Train, Polish, Reform. The Education of Basque and Navarre Elites: from the Habsburgs to the Bourbons

Abstract

The reforms in recruiting policies within the ruling elites that the Bourbons carried out in the 18th century, accomplished through the launching of new strategies in the selection and formative systems, contributed to the transformation of the educational procedures followed by those families seeking to be part of the new political and military establishment. In this essay, I summarize the educational trajectories of the Basque and Navarrese elite families that participated intensively in this changing processes. In the first place, in this essay I explore the social foundation of the educational system: the contrast between belonging and globalization; and the social networks that guaranteed the educational trajectories of these families, all of it in global scale. Next, I disclose the different stages and levels that conformed the education of these elites: the teaching of Spanish and the first writing lessons; the secondary education in schools and Latin or grammar schools; and the partial decline of the university system after the initiation of these new recruiting policies that the Bourbons have sponsored, evidence of which is the prominence attained by institutions such as the royal seminaries, the military academies and the «Secretarías del Despacho». This part of the essay is completed with a study on how these families would seek to furnish their sons and daughters with a formation in good manners, usually by enrolling them in the royal seminaries or schooling them in France. In conclusion, I believe that these essay offers a revealing insight into the creation of a new elite of cosmopolitan, civilized and reformist enlightened families. But at the same time, it also exposes the cultural breach between these new «civilized» elites and those who remained loyal to the traditional paradigm.

Keywords

• Education
• Elites
• Spanish Monarchy
• XVIII
• Basques
• Social History