Female Agents at the Royal Palace of Madrid: Political Interests, Favors and Gifts (ca. 1598-1640)

The rise of the New Diplomatic History in the late twentieth century led to a methodological revolution altering the foundations of traditional historiography.2 One of the principal consequences were a new recognition that there were multiple sorts of diplomatic agents that included artists, businessmen, men of the church, travelers, and women. It is this last group to which we devote this essay. In this paper we will analyze several case studies in order to offer a general perspective of the mechanisms used by these female agents so as to establish a pattern of behavior. We will focus on aristocratic women at the Madrid court during the reign of Philip III and Philip IV in order to know how the foreign ambassadors approached these women seeking information. These women get in return gifts and mercedes for them, their families and members of their patronage networks. Finally, we will study the multiple fidelities developed by female agents.