A la sombra de los Sandoval. Virreyes y gobernadores en la Italia española durante el reinado de Felipe III

During the reign of Philip III (1598-1621), a restricted elite composed by members of prestigious aristocratic Castilian lineages occupied the main positions of government in the Italian territories under the rule of the Catholic King. The article proposes some keys for understanding the composition of this ruling elite and, above all, it tries to show how the trajectory of these characters, even those who were able to hold several posts as viceroys, governors, and ambassadors, can’t be understood without taking into account the more general political situation of the monarchy in the years of Philip III. The valimiento, the mode of power created by the Duke of Lerma and managed by the Sandoval family, albeit with serious internal disagreements, for more than twenty years, is therefore the context in which one can understand the evolution of the careers of these elites.