El habitus del oficial real: ideal, percepción y ejercicio del cargo en la monarquía Hispánica (siglos XV-XVIII)

Abstract

The present article proposes a methodological approach to Hispanic officers based on the concept of habitus. Instead of focusing on the officers as a social group or on the institutional evolution of these figures and their attributions, it addresses the development of specific qualities related to the office itself. The underlying two main assumptions are, on the one hand, that during the Early Modern period the professionalization of officers was a practical process ingrained in everyday life. The second assumption is, that in order to shed light on that process, it is imperative to analyse the praxis that derived from embodying the office and to which extent the mentioned praxis modelled the behaviour of the officers and led to a specific identity associated with the office. Such an identity was built around a series of habits and behavioural attitudes that distinguished them as suitable for the profession, identified them with the status and characteristics pertaining to the office and provided them with the negotiation tools required for the job.