"Mal governo" e controllo nella Monarchia Spagnola: il processo di residencia a Carmine Nicola Caracciolo, viceré del Perù

Abstract

In recent decades, the historiographical debate on the political nature of the Spanish Monarchy has been enriched thanks to an important corpus of research dedicated to the reconstruction of the multiple forms of “remote government”, and to the study of the tools adopted by the sovereign to exercise greater control over ministers and officers who held their careers far from the beating heart of the Monarchy. In this context, the study of “corruption” practices and attempts to stem them has opened up new interpretative perspectives, especially with reference to the analysis of the residencia processes to which ministers and officials of the West Indies were subjected. The essay, through the reconstruction of a specific case study – the residencia process to Carmine Nicola Caracciolo, viceroy of Peru from 1716 to 1719 – intends to show the functioning of the inspection procedure, highlighting its political implications and instrumental use, in order to redefine factional balances and hierarchies of power.