In 1517 Charles promised to reform the Spanish bureaucracy, but instead of implementing appointment standards and auditing mechanisms he imposed a new tax on his clerical subjects and the nobility. Causing the comunero civil war (1520–21), Charles compromised his credit with bankers because they were not able to collect Spanish municipal contributions. In 1522, Charles restored order and his...
Spanish Celebrations in Seventeenth-Century Naples
Read more
Splendid public celebrations projected the grandeur of rulers’ authority to the general public, which served to enhance ideas of cosmic order and transcendental hierarchy to uphold rulers’ power, particularly in times of social unrest. Spanish Naples presents an ideal case study for an investigation of a festive culture flourishing in the midst of a conflictive society. This study explores the...
The Guises, the Body of Christ, and the Body Politic
Read more
This article reexamines Léonard Limosin’s painted enamel The Triumph of the Eucharist and of the Catholic Faith (executed between 1561 and 1563) in the light of recent scholarship on the French religious wars and the social and political uses of the Eucharist. It argues that the enamel expresses the Guise family’s frustration with Catherine de’Medici’s accommodation of the Calvinists...
Ceremony versus Consent: Courtship, Illegitimacy, and Reputation in Northwest England, 1560–1610
Read more
This analysis of matrimonial ligation from northwest England both challenges the assumption that shifting theology during the Reformation created a revolution in early modern marriage and underscores the importance of regional cultural variety. Just as customary matrimonial practices survived the Reformation on the Continent, so, too, did they survive in northwest England. Matrimonial contract...
The Early Modern Portuguese Empire: A Commentary on Recent Studies
Read more
Because of its relatively small size and population (one to two million), early modern Portugal was largely able to maintain its independence and use its political and economic clout because of the opportunities and wealth generated from its global empire. As a result, much of the history of the period in both Portuguese and other languages tends to incorporate imperial aspects.
...