La Nación española preconstitucional

Abstract

Almost unanimously, the modernist school linked the emergence of nations with the modern world, starting with the American and French revolutions, whose Spanish equivalent would be the liberal revolution that began in Cadiz with the decrees of Las Cortes and the Constitution of 1812. However, Spain’s national identity, apart from its medieval roots, seems to have asserted itself strongly in the 16th and 17th Centuries. A key moment following the «imperial» spirit that had imbued the monarchy of Charles V was the reign of Philip II —«an abrupt switch to nationalism»— that was kept alive in his successors Philip III and Philip IV.