Author(s): Manuel Rivero Rodríguez

Publisher: Ediciones Akal

Publication date: 2011-04-19

Binding: Paperback

Pages: 368

Language: es

A viceroy is one who acts on behalf of the king. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the kings of the House of Austria ruled a collection of states whose common characteristic was that the king had to govern them as if he were sovereign of each one individually. For this reason, in their titles, decrees, and public statements, the Habsburgs did not present themselves as kings of Spain but as kings of Castile, Aragon, Naples, Sicily, Valencia, and many others. This was not a mere symbolic formality; it was a reality that required the sovereigns throughout the 16th and 17th centuries to multiply and split the royal person as many times as necessary. This remarkable study addresses this peculiar form of government. Through a chronological development, it traces the evolution of a system created under the reign of Charles I and adapted to the governance of America by transforming the colonies into kingdoms of the Indies. From that moment on, the Spanish Monarchy lived under a dual tension or contradiction, marked by the aspiration for unity and centrality while its legitimacy rested on its composite and decentralized nature. A contradiction that could only be resolved with the creation of the nation-state in the 19th century and the disappearance of the viceroyalty.