:
FranciscoMartinezde Mata, Memonalesy discursos,
ed. GonzaloAnes (Madrid,
I97I), p. 337
 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER74
the first two interpretationswas towardsa moralresponse,and to-
wardsthe restorationof healthto a disorderedbodypolitic,this more
scientificexplanationsaw the problemin termsof mistakenpolicies
which could be changedfor betterones.
The changesdemanded,however,werechangesin the management
of the economyratherthanthe orderingof society. Modernsociety,
thinkingin terms of structure,sees the solutionto its problemsin
terms of structuralchange. Seventeenth-century society, thinking
in termsof organisms,was concernedwith restoringhealth,not with
transforming structures. It wouldpurge,andbleed,andif necessary
amputate,to get the constitutionback to a harmoniousbalance.
Strong argumentswould be put forwardin sevexlteenth-century
Castilefor reducingthe wealthand powerof those elementsin the
body politic, like the Church, whose excesses disturbed the
equilibriumof the whole.54 But the hierarchical orderof societywas
regardedas fixed and immutable. Arbitristas,satiristsand play-
wrightsmight mockor criticizethe abusesand the extravagances of
contemporary socialbehaviour,but they acceptedthe foundationson
which it restedas a matterof course.56
One of the great themes of GonzZlezde Cellorigo'streatisewas
that things had gone wrong becausethe social balancehad been
upset all moderationandjustproportionhadgone, as men aspired
to a higher social status than that of their fathers. This was a
commonplaceof the times,repeatedby arbitristas androyalministers
and echoed by playwrights.68Once again, inevitably,it pointed
to return return to an age when society was in balance. The
sameheld true of manyof the economicrecipesthat wereproposed,
like Caxa de Leruela'ssuggestionsfor the revivalof the sheep
industry. They lookedto the past as a model,and thereforechange
took the form of restoration. But wherethe supernaturaland the
naturalisticinterpretationsof decline inevitablylookedback to the
past, this was not necessarilytrue of the more scientificapproach.
The pastmightprovideone model but it wasnot the only one. For
those who saw economicproblemsin the contextof an international
discussionaboutthe presumedrelationshipof population,productivity
and nationalpower, anotherpossible model existed. This model
was providednot by an idealizedversionof the nationalpast, but by
the presentpracticeof contemporary states.
If, as Sancho de Moncadawrote, "experiencehas shown that
republicswhich used to be poor, like France,Flanders,Genoaand
S4 See Dominguez Ortiz, La sociedadespanola en el szglo XVII, ii, ch. 8.
6 Por the >ntainment of soaal tension in Spamsh baroque thouSt, see
Maravall,La caltura del barroco,esp. ch. t.
66 CelloAgo, Morial, fos. 54V-56. For a pIaiffit on this theme, see
especially the words of the tailor, Homo Bono, in Tirso de Molina's Santo y
sastre, act I, scene 2 (Obrasdramdticascotnpletas,iii) Madrid, I968 edn., p. 56).
 SELF-PERCEPTIONAND DECtINE IN SPAIN 57
Venice,haveprosperedby producingtheirown manufactures; while
Spain,richin fruitsand silverfleets,has grownpoorby its failureto
do then the answerwas to go and do likewise. There was
so",57

nothingnew in this kind of recommendation,58 but as the contrast

betweenthe economicsituationof Spainandthatof its rivalsappeared
to sharpen,so the senseof urgencyincreased. "It wouldbe wise to
makeuse of imitationin so far as is compatiblewith our natureand
disposition",recommendeda specialjuntawhich was consideringa
proposalfor the establishmentof overseastradingcompanieson the
modelof the Dutch. "Wemustbendoureffortsto turningSpaniards
into merchants",declaredOlivaresin his imperious way.59

Some Spaniards,therefore,werebeginningto see declinein terms

of economicbackwardness relativeto other contemporarysocieties.
Once things beganto appearin this light, the correctresponsewas
not to restorebut to innovate. Early seventeenth-centurySpain,
iIl becomingawareof its "barbarism" to use the wordemployed
by Olivaresof its technicaldeficienciesin internaltransportationas
seenthroughforeigneyes80 thereforeprovidesan earlyscenariofor
what was in due course to become the world-wide drama of
modernizationand traditionalism. Already the principalthemes
had been suggestedand the actorswere takingtheir allottedplaces
on the stage. Here was a society which felt itself increasingly
threatenedand disorientedas two currentsof reformcompetedfor
attention one pressingfor a returnto the ancientways,the other
for innovatingchange.
Innovationwas not easy to justifyin a worldwhich instinctively
tendedto assumethat all changewas for the worse. The received
opinion was voiced by a leadingministerof the crown: "novelties
(novedades)are absolutely bad when they run counter to the
establishedformsof stateandgovernment". "Noveltieshavealways
broughtgreatdifficultiesand inconveniencesin their train",argued
opponentsof a proposedfiscal reformin the Cortesof I623. On
the otherhand,as one of the arbitristaswroteX"new needs and new
situationsdemand a search for new remedies". In the circum-
stancesit is not surprisingthat novedadand novedades, as somewhat
ambiguouswords, acquireda certainfashionabilityin the Madrid
of those years.6l
7 Monvda, Restauracidn,disxrso i, vp. I2 (ed. Vil=, p. II0).
58 Cf. the Memorialdel ContadorLuis Ortiz a FelipeII (Madrid,I970),
P 75-
5' Consultaof Juntadel Comercio,t3 Mar. I624: A.G.S., Estado,legajo
2847; Olivares'smemorandumon government,25 Dec. I624: Brit. Lib.,
EgertonMS. 2053, fo. 2I7.
6?"barbaridad", in consultadel conde-duque:Brit. Lib., Add. MS. 2S,68g
fo. 237v.
61FernandoCarrilloto king, I0 June I62I: A.H.N., Estado,libro 6I3-
ActasdelasCort?s,xxxix,p. 22I; Manrique,Socoo delcleroal estado,pp. 45-6.
See also Maravall,La culturadel barroco)ch. 9, on "novedad".
58 PAST AND PRESENT NUhlBER 74

It would,however,be misleadingto postulatea clear-cutdivision

betweentraditionalistsand innovatorsin early seventeenth-century
Spain. The currents,in fact, were hopelesslymixed. Proponents
of innovatingeconomicremediesalso tended to think in terms of
collective guilt and moral regeneration. Jerdnimode Ceballos,
who proposedthe introductionof a nationalbankingsystem,also
wishedCastileto devoteits energiesto the reconquestof Jerusalem.62
What does become increasinglyapparent,however,is the incom-
patibility of the two reformingtraditions when they meet on
specific issues. The extravagancesof dress, for example, were
highly offensiveto those who saw in them a conspicuousmisuseof
wealthand an indicationof dangeroussocial confusionas men and
womenapedthe fashionsof their superiors. But againstthe rising
pressurefor new sumptuarydecrees,GregorioLopez Maderacould
writein I62I that "althoughfrugalityand moderationare very good
for private individuals,and greatly desired by the sealous, they
are not good for the republic as a whole, for Jcheytake away
employment".63In this anticipationof the doctrine of private
vices, public benefits,new economicsand ancientmoralitymet in
open conflict.
The perceptionof declinegavepowerfulurgencyto the movement
for reform. During the last four years of the reign of Philip III
this movementdevelopedan irresistiblemomentum,as arbitristas,
sections of the bureaucracy,and the urban patriciate,throughits
spokesmenin the Cortes, clamouredfor something to be done.
Even the indolentgovernmentof the duke of Lermawas forcedto
take note. "We do not deny, gentlemen,within these four walls",
said the presidentof the council of Castileto the Cortesin I6I7,
"thatthereis a generalweaknessin this body of king and kingdom,
and that the remedyis for us to recognizeand feel it reciprocally,
for this will promotea concernto put things right".64 But it was
not until I62I, with the adventof a new kinganda new government,
that Spainacquireda regimewhich,in its senseof urgency,seemed
tO matchthe mood of the times.
Underthe governmentof ZfinigaandOlivares,the resultsof twenty
yearsof nationalintrospection beganto acquirelegislativeembodiment
in a programme of reformandregeneration devisedanddirectedbythe
principalministersof the Crown. The perceptionof a society in
declinethereforebecamethe starting-pointfor governmentalaction.
Instinctivelyresortingto the rhetoricof the arbitristas
the administra-
62 Cebilos, Arte real, fo. I49.
63 La ffunta de Reformavbn,p. I06. For a comparableview by a British
contemporary,see Thomas Mun, England'sTreasureby ForraignTrade(Lon-
don, I664; repr. Oxford, t928, I949), p. 60.
6' Actas de las Cortes,xxix, pp. 424-5.
 SELF-PERCEPTIONAND DECLINEIN SPAIN 59

tion told the s623 Cortesthat "it is essentialto pressaheadwith the

cure, and this may have to consist of cauterizationif nothing else
works,becausesometimesone canrestorelife to a patientin extrenUs
by treatinghim as such".86
Inevitablyas the OlivaresrEgimepushedaheadwithits programme,
the incompatibiliiiesin the attitudesthat had createda climatefor
reformbecameincreasinglyapparent. There are manyreasonsfor
the failure of the Olivaresrefiormprogrammeof the I620S,66but
amongthem must be includedthis conflictof attitudes-a confl;ct
to be foundnot only withinthe ranksof the admixiistration, but also
within the count-dukehimself,as a man who rrored with almost
uncannyaccuracythe fears and aspirationsof the Castile of his
times.
In the desire to returnto the pure values of a heroic past, the
regimeembarkedon a programmeof rqformacidn, designedto purify
maers and moralsand so make Castileonce again worthyof its
providentialcalling. Sumptuaryexcesses were curbed; brothels
were orderedto be closed; and from I625 to I634 no licenceswere
grantedfor the printingof novelsandplaysbecauseof theirtendency
to corruptthe mannersof the young.e' This samespirit,however,
helpedto reinforcethe argumentsfor the returnto waraftera period
of relativepeaceC a warwhichwouldfirstdistort,andthen destroy,
the programmeof reform. Advocatingthe resumptionof active
hostilitiesin the Netherlandsin I62I the countof Benaventeargued
in the councilof statethatidlenessmadethe naturallybraveSpaniards
effeminate,and chat it was necessaryto have "a good war, or else
we lose everything"*68The overwhelmingconcernwith "reputa-
tion" in the conductof Spanishforeignpolicywas at leastin partthe
compensatingresponse of ministers uneasily conscious of their
country'sdeclinacidn.Ironicallyit was Olivares'sson law, the
statesmanof a new generation,who despairinglyobserared afterfifty
yearsof obstinateeffortculminatingin the greatdisastersofthe middle
years of the century that "the true reputationof states does not
consistof mereappearances".69
Yet in order to recover its strength and fight its wars more

66Ibid.,iii pp. I46-7.

6 The reform programmeand its failure w11 be st:udiedin a book that I
am at present wriiing on Olivaresand his government.
67 For the capislos de reformacion of I0 Febmaw I623} S La gunta de
Reformacion, doc. lxvi, at pp. 4I5-55. For the ban on plays and novels, see
Jaime Moll, "Diez anos sin licencias para imp comedias y novelas en los
reinos de Casiilla, I625-I634", Boletinde la Real AcademiaEspanola,liv
(I974), pp. 97-I03.
68 Cta, July I62I: kCiV0 de los Condes de Ote, legajo I04. I
I7
owe this referenceto the kindness of de Marquesesde Torre Blanca.
69 Quotedin R. A. Stzdhng, "A Spsh Sutesman of Appement: Medina
de las Torres and Spanish Policy, I639-I670", Hist.3rl./xzx(I976), p. I9.
60 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER74

effectively,Castilefounditself driveninto the presentwhile clinging

to the past. The Olivaresprogrammerequiredinnovatingchange,
whetherfor tax reformor commercialrecoveryor technicaladvance.
This change tended to draw on foreign ideas and expertise,and
involvedthe introductioIlof new and disturbingeleMentsinto the
centre of nationallife. The sudden prominenceat the court of
crypto-JewishPortuguesebankersand businessmensymbolizedthe
inner contradictionsof a programmeof reformwhich had depicted
purificationas essentialto survivalsand now had recourseto those
very elements which the popularmind most associatedwith the
contamination of Castile.7?
The social effects of the administration'sattemptsto introduce
changein the contextof whatwasperceivedof as "decline"still have
to be systematicallyexplored. Wasit, for instance,purecoincidence
that the I620S provedto be a decadeof violent controversyover
Castile'spatronsaint? The canonizationof Teresaof Avilain I622
gavea newimpetusto the movementto makeherthe patronof Castile
in place of, or alongside,St. James. Againstthe partisansof the
warriorsaint who had deliveredSpainfromthe Moorswereranged
those of a modernsaint, who was both Spanishand a woman. In
the great co-patronagecontroversythat divided Castile into two
opposingcamps, the nation's disasters,from floods to plagues of
locusts, were attributedeither to the anger of St. James at his
possibledisplacement,or alternativelyto the lackof effectiveadvocacy
in heaven,such as St. Teresamight supply.7l
A violexlt polemic over the identity of a nation's symbolic
representative hints at a deep underlyingdisagreementover national
identityitself. The awarenessof "decline"wasitself the precipitant
of change,but deep divisionsaroseoverthe directionof that change.
As the reformprogrammefaltered,so the satiricalattackson the
arbitristassharpened,and the disillusionwith reformitself became
moreacute. The combinationof an unsuccessfulreformprogramme
with crippling defeat in war the yardstickby which Castile
instinctivelyjudged nationalfailure or success-was the worst
thing that could have happened,aggravatingthe bitterness,the
fatalism,and the sense of collectiveguilt.
Stlllmoreominouswasthe reinforcement of the stockadementality
in Castiliansociety. This mentality,which looked on Spain as
? There is a rapidlygrowingliteratureon the PortugueseJews in seventeenth-
centurySpain. See especiallyJulio Gro Baroia,"La sociedadcriptojudiaen la
corte de Felipe IV", in his Inguisicidn,bruieriay criptofudaismo,2nd edn.
(Barcelona,I972), and Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi,From SpanishCourtto Italiaz
Ghetto(New York, I97I).
71 For a brief but entertainingaccount of the co-patronagecontroversy,see
T. D. Kendrick, Saint 9'amesin Spain (London, I960), ch. 4 see also AmErico
Castro, La realidadhistoricade Espana,3rd edn. (Mexico, I966), pp. 394-9.
 SELF-PERCEPTIONAND DECLINEIN SPAIN 6I

surroundedby foreignenemiesandin imminentdangerof subversion

by the enemywithin,foundcoherentexpressionin a writerof genius
who had for a time given activesupportto the reformingrEgimeof
Olivares,and then broke violently with it. In his brilliantand
savageLa horade todosof the I630S Franciscode Quevedoexcoriated
the arbitnstasas pertiiciousmeddlers and as the harbingersof
foreignideas which would corruptand destroythe valuesthat had
madeCastilewhatit was. "To survive",says one of his characters,
"let us cling fast to the aphorismthat 'whatalwayswas done,always
should be done', for this, if observed, will preserve us from
novedades". 72
By an alchemyworthyof the most ingeniousarbitnsta,"dedine"
then, wastransmutedinto a kindof success,as whatlatergenerations
would call the "eternal truths of Spain"73soared transcendent
abovethe corruptingtemporalprocess. Drawingon theirownimage
of Spain,the opponentsof reformrallied,and ralliedagain,overthe
courseof the centuries. But so too did the reformers,who in the
courseof the eighteenthcenturybeganto look backto the arbitristas
with interestand respect.74 This respectwas not unjustified. All
self-perceptioncontainsan elementof self-deception,but it variesin
degree. Those who perceivedthat the ship was indeed sinkingin
the I620S were not in fact far wrong. But a sinkingship needsto
be relievedof some of its ballast,not steeredon to the rocks.
TheInstiture for AdvancedStudy,Princeton 3ff.H. Elliott

7 a Franciscode Quevedoy Villegas, Obras completas,

6theda.,2 vols. (Madrid,
I966)) i) p. 260. I am especiallygratefulto Dr. ConradKent for his illuminat-
ing ideas on Quevedo, as expressed in an article on "Politics in La horade
todos",forthcomingin the gl. of HispanicPhilology. I have also found helpful
the essay by JuanMarichal,"Quevedo: el escritorcomo 'espejo' de su tiempo"
in his La voluntadde estilo(Madrid, I97I).
va Jose M. Pem:in, Brevehistorzade Espana(Madrid, I950) p. 38I.
74 See the introductionby Gonzalo Anes to Martinet de Mata, Memoriales
y discursos,pp. 82-go.