Sauver la face. Les causes de mariage de Luisa de Cárdenas et Antonia de Portocarrero devant la Rote romaine (v. 1580-1610)

Abstract

This article analyses two causes of nullity of marriage for vim et metus (constraint and fear) before the Roman Rota in the 1580’s – 1600’s : the cause of doña Luisa de Cárdenas Carrillo y Albornoz vs. don Diego de Silva y Mendoza, son of the princes of Eboli, and Duke of Francavilla, and the cause of doña Antonia Portocarrero y Cárdenas, Marchioness of Alcalá de Alameda, vs. Felipe de Guzmán y Aragón, second son of the 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia. In the first case, Cardinal Ascanio Colonna, friend of Diego, suggested that the political partiality of the French Auditor, Séraphin Olivier-Razali, was the reason for the failure. In the second one, the marchioness adapted her legal strategy to the retaliations of her husband’s powerful family. These case studies show how the protagonists tried to save face and mitigate the humiliation which accompanied a divorce trial for the losing party – a humiliation proportional to the reputation and heritage issues linked to marriages in Castilian aristocracy.

Keywords

• Spain
• marriage
• roman rota
• aristocracy
• consent