Abstract

This article proves that there is a disproportion in the bibliography when the scholars analyse the political ideas in the courtly theatre by Bances Candamo. Only few works are studied using the political notions and, in many occasions, these researches are unsuitable, because they employ contemporary perspectives, which are certainly inappropriate for the reality of the seventeenth century. The author of this article studies the political conceptions in two works: La restauración de Buda and El Austria en Jerusalén. Both have usually been studied using other perspectives.

Abstract

In Noches claras by Manuel de Faria e Sousa, among discourses and chapters which serve different purposes, an intense programme of cultural divulgation starts to take form, which offers the readers themes of social and religious nature as well as of moral philosophy, stimulating their intellectual curiosity. By combining the strong didactic aesthetics of the miscellanea, as it was cultivated in the Iberian Peninsula in the 16th and 17th centuries, with the specific features of dialogue, the project gained density and gave way to a more pleasant use than the mere occasional search for information. The variety in themes and sense of erudition, resulting from a wide range of ancient and modern cultural and religious sources, are now seen as part of a more coherent composition, thus overcoming the risks of fragmented reading. On the other hand, the autobiographical drive which can be found across a significant part of Faria e Sousa’s literary production, allows him to come closer to the essay genre, as the author is regarded as the one who is responsible for carefully choosing the material, organizing and exposing it based on his knowledge and life experience which were the marks of the discrete man.

Abstract

In a Catholic monarchy, it is to be expected that religion played a transcendentally important role. Not just from a spiritual standpoint, however, but far beyond that, it came to be one of the basic premises of the political and dynastic identity of the Habsburgs. Based upon this, a complex theological conception of politics was constructed, and all the available means of rhetoric and persuasion in Baroque society were mobilized for propagandistic dissemination. In particular, art at the service of faith became a useful instrument as the «broadcaster» of all visually transmitted ideology. In this respect, the two pillars that supported the Pietas hispanica —distinctive signs and mystic unifying agents— carried special importance:  Eucharistic and Immaculist devotion professed by the monarchs of the House of Austria. By this means, the political-confessional and propagandistic complex discourse that irradiated from the heart of the Monarchs to American territory was articulated. This article will look at some of the most significant images in relation to this theme, integrating them into the political-religious discourse of the time.