Aristocratic Power in the Spanish Monarchy by Samuel Weber - 9780198872597

Oxford University Press

Aristocratic Power in the Spanish MonarchyThe Borromeo Brothers of Milan, 1620-1680\nAuthor(s): Samuel Weber\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Oxford University Press, United Kingdom\nImprint: Oxford University Press\nISBN-13: 9780198872597, 978-0198872597\nSynopsis\nIn Italy, the powerful Borromeo family of Milan have long been held up as a rare example of paternalist aristocrats who withstood the temptations of self-enrichment so many of their peers succumbed to during the period of Spanish rule. Aristocratic Power in the Spanish Monarchy, the first major study of the family in the seventeenth century, challenges this myth and explains how it came about. \n\nBased on research in the previously inaccessible Borromeo private papers, the volume details the Borromeo's increasing involvement with, and dependence on, the patronage of the kings of Spain. At the center of the analysis are the ways in which one family sought to rationalize and conceal this controversial relationship in the face.