Maltby - The rise and fall of the Spanish Empire

The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire

Also by William S. Maltby

THE REIGN OF CHARLES V

William S. Maltby

William S. Maltby 2009

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First published 2009 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN

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ISBN-13: 9781403917911 hardback
ISBN-10: 1403917914 hardback
ISBN-13: 9781403917928 paperback
ISBN-10: 1403917922 paperback

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Printed and bound in China

For Nancy

Common English equivalents of place names have been used wherever possible (e.g., Genoa, Seville). Where there are no English equivalents, the correct spelling and accents are used. Common English equivalents are also used for kings and popes (e.g., Charles, Ferdinand and Isabella, Alexander) unless there is a possibility of confusion as in the case of Joa of Portugal, Juan II of Aragon, and so on, all of whom could be called John. Other personal names receive the accents and spelling appropriate to their own country unless, as in the case of explorers like Columbus and Magellan, a common English equivalent exists. It would be pedantic to call them Cristoforo Colombo or Ferna Magalhes. For the same reason, the English equivalents of foreign titles (Duke, Count, Marquis, etc.) are used wherever possible.

Most of the figures provided in the text are quoted in monies of account. The smallest Spanish money of account was the maraved. For most of the sixteenth century, 375 maraveds equaled one ducat. The escudo that appears as a money of account after 1590 was the escudo de diez reales. It was based on silver rather than gold and had a value equivalent to 340 maraveds. The florin was the primary money of account in the Netherlands. It was generally equivalent to 0.4 escudos. Ten florins or four escudos equaled 1sterling.

The Spanish coins to which these monies corresponded were the escudo and the real. The escudo was a gold coin, 22 carats fine, of 3.38 grams. When introduced in 1535 it was worth 350 maraveds, but inflation increased its nominal value to 400 in 1566 and 440 in 1609. The real was a silver coin of the same weight, although some were minted at 3.43 grams. It was valued originally at 34 maraveds. Coins of 1/4, 2, 4, and 8 reales were also minted. The last were the famous reales de a ocho, or pieces of eight, a currency accepted throughout the world in the seventeenth and eighteenth century. The peso, which became the standard currency of the Spanish Empire after 1772, was minted at the same weight and quality of silver as the real de a ocho, but a portrait of the king replaced the Pillars of Hercules that had adorned Spanish coins since the reign of Charles V. The United States silver dollar and the Austrian thaler were based on the real de a ocho as well. Spain, to its credit, never devalued its gold and silver coins, most of which were minted in America. The coins issued in peninsular Spain beginning in the reign of Philip III were minted from an alloy called velln. While the value of a silver real rose to 275 maravedis by the 1620s, the reales velln issued to Spaniards were valued at only 34 maraveds.