No me olvide con su real protección. The Marquis of Barinas and his Correspondence with Mariana of Austria, between Consilium, Abritrism and Personal Promotion (1688-1695)

Abstract

The search for mediation in the court of Madrid was one of the most recurrent strategies of the Indian elites to achieve the royal favour during the reign of Charles II. Together with agents linked to the Council of the Indies, distinguished figures in the sphere of power acted as broker of honours, graces, and grants, but also as interlocutors for the introduction of instances of diverse nature. An example of this were the epistolary dynamics that Gabriel Fernández de Villalobos, 1^st Marquis of Barinas, deployed after his fall to reverse it. One of the characters he would try to turn into his mediator was the Queen Mother Maria Anna of Habsburg. Through his memorials, he would represent his worries, he would expose the most immediate issues affecting the Monarchy in Europe and America, he would propose different measures aimed at conserving the body politic and, finally, he would achieve his personal reparation before ministers and courtiers.