Integrarse en la Monarquía Hispánica a través del servicio al Rey Católicoraguseos y escoceses entre 1580 y 1620

Abstract

Research on the role and situation of foreigners in the Spanish Monarchy during the 16th-17th centuries has grown extensively in the last two decades. However, language limitations and the importance of certain nationalities, traditionally closer to the Iberian power centres, have led to side-lining the literature about other, less numerous and more peripherical communities. The present work focuses on the Scottish soldiers of Flanders and the Ragusan mariners in the Spanish armadas. By studying them, this thesis aims to know how they expressed their Hispanophilia, on one hand, and how the Hispanic influence affected them at the moment of the Monarchy’s hegemonical zenith, on the other. To achieve these goals, an analysis of these groups’ cultural and geopolitical context and their careers in service to the Catholic King has been carried out, as well as a comparison of their forms of expression in the memoriales (supplication letters) they presented to the Council of State in hopes of earning mercedes (royal boons). This research thus verifies that these two minor nationalities deployed elements taken from a common discourse of affection, service and justice. Additionally, they have been observed to consolidate their political position amongst the other ethnic groups (alien or natural) within the court and the Spanish armed forces in the same way those did, by forming religious and military institutions that gave them a voice and relevance in the Habsburgs’ plans. Moreover, the projection of Iberian influence over these groups and their homelands has been confirmed to strongly depend on how much attention the Monarchy’s authorities could dedicate to the operational front they were embedded in — the Protestant North Sea for the Scots, the Ottoman and Venetian Adriatic Sea for the Ragusans. Nevertheless, the royal administration was aware of the importance of keeping the bonds with these Hispanophiles alive, particularly those who could provide resources (military, economic, political or otherwise) more readily to their own cause.