Cuadernos de Historia Moderna [Journal of Modern History] (ISSN 0214-4018, ISSN-e 1988-2475) is a half-yearly scientific publication created in 1988, published by the Department of Modern History of the Faculty of Geography and History at the Complutense University of Madrid, specialising in the study of Spanish, European and International History in the Modern Era. An annual volume is published in two instalments, a monograph and one with miscellaneous material. It is open to contributions, preferably in Spanish, of original research that has been verified with a double-blind external review. Since 2014, the journal has followed the Committee on Publication Ethics’ Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines
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The family of the priest. Structure of the household of the Castilian clergy in mid-18th century
Our knowledge of the residential structure during the Modern Age in Spain is, with lights and shadows, a subject on which there are numerous essays and papers. However, an important part of the population has not been studied in depth. We refer specifically to priests, chaplains, and other secular clerics, who were very common in towns and cities, and together with them to the whole family living under their tutelage and care. The aim of our work is to analyze this particular aspect of Early Modern society according to the typology of families and on the basis of the social history of the population.
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Regional trade in the Early Modern Age. The Guadajoz fair
The present paper tries an approach to a difficult subject to know as is the domestic trade. To do this, we focus on a representative case study of the fairs while possessing certain singularities. It is the Guadajoz fair, a village in the Carmona (Seville) área, but under jurisdiction of the Casa de Arcos. This circumstance causes stately interests will collide with those of royal, represented by the city of Carmona and the Royal Treasury. The available documentation allows us to trace a long evolution of the main characteristics of a county and regional fair from its origins to its disappearance.
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The Ducal Archive of Gandia: Technical Treatment and Information Retrieval Resources within the Spanish Archives Portal (PARES)
This article aims to serve as a tool to improve users’ research experience when working with noble archives of the Crown of Aragon preserved at the Archivo Histórico de la Nobleza. To this end, the ducal archive of Gandía—one of the best known and most frequently consulted collections in the institution—is taken as a case study. First, the article explains the diversity of current and historical reference codes, resulting from its integration into the Ducal Archive of Osuna. Second, it analyses the evolution of the archive’s internal organization, its successive owners, and changes in titularity, with the aim of clarifying its present archival classification. Third, it examines the ways in which its contents have been described, both at the level of documentary entities and non-documentary entities, paying particular attention to the challenges of standardization in a multilingual archive. Taken together, these analytical tools are intended to enable users to make more efficient use of the Spanish Archives Portal (PARES).
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Readings on virtue. The private library of María Ignacia de Azlor y Echeverz (1737)
Reading was a fundamental to the education of women in New Spain during the 18th century. Within the framework of a deeply religious society, most of the assigned books focusing on religious themes. However, female instruction in wealthy households allowed women to expand their cultural horizons. This study examines the private library of María Ignacia de Azlor y Echeverz (1715-1767), through a thematic analysis to explores a collection of books on women’s education, anchored both in religious readings and the other areas if knowledge.
The Cavana Family. Family, Economic, and Noble Networks in the Life and Work of Agustín Moreto y Cavana
The ultimate aim of this study is to initiate a series of investigations that will make it possible to unravel the family, economic, and noble networks of the family of the writer Agustín Moreto y Cavana. The starting point is the individuals mentioned in his father’s will of 1626, with the ultimate intention of determining their scope and influence in his life and in his dramatic production. This study analyzes the Genoese Cavana family (merchants and financiers), the most prominent in the will, and documents the individuals cited, grouped according to mercantile, financial (asentistas), noble (primarily of Ebolist origin), or military networks. A transcription of this interesting document is provided as an appendix so that it may be of use both to scholars of the author and to those interested in the Early Modern period. In the transcription and in the citation of all early texts, current philological methodology has been applied; spelling has been modernized–within the limits of phonetics–as has punctuation.
Venetian expertise at the service of the king. Science and power struggles in 16th-Century Seville
This article analyzes a legal conflict in 16th-century Seville surrounding the monopoly of the ship careening trade, granted to Andrea Barrasi and Pablo Matía. Through the lawsuit with fellow careener Juan Guillermo, the tensions between technical knowledge, justice, and economic power in the context of Atlantic trade are revealed. The study highlights the involvement of sailors, laborers, and technicians in jurisdictional disputes, as well as the active presence of Venetians in the port of Seville. The circulation of knowledge and technologies between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic shows how technical margins were fundamental in shaping the Empire. The microhistorical approach sheds light on global processes from a local perspective.
A kingdom becoming a Monarchy: Bernardo de Brito's history of Portugal
This article deals with a singular episode in Portuguese historiography: the Monarchia Lusytana, composed by the Cistercian monk Bernardo de Brito in the transition from the sixteenth to the seventeenth century. Specifically, the aim is to analyse the materiality of a text which, having received a particular reception between the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, raises a variety of questions regarding the time at which it was written. Questions of identity of the kingdom, such as the mythical origin linked to the Old Testament story, the indomitable Portuguese character, the beginnings of peninsular Christianity or the role of the Suevi and Goths in the configuration of a Portuguese and Hispanic monarchy. The appeal to the past as an example and replica of the present generated debates about its writing and publication in the incipient Hispanic ‘republic of letters’. The aim of this study is to outline this reading.
Leonor Maria del Carreto, marquise of Mancera. Female social capital at the service of lineage
This paper focuses on female social capital during the Early Modern Age. With this in mind, we will delve into the case of Leonor María del Carretto, II Marquise of Mancera, whose relatives and protectors, among which Queen Mariana of Austria or Luis de Haro stand out, were fundamental to understand the long political career of her husband, who occupied important representative positions such as the embassies in Venice and Vienna or the viceroyalty of New Spain during the second half of the Seventeenth century. A highly illustrative example of how, throughout the different stages of their lives, noblewomen managed to find the necessary channels to promote the intergenerational strategies of their lineages, both of birth and by marriage. On many occasions, even playing an active or collaborative role in the tasks that the crown entrusted to their male relatives.
Table and diplomacy in the 18th-Century: the art of impressing Portuguese ambassadors
Using four case studies, two in Europe, another in Asia and a third in Africa, we intend to evaluate the way in which Portuguese ambassadors were received in protocol matters and, in particular, at banquets, during the 18th century. Food, politics and diplomacy appear as a trilogy whose importance immediately revealed the success or failure of a diplomatic mission.
Spanish Girls at the Bar Convent (York): Education and Identity in Perfidious Albion at the End of the Ancien Régime
This article examines the presence of Spanish girls at the Bar Convent in York during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, regarded as the oldest surviving Catholic girls’ school in England and run by the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (IBVM), founded by Mary Ward. Drawing on archival and unpublished sources, it analyses their trajectories in relation to the Catholic families who sent them, as well as their daily life and the education they received within the convent. Particular attention is given to the spiritual dimension of this experience, shaped by the Ignatian tradition and Ward’s legacy at a time of crisis for the Society of Jesus. The study recovers an episode that highlights the persistence of Catholicism in a hostile confessional environment and the active role of female institutions in its transmission.
Impact and projection of the educational policy at the Nautical School of Bilbao. The legacy of Archer (1742-1752)
In the early 18th century, the Spanish monarchy lacked well-trained navigation professionals outside the Navy. Responding to this need, the Consulate of Bilbao established the Nautical School of Bilbao in 1739 for the instruction of Biscayan pilots. Under Miguel Archer’s direction (1742–1752), the school designed an ambitious, practice-oriented curriculum that incorporated the main innovations of the pre-Enlightenment period. As a result, many young Biscayans acquired notable nautical skills and later excelled in diverse maritime fields: the Navy, trade with the Indies and Northern Europe, transoceanic Maritime Post, privateering, and scientific expeditions to America.
Ruiz Ibáñez, José Javier, Non auro, sed ferro. La gloria en el ocaso de la hegemonía española a finales del siglo XVI en el norte de Francia, Madrid, Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2025, 484 págs. ISBN: 978-84-375-0799-6.
Herrero Sánchez, Manuel; Orozco Cruz, Jonatán y Cardim, Pedro, eds., The Asiento System and the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans (circa 1580-1750), Leiden, Brill, 2026, 374 págs. ISBN: 978-90-04-54928-9
Esteban Estríngana, Alicia y López Anguita, José Antonio, eds., Mujeres en la alta política de la Europa Moderna. Visibilidad, ocultación y memoria, Madrid: Doce Calles/Fundación Carlos de Amberes, 2024, 344 págs. ISBN: 978-84-87369-87-2.
Álvarez-Ossorio Alvariño, Antonio; Bravo Lozano, Cristina y Quirós Rosado, Roberto, eds., Bifronte imperio de dos mundos. La Monarquía de Carlos II en Europa y América, Madrid, Iberoaméricana-Vervuert, 2024, 852 págs. ISBN: 978-84-9192-371-8
Álvarez García, Beatriz, Diplomacia y opinión pública en las relaciones hispano-británicas (1624-1635), Lausane, Peter Lang, 2024, 388 págs. ISBN: 978-3-631-90709-2.
Almbjär, Martin; Cebreiro Ares, Francisco y Jiménez Montes, Germán (eds.), Distant Neighbours. Trade, Diplomacy and Political Exchange between Sweden and Spain in the Early Modern Era, Uppsala, Uppsala Universiteit, 2024, 200 págs. ISBN: 978-91-984509-8-9
Perceptions and Experiences of Women’s Captivity in the Sixteenth-Century Spanish Army
This article revolves around two key questions: first, how 16th-century Spanish military men perceived and experienced the capture of women and young girls in the European and Mediterranean context. Second, how we can recover the voices of these female captives and reconstruct their particular experiences. To address these issues, the study employs a qualitative analysis of sixteenth-century military literature—including war chronicles, (auto)biographies, and treatises—as well as archival documentation, particularly from the Kingdom of Granada. It shows a multifaceted understanding and lived experience of the phenomenon, encompassing multiple perceptions and experiences of female captivity, ranging from individual economic benefit to the loss of a loved one. Furthermore, it underscores the potential of military documentary sources for retracing the first moments of women's experiences of captivity.
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Captivity in Morocco: a study of redemption rates, mortality and apostasy in the late 17th century
This article proposes to calculate some of the aspects that have remained hypothetical in the historiography on Mediterranean captivity since Fernand Braudel's inaugural work: the rate of redemption, the rate of mortality and the rate of apostasy of Christian captives in the western Maghreb, and in this case in particular in the Morocco of Muley Ismail. The use of little-exploited sources allows us to put forward solid figures for the three rates mentioned above. We use the documentation, very little used until now, kept in the Archive of the Venerable Third Order and also the book of deaths of the Christians of Morocco kept in the Library of the University of Seville, together with documentation from the General Archive of Simancas to find out the fate of the more than 1500 individuals captured between 1681 and 1689 in the Hispanic presidios of San Miguel de Ultramar and Larache. Thanks to this documentation, we are able to know this rate of loss, which represents a basis for historiographical reflection that opposes the most generally and widely used hypotheses based on the work of Robert C. Davis. Compared to the redemption rate of 3-4 percent advanced by the American historian, the redemption of the captives of San Miguel de Ultramar and Larache is closer to 25 percent. Mortality and apostasy rates are also different from those advanced by the American researcher's general hypothesis. This article does not generalise from these figures. One of the aims is to show that the redemption books can indeed be a source for answering the problem of quantifying the phenomenon of Christian slavery in the western Mediterranean.
Captives and captivity in the Discurso Jurídico of Antonio de Mergelina y Montijo
The Discurso Jurídico por la Inmaculada Concepción de Maria Santisima, by Alonso Mergelina y Montijo, published in 1628 and addressed “to the illustrious City Council of the very noble and very loyal city of Murcia,” was authored by who, at that time, served as an attorney for this City Council and as the Mayor of Cartagena. The work aims to contribute to the defense of the mystery of the Immaculate Conception, to the city, and to the nobility that governs it. Mergelina y Montijo’s proposal, which has a distinctly legal foundation, is articulated on the authority of Roman legal scholars, the Glossators, the theologian-jurists, and classical philosophers and poets; however, its ambition extends far beyond these authorities. Constructed on the triple condition of Mary’s heritage –as Daughter of the Father, as Mother of the Son, and as Spouse of the Holy Spirit– Mary is rendered the holder of a heritage comprised of favors, gifts, and graces so exceptional that necessarily invokes her freedom, and inherently exclude the bondage of sin. To support his cause, the author establishes an original discourse on captivity that intertwines legal, theological, and philosophical elements within a complex relationship context. The analysis of these elements, their meanings, their interrelations, and their implications for the defense of the cause of the Immaculate Conception focuses this work.
Introducción: recordar el cautiverio y pensar los espacios de África a América, pasando por Europa
War and captivity in the New Kingdom of Granada, 16th and 17th centuries
The aim of this article is to analyze captivity as a practice that impacted the different groups that constituted the society of the New Kingdom of Granada during the early Modern Age. Although Colombian historiography has focused on studying Africans who were enslaved and deported to work mainly in gold mines, there is less knowledge about the numerous indigenous nations that were dehumanized to work on estates and in the houses of European conquistadors. The captivity of natives was complemented by that of Spaniards, who were captured on the roads, taken out of cities, or seized during armed conflicts in frontier territories. Thus, based on a review of a broad documentary corpus, following life itineraries and quantitative information, the goal is to understand captivity in America as a common and widespread political practice carried out by conflicting factions across various areas of the Hispanic Monarchy.
Rescuing the Faithful in Berbería: The Image of Captivity According to the Redemptive Orders of Early Modern Spain
This article explores the symbolic construction of captivity and redemption in Early Modern Spain through the analysis of the iconography of the Trinitarian and Mercedarian orders, whose charisms were founded on providing a solution to the human and spiritual tragedy of Christian captivity in Berbería. It examines how the image of the captive was integrated into the visual culture of the period, associating it with the Imitatio Christi. Following the Council of Trent, the iconographic representation of these orders underwent a transformation, exalting the heroism of their founders and martyrs in a context of Catholic reaffirmation against the rise of the Reformed Church. Likewise, the study analyzes the special connection between these redemptive orders and the Virgin Mary, emphasizing her singular role as intercessor and redeemer of sin. This article demonstrates how art served as an essential vehicle for the promotion of the redemptive orders within the framework of Spanish society at the time.
The legal status of French captives in the early modern era: from theories of jus in bello to the reality of case law
In modern times, the authors of international law, defining the jus in bello, are trying to frame the behaviour of the belligerents, to protect civilians and vanquished. These theoretical developments, however valuable, must not hide the complexity of reality, especially in times of civil war or in border areas coveted by neighbouring States, when armed groups and national forces are fighting. The reading of French civil jurisprudence has the interest to show us the reality experienced by the captives. In particular, the dispute over the redemption shows the upheavals suffered by the heritage, the sacrifices made by families, and the countless exceptions made to the general principles of contract law. When force prevails, the strictness of law fades, for the greater misfortune of the subjects of law.
Si no es con las mandas y limosnas que buenos christianos nos hicieren…”. The importance of almsgiving in financing the ransom of captives (16th and 17th centuries)
The long conflict between the Spanish Monarchy and the Ottoman Empire and its allies, the Muslim countries of North Africa, created a problem of considerable dimensions in the form of a spectacular increase in the number of captives, slaves and renegades. This gave rise to a trade in men often linked to the trade in goods, and generated a “ransom economy” whose contours are known to us but not its depth. This article analyses some of the particularities of this trade and this economy, and emphasises the role played by charitable piety in financing the ransoms of Christian captives during the 16th and 17th centuries.
Hostages or prisoners? Rethinking the categories of captivity of non-combatants during the Franco-Dutch War (1672-1678)
By referring to non-combatants captured alongside the levies of war contributions as “hostages” and often reserving the term “prisoner” exclusively for combatants who have fallen into enemy hands, historiography has largely overlooked the captivity of civilians, which fueled a ransom economy that is still very much alive. This article thus aims to bring this mass phenomenon into focus, by analyzing the words of those involved, who often make a clear distinction between hostages and prisoners, two categories of captives plainly differentiated: a prisoner, once captured is released either for a ransom or through exchange, while an hostage, handed over by his own people, serves as a surety and guarantee for a formal treaty. The predation of non-combatants lies at the heart of petite guerre or petty warfare, this war of detail, the everyday reality of operations that provides light troops detachments with the opportunity to capture and ransom civilians. These ordinary manhunts, often disconnected from the system of contributions, turned the former Low Countries into a “capturing society” between 1672 and 1678.
Captivity in Hispanic-Comanche Relations, 1700-1821
This essay explores Comanche-Spanish relations in northern New Spain (today’s US Southwest and northern Mexico) through the lens of captivity. Apart from archival documents, my research incorporates interviews with Native consultants, and ethnographic, archeological, linguistic, and environmental evidence. Comanches and Spaniards seized captives for similar purposes, mostly as labor. Both societies participated in, and benefited from, the captive traffic. The ebb and flow of this traffic reflects changing geopolitical scenarios in the borderlands of northern New Spain. Some captives played key roles in the relations between both peoples. Captivity affected the relations between Spaniards, Comanches, and other Indigenous groups at the local and regional levels, sometimes with reverberations on a continental scale. Both societies offered avenues for the captives’ social promotion toward full incorporation, although stigmatization sometimes persisted. Both groups had little tolerance for the captivity of their own people, which led to a significant increase in violence whenever their respective tolerance thresholds were crossed.
Relación de evaluadores y evaluadoras
Tesis doctorales y trabajos de investigación