Ruling Catalonia At A Distance: Ferdinand's Solidifying Influence

Just as there were two monarchs in Spain, there were at least two Spains. The histories of Catalonia and Castile in the fifteenth century were quite different. Each had their separate internal bodies and groupings, practices and norms. Though the monarchy was 'shared' in the marriage between King and Queen, and though they certainly discussed things between them, and helped each other out on occasion, they dealt with their respective realms separately.

J.H. Elliott tells us there are two areas in particular that show how they divided tasks. One was in overseeing the age-old issues inherent in administering Catalonia, the domain of Ferdinand as King of Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia. The other was the exploration and exploitation of the newly discovered Americas for the primary benefit of Isabella's crown of Castile. So separate were their domains, Elliott laments the lost opportunity which might have done much for uniting Spain if both parts of Spain could have benefitted from that project. [p.79]

The history of Catalonia and Aragon was fraught with much division. As Catalonia and its crown grew rich looking east in the thirteenth century, the royals there expanded their influence. Most notably in Naples and Sicily. After the devastations and severe economic depression of the decades of the plague, and the chaos thereafter, the east coast of Spain had suffered dramatically. Problems in the cities caused the rich to turn their (often mercantile) profits into tracts of land out in the country. Big business diversified and charged rent, or ran banks. Various locally comprised groups gained special contracts or admissions from the King, in exchange for loans or favors. And there was often war between one group or another. The rich forcing their will on the poor or the artisans and guilders, in return, or aggressions taken on between the oligarchic groups and the monarchy leading to more concessions and discretions.

After decades of this turmoil, Ferdinand needed a secure local ally. In this he could not alienate the moderate forces in Catalonia. When approached they would be willing to enter into agreement with the king only if he were to grant renewal of accustomed traditions. In the famous agreement in 1481, Ferdinand agreed to limit his influence within constitutional bounds and accepted the 'pre-existing system in its entirety'. For this he was allowed to reinvigorate the older medieval lottery for the municipality of Barcelona and for the larger Generalitat, a council of regional leaders.

With these in mind, Elliott tells us, Ferdinand soon set out new agrarian guidelines, his chief reform of the region. These revoked certain older practices regarding peasants and their attachment to land.

"The remença peasant, who had been tied to the land, were freed; the 'six evil customs' exacted by the lords were abolished in return for monetary compensation; and while the lord remained legally the ultimate owner of the land, the peasant remained in effective possessions of it, and could leave it or dispose of it without obtaining the lord's consent."

This new Sentencia would become the commonplace law of the land for many centuries. What came from this Sentencia de Guadalupe in 1486, turned into a class of peasants who both contributed and benefitted from but also thereby created a much needed, cohesive stability for a war-torn region. [p. 81] Also, if the king or his officers infringed on any pre-existing group's area of concern, the Generalitat had the right to seek redress. This was the hands-off approach, and these loose reins were enough to establish the peace for awhile. As a result, of the thirty-seven years as King, Ferdinand spent maybe four in Catalonia. And this would cause problems in the future.

The distant King of Aragon would thus allow much of the local power to coalesce around viceroyalties of Catalonia, Valencia and Aragon and just as they had for centuries. Ferdinand also reestablished the Curia Regis a council of seven, and the Consejo Real another council which attended on the person of the King. This Consejo had its equivalent in the Castilian structure. This Counsel as well both stayed with the king and acted as interlocutors to the viceroyalties in the states. [p.83]

It is this basic structure that in no way differs from previous forms, that made the difference,  Elliott says, and kept the Crown of Aragon from devolving over time into a unitary state.

"Instead, it was more likely to evolve along the same lines as the medieval Aragonese empire - as a plurality of states loosely united beneath a common sovereign. In this crucial respect at least, Ferdinand's Aragon scored a significant victory over Isabella's Castile." [p. 84]

There was a three-tiered structure of government, like other European states: there were royals, there were seigneurials out in the country at the bottom, and there were those in the middle.

"At the top was royal power, the extent of which varied from one state to another according to the respective laws of each. At the bottom was seigneurial power - the rights of jurisdiction exercised by lords over their vassals, who comprised the mass of the rural population. In between these two lay a tier of autonomous rights which came within the preserve of the Prince but were exercised by privileged bodies, such as town councils, whose authority derived from charters and privileges conceded by the Crown." [p.84]

The two sovereigns, Elliott insists, did nothing to change this. There was a consolidation of royal power in Aragon and Castile under Ferdinand and Isabella. But it was a selective sort of consolidation, improving the lots of certain bodies and offices that could best manage the affairs for the royals yet still remained within traditional bounds. Affairs in Castile were handled differently than in Catalonia, but Isabella's 'consolidation of existing traditions' seemed largely to fall within these bounds.
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J.H. Elliott: Imperial Spain 1469-1716 : Penguin, NY, 2002