High nobility and the limits of royal sovereignty in New Spain and Brazil, 16th and 17th centuries
This paper has drawn on Laura Benton's concept of quasi-sovereignty to analyze how the Spanish and Portuguese monarchies, between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, employed similar strategies to neutralize the high nobility rooted in the New World. The monarchs granted privileges but als...
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2023 |
| País: | Brasil |
| Institución: | Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) |
| Repositorio: | Esboços (Online) |
| Idioma: | portugués |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:periodicos.ufsc.br:article/94035 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/esbocos/article/view/94035 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Soberania Nobreza América Sovereignty Nobility America |
| Sumario: | This paper has drawn on Laura Benton's concept of quasi-sovereignty to analyze how the Spanish and Portuguese monarchies, between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, employed similar strategies to neutralize the high nobility rooted in the New World. The monarchs granted privileges but also created mechanisms to erode the autonomy the nobles enjoyed overseas. This article has drawn on a vast literature to inventory not only the different royal controls but also the strategies employed by the nobles to react against the loss of their estates and political ownership. The comparison between the life path of Portuguese and Spanish nobles allowed us to identify how control over the nobility involved different instances of imperial and local administration. The biography of these nobles also demonstrates the pressure of distinct social groups against the nobles and their privileges. The dispute between the imperial government, the local government, the nobles, and social groups demonstrate the weakness of royal sovereignty overseas. |
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