At the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th, Toledo was one of the main cities of Castile and its power spread among the surrounding territories. The city leaded an urban network where Madrid was included. Nevertheless, Madrid wasn’t just part of that urban network, but ...
(Show more)At the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th, Toledo was one of the main cities of Castile and its power spread among the surrounding territories. The city leaded an urban network where Madrid was included. Nevertheless, Madrid wasn’t just part of that urban network, but also participated in some way in the leadership. For instance, some branches of major families of Toledo settled in Madrid, where they tried to increase their power and wealth. With this proposal, we pretend to research the socioeconomic strategies of some of the merchant families of Toledo who moved to Madrid in order to develop and improve their business management and also their social status. However, we will also investigate the opposite movement of some businessmen, who moved from Madrid to Toledo.
The question will be analyzed from two different points of view. On one hand, there will be an economic approach about the commercial and financial business of those businessmen and their families. On the other hand, we will follow this people in their pursuit of municipal positions or privileges. Using the prosopography as the main method, it will be possible to describe the family strategies which were deployed among Toledo and Madrid.
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