Habsburg Spain: Validos, Corruption, and the 1640 Crisis

17th-Century Habsburg Spain

The main innovation in the political system of the Spanish monarchy was the valido (royal favorite). These favorites were members of the aristocracy in whom the king deposited his confidence. The king turned away from the work of government, and the validos made the major decisions.

Two reasons led to their appearance:

• The work of government was becoming increasingly complex.
• The Spanish monarchs of the seventeenth century, the Minor Austrians, were not noted for their industrious spirit.

The validos ruled outside the institutional system of the monarchy, regardless of the Councils. Instead, they created small boards composed of their own supporters.

This new system represented a significant increase in corruption. These favorites used their power to obtain offices, pensions, and grants for their families and supporters, prompting widespread criticism, mainly from the lawyers who formed the councils and members of the aristocracy who did not enjoy the favor of the valido.

Another widespread phenomenon was the sale of offices. What began in the past under the Crown as a means to get money quickly spread further under Philip III.

In principle, the offices put up for sale were those of city aldermen, notaries, and other minor positions. However, they eventually sold seats on councils as well. These positions became hereditary. Despite the many protests that took place, this practice continued throughout the seventeenth century.

Internal Conflicts and Crises

The Catholic Monarchs had built a new state structured as a collection of kingdoms united by having the same monarch, but each kept its own laws and institutions. Since the sixteenth century, conflicts had emerged between a centralizing tendency—which sought to standardize the territories of the Crown following the model of the most powerful kingdom, Castile—and a decentralizing trend that sought the maintenance of local laws (jurisdictions) and the private institutions of each territory.

These political tensions intensified in the seventeenth century, fueled by the harsh economic and social crises suffered by the Spanish monarchy.

Philip III continued the policy of religious intolerance and ordered the expulsion of the Moriscos. This especially affected the kingdoms of Aragon and Valencia, leading to the depopulation of certain areas and a lack of agricultural labor.

The favorite of Philip IV, the Count-Duke of Olivares, tried to make other peninsular kingdoms cooperate at the same level as Castile in the war effort, which afflicted a monarchy already facing serious financial difficulties. Spain was participating at that time in the Thirty Years' War. This project by Olivares, known as the 'Union of Arms', sparked the worst crisis of the seventeenth century: the Crisis of 1640.