SPAIN. – The Spanish State covers a little more than eight-tenths of the territory and a little less than eight-tenths of the population of the Iberian Peninsula. With an area of 505,720 sq. km. (including the Canary Islands), it ranks second in Europe (excluding the U.S.S.R.) in size, after and not far behind France. In terms of population, however (28 million inhabitants in 1950), it ranks seventh, just ahead of Poland. Its territory borders only two States: Portugal (989 km. of frontier) and France (667 km.), if one does not take into account the tiny Republic of Andorra (in the Pyrenean sector) and Gibraltar at the southern extremity.
SUMMARY: I. Geography – II. Civil history – III. Muslim Spain – IV. Ecclesiastical history – V. Legal status of the Church – VI. Literature – VII. Archaeology – VIII. Sacred art – IX. Educational system.
I. GEOGRAPHY
Spain consists of a vast central plateau (the meseta) divided into two parts (Old and New Castile) by a series of central mountain ranges (sierras), and separated from maritime influence by other peripheral ranges: the Cantabrian Mountains and the Pyrenees to the north, the Iberian Mountains to the northeast, the so-called Catalan chain to the east, and the Sierra Nevada to the south. This mountain barrier is locally reinforced by other inner ranges, separated from the first by depressions that correspond to the basins of the Ebro to the north, between the Pyrenees and the Iberian Mountains, and of the Guadalquivir to the south, between the Sierra Nevada and the Sierra Morena. The Pyrenees do not reach the same heights as the Alps (Punta de Aneto: 3,404 m.), but being compact and crossed by few high passes between one slope and the other, they form a defensive wall that has at all times isolated the peninsula from the rest of Western Europe.The Sierra Nevada culminates in the Cerro de Mulhacén (3,481 m.), the highest peak in Europe outside the Alps; on it is found a small glacier, the southernmost in Europe. All other mountain groups are of much more modest dimensions and heights. Of the two parts that make up the meseta, the northern (Old Castile) averages 700–900 m. in height, the southern (New Castile) 500–600 m., but both slope down from their eastern margins toward the Atlantic, where they end in broad terraces. The morphological contrast between the interior and the periphery is accentuated by the climatic contrast that follows: while the latter has an oceanic climate with abundant (in the north) or even modest (in the east) rainfall, the meseta and the inner basins have a typical continental climate, with strong daily and annual temperature variations and scant rainfall almost everywhere. While, therefore, the coastal and sub-coastal regions present a landscape rich in local variety and with more or less lush vegetation, the plateau corresponds to a dry, mountainous steppe, which sometimes (in La Mancha) even verges on desert.
The Iberian Peninsula, and Spain in particular, is essentially an agricultural country, despite the ample possibilities that its mineral resources offer for industrial development. In general, the country’s economic potential is certainly much greater than appears from the present situation, which reflects the consequences of the recent civil war and, no less clearly, those of the long decline that preceded II. Farmland represents less than one-fifth of the total area, about half of which is devoted to cereals. In fact, agriculture finds its optimum in woody crops: the olive tree (Spain ranks first in the world in oil production), the vine (14.3 million hl. of wine: Spain ranks third in Europe), citrus fruits, and fruit trees (figs and almonds). This production is concentrated especially in the peripheral regions (Andalusia for oil, Catalonia for wine, the Levante for citrus fruits). The meseta and the inner regions are the domain of cereal cultivation: half of the land is given over to wheat (30–35 million quintals; especially in the two Castiles), alongside which barley (10–15 million quintals), maize (5–6 million), rye, oats, and even more potatoes (30–40 million quintals), sugar beets, and legumes are important. Natural meadows, pastureland, and scrub cover almost half of the territory, but in livestock raising sheep (16 million head) prevail over goats (4.2 million) and cattle (3.3 million). The latter find more favourable conditions in the wetter northern regions, while sheep and goats adapt to the central and southern regions, especially the meseta. Notable are sericulture and beekeeping, and even more so fishing, which supports a flourishing canning industry (Galicia). Forests are scarce, but cork oak is a widely distributed and industrially utilised species.
Spain’s subsoil is rich: coal (11 million tons, almost all extracted from Asturian mines) covers domestic needs, but is insufficient for a processing industry that could handle the many available raw materials: iron (Santander, Bilbao, and Oviedo regions), pyrites, copper (Sierra Morena, Rio Tinto), lead (Sierra Morena, Peñarroyo), zinc (Santander), mercury (Almadén), tungsten (Salamanca), potash (Catalonia), rock salt, etc. Spain ranks among the leading European producers of mercury, lead, and zinc. Moreover, the mining regions are almost all peripheral and mainly supply the export of raw materials.
Of the industries, the most developed are textiles (Catalonia); in the rest, the country is still far from meeting domestic demand, despite the great progress made in recent years and the variety of branches represented.
Spanish population appears overall more homogeneous from a religious point of view than from an ethnic one, due to the regional variations stemming from its millennial history and the many different bloodlines that have mingled there, which are reflected less in centrifugal tendencies of some regions (Catalonia) than in the vigour of local traditions and even the literature of some of the more distinct groups (Catalans, Galicians, Basques, etc.). This population is very unevenly distributed: the highest densities are found in the northern coastal regions (Biscay, Catalonia), the lowest in the interior, where, over large areas, the figures fall below 25 inhabitants per sq. km.
The Spanish Constitution is that of an authoritarian State, headed by the Caudillo, who since 1942 has been assisted in the governance of public affairs by the restored Cortes; a legislative body composed of 438 members, only partly elected.
| Historical Regions | 1948 Census Population (in 1,000s) | Density per sq. km. | Capital (and relative population in 1,000s) |
|--------------------|------------------------------------|---------------------|---------------------------------------------|
| Andalusia | 8,721 | 5,219 | 60 |
| Asturias | 1,089 | 837 | 77 |
| Basque Provinces | 726 | 956 | 131 |
| Canary Islands | 727 | 680 | 91 |
| New Castile | 7,234 | 3,129 | 32 |
| Old Castile | 5,022 | 1,577 | 32 |
| Catalonia | 3,194 | 2,891 | 91 |
| León | 5,333 | 1,732 | 32 |
| Navarre | 1,042 | 370 | 35 |
### SPAIN – Map of Spain by Giacomo Angelo Fiorentino (1472)
Spain – Map of Spain by Giacomo Angelo Fiorentino (1472) – Vatican Library, cod. Urb. lat. 277, ff. 122ʹ-23.
### BIBL.:
E. H. Villar, *Archivo geográfico de la Península ibérica*, Madrid-Barcelona 1916; id., *El valor geográfico de España*, Ma-.
### (fot. Biblioteca Vaticana)
### (fot. Biblioteca Vaticana)
### (fot. Biblioteca Vaticana)
### (fot. Biblioteca Vaticana)
1023
SPAIN
(photo courtesy of the Spanish Tourist Union)
SPAIN – The Aragonese Pyrenees.
The Roman conquest of Spain began in 218 B.C. with the landing of the Scipios in Emporion. The pacification of the peninsula was slow and difficult; only the destruction of Numantia after its heroic defense in 133 B.C. marked the definitive pacification. A revival occurred with the rebellion of Sertorius, caused by the struggle between Marius and Sulla; the rebel leader was assassinated in 72 B.C.
The development of civil life in the provinces organized by the Roman proconsuls was long disturbed by the incursions of the independent tribes of the Asturians and Cantabrians, whom Augustus alone subdued during his stay in Spain between 27 and 25 B.C. At that time the provinces were definitively organized: Tarraconensis (Citerior), Lusitania, and Baetica. The vast peninsula found in the Roman occupation a notable political and civil unification.
Roman colonies and old centers established as municipalities became centers for the spread of the Latin language. The cities of the south-east managed to integrate perfectly into Latin civilization and became notable centers of culture; Latin letters produced from Spain no few writers of great importance: Seneca, Lucan, Martial, Pomponius Mela, Columella, Quintilian; politics produced several great emperors, Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, Theodosius I. During the imperial age, few political events are worth noting for the Spanish provinces. In Diocletian’s reorganization of the Empire, Spain formed a diocese of the Prefecture of Gaul and was divided into five provinces: Lusitania, Tarraconensis, Baetica, Carthaginensis, and Gallaecia.
2. The Visigothic Domination
In 409, some Germanic tribes that had invaded Gaul in 406 crossed the Pyrenees and began to sack the Spanish provinces: the Suebi and Asding Vandals in Galicia, the Alans in Lusitania, and the Siling Vandals in Baetica. The imperial government used the Visigoths as mercenary allies, having settled them in those same years in Gaul around Toulouse. In 429, the Siling Vandals abandoned Spain, and possession of the peninsula was contested among the Suebi, Alans, and Visigoths. The Suebi attempted to conquer all of Spain; the Visigoths, under King Theodoric II, drove them back from Lusitania into the mountains of Galicia. It is difficult to specify the stages of Visigothic expansion: from 466, King Euric extended his rule into Tarraconensis, and after 484, Alaric II into Carthaginensis and Baetica. This period represents the height of Visigothic power. Euric began Visigothic legislation by having national customs written down; Alaric II compiled the *Breviarium Alaricianum*, gathering the laws of Roman subjects. Facing the threat of Frankish advances, the government of Amalaric, who succeeded Alaric II (d. 507), was protected by his kinsman Theodoric, King of Italy, who installed his trusted Theudis as regent in Spain.After Theodoric’s death, the Franks attacked the Visigoths again: Amalaric was defeated at Narbonne (531). Theudis then took power again, proclaimed himself king, and pushed the Franks back as far as Saragossa. Theudis seems to have had his seat in Barcelona; he was succeeded by Theudisclus and then by Agila, who established himself in Mérida. A campaign against the Romano-Hispani of the Córdoba region provoked a rebellion against Agila: Athanagild was proclaimed king. In the struggle, Emperor Justinian intervened; an imperial army landed on the southern coasts and began the occupation of Carthaginensis and Baetica, between the mouths of the Júcar and Guadalquivir rivers (554). After Agila’s death, Athanagild became master of the kingdom, established himself in Toledo, and began the fight against the imperial forces. He formed an alliance with the Franks, giving his daughter Brunhilda in marriage to King Sigebert. In 567, the two brothers Liuva and Leovigild ascended the throne, and after 573, Leovigild remained alone in power. A series of successful campaigns destroyed the Suebi kingdom (585) and gave the Visigoths control of the north-west. The still-independent tribes were subdued; thus, Byzantine aspirations to expand the imperial province were quelled.
Within the family of King Leovigild, serious discord now arose: his eldest son Hermenegild (v.) under the influence of his Frankish wife, Ingund, and of St. Leander, bishop of Seville, converted to Catholicism and rebelled against his father; defeated, he was captured and killed (585). In 587, Leovigild was succeeded by his second son, Reccared, who converted to Catholicism, compelling his subjects to follow him.
This event favored the fusion of the two races: the lifting of the ban on intermarriage in 583 is a sign of this. Reccared accelerated the legal equality between Goths and Romans and published laws valid for both populations. After Reccared’s death (601), his son Liuva II fell victim to a rebellion by Arian nobles who, defending the principle of election, brought Witteric to the throne; after his assassination in 610, Gunthimer succeeded him; in 612, Sisebut ascended the throne and was the first to be consecrated, thus introducing the sacred anointing into royal coronations. Sisebut obtained from the governor Caesarius the cession of Málaga and Cartagena, and the Empire retained possession of the Algarve with the cities of Ossonoba and Lacobriga, though these too were occupied after 620 by Sisebut’s successor, Swinthila. However, subsequent rebellions show how the Visigothic monarchy failed to subdue the overly wealthy and powerful aristocracy; even the king was bound to it by family ties and shared its interests.
King Chindaswinth sought to break the power of the aristocracy by putting suspected rebels to death; at the Seventh Council in 646, he decreed exile and confiscation of property against lay and ecclesiastical rebels. But all his efforts were in vain. At the Eighth Council in 653, it was established that the king should be elected by the great laymen and prelates; a kind of moral code was drawn up for the king: the obligation to defend the Catholic faith, to be moderate, not to extort money from subjects, and not to use state property for personal gain; every king, before ascending the throne, had to swear such commitments under penalty of excommunication and loss of the throne. Under King Chindaswinth, there was notable legislative activity among the Visigoths: the *Breviarium Alaricianum* was abolished, and it was established that all subjects, both barbarians and Romans, should be judged according to Visigothic law alone (*Forum judicum* or *Fuero Juzgo*) and by the same judges. The Visigothic monarchy thus moved toward the fusion of the two societies, Roman and barbarian, under the auspices of the Catholic Church.
After the death of King Recceswinth in 672, civil strife resumed. The court aristocracy proclaimed Wamba king, while in Septimania, Hilderic, Count of Nîmes, was proclaimed king. Duke Paul, after suppressing the rebellion, was himself proclaimed king. The crisis was quickly overcome by Wamba: he defeated and subdued the rebellious Basque tribes; reoccupied Tarraconensis and Septimania; and captured
Paolo was his rival. Yet it was not a true victory for the monarchy: it was a struggle between two factions of the nobility. Wamba’s attempt to make military service compulsory for all subjects, regardless of race or status, failed. In 680 Wamba retired into private life and designated Erwig as his successor; the latter was recognized at the Twelfth Council of Toledo and abandoned Wamba’s reforms. Nobles and bishops now openly dominated the monarchy, and the councils appeared as the sole foundation of the state. A faction remained loyal to Wamba, however, and Erwig was forced to give his daughter in marriage to Egica, Wamba’s son, and then to cede the throne to him. The state was now in full disorder: conspiracies among nobles, rebellions by Jews in league with those in Africa. In 698 Egica associated his son Witiza, who succeeded him in 701. The events of these years are unknown: in 711 it seems that Witiza was violently replaced by Roderic. The civil strife explains the intervention of an Arab-Berber force sent in 711 by Mūsā ibn-Nuṣayr. In 712 the Visigothic forces led by King Roderic were destroyed in battle on the Río Salado between Vejer de la Frontera and Conil. The conquest of Spain followed without difficulty. A new historical period was beginning for Spain.
3. Christian-Visigothic organization of northern Spain
Fleeing before the advance of the Arab-Berbers, Visigoths and Romans organized resistance in Asturias. Their leader was Pelagius, who carried the struggle into the Peñas de Europa mountains, and Asturias, Santander, Burgos, León, and Galicia formed the Christian occupation while the invaders halted on the Duero; between them stretched a deserted region abandoned by both sides. Pelagius was succeeded around 717 by Alfonso I. The history of these princes consists in repelling enemy attempts and suppressing rebellions by autonomous noble factions. In the age of Charlemagne the main center of the Christians was Oviedo; other centers formed in Navarre and Aragon. By the end of the 8th century Catalonia was liberated from the Muslims by Charlemagne and formed the Spanish March within the Carolingian organization.Life in the Christian states during the 8th and 9th centuries was very wretched: the poverty and barrenness of the land, ill-suited to agriculture, drove the princes to conquer the fertile, wealthy Muslim territories. The advance southward brought the princes not only Mozarabs but also Mudéjars, the Muslim subjects who remained under Christian rule with their own laws and religion—an invaluable element for the economic life of the Christian states. Not only the princes but also wealthy lords, churches, and monasteries engaged in populating the conquered lands by means of settlement charters (*cartas pueblas*), which granted the right to possess the lands occupied and to hold the reclaimed fields free of tribute. By the end of the 9th century the entire northern region from Galicia to Catalonia was free of Islam, but there could be no talk of systematic advance southward, nor was there any unity: at the death of Ordoño I (866), his sons divided the domains among themselves, yet they remained subject to the predominance of ‘Abd ar-Rahmān III; internal strife facilitated the caliphs of Córdoba. Sancho, son of Ramiro II, in conflict with his brother Ordoño, took refuge in Córdoba, and an Arab army restored him to the throne.
Only the decline of the caliphate at the beginning of the 11th century marks the beginning of the Christian reconquest, and for five centuries the history of Spain was dominated by this moral ideal. It is true that among the Christian princes there were continual struggles. León, Castile, and Navarre were ruled by closely related princes who were nevertheless at odds with one another; Sancho of Navarre managed to absorb Castile and León. In 1035 his sons divided the domains; in 1037 Ferdinand reunited Castile and León and dominated all the territories between the Duero and the Cantabrian Sea. Apart from these, Navarre and Aragon continued to exist. Thus by the mid-11th century there were three main Christian nuclei in Spain. The disintegration of the caliphate into the various petty states of the *taifas* was quickly exploited by the Christian princes. Ferdinand I of Castile, between 1060 and 1065, subjected to tribute the Berber kings of Toledo, Badajoz, and Seville and conquered the zone between the lower Douro and the Mondego, including Coimbra. At the same time Ramiro I began expansion into the valley of the Gállego, and his son Sancho Ramírez fought the king of Huesca. In 1065, at the death of Ferdinand I of Castile, his sons struggled bitterly over the division of his lands. Of these, in 1085 Alfonso VI succeeded in occupying Toledo and pushed rapidly as far as Seville and the sea; at his service was Rodrigo Díaz, known as the Cid Campeador. The Christian threat stirred the Islamic world: the Almoravid emir Yūsuf crossed into Spain and defeated the Christians at Sagrajas (Zalaca) in 1086. Fortunately Yūsuf could not exploit his victory because the *taifa* princes, alarmed, opposed the dangerous conqueror. Alfonso VI was able to retain Toledo.