Vicarious Consumers

Blood, Land and Power: The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Nobility and Lineages in the Early Modern Period

“…The crest was the main weapon of the goddess and god of war, Pallas and Mars.' 17 Some notes about the origin of the last name Riquelme in royal letters mention that this family mainly settled in Murcia and that (though this is not completely certain) they had some origin in Genoa (Italy). The royal letters also reference the manuscripts of Don Miguel de Salazar, Juan de Buegas and Antonio de Varona, who wrote about the Riquelme and thus demonstrate hidalguía.…”

“…Other arrangements that contributed to building up prestige for lineages were redacting records of nobility, building chapels emblazoning the façades of palaces or seigniorial houses. 17 These engagements helped demonstrate that the family's past was full of honour and social reputation. All of this 'material culture' had a clear goal -to praise the lineage's past and show that the group had participated in the Christian crusade during the reconquest against Muslims.…”

“…Other known lineages had also acquired lands in surrounding areas such as Ceutí, Alguazas, Cotillas, and Archena in the valley of the Segura river, which were also parts of señoríos. 17 The lands that the Riquelme began to add to their patrimony after conquest were mostly dry lands of the kingdom of Granada, the lands north of the district of Lorca -largely lands in Campo Coy, next to Caravaca and Cehegín, that the Fajardo donated to the Riquelme lineage at the beginning of the sixteenth century, which they rotated for agriculture with what they already owned in Murcia. 18 Still, Coy and other strategic locations such as Celda, Nogalte and Aguaderas had some water sources or fountains, and the nobility carefully selected these sites to enhance their socioeconomic status, and came to be known as señores del agua (lords of the water).…”

“…The studies that advocate the combination of microhistory and global history have forced the revision of many generalisations in traditional scholarship about the impact that household and family groups and society played in large social, economic and cultural processes. 17 In this sense, to determine the causes and the consequences of the entire process of change is arduous -the interaction of individual versus society, in its multiple formats, and how these operate at the core of the family, is a key factor in explaining social transformation. The permanence and the durability of family structures such as inheritance practices, sociability and a specific culture around genealogy, counterbalance the transition from the ancien régime to liberalism, and are fundamental in the study of change over time and of the transition from pre-industrial to modern societies.…”

“…17 Properties in the mayorazgo of Doña Catalina de Avilés y Fajardo93 conglomerated patrimonies, and also had an accumulative effect that resulted in pejorative and biased decisions on the rights of the segundones over family possessions.96 There were two main mayorazgos of the Riquelme lineage that came from the conglomerates founded by Don Cristóbal Riquelme de Arroniz (third lord of Santo Ángel) and his spouse Doña Nofra Riquelme de Arroniz in 1544, along with the addition of Don Luis Riquelme y Avilés (fifth lord of Santo Ángel) in 1617, and the mayorazgo of Don Diego Riquelme de Comontes (third lord of Coy) and his wife Doña Isabel de Bustamante, founded in 1590. Both main sections of the lineage, the Campo Coy and the Santo Ángel, joined in the figure of Don Cristóbal Riquelme y Arroniz (fifth lord of Coy and sixth lord of Santo Ángel), and from this point onward the disputes within the lineage about the maintenance and possession of the mayorazgos unfolded.…”