Diabolical Witches or Sinful Princes? “Political” Foundations of Demonological Skepticism in the Early Modern Period

Skepticism regarding witchcraft, characteristic (but not exclusive) of the Spanish lands, corresponds with a particular view of evil’s etiology. Whereas paradigmatic texts of radical demonology, as the Malleus Maleficarum, gave a conclusive step towards the demonization of natural evil (as they put the blame on the devil and the witches for calamities and plagues), texts of Castilian origin, as Alonso de Espina’s Fortalitium fidei, embraced the traditional position: they considered the devil as a promoter of moral evil in the world, meanwhile natural evil is seen as a result of the wrath of God for the sins of His people –particularly, the sin of Christian princes. I argue that the distinction between these two ways of thinking the causality of the world’s misfortunes can be read in political terms.

Noble States Managed by Women. Doña Teresa de Saavedra y Zúñiga, Countess of Villalonso: an Aristocrat during Philip II and Philip III’s Reign

This work intends to analyze the letters exchanged between doña Teresa de Saavedra y Zúñiga, countess of Villalonso, and Bartolomé de Cartagena, a merchant who lived in Seville. Those letters are a very detailed account of their financial relationship during two decades; but they also give us important information about the countess’ life. In her letters the countess discussed her domestic familial life but also made reference to her social position at Court, so we can reconstruct the strategies used by doña Teresa in order to accomplish all her objectives and the ways she used to present these goals to the others.

The Uses of Print and Writing in Eighteenth Century European Ballet: the Case of The Letters on Dancing and Ballets by Jean-Georges Noverre

This article aims to study the uses of print, especially the Letters on Dancing and Ballets by Jean-Georges Noverre, throughout the emergence of pantomime ballet in the late eighteenth century. Noverre’s discourse is directly associated with a project to revitalize the art of dance. In this sense, books as an object are not only a support for the new aesthetic discourse, but a tool with multiple uses. It simultaneously seeks to modify the spectator’s view of the scene, legitimize the success of the new theatrical genre and value the ballet master profession.

Social Transformations and Survivals in the Spanish Navy: The Midshipmen’s Access Requirements (1717-1869)

This work studies the creation, development and evolution of the Spanish midshipmen, through their requirements, from the early 18th century to the second third of the 19th century. The aims are: to know deeply an essential post in the Navy –naval cadet- that still requires an exhaustive review; and, primarily, to link the transformations of the candidates’ requirements to the social debates which were proposed in Spain during this two centuries. The so-called transition from the estates society to the class society, or the step from a society of inheriting criteria to a society based on achieving variables, did not occur linearly; changes and inertia went hand in hand with contradictions and conflicts, thus in this paper the Spanish midshipmen are analysed by several relationally variables.

Las menudencias impresas en los archivos y bibliotecas: clasificación, terminología y guía para su identificación

Cuando abordamos un trabajo de investigación en cualquier centro de documentación que albergue fondo antiguo a menudo nos topamos con papeles o cuadernillos de pocas hojas que muchas veces han pasado desapercibidos y están sin catalogar. La naturaleza de éstos resulta diversa y, en ocasiones, también su identificación puede llegar a ser compleja seguramente por el mero hecho de aparecer muchos de ellos descontextualizados. Por esta razón, el presente artículo pretende establecer una guía sistemática que englobe, clasifique y describa aquellos más habituales en los archivos para facilitar así su identificación.