“De Portugal a Castela” Lady Guadalupe of Lancaster, Duchess of Aveiro. Conflicts and resistance of an aristocrat in the Baroque era (1630-1715)

Abstract

The New Biography, so called Biographic History, represents a renewed perspective of the Biographical Genre which expands the analytical and narrative possibilities when facing studies on life couses and constractions of subjetivities. From this approach, and together with the method of microhistory, this article looks at the trajectory of the life of the Duchess of Aveiro, Lady Guadalupe de Lancaster, along an itinerary between Portugal and Spain between 1630 and 1715. In this double scenario, you will observe her personal and family journey incardinated in the respective contexts, analyzing the historical, political and cultural avatars that determined the configuration of her indi- vidual identities as a daughter, wife and mother and as a member of the high nobility. Heiress of the House of Aveiro, she starred in a long conflict against her husband, the Duke of Arcos, who opposed the rights that assisted her, a position that resulted in the separation of the marriage. On the other hand, its aristocratic origins and its membership in the Court, constitute an opportunity to peek into the courtly universe as a microcosm of rivalries, betrayals and complicated intricacies coexisted that the Duchess knew and in those she knew how to operate with ease.