Internal and External Challenges to State Power from 1450 to 1750

Question

“On behalf of the king and queen of Spain, we notify you that the pope has donated to them these islands and lands and all who have received this notice should receive and serve their Highnesses as subjects ought to do.

We ask that you acknowledge the Church and the pope as the ruler of the whole world. We ask further that you acknowledge that the king and queen of Spain shall rule as lords and kings of these islands and lands by virtue of the pope’s donation. If you obey your king and queen, you will do well and we shall receive you with all love and charity and shall leave you, your wives, your children, and your lands free without servitude.

But, if you do not obey, we shall powerfully enter into your country, and shall make war against you and shall subject you to the yoke and obedience of the Church and the king and queen of Spain. We shall take you, your wives, and your children and make all of you slaves and we shall take away your goods. We assert that the deaths and losses that would accrue from this are your fault, and not that of their Highnesses, or ours, nor of these soldiers who come with us.”

“The Demand” (Requerimiento), document issued by the Spanish royal council of Castile in 1510. Spanish conquistadors were legally required to read the document aloud to indigenous Americans before taking their land.

In your response, be sure to address all parts of the question. Use complete sentences; an outline or bulleted list alone is not acceptable.

 

Use the passage to answer all parts of the question that follows.

a) Describe ONE way in which the document reflects the specific historical situation of Spain’s maritime exploration and colonization in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.

b) Explain ONE political development in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries that would likely explain why the king and queen of Spain highlighted the donation mentioned in the first and second paragraphs.



c) Explain ONE instance in which the Spanish resorted to the type of actions threatened in the third paragraph.

Answer 1

Hello, I'll be happy to help answer this question for you!

a) The document, “The Demand” (Requerimiento) reflects the specific historical situation of Spain's colonization during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. It is important to note that it was during this time period that the Spanish monarchy asserted itself in building a new imperial state. Although Spain itself consisted of various subordinate kingdoms until the Nueva Planta decrees of 1707-1716, it was informally united by the marriage of the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon. This king and queen, through their marriage, cooperated to build a new state that would dominate Iberia and later, the Americas. This attitude of forcing other people to submit to Spanish rule through this Requerimiento is a legacy of the rule of Isabella and Ferdinand. It was the Conquest of Granada in 1492, followed by religious persecution, and antisemitism by these two monarchs, that created a legacy of domination. This attitude, of subduing non-Christians who they deemed "infidels" would create the fervor for the conquest of the Americas. This Requerimiento was even released during the lifetime of Ferdinand II of Aragon, who, in 1510, was serving as Regent of Castile on behalf of his daughter, Juana I of Castile, who he claimed was not mentally stable enough to rule her late mother's kingdom.

b) One important political development that occurred in Spain during this time period was the creation of intimate ties between the Spanish Monarchy and the Catholic Church, which led to the "donation" of much of the Americas to the Spanish Monarchy. Specifically, Isabella, I of Castile was a zealous Catholic, who would develop a reputation as a ruler devoted to spreading the Catholic faith. In their conquest of Granada, Isabella, and Ferdinand would ensure that eventually the residents of Granada, whether Muslim or Jewish, would be forced to convert to Christianity or leave Spain. Furthermore, one of Isabella's motivations in colonizing the Americas was spreading the Catholic faith to the native peoples of the region. It would be these close ties to the Catholic Church, and specifically the Spanish-born Pope Alexander VI which would see Isabella and Ferdinand granted the title of the Catholic Monarchs. Furthermore, the Papal Bulls of Donation of 1493 and the subsequent Treaty of Tordesillas would grant the Spanish monarchs permission to conquer vast swathes of the Americas in the hopes of spreading the Catholic Faith.

c) The violent actions that the Spanish warned that they would resort to, would occur multiple times throughout the Spanish Conquest of the Americas. Most notably, this would be used to justify the Conquest of the Aztec Empire and the subsequent destruction of Aztec religion and society by Spanish Conquistadores.