Aristocratic Power in the Spanish Monarchy: The Borromeo Brothers of Milan, 1620-1680

In Italy, the powerful Borromeo family of Milan have long been held up as a rare example of paternalist aristocrats who withstood the temptations of self-enrichment so many of their peers succumbed to during the period of Spanish rule. Aristocratic Power in the Spanish Monarchy, the first major study of the family in the seventeenth century, challenges this myth and explains how it came about.

Based on research in the previously inaccessible Borromeo private papers, the volume details the B...