The Nueva Planta Decrees: Centralizing Power in 1716 Spain
This text is by nature a source text, or primary legal and political content, since it is one of the Nueva Planta decrees, which tried to establish a new political-administrative organization in Spain. The text was issued by Philip V, King of Spain, in 1716. The Nueva Planta decrees are the result of the War of Succession and were issued between 1707 and 1716.
Felipe V, Duke of Anjou, was proclaimed king in 1700, after the death without issue of Charles II. This proclamation would lead to the outbreak of the War of Succession (1701-1714), which in Europe pitted France and Spain, supporters of Philip of Anjou, against Britain, Austria, and Holland, who supported the Archduke Charles of Habsburg. On the Peninsula, Castile was loyal to Felipe V, while the Crown of Aragon was in favor of the Austrian candidate. This positioning of Aragon and the centralist model that the State sought to implement explain the Bourbon text before us.
The Nueva Planta decrees involve the practical application of the political model that Philip V and the rest of the kings of the Bourbon dynasty were to apply in Spain. It is a centralized and reformist model, which had already been developed in France (the absolutist state model). The decrees accounted for the integration of the territories of the Crown of Aragon into Castilian management and the adoption of its institutions. In this context, the Council of Castile began to exercise the functions of government from around the country, including legislative and judicial powers, but always depending on the power of the King. The preamble cited the pacification of the Principality of Catalonia, the territory to which a new political-legal and administrative system was imposed.
Key Changes Implemented by the Nueva Planta Decrees
- The Audiencia (organ of the administration of justice) was transformed into a body of royal control.
- Military control was exercised by a Captain-General, under the direct command of the king, who eventually replaced the figure of the Viceroy, and the kingdoms of the monarchy became permanent provinces.
- The Provincial Council was dissolved, and the Catalan Cortes provided the Castilian Cortes.
- Castilian was established as the official language in court and in official writings.
- A system of local government with Castilian councilors and magistrates, chosen by the king, was established as a way of strengthening royal power.
- All of the Principality’s own institutions were deleted, assigning their functions to the Audiencia.
- A new post was created: the Mayor, in charge of economic affairs, reporting directly to the monarchical power.
- Voluntary armed groups (Somatenes) were dissolved to avoid armed men in a territory that had submitted resistance to the new power of the King.
- The consideration of “foreign” was ended for subjects who inhabited a particular realm to another. The Spaniards had been vetoed so far from access to certain positions and even from trade with the Indies. These prohibitions on foreign nationals were one step closer to the legal equality of all subjects of the king.
Thus, with the decrees of Nueva Planta, charters and traditional institutions disappeared (except in the kingdom of Navarre and the Basque provinces, which remained loyal to Felipe V) and an absolute monarchy based on centralization and political and administrative uniformity was established. These considerations are sufficient to establish the enormous importance of this text in the history of Spain.