The System of Curial Agencies of the Spanish Monarchy in Papal Rome

Abstract

This paper discusses for the first time an analysis of the whole Spanish network of agencies for curial businesses. It was a sui generi system that the Catholic Monarchy kept in Rome from the mid-sixteenth century and throughout the seventeenth century. The network was composed of several offices whose number varied according to the evolution of the political composition of the monarchy itself: Spain and Indies, Portugal, the Low Countries, Sicily, Naples, Milan... The holders of these agencies were responsible for protecting the interests of the Crown in ecclesiastical matters, especially as defenders of the royalties of the monarch in the various territories under his sovereignty.