Historiography has overcome the view of seventeenth-century Italy as an era of political stagnation and cultural decadence, marked by Spanish misrule, due to a renewed and still lively interest in the political and social dynamics of the period. More or less recent research have reconsidered the Italy-Spain relationship in the Baroque age and the reasons for its long duration. One of the factors that allowed the persistence of the Iberian presence on the Peninsula was the strategic use of the honours system by the Spanish Monarchy to reward old and new loyalties. Among the Catholic sovereign’s symbolic honours most coveted by the Italian elites were the crosses of the Castilian Military Orders. The paper exposes how access to these Orders could turn into a field of confrontation and competition, influenced by personal relationships, jealousies and family and political rivalries.
L’immagine tradizionale del Seicento italiano come un’età di stagnazione politica e di decadenza culturale, segnata dal malgoverno spagnolo, è stata oramai superata dalla storiografia grazie a un rinnovato e ancora vivo interesse per le dinamiche politiche e sociali dell’epoca. Linee di indagine più o meno recenti hanno riconsiderato il rapporto Italia-Spagna in età barocca e i motivi della sua lunga durata individuando, tra i fattori che permisero il perdurare della presenza iberica nella penisola, anche l’ampio utilizzo, da parte della Monarquía, del proprio sistema degli onori per premiare vecchie e nuove fedeltà. Tra le onorificenze simboliche del sovrano cattolico più ambite dalle élite italiane vi furono gli abiti degli Ordini militari castigliani che nel presente studio vengono esaminati per mostrare come l’accesso a questi Ordini potesse trasformarsi in un terreno di scontro e competizione, influenzato da relazioni personali, gelosie e rivalità familiari e politiche.
Conflittualità, onore e potere in età barocca
Davide Balestra
2024-01-01
Abstract
Historiography has overcome the view of seventeenth-century Italy as an era of political stagnation and cultural decadence, marked by Spanish misrule, due to a renewed and still lively interest in the political and social dynamics of the period. More or less recent research have reconsidered the Italy-Spain relationship in the Baroque age and the reasons for its long duration. One of the factors that allowed the persistence of the Iberian presence on the Peninsula was the strategic use of the honours system by the Spanish Monarchy to reward old and new loyalties. Among the Catholic sovereign’s symbolic honours most coveted by the Italian elites were the crosses of the Castilian Military Orders. The paper exposes how access to these Orders could turn into a field of confrontation and competition, influenced by personal relationships, jealousies and family and political rivalries.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
