The Peruvian Viceroyalty and the Spanish Monarchy: Global Strategies in the Age of Philip II and the Rule of Francisco de Toledo (1569-1580)

Lecturer:

Manfredi Merluzzi

Date:

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Venue:

Kim Koo Library, Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs, Brown University
111 Thayer Street, Providence, RI, USA

Organized by:

National Museum of Ethnology, Japan
http://www.minpaku.ac.jp/
Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs, Brown University, USA
http://watson.brown.edu/

Abstract:

This presentation considers the reforms of the 5th viceroy of Peru, Francisco de Toledo, in the context of the Spanish Monarchy’s global strategies during the late 16th century. In the transition from the rule of Charles V to that of his son and heir, Philip II, there were many important structural changes that affected all of the kingdoms and possessions under the Spanish Monarchy’s control. I compare Toledo’s reforms with similar reforms in other Spanish dominions, both in Europe and the Americas, in order to clarify how they were influenced by the specificities of the Andean world and Toledo’s choices. I argue that Toledo’s reforms in Peru should be seen as part of a broader worldwide strategy developed by the Crown of Castile, in which the role of the viceroy himself was indubitably influential and decisive, but less autonomous than traditional historiography has considered.

Information about the lecturer:

Manfredi Merluzzi is Associated Professor of Early Modern History in the Department of Humanities, University of Roma Tre, Italy. His research focuses on the history of the Spanish Monarchy in the 16th and 17th centuries and in particular the political and cultural relations between Europe and America. Among his publications are Gobernando los Andes: Francisco de Toledo virrey del Perú 1569-1581, 2014 (Italian original edition 2003); La pacificazione del Regno: negoziazione e creazione del consenso nella formazione del Perù vicereale (1533-1581), 2010; Memoria histórica y gobierno imperial: las Informaciones sobre el origen y descendencia del gobierno de los incas, 2008. His new book, Fronteras: procesos y prácticas de integración y conflictos entre Europa y América (siglos XVI-XX), will soon be published from Fondo de Cultura Económica.