Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
By the mid-fourteenth century Catalunya was at its economic peak. Barcelona had impress-
ive new buildings to match its status as a regional superpower - the cathedral, the church of
SantaMaríadelMar,theGeneralitatbuilding,theAjuntament(withitsConselldeCentmeet-
ingroom)andtheDrassanesshipyardsalltestifytoBarcelona'swealthinthisperiod.Catalan
became established as a literarylanguage , and Catalan works are recognized as the precurs-
or of much of the great medieval European literature: Ramon Llull's romance Blanquerna
was written a century before Chaucer's Canterbury Tales . Architecture progressed from
Romanesque to Gothic styles, with churches displaying features that have become known as
Catalan-Gothic - such as spacious naves, hexagonal belfries and a lack of flying buttresses.
The rise of Castile
The last of Wilfred the Hairy's dynasty of Catalan count-kings, Martin the Humane (Martí
el Humà), died in 1410 without an heir. After nearly five hundred years of continuity, there
were six claimants to the throne, and in 1412 nine specially appointed counsellors elevated
Ferdinand (Ferran) de Antequera, son of a Catalan princess, to the vacant throne.
Ferdinand ruled for only four years, but his reign and that of his son, Alfons, and grandson,
John (Joan) II, spelled the end for Catalunya's influence in the Mediterranean. The Castilian
rulers were soon in dispute with the Consell de Cent, and non-Catalans started to be appoin-
ted to key positions in the Church, state offices and the armed forces. In 1469 John's son,
Prince Ferdinand (Ferran), who was born in Aragón, married Isabel of Castile, a union that
would eventually finish off Catalan independence. Both came into their inheritances quickly,
IsabeltakingCastilein1474andtheCatalan-AragónesecrowncomingtoFerdinandin1479.
Ferdinand and Isabel
Under Ferdinand and Isabel , the two largest kingdoms in Spain were united under a ruling
pair known as “ Los Reyes Católicos ” (“Els Reis Catòlicos” in Catalan) - the Catholic mon-
archs. Their energies were devoted to the reconquest and unification of Spain: they finally
took back Granada from the Moors in 1492, and initiated a wave of Christian fervour at
whose heart was the Inquisition .
Also in 1492, the final shift in Catalunya's outlook occurred with the triumphal return of
ChristopherColumbus from the New World, to be received in Barcelona by Ferdinand and
Isabel. Castile, like Portugal, looked away from the Mediterranean to the Americas for trade
and conquest, and the exploration and exploitation of the New World was spearheaded by
the Andalucian city of Seville. Meanwhile, Ferdinand gave the Supreme Council of Aragón
control over Catalan affairs in 1494. The Aragónese nobility, who had always resented the
success of the Catalan maritime adventures, now saw the chance to complete their control of
Catalunya by taking over its ecclesiastical institutions - with Catalan monks being thrown
out of the great monasteries of Poblet and Montserrat.
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