'Colones' and 'Pizarros' of modern science. The role of the marquis of El Carpio and the nobility in the creation and circulation of scientific knowledge

Abstract

The role of nobility in the context of the scientific revolution of the 17th century has been seen at times to be limited to their participation as patrons of authors and scientists. There are few known cases of nobles who embodied the role of authors, as understood by current criteria that define the figure of the modern author. In the modern age, ‘author’ was also “the one who causes or gives motive to something”, as defined by the Diccionario de autoridades, and so this is the context in which we must understand the fundamental role of a part of the nobility in promoting written and architectural works. The case of Gaspar de Haro y Guzmán, Marquis of Eliche and el Carpio, serves as an example to reflect on the extent to which some Spanish titled nobles participated as authors of that revolution that served to lay the foundations of modern science.