The Rise of Spain 177

The Council of the Indies oversaw the administration of Spain’s vast
empire, sending viceroys and other officials to enforce the royal will and
assure the extraction of precious metals for the royal coffers. The monarchy
sent officials, many trained in law, to the Americas. It could take two years for
administrative instructions or correspondence to reach distant officials in
Latin America and for their response to arrive in Spain. One official awaiting
instructions put it this way, “If death came from Madrid, we should all live to

a very old age.”

The Age of Philip II

Spanish power peaked during the reign of Philip II. Madrid, in the center

of Castile, became a capital city of nobles and bureaucrats, many of whom,

in one way or another, lived off the court. The city grew from a town of

about 30,000 people in the 1540s to well over 150,000 inhabitants in the

1620s. Madrid survived through a “command economy”; royal commis­

sioners paid government-fixed prices for what they wanted from the capi­

tal’s hinterland. As Spain’s capital grew, it had to import supplies, which

were transported from distant regions by countless mule trains that tra­

versed rough mountain ranges and deep valleys.

Philip decided that he needed a permanent royal residence that would

provide an elegant symbol of his power. Outside of Madrid, Philip built the

magnificent Escorial Palace. Virtually the king’s only public appearances

after he became crippled by gout

were elaborate religious ceremonies

at the palace, carefully orchestrated

to uphold the sanctity of the throne.

Rituals of court etiquette affirmed a

sense of authority, social hierarchy,

and order that were supposed to

radiate from the Escorial through

Spain and to the far reaches of the

empire.

Philip II led a tragic life marred by

the premature deaths of four wives

and a number of children. Perhaps

because of sadness, he wore only

black. The king himself may have

contributed to the misfortunes of his

offspring. In 1568, he ordered Don

Carlos, his bad-tempered and irre­

sponsible twenty-three-year-old son

by his first marriage, placed under

lock and key. Don Carlos seemed Philip II of Spain ruled during the

unfit to rule; furthermore, detesting height of Spanish power.