Leonor Maria del Carreto, marquise of Mancera. Female social capital at the service of lineage

Abstract

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.