Privanza, patronazgo y fiscalidad indiana en la corte de Madrid durante el reinado de Felipe IV

Abstract

Between the years 1629 and 1632 the central government of the Monarchy, controlled by the Count- Duke of Olivares, committed itself to the elaboration of a hefty set of fiscal measures designed for the American viceroyalties. The current article proposes that through the study of the diverse alternatives for said objective, it can be shown that even though the different institutions implicated in the process were composed of numerous relatives, close friends and protégés of the court favorite, the decisionmaking process continued to be fed by loyalties, criteria or interests that were not always concurrent with those of the royal favourite. Against his demands, the Council of the Indies maintained an appre ciable freedom of action. In this specific case, the social condition of the players apparently allows them to proceed with a freedom that, under different circumstances, they probably would not have been able to exercise on account of their ties with the court favourite and their unequal condition.