Grants of Habit Confered to the Members of the Council of Orders (1686-1718): from Reward to the Counselor to Benefit in America

Abstract

The members of the Council of Orders had extraordinary privileges to access the habits of the Castilian Military Orders. One of these precedences was the ease of obtaining habit grants. In this regard, in this investigation we analyze in detail the grants obtained by these components of senior management between 1686 and 1718, focusing on the initial beneficiary and the subsequent receiver. This study reveals that a minimum part of these dignities was used by the holder of the merits -the counselor-, while a considerable proportion of the other granted grants was fraudulently transferred and, many of them, destined for indianos without a relationship with the counselor. This analysis allows us to ponder the real dimension of these corrupt practices, demonstrating also that the members of the Orders Council, who were responsible for its forbidden, also exercised them. That allowed these dignities to became knighthoods held mostly in Indies.

Keywords

• venalidad
• corrupción
• mercedes de hábito
• consejo de órdenes
• carlos ii
• felipe v