During the 13th century, the crisis of the Carolingian Empire and the Papacy manifested itself simultaneously with the growth of centralized national monarchies and with an absolutist policy: this is the case of states like Spain that developed their monarchy to give rise to a long history of families and names that would ascend to the royal throne. This is the Origin and main characteristics of the Monarchy.
Origin and main characteristics of the Monarchy
The affirmation of national monarchies such as the Spanish monarchy occurs in a period of time in which several factors were brought together for its development. Among these factors we can point out:
- The reduction of the noble front;
- The signing of new classes , first of all the bourgeoisie ;
- The centralization of the administration;
- Greater improvement of the tax system;
- The creation of permanent military armies;
- Linguistic changes due to the affirmation of one’s own language.
In this way, Spain proposed four kingdoms: Portugal, Navarra, Aragon and Castile, thus being the protagonist of the Reconquest process through which it expelled the Arabs from the Iberian Peninsula (the last domain to be reconquered was Granada). Spain was also the protagonist of conquests on the Italian peninsula. Specifically Aragon, which showed great interest in the Mediterranean and Italy . Sicily was the first territory that Aragon took possession of, later Sardinia and the Kingdom of Naples. The culmination of the Spanish unification was the marriage between Fernando de Aragón and Isabel de Castilla , although this unification was not easy given the clear differences between the two kingdoms.
The Spanish monarchy knew how to repress feudal anarchy, obtain the support of the bourgeois class and use the Inquisition to repress all those who could be inconvenient for Catholicism and political opponents. Spain then became the protagonist, with Portugal, of the great colonial conquests on American soil, thus possessing many colonies, while on the European continent it possessed southern Italy and the Netherlands , whose northern provinces escaped Spanish domination. and where an autonomous autonomy was created. A state that took the name of Holland.
Some of the most outstanding characteristics in this origin of the Spanish monarchy were:
- The union of the Catholic kings : The marriage formed by the Catholic Monarchs achieved central power and achieved the internal pacification of Spain, which until then had been divided into several different kingdoms. Religion was the main element of cohesion. All the conquests that were carried out caused Spain, under his monarchy, to be one of the most powerful countries.
- The great diversity of the Spanish kingdom : Despite loyalty to the monarchy, each region of Spain had multiple customs, traditions, policies and even languages.
- A long-lived monarchy: The Spanish Monarchy is the oldest of all the monarchies in Europe along with the British. It was only interrupted during three stages of great political upheaval: the First Republic, the Second Republic and the Franco regime.
- The reign that lasted the longest : Although she never came to rule, Juana la Loca led the longest reign in the history of Spain with half a century behind her. Behind her is Felipe V, el Animoso, with 45 years on the throne and two different periods since he abdicated in his son Luis I, who died unexpectedly causing the crown to return to his father.
- The current parliamentary monarchy: At present, and since the proclamation of Juan Carlos I as king in 1975, the Spanish monarchy is parliamentary and constitutional. These means that power resides in the citizens, who must elect their representatives in Parliament leaving the king as Head of State.
