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171-456: It originated with the construction of the Monastery of El Escorial (San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Community of Madrid ) and, more specifically, with the reorganization of the project made by Cantabrian architect Juan de Herrera (1530–1597), after the death of Juan Bautista de Toledo (1515–1567), author of the first design. Its main representatives are the aforementioned Herrera, to whom

342-538: A sociological standpoint, this sobriety is a response to Protestantism , in line with the guidelines set by the Council of Trent (1545–1563). The Herrerian style was the official architecture of the Habsburgs , from the reign of Philip II . The sociopolitical impact meant the construction of the Monastery of El Escorial (1563–1584) facilitated its expansion. To this contributed also the fact that Juan de Herrera

513-709: A "peace price" during the many battles of the Spanish Empire with the Ottoman Empire . As part of his active efforts, in 1571 Philip II bought a large portion of the collection of Gonzalo Pérez , one of his advisors. This meant 57 original Greek manuscripts from Sicily, and 112 Latin ones, from Calabria. He also bought 315 original volumes, in Greek and Arabic, from Juan Páez de Castro's personal library. The King charged specific ambassadors with traveling through his empire and neighboring kingdoms searching and buying

684-596: A Christian institution. Conquest and evangelization were inseparable in Spanish America. The first order to make the trip to the Americas were the Franciscans, led by Pedro de Gante. Franciscans believed that living a spiritual life of poverty and holiness was the best way to be an example that inspired others to convert. The friars would walk into the towns barefoot as a display of their surrender to God in

855-424: A Spanish viewpoint, the castas paintings would most-likely have provided a sort of sense to the madness that was mixed races. There were political implications of this portrait as well. The mestizo child appears to be literate with a satisfied grin facing his father alluding to the opportunity the child has due to his father being European. A central question from the time of first Contact with indigenous populations

1026-596: A century. During the early colonial era and under the Habsburgs, the crown established a regional layer of colonial jurisdiction in the institution of Corregimiento , which was between the Audiencia and town councils . Corregimiento expanded "royal authority from the urban centers into the countryside and over the indigenous population." As with many colonial institutions, corregimiento had its roots in Castile when

1197-496: A chain of presidios , military forts or garrisons, that provided Spanish settlers protection from Indian attacks. In Mexico during the sixteenth-century Chichimeca War , presidios guarded the transit of silver from the mines of Zacatecas to Mexico City. As many as 60 salaried soldiers were garrisoned in presidios. Presidios had resident commanders, who set up commercial enterprises of imported merchandise, selling it to soldiers as well as Indian allies. The other frontier institution

1368-574: A closed commercial system limited to one port in Spain and only a few in the Indies was in practice not closed, with European merchant houses supplying Spanish merchants in the Spanish port of Seville with high quality textiles and other manufactured goods that Spain itself could not supply. Much of the silver of the Indies was diverted into those European merchant houses. Crown officials in the Indies enabled

1539-470: A copy of every book published inside the empire. During his reign the orders of continuing to search for books for the library were still in place. Arias Montano donated a large number of original Hebrew manuscripts, and Admiral Luis Fajardo brought back the complete Zaydani library captured during his wars with the Sultan Muley Zidán . Spanish America Spanish America refers to

1710-474: A high level of importance, the crown established the Council of the Indies in 1524, following the conquest of the Aztec Empire , asserting permanent royal control over its possessions. Regions with dense indigenous populations and sources of mineral wealth attracting Spanish settlers became colonial centers, while those without such resources were peripheral to crown interest. Once regions incorporated into

1881-498: A key group for the administration of the Spanish Empire, since they served as intermediaries between crown officials and indigenous communities. Indigenous noblemen could serve on cabildos , ride horses, and carry firearms. The crown's recognition of indigenous elites as nobles meant that these men were incorporated into colonial system with privileges separating them from Indian commoners. Indian noblemen were thus crucial to

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2052-772: A manuscript of the Concilios visigóticos (the Visigothic Councils ) from the ninth century. Philip acquired several books from the Library of Granada, that belonged to Isabella I of Castile , including her Libro the Horas of astonishing visual beauty. Other valuable libraries acquired by Philip were the library of Pedro Fajardo , and of Antonio Agustín , one of the largest in Spain at the time. Not all of those books are still in El Escorial, since many ended up in

2223-460: A monastery. Above the center door is a niche where the image of Saint Lawrence has been placed. The Courtyard of the Kings owes its name to the statues of the kings of Judah that adorn the façade of the basilica, located at the east end of the courtyard. Steps of red marble lead to the large, public chapel, past the narthex, which is one of the highlights of the basilica. The basilica has a floor in

2394-485: A pension for the Escorial Library, to ensure that it would still be able to acquire new volumes. Philip III continued his father's policy of protection and enrichment of the library, even though he was not theologically inclined. In addition to continuing the search for, and purchase of, especially valuable and old books, he promulgated a new decree, according to which the library of El Escorial ought to receive

2565-553: A policy that secular clerics had long sought for the central areas of empire, with their large indigenous populations. Although implementation was slow and incomplete, it was an assertion of royal power over the clergy and the quality of parish priests improved, since the Ordenanza mandated competitive examination to fill vacant positions. Religious orders along with the Jesuits embarked on further evangelization in frontier regions of

2736-652: A portion of the Caribbean, and the Philippines, and the viceroyalty of Peru (founded 1542) having jurisdiction over Spanish South America. Viceroys served as the vice-patron of the Catholic Church, including the Inquisition , established in the seats of the viceroyalties (Mexico City and Peru). Viceroys were responsible for good governance of their territories, economic development, and humane treatment of

2907-482: A prepared place called a pudridero , or decaying chamber, awaiting interment in the Pantheon of the Kings. With the interment of these remains, all the sepulchres in the pantheon will be filled. No decision has yet been announced as to the final resting place of now-abdicated Juan Carlos, Queen Sofía , Felipe VI , Queen Letizia , and any future monarchs and consorts. There are two pudrideros at El Escorial, one for

3078-431: A public herald. They were in charge of distributing land to the neighbors, establishing local taxes, dealing with the public order, inspecting jails and hospitals, preserving the roads and public works such as irrigation ditches and bridges, supervising the public health, regulating the festive activities, monitoring market prices, or the protection of Indians. After the reign of Philip II, the municipal offices, including

3249-462: A quarter of appointees being born in the Indies by 1687. During a financial crisis in the late seventeenth century, the crown began selling Audiencia appointments, and American-born Spaniards held 45% of Audiencia appointments. Although there were restrictions of appointees' ties to local elite society and participation in the local economy, they acquired dispensations from the cash-strapped crown. Audiencia judgments and other functions became more tied to

3420-426: A set of officiales reales (royal officials). The officials of the royal treasury included up to four positions: a tesorero (treasurer), who guarded money on hand and made payments; a contador (accountant or comptroller), who recorded income and payments, maintained records, and interpreted royal instructions; a factor , who guarded weapons and supplies belonging to the king, and disposed of tribute collected in

3591-424: A sort of theater of conversion. With this began the practice of evangelization of the peoples of the new world as supported by the Spanish government. Religious orders in Spanish America had their own internal structures and were organizationally autonomous, but nonetheless were very important to the structure of colonial society. They had their own resources and hierarchies. Though some orders took vows of poverty, by

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3762-434: A strategic defensive base for the Spanish ships full of gold and silver being sent to Spain from its New World dominions. The Portuguese mariner sailing for Castile, Ferdinand Magellan , died while in the Philippines commanding a Castilian expedition in 1522, which was the first to circumnavigate the globe . The Basque commander Juan Sebastián Elcano led the expedition to success. Spain sought to enforce their rights in

3933-402: Is austere, even forbidding, in its outward appearance, seemingly more like a fortress than a monastery or palace. It takes the form of a gigantic quadrangle, approximately 224 by 153 metres (735 by 502 ft), which encloses a series of intersecting passageways and courtyards. At each of the four corners is a square tower surmounted by a spire, and, near the center of the complex (and taller than

4104-569: Is especially notable. Among the more recent interments is that of Infante Alfonso in October 1992. The younger brother of King Juan Carlos I , he was buried originally in Portugal, after being killed in a still-mysterious 1956 shooting at the family home in Estoril , aged 14. In 1994, King Juan Carlos I signed a decree raising his cousin and close personal friend Carlos, Duke of Calabria to

4275-413: Is for the moment the only queen in the pantheon who has not been mother to a king. That is because her only son, the presumed heir to the throne, died after her but before he could become king. But she was the great-grandmother of Philip V (by her daughter Maria Theresa of Spain ) and she is an ancestor of the king of Spain. The walls of polished Toledo marble are ornamented in gold-plated bronze. All of

4446-694: Is made up of a few thousands of medieval codices . Philip II donated his personal collection of documents to the building, and also undertook the acquisition of the finest libraries and works of Western European Humanism . During Phillip's reign, there was an entire room dedicated to ancient manuscripts, most of them in Latin, many in Greek, but also some in Hebrew, Aramaic , Arabic, Italian, French, and Spanish. There were approximately 1,800 Arabic titles. The first of those books were acquired in 1571 through Juan Paez de Castro . After that many books were obtained as

4617-565: Is situated at the foot of Mount Abantos in the Sierra de Guadarrama . This austere location, hardly an obvious choice for the site of a royal palace, was chosen by King Philip II of Spain , and it was he who ordained the building of a grand edifice here to commemorate the 1557 Spanish victory at the Battle of St. Quentin in Picardy against King Henry II of France . Philip also intended

4788-409: Is why in time was called estilo desornamentado ("unornamented style). Is also known as Escorial style , referring to the building that serves as best example for the architectural style . Herrerian buildings stand out for their severe horizontality, achieved thanks to the balance of shapes, preferably cubic, that are arranged symmetrically in the structure. In general, they have wooden roofs clad on

4959-484: The sistema de castas in hierarchical order, but there was some fluidity in the system rather than absolute rigidity. Men of color began to apply to the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico, but in 1688 Bishop Juan de Palafox y Mendoza attempted to prevent their entrance by drafting new regulations barring blacks and mulattoes. In small Mexican parishes, dark complected priests served while their mixed-race heritage

5130-536: The Catholic Monarchs centralize power over municipalities. In the Indies, corregimiento initially functioned to bring control over Spanish settlers who exploited the indigenous populations held in encomienda , to protect the shrinking indigenous populations and prevent the formation of an aristocracy of conquerors and powerful settlers. The royal official in charge of a district was the Corregidor , who

5301-515: The Ducal Palace of Lerma (Burgos Province), by Francisco de Mora that began in 1601. Led to the adoption of the emerging Herrerian style by the emerging Baroque architecture trends of the time and the establishment of a palatial architecture model, which was repeated throughout the 17th century. Most civic buildings erected in Madrid during the reign of Philip III and Philip IV continued

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5472-766: The Moluccan islands , which led a conflict with the Portuguese, but the issue was resolved with the Treaty of Zaragoza (1525), settling the location of the antimeridian of Tordesillas, which would divide the world into two equal hemispheres . From then on, maritime expeditions led to the discovery of several archipelagos in the South Pacific as the Pitcairn Islands , the Marquesas , Tuvalu , Vanuatu ,

5643-760: The Puente de Segovia ( Madrid ), both designed by Juan de Herrera; the church of the Monasterio de Uclés ( Uclés , Cuenca Province), by Francisco de Mora; the Church of San Sebastián ( Villacastín , Segovia Province), attributed to Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón ; the Colegiata de San Luis ( Villagarcía de Campos , Valladolid Province), by the same author; and the College of Our Lady of Antigua ( Monforte de Lemos , Lugo Province) by Simón de Monasterio. Special mention deserves

5814-625: The República de Indios , men were explicitly excluded from ordination to the Catholic priesthood and obligation for military service as well as the jurisdiction of the Inquisition. Indians under colonial rule who lived in pueblos de indios had crown protections due to their statuses as legal minors. Due to the lack of prior exposure to the Catholic faith, Queen Isabella had declared all indigenous peoples her subjects. This differed from people of

5985-531: The Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial ( Spanish : Monasterio y Sitio de El Escorial en Madrid ), or Monasterio de El Escorial ( Spanish pronunciation: [el eskoˈɾjal] ), is a historical residence of the king of Spain located in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial , 2.06 kilometres (1.28 mi) up the valley (4.1 km [2.5 mi] road distance) from the town of El Escorial and about 45 kilometres (28 mi) northwest of

6156-591: The Solomon Islands or New Guinea , to which Spain laid claim. Most important in Pacific exploration was the claim on the Philippines , which was populous and strategically located for the Spanish settlement of Manila and entrepôt for trade with China. On 27 April 1565, the first permanent Spanish settlement in the Philippines was founded by Miguel López de Legazpi and the service of Manila Galleons

6327-670: The Spanish kings of the last five centuries, Bourbons as well as Habsburgs . The Royal Pantheon contains the tombs of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (who ruled Spain as King Charles I), Philip II, Philip III , Philip IV , Charles II , Louis I , Charles III , Charles IV , Ferdinand VII , Isabella II , Alfonso XII , and Alfonso XIII . Two Bourbon kings, Philip V (who reigned from 1700 to 1724 and again from 1724 to 1746) and Ferdinand VI (1746–1759), as well as King Amadeus (1870–1873), are not buried in

6498-713: The Tzeltal Rebellion of 1712 and most spectacularly in Peru with the Tupac Amaru Rebellion (1780–81) saw indigenous noblemen leading uprisings against the Spanish state. In the República de Españoles , class and race hierarchies were codified in institutional structures. Spaniards emigrating to The Indies were to be Old Christians of pure Christian heritage , with the crown excluding New Christians , converts from Judaism and their descendants, because of their suspect religious status. The crown established

6669-456: The bell towers and domes of the churches, and in many civil constructions. The 18th and 19th century meant the decline of this architectural movement. In the 20th century came to pick up, during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco . The Plaza de la Moncloa, in Madrid, chaired by Air Force headquarters, among many large constructions of the time, symbolizes the resurgence of Herrerian architecture. El Escorial El Escorial , or

6840-589: The fondo legal . They managed their own affairs internally through Indian town government under the supervision of royal officials, the corregidores and alcaldes mayores . Although indigenous men were barred from becoming priests, indigenous communities created religious confraternities under priestly supervision, which functioned as burial societies for their individual members, but also organized community celebrations for their patron saint. Blacks also had separate confraternities, which likewise contributed to community formation and cohesion, reinforcing identity within

7011-641: The gout that afflicted him. The gallery was originally called the King's Gallery ( Galería del Rey ) but came to be known as the Hall of Battles ( Sala de Batallas ) for its fresco paintings depicting the most important Spanish military victories. These include a medieval victory over the Moors , as well as several of Philip's campaigns against the French. This chamber consists of twenty-six marble sepulchres containing

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7182-613: The sacristy , paintings such as Joseph's Coat by Velázquez , The Last Supper by Titian , and The Adoration of the Sacred Host by Charles II by Claudio Coello are on exhibit. Under the royal chapel of the Basilica is the Royal Pantheon crypt. This is the place of burial for the kings of Spain. It is an octagonal Baroque mausoleum made of marble where all of the Spanish monarchs since Charles I have been buried, with

7353-756: The 1530s (later in the Viceroyalty of New Granada in 1717 and present day Colombia ), Lima in 1535 as the capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru, Buenos Aires in 1536 (later in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1776), and Santiago in 1541. Florida was colonized in 1565 by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés when he founded St. Augustine and then promptly destroyed Fort Caroline in French Florida and massacred its several hundred Huguenot inhabitants after they surrendered. Saint Augustine quickly became

7524-526: The African continent because these populations had theoretically been exposed to Catholicism and chose not to follow it. This religious differentiation is important because it gave indigenous communities legal protections from members of the Républica de Españoles. In fact, an often overlooked aspect of the colonial legal system was that members of the pueblos de indios could appeal to the crown and circumvent

7695-531: The Americas , its justification for the conversion to Catholicism and more specifically about the relations between the European settlers and the natives of the New World . It consisted of a number of opposing views about the way natives were to be integrated into colonial life, their conversion to Christianity and their rights and obligations. According to the French historian Jean Dumont The Valladolid debate

7866-545: The Americas. Official records indicate that at least 75% of the silver was taken across the Atlantic to Spain and no more than 25% across the Pacific to China. Some modern researchers argue that due to rampant smuggling about 50% went to China. In the 16th century "perhaps 240,000 Europeans" entered American ports. Further Spanish settlements were progressively established in the New World: New Granada in

8037-635: The Byzantine and Arab world. Strikingly similar to El Escorial is the layout of the Alcázar of Seville and the design of the Alhambra at Granada , where, as at El Escorial, two courtyards in succession separate the main portal of the complex from a fully enclosed place of worship. The most persuasive theory for the origin of the floor plan is that it is based on descriptions of the Temple of Solomon by

8208-546: The Caribbean became the focus of the crown in its roles as sovereigns of the empire and patron of the Catholic Church. Spanish conquerors holding grants of indigenous labor in encomienda ruthlessly exploited them Spanish. A number of friars in the early period came to the vigorous defense of the indigenous populations, who were new converts to Christianity. Prominent Dominican friars in Santo Domingo, especially Antonio de Montesinos and Bartolomé de las Casas denounced

8379-675: The Casa Veleta, also in the same town, and the Real Aposento de Torrelodones (both disappeared) were built for comfort the movements of the king from Madrid to El Escorial. In El Escorial, the Crown encouraged the development of various urban planning and the construction of the Church of San Bernabé , by Francisco de Mora , one of the contributors to Herrera in the works of the Royal Monastery. The Royal Family also approved

8550-610: The Casa de Contratación (House of Trade) in Seville. Ships and cargoes were registered, and emigrants vetted to prevent migration of anyone not of old Christian heritage and facilitated the migration of families and women. In addition, the Casa de Contratación took charge of the fiscal organization, and of the organization and judicial control of the trade with the Indies. The politics of asserting royal authority opposite to Columbus caused

8721-534: The Council of the Indies and the king without the requirement of requesting authorization from the viceroy. This direct correspondence of the Audiencia with the Council of the Indies made it possible for the council to give the Audiencia direction on general aspects of government. Audiencias were a significant base of power and influence for American-born elites, starting in the late sixteenth century, with nearly

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8892-521: The Countess of Barcelona was the mother of a king but not the wife of a king. However, some consider the Count of Barcelona to have been de jure king of Spain from 1941 to 1977, which in turn would make him, his mother, Queen Victoria Eugenie, and his wife, the Countess of Barcelona, eligible for interment in the Pantheon of Kings. There has already been one exception to tradition: Elisabeth of Bourbon

9063-410: The David-warrior figure, representing Charles V, and his son, the stolid and solomonically prudent Philip II. Echoing the same theme, a fresco in the center of El Escorial's library, a reminder of Solomon's legendary wisdom, affirms Philip's preoccupation with the great Jewish king, his thoughtful and logical character, and his extraordinary, monumental temple. The Temple of Solomon design, if indeed it

9234-413: The Inquisition in Mexico and Peru in 1571, and later Cartagena de Indias (Colombia), to guard Catholics from the influence of crypto-Jews , Protestants, and foreigners. Church practices established and maintained racial hierarchies by recording baptism, marriage, and burial were kept separate registers for different racial groups. Churches were also physically divided by race. Race mixture ( mestizaje )

9405-454: The Judeo-Roman historian Flavius Josephus : a portico followed by a courtyard open to the sky, followed by a second portico and a second courtyard, all flanked by arcades and enclosed passageways, leading to the "holy of holies". Statues of David and Solomon on either side of the entrance to the basilica of El Escorial lend further weight to the theory that this is the true origin of the design. A more personal connection can be drawn between

9576-402: The King ( Casa del Rey ), is found behind the presbytery of the basilica. The outbuildings of this palace, of Italian style, are distributed around the Courtyard of the Fountainheads ( Patio de los Mascarones ). Inside the House of the King are the Sala de las Batallas (Hall of Battles), which contains frescoes of the battles of San Quintín and Higueruela, among others. The next building contains

9747-441: The King's neoplatonic views and who also designed the library's shelves. It constituted, along with the basilica, the heart of the entire project, and the project was redrafted several times to accommodate changes in the organization of the library itself. As was usual for Juan de Herrera's work, it was the most advanced of its kind in Europe. It was the first library on the continent that broke with medieval design. Domenico Fontana

9918-409: The King's preferences had been Michelangelo or Titian , but both of these giants were already more than eighty years old and in frail health. Consequently, Philip consulted his foreign ambassadors for recommendations, and the result was a lengthy parade of the lesser European artists of that time, all swanning through the construction site at El Escorial seeking the King's favor. One chapel exhibits

10089-415: The Pantheon of the Kings and the other for the Pantheon of the Princes. These can only be visited by monks from the Monastery. In these rooms, the remains of the deceased are placed in a small leaden urn, which in turn will be placed in the marble sepulchres of the appropriate pantheon after the passage of fifty years, the estimated time necessary for the complete decomposition of the bodies. The interment of

10260-434: The Spanish capital Madrid . Built between 1563 and 1584 by order of King Philip II (who reigned 1556–1598), El Escorial is the largest Renaissance building in the world. It is one of the Spanish royal sites and functions as a monastery, basilica, royal palace, pantheon, library, museum, university, school, and hospital. El Escorial consists of two architectural complexes of great historical and cultural significance:

10431-444: The Spanish territories in the Americas during the Spanish colonization of the Americas . The term "Spanish America" was specifically used during the territories' imperial era between 15th and 19th centuries. To the end of its imperial rule, Spain called its overseas possessions in the Americas and the Philippines "The Indies", an enduring remnant of Columbus's notion that he had reached Asia by sailing west. When these territories reach

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10602-517: The Vatican; but around a thousand of them can still be found there. The King actively purchased rare books—often on esoteric, scientific, or theological subjects—from the East. He also collected and preserved over four hundred books prohibited by the Inquisition , which he agreed should not be available for those likely to "misunderstand" them but only to experts. By 1602, the library had a large cartographic collection and over 150 mathematical instruments. Before his death, Philip II left in his last will

10773-520: The aborigens. After the end of the period of conquests, it was necessary to manage extensive and different territories with a strong bureaucracy. In the face of the impossibility of the Castilian institutions to take care of the New World affairs, other new institutions were created. As the basic political entity it was the governorate, or province. The governors exercised judicial ordinary functions of first instance, and prerogatives of government legislating by ordinances. To these political functions of

10944-443: The altar was replaced with a full circular dome over the center of the church, where the four arms of the Greek cross meet. Clearly Juan Bautista de Toledo 's experience with the dome of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome influenced the design of El Escorial's basilica. However, the Roman dome is supported by ranks of tapered Corinthian columns, with their extravagant capitals of acanthus leaves and their elaborately fluted shafts, while

11115-404: The appointments to the King for civil government as well as ecclesiastical appointments, and pronouncing judicial sentences; as maximum authority in the overseas territories, the Council of the Indies took over both the institutions in the Indies as the defense of the interests of the Crown, the Catholic Church, and of indigenous peoples. With the 1508 papal grant to the crown of the Patronato real,

11286-453: The architectural guidelines of that palace. This is the case of the Palace of the Councils , the Santa Cruz Palace and the Casa de la Villa , all of Baroque bill, but with notable Herrerian reminiscent. The influence of Herrerian style is also visible in the expansion that, separately, had its distinctive spire pyramidal or "madrilian spire", with slate roofs. This item was adopted by many constructions after to 16th and 17th century, mainly in

11457-537: The best for El Escorial's library. These ambassadors were coordinated by the head librarian, who had total authority to direct their movements, and who stayed in contact with them through all their travels. Diego Guzmán de Silva was one such ambassador and made one of the most important purchases for the library during his time in Venice: an ancient collection of Greek manuscripts and Latin codices (1569–1577). An inventory prepared in 1576 counted 4,546 volumes, over 2,000 manuscripts, and 2,500 printed books. That same year

11628-418: The boundaries for dioceses and parishes. The creation of the ecclesiastical hierarchy with priests who not members of religious orders, those known as the diocesan or secular clergy , marked a turning point in the crown's control over the religious sphere. In 1574, Philip II promulgated the Order of Patronage (Ordenaza del Patronato) ordering the religious orders to turn over their parishes to the secular clergy,

11799-408: The colonial system, such as membership of cabildos, so that they were in the hands of local, American-born ( crillo ) elites. During the Bourbon era, even when the crown systematically appointed peninsular-born Spaniards to royal posts rather than American-born, the cabildos remained in the hands of local elites. As the empire expanded into areas of less dense indigenous populations, the crown created

11970-466: The colonists informally and gradually, at first, initiated the Atlantic slave trade . One of the most accomplished conquistadors was Hernán Cortés , who, leading a relatively small Spanish force but with local translators and the crucial support of thousands of native allies, achieved the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in the campaigns of 1519–1521. This territory later became the Viceroyalty of New Spain , present day Mexico. Of equal importance

12141-433: The communities' rights in court. In Mexico, this was facilitated by the 1599 establishment of the General Indian Court ( Juzgado General de Indios ), which heard legal disputes in which indigenous communities and individuals were engaged. With legal mechanisms for dispute-resolution, there were relatively few outbreaks of violence and rebellion against crown rule. Eighteenth-century rebellions in long-peaceful areas of Mexico,

12312-403: The completion of the project. With Toledo's death in 1567, direction passed to his apprentice, Juan de Herrera , under whom the building was completed in 1584, in slightly less than 21 years. To this day, la obra de El Escorial ("the work of El Escorial") is a proverbial expression for a thing that takes a long time to finish. Since then, El Escorial has been the burial site for most of

12483-492: The complex to serve as a necropolis for the interment of the remains of his parents, Charles I and Isabella of Portugal , himself, and his descendants. In addition, Philip envisioned El Escorial as a center for studies in aid of the Counter-Reformation cause. The building's cornerstone was laid on 23 April 1563. The design and construction were overseen by Juan Bautista de Toledo , who did not live to see

12654-441: The councilors, were auctioned to alleviate the need for money of the Crown, even the offices could also be sold, which became hereditary, so that the government of the cities went on to hands of urban oligarchies. In order to control the municipal life, the Crown ordered the appointment of corregidores and alcaldes mayores to exert greater political control and judicial functions in minor districts. Their functions were governing

12825-575: The countryside. Although Indians were classified as part of the República de Indios , their offspring of unions with Españoles and Africans were castas . White-Indian mixtures were more socially acceptable in the Hispanic sphere, with the possibility over generations of mixed-race offspring being classified as Español. Any offspring with African ancestry could never remove the "stain" of their racial heritage, since Africans were seen as "natural slaves". Eighteenth-century paintings depicted elites' ideas of

12996-554: The creation of a whole commercial system in which they could coerce native populations to participate while reaping profits themselves in cooperation with merchants. The Spanish conquest was facilitated by the spread of diseases such as smallpox , common in Europe but never present in the New World, which reduced the indigenous populations in the Americas . This sometimes caused a labor shortage for plantations and public works and so

13167-443: The crown also melded existing indigenous rule into a Spanish pattern, with the establishment of cabildos and the participation of indigenous elites as officials holding Spanish titles. There were a variable number of councilors ( regidores ), depending on the size of the town, also two municipal judges ( alcaldes menores ), who were judges of first instance, and also other officials as police chief, inspector of supplies, court clerk, and

13338-419: The crown as a key administrative institution with royal authority and loyalty to the crown as opposed to conquerors and first settlers. Although constituted as the highest judicial authority in their territorial jurisdiction, they also had executive and legislative authority, and served as the executive on an interim basis. Judges ( oidores ) held "formidable power. Their role in judicial affairs and in overseeing

13509-467: The crown, rather than the pope, exercised absolute power over the Catholic Church in the Americas and the Philippines, a privilege the crown zealously guarded against erosion or incursion. Crown approval through the Council of the Indies was needed for the establishment of bishoprics, building of churches, appointment of all clerics. In 1721, at the beginning of the Bourbon monarchy, the crown transferred

13680-453: The death, unauthorized absence, retirement or removal of a governor, the treasury officials would jointly govern the province until a new governor appointed by the king could take up his duties. Treasury officials were supposed to be paid out of the income from the province, and were normally prohibited from engaging in income-producing activities. The protection of the indigenous populations from enslavement and exploitation by Spanish settlers

13851-541: The different cells and rooms of the monks and that the Augustine monks have gradually managed to make their own. Finally, the Royal Library, which is public and exists under a special papal bull of protection. From the beginning, the Royal Library was meant to be a monumental work of art, and its execution was commissioned to prominent architects of the moment: Juan de Toledo and Juan de Herrera , who shared

14022-413: The dome at El Escorial, soaring nearly 100 metres (330 ft) into the air, is supported by four heavy granite piers connected by simple Romanesque arches and decorated by simple Doric pilasters , plain, solid, and largely unprepossessing. It would not be a flight of fancy to interpret St. Peter's as the quintessential expression of Baroque sensuality and the basilica at El Escorial as a statement of

14193-483: The dynamics in the indigenous communities and their relationship to the Spanish. After the fall of the Aztec and Inca empires, the rulers of the empires were replaced by the Spanish monarchy, while retaining much of the hierarchical indigenous structures. The crown recognized noble status of elite Indians, giving them exemption from the head-tax and the right to use the nobles title don and doña . Indigenous noblemen were

14364-403: The early Caribbean period, particularly Frey Nicolás de Ovando , who was sent to investigate the administration of Francisco de Bobadilla , the governor appointed to succeed Christopher Columbus. Later ecclesiastics served as interim viceroys, general inspectors (visitadores), and other high posts. The crown established control over trade and emigration to the Indies with the 1503 establishment

14535-443: The early Spanish period, especially when the economy was still based on extracting tribute and labor from commoner Indians who had rendered goods and service to their overlords in the prehispanic period. Caciques mobilized their populations for encomenderos and, later, repartimiento recipients chosen by the crown. The noblemen became the officers of the cabildo in indigenous communities, regulating internal affairs, as well as defending

14706-527: The early colonial period, the crown authorized friars of Catholic religious orders ( Franciscans , Dominicans , and Augustinians ) to function as priests during the conversion of indigenous populations. During the early Age of Discovery , the diocesan clergy in Spain was poorly educated and considered of a low moral standing, and the Catholic Monarchs were reluctant to allow them to spearhead evangelization. Each order set up networks of parishes in

14877-671: The early colonial period. Spanish universities expanded to train lawyer-bureaucrats ( letrados ) for administrative positions in Spain and its overseas empire. The end of the Habsburg dynasty in 1700 saw major administrative reforms in the eighteenth century under the Bourbon monarchy, starting with the first Spanish Bourbon monarch, Philip V (r. 1700–1746) and reaching its apogee under Charles III (r. 1759–1788). The reorganization of administration has been called "a revolution in government." Reforms sought to centralize government control through reorganization of administration, reinvigorate

15048-412: The east–west axis intersected by a shorter transept, about three-quarters of the way between the west entrance and the high altar. This plan was modified by Juan de Herrera to that of a Greek cross , a form with all four arms of equal length. Coincident with this shift in approach, the bell towers at the western end of the church were somewhat reduced in size and the small half-dome intended to stand over

15219-543: The economies of Spain and the Spanish empire through changes in mercantile and fiscal policies, defend Spanish colonies and territorial claims through the establishment of a standing military, undermine the power of the Catholic church, and rein in the power of the American-born elites. The crown relied on ecclesiastics as important councilors and royal officials in the governance of their overseas territories. Archbishop Juan Rodríguez de Fonseca , Isabella's confessor,

15390-493: The empire and their importance assessed, overseas possessions came under stronger or weaker crown control. The crown learned its lesson with the rule of Christopher Columbus and his heirs in the Caribbean, and they never subsequently gave authorization of sweeping powers to explorers and conquerors. The Catholic Monarchs ' conquest of Granada in 1492 and their expulsion of the Jews "were militant expressions of religious statehood at

15561-463: The empire. The Jesuits resisted crown control, refusing to pay the tithe on their estates that supported the ecclesiastical hierarchy and came into conflict with bishops. The most prominent example is in Puebla, Mexico, when Bishop Juan de Palafox y Mendoza was driven from his bishopric by the Jesuits. The bishop challenged the Jesuits' continuing to hold Indian parishes and function as priests without

15732-478: The end of the 17th century, and remained under Spanish control until 1898. In the 18th century, Spain was concerned with increasing Russian and British influence in the Pacific Northwest of North America and sent several expeditions to explore and further shore up Spanish claims to the region. The empire in the Indies was a newly established dependency of the kingdom of Castile alone, so crown power

15903-513: The exception of Philip V , Ferdinand VI , and Amadeus of Savoy . The remains of the Count of Barcelona , the father of King Juan Carlos I of Spain , also rest in this pantheon despite the fact that the Count never became king himself. The enclosure is presided over by an altar of veined marble, and the sarcophagi are bronze and marble. There is also the Pantheon of the Princes, where the bodies of

16074-445: The fact that The Queen Isabel was the first monarch that laid the first stone for the protection of the indigenous peoples in her testament in which the Catholic monarch prohibited the enslavement of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Then the first such in 1542; the legal thought behind them was the basis of modern International law . Taking advantage of their extreme remoteness from royal power, some colonists were disagree with

16245-435: The famous Crucifix carved in white marble by Benvenuto Cellini . This statue of Christ is unusual because it was represented fully nude; although for modesty it wears one cloth covering the genitals. Situated next to the main altar of the Basilica, the residence of King Philip II consists of a series of austerely decorated rooms. It features a window from which the king could observe mass from his bed when incapacitated by

16416-464: The fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries. Its eleven rooms showcase the tools, cranes and other materials used in the construction of the edifice, as well as reproductions of blueprints and documents related to the project. Constructed at the order of Philip II, a great lover of nature, these constitute an ideal place for repose and meditation. Manuel Azaña , the Socialist who served as

16587-402: The governance of the huge indigenous population. Through their continued loyalty to the crown, they maintained their positions of power within their communities but also served as agents of colonial governance. The Spanish Empire's use of local elites to rule large populations that are ethnically distinct from the rulers has long been practiced by earlier empires. Indian caciques were crucial in

16758-418: The governor, it could be joined the military ones, according to military requirements, with the rank of Captain general . The office of captain general involved to be the supreme military chief of the whole territory and he was responsible for recruiting and providing troops, the fortification of the territory, the supply and the shipbuilding. Provinces in the Spanish Empire had a royal treasury controlled by

16929-470: The granting of benefits to those municipalities to proceed with the renovation of its main public and religious buildings. The result of this measure is the currently Herrerian aspect of the parish churches of Valdemorillo and Navalagamella , both of medieval origin. The Herrerian style quickly spread throughout Spain and Spanish America . Some representative works are the Cathedral of Valladolid and

17100-467: The implementation of royal legislation made their decisions important for the communities they served." Since their appointments were for life or the pleasure of the monarch, they had a continuity of power and authority that viceroys and captains-general lacked because of their shorter-term appointments. They were the "center of the administrative system [and] gave the government of the Indies a strong basis of permanence and continuity." Their main function

17271-518: The indigenous and following the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire and the Spanish conquest of Peru , more stringent laws to control conquerors' and settlers' exercise of power, especially their maltreatment of the indigenous populations, were promulgated, known as the New Laws (1542). The crown aimed to prevent the formation of an aristocracy in the Indies not under crown control. Despite

17442-459: The indigenous populations. In the eighteenth-century reforms, the Viceroyalty of Peru was reorganized, splitting off portions to form the Viceroyalty of New Granada (Colombia) (1739) and the Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata (Argentina) (1776), leaving Peru with jurisdiction over Peru, Charcas, and Chile. Viceroys were of high social standing, almost without exception born in Spain, and served fixed terms. The Audiencias were initially constituted by

17613-558: The king's viceroy, whose recommendation brought him to the king's attention. Philip appointed him architect-royal in 1559, and, together, they designed El Escorial as a monument to Spain's role as a center of the Christian world. On 2 November 1984, UNESCO declared The Royal Seat of San Lorenzo of El Escorial a World Heritage Site . It is a popular tourist attraction, often visited by daytrippers from Madrid—more than 500,000 visitors come to El Escorial every year. El Escorial

17784-403: The king, as owner of the Indies, agreed capitulación (an itemized contract) with the specifics of the conditions of the expedition in a particular territory. The individual leaders of expeditions ( adelantados ) assumed the expenses of the venture and in return received as reward the grant from the government of the conquered territories; and in addition, they received instructions about treating

17955-469: The kneeling family groups of Charles and Philip, also by Leoni, with help from his son Pompeo . In a shallow niche at the center of the lowest level is the tabernacle, a repository for the physical elements of the communion ceremony, a so-called "House of the Sacrament", designed by Juan de Herrera in jasper and bronze . It was built between 1579 and 1586 by Jacopo da Trezzo . To decorate the reredos ,

18126-620: The last president of the Second Spanish Republic , studied in the monastery's Augustinian -run school and mentions them in his Memorias (Memoirs) and his play El jardín de los frailes (The Garden of the Friars). Students at the school still use it today to study and pass the time. The Escorial has three libraries. One is located behind the Chorus of the basilica. Another, within the monastery itself, used to be distributed to

18297-455: The laws when they saw their power being reduced, forcing a partial suppression of these New Laws . The Valladolid debate (1550–1551) was the first moral debate in European history to discuss the rights and treatment of a colonized people by colonizers. Held in the Colegio de San Gregorio , in the Spanish city of Valladolid , it was a moral and theological debate about the colonization of

18468-403: The legal system in the Républica de Españoles. The statuses of the indigenous populations as legal minors barred them from becoming priests, but the républica de indios operated with a fair amount of autonomy. Missionaries also acted as guardians against encomendero exploitation. Indian communities had protections of traditional lands by the creation of community lands that could not be alienated,

18639-493: The library has more than 40,000 volumes, located in a great hall 54 metres (177 ft) in length, 9 metres (30 ft) wide, and 10 metres (33 ft) tall, with marble floors and beautifully carved wood shelves. De Herrera and Italian construction engineer Giuseppe Flecha y Gamboa were careful to consider the security of the library's holdings in armarios (large bookcases), as well as their display, safeguards against fire hazards, and use of available natural lighting. This library

18810-409: The library introduced a novel way of arranging the library's bookcases or "book presses". Until then most book presses were combined with desks and stood at right angles to the library's walls. This system was known as the "stall system" and allowed light from the library's windows to illuminate the shelves. Phillip's library began using a "wall system", placing the bookcases along the walls. Currently

18981-419: The library of Diego Hurtado de Mendoza , the most valuable in Spain at the time, was bought. It included 850 codices and over 1,000 printed volumes. At this point, the size of the library was such that Benito Arias Montano had to be specially hired to organize the books and classify them by language, in addition to subject. In the 1580s the Library acquired some of its most unique pieces. Jorge Beteta donated

19152-478: The locality and less to the crown and impartial justice. During the Bourbon Reforms in the mid-eighteenth century, the crown systematically sought to centralize power in its own hands and diminish that of its overseas possessions, appointing peninsular-born Spaniards to Audiencias. American-born elite men complained bitterly about the change, since they lost access to power that they had enjoyed for nearly

19323-461: The magnificent main staircase. The library contains thousands of priceless manuscripts : for example, the collection of the sultan Zidan Abu Maali , who ruled Morocco from 1603 to 1627, is housed here. The main entrance of the El Escorial is the west façade, which has three doors: the middle one leads to the Courtyard of the Kings ( Patio de los Reyes ) and the side ones lead to a school and to

19494-626: The main cloister, decorated with frescoes by Tibaldi and his workshop, in which scenes from the history of the Redemption are represented. In the East gallery, one finds the splendid main staircase with a fresco-decorated vaulted ceiling depicting The glory of the Spanish monarchy , painted by Luca Giordano in 1692. The Palace of the Austrians ( Palacio de los Austrias ), also known as the House of

19665-516: The main responsibility for governing the overseas empire from the Council of the Indies to the Ministry of the Navy and the Indies, which were subsequently divided into two separate ministries in 1754. The impossibility of the physical presence of the monarch and the necessity of strong royal governance in the Indies resulted in the appointment of viceroys ("vice-kings"), the direct representation of

19836-605: The maltreatment and pressed the crown to act to protect the indigenous populations. The crown enacted Laws of Burgos (1513) and the Requerimiento to curb the power of the Spanish conquerors and give indigenous populations the opportunity to peacefully embrace Spanish authority and Christianity. Neither was effective in its purpose. Las Casas was officially appointed Protector of the Indians and spent his life arguing forcefully on their behalf. The New Laws of 1542, limiting

20007-560: The moment of the beginning of the American colonization." The crown's power in the religious sphere was absolute in its overseas possessions through the papacy's grant of the Patronato real , and "Catholicism was indissolubly linked with royal authority." Church-State relations were established in the conquest era and remained stable until the end of the Habsburg era in 1700, when the Bourbon monarchs implemented major reforms and changed

20178-425: The monarch, in both civil and ecclesiastical spheres. Viceroyalties were the largest territory unit of administration in the civil and religious spheres and the boundaries of civil and ecclesiastical governance coincided by design, to ensure crown control over both bureaucracies. Until the eighteenth century, there were just two viceroyalties, with the Viceroyalty of New Spain (founded 1535) administering North America,

20349-498: The monastery. The floor plan of the building is in the form of a gridiron. The traditional belief is that this design was chosen in honor of Saint Lawrence , who, in the third century AD, was martyred by being roasted to death on a grill. St. Lawrence's feast day is 10 August, the same date as the 1557 Battle of St. Quentin. However, the origin of the building's layout is quite controversial. The grill-like shape, which did not fully emerge until Juan de Herrera eliminated from

20520-468: The original conception the six interior towers of the façade, was not unique to El Escorial. Other buildings had been constructed with churches or chapels fronting on interior courtyards: King's College, Cambridge , dating from 1441, is one such example; the old Ospedale Maggiore , Milan 's first hospital, begun in 1456 by Antonio Filarete , is another grid-like building with interior courtyards. In fact, palaces of this approximate design were commonplace in

20691-502: The others, and the closest to the origin, which was God in the Basilica: theology, geometry, and mathematics. The visitor must leave the noisy world behind and walk through the halls of knowledge in a specific, comprehensible order from concreteness to abstraction before being able to reach God and understand His message, a notion quite in line with both Charles I and Philip II's hermeticist view of religion. During Philip II's reign,

20862-418: The outside with slate and lateral towers, finished off in conical or pyramidal quadrangular spiers finished in points, known as Madrid-style spiers or simply as Madrid spire , which introduce an element of verticality and magnificence, to the time that helps to reinforce the feeling of symmetry. At other cases, not looking both the horizontal and the bulkiness, which is reached through the geometrical design of

21033-424: The pagan indigenous populations, as well as African slaves not previously Christian, and incorporating them into Christendom. Catholicism remains the dominant religion in Spanish America. The crown also imposed restrictions on emigration to the Americas, excluding Jews and crypto-Jews , Protestants, and foreigners, using the Casa de Contratación to vet potential emigres and issue licenses to travel. The portrait to

21204-565: The pantheon is King Alfonso XIII , removed there from the Church of Santa Maria in Monserrato , Rome in 1980. The remains of Alfonso XIII's wife, Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg were interred in the pantheon in 2011. The remains of Alfonso XIII's third son Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona , (d. 1993) and daughter-in-law Princess María de las Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (d. 2000); (the father and mother of King Juan Carlos I ), lie at

21375-418: The power of encomenderos, were a result. Beginning in 1522 in the newly conquered Mexico, government units in the Spanish Empire had a royal treasury controlled by a set of officiales reales (royal officials). There were also sub-treasuries at important ports and mining districts. The officials of the royal treasury at each level of government typically included two to four positions: a tesorero (treasurer),

21546-432: The profane subjects—such as history, geography, and botany—are located in the part closest to the entrance. The library corridors branch out into different sections just to re-converge in the end, and as they advance towards the basilica, the subjects are the more abstract forms—such as poetry, grammar, and mathematics. The subjects closest to the basilica are those the King conceived as being the most abstract distillations of

21717-443: The province, and collected the king's share of any war booty. The veedor , or overseer, position quickly disappeared in most jurisdictions, subsumed into the position of factor . Depending on the conditions in a jurisdiction, the position of factor/veedor was often eliminated, as well. The treasury officials were appointed by the king, and were largely independent of the authority of the viceroy, audiencia president or governor. On

21888-471: The province; and a veedor (overseer), who was responsible for contacts with native inhabitants of the province, and collected the king's share of any war booty. The treasury officials were appointed by the king, and were largely independent of the authority of the governor. Treasury officials were generally paid out of the income from the province and were normally prohibited from engaging in personal income-producing activities. The indigenous populations in

22059-468: The queens who did not have a crowned succession and the princes and princesses were laid to rest. This part was built in the nineteenth century. Next to the basilica, to the south, is the Courtyard of the Evangelists. This is a gardened patio in whose center rises a magnificent pavilion, by Juan de Herrera , in which one can find sculptures of the Evangelists. Around the courtyard are the galleries of

22230-481: The relationship between crown and altar. The crown's administration of its overseas empire was implemented by royal officials in both the civil and religious spheres, often with overlapping jurisdictions. The crown could administer the empire in the Indies by using native elites as intermediaries with the large indigenous populations. Administrative costs of empire were kept low, with a small number of Spanish officials generally paid low salaries. Crown policy to maintain

22401-524: The remains of Queen Victoria Eugenie and the Count and Countess of Barcelona in the Royal Pantheon will each constitute an exception to tradition. First, Victoria Eugenie, although the wife of a king, was never the mother of a king in the strict sense. Secondly, the Count of Barcelona never reigned as king, although he was head of the Spanish royal family between the renunciation of his father's rights on 14 January 1941 and his renunciation of his own rights in favour of his son Juan Carlos I on 14 May 1977. Thirdly,

22572-531: The remains of the kings and queens regnant (the only queen regnant since Philip II being Isabella II ) of the Habsburg and Bourbon dynasties, from Charles I to the present, except for Philip V and his son Ferdinand VI . The sepulchres also contain the remains of royal consorts who were parents of monarchs. The only king consort is Francis of Asis de Bourbon , husband of Queen Isabella II and father of Alfonso XII . The most recent monarch interred in

22743-428: The required royal licenses. His fall from power is viewed as an example of the weakening of the crown in the mid-seventeenth century since it failed to protect their duly appointed bishop. The crown expelled the Jesuits from Spain and The Indies in 1767 during the Bourbon Reforms . Spanish settlers sought to live in towns and cities, with governance being accomplished through the town council or Cabildo . The cabildo

22914-415: The respective municipalities, administering of justice and being appellate judges in the alcaldes menores ' judgments, but only the corregidor could preside over the cabildo . However, both charges were also put up for sale freely since the late 16th century. </ref> Most Spanish settlers came to the Indies as permanent residents, established families and businesses, and sought advancement in

23085-647: The rest), rise the pointed belfries and round dome of the basilica. Philip's instructions to Juan Bautista de Toledo were simple and clear, directing that the architects should produce "simplicity in the construction, severity in the whole, nobility without arrogance, majesty without ostentation." Aside from its explicit purposes, the complex is also an enormous storehouse of art. In it are displayed masterworks by Titian , Tintoretto , Benvenuto Cellini , El Greco , Velázquez , Rogier van der Weyden , Paolo Veronese , Bernini , Alonso Cano , José de Ribera , Claudio Coello , and others. Giambattista Castello designed

23256-417: The right was most likely used as a souvenir. For those who traveled to the New World and back it was common to bring back souvenirs as there were a great interest in what the New World meant. The land would be significantly different but there was a special emphasis put on the emerging mixed races. Not only was there whites mixing with blacks but there were natives mixing with both whites and blacks as well. From

23427-485: The rooms of Philip II and of the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia . Another outbuilding is that of Alcoba del Rey , housing the bed in which Philip II died. The basilica of San Lorenzo el Real, the central building in the El Escorial complex, was originally designed, like most of the late Gothic cathedrals of Western Europe, to take the form of a Latin cross . As such, it has a long nave on

23598-476: The royal monastery itself and La Granjilla de La Fresneda , a royal hunting lodge and monastic retreat about five kilometres (3.1 mi) away. These sites have a dual nature: during the 16th and 17th centuries, they were places in which the power of the Spanish monarchy and the ecclesiastical predominance of the Roman Catholic religion in Spain found a common architectural manifestation. El Escorial

23769-404: The senior official who guarded money on hand and made payments; a contador (accountant or comptroller ), who recorded income and payments, maintained records, and interpreted royal instructions; a factor , who guarded weapons and supplies belonging to the king, and disposed of tribute collected in the province; and a veedor (overseer), who was responsible for contacts with native inhabitants of

23940-469: The shape of a Greek cross and an enormous dome, inspired by St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, above the crossing. The naves are covered over by barrel vaults decorated with frescoes by Luca Giordano . The main altarpiece is 30 metres (98 ft) high and divided into compartments of different sizes where are found bronze sculptures, and canvases by Pellegrino Tibaldi , Federico Zuccari , and Leone Leoni . In

24111-496: The stark rigidity and grim purposefulness of the Inquisition , the two sides of the Counter-Reformation . The most richly decorated part of the church is the area surrounding the high altar. Behind the altar is a three-tiered reredos , or altar screen, made of red granite and jasper , nearly 28 metres (92 ft) tall, adorned with gilded bronze statuary by Leone Leoni , and three sets of religious paintings commissioned by Philip II. To either side are gilded life-size bronzes of

24282-490: The status of a Spanish infante , making him eligible for interment in the Pantheon of the Princes. Upon his death in October 2015, his funeral was held at El Escorial and his body placed in the pudridero , awaiting future interment in the pantheon. Thirty-seven of the sixty available niches are filled. Consists of works of the German , Flemish , Venetian , Lombard , Ligurian and more Italian and Spanish schools from

24453-494: The status of individuals and groups in the empire in both the civil and religious spheres, with Spaniards (peninsular- and American-born) monopolizing positions of economic privilege and political power. Royal law and Catholicism codified and maintained hierarchies of class and race, while all were subjects of the crown and mandated to be Catholic. The crown took active steps to establish and maintain Catholicism by evangelizing

24624-443: The style owes its name, and Francisco de Mora (1553–1610), Herrera's disciple and architect of the Ducal Palace of Lerma and other key works of Herrerian architecture. The Herrerian architecture, or Herrerian style is characterized by its geometric rigor, the mathematical relation between the various architectural features, the clean volumes, the dominance of the wall over the span and the almost total absence of decoration, which

24795-459: The suppression of his privileges in The Indies and the creation of territorial governance under royal authority. These governorates, also called as provinces, were the basic of the territorial government of the Indies, and arose as the territories were conquered and colonized. To carry out the expedition ( entrada ), which entailed exploration, conquest, and initial settlement of the territory,

24966-463: The time the second wave of friars came to the Americas and as their numbers grew, the orders began amassing wealth and thus became key economic players. The church, as this wealthy power, had huge estates and built large constructions such as gilded monasteries and cathedrals. Priests themselves also became wealthy landowners. Orders like the Franciscans also established schools for the indigenous elites as well as hired indigenous laborers, thereby shifting

25137-422: The various architectural elements. This is the case of the model used in the construction of parish churches, with great façades, quadrangular towers and heavy buttresses . It is, in most cases, works of great size, imposing in its environment and impress with its austere and monumental air. In regard to decorative applications, these reduce the use of basic geometric shapes such as spheres and pyramids . From

25308-447: The various regions (provinces), sited in existing Indian settlements, where Christian churches were built and where evangelization of the indigenous was based. However, after the 1550s, the crown increasingly favored the diocesan clergy over the religious orders since the diocesan clergy was under the direct authority of the crown, while religious orders were with their own internal regulations and leadership. The crown had authority to draw

25479-410: The wood used in El Escorial comes from the ancient forests of Sagua La Grande , on the so-called Golden Coast of Cuba. The pantheon's name in Spanish is Panteón de Infantes . Completed in 1888, this group of nine burial chapels is the final resting place of princes, princesses, and consorts other than the parents of monarchs. With floors and ceiling of white marble, the tomb of Prince John of Austria

25650-531: Was a Renaissance statement of power, majesty, prowess, and intellectual world leadership, designed for both the preservation of the old (binding multiple cultural histories into a single Catholic Spanish culture) and discovery of the new (imprinted by that culture). The vault of the library's ceiling is decorated with frescoes, painted by Pellegrino Tibaldi , depicting the seven liberal arts : grammar , rhetoric , dialectic , music , arithmetic , geometry , and astronomy . This arrangement of parallel book cases

25821-450: Was a fact of colonial society, with the three racial groups, European whites ( españoles ), Africans ( negros ), and Indians ( indios ) producing mixed-race offspring, or castas . There was a pyramid of racial status with the apex being the small number of European white ( españoles ), a slightly larger number of mixed-race castas, who, like the whites were mainly urban dwelling, and the largest populations were Indians living in communities in

25992-428: Was a major turning point in world history "In that moment in Spain appeared the dawn of the human rights" . In 1524 the Council of the Indies was established, following the system of Councils that advised the monarch and made decisions on his behalf about specific matters of government. Based in Castile, with the assignment of the governance of the Indies, it was thus responsible for drafting legislation, proposing

26163-460: Was appointed by the viceroy, usually for a five-year term. Corregidores collected the tribute from indigenous communities and regulated forced indigenous labor. Alcaldías mayores were larger districts with a royal appointee, the Alcalde mayor . As the indigenous populations declined, the need for corregimiento decreased and then suppressed, with the alcaldía mayor remaining an institution until it

26334-697: Was appointed in 1579 Inspector of Monuments of the Crown. The style spread first through the comarcas of Madrid of the Sierra de Guadarrama , located within the catchment area of the Monastery of El Escorial, through two ways: works directly funded by the Royal Family and those promoted by the Guadarraman municipalities. The first category covers infrastructure such as the Puente Nuevo , in Galapagar , and buildings for private use by Philip II, as

26505-665: Was both a Spanish royal palace and a monastery. Established with a community of Hieronymite monks, it has become a monastery of the Order of Saint Augustine . It was also a boarding school: the Real Colegio de Alfonso XII. Philip II engaged the Spanish architect Juan Bautista de Toledo to be his collaborator in the building of the complex at El Escorial. Toledo had spent the greater part of his career in Rome, where he had worked on St. Peter's Basilica , and in Naples serving

26676-411: Was composed of the prominent residents ( vecinos ) of the municipality, so that governance was restricted to a male elite, with majority of the population exercising power. Cities were governed on the same pattern as in Spain and in the Indies the city was the framework of Spanish life. The cities were Spanish and the countryside indigenous. In areas of previous indigenous empires with settled populations,

26847-540: Was established in the Laws of Burgos , 1512–1513. The laws were the first codified set of laws governing the behavior of Spanish settlers in the Americas, particularly with regards to treatment of native Indians in the institution of the encomienda . They forbade the maltreatment of natives, and endorsed the Indian Reductions with attempts of conversion to Catholicism. Upon their failure to effectively protect

27018-411: Was hoped. Indeed, the New World colonies only began to yield a substantial part of the Crown's revenues with the establishment of mines such as that of Potosí (Bolivia) and Zacatecas (Mexico) both started in 1546. By the late 16th century, silver from the Americas accounted for one-fifth of Spain's total budget. Eventually the world's stock of precious metal was doubled or even tripled by silver from

27189-563: Was inaugurated. The Manila Galleons shipped goods from all over Asia across the Pacific to Acapulco on the coast of Mexico. From there, the goods were transshipped across Mexico to the Spanish treasure fleets , for shipment to Spain. The Spanish trading port of Manila facilitated this trade in 1572. Although Spain claimed islands in the Pacific, it did not encounter or claim the Hawaiian Islands. The control of Guam , Mariana Islands , Caroline Islands , and Palau came later, from

27360-431: Was initiated by Philip II and was called the "wall system". The fire of 1671, which engulfed the library, destroyed about 5,280 handwritten codices , but the printed collections were saved. The printed collection of the library is made up of more than 600 incunabulas , 10,608 books from the 16th century, 2,179 books from the 17th century, and an increasing number of books from the 18th century. The manuscript collection

27531-506: Was inspired by Herrera's design, after a visit, for his design of the Vatican Library . Philip was involved in every part of the design process of the library. The Royal Library, like everything else in El Escorial, forms part of a larger symbolic structure and has symbolic meaning. It links the monastery and the seminary across the principal axis of the building, symbolizing the union of the spiritual and physical world. The books on

27702-530: Was judicial, as a court of justice of second instance —court of appeal— in penal and civil matters, but also the Audiencias were courts the first instance in the city where it had its headquarters, and also in the cases involving the Royal Treasury. Besides court of justice, the Audiencias had functions of government as counterweight the authority of the viceroys, since they could communicate with both

27873-534: Was left unacknowledged. In 1776, the crown attempted to prevent marriages between racially unequal partners by issuing the Royal Pragmatic on Marriage , taking approval of marriages away from the couple and placing it in their parents' hands. The marriage between Luisa de Abrego, a free black domestic servant from Seville and Miguel Rodríguez, a white Segovian conquistador in 1565 in St. Augustine (Spanish Florida),

28044-592: Was not impeded by any existing cortes (i.e. parliament), administrative or ecclesiastical institution, or seigneurial group. The crown sought to establish and maintain control over its overseas possessions through a complex, hierarchical bureaucracy, which in many ways was decentralized. The crown asserted is authority and sovereignty of the territory and vassals it claimed, collected taxes, maintained public order, meted out justice, and established policies for governance of large indigenous populations. Many institutions established in Castile found expression in The Indies from

28215-506: Was on religious conversion, missionaries served as "diplomatic agents, peace emissaries to hostile tribes ... and they were also expected to hold the line against nomadic nonmissionary Indians as well as other European powers." On the frontier of empire, Indians were seen as sin razón , ("without reason"); non-Indian populations were described as gente de razón ("people of reason"), who could be mixed-race castas or black and had greater social mobility in frontier regions. Codes regulated

28386-465: Was replaced in the eighteenth-century Bourbon Reforms by royal officials, Intendants . The salary of officials during the Habsburg era were paltry, but the corregidor or alcalde mayor in densely populated areas of indigenous settlement with a valuable product could use his office for personal enrichment. As with many other royal posts, these positions were sold, starting in 1677. The Bourbon-era intendants were appointed and relatively well paid. During

28557-511: Was tasked with reining in Columbus's independence. He strongly influenced the formulation of colonial policy under the Catholic Monarchs, and was instrumental in establishing the Casa de Contratación (1503), which enabled crown control over trade and immigration. Ovando fitted out Magellan's voyage of circumnavigation, and became the first President of the Council of the Indies in 1524. Ecclesiastics also functioned as administrators overseas in

28728-846: Was the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire by Francisco Pizarro , which would become the Viceroyalty of Peru . The Spanish conquest of the Maya began in 1524, but the Maya kingdoms resisted integration into the Spanish Empire with such tenacity that their defeat took almost two centuries. After the conquest of Mexico, rumors of golden cities ( Quivira and Cíbola in North America and El Dorado in South America) motivated several other expeditions. Many of those returned without having found their goal, or finding it much less valuable than

28899-477: Was the basis for El Escorial, was extensively modified to accommodate the additional functions Philip II intended the building to serve. Besides being a monastery, El Escorial is also a pantheon, a basilica, a convent, a school, a library, and a royal palace. All these functional demands resulted in a doubling of the building's size from the time of its original conception. Built primarily from locally quarried gray granite, square and sparsely ornamented, El Escorial

29070-410: Was the religious mission to convert the indigenous populations. Missions were established with royal authority through the Patronato real . The Jesuits were effective missionaries in frontier areas until their expulsion from Spain and its empire in 1767. The Franciscans took over some former Jesuit missions and continued the expansion of areas incorporated into the empire. Although their primary focus

29241-458: Was their relationship to the crown and to Christianity. Once those issues were resolved theologically, in practice the crown sought to protect its new vassals. It did so by dividing peoples of the Americas into the República de Indios , the native populations, and the República de Españoles . The República de Españoles was the entire Hispanic sector, composed of Spaniards, but also Africans (enslaved and free), as well as mixed-race castas . Within

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