During the "long 1970s", Western European socialists, who had so far been marginal in shaping postwar European integration processes, started to coordinate at the European level, and developed a "Social Europe" project. The aim of this initiative was to change the nature of European integration in order to serve social progress and workers' interests. This article first explores the progressive convergence of European socialists in the 1960s and early 1970s on a new "European reformism" that challenged "business Europe". It goes on to show how the crisis of the 1970s led to the radicalization of their emerging project for a social Europe. Finally, it examines how, in the 1980s, European socialists gradually abandoned their radical European project, and rallied to a vision of "Social Europe" compatible with the neoliberal Europe then emerging.
The life and reign of Eleonor of Sicily have attracted considerable interest from the research community in recent years. This interest is based on the particularly active role she played alongside her husband Peter the Ceremonious. Her activities as consors and the functions she performed as a royal lieutenant can be vividly illustrated with reference to the extensive chancellery documentation that has been preserved. This article examines both areas of influence, and highlights that the ruler, despite her subordinate position, was an essential partner to her husband.
This article examines the role of Spanish municipalism in the European integration process between 1977 and 1998. During this period, which includes the democratic transition, Spain's accession to the EEC (1986), and the institutional developments of the Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties, Spanish cities fought for recognition within the European framework. Although the integration process was dominated by nation-states, the Spanish municipalist movement was actively engaged in city networks, promoting local autonomy and the principle of subsidiarity. Invoking the "Europe of Cities" model, local leaders advocated greater proximity between European institutions and citizens. Additionally, the article analyses the impact of municipalist Europeanism on Spain's democratic consolidation between the 1970s and 1990s.
This article seeks to highlight the part played by the Pe & ntilde;a Villarejo family in the development of the free trade movement in nineteenth-century Spain, a role which has so far been overlooked by historians, as have the biographical trajectories of individual family members. Originally from La Rioja, though based in Madrid, they achieved great prosperity in their commercial activities and devoted part of their lives to defending free trade, actively participating in the main organizations that supported this policy -in which they held management positions- and championing initiatives which would ensure that their principles prevailed over the protectionism that dominated the century.
The Spanish Inquisition is often portrayed as a uniquely severe tribunal, defined by its unusual methods, a view traditionally attributed to the "black legend" created by anti-Spanish -and especially Protestant- propaganda in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This article nuances that interpretation through an analysis of printed works produced in Spain under Philip II, III, and IV: inquisitorial treatises, defences of the Catholic Monarchy, and, above all, historical writings. These sources show that Spanish discourse itself played a decisive role in shaping the image of the Inquisition as a rigorous, exceptional institution, singularly effective in suppressing Protestantism. In doing so, the article re-examines the interpretative paradigm built around the idea of the "black legend," demonstrating that the most enduring traits in the representation of the Spanish Inquisition stemmed not only from its detractors but also from its apologists.
This article analyses the role played by the Church in the integration of the internal market and the urban grain supply during the late Middle Ages. Focusing on the central institutions of the archbishopric of Seville and the tithe collection system, it examines why and how they sought to transcend intradiocesan jurisdictional fragmentation. It also explores how, and to what extent, they contributed to the inflow of grain to the city. The study of these dynamics reveals how, driven by the desire to channel the tithe grain to Seville, the archbishop and the cathedral chapter contributed both to the integration of the internal market within the archdiocese and to the supply of wheat to the city.
The purpose of this research is to conduct a systematic analysis of the diplomatic conflicts that took place at the Spanish court throughout the seventeenth century, and establish a categorization based on recurring patterns detected in almost three hundred different cases. In the process we will distinguish between conflicts related to precedence and ceremony, residences, the improper use of botillerias (pantries), immunity, and justice problems involving the servants of diplomatic agents. The aim is firstly to demonstrate how European ambassadors and residents used these disputes deliberately to extend their immunity and influence in the villa of Madrid, and secondly to understand these clashes from a cultural perspective, in view of the different socio-cultural practices that prevailed in the European courts of origin of these individuals.
The latest declassified sources based on the testimonies of German soldiers captured by the Allies and on documentation from the Falange Exterior reflect a special relationship between Franco's Spain and Nazi Germany during the Second World War. This significant connection led to the deployment of Nazi intelligence activities in France, Spain and the Protectorate of Morocco during the Second World War, in collaboration with the Spanish intelligence service of the Defence High Command, the police, the Falange Exterior, embassies and consular staff in the execution of intelligence operations favourable to Axis interests.
This paper analyses the image of Spain conveyed by one of Europe's earliest press publications, the Swedish Postoch Inrikes Tidningar (1645), during the second half of the seventeenth century. Given the specific nature and documentary potential of this source, the focus is on the Hispanic mental map created by the more than 470 reports analysed. The research is structured into a hierarchy of the thematic categories and geographical spaces most widely represented in the sample. Finally, considering the interests and particularities of the Nordic kingdom, the findings are cross-referenced to portray the diverse image of late Habsburg Spain presented in the Swedish Postoch Inrikes Tidningar (PoIT).
The Spanish Republican exile has been the subject of an extensive body of publications. There are, however, few studies on the contribution of Spanish exiles to the development of Hispanic studies in non Spanish-speaking countries. This article aims to examine the role of these exiles in the development of Hispanic studies in the United Kingdom, as well as their relationship with British institutional Hispanism in the first half of the twentieth century. Supported by scholars sympathetic to the Republican cause, a significant part of the intellectual elite who arrived in Britain escaping the Civil War devoted themselves to the teaching of Spanish and related activities, contributing to the promotion of Spanish language and culture across various sectors of British society. In this context, we highlight the cultural work undertaken by the Instituto Espa & ntilde;ol in London (1944-1950), a leading institution for Hispanists, and the impact of its mission among teachers of Spanish in the United Kingdom.
Dating back to the fifteenth-century voyages of exploration, the viability of the Portuguese Empire -the earliest and longest-standing of Europe's overseas empires- rested on the mobilisation of naval and military resources from foreign jurisdictions and markets, including Scandinavia and the Baltic. Much-needed timber and other naval supplies, grain, metals, and weaponry were imported from these regions. This paper sheds light on the institutional arrangements surrounding military and naval contracting in seventeenth-century Portugal, with particular attention to the sourcing of raw materials, production components, and equipment from the Nordic world. It is argued that, while the provision of goods and services to the empire's armed forces may not always have offered the "best value for money", or advanced goals of autarky, it nevertheless intensified connections with international fiscal-military hubs in the North and Baltic Seas, and facilitated the diffusion of technologies toward western Iberia.
During the sixty years in which the Estado do Brasil belonged to the Spanish Monarchy (1580-1640), Salvador da Bahia witnessed ongoing disputes and disagreements between the city's bishops and the governors-general of the Estado do Brasil. This article examines the conflicts between these two offices during that period, with particular attention to their jurisdictional dimension and their impact on governmental action in both spheres. It shows how these conflicts -analysed as a confrontation between royal and ecclesiastical jurisdictions, and between the general government and the bishopric- led to a progressive deterioration in relations over time and influenced the principal events that took place in the Estado do Brasil during the period of the Union of Crowns.
This paper analyses the smuggling modality known as matute, the major expression of everyday resistance to consumption tax in the Spanish Restoration, and considers the case of Valladolid between 1890 and 1905. The research draws on data in newspapers, and municipal and judicial sources. We begin by analysing the extent and characteristics of matute, before examining its protagonists: the matuteros and the consumption tax guards. Finally, we look at the impacts of the spread of matute and its effects -street violence- on the political debate on consumption taxes that began in Spain at the end of the nineteenth century. This research will allow us to show the social effects and conflictual dimension of this indirect tax on the daily lives of the popular classes during those years.
This article examines the role of Maria de Luna, queen consort of the Crown of Aragon, in managing the factional conflicts that disrupted the kingdom of Valencia in the early fifteenth century. Through a detailed analysis of her intervention in the power struggles among noble families in the year 1404, the study explores her capacity for action, political authority and agency. The article unpacks the concept of officium associated with queen consorts, which linked their political role to diplomacy, governance, and the promotion of peace, employing mechanisms such as mediation and arbitration. It further illustrates the significance of the queen consort within the dynamics of power, and the implementation of collaborative and complementary governance strategies between the royal couple. Finally, it addresses the construction of the queenly legacy through the lens of political success.
According to the Chronicle of John of Biclaro, King Liuvigild occupied Vasconia in 580. This occupation has always been understood exclusively in terms of a conquest and confrontation against a gens identified by the Vascone ethnonym. But this interpretation is problematic, as it relies on the silence of the sources, assumptions based on the choronym Vasconia, and subsequent reports about conflictive Vascones. Indeed, both the words of John of Biclaro and the chronicle of Isidore of Seville appear to contradict this interpretation. Vasconia was occupied during the negotiation of an alliance between Liuvigild and the Merovingian king Chilperico, and sealed with the engagement of their children. We know from various sources that, during the forging of trans-Pyrenean alliances, the monarchs made incursions into border territories, and presented their wives with the gift of civitates or villas. According to these written records, the Visigothic occupation of Vasconia therefore appears more complex than has previously been supposed.
This research article seeks firstly to explain and describe the creation process of an ideological wing influenced by Council communism and autonomist Marxism within the Basque pro-independence political party, LAIA (the Basque abbreviation for Party of the Revolutionary Patriotic Workers), which formed a new independent group under the acronym of LAIA-EZ in 1976. Secondly, the essay highlights the self-organisation processes of workers in the Basque Country and shows that the assumption of Councilist principles was central to LAIA-EZ's critique of the Basque patriotic left movement and the alternative approach of the Koordinadora Abertzale Sozialista (KAS).
Since the end of the nineteenth century, historiography has considered that, in the year 1506, Queen Germaine of Foix -or her husband, King Ferdinand II of Aragon, since there are those who have deliberately ignored the role of the queen- decreed, in an act of sovereignty unparalleled among the consorts that preceded her, the concession of a substantial part of the western and southern territory of the principality of Catalonia to the kingdom of Aragon, although this was rendered null and void. This article analyses the content of the decree in question, revealing a series of inconsistencies and anachronisms which demonstrate that neither the Catholic King nor his second wife had anything to do with it, since it is not an authentic document from the sixteenth century, and was actually prepared in 1706 or at a later date.
Guardianship and curatorship are two legal institutions that guarantee the well-being and protection of the child in the event of a situation of defencelessness resulting from the death of one or both parents. In the Ancien R & eacute;gime, this group of children -helpless and sometimes marginalized- were forced to grow up with relatives, friends or masters who took an oath to provide them with food, clothing and footwear, and to educate these minors until they came of age or changed their civil status. This laudable endeavour was to be periodically supervised to prevent the child's assets from being wasted. An analysis of accounts of tutoring and curatorship found in the Provincial Historical Archive of Palencia for the period 1570-1615 reveals the alimony that was assigned to the minors, the clothes they received, the illnesses they suffered and even the education they were given.
The following research analyses the existence of executioners in late medieval Galician cities, especially in Santiago de Compostela, with reference to the butcher Afonso da Cana, who was hired as an executioner by the council of Santiago at the beginning of the fifteenth century. The research focuses on providing data about this local man, his social context and the indications of professionalization and a rise in the penalties and the officials linked to them during the first half of the fifteenth century. The main premise is the development of criminal justice and the structuring of new human and material resources for its administration around 1400.
This article addresses the survival of superstition in the nineteenth century, introducing the reflections that several authors published in the press after 1763. It explores five news items that appeared during the century, which demonstrate a deep-rooted belief in witches and fanaticism, including the execution of an elderly woman by her neighbours, who were ultimately taken before the local authorities. Such incidents were possible due to the existence of a well-established archetype in the collective consciousness, reflected both in literature and the press; an archetype that is brought to life in the form of a woman with certain attributes and features. In witch hunts, these myths were embodied by a real person, with the significant difference in this case that the individuals who were captured and condemned were not agents of an imaginary crime, but actual real-life perpetrators.
