Guardianship, Gender, and the Nobility in Early Modern Spain

Grace E. Coolidge

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781409400530
• eBook ISBN:
  9781351931991
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Early Modern History
• Index: History

Contrary to early modern patriarchal assumptions, this study argues that rather trying to impose obedience or enclosure on women of their own rank and status, noblemen in early modern Spain depended on the active collaboration of noblewomen to maintain and expand their authority, wealth, and influence. While the image of virtuous, secluded, silent, and chaste women did bolster male authority in general and help to assure individual noblemen that their children were their own, the presence of active, vocal, and political women helped these same men move up the social ladder, guard their property and wealth, gain political influence, win legal battles, and protect their minor heirs. Drawing on a variety of documents-guardianships, wills, dowry and marriage contracts, lawsuits, genealogies, and a few letters-from the family archives of the nine noble families housed in the Osuna and Frías collections in Toledo, Guardianship, Gender and the Nobility in Early Modern Spain explores the lives and roles of female guardians. Grace Coolidge examines in detail the legal status of these women, their role within their families, and their responsibilities for the children and property in their care. To Spanish noblemen, Coolidge argues, the preservation of family, power, and lineage was more important than the prescriptive gender roles of their time, and faced with the emergency generated by the premature death of the male title holder, they consistently turned to the adult women in their families for help. Their need for support and for allies against their own mortality meant, in turn, that they expected and trained their female relatives to take an active part in the economic and political affairs of the family.

Index

Alexander VI, Pope 12, 29, 80

Alfonso X, king of Castile 18, 19, 54, 56

Andalusia 18

Antwerp 6, 112

Aragón 10, 151

Admirals of 114

Arcos

counts of (Ponce de León)

1. third count of, Rodrigo Ponce de León (also Marquis of Cádiz) 45, 52
2. third countess of (Beatrix Pacheco) 45

dukes of (Ponce de León) 10, 11, 14

1. first duke of (Rodrigo Ponce de Léon) 70
2. second duke of (Luis Cristobal Ponce de León) 52, 62, 70, 76
3. third duke of (Rodrigo Ponce de León) 62
4. fourth duke of (Rodrigo Ponce de León) 52

aristocracy 8, 56, 135

decline of 65

Astorga collection 14

Astorga, marquises de (Osorio) 14

Ayala, Aldonza de 21, 28, 46, 47, 113, 121

Ayala, Elvira de 86, 88, 96, 100, 107

Ayala, Isabel de 145

Ayala, María de 125

Ayala, Mencía de 50

Ayala, Pedro López de 50, 72

bankruptcy

courts 12

of the duke of Gandía 105

of the duke of Medina de Ríoseco 123, 138; see also Colonna, Vittoria

proceedings 65, 123

Beceiro Pita, Isabel 54

Béjar, dukes of (Zúñiga) 10, 13, 14, 24, 33, 72, 120, 129, 135, 137–8

sixth duke of (Francisco Diego López de Zúñiga) 84

seventh duke of (Alonso Diego de Zúñiga y Sotomayor) 136

ninth duke of (Alonso López de Zúñiga) 13

tenth duchess of (Teresa de Silva Sarmiento de la Cerda) 24, 35, 47, 61, 81–4, 108, 124, 137–9

eleventh duke of (Manuel de Zúñiga y Sotomayor) 47, 61, 137

eleventh duchess of (María de Castro) 61, 137

twelfth duke of (Juan Manuel de Zúñiga y Sotomayor) 33, 35, 138–9

Belalcázar, counts of (Zúñiga/Sotomayor) 28, 124, 127, 129; see also Béjar, dukes of

co...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Inheritance Law, Guardianship, and Women
• “The Great Love and Affection I Have for Her”: Appointing Female Guardians
• “Giving Security to the Youthful Years”:Raising Wards and Managing Noble Property
• “With License and Authority”: Arranging Marriages for Noble Wards
• “A Guardian Should Bring Suit”: Female Guardians in Court
• “I Have Been Diligent”: Life after Guardianship
• Conclusion
• Works Cited
• Index