Pining for stability : the Borromeo family and the crisis of the Spanish monarchy, 1610-1680
Using the Borromeo family of Spanish Milan as an example, the thesis explores the transformation of the nobility from rebels to warriors and courtiers over the course of the seventeenth century. It argues that this transformation was neither the result of far-sighted impositions from above nor the product of the nobility's intrinsic motivation but the fallout from the collapse of the government of the minister-favorite. By opening up access to royal patronage for select members of the nobility successive validos inadvertently fostered a legitimacy crisis of the large-scale redistribution of commonly held resources that they had overseen. As village communities resisted the count-duke of Olivares's Union of Arms, the Spanish empire headed for a breakdown of order that reached its nadir in the 1640s. Picking up the pieces, the nobility, relying on a gendered division of the labor of domination, recomposed the Spanish monarchy, transforming it from an elite network animated by dynastic concerns to a monarcho-aristocratic regime whose members drew on symbolic violence and the ideology of disinterested service to wrest back control. Putting the ruled back into the story of the rulers, the thesis revises our understanding
Weber, Samuel
Pining for stability : the Borromeo family and the crisis of the Spanish monarchy, 1610-1680. Using the Borromeo family of Spanish Milan as an example, the thesis explores the transformation of the nobility from rebels to warriors and courtiers over the course of the seventeenth century. It argues that this transformation was neither the result of far-sighted impositions from above nor the product of the nobility's intrinsic motivation but the fallout from the collapse of the government of the minister-favorite. By opening up access to royal patronage for select members of the nobility successive validos inadvertently fostered a legitimacy crisis of the large-scale redistribution of commonly held resources that they had overseen. As village communities resisted the count-duke of Olivares's Union of Arms, the Spanish empire headed for a breakdown of order that reached its nadir in the 1640s. Picking up the pieces, the nobility, relying on a gendered division of the labor of domination, recomposed the Spanish monarchy, transforming it from an elite network animated by dynastic concerns to a monarcho-aristocratic regime whose members drew on symbolic violence and the ideology of disinterested service to wrest back control. Putting the ruled back into the story of the rulers, the thesis revises our understanding
stability family crisis spanish monarchy using family spanish milan example explore transformation nobility rebel warrior courtier course argue transformation neither far imposition product nobility intrinsic motivation collapse government minister open access royal_patronage select member nobility successive inadvertently foster legitimacy crisis large_scale redistribution commonly_hold resource village_community resist count duke union spanish empire head breakdown order_reach piece nobility rely gendered division domination spanish monarchy transform elite network animate dynastic concern aristocratic regime whose member draw symbolic violence ideology disinterested service back control putting rule back story ruler revise