The Limits of Royal Authority
The Limits of Royal Authority
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In what is sometimes called the age of absolutism, Castilian nobles and commoners, tribunes and towns, were to a considerable degree able to resist and shape royal commands. Whereas there was little open conflict, there was sometimes a surprising degree of autonomy, rights and reciprocity on the part of the king's vassals. This is a study of one such form of resistance: the opposition to military levies. This opposition took place during a period of crisis, during the 1630s and 1640s, when the Crown's need to raise an army came into conflict with a notion of kingship that was far from absolute. From the king's advisory councils to parliament, from city councils and seigneurial estates, to the most humble villages, Castilians had recourse to a wide range of political and juridictional means with which to dispute the king's claims and avoid conscription.
- An interesting and accessibly written book which combines narrative with historical analysis
- Differs from other critiques of absolutism by examining the king's relationship with all his vassals, from an institutional and a social perspective
- Based on local documents which reveal the voices of ordinary Castilians as they spoke to the Crown
Reviews & endorsements
'Mackay has put together a very interesting study that addresses some of the most important historical and historiographical themes arising from the situation of Castile and the Spanish monarchy during the central decades of the seventeenth century.' Journal of Modern History
'… excellent little study.' History
Product details
May 1999Hardback
9780521643436
210 pages
229 × 152 × 16 mm
0.48kg
1 map
Available
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Table of Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1. Recruitment and royal authority
- 2. Making soldiers of townsmen
- 3. War, lords, and vassals
- 4. Common claims
- Conclusion
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index.
