El mundo de los validos

In the 16th and 17th centuries English, Spanish, French and other European observers were alarmed at the growing influence of favorites, favorites or minister-favorites. These characters seemed to be usurping powers and obligations normally exercised by monarchs. In this groundbreaking book, a group of illustrious international historians - including Laurence Brockliss, Jonathan Brown, John H. Elliott, Antonio Feros, Marc Fumaroli and I.A.A. Thompson- analyzes the figure of the favorites and their rise in Europe. The various collaborators of this work delve into the phenomenon of these powerful characters, investigating beyond the well-known lives of some of them such as the Duke of Buckingham, Cardinal Richelieu or the Count-Duke of Olivares. Was your appearance on the European stage just a coincidence? How can this fact be explained? How did they gain and retain their hold on the levers of power? What was his relationship with his royal lord? And why did sovereigns gradually choose to rule without favorites in the late seventeenth century?