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Legal enemies, beloved brothers: high nobility, family conflict and the aristocrats' two bodies in early-modern Castile

2010; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 17; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13507486.2010.513124

1469-8293

Antonio Terrasa Lozano,

Spanish Literature and Culture Studies

Abstract In this article the conflicts and alliances between different Dukes of Pastrana, lords of a Grandée household, and their relatives are analysed from two viewpoints. The first perspective shows how litigation between early-modern aristocratic siblings for family inheritance was a very common phenomenon. Secondly, litigious kin were allies in the political and social arena. With these features in mind, this paper provides an explanation of aristocratic behaviour as the consequence of the composite nature of aristocratic identity and the two juridical bodies used by the elites. According to this juridical theory, sovereigns were juridically composed of two bodies. The first one was political, representing eternal royalty. The second one was natural, meaning the physical person of each king. As will be stated in the article, this royal conception of the two bodies was adopted by the nobility and played an important role in aristocratic family conflicts. Keywords: aristocracysiblingsfamily conflictlitigationjuridicial bodiesnoble identity Notes 1. I am really grateful to Miriam Nyhan and Susana Mateus for their kindness and generosity in editing this article. 2. According to cognate criteria, all descendants of a common ancestor through male or female lines were taken into account. 3. Mertes Mertes, Kate. 1988. The English Noble Household, 1200–1600. Good Governance and Political Rule, Oxford: Basil Blackwell. [Google Scholar], The English Noble Household, 1250–1600, 162; Heers Heers, Jacques. 1974. Le clan familial au moyen age. Études sur les structures politiques et sociales des milieux urbains, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. 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Jurists and entailment documents always referred to the law of God in order to legitimate the mayorazgos. Inés de Pedraza's entailment is a good case in point. In 1488 she entailed her domains and created a mayorazgo to be inherited by her eldest son. As it was explained in the foundation document, entailing her goods was fair because “en la divina Escritura se habla que los primogénitos habían muchas prerrogativas y excelencias sobre los otros sus hermanos” (“in the Holy Bible the first-born sons are said to have more privileges and honours that their younger brothers.”) Quoted in Clavero, 131, n. 13. 20. For the meaning of prefiguration and fulfilment I am referring to, see Auerbach Auerbach, Erich. [1967] 1998. Figura [Figura. Sacrae Scripturae Sermo Humilis], Madrid [Bern]: Trotta. [Google Scholar], Figura, especially 88–90. 21. Gen., 26, 27 (KJV). 22. Gen., 27, 28: 29 (KJV). 23. Pastor Pastor, Pedro Enrique. 1637. Nobleza virtuosa, Zaragoza: Juan de Lanaja y Quartanet. 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In the sixteenth century the prestige of the Grandeza was beyond discussion. However, during the seventeenth century it was too easily granted and even sold by the Monarchy and the Grandeza lost part of its social value. Domínguez Ortiz Domínguez Ortiz, Antonio. [1973] 1985. Las clases privilegiadas en la España del Antiguo Régimen, Madrid: Istmo. [Google Scholar], Las clases privilegiadas en la España del Antiguo Régimen, 77 and 82. According to the great seventeenth-century genealogist Salazar y Castro, Ruy Gomez the Silva was Grande since 1568 when he became Duke of Estremera. Salazar y Castro, 493. 33. For the periodisation of sixteenth-century nobility indebtedness see the classic Jago Jago, Charles. May 1973. The Influence of Debt in the Relations between Crown and Aristocracy in Seventeenth-Century Castile. The Economic History Review, 25(2): 218–36. [Google Scholar], “The Influence of Debt in the Relations between Crown and Aristocracy in Seventeenth- Century Castile”, 218–36. 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As it has been pointed out by Bartolomé Yun, “una vez constituidas, esas nuevas ramas iniciaban una dinámica de crecimiento que no sólo afectaba al conjunto social, sino que redoblaba el grado de conflicto interno dentro del propio grupo, como demuestran las continuas luchas de bandos o la abundancia de pleitos con que se inaugura la Edad Moderna” (“Once the cadet Households were created they developed a dynamic of growing that increased conflicts in the social group, as demonstrate violent struggles and the high degree of litigation at the beginning of the Early modern period.”) Yun Casalilla, 108. 38. Reed Reed, Helen H. 2004. “Mother Love in Renaissance: The Princess of Eboli's Letters to Her Favorite Son”. In Power and Gender in Renaissance Spain. Eight Women of the Mendoza Family, 1450–1650, Edited by: Nader, Helen. 152–76. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press. 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[Google Scholar], I feudi, il diritto feudale e la loro storia nell'Italia meridionale. 42. It has being stated that during the 1560s Don Diego was closer to the duke of Alba's faction than to his son-in-law's one. Boyden, 134–9. As Doña Ana complained, Don Ruy Gomez because of his marriage had “heredado muchos trabajos y pleitos y desabrimientos, y a mi padre por suegro, que es el que nunca trató sino en dárselos y en entender y hacer quimeras como acabarnos y destruirnos” (“inherited troubles, and lawsuits, and offences, and my father happened to be his father in law, who was the origin of all those problems and who spent his time trying to destroy us”.) Quoted in Muro Muro, Gaspar. 1877. Vida de la princesa de Éboli, Madrid: Mariano Murillo. [Google Scholar], Vida de la princesa de Éboli, 208. 43. AHN-SN, Osuna, leg. 2080- 12 (3). 44. “… y la dote que yo la dicha Princessa traxere, y pareciere auer traydo a poder del dicho Principe de Eboli, mi señor y marido, por bienes dotales mios propios, y las arras que pareciere auerme dado y prometido, y todos los demas bienes que yo despues he y huuiere auido y heredado, y que en qualquier manera me pertenezcan y pertenecieren por bienes mios libres, que esten cobrados, o no, porque de todo el valor dellos entra y se comprehende, y queda y ha de quedar, y incluyrse en el valor de los dichos bienes deste dicho mayorazgo, hasta en la concurrente cantidad” (“… and the dowry I, the forementioned Princess, could provide with the forementioned Prince of Eboli, my lord and husband, and all the goods I got after my marriage or that I will get must be included among our entailed properties”.) AHN-SN, Osuna, c. 1759, d. 8 (1), f. 13v. 45. Notwithstanding this, he almost got it. After his wife's death in 1576, Don Diego married the daughter of the Duke of Segorbe and Cardona, Doña Magdalena de Aragón, who was pregnant when he himself died in 1578. The Pastranas were relieved when Doña Magdalena's baby happened to be a female. Boyden, 138. 46. Coolidge Coolidge, Grace E. 2004. “Choosing Her Own Buttons: The Guardianship of Magdalena de Bobadilla”. In Power and Gender in Renaissance Spain. Eight Women of the Mendoza Family, 1450–1650, Edited by: Nader, Helen. 132–51. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press. [Google Scholar], “Choosing Her Own Buttons: The Guardianship of Magdalena de Bobadilla,” 133. 47. Reed, 166, 169. 48. Helen Reed underlines “her knowledge of the intricate legal system and mastery of detail.” Reed, 165. 49. The donatio inter vivos happens to be a sort of universal way of avoiding succession laws. See for instance Carrol Carrol, Lucy. 2001. Life interests and inter-generational transfer of property avoiding the law of succession. 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