Portraits of Children at the Spanish Court in the Seventeenth Century: The Infanta Margarita and the Young King Carlos II

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Portraits of children at the Spanish Court during the seventeenth century clearly reflect the various stages of their education and upbringing quite significantly. However, visual signs indicating the development and changing status of the child portrayed have to be identified and analyzed if the full meaning of these portraits is to be understood. In the present article, the educational treatises of the period are explored for the light they throw on concepts that were then current in relation to children’s development. Royal children´s portraits will be shown to reflect the education they received and the various stages through which they passed. First, however, it is necessary to explain how children were thought to move from infancy to childhood (puericia) and acquire the especially important “use of reason”.

The Allied Occupation of Madrid in 1710: A Turning Point in the War of the Spanish Succession

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The War of the Spanish Succession began in 1701, when most of Europe allied to block the accession of the French Bourbon Duke of Anjou to the throne of Spain as Felipe V. The ensuing war lasted until 1714, at enormous cost. Louis XIV of France provided early support to defend his grandson’s throne, but in 1709 he began to seek a separate peace with the anti-Bourbon coalition and to abandon Felipe V and Spanish interests in Europe and the Americas. He re-committed to the war in 1710.

Standard histories often argue that the turning point in the war came in 1711, when the Habsburg pretender to the Spanish throne, the Archduke Charles, also became the likely choice for Holy Roman Emperor. Faced with a revival of Habsburg hegemony, the ardor of the anti-Bourbon allies cooled, and the war wound down. Against that standard interpretation, I argue that the turning point came in 1710, centering on the allied occupation of Madrid. This paper explores the events before, during, and after that occupation, including the important role that the Portuguese played—or failed to play—in that historic chain of events.

Myth and Prophecy in Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda’s Crusading “Exhortación”

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Known among scholars for his defense of the Spanish conquest, Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda (ca. 1490 – 1573) was also among the most vocal proponents of the Christian crusade against the Muslim Turks. Prior to his intervention in the debate over the justice of the Spanish conquest, Sepúlveda authored numerous writings in which he reflected on the relation between war and Christianity. This study seeks to contribute to existing scholarship of Sepúlveda’s writings on war by focusing on his “Exhortación a la guerra contra los Turcos,” (Bologna, 1529), a crusading exhortation that the Spanish humanist offered to Charles V upon his papal coronation in Bologna in 1530. I demonstrate the ways in which medieval apocalyptic rhetoric and humanist discourse intermingle in Sepúlveda’s crusade exhortation. I identify how Sepúlveda draws on millenarian prophecies of the Last World emperor and on narratives of origin about the East and the West to articulate a theory of war the aim of which was to bring about Christian peace. In my final analysis, I argue that the ideas that Sepúlveda begins to develop in the “Exhortación” on the compatibility of war and religion ultimately contributed to normalizing the role of war in governance.

Ambientes jesuítas no Brasil à data da Supressão

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Este texto analisa os ambientes jesuítas no Brasil à data da Supressão. Neste sentido, começamos pela inumeração dos objectos de mobiliário, iluminação, higiene, decoração e coleccionismo, lazer e ligados aos rituais alimentares que mais caracterizaram estes ambientes. Procuramos, seguidamente, fazer uma reconstrução dos principais ambientes comunitários (os refeitórios, as livrarias, as portarias, os aposentos destinados a guardar determinados objectos, os corredores e as retretes) e dos cubiculae.

Virtuosos e impertinentes: los pájaros de cámara en la corte española del siglo XVIII

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El hábito de poseer animales de compañía, con la mayoría de los rasgos que posee hoy en día, se gestó en los círculos aristocráticos y cortesanos europeos a lo largo de la Edad Moderna. En la corte española este fenómeno es claramente perceptible durante el siglo XVIII, cuando la afición de los miembros de la familia real por coleccionar animales exóticos se conjugó con un creciente entusiasmo por poseer toda clase de mascotas de cámara. Entre los muchos animales que llegaron a abarrotar las habitaciones palaciegas, las más numerosas fueron siempre las aves de jaula, por las que la cultura aristocrática sentía una profunda fascinación que se fue incrementando al tiempo que lo hacía su propio refinamiento. Conviviendo de manera continuada con sus dueños y compartiendo sus espacios más íntimos, estos animales experimentaron también una gradual transformación en la forma de ser percibidos y representados culturalmente, dejando de ser meros objetos de lujo para convertirse en preciadas mascotas.

Arriving (Way Beyond) Where We Started: Forty-Eight Years of Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies

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This study categorizes the 3,136 papers presented at the annual meetings of the Association for Spanish and Portuguese Historical studies from 1970 through 2017 according to the following criteria: temporal focus, geographic focus, themes, and sub-themes. In terms of geographic and temporal focus, the vast majority of the papers have dealt with Spain from the 14th century onward, with a decided bias toward the 19th and 20th centuries. Many themes have been prominent throughout the history of the annual meetings, notably Society, Politics, Religion, Ideas, and Government. Other themes have been present, though less prominent, such as Elites, Women, International Relations, and Historiography.

Fernando III y la Cruzada Hispánica

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The present article examines the relationship between Fernando III of Castile-León and the phenomenon of crusading in which he was an active and frequent participant. The study makes an in important contribution to wider discussions of crusading and holy war in Iberia in the period by its patient excavation of the papal and local diplomatic material and the major chronicles from the period. Taken together, the argument of the essay shows that, far from being a passive recipient of the crusading movement and its rhetoric, Fernando and his court participated in the discourse of crusading and employed it in a fashion that alloyed the local traditions of war against Muslim powers in al-Andalus with larger European phenomenon.

Coroporis Incorrupti Inspectio: The Remains of Fernando III and the Science of Confirming Sanctity in Seventeenth Century Sevilla

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This paper presents and analyzes the canonization of Fernando III of León-Castile, undertaken under the aegis of popes Alexander VIII and Clement X. After being thoroughly dead for more than four centuries, King Fernando was elevated to the roll of the saints. The reasons for his canonization, the process by which he was canonized, and the means by which the papacy understood his alleged sanctity have been thoroughly understudied and require the attention of scholars in order to demonstrate those instances where scholars can draw important conclusions for early modern history.

Building Heaven on Earth: Bishop Maurice and the novam fabricam of Burgos cathedral

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The cathedral of Burgos, founded in 1221, was one of the first Gothic cathedrals to be constructed in the kingdom of Castile. Built by French masons and craftsmen, it stands as a monument to the introduction of the opus francigenum into Spain, and the convergence of French architectural models with Spanish ecclesiastical culture. As the thirteenth century progressed, this foreign style was adopted in a number of new cathedrals, including those of Toledo and León. Yet, although the architectural history of Burgos has been discussed in detail, far less is known about the cathedral’s founder and patron, Maurice, bishop of Burgos between 1213 and 1238. This article seeks to shed new light on Maurice’s foundation of the cathedral, assessing his connections with France in the run up to 1221 and his concerns and priorities once the building work was underway. Furthermore, analysis of Maurice’s own writings, the Concordia Mauriciana, written in 1230, indicates that this new architectural style had a symbolic significance to its patron, bringing Burgos in line with French ecclesiastical and theological developments.

In eo tempore: The Circulation of News and Reputation in the Charters of Fernando III

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In the Middle Ages, Castilian monarchs traveled throughout their realm in order to assert power and perform justice. However, the expansionary activities of the thirteenth century increasingly made rarer the ability for a king to be physically present in all parts of his kingdom. As a result, the king and his court sought other ways to make the power of the king ubiquitous. This article will examine one particular facet of promoting the king located in charters: the presence of contemporary events in the dating clause. It will argue that these markers, while not unique to Castilian-Leonese charters, underpinned an articulation of kingship built upon socio-political and religious actions. The resulting circulation of such news in turn bolstered the authority, reputation and stability of the crown. Focusing on the charters of Fernando III, king of Castile-León (r. 1217-1252), the article will trace the identity construction in charters of a pious and martial monarch and the subsequent dissemination of the documents through the performance at the place of composition as well as the destination. Consequently, through the use of charters, the image of king and kingship found circulation throughout the entirety of his realm and ultimately placed the majesty of the king before a population who increasingly did not interface with its monarch.