The Debate Over the Nation

José Álvarez Junco

In placing the construction of Spanish national identity within a comparative context, it is natural to draw a parallel with two well-documented cases from the same part of Europe: England and France. In all three instances, the process was initially founded on two pillars: the monarchy and religion. By contrast, the processes of the German principalities or of the Italian and Flemish city-states were very different from that of Spain following the accumulation of kingdoms under the Catholic Kings, Ferdinand and Isabel, in the late 15th century. However, the political fragmentation that characterized the Iberian pensinsula before the Catholic Kings, which contained numerous exceptions and different types of self-government within its kingdoms and fiefdoms, was so great that parallels can also be drawn during this period with the German, Italian and Flemish cases.

Even in comparing Spain with England and France, there are important differences, such as Spain's early lag. The Spanish process did not begin until the reign of Ferdinand and Isabel, who were responsible for the aggregation of kingdoms – not unification – that superseded a state of political fragmentation. Prior to erdinand and Isabel, there was no "Spanish" monarchy to speak of, but a number of Christian kingdoms and a Muslim one. By contrast, one can speak of a 'French' monarchy from the late, even the early, Middle Ages, although its territory did not match that of the early modern age. The English case bears a greater resemblance to the Spanish one, given the union of Wales and Scotland with England between the 13th and early 18th centuries.

Following the successful accumulation of kingdoms carried out by Ferdinand and Isabel between 1476 and 1516, there emerged an Hispanic or "Catholic" monarchy (the title being bestowed by the Borgian Pope, Alexander IV, after the conquest of the Muslim kingdom of Granada in 1492), around which a centralized bureaucratic structure was constructed that was able to acquire economic and coercive resources much like the French and English crowns. In all three cases, the objective was to deal not only with neighbouring monarchs, but also with internal forces, such as the aristocracy, corporations, parliament, cities, religious or military-religious orders, guilds and municipalities.

The political structure of these monarchies was very different from that of the modern State. Far from being centralized and homogeneous powers, with similar rights and obligations for all subjects, these were aggregations of kingdoms and fiefdoms with different judicial and fiscal regimes, without forgetting their diverse cultures. Such contrasts were especially marked in th