Page 9: Confesionario: Avisos y Reglas Para Confesores

Confesionario: Avisos y Reglas Para Confesores | by Bartolomé de Las Casas | A Translation and Introduction to Its Historical Context and Legal Teaching | A thesis by David Thomas Orique, O.P.

When Isabella died in 1504, preceded by her son’s death, she left her mentally weak daughter Joanna (La Loca) as the legal heir to Castile. [1] Anxious to maintain unity of the two kingdoms, Ferdinand tried to gain the regency because of Juana’s condition and subsequently ruled both crowns from 1504 to 1516.[2] Following Ferdinand’s death in 1516, Cardinal Cisneros assumed the regency until the young Flemish Prince Charles I, son of Juana and Philip, could arrive to claim the throne of both Aragon and Castile. Thus the grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella became the first Hapsburg king of a united Spain.

Charles I’s ascension (1516-56) to the Spanish throne brought the Hapsburg dynasty fully into the international scene. The combination of Spain’s possessions in the Americas with the many Hapsburg territories in Europe and Charles’ election in 1519 (Charles V) as Holy Roman emperor (1519-58) made him the most powerful Christian monarch of his time. He ruled a huge global empire. In addition to Spain and the Spanish colonies, he inherited Naples (through his mother) and the Netherlands and Burgundy (through his father) and also acquired the duchy of Milan, including most of Lombardy. Charles was reared in Flanders and on his arrival in Spain could not even speak Spanish. Moreover, his imperialistic policies, which comprehended Spain only as an integral part of his European domains, were greatly resented by his Spanish subjects.[3] In 1520-21 a rebellion broke out in Toledo and several other Spanish cities. The revolt of the comuneros was short-lived, but thereafter he spent little time on the peninsula. [4] He used the stream of treasure from his American colonies to finance wars against the French for the control of southern France and northern Italy, to attempt to suppress the Protestant Reformation sweeping northern Europe, and to war against the Turks.

Charles ascended the throne only twenty-four years after Columbus’ first voyage to the Americas. Although very occupied with the business of European political and religious life, he was also concerned with events in his American possessions. Throughout the entire length of Charles’ forty year reign Las Casas appealed to him directly in defense of the rights of the Amerindians.[5] Las Casas fought particularly against the structural evils of Spanish colonization by pleading repeatedly with Charles’ government to reform the encomienda system and to treat the indigenous peoples with the justice and charity, which they rightfully deserved as humans.[6] By 1556 Charles was weary of the constant struggles and heavy responsibilities of his scattered realms. He resigned as king of Spain, leaving the throne to his son Philip II.[7] Finally in 1558 Charles abdicated the imperial crown in favor of his brother, Ferdinand I, and retired to the Spanish monastery of San Jerónimo de Yuste in Estremadura, dying September 21, 1558.[8]

One of Philip II's (1556-98) first actions as king was to conclude the exhausting French wars which confirmed Spanish possession of the northern Italian states.[9] Like his father, Philip was dedicated to the preservation of absolute rule and the suppression of Protestantism. The reigns of both Charles and Philip were in the heart of the Reformation and Counter Reformation, with the Council of Trent taking place during parts of both of their rules.[10] Philip’s strong theo-political policies aroused violent opposition in the Netherlands. He attempted to stamp-out Protestantism and to rule the Netherlands as a province of Spain. He imposed the Spanish system of taxation and disregarded the traditional rights of his subjects there. This culminated in open revolt in the Low Countries in 1567. In 1571 he joined Venice and the pope in the Holy League against the Turks, who were defeated in the naval Battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571.[11] Then perhaps the last great event of Philip’s life, he sent the Armada against Elizabeth I’s England in 1588.[12] With the destruction of his fleet, Spanish power and prestige began a relentless decline.

Notes

[1] Ferdinand and Isabella had one son, John (1478-97) the prince of Austiras, who died unexpectedly at the age of twenty-one while studying at Salamanca. Dominican bishop and confessor of the monarchs, Diego de Deza, visited the dying prince. Later he reported the tragic news to the monarchs in a letter. It was a terrible blow from which they never recovered, their transit court never returned to Salamanca after Juan’s death. José Luis Espinel, O.P. , San Esteban de Salamanca: Historia y Guía (Siglos XIII-XX) (Salamanca: Editorial San Esteban, 1995), 56-57.

[2] Ferdinand controlled both crowns except for a brief period of rule by Juana’s husband Duke Philip (el Hermoso). Philip, an Austrian Hapsburg, died 1506 -- according to rumor, by poison; he had the support of the Castilian nobles since they opposed Ferdinand’s rule.

[3] Funk & Wagnall's Encyclopedia, 1993 ed., s.v. " Spain".

[4] Adrian Shubert, The Land and People of Spain. (New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers, 1992), 102.

[5] Charles was the Spanish monarch with whom Las Casas worked the longest.

[6] Thomas D. Mc Gongile and James F. Quigley, A History of The Christian Tradition: From Its Jewish Origins to the Reformation. (New York and Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1988.), 206.

[7] Charles arranged for Philip to wed Mary I of England, his cousin and the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. This union secured English support against France. Philip and Mary were unable to produce an heir before she died, thus Protestant Elizabeth I followed Mary’s Catholic rule. Philip out-lived all three of his wives. Peter Kemp, The Campaign of the Spanish Armada. (Oxford, England: Phaidon, Press, 1988), 15-21.

[8] Charles divided his realm between his son and brother because of a variety of complicated political and religious reasons. Elliott, Imperial Spain, 139-151.

[9] The peace Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis was signed between Henry II of France and Philip II of Spain and Philip's ally, England, on April 3, 1559. By the terms of the treaty, France returned most of the territories in the Low Countries and Italy, which it had taken from Spain, but retained the bishoprics of Toul, Verdun, and Metz. The treaty reaffirmed control by Spain over the greater part of the Italian Peninsula and England's surrender of Calais to France. Ibid., 231.

[10] At the end of Charles’ rule, and lasting well into Philip’s, the Council of Trent was called by Pope Paul III. Spanning nearly twenty years, during three sessions (1545-47, 1551-52, 1562-63), it was convoked to meet the crisis of the Protestant reformation. The council’s definitions and reform decrees treated Scripture, sacraments, education, the Mass, clergy, relics, feasts, regional inquisitions, and other topics. The decrees of the Council were accepted by Philip II only after much delay and accommodation.

[11] The Muslim Empire of Turkey continued to threaten Christianity besides making the Mediterranean impossible to navigate. For the sake of defense, the Holy League was formed – this League consisted of Pope Julius II, The Republic of Venice and Philip II. As is know, Miguel Cervantes took part in the battle. The powerful armada, at the command of Don Juan de Austria, the brother of the King, defeated at sea the Turkish sultan at the memorable battle of Lepanto. Jerónimo Mallo, Revisada y aumentada por Juan Rodríquez-Castellano. España: Síntesis de su Civilzación. (New York, NY: Scribner’s Sons, 1970), 112.

[12] The defeat of the armada by Queen Elizabeth I helped to bring about the subsequent decline of the Spanish Empire. The mission of the armada combined political and religious aims. Politically, it grew out of King Philip's inability to suppress a revolt of his Protestant subjects in the Netherlands, begun in 1566, which morally as well as materially was aided by the English. By 1586 Philip had decided that he would be unable to defeat the Dutch without first mastering England. At the same time he hoped to resolve the long-standing religious rivalry between Protestant England and Roman Catholic Spain by dethroning Elizabeth and reconverting England to Catholicism. Kemp, The Campaign of The Spanish Armada, 15-21.