Reforming Early Modern Monarchies ─ The Castilian Arbitristas in Comparative European Perspectives

During the last decades of sixteenth century Spain, the term n/> (decline) became current as the political and economic pillars on which the empire of Charles I rested appeared to have become insecure and fragile. The royal treasury was out of money and dependent on foreign loans, and Castile was losing its people to waves of plagues, famines, wars, colonizing projects and religious persecution--in particular the expulsion of the . Efforts to contribute to the conservation or restoration of the monarchy’s former glory and power stemmed from the duty of the vassal “to advise and when he had something to communicate of benefit to king and commonwealth, the assumption being that he would also benefit himself.” Consequently the term turned into an insult and the authors of advices, now described as , argued themselves against the harmful influence of contemporary (a negative and limited view which survived into the nineteenth century). As scholars try to classify the Castilian vis-a-vis their role in early modern society, the contribution of their writings to political communication and their use of political, economic and social knowledge, one result has been the ongoing discussion about the comparability of the with the authors of advices in other countries (English “projectors” and French ). This volume aims to contribute to recent research on Castilian and to stimulate further studies, discussing as a European phenomenon on the one hand, and on the other, placing the history of the in the larger context of a cultural history of knowledge, economy and early modern political communication. Annotation ©2017 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)