Key Concepts of 17th and 18th Century Spain

Referees

Thinkers analyzing the 17th-century crisis proposed a series of measures to solve it by sending petitions to the king to take action. They accused the monarch not as the head, but blamed the weight of foreign trade, foreign competition, expenditure on luxuries, and excessive investment in censuses and rents.

Quartermasters

Officials responsible for administering real property, justice, politics, and the armed forces in the provinces. They were introduced during the War of Succession. The general intendancies were similar to the current provinces.

Workmanship

Workshops, the larger craft, in which some specialization and division of labor were given. This pre-industrial production system had emerged in the late Middle Ages. In Spain, the Bourbon boosted the royal factories to revitalize the craft industry and supply the court and the state with its requirements.

Quintas

It was the replacement tax system for mandatory military service. It was done through a draw for the boys, established in the 17th century.

Germanias

In the Crown of Aragon, a set of movements. Their fundamentals were different from the political and social ones of the Crown of Castile. The riots were prolonged, with anti-seigneurial treatment, which had been frequent outbreaks since the 15th century. Social discontent emerged in Valencia and Mallorca.

The Enlightenment

A cultural movement of French origin that spread throughout Europe in the 18th century. It defended the principles of reason, science, and education as means to achieve happiness and human progress. These ideas emerged in the Renaissance, culminating in this period as a revolutionary expression of the bourgeoisie. The fundamental work that takes its principles was the Encyclopedia. Main representatives: Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montesquieu.

Protestantism

Religious doctrine expounded by Luther, which originated the Protestant Reformation. Its main elements are self-doctrinal interpretation of the Scriptures, the value of faith as an element of salvation, the refusal of submission to the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and the reduction of the Sacraments to the Eucharist, baptism, and subjective penance.

Austrias Political Model

It was built on the institutions of the Councils, which are advisory, multi-person bodies. This body advised the king on the decisions he was to take, as the kingdom was very extensive, with varied political customs and forms. The Council was comprised of nobles, clergy, and lawyers. These were minor gentlemen who came out of the universities and who received territories in exchange from the king.