Fleets and States in a Composite Catholic Monarchy: Spain c. 1500-1700

Christopher Storrs (Lead / Corresponding author)

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter (peer-reviewed)peer-review

    2 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    It is widely held that the Spanish Habsburgs (c.1516–1700) had little interest in sea power and thus were doomed to defeat in the maritime struggle—witness the disastrous Armada of 1588. In fact, a global empire embracing the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, and the Pacific could not—and did not—ignore the sea. Indeed, following—not entirely coincidentally—1588, Spanish policy was characterised by a ‘turn to the sea’. Hitherto historians have explored this change in narrowly political or strategic terms. However, this essay seeks to understand what it reveals more broadly about the polity, society, and culture of Habsburg Spain. It does so by considering the question of salutes, the composition of Spain’s fleets, the relative importance of the public sector (‘the state’) and the private sector and the extent to which the Habsburgs sought, by what might be regarded as social engineering, to encourage their subjects to embrace service at sea.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationIdeologies of Western Naval Power, c. 1500-1815
    EditorsJ. D. Davies, Alan James, Gijs Rommelse
    Place of PublicationNew York
    PublisherRoutledge
    Chapter5
    Pages85-105
    Number of pages21
    Edition1
    ISBN (Electronic)9780429316814
    ISBN (Print)9780367321284
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 8 Jul 2019

    Publication series

    NamePolitics and Culture in Europe, 1650-1750
    PublisherRoutledge

    Keywords

    • Spain, empire, seapower, Catholic Monarchy, state formation

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Fleets and States in a Composite Catholic Monarchy: Spain c. 1500-1700'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this