An English translation of this respected work is most welcome, and it is very well done. Jaime Vicens Vives, who died in 1960, had planned a more definitive book to trace the dynamics of Spanish economic history, but he settled for this one, which was based on his lectures at the University of Barcelona. With the collaboration of Jorge Nadal Oiler, he published it in 1955, brought out an extensive revision in 1959, and began that of 1964, on which this translation is based. Certainly the present book will be definitive for some time.
In a superb first chapter and at times in the remainder of the work the author summarizes the trends which he treats in detail later. Dutifully, thoroughly, and somewhat pedagogically, he writes of the geology and geography of Spain and its ancient peoples. It is startling to read that the peninsular stock has changed little since the end of the fifth century B. C., but the point may well be sound, notwithstanding the numerous invasions of ruling groups. Roman, Visigothic, and Moslem Spain receive conventional handling, though provocative points are made about the Reconquest. As Vicens Vives modestly states, his treatment based on extensive firsthand research really begins with the fourteenth century and continues to the last of the nineteenth century, where the account ends.
Relating the rise and decline of Catalonia in the later Middle Ages, the author exhibits his familiarity with the fortunes of the Mediterranean world. From this point on, he is careful to connect Iberian developments with those of other parts of the world, and the account is never parochial. His views concerning the policies of Ferdinand and Isabella are sometimes controversial, but they are always reasonable.
The three chapters of the forty-eight which deal explicitly with America offer favorable interpretations of the Crown’s motives but harsh ones of creole attitudes and Spanish economic policies in practice. Essentially following Earl Hamilton and Clarence H. Haring, the author stresses the impact of American treasure on the world economy and Castile’s failure to utilize it profitably. Fresh information and new insights are offered concerning the decline of the Hispanic world in the seventeenth century. Vicens Vives treats the Bourbon recovery with enthusiasm, for he was a modernizer. Yet Spain was in economic collapse even before the disasters of 1808 and continued depressed until 1854. After that came a long period of growth, marred, however, by the alienation of mineral assets to foreigners in order to obtain technological aid for an industrial revolution that was only partial. The author believes that the hidalgo mentality, which had long stifled Spanish development, changed considerably to one that accepted a work ethic.
The richness of this study compels admiration. Even though much of it is useful mainly as a book of reference for obscure subjects, Vicens Vives’ integration of economic history with political developments and world affairs raises it to high significance. Demographical factors are especially well presented. Bibliographical comments are useful to any serious reader. The author has given perhaps too little attention to the laboring classes in the last chapters, and he is imprecise about investments, public finance, and contraband. Yet, as he has said, our ignorance about nineteenth-century Spain is almost total. If the style is not sparkling, it is always clear. The scope, depth, and honesty of this work make historians all the more regretful that a premature death terminated the labors of a great scholar.