Mediando relaciones. Redes sociales y cambio político a finales del Antiguo Régimen

Abstract

Through a microhistorical approach focused on an Andalusian agrotown (Priego de Córdoba), this article contributes to a social history of brokerage at the end of the Old Regime. It throws light on the strategies of a broker who specialized in relations with the royal tribunal of Granada (Real Chancillería), and on his position within the local community. The article describes the interactions between local networks, the development of a more professionalized legal culture and the growing importance of royal jurisdiction within the Spanish society of the 18th century. The author concludes that the reorganization of bureaucratic relations into patron-client ties shaped particular patterns of state-building. This was, however, not characteristic of a traditional rural world, but, on the contrary, part of efficient and rational strategies, that allowed active participation in the formation of a national political sphere.