Los Corregidores de Castilla bajo los Austrias: Elementos para el Estudio Prosopográfico de un Grupo de Poder (1588-1633)

Abstract

This article tries to make a prosopographical analysis of the Castilian corregidores appointed by the Crown in the period 1588-1633. It draws a general draft about their origin, their social profile and their professional and political activities, concluding with an analysis of the reasons that led to their appointment by the Crown. This was the result of a complex decision process in which social background, professional training and previous experience of the candidates were combined with their family and political connections, the royal grace and the service to the Crown in order to produce a socially homogeneous type of corregidor in which his hidalgo condition eventually became its most characteristic feature.