Abstract

VALENCIA VILA, Alejandro. The difficult boundaries of the Spiritual Government in the polemic letters of Juan de Palafox y Mendoza (1647-1649). Relac. Estud. hist. soc. [online]. 2021, vol.42, n.167, pp.24-48.  Epub Dec 02, 2022. ISSN 2448-7554.  https://doi.org/10.24901/rehs.v42i167.838.

This article analyses six letters that were written by Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, between 1647 and 1649, to plea against the legal procedures done by the Viceroy, the Archbishop of Mexico, and the Jesuits. The analysis of the letters considers the immediate political context in order to study the legal proceedings. This text is divided according to the persons the letters are addressed to the appointed representatives in the Court, the Pope, and King Philip IV. Therefore, it is possible to delimitate the author's language and the argumentation according to the procedures he wants to begin. In addition, the “Theory of Ordinary Rationality” enable us to explain how believing in justice and the boundaries of spiritual and secular government are constructed. Finally, the author’s arguments lead to convictions that confound the boundaries between politics and religion. The author constructs these representations according to the beliefs that sustain his ideas.

Keywords : Juan de Palafox y Mendoza; Spanish Imperial Administration; letters; Epistolary practice; Spiritual Government; Theory of Ordinary Rationality.

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