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Title:Patrons, Partisans, & Palace Intrigues : The Court Society of Colonial Mexico 1702-1710
Series:(Latin American & Caribbean Series: 6)
Author:Christoph Rosenmüller, Ph.D.
ISBN:1552382346 : 9781552382349
Illustrations:4 b/w photos & 1 map
Format:Paperback
Size:155x230mm
Pages:278
Weight: .464 Kg.
Published:University of Calgary Press - April 2008
List Price: 20.99 Pounds Sterling
Availability:In Print
Subjects:American history: c1500 to c1800: Mexico


Palace intrigues & clientelism drove politics at the viceregal court of colonial Mexico. By carefully reconstructing social networks in the court of Viceroy Duke of Alburquerque (1702-1710), Christoph Rosenmüller reveals that the Duke presided over one of the most corrupt viceregal terms in Mexican history. Alburquerque was appointed by Spain’s King Philip V at a time when expanding state power was beginning to meet with opposition in colonial Mexico. The Duke & his retainers, though seemingly working for the crown, actually built close alliances with locals to thwart the reform efforts emanating from Spain. Alburquerque collaborated with contraband traders & opposed the secularization of Indian parishes. He persecuted several local craftsmen & merchants, some of whom died after languishing in jail, accusing them of treason to bolster his own credentials as a loyal official. In the end, however, the dominant clique at the royal court in Madrid sought revenge. Alburquerque was forced to pay an unheard-of indemnity of 700,000 silver pesos to regain the king’s favour. Dealing with a topic & period largely ignored by historiography, Rosenmüller demonstrates the vast patronage power of the viceroy at the historical watershed between the expiring Habsburg dynasty & the incoming Bourbon rulers. His analysis shows that precursors of the Bourbon reforms & the struggle for Mexican independence were already at play in the early eighteenth century.

Introduction; The Political & Economic Culture of Spain's Early-Eighteenth-Century Empire; Court & Corruption in Colonial Mexico; Clients & Creatures: Alburquerque's Pervasive Patronage; The Clash over Contraband Commerce & the Consulado; Fighting the Faux Habsburg Conspiracy, 1706-1708; Alburquerque Resists Royal Reforms; Reform & Revenge: The Fall of Alburquerque, 1711-1715; Conclusion; Index.