Documents for "Spanish and Portuguese History":

• Afonso For rulers thus named, use Alfonso.

• alcalde [Span., from Arab.,=the judge], Spanish official title, in existence at least from the 11th cent. Since the late 19th cent. it has been used for the mayor of a town or village who also acts as...

• Alphonso For rulers thus named, use Alfonso.

• Armada, Spanish 1588, fleet launched by Philip II of Spain for the invasion of England, to overthrow the Protestant Elizabeth I and establish Philip on the English throne; also called the Invincible Armada. Preparations, under the command of the...

• audiencia royal court of justice in Spain and the Spanish Empire, varying greatly in its form and function but having some administrative as well as judicial capacity. Use of the term also extended to the...

• cabildo autonomous municipal council, the lowest administrative unit in the Spanish government. The institution was especially influential in Spanish America, where it was set up in the early 16th cent...

• Calpe ancient name, possibly Phoenician in origin, of Gibraltar. It is one of the Pillars of Hercules , at the eastern end of the Strait of Gibraltar.

• Captains' Revolution coup staged (Apr. 25, 1974) by military officers who opposed Portugal's policy toward its African territories. By early 1974 dissatisfaction with the debilitating, seemingly endless war in Africa,...

• Carlists partisans of Don Carlos (1788-1855) and his successors, who claimed the Spanish throne under the Salic law of succession, introduced (1713) by Philip V. The law (forced on Philip by the War of the Spanish Succession to avoid a union of the French and Spanish crowns) was abrogated by Ferdinand VII in...

• Carlos For Spanish and Portuguese kings thus named, use Charles.

• Falange [Span.,=phalanx], Spanish political party, founded in 1933 as Falange Española by José António Primo de Rivera, son of the former Spanish dictator. Professing generally the principles of fascism , the Falange distinguished itself from other fascist groups by its great emphasis on national tradition, particularly the imperial and Renaissance Christian traditions of Spain. The Falange militia...

• hermandad [Span.,=brotherhood], a peacekeeping association of armed individuals, a characteristic of municipal life in medieval Spain, especially in Castile. Hermandades are known to have existed as early as the 12th cent. Since the medieval Spanish kings were for the most part unable to offer adequate protection, protective municipal leagues against bandits and...

• Hernández For some Spaniards thus named, use Fernández.

• hidalgo [contraction of Span. hijo de algo =son of something], term designating the lowest degree of Spanish nobility, a rank above the ordinary gentry but below the great lords. The status was granted either directly from the crown ( hidalgo de carta ) or was inherited through birth ( hidalgo de sangre ). The term was known as early as the 12th cent.; the prolonged warfare to reconquer Spain from the Moors especially necessitated the continuous expansion of this knightly class. Although it did not...

• Jaime For Spanish rulers thus named, use James.

• Knights of Calatrava Spain's oldest military order, whose original seat was the now ruined fortress of Calatrava la Vieja in Ciudad Real prov., central Spain. Founded (1158) by the Cistercians as a defense against the...

• Manoel For Portuguese rulers thus named, use Manuel.

• Marranos see Sephardim.

• Moriscos [Span.,=Moorish], Moors converted to Christianity after the Christian reconquest (11th-15th cent.) of Spain. The Moors who had become subjects of Christian kings as the reconquest progressed to the...

• Pedro For Spanish and Portuguese rulers thus named, use Peter.

• Rulers of Spain since 1474 Rulers of Spain since 1474 (including dates of reign)

• Spanish Armada see Armada, Spanish.

• Spanish civil war 1936-39, conflict in which the conservative and traditionalist forces in Spain rose against and finally overthrew the second Spanish republic.

• Spanish marriages see Isabella II.

• Tordesillas, Treaty of 1494, agreement signed at Tordesillas, Spain, by which Spain and Portugal divided the non-Christian world into two zones of influence. In principle the treaty followed the papal bull issued in...

• Ximenes For Spaniards thus named, use Jiménez.