Chapter 2081 Catalan's Past

More than 300 years after the County of Barcelona was merged into the Kingdom of Aragon, the Crown Prince of Castile, Princess Isabel, who is both beautiful and wise, did not want to marry the King of Portugal according to her brother's will, and insisted on marrying her Aragon's favorite Crown Prince Ferdinand married.

So, in 1469, Isabel broke through many obstacles and married Ferdinand. A few years later, the two inherited their respective kingdoms.

Then, the two most powerful Christian countries on the Iberian Peninsula, Castile and Aragon, merged in form, and Isabel and Ferdinand became known as the "Double Catholic Kings".

However, this "merger" is very loose. The two countries have not established a "unified central government".

The wealth of Aragon does not belong to Castile, and the new continent discovered by Castile has nothing to do with Aragon.

At this time, Castile-Aragon was still in the "Confederacy of the Commonwealth", especially Aragon, whose state organization was looser than that of the centralized Castile.

After becoming part of the Kingdom of Aragon, with this marriage, Catalonia, which was already an autonomous government at this time, was merged into a larger national organization, and in name it became the "Double Catholic King" and The territory of the descendants of the "Twin Kings".

And what about Navarre? This small country that has never been successful is still struggling in the foothills of the Pyrenees in the northern part of the peninsula.

But through marriage, in the middle of the 16th century, a French family entered the royal family of Navarre, and the fate of Navarre was reversed.

This family is the famous Bourbon family. Later, the emperor of France and the current king of the Kingdom of Spain came from this huge family.

In 1492, under the military attack of the "Catholic Kings", Granada, the last dictatorship on the Iberian Peninsula, surrendered.

The "Recovery of Lost Lands Movement" that lasted nearly 800 years finally came to fruition, and the Iberian Peninsula, except for Navarre in the north and the land occupied by the Kingdom of Portugal in the southwest, was formally under the control of the "Catholic Kings". Formed the territory of the contemporary Kingdom of Spain.

The situation is the same as before. Although the two kingdoms of Castile and Aragon have merged, the merger is only formal. In terms of system, culture and other aspects, not only the two kingdoms are separated, but they are between the two kingdoms. The various cities below are also separated from each other.

Even the name "Kingdom of Spain"

It is rarely used both officially and privately.

However, the "Twin Catholic Kings" and their successors seem to be less concerned with social and cultural integration within the kingdom.

Almost at the same time as the completion of the "Recovering Lost Lands Movement", the voyage of Columbus sent news that on the other side of the vast ocean, a new continent was discovered.

Soon, it is human nature to like the new and dislike the old, and the eyes of the "Catholic Kings" and their successors were drawn to the far shore of the ocean.

On the other hand, the Reformation Movement also emerged at this time. Out of gratitude to the Holy See and loyalty to the Catholic faith, Castile-Aragon was active in maintaining the authority of the Catholic Church.

Looting, war, diplomacy, the country's expenses are increasing day by day, and to maintain such a "business" needs to expand financial resources.

As a result, Catalonia, which is in a high degree of autonomy, has become a big fat in the eyes of the successors of the "Catholic Kings". After all, Catalonia at this time has a much higher level of economic development than other parts of the kingdom.

Driven by interests, the measures taken by the central government towards local governments appear to be tough and rigid, ignoring any cultural and psychological factors.

In the middle of the 17th century, King Philip IV forced Catalonia and other areas ruled by the former Kingdom of Aragon to follow the example of Castile to reform the tax system.

This move aroused strong dissatisfaction in Catalonia, and then launched a riot. Although the riot was finally suppressed, the seeds of discord were planted. How similar is this scene to a few years ago?

In 1700, King Carlos II of Castile-Aragon died without heirs. Before his death, his will made the grandson of the French Bourbon Emperor Louis XIV, that is, his great-nephew Philip, Duke of Anjou, inherit the throne.

However, King Leopold I of the Habsburg dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire declared that his son, Archduke Charles, was the legal heir to the throne. break out.

During the war, Castile-Aragon, with Duke Philip of Anjou as its king, fought side by side with France, but Catalonia stood on the side of the Habsburg dynasty. It was squeezed too hard before and forced to Gatai doesn't want to fight by your side at all.

In this protracted war, Castilla-Aragon and Catalonia were completely opposed.

As a result of the war, Castile-Aragon lost almost all of its enclaves outside the Iberian Peninsula, but defeated Catalonia.

In order to strengthen control over Catalonia, punishment was also expressed, and Catalonia's autonomy and constitution were abolished.

For Catalonia, the failure of the two wars not only did not make them give up their demands for independence, but the pain of the war and dissatisfaction with the kingdom's policies further deepened the gap with the central government, and the centrifugal force grew day by day.

Since then, when the central government is running smoothly and the kingdom's overall economic situation is better, Catalonia has been quieter. And when the development of the entire kingdom falls into a disadvantageous situation, Catalonia will jump out and make troubles.

Since the Bourbons succeeded to the throne of Castile-Aragon, the policy of the kingdom began to reverse.

The kingdom no longer blindly maintains the authority of Catholicism as its mission, but instead focuses on nation-building.

The new king Philip V hopes to imitate France and establish a strong centralization in his country. This is indeed an improvement compared with the previous ones, but copying foreign models and ignoring the national conditions of the country caused the actual effect to deviate.

In the 19th century, the trend of nationalism swept across Europe, and every country was transforming into a nation-state and establishing a new identity. The history that people see today is all constructed under the influence of this trend of thought.

You can try to imagine that if Isabel did not marry Ferdinand, but chose the King of Portugal, then there would be no "Spain" on the Iberian Peninsula, but "Portugal" and "Aragon". " side by side?

The constitutional monarchy was passed in 1837, and Castile-Aragon finally ended the 300-year confederacy era and established a unitary modern country.

The queen at the time, Isabella II of the Bourbon family, decided to use the new title of "Kingdom of Spain".

And her previous title was: "Honorable Isabella II, by the grace of God, of Castile, Leon, Aragon, the Two Sicilies, Jerusalem, Navarra, Granada, Toledo , Valencia, Galicia, Mallorca, Seville, Sardinia, Córdoba, Corsica, Murcia, Menorca, Jaén..."

— just a title that lists all the territories together.

At this point, the "Kingdom of Spain" was really born. At the official level, history began to be built around the "Kingdom of Spain"; the "Spanish nation" also began to appear more and more in official propaganda.

At this time, in Catalonia, the memories established in the past conflicts have been faintly painful, and along with the wave of nationalism, Catalonia's national character has also awakened.

Catalan has become the working language of local media and theaters; the national history of Catalonia has been constructed by local historians.

And every resolution of the Central Government of the Kingdom of Spain aimed at strengthening the "Spanish national identity" in Catalonia has in turn strengthened the local people's identity with the "Catalan nation".

Since the beginning of the 20th century, several independence movements have broken out in Catalonia, especially during the Spanish Civil War.

However, with the establishment of Franco's dictatorship, Catalonia's freedom was once again imprisoned in a cage, and it did not become an autonomous region again until 1979. However, the status of an autonomous region cannot satisfy Catalonia.

Politicians have their own ambitions, and the people have their demands. Catalonia is no longer willing to use its economic achievements to pay for the backward areas of Spain.

Catalonia's desire for independence from ancient times to the present seems to be abrupt. Leaving aside all kinds of contradictions in history, in fact, a clear reason can be found in geography.

Where Catalonia is located, the corresponding geographic unit is the Lower Ebro Plain.

The Ebro River is the mother river in the northeast of Spain. In its middle reaches, it is the Aragon region where Catalonia once defected. It is in the upper and lower reaches of the same big river, so that Catalonia and Aragon were born. Only a high degree of kinship can be peacefully unified in marriage.

But these two regions are really not very familiar with the rest of Spain.

Looking west from the Ebro River Basin, there is an Iberian mountain range with an average altitude of just over 1,000 meters, but it is enough to form a geographical barrier.

Only by crossing this mountain range can we reach the central plateau in central Spain. The communication between the two in ancient times was quite limited, which allowed the local culture represented by Catalan to take root for a long time.

The Central Plateau is the most important geographical plate of Spain, accounting for 60% of its land area.

Although it is inland and far away from the sea, the climate is dry and agriculture is underdeveloped, it is the center of the Iberian Peninsula and has rich mineral resources, so the unification of the peninsula can only be dominated by Madrid, but this Unification also depends on a strong central government.

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