ASPHS

We are thrilled to announce a new prize: the Richard L. Kagan prize for the best article/chapter on early modern Spanish history!

My fab #ASPHS52 panel on art an power in early modern Spain.

The President of ASPHS Luis Corteguera introduces our keynote speaker, the inimitable Professor Richard Kagan. #ASPHS52

Rebecca Wartell discusses examples of Luis Carvajal’s letters and their use of matriarchal stewardship in the cryptic realm in her paper “The Wandering Bride and the Fierce Widow: The Divine Feminine in Early Modern Jewish and Converso Veneration.” #ASPHS52

Michael Selzer of the University of Akron looks at women’s often obscured roles in health care and ideas of wellness. #ASPHS52

Looking at Queen Consort Isabel of Portugal and concubine Lucretia d’Alagno demonstrate the complexity of contemporary perceptions of the ability of women to influence male rulers.

She asks what happens when we add sexual power and the power of queenship.

Nuria Silleras-Fernandez of University of Colorado, Boulder presents “Ruling Sexualities under the Trastámara or the Power of Wives and Concubines. #ASPHS52

Her source base includes over 3000 between Juan de Escobedo and his second wife. 700 of these are from 1569 that provide biographical information and evidence of Constanza’s resourcefulness and agency.

Vanessa de Cruz Medina of the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha discusses “The Royal Secretary’s Wife: Art and Power in Constanza de Castañeda’s Correspondence.”

The patronage of art could replace the primacy of an illustrious genealogy for a secretary.

Secretaries knew better than anyone else what a monarch’s tastes were and thus were well positioned to commission paintings, medals, and tapestries.

Carmen Ripollés introduces Sergio Ramiro Ramírez of the CSIC who is presenting “Before the Artistic Display: Secretaries and Ambassadors and Cultural Liaisons between Habsburg Courts” #ASPHS52

Raphael Murillo presents “Empire of Financial Justice: A Genoese Perception of Philip II’s 1575 Bankruptcy.” Outside perceptions of these financial problems were critical yet understudied. #ASPHS52

Levin asks how we define a golden age? Compared to what? Compared to whom?

In Venice a generation later, there was no network in place for the arriving Spanish ambassador who wrote “one can be sure of them unless they deceive me.”

Michael J. Levin of the University of Akron asks if Early Modern Spanish espionage is overrated? He gives two cases of spectacular intelligence failures. #ASPHS52

The Renaissance papacy conceived North Africa as the barbarian frontier.

Dauverd argues that Portuguese and Vatican archives reveal that the papacy was not a mere spectator in these conquests. Popes sought peace through might in their shifting alliances. #ASPHS52

Celine Dauverd of the University of Colorado, Boulder interrogates the papacy’s desire to portray itself as the protagonist of the conquest of Tunis.