This constitutes a period of dramatic change brought by modernisation as the national mode of organization, chiefly characterised by an expanding State and by the identification between polity and culture, became fully established. Significant structural transformations occurred: capitalist expansion triggered the decline of traditional atomized agricultural societies cemented on birth rights and entailed land, substituted by industrialized literate urban societies based on private property and profit accumulation, better connected through transportation and communications. The Ancien Régime, a rigidly stratified God-ordained social order presided over by the king and based on inherited legitimacies, was substituted by the “nation”, a cultural community where sovereignty resided in the people according to the
Rousseauian principle of “collective will” (Recalde, 1982; Pérez Vejo, 1999). Also, capitalist expansion would chiefly operate at the national scale during this stage of modernisation.
Despite a strong centralizing drive after dynastic change, nation-building in Spain would be hindered by a problematic modernisation in the context of a complex transition from a world empire into a Nation-State. This would result in a weak State, despite the advances in State-building, still influenced by the inertias of Spain’s imperial model; a late and uneven industrialization; a shift in the country’s social configuration associated with demographic
and economic trends and a highly unstable political climate characterized by a legitimacy crisis which ultimately prevented the formulation of hegemonic narratives of the nation.
The centralizing process initiated with the Habsburgs and interrupted after the 1640 crisis resumed with renewed strength with Phillip V of Bourbon after defeating the Austrian
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candidate to the Spanish throne in the War of Succession (1701-1714). Castile had aligned with the French prince while Aragon opted for the Archduke Charles of Austria. The Bourbons promoted a series of reforms destined to modernize the State and raise Spain’s international standing. The most important of these reforms were the Nueva Planta decrees (1707-1716) which suppressed the Fueros and the institutions specific to the Crown of Aragon and imposed a more uniform State structure in the territories of the Spanish Monarchy. Only the Fueros and institutions of the Basque Provinces and Navarre, allied with Phillip V in the war, were preserved. The decrees rationalized the State administration establishing three basic institutions in all the kingdoms of the Spanish Monarchy: the Captain General, the Audiencia and the Intendencia (Cánovas Sánchez, 1985). In substitution of the Viceroys, the Captain Generals became the most important political and military figure after the king in each territory. They headed the Audiencias, the army and directed the State apparatus. Royal orders were channelled through the Audiencias, also responsible for administering justice according to the Castilian model. The role of the Intendencia was the implementation of a tax system aimed at increasing the State revenue by promoting a more uniform contribution from the different territories, putting an end to the old privileges.
The Nueva Planta decrees also brought to an end a situation in which the subjects of a particular kingdom were considered foreigners in other territories of the Crown and were prohibited from occupying administrative positions. The laws of 1757 and 1765 promoting the free commerce of grain and other goods contributed to the creation of a more unified market and brought a new dynamism to the Mediterranean regions. Other measures in the same unifying direction were the production of maps detailing the situation of roads and a list of road works to be carried out ordered in 1718; the regulation of national post stages in
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1720, the building of the first canals, the creation of royal factories and the first detailed national road plan in 1761 González Antón (2007). At the same time, Spain lost influence in Europe and increasingly directed its attention towards its American colonies. All the regions would now share the benefits of the colonial adventure after the removal of all restrictions and privileges enjoyed by Castile. This no doubt had important unifying effects. Although financial constraints often hampered these reforms, the unifying drive during this period of intensive reform and modernisation of the State is evident.
García Cárcel (2002) considers the idea of Nueva Planta as a symbol of the end of Catalan liberties after the Castilian annexation of Aragon a simplistic view because the old Castilian administration was also affected by the new fiscal measures and the deployment of intendentes. Although one may see a component of revenge against the Crown of Aragon for having supported the Austrian candidate in the war,36 the declared objective of the decrees was to impose a homogeneous government across Spain where all the people would be subject to a common regime, the same laws and a single administration. As such, Nueva Planta represented a major step in the progressive conquest of the State by the monarch to the detriment of the old feudal privileges and customs. By effectively bringing the old composite monarchy to an end, the Nueva Planta decrees represented an important victory, albeit a temporary one as time would prove, of a vertical Spain over a horizontal Spain. Another sign of the affirmation of the monarchy were the regalist policies adopted in the dispute with the Church, which saw its political power diminishing in favour of the king. The expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain in 1767 represented a milestone in this process of
36
The decree of the 29th June 1707 justified the new State organization arguing that the subjects of Aragon and Valencia had broken their allegiance to their legitimate king.
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consolidation of the monarchy as the sole dominant power in the territory (González Antón, 2007).
This consolidation is accompanied by the early manifestations of a new conscience among the elites influenced by the ethno-patriotic discourse of the Habsburg period, where a uniform State is increasingly identified with a Spanish nation presided by the Monarchy (Fernández Sebastián, 1994). Álvarez Junco (2001) considers this to be beginning of the nationalization of culture in Spain enacted through the creation of collective narratives orchestrated by the State and the elites, a process which would peak during the 19th century as we will see. For instance, the phrase “Reino de España” became more widespread during the 18th century and was officially adopted under Jose Bonaparte.
Many signs of the transformation of the State into a cultural container can be found. One was the creation of institutions including academies and societies, some officially sponsored by the Monarchy. First, the Royal Library, founded in 1712, followed by the Real Academia Española (1714), aiming to promote the purity and elegance of the language. It contributed to the standardization of Spanish through the publication of dictionaries, grammars and orthographies.37A similar intention was behind the creation of the Real Academia de la Historia (1738) and the Real Academia de las Artes de San Fernando (1752) as instruments of a State embarked on a process of cultural reform and homogenization. Sociedades de Amigos del País, regional and local academies, clubs and tertulias were also established promoting culture, arts and science in an attempt to modernize the country (Enciso Recio, 1987a). They also promoted a discourse where Spain as an imagined community was
37
The Academy’s motto, “limpia, fija y da esplendor” clearly reflects this aim. Its first dictionary of authorities was published between 1726-1729.
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reinforced. This is particularly noticeable in the newly-emerging historical and historiographical conscience in the context of an intellectual climate which emphasized a critical history against the fabulous narratives of the past, as exemplified by the work of Feijoo, Mayans and others (Mestre Sanchís, 1987). As Maravall Casenoves (1972) pointed out, this change of focus in the study of history reflected a shift in interpreting the world. The new authors speak of “Society” instead of using terms such as “Kingdom”, “State” or “Monarchy”. This broader new concept included phenomena such as “culture”, which
featured increasingly prominently in the work of many intellectuals interested in exalting the glories of the Spanish nation, often confronted with the stereotypes of European writers ridiculing Spain as a backward decadent nation of religious fanatics and cruel barbarians incapable of any productive work.38
As occurred with the collective past, literature also was re-interpreted in national terms with the publication of the first histories of Spanish literature following a similar trend in other European countries. The Rodríguez Mohedano brothers published theirs in 1766, soon followed by similar works by Lampillas (1778-1781), Juan Andrés (1782-1799) Masdeu (1783) and Capmany (1779-1792) (Álvarez Junco, 2001). Álvarez Junco (ibid) considers these Spanish intellectuals concerned with the country’s modernisation the first patriots.
They not only showed pride in being called Spaniards but also considered their duty to serve their nation thorough their work. In doing so, they looked at Europe in search of solutions for Spain’s problems. In his “Teatro Crítico Universal” Feijoo proposes a new form of national
conscience, more dynamic and critical with traditionalist views without blindly emulating European trends. Writing from the periphery, Mayans placed the emphasis in the
38
See for instance Montesquieu’s Persian Letters, which prompted Cadalso’s response with his Cartas
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achievements of Spain’s golden age, from Cervantes to Vives, stripped of any superstitious
inclination. One can often detect a certain tension in the discourse of many 18th century Spanish intellectuals and their modernizing intentions when confronted with Spain’s
backwardness. This is often reflected in their often ambivalent and anguished words, as in the following Statement by Phillip V’s minister José del Campillo:
Voy a escribir de España, contra España y para España […] Escribo de España lo que no quisiera escribir, escribo contra España porque la retrato tan cadavérica como hoy está, y escribo para España deseando sea lo que debe ser.39
Other sign of this transformation of the State into a cultural container were the State policies promoting Castilian as a national language at the expense of regional languages. Before issuing the Nueva Planta decree in Catalonia, the council advised the king in a report dated the 13th June 1715 to impose the use of Castilian in the Catalan high courts in substitution for Latin,40 tolerating the use of Catalan in the lower tribunals until the scriveners mastered the use of Castilian and to prohibit the use of Catalan in all primary schools and during religious instruction (Prats in Nadal et al, 1985). Similarly, a secret instruction to the Corregidores advised in 1716 “[poner] el mayor cuidado en introducir la lengua castellana para que se note el efecto sin que se note el cuidado” (Mercader Riba, 1961 pp.324-325).41
Although many of these recommendations were not detailed in the Nueva Planta Decree, there is no doubt that the promotion of Castilian as a language of prestige, and the patoisation of other languages, constituted a key aspect in the nationalization of Spain then.
39
“I am going to write about Spain, against Spain and for Spain […] I write about Spain what I do not wish to write, I write against Spain because I portray it as ghastly as it now is, and I write for Spain wishing that it becomes what it should.” Extracted from “España, despierta”.
www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/espana-despierta--0/html/fef10658-82b1-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_1.ht m (retrieved on 13-9-12)
40
Verdicts used to be written in Latin until 1716 according to González Antón (2007).
41
Pay special attention to the introduction of the Castilian language and ensure the measure succeeds without attracting much attention.
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Other important measures were the educational reforms of Charles III establishing a compulsory primary education for the first time in Spanish history in 1781. Intellectuals like Campoamor or Jovellanos promoted the education of the masses as an instrument of social cohesion and nationalization, leading to the foundation of new schools, the first initiatives regarding the standardization of the curricula and the recruitment of teachers and the introduction of textbooks, where Latin began to lose ground in favour of Castilian. As Iglesias Brinquis (1988) has stressed, this marks the beginning of “a national education” in Spain.
The growing popularity of the printed press was another factor contributing to the consolidation of Castilian as a national language (Enciso Recio, 1987b). Father Antoni Bastero, known for his support of the Catalan language, stated in 1726 that the true language of creation in Catalonia is none other than Castilian “por ser aquel idioma en estos tiempos y casi desde que se hizo la unión de las dos coronas castellana y aragonesa, más común y general que el nuestro42 (Quoted in González Antón, 2007 p. 311). Similarly, Ballot i Torres, who authored a Catalan grammar, expressed in 1814: “pera què voler cultivar la llengua catalana, si la de tota la naciò és la castellana, la qual debem parlar tots los que nos preciam de verdaders espanyols?”43 (ibid, p. 311). The words of another illustrious Catalan, Antonio de Capmany, who would participate in the elaboration of the first Spanish constitution in 1812, leave no doubt about the advances toward a national language which were taking place at the time, at least among the elite, when he expressed that Catalan “es un idioma antiguo, provincial, muerto hoy para la república de las letras, idioma rancio y
42
As this language is nowadays and ever since the union of the crowns of Castile and Aragon took place, more common and generalized than ours.
43
Why should one wish to cultivate the Catalan language if Castilian is the language of the entire nation and should be spoken by all of us who proudly call ourselves true Spaniards?
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semimuerto” and he speaks of “mi celo nacional y mi amor a la lengua patria [Spanish]” in the prologue of his French-Spanish dictionary (ibid. p. 311).44 It is also true that some intellectuals defended the preservation of the regional languages, as in the case of Mayans, author of a Castilian-Valencian dictionary, lamenting at the same time what appeared to be their inevitable demise, given that they were scarcely used in formal situations.
The growing nationalization of Spain on the basis of identity can also be perceived in the apparition of new symbols. One was the adoption of an anthem after a grenadier march composed by Manuel Espinosa de los Monteros in 1761. A flag was first proposed for the navy in 1785 after a decree by Charles III and was adopted by the army in 1843. The instability of Spanish national symbols has been attributed to a problematic identity (Álvarez Junco, 2001), something to be explored later on. All in all the Bourbons carried out reforms which further consolidated the State and homogenized the territory, while new elements in the legitimizing discourse of the Monarchy where introduced: after being described as a great warrior, a legitimate prince and defender of the faith, the king was now portrayed as “the benevolent father of the nation” dedicated to the well-being and prosperity of his subjects.
None anticipated that this new legitimizing discourse associated with progress and modernity would eventually conflict with the old ideas and that the foundations of the Ancien Régime would crumble as a result of the newly-emerging national identities (Álvarez Junco, 2001). In any case, despite these advances in the construction of the Spanish State, a thorough nationalization of the masses would have to wait until the 20th century when the obstacles present in the traditional social organization gradually disappeared and the national mode of organization was fully consolidated.
44
Catalan is an ancient provincial language of no use nowadays in the republic of the letters, an antiquated and semi-dead language […] my national zeal and my love towards the language of the fatherland [Spanish].
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The cornerstone of the most widely accepted theories of the nation discussed in chapter 1 is the relationship between modernisation, understood as an all-encompassing process of social transformation, and the national mode of organization, the social basis upon which nationalist mobilization operated fostered by an expanding State. This process, documented by Weber (1976) in his study of the modernisation of France, involved the painfully slow transformation from what a Parisian visitor to the countryside in the 1840s considered “a
country of savages”, a highly diverse and fragmented land and society (politically, legally, economically, demographically as well as culturally) into the more unified, modernized, culturally integrated and spiritually united nation of the early 20th century. The impact of modernisation in the nationalization of the Spanish people has been studied by Vincent (2007) or Fusi Aizpurúa (2000) among others. Others have concentrated on specific periods such as the Second Republic (Holguín, 2002) or have focused on particular aspects of the nationalization process such as national narratives (Álvarez Junco, 2001) and national education (Boyd, 1997). As Spain experienced a comparatively slower and more problematic modernisation than France, one may assume that the nationalisation of the masses would have been even more difficult in Spain’s case.
Given the complexity of modernisation, I can only outline its major inter-related dimensions. One of these is economic, involving a re-distribution in the use of productive factors (Sánchez Albornoz, 1985b). In traditional societies, largely based on subsistence agriculture, the reproduction of the economic system was sustained by entailed land and by labour with a limited use of capital. Modern societies are built instead on a market economy and the accumulation of capital, a system which only gained impetus with industrialization and the
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development of communications and transport infrastructure. Another dimension is a demographic one, including a shift in the demographic patterns and a growing degree of urbanization (Nadal, 1984). The pattern of change involved first a drastic reduction of catastrophic mortality, caused by episodes such as epidemics, and then a reduction of ordinary mortality. A subsequent phase brought lower fertility rates which eventually led to the aging of the population, as life expectancy grew, and to a slowing down in population growth. The mass transfer of a population no longer threatened by impending death from the countryside into the cities brought along a new mentality blowing away the cultural barriers raised by isolation and illiteracy (Weber, 1976).
A related dimension is a political one, namely the transformation of the hierarchically ordained societies of the Ancien Régime into nations of citizens, a process inaugurated with the French Revolution. This political transformation re-defined how societies were conceived: the fragmented traditional societies structured in “Estates of the Realm” were transformed
into more inter-connected systems ordained under the principle of effective identification of the individual with the nation, as defined by the identity markers promoted in the discourses of nationalist mobilization, usually under the tutelage of a State increasingly capable of ordaining the life of its citizens in economic, political and cultural terms. As we saw in chapter one (pp. 25-35), Gellner (1997) explains that this identification between polity and culture brought by nationalism constituted a functional requirement for the newly industrialized societies. A fourth cultural dimension completes the picture brought by modernisation. It led to greater homogenization of the population through the establishment of mass education, compulsory military service and conscript armies, the development of the
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mass media, linguistic standardization and the adoption of shared cultural traits increasingly perceived as national characteristics.
Researchers generally agree that Spanish nation-building was hindered, among other things, by a deficient modernisation along the four dimensions outlined above. Opinions however vary regarding the extent to which modernisation failed altogether or merely stagnated in Spain during the era of nation-building and the causes behind this backwardness. Regarding economic modernisation, some of the most negative views are those held by Vicens Vives & Nadal (1969), Trebilcock (1981) and Berend and Ranki (1982), who consider that Spain suffered from an underdeveloped economy during the 19th century similar to that in third-world countries. A second group of researchers like Nadal (1975), Tortella (1972;