A History of Spain Part 24

Agriculture did not advance much from its wretched state of the previous era. The economists, giving undue importance to the acc.u.mulation of specie, and obsessed by a desire to develop manufactures, did not appreciate the fundamental value of agriculture; grazing was favored at the expense of farming; agricultural labor, never plentiful, was still more scarce after the expulsion of the Moriscos; and the evil of _latifundia_ tended to reduce the amount of land cultivated. The laws encouraged agriculture only when it did not interfere with what were considered the more important industries. Legislation was frequent forbidding the cultivation of lands which had ever been devoted to grazing and compelling their restoration to that industry, and the old privileges of the _Mesta_ were maintained to the detriment of the farmers. The scarcity of agricultural labor caused an immigration from other countries, especially from France, and this increased after the expulsion of the Moriscos. It did not solve the problem, as the foreigners were wont to return home, after they had acc.u.mulated savings.

Under the circ.u.mstances it is not surprising that agricultural production did not meet the needs of the peninsula. Something was done to protect farm laborers, and some government projects of irrigation were undertaken, but not enough was done to offset the handicaps which the state itself imposed. Intensive cultivation by small proprietors was one of the needs of the time, and one attempt to bring this about in Granada was made. Some 12,500 Castilian, Asturian, and Galician families were sent there to replace in a measure the several hundred thousand expelled Moriscos. The experiment was successful, and the colonization took root, but it was not repeated. Nevertheless, eastern and southern Spain had their period of relative prosperity, especially through the cultivation of the vine and the olive. The Americas offered a rich field for the export of wine, since the growing of vines was prohibited there, and the soil, climate, irrigation ca.n.a.ls, and Morisco labor (prior to the expulsion) of Valencia, Granada, and Andalusia were well adapted to provide the desired supply. Even this form of agriculture suffered a serious decline in the seventeenth century, due largely to the loss of the Moriscos.

[Sidenote: Comparative prosperity of Spanish commerce.]

[Sidenote: Prosperity of Seville and Medina del Campo.]

Spanish commerce had its era of splendor and its period of decline, but the former was prolonged much more than in the case of the manufacturing industry, because of Spain's serving as a medium for distribution between foreign countries and the Americas, and because of the continued exchange of raw materials for the foreign finished product after Spain herself had ceased to be a serious compet.i.tor in manufacturing. Seville was by far the most prosperous port in the country, since it had a monopoly of the American trade, which also necessitated the sending to that city of goods from the other parts of Spain and from foreign countries for trans-shipment overseas. Mercantile transactions on a great scale, involving the modern forms of credit and the establishment of branch houses in all parts of the world, were a natural outgrowth of Seville's great volume of trade. The wealth of the city continued until well into the seventeenth century. The transfer of the _Casa de Contratacion_ (which handled Spain's commerce with the Americas) from Seville to Cadiz occasioned a decline of the former and a corresponding prosperity of the latter. Possibly next in importance to Seville in mercantile affairs was the inland city of Medina del Campo, site of the greatest of Spanish fairs and, except for the east coast provinces, the contractual centre of the entire kingdom. Purchases, sales, and exchanges of goods entering or leaving the various ports of Spain were usually arranged there. Numerous other cities shared with Seville and Medina del Campo in the commercial activity of the sixteenth century, even those of the east coast, although the forces which had occasioned their decline in preceding eras were still operative and were to renew their effects before the sixteenth century had much more than pa.s.sed the halfway mark. The Mediterranean trade of Spain remained largely in the hands of the Catalans, however. North European commerce, of which that with Flanders was the most important, was shared generally by Spain's Atlantic ports, although those of the north coast had in this case a natural advantage.

[Sidenote: The _consulados_ and other mercantile machinery.]

The inevitable result of the commercial activity of the sixteenth century was the development of a mercantile machinery to handle the trade. This occurred, in Spain, on the basis of inst.i.tutions already in existence, the _consulados_, merchants' exchange buildings (_lonjas_), and fairs. To the earlier _consulados_ of Valencia (1283), Barcelona (1347), Saragossa (1391), Burgos (1494), and Bilbao (1511) there were added those of Seville (1543) and Madrid (1632). Although the _consulados_ of the ports differed in some respects from those of the interior the same principles applied to both,--so much so, that the ordinances of the _consulado_ of Burgos were the model for that of Bilbao. The _consulado_ of Burgos served as the type, indeed, upon which the ordinances of many of the later _consulados_ were founded, wherefore its description may suffice for all. Strictly speaking, the _consulado_ was only the tribunal of the body of merchants, who together formed the _universidad_, or a.s.sociation, for purposes of trade, although the term _consulado_ came eventually to include both. Many cities lacked the tribunal, but did possess the _universidad_ of merchants. The tribunal, or _consulado_, of Burgos exercised jurisdiction in mercantile cases, and also had charge of such important matters as maritime insurance, charter-parties, and the patronage of certain pious foundations. The _universidad_ met annually to elect the officers of the _consulado_,--a prior, two consuls, and a treasurer. The jurisdiction of the _consulado_ as a court was not limited to cases arising in Burgos, but extended to other towns and cities for many miles around it. There was an appeal in criminal cases to the _corregidor_ of Burgos, but in civil cases the _consulado_ was independent of both the royal and the munic.i.p.al courts.

The _consulado_ of Madrid introduced some novelties, princ.i.p.al among which was its close attachment to the national bureaucracy through the intervention in its affairs of the _Consejo Real_. Various cities founded merchants' exchange buildings, including some which had no _consulado_. As for the fairs, the great importance of Medina del Campo has already been mentioned. Two fairs a year, in May and October, were held at that city, on which occasions merchants, bankers, and brokers from all parts of the world gathered there. By the end of the sixteenth century the fairs of Medina del Campo were already in a state of decline, and they received a death-blow when by royal mandate Burgos replaced Medina del Campo as the contractual centre of Spain. Burgos did not greatly profit, however, for the general mercantile decadence had begun to affect all commercial inst.i.tutions in the country.

Mercantile machinery survived after the period of prosperity had pa.s.sed, and thus it was only to be expected that a central inst.i.tution should at length be founded. Such was the case, for the _Junta de Comercio y Moneda_ (Junta, or Council, of Commerce and Coinage) came into existence in 1679. During the remainder of this era it was of slight consequence, however.

[Sidenote: Medieval character and inconsistencies of mercantile legislation.]

The legislation of the period reflected the prevailing economic ideas, such as the exceptional importance attached to precious metals, the insistence that the balance of trade should favor exports (lest imports should result in specie going out of the country), the favor shown toward the policy of protection, and in a measure the continuance of the medieval penchant for government regulation of industry. The state was not consistent, however, varying its laws according as the needs of the treasury or of European diplomacy or of any pa.s.sing crisis might direct.

Thus prohibitions against foreign goods were often maintained, while at other times the greatest freedom of entry was allowed. In the treaties of peace of the sixteenth century care to safeguard the commercial interests of Spain was employed, but in the seventeenth century they were often sacrificed through the indiscretions of ministers or for political reasons. Thus Spain's need of allies against France occasioned the grant of a right for the free entry of goods into Spain (but not into the colonies) to the Protestant Netherlands, England, Denmark, and Portugal, with reductions in duties. Treaties of 1665 and 1667 with England abolished Spain's right to inspect English boats or to search the houses of British subjects, amounting to a virtual invitation to smuggling, which was in fact the result. Smuggling in connivance with Spanish officials became so general (not altogether by Englishmen) that it was regarded as a necessary evil. The government displayed a tendency to facilitate internal commerce,--as by the suppression of interior customs lines,--but the protective and regulative spirit of the Middle Ages was too often apparent. Thus prices were fixed and exclusive rights of sale granted. A curious instance of the latter (though not out of keeping with the age) was the permit given to the religious orders of Madrid to open taverns for the sale of beverages accruing from their crops. When certain abuses and some scandal resulted the privilege was withdrawn, but was later renewed subject to certain conditions, one of which was that friars should not serve the wines to customers.

[Sidenote: Difficulties over coinage.]

Legislation with relation to money was particularly abundant. One grave error of the past was constantly committed from the time of Philip II to the close of the era, the debas.e.m.e.nt of the coinage with a view to relieving the difficulties of the treasury, but the results were not more favorable than in former years. Despite governmental care in the matter of coinage, diversity of coins was still a problem. In addition to the national moneys there were regional pieces and numerous foreign coins. Attempts were made to fix the relation between them, but without great success. One factor which was not appreciated at the time was that of the cheapening of money through the enormous importation of precious metals from the Americas, resulting in a corresponding advance in prices. The high prices were ascribed to the exportation of precious metals from Spain, and stringent laws were pa.s.sed to prevent it. It was difficult, however, to keep the gold and silver in the country.

[Sidenote: Scant attention to public works.]

The national record of the House of Austria in public works cannot be said to have been good. The need for more and better roads was generally recognized, but unless they suited military purposes or were to be made use of in a royal progress, or journey, the state would rarely build them. Munic.i.p.alities and groups of merchants (especially the _consulados_) did something, but were hampered by the centralizing spirit of the government. A license from the _Consejo Real_ was required, even though the state were not to pay. There were too few roads, and existing highways were as a general rule in a bad state of repair. Many bridges were constructed by the government in the sixteenth century, but only a few in the century following. Plans were also discussed for deepening the channels of Spain's great rivers, but that of the Tagus alone received attention, and the work to that end by Philip II was destroyed by the negligence of his successors. In like manner irrigation on a large scale was planned, but scarcely anything was accomplished. On the other hand this period marked the beginning of a mail service as an auxiliary of economic life; it was due to the state only in that the government granted a monopoly of the privilege to a private individual. Between 1580 and 1685 the extension of the service to foreign countries was brought about. Naturally the whole system was as yet defective from the modern standpoint. The government did expend moneys, however, for military objects and state buildings. Forts were built the length and breadth of the Spanish world, although many of them were allowed to decay in the seventeenth century. Royal palaces and houses of recreation and several splendid churches for royal use, all of which added to the glamor of monarchy, were built at state expense. The munic.i.p.alities also erected public edifices, such as merchants' exchange buildings and city halls.

[Sidenote: Foreigners in Spain and legislation concerning them.]

One of the most controversial questions of the era was that of the entry of foreigners into the economic life of the peninsula. This had begun to be a factor (without referring now to the earlier arrival of Moslem and Jewish elements) in the reign of the Catholic Kings, but it was a much more prominent issue in the period of the House of Austria. It was complicated by the fact that certain groups of foreigners might be welcomed (laborers for example), while others (merchants and manufacturers in particular) were not, but all elements would be both wanted and opposed by some cla.s.s of the Spanish people at any given time. In general, popular opinion whether of rich or poor was adverse to foreigners. At times the kings yielded to the complaints of the people and pa.s.sed restrictive laws, but at other times, urged on by financial needs and political aims, they took the contrary course. Dependent as they were upon foreign money-lenders the kings could not refuse to grant the privileges and monopolies which their creditors exacted as security.

It would seem, however, that by far the greater number of the foreigners were engaged in the less remunerative occupations. A writer of the seventeenth century says that there were 120,000 foreigners in domestic service, and goes on to say that they also engaged in such occupations as street hawking, the keeping of retail shops of all varieties (sellers of meat, wine, cakes, etc.), and the mechanical trades, including even those of porter and vendor of water. In 1680 the French amba.s.sador estimated that there were 77,000 of his countrymen in Spain, many of whom were farm laborers, but there were considerable numbers in various other occupations, ranging from the wealthy merchant down to the lowly shepherd or peddler. Other nationalities were also prominent. Laws were pa.s.sed limiting the number of trades in which foreigners could engage, but they seem to have been without avail, for both the complaints and the legislation were often repeated. The victory of the foreign element began to be more apparent by the middle of the seventeenth century. Philip IV enacted laws to encourage immigration, because of the scarcity of labor, and permitted a foreigner who had lived for many years in Spain and married a Spanish woman to enjoy privileges little short of those of a native. Similar laws were made in the reign of Charles II.

[Sidenote: Statistics of population.]

[Sidenote: Prevalence of vagabondage.]

The economic status of Spain in this era could be more clearly set forth if it were possible to have fairly reliable data as to population. In the middle of the sixteenth century there may have been about six and three quarter millions of people in Spain. By the end of the century some estimates hold that the numbers had increased to perhaps eight and a half millions, but there is ground for doubting these a.s.sertions.

Figures for the seventeenth century are even more uncertain, but there is a general agreement that the population declined. One estimate makes the population of Spain 5,700,000 at the end of the era. Misery, idleness, and vagabondage were characteristic of Spanish life in the late sixteenth and throughout the seventeenth century; it has been estimated that there were 150,000 vagabonds at the close of the sixteenth century whose princ.i.p.al occupations were begging, thieving, and prost.i.tution. It is true that a like state of affairs existed in other countries, and that many foreigners were included in this element in the peninsula, but conditions were probably worse in Spain than elsewhere in western Europe.

[Sidenote: Causes of vagabondage.]

Much has been written about the causes of vagabondage in Spain. The princ.i.p.al causes undoubtedly were economic. Foreign writers have charged it to Spanish pride and scorn of manual labor as well as to a certain native laziness. These allegations are true to some extent, flowing naturally from the circ.u.mstances of the history of Spain. Slavery had been perhaps more general and long-continuing in the peninsula than in other parts of Europe, and the slaves had usually been Moslem in faith; thus Spaniards might naturally be disinclined to do the work of slaves and infidels, and the same spirit would be present on its religious side to make them object to working in company with the questionably orthodox Moriscos. The general desire of Spaniards to be regarded as of n.o.ble blood also tended to make manual labor unpopular, since there was a strong cla.s.s prejudice that n.o.bles should not engage in such work.

Finally, the ease of entry into religious orders had rendered escape from toil possible for a great number, and had increased the sentiment against laboring with one's hands. The only way out for a great many was the life of a vagabond. The sudden wealth acquired by individuals in the Americas reacted psychologically to make the necessarily slow accretions of property in Spain an irksome prospect. The exaltation of military glory had the same general effect, but as the Spanish armies were small this occupation was not open to everybody, and its perils and irregularities in pay made not a few hesitate to enter it. Furthermore, there were many contemporary writers, Cervantes among them, who pointed out that the life of a vagabond had a certain appeal for many Spaniards; young men of good family not infrequently joined bands of gypsies.

[Sidenote: Inability of the government to cope with the situation.]

The poverty of Spain was general by the middle of the seventeenth century, and the state of the country got steadily worse thereafter.

Bread riots frequently served as a reminder to the authorities, who indeed made many attempts to remedy the situation. Their measures to attack the root of the evil were worse than useless, however, being based on economic misconceptions or being discontinued (when they might have proved beneficial) if they ran counter to governmental policies.

Direct legislation against vagabondage was frequent, but was evaded as often as enacted. When people were forbidden to remain in the country without working, the vagabonds made a showing of becoming porters or of engaging in other like occupations, under the guise of which they continued their loose practices. When these occupations were limited they were to be found as theoretically in the service of the n.o.ble or wealthy, whom social pride induced to have as many in their following as possible. When this custom was attacked direct evasion of the laws was rendered possible through charitable inst.i.tutions, especially through the free soup-kitchens of the religious orders. On the benevolent side the problem was also approached through the founding of poor-houses, although this method was not yet greatly developed, and through the conversion of the former public granaries (_positos_), in which stores of grain were kept to guard against the possibility of famine, into pious inst.i.tutions for the gift or loan of food supplies to the poor.

[Sidenote: Contemporary opinions as to the causes of Spain's economic decline.]

The fact of Spain's economic decline has perhaps been pointed out with sufficient clearness. It is now pertinent to sum up the causes which had produced it. According to Altamira there was "a great variety of causes, acc.u.mulated upon a country which entered the modern age with weak and incipient economic energies, a country whose governments let themselves be dragged into an imperialistic policy (in great part forced upon them by problems traceable to Ferdinand the Catholic and the fatal inheritance of Charles I), neglecting, more for lack of means than intentionally, those measures which could best contribute to better the productive power and well-being of the country." This is an epitome not only of the causes for Spain's economic decline in this period but also of modern Spanish history. It places the fault where it belongs, on Spanish imperialism with its train of costly wars, a policy which Spain might have followed so far as the Americas were concerned, but which proved an impossible strain on her resources when carried beyond the Spanish peninsula into Europe. This was one of the princ.i.p.al causes a.s.signed at the tune. Some others may also be enumerated. The increase in the _alcabala_ and in other taxes was often mentioned as a princ.i.p.al cause, although it is easy to see how this might have been a result of the warfare. In like manner another group of causes set forth at that time might well have been results of the economic decline, such as the following: emigration to the colonies; the lack of government aid to industries; the invasion of foreign goods and foreigners into Spain; and the decline in population. Other causes alleged by contemporaries and deserving of prominent mention, though less important than that of the European wars, were these: the repugnance of Spaniards for manual labor; bad financial administration by the government; the prodigality of the kings in granting favors and exemptions; the governmental practice of fixing the prices of agricultural products; the evil of absentee landlordism, especially in the case of the _latifundia_, which were not developed to the extent of their resources; waste of the means of production in luxury; the great number of convents and monasteries; and the exemptions enjoyed by a vast number of individuals.

[Sidenote: Causes a.s.signed by later writers.]

Later writers have put emphasis on other matters. Some present-day historians a.s.sign the expulsion of the Moriscos as the princ.i.p.al cause of the economic decline. It did leave many trades without hands, and temporarily depopulated whole districts, but it seems hardly accurate to regard it as anything more than one of many contributory causes. Writers of the seventeenth century were impressed by its religious and political advantages, and do not seem to have regarded it as of serious economic import. The economic effects of the conquest of the Americas have also been set forth to account for Spain's decline. That conquest induced the already-mentioned get-rich-quick spirit among Spaniards, and encouraged the false economic idea that precious metals are the basic form of wealth, leading to the a.s.signment of an undue importance to them. More serious, perhaps, was the fact that the Americas drained Spain of some of her best and most virile blood. The number of Spaniards who went to America, however, was not excessive,--little more than the number of Englishmen who crossed the seas in the seventeenth century. Furthermore, Spain most certainly secured a vast financial profit out of the Americas, not only from precious metals, but also from commerce and the employment which thousands obtained both in Spain and in the colonies.

Spanish soil was indeed not fertile enough to support a policy of European imperialism, and that argument has been put forward, but the fault was less in the land itself, which in other days had produced more richly, than in the methods (or lack of them) employed to develop its capacities. Foreign commercial vicissitudes, which are also alleged to account for Spain's economic fall, did indeed help to bring it about,--such, for example, as the disastrous consequences of the silting in of the port of Bruges, which city had been one of the best purchasers of Spain's raw materials. While it is indeed impossible to a.s.sign any single event or condition of affairs as the _sine qua non_ of Spain's decadence, one factor stands out from the rest, however, as the most important,--that of the oft-mentioned policy of Spanish imperialism in Europe.

CHAPTER XXIX

THE GOLDEN AGE: EDUCATION, PHILOSOPHY, HISTORY, AND SCIENCE, 1516-1700

[Sidenote: Causes of Spain's intellectual greatness in this era.]

The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries represent the highest point in the history of Spanish intellectual achievement in science, literature, and art. Two manifestations characterized the era: an abundant productivity which was as high in quality as it was great in amount; and the diffusion of Spanish learning in the other countries of the civilized world, so that for the first time (except for the transmission of Moslem culture) Christian Spain became a vital factor in European thought, whereas in former years she had merely received the instruction of others. The reasons for this intellectual outburst were various. For one thing the natural evolution from the past seemed to render inevitable a high degree of attainment. For another, the general effects of the Renaissance in Europe made themselves felt in Spain. In the third place, this seems to have been the era of the ripe maturity of the Spanish people, when they were at the height of their capacity in every walk of life. Finally, as has happened so many times in the history of other nations, the very fact of the establishment of a great empire was bound to react both materially and psychologically to produce an unwonted expansion intellectually. Spanish imperialism in Europe undoubtedly contributed much to the civilization of the peninsula, but it is not too much to say that the greatest influence came from Spain's conquests in the new world. These operated directly to make Spain an innovator in scientific thought, and provided the first noteworthy material for mental stimulus in the era. If the better known manifestations of polite literature and painting were not directly traceable to the attainment of a colonial empire, other achievements were, and the indirect effect of the overseas conquests should not be left out of consideration even in the case of those factors which acknowledged Italy as their princ.i.p.al source of inspiration.

[Sidenote: Social manifestations of Spanish intellectuality and its duration in time.]

There were many social manifestations of Spanish intellectuality, such as the eagerness with which men sought an education, the honors paid to men of letters in an age when military glory might tend to absorb attention, the encyclopedic knowledge demonstrated by scholars who were at one and the same time proficient in widely divergent fields, the circ.u.mstance that women won marked distinction (together with the fact that their achievements were well received), and the fondness of the upper cla.s.ses for social functions of a literary character,--not a few of which developed from a simple gathering at some n.o.ble's house into the formation of clubs or academies of an intellectual character. This flourishing state of affairs endured a much shorter time than might have been expected from the force of its initial momentum; in a broad sense the intellectual decadence of the country accompanied, or perhaps resulted from, the political and economic decline, but just as in the case of these factors it was not equal in celerity or in completeness in all of the many-sided aspects of Spanish intellectual life. Furthermore, the fall was so rapid in some respects, and from such a high point in all, that the ultimate degradation, though deep enough, seemed by comparison to be worse than it was. At any rate, the state of intellectuality at its best was sufficiently great to deserve the t.i.tle which has been applied to the period of its expression, that of the _siglo de oro_ (golden century) in Spanish science, literature, and art.

[Sidenote: Application and duration of the _siglo de oro_.]

A question arises as to the application of the term and the duration of the period of the _siglo de oro_. The seventeenth century has usually been regarded as the golden age, for it was then that the greatest names in polite literature and painting appeared. In fact, however, the era of intellectual brilliance dates from an early point in the sixteenth century in the reign of Charles I, lasting for about a century and a half, past the middle of the seventeenth century. The general desire for knowledge, which was so marked in the first half of the sixteenth century, had already ebbed away by the end of the reign of Philip II.

The greatest achievements in didactic and scientific literature belong to the sixteenth century, and, indeed, most of the great writers and painters who won fame in the reigns of Philip III and Philip IV got their start, or at least were born, in the time of Philip II. Great results were obtained in both periods, but the stimulus came for the most part in the sixteenth century.

[Sidenote: The universities.]

The aristocratic character of intellectual attainments in the _siglo de oro_ was reflected in that of the inst.i.tutions of learning which were founded. In addition to the eight universities existing in 1516, twenty-one were added in the sixteenth century, and five in the seventeenth, making a total of thirty-four in all. Salamanca and Alcala stood forth as the leading universities, although outranked in legal studies by Valladolid. Salamanca had the more ample curriculum, with some sixty professorships, but Alcala, with forty-two professorial chairs, was distinguished for the scientific labors of its faculty.

Salamanca was more largely attended, having 6778 students in 1584, a number which had declined to 1955 in 1682, while Alcala had 1949 in 1547, 2061 in 1650, and 1637 in 1700. The medieval type of internal management remained as the essential basis of university administration, characterized by the close connection between the university and the civil authorities (to which latter the former were in a measure subjected), by an intimate relationship with the cathedral or other local churches, and by the ecclesiastical origin of many of the university rents. The universities did not become religious establishments, however, even though churchmen founded the greater number of them. As time went on, the kings displayed a tendency to intervene in university life, as by the sending of _visitadores_, or by imposing their candidates for professorships upon the universities, but they did not go so far as to deprive the universities of their economic, legal, and scientific independence.

[Sidenote: Jesuit colleges.]

[Sidenote: Other schools of higher education.]

[Sidenote: The _Casa de Contratacion_ as a maritime university.]

There were also various other inst.i.tutions of higher education. One of them, the Estudios Reales de San Isidro of Madrid, founded early in the reign of Philip IV for the education of the sons of the greater n.o.bility, ranked with the universities. Jesuit teachers were installed.

This was not the first instance of Jesuit instruction in the peninsula.

By their vows the Jesuits were obliged to found "colleges," but this term meant houses for study, only in that the members of the order living in these inst.i.tutions pursued investigations there. Gradually, outside pupils began to be accepted by the Jesuits, who soon won a great reputation for their efficiency as teachers. Their teaching was markedly influenced by Renaissance ideals, for the study of cla.s.sical authors formed one of the princ.i.p.al elements in their curriculum. They devoted themselves to the education of the wealthy cla.s.ses, leaving the field of vocational preparation to the universities. Apart from the Jesuit colleges there were various schools, both religious and secular, primarily for the study of Latin. They were in essence schools of literature, at which students were given practice in the writing of poetry and the reciting of verses, both Latin and Castilian. It is said that there were more than four thousand of these inst.i.tutions in 1619, although their numbers declined greatly with the advance of the century.

In addition there were many schools of a purely professional character, such as those for the study of religion, war, medicine, and nautical science. The school of nautical science of the _Casa de Contratacion_ of Seville merits special attention. Among the manifold functions of the _Casa_ in its relation to the Americas was that of the pursuit of scientific studies to facilitate overseas communication, and this was carried out to such an extent that the _Casa_ was a veritable maritime university. Mathematics, cosmography, geography, cartography, navigation, the construction and use of nautical instruments, and military science (in so far as it related to artillery) were taught at the _Casa_, and in nearly all of these respects that inst.i.tution not only outranked the others in Spain but was able also to add materially to the sum total of world knowledge. Primary education continued to be neglected. The current belief was that it was unnecessary unless one intended to pursue a professional career. The education of the ma.s.ses for the sake of raising the general level of culture, or even for technical advancement, was a problem which was not as yet comprehended.

Such primary schools as there were, were usually ecclesiastical or private foundations. Reading, writing, arithmetic, and Christian doctrine were the subjects taught. Taken as a whole it will be seen that the number of teaching establishments had vastly increased over that of the preceding eras. An understanding of the superior facilities available for the upper cla.s.ses would not be complete without a reference to the extraordinary diffusion of printing in this era.

Although the publication of works was subject to various conditions, printed books fairly came into their own, for the first time in the history of the peninsula. A number of great libraries were formed. It is worthy of mention, too, that it was at this time that care began to be taken in the acc.u.mulation of public doc.u.ments in archives. In 1558 Philip II founded an archive at Rome, and in 1563 made a beginning of the famous state archive at Simancas.

[Sidenote: Neglect of primary education.]