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1555
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Carlos I abdicates, leaving all his realms except those in
Austria, Germany and Franche-Comté to his son, Felipe II.
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1561
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Felipe II makes Madrid his capital (and has started
building the monastery-palace of El Escorial).
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1563
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Final session of the Council of Trent codifies Catholic
reforms.
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1567
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Revolt against Spanish rule in the Netherlands.
Decree forbidding the moriscos the use of Muslim names and dress, and
of the Arabic language (followed by uprisings in Granada in 1568).
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1571
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Spanish-led forces defeat the Turkish fleet at the naval
battle of Lepanto.
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1576
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Flanders joins the Netherlands in revolt against Spanish
rule.
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1580
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Portugal brought under the rule of Spain (but retains a
large degree of autonomy).
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1584
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Flanders is returned to Spanish control.
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1588
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The great Armada sent to attack England is defeated and
scattered.
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1591
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Rebellion in Aragón, resulting in a reduction of Aragonese
autonomy.
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1596
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Felipe II's government declares a moratorium on its debts
(effectively declaring itself bankrupt) for the third time, despite booming
revenues from the American silver trade.
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1598
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Felipe II dies and is succeeded by his son, Felipe III.
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1599
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Severe famine and plague in many parts of Spain.
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1609-14
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The moriscos (approx. 300,000) are expelled from
Spain.
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1621
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Felipe III dies and is succeeded by his son, Felipe IV
(who appoints the Conde-Duque de Olivares as his chief minister).
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1630s
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Construction of the Buen Retiro palace in Madrid
(containing a theatre).
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1640
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Revolts in Portugal (leading to Portuguese independence)
and Catalunya.
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1665
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Felipe IV dies and is succeeded by his son, Carlos II.
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Writers
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- Garcilaso de la Vega (1501-1536)
Sonnets, elegies and three long
Eclogues.
- Santa Teresa de Ávila (or de Jesús)
(1515-82)
Religious prose and poetry, and
an autobiography (Vida).
- San Juan de la Cruz (1542-91)
Mystical poetry.
- Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616)
First part of Don Quixote
published in 1605, second part in 1615; also Novelas ejemplares,
poetry and plays.
- Luis de Góngora y Argote (1561-1627)
Sonnets, ballads and two long
poems: Soledades and La fábula de Polifemo y Galatea.
- Lope de Vega Carpio (1562-1635)
Hundreds of plays, including Peribáńez
(c.1606), Fuenteovejuna (c.1612), El caballero de Olmedo
(c.1620); also poetry and novels.
- Francisco de Quevedo y Villegas (1580-1645)
Picaresque novel Historia de
la vida del Buscón (published in 1626); a great deal of poetry; and
political and satirical books and pamphlets.
- Tirso de Molina (pseudonym of Fray Gabriel
Téllez) (1583-1648)
Plays, especially religious,
including El condenado por desconfiado (c.1624) and El burlador de
Sevilla (1630); also collections of stories.
- Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-81)
Plays include La vida es
sueńo (1635), El médico de su honra (c.1635), El alcalde de
Zalamea (c.1643); also autos sacramentales (religious allegories).
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Painters
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- El Greco (Domenicos Theotocopoulos)
1541-1614.
- Francisco Zurbarán 1598-1664.
- Diego Velázquez de Silva 1599-1660.
- Bartolomé Esteban Murillo 1617-82.
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Cities
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- Madrid - the political capital from
1561, centred on the court; population and prosperity growing in late
16th and early 17th centuries; strong influence of a Sevillian elite
(political and cultural) around Olivares from 1621.
- Sevilla - the economic capital, one of the
largest cities in Europe in 1600; American trade at its peak around
1600, but largely under foreign control and in decline by 1640; lavish
displays of wealth (including artistic patronage) alongside extreme
poverty.
- Toledo - the spiritual capital and centre
of the Church; losing population and prosperity in the 1580s-1640s, but
painting flourished around El Greco 1577-1614.
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Key social,
political
and economic processes
in the early 17th century
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- Tension
between central (royal) power and local autonomy (within Spain and
beyond);
- declining military
and diplomatic effectiveness, competition from the Dutch and English;
- insufficient
population and economic strength in Spain to sustain imperial
commitments;
- lack of control over
revenue and trade generated in the Americas;
- inflation, monetary
debasement and an adverse trade balance;
- population reduced
by epidemics, grain shortages, emigration and wars overseas;
- political influence,
land ownership and social values dominated by Church and aristocracy;
- pressure for
religious reform resisted by a powerful Church hierarchy.
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