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GIR - History of Power in Modern Spain

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Contact Information

Antonio Cabeza Rodriguez
Plaza del Campus, S/N
Valladolid, Valladolid (47011) - Facultad de Filosofía y Letras
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983186647
983423007

Basic Information

UniversityUniversidad de Valladolid
Center
DepartmentModern, Contemporary and American History, Journalism and Audiovisual Communication and Advertising
Investigation GroupHistory of Power in Modern Spain

Description

OBJECTIVES:

The objectives pursued by our GIR are the following:

1. To determine the mechanisms of integration of the Hispanic Monarchy, understood as a political structure ruling over a diversity of kingdoms with their particularities. Emphasis will be placed on the fact that the means of cohesion not only resided in the administrative -the central institutions of the kingdoms, the provinces and the local communities-, in the control of the sacred -the action of the clergy and the predominance of the religious- and in the coercive force -the army-, but also through informal means such as negotiation, the connection of particular interests with those of the state or the achievement of pacts with the elites, noble, ecclesiastical, economic or other types, of each kingdom.

2. To contrast these cohesion formulas with the numerous conflicts that the Monarchy had to endure. In this sense, the aim is to determine the dimensions of the crises that occurred throughout the modern centuries, weighing the causes of their outbreak, the influence of international politics in their development and the importance of social, political and economic factors. In this way, by contextualizing them, the ruptures and tensions come to be understood as part of longer processes.

3. To study the different socio-political groups that, integrated in the central or regnicultural institutions, identify themselves with the interests of the Monarchy and try to make them compatible with their own.

Here we will pay attention to the following research objects:

Outline some of the great intellectual debates as a manifestation of tensions and conflicts and also as evidence of the existence of a cohesive cultural community that comprises the Spanish and European territories of the Monarchy. Among these, the debate on the nobility as a concept of social preeminence and personal excellence stands out, and another controversy, closely related to the previous one, about access to the privilege and functions of those of noble birth. Equally it can be said about the very nature of the Monarchy of kingdoms, that is to say, its definition between absolute monarchy, aggregate State and society of estates, nodal question of the political theory not only Spanish but also European.
Study of the army and war not only as an instrument of prestige, conquest or defense policy, but also as a phenomenon that reflects well the complexity of a plurinational monarchy with European and planetary interests, the economic and logistical problems, and the sociographic and sociological profiles of the troops.

The specific lines of work to be developed by the GIR components correspond to these specific objectives. Our intention to approach the complex reality of power from different perspectives is based on the specialization in different fields of the members of the Group, a trajectory endorsed by the research and publications of each one. These trajectories allow us to confidently address the breadth of the elements that make up power.

Other information

Number of researchers:

Technological Line(s):

- Arts and Humanities

Development status:

In research and development phase

Applicability of technology:

Yes

Additional Information:

RESEARCH:

The political dynamics in the court of the king, and in the courts of the capitals of the kingdoms.
The hierarchy and the ecclesiastical institutions, straddling their insertion in the dynastic project and its peculiar character within the society of estates.
The formation and evolution of the administrative elites that emerged in the great Castilian universities, which were integrated both in the Habsburg dynastic project and later in the Bourbon program while trying to preserve their identity as a group
Ambassadors and diplomatic activity, particularly at the pontifical see, the main diplomatic center of the time, where the Spanish faction within the College of Cardinals exerted their influence and confronted other interest groups.
Viceroys and Governors, agents of peripheral power who merge State policy with family policies
The insertion of noble lineages in the dynastic project and the harmonization or opposition of their interests.

UNESCO Code:

5506 - Specialized histories

Other members:

ADOLFO CARRASCO MARTINEZ
ROSA MARÍA GONZALEZ MARTINEZ
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CARLOS JOSÉ HERNANDO SANCHEZ
LUIS ANTONIO RIBOT GARCIA
LINA SCALISI
IGOR SOSA MAYOR

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