The Relationship Between Monarchial Authority and the King's Favorite

Will Hechmer

10/15/2010

Project Proposal

My interdisciplinary web project will be on the relationship between monarchical authority and the king’s favorite. The three rulers that I will be analyzing will be Philip II, Philip III and Philip IV. During the reign of all three kings validos were present in the court. Validos were favorites of the king who garnered greater influence and power than other courtesans. During the reign of Philip II validos held a more behind the scenes role and only helped the king with management of the kingdom. However, during the reigns of Philip III and Philip IV validos held a great deal more power.  The two validos who were the most influential during the reign of Philip III and Philip IV were Francisco Goméz de Sandoval y Rojas, the Duke of Lerma, and Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel, the Count-Duke of Olivares. My project will analyze the relationship between the king’s authority and these validos.

The working thesis that I am developing is that the validos, specifically the Duke of Lerma and the Count-Duke of Olivares, used the authority of the king to rule the country themselves making the king more of a figurehead or a puppet instead of the direct ruler of Spain. I believe they did this because of a lack of faith in the king’s ability to lead and there was a need to strengthen the image of the Spanish monarchy and insure that Spain was respected by the other countries of Europe. I will use the role of validos during the reign of Philip II as a means to show contrast between the three kings and their validos. Given that he was a more direct ruler than the others, he may have been seen as more of a capable leader the Philip III and Philip IV.  I will prove this thesis with primary documents including letters, paintings, and literature.

The main points that I want to explore with the project are: why the validos were allowed to use the power of the king and rule the country themselves, how the kings felt about the validos running the country in their place, was it consensual or was it an orchestration from behind the scenes, how did the validos use monarchial power, what change occurred between the Spain ruled directly by Philip II and valido controlled Spain a generation later, and how foreigners and people outside the court viewed the relationship between monarchial authority and the validos?

The majority of the primary sources that I will use to explore this subject will be in the form of letters to and from the validos and the kings and between other members of the government. Through these I hope to learn the view from the inside in regards to the relationship of their power. Letters can be both a personal and formal means of communication and will reveal the intentions of the validos and the letters back and forth from the kings and the validos will tell us if there is a tone of distrust or whether or not the king feels like he is being coerced.  I will use paintings and additional letters to reveal what the view from the outside was in regard to the relationship. The paintings will reveal how the validos wanted to be viewed by the world and will also show how they viewed themselves. The letters of foreign dignitaries will give an idea as to the view of the validos from foreigners who may have validos in their courts as well. Often times the strength of the monarchy was a sign of the strength of the country, the validos may have been trying to preserve the appearance of a strong monarchy when the kings were not able to meet their necessary responsibilities.

Through letters and paintings my project will analyze the relationship of monarchical authority and the king’s favorite. The project will show that the validos used the authority and power of the king to rule the country themselves making the king more of a figurehead or a puppet instead of the direct ruler of Spain. I believe they did this because of a lack of faith in the king’s ability to lead and there was a need to strengthen the image of the Spanish monarchy and insure that Spain was respected by the other countries of Europe. The reigns of Philip II, Philip III, and Philip IV will be used to explore why the validos were allowed, whether the power the validos wielded was consensual from the king or whether it was manipulated from behind the scenes, and what change occurred that changed the relationship with monarchical authority and the validos between Philip II and Philip III.