Representing the King's Splendour

Communication and reception of symbolic forms of power in Viceregal Naples

By (author) Gabriel Guarino

Publication date:

17 December 2010

Length of book:

232 pages

Publisher

Manchester University Press

Dimensions:

234x156mm

ISBN-13: 9780719078224

Compensating for a general neglect of Iberian civilization in Southern Italy, this book seeks to shed light on the viceregal court of Spanish Naples in the seventeenth century, a time when this European metropolis reached the zenith of its splendour.

It looks at the cultural projection of Spain and its values, either via the direct visual representations of power of the viceregal court, or the public policies and actions that fostered Spanish attitudes. It explores cultural and social manifestations as court ceremonial, state festivities, and fashion. Each of these issues also takes into account the social and political structure of the city, and the various pressure groups that interacted with the Spanish government.

Aimed at students and scholars of early modern Europe, the Spanish Empire, and the princely courts of Europe, this study will also be of interest to scholars of communication and cultural studies, and to readers interested in cultural history during the Baroque era.

Acknowledgements
List of figures
List of abbreviations
List of Spanish viceroys of Naples
1. Introduction
2. The ritual power of viceroys
I. The viceregal institution
II. Court ceremonial
III. The viceregal public image
3. The power of precedence: social and political hierarchies of civic processions
I. The hierarchical structure of cavalcades in early modern Naples
II. Extraordinary cavalcades and conflicts of precedence
4. State celebrations
I. The festive system of early modern Naples
II. Management, patronage, and reception of civic celebrations
III. Spanish tournaments in Neapolitan state festivities
5. Spanish fashion and the governance of appearances in viceregal Naples
I. Regulating appearances: Spanish fashion and the Catholic Reformation, 1517-1648
II. Successes and limitations of Spanish fashion
III. Governing appearances and luxury
6. Political utilisation of imprese in viceregal Naples
I. The uses of imprese in tournaments
II. Neapolitan imprese for the obsequies of the Habsburg monarchs
7. Conclusions
8. Bibliography

The book has many overall merits: it examines topics and materials that have received limited attention by historians, and effectively contextualizes them within broader trends and issues of early modern political culture...(Guarino) persuasively analyzes the difficulties inherent in the viceroy's status...The book will be of great interest to scholars of early modern political culture and ritual, and of early modern Europe in general.
Tommaso Astarita, Journal of Modern Italian Studies, Volume 17, Issue 2, 2012

Guarino’s goals are achieved, in placing the visual court culture of Viceregal Naples in context of events and cultural shifts of the period, and in particular, by looking at the mostly positive reception of Spanish culture by the people of Naples . . . One of the chief strengths of this book is its clarity. Guarino is adept at setting up each chapter, and linking from section to section. . . "Representing the King’s Splendour" is a useful and deeply thought through study, making use of an impressive variety of printed sources.
Erebea, 2 (2012) [issn: 0214-0691] pp. 421-424.