Court and Etiquette of the Habsburg Spanish Monarchy (XVI-XVIIth centuries): the Spanish Monarchy as a monarchy of courts

The lecture Court and Etiquette of the Habsburg Spanish Monarchy (XVI-XVIIth centuries): the Spanish Monarchy as a monarchy of courts of  prof. José Eloy Hortal Muñoz (University Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid) will be held on 23 April 2024 from 14:00 at the Institute of History (Prosecká 809/76, 190 00 Praha 9) and via Zoom.

Invitation

By virtue of the studies carried out in recent decades, we know that the Court was fundamental in the definition and political organisation of various monarchies of the Early Modern Times. One of the most important courts of the period was that of the Spanish Monarchy, which in recent decades has been analysed from different perspectives that have greatly increased knowledge about it.

This lecture will present the evolution of the Court of the Habsburg Spanish Monarchy (XVI–XVIIth centuries), included its main elements as royal households, royal councils, courtiers, and royal geographies, and the impact that this evolution had on the court‘s etiquette and ceremonial. In this evolution, not only the central court will be considered, but also the secondary courts, as the Habsburg Spanish Monarchy was a composite monarchy considered as a “monarchy of courts”.

José Eloy Hortal Muñoz is Associate Professor of Early Modern History at the University Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid, Spain. His main research interests are the political history of the Habsburg Netherlands at the XVIth and XVIIth centuries, the Courts of Brussels and Madrid at both centuries, the royal guards of the Spanish Habsburgs and, lastly, the royal sites and geographies. His major works include the monographs Las guardas reales de los Austrias hispanos (Madrid, 2013); and (with Gijs Versteegen), Las ideas políticas y sociales en la Edad Moderna (Madrid, 2016). He has also edited Politics and Piety at the Royal Sites of the Spanish Monarchy in the Seventeenth Century (Turnhout, 2021); and coedited (with René Vermeir and Dries Raeymaekers), A Constellation of Courts: The Households of Habsburg Europe, 1555–1665 (Leuven, 2014); and (with África Espíldora García and Pierre-François Pirlet), El ceremonial en la Corte de Bruselas del siglo XVII. Los manuscritos de Francisco Alonso Lozano (Brussels, 2016), which was awarded the Henry Pirenne Prize in 2019.

Organisation: 
doc. PhDr. Dana Dvořáčková-Malá, Ph.D., Historický ústav AV ČR
doc. Mgr. Pavel Marek, Ph.D., Ústav historických věd, Fakulta filozofická Univerzity Pardubice
Mgr. Ondřej Lee Stolička, Ph.D., Historický ústav AV ČR
Mgr. Bc. Zuzana Vařáková, Historický ústav AV ČR

Contact for the Zoom link: varakova@hiu.cas.cz