Resistance as a service to restore good government in the kingdoms in Europe and America (16th and 17th centuries)

Abstract

This study’s goal is to analyse armed resistance in different kingdoms of the Spanish Habsburg’s monarchy under the idea that those could be seen as a service to the king, a way to show him that they are badly governed and that his intervention is needed in order to restore good government. In a way, it would be an extension of the well know concept of “obey, but do not comply”. It would also be clearly distanced from rebellion which, by definition, would be an illegitimate behaviour by the vassals. To carry out this study, we use key concepts of this era, such as good government, justice, council and service. The analysis will be done around the ideas of royal absenteeism, the misinformation of the King and the appeals towards him to restore justice. In order to show the universality of this phenomenon we use examples from different territories of the monarchy and even Crown’s relationship with indigenous people, without intending, in any way, to include the totality of possible cases that could be included.