VICEREINES AND NOBLE WOMEN IN THE POLITICAL CULTURE OF THE SPANISH HABSBURG. AN INFORMAL AND ANCILLARY POWER?

It is generally accepted that viceregal courts functioned as extensions or << mirrors >> of the royal court in Madrid, and that, in theory, though not always in practice, the viceroy was the alter ego of the king. It has also been suggested that the vicereine was understood as a reflection of the queen, constituting the center of an autonomous cultural and religious system, and therefore, auxiliary, or secondary to the power of the viceroy. Viceregal courts are, therefore, primarily studied as spaces of male political power. The analysis of the participation of vicereines and noblewomen in the political culture of the Spanish Habsburg challenges notions of their power as informal and secondary.