''By My Absolute Royal Authority'': Justice and the Castilian Commonwealth at the Beginning of the First Global Age (Changing Perspectives on Early Modern Europe)

396 Pages·2005·9.75 MB·English

by  J. B. Owens

UofRPressCovervB2a.cqkx d( I n7s/id6/e0)5 F l a4p:56 PM Page 1 Wrap Back Cover Spine Front cover Wrap Front (Inside) Flap
This book maps part of this unfamiliar “Owens’s polyphony of personalities, motives, and local circumstances in early “By My Absolute Royal Authority”: Justice and
OWENS
terrain through a microhistory of an extended, modern Castilian Spain exposes a consistency in occurrences not traditionally the Castilian Commonwealth at the Beginning
high-profile lawsuit that was carefully linked, and a revealing homogeneity of priorities in litigation issues and of the First Global Age focuses on judicial
watched by generations of Castilian leaders. governmental principles across two dynasties, Trastamara and Hapsburg.” administration. From the fifteenth century to
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Justices from the late fifteenth century to the — Edward Cooper, London Metropolitan University the seventeenth, the kingdom of Castile
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reign of Philip II had difficulty resolving the experienced a remarkable proliferation of
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conflict because the proper exercise of “In this challenging and original book, J.B. Owens questions historians’ most judicial institutions, which historians have
“absolute royal authority” was itself the central cherished assumptions about the growth of absolutism in the sixteenth and M generally seen as part of a metanarrative of
legal issue and the dispute pitted against each seventeenth centuries. The core of the work is a microhistory concerning a pivotal “state-building.” Yet, Castile’s frontiers were
other members of important groups who lawsuit between the royal city of Toledo and the House of Bejar, one of Spain’s Y extremely porous, and a Crown government
demonstrated a tendency to give prominence most powerful noble families. Owens’s vision ranges over three centuries and across that could not control the kingdom’s borders
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to different interpretive schemes as they tried two continents to give a wide-ranging and sophisticated account of the interplay exhibited neither the ability to obtain
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to comprehend their world. The account brings between the Hispanic monarchy and its constituencies.” information and shape affairs, nor the
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together political ideas and political action by — Sara T. Nalle, William Paterson University centrality of Court politics that many
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giving serious attention to how well royal justices historians claim in an effort to craft a tidy
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were able to handle difficult, prominent “This is a story about how you make politics by using the courts. This story may not narrative of this period.
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lawsuits that raised politically troubling surprise twentieth-century Americans, but it certainly would most historians. Castilians retained their loyalty to the
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questions and involved major litigants. Owens demonstrates masterfully how conflicts we identify as political were debated monarchy not because of the “power” of the
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and resolved in the Castlian court-system, and how the ability of the king to institutions of a developing “state,” but
J.B. Owens is a professor of the history of adjudicate them was the basis for his so called “absolute authority.” Challenging our R because they shared an identity as citizens of a
the first global age (1400–1800) and director understanding of the early modern state, this book is likely to transform the way its O commonwealth in which a high value was
of the Glenn E. Tyler Collection (History and readers understand the past.” given to justice as an ultimate purpose of the
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Philosophy of Medicine and Science) at Idaho — Tamar Herzog, Stanford University A political community and a conviction that the
State University, where he specializes in Spanish L sovereign possessed “absolute royal authority”
history and the use of Geographic Information to see that justice was done. This expectation
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Systems (GIS) for research and teaching about served as a foundation for the political
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world history. He is author of Rebelión, identity and loyalty that held together for
monarquía y oligarquía murciana en la época T several centuries the disparate and globally-
de Carlos V (Universidad de Murcia, 1980). H dispersed domains of the Hispanic Monarchy,
O “B M A but perceptions of how well Crown judicial
Y Y BSOLUTE institutions worked were a fundamental
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Jacket image on front: Puebla de Alcocer I determinant of the degree of support a
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castle. Original photograph taken in 1966. University of Rochester Press monarch could attract to meet fiscal and
Copyright Edward Cooper. 668 Mt. Hope Avenue Y R A ” military goals.
OYAL UTHORITY
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Rochester, NY 14620, USA
ISBN 1–58046–201–4
On back: Detail of the “Castille meridionale” P.O. Box 9, Woodbridge (continued on back flap)
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atlas map published by Didier and Gilles Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK Justice and the Castilian Commonwealth
Robert de Vaugondy (Paris, 1751). David
Rumsey Map Collection, www.DavidRumsey.com www.urpress.com at the Beginning of the First Global Age
By J.B. OWENS
Owens.qxd 07/06/05 7:48 PM Page i
“B M A R A ”
Y Y BSOLUTE OYAL UTHORITY
Owens.qxd 07/06/05 7:48 PM Page ii
Changing Perspectives on
Early Modern Europe
James B. Collins, Professor of History, Georgetown University
Mack P. Holt, Professor of History, George Mason University
(ISSN 1542-3905)
Changing Perspectives on Early Modern Europe, the newest series from the
University of Rochester Press, brings forward the latest research on Europe dur-
ing the transformation from the medieval to the modern world. The series pub-
lishes innovative scholarship on the full range of topical and geographic fields
and includes works on cultural, economic, intellectual, political, religious, and
social history.
Private Ambition and Political Alliances:
The Phélypeaux de Pontchartrain Family
and Louis XIV’s Government, 1650–1715
Sara E. Chapman
The Politics of Piety: Franciscan Preachers
During the Wars of Religion, 1560–1600
Megan C. Armstrong
“By My Absolute Royal Authority”:
Justice and the Castilian Commonwealth
at the Beginning of the First Global Age
J.B. Owens
Owens.qxd 07/06/05 7:48 PM Page iii
“B M A R A ”
Y Y BSOLUTE OYAL UTHORITY
Justice and the Castilian Commonwealth
at the Beginning of the First Global Age
J. B. Owens
University of Rochester Press
Owens.qxd 07/06/05 7:48 PM Page iv
Copyright © 2005 J.B. Owens
All Rights Reserved.Except as permitted under current legislation,
no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted,
recorded, or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission of the copyright owner.
First published 2005
University of Rochester Press
668 Mt. Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620, USA
www.urpress.com
and of Boydell & Brewer Limited
PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK
www.boydellandbrewer.com
ISBN: 1-58046-201-4
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Owens, J. B. (John B.), 1944–
“By my absolute royal authority”: justice and the Castilian common-
wealth at the beginning of the first global age / J.B. Owens.
p. cm. — (Changing perspectives in early modern Europe, ISSN 1542-3904)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-58046-201-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Justice, Administration of—Spain—History—16th century. 2. Prerogative,
Royal—Spain—History—16th century. I. Title. II. Series.
KKT250.O96 2005
347.46'009'031—dc22
2005014425
A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
This publication is printed on acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America.
Owens.qxd 07/06/05 7:48 PM Page v
C
ONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
List of Abbreviations xi
Glossary xiii
Note on the Maps xix
Map 1: The Iberian Peninsula xx
Map 2: The Area of Contention xxi
Chapter 1
Rethinking the Hispanic Monarchy in the First Global Age 1
Chapter 2
John II’s Controversial Reward 17
Chapter 3
The Catholic Monarchs and the Legacy of John II 45
Chapter 4
Rebellion against Crown Administration as a Defense of
Absolute Royal Authority 79
Chapter 5
Pursuing Justice: Due Process, Procedure, and the Adjudication
of a Major Lawsuit in the Absence of Coercive Muscle 115
Chapter 6
Making Judgments: Letrado Theories and Interpretive Schemes 143
Chapter 7
Philip II, the Great Fear, and the New Authoritarianism 175
Chapter 8
The Paradox of Absolute Royal Authority 213
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vi Contents
Notes 245
Works Cited 299
Index 351
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CKNOWLEDGMENTS
Since the late 1960s, I have so enjoyed my research on the nature of Castil-
ian monarchical government between 1400 and 1700 that it was hard to stop
and write this book. By the time I finished planning the project, it had
become so long and complex that I had to break it into three parts, of which
this is the first.
Without writing another long manuscript, I find it impossible to list all of
the individuals, particularly those associated with archives and libraries,
who have assisted me. However, this book deals in part with the significance
of institutions, and I must acknowledge the contributions of several. Even
though my work was greatly slowed for well over a decade by serious family
and personal medical problems, the leaders of two exemplary scholarly
organizations, the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference and the Society
for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies, repeatedly extended their
encouragement and support so that I could remain connected with my
project even when I felt overwhelmed by other responsibilities. For more
than a quarter century at Idaho State University (ISU), my colleagues have
provided an environment in which scholarship mattered despite frequent
struggles with inadequate resources. My former dean, Victor Hjelm, has
been a pillar of support, and Edwin House, former chief research officer,
stepped in with a vital grant from his office that gave me time to complete
this book. In my beautiful but isolated mountain valley, it would not have
been possible to continue work on Spanish history had it not been for the
efforts of Nancy Anthony and her interlibrary loan staff at ISU’s Oboler
Library. Finally, it has become customary for historians of Spain on this side
of the Atlantic to acknowledge the help of the staff of the Madrid bookseller
Marcial Pons, and I join in expressing my gratitude to this Spanish treasure
because without their assistance I would be unable to keep up with the spe-
cialized publications in my areas of interest.
I am grateful to several scholars who read all or part of some version of this
book and made useful comments: James Collins, Daniel Crews, the late
Andre Gunder Frank, Robert Kingdon, Helmut Koenigsberger, Helen Nader,
Sara Nalle, Stanley Payne, David Ringrose, the late John Salmon, Domenico
Sella, and several anonymous readers. Francisco Miguel García Gómez
helped me prepare the two maps. I have not been able to incorporate all of
their suggestions, and none of them bears any responsibility for my errors.
vii
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viii Acknowledgments
A number of sources financed research for this book. I began the work
with a Ford Foundation fellowship provided through the University of Wis-
consin, a Fulbright dissertation fellowship, and a grant from the Spanish
Ministry of Culture. Although they were sometimes given for other but
related purposes, I have also benefited from a grant from the U.S.-Spanish
Joint Committee for Educational and Cultural Affairs, a fellowship from the
National Endowment for the Humanities, two ISU sabbatical leaves, main-
tenance grants from the Comunidad Autónoma de la Región de Murcia and
the Dirección General de Relaciones Culturales y Científicas of the Spanish
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, travel grants from the American Council of
Learned Societies and the American Philosophical Society, five small grants
from ISU’s Faculty Research Committee, and one from the Research Coun-
cil of my former employer, New York University.
To borrow a phrase from Joseph Levenson, my children, Amy, Christo-
pher, Mark, and my “sometimes daughter” Lupine Bybee Miller, added
years to my research and joy to those years. They enjoyed their years in
Spain and, in the end, became more Spanish than they perhaps realize.
My parents, Alice and Willard Owens, planted the seeds of my interest in
political and judicial institutions through their involvement in civic affairs.
My mother, now deceased, formed part of a generation of young women
who, influenced by Eleanor Roosevelt and inspired by the United Nations’
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, became political activists. My
father dedicated his considerable talent as a constitutional and labor lawyer
to the defense of the interests and rights of North American workers, espe-
cially of the coal miners among whom he was born and raised. Although my
parents might not agree, their activities exposed confusion about the politi-
cal direction that organized labor should take, confusion that stemmed from
a fundamental lack of connection between the theoretical tools and concep-
tual vocabulary of received political and social thought and the actual expe-
riences of politically active workers.
Rather than attempt to understand U.S. struggles in a new way, I was
drawn to the history of another country. I fell in love with a young woman
who was passionately interested in Spain, and by my senior year at Oberlin
College, my research interests increasingly focused on Spanish history. It
was then that I encountered the political thought of Juan de Mariana and
began to formulate the questions that have driven my subsequent research.
I dedicate this book to my wife, Grace W. Owens, who has remained pas-
sionately interested in Spain and has provided a context for my professional
and personal life for almost four decades. However, the dedication is due to
much more than this. As a leader in the cause of human rights, Grace has
demonstrated that through the repeated, eloquent articulation of the highest
civic principles, an individual can shape the way others understand their
world and formulate judgments as a basis for their actions. She constantly
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Acknowledgments ix
inspires her students, associates, and me to comprehend that, ultimately, it is
individual human action, our action, that creates world history. Without
Grace’s example, this book might literally have remained unwritten.
J.B.O.
April 2005