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Spanish Road: Spanish possessions in orange and purple, Austria in Green. Main road in red, along the Rhine also in blue

The "Spanish Road" was a military supply/trade route used from 1567–1620, which stretched from Northern Italy to the Low Countries. It crossed through relatively neutral territory, and was therefore Europe's most preferred military route. In the days of its use it was also known as "le chemin des Espagnols"¹.

The Need for the Spanish Road

The conflict between the Spanish King Philip II and Spain's rebels of the Low Countries symbolized the prominent European power struggle of the 16th century ². In 1550, the wars had stretched Spain's finances thin ³. 1566 was known as the "Year of Hunger" or "Year of Wonders," when the people of the Lower Countries revolted against their king because they were not given a say in their government, Spanish troops occupied their country and religious persecution was prominent ⁴. When this revolt occurred, Philip realized he would need a route to get to the Netherlands and crush the opposition. The Spanish Road was observed and mapped out, and Philip sent the duke of Alva and a ruthless army to wage war in 1567, using Brussels as his headquarters ⁵. When the Emperor of the Netherlands plead for peace in 1569, Philip rejected the plea, and continued to use the Spanish Road to try and meet his military goals ⁶.

The building of the Spanish Road

To get to the Netherlands, the armies and travelers of the 16th century had to surpass many obstacles including extremely high mountain passes, large rivers, deep forests, and roadways filled with criminals. Therefore, it was necessary to find a route that would go around these barriers, for safer and easier traveling, and the Spanish Road proved to be the answer. Contrary to its name, Spain was not the primary discoverer or user of the Spanish Road. Parts of it were devised by Philip II in 1565, when he realized he was going to have to travel to the Netherlands, and wanted to use his own land and neutral territory. Merchants regularly used parts the road between France and Italy to trade goods with neighboring countries. Despite this fact, it was fully mapped out by European militaries as going through neutral countries, the main ones being Franche Comté, Burgundy, Luxemburg, Metz, Lorraine and Savoy¹.

The layout of the Spanish Road was a large improvement over the previous system of moving troops through neutral territory. Maps used for Spanish expeditions had only the information that pertained directly to the military, excluding any other details. However, this forced the armies to use guides and scouts when they crossed unfamiliar terrain, since their extremely generalized maps could not guide them¹. Traveling along the road took an average of 12 miles a day, although, in 1577 Spanish veterans left the Netherlands and marched 15 miles a day because of the heat, and in 1578, they made the trip in 23 miles a day during the cold month of February¹.

Utilization of the Spanish Road

For military purposes, the Spanish Road was first used by the Duke of Alba in 1567, and the last army passed through it in 1620. It was not only utilized by troops, but also traders, and both were in need of food and shelter to complete their journeys. Shelter was rarely given to those who traveled on the road, especially soldiers. Officers would sometimes be able to stay in a nearby town, but their armies had to sleep under bushes or flimsy huts that they would make themselves. Residents of towns along the "road" were rightfully fearful of the armies that passed through because they would often find themselves victims of a robbery if they offered up their generosity. In 1580, the officers of the passing Spanish "tercios" occupied a house in Franche Comté that had no furniture and temporary crockery that was guarded, because the providers were scared their possessions would be vandalized, burned or stolen¹.

The Spanish Road was only used once or twice per year by the military, and the rest of the time by merchants. Because of this, military magazines were seen as unimportant by some countries¹. The military did, however, use a system of providing staples called etapés. This system was going to be put into place after the successful proposal of Don Cristóbal de Benavente to the Council of War in Madrid. Unfortunately, the Spanish King was not impressed, so Spain did not support them. However, other European countries did think the etapés were a good idea, so they set them up along the Spanish Road, using commissioners from Brussels or Milan to work out pricing details, so that the providers were always paid for their services. The first type of etapés was permanent and found only in Savoy. It consisted of a place where soldiers and other travelers had access to food and shelter when they passed through. The second type was in Franche Comté, Lorraine and the Low Countries, and was created only when arranged for in advance by a private contractor, who would work out the payments, shipments and quantities of food based on the type and schedule of each individual military excursion¹. This system made the use of the Spanish Road more practical.

Effects of the Spanish Road

Along with the Spanish Road having the obvious effects of faster military movement, and a convenient route to the Netherlands, there was one effect which helped to alter the course of history. This was the Spanish Road's effect on the spread of the plague or Black Death. This large transport of people played a huge role in the circulation of the disease, and affected civilians in many of the surrounding towns of the Spanish Road. In addition, the Spanish Road established permanent diplomatic agreements such as permanent embassies in Savoy and the Swiss Cantons, which were under the supervision of the Spanish government in Lombardy¹.

The Spanish Road also inflamed the religious aspect of Europe because the nation saw it as a threat. When France broke out into its religious wars, the Spanish Road brought people and money to help the French Catholics beat Henry of Navarre¹.

The fall of the Spanish Road

The Treaty of Lyon (January 17, 1601) forced the Spanish Road to be reduced to a narrow valley and a bridge over the Rhône. This loss of territory made Spanish passage on the road dependent on the approval of France. The last Spanish and Italian army allowed to use the Spanish Road did so in 1620. Savoy's anti-Spanish Treaty in 1622 ended Spanish travel on the Spanish Road forever¹.

Notes

References

• Cecil John Cadoux, Philip of Spain and the Netherlands (United States of America: Archon Books, 1969), 64-67.
• Geoffrey Parker, The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road 1567-1659: The Logistics of Spanish Victory and Defeat in the Low Countries' Wars. Second Ed.(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994).
• Herbert H. Rowen, ed. The Low Countries in Early Modern Times (New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, Inc., 1972), xviii.
• Herman Van der Wee, The Low Countries in the Early Modern World, trans. Lizabeth Fackelman (Great Britain: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 1993), 26.
• Jonathan I. Israel, The Dutch Republic and the Hispanic World, 1606-1661 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), 1-11.
• William Gaunt, Flemish Cities: Their History and Art (Great Britain: William Gaunt and Paul Elek Productions Limited, 1969), 103.

See also

• Electoral Palatinate or County Palatine of the Rhine (German: Kurpfalz), a historic state of the Holy Roman Empire, including
  • County Palatine of Lotharingia 915–1085
  • County Palatine of the Rhine 1085–1356
• Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz), federal state in western Germany
  • Palatinate (region) (Pfalz or Rheinpfalz), in Rhineland-Palatinate
  • Palatinate (wine region), in Rhineland-Palatinate
• Upper Palatinate (Oberpfalz), administrative region in Bavaria

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• This page was last modified on 24 October 2008, at 10:54.

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