Nueva Planta decrees
The Nueva Planta decrees (Spanish: Decretos de Nueva Planta,
The Decrees put an end to the existence of the realms of the Crown of Aragon (Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia and Majorca) as separate states within a composite monarchy and incorporated them into the Crown of Castile, thus abolishing the political differences of the two crowns and essentially establishing the Kingdom of Spain as a French-style absolute monarchy and a centralized state in the pre-liberal sense.
Historical context
Angered by what he saw as
The other historic territories (
The acts abolishing the charters were promulgated in 1707 in the kingdoms of Valencia and Aragon,[1] in 1715 in the Kingdom of Majorca and in 1716 in the Principality of Catalonia.[2]
Effects
The decrees effectively created a centralized Spanish
The decrees erased all internal borders and tariffs except for the Basque territory and granted all citizens of the newly created Spanish state the right to trade with the American and Asian colonies, which henceforth were no longer the exclusive domain of the Crown of Castile.
The top civil servants were to be appointed directly from Madrid, and most institutions in what had become subnational entities were abolished. Court cases could also be presented and argued only in Castilian, which became the sole language of government and displaced Latin, Catalan and the other languages of Spain.
See also
- Perfect Fusion
- Acts of Union 1707 between Scotland and England, creating the Kingdom of Great Britain
- Bourbon Reforms of Philip V and his successors
- Catalan Constitutions
- Furs of Valencia
References
- ^ Planta ("plant"), in this context, meant "structure" or "establishment" (i.e. akin to a secondary sense of the English language plant, e.g. an "industrial building").
- This article draws on material from the corresponding article in the Spanish Wikipedia, accessed January 2006.
- ^ Stanley G. Payne. "Chapter 16, The Eighteenth-Century Bourbon Regime in Spain". A History of Spain and Portugal – Vol. 2. Retrieved 17 April 2008.
- ^ "British Menorca | Discovering Menorca".
External links
- Documents about the case of the catalans dated on 1714, at the House of Lords, UK.
- Journal of the House of Lords: volume 19, 2 August 1715, Further Articles of Impeachment against E. Oxford brought from H.C. Article VI.
- Extract from the Decree of abolition of the fueros of Aragon and Valencia from Wikisource
- Decree of 16 January 1716 (facsimile)