James Casey offers an innovative study of prestige, power and the role of the family in a Mediterranean city during the early modern period. He focuses on the structure and values of the ruling class of Granada, where a new elite consolidated its authority. The study suggests that their power was linked to the pursuit of honour, which demanded participation in the politics of the commonwealth and depended greatly on the network of personal relations which they were able to build with kinsmen, clients and patrons. It explores the way in which this system contributed to the relative tranquillity of the community during a turbulent time of religious and political change, that of the rise of absolutism and of the Counter Reformation. The book sheds fresh light on the nature of the early modern family and will be essential reading for historians of early modern Spain and Europe.

"The richness of Casey's research places this book at the forefront of other recent publication on early modern Granada."
Richard L. Kagan, Renaissance Quarterly

"Perhaps what is most rewarding about this book is precisely the balance between the local and the global. Interested in a single community (Granada) and analyzing its social history closely, Casey nevertheless engages in 'big questions'. His vision is comparativist, and his ambition wide." -Tamar Herzog, Journal of Modern History

"Casey's careful research advances our knowledge of family and urban life in early modern Spain, offering a significant contribution to a rich and growing field of inquiry." -Jodi Bilinkoff, American Historical Review