The Habsburgs and the Bourbons in Spain: summary

The history of the Spanish monarchy It has been led, to a large extent, by two Houses, which have been the ones that have held power the longest in this region. These two great dynasties are, the House of Bourbon and the House of Austria, ruling from 1516 the second, and from 1700 the House of Bourbon. Because of its importance, today in this lesson from a PROFESSOR we are going to offer you a summary of the Habsburgs and the Bourbons in Spain.

To start talking about the House of Austria and the House of Bourbon, we must first talk about the House that started the Union of Castile and Aragon, and that therefore started the Spanish crown.

The first dynasty to rule the Spanish monarchy was the House of Trastamara. The members of this House that made up the Spanish crown were the Catholic Monarchs and Juana I.

The origin of the Hispanic monarchy is considered to be born from the union between Isabel I of Castile and Fernando II of Aragon, thus dynamically uniting the Crown of Castile and the Crown of Aragon. The two monarchs tried to carry out a common policy, and were nicknamed the Catholic Monarchs, due to

the conquest of Islam in the Iberian Peninsula and the evangelization of the New World.

Joan I she inherited Castile from her mother, but her father did not want to leave him the Crown of Aragon because she mistrusted her husband, Philip I. The death of Felipe entailed that Juana was disqualified as queen of Castile, and that Fernando became regent of Castile. After the death of Fernando and due to the inability of Juana to govern, it was the son of this of her and Felipe I who took the throne of Castile and Aragon, Carlos I, the first Austria to rule the Spanish crown.

We continue with this summary of the Habsburgs and Bourbons in Spain to speak, now, of the House of Austria. It was the dynasty that ruled the Spanish monarchy from 1516 to 1700. The reign of the Austria was very irregular, being able to find times of splendor and times of great crisis, that is why Therefore, the period of the Austria is usually divided into two, the time of greatest power and that of the decline of the Empire Spanish.

Greater Austrias

The first stage is that of the so-called "Greater Austrias", which were Carlos I Y Philip II. During this time is when the Spanish monarchy reaches the peak of power and influence, becoming the first world power. An important part of this power was the great extension of the territory, uniting the two inheritances of Carlos I, on the one hand the Netherlands of the Habsburgs, and on the other hand the Trastamara heritage, which were Castile and Aragon. To all this must be added the territories conquered in America, which would make up, together with the rest of the aforementioned territories, the Spanish Empire.

Minor Habsburgs

The second stage is that of the so-called “Austrias Menores”, which were Felipe III, Felipe IV and Carlos II. They reigned in Spain during the Golden Age, and signified the Spanish decadence, losing the power that the older Habsburgs had achieved. During his reign, European hegemony was lost and a deep economic and social crisis was experienced. The Spanish stopped being the first world power, being replaced by the French.

Finally the Austria ceased to be the monarchs, due to the death without issue of Charles II, There were several causes that led to the end of the Habsburgs, some of these being the following:

• The inbreeding of the kings, a bad marriage practice that led to Charles II being unable to have offspring.
• An economic crisis caused by a debt with the Treasury.
• Military defeats of the minor Habsburgs. This entailed losses of territories and that other states, such as France, amassed great power.

In this other lesson we discover a summary of the end of the Habsburgs in Spain.

To continue with this summary of the Habsburgs and the Bourbons in Spain we must talk about the successors of the Habsburgs, the House of Bourbon, whose reign began in 1700 and continues to this day. Bourbon reigns can be divided into four stages.

• The first stage is that of the reigns after the victory in the War of succession. The monarchs of this period are: Felipe V, Luis I, Fernando VI, Carlos III and Carlos IV. This period is marked by the fact that the monarchs carried out a large number of reforms so that Spain would once again be part of the elite of the European states. An attempt was made to imitate the French model, creating a centralized model that was further from the political ideals of the Austria.
• The second period is the one from the first Restoration, whose kings were Fernando VII and Isabel II. This stage began after the return of the Bourbons to power, since during the years of the War of Independence they had been removed from the Spanish throne. Fernando VII maintained the absolutism of his predecessors, breaking with the liberal ideas that had been born during the war. But with the arrival of Isabel II, the policy of the Spanish state changed, configuring itself as a liberal state and breaking with the absolutism that the Bourbons had established.
• The third stage is that of the second Restoration, whose kings were Alfonso XII and Alfonso XIII. This period begins with the recovery of the throne after the Democratic Administration. They were reigns characterized by stability and by the creation of a liberal state that maintained some of the characteristics of the Democratic Sexenio.
• The fourth stage is the post-Franco, whose kings have been Juan Carlos I and Felipe VI. It is a period marked by the entry into a democratic Spain, where the monarchs are subject to the Spanish Constitution. It is also the period in which we are currently.