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000874 Visit since May 31, 2004
| TRIUMPHS and TRAGEDY, a History
of The Mexican people (Chapter 1) |
by Prof. German Estrada
July, 2004 |
THE FOREFATHERS (part
13) continues..
With the Battle of Olmedo (1467), where the crown
prevailed over the nobility, the king, particularly
in Castilla, had things more or less his own way. Faced
with royal growing power, nobles, dukes and counts
sided with the king, thus tilting the scales against
the burguesía. By becoming courtiers
at the court of the king, members of the nobility saved
for themselves many of their economic and social advantages.
Although they lost their political independence, they
kept their lands and all that land implied. The crown,
plainly, emerged the victor in this contest between
feudal lords and nascent capitalists of towns and cities.
So was born the absolute monarchy of sixteen- century
Spain, mother of colonial Mexico.
Kingly supremacy had fatal consequences for popular
government. Almost from the start, Ferdinand and Isabella
had done what they could to undermine the autonomy
of the cortes. Their decline started in Castilla, where
the crown limited their functions, undercut their taxing
powers, found ways to circumvent their opinions, and
failed increasingly to call them into session. During
his thirty-five- years reign (1665-1700), Charles II
never once convoked the cortes of Castilla.
A similar fate awarded local
government. In the kingdom of Aragón, the
more liberal of medieval Spain, an open council had
made political decisions in the municipalities. An
assembly of heads of families, the council had evolved
in the villages then been adopted by the cities.
With the grow of the cities, the open council proved
unworkable, there were simply too many heads of families.
Not all families, said the more powerful, were equals,
hence not worthy of an equal voice in public affairs.
From this turn of events appeared the municipal council,
later called the ayuntamiento or cabildo; it placed
local authority in the hands of a small group of
elected officials, prominent citizens usually. The
ayuntamiento, of course, lent itself more readily
to the abuse of authority and transformed public
office into an opportunity for personal profit. More
and more members of the ayuntamiento were hand picked
by royal dictate ( designados por dedo ).
These changes, initiated ironically in the more progressive
kingdom of Aragón, aborted the growth of municipal
autonomy and, of dramatic significance for the future,
the political importance of the burguesía ,
the voice of capitalist ideals.
The rise of the Spanish despot, benevolent or otherwise,
had repercussions in the New World. Charles I, to cite
one historical anecdote, seldom failed to have a copy
of Machiavelli's The Prince , which extolled
the virtues of absolute monarchy, applying its lessons
to the New World. He seldom failed to impress on the
conquistadores that he was the boss, never permitting
them to sever their ties to the crown or hesitating
to remove them when they tried. Even Cortés,
the popular leader of the copnquistadores of Mexico,
tasted defeat when challenged the monarch.
Source: From the book Triumphs
and Tragedy, a History of the Mexican People by his
author Ramon Eduardo Ruiz, and with his authorization.
(W.W. Norton & Company. New York-London). We'll continue with this fascinating
book.
estradanav@yahoo.com
Prof. Germán
Estrada is the author of the best selling book,
"México
Mágico: Everything You Wanted To Know
About... But Nobody Told You..." available in Puerto
Vallarta at The Net House, Mail Boxes, Etc., Books,
Books as well as directly from the author by internet.
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